Mayor Levar M. Stoney defended his administration and addressed key city issues during a Thursday press conference at City Hall, responding to recent scrutiny from mayoral candidates and the press.

A major topic discussed were non-disclosure agreements for finance employees that not only bar the sharing of taxpayer information handled in the department, but any and all discussion about their work. News of the NDAs followed reports on the department’s operations and former employees sharing their concerns about the department.

Stoney didn’t confirm when or where the NDA was put into place when asked by reporters, emphasizing that they’re meant to be “a measure to ensure accountability and protect the taxpayers” and the need for employees to follow the terms of the agreement.

“We need folks who are willing to comply and ensure that we are protecting that data, protecting the taxpayer as well,” Stoney said, “and as I’ve stated in the past, for a vast majority of those who work in the finance department, they do that.”

Stoney also announced that the Office of Gun Violence Prevention will be renamed to the Office of Neighborhood Safety. The office focuses on strengthening coordination, capacity building and partnerships to address the root causes of violence.

Alexander Krupp and Lamont Barnes will lead the office as manager and coordinator, respectively, and oversee initiatives and implement recommendations.

Stoney also highlighted the city’s efforts to address the affordable housing crisis, from 5,000 affordable units built since his first year in office, to new housing performance grant contracts that were introduced during Monday’s City Council meeting.

The mention of the city’s gun violence initiatives was in direct response to the mayoral forum hosted by Richmmonders

Involved to Strengthen Our Communities a week earlier. Candidates outlined their plans to address gun violence while RISC members advocated for the use of a Group Violence Intervention framework, leading to what Stoney saw as “just a little bit [of] misinformation” about their work to tackle the issue.

Candidates also gave their assessments on Stoney’s time in office in a later forum.

“As a person who’s been involved in public service for the last decade, it’s a whole lot easier to talk about doing the job and actually doing the job,” Stoney said when responding to how the candidates graded his performance. “I’ll leave it at that.”