Coraggio Consulting
Manassas City Council 7/14/2025

Date: Monday, July 14, 2025
Place: Manassas City Council, Virginia
Length: 1h 46m (video)
Official meeting video (Wistia / RegionalWebTV): https://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/or8no1v9a5

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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[00:00:02] to order. Mr. Smith, please call the roll. Mayor Davis-Younger. Present. Council Member Ellis. Here. Vice Mayor Wolfe. Council Member Smith. Present. Council Member Osina. Council Member Vasquez-Luna.

[00:00:21] Council Member Hudson. Here. Forum is present. Thank you. I'll call on Councilwoman Hudson to do the motion to add Vice Mayor Mark Wolfe to the meeting. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I move for the approval of participation by remote electric communication for Vice Mayor Mark Wolfe.

[00:00:37] Second. We have the motion by Councilwoman Hudson, seconded by Councilman Smith, to approve electronic communication participation for Vice Mayor Wolfe. Any discussion? Hearing and seeing none. Mr. Smith, please call the roll. Council Member Hudson? Yes. Council Member Smith?

[00:00:54] Yes. Council Member Ellis? Yes. The motion carries. Alright, thank you so much. If you're able to please stand with me for the invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance. Dear God, thank you for allowing us to once again gather together to provide governance for our city of Manassas.

[00:01:14] We ask humbly that you continue to protect our staff, this council, as well as every resident and person who wears the uniform to protect us here locally and overseas. As we enter into the summer months and we have so many events, please let us gather with a spirit of community and togetherness.

[00:01:31] Most of all, please let us all lead and respond with kindness and love toward one another and never look down on anyone unless we are helping them get up. We remain thankful for all things. Amen. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance.

[00:01:47] To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you very much. Good to see everyone out this evening.

[00:02:10] We have a full council chambers and exciting event happening a little bit later with our police department. Good to see our Commissioner of the Revenue, Tim DiMaria, back there. Thank you for joining us tonight, sir. First on the agenda, we have our council time. I'll call on Vice Mayor Wolfe.

[00:02:26] Hopefully he can hear me. Vice Mayor Wolfe, can you hear us? Vice Mayor Wolfe. Vice Mayor Wolfe.

[00:02:47] Okay, well, we'll come back. Yes, ma'am. Oh, okay. There we go. It's your time for council comments. Mark? I will pass. Okay. Councilwoman Teresa.

[00:03:02] Thank you. Councilwoman Teresa Coat-Sellis. Thank you, Mayor. It's great to see our police department, everyone in here, who's being recognized for all their dedication and hard work to our community and their support that they have as well, and their families and other people in the police department.

[00:03:25] I just wanted to remind people that there are police, they do a very, very important job in our city. And as members of our community, we also have a job to do. And it's to do our best to uphold the law, respect people's property, and also communicate effectively.

[00:03:48] We had some vandalism over the 4th of July in the city, which most people condemned. And it was right across from City Hall on a day that we were really proud to have Celebrate America. And I just wanted to say that, you know, I hope we don't see that again in our city.

[00:04:06] But I do appreciate the police for their diligent work and try to help us through that. I also want to wish a happy 15th anniversary to Hepburn & Sons, who is one of our top employees and employers in our city.

[00:04:26] They're a defense contractor. They do a lot of great things with our schools, with internships, and actually helping students go to college to get really good work that will carry through them as they learn all about security and Navy contracting.

[00:04:45] And we had a nice celebration last week. On a softer note, we have some residents in our city that are fighting English ivy. And it seems like a very small thing, but it is a big problem.

[00:05:01] And Baldwin Elementary School on August 2nd from 9 to 12, our residents are going to do a big cleanup, try to combat that very awful ivy that strangles our trees. So that's the master gardener in me. Thank you. When is that, Teresa?

[00:05:18] It's August 2nd. Okay. 9 to 12 at Baldwin Elementary. Thank you. Councilman Smith. Thank you, Mayor. I yield. Okay. Councilman Hudson. Thank you, Madam Mayor, and good evening, everyone. Quite a bit has happened since I last sat here on June 9th.

[00:05:35] On a personal note, I did get married, which is why I was not here on June 23rd, and many community members have congratulated both me and my husband, and I just wanted to say thank you. We appreciate you all very much. And along the lines of congratulations, There are certainly several in order for the city here.

[00:05:52] Historic Manassas Inc., congratulations on an awesome Independence Day event. As Councilwoman Ellis said, Hepburn & Sons for 15 years in operation. Also Manassas Olive Oil for 10 years in business. There were also a group of middle school students in Georgetown South who completed a youth coding camp through Dream and Nova.

[00:06:11] Congratulations to them. All the vendors, organizers, performers, and everyone involved in L'Orexpo this past weekend, Excellent event, well attended, and congratulations to you all. And of course, I want to offer congratulations in advance to all of our police being recognized tonight.

[00:06:28] I want to continue on by recognizing the Parks and Rec Committee that met last week. This group has such great enthusiasm. They are involved in other things throughout the city, working to make the green space better for all. One of the notes I wanted to bring up was the English Ivy cleanup on August 2nd.

[00:06:47] If you're interested in doing that, definitely come out to the Baldwin Park and help clean up in that morning. Also, the Keep Manassas Beautiful group is going to meet on August 7th at 6 o'clock at the Public Works Building. I will be attending both of those events and invite you all to attend and join with me there.

[00:07:05] Finally, this Wednesday, the National Capital Region's Transportation Planning Board will meet with focus on a presentation from COG and VDOT regarding the i-495 south lane or south side extension lane project the tpb will vote in october whether or not this project will be included in visualized 2050 and all the studies that go along with being included in visualized 2050 with population continuing to grow in this region i am personally in favor of the i-495 south side project but we will have to wait and see how the whole group votes a couple of the other things to note that are coming up on july 27th from 11 to 1 at Harris Pavilion there will be a food drive

[00:07:44] with family activities working to stock our local food pantries so bring a food item and come out to that. It's a Sunday afternoon. On July 30th our transportation department is teaming up with Manassas Parks Transportation Department to go over the rail and trail plan and how far they've gotten in those studies.

