Coraggio Consulting
Albemarle County Board of Supervisors Regular Second Meeting, Wednesday, December 11, 2024

Date: Wednesday, December 11, 2024
Place: Albemarle County Board of Supervisors, Virginia
Length: 3h 8m (video)
Official meeting video (Granicus): https://albemarle.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=1&clip_id=1250
Official agenda: https://albemarle.granicus.com/AgendaViewer.php?view_id=1&clip_id=1250

Machine transcript (speech-to-text) produced by Coraggio Consulting. Not an official county record. Names and numbers may be misspelled; check the video at the timestamp before quoting.
Speech-to-text: whisper.cpp, model large-v3-turbo. Produced 2026-10-15. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:02] Good afternoon. I'm pleased to call to order this regular meeting of the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors on the 11th of December at 1 p.m. in Lane Auditorium. I'd like to note that at the dais we have Supervisor Ann Malick of the Whitehall District, Supervisor Ned Galloway of the Rio District, Supervisor Diantha McKeel of the Jack Jewett District, Supervisor B. Lapisto-Curtley of the Ravenna District, Supervisor Mike Pruitt of the Scottsville District, and I'm Jim Andrews representing the Samuel Miller District.

[00:00:29] The quorum is present. We also have today our county executive, Mr. Jeff Richardson, our interim county attorney, Mr. Andy Herrick, and also our clerk, Claudette Borgerson, and our senior deputy clerk, Mr. Travis Morris. Also, let me please welcome our Albemarle County police officers present, Lieutenant Angela Jamerson and Master Police Officer Dana Reeves.

[00:00:53] Thank you both for your service here today and for the work you and your colleagues do every day on behalf of all of us in Albemarle County. If all present could now stand as you are able and join us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Thank you.

[00:01:26] And I now ask that you join us for a moment of silence.

[00:01:41] Silent but for the rain above our heads. It's a lovely sound.

[00:01:59] Yeah, it is. So, board, our first item of business is to adopt the final agenda. I've heard no suggestions or changes to that agenda. We have a motion to adopt the final agenda. So moved. Second. We have a motion from Supervisor Malik, second from Supervisor McKeel.

[00:02:15] Without objection, if the clerk will call the roll. Mr. Pruitt? Aye. Mr. Andrews? Yes. Mr. Galloway? Yes. Ms. Malik? Yes. Ms. McKeel? Yes. Ms. Lapista-Kirtley? Aye. Thank you. I believe we have no proclamations or recognitions for today's agenda, so our next item is brief announcements from board members, sorry.

[00:02:36] And we'll start with Supervisor McKeel. All right. I have none. Thank you. I just stopped with you. All right. Supervisor Pruitt. This is our final meeting before the holidays. Holidays are a time where people like to travel a lot.

[00:02:53] It's also a time where people are often gathered in close proximity. And because of the weather, people's immune systems are lower. So we are no longer in a public health emergency where the county or the state or any other public bodies are issuing strong restrictions on individuals. But I would just remind the public that it is always a good time to practice smart public health measures, be thoughtful about whether or not you're masking if you are feeling well, the proximity in which you're moving around people, and making sure that you are well before you go and travel and visit elderly family members during this holiday season.

[00:03:26] And that's all I got. Thanks. Thank you. Supervisor Galloway. Well, I thought you were going down one road, so I'll just add to where I thought you were going. In the same vein, everybody's close together around this time in their cars, especially if any weather comes up.

[00:03:41] But with people out doing shopping, the next couple of weeks can be a pretty busy time on our roadways, just in addition to how busy they already are. So I just ask that everybody have patience and take their time moving around so that everybody will remain safe.

[00:03:57] Thank you. Thank you. Supervisor Lupita Kirkland? I think they both said everything I was going to say. Well, actually, I wasn't going to say it, but now that they've said it, I agree with them. Thank you. Thank you. Supervisor Malek? Thank you very much. I agree.

[00:04:12] Five minutes longer in the trip, getting there safely is absolutely important. And getting a ticket will take you a whole lot longer sitting beside the road, and therefore you'll really be late. So take a chill pill, everybody. Great things on Saturday, the biscuit run, ribbon cutting at 10 o'clock in the morning.

[00:04:28] And also at noon right here at the Vietnam Memorial on McIntyre There will be the wreaths across America at noon on that day. All across cemeteries across the United States will be people gathered to put wreaths on the markers. So everyone's invited to join.

[00:04:45] And maybe the parking, you will come in through the skate park and drive around to the top of the hill and walk down to the memorial. Thank you. Thank you. And the theme seems to be to have a healthy, safe, and happy holidays. So I appreciate that.

[00:05:06] So our next item, we have no proclamations or recognitions, is from the public, matters on the agenda but not listed for public hearing, or on matters previously considered by the board or matters that are pending before the board. And Vice Chair McKeel will take it from here. And just checking with Claudette, we don't have any one.

[00:05:24] We do have another one. I thought we had another one. There we go. All right. Thank you. All right. We have it now. All right. Let me just read the guidelines. We have one person signed up in person and one person signed up online.

[00:05:41] So, during the time set aside for matters on the agenda but not listed for public hearing, individuals may address the Board of Supervisors concerning matters previously considered by the Board or matters that are pending before the Board other than items listed on the agenda for public hearing. Individuals are allowed three minutes to speak at each Board meeting during matters from the public.

[00:05:59] The sign-up sheet is managed by the Clerk's Office. community members physically present for the meeting will speak first, and then those who are attending the meeting electronically will speak. For those participating electronically, the clerk will coordinate with each speaker when it is their turn to speak. For in-person speakers, timekeeping is conducted through a timer and light system at the podium. The green light will go on when you begin speaking, which begins your allotted time. The yellow light indicates you have one minute to finish speaking. The red light indicates your time has expired, and you will be asked to end your comments. For online speakers, you will be notified when the three minutes are up and you

[00:06:36] are requested to bring your comments to a close as your microphone will be muted after about five more seconds. To give all speakers equal treatment and courtesy, the board requests that speakers adhere to the following guidelines. When addressing the board, state your name and if you live in Almar County, your magisterial district. Address comments directly to the board as a whole. Any written statements or other supporting material may be given to the clerk. When making comments through Zoom, you may upload written comments through the e-comment portal or email your comments to the clerk. If representing a group or organization, you may ask others to raise their

[00:07:12] hands in recognition. Please do not share any unused time with another speaker. Back and forth debate is not permitted. All comments are live streamed, recorded, and published on the Almar County website. And our first and only in-person speaker today is Vicki Bravo.

[00:07:32] Welcome. Please adjust the microphone. We need a short person's microphone. Ralph Sampson was here earlier. Hi. I can relate to that. Hello. I'm Vicki Bravo, and I'm here representing IMPACT. Is it okay if I ask the other people from IMPACT who are here to just raise their hands so you can see?

[00:07:56] Yeah. Thank you. I'm here to speak about the Affordable Housing Trust Fund. We started speaking with you all about this in 2017. Since that year, we have received hundreds of stories from members of our congregations who we know about the need for affordable housing.

[00:08:20] I just want to share a few short ones with you. I live out in the county. I have a good friend of mine, also in the county, who's a few years older than me. She has a very small home and was really struggling to afford the upkeep on it.

[00:08:36] Her family has been able to support her so she can stay in her home, but if she didn't have them, she would not have been able to keep the home and would have had nowhere to go. Another one, a client I used to have worked as a florist, couldn't afford to live in the county, ended up finding a tiny house that someone let him rent under the table.

[00:09:00] The total size of the house was smaller than my living room. And a couple of mothers in abusive marriages right now. If divorce or separation needs to happen, it may be impossible for them to find housing because they have kids.

[00:09:19] They're going to want to keep them in the same school district. And the last one I want to share with you. We are homeless and staying in my car or sleeping on couches as we can. My daughter is in high school, and I hear her crying at night.

[00:09:39] This problem hasn't gotten better since 2017. It's gotten worse. We learned recently that there are enough homeless children in the county to fill the enrollment of a middle school. We researched this problem and learned that affordable housing trust funds are the best practice nationally.

[00:10:02] The fund in Charlottesville has helped build, helped fund the construction of over 2,000 affordable homes. We know that you all take this seriously. We know that in July 2021, you passed a new housing policy, including an Affordable Housing Trust Fund.

[00:10:22] We are here to push for the Affordable Housing Trust Fund to get up and running immediately and be funded with $10 million annually. The sooner we get the trust fund up and running, the sooner the county qualifies to bring in more money that they can leverage.

[00:10:44] By having this fund, it opens up other funding possibilities. Thank you. If you have written comments, you can provide them to the clerk. Thank you. And the next speaker is participating electronically, and that's Lenora Crane.

[00:11:10] Hello. Can you all hear me? Yes. Thank you. Okay. Great. Hello, everyone. My name is Leonora Crane, and I am a resident of the Crozet area, and I would just like to discuss the AC44 specifically. So I have a couple of concerns regarding this plan. I've spent the past couple of weeks reading the development plan, and I noticed that it mentions that the area is expecting 31,000 new residents, but I don't see any analysis in the development plans that the proposed upzoning and infill zoning is going to

[00:11:46] be able to meet that demand. Furthermore, I would like to emphasize that the county not only has to deal with the additional increase of residents in the area, but also there are a ton of employees in this area that aren't able to afford to live in Albemarle. And I'd really encourage the members of this board to go out to local businesses and ask service workers what they're doing about the housing situation um i know a lot of workers personally that are unable to live in the county and for example i know people that work in crozet but end up living in waynesboro staunton

[00:12:21] um in an area where the median income is 47 000 but the cheapest rent you can find in crozet is 1700 uh that makes a large portion of the county unaffordable to all low-income people and many middle-income workers. To combat this problem, I request that the county considers the following proposals. First, I ask you all that the AC44 should go a lot further in increasing density and growth zones, especially in employment centers. Second, I believe that the county

[00:12:58] should be investing more in affordable housing incentives and allowances. Third, I think the county should consider establishing a land bank or a land trust and fourth and finally i ask that the county eliminates parking minimums invest more in public transit in order to lessen the county's carbon footprint thank you thank you that's it thank you appreciate that uh board our next item is the consent agenda uh i have not heard of any suggestions for pulling anything from the consent agenda if so then we have a motion to approve the consent agenda so moved second we have a motion

[00:13:37] from Supervisor McKeel, a second from Supervisor Malik, without objection, if the clerk will call the roll. Mr. Pruitt? Aye. Mr. Andrews? Yes. Mr. Galloway? Yes. Ms. Malik? Yes. Ms. McKeel? Yes. Ms. LaPista? Kirtley? Aye. Great. Thank you. Board, our first item, action item today, is the receipt of the fiscal year 2024 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report and Audit Results, and this portion is being led by Shenandra Usher, our Assistant Chief Financial Officer. Welcome.

[00:14:09] Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Thank you, Chair Andrews. As you mentioned, I'm Shenandra Usher. Maybe I moved the mic a little bit up.

[00:14:24] Thank you. Is that better? Much better. Thank you.

[00:14:36] As Chair Andrews mentioned, I'm Shenandra Usher, the Assistant Chief Financial Officer. And I stand before you today to present our fiscal year 24 annual comprehensive financial report and audit results along with Megan Argenbright, our managing partner from Brown Edwards, our auditing firm.

[00:14:56] Before I start, I'd like to acknowledge and thank our CFO, Jacob Sumner, for his leadership and support, in addition to our entire year-end team. If you are here this afternoon, please stand to be recognized and our partners that help with the report.

[00:15:14] Thank you all. Before we jump into revenues and expenditure figures, I'd like to provide an overview of the annual Comprehensive Financial Report.

[00:15:31] The report is delineated into basic sections. The delineated sections of the report are the introductory section, the financial section, the statistical section, and the compliance section. The introductory section includes the table of contents, the letter of transmittal, the organizational chart, a list of principal officials, and then there's a GFOA, Government Finance Officers Association Certificate of Achievement Award, if you're granted that.

[00:16:00] The financial section contains five segments. There's the independent auditor's report, the management's discussion and analysis, basic financial statements with notes that go along with those statements, required supplemental information, and then other supplemental information. The basic financial statements include two types of statements. There are government-wide financial statements, and then there are fund financial statements.

[00:16:26] The government-wide financial statements are enterprise-wide financial statements that cover governmental activities and business-like activities to include our component unit, which would be our partner entities activities as well. The fund financial statements include financial reporting on the county's major and non-major funds, internal service funds, investment funds, and custodial funds. Fund financial statements focus on near-term inflows and outflows of spendable resources at the end of the fiscal year. Then there's the statistical section. It's broken into five categories to include financial trends, revenue capacity,

[00:17:07] debt capacity, demographic and economic information, and then there's operating information. Finally, there's the compliance section, which includes the independent audit, excuse me, the independent auditor's report on internal controls over financial reporting and compliance, the schedule of expenditures of federal awards, commonly known as our CFA report, and the schedule of findings for the current year and our prior year.

[00:17:38] Now we'll take a look at our fiscal year 24 general fund revenues. There's a 2.6 positive variance in our revenues resulting in $10.7 million overall. This is mostly seen in our property tax variance of $10.5 million due to real estate tax, growth in assessments, collection rates, and the first half of our 2024 personal property tax assessments, where the board increased the rate, 54 cents per $100 of assessed value.

