Coraggio Consulting
Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, Business Meeting, Tuesday, June 4, 2024

Date: Tuesday, June 4, 2024
Place: Board Room, First Floor, Government Center, 1 Harrison Street SE, Leesburg, Virginia
Length: 2h 51m (video)
Official meeting video (county, Granicus): https://loudoun.granicus.com/player/clip/7688
Agenda (Granicus): https://loudoun.granicus.com/AgendaViewer.php?view_id=73&clip_id=7688

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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[00:06:01] Thank you very much. Okay, good evening, supervisors, good evening, staff, and good evening, Loudoun. I'd like to call to order the June 4th, 2024, Loudoun County Board Supervisors Business Meeting.

[00:06:17] This room has a hearing loop. If you need hearing assistance, please switch your hearing aid to the telecall mode. If you need headsets, we have those available as well. Please see the clerk to request one. For words of inspiration today, what I thought I would do is, lately I have been a little disturbed by how much I think undue and wholly inappropriate criticism there has been, especially from one individual, about America and our justice system and who we are.

[00:06:51] And so as somebody who was raised in a military family, I have, my chief of staff teases me all the time, he tells me I am very rah-rah America, because I am very rah-rah America. And that doesn't mean that I think America is a perfect country, because obviously, if you've lived in my skin with my gender your whole life, you know that there are lots of imperfection and things to work on.

[00:07:15] But the undue criticism and untrue criticism that America has been receiving most recently, again, especially from one person, I think has been wholly inappropriate. So I thought I would just look up some facts about America and share those.

[00:07:32] The U.S. is still today the most dominant economy in the world, some of the highest GDP per capita, and Americans are still some of the wealthiest people in the world. We are number one in the world in entrepreneurship, one of the highest-ranked countries for respect of human rights.

[00:07:48] Obviously, there's some caveats to that, and we know what those caveats are. But overall, one of the highest-ranked countries for human rights. U.S. popular culture, movies, television, music, continues to find audiences around the globe. And you know that when you see different countries wearing our clothes and singing songs and things like that.

[00:08:08] Our investment in global health is the number one of any other country in America. We put more into the health of the globe, by far, by the way, than any other country in America. We are the most technologically advanced country in the world.

[00:08:24] We are a leader in technology, science, and engineering, including NASA. Our advanced military is the most prepared military in the world. We have more volunteerism than any other country in the world. Americans volunteer, and we give back.

[00:08:41] I thought that was pretty amazing. Medical technology, we have the best doctors and some of the best hospitals in the world. And finally, I think that the number one thing that America has is Americans. I think our country is great because our people are good.

[00:08:59] And again, there's been a lot of talk lately about, you know, America's going down the tubes or whatever. I find that highly offensive. And I also think that dissent and criticism of my country is patriotic.

[00:09:14] I think that you criticize the things that you love the most. And so if you do it correctly because you want to make it better versus you want to have versus your own self-aggrandizement, then it's a different criticism.

[00:09:30] But I also want everyone to remember that the reason we get to criticize and the reason we get to protest and the reason we get to do these things is because we have the freedoms to criticize without getting locked up. So I just want to kind of, for our little section, our little corner of the country, say that I still think that America, for all its fobbles and flaws, is the best country in the world.

[00:09:59] With that, please join me in 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.

[00:10:19] Okay, the proposed consent agenda is as follows. Item R1, resolution to recognize and congratulate Eagle Scouts from Boy Scouts of America Troops 961 and 962. That is for approval and presentation.

[00:10:36] That is for Mr. Kirshner, who will join me down front. Item 2, a proclamation to recognize June 7, 2024, is National Gun Violence Awareness Day. That is for approval and presentation. That is from Vice Chair Bricksman's office, who will join me down front.

[00:10:51] Item number three, population to recognize June 17th through 23, 2024 as pollinator week. That is for approval only. Item 1A, appointments and confirmations. Item 2, Administrative Items Report of June 4, 2024.

[00:11:10] Item 3, Resolution of Intent to Amend Chapter 1480, Section 1480.2 of the codified ones of Loudoun County, Affordable Housing Land Development Application and Development Permit Fee Waiver Program. Item 4A, CPAM 2024-0003, Project Plan for the 2024 Review of the Loudoun County 2019 General Plan.

[00:11:34] Is there a motion to approve? The motion has been made and seconded by Supervisor Glass. Discussion on the motion? Seeing none, all people say aye. Any opposed? That motion will pass, 603.

[00:11:51] Mr. Kirshner, Ms. Letourneau, and Mr. Saines. I do believe all three of them will be here. They are running just a little late from their jobs today. Subvisors, are there any additions or deletions to the agenda? Seeing none, the only organizational updates I have are things that are more coming up than things that are right now.

[00:12:12] So, as many of you know, I have been appointed to be one of the Virginia representatives on DAV moves. I'm sorry, DMV moves. We will have our first meeting. We will start to discuss how our transit systems in Northern Virginia and in Maryland can move more smoothly.

[00:12:37] We will start to discuss funding of our transit systems. In advance of this first meeting, I will be calling everyone, every locality in the DMV that is part of the metro compact district that did not have an appointment to DMV moves, I'd be calling Alexandria and Arlington.

[00:12:58] I will also, even though they're not part of the metro compact district, I will call Prince William County because the goal is to find out how to move the area and what that might look like a year from now, two years from now, five years from now, how we can come together and both for our buses and our metro system have a transit system that moves people more effectively and has a dedicated, steady stream of income, so I will be reporting back.

[00:13:30] I will also say a complementary group to the elected officials is the CAO group, of which Mr. Hemstreet is part of, and they will be doing some advising and talking, so we will kind of go back and forth with them because it's really, really important for a whole host of reasons not least of which is the environment that we get this get this right also as many of you know the NACO the National Association of Conferences coming up very soon you should have already received the information to ask what committee assignment you want to have

[00:14:09] at NACO. I know that I got my email literally on the last day, and so I did do mine, and I did talk to the incoming president, James Gore. I wasn't sure if everyone, if all of you got yours or not, Mr. Gore indicated that he didn't get a lot from Loudoun Academy, which is really unusual, so I did let him know that Ms. Glass would like to, and has in the past, served on education, and served on the arts commissions, which we should talk about the art stuff coming up. Mr. Turner, I do believe, sir, you are in line to become

[00:14:46] the chair of the energy subcommittee. Is that correct? I don't know what full committee that's part of, but you're in line to become chair of the energy subcommittee of NACO. Is that correct? I am the chair of the energy subcommittee. I thought I was in line to be the chair of Energy Environment and Land Use Committee. Then I may have messed that up and I should probably call the president back. Okay I did let's change that I did mess that up and I will call this I will call I will call Mr. Gore back. I know that Mr. Sains is not going with us this time he's done a lot of stuff in in the

[00:15:24] economic development space and but he won't be there this time. Miss Bricksman And I have you down for a lot of the, or at least I said to Mr. Gore, for both transportation stuff, but also for some of the, just the, what I've kind of uniquely called the justice committees in general.

[00:15:44] I did some of that with you, because they don't have anything from us, so. But, may I? Mm-hmm. I actually put in for a number of things, because they didn't get our stuff. So do me this favor. Send it to me, because I talked to Mr. Gore last week, and he said he was actually in D.C. making appointments, and he called me, and he was like, this is the second time this has happened, actually, with us.

[00:16:11] He was in D.C., and he's making appointments, and he called me, and he was like, some stuff I don't have. So give it to me. Get this to me by, if you can, the next couple of days, and I'll call him back, because I was going from memory. yeah so if i if i didn't get it right clearly i didn't i'm happy to call him back that would be great yeah i put in for cwd and something else um and then i didn't have anything down for you mr crony come i'm sure if you're going or not you're not going this year okay so that so if anyone if any and miss umstead i know you're not going if anyone has anything that i didn't say

[00:16:44] that you want to do um um let me know my chief of staff is also going just let everybody know My chief of staff is going, and he will be doing a lot of the criminal justice and justice and bringing that back to me.

[00:17:02] And then finally, the incoming president, Mr. Gore, has started a new initiative that is the health initiative overall. So not physical health, mental health, behavior health, just the health initiative in every way that the health initiative interacts.

