Coraggio Consulting
Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, Business Meeting, Wednesday, January 22, 2025

Date: Wednesday, January 22, 2025
Place: Board Room, First Floor, Government Center, 1 Harrison Street SE, Leesburg, Virginia
Length: 6h 21m (video)
Official meeting video (county, Granicus): https://loudoun.granicus.com/player/clip/7852
Meeting page: https://loudoun.granicus.com/player/clip/7852

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 2026-10-11. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:12:11] She's leaving us on Pledge of Allegiance.

[00:12:23] Good evening, staff.

[00:12:39] Good evening, supervisors, and good evening, Loudoun. I'd like to call to order the January 2, 2025 Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Business Meeting. This room has a hearing loop. If you need hearing assistance, please switch your hearing aid to the telecall mode. If you need a headset, we have those available as well.

[00:12:56] Please see the clerk to request one. And this evening, Supervisor Bricksman will bring us words of inspiration and the Pledge of Allegiance. Thank you, Madam Chair. I don't think I have any words of inspiration.

[00:13:15] Let's just go straight to the pledge. Thank you. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, to the Republic, which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

[00:13:33] That for all part seems pretty important right now. So we have a couple things going on tonight. One, we have a really long agenda. And two, we have at least three supervisors who are leaving tonight to drive down to Richmond for the BACO conference, and then the remainder of us who are going are leaving like at, no kidding, five in the morning, and so we have taken some things off the agenda tonight just so we can get through a little faster because we need people to be safe while we're driving down tonight and driving in the morning.

[00:14:11] So because of that, I have removed from this agenda, I'm going to change the performance review for the county administrator and county attorney. I'm going to put that on the February 4th, 2025 Board of Supervisors business meeting. Do we have any other additions or deletions to the agenda? Supervisors, as I go through the consent agenda, you're going to see some things that I had to take off the consent agenda because we have speakers on those items. And so taking things off the consent agenda, in fact, there's three items, it's going to make the meeting a bit longer so we try to get through as fast as possible. I will also remind everyone we have a

[00:14:49] long meeting. We have people driving to Richmond. Please be aware of that as we're going through the meeting tonight. The proposed consent agenda is as follows. Item R1, resolution to recognize Loudoun County High School marching band captain seniors. That's for approval only. Item R2, resolution to commend the Washington Spirit on the exemplary 2024 season. That's for approval only. Item R3, proclamation to recognize International Holocaust Remembrance Day. That's for approval only. Item R4, proclamation to recognize National Human Trafficking Prevention Month. That's

[00:15:25] for approval and presentation. Item R4, proclamation to recognize Constitutional Officers Week in Loudoun County. That's for approval and presentation. Item 1A, award authority increase information technology products and software. Item 1B, awarded authority increased information technology consulting and technical service. Item 1C, fiscal impact committee 2024 annual report.

[00:15:53] Item 1D, Loudoun County Board of Equalization 2024 annual report. Item 1E, design endorsement general government office building phase one. Item 1F, FY 2025 mid-year FTE authority for the Department of Mental Health, Substance Abuse and Developmental Services, item 1G, Utilization of Federal and State Asset Forfeiture Funds for the Sheriff's Office, item 1I, Family Service Advisory Board annual report, please go read that if you have not yet, really important,

[00:16:26] item 1J, 2020, item 1J, 2024, Loudoun Health Commission annual report, please go read that. I do have some questions on that, I will call them later and ask them individually. Item 1K, contract renewal information technology solutions and services.

[00:16:44] Item 1L, FY 2025, mid-year FTE authority for the Department of Information Technology. Item 1M, community development block grant reallocation. Item 1N, affirmation of personal property tax rates for tax year 2025.

[00:17:02] Item 2A, appointments and confirmations. Item three, administering the items report of January 20th, 2025. Item four, incentive package for -- these are from finance, by the way -- incentive package for the attraction of Sky Harbor, LLC.

[00:17:20] Item six, proposed changes to the pay and benefits for employees not represented in the collective bargaining or they are ineligible for collective bargaining. Item eight, proposed traffic calming measures at the Falcon Air community. Item 9, Loudoun County Transit, Title VI, Service Equity Analysis, Fixed Route Services Changes for Spring 2025.

[00:17:44] Item 12, Allegi 2023-0001 Ocean Court Subdivision, Special Exception 2024-0030. Item 14, Amendments to the Chapter of 852 of the Codified Owners of Loudoun County Motor Vehicle Licensing Fee.

[00:18:02] Item 15, board member initiative, overnight parking restriction for Innovation Avenue. And item 16, board member initiative for ranked choice voting. That item is just simply to send that to a public hearing.

[00:18:17] That is the consent agenda. I will make a motion to approve. Is there a second? Second. Seconded by Supervisor Brixman. Discussion on anything on the consent agenda? It is a long one. I would simply say to our commissions, thank you for your report.

[00:18:37] We do read them. They are very important. And as I said, for the Loudoun Health Commission and your report, I'm going to give the chair a call. I have a couple of questions, but they are really, really well done. So thank you very much. Seeing nobody else, all in favor, please say, oh, okay, and see you on.

[00:18:53] Hi, hi, Mr. Letourneau. Hi. Hi. Just clarifying, the last item that was the ranked choice voting item. That is just to bring an information item to a business meeting, right? I thought it was for a public hearing. It is to have the, I think, the staff from the electoral board come and do a presentation on...

[00:19:13] Oh, that's right, that is right. At a business meeting? Yes. At a business meeting, okay. Okay, so I will let that go. I've said before, I honestly don't know where I stand on this, but it's okay to get the information. Sure. Ms. Bricksmann, is your line?

[00:19:28] Okay, all right. All the people who say aye. Aye. Opposed? That motion will pass. Is that 7-0-2? Are we missing two people? Mr. Sainz should be coming tonight. I think he's coming from D.C. at work, so he's just running a little late. Mr. Kirshner will not be joining us tonight at the meeting.

[00:19:49] Okay, so we did take one item off of the consent agenda only because Ms. Umstead, I think, wants to vote against the item. There's no issues. We do not need any presentation.

[00:20:05] So I just thought we would do it right now to get it done because there's no issues with it at all. And it is the Goose Creek Club item. Whose district is that in? Would you like to make that one? Is that, whose district is Goose Creek Club in?

[00:20:22] Is that in Leesburg? Okay, you do not want to make a motion. I will find that motion and make that motion myself. Just give me one second, because I know I've got to get back on. I legislate. I legislate.

[00:20:43] There's nothing on my screen. There's still nothing on my screen. Does anyone have that motion? Because there's nothing on my screen. I might be able to find it here. I mean, there's nothing, like there's nothing, like there's nothing on my screen, like nothing.

[00:20:59] i have the motion if you want it madam chair can i have the motion please absolutely i'm with the board supervisors approved ledger 2023-0023 goose creek club 2 zmap 2021-0020 zmont 2022-0056 zmont 2023-0040 to the findings for approval conditions and approval dated november 6 2024 and the proper statement date november 21 2024 providing detachment one two and three of the January 20, 2025, Board Supervisors' Business Meeting for Action.

[00:21:39] Motion to second the discussion on the motion. I do not have an opening. Is there a discussion, Ms. Umstead? Thank you, Madam Chair. I will be voting against this based on the financial burden on the school system, which is in excess of $900,000 a year in operating costs.

[00:22:06] with the equivalent of $3.66 million in capital costs. Thank you. Thank you. I am, just for an FYI, I am going to be bringing to the board-- and you will see this email go out very soon-- a question to ask how we are calculating that money.

[00:22:25] Because what I know is these numbers that are being given are incorrect. For a lot of reasons, they're incorrect. They may be higher, they may be lower. We have to figure it out, but they're not correct numbers. And so if we're going to be accepting or denying applications based on numbers of money or cost, we need to know what the actual numbers are.

[00:22:46] And so I know that the number Ms. Umstead just gave was not correct. And we will make sure we figure out how to calculate these numbers correctly. The school gives a number but does not take into account a lot of things, everything from the capital improvement cost to taxes paid on the homes to all kind of things.

[00:23:04] They just don't take those things. It is a flat number. They also assume that these are students who will need placements like in a new school versus the fact that there are spaces in the school. And if you have space in the school, it does not cost any more to put a child in the school where there's already space because there's already space.

[00:23:23] So those things are not taken into account when we put these numbers forward. And so we're gonna try to get these numbers correct because we cannot accept or deny applications on incorrect numbers. All right, I made the motion. seconded by Ms. Birkin, did you second that motion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Nay. That motion will pass 6-1-2 with Ms. Umstead voting against the motion. All right thank you very much. I have if I can be organized the following organizational comments. Supervisors, the NVTA annual report is

[00:23:59] out. I know you guys all wait for this report with bated breath. I have one for everyone up here. Loudoun County did 708 million dollars. We received 708 million dollars in investments from NVTA. It helps that the chair of NVTA is the chair of Loudoun County. So, bought some of that money back home. So, we're happy about that. I have the report handed to all of you.

[00:24:23] I will also have extra reports for Mr. Kroboth, for you, for Mr. Galindo, for all the offices, and so all the extra ones I'll just give to the clerk so she can give them to all the appropriate staff who need them. NVTA did not take a position on the legislation that was put forward by Mr. Survelle, Senator Survelle for parking.

[00:24:46] The legislation asks that all private parking spaces are taxed at 50 cents a space. His goal is to try to get money for bike trails and walking trails in the Northern Virginia area.

[00:25:03] We do applaud him thinking out the box and trying to figure out new ways to get money, but we don't have any numbers behind those, so we're not sure how much that would raise nor how much it would cost to do that. And the legislation did not put any new positions in MBTA, so if this program was going to be ran through MBTA, we would need more staff for that.

[00:25:26] The legislation didn't account for new staff, and so we took no position on that legislation. I had a really good meeting with the AIDWAP board. We talked about a lot of different things. One of the things we talked about was the connections, the water connections from Loudon Water.

[00:25:44] I did a follow-up with that with Mr. Tony Buffington and the new CEO of Loudon Water, so I passed that off to them. Supervisors, as I've said many, many times, I've been so concerned that we, I don't think, our commissions committees and boards to the full extent of what they could be used for.

[00:26:03] And so with objection, I did ask the AIDWOP board to do a little bit of a dive into what tiny home communities are. Mr. Sainz has talked about that a lot, wanting to talk about what a tiny home community is. I know there are a lot of different types of tiny homes, but I don't know all the ins and outs. I don't know how to finance. I don't know all the different types. I don't know enough. And so they're going to do, the AIDWOP board is going going to do a deep dive into the tiny homes and bring that to us at a future date, probably not until like April or May sometime in there. I went to COG, Mr. Crone and I went to COG.

[00:26:41] All I have there were two things. One, they did elect a new COG chair. It is Rodney Lusk from Fairfax County. So he is the COG chair for this year. So congratulations to Mr. Lusk. He'll do a wonderful job. And also the new executive director, and I really do like this a lot. The new executive director of COG, his name was Clark Mercer, he would like for the COG staff to just understand, to better understand legislation that comes out of Richmond and Annapolis. In that vein, he's asking his staff to go down to Richmond and Annapolis when, just to watch the workings, the goings on, things like that. So tomorrow, while we

[00:27:21] are at VACO Day at the General Assembly, there will be a COG staff that joins the Loudoun delegation, Monica, how do you say her last name, Baroudi, thank you, will be joining the Loudon delegation for the day at NACO Day for two reasons, one, just to watch, and two, there is legislation that COG has put forward, and some of the legislation that COG puts forward also matches the legislation that Loudon has put forward.

[00:27:52] And so to have another voice in there to fight for this legislation and the fact that it's a regional voice is really powerful, and so we decided to do that, Mr. Mercer decided to do that at Cog, and so we're really pretty pleased about that. So those are all my, well, that's not true.

[00:28:08] I do have my NACO update on the Health Steering Committee is long and involved in lots of stuff going on, and because it's such a long meeting, I'm going to stay with the next time, and that also will be right before NACO. So expect that to come. It's not time sensitive.

[00:28:24] And so I just put it for the next time. However, I am really happy about my voice for a cause today. My voice for a cause is the Loudoun Community Band. The Loudoun Community Band is a nonprofit organization that promotes musical participation, education, appreciation, and enjoyment in our community.

[00:28:41] As an umbrella musical service organization, the Loudoun Community Band Incorporated fields two large and several smaller ensembles, including the Loudon Symphonic Winds, the Loudon Jazz Ensemble, the Loudon Brass Quintet, and others. The Loudon Community Band provides opportunities for adults to give the gift of music to their neighbors and seeks to enrich the cultural life of the community through their performances. Today with us is Dr. Gilbert Corella. Thank you for coming very much. We have some questions for you. And also, supervisors at your desk,

[00:29:16] You have the Loudon Community Band Flyer, and if you'd like to share this with your constituents, that would be really great as well. So, sir, you have three ensembles that encompass your band.

[00:29:32] Could you talk about those a little briefly? Absolutely, and thank you very much for inviting me this afternoon to speak. So the three ensembles, as you've mentioned, is Loudon Symphonic Wins is our largest ensemble. It's a concert band, and that ensemble is actually the initial reason why the corporation was founded back in 1995, was to create basically a haven, opportunities for folks in the community who've played an instrument in the past, whether in high school or college, professionally or just for fun, just a place for them to come together and perform.

[00:30:04] And so that ensemble is the largest one, about 60 musicians, or 60 members, I should say, And we performed basically all types of literature, ranging from pop, classical, popular music, and so forth. Later on, after the corporation was founded, then the Jazz Ensemble, the Loudon Jazz Ensemble, was created.

[00:30:23] And that's a big band, a jazz ensemble, very similar to, if you're familiar with any of the premier military band jazz ensembles, like the Airmen of Note, the Army Blues, it's an ensemble very much in that same design. And that's about 20 musicians. and as you've mentioned there are some of the smaller ensembles the main small ensemble that we have is called the loud and brass quintet which is comprised of two trumpets french horn trombone and tuba and they perform in situations that are more intimate in nature and maybe not as conducive for the larger ensembles and when you put the three ensembles together you're looking at about

[00:30:59] 100 members from all over the community very diverse membership most of the people who are in the organization are not professional musicians. They're just people from all different walks of life, lawyers, doctors, engineers, government workers, retired folks from the community who maybe graduated from high school and just looking for a place to play and so forth.

[00:31:18] Wonderful. Thank you. Can you speak about some of the work you do with LCPS regarding music education in our schools? Absolutely. So when the organization was founded and the groups were going out and performing in the community many of the venues that we were performing were at lcps facilities high schools middle schools and so forth and so our organization although our original idea was to get together because we just wanted to play some good music we started thinking about well how can we give back to the community and so we reached out to lcps specifically the music department uh current uh fine arts supervisor michael pearson and we

[00:31:57] asked them, what is it that we can do to give back to the community? How we can, how can we support LCPS? And what came out of that conversation was two main things. One was to, for us, what we did was we created workshops where we would bring in nationally renowned groups such as the Canadian Brats. Back in 2015, we invited them to perform with us, and at the same time we had them perform, conduct workshop for all LCPS students we have roughly 600 to 700 students that gathered together and and got to experience the Canadian brass asking questions and so forth so workshops the other

[00:32:35] thing that we know that's important is that teachers in general they need to receive annual accreditations so they continue in their in their profession and so what we do is we invite we have music teachers that they can perform, rehearse with our ensemble, ensembles, whether it's the jazz ensemble or the symphonic winds. They rehearse, perform with us, it gives them an opportunity to develop new skills, hone the skills they already have, and to be able to take them back to the classroom. And this in turn also gives them continuing education credits, and this is a free no charge. So

[00:33:11] this is the two ways that we contribute to LCPS. There are other things that we We do not just for LCPS, but we also partner with other nonprofit organizations such as Healing House, which is a service dog corporation. We have had a partnership for the last almost 20 years with Toys for Tots Foundation, where we have an annual event of which we provide, we collect toys.

[00:33:35] And then we also have a great relationship with Christ the Redeemer Roman Catholic Church, which is now our home where we have rehearsals every Tuesday evenings and we do open rehearsals and performances at the church. When are your next performances coming up? Our next performance coming up is actually on March 1st.

[00:33:52] Our last performance was in December, and that was our toy drive, our annual toy drive, of which Supervisor Glass very kindly came and narrated at the event. And it was a full house and collected numerous toys that were given to the children right here in the county. Our next concert, as I said, is March 1st over at Watson Mountain Middle School.

[00:34:12] It's a brand-new middle school right here in the county, beautiful facility. spanish theme event uh our ensemble the main ensemble of loud and symphonic winds does about eight concerts a year we're going to close our season by bringing in this very very special guest artist by the name of doreen ketchins who is a clarinetist from new orleans playing traditional jazz she just recently performed with the united states president's own marine band last year she was actually here performing with the loud and symphony good very good and then my last question is first of all before i go to my last question can you say what you did for 20 years in the air

[00:34:50] force that's so amazing so um i was a tuba player with the united states air force band and i served 25 years joined the air force band in 1985 it's an audition only opportunity it's a premier band of the united states air force primary public affairs tool so i was a tuba aware with the organization and and actually while i was with the organization was when i was uh won the audition to become the conductor of the loudest symphonic winds back in 1999 we have such talent in our in our county and the last thing is how can people how can people get a hold of you

[00:35:26] how can people reach you lots of different ways so uh first the most obvious way is to go to our website loudoncommunityband.org we're also on facebook we have two facebook pages one for the loud and symphonic winds and one for the loud and jazz ensemble and we're also on instagram if by the way if you go to our website there is an option where you can subscribe to receive emails from us regarding future performances and any news and items that we want to share with you and we also have a youtube channel and by going to youtube just search for loudon community band and you'll find us we have videos from all our previous performances and we even have an education

[00:36:05] outreach corner where we provide instructional videos for any of those young students that are interested in picking up an instrument well first of all thank you for thank you for your service thank you for playing for the air force band which mr turner vice chair has talked about quite a bit and thank you for doing this for our community music makes the world go around it's wonderful thank you so much thank you mr hemstreet thank you madam chair i've got four comments for this evening. The first is that as some of you may have experienced earlier this afternoon, two new electric or battery electric buses are being added to the

[00:36:42] Loudoun County Transit fleet this week. The buses are a key step in our efforts to achieve the goals of the county energy strategy which include reducing greenhouse gas emissions in transportation and leading by example in county government operations. Each bus is estimated to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by a hundred and eighty thousand pounds a year. The buses are scheduled to be put into service tomorrow. Second, the child care assistance programs authorized by the board with funds from the American Rescue Plan Act are underway. As you know, the child care fee reduction program will help fund up to 50% of child care costs for qualifying families. In

[00:37:17] addition, assistance for qualified child care providers is available. Families and providers will find online applications for the programs at loudon.gov slash child care assistance. And third, a comprehensive assessment of the existing and potential tree canopy in Loudoun County is now available on the Loudoun County website at loudoun.gov slash tree canopy.

[00:37:37] Using aerial imagery from 2023, the assessment revealed that tree canopy covers nearly half of the county. An interactive mapping tool, the tree plotter canopy, illustrates the assessment and shows how the tree canopy coverage is distributed across the county. And then finally, despite the weather outside, it is not too early to think spring.

[00:37:57] Virginia Cooperative Extension Loudon invites residents to attend the VCE Loudon Master Gardener's 14th Annual Gardening Symposium. The event will be held on Saturday, March 22nd at the Academies of Loudon. Expert speakers will share their knowledge as gardeners prepare for the growing season.

[00:38:14] Gardening items from local vendors and lightly used books will also be for sale. More information is online at loudon.gov slash extension. Those are my comments this evening, Chair Randall. Thank you very much, Mr. Hemstree. Appreciate that. All right, we have one information item. It should take probably at least a half an hour to do, so that would probably take us right up to our five o'clock time.

[00:38:35] Supervisors, again, without objection, you know, we are putting together the land use review assessment, and there's going to be a lot of work done at this. I had this discussion with Mr. Crony already. I'd like to have Mr. Turner be the liaison to the staff for the land use review assessment.

[00:38:54] And that's already been -- that's been discussed with staff and -- I know -- and a lot of the items will be worked through and come through TLUC. It seems to be the logical place for this to be worked out.

[00:39:11] And so we won't -- these are the presentations because this is the new information. But as we go through the process and talk through the process, these will come -- it will come through TLUC. And so for finance members, we would love for you to join us if you have any thoughts, feelings, whatever you'd like to say on this item, or just let any of the TLEC members know as well, and we can do either one of those things.

[00:39:34] So thank you all, and we are ready. All right. Good afternoon, Madam Chair and board members. The information item before you this evening is phase two, the administrative process for the board-directed assessment of your land use review and approval process.

[00:39:50] You may recall that this team was before you on December the 3rd to present the legislative process, phase one. We have with us the team members from Alvarez and Marcel, the consulting firm that assisted us with us.

[00:40:09] Nancy Zelke is the overall project lead, and Shane Bechtold is an individual who also worked on the project and will assist with the presentation. so i'll turn it over to nancy thank you madam chair members of board supervisors it's pleasure to be back with you this evening to talk this time about the administrative process review madam chair we're going to be very respectful of the time because it's very important for you to be able to move through your meeting but as it's shown on page two of the handout materials between shane and myself we're going to cover five major things first we think it's very important

[00:40:49] to talk about what we heard from your employees as well as what we also heard the voice of the customer from your development community partners. You know, secondly, Shane's going to then talk about our observations and our findings as it relates to people, process, and technology. The staff report that's been prepared by the deputy administrator along with Director Smith really kind of talks a little bit about, you know, our approach in the process. Then we're going to lead do through kind of our three strategy themes that deal with process aligning the communication

[00:41:24] and operating practices to future state practices. Secondly, we're going to talk about improvements to your workforce. I know at our December 3rd meeting, Director Smith had presented some of the positions that we recommended or new roles. We're going to briefly talk about those again. Then finally, our third strategy deals with technology. In some areas, we think there could be some improvements in the technology and then finally talking about next steps and more importantly change management probably not going to go into a lot of detail on that because again the staff report really talked about the implementation plan and the needs for this

[00:41:59] as we talked back in early December our approach took a look at people process and technology as it related to the administrative process for your land use you know process through this we we took a look at the organization, we took a look at, we spent time with individuals throughout building and development, as well as stakeholders, as well as we looked at a number of data, go ahead, Shane, looked at data, you know, from that, then we developed a recommendation roadmap.

[00:42:33] The report, as presented in your packet this evening from November the 21st, identifies 37 recommendations and then underneath that many actions and activities that we that we have recommended that the county take a look at. Through this process we met with many stakeholders.

[00:42:52] Shane and the team met with over 40 individuals both building and development staff as well as many other county stakeholders you know including members of economic development transportation. I'm going to read all of them but a wide breadth of individuals you know most importantly we also met with members of the you know building development community having several meetings with the national association of of industrial and office parks as well as the northern virginia business in industry association collectively they provided some outstanding areas and observations and

[00:43:29] themes moving forward so with that i'm going to turn over to shane shane led this work along with four other individuals we started our work back in june and we concluded with a i would say town hall meeting that we had back in middle as november the 20th to solicit input from from the team as well so shane i'll turn it over to you thank you and also thank you very much for the opportunity to present our findings from the report um so first as nancy mentioned i'd like

[00:44:04] to go into the voice of the customer um we we submitted surveys to both employees of building and development as well as the development community but i'll focus first on on the employees we sent out uh digital surveys to about 186 building and development employees and had about almost a 25 percent response rate for 46 employees and we had we got some very helpful feedback and some common themes that we received from from these surveys was that training was an immediate need over 50 of folks indicated that they would like training not only at the very

[00:44:42] beginning for when they're being on boarded but also throughout their career trajectory as well as becoming more specialized and progressing. There was also a need for improved communications in between the referral agencies so that they could understand where certain projects were in the review process.

[00:45:03] And then there was a significant amount of room for improvement for review consistency, so between project managers and the level of detail that they're requiring. Diving into it a little bit more for culture and workload, one of the really cool things was that culture is really strong and is really good.

[00:45:21] You hear in the word cloud, you see things like friendly, helpful, supportive. That was really nice and rewarding. But some of the folks also indicated that they felt a little, they felt overworked. You'll notice in the employee workload, you'll see a bar graph that indicated three fours and fives for feeling heavily overworked.

[00:45:43] And this actually lends itself and aligns well through some of our recommendations relating to some of the additional positions that we're recommending. Going on to staff perspective on communication. Communication is the three is the is kind of in the middle of the road on how satisfied versus dissatisfied folks were with communication but if you look at the bottom of the slide you'll you'll see that there are there were comments about a need for improved communication not only within within BND but also across other Loudoun County governments as well as with the development community.