[00:18:14] In other local taxes, there's a positive $2.2 million variance. This is strongly driven by utility tax and business tangible personal property tax. I'd like to highlight the use of money and property positive variance of $926,000. This is mainly due to interest, due to the high interest rates, and I'd like to thank our Office of Investment and Debt Management for monitoring our investments. Our transfers in are mainly due to the Water Resource Fund, tourism revenues

[00:18:54] connected with Parks and Rec, and then our Federal Housing Assistance Fund. Our fiscal year general fiscal year 24 general fund expenditures. Overall, we have a savings of $17.3 million, dollars which is four percent a four percent positive variance over what we budgeted of the savings six point two million dollars is greatly it's mostly in salary and benefits with the most notable savings being in information technology department of finance and budget and human

[00:19:30] resources also within the general government is a large portion of the savings is for the business optimization reserve which is reappropriated into this current fiscal year health care health and welfare excuse me health and welfare actual activity for social services was less than we budgeted due to these expenditures being reimbursed by the state and this correlates to less revenue being received on the previous slide if you notice there's a new line item here it says leases and

[00:20:05] speedas these are related to some new gasp pronouncements that we've implemented this year they were from previous years but we implemented this year gasp 87 and gasp 96 speeda stands for subscription-based information technology agreements. These are reported here because the amounts are pulled from the functional areas based on gas re-reporting requirements and the actual statements themselves is referred to as debt service. So this is the new line item that you'll see in our expenditure, in our list of general fund expenditures. Transfers out. These

[00:20:44] are predominantly capital improvement projects and debt service. On the next slide, we'll see the excess of revenues over expenditures, which is equivalent to $6.5 million approximately.

[00:21:01] This is also our net change in fund balance, which, when added to our fund balance at the beginning of the year of $91.3 million, lands us at $97.8 million in fund balance. So for fiscal year 24, our fund balance is broken into three different categories as defined by the governmental accounting standards board which is gasping these are non-spendable committed and assigned the non-spendable is the balance of our inventory prepays and net lease leases receivables

[00:21:35] are committed our funds already approved by the board for future use in all of our functional areas this includes in conferences and the school reserve fund balance and are unassigned our funds for future use to include the policy use of fund balance, which includes our 10% fund balance reserve, our 2% budget stabilization reserve, and reappropriations.

[00:22:05] Now I'll turn the presentation over to Megan Argenbright of Brown Edwards. She will present to you the results of our fiscal year 24 audit. However, after Megan is done presenting and you've had the opportunity to ask questions, I have an additional slide in order to fulfill the Virginia Audit of Public Accounts financial reporting requirements.

[00:22:26] I'll share more about this requirement after Megan's report. Thank you. Welcome. Hello. That was amazing. And the reason I say that was amazing is because these financials are your financials, right?

[00:22:43] And so to have somebody on your team who's presenting the numbers is spectacular. That is not always the case. I do a lot of these presentations, and it does not always go that way. So, um, love to see it. Shenandra did amazing. Um, so I'm going to hit the highlights, the audit stuff, right? Um, I'm Megan. I'm the partner on your audit. Um, Addison Rashley is here with me.

[00:23:06] He does all the work. And so, and the rest of our team back at our offices. But, um, I do want to say, don't, I don't want to belittle how much effort it takes to go through this audit. It's my job. They're all doing it. The county staff is doing it on top of their regular job, right? So it's part of it, but it is a lot to take on when we're asking a lot of questions. And so we do appreciate their patience and time that they, and the value they put towards the audit.

[00:23:41] Importantly, we issued a clean, unmodified opinion. That is the opinion that you want. We have issued the final report, and we will be submitting the last piece of this to the APA today. So everything is done on time, which is also, it's a heavy lift, and so we're very pleased that we were all able to get that done.

[00:24:05] In addition to the audit opinion, as Shenandra mentioned in the compliance section, there are two more Brown-Edwards reports. The first one is what we call the Yellow Book Opinion. That is an in-relation-to-opinion. We are required to gain an understanding of your internal controls.

[00:24:24] We don't test them, but we do gain an understanding of them. And so that's what that letter is speaking to. And then the second one is the letter on the uniform guidance, your federal compliance. We did test SLFRF, most commonly known as ARPA, but technically known as SLFRF.

[00:24:45] We tested child nutrition and the Medicaid cluster as part of your federal compliance audit this year, and we did not have any federal program findings for any of those programs. We are also required to do some compliance for the state of Virginia.

[00:25:02] The APA, the Auditor of Public Accounts, comes out with very specific procedures that we have to look at, and we did not have any findings related to those procedures for FY24 either. We have two other deliverables that I will not go into detail on, but one of which is for you guys.

[00:25:22] It is called the Communication to Those Charges Governance, and we did discuss this when we presented to the Finance Committee a couple weeks ago, but it's a standard letter, but that's because it's all required and it's stuff that we have to tell you about.

[00:25:40] For instance, your financial statements have a lot of estimates in them. I think we all know that. You guys have probably heard me say that before. Attached to that letter is also management's representation letter, which is about seven pages of things that the county is saying, yes, we told you everything.

[00:26:00] Yes, this is everything we know. So at some point, probably good to peruse it, if you will, and I think that's all the things I have. So if you guys have any specific questions for me, I'm happy to answer them. Thank you.

[00:26:17] We'll go through our predetermined order for this meeting and start with Supervisor McKeel. No questions, but thank you very much. Supervisor Pruitt. This is maybe a bit for my general education, and also it will help me communicate with my constituents if I inevitably get these kinds of questions.

[00:26:36] But just comparing when we are looking at our actuals versus projected, it does seem like general government has a pretty wide variance, and we compare that to, like, much larger funds like schools, which have very, very narrow margins.

[00:26:54] I guess I would just love to hear the layperson's explanation. That is the explanation for a layperson, recognizing that you all are experts. the explanation for a layperson as to what triggers that kind of pretty substantial variance in our actuals versus um versus projecteds uh first i'll say schools being very different from the county right and that they can't uh generate revenue right they can't and so their budget is very much um more strict in that they know what they're getting revenue wise um the county is a

[00:27:31] little bit broader and more difficult to budget for that reason um and so i think taking what you learn each year in your budget process and and looking at actuals i think um is the best way to go about that there's going to be variances nobody gets it spot on um and i'd also add that revenue amend revenue is more volatile right let less control over that than you guys have over expenses so i don't know if you guys want to add anything but i think that's all i had okay

[00:28:10] supervisor galloway i think part of the answer to that too is our own policies set up some of those variances contingency the reserves the overarching policy so those are in there as well it's always the trick after the policy items what those variances are on how well you're projecting or both costs and revenues that can be interesting i might have assumed those were incorporated into of it it's helpful to know that they're the what's the ten percent the two percent are part of that yes yeah the ten the two and the one and the one right but then on top once you take that 13 out

[00:28:49] then you get into well are the property values really what we thought they were going to be are the expenditures really what they i'm i'm sure jacob can have if he makes comments can can speak to all that but that's that we'll go through that with a fine tooth comb and budget time too. I don't have any questions. Thank you for the presentation, both presentations. I know that in the audit committee, in which Supervisor Andrews and myself were on, that there were some things that were noted, and I know that staff has a good handle on that, and I know that with some new systems that are part of our workforce optimization, those being brought in are going

[00:29:28] to go a long way to helping correct some of the things that have been found, which, I mean, that's why we do audits is to find these type of things. So I appreciate that both the auditing team helping us getting things tightened up and staff and already having things in motion that probably would have corrected it even if you auditors didn't come in and find it. So that's a good thing to know. Thank you. Thank you. Supervisor Lupista Curdley. Yes, I'm referring to slide seven and I just had a question regarding that. We're talking about the $89 million

[00:30:04] dollars unassigned am i to understand that that total amount is comprised of the two percent ten percent and one percent good afternoon jacob sumner chief financial officer yes so the 89 million dollars is unassigned and it's an accumulation of multiple things so it includes yes the 10 fund balance reserve the two percent budget stabilization reserve also within there are reappropriations that were reappropriated from 24 into 25 that the board has already taken action on. There's also, as part of our normal budget process, there is the use of fund balance.

[00:30:41] So when we appropriated the 25 budget, we had a revenue source of use of fund balance that also would be included within that unassigned as well. Okay, so the two 10 and one, that does not make up, of course, that total 89, there's a million, correct? Yeah, there's multiple things that are in there. And, you know, I'm going to read into you the question a little bit. There's usually around this time, particularly as we move into the budget, the next budget cycle, what are the fund balance amounts that are in there that are truly unassigned, uncommitted, that aren't part

[00:31:17] of a future budget that's already been appropriated? We'll have more targeted conversations about those funds when we talk in context with the 26 budget process, because that's where those will come into play. So this is an approximate unassigned because it might be fine-tuned a little bit later as we go into it. Yes? No, this is the total. This is the total unassigned. There's just multiple layers within that unassigned. Got it. Okay, thank you. No other questions. And thank you for the presentation, both of all three of you. Thank you. Supervisor Ballek. Thank you. Jacob, you may need

[00:31:53] to come back. So one follow-up on the previous question. So when we're borrowing $40 million dollars for a school that bond receipt is proceeds is also in that pile that is actually going to be in a different fund that will be over in our capital improvements funds that's how we fund as you recall through the the capital improvement process we're funded with the local cash that's you know it's part of our transfer but also the debt borrowings and so the the recording of that borrowings over in the capital fund this is the general fund so that takes away my previous

[00:32:29] understanding of why that's so big, because I'm used to seeing something in the 11, 16, 17 range for 17 years. So it's, I think, being described in a different way, and I'll look forward to learning more about getting more homework about, you know, what really is added in there that I missed when I looked at the outline. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, I think that sometimes a difference between a budgetary process and an audit process gets a little confusing because it looks like unassigned but in fact we have very much in our budgets determined a lot of this but not every every bit um and and there are other things of course that you've highlighted that they're new

[00:33:08] the the uh where you put leases uh it no longer tells us sort of where they came from so but this is the best way to audit those leases as opposed to actually budget them and that's one of the difficulties that we face um again i'll second uh supervisor galloway's comment that you know we heard more in the audit committee about different ways in which we're looking to make improvements and appreciate staff's efforts in those regards and i have really no other questions so thank you uh supervisor yes will we be can we receive uh the powerpoint the slides of this today

[00:33:46] of course we'll send the uh powerpoint out to everybody on the board and i will just reiterate that the the full uh 230 240 page annual financial report is available on our website too so staff is always willing and able to answer questions as we go through those thank you thank you thank you one more slide we have one more slide right we have an action thank you all for your questions thank you megan in accordance with the virginia state code our financial report submission to the auditor of public accounts should be accompanied with a notarized statement

[00:34:24] from the chief elected officer chair andrews and the chief administrative officer mr jeff Richardson, certifying the audit financial report has been presented to the Board of Supervisors. Given this requirement, Chair Andrews, I present to you a staff-recommended motion.

[00:34:41] Thank you all for your time today. Thank you. We have a motion before us. I move that the Board authorize the Chair and the County Executive to execute a notarized statement that the County's audited financial report has been presented to the Board. Second. Motion from Supervisor McKeel.

[00:34:58] Second from Supervisor Malek. Without objection, if the Clerk will call the roll. Mr. Pruitt? Aye. Mr. Andrews? Yes. Mr. Galloway? Yes. Ms. Malik? Yes. Ms. McKeel? Yes. Ms. L'Abisto? Kirtley? Aye. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Board, our next item, also an action item, is acting on membership in the Charlottesville-Albemarle Regional Transit Authority.

[00:35:28] This is so exciting. Yes, it is. Kirtta. And this is presented by Ann Wall, our Deputy County Executive. Thank you, members of the board. Happy to be here this evening. Ann Wall, Deputy County Executive. I will provide part of this presentation, and I will turn over to also Ben Chambers with the City of Charlottesville, who will assist in the presentation as well.

[00:35:51] It's important to point out at the onset that this has been an effort between the City of Charlottesville, Albemarle County, as well as our friends at the Thomas Jefferson Planning District, and I believe Christine Jacobs is in the office, in the auditorium. we would also like to point out that we've been greatly assisted by our transit partners in the community, including representatives from CAT, JAUND, and UTS. As we get started this afternoon, I wanted to provide a little bit of history about our region's efforts related to forming a regional transit authority. Really, how we got here. Back in 2008, the Charlottesville-Albemarle

[00:36:29] Regional Transit Report was completed, which explored the formation of a regional transit authority. The authority was intended to promote the development of regional transit services with the goal of providing travelers with an attractive alternative to driving on increasingly congested roadways throughout the Charlottesville-Albemarle area. In 2009, the General Assembly passed legislation to enable the formation of a regional transit authority. The legislation, however, did not include state authorization for revenue generation. In 2016, a study, a regional

[00:37:07] coordination study, was prepared, which explored opportunities to improve communication, coordination, and collaboration among transit partners. This effort and ensuing study resulted in the development of the regional transit partnership, which was intended to serve as a precursor to a transit authority. In 2022, the Regional Transit Vision Plan was completed amongst local leaders, transit agencies, and a wide variety of stakeholders who collaborated to develop a clear vision of the

[00:37:41] future of high-quality transit in the region. The Regional Transit Vision Plan identified short-term, long-term, and extended long-term actions that the community must take to support the community's vision for high-quality transit. The first step in achieving the vision was the initiation of the transit governance study to guide a governance structure of a regional transit authority and likely revenue sources and other key funding structures. In 2024, the transit governance study was completed and recommended that the region initiate the formation of the transit authority

[00:38:20] envisioned in the 2009 legislation. It recommended early discussions regarding regional planning efforts towards a shared vision, establishing bylaws, engaging rural localities, and engaging transit partners.

[00:38:36] The 2009 legislation requires action of the City of Charlottesville and Albemarle County to activate the authority. The item before the board today is the consideration of a resolution for Albemarle County to consider membership in the Charlottesville Albemarle Regional Transit Authority, or as we reference it, CARTA.

[00:39:00] Just as a note, we've spoken to the board before in previous presentations, but to remind the board of the role of CARTA, the role of a regional transit authority, and we've listed many of those roles on the screen.

[00:39:17] The intention would be that a CARTA, or a transit authority, would serve as a collaborative multi-jurisdictional entity for identifying and solving transit issues, that authority would provide long-range transit planning services to the region, could recommend transit priorities, advocate for transit needs to the state and federal partners, apply for grants and other kinds of funding, and could serve in the future as a vehicle for administering and potentially

[00:39:49] collected dedicated regional transit funding. I'll turn it over now to Ben. Ben Chambers, City's Transportation Planning Manager. I swam over from City Hall a little while ago. So we'll talk about what we've done to date since the transit governance study was completed.