[00:17:19] how health interacts so how physical health and mental health and behavioral health and a and a person um interacts and he has asked me to be the chair of the of naco's overall health commission committee i have told him yes to that so i will do that and will be on the board of directors as well um so i just want to give all that information and again if there's something that you want to do even if you're not going to naco this year if there's something that you want to do. Because remember that, you know, whether or not you're there, you will still have meetings through the year. Most of those meetings will be virtual. And so if there's something you

[00:17:58] want to be on and that you did not tell NACO, tell me, tell Mr. Gore, please tell me right away so I can give him a phone call and make sure you all are on committees and commissions that you want to be on. I think NACO is an incredibly important organization. All right. Thank you very much for that. My voice for a cause today, I'm not going to say it until I can find it in front of me. Okay. My voice for a cause today is PFLAG. Founded in 17, I'm sorry, in 1973, PFLAG

[00:18:32] is the first and largest organization dedicated to supporting, educating, and advocating for LGBT plus people and their families. PFLAG is committed to advancing equality through its mission to support, education, and advocacy. With over 400 chapters nationwide, PFLAG is dedicated to carrying out the mission of supporting and providing resources to the LGBT plus community and everyone in the community. I didn't know until very recently that PFLAG actually was a non-profit,

[00:19:07] and so I think that's exciting. And today we have with us Drew Ennis from PFLAG, who's come to meet with us today. Thank you so much for being here. A couple of questions. What sort of work does PFLAG do in Loudoun County? Well, thank you so much for the opportunity to represent PFLAG Loudoun here in front of you all. We really appreciate it. You know, we're really actively engaging in creating community and support for those in the LGBTQ plus community. We currently have three groups that meet monthly. We have an adults group, a youth group, and a parents and allies group. All three of these groups support individuals in their process of coming out and

[00:19:46] gives people community and love no matter where they are on their journey. Wonderful. Can you describe some of the specific challenges faced by this community in Loudoun and how PFLAG is working to address some of those challenges? Absolutely, and these are just some of the challenges. We had the opportunity to be a part of Loudoun Pride this past weekend, and it was a wonderful event put on by so many partners but one of the things we heard over and over again was the need to find community for those who identify as lgbtq plus another and through our groups through

[00:20:23] our meetings we really want to make sure that people at least find the beginning steps of being able to connect with one another and build community the second challenge of course that we are deeply concerned about are the suicide rates of teens and the heightened suicide attempt rates by those who are part of the LGBTQ plus community, especially our teens. By not having support systems and things like that, that goes up even higher. And so as P5, we are deeply committed to being a part of teens, letting them know they have a space to come to, a space to feel loved and

[00:21:01] connected and mentors to be able to grow, as well as their families to help support them and hopefully drive those rates down. I just recently read a stat that said 41 percent, 41 percent of all of our LGBT plus youth have at least considered suicide. That stat is outrageously tragic. It is. It's heartbreaking. It is. It is. Okay. So for this month, for Pride Month, do you have any other events coming up? Absolutely. We were part, again, of Loudon Pride. We had a table. We're able to

[00:21:36] meet so many people and then on the fourth Tuesday of the month we also have an opportunity at a regular meeting for a pride celebration and there will be food and drinks and all kinds of flag waving and celebrations with our entire group our teens adults and their parents and allies and tell us all how can people learn more and get involved more with PFLAG yeah and I wish that I could be as forward as possible with all the ways and the meeting time and the location but unfortunately, we just received last night a threat against PFLAG in our centers and things

[00:22:12] like that. And so I just want to name for you all that this is another challenge, the violence against LGBTQ plus groups and PFLAG in particular even happened as recently as last night. But if people are interested, they can go to pflaglouton.org. They can find us on Facebook. And then for our meeting times and locations. We're asking everyone to reach out either through those avenues or pflagloudon at gmail.com. pflagloudon at gmail.com. Yes. I'm so sorry to hear that you all have gotten a threat that is another threat that is, you know, as if especially if the young people are

[00:22:51] dealing with, it's not enough to have another threat. It's just, and I'm assuming that when you get these threats, you're reaching out to law enforcement and you're documenting that and all that so they know that absolutely okay well true thank you very much for coming in and thank you for all the work you're doing especially for the young people and hopefully we will start to see some of those numbers um get better and turn around because it is tragic and it is heartbreaking and no no community i i think if we had any other community where 41 of our of our young people considering suicide i think you know i think we'd be moving heaven and earth to fix it and the fact

[00:23:29] that we we're not for this community is is is a problem thank you very much sir oh i'm sorry drew drew hold on one second drew drew hold on one second yeah um thank you very much for the presentation have threats or threats of violence increased um is there a nexus do they increase at a certain point are they increasing or they've been pretty constant i have to say um that i'm not 100% sure to be able to give any definite answer on that. I will say that in my experience

[00:24:06] personally that particularly around Pride Month there tends to be a larger number of threats and homophobia and transphobic actions and behavior. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you for coming. Mr. Hemstreet, do you have any comments this evening? Thank you, Madam Chair. We've got four comments for this evening. The first is that Loudoun County is spotlighting the issue of elder abuse with a free community event on Wednesday, June 12th from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Hal and Bernie Hanson Regional Park. The Area Agency on Aging and Adult Protective Services are collaborating

[00:24:42] to present a program focusing on how to protect our older citizens from abuse, neglect, and exploitation. As our population ages, the number of cases of elder abuse is expected to rise. Members of the community, including caregivers and family members, are encouraged to attend the event.

[00:24:58] Pre-registration is required. More information is online at loudon.gov slash PRCS. Second, the deadline to nominate an organization or business for a 2024 FAME award is approaching. Nominations for the Full Accessibility and Inclusion Moving Towards Equity Awards are being accepted through June 21st.

[00:25:21] The award program developed by the Disability Services Board recognizes businesses and organizations that demonstrate a strong commitment to inclusion of people with all disabilities in the workplace. The nomination form is online at loudon.gov slash fame awards.

[00:25:37] Third, Loudon County is partnering with Fairfax and Arlington counties for a celebration of fatherhood. All fathers and their families are invited to the Father's Matter Cookout, which will be held Saturday, June 22nd, 1130 a.m. to 230 p.m. at Burke Lake Park in Fairfax Station.

[00:25:55] The event is an outgrowth of the efforts of the Family Engagement and Preservation Services programs in these three jurisdictions. Information about how to register for the free event is online at loudon.gov slash fatherhood. And then finally, Loudoun County homeowners and small businesses have until June 30th to sign up to learn more about solar power options specific to their property through Solarize Virginia.

[00:26:20] The program offers free satellite solar assessments, streamlined installation, and discounted pricing on solar systems from vetted installers. More information is online at SolarizeVA.org. Those are my comments for this evening, Madam Chair. Thank you very much, sir. Thank you very much.

[00:26:36] Supervisors, we have one information item tonight, and that is our Diversion Equity and Inclusion Office is going to do their annual report. Mr. Carl Rush and Ms. Jeanette Green, will you please come to the table?

[00:27:00] Good evening. Why don't you guys get yourselves keyed up? We're ready to go when you are. Good evening, Chair Randall, members of the board.

[00:27:24] Tonight, I'm pleased to present the Diversity and Equity and Inclusion Annual Report. This is our inaugural report. I'm joined at the table with Ms. Jeanette Green, who is our Chief Human Resources Officer here in the county.

[00:27:40] Our agenda for tonight's discussion will cover four major points, our background, areas of focus that we were looking at in the report, some of our key accomplishments, and our next steps as well. So just to give a little bit of background, the equity resolution, which was approved on January 17th, 2023, serves as a guiding framework for our DEI efforts and initiatives within the county.

[00:28:08] And this annual report fulfills that board's directive of transparency and accountability and providing an overview of the equity initiatives and tracking the implementation and the outcomes of those initiatives. So this report will cover the progress that was made in FY 2023 and FY 2024, and we note that the reason why we're combining those is because the resolution was adopted in January, so that was halfway through FY 23, and so going forward, it will cover one fiscal year on the reports that are subsequent to this.

[00:28:44] So our areas of focus that came from the equity resolution were six key areas. We focused on strategic planning, our education and awareness, county operations, our equal employment opportunity, data and analytics and reporting, and our community equity initiatives.

[00:29:06] And through these avenues, our staff have made significant strides towards realizing the county's DEI goals. So as we look at some of our key accomplishments in FY 2023 and 2024, first, there was the introduction of the Delta Framework, which is developing an equitable allowance through training and action, which is part of the equity resolution as well about developing that framework.

[00:29:31] This emphasized education and skills building and raises awareness to equity gaps as well as developing strategies for meaningful change throughout the county. And many of our key achievements were planned and implemented with the Delta framework. We launched in FY 2023 our Equity Ambassadors program.

[00:29:50] This is a program that is represented by a variety of different departments across the organization. There are monthly meetings with our Equity Ambassadors. And they received MDEP training on DEI principles as well as valuable insights that they can carry back to their departments.

[00:30:09] They are sort of liaisons between the department and my office, and they also advise our office as well. We launched our intranet page, as well as we have a presence on our public-facing page. As you know, in FY24, on February 6, 2024, we presented the DEIA assessment report, which the board had set aside funds in FY2020 to have that conducted.

[00:30:38] And that really looked at the DEIA landscape throughout the county and gave us sort of a baseline that we can benchmark going forward. We also looked at our comparative jurisdictions and some of our best practices, as well as demographic data. We established an equity from that.

[00:30:56] We established an equity action planning committee. And this is made up of about 60 members throughout the organization or throughout the county from various different departments, job classifications. And their job was really to look at the findings that came from that assessment report.

[00:31:15] And we had our first initial meeting on March or May 29th. Our second meeting will be on June 27th, where they'll be starting to put some goals together to lay the foundation for our countywide equity action plan, which we're calling Loudon Equity Action Plan, which is the LEAP.