[00:46:22] Going on to training, as I mentioned before, training is a huge need, really, because a lot of the folks who are really working to progress through their career and getting that additional training for not only to help them progress, but also for standardization is really helpful and important. So moving on to the developer community, I won't spend too much time on these slides simply because these are, quite honestly, the same slides that came through from the last report. But the developer communicators community is emphasizing some of their experiences, which is resistance to change, communication clarity, and wanting and desiring stakeholder

[00:47:01] coordination. And there are a list of some of the key takeaways as well. And then this is just another slide just reemphasizing some of the feedback from the developer community. And a lot of the feedback that we received from the developer community are part of some of the recommendations that we'll be reviewing in a minute. Perfect. So not only did we collect digital surveys, but we also had individual meetings with a lot of the staff within BND to collect their input on process, people, and technology. I'm not going to -- you obviously don't need to look in detail on this

[00:47:41] process map, but this is a relatively complex process map on how projects go through for review. and one of the things that we found was that this is rather complex as it relates to other similar sized county governments that do building and development activities. Again, not going to make you read the quotes there, but some of the feedback that staff were mentioning is that the process is relatively complex. Sometimes people don't understand where things are in the process, and so simplifying the process is something that we were looking into and this is the staff

[00:48:19] feedback this part yes it can be and it's also complex for other folks who are uh who are trying to work with uh with building and development um this right here uh this is just a a specific portion of of the process but this is specifically with uh with referral agencies uh and there are a number of pain points that we identified that we've listed here on the slide that that folks are dealing with whenever they're going through the referral process so for people hurdles and

[00:48:57] challenges again very similar to to the previous presentation that was for planning and zoning but really a lot of it it revolves around staffing so not necessarily having enough staffing to support the activities that are going on this is the same thing building development has a lot of the same challenges training i've already touched a little bit on the training aspect and then also communication and collaboration making sure they're having opportunities within divisions within building development as well as with the community the developer community to understand where projects

[00:49:33] are in the process and so that they can and also they can vote vocalize some of their challenges and and industry best practices that they have seen so i think related to the challenges also is the challenge that the board of supervisors had brought to our attention as well when we met with either yourself or your staff also understanding where a project was at in the process we heard that i think from almost all of you as we visited with you and that was also a common theme that the development community had mentioned as well thank you and then technology hurdles and

[00:50:10] challenges. So Landmark is basically the primary application for managing projects. And while Landmark, you know, it is a robust tool for managing projects, there are technical limitations with the application. There are reporting issues. You know, they have 70, without going into the weeds, but there are 70 different reports that they have in the system. But even with 70 different reports, it doesn't give staff the requisite information that they have, so they're having to become Excel experts to get the information that they need, and that shouldn't be their

[00:50:48] priority, and then also lacking of sufficient training and change management. So, in general, there are lots of improvements that can be made to the application, which we'll touch on as a particular recommendation. And again, here, this is some more detail on the specific issues as it relates to Landmark that we found. Okay, so what I'd like to do now is I'd like to pivot from the challenges to some of the recommendations that we're going to make. Now we've grouped these recommendations again by those

[00:51:24] three buckets, process, people, and technology. And one thing I would like to highlight is a lot of these recommendations, actually the majority of them, we were, or all of them, we were working closely with B&D leadership. And it was really exciting to see that the B&D leadership, they were already starting many of these recommendations or were in their plans to start. So that was something that was really rewarding and exciting to see. Starting with process. So within process, our recommendations really fell within three buckets. One is communication, one is standardizing

[00:52:00] process, and the third is on strengthening performance and accountability. I'll focus on communication first. So for communication, this is something that both B&D staff and the developer community really emphasized in the sense that whenever certain questions either come through email or through a phone call or even stopping by an office, sometimes there's a feeling of those requests are going into a black box. And so making sure there are explicit standards

[00:52:34] for when responses need to be submitted back to the requester is really important. And you can do these by documenting them in processes, but it's important to make sure that there are specific timelines to do that so that people understand when they're going to receive a response so that people don't get frustrated and also so projects don't get delayed. Also around hosting community workshops and forums. These can be organized between the county and the developer community, or you can also partner with a third party or an industry association that can help facilitate

[00:53:12] those those are typically organized on a on a quarterly basis and really give folks an opportunity to communicate industry standards that they've seen that they would like implemented or if they have particular challenges that they're experiencing it gives them that that ability to have that communication and then also one other is mandating in-person initial submission meetings you know one of the things that happened with covid it was that a lot of business went online and that was very helpful because it gave people flexibility but some of the aspects with in-person meetings really help provide better communication on how things are going

[00:53:53] that there's just something a little bit missed when you're not when you're doing those virtually so mandating in-person initial meetings can it can be helpful i'll go over to the strengthening and performance and accountability there is really updating and developing these standard standardized documents basically updating your sops now that can sound relatively straightforward and standard but it's like making sure that those are standard across all the different divisions it's clearly documented so there isn't any ambiguity can be very helpful that was something that we heard that there wasn't that consistent consistency across the divisions leadership were

[00:54:30] uh did mention that that was a priority and they have been working on that but i think that is an area that would be really would be helpful um and then also uh with as it relates to different complex projects as well as project managers making sure you're pairing up project managers with certain experience to the to comp to the two projects based off of their experience so you don't want to make you want to make sure you don't have project managers with less experience working on more complex projects because then those projects can take longer then that can have downstream effects um for aim potentially creating backlogs and then i'll talk a little bit about

[00:55:07] standardizing processes so a big one here that we saw is making sure there are established timelines uh set timelines and agreed upon timelines for how long a referral agency has to conduct their review what we saw in our analysis was that it was not always standardized across the board And so it creates two major issues.

[00:55:31] One is it's difficult for the referral agency because they can't properly plan for how long it takes for them to go through and do their reviews. But then it's also difficult for the project managers because then they can't necessarily always tell the developer community how long it's going to take for them to get back comments and submit their information.

[00:55:50] So as long as there is like a set timeline, it's much easier for planning so that people can organize their plans. Other items are around an escalation procedure for referral process delays. So this can be ways where you have contingency plans, so you have contractor support to surge in and help out, or you can escalate that to leadership so that it's on their radar and they can make sure to get involved and to help address those delays.

[00:56:21] And then also, you know, making sure leadership have a monitoring system like a dashboard to be able to see that information. Again, a lot of those things are already things that were on B&D's radar, and they were already a leadership, and they were taking action on that. But those are areas that would be helpful and important to do.

[00:56:39] Another one is around the referral comment guidelines. So some of the challenges that we heard was that whenever a project was submitted for comments and then comments came back, once the developer community addressed those, sometimes they would get additional comments on the same category.

[00:56:59] So a recommendation would be is that once a section had been commented on, no more comments, and then we can move on. Again, it makes it a little bit easier. We've heard that one a lot, actually. And then the final one, and there are others that I don't have a chance to focus on, but I would like to take a little bit of time going into the Development Review Committee, or the DRC.

[00:57:23] Okay, so what is the DRC? So the DRC, or the Development Review Committee, is a centralized organization body within the county's planning and also building and development department. It's responsible for coordinating the review and development of projects to ensure compliance with local regulations, policy, and standards.

[00:57:44] And it really serves as the hub for communication and coordination amongst each of the various county departments. And one of the great things about it is, and the folks who would be involved in it, is the B&D director or deputy director, the P&Z director and deputy director, and all of the external community or committee members would be the representatives from the referral agencies.

[00:58:11] The great thing about this is you have the leadership who are going to be making decisions on it. You have the experts who can make sure that they are providing comments initially and that they don't get missed. And also, if you have all the leaders all in the same room, you're not having to play email tag or phone tag to de-conflict comments if they contradict one another.

[00:58:34] Now, how often does the DRC meet? This would be, they would operate about twice a month and it would, for the regular updates to review projects, there would also be the opportunity for scheduling ad hoc meetings in case they were needed. And then there would also be pre-scheduled agenda items so that people would know what was going to be discussed during those meetings?

[00:58:57] I think key to that is also a key member of that committee is also the applicant as well. So getting the leaders of building development and planning and the referral agency along with the applicant in the room together to walk through issues or challenges or items and having that group discussion early in the process.

[00:59:22] so that's what we're seeing as is a key factor to this as well thank you so um just in the this next slide shows like uh like a maturity maturity model uh for for working towards this uh the current state when we were originally starting this project was having project managers uh these were the the the original folks who were conducting these reviews of the projects whether or not they were experts or not they were just taking they were the point people for managing projects one of the things bnd was moving towards were project coordinators or who were more who were more

[00:59:59] experienced project managers and they were the ones responsible for overseeing those projects and then again the future state would be the drc working on providing doing the review of those projects now one thing that might come to mind is you don't want the drc to be a bottleneck because they don't they can't review everything so the key thing is making sure that only major projects are going through the drc so what we have done is we have made sure to define what a major

[01:00:33] project versus a minor project is and so what we in our recommendation we have those we have these guidelines for which what types of projects should go through uh the drc okay now this is at a very very high level a process for how projects would go through the DRC, really you can boil it down to two meetings.

[01:00:58] The first meeting would be where all the committee members and the applicant would come together and they would discuss the feedback on the project proposal, and this would be the opportunity to review those comments, have an open dialogue about the feedback on their project.

[01:01:16] And then the second meeting would be the opportunity for the DRC and for the applicant to showcase how they've addressed the comments. And if the DRC had follow-up questions or comments, they could do that on the spot. And then those could be addressed.

[01:01:32] And again, the idea is to try to have more live updates that are being made to really improve the speed with which the reviews are being done. Perfect.

[01:01:47] And from there, I'd like to move on to people. So for people, again, we have our recommendations really fall within three buckets. The first is really enhancing the staffing levels and capacity, improving training capacity, and then strengthening communication and collaboration.

[01:02:09] So focusing on staffing, the first one is really prioritizing filling vacant positions to achieve full workforce strength. So in our recommendations, we have some suggestions with which how can you improve really to fill some of those vacancies.

[01:02:26] And again, if you don't, if we're struggling to fill some of those vacancies, especially for those high in-demand positions, having some contingencies such as external consultants and staff and contractors to fill those.

[01:02:42] But then also recommending some additional staff to really help support BND. specifically around customer service folks as well as customer experience folks to really help man the front desk and to also handle some of those permit related inquiries so that project managers who are currently being pulled off of their projects to fill those positions, they can then direct their focus instead of on this ancillary tasks, they can focus on really doing the review of those projects um and then the another one which we'll see in a

[01:03:22] minute is uh recommending a a training manager uh which would be somebody who could help to facilitate and do those trainings um touched a little bit of on the the training opportunities but again um it's really the life cycle of trainings for for somebody so all the way from onboarding making sure people are receiving the requisite training making sure people are getting the specialized training that they need so they can progress their career and then also you know whenever there's a change in in a position where somebody goes from one division to another they get the requisite training when they're moving over another one is also on developing a higher

[01:03:59] education and technical technical school partnership for a talent pipeline that's good because in an internship it's an opportunity for somebody to learn before they get on the job and it's an opportunity to pull those staff members in once they finish their uh their education um and then also with strengthening uh strengthening communication now there is some overlap between uh between training but some of this is around just better communication with the referral agents referral agency review reviewer training programs so that they can understand the administration review process better and so they can just better better communication there

[01:04:40] and then uh also the rural arms blitzman um now whether or not i i know that there's we're still working on a positions for whether or not there's a rural arms blitzman between uh planning and zoning and building and development i think the key thing here is having somebody who is dedicated to the rural areas who can answer those questions and that's really important here is a list of the positions that we were recommending, training manager, permit technician, senior planner, and a customer service manager for Roms-Budsman.

[01:05:16] And this is the org chart for BND and where we had proposed the staff to align. Now, the final one is around technology. So our technology recommendations, they really fall within, again, three buckets.

[01:05:34] First off, is maximizing the use of Landmark's capabilities, enhancing the capabilities of Landmark, and then also validating Landmark's implemented business requirements. So, maximizing Landmark. So, Landmark, there are a lot, Landmark is a robust tool, but one of the things is that it needs, you need, people need to be able to leverage all of its capabilities.

[01:06:02] It can sometimes be difficult to use, and making sure people get the right training on how to use it is really important. The other thing is we talk about leveraging Landmark as a tracking management tool. What we want to do is make sure that data for managing projects is done and kept in Landmark.

[01:06:23] We don't want data to reside in people's Excel spreadsheets or in their access databases to managing projects, which is what is happening right now. But the reason why they're having to do that is because Landmark hasn't been built or developed to help them manage their projects in Landmark.

[01:06:43] So it's kind of like a catch-22. So you need to make sure that the tool is being developed and meets the needs for B&D staff. And then again, as I mentioned, it's really important to making sure that the training programs exist for new hires and for staff, but then also the developer community and the public so that they know how to use Landmark.

[01:07:06] And that can be done through training videos or community forums and different ad hoc sessions on how to use it, but that's all very important. And then enhancing capabilities of Landmark. And so one thing that we heard is that while people want to use Landmark, there are legacy systems that they need to use, such as Bluebeam, Hub, GIS, but those systems don't integrate with Landmark.

[01:07:32] So it makes it very difficult to use the system. Now, after further investigation, there are capabilities to integrate with Landmark. Now that is a -- that is a -- that will require another opportunity -- another -- when it gets to IV&V or independent validation and verification is really looking at those requirements that people need.

[01:07:56] And one of those is integrating those systems with Landmark. The other is around clarifying the governance structure. What's happening now is Landmark resides -- the governance of Landmark resides in BND.

[01:08:12] Now, that can be difficult if people outside of BND are requesting specific access to Landmark, and they have to make a decision for what employees outside of BND, what types of access they should get, and that makes it difficult.

[01:08:27] So we are recommending that the governance of Landmark really reside in the county department of IT, rather than within specifically in BND. And then finally, for conducting a post-go-live independent validation and verification.

[01:08:44] So what this means is really doing a detailed review of all the requirements that were originally provided to the vendor and making sure that those requirements were built into Landmark. That's one. Now, it's also been a couple, it's been some time since Landmark has been implemented.

[01:09:05] People now have a better understanding of Landmark, what it can do. So what you also want to do is make sure and do an assessment of, now that people know about Landmark, are there any changes in the requirements that they have for the system? And so that is also part of doing an IV&V, is are there any new requirements that staff have or the developer community that they have to better use and be able to understand how to use Landmark?

[01:09:35] Thank you, Shane. Next steps. Next steps are very similar to what we talked about on December the 3rd. Also, the administrator's report summarizes these as well. What's important is for the staff to review these and make a decision how you want to move forward with these recommendations. What's so important for the county to put together is what we call a change management plan, because change management is getting the buy-in, getting the buy-in from the department staff, getting the buy-in from the administrative staff, as well as

[01:10:11] the buy-in from the Board of Supervisors here as well on moving these recommendations forward. I mean, there's some things that you need to look at as you move forward. Need to look at, you know, the feasibility. Need to look at the legal constraints of these recommendations. Are there any HR constraints as well as the fiscal impact of these as well? But we challenge the county to take a serious look at these and we're we look forward in watching your progress as you move forward so at this point um betsy do you have any comments or like to say um not particularly i think

[01:10:49] that alvarez and marcel did a great job putting together the information that they were able to attain from all the different sources and we are excited to continue working through some of the implementation. Okay. Well, Mr. Kropoff, do you have anything? No, Madam Chair. I'm happy to answer any questions. Well, thank you.

[01:11:18] That was fantastically done and that was a, you summed up a lot of things very quickly, so thank you. Supervisors, I think we could spend no kitten two hours asking questions about this, and we can't spend two hours asking questions about this. So I want to remind everyone that this will be seen and go through TELUC, and so you can always come to TELUC, that's the first thing.

[01:11:39] Mr. Kroboth, will the consultants, are they free to come to TELUC, or are all the questions that go from here on will be from staff? How would you like us to do this, because we can't take the time right now to do all that we want to do.

[01:11:54] Certainly. Your office can contact me or either of the directors, and we're happy to do a briefing. At this point in time, we would ask that you vet those questions through us.

[01:12:16] We are in the process of negotiating a scope of work for the Alvarez and Marcel team to support us through the implementation to facilitate that process, to keep us accountable, help us provide reporting and tracking, and serve as a resource when we start looking at the recommendations. what did you really mean by this, and, you know, how did you derive it?

[01:12:36] So I think it's very helpful to have them available as that resource. I will say that we engaged industry, and overwhelmingly industry recommended that we continue our relationship with Alvarez and Marcel to bring this to the finish line.

[01:12:58] Okay, wonderful. Supervisors, as we ask questions, please remember we're at the beginning of this process, not the end of the process. And so we have plenty of time to ask all the questions we need to ask as we go forward. Mr. Letourneau. Very briefly, we had an alms-budsmen position, and we had a business assistance team that helped applicants navigate the process.

[01:13:20] And really, I think a lot of the issue was understanding where they were in the process. Where do those positions stand at this point? Are they active? Are they serving the purpose that we intended? Supervisor Letourneau, the business assistance team still does exist.

[01:13:38] It's run through building and development. Economic development has some involvement. They do have a rural component team. Maybe that's where the ombudsperson is. The ombudsperson we have in building and development is not just for the rural, it's for all customer assistance support the business assistance team was a process was begun to sort of reinvented to expand its use and then landmark launched we had the

[01:14:16] staffing issues that we had we're back on track that that team is sort of spinning up a little bit to start that process again so that we can take into consideration some of the needs of this report as well as that spins back up okay thank you thank you mr crony uh thank you chair randall um and and thank you i can't hear you at all oh yeah sorry come closer to your mic i have to do that okay uh thank you and thank you for the presentation

[01:14:51] and i just want to give kudos to um betsy smith and her department um i read your three memos that that you sent to the board, and in my view, you really have been working on some of these recommendations.

[01:15:07] I think some of them probably have already been completed, and some you're in the process of working on. For instance, you've corrected the backlog, and you've made improvements to the landmark software for efficiency and timeliness of reviews.

[01:15:26] so I just wanna give you a big shout out for what you've done already. Regarding the recommendations, I do think bringing them to TLUC makes sense because it'll give this board a chance to really get their questions heard and I have some ideas about what might work and then also working with staff, getting your view on kind of what's actionable, What's feasible, what you've tried already and what didn't work, you know, because I'm sure you've tried some of these recommendations and maybe they failed and they didn't work.

[01:16:05] So TLIC is the place to do that. It is a committee and I consider it kind of a working group, if you will. One question I do have is how many positions are vacant in your department? right now um we're in a better place we have 10 vacant positions two of which are being held for reclassification the rest are in some process of being recruited hr has done a really good job through the hiring process i will say reorganization reclassification um is a little bit more complex

[01:16:42] and a little bit more cumbersome and that's a piece you know as we want to remain sort of agile as as we go through um program stabilization and some of these changes that agility is going to be really really important so it's not as much the hiring process as it is making sure the positions are properly classified and purposed for what we need okay great and do you um do you support transferring landmark to dit absolutely okay i figured you would okay thank you very much well thank you over the over the months i think we're going to have a lot of questions i i wrote

[01:17:22] quite a few down myself that we i will have time to ask at a later time so we don't have to do them all right now we really do appreciate the amazingly good work that has been done and we look forward to you all working with us through the process and mr kroboth and mr glendo and everybody thank you so much we appreciate it do you have to make a motion this is not an action item what do you have what oh to move it to tluck okay make the motion i know okay i move that the administrative and legislative land use review assessment study be sent to the march 2025 transportation land use

[01:18:01] committee meeting for additional discuss discussion and to the tluck meeting in june 2025 for the first project update report in each reporting sequence thereafter sorry mass motion I think I said it before, you know, this report was 250 pages, and it had 33 legislative and 36 administrative recommendations.

[01:18:28] And so I think it makes sense to go to a committee where we can really digest the report and get some questions answered and work together on next steps. Thank you. Ms. Brooksman. Thank you, Madam Chair.

[01:18:44] So, if this were not to go to TLAC, what would the process then be that staff was suggesting? Our process would be to report back to the board with updates no less frequently than once every six months, is what our proposal was in the staff report.

[01:19:05] Okay, so staff is recommending we move forward with the recommendations, I presume, and then you would have been reporting back to the board as you move through the recommendations from the consultant.

[01:19:23] Is that my understanding? Try to respond very quickly. We are in the process of meeting internally, initially with the directors from BND and DPZ to go through the recommendations and kind of put them in a bucket that says we strongly support, we support it maybe with some tweaks or we have concerns.

[01:19:47] We're doing that same effort with the leadership in information technology, and we're doing that same process with industry and all of the department heads so that we can then determine whether or not there is internal support for each of the recommendations.

[01:20:06] Any of those recommendations where, just for example, if Mrs. Smith objects to a particular a recommendation, she can cite her reasons and we will vet that through the county administrator to seek his support. Oh, by the way, I didn't also mention that we'll also review the recommendations with the county administrator to make sure that the recommendation is consistent with his leadership and management style that he wants the operations of the county to proceed.

[01:20:37] Then we would report those findings back to the board at the June meeting. Okay, so I guess the motion says every reporting sequence then would go just to TLUC and not back to the full board.

[01:20:55] Well, that's because we voted out of TLUC to the full board. So my question is, how many times do you think you'll be reporting to TLUC before it comes to the full board in the timeline?

[01:21:10] I understand Supervisor Tacroni's motion, it would be that we go to TLUC in March just to have general feedback and discussion, but we also go back to TLUC in June, and then at whatever interval the board wishes for us to provide updates, again, we had recommended no less than once every six months if you want more frequent or less frequent, but essentially coming out of TLUC, we also then forward those updates to the board at a business meeting thank

[01:21:45] you I'm sorry oh I'm out of time mr. Turner thank you manager I seconded this and it seems to me that T luck is the right place for this to sort of be viewed and and monitored as it goes along in some detail but let me just ask you straight out do you the staff and I know this puts you on the spot and I apologize to either staff what is the value added of having it to go to T rather than just come to the board which do you have a preference and I know that puts you on the spot but is there value added to go to T like I'm just curious if there's value added and efficiencies gain great if it's just yet another layer of reporting that doesn't really add a lot of value then I don't

[01:22:25] see a lot of point in it mr. him Street yes thank you madam chair so from the staff perspective we almost always prefer to come to a committee on these kinds of things first i'm sorry so we almost always prefer to come to committee on these things first so just to answer the process questions the way that we would do this is to what supervisor to crony's motion is making a referral of the follow-up elements for the report to go to tluck we would make those reports to tluck tluck would comment on them just we do something similar with finance on many of these things and then the report then proceeds to the board of supervisors

[01:23:04] you know so what happens is tluck comments on it they can accept the report the way or the update that staff has presented it uh they can ask us to change some things in which we will do that and then bring it to the board so it's a similar process that we do with other committees so what the committee structure does is it allows us to have a more in-depth discussion with a component of the board which in this case would be the transcription and land use committee because our land use departments which are dps that are planning and zoning as well as building development the core products of their work typically go to tluck because that's those are

[01:23:44] land use and development departments so it's just helpful for us to check in with committee before we come directly to the board okay that's that's what i thought that's what i've always assumed but this is such a large report so complex i want to make sure that's still the case so thank you very much. Mr. Hempstead said all I was going to say so I don't need to say anything else except to say Stan are our volumes up because I'm having a really hard time hearing even people on the dais so if can do you need to turn us up is anybody else having a hard time hearing okay can you turn us up maybe a little bit more because we're not even hearing that people up here with us if that's

[01:24:18] possible so thank you. Mr. Croning would you like to close? No closing. All right Mr. Croning made motion um seconded by supervisor vice chair turner all in favor please say aye aye any opposed that motion will pass i think that's 702 with mr latourno and mr kirschner being off the dais thank you very much we appreciate it so advisors uh this is the meeting where we have um uh public comments um at five and at six and so we're going to go to uh our public comments uh when i call your name if you could come to the um podium closest to you i'm going to go through everybody who's in

[01:24:57] the room first and then i will go to the calls on the on the web and so the the two people we have in the room are um chris stevenson and dr hayden dr hayden denisha and uh if you are in the room mr stevenson can you come to the podium closest to you you will have two and a half minutes mr Mr. Stevenson, are you here? Going once, going twice. Yes? And then after you would be Dr. Hayden Denisha, and then we're going to go to the WebEx, and the first person would be Ken Reed.

[01:25:34] Good evenings. How are you? I am good. Good. I'm not quite sure what's going on with our sound system today, so we apologize.

[01:25:51] Good evening, Madam Chair and Supervisors. My name is Chris Stevenson. I'm at 240 East Loudoun Valley Drive in Percival, Virginia, And I'm the president of the Community Levy Association of Loudoun County, a nonprofit that assists Loudoun County marginalized populations and works to bring unity and moderation to contested issues in the public square.

[01:26:17] We hold that gambling harms and grows our at-risk populations. So Bill number SB982, in support of a casino in Tyson's Corner, has passed the State Senate Gaming Subcommittee and the full Senate Committee on General Laws.