[00:08:02] They're going to hold an information session at Manassas Parks Community Center at 6 o'clock. That's July 30th. August 2nd, after you're done helping clean up English Ivy, you can head over to the African American Heritage Festival at Mets Middle School. It's always a really fun event. And the community center, of course, continues to offer programming such as toddler time, open court for basketball, and much more.

[00:08:25] So go online and check out what's going on at the community center. Also, of course, the farmer's market is every Thursday and Saturday. And as you all know, there's so much going on. So I hope everybody has a safe and fun summer. And thank you, Madam Mayor, for the time. Thank you. Your husband is in the back.

[00:08:40] You fell right in line, came to the first meeting, so thanks for being here. Everybody look at Courtney. He didn't know what was going on. He didn't know. Let's just embarrass Courtney. Thank you for coming tonight. For me, just got to start off with a huge thank you. It has been an emotional couple of weeks, and I want to sincerely thank everyone who has reached out and expressed their condolences in the loss of my father.

[00:09:05] Losing both my parents in the last eight months has been really trying. but I have wonderful friends and family who have held me down and prayed for me and been there for our entire family, and I just wanted to make sure that I said thank you, especially to our police, our fire.

[00:09:22] They had come to the house several times with my mom and dad, and then were there the last day when he passed away. So just wanted to make sure that I conveyed my sincere thanks for everything that you all have done as a community, as a whole. Everybody's just reached out, and I really felt good about it.

[00:09:40] My parents were both born here and never left, and you've heard the story a lot. They loved Manassas, even when Manassas wasn't so kind to them. But I saw that love early on, and I promised them that I would continue to represent them and their legacy, and I intend to do so with the grace and honor that they did.

[00:10:01] I will move forward doing my best, as I always do. I carry their legacy and all who paved the way for me, and I'm grateful for that. After taking a few days away, I was able to make the ribbon cutting for Manassas Olive Oil.

[00:10:16] I did miss the ribbon cutting for Social Services' new renovation, but I'll be making my way over there to see their new digs really soon. They're there to serve and have a brighter and better space to do so over there in the old Piedmont building. But we do have another ribbon cutting for UNI Haircut Salon on the 24th of July.

[00:10:38] And speaking of ribbon cuttings, I just want to let everyone know that these are open to the public. 99% of them are not by invitation, and anyone is invited to come and be there. Businesses love to see our residents show up for ribbon cuttings, because that's just support for the community as a whole.

[00:10:59] So anyone and everyone is welcome to come to those. If you're able to come and join us, please do so. They're open to the public. And make sure that you look at our website and sign up for the text messages, 888-777, so you can get informed about the events that are coming up in the city.

[00:11:19] This past Friday, I had my first midday with the mayor. I look forward to doing it again on the 25th. I have two guests coming for the 25th. It's a secret unless you come to the previous meeting. That's the only way you can find out who's coming the next time. But I want to thank Marcus, Officer Marcus Hyde, for coming and helping address some of the recent concerns that have come up in the city with the vandalism.

[00:11:41] We talked a little bit about ICE as well. So thank you for being there that day on Friday. And I did the mayor's pick at the market. Filigreen was my pick of the week. I stood out there for about 15 minutes and helped them sell. It was just too daggone hot. So I didn't stay out there too long.

[00:11:57] And the next time I do that is on the 26th. We had a wonderful LAR Expo event. That was the sixth year in a row that we've been able to do that. Always a great time. And we thank Maria Guzman, who's on our HMI board. She organizes that every year.

[00:12:13] And it's always such a great event. I was able to speak to-- many of you know Carmen and Nick-- because of why they have a new accelerator program for teens. And they had me come out and speak to some of the teens. And they work with building confidence and character.

[00:12:31] And they had me come out and speak to them on Saturday. Tomorrow we have our legislative breakfast. We have Senator Rome will be coming. That's at the museum at 8 o'clock. Again, that is an open meeting. And anyone is able to come to that is at the museum at 8 o'clock. So if you are up and early, you want to come on out, do so.

[00:12:49] And we have a work session coming up on the 21st as well. So with that, I will turn it over to City Manager Steve Burt. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I'm pleased this evening to introduce Trinity Waldron. Sorry. She's our new Housing and Neighborhood Coordinator.

[00:13:05] Trinity will be leading efforts to implement the city's goals for housing and neighborhoods, focusing on programs and projects that expand housing opportunities for moderate and low-income households. She's a native of Luray, and I worked with her in a previous life.

[00:13:22] She's got a bachelor's degree in public and urban affairs from Virginia Tech and a master's degree in urban and regional planning from VCU, and she brings valuable experience from her previous role as a home program manager for Enrico County, and we look forward to her serving our community.

[00:13:41] Good, and welcome. This past Sunday, the city's website encountered an error due to a security certificate renewal being processed by our vendor.

[00:13:58] The site was not compromised but the renewal process took longer than was anticipated and our website is up and running and available to everyone as of today. The Manassas City Public Library will be having story time at the Manassas Museum at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, July 16th. That will include some crafts for our children. The museum will also be at the Farmers Market on thursday july 17th with items from the museum and it will be handing out supplies so that you can make your own quilt square we remind everyone to bring friends and family to the manassas community

[00:14:37] center on friday july 25th we'll be watching wicked summer events include music at the harris pavilion swimming at the stonewall pool open house at the liberia house and annenberg and events for toddlers and teens at the manassas community center for information about all the summer happenings please visit the city's calendar on the main page of our website manassasva.gov and you can also find the most current information about road improvements city projects and upcoming applications to be reviewed by our planning commission and city

[00:15:13] council again it's manassasva.gov and when you go there you can search for information if it's not readily available and that's all i have madam mayor any questions for city manager okay if not We'll move forward in the agenda.

[00:15:29] I have nothing, ma'am. Thanks, Vice Mayor. We'll move forward with the presentations. Next on the agenda, we have the Nassau City Police Department Employee Recognition. Chief Keene is here to help us with that. Thank you, Mayor and Council.

