The Richmond City Council Standing Finance and Economic Development Committee on Nov. 1, 2025 approved a package of reappointments and appointments to city boards and commissions and continued consideration of one participatory-budgeting seat until January.

The committee voted unanimously to forward the staff recommendations for most vacancies to full council, while explicitly continuing review of the Participatory Budgeting Steering Commission vacancy until January so staff and councilmembers could finalize proposed changes. Chair Robertson called for the vote; Miss Lynch, Vice Chair Jones and Chair Robertson recorded “aye” on the motion.

The slate approved included reappointments and nominations across multiple bodies. Pamela Nicholas, council management analyst, reviewed the vacancy report for members and applicants. For the Economic Development Authority (EDA) financial-services seat, the committee supported nominating Kenneth Smither. For a residential/commercial/mixed-use seat on the EDA the committee recommended Lamar Johnson. The committee also supported reappointments for members of the Local Finance Board for Other Post Employment Benefits (Michael Wynne and Tanika Jackson) and reappointments to the Emergency Small Business Advisory Board (Morris Cephas and Shirley Crawford).

The committee noted two vacancies on Richmond Region Tourism and postponed one of those appointments pending confirmation of whether a new applicant was related to a departing member. Pamela Nicholas told the committee there were two applicants and two vacancies for that body, and that an incumbent had declined reappointment; the committee asked staff to verify relationships before moving forward.

On the Participatory Budgeting Steering Commission, the committee agreed to continue the item until the January standing-committee review so staff can finalize proposed changes and council members can consult with each other before recommending candidates to full council.

The committee also asked staff to coordinate future pre-briefings for members reviewing boards-and-commissions slates, particularly to ensure geographic representation by council district. Chair Robertson and Vice Chair Jones said they would ask staff to brief Councilperson Jones in advance of future reviews so the committee comes to the meeting with a recommendation.

The committee’s approval forwarded the recommended appointments to full council; the committee’s motion recorded the decision to continue the participatory-budgeting slot until January.