Coraggio Consulting
Hanover County Board of Supervisors Meeting, Wednesday, October 8, 2025

Date: Wednesday, October 8, 2025
Place: Hanover County Board of Supervisors, Virginia
Length: 2h 48m (video)
Official meeting video (CivicClerk): https://hanovercova.portal.civicclerk.com/event/1389/media
Official agenda (CivicClerk): https://hanovercova.api.civicclerk.com/v1/Meetings/GetMeetingFileStream(fileId=4152,plainText=false)
Official minutes (CivicClerk): https://hanovercova.api.civicclerk.com/v1/Meetings/GetMeetingFileStream(fileId=4243,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 2026-10-24. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:01:12] Time is now two o'clock. We will call the Hanover County Board of Supervisors meeting to order for October the 8th. As is customary, we will begin with an invocation led by Supervisor Dibble, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance led by Mr. Stoneman. Supervisor Dibble. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[00:01:28] If you would please bow with me. Heavenly Father, as always, we thank you for this opportunity to come together as elected officials, as staff, as constituents, and as business partners. And as we gather to conduct the public business for our beloved Hanover community, we ask for your guidance for the decisions before us and for wisdom to act with fairness, integrity, and compassion for all citizens.

[00:01:59] May our deliberations today be fruitful and our actions result in a brighter future for all. Father, we thank you for our families, for our friends, for our colleagues, and for our neighbors. We ask that you protect them and keep them safe and well.

[00:02:19] And Father, especially our wonderful Hanover County children, please bless them and show them your kindness and your love every day. Father, we pray for our first responders, our fire, our EMS and sheriff departments. Please be with them and protect them in their duties as they selflessly serve our community.

[00:02:41] We also pray for our leaders at the local, state, and national levels. Please be with them and guide them in their decisions. As we move forward with our meeting today, please be with us. We pray that our time will be productive and meaningful and that your presence will be felt in every decision that we make together on behalf for our betterment of our community.

[00:03:05] All this we ask in your precious name. Amen. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

[00:03:28] Thank you, Supervisor Dibble and Mr. Stoneman. Next, consideration of amendments to the agenda, Mr. Davis. Mr. Chairman, there are no amendments. Thank you, Mr. Davis. Any amendments from any other board members? Seeing none, we will move on to comment period.

[00:03:46] I would like to begin by recognizing our Sheriff. Sheriff Hines is with us today. Thank you for being with us. Also, our Treasurer, Mr. Boshan, is here with us. Thank you for being with us. Chairman and board member comments.

[00:04:01] I would like to make some comments. I met with our new tourism director, Rachel Smith, on Monday. We met down in the Cold Harbor District, and I showed her around some sites that we have in the Cold Harbor District that I think are good for tourism, such as the Cold Harbor Battlefield Park and the historic Richmond National Battlefield, which is the Federal Park, Watt House, and Garth Wright House.

[00:04:29] And one of the things that we discussed was promoting these sites on the county website in the future, but also adding an interactive map so that we can direct our tourism and our visitors not just to our sites, but also over to our business corridor on 360 to support our local businesses.

[00:04:51] While the tourists are here, we don't want them just to visit and leave. We want them to go over to the business, visit our restaurants and our shops, lodging and that type of thing. So I'm looking forward to getting that work done in the future, and I'd like to thank Director Smith for her time on Monday.

[00:05:08] That concludes my comments. Mr. Hudson. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to mention publicly that the Mechanicsville area and the Mechanicsville District lost one of our great business owners, Captain Greg Seafood.

[00:05:24] Mr. Greg Parsley passed away suddenly last week, and I just wanted to send my condolences to Tracy, his wife his son Luke and to his parents Lewis and Betty and it's just a tremendous loss for our community but we are grateful that they very quickly decided to carry on what he was doing there at Captain Greg's seafood and so we're excited that they have decided to stay in business and carry on that legacy so just our thoughts and prayers to his family in this time of loss thank you Mr. Chair thank you for your comments sir any other comments from board members

[00:06:01] Seeing none. Mr. Badesky. Thank you. Mr. Chair. Just a few comments. I wanted to share with you today And I think I mentioned at the last meeting, but I wanted to let everyone know that on September 25th We received the infrastructure project to the year word for our leg of the fall line trail that was presented to Hanover County the town of Ashland and Henrico County for our first approximately five mile leg of the fall line trail folks from Public Works our key have been key to this project and so that's open just to remind everybody I know we got some more partners here from VDOT that made that happen for us so thank you very much for all

[00:06:41] of your work tomorrow our broadband provider All Points Broadband is going to be setting up their pop-up trailer they've been doing this throughout the county tomorrow from 10 to 2 is at Cross Creek Nursery so if you have questions specific about All Points service they will have representatives is there tomorrow from 10 to 2. I wanted to let everyone know that in this room, on our campus, excuse me, on October 29th, Hanover County will be hosting the Governor's Summit on Rural Prosperity.

[00:07:16] We're anticipating several hundred folks that will be rejoining us here on campus today. The governor and other dignitaries and panelists, secretaries and delegates and senators will be here with us that day as well. It's an honor. This may be the first and last time because they don't tend to go back to the same locations, but we're looking to certainly be a great host for that event and as it's key part of our efforts to support agriculture and agritourism in our community, our commitment to the to the rural nature of Hanover County. So we're glad to host

[00:07:53] that. I did want to recognize and anyone that has a student in the schools received an email our partnership with the schools is strong and and one of the items that we our schools shared on our behalf of our CSB was that the the Narcon by mail program that we were able the Naloxone by mail program that we were able to institute last year our school partners helped us get that out that was at the the urging of miss dibble and i wanted to share today that that single request

[00:08:26] generated 449 additional requests um so we've over doubled the distribution from the school's partnership there and so that was and we'll continue to promote that um we hope no one ever needs it but it is a resource available i did want to just remind everybody that's not a locally local government funded program that's through opioid abatement funds and grants so no local tax dollars go into that program but it is a resource for those that think that they mean need that those of you that are in the room with us are noticing that there's some renovation going on this room this will be the last board

[00:09:04] meeting Board of Supervisors meeting we hope that they will be all complete next week and this work will be done so thanks everyone for your patience while we work through some of these renovations in here and Richard you know had to share some tragic news about our um one of our employees uh in our communications department and yesterday there was a tragic accident up on verdon road uh one of our employees was involved in that accident um non-life-threatening injuries but just want to keep her and her family and our

[00:09:39] thoughts and prayers uh and uh hope everyone drives safe so thank you mr any other comments Seeing none we will move on next on the agenda citizens time. I do have three names so far by a show of hands How many people are here who would like to address the board during citizens time? Okay Citizens time is an opportunity for members of the public to present comments and information to the board Regarding any matter within the scope of the board's authority that is not on today's agenda for a public hearing

[00:10:17] There's cards available in the back of the room. You are not required to fill out a card however it does make it easier for our board clerk to get the spelling of your name correct and it gives us contact information in case we need to follow up with you after your comments speakers who wish to address the board are requested to follow these guidelines each speaker is asked to give your name and the magisterial district in which you live speakers will have up to five minutes to address the board the vice chair will keep track of each speaker's time speakers are asked to address their comments to the board and not to the

[00:10:56] audience the board does not permit the use of slideshows or other projected materials during citizens time however speakers are invited to provide printed copies of any materials that they have to the board handouts and other materials can be provided to the deputy county administrator who's seated right there to the right of the podium and he will ensure that the information will be be distributed to board members and the board clerk. The board requests that the audience refrain from interrupting speakers during their recognized time. This applies to citizens' time and any public

[00:11:32] hearings on today's agenda. The board does appreciate the public's input and cooperation during citizens' time, and I will now open citizens' time. First, Patricia Ewald. Is Patricia with us today seeing none we will move on michelle tobin please approach state your name the district in which you live you will have up to five minutes michelle tobin i'm in the beaver dam district

[00:12:05] i'd like to start by saying thank you for your service i know you guys have a tough job and i wouldn't want it and thank you for listening um the narcan program by the way awesome everyone in My family has two, I believe, so the kids took them with them to college, and we have them in our vehicles, and we hope that we never have to use them, but great program.

[00:12:36] I'm here to talk about the traffic problem outside of Ashland. I was purposely trying to run off the road at Kapaluck's Curve. I'm sure you know where that is.

[00:12:53] I turned on to 54 off of Independence Road and saw a vehicle come over from the west, flying, flying. All I saw was grill. That's all I saw. And he passed me in the curve across the double line and came over on top of us.

[00:13:15] So it was the ditch, the power pole. Anyway, this isn't the only story, and I won't bore you with all of the comments that I collected. but this is ongoing. There is a problem on Cross Corner with people trying to cut through around Ashland from number one. We've all seen the traffic. You can't take a left out of Food Lion any longer most of the time because of the traffic backed up on number one. And so as we keep adding

[00:13:50] communities and people, I'd like to know from you what the plan is for the road rage and congestion. I just wanted it to be on record.

[00:14:05] And I'm sure that other people have brought it up, but I felt responsible to come and bring it up again. So is there a plan? So ma'am, this time for citizens is for you to address the board.

[00:14:22] If you would like a follow up, please make sure that we do have your name, your phone number, or your email address, and someone will be happy to follow up with you in the future. But today is just for you to address the board. Do you have any other comments that you like to make it that's it okay thank you very much thank you very much for being with us mr chairman mr davis thank you mr chairman uh the sheriff and the undersheriff are also in the room uh if if there's any questions about law enforcement uh lieutenant colonel six is one who just raised his hand uh maybe want to take some time there and then of course whatever i'm not oh you're in the beaver dangers but just want to let you know we do have law enforcement

[00:15:00] representatives here thank you thank you mr davis moving on mr matthew knuckles please approach sir say your name the district in which you live you will have up to five minutes thank you hi my name is matthew knuckles and i live in the beaverdam district and i'm here to speak to you about the proposed luckstone rock warry i've handed out some some packets a three-page packet that has two maps and some definitions in it the first map is the general land use map from the hanover county map

[00:15:34] book adopted in 2023 and the green hatched out area represents the natural conservation area page Page 55 of the Hanover County Comprehensive Plan defines the natural conservation area as areas with critical natural features such as floodplains, floodways, wetlands, and major streams and river corridors.

[00:15:55] Development within these areas is generally discouraged. It goes on to say that these areas should remain in their natural state and be restored if natural vegetation has been removed or damaged. You'll notice that the Luckstone Quarry will destroy part of the natural conservation area.

[00:16:13] The creeks and wetlands that flow into the little river will be demolished, and they can never be restored. The second map is the Growth Management Plan, also from the Hanover County Map Book.

[00:16:28] The green area is the Rural Conservation Area. And page 19 of the comprehensive plan defines this as: Areas that include major rivers and streams, wetlands, prime agricultural soils, critical wildlife habitat, historic resources, and other features that contribute to the rural character and ecological health of Hanover County.

[00:16:51] You can see that the Luckstone Quarry is well within the Conservation Area. You'll also notice that the existing Martin Marietta Quarry is outside of that area. In fact, the conservation area has been etched out around the Martin Marietta Quarry.

[00:17:09] And I believe that this is because rock quarries do not belong in the conservation area. Page 23 of the comprehensive plan provides a project framework for rural and agricultural land use and states that these areas should be primarily used for agricultural forestry operations and supporting rural-oriented agribusinesses.

[00:17:32] compatible with the area's rural character may be appropriate in certain locations, upon demonstration that proposed uses will not negatively impact surrounding properties. It goes on to list some examples of uses, such as equestrian centers, nurseries, farmers' markets, etc., and then goes on to say these uses are recognized as economically desirable businesses that support the viability of farming and land preservation.

[00:18:01] Irreversibly destroying the forest, creeks, wetlands, and demolishing the land is the opposite of land preservation. The Lockstone Rock Quarry goes against the Hanover County Comprehensive Plan. It goes against the Growth Management Plan. It goes against the General Use Plan. It threatens the physical and mental health of our residents. It destroys our natural resources and wildlife. And it puts almost 500 more vehicles on our country roads. Almost 400 of those are large trucks. And as we've already heard, we already have a traffic problem growing. It is a clear violation

[00:18:41] of our vision for Hanover County. Please deny the Luxor and Rock Boring. Thank you. Thank you for your comments, sir. Is there anyone else who wishes to address the board during citizens' time? Seeing none, citizens' time is now closed. Moving on, consent agenda. Mr. Davis.

[00:19:09] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I've received no notices to change or amend the consent agenda, so with that, I move from approval. Second. There's a motion and a second. All in favor of approving the consent agenda please indicate by saying aye aye consent agenda approved agenda item six is a presentation transportation update highway matters mr philip frazier virginia department of transportation thank you for being with us sir good afternoon members of the board uh philip frazier resident

[00:19:47] engineer at the ashton residency with vdot i'm going to give you a quick update about a couple projects mr budeski beat me to it but the fall line trail project is officially complete there There was a ribbon cutting that you guys graciously hosted, and it was a very good event.

[00:20:04] So I appreciate you guys doing that. I was able to join that afternoon. So what we're doing to prepare for maintenance, obviously, you know, there's a long process to plan for these types of projects, two-year-long construction project, and then obviously my group is responsible for maintaining it until the end of time.

[00:20:26] So one of the things that we're doing is we're putting together some contracts for mowing. to make sure that we can maintain and keep a clear and presentable vegetative appearance along the trail that is expected to kind of get off the ground next year where we'll start in the spring with our regular mowing cycle so real that's a real quick update on that project i want to let you know that there was a project that the hanover county um board and and public works team really helped the department put together and that's a new full depth reclamation

[00:21:05] project where we are going to be doing we call that FDR it's really taking an existing roadbed chopping it up adding cement material spreading it out and getting a little bit wider of a roadway prism and then doing a full overlay on top of it that project was advertised back in August it was awarded I'm sorry it wasn't awarded it was let which means we opened up the bids in September and from what I could see is those bed bids came in under the engineer's estimate which is a good thing so I would expect that that will be awarded some of the routes that are included as part of

[00:21:45] that contract it is again as a standalone contract it's replacing what we would refer to as an on-call contract previously. McClellan Road, Rock Hill Road, Market Road, those are like a three-road package, and then Old Ridge from Route 1 to Rockets. Those are the routes that are expected to be a part of that contract. So thank you for your support in that and the Public Works team.

