Lynchburg Mayor Stephanie Reed has chosen committee assignments for the new City Council, designating the smaller groups the chosen councilors will work in for the next two years of their terms.
The city operates two standing committees: finance and physical development. Members of the body can vet issues related to their committee and have the ability to quash unpopular proposals before they come before the full council.
The city’s finance committee handles issues related to the city’s budget and quarterly adjustments, general fund reserve, grant applications and quarterly reports from city departments. The physical development committee hears items related to City Code, examines quarterly reports, and determines specific actions to be considered by the larger body.
In a letter sent to council and city staff leadership Friday, shared by At-large Councilor Martin Misjuns on his Facebook page, Reed announced Vice Mayor Chris Faraldi would be chair of the finance committee going forward, joined by Ward I Councilor MaryJane Dolan and At-large Councilor Larry Taylor as regular members.
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Reed announced Taylor, who operates his own construction company in Lynchburg, would chair the physical development committee, while Ward III Councilor Jeff Helgeson and Ward II Councilor Sterling Wilder will round out the group.
Reed, as mayor, will serve as an ex-officio member of both bodies. Misjuns was the only member not appointed to serve on either board.
The mayor told The News & Advance on Monday, “All of our councilmembers offer benefits to both committees. I haven’t had the chance to have direct conversations with several councilmembers, so there might be future changes to the committee.”
One notable move among the appointments is the removal of Helgeson from the finance committee — where he recently served as chair — and appointing him to the physical development committee.
Helgeson holds multiple degrees and designations in finance, teaches at two local universities, was appointed to the committee by previous non-Republican mayors and has served as the committee’s chair for “quite a long time,” he said in a recent interview.
“I’ll serve wherever they think it’s best to serve the taxpayers of Lynchburg, whichever committee it is,” Helgeson said.
“Normally, you want people with a vast degree of expertise to help the taxpayers, right? So just maybe somebody’s only been here a few years doesn’t recognize that vast experience,” he said, alluding to the fact that Reed has only lived in Lynchburg for a short period of time.
Helgeson said he believes the mayor “absolutely” has the ability to reappoint him to the committee and said she could “correct an error, unless it was intentional. Could have been an oversight.”
One example of committee changes happening mid-term in 2013, when then-Mayor Michael Gillette reshuffled the committees to move Helgeson from physical development to finance, swapping with then-Councilor Joan Foster.
Despite the lack of appointment to the finance committee this year, Helgeson said even if he were serving on “the dog-catcher committee,” it’s still imperative that he, and other members, continue to push to return “government surpluses” back to the residents.
Misjuns, who was sidelined from both committees, called it “unfortunate,” saying, “I don’t think this has ever happened in the history of Lynchburg City Council.”
The News & Advance verified that since 2008, all six non-mayoral members of previous city councils were represented on either the city’s finance or physical development committee, at least when the committee assignments were initially made.
Misjuns said the “bigger story” is Reed appointed Faraldi to the finance committee chair position over Helgeson. Faraldi voted in favor of City Manager Wynter Benda’s fiscal year 2023 budget, totaled at $593.5 million, which Misjuns said “isn’t fiscal conservatism.”
“Jeff [Helgeson] has been fighting tooth and nail for almost two decades to prevent wasteful spending and empower citizens over the bureaucracy,” Misjuns said. “Sadly, it’s a missed opportunity to sideline the biggest advocate for taxpayers on these committees.”
In an email to The News & Advance, Faraldi said “to say I voted for ‘the budget’ is misleading.”
Faraldi said in 2021, he “voted against every item” in his first budget on council, and in 2022, he “voted against the Discretionary External Service Providers allocation, the Operating Fund Budget, raising the Water, Sewer, and Storm Water Rates, and the Capital Improvement Plan, because these items contained a dramatic increase in tax dollars,” which he says totaled close to $100 million.
Faraldi said since he’s joined council, he’s only voted for “around 9%” of the total dollars proposed in both the fiscal year 2022 and 2023 budgets.
Faraldi did vote in favor of the general fund budget, which came in at $223.1 million.
Faraldi, who works as a legislative director for Del. Chris Runion, said he brings a “strong connection to the State Budget and associated tax/revenue streams, plus a principled approach to finances with fiscal responsibility and conservative values at my core.
“My aim is to successfully deliver bold tax relief and put a strong check on the financial operations of our city while ensuring the responsibilities of government are met,” Faraldi added.
