Coraggio Consulting
Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, Business Meeting, Tuesday, May 7, 2024

Date: Tuesday, May 7, 2024
Place: Board Room, First Floor, Government Center, 1 Harrison Street SE, Leesburg, Virginia
Length: 4h 30m (video)
Official meeting video (county, Granicus): https://loudoun.granicus.com/player/clip/7669
Agenda (Granicus): https://loudoun.granicus.com/AgendaViewer.php?view_id=73&clip_id=7669

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 2026-10-19. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:10:50] Okay, can we clear the dais so I can get ready to hit the gavel, please? Thank you, Mitch. Well, good evening, supervisors, good evening staff, and good evening, Loudon.

[00:11:15] I'm going to call to order the May 7, 2024 Loudon County Board of Supervisors business meeting. This room has a hearing loop. If you need hearing assistance, please put your hearing aid to the telecom mode. If you need a headset, we have those available as well.

[00:11:32] Please see our clerk to request one. Supervisor Umstop will now lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance, and any words she'd like to say? Thank you, Madam Chair. I would like to offer a prayer for law enforcement.

[00:11:48] Dear Lord, please bless all of our deputies, all of our police officers in Loudoun County, in our county and our towns. They have risked their lives on many occasions to save our lives, and we are deeply grateful to them for everything they do to protect us every day.

[00:12:13] In your name, dear Lord, amen. Could we all now please rise and say 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.

[00:12:44] Supervisor, before I read the consent agenda and read all the proclamations, I'm going to make two requests. These are not mandates, these are just requests. First, if we could maybe get our proclamations done, our resolutions done a little earlier, and just put them on where Jessica or Janet sit upstairs,

[00:13:13] Because to try to sign, no kidding, 40 copies of different proclamations when we step on the dais and run a meeting is nearly impossible and not very effective. That's the first request. And secondly, we had gotten to a really good habit of taking our proclamations to whoever we're presenting them to.

[00:13:35] And I don't mean the ones that come from staff. Obviously, those are in this room. But other proclamations, we had gotten really good at taking them to those places. and now we're starting to do them, everyone in the boardroom again. I actually think it's more powerful to go to them with our proclamations than to have them come into the boardroom.

[00:13:52] So if we could start trying to do that again, I'd appreciate that as well. I am now going to read the consent agenda. The consent agenda is as follows. Bless you. Item R1, proclamation to recognize May 17, 2024 as bike to work day.

[00:14:09] That is for approval only. Item R2, Proclamation to Recognize May 10th is Child Care Provider Appreciation Day. That's for approval only. Item R3, Proclamation to Recognize May 2024 is National Tennis Month.

[00:14:26] That's for approval and presentation. R4, I'm sorry, that was R3. This is R4. Resolution to Recognize Loudoun County Virginia's Governor's Cup Winners. That's for approval and presentation. R-5, proclamation to declare May 19th through 25th as Emergency Medical Services Week.

[00:14:48] That's for approval and presentation. R-6, proclamation to recognize May 2024 is Lyme Disease Awareness Month. That's for all approval only. R-7, proclamation to declare May 5th through 11th, 2024 is National Corrections Officers Week.

[00:15:04] That's for approval and presentation. R8, proclamation to declare May 12th through 18th, 2024 as National Police Week and May 15th, 2024 as Police Officers Memorial Day. That's for approval and presentation. R9, resolution to recognize 30 years of county service and the retirement of Mr. John Sandy.

[00:15:26] That's for approval and presentation and will come much earlier in the meeting. Item two, administrative items report of May 7th, 2024. Item three, cooperative agreement with constitutional officers. Item five, process improvements for Virginia Department of Environmental Quality Forms.

[00:15:45] Item six, I don't think anyone's taking this off the consent as long as I see all the emails. I requested it come off consent. Did you? You did? I did not see that request. Okay, so item six will be off consent. All right. Item seven, A, trails assessments for equestrian use at Banshee Reeks Nature Preserve.

[00:16:08] Item seven B, environmental, I'm sorry, environment and energy work plan quarterly update. Is there a motion to approve? Motion made by Chair Randall and seconded by Vice Chair Briggsman. Discussion on the consent agenda.

[00:16:27] Mr. Turner. - Thank you, Madam Chair. For staff on item number five, we agree with the item, but we track those in the AIR when it comes out board meetings to see where data centers are being built and we don't want to lose visibility over that process so can we as staff kind of figure out a way that if staff is going to sign off on these deq forms which is totally fine that we can track these because that's a major source of info for us on data centers how big they are and where they're going we can easily do that we'll just have to find the correct repository for it but we can do it easily thank you very much

[00:17:06] Ms. Brooksman, Vice Chair Brooksman. Thank you, Madam Chair. Just a reminder that next Friday is Bike to Work Day, the 17th, and I will be very happily presenting that resolution proclamation at the Sterling Pit Stop that is being hosted by Bike Loudon, Loudon Commuter Services, Loudon Water is usually there, and it's going to be at the Sterling Ruritan Club.

[00:17:33] Again, it'll be the morning of the 17th, and then there's also a second pit stop here in Leesburg, hosted by the same folks. It's always a fun day to ride on the W&OD, so join me if you're able. Also, we'll be excited to present the Provider Awareness Day proclamation at a school, probably with CASA and Parks and Rec.

[00:17:59] that that proclamation has a bit of a it sounds like a mystery but it's for child care basically it's child care provider awareness day so happily we'll be presenting that sometime later this month thank you madam chair thank you anybody else all right all land people please say aye any opposed that motion will pass 702 i'm sure mr kirchner and mr sains will be here shortly All right, I have some of the following organizational updates.

[00:18:30] So I will talk about this more later, but Mr. Letourneau and I, as the finance chair, he and I, Mr. Hempstreet and other staff members, traveled to New York for our credit rating meeting.

[00:18:47] We met with all three credit rating agencies. We expect and hope to have the results back by May 13th, And we will have, I'll have discussion on that after we get those results back. I also want to say that I may first, the Metropolitan Council of Governments, COG and WMATA, had a first ever joint meeting between these two boards.

[00:19:12] The meeting was to have a joint and fairly, I think, really good discussion about how to find a way once and for all to have a dedicated source of revenue going to Metro.

[00:19:32] One of the things they're doing is creating a task force. The task force will have on it five people from D.C., five from Maryland, five from Virginia, four from Ramada, and one person from the federal government. I was honored to be asked to be one of the five people from Virginia.

[00:19:51] Joining me from Virginia will be Chairman Jeff McCabe from Fairfax County, Delegate Mark Sickles, Virginia Senator Scott Surville, and Virginia Deputy Secretary of Transportation, Michael Sargent. When I was first asked about being on this task force, I, you know, I had to think about it for a long time because I'm not busy.

[00:20:16] I have a lot going on on my agenda and on my schedule. But one of the reasons I said yes was because I have been talking for the past nine years about the fact that I believe we should see a greater sum of revenue coming from the federal government dedicated to our metro. And I've talked about all the reasons why, and I've talked about it at COG meetings. I've talked everywhere. I mean, if I'm talking about this issue, I've had this discussion. And for a long time, I was told that that's kind of

[00:20:52] pie in the sky and not possible and it's not realistic. And the case that I make is that unlike every other metro system in the country, our metro system is moving the federal government workforce and so if our metro system stops what it means is like federal checks for social security and things stop going out the federal government stops moving if our federal government stops and so while the federal government does give a sum of money it's not it's been staggered for the most part just for inflation for years and i just think it should be a much larger amount and right now there are other people who are who are agreeing with that and saying that

[00:21:31] And so I felt like since I've been kind of screaming this from the rafters for so many years, I had to put my money where my mouth is, so to speak, and so I asked to serve on that task force, I said yes. The task force will be co-chaired by D.C. council member and COG board chair, Charles Allen, and Paul Smedberg, who is the Ramada board chair, and a past member, in fact, I think mayor, if I'm not mistaken, of the Alexandria Council.

[00:22:04] And so we have our first meeting in June. I will continue to report back on how that task force is working. Of course, we do know that how Metro is funded in the three different jurisdictions are very different. And we've talked in Virginia for a long time about how the Metro funding should not be on the total backs of the jurisdictions that have a Metro, which is what it is right now.

[00:22:31] So it's a fairly, I won't say it's a complicated funding, but it is not as clear as it should be, and there is just not a dedicated source of revenue that is put aside for Metro. And so I will come back after every meeting and report back on how we're doing on that task force and if we're making any headway at all, especially with discussions about federal funds or dedicated funds from and out of Richmond, because right now that doesn't exist either.

[00:23:07] So, all right, my voice for a cause today is one that I'm very excited about. I used to actually be on the board of Friends of Loudoun Mental Health. My voice for a cause is Friends of Loudoun Mental Health, and I'm going to ask them to come to the podium, please.

[00:23:23] Friends of Loudoun Mental Health is an all-volunteer, community-based nonprofit that helps people who are dealing with mental illness better their lives. They've been serving Loudoun County since 1955. Friends of Loudoun Mental Health has been a leader in our community and educating the public about the importance of having good mental health outcomes, identifying gaps in mental health services, which we all have those, and trying to advocate for better mental health resources in our community.

[00:23:55] So as I said, I used to be on this board. I have such respect for this very, very, very hard, very important work that is being done. And since mental health is health, I really appreciate you all being here.

[00:24:13] I'm going to ask this year's Chair of Mental Health, Katrina Cole, to introduce everyone who is standing with her, please. Thank you, Chair Randall, and I appreciate your kind remarks. I'm blessed to have with me today Beth Newberry, who is our Board Secretary.

[00:24:33] Annette Hartung, who is the woman who keeps an eye on all of our money. and directors, Dory O'Brien and Judy McHenry. Wonderful. Can you tell me what are the different programs and services that Friends of Loud and Mental Health promotes and offers?

[00:24:51] Thanks, Chair Randall. So our main mission is to connect individuals to financial health and educational resources. So our main program is a place to call home, and we work with the county through the Department of Mental Health with their clients to help them stay in their homes.

[00:25:10] So we do a 500-a-month housing subsidy for six months to help them stay stable in their homes. And then we also have a helping hand, which helps with, like, utility bills. And Katrina here runs a support program for people that have dealt with suicide issues.

[00:25:29] And we have a website that people can go to to get information about resources in the county. Thank you for having us today. Absolutely. Thank you for the work you're doing. So what kind of advocacy do you do, and how has your organization evolved?

[00:25:46] Because, you know, for one of our nonprofits, this is one of the older nonprofits in Loudoun. So tell me how you've evolved and what you've learned over time. When Friends of Loudoun Mental Health was established, there was not really much care in the county for mental health.

[00:26:04] So the original members of this board, which I'm very proud of, worked very hard to get psychiatrists, to get Loudoun County Mental Health established. So we're really been pretty basic in getting things going.

[00:26:20] And now we've evolved to where we try to let people know about the issues of mental health. When you have a mental illness, you still want to be stable. You want to have a good life. You want to have everything that everybody else has, and it's difficult because people with mental illnesses often have trouble getting jobs because of the stigma and also because of their illness, and sometimes their jobs are interrupted by hospitalizations.

[00:26:53] It's a difficult life, and so what we try to do is at least help those who are struggling with paying the rent, and we know that that's hard for a lot of people in our county, and we do have to define it as people with mental illnesses that are receiving services, or we would be serving it.

[00:27:17] Well, let me ask you a question that is not on, you guys did not receive, and I'm sorry to kind of throw you a sideball on this one. So is everyone, so if someone comes to you for their rent to be paid, do they have to have either a DSM or ICD diagnoses, and do they have to have shared that diagnosis with you, and does it have to be an XS1 diagnosis? Yes. Yes, yes, and yes. They have to be getting treatment with Loudoun County Mental Health for a mental health, for a mental illness. With Loudoun County Mental Health, I see. With Loudoun County Mental Health, and we're trying to go also with,

[00:27:55] what's the name? HealthWorks. HealthWorks, because they are seeing some of the overflow. And they have to be under 150% of poverty level. Okay. So, because it's, you know, a certain level. And so, it's...

[00:28:13] Does it have to be an X's 1 diagnosis? If you're using the DSM to diagnose versus the ICD, does it have to be an X's 1 diagnosis? Yes. Okay, good. We don't, we don't... We don't really know that. We don't ask for the diagnosis. You don't ask for the diagnosis. Right. Okay, all right. Right, we need to know their living situation.

[00:28:29] Got it, I understand. Right, right. Because we don't get into what their doctors, and we try to maintain their privacy. So we only deal with their initials and the same kinds of things that people in mental health services do.

[00:28:46] So we provide those. Because it's a lot of HIPAA stuff. So how can people find out more about Friends of Loudon Mental Health? I know you mentioned the website. And how can people get more involved in the organization? Well, the website is loudonfriends.org, and we also have a pretty active Facebook page, and that is Friends of Loudoun Health, Friends of Loudoun County Mental Health, on our Facebook page.

[00:29:09] And then our phone number is 703-443-1380, and we work very hard to get back to people as quickly as possible. And we are always looking for volunteers to help us do what we do and are always vetting board members as well. My gosh, I literally know the work you're doing.

[00:29:27] It's so, so, so hard and so important and so needed and so stigmatized and not talked about and that type of stuff. So I just, I mean, this month especially, but all the time, I really appreciate what you all are doing.

[00:29:42] So thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, Beth. Thank you. Thank you very much.

[00:29:58] Mr. Hemstreet, do you have any remarks today? Thank you, Madam Chair. I have four remarks for this evening. The first is that Loudoun County fire officials remind everyone that properly installed and maintained smoke alarms play a vital role in reducing fire deaths and injuries.

[00:30:14] This reminder comes after three residents were injured in a house fire in Sterling last week. Loudoun County offers free home safety inspections to all residents and will test existing smoke alarms to ensure they are working properly and will replace outdated alarms with new ones. More information is online at loudoun.gov slash smoke alarms.

[00:30:32] Second, members of the community are encouraged to learn and engage about Loudoun County's efforts to increase environment and energy sustainability by attending the second annual Energy and Environment Forum next week. The May 14th event is hosted by the Environmental Commission and will be held at the Academies of Loudoun from 5.30 to 8 p.m.

[00:30:52] There will be breakout sessions on several environmental topics. Details are available at loudoun.gov slash environmental forum. Third, Loudoun County Animal Services is preparing for the first fee-waived pet adoption event of the year. Empty the Shelters is happening this Saturday, May 11th, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Animal Shelter in Leesburg.

[00:31:14] Adoption fees will be waived for all available pets, which include cats, kittens, dogs, small pets, and livestock. Every pet adopted from the shelter will be microchipped, and their new owners will receive a coupon for a free GPS tracker. More information, including a link to view pets available for adoption, can be found at loudon.gov slash animals.

[00:31:35] And then finally, residents and visitors are invited to experience one of Loudon County's most popular events, the weekend of May 18th and 19th. The annual spring farm tour highlights the diversity of Loudon's agricultural economy with dozens of participating farms showcasing Loudon-made and Loudon-grown products.

[00:31:52] There will also be educational components with farmers providing insights into their work. New to the tour this year is a free hop-on, hop-off bus that will operate on a continuous loop between the farms from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Details are online at loudonfarmtour.com.

[00:32:08] Those are my comments this evening, ma'am, Chair. Thank you, Mr. Hemstreet. I hate to have to do this from the dais, but we have a lot of resolutions going on up here. And does anyone have John Sandy's resolution in front of you? You have John Sandy's resolution? Mr. Hemstreet, I went in a little bit of a panic up here.

[00:32:31] Mr. Kirsten, he's decided. Oh, gosh. So, would Ms. Brixman and Mr. Hemstreet and Mr. Rogers join me down front for a resolution for John Sandy?

[00:33:01] Mr. Sandy, who would you like to have down here with you? And some of your staff?

[00:33:25] Joel, would you like to come down with us? He said yes. All right, everyone who loves John Sandy, stand up. Everyone who loves John Sandy.

[00:33:41] That was really good. That was really, really, that was really good. I'm going to actually, before we finish, there's a lot of people that can put this picture, but we're going to just read the resolution first. How's that sound? Okay. Okay.

[00:34:00] Ms. Sandy, can you stand over here? Thank you. Okay. Ms. Letourneau, will you join us down here? In appreciation of John Sandy.

[00:34:18] Whereas John Sandy began his service to Loudoun County in 1994 as a budget analyst and is retiring from the county government after three decades of exceptional service,

[00:34:47] And whereas, Mr. Sandy has held many positions of leadership in the county, including assistant to the county administrator, assistant to the county administrator, and chief financial officer, and has served as a liaison to several boards of supervisors committees, the Fire and Rescue Commission, the Sheriff's Office, the Criminal Justice Board, and chair of the Northern Virginia Criminal Justice Academy.

[00:35:17] And whereas Mr. Sandy's responsibilities over the years have included, but were not limited to, fiscal planning, public service, public safety and emergency management, legislative research, tax policy, and many special projects, and serving as the government liaison officer throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, bless you. And whereas Mr. Sandy has been a member of several professional organizations, including Leadership Loudon, the Government Financial Officers Association, and the International City-County Management Association, where he earned the prestigious credential manager designation in 2019, and whereas Mr. Sandy's dedication to public service has left a lasting impact on Loudon County.

[00:35:48] Now, therefore be it resolved that the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors on May 7, 2024, extend its sincerest appreciation to John Sandy for his 30 years of service and dedication to the Loudoun community.

[00:36:38] Right before I came down, Mr. Letourneau said to me that he thinks John Sandy is one of the last, if not the last, administrators since, because Mr. Letourneau is our longest serving person on the board. So I thought it apropos that he joined us. I'm going to let him speak first. Thank you, Chair Randall. John, you are truly a consummate professional. The service you provided to the county, I think just a fraction of which is in that resolution, because otherwise the resolution would go on for many hours, which we tend to do here, but usually not on one resolution.

[00:37:03] But, you know, one thing that comes to my mind that was a big part of my first term was the work that we did on fire rescue to set up the system that we have now. And I know Mr. Hempstreet needed a calm, thoughtful, responsible voice to lead that discussion, and he turned to you, as he did and his predecessors did for many things.

[00:37:30] So I know we have some good memories from our credit rating trips and all the work that you've done there, but the work just goes on. So I appreciate you, Chair Randall, allowing me to come down, and congratulations, John, on a very, very well-deserved retirement. Sure. Well, I know that John is very much going to miss working on the Superfund site in Algonquian District.

[00:37:58] No, seriously, your wealth of knowledge is going to be so missed. I may have to get your phone number because you know so many things. And, you know, I mean, the Superfund site is just one example about how far back you go on that project.

[00:38:13] But we appreciate you and we will miss you very much. Thank you, John. I know how difficult it is for you to stand up here, so I'm not going to prolong anything.

[00:38:30] But just to say thank you for all your years of service, all the work you've always done, you constantly being there to help out, support me in whatever nonsense I was getting myself into. I really appreciate that.

[00:38:45] You've been a bedrock to the organization, the community for 30 years. So, thank you. John, I won't prolong it either. Thank you for your service. Thank you for everything you've done, and thank you for your friendship.

[00:39:01] Appreciate it, and look forward to keeping in touch. What everyone said, and I think I would add that you are one of the kindest people I've ever met. And service is one thing, but being kind is something completely different.

[00:39:20] And not everyone who serves does it with a servant's heart or as kind as you are. You are an extremely kind man, and you will be very, very, very missed. I won't call you. I've got a feeling you prefer not to be called while you're leaving.

