Coraggio Consulting
Manassas City Council 4/21/2025

Date: Monday, April 21, 2025
Place: Manassas City Council, Virginia
Length: 0h 39m (video)
Official meeting video (Wistia / RegionalWebTV): https://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/6habw70a0y

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 2026-10-17. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:03] Congratulations again. That's good. You'll be saying them for the next couple of months. Oh, okay. Like, oh, we're legally married. Good evening. Calling the City Council Committee of the Whole Work Session to order.

[00:00:19] Mr. Smith, please call the work. Mayor Davis-Younger. Present. Vice Mayor Wolfe. Here. Council Member Ellis. Here. Council Member Smith. Here. Council Member Osina. Here. Council Member Vasquez-Luna. Present. Council Member Hudson. Here.

[00:00:35] Thank you very much. We have the agenda in front of us. And I'll see if I don't know if you want to do some things or just jump right in to if you want to say anything before. I always just give you the option.

[00:00:51] I'm sorry. I'll speak at the end if you don't mind. Okay, that's fine. Yep. So we have discussion items. We have three items on the agenda. We have item 1.1. The first item is Resolution R-2025-732. Is this right? I'm sorry. Yeah.

[00:01:07] Okay. I'm just reading that like, didn't I just read this? Amending the FY2025 budget by budgeting and appropriating $445,851 of State of Good Repair funds for Church Street from Zebedee to West paving. And Ms. Chloe is here to help us with that. How are you? Thank you for being here.

[00:01:22] Thank you. Thank you. Good evening. So the city was awarded $445,851 in State of Good Repair funds to repave Church Street on the screen here between West Street and ZBD Street in FY25.

[00:01:39] So the use of state funds would offset the need for local funds and this item is to request approval and place a resolution 2025-732 on the council agenda for April 28. The resolution would amend the FY25 budget by budgeting and appropriating $445,851 of State of Good Repair funds for Church Street paving.

[00:02:07] Thank you. I wish anybody had no money. Any questions from Councilman Hudson? Thank you. And you said awarded. Did it come from, where was the source? I said money was awarded from it. So it's through VDOT. Now this type of funding is considered federal and state, but we got federal exemption, meaning that it's fully state fund.

[00:02:30] They are considered state funds. It comes through VDOT. Okay, cool. And when is the paving anticipated to begin? So the project has to be advertised by June 30th.

[00:02:47] When you say advertised, is that advertised to obtain bidders or advertised to let everybody know that this project, we've accepted the money? To a bidder, to a contractor. All right. And then after that is working out, depending on the bids, would work out the detail?

[00:03:04] Yes, so it should be done by default. Yes, so in your estimation, though, it would be completed at some point. So there will be some disruption to traffic, obviously, along Church Street.

[00:03:21] Is it anticipated that work would take place just five days a week, Monday through Friday, or would include weekends? As I understand, it might involve night work. I'm not sure this exact schedule, but I know it was supposed to be at night.

[00:03:39] Probably be at night, okay. To avoid disruption. Right, okay. Very good. Gotcha. All right, thank you. Thank you, Mayor. I'm more of a comment, if I may. I think this is another way that shows how, you know, staff is always, you know, trying to get the money.

[00:03:58] Something that I have learned is that they're already looking for money for 2030, 2031. So it is, you know, I'm glad this is happening. and thank you for all the hard work from everybody in the department. This is great, and of course, traffic will be an issue.

[00:04:16] But I hope that if it's towards the fall before the cold weather, hopefully the summer days are gone and it will make it easier for the traffic, but it still is going to be painful and difficult. But if 2, what, 34, 28, it's back to normal, maybe that will be helpful.

