Resort Casino RFQ/P Evaluation Panel named

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City to release names of groups submitting proposals and the locations proposed, community engagement calendar

The Stoney Administration named nine members to an evaluation panel to review proposals submitted in response to the city’s Resort Casino RFQ/P.  

The evaluation panel will objectively assess the proposals received and make a recommendation to Mayor Levar Stoney for a proposed resort casino operator and location in the City of Richmond. The recommended operator and location will then be considered and voted upon by the Richmond City Council. Convergence Strategy Group has been hired by the City’s Economic Development Authority to assist the panel in its evaluation of the resort casino proposals.

 

Richmond voters will ultimately decide during a November 2, 2021 referendum if the city will have a resort casino. 

 

Members of the Evaluation Panel are:

 

  • Councilmember Andreas Addison
  • Councilmember Ellen Robertson
  • Lincoln Saunders, Acting Chief Administrative Officer
  • Chief Melvin Carter, Department of Fire and Emergency Services
  • Sharon Ebert, Deputy Chief Administrative Officer for Planning and Economic Development
  • Robert Steidel, Deputy Chief Administrative Officer for Operations
  • Leonard Sledge, Director of the Department of Economic Development
  • Valaryee Mitchell, Director of the Office of Community Wealth Building
  • Maritza Pechin, Deputy Director of the Department of Planning and Development Review, manager of Office of Equitable Development

 

“I am confident the members of the evaluation panel will thoroughly vet each proposal,” said Mayor Levar Stoney. “The city has a tremendous opportunity in front of us to create new jobs for our residents and new revenue to fund our priorities. It is important to me to have members of City Council involved in the evaluation process, and I am thankful that two councilmembers agreed to serve.”

 

“I want to emphasize that while the evaluation panel will perform a thorough and necessary review, ultimately Richmond voters will decide if the city will have a resort casino,” noted Mayor Stoney.

 

In the coming days, the city will release its community engagement schedule so that residents are aware of the opportunities they will have be a part of this process. The city will also release the names of the proposers and their respective sites shortly after the submission deadline, after confirming each proposal meets the submission criteria.

 

The deadline to submit proposals is 3:00pm EST on February 22, 2021. Information on the city’s resort casino competitive process can be found at https://www.rva.gov/economic-development/resort-casino.

 

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