[00:40:09] So when the transit governance study was completed, the Regional Transit Partnership, which meets on a monthly basis, asked the city and the county staff to get together and figure out what are the next steps to get us to that actual regional transit authority. So we've done a lot of work over the past 10 months, 11 months at this point.

[00:40:29] We've worked with the surrounding localities, engaging them to see is there an opportunity for them to join in in this effort with us. We've also met with UVA as well as the transit services in the region to make sure that plans are aligning with the regional transit authorities enabling.

[00:40:47] We have started developing draft bylaws that conform with the Carta legislation. And we came to you a few months ago, and most of this information we provided at the joint meeting between the City of Charlottesville's City Council and the Board of Supervisors here today.

[00:41:04] So let's look at what the authority legislation actually says about what the authority is supposed to be doing. It describes the powers of the Regional Transit Authority, mostly based on planning, can also do things like apply for grants. It identifies the city of Charlottesville as the initial members, along with Albemarle County.

[00:41:26] It also says that the surrounding counties can join if they would like to as partners on this. And it describes some general duties and responsibilities of the board itself and lays out some committees that may be involved as well. So our draft bylaws that we've developed do reflect what is in the Carta legislation.

[00:41:48] It's two members from the city, two members from the county, and some non-voting members, including UVA, would be a part of that as well. We are currently working on a work plan of what CARTA would be doing over its first year.

[00:42:04] But generally, it would be setting up CARTA in the first place, some general sort of organizational work, continuing to do outreach with the partners, both our transit partners and the potential surrounding county partners that we'd like to see join us in the future it started doing some transit planning establishing regional transit goals and priorities and figuring out which transit improvements align with those and could improve customer experience in the region and it will have to start preparing its own budget and figuring out how it pays for some of this planning work and some of this engagement with our community so it will start doing sort of budgeting work work

[00:42:44] with a finance committee um it'll also need to figure out does it need staff um right now we're looking at city and county staff continuing to support the work that carta needs to do but it could get to a point where we have a lot for carta to do and we need carta to have its own staff so we'll need to look at that over the next year or so um we also need to figure out are there strategies for carta creating its own revenues i think initially the main impetus behind carta was figure out if we can have some sort of dedicated transit funding together.

[00:43:15] Our legislation doesn't allow us to do that quite yet, but it does allow us to do a lot of planning so that we can think about how we get to that dedicated funding source. We'll also need to use Carta as an advocate, both with the state and federal government, so that we can bring more outside revenues for transit into the area.

[00:43:34] We can also work with state and federal entities to share what our priorities are and make sure that they're aligning with their grant programs. And we can, as Carta, apply for those grants directly. We don't need to necessarily rely on the city or the county or the transit agencies to do that on our behalf.

[00:43:53] And along with all of these plans, there are things that we'll want to change about Carta. The legislation is a little aged, and there are some things we already know that we want to tweak with it so that we can make sure that we include our regional partners and so that we can potentially get some funding sources out of that.

[00:44:08] So we'll need to work with our legislative advocates, both at the state and federal level. Some key takeaways from our work through setting up CARTA. We've got a lot of transit needs in the area. We've got a lot of transit providers in the area.

[00:44:26] We know there's more investment needed, and we need a way to be able to organize that together with the city and the county at the same table. We've been talking about how to get through some of these questions for 15, 16 years now, and the aim has always been get us to having a regional transit authority so we have a table to sit down and have these discussions.

[00:44:48] The existing legislation gives us the fundamentals to actually go ahead and just do it, and doing this doesn't keep us from making other decisions. This actually enables us to make more decisions together going forward. So this is really just the first step of CARTA.

[00:45:05] It is doing what the state is enabling us to do so that we can start doing the things that locally we would like to do together. And with that, I will leave you with this possible motion and open to any questions. Thank you. We'll start with just going through our order with questions and comments.

[00:45:23] Supervisor McHugh. I'm just thrilled to have this moment upon us. We've worked really hard to get here. And I really want to just say to staff and all the folks, Ben and Ann, and all the folks that worked so hard to make this possible, And just to clarify quickly, my understanding was, Ben, that this went to City Council.

[00:45:42] Did it go this week? It'll go on Monday. Oh, it goes next Monday to City Council, right. And we'll be before the Regional Transit Partnership tomorrow, talking about updates as well. Yeah, I guess the meetings are all a little different this month. So anyway, that's great. And I don't have any questions, just to say that I just am so appreciative that we're here.

[00:46:04] It's the first step. We cannot, in this locality, continue to pay for transit out of our operational funds. And this gives us a structure and the funding that would be possible to have a robust transit system. So it's really great. Thank you. Thank you.

[00:46:20] Supervisor Prode. Yes. So I know we've talked previously about some of the importance and the value that having the support and the buy-in of the non-required optional localities is going to be.

[00:46:37] And you touched on this also in the presentation. You also mentioned that we've done some kind of early outreach. Are we at a stage where you all feel comfortable sharing what any of that qualitative kind of concerns or thoughts that have been expressed by any peer localities in the more rural outlying areas?

[00:46:56] As you can well expect, that the information we've received from the localities has been across the spectrum. I would say generally those localities are interested in learning more about the efforts of CARTA and the work on regional planning. They are also interested in learning more about their rural transit needs and how CARTA may be available to support those.

[00:47:25] Thank you. I see our more rural peers as being a really essential partner in making sure that we're able to kind of have our druthers, when we do go asking the General Assembly for the modifications we know we're going to need. And if we're going to be expecting them to help us carry that water, I think we really need to make sure we're giving the right product.

[00:47:48] We're offering the right product to our rural neighbors. And I also do just want to say it's not just to help us carry that legislative water. It is also going to be so important for our own economic development when it is so much easier to get Nelliesford and Standardsville and Palmyra bodies to these amazing new economic facilities that we're in the process of putting all this energy and, frankly, spending into.

[00:48:17] So I see that as very critical. So I appreciate the initial work you all are doing on that. Thank you. And transit is important for the whole region. Of course. Thank you so much. Thank you. Supervisor Galloway. And I may have asked this when we had the joint meeting with the city council.

[00:48:36] Are the other possible counties limited to the PDC footprint? Or would like an Augusta, Stanton, Waynesburg, could they also be potential? The legislation limits the members in CARTA, which is limited to those four counties, which would be Nelson, Fluvanna, Green, and Louisa.

[00:48:57] So it would have to be some sort of cross-jurisdictional partnership or something like that? Correct, or changes in the legislation. The 2009 legislation very clearly identified the very specific members. That's the part I probably missed from the other meeting.

[00:49:14] Thank you. Those are just notes. I will just make the comment that I recall Supervisor McKeel's memory here, but in 2017, when her and I were running the campaign for this board, we sat at this dais for one of the few candidate forums we got invited to, Supervisor McKeel, because we didn't have opponents to Neil's delight.

[00:49:41] But I remember discussing the need for regional transit authority. Now, Supervisor McKeel had been discussing it for years in advance, so that was my kind of first foray into discussing it. But I remember both of us, maybe more so me, thinking of this as, well, someday it may happen.

[00:50:02] So it's nice that it's actually here. I mean, there's still a lot more work to do, but this is a huge step that I just want to note the moment, because we're a couple months away from the seven-year anniversary, I recall, sitting here and discussing it at that time. And I'm sure others who were on the board were discussing it as well, but Supervisor McKeel is certainly, I'm sure, delighted to be doing this with her work on transit.

[00:50:24] So thank you. Thank you. Supervisor Lepisto-Kurdling. Yes, I have a point. I guess it's a point of clarification. You mentioned how the CARTA, which this is fantastic that it's happening, finally happening. So many people were involved, and this is just great news, that we can apply for grants through federal.

[00:50:45] You can apply for grants through the federal and state governments, correct? Yes, ma'am. Then you also mentioned prior to that, we can use, we can plan, use funding sources to plan. And I didn't quite get which funding sources would that be.

[00:51:04] Albemarle County, local funding sources, or what funding sources could you now use to plan? Because I understand you have to get authority through the state to do other things. We can go after specific planning grants like DRPT's technical assistance grant, which would allow us to have consultant support in addition to county and city staff that would already be putting effort towards some of our planning efforts.

[00:51:28] You can already apply for those grants. Okay, great. That's what I wanted to know. And by the way, congrats. Congrats. I have a very happy supervisor next to me. Thank you. Supervisor Malley. Thank you, and congratulations to everyone who's been pulling on this rope since 2005.

[00:51:46] And I think we should make some honorary distinction for Lee Middleditch, because he's the one who got, in 2005, the transportation working group together in their offices at 7.30 in the morning, which was really painful for me, But talked about the governance and all the different options, which haven't really changed much since then.

[00:52:03] But the fact that there's now more collegial approach throughout the jurisdictions, and I'm anxiously keeping my fingers crossed that there will be a bigger partner who will join us coming forward on this to change those numbers and allow us to get so much more federal dollars down when we can actually count all the people instead of just some of the people.

[00:52:23] So thank you for all your work on that. Thank you. And I also add my expression of thanks. I do want to just touch on sort of next steps. This is a resolution to approve membership. Obviously, there is going to be a board for this, a governing authority, and we will go through the process, I guess, at the beginning of next year with other designations of committees to do that.

[00:52:46] I don't know whether there's anything else scheduled as far as when it will first get together. Two items to point out to the board. One is that the board will consider appointments to the authority. That will be the first one. The second one is that very early we may bring to this board a resolution to endorse an application to the Department of Rail and Public Transit for a grant.

[00:53:11] Excellent. That's exciting. You like that, right? Yes. Thank you. Oh, and Ben points out both of those would be in January. In January. Thank you. Jeff's leaning in, so. Very briefly, Chair Andrews and board members, I want to publicly take this opportunity to thank Ben Chambers and the city of Charlottesville for their leadership in taking over 25 community members to Champaign, Illinois, earlier this year, two separate trips.

[00:53:47] I also see our executive director, Christine Jacobs, from the Thomas Jefferson Planning District, representation from her staff, significant representation from the city to help frame the trip, to make the trip as easy as possible for us to get there and back.

[00:54:08] And there is no easy way to get to Champaign, Illinois. The outcomes, though, were amazing in that public entities, so much of what we do is open for public review, which means we can look at best practices from other communities.

[00:54:25] And when you go and you see seamless transit, when you go and you see alternative fuel and how it's been implemented, and you see systems in place, and you see communities that have similarities to our communities, none of that we would have got to do without the city of Charlottesville.

[00:54:43] So, Ben, to your board, to the city manager, to all of your colleagues, a big thank you from the community. I'm sorry, from the county. Also, thank you to the University of Virginia for participating in this trip. And we really look forward to meaningful discussions as we move forward on regional transit.

[00:55:03] So thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Jeff. That was really nice. And I would also add that we had participation from the schools, from our public school system. So this is really, we're all getting in the same sandbox here and playing together like our parents taught us we really should.

[00:55:22] And I do want to add that if anyone is really interested in this topic, the Regional Transit Partnership has a meeting tomorrow afternoon. And we will be receiving the JAUNT Rural Transit Needs Assessment.

[00:55:38] they prepared and participated in a study for us about the rural needs, and they'll be presenting that report to us tomorrow, which will be really interesting. So if any of you all are transit nerds and would like to join us, feel free.

[00:55:55] You all are, right? I agree. Anyway, thank you very much. And with that part, I think we're looking for a motion in the form presented here. I move to adopt the attached resolution entitled Resolution to Approve the County of Albemarle's Initial Membership in the Charlottesville Albemarle Regional Transit Authority and its Attachment A.

[00:56:17] Second. We have a motion from Supervisor McKeel, a second from Supervisor Malik. Without objection, if the clerk will call the roll. Mr. Pruitt? Aye. Mr. Andrews? Yes. Mr. Galloway? Yes. Ms. Malik? Yes. Ms. McKeel? Yes. Ms. Lupisto? Kirtley?

[00:56:33] Aye. Great. Well, we're a little more than an hour ahead of our schedule. It seems early to take a break, but I don't know if we want a break or we want to ask if the Director of Economic Development is prepared.

[00:56:52] Let's go. I'm getting encouragement to just proceed. Thank you. Thank you for being here early, it turns out to be. I hope someone has somewhere wonderful to head to.

[00:57:10] Good afternoon, Board. Emily Kilroy, the Director of Economic Development, and my pleasure to be here with you this afternoon with the Chair of the Economic Development Authority, Don Long. Welcome.

[00:57:29] Thank you. Okay, so this is a follow-up to the session that the Board of Supervisors had at the joint meeting with the Economic Development Authority in August, and the topic is the Memorandum of Understanding, which is the agreement that talks about how the two public bodies will work together to advance the county's economic development priorities.

[00:57:51] I'm going to do just a brief introduction of sort of the topic and then turn it over to Chair Long to walk through the attachment that was in your packet today, which is a draft term sheet for discussion purposes. And our hope today is that the board can provide direction that would allow the attorney's office to take that draft term sheet and turn it into a draft MOU agreement.

[00:58:17] And so that's sort of our goal for today. So MOU history, just briefly, the EDA was actually created in 1976, so almost 50 years ago. There's been several memorandums of understanding since the establishment of that body.

[00:58:33] Most recently, that agreement was signed in 2017, and this was one of the main topics of the meeting that you all had jointly with the EDA in August. In August, we talked about a lot of the topics that are in that term sheet were sort of subject of the conversation that day.

[00:58:51] And the idea at the time was that since 2017, there's been a lot of shifts in the local economy, in the direction of the Economic Development Office, the interests of the EDA, and the benefit of a lot of years of experience of having an EDA and an Economic Development Office and staff that are working on economic development items regularly.

