Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones wants more time to submit his first budget to the City Council. Citing uncertainties about state funding and the federal stimulus package, Jones is asking to deliver his first biennial plan on March 27—three weeks after the March 6 deadline. An ordinance to move the deadline was introduced Monday and is scheduled for a hearing and vote Feb. 23. The request is designed to give Jones, who took office Jan. 1, enough time to review revenue projections that are still in flux as well as departmental spending requests, Press Secretary Tammy D. Hawley said.

HOPEWELL—On Tuesday night, Mayor Brenda S. Pelham reassured residents that she and the City Council have left the bitterness in the past and are respectfully working together with a clear vision for the city. In the first-ever official State of the City address in Hopewell, Pelham said the industrial city of 23,000 residents is in good standing, despite economic challenges.

The text of Hopewell Mayor Brenda Pelham’s State of the City speech: “I wanted to say a few words tonight to reflect back on last year as we look forward to and focus on what we have to do in 2009. Our council met the last weekend in January, and I really felt like we gain much ground in hammering out, not only our differences, but developing a new vision for the City. In the weeks to come, it is my hope to get back together and finalize our work. I would like to thank each of my colleagues publicly . . . now . . . for the sacrifice they made to actively participate in this effort. I would also like to thank Ann Romano, Julie Sharp, Scott Firestein, Chris Wiegard, March Altman, Debbie Pershing, Ed Daley, the personnel from the Public Works Department and the Fire Department for all the work they put into planning and preparing to make our weekend a success . . . it truly WAS!!!

The Richmond City Council last night appointed Betty Squire as its representative for the 7th District and reopened the Downtown Master Plan for possible changes. The council’s unanimous vote for Squire fills the East End seat vacated last month with Delores L. McQuinn’s election to the House of Delegates. Squire, one of 11 residents who sought the interim appointment, said she won’t run in a special election in November to determine who finishes the four-year term that McQuinn won last November.

A commission assigned to help clarify Richmond’s city charter is starting on issues that created sparks between City Council and then-Mayor L. Douglas Wilder. The Charter Review Commission will look first at concerns involving the city attorney and chief administrative officer, along with who has the authority to hire and fire certain employees.

The Richmond City Council has put off until Feb. 23 a proposed ordinance that would crack down on panhandling and other forms of solicitation. The interval should give proponents of the idea occasion to reflect on its fatally broad sweep. The measure expands a prohibition against soliciting in roadway medians to all areas in the right-of-way, including curbs and sidewalks. It forbids anyone to “solicit, by spoken word, written sign or gesture, contributions of any nature from the drivers of motor vehicles or passengers therein.“ That would make it illegal to sit quietly on the sidewalk with a sign reading, “Hungry—please help.“ Aggressively interpreted, the ordinance could be used to shut down sidewalk solicitors for charitable causes.

For all sane people, there’s only one proper reaction to the passing into history of another Super Bowl: Just a few more weeks until spring training! Yes, baseball fans, the long wait till next year is almost over. Except in Richmond. Virginia’s capital city will be without professional baseball for the first time in 44 years. We’ve parsed endlessly the reasons why. So let’s look to the future.

A leading candidate for the 7th District seat on Richmond City Council has withdrawn her bid for appointment and launched a campaign for election in November. Cynthia Newbille, who served as chief of staff to former City Manager Calvin D. Jamison, notified City Council and the city clerk Thursday that she no longer seeks appointment to temporarily fill the seat left vacant by the election of Delores L. McQuinn to the House of Delegates.

Richmond officials aren’t ready to go to bat for a ballpark in Shockoe Bottom, but they are supporting state legislation that could help get it built. With a show of hands, a majority of the Richmond City Council signaled yesterday its support for bills introduced by Del. G. Manoli Loupassi, R-Richmond, and Sen. A. Donald McEachin, D-Henrico.

A group of Hopewell residents and business leaders will conduct a review of the city government’s efficiency. City Manager Edwin C. Daley has assembled a seven-member committee responsible for studying areas such as accounting, customer service, development, communications and use of technology. The group will have access to city financial books and will be able to interview department heads and employees, Daley said.

Twelve candidates are vying for appointment to the open 7th District seat on the Richmond City Council. Those who met yesterday’s filing deadline to represent the city’s East End are Sharon C. Burton, Matthew A. Conrad, Jennie Dotts, John L. Gerner, Clarence Kenney, Cynthia I. Newbille, Samuel Patterson III, Garry Powell, Robin D. Robinson, Betty Squire, B. Keith West and Carletta Wilson.

The Richmond City Council won’t ask candidates for its soon-to-be-vacant 7th District seat to pledge that they won’t seek election in November. The council discussed yesterday the interview process it will follow to appoint someone to replace Delores L. McQuinn, who is uncontested in today’s special election for the vacant 70th District seat in the Virginia House of Delegates.

Colonial Heights City Council last night elected first-term Councilman C. Scott Davis as mayor, rejecting the reappointment of John T. Wood to a third mayoral term. At a special meeting, the seven-member council also elected Betsy G. Luck as vice mayor. Davis, who is chief of police at Richard Bland College, is serving his first four-year term on the council. He was nominated by Luck for the two-year mayoral term and was backed by all of the council members except Wood.

The singing that broke out at Richmond City Hall yesterday might as well have come from the City Council and Mayor Dwight C. Jones.

Dwight Clinton Jones starts his new job as Richmond’s mayor on Thursday and will face a number of pressing issues. Among them will be filling key administrative posts and balancing the city budget in light of state cuts and a long-standing dispute between Mayor L. Douglas Wilder and the City Council.