Coraggio Consulting
Hanover County Board of Supervisors - 2:00 p.m. - Regular Meeting Session, Wednesday, August 26, 2026

Date: Wednesday, August 26, 2026
Place: Hanover County Board of Supervisors, Virginia
Length: 1h 39m (video)
Official meeting video (CivicClerk): https://hanovercova.portal.civicclerk.com/event/2702/media
Official agenda (CivicClerk): https://hanovercova.api.civicclerk.com/v1/Meetings/GetMeetingFileStream(fileId=5780,plainText=false)
Official minutes (CivicClerk): https://hanovercova.api.civicclerk.com/v1/Meetings/GetMeetingFileStream(fileId=5809,plainText=false)

Machine transcript (speech-to-text) produced by Coraggio Consulting. Not an official county record. Names and numbers may be misspelled; check the video at the timestamp before quoting.
Speech-to-text: whisper.cpp, model large-v3-turbo. Produced 2026-10-23. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:05:01] This board is back in session. Folks may not know, but we actually went into session at 10 a.m. this morning for a closed session discussion of planned retirement of the county attorney. We came back into session and certified and then went to recess in order to do the Aubrey Bucky Stanley building dedication.

[00:05:25] And so the board was simply at a recess during that time. We are now called back to order. As is customary, we'll open with an invocation led by Mr. Stoneman and the Pledge of Allegiance led by Ms. Pritchard, Mr. Stoneman. Well, thank you, Mr. Chair. Would y'all join me as we go to the Lord in prayer?

[00:05:41] Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we humbly come before a great and mighty God. We seek your favor. We seek your assistance. We seek your guidance today as we conduct the business of Hanover County. Father, I just pray that all that we say and do would be profitable for the citizens of Hanover and glorifying to your name.

[00:06:01] Father, we do want to say a special thank you, Lord, for the years that you loaned us Bucky Stanley to serve here in Hanover County and for that opportunity to join with family and friends and colleagues to rededicate or to dedicate a remodeling of a building in his honor so that his memory would not be forgotten for the service that he rendered to this county for so many years.

[00:06:27] Father, we're grateful for the people you bring into our lives, for those that are called to service and they sacrifice their time and talents for the benefit of all of our citizens here in Hanover County. Father, we're grateful, Lord, to be living here in this wonderful Hanover County and one of the greatest countries in the world.

[00:06:47] And, Lord, we just want to be good stewards with that. We want to do well with what you've given us. So, Father, we ask, Lord, that you'd bless this time, and we ask all this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Please rise if you're able for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

[00:07:20] Thank you, Mr. Stoneman, Ms. Pritchard. Are there any considerations of amendments to the agenda, Mr. Vice Chair? Seeing there's no amendments move that we move forward as planned very well next item on the agenda's comment period Chair has no comments any comments from board members miss Pritchett. Thank you. Mr. Chair I have some longer comments that I've discussed with you that I'll take up at the six o'clock meeting for this meeting I would just like to remind folks that I'm not listening to the ballgame. These are my hearing aids. Mr. Hudson. Thank you, Mr. Chair I just wanted to congratulate the

[00:07:59] Mechanicsville high school community as a whole and say thank you to all the citizens across uh hanover that helped uh fund a brand new weight room for the high school we had a wonderful ribbon cutting uh last week and it was well attended and it was just a great uh private public partnership um and i would love to see that replicated as many times as possible across hanover it was just really uh wonderful for the whole community that's all mr chair thank you yeah thank you for your work on that mr hudson and getting all the folks in the community around that uh thank you for your leadership

[00:08:37] uh anything further mr county i'm sorry miss devil my apologies ma'am thank you mr chair just want to remind everybody that this saturday that's this saturday we are going to be celebrating montpelier day and we will kick off with a parade at 10 a.m on bethany church road and travel west on Route 33 to the Montpelier Center for the Arts and Education, where we'll have a huge festival.

[00:09:04] We'll have touch a truck, we'll have fire trucks, ambulance, we'll have a bunch of music and lots of goodies to buy. It's a big family day. It's definitely a day for kids, so plan on coming out.

[00:09:21] The festival wraps up at two o'clock with a co-rec, very friendly softball game on our new Ball field, so if you get a chance stop by bring the family and this is some good old-fashioned fun And you'll feel better when you leave. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Mr. County Minister. Thank you, Mr Chair, just have a few announcements today first I just want to remind our citizens that this is the final week to register for the upcoming engage Hanover Citizens Academy It's a great way to get involved and learn more about your local government and it's a mutual process where we learn from our participants

[00:09:54] All of the information that I'll be sharing today is available on our website and social medias, and we encourage folks to consider taking time to join us there. I do want to remind our citizens that we have begun a number of years ago on September 11th, a day of service for our community, and that is coming up on Friday, September 11th again.

[00:10:15] Our employees working with our community give back to our not-for-profits in the community. There are indoor and outdoor options for service on that day. so if you have an interest in serving on that project there's opportunities on our volunteer page to engage with our service projects i do want to congratulate our schools for a successful back to school week here and i know there are many happy parents this week as well but i really want to commend the school administration teachers all the support staff our fleet team for making sure the buses are rolling well and everyone for for a successful back to school as the chair and

[00:10:54] vice chair mentioned we did just celebrate the opening of the Bucky Stanley building I'd like to invite our community to celebrate the opening of our new registrar's office and voting center that will be on September 9th at 1 p.m. right over here at the Wickham building reminder that county offices are closed on September 7th. Our broadband partner All Points Broadband will be having a meet and greet with the community and a sign-up opportunity on August 27th from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. at Ed's landscaping at 4032 Mechanicsville

[00:11:31] Turnpike. I did want to mention that this week we have formally received a withdrawal of what was considered the luck quarry on Verdun Road. That permit that request has been pulled there is no further action required by this local government and there's nothing under consideration at this time based on them withdrawing that application should they submit something new in the future we'll give consideration but at this time there is no further local government action on that particular quarry we also shared an event

[00:12:04] that's coming up from that we were notified about amazon prime air service i mean there's been a lot of interest in this particular drone delivery service that they plan to operate out of their Henrico County facility. They are hosting a meeting on Thursday, August 27th at the Richmond Raceway from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. We encourage any residents that have any interest in learning more about that or sharing perspectives. This is a private company offering a private service regulated by

[00:12:35] the FAA. Hanover County does not have a role in regulation of drone service by Amazon Prime. If you have concerns or thoughts, please share it with them at that particular meeting. We're going to celebrate a couple recognitions that our partners at VACO are sharing with us today, but I also want to recognize our finance department and our collective finance teams.

[00:13:00] For this 36th and 41st consecutive year, Hanover County has been recognized with the a government finance officers award for distinguished budget presentation and achievement for excellence in financial reporting. This is hard work.

[00:13:17] It sounds like when you receive it for this many years that it's just something that everyone gets. It is not. In fact, it's a great deal of work. I just want to commend the leadership of our finance teams, but also our partnerships with our department and our treasurer, commissioner revenue, all of our constitutional offices.

[00:13:36] This is a team effort to get it done and do it right and get these recognitions. And thank you for a job well done. As I wrap up today, I have a piece of hardware in front of me. I don't often bring a belt of this size to the board meetings, but I am very proud of Team Hanover.

[00:13:53] They did win the Inter-County Kickball Championship this year. And Hanover is emblazoned on the side. We won after two years of Henrico County receiving the championship. And the award also comes with the grand prize of we get to host it next year.

[00:14:11] And so we look forward to that next year and just commend the team, Haley from HR and HR team for pulling it all together, but everyone for having some good safe fun and bringing home the belt. Mr. Chair, that's all I have today. Thank you, Mr. Videsky. I do want to recognize the chair of the community services board with us today and we ask Ms.