[01:26:38] Now it has to go before the Senate Finance Committee, perhaps tomorrow. I ask that the Loudoun Board of Supervisors oppose this bill and casinos in general in their legislative agendas and have their government relations people in Richmond keep on top of this particular bill.

[01:26:56] This is a preemptory effort to keep casinos out of Loudoun. These boxes here are letters from Loudoun residents expressing strong opposition to proposed casino development in northern Virginia, an effort spearheaded by an organization called No Casinos VA.

[01:27:17] So I'll leave it at that, and thank you for your attention. Thank you, sir. And our next speaker in the room is Dr. Hayden Denisha, and then we'll go to the phones, and it's Ken Reed and Christelle Michael. Good evening.

[01:27:42] Yeah, we're not quite sure what's going on there. We're sorry. Good evening, Chair Randall and fellow board members. My name is Dr. Hayden Denisha, and I presently serve as the music director of the Loudoun Symphony Orchestra, the county's largest arts organization.

[01:28:01] Over the last few weeks, you've met many of our members through constructive conversations and presentations in relation to the potential construction of a community performing arts center here in Loudoun County. I am present tonight as their leader to add my voice amongst their support and encourage you to vote in favor of the next steps in this process with endorsing option two, a scale performance and visual arts facility.

[01:28:25] I've had the privilege of serving this community since 2020. I've seen the growth, the two-fold overnight enthusiasm in the arts. It seems to increase year after year. What used to be a few small performing arts organizations giving small concerts in churches and school auditoriums has grown to many giving large sold-out performances each and every month and also massive youth support music programs as well.

[01:28:51] Now, while in my opinion, you know, bigger is always better in the arts, A concert hall constructed in the style of Strathmore or Hilton, per your proposed option one, would set the county apart on the world stage. And I recognize, though, that this space is not just about us supporting the large organization, but also being an incubator for other arts organizations as well.

[01:29:15] An 800-seat scaled youth hall with good acoustics and well-designed stage in excess of 50 feet, per the plans and option two, would serve our performance needs as well as our sister organizations. But there is a point of feedback I would like to give on this process.

[01:29:31] We, like our other organizations, also need rehearsal space and other rooms to do our good work in the community. For example, we serve over 250 youth orchestra students each and every week. I've looked over the plans and it's still kind of unclear to me as to what the other rooms and how their mall to use, whether it's the black box theater or not, how that's going to work with the future plans.

[01:29:57] And so I encourage some detailed work to be done with that. For context, we use Loudoun County Public Schools for 80 reservations a year to run our youth orchestra program. Anyway, thank you for your time. An arts center is not just an economic investment, it's an investment in our county's unique identity.

[01:30:14] It's another way to show the world the amazing things we have going on here. Thank you for your time, and I remain eager to be a resource for the county should I be called upon in the continuation of this process. And thank you, and thank you for all you do. Mr. Stevenson, are you still here?

[01:30:30] Would you mind coming to get your boxes, please? You can, were those, will you come up here if you don't mind, please, sir? Bless you. Were those meant to be for us?

[01:30:48] Will you then take them over and give them to the clerk, if you don't mind? Thank you so much. We're going to go to the phone with Ken Reed and Christelle. Michael? Thank you, Madam Chair, members of the Board of Supervisors, and Happy New Year.

[01:31:05] Chris Stevenson, who just spoke, and I are definitely not on the same page politically, especially as it pertains to President Trump, who I support. But on this issue of the casino, we're all on the same page. Although the legislation in Richmond is specific to Tyson's Corner, and again, that bill number is SB982, the General Assembly could amend it very well to allow a site in Reston or Dulles.

[01:31:32] And I'll have to inform you that there's a major developer who is considering a casino at Dulles Airport or in the Dulles area in Loudoun County. It unfortunately passed the Senate Committee on Laws and is now on to finance and appropriations, And I would very much urge you to keep track of this and have your Richmond folks do what they can to kill it.

[01:31:56] This casino would be awful for traffic congestion and crime. And it's for those two reasons that I oppose it primarily. And there are 5,000 folks in those letters there that Chris just gave you who are Loudoun County residents who oppose this.

[01:32:12] The original legislation was intended to allow gambling halls in communities that need economic development, like Portsmouth or Norfolk, where I lived for a couple of years, Richmond, Petersburg, and Danville, not for high-income professional employment areas like in northern Virginia.

[01:32:31] And I'm opposed to this anywhere in northern Virginia, period. I don't think there's any need for it here at all because of the nature of our economy and the fact that we don't even have enough people to fill the jobs that we already have.

[01:32:47] So I request this. However, the Board of Supervisors here has not put this in its legislative agenda. I see no mention of it, and it's probably because you think it's specific to Tyson's, but it can be amended, and I think you really have to be on top of this. Let's not look at this as a moneymaker for the county or anywhere, As we saw with the Loudoun Hounds, which when I was on the board, I abstained on.

[01:33:09] I was the only supervisor to do so, and that was a fraud. Or the Commander Stadium, which looks like it's going to go into D.C. The casino will have a very deleterious impact on our quality of life. Thanks, and please have you again. I just have to encourage you to put this in your legislative agenda and get your folks in Richmond to be on top of it, because it looks like it's wending its way through the process down there.

[01:33:35] And it's just a bad idea. Mr. Reid, thank you so much. Your time is up. Thank you. Christelle Michelle, followed by your last name. I'm going to spell it because I do not want to mess your name up. And when you come on the phone, please tell me how to say it. Your first name is E-V-G-E-N-A-A-T-O-I-N-O-V.

[01:33:54] So I think your last name is Toniff, but I'm not sure how to pronounce your first name, and I apologize. But before you, it's Christelle Michelle, if she's on. Christelle Michael, if she's on. Good evening, everyone. Madam Chair and Board of Supervisors, thank you for the opportunity to dial in for this meeting.

[01:34:12] I'm nursing some frozen pipes, so you know how fun that is. My name is Christelle Michael, and I live in Loudoun Heights and am a volunteer at the Between the Hills Community Center with members in both Loudoun Heights and Nearsville. The Between the Hills Community Center board members had a meeting on Saturday to discuss the proposed CPAM Historic Village classification.

[01:34:35] I think we are also going to have Brenda O'Dell, who is a board member for the Between the Hills community, speak at 6 p.m. as well on this topic. From that meeting, we discussed how it would benefit our members in the Valley to provide feedback in the planning process.

[01:34:50] We are planning to host a meeting for residents of the Between the Hills community in the March-April time frame just to let them know of our classification status, what that means to our area, and how they can get involved in the process with the county. Madeline Skinner has agreed to speak, and we will also be requesting a member of the county be in attendance as well, so I'll be sending some emails about that.

[01:35:15] So we look forward to the Village Small Area Plan's approval so that our members have the opportunity to provide input on the future of our community. Thank you. Thank you so much. I appreciate that. Our next speaker, please, and then that person will be followed by Vishal Gandhi.

[01:35:33] Hello. Hello, Kyle. My name is Evgeny, last name Koyanov, living in Capri Place, Ashburn. So recently we have news, not good news, that Dominion Energy proposing the golden to Mars electric transmission line just near the Rhine Road in Capri Place where we live.

[01:36:02] So it's extended all the way to intersection of Playburn Parkway and Rhine Road. So as such, all residents along Pedaterra, London Valley Estate will see these massive power lines.

[01:36:18] So I would like to recommend to keep what is supposed to be road 4, a blue line, supposed the priority line because it's just like all opinion of all neighbors and HOA we discussed and I hope just like comment if possible to keep it in the same road for like it's blue line and

[01:36:52] if possible do it underground project like not above the ground but on the ground lines that's it. Thank you. Thank you, sir. And then Vishal Gandhi, you are our last speaker, please, for this time. Thank you all, respected voters, for this opportunity. I just wanted to chime in. I live in the Belterra community in Ashburn and got to know about the Golden to Mars electric transmission project. My wife and I were along with two kids and many, many neighbors are

[01:37:31] not supportive of these huge power lines, you know, running through Ryan Road and Loudoun County Parkway. I have been in touch with Sylvia and others, and I just want to go on record to say that, you know, Virginia and everybody, all the authorities in charge should explore putting the power lines through the broad-run floodplain. I think that's already your plan, but just wanted to make sure that my voice is heard, happy to take any questions, but definitely appreciate the opportunity to talk and voice my opinion.

[01:38:07] Thank you. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. Okay, Sir President, we're going to go right on to our proclamations for today. I think it's interesting that we have the Constitutional Week and the Constitutional Officers Week and the National Human Trafficking Prevention Month all at the same time because so many of our Constitutional Officers have to address the issue of human trafficking in all of its forms.

[01:38:33] So I'd like to do the Proclamation for Constitutional Officers Week in Loudon. I'd like the Vice Chair to join me down front for both of these resolutions. Thank you. That's you.

[01:38:47] That's you.

[01:39:15] Yes, would everyone please, you're right, no, you're correct. Stand up and join me down front, please. were correct. Thank you. With all, everybody, join me down front for Constitutional Officers Week, please. A couple of years ago at this event, Mr.

[01:39:44] Wirtz announced his re-election. You gonna do that today? I'm not doing that. I'm not doing that today. You're not doing that today? That was great. That was so great. Hello, sir. How are you?

[01:40:02] Okay, here we are, the constitutional officers.

[01:40:42] Ready? Everybody good? Okay. Whereas Article 7, Section 1 of the Virginia Constitution provides for the direct election of local officials charged with the critically important duties of maintenance of public records, operation of the circuit courts, prosecution of criminals, protection of the public, and the administration and collection of local revenues, and whereas Loudoun County's Clerk of the Court, Commissioner of the Revenue, Commonwealth Attorney, Sheriff, and Treasurer continue a tradition of local administration of government functions that predates the

[01:41:19] American Revolution. And whereas these constitutional officers, deputies, and employees who serve in their offices provide the people of Loudoun County with a direct link to their government at the local level. And whereas constitutional officers embody Thomas Jefferson's ideal form of representative democracy, which provides for direct accountability to the people by virtue of the people's right to vote for their constitutional officers. And whereas Loudoun County's constitutional officers are setting new standards of customer service, innovative

[01:41:54] service delivery, and responsiveness that fellow constitutional officers and other public service in Virginia would do well to emulate. That was some shade. That was some shade to a lot of other people.

[01:42:15] Yeah, I'm going to get phone calls. Now, therefore, be it resolved, the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors does hereby proclaim January 20th, 2025, through January 24th, 2025, as Constitutional Officers Week, to waste public awareness of the contributions and essential duties performed by our five elected constitutional officers.

[01:42:38] Can you give them a hand clap? I have a proclamation for all of you. Would anyone like to speak for the bunch or individually? Well, first of all, thank you for that.

[01:42:55] And really, it's a great crew that we work with here. I couldn't be happier with the constitutional officers that we have here. We all work well together. We're making sure that we're doing everything that's required in our jobs and keeping you safe. So I appreciate that, and I'm just so blessed to have the Long County Sheriff's Department.

[01:43:12] The agency is second to none, so we're very proud of what we're doing. So it's always nice to get this recognition. Thank you. Yeah, I just want to echo Mike's comments. My name's Henry Eichelberg, and I'm the treasurer for the county. I'm the guy that sends you all the mail.

[01:43:30] We'd appreciate it if you'd sign up for the email notification, but it's my privilege to serve all of you, and my staff is just terrific. If you need any help, please come and see us. We're open to any suggestions as well.

[01:43:47] And thank you again for this great honor to serve the wonderful citizens of Loudoun County. My name is Bob Anderson. the Commonwealth Attorney. I want to echo a couple of things. One is that I am so grateful for the staff that we have and the job that these people are doing within the Commonwealth Attorney's Office. It's a pleasure to serve you. It's an honor to be here, and thank you for the recognition.

[01:44:13] Bob Wirtz, Commissioner of the Revenue here in the county. It's an honor to serve in that capacity. I want to recognize my excellent staff for the work that they do serving the citizens of of Loudon on a regular basis.

[01:44:30] It's a difficult and often thankless job, tax assessment, but it's very important, the work that they do, and it's truly an honor, and I appreciate the recognition today. Thank you.

[01:44:47] - I'm Gary Clemons, your Clerk of Circuit Court. It's an honor to be here. Thank you, Board, for this wonderful resolution, and we appreciate your acknowledgement of the service we provide in Loudon County. I'm really grateful that a key two words was included in here, and that's, well, one word, deputies.

[01:45:04] While we're elected to do the job and we're honored to serve this wonderful county, we need a really good team to serve. And I think I can say on all of our behalves, we have really good deputies in our office who help us fulfill our mission each and every day. And there's others that aren't mentioned in this resolution that I need to acknowledge.

[01:45:24] The Board of Supervisors, they allocate and appropriate the funding that we need. We need resources to reach out to our citizens we serve. We thank you, Board, for your support of these constitutional officers. We thank you, Tim Hempstreet, for your commitment to the constitutional officers. And each and every one of us has the distinct pleasure of working with numerous department directors, assistant county administrators, other county employees.

[01:45:51] It's a team process. And Loudoun County is a great team, and it's truly my honor to be serving. I've had the pleasure of working in a constitutional office for the past 28 years, 25 as your clerk, and each and every day, I love coming to works.

[01:46:06] I love working with this team, and I love serving everyone in Loudoun County. God bless Loudoun County. I will say to you all two things. One, I really do appreciate everything everyone does all the time, but Mr. Eichelberg, I will say to you especially.

[01:46:24] No, this is good. This is good. You are everywhere. You go to so many events. you are at events all the time, and so that doesn't always happen with constitutional officers, but every time I look up, and I know you're everywhere because I'm everywhere, and there you are with me, so I really do appreciate that. I will also say, for whatever reason, the two Republicans on our board didn't sign this, so Mr. Letourneau's here. I'm sure he'll sign before you walk away, and Mr. Caleb's out of the country, and so Mr. Curse is out of the country. We'll make sure he gets those signed before, so I'm sure Mr. Letourneau would be happy

[01:47:01] design today though I'm gonna give you you three are you two did everybody get one who doesn't have one did y'all get one oh you don't have one you're right beside me you mister you do want to happen there you go good all right let's

[01:47:19] take a picture be quite honest so he's doing that back in the mat right and then

[01:48:18] and then we do have extras to take to your staffs as well thank you for that he looks really important right now doesn't he yeah I know I know give him a hard time though

[01:48:50] give him a hard time give him yeah give him a heart check in a private ceremony please come

[01:49:40] down for the human trafficking please thank you sir okay as I said before it was it it's very

[01:50:49] apropos that both of these proclamations are on the same night and I will be very very happy the year that we never have to do a human trafficking prevention resolution again. That is that is the goal to not have to do this. But as we as we are not there yet, I will read the resolution. Whereas human trafficking is the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provisions, or obtaining of a person for labor or sexual acts through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of

[01:51:25] subjugation to involuntary servitude, debt, bondage, or slavery. And whereas the Department of State in 2024 trafficking in persons report notes that an estimated 27 million people are subjected to human trafficking globally, including areas of human trafficking reported in every state and territory across the United States.

[01:51:52] 27 million people. Human trafficking can happen to anyone, but certain populations are disproportionately at risk, including people affected by prior abuse or sexual violence, poverty and unstable living, situations of homelessness, as well as those systematically marginalized and underserved.

[01:52:13] And whereas human traffic is largely preventable by building individual community and societal understandings and resilience, reducing social inequities, and addressing social determinants of health and whereas National Human Trafficking Prevention Month is an opportunity to raise awareness and educate everyone on how they can be aware and respond to human trafficking.

[01:52:38] Now therefore be it resolved that the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors does hereby recognize January 2025 as National Human Trafficking Prevention Month to reaffirm our county's commitment to ending human trafficking in all its forms, assisting those impacted and obtaining justice for survivors. Yeah you can clap for that. Sometimes we read these and it feels like you know like what are we doing we're just reading these and nothing goes by. Well a couple of years ago I don't know three no I

[01:53:14] guess more like four or five years ago had an idea and and and we realized that we are right very near Dulles Airport and Dulles Airport's an international airport. And so I don't know who joined me. It might have been Mr. Latourna. Were you the one that joined? I'm not sure who it was. Asking the airport to put on the back of every stall in the bathroom information about human trafficking in a number of different languages.

[01:53:44] And so when you think like, what can I do? How do I help? You know, that type of thing. The awareness piece is really very important. And sometimes you don't think that it will matter, But if someone walks into an airport, an international airport, and that stall has that information on the back, at the very least they have a fighting chance.

[01:54:03] At least they have a number or something. And so this really can, and these moments really can, help maybe save someone from what, I mean, there's very few things worse that somebody will have to go through than being human traffic for labor or for sex.

[01:54:23] Would anyone, Samantha, would you like to? Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Board of Supervisors, for recognizing National Human Trafficking Month. My name is Samantha Clark, and I'm the CEO of Laws here in Loudoun County. And I would be remiss if I did not recognize all the incredible partners that you see standing up here with us.

[01:54:42] The response that we have to human trafficking here in Loudoun County is everyone that you see up here tenfold. The response that we have is a community response. Up here, you have people representing our schools, mental health services, our nonprofit community, obviously law enforcement, our Commonwealth Attorney's Office, our juvenile and adult probation services, and other resources in the community.

[01:55:11] And what that tells me, standing up here, is that our community cares deeply about this issue. And we're incredibly invested in not only preventing youth and adults from experiencing this heinous and life-destroying crime, but also making sure that when it does happen in this community here in Loudoun, that we have invested and dedicated professionals across multiple sectors, ready to respond with an immediate response, invested services, putting wraparound resources around children and families and adults to make sure that, unfortunately, if this is experienced

[01:55:48] in our community, that it doesn't destroy lives. So we're here as an invested community to prevent trafficking of youth and children and adults, but also to make sure that when it does happen, that people in our community here in Loudoun get the help that they need.

[01:56:04] So these are the professionals in your community who are doing something about this issue. So let's give them all a big round of applause to recognize their efforts. Can one of you, and I know we have a long meeting today, so I don't want to take too much time, but there is a stereotype of how somebody who is human trafficked looks.

[01:56:26] Can one of you speak to the fact that that's just not real? I mean, it doesn't look like anything. It looks like everything. Can anyone speak to that? Human trafficking is not the movie Taken. It can be. It is not the white van. It is not the person you might not recognize walking down the street. And so you want to call the hotline. It's happening in our homes. It's happening in our schools. It is

[01:57:03] certainly happening on the internet, which happens to run almost entirely through Loudoun County. It's happening in our airports, our hospitals. It's happening in our churches. It's happening in our community. It can be anybody. There are signs that you can see. There are certainly things that we look for to help identify. There is a community here that is looking and actively seeking and trying to help. But really, it can be anybody. It is not that stereotype that we think. And in fact, more often than not, it is not. But we have the tools. We're looking at it.

[01:57:40] And I think this group up here, I'm very proud to say, is doing an incredible job to recognize, provide services and prosecute where appropriate let's take a picture and

[01:57:51] hopefully we won't take this picture too much more often I know so it's it is a

[02:00:10] six minutes early but I'm gonna we're gonna start public comments and what I will do is if I call your name and you're not here because it's six minutes early I will I will circle back and call your name again if you are here please come to the podium closest to you. You have two and a half minutes when your name is called.

[02:00:29] After your time is up, if you would release the podium to the next speaker, we would appreciate that. I'll call your names a little bit in advance and so you know that you're coming up next. Our first speaker is James Russell, followed by Sam Z, followed by Matthew Noonan.

[02:00:54] That's okay. I'm sure he can hear us. We can just start and he can come back in. No, it's is is a Sam Z.

[02:01:06] Are you here? Sam here. Okay. And that was Sarah Phyllis. Sarah, are you here? Sarah Phil Stein. Are you here? She has not called in yet. She is calling in. Okay. Well, then I'm all the way down to my sixth person. So I will just hold on. I did. He just went off.

[02:01:35] He walked out. MZ is here.

[02:01:56] He will be back next and then Matthew Noonan. Good evening, Mr. Russell. Congratulations are in order. There is a ceasefire agreement in Gaza, and only one of the members of this board had the basic moral decency to advocate for it officially.

[02:02:21] And we appreciate you for that, Supervisor Briskman. The ethnic cleansing and genocide of Palestine continues, however. Violence is rapidly worsening in the West Bank, terrorizing the family, the families of many of your own constituents.

[02:02:42] Meanwhile, domestically, here in Virginia, a slew of overtly repressive bills are currently being considered by our state legislature. If this board is not aware of this authoritarian momentum, which enjoys some support from Democrats, we would only be eager to educate you further.

[02:03:10] I wonder, does healthy scrutiny of United States policy of unconditional support for the apartheid state of Israel indicate some sort of subscription to a demented anti-Semitic conspiracy theory?

[02:03:29] Because I maintain no such delusions. What is self-evident, however, is that our government at various levels is currently dominated by a project of unchecked theocratic Christian nationalism.

[02:03:50] This apocalyptic death cult insists on a trajectory of total conquest. Loudoun County is not excused from this mania by any means, but most of what we see here, other than megachurches, is the revenue from American policy.

[02:04:12] This board assessed correctly that there is no money to be made in standing with the Palestinian-Americans of this county in their hour of need. These people want their future back. They will not grow weary of saying so. So all this board needs to do is wait patiently for the rapidly expanding surveillance capacity to oppress any popular dissent.

[02:04:34] I bide my time indeed. It's the golden age of America. Thank you very much. Your time is up. You never let me answer your question as to whether or not I see a difference between these parties. Sam Z, followed by Matthew Noonan. Good evening.

[02:04:55] Last year following the election, I referenced what was coming down the pike for this community. potential reinstatement of the Muslim ban, mass deportations, and targeting individuals and human rights groups that are simply pleading for an end to genocide. Now, here we are in 2025 with a new slate of proposed House bills and their companion Senate bills. I've emailed an attachment to the Board of Supervisors that includes the full bills and their summaries, and I encourage you strongly to read them. They're vague and draconian, but they conveniently cover all the bases for the Zionists. One to shut up the students, one to shut up activists and vulnerable communities,

[02:05:34] and two more to shut up university administrators and faculty for speaking out against genocide and occupation. These bills are specifically designed to prevent any criticism of Israel. In tandem with our new administration coming into power, these could lead to the tearing apart of families and communities. I want the board of supervisors to think really hard while reading these bills if any of these measures apply to you do you have a child that protested in the last year and a half for palestinian rights do you have a neighbor or a friend that's arab muslim or palestinian

[02:06:08] have you yourself given money since 2007 to a human rights group that's aiding a country deemed a country of concern i know friends and neighbors that are terrified of the implications of these bills you have a responsibility as elected representatives of loudon county to escalate the concerns of your constituents your silence has eclipsed the opportunity to call for a ceasefire but like i've said before it's never too late to do the humane thing i hope you do thank you matthew noonan and that you did you say that um number the number five speaker has not called in

[02:06:47] no okay all right and it's it's actually after six and so we will pass by and then we'll go to number six which is jamie carrello but the next speaker i'm sorry the next speaker is matthew noonan is he here he is not here okay then we will go to jamie guerrero if she is here are you here yes sir and then after that will be bobby chrisman that would be the microphone yes sir thank you very very much hi um ladies and gentlemen of the laudan county board of supervisors

[02:07:27] thank you for your opportunity to speak today my name is jaime guerrero i'm a resident of the Bella Terra community at 43093 Capri Place. I'm here to strongly oppose the proposed alternative route one, you know the orange route. This route places a very large transmission tower and power line just a few feet from my home on Ryan Road. I'm adjacent to Ryan Road, which will have devastating effect on my family. While the negative impact of the property values and visual aesthetic is

[02:08:05] astronomical. My concern goes beyond that. Here are key issues to consider or other key issues to consider. There is no noise pollution. High voltage line can produce humming noise due to corona discharge, disrupting the peace of the community. Health concerns. Although research on electromagnetic fields, EMF, is ongoing, there is potential health risk from long-term exposure to these magnetic fields is a major worry. Also there's a safety risk. Maintenance of

[02:08:41] these high voltage lines poses a significant hazard, particularly to the close proximity to my home. So I urge you, the board, to consider the profound consequences of this project we will have on families like mine and explore other alternative routes to minimize the impacts. Thank you for your time.

[02:08:59] Thank you, sir. Patricia Hoffman, followed by Robert Klobher, followed by Eugene Guland. Good evening. Good evening, Chair Randall, Vice Chair Turner, and all supervisors. My name is Bobbi Christman, and I'm here representing the Citizens for the Arts in Eastern Loudoun, and indeed, the community that supports the arts in Loudoun County.

