Coraggio Consulting
Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors Meeting - July 22, 2026, Wednesday, July 22, 2026

Date: Wednesday, July 22, 2026
Place: Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors, Virginia
Length: 6h 2m (video)
Official meeting video (CivicClerk): https://chesterfieldcova.portal.civicclerk.com/event/2028/media
Official agenda (CivicClerk): https://chesterfieldcova.api.civicclerk.com/v1/Meetings/GetMeetingFileStream(fileId=5185,plainText=false)
Official minutes (CivicClerk): https://chesterfieldcova.api.civicclerk.com/v1/Meetings/GetMeetingFileStream(fileId=5235,plainText=false)

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 2026-10-23. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:05:00] Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the afternoon session of the July 22nd Board of Supervisors' Meeting. Madam Clerk. Mr. Chair, the first item on the agenda is approval of minutes for the June 24th Board of Supervisors' Meeting. Board members, can we act in a motion to approve the June 24th minutes?

[00:05:19] So moved. Let's get a second. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Thank you. Aye. Madam Clerk. Item 2, request to postpone agenda items and additions, deletions, or changes in the order of presentation. Staff has one request. We would like to move item 15D1H, adoption of a resolution requesting the Circuit Court of Chesterfield County to order a referendum election on the question of whether Chesterfield County should be authorized to levy a general retail sales tax, not to exceed 1%, to provide revenues solely for capital projects for the construction or renovation of schools

[00:05:58] serving Chesterfield County in accordance with Virginia Code Section 58.1-605.1 as amended. We would like to move that to new business. That will come after item C, which is appointments.

[00:06:25] So it will become item 15D. Got it. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Board members, are there any additional requests to remove items from the consent agenda for discussion by the board? If not, may I get a motion to remove item 15D-1 or .1.H from the consent agenda and approve the consent agenda as amended?

[00:06:52] Can I get a motion for that? Mr. Chair. Yes, ma'am. This will just be a motion to approve the amended agenda. Got it. Okay, just for the one. Motion to approve the amended agenda. Second. All right. All in favor? Madam Clerk. Item three, resolutions and special recognitions.

[00:07:09] A, resolution recognizing Major Donald Huff, Sheriff's Office, upon his retirement. Will Major Huff and his guests please join the board in the front of the room? In the board.

[00:07:34] Huff call. Your glasses you gave me?

[00:07:49] Yeah, yeah. They working? All right.

[00:08:15] Madam Clerk, can you please read the resolution? Yes, sir. Whereas Major Donald Huff was hired on July 23, 2001, as a deputy, and has faithfully and honorably served the Chesterfield County Sheriff's Office for 25 years under Sheriff Clarence G. Williams, Jr., the late Sheriff Dennis S. Prophet, Sr., and current Sheriff Carl S. Leonard.

[00:08:37] And whereas Major Huff was awarded a good conduct ribbon and received letters of appreciation for his multifaceted contributions to recruitment, strategic planning, and community outreach, and was further recognized with a life-saving award for displaying exceptional courage and compassion in rescuing and resuscitating an inmate following a suicide attempt.

[00:08:58] And whereas Major Huff earned a unit citation for a successful training audit, letters of commendation for achieving agency compliance with the Prison Rape Elimination Act, and assisting in a fugitive apprehension and drug seizure, and a letter of appreciation for contributing over 50 hours of community service to the Chesterfield Food Bank's Kids Summer Food Program.

[00:09:22] And he further received Celebrating Success Awards for his initiative in streamlining the deputy hiring process, assisting with interviews, and organizing the agency's first public safety career expo, and earned a meritorious service award for going above and beyond his normal duties to bring the Growth Through Opportunity Program to Chesterfield.

[00:09:44] And whereas Major Huff received recognition for his extraordinary achievement in creating, developing, and implementing the Adherence, Vigilance, Observation, Interdiction, Diligence Initiative to prevent inmate deaths, and was further commended for his hard work on the Sheriff's Office wellness team as a true representative of peer and staff well-being, and received a letter of appreciation for his dedicated service during the funeral of Deputy William Barrett Walters.

[00:10:15] And whereas Major Huff, throughout his distinguished career, has embodied the highest ideals of public service, exemplifying the highest level of integrity and leadership, and has earned the profound gratitude of his peers, the Sheriff's Office, and the citizens of Chesterfield County, now therefore be it resolved that the Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors, this 22nd day of July, 2026, publicly recognizes the outstanding contributions of Major Donald Huff, expresses the appreciation of all residents for his dedicated service to Chesterfield County

[00:10:49] and extends congratulations and best wishes upon his retirement for a long, healthy, and happy future. And be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be presented to Major Huff and that this resolution be permanently recorded among the papers of this Board of Supervisors of Chesterfield County, Virginia.

[00:11:07] Thank you, Ms. Kirk. Can I get a motion? And I hear a second. All in favor, say aye. Aye. I think we're going to go to a brick presentation, correct? Yes, I'm Lieutenant Colonel Wilkerson, standing on behalf of Sheriff Leonard, who could not make it with us today.

[00:11:27] And just a pleasure to present Donald Huff with his retirement. I was hoping he'd hang on until I left, but he's going before me. But the resolution is fantastic, but it doesn't really begin to tell the whole story of Major Huff's contributions throughout the Sheriff's Office.

[00:11:43] He truly, as you will see with all three of our retirees today. They have a legacy of service within our department and each one of them having their own way left things behind for us to continue on with and to grow on. And Major Huff, today this is your brick. It's a replica of the brick that will be out in front of the 1917 courthouse and that's yours to take home with you and it's pretty heavy. I thought the resolution was heavy but it's got a little weight to it. So we thank you for your service and it's been a pleasure working with you getting to know you proud to call you my friend he's joined today by

[00:12:17] his wife Jen his son Joshua and grandbaby number one Gracie so congratulations there's a really long list of people I'd like to thank first and foremost I know it said at every graduation we have especially by the board members who attend but I'd like to thank my family for the sacrifices

[00:12:54] that they have made throughout my career you know we had weather events me having to go to work because I can't call in we got to be there so leaving them in times like that holidays missed holidays birthdays anniversaries all of those especially my wife Jen she's been my rock throughout my career and I wouldn't be here without her support got a lot of people in blue back there those are my brothers and sisters I came here I have my one family now I've got my extended family and they will remain my brothers and sisters so thank you to

[00:13:29] everyone who's helped me along the way it went by really quick but i appreciate it resolution

[00:14:05] recognizing captain levi golson sheriff's office upon his retirement will captor golson and his

[00:14:11] guests please join the board the resolution recognizing master deputy patsy dismuke sheriff's

[00:15:16] office upon her retirement will master deputy dismuke and her guests please join the board in the front of the room master deputy patsy dismuke faithfully served the chesterfield county sheriff's office for 25 years under Sheriff Clarence G. Williams, Jr., the late Sheriff Dennis S.

[00:15:48] Profitt, Sr., and current Sheriff Carl S. Leonard, and whereas Master Deputy Dismuk was hired on July 23, 2001 and was assigned to correctional services as a jail deputy, and whereas Master Deputy Dismuk throughout her tenure received letters of appreciation for exemplary performance, open communication, mentoring future CSO deputies as a field training officer, and maintaining professionalism while being the sole roamer in the female housing unit, and whereas Master Deputy Dismuk was awarded good conduct ribbons on multiple occasions in recognition of having

[00:16:25] no formal disciplinary actions, and whereas Master Deputy Dismuk earned three Sheriff's Office Star Performer Awards and was commended by Judge Vaughn for exemplary professionalism, leadership and outstanding service and whereas Master Deputy Dismuk received a unit citation for exemplary service as part of the peer support team providing crisis intervention trauma support resiliency resources training and 24-hour assistance to sheriff's office personnel while helping develop and strengthen the agency's peer support program and whereas Master Deputy

[00:17:02] Dismuk has earned the profound gratitude of her peers the sheriff's office and the citizens of Chesterfield County. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors recognizes the outstanding contributions of Master Deputy Patsy Dismuk, expresses the appreciation of all residents for her service to Chesterfield County, and extends appreciation for her dedicated service to the county and congratulations upon her retirement, as well as best wishes for a long and happy retirement, and be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be presented to Master Deputy Dismuk, and that this resolution be permanently recorded among the papers of this

[00:17:41] Board of Supervisors of Chesterfield County, Virginia. Also, Ms. Dismuk, this is your brick, simulates the brick that would be in front of the 1917 courthouse, again, to mark your service.

[00:18:01] And, you know, Patsy and I go way back, you know, back in the day, 25 years ago, I was her training sergeant, and we had a good time in training today. And, you know, she has served us well in sheriff's office she's worked in a lot of capacities in the sheriff's office and always does so with with professionalism you never had to worry about where she was at or what she was doing she was always doing what she was supposed to do and helping out her fellow deputy fellow service member so she will be truly missed you know I'm glad that you're able to catch up with your husband on his

[00:18:38] retirement now and I look forward to seeing what you guys are gonna do in the future with with all this free time you have on your hands but thank you for your service amen i'm still formally working right now until july 31st that's why i'm in uniform but i'll be officially retired on august 1st and i just would like to thank each and every one of you all for giving me the opportunity has been a long long journey but it has been a great journey to work for chesterfield sheriff's office and i think sheriff i went on the three different sheriffs

[00:19:14] So I think all three of those, one that's not here with us, it was very dear to each and every one of us. We truly do miss him. And to Colonel, thank you. They were hardworking us in the training. Training is not easy, and they didn't let up on us either.

[00:19:32] So I thank you for the hard push, and I continue to hold on. And to my coworkers, thank you guys. Love each and every one of you guys. And don't forget me when I leave here. Remember, Deputy Dismute, okay? No, Master Deputy Bismarck.

[00:19:49] Thank each and every one of you all on the board, each and every one that came out on today for one reason or another. Thank each and every one of you. Amen. All right.

[00:20:20] Let's see. We'll go to, if you, Mr. Chair, if you'd like, we do have another retiree here. She's not going to have her resolution read, but she would love to join you at the front of the room and Dave Goodwill.

[00:20:36] All right. So we'll do recognizing other retirees and special guests. Mr. Goode. Mr. Chair, Mr. Vice Chair, fellow board members, Mr. Harris. I'd like to welcome Kathy Novak up front with the board right now. She is accompanied by Gloria House, who is the Chief Deputy Commissioner, and filling in for Ms. Hughes this evening.

[00:20:55] Kathy has 21 years of service with the county, and we're here to recognize her tonight. I'm going to hand the mic to Gloria because I know she has a few words. There you go. Hello.

[00:21:16] Please join me in congratulating Kathy on her retirement after 21 years of outstanding public service. And Commissioner Hughes sends her regrets. Unfortunately, she's not able to be here today, but I'm honored to have the opportunity to acknowledge Kathy's service.

[00:21:36] We're not reading the resolution today, but I will give a few of the highlights. So Kathy started with the county in 2005 as a temporary secretary and shortly thereafter came to work for the Commissioner of the Revenies Office in 2006 as an administrative assistant.

[00:21:53] And it was through her dedication and hard work that she moved up through the ranks throughout her tenure. She served as an administrative analyst after that and then an administrative supervisor and ultimately part of the leadership team as an administrative manager.

[00:22:13] Kathy's legacy will be the lasting impact she made on our office. And again, it was through her dedication and her commitment to excellence as some of the staff members are here can attest to. So some of those things that really stand out are Kathy's participation in establishing a robust continuing professional development program for the staff.

[00:22:39] And one of her final assignments was as a change agent for the workday implementation. She also served as a member of the startup committee to establish a deputy commissioner of the revenue association in this region of the Commonwealth.

[00:22:56] Kathy's talent for building relationships and collaboration has won her friends within Chesterfield County and also the surrounding localities. And this was never more evident than when we attended meetings with Kathy and she always had friends in the room wherever we went.

[00:23:13] Although Kathy was a critically important and much respected member of the Chesterfield Commissioner of the Revenues team, we appreciate her sense of fun and her love for people and she will be deeply missed. The Commissioner of the Revenue, along with her staff, wish Kathy a long, happy, and well-deserved retirement.

[00:23:36] Thank you. It's been an honor and a pleasure to serve Chesterfield County, the Commissioner of Revenue's office, and the citizens of Chesterfield County. It's been a true joy, and I will certainly miss all of you.

[00:23:53] Thank you. Mr. Chair, we have six more individuals that will appear on consent tonight who are retiring.

[00:24:19] They include Barry White from building inspections with 33 years Robin Jones with mental health support services with 31 years William Calliette jr. With the police department for 30 years Greg Belzee with parks and rec 30 years Melissa ahern with fire and EMS with 28 years and Christian Wilkinson with fire and EMS 20 years in total The individuals were recognizing tonight combined to make up 276 years of public service. Thank you Can I get a round of applause for them?

[00:24:52] Sounds like Captain Golson's ready to go forward. We're all settled, kind of.

[00:25:22] All right, Madam Clerk. Whereas Captain Levi Golson has faithfully and honorably served the Chesterfield County Sheriff's Office for 33 years under Sheriff Clarence G. Williams, Jr., the late Sheriff Dennis S. Profitt, Sr., and current Sheriff Carl S. Leonard.

[00:25:38] And whereas Captain Golson was hired on August 16, 1993 and assigned to the Correctional Services as a jail deputy, and through dedication, professionalism, and exemplary service, advanced through the ranks to sergeant in 1995, lieutenant in 2007, and captain in 2016. And whereas Captain Golson earned recognition as employee of the quarter on multiple occasions and earned the distinct honor of being named employee of the year in 1994. And whereas Captain Golson received numerous letters of appreciation, recognition, and commendation for outstanding leadership, exceptional performance,

[00:26:16] professionalism superior attendance successful inspections strategic planning employee mentoring and contributions to agency operations and whereas captain golson made significant contributions to the sheriff's office by helping develop jail policies and procedures supporting recruitment and promotional processes coordinating training programs filling in as quartermaster improving operational readiness, assisting with accreditation and inspection efforts, and consistently demonstrating a commitment to organizational excellence.

[00:26:53] And whereas Captain Golsan faithfully represented the Sheriff's Office through many years of service with the Honor Guard and Color Guard, participating in funerals, ceremonial events, public safety ceremonies, and other occasions that honored fellow public servants and the community. And whereas Captain Golsan demonstrated commitment to community engagement by organizing and participating in youth outreach conflict resolution and wellness programs yada pp conferences shop with a cop career fairs school presentations public safety initiatives charitable service

[00:27:29] and other efforts that strengthened relationships between the sheriff's office and the community and whereas captain golson was recognized by the highly exceptional acts regarding teamwork program for donating 80 hours of his annual leave to a fellow deputy. And whereas Captain Golsan has commended for over three decades of dedicated public service and for earning the respect and gratitude of his colleagues, the Sheriff's Office, and the citizens of Chesterfield County. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors recognizes the outstanding contributions of Captain Levi Golsan, expresses the appreciation

[00:28:07] of all residents for his dedicated service to Chesterfield County and extends congratulations and best wishes upon his retirement for a long, healthy, and happy future. And be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be presented to Captain Golson and that this resolution be permanently recorded among the papers of this Board of Supervisors of Chesterfield County, Virginia.

[00:28:28] Thank you, Madam Clerk. I want to make one small, friendly addition. He's also an incredibly sharp dresser. And with that, I'd like to get a motion. oh i got two in second all right all in favor say aye all right thank you what a pleasure it is for me to be able to wish you a happy retirement thank you for your family here today and uh your your brick here is uh you know this is indicative for me because i was once asked what can you tell me about levi gosin i told him a lot of things but i ended my comments with levi is a leader that if

[00:29:07] he tells his people come on we're going to go right through that brick wall he's going to get up and lead them they're gonna get up and follow him he's that kind of person he's always was able to just put that on his people they they follow him anywhere and uh i know we've seen you in the back of the jail we've seen you in the courthouse and we'll see you around in your retirement as well it's been my pleasure we went in the same basic academy together back in 1993 so just very proud of you man very very happy for you and your family and your wife to get you back after all

[00:29:42] these years i've known this guy for over half my life so i wish you the very best lela going to say a whole lot i will say the true meaning of service before self and i see all of these young men and

[00:30:12] women who i watched come up and i watched their service come before themselves and this is my day But you all made my day because every day is what?

[00:30:32] Outstanding. That's what I'm talking about. Y'all be blessed.

[00:31:42] Madam Clerk.

[00:33:21] Item four, everyday excellence, Dr. Worsley. Good afternoon, Mr. Chair. As far as the board, Mr. Harris, thanks. Everyday excellence is a great opportunity for you to learn a little bit more about what is going on in our departments and for our community to also learn what some of our frontline employees are doing in the community and the good work they're doing.

[00:33:44] I'm very pleased to bring up two of our department directors, Ms. Free from Mental Health, Mr. Hughes from Community Correction Services, along with our two guests that have been recognized. We will call them the Four Sisters. If you all will make your way over here to the table and have a seat. And I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Hughes to tell you a little bit more about the Four Sisters Story, Sister Act.

[00:34:09] Mr. Chair, members of the board, Mr. Harris, Mr. Meeks, Kelly and I are very appreciative of the opportunity that we have today to bring forth Melody Force. and her sister, Lindsay Force.

[00:34:24] Melody works for Community Correction Services. She's been with us for almost two and a half years. She is a peer recovery specialist. Her sister, Lindsay, is a peer recovery specialist for Cheshawil Mental Health Support Services, and she's been with them about a year and a half, I believe.

[00:34:40] There's a couple of unique factors about the Force sisters. So I'd start off with say this, that Cheshawil Mental Health Support Services with Kelly and the Community Correction Services, we intentionally collaborate in many different ways. So this is really an unintentional collaboration for us to have this.

[00:34:55] But it's been very prosperous throughout the agencies. And I also would be remiss if I wasn't talking that Chesterfield has a robust peer recovery specialist community and staff throughout many of our departments. So with peer recovery specialists, they're individuals who have lived experience.

[00:35:11] They are in recovery, remain in recovery. They've been through the process. They are able to reach clients that probation or pretrial officers cannot reach and often that clinicians cannot reach. They have been there. They have been through many of the trials, the tribulations, the difficulties.

[00:35:30] They provide a perspective that we have been unable to provide. I can go on and talk about what they do in terms of connecting clients with recovery housing, transportation, offering solace to a client who might have a positive test or might be facing a difficult court date.

[00:35:47] They might be assisting somebody who's having a difficult time in the community. They are there. So they are problem solvers. They are connectors. They bring together people throughout the community. And I think that Kelly and I could say that about many of our peer recovery specialists with the lived experience and what they do in terms of connecting others to services and providing some hope.

[00:36:09] What I feel is unique about the Four Sisters would be this, and particularly from the perspective of community correction services. Melody and Lindsay both have a criminal record. Both were actually on community supervision at one time in their lives. They're aware that I'm going to mention that today. I would not surprise them with that fact.

[00:36:28] However, what's unique is they have taken their story and their journey, and beyond them, their family's story and their family's journey about recovery and impact, and what they have done is they have taken that on the road. So they have something called the Sister Act that they go for, that they have provided at conferences, in facilities, whether that be jails or otherwise, and they go out and they are very open about their story and about their experience.

[00:36:54] From the standpoint of community corrections, bringing in a peer recovery specialist for myself was fraught with anxiety because we were bringing in somebody to our department full of probation or pretrial officers who did have a prior criminal record, who was on supervision that was very different from us, and it was something I would not have imagined when I started in the field 28 years ago.

[00:37:15] In retrospect, I say it's the best thing we've ever done. Amongst many great things and many great staff. But we have somebody who every day shows us the power of redemption, the power of second chances or multiple chances, and the power of somebody who has moved on through their life, who is now working, employed, and helping so many others.

[00:37:36] And so I can say that for Melody. I can say that about Lindsay. So for me, that's that other piece of what they do. and their service where they're going out and telling their story being open about their story and they're inspiring others and that's what we feel makes the sister act so unique and i just thank both of them for what they do and what they have done for chesterfield county um i echo what gary said this you know they'll speak in a few minutes but it just demonstrates the power of the peers that we have in so many of our programs and we're just so fortunate to have them because it

[00:38:15] makes such a difference in the lives of those that we serve. So thank you both very much. Board members. Let's see if they want to say something. Do you want to say something first? Okay. Press the red button. Press the red button.

[00:38:30] Got it. Hi, everyone. I'm Lindsay. Thank you so much for this award. We were both really surprised and humbled by the opportunity to kind of showcase the ability to overcome the things that we're all trying to help people with you know we're able to overcome and you know sometimes there can be a little imposter syndrome feeling going on you know should I be here I mean is this okay but for the most part peer support has really allowed

[00:39:03] people with lived experience to you know be among other people who are trying to help and really be the bridge to connect, um, with lived experience, you know, so we are, we are really grateful for the opportunity to kind of be, um, the face of that in this moment, but mostly on a more personal note, um, I, uh, I, I got sober in, um, 2007 on Christmas Eve. It wasn't my choice. And, um, and, you know, through that, our family has started to heal. My sister got sober and our, our dad also got sober.

[00:39:40] And our experience is that, you know, we've always been the girls, you know, the girls do this or the girls did that. And for a long time, we weren't connected because of my addiction and then because of hers. But we've been able to come full circle and walk this path of recovery together and then now also work together.

[00:40:00] So it really, truly is a full circle moment. And we're proud, proud of that. So, yeah, that's all I have to say. Thank you so much. I'm Mel, and I'm just honored to be here.

[00:40:16] I want to thank Gary and Anna, my supervisor, who fought to have a peer recovery specialist at Community Corrections, and ever since I walked in the door, really before that, Gary said to blaze a trail and to be myself, and that's exactly what I'm able to show up as every day.

[00:40:38] I've never been able to do that with a job, and right before I came here, my supervisor sent me a message. She's on vacation just to let me know that my recovery led me to her and that it's been the best journey since then, so I want to thank both of them and Joanne, the other director at Community Corrections, and Jenny, Lindsay's supervisor, but I just want to say it's been an honor to serve a county I grew up in that I also struggled with addiction and incarceration and

[00:41:16] then recovery. And to be able to come back into my own community that I grew up in and serve people around me has been a gift. And it's a mission when I show up. It is for people that are like me. But also to be able to work with the over 60 officers, I get to have the pleasure of working with side by side who have kind of learned to work with a peer recovery specialist for the first time, it's been really special. And I want to thank my sister for doing sister acts. And

[00:41:53] that really was brought on by working at Chesterfield and sharing our recovery stories together naturally. And then my supervisor said, you should take it on the road. And so we have. So she's my road manager too.

[00:42:09] And just to be able to be with my sister and also share the opportunity to help people together and collaborate, it's been a true gift. So thank you. Board members, any comments? Ms. Jessica.

[00:42:26] Well, what a blessing to be able to take what was a negative and turn it into such a positive for not just yourselves and your family, but so many others whose lives you've touched and continue to touch. And so thank you so much for bringing that gift to the county and all the people that you helped make it through that process also.

[00:42:49] We greatly appreciate it. We've seen many programs in the county that have been much more successful in recent years because of the peer support in all different areas. And to be able to bring people back that have been through the situations of the people they're helping now to get through them has to be a full circle for so many.

[00:43:18] And it's the start of somebody else's full circle. And so for you to be willing to do that, to share that, to let people know that you've been through that, but where you're going now, it does inspire others that they can do it as well.

[00:43:36] And so thank you for the Sister Act and what you're doing to help our citizens in Chesterfield County. You know, I grew up seeing a brother kind of go through addiction.

[00:43:54] he passed away in 2019, and so I only think if he would have had or the locality would have had the services that we have, could he have been saved? And, you know, that's one thing I look at you all, and I think that he likely maybe would have been, and that in a way makes Chesterfield a model, and it's a commitment of myself and the board to continue to make sure that we fund programs um like this because it helps out our citizens and to hear your story

[00:44:30] it's uh emotional um because you all fought through all that together and um i just pray that people continue to see your story and continue to move in the right direction away from addiction so and also maybe even divert uh people from addiction i know as me growing up that was one thing that I didn't want to do because I saw him and I made me run in the opposite direction so maybe even some kids who might decide to try something here there will hear your story and run away from it because of what you all have been through so I think it could be a few different

[00:45:09] scenarios that help people one that that people that are going through it and then those who say you know they see your story and say no I want to I want to do it a different way so just thank you so much for sharing continue to share it i know it might be painful sometimes um but you know thank you so much for what you all are doing so yeah thank you um you know we know through certainly through statistics that you know addiction and especially the opioid addiction that this country has been through uh it's taken a lot of lives uh from family members um i had a

[00:45:47] brother-in-law that passed away from addiction um you have no idea the difference you make because it's immeasurable. And you don't know the lives you've probably saved unless those people come out and actually tell you, hey, by the way, from talking to you, you saved my life. So thank you for what you're doing. We need more people like you in the community doing this. So I just want to say thanks. I know it means a lot to the people you help. And again, it's immeasurable because you don't know even the people who might be watching this today that you may inspire. So

[00:46:26] keep up the great work. Thank you. Addiction, we're an addicted culture. We know that. And much of my experience as a substance abuse counselor is that it really does stem from trauma. And you mentioned your father and what he has gone through and probably what put you all through. But it is possible to recover. And it is to be in the recovery process for the rest of your life and at the same time recognizing that what you put out there is hope hope that anything

[00:47:04] is possible and being a peer and for you well and for you lindsey to be able to say it is possible but you got to do the work and work means you got to be able to feel the feeling nobody ever died from feeling a feeling people die from not feeling a feeling and they often the way to avoid it is by not feeling is to drop into the addiction so what you're doing is you're you're giving a lifeline and i know you already know that and you get to see it every day but at the same time it's a lifeline out into the community and beyond because of the sister act you're you can spread that you

[00:47:43] can spread that web out even further um so thank you what you all continue to do for community and And frankly, for at large, everything you do, it's so deeply appreciated. And, you know, keep doing the work. You know, that's what it's about.

[00:47:59] Thank you. Yeah. Item five, work sessions.

[00:48:27] A, intern recognition. Ms. Martin Selby. Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, members of the board, Mr. Harris.

[00:48:45] As you know, the Chesterfield County has sponsored internship programs since the early 1980s. it's our way of helping to grow that next generation of public servants. And over the past 40 years, we've hosted literally hundreds of interns. I think at last count, it was close to 400. And many of them have returned to work after college graduation here in the county. I'm one of those. This year, we received almost 800 applications for the summer internship program.

[00:49:18] And on May 26th, we welcomed 16 college students, and they are interning in various county departments this summer. Some of those interns are here today to observe a portion of the board meeting as part of their educational experience.

[00:49:34] And at this time, I'd like to ask those students to stand to introduce themselves to the board. So if I could have the students that are here to stand. And I think we'll start here on the front with Dustin. Hello, my name is Dustin Niebauer. I just graduated from Center College in Kentucky where I studied math and statistics and this fall I'll be attending graduate school at East Tennessee State University and I'm working in the Learning and Performance Center this summer.

[00:50:11] Hey guys, I'm Mark Perkins. I've met a few of you guys already, but I go to George Mason now. I'm a senior. I have like two more semesters left and I've been doing AD with this at the moment, so it's been pretty fun. Hi, my name is Gabrielle Jones. I'm a rising sophomore at the University of South Carolina.

[00:50:31] There I study marketing and sports management, and this summer I'm interning with sports visitation and entertainment. Hello, my name is Acyon Hogan. I'm a senior at Virginia State University studying criminal justice, and I've had the pleasure to intern at the sheriff's office this year.

[00:50:51] Hello, I'm Marissa Moskoff. I am a junior at NC State University. Sorry, I can't see some of y'all. And I work at the juvenile detention center. Hello, I'm Leah Deasy.

[00:51:07] I'm halfway through a master's at VCU in urban and regional planning, and I've been with the transportation department this summer. Hello, I'm Andrew Dickinson. I just graduated from Southern New Hampshire University, and I am with the procurement department. Hello, my name is Julianna Howe.

[00:51:24] I'm a senior at the College of William & Mary, and this summer I'm working with constituent media services, student communications, and I'm majoring in public policy and marketing. Okay, and last but certainly not least, seated next to me is Kimberly Gonzalez. She's a rising senior at the University of Virginia, majoring in government, and she's interning this summer with Mr. Garrett Hart and the folks over at Economic Development, and Kimberly is going to speak to the board on behalf of herself and the interns. So, Kimberly. Good afternoon, everyone.

[00:51:58] This summer, I've had the privilege of interning with the Chesterfield Department of Economic Development, and I can honestly say that it has been an incredibly fulfilling experience. My interest in local government began back in high school, but it really grew last semester when I had an assignment to write about the place I call home.

[00:52:16] Having grown up in Chesterfield all my life, I've seen firsthand how much our community has grown and evolved over the years. That experience made me curious about the work that occurs behind the scenes to support that growth. Through this internship, I've had the opportunity to learn how the county approaches development projects.

[00:52:36] I've also worked on developing an outreach plan to better engage and support Hispanic-owned businesses, as well as a social media strategy to connect with small businesses throughout the county and region. The work completed by this year's intern class has been equally impressive.

[00:52:52] Some interns have contributed to projects such as crash analyses for the county's roundabouts, rail crossing safety audits, and visits to more than 200 stores that sell tobacco products to educate business owners on the importance of displaying signs stating that they will not sell tobacco products to minors.

[00:53:10] These are just a few examples of the meaningful work interns have been able to support in. One of the biggest takeaways from this internship has been seeing how different county departments collaborate toward a shared goal of serving the community. This has given me an even greater appreciation for the impact that local government has on the lives of its residents.

