Va. Beach council candidates interviewed in new chambers
VIRGINIA BEACH — A special council meeting was held Tuesday — in the brand-new Virginia Beach City Council chambers — to interview three candidates vying for the Bayside seat.
It was the first official council meeting in the new City Hall building, which opened in April to other city departments, after three years of construction.
The city delayed the opening of council chambers for meetings because it took longer than expected for the audio-visual equipment to arrive, according to the city. It’s twice as big as the old chambers and has 300 seats. An overflow area in the back of the room can hold another 50 people, and there are several conference rooms where live meetings are streamed.
The $50 million, threestory building is situated at the municipal center between the old City Hall and Building 2 on Courthouse Drive.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony opened the meeting. Three people who are vying for the position following the death of veteran council member and former mayor Louis Jones this summer addressed the council.
They also answered council members’ questions.
The City Council will appoint someone to fill the seat until an election is held. Delceno Miles, 61, Ronald Ripley, 73, and Charlotte Zito, 41, are the candidates. They touched on workforce retention, education, housing and development.
Miles, owner of a public relations firm, said she wants to continue pursuing issues that Jones was passionate about, including those in the Bayside district.
“He really had a heart to serve the folks at Burton Station,” Miles said, referring to recent improvements in the historically Black neighborhood. “I really want to keep that momentum going.”
When asked by Councilman John Moss about providing tax relief to residents, Ripley, owner of a property management company, said he supported the idea if the funds were not needed elsewhere.
Councilman Aaron Rouse asked Zito, a private school teacher, about engaging with Bayside’s Lake Edward neighborhood and other communities. “I feel very committed to fostering relationships between the police force and the neighborhoods,” she said.
A public comment session on the candidates is set for 2 p.m. next Tuesday. The City Council will vote on an appointment at a formal session on the same day. The new member will serve until the end of the year.
Mayor Bobby Dyer thanked the candidates.
“We have been blessed with some very, very good talent,” he said. “It just makes a tough decision even tougher.”