[00:59:17] So during that meeting, the board and the EDA discussed how Ravana Futures has an impact on sort of the future trajectory of the work that the EDA might be in a position to support, talked about broader authority for board-appropriated funds, clarification on the use of special powers that are given to the economic development authority under the state code, and direction on some various economic development items, such as business attraction, entrepreneurial ecosystem development, workforce development, and partnership development.

[00:59:51] And again, at that meeting, Chair Long actually recommended that we approach this as we do an incentive agreement, where we agree to terms sort of broadly before getting into the specifics of a legal document. And so staff and members of the EDA met following that meeting in August to put together a draft term sheet.

[01:00:16] The EDA, over the fall, spent a couple of meetings working through that draft term sheet, and at their last meeting endorsed the term sheet that is the attachment to your executive summary today. And the idea is, again, that today this is the EDA presenting the draft term sheet to the Board of Supervisors.

[01:00:34] receive your input. And if at the end of today's session, the board concurs that we're ready to go towards drafting a document, that would be the next step. And we would work with each body to sort of negotiate through the term sheet. With that, I'm going to turn it over to Chair Long.

[01:00:53] I'm of the two members of the Long family, I'm the least capable with power. So just the forward arrow or the down arrow. All right. Thank you, Chair Andrews, members of the of supervisors i'm don long i am the uh chair of the economic development authority and i'm just going to sort of walk through the big terms that we have we uh miss kilroy and i sat down after the meeting went through the notes went through all the comments to try to come up with what we wanted to do and as i think she mentioned we presented it to the eda at actually two different

[01:01:32] meetings so plenty of time for people to offer their comments so we wanted to have the board adopt and keep current and economic development strategic plan and work with the eda in developing that plan we think it's important that that strategic plan guide the county's activities and investments in economic development so that the eda knows what the focus of the county's

[01:02:05] goals are. An important issue that we talked about at the meeting was the use of the statutory powers that EDAs have and being able to feel comfortable in using those powers, and the board is supportive of the use of those powers in the goals that they have in the strategic plan.

[01:02:27] That we wanted to be clear that the board supports the EDA's use of these powers in conformity with the comp plan that we need to comply that helps guide us as well as economic as well as the strategic plan would be and those terms are you know that business attraction would be aimed at target industries it wouldn't be just whoever happens to want to come in we would focus on ecosystem development within targeted industries business retention and

[01:03:03] expansion would be a major focus of what the eda would do which is which has been in in the past but we'd also focus on the targeted industries especially in that area we'd focus on workforce development working with other partners in terms of doing that i know that's important to a lot of members of the board we'd also use our powers in terms of real estate development redevelopment building use that is focused on the areas that we need support from economic development,

[01:03:40] so Ravana Futures, those sorts of things. We'd also work to establish entrepreneurial activity and try to support the startup businesses in our community and help them grow and expand in the county and then this was one of the things we also talked about was incentives and potentially having the board give appropriate money to the authority to use within a framework

[01:04:13] of in this case we're talking about 25 or 250 000 so the board would give us some guidance and say we want you to use this in a certain way and then let the eda make decisions so it's not always coming back to y'all to do those things.

[01:04:33] E, work with the board to develop Ravana Futures. I want to say I was with a number of y'all at the INSA meeting last week, and I was so impressed by the response that the county got from the Department of the Army, from DIA, from NINJIC, all of those organizations, and how excited they seem to be to come here.

[01:05:04] I mean, I expected them to be interested, but I was really, really impressed by how excited they were, and I thought that was just a wonderful event. So I look forward, and I know the other members of the EDA are really excited about the chance to do something. I mean, we've got a really good board now. We've got people who want to do something. So I think if we can find the right projects to help out. I think that's really important. And then the final item, and Ms.

[01:05:29] Kilroy will give sort of a staff perspective, the finance department is compensated for the services they provide to, you know, organizations like the EDA that are kind of under the county umbrella. And we had a discussion about what the right basis for doing that calculation is. Is that the money that the eda is bringing in on its own you know funds from bonds those sorts of things or should that calculation be done based on money that is sort of flowing through the eda

[01:06:06] you know for instance um economic development funds that you provide to the eda that we pass on so the eda's view would be it would be the smaller uh amount i don't know if you if that accurately describes what the staff perspective is yes that was very well we're we're working through this as partners um so um the um the staff perspective on administrative fees for partner agencies entities where the county serves as a fiscal agent um is uh is generally

[01:06:41] approached as a one percent of incoming funds um and that supports the processing of literally processing those payments but also the other services that the county provides as part of the operating agreement with that entity and within the context of the eda you can think of that as the administrative support that the economic development office provides in support of the meetings and the work of the eda the legal services provided through the county attorney's office budget management of the funds that that the edo manages which has a relationship with the eda

[01:07:14] And so the staff perspective is that other partner agencies, it's 1% of all incoming funds. And I think what Chair Long is referring to is there are some instances where the EDA's statutory powers put them in a position to best serve other interests of the county.

[01:07:34] For example, two of the partnership agreements that the EDA provides the funds for are affordable housing projects that the county has expressed interest in supporting. And the EDA provides the proper authorities to be able to make those transactions happen.

[01:07:52] The EDA's perspective is they are participating in those on behalf of the Board of Supervisors. And so that's why they were looking at the more narrow EDA-related items. But I think the important part is this is not a big deal one way or the other.

[01:08:12] This is, you know, that's why we wanted to raise this issue for you all to decide what the appropriate way to handle it. And then this, we went over this at the meeting.

[01:08:28] These are the state special powers that we talk about. These are the things that EDA can do that the Board of Supervisors can't do directly. Let's make grants to private entities, including tax grants, the synthetic TIF structure that we've used in other cases, sell property without using the same legal requirements that the Board of Supervisors has to do, lease properties at or below fair market value, we can issue

[01:09:04] bonds we can make loans to private entities and in some cases even act beyond the locality although that's not generally what we're looking to do so um anything else you want to add is this oh wait we have another slide um so just a reminder of the target industries um biomedical and biotechnology financial services business services it food beverage manufacturing light manufacturing Are those the GoVirginia ones?

[01:09:39] Yeah, so these are the Region 9, GoVirginia Region 9 adopted target industries. They mirror very closely to the ones that were developed for the county in the early 20-teens. And as part of the Economic Development Strategic Plan update process, I expect that we'll be revisiting and refining the list of target industries.

[01:10:00] I expect intelligence, national security, defense related to be something that would be added more specifically to the county's list. But this is the list that we've been using as it's freshly data-driven analysis to arrive at through GoVirginia.

[01:10:19] And again, very closely mirrors the list that was adopted in the 20-teens for the county specifically. Thank you. So I think that's it. We're here for questions. Thank you. We will go through our order, and you're looking for feedback on the one issue of?

[01:10:37] Yeah, I think feedback broadly on any of the items that were in the draft term sheet, and then specifically before we leave, we would love direction from the board on how to look at that 1% administrative fee, the more narrow and the more broad. Thank you.

[01:10:55] Supervisor McKeon. Sure. Thank you, Don. Thank you, Emily. I thought the meeting that we had during the fall was very productive. It's great to see this coming to us. I think ideally we would have received this even earlier, but the pandemic stopped lots of movement.

[01:11:16] But this is really great. I don't have any specific pushback on anything you've presented, Don. I think having been a former liaison to the EDA, I know how thoughtful you all are and how careful you are.

[01:11:33] And I just appreciate the work. And I will take this opportunity to say that I think the administrative fee that you're recommending of 1% makes sense. So I don't have a lot of angst about that.

[01:11:49] I think that's fair, and it seems appropriate to me. As a first speaker out of the gate, I'm anxious to hear what my other fellow board members say. But in general, I think you've done a great job of capturing what we talked about and agreed, in theory at least, at the meeting.

[01:12:05] So thank you very much. Let me clarify the 1% question. It's not just the 1%, but it's whether it comes based on all funds that are coming through the EDA, which includes county-provided funds as opposed to simply. Okay, so you're saying the latter.

[01:12:22] I think the recommendation, I don't have a problem at all with what they're recommending. They've got two recommendations on there. Oh, I'm sorry. I missed that completely then. That's my fault. Me bad. Two versions of F here. Yeah, no wonder you all are looking at me.

[01:12:37] So basically, the 1% would only apply to non-county funds, so funds that we would get from bonds that would come from other sources. But if the EDA is acting as a conduit for the housing funds that we're just passing through, the calculation wouldn't be, you know, if there was a million dollars that you wanted us to provide to somebody, we wouldn't then pay a 1% fee on that million dollars.

[01:13:06] And that's what I was hearing and I agree with, because that's working for us. Right. Sorry. That's opposite of what I heard, so I'm glad to get that. That was my question. Exactly. I heard completely the opposite thing. We just needed this.

[01:13:21] Ann and I needed this in bigger letters or something. I was listening very carefully. I wrote it all down. Okay. I'm going to turn to Supervisor Poole then. Thank you. So I think it's kind of fair to analogize the fee we're talking about to kind of like the fiscal agent.

[01:13:37] fee that you might have a larger nonprofit that is sponsoring a new nonprofit have when they're organizing this. And in that framework, I also think it would make sense that the 1% management fee only applies to non-county funds because there isn't that new and additional reporting and tracking requirement if you're looking at county funds.

[01:13:59] They don't have that additional requirement. So to me, that seems prudent, and it also seems something that the EDA feels comfortable with, right? Because, frankly, all of the folks are getting less money. And if you're comfortable with getting less money, then sure, great. Chair, you seem to take issue with the way I phrase that.

[01:14:18] Who's getting less money? As in they would be taking a smaller total portion of funds dispersed as a fee. Am I misunderstanding it now? The EDA is not taking the fee. The finance department is, we're paying, the authority is paying the finance department.

[01:14:38] Yeah, it's the other one. It's overhead. It's a question of whether the overhead is calculated on everything that passes through the EDA or only those external funds passing through the EDA. Rolling misunderstandings. All right. It still makes more sense, but okay. I appreciate that. I know something I had expressed some trepidation during our joint work session with economic development kind of uh can be construed to encompass a lot of things um and we had a i thought an interesting discussion on whether or not it was appropriate for the eda to engage in

[01:15:14] in housing stimulus and and broader community development work that isn't directly touching on on commercial or traditional economic development strategies and i think and i was actually resistant to that, construing that as potentially going outside the wheelhouse of expertise and potentially stepping on other stakeholders. And I gave the example of Fredericksburg City's EDA, which did exactly that around homelessness and did a bad job of it and stepped on their continuum of cares wheelhouse without coordinating or informing them prior. And it was quite

[01:15:52] controversial um i don't see housing in here and i actually do take some comfort on that there's some language around community development i do see a discussion of workforce development workforce development i think is more squarely in that ambit but there's also i think still that kind of strain i know when we talked about this previously uh supervisor malik talked about like well are we coordinating with the authorized workforce development boards these these pre-existing organizations that are already owning this, that are not at the same level of government.

[01:16:26] So I guess I would, that was kind of a bit of monologue, but I guess I'd throw this back to you. Do you feel like these are the identified areas that you have in this set of sub-bullets of activities that the EDA would be engaging in pursuant to this MOU?

[01:16:41] Do you feel that these are areas where you can decisively and confidently de-conflict other government stakeholders who might have concurrent operations? I think so, because I think we're, in that particular area, in the economic development area, we are working with, obviously, the county economic development office and really sort of working together in terms of what we're doing, and then we're working in conjunction with the other organizations, you know, the partnership and folks like that.

[01:17:15] It's not, I don't see the same issue that it would be in housing, And I don't think – I think I would see what we would do with respect to things like workforce would be to support other organizations. I don't think we're going to go out and try to set up our own training program.

[01:17:32] We'd want to figure out ways to use those special powers. I mean, an example would be if we needed space to put a program that somebody else wanted to run, we potentially could lease that space and then sublease it out at a lower – at a non-market rate.

[01:17:48] that would be the kinds of things that we could do to use those powers to support other organizations. Sure. Is that there? Absolutely. And I think the intersection between economic development and housing in particular, child care probably right underneath that, is becoming even more and more aligned statewide.

[01:18:13] The board knows that the county is pursuing a grant application from the Virginia Economic Development Partnership through their Virginia Business Ready Sites program for site readiness work at Rivanna Futures. And the governor and VEDP recently announced that they'll be looking at housing as part of the application review process.

[01:18:34] Do you have in the pipeline, or are you working to make some headway in making sure that there's housing for the employees that might work at the sites that we're readying? And so I think we see, I think the state also sees economic development as being a powerful voice of support.

[01:18:54] And we have some tools through the authorities that the EDA and others have to be supportive, but to let the housing experts really lead what those solutions should look like and then seeing how we can sort of come in behind and help advance those.

[01:19:13] Supervisor Price liked to often bring a familiar concept into government. that I would like to now echo, which is in the Navy, there's the concept of the supported and the supporting commander. This is especially important in amphibious operations, like I did, where you have the naval commander who is going to be the supported commander up until there's Marines on the ground, and then that relationship switches.

[01:19:35] So it sounds like what we're talking about is making sure that in areas that are further on the periphery, the EDA has a really clear understanding of understanding their role as a supporting commander and identifying who those people who are actually leading the charge is.

[01:19:53] And I just appreciate that this is something that you're actively thinking about because the principal concern I came in with is a tendency of some organizations to almost work with hubris. Don't worry, I have the solution. We'll solve it.

[01:20:08] And that's not the attitude that you're going in with, and that's what I want to make sure about. Thank you. Thank you. Supervisor Galloway. Well, I think I was going to make a comment that I wasn't planning to make listening to some of the commentary, not just from Supervisor Pruitt, but from others.

[01:20:29] But I know that at the joint meeting somebody had mentioned concern about how some EDAs go flying off on their own and do all these things. Well, okay, two things. It states it here again, but we create it, we define the framework, and we appoint the people.