[00:53:32] On behalf of the entire intern class, I'd like to thank everyone who has mentored and welcomed us into your departments. We are truly grateful for the chance to learn, contribute, and gain a deeper understanding of our local government as a whole. Lastly, thank you to the Board of Supervisors for your continued support in this internship program.

[00:53:53] Your investment in this program has provided us with an invaluable experience, and we sincerely appreciate this opportunity. Thank you. Thank you, Kimberly. If I could just also recognize a couple of staff members from Human Resources.

[00:54:11] Mike Yates and Jamie Key are here with the interns. They are the quiet group behind this whole program. They've been with the program for many, many years, and it runs like a machine because of them. So I'd just like to publicly thank them for their work and support of the internship program.

[00:54:30] Thank you. I know that we're going to be seeing all the interns, I think, later this week, but it's when to check in, see if board members, I see Mr. Engel with his finger on the microphone. Well, I'm sure that you'll hear it again later this week, and I'm sure I won't be the only board member with this sentiment, but we hope that your experience was good enough for you during this summer to want to come back and work for the county in the future and the doors open to you to come back.

[00:55:04] I was in a meeting relatively recently, and the first thing I heard when I was walking into the meeting was how impressive the work that you all did this summer was and how meaningful it was. It wasn't just we're paying you to sit at a desk and fill some time to fill up some college resume or something.

[00:55:28] And y'all actually put in work that has really benefited our citizens. And the meeting had nothing to do with that. But that was the first thing I heard when I walked through the door. So I want to thank y'all for your work this summer. Other board members?

[00:55:45] I'm going to save it. You're going to save it? You're going to save it. The only thing I'm going to mention, and I'll probably say it later, but 800 applications accepted how many? 16. It just says something about who y'all are. And I've heard the same thing, that you guys have just contributed so much to the county.

[00:56:04] So we'll be talking more, but thank you for everything that you all have done. Appreciate that. Thank you. B, finance update, sales tax for education, Mr. Harris and Mr. Durkin.

[00:56:26] Welcome. Good afternoon. I'm Mr. Chair, members of the board, Mr. Harris. We are here to provide a quick finance update for you this afternoon. I'm going to start off with the bond sale.

[00:56:44] We successfully had the sale on July 14th. It was for the $141 million. we received a total of eight bids. The interest rate that we received was 3.62%. And I'm going to draw your attention to the chart on the right. And what you see on the top is the interest rate we received on our bonds last year of 3.8%.

[00:57:02] The rate we just received was 3.62%. And we looked at the same amount on the same day of the sales for U.S. Treasuries on a 20-year yield, which is the same amount of time that we issue our debt for. And you can see the inverse there. Last year, it was out at 4.97% for them on the same day that we sold, it was about 5.09%.

[00:57:22] So over the life of those bonds, it's probably about $20 million worth of savings that we realized from the benefit of having that lower interest rate between the two. And this was our first fence of the quad triple. And I think the phenomenon that Gerard is pointing out is a direct result of that strength and certainly well-received in the market and a good number of bids, very, very tight range and really counter to the interest rate trend that you saw elsewhere. So I think we talk about that rating a lot, and sometimes it's hard to grasp, but I think when you see something like

[00:58:00] this, when you actually put it to use, it really demonstrates the value in maintaining that rating for the county. Yep, so upcoming on those, we finally close on those bonds in the last week of July. We are currently working through the issuance of the second round of bonds for the school's major maintenance and the county facilities modernization bonds, about $50 million in total that was approved as part of the fiscal year 2027 budget. That tentative schedule date is July 30th for those with the closing expected mid-August, around August 13th or so. Any questions on that

[00:58:38] topic for you so the second piece for us here today and this is this is just sort of a preview we will go through the same content this evening so we'll do it twice it's a important topic we've been talking to you about this really through the lens more so for the legislative lens it's been probably last miss spillman correct me but our last three years that the general assembly has considered providing this authority to the full range of localities in the state. It already exists in a handful of localities that have this ability to do the additional one percent local option

[00:59:18] sales tax dedicated for school construction. There's been a variety of language on this over the years. General Assembly did settle on some language and a sort of rule book for this.

[00:59:33] so we are bringing it forward as we have been you know talking about on and off for like i said the last several years for the board's consideration uh this evening uh it's it's a quick timeline but that really has to do with the fact that again just approved by the general assembly and with early voting you have a very tight window to get this you know really in motion so all the board would be is presented with tonight is not approving the sales tax. This is treated just like a bond referendum that we are making the sales on that Gerard just just walked you through. So on your

[01:00:13] consent or excuse me in a new business this evening is the resolution to approve the petition the circuit court clerk to put a question on the ballot for this November for the for the citizens to decide whether they would like to see this local option 1% sales tax that would be used for schools. So I'm going to walk you through the rest of the pieces and parts of this, but that's the issue in a nutshell. So this is a 1% sales tax. We already have this today, so this is not from a mechanical perspective, which is important ultimately if it's approved. This isn't creating

[01:00:50] a new process. This is the 1% sales tax that exists would go to two. It does not apply to all categories per state code. So groceries and other personal care items are exempted from the 1%. So that's, you don't get a real decision about that. That's the way it's already drawn up.

[01:01:10] The revenue can only be used for school purposes and within that category with for new construction or major renovation, major maintenance efforts in the school division. And it more even tightly prescribed than that. On the construction side, it can't be used to finance a project that's already in flight. So a best example there, talking about the high school, we couldn't come back if this was a tool that we had available to us and sell the final portion of that high school. It has to be something that has not yet started in terms of a CAPRA project. And we have a number of those

[01:01:44] eligible projects we'll talk about here in just a second. So for us, we estimate that the annual revenue with that one, those carve outs for groceries and personal care items is somewhere between 65, $70 million on an annual basis. This, the way it's drawn up by the General Assembly, it does have a built-in sunset provision. So 20 years from the date that it's enacted, we would have the ability to bond against these dollars. You could do as a pay-go basis. So you do have some flexibility there as long as you stay within those, you know, construction and

[01:02:20] major maintenance parameters. So that's, that lines up with what, again, what we just walked through on the, on the bond sale side. If you sold something early on, over time, these funds could go to, to pay down those particular projects. So that expiration date is July 2046, right?

[01:02:40] Yes. So that's the enactment date. It'll be 20 years from that date. Any questions before I go on to a few more details? Second, same process as when you did the referendum in 22, resolution of the board, petition, circuit court clerk gets added to the ballot. The question itself is relatively straightforward. But again, if we don't do it in July, then the way it lines up to have it on a November ballot you're really looking at next year or, you know, after that.

[01:03:17] So what would we do specifically, you know, if this were to make it on the ballot and was ultimately approved? Again, we have a number of projects that have either arisen after the last referendum was approved or projects that even going into the referendum that we said these are worthy projects, but we may not have all of the dollars lined up in Lothian Middle School will be in the signature example that, you know, it was included in the referendum as a partially funded project. This particular funding source would fill in that gap. So there's six projects.

[01:03:53] Doesn't mean that you're limited to these, but from a staff's perspective, we go right to the capital plan that has been approved by the school board, by the board of supervisors. There's six projects that fit that candidate list very nicely. In no particular order, those are the Reliever Dale Elementary School, a Reliever Old 100 Elementary School, the other wing built out of Matoaka Middle School, the Mellithy Middle School Project, which I just mentioned, which had partial credit, if you will, from the 22 referendum, the L.C. Byrd High School Gym,

[01:04:28] which is similar to major renovation projects done in other high schools in the county, and then some sort of reconfiguration on the Thomasdale campus to better facilitate student flows and whatnot there. I know there's several, we've talked to the school division, there's several different concepts, but that was previously discussed. I couldn't sit here today to tell exactly what that looked like, but we do believe based on the estimates that we've seen from them and have been discussed that that's something we could accommodate. Mr. Dirk and myself have done some of the modeling on this. We believe it on more or less on day one, we could go out

[01:05:04] and sell bonds to finance all six of those projects that otherwise really don't have a funding source passed currently. They sit in the school CIP, as I mentioned, but they are accordioned out over a good number of years. And again, we have to figure out how we would finance those. And then again, they're stretched out from a construction perspective. We would be able to accelerate all those into the current term and pay for them all in year one through of financing. We could do that as soon as about this time next year. Obviously, the construction

[01:05:40] windows would vary, but it does accelerate and solve those funding questions. The second piece of this, which really shouldn't be overlooked, this is something that we've been talking to you all. The school board's been talking amongst themselves and to you all at Finance Committee and other places, the major maintenance question. Schools has done a good job starting to rebuild their pay-as-you-go major maintenance program so we're talking major maintenance this is just really sort of that the system replacement the upkeep of all the other buildings got six projects up there but you have you know another 60 some campuses that need sort of that care and attention

[01:06:14] on an annual basis this would allow us to establish a pay-as-you-go major maintenance program a meaningful one across the rest of the county which is something that has been on our collective list for a good number of years, you saw the expected financings that we would close on later in the summer. That's really, as we've been using debt tools every now and then to sort of catch up on that, that would allow us to not have to borrow for that really anymore for the foreseeable future and turn that over to a pay-as-you-go program. So that's, I can't stress enough how important that

[01:06:52] It doesn't have all of the named project status necessarily, but Mr. Wodica, since he's been on board, has done a yeoman's work to have done a full facility condition assessment of every school building, every system. So they know exactly what needs to be done and when it needs to be done.

[01:07:10] So they have a very, very good handle on that. So the timing lines up pretty well. So we would, again, just to recap, all six of those projects accelerated, fully funded day one, and you establish a major maintenance program that really maybe not everything they would want it to be, but it's a very substantial program.

[01:07:29] I would put it on par with what we have on the county side. In addition, we are sort of proposing a couple of rate offsets. So if approved, this would include a $0.02 reduction on the real estate rate and a $0.10 reduction on personal property rate.

[01:07:47] You all have been very aggressive on personal property in particular. It's currently down to $3.25, so we'd trim another $0.10 off of that. You took a quarter off of that several years back and a $0.02 reduction on the real estate side. This doesn't preclude something that you would do. As you get into the budget process, as we see what revenues look like and expenditure requests, you still have that path to do something on top of this.

[01:08:10] These are rate offsets that would be tied if approved in November. These are things that we could set into motion as you set your rates, again, as we look at the tax year 27 and mention that doesn't preclude you from doing anything else.

[01:08:29] Michael Bowman is always messing. There he is. I'm watching you, Bowman. Yeah. So the other piece of this is maybe a little bit more nuanced, but I think this is really important. So we would, if you kind of have to think of the school debt portfolio, again, we just talked about that in sort of a bifurcated way.

[01:08:48] So everything that we've sold up until now wouldn't be eligible for any of these new revenue dollars if approved. But this is what it looks like if you don't sell anything else other than what Mr. Durkin has just made me sign for today. So you see this drops off very precipitously over the course of the next 20 years.

[01:09:06] This is that term that the sales tax would be eligible for. So what this sets up is you really sort of convert your debt program over onto the backs of the sales tax. And this existing stream, we wouldn't need to add to this.

[01:09:21] So you see a very, very sharp fall off in schools debt service. So what that provides you a path for is a couple of things, one of which other school initiatives that might be required, teacher pay, whatever the case might be, it's going to create space for that, as well as potentially other rate offsets as we get out into the future.

[01:09:42] So just within five years' time, it peaks in 28. We're digesting the high schools we just talked about. But by 2032, you've got almost $12 million annual savings by switching your debt program off onto the 1%.

[01:10:00] And the other piece that I should mention as we go through this, We estimate that roughly 25 to 30 percent of this would actually be paid for outside of the county by those that are coming here for, you know, our growing tourism space.

[01:10:17] I think one of the benefits of that is, you know, we are exporting a lot of that tax burden outside of the county. We have done several different ways of taking a look at that. We have some hard numbers for Mr. Poma's shop. Mr. Durkin's built sort of a model downstairs.

[01:10:34] So we believe that's a fair number. So you're switching that revenue source to something where it's a much broader base. And, again, we think 25% or 30% is a very conservative number that's paid for by folks that are traveling to or through Chesterfield County.

[01:10:50] So that's certainly another perk of sort of changing this stream. you have the rate offsets and then again this path here which shows that further rate offsets or other expenditure trade-offs are going to be possible in the very near term. So just recap in a timeline it's up for your consideration tonight a new business we would really sort of have the traditional referendum effort where we would go out and talk to groups about the the effort and put as much information out as we possibly can, partner with the school division if approved

[01:11:25] on the ballot for November. You see things you have to come back. I think that's an important point there in the teal column. It comes back to you for a vote on the ordinance. So there, this is a several step process today, really just again, getting the ball rolling. It ultimately relies with the voters, but it comes back to you if approved for the adoption of the ordinance itself and then we are just up here again penciling in for July of next year and then the 20-year expiration built-in sunset nothing that you have to do on that for July of 2046 and Mr. Durkin will

[01:12:01] be here that day to answer your questions about that how that works so other than that any any any questions I know that's a it's a lot of information but we will go through it again tonight downstairs in the public meeting room but thought we would give just sort of a preview edition this afternoon. Dr. Hilton. So thank you, one, Matt, for this presentation. Does this give us any flexibility in terms of, I know it's not on personal care, it's not on groceries, those types

[01:12:37] of purchases, but it would be on, maybe you could help fill in the blank there as part of my question. And then number two, could we exempt something, you know, let's just say prepared food? Could we exempt prepared food from this 1% sales tax? I appreciate the question. The first part, so the exemptions that we talked about, that's what's in the code as we've received it.

[01:13:05] I don't think there's any reason we couldn't exempt. I'll tell you, in all honesty, we would have to look at that. I mean, oftentimes these packages are given to us and that's what you get. You don't get any real choices, any buffet choices.

[01:13:22] So we would look at that, but we'd certainly let you know if there are any possibilities after the referendum to double back onto what the exact package would look like when you adopted an ordinance. And I guess my question is really don't want to put anything in the bucket, but maybe pull something out.

[01:13:45] So that's really directly my question. Yeah, you wouldn't, I don't think you'd have any ability to put stuff in, but this is going to be general merchandise purchases, you know, electronics, furniture, all those types of categories are what's going to apply. As it currently sits, like Mr. Ming says, we can look at that question.

[01:14:02] As it comes to us, restaurants are in, groceries, personal care, hygiene items are all exempted out as drawn up. Yeah, I guess my my my only concern is maybe being able to look at excluding prepared food from restaurants.

[01:14:24] But I know that's something that you all have to look at and get back to us. And I'm sure likely you all will put up some information on the Web site about it so people can can take a look at it and see what is exempt and what is not exempt.

[01:14:43] So, you know, thank you for the presentation and for the information. Right, and the referendum, the actual question would be on the package that the General Assembly has given us. So what's in there right now is what people would be voting on.

[01:14:58] And then the question would be, could the board modify that if the referendum passes? But we will absolutely have a full, you know, if approved tonight, we'll have a full website with all the details and what are in those predetermined categories, the project list, all of those types of things, as we've done before.

[01:15:19] Mr. Carroll? Who will draft the language of the referendum item, and when will that be available? Or has the General Assembly drafted, as part of what they did, what the actual language of the referendum would be required to have in it?

[01:15:37] They have not. They have not. And we're looking at that question right now. So if we put this, we petition the court, I think, when would the court take, when would they take action on it to do it? Well, we're going to have actually a proposed order down to the court fairly quickly.

[01:15:55] Part of that order has to have the question, doesn't it? Correct, yeah. Well, I'd like to have at least some idea what the wording of that is going to be. I think that's important. There's some sample language.

[01:16:12] We can absolutely have that as part of the presentation this evening. That's one of the reasons we wanted to run through it here. But we can certainly do that. There is some language that's out there already that other locales have used. It looks on its face to be perfectly acceptable. It's a fairly simple question, much simpler than actually some of your bond referendums have been.

[01:16:32] I just think it's important to make sure that if we're going to discuss it tonight, that we have some language that we can show the community. We'll add that slide for this evening. That's no problem whatsoever. This is already in place, and I think we're aware of probably about a dozen or so localities that have reached out to us or that we've talked to that are in the same boat as Chesterfield now in terms of considering it for this November.

[01:17:00] So a lot of folks are wrestling with that particular component, but we'll have that for you this evening. No worries. The number of localities, I got a number today of about 25 across the Commonwealth. And I'm with you, Mr. Carroll, in that we need to be able to identify what it is we're voting on.

[01:17:21] And so the wording will be really, really helpful. And then from there, we'll get clarity as we go. What is important, in my estimation, is let's move the process forward. It's several steps. And until we identify, we want to make sure that we have in our back pocket this as an option as we go.

[01:17:40] So thank you. And then just some other items really quick. on this evening's consent agenda is to set public hearings for the August board meeting related to the fiscal year 2027 budget adopted items we've discussed before. First one being the BPOL exemption increasing the relief threshold up to $100,000 from $550,000 to $750,000 and then adding the tax relief for the elderly disabled veterans program that fourth year of 15% for incomes up

[01:18:12] to $80,000. And one other item, not pictured, but also in your consent agenda, really following through again with some things that we're set in motion in terms of your budget. It's a combination item, adding a hazardous duty classification for emergency medical technician only. That only hits a very, very small part of our base now. But I think as we move forward, we would like to consider, you know, what an ENT-only position looks like.

[01:18:45] So this is a VRS designation that you all are approved, but it does cover an individual that's currently employed and give us some downstream flexibility, as well as there is approval in there for staff to pursue a contract, a benefits administrator contract with a 401 plan that is kind of that VRS hybrid substitute for some of those job classifications that aren't currently covered. And you all agreed to step in there and fund that benefit for some of our folks.

[01:19:19] So this allows us to move forward with that plan and get somebody a contract to help us design that benefit and make sure we've got all that buttoned down. That is scheduled to go into effect on January the 1st. And again, that was covered as part of your budget and adopted and approved. But this is sort of that next step, the execution phase, if you will, to add that additional retirement plan for those job categories, at least until it's approved by the rest of VRS. So with that, happy to take any questions you might have. Any questions?

[01:19:56] Thank you all. Thank you. See you tonight. C, Consent Agenda Highlights, Mr. Bowles. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.

[01:20:24] Mr. Harris, I have a few consent agenda highlights for this evening. First up is a construction contract for the Environmental Engineering Operations Center. This contract, just over $11.4 million for construction of their replacement building.

[01:20:47] This is a project long coming for they have significantly outgrown their existing space. It's roughly a 30,000 square foot pre-engineered building along with acreage for lay down yard for heavy equipment, all the various materials and supplies that they use in their daily operations.

[01:21:10] This timeline for this project will be wrapping up around October of 2027. And as we mentioned before, this is the first phase of three projects to address warehousing and storage needs for many county departments, all with the goal of maximizing utilization of our existing space, but also adding space where it's justified.

[01:21:37] We'll have future phases of this. The second piece we expect to bring to you either next month or September. L.C. Byrd High School, the rehab projects for the Diamond Field Complex.

[01:21:54] This is a contract for a little over $4 million that rehabs all the diamond fields at L.C. Byrd, as well as the athletic complex there. This includes installation of new synthetic turf infields like the project at Rockwood, as well as irrigated Bermudagrass outfields, including the varsity baseball and softball fields, work on the dugouts and bullpen.

[01:22:26] So it's a comprehensive project. And just as a reminder for you, this is a, not only do high school sports happen here, this is a heavily utilized parks and recreation facility. So there's a lot of use on this, both for, again, for high school sports, as well as league play through parks and rec and sports and visitation.

[01:22:54] Dutch Gap Parkway and Bridge, we are excited to bring this one forward. This is a long-awaited project contract of just over $44.3 million. This is a approximately one-mile roadway and a little over 1,200-foot bridge that establishes the new front door for Henricus as well as creates the access to the future Dutch Gap Rivers Bend Park area, which was part of the 22 bond referendum. And we anticipate having

[01:23:30] funding for that beginning in FY28. This project is primarily funded by Dominion Energy based on the General Assembly mandate for coal ash storage pond mitigation. So again, this one is expected to begin later this year and it will take approximately three years and it will, VDOT will begin maintaining this road and bridge once it's constructed. A couple of Transportation

[01:24:06] Department road project authorizations. The first is boards requested to approve funding and authorization to proceed with multiple projects. Some of the highlights include the Fall Line Trail Route 1 from Holiday Lane to Willis Road, I-95 and Willis Road interchange improvements phase 1, Route 1 Shelburne to Swineford pedestrian crossing as well as River Road pedestrian trail from Brickhouse Drive to the right at the Ettrick-Matoica Library.

[01:24:42] For both of these items, Ms. Walker is here if the board has any detailed questions. And then finally, SmartScale, a couple of resolutions attached to those projects. In February of this year, you adopted a list of 15 priorities under SmartScale.

[01:25:03] At this stage of that review process, none have been screened out, but due to a limit of the number of final applications that can be submitted, one project does have to be removed and staff is recommending rather than removing the lowest priority project, which is Route 60 from Mount Pisgah Drive to Coalfield Road corridor enhancement, again, staff is recommending removing the Branders Bridge Road from Trilly to Long Creek Lane, primarily because

[01:25:38] of in the criteria for the smart scale projects, this one, the, sorry, the Route 60 project will score more competitively and benefit from leveraging funds. And then the second item is a resolution of support for GRTC rapid transit north-south bus phases 1B and 1C from downtown transfer center to

[01:26:10] Stonebridge. Again, this is a GRTC project, but projects that are crossing regional boundaries do need a resolution of support from the impacted jurisdiction. So that's primarily to voice that support for for this project again uh miss walker is here if you have any detailed questions on those projects that's all i have tonight if there's any other questions be happy to answer those any questions board all right thank you item six county administration update mr harris

[01:26:48] mr chair members of the board just a couple of things to bring to your attention and as far as the chemistry comments first and i see he ran out of the room very very quickly but uh my my colleague Mr. Durkin was uh just recently recognized by GFOA which is our in the finance world our professional organization uh recognition for outstanding public service so this is just a handful of folks across the country um and really the highest honor in terms of our our business so

[01:27:23] he was he was selected amongst about maybe 15 or so of his peers uh different finance roles but that's a very very high award he will never admit that he received it and uh doesn't want me to talking about it, but I wanted to pass along to you. He is an absolute gift to this county and deserves every award he gets. Oh, tempted as I am to have a sheriff go out there, place him into custody, and bring him back here. Absolutely. Secondly, another good news item, the Treasurer's Office, Ms. Longnaker and her staff work very, very hard their 15th consecutive

[01:28:03] year, receiving the accreditation amongst her professional organization, the Treasurer Association of Virginia. And, you know, a lot of these awards, you kind of, well, you know, how do they get these things? A lot of criteria here. But one thing I wanted to point out that I thought was interesting, you have to have a 95% collection rate after 12 months on real estate and a 90% collection rate on personal property.

[01:28:26] Those are very high marks. So it's, you know, it's one thing to send the bills out and, you know, that's a big job. It's, you know, those collection rates are really, really something. And to be able to do that for 15 consecutive years, certainly heavy kudos to her and her entire staff, Mr. Payne and that whole team for doing that.

[01:28:47] That's a great thing. Some awards also in our fleet area, Government Fleet Magazine and American Public Works Association both recognize the county having a top 50 fleet in the country at the recent Fleet Expo. So tip of the cap to Dave Cottingham and his whole team.

[01:29:06] This is their seventh consecutive year receiving such designations. And again, that's one of these things you may not think about all the time, but managing a fleet effectively and efficiently is a big part of what we do. and those guys sort of behind the scenes, but they do a great job, and that's seven consecutive years for fleet.

[01:29:25] I have a question about that. Is that done by county, or how is it done as far as the fleets are concerned? Is that determined by county by county? In terms of who gets the award? Yes. So these are two standalone organizations, like a lot of the awards, the exact application process, I'd have to get you the details, but it's determined by those individual bodies in terms of who receives those those designations. So it's an independent accreditation of sorts, if that makes sense.

[01:29:54] Thank you. And one more award season. Chesterfield is named second among U.S. counties of our population size in the most recent digital county survey. We have maintained a top 10 ranking for the past 16 years, including 10 consecutive years in this category. It recognizes counties who are Leading the way in technology, the use of technology to improve public services, strengthen cybersecurity, and deliver more responsive and transparent information to their community.

[01:30:29] So, again, a big tip of the gap there to Clay and the whole IST team for all the things that they do, which really leads me into my last item, Mr. Chair. Before you go there, I just want to say that Mitch Schneider and I were at the National Association of Counties Conference where they were given the award.

[01:30:47] And what is really interesting is that each one of the different categories, which is the size of counties, they start at who's in 10th place, and they work their way up. And so even the folks that are in 10th place, I mean, there are 3,000 counties in the United States, over 3,000.

[01:31:04] And so if you've been named, when it comes to technology, and you're 10th in your size, that is huge. And so you'll see folks that are 10th or 8th or whatever very excited. With Chesterfield County in our size, up to 500,000, to be in the last four years, this year we were second.

[01:31:23] The two previous years we were first, and then the previous year before that, second. It provides really an overview of how well Scott and technology is, Scott Furman is, and what a great job they do. And I don't think that everyone kind of gets that, is that it just is a very difficult honor to be given or to attain and to be given. So thank you for mentioning that.

[01:31:49] Yes, sir. As I noted, there's a variety of aspects to that, but the last one that they focus on is responsive and transparent information. And Mr. Bowman, if you could queue that up. So not related to the awards, but I think really an extension and everyday application of exactly what that award recognizes. Today we launched this portion on the county's website, a new page if you will that focuses on the data center topic. It's available at chestville.gov backslash data

[01:32:25] centers. We've also added some buttons and links on the very front page of the county website so it's very easy to find depending on how you want to access it. But this is meant this is going to be a living, breathing document, but it is up there today. Teresa and her team are pushing this out to the media folks to let them know this resource is now available. And the goal here, again, living, breathing repository of information on this topic. And so Mr. Smith and a lot of folks have been working very hard to gather all the documents, all the resources that we have on this,

[01:33:02] build out the full timeline on this topic as it's as you're aware it's it's a matter of great interest for the community trying to be responsive to that collected everything that we have we go through all the questions that come in joy reminded me this morning we've answered 165 emails just through the county administrator email address on this and i know others have answered as many or more so we are working our way through all those resources but I think our goal here was instead of you know just waiting for those to come in try to put this resource out there and

[01:33:38] got and direct folks to it so that they can digest it on their own and if there's pieces of this that are missing you all think that would be helpful to add to the community we're certainly willing to do that and as questions come in we will amend the information and add more and more over time to make this as a comprehensive resource as possible.

[01:33:58] So these are just some still shots, Mr. Bowman. So we've got maps to kind of show current sites, potential sites, future sites, that type of thing. These are just some examples. You go on to one more past that, Michael. I think this is just a good representation.

[01:34:14] Each one of those menu items there in the top half of the slide, they all explode out. And then there's documents, links, information, all types of things under each one of those major headings. And we will continue to add to this and grow this over the course of the next month.

[01:34:33] As you will note on your evening agenda and really sort of the whole day, we have tried to carve out as much space agenda wise so that your evening session is dedicated to some of these community topics where there's a lot of conversation and question.

[01:34:49] tonight is really dedicated to the shoesmith topic to the landfill topic we're looking to replicate that structure in your august meeting around some of these data center topics so today really kind of kicks off that 30 days prior to we're making this resource available to folks we also plan to use a lot of our other formats i know mr mcconnell's working on a blog series on the topic you know perhaps podcasts and other things so over the next 30 days we'll be rolling out more and more information, adding it to the website, adding it to all of our other streams to get information out ahead of the August board meeting where we're looking to have more of a

[01:35:29] formal presentation similar to what you'll see tonight, albeit on a different topic. So more to come on this, but thought, you know, given the sort of the flavor of the day on the Digital Counties Award, this was a good place to sort of to make this announcement. So thanks to everyone internally that worked on this it's a it's been a good project i think it's a nice collection of information hopefully it clears up some of the the questions that are floating out there any comments from the board yeah mr schneider with the um agenda item next month we will be putting

[01:36:05] out a web page correct yes allowing people to um send in questions should they have questions so they can be answered at the meeting absolutely we'll have a we'll have a portal and go in there and ask questions but we don't we won't even have to necessarily wait until the the item i mean to the meeting we can we reach out to folks every day but we can also add to this as we if we see things that are kind of recurring topics yeah i just think that it's good for people to be able to hear them in the presentation um so that they everybody hears them as opposed to just one person getting email so we will as we're putting that together we can definitely take that feedback to

[01:36:42] heart thank you any other comments from board members uh the only thing i'm going to add is that. Thank you for doing this. Let's begin with that. The whole idea of this is this to be really was at the direction of the board, given what occurred, you know, from the community, what the community has been expressing, how important it is to be as transparent as we possibly can.

[01:37:02] So folks, this is absolutely 100% as transparent as we possibly can on everything from water usage to power to the nondisclosure agreement. It is all out there. So everything, including links, I believe, to the board meetings where we made the decisions and how we made them, that when it was open to the community for public response, all that information is in there.

[01:37:27] And as Ms. Schneider mentioned, is that if there are other questions that come up along the way, we'll just keep adding to this. We'll make it as robust as we possibly can. What I have asked is that not only is that information going to be on there, but also direct individuals that you can reach out to for every single individual or company that has or is going to have a data center in Chesterfield County, that there'll be a contact person that you'll be able to reach out to to ask those kind of questions.

[01:37:59] So if it's Carissa or if it's Google or whoever, there's going to be an actual contact person you'll be able to reach out to. There's no one. Besides the two. There's no one. Right, there is. Thank you. and there never will be moving forward. So, yes, that's true.

[01:38:15] Mr. Carroll. Mr. Chairman. You know, there were some questions at the recent event that we held at Cosby High School that people were asking that, quite frankly, I don't think Google answered correctly.