[00:31:36] We've also focused on our training initiatives. In the last two fiscal years, we've had several trainings in our departments. One that I'd like to highlight is our equity clinic that took place last summer in connection with the Weldon Cooper Center from UVA.

[00:31:52] And we conducted five series of that equity clinic with county leadership as well as ones throughout departments. And these sessions really aimed to build the foundational knowledge and the fundamental knowledge of embedding DEIA into considerations across county operations.

[00:32:11] Also in FY23, the Department of Human Resources launched the Supervisory Training in Employment and Policies, which they call the STEP program, which includes mandatory training on EEO employment law and other employee-relation topics.

[00:32:29] Also from those trainings, we developed two major equity tools or equity lenses that we look at. One was the policy equity lens, which we use in our policy decision-making. the other was our budget equity tool, which was utilized through our FY25 budget process as ones look at their resource requests and things to bring forward to the board.

[00:32:53] I would also highlight the gender identity inclusion policy, which the Office of Equity Inclusion, as well as our County Attorney's Office and Department of Human Resources worked with the Loudoun County Fire and Rescue Combined Services to develop a gender identity inclusion policy, and that policy was aimed to create a safe and productive work environment for all members of the system.

[00:33:25] And looking at our EEO technology initiatives, FY23, Department of Human Resources implemented ServiceNow, which was a new customer relation management software, and FY24. They implemented a new learning software to enhance the county's annual required workforce training and now we have implemented NeoGov Insight which is a new applicant tracking software which helps to improve reporting of EEO and our demographic data that relates to the county's applicant pool.

[00:34:01] There currently is an ADA self-evaluation and transition plan that is being worked in the county, as well as we looked at our DEI data analytics, which we've teamed up with Human Resources and Department of Information Technology, and as we're looking to build out a diversity dashboard for the county workforce moving forward.

[00:34:29] And then in our regional initiatives, and we continue to work closely with COG as well as with GEAR, we have leadership roles in the Chief Equity Officers Committee on COG, as well as we work closely with our Chamber of Commerce and our DEIA committee and our Multicultural Advisory Committee in the county that has been in place for, I believe, over a decade that reports directly to our county administrator.

[00:34:56] They're sort of our external arm within the county of our DEI. So looking at some of the next steps, we'll continue to advance our DEI program through FY24 and FY25. We'll use the insights from the assessment study that we had to inform our LEAP plan going forward, continue to engage our stakeholders internally and externally, so our equity ambassadors, that equity action planning committee, as well as the multicultural advisory committee.

[00:35:29] And we'll also continue our collaborations with COG and GEAR to leverage their resources and best practices. That regional approach has worked very well for Loudoun as well. And an adherence of that Delta framework that we had talked about earlier while we're developing the LEAP and what comes out of the LEAP, we may revisit that.

[00:35:49] And we'll continue to look at the six key areas that were named in the equity resolution through our strategic planning and awareness, embedding equity in county operations, data analytics reporting, and also our equity initiatives. So with that, in conclusion, I'd like to say that our DEI initiatives had laid a strong foundation for our continued progress in creating an inclusive and equitable environment within county government.

[00:36:14] We're committed to that ongoing improvement and collaboration, and I'd also like to thank all the departments and agencies within our organization that assisted with this annual report. With that, I will yield for questions. Thank you very much, Mr. Rush. Ms. Green, you have anything you want to add before you go to questions?

[00:36:31] No, Chair. Okay, wonderful. Supervisor, if you have questions, please put your lights on. I see only Ms. Bricksman, so if I go to her, I'm not going back to you. Ms. Bricks, Ms. Umstead. Oh, thank you, Madam Chair. So how are we ensuring that we look not just at race?

[00:36:56] And I'm really happy to see that we're looking at gender identity, but also religious backgrounds, ethnic backgrounds. How are we making sure that we include folks from all those different backgrounds in the efforts?

[00:37:13] So one of the ways that we do that is we consult heavily with our HR department through our equal employment opportunity that we had mentioned here.

[00:37:30] And looking at some of the data that's there and all the groups that are listed in those protected classes, we consider in the work that we actually do. All right. And on the county administrator's multicultural advisory committee, can you give us an idea of what backgrounds are represented on that committee?

[00:37:56] Yeah, so that committee has been in existence for a decade. There's about 12 members that are part of that committee. They come from all different demographics across the community. So whether that's racial, ethnic, disability, religion is represented there.

[00:38:16] Different business sector, faith-based communities, all of those are represented within the MAC. All right. And how did you reach out to, say, members of the Indian American community, the Muslim community, the Jewish community, the Christian community?

[00:38:36] How did you go about recruiting members from those different communities? So our primary partner in that was our interfaith community, and there have been presentations to our interfaith community. Several of those members serve within MAC as well, and MAC has had some community events.

[00:38:55] specifically at, for example, Latino festivals or festivals that were held for Muslim demographic that they were invited to as well to talk about the MAC, and that's how they do their recruiting. Thank you.

[00:39:11] Mr. Crony. Yeah, thank you, Chair Randall. And thank you, Mr. Rush. It's really, I like the annual report. There were 3,800 employees surveyed so far, but only about 431 have been through the training and learning.

[00:39:28] on the DEI principles, how do you plan to reach more employees? Yeah, so that's a conversation that we're having now. The primary reason behind that was, one, standing up the office on what that training program will look like.

[00:39:46] Also, just the sheer amount of staffing that we have within our office as well. We have a very small office. So currently right now, we have sort of a cohort model that we're using as well as we participate with Lead Loudon and then specifically requests that come from departments that we can customize those trainings.

[00:40:11] The bulk of our work came through the equity clinics. So as we go forward, we'll look to expand that going forward. The equity clinics? Yeah. Okay, thank you. And then I was really impressed with your FY 2025 budget equity tool, so I think that's pretty cool.

[00:40:28] Thank you very much for doing that. Okay, Ms. Berksman. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you for all the great work you guys have been doing. You're awfully quiet back there, so I'm always wondering what's going on. So this is really nice to get a report to see all the success that we've been accomplishing.

[00:40:49] So I was struck a little bit, though, that I didn't see a lot of hard data in the item. For example, are we matching the demographics of the county in our employment mix of people that are working for the county?

[00:41:07] And I was curious about how many employees took advantage of the training. So it looks like we're doing fairly well, 325 out of 16 departments. And then at the executive level, it was 106 from 11 departments. So that's great. So is it the data dashboard that's going to give us that more hard data eventually?

[00:41:29] And then another question along those lines is I saw under summary 3.3b, number 5 says we should prioritize inclusivity without adhering strictly to proportionality. So I was kind of wondering how that balances.

[00:41:46] With regard to the data, the data dashboard is actually a project out of human resources in collaboration with DIT. We do run those statistics in terms of our workforce against the county's population workforce on an annual basis.

[00:42:04] DIT has gotten this new tool with Microsoft Power BI, and we also have a new position in the FY25 budget to help us to be able to run that on a more frequent basis to have that information. One other thing I would say with regard to DEI training, while Carl is referring to the in-person training coming out of OEI, we also have a county e-learning training, and part of that is diversity training that all of our employees are required to take.

[00:42:32] I believe it's on a semi-annual basis. Oh, okay, great. Okay. I guess we can talk about the proportionality item. Oh, I'm sorry. I missed that last part. As far as the proportionality goes, at least when it comes to human resources and the workforce, there are board policies that prohibit us from having anything as it relates to a quota in terms of the makeup of our workforce.

[00:43:01] So that's why we do try to focus more on inclusivity and reaching and doing outreach to multiple different demographics because we cannot benchmark to a quota based off of the population. Okay. And then two more questions. There's the Equity Ambassadors, Equity Action Planning Committee, the Multicultural Advisory Committee.

[00:43:24] I was concerned that if there were any duplication of efforts, if you might talk about that, and if folks are getting compensated for working on those efforts. And then the policy for the fire and rescue, is that something that needs to be adopted countywide? Thank you. So I'll take the first portion of that, and then we'll talk about the policy.

[00:43:42] So the Multicultural Advisory Committee, as I mentioned, you know, that has been in existence for a while. That is sort of a group of community members that are external to our county workforce. And, you know, their role is to report to the county administrator and to advise on different things that are happening in the community.

[00:44:03] My office actually meets with them once a month at their monthly meetings as well. The equity ambassadors represent our internal group that's made up of our workforce, and so they are bringing forth the needs of the departments, whether it's within training, whether it's help with some type of an equity lens to a tool.

[00:44:25] They bring that sort of information back to us as well, and part of that framework that we adopted from GARE, that normalized and organized phase, that's where equity ambassadors actually fall within those two phases. And the equity action planning committee itself was put together specifically to build out the countywide equity plan.

[00:44:49] And that group will be dissolved after that is in effect. Okay, thank you. I'm sorry, can she answer my second question? Yes, did you have another question? I mean, another answer. Very quickly, the gender inclusion policy with fire and rescue was put in place because our internal SOP and HR only applies to county employees.