[02:09:31] We are here this evening, hopefully, to witness your vote to approve a Center for the Arts in Eastern Loudoun. Our dream is to have a place for patrons to experience various forms of performing and visual arts. Our dream is for a place to give our youth an opportunity to develop their art participation, for families to have shared experiences, for adults young and old to have a date night, and for seniors to enjoy the support the arts. Our dream is for our talented

[02:10:08] artists to have a dedicated center to call home and expand their audiences. We visualize enhancing our county's profile while boosting revenue for local businesses and keeping dollars in Loudoun County. Your affirmative vote will achieve our dream. As the architects of our county, a center for the arts will be your proud legacy. It will assure businesses and individuals that moving to and living in Loudoun County is the very best choice to make. Thank you. Thank you. Patricia

[02:10:47] Hoffman, followed by Robert Clover, followed by Eugene Goulin. Good evening. Good evening. My name is Patricia Hoffman. I am also a member of the Citizens for the Arts in Eastern Loudoun County. The citizens have spoken and you have listened. Today, your vote will affirm the county's commitment to building an arts venue. Today, the county can affirm their implementation of the Parks and Recreation Master Plan to commit funds for an art, culture, enrichment, and performance

[02:11:23] arts center. Today, your vote will affirm that funding an arts center is as important as funding for sports and other forms of recreation. Today, our musicians and artists will look forward to a future that no longer demands that they contend with the uncertainty and unavailability of a venue and the costliness of it all. Today, your vote will affirm the need for an affordable and accessible venue for our artists and for our patrons. Today, our performers and artists will

[02:12:00] celebrate your commitment to the arts because today your vote will affirm that arts really matter thank you thank you very much robert clovar cloviar followed by eugene gulan followed by rula in good evening so this is in response to the golden to mars transmission line project so my name is robert clothier and i'm a member of the belterra community off ryan road thank you for your time especially miss glass for your quick and detailed response as well as my fellow resident

[02:12:37] thank you and supporting for the sake of all county residents we need to get this right we are faced with the installation of massive power lines that are going to affect many neighborhoods we need to choose an option that supports the power infrastructure requirements but not at the expense of the citizens from my research the power line impacts will not only be aesthetic but they could have a significant impact on individual home values estimates range between 10 and 40 percent but even at the low end this could mean tens of thousands

[02:13:09] of dollars maybe over 100 000 in lost home equity specific to the current proposal i think the orange red and yellow are the most impactful i disagree with them these options would affect loudon valley estates morefield green belterra and other communities further south along loudon county parkway these power lines will be an immediate view either in their front or backyard with the pos with the with no possibility of concealment and not only the people immediately

[02:13:43] have impacted but their neighbors could have lower real estate values due to comps the green and the blue routes seem to be better options but i still sympathize with residents that could be affected even if it's well behind their property lines many of the loud residents bought their homes decades ago and have invested hundreds of thousands maybe even a million dollars they did this due to the beautiful views that are afforded by their communities so we need to respect this and make sure that we protect that if possible i would say that we hide the lines behind wooded areas

[02:14:22] to the maximum extent we create berms with trees that would actually help conceal and then if that doesn't work we should bury the lines and we should do that to amend the green and the blue options if that's what's needed. So on behalf of my residents, I also want to foot stomp health concerns that were brought up. There are many reports out there that indicate transmission line problems. So my time is almost up. I just want to thank you guys. I think I made my point. So thank you for your time.

[02:14:52] Thank you. Thank you, sir. Eugene Guland, followed by Rula N. and Sarah Bazar. If your name was called and I went by you because you weren't here, i will save your name to the end of the speakers and then go back to you good evening sir good evening i'm gene galland i'm a 40 plus year resident of aldi and i'm the president of the aldi heritage association and i appear here tonight in support of the proposal to expand and broaden the small area planning for our rural villages throughout loudon county of which aldi

[02:15:31] is of course one and i think the key point here for your consideration is that villages unlike towns don't have any regulatory or land use authority there's no opportunity really or very little opportunity for citizens of villages to help participate in planning their future and this small area planning process really gives us that opportunity and i would hope that if you authorize it you would do so with a instruction or guidance to county staff to really allow participation on the part of the community in the formulation

[02:16:09] of these plans and I have to say it's particularly important I think for Aldi at this time because as you know we face an anticipated state park a giant state park that will literally be on the northern border abutting and adjoining aldi village so we need a real planning process to protect the village from all the impacts that are likely to result from that and i think the small area planning process is ideal for that and i would also urge that in consideration of that you also consider accelerating the

[02:16:47] consideration of the aldi plan because we are facing this extraordinary possibly extraordinary impact of a state park on our border and we would like that opportunity to to be heard and help figure out ways to protect the village and see it continue to be one of the leading historic scenic villages in loudon county thank you very much for your time thank you um rula in followed by sarah bazaar followed by um i will go on and go to the phone and that would be mark rafael good evening Good evening, members of the board and Chair Randall.

[02:17:27] The first video I saw on the first day of 2025 was of an infant in Gaza who had frozen to death. I later learned that this baby was among at least eight infants who have died from the cold amid the relentless siege.

[02:17:45] That image shattered me. How can we speak of hope for a new year when innocent lives are lost to preventable suffering? when tiny voices are silenced before they've even had a chance to cry out for justice. Chair Randall, thank you for your New Year wishes, encouraging us to live louder and raise our voices against injustice.

[02:18:08] Over the past year, we have done exactly that. We've marched, written, and implored leaders calling for a ceasefire, acknowledgement of the genocide, and end to the suffering in Palestine. But the truth is, mere words and resolutions are no longer enough.

[02:18:29] As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, there comes a time when silence is betrayal. Today, silence includes inaction, and complicity is louder than ever when U.S. tax dollars continue to fund violence and suffering in Palestine.

[02:18:46] If we truly wish to honor the legacy of Dr. King, who stood for peace and justice even when it was unpopular, we must demand divestment from Israel's apartheid system and an end to the occupation of Palestine.

[02:19:02] Let this year be about more than words. Let it be about action for the infants who have frozen to death, for the children buried under the rubble, and for the families torn apart by a genocide. Justice cannot remain a dream for them.

[02:19:20] It must be a reality we fight for with everything we have. Because as Dr. King said, injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Therefore, I ask you to please call for divestment from Israeli companies here in Loudoun.

[02:19:42] Thank you. Thank you. Sarah Bazar, and then is Mark Raphael on the phone? Is he ready? I'll go to him next.

[02:19:59] Good evening. Good evening, board members. Bad evening to the Zionists. The ceasefire was signed last week, Wednesday, in which political experts confirmed it was the same proposal presented last May, but rejected by Netanyahu.

[02:20:22] That rejection led to months of devastating violence resulting in the death of more Palestinians. Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya would have been with his patients, saving lives, had the ceasefire been implemented when it was first proposed. Instead, he's kidnapped, tortured, denied legal services.

[02:20:40] His hospital now lies in ruins, an unforgivable consequence of illiberate inaction. Your silence in the face of such immense suffering is heartbreaking. While you may post quotes from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. about freedom and justice, your action, or lack thereof, speak louder.

[02:21:01] This hypocrisy is blatant. Dr. King taught us that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Yet, you chose silence when action was needed most. We expect leaders to stand for humanity and justice, not to selectively apply these principles when it is convenient or comfortable.

[02:21:20] I urge you to reflect on your inaction and the message it sends to those who look to you for your leadership and hope. I urge you to take an active and unwavering stand with your Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian community. A series of bills are being introduced that are not just alarming, but deeply traumatizing to our community, to my community.

[02:21:42] One such bill is HB 1650, the Virginia Anti-Terrorism Act, poses significant dangers. Its vague law, language, and sweeping scope create a serious risk of disproportionately targeting Arabs, Muslims, and Palestinians, further marginalizing and endangering our community.

[02:22:03] Your leadership and action are now needed more than ever. This bill could criminalize acts of solidarity and compassion, such as donating to GoFundMe accounts supporting Palestinians in Gaza by labeling them as material support for terrorism. Such measures not only strip us of our ability to help those suffering under unimaginable circumstances, but also instill fear and suspicion within our communities.

[02:22:29] For many of us, this bill feels like a direct attack on our identity, values, and its perpetrates harmful stereotypes and fuels anti-Islam, anti-Arab, and anti-Palestinian. Please be vocal about protecting all of us and not just a few of us.

[02:22:45] Thank you for the extra second. Thank you. Is Mark Raphael on the phone? Yes, he is. Okay, we're ready. Oh, I'm sorry. He will be followed by Jane Williams. I'm an HOA president in the Algonquian District, but I'm also the energy rep for Loudoun's Coalition of Homeowner and Condo Associations.

[02:23:10] And in that role, for about two and a half years now, I've been attending a stakeholder forum set up by Dominion Energy called the Loudoun Reliability Engagement Group, or LREG. Through that forum, I and another of the coalition leaders have learned perspectives from many our energy infrastructure stakeholders businesses conservancies the county government and dominion energy itself we in turn directly represent the interest of homeowners and communities across loudon and facilitate town halls and other community engagements for dominion energy to present plans and otherwise directly engage potentially affected communities we represent families who have built

[02:23:49] or bought homes in good neighborhoods and who are seeking to further improve those neighborhoods for their families. None want the power lines passing through their backyards. We are in a bow wave of coming AI boot. These communities are in very real danger of our neighborhoods receiving collateral damage from weak planning, as recent projects have proven as canaries in the coal mine. We need a long-term solution in the form of a clear, community-friendly, and current county energy strategy, and we offer to participate in any review of that strategy as well. However, for the short

[02:24:25] term for this project on the agenda tonight we recommend simply this choose the eastern blue or green routes that not only offer the shortest power line distance overall but because they also affect about a quarter of the homes relative to the dominion energy's preferred western routes further that one piece that does affect some homes could potentially be undergrounded while leaving the rest of the route above ground this would require some work but it's not impossible for example ground samples would need to be taken directly on that path on the south side of loudon reserve drive instead of relying on the old mixed ground course taking north of that route where

[02:25:04] rock bridge high school is we ask the board's assistance of securing this preferred path with or without the undergrounding option and coordinating this with the school board as soon as is feasible thank you thank you uh jane williams and you will be followed ma'am by Jamie Steve and Peter Weeks. Good evening. Good evening. My name is Jane Williams and I'm a resident of the Village of Waterford and am the Preservation Chair of the Waterford Citizens Association.

[02:25:37] First, I want to thank the board and the county agencies for supporting the unique challenges faced by Loudoun's unincorporated rural historic villages. Waterford was the first village in Lowne County to create a small area plan in 1987, almost 40 years ago. Many of the issues raised in that plan, infrastructure, water, and traffic, are now being addressed through a joint effort among citizens, community organizations, and the county. We are at last seeking solutions to these fundamental

[02:26:12] issues that have threatened the preservation of our beautiful historic village. Hence, we stand with our neighboring villages and ask for your support for including the village small area plan to the department of planning and zoning work plan this is a critical step in preserving our historic villages which are such an integral part of the identity of loudon county thank you thank you um jamie steve followed by peter weeks followed by brenda odell good evening hello i did

[02:26:51] not write anything, but I'll be very brief. Again, my name is Jamie Steve. I live in the little village of Unison, Virginia, which Mr. Crony is very familiar with. My wife and I often joke that we bought the dog of the block house, but it is, all the other houses are pre-Civil War. It's fantastic. So we're here to ask you one simple thing. When looking at these plans for villages, please include the village of Unison within the rural historic village designation because we want to do things that we can just to preserve it. If you haven't seen it, please come see the village. It's really an amazing place, despite my house, but the other houses are all nice.

[02:27:29] Thank you. Thank you. Peter Weeks, followed by Brenda O'Dell, followed by Jack McNamee. Good evening. Hello, Chair Randall. Hello. Board of Supervisors. My name is Peter Weeks. I'm president of the Blumont Citizens Association. I'm also vice chair of the Loudon Historic Village alliance and as we've already heard tonight we are in support and have a great relationship with a department that is bringing forth a wonderful collaboration so that we can have we move forward

[02:28:09] with our small area plans for all the communities so i just want to as a representative say please support us thank you thank you mr weeks um brenda odell followed by jack mcnamey followed by uh trenna boo good evening hi good evening first of all i'm not a public speaker and this is the first time i've been to a public meeting and thank you for giving me a couple of minutes to voice my

[02:28:41] opinion. And as a representative of the Between the Hills area and a resident, it's very important to us that the board recognizes the significance of the small area communities and the historic villages. Between the Hills is Loudoun County's northwestern border. We are at the intersection of maryland and harpers ferry many people have no idea where nearsville is or where loudon heights

[02:29:16] is but we do we live there we're um residents and we're very happy and thankful to be a part of that community we urge you and we implore you to please vote to protect the um and preserve all of the rural historic villages and communities for future generations to enjoy and to appreciate. I've been a member of Loudoun County, a resident of Loudoun County for nearly 40 years. I bought my house which was built in 1888

[02:29:50] nearly 30 years ago and I thought I'll never see development out here. There are now several developments, housing developments in the works in my area. I'm not opposed to development and i don't think that the association the between the hills community association is opposed to development but it must be there must be development with oversight there are many historic buildings and individuals and communities that are at great risk

[02:30:26] so we implore you to vote on this measure and to protect our future thank you thank you thank you jack mcnamee followed by and this is i think she's on the phone our number 19 speakers on the phone and then number 20 will is phil daly good evening good evening i'm jack mcnamee and like mark raphael we work with the loudon coalition of homeowners associations and condominiums

[02:30:59] we are volunteers we too we attend the stake i too attend the stakeholder meetings concerning dominion energies uh power systems called the uh lrig loud reliability engagement group at that we get to hear the from the different groups of people who speak out for and against development or what they care about the people when we attend these events we kind of look at ourselves as the people's representatives mean there's commercial there's development there's county but the people

[02:31:37] themselves the homeowners we think of supporting them when we attended the dominion energies open houses we attended aspen the golden and the golden to mars we speak with the homeowners that's our goal to just go there and walk around talk to them and say hey what are your questions can we help you address the issues and there are a lot of issues particularly with this one particularly with the golden to mars running right through neighborhoods where you just wouldn't expect this to happen fortunately so mark proposed the eastern route around rockridge high school on the we have a

[02:32:14] handout for this and at the open houses the mass majority of homeowners express their preferences for one of the two routes around the schools there's a grade school and a high school and not Loudoun County Parkway, which I think the supervisors think similar along that line.

[02:32:35] According to our review, there's at least 15 HOAs and condominiums and other associations in that area. We like to, they're mainly in Sterling, Broad Run, and Little River Districts.

[02:32:54] Our coalition is willing to facilitate meetings with these HOAs and condominium associations, leadership and management, to facilitate some idea of what would be best for them. Not just listen to a few voices, but hear from the actual HOAs, management, and leadership.

[02:33:15] I have a list of them here. We did the research, I think. I'm pretty much accurate. We'd like to have that done. Sir, I'm sorry. Sir, I'm sorry. Your time is up. However, any materials that you have for the board, you can give them to the clerk if you don't mind. Sure. Thank you so much. We go to speaker number 19 on the phone and speaker number 20 is Phil Daly and then 21 is Steve Hoffman. Do we have somebody on the phone? Do we have?

[02:33:52] Yes, Trinvue. Yeah, I can hear you. Yes. Yes, I'm here. Sorry. Yes, we're ready. Yes. Good evening. Member of the board. My name is Trinvue. I'm vice president of Lawn Valley Estate HOA board representing over 711 households and over 3,000 residents.

[02:34:11] While we reluctantly endorse the proposed golden to Mars Route 4 as the least harmful option, I'm here to demand better solutions. Dominion Power Plan to construct 165-foot high-voltage transmission lines while abandoning underground options unfairly burdens our community and nearby communities, which already contends with increasing airport traffic, major transport artery, and relentless development for the past 10 years.

[02:34:38] These timeline would harm our home, school, business, and residents with devastating lasting impact. The proposed routes along the county parkway are irresponsible and, frankly, unacceptable. The main presentation of this world's case scenario seems to be designed to push us toward the lesser of all evils.

[02:34:58] If so, these routes remain indefensible. They would create an economic disaster with homes losing $100,000+ in values, totaling hundreds of millions in community-wide losses, and millions in reduced poverty tax revenue for the county.

[02:35:16] These power transmission lines would transform our most sought-after neighborhood into less desirable communities, undermining the value of any counter-coach. These cause to any benefit from independent governments from our president, the very citizen must protect. While the county benefits from substantial data center tax revenue and the business receives significant tax incentives, our residents bear the burden to loss of property value, environmental degradation, health risk, and diminished quality of life. Many of us have

[02:35:51] invested two decades or more in building this community, joined by the promise of a vibrant, high-quality neighborhood not to live beneath the towering and harmful transmission line. This represents a fundamental failure of the infrastructure planning by this county and Dominion, forcing our family to subsidize the growth while the other stakeholders profit from our sacrifice.

[02:36:15] We believe there is a viable alternative, underground option along Route 66 corridor, even partially implemented, would mitigate much of the harm. Making this investment now with foresight and proper execution would establish a blueprint for managing the inevitable power need now and the future for our county.

[02:36:33] sir can you hear me your time is up thank you all right i will submit the paper okay that would be wonderful thank you um phil daly followed by steve hopman followed by lana rojo mir good chair board i'm phil daly i live in the village of lincoln i've been there for 43 years uh about 20 years ago it was decided that we got the word that lincoln was one of the

[02:37:01] 10 most, I guess you'd say disruptive, not disruptive, but endangered villages in the whole state. Hadn't changed much since then. We have had two meetings in the community.

[02:37:19] I have several members of the board with me. I'm the senior advisor. But we've had two meetings so far to discuss small area plans. And to tell you the truth, I'm a little frustrated that we've been working locally in the community And although the staff has been trying very hard, they haven't even completed the one for St. Louis.

[02:37:41] We really have to get behind this effort. Be serious about it. We're going to lose a lot of very critical little villages out there. And we don't have a town. We're not a town. We don't have our own judgments. We come to you.

[02:37:57] You're our bosses. We work with the county. And the county staff is working very hard. They're very interested. They've got this on their agenda. They're limited. I've mentioned three or four villages, I think, Paeonian Springs, Willisville.

[02:38:13] We ought to look at all of us. We need to get going on this. If we have to hire a consultant, I hear rumors that we have excess money this year. Let's put it to where some of us can benefit. We really need it, and we really want you to support the small area plans.

[02:38:32] Item 9 on the work plan for the Department of Zoning. building planning and zoning we really appreciate your help and we need this and thank you for the time thank you thank you mr. Daley Steve Hoffman followed by Lana Romier good evening good evening my name is Steven Hoffman as Hoffman Consultings I'm a resident of Loudoun Valley estates too and have been

[02:39:09] retained by the the HOA board to represent the interest. Standing next to me is the president of the HOA, Mr. Mandati. Thank you for the opportunity to discuss our concerns regarding Dominion Energy's proposed Golden to Mars. LV2 HOA has studied the transmission line routes proposed by Dominion Energy. All of the proposed routes will have negative effects on our minority community. The only real way to eliminate threats to our health and property values is to construct all or part of the Golden to Mars transmission line underground LV

[02:39:47] II HOA whoever understands that the underground option is not supported by Dominion if the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors decides to support the Loudoun County Planning Commission's recommendations to construct a transmission line along its route 4 the lv2e hoa reluctantly would support the development of a route 4. lv2 hoa would not finalize our support of route 4 with the scc until we have had time to review dominion's final engineering drawings of the route to confirm the final placement of

[02:40:24] monopoles near our community should route 4 be built while it may reduce the degree of impact on lve2 this route does not eliminate the negative effects on our community that that our community will endure our hoa looks forward to working with loudon county board of supervisors the loudon county school board and dominion entry to reduce the adverse impacts of the golden to mars transmission line i'll make extra copies of my presentation and the community is the highest impact of this proposed line um and we've uh reluctantly agree that we understand it's going

[02:41:04] to get built um and we're trying to determine which this route would minimize the degree of impact it doesn't eliminate it but it substantively reduces it thank you for your time thank you thank you uh lana um you are thank you and you'll be followed by madeline skinner and you will be followed by uh craig salvatore good evening good evening i was here two months ago speaking about peony and springs need for a water and wastewater system and tonight i'm back to show my support for loudon county's historic village areas small area plans my name is lana arthur romire and i

[02:41:43] lived in peony springs for 12 years for the past seven years i've coordinated volunteer efforts for our village's water and wastewater program application process so i've seen firsthand how critical it is to address the challenges of our historic villages face. Lowndes' historic villages are more than collections of homes. They're living reminders of our county's rich and diverse heritage. From Pannion Springs to Waterford, Lincoln, and beyond, each village tells a unique story that connects us to the past while shaping our communities today. Preserving these villages isn't just about sentimentality. It's about ensuring that they remain sustainable,

[02:42:19] vibrant places to live however these villages face real challenges aging infrastructure failing wells and wastewater systems development pressures threaten their charm and integrity without proactive planning we risk losing the very character that makes them special this is why the historic village small area plans are so essential small area plans provide a framework to address infrastructure needs guide thoughtful improvements and protect historic landscapes they balance progress with preservation helping solve today's problems without compromising the character of our communities this is not just about protecting buildings it's about safeguarding

[02:42:57] the heart and soul of rural loudon county it's about ensuring that future generations can appreciate these villages just as we do today however we can't do this without your support we're asking you to approve the addition of the historic village small area plans to the work plan as well as the historic villages classification to help improve and maintain these communities we also urge you to allocate funds to hire external consultants who can collaborate with staff and village representatives to develop these plans efficiently and give us a better seat at the table lounge historic villages are treasures but they require our care and attention to thrive

[02:43:35] with your support we can preserve their charm protect their heritage and ensure their sustainability for generations to come thank you thank you thank you madeline skinner followed by craig salvator followed by patrick ryan good evening good evening chair randall supervisors my name is madeline skinner as chair of the loud historic village alliance i am proud to be here tonight with many of our rural historic villages communities and planning areas aldi bluemont Lincoln, Loudoun Heights, Luckett's, Nearsville, Paeonian Springs, Philomont, Unison, Waterford,

[02:44:11] and others who sent emails who were unable to attend tonight, which is Taylorstown, Bloomfield, and Morrisville, although I think Patrick Ryan will be the next speaker from Taylorstown. One village that I have not mentioned is Willisville. I would like to take this moment to honor the memory of the hero of Willisville, Carol Lee, who we recently lost.

[02:44:31] I know achieving the National Register status for Willisville and her wonderful books she wrote with Lori Kimball, A Path Through Willisville, were milestones that she was so proud of. Loud and Historic Village Alliance will do whatever we can to continue her effort to save Willisville and to acknowledge its very important history.

[02:44:48] As you've heard tonight with nine speakers, I think ten now, our supporters that are out here and numerous emails, We hope that you all see that it is time, past time, to give the villages their moment to be recognized as the treasures that they are and preserve them for the future.

[02:45:04] I try not to think about how much wrong could have been avoided if small area plans were in place 15, 20, 25 years ago. Help us, keep us high on the priority list with the knowledge that all of us are ready to do the work along with staff and external consultants who are experienced in rural areas like ours under threat of incompatible development dangerous traffic water quality and quantity and more the rural historic classification cpm is close to completion i hope which is scheduled for a vote on february 12th please get this prioritized so we can begin our work this year

[02:45:42] we are ready we have been ready we love our villages and hope that most of you feel the same way thank you thank you Craig Salvador followed by Patrick Ryan followed by can't quite read the handwriting Lauren Hill Hill Stoller I think good evening good evening good evening board members my name is Craig Salvatore I've been a resident of Selma estates community within the Catoctin district since July 2013 and have been an active board member of the Selma estates HOA since

[02:46:18] the fall of 2017. I'm here to discuss two unresolved issues which the Board of Supervisors has committed to address for approximately eight years now namely number one the arch insurance bonds and number two the development of a sidewalk along Montressor Road. The first item pertains to arch insurance bonds that were from a builder who went under and they apply to two roads within our community. Frostleaf is a significantly deteriorating road that is still under bond it is visually and financially detracting and causes homeowners to deal with the stress and aggravation of driving on a road plagued with large

[02:46:54] cracks and missing pavement that are damaging their vehicles daily the second road affected by the arch bonds is wolf source Drive which is a dead-end street that never ended up being developed it's now a dumping ground in a place where illicit activities take place you may even recall that someone from our from outside of our community drove to the end of Bullsirp Drive and murdered someone approximately 10 years ago. The county committed to force Arch Insurance to address these issues years ago, but little to nothing has happened. The second item has to do with an area along Montressor Road,

[02:47:30] the main artery into our community that doesn't have a sidewalk. When Gary Higgins was a Catoctin supervisor, discussions took place with the Selma HOA board, and the county committed to and assigned monies for the planning of the sidewalk. This planning involved conversations regarding the movement of utilities and other issues, but those conversations ceased during the COVID pandemic with no further progress. We are humbly pleading for the board's guidance and assistance in honoring the previous commitments that have been made to our community. Thank you for letting me speak.