[00:14:30] Mary Butler Eggleston to come down at some later point when we receive some awards. Thank you for being with us, ma'am. Chief Chris Anderson. Thank you, Chief. And our treasurer, Mr. Boshan. Mr. Tim Boshan, thank you for being here today. The next item on the agenda is a presentation from the Virginia Association of Counties on the Achievement Awards.

[00:14:50] Mr. Bennett's with us, Jeremy Bennett, who is a Baker Director of Intergovernment Affairs. Mr. Bennett, thank you for being with us. I know you travel the state, and thank you for taking time to be here in Hanover County. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and good afternoon, members of the board.

[00:15:07] As you stated, my name is Jeremy Bennett, Director of Intergovernmental Affairs with the Virginia Association of Counties. And it's always good to visit Virginia counties, but especially Hanover County during tomato season. I enjoy the BLT across the street, so my pleasure to be here with you. But it is my distinct privilege to present the VACO Achievement Awards.

[00:15:24] And for the benefit of your constituents who may not be familiar with the Virginia Association of Counties, VACO has existed since 1934 to serve and support your efforts as county officials. We support counties in many ways. First is through our advocacy efforts, the General Assembly, and at the federal level.

[00:15:41] We also serve counties through our education programs, member services, and communication efforts. And I'd be remiss of not pointing out that Mr. Chair also serves on the VACO Board of Directors with distinction. In 2003, we established our Achievement Award Program to recognize counties that have adopted innovative approaches to providing public services and identifying programs that could serve as models for other counties to emulate. And today I'm proud to present Hanover County with two achievement awards, one for the Nelexone by Mail program and the other for the previously mentioned 9-11 Day of Service. As stated, this is VACO's 24th annual achievements awards program, and this year we

[00:16:20] received 103 entries, of which only 40 winners were selected from 26 counties. So as you can tell, a truly competitive program as less than 40 percent of applicants were actually awarded awards. Hanover County has won nine total achievement awards since 2021 and Hanover County has won an achievement award 19 times since the program started in 2003. So with 19 achievement awards, Hanover County ranks seventh on the all-time county winners list. So well done to you all.

[00:16:52] There were several criteria our judges followed as guidelines. Does a program offer an innovative solution to a problem situation or delivery of services does the program promote intergovernmental cooperation and does the programs provide a model that other local governments may learn from or implement on their own in their own localities and certainly these two programs the amount of people that are reached and hopefully other counties will take note and want to replicate them but mr. chair and mr. county minister I believe you have some folks in the audience who might be able to speak even better to the delivery of these services than I. Sure. Well, thank you. I don't know if Chair Eggleston wishes to speak

[00:17:29] to this. She's good, but she will come down for pictures, I believe. But thank you very much. Is there anyone who would like to speak to this program? So many folks have been involved in that. You're not required to. Don't take their shyness. Come on. You raised your hand. You got it halfway up. You're coming down. It's like being in an auction. You raised your hand. You just bid.

[00:17:50] thank you for being with us thank you chairman davis good afternoon members of the board john and the community and again thank you jeremy for the vaco award recognition it is truly an honor to accept this award on behalf of hanover county for 9 11 day of service i'd like to begin by thanking you the board of supervisors for your vision in 2023 and asking hanover county to create a day of service to honor september 11 through action and community service i'm grateful that the department of community resources was given the opportunity to turn that vision

[00:18:30] into something meaningful hanover a meaningful hanover tradition i also want to thank brett human service deputy county administrator for his commun continued support and encouragement of this initiative i'm especially especially proud of our team and i want to specifically thank our deputy director morgan lindsay who's in the audience who led the coordination of this program this year and help to build on its success i also want to recognize our planning team because this is truly a team effort we have kristen shelby and joe with communications and community engagement katie and matt with human resources aaron june and charlie with parks and rec and many of them

[00:19:09] are here today and this award reflects their hard work and collaboration i also want to acknowledge our partners at the community foundation for a greater richmond diane villarreal gail cavallero and bailey bush although they couldn't be here today their partnership has been instrumental to this program through their cf engaged platform they have helped us connect our employees with meaningful volunteer opportunities and make it easier for community organizations to share projects and engage volunteers we're grateful for their continued support and thank you to our county employees community organizations non-profits and volunteers who make these

[00:19:48] projects possible as John mentioned earlier it's not too late to sign up and be part of this volunteer projects and as we mark the 25th anniversary since September 11 this award reminds us that remembrance can inspire action and that service keeps the spirit of community alive and I believe this initiative really reflects what Hanover is all about people tradition and spirit it's our people coming together creating the tradition of service and showing the spirit of community that makes Hanover such a special place thank you again to

[00:20:25] Vaco we're really appreciative of receiving this award any board members have comments I have two comments up first of all I want to thank community services all the folks and their leadership over there for making this program a possibility I know a number of board members worked on that I'm gonna ask Ms. Dibble and Mr. Hudson to join me down there along with Mr. Badesky for pictures and certainly Chair Eggleston. But it's a great program and it required a lot of facilitation with other agencies and everybody made that happen. So thank you all. And then on the 9-11

[00:21:00] day of service, I remember when I received a phone call from Ms. Pritchard and we would have a memorial service. Chief Anderson would help with that greatly and we would read names and It was it was special but miss Pritchard said I think there's some other things that we could do and I wish Commissioner Harris was here. I don't think I see him is he not anyway she worked with with Scott Harris over commissioner's office the commissioner and Brought it back to the board and that's how the 9/11 day of service came to be in Hanover County So very grateful I've seen all the pictures of the board members out there serving along with staff and it's just

[00:21:40] It's a phenomenal thing. So Jeremy, thank you for your recognition of the citizens and the leadership here in Hanover for making that happen Why don't we don't you get your folks? We'll do Group pictures here. I'm gonna ask miss devil. Mr. Hudson miss Pritchard if you would join me down there long. Mr

[00:21:57] Badesky, thank you. Everyone is good squeeze right now. All right. One two three

[00:25:03] Care Ford was a family member, friend or neighbor. We finally have seen a decrease in opioid overdose deaths in the United States, but we really want the number to go down to zero because each of those numbers represents a life. Someone who was loved and care for it was a family member, friend or neighbor.

[00:25:40] opioids can affect everyone from all parts of the community doesn't matter age or background so it's really important to learn about how to use naloxone and think about having as part of your first aid kit we wanted to create something where it eliminated a lot of the barriers of access to get the naloxone which is a life-saving opioid overdose reversal drug it eliminates the cost barrier travel barrier for our rural residents in hanover county but since it started we've reached about 1,200 residents. It's been amazing. It's far exceeded anything that I expected. When I saw the community response, it just shows that there was really a need for it, and I'm just glad to be able

[00:26:19] to be a part of something that could provide that service. The medication Naloxone works by covering the receptor that would usually take in the opioid and preventing it from getting into the cells so that your body can start having oxygen and return to breathing. Using Naloxone is really safe, and And it's just a simple nasal spray.

[00:26:39] You just do one nostril and you want to make sure that the naloxone, the end of it, gets pretty far in. If the first dose doesn't work in about two to three minutes, you can use the second dose. Some people just want it just for their kids who aren't going to college.

[00:26:54] Some people want it because they may have a relative who's struggling with substance misuse. And some people just want it just in case of an emergency, just like a fire extinguisher. They pray they never have to use it, but in the event that they do, they're going to be ready. So I would just want people to know that there are resources out there that are available.

[00:27:11] Just come to the CSB and we'll point you in the right direction. Thank you so much everyone who's here. We very much appreciate that. The next item on the agenda is Citizens Time. Citizens Time is a time where anyone who wishes to address a board on any matter within the board's authority is welcome to come forward. We do have cards that you can fill out while you're not required to fill out cards. They do help us with follow-up from district representatives to their constituency or any staff replies that may need to take place.