[00:15:45] Tonight is a very special night. As you can see, we have a large group. The first part of this is going to come in different phases. It's more of an introduction. The soon-to-be promoties on July 28th. This is going to be the largest promotion that I can remember in my career, a total of 11 people getting promoted. We can't really do that all at one time. It takes a little bit more coordination and we want to make sure they and their families are all here. We will be doing a more formal promotion ceremony at a later date. We'll make sure you and council are invited to that. That way

[00:16:20] their family and friends can attend. Tonight is more of an introduction to you and the community of who they are going to be. Give you a little bit of background at the conclusion of our on-site CALEA assessment. It was suggested, and I think you and I put a lot of value in CALEA and their recommendation, that with the change in the city and the growing of the organization and the programs that we have in place and that we will soon have in place, including the airport expansion, it would be suggested for efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability, We look at a reorganization.

[00:16:56] That's what we've done with that reorganization, a couple of resignations and vacancies. It allows the next generation of leadership to enter into the supervisory role and really set you and us up for the future, giving them an opportunity to be heavily involved.

[00:17:14] With that tonight, although in your program you will see all of the promotees, the lieutenants and the sergeants listed in there, tonight is really for me to introduce to you and the community the three people that have been promoted to captain slash assistant chief they are going to start some of those duties tonight with helping me through the program to make sure I don't mess it up so they'll give them an opportunity to be in front of you for you in the community to see them at the same time with that first person I want to introduce is soon to be captain-elect Marcus Hyde Marcus if you'll stand

[00:17:51] up marcus will be promoted to assistant chief he'll be assigned to the patrol division which is the division that you and the community deal with most of the time marcus did any of your family make it here tonight are you going to save it for the more formal promotion all right well as you know you'll hear some of these names they have deep ties to the community marcus will never live down that he was part of the he's on the water tower state championship

[00:18:25] football team thank you marcus uh next introduction is uh captain-elect uh geo barahona i think most of you know geo from dealing with him through all the events uh geo's been with us a long time serving many different roles from in patrol investigator to the public information officer and most recently what you saw dealing with were all the permits and the events in old town so geo's deep ties to the community as well geo do you have any family you want to

[00:19:00] introduce tonight welcome thanks for sharing them with us and again we're going to have this more formal event we'll spend more time geo is going to be assigned to the investigative services

[00:19:26] overseeing the detectives the vice of narcotics unit as well next up is captain-elect andy brooks and he's been with us a long time really he's been serving a unit that you get asked about a lot that traffic service services unit does all of our traffic enforcement and of all our specialties as well andy came to us from another department many years ago we held on to him he's one of those great finds and one of those lateral officers that has come to manassas found a home moved

[00:20:05] his way up andy will be serving us in the administrative services division unfortunately he's right next to me that's going to be the worst thing about his assignment but dealing with the budget and all those administrative duties that are very heavy in an organization of our size and do you have any family here with you tonight they're watching from home so i'll just wait there you go perfect uh mayor you'll you'll hear more from each one of them as they get involved in this program again i do want to point out on the second page all the other promotees

[00:20:43] from sergeant lieutenant you'll recognize many of those names i do want to read them out just so they are recognized the lieutenants is lieutenant brett stump again long times osborne graduate getting promoted he'll be assigned to the patrol division lieutenant connor lane also an osborne graduate he'll be assigned to the special operations section lieutenant greg daisy lieutenant Jonathan Castelline, and then the sergeants, Shauna Moeller. Shauna's over here taking pictures, but you'll know her from our public information, and she was filling in on the specialty of the

[00:21:20] mental health assignment that we had. Sergeant Anna Brown, many of you have dealt with her again through community services. Sergeant Patrick Carlsey and Sergeant Brittany Alexander, another Osborne graduate that had found a home and stayed here to serve their community. I think a round of applause, even though it's just a quick introduction for all of them. Next up, mayors, we're going to be introducing our newest Academy graduates. Although there were only seven, that is one of our largest

[00:21:54] classes that we've had attend the Academy. I'm going to do some quick introductions in some of the awards that they received, which is very honorable as well. First up is Officer DeGroote. They made sure that I did not introduce their family and friends at this point.

[00:22:18] They already got some of this at the academy. Next up is Officer Godot, Officer Goldbaum, Bold, Officer Prantis.

[00:22:42] Officer Schubert did not make it in. He's at the jail, not in the jail. He's already on the street. Thank you for clarifying that. He's at the jail processing an arrestee, so right to work. He's also a local person, graduated from Manassas Park.

[00:22:58] Next, Officer Penasaka, if I say that correct. Officer Bercyon. Now I want to brag on them just a little bit, Mayor. This was a very special class. I think you'll see from the awards that they won shows the extent of the backgrounds we do and the quality of personnel that we're trying to get here.

[00:23:30] First is the Excellence in the Emergency Vehicle Operations Award. First place out of all the academy, Officer Thomas Schubert. Thank you. Next is Excellence in Human Performance Award, Luke Goldbaum.

[00:23:49] That is basically the Fitness Award, Mayor. And next up is the Academic Excellence, third place, Mark Prantice. Those may not seem like much, Mayor, But when we're competing against every other agency, every other cadet that was in the academy with every other agency in Northern Virginia, that speaks very highly of this group.

[00:24:20] The entire group, all seven of them, just want to point out the academy director could not speak high enough about all seven of them of their commitment to both serving Manassas, how highly they spoke about us and their attitude. So I would ask for one more round of applause for all seven of them.

[00:24:37] And as usual, they graduated one day, they start on the street the next day. They've now started the next tough phase of their career, which is that field training at the very minimum 16 weeks as they continue that training.

[00:24:56] As we talked about many times, from the time they start the academy to the time they are released, it's a year's worth of training. So a lot goes into them. We invest a lot into them. So we want to make sure we're getting people that have a commitment to us and to our community and our philosophy of community policing.

[00:25:15] And this group has shown that. Next up, I'm going to ask, I believe, Captain-elect Andy Brooks is up first. We're going to do some awards. Again, you may have heard about some of these events that they're going to give these merit awards. I try to keep you and council briefed when these events happen.

[00:25:33] I think, again, it just shows the quality of the people and the personnel and the commitment to the community as they read through these. Madam Mayor, members of council, Mr. Burke, thank you for having us again.

[00:25:49] First, I'd like to call up Sergeant Krause, Master Police Officer Hogue, and I believe Senior Police Officer Statman is one of the folks at the jail, and Public Safety Communications Supervisor Jeremy Bergeron, who's on vacation today.