[01:38:32] There were people that were brought in from the company from other parts of the country to answer questions for people that were not familiar with the zoning case. They were not familiar with the roads. As an example, one question that was asked is, well, how are the workers going to get to the site?

[01:38:50] And someone from Google said, well, they're going to come up Westerly Parkway. Well, no, they can't because in the zoning case, we restricted it that they can't go Westerly Parkway because Westerly Parkway is not going to get tied into Mount Hermon Road until the very end. If they build all of these data centers, the construction entrance is on Mount Hermon Road to the park, And they can't go in any other way because the roads won't be tied in until the very end.

[01:39:18] And then FDOT will be petitioned to put no through trucks on Westerly Parkway. It's all part of the zoning case. And if people would actually go out and read the zoning case, they would actually get even more information from the zoning case than what's actually on this website.

[01:39:35] And if they actually went back and watched the Board of Supervisors meetings that were held on this, they would get a lot more information and a lot more accurate information. And so as questions come in, we have to make sure, especially if it's a question for Google, that we get the right information out to the community and it can be done by here.

[01:39:55] I recommend that Google the podcast for other information to answer questions for people because there's a lot of false information that's being portrayed out to the community because no one's actually reading the actual documents or no one's actually looking back at what the zoning case was.

[01:40:13] We put pretty strict restrictions in on these companies when this was all finally voted on in May of 2025 is when we all voted on this case. So I'm glad that this is up. I'm glad there's a lot of information that's going to be available to the community.

[01:40:30] But I got hit with questions the other night from people after they talked to Google that the answers that Google gave them was wrong. And so we need to make sure we work with Google to make sure we get the right answers to people's questions. And I'm committed to doing that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[01:40:50] All right. Thank you, Mr. Harris. Madam Clerk. Item 7, reports. Are there any questions regarding the reports to the board? Seeing no questions, the reports are now approved. Item 8, 15-minute citizen comment period on unscheduled matters.

[01:41:09] This time is designated for citizens to talk to the Board of Supervisors. It is not a time for dialogue with board members, and it is not a question-answer period. Those conversations can easily occur with individual board members outside of the board meeting. As a reminder, the board's procedures state no citizen shall speak on any matter of business that is a subject on the board's agenda for that day, and each speaker shall have three minutes to address the board.

[01:41:34] We have three speakers, if they'll please speak in this order. Kyle Woods, Sager Marshall, and Jason Knapp. Mr. Woods? Welcome.

[01:41:55] Thank you. There we go. Good afternoon. My name is Kyle Woods. I've spoken with some of you. I've worked with some of you. I've had the unique experience of learning a lot about government. Most recently, I was working at the executive administrative part of the attorney general's office. And so I've learned a lot about government. Prior to that, I was a special agent with the state inspector general. And prior to that, over a decade here in Chesterfield as a police officer. And so I know how government works to the best that I know.

[01:42:31] I'm here to talk about the data center and not particularly about the impact that it's going to have, but about the deal that was set up and where two of the locations are. The deal, as it is, right, we can all say it's 24 cent per $100, which is fine.

[01:42:53] The issue I have is that this board set future boards to never change that. And I mean that because there is a loophole in the EDA that says any board in the future, if you change this, will come back as a grant, right?

[01:43:13] So no board can actually limit the next board's ability to tax. And so a loophole is what you put in there. That is not right. That is not right. Another thing that I don't understand from living here for so long is the eastern part of this county was always industrial.

[01:43:35] We now have two industrial data centers going in next to schools. I don't know how you justify that. I don't know how you tell your citizens this is okay.

[01:43:51] I don't understand the reasoning behind it other than a spreadsheet. A spreadsheet of numbers outweighed the quality of life for citizens. That is what happened. I'm requesting a couple of things from the board.

[01:44:10] The first one is to direct the county attorney to write an opinion on the grant back clause and request an official attorney general's opinion under section 2.2-505 on whether it binds future bonds or boards, excuse me.

[01:44:32] I request that you create a commission on data center tax rate studies like Hanover just did. I request that you adopt a policy that no more NDAs and no more votes on deals hidden behind shell companies. My last request is that under Code Section 15.2-2511, Subsection B, the board can order the state audit by the Auditor of Public Accounts, and it can look over the EDA's data center land deals, the incentive agreements, and the projections behind them.

[01:45:11] Mr. Woods, your three minutes are up. Those are the things that I would like to see happen, just for the public's purpose. You don't have to convince me that the commercial tax base is what we need. I agree.

[01:45:27] I think the placement and the way that this was handled in our future boards is at stake. Thank you. Mr. Marshall. Members of the board, my name is Sager Marshall.

[01:45:56] My wife and I own land. It's going to be surrounded by the sawmill development. Upon looking up information on things, sawmill development with Horton has to provide the third lane from the Poet Extension Parkway to back to Doss Road, I believe.

[01:46:36] Or I think it might be even further than that. So Horton, I had a meeting with two of Horton's representatives, and they said, well, they didn't want to buy my land, and it is for sale, but it's agricultural.

[01:46:57] And I understand now that, you know, they softly said that they could get a right-of-way on my land through intimate domain.

[01:47:17] All right. We found information from the Department of Transportation is barred from condemning agricultural property for private economic development.

[01:47:35] So I want to know if they can still do that, do what they say they can do. And I know that intimate domain really isn't, the only people that could do intimate domain in the state is the state, the local, or county restrictions.

[01:48:04] So I wonder, one thing, are y'all going to honor the thing from the Department of Transportation to bar from condemning agricultural property for private economic development?

[01:48:21] That's one of my questions. And we bought that land in the 70s when I got out of college and bought land that was my wife's great-great-grandfather's.

[01:48:38] And so it's been in the family for years, and it's been, as far as I know, agricultural property since before the mid-1900s, maybe even early, late 1800s.

[01:48:55] So, yeah, I want to, you know, I want to see if my land is properly protected. Mr. Marshall, your three minutes are up. All right, well, I'm done.

[01:49:14] Any questions? What's that? Can you stick around for a little bit? Yes.

[01:49:23] our last speaker is jason knapp whenever you're ready okay uh good afternoon my name is jason knapp i am a resident of northumberland county uh but and i am a retired navy commander a former

[01:50:00] combat aviator but i'm here speaking to you now as a democratic candidate for congress in the virginia's first district last week 600 as you mentioned of your residents asked basic questions at Google's open houses, questions regarding the build of their proposed data centers.

[01:50:17] How much water is it going to take? How much power will it use? And what happens to Deep Creek? They didn't get answers. And here's what else they didn't get. Accountability. Not one word said at these open houses is documented. It's not official and it's not part of any proceeding. Three Google campuses are planning to use more than 1,500 acres, the largest land use decision in this county's modern history, but there is one place where what citizens think and say does count. Google needs a federal permit from the U.S. Corps of Engineers because Project Sky,

[01:50:52] one of these campuses, would require them to fill in wetlands and streams. Federal law requires the Corps to take comments from the public and consider every single one of them. That comment period is open right now. And it closes on Monday, July 28th. To file comment, it takes just five minutes online. And the most important part is what everyone writes becomes part of the federal record. Citizens should ask for a public hearing in Chesterfield and ask the Corps to evaluate not just Project Sky, but all three sites together. Ask them to require the company to put

[01:51:31] its water numbers in writing before any permit is granted. We need a better understanding of these data centers. State analysts project that data center growth will continue to add cost and expense to every ordinary family's electric bill. These costs will continue to increase if they are not born by ratepayers and not the companies who will profit from these systems. The people who make these decisions are rarely if ever truly the ones who end up paying for them because many times it does not appear or happen at public hearings or in a public forum until Monday you and all of

[01:52:10] your neighbors have a rare chance to be on the record about this. I hope they take it and I hope the board joins them in this. This is happening across the district data center proposals in multiple counties. The same lack of public process, the same questions about who pays and that's a problem. So later this afternoon we will be posting step-by-step instructions on our

[01:52:29] campaign website at jasonknappforcongress.com on how to submit a comment. Can you stop his comment for just a second? He can't outrun for office. You're going to have to pause on actually engaging in political campaigning. This part is not political campaigning. We're providing the step-by-step instructions for how, I only have one website, of how to. Right, but you're providing it to your campaign website, and that is prohibited under the board's rules. Fine, we will find another avenue for you. I appreciate that. Yes, sir.

[01:52:57] We will I would recommend you Google Google How to submit a public comment. Thank you, sir. I appreciate it. Yes, sir But it again, it only takes five minutes and it matters that people voice their concerns voice their opinions Ensure that their voices are heard not just in settings like this one But at the federal level as well. Thank you very much for allowing me to speak with you and I appreciate the time I Understand sir. I appreciate it and 100% thank you, sir. Thank you very much

[01:53:30] Item 9, closed session A, pursuant to section 2.2-3711A3, Code of Virginia 1950 is amended to discuss the acquisition by the county of real estate for a public purpose or the disposition of publicly held real property where discussion in an open meeting would adversely affect the bargaining position and negotiating strategy of the public body.

[01:53:56] Mr. Chair, we need a motion to go into closed session. Can I get a motion, please? Moved. I need a second. Before, can we have a little discussion? I know a couple people want to talk to somebody first. Can we have a five-minute break and then go into closed session as part of the motion? Yeah, that'd be fine.

[01:54:12] Okay. All right, can we just get that motion? It sounds like I do have one. Can I get a second? Second. All in favor? Aye. We are in closed session. What not in closed session? Five minutes.

[01:55:10] Good evening, everyone, and welcome to the evening session of the July 22nd Board of Supervisors meeting.

[01:55:44] I want to let you know that I have verified that all board members have received copies of the comments posted on the online comment portal for consideration on the matters before us tonight. These comments are part of the public record and will be attached to the meeting minutes.

[01:56:00] At this time, I'd like to invite Dr. Hilton to give the invocation. May we all bow. We thank you for the opportunity to serve our community. Grant this board wisdom to make sound decisions, courage to do what's right, and humility to listen with respect to one another and to the citizens we represent.

[01:56:24] Help us set aside personal interests, seek the common good, and steward the public's trust with integrity. Bless our first responders, educators, public servants, military members, and all who work each day to strengthen our community.

[01:56:42] May our deliberation tonight be thoughtful, respectful, and guided by a spirit of cooperation for the benefit of all. Amen. We would like to call forward Interim County Administrator Matt Harris to lead the Pledge of Allegiance.

[01:57:00] Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Item 13, board member reports.

[01:57:24] Thank you, Madam Clerk. Who are we going to be starting with this evening on the board reports, if I could ask? I think Mr. Engel, you're asking. Yeah, he's good. So we don't need to work with Mr. Engel this evening.

[01:57:40] Who would be next? Ms. Schneider. I wasn't prepared for that, sorry. So I had the pleasure of attending the ribbon-cutting event for this beautifully restored home in my own neighborhood.

[01:58:01] Through a partnership with Habitat for Humanity and funding from the Community Development Block Grant, This house has been revitalized in a neighborhood concerned into affordable housing for a mom and her two kids.

[01:58:20] This remarkable transformation occurred because of so many people volunteering in the community. My husband and I and some of our neighbors went and volunteered for a whole day. I put the flooring in the master bedroom. It's just a great community project.

[01:58:39] And I was actually the board president when this situation and this house was having, the people that were living there were having a difficult time managing it on their own, and it had fallen into disrepair.

[01:58:56] And so when I first got into office, this was one of the things that I really wanted to, because it had become a blight on the community. It was sitting unattended for a while. And so this is such a great full circle moment, way to turn a bad thing into a wonderful new home for a young family.

[01:59:15] So that concludes my report. Thank you, Ms. Schneider. Dr. Hilton. My report is mostly just to bring thanks to the staff who we cut the ribbon on a mobile unit that will offer behavioral health treatment.

[01:59:42] And so I just want to thank the behavioral health um folks that uh made sure that that was possible and so just a moment of appreciation for them in their efforts um to make sure that the county is equipped with all the tools necessary to provide critical services to those who need it most uh when they're suffering behavioral health um issues for treatment so beyond that uh that concludes my board report thank you dr hilton Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[02:00:18] This first event, the Concerns of Ettrick, as you can see, worked very hard and diligently to sponsor through the state a request for a historical marker on site of what used to be, which is now the Maggie Walker Community Trust, it's called Ettrick Landing.

[02:00:43] There used to be the Dupie Annex there, Dupie Elementary School, and there's a lot of history to that. And I will say that one of the things that's amazing, and I'm trying to pull the historical marker up right now because I want to read it. Chester County opened a school here for African-American students in January of 1962, more than seven years after the U.S. Supreme Court's Brown versus the Board decision, after several black students applied to attend all white schools but were assigned to DUPI by the state pupil placement board, which frequently acted to

[02:01:19] preserve segregation. Families sued in federal court with the assistance of the Virginia NAACP. McLeod v. Chesterfield led to the county's first enrollment by black students in a previously all white school. In November of 1962, Chesterfield adopted a freedom of choice plan in 1966 and fully desegregated in 1970. DUP became home and annexed to Ettrick Elementary and was demolished in 2020. And that's when the land was converted over to the Maggie Walker Land Trust, where now

[02:01:53] we have 10 beautiful homes. And in that picture, you see a gentleman with a yellow shirt. And that gentleman was one of the first African Americans allowed to go to a white school here in Chesterfield County. And he gave a tremendous speech. I know you, yeah, Jessica was there as well. And so that historical is out there for the community to see. And I think it's important, as I said that day that we never forget history, good or bad in our community, we never forget history. And I

[02:02:28] commend the conservatives of Ettrick for working diligently to help get that historical marker passed. Next. I participated in the Chesterfield Food Bank event at Virginia State University, organized by the Chesterfield Chapter of the Virginia State University Alumni Association.

[02:02:45] Their mission extends beyond supplying food to those in need. They aim to empower individuals and families to address the root causes of food insecurity. This is accomplished through a variety of programs, services, and community resources, all made possible by the generous support of businesses and individuals. And there was a big turnout. This was down at Virginia State University at the Multipurpose Building. Mr. Chair, that concludes my report.

[02:03:09] Thank you, Mr. Carroll. So first, what you're looking at here are the pictures of six noon firefighters that got through and graduated just recently through the Recruit school number 72 uh it i think they started out with a dozen and uh and and six were able to get through it just kind of gives you a sense of how rigorous uh the the training is it's six months if i remember correctly um they graduated on july 2nd and i just want to take a moment and really appreciate them uh because they are the now proud members at chesterfield fire and ems family

[02:03:50] So congratulations to those six.

[02:04:00] Next, what you're looking at there, and I have this right here, but Mr. Schneider and I had the privilege of attending the 2026 NACO Annual Conference. And this is a conference where there are over 3,000 counties and parishes, and guess what, parishes, counties, and boroughs that are throughout the country.

[02:04:21] And we had the opportunity to spend some time with them. It was an opportunity for us to, just a few days of valuable education, collaboration, networking. Chesterfield County was proud to be recognized as the best in category for libraries for their read to recovery, expanding access to opioid recovery resources.

[02:04:41] So that's this here. Best in category is a really big deal with NACO. And to be up against 3,000 parishes and boroughs and counties and to be the best in the category for our libraries, that really is something that is truly to behold the event throughout the event participants engaged in educational summits and caucus meetings where they shared ideas exchanged local insights and explored solutions to implement in their own counties so I just wanted to come sitting with

[02:05:15] there or standing there with is the president of NACO and just really proud of Chesterfield County and certainly proud for the libraries and what they were able to accomplish. Before we go into talking about the web page, I want to invite Mr. Harris to come up and talk a little bit about what we've been able to create over the last month or so with regard to information around data centers and what's happening here in Chesterfield.

[02:05:49] I want to appreciate Mr. Harris and staff for taking just wonderful direction of the board to move forward to ensure that we are as transparent as we possibly can be. So, Mr. Harris. Thank you, Mr. Chair, members of the board.

[02:06:07] As you note, you all have her as well as staff, the community interest in the data center topic, and as well, and I'll point out the Shoesmith topic that's on your agenda tonight. So, you know, really sort of just two quick notes. As the format's been sort of redone to accommodate that dialogue tonight on the landfill, The same is being designed for your August meeting on the data center topic, and leading up to that, we released today this page on Chesterfield.gov that focuses all the information that we have thus far on data center topic.

[02:06:45] It's going to be -- Michael, if you go to the next version of this -- so this is, again, just went live today. It's on Chesterfield.gov. You can search it, Chesterfield.gov/datacenters. You can search it up on various engines. There's buttons on the homepage. There's lots of ways to access this.

[02:07:01] This is just a screenshot of the main page there. All of those arrows expand and there's dropdowns, and you can get information on all of these topics. We've tried to style it around a number of the recurring questions that we've gotten through email, phone call, conversation.

[02:07:18] So this will be a living, breathing document. There's things, Dr. Miller, that you've already asked us to add today that's not part of the original draft so we'll continue to update this on on a daily basis and take comment on it and there's something that's missing or unclear we'll continue to edit it but the idea is to put the information out that that's been frequently requested by the community ahead of that August session in this room in your evening when we'll bring county staff for truly kind of go through all the topics that you see here this almost serves as an outline for the August conversation, but didn't want to wait all the way until the August board

[02:07:56] meeting, so the website is out there today, and I'm happy to take any questions you might have. Board members, do you have any questions? Ms. Schneider. So Matt, is it possible for us to put the link in here for people to submit questions for next month?

[02:08:12] Yes ma'am, that's a great idea. We will open up a portal. I just think that would be the best place for it to be, so it's all in one spot. Fantastic, yep, we absolutely take care of that. Thank you. And if it's a question that's already on this portal we just need to make sure that we direct them to where that is I'm so that they can find it if it's already on there but if there are new questions that are coming up for sure yeah absolutely we're monitoring the questions that come in a daily basis and you know we don't want we have the FOIA portal and this doesn't you know take the place of that but if we want it to be easier for someone so they can access if they have questions or document they can get that immediately so we've used the FOIA portal

[02:08:51] to really kind of style a lot of the information that's on here. And if we continue to get FOIAs on certain pieces, again, we'll just transfer that over here so that subsequent requests can just be handled in a matter of moments. All right. Thank you. Any questions from my board? Dr. Hilton, anyone else?

[02:09:09] Great. Thank you, Mr. Harris. Yes, sir. And finally, just going back, lastly, the board report webpage includes updates shared at each meeting, features districts' involvement with what we're doing, and recent accomplishments.

[02:09:26] You can subscribe to the District Updates lists to receive board reports in your mailbox or scan as you need to. So that concludes my report. Thank you, Madam Clerk.

[02:09:42] Item 14, Resolutions and Special Recognitions. A, recognizing Mrs. Melissa Hoy, Commonwealth's Attorney's Office, for 28 years of service. With Ms. Hoy and her guests, please join the board on the stage.

[02:10:19] Thank you. All right, let's go ahead and read the resolution, Madam Clerk. Whereas Mrs. Melissa H. Hoy left her position with the Chesterfield County Commonwealth's Attorney's Office, having been appointed to the 12th Judicial District Court Bench on June 26, 2026, after providing 28 years of dedicated service to the residents of Chesterfield County.

[02:10:52] And whereas Mrs. Hoy demonstrated exceptional dedication throughout her career, consistently conducting herself with courtesy, professionalism, and grace. And whereas Mrs. Hoy's extensive knowledge and experience have made her not only an indispensable resource within the county, but also a valued mentor to staff and colleagues.

[02:11:13] And whereas Mrs. Hoy has dedicated her career to the service and protection of Chesterfield County community members. And whereas Mrs. Hoy's strong work ethic and high standards have motivated everyone she has worked with to strive for excellence, while her compassionate nature and open-door approach have earned the respect, trust, and admiration of those who work with her.

[02:11:35] And whereas as a result of her competence and dedication, Mrs. Hoy has been a true ambassador of the county, setting a standard of excellence for all who follow. And whereas Mrs. Hoy has always rendered invaluable service and support of law enforcement with a high degree of professionalism and will be sorely missed by all who wish her the best as she transitions to her new appointment.

[02:11:58] Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors this 22nd day of July, 2026 publicly recognizes Mrs. Melissa H. Hoy and extends on behalf of its members and the residents of Chesterfield County appreciation for 28 years of exceptional service to the county and be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be presented to Mrs. Hoy and that this resolution be permanently recorded among the papers of the Board of Supervisors of Chesterfield County, Virginia.

[02:12:27] Thank you, Madam Clerk. Can I get a motion? Motion to approve. Can I get a second? I hear a second. All in favor say aye. So it's dangerous to hand me this microphone to talk about Melissa.

[02:12:44] I know everyone has pressing business here, so I will try to be brief, but it is really difficult to sum up the impact that Melissa has had on our community, on our state, and nationwide for prosecutors and the example she has set. Melissa's been a lawyer for 34 years.

[02:13:01] She just took the bench July 1st in Chesterfield. 28 of those years, she served in the Commonwealth Attorney's Office here in Chesterfield. 15 of those 28 years, she was in a leadership position. So that means she served five different Commonwealth attorneys in leadership positions and assisted the office through those transitions, different transitions of administration. During that time, she also served as a special assistant to the U.S. Attorney's Office, representing Chesterfield in that capacity, and she has

[02:13:36] done a number of other things. She's taught just about every agency in Chesterfield County, just about every law enforcement or prosecution training conference statewide, and has also presented and represented us nationwide throughout her career. She has been the president of the Chesterfield Bar Association. She has, I believe, was the Chesterfield Employee of the Year in 2010, has won two awards, one given out by our statewide organization for Lecturer of the Year, and then

[02:14:09] also for the Statewide Prosecutor of the Year in 2024. Throughout that time, that sounds like a lot, she has volunteered in the community, she's given back her time on boards and committees in the schools, and then, as the resolution said, has been an extreme mentor to not only two decades of prosecutors coming through our office, but also law enforcement that work with her and train with her and have worked on cases with her. She, in fact, mentored me as a young prosecutor and continues to do so throughout my career. Now, in addition to all of that, if any of you have seen

[02:14:46] Miss Hoy in court. She is one of the most phenomenal prosecutors, and I would argue not just Chesterfield County, not just the state of Virginia, but nationwide. She has handled some of the most heinous cases that have happened in Chesterfield County, has done it with an incredible work ethic, has done it with an incredible devotion to the law, and has represented our community in that capacity. I know those things she will take with her to the bench, that work ethic, that devotion and love of the law. And I am so proud to present, I'm going to ask Mr. Hilton to present

[02:15:21] the brick. And it is so appropriate that the companion will be placed outside of the old courthouse here in Chesterfield, very appropriate, along with a number of other legends who have come through our office. And that's what Ms. Hoy has been, is she's a legend, still making her impact on the community in a different way our office will greatly miss her but so glad to know that

[02:15:48] she's still serving our community in the capacity as a general district court judge thank you thank you for what you've done for our citizens and um in the courthouse to uh make sure not only prosecution took place but that when it wasn't appropriate that it didn't take place so thank you for um understanding the law and how it should work and how it should be applied that's why they

[02:16:23] made you a judge right and uh as i tell most of the judges that i've come in contact with in the county i hope to see you often but never in your courtroom all right so when they talked about the 2024 award that she won for the statewide award that award is named after another prosecutor that was here in chester county warren von schuch and one of melissa's first cases that she prosecuted

[02:16:58] was a case with Warren Von Schuch and it was also a case that I helped investigate and James Hoover was shot on the side of the road on his motorcycle on his way home four o'clock in the morning by five kids from Hopewell that decided it was time to get paid and Melissa working with the detective division working with us we built a tremendous case we convicted all of them including Sanchez who I believe is still in prison. Your years of experience what you've done if you've never spent the time in the courtroom to actually see the caseload that a commonwealth

[02:17:36] attorney has to handle every day um it's amazing and so i i you know we're going to miss you and on this side of the bench and we're going to be happy you're on the other side of the bench you've done an outstanding job for a community and i know you continue to do that so congratulations and well deserved thank you i'm just going to add that when um your reputation precedes you as two things one was already said one of the sharpest legal minds in the country and legendary so very very excited for your next step and congratulations and thank you for everything

[02:18:12] that you continue to do for Chesterfield I just really appreciate this recognition but it doesn't come without the colleagues that I've worked with the law enforcement I've worked with over the years i'm only as good as the people around me the cases that were well investigated the law enforcement officers who run to and rerun away you know i'm always appreciative of all of them and their hard work and my colleagues you know having been in an office for 28 years i have

[02:18:48] colleagues that are older than me and much younger than me and i learn something new from them every day, and it kept me energized and learning the law and loving the law and continuing to do it with integrity and fairness and compassion. So thank you so much for this recognition. I appreciate

[02:19:07] it. Madam Kirk. Item 15, new business. A, Shoesmith Landfill Update. Mr. Smith. Mr. Chair, members of

[02:19:54] the board, Mr. Harris, thanks for having us tonight. Before we hand this off to our friends from DEQ. Just did want to take a couple seconds to note that I know you all received some questions from constituents regarding some sampler reports and some other things. We have been able to get those straight with the constituent that asked. So if folks have those sorts of questions, these are highly technical, really long documents. We have folks that can go through those and answer them. You can always, you know, send us an email, give us a call. We're happy to address any of those questions that come up. I think Mike will cover this in his presentation as well, but DEQ will also be setting up a website, having a point of contact for folks that have questions after the

[02:20:33] fact. So the team tonight, we have several folks from the Department of Environmental Quality. Mike Rolband is actually their director, so really happy to have him here. He's actually been in this particular field of environmental engineering for about 35 years, became the director of DEQ about four years ago, licensed engineer, wetland scientist, all sorts of letters after his name. So we're really fortunate to have him in this position. There's not anyone better in the Commonwealth to serve there. A Cornell grad as well, if there weren't enough details. We have John Giese, who's the communications director for DEQ. Brad Ricks, whose technical

[02:21:12] title I think is multimedia environmental compliance specialist, but they just call him the solid waste guru for DEQ. So I know he's the repository for lots of different questions. From the federal government, we have Myles Bartos from the EPA, and then from your own team, you have myself, Matt Rembold, and Scott Smedley.

[02:21:33] We will all be working on this project moving forward. I'll note that when we were all driving up to our last meeting to talk about this, we all noted that we're all Virginia Tech grads and all licensed engineers, so all qualified to deal with this. So with that, I will hand it over to Director Robat.

[02:21:57] Hi, good evening, everyone. Can you hear me? Okay, sure. Yeah, I can see you better. So, I'm Mike Rolban, I'm the director of DEQ, and what I'm here tonight is to answer your questions, number one, but talk and give you an overall overview of the Shoesmith landfill, the problems that we've had in the past, the problems that we're facing right now, and an overview of the state budget and how it relates to these problems.

[02:22:20] So, first of all, I think everybody here probably knows the location, but this is the general location in the Richmond area with an air photo insert that shows the landfill itself, the quarry that someone else owns just north of it. This is more of a close-up of the landfill, and you'll notice that there's a fair number of homes. We met this community on the west side last Thursday night, I guess it was, and answered their questions, gave them the same presentation.

[02:22:48] And there's some houses you'll talk about on the right-hand side as well. But first, just talk about a timeline of events. And I think most of you probably know the whole history, but for a long time, Shoesmith Brothers was accepting commercial waste.

[02:23:03] Basically, any type of municipal, commercial, construction, demolition, industrial waste generated in the greater Richmond area. At one time in 2018, they tried to expand into the quarry. And I will say that it's fantastic. I wasn't here at the time, but we're very appreciative of the fact that it was not approved by this county.

[02:23:23] We have a problem in the Bristol landfill in a quarry, and quarries have a huge problem, much beyond the problem we have right now, and so you've avoided a much bigger problem. Eventually, they contracted with Murrow Energy to extract the gas that was being developed in this landfill, so the methane that was generated from the decomposition of the garbage, and they're starting to process that and sell it into a natural gas pipeline.

[02:23:51] They built a treatment system to clean up the gas, There's constituents in the gas that can't be used in the natural gas pipeline, so they've done that, and they've expanded their system. Eventually, in 2022, the landfill ran out of space, so it has a limited volume, and they stopped accepting more waste because they maxed out.

[02:24:10] And at that point, I think we started seeing some problems. Number one, we had temperature readings that started getting too high, and that's an indication of an elevated landfill temperature problem that we'll talk about some more as well, and what this meant and what is it doing and what we're doing about it in the future.

[02:24:28] Eventually, Chesterfield County, following their permit requirements, so they have a permit from DEQ for their wastewater facility. Their wastewater facility is required for operations like this to have a pretreatment permit as well. And they notice that they're not having good conditions in their wastewater facility plus in the conveyance from this landfill to their facility.

[02:24:50] So their investigation, which was done correctly and in accordance with all their permit requirements, found that the problem was this landfill. There are a couple of problems. Number one, they weren't pre-treating the waste the way they're supposed to. They were actually circumventing the system and causing damage to your system.

[02:25:07] So you went through court and stopped them from doing this with an administrative order. That meant that the landfill leachate had to be trucked to another facility or it would keep building up in elevation and volume. And what that does is it increases the operating cost significantly.

[02:25:26] And unfortunately, this owner, some people call him a bad actor. That's an allegation. But they decided to leave this system and go Chapter 11 and eventually Chapter 7. So they declared bankruptcy in federal court.

[02:25:41] And now there's a bankruptcy trustee that's in charge of the general operations under the purview, of course, of our DEQ and the county. But this has been a big problem. So the current situation is that we have to treat this leachate.

[02:26:00] We have to manage it. We have to get rid of it. We have to control the gas, and we have to complete the closure. So why do we have to do that? The number one reason is that we have elevated landfill temperatures. And this condition has not occurred a lot around the country, but it does occur.