[00:39:40] But thank you. You are very appreciated. We're going to take one picture, and then I'm going to call down, because you don't want parties and stuff, and I know that, because you don't like a lot of la-di-da around you. That's fine. But we're going to call everybody down here for the second picture, John.

[00:39:58] We've got one shot at this, and we're going to do this. So we're going to take this one picture first, And then we're going to call everyone who stood up before. It's coming down here for this picture. Yeah. Okay. Is that cool? Everybody coming down? Is that all fine? Okay. Thank you, Chair Randall.

[00:40:16] Thank you, members of the Board of Supervisors. And certainly thank Tim and Leo for both of their leadership with the county organization. When I first came here in 94, you know, I saw the potential for great things in the county.

[00:40:37] And it's been true. You know, it simply has been a magical place to work. I'm certainly biased, but it is one of the best local government jobs in the nation with supportive staff, strong leaders throughout the organization, and we've had a number of incredible boards, including this one, who have served our citizens well.

[00:41:02] Plus, we have a strong first response community. We have a great budget office, finance office, procurement, internal operations, All the different agencies I've worked with over the years, it's been a pleasure to either lead you, to manage you, or to have you manage me.

[00:41:23] And it's been a tremendous ride, and I really enjoy it. And this has been a privilege and an honor. I appreciate it. Thank you.

[00:42:15] Somebody from the Sheriff's Department especially, Chief Johnson, everyone who worked for John Sandy over all these years, Ms. McClellan, everybody down here, we're going to figure this picture out. They're going to kill you. Yeah, but you don't want to do one thing. We're going to do all of it at one time. Come on down. Everyone who went on credit rating trips.

[00:42:33] Make a couple rows, maybe short people in front.

[00:44:42] Okay, we have one information item on tonight's agenda,

[00:45:26] and it is our significant items report for this time. It is being led by the sheriff's department. so would everyone who was doing that report for us please come forward good evening good evening

[00:45:49] good evening give me one second okay i need to just get get get here okay you can start when you want are you ready good afternoon chair randall vice chair brissman members of the board pleased to bring our significant incident report covering the last quarter which is january through march

[00:46:24] of 2024. i'm also joined by more members of the sheriff's office than you're probably used to seeing for these reports but that is due to the proclamations that are upcoming for National Corrections and Police Week so thank you in advance for for those in that support I know the board also reviews the packet in advance so I'm not going to go through the entire packet out of respect for time that packets available online for anybody who may be watching I will refer to page numbers as we go through for clarity the page numbers I reference will be the printed page numbers at the bottom of the page so if you're looking at a PDF document, the overall PDF pages may not match what I'm saying. So beginning on

[00:47:01] page four, please report that our overall crime rate continues to decline, which is good news. We are working very hard to keep ourselves the safest county in our area. I'll discuss some specific crime statistics in greater detail in just a few minutes, but on page four you'll see a breakout for theft of motor vehicles and thefts from motor vehicles, excuse me, and you'll see that that number is increasing. So we are on track to have higher numbers of thefts from motor vehicles this year than in previous years. Thankfully, the number of firearms stolen from vehicles is on a downward trend. So while thefts are increasing, thefts of firearms from vehicles are decreasing. We've been

[00:47:40] doing a lot to try to message out firearm safety and different community messaging to try to reduce that. We are also just messaging generally about the importance of secure firearm storage. There's section in there as well about our partnership with Project Child Safe that provides gun locks and educational materials about firearm safety. And through that partnership with Project Child Safe, we are able to provide free gun locks at all of our stations. So anyone who needs a gun lock to properly secure a firearm, they can come to any one of our stations and receive one free

[00:48:15] charge. Moving on to page five, you will see a breakout section for our statistics related to juvenile overdoses, specifically is what I want to talk about, but it includes all overdoses and opioid-related overdoses data right there. As you look at the first quarter for 2024, we are on pace to unfortunately see the numbers that we've seen in previous years across the board.

[00:48:42] However, again, some positive side of that is that the juvenile numbers are decreasing. So for the first quarter, we only had three juvenile non-fatal overdoses related to opiates. And I know the Sheriff's Office, Loudoun County Mental Health, Substance Abuse Developmental Services, Loudoun County Public Schools, the county government, there have been many, many people working very diligently to see that number decrease.

[00:49:02] And on the positive side, we have seen the number of juvenile overdoses decrease in the first quarter. One of the other things right below that section is a section that talks about frauds and scams. That's another thing that we've been doing significant messaging about. Specifically, we saw a large number of cases involving frauds tied to the judicial system.

[00:49:23] So whether it was a jury duty, someone calls you and says, you missed your jury duty, and so you need to pay money to not get arrested, or they say there's a warrant out for your arrest for something. Things related to the judicial system, we saw a large number of those frauds and scams coming in earlier this year.

[00:49:39] That has trickled off a little bit right now. however this is a a fraud pattern that we see reappear uh seems like every few months or every couple of years we kind of go in a cycle of this the overall message that we were really pushing to get out to the community is that um the the court system the sheriff's office does not accept cryptocurrency as a way to uh to get out of any tickets or warrants or anything like that um and most of those things are not done over the phone and remotely either so um so if you get a phone call. And I say that lighthearted, but it can be really scary when someone is on the phone with you saying, you know, and I've had my name used, that I'm Lieutenant Colonel Chris Sawyer with Loudoun

[00:50:18] County Sheriff's Office, and you have a warrant, and you're going to be arrested if you don't do this. That can be really scary in that moment, okay? So what we want the community to know is the best thing you can do is hang up with that number that called you, and then call us directly. You can also, if it's a jury duty scam, you can call the jury management office as well, But call us directly, and we'll be able to talk you through it.

[00:50:39] What does a jury duty scam sound like? So it basically is a play off of missing jury duty. So they'll essentially say that you have a warrant for your arrest because you missed jury duty. And that one can be scary as well because people may think, well, did I not see the notice in the mail?

[00:50:57] Did I move recently? Is there some reason why I didn't see it? I didn't know I had jury duty. It's a passive thing. It's a little different than calling and saying you committed a crime that you know you didn't commit. jury duty could be something that touches you because you just don't know what you don't know, and you don't know that maybe you missed a notification. So in related to those frauds and scams, the big message we're getting out to the community is hang up with the number that calls you, call a legitimate number, either for the courthouse or for the sheriff's office, and we'll be able to talk to you and guide you through diagnosing whether it's a real scenario

[00:51:30] or a fake scenario. Moving on to the next section, on page six is our awards and recognitions, and I'm just going to fly through this, we had our 57th and 58th CIT program graduation over the past quarter. We also graduated to Captain Rabajon Early and Second Lieutenant Dallin Foscato from the Virginia Professional Executive Leadership School. We call it PELS. That's a phenomenal program through the Virginia Police Chiefs Foundation, as well as the University of Richmond. It's a very intense and highly academic leadership school, so great kudos to them for completing that program. We also had Major Dave Hill, who I believe is sitting back behind me

[00:52:08] somewhere, complete the FBI National Academy, which is an extremely prestigious law enforcement leadership program run out of the FBI Academy in Quantico. In February, two of our crossing guards were named among Virginia's most outstanding crossing guards for 2023, and that is Courtney Markowski out at Round Hill Elementary School and Dave Becker at Emmerich Elementary School And Blue Ridge Middle School, so a huge congratulations for them out there doing really important work on a day-to-day basis in all kinds of weather.

[00:52:41] In February, we also held our annual awards of recognition ceremony, just recognizing the very dedicated and diligent work of many, many of our staff over the past year. And then I also wanted to highlight in January, we graduated five from the CHANCE program, which is Changing Habits and Nurturing Community Engagements at the Loudoun County ADC.

[00:53:02] It's a therapeutic re-entry program that was introduced by Sheriff Chapman in 2022 and works in coordination with Loudoun County Mental Health, Substance Abuse, and Developmental Services, as well as Opportunities, Alternatives, and Resources, also known as OAR. And I'm happy to report it's not in the packet, but I'm happy to report that our ADC has begun giving some of those courses to female inmates who have expressed interest in the program.

[00:53:24] And again, I wanted to thank specifically for that because that's an expansion, which means more classes and things like that. So I really wanted to thank our partners with Loudoun County Mental Health, Substance Abuse Developmental Services, and OAR for their partnership with those programs. And it's in here under the awards and recognition section because there's more of a recognition, but I'll touch on the initial incident and the follow-up on page 11.

[00:53:48] And that was the really rough crash, motorcycle crash, that Master Deputy Krapfel and Deputy First Class Brian Plogger experienced back in January on Watson Road. And, you know, so we were happy to welcome and give Master Deputy Krapfel an escort home from the hospital after he was released.

[00:54:09] But that was it was such a horrific crash. We are so thankful for his recovery. and he has just really exemplified a positive spirit through all of this. He's got to be one of the toughest people that I've seen. He actually, he came in the office on crutches, and for people who have seen his progress, I can't believe he's already up and walking on crutches, so his recovery is going really well, but he has just had an extremely tremendous and positive attitude as he's working through recovery. Moving on to page 13 is our community outreach section, and

[00:54:45] And the only thing I'm going to touch here is the reunification training exercise that we held in coordination with Loudoun County Public Schools and the Loudoun County Combined Fire Rescue System back in April. And that was the first of its kind, at least in our region, and it was an exercise simulating the aftermath of a school shooting.

[00:55:03] So we have done, and a lot of places have done, training on response to school shootings and that initial response, tactical response. However, it's after the shooting stops that starts a significant amount of everything from logistics to investigations.

[00:55:21] There's just so, so many things that come into play after that shooting stops that really takes a lot of dedicated time and effort to go through. And we're using kind of a crawl, walk, run scenario here to just start with a crawl and just say, hey, what would this look like?

[00:55:38] And this is everything from extracting students out of the school, transporting them to another school, starting the reunification process, the investigation process simultaneously, and just all the details that are involved in that. So just a huge shout out to Latin County Public Schools, Latin County Combined Fire Rescue System for their partnership through this as we work through this and continue to advance our preparedness and our capability in the worst case scenario.

[00:56:09] Moving on to page 15 starts our significant incident section. The only incident I'm going to talk about here is the unfortunate homicide we had back on Valentine's Day, February 14th of this year in Ashburn, where Makai Dandridge-Carter, a 19-year-old male from Sterling, was killed.

[00:56:29] And I just wanted to highlight and give a lot of credit to the community. The community really gave us a lot of information, was very supportive through this. And a shout out also to the detectives, the analysts, the crime scene folks that work this extremely complex investigation. Ultimately, Rashawn Owens has been charged with second degree murder, use of firearm and commission of felony, and attempted robbery with a firearm.

[00:56:54] And that whole court process and those things are ongoing. Moving on to page 18 and 19, you'll find our Community Policing Act data that is included in every report. Moving on to page 20, you'll see our countywide crime statistics. And this is what I mentioned at the beginning when I said I'd talk a little bit more in depth about some crime statistics. So just running through, and I'll kind of go top to bottom here, the aggravated assault, so the blue line right in the middle, that is on a slow but slight increase. And we've seen that trend over the past couple of

[00:57:28] years. Our forcible sex offenses are continuing to decline. Robberies and homicides are unfortunately staying fairly steady. And then when you get to property crimes, the significant one to note there is the auto theft increase. And you see that is pretty much a spike going up. And again, this is relating quarter after quarter. So 2022 had 36, 2023 had 49, and 2024 had 69 auto thefts stolen across the county. And so I want to just talk about this for a second. And there's three

[00:58:01] kind of major, I would say, categories of stolen autos. One is vulnerabilities being exploited in Hyundai and Kia models. And there were some TikTok challenges and some other information surfacing on the internet about that, that show how these vehicles can be started without a key.

[00:58:22] And so there's been quite a few crimes of opportunity where these specific vehicle models have been targeted, typically, I'll say kids in an area that are going to take them, joyride them, and then they'll get found a couple days later in a neighborhood in that area.

[00:58:40] So that's one, and that's, again, exploitation of vulnerabilities in certain Hyundai and Kia models. The second one is people who leave their keys in their vehicles, and their vehicle's unlocked. So we unfortunately see that fairly often, where people leave their key fob in their center console.

[00:58:57] This personally frustrates me because I've locked my keys in my car twice by leaving the key in the center console. So I don't understand how other people's cars unlock when they do it. But when I do it on accident, I need to call a locksmith. But in any case, just on the serious side, we do live in an extremely safe community.

[00:59:15] However, I cannot recommend that anyone leave their key fob in their car. The third category is targeting of high-end vehicles. And this has gone from, you know, certain Dodge models to we've seen some Chevy Camaros recently that are higher end, you know, models with the big engines and all that type of stuff.

[00:59:35] And those are generally out of area groups that are coming in specifically targeting those vehicles. They're doing their research to figure out where those vehicles are. They're coming in for that vehicle and then they're leaving the county. So when you combine the three of those trends, that accounts for that spike that we're seeing.

[00:59:51] We are investing in a significant amount of resources into looking at each one of these individually and trying to make sure that we are doing our best to keep these numbers down. Some simple things that people can do, if you know you have a vehicle that is more vulnerable, especially the Hyundai and Kia, and you likely know this because you would have or should have received information from Hyundai and Kia about the vulnerabilities that are being exploited, even if there isn't a specific fix you can park another vehicle behind it you can put it in your garage you can even go back to like a 1990s club device so you know something like that to put on

[01:00:30] the steering wheel that that would stop the vehicle from really being usable even if you were able to activate the engine so those are some low cost no cost things that the community can do to to prevent those vehicles from from being stolen moving on the next four pages includes station crime statistics. I'm not going to go station by station there, but they break out the crime statistics by the different geographical areas. And then you find the court services section.

[01:00:55] There's two things I wanted to highlight here. One is during the first quarter, our court services division worked really hard with the partners at the courthouse to do active violent incident training for everyone working in the courthouse. So the court complex is home to many, many different county entities, staff from different departments, county departments, state departments, things like that. And so they work to help make sure that everyone in the court complexes know what to do in the case of an active violent incident there. They also coordinated seven tours with different Loudoun County Public Schools during the quarter, doing mock trials and talking with the staff

[01:01:33] about the justice system and how the justice system works. And then the last page there is our Corrections Division, and I wanted to highlight some of the certifications that have been received by inmates at the Adult Detention Center, specifically 34 different certifications were achieved in this quarter, including VDOT flagger and different food service certifications. Nine inmates completed training on identifying adverse childhood experiences, also known as ACEs, and nine inmates completed a question, persuade, and refer suicide prevention training. So with that, that's our significant incident report. Be happy to take any questions.

[01:02:10] Wow. Okay. Before I ask my colleagues for questions, could somebody in the back who is our tech person come and come? Because my iPad's not iPad-ing. Please.

[01:02:30] Thank you. Okay. Questions. Mr. Letourneau. Thanks. So, the car theft. So, as you know, we have a significant concentration of used car dealers down in the 50 corridor. I think Mr. Hemstreet recently had a chance to visit those himself. Just incredible proliferation. Are you seeing, are any of these thefts or is any of this increase occurring at those type of establishments, vehicles getting taken off the street, that kind of thing?

[01:02:57] So, specific to those, generally auto thefts look a little bit different, and a lot of that is people presenting fake identification documents and then taking a car for a test drive and not returning it. But it's not so much that the vehicles are actually physically getting taken off of lots or on the streets or whatever.

[01:03:14] Correct. Yeah, most of our auto thefts are not off of lots. We have seen a couple of the high-end cars go off of car dealership lots in the county, but not to what you're talking about. Generally speaking, the auto thefts that we see there are related to basically straight-out fraud. So the ones that are occurring, they're typically just residential neighborhoods.

[01:03:32] Are they usually overnight or are they during daylight hours? They're generally overnight. And I say kids. You know, a lot of it is the kids that go through and pull on corridor handles to find unlocked ones will also find either key fobs in there or, again, are looking at – and they know the vulnerability on the Hyundai and Kia models, and they exploit that.

[01:03:51] Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Ms. Glass. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you for the presentation. I'm continuing to ask about crime in or near the communities closest to the metro stations.

[01:04:08] Has there been an increase in crime in those communities that can be directly attributed to the metro stations? So directly attributed to the metro station, I would say no. So when you look at crime in Loudoun Station areas, so specifically we talk about Ashburn and the area surrounding the metro, what we've seen is we've seen multiple variables changing.

[01:04:32] And any time you have multiple variables change, it's hard to pinpoint which one it is. For example, the apartment complexes that have been built there and the townhouse communities that are just on the opposite side of the Greenway have driven population in that area significantly. When we look at crime trend data for 2023, 2024, as opposed to pre-metro, then you run into the COVID years, which were a little bit off, but even before that, then you didn't have the residences and the businesses that were available there.

[01:05:03] Specifically to tie crime of metro to an increase in that area is difficult. Have we had metro-related crime? sure. But to the level that other jurisdictions have have reported post opening a metro station, I would say no. And I give a I give a huge, you know, shout out to the station commander there, Captain Castell, who has worked extremely diligently, even before the metro opened to create the partnerships with the business community and the residential communities there to ensure that they've got, you know, security cameras, you know, that they're that they have security guards that they are doing their you know their property checks and all the things

[01:05:42] that are there so i've also heard that um the sheriff's office meets with com stack com stock and park x um to discuss matters regarding regarding the ashburn metro station um i i would like for my office to be a part of that so if um someone could contact my office regarding when you all have those that would really yes absolutely so i'll pass it on to captain castell he's the one that holds those meetings and they have been phenomenal partners of ours in that area.

[01:06:10] And I also want to thank you all for the work that you do and, you know, keeping our citizens safe, citizens safe. And I also want to thank your staff for calling me when significant issues occur in my district and also coming to different HOA meetings that I have to speak to the community about what's going around in their neighborhood.

[01:06:35] Thank you. Absolutely. Mr. Turner. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thanks, Colonel Sawyer, for your presentation. On page 18, I'm just curious, what are the factors that trigger a search? Sure. So there are several. So in this quarter, we had 44 vehicles searched.

[01:06:57] There can be multiple things, specifically the arrest or towing of a vehicle. So that information is included here that is considered a search for these purposes. Or it could be probable cause. So if a deputy walks up on a vehicle and they look in and they see, you know, something that they believe to be illegal that's probable cause, they can search there.

[01:07:17] They can also search based on consent where they ask the driver if, you know, if they would consent to have their vehicle searched. So those are the primary buckets. In this data set, 26 of the 44 searches that are listed here were consent searches.

[01:07:33] The remainder were related to either inventorying the vehicle based on the vehicle being towed, the owner arrested for an outstanding warrant or something like that, or a probable call search where something was in plain view that was illegal. Great. Thank you. Mr. Crony.

[01:07:50] Thank you, Chair Randall, and thank you for this information. It was very informative. I had the pleasure of doing a ride-along with 2nd Lieutenant Kevin Tucker, and we talked a lot about mental health and some of the calls that are very challenging that your deputies experience.

[01:08:11] And I saw that you graduated a few crisis intervention civilian, I guess, in the training program. I'm wondering, do they patrol with the deputies on these calls to help de-escalate?

[01:08:28] Sure. So we are currently partnering with Loudoun County Mental Health, Substance Abuse, and Developmental Services to roll out the co-responder program, and that's been an initiative of the board as well. So thank you for your support for that program, where we will, as of July 1, we'll be starting the co-responder program officially, where we have a clinician in a vehicle with a law enforcement officers so we can both provide the scene security and the the uh you know the the mental health resources and services that we can there that's wonderful will that be 24 7 or just during the day it will not so uh so we are currently uh funded to have three teams um and we are

[01:09:04] looking at the hours of 1 p.m to 9 p.m on monday through friday which is when you look at the data that is our highest call volume time frame of calls related to, you know, people that are in mental crisis, or there's some underlying mental health concern that's there. And I mean, for context on that, we run thousands of calls that have a mental health nexus every year. It's difficult to quantify, you know, specifically every single one, but we're upwards of 3,000 calls.