[00:04:37] But yeah, thank you, Miami. so you said it has to be advertised to the to bid by june 30th they have all these rules you have to follow to make sure you do everything and hopefully be done by the fall good all right anything else to add to that any other questions comments okay thank you chloe i appreciate it thank you for doing that oh you're in the next one too definitely read this in the video item 1.2 resolution number r 2025 733 to rail with trail feasibility study mou with manassas park and princewim county

[00:05:18] i had mentioned that as part of my presentation on mobile master plan so the city of manassas is partnering with the city of manassas park and frenchwim county to conduct a feasibility study of a three-mile multi-jurisational trail adjacent to the very manassas line between downtown Manassas and the Bull Run Trail in Fairfax County. The cost of the planning phase will be divided between the three jurisdictions and the city of Manassas is designated as the lead jurisdiction for the planning phase of the project. So this item is to request to approve

[00:05:58] and place reduction 2025-733 and the memorandum of understanding between the city of Manassas, Manassas Park and Princeton County on the consent agenda for April 28. Are there any questions?

[00:06:17] 180,000 from Manassas Park and the county. Yes, each jurisdiction is participating about $90,000 for this study to complete the entire study. So $90,000 from Manassas Park, $90,000 from Princeton County and the rest by the city, which is about $88,000, paying a little bit less.

[00:06:41] Any questions? Where is the money coming from? Is it already budgeted? It's budgeted? Yes. The use of our NVTA funds on a project that we use, our NVTA funds for our future development of these types of projects.

[00:07:01] So this is what they're opting to use that money for this. So looking at the trails, so let's talk about the purpose of the trail, not so much the funding and what have you.

[00:07:18] So, Chloe, what's the rationale for this trail? Why does it go, and while I understand it's following the railroad tracks, so to speak, but obviously you want to have safety features. So question one is, what's the rationale for the trail?

[00:07:37] Secondly, on the north end where it goes across the Bull Run there and into Fairfax County, is it connecting to anything else? And thirdly, on the southern end, which ends at the VRE station in Old Town, is at some point it also anticipated that the trail would continue down the tracks all the way down toward the landings or end up in the landings, for instance, or connect from there into Prince William County at the southern end.

[00:08:15] So the purpose of the trail is to have a long-distance off-road trail to connect multiple jurisdictions and eventually all the way to Washington, D.C. and the core region along the Massas VRE line.

[00:08:33] So in the transaction plan and VTS plan, this project is identified as from downtown Manassas all the way to Alexandria. And so this would be a phase one of that entire trail, a phase one study. So we broke it down to downtown Manassas to the Bull Run Trail as logical termini because it's still valuable as it connects parks to the Ari Station, Manassas Park, and the newer downtown of Manassas Park and the historic downtown of Manassas.

[00:09:06] and it still provides a lot of the benefits in terms of access to green space and commuter stations. So I think I'll answer all the questions. Okay, and the last one was, is it anticipated that the trail would be continued on its southerly route down to the landings and possibly into Prince William County?

[00:09:31] It's not in a plan per se at this time. It doesn't mean that if the trail is successful and there's support to continue on the southern end, then that could be an option. If it's successful, first we have to see if it's feasible, right?

[00:09:48] That's part of the study, to see if it's feasible. But if it's feasible and successful and there's support for it, then that could be an option. And you said the northern terminus is anticipated to be in Alexandria somewhere. How many miles would this be?

[00:10:04] It's about 25 to 30 miles. And this trail would be both pedestrian and bicycle-friendly? Correct. The users. Okay, very good.

[00:10:22] Thank you. Chloe, the inset map, the red is the ultimate goal trail? No, the red is just the state edge of the border, the boundary.

[00:10:38] But it appears that the red line, yeah, it appears the red line goes to the south of Manassas. Yeah, but that's not the trail. It's not the trail. It's just the border of the Virginia State.

[00:10:54] And then it's the Washington urbanized area. I guess it's confusing. This red line here is not that red line. Yes. I think she took, this was taken from a larger map. I got it. It just, it just, it appears that.

[00:11:11] Yes, I see. I see it's confusing. Yeah. Put your hand on it. And I will say if it's, you know, the train track, it will be more, I love that idea.

[00:11:30] It will be more like a broad, the next step, which is a broad run. It will take you all the way to the airport. But yes, and if that was successful and if anything like that were to happen, do you have a timeline?

[00:11:50] So, if the feasibility study is positive and successful, then there'll be opportunity to apply to NVTA funding, which is coming up in next few months, since it's in transaction, we'll be eligible to apply, and I would believe that we have high chance of funding, and if so, then we're applying for funding in FY31, FY32.