[02:48:03] Thank you, sir. Thank you. Patrick Ryan, followed by Lauren Hillstoller, followed by, it just says Carolyn, and then we will go back to Sam Zee, who I think is in the room before. Good evening.

[02:48:18] Good evening, Madam Chair, members of the board. Thank you for this opportunity. My name is Patrick Ryan, resident of Taylorstown and also the president of the Taylorstown Community Association. I joined my neighbors here this evening in support of the small area plans. If you're not familiar with Taylorstown, we're in a historic village along the banks of the Catoctin Creek in northern Loudoun County. It was settled by the same family, actually, that settled Lincoln, the Brown family.

[02:48:43] It was also known as loyalty for a time and support because of its support for the north and the emancipation efforts. TCA was founded 50 years ago to organize against the attempt by Fairfax County and the Army Corps of Engineers to dam the Catoctin Creek to make a feeder lake reservoir.

[02:49:05] We have supported numerous community planning efforts over the years, and we stand ready to do it again with a small area plan. So, again, I encourage your approval of the effort and the direction of staff to work with the villages in this.

[02:49:21] Thank you for your time. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Before I go to the next speakers, supervisors, what I'm going to do, I'm going to try to tick through some of these items where we have people in the audience before we take a break because I always try to get people home, especially on these cold nights.

[02:49:38] So we're going to do, unless somebody needs the presentation, after the speakers, we're going to go to the Eastern Loudoun Community Arts Center, because I think we can do that quickly. And I don't think that anyone needs that presentation, I don't think.

[02:49:54] And then we will go to the DPZ work plan, which actually had been on consent. It came off of consent because we had so many speakers who wanted to speak about the small area plan. plan, but I believe everyone has seen that as well. So we will do items of the Community Arts Center and then the DPZ work plan. I don't think we can do anything else before we take a break. I think everything else is going to take a little bit longer. So that will be the plan. So thank you, and I'm sorry, and we're ready, ma'am.

[02:50:26] Hi. Good evening, members of the board. I'm here to express my concern regarding the Golden to Mars transmission lines. My name is Lauren Lillastolen. I'm a resident of the Loudoun Valley 2 neighborhood. I'm a former science teacher and I'm a mother to two young children that currently do and will attend both Rosalie Carter Elementary School and Rockridge High School for 10 years each before they graduate. Our family walks to school every day. We also use the trails along Broad Run weekly, as do many other people from other neighborhoods. The blue and green routes are the worst for me and my family. However, I understand that the routes that run along Loudoun

[02:51:05] County Parkway, the red, orange, and yellow affect more homes and land parcels. So I have given up hoping that those might be built, and I have resigned myself to the green or the blue. I'd like to urge you to support the blue route and reject the green. The green route runs closer to where elementary students play during recess, and scientific research shows that younger children experience more detrimental effects from radiation due to ongoing organ development and more frequent cell turnover. Kids are playing out there on those fields throughout most school days, except recently. The blue runs along the outskirts of neighborhoods, but the green cuts right through

[02:51:45] hours. The green affects more homes than the blue, as evidenced by the chart on page 6 in the 17-page document for action item number 11 put forth by the Board of Supervisors. The green will damage more environmental resources than the blue, and the blue has more co-location with existing lines.

[02:52:04] Earlier today, a fellow speaker mentioned noise pollution and health impacts. I'd like to just point out, a lot of people have been mentioning that the blue line, they see that as closer to the schools, but it is not closer to the parts that the students are using on a more regular basis.

[02:52:23] Very rarely are students outside. It's more for going in and out of schools. They are using the backside. So I'd like to urge you to consider that when putting forth your recommendation to the SCC. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. And our last two speakers are, it just says Carolyn, and then we will go back to Sam Z. He had signed up and that left and that come back in. And those will be our last two speakers. Good evening. Good evening. While praying for the devastating wildfires in California to end, I wondered if my heartache, my grief would be magnified if that destruction was being funded

[02:53:02] by my tax dollars. I wondered if I could stomach being silent or standing idly by during state sanctioned violence. State sanctioned like kids in cages at the border, or pardon me like the angry white mob storming the Capitol. State sanctioned like colonizing this country, buying and selling people, fearing equity, equality, and the joy and humanity of my people enough to destroy communities in places like Wilmington, Chicago, Philadelphia, Harlem, Watts, Detroit, Rosewood, and Tulsa, or state sanctioned like the similarly dark and grotesque violence of both the Holocaust and in

[02:53:37] Gaza today. Dr. King may now be beloved, but we mustn't forget that he was considered dangerously radical during his time. Dreaming about things like peace, safety, a living wage, a place to lay your head and build a legacy for your family were ideas that he fought and died for. Ideas that we continue to fight for and plead with all of you to see humanity beyond your individual experience.

[02:54:01] It shouldn't feel radical to say cease fire. It shouldn't feel radical to say I don't want to build our community by funding the destruction of Palestine. Divest shouldn't be a dirty word. Advocacy is not a crime. I'll close with words from Dr. King's letter from Birmingham jail.

[02:54:18] But more basically, I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. Just as the prophets of the 8th century BC left their villages and carried their, thus saith the Lord, far beyond the boundaries of their hometowns. And just as the apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco-Roman world, so am I compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own hometown. Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid. Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all

[02:54:52] communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow provincial outside agitator idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider within its

[02:55:26] bounce. Thank you. Thank you. And Sam Z, you will be our last speaker. Good evening. Good evening.

[02:55:41] Thank you. It's important for me to talk about bias and privilege as an obstacle for equality and justice. We all have privileges and biases, so we need to first name and recognize them so we can truly work towards equity. So when I say fair labor standards and livable wages for all, and your first thought is, I earned my good salary and worked hard for my benefits, that's you justifying that you are entitled to fair labor standards and a livable wage, while also acknowledging others aren't.

[02:56:09] Or when I say black lives matter, and you think, yeah, but all lives matter, you're recognizing a privilege that you may have that protects you from criminalization or police brutality. So when we say free Palestine, and you think they're calling for an erasure of Israel, or Israel has a right to exist, you're acknowledging there is an imbalance in power because fighting for dignity for one group therefore threatens the power of another.

[02:56:35] Dr. Mark Lamont Hill wrote a book in 2021, yes, before October 7th, called Progressive Except for Palestine, and in one of his critiques he talked about a zero-sum approach where any gain for the Palestinians must mean a loss for Israelis and vice versa, and ultimately peaceful coexistence is ruled out. So when taxpayers, voters, and constituents ask for accountability of our tax dollars and transparency of our institution's financial ties, we are met with resistance and attacks. And when students ask for transparency from their universities as stakeholders,

[02:57:10] our elected officials in both the Virginia House and the Senate have responded by introducing legislation that will prohibit university divestment from any country not sanctioned by the government. Our free speech and our rights continue to be stripped away. As elected officials you have power in your voice and I ask you along with the others in this boardroom to protect our free speech and vote no to Senate Bill 1247 and House Bill 2529. Finally two border patrol cars

[02:57:43] surveilled my kid's school last week at drop-off. Intimidating LCPS families. So I asked this board to extend words of comfort and support to our immigrant neighbors, acknowledging their contributions to this community and recognizing our strength and diversity because this board has ultimately decided they can do nothing to protect them since the sheriff is the end-all, be-all in this county.

[02:58:10] Thank you. Thank you. Okay, supervisors, that would be all of our speakers for this evening, and we're going to go on to item number, to the Eastern Loudoun Community Center Study Part 2.

[02:58:26] so would staff please come to the table supervisors is there anyone who needs the the the item to be to the thank you the presentation because I'm gonna go I'm gonna go straight to a motion unless you have anything new do you have anything new without anything new I'm gonna go straight from I'm gonna go straight to a motion one question I had one question then can you ask it inside Is that the motion?

[02:58:56] Oh, yeah. Okay. Good, because I'm going to go straight through a motion. All right. You good? Okay. I move the recommendation of the Finance, Government Operations, and Economic Development Committee that the Board of Supervisors endorse option two, scale performance and visual arts facility as described in the January 22, 2025 Board of Supervisors Business Meeting Action Item.

[02:59:21] I further move the recommendation of the Finance, Government Operations, and Economic Development Committee that the Board of Supervisors direct staff to use $500,000 of contingency funds for the planning, preliminary design, and site assessment in the fiscal year 2026 capital improvement program and to prepare a capital budget to be included in the future capital improvement program discussions.

[02:59:43] Motion is made second by Supervisor Glass. All right. First of all, I do want to thank the community who came forward, who started these meetings with, especially Ms. Glass and I, months ago. And I want to note that when the discussion started, they literally were about a community art center in Eastern Loudoun County.

[03:00:09] I mean, that's literally the thrust that they came in with, which is why they came to me, Supervisor Glass, and other Eastern Loudoun County supervisors. So I want to thank the ladies. Secondly, I want to say that we're saying we have other options. We really don't.

[03:00:25] It's hard to have practices at schools because they're schools, and so sometimes the schools can, within a certain amount of time, say you can't use our schools anymore. ION right now, we're not sure what may or may not happen with ION, that's still very much in the air, so we cannot count on that, and I wouldn't call that Eastern Loudoun.

[03:00:48] You heard the director or the maestro of the symphony tonight say that they support this, They support this, although they did have questions about practice rooms. You heard them say they support it. We're not looking for a huge facility right now.

[03:01:06] We're looking for a community facility. There will be a time, hopefully fairly soon, for a large performing arts center, and hopefully that will be in the metro corridor where it kind of belongs. But this is not what we're talking about right here and right now.

[03:01:23] And so I think we should try to focus on there's we don't there's no reason to believe we would just have one place that does art, either performing art, visual art, other art. That's just not true. We already have some places, but not in the east.

[03:01:40] And we're not just going to have the one. And so the community has spoken. They have said option to the staff has spoken. They have said option to the people who will use the facility like the symphony and others. have spoken. They have said option two. So I don't know that I, who have zero ability to do any type of art, can't sing, can't play, can't do anything, I'm not going to substitute my opinion for people who have studied this and actually are people who are in the field

[03:02:19] or the group that came before us the first time so i do think option two if you're going to support this at all i do think option two is the correct option thank you mr crony thank you chair randall and i am very much like you i i appreciate other people who perform art and and visual and um and uh music so i do i do enjoy that but um and i do support option two but a question i had i'm I'm not on the finance committee, is the conversion of an existing facility going to be an option that we look at, and what is considered Eastern Loudon?

[03:02:58] I mean, I do consider Leesburg Eastern Loudon, so I'm just curious. So when we have been talking about Eastern Loudon, it has been anything east of Leesburg, generally, and to go to your first question of conversion, I think what we're trying to do here is get to a point where you have a little bit more spelled out concept plans and I think it would be safe to say that as we get towards that point of looking for sites and looking for where

[03:03:33] we would ultimately build this out as a capital we project we would look at all options okay yeah I mean you know I know chair Randall mentioned the ion center so I would think that would be something we look at um as a potential conversion one of the things i will mention however and we discussed this a little bit at the finance committee meeting was one of the things that we have heard a lot when we went and visited locations is conversion of facilities that were not built for the arts is oftentimes uh very expensive because of just the design and the

[03:04:12] sound and the acoustics that need to go into a facility like that that you don't find in other types of facilities that have not been specifically designed for that. So that would be something we would need to keep in mind. Did you look at operating costs? I saw that rentals, you were looking at trying to offset some of the annual operating costs. So when we looked at the other facilities and toward the other facilities. Where we could, some of them were not sharing all of their operating information, but where we could, we gathered that information and then use

[03:04:50] that to base it in the item. You'll see estimated annual operating costs. So we work with management and budget and HR to determine what costs of similar type positions for each one of these blocks would be. But at this point, it is very estimated cost.

[03:05:07] - Okay, thank you. - Thank you, Mr. Sainz. - Thank you, Madam Chair. And again, thank you to Ms. Glass and to yourself and then the citizens that brought this forward and spearheaded this and got us to this point. And thank you for the staff and then doing the research and bringing it back to us.

[03:05:24] So yes, what we did hear from the director of the Loudoun Symphony when asked the question about equipment, storage and practice rooms and all that stuff. So do you have a comment towards that statement, or are we not at that point yet to discuss?

[03:05:43] Well, I think the next phase of this, which is with the $500,000 that we'll receive from 2026, we can further refine that and program that with Parks and Rec to further identify that space, those space needs. Okay, but that would be part of the program moving forward and to make sure we have, because again it's no secret I'm always in favor of the bigger option um well it's not super bigger it would be on the scale of the Hilton which is a Manassas but that's not that large um so we just want to make sure we're on the same page that to uh to the director's point that makes we have

[03:06:19] space for um storage and practice and and and the like yes sir we'll count for all that okay thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. I will not be supporting this. I don't think anybody would be surprised by that. This is an initial investment of $500,000. This board years ago took the position that we wanted to support nonprofits that were life-saving, not life-enhancing. Clearly,

[03:06:59] this is a life-enhancing project, but it is not as critical as a number of other responsibilities we have towards the community, whether that be food, shelter, the schools, medical care, et cetera. I'm very concerned that a project of the size envisioned is going to take up a vast number of tax dollars that if we were going to spend I think should be spent on life-saving

[03:07:35] services including mental health including family services food food security this does not do that I'm hoping that my colleagues who are optimistic that there will be a deep pocket private partner on this are correct, but I have not seen any such entity coming forward, and so I cannot assume they will.

[03:08:11] staff however as always has done a superb job accommodating the opinions and requests of the majority of the board so I'm always very proud of staff for doing that even if I disagree with where the board may be going on this thank you this class thank you madam chair and I don't have any questions but I just wanted to say hopefully I'm hoping my colleagues will support this I am

[03:08:41] really excited about having the eastern community arts center in in loudon county i am really grateful for the group of women that i had met i believe was last year i was invited to a meeting wasn't sure what we were going to talk about but they had started talking about having a community art center so that they wouldn't have to go into Arlington and

[03:09:19] Alexandria but have a place for for their friends for their grandchildren to participate in I and I want to thank staff for the hard work that you will have all have done as well I went to one of the meetings that you had with the community with the different art groups that came out and we have so many talented people here and they had so many great ideas so I'm glad you all had listened to all of them and put into

[03:09:51] hopefully fruition what's going to happen and when Supervisor Umstad had talked about what does what does an art center bring to the community and I was reading and it says that the arts can bring many benefits to a community including social economic and educational strength it unifies communities it reduces loneliness it inspires empathy it's it we have economic benefits of supporting jobs driving tourism generating tax revenue the educational benefits

[03:10:29] are fostering creativity communicating knowledge the health benefits are improving physical health and improving mental health so i think this will bring a be a great benefit to our community thank you madam chair drop the mic so be a glass mr letourneau yeah i think it'd be really brief i just wanted to be be clear what my position was i'm voting in favor tonight of this item in the study this is not committing the board to the project this is not committing the board to a large expenditure as discussed in the finance committee it is going to help us flesh out and

[03:11:05] produce essentially a concept plan of what this really is, which could be used to help find a private partner. There's a long road ahead on this. I understand and agree with a lot of what Supervisor Umstead said in terms of the prioritization. I don't think that means there shouldn't be any tax dollars into this, but I do think it's not something the county would be able to do solely on its own, given what the CIP looks like, at least at this juncture. So let's go But go forward for now, let's get this concept, let's find those partners if they exist.

[03:11:39] If they don't exist, that's gonna tell us something too. But also, I would just note that this would be an item for me that it would likely, the funding from the county side would be geo bonds that does go out to vote a referendum. I've said in some occasions that we should honor the will of the voters on those type of issues that are not essential items.

[03:12:01] For the most part, they pass. But this is one of those. So I'm just throwing that out there. That's way, way, way down the road. But for those that may have concerns about the fiscal side of this, that is another component to this discussion. Thank you. Thank you, sir.

[03:12:18] Ms. Bricksman. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Supervisor Glass, for working on this. Thank you, staff. Thank you to all the board members who met with the committee. It's been an interesting process. I appreciate this study. I actually do kind of agree that it should be the bigger one, but I'm going to support this.

[03:12:38] I'm not going to follow my sword over that. I do think a larger facility we would end up using eventually as we continue to grow, and I think the larger facility actually gives us a lot more options and would probably be better at attracting the private investors that we're looking for.

[03:12:54] But having said that, having been a member of the Loudoun Symphony Workshop Orchestra in the early 2000s in Loudoun County, I can tell you, I'm a rusty violist, I can tell you that it is frustrating not to have a home.

[03:13:21] It is really frustrating for musicians in this county to have to be going from one school to another school to another school for your rehearsals and not quite knowing where your performances are going to be. Loudoun Symphony, you know, has grown up and become such a wonderful asset to our community. They've changed the workshop, the opening act, to the youth orchestra, and they're all phenomenal and fantastic.

[03:13:40] So I'm really excited to be offering a home, hopefully, eventually, when we get it through our CIP and we get it built. I'm really excited to be offering a home in Loudoun County to the arts, especially the performing arts. So very happy to support. Thank you. Thank you.

[03:13:55] I want to correct something. We never said – I was the one that came up with the terms life-sustaining and life-enhancing. We never said we would not give money to life-enhancing. We said we would not give core money or make any of the life-enhancing one of our core nonprofits that we have a steady stream of income. coming from the county to those non-profits.

[03:14:14] We have absolutely through our grant process, especially our mini grant process, given money to other non-profits that were not considered life sustaining. Family Services and DSS and other people in the non-profit community change those names from life sustaining and life enhancing, but that is absolutely just not a correct statement.

[03:14:38] All the other points I would have made, Supervisor Glass took my thunder, but that's fine because we've been on the same wavelength for all this, all this time, so I want to thank you. I want to say that every time the group of citizens who came to talk to us came in, the words they left with was, what do we do next?

[03:15:00] Every single time. They never walked out the door without the, what do we do next? And I really appreciate that. I do think that Mr. Letourneau makes a point, and I have a feeling this would pass referendum with flying colors, to be quite honest, because one of the things we hear is the complaints we hear is about the lack of art in the county.

[03:15:22] We hear about that all the time, in fact. So if this was ever to go to referendum, I think that would be appropriate, and I wouldn't be at all worried about that passing, to be honest. So thank you, staff. Thank you, Ms. Glass, thank you, community, and let's vote.

[03:15:41] I made the motion, Supervisor Glass seconded the motion. All the people who say aye. Aye. Opposed? Nay. And Mr. Kirshner is not here. That motion will pass. 7-1-1 with Supervisor Umstead voting against the motion and Mr. Kirshner not being here on the dais. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

[03:15:57] Thank you. So we're going to do arts programs. We're all going jazz hands when people finish playing. Okay, we're going to do the DPZ work plan because I actually think we can get through it because, as I said, it was actually on consent.

[03:16:16] So if staff would come to the table for the DPZ work plan, which is item number 10. Number 10.

[03:16:32] Yeah, I took it off because we had speakers. But unless we have any, we can ask questions within the motion.

[03:16:48] Mr. Turner, you did a lot of work with this as you were TLUC Chair, I know Mr. Crony is right now, but if you would like to make this motion, unless staff has something else to offer, that would be absolutely fine, and Mr. Crony, I'm sure I want a hearty second to this motion.

[03:17:04] Do you have anything else to offer, anything new, anything we don't know? No, ma'am. Any government updates? It's all good still? Yes. Okay. Mr. Turner, I can make a motion. Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that the Board of Supervisors approve the current list of projects listed in Tables 1, 2, and 3 on the Department of Planning and Zoning Work Plan as identified in the January 22, 2025 Board of Supervisors business meeting action item.

[03:17:26] Second. Motion made and seconded by Mr. Croney. Mr. Turner, would you like to open? Very brief. didn't see any surprises on this. I think it's been refined down to a pretty fine point now to where we're, I think, all pretty comfortable with it. It's a big project list. It's going to take a long time to complete, but I think it's in the right priority and the right order, so I commend you on that. Thank you. Thank you. Ms. DeCrony. Yeah, thank you, and thank you, staff, for this.

[03:17:59] So I want to let I want to thank everybody who came to speak about the rural historic villages and the classification. Just so everybody knows the classification public hearing, I believe, is February 12th for the classification.

[03:18:16] But I heard the community and I agree that, you know, combining all the village plans into one project and getting a consultant hired. So we can start moving forward to protect and preserve all the villages, I think is the right way to go.

[03:18:37] And I thank my colleagues for supporting the replacement of the Luckett's plan with the larger village small area plan so we can begin this work. Aldi, I heard you, and I'll be making a motion potentially on February 12th to move Aldi after Luckett's in the priority list.

[03:19:02] I think that makes sense given the state park that is coming and the potential impacts to that village, but we'd still keep the others in the list. Um, and I do want to just say, uh, Carol Lee was an amazing hero of Willisville.

[03:19:20] I'm really glad someone brought that up, and I'm, um, sorry to hear that she passed away in December. Um, she was the one that added, um, Willisville, the historic district, to the National Register of Historic Places, so she did such an amazing work in that village, and I had, um, the blessing of meeting her and, um, speaking with her about that.

[03:19:40] She's, she's amazing. So it's really past time to give villages their moment and the opportunity to be recognized, and I absolutely support that, and I'm here for you. Please reach out to my office if you need any more information about how we'll move that forward.

[03:19:58] I'm also really glad to see the CTP, the countywide transportation plan, is moving forward. It looks like you're going to hire a consultant this summer of 2025. Is that correct, this summer? So DTC has already hired a consultant that will work on it, but obviously kicking it off and working through it in the future will come to you in the next few months.

[03:20:18] Okay, great. And I think you're going to meet with all the board members to determine kind of what we'd like to see, you know, you look at, you investigate as far as the road plan, because that hasn't been updated really since 2019, since we did the comprehensive plan.

[03:20:36] That wasn't really part of the process when the board looked at it, so it is kind of past due as well. So thank you, and I look forward to getting going on all these projects. Thank you very much, staff. So I want to thank everyone that has come out, but I want to especially thank Madeline Skinner.

[03:20:57] There were times that I thought if Madeline Skinner sends me one more email or says the word to me one more time, I'm going to scream. And at one point, she brought a list in of villages, and two of them I had never literally ever heard of.

[03:21:14] I was like, where is this? And I sent my staff, my very young staff, I'm like, you're going to go with Matt Miss Skinner out on a trip to look at these villages. And he did, and he came back with all kind of information. So, Miss Skinner, you have been committed and serious and dogged about protecting these villages.

[03:21:38] You've literally put us in your car and driven us around more than once. And I appreciate that and appreciate you so much. It is true that this has taken a long time. And we have had a lot of discussions about this. We have, it's interesting, we absolutely have staff expertise to do a small village plan.

[03:21:59] We don't always have staff capacity, which are two different things. And so a consultant may be needed just to get these things done quicker because we know, as we've seen tonight, we can only put so much on the staff.

[03:22:15] So a consultant may be -- we may need to do that so we can do more than one village plan at a time. The staff will still oversee it, but we will do more than one at a time. This has been not just a village plan, but all of it has been a long time coming. In fact, a long time coming.

[03:22:31] I also want to say, you know, we thank staff a lot, but Judy and Dan, you know what, you all have been fantastic, and you've been very, very patient, and you've explained things to us numerous times very patiently, and we just wouldn't be here where we are without you, and I completely agree with you, Dan, on where we need to go in St. Louis and where we need to go from here on.

[03:23:01] So for all of the DPZ work plan and all of the work you all have done, which has been over, I don't know how many, not even months, but a couple years now. Thank you, thank you, thank you so much. And hopefully having this part done and being able to get consultants when we need it will be a little less pressure on you all, because I know this has been a lot, so thank you very much.

[03:23:25] Thank you. All right. Mr. Turner, would you like to have a closing? All right. I made the motion. Supervisor DeCrony seconded the motion. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? That motion will pass. 7-0-2 with Ms. Brixman. You want to vote for this?

[03:23:43] Aye. Okay, there we go. 8-0-1 with Mr. Kirshner being off the dais. Supervisors, we're going to do, was that jazz hands? Was that jazz hands? We're going to read into closed session. We're going to into this to close session number three and we're going to close session number three do during our dinner break so mr. Turner if you read us into closed session that would be great please. Madam Chair I move that the Board of Supervisors recess this public meeting and enter into closed session pursuant to section 2.2 3711 of the code of Virginia to consider acquisition

[03:24:21] disposition of a parcel parcels of property for public use in the broad run election district seconded by the seconder miss glass discussion on the motion seeing none all the people say aye aye any opposed that motion will pass

[03:24:40] 801 and we are in closed session yeah it's probably here where's your read in

[04:03:56] closed session it's on the same page mr. Turner hey we are back mr. Turner would you please read us out of closed session I move 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. Second.