[02:26:17] And what it's doing is it creates all sorts of problems with the leachate. So it's an anaerobic condition. So there's very little free oxygen because leachate's taking up that, it's a liquid, it's taking up the space within the garbage mass in the bottom. And it's causing this chemical reaction that's causing all sorts of problems.

[02:26:36] Number one, odors. It's not as bad as it has been in some places, but there are odor issues. It's changing the composition of the gas, making it less, we're less able to sell it because as the methane composition goes down, it won't burn. So that's another big problem.

[02:26:53] It was causing problems to your systems, to your conveyance systems, and your treatment system. Number one, by building up what we call technically, not technically, black goo. It's a gross substance that it was clogging up the pipes and the pumps. And probably more critically, the chemicals were actually causing the bugs, the bacteria that grows in your sewage treatment systems to treat the sewage to die.

[02:27:15] So that's why you had to stop them from doing it. Otherwise, it would cost more damage. Now, we have leachate. Leachate is normal in the landfill since 1989 when the liner system was required. But what leachate does is unless you remove it, it creates this anaerobic condition.

[02:27:34] And the other problem is as a temperature rises, it increases the amount of production of leachate, which is what's happening here with this elevated temperature. So it's an exponential problem as when the temperature goes up, the leachate production goes up and causes more problem and more cost to get rid of it.

[02:27:52] So these are a couple of examples where we've had some seeps on the site. Now, the site overall is not this bad. These are pictures of the terrible spots. But the leachate building up wants to leak out where there's penetrations in the cap. And this is a couple of examples where you have gas wells where the leachate's seeping out.

[02:28:10] These are a couple of pictures, more nighttime type shots, of when we've had some leachate releases. And there have been leachate releases. So far, they've been trapped in the sediment and stormwater conveyance systems and vacuumed out. but this is a significant risk. We also have a temperature problem, sorry, a retaining wall problem, or that's a problem, a concern. So this yellow line shows an MSC, a mechanically stabilized earth wall, some people call it a berm, and it enabled this facility to increase the volume of

[02:28:45] waste that it contains, but it's a bit scary. It's next to this elevated temperature landfill area, and this is a picture of the bill of the wall it's 50 to 60 feet tall now there are surveys there's one report that was just finished in June by the consultants working for the trustee that shows it's not moving so that's good but it's definitely a concern because there's a creek next to it and of course on the other side there's houses and and we've got to make sure that it continues to stay stable so we want to make sure that we get this leachate elevation down so there's less pressure on the wall now this is a cross-section from the permit

[02:29:23] drawings of the actual wall in this mechanically stabilized system. So it has grids of material that basically hold back. You see this on highways all the time nowadays with the segmental wall face. And this is unique in terms of it was encapsulated by geomembranes and they used coal fill, coal ash.

[02:29:44] Some people call it different words, but coal ash is a colloquial term of what is used in that backfill material. Now I want to point out that we have no evidence of any movement of the coal ash in the groundwater, in the surface water, and any testing so far. So we believe it's still encapsulated, but it's been a concern that many people have addressed. It's not the reason, for example, that the city of Richmond has declined right now or alleged violations of their pretreatment system for collecting that material. It's not from coal ash, it's just from the leachate composition itself. But we know about this, it's a concern, and we want to continue monitoring the

[02:30:23] wall. And again, to reduce the problem, reduce the elevated temperature by reducing the amount of leachate. And the leachate itself obviously holds a lot of temperature, you know, it's a thermal measurement. So we've got to remove that and cool it off. The other concern that everyone has talked about is groundwater monitoring. And our permits require a network of groundwater monitor wells all around the site. And these dots, there's a legend here that shows you what's happening.

[02:30:56] And what we're finding is that the majority of them have not had any groundwater protection standard exceedances. Some of them have had. And what we've had done is drill new wells, just downgrading of these existing wells, because we have to be sure that it's not migrating off the site. That's one of the basic tenants of this permit. We also have two piney branch surface water mounting points that have not shown any exceedances at all. So just in case this leachate ever leaked, contaminated the groundwater, it then expresses a surface flow. We're checking to make

[02:31:32] sure that that's not any contaminations. Now the majority of the homes are on public water, which is good. We were concerned about some of the existing lots that were not in the subdivision that they might not be on public water. So we looked at air photo. These green markers are what are homes that are shown on air photo that are connected to county water. There are two red dots that we have no records of any county water being extended to those homes. So those are a concern initially, but the next slide shows you where they are relationship to the landfill.

[02:32:06] And the good news is, if you notice, those two red dots are on the opposite side of the stream from the landfill. And in this geologic area, our streams are primarily gaining streams so that they gain groundwater from the adjacent land. The streams gain water from the adjacent groundwater.

[02:32:27] So this shows you a map with the groundwater flows in conceptual level to the different streams on either side of this landfill. And so because it's a gaining stream, we don't see any evidence of any water potentially being contaminated and then potentially contaminating these groundwater wells.

[02:32:46] But again, it's something that we have to be cognizant of and continue the monitoring. The other concern, and obviously the catastrophe level, is that what if there was a failure and this leachate left the site, went into the surface waters? Where does it go?

[02:33:02] Well, it goes into Swift Creek, it goes in the Appomattox, and it goes in the James River. That's the map that shows you where it goes. We don't want this to ever happen. So how do we pay for it, okay? There are financial assurances associated with each permit, and we'll talk later about what we're doing to change that process, but they had two bonds totaling $19.3 million, which was good.

[02:33:27] We've been authorizing drawdowns against that bond to the trustee, for the trustee to pay for the services of the people that are operating and maintaining this facility and treating the leachate. The bonding company was actually very cooperative in terms of they just wrote a check in the end to pay for the money.

[02:33:48] Sometimes bonding companies want to fight, but this company decided not to and just simply give us the money, which was good. The problem is we're going to run out of money. And so the funds are right now projected by the trustee and their consultants to be exhausted between October and November. And our DEQ staff, Brad Rick in particular, Rick is here, and he is our project manager assigned to this, And he reviews all those invoices.

[02:34:14] Now, in total, the trustee and their consultants have estimated that we need $173 million for the next 30 years for post-closure containment. So basically to treat this, to fix it, to operate and maintain it and treat all this leachate.

[02:34:29] We hope within 30 years the leachate problem will be 100% resolved and we can mothball the site and it will be fully capped. But that's a lot more money than the $19 million. So what are we going to do about it? Okay, so this next section, we'll talk about the state budget amendment and our planned regulatory updates to hopefully prevent this from ever occurring again.

[02:34:49] So first of all, we at DEQ have worked with the Secretary of Natural Resources team, the Department of Planning and Budget, and the finance staff on different budget alternatives. We utilize the trustee and their SCS report that's publicly available.

[02:35:07] Listening to all these people in many meetings, we determined that there was a great interest of everyone involved to have the most cost-effective solution in collaboration with the county and potential future operators. Obviously, they can't collect any more trash, but someone could be an operator of this facility long-term that is funded by various sources of revenue.

[02:35:32] So we had to develop a budget. We gave them multiple alternatives to deal with the immediate needs and also provide information how we could get to a better more refined budget because that was one of the complaints was that you know while people believe the information they want more information and they want more refinement and we only have very light conceptual plans right now so this i won't bore you with the details of how we got to this place obviously we used the scs budget as a starting point but the powers that be and the general assembly that votes and approves the

[02:36:05] budget determined that we could have $10.6 million for this first fiscal year, FY27, which started July 1st. Okay. This is kind of a general breakdown. And I think the key here is, you know, we want to get the cover completed, the cap, because if we get the final landfill cover in place, when it rains, and it does rain, even though it's a drought, it's been raining a lot lately here, that water infiltrates directly into the garbage mess. We need to reduce that amount of the water that's coming in.

[02:36:39] We've got to upgrade the collection system. We've got to liquids manage it. We have to truck this waste to other treatment facilities that are allowed to have it. We have to continue to test the leachate, and I'll talk a little bit more of that later, but that's to refine the design of how we're going to actually design, build, and operate and maintain a leachate treatment system.

[02:36:59] So we have some money left over from the bonds, but not enough, and that's the 10.6. That gets us basically to the end of this fiscal year that just started. The goal is during this process to develop a collaborative approach between the county, the trustee, and DEQ, and potential operators even, that could reduce long-term costs.

[02:37:21] Part of that is we're working, and I say we, SCS, the contractor for the trustee, has been conducting additional leachate testing in conjunction with the requirements of Chesterfield County to, number one, see if we could split the flow. And some of the landfill leachate is not as bad in the non-elevated temperature areas as the elevated temperature areas.

[02:37:43] So that potentially could be split off and piped into the Chesterfield system without pretreatment. And then the other waste leachate could be characterized and hopefully designed, developed a better. Can everyone see that?

[02:37:58] It's okay. Could develop a better system in terms of how to pretreat that. So we've got the $10.6 million. We've also got a couple other sources of funds that are in the budget right now. There's $3 million that the budget now allows me to spend through our emergency fund, our VRF fund.

[02:38:18] Normally, I'm limited to $100,000. This grants me the authority to go ahead and spend up to $3 million after the $10.6 is exhausted. We also potentially could collect about another $1.6 million in monitoring costs. There's another pot of money in the budget that allows us, subject to writing a report and getting approval by the Secretary of Natural Resources, the Secretary of Finance, and the Department of Planning and Budget, and the governor, to approve that use.

[02:38:48] And I plan to propose that as some of the uses of this monitoring money to go towards all the monitoring that's required in the Shoesmith landfill. I can't guarantee it because I need their approval, but that's our plan. I'll point out that there are some monitoring that's not in the original budget and that's what we plan also to be funding with this money.

[02:39:11] I won't read, obviously, the budget amendments, but this is the budget amendment that gives us the $10.6 million and the $3 million. It's published online. This gives us the other mechanisms and tells me what I have to go through to spend this money. This is the source of the additional monitoring, so I would be writing a report and getting permission to spend it out of this section.

[02:39:34] The good news is K2, it doesn't revert to the general fund if we don't spend it. Unfortunately, I have the feeling we'll spend it all, plus more, but it's not getting reappropriated to someone else. And then I have to report every October 1st to the governor and the chairs of the House Appropriations and Senate Finance on what we're doing with this money.

[02:39:55] So we have a direction to go for this first fiscal year. We have a direction to get money for the second fiscal year. The idea is to address that with these departments and secretaries and get permission to put the funding in the caboose bill for next fiscal year.

[02:40:11] That's what our plan is. At the same time, I want to make sure this never happens again. And probably some of you know that we have not been able to change the regulations and the fees since I've been there. It's a democracy and, you know, we have to have votes.

[02:40:28] But we're going to try again. And we've now gotten permission to start a guidance document. it's in public comment right now. It was actually published on July 13th, so it's in public comment now. And that's number one, to take the lessons that we've learned in the Bristol problem. That expert panel that we reformed and wrote a report is being used, for example, in Los Angeles for their problem with the same problem. So people have taken this panel that we created. We had the experts from all around the country and Canada convene in Bristol to figure out what to do.

[02:41:00] and it's working. We went from over 2,000 complaints of odor complaints a month to anywhere between one to ten and we we've seen incredible incredible improvements. It's still got a long ways to go but but it's everything that the experts recommended is being implemented. It's working so we feel good about that. What we learned from a lot of these experts is that the information that could predict this problem two to three years in advance exists. It's just not you have to look at it in a different format so what this guidance document does is require the

[02:41:34] proper information to be collected and presented in a format so that anybody can see including the public because we're going to make it all publicly available can see that there is a problem coming so we can take steps early on when it's less expensive to stop this problem from going because it's an exponential growth problem the next thing is financial assurances obviously we don't have of money. Now, Bristol was a municipal landfill, so it's a different situation, and the municipality said they don't have any money, and they'd go bankrupt. They threatened to go bankrupt. They

[02:42:10] didn't. This was a private company, we thought, based on the waste management problem several years ago in Virginia, where they had the same problem, but they spent lots and lots of money. They learned a lot because they had spent over $500 million on a problem in Ohio, and they fixed the problem. But here, this owner group decided to go Chapter 7 and not spend the money to fix it that's outside of the scope of DEQ it's in the Attorney General's hand and and and so that that's something I can't comment on but what we want to do is make sure that there's a financial assurance a bond or

[02:42:46] insurance that we can call upon to prevent this from ever occurring again so the budget amendment here allows us to create new regulation that requires financial assurance for basically landfill caps leachate management gas collection other activities you know so we we wanted the leachate management is the pretreatment systems so we're going to be able to require bonds if this is approved to prevent this in the future from being foisted upon taxpayers like us the we put out a Nora for this as well because at the time when we didn't

[02:43:23] know get approved in the budget that we didn't know the budget until like the 29th of June but there's some things that are in there we'd like to go beyond So we have a belt and suspenders approach, and we have a NORA that's already going on, and they were published on June 13th, July 13th, rather.

[02:43:41] So that will be another process that we can amend these regulations, potentially increase fees, definitely, obviously, do all the financial assurances, potentially increase setbacks that was proposed before and got rejected. But all these types of things, we believe, needs to be done to prevent this from occurring again.

[02:44:00] so with that i'll stop and answer any questions i know two of you had lots of questions last time we're going to start board i i have a question you need to go back a little bit um on your slides i want to go back to the one where it said i think what was happening for 2026 and 2027 go back one more that's it uh so it's 27 28 i want to um call your attention to fiscal

[02:44:35] year 28 with regard to number three develop a collaborative approach to design operation with Chesterfield County. I want to just stop there for a moment. When you, say, develop a collaborative approach to design operation with Chesterfield County, what do you mean? So last week we had a mediation session with the bankruptcy mediator and the trustee and Chesterfield County and the Attorney General's office and the Governor's office, and what the mediation is now public agreed to do is to create a committee of three entities.

[02:45:04] So the trustee has one representative, Chesterfield County has a representative, and DEQ has a representative. And they're going to work together to focus on, number one, can we split the system or not in terms of two different treatment trains to split the leachate? And the reason is, instead of trucking it, trucking is very expensive, but we can let it flow into your sewer system and not have a pre-treatment system.

[02:45:27] That's least costly. If we can let it flow through a pre-treatment system with the messier stuff and treat it properly, again, that's still cheaper than trucking it to another treatment system. So the first focus is getting that done, okay? in terms of we don't get consensus on a concept get consensus on how we're going to actually go to final design and construction and operations and maintenance so that's the first assignment really of that group the other is obviously to do whatever we can to help the trustee and their consultant get the cap on as quick as possible to prevent that infiltration so it's basically

[02:46:03] two simultaneous approaches but that collaboration is what was agreed upon in this mediation just the other week. I'm losing track a week. It might be two weeks ago now. But that's what we plan to do, and that's, I think, a very positive change in direction. I won't say change, but we have to go through a process, unfortunately, through the bankruptcy system, and it's gone very well, but it is a process, and it takes time. So I just want to be clear, because on this slide, what you have here is something called a budget breakdown, and so I want to be clear on when you're talking about a collaborative approach to design operation with Chesterfield County, I want to make sure

[02:46:43] that I understand and I want you to corroborate with me that this is not going to fall, when it comes to a budget perspective, this is not going to fall on the taxpayers of Chesterfield County alone. When I say alone, I'm recognizing this is going to be a state, this is going to be appropriated on the state level.

[02:47:04] Am I accurate on that? Well, what I'm talking about is the technical side of how to fix the problem. On the budget, I don't have the authority to make any commitments on budget issues. I know what we have proposed to do, and we're in consensus with that.

[02:47:20] But how the elected officials decide how to appropriate money is not, I have no influence. Okay, that's what I wanted to make sure we're clear on that. And when you're saying elected officials, of course, you're talking about on the state level, correct? Correct. Okay, thank you. Mr. Chair.

[02:47:40] Dr. Hilton, then Mr. Carroll. So, question, I know Richmond is not taking a leach right now, or the landfill there is not taking it. So, it's being taken somewhere else. Could you elaborate where it's being taken, and if there's any increased costs?

[02:47:59] There are increased costs, and the trustee is working on different alternatives. We've talked to another location as well to see if they could start taking this soon. So, there's multiple locations being discussed with and potentially being used, And then, of course, the city has only alleged violations, and I saw some correspondence from the city, I think it was yesterday, that it's not finalized.

[02:48:25] So they've met with the facility that's accepting the leachate and talked to them about how they could modify their permit to make it potentially acceptable. So there's multiple alternatives being assessed by the trustee and their agents. And then could you elaborate maybe on the steps that it would take in order for Chesterfield County to take on the leachate after it's been cleaned?

[02:48:49] And what those steps would have to... And I may lean to Chester, see if he might have to help me, but Chesterfield County has published criteria for what you'll accept for pretreatment. I think there's a hundred and something facilities that have pretreatment facilities that then treat it and send it to your wastewater for further treatment.

[02:49:08] So you have a very robust system. I mean, it's published, it's online, and everyone knows what the requirements are. So we just have to get this facility's design to match the requirements that Chesterfield has to accept it.

[02:49:24] And then they have to pay for it. It's not free. You can't just take it for free. Right. Maybe have Jesse elaborate on what that process looks like. Yeah, I think Mike actually did a good job of explaining what that is.

[02:49:40] I think it's also, like you said, we have pre-treatment permits with dozens of facilities of all sorts of industries. So it's pretty regular that we accept industrial waste from those as long as it's pre-treated. It's also important to remember that we used to accept leachate, again, pre-treated from the landfill.

[02:50:00] It was only after they essentially stopped treating it and discharged it directly to our system that we stopped them. Because essentially what happens is it poisons our wastewater treatment plant, which is designed for domestic sewage and not industrial sewage. So what we need any industry to do is to treat their effluent to a point where it's similar to what would come out of your household waste before we can accept it.

[02:50:23] You bring up a good point that it wasn't being treated, and that's how it was discovered by Chesterwood County. And so could you elaborate maybe on that, too, from the perspective of Chesterwood County?

[02:50:34] Sure. Yeah. I mean, in the, I'll try to simplify it. But what we saw were really high ammonia levels at our Proctor's Creek wastewater treatment plant. And we chased sources back until we discovered through an investigation that the leachate was, was untreated coming out of the Shoesmith landfill. And really, you know, and I think Mike showed some of the pictures, that black goo, that black substance that was coming out of it was poisoning our plant, for lack of a better term.

[02:51:05] And then, so after that happened, then Chesterfield County reported it to, earlier reported to another administration that DEQ's administration at that time. Yeah, we revoked their permit. We went through some legal processes. You know, we certainly keep DEQ in the loop the whole time.

[02:51:22] I mean, you know, it is all of these enforcement efforts at the landfill are a partnership. You know, we certainly are willing to work to handle leachate so that it doesn't have to be trucked and hauled off. But then, you know, DQ has their responsibilities as well. So we're working in concert to try to make this thing, you know, the best it can be at this point.

[02:51:41] Okay. Let me add one other couple things. One is that, you know, while we want to split the flow, it may be that the one part is not clean enough without pretreatment. But potentially it would need a different pretreatment process, less costly and quicker to take care of than the really bad area.

[02:52:01] So we know the elevated temperature landfill section creates a much worse leachate than the non-elevated temperature. So that's another reason if we can split the flow, maybe we can't send it without being pretreated, but at least we can reduce the cost of the pretreatment system and make two trains that are more efficiently designed for the type of chemicals that are coming out.

[02:52:24] And the city of Richmond, they did the same thing that Chesterfield did. They had a problem at one of their wastewater facilities that wasn't operating correctly. They chased the problem to a plant that was taking this by truck and treating it, but they weren't treating it sufficiently, and it also didn't meet their permit conditions.

[02:52:42] So, you know, the city of Richmond learned from Chesterfield as well that we have a problem, let's go find it, and they found the source. And then is it the intent of DEQ to, I guess for a simpler description, stick the straws back into the landfill and take out the gas again?

[02:53:04] Or when they cap it, do you have to still put the straws in there to suck the gas out? Can you elaborate on that process a little bit? Sure. So we have to definitely suck the gas out. Right. And it's being done right now, and it's being treated.

[02:53:20] What we're concerned about is what happened at Bristol, where the gas quality got to a point where it wouldn't combust. It wouldn't burn. We actually have to add propane. There they weren't selling in the gas pipeline. burning it in converted Caterpillar engines that ran on this gas that made electricity and sold it to the grid it won't burn so they stopped doing that we want to make sure that we could get hopefully get the lead shade out get the temperature down so that we have much higher methane production which also produces revenue to this facility as well I mean potentially could be up to a couple million dollars a year which is real money it's not going to solve this

[02:53:57] problem but it's real money but we want to make sure that we don't lose that income stream because again it's a vicious cycle so let me kind of restate a question for you so i guess it would it could be possibly one scenario where people could smell something but because we have the the straws in there is taking out the gas nobody smells anything right correct and and and they are taking the gas out right now we do have leaks but but that's that's helpful the also the smell issue is related to the less methane more other gases becomes more odorous and so that's

[02:54:36] you know it obviously it smells like a landfill when you go there but it's not it's not nearly as horrible as some landfills have been like bristol so so our idea our goal is to if we can get the leachate out because the the leachate has a lot of the heat in it okay so if we can the more liquid we can get out so we can cool it off it takes years to cool these mass wastes off we can then change the chemical reaction to create more methane, which also produces more income and less odor. Okay. Isn't it true there are different types of leachate treatment systems? Yes, there are.

[02:55:17] And can you elaborate a little bit on what those different types of treatment systems are and how they work? Well, I'm not an expert in the leachate system design, but there are multiple methods, and that's where we're going to have technical experts working on the actual design. But some of them are as simple as sand filters, for example, or flocculants, where you add chemicals to take particles out. They're smaller particles. There's reverse osmosis, which has been discussed for this, which could be the best system in terms of efficiency, except if this, quote, black goo is too present without pretreatment of that, it could gum up the reverse osmosis membranes.

[02:55:54] So these companies are going to look at all these different methods. And when we come up with a concept plan, we may end up having multiple methods as potential concepts subject to people then proposing what they think it could do.

[02:56:09] And that's why we also think, and again, it's think because we're in the middle of testing right now, the leachate streams, that it might be two different types of pretreatment systems, one more expensive than the other for the two different levels of leachate. Thank you.

[02:56:29] Some of these questions you might have heard already, but it's a different audience. So, Chesterfield did the zoning for the dump, I believe, in 76-ish, 72, 76.

[02:56:46] And then the county, I believe, expanded the ability in 94. Does that sound right, Jesse? I will say Mr. Biggs, I think, has been here the entire time.

[02:57:02] So, he actually has recorded to memory. Not in the 70s. But again, in 2018, the county did not let them expand again and told them that they were going to have to shut down when they came to the capacity from what they were permitted in 94.

[02:57:22] Yeah, we denied the request to use the quarry as a landfill. And we had a code jurisdiction over the pretreatment, what was coming out of the pretreatment facility to our water treatment plant, but only into the point that if we found a violation, we could stop them from sending it to us, not any more than that authority. Is that correct?

[02:57:56] Yeah, so we do regulate the pre-treatment, and it goes to our wastewater treatment plant. But yeah, if they violate that, typically we would give them a notice of violation, allow them to direct that. But if it gets as egregious and as frequent as what we saw here, then we just revoke their permit, which is exactly what happened here.

[02:58:15] Right, and the enforcement is actually to stop the flow, because the flow then becomes dangerous to the plant. That's our part of the regulation that we had purveyed to. we also did have some purview there was a lot of complaints about um dirt and trash on route 10 over the years and we did have purview and we did uh require them to bring sweeper trucks out and clean route 10 often to the point where we had to have route 10 re-striped because the sweeper trucks would sweep the paint yes or their zoning conditions and things that apply but that was

[02:58:47] off-site stuff that we had enforcement over. On-site, who had all the permitting responsibilities and all of the notice of violations or any other type of authority by state law? Who's the only? Sure. I mean, I think the best way to look at it is sort of the circle of the landfill. Everything, you know, where the pipe comes out and everything outside of it generally is going to be county jurisdiction other than of course the land use rights i think

[02:59:22] inside of that generally speaking is going to be the state i mean that's fair okay i just wanted to make sure because we did the county did in fact try to um co-enforce uh and we were told through an attorney general's um letter that the state law prohibited us from that right and that we could not do that is that correct yes sir there was there was a time you know just like a lot of our state counterparts where I think admittedly at the time they said they were understaffed and they could only get to certain spots. We said, well, we're relocated across the street essentially

[02:59:57] for the landfill. If you'll allow us to help out, we certainly would have. At that time, the AG's opinion was that there were specific reasons operationally and legally they declined that request. Well, they actually stated that state law prohibits it. That was their response.

[03:00:16] Sure. You're totally correct. And we've given you a copy of that letter. What could happen is during this regulatory process, you know, you can change laws. I mean, I've changed them when before I was at DEQ. I mean, you can go and get a patron. There's elected officials. It's not that hard a deal, a process to do. And so it's something to really think about because DEQ has limited resources. And we had an actor, though, that was a bad actor.

[03:00:46] I mean, most people, when you give them a violation, they actually fix it, okay? So this is a tough situation. They didn't respond. I'm not trying to say that DEQ caused the problem, because clearly the people that caused the problem were the owners of the dump.

[03:01:02] And they clearly, I know I said it before, and I'll probably get in trouble for it, but they clearly, in my opinion, committed some acts that I believe they should be prosecuted for. I'll try to be careful how I say it so I don't get sued.

[03:01:18] And we fully support that prosecution of anything that is found to be a violation of the law. I think everybody on this board will agree with that, right? I just wanted to make sure that people understand, because there's a lot of people that think that the county was taking money at either this board level or other boards prior to us or county administrators or somebody else were taking money from Shoesmith to turn a blind eye to what was going on there, and we had no authority, so there would be no reason in the world

[03:01:56] for them to pay off somebody that had no authority over them. Would you agree with that? If I may also add, one of the other points of confusion, I think people, you know, because it's a landfill, they assume it's municipally owned. They assume that the county owns it. We've never owned that landfill. We're not going to own that landfill. It's always been are privately owned and operated landfills. And we did not have the authority over it. Correct.

[03:02:22] So thank you. And I'm not trying to make this confrontational because I do know that we have to... The goal is the same for our citizens, for this board, for DEQ, for the state, I believe, to solve the problem.

[03:02:38] And I know I'm going into some details that honestly I'm not trying to be adversarial to you. I'm just trying to make clarification I don't feel any adversaries, but I think the key is, you know, right now we have a regulatory structure that limits what we have authority to do just like it limits you, and we don't have financial assurances that can cover these costs, and the whole system was created, it's an unintended consequence of having liners in 1989 to prevent groundwater contamination that led to this problem.

[03:03:11] The regs have never adjusted, so we need more powerful regulations to provide a financial assurance so that people aren't incentivized like this situation to run. I agree with you fully, and I do think that I believe every member of this board has advocated with our what we'll call our state delegation representing Chesterfield County.

[03:03:34] and we've seen many of them that have worked towards changing what the state law says to make sure that this doesn't happen again in the future, but that's not going to solve what's already happened, and we've got to make sure that it's cleaned up and taken care of properly.

[03:03:56] But I do appreciate the help from the state delegation and the first $10.6 million to get that through this budget process because it was extremely late in the budget process when they found that they needed to do that. So I appreciate the efforts, and the efforts were made, honestly, on both sides of the aisle at the state level.

[03:04:17] And I want to thank all of the senators and delegates that have worked diligently to help support our citizens in Chesterfield. And I can only hope that they will continue to bring their allies across the rest of the state to continue to support the effort that needs to be fulfilled here so that we can make sure we don't have any issues.

[03:04:41] We did here, we got a short-term plan, which is basically this fiscal year. We believe we have enough money to make it through June 31st, and we believe that before then, the longer-term plan is being developed because we are putting out requests for proposals to multiple companies, which you didn't say tonight, I don't think.

[03:05:03] I might have missed it, but we do actually have multiple companies that want to bid on this process, and so we think that's good towards getting a good resolution. because we'll have probably several different opportunities to look at and the experts to something that Dr. Miller said.

[03:05:25] What's our part of the collaborative approach? Our part is to make sure that the pretreatment system is designed adequately to protect the county system and to assure that the operations are done to the best that we can have a piece in it to make sure that that takes place.

[03:05:50] I understand you can't make commitments on money because you don't appropriate it, so that's why you're very careful in your words. But I do appreciate the fact that the state overall has stepped up to say, yes, this is where the money should come from in the event that the legislators and the governor appropriate it.

[03:06:14] So, again, I'm thankful, but I'm very much asking the state to continue that effort as we bring a better long-term plan, not because we haven't tried to develop one, but because we truly haven't had time to truly fully develop that long-term plan.

[03:06:31] But once we know what that looks like, we are looking to the state to fund that. In the April report, there was, and I don't want to get too technical in a lot of things, but there was a high arsenic concentration in a couple places.

[03:06:52] But I believe there was some May and June reports that came out that may have shown some better readings. There's multiple theories, and we're having our technical experts with your county's technical experts and the trustees' experts all look at that together to figure out what's going on.

[03:07:12] So we're aware of it. We're working on it. We don't have a final answer of why April's readings came up the way they did, but we are continuing to monitor, and we feel like we have a plan at least at this time to keep everybody safe.

[03:07:27] Is that correct? It's correct, and I should point out, as you had mentioned this last week, we are in the process of standing up a website. The first version of it will be shooting for next Wednesday to be complete. It will be continued to add upon, And we're going to basically provide as much information as we possibly can in a timely manner.

[03:07:48] Going back retroactively as well, some of the testing data was protected during this mediation effort. It's now been released. A trustee was very kind to release all this information. So our communications staff will be adding it to a website. So everything is going to be public.