[01:20:49] So if they go flying off on a handle doing stuff that we don't want them doing, that's not their fault. We should be careful about who we appoint. and we should be careful about the framework and how it's defined and we should be careful about our oversight responsibilities so i don't i don't look at these edas as flying okay you got some rogue people but they didn't get on that board without your permission unless there's some other ways that you get on eda boards that i'm not aware of well i will i will point out that actually one of the things that um you know we've talked about the finance department and the role that they've

[01:21:28] provided i mean that's one of the checks on this is that we don't have i mean there's there might be some good reasons to have our own bank account and to do our own things but there's some good reasons not to which is as long as money's flowing through the county's process and the the review process that that eliminates a lot of those concerns as well and i think the oversight having the the you know members from the board who serve the relationship with the economic Development Office, which I think where the issues have arisen have largely been with the EDA was just kind of off doing their own thing, not coordinating, nobody was paying

[01:22:06] attention, and they kind of ran off in other directions and did other things. So I think we're not as at risk for that, I hope. Well, I think we're paying attention. Yeah, yeah, that's an important part.

[01:22:24] I mean, shame on the places that didn't pay attention. So the first in the draft, I'm speaking to the draft term sheet that was in the packet. The first bullet point says the Board of Supervisors will adopt and keep current an economic development strategic plan. So just, I don't need it, I'm not worried.

[01:22:41] I mean, maybe in new language of the resolution you'll say something. But I want to hear what keep current means. I think that's the expectation that it would be updated on a regular cadence.

[01:22:59] So the current one is a little over six years old. and that we would get into a more regular cadence of between three and five years updates so that the strategy remains current with the current conditions so that the board and the EDA have that moment to sort of check in with staff and the community on is this heading in the right direction.

[01:23:24] So I would encourage defining the time that we want this to be updated that we think makes sense so it doesn't get bumped because of how reality works. The current one would have been updated sooner had it not been for the pandemic, and that's probably the primary thing.

[01:23:44] But minus a pandemic, other staff priorities can sometimes push out things getting updated, and we have a lot of things that have not been updated over the years. So this is one that I think really suffers from not a more regular update than one that could maybe last six or eight years before you do anything.

[01:24:03] So I would just encourage to find not three to five. I'm not, I mean, a specific time. And then we say we should look at it and review it every, and then go with it. That's my opinion. I want to reaffirm my all caps yes to your supporting, you know, the statutory powers granted under the Code of Virginia.

[01:24:24] With all of your bullet points under, this would be bullet point four on the draft sheet. So the first one, for example, is business attraction within the identified target industries. So I want to challenge the notion, Chair Long, that you said, well, whoever wants to come in.

[01:24:45] I think that all of the places that say within the identified target industries should mirror what bullet three says, which is business retention and expansion with an emphasis on identified target industries. I'd like to see, with an emphasis on everywhere where it says within thee, and here's why.

[01:25:05] Just to your point that in the next update we'll probably do something with Ravana Futures relative to the intelligence agencies, we don't know. Targets are things we aim for. They're not defined criteria. But if we say within the identified target areas, we are putting you in a fenced area, and we might not know what we want to aim at in three years, which also would probably be another reason why we should update the plan and not wait four or five, six years to do it.

[01:25:37] So I want to make sure that the – because I know everybody on the Economic Development Authority understands how economic development usually is in the business world, how things can pop up that you don't know that you might not want, but maybe you do. And if we say within the identified target industries and something like that pops up, You're already boxed out based on this MOU for considering it, and I don't want to box this out.

[01:26:03] So I'd like for all of that to state within, with an emphasis on, because then you're still operating within our framework. You're still being guided by our strategic plan, project enable, or the updated version. We can address, and I'm sure that we're adding a target industry in the next round, it sounds like, but we'll be able to discuss it.

[01:26:23] we're not losing anything but i want to make sure that we're not excluding something you know there used to be the the book by uh yuri and i forget the other name getting the yes you know that's a good idea we shouldn't start from an idea of no to some things and this is kind of excluding you all by saying no we don't we don't know what companies may want to i mean i think we could all sit here and list five or six things we don't want at albemarle county and frankly they already don't want to be here those places because they know our attitude about it but what we don't know are some places that might want to come in here that we would be like oh that's a great thing for

[01:27:00] us so let's make sure that you know i obviously need agreement from others around the dais but i think to me that's just smart it keeps flexibility open um and it uh and i think the eda would be able to exercise the judgment and go wow this isn't necessarily a target industry but boy i think the supervisors would really like like this and we should pursue it versus just going sorry you're not on our you're not within the this defined scope that we've done so we can't even have the conversation um and i think it sends a message you know i think you know this waiting

[01:27:37] around for other folks to come in like i said there are some places i know probably don't want to come here and set up shop because they know about us they you know what and how and we're okay with that but for some places that might want to be here we probably should send an attitude that we're willing to listen and being willing to be open and not box anybody out from that standpoint.

[01:28:00] And then for the fee, I'm good with that, you know, as long as the county's not, you know, for things that are passing through, yeah, there should be a fee for it, so absolutely. So the staff's recommendation. Yeah. Okay. So one comment, and I'll let Emily respond to this as well.

[01:28:20] I think the business attraction, there's sort of two things. Part of that, there's somebody coming to us and saying, hey we we want to come here and you know or we're looking for locations and and the economic development office deals with that more than the authority does and i think as far as i know we've always been open to talking to anybody who wanted to come here and express an interest i think the issue is how proactive are we going to be in terms of saying hey we want to attract businesses not necessarily a specific business and i know in the past um the sense has been we weren't trying to

[01:28:59] we would talk to people when they came but we weren't necessarily trying to encourage people to come in and so i think what we were trying to do with this was to say look if we're going to go out and be a little more proactive we're going to aim for the things that we want we say we want here but not that we would tell people don't bother talking to us is that a fair statement and i'll just i agree but when you say what we aim to but if in a year from now you're like oh we should aim over there this isn't going to allow you to do it it's not okay that's my point it's

[01:29:35] that you want to change the aim i don't want to restrict the work of the eda to be like oh wait this is a new thing i mean there's things we're talking about now that are economic development activity that weren't even on our radars for years ago so it should be something that a lot you guys have the flexibility, I have the trust that you could do it that way, and say, yeah, we're aiming at this, we're following along with what we're doing, but wait, this is something we might want to look into, and I think you should feel free to do that.

[01:30:07] Thank you. Supervisor Lopis, Dr. Kirtley. Yeah, I don't, I hate to disagree with you, Supervisor Galloway, but I'm not sure that they intended it that way because I think for our identified target industries, we help set that too.

[01:30:24] I mean, I've seen the EDA, the liaison there, they're very receptive to also what the board wants, where the board wants to go. They present ideas, and I haven't seen anywhere where they don't present new ideas.

[01:30:40] I'm not so sure they're focused on, when it says within the identified target industries, I think that's really broad, and maybe you can clarify that. Maybe I misinterpreted, but I think that's really broad in that they would welcome new businesses.

[01:30:59] I think what they don't, I'm thinking what they don't want is to say, okay, the floodgates are open and bring in all, you know, kinds of fast food restaurants and everything. You know, we want 5,000 of them. No, we don't want 5,000 of them. And I don't think that's something that the board wants either.

[01:31:16] But I don't think the wording necessarily limits unless you can put in something that clarifies allowing for flexibility. Yeah, I suggested it with an emphasis on versus within V. I have no problem with an emphasis on flexibility that you can make that decision.

[01:31:36] You can also hear, maybe we hear of something before you do, and then we can bring that to you, vice versa. But I do agree also with your saying have a report maybe every three to five years, not to say what you can do or can't do, but just to say, okay, since everything is so rapidly changing, maybe we need something every three years, or if you want to change something, bring it to us every three years as opposed to every six years.

[01:32:07] But that was because of the pandemic. yeah i think i would offer to the board um when we receive and and there's been approved there's been projects over the past um six to nine months where something has come forward that wasn't strictly within the target industries and when that happens we um we'll do a lot of check-in um some of the some of the um in the commonwealth it is not consistent how the structure between the edo and the eda is set up and i think that nuance can get lost a lot um there are some localities where the staff work for the eda um and there are some localities where the staff work for the

[01:32:47] organ the broader local government organization um we're obviously one where we work for the broader organization and so um when something comes forward to staff that might fall outside the target industries it'll be that it's a good cue to me to have a conversation with the executive's office as a starting point of, you know, here's this opportunity, here's, you know, pros and cons, here's what we're thinking. Do we think that there's an interest in continuing in that conversation? And we'll sort of work through it that way. That's when we bring in the board and the EDA to brief them and get their feedback and see, you know, does this feel like a

[01:33:23] good fit, even though it doesn't fit within the confines of the target industries? And I think Chair Long put it well when he said, you know, if the EDA were to start doing more proactive attraction work, using the target industries would be a way for the EDA to think through how do we approach that work.

[01:33:48] There's conferences that you can go to where site selectors are sort of sector focused. And so picking which ones to go to would be an example of how the target industries would help frame that work. But certainly I think Mr. Galloway's suggestion on with an emphasis, I think I hear that as supportive and not restrictive and not too expansive, but obviously interesting to hear the rest of the conversation that the board has on this topic.

[01:34:18] All right, I think it's good to be able to have that flexibility so that if someone comes in, you can say, no, that's not something we want. But if something, a new idea comes in that we've never even thought of before, that you can say, yes, let's go.

[01:34:35] So I do agree with the emphasis on flexibility, however you want to word that. And I also agree with the 1%. That's not a problem now that we all understand it. one percent on what basis on the on the there are two there are two versions of one percent on here okay one is everything that goes through the economic development authority even if it came from the county the other is only when it's external monies external all right we'll call that the external option yeah okay good good the external option okay got it all right thank you

[01:35:10] very much supervisor malley thank you and i this is i appreciate all of the hard work and i have some questions which may be just premature as far as the state that you are at, but just you'll learn about what's rolling around in my mind at least.

[01:35:30] So you mentioned that you had discussed about with the EDA over the last several meetings about details and how to go about that. So I'm curious about what those details are, and maybe they're all just winnowed down into the proposal, in which case that's fine.

[01:35:50] I appreciate the thought, this is random order, appreciate the thought for the three-year update or sooner. I'm not put off by a new idea coming along because it's not like we're in California. We can get together on a very short period of time to figure something out if there's a response that's needed.

[01:36:10] So we can never have an expansive enough consideration in a term sheet to anticipate everything, and we wouldn't really want to because if you have a situation where if it's not listed that you can't do it, And that's more trouble than it is if you just plan to have a conversation for things that come up that nobody anticipated because none of it.

[01:36:29] I mean, I certainly don't anticipate a lot of things. I will go back on just for a little history from the Target Industry Study. Back in 2008 to 2012-13, there was a big uproar from some sector of the community that we were losing businesses to Flavana or something.

[01:36:50] I mean, these were places, generally warehouses, they needed big square footage and had almost no jobs. But also there was this sense of, if it's not an albemoral, you know, that's a problem for us. Well, we have to share in our region. That's why the regional target study, I thought, was so beneficial, even though it was very cumbersome to get it done.

[01:37:11] But the whole basis of it, in my memory, was based upon the skills that our residents have about the academic opportunities which we have here, we will never be able to do everything. And so picking the four or five things that we could do best was really important.

[01:37:29] And defense was in ours. The fact that it's not in Go, Virginia, is a Go, Virginia problem, but it is in ours. And that's really, really important. We fought hard to get it in there because there were some on the board at the time who didn't want to have it in there as a separate call out. So those are things I want to encourage you to really stand up for our local plan even over the go virginia one because it is what came from our community and has really good basis for that um when you mention site selectors it just brings back bad memories of being lectured over many years by various site selector agents saying about how everything happens at the speed of light and you have to be ready and you have to have everything

[01:38:08] going well we are not going to do that but things are turning out okay slowly but surely so i'm definitely more of a sort of turtle on this, but we will get there in the end. I was very glad to hear that we're not looking at duplicating workforce development, things like that, because those are tremendous skill sets and they're funded state and federally, and so we need to be in that supporting role. I think that's a really important way to talk about it. I've talked about limited

[01:38:38] sector. Glad to hear the comment about perhaps helping as a landlord for something and one of those supportive services because we spent at the workforce center about two years trying to find a place to move to that was affordable and closer to where our people were and we're okay right now but when the next one comes around and there's some extra warehouse space where we can set up and can recombine and I will be calling on you for that help. I understand the link of where the

[01:39:13] employees can live in order to be able to bring a job group here, a sector here. And I think someone mentioned to me yesterday, well, if a new agency is coming from D.C. to the station, that's going to be some number of new employees who will want to live in the region. They could live in any of five jurisdictions, or more, depending on where their family connections are and those kinds of things. But they will have to have a shelter in order to be willing to come.

[01:39:40] the former head of DIA when he was trying to recruit people from Northern Virginia to come here in his agency and ended up bringing quite a number 800, I think. There was a lot of resistance because people had, they were established in Fairfax and all those other places, much more expensive places, but they still were reluctant to leave until they knew what they were really going to be getting into down here. So we have to continue to do a good job to describe ourselves in our put our best foot forward as well um i have some heartburn about the support of the

[01:40:19] statutory powers i'm a little less now considering your your explanations but avoiding mission creep is a really big deal because of the limited limited time and staff and money that we have available we don't have 100 million dollars like montgomery county maryland to put up a wonderful affordable housing trust fund and do all that stuff right we don't have it right now anyway so we have to size our approach to what we can manage with our staff capacity as well as our funding capacity and i think that's important having taken the since 2008 to get where we are

[01:40:58] in the defense sector i think it's really careful that really important that the county staff who are leading that effort be the point of contact in other words especially with the military and the Defense Department, you cannot have a bunch of people out there talking, talking, talking about stuff because it really sends a bad, bad message. So we have great spokespeople here now, and I put all my faith in them being able to make those connections and guide the process. There may be others that the supporting role can do, but I'm very protective of that whole process and the

[01:41:37] message process um that goes along with it i think i understand with the one percent i think i understand that the one percent muni bonds income is what you're talking about mostly because because when i heard the other stuff earlier it sounded like it was double dipping on the county money and i was not going to go for that but as long as it's just the outside the muni bond money coming in then i'm i'm fine with that um and i understand the board responsibility to make sure that we're appointing good people and that the people the board needs to the board needs to

[01:42:14] provide really good guidelines guardrails all the things that you all will need in order to do your job well and that's what's sort of missing here so far is all of those the fine fine wording so i look forward to receiving more of that as it goes forward thank you and and i can answer i think one of your original questions which was what did the eda talk about in terms of this and And what we did was we presented this document that you all have to the EDA at two meetings.