[00:26:07] So just to give you a little bit of background about the event that led us here today, on March 26, 2025, members of the Manassas City Police Department responded to a rapidly evolving incident involving the theft of a vehicle and abduction of a child. Officers learned that the suspect had fled in a stolen vehicle with the child still inside.

[00:26:26] From the outset, Public Safety Communications staff led by Communications Supervisor Bergeron managed multi-jurisdictional radio traffic, navigated AMBER Alert protocols, and provided necessary information to officers in the field. Sergeant Krause demonstrated innovation by drawing upon her knowledge and experience to locate the vehicle via alternative methods.

[00:26:48] Sergeant Krause contacted OnStar and learned the location of the vehicle. Her quick-thinking, professional composure throughout the event and decisiveness likely prevented what could have been a tragic outcome. A short time later, the suspect vehicle was located by Master Police Officer Hogue, his canine partner Bain, and Senior Police Officer Statman.

[00:27:09] Upon initiating a high-risk stop, officers encountered the suspect who was noncompliant, ignored lawful commands, and was believed to be armed. Ultimately, a taser had to be deployed in order to gain control of the suspect and take him into custody unharmed. It was later discovered that the suspect was armed with a knife and a firearm was located inside the vehicle.

[00:27:29] The child was no longer in the vehicle, however, questioning of the suspect led officers to a nearby residence where the child was located unharmed. These officers exhibited professionalism, courage, and a great deal of restraint under stressful and uncertain circumstances. Their actions directly led to the safe recovery of a child and the apprehension of a dangerous offender without injury to anyone involved.

[00:27:52] For these reasons, we recognize each of them with the Honorable Service Award. Congratulations. Just in time.

[00:28:10] Now for the photo. That's right. Good evening.

[00:28:26] Good evening. My new phone clip, sorry. Next recipient is Master Police Officer Ricky Claude Felter. I think what he did was truly a moment of what we're about here in Manassas City, and I'll speak briefly about it. On March 31st of this year, Master Police Officer Ricky Claude Felter responded to a call involving a man sitting on the ledge of the top level of our parking garage, legs dangling over the side, seemingly giving his last regards to passers-by.

[00:28:57] After receiving that call, Officer Claude Felter quickly arrived on scene, went to the top of the parking garage, and saw this subject sitting on the edge. Realizing the urgency of the situation, he quickly and safely approached the man from behind, was able to secure him before he could act on his intent. Afterwards, he immediately engaged the man in calm conversation as he got into the safety, to safety, off of the ledge. The individual had disclosed to NPO Claude Felter that he did in fact come there and intended to end his life and this was impacted by a friend of his who had done the same. He intended to do the same. Thanks to NPO Claude Felter's quick thinking and

[00:29:33] willingness to put himself at risk, a tragedy was prevented and that man is receiving the help that he needs. With that being said, we proudly award Master Police Officer Ricky Claude Felter with a Medal of Merit and recognition of his decisive, selfless, and life-saving actions. Good evening, Madam Mayor, Council Members, Mr. City Manager. Next up, I would like to call

[00:30:07] Special Police Officer Pinto to come forward and be recognized. The following actions by SPO Pinto were not only heroic, but likely saved the life of an infant child. To set the stage, this incident took place May 2nd in the afternoon, with the weather being approximately 80 degrees. Officer Pinto responded to the parking lot of Forestwood Lane where he met a very concerned parent. The parent informed Officer Pinto that she accidentally turned off the vehicle and locked the vehicle with

[00:30:43] her infant child still inside. The windows of the vehicle were also closed and time was of the essence. By the time Officer Pinto arrived and assessed the situation, it was estimated that the infant child had been inside the vehicle for approximately five to seven minutes. Under such circumstances, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, children can suffer life-threatening conditions within 10 minutes. Also, the child's body temperature can rise three

[00:31:16] to five times faster than that of an adult. Heat stroke begins when the core body temperature reaches 104 degrees. Death can occur when the body temperature reaches 107. Recognizing this dangers. SBO Pinto utilized his service baton and broke the driver's side window off the vehicle.

[00:31:40] He proceeded to unlock the vehicles or the vehicle which allowed the mother to enter and remove the infant child. Officer Pinto's actions were not done. He proceeded to escort the parent to a nearby pediatric medical facility. Rescue personnel arrived on scene and along with the medical staff evaluated the infant and determined the infant to be safe.

[00:32:07] It is estimated that 1,000 children died because of this situation. In 2024, 39 children alone died due to heat stroke in vehicles. This is 35% more than that of for year 2023.

[00:32:27] SBO Pinto intervention prevented the infant child from becoming part of such terrible statistic. On this May afternoon, S.P.O. Pinto's assertive likely saved the life and health of this infant.

[00:32:47] Therefore, for his quick actions, his heroic actions, S.P.O. Pinto is being recognized and being awarded the Medal of Merit Award. Chief, back to you.

[00:33:16] Mayor, Council, Mr. Burke, we just want to take this time, Mayor, and ask for a quick recess to give you and the families an opportunity to mingle with more of us and for us to get to know our officers and congratulate them a little bit further.

[00:33:32] I wanted to give council members, if you wanted to have a few moments, just to say a special congratulations to them if you hadn't done so already. I wanted to give you a few moments to do that if you wish. So anybody? Okay, go ahead, Councilman Smith. If others do, I would wait to last.

[00:33:48] Do you? Do you want to close it? Well, I'll say congratulations. Thank you. My piece was going to be, and I ask unanimous consent, But before, just before we leave to have our break, if we would give the police department a standing ovation.

[00:34:04] I agree.

[00:34:14] Councilman Smith, thank you very much for that. I think that alone is just another shining example of what makes Manassas a special place to live and work.

[00:34:34] So thank you, sir. Ashley, Teresa, you good? Okay. Well, I'll round it out. I'll take what time they didn't say. We know being a police officer is tough. And these days, it's even tougher for you to want to do this.

[00:34:50] And for our beloved Manassas, we appreciate you and everything that you do. Every single day you get up and you put people before yourselves. And we are grateful for that. But I have to say, it starts at the top. It comes from the top.