[03:08:05] Some things are public now, but everything will be fully public and hopefully within a week or so. we'll just continue to improve that website as time goes on i think you mentioned it earlier but so leche was found in some of the outfalls of some of the bmps but um i believe i heard you say that there was no evidence that that leche made it to the creeks did i hear that correctly correct and that's what we believe obviously during a storm there could be something that we didn't see visual evidence of but the vacuum trucks are used to basically suck it up in the in the pre-treatment

[03:08:42] areas of each bmp system so that's our goal is prevent it from leaving the site we do have monitoring in the stream as well hopefully we pick up any signs of any so we're we are taking samples um i know we're taking water samples are they taking any or have they taken any soil samples um just to see what the uh that channel going to the creek i don't i don't believe they've been taking any soil samples just just water samples and is it normal to just monitor the water and not the soil that's normal unless there's an actual physical physically um visible

[03:09:18] you know material out there so we we had visible evidence at the outfall itself but not um all the way through the channel to the creek but not into the creek okay just i appreciate the clarifications on that um i think that um i probably used well more than my time i want to thank the board for indulging me on those questions and um i am sure that i missed somebody's question that's reached out to me but it was not for lack of trying to um make sure we were thorough in our conversation

[03:09:57] tonight so thank you for your time you're welcome um we're available on our website we'll have a contact email uh brad has been tasked to be reviewing all those and getting our subject matter experts throughout the eq to help obviously we'll be doing in cooperation with chesterfield So we're going to answer any questions we can and keep working together to get this addressed.

[03:10:16] Thanks. Mr. Schneider. Jesse, you had said in an email that you were going to address the, I know he brought it up, but the arsenic level situation and the readings and how it might have been missed. Sure, so, yeah, we saw sort of what was noted of that.

[03:10:32] We actually don't think that was arsenic. We think someone's reading the column wrong, but it was total toxic organics is what it was. believe that was because of the addition of naphthalene which from your high school chemistry class you may remember as mothballs which is material that's used to clean leachate collection systems so that's why that reading pinged so high I think was noted as like 170,000 micrograms per liter but yes yeah we again that's not my information so Scott Smedley again is really our expert in this.

[03:11:07] He has a background in utilities, water treatment, wastewater treatment. If we have specific questions like that, we will get those answered and try to address people's concerns. So should a citizen direct those to you or to Scott? SmithJW at Chesterfield.gov.

[03:11:25] And then you'll make sure that they get their answer back. So just to be absolutely clear, what happened was there was someone in the community that misread the column. Yeah, and again, it's hard for us to sort of interpret that, just getting snippets of emails of, hey, I see a number here. It's a 750-page document.

[03:11:41] So, we're guessing based on the numbers that we find in those studies as to what they're referring to. I know Scott did call that person or at least has talked to them and explained that as well. So, if anybody has questions, we will get them the answers. And I do think they also called it out in another location, but I'm sure that Scott can work with that person who had that question.

[03:12:05] I just want to make sure their questions are fully answered, so thank you for that. We are happy to do that. That's what I was doing. Yeah. And how many pages was that report? So that's the April report, 750. 750 pages? Yes. Okay. So needless to say, with it being 750 pages, the person or people that read it obviously and truly understand are those of the experts to be able to interpret it.

[03:12:30] I guess I'm making the point that even with all, that's a tome of information. It's easy to pull out a snippet and think it's one thing, and it may be something else. I would tell you, I am not qualified to read that report, and I have a degree in biological systems engineering, and I'm a licensed engineer.

[03:12:46] I don't read those things. We have people to do. Let's let them read it and interpret it, and if folks have questions, we will get them the answer. All right. Thank you. Mr. Carroll. Well, in that person's defense, they did email us back later and say that they pointed out the correct stuff that they were trying to point to.

[03:13:05] I mean, it is a pretty comprehensive report, and there's a lot of information in there, and I'm not qualified to testify to that report either, for that matter. But my question is about the berm, the wall, okay? In August of 2020, we had a 700-year storm in Chesterfield County.

[03:13:27] Ten inches of rain were dropped on us in, I think, a five- or six-hour period. I know that almost every road, I think it was actually every road from Hull Street all the way to Colonial Heights was shut down that Swift Creek ran next to, right?

[03:13:44] So Hull Street actually had three feet of water over top of it. Our Addison Evans plant, and I think utilities is probably here, can actually say that it was under like 12 feet of water. And we actually had to rebuild the plant. And now we're putting a wall up, a flood wall.

[03:14:02] I was trying to get home, and so I had to go south of, all the way to Winnipeg Road to get to roads that go south of Swift Creek to get to where I live in the county. But every single road was shut down. Can you go back to the map of where the wall is in relation to the creek?

[03:14:25] I think you just passed it. Maybe not. All right. All right. So can you point out where Swift Creek is in relation to that? The yellow line is the wall. Swift Creek is to the left, which is. Can you point it out in the pointer, Jesse? so the people in the community can see it.

[03:14:43] Sorry, we were having technical issues with this the other night, so let's see if we can push that button. All right, so Swift Creek's over here, right? So it's not far from the landfill. Yeah, it's just meandering. It meanders through.

[03:15:00] Back when this storm occurred, and you may not know the answer to this, and we may have to do some research, do we know if in that section of the creek when it comes by, did it overflow its banks and flow into the area? Because we know it overflowed the banks everywhere else.

[03:15:16] Wala Road, Beach Road, everything was under flood. To my knowledge, we do not know that. We'll have to get back to you on that. Yeah, we do have, and I'll dig them up, but we have pictures from Pocahontas State Park nearby and some other things.

[03:15:31] I'll see what we have, and we have some flood gauges out here. So I'll talk to Jess Winter over in Emergency Management and see if we have any historical records from back then. If you saw the pictures of Pocahontas, I mean, the swings were completely flooded. It was way up.

[03:15:46] So we could probably extrapolate some sort of idea of where that floodplain would have been relative to this particular. Well, the reason I ask is if the banks overflowed, and I think probably even knocking on doors for some of the people living in that neighborhood next to that might be able to even speak to that.

[03:16:03] But if it overflowed its banks in there at a 700-year storm, which flooded, like I said, a majority of the county roads, again, I didn't see any evidence, at least in the picture that was shown, that it eroded the wall.

[03:16:20] And if I could add, there's been, you know, Mike noted this, there's been no movement in the wall. They've set up survey equipment. You know, those walls, typically, you don't see any sort of catastrophic failure. You'll start to see shifting in movement and migration and other things. But you don't, with those MSC berms, because they're, like you said, they're very common in highway construction and some other things.

[03:16:41] You don't typically see just any sort of catastrophic failure. You start to see movement, but very, very microscopic movement that you have to pick up in the survey equipment. But the fear is that if something happens internally in the landfill, that could create a problem for the wall, yes or no?

[03:16:59] That's our catastrophic concern, but so far we haven't seen any evidence of any movement, so I don't think it's a high risk. Well, I guess some people believe because there was fly ash used in the construction of the wall that that's a danger to the community and that the wall needs to be completely replaced immediately.

[03:17:16] Right. And the fly ash, actually, you can look at it two ways. It's a cementitious material, so it actually could be increasing the stability if it got wet. So it's not a cut-and-dry answer. No pun. You know, at the time, I wasn't around at the time. Pardon?

[03:17:31] No pun. No pun to you. Cut and dry. Sorry. But I wasn't here, obviously, when it was approved and designed and built. But, you know, we do not expect it to be a significant problem, but we'll definitely, taking your suggestion, you know, work with Jesse to look into number one the hundred year floodplain elevation issue most likely it's not that significant because there was no evidence so far of any any problems but that was before the wall was built that flood well I mean my concern is that whether or not the wall is going to have an issue or not we know from in the past we've had several buildings in

[03:18:08] Chesterfield County that had fly ash used in I guess in the stabilization underneath the building. I think Home Depot was one of them where fly ash was used to help stabilize the soil underneath the concrete and the whole concrete floor cracked and they had to replace it and that was a different type of issue but you know obviously I just want to make sure that there is no problem with this wall right now and that and that we continue to monitor to make sure that there is not one and we don't believe that that the fly ash has created an immediacy that's going

[03:18:43] to add to that $173 million price tag, and that's something we have to look at replacing immediately. This time we have no knowledge of any problem. The June report was just recently completed, and that's going to be on our website as well that shows the current monitoring, and we're going to continue the monitoring and make sure that there isn't signs of a problem.

[03:19:03] Thank you. And so I just want to be clear, kind of picking up on what Mr. Carroll was saying, it's not as if we need to create or build a second retaining wall behind it just in case it were to we're not worried about whether it is going to collapse correct we're not worried about it and we don't have any plans this any need to have another wall built there the biggest need is to prevent any increase in leachate which does put more loading on the wall and so we have to get rid of leachate number one not for the loading hydrostatic loading it's for the temperature and the elevated temperature landfill a secondary benefit of removing leachate is less pressure on

[03:19:43] on the wall. Right. And I had a question for you. If you were to continue the slides, there's one picture that confuses me a little bit. Keep going. Keep going. Keep going. Keep going. Keep going. There is one that looked like a geyser. That's the one. That's the one. Can you tell me a little bit about what we're looking at there? And is that something that's happening out on our landfill?

[03:20:09] It has happened. Okay. And it's basically pressure. So that has happened. And that's something we have to stop you know we have to get rid of the leachate we have to get it out we have to make sure it's not under pressure sometimes in these elevated temperature landfills you'll have liquids that are higher temperature than than boiling but under pressure so they don't boil but then when you have a release of pressure they can boil and have a geyser but that isn't something that's happened to our landfill this is depicting correct that happened here it happened here it doesn't happen very often okay but just again another reason to get this leachate out right

[03:20:49] and I will say the trustee and SCS they're doing everything in their power to do it right to get this leachate out I mean they're doing they're really doing a good job we just got to give them more time and more money and more resources in terms of once we get a treatment system we can get more leachate out we're there we're hemmed in by trucking and where to bring it mr. chair Thank you. Other questions from the board? Dr. Hilton.

[03:21:17] No, not so much a question as much as a statement. You know, one, thank you so much for your help. You've had a community meeting last week in the Highlands neighborhood. I thought that went very well. Well received. A lot of positive feedback about the information that you presented and also, you know, people have a lot of faith and confidence in your background um which if you could take a take a moment just to kind of describe the background that you have and those are on your staff um for a moment i think that's that's one thing that this

[03:21:53] this this crowd hadn't gotten is kind of the under understanding of what it has taken to get to where you are in terms of your career right and also some of the folks that are on your staff that are kind of working through this this project so uh i know it brought a lot of confidence to the that crowd there, so hopefully give you the opportunity here too.

[03:22:15] So number one, our project manager that we've designated for this project is Brad Ricks, and he is right there. And he's been with DQ, what, 20 years now. So he's been involved in this type of project and in this compliance requirements for all these years. John Giese is threatening to retire at the end of this year.

[03:22:34] And he's also, he's been in our hazardous waste group, in our emergency response group, and our communications group. So he's been dealing with these types of problems, again, 35 years now, 30 years, okay, I'm older, I just turned 69, so I got out of high school in 75, I guess, and almost the same age, but, you know, my career, basically, I started in, I have a bachelor's and a master's in civil and environmental engineering, specialized in geotech and my master's in MBA in finance, I went to Cornell for all three degrees, I was in the construction industry, and then in the real estate development, and basically started

[03:23:11] getting weather permits for a developer and started my own company back in 1988 sold it in 2014 worked there full-time for three years then part-time while I taught I was a professor of practice at Cornell went back to my alma mater because my believe it or not my hydraulics professor convinced me to come back and it was a blast but my wife did not like the cold in Ithaca New York and so but I moved actually first time was a co-op student to DC in 78 but then I moved full-time to Virginia in 85. And so I've been in Virginia and Northern Virginia my whole career, basically majority of it. I had a couple hundred employees when I left and played teacher for a little bit

[03:23:49] and then retired again, played farmer for a little tiny bit and learned how to lose money farming. And basically heard, I never heard of Governor Youngkin, but I read an article, an interview, and he wanted someone to improve the environmental permitting process, so I wrote him a letter.

[03:24:10] So that's how I came here. And it's been a great challenge. It was a great time. We've made incredible improvements to DEQ. Most of my career was getting permits from DEQ and local governments and the Army Corps of Engineers. So I knew the systems from a different side, and a lot of the people I work with now I work with on the other side.

[03:24:29] I've taught lots of classes over the years, both for DEQ and the Army Corps around the country. We appreciate your expertise. Yeah. It's really helpful and very grateful. Any other questions from the board? Mr. Chair, I do have one other one. Yeah. I know someone's here from the EPA and they haven't said anything.

[03:24:48] We hadn't really asked anything, but I would say that this board is interested and we've actually reached out to some of our representation at the federal level to bring the EPA in, and I know that this is not a Superfund site.

[03:25:04] It's a Superfund site is set up for a landfill that did not have regulation and wasn't permitted properly, I believe, is how they call Superfund sites. But we do invite the EPA in any guidance, anything you can do to help us, and any funding you can bring us to help make this happen.

[03:25:28] So thank you for being here tonight. So, all I want to say, my name is Myles Bartas. I'm the on-scene coordinator for EPA. Working with DEQ for years, they're partners. Right now, we really don't have a place for this, given the conditions and everything that is going on, but we keep an eye on it.

[03:25:49] We reviewed the data and reviewed their plans. We fully support them and plan on being their technical assistance wherever we can. As you can tell, they have a really good handle on what's needed. It really comes down to money. We also don't do grants in the Superfund program. And we do when no one else can do it, that's when we come in and when certain criteria are met.

[03:26:08] So we'll continue to be involved. We'll field any questions you have. Appreciate the time being here. Thank you. We'll continue to reach out to our federal-level partners that represent Cheshfield County as well to see if we can get them to maybe not through the EPA but through another form to help get this solved as quickly as possible.

[03:26:29] Thank you. Dr. Hamilton, did you have additional questions? I just wanted just to say, too, that I think it's important to note that this is the state coming to the aid of a privately owned landfill. So I don't want people to say that you all are coming to give Chesville County the money to fix this.

[03:26:51] This is you all rescuing a private entity. And so hopefully there will be no impacts for Chesville residents from other funding that we'll receive from the state or federal level. that this is really, again, I want to say it again to be clear, the state government coming to rescue a privately held entity.

[03:27:13] So I just want to make that clear. In a privately held company, you describe them as bad actors. I would describe their alleged bad actors. But, I mean, that, which is really the point, isn't it?

[03:27:30] that we're grateful for the support that you're giving so that we can move this process forward. I think the actions, frankly, were despicable. I'm not sure that that is a legal term, but I can tell you it certainly is an emotional one. Yeah, Mr. Carroll.

[03:27:47] Question for EPA. So I know there's talk of bad actors. In what role does the EPA work with any federal authority in investigating something like this where there could have been some type of violation of regulations, not just state regulations, but possible federal regulations relating to environmental issues.

[03:28:19] So what is EPA's role in that, and then what agency would you work with if there was an investigation to be done? So two parts of that question, I'd say. One would be a criminal side, and one would just be the civil side. Certainly, Record Subtitle D Landfills, a record program, Resource Conservation Recovery Act group, they would look at the violations of how they operated within their permits.

[03:28:43] Much of that authority is delegated to the Commonwealth of Virginia. If it was a criminal side, we have a criminal investigation division that also works closely with Commonwealth of Virginia's attorney general, that they look into violations for Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, CERCLA, which is the Superfund law.

[03:29:03] Those recommendations can come from me if I'm out there and see something, and it's outside of my scope of authority, or it can come from the state to ask for assistance on that. Hopefully that answered your question. So if you're involved in this and you come across something, then you'll consult with your agency and also consult with the attorney general's office.

[03:29:25] And what federal agency on the criminal side would you consult with? So if it went criminal, it would be a U.S. attorney's office. That would mostly be through our Office of Regional Council and or the Criminal Investigation Division under EPA. Like I said, my title is on-scene coordinator, so I'm a jack-of-all-trades, master of none.

[03:29:46] We farm out a lot of stuff to the experts, much like the Commonwealth does for specialty. So any one of us could reach out and start that conversation. I think our goal is to make sure that we have the most comprehensive opportunity to look at this to determine if there was anything done inappropriate.

[03:30:05] And my ask would be that your agency would work directly with the state to be able to accomplish that in any way, shape, or form so that we can, if there was something done that shouldn't have been done, we can get it resolved in the best manner possible. Understood. Agreed. And I can tell you we are having multiple conversations across the different programs within the different authorities.

[03:30:26] Obviously, we have to stay in our lane for each respective roles, but we are continuing to have those conversations. Thank you very much. Appreciate your time. Any other comments? Well, thank you so much for the energy, the time, and the heart that you're putting into moving this the right direction.

[03:30:44] Thank you very much for the opportunity to be here. Madam Clerk. The approval of an employment agreement for the county administrator, Mr. Minks. Mr. Chair, members of the board, at the June 24th meeting, the board confirmed the appointment of Dr. Kevin Catlin as the county administrator going forward, effective August the 24th, 2026. County administrators serve under employment contracts and have in this county for as long as I can recall. And the proposed

[03:31:21] employment contract for Dr. Catlin is the item that's before the board for approval tonight. Thank you, Mr. Minx. Board members, may I have a motion to approve the employment agreement for the Chesterfield County Administrator?

[03:31:37] So moved. Second. Can I second any discussion at all? All in favor, say aye. Aye. Ms. Stringer, you're good. That's all right. I don't need to say anything, but I need to call the other side. All in favor? Aye. Anyone opposed? Aye.

[03:31:54] Madam Clerk. See appointments. Mr. Chair, we have one appointment to the Planning Commission. Can I get a motion to approve the, I guess, the Mitoica for the Planning Commission?

[03:32:15] can I get a motion for that? Motion approved, Mr. Chair. All right. Can I get a second? Second. Any discussion? Yes, sir, Mr. Chair. I want to let the public know that there is someone from the community that has come forward to serve in a role as Planning Commissioner for the Matoka District. His name is Christopher Chapman. It's interesting how I met Mr. Chapman. He contacted me because he lives adjacent to a development

[03:32:52] that was approved a couple of years ago that's now starting to come out of the ground that actually may have encroached or he was concerned that it was encroaching on his property. And as I got to know him, got to talk to him, I realized that he is a person who has a personal interest from that side from development standpoint. He has a master's in biomedical engineering from the Medical

[03:33:25] College of Virginia, a bachelor's of science in biology education from Virginia Commonwealth University, and a bachelor's in anthropology from Virginia Commonwealth University. But he's also worked in many other capacities.

[03:33:43] Currently, he's the director of industrial hygiene for a company, and he's also served on some state boards, and so he's not new to, he would definitely be new to a planning commissioner role, but he's not unknown to what a role could be in serving the community.

[03:34:03] And I admire him for stepping up. I asked him if he'd be interested. I asked him to do some research, to look at planning commission meetings, to look at many things, which he did. And so I'm very honored that he's chosen to do this. There's some who believe that we just appoint some crony that we know, right? Just pick somebody who's in the industry and appoint him as a planning commissioner.

[03:34:27] And that's not the case. That's certainly not the case in my previous planning commissioner, and it is definitely not the case in this. And what I like about Chris is his analytical mind, his ability to look at the law, and his ability to communicate. And so I look forward to him being approved as a planning commissioner. I look forward to seeing how he works well for the community and as a planning commissioner and working with the other planning commissioners Moving forward, Mr. Chair.

[03:35:02] And I just wanted to share some of that information with the community as to how I actually got to meet Mr. Chapman. It was not, I didn't know him, and I know him now, and I think he'll do a great job. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Mr. Carroll.

[03:35:18] Any other discussion? All right, we have a motion. We have a properly second. It appears if there are any other discussion. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? Madam Clerk. D, adoption of a resolution requesting the circuit court of Chesterfield County to order a referendum election on the question of whether Chesterfield County should be authorized to levy a general retail sales tax not to exceed 1% to provide revenue solely for capital projects for the construction or renovation of schools serving Chesterfield County in accordance with Virginia Code Section 58.1-605.1 as amended.

[03:35:58] Mr. Harris. Chair, members of the board, this is a brief presentation, similar to what we did this afternoon, just kind of teeing up this issue. I'll jump right into the slides and kind of get you to what we're talking about. So over the course of the last probably three General Assembly sessions, there's been interest really throughout the Commonwealth about adding a tool to the local government toolkit to allow local governments to enact an additional 1% local sales tax to help with the financing of school construction and school major maintenance.

[03:36:37] Oddly enough, I think there are nine localities that have that authority currently. And so the interest was to, again, just provide that option for the rest of the Commonwealth. There's this most recent session, Commonwealth did just that.

[03:36:53] So as of July 1, you have the ability, all localities, to pursue this. So that's kind of the back story. We've been following that, the language on that has bounced around, you know, quite a bit from, you know, sort of very accommodating to a little more restrictive.

[03:37:13] That's more or less where we ended up here with this version that's before you. But the request that's on your agenda after this presentation is to potentially support a resolution that simply puts this on the ballot for this November.

[03:37:32] No different than a bond referendum like we did in 2013, 2022, where you package up some projects under various categories. We petition the circuit court clerk to put that on the ballot, and then it is before the voters to approve it.

[03:37:48] Same measure here. You are not approving this tonight. You're not being asked to approve this tonight. You're simply being asked to consider a resolution to send it to the court to have it included as part of the ballot for this November. So a couple key details. I mentioned this little more restrictive proposal where we ended up still, I think, it works very well for Chesterfield.

[03:38:11] And I think this conversation is happening in a lot of boardrooms throughout the Commonwealth. We're aware of 21, 22 other jurisdictions that are having the same conversation, some of which are a little bit ahead of us. The timing on this is such that it really kind of has to be a July consideration for localities in order to meet the deadlines to get something on a ballot.

[03:38:37] And obviously that timeline sped up a little bit with the most recent, you know, some of the early voting changes. So it's for Chesterfield, it's your July meeting where you're really waiting until, you know, sometime next year to put it on a traditional November ballot.

[03:38:53] So that's why it's on your agenda for consideration this evening. The specific language allows you to, again, to enact a second 1% local option sales tax. We already have this today. So from an administrative perspective, and that's a big deal.

[03:39:12] The administration of this is a simpler task. It does have a couple of carve-outs that are existing 1% does not. So grocery items, personal care, sort of basic hygiene items are restricted from the additional 1% by state code.

[03:39:27] So that's not something that would be those sort of essential day-to-day goods are not part of this proposal. Any revenue that's generated as part of this has to be used for really two main purposes. new school construction for a project that is it can be in your pipeline but it cannot be and it can be designed as we understand it but it can't be in some stage of vertical construction so they're looking to incentivize if you will things that have not yet begun and we do have as we'll touch on in the next slide quite a bit of Canada projects that fit that criteria

[03:40:04] it has built in sunset so it's a 20 years from the time that it that you get started so for us it would be July of 2046, right around the corner. So that's not something you have to come back and take action on.

[03:40:20] It's built in there. The nice thing there is 20 years does line up with a traditional bond pay down period. So if approved tonight, if approved by the voters, and then if the subsequent resolution is approved at whatever time, we could go out, sell bonds, and then at the end of this period, they would be fully paid off.

[03:40:40] You can sell bonds at any point during the period of time, but that 20-year sunset does allow you to fully pay that off and not have anything laying out there. So I think that summarizes that slide. So what would we do with the specifics for Chesterfield?

[03:40:59] Really three key pieces to this. As I mentioned, new school construction has to be something that is, you know, an envisioned project, but not, again, coming out of the ground. So we've got six such projects that sit currently in an approved school CIP.

[03:41:15] Some of these were considered or envisioned as sort of the tail end of your 22 referendum. That is the case with the Militia Middle School. We said every time we had a chance, it was only partially funded. That's only become a little bit more complicated as some of the cost of the previous construction, previous projects has come in a little bit above what was expected back in 2021, five, six years ago.

[03:41:46] So point being, it's a mix of kind of some of those tail end referendum projects and then four new projects that have been identified subsequently, primarily to deal with some capacity issues. that makes this list of these six i'll just read them all for you so you have a reliever elementary school here in the dale district one around old hundred elementary the full build out of the metoica middle school partially been done now that would round that out the the rest of the midlothian middle school project which i just referenced high school gym and sort of a major

[03:42:23] renovation type project for lc bird similar to what we've seen at some other high schools as well as the Thomas Dale campus improvements. I think that's probably the best way to couch that. There's several, school division continues to look at that, the most efficient way to improve sort of the flow and the housing of students on the Thomas Dale campus.

[03:42:44] So there's a number of concepts there, but it still remains an important project and be something we would include here. It is our belief from modeling this out, and again, we have the local estimate here, It's somewhere between $65 and $70 million in this particular stream.

[03:43:02] We believe that we could do the following two things, or really the following three things. We could finance all six of those projects, and they sit, again, as I mentioned, in a school CIP in a capital plan, but they are accordioned out over any number of years.

[03:43:17] We could accelerate all of those into the near term. If approved, we could be selling those bonds this time next year, similar to what we just did for the high school project. And we could also, and I can't stress this enough, that's six campuses, but we have over 60 campuses in the county.

[03:43:37] So the major renovation, which is sort of that major maintenance concept, we talk about this consistently on both sides, county and schools. We've made really, really good inroads on the county side. The school's major maintenance program is continuing to catch up, making some strides.

[03:43:54] But if this were to be put in place, it would allow you to put in a very meaningful major maintenance program that would make those kind of major system improvements and large-scale renovation projects throughout the entire district. So it's not just that these six school communities are the only ones touched. The major maintenance piece is really important for that, you know, sort of day-to-day, year-to-year upkeep of all of our school facilities all the way across the county. And then lastly, there are a couple of rate offsets that are included as part of this

[03:44:27] proposal. So it's a revenue diversification item, but there is some give back. So if approved, it's a two cent reduction in the real estate rate, as well as it paired with a 10 cent reduction in the personal property rate. Those are just the components that are part of what's before you tonight. It doesn't preclude you from doing other things in normal course of business. You've taken significant decreases in both of those rates over the last four or five years. You could still do that once the revenue picture crystallizes for fiscal 28 and beyond, but those two pieces are

[03:45:03] specifically tied to this. Another thing to note in that part is, you know, our growing tourism and sort of visitation business, we believe that around 25 to 30 percent of this, as it is on a day-to-day basis, would be exported to those that travel to and through Chesterfield. Of course, we got the 95 corridor, but again, a lot of visitation, whether it be friends and family, sports tourism, all the things that we talked to you about, that really comes back to play here and certainly helps to balance this out. So this is not a, whereas, you know, real estate tax,

[03:45:37] personal property, those are paid by Chesterfield taxpayers, you know, solely. This helps us to spread that out a little bit by shifting it over to the sales tax category. So I'll pause to take any questions on those first two slots. Board members, any questions? All right. Yeah, all right.

[03:46:02] I can't do a presentation without one bar chart. It's in county code somewhere, but this one is really important. I think this sets up sort of a second component of this. So there are some rate offsets with the potential adoption of a second 1% sales tax, but this is what the existing school debt service looks like.

[03:46:22] So this is everything as through today with the closing on the high school bonds that we have sold, and this is what looks like that debt service over the next 20 years. We talk about it here all the time. One of the reasons that we have the financial standard we do, we pay off our debt very quickly, very regularly.

[03:46:40] So this curve, if you put the additional 1% in place and you think about transferring kind of all of your debt proposals for school facilities onto that revenue source, it allows this existing stream to really be paid down significantly and quickly without anything filling these gaps.

[03:47:00] All this can happen within the policy constraints that the board has approved, but this opens up a number of possibilities, one of which is you could, you know, add in an additional referendum somewhere in this time period because you are creating capacity on this side.

[03:47:16] It also gives you the possibility to tackle other school priorities over this period of time or consider additional rate offsets or some mix of those particular items. So just within, you know, a number of years, you got almost a 12-year, $12 million savings, rather, in that existing debt service stream.

[03:47:36] So it's a little bit challenging to follow, perhaps, but it's very important to kind of realize that this is freed up. I think that's really kind of the main message here. A lot of capacity is created in your existing budget that you could do other things with.

[03:47:53] So I don't want that message to get lost. Proposed timeline, again, it's before you tonight. I can't emphasize enough. You are not approving an additional sales tax. You're simply petitioning the court. It would go on to the ballot for election this November.

[03:48:11] That is not even the final step. You would have to come back and approve an ordinance in this boardroom to put that in place for a potential enactment in July of next year. And then it has that 20-year sunset that would take us out to 2046.

[03:48:28] And as we talked about this afternoon, this is an example ballot question. We would continue to refine this, but this was one that was used, I believe, in Charlottesville or is being sort of proposed up there. Pretty straightforward. I'll just read it because I think it's important to do so.

[03:48:46] Charlottesville County, Chesterfield, Virginia, be authorized to levy local general's retail sales tax at a rate not to exceed one percent the revenues of which shall be used solely for capital projects for the construction or renovation of public schools serving the county of chesterfield and which shall expire on you know for us in this example july 22nd 2046 so uh pretty pretty clean cut pretty prescriptive uh and i think in in full compliance with uh the rule book that the state has put out there so with that i'm happy to uh to take any questions you might have any questions Ms. Schneider?

[03:49:25] So I know there were some questions some people have sent me about the definition of what it will be and will not be taxed on. So would, like, cars and appliances be taxed?

[03:49:43] Yeah, everything that is— Except for food? Yeah, everything except for those sort of—I'll just term as everyday essentials, groceries, personal care items. Those are the only things that—we had some discussion this afternoon. The state has set that rule book, those are the restrictions, so we are, you know, taking that in whole as provided to us.