[00:12:19] And it's part of the six-year NVTA program, so, Mr. Smith? yeah um just for clarity um council members ellis's question the funding this is fy25 funding right not proposed not we're putting into the future this is money already yes um so this is the funding the feasibility study for the three different districts and um but one

[00:12:55] that's built we're doing we're going to try to get the funding from nvta right we have no idea though what that's going to cost no that's part of the studies first to see if it's feasible and then what would be the cost for design and construction but we're only going to be responsible for a third of that portion even when it's built i know it might be a grand or whatever but i'm just trying to say not the entire trail to dc we're not going to be integrated into the whole it's just going to be our area right so like the intent would be to apply as a you know a joint

[00:13:31] application with the county and manassas park for this section then there will have to be an agreement in place for maintenance within our city limits and then whatever happened with phase two then that's up to fairfax county i mean we've been coordinating but then we wouldn't be involved at this point um so it's like fairfax like the next phase they decide not to file a vulnerability study we're going to wait till all all of them agree to that before the feasibility study right

[00:14:04] before there is a feasibility study or before yeah yeah i mean it's um it's still valuable as a phase one i think in vtsdc's value in it so i think it could be funded as a phase one i mean it's up to so just say only phase one gets approved feasibility study comes back we're like we want the three of us want to do it and us do not right they still build it for the first phase is that it just depends what happens okay i think it still can be built yes depending on what council

[00:14:38] okay um and then yeah i don't feel like it's valuable did they vote anybody else vote on this yet so uh i think massas park already did and then it's going to the county from some county board on may 13th okay okay thank you is there any specific reason why they turn into the other side once they get here which it will be this side this side of the city hall and you know parking or whatever happens down there so in terms of the line here what we're showing i

[00:15:18] mean this is again like very conceptual with the idea was just to continue the existing promenade along the railroad track from downtown all the way to fairview and then once we reach fairview we would cross and then go on the southern side of the of the track because manassas park has well here we have now we own this parcel but also manassas park owns a lot of land with bloom's park on the south side of the track so again that's part of the study to see if it still makes sense this alignment or it would be better to cross another logical point um as part of the

[00:15:56] study but at what we based on what we knew at that time when we applied for the AT grant that's the alignment that made the most sense and and the only reason why i'm asking because if if they if the uh parking connects when they do the expansion for the um for the station you know that will give you a little extra anyway so that's why i'm like i i'm just wondering for you know but i understand As part of the VRE project, they are proposing a connection on the north side of the track and on the south side of the track.

[00:16:34] So there's a connection on both sides, so it seems like it works either way, depending on what happened with the station. Yeah, exactly. How long is this length? This is three miles.

[00:16:50] And then the end of the project, is that a bridge? So, it would need a bridge or some type of crossing. The Bull Run Trail is on the Fairfax County side. It's a hiking trail of 17 miles along the Bull Run, and it would connect to that trail, but, yes, it would require crossing.

[00:17:13] Any other questions? Council members, I have Monica Backman coming to council on the 12th in our council meeting to just kind of update us. I don't know if that word had gotten to you guys yet. So, I asked her to, since we have so many things going on, got the 12 million dollars coming for the other two projects i wanted her to come and update us because i don't i don't know that she's ever been here to update us as a council so we need to make that connection so she'll be here at the meeting on the 12th so okay matt we'll move forward with the vacancy report item 1.3

[00:17:54] It is. At a previous work session we had presented the vacancy update and staff addressed some of the positions at the time, but council had requested to revisit this. So Ms. Dix is here to address any questions that council might have about any of the vacant positions and where we're at to where we're going with them.

[00:18:15] And we have this in our iPad. I apologize. Yes, ma'am. Okay. The downside of a report like this is it's as valuable as it is the minute I print it. And then the next day it changes because we've hired. So it really is hard to capture something that's like completely up to date.

[00:18:37] As of the date of printing on April 2nd, this was our vacancy report. I can share that as of now we have our director of public works hired. We have our human resource business partner, Talent, hired. They are going to be offering, extending an offer tomorrow for the streets maintenance worker, as well as that housing and neighborhood coordinator position.

