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The first joint meeting of leaders from Richmond and the surrounding counties that rely on its water treatment plant uncovered tensions simmering since January’s crisis.
At Mayor Danny Avula’s request, Henrico County’s Board of Supervisors and City Council met for a “vibe check” (as Supervisor Misty Roundtree put it) at the city’s water treatment plant on June 30. The mayor’s initial hope, he said, is that the meetings lead to the creation of an advisory group of regional experts.
His proposal, however, was met with a measure of skepticism. Noting that, for several supervisors, this was the first time meeting their City Council counterparts, Henrico officials questioned a lack of specificity in the infrastructure improvement timeline and whether the county should reconsider its 1994 utility contract with the city that runs through 2040.
“It kind of got a little tense,” Supervisor Roscoe D. Cooper III said after the meeting, “because this is a very tense situation. These are people’s lives. ... This is priority No. 1 for us.” The board’s vice chair also pointed out that while County Manager John Vithoulkas was seated with the elected officials (Avula was not), he did not speak. “That was intentional,” Cooper added, “because this needed to be a conversation between the electeds.”
Under its contract with the city, Henrico must buy about 12 million gallons of water per day. Its daily intake is limited to 35 million gallons, which is identical to the county’s average daily need as of 2021. By 2055, however, the county estimates that demand will balloon to 105 million gallons. Henrico has prepared for this by upgrading its West End water treatment plant, and it will begin drawing water from the 14.8-billion-gallon Cobbs Creek Reservoir in Cumberland County by the end of this year.
Councilmember Kenya Gibson raised concerns that Henrico’s increasing slate of data centers would require more water to prevent overheating. “Respectfully,” responded Supervisor Tyrone Nelson, “the future water usage of data centers had nothing to do with [the] Jan. 6 [water crisis] and the preceding five or six days that our people across the region didn't have water.” Supervisor Roundtree, too, was “a little disheartened” by the comment.
Henrico County Supervisor Roscoe D. Cooper and Richmond City Councilmember Cynthia Newbille during the June 30 meeting (Photo by Mark Newton)
Concluding the meeting, Council President Cynthia Newbile underlined that collaboration was a serious matter for the city. “We’re partners in this, and how we move forward becomes even more critical in making sure we don’t have repeat circumstances that none of us want," she said.
Avula remained optimistic after the meeting. “I think City Council just needs a little more time to understand what the value adds are of that water advisory group concept,” he said, noting that Council will discuss the issue further at its next meeting on Monday. “I think the reality is that every locality is going to want something more concrete to respond to, and so we’ll likely get there.”
Richmond Mayor Danny Avula looks on during the meeting. (Photo by Mark Newton)
It’s not the first time Avula has looked for help beyond city limits. Just days before a filtration system failure caused another water boil advisory in late May, the city hired Henrico’s Brandon Hinton to serve temporarily as the city’s deputy chief administrator for finance and administration as Richmond leaders clean up the fallout from a series of bad checks and purchasing card abuse. For his new chief administrative officer, Avula looked to Atlanta, hiring Odie Donald II, chief of staff to Mayor Andre Dickens.
The May crisis also reiterated how surrounding counties are affected by problems in the city: As the boil advisory was lifted on May 29, a water main broke at Seventh and Canal streets, causing low pressure in Henrico. The system failure served as another reminder for voters in every county affected by the January crisis, who in June largely rejected former Mayor Levar Stoney’s bid for lieutenant governor.
Avula said the election results didn’t factor into bringing the two localities together. “I know I’m a politician, but that’s not why I got into this job. The job I signed up for is to make sure that the basic functions of government are working for everybody.”