[01:09:37] So close to 10 calls per day that have some sort of mental health component to them. Okay, and please come back if you need weekend, like if you need resources for the weekend. Because I would think you'd get calls on the weekend as well. Yes, so our goal is to, you know, kind of like I said before, crawl, walk, run.

[01:09:55] We are starting small, and then we're going to build off of that, and there will be some resource requests in future fiscal years related to that. Okay, thank you so much. Thank you. Ms. Bricksman? Thank you, Madam Chair. thank you good to see you guys um congratulations major hill on your um successes and and progressing your career we miss you in algonkian district i'm sure you don't miss some of our meetings but we miss you um i thank you so much for uh working with project child safe um i think this is the first time i've seen this in one of the updates i don't know if it came out of our last discussion

[01:10:33] about perhaps working with BeSmart, but I still would encourage you, please, to get in touch with them if you haven't, because I see who the sponsors are, Project Child Safe, and the BeSmart people are coming from a little bit of a different angle in that they train parents to help keep kids safe from guns. So it does include the locks and safe storage and those sorts of things, but what I see missing, and I just did a quick scan of their stuff on the web, and they don't seem to have

[01:11:09] some of the features that Be Smart has as far as training parents. I'd really like to see that happen maybe at your quarterly meetings, or maybe the SROs could work with Be Smart to offer the trainings in the schools. I think that would be very, very helpful, but I think this is a great first step, so I appreciate that. Have you been able to get in touch with them? So I did look at them. So this was on the heels of that conversation. We've been partnered with Project Child Safe for a long time. But one of the things when I looked at the Be Smart program was I said, hey, this is very similar. There are some differences, but it's a very similar program. And if the board doesn't know that we're partnered with Project Child Safe, then the community probably

[01:11:47] doesn't know that we've been partnered with them for a long time. And so we did a concerted effort to push that back out. We've been partnered with them for a long time. But if that message is not getting out, then we need to make sure that we're Well, I'm sure the message will be getting out, but it's the parental training kind of thing that I see missing.

[01:12:03] Yeah, there's a lot of great organizations that are working in this space to provide resources and education to the community. Be Smart's one of them. Okay. How successful has the drug scan program been going in LCPS with the dogs? So I would say it's been very successful.

[01:12:19] Is it over? So we have completed a scan in all 19 high schools. Okay, okay, that's good to hear. yes so me we can respect expect maybe some data coming out of that at some point so we are not going to release data publicly as to what we found or did not find the ultimate goal of the program is deterrence we want we want people to think about you know it's not it's not to you know result in you know charging kids with drugs or things like that right okay the goal is for people to just think about what do you bring into school and so whether we release you know positive information as far as you know we had we had positive alerts from a dog so we did find sorry

[01:12:55] i'm gonna run out of time i just want to ask one more question uh as far as you say crime is down in general but what about in our schools and specifically our elementary schools have you seen crime going up in our elementary schools have you seen more fights in our elementary schools or anything to indicate that we truly need sros in our elementary schools um so specific data related to crime in schools i don't have that with me here okay um the the discussion about sros in elementary schools obviously that you know sheriff chapman put a release out last week you know advocating for um you know adding sros to elementary schools which is a a general school

[01:13:31] safety initiative um crime in elementary schools is not a um is not a significant thing that we would expect to certainly hope to see in elementary schools but sros do a lot more than criminal law enforcement inside the schools partnering with school administration to keep the school holistically safe we do see threats and we do see a you know a lot of um you know say other instances where having an sro present in elementary school could be a really valuable thing our goal with that release is essentially to to start the discussion or say reinvigorate the discussion because it has come up before um you know specifically that you know sheriff advocated it for in 2019 so that the

[01:14:10] topic has come up before but really to reinvigorate the discussion with with latin kind of public schools with the Board of Supervisors as to what does this look like and what would be the best fit for Loudoun County thank you thank you so I think you all know my affinity for for officers who are in the jail for Corrections officers I've seen Corrections officers good Corrections officers can change someone's life when they're in the jail what you all are doing in the jail which your chance program is absolutely phenomenal more recognition therapy seeking safety

[01:14:43] are both evidence-based programs a more recognition program in the jail setting is that's just amazing that you all are doing that in the jail so it's a hard program to do it's a hard program to and and i i i guess you have to have a fairly small caseloads to do those with and so whoever is doing that in the jail thank you so major kim hallway who's sitting behind me somewhere okay okay i mean absolutely phenomenal phenomenal work i mean that it really is and seeking safety is an interesting program you know and i have been hearing for for a long time that the some of the female inmates

[01:15:20] didn't feel like they were getting as not as as much um opportunities for classes and other things as the male inmates and you and i talked about that so i'm also really happy to hear that some of that has changed and that the female inmates are getting um more um more services as well and i know I understand why. I do still hear from different groups, Loudon Coalition Women and Girls being one of them, hearing that it is hard to get into the jail to do some of these therapy programs, to be processed in, to do all the things. What should I tell them?

[01:15:56] Who should I redirect them to? How can people who want to get into the jail to help with programming, especially for females, how do I go about helping them do that? Sure. So you can reach out to Lieutenant Colonel Moser. I know how to get a hold of you. Yep. I do.

[01:16:12] I know how to get a hold of you. That's easy to do. Can I make the assumption that people who are in the CHANCE program are people who are, I almost said short timers, but people who have limited time to be incarcerated and they probably are not going to be pulled downstate?

[01:16:28] I would say there's a little bit of both. Really? Yeah. So our goal with the CHANCE program is to provide resources and education to people who are interested. So there could be some individuals in the CHANCE program who have, say, a little bit longer stay. They could have stay time?

[01:16:44] You know, I'm not the expert on that, but I'll pass that to Lieutenant Colonel Moser. Yeah, it's a combination of both. You could have some that would be state responsible inmates, but they may be serving their time here. The idea is that they would be prepared if they're on release. Absolutely. That they would be... Absolutely, absolutely.

[01:17:00] That's, yeah, but, yeah, I understand that. I understand that. Do we have a lot of state responsible inmates in our jails right now? - So the number of state responsible inmates is probably gonna be at about the 30% range. I'd have to double check that, but there was a recent increase that I was just made aware of.

[01:17:18] - All right, all right, okay. Well, these programs are so important for this issue, so we're gonna do a resolution in just a little while for our officers who serve our clients and inmates in the jails. And so I look forward to that resolution.

[01:17:34] Thank you very much. You all are doing great work. I can do one quick alibi because I forgot to say it. Thank you to Supervisor Turner and Supervisor Sains, who's not here tonight. They attended our quarterly meetings that we held over the past couple of weeks, and we definitely appreciate that. Wonderful. Thank you.

[01:17:49] Thank you all. All right. Supervisors, it's not quite time to do proclamations yet. But is Mr. Myers here yet? He is here. Okay, we're going to go on and do that item. We may be able to kick that out before we get to 530.

[01:18:05] So if everyone would turn, and if everyone, is staff in the room, Mr. Hemstreet, for the tentative collection bargaining agreement item? Okay, would staff please come to the table? Mr. Myers, would you please join our staff at the table, please? It's item number four.

[01:18:23] Is that everybody? I think we have more coming to the table, more staff, if I'm not mistaken.

[01:18:47] Isn't there more? Isn't there somebody else? No, we can wait. It's fine. It's fine. I think we're looking for Mr. Sherwood. Don't know where he is at the point.

[01:19:05] Well, you know, I mean, I caught you guys kind of unexpected, so I'll give you to people who are watching TV and then they're racing down the stairs. I know that. I'm going to give you just a second for people to race down the stairs. Just we can hold on for a second. I know, but if we can go early, why not?

[01:19:25] And we have a whole boatload of presentations on proclamations, so we have like five. Are they all here? Well, we started there.

[01:19:41] Well, I don't know if they're all here because I told them 530. Actually, our rules are more. What's wrong with your voice? Oops, I'm sorry. Madam Chair.

[01:20:03] Yes, sir. I just wanted to let you know that I did text Mr. Sherwood, who is on his way down, and Missy Spring is here as well, so if you want to begin this item. We can start with the presentation. You could. Okay, let's do that. Thank you. We have a presentation. It's just six slides. We're ready when you are.

[01:20:21] Thank you. Good afternoon, members of the board. I'm Rebecca Bofinger. I'm the Labor Relations Manager with the Department of Human Resources. Rebecca, would you put the mic a little closer to you, please? Thank you. Is that better? That is better. Okay, thank you. I'm here today with Jeanette Green, Chief Human Resources Officer, and Mr. Sherwood, who will be coming down shortly from the County Attorney's Office.

[01:20:43] We also have Megan Burke available by Webex. The item before you is regarding the ratification of the tentative collective bargaining agreement between the county of loudon and the international association of firefighters local 3756 i have a brief presentation prepared to provide some background and summarize the fiscal provisions of the agreement sure so as you know the code of virginia was amended effective may 1st 2021 to remove the prohibition against collective bargaining for public employees later that year

[01:21:18] in December, the Board of Supervisors adopted Chapter 259 of the codified ordinances of Loudoun County. On May 12, 2022, IFF Local 3756 filed a petition seeking recognition as the exclusive bargaining agent for the Fire and Rescue Bargaining Unit. The Interim Labor Relations Administrator, or LRA, determined that IFF met the showing of interest requirement of at least 30% of employees in the bargaining unit and a secret ballot election was held on september 15 2022

[01:21:53] iff was certified as the exclusive bargaining agent of the fire and rescue bargaining unit a few months later in december of 2022 iff submitted a request to bargain during the period of february 2023 through february 2024 the county bargaining team and the iaff bargaining team met for a total of 30 bargaining sessions in february 2022 the parties participated in two days mediation resolving all remaining proposals during this period the board was frequently updated on the

[01:22:28] status of negotiations during closed session and provided guidance to the county's bargaining team on proposals on april 25th 2024 iff informed the county that the local ratified the tentative collective bargaining agreement. Out of 247 votes cast, 210 or approximately 86 percent of the bargaining unit employees voted in favor of ratifying the tentative CBA. The tentative CBA contains the following fiscal provisions. The costs are shown by fiscal year as the cumulative

[01:23:04] increase above the pre-contract baseline, which means the status quo of pay benefits and other provisions in effect as of FY 24. Costs for specific fiscal provisions related to the implementation of a union leave bank in FY 25 and increased annual leave accrual rates beginning in FY 26 will be absorbed within the department's existing overtime budget and these items do not appear in the table. Briefly to summarize compensation on the first line for FY 25 this contemplates a 9.4% increase to the uniform salary scale plus a step

[01:23:44] increase average of 3% for uniform personnel for a total average uniform pay increase of 12.4% for civilians this would grant a 7% merit increase this item is funded in the FY25 adopted budget for FY26 and FY27 respectively a two and a half percent increase to the uniform salary scale plus a step increase average of three percent for uniform personnel for a total average uniform pay increase of five and a half percent civilian employees would receive a five and a half percent increase in each fiscal year this figure also

[01:24:23] includes revised eyes for stipends and specialty pay effective in FY25 for example implementation of new stipends and additional levels of EMS advanced life support specialty pay. The tentative CBA also adds a union representative FTE beginning in FY25 to oversee union business, represent the union in various committees and proceedings, and to serve as the county's main point of contact for official matters. Additional fiscal items include

[01:24:59] increasing the accrued annual leave cap from 364 hours to 400 hours beginning in FY25, and beginning in FY26, an increase of the county's match the employees' contributions to their 457B deferred comp plan from the current $20 per pay period to the greater of $20 per pay period or 1% of salary, and that is capped at $1,000 per year.

[01:25:29] In total, the estimated fiscal impact for the tentative CBA is $11.1 million in FY25, $15.7 million in FY26, and $20.3 million in FY27 for a three-year cumulative cost of $47,204,000.

[01:25:49] Again, this is the cumulative cost above the pre-contract baseline. This concludes the presentation, and at this time, we're happy to answer any questions you may have. Thank you. Supervisors, if anybody needs to ask questions outside of the motion, otherwise I'll make a motion.

[01:26:06] Everybody good with that? Then I'm going to make a motion. I move the Board of Supervisors ratify the tentative collective bargaining agreement between the International Association of Firefighters Local 3756 in Loudoun County, Virginia, as reflected in Attachment 1 to the May 7, 2024 Board of Supervisors Business Meeting Action Item with non-fiscal provisions to be effective immediately and fiscal provisions effective for the period of July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2027.

[01:26:41] By approving this motion, the board hereby expresses its good faith commitment to appropriate the funding necessary for the county to meet its obligations under the collective bargaining agreement with IAFF Local 3756, with the understanding that all funding remains subject to annual appropriations and is contingent upon budget adoption as the board exercises its plenary authority to determine the budget following extensive budget hearings and further that each fiscal year financial commitments are subject to and contingent on appropriations by the board for that fiscal year.

[01:27:21] Second. I wish Mr. Sains was here. I think he deserves the second, actually. But the vice chair said it first. I'm going to give it to the vice chair. I don't know when I've been happier and prouder to make a motion.

[01:27:43] If I were a crier, and I just might, I would be crying right now. Our employees, every one of them, our employees are every bit the public servants that this board is, if not more.

[01:28:02] And I know there was a time in Loudoun County, and it was a while back, but there was a time in Loudoun County that our firefighters were paid so little that Prince William County didn't even do a fire training school because they knew that after the firefighters graduate from Loudoun, they could graduate from our fire training school and they could hire them in Prince William County.

[01:28:28] That was a long time back, but that was actually true. The amount of money it costs to retrain a first responder because they find that it is more profitable to go to Fairfax County, Arlington, Alexandria, D.C. to work, you lose money.

[01:28:46] but you also lose the expertise that we have. We have a very young fire department for a reason, and one reason is because we've lost in the past so many of our senior firefighters.

[01:29:03] I don't normally say political things on this dais, but I'm going to right now. When people are running for office, one of the endorsements that people seek to have, want to have, talk about when they get it put it on the website brag about it put it on the commercials put it on the page it's the endorsement of the firefighters yet elected officials and i'm not talking about this board in general but just elected officials then do not give our first responders and in this moment our firefighters what they are required to have um there is no reason a firefighter should

[01:29:41] not be able to live in Loudoun County because they are not making enough money to live in the county that they serve, which is the issue. Right now, 26% of our firefighters can live here. 26% of our career firefighters can live here because they can't afford to live here. That is a travesty and a shame. We cannot talk about, continually talk about supporting our first responders. If we don't find out all the different ways to support our first responders, yes, we can say thank you to them, but we also have to pay them. We have to give them the ability to go home

[01:30:19] when they need to go home and take care of their families. We have to give them the mental health support that they may need because it's a hard job to do. So in every possible way, I am thrilled and honored to make this motion. Anybody else?

[01:30:44] I'm about to call on Ms. Brixman, so Ms. I am, because once I do that, I'm not going back. I'm not. I don't. Ms. Glass? Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm also happy for this day, and I'm really proud to be a part of this to support our firefighters. As you said, they do work hard, and I do plan on supporting them, and just thank you all for what you do. We really appreciate you. Thank you. Mr. Turner. Thank you, Madam Chair. I want

[01:31:21] to express my appreciation for all the hard work that the firefighter community has done on this project. I put a lot of time into this project from the beginning, a lot of time, and tough conversations, and all really productive. You guys were the first ones out of the shoot, and I think you're a wonderful exemplar for discussions like this going forward in the county. So thank you very much. Mr. Letourneau. Thank you, Madam Chair. I will support the motion this evening.

[01:31:54] Obviously, I've had my own point of view about this general topic, and I would certainly like to think that we could have gotten here in an alternative way. But at this point in time, that's over. Board made the decision. Board had, county had, and the firefighters union had, fair and reasonable and productive negotiation and so what we're voting on tonight is the product of that negotiation and that's what i need to evaluate um certainly um i agree with the sentiment my

[01:32:28] colleagues about the uh importance of of supporting paying and also providing all kinds of different support for our first responders uh which this agreement does uh so i will vote in favor thank - Thank you, Ms. Umstead.

[01:32:46] - Thank you, Madam Chair. I will very happily support this. I wanna thank the firefighters and IAFF in particular for all the hard work that they put into this and for the hard work they do for the community every day.

[01:33:06] So congratulations. It seems like it's been a long time coming, but hopefully this will help you achieve a good rate of compensation and benefits and help us keep all your well-trained firefighters in this county, thank you.

[01:33:28] - Ms. Tacroni. - Thank you, Chair Randall, and thank you, Mr. Meyer. I think, you know, I'm very, very pleased about supporting this, 12.4% increased pay.

[01:33:45] I'm happy to pay our first responders. In fact, I agree very much with Chair Randall that I believe our firefighters should live in Loudoun County and we should find a way to make that possible.

[01:34:02] Because you give so much to the community And you helped so much that I really feel that we should be taking care of you. And I thank you so much for your service. And please feel free to reach out. I'm happy to help in any way I can.

[01:34:19] Thank you. Mr. Kirshner. Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, I'm going to support the motion tonight. And I'm really happy for the firefighters themselves. Obviously, I have ongoing concerns with the collective bargaining process. I think there's a lot of work that goes into this. Most of you don't know, but I was one of the elite attorneys on the first collective bargaining contract for the police department ever done in Virginia a few years ago and have done several since, and I know how much work goes into this.

[01:34:45] And on both sides, when you sit down at the table and you go through a lot of this, both the county and the firefighters and any other union that's working, it's a lot of work. It's a lot to go through. I've seen it inside. I've seen it outside. I've seen it in closed sessions, so I've seen it in a lot of different ways.

[01:35:02] And I'm glad we've come to a really good resolution. I would like to say that I think every one of us up here speaks that we want to make sure that we take care of all of our first responders, both our police officers as well as our firefighters and any and all of those.

[01:35:20] And certainly that means to pay. I know we had done a number of class and comp studies and really continue to seek to remain competitive. Both sides, I think, believe this is definitely competitive with our surrounding jurisdictions. So I'm certainly happy to support the final contract that was resolved throughout this process.

[01:35:37] So thank you, Madam Chair. Ms. Brooksman? Wow. This is really a momentous night here in Loudoun County. We are making history right now. This is the first ever collective bargaining contract in Loudoun County with our firefighters coming through first.

[01:36:02] Congratulations, Madam Chair. I know this is something that you've been fighting for for a really long time, and I'm really proud to be part of it. I'm proud of our staff. I'm proud of our board. I'm especially proud of our firefighters to getting to an agreement without too much consternation.

[01:36:20] I learned a lot through the process, and I look forward to learning more. I'm proud that our firefighters are now going to have a seat at the table, hopefully for the rest of time to negotiate their pay benefits and working conditions and I you guys are setting an example for our county employees coming through next so thank you for that really proud of you guys really proud of the county right now I also want to say

[01:36:55] that I know that this is the beginning of the conversation we do have this was a this was a compromise and we do have more work to do and we'll be at the table again hopefully not before three years but we will be at the table in three years to talk about some other things i know that you know some of the retirement groups were a little bit of an issue so those are some things that we still need to be working on but right now we should be celebrating we're making history right now in loudon county and i really want to thank all of my colleagues for supporting this Thank you, Madam Chair.