[00:45:12] The LCFR policy also includes volunteers. So it is a separate effort, but we do have an internal HR SOP that covers that topic. Thank you. So it feels like that the accessibility discussion has been going on for a really long time now.

[00:45:30] I think I bought this, my gosh, it's been over two years, and I think that our differing community, they have some physical differing abilities.

[00:45:48] Can you tell me why this has taken so long to get things like bathroom doors to be able to be pushed in versus pulled out and striping to be different? and I know we're meeting the minimum ADA requirements, but we're meeting the minimum ADA requirements, and I believe we do hard things, and I think we can do better than the minimum ADA requirements, so I'm a little concerned this is taking as long as it has, so that's my first question is what's going on with that.

[00:46:18] The second question is are you guys doing anything, or are you talking to the schools at all with this discussion? I'm asking because when you look at our graduation numbers and LCPS are very, very good, but the dropout numbers amongst our Hispanic population is almost double that of any other population in the school.

[00:46:39] Our Hispanic kids are not graduating. They're dropping, well, that's not a true statement. They are graduating, but they're dropping out at higher rates. They're dropping out after their sophomore or junior year in high school. And for the most part, you don't see a lot of our Hispanic kids getting an advanced degree.

[00:46:57] In fact, you don't see a lot of African American kids getting either advanced degree or National Honor Society either. So are we sharing any of our information, wealth, attention, any of it with MSAC or anyone in the school system?

[00:47:16] Because I am continually concerned that I don't hear, and I have talked to the schools, I don't hear people talking about the dropout weight among our Hispanic students. and I'm very concerned about it. So are we sharing any of that with LCPS? Yes, so I'll take that latter part of your question.

[00:47:36] So the answer is our office has a good working relationship with the Office of Equity and Loudoun County Public Schools. I actually have a very good relationship, and we meet monthly with Dr. Letitia Williams, who is their director over there.

[00:47:52] I would say that currently right now, and we do share resources, that the answer is yes. you know to that currently right now and i would say that our strategic focus is really standing up our program here within um county government and so we have not um really ventured so much out externally just yet because it was we determined that um even with the equity resolution that was very internal focus and so as we continue to move and to integrate these things um in the county or within county government and then we can actually reach out a little bit more in the

[00:48:31] community but as far as like dropout rates and things of that sort we've we've talked about those but that hasn't been the focus of our work in the office of equity inclusion i could say to to your first question about ada as was mentioned in this presentation there is that ada study you know that we're doing as well so i think there will be a lot that will come out of that um my office um collaborates with that but we're we're not leading that effort but uh so i can't speak to all the points in that okay i didn't realize you weren't leading that effort okay

[00:49:09] that makes sense who is leading that effort the county's accessibility services manager i believe that is within the office of public affairs and communications okay all right all right okay good to know thank you very much you guys have done great work in this area we've come a long way um we appreciate it there may be other questions to come to you via email just because not everyone maybe thinks of the question right now on the dais and so there may be other questions that you get via email so thank you very much we appreciate you both thanks okay supervisors um

[00:49:46] we have this incredibly short agenda today and so what i'm going to do right now is i'm going to move to nominations and then we're going to move to board comments and so if you have any board comments we're going to do those right now and if we still have time we may go take a closed session before we come back and do resolutions and public comments but let's first do nominations if you oh let me just first say this before I go to nominations there is a letter going out from

[00:50:20] myself and the staff that is the staff for our CCJB board, because the CCJB, the Community Corrections Board, is a statutory body, and they are not getting people showing up at their board meetings.

[00:50:37] Now, the people that have to show up, you know, the people from the offices of our constitutional officers, they're showing up. But our colleagues, I mean, our appointees are not showing up, with the exception of Ms. Brickman, who has not missed a meeting.

[00:50:55] Most of our CCJP people have missed at least one. Some have missed more than one. So a letter's gone out to all of them as of today that thanks them for their service, but says, you've got to show up. They have, their bylaws say that after missing three meetings, that the chair has the right to remove them um i don't think that we want that to happen but we're not sure why they're not showing up but but but just if your person says to you i got a letter um from chair randall and the staff liaison they did because that's people are not showing up at those meetings so i'm just

[00:51:31] letting you all know that right now all right thanks very much if you have a nomination please put your light on. Ms. Umstead. Thank you, Madam Chair. I am nominating Frank Holtz for reappointment to the Community Criminal Justice Board. I went through the minutes for all of 2023.

[00:51:50] None are yet available for 2024. Mr. Holtz was present at six out of the seven meetings in 2023 which i think is maybe not not quite up there with miss briskman's appointee but better than many so i i will happily support his reappointment thank you anybody else have any other nominations mr kirchner thank you madam chair i would nominate lorenzo refringer as the

[00:52:25] catoctin district representative on the transit advisory board wonderful any other nominations right now. All right, seeing none, let's go to board comments, and I will first go to Ms. Letourneau.

[00:52:45] The only comment is that I will be holding a virtual town hall meeting on Monday, June 10th at 7 o'clock. The primary topic will be the Defender Drive residential application that is on next week's public hearing agenda, and then we'll have an update on several other land use applications as well as general updates on things that are going on in the county.

[00:53:10] So we'll be notifying residents and certainly hope that you can participate, if they can participate in that virtual meeting. I don't really think that I have too much to report out from the Metro Board of Directors. We're working on a fiscal policy update.

[00:53:30] Well, really, an establishment of a reserve fund that I've talked about a little bit, which we do not have. And it's kind of an incentive for us to be able to flow funding that's a surplus during the year into a fiscal reserve.

[00:53:48] There's kind of been some pushback in the past about Metro having that because the viewpoint is that it's the jurisdiction's money and it's a subsidy. And so if there's extra money, it should be given back. But I think and we think that no large agency with a literal multi-billion dollar budget should be operating without some type of reserve should we need it.

[00:54:10] And so we're working on very specific guidelines about how it's accessed and what the goal is in terms of the total amount and those kind of things. But that work is kind of happening sort of behind the scenes right now, and we'll have something to present this summer.

[00:54:27] That's about it. I think that would be of interest to everybody here. Thank you, sir. Ms. Umstead. Thank you, Madam Chair. I was really happy to get to attend a Juneteenth event at Douglas High School with Supervisor Briskman, Mayor Burke, and Vice Mayor Steinberg.

[00:54:51] This was put together by Steve Williams, and the keynote speaker was Rick Murphy, an educator, historian, author, documentarian, and lecturer. He is the President General of the Society of First African American Families of English America.

[00:55:14] And he has written an award-winning book, The Arrival of the First Africans in Virginia. It became a documentary with the same name. He has many, many awards. But it was both a really lovely event and also an extraordinarily interesting one.

[00:55:33] And we had a lot of members from the community in Leesburg and elsewhere in the county. So that was a real joy to attend. And the other event that we did recently, and I want to thank Lauren Chernoff on the school board and Mayor Kelly Burke for helping to put together a fentanyl awareness forum.

[00:56:01] We had great support from our mental health department, our health department, and the local and regional media, and I just want to thank everybody who attended and who participated from mental health to the Williams Center with Rod Williams, to the Leesburg Police Department, the Sheriff's Department,

[00:56:34] and also the Loudoun Times Mirror and WJLA, which ran a story on it for an audience of about 2 million people throughout the region.

[00:56:51] So I really appreciate the help of the local and regional press on getting that out there. I also want to thank LCPS for allowing one of their very competent staff members to attend that.

[00:57:09] It was very worthwhile, and I appreciate everybody's help. Thank you. Ms. Glass. Thank you, Madam Chair. On Tuesday, May 28, I met with representatives to discuss the Tillis View residential rezoning application.

[00:57:27] On Wednesday, May 29, I met with representatives to discuss the Innovation Gateway application. On Wednesday, May 29th, my staff met with representatives to discuss the Atlantic Boulevard residential rezoning application, and on May 28th, I attended the virtual NACO South Region monthly meeting, which was very interesting.

[00:57:50] that discussed the farm bill being passed which was 1.5 trillion dollars in federal farm program spending and when you look at the spending the largest a large portion of it went to snap which is a nutrition program which was really good to hear that and which would be $1.148 billion spending going to folks who need that.

[00:58:29] And they had also discussed other county wins. But to me, that was one of the huge plus for counties across. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you.

[00:58:44] I'm sorry. I'm just, you're fine. I'm not, this is not you. No, no, it's, I'm sorry. My apologies. You finished? Thank you, ma'am. Mr. Kirsner?

[00:59:01] Thank you, Madam Chair. Disclosures on May 13th, met with Amanda Williams from Cooley and David DeMarco from Pulte Group about the Tillotsview application. On May 30th, met with Kimberly Hart, Packy Crown, Ben Rose, and Bauer about the Atlantic Boulevard rezoning application.

