Phone interview with Meredith Richards

(1) According to Councilor Blake Caravati, the City of Charlottesville offers short term Employee Assistance Program counseling services to employees and anyone in their households. Beyond that, the City is barred by the State (under the so-called "Dillon Rule") from offering domestic partner benefits.

Do you support domestic partner benefits for City employees?

Yes, I support equitable benefits for everyone, but my understanding is, the attempt by Arlington County to do this was struck down by a court that said they were redefining marriage-which they were not-and an effort by the City to get a bill through the General Assembly that would permit us to do it would probably be futile--although there have been some promising recent developments.

(2) According to the Virginia Organizing Project, "Over the years the Charlottesville City Council has made several commitments to pay a living wage to all city employees, and to require contracts paid with city money (over $15,000) to include a provision that all workers be paid a living wage. In 2004, a "living wage" that is tied to the federal poverty level would mean that the city should be paying $9.00 an hour. They are not."

Do you support increasing the City "living wage" minimum to $9 per hour?

The minimum wage for city employees has been a budgetary matter, and doesn't get reviewed automatically, and isn't really tied to anything anymore - it would be better if we made the whole issue, for City employees and the employees of contractors, a matter of policy, and tied it in some way to the federal poverty guidelines, and reviewed it annually.

- Dave Sagarin, February 27, 2004