[01:37:29] Thank you. I don't remember, and I'm going to give you the last word, Mr. Myers, before we leave. I don't remember the date, when we did the ordinance, but Mr. Turner and I walked into a room with staff, SEIU and firefighters, on a Saturday morning at 9.

[01:37:52] And we walked out of that room at, what time did we walk out of that room? It was about 15 and a half hours later, whatever the matter is. About 15 and a half hours later. And I said that day, I said that day, we are not walking out of here until this is done.

[01:38:08] And I remember after about eight hours, somebody looked at me and said, how are we going to start wrapping this up? And I'm like, we're not walking out of here until this is done. And we walked out of that room with an ordinance that day. Yeah.

[01:38:25] My gosh. My gosh. I want to leave my last minute and a half to Mr. Myers, who is the president of IAFF, to say what you think you want to say or need to say to represent IAFF.

[01:38:42] But my hands are almost trembling right now. I almost can't believe we're here. It feels like it's been forever, and you all have been. You just deserve it. You just deserve it.

[01:38:58] So you get the last word, sir. thank you very much this is a historic day a day that took a lot of blood sweat and tears to get to almost three years ago local 3076 was here with the board of supervisors and they passed one of the first collective bargaining ordinance in the commonwealth virginia granting our public sector employees a seat at the table where decisions that impact their lives are made during the board of supervisors collective bargaining ordinance vote local 376 and most of our elected officials reiterated how the passing of the collective bargaining ordinance was not just a benefit for the county employees but by allowing the directly impacted workers to have a say regarding their pay benefits and operations and working conditions of their fire

[01:39:37] department it will also benefit the entire lounge community i believe this agreement does just that it improves the salary and benefits our members to help with employee retention it improves the county's ability to be competitive in our regional labor market and ensure the department will continue to thrive and grow as the community grows and thrives itself these changes will help us ensure that we as a department are staffed in such capacity that allows us to provide high quality equitable emergency response services without putting any apparatus or units out of service due to short staffing get to this point it took a lot of work and i specifically want to thank the members of the last board of supervisors who passed this ordinance without them being

[01:40:13] granted the right to negotiate over these issues we would not even be here today i would also like to thank our our team our collective bargaining team chair john cruchette nick krakowski rob leaper jeremy mader and lauren parker though i'm only one speaking today our entire bargaining team put countless hours of research preparation into this article writing with negotiations on top of already working 40 years of work a week for the department and thank you to the families of our negotiating team that made so many sacrifices to this process so the team could have the time to advocate for its memberships i'd also like to thank my wife kim and our kids jp nelly i know

[01:40:49] personally over the last couple years i've spent thousands of hours away missing birthdays anniversaries, and even time on the couch. Lastly, I'd like to thank the members of the Loudoun County community. Throughout the years, the members of our community have always stood by our side as we pushed for a more equitable department. Without the voices of our community members, none of this would have happened today. We cannot express how grateful we are to serve a community that publicly expresses their support for our first responders. I believe this contract is a solid step building upon a growing labor management relationship between the workforce and the County. It provides a framework that ensures both management and labor will prioritize the values

[01:41:28] of Loudoun County community and will change the tide how workers are treated, received, and valued. In closing, I'll leave you the following from Martin Luther King Jr. History is a great teacher. Now, everyone knows the labor movement did not diminish the strength of the nation, but enlarged it. By raising the living standards of millions, labor miraculously created a market for industry that lifted the whole nation to undreamed levels of protection. Those who attack labor. Forget these simple truths, but history remembers them. Thank you. Supervisor, if you allow me 30 more seconds, what I have forgotten to do is thank the county staff who's been working

[01:42:02] on this for a very long time. All of our attorneys, Mr. Sherwood, where did Missy go? There she is. Thank you very much, Mr. Rogers, Ms. Green. You all have spent, you know, they weren't in the room by themselves. You were in there with them. And this would not have happened if that had not happened. And I want to say, people don't always know how often Mr. Hempstreet, who doesn't ever give opinions on these things, because he's not supposed to, but he gives helpful

[01:42:41] guidance and advice when he needs to, to whomever has asked for it. Mr. Hempstreet, you haven't given an opinion on what you feel about this, and that's correct, but you have given and the board help and the staff help when they needed it.

[01:42:56] So I appreciate you very much. And Mr. Sains is not here, but you know how he feels. All right. Supervisors, I'm going to do a roll call vote. I'm going to do a roll call vote. All in favor, you're going to say aye on a roll call vote.

[01:43:13] Ms. Umstead. Aye. Mr. Kirshner. Aye. Mr. Letourneau. Aye. Ms. Glass. Aye. Mr. Turner. Aye. Mr. Crony. Aye. Vice Chair Bricksman. Aye. And I am an I as well. That will pass 801.

[01:43:31] Not clapping. We're not breaking rules. We are jazz-handing. Still not clapping. Thank you very much. Okay, we are at 530, so we can go on and do a whole lot of proclamations that we have here.

[01:43:49] And I'm not actually even sure who all the proclamations are from, to be quite honest. I'm not. I'm not. So let me try to figure that out. Let's see. I think I'm going to do the proclamations for the National Corrections Officers and the National Police Week first.

[01:44:20] So for the proclamations for National Corrections Officer and the proclamation for National Police Week, I'm going to ask Mr. Turner, if you join me down front.

[01:44:50] But everybody, for National Corrections Officers Week, please join me down front.

[01:45:18] Officers, National Corrections Officers Week. Hello, hello. You can go on either side. You can go on either, both sides. You're fine, you're fine. You're fine, you're fine, you're fine, you're fine. One few more on this side, on the other side. So before I ran for chair of the county by profession, I'm a mental health therapist, and I worked my entire career with offender populations in jails and prisons.

[01:45:46] And so when I say I understand how hard your job is, I understand how hard your job is. I'm also a past chair of the State Board of Corrections. And so a lot of the, I will say, as chair of State Board of Corrections, every jail has to send in all their numbers.

[01:46:05] And, you know, when you're chair of something like that, but you live in the county, you always go to your county first to see how you're doing. And I will tell you, Loudoun County did great every single month, except every month we left out how many showers we had.

[01:46:21] I don't know why, but we always left that out of the report. But our numbers were always so good. And so I know for a fact, I know for a fact before I ever became chair of the county, how well we do in our jail and how much you all put into this job. So it is my great honor to read this proclamation.

[01:46:39] All right. Whereas, Loudoun County Sheriff's Office correctional deputies are responsible for supervising inmate conduct and behavior within the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center and to avoid conflicts and escapes. And whereas correctional deputies are well trained and dedicated to promoting positive behaviors and outcomes, which play a critical role in preparing inmates for successful assimilation back into the community and improve their post-release success.

[01:47:11] And whereas Correctional Deputies strive to maintain a safe working and living environment, often in the face of significant challenges and dangers. And whereas National Correction Officers Week was first proclaimed on May 5th of 1984 by President Ronald Reagan to recognize the men and women who work in jails, prisons, and community corrections across the country.

[01:47:40] And whereas Correctional Officers Week offers an opportunity to acknowledge and honor Loudoun's correctional deputies for their vital contributions they make each day for the sacrifices they make to protect the citizens of Loudoun County.

[01:47:56] Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors does hereby proclaim May 5th through 11th, 2024, as National Corrections Officers Week. Wonderful. Thank you. All right.

[01:48:12] Who is speaking on behalf of you? Yes, ma'am. Chair Randall and Representative Turner, all the other representatives that are present today on behalf of the men and women corrections professionals, I want to say thank you.

[01:48:28] As you know, this is not a profession where our children grow up saying, I want to be a corrections officer, right? This is a profession that many of us just find ourselves in. And some work for a few years and move on to other things. But those that choose to stay in the corrections field, it's a true commitment.

[01:48:48] It's a commitment and it's a calling. You know, this job has evolved over the years and the demands are different. Technology, the inmates are different. The expectations of these officers are different.

[01:49:05] You know, I have before me today, I have supervisors, I have instructors, I have training officers, I have technology specialists, I have crisis intervention specialists. All of these officers are trained in crisis intervention.

[01:49:23] They do a hard job. They spend the majority of a 12-hour shift working with these inmates. They are these inmates' first line of communication. These deputies are why we are able to do the programs that we've been doing.

[01:49:39] And I want to say thank you to them and their dedication in everything they do. And thank you to you. Absolutely. You know what, though? There are little children who say they want to grow up and help people, and that's exactly what they're doing here. I have seen corrections officers change an inmate's life.

[01:49:58] No kidding, have. Sit down with them, talk to them, mentor them inside the jail that they did not get outside of that jail. I've watched that happen. I've watched that happen. So thank you all. Does anyone else want to say you guys good? I'm going to take a picture. Okay, you're going to hold that.

[01:50:14] You're going to step in front of me because.

[01:50:18] How are you?

[01:52:14] Good to see you. Sure. You know what? It's weird not to have. Yes. Isn't it? Yes. Isn't it? I mean, she's, but she's actually gone now.

[01:52:30] Gone, right? Yeah, she is. She is.

[01:52:40] Leansburg, too. There you go. No, we'll move you when it's time. Okay. Okay. This is great. Good looking people work in Loudoun County.

[01:52:57] You know that? We are. We are good. he says thank you okay you guys ready ready yes okay so wait a minute we have persevere persevere raise your hand there we go we have leesburg leesburg raise your hand meadowberg raise your hand okay loudon county raise your hand there we go that's it right who i would have missed state police raise your hand there you go thank you very much nova never virginia community college raise your okay how about oh he should be up here

[01:53:32] How about the NY? Does NY have a police department? That's what I thought. Okay. Well, we're going to just say thank you to them, too. How's that sound? All right. Are we ready? Oh, hello. How's it going? Very good. You're at the training academy now, right? There you go. Okay. Okay.

[01:53:59] proclamation for national police week and police officers memorial day whereas in 1962 president john f kennedy signed the first proclamation recognizing may 15th as police officers memorial day and the week in which it falls as national police week to pay tribute to the law enforcement officers who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country and to voice our appreciations for those who currently serve on the front lines and battle against crime, and whereas law enforcement officers in Loudoun County report for duty every day

[01:54:38] with the knowledge of the dangers they may face and the sacrifices they may be called upon to make to safeguard the public and enforce the laws of the Commonwealth, And whereas we reflect upon the enduring commitment and valor of our state and local law enforcement officers as their commitment to maintain law and order in our community, ensuring the safety and well-being of the residents of Loudoun County.

[01:55:09] And whereas it is vital that we pay tribute to the law enforcement officers who have fallen in the line of duty and recognize their sacrifices as well as the hardships and loss suffered by the families of those fallen officers.

[01:55:30] And whereas National Police Week and Police Officers Memorial Day are opportunities to honor the officers who have fallen in the line of duty, recognize the sacrifices made by the families of those officers and the families of those who continue to protect and serve the residents of Loudoun County.

[01:55:49] Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors does hereby proclaim May 12th through 18th, 2024 as National Police Week and Police Officers Memorial Day.

[01:56:14] Thank you. No problem. So thank you. National Police Week, Peace Officer Memorial Day, these are somber times in the law enforcement community where we reflect on those nationwide and even across the globe that have lost their lives for safety, for public safety, for law enforcement. This year has not had a good start to it. There's been 56 law enforcement officers across the country who've lost their lives in the line of duty. And that's, it's up, you know, over 10%, I think it's about 12% up

[01:56:52] this year so far. So it's a somber reminder about the dangers of what we do. And the men and women who are out there putting their lives on the line for the public every single day. It's a difficult job. But the law enforcement that we have in our area, in our region is phenomenal. The services that are provided here by all of the jurisdictions that are represented here is just absolutely phenomenal of the sacrifices that they make the sacrifices their families make for them to you know to be here i'm sure there's people missing family events to stand here right now so it just

[01:57:29] the the commitment the ongoing commitment to safety to law enforcement is it's awesome that we're just taking the time to really thank everybody and to be mindful and and you know pay respects give honor to those who have fallen so thank you so much for this thank you i'd like to have somebody from each jurisdiction speak i think you are you the only person here from who's from leesburg you're from leesburg yes thank you just on behalf of the whole police department in leesburg and chief pernott we're very grateful to be here to be invited to this and we always appreciate the community support so just a big thank you from us to everybody in

[01:58:06] loudon county so thank you very much thank you very much i'd like to echo those words and thank everybody for having us here today and i'd like to take a moment to reflect and pause and remember the 23 000 names that are engraved on the wall in the law enforcement memorial because that's really what it's all about we're often called heroes for serving in law enforcement but the real heroes are the ones who can't be with us today so thank you again for the recognition and please remember those who can't be with us sure i had no idea

[01:58:39] I would like to just echo the same words everyone else has said. I'm thankful for the invite here today, and I'm also thankful for all the partnerships that we have with the different agencies that are represented here today.

[01:58:55] And like we said before, it's this time to honor those who paid the price for us to be here today. Thank you. First of all, good evening, everyone.

[01:59:15] I want to first pay homage to those who have fallen in the line of duty. Each year, we gather during this week to pay homage to those. It is definitely a somber time. I think I heard somebody use that reference before. So it's not a time to celebrate.

[01:59:32] It's a time to reflect on those who paid the ultimate sacrifice. I want to thank the folks that are up here today because they come every single day to serve the public. They do so selflessly, and they don't get thanks for it. So thank you, Chair Randall.

[01:59:48] Thank you, Board of Supervisors, for the invite. Lieutenant Colonel Moser, thank you for the invite because I'm out the game now. So I carry a retirement badge. But to be a part of this really warms my heart. And thank you all for coming out. We appreciate you. The only, Mr. Certainton, do you want to say anything?

[02:00:12] I used to fly our rescue way, way, way long ago. And the motto of the Air Rescue Service was that others may live. And the first part of that was we risk our lives that others may live. Every day when these men and women get out of bed and say goodbye to their families that day, they don't know for sure that they're going to come back that day.

[02:00:32] Of course, that's true of everybody. But the level of risk that that this group of individuals face every day in their lives for us, for our community, is profound and enduring and to be venerated and honored and respected in perpetuity.

[02:00:50] This is a somber and important moment in our society. It's take the moment and the day and the week to recognize the sacrifice and the service of our men and women in law enforcement. So congratulations to all of you for the work that you do and the contributions you make to our community.

[02:01:10] And I ask the officer to my right, 22,000 people on that memorial. That's a staggering number if you think about it. So reflect on the service that these people give to our community and honor them every day.

[02:01:26] Thank you. Nova, would you like to speak? Where's Nova? Yes. On behalf of Nova, I'm very grateful to be here. Thank you for the invite. With six campuses across four different jurisdictions, it's just phenomenal to see Loudoun County inviting us to do this today.

[02:01:44] So thank you very much. Thank you. So I also want to say for our sheriff's department and our law enforcement in Loudoun, you all have also been so aware of law enforcement officers who died by suicide and the mental health strain on this.

[02:02:03] And, you know, I've been doing quite a bit of research now as I prepare for a speech. There is no other place that I can find that has as much focus on the mental health and CIT needs of law enforcement officers that we have here in Loudoun County.

[02:02:22] It is to be commended because part of the service is what happens to your mental health when you're serving as well. So I have to absolutely say that is allowing you to do this burden anybody else. So thank you.

[02:02:39] Everybody else, I will get you a copy. I don't know how many copies I need. I promise you'll get a copy of the resolution right now. We're going to have Colonel Sawyer hold the copy, and we're going to take the picture now and make sure everyone gets a copy, okay? Thank you, sir.

[02:04:15] I'm sorry, National Tennis Month, if you're here, would you please come down? If you're here for National Tennis Month, would you please come down? Is there nobody here for National Tennis Month? Oh, there you are. Okay, wonderful.

[02:04:33] I'm having Ms. Bricksman join us because, I know, that's what I was going to say that. I'm having Ms. Bricksman join us because it's like National Tennis slash Pickleball Month. Hello. Good, how are you?

[02:04:49] This is really long. I'm not going to read everywhere else on here because it's a really long one. All right. So we have a proclamation for National Tennis Month, and it's long, so I'm going to meet most of them, but not all of them. Okay, all right. Whereas on February 2, 1923, the USTA Mid-Atlantic Foundation, originally known as the Middle Atlantic Law and Tennis Association, received this charter from the United States Tennis Association to develop the growth of tennis in the region.

[02:05:18] And whereas the USTA Mid-Atlantic Foundation is a nonprofit, governing bodies for tennis in the Mid-Atlantic region and leads the promotion and growth of the sport at every level of play with a vision for tennis in every community. And whereas the USTA Mid-Atlantic Foundation proudly partners with local tennis programs to showcase the important health, social, and educational benefits of tennis and make the sport available to everyone regardless of age, environment, condition, or ability through its youth scholarships,

[02:05:55] facility restoration grants, girls rule the court program, sportsmanship program, and other community-based accessible tennis programs. And whereas by increasing the accessibility of tennis for all citizens of Loudoun County of all ages and abilities, the USTA Medic Loudoun Foundation has contributed to making our community happier and healthier and whereas usta and usta mid-atlantic the mid-atlantic foundation has declared the month of may as national tennis month to encourage players organizations facilities retailers tennis manufacturers and more to promote local programs

[02:06:35] and activities at parks and facilities to showcase tennis and spread the word about the sports and its benefits and to help players and non-players alike find courts and play opportunities for their communities. Now therefore be it resolved that the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors does hereby proclaim May 2024 as National Tennis Month in Loudoun County and hereby urges the citizens of Loudoun County to become aware and support this observance. I'd like to speak. Thank you Chair

[02:07:12] Chair Randall, I just wanted to say thank you, all of you, and thank you for recognizing tennis as one of those incredible opportunities for us as an organization to give back to the community. You can't say enough about the impact of sports on physical and emotional and mental well-being, and tennis is just one of the many vehicles in which we can do that.

[02:07:29] And we can help communities and really grow the sport, but also break down the barriers for people who want to play. So thank you. Tennis is a really expensive sport. How do we help people or help ensure people who may not have the financial resources to play tennis? What's the goal and how are we breaching that gap?

[02:07:51] So, I would say at the USTA, we really focus on youth development. We have scholarship programs, we have endowments, and we have after-school programs, such as our Girls with a Court that you mentioned in the proclamation, that provide access and after-school programs and education at little or no cost for young girls between the ages of 7 and 13.

[02:08:09] And we're constantly looking at ways in which we can work with public schools and parks and recreation centers to provide similar type programs at little or no cost for under-resourced communities across the section.