[00:59:21] Just a couple of comments on what's going on in Catoctin. Events coming up. On Saturday, June 8th, it's the National Rosé Day. It's a great time to visit our wineries in Western Loudoun and give the famous pink wine a try. And I'd like to give a shout-out to Bogati Winery in Round Hill, which has a special rose-themed event planned for that day.

[00:59:44] So I know the chair is going to be out there for sure. It's a joke. Okay. One glass of wine, I'd be so totally tilted and be ridiculous. We've got a lot of other activities in Catoctin coming up on June 8th.

[01:00:03] Morvan Park is hosting the Virginia Dressage Association Northern Virginia Chapter Summer Wind Down in the morning and then the Polo in the Park event in the evening. A lot of fun. I've been to that many times. The Legacy Farm Summer Fair will be at Temple Hall Farm Regional Park from 1 to 4 p.m. on the 8th.

[01:00:20] Tickets include picnic lunch and their Fleur de Cuisine, as well as games, crafts, and garden tours. And the Loudon Appalachian Trail Festival will be in Hillsborough Old Stone School from 11 a.m. to 5 a.m. on June 8th.

[01:00:37] It's a free event with hands-on demonstrations of trail cooking and hammock camping. And if that isn't enough, other dates we have, I believe that is on June 9th, we have the Silverside Farm in Purseville will host a fundraising carnival for Sonoma's Amigos Medical Mission.

[01:00:53] the plaster museum of bluemont heritage will present their loud native voices exhibit every sunday now from now through october 13th that exhibit is free and open to the public and finally great uh as far as the news is from catoctin find the great country farms and wheatland spring farms it's father's day coming up and they're both having father's day events um that also involve fishing so um can you give me the name of that french that french place again can No, I'm not going to. I knew you were going to make fun of me. I almost skipped it. French was

[01:01:30] not my second language. Anyway, with that said, the other thing I just wanted to mention, we are past Memorial Day and we're rapidly approaching D-Day. And, you know, my grandparents, my grandfather and all my great uncles were all members of those men and women who fought and served our country, and many of them gave the last full sacrifice. And so I just want to say thank you to them, many of them who are not here, many of them who, a few of them are still alive, but they're approaching, if not in their hundreds already. And it certainly was the greatest

[01:02:06] generation, and we should forever be grateful for the sacrifice they gave to ensure that we enjoy the freedoms that we so abundantly enjoy today. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you very much, sir. mr um turner thank you madam chair on friday may 31st my staff met with denise harover from van meter companies to discuss the application for orm farm rezoning on wednesday may 29th my staff and i met with paki crown and matt leslie from bowman consulting polka parik from garove slade sasha brower from walsh kalushi armando alas from j2 design kim hart from good works as well as

[01:02:46] sujith maram to discuss the application for atlantic boulevard and on monday june 3rd my My staff met, and I met with Amanda Williams from Cooley LLP, as well as David Lucey and Jeff Snow from Digital Realty to discuss the application for Digital Dulles. We had our first Fiscal Impact Committee meeting of the two-year cycle last week.

[01:03:07] We have some new members, and it's a good group, and I look forward to some productive discussions. Fiscal Impact Committee determines the planning factors, the capital needs assessment, how many parks, how many various types of infrastructure we need as we build, and it's a pretty dense conversation, but it's real good people in there, and I appreciate that.

[01:03:27] I attended a D-Day commemoration at the Dodona Manor, had three excellent speakers, and learned that Leesburg had, just south of Leesburg, there was a German enemy prisoner war camp during World War II, which I was not aware of here in the county. Lastly, on June 20th, I will be doing a presentation a slide presentation and then handing out an associated white paper on the future of data centers in Loudoun County and some of the challenges and constraints that we face with the unique challenges here in Loudoun County I invite my colleagues to attend that T luck meeting and listen to

[01:04:03] the presentation and then it should do it thank you manager thank you thank you very much mr. Turner I think we should maybe repeat that one more time because a lot of people on TLAC who may not know or maybe can even go watch it online to give a little bit more information about the white paper and why you're doing it and how you want it to be used.

[01:04:27] Sure. The last November, the Virginia National Association of Counties asked me to do a presentation on kind of the history of Loudoun County's data centers and how we got here. And so I put together a slide presentation, and since that time over the last six months, it has morphed into we were asked by MITRE Corporation to give the presentation.

[01:04:48] I gave it once. My chief of staff gave it once. We were asked by a Falkir County supervisor to give it, and I have not yet given it to him, but he did ask. And then since that time, I've attended the Data Center World Conference, three-day conference, three weeks ago, and then also was invited by Aurora Energy, which is a very high-level think tank on energy issues up in New York City with Mr. Reiser.

[01:05:13] And so he and I have been working together on a number of things. So I decided after I did the presentation that I ought to do a white paper to really do the research and back it up. And it's about 20 pages right now. It looks like it's finished. And I was glad to do it because it's not just really a history primer on how we got here.

[01:05:34] We're facing some pretty major challenges. The data center worldwide community is about to get inundated with a tsunami of change with artificial intelligence and the power requirements associated with that. I had absolutely no idea of the size of the challenge, and I think it's important as a legislative body here in Loudoun County for all of us to, These are going to be very contentious, very controversial issues that we have to deal with, and I wanted to have a factual basis for us to be able to make those decisions as we go forward.

[01:06:05] So that's really what the genesis of it was. Thank you very much. Mr. Sainz. Thank you. Mandatory disclosures on May 29th, I met with Colleen Gullis of Curity. I think that's how you pronounce the new company.

[01:06:22] And the owners of the Dulles Town Center on their legislative application on May 29th, also met with Kim Hart of Good Works, Packy Crown, and Matt Leslie of Bowman about their legislative application regarding the 100% affordable Atlantic Boulevard residential rezoning application that's coming in front of us very soon, which I'm very excited about, by the way.

[01:06:42] That is it. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Crony. Thank you, Chair Randall. I'm not typing anymore. I can't wait to read Supervisor Turner's white paper. I look forward to that. So my staff attended an outstanding items meeting led by county staff regarding LEGIE 2023-0076 Stonehill Residential, and that's my only disclosure.

[01:07:07] I forgot last time to mention my daughter graduated from Brandeis University on May 19th with a degree in biochemistry. She plans to go to med school, so I'm very proud of her. And I wanted everybody to know Ken Burns gave an excellent undergraduate commencement address.

[01:07:26] As everybody knows, he's an expert in history and has produced numerous documentaries. One thing that he said that really stuck with me was, the most important political office is that of a private citizen. And I agree with that. So I encourage you to listen to the speech.

[01:07:44] With Pollinator Week, June 17th through the 23rd, I wanted residents to know about the Audubon at Home program. I actually have a pollinator garden that I'm really proud of, and I plan to get it certified by the Audubon at Home Program. There are three simple requirements for certification, and it could be for residential and commercial properties.

[01:08:05] You need to have two critical habitat features, a source of water, a garden, a meadow, or a rain garden. You need to sign the Healthy Yard Pledge that you will use good practices in managing your property for the benefit of wildlife.

[01:08:22] for instance, no pesticides or fertilizers, and you need to observe at least 10 sanctuary species on your property. So I encourage everybody to look into the Audubon at Home program and get your garden certified. Recently, I attended a tour of the Windy Hill Foundation with Eloise Rapinski, and we looked at all the properties in Middleburg. Windy Hill's mission is to provide safe, decent, and affordable housing to low-income families and seniors in Loudoun and Falkier

[01:08:58] County, and they have 310 units across Loudoun and Falkier with 117 of those units in Middleburg, and they range from one to three-bedroom cottages to one to three-bedroom apartments. So I was really impressed with their properties, and I hope to see more of these properties in other towns, especially like maybe Percival or Leesburg, and they gave me their annual report if anybody's interested in looking at that. Lastly, I am fostering two adorable puppies that are up for

[01:09:34] adoption. If you're looking for a new companion, please reach out to me. But one thing I want everybody to know is during the FY 2020 budget, 2025 budget, we gave animal services, we approved a new vet team. So I would like to see us do potentially a spay and neuter clinic with animal services. I do think this is a great community service. There is an overpopulation of puppies and kittens, and I get emails all the time from different rescues about,

[01:10:09] please foster, we want to get them out of high kill shelters. And, you know, me being a bleeding heart, I take these puppies. But I'm hoping that our animal shelter can be a good model and can have a spay and neuter clinic. That's something I'd like us to look into once we get our new vet team. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Crony. All right. Did I miss somebody? I know, but besides you, but I know that. Nobody else? Everybody? Okay. Ms. Bricksman. Thank you, Madam

[01:10:49] chair. I thought Bugattis were shoes until my kids told me that it's a car, but now Supervisor Kirshner is telling me it's a wine as well, so maybe I'll have to go try it. By way of disclosures, on May 31st, we had a meeting with Ben Wheels and Colleen Gillis of Curata Partners on the Arcola Farms residential development. By way of regional updates, I don't have too much. I attended the NACO CEWD meeting, and then NVTC is this Thursday. I enjoyed attending the annual