[00:35:06] And I don't think that they would want to be here if they didn't have you as the example to try to follow. honesty, integrity, character, and that's what all of these ladies and gentlemen have, but you have to be that for them. They wouldn't have wanted to come here if they didn't see us doing it right, so have to give kudos to you as well, the people that have been promoted.

[00:35:29] We have faith in you. We believe in you. I feel safe here. I love our city, and I love the protection that you all get up and provide us every single solitary day because you don't have to do it but you made the choice to do it because you love this city and we appreciate you very much and i just could not even tell you with council members i know they all feel the same way but it's not easy and we know it and we just appreciate and love you all for what you do thank you so much i just had to get that out there so we respect you we love you thank you thank you thank you so much so now we can have our recess yeah thank you for your kind words and

[00:36:06] I'm blessed with a good staff so thank you good thank you all right 10 minute recess thank you come get your picture so much for that um taking the time to recognize our police officers and their accomplishments um we're going to go ahead and with the agenda for our public hearings item number 1.1 we have the public hearing um we have a sign-up sheet in front of the dais somewhere up here um if you wish to sign up to speak on um any item on the public hearings we have scheduled for

[00:36:44] tonight the public hearing sheet is separate from the public comment sheet I'll go over the procedures for public hearings I read the newspaper ad certification for public hearings and staff will present the issue for consideration and the council has the opportunity to ask questions then I will open the public hearing for public comment we will make sure not to miss anyone who wishes to speak during a public hearing item and then the public hearing will be either closed which requires a motion of order continue to taken up at the next regularly scheduled council meeting so with that i will read the newspaper

[00:37:18] certification which i had was over here hiding back there thank you this is it and the newspaper advertisement certification reads for public hearing as the mayor i certify that newspaper advertisements for the public hearings listed on tonight's agenda were published in conformance with the requirements of general law and city ordinances as the mayor i further certify that an affidavit of publication is before me which is signed by an authorized representative of the Prince William Times newspaper which states that the

[00:37:52] advertisements appeared on the required dates. And so we have first item is Public Hearing Resolution R-2026-005 amending the fiscal year 2026 budget by budgeting and appropriating $10,750,000 of school fund balance for the Monassau City Public Schools to purchase property located at 8700 Centerville Road and so any school board representative is here if anybody has any questions I'll just call for the motion if we're ready to move forward if

[00:38:26] nobody has any questions for them okay well go ahead and open up the public hearing no one is signed up if there's anyone who wishes to address counsel on this item you may do so at this time all right entertain a motion to close thank you mayor um mayor david johnner i move that the public hearing regarding proposed amendment to the fiscal year 2026 budget be closed second pay the motion by councilman smith second

[00:39:02] by councilwoman ellis to close the public hearing on item 1.1 resolution number r2026005 any discussion We'll get miserable.

[00:39:19] Did he want to say anything? Okay. Go ahead and call the roll. You're going to be active tonight. Council Member Smith? Yes. Council Member Ellis? Yes. Council Member Hudson? Yes. Vice Mayor Wolfe? Vice Mayor Wolfe?

[00:39:43] Yes. There's a lag, so. The motion carries. Okay, thank you. That public hearing item is closed. Next on the agenda, we have item, public hearing item 1.2, resolution number R-2026-006, amending the fiscal year 2026 budget by budgeting and appropriating $2 million of school fund balance for the Monassau City Public Schools to implement a pilot alternative education program.

[00:40:19] And the public hearing is now open. There's no one signed up on the sheets, but if there's anyone here that wishes to address counsel on this matter, please come forward at this time. No one present. I'll entertain a motion. Mr. Smith. Mayor Davis-Young, I move that the public hearing regarding proposed amendment in the fiscal year 2026 budget be closed.

[00:40:41] We have a motion by Councilman Smith, seconded by Councilwoman Ellis, to close the public hearing on item 1.2, resolution number R-2026-006. any discussion hearing and seeing none mr smith please call the roll council member smith yes council member ellis yes council member hudson yes vice mayor wolf yes the motion carries thank you that was us forward to item 1.3 the public hearing for number r 2026-12 the pennington

[00:41:18] traditional school special use permit and we have audra here to help us with that That's not the right thing.

[00:42:12] Okay. Thank you, Madam Mayor, and good evening, Councilmembers.

[00:43:01] So before you tonight, I have Special Use Permit 2025-0002 for the Pennington Traditional School. So this is located at 9305 Stonewall Road. It is for the expansion of the existing educational facility, primary or secondary. The parcel is about 15 acres in size.

[00:43:18] It is owned R1, Single Family Residential Low Density and Airport Impact Overlay District, and it is designated as a traditional neighborhood in the comprehensive plan and along a corridor. Surrounding land uses include single-family residential, the All Saints Church, a funeral home, general offices, the county court complex, and Manassas Senior Center.

[00:43:42] So a quick overview. This is for the educational facility primary or secondary. The applicant wishes to construct an addition onto the portion of the building fronting Stonewall Road for additional classroom and administrative space. The classroom space would include music and arts classrooms, standard classrooms, and special education rooms.

[00:44:01] This school did open in 2000, and prior to that at this location, it was the New Bennett School, which opened in 1969. The students are from Prince William County. This proposal is anticipated to create a net increase of about 20 students for a total of 672 students.

[00:44:21] This will seem familiar because you did see this in March of this year. You did remand it back through review due to traffic, parking, vehicle stacking concerns and an enrollment discrepancy in the application. Planning Commission has since heard that revised application at their June 4th meeting, and they did recommend approval.

[00:44:39] So before you now is the revised general development plan. The building, the proposed addition, did not change in this plan. What did change is that there is additional parking and travel ways as part of the site circulation. Here is their stacking exhibit.

[00:44:55] So it used to be a single stack, and now there is a double stack in that rear parking area. Just as a reminder, these are the elevations of what they are proposing. So the top one is the view from the parking lot, and the bottom one is the view from Stonewall Road. And just some quick renderings.