[00:22:12] We also recently just completed a state-funded FDR project, and that was on Shiloh Church. That completed about three weeks ago. That will not have an asphalt overlay. That will get a surface-treated overlay.

[00:22:29] So that is your typical tar and rock. Again, funded by the state. So that is our standard is a chip seal application at the end. Okay, the Route 1 project. I know that there's been some concern about some of the businesses and how they're impacted.

[00:22:51] So I don't have great news to give to you today, but we're still working on it. So it's not a bad news day, but I can't tell you that we're going to be able to provide full access to the business owners that are being impacted.

[00:23:09] But we're continuing to work with the contractor about their schedule, the timing of when they're actually going to close Pleasant Street. We've had some conversations with them about the actual length that they will need it to be closed, and we've even had some conversations with the town of Ashland about providing access, granting an access permit, because obviously the department doesn't grant those permits in the town.

[00:23:34] So we're constantly working on that with them. Don't have an answer for you yet, but as that unfolds, we will be sure to reach out to the Public Works team and keep you informed. I don't look that good chained to a light pole, so please work it out.

[00:23:53] Understood. Okay. Mr. Hudson, we went on a ride review a couple weeks ago. Appreciate the opportunity to do that with you. There's a couple things that I think that we considered low-hanging fruit that we can take care of pretty quickly. One of the items was a ditch along 360 that was eroding. We're actually going to be bringing in our incidental concrete contractor in the next couple weeks and actually doing a paved ditch to make that connection. We won't have the maintenance issues.

[00:24:26] Any longer so looking forward to that. We also went and took a ride around the park and ride if you remember I don't know if I mentioned it to you at that point That is actually going to be resurfaced We are going to mill up the pavement and the park and ride. We're doing that at four different park and rides within My residency And I expect that to be done by the end of the year Well, you're kind of stealing my thunder, but thank you for for doing doing the ride-along throughout the district and just Allowing me to address the concerns of my constituents. So I really do Appreciate that. So thank you. Appreciate that

[00:25:04] Mr. Well, I know you appreciate the phone call this afternoon about the land case or land use case Don't have an answer for you on that one, but I will follow up should be by the end of the week So, um, well, we'll get back with you With that, I don't have anything else Be happy to take any questions concerns any questions Supervisor Pritchard I know you were looking forward to it being me, Phillip.

[00:25:32] Okay. I don't think this is a question as much as I really want to reiterate both for you and for the public. First of all, my complaint is not at all with our Ashland folks. But if the business that is in my district that has been initially impacted, they were told that access to their business would be shut down originally.

[00:25:55] They were told eight months. And that's not, that just can't happen. But what I want to reiterate is that this is a small business, and if you shut down access to their business for one month, you might as well have shut it down for eight months because they're gone.

[00:26:12] And these are people who live and work in our community and support members of our community. And I have to believe that there's a way to solve this problem. It might not be the easiest way. But also, I know that when people from VDOT approach this business, they never talk to them about their willingness to financially compensate them for the disruption and I feel like some of the smaller businesses are not getting the full picture of what goes on I'm willing to be involved at any level and I know the town is very involved again I do not wish to be chained to a light bulb but

[00:26:50] it could happen just saying thank you understood any other questions from board members. Mr. Sturman. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So thank you, Mr. Fraser, for your presentation, but I just want to go back over the shallow church. Now, was it a full depth from Old Ridge over to Parsons? Is that correct? Or was that going to be, was that just a tar and chip all the way? So I don't have the limits of that project exactly on me. What was done was a full depth and it right but you know that it was probably at least part of it because i know part of it was just the

[00:27:28] the tarant chip type the tarant chip is the final application that is what we would do to seal up the road so we'll we tar or we do the full depth you leave it with kind of this this new homogenous mixture of cement uh earth old surface treatment it's all chopped up you add that cement material you add water and it becomes a very very robust um pavement section and then we seal it so whatever was done as part of the FDR we seal it with a chip seal okay yeah and that but because I know the part of the the attraction to the full depth is you take

[00:28:04] those humps and everything is it's just about much smoother surface correct yeah okay and then because that that that section of road was really really in poor repair there with the shoulders all right that's what I need that thank you problem any other questions from board members I had one simple one I think my question is about grass cutting because a few months ago there was just a lot of rain and you know so so the median in 360 kind of grew up you know pretty high is there a like a routine schedule that that gets cut on regardless of how high

[00:28:41] it is or how does that work so yes there is a standard number of times that we as an agency are supposed to cut grass on our set our primary system so 360 is is the primary route. That's three times a year. That being said, we do have a contract where we do some of our more specialized mowing in median locations. So 360 is one of those locations that gets a, is part of our specialty zero turn mow. We do not have a set schedule on that. We let the weather kind of dictate when we're going to issue a notice to proceed to our contractor. I will tell

[00:29:20] you, July was a very, very wet July, and then it was very hot. The grass jumped pretty quickly, and I would say we were probably about a week or maybe even a week and a half a little bit behind on issuing that notice to proceed as a group. But to answer your question, three times a year on the primary system, twice on the secondary system. That answers the question. Thank you very much, sir. Thank you for your presentation. All right. Thank you. Y'all have a good one. Next on the

[00:29:54] Agenda is our road project status report mr. Joe vaiden this traffic engineer Department of Public Works. Thank you for being with us, sir Yes Glad to be here. Good afternoon. So This was my big lead-in was the fall line trail. We've all heard about fall line trail and I'm very excited about It's opening One thing that I will add to what's already been said is is that through a grant by the Central Virginia Transportation Authority Public Works will be installing in the coming months wayfinding signage along the trail

[00:30:34] this will include mile markers as well as signs to guide Users to various points of interest along the trail and just make sure that they can see their way Or go the correct direction. This is Shelley Lee Drive. I think we are on the verge of beginning construction. We expect to have essentially the paving work done by the end

[00:31:05] of the year. These were the improvements to convert the southbound shoulder on 301 between Attlee and Attlee Station Road. We were on the verge of beginning construction and encountered some newly installed utilities, and we've been engaged with those utility companies through our consultant and are working to resolve those conflicts. I don't have a time frame on that,

[00:31:38] but it is in progress. And once those utilities conflicts are resolved, we will proceed with the construction. This is Route 1 and Route 30, the intersection, to provide a convert or add a signal to the intersection. We have begun on a limited basis some right-of-way acquisition activities. We will, once we have finalized our stormwater design, and I feel like we're close

[00:32:14] as far as that's concerned, then we can proceed with acquisition activities for the remaining parcels. We expect that the right-of-way and utility adjustments should take about a year to complete. Okay, this is the intersection of Lewistown and Ashcake Road. This is the proposed roundabout. We should, by the end of November, have cleared all right-of-way parcels. We have one remaining parcel that we are dealing with. Once that is cleared, we'll give the green light

[00:32:52] to the utility companies. I believe Virginia Natural Gas, who is not requiring any additional easements has already begun some of that work so last month we received vdot concurrence on our conceptual design for the improvements pedestrian improvements right here in front of the courthouse they'll look something like this the most significant aspect of this design in my opinion are we're providing crosswalks at both the north and south entrances to the county courthouse

[00:33:26] complex. So, um, we'll continue to advance, uh, the design, uh, working towards a public hearing, uh, in the spring. So, uh, this is the, um, reconstruction, uh, improvements, uh, to Hickory Hill road, uh, plans are nearing the 50% stage. Um, however, to address some geometric issues, uh, we are seeking a, um, a reduction in the speed limit from 45 to 35, uh, that would lessen some of the design requirements and allow us to keep the road within the right-of-way.

[00:34:08] So we're waiting to hear back from VDOT on that. Beyond that, just to the west of the overpass, we're also looking at the curve. There's a sharp curve between the Sandmar entrance and the overpass, if you're familiar with that area. And certainly VDOT's decision regarding the design speed would would certainly factor into the improvements at that location we don't have anything planned we would have to take this to the transportation committee we expect to review that with them

[00:34:45] we'd also have to identify a funding source but it's something that we are aware of and are looking into. Turning to Mechanicsville, this is the Atlee 360 Cold Harbor roundabout. In response to community concerns regarding the length of time that we would have to close the intersection and detour traffic, we are going forward with a concept to place asphalt in the truck apron as opposed to concrete. This will

[00:35:22] significantly lessen the construction time from about two months to about two weeks um and would certainly lessen the the impact on those businesses right-of-way acquisition phase is set to begin on this project uh early next year um yes if anybody can read that um my hats off to you but this is the best slide i had this is uh this is uh the creighton road corridor between um

[00:35:55] 295 and in the roundabout this is our proposed turn lane improvements two left turn lanes at tammy and forgive me i forget the other entrance but we are currently have an advertisement out where we're seeking public comment and have offered the opportunity to conduct a public hearing if anyone wishes that we hold a hearing if not we'll move forward with the right of way that solicitation is open till the 16th of this month with that said we'll take comments at any

[00:36:29] point in time but as part of this process the cutoff is the 16th the dual roundabouts at creighton and walnut grove we are engaged in right-of-way phase and we expect that to continue into next summer there are five parcels total we have acquired one parcel we have four remaining full green road nearing the end of the right-of-way acquisition phase on this project

[00:37:07] the green represent parcels that we have reached agreement with property owners we still have several that remain outstanding there is an item on the coming agenda to to address the remaining parcels with a with a public hearing concerning condemnation once we clear the utilities i would i mean once we clear right away we will then provide a notice proceed to the utility companies

[00:37:43] to begin relocation activities and that would begin almost immediately so greenwood church blanton ashland road ashcake road we are nearing the next significant milestone tentatively planning a public hearing in december and then this would set us up to begin right-of-way acquisition in the spring 30154 roundabout public hearing was held last month and we are currently addressing

[00:38:19] the comments that we received in order to begin the right-of-way acquisition phase again early next year this is the design concept for the sliding hill new ash cake Arashcake Road intersection. We are seeking federal right-of-way authorization in December, and then upon authorization, we will then proceed with right-of-way acquisition. We've allowed

[00:38:54] a year for right-of-way. I don't think it's going to take that long. There are four parcels that are impacted. This is a similar map to the one I showed you on pole green. This is what we're calling our Atlee Station Phase 2. We have begun preparing right-of-way offer packages that hopefully will soon go out to the public. I think there's maybe a total of 38 separate parcels,

[00:39:28] and so this process will go on for some time. This is the companion project to the Phase 2 widening. This is Phase 3, picking up at King's Charter and extending to Sliding Hill Road, essentially. This project is nearing what we call the 30% design stage. At that point, we will be holding an informational meeting with the public. That will be the first opportunity for the public, for us to present our plans to the public and get input at an early stage,

[00:40:04] relatively early stage in the development of the project. This is the next set of rural paving and safety projects. Mr. Fraser touched on this in his remarks. This is the full depth reclamation process that he was referring to where the sub base is basically milled up and there's some type of cement that's incorporated essentially. It firms up the base and provides an improved riding

[00:40:37] surface a little bit more width. The roads that are proposed are listed there. I think the contract completion date is November 20th, so the contractor has a fixed completion date.

[00:40:54] And as he mentioned, this has not been awarded yet. Once upon award, VDOT tells me they'll have a better idea of what the schedule looks like for these routes. We'll close with this is 54 and got until road uh we are um about to issue a purchase order to resume the design uh purchase order to our engineer to resume the design so there hasn't been any activities in terms of

[00:41:24] actually design work but we're about uh poised to to resume that work so um mr chairman that's all i have thank you mr vadunas any questions from board members supervisor dibble thank you um as i look through this list, it seems to me when I see new projects added, they seem to move along at a three

[00:41:54] to four year pace, maybe five year pace to completion. And yet project, I realize we're not used to spending money in the West, but I've had a project number 12 that Beaver Dam and I share.

[00:42:14] It's a very dangerous intersection, and we're going on year eight before we're even going to start. And we're catching a lot of heat, and why is that? Yeah, well, I would just say this. Well, I'd just like to have an answer that's just an answer, not an opinion.

[00:42:35] It's a very specific question because I don't think I should have to wait 10 years to complete a project. So as I reviewed with you, the schedule is we are working towards a public hearing in the spring.

[00:42:53] This project involves state funds. So when we are involving state funds in a project, the timing is not as quick as if we were just using local funds. That's one explanation. That's not an excuse.

[00:43:10] That's not necessarily the reason. But each project has its own things. I'd be happy to go through that. but I can't, you know, standing in front here, I can't go through all of those things. And the decision to use non-local and state funds, who made that decision?

[00:43:27] We did. The board did. This board made that decision? The Board of Supervisors did. No, we did not. Of course you did. And that's the problem. That's why this project is being pushed out so far. And it's dangerous, and I'm catching a lot of heat for something that I was never looped into.

[00:43:49] And it's also, again, creating a very dangerous situation. I know Mr. Stoneman gets complaints from his constituents about it. And, again, we have schoolchildren that drive through that intersection every day, and we have tons of accidents. And I'd just like to go on record saying that it shouldn't take 10 years to get a dangerous intersection fixed.

[00:44:10] Any other questions or comments? Supervisor Pritchard. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Vardinas, a number of these projects are in my district, specifically the two roundabouts that are on the edge of Brown Grove.