[01:11:25] Memorial Day service with Supervisor Sains and Sterling a little while ago on Memorial Day, and it's always very meaningful. And the flag raising for Juneteenth was inspirational and educational, as described by Supervisor Umstead. The Pride Festival was phenomenal. If you haven't been to our Pride Festival, I highly, highly recommend it. We've gone, I spoke with Steve Torpy, and the preliminary numbers show that we are close to almost 5,000 attendees this year

[01:12:01] at the Pride Festival. And it started about three years ago with, I think, about 1,000 or 1,500. So lots of food trucks and many more booths and lots of great representation from the county and county departments. And I did call Steve Torpy and just say, complimented them on how great they did on that event altogether. I walked the Riverbed Stream, Riverbend Stream site where we are doing a stream restoration project with federal grants. And it is near Riverbend Middle School, Potomac

[01:12:35] Falls High School. It was amazing. And if any of my colleagues get the chance to go out there and see the kind of work that our stormwater team is doing and department of general services is doing on stream restoration it was amazing the techniques are um are so advanced now compared to to what we used to do and they have used almost every little toothpick worth of wood from the trees they had to cut down um as part of the stream project to redirect the stream and they're actually taking trees and putting them upside down into the earth and then like anchoring them with big

[01:13:13] branches from those trees so they basically return all the nutrients to the earth. So I highly recommend going. We celebrated Pride Provider Appreciation Day at Douglas Elementary School last week and I'm always really impressed with the enthusiasm and dedication of our PRCS staff that cares for our children. They decorated a table for us with paper flowers and great beautiful centerpieces. So I was really proud to do that. I also attended Sugarland Elementary School Pollinator Garden, dedication of new measuring tools from Equinix Data Center that

[01:13:50] have been installed at the Sugarland Elementary Pollinator Garden, which was also really cool. They're already collecting data from the pollinator garden. I can't wait to see what the kids find. They have a garden club there that's going to be monitoring the garden and the pollinators. On Monday, I'll be honored to join the Schar School of Policy and Government at their New Leadership Virginia Policy Action Project panel, and they are talking about, guess what, data center siting.

[01:14:20] So it's going to be a really interesting panel where we're talking about sort of the challenges of, you know, land use around data centers, economics around data centers, and so I'm really looking forward to that on Monday at George Mason. By way of gun violence, today we're acknowledging, of course, Gun Violence Awareness Day, and we are now halfway through 2024.

[01:14:43] There have been 7,073 total gun deaths and 196 mass shootings. 495 of those who passed away were teenagers age 12 to 17, and 94 were children up to the age of 11.

[01:14:58] Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. I know most of you have heard this already, but I thought I wanted to say it and talk about it a little bit. We lost a teenager in Loudoun County this past weekend. Her name was Leilana Schwartz.

[01:15:13] She was 16 years old. She attended Woodgrove High School. It was just, from what it looks like right now, it was just a car accident. She was 16 years old. She was a new driver and it looks like she just had a car accident. I just want to read, I thought the Lountine's mirror did a beautiful write-up on her, and I just want to read just a little bit about her, because I don't think that, I think that, I mean, we all, I think everybody in this deus has children, and I don't know that there is anything you say or can't say, or I don't know what you do when you lose a child.

[01:15:51] We're not supposed to bury our children, and it's just heartbreaking. But I do believe that especially this body, we can't lose a child in our county in this way without saying their name and talking about them and who they were.

[01:16:07] And so some of the things that were said about her is she played third base in the outfield and excelled at the game of softball at her school. Her and her mother were very close. They said they tried to have dinner as often as possible.

[01:16:24] She had a bubbly character. She was very polite. Everyone who's talked about this young lady always says she was very polite. Someone says she's one of the politest kids I've ever met, and she was well organized. She loved life. She was a way of sunshine. She was always very positive.

[01:16:39] One of her friends said that the young lady worked part-time as a servant at Market Burger and Fries and Shakes in Percival, and she was described as being smart and fun-loving. She liked fishing, taking care of her horses, and a friend's farm.

[01:16:57] She had an eclectic music collection. She liked Erykah Badu, Frank Sinatra, that is very eclectic between Erykah Badu and Frank Sinatra, and Tyler, the creator. So she really had a very eclectic sense of music.

[01:17:18] She was planning to attend the academies of Loudoun for her senior year to study culinary arts, and she was planning to enlist in the military after high school. It said that she was one who could break the tense situation. She loved laughing and joking, and she made everybody else who she was around laugh.

[01:17:38] So let's one more time say Leilana Shorts, 16 years old, of Levittsville, and, you know, is... At this moment, I am a Christian, and at this moment, I say, you know, there's no words for a parent to lost a child except to hope that, to believe that you will see them again in heaven.

[01:18:04] And so that's what I would say about that young lady. And that's all my comments for this evening. Mr. Kirshner, are your folks here yet? Because if they're not, what we can do is at least take one closed session. Yeah, not yet? Okay, so we can't start public comments until 6 o'clock and resolutions until 530, so we're a little early.

[01:18:26] We're doing really well on time. We can go on and do one closed session. Mr. Rogers, what's up? Madam Chair, I believe both these closed sessions will be relatively quick. Do you think we can do them both and come back out and then do public comments and resolutions and then be out the door?

[01:18:44] All righty. All righty. Well, why don't you read us into closed session, Ms. Bricksman? Yes, ma'am. I move that the Board of Supervisors recess this public meeting and enter into closed session pursuant to section 2.2-3711A3 of the Code of Virginia to consider disposition of parcel or parcels of property for public use in the Broad Run Election District.

[01:19:06] I further move that the Board of Supervisors recess this public meeting and enter into closed session pursuant to Section 2.2.3711A3 of the Code of Virginia to consider acquisition of a parcel or parcels of property for public use in the Catoctin Electric.

[01:19:24] Before they get seconded, let me just ask you, are these all the wonderful, fantastic Eagle Scouts that are coming, or do you have more coming? That's all that's coming? All your families here all the people here all the families are here. Everyone's here. All right, so we're gonna do this We're gonna we're gonna hold that that motion Does anyone want second that motion before we okay? I'll second that motion on miss glass We won't do discussion on the motion. We won't vote on it We're just we're just gonna just table that motion until we do the

[01:19:58] Do do the Eagle Scouts and we will go on and do those right at now come back from closed session and then do Public comments, but mr. Kirsten would you please join me down front?

[01:22:26] All right. So welcome, everybody. I'm going to read the resolution and I'm really grateful that you you've come.

[01:22:51] You know, you got every time I do one of these Eagle Scout resolutions, it inspires me. I need to I have six boys ages 12 and under, so I need to get them a little actively involved. So, yeah, six. Yes. Great. So why don't you do this?

[01:23:11] Yeah, I know. Well, Mama might not be, but I'm okay. So I'm going to read the resolution, and then if you guys have, you want to, yeah, let's go ahead. And then if you guys want to say a couple things about your experience and whatnot, you don't have to if you don't want to, but I will do it.

[01:23:27] All right, thank you, Madam Chair. All right, so this is a resolution by Lennon County, Virginia, Eagle Scout Grayson Carnell. Is that correct? Right, Grayson, yeah. Eagle Scout Austin Coleman, Eagle Scout Aiden Missler, Eagle Scout Scott Hudson.

[01:23:44] geiger is that correct and eagle scout um matthew robertson whereas the rank of eagle scout is the highest and most prestigious achievement within the boy scouts of america earned by a select few through dedication leadership and the commitment to community service and whereas grayson carnell austin coleman and aiden missler of boy scouts of america troop 961 hillsborough have demonstrated exceptional dedication to the principles of scouting and have achieved the rank of Eagle Scout through perseverance, hard work, and a strong commitment to improving their communities.

[01:24:23] And whereas Hudson Geiger and Matthew Robertson of Boy Scouts of America Troop 962 Lovettsville have likewise shown outstanding leadership qualities, dedication, and a deep commitment to service culminating in their attainment of the Eagle Scout rank. And whereas these young men have completed significant Eagle Scout projects that have contributed to the betterment of their communities, showcasing their leadership skills and their willingness to put the scouting ideas, excuse me, ideals of service and community first. And whereas their achievements are

[01:24:58] a testament to their families, their troops and their leaders and their communities who have supported them in their journey towards becoming Eagle Scouts. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors recognizes and congratulates, I'm not going to name all your names again, all of you, on their commendable achievement of attaining the rank of Eagle Scout. Great job, guys. So I'm going to hand the mic to each of you, if that's okay. Yes,

[01:25:35] your big project, because I want to go look at it. All right. Hello. My name is Aiden Missler, Troop 961. First of all, my project was at Percival Volunteer Rescue Squad, which is the rescue squad that I currently volunteer at, along with that dude right over there.