[02:08:19] very much all right let's take a picture are you sure okay we're going to hand and that

[02:09:21] mr kirschner is coming down for it is the governor's cup winners if missed if everyone will come down for the governor's cup that'd be wonderful how are you how are you guys doing i usually see you at the wine awards you guys are dressier how you doing

[02:09:58] I literally didn't even recognize you guys I really didn't how you doing how are you am I going first I'm just making sure alright hopefully my voice holds on for a little bit I was sucking lozenges back there but thank you for those of you who can make it I think everybody else is probably out working on the vineyards right now I'm guessing are making some wine. So glad you guys could be representative. I'm really,

[02:10:35] really proud of what Loudoun County did this year in the Governor's Cup. So we've got a resolution that we're going to read here. It's the Loudoun County Virginia Governor's Cup winners. Whereas the Virginia Governor's Cup is a prestigious competition that celebrates excellence in winemaking from across the state, highlighting the rich tradition and the innovative spirit of Virginia winemakers. And whereas the 2024 Virginia Governor's Cup has been awarded to recognize the outstanding commitment to our Loudoun County wineries to creating wines which exemplify the highest standards of quality and craftsmanship. And whereas they have demonstrated exceptional

[02:11:14] skill, dedication, and passion for their craft, making a significant contribution to the winemaking industry in Loudoun County and beyond. And whereas the notable achievement not only bringing honor to Loudoun County, but also to the entire state of Virginia, enhancing our reputation as a leader in the winemaking industry. And whereas, and I'm going to get to name all these winners here, the Board of Supervisors recognizes and commends the following wineries for the exceptional quality of their wines and the winemakers and their contribution to elevating the standards and

[02:11:51] profile of Loudoun County, Virginia. These wineries are the 2024 Governor Cups winners, Walsh Family Wine, Gold and Silver, Two Twisted Post Winery, Silver and Bronze, Williams Gap Vineyard, Silver and Bronze, Zephaniah Farm Vineyard, Gold, Silver and Bronze, Willow Cross Farm Vineyards, Bronze, Three Creeks Winery, Gold, Silver and Bronze, the Wine Reserve at Waterford, Gold and Bronze, the Vineyards of Winery at Lost Creek, Silver and Bronze,

[02:12:30] The barns at Hamilton Station Vineyard, gold, silver, and bronze. They got the trifecta. Hillsboro Winery Brewery and Vineyard, gold and silver. 50 West Vineyards, let me make sure I'm right here, silver. 8 Chains North Winery, gold, silver, and silver.

[02:12:49] 868 Estate Vineyards, silver. Blue Frog Vineyards, bronze. Bozzo Family Vineyards, silver. Cana Vineyards and Winery of Middleburg, gold and silver. Carriage House Wine Works, gold, silver, and bronze.

[02:13:08] Chrysalis Vineyards of the Ag District, gold and silver. Sunset Hills Vineyard, gold, silver, and bronze. And I'm going to pronounce this wrong. Is it Ducani? Ducani, great. That's what I asked Stacey earlier. You want to get it right.

[02:13:24] Thank you. Winery, gold, silver, and bronze. Enderhart Vineyards, gold, silver, and bronze. Fabioli Cellars, silver and bronze. Green Hill Vineyards, gold and silver. The distinguished award of the Governor's Cups winners from Loudoun County were Bro Vineyards, Jen's here representing, with three gold, is that correct?

[02:13:47] And four silvers, we missed that. So you can write it in on your own. And October 1 Vineyard, gold and silver. So congratulations to all you who are up here and those who are not. Very good job. Therefore, be it resolved.

[02:14:04] We've got to make, no one wants to miss that. We hereby congratulate you on winning the 2024 Virginia Governor's Cup. Congratulations. So we give a lot of resolutions, but I was thinking, you know, and they're great resolutions, and we recognize a lot.

[02:14:24] But when we do this, this is really recognition of a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, and a lot of squeezing of grapes, and a lot of work and time. And I know, quite frankly, a lot of money and investment in this county, and especially Western Lowne, in making it as great as it is.

[02:14:41] So I wanted to give you guys each, if you want, an opportunity. You don't have to. I'm going to start with the godfather of wine over here, Doug Fabioli. For those of you who don't know, Doug is a big part of wine in Loudoun County, as a matter of fact, probably the most major part. If I'm wrong about that, please, fellas and ladies, correct me.

[02:15:00] But one of the things, you know, the ag census recently came out, and we were the top in horses, and we were the top in Loudoun County in honey production and cut flowers, farm-growing peaches, et cetera. But one of the things that we are still top in are vineyards, and we are number two in grape production.

[02:15:17] We are up 6% since the last census. And a lot of that has to do with the work that Doug Fabiola is and all of you actually who are here. So thank you very much for your work. So, Doug, I'm going to hand you the mic, and I just want, and anyone else who wants to chip in, introduce yourself and just tell me very briefly what it means to you to make wine in Loudoun County.

[02:15:37] Don't go back all the history because I know it's been a while. The simple thing that I can say is that we're farmers. You know, we're people who are working the land. And people don't think of farming as a team effort. But we in our industry, specifically here in Loudoun County, all boats lift in a rising tide.

[02:15:58] I was taught that in 97 when I got here by the few founders that were here, Paul Breaux, Lou Parker, Whitey Hubert, Juanita Swedenberg were the founders. And that's really what it means, is that we're in this thing together.

[02:16:16] We rise together, you know, through the COVID challenges. We've had some challenges, and it's been tough. We want our community to be proud of what we have, share our wines with others, you know, have them at your family celebrations. We want to celebrate what we do, and we want it to keep going.

[02:16:34] And we're here for the long term because we are deep-rooted. Okay. Go ahead. Okay, go ahead. Hi, I'm Edge, and this is Sissy. We are from 8 Chains North, and from this group, we're the rookies, and we appreciate the acknowledgement.

[02:16:51] We've been in it three years, and we're extremely happy and excited to be part of the farm community and Loudoun business community and this group right here, the wine community. My name is Bob Ruppey from October 1 Vineyard.

[02:17:08] To echo a little bit of what Doug was saying, we've really benefited from great leadership in Loudoun. We dove in the business in 2006, personally. And everything we've been doing has been on the backs of some of the leaders and the resources provided by Loudoun County has really helped us accelerate our ability to create a premium product in Loudoun County.

[02:17:32] We're very proud to represent Loudoun for those reasons, for those leaders that got us here and the resources we continue to get and benefit from. So really appreciate it. Thanks. So I'm Mike Fritzie from Carriage House. We're also newbies. Thanks, Edge.

[02:17:48] I think we're pretty close to being newbies, so we're a small, small operation. We're very, very happy to be part of this community. It's very close-knit, and there's a lot of folks that I know I've personally gotten advice from, which is, I think, unusual in a lot of businesses that people work together.

[02:18:05] I think that's a characteristic of Loudon. The other nice thing is that we're pretty close to our customer base, So we give people from the city a chance to come out to the country to see some beautiful scenery, to learn a little bit about wine, and perhaps meet some new friends. And that's very rewarding. Thank you.

[02:18:22] Hi, my name is Jennifer Brough, and I'm actually the second generation to own and operate a family farm here in Lawton County. The third generation is sitting on the second row back there. My son Nicholas, his brother's at work right now packing up a wine club shipment, his older brother, who's 20 years old.

[02:18:38] So I'm very proud to have a family-owned or operated winery that is a legacy for my family. I can pass it down to my children. My father passed it down to me. I did move here from the Outer Banks of North Carolina. If I knew then what I know now, I don't know.

[02:18:53] I might still be at the beach because it's really a lot of work. We are farmers first. I think when you see our beautiful buildings and our beautiful estates, our vineyards, you might think otherwise. But we are truly getting our hands in the dirt first and foremost. That's what we do.

[02:19:09] I want to also, you know, Department of Economic Development visit Loudoun, Cooperative Extension. Because of those resources, Loudoun has really taken a grand position in the entire state of Virginia with regards to grape growing and wine production. I serve as the vice president of the Virginia Wineries Association, and I can tell you that people covet what we have here in Loudoun with regards to our resources and our fruit quality.

[02:19:34] So we appreciate you inviting us here today and for all the acknowledgments. Thank you. It won't take long. My name's Steve Bozzo. I'm the, well, I don't give all the job titles. We're small. So I do a lot of stuff. But when we decided to do this, my wife kicking and screaming all along the way, but eventually said, you really want to do this, so we should do this.

[02:19:58] She's a good lady. We lived in Fairfax. I'm a carpetbagger from Pennsylvania. I came here for work, not in the wine industry. I had another job before this. I still have it. We looked in Fairfax, and because I have legal training, I paid a lot of attention to how wineries and vineyards are treated in Fairfax.

[02:20:20] We looked for land in Fauquier, and I paid attention to that, too, and in Clark County. And Loudoun actually supports farm wineries. Loudoun actually supports agriculture, and not just by lip service.

[02:20:37] Its laws support it. It was a friendly place to be. We chose Loudoun. And why am I getting teary? We chose Loudoun. And we did that not only because it's a great place to be and it's a wonderful place to live. It's a great place to farm and it's a good community. My brothers and sisters in the industry, we care for each other. I think the supervisors support us. The community supports us. And there's really not a better place to be

[02:21:09] the state of Virginia to do what we do. Thank you. And I just want to say that, you know, I used to tell people I live in the Napa Valley of the East, but now people in Napa are saying they live in the Loudoun County of the West, right? Great job, guys. Well done. Good job.

[02:21:54] Okay. Well, everyone from Emergency Medical Services Week, please come down.

[02:22:59] It's been our first responders day. Hello. Hello. Everybody on either side.

[02:23:26] We didn't have wine samples. We didn't have wine samples. All right. We have our last but not least resolution for the night is for emergency medical services week and i will read it and we'll chat a little bit whereas the emergency medical services system consists of first responders emergency medical technicians paramedics public safety telecommunicators firefighters law enforcement officers educators administrators nurses physicians and trained members of the public and whereas the fire and rescue emergency medical service members career

[02:24:05] and volunteers engage in thousands of hours of specialized training and continuing education to enhance their life-saving skills and whereas the members of the emergency medical services teams rather career or volunteer engage in thousands of hours of specialized training art and whereas our community is truly fortunate to be served by our dedicated emergency services providers now therefore be it resolved the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors does hereby proclaim May 19th through

[02:24:38] 25th 2024 as emergency medical services week in Loudoun County in honor and recognition of our emergency service personnel and the vital contributions they make to the safety and well-being of our community. We encourage the community to observe this week with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities. Yay, thank you. Well, first of all, you all have very, very, very hard jobs, and you do them well, and you do them every day. And I'll say the same thing to you

[02:25:18] that I said to the law enforcement officers. It's also a, it's a mental health lift to do these jobs and a couple of years ago chief when you came to me about and came to the county administrator about putting mental health step specialists in your department I thought that was one of the best things you all could have done because there's so many ways that we have to take care of our first responders and of course pay is one of them but that's another one and and the work you all do every day is absolutely absolutely incredible I do want to give

[02:25:51] a shout out to my good friend Mr. Pacifico who when I first I know don't be scared it's good it's good when I first got here met with me we met all the time and did so much educating with me about the volunteer services in Loudoun County and and what I needed to know you were the one that taught me the most about that and so I've never forgot that and I really appreciate it you have since went on to do you've forgotten about me don't call don't write i don't know what's going on but i do want to thank you for all that you've done mr i mean chief would you like to say something

[02:26:29] i'm going to ask dr morgan to say a few words but you know it was an honor to see all the law enforcement officers up here a little while ago on police officers week and and we stand with them and we couldn't do our jobs without the law enforcement folks i mean it is an honor most people don't realize that the relationships that we have with all those folks that were up here And we're grateful for them because we couldn't do our job without them, and I'm sure it's vice versa.

[02:26:51] But I do want to say that publicly, that I appreciate all the law enforcement folks that were up here because it makes our jobs a lot easier when they have our back. Thank you, Chief. Thank you, Chair Randall, Supervisor Kirshner, the rest of the board. This is actually the 50th anniversary of EMS Week in the United States, declared by Gerald Ford, 1974.

[02:27:12] So the theme this year is remembering and honoring the past and forging the future. So we focus a lot on the future and what comes next in fire rescue. We're doing a lot of cutting edge things. We've given 54 patients blood transfusions in our ambulances since September of 2020.

[02:27:29] So a lot of great stuff, but it's very important to take a moment, reflect back of where things were in the 70s and even before in Loudoun County in the 1950s, Loudoun Volunteer Rescue Squad started. In the 60s, it was Percival Rescue and Sterling Rescue. And we have many, many important people who forged the path, who took basically a non-existent process of getting to the hospital back in those days to what we have before you today, which is a highly professional, organized operation with many of the men and women you see before you playing integral roles in that.

[02:28:03] So it's important. We've lost a number of our founders in these past few years just from from the aging process. And so it's it's important to recognize where we came from, that we stand on the shoulders of giants and appreciate the support we get from the community at large and the board.

[02:28:20] So thank you very much. Would you mind if I have Dr. Morgan hold this and send in the middle? OK, Dr. Morgan, take this and you're in the middle, sir. You're in the middle.

[02:28:31] there we go he's in his closet closet okay we are now going to start our um public comments i do

[02:31:00] apologize we're starting 26 minutes late you have my apology i will call you uh in advance when you come to the podium you will have two and a half minutes to speak when the light goes off or your time is up please you're at the podium to your next speaker you can come to the podium closest to you our first speaker is uh james russell you'll be followed by donald radowski followed

[02:31:30] by Philip, I think it's Ulanowski. Good evening, sir. By bicycle, I choose to. Years, thousands of miles have reinvigorated my relationship to my hometown. Two months ago, I elected to attach to my bike the flag of Palestine to demonstrate for my community my categorical disapproval of genocide in Gaza. Since then, countless people have stopped me to express admiration for the

[02:32:08] gesture. Friends, old and new, neighbors, some are Arabs, some are not, some are Muslim, some are not. But quite a few of these people tell me their origin is in Palestine, their family still is in Palestine, their family is currently exposed to an ethnic cleansing campaign resourced by the United States government. We in the district collectively compelled our supervisor to make a statement critical of the military campaign in Gaza. Our supervisor Julie E. Briskman made

[02:32:45] that statement, and we appreciate you very much for it. In fact, we wish she used even stronger language. Unfortunately, her statement was met with lacking support from her colleagues on this board. Supervisor Matt Letourneau from Dulles said, we have a lot of issues, quote, we have a lot of issues that come before the county, and we really should do our best to stick to those issues here, end quote. So in review, my neighbors tell me today their family back home is exposed to an

[02:33:22] ethnic cleansing. It is resourced unconditionally by the United States government. This is going on as I speak. Supervisor Letourneau seems to believe that it's none of my business. I reject that cretinous position. I admire Julie Briskman's statement on this matter, and I implore this board to vote on a resolution calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, a total cessation of arms shipments to Israel, and to withhold your endorsements for the president and for all federal representatives who have voted to support this.

[02:34:00] Thank you for your time. Permanent ceasefire now. Palestine will be free. Donald Wadowski, you will be followed by Philip Ulanowski, followed by Anton Schutekin, I think that's it.

[02:34:17] Good evening. Hi. A 19-year-old boy was drafted into the United States Army to fight in World War II against the Nazis. Once overseas, his troops entered a Nazi concentration camp in Austria to liberate it.

[02:34:35] The GI was so horrified by what he saw in this camp, he purchased a camera to document the treatment of the victims in this camp. That GI was my father. The pictures he took are now housed in the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in D.C.

[02:34:55] and the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. My father, at age 19, was fighting for this country. Some of the 19-year-olds that we see on college campuses now have chosen to violate the Jewish students' civil rights, burn U.S. flags, damage property, and call for the death to America and death to Israel.

[02:35:21] On the anniversary of Holocaust Remembrance Day, we will remember all of the violence against the Israelis and the Jewish students in the United States. This board would take action immediately if it had any other minority group other than the Jewish people.

[02:35:41] The Israelis are bombing Rafah as we speak. The leader of Hamas is hunkered down in a bunker in Rafah with the hostages serving as human shields. One of the radical terrorist groups, Jewish Voice for Peace, wrote an op-ed in the press supporting Julie Briskman.

[02:36:03] The Anti-Defamation League has said that the JVP sponsored the leader of a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist group, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. So, Ms. Brisman, you were complicit in the anti-Semitic hate they are spewing.

[02:36:23] To this day, Supervisor Brisman continues to spew misinformation on Israel and particularly Benjamin Netanyahu. She has divided the county between Jewish community and the Muslim community with no benefit at all to its residents.

[02:36:40] She has dipped her toes into foreign policy, to which she knows very little. How about some leadership, Ms. Randall? Thank you. Thank you. Philip, you, Lunowski, I hope I'm saying your name right.

[02:36:57] If I'm not, I apologize. Followed by Anton Shatikin, I believe that is. Good evening, sir. Good evening, Madam Chairman, MORD members. I'm Philip Ulanofsky from Purcellville, a longtime friend of the late Lyndon LaRouche.

[02:37:13] The tenor of the times seems to have grown shrill indeed. Instead of the contentious arguments over county development and zoning, a conflict of profound consequence for the entire world has now come to your door. If you wondered weeks ago that I should call on you to speak for a ceasefire in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and for LaRouche's OASIS economic program, recent events may have clarified.

[02:37:40] When conflict intensifies, good leaders seek higher ground, not to remove themselves, but to gain a better perspective rather than viewing only from within the blinding confines of the immediate problem. Knowledge of the history leading to the outbreak is part, but such perspective relies on an image of mankind founded on the truth of that which makes us one humanity across all cultural, geographic, and other distinguishing features.

[02:38:13] As a friend of LaRouche, I've been smeared as an anti-Semite, and I recall in 1986 a public hearing here on a zoning exception for a children's camp in Nearsville, which my wife directed. A New York-based provocateur from the same circles now throwing around wild charges of anti-Semitism wherever you look, accused my wife of running a terrorist training camp.

[02:38:39] In 1648, the peace of Westphalia ended a century of religious war across Europe, beginning with the simple principle, the benefit of the other. It is a recognition that the innate creative spark common to humanity gives us far greater power for good than the debasing manipulations of those who use innuendo, slander, and lies to stoke fear, to aim our eyes downward, lest we look up to our potential future and rise above false division.

[02:39:18] Thank you. Thank you, sir. Anton, if you would pronounce your last name, I would appreciate it, sir. You'll be followed by Matthew Noonan, followed by Tim Rush. Good evening, sir. Good evening.

[02:39:35] My name is Anton Chaitkin. The world has known the Jews at the heart of civilization. Musicians, scientists, and doctors giving beauty, progress, and compassion with a God who created all people.

[02:40:00] My father, Jacob Chaitkin, helped lead the 1930s American Jewish boycott against Nazi Germany. Powerful men opposed him. They said, we need Hitler for toughness against unions and communists.

[02:40:21] Deadly forces, all the radicals will understand. After the war's great slaughter, a Cold War divided the world, and a war divided Israel from her Arab neighbors. That war has been going on for 75 years.

[02:40:42] Endless murder and endless revenge. We take revenge for murder by killing our neighbor. The neighbor kills our children for revenge. In our blind rage, we don't see that we have killed our own children.

[02:41:03] We say deadly force will teach our enemies a lesson, but we are caught in endless murder. we are killing our future. My father was a proud Jew and an American patriot. He agreed with President Roosevelt that only the spread of civilization would save us from new horrors after World War II, that we ought to cooperate with all other countries to enforce peace while

[02:41:35] building up living standards. That is the cycle of peace. As a Jew, I fear what the endless murder and revenge will do to the Jews. As an American, I fear what sending the bombs for it will do to America. As a human being, I fear that this evil will end in nuclear World War III. We are civilized people, so we can find the way to break out of the cycle of murder and save our children and our

[02:42:13] civilization. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Matthew Noonan, followed by Tim Rush, followed by Kelly Fultman. So you can use that. You can use either one. It's fine. Yeah. Good evening. I'm here today to thank you, Supervisor Bristman, for the statement you made early last month in personal support of an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. It takes a clear mind and honest heart to recognize the humanitarian crisis that continues to unfold and that you should speak on it. So thank you.

[02:42:50] I feel it's also important to mention some points that you failed to include in your statement but are no less true. All of the innocent civilians that have been murdered over the last seven months in Gaza were at the hand of weapons provided by the U.S. and their allies. Of the 34,000-plus civilians that have been killed, thousands of whom were aid workers, journalists, doctors, and healthcare professionals. Such a high amount that it rules out the frequently heard indiscriminate killing narrative, what we're witnessing is undeniably discriminant.