[01:42:44] We had put it together and presented it. We wanted to give them a chance to look at these bullet points, give their feedback, and then we actually gave them another time because we knew that we were coming to this December meeting. So we had a second go-round, as you say, were their comments, and we didn't get a whole lot.

[01:43:03] We got some feedback at the first go-round, some comments and thoughts about things. I don't know if there was another question that you wanted me to try to address in there. Emily was taking notes. She'll help you sort it out, and you can give us, share back with the readout on the discussion.

[01:43:21] That will be helpful. I think over 17 years, the EDA has certainly evolved. And my Whitehall appointee is a wonderful man, but he was on the board for decades, and it was the old regime. And they were strictly muni bonds and providing money to Sentara and schools and whatever and saving them money on their construction loans and bringing in.

[01:43:46] For many, many years, there wasn't even no fee. It was, I think, after 2008 that they actually put the 1% in, which was horrendous at that amount of revenue that was foregone on that earlier. So evolution is okay as long as we're all in it and we're all doing our homework and we're all paying attention to the fine print.

[01:44:06] because that will make it succeed. Thank you. Thank you. I'm going to start at the last part just because I want to make sure I get that in and see if there are other comments. I lean towards the staff perspective on item F. It does seem to me that some extent it's right pocket, left pocket, but my understanding of the question, and that's where I want to make sure I'm on the right track here, is regardless of what the source is, there is an overhead cost to the county staff in working with the Economic Development Authority on something.

[01:44:40] So if the county is providing, and let me go to the example list here, providing incentives up to $250,000, if that's coming out of the county coffers and going to the EDA, that there would be a 1% fee on top of that back to the county recognizing the need to oversee the funding and oversee the activities.

[01:45:01] And so that's why I lean towards the staff perspective as just saying this is a cost of doing business through the EDA is 1% of all the money that goes through that. I'm happy to hear other perspectives. And if I've gotten it wrong, please tell me. Okay.

[01:45:17] With respect to the question of identified target industries, I'm going to sort of work backwards. The last bullet was providing incentives up to $250,000 within target industries. Now, if what we're talking about is $250,000 and with an emphasis on target industries doesn't bother me, I get the sense that we are delegating a certain amount of authority to say, this is how you're going to do business.

[01:45:44] We'll find out about it very quickly and identify when we think that there's a problem with the target having moved from what we thought was the list or otherwise. but i'm not sure what else goes into that so if you start doing big bond issues or something that that are not in the targeted industry i would certainly want to know about it before it was done uh and so i prefer to have a targeted list and update it regularly and keep on top of it and make sure we have regular readings so that we don't deviate from that and i think we've already identified that the go virginia is very similar but not the same and so we want to have an albemarle

[01:46:22] county sort of uh set of targets and similarly then workforce development i i i see that one is i don't think we need to just say workforce development within emphasis on targeted industries i'm in favor of workforce development on targeted industries um that that's that's why we're doing it is for those targeted industries so that's sort of my perspective on it i'm not sure if that changes the story or or the question but i really appreciate the work being done i think this is a great step forward to giving additional authority because that's going to enable us to move move

[01:47:00] quickly did you get what you need in terms of the consensus on one or the other i'm not sure you did so but i'm not sure we were all necessarily thinking about it the same way so let me let me i'll try to describe it in the way that i think about it and then emily can tell me if she has My view would be that there's money that the county appropriates to the EDA to then pass on.

[01:47:25] So let's say it's a million dollars that's going out to a project. So the EDA would then pay 1%, not necessarily of those monies, but would pay a 1% fee to the finance department to manage as overhead, not necessarily out of that money.

[01:47:48] That money would come out of the EDA's other monies that might be coming in from the bond fees and things like that. So if we had $200,000 of bond fees over the course of the year, we'd be paying 1% of that. And so I think, in my view, it's really sort of the fact that those numbers could be dramatically different in terms of size and scope.

[01:48:12] And, you know, I can see your point. Look, you've got overhead. If you're giving us a million dollars to do something with, somebody's got to manage that process. somebody's got to do the forms you just ought to pay that that money i think the the my concern would be that if generally we're only sort of operating at the two hundred thousand dollar threshold and all of a sudden we have a lot of money that's to throw going flowing through that fee gets really large relative to the the work does that make sense is that i think um you know

[01:48:47] if the EDA was called on to do a higher volume of affordable housing incentives than we've seen in recent years. I think Chair Long's point is that the revenue, the incoming revenue that the EDA receives from the loan and the bonds that they've issued on behalf of other organizations is fairly fixed and relatively small and if there were to be a high volume of funds that the board was seeking the eda support to serve as sort of the the pass-through entity um that that the

[01:49:26] percent that that is the percentage on which that one percent fee is applied to while the eda's incoming revenues are sort of fixed um at a relatively small level um and so it could potentially create a challenge for the EDA's inbound finances if there were to be a high volume of dollars that the EDA was issuing to other entities on behalf of the board of supervisors.

[01:49:54] Is that something that could be negotiated at the time if we're dealing with that sort of an issue? Yeah, I mean, I think if we get to a point where it's way out of whack, like, you know, We've got a $200,000 fee or something like that as a result of large dollars flowing through.

[01:50:13] I think at this point, I don't even know what the different numbers are. It's relatively small. It's relatively small. Thank you. Does anybody have a clarification perhaps on your position on this as to whether it's the first one or the second one as far as whether it's all external funds or all funds?

[01:50:38] External or all? What? I do. Supervisor Malo. So what has come into my brain listening to the discussion is there is a similarity to the fee that was part of a CIP award that went to FES to carry out the project.

[01:50:56] So the similar is all county money, but it's showing almost a transparency track that, yes, we're building this school, but we're building something, the courts. And there's money in the MBS budget, whoever's supervising that operation that I had put out.

[01:51:16] It was part of the CIP budget. So that helps me understand a little bit about the sort of in-house round and round and round. I guess you all will have to figure out how to fine-tune this because multiple $50,000 awards costs a lot per award in staff time, whereas the same amount of work is going into perhaps a million-dollar one versus a $500,000 one versus something, unless it's federal reporting, in which case all bets are off.

[01:51:47] But so you'll have to advise us and titrate how to go forward with that. My suggestion, and maybe somebody else can offer another idea, is maybe we come up with some sort of cap kind of thing that says it's going to be 1% for everything, but if we start to have really large dollars that the amount of money flowing is not balanced by the amount of work that needs to be done, that we'll adjust it somehow.

[01:52:18] I hope that ongoing conversation will be part of this. Yeah, and I think we can talk about it. I mean, this is a fairly minor, it's a hard-to-understand issue, but not really that significant of one that we should be able to work out.

[01:52:34] So I don't want to take up a lot of time. I thought you said this one, but I thought people were saying next time. I thought we had two for you and Ned versus four. So which is which? I read the discussion as being two for yourself and Supervisor Galloway versus the remaining four.

[01:52:49] Everybody else was just external only. That was my read of counting notes. I just want to make sure that we've clarified to what it is. Okay. Well, clearly I didn't know what the hell I said then. I thought Ned was agreeing with us. I thought I was, too. Yeah, I had Supervisor Gallery and Mr. Andrews.

[01:53:08] The external funds, that's where I'm at. Okay. So it's five to one. So it's five to one. Okay, thank you. I mean, you might, based on this conversation, need to clean it up. It's different than the conversation we had. But I also would like to have some feedback from finance staff about a solution that might help give us some more information.

[01:53:32] Sure. And the next step in the process would be, of course, that the county attorney's office would take a first approach creating the first draft of a new MOU. And so this will be back before staff, the EDA, and the board before any final decisions are made.

[01:53:48] So staff can take us a follow-up to see if there's another way to approach this that is satisfactory, and we can work through that through the MOU document itself. I just want to make sure that I am reading the scenario intuitively correctly, which is I might assume as we start having a board turn against the staff recommendation that if this was urgent or dire, I would see Mr. Sumner jumping out of his seat to come offer some comment and I haven't seen him do that which makes me think that this is probably a very on the margins decision I just want to make sure that that's a reasonable

[01:54:28] interpretation of the scenario thank you glad to add my perspective on this from a pure dollar amount standpoint you know if the one percent fee is if it was on all incoming funds historically you'd be talking about between the seven thousand and a fifteen thousand dollar annual fee so when we look at these administrative fees, they're similar to our fiscal agent fees that we do for the Emergency Communication Center, the CACVB. Those fees, those fiscal agent fees, are on all

[01:55:06] the incoming funds that we manage for those entities. And it covers, you know, the multitude of services. So it's the administrative side, it's the legal side, it's the financial. It's including them in our audit and our audit financial reports. And so when I was talking with Emily about this earlier, when I saw the EDA's proposal, I saw that more as like a per transaction fee as opposed to what the staff perspective is on the slide here is more of a pure fiscal agent fee, which covers a broad scope of services as opposed to just a per transaction

[01:55:41] fee, which is really related to more of the outside local dollars. But from Supervisor Pruitt, answer your question the dollar amount is um you know pretty small um marginally as you as you put it um but i just want to add different perspective and a little maybe maybe a little bit more clarity on the different um approaches thank you is there anything else we can i have and i don't want to muddy this by trying to it's connected to why my earlier point about the within versus the emphasis

[01:56:17] on but this is beyond that so this is a different point of importance for me don't assume places that are interested in working with us are going to call us so what we put out there based on that alone has to suggest call us because if it's if it's defined on there a certain way and i mean i'm not talking about misinterpretation i'm talking about how we define it the words will matter and what we suggest out there to folks will matter they will first look online if they don't know us they're going to go what's this relationship what's what are they putting out there what's this

[01:56:56] document. And if we don't suggest that there's a flexibility and an openness to having a conversation, they might not ever pick the phone up and call anybody. And that is happening in some other things relative to what we have. To nobody's fault, it's just fact. So I'm saying that as you bring forward the final product, and we should think about this when we rethink Project Enable as well that it's about if none of us are there and they don't call jt or emily or don or whoever and say hey would you be blah blah blah if they don't sense that there's that flexibility already

[01:57:34] they're never they're never gonna make the call and that's my that's probably my overarching concern because i'm trying to tease that that concern out in some language here but that is the bigger thing that's kind of driving the point behind it that could exist in other places beyond just these particular points that i made earlier thank you thank you thank you all right thank you all for your time thank you uh shall we forge ahead should we take a 15-minute break

[01:58:15] ahead but i'm going to need to if the county executive is ready frankly our next item is the from the county executive year in review um we could we could you ready Mr. Chair, I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to Abby Stump, who has spearheaded the effort for the year-end review, and so I'll turn it over to Abby, and Abby, thank you very much.

[01:58:42] Yeah, thank you. Good afternoon, board. Abby Stump, Director of Communications and Public Engagement, and before I hit play, I am going to take a few minutes and say a few words, because I have the mic, and thank you for letting me do that, and I'll go fast, because I know that there's some need over here.

[01:59:00] I was recently asked what was the hardest part of my job, and I shared that we have more stories to tell than time to tell them. And that is a true testament to county staff and what they do day in and day out for this community.

[01:59:19] And that becomes very apparent this time of year when we have to create a year-in-review video or any sort of year-in-review recap. And so we get into a room, and we brainstorm, and we think about all of the possible stories that we could potentially tell, and if there are any themes or ties that connect everything together.

[01:59:44] And this year, we identified partnerships and collaborations. These partnerships, both across our departments and with community organizations, are really at the heart of what the county does.

[02:00:01] I want to take a moment to thank the communications and public engagement staff, particularly Aki Parker. Their creativity really brought these stories to life in this video. but i also want to thank all of the county staff that were willingly able to hop on camera and tell these success stories but before i dive in i know you all love stats and figures and so i didn't want to miss an opportunity to to give you a few more that aren't in the video these ones these

[02:00:36] numbers that i'm going to share really illustrate the real tangible impact that county staff and government services provide to our community each and every day. So far this year, and I say so far because there's, what, 20 days left, so these numbers are going to be grossly out of date in about two hours, I'm sure. Fire Rescue has responded to 1,423 heart-related calls for service. So that includes cardiac arrests, chest pains, things along those lines. Office of Revenue administration assisted 853 qualified property owners in obtaining tax relief through the

[02:01:14] Elderly and Disabled Tax Relief Program. Social services supported nearly 400 families through the Family Support and Bright Stars Program embedded in local schools. And ACPD officers have saved 10 lives through life-saving measures and Narcan response. These numbers are not just statistics. These are lives that our staff has touched each and every day. They form the foundation of our core services and exemplify how local government makes a difference. It's through these foundational efforts that we build the trust and the connections necessary for the partnerships

[02:01:54] highlighted in this video. These collaborations allow us to amplify impact, find solutions, and better meet the needs of our community so without further ado and i do apologize i didn't bring popcorn i will now hit play uh to highlight a few of the successes from this year thanks to the outstanding work of our staff and our community partners now the real test will you give the stats while you're doing that one more time for the schools can you send it to us yeah i can send

[02:02:26] this to you all in an email. Thank you. I saw you scribbling. Albemarle County's Economic Development Office is building partnerships to drive economic growth. This year, we've seen incredible progress through projects transforming our community and creating opportunities for businesses and residents alike. This year, the Board of Supervisors announced a public-private

[02:03:01] partnership with Home Depot associated with the development of their property located at 1531 Rio Road East at the former Sears site at the Fashion Square Mall. This public-private partnership marks the first redevelopment at fashion square mall home depot is investing over 26 million dollars to redevelop this site creating a new retail store and more than 100 new jobs but that's not all this partnership will also help improve the area's infrastructure including the realignment of hillsdale drive making it easier to get around and connect to key destinations in this area it will also generate a variety of local tax revenues that will contribute to the county's tax base

[02:03:39] This partnership provides a maximum of $750,000 in tax increment financing to the company over a period of up to 10 years. The incentive helps to offset the additional costs associated with a redevelopment project, as demolition and site conditions require more intensive site work than an undeveloped site would. And we're hopeful that this will be the first of future redevelopments at the Fashion Square Mall property. This major project will help transform our community and also supports the county's mission as we continue to build a better future for our community.