[00:45:13] So staff's analysis is that we find that the proposed use does not have a significant impact on surrounding land uses, and any impacts are addressed by the conditions of approval. This use is classified as institutional in this character area, and it is appropriate. on larger properties located along the corridors there is it does border the downtown character area and so this should be considered a transitional property that is achieved through the development on the southern portion and the that open space on the northern portion so the tia was not required it was below the minimum threshold so the new proposed parking does have a total of 112 parking

[00:45:52] spaces included that is 54 new spaces from what is existing there now today and 26 additional spaces from the previous application. And again, those travel ways are being expanded also to allow for 33 more vehicles to stack on site for a total of 144 vehicles. And as a reminder, the applicant is dedicating right away along Stonewall and Mosby for future improvements. So this is not a comprehensive list of the conditions, but it is ones that I want to bring your attention to. So condition one will limit the use to the educational facility with a maximum enrollment of 672 students. Condition two will require that it

[00:46:31] is in substantial conformance with the special use permit plan. Condition four will require a landscaping buffer along the shared properties located off of Stonewall Road. Condition six requires that the existing modular classroom be removed from the site once the addition is completed and a certificate of occupancy is issued. Condition seven requires that all private student drop-off and pickups occur on-site and that a special use permit amendment would be required if the current configuration no longer adequately supports vehicle capacity. Condition 8 requires the dedication of right-of-way on Stonewall Road in Mosby. Condition 11 will require the Prince William

[00:47:08] County Schools to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the city to allow for the use of the outdoor amount of these including fields and play areas outside of school hours. They did volunteer that. It would be similar to what we have with the city schools for our memorandum of understanding for the use of the facilities and that area is underserved by parks. And then condition 12 will require the applicant to provide noise mitigation measures during construction. Condition 13 requires notification to adjoining property owners prior to the start of construction. Condition 14 requires the construction site to be fully secured

[00:47:45] when educational or recreational activities are occurring. And with that, the applicant's proposal with the proposed mitigating conditions sufficiently mitigates negative land use impacts on the existing patterns of development. Again, Planning Commission did recommend approval of 5-1 with the additional condition related to impacts to public roadways at their June 4th hearing.

[00:48:06] And staff also recommends approval of the requested special use permit as conditioned. The applicant is here tonight and they do have a presentation. However, I do stand ready for any questions. Thank you, Audra. Any questions? No. Okay. I think we're good.

[00:48:26] The public hearing is now open. I had to think about what it was doing. The public hearing is now open. I do not have anyone signed up. The applicant does have a presentation if you would want to. I mean, they do have it, and it is ready to go if you guys are interested. Okay. Yeah, go ahead.

[00:48:42] Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. My name is Luke Fetcher.

[00:49:02] I'm a senior project manager, civil engineer with Timmons Group, representing Prince William Schools. And Amy Olenek, one of the architects of record from Hort Copeland-Mockt, here representing. All right. Just a little background. Pennington Traditional School, it's a specialty program. Go right above the microphone.

[00:49:18] Sorry. Pennington Traditional School is a specialty program where students apply to attend and are selected via lottery. Serves grades one through eight. The existing enrollment is 652 students and has been for quite a while. Not 326. That was represented in the previous application. We acknowledge that was a misunderstanding and a mistake in that application.

[00:49:36] take ownership of that, was not intended to mislead or misinform staff or the planning commission or the council whatsoever. This application does increase the capacity of the school by 20 students and that's just based off of the internal programming and space in the school and you'll get into that a little bit more. However, it's not intended to increase the enrollment for the school. In addition to that, our proposed improvements as discussed by staff is a 32,000 square foot two-story addition and increased parking and site circulation some of these we can go through pretty quickly obviously this is a kind of overall perspective

[00:50:14] view of the school located off of Stonewall Road just north of Center Center Street some site perspectives of the school from the right-of-way and around the adjacent property and the existing the existing layout of the school buses and parent drop-off all come in for through the northern entrance there's approximately 59 existing spaces on the site while 70 are required based off of the proposed improvements that we're intending and the play areas to the

[00:50:47] east and the track and rectangular athletic fields to the north. So here's kind of what we presented in the previous application. This included 28 additional parking spaces as identified by staff, buffer along the residential properties to the north, right-of-way dedication along Stonewall and Mosby, and entrance improvements that included a dedicated right-turn lane out of the site to turn north on the Stonewall.

[00:51:17] Our proposed revised site layout kind of takes into account some of the key concerns that were identified by staff and Planning Commission and Council members from the previous application, which included the efficiency of the site circulation, concerns with impact traffic in Stonewall Road, and parents parking off-site during pickup and drop-off operations.

[00:51:39] So we're proposing 54 additional parking spaces, which equates to 112 total spaces, But again, we're required only 70 total spaces for the site and the revised site circulation to eliminate conflicts and increase queue length on the site. In addition, we are proposing to stripe or place no parking signs along the site frontage to further deter parents from parking along the right-of-way on the school frontage.

[00:52:03] Wrong way. Sorry. This first exhibit is the morning drop-off operations. Staff does have, there are staff, school staff on site that help direct traffic and to keep things moving freely.

[00:52:20] Staff hours start at 8 a.m., class hours start at 9 a.m., and ultimately the maximum queuing length that we identified or observed on-site was 20 cars, which is kind of the very last red car on the top portion of that drop-off loop.

[00:52:36] The red arrows indicate the direction of travel or the pathway of travel for parents dropping off students, and the blue is the exit path of travel from the site. In the afternoon pickup operations, parents are directed by staff not to arrive early for pickup or drop-off.

[00:52:57] I'm sorry, for pickup. And staff, again, is present on site to help direct traffic and keep things moving freely. Student dismissals at 340. Buses are staggered to arrive on site. So there's only a certain amount of, I think, up to eight buses that come to keep the site free and clear of traffic at a time.

[00:53:16] And during our observations, when we were watching the pickup operations, there was about 22 cars at 3:20, 35 cars at 3:30, and at 3:40, at student dismissal, there was a total of 47 cars. In both the morning and afternoon, there were no observed impacts to the right-of-way of Stonewall Road.

[00:53:36] And again, as presented by staff, this exhibit is the ultimate condition, which would be if all the vehicles were on site at the same time picking up or dropping off in the entirety of the buses. Again, the buses are staggered, students are let out as their buses arrive, and the morning operations are more free-flowing where parents are dropping off and just continuing through the loop.