[00:27:49] Again, you're not required, but it certainly does help us getting information back to the citizenry. While we don't allow signs or presentations during citizen's time, you're certainly welcome to have a presentation. And if you want to file one, either through email, electronic means, or if you have a printed version, give those to Dr. Brown, who will be down here at the table.

[00:28:08] We'll make sure that the board gets that, and it will be placed into the public record. I have Mr. Bob Nelson with us today, and then I have Ms. Coney and Ms. Zamorski. So, Mr. Nelson, there he is. Please come forward, state your name, the district that you live, or the entity that you represent.

[00:28:25] You have three minutes. Thank you, sir. Good afternoon, Chairman Davis and Board Supervisors. My name is Bob Nelson. Actually, how many people want to speak at Citizens' Time? I have those three. Okay, that's fine. We'll do five minutes. Thank you. Yes, sir. Good afternoon, Chairman Davis and Board Supervisors.

[00:28:42] My name is Bob Nelson. I reside in the Ashland District. There is an unstated assumption in all data center fiscal studies. The assumption is the county and the town can assess personal property taxes on all data center computer equipment. That assumption is false.

[00:28:59] Under the Virginia Code, bank, computer equipment, and data centers is exempt from county and local personal property taxes. The city of Manassas learned the hard way. At an April 2025 City of Manassas council meeting, the Commissioner of the Revenue reported that no personal property taxes would be paid on a data center because a bank was the tenant.

[00:29:23] In a Potomac Local News article on the meeting, one council member commented, We were expecting a major boost in revenues, now we're left empty-handed. And we were promised tax revenue and what we got was a loophole.

[00:29:42] That happened because it was a speculative data center development. Sound familiar? That's been true in every data center case that comes before you. We've had hard data center fiscal studies in four rezoning cases.

[00:29:59] No applicant has mentioned the existence of the bank exemption. The studies have been reviewed by the Commissioner of the Revenue and the Department of Finance. Not once have I seen a reference to a bank exemption in any county document. What's common are blacked out emails and FOIA exemption claims.

[00:30:20] Using TRAC's 30-20-year projection of $1.78 billion in data center tax revenues in the Hickory Hill case, and assuming 54% of the revenue is personal property taxes, the county will lose an average of $33 million in personal property taxes for each data center where the bank exemption applies.

[00:30:45] Here's how the board should address this issue in the Tradeport case. If the board approves the applicant's request for a special exception on building heights, it should impose a condition that no data center owner, user, or tenant will be a bank or other entity exempt from personal property taxes.

[00:31:06] Imposing this condition is reasonable given the direct relationship between data center, building heights, and personal property taxes. A condition is needed, not a voluntary proffer. When it comes to data center taxes, citizens do not expect loopholes and revenues disappearing in black holes.

[00:31:29] I have copies of applicable Virginia code sections and the news article on the city of Manassas experience. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Nelson. Ms. Coney, thank you for being with us.

[00:31:46] Please come forward, state your name, the district that you live, or the entity that you represent. Madam Secretary, if you'd pass those down. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. My name is Alasia Coney. I'm in the South Anna District, and I'm here on behalf of the Hanover Democratic Committee as their government official liaison.

[00:32:05] I will be reading the resolution that we have adopted April of this year on our position with data centers. So it is a resolution for local control and against new data centers construction in Hanover County. Whereas decisions that permanently alter Hanover County's land, electrical infrastructure, water resources, environment, and community characters should be made openly and with the informed consent of the people who live here,

[00:32:31] And whereas industrial-scaled data centers may consume extraordinary amounts of electricity, water, and land and may require new substations, transmission lines, backup generators, cooling system, roads, and other infrastructure. And whereas the cost and risk associated with that infrastructure should not be shifted to Hanover residents, local taxpayers, neighboring landowners, farmers, or residential utility customers.

[00:32:57] And whereas property rights included not only the ability to develop land, but also the rights of neighboring owners to the reasonable use and enjoyment of their homes, farms, and businesses without excessive industrial noise, light, emissions, traffic, or visual intrusion.

[00:33:14] And whereas Hanover County should pursue economic development that produces substantial permanent employment, supports local businesses, broadens opportunity, respects surrounding property owners, and preserves the qualities that make Hanover a desirable place to live.

[00:33:29] And whereas the approval and construction of industrial-scale data centers would risk transforming portions of Hanover County into an industrial utility corridor without demonstrating benefits sufficient to justify those consequences. And whereas Republican members of the Hanover County Board of Supervisors have voted to advance and approve industrial-scale data center projects, demonstrating that support for such development has become a defining policy position of the Hanover County Republican Party.

[00:33:55] And now, therefore, be it resolved that the Hanover County Democratic Committee opposes the construction or expansion of industrial-scale data centers anywhere in Hanover County. And be it further resolved that the committee calls upon the Hanover County Board of Supervisors to reject all new discretionary land use applications for data centers and to adopt the strongest lawful comprehensive plan and zoning protections available against their development.

[00:34:22] And be it further resolved that no data center proposal should receive county support, favorable tax treatment, public infrastructure assistance, or other governmental incentives. And be it further resolved that the county should require complete public disclosure of the identity of each proposed developer and ultimate operator, anticipated electrical and water demands, proposed power generation and cooling systems, infrastructure requirements, expected permanent employment, projected public revenues, requested incentives, environmental effects, and potential costs to residents.

[00:34:56] And be it further resolved that the committee opposes allowing the industrial-scale data center development to proceed through confidential negotiations, incomplete applications, piecemeal approvals, and accelerated procedures that prevent meaningful public participation. And be it finally resolved that the Hanover County Democratic Committee urges the Hanover County Board of Supervisors to adopt a meaningful policy to assess industrial data centers with community input and transparency.

[00:35:22] The Hanover County Democratic Committee further urges local and state officials of every political affiliation to protect local control, residential utility, customers, private property, our farmland, natural resources, and Hanover County's community character by opposing new industrial-scale data center construction.

[00:35:40] Thank you. Please come forward, state your name, the district that you live, or the entity you represent.

[00:36:02] Donna Zamorski, Beaver Dam District. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Recently, Hanover County announced that Luckstone withdrew its proposed project in Western Hanover at the applicant's request. Whatever the reasons ultimately were, I think there is something worth recognizing in that moment.

[00:36:21] Our community spoke. Concerns were raised, questions were asked, and an applicant chose to reconsider. That is what good neighborship can look like. That is what land stewardship can look like. And that is what listening can look like.

[00:36:39] But it has left me thinking about a question many of us have been asking lately. Has Hanover lost its voice? I don't think we have. Hanover has spoken loudly in regards to data centers and other issues. Residents have written letters, attended meetings, stood at rallies, researched projects, and repeatedly asked our government to listen.

[00:37:02] Yet at the last Planning Commission meeting, while one commissioner asked for a pause because information was still arriving on the very same day a recommendation was expected, the discussion instead included America's competition with China, artificial intelligence, and national security.

[00:37:22] Those are important national conversations, but Hanover's Planning Commission is not responsible for winning an international AI race, but it is responsible for planning Hanover. Technology is valuable, and the infrastructure supporting it has a place in our future.

[00:37:43] But having a place in our future does not mean it belongs in every place we can put it. Responsible growth requires purposeful placement, thoughtful planning, and the wisdom to ask not only what we stand to gain, but what our communities may be asked to give up.

[00:38:03] Representation is not simply the power to make decisions for the people. It is the responsibility to carry the people's voice into those decisions. So perhaps Hanover hasn't lost its voice after all. Perhaps the question is whether those entrusted with that voice are still carrying it.