[02:04:12] This redevelopment brings new businesses, jobs, and public spaces that will make Rio 29 an even better place to live, work, and visit. It's exactly the kind of collaboration we need to build a thriving, vibrant community. Another milestone is Afton Scientific's announcement of their expansion. This local biopharmaceutical company is investing over $200 million to grow its operations, creating 200 new jobs and increasing its ability to deliver life-saving medicines to the patients that need them. This is the company's second expansion in our community. These successes are the result of strong partnerships. For Fashion Square

[02:04:49] Mall, Albemarle County worked with Home Depot to provide tax increment financing, helping offset redevelopment costs and ensure infrastructure improvements benefit the entire community. The expansion of Afton Scientific was made possible through collaboration with the Virginia Economic Development Partnership and state leaders, including Governor Youngkin. Together, we secured resources to support recruitment and training for the new jobs created by this investment. Albemarle County works with the state, regional, and local partners in the public, private, and academic sectors to create an environment where businesses thrive. These projects showcase the power of collaboration and the potential for growth in Albemarle County.

[02:05:28] I wanted to highlight one of Albemarle County's major successes from this past year, MicroCAD is a grant-funded pilot program for an on-demand rideshare service that has exceeded all expectations since its launch in October 2023. In its first year in operation, MicroCAD has fulfilled over 70,000 ride requests and met demand more than 85% of the time. Those numbers tell a powerful story about how this service is meeting a critical need for reliable transit service in

[02:06:03] our community. But the impact goes beyond numbers. Riders have shared how MicroCAD has transformed their lives, making it easier to get to work, attend appointments, and care for their family. Users of the service have expressed through surveys how beneficial it is to have a reliable transit service near their home. MicroCAD represents a bold step in addressing transit needs and increasing access to essential services. By focusing our pilot program on the high-need areas like Pantops and Route 29 North, we've demonstrated that this type of innovative service can address

[02:06:39] residents' needs for a convenient, affordable and safe way to travel. The fare-free pilot program has been particularly impactful for some residents. We have heard from riders how grateful they are for a free and convenient transit service they can use to get to doctor's appointments and other daily needs. MicroCat's success has been driven by ongoing collaboration between Albemarle County and charlottesville area transit staff who work closely with via the contracted service provider regularly scheduled meetings allow the team to review metrics identify opportunities for

[02:07:15] improvement and implement changes that enhance the rider experience one example of the success of that collaboration was the decision to add another vehicle to the fleet aimed at reducing passenger wait times and meeting the growing demand this commitment to continuous improvement ensures that microcat remains a reliable and effective service for our community microcat has proven to be more than a transit service it's a lifeline for many in our community thank you for supporting this innovative program together we're making albemarle county a more connected and

[02:07:50] equitable place to live in 2024 the winners of the pilot community climate action grant program wrapped up their projects and the second round of winners kicked off their projects the community climate action grant program supports projects that advance the goals, strategies, and actions of the community's climate action plan. By supporting innovative community-driven solutions, Albemarle County is not only working to meet its climate goals, but also creating a more resilient,

[02:08:30] connected, and sustainable community. These partnerships demonstrate that when we work together, we can turn creative ideas into real change. Autism Sanctuary started a worm composting initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, promote green gardening practices in the local community, and provide additional jobs and learning experiences to those with autism in central Virginia. Community Bikes expanded its bike recycling, refurbishment, and redistribution program and provided dozens of repairs and bikes to underserved communities in the county.

[02:09:07] International Rescue Committee's New Roots Farm phased out all but one of its older fossil fuel-based equipment for electric alternatives and created a democratic self-determination process for designing its largest community garden with an AmeriCorps member who helped implement these projects. FLIP, Inc., a non-profit organization providing green jobs training to underserved communities in Virginia, held two credentialing trainings within Elton Law County, which were attended by 17 county residents. By early summer, six participants had already achieved the National

[02:09:46] Certification Standard, and those that were already employed in the industry received promotions and or pay increases due to the skills they learned during the course. The Peabody School, in collaboration with Albemarle Parks and Rec, as well as the Center for Urban Habitat, started the first phase of a grassland restoration project at Dardentau Park to get youth involved in Piedmont Grassland Education and Conservation. In the second round, two grantees, Charlottesville Community Bikes and New Roots Farm, will build on work from their first grant, and three additional

[02:10:24] projects will allow a new group of grantees to work to address climate change. Wild Rock is installing a composting system and developing educational curricula on composting, soil health, and nutrient cycling local energy alliance program or leap is providing roof repairs and energy efficiency upgrades to low-income households and community climate collaborative or c3 is conducting climate action workshops for the leadership of places of community gathering these projects and many more are made possible through collaboration non-profits community groups

[02:11:03] and local government working together toward common goals reducing emissions and building a a more sustainable future for all. I'm excited to share the story of Albemarle County's community engagement work, focusing on our spring town halls and the pop-up events that took place in late summer and fall of 2024. Our journey began with seven community town halls held across the county from March to April. These weeknight events attracted 134 community members and involved 47 dedicated staff members. The format was designed to foster open dialogue featuring a project

[02:11:39] showcase, presentations, and Q&A sessions. The feedback we received was overwhelmingly positive. Attendees appreciated the opportunity to mingle with neighbors and county staff before diving into discussions. Many expressed that the format brought topics to life, enhancing their understanding of key issues like budget allocations, transportation projects, school funding, and public safety.

[02:12:03] Following these town halls, our team moved into our late summer and fall activities, participating in 14 events across 12 locations. We connected with approximately 2,600 community members, continuing our mission to create welcoming spaces for residents to share their perspectives and inform them about county projects.

[02:12:24] This time, we partnered with organizations like Albemarle County Schools, CIN Barreras, and the Rivanna Conservation Alliance to enhance our outreach. The numbers tell a compelling story. 26 dedicated staffers and two amazing interns spent 40 hours tabling at these events.

[02:12:43] We collected over 300 responses to our question of the day and served more than 1,000 snow cones. Yet, beyond these statistics are incredible stories of community connections, inclusivity, and hope. At our back-to-school events, kids shared inspiring ideas about environmental stewardship and how they can be community heroes.

[02:13:04] The Pride Festival sparked conversations about creating more inclusive spaces. At Seize the Day, we heard profound reflections on service and compassion. While we faced challenges, such as navigating hectic event environments and measuring our impact, we also discovered opportunities for growth.

[02:13:23] We expanded our social media presence, implemented evaluation tools like QR code surveys, and recognized our community's eagerness to learn. As Albemarle County continues to grow and diversify, Fostering open conversations become increasingly vital for effective governance.

[02:13:41] The town halls and pop-up events are just a part of a greater effort by our whole organization to make local government accessible and build bridges within our shared communities. Thank you for being a part of this journey. This year, Albemarle County Fire Rescue welcomed its largest recruit class to date, a milestone which reflects our commitment to building a safer, stronger community.

[02:14:10] This effort brought unique challenges, but it also showcased the creativity and dedication of our team. To meet the growing needs of our community, ACFR conducted a single recruitment effort that resulted in two distinct recruit schools, one for experienced providers and another for those new to the field.

[02:14:28] This dual-track approach pushed our training division to innovate and develop new methods to effectively train recruits with varying levels of experience. Together, these academies included 27 recruits who underwent rigorous training, which covered essential skills like emergency medical care basics, firefighting skills, firefighter survival, emergency vehicle operations, and even child car safety seat installations to help prepare for their new roles.

[02:14:56] These recruits will fill critical positions funded by a FEMA grant, which is helping us enhance our emergency response capabilities. 14 of the 30 grant-funded positions will enable 24-7 coverage in Southern Albemarle, ensuring faster response times and better support for residents in that area.

[02:15:15] The remaining 16 positions will staff a ladder truck based at the Monticello Station. This specialized unit, equipped to handle complex incidents like water and technical rescues, will serve the entire county from its central location. These additions represent a significant step forward in our ability to protect and serve our community.

[02:15:33] The success of this effort wouldn't be possible without strong cross-departmental partnerships. Our human resources team worked closely with ACFR to support the hiring and onboarding processes for this large recruitment effort. Meanwhile, our finance and budget staff played a vital role in managing the FEMA grant, ensuring that funding was allocated effectively and efficiently.

[02:15:55] These collaborations, combined with the dedication of ACFR's training staff, have helped us expand coverage, enhance capabilities, and strengthen our emergency response infrastructure to better serve Albemarle County. With this landmark recruit class, ACFR is building a safer future for our community.

[02:16:13] The continuity plan provides a framework to ensure the county's essential functions continue when disruptions impact service delivery. Our organization operates under an enterprise-wide continuity plan supported by department-specific plans. You might wonder what continuity planning is, but you probably know more about it than you think.

[02:16:31] Weekday mornings, most folks have a morning routine to get ready for the day and then commute to school and work. An example of continuity planning at home may include considerations about what to do if the car doesn't start or if a kid is sick or has to stay home. Anticipating disruptions and having backup plans are very important so that our day-to-day lives can run smoothly without big interruptions.

[02:16:55] We aim to do the same for local government, knowing that disruptions in service can impact a lot of people across the community. Over the past year, we've made significant progress in strengthening our ability to deliver critical services under any circumstance. In Phase 1, we appointed 17 continuity liaisons across departments to assist with planning.

[02:17:15] Together, we identified essential functions, key personnel, and over 153 vital records. We also established orders of succession for 79 key positions, ensuring leadership continuity. Today, every county department has its own continuity plan.

[02:17:31] As we move into Phase 2, our focus shifts to implementation and refinement. We'll conduct quarterly program meetings, provide department-specific training, and test plans through exercises. This will culminate in a county-wide continuity exercise in the next fiscal year.

[02:17:48] The continuity program reflects Albemarle County's commitment to resilience and preparedness. By working together across departments, we're building a stronger, more adaptable organization ready to serve our community in any situation. Keeping children safe on their way to and from school is one of Albemarle County's highest priorities.

[02:18:11] The school's own speed camera program, which launched on September 3rd, 2024, was developed in response to community concerns about speeding near schools and supported by speed studies conducted on hydraulic roads. These studies identified areas where speeding posed the risk to student safety, particularly near Lambs Lane campus, home to Elkhart High School, Journey Middle School, and Greer Elementary School.

[02:18:35] Informed by data and community input, the program focuses on reducing speed and creating a safer environment for everyone. For the first 45 days, drivers who exceeded the speed limit by 10 miles per hour or more in the school zone received warnings instead of citations. This period was designed to educate drivers and give everyone time to adjust for the new enforcement measures.

[02:18:57] During this time period, nearly 6,000 warnings were issued to motorists. Full enforcement began in October, and drivers now receive $100 citations if they exceed the speed limit by 10 miles per hour or more when the school zone lights are flashing. This program reflects our focus on safety, accountability, and compliance.

[02:19:16] The benefits of this program extend beyond immediate enforcement. By encouraging safer driving behaviors, we're protecting students, families, teachers, and staff. Lower speeds also create a safer environment, ensuring that everyone traveling through these areas feels secure. This initiative wouldn't be possible without our partnership with Elmore County Public Schools.

[02:19:35] With proven results from similar programs across Virginia, including a 55% reduction in speed violations within three months, We're confident this program will make a meaningful difference in our community. By working together, we are ensuring that school zones are safer for everyone.

[02:19:50] We're highlighting a few important projects from this year that help to make Admiral County a safer, healthier place for everyone to live, work, and enjoy. Our initiatives are about creating spaces and opportunities that encourage safety, wellness, and an active community.

[02:20:10] One of the highlights from this year was the opening of a brand new fitness center at the Yancey Community Center in southern Armaud County. The center was designed to provide residents convenient access to exercise equipment and fitness opportunities.

[02:20:27] We've been thrilled to see so many people making the most of this new space. Yancey Community Center was made possible with support from our partners at the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation. Their generous grant helped make this project a reality, along with other exciting additions like the Heritage and History Exhibit and a community garden, all part of our effort to promote health and well-being in our community.

[02:20:57] The next exciting highlight from this year is the opening of Freebridge Lane Promenade, a new car-free space along Freebridge Lane in Dardentown Park. This section of road was turned into a promenade for walking, running, and biking.

[02:21:15] The project will run as a 12-month pilot, and we will monitor how well it works for everyone. The collaboration and support from the county government and our external partners help make this project a reality. The top highlight of this year is the addition of a new 1,200-acre park.

[02:21:35] In partnership with the Commonwealth of Virginia and the Department of Conservation and Recreation, the county will open Biscuit Run Park in December 2024. We've seen how much our community values safe, accessible spaces for outdoor activities.

[02:21:54] Whether it's working out at the new fitness center, strolling along the promenade, or enjoying time in our parks, these spaces are all here for you. Thank you for this. Wonderful.

