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The Danville Town Council is set Tuesday to discuss a proposed ordinance that would establish no limits on campaign contributions in council elections, in the wake of recent state legislation that would be the default precedent otherwise.
Assembly Bill 571 in 2019, which went into effect this month, sets a default, statewide campaign contribution limit to local jurisdictions if those jurisdictions don’t already have campaign contribution limits in place.
Town staff are advising that the council vote on one option at their disposal, which is to adopt an ordinance explicitly stating that there are no limits on town council campaign contributions.
“Adoption of the ordinance would have the effect of continuing the status quo in Danville,” city attorney Robert Ewing wrote in a staff report to the council. “The town has not previously had any limits on campaign contributions to council candidates and would not in the future.”
The report added that paperwork and transparency requirements would also remain as they have been in the past under the ordinance.
The council is set to meet at 5 p.m. on Tuesday (Feb. 1) via Zoom. The agenda is available here.
In other business
* The council is poised to formally recognize February as Black History Month.
* Danville Police Chief Allan Shields is set to introduce new police department personnel to the council and public.
* Council members are poised to approve the Fiber Optic Communications Network Master
Plan as part of fiber optic cable interconnect project, one segment of the town’s capital improvement plan.
Approving the master plan would be the first step in working toward evaluating existing infrastructure and needs in preparation to design and install a fiber optic cable network infrastructure at improving the speed of communications in Danville’s public buildings and traffic signals.
“Currently, the Town’s communication infrastructure is primarily transmitted via copper wiring,” according to the staff report from transportation manager Andrew Dillard and assistant town manager Tai J. Williams.
“With the need for faster, more reliable bandwidth to the Town’s public buildings and traffic signals, the implementation of a fiber optic communications network would provide the necessary broadband improvements and capability to keep pace with existing and emerging technologies in both the Information Technology and Transportation disciplines,” the report continued.
Councilmembers previously reviewed a draft of the master plan on Dec. 14.