[00:19:10] Yeah, let me see. We've got interviews scheduled for multiple positions, the water and sewer positions, Both of those positions have interviews scheduled for next week.

[00:19:26] The water plant operator, they're doing interviewing now and we're actually going to make use of our ability to return retirees in a part-time temporary seasonal position to help bridge that gap and take a little load off of some of the current employees out there.

[00:19:45] He's going to come back for just a bit of time while we're still trying to hire to fill that position full-time. there any particular questions about any specific positions or just I will say the um the DEI position needs to just be removed from the vacancy report um so that will not appear anymore because that really is unfunded from 2024. All right uh yes so one one that is of of interest to me because here we are, what are we, almost the end of April,

[00:20:25] practically May, June, and July. So we're coming up on, what is it, nine months? Yeah. The housing coordinator. Thank you. I was looking forward. My eyes were failing me here.

[00:20:42] That position. Thank you. Why am I wearing these? Housing coordinator here. And I do know that it's not for a lack of trying. However, what can you tell us, not just about, you know, applicants and so forth here, but it appears we're looking for something that, what, a diamond in the rough or what have you here?

[00:21:11] Because there are a lot of things, at least for several of us, that are waiting for this person to be hired and then in place and doing some things so that we can be moving ahead. And for me, I'm talking specifically about our affordable housing initiatives here in that regard.

[00:21:35] So what can you share with us in terms of the job description versus what you're finding out there and what kind of expectation or tweaks do we need to have here? So I do know, I don't know the entire history.

[00:21:51] I do know that we did go out for advertising. They did conduct one full round interviews. They extended an offer, and then that offer was subsequently declined. And so then they went through and re-advertised again.

[00:22:06] This is the result of that re-advertising now. And according to Ms. Ampofo, who sits through HR on all of the interviews, they've got a very strong client, and they do anticipate this client is going to accept the offer when they extend it tomorrow based on conversations that they've had during this final interview.

[00:22:29] So hopefully this will drop off of our report and we will be able to have someone here probably the 5th or the 19th of May would be our two hiring dates.

[00:22:45] Okay. And is it the practice that if the top applicant, for whatever reason, declines, that you clearly have ranked them, is then the offer traditionally offered to the next person, number two?

[00:23:00] If that person was clearly met the criteria, but for whatever differences between one and two, one declines, do you offer it to the second person? If that is an option, yes. If they feel there's a strong second, and we've had instances where it's even been the third, a strong third if it's a really competitive pool for time-saving measures, absolutely, we'll entertain that and assist the department.

[00:23:28] Got you. And then if I may turn to public utilities, for instance, Utility Analyst has been there a little more than a year. Yes. No, it's been less than a year. My apologies. A little less. And there's this electrical.

[00:23:48] The senior electrical engineer position is proving to be very difficult to fill. It is a very, very specialized position. I think they are reevaluating exactly what do they need this position to accomplish to see if we can maybe broaden what the essential functions are to try to draw in some more candidates because it is extremely specialized.

[00:24:14] okay um and then the water plant operator one for posting date was the first of april is this a new vacancy when i say new vacancy someone had the position yes retirees retire okay and lastly what is an election the last one listed on page one election technician and why is it on hold what what does it do for that position this particular position um they worked seasonal part-time in the registrar's office. In this instance, it's on hold because the individual is temporarily out of the

[00:24:53] country. I know that they feel the employee is a valued employee and they are placing on hold temporarily to see if this employee will be able to return in a timely manner to the states or if she will remain out of the country for an extended period of time.

[00:25:14] So it's just kind of in limbo right now. She submitted a resignation. It's been accepted, but I think they're in the hopes that perhaps she'll be able to return to the states, and if so, they're interested in continuing to keep her employed in that position.

[00:25:30] And the third one from the bottom, police officer, again, another recent one. Was that due to a retirement? We have a few openings, and right now we actually have six offers that are out there that have been accepted. They're in the vetting process right now, and I think you're almost fully.

[00:25:49] We're actually fully staffed in the police department if all these go through, with the exception of the promotions, which will not occur until a grievance process for termination is complete. Okay. And fire service, I see nothing listed, so they are fully, I mean, all the positions that we have approved so far along the way here.