[01:25:58] They had, like, have you ever been to any fire station and you've seen the benches out in the front? And, you know, you've always seen some firefighters sitting out there, you know, having a good time. Percival Rescue did not have that at the time. And on those really nice days, you just don't want to sit inside all day or you don't want to sit in the bay so i decided to build two very nice composite benches with my father right here um and then oh how many scouts did we have yeah about 18 to 20 scouts that we had come and uh we built two benches one for the front one for the

[01:26:38] back so that way people can uh go and sit uh face the road or they can sit and face the firefighters while they're doing the the rescue from the house out back um i love it and uh if anyone out there is thinking about joining scouting or hesitant about reaching eagle uh totally recommend it there's so much you can do with it alongside just putting it on an application you can i've used so many skills and i don't know about these guys but i've used so many skills throughout my life from what i've learned in scouts because i've been in it since kindergarten um and these my

[01:27:18] parents right here they've they've certainly pushed me through scouts especially through covid when i thought about quitting but i did not and you know here i am today so thank you so much oh yeah um so currently i'm a senior at woodgrove high school and so here in a couple or actually two weeks i guess i'll be graduating and going to christopher newport university uh where i'll be studying biochemistry through the pre-med path, um, with plans to head on to medical school

[01:27:52] and then become a physician. I don't know which one yet, but physician. Yeah. Follow through scouts, please. Um, hello. My name is Austin Coleman. Um, so basically my Eagle Scout project, it was, it was a farm in West Virginia and, uh, it's called Sam and Grace Farm. It was, uh, um,

[01:28:24] The farm, no-kill animal farm, where we helped and we built pig pens to help just separate the gentles of the pigs. And basically how we did it, we put up posts inside and we, so we basically, we made a post and we just made it,

[01:29:03] we refurbished it and we um made it better um i'm going to virginia tech um doing corps of cadets there and i'm yeah i i went to a private school and at bishop mcconnell and i graduated last week last week thursday so thank you sir so we're saving pigs and having fun at fire stations So my name is Grayson Carnall.

[01:29:42] For my Eagle Scout project, I built a horse or equine grooming station for Boulder Crest, an organization in Bluemont who help recovering veterans and first responders who are suffering from PTSD.

[01:30:02] And they have an equine therapy program where they let their participants participate in equine therapy so they can learn to ride a horse and care for horses. And they did not have any ability to clean some of these horses to an extent that they should have.

[01:30:23] So their landscaper and their person on the property that takes care of the property and the horses asked me to build a horse grooming station for them. And so that's what I did. Thank you.

[01:30:40] And so that was my Eagle Scout project. Through Scouts, I've had such a great experience giving back to the Loudoun County community and building friendships here with these three great friends of mine. Two of them, I guess, but the three of us.

[01:30:58] And it's been a really great experience for me. And what I'm doing next is I'm going to William & Mary and studying chemistry on a pre-med track. It helps to go to medical school. Hey, the parents, is this your first child going away to college?

[01:31:19] No, just second, second, second. Isn't it terrible? Just terrible, right? It's just terrible. It's like, what happened to my baby? And they're like, what happened to my baby, you know? Yeah, yeah, I know. You can call me if you need some therapy.

[01:31:34] I know, it's terrible. Congratulations, young man. Very, very impressive. Very impressive. All right. Oh, we wish you well, and report back in eight years when you're all doctors or whatever. Yeah, they're not here. So I guess for pictures.

[01:32:44] Thank you.

[01:33:05] Thank you. We actually have a second Eagle Scout. He's Eagle also. He's the older brother. Yes. Oh, you are this Eagle? He said I did it two years ago. Thank you very much. Thank you. Sir, thank you very much You're going to make her cry Peter, please don't do that

[01:33:41] I got you, I got you, I got you Thank you so much Thank you so much Thank you, sir.

[01:33:58] Calm down.

[01:34:35] For gun violence awareness. Calm down. For gun violence awareness resolution, can you please come down?

[01:34:59] Come on both sides. Come on both sides. How's everybody doing? Good. Good to see everyone. Yes. That's Ms. Brickspin's fine. I mean, Ms. Glass? Anybody else who wants to join us?

[01:35:17] Ms. Sains? Okay. All right. Yes. Huh? You have a glitter tattoo from this weekend. It should be orange. I've actually passed out.

[01:35:32] I had like five on this morning. I found out the other people as I walked around the world. Nice. Good afternoon. Oh, we'll wait for Sylvia and Laura. All right.

[01:35:52] Thank you, everyone, for coming out. Whereas ensuring the safety of the public is among the highest priorities for Loudoun County and its Board of Supervisors, reflecting a steadfast commitment to the well-being and security of all community members, And whereas, according to the Gun Violence Archive, more than 6,000 Americans have lost their lives to gun violence since the beginning of the year, with an additional 11,000 injured, highlighting the pervasive and tragic impact of gun-related incidents across our nation.

[01:36:24] Whereas Virginia experiences 1,121 gun deaths each year with a rate of 12. 8 deaths per 100,000 people, a crisis that costs the state $14. 2 billion each year, of which $288 million is paid by the taxpayers, underscoring the significant economic and social costs of gun violence in our Commonwealth.

[01:36:47] And whereas the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors recognizes the vital importance of proactive measures to prevent gun violence, safeguarding our schools and our communities. And whereas Loudoun County Board of Supervisors encourages the community members to wear orange on Friday, June 7th, to raise awareness about gun violence, honor the lives of victims and survivors, and renew our collective commitment to reduce gun violence.

[01:37:13] Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors does hereby proclaim June 7, 2024, as National Gun Violence Awareness Day. So we have with us this afternoon members from Moms Demand Action.

[01:37:35] And I have to say there's been moms and dads and grandfathers and uncles joining. And so it's so nice to see that Moms Demand Action is not just moms. so would anyone like to say a few words from mom's demand the way that oh i'm my name is deborah kidwell i'm a member of mom's demand action the way that wear orange started there was a young girl hadia pendleton who was killed and her friends to honor her created the wear

[01:38:11] orange program and they chose orange because it's the color that hunters wear to make themselves more seen better not more seen but seen better um it's the first week in all in june as was mentioned along with the proclamations that have been done moms demand action has also coordinated with the nova blood donor services to have a blood drive the first week of june yes so if you are able to between now and june 9th they would surely appreciate because there's a lot of blood

[01:38:49] products that are needed for people that are gun victims. Thank you. Anybody else? I'll say something real quick. I was watching television every day, and it just scrolled across the bottom of the screen. There was a shooting. I think it was in Akron, but I'm not sure. And it said, like, one dead, five shot.

[01:39:11] And it was just a scroll across the bottom of the screen. And I thought, this is where we are right now. This is where we are right now, where a mass shooting, because a mass shooting is in a shooting with four people or more, whether they're injured or died. A mass shooting gets nothing but a scroll across the bottom of the screen because it's so common.

[01:39:30] There was a time that that would be breaking news and you'd see that come on. But now gun violence and deaths and mass shootings are so common that they either get no mention at all or they get a scroll across the bottom of the screen.

[01:39:46] Sometimes people will say, like, how do you know when you're reaching success? It's so strange. We'll reach success maybe when we see a mass shooting break the news again because it's so unusual. Wouldn't that be something again? But right now it's just a scroll across the bottom of the screen.

[01:40:01] So we've got a lot of work to do. So thank you all for the work you do. Like in other countries, like in other countries. So thank you for the work you do. It's vitally and saves lives. It saves lives. All right, let's take a picture.

[01:42:09] Okay, so public input does not start until 6 o'clock. So we are going to still go in and have time to go to closed session. So the motion was made by Supervisor Brixman, second by Supervisor Glass. Any discussion on the motion to go to closed session? All in favor, please say aye.

[01:42:26] Any opposed? That motion will pass 9 to 0. When we come back out, we'll do public comments, and we will be finished.

[02:19:59] Okay, we are back, and we have Ms. Brixman to read us out of closed session.

[02:36:06] Chair Randall, we're missing Mr. Turner. Oh, okay. You do. Yes, it's usually in your book. Is it usually in your book, in your folder? Is it usually in your folder?

[02:36:25] It's not in your folder. Okay, can you just do the opposite words? I move the Board of Supervisors return from closed session and certify thank you, thank you, thank you.

[02:36:50] I'm just making it up as I go. That wasn't going well. It was not going well. It was not going well. 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 public meeting. Motion made in segmented by the advisor of glass.

[02:37:15] Discussion on the motion. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? I motion to pass 9-0. Would everybody please affirm Ms. Sumstead? Affirm. Affirm. Affirm. Affirm. Affirm. And I just found it on mine. Affirm. Affirm. Affirm. And I affirm as well. Thank you. There's a motion coming out of closed session. Mr. Kirshner. Thank you, Madam Chair. I move the Board of Supervisors direct staff to prepare a resolution to initiate condemnation and quick take proceedings as required pursuant to Virginia Code section 15.2-1903B for the purpose of approving the proposed public use and acquisition of the necessary property rights located in the Catoctin

[02:37:55] Election District for construction of the Route 7 and Route 690 interchange project. I further move that staff advertise the resolution for the July 10, 2024 Board of Supervisors Public Hearing. Second. Discussion on the motion, Mr. Kirshner? No, Madam Chair. Anybody else? All in favor, please say aye. Any opposed? That motion will pass seven, I mean, sorry, nine to zero.