[00:44:31] That has been, I'm almost hesitant to say this because I don't want to jinx it, but that has been a very nearly perfect public process. I think my folks they were in Brown Grove believe that they have really been a part of that conversation and that those roundabouts are first of all big public safety Improvements, but especially the one at sliding Hill and Peaks and Mount Hermon Because we have trucks that try to turn around in that intersection already

[00:45:04] And I think this will really ease those tensions along that road, but I really I just want to say thank you. Yeah, thank you I agree both projects have Gone fairly well and the public process has been fantastic Those folks turn out for public meetings and and they really have so mr. Chairman mr. Davis. Yeah, I just wanted to make a comment about about funding Many projects have multiple funding Streams sources funding sources. We have smart scale when we vote on the sip or the six-year plan oftentimes that comes with

[00:45:43] the state portion and the the local portion so when we vote on on those matters it's based on what we have in order of priority and I certainly get that there's transportation needs but I just wanted to clarify some that when the board does vote on our six-year plan and we vote on whether it's regional funding direct state funding or sometimes federal funding depending on what it is they can be broken down in many different categories and often the lowest number is the is is the the local funding the local funding sometimes is the lowest number sometimes we can leverage that when it comes to right-of-way acquisition or design phase or whatever but

[00:46:21] the matrix that comes in there we do have a say on how we how we fund this um and then we have a say in what funds are used or allocated but not all of those funds are generated within here out of of the Hannover County general fund so that's true I mean there are a number of grant opportunities we aggressively go after those that we think are the best fit for each particular project and we've been pretty successful I think in my opinion and receiving that funding which helps underwrite the overall cost

[00:47:00] of the project and allows us to stretch those local dollars um in the case of greenwood blanton that project consists of revenue sharing dollars which are the state dollars which is a 50 match and we're using cvta local for for the match correct so okay thank you and again as always to miss dibble's point if if there's ever an opportunity where somebody feels like you know Project could if if it's available needs to be reworked. I I Completely understand the frustration on something that's been close to a decade to be worked on

[00:47:38] I I get that especially if you you've got a safety concern but a lot of these Matters the point I'm trying to make is it's not like a projects been forgotten or funds have been diverted somewhere else in a non-priority manner But if there's a discussion about diversion of funds We've had to do that before with pole green on 360 in order to to pull those together And we've had three out in the western side over the last city in the last sip Where we have to do some fund diversion. I think that that's certainly a discussion and certainly discussion

[00:48:13] But the board does know what what we're voting on supervisor dibble. Yeah, I'd just like to piggyback on that We do have a process and we should have a voice this board should have a voice if funding for our specific Projects is changed this board didn't have a voice And so the funding was changed pushing the project out two to three years Requiring now in saying that it may be a cost saving for us

[00:48:50] We're pushing a project of that magnitude out two to three years doesn't necessarily generate a cost savings and it also again pushes it out but if we're not looped into that conversation it's a misstep yes ma'am i agree but no policy is set in this county without the board being looped in so i may i may not have a specific that's what's concerning me now is i'm not quite sure what miss dibble's referencing but i'd like to ask county administrator mr chairman as the chair of transportation you being a chair i'd like to know about about this

[00:49:25] I mean, process-wise, we need to be looped into these decisions because we're the ones being held accountable for them. And so the project is now taking more time. It also involves more engineering because it's a grant-funded project. So accepting the project into the grant as a, quote, cost savings.

[00:49:46] And Mr. Kildiff and I have had discussions about this. In the long run, we're not really saving anything because of the time, extra costs, blah, blah, blah. But I would agree with I guess I would just like to go on record as saying that when decisions are made Affecting us we need to be looped in because I would definitely have not agreed to reroute this into a grant fund Mr. Dennis did you reroute any money that the boards unaware of? I don't believe that's the case And I I want to be clear in my remarks

[00:50:24] I wouldn't speaking in general terms in terms of the different funding sources and the different funding requirements I don't want to say, and in fact, I'm just reading from the schedule that's in the project status report. It shows that a notice-perceived date was of February of 2024, and we have a proposed end-of-construction date of December of 2028.

[00:50:46] We actually added this in 2020. I mean, I've had conversations with Mr. Hardman about this. um again i just want to make sure that when we approve projects one way they can't be changed without consultation of the board members and that we need to be kept in the loop yeah i i agree and i believe that was the case with the revenue sharing i believe um vdot requires a resolution

[00:51:21] of support from the board um for all of our applications and so i i presume i have to go back and double-check I can't recall specifically but I believe that is well you know we don't get much money in the West so I've been tracking this one very closely and I know there were some sideways issues with the design itself and so forth but I hope we can move towards trying to move this project along so that we can hopefully save a life any other comments or questions from board members well mr. Vidunas chair transportation committee I do want

[00:52:00] thank you for your presentation I do want to thank you for all the good work and when I look at the list here there's a lot of projects on the list there's there's 18 and I know it took a lot of work to get that intersection at 360 and Lee Davis done that was eight lanes and four lanes and divided roads and turn lanes and I'm glad we got that one behind us but there's you know a lot of of work here 18 projects so I know it's a lot of work and it's a lot of different

[00:52:35] things that go into these you know the right-of-way acquisition and the design and and I know it's a lot of work so I think our next Transportation Committee meeting is December is that right does that sound right second Monday of December September yes December yes right and we've been doing a lot of good work there I know one thing that you know that we looked at is Shelly Lee Drive you know and that's getting paid soon right yes yes right and so we have

[00:53:13] some projects here at Lee Station Road two and three those have been certainly on the project list for quite a while it's a lot of work to do these and it's important to this board it's important to the transportation committee it's important to the residents of the area and then we have Route 54 and Goddons Hill Road 301 and 54 pole green Creighton Parkway Creighton Road at Lee Road Hickory Hill route 301 Lewistown and Ashcake route 1 and 30 route 301 and we

[00:53:50] just completed our portion of the fall line trail so I want to thank you and also mr. Hardman I believe you're here we'll see you on December the 10th thank you for all your good diligent work and thank you for your presentation sir Thank you Okay, moving on next is another presentation. Mr. Todd killed up quarterly connect handover broadband initiative update Deputy County Administrator. Thank you for being with us, sir. Yes, sir. Mr. Chairman members of the board. Mr Padesky, mr

[00:54:26] Walter stepped out for a quick second, but my name is Todd killed a deputy County Administrator And I'm happy to provide you with another update on our broadband This one's a little bit different for you in that you have always received quarterly updates Because the projects have been moving real quick lots of good information to share We update our website regularly Wanted to get in front of you on a monthly basis with just a more slimmed down version of the broadband project We wanted to go on record with that and as always this presentation and all of our presentations gets posted So as you can see none of the broadband providers are behind me right now. This is just a monthly update from myself

[00:55:03] We did ask all points if they could be here. It was short notice, so they unfortunately couldn't make it. And I did want to reiterate that at the last quarterly update, we invited Brightspeed. They chose not to come. We reminded them that the next quarterly update is actually next month in November.

[00:55:20] They said that they didn't want to come to that one either. They would prefer not to come again until the beginning of next year. We reiterated to them that, hey, it would be nice if you guys could come to our quarterly updates and provide updates because you guys are working in rural areas and you're doing a lot of good work.

[00:55:36] And I think that's good news to share. But again, they replied to that email and said, no, we will come in the beginning of 2026. So we're trying to get them to come. And I did contact the Department of Housing and Community Development to see if there was a communications plan that they have, maybe we can use that as some leverage to get them in here to give you an update. But I have yet to hear back from DHCD on that. But just wanted to let you know. So again, this is more of a bite-sized presentation for you today. BrightSpeed's last update. And this is all this information I'm providing is, or almost all of it, is provided in their monthly updates that they have to do to the state in a system called CAMS. So we go into

[00:56:14] the cams we pull extract the data and we go ahead and have it for for this information but um with all pipes all points broadband in particular even though they do have those monthly updates to the state we actually meet with them every thursday and we go over everything they've done over the past week and mr herzberg thank you for being on those calls regularly miss dibble's been on several of the calls herself we just appreciate you being there and bringing up some issues that we may not have known about that you may have received facebook posts or text messages from your citizens on so we appreciate that but since the last update we had well the last update there's

[00:56:48] about 230 miles installed of the 326 miles this update there's about 257 so they've gone up 27 miles what's left the actual installation is starting to slow down a little bit and the reason is they're nearing the end of that mileage what's left is about 70 miles of private roads that's a whole different conversation I have another slide later in this deck to to go over with you on that but if you start to see a decrease in the amount of trucks that are on the road, the reason is a lot of the public road piece is complete. So not fully complete just yet, but they're nearing completion. This is a new slide for you with some numbers on it. These are things that we track

[00:57:27] regularly. Mr. Rook Rogers is back here. He's our assistant broadband administrator. We love having Rook on board. He's done such a great job for us. Rook and I track, we have a spreadsheet tracker for all this information. It's got a lot more in it. If you'd ever like to see it, you're more than welcome to. But we extracted some of the more important items from the spreadsheet for you.

[00:57:46] But since the last update, there's been about 82 more home connections for a total of 261. That number's from last Thursday. So with work happening Monday, Tuesday, today is Wednesday, that number could have gone up. But we won't know until Thursday on our weekly meeting with them.

[00:58:03] There's a difference between connections and passings. I'm moving to that middle section on your screen. Per the contract, there's 6,198 passings they have to do. That doesn't mean that 6,198 connections will be made. We know that for a fact. We've had several citizens calls and said, hey, I've seen them go down the road. I just don't need it. Please don't sign me up. Take me off your list. So we know it's never going to be all 6,198, but that's not the point. The point is to get those passings in. So what is the take rate? How many people have said they do want to connect? Today, it's been about 30%. About 30% of the people that All Points has contacted have said, yes,

[00:58:39] sign me up. They've either paid their fee or they're ready to pay their fee or they're in some very stage with that. But if you do the simple math, that works out to about 1,859 of the 6,198. So with that, why is that number important? With that, we can subtract the connections that have been made to date to come with how many connections are about to be remaining.

[00:58:59] Now, obviously, we want that number to increase. We want that 30% to go up. The more people connecting, the better. And I'm sure all points in their business plan would love to have more connections as well. But doing the simple math with 15 months left on their connections, the passings, that means they have to connect about 20 homes, 27 homes per week. Seems like a high number, but just so you know, they have connected. One week they did almost 40 connections, another week they did almost 30. There has been a decrease recently, which I'll go over on a later slide and explain why. As always, just want to always state that we are updating our website. Mr. Rogers

[00:59:37] actually has a calendar reminder on the 10th of every month to go into this file and work with Shelby sitting here, who actually does these nice exhibits for us. We appreciate that and update the data. So we try to get as much updated information out there as possible. We were doing this quarterly. Again, we were doing a quarter that we're now doing it monthly because we get a lot of calls. What's really nice is that on our Connect Handover website, whenever we put information out there, you don't always know who's consuming that data or if anybody is. We have a lot of people that use that data. We have a lot of people that are consuming it. A lot of people are going to the page. And trust me, if we miss a day on the update, somebody will call us. So we're actually

[01:00:15] very pleased to know that the information we're putting out there is being used. There is a link on the website specific to the updates that I mentioned from the providers to the state. This their state information so if you were to click on that pdf it would be a little bit of a generic report it's not the prettiest thing in the world but it's what the state has that the information needs to be provided your last update we mentioned the bead funding just to state again the bead funding is the third and final funding source that's supposed to fill in all the gaps it's supposed to fill in all the gaps of those who are unserved or underserved and there hasn't been an

[01:00:51] update since since you last heard this from me what we're waiting on at the moment is the expected knock on wood, cross your fingers, the approval from the NTIA on the project. So Project B has been announced. All the providers have been told what funding they're receiving. They've been told what home connections they're going to get the whole nine yards. All that's done. All we're waiting on right now is the NTIA. They have a 90-day window and that 90-day window is up near the end of November, beginning of December. So fingers are crossed that that moves forward because that will fill in all the gaps that we have in the project. So I mentioned some of the

[01:01:28] issues that we're having. I mentioned the 70 miles of private roads. One thing that we've been discussing with All Points Broadband, arguably for years, but definitely since this past February, is as you move forward with this project, the private roads could slow you down and could be an issue. The reason is not all private roads have easements. Not all of them have utility easements, meaning that if there's a road that doesn't have utility easements available to the provider, they have to go to, let's say that there's 10 houses on that road, they have to go to all 10 houses, knock on the door, and try and get those easements. That is a lot slower than

[01:02:04] working in the VDOT right-of-way where they just need a VDOT right-of-way permit. So they can move really fast on those mainline fire, but the private road is what's actually slowing them down. We've been a little frustrated with that process. All Points has hired somebody specifically to do notarizing. So that person is supposed to be knocking on everyone's door and just getting the paperwork literally in hand and making it as simple for our citizens as possible. That's the goal. We're here to help them. I know Mr. Herzberg's on that alone. I know Mr. Herzberg's knocked on doors and talked to people. Mr. Rogers behind me has knocked on doors and talked to people. So we can only do so much though. All Points really has to do the work. They're the

[01:02:43] ones that have to get that document. They have to get the easement and then actually install the fiber. So we're trying to help them as best we can in all the different areas that we see as issues. At the top of the screen, you'll see that it's likely there's going to be a second second extension request there's already been one extension i'm specifically talking about the mainline fiber not the passings just yet the mainline fiber their due date is december at the end of december of 2025 of this year at this rate with the private that includes all the private roads at that rate we're pretty sure they're not going to be complete by the end of december things

[01:03:19] are going much slower with the private roads than expected so we have brought this up to all points broadband we have been very vocal about it they have not said that they're going to request an extension at the moment. It's not to say they won't, but I just want to go on record and let you know we have not received an extension, and they have not said that one would be pending.

[01:03:35] So it's a little bit of a concern to us because it's at the end of December, and we're pretty sure based on the speed of the private road easement acquisition, they're probably not going to hit that mark. This one is actually pretty serious. VDOT, I don't know if our VDOT partners are still here, but they take road safety very serious, just like we all do.