[00:38:23] Please deny Iron Horse. There are many reasons, but I just want to add, it is just too close to many residential areas. It just is not an appropriate space. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Hello, I'm Holly Manke from South Anna, Friends of Hanover.

[00:38:48] I want to thank each of you for your great stewardship of Hanover County's finances. Under your leadership, it appears Hanover County has just over $35 million saved in the operating budget for physical year 2026. That is amazing.

[00:39:04] I am impressed, and this puts Hanover in a great position for physical year 2027. I want to point out that at the Planning Commission meeting on Thursday, the members were saying how desperate Hanover County is for money and how the doors will have to be closed if they do not approve the Iron Horse Data Center.

[00:39:23] I guess that they did not have this information before their meeting on Thursday. I also want to point out that Hanover County seems to be doing well under your leadership without collecting any money from Hanover Technology Park, Iron Horse, and the Opadon Data Center.

[00:39:39] I know that under your stewardship, Hanover County can continue to prosper without any additional data centers. Hanover is expected to collect large revenues from the already approved Hanover Technology Park, Copadon, and Iron Horse Ashland side of the data center in the future. There's no need to approve the Hanover side of the Iron Horse data center because a developer says that he's going to develop the Ashland side no matter what happens, and we will get that revenue anyway. Thank you again for your stewardship, and please deny the rezoning and special exceptions for the Hanover for the Iron Horse data center. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. Next speaker, please.

[00:40:22] Hello, Ashley Covington, Cold Harbor. Good afternoon. First, I also want to echo the people that have come before by thanking you. You all are doing a really great thing by establishing a commission to study the impacts of the hyperscale data centers on Hanover.

[00:40:41] By doing this, you've acknowledged that these facilities are different from what was being built in 2008. You are recognizing that we need to understand the cumulative impacts before making irreversible decisions.

[00:40:58] And you committed to taking 12 to 18 months to get it right because you want to do right by Hanover. And that is so appreciative. That is so brave. And that is what we need in leadership because that is good leadership, which is why I'm very troubled at what happened last week.

[00:41:20] the Planning Commission, which they are all appointed by you, voted 5 to 2 to recommend approving the Iron Horse Hyperscale Data Center. This, while we are not even into one month into a year and a half long study. They approved it without a noise study, without a full accounting of water usage, which could be up to 1.2 million gallons of water a day, or as they were talking about how gleeful they would be to save on the water and then be able to sell water credits so

[00:41:57] that they would benefit. And also they voted this way without a cumulative review of the already coming hyperscalers. How can hyperscalers be approved when you, our board, is still studying what they actually will do to Hanover's future? This is not just poor timing. This is disrespectful to this board's very thoughtful decision to study before acting. The Planning Commission

[00:42:31] thumbed their noses at your wise decision, and they just went ahead and acted. And the reasons they gave, they just don't hold up. Some said Hanover needs the revenue to pay for schools and public safety. Those are very important things. But we just ended the 2026 fiscal year with a $35 million surplus thanks to your good leadership. And you guys did that without a single hyperscaler in the entire county in operation. So if the county has a budget surplus, why are we being told we're

[00:43:10] in dire financial straits? Some others said, we, Hanover County, we, Hanover County, need to compete with China. But as one Virginia congressman put it, people who are seeing their utility bills double and triple don't care about the race against China. The Planning Commission's job is to protect Hanover's future and not rush us into some global tech race we never asked to join.

[00:43:42] Our local officials should be concerned with Hanover and Hanover's future. So I ask you, Please uphold your study. Uphold the process that you have started. The Planning Commission's five to two vote is an advisory recommendation. It's not a final decision. You have the power to pause. So please, let's finish the study. Let's decide when we have all the facts. That is what

[00:44:18] excellent leadership and stewardship of Hanover looks like. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next speaker. Anyone else? Please. Yes, ma'am. Please come forward. State your name, the district that you live, or the entity that you represent. You have up to five minutes.

[00:44:35] Thank you for being with us. Thank you, sir. My name is Erin Doss. I recently moved from the Chickahominy District with Daniel Floyd to your district, sir. Mr. Davis and Henry District. Thank Thank you. I'm pleased to be here, esteemed supervisors and respected neighbors.

[00:44:53] I'm also a long-term champion of working overseas for US interests and spreading our model of democracy. So seeing it in action here at the local level is very inspiring. I signed up to speak today, August 26, because today is the anniversary of the 19th Amendment, an amendment to the Constitution that enshrined the right of women to vote for the very first time in America.

[00:45:17] From our modern vantage point, women voting doesn't feel like a very radical idea. No one younger than 106 years old would remember the time when the push for women to vote was controversial, when the fight required marches and protests, and yes, even led women supporting this idea to be put in prison and force-fed with tubes, because the powers that be felt threatened by this potentially disruptive group of new voters.

[00:45:46] What might women do? What causes might they support? How would society be reshaped if half the population of our Democratic Republic, the women of the United States of America, suddenly had their say? To those naysayers of generations past, I present the evidence of a century of progress as women in public service have left their mark and strengthened the community of Hanover County, the county that I am honored to call my home.

[00:46:14] Women in Hanover have always been and continue to remain a valuable part of our community in their homes, places of worship, institutions of learning, farms, businesses, and various civic and public organizations. It was not until 1920, more than a century after the founding of our great country, that women gained the constitutional right to vote.

[00:46:38] And it would take another half century after gaining that fundamental right of representation that women in Hanover successfully competed for and won the opportunity to serve an elected office. In the mid-1970s, trailblazers like Nina Peace on the Board of Supervisors and Lois Chenault as Commissioner of the Revenue showed Hanover County just how beneficial it could be when we let women fulfill their potential as elected leaders. These leaders paved the way for other women to win seats on the Board of Supervisors like Deborah Coates and Angela Kelly Wiesek. I'm pleased to acknowledge the leadership of the current women on the Board,

[00:47:17] Faye Pritchard, Susan Dibble, and Danielle Floyd. Hanover County has voted and chose you to represent them. We have also a female Commonwealth's attorney in Mackenzie Babichenko. To you, women leaders of Hanover, I want to say we see you.

[00:47:39] You are examples for my children. You show the world what is possible when a community comes together and welcomes the unique talent and skills of every resident. As elected leaders, your service continues to demonstrate the meaningful contributions possible with broader participation and spam phone calls, sorry, and a government whose authority comes from the people it represents. The women on this board and the men who serve alongside them work together in the interest of the community, each bringing your own life experiences to ensure our county has more tools and greater insight to tackle the

[00:48:17] complex, often undervalued task of shaping policies that impact the lives of every Hanover resident. I would like to formally request that the Hanover County Board honored the distinguished service and lasting contributions of women throughout Hanover County.

[00:48:34] In conjunction with the celebration of America's 250th birthday, I hope the Board would consider recognizing the importance of today, August 26, as Women's Equality Day, so designated by the U.S. Congress in 1973, to celebrate the importance of women's suffrage movement and women's work to secure and expand equal rights for all today.

[00:48:56] Thank you for your time. Thank you, Ms. Doss. Mr. Chair, if I might. Yes, ma'am, Ms. Pritchard. I wanted to say that Ms. Doss has talked to both the chair and myself and will be reading a formal statement about women's right to vote at the 6 o'clock meeting.