[03:50:05] The other categories, you know, would all be included as far as we can review, and I, Mr. Mix, has had a chance to look at that as well. But those are the only exemptions that would be pulled out. Okay. Okay.

[03:50:20] Other questions from the board? Mr. Carroll. In 2013, there was a bond referendum put before the voters, and that was for capital improvement projects, majority schools, and a meals tax.

[03:50:38] The bond referendum passed, but the meals tax was voted down, correct? Yes, sir. And to this date, we don't have a meals tax in Chesterfield County. As a matter of fact, the General Assembly changed the law a few years ago that basically said you don't longer have to put it out for a referendum because cities had the authority to just do a meals tax.

[03:50:58] period. So they gave it to the counties, too. Essentially, we have the same taxing authority now as any other jurisdiction. Is that correct? Yes, sir. Okay. So if this was to be put on the ballot, the voters could vote no. They could come out and say, you know what, just like the signs say over there, we don't want any new taxes. So they certainly could come out and vote no, or they could vote yes. I think that it's an interesting history, considering the last bond referendum,

[03:51:33] the voters passed 75 percentile in Justfield County to approve the projects that were being proposed. I think that an important part of this, if you go back to the presentation that you did, which this doesn't show, is the community really needs to understand what projects could be.

[03:51:52] Because I'll give an example. In my community, I get questions all the time as to why we've built new schools in the western part of the county, in Matoka, a new high school is being built new middle school new elementary school but yet we haven't rebuilt the old matoga high school which half of it was done and half it was not and so people in that section of my district say well what about us when are we going to get that done if you go back to the list i'm sure every single board member can say the same thing that you know we know we have overcrowding in in the dale district

[03:52:27] for elementary schools and we also need a pre-k school um every one of those those projects but those projects didn't make the bond referendum because of the capacity we had available to issue in the bond referendum is that correct the again you got two of those that were were included but you know you we had a certain amount of authorization to sell under the the geo label and so you we can only go out to that level we could we could continue to sell but they can't be geo so um this this does allow you know sort of solves that that funding riddle for those

[03:53:03] particular projects, and then you've got four that through your annual CIP project process each year have been identified, brought in here, discussed in committee, all those things. So this list is not something that was created just for this. It's a pre-existing thing.

[03:53:19] I think that's really important. And, you know, again, they sit, you opened a CIP document today, they sit in there as established priorities. Well, just to be clear, I'm on record of stating that I don't, I would not want to pass a meals tax in Chesterfield County. And we have, this board hasn't passed a meals tax. No board has passed a meals tax since they changed the law. One discussion at one time would be that if we were going to even think about it, it would be put out for a referendum for the people to choose whether or not they want to be taxed or not. Am I thrilled about a new tax? Never am.

[03:53:56] But do I think the people should have the right to vote and voice their opinion about what they want or why not do. They certainly get to voice their opinion about everything else, and I think that I would like to hear what their vote would be on this. So that's just what I have to say.

[03:54:13] Yes, sir. Thank you. I see it. Other board members, Mr. Ingle. Again, I've been very reluctant to have a new tax, and I would say that this is not a new tax. This is an increase in a tax rate, which I've also been very reluctant to do. It does have some offsets in it. It would not equal the total amount of revenue brought in, but it does have some offsets in it. If this was something that this board was looking at imposing on the citizens, I would say no. But I am willing to say to the

[03:54:53] citizens, these are the positives that could come out of it. And of course, the negatives are, you're going to pay a little bit more in taxes each year um do you want to support it or not and i i do think that allowing the citizens to make that decision not having this board make that decision is reasonable so if the citizens vote yes then it would happen and if they voted no it wouldn't and i i'm confident that i'm leaving that decision to the citizens to make

[03:55:24] the decision will get the right outcome from it dr hillton you know i can say that for the Dell District, you know, we're working for a new Dell Elementary School with a pre-K wing, so three- and four-year-olds can go to school earlier, increase their success rate, and hopefully bring down the cost that parents are paying around the county for pre-K. And so we're trying to make life more affordable, but it takes money, and we're trying to balance that. And I mean, it's

[03:56:03] just one of those things that you know we're trying to make life more affordable but we know that we're going to have to you know take on some projects and in order to bring down some things uh the cost of it so you know i'm i'm a little i don't want to make this decision by myself and i think putting it on the the ballot for citizens to vote on it and tell us what they think is is the most important thing to do right now so um you know that's that's what i'm thinking is to allow them to tell us what they think we should do in terms of the 1% sales tax.

[03:56:41] So, you know, but I feel the pressure, the burden of working-class families understand that child care and just living in the county is really expensive. And I would hate to do this without, you know, consulting them first.

[03:56:58] So I think that putting it on a referendum and, you know, letting citizens tell us what they think, yay or nay, is the right thing to do. Mr. Schneider, any comment? I just wanted to add, I mean, Midlothian Middle School is over 100 years old.

[03:57:17] And, Mr. Harris, I think you said it, I just want to repeat it, that the last referendum, it was, there was only enough money to build half a school. I get phone calls, frustrations, emails from my constituents often, that the school is literally falling apart.

[03:57:41] Sewer isn't working. Midlothian Middle School has a reputation for having a very distinctive smell. Kids come home, they need to get out of their clothes, they need to be washed. I want to facilitate the building of Midlothian Middle School as quickly as possible.

[03:58:02] And so agreed, of course, this is a decision of the community, but Midlothian Middle School is going to get built. It's going to get built. The only question is how long is it going to take to get built because we may have to wait for another referendum.

[03:58:17] So what is the positive of the referendum that we're talking about here is it will not be borne by only the citizens of Chesterfield County. We have a million people that come in every year to River City, and they too will be bearing the cost, but then they're going to go back to their respective places, their homes that are outside of Chesterfield County.

[03:58:44] I hear often that why Hervor Mareico passed the meals tax was simply because a big percentage of who is going out to dinner are those people that aren't local. And so here we have an opportunity to have 30% of the 70% that's raised coming from folks outside of the county. And that is a unique opportunity because we know if the referendum does not pass, then the citizens of Chesterfield County will bear 100% of the new Dale Elementary School, of the new Old 100 Elementary School,

[03:59:24] the Metoica Middle School Renovation, the Midlothian Middle School, Elsie Byrd High School Gym, Thomas Dale High School Expansion. So we have an opportunity. And my take on it is that if I can get 30% on any investment that I would make, that's not a bad investment. I would take that. So the folks of Chesterfield will have to make a decision. These things are going to happen.

[03:59:50] They're going to happen, but it'll just be a matter of how long it's going to take for that to occur. So the question is, is Chesterfield going to bear the full brunt of it, or are we going to be able to pass it out to 30% of it to individuals that come into Chesterfield County and then leave? So that's going to be the choice in front of our citizens, and I'll be really interested to see what the decision is come November. As part of that, I think that there are some rate offsets that we could do. We talked about it. It's not going to bear the most, the

[04:00:25] brunt of it, but boy, it'll help. And that is a way to kind of spread out the offset in other ways. So any other discussion from the board? With that, any questions for Mr. Harris? All right. So board members, there's a question here in front of us. I'd like to get a motion as to whether we want to move forward with putting this 1% sales tax that the state has provided us on the November ballot.

[04:00:58] Can I get a motion for that? I will make that motion. Can I get a second? Second. Okay. It sounds like I got a second. All in favor, say aye. Aye.

[04:01:13] All opposed? It passes. Thank you. Madam Clerk. E, consent items. Mr. Chair, there have been no requests from board members to remove items from the consent agenda for discussion by the board. Board members, are there any requests to remove any other items from the consent agenda for discussion with the board, by the board?

[04:01:38] If not, if I could get a motion to approve the Consent Agenda? So moved. Second. Can I hear a second? All in favor? Aye. All right, Madam Clerk. Item 16, 15-minute citizen comment period on unscheduled matters.

[04:01:58] This time is designated for citizens to talk to the Board of Supervisors. It is not a time for dialogue with Board members, and it is not a question-answer period. Those conversations can easily occur with individual Board members outside of the Board meeting. As a reminder, the board's procedures state no citizen shall speak on any matter of business.

[04:02:16] That is a subject on the board's agenda for that day. And each speaker shall have three minutes to address the board. We have five speakers. If they'll please come forward and speak in this order. Tyler Moody, Prue McEldery, Catherine McMahan, Courtney Bernhardt, and Thomas Curl.

[04:02:33] First speaker is Tyler Moody. Sorry, I'm a very low talker. Good evening, members of the board.

[04:02:49] My name is Tyler Moody. I'm a resident of Chesterfield County, specifically Chester. It's a man who has an ancestral home as a direct descendant of the Algonquin tribes. I'm not here tonight on behalf of any political party, nor am I to criticize Chesterfield County's public police department or sheriff's office.

[04:03:11] I have a tremendous amount of work they've performed over the years, and I have respect and reported a lot of concerns. They've had my back for that. I'm an offensive security cyber professional with over 20 years of experience in offensive operations, advanced pattern recognition, secure systems engineering, counterintelligence, risk management, supporting world governments, the U.S. government health, defense, and other agencies like EPA.

[04:03:46] My career has always been dedicated to identifying vulnerabilities before hostile actors can exploit them. From a cybersecurity architecture perspective, I believe Cheshawil County is assuming significant technical and government risks that deserve greater public attention.

[04:04:03] I provided, or I will be providing, a board member with a brief technical memorandum. Along with that document, I did not bring the QR codes as I was wrapping up from work, but I do have those as well. There are stickers that contain an internationally recognized ICAR cybersecurity test string.

[04:04:22] It's completely harmless, and I use it to illustrate simple engineering principles. Even well understood, non-militious inputs can expose weaknesses in systems that lack robust input validation. Cybersecurity professionals evaluate these scenarios every day.

[04:04:43] Multiple surveillance infrastructure should be engineered and maintained to the same standards we expect from every other critical public system. If extremely simple inputs like an ARC-R string can reveal a weakness in public technology, then even remotely sophisticated criminal organizations and foreign nation-state actors like advanced persistent threats can easily identify and exploit far more significant ones.

[04:05:12] This is why cybersecurity must be designed into these systems, not added after deployment. My concern extends beyond that. This is also about privacy, constitutional governance, accountability, and public trust. Automated license rate readers create historical records of where people travel, while a single observation on a public roadway may reveal very little, thousands of observations and telemetry collected over weeks or months can reveal deeply personal information.

[04:05:47] Where someone worships, receives medical care, attends political meetings, visits family members, or simply- Mr. Moody, your three minutes are up. Oh, thank you. Okay. Appreciate it.

[04:06:29] Hi, my name is Kareem McEldry. I just finished fifth grade at Old Chandra Elementary School. I have some points to address. One, no, I was not forced to speak. In fact, I asked to speak at this board meeting, so my mom registered me.

[04:06:44] Two, no, I did not AI this speech. These are all, these are my words, my thoughts, and my research. Three, I know I may just be 11 years old, however, I can believe, I believe I can make a change. I have strong integrity, especially when it comes to social justice, fairness, environmental protection, and what is deemed good music.

[04:07:01] Tonight I have three issues I wanted to address of Chesterfield County. First, data centers, and due to my three-minute time limit, that's all I'll get into this time, so let's jump in. The data centers are big problems to every living organism. I learned in science class that as a Virginia resident, I have the responsibility to protect my environment, not polluting, not destroying it.

[04:07:22] Leave no trace but footprints, take nothing but pictures, kill nothing but time. Although the author of this quote is anonymous, it still has significant meaning. So powerful that the U.S. National Park Service adopted it for the Leave No Trace movement. So why is this relevant? The data center goes against everything mankind has ever stood for.

[04:07:39] If this concrete jungle goes up, the land that was there will never be the same. The data center takes precious land, resources, and displaces wildlife. The data center uses a lot of water. A lot. I know they say they will utilize closed-loop systems, but that's not happening. Did you know that a Google facility in Batata County is permitted to use 2 million gallons of water each day?

[04:08:02] That doesn't sound like water conservation to me. 2 million gallons, that's enough for 6,667 households every day. Enough to fill 50,000 bathtubs, enough to fill 16 million Stanley's water bottles. Board of Supervisors, how is this okay? Our land, Project Sky, would span more than 880 acres.

[04:08:23] Guys, that's larger than Busch Gardens and Kingston Union combined. Lock? Lock and Sky land has water runoff that drains into Deep Creek and Swift Creek Reservoir, which is our water supply. Did you know that Google is asking to destroy 18 acres of protected wetlands and 8,115 feet of Virginia streams, all for the data centers?

[04:08:44] Google does not care about Chesterfield. We were just an easy target. Board of Supervisors, I again respectfully ask you, how is this okay? I also heard electric bills will go up. And here's my beef with that. We wanted a swimming pool, but our parents said it would cost too much to eat, and that for kids is expensive.

[04:09:02] But now we found out that data centers are going to cause our electric bill to go up anyways, which no one approved or voted on. And now, my parents will be forced to spend their money on increased bills, and in this whole deal, we won't even get our swimming pool. In all seriousness, though, Board of Supervisors, how is this okay?

[04:09:19] Approving increasing utility bills on your people, Chesterfield residents did not ask for this. Many can't afford this. Ask yourself, how is this legal, honest, or fair? Let's talk about the noise. The noise of these things are undeniable and unforgivable. Listen to this recording.

[04:09:35] Mr. McGill, three minutes are up. The data center capital of the world for residents who live next door to some of them say they're producing noise that's not only annoying, but debilitating. Imagine hearing loud hums or white noise like this right here. I'm just about done.

[04:09:56] Okay. That noise is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This recording is from data centers right here in Virginia. This noise is destructive to humans, farm animals, crops, and wildlife. That point brings me right back to the lessons I learned in 5th grade science class. Leave no trace. NDA. Data centers, let's talk about NDA.

[04:10:14] What does that even mean? My mom had to explain this part to me. It means non-disclosure agreements. Hmm. I'm going back even further in my life. Back to when I was just a boy. I was taught to be honest, and if I was honest, then I could be proud of who I am. Honesty means the moral virtue of speaking and acting truthfully, characterized by refusal to lie, deceive, or steal.

[04:10:33] This goes beyond just telling the truth. It is having integrity. It is making sure what you say, what you do, and what you value are all in line. Data centers and big tech companies are stripping every ounce of honesty and integrity from our community. And from our board of supervisors, if I can see that at just 11, why can't you?

[04:10:51] I'm opposed to data centers sky and lock. I'm opposed to our beautiful state of Virginia being overrun by any more AI development anywhere. This time, the time is now to say no to data centers. Board of Supervisors, my name is Crew McEldry. I urge you to stand up and say no. Listen to your people and leave no trace.

[04:11:10] All right.

[04:11:26] Thank you, Crew. Don't forget the stool. Nice job. Thank you.

[04:11:49] Catherine McMahon. I'm incredibly nervous to be following that. Before I start, Ms. Wilson, we had spoke about the fact that I was going to deliver some documents to the board.

[04:12:09] So I do have those if there's an officer or someone who'd be willing to hand them to the board. Yeah, absolutely. I do have one for you as well, Mr. Harris. Okay, but I'm happy to speak while that happens. I'll put them right up here. Good evening, supervisors. My name is Catherine McMahon.

[04:12:28] I'm a lifelong Midlothian resident who will be within four miles of eight of the data centers being built in Chesterfield. I was last up here two months ago when I announced that the Data Center Defiance Community Coalition had launched a petition calling for transparency and accountability on the more than 20 individual data centers approved or proposed in our county.

[04:12:52] I'm here to formally deliver that petition to you today. In the two months that followed, the petition has been signed by more than 2,500 Chesterfield residents and our neighbors in the greater Richmond area and accompanied, thank you, and accompanied by over 750 emails to the county demanding an end to future approvals on any data center developments in Chesterfield. Your constituents have made their stance clear. What's missing is meaningful action on the county's behalf. And I'll just generally say, I saw the website. A website is not enough. Last week's Google open house events are not

[04:13:31] enough. Let me tell you a few things that we've heard from residents about last week's events. We had about 60 families who were generous enough to sit with us afterwards and share their experience at Google's Open Houses. Out of 60 families, two of them said they felt like their questions were answered. More than 40 families said they were actively considering leaving Chesterfield because of data centers. Many residents came to us and asked us why these events weren't formatted as a town hall. And so we brought that question into the Google Open House

[04:14:06] events. And we were told by a rep that they chose not to do a town hall because they can get too emotional. Imagine being emotional about what's being built in your backyard. Imagine being emotional about what's being done to your water and to your air. Imagine being emotional about what's happening to your home. The community demands a true public hearing on the Google data centers. And I want to be really clear that a Board of Supervisors meeting where Google gives a presentation and then you guys handpick pre-submitted questions will not be enough

[04:14:43] either. We demand an interactive public hearing that includes facilitated conversations between the community and Google, the Board of Supervisors, and the Chesterfield Economic Development Authority where there is plenty of time for citizens to ask questions and collectively receive real answers in the room as a group. Supervisor Miller, Supervisor Schneider, you both have said in multiple settings as recently as last week that the county is considering a moratorium on data

[04:15:19] centers. Words are not enough. The community wants an end to any further data center development in Chesterfield that is incorporated into county code. Ms. McMahon, you three minutes are up. Thank you. I have one more sentence. There is no more room to claim that you have not heard from residents.

[04:15:37] your constituents are here they are telling you what they want and now it's time for you to fulfill your responsibility as representatives of our community thank you good evening my name is Courtney Bernhardt I'm a Midlothian resident and I'm here tonight with data center defiance I don't have a rallying speech but I want to talk about air quality and air pollution from

[04:16:17] data centers and what I think respectively that you can still do to ensure that your residents are not exposed to unnecessary air pollution. So Google's proposed data centers, like most in Virginia, are applying for minor source air permits.

[04:16:33] DEQ keeps those out of public review and comment unless they can be convinced that there's significant public interest. I think there's significant public interest. So minor is a misnomer. Google sites will be synthetic minors, and those are major sources that have accepted a handicap.

[04:16:54] Essentially, taking or agreeing to install pollution controls or taking operational limits in order to have weaker permits with no public participation. Major sources. That sounds like heavy industrial to me. So I've worked over a decade at a national nonprofit that advocates for effective enforcement of environmental laws.

[04:17:16] So I went and I pulled the violation notices that DEQ has issued to data centers across the state, including one for Google. And I wanted to see what we could learn and how well data centers complied with their permits.

[04:17:32] Here's what I found. So 12 data centers, campuses, began construction or install generators without a permit. 14 failed their first stack tests, including Google, and that test covers just a handful of generators on site. Nine ran generators outside of emergency situations or burned too much fuel.

[04:17:51] Six exceeded hourly or annual emission limits. And 17, more than half, failed their notification reporting or record-keeping obligations. And that's the paperwork that proves compliance in the first place. So DEQ's oversight, respectfully, is very light.

[04:18:09] It leans heavily on what the industry reports about itself, and it inspects minor and synthetic minor sources very infrequently. And you may be wondering how Google came back into compliance. They asked DEQ to increase their permit limit. So, meanwhile, our electric grid is under strain, and data centers may need to run backup or on-site generators more frequently in the future.

[04:18:31] I wouldn't put that out of mind. This is why public input into permitting really matters. Despite company statements, compliance isn't guaranteed, and permit conditions may not protect those living downwind, especially during short-term, high-intensity emission events when they go unenforced.

[04:18:51] This county, I think it's the administrator, must certify whether a site is suitable for a new source of industrial air pollution. Many of us do not believe Lock and Sky qualify. They sit next to schools and homes, and calling them an employment center whitewashes what these are.

[04:19:08] They're massive, energy-hungry industrial facilities that have a potential to emit a lot of air pollution. Ms. Bernhardt, your three minutes are up. Okay. Thank you. I have a little, yeah, so I ask that you don't rubber stamp the remaining site certifications that you have the opportunity to review.

[04:19:24] I ask at a minimum that you insist that the Google data centers and any others under consideration in the permitting process meet the tier four generator standards before you certify. And I know for a fact, PNUT will not meet those standards. Part of Sky will not meet those standards based on the applications they've submitted.

[04:19:43] And you can ask these companies to model their air pollution. They're not required to do that as minor sources with intermittent, claiming for intermittent operation, but they can do it. It's possible. And please do what you can to get DEQ to allow public participation in minor source air permitting processes.

[04:20:02] Thank you. The little man stole the show.

[04:20:20] I don't know how to do better than that. Good evening, Board of Supervisors. My name is Thomas Curl. I'm speaking on behalf of Chesterfield Citizens for Responsible Government. I'm going to read the email that I sent you last week after the Google meeting at Bright Point College.

[04:20:37] What happened at last night's Google meeting at Bright Point Community College was disgraceful and deeply disturbing. Chesterfield citizens came peacefully to ask questions about a project that could affect their homes, schools, taxes, environment, and quality of life. Instead, they were met with excessive police and security presence that made ordinary citizens feel as though they were entering a high security operation rather than a public meeting.

[04:20:59] Even more alarming, I personally observed multiple planes-closed men inside the meeting rooms carrying concealed Glock handguns. When I approached them and asked who they worked for, who hired them, who authorized them to carry weapons inside a public college building, they refused to answer.

[04:21:18] Now, I as a law-abiding concealed gun handgun permit holder, I'm permitted from carrying my Glock in that same building. Yet these unidentified, armed men were apparently permitted to circulate among residents without identification, explanation, or visible accountability.

[04:21:35] When I raised this obvious double standard, my concerns were just dismissed. Chesterfield Board of Supervisors and Interim County Administrator Matt, who were these armed individuals? Were they law enforcement officers, private security contractors, Google personnel, county agents, or FBI or ICE agents?

[04:21:53] Who hired them? Who authorized them to carry concealed firearms inside the meeting rooms? What specific threat justified this extraordinary response? How many officers and security personnel were deployed? This sight of unidentified armed men monitoring and filming, and let me be clear, filming, and I can identify all three of them, as citizens at a public community meeting is something the public should find revolting.

[04:22:18] This was not transparency, it was secrecy, intimidation, and a shameful treatment of the very citizens our elected officials, you, are supposed to represent. residents should never be made to feel threatened merely for attending a public meeting and questioning their government. The Chesterfield Board of Supervisors and Matt Harris owe the public a complete and immediate explanation. Please respond. I have not received a formal response. I have asked several of you how you can justify videotaping innocent citizens.

[04:22:51] Board of Supervisors, we're not China. Well, this is Chesterfield County, Virginia, as you remind us often. So the question I have is how many undercover officers are here tonight? For the record, I think I've identified one. So, members of the board, the Bright Point meeting should really prompt serious introspection.

[04:23:11] Citizens came seeking transparency and honest answers. This distrust did not disappear or did not appear overnight. It grew from closed-door decisions, NDAs, limited public notice, meeting formats that restrict genuine public dialogue. Mr. Curl, your three minutes are up.

[04:23:28] I'm almost finished. Thank you, Susan. The board must stop blaming the citizen frustration on misinformation or politics. And you need to ask the harder question, what has this board done to damage public trust? Let me repeat that.

[04:23:44] What has this board, all five of you, done to damage the public trust? You need to look yourself in the mirror, gentlemen and ladies. Trust will not be restored through scripted events, heavy security, or controlled messaging. It requires humility, accountability, openness, as we've talked about, Jessica, and meaningful citizen involvement.

[04:24:06] The citizens are not the problem, board. The breakdown in trust is the problem, and repairing it is your responsibility. Thank you for your time.

[04:24:31] Madam Clerk. Item 17, deferred items from previous meetings. We have none. Item 18, zoning requests. Mr. Chair, you have four zoning requests on your consent agenda for this evening for benefit of the public consent items are those cases where the applicant accepts staff's recommendation and there is no previous opposition with all the consent cases tonight staff has received written confirmation from the applicants that they agree with the conditions being imposed and that all propers are offered in compliance with state law first is 26 sn2032 in motolka

[04:25:05] magisterial district duval east lot coverage modification is a request for a zoning deviation to modify an existing development, Case 22SN0035, relative to ordinance requirements in a semi-urban neighborhood SU district on 100.1 acres, fronting approximately 2,025 feet on the south side of Duval Road on property known as 18001 Duval Road. The applicant is requesting a modification to a previously approved zoning case that included a conditional use plan development for exceptions

[04:25:42] to ordinance requirements. After the initial zoning approval, the applicant determined that the proposed residential product types could not meet the 30% lot coverage limitation provided in the residential R-12 district. Therefore, the applicant is proposing to increase this lot coverage limitation to 50% to allow for larger dwellings on lots within this proposed subdivision.

[04:26:06] Planning Commission and staff recommend approval subject to the conditions in your staff report. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Everyone, this is a public hearing on case 26SN2032, Davale East Allot, coverage modification. Is there anyone who would like to speak to this case?

[04:26:21] If so, please come forward and state your name. Seeing no one, I'm going to go ahead and close the public hearing. It's back before the board. This case is in the Pintoica District. Mr. Carroll.

[04:26:37] Mr. Chair, what this case does is allows for a little bit bigger footprint. a house to be built which would be consistent with the other houses that are built in the area.

[04:26:54] The original case came through in '22. There have been several other cases that have been approved in that area since then, and this would just make it for a little bit bigger house to be able to put on the lot than what is currently allowed. I don't think we had anybody come out and speak against the case at the community meetings or at the planning commission. I haven't received any emails in opposition. I make a motion to approve case number 26SN2032, subject to the conditions in the staff report. Thank you, Mr. Carroll. Can I have a second? Second. All right,

[04:27:27] any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? Madam Clerk. Next is 26SN2062 in the Midlothian Magisterial District. Rathbun Family Day Care Home is a request for conditional use to permit a family daycare home in a suburban community SC district on 0.54 acre known as 2400 Devonwood Road. The applicant is proposing the care of up to eight children from the home. Planning Commission and staff recommend approval subject to the conditions in your staff report. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Everyone,

[04:28:02] this is a public hearing on case 26 SN 2062, Rathburn Family Day Care Home. Is there anyone who would like to speak to this case? If so, please come forward and state your name.

[04:28:25] Good evening, Jerry Turner. I brought this up at Planning. This is an ideal location for a daycare center. They have a fenced-in backyard. Somewhere along the line, you guys need to put in your code or whatever you call it.

[04:28:43] If you want a daycare center, you have to have a fenced-in yard. If you don't have that, yeah, you can have a daycare center, but you need to move to another location. These kids that are going to be outside, they need to have a place to play outside. And you can't just let them turn them loose.

[04:29:01] So this is what you need to have. And somehow you guys need to use your authority and make it part of the requirement. Because y'all would go good and well if your code people went in there and they only had one door.

[04:29:17] Y'all wouldn't let them open that place up. So make that part of the requirement. They have to have a fenced-in yard. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Turner. Anyone else would like to speak to this case? Seeing no one, I'm going to go ahead and close this public hearing.

[04:29:35] It's back before the board. This case is in the Midlothian District. I agree with you, Mr. Turner, that I think they've been open for some time, is my understanding, and they just want to increase the number of individuals that they're able to take care of.

[04:29:52] So I feel comfortable to go ahead and move an approval of case 26SN 2062, subject to the conditions in the staff report. Could I please have a second? Second. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Anyone opposed?

[04:30:08] Madam Clerk. Next is 26SN2109 in Bermuda Magisterial District, Skippers Lawn Service Incorporated Renewal is a request for conditional use to permit a home occupation, landscaping contractor with outside storage in a suburban community SC district on 0.47 acre, known as 10816 Surrey Circle.

[04:30:34] This request represents a renewal of prior zoning approval, Case 16 SN 0683, to continue the operation of a landscaping and lawn service business from the applicant's residence. Planning Commission and staff recommend approval subject to the conditions in your staff report.

[04:30:52] Thank you, Madam Clerk. Everyone, this is a public hearing on Case 26 SN 2109, Skipper's Lawn Service Incorporated Renewal. Is there anyone who would like to speak to this case? If so, please come forward and state your name. Seeing no one, I'm going to go ahead and close this public hearing.

[04:31:11] It's back before the board. This case is in the Bermuda District. Mr. Engel. This is an existing business. They've had no violations. They've had no complaints, and their neighbors are still okay with them. So they must be doing a great job working with the people that surround them.

[04:31:30] So with that, I'm going to make the motion to approve case 26SN2109, Subject to the conditions in the staff report. Second. Any discussion? All in favor, say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? Madam Clerk.

[04:31:45] Last on your consent agenda is 26SN-2129 in Dale Magisterial District Jennings Family Daycare Home. It is a request for conditional use to permit a family daycare home child in a semi-urban neighborhood SU district on 0.25 acre known as 6911 Abel Road.

[04:32:06] The applicant proposes to allow for the care of up to 12 children from the home. The applicant has been operating the family daycare home since 2021 and is requesting renewal of zoning approval for this use to continue operation on the property. Planning Commission and staff recommend approval subject to the conditions in your staff report.

[04:32:27] Thank you, everyone. This is a public hearing on Case 26SN-2129, Jennings Family Daycare Home. Is there anyone who would like to speak to this case? If so, please come forward and state your name. Seeing no one, I'm going to go ahead and close this public hearing.

[04:32:46] It's back before the board. This case is in the Dale District, and that rounds out each one of us had one case this evening. So, Dr. Hilton. You know, as we look at making child care more affordable, I think that this is an important thing to have in our community, especially when people talk about having child care at their doorstep or close to where they work.

[04:33:09] By this being in the neighborhood, I can imagine it's going to be used by the residents in that area. So I'm happy to make a motion to approve case 26 SN-21-29, subject to the conditions in the staff report.

