Sen. McClellan Correspondence

Good afternoon Mr. Tom Nash,

Your request has been forwarded to RRHA's FOIA department to be addressed. Please retain this email in your records as confirmation of receipt.

Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority (RRHA) acknowledges receipt of your FOIA request, dated January 20, 2021 received on January 20, 2021.

Upon further review a response will be provided to you within 5 business days of your initial request date. Day 1 is considered the day after your request is received. The five-day period does not include weekends or holidays.

If it is not practically possible to identify, locate, or provide the records you requested within 5 business days, RRHA may require an additional 7 days to respond to your request pursuant to Va. Code § 2.2-3704(B)(4).

All requests received by RRHA are handled pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, Va. Code § 2.2-3700.

Regards,

[A close up of a sign Description automatically generated]
iACT - Integrity, Accountability, Customer Focus, Teamwork
Defining who we are and how we do business!

Monte Gayles
Executive Administrative Assistant of The Director of Public Safety
& The General Counsel

O: 804 780-4399
M: 804 240-8105
E: monte.gayles@rrha.com<mailto:monte.gayles@rrha.com>

901 Chamberlayne Parkway
Richmond, VA 23220

www.rrha.com<https://www.rrha.com/>

[Title: Facebook - Description: Facebook icon]<https://www.facebook.com/VibrantRRHA/> [Title: linkedin - Description: linkedin icon] <https://www.linkedin.com/company/786350/admin/> [Title: Twitter - Description: twitter icon] <https://twitter.com/VibrantRRHA> [Title: instagram - Description: instagram icon] <https://www.instagram.com/vibrantrrha/>

[cid:image007.jpg@01D6EF4D.A6605660]

Good afternoon Mr. Tom Nash,

Your request has been forwarded to RRHA's FOIA department to be addressed. Please retain this email in your records as confirmation of receipt.

Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority (RRHA) acknowledges receipt of your FOIA request, dated January 20, 2021 received on January 20, 2021.

Upon further review a response will be provided to you within 5 business days of your initial request date. Day 1 is considered the day after your request is received. The five-day period does not include weekends or holidays.

If it is not practically possible to identify, locate, or provide the records you requested within 5 business days, RRHA may require an additional 7 days to respond to your request pursuant to Va. Code § 2.2-3704(B)(4).

All requests received by RRHA are handled pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, Va. Code § 2.2-3700.

Regards,

[A close up of a sign Description automatically generated]
iACT - Integrity, Accountability, Customer Focus, Teamwork
Defining who we are and how we do business!

Monte Gayles
Executive Administrative Assistant of The Director of Public Safety
& The General Counsel

O: 804 780-4399
M: 804 240-8105
E: monte.gayles@rrha.com<mailto:monte.gayles@rrha.com>

901 Chamberlayne Parkway
Richmond, VA 23220

www.rrha.com<https://www.rrha.com/>

[Title: Facebook - Description: Facebook icon]<https://www.facebook.com/VibrantRRHA/> [Title: linkedin - Description: linkedin icon] <https://www.linkedin.com/company/786350/admin/> [Title: Twitter - Description: twitter icon] <https://twitter.com/VibrantRRHA> [Title: instagram - Description: instagram icon] <https://www.instagram.com/vibrantrrha/>

[cid:image007.jpg@01D6EF4D.A6605660]

Good morning Mr. Nash,

I hope you are doing well. Pursuant to your recent FOIA request, RRHA here provides the only email communications (including the referenced attachment) between the agency's Interim CEO and Senator McClellan since November 2020. These are the only records in RRHA's possession that are responsive to your request.

However, I also wanted to offer some additional information; apologies if some or all of this was already communicated to you - I know you have been corresponding with Angela Fountain, RRHA's Director of Communications and Public Relations.

On December 17, 2020, Senator McClellan met with several members of RRHA's Executive Team and RRHA Commissioner Neil Kessler. This meeting was originally scheduled for an earlier date, but the Senator's schedule required it be delayed.

At the meeting, it became clear to RRHA staff that Sen. McClellan was mistaken about our Annual Plan, in that she thought we were attempting either to submit Section 18 applications for all of the Big Six communities, or to actually demolish all of them, before the 1/1/21 effective date of her bill. RRHA explained why including this information in the Annual Plan did not violate her bill, and that it had minimal impact on RRHA's redevelopment planning and the actual timeframe of any particular redevelopment project. Staff also explained we always planned to submit the second Section 18 application for Creighton in calendar year 2020, even before her bill was passed, and that it would have been submitted well before December had the pandemic not intervened.