[00:54:00] In the afternoon, they do arrive somewhat early, stack up in queue in the length, but at 3.40, that becomes a more free-flowing operation where kids are coming out to the cars, getting in, and traffic's moving along at a more efficient pace. One of the other questions that we heard during the previous city council hearing was whether we studied turn lanes.

[00:54:21] We have what's shown on the screen here is in the morning peak hour, the maximum queue length in Stonewall Road is six feet, and in the afternoon, the maximum queue length is 17 feet. That's less than one full vehicle width, which is standard, is about 25 feet total length when you're looking at queuing and traffic in the roadway.

[00:54:42] So based on the roadway capacity and no real increase in trips to the site, based on the enrollment numbers, the turn lanes are not warranted in this case, nor would they ultimately benefit the community with getting traffic into the site more efficiently. Thank you.

[00:55:01] Good evening. I'm going to walk you through briefly through the building a little bit. And I think one of the big questions last time in the March session was, why are we building such a big addition when the growth in the enrollment is so small?

[00:55:16] But if you look at sort of what the school has now, it's a real, it's programmatically, it's when you talk about all the classes and other scheduled items and the, you know, meetings and classes in the school is that there is a lot of doubling and tripling up.

[00:55:32] There are music classes in science rooms and the art classroom is really kind of a standard classroom. And the administrative offices are incredibly cramped. As far as I know, still the principal does not have his own office.

[00:55:49] There's really no conferencing. The clinic is remote for parents to come in and out of the school. So there's no kind of security, secure pathway for parents to come in without sort of really rambling through the school.

[00:56:05] And then the quality of the class, some of the classrooms are able to kind of spread out a little bit. We're able to have these dedicated music classrooms. And so that's really kind of where the size of the addition comes from. So just in this respect, you can kind of see sort of the green-gray area is the existing school that we're really not touching.

[00:56:24] The red area is the renovation of the administrative area. That's the existing admin area. We're pushing out a little bit on that orange part. Next to the red is going to be the expanded admin area. And then we've got a new main entrance, as you can see with the arrow.

[00:56:40] It gives a whole new face to the front of the building. And then we've got some double-height spaces in terms of when you enter the building. We've got a kind of a learning stair that is really this sort of grand gesture. It gives a kind of a multi-use community area to use in addition to the cafeteria.

[00:57:01] And then some of the double-height music spaces, an art room, and some special ed rooms on this floor. And to the left, again, is the program that I explained prior.

[00:57:17] And then level two on the right are some of the Xs are of the double height spaces. And then we've got these flex collaboration spaces, sort of pull-out spaces for kids. And then four classrooms and two resource rooms. And then additional, apparently much-needed, additional toilets.

[00:57:38] And then in this also, we will be adding a new elevator as well, because the one that is in the school currently is not ADA compliant. So, and then we have our elevations. As the staff discussed before, we've got a combination of a brick and a wood-lock metal panel.

[00:57:59] The metal panel's really for longevity and maintenance. And the wood look is really kind of adds a level of warmth. And then we have got a ton of natural light that the existing school really is lacking right now. different era where small windows were supposed to be less distraction.

[00:58:17] Of course, now we find that it's just better for well-being to have a lot more natural light and being able to see what time of day it is. And some of our exterior renderings here kind of give you an idea of just a much more engaging front.

[00:58:36] This is on the side of the parking area, and this one is coming off of Stonewall Road as you turn into the school. So in addition to all the improvements to the learning environment for the school, there are some community benefits to Pennington traditional school being within the city of Manassas.

[00:58:58] The school building is available to public during non-school hours and organized activities. Currently there's a Girl Strout troop that meets weekly at the school, and as these improvements are implemented, the school will be more available and more usable and just better for the community if they wish to use the space inside the school.

[00:59:16] In addition, there's the outdoor rec areas, the playgrounds, the ball fields, the track, just the general open space, which I know for myself in our community, we take our kids, we've got two toddlers, we take them to the elementary school playground all the time, try to get that energy out and just get them outside and play.

[00:59:33] So in addition, and then staff has reported that they have noted or that they have, you know, seen a local organized group playing soccer and other activities in the exterior areas of the school. So this just further, this is a benefit to the community.

[00:59:51] We know in Northern Virginia, overall, open space is hard to come by. They don't make any more of that. It seems to be all getting filled in. So anything like this is an amenity. And as you can see on this space, the residential community directly to the north and maybe a little bit to the west and east of the school, there are other facilities, but they're a little bit of a distance away.

[01:00:09] So this is easily accessible to those residents and can be used as they see. So with that, that concludes our presentation. Open to any questions. Thank you. Ms. Hudson has a question. Thank you for that presentation.

[01:00:25] One of the additions that you mentioned was the use of special education classrooms. And my question is, does Pennington already have a special education program in place? In our district, we do have special education programming.

[01:00:48] However, we don't have dedicated space at the school to accommodate that. And as you know, oftentimes special education students benefit from very targeted, specific instruction in a smaller group setting. So this does provide that opportunity for expansion out of the regular classroom to go into a special education classroom.

[01:01:07] Okay. And is that serving all grades, one through eight? Yes, ma'am. It is. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions? Just one for clarification. Thank you for your response and your cooperating with the remand that we sent back for further proceedings.

[01:01:29] Appreciate that. I believe it's your first slide. I may have read it the first time it was up, but I just want to ask you a question about it. The last major bullet talks about the proposed improvement, and there's the two-story addition.

[01:01:51] Just for clarity and to make sure we have an understanding, no part of that addition, I mean, we're not going to result in any portion being a three-story building. These are two-story attached to their existing.

[01:02:08] That's correct. Only two stories. The existing building is two stories, and we're adding on a two-story addition and nothing taller. Okay. Any other questions? Okay. Thank you so much for being here and presenting that. Thank you. Public hearing is now open.

[01:02:25] I do not have anyone signed up, but if there's anyone here that wishes to speak on this, please come forward. Hello. I'll sign up afterwards. My name is Kara Berger, and I am a parent, and we just thought it was important that the parents of Pennington have a voice here, too.

[01:02:43] I've had students at Pennington for 11 years now and also serve several years as the chair of the Parent Advisory Council. And just briefly, Pennington's a really special school, and it's unique. And I think just to make sure we've cleared up the misconceptions from, I believe, the last meeting is that we're a school of choice that families have to apply to.