[01:03:56] One of AllPoint's contractors was working without proper um road crews um without the stop signs without the flaggers that kind of thing they got caught all points uh vdot issued a two and a half week stop work order which is again it's going back to the numbers i said some of the numbers are a little bit lower than what you probably would have seen today there was two and a half weeks of no work because of that the good news even though that's bad news the good news is all points fired that contractor immediately so they're literally the same day so that contractor is not working with them unfortunately we were stuck with a two two-and-a-half-week lag. We asked VDOT, well, actually, we asked all points, is there any work

[01:04:34] that you can still do? And the answer is yes. They could still be working on the private roads. All that stuff can still move forward. But there were some home connections that required the VDOT permit. And they asked us if we would be willing to contact VDOT to see if we can get an exemption during the SOP work order for a few addresses. And the answer is yes. We made the request. VDOT honored the request. They said yes. If you're just working in this area, you can do that. But none of the big work until October 6th. So the ban was lifted this past Monday, but during that two and a half week period, there were a few home connections that were still made. And the second bullet point I have on there is the premature notifications. We know that's been an issue in

[01:05:10] several areas. I know in the South Anna District, I know in the Beaver Dam District, that homes were notified that you could be connected in, let's just say, the next four to six weeks. Well, we know that's not going to happen. Will they get connected at some point? 100%. But is it going to be in the next four to six weeks well we know that's not true because those notifications were sent almost two months ago and those homes aren't connected so it's been way well past the four to six weeks anyway um in speaking with mr tom innis who is our contact with all points broadband he was upset by this um he contacted their marketing branch and said please stop sending those messages because they're making his life difficult making our life difficult but i mention this because if you hear

[01:05:49] anything or if there's any other notifications that are out there please let us know immediately and I'll be happy to call Mr. Ennis and that's all I have on this this update again this is just more of a brief monthly update with some of the numbers but if there's any questions or comments or concerns I'm happy to answer thank you sir Supervisor Dibble I just wanted to clarify one point in there called last week we did ask for a list of the private roads from all points that's correct and more importantly a list of the private roads that will

[01:06:26] require easements so that we can assist in that endeavor so we're doing everything that we can on on our end to try to help and and work together with all points as a partner and again i want to give a big shout out to uh rook rogers um he's done a great job he's kind of the uh in between guy and uh definitely knows how to handle the people in the field so to speak so uh thank you all your good work and please continue and I appreciate you too Mr. Kilduff because it's we've had some challenges but you know we put our heads together

[01:07:05] and we work through them and I know that we're all committed to completing this project and in order to do that we have to do it together so thank you thank you for that and I would like to reiterate that mr. Rogers has when it comes to the private roads and getting the plats and the easements we got him set up in the clerk system so he's got access to that all points is aware bright speed is aware. So if they're saying, Hey, we can't find something. Mr.

[01:07:30] Rogers gets contacted. He's been fine. I don't think there's anything he hasn't found just yet. But just wanted the full board to know that we do have that access digitally. Mr. Stoneman. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Well, Mr. Kilda, thank you for your presentation. I really appreciate that. And Mr.

[01:07:46] Rogers, I do appreciate all your hard work and feel as well. I just wanted to bring something up when I was watching your screen, your presentation in the screen slide where there's passings, and some folks that say they're fine, they don't want it and all that i don't know if it's premature in my thinking but i mean i'm pretty confident that bright speed's not going to continue to maintain the copper and in light of that would it be fair to to when the citizens are allowing it to go by and not take advantage of the specials in the free connection time they need to understand i mean i don't know if we need to contact bright speed and say look you should you need to be up front about this because folks could you know

[01:08:26] And then they're going to be faced with the connection fees and the loss of the opportunity. That's just a thought that came to my mind is that, you know, they're not really aware of the future of telecommunications in our area. So I could be speaking out of turn, but I'm pretty confident that that's going to be our future if you're not on fiber.

[01:08:47] And my understanding is that once everybody has access to fiber, they can give 180-day notice that they're no longer going to support the POTS lines and that, you know, then you'll have to make a decision. That's right. Yeah, and one thing that we're doing is we're sort of prodding ourselves, Mr. Roger, I give him the credit on this one, is being proactive on trying to figure out every single road that all the providers are going down, including the BEADS funding.

[01:09:14] so in theory if you were to look at a map of handover county with all the roads all of them should be highlighted that fiber is on there meaning that if there's somebody who's missed or was an old dsl line that at least the fibers there because right now the problem is fiber wasn't distributed we're doing that now hence the project so we're we're at we have a lot of records that we're tracking on that the roads that we're going down passings that kind of stuff so and if anybody would ever like to see that information we're happy to provide it thank you for that any other questions i have a couple sure first of all thank you for your presentation Thank you also, Mr. Rogers, for all your good, diligent work on this project.

[01:09:51] And same to you, sir. Thank you. I agree with like 98% of what's in your presentation. We'll take an issue with one thing. Okay, fair enough. And I know you already know, but I think it's important to get it on the record. The word extension makes me very uncomfortable.

[01:10:13] So here's my question for you. Since Fraley Road and Fraley Court have been completed, which is the first private road, what private road is all points currently working on this week or last week we have asked them for that list we don't have the list i'm not i didn't ask about a list oh sorry as we had our call what private road are they currently working on in hanover county i don't have an answer to that okay the answer is none none okay the answer is zero and the presentation says and i know you

[01:10:51] mean well i'm not taking an issue with you at all so please don't take it that way sure not trying poke you in the eye or anything like that. Fair enough. When I when I read and hear that All Points has easement documents ready, no they don't. Oh no I didn't mean that to state it that way. We can help them access those easements if we if they need to. If they reach out to us we're happy to help. I don't know I don't think they have all that information. I know that sir. Yeah sorry. Okay but as residents in Hanover County who have signed up for the service and they live on private roads And they read the presentation over here, oh, the easement documents are ready.

[01:11:28] They think it's like right around the corner. And I don't think that's the case. I don't think the easement documents are ready. Last week I was told the easement documents for Farmington Farms, they're not ready.

[01:11:47] And these are people, many of them signed up months ago. And so I just hope that tomorrow on our next call that we figure out a way to get this process moving forward faster and that we don't just rely on the word extension.

[01:12:08] Because what that does is it puts our citizens off, our residents off. And many of them are All Points customers because once they pay the $99, they're committed to the project. So I think this needs to be figured out.

[01:12:24] I think we need a little more urgency. I don't want to push anybody into errors. And I know there's a lot of work on this project. I know a lot of work has been done over the last four years. But these private roads have been known about for about four years.

[01:12:41] And it's time to get these plans done and it's time to get this work rolling. And we were told, fourth Wednesday of October, once Fraley Road is done, we're going to ramp up our private roads. I have not seen that in the last two weeks. Just to let you know.

[01:12:58] I apologize if misspoke on the easements being available. That's not what I meant, because if they were, then they'd be moving forward, and that's just not the case. The private roads has been an issue, as you mentioned, for years. We've been harping on it. I would say we hit a whole other level this past February with them when we said, hey, private roads, and we have it on our weekly calls, private roads and railroad crossings.

[01:13:19] Those are going to be the biggest issues moving forward once you guys get all the public roads done, and unfortunately, here we are with only two roads done on the private side. It's actually one short road with a court. It's five residences by residents. That's it five and there's still 70 miles to go That's right. Yes, sir. Okay. Well, we're on the same page Thanks again for your presentation. Thank you for all of your diligent work. Appreciate it. Thank you very much, sir All right, the board's gonna take a five-minute recess next up will be economic development

[01:14:23] Yeah, I mean, it's, you know, and so if you went to private grades in your area, we've got to get on with something else done, too.

[01:14:41] We have a Todd. It's on their line. That's what Todd is up there saying. We don't think we're going to get on. He was almost going to set it up for the stage, but I don't know. We need to push the rest. It's not going to get on with us. Now imagine the ones that signed up in April.

[01:15:06] Yeah. Imagine them. And, Michael, I can use a tap. I can use a tap. You're doing terrible. I'm telling you, you've been driving. This board is for a four-year-old.

[01:15:22] We were elected, and we just got it. And you've got one, and you're sort of like, you're just on the edge, and it's like under six inches. And you're there, and if you don't realize that, I always have to sort of show you.

[01:15:40] All right, well, I've got some documents. I'll look back. Well, the paving of paper ropes, yes, but that specific project, I mean, we saw that in Jeff.

[01:16:05] And that's a lot of resolution. I just want to make sure you know you're getting it. It's done. It's coming up this. I guess this project is... I think it's a...

[01:16:20] All right. Well, I'll look at it. I'll stay on it. I do know when it's for us.

[01:16:39] I'm going to figure it out.

[01:16:42] The board is back in session.

[01:21:29] Next is a presentation, Economic Development Annual Report. fiscal year 2025. Mr. Brandon Turner, Director, Hanover County Economic Development, thank you for being with us, sir. Development update, I will start by saying normally you all have a printed version of the report. We are giving this report about three to four weeks earlier than normal, and so we actually haven't had time to print the report yet, but it will be going to the print shop

[01:22:04] this week, so you should be getting that within the next week or two. And I hope I sound okay, because it sounds really loud to me. So if you need me to dial it back, just let me know. So just a quick overview of what we're going to cover today. I'm going to do a little bit of information about the department, some snapshot of the local economy, goals, accomplishments over the past year, talk a little bit about your EDA, and then just a few updates that we've had in the past few months. You know the department, you know the team, many of you interact with us on a regular basis, each and every one of us. I am the tabletop supported by four very strong, competent,

[01:22:40] passionate individuals acting as the legs to this table. I'm very blessed to have such a staff to support me and work for me and for this community. You can't find anybody else who's more passionate than these four and I will put them up against any economic development office in this state. What are our department's responsibilities? You know most of them. We help attract business to the community. 80 to 90 percent of our time is spent helping our existing businesses grow, work through problems, address any issues or challenges. There's random as hey there's a tree down in the road can you help with that to you know we need to register

[01:23:17] our business with the SEC how do we do it so we do all kinds of things for our little businesses large businesses etc and we are we are very busy these days so economic development is not an island we don't do it by ourselves you can see in the box on the left we are supported by a number of regional state national partnerships and we work very closely with a lot of these groups In addition, myself, along with most of our office, is represented on some form of board committee or commission, it seems like.

[01:23:47] I think we're on about 20 to 25 right now that we take part in and meet with on a regular basis. And you can see some of the meetings, seminars, events, and workshops that we've attended over the past year in the bottom right. We've had a very busy year. We continue to work very closely with all our partners and collaborate.

[01:24:02] We want to make sure that we understand everything happening, not just in Hanover, but the region, the state, federal level, to get that information to our businesses to make sure they can make the decisions they need to be successful. Got to go into the numbers and the stats. So there's a lot of good news in here.

[01:24:18] There's some news that we're a little concerning, but not too bad. I'll get to that in a second. But first of all, the good thing, we're now about an $8.676 billion economy. The data for GDP will be out in December for the year 24. It's quite a lag time on that data. We grew by about 7.8% over the previous year. We're still ranked as the 19th largest economy in the Commonwealth of Virginia. And I do anticipate that we will see a good, when the data comes out in September, excuse me, December, I think we're going to see probably crossing the threshold of a $9 billion economy. You heard me say last year I wasn't happy that the wages in the county went down about

[01:24:55] $300 or $400. Well, they went up about $7,000 this past year. Now, of course, we're all dealing with that dirty little I word, inflation, that kind of eats into some of that. But at least were trajecting back in the right direction. And that shows some investment and bringing in of jobs that have higher wages, higher investment into the community. If you look at the unemployment chart that's on the top right, so the 23-24, that's the end of the calendar year, Hanover was at 2.5% unemployment. At the end of the fiscal year, which is in the grayish color box, we had gone up to

[01:25:31] about 3.4 percent and that reflects national trends. Unemployment rates are up across the country and ours are too. Full unemployment is actually considered about three and a half to four percent so we're still in a safe range. It's not scary at this point and in fact the latest number I saw was I think August or September and we dipped back down to 3.1 percent. We're also still continuing to run well below U.S. and state averages in unemployment. So snapshot of the local economy. This is the number that bothered me this year and something that we're going to work on and I think we're going to see this get addressed over the next couple of years is the number of jobs in

[01:26:07] the community did fall this past year by about 937 based on the data that we have. Over the past five years though, it is up over 65, almost 6,600. Now what caused those job numbers to go down? A couple of things. If you look at the chart on the bottom left, and it's a little busy, you can see what jobs look like in 2020, 23, and 24. And if you look, there's a couple categories with noticeable decreases, management of companies being number one. Now, what is driving that? The largest driver of that is Owens and Minor relocated into Henrico County. They were looking to downsize

[01:26:42] their office, and we did not, despite working closely with them, have an office space that could accommodate what their new needs were. So they moved a few miles away, but that took a number of management and professional positions out of the payrolls in Hanover County. So that was the biggest reason you saw that. Another area where employment numbers dropped some was construction.

[01:27:02] We don't have quite as many large industrial commercial buildings going up right now as we have in the past, and I think that's leading to some of that. I think that will change over time as well. The other thing is manufacturing has trailed off a little bit over the past year, and this is a nationwide trend as well. We're seeing manufacturing jobs slowly decrease some.

[01:27:20] I think some of that is due to the economy slowing somewhat, and some of it is automation. We've heard some of our companies saying that it's cheaper, more efficient, and then they struggled with workforce issues for years, so they are going towards a little more automation. I think you're going to see those numbers change in the positive in the future as well based on some of the activity we're seeing out there. Healthcare is leading the market. We've seen a lot of healthcare jobs get more on the way with Bon Secours and Virginia homecoming, and then logistics, of course, is robust and growing as well, and then professional technical continues to be pretty strong for the

[01:27:53] county. So your taxable assessed value by property type up to $24.2 billion. Commercial is still running. We want to get that number higher. We're at 18.9%, which we honestly held fairly steady over the past five years. But we'll be working on that. And again, I think very optimistic about that number changing in the future for the positive. Right now, about $4.56 billion in taxable assessed commercial property and that's up 36.8% over the past five years or 3.6% in the past year. You've seen a little bit of a slowdown. We haven't had quite as much commercial activity

[01:28:29] hitting the market over the past year. It did slow from some of the spec building and industrial commercial projects we had in the past. I want to talk a second about these vacancy rates that you see here. Lines all over the map it may be a little hard to see. Retail has ticked up to 3.1%.