[04:33:25] Second. I hear a second. Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed. Madam Clerk. Mr. Chair, you have two discussion cases, the first of which is 25SN1336, McConnell Recreational Vehicle Parking.

[04:33:43] Ms. Hatch. Welcome. Good evening, Mr. Chair, members of the board, Mr. Harris. Case 25SN1336 in the Bermuda Magisterial District, McConnell Recreational Vehicle Parking is a request for conditional use to permit the parking of a recreational vehicle in the SC District.

[04:34:06] The applicants are seeking zoning approval to permit the parking of an approximately 40-foot recreational vehicle within the front property. The property is 0.46 acre in size and is zoned SC. Surrounding properties in the area are also zoned SC.

[04:34:23] The image on the left shows a property which is highlighted in white and shown as improved with a single-family dwelling and associated driveway. The image on the right shows a comprehensive plan's land use designation map. So this property is within the Chester Plan area where the comp plan suggests the property is appropriate for residential uses at a rate of 2.5 units per acre.

[04:34:45] So as a way of background, in September 2025, the Department of Community Enhancement received a concern that a recreational vehicle was parked outside of the rear yard on the property. The owners were subsequently issued a notice of violation and are now seeking conditional use approval to permit the parking of the 40-foot RV in the driveway as shown in the picture on the slide.

[04:35:05] The property is situated on a cul-de-sac, which results in the narrower road frontage than non-cul-de-sac lots. The house is centrally located on the property, with the driveway terminating at a front-loaded garage, as you can see in the picture. A concrete drainage ditch and culver is located along the frontage of the lot and runs underneath the driveway, further limiting parking locations and screening opportunities on the property.

[04:35:29] For these reasons, the applicants are seeking to store the RV in its current location in the driveway in front of the dwelling, shown in the picture should this request be approved staff has developed conditions that would permit the parking of an RV on the property conditions include a limitation of one RV no greater than 40 feet in length non transferable approval and a minute and and minimum setbacks I did just want to make a point of clarification condition 1 in the staff report list the RV at 37 feet it was clarified be that by the applicant that the RV is 40 feet in length so if this request would were to be approved the condition would need to

[04:36:08] be amended to just know that the RV is 40 feet in length but the Planning Commission and staff recommend denial with the recent adoption of the updated zoning ordinance additional flexibility was provided to allow for the storage of RVs on residential lots not only within the rear yard but within the side yard as long as appropriate screening measures are provided at the time of the initial notice of violation other properties that shared some similar lot challenges along Ludgate place were cited with some for the storage of RVs and have since come into compliance through the relocation of RVs to other

[04:36:45] locations if approved a precedent could be established for recreational vehicle storage in this neighborhood without any measure of mitigation provided staff acknowledges the applicants desire to store the RV on their home as well as the challenges of maneuvering the RV to other locations on the property due to the topography, presence of drainage ditches, and the location of the house.

[04:37:06] However, the ability to screen or mitigate visual impact on surrounding neighbors on Ludgate Place is not feasible. The driveway on the property appears to be approximately 65 feet long, resulting in over half the driveway's length occupied by the RV, which further demonstrates the visual impact that the storage of the RV could have on this location and future property owners along Ludgate Place.

[04:37:28] The property is not conducive to the storage of our RV, and there are likely no conditions that would mitigate the impact of the use on adjoining properties. That's the end of my presentation, and I'm available for any questions. Board members, are there any questions for staff? Okay.

[04:37:45] Is the applicant present? Come ahead and come on and give your presentation. Good evening.

[04:38:05] I'm Kevin McConnell, the property owner. I know it's been a long night, so I'm going to try and make this brief. understand the ordinance that applies to recreational vehicle parking. I also understand the ordinance that the county uses to define a recreational vehicle. The vehicle in question, the longest horizontal projection in one direction is 39 feet. The longest horizontal projection in the other direction is 12 and a half feet. The total square footage, therefore, is 485 square

[04:38:44] feet. The county's definition in the ordinance applies to 400 square feet or less. My vehicle is not considered a recreational vehicle by the county definition. This case must be closed. Thank you.

[04:39:03] Any questions? Any questions for the applicant? No? Okay. Thank you. Everyone, this is a public hearing on case 25 SN1336, McConnell Recreational Vehicle Parking. Is there anyone who would like to speak to this case. If so, please come forward and state your name. Welcome. If you want to bring them down, you can. Good evening. My name is Jenny Castle. I just wanted to say that I think

[04:39:40] that this lovely couple, I don't know if you've ever met them or talked to them, but they're lovely. I've met them two times now. They have this opportunity to retire. Do you see them sitting over here? That's them. They have an RV. They're blessed. They have this gift. It's parked in their driveway in a cul-de-sac. Who drove around picking out RVs parked in the parking lot in this neighborhood? Obviously someone. It's not hurting anyone. I just can't imagine that this family's RV is such a big deal that we would say, no, you can't have it here. It's not how many

[04:40:19] people drive down that road and see it every day. They've made every, tried to make every accommodation and I just think that we should really consider being a good neighbor and helping them have an rv that they're able to travel with and have family with and it's theirs i mean we've got way bigger fish to fry in the county than an rv parked in a cul-de-sac so could you please consider letting them keep their rv because i think they really deserve to have their rv and their driveway it's our right to have our property right we should be good neighbors and help them do that

[04:40:55] thank you good evening good evening justin goodman 15201 james river drive you know um i do find it really odd that there is so much effort on this minute thing this really is is peanuts you know we step all over people's property rights left and right they have a beautiful cul-de-sac the rv you're saying it's not big enough for the uh driveway and stuff like when i'm saying the fact

[04:41:32] that this is even an issue when there's so much more that the county should be addressing this should get passed you know miss castle just spoke i don't think i'm supposed to do that so i apologize But the previous speaker spoke really nice on their behalf. And I'm just going to say, like she said, there's way bigger fish to fry.

[04:41:52] It's really crazy that you're stressing out about this. But if it's an ordinance, you know, I think you guys should be enforcing all of the ordinances and violations that are, you know, it's almost picking and choosing. You got, this is a small fish.

[04:42:08] You got big fish to fry. And, you know, I'll be back for public comment. But that's really it. You know, please, for them, approve it. That's all.

[04:42:26] Jerry Turner, there is an ordinance, and I'm sure the neighbors around there don't want to be hostile towards them. They bound to have had a complaint, because they wouldn't have come out there if it hadn't been a complaint.

[04:42:49] If you're going to let this happen, then you need to take that code off for whatever ordinance you got and let people part wherever they want to. If you're going to make an ordinance, enforce it. If you're not going to enforce it, do away with it. Thank you.

[04:43:05] Thank you, Mr. Turner. Anyone else would like to speak on this case? I'm going to go ahead and close the public hearing. It's back before the board. This case is in the Bermuda District. Mr. Engel. Can the applicant come back up?

[04:43:27] Well, he's coming up, Mr. Minx. Just out of curiosity, he made a point that he believes that he's exempt in code. Can you weigh in on that? Actually, I think the planners are ready to do that.

[04:43:44] I'm sorry. Planners are ready to do that. I had not heard this square footage issue before, But I think Ms. Hatch can actually explain that under the Zoning Ordinance. Can I get that answer real quick, sir, before I have a conversation with you? Yes, yes.

[04:43:59] So the Zoning Ordinance lists recreational equipment as well as recreational vehicles. So the definition of recreational equipment means trailer boats, boat trailers, house trailers. And it also includes pickup campers or coaches.

[04:44:15] So it is correct that recreational vehicle does have the square footage definition. However, the use in the zoning, the restricted use, includes recreational equipment and recreational vehicles. So this would, because this does not meet the restrictions, it would require conditional use.

[04:44:37] And do we have any complaints from the direct neighbors? I have not, throughout the duration of the case, I have not heard from the direct neighbors. It did come in as a, you know, a complaint through our community enhancement department. Understood. I understand that.

[04:44:52] Yeah. I'm going to let you talk, sir. I promise. But through the duration of the case, I have not heard from any neighbors in opposition, and then we did hear from -- before he submitted the application, he did reach out to his neighbors as well, and he had not heard any concerns from direct neighbors.

[04:45:10] Okay. Thank you. Sir? Yeah. Can you speak to your neighbors? Kevin McConnell. Not your neighbors. Oh, the neighbors. At the beginning of this process, we followed the request for polling our neighbors.

[04:45:32] We sent letters to 16 neighbors, even people behind us who can't see our driveway. We got 11 responses back. None of them were negative. The other five we didn't hear from. We had a public meeting, invited the same people.

[04:45:51] Nobody attended other than one who's not a neighbor. Do you have the 11 responses? Yes, I do. I don't have them with me, but I believe I sent them to Betsy. I'm going to defer this case.

[04:46:08] I like to get a copy of those letters. In the past, good, bad, or indifferent, I have approved a sawmill in a neighborhood, which I told the people beforehand there was no way they were going to get a sawmill.

[04:46:26] And the woman argued her case, as you are. And I said, well, tell you what. You go get your neighbors to agree to a sawmill, and I'll let you have a sawmill. And lo and behold, she brought in 40 neighbors to allow them to have a sawmill.

[04:46:43] So guess what? They got a sawmill. I would like to see, I also think there's maybe a possibility for some mitigation with the fence. But if your neighbors on both sides of you and neighbors in the cul-de-sac are fine with it, then I would take that into consideration.

[04:47:01] But I would like to spend some, I'll give you my number on talk with your neighbors and the 11 that you reached out to, look at their responses a little closer. And after I've had a chance to do that, I think I can do that in the next 30 days.

[04:47:17] So I'm sorry for the delay, but it's better than the denial. So I'm going to make, I'm going to make a motion to defer case 25 SN1336 to our August 22nd, 24th, 26th, 26th, August 26th board meeting.

[04:47:38] And in between now and then we'll do some more talking and see if we can find a path forward for you. I'm not going to make any promises, but I will be glad to talk to you about it. If I can get a second. Do I have a second? Second.

[04:47:53] All right, I got a second. Any discussion? Yes. Question from Mr. Minx. Do we have to hold a hearing now on the deferral, or can we just vote? You can just vote on it. You've had a public hearing on the matter. Anybody could address any issue. There won't be a public hearing next month, because we've already had the public hearing. Public hearing has been closed.

[04:48:11] I just think I need some more time to be able to answer this. Do you care of that? Yeah, that's fine. That's what you need. That's what we'll do. All right, thank you. All in favor? Aye. Anyone opposed? All right.

[04:48:27] Madam Clerk. Mr. Chair, your last discussion case is 26SN 2058, Old Gun Communications Tower. Mr. Ramsey. Good evening, Mr. Chair, members of the board, and Mr. Harris. Case 26SN 2058 in the Midlothian Magisterial District, Old Gun Communications Tower is a request to amend prior zoning approval to replace an existing communications tower with a taller monopole telecommunication tower that will have sector arrays in a semi-rural neighborhood district.

[04:49:00] The request is on 0.23 acre. One property is currently zoned semi-rural neighborhood and located outside of a residential subdivision. Surrounding properties are also zoned semi-rural neighborhood. The first image on the left reflects an area of the property and is also occupied by the existing telecommunications tower as well as one single-family dwelling.

[04:49:21] Existing neighborhoods that adjoin the property include Pinnifer Park to the south and Reed's Landing to the north. The second image on the right reflects the comprehensive plans, land use plan for the property, and it designates it for residential neighborhood one, and this supports residential uses. A 199-foot monopole tower with sector array antennas is proposed. The proposed tower would replace an existing 100-foot slick stick design tower with internally mounted antennas that received zoning approval in 2015. The proposed tower will replace the existing telecommunications tower and be located within the same compound as

[04:49:59] highlighted in the area on the property with the red circle. This slide shows the conceptual tower elevation for this request, which will be 199 feet tall. The proposed tower will provide the infrastructure needed for Verizon Wireless as well as other wireless carriers to expand and improve their networks in this area of the county. The applicant has indicated the tower is proposed to address capacity issues with cellular service for the area and would be designed and constructed to accommodate additional carriers. The design would minimize the need for additional towers in the area as well. The tower siting

[04:50:39] policy requires that proposed towers be located at least 300 feet from off-site dwellings. The tower does not meet the minimum setback from an off-site dwelling that's currently under construction west of the proposed tower. The tower will be located approximately 269 feet from the nearest off-site dwelling on an adjacent property known as 11400 Pinnifer Park Court, and this measurement is shown in the current slide, and this is a dwelling that's currently being constructed within the Pinnifer Park subdivision. Staff is supportive of the proposed setback reduction because the existing trees and vegetation remain on-site

[04:51:14] between the proposed tower's compound and the existing dwelling. This zoning request proposes to amend conditions three and six of the original zoning approval relative to the tower height and design. A condition regarding co-location has been added to the zoning case to ensure multiple carriers will be able to utilize this tower in the future. Additionally, a condition has been added to address a setback reduction from the proposed tower to an off-site dwelling. All other conditions of the previous zoning approval will remain in force and effect. Planning commission and staff

[04:51:51] recommend approval of this request. The coverage for the existing telecommunications tower is limited due to the restricted height and design of the tower. The applicant's proposal is to provide enhanced telecommunication coverage to the surrounding area. The proposed tower will be built in the same location as the existing tower, and given the location of the proposed tower in a densely wooded area below a ridgeline and being set back from Old Gun Road East, the taller tower will not be highly visible from nearby roadways in most area properties. While completely minimizing the visual impact of the taller tower at this location is not feasible, the tower's location

[04:52:27] on the property with the required screening of the tower base will continue to minimize the visual impact. Additionally, the proposed tower design and height would accommodate additional users for co-location opportunities, thereby negating the need for an additional tower structure in the area.

[04:52:45] And at the Planning Commission hearing, staff had received 24 letters of opposition and two letters of support for this request. However, today for the board's citizen comment portal, we only received one letter of support. At this point, I'd be happy to answer any questions from the board. Thank you, Sir Ramsey. Any questions for staff? Is the applicant present?

[04:53:13] Good evening, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, Mr. Harris. My name is Brian Prater with Williams Mullen here tonight on behalf of the applicant. You've had a long evening, so I will be brief. Mr. Ramsey gave a great presentation filling in for Ms. Gibson, who is hopefully enjoying her vacation and want to thank staff for all their efforts.

[04:53:39] Just want to touch on a few items in my presentation. Mr. Ramsey talked about the setback item. The county's tower policy, when they consider reductions in that setback to an off-site dwelling, allow for that when there is an existing mature stand of vegetation between the proposed tower and the off-site dwelling.

[04:54:01] And this visual shows that it's mature, densely forested between there's about 211 feet between the proposed monopole and the property boundary there one of the things when they identify lack or gaps in coverage and capacity is the engineers come up with a search area ring that's what you see on the screen here and when there is a search area ring Verizon Wireless and the developers look at all potential co-location opportunities within that ring. There are none in this area that were suitable for additional infrastructure, so

[04:54:39] that is why a new tower is being proposed. And then I wanted to go through some of the visuals. I've balloon tests and photo sims. I will go through those fairly quickly. And these were done prior to the application and show some of the visual impacts. It will largely be obscured from view, but there are some instances where it could be visible. This is from Old Gun Road East. The balloon's too small to see it here. This, where that arrow is pointed, you can see it slightly over the tree line from Robius Crossing Drive. And then this is another vantage point from Robius Crossing Drive where you can kind of see it there. And then the balloon

[04:55:17] test helps drive the photo simulations, which it's from these seven different vantage points, and I will again go through those fairly quickly for you. This is from Lady Marion Place, and you see even in the winter where there aren't trees on the or leaves on the trees excuse me it will be largely obscured it's that yellow dashed line and in the middle there this is from lansdown terrace and similarly it will be obscured from view from this cul-de-sac this is from old gun road east and it is um you could see it off there in the distance through the the farm area this is ram's

[04:55:56] horn road and again another example when the leaves are off in the fall winter it's still obstructed from view and then lady allison lane this is in the winter you can't kind of see it over the um if you look at that chimney just left and above just over that tree canopy line thank you and then should have had the arrow on that one too when you have the canopy up there and the leaves it will be obscured from view in this location robius crossing drive you can see it

[04:56:30] with the leaves on it's poking above that tree kind of in the middle and then this is pinnefer park court and you can see it there without the leaves on just to the right of that evergreen that's a little tall where the white lines are and then this is the same vantage point in the summer months where it is largely obscured and hard to see from this vantage point and then one One thing I really want to touch on, this is the coverage map.

[04:56:59] What you see in the grayish, sorry, the coloring is not great on this map. The grayish is the existing adequate coverage. What they consider adequate coverage is you can make calls, texts, you're not going to be able to reliably stream videos. The gray is the existing 100-foot slick stick pole.

[04:57:16] What you see in the teal and blue is the additional coverage and capacity that's provided by this proposed monopole. So there have been three major complaint areas. One is the Archer Springs community, the 55 and older community, Robius Elementary and Middle School, which does -- and the athletic fields that are there has little to no coverage.

[04:57:36] Parents wait in line and are picking up their kids and can't make texts and calls. And then Tarrington as well. You can see with the proposed model poll, all of those areas, Tarrington not as much, but Robius Elementary and Middle School as well as Archer Springs would be included within that coverage and have some reliable coverage.

[04:57:56] One of the items we've heard a lot of concerns about is property values. This slide shows some statistics that a lot of homebuyers consider wireless coverage as one of the critical items when they're considering a home purchase, working from home, school from home.

[04:58:11] Those are big factors when people are looking at their purchasing a new home. And then lastly, most importantly, public safety. I mentioned the 55 and older community that's nearby. I mentioned Robius Elementary and Middle School. 80% of 911 calls are from a cellular device.

[04:58:28] And when you don't have those coverage areas, you're going to have difficulty getting in touch with your first responders or first responders are having difficulty getting in touch with those other first responders. In fact, there was a recent incident, which you're all aware of, with the two police officers in the K-9 unit.

[04:58:47] Shortly after that, Verizon Wireless got outreach from the county about how poor coverage impacted their ability to respond in that instance. And so they're looking at evaluation. That's a different part and not impacted by this tower, but that's just a real-life example where it truly is a critical infrastructure for the public safety aspect.

[04:59:08] I'll try to be brief. That is my presentation. I can answer any questions you have. Thank you. My board, is there any questions you have for the applicant? Seeing none, thank you so much. Everyone, this is a public hearing on case 26, SN 2058, Old Gun Communications Tower.

[04:59:28] Is there anyone who would like to speak to this case? If so, please come forward and state your name. I needed that little gentleman's stool. Keep going. There you go.

[04:59:44] I used to be taller than this. Good evening. Where's crew when you need them, man? My name is Jan Schlesinger. I am here tonight representing two communities, actually. I am president of the HOA for the Villas at Archer Springs, which Brian has already mentioned.

[05:00:04] That is a 55-plus neighborhood with 96 homes, and I think you all were passed out what I brought, our letter of support signed by all 96 homeowners. And secondarily, a neighborhood across the street from us, the gentleman who is president of their civic association was unable to attend tonight.

[05:00:28] His father-in-law happens to live in our neighborhood, and so he asked if I would bring his letter of support and state their support for your approval for this. I think some things that are important to keep in mind are that, first of all, in our neighborhood, two-thirds of the neighborhood is now in their 70s and 80s.

[05:00:52] Almost everyone relies on a cell phone. There are very few landlines in the neighborhood, and since 2003, our ability to make and get calls has been steadily decreasing to the point that we have, a few months ago, had an incident where a homeowner needed to call an ambulance and had to go halfway up the street in order to get the call to go through. We were fortunate in that that was not life-threatening at the time, but had it been that probably could have become a very tragic accident or incident. And we also just in the last

[05:01:29] couple of days have a homeowner, excuse me, who has a security company. Apparently their alarm went off and the security company tried to call three times, could not get the call through. The homeowner was not aware of that. And suddenly the police were on the doorstep scaring the hell out of them.

[05:01:47] Well, I mean, not because the police were there. They didn't know why. So I would simply urge you to take, I mean, I know there are folks that don't want this because of the values of their home, or they don't want to see a tower, although I think Brian has suggested that quite well, or addressed that quite well.

[05:02:08] But for the bulk of us, this is a health and safety issue, and we really need a higher tower that gets the signal through to all of us in order to have peace in mind and confidence in our ability to communicate when we need to thank you very much hello again justin goodman 15201 james river drive down in french george so you know um i find it interesting there's a setback

[05:02:47] requirement for that tower for a reason possibly for a health impact maybe you know you didn't discuss any of the raised 5g anything that comes off that so you guys are wanting to do a basically a conditional use permit to allow them to build this which is actually going to encompass someone's home are you going to va code 8.01-225.1 is going to be gross negligence if that person you know because it's a public record right now are you going to allow that person who's building that house who's going to buy that you don't have to answer are you going to inform them that you did

[05:03:25] this. Probably not, because that's what counties do. But that is gross negligence. And I'm going to read that extreme carelessness showing in complete neglect of safety and absence of care. He knows what that means. And really, if y'all do this, and that person ends up getting cancer later on, there's a reason that setback is there. Okay, I've become an expert in, you know, electromagnetic radiation, RF, 5G, all of these things. And, you know, one thing that is really interesting, and it is selfish and this is unfortunately the way the world is. She's not worried about other

[05:04:01] people's property values. That's actually pathetic, okay? How many people are going to be affected by that? You know, we have eminent domain going with all these other things that we'll talk to in public, you know, because I got to stay on topic. But is she going to fork over dollars for the people that will lose property value over this? Definitely not. Is the county going to provide compensation to those people that are going to lose property value? Definitely not. Just like on the data center stuff, you're not going to. And, you know, she wouldn't want to be in the house that it's going to encompass. Mr. Chair, I am not going to let him sit and attack another

[05:04:39] citizen in his community. If you want to. No, hold on, hold on, whoa, whoa. You should be polite about it, sir. So I'll rephrase. If you want to attack me, I got no problem with that. But she's just another citizen in the community. And she's from Chesterfield County. And guess what? That's what Dinwiddie tells me, too.

[05:04:56] Here's the best part. Nonetheless, I'm on the south side. Mr. Carroll has made a legitimate, if you're going to continue to have this conversation. Are you guys going to compensate people for the diminished property value? No. And I appreciate you correcting me.

[05:05:14] I don't really understand the quorum. I'm just getting started because I have corrupt boards everywhere. I mean, you know, unfortunately, I don't really know how I'm supposed to do this, but God's guiding me on the path. Okay. And how you actually outburst it, it just goes to show. I got 15 seconds left.

[05:05:30] Where is the information provided over the rays and all the effects that are coming off these towers? There was nothing on there about the health effects. The citizens voted 22-something. They don't want it. If you do it, your seats are already up. Thank you. I'll be back for public comment.

[05:05:45] Thank you, sir. Thank you. Jerry Turner. We got people who stayed all night tonight.

[05:06:02] Usually they're gone by now. I'm not going to take credit for that. Probably the data center probably caused some of that. But I do encourage people to come out every time I go to one of these meetings. And I'm not sure Matt has anything to do with it since he's sitting in.

[05:06:20] They may have felt sorry for him. I don't know. But anyway, y'all do what you got to do with this deal. But I just want to make sure that the people know. I appreciate them showing up. Whether they wanted to or not, it's more than just the three of us here at the end of the meeting.

[05:06:41] Thank you very much. Thank you, sir. Is there anyone else who would like to speak to this case? Anyone else? Yeah.

[05:07:00] Sarah Widener from Midlothian. I just wanted to bring to the board's attention that there's not a lot of published peer-reviewed journals about the science behind the damages for 5G towers. But I think it's really important to do some research.

[05:07:19] I mean, I think they have a really legitimate reason for wanting better coverage. So I don't know how this weighs on your choice. but I do think that it's important to understand that there's a lot of links between EMFs and 5G towers, increasing the rate of mold and toxic mold, mycotoxins in an environment which would really have a huge impact on older homes in the area. I think that's important. I had sent my children to a school with a 5G tower on it, and we had a lot of health issues to uncover, and it's a very mysterious and difficult process to pinpoint, which is why the data is really

[05:07:56] terrible. But I think there's also a lot of people trying hard to get it out there, and it's worth doing some research on. I just wanted to share that. Thank you. Anyone else would like to speak to this case? If not, I'm going to go ahead and close the public hearing. It's back before the board. This is in the Midlothian District. I understand the issue related to 5G and the

[05:08:30] concerns of the electromagnetic. When I am looking at these kind of issues, can I bring Mr. Ramsey back up again, if I could? Is Mr. Ramsey still here? Yes, sir. And I may need the applicant but I think it's important to come from you. My understanding is that there is spotty coverage

[05:09:07] at Medlothian Middle School, oh sorry, at Robius Middle School and Robius Elementary. Is that true? Dr. Miller, I think, you know, that may come a little bit better from the applicant because they're the technology experts behind the propagation maps of some of the existing service that Verizon is trying to provide in the area. I have heard that through the process here and they've given that information to staff. Yes, coverage has been difficult in that area, but if you'd like, you know, we could certainly bring back up Mr. Prater to address that if you'd like.

[05:09:39] Thank you for that. That was the only question I had for you. My thinking is that people will ask me, you know, how I make a decision, and if I make everything a priority, nothing is a priority, which is what the challenge is here.

[05:09:57] And so what I am always thinking about is public safety. That is my number one priority. And the tower already exists.

[05:10:13] It's already there. It's just going to be taller. So as far as 5G or whatever, it will improve coverage. But there is some impact on some folks being able to see it.

[05:10:29] If this conversation was over 200 feet, it would not be something that I would approve or even move to approve, because then it would have a light on top of it. But it is under the 200, and so I'm always going to put the kids first and the folks that live nearby if, heaven forbid, something were to happen in our elementary school or in our middle school.

[05:10:57] I couldn't live with myself if, heaven forbid, something were to happen there and they could not call for help. And that is my overriding factor on this, that I want to first make sure that when someone is in a 55-plus community and they dial 911, that there is someone on the way.

[05:11:22] And so, that's where I am with it, is that this is something that makes sense to me to approve. And with that, I'm going to go ahead and move to approve case number 26SN2058, subject to the conditions in the staff report.

[05:11:43] Could I get a second? It's channel second, but I have some questions. Yeah, we got a second. And before we take a vote, let's go ahead and have some discussion. Have the applicant come back up. While he's coming up, Mr. Goodman, I apologize.

[05:11:59] You're absolutely right. I shouldn't have snapped at you. It's not okay. You were correct. I just get defensive sometimes because I don't want people to get picked on. And you weren't trying to be mean, but we need to be sensitive of that. But I apologize to you, sir.

[05:12:17] We've had this discussion on the 5G come up with towers before. And the question that I have is how often does the applicant test the towers? Because we know that there is a regulation on how much energy is supposed to be put out from these towers.

[05:12:39] The FCC requires it. But the truth of the matter is the FCC requires the applicant to test. It doesn't require us to test, right? Am I right on that? I'm going to have to defer that to our engineer that is here.

[05:12:55] Well, the answer is, Mr. Minx will say I'm correct. And so what I would make a recommendation for this, Mr. Chair, is what we did in one of our other tower cases is to require periodic testing of the tower to make sure that it meets the FCC requirements that is being emanated from the tower.

[05:13:18] I think we required the last one to do it once every five years, I think is what we looked at. Now, the difference on that site certainly was the fact it was a county-owned site, And it was a proximity to, I think, a school. Can't force you to do it, but I would say that I think it's a good practice, especially when we have towers in the neighborhoods, and it's a good practice for the community.

[05:13:42] And have some information put out about that, that you are meeting the requirements that you're supposed to meet on the towers. Because it is a difference now, whether most people, I think Mr. Goodman probably knows what I'm getting ready to talk about. When cell phones first came out, it was 800 megahertz.

[05:14:00] It's different than 5G. Even your microwaves, I think, operate at 2.8 gigahertz. We're pretty close to it. Between 2.4 and 2.8. Differences are at like 1,800 watts. That's why they can nuke your food. We're talking very low wattage, especially on your cell phones, which is why you actually have to put this tower up, because the low wattage in the cell phones on the direct line of sight have trouble hitting the tower to be able to do it.

[05:14:28] And it's not probably just one server on that tower. There's probably multiple companies that have equipment on the tower. Am I right about that? Yes. Yeah, which means you don't just have one cell phone server pushing out 5G. You have multiple cell phone servers that are pushing out 5G.

[05:14:45] And I think it's important, Mr. Chair, that we make sure that these towers do get tested periodically. And I would ask Mr. Minx, I'm not sure what tool we have to do that. I think what you're talking about is having a condition, being as part of the approval, there'd have to be an amendment to the motion that was made, but a condition that just requires it to be tested on a five-year basis to make sure that it is meeting the FCC requirements.

[05:15:12] If I heard correctly, your engineer is here right now. Did I get that right? I was going to ask if I could ask about what existing requirements for testing are with the FCC of RFM. Yeah, just to clarify, what federal law says, You can't consider the health impact on equipment that is functioning in accordance with FCC regulation.

[05:15:40] So that's what you're speaking to. Yeah, I mean, every tower we do, we do a study before we put it in, looking at the maximum power that the transmitter can put out versus the maximum permissible exposure on the ground level.

[05:15:57] This tower has been studied. Right now, there's no indication of any kind of level at the ground level that would be over the MPE. We don't currently, we review our power on our towers on a regular basis.

[05:16:13] I don't know what the exact review period is, but regular reports are done every month. Mr. Chair? Yeah, Mr. Brown. Thank you. Who are those reports shared with?

[05:16:31] They're at Turtle. We also make submissions to the FCC. So if someone wanted to take a look at those reports, would they have to FOIA the FCC to get them, or are they online? I assume so, yeah. Are they online and available? I assume they'd have to go through the FCC to get them.

