Charlottesville’s newest planning commissioners are a former candidate for the Commissioner of Revenue and an historic preservation architect at the University of Virginia.
City Council appointed Taneia M. Dowell and Joseph “Jody” Lahendro to the seven-member commission Monday. They also reappointed Genevieve Keller
In 2013, Dowell ran as an independent candidate for the Commissioner of Revenue and received 22.8 percent of the 9,697 votes cast. Democrat Todd Divers won the race with 62 percent of the vote.
Dowell is the executive manager of the Tenth Street Bed and Breakfast. She received a bachelor’s of science in business management from Virginia State University in May 2007. Dowell is a member of the Young Black Professional Network and a member of Mount Pleasant Baptist Church.
“As a life-long resident of Charlottesville, I am interested in serving and giving back to my community,” Dowell wrote in her application for the position. “I’m also interested in the development of our city neighborhoods.”
Lahendro has lived in the Charlottesville area since 2005. He received a bachelor of architecture from Virginia Tech in 1975 and a masters in architectural history from U.Va in 1982.
He has been on the board of directors at Camp Holiday Trails since 2007 and has been on the State Review Board of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources since 2009. Lahendro is also a former member of the architectural review boards in Lynchburg and Petersburg.
In his application, Lahendro said he sought appointment to the commission “to use my talents and experience to help people in the built environment of the city I live in.”
Lahendro’s appointment means there will be two historic preservationists on the commission.
Keller, who was originally named to the commission to fill a vacancy in October 2007,
was reappointed for a second time. She served as the commission’s chair from August 2011 to September 2013.
The two new commissioners will take their seats at the commission’s next meeting August 26 when there will be a work session on the city’s capital improvement program.