[01:28:44] That's not necessarily a bad thing. At one point last year when I presented to you all, we were at 1.4%. We were turning people away. We couldn't find places to put restaurants or shops. This has put a little more inventory on the market, and some of this is due to new construction.

[01:29:00] So that's kind of give a little bit of breathing room. Office remains very low compared to much of the national trends. We're still at about 5%. It's very difficult to find office space. We actually have heard that from some of our businesses. Most of the office space in the county is what I would call residential support.

[01:29:16] So kind of like small office condos where our office is. And people looking for office space are having challenges at times. So that's still a little bit low. And thankfully, we don't have to deal with some of the challenges that bigger markets do. Flex space has dropped off down to about 4.7%.

[01:29:33] And I want to touch on that industrial vacancy rate, too. It's 8.9%. That's largely due to one single building being on the market, which is 550,000 square feet, which is across from the Bass Pro Shop. Once that one takes down, that number is going to drop significantly. There is interest in the property, so hopefully it won't be vacant much longer.

[01:29:50] I will also talk, as far as industrial and flex space, Richmond's market, which includes us, is the tightest industrial market in the United States as of the last quarter per costar. So our region continues to do very well as far as keeping tight inventory and being seen as a desirable area for all types of businesses. So some of the product development we see, we have definitely trailed off from some of the large-scale spec building we saw in the past, but we do have some activity going on. North Lake 2, this is near General RV. We've got a 200,000 square foot building going up. We're hearing that this building may or may not be vacant when it's built. We have

[01:30:30] a lot of interest in it. Lake Ridge Logistics Center, this is on Lake Ridge Parkway, and three businesses have already gone into one of those buildings, which is L&C Cabinetry, Riverstone, and Train. Train is locating across the street from where their current location is and expanding, so that's always a good story to hear. And Crescent Business Center is building four new buildings.

[01:30:49] The first building is, if it hasn't come online yet, it will be within the next few weeks. It is fully occupied. The second building is getting a lot of attention, and buildings eight and nine, I think it is, will be coming online over the next year or so, unless leasing activity picks up, and then it may be sooner. These buildings in particular cater to a smaller market. These can be subdivided down to about 10,000 square feet. They have about 20 to 24 foot building heights.

[01:31:13] There's huge demand for that in this market, and so they've had great success in this area. I don't know about you, but I don't have a day where I don't say the words data center anymore. I think we are all seeing plenty of those conversations and discussions. You know some of the projects that are public right now. There's continued strong interest in the area. I wanted to put this chart on this to show you though, because I still, full disclosure, I still question, is this real? Is this real? In 2024, 164 zettabytes of data were processed in the world. A zettabyte is 10 with 21 zeros behind it. Yes, I had to look that up because it's not a number I use very often.

[01:31:54] It took years to get to that number. It will double by the year 2028, which means the computing power needed to do that is going to have to grow significantly to accommodate that. And that's globally. What's driving it? We're still using our phones. We're still using Netflix and YouTube, but also automation. One thing that the report Avison Young pointed out is in a lot of factories now you have automation, of course. Well, the robots are talking to each other now using AI, which uses four to 10 times the computing power. I don't know if that's scary or not, But that's the reality we're dealing with.

[01:32:31] And so all of that is driving increased demand for processing. The Richmond market, of which we're a part of, is now the seventh largest co-location market in the United States. We have the largest year-to-date inventory increases, the highest absorption rates, and we have the fifth lowest vacancy rate at 0.5%.

[01:32:50] The large market that had the most vacancy is Salt Lake City at 1.2%. There is almost no space for data center leasing. That's why you're seeing the demand for these buildings to be built. The report, and I have it, if any of you would like to see, it's fascinating.

[01:33:05] It goes into great depth about some of these trends that we're seeing. One thing I do want to point out, too, that caught us all off guard is the supply chain. I just didn't even think about it when this industry took off here. We've seen significant influx of supply chain, not just for data center, but also energy into the markets.

[01:33:22] SEAS announced at Cardinal Commerce Center, gosh, I think a year and a half, two years ago, to help supply the energy markets. we've had three or four leases. A couple of them are kind of being quiet right now and have asked us to not say too much, but there's about three or four significant leases of 20,000 to 50,000 square feet or up that have been signed in the county in the past couple of years related to this industry. And so it's not just the data centers that are going to be bringing jobs and opportunities to our citizens. It's the supply chain. And a lot of the supply chain is made up of trade jobs. And these are jobs that our kids can go get a trade year two of college and go in

[01:33:58] have a good, strong living. So it's a challenging time. It's a lot of overwhelming information related to these, but it's very exciting to be on the edge of such an opportunity for so many people. Investment. You all remember the Virginia Home Project. They worked with the EDA to get bond financing, and they are working right now with planning, I think, to get the paperwork in place to start groundbreaking on their facility. This is going to be a wonderful project, and they've been wonderful to work with. Kenworth Sales opened this past year. We had 132 new business expansions and announcements this year. That's pretty good. L&C Cabinetry, VICOM,

[01:34:37] A. Dewey Pyle, we've welcomed them into this community near and dear to my heart. The food service, we've had Ash and Olive, Classic Coffee and Tea, Marco Pizza, a number of restaurants that have opened up. I mentioned some of the commercial space that's kind of hitting the market and helping give us a little breathing room to welcome more business into the county. Rutland Place is now full. Lucky Run Road Shop is open. Starbucks, and thank the Lord, Wong's Tacos is coming soon.

[01:35:02] I think that is one of the most exciting things to come to the Chickahominy District since Chick-fil-A, based on the calls and emails we get. So very excited for that, but that fills that development, or at least the buildings up right now. Stoney Run Commons is well under construction. Ms. Dibble, you know that, and we got about 11 businesses coming into that area. You know, there's tremendous interest in that corridor stemming out of some of the things happening to our neighbor in the south. And there's a lot of opportunity here. We're very excited for this development. And then the shops at Rutland Grove have opened. They actually won an award this year as building of the year. And Hanover Mercantile and Game Day Grill are open. Existing expansions.

[01:35:41] We always love when a company expands here in Hanover County. Lutron's wrapping up an expansion now in 145,000 square foot manufacturing facility for shades. And interesting enough too, if you look between the two buildings, there's a beautiful pavilion, walking trails. They've spent a significant amount of money on quality of life amenities for their workforce and we're very excited to be working with them great company nefco took down another 163 000 square feet in north lake this year train has expanded fesco uh abb has announced a new transit uh train set production line this is one of the most fascinating manufacturers i've been in in a long time the things they're doing in this facility is staggering to me and then at least station we

[01:36:21] YMCA, we worked a little bit with them. Not what I'd call a true economic development project, but it's one of those quality of life things that makes a community desirable for not just new business, but businesses to stay, residents, etc. And I know there's been a lot of excitement about the activity going on over there. So existing business support in 24, we had another business appreciation event. It was the last one we had where we did the networking and the awards at the same time. We recognized Dorn's Body and Paint and E. Granville Wade Jr. as our legacy businesses. Recognize Blazer Heating and Airs, the Marcus Weiss Award winner. And it was another great event. Talk a little bit more about some things since then. We conducted 149 business

[01:37:00] visits and assisted about 146 Hanover businesses. So that's about close to 300 interactions we had directly with businesses over the past year to help address issues, check in on them, etc. We partnered with PlanRVA and the Emergency Management Alliance of Central Virginia to provide a workshop on every business needs a plan. This is a disaster mitigation workshop. We had good attendance and it was very well received. I have to give a lot of kudos to our fire EMS who knocked it out of the park with their part of this project. This stemmed out of the water situation earlier this year and we had some businesses say well you know I was caught off guard. I don't

[01:37:36] have any plans. I don't know what to do if anything happens and we put this on and we may be doing some more of these types of workshops in the future. It's always good to prepare. We continue to work with SCORE and a number of our other opportunities on business mentorings, workshops, and programs. So you've heard me talk about this program a number of times, and I'm going to keep talking about it for a while because I'm just so proud of how it turned out. The Heart of Hanover Business Awards that we had earlier this year, and full discretion, I was really worried if we would have enough businesses nominated or even have a top three. I had no idea we would get 10,000 votes

[01:38:11] to nominate 600 plus individual businesses, and I had no idea we would get 22,000 votes for the top 10. I also was not prepared for how into this the businesses got. The creativity that we saw and people trying to drum up votes and support, it was absolutely inspiring. So we're actually already working now on next year's event. Stay tuned. We also moved the Mark Weiss Award, Building Design Award, and Legacy Awards back to this event as well to make it more of a sit-down formal event. So keep your eyes open for May, June because we'll be doing that again.

[01:38:44] Marketing and outreach. We continue to work with our partners to market Hanover County to business opportunities across the country and in the world. I was lucky enough to go to Portugal and Spain earlier this year with a delegation from the Department of Commerce as well as Virginia Economic Development Partnership to meet with about 30 different businesses. The food was good, but when you're up from 7 30 in the morning till 11 30 12 o'clock at night at business and meetings, it's strenuous, but it's such a wonderful opportunity. And we've had some follow-up from some companies since then. Armand Smith, our deputy director, went to Europe as well this year with the region on a marketing mission and met with over a dozen businesses looking at the United States. In

[01:39:23] addition, one thing we do, if we're in a market and we have a company that has a headquarters there, we like to pay them a visit. So we were able to go to Anton Parr's corporate headquarters in Austria, where he was able to meet with a number of their leaders and get a tour of their facility. They actually have a brewery and restaurant inside their headquarters. I'm trying to get them to incorporate that on lake ridge parkway but we'll see what happens but i couldn't ask for a better group of people to give us a tour and meet with we continue to put newsletters out on social media um some of the other outreach we did we helped uh worked with parks and rec to design an ornament this past year we got another one coming out this year just a little something

[01:39:59] creative and fun to do um we won another award uh from vaco for the hiring hand handover app We put together a promotional video for Port Vare Filtration in Ashland. If you haven't seen it, please look. I think you will be blown away at what is made in Hanover County. We've got two more videos that are coming out this fiscal year.

[01:40:16] This is just a way to showcase what is made here. And the companies really get into it. Port Vare was, I couldn't speak enough about them and how excited they were to work with us on this. Ag and tourism, of course, we support that in our office.

[01:40:31] We had record visitor spending in Hanover this past year. record hotel tax revenue over almost 1.7 million dollars. Everybody's talked about the fall line trail. I'll talk about it too. It has a huge opportunity for our community from a tourism standpoint and a quality of life. It's outstanding. Work with Richmond Region Tourism on IM Tourism Workshops. Continue to support the 250th committee. Work with King's Dominion some this past year.

[01:40:56] They're celebrating 50 years of course. We did a promotional video for them that came out gosh, about a month ago, I think it was. And of course, I cannot talk about tourism without saying how delighted we are to welcome Rachel Smith on as the tourism director. We've already had probably five or six meetings with her, including today at lunch. And she's got more ideas in her head in a week or two than I could put down in a hundred years. So we will continue to support her and work with her because there is very much a connection between tourism and economic development. And so we're very excited about some opportunities and things that are coming up. Her and mine, when we get together, our mines race 100 miles an hour. Your EDA,

[01:41:36] I just want you to say you need to be proud of these seven individuals. I love working with them. They are passionate. They are very driven towards targeted strategic investment into this community and making the community better today and tomorrow. And they've had a busy year. They needed to get their governance up to speed. And so they did a lot of adoption of policies this year and scrubbing them out. They provided support for the first small area plan. They're going to be working with us on the second one, which is the US-1 area coming up soon. Industrial revenue bonds for the Virginia Home Project, of course. And one thing that they have worked on and is underway

[01:42:13] right now, we should get back soon, is the hotel and meeting space study. This stems directly out of what we are hearing from the business community, from residents, from you, from me, of need for meeting space. Not for five people, not for 10,000, but something smaller that's more scalable for Hanover. So we're undertaking a study right now to see if we can support something like that, where we'd look, etc. They participated in a number of project meetings for high-level projects looking at the county. They had a strategic planning session this year, and they've supported several events that we have conducted. So that kind of wraps up the fiscal year, what's happened

[01:42:52] since July the 1st. Just a couple weeks ago, we conducted a present and future economic outlook with Renee Halton. I know a couple of you were there for that. The event lasted about an hour, I think she spoke about an hour, hour and 15 minutes. I think she could have spoke three hours and we still would have kept most of those people there. It was very informative. She has an amazing ability to take complicated numbers and make you understand how they apply to you. And we have gotten tremendous positive feedback. We're very lucky. Renee is a friend of us, of the community of the region, and is in high demand. So we were very thankful she took time to come and meet with

[01:43:27] our businesses. And we had about 50 to 60 people there, I think. Biz Bites and Beverages, this was a business appreciation event we held in September. We had good reviews back from that as well. Had record attendance or record registrations for this. It was a great night. We were lucky that the weather held because I think a few days before it was raining and a few days after it was 95 degrees. So we timed that right. We had a couple new businesses that have announced in the county, Agility, CB Flooring, Accelivation, getting a lot of excitement about the new Kroger out on 360. I had somebody singing the praises of that the other day. And then we continue to work on our website. We had to put it on pause a little bit this fall due to a lot of things going on,

[01:44:07] but we're about to pick that back up. Design is finished. Content migration is underway. A lot of the content will be the same. A lot of the navigation will be the same, but it's going to get a fresher look, fewer words, more pictures, more conducive for what a website would look like today versus one that is from 2012 or 2013, which our original one was.

[01:44:25] Ashland Emergency Center, this post just went out yesterday, and I wanted to talk on that for just a second. There's a lot of excitement about this as well. I had lunch with them Monday, I think it was, And we're hoping by the end of the year, this will be open. And so the community is very excited about this. This is one of those things you don't think about until it happens.

[01:44:42] But we've had a number of businesses reach out to us and say, you know, knowing that there's an emergency place here in case there is an accident or something, that is just a godsend. And so we're very thrilled about this. And then some of the staff in the office attended Richmond Region Tourism's Black RVA event a couple of weeks ago.