[04:04:33] Discussion on the motion? Seeing none, I am able to say aye. Aye. Any opposed? That motion will pass 8-0-1. Would everyone please affirm? Starting with Ms. Glass. Affirm. Affirm. Affirm. Affirm. Affirm. Affirm. And I affirm as well. Thank you. Is there a motion on the table on the on the dais, Ms. Glass. Yes, Madam Chair. I move that the Board of Supervisors direct staff to schedule a public hearing to consider approval of an agreement to develop the property known as the former Ashburn

[04:05:07] North Park and Ride lot with 140 units of mixed income, mixed tenure, attainable housing mr sainz was faster so motion made by mr glass second mr sainz discussion on the motion miss glass oh no comment madam chair anybody else all people say aye aye any opposed that motion will pass 801 as well all right everyone we're going to go to the um to the go to the mars transmission

[04:05:44] line item is item number 11.

[04:06:03] Good evening. All right, so I know we have, well, yesterday Mr. Sainz did send out a different motion that he and Mr. Turner have worked on together, so that will be probably the motion we entertain tonight. Supervisors, do you all need the presentation? Does anyone need the presentation? Do you have anything different that we don't

[04:06:37] know already in the presentation. No updates. All right. Then Mr. Saines, would you like to make a motion? Yes, Madam Chair. Thank you. I move that the Board of Supervisors affirm the county's position identifying Route 4 of the Golden to Mars transmission line alignment as the county's preferred route and Route 3 of the Golden to Mars transmission line alignment as the county's secondary route preference. Advocate to have Dominion Energy bury any transmission lines plan to pass closer than 500 feet from any residence or public school and direct staff to continue to work with property owners, Loudoun County Public Schools, the Virginia

[04:07:14] Department of Transportation, Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, and Dominion Energy to develop the proposed route. And I further move that the Board of Supervisors' direct staff to send a letter to Loudoun County Public Schools requesting their support of either routes three or four of the proposed Golden to Mars transmission line alignment.

[04:07:34] Second. Motion is made and seconded by Mr. Turner, who did work with Mr. Sainz on that motion. Mr. Sainz, would you like to have an opening? Yes, ma'am. Thank you. You know, we've heard from numerous residents tonight in regards to the Golden Mars transmission line.

[04:07:50] Let's be honest, there is many routes that Dominion is looking at, and they're, you know, unfortunately, going to be proposing all those routes to the SEC. So tonight we are endorsing, which I think are the best options to choose from, from that list that Dominion is providing.

[04:08:08] We've had numerous conversations with Dominion. I know they've had numerous community meetings, receiving input daily from our staff, VDOT and the like. You know, and it kind of puts us in an unfortunate situation because we do not technically have the authority.

[04:08:26] This board is not going to be making the binding decision on which route is going to be taken. so just like the general public i encourage everybody to follow along sign up to speak when that time comes to the sec so we can take our plead our case down there but know that we will continue to advocate on behalf of our community to make sure these power lines are as less impactful to as many people as possible done safely and hopefully the dominion and secc our vision and do end up bearing some of these power lines where they need to be buried so again i'll continue to

[04:09:02] advocate continue to work with staff lcps and dominion to uh to see what our what to bring this to the to a conclusion with either routes uh four or three and burying the lines thank you thank you mr latourno yeah just briefly um since i used to represent the communities that spoke to us today for a decade. I understand their point of view. Obviously Mr. Saines and I have been talking and certainly support his motion. A couple things just to make clear for the public. The first one is

[04:09:35] the undergrounding challenge is that Dominion or any entity requires two six-acre sites as essentially the start and end of that undergrounding and those sites look like substations so they're not things that you necessarily want to have everywhere so that makes it a challenge and in this particular case those sites don't exist it'd be very difficult to to find them and purchase them and there's a lot of challenges with floodplain second thing is as mr sange alluded to this is certainly not our decision but even the decision in terms of what

[04:10:12] route to support from the county point of view the county can move forward and support it but we will need the cooperation of the school board and the school system in order to be able to move forward with the routes that we are recommending because they will utilize Loudoun County Public Schools property and to be very very clear we cannot compel Loudoun County Public Schools to provide that right away to Dominion. That is a decision for the school board so I'm sure many of you have already engaged at that level but you know we can kind of do our part here and I know that all of us have had conversations with school board counterparts about this I

[04:10:51] certainly feel extremely strongly the Loudoun County Parkway route is just out of the question I hope that they will come around to that point of view as well but we can't solely control that I just wanted to make those two two points thank you and I would associate myself with both with mr. Sainz said and mr.

[04:11:09] Letourneau has said would you like closing mr. Sainz I'll just simply say again thank you to our staff thanks to my all my colleagues as we've all been talking about this and care deeply about this issue thank you to the community and now I encourage everybody to continue to engage with Dominion get prepared to start writing to the SEC and also I encourage you to write to your your school board officials and let them know what we've done here today and hopefully they'll do do like like we're doing here thank you thank you motion is made by Mr. Sainz, seconded by Mr. Turner, all people say aye aye.

[04:11:42] Any opposed? That motion will pass 801. All right, supervisors, I'm sorry. I know I'm jumping around a lot tonight, but I really am trying to get people who are driving to Richmond out of this room because that's a three-hour drive. It's dark. It's kind of icy still, and I'm trying to get them on the road as soon as possible.

[04:11:58] So I apologize for jumping around, but I'm doing this in order to get them gone. And so because of that, I'm going to go to item number five next, which is a legislative item. And I also know that there are at least two, maybe three motions on the dais on this item.

[04:12:19] So is Mr. Freeman on the phone? Is he? He's online. Mr. Freeman, can you hear us, sir? He probably walked away and I do not blame him. There he is. Hello.

[04:12:48] How are you? Mr. Freeman, can you hear us? We can see you. Can you hear us? Yes, I can. Wonderful. Wonderful. How's it going? Everything is going well. You're not in the stairwell, are you? No, I am not. okay all right all right um we are ready whenever you all are for a presentation presentation well good evening madam chair members of the board uh the short session gabbled in on wednesday january 8th uh but they did recess immediately uh until monday january 13th due to the water crisis in

[04:13:24] richmond so what that means is no committees met until monday january 13th making a short session just a bit shorter. So turning to our initiatives, the erosion bill has not come up in committee yet.

[04:13:43] We expect it to come up in committee next week. We did work with DEQ on some edits to the bill since the last time you all saw the legislative program. And so we know of no known opposition to this bill, and so we expect it to have no problems in committee. Moving to the airport disclosure bill, we have really, really good news. That bill is really moving along smoothly, mainly because since the last time you all saw me, the Housing Commission did approve to support

[04:14:21] this bill this session, which was a major development for this bill. We do have Delegate Bolivar carrying it in the House, who is the chair of House Gen Laws. And so this bill did go through House Gen Laws unanimously and is currently on the House floor. We have Senator Pekarkey carrying the Senate version of this bill. It also went through Senate General Laws unanimously, and it actually has already passed the Senate unanimously. And so I just want to

[04:14:56] also highlight, in a miraculous turn of events, the realtors did stand up and support in committee. That is amazing. So we have essentially gotten to a place where we know of no known opposition to this bill either.

[04:15:15] So that is the update on our initiatives. I'll go to some bills of note if you would like me to, but I can also stop for questions, Madam Chair. Now, go on and go to the bills of note, if you don't mind, please. That's amazing, by the way, Jonathan. But, yeah, go on and go to the bills of note. I want to highlight HB 2306.

[04:15:35] This is a bill to essentially authorize the acquisition of Oak Hill, the acquisition for the state to turn it into a state park. That bill was heard this morning at 730 in the morning. So it was a brisk walk to the General Assembly building this morning, but it was worth it.

[04:15:54] bill did pass out of committee unanimously so we are working alongside the conservation fund on that bill and that bill is moving uh moving well as well it will be in appropriations and likely heard next week that's wonderful a development that you all likely heard of uh through uh various uh organizations that you all are a part of um is the developmental model funding uh so you may

[04:16:26] have seen and heard in the governor's introduced budget uh the additional funding for uh metro uh was 144 uh well i apologize it was cut 144.7 million to 133.5 million and so um about 11.1 million dollars in reduction in that funding we did uh work with wamada to understand some of

[04:16:57] these adjustments uh and so essentially uh budget staff i did review the governor's proposal uh and essentially these numbers are based on some new budget information that was presented in december of 2024 which is an update to what was projected in february of 2024 and so delegate sickles and separate budget amendments actually add 3.3 million back to that reduction bringing the reduction closer to 7.8 million based on some information that

[04:17:33] they have so those are some updates I wanted to highlight and I'll stop there for any questions I think we're good that's really very good news we have questions okay thank you thank you for that Mr. Freeman on the Virginia Residential Property Disclosure Act how come Loudoun County delegation folks didn't carry that bill so this is a measure

[04:18:06] that MWA took lead on because it turned into a statewide bill from last year Senator Locke and Delegate Simon, they carried bills to preclude localities from mandating these disclosures by ordinance. Loudoun County was the only county doing that in the state. And so as we worked through the Housing Commission, we realized that there was an appetite to turn this into a disclosure for all airports around the Commonwealth, but make it permissive language for localities to participate and so from there we started to seek uh you know uh patron well emma took lead on

[04:18:46] patrons and they identified a delegate bullet who is chair of general bill went through and they were able to get senator karski to carry it on the senate side gotcha okay um and are there some bills out there that we that kind of align with our legislative agenda at least our policy statements that we don't always catch or that we don't always highlight. I'm thinking specifically about Delegate Reeser's bill on the affordable housing in, sorry, assisted living. I think it

[04:19:23] made it through committee. It seems to me like that aligns with our affordable housing goals. Have we looked at that one at all? I believe we're still reviewing that bill, but what I will also note is that uh the bills and the item that is before you are bill positions as of january 13 and so there were there were a lot of folks that held their bills until the uh january 8th deadline which was actually moved because of the water crisis i see i see okay okay we're still working

[04:20:02] through a lot of the bills but okay and what is it okay what does it mean when it says a bill's been engrossed? I think that you're referring to a procedural measure on the floor when they're moving the bill to its next reading. Okay. Okay, thank you. Okay, thanks.

[04:20:26] Thank you, Madam Chair. John, two speakers spoke tonight against casino bills. Do we have a position? Or do we have any general philosophy at all that would address that? Currently, I know of no formal position the board has taken inside the program. All right. Now on the convenience store

[04:20:58] based, almost like slot machines, I forget, skills. Skill games. Yeah, skill games. When we discussed those i think staff's perception was that um you had a blanket direction from the board that could allow you to speak in opposition to those if that is true would the casinos not also be covered

[04:21:31] under that no well for the for the skill games uh believe that uh where we landed on was that as long as it didn't roll back the locality's authority to decide uh where these machines uh the the uses of the machines and with locality but i could go back and double check i'm not sure

[04:22:04] if uh joe probeth or planning and zoning uh has anything currently but i can go back and check The argument was made tonight that if Fairfax doesn't get a casino, there will be pressure on Loudoun to accept it.

[04:22:24] Knowing what you know of our local authority, do you believe that to be a true statement or concern? So the casino bill, the language that is currently in there is for locality over a certain population.

[04:22:42] i believe it's about 1.2 million or 1 million or so so it only right now they what they've done is they've prescribed language that only applies to fairfax and so it applies to no other locality in the commonwealth all right thank you very much yep mr mr rice you have anything to say about that you're good thank you okay mr crony yeah thank you chair randall and um jonathan thanks for adding

[04:23:13] HB 2035 and SB 1353 to the bills tracked. That's the one that promotes accountability through, this is with data centers, through robust reporting on energy use, water consumption, and emissions, and also establishes that statewide clearinghouse. Are we taking a

[04:23:34] position of support, or are we just tracking it? I believe that that bill is, I believe that's one, my apologies that that's one of the data center bills yeah yep yes that that's in the supplemental i believe and i believe that's one of the bills that we're currently tracking that's um hb 2035

[04:24:13] and then the other one is um hb 1601 and i think you're tracking that one and that would help localities get information about electrical infrastructure during consideration of applications so i assume that one is i mean i i would assume we'd be supporting that but i i don't know i guess you're just tracking it at this point uh that that's another bill that's in the supplemental um i could joe krovith could uh speak to that bill 9601 yeah okay yeah those are just two

[04:24:48] bills that i want to highlight because i think those we we should be supportive of just because we've been talking about this about the need for this information so thank you - Mr. Turner.

[04:25:03] - Thank you, Madam Chair. John, you and I talked today about delegate reads, HB 1822 on advanced conducting of power lines over 230 KV. My understanding is that cleared committee today and it does not have to go to a probes, is that correct, do you know that?

[04:25:21] - Yes, that's correct. - Okay, I'm gonna be making, I thought it would be in the package, the supplemental tonight, it's not, and I kind of scratched my head as to why it wasn't in the supplemental, And then I realized you can't put it in the supplemental. The board has no position on it. It wasn't a bill that we were tracking, and it's not about data centers, so it's not in the data center section.

[04:25:42] And so I completely understand, and that's fine. I would like to make a motion. It's on the fly, and I apologize to my colleagues, especially to the chair. I know how that's frowned upon. But this is a very, very important bill, and I think with all six new power lines coming into Loudoun County, I think I've got to ask for a courtesy second from Supervisor DeCrony.

[04:26:02] I just want to explain what's going on, and then the board can do what they want to do with it. We're not there yet, though. We're not at motions yet. I know that. I'm just kind of giving a preface as to what's going on here. But the bill is 1822 by Delegate Reed, and it has to do with advanced conducting.

[04:26:19] Thank you. Speaking to what Ms. Bricksman asked, Ms. Reeser's bill is not only just an affordable housing bill, It's affordable housing for assisted living bill, and I have to believe that there's somewhere in our Ledge program that we can put the support of that bill under somewhere, and I think, if I'm not mistaken, Ms. Bricksman from Wrongs, correct me, she's asking that question because we go down to NACO tomorrow, and so if that bill is going to be supported, we don't have to write anything up.

[04:26:52] We used to say that we have support of assisted living bill for affordable housing, affordable housing assisted living bill, which is, of course, you know, people who are elderly. But so, you know, we'll all land on you tomorrow, John, your assignment between now and then to find out if there's anywhere in our LEDS program, but that can be, we can reasonably say we support that.

[04:27:20] And I do hear what my colleagues are saying. You know, we make our ledge program before all the bills are dropped. And so you do a ledge program. We try to make it as general as possible. But then you have bills that we would support, but that are a little more narrow.

[04:27:38] An affordable housing assisted living bill is narrow, but it's something that had we known was going to be there or thought about, we would support it. because we have been the county, the leading county that has supported attainable homes. I can't, I'd be hard pressed to believe we would say we support attainable homes, except if it's assisted living.

[04:27:57] So I think that probably we can bend and support that bill as well. But I did see your supplemental. John, tell us how you do this supplemental, because if you're talking to, I almost said therapist, if you're talking to supervisors, and they, if somebody believes something's in the supplemental, they're probably not going to send this out a motion.

[04:28:27] I mean, I am cringing that Mr. Turner will make a motion that we don't have, but I think he's being really kind. I think he actually thought that after the talk, it would be included in the supplemental, so that's why he didn't do anything with it. Tell us how you make those decisions, just so my colleagues will know what to send out and what to give me, and so we know what's coming in advance.

[04:28:50] Absolutely. So I think, you know, generally this supplemental in particular was difficult for staff, you know, and I want to thank staff for, you know, really, you know, hunkering down and helping with the review of these bills.

[04:29:11] You know, in regards to the timing, just to back up of the JLARC report and looking through these bills, which if you combine the House and Senate companion bills, it's about 40 data center bills.

[04:29:27] The ideology behind this was to group all of the data center bills so that the board could make the decisions on the bills in a streamlined way, seeing as there's so many.

[04:29:45] and a lot of them quite frankly you know some of them fall outside of the report itself uh some of them are some concerns that they're hearing from their community um and some problems that uh you know take on a aspect of but again going back having an aspect of some things they're hearing from the community so that was the ideology that went behind this middle in particular um i do want to back up as well the research bill when we were reviewing the bills that uh

[04:30:23] the county has positions on we did know the affordable housing bill for support so my apologies i didn't have that right in front of me that is something that we noted for support so we can do that tomorrow then okay um did you want to go on because we have i think three or four motions on the dais do you have anything else mr mr freeman no you did okay all right um all right

[04:30:50] all right uh god so um i'm going to go to miss brixman first because i think she sent her out first to be quite honest i think she sent her out first and i think we have the most information on that so i'm going to go to miss brixman's first miss brixman would you like to make now what what What we're saying right now, just to kind of level set everybody, is these are things

[04:31:27] that were, well, most of these are things that were dropped since we had our Ledge meetings. And so they came online, they were filed after our Ledge meeting because the filing date for bills, people I think are getting the pre-filing date mixed up with the filing date.

[04:31:47] So there were bills filed after our Ledge session that we might still want to support. We just didn't see them before and we didn't talk about them before. So some of these are bills that we now see that have been filed and people are going, oh my gosh, I want to support that bill. And you really can't do that without board guidance.

[04:32:07] So that's what we're doing right now. Ms. Brixman. Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that the Board of Supervisors direct staff to include HB 1939 tangible personal property tax electric landscaping equipment to the 2025 legislative program as a bill the board that the board of supervisors has found in attachment one of the january 22nd 2025 board of supervisors business meeting action item who second that i think it was okay yeah so um thank you madam chair um and thanks thank you colleagues for considering this um so you may recall that

[04:32:44] there was a bill last year in the general assembly to outright ban gas powered landscaping equipment including leaf blowers and weed whackers and those sorts of things it failed and then I said something at our retreat about maybe the county getting authority to ban them and nobody was up for that so and I understand it would really put a lot of pressure and and burden on our businesses um who do that kind of work so um in working with delegate reed um we did some research and also i worked with commissioner wurtz on this um what it what this bill does is get it creates a new

[04:33:21] classification in the code for um electric and battery powered landscaping equipment to use a broad term and then localities will have the authority it's not a mandate it's not an unfunded mandate, localities would have the authority to set that tax rate lower to incentivize the landscaping companies to convert their equipment from gas to electric or battery. So that's kind of the background. In other words, it's a carrot. It's not a stick. It's kind of similar to what we're doing with the car tax in FY26. We now have the authority to set a different car tax, so we're setting it lower to provide tax relief.

[04:34:01] It's sort of along those lines. So I look at this as an environmental bill. I've received a number of complaints from constituents over the years about this type of equipment creating noise and pollution and those sorts of things, and we did some research. And actually, this type of equipment produces up to 5% of emissions across the nation.

[04:34:23] And there's different stats out there, but running a lawnmower for about an hour, a gas-powered lawnmower for about an hour is equivalent to driving a car for several hundred miles. I spoke with two large landscaping companies in the county, and they both said, you know, they wouldn't oppose it because it's not forcing them to do anything. They really are interested in these sort of more environmentally friendly equipment. They want to do it. They've tried it. In the county itself, we have actually are converting. I talked to Mr. Brown, and we have, If we haven't converted all of them, we're working on converting all of our equipment, so it's workable.

[04:35:00] And the Commissioners of Revenue State Association is not going to take a position on this bill, so they're not going to oppose it. They think basically it's fine, they're not going to oppose it, they're not going to support it either way. And then lastly, we got in touch with the National Association of Landscape Professionals, who actually support the transition from gas-powered landscaping equipment to electric.

[04:35:22] So, again, it's just an option. I would love for the board to be supporting this for environmental reasons and as an incentive to our businesses rather than, you know, a threat to our businesses that we're going to ban them. Thank you. Thank you.

[04:35:38] I just want to make sure of something. So you're not saying, and this bill would not say, that if you do have a gas-powered whatever, that there would be any – the incentive – there would not be any extra taxes on somebody, that they're not paying now?

[04:35:57] Absolutely not. No. They would stay at the regular personal property tax rate. Or if they get new equipment, they would be, potentially, if we decide, they would be at a lower personal property, similar to the car tax. They would be at a lower rate. Hold on, because you're wrong with my time.

[04:36:13] I'm sorry. So they either stay where they are right now, or they will go lower. But there will be no tax. No punishment. No punishment. So if somebody bought some new equipment two weeks ago, and it won't, and it has a five-year life left in it, there would be no financial implications, negative financial implications for them having gas-powered equipment.

[04:36:33] Exactly. Is that correct? Okay. Which is what a ban would do. Okay. All right. Mr. Letourneau. Yeah, Mr. Wertz isn't here, and so this question is really for him. I'm just fascinated by the notion that we collect, how much we actually collect on these. I think this is something that's self-reported.

[04:36:51] It is. I have the answer from him yesterday. yeah i saw that um but and he gave the number but that's not really what i'm asking what i don't know if we have any way like how do they determine whether somebody has 10 lawnmowers or not and if it's self-reported is there any check on that in other words are all these are all these landscaping companies actually paying the property tax on all this equipment or not and do we have any way of knowing or not or is it just solely self-reported and we collected and whoever chooses to pay my point being i don't have any problem with this but it's not going to be terribly effective

[04:37:30] if no one's paying anyway today you know you want to read the answer he said it's 2.8 million i think no owners of the business equipments are ready to clear the property to my office so as you say they declare yeah i know they declared it but i mean i don't know this isn't like the dmv where there's a registration so we have no idea somebody could have 50 somebody have 10 they may declare eight they have 32 we don't know so i'd be curious just about that because i think it this would not be terribly effective like i said if if a lot of these aren't actually being paid and

[04:38:04] collected so i think it's okay to you know move forward tonight but perhaps somebody can follow up with mr warts on that one anybody else madam yes ma'am um and i support this um i am um part of i go to the clean air partners um committee and um they talk a lot about um you know what we can do for to you know to make our air you know our environment cleaner and they do give um incentives

[04:38:44] by giving away electric lawnmowers, electric weed, yes, weed whackers and the leaf blowers.

[04:38:59] So, you know, we know that there is a problem, and I think if we can have some sort of incentive for people to change instead of using gas equipment, I think that's all the better.

[04:39:15] - Thank you, Madam Chair. - Anybody else? Check a closing? I think you're good. - Thank you, Madam Chair. I did just want to address what Supervisor Letourneau said and that is we really don't know until the classification is created and the devil will be in the details if we decide to do this.

[04:39:36] I'm sure we'll have a long discussion about it. Thank you, Madam Chair. - Thank you. Okay, Ms. Bricksman made the motion. Supervisor Glass, second the motion. All in favor, please say aye. - Aye. - Anybody opposed? That motion will pass 8-0-1. All right, next motion on the dais.

[04:39:54] Mr. Sainz, you have a motion on the dais, right? No, okay. Mr. -- you have a -- you have a -- yeah, that's a packet motion. Well, that was the -- yeah, that's right. Mr. Turner, you don't have a motion on the dais because we thought it might have been included in supplemental.

[04:40:12] Mr. Freeman just walked through why that didn't happen, but I'm going to second your motion understand what you're what we're saying but you want to make your motion sir thank you madam chair i move the board of supervisors direct staff to include hb 1822 electric utilities construction of electrical transmission lines advanced conductors to the 2025 legislative program as a bill that the board supports as found an attachment one of the january 22nd 2025 board of supervisors business meeting action item i guess i guess i didn't have to second

[04:40:49] yes okay thank you madam chair my sincere apologies to the chair and to my colleagues for the short notice on this the fact that it didn't come up mr freeman called me earlier today and asked me where we were on 1822 very briefly i said i'd check and its delegate reads bill the bill requires advanced conductors to be used in any new transmission lines built over 230 kilovolts or higher and to replace any existing transmission lines that need replacement of 69 kilovolts or higher with advanced conductors. Advanced conductors increase the capacity of

[04:41:27] existing transmission lines by 50 to 90 percent depending on the type of the advanced conductor. We have six new transmission lines coming into Loudoun County between now and 2028. it is absolutely essential that all of those lines be advanced conductored it's essential this bill would require the utilities to advance conductor these lines coming in the reason this happened is because we mr freeman and i agreed we could include it in the supplemental i could speak to it and then i looked through the supplemental because it didn't show up in the supplemental and i realized he had no place to put it it's not a data center bill doesn't talk

[04:42:04] about data centers it talks about electricity transmission lines and it's not any existing bills or subjects that our bills cover and so it would be impossible to anticipate this bill it's a new bill by delegate reed i really do believe it's essential and and if it goes down it goes down because of the short notice and i apologize to everybody again but i think it's so important that we support this bill because i think it's essential for us moving forward thank you madam chair. Thank you, Ms. Umstead. Thank you, Madam Chair. If I could ask a question through the

[04:42:35] chair to Vice Chair Turner. Do we know the cost implications for rate payers if this passes? Yes and no. Dominion has informed me, the Vice President of Transmissions at Dominion informed me months ago that they are already advanced conducting their lines. They've already factored in ACSS lines, which is a 1970s technology, as the cheapest option to advance conductor of the lines, and they are already in the process of doing that.