[02:43:21] Famine isn't looming over the Gaza Strip, it's arrived. The food insecurity that has been present for over 16 years in Gaza has been accentuated by the restriction of any food or aid by the Israeli government. Dropping a few thousand meals every month or so for a population of over 2 million is insufficient to people dying of a man-made famine. What we're witnessing would simply not be possible without military resources and weapons approved and sanctioned by the U.S.

[02:43:50] So with all the criticism that local officials shouldn't wade into foreign policy, why should I care about this? We shouldn't make this our business. These refrains just don't hold up. I'm sorry to tell you, but if you live in America and you pay taxes, this is your business.

[02:44:06] This is why people around the world have been protesting, phone banking, donating, calling, and writing our representatives, all of which are usually met with apathy or in many cases, hostility, and sometimes violence. We see with our own eyes a heightened version of what Palestinians have been subject to for over 75 years. The brutal military occupation, dehumanization, and ethnic cleansing perpetrated by the Israeli government and our own against the Palestinian people. And the current military campaign waged against innocent civilians that can only be described as a genocide. In light of this, I think it's a moral responsibility

[02:44:43] that this board adopts and votes on a ceasefire resolution immediately pre-Palestine. Thank you, sir. Tim Rush, followed by Kelly Fultman, followed by Gary White. Good evening, sir.

[02:45:07] Good evening, Chair Randall and supervisors. I want to commend Supervisor Briskman and Congresswoman Weston for their calls for immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza. The ferocity of those who justify the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people on grounds of self-defense and brand anyone protesting the genocide, including many Jews, as anti-Semitic has nothing to do with ending security dangers to Israel and bringing peace to the Middle East.

[02:45:39] It is simply sowing the dragon's teeth for the next round of bloodletting. I address the board and public tonight to stress the importance, no matter how difficult, of advancing a peace plan based on economic development of such overwhelming mutual benefit to Palestinians and Israelis that the cycles of revenge bloodlettings can be overcome.

[02:46:03] Lyndon LaRouche, after a trip to the Middle East in 1975, proposed an OASIS plan uniting Palestinians and Israelis against their common enemy. the desert. The central feature now updated is the creation of abundant fresh water through desalination plants and its distribution through two major water conveyance arteries linking the Mediterranean, the Dead, and Red Seas. It would be the equivalent of creating one to two new Jordan rivers. I have left a plan, a summary of the plan for you to be able to look at in a 14-minute video. LaRouche received positive responses from Arab leaders and such notable

[02:46:42] Israelis as Abba Iban. The spirit of LaRouche's plan infused the economic annexes of the Oslo Accords of 1993. But the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995 by a fanatic Israeli settler assassinated the Oslo Accords as well. Yet Rabin's words after the signing of the Oslo Accords live. We who have come from a land where parents bury their children, we who have fought against you, the Palestinians, we say to you today in a loud and clear voice, enough of blood

[02:47:17] and tears, enough. I am convinced that the extraordinary role of Jewish youth across the U.S. opposing the genocide and the courageous efforts of many Israelis to confront the Netanyahu Ben-Gavir Smotrich fanatics are signs that a higher peace movement of people of goodwill everywhere can prevail. The road to such a peace is the Oasis Plan. Thank you.

[02:47:42] Thank you, sir. Kelly Fultman, followed by Gary White, followed by, oh gosh, Cherique Sharna. I will spell it when we get there. Good evening. Good evening.

[02:48:03] On a much lighter and localer level, I was originally going to speak tonight on the behalf of Loudoun County Equine Alliance, the U.S. Trail Ride, Tri-State Riding, and the Potomac Heritage Trail Associations, and asking that you approve the recommendation by Parks and Recreation and the Transportation and Land Use Committee for a non-biased study of banshee reeks for inclusion of horses.

[02:48:26] But now, I just want to say thank you. Thank you for your earlier vote. And on the behalf of the entire equestrian community, I can't say thank you enough. That's all I have to say. Thank you, Ms. Fultman. Gary White, and I'm going to relate the last name of the speaker after Mr. White.

[02:48:44] It's C-H-E-R-U-K-U, and you'll be followed by Mike Kennedy. Good evening, Mr. White. Thank you very much. I came tonight to talk about I'm a devoted horse person. I've been in Loudoun County since 1985. In the fall of 1990, myself and another member of the USTR rode the property with the landowner, which is now the Sweet Run State Park.

[02:49:11] the landowner requested that we notify her farm manager whenever we were to ride and we did we complied with her request bob liggett bought the property shortly thereafter and we worked with him and his uh group for several years uh one of the first things that that came up was there's a cemetery on the top of one of the hills it's been there since the 1700s they asked that we not ride in that area and they put up signs and we complied with that we do not ride on the lower farmstead

[02:49:51] loop by the creek it's in the bottom it's flat it won't drain if you went out there today the water standing in it that deep we worked with the leggett foundation and we made it go around and we went around that trail and that's that trail is still being used today uh the leggett foundation refurbished their dam on their gordon pond uh we suggested to them that we not ride on their dam because it was soft dirt they agreed with we worked with bob liggett we made a trail around we he asked that we build bridges across the streams we bought the we bought the materials

[02:50:31] we constructed the bridges and for 30 some years we've maintained those bridges so there was a suggestion that there were a lot of signs up because there was a conflict between horses and hikers.

[02:50:46] There really never was. We were asked not to ride by the landowners in certain places for certain reasons, which I've described, and that's what we've done. And we've had a super duper relationship with the previous landowners, and we do now with the Sweet Run State Park.

[02:51:04] Thank you. Thank you, sir. Thank you. The next week, I'm going to spell your name again because I just, I don't want to mispronounce it, so I'm trying to be respectful, and I apologize. But the last name is spelled C-H-E-R-U-K-U, and you will be followed by Mike Kennedy, followed by Suzanne Liskowski.

[02:51:25] Good evening. Good evening. I was originally going to comment on the... Can you just say your name for me, please? Shri Krishna. Thank you. I was originally going to comment on the sixth item on the board, but I know that's not been uh discuss today but um i was thinking of adding uh a lane for bicycles on that stretch of road that was being proposed during the um we're going to discuss it today okay we are we're going to discuss it after this in fact okay okay i was going to propose adding a lane for bicycles because a lot of people a lot of kids actually commute on their bicycles to and forth those two communities

[02:52:04] that are on that road and the sidewalk there is pretty narrow and um there's a lot of people walking their dog a lot of people taking their strollers kids out on their strollers and high speed bicycle traffic isn't exactly compatible with those environments so I think a bicycle lane on the road would help the community because it would basically have everybody have their own space on the road and have decreased collisions between bicycles and pedestrians I know personally when I go to school on that road there's many times I have to go on the road to pass dog walkers

[02:52:42] or people on strollers because the area between the road and the sidewalk and the fence is very narrow. There's pretty much no room for two bicycles to patch each other on a bicycle and a stroller. And I don't think it's a very safe environment where currently. So I'd like to propose that a way to accommodate bicycles that's physically protected would be a good option on that piece of road. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Mike Kennedy. You'll be followed by Suzanne Liskowski, followed by Robert Griffin. Good evening, sir. Good evening. Thank you for hearing from me.

[02:53:20] My name is Mike Kennedy, and I am a board member with the Friends of Banshee Reeks. First, on behalf of FOBR, I would like to thank Director Torpy and the Prose Board for recognizing the need for an independent professional assessment of the trail conditions at Banshee Reeks.

[02:53:37] For our members and those county residents that oppose equestrian activities at Banshee Reeks, We felt this was a fair and reasonable course of action moving forward. That was until Chair Randall publicly directed what the outcome should be before it even began.

[02:53:54] And I quote, shocked to the point of unhappy and if the consultant came back and said there were no trails appropriate at all for horses at Banshee Reeks. That is a possible outcome. It was our hope that this assessment process would be fact-based and not a rubber stamp for one vocal minority.

[02:54:14] How can anyone accept the outcome of this upcoming assessment process as impartial after Chair Randall's public directive for a predetermined outcome without even hearing the facts? It's our hopes that the board can represent all residents in this assessment going forward to protect the only county's nature preserve.

[02:54:36] Thank you. Mr. Kennedy? Yes, ma'am. Before you walk away, I want to say that I have thought about that statement that I made and wish I had not made it. It was not an appropriate statement to make. We have an independent person looking at it, and whatever the results are, the results are.

[02:54:54] That was an inappropriate statement for me, and I apologize for making it. Thank you for that. We appreciate it. Thank you. Suzanne Liskowski, followed by Robert Griffin. She's not here? No? Our understanding is she called us back and said she declines to speak.

[02:55:13] Okay, and I don't see Mr. Griffin on the phone because I don't see him in the room. Okay, and after that would be Mark Wynn followed by Alicia Brand. Mr. Wynn, did you just spit on our floor?

[02:55:32] No. Okay. Earlier. Yeah, in front of a person you spit on the floor. That is an aggressive act, and we do not appreciate that, sir. I know. Okay. I was going to, well, I'll start with what I really came for. The board's going to vote on the school at the intersection of Red Hill and Evergreen real soon, like next meeting.

[02:55:58] I would ask the board to consider doing the same thing that VDOT required the school board to do, is put a buffer along Evergreen Mills, put the buffer around the rest of the property, which is an 8 to 10 foot high dirt buffer with a 3 to 1 fall, which would give the community that has not had any peace since the construction started.

[02:56:27] It's just what most communities do. If you look at all the new ones, it's usually a standard requirement that there's a berm put in place for landscaping and everything, but they have nothing around the residential area, only along Evergreen, in the plans or anything.

[02:56:46] So I would just ask you to do that. With what was been discussed tonight, guys, I have to change my whole theme. Have any of y'all seen the videos where women's legs were nailed to trees, where the abuse of children put in a microwave and turned on, where women's breasts were cut off, where men were bent over by other men?

[02:57:18] I mean, this is video. It's out there. You can see it. I do have compassion for the innocent in Palestine, but evil has to be met with justice.

[02:57:37] It has to be met with justice. Don't forget, history will repeat itself if you don't recognize it. You can't sweep it under the rug. You can't deny it that it didn't happen. It is video.

[02:57:53] I would employ any of the ladies up here, I dare you to watch those videos. It was appalling. And then for people to come here and say we're wrong, I, you know, maybe I shouldn't have spat in front of the gentleman.

[02:58:13] Maybe I shouldn't. But I am so tired of America being the. Your time is up. Thank you. Thank you. Alicia Brand, you will be followed by Barbara Davis, followed by, I think it's Noah Zebeda.

[02:58:32] Good evening. Good evening. Supervisor Julie Briskman's ongoing polemic related to the Israel-Hamas war is troubling. No member of this board should weigh in on foreign policy matters in an official capacity, including ceasefires.

[02:58:52] It's not your job. Thank you, Matt Letourneau, for saying so. Riskman's libelous words against Israel, written in her official capacity, has rightfully drawn condemnation from respected rabbis, the JCRC, and many Jewish members of our community.

[02:59:12] They're unequivocal. Her remarks are blatantly anti-Semitic, dangerously inflammatory, and put Jewish individuals at risk here in Loudoun County. While criticizing Israel's actions is not inherently anti-Semitic, singling out Israel while ignoring the actions of Hamas fosters dangerous biases and violence, as we have seen on college campuses and in cities worldwide.

[02:59:41] By applying double standards, Briskman is engaging in anti-Semitism by definition. Hamas is a designated terrorist organization that is still holding American hostages, not a political entity that has Palestinian civilians' interests at heart.

[03:00:02] Briskman's failure to acknowledge this, combined with her selective outrage against Israel, contributes to a harmful narrative that hurts Jews. It's crucial to distinguish between Israel's surgical defensive strikes with their humanitarian zones and Hamas's commitment to their charter, which calls for the destruction of Israel and the wiping out of the Jewish people, as we saw on October 7th.

[03:00:32] I saw those videos. That's genocide. Briskman's propaganda only perpetuates harmful stereotypes and divides and endangers this community that needs to come together now more than ever. On this Holocaust Day of Remembrance, we demand an end to her commentary in her official capacity.

[03:00:58] A public condemnation from Chair Randall and a swift censure of Julie E. Briskman. Anti-Semitism should have no place on this board. Thank you, your time is up. Barbara Davis, I'm sorry.

[03:01:15] Yes, Barbara Davis, and you'll be followed by, I think it's Noah Zebda. Good evening. Hi, how are you guys? Thank you for letting me speak. My name is Barbara Davis. I am your constituent, Matt, but Kirkpatrick Farms is a little bit unusual in the fact that it is bisected.

[03:01:37] So I actually represent people who are in Laura's district as well as in Matt's. I'm here tonight for something a lot more local, which is the VDOT Corridor Study of Destiny Drive. And I understand that VDOT have warranted and has recommended that a traffic signal be put in at the intersection of Destiny Drive and Gums Springs Road, which I was very, very encouraged to see because it is absolutely necessary.

[03:02:09] I'm not an engineer. I'm not a lawyer. I'm not going to pretend to be either, to quote Matt. He says that often. But the one thing I do know, I know that there is some back and forth about whether it's proffered or whether it's going to be county funds that are going to be used.

[03:02:25] I understand that Matt does have a motion before the board tonight. I am publicly asking for Laura's support in that since they are your constituents. Matt, Phyllis, I would really appreciate your support with getting that traffic signal in sooner rather than later.

[03:02:44] So that's all I have to say. Thank you for hearing me out. Have a good night. Thank you, ma'am. And our last speaker is, I think this is Noah Zebda. If I mispronounce it, please correct me. Good evening, ma'am.

[03:03:00] Hi, good evening. My name is Noor Zebda. I'm a Palestinian-American. I've been living in an Al-Galunkian district for nine years and in Virginia for 20 years. I want the board to know that Palestinian-Americans are living among you. We are contributing to our country.

[03:03:15] We're contributing to our community. we are hurting, we are people. I take my kids to school every day knowing that 87% of schools in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed. I take my kids to their soccer practices here in Algonquian Parkway, but more than 1,000 children have lost at least one of their limbs. I hug my kids at night knowing that Gaza moms are hugging the dead bodies of their children. More than 15,000 children have been killed and targeted. There are Gaza moms that are still looking for the signs of their children's

[03:03:49] decomposing dead bodies in more than 400 mass graves found around the shifa hospital we celebrate farming and farmers markets in gaza in in virginia and in loudon county but israel uprooted 55 000 trees in gaza i'm a dietician by profession i help people eat healthier but i know people in gaza are dying from malnutrition starvation dehydration and infections i teach my patients my patients the importance of mental health to maintain their physical health and we talk about mental health all the time, yet I'm struggling with my mental health. Every deer carcass I see

[03:04:27] on the side of the road reminds me of the Palestinians who were murdered and targeted when they were fleeing the northern Gaza to the southern part of Gaza, while they were told it's a safe corridor. I can't even imagine the mental health of people in Gaza. Since November 2023, Israel held over 5,000 Palestinian prisoners. These are hostages, including at least 170 children.

[03:04:51] Dr. Al-Borsh, an orthopedic doctor in Gaza, was killed last month from torture in Israeli prisons. As we speak, Rafah is being, the safe zone is being bombed. There are 600,000 children trapped in Gaza. We are witnessing all these horrors, and I know that every dollar I contribute and I make to sustain my family is killing a family in Gaza.

[03:05:12] I want to thank Julie Briskman, a statement for calling for a ceasefire for your humanity, for seeing us as people. Criticizing a war is not anti-Semitic. Muslims, Jews, and Christians all lived in Palestine in harmony. I want the board to call for a ceasefire and to do what it can to halt weapons sale to Israel.

[03:05:32] Thank you. All right, that is all of our public speakers for today. Supervisors, I was going to go on and do item six right now, but I think we need a break. At least I need a break. And so we can do the closed session right now when we take a break and just do the closed session right now.

[03:05:51] come back, do nominations, board comments, item six, and kind of knock it all out. But let's take a break and do closed session in our break. Is staff ready for that, Mr. Umstead? I mean, Mr. Umstead, Mr., whoever you are down there.

[03:06:10] I almost said Mr. Bricksman next. You. Yeah, they're ready for that, Mr. Hemstreet. Okay, so Ms. Bricksman, Vice Chair Bricksman, will you please read us into closed session? I will, Madam Chair. Thank you. I move that the Board of Supervisors recess this public meeting and enter into a closed session pursuant to Section 2.2-3711A3 and 8 of the Code of Virginia to consider acquisition of real property for public use in the Leesburg Election District

[03:06:39] and to consult with the county attorney about a specific legal matter pertaining to the application of the county code requiring the provision of legal advice by such counsel. Okay, the motion has been made and seconded by Ms. Glass.

[03:07:01] A discussion on the motion. All in favor say aye. Any opposed? That motion will pass 8-0-1. We are in closed session.

[03:19:06] Okay, we are back.

[03:31:04] We are going to ask Ms. Bricksman to read us out of closed session, and then we are going to have a motion, and then we haven't had a break yet. We went straight to closed session, and I kind of actually need a really quick break. So after we do the motion, Ms. Bricksman.

[03:31:21] Okay. I move that the closed session be adjourned, that the Board of Supervisors reconvene its public meeting, that the minutes of the public meeting should reflect that no formal action was taken in the closed session, and further move that the resolution certifying the closed session be adopted and reflected in the minutes of this meeting.

[03:31:38] Motion is made in second. Discussion on the motion. All in favor, please say aye. Opposed? That motion will pass 801. There's a motion on the dais. I'm sorry. Everybody please affirm closed session motion.

[03:31:55] Affirm. Affirm. Affirm. Affirm. Affirm. Affirm. Affirm. And I affirm as well. Thank you very much. Okay, closed session. Motion, please. A motion. I move the Board of Supervisors enter into a land acquisition agreement in a form acceptable to the county attorney with the First Baptist Church Sicklin to acquire the necessary land rights located on church property PIN 192-16-2972-000 for the Sicklin Road widening Loudoun Center Place to Cross Trail Boulevard Project

[03:32:35] in exchange for the county removing unauthorized fill from the church property and authorize the county administrator or his designee to execute the agreement and necessary documents to complete the conveyance. And I further move the Board of Supervisors amend the FY 2024 Capital Improvement Program by directing staff to execute a budget adjustment, which moves $2,891,000 from the CIP contingency account to the Sickland Baptist Soil Project to provide the funding needed to mitigate unauthorized fill

[03:33:13] on the church and county properties. Motion's made and seconded by Supervisor Glass. Discussion on the motion, Ms. Umstead? No discussion. Anybody else? All in people who say aye.

[03:33:30] Opposed? A motion passed 801. Supervisor, do you need a break or can we keep going? Are we good to keep going? Okay, let's keep going. All right, then let's really quickly, let's do this. Let's, if you have a appointment, a nomination rather, will you please put your light on?

[03:33:50] Give me a second. I've got to find it. Put your light on, put your light on, put your light on. Mr. Kirshner. Thank you, Madam Chair. I nominate Patrick Ryan, re-nominate Patrick Ryan as the Catoctin District Representative on the Communications Commission.

[03:34:07] Wonderful. Ms. Brixman. Thank you, Madam Chair. I have several of my colleagues. Bear with me. I nominate Scott Farber as the Algonquian District Representative on the Communications Commission. I nominate Forrest Jones as the at-large local fixed system rider representative on the Transit Advisory Board.

[03:34:25] I nominate Casey Olenikov as an at-large representative on the Arts Advisory Committee. I re-nominate Amanda Galeno as the Algonquian District Representative on the Loudoun Health Commission. And finally, I nominate Rory Myatt as an at-large representative on the Community Services Board.