[00:26:18] My understanding is that we, in the proposed budget, you are proposing three positions, but only one being? Two were funded. We're proposing the battalion chief to oversee the pharmacy, and then three firefighters, one of which would be funded in the budget with the hope that the additional two may be realized through overtime savings once we get fully staffed.

[00:26:45] And we do anticipate those positions being advertised earlier than July with the understanding that the budget is going to be approved and then those positions will be funded come July. So we would probably start advertising them in late May, June, with the expectation of having them ready to go July 1.

[00:27:08] All right. And thank you for bringing that up. So going to the number, what was it, number six, the senior electrical engineer. I believe it's up to like $140,000.

[00:27:26] So what have we done with the money? So anything that you have on hold, there is allocated money on the budget, Except the DEI, my advocation is to keep it, even though there's no funding. But when you take something out of it, I just feel like, you know, like you're taking something away that it can happen.

[00:27:47] So I hope that that one is preserved. But I'm looking into where does this money go and what happened, because if we continue to build and we continue to have it. That says 2023, so it's been several months.

[00:28:04] Is there something that we can do because it's been so long and I know it's very technical and, you know, high standards? Well, to the funding question, if a position isn't filled, then we are effectively saving that money.

[00:28:21] We typically don't budget for the high end of any salary. It's usually somewhere in the middle. So there is some additional funding in the electric budget that will most likely just get carried forward into fund balance at the end of the fiscal year.

[00:28:44] To the question of what are we doing, I know that Tarek has interviewed a number of people. I believe we actually made an offer to one or two individuals, and unfortunately, I think at least one of them turned that into a raise at their current location.

[00:29:05] So we are continuing, as Ms. Hicks indicated, they're trying to figure out what we need to do to either identify what we can do to fill this position or to figure out how we could best utilize it within if we had to change the job description.

[00:29:29] And it could be tomorrow that we get an application that works for us at times until. My concern, and of course, you know, things are well, but with the outages and everything that we had and, you know, the summer coming and, you know, the usage, it will be higher, you know.

[00:29:54] All that concern is to make sure that we have, you know, fully staffed, you know, there. But I think I did ask before, and I think you might have emailed me something, but I would like to know what is the money and the funding that goes transferred because that is something that, you know, as we look for different money, you know, I want to have an idea just the way we ask the school board, I believe, about, you know, their number.

[00:30:20] I would like to know what has happened. The Enterprises funds are independent of the General Fund, but we can typically in Public Works or PD, if there's any available funding, we can get you a better idea towards the end of the fiscal year what might be available.

[00:30:46] And the problem with that is because we budget kind of in the middle, if we were to get someone that came in and we had to hire above, then some of the savings may be realized or maybe go to a salary that's higher than what we would have typically budgeted.

[00:31:07] And I think we did talk about it, and I'm sorry if I'm getting away, but I just wanted to make sure that I ask whether it's, you know, the first one, which is a lot less than the electrical.

[00:31:23] still is money and you know if it's a month or a couple of months or over a year you know it's just a different budget on the flip side of that too with some of these positions if they don't have an actual employee they're also hiring out consulting services which cost some of this money too so there it's It's not necessarily because the position is still vacant that there's a complete savings there

[00:31:58] because they are probably also at the same time having to pay a consultant to do some of the work that otherwise an employee in-house would be doing. And specific to the electric position, that position isn't necessarily needed to ensure the reliability of our electric service to our customers.

[00:32:24] Tarek has got that well in hand. This position, right now Tarek is having to take an additional, carrying a heavier load just because he's responsible not only for the operations but also for a lot of the planning. He's got some folks that he works with, but this is just another position to help give him the expertise so that he's not the sole point of contact for any of our new projects or things of that nature.

[00:32:55] I thank you, and I understand, and I know that, you know, sometimes other employees have to pitch in and make sure that, you know, it's just the nature of, you know, getting the work done. But, yeah, I'll hold my other questions.

[00:33:10] Thank you. Any other questions? Your HR business partner talent, is that fancy for a recruiter? Recruiter, yep, sits in and helps fill these positions. She didn't have a need there. Yes, she started today, so we are immediately throwing her into sitting in on interviews and introducing her to the rest of the hiring teams out here.

