RICHMOND, Va. -- All five mayoral candidates took the stage at the Citizens' Debate Tuesday.
The debate, held at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture (VMHC), was co-sponsored by Richmond First, the VMHC’s John Marshall Center, the Richmond Times-Dispatch, and WTVR CBS 6.
Moderator Greg McQuade and panelists Bob Holsworth, Chris Coates and Reba Hollingsworth asked 11 questions to the candidates — Andreas Addison, Danny Avula, Michelle Mosby, Maurice Neblett, and Harrison Roday.
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Citizens' Debate Recap: Where Richmond's mayoral candidates stand on key issues
The second question of the debate was: A recent audit of the city finance department found deficient customer service, poor management, and disorganized accounting of taxpayer documents. Please explain what you will do to fix these issues.
CBS 6 has previously reported on operational problems in the city's finance department.
Danny Avula
You know this is an incredible city and deserves a local government that is committed to listening and serving the needs of this city.
I've been very clear about my commitment to starting a national search for a CAO and evaluating the leadership of every single department so that as close to day one as possible, we have a team that is ready to build the right culture of trust and accountability for this city.
You know, for 15 years, I've been an executive leader in local health departments and at a state agency, and that's the work that I've done: Hired senior leadership, changed culture, built great teams, and improved services. And that's the same experience and expertise that I will bring to City Hall on day one.
Maurice Neblett
I believe in our residents and our regional partners, and I believe we can find someone here within the city limits, or even within the state, in regards to having the CAO, that's the trust that I believe that we have in Richmond.
The thing is, I want to make sure that we have fiscal audit and also performance review. That's very important for improving the customer service volume that we have in the city. We need to also improve with enacting technology that's going to be accessible for residents and businesses in lobbies, and we have an open welcome area so that we can have customer service representatives stepping out from behind the desk and becoming more interpersonal.
Harrison Roday
We all know that City Hall needs improvement, and whether it's auditing departments, rebuilding the finance department, or overseeing an IT turnaround, these are things that I know that I can do because I've helped lead them before, but I also know those things can't be done alone. To turn around our City Hall requires much more than just picking one or two people at the top of the organizational chart. It requires partnering with the people who are in the building who do the work every single day.
That is why I am so proud to be endorsed by SEIU and the teamsters who represent so many of our hard-working frontline City Hall employees who want to get the job done.
They know this isn't about hiring out-of-town consultants and paying a lot of money to people who don't have a vested interest in our shared success. They know we get things done together.
Michelle Mosby
Number one, we need to make sure that we have a kitchen cabinet that's going to help us, that have expertise in the different departments, so that we can be effective.
Number two, it's making sure that we have done our search so we can walk in the door doing our search for our CAO.
And then number three, it's making sure that our priorities are matching our vision, our mission, and our values.
And then it's meeting with every department. Previously, under the former mayor, it was a forensic study. I do not believe a forensic study is what we need. We need to meet with our department heads. We need to see where our objectives and our goals are. We need to see what has caused them to not be able to move forward and provide the outcomes that we need. We need to see if their staffing levels are adequate so that we can hire what we need in those departments, so that we can then make sure that we have the necessary tools that we need, so we can enhance and upgrade our digital footprint so that we can move from there to make sure that we're prepared to propose our FY 2026 budget and walking in knowing that these are the steps that it's going to date to take for us to be productive.
Andreas Addison
When I work in City Hall in 2012 I did an employee survey, and all across the entire organization, about 2000 employees responded, and they said there are three issues they had in the workplace.
One, I'm not trained properly.
Two, I don't have the right systems in place to deliver my job.
And three, I don't have the right information to finish and complete my work.
Two weeks two months ago, finance employees were fired. They said they were fired because of three reasons. One, they weren't trained properly. The systems they don't have don't work properly, and they don't have the right information to do their job.
This is not a complicated solution. This is getting in, rolling up your sleeves, and asking our employees, what can we do to empower you to make your job easier?
They're as frustrated as you are in every single thing about how we work as a city. They want to have systems. They want to do their job to the best ability that you expect. And so as mayor, one of the things I will use is leverage my time as a city employee, lift people up from the front lines, understand exactly what they need to see in terms of their job. Give them performance expectations and support and celebrate when they achieve the jobs we're expecting them to do to make sure that we are building a city that you can trust and is accountable for the services you deserve.
Learn more about the candidates
We recapped every debate question here:
- Question 1: Why you want to be mayor
- Question 2: Finance department
- Question 3: Government transparency
- Question 4: School system
- Question 5: Real estate tax rate
- Question 6: Government efficiency
- Question 7: Pedestrian safety
- Question 8: Police
- Question 9: VCU
- Question 10: Monument Avenue
- Question 11: City Charter Review Commission
Watch the full debate here or on our YouTube channel.
CBS 6 interviewed each candidate ahead of the debate, which you can find here:
- Harrison Roday (Sept. 9)
- Michelle Mosby (Sept. 10)
- Maurice Neblett (Sept. 11)
- Danny Avula (Sept. 18)
- Andreas Addison (Sept. 23)
For more information on this year’s election — and how to cast your ballot in the City of Richmond or the surrounding areas — visit WTVR’s Virginia Voter’s Guide.
You can check your voter registration here. The last day to register to vote is Oct. 15.
What hopes do you have for Richmond's next mayor? Email the CBS 6 Newsroom and let us know.
Note: WTVR used AI software to transcribe the debate and newsroom staff to edit for clarity.