[00:49:12] Thank you, Ms. Doss. Thank you, Ms. Pritchard. Anyone further? Anyone? We will close citizens' time. The next item on the agenda is the consent agenda. Chair recognizes Ms. Dibble. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to remove from the agenda item 10C, as in cat, number four ten c four is there a second second we have a motion and a second any discussion all those in favor please indicate by saying aye aye any opposed motion carries have all board members

[00:49:47] had an opportunity to review the consent agenda as amended are there any other removals any additions any changes whatsoever hearing none is there a motion to approve the amended consent agenda motion to approve motion is there a second second motion and second any discussion all those those in favor please indicate by saying aye aye aye any opposed motion carries now uh board's going to take a brief recess i know some folks are going to be heading out and i don't uh it's very important uh report coming up the year end uh financial report i don't want that interrupted

[00:50:24] so the board will take uh no more than a five minute recess if anyone desires to leave the room please feel free and then we'll move into our presentations this board is in recess

[00:50:32] this board is back in session the next item on the agenda is item number 11

[00:58:13] preliminary 2026 year-end next item on the agenda is preliminary 2026 year-end financial report miss jackie manser is with us our finance division director of finance and management service miss manager thank you for being here ma'am thank you good afternoon mr chairman and members of the board for the record my name is jackie manser and i'm the finance division director today i will be presenting the preliminary operating results for the county's general fund department of public utilities and the school division operating fund for the fiscal year ended june 30th 2026 the detailed financial report was previously reviewed with the finance committee at their august 12th meeting the preliminary results presented here today are

[00:58:52] unaudited and subject to change we will come back at the november meeting to present the audit results in the annual comprehensive financial report so let's begin with the general fund Year-to-date revenues total $412.6 million.

[00:59:10] With a revenue budget of $398.6 million, the projected year end revenues are approximately $14 million higher than the appropriated budget. We saw significant positive budget variances in several categories. The general property taxes are favorable to budget by approximately $6.3 million.

[00:59:29] This is primarily due to real property and personal property tax assessments and their corresponding collections. Additionally, the use of money in property is projected to be $6.5 million. above budget due to investment income.

[00:59:44] The total year-end expenditures and transfers are also favorable to budget. They're coming in around $403.5 million, which is approximately 95% of the appropriated budget. The general fund personnel savings are estimated to be $5 million, and operating savings are estimated to be 12.5 million.

[01:00:02] The return from the school division totals approximately $3.6 million. Sorry, just need to breathe a little bit. So the total projected operating balance the general fund is the difference between budgeted and actual amounts with the revenues at 14 million dollars above budget personnel savings of five million dollars operating savings of 12.5 million and the return from the school board of 3.6 million the general fund operating balance is approximately 35.1 million dollars with an increase in fund balance of 9.2 million dollars

[01:00:40] the total projected operating balance okay so um we're going to use the operating fund balance um for use in the 27 county and school budgets and five-year capital plan so with an estimated increase of fund balance of 9.2 million dollars the general fund is projected to end the year with the fund balance of 156.9 million the non-spendable fund balance at year end is 360 000. this is representing resources that are in non-spendable form such as inventories um the restricted fund

[01:01:20] balance is $2.4 million. This is amounts that are constrained for specific purposes that are restricted by grantors and state and federal government agencies. Yeah, absolutely. And then the committed fund balance for economic development is $500,000. So assigned fund balance is projected to be $97.9 million and unassigned fund balance is estimated to be $55.7 million. So keeping Being consistent with recent years, the general fund's unassigned fund balance is projected

[01:01:56] to be 13.5% of operating revenues. Board policy states that we're supposed to maintain a minimum unassigned fund balance of 10%. We do this because it protects against unanticipated expenditures and revenue shortfalls.

[01:02:14] So we target a higher percentage to maintain the county's quadruple 888 rating. So let's shift to the public utilities funds. The year-to-date revenues total $38.7 million. This is approximately $600,000 higher than the appropriated budget.

[01:02:32] Charges for services exceeded budget by $1.1 million, and interest income is $600,000 higher than budget. Water and sewer capacity fees are trending $1.2 million below budget due to timing and payment of construction activity.

[01:02:49] The year-to-date expenses totaled $28.6 million, or approximately $3.4 million below budget. The personnel costs are $500,000 below budget, contractual services are below budget by $1.2 million, and other charges are $1.7 million below budget, for a total of $2.9 operating savings.

[01:03:10] Also, just note that public utilities preliminary year end are presented in a budgetary format, so there's items in here that are not going to be in the final report, such as donated assets and depreciation, but they'll be included in the final audited statements.

[01:03:32] Let's move on to the school division operating fund. Year-to-date revenues for the school fund are approximately $262.2 million, or 97.4% of the appropriated budget. Revenue from the Commonwealth is estimated to be $1.4 million below budget, and federal revenue is projected to be below budget by $1 million, primarily due to grant funding that will be reappropriated for use in fiscal year 2027.

[01:03:59] I was just going to make a comment that while the enrollment was down 250, students uh which correlated to a state revenue reduction of 2.5 million because of that enrollment uh the schools were still able to meet their turn back to the county so i think folks on finance committee folks in the schools uh ms stone thank you so much thank you ms manson yes so um that leads us to the expenditures where um the year-to-date expenditures are 2.2 262.2 million or 96.7 dollars of the appropriate budget um the personnel savings are estimated to

[01:04:35] be 7.5 million dollars and the operating savings are estimated to be 1.3 million. So as mentioned previously, the school division is anticipating returning 3.6 million dollars to the general fund for use in the FY27 budget and the five-year capital plan. So this concludes my presentation of the fiscal year 2026 preliminary and financial report. I'm happy to field any questions. Any questions at all? Turn it over to the finance chair, Ms. Dibble. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just

[01:05:08] wanted to follow up and give a big shout out to Dr. J Brown on the administrative side and of course Terry Stone on the school side for keeping us on budget and on track throughout the year. We are blessed to have both of them and give a big shout out to Ms. Null and Ms. Messner for such good work and as chair of the finance committee. It's definitely easier to understand. The graphics are so good and I think that the comprehensive way that you all put these

[01:05:43] information for us together at the Finance Committee is so much easier to understand and follow so thank you for your hard work and keep it up thank you thank you thank you man thank you mr. manager the next item is a presentation proposed approval of memorandum of understanding for school-based mental health services with us is director Gabriella Caldwell Miller our executive Director of Community Services Board, and Mr. Brett Shardine, who will open up, Deputy County Administrator.

[01:06:15] Mr. Shardine. Good afternoon, members of the board and public. Yeah, so pleased to share updates on the school-based mental health program, as well as the draft MOU we have before you this evening. So just some quick background. This program was originally created in 2020, and that was in response to rising mental health needs we were seeing in the community.

[01:06:35] I started with one clinician at one school. Then we started getting some state grant funding, and over the years, we were able to expand that to six clinicians plus a clinical supervisor. Unfortunately, that grant funding ended in the school year 24-25. Schools were able to bridge some of that funding through the last school year and keep that going.

[01:06:54] But as Ms. Manzer showed, some of the reductions that we saw in state school funding and other things increased that pressure and caused us to take a new look at this program and consider some revisions. Program goals, whether it's one clinician, six, or somewhere in between, remain the same, and that's to eliminate barriers to service, provide mental health supports, minimize disruptions to the school day and learning, provide immediate crisis intervention, and connect students to ongoing community services beyond the schools.

[01:07:24] Also, working with our school staff to address rising concerns and clinical support that's tailored to each school's needs because each school district and each one is slightly different. Program development. So as we looked at revising this program, one thing this board and the school board challenged staff to do was look at data.

[01:07:42] Whatever we do needs to be built upon solid data. So we took a deep dive into current historical data and trends in the program, looking at clinical complexity, barriers to access for service with students, support needs, impact on school functioning, and then historic referral and case volume.

[01:07:59] So this led us to a two-model program or a two-sided program, one with comprehensive service, which I'll get into, and then one what we call targeted coverage. So comprehensive coverage would be very similar to what you're used to now, what we saw in the prior years, and that would mean individual short-term therapy, developing plans for students, therapeutic groups when there's a common issue, providing family guidance and coaching, and then coordinating care with outside providers.