[01:44:59] And RVA Around the Table in Ashland won Rising Community Impact Award. So we've had a very busy couple of months since the end of the fiscal year. You'll get more updates on that in about a year. So that really is all I have for you all today. I do want to wrap up by saying a little story real quick.

[01:45:16] We had a prospect in a couple months ago, and, well, gosh, it's probably earlier this year now. But they asked if we could get a few people together to talk about a piece of property and zoning and utilities, et cetera. When we set the meeting up, the individual walked in the room and his jaw dropped because we had about 10 to 15 people in the room.

[01:45:35] we had the board member, the planning commission member, the this, the that. And he said, in many communities I work in, I can't even get an economic developer in a room. How did you do this? And we all kind of looked at each other and said, well, this is what we do. And that is in no small part to the direction that we get of to collaborate and work hard together. And we do. I can never think enough that my counterparts here in this county, department heads, their qualified staff for all the support they give us, the direction, support that you all give us. We couldn't do this if you all did not support us so um from the bottom of my heart i think everybody who helps us

[01:46:10] my report looks good because everybody helps make it look good and we cannot do this alone so i do appreciate everything any questions comments feedback please let me know thank you sir any questions or comments from board members supervisor floyd thank you um brandon i just wanted to say thank you for your presentation it was wonderful lots of exciting things in your presentation um the heart of Hanover was phenomenal that the businesses really got into it and it was so great to see everyone getting involved in it so I can't wait for that to come up again

[01:46:49] and I'm also looking forward to seeing what the orderment looks like. Thank you again for all you do. Thank you for your comments Supervisor Pritchard. I might as well just say what she said it did not hurt my feelings at all that so many Ashland businesses won awards at that event but it really was I think the most exciting economic development event we've had in my my time on the board and the most interaction I've seen with existing businesses outside of some a chamber event or something like that and I just thought it was very impressive and very well done so

[01:47:27] thank you and of course I have to I have to give shout out to Ann Glavey because it couldn't have been done without her but I got a shout out to the Richmond Times Dispatch they helped guide us They helped us with the voting everything. So a lot of work went into that. But at the end of the day It it exceeded our expectations a hundredfold So and the businesses give a lot of good feedback afterwards of how we can improve it And Ann has already integrated that and so it's gonna be bigger and better this year Thank you for your comments supervisor Dibble. Thank you, mr. Chair

[01:48:01] Just want to let you know that while you were out of town last week your team was still functioning on all cylinders and we Certainly appreciated Armand Smith and Anne Glavey making the trek out to Montpelier to meet with the Ruritans who were having their business appreciation night.

[01:48:20] We had a condensed version of this amazing presentation. And I noticed that Armand and Anne, several times they said, we're small but we're mighty. And, you know, we see, we know you're small.

[01:48:37] We know that some of our neighbors are much larger than us. Their economic development committees and teams are much bigger. But you guys are really just getting it done. It's a great partnership. So I don't know if they told you or not, but we decided to rebrand your small, mighty team of five because we all know about the Jackson Five, and now you are the Hanover Five.

[01:49:03] You're getting it done. So we appreciate all that you do. We appreciate your enthusiasm, and it was just a great night. Mr. Stoneman and I were, of course, there with our people that night, and I appreciate everything that you're doing, nothing but positive.

[01:49:19] Even in Renee's presentation the other day at the Times-Dispatch building, she said that the overall perception in Hanover is that we are well-positioned and we're looking positively moving forward. So it says a lot about our community, but it also says a lot about your group, for keeping engaged with our business partners, keeping everybody energized and working hard to move forward together.

[01:49:47] So thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Any other comments or questions? I do have a question for you, sir. Thank you very much for your presentation. I believe I heard you say something about meeting space. And one of the things I figured out recently this year is I don't think we have a great location in Hanover for a meeting space that we would need during the day that's not in a school because you can't use those during the day.

[01:50:18] Some groups don't want to go to a church. The need is bigger than what this facility will hold. So can you comment on that again, what you meant by the meeting space? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you hit the nail on the head. We've got some great meeting space here, but there are challenges. Parking is too far away.

[01:50:34] um you you can't take alcohol into the school buildings um you you don't need that during the day but you know nighttime events um it's not conditioned or something like that and so we have heard a huge demand from the community that you know there's nowhere to have two to three hundred people maybe maybe it can be broken down to 50 people something like that meeting space especially attached with a hotel we are the strongest hotel market in metro richmond right now and metro richmond's the strongest market in virginia and i don't see that going down anytime soon with initiatives all over this region so is there a way to integrate the two of those so that we can

[01:51:11] take advantage of things that are happening in the community and then have spinoffs corporate retreats whatever so we're thinking um i'm not saying this is what's going to happen but you know think about that hilton short pump model or the um oh gosh blank every time a nice hotel attached with a meeting space. It's kind of what we are looking into and then sending it out to the development community once the study is complete and saying, hey, this is what we've got. We know some strategic areas that this would work. Can we make the marriage happen? So that's kind of what we're thinking. You know, we have to right now, we've had a lot of businesses and community events say that we have to go to other localities and we like to do it here in Hanover. So that's

[01:51:50] what we're working on. And I do agree. I think that there is a need and a demand for it. And I think there's much maybe Henrico yes but not in New Kent or King William or some of those other rural counties right and I think it's an opportunity to rent out the space in some cases so that could could be very beneficial also would like to give an extra shout out and appreciation for our EDA please give my regards to mr. Hayden I know he loves serving on the EDA I think he's doing a great job and all the other members who serve on that from Elizabeth to

[01:52:28] cory to ronald to wayne sam and uh jack zemp we appreciate all of their good work they are volunteers yes and uh they're thoughtful they're diligent and they're working hard so thank you very much i'll share that with them thank you thank you okay next on the agenda agenda item 9 2035 2035 parks and rec master plan update aaron reid miller director hanover county parks and

[01:53:02] rec and also brett charting deputy county administrator thank you for being with us yep thank you uh good afternoon board um so as we continue to work through our update to the parks and rec master plan we wanted to come out and just share status where we are some of the feedback we've gotten some of the proposed draft strategies and next steps with both the board and the public so first just a quick overview of master plan uh it's comprehensive in nature so it starts with a high level look at goals strategies things we want to achieve but then as we get deeper into existing facilities and things like that there are some very specific detailed strategies as well

[01:53:41] this plan does not exist in a vacuum so builds upon envision hanover there was through the significant public outreach of that comp plan effort many many comments from the public about parks specifically that helped inform this and build upon that takes stock of our existing assets, staffing levels, programs, and then also projects future demands. So not just demand in terms of what you'll have with just a generally growing population, but also changes in the market and what people want to see from a parks and rec department.

[01:54:13] So the plan will propose strategies to maintain what we have, expand what we have, and also improve our assets and programs. And then key to that is implementation. So there's lots of beautiful, well-intentioned master plans across the state, but then if they just sit on a shelf, they're no good. I know with the efforts and investments that you all have made in recent years in Parks and Rec, there's no worry about that, but implementation of the plan is key.

[01:54:39] So one, you know, why are we going through an update? One, the prior plan that we have was adopted in 2010, and as you know, a whole lot has changed since that time. There's been population growth, but not just the numbers, but also in terms of demographics. So the county is aging, becoming older. There are now more single and multi-generational households. Roughly 11% of Hanover residents deal with either a disability or some form of impairment, and the county has become more racially and ethnically diverse. So that all means different needs and desires for programming and facilities. And then since 2010, we brought new facilities and programs online. So

[01:55:15] the Montpelier Center was not active in 2010. While I didn't go back and read the meeting minutes, I would be willing to bet when that plan was adopted in 2010, the words pickleball and cricket were never used, where now those are both things we're hearing from the public, very central. So what we heard so far, so again, kind of building on that Envision Hanover and the public outreach, so far we've had seven in-person public input sessions to get comments from the public on what they would like to see in their Parks and Rec plan.

[01:55:43] Launched an online survey that netted more than 600 comments received. So that's kind of what we've done so far to get some feedback. but we do have more public outreach efforts planned before we bring this plan across the finish line. And Mr. Reed Miller will talk a little bit about that. Some of the themes we've heard so far is one, Hanover residents value parks and recreation. So over 87% of residents responded strongly that they believe parks and rec add value to their lives, and parks and rec should be an important consideration in land use decisions. Proximity is important, so location is

[01:56:18] key. 60% of respondents said they'd be willing to drive 10 to 19 minutes for parks and recs activities. When you have a county as large as Hanover, you could drive from one corner to the other for, you know, a solid hour and still be in the county. So it's really important that we strategically locate new facilities and programs so we have equitable access across all parts of the county. And then while people do want to see some new programs and facilities, one thing we heard was, you know, when we bring a new facility online, we can't take our eye off of the products and facilities that we currently have.

[01:56:50] So we need to be reinvesting and upgrading and improving existing facilities and making sure those are just as good as new ones as well. So those are kind of the high-level themes and things we heard, and then our Parks and Rec Director, Mr. Reed Miller, will kind of talk through more of the specifics that we heard and then what kind of strategies are we proposing in this plan to bring those to life, what are the next steps, and what are some of the timelines and public outreach opportunities as we continue to work on this and refine it.

[01:57:18] Thank you, Mr. Chardine. Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, members of the board. For the record, Aaron Reed-Miller, Director of Parks and Recreation. Just continuing what Mr. Chardon was speaking to, recreation centers were one of our top desired facilities. You can see the percentages there at 84%.

[01:57:34] Walking and biking trails, we heard that extensively in the cop plan feedback as well as the Parks and Rec Master plan feedback. Aquatic facilities, especially splash pads, now I've said it on the record, they're very popular, they're talked about very, very frequently.

[01:57:50] And picnic areas and playgrounds come as no surprise. In terms of new activities, we saw lots of interest in archery. That was a little bit of a new trend, not something we've focused on a lot in recent years. But there is an evolving trend.

[01:58:07] There are already some existing programs in our schools here in Hanover County. And it seems that that's spreading out into families and even older adults as well. Walking and hiking, again, back to that trails theme, very important. A lot of folks spoke to that, and that is something we're blessed with currently, to have lots of trails and beautiful trails.

[01:58:26] But it seems there's a clear interest in more and diversified types of trails. So not just beautiful nature trails like you see in the image, but paved walking trails as well. Other write-in responses or things that weren't captured in a structured question, but there was clear interest in, again, aquatics, splash pads, athletic fields.

[01:58:50] As you all know, we deal in a lot of athletics in Parks and Recreation. We have 32 what we consider competition-level fields that we manage and maintain. We schedule about 25,000 hours of field time each season. So athletics are huge.

[01:59:05] We heard a lot of feedback there. Pickleball is not going anywhere anytime soon. Pickleball is still a trend on a skyrocketing upward path. A little bit of a surprise, disc golf. That's a sport that is popular in the Richmond region. There are courses in the other larger metropolitan areas across our region.

[01:59:24] We are the only large county that doesn't have a disc golf course, and there is obviously growing interest in having one here in the county. Access to water, this is something we hear about frequently from our park visitors. They want access to our rivers. They want access to ponds and lakes for fishing, kayaking, other activities of that nature.

[01:59:43] That's something that's come up time and time again. Cricket is an emerging sport, as Mr. Shardhine mentioned. There is a very strong group of advocates here in the county. They are absolutely looking for facilities. So as alluded to back in 2010, cricket was not on the radar. It's not something we considered.

[02:00:00] And now with the interest shown, it is something we have to take into consideration as we plan future facilities. And then community events. They've always been popular, but it is very clearly something our community wants to see us continue to do. You saw an image of the Tomato Festival there earlier.

[02:00:15] We have our, shameless plug, two big Halloween events. Friday and Saturday come out and join a spooky fun fest but but there's interest in seeing that grow concert series other holiday themed events and then many of you attend winter on the green that's been very successful over the last two years so we'd love to see in our community we'd love to see more things like that the core pillars of the plan and this is just the framework that our department will operate off of over the next 10 years access and expansion of of our existing facilities and park system, modernization of our facilities and growth within that existing footprint.

[02:00:55] Programming that really centers on a community focus and filling gaps in service where our private sector isn't meeting the need or just simply aren't resources. We want our programming to fill those gaps and be very intentional and not repetitive of anything else that's already existing in the community.

[02:01:13] Historic and environmental stewardship. Again, in 2010, there was no mention of a Hanover County Museum of History and Culture, or at least not within the purview of parks and recreation. That's a new element and something we're working on, as well as conservation areas, to make sure we're managing our natural resources as well as we possibly can.

[02:01:32] And then the name of the game in any parks and recreation agency is going to be partnerships. That's at the local level extensively, but also regionally, statewide, and even in some respects nationally, where we can gain resources, knowledge, input, bring resources into the county through those very strategic partnerships. Some of the proposed strategies that you'll see in the plan are the development of new facilities, including three to six neighborhood parks, and those are within the range of one to 20 acres, one to three community parks within that range of 20 to 99 acres,

[02:02:08] and larger eastern regional park of 100 or more acres, so that would be similar to like a pole green or a poor farm. And then I know you all have heard discussions previously about an eastern recreation center that would be modeled after what we have in the west with our new facility at the Montpelier Recreation Center and Library. Other proposed strategies, again touching on our existing facilities, making sure we're not forgetting about those and bringing those to as high a level of quality as we possibly can, making sure our staffing is commensurate with any growth we have in the department, working very closely with Mrs. Smith and the new sports tourism department

[02:02:45] to attract events and visitors to our county, those strategic partnerships, preserving and being good stewards of our culture and history, and then again stewardship of our natural environment through sustainable strategies. Moving forward, October 10th, which is this Friday, we will share this draft version of the plan publicly.

[02:03:09] It will be available online, and if anyone requests a physical copy, we'd be happy to make that available. That will go out with an open comment form with it so folks can review it at their leisure, provide any comments or feedback online if they so choose to do that.

[02:03:27] Then the week of beginning October 21st will begin a series of three public input meetings, one located in the east, one west, and one central. Those are in-person meetings for folks to come out, hear a brief presentation of the plan, kind of touch on the high points similar to what we're doing here today, and then additional opportunities for public input and feedback.