[02:38:21] Okay, supervisors, we have people who have come to us to public comments. We are sorry we took so long to come out of closed session. We thank you for your patience. I'm going to call your names. When you hear your name called, please come to the podium closest to you. You will have two and a half minutes, and when your time is up, please yield the floor to the next speaker. Our first speaker is James Russell, followed by Matthew Noonan, followed by Sarah Hussain Bazir. I think that's the right last name. If not, please correct me when you come up. Good evening, sir.

[02:39:01] This is the third time I have come before this board advocating for a vote on a resolution that would call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and a total cessation of the exchange of munitions, which are being applied in a genocidal campaign as we speak.

[02:39:18] I have argued that because the blood money from those weapons shipments touches our local economy, that we are morally obligated to condemn these crimes. I have argued that because so many Palestinian Americans live in Loudoun County and contribute to their communities in so many beautiful ways, that we are morally obligated to condemn these crimes.

[02:39:45] I'd like to tell a story. I ran into an Arab American family that I've known for most of my life. They asked not to be identified. They had heard of my advocacy efforts here, and they thanked me for it profusely.

[02:40:05] And the mother is there with her three adult children and their partners. And then the mother says something to me that I swear to God, I'll never forget. She said, I think a lot of Arab Americans would like to join in such efforts.

[02:40:22] But frankly, we got the message from the last 25 years. We got the message from the 2000s. We got the message. What does she mean?

[02:40:39] Her kids know what she meant. Her adult children all nod in understanding. Well, what does she mean? It is her assessment, perhaps a correct one, that Arab Americans are not safe to officially discuss the matter of their own safety.

[02:40:55] This board, which represents the people in Loudoun County, must resolve itself against these crimes in Gaza or else the premise of diversity in Loudoun County is ossified and we will have demonstrated for the constituency and for all of history that we cannot rely on this legislative body to advocate for anybody.

[02:41:33] Thank you for your time. Free Palestine. Mr. Russell, before you walk away, when you were here the last time, one of another citizen spit at you. I did not see it when it happened and found out afterwards.

[02:41:53] I want to offer you an apology, not from me and this board. That should never have happened. We did handle that. There was a ticket wrote up on him and a letter sent to him.

[02:42:14] I've reflected on that since then and thought maybe I should have. I was absolutely flabbergasted that that happened. That should not have happened, and I offer you a formal apology. Thank you so much, and I know my time has expired. If I could respond for just five seconds and say, you know, I'm a big boy.

[02:42:30] I can take it. My utmost priority in these efforts of advocacy are my allies here, so thank you so much for your focus. All right, Matthew Noonan, followed by Sarah Hussein Bazar, followed by Nabilia Kohan.

[02:42:46] Good evening, sir. Good evening. So I'm just going to keep this really short because last time I pretty much said what I wanted to say about the issue. I second my friend James calling for a ceasefire. I don't really understand the trepidation from this board, especially when, like, most of these, this board has, you know, expressed sentiments one way or the other.

[02:43:09] So I just implore you, why not put it to a vote? Why not? And if you need help writing any of the resolution or drafting it, you can come to me for inspiration. And I'll just let you know that we're going to keep coming back.

[02:43:29] If there's not going to be a resolution, if you don't adopt and vote on it, there's going to be more people next time. We're going to keep showing up. And so I think it's in your best interest to actually put it on the record instead of putting out, you know, offhanded tweets here and there.

[02:43:47] I think it's important because it's this is genocide. This is it. Most people may not agree right now, but in five or 10, 20 years, most of the world is going to see this for what it is.

[02:44:02] And it's actually a genocide. So thank you. Thank you. I'm Sarah Hussain Bazar, followed by Nabila Kohan, followed by Noor Zivda. Good evening.

[02:44:21] Hi, Sarah Hussain Bazar. Thank you. I'm a resident of Chantilly, Loudoun County, and I'm a Palestinian-American mother of three young adults. My parents live in occupied Palestine, along with my nieces, nephews, cousins, aunts, uncles, extended family members, friends and neighbors.

[02:44:44] I am firmly rooted in her soil through my ancestral lineage. I'm a proud Palestinian Semite. I stand before you today to urge you to join the conscious call for an immediate ceasefire and the cessation of military aid to Israel.

[02:45:03] The ongoing war crimes against the Palestinian people, my people in Gaza and the West Bank, continue to cause a humanitarian crisis that many have rightly termed a genocide. Innocent lives, including women, children, and their elderly, are being lost every day, and entire communities are being obliterated.

[02:45:28] The young Palestinian boy that was shown on the video in Gaza, where the man was holding his body, his decapitated body, his beheaded body, His name was Ahmed Al-Najjar, and he was only one and a half year old.

[02:45:45] A new massacre was committed today in front of the displaced accommodation center in Deirbalah. Scenes of lifeless, bloodied, dismembered bodies scattered on the ground. This happened today. All tax dollars should not fund ongoing genocide, man-made famine and starvation and destructions of churches, homes, hospitals, universities.

[02:46:10] This should support efforts of peace instead, justice, and human dignity. Continuing military aid to Israel perpetrates a cycle of violence and suffering that cannot be justified on any grounds. I ask you to consider the values we hold dear.

[02:46:26] Justice, peace, and sanctity of human life, any human life. Let us be a voice for the voiceless and stand in solidarity with those who are suffering by calling for a ceasefire and an end to arming Israel. We take crucial steps towards ending this genocide and paving the way to a peaceful resolution.

[02:46:49] Thank you, ma'am. Nibla Kohan, followed by Noor Zabda. Good evening. Good evening, esteemed Board of Supervisors. My name is Nabila Chohan. I'm from Chantilly, Virginia.

[02:47:07] I'd like to open with the words of Amanda Gorman, National Youth Poet Laureate. It takes a monster to kill children, but to watch monsters kill children again and again and do nothing is an insanity. It's inhumanity. This is from a tweet in May 2022. I'm here to support Julie Briskman and thank her for her statement that human rights should be upheld for everyone. Western support for the ongoing war on civilians does not make us safer. Over 70% of the deaths in Gaza are women and children. This is in violation of international standards of war and we as a country should not be aiding this atrocity. So why bring this up in a county

[02:47:42] board of supervisors meeting? In my lifetime, there have been many massacres and several genocides around the world. Specifically, the Rwandan genocide of 1994 resulted in the deaths of 800,000 people in 100 days. The Srebrenica genocide of 1995 saw the massacre of 8,000 people in the span of seven days, and mind you, this was during the United Nations protecting these folks in this town, where young men of ages 16 and up were separated from their mothers wives and daughters and shot in the forest um unlike the rwandan genocide and the

[02:48:20] serbanica genocide where we did not see the massacres or hear the screams as the killings were happening we do so today the power of social media makes real-time news accessible for all in an age where we can open our phones to these horrific stories and images everyone should be speaking out like julie briskman thank you thank you and our last speaker is noah zibda good evening

[02:48:51] Good evening. Thank you. So I came last month and people are saying that this board is only for local resolutions and it's not a concern, like the ceasefire resolution is not a concern of this board, but it's a concern of every American. We are paying our taxes. Why aren't our taxes supporting local and our state health programs, nutrition programs, agriculture, the roads, housing? We have so many things that we can spend our American money on.

[02:49:21] So I came and spoke last month, and since then I've been actually worried about the consequences of me speaking up, because I mentioned where my kids play sport, and my husband and I, we were worried that somebody can track me, somebody can look us up online. So that is a concern of constituents in this board.

[02:49:37] I was super diligent, and I was keeping an eye on my kids all the time, and so safety is a concern for me and for everyone who speaks up against for humanity. A lot of people put Ukrainian flags in front of their homes supporting Ukraine.

[02:49:53] I cannot put a Palestine flag in front of my house. I am very careful about who I talk to because I am now concerned for my safety. And it is warranted because a member of this community did a hateful act in front of this board, in front of camera and security, and they had the audacity to do it.

[02:50:13] And we don't know what people are capable of doing when they do humanize another people and when no one is watching. So, Supervisor Umstad, you had mentioned in the last board, you commented that if this board comes to a ceasefire resolution, you'll vote no. And I'd like to ask if you change your mind after hearing our concerns.

[02:50:32] We are seeing, we saw a beheaded baby. People burnt in the tent massacre. Aid is being stopped from arriving to Gaza. How much more dehumanization are we going to allow? Because, God forbid, something happens like the shooting in Vermont or the child who was stabbed in Texas.

[02:50:53] This board, is this board going to be responsible for allowing the dehumanization of Arabs and Palestinians, of Americans and everybody who speaks up for humanity? Are you willing to be responsible for not speaking up? And if there's a hate crime that happens in our community, what will you do?

[02:51:10] That will be too late. So it's a concern for all of us. Thank you. Thank you. All right, supervisors, that was our last speaker for this evening, I do believe. Okay, that was our last speaker for this evening.

[02:51:27] And we have no more business before this board. We are adjourned.

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