[01:08:26] and those would be things like personal therapists or doctors. Then new would be targeted coverage. So this is where our clinicians would focus on students with the highest needs and the greatest barriers, still consulting with parents and staff, connecting with community resources, providing safety planning, and those individualized support plans.

[01:08:46] Program models, so this would allow us to use those funds and positions to provide intensive direct services where there's the highest need, but still maintain access to that clinical care across the school division. And it's worth noting, this program is a tool in our toolbox, but it's not the only tool.

[01:09:02] So this is in addition to things like direct CSB services that continue and exist, as well as in-school support from counselors and other resources that schools provide. So staffing model, what that would look like, three licensed clinicians plus a clinical supervisor.

[01:09:18] Staff would be housed out of Patrick Henry High School, Mechanicsville High School, and Liberty Middle School. With them embedded in those schools, they would see comprehensive coverage. Then we would be able to deploy to Bell Creek Middle School, Hanover High School, and Atlee High School for targeted coverage, and then to other schools as capacity allows and as there's demand.

[01:09:39] Funding for this model, we have existing approved CSB local general fund budget. That would cover three of those positions, and then we would use state Step Virginia funds to fund that fourth. While those aren't local funds, that's a long-term stable funding source that we have no concerns about being reduced in the future and DBHDS the state authorizing agency has Authorized us to use these funds for that purpose And part of this is establishing an MOU to put in place the roles and responsibilities for both our school and CSB teams So the MOU deals with one confidentiality student data for our clinicians

[01:10:19] Prioritizing use of study hall and free periods. So again, it's a school-based program. We want to keep the students safe, ensure their well-being, but ultimately we want to move them back into a good learning environment. So trying to focus where possible, not using core curriculum classes but pulling them during study hall or free periods.

[01:10:35] And then providing measures and matrices for program evaluation. So throughout the coming years, we can continue to evaluate this and make sure we're serving our student population. So some of those measures that we'll be tracking and looking at, time out of the class, what types of service are being provided, referral and open case volume at each school, and then we'll be looking at what are the impacts of the program before and after. So we'll look at attendance trends, academic performance, disciplinary actions, and then we'll continue as we do now an annual survey. That goes to all the students in the program, the parents of the students in the program, and teachers and faculty. NYU, also a key component of that is

[01:11:12] strong communication and continuous improvement of the program. So there would be weekly meetings with the clinicians and their clinical supervisor, quarterly meetings with school leadership and our CSB team and leadership, again that annual survey, and then we'll prepare an annual evaluation report that we'll share with the Board of Supervisors, our CSB, school board, and will be visible to the public.

[01:11:34] Our CSB board, they looked at this at the August 17th meeting and recommended approval to the Board of Supervisors. Since publishing the packet, we do have three non-materials, we would say edits, proposed before you and there's copies of that in front of you one of the communication section we did catch a typo that we've corrected confidentiality previously we kind of had a generic statement that clinicians will respect the confidentiality requirements schools wanted us to expand that a little bit to get more specific in the use of education records and HIPAA compliance so that's in there and then metrics we had originally looked at one of the other measures to collect would be information on calming room and nurse

[01:12:12] visits schools correctly shared that for some students their plan actually includes those as a preventative measure, so that may not be a reliable measure for the equity of program when sometimes we actually want to push them into that temporarily to then get them back into a good learning environment.

[01:12:29] So those have been removed from the data measures we would collect. But school and CSB leadership have reviewed both of these edits and recommend it as we have it before you today. So next steps, if you all see fit to authorize the MOU, next it would go to school board for similar review and authorization.

[01:12:47] then we would execute it and again this is something that once we do we'll put on a shelf we will annually be looking at this making sure it's still up to date serving the needs of our school system well uh and if it's helpful there's a draft motion for you here as well thank you are there any questions from shardin miss britchett thank you mr shardin um can you talk a little bit and this might be gabriella's question but about what targeted coverage looks like because at leave falls into the target targeted coverage and at the beginning of this process I spoke to Dr. Wheeler and of course he has concerns about his own

[01:13:26] students and I just need to understand a little better how that works. Sure yeah and Dr. Milo-Millard if you wouldn't mind can share more details the real specifics of what that actually looks like more day-to-day in service for our students. Members of the board good afternoon. Supervisor Pritchard what targeted service will look like is in communication with the school counselor to their building director to their district counterpart our staff would be notified that there is a need at one of the targeted schools and so at that point

[01:14:01] the clinician who has the most capacity on their caseload but then make arrangements to get consent from the parent to do the assessment thank you anything further miss Dibble mr. Hudson mr. Hudson thank you mr. chair I just wanted to congratulate all of our CSB and school staff and say thank you to my colleagues undoubtedly all of our families and our friends in some

[01:14:37] relationship have been affected by mental illness and I can attest that this hits while it hits home for all of us it hits closer to home for some more than others. But one of the things that I have personally seen with my colleagues is that our youngest and most vulnerable constituents are a top priority for us. And this memorandum of understanding really, in my view, came out of a directive of this board to continue to show and reflect Hanover's ability to figure out ways to do more with less. So I just really want to say

[01:15:16] thank you and congratulate everyone. And with that, Mr. Chair, I move that the Board of Supervisors authorize the Executive Director of the Hanover Community Services Board to execute the Memorandum of Understanding with the amendments as proposed. Second. We have a motion by Mr. Hudson, a second by Ms. Dibble. Is there any discussion? All in favor, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries.

[01:15:39] Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Caldwell-Miller. Appreciate it, ma'am, very much. Ms. Chardon, if you would just coordinate and let us know when this gets to ACPS school board. Thank you. Next item on the agenda, item number 13, is a presentation for revisions to the policy for use of public facilities. Mr.

[01:16:00] Brett Shardine, Deputy County Administrator. Mr. Shardine. Thank you again, Mr. Chairman. So as stated, this is revisions to the policy for use of public facilities. Again, some quick background. We have an existing policy that was last revised in 2022, and that policy addresses things like indoor facility use, athletic field use, picnic shelter use, historic courthouse use and a use of alcohol on county policy.

[01:16:28] Some things the existing policy does not address that brings us to recommending some revisions today. One, non-athletic outdoor use, so use of grounds here for example for things like special events. Public assembly, so demonstrations, protests, things of that nature.

[01:16:45] There are minimal review procedures. We have a noise ordinance, but we could use more specificity to noise levels for events, ensuring access and safety, and just seeing increase in the interest in large assemblies, so it would be good to recommend some policies.

[01:17:04] Goals of this, one, to facilitate use of the public's property. We want to be clear. We don't want to be heavy-handed or put in too much red tape regulations. We want to make sure that when public does use this property, it's done safely, it's efficiently, minimizes impacts to operations. Some of the events may take place or use of property may take place while there are other departments open, board meetings, things like that. But even if something's happening on the weekend or after hours, you know, we still have our emergency communications dispatch center, that's a 24-hour operation, the sheriff's office, there are other things here that we want to make sure when there's an event, assembler, use of the property, it doesn't impact those things. And then we want to provide

[01:17:44] clear, transparent, and consistent procedures. So if group A holds an event here on the property or uses property one month and then group B does later, it's a similar process that they go through. So a summary of some of the changes. One adds outdoor use to what was formerly the indoor use policy. So then we have one consolidated use policy for county property. Establishes a multi-department review process for applications for special events. So administration, parks and Wreck, Sheriff's Office, Fire, Health Department would look at those and make recommendations.

[01:18:16] Have an application deadline. It gives us plenty of time to plan and review around that with some ability to shorten that if we need to, but that would be the standard. More specific insurance requirements and then standards for noise. Also setting user expectations.