[02:03:51] Of course, when those conclude, we'll review that public feedback. We'll find ways to incorporate that as needed into the draft plan, prepare an updated version of the draft plan, take it to our Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission on November 10th, Collect any feedback and commentary from our Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission members in preparation to take it before the Planning Commission for a public hearing on November 20th.

[02:04:17] Collect any feedback or commentary there and then bring a final draft before you all the Board of Supervisors at your December 10th meeting for a public hearing and consideration for adoption. Again, those are the the meetings and meeting locations.

[02:04:34] The times will be 6 to 7.30 p.m. at each site, and just for the record, I'll read those out. October 21st will be at Polgreen Elementary School. October 23rd, Montpelier Recreation Center and Library. October 30th at the Martha Ann Fields Building, which is here at the Government Complex.

[02:04:50] The QR code will take you to our master plan website as well as that web address. And again, that draft plan and comment form will be available this Friday, the 10th. First thing, available for anyone to review and provide feedback. I believe that at this time it concludes our our presentation we'd be happy to answer questions and before we do just I'd like to say thank you for your support and all that we do we've been able to accomplish some amazing projects recently Our citizens are very responsive to the things they're seeing happening in parks right now Couldn't do it without you all couldn't do it without our Advisory Commission members

[02:05:29] So just want to extend our heartfelt appreciation for your continued support. Thanks so much. Thank you very much Any questions or comments from board members? I do have a few questions, sir. Thank you very much for your presentation Gentlemen spooky fun test at pole green. Is that at 4:30? That's correct, sir Yes, sir, this Friday the 10th at pole green 4:30 to 8:00 p.m. And then Saturday we move the exact same event to poor farm park 4:30 to 8:00 p.m. I think you're supposed to wear a costume

[02:06:07] Well, I plan to attend with my eight-year-old. He's probably been to at least four, maybe five of these. Yes. So it's an annual tradition for us. It's always a good time out there. Absolutely. At Pol Green Park, at Spooky Fun Fest. Certainly, it's very family-friendly and child-friendly. The word spooky is just a fun word.

[02:06:28] So it's like our anyone watching to understand what that is about. I also would like to compliment you and your team and your staff on your willingness to host the three Community events and I want to point out that y'all did that very strategically in three different areas of the county And obviously we can't do 20 of these but three we have one in the east one somewhere in the middle and one in the west And if someone in the west can't make the one in the west they can go to the one in the middle and the same way for the one in the east

[02:07:02] And I think this important this feedback is important and that will tie into my next comment. This is a Draft I'm gonna hold it up here of the parks and recs. This is the draft of the master plan. It's 80 pages There was a lot of work time energy and effort put into this While everything else that's going on in parks and rec is being done the new playgrounds the paving the tomato festival

[02:07:37] Planning spooky fun fest and the other events just a tremendous amount of work. This is very well written It's very professional and it's very well done. Mr. Stoneman and I both serve on parks and recs and I know We both appreciate all of the hard work that you and your team have put into this document All the community events that you've had in the past all the community feedback that you've been willing to Receive and willing to listen to but not just listen to it process it You know as you stated earlier the word cricket wasn't around here in 2010 the last master plan for parks and recs

[02:08:16] Neither was the word splash pad. So where did those words come from came from the community? from y'all listening Processing the information and actually getting it into the drafts So these are very much appreciative and I'd also like to take the opportunity to show appreciation for our parks and recs Advisory Committee, you know again, these are volunteers to come out. I think it's six Mondays a year there They start at six. Sometimes they're there at the meeting till 8:00 8:30 at night Some of them travel really long distances in the dark and so we appreciate their willingness to serve on the parks and recs Advisory Committee and

[02:08:56] On behalf of mr. Stoneman and myself, please Be sure to mention that at our next parks and recs meeting, which I believe is November the Ten and so that's been moved up. Why was it moved up from our regular fourth Monday? So we have more time to work on this the draft the community meetings to get everything Implemented worked out and proved and processed and hopefully get this Approved by the end of the year and then come January we'll start getting the work on getting it all implemented Over the year. So thank you very much for your presentation and all the good work you do. Thank you. Thank you very much

[02:09:37] okay moving forward agenda item 10 presentation authorizing the issuance of general obligation bonds to the Virginia public school authority in a principal amount not to exceed 61 million miss Lauren null director financial and management services thank you for being with us thank you mr.

[02:10:04] chairman good afternoon members of the board my name is Lauren null I am the Director of Finance. I'm here today to summarize the for the board the proposed resolution authorizing issuance of general obligation bonds to the Virginia Public School Authority in a principal amount not to exceed 61 million dollars. The VPSA is a state program that provides market access and low-cost financing opportunities to primary and secondary education capital improvement projects. This is the second issuance relating to the VPSA resolution in 2024 authorizing

[02:10:43] Hanover County to issue bonds in a principal amount not to exceed $150 million. The county held a public hearing in 2024 and issued $73.2 million in the fall of 2024. The proposed resolution today authorizes issuing a principal amount not to exceed $61 million. The current year's funding will finance projects that were identified and approved in the school capital improvement funds FY25 and 26 budgets. The state code requires localities to issue school-related debt and the

[02:11:20] school board adopted a resolution at their March 12, 2024 meeting requesting the board to issue these bonds. The bonds are scheduled to sell in November with a debt maturity of 20 years, level principal payments, and a true interest cost not to exceed 5%.

[02:11:37] Projects totaling $59 million include completion of two replacement elementary schools, design and construction of one replacement elementary school, HVAC replacement, kitchen improvements, roof repairs, safety and security enhancements, school grounds improvements, and other related building enhancements.

[02:12:00] With that, I'd be happy to answer any questions that you have. Any questions or comments from board members? Seeing none, thank you, ma'am. Supervisor Dibble. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This particular item was fully vetted by the Finance Committee and comes to the board with full recommendation of the Finance Committee.

[02:12:25] And with that in mind, I'd like to make a motion to approve the resolution authorizing the issuance and sale of the bonds to the VPSA and authorize the county administrator to take all actions necessary to proceed with the issuance of the bonds and administration of all matters related to the bonds, including execution of all necessary documents.

[02:12:49] Second. There is a motion. There is a second. This resolution does require a roll call vote. Madam Clerk, please poll the board.

[02:13:00] Ms. Pritchard? Aye. Ms. Floyd? Aye. Mr. Davis? Aye. Ms. Dibble? Aye. Mr. Stoneman? Aye. Mr. Hudson? Aye. Chairman Herzberg? Aye. Resolution approved unanimously. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next on the agenda, presentation, Legislative Workshop 2026, Session of the Virginia General Assembly. Mr. Dennis Walter, County Attorney, thank you for being with us.

[02:13:34] Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, members of the board. We are here for our annual legislative workshop. This is for the 2026 General Assembly. It seems like they just finished the 2025 one a short time ago, but here we are. Just as you can see on the screen, there's a brief calendar.

[02:13:52] The legislative committee did meet on September 10th and discussed last year's agenda and items that might be added, removed, or modified. After that meeting, they did approve a recommendation, which I will be going through in just a minute.

[02:14:07] Did want to talk about sort of where we are in the overall timeline. As you can see today, we are here to talk about that committee recommendation. Once the board has taken final action on that, we get prepared for the upcoming session of the General Assembly.

[02:14:23] This year, because of the election of the House of Delegates, pre-filing has not yet started. We'll only begin in mid-November. The rest of the calendar is partially tentative. You can see that pre-filing will finish on December 1 for the session that begins on January 14.

[02:14:42] This is the long session. So that normally is 60 days. In legislative speak, that winds up being a little bit longer than that. So I'm not sure yet when crossover and various other things are. But once the election is finished, they will start working on getting those things resolved.

[02:15:01] The board's legislative agenda has historically been broken into three portions. One is action items. Then there's one on positions on legislation anticipated to be considered by the General Assembly. And then the final is a list of general policy statements that's helpful, both for staff but also for our delegation in case some new matters come up, they have a sense of where we are.

[02:15:23] So the first part is the legislative action items. These items are actually, from the committee's recommendation, the same as last year. Some of these were heard by the General Assembly and got partially through the process. Some didn't get particularly far at all. But they still remain issues that the legislative committee felt were important.

[02:15:42] We work from the bottom of the screen, because the top one is really the most important. And I want to spend an extra minute on that. The one at the bottom bullet point is the one that was recommended by our clerk of court, Mr. Hargrove, dealing with excess fees that are collected by the clerk's office.

[02:15:59] As I mentioned last year, the current split for that, these are for excess fees, supposed to go 2/3 to the locality, 1/3 to the Commonwealth. That's what the code says. But through budget language, the General Assembly has flipped that, and 2/3 goes to the Commonwealth, and 1/3 comes back here.

[02:16:17] The clerk's offices throughout the state have had this on their legislative agenda for a few years to try to get that flipped back. To be honest, they don't really have a whole lot of direct benefit from that, other than the fact that it helps keep some of the funds more locally, which indirectly helps them in terms of them not having to go hat in hand all the time down to the General Assembly.

[02:16:44] The one in the middle is one that was recommended last year, and that is for the addition of some language that would provide that you and other local governing bodies have the unqualified power of removing appointed members of boards, committees, and commissions that you appoint those who receive compensation for their service.

[02:17:01] Right now, there's a bit of a hodgepodge for that. And there isn't clear authority other than, in essence, somebody committing a crime or doing something incredibly wrong for you to be able to sort of recall those. And the legislative committee, after the board's position last year, feels that that still is something worth pursuing.

[02:17:19] The item that's at the top is a request that language be added to the code And with respect to clarifying that those who deal in public safety, who operate in emergency equipment or deal with patient care, the way that this is phrased talks about that they comply with federal regulations regarding the use of controlled substances.

[02:17:40] In essence, this is largely the medical marijuana issue. And right now, we have a situation where under state law, the way that it is phrased, there There are protections for employees who are prescribed cannabis oil, and there are a limited number of CARVAS, but it does not address all public safety employees.

[02:18:02] It deals with law enforcement officers, but it does not deal with primarily fire EMS. As you all know, it's been reported that there's an ongoing litigation for someone who is involved in fire EMS who would like to be able to use cannabis products.

[02:18:21] And while I'm not going to comment on that litigation, it just points out the fact that this is an issue that we really need some greater insight from the General Assembly. It's one of those where they made some changes and did not, I think, fully contemplate the effect of it.

[02:18:38] Here in Hanover, we do not distinguish for our fire EMS employees who drives the truck, who drives the ambulance, who provides patient care, or who holds a hose, or who is the one who goes in to try to rescue either a resident, a visitor of a house that's on fire, or their fellow firefighters.

[02:18:59] And so as such, they are Jacks and Janes of all trade. They need to be able to do all of those. And for folks who are administering care or driving vehicles and who have cannabis products, right now we do not have the ability to determine whether or not they are under the influence even if they are using it.

[02:19:19] I'm not a medical professional, but for those who use marijuana and THC products, the evidence of impairment is different than an alcohol. For some people, it is just a matter of their reaction time is slowed, 1%, 5%, 10%.

[02:19:36] That doesn't sound like a big issue unless you realize that you're driving a 30-ton vehicle with lights and sirens going through an intersection, or you have to respond to a patient who needs to have a care administered because they're having a seizure or they're having a heart attack.

[02:19:54] And so we continue to have this on there. The committee discussed this long and hard and wants to continue to have that. We need to have standards, and so that way we can adjust. If it means we need to reclassify employees, we can do that. But right now we have a situation where everyone who works for FHIR, EMS, in essence could be protected by this.

[02:20:15] and i don't want to speak on behalf of the committee i know mr davis as chair i know he has some some strong opinions on this but there's a question as to whether or not the public can feel safe under our current environment and we need some clarification from the general assembly mr chairman mr davis thank you thank you mr walter just a number of questions come up um i think Oftentimes, marijuana use now is being brought in under the auspices of all marijuana uses is for medical use solely, and that's certainly not the case.

[02:20:52] However, there are times where somebody uses marijuana and they have consulted with their physician. Their physician has prescribed either CBD oils, marijuana, THC through other forms, as someone would prescribe Tylenol 3 or Percocet or any other medication.

[02:21:11] that was prescribed i think the issue that we're faced with here in hanover is one because of this legislation i'm not sure this legislation was actually designed to address the medical marijuana i think it was more along the lines to expand the decriminalization of marijuana at the state level and just kind of got caught up and some folks were able to oftentimes maybe it doesn't happen here in virginia maybe some other places oftentimes Sometimes legislators will pass bills and then immediately run to a microphone and tell people exactly what they did.

[02:21:43] Certainly that doesn't happen as much in Virginia as it does in other places. That said, the problem that came down with that, some of these feel-good legislation took place in Colorado. Many of those legislators a number of years ago, over a decade, regretted some of the things that they laid out.

[02:22:02] That's not the issue that we're dealing with here, is the legalization or the decriminalization of marijuana. One of the issues that we have here, and I do believe the citizens probably need to know, is that a deputy can take prescription drugs if they need that for medical care, and often do.

[02:22:23] They have a back injury, a neck injury, a number of different things. However, just because it's prescribed doesn't mean they are able to use those drugs while they're performing certain duties. So if someone had to take regular, we'll say Percocet, they would need to notify the sheriff or the undersheriff or their supervisor and let them know that they would be under the influence of prescription drugs that may alter their ability to perform their duties, and then they're placed in different capacities.

[02:22:54] And I think that that's fine. The issue that you have is if someone doesn't do that, if they don't notify the county that they're under the care of a doctor and prescribed medication that could alter the performance of their duties, that in and of itself is separate from having a prescribed medication.

[02:23:23] That's not authorized. It's not authorized in the county attorney's office. It's not authorized in public utilities. Because I think we need to know the issue comes into not just our current policy, but will it affect the policy that we have where someone must notify us of their prescription to some type of medication that could impair their ability to perform their duties.