[02:22:28] high quality production if that's we'll go through our order if that's okay just to comments supervisor mccue just said really beautifully produced and really informative so thank you very much for this um the ability to see this and to share it with the community it's really great thanks supervisor um i i remember several months ago we had a constituent actually of Jim's, who is in the audience, and he wanted to talk with the supervisor on the way out

[02:23:03] to say, hey, what are y'all doing? Like, fundamentally, what are we doing? And it is always great to have something that we can concretely point toward to say, hey, this is what we're doing. Here's the list of all the important things we've done. So I appreciate the work that went into this for that. Thanks. Thank you. Supervisor Galloway. Yeah, I appreciated the point about you can't tell all the stories about what staff is doing and all of that, but I mean, this does capture it i'd like to request i know you push this out in different venues but i think all of our cac members would enjoy seeing it so if it and i know we have a specific mailing lists

[02:23:40] for them um at least for my i mean i expect for all but if we could push that out to the cac's i think they'd enjoy enjoy watching the video and i do want to make a comment about the because the speed zones were were put in there i had a meeting down here yesterday afternoon and i've done and i had to rush from here to go get my son at Albemarle High School and I've had to do that trip many times over the years to get to the high school from here and I have to say that between the improvements on hydraulic road that was the easiest at four o'clock in the afternoon I'm not saying it was like clean

[02:24:15] but the improvements with the roundabout and the left turn lanes gone that is the most efficient or fastest time I've made during that time of day to get to Albemarle and when I hit the speed zone It was the first time that I have seen in both directions people knew they were in a school zone.

[02:24:34] It's the culture. It's changing the culture. So it's starting to change, and I appreciate that effort. But like the roundabout and some of the road improvements there, that's not something you can do. I mean, we can't tell everything, but there is noticeable things being done out there.

[02:24:50] So good stuff on putting this together. Thank you. Thank you. Supervisor LePiesto-Curkey? I think the roundabouts have definitely cut down on any red light, people going through red lights and getting into crashes and such. So I love roundabouts.

[02:25:06] And I agree that this presentation should go out to all the CACs, and I know you're going to do that. Would you also send us a PowerPoint today? Because I've got to speak with WINA tomorrow, so I want all the stats for this. But thank you very much for putting this together.

[02:25:23] It was really, it was very nice and a big compliment to the staff because they're the ones that make all this happen. And so big thank you to the staff. Thank you. Thank you. Supervisor Malin. Yes, thank you. And will this be linked on the website for people like me in the country with terrible broadband who couldn't possibly even open the big file when it comes?

[02:25:48] There'll be another way to see it where it's not downloaded. Correct. Yeah, we'll distribute it through all of our normal channels. send out emails we'll put it on our website we'll put it on social media we'll we'll try and make sure that we get as many eyeballs on it as we can yeah so i can get the email and pull it pull the link off to put in my newsletter that'll be good i was fascinated and and uh someone will have to explain to me how a ladder truck does a water rescue but that's that's not for this afternoon i'm thinking we had so much experience in greenwood two times with the campground that flooded and people had to be evacuated in the middle of the night but there were heavy There have be trucks there and the boats.

[02:26:24] So I was just sort of amused and thinking, okay, how can I find out about that? But we also need to be always remembering those kinds of emergencies. I especially am just so appreciative of the work that John Apprandy is doing with the whole emergency planning department.

[02:26:41] I mean, he was second day on the job when the snowstorm in January happened a couple of years ago and was instrumental in getting services. It took 48 hours, but getting services to the residents at the Meadows who had been totally forgotten by their landlord.

[02:26:58] So I was really, really grateful for that ongoing effort as well. Thank you. Thank you, and I very much appreciate that we get out there and tell our story, and this is a great way to do it. I'm tempted to say let's just all watch it again for one more time.

[02:27:13] No, we'll save that. You can do that at home tonight with the popcorn. But, yeah, thank you very much. there's anything further okay which brings us to uh from the board committee reports and matters not listed on the agenda again supervisor mcqueen i'm fine thank you supervisor pruitt um a few things from from boards and commissions briefly um at a recent meeting of the tjpdc uh there was some interesting comments from some of our neighbors um uh supervisor out in um out nelson

[02:27:49] I thought had quite a lot of interesting points to make on how we think of and consider the role of career technical education in the community. He highlighted kind of the importance of actually having an organic workforce locally. If we are going to continue to be concerned about the price of housing, you also, part of that is going to be whether or not you're having to import your workforce from Richmond or if you've developed it locally. I would also point out this, I think, It ties into some conversations I brought up earlier, which is across the country, the migrant population in construction workforce is substantial.

[02:28:28] It is almost 20%. And as we are looking toward potential concerns from the federal administration on that, we are going to look at very real and meaningful changes to our workforce, both locally and across the country. He also had some interesting thoughts to share on kind of what PVCC does and how that differs from some of our neighboring community colleges.

[02:28:49] Noting that PVCC and his experience focuses a lot more on new collar kind of jobs, things that are working class jobs in tech adjacent industries, rather than a more traditional blue collar work. And it made me realize that I think I need to have a better understanding of kind of the work that we're doing at PVCC and make sure that we are adequately serving all the various needs in our community.

[02:29:16] I would also like to share that we had a thorough and exciting conversation around Bede in the Broadband Authority yesterday. This is kind of the last, last mile program designed to pick up the remaining households that aren't going to be fully touched by VODE deployment for broadband, the final stragglers.

[02:29:45] There are 327 individual locations that are going to be eligible in Albemarle County. And the Broadband Authority is planning, once this gets approval from the Board in January, to vet individual letters from service providers who think that they can make a go at those remaining locations.

[02:30:05] So that will be some exciting work for the Broadband Authority moving forward. And with that, I cede my time. Thank you. Supervisor Gallagher. Just to mention that next Wednesday at 2 p.m. is the meeting for the Central Virginia Regional Housing Partnership. It's the quarterly meeting, but there will be, I think I've mentioned this before, the policy director and legislative affairs person from Virginia Housing will be there giving a, it's virtual, not be there, but we'll be providing a presentation on, you know, some prognosticating of the General Assembly related to housing issues,

[02:30:39] And then some other presentations from members of our own committee will be doing some things. So it could be of interest to those beyond just those who are already appointed to that body. So I would invite you to attend if you have some time free there next Wednesday. Thank you.

[02:30:55] Thank you. Supervisor Luquista Kerber. I'm just reminding everyone that at 10 o'clock on Saturday, we will have the Biscuit Run opening with the grand, well, the public opening at noon on that day. So really looking forward to that.

[02:31:12] So I think we can wear casual clothes. We probably don't have to be able to wear a coat. Oh, it's going to be cold. We'll all be in puffer coats. Okay, so that's fine. That'll work. That'll work. But otherwise, I wish everybody, you know, very Merry Christmas and a happy holidays and good work on behalf that the staff has done throughout the whole year.

[02:31:37] So really, really appreciate that. We are extremely, as a board, I feel we're extremely lucky to have such a great, talented, qualified staff in all areas. Thank you. Thank you. Supervisor Malek. Thank you. Just a very brief update from the Workforce Center yesterday.

[02:31:55] The local agency has passed with flying colors A-plus on performance review from the state and met all of the goals except one, which is 1% below target for dislocated workers because we hadn't had any major catastrophes in business this year and therefore did not have that kind of disruption.

[02:32:14] But our effort is continually diversifying throughout agriculture and health and healthy food and working with school systems throughout the region. So I'm very proud of what they've accomplished. And we have a considerable amount of money.

[02:32:32] Instead of almost being on a line of credit at the second last quarter of the year, The budget is diversified now with outside grants coming in, which supplement the money that local governments provide for special projects and also what the state takes.

[02:32:50] And it is interesting. I thought of this as we were talking about the overhead for the EDA. The state takes 30% off the top of the federal money to do something with, and they have spent millions on consultants to do new planning, strategic reinvention of the system almost every year since I joined the board in 2008.

[02:33:11] And my focus totally has been on getting services to individual people, those people who are transitioning from one job to another or getting in reentry and need to have skills to have a new life. So lots of different all hands on deck to be required for that. And also there was a email mailing coming out about HB 206, which was passed last year, and this is a focus on protection of soils and ag land, or protection of soils in general, food producing land, when solar projects are coming in.

[02:33:45] And the startling fact I wanted to bring up briefly, because I know we will at some point be considering a solar ordinance and how to go forward, is often, in order to avoid state regulation process a developer will get control of the land and strip off all the timber before they even have a permit and sell this was reporting sales of the topsoil which takes a thousand years to regrow stripping everything down to the bare nothing and then if they lose interest as has happened in the past especially in southwest virginia where they've walked away from thousand

[02:34:21] acre disturbances everybody's left holding the bag and the destruction is horrific so i will ask all of us to be thinking about how ways that we can work with staff to be able to get some protections in process involved in on the ground in the new year so that because i think we will also remember back to when there was some effort on the part of airbnb nationally to come in and basically take over and state government at the time tried to preempt localities from having their own rules but alamo county already had our own rules and therefore we were protected and our ordinance

[02:34:59] stood when other counties who hadn't done anything couldn't so i will ask us to think about that as we go forward and working on all these other procedural things i know everybody's busy but we may need to do some little special targeting of some of these issues to get this done before we lose another year and thank you everybody i'll hopefully see people at noon at the i'll see hopefully people at biscuit run at 10 and the wreaths at noon on saturday thank you thank you Thank you for all those reports.

[02:35:31] I want to just double up on Supervisor Brewis' report on the ALBA meeting. It was a very informative, productive meeting. We heard about VADI 2021 finally being invoiced, going to DHCD for the payments to Bright Speed, which has taken a long time to get through. VADI 2022, Firefly is on schedule.

[02:35:48] Dominion has done a tremendous amount of the work getting things onto the polls, and they're now looking to finishing up some of the splicing to be able to get the miles ready. We also heard about the effects of the board funding of the Albemarle County Bridge Program, which has kept 700 households connected that otherwise might have fallen off the walls.

[02:36:09] All of this shows the success of the broadband efforts and the broadband office, which brings me to the saddest part of the report, which is that Mike Culp, it was his last meeting, And he will be retiring in, I guess, February 1, technically, but in January at some point.

[02:36:30] So we celebrated, Mike, including with former supervisors. Liz Palmer was there, and Donna Price wrote in about it. I can't say enough good things about what Mike did to, as the committee stated, who brought Van Dalbomorel.

[02:36:53] Communication. absolutely what a career i couldn't let this go without at least commenting on it maybe we'll have a chance to celebrate him further um and he has developed a great rolodex he needs oh yeah well and the changing rolodex i'm still always sending things to him and jason because you never know who the sitter is in all these different partner agencies and you can spend your whole life chasing after somebody who's been sent to siberia by their company because they were too

[02:37:21] helpful. And Jason is stepping up into that role. Oh, that's great. That's the good news. That is good news. Hope Mike will be missed. He was wonderful. Very, very much so. One quick question, if I may, about the stuff. So is there anything being done about these providers who have contracts and are just totally non-performing? I mean, we're, Northwest Albemarle is in the 2021 cadre. We've seen zero work from anybody, and they're just not doing anything.

[02:37:52] And so what do I keep telling people that, I mean, 2022, then three, then four, then maybe 2025 is the year, supposedly, but... There are a limited number of areas where body 2021 should have hit, and there have been some issues, but that's a very small subset.

[02:38:07] I think you should bring this up with Mike Holt and Jason Infuentes. Right. I mean, as I said, within the last couple of months, it was still 2025, but there's, you know, it takes years to get the work done before the final work.

[02:38:23] gets done. And so since nobody has been visible out there, I'm just wondering. I know there was some discussion at the state level about non-performing partners, and they're concerned about it, I know. So I don't want the county's money to get at risk because the state has taken theirs back, and we don't get ours back. Okay, thanks.

[02:38:44] Okay. I'll look to Mr. Richardson, if there's anything further. Board, I believe you have received probably among your hundreds of emails just a mention that tomorrow afternoon our employees will engage in a holiday party at 2 o'clock at 5th Street, and that's at 2 o'clock tomorrow.

[02:39:08] You're an extremely busy group of people, but if you have any way to come by and say hello to folks, they would love to see you. And that'll be at 5th Street tomorrow at 2 o'clock. And hats off to Abby and her team for the annual report.

[02:39:25] I'm always proud of our staff in trying to pick what may make the most sense. I love the collaboration and partnership theme. So many things we do, it depends on our key partners in order to get it done. So, Mr. Chair, thank you. Hope to see you folks tomorrow.

[02:39:41] Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Will there be a Christmas sweater contest? I'm sure David will be fully dressed in his outfit. At this point, we have, I believe, a closed meeting motion. Yes, I would like to move that the Board of Supervisors convene a closed meeting pursuant to Section 2.2, Text 3711A of the Code of Virginia under Subsection 1 to discuss and consider annual performance of the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors.

[02:40:09] Second. We have a motion from Supervisor Pruitt, second from Supervisor Malik. Without objection, if the Clerk will call the roll. Mr. Pruitt? Aye. Mr. Andrews? Yes. Mr. Galloway? Yes. Ms. Malik? Yes. Ms. McKeel? Yes. Ms. LaPee-Stoe-Kirtley? Aye. Great. Where do we propose to go?

[02:40:26] Yeah, we have to know what the climate will be in Paris.

[03:07:25] No. Okay. We're back, and we're looking to Supervisor Pruitt for a motion coming out of closed meeting. Yes. I would like to move that the Board of Supervisors certify by a recorded vote that, to the best of each supervisor's knowledge, only public business matters lawfully exempted from the open meeting requirements of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and identified in the motion authorizing closed meeting were heard, discussed, or considered in the closed meeting.

[03:07:51] Second. We have a motion from Supervisor Pruitt, a second from Supervisor Malek, without objection if the clerk will call the roll. Mr. Pruitt? Aye. Mr. Andrews? Yes. Mr. Galloway? Pardon me. Ms. Malek? Yes. Ms. McKeel? Yes.

[03:08:06] Ms. LaPista-Curtley? Aye. Great. Thank you. Board, I think this concludes our business, and we will adjourn to Wednesday, January 8th, 2025, 1 p.m. in Lane Auditorium. Opportunities for the public to access and participate in this meeting are posted on the Albemarle County website, on the Board of Supervisors' homepage, and on the Albemarle County calendar. Participation will include the opportunity to comment on those matters for which comments from the public will be received. Happy holidays, everyone.

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