RRHA staff felt this was a very productive meeting and it appeared to them that Sen. McClellan appreciated RRHA's efforts. She agreed that we are on the right path with redevelopment generally; however, the Senator also expressed her view that RRHA should improve its communications about redevelopment and suggested that we try more or different methods to contact and engage our residents, who have unique circumstances compared to the City at large. Importantly, she did not criticize RRHA for submitting the Section 18 application before the 1/1/21 effective date of her bill. Finally, she requested that she be kept abreast of new developments related to Creighton. She and Stacey agreed that they would both make effort to improve communication between their respective offices.

[A close up of a sign Description automatically generated]
iACT - Integrity, Accountability, Customer Focus, Teamwork
Defining who we are and how we do business!

Ben Titter
Associate General Counsel

O: 804-780-3498
F: 804-800-4171
E: ben.titter@rrha.com<mailto:ben.titter@rrha.com>

901 Chamberlayne Parkway
Richmond, VA 23220

www.rrha.com<https://www.rrha.com/>

[Title: Facebook - Description: Facebook icon]<https://www.facebook.com/RichmondRedevelopmentAndHousingAuthority> [Title: linkedin - Description: linkedin icon] <https://www.linkedin.com/in/angela-d-fountain-11a64016/> [Title: Twitter - Description: twitter icon] <https://twitter.com/VibrantRRHA> [Title: instagram - Description: instagram icon]

Good morning Mr. Nash,

I hope you are doing well. Pursuant to your recent FOIA request, RRHA here provides the only email communications (including the referenced attachment) between the agency's Interim CEO and Senator McClellan since November 2020. These are the only records in RRHA's possession that are responsive to your request.

However, I also wanted to offer some additional information; apologies if some or all of this was already communicated to you - I know you have been corresponding with Angela Fountain, RRHA's Director of Communications and Public Relations.

On December 17, 2020, Senator McClellan met with several members of RRHA's Executive Team and RRHA Commissioner Neil Kessler. This meeting was originally scheduled for an earlier date, but the Senator's schedule required it be delayed.

At the meeting, it became clear to RRHA staff that Sen. McClellan was mistaken about our Annual Plan, in that she thought we were attempting either to submit Section 18 applications for all of the Big Six communities, or to actually demolish all of them, before the 1/1/21 effective date of her bill. RRHA explained why including this information in the Annual Plan did not violate her bill, and that it had minimal impact on RRHA's redevelopment planning and the actual timeframe of any particular redevelopment project. Staff also explained we always planned to submit the second Section 18 application for Creighton in calendar year 2020, even before her bill was passed, and that it would have been submitted well before December had the pandemic not intervened.

RRHA staff felt this was a very productive meeting and it appeared to them that Sen. McClellan appreciated RRHA's efforts. She agreed that we are on the right path with redevelopment generally; however, the Senator also expressed her view that RRHA should improve its communications about redevelopment and suggested that we try more or different methods to contact and engage our residents, who have unique circumstances compared to the City at large. Importantly, she did not criticize RRHA for submitting the Section 18 application before the 1/1/21 effective date of her bill. Finally, she requested that she be kept abreast of new developments related to Creighton. She and Stacey agreed that they would both make effort to improve communication between their respective offices.

[A close up of a sign Description automatically generated]
iACT - Integrity, Accountability, Customer Focus, Teamwork
Defining who we are and how we do business!

Ben Titter
Associate General Counsel

O: 804-780-3498
F: 804-800-4171
E: ben.titter@rrha.com<mailto:ben.titter@rrha.com>

901 Chamberlayne Parkway
Richmond, VA 23220

www.rrha.com<https://www.rrha.com/>

[Title: Facebook - Description: Facebook icon]<https://www.facebook.com/RichmondRedevelopmentAndHousingAuthority> [Title: linkedin - Description: linkedin icon] <https://www.linkedin.com/in/angela-d-fountain-11a64016/> [Title: Twitter - Description: twitter icon] <https://twitter.com/VibrantRRHA> [Title: instagram - Description: instagram icon]