[03:34:47] Oh, he's a good guy, good guy. Anybody else? Wonderful, thank you. Mr. President, if you have comments for today, we're going to do those right now. Ms. Glass. Thank you, Madam Chair.

[03:35:06] I have a few disclosures. On Monday, April 22nd, Tuesday, April 30th, and Tuesday, May 7th, my staff met with Amanda Williams from Cooley to discuss the Tillotsview residential rezoning application. On Monday, May 6th, my staff met with Denise Harover of Van Meter to discuss Orme, Orme, farm rezoning.

[03:35:32] Discuss what? I don't know. Is it Orme or is it Orme? I don't know. Orme, thank you. On Tuesday, May 7th, my staff met with Ben Wales of C-U-R-A-T-A, Partners, to discuss the Arcola Farms residential rezoning application.

[03:35:53] That's it, Madam Chair. No comments. Thank you. Ms. Umstead. I have no disclosures. I would like to congratulate the Loudoun Times Mirror on a number of first place awards that they received from the Virginia Press Association.

[03:36:17] Coy Farrell, the editor, Jess Kirby, Evan Goodenow, and I do not know how to pronounce Steve Pracope or Bill Vockey's names, but that's pretty impressive.

[03:36:34] So congratulations to one of our local newspapers on those multiple awards. And also, more congratulations to not a local entity anymore, but a formerly local reporter, Nathaniel Klein, who used to be with the Times-Mirror and now is with Virginia Mercury, for his awards covering school issues, including in Loudoun County.

[03:37:04] So anyway, our local press seems to be doing a really good job these days. I would like to thank all the speakers who spoke tonight on multiple topics. In case it needs to be said, even if a resolution on Gaza were brought to the board, and I do not expect one to be, But even if it were, I would vote no on such a resolution without hesitation.

[03:37:38] Thank you. Ms. Dufroni. Thank you, Chair Randall. For disclosures on Thursday, May 2nd, I met with Colleen Gillis and representatives from Toll Brothers regarding the Arcola Farms application.

[03:38:07] And I am hosting a Brambleton Town Hall on Tuesday, May 21st at 6 o'clock p. m. at Legacy Elementary School to discuss a traffic signal and crosswalk at Belmont Ridge Road and Legacy Park Drive and other transportation improvements in the community with a specific focus on Belmont Ridge Road.

[03:38:23] VDOT and DTCI will be available to answer questions, and I hope the community will come and attend and learn more and voice their opinions, because I know they've been waiting for a long time for that improvement to get across that road to the park, and also for Briarwoods.

[03:38:45] I know that the Briarwoods High School has been waiting for a way to cross and get to the high school safely. This week is Loud and Small Business Week, and I had the pleasure of visiting Gathering Springs Farm and witness the birth of a lamb.

[03:39:06] So that was really exciting. It was kind of perfect timing. So we got to see the birth of a baby lamb, and that farm's amazing. They have a CSA program, and they're also doing yoga now and pottery, and that's at Gathering Springs Farm in Middleburg.

[03:39:24] I visited 50 West Vineyard and saw their beautiful remodeled tasting room. And this weekend for Mother's Day, they have a special event with six rosés for mothers and live music.

[03:39:41] So hopefully people will go out there and check that out. It has a gorgeous view. So I hope people get out and check it and take a visit. And I am visiting a few more businesses on Friday, a few small businesses. If you'd like me to visit, please reach out.

[03:39:56] I look forward to meeting the small businesses in the Little River District. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you very much. Mr. Letourneau. Thank you, Madam Chair. Just by way of disclosures, on April 18th, I met with Colleen Gillis of Curata, Amanda Williams of Cooley, Dave Ramsey, and James Brothers of Westbrook to discuss the Arcola Town Center residential, which is LEGIE 2023-0030.

[03:40:22] Just a couple of regional issues. I think Chair Randall really already covered these, but we did, as I reported last time, we did pass our Metro board budget for fiscal year 25, and now we continue to kind of wait and see how the session turns out.

[03:40:40] But as far as Metro is concerned, we are moving forward with that, getting to discuss some other initiatives for the board this year. We actually had a board retreat today, so it was good to have a chance to spend time with everybody. I do want to thank, we had two Dulles District speakers today, so we don't always get visitors here.

[03:40:57] So I'd like to thank Barbara Davis. She didn't actually identify herself, I think, but she is the president of the Kirkpatrick Farms HOA, who spoke on the destiny item. And then I also want to thank Sri Krishna for coming and speaking about bike lanes. I think he spoke with Mr. Parker and my staff during the break, But typically, our practice is when VDOT's ready to stripe or pave, we do engage on the viability of that.

[03:41:23] And we bring in input from the area HOAs on what their preference is and what some of the issues are. Sometimes there's a tradeoff with parking and things like that. So we're certainly happy to engage on Destiny Drive and really appreciate the advocacy and sticking with us here through our board meeting.

[03:41:41] That's all, Madam Chair. Thank you. Mr. Kirshner. Thank you, Madam Chair. No mandatory disclosures. In light of Police Officer Week, I just want to, I mean, I know our officers are gone, but I thought it, I wanted to make sure that I want, I thank them personally for all their hard work that they do on the road for the risks that they take.

[03:42:01] I just got back from Mexico, and the police presence in Mexico is very different than the police presence that we have here. It's really largely a military presence. So the fact that what they do and how they handle it and the fact that they keep our community safe in the way they do it really stands in stark contrast to some of the other places in the world that I've visited.

[03:42:23] So thank you and continue to do the great work. It is Small Business Week, and I had the opportunity yesterday to visit two of our small businesses in Catoctin. I visited Jessica Rice at Dark Spring Stables. She provides horse rides every weekend to the surrounding wineries, something that Stacey Carey in my office has wished would happen in Western Lounge for a long time, and now she has her wish.

[03:42:47] And so it is really going gangbusters. A lot of people enjoy coming out from Fairfax, Washington, D.C., the surrounding suburban areas, especially to enjoy the countryside and to enjoy the horseback riding. And if you wish, you can go, I believe she has a Facebook page as well.

[03:43:05] Also had the opportunity to visit and meet Sam and Euda Brown at Crooked Run Orchard, right on the corner of Percival. That farm missed our century farms because they are by century, multiple centuries. They have actually been in business nearly 300 years.

[03:43:22] Now, I think Sam and Euda had not been there at that time, but their relatives were. And they run a pick-your-own orchard, including cherries and apples, and have been a real staple in Loudoun County and the surrounding areas for many, many, many years.

[03:43:38] And they were very pleased to receive a recognition award, as was Jessica Rice, for the Small Business Week from Loudoun County Economic Development. And then last night, I was able to top it off with the kickoff of the Western Loudoun Complex information session.

[03:43:55] Steve Thorpey and his crew did an excellent job. There were a lot of good questions that were asked, and I just wanted to report on that for the board simply because that is a big purchase that we undertook, but something that's desperately needed in the western part of the county and has been wanted for a long time, and there was a lot of enthusiasm for it.

[03:44:13] Obviously, a lot of questions concerned from some of the surrounding neighbors but I think in large part, things that can be worked through and largely ameliorated as we go forward on this really important project. $73 million project in Western Loudoun. So in terms of other news from Catoctin, Wegmeyer's Farm is hosting their first ever Lincoln Strawberry Festival on May 17th through 19th.

[03:44:35] It was in the papers, if you saw it. It'll be a weekend of strawberry picking local food and music pie eating contests. I took third in a pie eating contest one time when I was a young man. Congratulations. I know. And so, you know, come on out and see how fast you can eat a pie there, Chair Randall.

[03:44:52] And tractor rides. Maybe you can ride some tractors as well. proceeds will help support local causes and provide scholarships for high school students if that's not enough strawberries for you great country farms is hosting their own strawberry jubilee festival on may 18th through 19th and 25th through 26th and june 1 through 2 so three weekends they'll have strawberry picking cider donuts a float parade and other games and activities for adults as and children alike and then finally 868 estate vineyards is hosting the nova music fest on may 26th they put together a full schedule of music pairing it with food from

[03:45:27] big kyle barbecue wine from six or 868 estate beer from lost rhino and more food and drinks from other craft vendors and you can get those ticket sales and well they will those ticket sales are will support cancer can rock charity which supports musicians who are facing regressive forms of cancer and fellow supervisors with one minute left that's the news from good talk to Thank you, sir. Mr. Turner.

[03:45:56] Thank you, Madam Chair. On Monday, April 29th, my staff and I met with Amanda Williams from Cooley LLP to discuss the application for Tillots View. On Thursday, May 2nd, my staff and I joined with Supervisor Tacroni and her staff for a meeting with Angela Rassus and Timothy Rowe from Toll Brothers and Colin Gillis from Curata Partners to discuss the application for our cola farms.

[03:46:16] The last two weeks have been hectic in Team Turner. Two weeks ago, my chief of staff and I attended all day for three days the Data Center World Conference in downtown D.C. It was a fascinating conference.

[03:46:33] We couldn't take notes fast enough. And my message to the data center community from Ashburn was, this is not your problem to solve. This is our strategic challenge to collectively address. And my message basically was we've been operating in silos with the data center community talking to themselves and the power company talking to themselves, and local officials sort of left out of the loop, and that's got to change.

[03:47:01] The energy, the demand for data is exponentially more staggering than I thought it was before I went to the conference. The data racks, we could stop building data centers tomorrow, And the requirements for power over the next two years will go up five to six-fold from our existing data centers.

[03:47:21] The average data rack requires 10 to 14 kilowatts of power. With AI, that will jump to 60, 70, or 80 kilowatts per rack, and there are thousands of these racks in our existing data centers. So it was a very interesting conference. Following the conference, I got a request from Equinix to brief their world leadership team, which I did after the conference, a few days after the conference.

[03:47:47] And they really appreciated the presentation for the landscape here in Loudoun County. I have a presentation I put together for VACO last November, which goes over the history of how we got here and then gives a pretty detailed look at demand increasing for data, increases for power demands, and then our local involvement.

[03:48:09] I just yesterday finished a 16-page white paper that captures and adds a whole lot more detail to what I put in the presentation. Today, short notice, Dominion held its first of, first very, I think that was called an elected leader's input session, basically, for their 15-year integrated resource plan.

[03:48:33] First time they've ever done it. There were a handful of us in the room I was invited by Joe Lurch, who's our representative on VACO. I'm the chair of the Energy Subcommittee and the Environment, Energy, and Land Use Committee at NACO. And fascinating conversation, and Prince William and I both said the same song virtually word for word to Dominion, which is you have grossly, grossly underestimated the power needs for Loudoun County and Prince William County going forward.

[03:49:05] It was not at all contentious. They're kind of aware of the fact that the power demands are going through the roof. They asked us if we thought PJM was doing the same thing. We said absolutely. A few days ago, I had heard it at the Equinix meeting.

[03:49:22] They mentioned that they had signed a contract with a nuclear microreactor provider and put down $25 or $50 million towards that project, I think $25 million. Not in Loudoun County, but it's a conversation that probably will come up sooner rather than later because the data centers are beginning to realize they just can't get enough power over the transmission lines.

[03:49:46] And so I was involved in the IRP discussion today with Dominion, and that was a fascinating discussion. Prince William is as alarmed as we are. We currently have 33 million square feet that is built and eight more million permitted.

[03:50:02] Prince William is planning on 80 million square feet of data centers. The digital gateway alone is 30 million square feet. And I mentioned to the delegate, Saturday there was a presentation by the delegate from that district in Prince William County. He's saying virtually the same thing that I'm saying, which I was very pleased to hear that we're all on the same page.

[03:50:22] And I whispered in the back of the room, there's no way you're going to get power for 80 million square feet of data center. It just doesn't exist. So Dominion was very appreciative of the comments today. They recognize the problem is really gargantuan. In the last two years, there has been a tectonic shift in data centers and power.

[03:50:40] And then, really, the involvement of local officials, the data centers are really working hard to figure out how to solve this problem. But it is a major, major problem going forward. Thank you. Thank you. Before I go to Ms. Brooksman, I need to go back to give 30 seconds to Ms. Glass for a very special thing that she forgot.

[03:50:58] Thank you, Madam Chair. I am very excited because tomorrow I'm heading down to Blacksburg with my family for my youngest son who will be graduating from Virginia Tech with a degree in cybersecurity.

[03:51:18] We are very excited for him. Grandparents, aunts are coming, so we're just very excited for the celebration. Thank you, Madam Chair. Congratulations. That's really cool. I thought you said you were going to be a grandparent. going like wait wait what it's like wait what that's really cool though four kids good job good job to you on that one all right miss brixman thank you madam chair by way of disclosures i've had two phone calls with amanda williams about tillots view about the tillots view application today and last week i also met with next tara last week regarding the proposed pjm power line

[03:51:56] project. I also went on a small business week visit today with the Animal Medical Center, which has been operating for 24 years in the Great Falls Chase Shopping Center. Dr. Mitchell, Dr. Thibodeau, fortunately, has retired. It was fascinating. It was great to see the animals. They're doing a great job. But the one thing that she kept driving home was that she cannot keep her

[03:52:30] veterinarian practice operating the way it should be because her people that she wants to employ cannot live in Loudoun County. There's not enough attainable housing. She is one doctor trying to hold down a practice that should have four vets in it. And as they've retired, she has not been able to replace even vets because they can't afford to live in Loudoun County. We were also told that one staff member, a woman lives in West Virginia. They have a child, and she's about to

[03:53:08] have another child, and she's driving back and forth from West Virginia to work. And as we walked, as we passed a couple other employees in the hallway, she said to me, that gentleman is fantastic. He has two children. He works here full time and he just applied for food stamps and he cannot afford to live in Loudoun County. This center loses staff to places like Gaithersburg and Manassas where housing is more attainable or they're driving to her as long as they can take it

[03:53:46] to work for her. So that just leads me to, you know, I know that we've been working on attainable housing as hard as we personally, I mean, as hard as we can, staff and everybody else, but there are consequences to not approving attainable housing in this county and they are real for real people who would like to live in Loudoun County, not just our firefighters and our deputies and our teachers, but other folks who want to have other jobs and live in the community where they work. And the number one way to make sure we have attainable housing is to vote for quality

[03:54:24] housing projects. I spent part of my weekend in Charlottesville at the NACO or sorry the VACO board spring board meeting. We reviewed the legislative agenda and the VACO budget or lack thereof had discussions about you know ARPA funds which believe it or not by December we have to have them all assigned and then we only have two more years to spend them so there was some shifting around that we talked about in the general assembly budget. It was a real treat to learn more about Albemarle County one of the most fascinating things was they have a

[03:55:00] 20-mile natural surface trail that goes all the way around Charlottesville across several jurisdictions that the community asked for in the 1980s and it is now complete I walked on some of that trail it was beautiful and very very inspiring my staff and I have been meeting with carrier cell carriers and cell tower organizations to fill some gaps in cell coverage in my district. Really excited about some potential solutions, especially that the schools are working on. And so that will be coming to us hopefully after they go through the school's process for new towers in Algonquian

[03:55:38] District. And the carriers are also working on boosting their signals. I read and responded to, as a resident and a parent, to the LCPS Blue Ribbon Panel recommendations that recently came out. One of them is to put SROs in our elementary schools, again, which we denied funding for in 2020.

[03:56:02] They also are recommending that they make the security folks, the security department, a law enforcement department in LCPS. One good recommendation is that they would make sure that the radios are working in all schools.

[03:56:21] And we know from the incident in Uvalde that radio is not working. We're part of the problem. I will not support SROs in our elementary schools, and I have a number of reasons for that, but I'm running out of time. As far as gun violence, there have been 5,671 total gun deaths, 148 mass shootings, 405 deaths were teens, 12 to 17, and 80 were children aged 11.

[03:56:48] Seriously, you've got to stop doing that. I'm going to stop you when your time's up. Seriously, I am. Thank you. Okay, so I had a meeting with the people from Tillotsview, Amanda Williams, on 4-18, and then met with the community this past, last week.

[03:57:05] And then today, Mr. Cronia and I met with Brambleton Group on possibly they wanted to put a data center out in that area. So that was a meeting. Last week, one of our papers, one of our award-winning papers reported that Governor Youngkin was doing, in my opinion, what his job is.

[03:57:27] He was getting ready to go on his third economic development trip in just over a year. So he did a little research on how much Governor Youngkin's economic development trips cost, just, I mean, the international trips cost, just out of curiosity. In April 23, when he went to Asia, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea, it was over $224,000.

[03:57:51] That money was the Virginia Economic Development money, which is, if it was Loudoun, would be akin to what they were doing in Loudoun, how I travel, rather, in Loudoun. In June, he went to Paris, France. It was $175,166.

[03:58:10] $36,000 alone was on ground transportation. If you add up the two trips he took so far before this last one, it's almost $400,000. He just came back from his third trip, Germany, Denmark, Finland, and Switzerland, and the cost of that is unknown.

[03:58:32] But if it runs anywhere near or even lower than the first trips he took, we will know that in just over a year, Governor Junkin would have spent very likely half a million dollars on international travel. I was asked kind of how I felt about that by a couple of people, and my response to that is this.

[03:58:54] I wish Governor Youngkin all the best as he goes on international travel. He is the chief elected official of our Commonwealth, and chief elected officials often take international trips to bring in international money.

[03:59:10] And the funny thing, interesting thing, is that a lot of times when a person, when a chief elected takes an international trip, they may not see the benefits of that trip for years. It may be that their predecessor sees the benefits of their trip, or their successor sees the benefit of their trip.

[03:59:28] They may not see these themselves. I also hope that while he was on the trips, he was able to take some time down, because they're hard trips, and you're doing a lot of work. So if Governor Youngkin took a day and dipped into the swimming pool of the hotel or if he did some sightseeing, I wouldn't begrudge him that at all because, again, these are tough trips and it's a lot of work.

[03:59:54] A chief elected official going on international trips for the purpose of bringing revenue new back to their state, to their town, to their city, or through their county is wholly and completely appropriate. I can't tell how many people went with him, but I think, and I will check on this, it was somewhere over a dozen people that traveled with the governor. And again, in one year, he would have spent a half million dollars. I hope the governor did well on his trip.

[04:00:30] I hope things went well for him. I wish him all the best, because if it benefits him, it will benefit the entire Commonwealth. I certainly wish I had got that same consideration from others as well.

[04:00:58] Thank you very much. Let's go to our last item. Our last item is item number six, which was on consent and was taken off consent by Mr. Turner. First, maybe Mr. Letourneau, then maybe Ms. Bricksman, then eventually Mr. Turner. So I guess eventually this was going to come off consent one way or the other.

[04:01:16] I have read, I don't know, 14 emails on this today from all kind of people sending things around, and I don't quite know where we are at this moment. I don't. I really don't. So I'm going to have the staff come to us and give a brief presentation, and then we will have a discussion on this item, and we can find out why all people were pulling it off consent.

[04:01:42] We are ready when you all are. Thank you, Madam Chair and members of the board. Just for purposes of introductions, we're here to discuss the Destiny Drive Corridor study. With me at the table is our director, Nancy Boyd, our traffic engineering program manager, Elisa Thuring, and Mark Phillips from Kimley Horn.

[04:02:02] We also have consultants from VHB in the room and are ready to answer any questions. And without any further ado, I'll turn it over to Mark for the presentation. So I'm going to lead off the presentation for the record.

