Remarks by Kenya J. Gibson
19 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 1 of 1
- Play at 36:17
“Thank you, Madam President, and I want to extend my thanks to Councilmember Abu Bakr for working on these amendments. Ultimately, the approach is to establish a contract that has a framework that mirrors what was done in Fairfax, Virginia. Fairfax had a master service agreement that ensured that there is broad indemnity that ensured that there are decommissioning bonds in place so that if the solar panels needed to be taken down that there are funds available to do it, similar to a security deposit. I don't believe that there's anyone in this room that doesn't feel that doesn't support solar.…”
City Council · Sep 28, 2026
- Play at 37:36
“I hope you support it as well, President Newbell. So to that end, when it comes to making decisions that span beyond our terms and some of our lifetimes, the notion that we would get a paper seven days ahead of the vote, I don't believe that serves the best interest of residents, period. As part of our process as a democratic board, there's a timeline in place that allows standard amendments as part of our governance process. That's the way that it works. And so when a paper is introduced that doesn't allow that, we should ask ourselves why. Prior to my being on the body, the council adopted…”
City Council · Sep 28, 2026
- Play at 1:02:34
“Thank you, Madam President. I just want to highlight how highly unusual this is. Oh, absolutely. We have a motion and we have a second and we're now in discussion. We actually started to vote. And there was a majority of council members on this body who agreed to amend this agenda by voting against keeping the agenda as is. And so we started that vote, and now we are being interrupted time and time again from moving forward with this vote. We have all agreed that there will be public comment. I'm thankful for that. So that is not the question. The question is whether we can allow an…”
City Council · Sep 28, 2026
- Play at 1:37:19
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
City Council · Sep 28, 2026
- Play at 1:41:24
“Thank you, Madam Chair. I apologize. There was another paper that I mentioned in informal that I wanted to speak of, and that is also on our consent agenda. It is the item regarding the data sharing with Ernst & Young as part of the AI project proposal. Look, this just... Given all the discussion that we're having as a country right now about access to data, I want to express concern with an arrangement in which we provide the private company access to data in exchange for a project that they valued at over $200,000. It's unclear to me why they would want to give away $200,000 worth of work.…”
City Council · Sep 28, 2026
- Play at 1:44:13
“So I'm voting yes to the consent agenda, but opposed to item 13, 2026-195.”
City Council · Sep 28, 2026
- Play at 2:13:53
“You should be asking about the insurance and the termination fees and what happens if something goes wrong.”
City Council · Sep 28, 2026
- Play at 3:17:09
“Aye. No, I would like to have a discussion for the item.”
City Council · Sep 28, 2026
- Play at 3:18:02
“Thank you, Madam President. My suggestion is that the body go into closed session so we can have a discussion with our legal counsel about the motion on the table and what our ability is to vote on this and then see amendments made after the fact. I appreciated the comments that we've heard and echo much of the sentiment from my colleague Councilmember Robinson. I too have spoken to our legal counsel who has clearly expressed significant risk with the deal and it's unfortunate we're not supposed to talk about what our legal counsel says, but at the same time, we're in a position where we're…”
City Council · Sep 28, 2026
- Play at 3:34:00
“Thank you. Madam Chair, I'd like to make a motion to go into closed session.”
City Council · Sep 28, 2026
- Play at 3:36:44
“You should finish the motion on the table.”
City Council · Sep 28, 2026
- Play at 3:38:10
“Madam President, I'd like to make a call of order to finish the motion on the table.”
City Council · Sep 28, 2026
- Play at 3:40:06
“What is the question on the table? Madam President, my motion was that the body go into closed.”
City Council · Sep 28, 2026
- Play at 3:59:15
“Madam President, yes. I just want to share, I convened with our legal counsel who advised, and I mean, I don't need to speak for her, but that because the contract had already been signed, FOIA laws allow us to go into closed session for certain reasons, and we could go into closed session if there was a pending contract. But because the contract was signed in what, July, whenever the contact was signed, we're not able to go into close to discuss it, right? So I want to express I would fully support a revised approach that included our legal vetted and endorsed contract language as part of…”
City Council · Sep 28, 2026
- Play at 4:20:01
“Thank you, Madam President. If it's possible, I'd like to move to adjourn and to hold a special meeting on Wednesday if the administration and the vendor is amenable to the contract amendments that have been proposed by Councilmember Abu Bakr. On Wednesday, if there is support for the amended contracts, I would be more than happy to make the motion to rescind the offer, but I don't know that we're going to get anything else accomplished this evening. It's unfortunate that we're here. Both Council Member Albuquerque and myself expressed strong concern about the deal in GovOps. She went on to…”
City Council · Sep 28, 2026
- Play at 4:24:10
“So can we continue the other items on the agenda? That was the motion that I put on the table. Okay, we just dealt with that single one, so that's fine. My intention was to continue the remaining items on this evening's agenda, adjourn this meeting this evening, and then have a special meeting on Wednesday should there be support for the proposed amendments on behalf of the company and the administration.”
City Council · Sep 28, 2026
- Play at 4:25:15
“There's a motion. There's a motion, and it's been seconded. Can I second call the question?”
City Council · Sep 28, 2026
- Play at 1:03:43
“Thank you, Madam President. So our next district meeting will be actually this week on Thursday at 6 p.m. And on the topic of the code refresh, we will be joined by Mayor Vula and Planning Director Vonk, who will be there to talk a bit about draft three on the code refresh and to answer residents' questions. I do want to express that I also support allowing residents to have input on this if a resolution, a referendum were to go to voters. And our office has received many emails from folks who have expressed some concern that the Zoning Advisory Committee seems to be finished with their work.…”
City Council · Sep 14, 2026
- Play at 3:45
“Thank you, Madam President. And I am thankful that we have this opportunity today. I do wish that the full body was able to be present, but thankful that we have a quorum and that we provided the public with notice and so they have the opportunity to participate. You know, I think This vote is about affordability and every year it's getting more and more expensive for working families to live in the Commonwealth. And this next era merger really has the potential to be a disaster for the average Virginian. Customers of the NextEra Energy subsidiary, Florida Power and Light are facing a $7…”
City Council · Sep 10, 2026