[02:23:54] And I think the other question comes into, do we have certain categories of folks and certain employment requirements that are not the same across the board? I don't think someone who works in Mr. Boshan's office is required to, at least to the best of my knowledge, to drag people out of burning buildings.

[02:24:17] I don't think he's right. But there are certain physical standards that are required for fire and EMS and those types of things. And I don't say that in jest. That's true. So if someone is under the influence of a drug and they didn't notify the county, I think that's a wholly separate issue than having a medical marijuana card.

[02:24:40] And I still question the legality because the state's not going to come in if something happens. And they're not. Their law is not going to protect us if something happens and someone says that the influence of drug entered into this person's lack of care or their demise in some cases.

[02:25:01] So I just want to be clear that what Hannover County is talking about are two very, very different things. And then lastly, the purpose of a card, a medical card, is duality and disclosure. Someone says, I have this card.

[02:25:17] I've been prescribed this particular medication. and it's a notification and disclosure to the employer, and there's an understanding. Both parties understand the rules in which they operate. Using drugs or prescription medication without notifying your employer and still performing your duties all the way up until the point that maybe the county's going to run a year analysis and then there's a disclosure is a wholly separate issue than what are we going to do

[02:25:52] if the state says that firefighters and other personnel performing potentially life-saving functions will be allowed to do that, and then the county will bear all the costs should something happen to someone.

[02:26:10] And again, I just think it's important that we're dealing with the legislative agenda here. We have concerns. There's some other issues as it relates to county policy that we're going to have to find ourselves working on based on on state state law so thank you for that time to make my comments thank you mr. Walter for for your detailed and very good explanation of what's taking place any other questions from board members seeing none mr. Walter do you have a response to mr. Davis comments are you ready for a motion I have a few more things to go through those were just the

[02:26:49] action items but I do just want to say that certainly mr. Davis's comments are exactly why we need to have some clarity. Last session, the only movement that there was on this was there were some bills to deal with. They're basically standards. We all know blood alcohol content is a way to sort of determine whether or not somebody is under the influence.

[02:27:15] There are lots of trades that right now, under the existing current state provision, which says that you cannot discipline somebody who uses cannabis oil. For folks who are in the manufacturing entity, folks who work in the construction, and there isn't a standard where if they suspect somebody might be under the influence, that they can test and sort of have an objective standard to say, if you are above a, for blood alcohol content, if you're above a 0.06, doesn't matter if you feel fine, legally you are impaired.

[02:27:49] And we can discipline you for doing that. There isn't a standard across the board. And while certainly our focus is on public safety, it really is an issue that is broader than that. And it involves our lives in a daily basis that we may not realize it.

[02:28:05] We all know over the road, folks who drive-- I'm going to call them tractor trailers. I realize they're different. They have a commercial driver's license. Currently, they are required to be tested. And if they are found to have an excess amount of THC in their system or other opiates, they lose their CDL. And so while you can't prevent somebody from doing something wrong, there's repercussions if they're tested. Right now, under state law, there are no clear repercussions if somebody tests positive. So if we have an auto accident, if somebody administers patient care and they're accused of doing something wrong, if we test them, we don't even have a standard to

[02:28:44] sort of say, nothing to see here, or there may be an issue, or wow, this person really was under that and we can take the appropriate steps to deal with that individual but also to deal with with the larger department so I certainly if the board adopts this agenda I think it's likely going to be something we're going to want to talk with our delegation about how best to to clarify that that inconsistency and confusion and state code thank you for your comments sir mr. Davis I'm sorry supervisor Pritchard nothing to be sorry about I

[02:29:23] didn't realize i had a comment until i had a comment um so i i firmly believe that no one who's in any position where their um ability to act quickly should be it should be in any way impaired bear with me on the butt here because i'm not i'm not going to change that position the difficulty of course is that if your blood alcohol is 0.5 it's 0.5 or 0.5 but cannabis stays in your system for 30 days and there's no way of really knowing through testing whether someone

[02:30:02] smoked this morning or smoked two weeks ago but my husband worked in the nuclear industry for 30 years and everyone in that industry understood you don't smoke pot if you work in the nuclear industry because exactly that you could test positive at any time and there's no excuse for someone who works in a nuclear reactor to be impaired and I don't think that it's too much to say if you're gonna have this job you can't do that at any time because it's just too important so I hope I'm not being redundant thank you

[02:30:38] for your comments any other comments from board members Supervisor Dibble I just real quickly want to say that I am absolutely on the same page with miss Pritchard with us and I thank you for being short and succinct on that position any other comments mr.

[02:31:00] Chairman, I believe I have a kind of believe mr. Pritchard was able to be short and succinct because my lengthy comments helped her Moving on mr. Chairman now the next portion of the the legislative agenda are positions on anticipated Legislation to come before the general assembly and this first one on this page is is one that has become a greater area focus the past few years this deals with local land use authority as we all know the I'm going to call it the the conversation downtown has been

[02:31:35] Largely one of I will say accusatory towards local governments that the problems with affordable housing the problems with lack of approving Energy projects whether they be solar or battery storage or things like that as well as The need for data centers and how that that those are all localities I'm gonna air quotes fault and so there's There's been a movement to for some of these to remove local authority to either mandate Certain by right uses for housing especially in Northern Virginia There's been the talk of where I always call it wherever you see the number one cross it out and write two

[02:32:15] Where you're allowed to if you have single-family residential that you can do it an ADU an accessory dwelling unit by right, those types of bills have come forward. And so we're likely going to see more of those. This is a position to basically remind our delegation that land use decisions are best made at the local level and not at the state level.

[02:32:38] We certainly understand why there are statewide policies. And we believe that the carrot is much better than the stick when it comes to helping guide the market for some of its-- I'm going to call them gaps. But to mandate certain uses doesn't solve any of the issues other than make lots of people unhappy, but gets to an end result.

[02:33:03] So the committee recommends that this remain a focus and be the first item on our positions for anticipated legislation. The next one is similar to last year, dealing with the support for law enforcement, both for funding as well as to ensure that we ensure that there be adequate training and funding so that law enforcement officers can be assigned to all public schools in Virginia, as they are here in Hanover, that criminal laws be targeted for public health and safety, and not for other policy reasons.

[02:33:34] There is one minor change to this, and that is the Commonwealth's attorney's office throughout the Commonwealth, as well as here in Hanover, have indicated that there's going to be a focus this year on trying to increase some state funding to supplement Commonwealth's attorney's offices, because they are facing some real staffing problems.

[02:33:53] I know Ms. Babachenko here has referenced some of her challenges with just finding attorneys who are willing to do that difficult and challenging and currently, compared to their peers, underpaid job. And so the committee recommended that we add language in there that there be funding for law enforcement personnel and prosecutors are properly compensated at the state level.

[02:34:20] The next item that's on there is identical from last year, and that's the ongoing request that there be comprehensive tax reform rather than the death by 1,000 cuts approach, where, for instance, the grocery tax a few years ago was changed. There really needs to be-- the committee has recommended that there be a more holistic approach rather than doing it on pieces/parts.

[02:34:41] These next three items are the same as from prior years, dealing with the support for ongoing funding for our mental health clinicians. We here in Hanover have had a really good relationship between our CSB and our schools for having mental health professionals.

[02:34:56] The state has pushed for a different approach. We hope that they sort of see that the way that we have been doing it is good to ensure that we have that local partnership. That next item is kind of a combination of a couple of prior agenda items, and that is supporting legislation that would provide state funding for the administration of elections and would reduce the number of early voting days.

[02:35:19] While the committee and this board have always been supportive of ways for Hanoverians to vote, we've heard from Ms. Smithson before that the current 45 days before a general election plus the extra early voting days before primaries, of which there have been quite a few.

[02:35:37] It's costly and the state is not providing adequate funding so whether that is a Ideally, it's a combination of reduction of some of those days as well as an increase in funding But right now that balance is a little out of sorts the next item is an ongoing one that we've had for the continued funding for step Virginia services These next three policy statements are the same from last year Requests for increase of number of developmental disability waivers Continue to protect local budget

[02:36:11] Decisions as well as all other matters regarding revenue. These next three again are same from last year Requesting that we support both environmental regulations as well as K to 12 regulations that are Provided some demonstrable improvement And that there be appropriate funding and then that last item has been a perennial one which is the request that there be some study about how much delegation of legislative roles and responsibilities are going to unelected folks in the executive branch.

[02:36:47] As we know, the legislative branch and the executive branch downtown don't always play nicely in the sandbox. And when you delegate that to executive folks, that even removes further the ability of elected individuals to oversee what those folks are doing.

[02:37:04] So, that is the proposed agenda from the committee. The next steps would be whether the board wants to adopt that legislative agenda today. We normally meet with our legislators. I know a time and a place have been reserved for a special meeting in November.

[02:37:21] Obviously, we don't know for sure who our delegation will be. We do have an election coming up, and we'll have future updates at board meetings as necessary. But if the board is prepared to adopt the legislative agenda, the recommended motion is on the screen that the board adopt the legislative agenda is recommended by the legislative committee I will just say as in prior years if issues come up over the next few months the board is always able to either formally amend it or just direct that either I or or mr. Badesky contact our delegation to make clear what the board's position especially once legislation comes in

[02:37:56] there may be something particular that we have a strong opinion on I'm happy to answer any questions any questions from board members for mr. Walter seeing done mr. Davis thank you mr. chairman two points in summary I think as it relates to the previous conversation the board and localities across Virginia are just going to try to ask the state not to exclude certain medications from having to be disclosed to the employer that may impair someone's ability to perform their duties and then lastly on the early voting there was consensus

[02:38:35] bipartisan consensus that don't know exactly what the right day is or some said 15 days some maybe said 30 maybe 21 but certainly 45 days has been extremely costly and if you speak to the folks at Virginia Association of counties some of those in attendance this is across the state up down beaches out to uh to withville uh up to fairfax everybody in in the northern uh virginia counties highly populated are just uh just pouring money into uh the these elections so i'm thinking that maybe

[02:39:14] there would be some opportunity to find a different time span um instead of just the elimination of early voting maybe we just find some way to uh find a way uh a way to keep the cost down. So thank you, Mr. Chairman. With that, I move to adopt the board's 2026 legislative agenda as recommended by the legislative committee and presented here today. Second.

[02:39:38] There is a motion and a second. Any discussion amongst board members? I have one point I'd like to make. I'm going to support this because I agree with 99.5% of it, but the one concern I have that I would like to go on the record is the unqualified power of removal for appointed members of boards committees or commissions who receive compensation so the concern I have is a school board and they have a lot of tough decisions that they have to make whether it's redistricting whether it's going back to

[02:40:15] school after Labor Day or before Labor Day just on and on and on and what I don't want to see is a situation where this this change would not be strict enough where if they had a decision let's say 55% of the community supported it. 45% oppose what they do. And then the next day, we're getting calls from 45% of the people saying, we want you to remove this person. So I do think there needs to be a strict process that doesn't make it too easy, that clarifies how the process would work along with this. But I am going

[02:40:55] to support this legislative agenda. Mr. Chairman. Mr. Davis. Thank you. Your point is very well made and that's been discussed numerous times and if you will briefly if you allow me to briefly address that the thought process behind it was the state should give us the authority in that in so much as we're able to answer to the citizenry should there ever be a problem and then within the authority then it would be up to a local board as to how they would administer that and that would come through the local legislative process that someone would have

[02:41:31] Right now, there's no ability under many, many areas that the state has the ability to remove someone. But to your point, the thought process was to ask the state, you grant us this authority and then allow us to self-govern here.

[02:41:47] Maybe that comes through board rules. Maybe that comes through an agreement that's different in Virginia Beach than it would be in Hanover, but it would be self-governing. So your point is exactly correct. And what was interesting is everybody on the Legislative Committee and other board members I've spoken to on this board have shared the exact same concern We feel like we're best to self-govern give us this authority and then we'll decide how we'll exercise that So I just want to say that to to codify that your concerns Were were expressed at the committee and outside the committee at different times. So well point well taken any other comments from board members

[02:42:27] Seeing no we'll call for the vote all in favor. Please indicate by saying aye Aye. Motion approved, Mr. Walter. Thank you, sir. Next on the agenda's closed session, Mr. Davis. Mr. Chairman, I move that the Board of Supervisors take this meeting into closed session pursuant to the following authorities.

[02:42:45] A, Virginia Code Section 2.2-3711-A3, Discussion of Consideration of Acquisition of Real Property for a Public Purchase on GPIN 8715-87-6289. Madam B, Virginia Code Section 2.2-3711-A8, consultation with legal counsel regarding specific legal matters requiring the provision of legal advice by such counsel as it relates to land use matters.

[02:43:14] And then C, Virginia Code Section 2.2-3711-A1, discussion of procedures regarding performance, demotion, and disciplining of employees. There is a motion. Is there a second to enter into closed session?

[02:43:32] is a motion and a second all in favor of entering into closed session please

[02:43:35] indicate by saying aye aye board is now in closed session

[02:46:18] yeah ready video ready okay video and audio is ready all right time is 6:55 mr.

[02:46:34] Davis mr. chairman I move that the board of supervisors certify that during closed session only public business matters that were lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and only such Public Business Matters as we're identified in a motion to go into closed session were discussed second There is a motion a second all in favor of certification of closed session. Please indicate by saying aye We are now an open session chair recognizes mr. Hudson. Thank You mr. Chair. Mr. Chair I move that the Board of Supervisors approve the proposed settlement between the board and Alexander Realty LLC

[02:47:09] Regarding acquisition of fee simple right-of-way and related easements on the parcel identified as G-PIN 8715-87-6289 for the amount of $107,894 and authorize the county administrator and the county attorney to take all steps necessary to finalize the settlement.

[02:47:28] Second. There is a motion and a second. Any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Motion approved. Next on the agenda announcements any board members with an announcement County Attorney County administrator seeing none next adjournment to 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday to Wednesday, October 22nd 2025 for a regular Board of Supervisors meeting to be held in the right here in the County Admin room 7516 complex Road. We are adjourned

[02:48:09] I'll see y'all

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