[01:18:34] So if somebody does want to reserve or use county property, establishing what are the responsibilities of that entity, so related to damage of property, trash picking up, essentially leaving it as they found it, ensuring access is maintained, including for ADA, managing traffic and parking, managing vendors, and communicating with the county on the event. And then enforcement added campuses grounds to Appendix A, which includes those properties that are permitted for use, and then just some general formatting cleanup to make sure it's consistent across these various appendices. And then out of appendix D relating specifically to public assemblies again

[01:19:12] that would be things like protests, demonstrations, assemblies like that. So defining what they are and what they are not, designating specific areas as we've done here previously for demonstrations on the campus. Again ensuring access is maintained for the public, emergency services, and ADA when folks are assembling here. Addressing sound, prohibitive activities. Some of those would be outright. Some of them would just then kick that from an assembly to a special event. Then you would go through that different permitting process. And things that would move it from an assembly to a special event would be things like their commercial activities. There's music, there's food being

[01:19:50] served, things such as that. And then enforcement. But again, we don't want to be heavy-handed with this. We have escalation steps that if there's an entity using it and there's something not in compliance, unless it's something that's immediate safety concern, you know, we're going to go up and ask if they can come into compliance and not shut something down immediately. Again, the goal is to allow the public to safely and efficiently use public property. Facilities committee reviewed this in July and recommended consideration for adoption to the board. And again, have a draft

[01:20:21] motion if that is helpful. Happy to answer any questions. Devil. Mr. Shorland, I wasn't clear exactly when the insurance requirements were triggered and for what types of activities you require liability insurance and what you do not so that would be for the special events not assembly public assembly for the purpose of expressing their right to speech demonstrations things like that would not but if you were reserving the property for something more commercial or let's say you wanted to host a run or sporting event or a music festival or something like that those type of events

[01:20:58] would okay thank you sir thank you anything further chair recognizes chair floyd facilities thank you so much i move that the board of supervisors approve the revisions to the policy for use of public facilities as proposed second we have a motion in a second did you second miss mike shaman i did but i think fate beat me to the punch all right miss perchard second uh is there any discussion all those in favor please indicate by saying aye aye any opposed motion carries next item on the agenda is our monthly update on connect handover broadband

[01:21:33] initiative mr todd kilduff our deputy county administrator i don't see mr rogers here today but I just want to say Mr. Kilduff if there's anybody working 24 hours a day continuously in Hanover County it's Rook Rogers he's just he's just putting putting in a ton of hours put a lot of miles down range and we're very grateful he's worked on a number of different issues and he's being kind of pulled into things that don't affect the county where the county doesn't have a role but he's gone out and gotten information to from the right source to get back and communicate to the citizens uh even again even where the county doesn't have a role but he's been able to help

[01:22:12] uh assuage some concerns and uh also keep up on his his regular duties so he's doing a fantastic job with uh citizen engagement as well as delivering and so we appreciate your leadership in managing uh this this project it's not it's not simple so thank you for being with us sir yeah thank you mr chair i really appreciate that um i always give rook a little bit of kudos in This presentation is because he's such as does such a great job for us, but Chair members of the board mr. Medesky mr. Walter Todd killed up deputy County Administrator And I do have your broadband update for you before I get in the presentation I just wanted to let you know yesterday I had the pleasure of representing Hanover County at the

[01:22:52] Mid-Atlantic fiber and broadband conference, which is a two-day conference. I was not there the whole time I was only there yesterday because I was asked to sit on a panel But one of our members of our economic development authority But I can tell you, the reason I'm mentioning this is because Hanover County's name is mentioned numerous times at this conference.

[01:23:11] And I'm just going to say it as sort of the shining beacon of how to do this project. And I say that because we have had other localities contact us about how we're doing it because of the state's Department of Housing and Community Development Department telling them, if you guys have questions, concerns on your project, just call Todd or Rook with Hanover County and they'd be happy to have a conversation with you.

[01:23:32] and lots of really good things have come out of that we actually had a call a few months ago by a neighboring locality actually their projects about three times the size of ours and they're a lot farther behind than we are and they didn't know that we had a rook they didn't know what was doing for us and that this board approved that position on a contract basis to help us manage this project so they went ahead and did that they listened to what we were doing they did that, they created that position, and it's been going really well for them. And they called us about a month ago and said, thank you so much for letting us know that because we would be even farther behind if we didn't have that type of position. So it's that type of leadership. And I

[01:24:10] think we should just take a moment and reflect on sort of that impact that Hanover County has had in that field. So thank you for that. With that, our project's still going really well. Every month that goes by, I feel like we have a few more updates, a few more good things. Balls are rolling forward still. Bright Speed is still doing a little bit of work. It's tapered off significantly with their work. Again, they're not contracted with us, but we do have a few updates that come out every once in a while from them. But we haven't really heard much, and I think no news is good news on that front. All Points Broadband is our contractor, and we are still making great strides

[01:24:44] with getting access to every home and business in the rural areas of the county, which is about 6,198 passings. So last, well, I guess it's been two months ago now, we had about 1,222 actual home connections. Again, that's not passings. We have way more passings than that number, but 1,222 people in June had actually connected to All Points Broadband, paying their monthly bill, if you want to look at it that way. As of last week, we had about 1,371, so the number just keeps going up.

[01:25:18] And the number is going to fluctuate a little bit as it's going to continuously go up, but a few homes this week, let's just say, but potentially 30 homes next week. The reason for that is because the easy work was really sort of along the BDOT right-of-way roads where they just had to get a BDOT permit and they can rock and roll.

[01:25:33] And we have a lot of people that just live right on the road. But we also have a lot of neighborhoods that are on private roads, which has sort of been where the hiccup is. We've been working through those. Mr. Herzberg, thank you for your leadership in helping us through a lot of that. And we have a really good process right now, and it's working really well.

[01:25:49] We're finding – oh, and Mr. Toman, thank you for your leadership as well. We've had a few neighborhoods that you've helped out with, so thank you. We've been finding champions in some of these neighborhoods. I've mentioned that every past several months, actually, and that's been super helpful as well. So those numbers will fluctuate a little bit as we move towards the end of the project.

[01:26:08] And I can't believe I'm saying it that way, but, yes, we are almost near the end of our project. That's not the end of the fiber. I'll get to that in just a second, but the end of our project is coming. And we're working through those private road items. And one of the bigger hiccups also has been the railroad crossings. I mentioned that before.

[01:26:24] Dealing with railroads is not the easiest thing. Some of the process, believe it or not, even if you make an application today, we made ours earlier, just to be clear. But if we made one today, it would be probably six months before we heard back. So we tried to jump the gun on that. We've had applications in. And we have some resolution on some of the crossings, just not all of them.

[01:26:42] And I want to say, Brooke's not here, he can correct me later, but I think it was about seven crossings is what we ultimately needed to do. Mentioned this last time, this is the last time I'll mention it, I'll take it off next time, but All Points did want to reiterate that their speeds have increased for people at no cost, so if you had 50 up, 50 down, you are at now 300 up, 300 down, 100 up, 100 down, it's now 500 up, 500 down, and if you're at one gigabyte, you're staying at one gigabyte.