[00:33:35] Anything else on that for Darla? Thank you for using that. Thank you for being here. City Manager's time. Yes, ma'am. We're looking for council and mayor volunteers to present awards at our 2025 volunteer reception.

[00:33:58] Basically, what we're looking for, we have an award to the HRB, the ARB, we've got several for the volunteer fire and volunteer rescue squads, the BZA Advisory for Social Services, Utility Commission, Parks and Rec Committee, Historic Manassas, Solid Waste Committee, our Building Code of Appeals, and the Planning Commission.

[00:34:29] There's a few of these boards that there are council-appointed members. Makes sense that they would do that. And those would be for the Historic Resources Board. That's Ms. Ellis. For ARB, again, that's Ms. Ellis.

[00:34:46] For the Social Services, that's Mr. Smith. Utility Commission is Mr. Osina. Yes. Parks and Rec Committee is Ms. Hudson, and the Solid Waste Committee is Mr. Wolf. I don't know if there's anyone that had any desire to present those other than those that were appointed.

[00:35:09] And I'll take what's left. I don't have any, but I was hoping to do the Historic Resources Board since I served the last two years, but I don't know if that would be okay with her. No, my ask will be that and HMI.

[00:35:32] Oh, HMI and the Greater Manessas Volunteers. So, Teresa, you want to keep the Historic Resources Board? and the ARB. I'm fine with ARB. I'll take another one if there's another one. So you want HRB? Yeah. So Sonia will do HRB and which? I can do HMI or all the volumes.

[00:35:56] Okay, I'll do HMI. Do HMI. Thank you so much. Can I do a second one? Planning Commission? Yeah, you need two. Everybody's going to take two. Okay, I was not sure. So you'll do ARB and Planning Commission. I'm happy to do the Board of Building Code Appeals, which is where I was serving before. And which other one?

[00:36:17] And then I guess I got Parks and Rec. Oh, that's right. Parks and Rec. Mr. Hercina has utility. Utilities. Oh, I get another one. You get another one. Oh, there we go. How about, just a moment, I'm going back and forth.

[00:36:39] The third one down on the list, GMVRS slash Manassas Volunteer. Oh, excuse me. That's just one. That's one. Then the Manassas Volunteer Fire Company. Mr. Smith.

[00:36:57] Oh, whatever's available. That's my line. You can't use my line. And then we've got Sonia's, and so then Mark will do... Whatever. What do we have left? Cemeteries.

[00:37:13] Wind me up, I'll talk. We've got cemeteries left. Oh, that's a good one for everyone's. Actually, that's with A&B as well. Oh, okay, so that's combined. Okay, I apologize. So there's a volunteer rescue, BZA, Board of Zoning Appeals.

[00:37:30] No, I thought somebody said they wanted that. Mr. Osina wanted the volunteer fire. Okay. So we've got two for the Rescue Squad, Board of Zoning Appeals, and HMI. HMI, Estonia.

[00:37:47] Oh, there's two HMI. There's two HMI, sorry. Okay. I didn't realize there were two. What am I looking at? Okay. Oh, I see. All right. So, Mr. Smith, you want to do one of the HMI's? Is that okay? Mark, GMV, RS? Which one did you help with?

[00:38:05] One of the HMI's for you, and then what's left? you've got PZA and work, you might be needing them sooner rather than sooner than sooner than sooner than sooner than sooner than sooner than sooner than sooner than sooner than sooner than sooner than sooner than sooner than sooner than sooner than sooner than sooner than sooner than sooner than sooner than sooner than sooner than sooner than sooner. So if you can answer at this moment or if it's something you're deserving for that night, with regard to the HMI list with Jeff Picard, obviously you've got an asterisk. He will be recognized. He'll be recognized. I believe he's got some family as well.

[00:38:39] And now, along those lines, between you and Ms. Luna, do you have a preference for either Mr. Picard or Ms. Luna? Did you know him? I didn't know him, but I could do either one. Hey, either one is fine.

[00:38:56] Okay, that's all I have. That's all you have? Okay, anything else? I don't. I'll keep it half an hour. Never mind. We are adjourned. Thank you, everybody.

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