[04:43:11] This bill would simply require them for all future replacements or new lines to continue to do what they're already doing. All right. Thank you. Mr. Letourneau? Well, I was going to ask Mr. Reiser or staff sort of the same version of that question, which is, is there, I assume these cost more.

[04:43:31] Are they doing it anyway, and does staff have any position on this? I don't know if staff has a position formally, because we haven't reviewed the bill yet. Advanced conductoring, I think, is very important where possible.

[04:43:48] My only concern is that advanced conductoring is about twice the price as traditional power lines, and so I don't know what the impact is long-term for ratepayers. But in order to meet capacity, I think every little bit helps, and I think that this is something that where the power company thinks appropriate, they should be doing.

[04:44:13] Okay, and what exactly does the bill do? It requires any new lines of 230 kV or higher to use advanced conductor material, probably aluminum conductor steel-supported lines, which is the 1970s technology.

[04:44:29] and it requires any line over 69 kilovolts or higher that has to be replaced for any reason to be replaced with advanced conductor lines. Does it actually require it? Yes. I'm trying to look at it now. It looks like it lets the SCC consider it. I read the summary right before we come up here and I thought I saw the word require in there. There is a substitute for the bill. Oh, the bill changed yes and it says shall it says what uh mr letourneau just said that it's sort of changed

[04:45:05] to be the sec should encourage the use of the conductors well of course well he's still in his time still all right and i don't i'm not being on you mr turner because no no i know that i know this is a problem when we it was a substantive bill and it's less substantive now big surprise Um, so I don't know that I object to it.

[04:45:28] I don't know that I, I know much about it to, to, I mean, as I said, I was just glancing at it here. Um, maybe I'll just abstain. I think it sounds like we should be encouraging this. I just don't know whether they're doing it already or what. And I, I tend to think that Dominion will weigh in heavily one way or the other on this bill.

[04:45:49] And, um, yeah, well, maybe this is compromised language that will be supported. So I don't know. But it would be good to know exactly what the bill is before we vote on it. Ms. Bricksman. I'm sorry, Mr. Sains. Thank you.

[04:46:06] Vice Chair, through the question of Vice Chair Turner, with that update that we just received, would you be in favor of amending your motion to say track? And so we can have some more dialogue. And at least it's on our radar, on staff's radar, we can track and get some more questions and monitor it as it goes through.

[04:46:27] uh uh no i'm gonna stick with my bill and it's and it's not it's so important and even though it's it if this change is is taking place and it's become a watered down bill and that's okay um yeah i i want to stay with what i've got okay reason why i say that because if it yeah if it's now may or shall that's very watered down it's just giving them the option and we know what they're going to do they're going to go the opposite way and say oh it's too expensive we're

[04:47:04] going to do that we're going to go over here yeah and i understand your intent i really do and it's a it's a softer approach um tracking it means that we're going to have to take this vote at some point down the line anyway because it's that important of an issue and i i just soon not kick began okay and the reason why i say because like again if this language is watered down to me it doesn't have much teeth and so i think tracking it we can go and you know fight it and hopefully get some stronger language in there instead of just blanking supporting it because if it's watered down again to something that you're you know it gets watered down some more when we don't support it then we're gonna have to take

[04:47:42] another vote to either take it out or we have a watered down version of a bill that we don't really support so that yeah that's suggestion but I I would say support it or don't support it for two reasons one we're going to the general assembly tomorrow if we're going to support it we're going to support it tomorrow if we track it we're tracking it whenever right and and this is a short session so they may water down more they may not but we're going to adjourn assembly tomorrow secondly i mean even though it's watered down which i i heard miss briggsman's comment and that's probably true to

[04:48:21] me and i already got to somebody even though that is true it's still we're still trying to show our intent and i think our intent that what we're trying to show is important um and we didn't we we can't control whether it's watered down but i think to say we're going to track a watered down bill to see if it gets more watered down really doesn't show like we have any any any dog in that fight at all to be honest so i so if we're going to support it we're going to support it or not we're not but i definitely wouldn't support just tracking it when we when we can be at the general somebody tomorrow and say that we support it.

[04:48:58] It's like a closing. Very quickly, I'd like to associate myself with the chair's comments. I think this bill is going to get fought pretty hard, so it could get unwatered down pretty quickly, because I think the delegates understand how important this bill is. So I'm comfortable staying with my motion and let it pass or fail based on its merits as it stands right now to the chair's point.

[04:49:21] We've got to go down and talk about it tomorrow, and I think this is a good one to talk about. Thank you. Okay, the motion was made by Mr. Turner, seconded by Mr. Crony. All the people say aye. Aye. Opposed? Nay.

[04:49:37] And abstain. So I think that was, I don't know what that was, 5211? Is that what that was? Is that right? Is that right? I think that's 5211. Okay. Oh, got that right. Never get that right.

[04:49:53] Are there other motions on the dais? Are there other motions on the day that's going once, going twice? Because that was pretty good for us. Not bad. Madam Chair, I do have a point of inquiry. Yes.

[04:50:10] You know, seriously, you never do, so I'm like, yeah. Well, maybe I'm just getting old, which I am. But in my recollection, when there are bills that are brought forward that comply with the board's position, the board doesn't usually vote on all those individual bills.

[04:50:28] assumption is just that we support them we do that is correct i think i think that's absolutely correct and i've said that already i think that these bills didn't fit in anywhere particularly we were trying to figure out so the bills that are in this motion don't aren't consistent with board guidance because they look like they are to me which motion the this the the supplemental or the ones we just did no oh the packet motion of the list of bills to support there's a there's like a baseline um i i think some do and some don't i think the bills become much more specific

[04:51:04] than our guidance which can be kind of general um in in in general i would also say that you know and you know this because you you know this there are a lot of bills here we're not going to go talk about every single one of those bills so we're trying to figure out like which ones we really want to highlight a little bit more tomorrow and that's why yeah it's also been an interesting year. Okay I mean it says rationale for position through the legislative program as if but okay. So yeah okay so with those two bills added Mr. Sains as other part of the ledge team

[04:51:40] would you like to make a motion tonight including the bills we just did? Yes I move that the board of supervisors approve staff recommended positions and the bills that were just approved this evening to support, well, let me back up.

[04:51:56] I removed that the Board of Supervisors approve staff recommended positions to support or oppose legislation as found in attachments one and two of the January 22, 2025 Board of Supervisors business meeting supplementation item and support, and as amended, the bills that were approved this evening.

[04:52:16] Second. Would you like to have an opening on that? No, thank you to our staff. thank you to uh our colleagues and uh okay a couple things so so so yes yes thank you just a quick question for mr freeman mr freeman we are opposing um any bill that would uh repeal the tax incentives for data centers for region 8 specifically uh not only that we're also opposing any bills that places any conditions on receiving the sales and use tax exemption okay thank you you very much. I appreciate all the work staff has done. I just wanted to say that I really

[04:52:56] appreciate, and I hope I run into some of these folks down there, but there are a lot of bills about education funding, and specifically the SOQs. Sorry, did I say SOQ? Yes, standard, yeah. And so I really appreciate those. There's a number of bills pertaining to child care supplements and I really appreciate all of those bills for the assistance on child care and subsidies and lastly I'm really proud to see in our excuse me in the report the couple of bills that we are supporting on reproductive rights specifically the freedom to access reproductive

[04:53:34] health care and contraception thank you thank you Mr. Letourneau yeah I have been pretty consistent that i don't think those bills belong in our legislative program and so since this is an embank motion i will not support uh i don't mr letourneau i i think we've already no there's there's a whole bunch in here okay okay that's that's why i was asking the question earlier because in the past i haven't had to do this yeah because i thought we've already done it basically but we don't.

[04:54:09] Yeah, I hear what you're saying. Well, the problem is, and you're right, but the board did decide to put them in there, right? They did, so why do we have to vote again? Because not all of them, and I think that's the thing. I think it's not all of them, so, yeah.

[04:54:27] But I think that this is something we can talk to Mr. Freeman about tomorrow. I wish you were going to be joining us, but we can have that discussion. A couple things in my closing, which I'm just now starting, which I'm just now starting. First of all, I am never going to make a position on a bill that's completely in another county.

[04:54:47] The casino bill is completely in Fairfax County in every way. It literally says an area. It almost says an address for Fairfax County and an amount. It would be completely, I mean, I don't even know what I would say to Jeff McKay or any of my colleagues and other places if Loudoun weighs in on a bill that's in their county, and I would not appreciate if they did that to us.

[04:55:11] So we don't do that. That's the first thing. Secondly, I'm going to remind my colleagues that no one person can go out and advocate for a bill or for anything in representing the county in any way because it hasn't come to this board first.

[04:55:28] Just going to put that out there in general. Thirdly, I would say, let me help you guys get through tomorrow, The ledge team met. When we get there tomorrow, Jonathan will have who is going to where, to what legislator, and at what time, and in general, what we're going to be discussing.

[04:55:46] Now, if you get there and you know that there's something that is absolutely in our package and you want to have that discussion as well, go for it. Absolutely go for it. But we did try to figure out, you know, who is most knowledgeable on this subject or that subject, whose legislator covers this area or that area.

[04:56:04] So that's what we tried to do as we set the -- as Jonathan and Chris and Mr. Sains and I set the set up tomorrow. So for the people going down the night, you won't have that in your hand tonight, but when we -- but we will get together tomorrow.

[04:56:21] So Ms. Bricksman, when you and I come out of Baco for directors, we can get that information. That's how that looks tomorrow. There's also always an effort when, and Jonathan becomes kind of, you know, the Pied Piper down there, kind of leads us around, tells us what we're doing next.

[04:56:37] There's always an effort to, if we can, go see the Speaker of the House. Go see the head of the Senate. Go see people who are not even in our delegation if we think that they're going to be helpful. For instance, Alfonso Lopez has been very helpful with the Oak Hill bill. That he's been, he's like taken that up and he's been very helpful with that even though he's not in our in our in our delegation so we try to do that and thank people and all those types of things so we we have a plan tomorrow i'd like to see if the plan can last for 15 minutes before it falls all apart if we can do that i would really appreciate it for everyone going down there

[04:57:14] in the morning thank you very much and um uh the motion was the motion has been made and seconded Um, Mr. Letourne, would you like to abstain, or would you like to say vote no?

[04:57:29] Okay. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, that motion will pass, and Mr. Letourne will vote no. Jonathan, we do have to talk, because this is not fair to Mr. Letourne and Mr. Kirchner to have to vote against the whole program, because there is these things that they hold.

[04:57:51] And so we've got to figure out how to do that, how to do supplementals, and so this doesn't have to happen because it's just not the message is not the message we want to have as a board and it's actually kind of not fair to them so when we come back down tomorrow we'll talk about how to do supplementals so that this doesn't happen again okay and Mr. Turner I apologize because that shouldn't happen like that okay um we're getting there we're getting here we're getting here Ms. Bricksman wants to see one more item before she leaves um huh so let's go on and do item number seven um i'm sorry to for the bus service people because i know you want to get

[04:58:30] out of here but i've got to get these people out the door who need to start driving item number seven was on consent it came off um because because and that's fine that's fine but i don't think we need anything else anything else on the item i think everyone knows the item we know what the item is it's just mr letourneau took it off consent for i think fairly valid reasons to be quite honest um and so uh does anyone need anything nothing's new

[04:59:03] correct okay so so the problem is i can go to a motion but then i go to his motion it's literally an opposite motion so that would be ridiculous no he would make a motion i wasn't going to make a motion you just want to vote against it well no that's cool no i was gonna if if there is no motion it would stay status quo which is the intersection improvement program right so yeah okay and i understand so i'm going to make a motion mr brixman yes the answer thank you madam

[04:59:38] chair um i apologize what what number is it again it's item number seven thank you i got it yes um okay uh i got it i move the board of supervisors endorse the design and construction of a traffic signal at the intersection of cascades parkway and esterbrook circle and corkwood drive in the the Algonquian Electric District, as described in the January 22nd, 2025 Board of Supervisors Business Meeting Action Item, and the inclusion of this project in a future capital improvement

[05:00:15] program budget process for consideration and prioritization. Motion made, is there a second? Motion made and seconded by Mr. Crony. Discussion on the motion, Ms. Brixman? Thank you, Madam Chair. So we've voted on this already a couple of times to do the, I brought a BMI, we did the research, and then we also put up $44,000 for this signal warrant study, if I'm saying that correctly, and so this arose because there's an elementary school on the east side

[05:00:52] of Cascades Parkway, which is a 45-mile-an-hour divided road, and on the west side, there is a good number of apartments, and the families there want to be able to walk their kids to elementary school, and it's really an unsafe place to cross.

[05:01:09] The tunnel's way down in the opposite direction, like you would not expect an elementary school student to walk as far as that tunnel is, to get under Cascades Parkway. So this is just moving that project forward, putting, I believe it's just putting it in the CIP as a future project, is that correct, Mr. Moserick?

[05:01:31] - Yes, yes, that's what the motion would do. Okay. And would this project jump ahead of anything in the Intersection Improvement Program if it goes into a future CIP list, future project in the CIP? I don't believe the motion speaks to that. It's just to move it to a future CIP process.

[05:01:49] Okay. And how do projects from the Intersection Improvement Program get into the CIP? Those projects come through in various rounds based on the analysis done with each round. rank five intersections is where we are currently okay and that'll continue with the forthcoming round okay so it's staff recommendation as to which intersection should go next based on um data yes serious yes i know you guys do a lot of studying of all that okay okay thank you that's all i have i would like my colleague's support on this thank you mr letourneau so i guess i'm

[05:02:26] wondering what the point of the motion is if it doesn't prioritize the project at all it would simply go when it would go in the intersection improvement program which is this is a this is a level one intersection so it's at the bottom of the list there's like hundreds if not thousands of intersections that are ranked higher i forget how many are in this thing total so it's realistic to say this is not going to rise at the at the rate we're going which is not so fast it is a rank one and i think um one of the the response one of the reasons for the motion is the to have the

[05:03:03] endorsement of the traffic signal there were other intersections that were considered by VDOT but the signal was the county's preferred option and that's the one that's been approved by VDOT for the traffic control with the location but it it just moves the it endorses the signal and then moves the funding to a future CIP without any other specification okay so we had a similar circumstance with the destiny drive corridor study projects where I tried to get funding for a signal which was recommended and it meant warrant but it

[05:03:43] was not a category 5 either and the board said to me no we did not take this step staff did not recommend that we do that and endorse the signal on that project should we go back and do that if that's what we're going to do here to be consistent i mean i don't believe there was a issue with the type of traffic control with that location the signal was what um but that is a higher rank was there issue is there issue here

[05:04:19] um i think the signal is is the appropriate traffic control based on our and you thought it was a destiny drive too it is as well yes but we didn't make the motion for destiny drive you see i'm just trying to understand the consistency with how we're handling these this seems inconsistent with what we would normally do i'll let you off the hook but i think it is inconsistent so um i don't i don't object like in theory but it it has you know it has to go through the process

[05:04:58] so you know i don't and i don't know that there's any value to the motion then it's going to get considered when it comes up as the part of the intersection program whether we pass the motion or not so yeah um mr uh turner thank you madam chair my intersection was waxpool road and nashburn road and um we have a four-way stop sign and i started the process three years ago and the answer i got was no you're out of turn you got to get in line and i understand that um so i'll be voting no

[05:05:37] on this not to play gotcha but because i'm completely blown away with how we're determining which intersections get traffic lights and which ones don't i think there's a compelling case that this ought to have a traffic light and a crosswalk and and exactly as is proposed except i made that case and supervisor made that case i think the disconnect if i'm if i read the item correctly is the warrant for the traffic light was based on meeting four of nine factors the first three of those were traffic volume and the fourth one was proximity to a school the only criteria as i

[05:06:13] understand it for ranking intersection priorities is number of crashes over a period of time those are two completely different sets of variables to determine priority and so we're comparing apples and oranges with these traffic lights i think there are no and i think if we're going to redo the traffic priority list somehow we need to coalesce how we're determining who gets a traffic light and who doesn't versus which is an unsafe intersection that has to be fixed which may or may not include a traffic light because i think there's a fairly good case that this should be a traffic light as there should be on destiny drive as there should be on waxpool and ashburn and and it just seems to be a roll of the dice as to which one gets the approval of the board

[05:06:53] and which one doesn't i tend to agree this will go to the cip it'll get ranked in the pot all the others and i expect it'll kind of go to the land of forgotten fruit where a lot of the others have gone and only because we have so many of these intersections that we want to try and improve and we just have limited resources and we can't we can't get to them all but i just have a thing about jumping somebody in line at this point haven't haven't seen this movie before and staff please i'm lecturing if you have any comments please feel free so the intersection improvement program we do a county-wide review on a periodic basis we started the first round review in 2017

[05:07:33] uh we identified 20 intersections of ranking five uh then the second round was done in 2020 and we identified roughly seven or eight at ranking five intersections the third round was 2022 we identified 20 intersections third seven of them roughly um were part of a cip project that's already in a system, in a pipeline to be done, or it was going to be completed or addressed by a developer.

[05:08:09] So as a result, only 13 are being studied today. And at some point, sometime this year, we're going to report back to the board on the results of those 13 intersections. This intersection here, Cascades, Estabrook, and Corkwood Drive, the reason that it is in front of you, in front of us tonight is because there was, like Supervisor Brisbane mentioned, there were complaints by the residents of Potomac Lakes about the safety of crossing at this intersection. Many students that attend the Potomac Elementary School and their parents

[05:08:48] cross this intersection throughout the school year. Even though those students are bused to the school, some students and parents choose to cross this intersection. Cascades Parkway from Route 7 all the way up to Algonquin Parkway is Potomac Lakes community, and they're divided by Cascades Parkway. So many of the residents crosses Cascades Parkway to access the amenities of the neighborhood. And Potomac Lakes is part of the Lowes Island community, and roughly the

[05:09:25] entire community is governed by the Cascades Community Association. There's roughly 6,500 residents within that community. This complaint was started, or the complaint of the safety at this location, we received it back in 2016.

[05:09:48] It was even prior to Supervisor Brisbane coming onto the board. Loudoun County Public Schools was part of the review of this intersection, but unfortunately, they can't really do anything about it because really, the students on the other side of this intersection, they're already being bussed to the elementary schools.

[05:10:07] So they felt that they didn't really have an issue because students should not be crossing at this location anyway, nor the parents. So we reached out to VIDA. VIDA conducted a warrant analysis, a signal warrant analysis in 2021, and it was deemed that it was warranted for a signal, but as part of a VDOT guidance, an SJR, signal justification report had to be completed.

[05:10:33] And that was the initiation of the board member initiative that Supervisor Brisbane brought forward in 2022. And as a result of that, this DTCI, we were directed to proceed with that review is a further analysis to determine what type of other alternatives that could be initiated or installed at that location.

[05:10:56] and we reviewed all kinds of alternative situations. We looked at roundabouts, we looked at arc cuts, we looked at through cuts, we even looked at other installation of pedestrian hybrid beacons at that intersection, and even rectangular rapid flashing beacons as well.

[05:11:15] And as a result of our conversations with VDOT for about a year, roughly, took us about a year to get to an understanding and an agreement that a signal is the best option at this location.

[05:11:31] And that's how we got to-- - Mr. Mozarek, thank you. Mr. Mozarek, do you have anything to add? - No, nothing to add. I think that was very good context. The length of time that we've received complaints about this particular location, and that's just some unique circumstances at this intersection.

[05:11:49] So this is a level one, correct? Correct. Destiny drive is what? Rank two. So it's a higher level of risk, destiny drive. But that is ranking in the intersection improvement program, Chair Randall, is five.

[05:12:05] It's five. Right. So it's a higher ranking. Correct. Destiny drive is a higher ranking. Correct. Mr. Turner, do you remember what yours was? I don't remember. Put your light on. Put your light on. Put your light. It's just one question. It's just a question. I don't remember.

[05:12:20] I don't remember the record. Okay, okay. So this is the thing. This is why I do not like CIP because I hate feeling like I'm choosing between colleagues. And the only way I can make a choice is to say, is to use the numbers we have. If this is a one and this was a two, this doesn't make any sense to me.

[05:12:38] I understand that people are complaining, but people complain with Mr. Turner as well. And, Ms. Bricksman, how far is the tunnel? It's hard to say because they aren't, like, technically blocks, but it's probably.

[05:12:57] Do you guys know how far the tunnel is? How far is the tunnel? It's pretty far. A mile. Yeah. A mile? Yeah. Well, then that's not even an option. So I remember this before when it came up before because I remember Mr. Bona said, we don't want people crossing a four-lane-divided highway.

[05:13:16] I remember that so well. So we don't want to do this and this and this because we want to discourage people from crossing a four-lane divided highway. Remember that really well. Our system is doing some stuff tonight. Is there a crossing guard there when school is happening?

[05:13:37] No, it's not. Okay, hold on. Okay, that's the answer. Is there a crossing guard? Do you need a crossing guard? Is it yours by a school? No, it's not a pedestrian. Not a pedestrian. Do you know for yours? So I think this is hard because it is apples and oranges.

[05:13:52] It is. It's not the same thing. But for me, as the chair who represents every single person in the county, I just don't know how I say okay to a level one that we didn't say okay to for a level two.

[05:14:08] Even given the history that you just gave, even though people are complaining. Mr. Letourneau, did you get complaints? Oh, yeah. Okay. Mr. Letourneau, did you get complaints? So there are complaints all around. So just the complaints alone, okay, it's just, I feel like I need to abstain on this because nothing I do is going to feel right.

[05:14:31] But it just doesn't, I don't see the logic of doing, I don't see the logic of having a ranking system if we're not going to use the ranking system. Chair Randall. Yes, sir. May I help with this? Please, please help with this. So this project is one of the projects that's kind of out there still that predates the ranking system.

[05:14:51] And so it had a BMI that was attached to it, which pulled it out of the ranking system to direct us to... But it did get ranked. We still had... So the board, over time, had all of these BMIs out there with all of these intersections.

[05:15:08] And then we came back, or maybe it was a board member in itself, i don't remember exactly how we were told to take all these intersections and rank them and so lisa did a great job of of kind of giving that history going back to 2017 when we started ranking intersections but we still over over the years still had some intersections and some board members bring board member initiatives outside of that program to have some intersections looked at and so this is one of those that is still kind of out there so what the motion does is it is it does two things one it directs it back to its ranking

[05:15:48] system so it'll be brought up when it's appropriate to be brought up as part of a future round because it's it's it's now we disposed of it right so we don't have a bmi that's hanging out there that the board hasn't done something with and so otherwise what would happen is we'd have to study and then the project would just be there waiting for some board action because the board told us to go study this intersection and then return back to the board so that's the last direction we received via the board member initiative which is go study it bring it back to the board so we now

[05:16:24] are bringing it back to the board what we're suggesting is one one difference because we have studied it if you recall we brought the finance i want to say towards the end of 2024 An item directly about the intersection improvement program where VDOT's process about how they place mitigation of intersections, how they look at it, they change the process.

[05:16:51] I want to say 2019 or 2020, somewhere in there. And so what we have now is an official determination from VDOT that a traffic signal is the appropriate solution for this whenever we get to it.

[05:17:08] It now goes back into regular prioritization of the ranking system. Whenever we get to it, we have a VDOT finding, because we don't control those solutions, VDOT does. We have a VDOT finding that the traffic signal is the appropriate mitigation for this intersection.

[05:17:25] However, in the VDOT process, we're required to get the board's endorsement, because it means something within the VDOT process. So that's what we're asking for, is for the board to endorse it. because i think i might be able so what we're saying just to make sure because he said his was a five by the way he found his ranking number was a five we're saying that when this comes up in the proper order we're we have said v dot has said it needs a signal correct that's all we're saying but it's not jumping any proper order of anything else that's correct yeah we gotta feel

[05:17:59] we do this so okay miss christman would you like a closing okay she doesn't okay everyone's clear that I'm not this is not jumping the line okay I guess I don't need a closing thank you I'm not sure why you're frustrated this is a hard thing to understand and you did not make a good case for it so you know thank Tim Kaine Tim Kaine thank Tim M. Street who made a great great case because we weren't clear what you were trying to say exactly what I was going to say in my closing well he did it you did my closing for me thank you thank you all right so who made the second

[05:18:38] Laura. Thank you, Ms. Briggsman. Motion made by Ms. Briggsman, seconded by Mr. Crony. All people say aye. Opposed? Nay. You're aye. Okay. So that's one, two, three, four, five ayes. Two abstaining. One nay and two abstaining. Yep. No, two abstaining. Yes, it passed.