[01:27:08] But they have increased their speeds at no cost. they want to make sure we mention that to you. As always, we are updating the county website with all this information. We want to make sure that that's out there. So that was August. We have September come in. In just a few weeks, we're going to update with the numbers. And again, we've always had really good feedback from our citizens on that. And we know some are watching the updates every single time. So with that, BEAD is probably the next big conversation. We've been talking about it for a while. Mentioned last month or two months ago, I guess, that contracts were being signed. Contracts have all been signed. So that is sort of hot off the press information from the

[01:27:47] state's DHCD department. And they have created their own website. Again, that's their website there. But it's a little ugly, but I zoomed in for you to show you a little bit more about what all those little dots mean. So if one of our citizens had a question, so I didn't get covered in the baddie. I saw you guys have gone down my road, but now you're telling me I'm part of this beat. I don't understand what that is. I want you to know that we get those emails almost on a daily basis. And we have sort of a canned email that Rook and I worked on that we send back to the citizen with a screenshot of their home showing that little dot on them saying, we will be coming to you. You will be getting this opportunity. This one's just going to take a

[01:28:27] little bit longer. It's a different funding source and it's just on a different time frame. So we've had a lot of people that said, thank you. I just was concerned that I was just passed and I would never get connected and that's just not the case so we've had some good feedback on that but I'm glad the state finally set up their website so it has that that information on it which ultimately when they're done when the bead is finished in a few years it could be 3,525 passings for us it's there's they're all over if you mention if you recall I want to say it's probably about six months ago or maybe even longer now I showed that first map that showed all the different providers so we're sort of dealing with two now bright speed and all points this is actually going to

[01:29:05] be much more than that. It's going to be both of those companies, but it's also going to include Comcast, Verizon, believe it or not, Starlink, I almost forgot the name, and a few others actually received the award. So with Rook and myself, we're going to do our best to sort of contain that and make sure we have one cohesive fluid project. So if there's any questions from citizens, we'll be on top of it. I mentioned the easements. The slide we added in just probably should have this in there for a little while but our project's not the only project that's happening in handover county we do have other fiber companies that are installing fiber segra verizon comcast they don't

[01:29:45] always tell us what they're doing or when they're down the road sometimes we hear about it from a citizen first or maybe from a board member that got a call from a citizen and thank you for relaying that to us we do have really good contacts at all the companies now and we have for a while but if If you hear anything else, please let us know because they do do work that does impact roads, right?

[01:30:07] So they may get a VDOT permit and everything may be fine. They may not be doing anything wrong, but we may not have known they were shutting down a section of Studley, Mr. Davis, or something of that nature until it happens. They don't let us know that, but we do try to stay on top of it. Thank you, Mr. Kellogg. Yeah, folks will reach out, and oftentimes, you know, we have to tell them that, you know, One, the county wasn't notified, and, you know, sometimes there might be a little delay in traffic.

[01:30:34] They work very well, most of these contractors, in delaying traffic in the middle of the day instead of during, you know, peak hours and things like that. But at the end of the day, if you see somebody working, they're advancing a project. And, you know, all of these things can't be done at 2 o'clock in the morning.

[01:30:53] They have to be done during working hours for different reasons. And so if they work with VDOT and these projects are approved, just, you know, a little bit of patience can go a long way. We've got folks on the road. They've got all the safety equipment out there.

[01:31:09] But at the end of the day, sometimes pulling wire means that you're just going to have to have some backups. And so thank you for replying to the citizen there. I was able to make some electronic contact with the individual. And I think while they weren't happy about what I would say is a minor delay, they did recognize that what they were seeing is progress on some infrastructure.

[01:31:35] So, yeah, it's just important to know sometimes we don't have a role in that. Folks will go straight to VDOT, and they meet those state standards. And what you're seeing is great American progress sometimes. It's just on your road. So thank you, Todd. That's right. Thank you, sir. And if we do hear about something ahead of time, which we don't always on their work, we do try to notify our communications department, maybe try to get the word out.

[01:31:57] If you hear anything, let us know. We're happy to step in on that. Another recent event that we just learned about is Verizon. It's not necessarily news. We all knew DSL was going to go away, the old copper lines, that kind of thing. Verizon started sending out letters, and I read one of the letters.

[01:32:14] If you read it, it does sound a little threatening initially. It's kind of like we're shutting off your internet. If you read the full letter and get the full context of it, It's really saying, hey, we're not really going to support this anymore, but we're going to give you another option. So I just wanted to be clear. When you kind of read it, it does sound a little, oh, I've had DSL for 20 years, and now I'm being told I'm not going to have it anymore.

[01:32:35] The good news is we're trying to get away from DSL altogether. They're not even making parts for some of these companies anymore. They've had to order parts on different websites and things, trying to get these things. No manufacturer is really making those parts anymore, unfortunately. But they are all moving away from it.

[01:32:50] So, I mean, that's sort of the point of our project, right? Like, we're trying to get that fiber out to everyone that is currently unserved or underserved by DSL. So, and with that, Mr. Chair, that's all I had today. But if there's any questions, I'm happy to take them. Are there any questions or comments for Mr. Kilduff?

[01:33:08] No. Thank you, Mr. Kilduff, very much. Okay, item number 15, Mr. Saunders, Deputy Director with Public Works is with us. Thank you for being with us, Mr. Saunders. Yes, sir, thank you. provide a presentation on the revisionist ordinance 2604 as you notice relates to the chesapeake bay preservation act and associated ordinances here in hanover county again 2604 and there's a code of virginia reference for board members and the public uh thank you director saunders for being with us sir thank you thank you mr chairman members of the board um the board will

[01:33:43] recall i brought this to you all at the july meeting as a public hearing for ordinance 2604 these are the amendments to our chesapeake bay preservation ordinance one thing i do just want to lead with is i know there's a lot of different topics at these board meetings these board packages are often hundreds of pages long i do want to thank the board at the last meeting for taking some extra attention on this ordinance, finding a potential conflict. Special thanks to

[01:34:18] you Ms. Double for picking up on that. Did want to touch on that a little bit just because the question was asked what is the difference between the caliper definition that we had and the diameter of breast height definition that we had. Generally speaking the caliper just means the diameter of the tree. It's commonly used in the nursery industry for sizing and specifying nursery stock. So we see this in reference a lot to new trees, replacement trees, if

[01:34:50] you will. Some commonly used heights for defining the caliper are 6 inches or 12 inches from the ground. The DEQ model ordinance had a definition in there of the diameter measured six inches from the ground diameter breast height on the other hand gets its origins from forestry and it's more commonly used for monitoring and measuring established trees and this is what's really critical and what's important for this ordinance because the updates to the regulations

[01:35:24] and the ordinance have new provisions for mature trees so what we're aiming for is determining what the diameter tree is at the DVH, not the caliper from the model. So to avoid that confusion, to avoid that conflict, the term caliper is not used anywhere in the ordinance.

[01:35:43] So we've strucken that from the updates to the revisions. As a general update, we went back through the entire ordinance just to make sure there were no other potential conflicts. We did discover that there were two other definitions that were not used.

[01:36:00] That was channel word and critical root zone. Those were also taken from DEQ's model ordinance. One thing I'll just touch on these model ordinances when they come from DEQ, they're typically aggregated from what DEQ thinks are the best ordinances around the state.

[01:36:18] So sometimes we have to take an extra step to make sure that these definitions are actually being used in the ordinance. Typically that's what we do in all cases. This was just an oversight, these three definitions here. But we've gone ahead and removed those, since they're not being used.

[01:36:36] At the public hearing, there were no negative comments to the ordinance. There was one comment in support of the adoption. And just as a brief update, or as a brief summary, the ordinance really is just general housekeeping updates to reference the new erosion and stormwater management ordinances and incorporate the 2021 amendments to the state regulations with that any questions miss dibble yeah just a shout out thank you for taking the time to take another look at that

[01:37:12] document and clean it up even further thank you so much thank you all right anything else for us that's that's it just uh hopefully a motion to approve the ordinance well do you ever suggest a motion before us let's see i did not have one hand let's see just a motion to approve ordinance chair recognizes miss floyd thank you uh motion to adopt ordinance 26-04 amendments to the chesapeake bay preservation ordinance second we have a motion in a second is there any further

[01:37:49] discussion hearing none all those in favor please indicate my saying aye aye any opposed motion carries thank you director thank you the time is 3 33 this board is in recess

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