Lynchburg mayor blasts ‘shenanigans’ by new council finance committee chair

Lynchburg Mayor Larry Taylor abruptly left Thursday’s special meeting of the city council’s finance committee in frustration after At-large Councilman Martin Misjuns, who chairs the committee, proposed to expand the reach of the committee deeper into the finances of the city government.

Misjuns called the special meeting to review and vote on the guidelines for the operation of the finance committee. City council operates two standing committees: finance and physical development.

In one of his proposals, Misjuns seeks to revise the committee guidelines to allow the body to review all city funding and assistance provided to nonprofit organizations in the city.

After a lengthy discussion, it became apparent that Misjuns was mainly concerned with city funding provided to the Downtown Lynchburg Association and the Lynchburg Regional Business Alliance.

“What’s so bad about downtown that you don’t want to fund?” Taylor asked Misjuns.

“Nobody said we didn’t want to fund it,” Misjuns responded.

In response to Misjuns’ efforts to look at spending by these organizations and his other actions to expand the committee’s reach, Taylor said, “If we’re going to have a whole bunch of shenanigans on this committee, I’m going to close it. OK. I’m not going for it.”

“I trust city staff to do what they do,” the mayor said.

Taylor added if Misjuns, as chair of the committee, does not show respect to city staff, including City Manager Wynter Benda and Chief Financial Officer Donna Witt, he will close down the committee.

The mayor then got up and left the meeting.

Along with Misjuns, who was appointed by Taylor as finance committee chair in January, the committee includes Vice Mayor and Ward III Councilman Curt Diemer and Ward II Councilman Sterling Wilder. Misjuns, Diemer and Taylor are Republicans. Wilder is the only Democrat on city council.

As mayor, Taylor is an ex officio member of the committee. He appoints councilmembers to the committee but is not allowed to vote on matters.

The city of Lynchburg currently funds the position of executive director of the Downtown Lynchburg Association as part of the Virginia Main Street program, a funding mechanism that’s been in place for 25 years.

At the meeting, Misjuns wondered how other nonprofit organizations in the city feel about the city funding the executive director position of the downtown association. “We want to make sure we’re aligning how we spend our citizens’ money with their values,” he said.

In response to this proposed change, Wilder said, “I think everybody in our community should support our downtown business development.”

Over the past 10 years, Lynchburg’s downtown area has seen many new businesses move in, thanks in part to the city’s focus on the area’s revitalization, Wilder said.

According to the Downtown Lynchburg Association, storefront vacancies in downtown have dropped considerably in recent years. In 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, storefront vacancies in downtown Lynchburg stood at 27%.

The downtown vacancies continued to decline on an annual basis, even in the face of COVID and its harm to retail businesses nationally. At the end of 2024, the storefront vacancies had dropped to 22%, according to the association.

The motion to revise the finance committee guidelines to allow for the “review of nonprofit funding and/or assistance” passed the committee in a 2-1 vote, with Wilder voting against it.

In another 2-1 vote, with Wilder dissenting, the committee approved proposed accountability measures “as the fiscal agent for Lynchburg City Schools and recommend changes to the LCS Operating budget by category.”

Misjuns said he proposed the revision to the committee guidelines because the city is the fiscal agent for LCS and that it is city council’s responsibility to recommend change to the schools operating budget and that those changes should be discussed in the finance committee before making recommendations to the full council.

In support of the proposed revision, Diemer said, “I do think that it’s a wise and fiscally responsible thing to do.”

The committee also approved a proposal, in a 2-1 vote, to review “managed vacancies” in the city government. Once again, Wilder was the lone dissenting vote.

Managed vacancies refer to how many budgeted positions are in each department of the Lynchburg city government and how many vacancies the city has.

At the meeting, Wilder questioned why a review of managed vacancies needs to be added to the finance committee’s guidelines. City staff already monitors the vacancies. “It seems like we’re just adding more work to the staff,” he said.

Witt said her staff could provide quarterly reports to the finance committee on vacancies in city departments.

Committee members also discussed another change to the committee’s guidelines, a revision that Misjuns called “policy proposals for the use of public funds, compliance, revenue recovery and/or efficiency.”

Diemer, who voted in favor of the proposed change, said, “We’re suggesting some additional guidance to make sure that we take ownership of city efficiency.”

The proposed changes to the finance committee guidelines will need to be brought before the full city council for a vote.

Wilder argued the committee, under Misjuns’ leadership, is “overstepping” its bounds. “I think we are creating more work for city staff,” he said.

In support of the guideline changes, Diemer, who won election as Ward III councilmember in November, said he spent his campaign knocking on doors and listening to residents.

“I can tell you they really want me to dig into the weeds,” Diemer said. “That’s what they told me, loud and clear, and I heard it.”

At the meeting, the committee also voted in favor of Misjuns’ proposal to change the committee’s once-a-month meeting time to 11 a.m. from 3 p.m. The next finance committee meeting will be held at City Hall on Feb. 25 at 11 a.m.