[04:02:21] My name is Eloisa Thring and I just want to provide a brief context on the Destiny Drive corridor study. She can see on the screen Destiny Drive is situated south of Route 50 in the Dulles District, specifically at the northwest corner of Braddock Road and Gumspring Road.

[04:02:46] spans approximately one mile in length between Gumspring to Gumspring Road to the east and endpoint to the its endpoint to the west is Mineral Springs circle in the countywide transportation plan it is classified designated as a neighborhood collector with on-street parking and bike lanes and sidewalks on both sides. Currently Destiny Drive is a two-lane undivided roadway with on-street

[04:03:23] parking and sidewalks on both sides. It is a VDOT maintained road. The posted speed limit varies on Destiny Drive from the east between Gum Spring Road and Progress Terrace about two-third length of the roadway. The posted speed limit is 30 miles per hour. The remaining segment about a third of it from Progress Terrace to mineral spring circle the posted speed limit is 25 it operates as a free-flow

[04:03:55] Traffic stop-controlled at its end points come spring Road and mineral springs. There are no pavement markings on destiny Drive Between the endpoints there are 12 Roadway intersections where the side streets are stopped controlled many of the side streets are HOA maintained There is also one driveway to the Merritt School Learning Center, which is located at the southwest quadrant of Destiny Drive and Supreme Drive intersection.

[04:04:30] There are nine Loudoun County Public Schools bus stops along this stretch of the roadway, including two county transit bus stops. With the nine LCPS bus stop locations, school buses stop 59 times a day, serving 12 different schools.

[04:04:50] According to the most recent VDOT data dated 2022, the average annual daily traffic on this roadway is approximately 3,900 vehicles per day. Destiny Drive serves three residential communities, Westview Estates.

[04:05:13] It has 58 dwellings, Kirkpatrick Farms, 621 residential units, and Stone Ridge Community, roughly 3,400 residential units. In total, there's roughly 4,100 residential units within the three communities.

[04:05:33] Over the years, community residents voiced three concerns with Supervisor Letourneau's office, one being vehicular traffic or speeding on Destiny Drive. The second one is insufficient sight distance when exiting the side streets because of the on-street parking conditions and overgrown trees and bushes at corner properties.

[04:06:01] And also Destiny Drive, as you can see on the screen, it has the shape of a letter C with the roadway's horizontal alignment combined with on-street parking and overgrown vegetation. It makes it difficult for motorists to exit from the side streets, especially on the east side or north of Destiny Drive.

[04:06:25] And the third concern is there are no marked crosswalks on this one-mile roadway, which leads to safety concerns for pedestrians, including many school children getting to and from the nine bus stop locations.

[04:06:42] Supervisor Letourneau's office has consulted with VDOT, Loudoun County Sheriff's Office, and DTCI on these concerns over the years, and some were addressed on an ad hoc basis. The intent of the board member initiative is to assess the three main concerns, as I mentioned, vehicular speeding, limited site distance, and pedestrian crossing safety in a holistic approach and recommend viable safety solutions for the three concerns.

[04:07:15] Mark Phillips, my colleague here, will go over the study findings and the proposed recommended solutions, which... Great. Thank you, Lois and Mark Phillips. So some of the key study findings that were evaluated during the Destiny Drive Corridor study were, as Alois alluded to, the lack of marked crosswalks and pavement markings along the corridor, concerns and deficiencies in intersection site distance, which were primarily due to limitations from on-street parking and tree coverage and some fences.

[04:07:46] But one of the other concerns related to speeding, one of the other study findings identified was the wide lanes that were unmarked and combined with a westbound downgrade from Gumstring Road had a westbound that encourages higher travel speeds along the corridor.

[04:08:02] So shown on this slide is a table depicting the location-specific improvements along Destiny Drive. So there are five key intersections that were identified for spot improvements to improve pedestrian safety, improve sight distance, and improve speeding through traffic calming measures.

[04:08:23] The improvements vary between crosswalks, pavement markings, modifying stop bar placement, the placement of pedestrian warning signs, but also parking restrictions adjacent to these intersections to improve sight distance for the pedestrians crossing the roadway so that they're clearly visible from the side streets, but also including lighting, vegetation trimming, curb ramps, and truck aprons, just to name a few.

[04:08:51] With that, we developed two series of recommendations. One was a corridor-wide short-term improvement recommendation that looked at what could be done within the existing right-of-way given the current conditions and be implemented more rapidly. These consisted of pavement marking improvements along the end corridor, including a double yellow striped center line along Destiny Drive to provide a narrower lane feel and traffic calming effect.

[04:09:16] On-street parking restrictions directly adjacent to the five intersections noted to improve the site distance at the intersections and vegetation trimming to also improve site distance. And the planning level cost estimate of those short-term improvements shown on the side was approximately $650,000. The next element was the full implementation of all the improvements noted on the previous slide to include the hardscape features that would require right away in easements and further design, including the ADA curb ramps, the pedestrian

[04:09:52] refuges, and other elements. The total cost for these improvements came to $5.34 million, slide. And with that, our initial staff recommendation is to endorse the short-term improvements and direct staff to add them to the list of projects identified in the CIP as part of a future CIP budget process and to further direct staff to add the recommended long-term improvements totaling $5.34 million to the list of projects identified in the CIP for future development as part of a future CIP budget process. And with that, we're happy to take any questions.

[04:10:29] Okay. So, advisors, I'm assuming there are questions on this dais about this item. Would you like to go first? You took a little consent. I can, but I don't really have any questions. Okay. Well then, Mr. Letourneau? Yeah. So, I have prepared an alternate motion which moves those short-term improvements to the fund balance discussion and also the signal.

[04:10:53] So I think where the discussion's been between some board members has been on that signal as it relates to the intersection improvement program and whether it's appropriate to send that for a fund balance discussion or not. So first of all, my understanding is that VDOT has verbally said that they last year had approved the signal warrant at Gumspring and Destiny, correct?

[04:11:16] That is correct, verbally, but we don't have the final report. Okay, so what I'm kind of stuck on here is that intersection, our calculation is that since the last intersection improvement program data set, which was through 2021, there have been 13 accidents at Destiny Drive and Gumspring Road, which is what's led me to say, well, something's happening here, obviously, that is significantly changed in characteristic.

[04:11:46] Obviously, we have an intersection improvement program. This intersection did not score highly enough to be funded for an improvement. Normally, we kind of look at that, and then we look at those things. We come up with the solution. In this case, the developer already submitted a warrant study request, which was part of their proffer, and it already met warrant.

[04:12:07] So I'm kind of stuck with how to handle this, because is it correct to say that there are no interim solutions other than the signal that we could implement at Destiny Drive? in Gumspring Road, since we can't put stop signs on Gumspring Road? Correct.

[04:12:22] Okay. When is the next update to the intersection improvement program coming? We anticipate in late, in the fall of 2025. Fall of 2025? Okay.

[04:12:38] And that's going to include updated data? It'll include... Including the 13 accidents that have happened since 2022? Yes. It'll have a new data set, new, fresher, you know, current analysis for the, since the previous and if i tried to just have this one project re-evaluated in the past you've all told me that you can't really do that because it's all weighed against each other so you have to complete the whole data set but would you agree that at destiny and gum spring there's been like an uptick in accidents and conditions seem to have worsened fairly rapidly is that is that borne out and i

[04:13:16] think that's a fair assessment given the number of accidents okay so the motion i had was to was to move all this, that plus the other things to the fund balance discussion. Obviously, it doesn't commit the money. We still have to go through the fund balance discussion. And I've told others, I will defer to all of you if you think that's inappropriate given the intersection improvement program.

[04:13:36] And we can hold back on it. I just don't really know what to do here because I have this sort of sudden problem that's cropped up, and I don't know how to address it other than this, and waiting is difficult. Okay, so you do, okay, Mr.

[04:13:53] Thank you. And thanks to Supervisor Laterno. He and I have talked today. I'm perfectly fine sending the short-term items to fund balance. I think it's an issue. I think there have been other cases where supervisors have sent short-term what are perceived, even if anecdotally, safety problems with roadways to fund balance for modest amounts.

[04:14:13] $650,000 for this level of improvement is, I think, a good fund balance discussion. The challenge we have is in process with a changing intersection environment. I absolutely accept Supervisor Letourneau's concerns for a decrease in the safety of that intersection, and there ought to be a way we can spot, update, and evaluate a specific intersection when a supervisor says this intersection is a problem.

[04:14:45] That's faster than two years down the road, actually three if you count the data. I have a level five intersection, Ashburn and Waxpool Road. This current intersection is rated number two. The intersection in my district has 14 accidents in three years, one of them serious, and it's a level five priority.

[04:15:04] This one sounds like it ought to be a level five priority, so it can move into the CI, into the intersection improvement program with other level five priorities, and then we can address it as it comes up in the intersection improvement program. I do not think it's appropriate to move an intersection improvement into an end fund balance discussion.

[04:15:23] We can have the discussion. I'll vote against it, but we can have a discussion. And if they get five votes, then we can do it. We have uncovered this exact conversation from a finance committee meeting in December of 2020 where I wanted to try and get fund balance to improve this level five intersection in Ashburn and Waxpool.

[04:15:44] and Supervisor Letourneau correctly said we used to do it this way and all the board supervisors would have internal food fights over whose project had the priority. And to stop that, we created the Intersection Improvement Priority Program and we moved things into the CIP in a structured, objective way.

[04:16:04] And I think that's a valid answer. I think that's a good process. I understand the urgency Supervisor Letourneau senses and I share it and the only thing i can say is can we get this intersection evaluated in a fairly urgent way rather than have to wait two years because it sounds like it needs to be addressed and it is a level five intersection i still don't think even if it's a level five intersection all it would do is upgrade it and get to join the rest of us who have level five intersections that are sitting in the intersection program waiting to get funded thank you yeah um uh miss um stop

[04:16:38] Thank you, Madam Chair. Although I think Supervisor Turner makes a number of good points, I will support this. Simply to send it to the fund balance discussion I think is appropriate, even though it's late in the game.

[04:16:58] But then, according to Supervisor Letourneau, things have changed fundamentally late in the game, and I think we should be flexible enough to entertain the possibility. I don't know if when I review all the other demands for fund balance that this one would be on my list to fund, but I think it's worth throwing it into the mix.

[04:17:26] Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. Could you refresh me, please? Level one is the worst and level five the other way around. Five is the worst. Five is the worst. Okay. Have we had anything else come up like this since we started the intersection improvement program where there's an intersection that has had this number of crashes and we're pretty sure it would be a level five if it were evaluated today?

[04:17:59] Have we seen that in the last five years? I don't know if it's the exact situation, but we did, I believe we did reevaluate Defender Drive and South Riding Boulevard. Okay, and what's happening with Defender Drive?

[04:18:14] Is that in the CIP? There's a proffered signal. It was in the Intersection Improvement Program, but there's been a rezoning and there's a proffered signal that is in process. Yeah, I'm a little torn. I see in 2020 we did fund some traffic improvements in fund balance.

[04:18:34] Last year we did have some minor ones in broad run that got funded. I think it's very reasonable to send the $650,000 to fund balance. I also think that we could just send it to fund balance discussion and sort of weigh our options then.

[04:18:50] We'll find out how much we're getting from the proffer. Maybe there's some way to send the proffer money to the design of it and kind of get it moving a little bit without totally doing the two-point whatever and fund balance to do the signal.

[04:19:07] I think I'm okay with sending it to the fund balance discussion. I don't know if I would. I think I just need a little more information whether I decide that I want to do, if I want to spend fund balance on it. Now, the other question I had on this is the same as the gentleman who came to speak.

[04:19:24] I was, and I talked to staff about it today, I was a little bit disappointed that at the beginning of the item, it said that this will be a holistic review of bicycle, pedestrian, and vehicular safety along this corridor and what is needed to address those safety concerns.

[04:19:42] And I didn't see anything in the report about safety for cyclists or putting in bike lanes or anything like that I know staff said there's an issue with the number of cars that have to park there that road narrows at one point but I'm really really discouraged that this is actually identified in our CTP as a road that should have bike lanes and I don't know if there's maybe a way to get creative to put something on one side of the road to just do something because it's We're either serious about our goal of multimodal forms of transportation in this county or we're not.

[04:20:20] And this is identified in the CTP as a road that should be safe for bicyclists. If it's opposed to staff, yes. I think that if it's the board's desire, we could certainly work with Supervisal Attorney's Office in the community and see what the desire is in terms of the actual demand for parking.

[04:20:44] And we could certainly take a further look at that and have some additional information. I see he's nodding. Yeah, if I could, Lou, I just wanted to add that one of the things that the team did evaluate the ability of the existing pavement width to be able to accommodate bike lanes on either side.

[04:21:03] And there is a portion of the corridor that is too narrow. So that is one of the things the team ran into with this evaluation. So I am uncomfortable. You know, listen, I don't mind being flexible, but when I have a colleague who convinced me that we shouldn't do something because it's picking and choosing, and then they come back and say, but only pick and choose it if it's maybe my district.

[04:21:30] That's why I don't really like getting into these capital discussions, because they never work for me as a chair, no matter what, anyway. But, you know, there are serious level five intersections for improvement things all across the county, and I really do appreciate that Mr. Letourneau is fighting for his district.

[04:21:56] He is absolutely supposed to do that, and his constituents are my constituents too. But if we're going to, you know, say, you know, two years ago we should do it in this way because it keeps people from jumping ahead and putting their pet projects first and all that thing, and all those things which okay you know okay okay then then that's what we're doing and so we you know it's you know we can't have an animal farm moment we go all in all intersections are equal but my intersection is more equal than others we just can't do so i just i just uh actually there

[04:22:33] is not any motion on the table at this moment even there's not even there's not even motion on table so so i don't know who's gonna make or if there's gonna be emotion what that's gonna look like. But, you know, it's tough because I was convinced of something in the other way already by the very same person who wants to convince me of something else right now. You should do a good job of convincing your colleagues. So, you know, let's see where the discussion goes. I mean, I'm not, listen, I'm not going to be on my sword about this one way or the other, to be quite

[04:23:07] honest, but if it doesn't have to happen, I don't know. I don't think any situation is the same situation. That's the thing. I think every situation will have its quirks and its differences and this is special about this and this is special about that. That's why it gets confusing and that's why it gets tough because nothing is going to ever be the same situation and so if and so it's maybe easier and wiser to just stick with the plan that we have and that i was convinced of by somebody who gave a really good argument so at this moment there is

[04:23:45] no motion on the table i'll make a motion so mr latourne which i can make a motion yeah and that's why i raised i before i make the motion i'm not sure if i may just for a second because i'll make a different motion it's a gray area because there's no interim solution right the other situation we installed stop signs we can't do that here you gotta make a motion sir so i'm going to say i will drop that for now um and i will move the board of supervisors endorse the recommended short-term improvements as listed in table two of the may 7 2024 board of supervisors business meeting action item and forward funding for those projects to the fy 24 fund balance discussion further move the board of supervisors direct staff to add the remaining long-term recommended

[04:24:23] improvements identified in table three of the may 7 2024 board of supervisors meaning business action item to the list of projects identified in the capital improvement program as part of the future CIP budget process. Okay. Motion made by Suburban to Crony. I mean, I'm sorry, Suburban to Crony. Okay. Yeah. So I think you all have a good point. That's why I really raised it almost as a question, which is what do I do with this? It is very hard for me to go back and tell everybody that there's no possibility of even getting data that will support this until the fall of 2025. So I may do something different or I may talk to Supervisor Turner about what

[04:24:59] do we do in these situations? Because I do think our program is such that the last data collection set was 2021. And that means it's going to be four years between data collection. And that's not even the stuff that we have. So if we were doing this on a two-year basis, like I think we kind of intended, that would be one thing, but we're not. And quite frankly, and I'm not being critical, but I brought this BMI in December of 2022. And we're here now talking about it. So we're not moving very fast on these things and that's difficult and all of us experience this I don't want to jump the line I don't want to throw out the intersection improvement process

[04:25:36] all of that is absolutely true I'm just again not exactly sure how to handle that situation we will continue the discussion about the proffer I think it will be insufficient and then we can certainly engage on any other issues related to bike lanes or striping or whatever there is no striping as you heard here so we found it to be kind of a natural moment of discussion when you have a striping situation that you can then potentially do more than one thing and not have to pay extra for it so we've had similar conversations with another another

[04:26:08] group so for now I will say let's just move those short-term small things to the fund balance but I will continue to ask if there's any way to get this done sooner or evaluate it sooner or address it in some other way if we do have situations that pop up like this.

[04:26:31] Okay, thank you, sir. Mr. Turner? Thank you, Madam Chair. I applaud Supervisor Turner for modifying his motion. It's easy to support. I'll be quite honest. This may be way out of the box. I would be, especially where our fund balance is right now, I would be very amenable to, as a board, establishing a priority for our fund balance discussions to make a primary purpose of the fund balance discussion to clear out our level five intersections if we're are we am I correct that we're sitting on 180 million dollars in fund balance right now manager can I ask that you can

[04:27:11] ask that Mr. Hemstreet that is the projected amount in that ballpark okay so I mean we open up ourselves to, okay, if there's $120 million worth of level five intersections, who gets what?

[04:27:28] Okay, understand. But I think that puts us a whole lot closer to solving our level five intersection problem than where we are right now, which is way far away from solving that problem. It still doesn't address the issue of how can we get an intersection evaluated faster if we have on the ground anecdotal evidence that something has happened in this intersection to make it substantially more unsafe so I'm happy to support the motion I'm happy to have a fun balanced discussion on level five intersections and I would really join Supervisor Laterno and figure out a way that we can get a quick evaluation of these even honestly even if

[04:28:07] we just had some engineers out there and studied it in an informal non-binding way to say yes we see symptoms and indications that this intersection has gotten substantially worse that would at least give us something to deal with so I guess I'm rambling but that's okay miss thank you madam chair I'm happy to support the motion if I might ask County Minister Hemstreet a question yes the the 180 million is already earmarked for stuff right like we already did that no I I think the supervisor Turner is a friend.

[04:28:45] Oh, you're talking about December conversation. Okay, okay. All right, all right. So just another question to staff. Do we need any sort of a motion to look at the bike lane stuff, or are we good? It sounds like the supervisor is amenable.

[04:29:01] We don't need a motion for that to be looked at, correct? We do, yes. Do you want me to make it friendly? I'm sorry. I think you referenced that already. It wasn't in the motion, but hold on.

[04:29:20] Can I ask a question on your time, Supervisor Risman? Yes. Yes, go on. Yes. Chair Randall, can I ask a question? Yes, yes, yes. But striping was part of the evaluation here, right? Striping, there is centerline striping, and striping to restrict parking is part of the short-term improvements.

[04:29:40] That was the short-term recommendation, some of them. We can certainly take a look at evaluation of bike lanes with your office and just looking at demand for parking because, as was noted, there is a, you know, the width of the road doesn't allow for parking and bike lanes and travel lanes the entire length of the corridor.

[04:30:04] So we could certainly take a look at that. Do you need a motion to do that or can... I don't believe so. That's what Ms. Bricksman just asked. So I think that we can go ahead and take a look at that in concert with VDOT. Yes. And we don't need a motion. Okay.

[04:30:20] All right. Okay. Thank you, Supervisor LeTourneau, for agreeing to look at bike lanes on that corridor, and that's all I have. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm happy to support. Okay. Mr. LeTourneau, would you like the closing? All right. Mr. LeTourneau made the motion. I think Mr. Crony seconded the motion.

[04:30:37] All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? That motion will pass 9-0. I think that might be it. Is that it? Wow. All right. We are adjourned. Okay.

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