[05:19:17] Madam Chair, can we do disclosures? Let's do disclosures and, and, and, let's do disclosures and, um, appointments. So if you have an appointment, put your light on, and let's do disclosures and appointments. Ms. Bricksman, I mean, Ms. Glass, do you have appointments?

[05:19:35] Yes, Madam Chair. Wait, wait, don't walk away if you have disclosures. I don't. Do you have any appointments? Okay, see you tomorrow. Don't, don't. Uh, um, see you tomorrow. Don't you want to leave, too? You have disclosures.

[05:19:51] Okay. Okay. Drive safe. yes okay thank you madam chair i i nominate mr julian jenkins for appointment to the broad run seat on the community criminal justice board i nominate mr kevin keisters from a for appointment for an at-large seat on the board of equalization okay mr mr um turner thank you madam chair i nominate lisa mcgrail to the parks recreation and open space board to fill the ashburn district

[05:20:25] representative position mr letourneau i nominate um ancor obiri as the dull assistive representative on the animal advisory committee um and i nominate michael strickland to the at-large seat on the animal advisory committee if you have disclosures please put your light on so we can do those right now too oh yes uh i started down there before mr letourneau on january 9th i met with ron meyer of rma doug fleet tj severe and liz nicholson of american real estate partners to discuss our cola

[05:21:04] grove legy 2023 0071 to be a little bit more specific the substation application that's coming and pending related to that project okay miss um madam shares this disclosures and board comments yes all right uh disclosure um on january 17th i had a phone call with charles yud about greenland

[05:21:38] park i wanted to point out in relation to some of the comments that were made by some speakers tonight that far from being an apartheid regime israel allows arab citizens muslim citizens christian citizens as well as jewish citizens to have full voting rights representation in government and equal access to public services calling israel an apartheid state trivializes the suffering of

[05:22:18] those who actually endured apartheid i would like to um say this to those folks who are in this country legally but are immigrants. I would recommend, given the news stories out of Washington, that all immigrants who are here legally, or certainly those who have become naturalized U.S. citizens, that they keep their paperwork, copies of their passport, naturalization

[05:22:55] papers and I-9 forms close at hand, especially if they work day-to-day with the immigrant community. That way, if there is a raid by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a U.S. citizen who might get accidentally swept up in the raid can prove that they are a citizen or legal resident and should released I would like to correct a couple of errors that were made in

[05:23:34] comments when I report on how how much it costs what the cost to the schools is of a new residential development I am looking at the staff report and the numbers I quote are from the staff report and those numbers are provided by the school system and so when you see 45 additional students the school system ascribes to each one of those students its average cost for educating a student so in this case we're a little over

[05:24:13] twenty thousand dollars a year in annual cost to educate students if you take 45 students times $20,000 a year, you get an operational cost every year of about $900,000. I just wanted to clarify that is where my numbers come from. I finally would like to clarify, I think, an innocent mistake that was made on the dais by one of my colleagues at the last meeting in relation to

[05:24:49] whether or not i had spoken to um the mayor of leesburg on the um vehicle uh vehicle fee vehicle licensing fee there was a cult letter to the board on december 3rd after that i spoke with the mayor on december 5th by phone in i spoke on december 12th to the mayor in person at her swearing-in ceremony. On December 17th, I had an extensive phone call with the mayor about this

[05:25:28] very issue. That was a good month before this board put that to its January 15th public hearing. So I just wanted to make it clear, the mayor is a very busy woman, probably one of the busiest elected officials in the county uh she looks out for her town i um the mayor and i talk frequently and we talk about this issue as well as other issues thank you i'm going to take a personal purpose and say i was that colleague i did not make a mistake and i certainly didn't make an

[05:26:08] accidental mistake i reported exactly what the mayor told me that you all haven't talked in months so take that up with the mayor mr mr glass thank you madam chair i met with representatives from equinix on december 13th to discuss the equinix ashburn north application i also met with representatives from jk land holdings on december 16th to discuss updates on both the greenland park and telos applications um i've i also um meet with a lot of organizations a lot of non-profits and

[05:26:48] and recently i met with i had an introductory meeting with the northern virginia affordable housing alliance who's um starting to um do more work in loudon county when i had spoken to amanda and she said that they've worked in Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax, and I'm talking about what they can do to help folks who are in need of affordable housing and she was very passionate about what she would like to see happen

[05:27:28] in that she wants to meet with those folks who are in need I also met with Cory Bendix who is with Grace Loves and he was and I had just it was an introductory conversation with him as well and he had talked about the their organization he said they started about five years ago when Cove began and he He said that he worked with different organizations here with Mobile Hope, and they worked with Title I schools.

[05:28:04] They worked with girls who, teenage girls who, you know, are pregnant and need assistance. He said that they also worked with Afghanistan refugees, and he just kept going on and on about the different things that they were helping different people with.

[05:28:24] And he talked about working with folks in the penitentiary and individuals who may be a part of sex trafficking, which we had talked about earlier today and had the proclamation.

[05:28:40] And I heard the passion in his voice on the need that we have in our community. And I'm really so thankful and grateful that we have people who want to work with the county and work with us to help individuals who are in need.

[05:29:05] That's all I have to say, Madam Chair. Thank you. Mr. Crony. Thank you, Chair Randall. So over the last few weeks, I've been meeting with the principals at some of our high schools in the Little River District. I met with the Light Ridge and Independent High School principals to talk about issues related to traffic near their schools, especially at arrival and dismissal times, and I've recently been contacted to discuss the Willard Middle School traffic issues and the traffic issues at Madison's Trust Elementary School, so I'm just going to go around the district

[05:29:42] and speak about traffic concerns at the different schools. On Saturday, January 18th, I attended the Arcola Volunteer Fire Department Banquet. That was a real pleasure. We celebrated the installation of officers and their plan to expand the Arcola Volunteer Fire Department Annex in Phase 2, which will be coordinated with Michael Capretti's renovation and opening of the Arcola School for Affordable Housing.

[05:30:14] So that'll all be coordinated with when they receive public utilities, and I look forward to working with Supervisor Letourneau, I know it's in your district, to make that happen for our firefighters. On January 30th, I'll be holding office hours from 2 to 5 at the Middleburg Town Hall.

[05:30:33] This is an opportunity for constituents from the Little River District to stop by, share concerns, ask questions, or seek assistance. No appointment is necessary. Just stop by and say hello. I'd love to hear from you. The Route 50 Safety and Operational Study Public Information Meeting will be held on February 3rd from 6 to 7.30 p.m. at the Willard Middle School in Aldi.

[05:31:00] And this study goes from Fleetwood Road all the way to Upperville along Route 50. At this meeting, the public will receive an update on the study progress and review some concepts to address specific corridor challenges.

[05:31:17] And then a survey will be available and open until February 18th. I actually will be at that meeting because there are some concepts that I want to discuss with staff. So I look forward to seeing constituents if you're available on February 3rd.

[05:31:33] Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Sains. - Thank you, Madam Chair. I have some mandatory disclosures. On December 6th, I spoke with Molly Novotny of Coretta to discuss their Concora Car Wash in Goose Creek Residential.

[05:31:52] On December 13th and January 17th, spoke with J.K. Landholding's team about Greenland Park and a couple other items that will be coming in front of the board down the road. On December 18th, spoke with ProLegis team about their land use applications.

[05:32:11] On December 20th, spoke with the team at Bowman about Cascades Parkway subdivision and their revised application. On January 15th, spoke with representatives from Merritt Properties regarding Loudoun Tech Center Business Park and the data center CPAM that we're going through, obviously, right now. I'll just quickly say this past Saturday along with Chair Randall and Supervisor Brisson myself we attended the Sterling volunteer fire annual banquet

[05:32:47] which was obviously a very somber occasion because we they always do a very good highlight reel of events that took place in the past year and there was two uh two tearjerker moments i guess you could say uh one was of course the uh the tragic loss of uh firefighter brown uh in february and then also uh through last year we lost a a long time member of the sterling community sterling volunteer firefighter and rescue squad

[05:33:23] and former uh border supervisor uh mr charlie grant um so that was the summer part but there There were still a lot of happy moments during the banquet and reception and sharing of stories and jokes, and Chair Randall made a point to say accurately that our first responders are not normal, but she means that in a good way, in a lot of different ways, and so that was appropriate for those comments during her time that she spoke.

[05:33:58] But nonetheless, we had a good time at the event. Look forward to them because, you know, we like to always make sure we support our first responders, especially during these moments of difficulties that come up. I'll just say, you know, we are starting a new year, 2025.

[05:34:19] We have a new, I'll just say, administration in office. And let's just pray for our country and our leaders, nationally, state level, and locally.

[05:34:37] Let's all work together for the betterment of our community. And as you all heard me say numerous times, let's hold on to that golden rule and treat others as you want somebody to treat your family. I'll just leave it at that.

[05:34:54] Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Turner. Thank you, Madam Chair. On Wednesday, December 4th, my staff and I met with Jeff Snow from Arden and Jeff Tapley and Amanda Williams from Cooley to discuss the application for digital realty. On Thursday, December 5th, my staff and I met with Aaron Swisholm from Walsh Kalusha to discuss the application for Zebra East.

[05:35:13] On Thursday, December 5th, 2024, my staff and I met with Morgan Hadlock and Aaron Swisholm from Walsh Kalusha to discuss the application for East Point Energy. Excuse me. On Monday, January 6th, my staff and I met with Matt Leslie and Paki Crown from Bowman and John Paltineau to discuss the application for Century Corner at Goose Creek and Monday, January 6th, my staff and I met with Matt Leslie and Paki Crown from Bowman and John Paltineau to discuss the application for Century Corner at Goose Creek.

[05:35:46] Friday, January 10th, my staff spoke with Matt Leslie from Bowman to discuss the application for Century Corner at Goose Creek and on Tuesday, January 14th, my staff and I spoke with Colleen Gillis, Molly Novotny, Marissa Rose from Curata and Frank Palmer from Stonely Capital to discuss the application for NCC Residential. That's all I have. Thank you Madam Chair.

[05:36:07] On the 8th my staff and I met with Digital Realty and on the 15th we met with applicants for the Century Corner, for Century Corner. The fact that we're in a place we have to have to have papers, some people have to show me your papers is god-awful scary and the only thing I'll say now because the only thing I'll say right now is one I don't say things that I don't mean and if I say something I got it from somebody not my issue take it up for somebody else and I would say that I want to say the name

[05:36:41] Marianne Edgar Buttle she is a bishop in the Episcopalian Church she spoke at the breakfast prayer breakfast um for the incoming president uh i don't know what that was two days ago i encourage everyone to go hear her genuine lovely words because they were very powerful and very important so please go and listen to her words mr sayings is correct we will be coming up on february 14th will be the one year anniversary of the silver ridge incident

[05:37:17] So there are a couple of things that will be happening to commemorate that sad day. Please watch for those things and continue to send our love and our prayers to the incredible men and women of our fire department, our volunteers, most especially our Sterling Volunteer Fire and Rescue, and the family of Trevor Brown, his wife and three children.

[05:37:45] you and let's do the i'm sorry the last item before we go back to closed session and the last item mr gross why don't you come on up sir the commuter bus service in loudon county is item 1h good evening i'm sorry members of the board i know you were just saving the best for last we were and you are of course we are for that um we have the full presentation uh which you all have seen in the

[05:38:21] past those of those board members as well as the Finance Committee the the difference is the Finance Committee recommendations which is the last two slides so what is it at your recommendation and preference I hate to do this to people but at least let's go to those last two sides slides because because let's go to those last two slides all right mr. Sands is that he's driving down so as that's being loaded it's do you all have the presentation in front of you as well we do we do with your permission I'll go and move

[05:38:55] forward while we're getting it loaded. Okay. Okay. So at the Finance Committee and Finance Committee members, if I need to provide more clarification, please let me know. We have the recommendation of the Finance Committee was two routes, one from Dale City and one from Frederick County, Maryland. And the Dale City was a recommendation from the original study. Staff made a few modifications to it. We reduced the frequency of routes from four down to three morning and three

[05:39:29] afternoon routes. So instead of the recommended four routes in the morning and four routes in the afternoon. And the Frederick route, which was also on the list but not recommended by the study itself, had a lot of discussion. And the discussion was around the unknowns that that route could actually bring to uh to louden county workers coming into the county because of the significant congestion associated with it and that it is was a pro that it is being a proposed pilot project

[05:40:02] pilot projects are to assess what those benefits impacts could actually bring to the um to the study so those are the two now we did make a recommendation that it go from three morning routes to two morning routes and from three afternoon routes uh to two afternoon routes and that did bring the pricing down uh notably for um those two routes would bring a a gross amount of 1.128 uh 1 1 128 000 of initial um outlay receiving 126 000 um uh in in estimated

[05:40:41] revenue for a net uh local tax funding impact of approximately a million dollars per year to run those and then if we were to run them we would run them for a first year get the information and then if it were to continue which we would recommend for a pilot that would be addressed in the upcoming budget process so that is the highlight of the finance committee recommendations there are other elements to that beyond planning and implementing those commuter bus routes for the pilot program

[05:41:15] for dale city and frederick maryland but also to set the initial fair at a dollar 25 and reevaluate those fairs after the the first year and then also pursue whatever grant funding we are able to obtain for any of those or both of those routes and explore partnerships where they may exist for those routes and obviously include all the operating and marketing studies that need to happen for fair equity and into the fiscal year 2026 budget.

[05:41:47] Say one more time what the fair would be said at 825, right? I'm sorry, 825. I thought you said 120. Yeah, you think you said 125. That would be a significant departure from the finance committee's recommendation. That would be a really good deal. Yeah, it would. It is 825. Yeah, there we go. Mr. Determine, would you like to make this motion?

[05:42:04] Yes, Madam Chair. And anybody can ask questions in the motion. You can ask questions in the motion. I move the recommendation of the Finance, Government, Operations, and Economic Development Committee, the Board of Supervisors direct staff to, one, plan and implement a commuter bus route pilot program from Dale City, Virginia, with three morning and afternoon trips per day, and Frederick, Maryland, with two morning and afternoon trips per day.

[05:42:23] Two, set the initial fare at $8.25 and reevaluate fares after the first year of operations. Three, pursue grant funding opportunities and explore partnership opportunities for recommended routes. And four, include operating, marketing, outreach, Title VI service, and fair equity analysis costs for each proposed commuter bus pilot route into the fiscal year 26 budget.

[05:42:44] I will second that. So, yeah, let me just bring it higher because I do think in the twists and turns of this, we may have lost a little bit of what the point was, which was I have been advocating for for no longer thinking about these things as solely a subsidy for county residents to get out of the county and that the goal of the county should also be to be attracting workers into the county because we do have workforce issues.

[05:43:17] We hear that from our business community all the time, that they have trouble hiring people. And one of the impediments to hiring people is the commute that they experience coming from other places. And so if we, especially in a circumstance where we have surplus buses that we will have to dispose of because of federal guidelines, if we're in this situation, we should at least explore to see if we can provide this service.

[05:43:43] and yes it is subsidized but it's money that we will get back in the long term if it does in fact boost the businesses that are here and trying to attract workers not directly immediately in the budget but it is strengthening the core of the business community so that's the high level of why we're trying to do this the the secondary on these specific routes is essentially to sort of test the the data that we have which i think was valuable but maybe doesn't fully account for

[05:44:17] the sort of real world aspects of this that can't be quantified such as the pain experienced by commuters and i think the fact that on route 15 we're going to have a very significant construction project and so having an alternative to get cars off the road and that corridor specifically will be beneficial because i think that construction project will interfere with traffic and make it it even worse um you know and then that's been done similarly in other places that have had that kind of thing so that's why we kind of coalesced around these two options um let's see how they perform it is a pilot program it's not you know if it doesn't work out we don't have to stick with

[05:44:53] it um we need to give it some time though to actually work um and uh and then if it is successful we could expand it we could change the fare structure and make it more even to what our other commuter bus services, all those kinds of things. But since this is a pilot, we're kind of handling it a little bit differently. And we're trying to utilize our buses in this way. So that is my opening. Thank you, sir. Mr. Crony. Thank you, Chair Rendles. So I have a question. I know this is a pilot. I support doing the pilot. Would it be cheaper to have the bus go from Manassas

[05:45:33] to Loudoun County, because I understand there's a bus that goes directly from Dale City, Bus 95 inside, you know, Prince William County every two hours that operates Monday through Saturday. So I'm wondering, because Manassas is like a hub, my understanding. I've just been speaking with people in Prince William County. It's like a hub for a lot of the buses. So I'm wondering if we might do it from Manassas to Loudoun County. Well, there's a bus going from dale city to manassas so i'm just i'm asking um mr brown if you looked at that so the the study

[05:46:09] itself looked at warrenton specifically as as the hub that that you're referring to that was seemed to be an aggregating point for for collection and that was one of the um the routes that was that was looked at and recommended um and and i don't want to speak for the the committee but the discussion was around identifying two routes uh that could provide uh unique information uh that we could gather through a pilot study that were diverse enough to be able to get some good data.

[05:46:38] Right. So Manassas is a hub like Warrington, from what I've heard. The number one route that was recommended by the study based on the data that they have was Dale City. That was the number one route, the highest probability of being successful.

[05:46:54] That was what the actual study presented. So that's why they chose that as their number one with warrant and being the second. - Okay, well, I guess one thing we can look at, 'cause this is for a year, right, the pilot, is if it would make sense to kind of have the people go from Dale City to Manassas and then have us pick up at Manassas.

[05:47:12] So just something to think about as we do the pilot. - And if that's, when we bring the information back for the board to discuss through the budget process to fund it for the next year, that is something that I think we should bring back to the board, that data that we have. - Okay, great, thank you. - Ms. Glass.

[05:47:29] - Thank you, Madam Chair. um one question will the buses have numbered routes traveling in both directions or will it be in just one direction a single direction coming in from the county or coming outside into the county so in the morning and in an evening taking them back home okay okay so um if someone wanted to go back out okay so they came in and the bus is going back out to let's say dale city

[05:48:06] and you said that there wouldn't be numbered if there was somebody that would like to use the bus to go back in that direction is that possible or would they have to wait until the evening because i think you said is it twice twice in the morning yes so that that is the drawback when you only have three routes in the morning or two routes in the morning depending on which route we're discussing um during the midday there is no service right so it's it's just open um it is

[05:48:43] possible if somebody wanted to catch a ride for one of the buses it was dead heading back to the starting point we can get them on that bus that's a possibility um we try to do those only as kind of one-off emergencies as opposed to a regular situation okay um because we're paying our contractor from the start of the first scheduled pickup. Um, and that's when they're getting paid to get back. So, um, logistically it can be done, but that is the rub when you have the service in

[05:49:20] the midday into DC. That's the, that's the selling point. They've got the rail to come back into the county, North and South. We don't have that fall back option. There is a guaranteed ride at home program that they can do. You know, I think it's up to six times a year now, uh, that they can utilized but uh it's it's it's a gap okay is that what you were asking because that was a little here's your question were you asking like if somebody needs a guaranteed ride home would they be able to get that um i'm a little confused because i mean because something like you're saying like will the buses take them back home period and of course they will i'm thinking okay

[05:49:58] let's say someone knows that there there's a bus route from dale city to loudon but they're in Loudoun and they may need to get to Dale City if the bus is coming back. I don't understand what you're saying and I'm sorry I really I honestly don't. Are you saying like in an emergency in the middle of a day or something? I mean I don't think would necessarily have let's say somebody works has a night job and they they work in Loudoun but they live in Dale City and they want to

[05:50:36] take the bus back home for some reason they don't have a car oh i got you okay okay i got you you guys got okay so okay yeah you're saying can they go the other up the other direction off off hours yes gotcha okay miss umson uh thank you madam chair so i was a no in finance and unfortunately i'm still a no tonight um well i really appreciate my colleague mr letourneau's um pushing for the

[05:51:13] Frederick, Maryland route. And I really do because that's the route that would most impact my constituents as far as getting cars off the road. That is a really expensive route when we're talking about cost per passenger trip. I can see why you all were recommending Dale City and Warrington. Cost per passenger is a fraction of what it is for Frederick, Maryland. I think I

[05:51:49] mentioned this at Finance, and staff's position may have changed, but I do recall a few years ago talking about this with one of our senior staff members who, for his own protection, shall remain nameless. He expressed skepticism that people would get on the bus to go down Route 15 because it would give them no time advantage over the cars because the backup is so

[05:52:20] bad. And then my concern with the construction is it's such a narrow road anyway, and you're going to be potentially closing lanes. The lanes are very narrow. It's harder for a bus to get through on a narrow lane than it is for a car um so i also am not quite sold that we should be spending taxpayer dollars um for this purpose of going out of the county um to provide transportation out of

[05:52:59] the county i don't know why maryland isn't providing this service because it's for the benefit of their constituents so I'm still a no but you guys have done a really good job thank you for that this one's been has been hard for me because I don't I don't particularly want to send money outside the county but I I think I think Mr. Letourneau convinced me three ways one there was a roundabout built outside of of our camp right outside of our county in Fairfax

[05:53:34] um and it that we paid for and it seemed really illogical we built a roundabout someplace that wasn't our county but the truth is it was to get our people um to and from their neighborhood safe and it just happened to be rest out of the county so that was impactful two um i see my constituents as being residents but also businesses businesses are constituents as well and so if we are bringing in people to work in our county's businesses to help our economy, um, and help those businesses

[05:54:12] thrive, then I think that that's a good use of money because it's helping our businesses, which are also my constituents. And three, Route 15 is a nightmare. And if we, if we offer this bus system and people do not choose to get on it and they want to sit in their cars, then I can't say anything about them. I have never quite understood why people don't get on the bus and then just complain about the traffic when there's another option there, but we can only offer the options. And if we offer the options and they don't take it,

[05:54:48] thus their commute is not any shorter and the traffic backup is just as bad, we can't help that because we offered the option it is just a pilot program so it might be that after we do the pilot we look and go this was not feasible this was not helpful this did not work at all scrap it or we may look and say this was helpful this was good and traffic got lighter and there were less accidents which is what i want to see in the end of the pilot i'll be very curious to see the accidents, because accidents on Route 15 are so serious.

[05:55:23] And so safety is always, always my number one concern. So I was 51-49 on this. I'm still a little 51-49 on this, but I'm going to say yes, because it's a pilot program, and we'll see how it goes in the end.

[05:55:39] Mr. Turner, would you like a closing? Just very briefly, I appreciate the comments from everybody. The cost per passenger numbers are, that is what Supervisor said is true if you believe that that analysis is going to be reality, and I think what we're doing is testing that.

[05:55:56] I personally think the Frederick number is going to be papire, and that would drive the number down, and I actually think the Dale City one's going to be lower, but I could be totally wrong, so we'll see, and staff can wag in my face and say we told you so. Second thing is, just piggyback on Chair Randall's point, if we get cars off of Route 15, although the people in the bus may be from Frederick County, Maryland, lots of Loudon residents are on Route 15, and if we can take cars off of Route 15, they're going to benefit, and I'm sure they'd be very happy with that.

[05:56:27] So that's to sort of justify the expenditure to try to do this. So I will stop, quit when I'm ahead. All right. Motion made by Supervisor Ternal. i think did i second that motion i think i second that motion all right all right people say aye opposed nay that motion will pass 5-1-3 with supervisor umstead voting against the motion and supervisor saying supervisor um brixman supervisor caleb i mean uh kirschner being off the days um i think that's it i think that's it thank you very much thank you very very much

[05:57:01] mr gross that young man sitting behind you right there i think you made him today he has a lot of stuff to talk to you about. He's been talking to me about it. I want him to talk to you about it, so he stops talking to me about it. So go talk to that young man. Thank you very much. Would you please read us into our second closed session? Wait, we haven't really had a break at all since we've been in the dam. The people have got up and stuff. I have not, but you all good? All right,

[05:57:30] read us into our second closed session. We literally have not taken one break. I move the The Board of Supervisors recessed the public meeting and entered into a closed session pursuant to sections 2. 2, 37, 11, A-8 and A-29 of the Code of Virginia to consult with legal counsel pertaining to the negotiation of a collective bargaining agreement where public funds are being expended and where negotiations in open session would adversely affect the bargaining position of the county.

[05:58:09] The motion is made and seconded by Ms. Glass. Discussion on the motion. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? The motion will pass 603.

[05:58:20] we're in closed session. Oh, I need to go to the restroom. I don't know. Oh, we're back, and Mr. Turner's going to be in closed session.

[06:17:59] I move that the closed session be adjourned, that the Board of Supervisors reconvene at this 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's made, and I'm giving them to her all night, so I'm going to give a second to Sylvia, Ms. Glass, again, because that's what she's been doing tonight that's just how it goes i'm discussing on the motion on people say aye any opposed that must have passed 603 will everybody please affirm

[06:18:29] miss glass affirm affirm affirm affirm affirm i have firm as well and we are adjourned why am i thinking banks mr

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