[05:16:46] Okay. But if they did, then how often do you do the testing? We review our power settings on a regular basis every month, pretty much. Okay. I just, thank you. But even at maximum power, we're well within the limits for the FCC licenses.

[05:17:08] And you would have to do the same testing, Mr. Chair? after the new tower is installed, correct? I don't understand the question. If you've got to put a new tower in, which is what we're doing here, right? It's not a new tower. They're just adding an additional 100 feet. Okay, so you're going up higher.

[05:17:25] It's replacing the structure, yes. Okay, but you would end up having to do a test, right? Once you put the new extension on and you put all the equipment in place, then you'd be required to do a test. Yeah, we would verify that all our transmitters are transmitting within the limits.

[05:17:46] Does that satisfy you? Well, I think the problem is, and I'm not trying to be mean here, but the problem is that it's a little bit difficult for the community to get those tests. I think if we require it to be shared in some way and be done once every five years, I think it shows transparency on the part of the cell tower companies, and it gives the community an opportunity to see that they're operating when the parameters they're supposed to operate in.

[05:18:13] It's just my tooth of sense on that. Mr. Meeks, is that something that we can work into the motion? Yeah, I think what we're asking is that the test that they're going to be running when the tower is completed would be the same test that they would be running every five years.

[05:18:34] And to make it available. And make the results available, yeah. And make it available to the county or make it available. And I think that he has a more precise word definition for what that test is.

[05:18:52] It has to do with the output, but he just, he said it right now and I didn't take it down. Can you come to the mic, please? That's it. He said maximum permissible exposure limits.

[05:19:17] Thank you. Do you have a motion, Mr. Chair? The words you're using are maximum. Permissible exposure limits. Say it again. Permissible exposure limits. And all of this will fall under the FCC's regulations and purview.

[05:19:41] Those are all requirements for them to get their licensure. And would you be okay with sharing that with our planning every five years? I would have to consult with the Towers applicant. That's the Towers LLC. I think there might be some limitations on the counties requiring that information to be made public.

[05:20:01] But I would want to confer about that first. Mr. Chair, if I could. Yeah, Dr. Hilton. You know, do we have anybody in the county that would oversee that? So even if they did report every five years, I don't know if we have an employee here that would be designated to receive that.

[05:20:24] So I think it might be more of a logistical decision there. We're doing it now with other towers. We just required it with the Alberta Smith Tower. So we have somebody in the county that's doing it? So the company is going to be required to do the testing and then send the report forward every five years.

[05:20:45] So if they don't, we'll let Jesse come up. The difference that I think you noted this, Mr. Carroll, those are the ones that are leased property. So it's county property. So we have a lease with those particular operators. We're able to get that information. We do typically hire a consultant out to review that. We don't have anyone on staff. We've got some folks over at some of our facilities that have some knowledge of it.

[05:21:12] I think the other part, should you decide to be for this, and they agree to it, is the question is once we have that information what do we do with it you know do we do we mail it out to everyone within a certain radius is there a particular neighborhood and and again i think there's some questions on the tower side of whether or not they're agreeable to that so we have to do the test anyway and they're in it's foiable anyway so i don't understand why there would be a problem

[05:21:42] with reporting and i think the concern right now is just there a lot of federal limitations on what localities can or cannot require of a tower application and tower applicant?

[05:21:59] Well, I believe that's a viable position for them, but a viable position for us is no. So, I mean, we're trying to get to a place where we can, look, this is one of the hardest types of cases we have.

[05:22:23] I talked to people about a case like this last week. When we have no coverage, we have lots of people that need coverage and ask for coverage and beg us to give them a tower. And where we have coverage that's decent, if somebody's trying to upgrade the service, we get a lot more pushback from the people in that area that have the service saying, we don't need any more service, we're fine, don't give us this tower.

[05:22:52] And so we're left in a really precarious position because in some parts of the county, people are literally begging us for the towers. In other parts, they're saying, please don't give us another tower. And, I mean, what we have is citizens that literally have a health concern on one side to be able to get medical care in time.

[05:23:17] On the other side, we have people that should have the ability to know what kind of frequencies are coming their way. I think there's a way we can get there. If we need to defer the case for a month so that you can consult with them so that we can maybe get to a yes, then that's okay with me.

[05:23:38] If they don't want to report it, which is foiable anyways, I understand their concern with not wanting to have government overreach. I actually think some of the people that are saying we should be making you do this also have concerns with government overreach.

[05:23:56] Again, the dilemmas that we face on this board and why this is not an easy job to do. But if you can't share something that you have to report anyways, then I don't know how I can support it. And I don't want these people to go without a tower.

[05:24:12] So I don't know what we've got to do here, but there's got to be a way we can work this out. And if there's not, then, I mean, you're basically going to tell people you can't call 9-1-1 because we don't want to report our findings. And I think that's ridiculous.

[05:24:28] Mr. Chair? Yes. Is there something that you could, is there, could you go out and make a phone call or conference to see if they would be willing to do it and maybe we could come back to this case later on tonight? That would be preferable because we are also up against the shot clock.

[05:24:46] The shot clock actually does expire, so the decision has to be made. The deferral is not really an option for you. And that's why I asked if it was something that you could. I mean, I understand that the citizens here, I understand both sides of the issue, and I'm just like Mr. Engel here.

[05:25:03] I want to bring resolution to it. I want you to feel comfortable, and if maybe giving you five or ten minutes to call the ownership group to see if you can build some consensus there, happy to do it but um you can imagine the predicament we're in in terms of trying to help out with this situation so i'll yield my time back to mr chair i want to be very clear what we're asking from this applicant what we're asking is that the individual make available

[05:25:40] what you what they ultimately are testing to ensure that they are in compliance with the fcc and they're in compliance to what is safe levels. The question is, and I think Mr. Smith asked a great question, who's going to get that information, and how is it going to be disseminated, and whose responsibility is it to disseminate it?

[05:26:04] The truth is that this is on private land, and the truth is that they're making a profit by having this. So I am all for public safety, and I want my elementary and my middle school and the folks over at Archer Springs and Tarrington and Old Gun and the whole area, Queens Park, to be safer.

[05:26:29] Because I do hear often that there is deep concerns when they dial 911, there isn't a signal to bring safety to whatever's going on. So that's my question, is what would you suggest or what would you ask your client to do that would satisfy the support.

[05:26:52] And if I may ask the question, would it be permissible to do testing in accordance with FCC regulations and making that available? I do not know off the top of my head of what's the frequency someone was throwing five years or every month.

[05:27:10] I don't know the frequency in which they test that. I know they have to do it before and shortly thereafter. But if we could tie it to the FCC regulations, I think that would be something that is more amenable to the applicant. Okay. So if we were to tie it, of course, to the FCC, all we need to do is verify it or transparent.

[05:27:31] How about submitting it? Jesse, how do you feel about just submitting it with a conditional use permit and that planning would be responsible for a third party? Yeah, we can do that internally.

[05:27:52] We can do that internally, But your question is, it comes to, and we can decide the dissemination methods. It's just getting it to the planning department, I think, is really what we're asking. Right. That's all I'm asking. Right. Well, also. So I think what you're saying is what we're talking about.

[05:28:10] Mr. Chair, also, if it's out of the range, the acceptable range, would the FCC pull back the license? Yes, they would. Okay. Just want to make sure. So then we don't have to pull back our special use permit.

[05:28:29] It would already be pulled back by the FCC. They cannot operate if they're outside the federal regulations and FCC. There's nothing that they could do. Mr. Carroll. I mean, and that's the point of this, is that someone needs to monitor it, right?

[05:28:47] And if the FCC is monitoring it, we know that if they get it and they look at the report and they're going to do something about it that's important. But our community, if the information is not available to them, they have no idea.

[05:29:03] Now, the truth of the matter is, and again, I don't want to deny the case. I want them to have 911 service. I know how important it is. You mentioned the other case where we had the officer-involved shooting, and I was there. My cell phone didn't work. All the police officers' phones, cell phone didn't work.

[05:29:19] The people living in the neighborhood, their cell phone doesn't work. So I understand what it does. I just want to make sure that we're in the process, we're giving some assurances to the people who live in the area, that there is an accountability process with this, because I think a lot of people just don't think there is.

[05:29:40] Any other discussion? So what I would like to do is I would like to remove or withdraw my initial motion, and then I would like to make this motion.

[05:29:56] I'm going to move to approve case 26SN0258, subject to not only the conditions in the staff report, but also that you're going to make available to planning on a regular basis, which I'm going to define as once a year for the next, well, once a year, to planning your reports for FCC, all reports that have been submitted to the FCC.

[05:30:30] Mr. Minx, have I forgotten anything? No, that's fine. Does it work? My board, does that make you feel comfortable enough to offer a second? Yeah, I'm sorry. They'll have to accept it, but I will second the motion.

[05:30:47] They're going to have to go talk and decide whether they accept it. My one question is if there are no, if you go one year and there isn't a reporting requirement for that calendar year to the FCC. I still want you to submit it. I still want it submitted.

[05:31:03] If there's not an FCC required report to be submitted, I'm not sure what. There may not be a report to submit. This would just be a, that they would be required to submit to you any report that they file with the FCC. But it may not be on a yearly basis. Okay. No, he said, he didn't say they submitted to the, he said it's done monthly.

[05:31:22] He said they test monthly. He didn't say they submit. Test. Yeah. Can you go to the microphone, please? Can you say that again? We monitor the powers that we transmit at all the time, constantly.

[05:31:39] Okay. If we exceed those limits, then we have to pull the power back. We do that. We have all the time, we're checking our powers, making sure we're not exceeding any limits. Okay. And then when you do- I mean, this is not a, we don't go through a certification every month, every year with the FCC for each site.

[05:31:58] We have thousands and thousands of sales sites. So do you submit anything to the FCC? There's national submissions, but I'm not even sure what they look like. So what would you suggest that you would be able to do?

[05:32:17] I mean, the other thing here is that we're just one carrier. What are you going to do with the next carrier that comes on? No, I understand that. Well, we're going to take this one step at a time because each case I've found has its own unique conditions.

[05:32:33] So I'm curious to know. Right, you're talking about the tower itself. Because right now it's only Verizon, correct? Right. And we're not, with this application, we're not adding any new technologies. We already are transmitting on six different frequencies there. Yes.

[05:32:59] So there's a possibility that on this tower, going back to the applicant, that there could be additional service providers on their AT&T, wherever, right? Yes. Yeah, but the tower owner still has to do the FCC testing for the whole tower, right?

[05:33:17] No. Each service has to do their own test? We do our own submissions, yeah. so you would have to add that as a part of your lease with anybody that puts an array on there well we're not we're Verizon isn't the tower owner well that's why he's gonna have to call the tower owner if I may Verizon would be a tenant they would have an array the towers LLC would is the developer they would lease the land from the property owner put up the tower they're already leasing the land and put up the tower and then each additional carrier T-Mobile AT&T would

[05:33:53] get a lease from the towers to put an array on that. But you could ask each of them in their lease to make FCC filings that they would normally have to make available to the county as part of your lease, which because you're the ones asking for the tower, you can do that. So I think you're probably going to have to make a phone call and find out if you're going to get a yes or no. And

[05:34:23] that'll hinge on my decision understood so i don't want to belabor this any longer i'm going to withdraw the motion and we're just going to defer for 30 days um there is a yeah there's what they call the shot clock uh on tower approvals and the shot clock expires this saturday so you have to make this decision tonight why don't we take a uh a five or ten

[05:34:58] minute recess and see if we can take a recess for 10. Let's do this. Let's go to public comments and then we'll come back. Okay, I agree with you. We'll go to public comments and then we will go back to the rest of the public hearings. We already did a public hearing. No, no, no, no. We're at the very end. The citizen comments at the unscheduled matters. Let's go there next. They've been waiting been patient. So let's do that, and then we'll come back to the public hearings that we have

[05:35:33] with ordinances and things like that. Does that make sense, Madam Clerk? Yes. Okay, let's do that. Thank you for the clarification. All right, so we're doing item 20. That's the 15-minute citizen comment period on unscheduled matters. This time is designated for citizens to talk to the board of supervisors. It is not a time for dialogue with board members, and it is not a question-answer period. Those conversations can easily occur with individual board members outside of the board meeting. As a reminder, the board's procedures state no citizen shall speak on any matter of business that is a subject on the board's agenda for that day, and each speaker shall have three minutes to address the board. We have five speakers, if they'll please come up and speak in this order.

[05:36:13] Curtis Pollack, Brian Fahman, Justin Goodman, Amy Beth Mullen, and Mike Karabinos. First speaker is Curtis Pollack. Good evening. The environmental and health-related concerns over data centers cannot be overstated, but I want to talk about something much darker. The time is now to stand

[05:36:48] up to technocratic tyranny, which is enabled by an increasingly tyrannical government, a government controlled by the technocratic global elite via bribery, extortion, and fear. The people's voice regarding data centers is being systematically ignored by local governments across the country for the very same reason not a single person has been brought to justice for the horrific acts described in the Epstein files. That's because the country is really run by psychopaths who hate us. Most of these psychopaths are transhumanists who want the majority of the population controlled like sheep or worse and they laughingly throw it right in the fate in our faces with names like flock and

[05:37:28] Palantir. 1984 is rolled out right in front of your eyes and the data centers are the brains of a dragnet system designed to take the very last of our liberties. There are already 117,000 flock-style cameras installed in the United States, and the number is growing swiftly. Many of them are pointed where there aren't even any roads. In China, drones and humanoid robots are already being deployed to police the population. If you don't know what transhumanism is, let's allow Ray Kurzweil, Google's director of engineering, to explain his

[05:38:02] vision. The singularity will represent the culmination of our biological thinking and existence with our technology resulting in a world that is still human but that transcends our biological roots. There will be no distinction post-singularity between human and machine or between actual and virtual reality. Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison says, citizens will be on their best behavior because we're constantly recording and reporting everything that is going on. Billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel was asked whether or not he would prefer the human

[05:38:39] race to endure, to which he markedly and repeatedly hesitated. Immediately after this exchange, Thiel went on to say that he wants humanity to be radically transformed by technology to become immortal creatures fundamentally different from our current state.

[05:38:56] Wired.com recently exposed Peter Thiel as having formed a secret society called the Dialogue Society in 2006. I encourage everyone to read it to understand the depth of the players involved from NATO commanders, politicians, regulators, bankers, to Google's own Tom Liu, head of their Frontier AI division. Let me end with a few saner quotes. Ultimately saying that you don't care about privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different from saying you don't care about freedom of speech because you have nothing to say. Another one is the way things are supposed to work is that

[05:39:34] we're supposed to know virtually everything about what they, the government, do. That's why they're called public servants. We are supposed to know virtually nothing about what we do. That's why we're called private citizens. Mr. Pollack, your three minutes are up. I have one more sentence.

[05:39:55] It's time to listen to the people right now and take a stand, one community at a time, for the sake of your progeny. Do whatever you have to to stop this insanity now, or I fear the most harrowing quote of JFK will come to pass, and it is this. It is those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.

[05:40:14] Thank you. Brian Feyman. Good evening. Brian Feyman here at Chesterfield, a resident and parents.

[05:40:30] NDAs. Not this way. NDA. I bet you're tired of hearing those three little letters in recent months, aren't you? If not, I can bet you will be. What is an NDA? In legal parlance, it stands for non-disclosure agreements.

[05:40:48] More plainly, it is an agreement between two or more parties who promise to keep information secret from everyone else. Here, it is where the Chesterfield County BOS agreed to keep the truth hidden from us with the trillion-dollar company. Nothing bad ever happened when politicians kept secrets from the government, from the public, right? Government transparency is not a red versus a blue issue. It is a red, white, and blue concern, a uniquely American privilege. NDAs, NDAs between the private and public sector are not universally bad, as noted on the county's new

[05:41:27] website and generally known. But in our case, Chesterfield kept the data centers quiet for potentially years after plans were solidified. They withheld important facts from us and then asked us to make a decision with only half the story. The parties are still keeping critical information away from the public. Data centers are no doubt important for our country's economic and intellectual advancement as they power the artificial intelligence industry. However, at the very least, one of our initial concerns about the data centers has merit.

[05:42:01] Project Peanut. Sounds small, doesn't it? The name is almost a joke. According to the website put up today, Project Peanut can use up to 6 million gallons of water a day. Should the public have had access to that information before project approval, not after? At this stage, we do not know what effects these specific data centers will have on current Chesterfield residents and the generations ahead. As such, I'm asking for a Chesterfield data center moratorium until, in part,

[05:42:34] The entire data center approval process is audited by a neutral third party to ensure all relevant laws are followed. In addition, the county amended its NDA policy with the private sector. NDAs should be DOA unless carefully crafted with maximum transparency to the public in mind.

[05:42:56] NDAs, not this way. Thank you. Justin Goodman. Before I utilize my three minutes, I just, you know, this is not normal, but I don't know if you usually send the people out.

[05:43:16] you know I just would like 30 seconds you know of what they discussed so it's cool his words we need to be careful on his words six frequencies what are they I'll stop because I can't mention it in the three minutes for what my topic nothing about what the gentleman said I'm going to follow the rules we're good you're welcome

[05:43:54] uh justin goodman 15201 james river drive over in prince george but you know respectfully y'all know who i am most of the people in your county do know who i am um you know transparency with the data center so when i went in i walked around to every table because i am a representative of these people okay i went up to every table i told him if i was you i'd turn your badge in because every single card here is a lie that is fact i went to the health card and i took a picture of But I said, where are your sources?

[05:44:25] And, you know, they couldn't tell me where their sources are stating that the EMF and all this stuff is safe. I said, well, I have a boatload of information, world-leading experts that will testify that this is a fabricated lie. So, you know, without a doubt, Google, you know, you guys did it.

[05:44:43] But the whole infrastructure that goes along with it is just devastating. So you're going to shove transmission line infrastructure down everybody's throats. When you go to the open houses, by the way, which I did up in Goochland last week, you know, I went around and I'm looking.

[05:44:58] I said, where is your stuff about health and safety? EMF. Where is it? And believe it or not, it was tucked away in another room, this little this little card. I'm not supposed to have props, but I'm just showing you. So this little card tucked away. I said, what about the people that don't have Internet that may come and look at this and want all the information that you have?

[05:45:19] The head guy's answer to me was they didn't have enough room for all the posters. Okay. Now, what's interesting is on the back of their placard, I've actually read all of four of these scientific documents, and I encourage you to read them. It's all on my website, Transmission Line Disclosure Group.

[05:45:36] You can see it. But the information on here actually says that utility companies should use extreme caution when putting people in your transmission line corridors. Now, let's talk specifics. I'm serious. You guys followed exactly what Dinwiddie did. So I reported an issue to Dinwiddie. Dinwiddie contacts Dominion, doesn't tell their people that they're contacting Dominion to get a comprehensive analysis because as you stated politely, sir, you get a lot of money and revenue from River City, okay?

[05:46:02] So I have freedom of information to you, Henrico, Virginia Beach, and Dinwiddie. I've gone all over to the boards and informed them because gross negligence is next, sir, 8.01-225.1. He's sitting there not even paying attention, which is bad.

[05:46:18] However, once you are aware, you have to fix it. You can't keep sending people to a facility that is shocking them. If you've read the report, which you probably didn't read at all entirely, the highest number is 500 milligauss. I actually called, I spoke with the secretary.

[05:46:34] I said, I have a leading expert who has testified before Congress who wants to come in and decipher that for you. She's not going to come all the way down here for the three minutes. That was rejected. Dinwiddie rejected her too. She's Theodora Scudera. Okay, she's all over Facebook. She's testified before Congress.

[05:46:50] 500 milligauss is the number at your facility. Three to four is the accepted number to cause cancer. You know, so I'm just really... So you didn't tell people. You don't have that report available for people to read online either. Mr. Goodman, your three minutes are up.

[05:47:05] Respectfully, you gave other people a few more minutes. I don't want to be discriminated against. Thank you, sir. So, you know, I would recommend you with a Chesterfield County logo Before I keep blowing this up and everyone knows that you're covering it up politely, you need to inform the citizens that you have a comprehensive analysis from dominion of your transmission lines.

[05:47:30] You really should get a third-party expert, like you said you guys like to do, to decipher what those numbers mean. Because as I have become an expert on other people's material, you could have the source come in. Theodorus Godard, testify before Congress.

[05:47:46] Well, I appreciate you. And I, you know, I truly get your compassion. And you and I have talked on the phone, and thank you for coming out this evening. It means a lot. Thank you. Okay. Amy Beth Mullen. Guys, I'm Amy Beth Mullen.

[05:48:09] I live off of Beach Road. And, of course, the first thing out of my mouth is going to probably be about the NDAs. I really feel betrayed by all of you. I really do. These properties, peanut, lock, sky, three school districts affected.

[05:48:24] Let's talk about that for a minute. within one to three miles of that what can it do to the child's learning cognitive impairment performance concentration deficits language issues and increased anxiety let's talk about what that does to people who are emf sensitive shall we we can't why because those studies aren't being done most of the studies that are being done are basically directly with the existing footprints they all are physical the building of the product the project and the economic footprints that these facilities leave behind what you're not following is what are you doing

[05:49:03] all together next extra right or next era dominion power and google google just signed 25 years with uh next next era right and they just quietly took off their green by 2030 too why because now they call it moonshot because they can't maintain it because of what they use let's talk about i've got so much information but let's talk about butter tort county let's talk about dollars county all right they took them to court we're in court for 13 months did they sue google no they they sued the water authority because they refused to release claiming it was proprietary

[05:49:43] well you've heard all of this talk before tonight about ndas but what you're not hearing and what you're not seeing is that we're we're together i know that these people don't believe they don't believe in the same political beliefs I have. They don't. What they do believe in is our community, okay? And I do too. I've been here a better part of my life. I'm not an eloquent speaker, as obvious, but I'm here. I've stayed, and I waited, and I'm uncomfortable. I'm still uncomfortable. I feel like y'all attacked us at home. That's what I feel like. I feel like

[05:50:22] these agencies, just like their other, if you look at Google's history, where they picked, Mountain View. It was on top of a super conductor dump site. And years later, they had to put a vapor barrier up there to protect their own employees because they built on it. Let's talk about the water use in Botatale. And they had to take them to court. Let's talk about the water use in Dulles, where it took 13 months to get the fact that they were using 25% of their city's water. They lie about everything they do. All right. I'm tired of it. I'm tired of being lied

[05:50:56] to. We trust you. You are our community. You are our leaders. We have to look to you. I respect you. Thank you for your service officers. But this flock nonsense with the AI, that's not cool at all. And what's really not cool is, are you aware of the, of course you are. Are you aware of the, I have six seconds. Are you aware of the poverty rate? One in nine children to one in seven children going hungry in Chesterfield County. Are you aware that that's 26,400 people? Are you aware that there is 9.1 going hungry. They are food instable. So for you to do this with Google,

[05:51:34] it really piques my nerve. I don't even know how I feel. I'm that upset. And it makes me this upset. But if you want information, it's not hard to find. Thank you. And you're a far better speaker than you give yourself credit for. I'm sorry? You're a far better speaker than you give yourself credit for. Thank you. Mike Karabinos. I have about a quarter century experience in IT infrastructure.

[05:52:12] I have managed, inspected, and even helped design data centers. I like to talk numbers, and since Google wouldn't give me the numbers I wanted to talk about, I can read a site plan, I can read the information that is public, and pretty much do the math myself. The average power draw of all Chesterfield County is around 450 megawatts. That's every light, every business, every house.

[05:52:35] These light bulbs, that screen, 450 megawatts. The combined draw of the three proposed Google data centers could be as much as 1.9 gigawatts. That's more than enough to send Marty back to 1985.

[05:52:51] That is about four times what the power draw of the county is on average. That means that the proposed data centers are going to put such a draw on our system that the Dominion is going to tell you that they must build more fossil fuel plants to meet the capacity, and that the CERC is unavoidable.

[05:53:13] Dominion will raise your rates when they build the CERC because the 944 megawatts that CERC will bring will still not meet that demand, nor will the 200 megawatts from the Fusion Project. In 2026 alone, over 100,000 United States job layoffs were attributed to AI, either through job replacement or through to free up funds to invest in AI.

[05:53:43] AI builders are on track to spend $750 billion this year in AI-related projects, including data center construction. From those products, they have so far raked in only $20 billion in revenue.

[05:54:01] A lot of economic experts say that there is not enough revenue in the market to ever make up for the investment that these companies have already put in. That is the definition of a bubble. That means the industry is trapped in a FOMO loop, fear of missing out loop.

[05:54:21] First one to push away from the table loses. And that will grow this bubble until something pops it. The longer we wait and the more money that gets put into these builds, the more it's going to hurt when that pop happens.

[05:54:39] It's going to be worse than 2008. It's already going to be worse than the 2008 economic collapse. We have an ethical responsibility to halt new data construction sooner rather than later and help pop that bubble now before it gets any bigger.

[05:54:59] Now, maybe there's no legal way to stop Google. Maybe the deal is done and has been done in NDAs years ago. But we need a county and a statewide moratorium on data center construction. Now until the industry learns responsibility or we have the infrastructure to support it.

[05:55:18] And this empty room is why you do not separate your public comment periods into two sections. All right, Madam Clerk. All right, Mr. Chair, we're returning back to Case 26, SN 2058, Old Gun Communications Tower.

[05:55:42] And, Mr. Chairman, the applicant has contacted their office. They have some language here. Okay. Good evening. I've discussed with the applicant, Towers, LLC, they're agreeable to the following language.

[05:55:59] All carriers on the tower shall annually submit to the planning department information demonstrating compliance with FCC regulations. Cover with that. All right, so I'm going to go ahead and make that motion to approve case number 26SN-2058 subject to the conditions in the staff report and the amendments that we made just now.

[05:56:24] Imposing the condition. Imposing that condition. Imposing that condition that was just read. Right, thank you. Impose the condition. Second. I hear a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? All right, let's move on. Thank you for that. Madam Clerk.

[05:56:43] Item 19, Public Hearings, A, to consider an ordinance to amend the county code by enacting Article 23, Sections 9-302 through 9-308, relative to the creation of the Sawmill Station Community Development Authority.

[05:56:58] Mr. Harris. Mr. Chairman, Mr. Board, this is the final step in what's been a three-month process to create the Sawmill Station CDA. You held a public hearing last month, took comment on the district itself, and so we come back this month with the creation of the actual ordinance and include the articles of incorporation all those materials have been completed posted online and i'm happy to take any questions or refresh your memory about the district itself if you uh if you want that so

[05:57:32] for members or any questions for steph i have one one question mr ingle um we heard some citizens speak earlier today did we get that resolved i i don't know i can find out the -Unrelated to the actual, the CDA portion.

[05:57:59] I think that's more of an ancillary-- -So the other person that we talked with was not related to the CDA? -Correct. -It's the underlying case, but this is the creation of the actual CDA on top of it to finance the infrastructure improvement.

[05:58:15] It's unrelated to his concern that he raised to you this afternoon. -Yeah, the fact that it was different is what allowed him to actually address the board. because it wasn't on our because it was not on this issue at all yeah okay thank you that's right all right any other questions for mr harris all right everyone this is a public hearing to consider an ordinance to amend county code by enacting article 23 section 9-302 through 9-308 relative to the creation of the sawmill station community development authority is there anyone who would

[05:58:53] like to speak to this case of so come forward and see from you seeing no one i'm going to go ahead and close this hearing it's back before the board um is there any discussion all right i'm going to go ahead and ask for a motion mr chair i'll make motion approved all right and can i get a second second all right all in favor say aye aye opposed madam clerk be to consider approval of a lease renewal for the united states general services administration at the chesterfield county airport

[05:59:26] mr neal good evening mr chair members of the board mr harris uh this is to consider approval of lease renewal for United States General Service Administration at Chesterfield County Airport, and since 2007, we've been leasing 3,420 square feet of hangar space to the organization.

[05:59:50] The new lease rate will be $26,229.18 annually and will increase in subsequent years pursuant to the Consumer Price Index. Again, this public hearing is considered an extension of the current lease to November 19, 2031. Glad to answer any questions you may have.

[06:00:10] Board members, are there any questions for staff or Mr. Neal? Seeing none, everyone, this is a public hearing to consider approval of a lease renewal for the United States General Services Administration at the Chesterfield County Airport. Is there anyone who would like to speak to this issue? If so, please come forward and state your name. Seeing none, I'm going to go ahead and close this public hearing. It's back before the board. Is there any discussion? Motion to approve. I hear a motion to approve. Can I get a second? I got that, all in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? Aye. All opposed? Madam Clerk, and clear, I was in the

[06:00:45] approval. Yes. Okay. All right. Madam Clerk. Item 21, closing announcements. Mr. Chair. Thank you so much, Madam Clerk. I just want to open up to my board. Is there anything that anyone would like to speak to? I want to appreciate my board. I would appreciate everyone that came out to speak this evening. It is a public process, and I deeply appreciate that. That's how it's done, and I'm grateful to be part of this process. With that, Madam Clerk. Mr. Chair, we need a motion to adjourn

[06:01:20] to a joint meeting with the Camp Baker Management Board on July 30th at 3.30 p.m. at SOAR 360 at Camp Baker, 7600 Beach Road, to then adjourn to the county administrator's swearing-in ceremony on August 24th at 9 a.m. at the Historic 1917 Courthouse, 10011 Iron Bridge Road, to then adjourn to your regularly scheduled meeting on August 26th at 2 p.m. in Room 502 of the County Administration Building.

[06:01:50] Thank you, Madam Clerk. Can I get a motion? So moved. And a second? Second. All in favor? Aye. We are adjourned.

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