[01:03:04] And we are an extremely engaged student body and parent body. So when students apply, they have to commit to doing a large number of community service hours. And a lot of those community service projects and things we do are in the city of Manassas.

[01:03:20] So we've worked extensively with medical missionaries, Tummy Yum Yum we've done big partnerships with to get school supplies for children in the city of Manassas. So we definitely try to give back to our community. And then parents also have to commit to parent involvement hours.

[01:03:37] So our parent advisory council meetings have like 100 parents attend every single month. And so to address the concern about Pennington growing, a large reason that I chose a school, and I think many other parents do, is because of the smaller size of the school.

[01:03:56] And that is not going to change. And I assure you, the parents would have strong opinions about any of that changing. So we're keeping the class sizes small. Another big benefit is the extra room for our students. My oldest child was really into science, but did not have access to science labs to do experiments and things like that.

[01:04:18] My son, who's going to be an eighth grader next year, very much enjoys orchestra. But right now, a good 10 or 15 minutes, I think, of the class period is dedicated to moving all of the desks out of the room that were there before in chairs, moving the instruments in, and it loses valuable time.

[01:04:38] And then just the last thing I want to say is I've also driven my kids to school every day for the past 11 years and picked them back up, and never, ever have I been backed up onto Stonewall. So we have, I think, a team of 11 teachers out directing traffic, and it flows very smoothly.

[01:04:55] So thank you for helping us improve our school. Thank you. Anyone else? Good evening, members, city council, and Mayor David Younger. My name is David Anderson, and I've had the privilege of serving as Pennington's assistant principal for the last nine years.

[01:05:15] Our principal, Mr. Kalkland, is unable to attend this evening due to family obligations, but he asked me to share a few words on behalf of our school community. First, thank you for the opportunity to speak about the exciting future of Pennington Traditional. I'd also like to express our deep appreciation to the staff, students, and families who have shown their support this evening.

[01:05:38] Pennington Traditional School serves just over 650 students in grades 1-8 from the western end of Prince William County, and approximately 425 of those students reside in Manassas zip codes. We are proud to be part of the Prince William County Specialty Programs, offered a rigorous academic experience to students across the county through a 100% lottery-based admission process.

[01:06:04] A common misconception is that we select only top-performing students, but in reality, every student is admitted through a fair and randomized lottery. Payton consistently ranks among the top-performing schools in all academic achievement metrics.

[01:06:23] This success is a testament to our exceptional students, dedicated staff, and highly engaged families. Our school culture is built on the values of service, community, and high expectations. Students are required to complete community service hours throughout the community, and parents contribute through mandatory volunteer hours to the school.

[01:06:47] We believe in exemplary behavior, academic excellence, and a strong partnership between school, community, and home. Each grade level at Pennington has three classes of 28 students, with slightly smaller classes in grades 1 and 2.

[01:07:03] We service all student needs, including a self-contained autism program, instruction of English language learners, and students with IEPs. The proposed renovation and addition are essential to providing a high-quality, equitable learning environment.

[01:07:21] While our student population has remained stable, the number of services and staff required to support our students has grown significantly over the years. Unfortunately, our current building does not meet the needs of our school community. To illustrate those needs, our front office, designed for three staff members, now accommodates five employees.

[01:07:44] Our dean of students and myself share a single office. Our counseling team shares an office space where they can also conduct student individual and group sessions. Our school psychologist, social worker, and speech therapist all share a space that was once a teacher workroom.

[01:08:03] The nurse's office is no larger than a closet. We have three single stall restrooms for all 75 staff members, two of which are in the main office. Our orchestra teacher moves instruments from a closet multiple times a day and moves desks aside in classrooms to deliver instruction.

[01:08:22] Our band teacher does the same when he takes over a science classroom. Our ESOL, reading, and special ed teachers all share rooms with multiple colleagues. Teachers regularly shuffle classrooms in between periods based on available space.

[01:08:39] We lack dedicated science labs, music rooms, and art spaces. We are unable to offer many middle school elective classes that all other Prince William County schools offer simply because we don't have the classroom space. Every inch of the building is shared and scheduling is a daily challenge.

[01:08:58] The proposed renovation addresses these needs, these critical needs, by adding dedicated rooms for band, orchestra, music and art, two classrooms for special education, science labs, additional restrooms, expanded office and support spaces, and opens up classroom space to offer middle school elective periods.

[01:09:21] Currently, Pennington grounds are used by local youth organizations for Girl Scouts, track, soccer, and the playground. The building is also available for community use, but in its condition is rarely reserved. A new addition would add additional spaces for community enjoyment.

[01:09:41] Our evening performances for the musical departments are held at other local high school auditoriums and will continue to do so with the proposed renovation as an auditorium is not in the plans.

[01:09:52] It's very interesting if I can ask you to wrap it up. Sure. Thank you. I'll go I'll talk a little bit faster. We understand that concerns have been raised regarding potential enrollment increases. Let me be clear. There are no plans to expand enrollment. We will continue to operate with three class periods per grade level. Any increase would require a full additional class per grade, which would increase our overall population by 224 students, thus quickly exceeding the capacity, even with the proposed renovation. This project is about improving quality, not increasing quality quantity.

[01:10:23] I'll stop there. Okay. Thank you, sir. I appreciate it. Thank you so much. We have anyone else? And then I'm going to bounce to Vice Mayor Wolfe because he has a question for staff. So we'll hear from this young lady, and then I'll call on Vice Mayor Wolfe.

[01:10:41] Interrupt. Good evening. Good evening. Madam Mayor, Mr. Burke, and city council members. My name is Brandy Stephens. I am a fifth-grade teacher at Pennington. I have been a teacher there for 15 years. I also taught there my very first year teaching back in 2001, so I've been at the school for a very long time.

[01:11:01] You've heard a lot of different things. I'm not going to repeat the things that have already been said. I just wanted you to hear from an actual staff member who has shared her classroom. I am the staff member who has shared her room with a strings teacher. I am the one that moves the tables with the children.

[01:11:17] I train them every year how to safely move the chairs and the tables. We do it four days a week. They do it very quickly, but it is getting very old. The other thing that I wanted to say was I am the one that is involved in dismissal.

[01:11:34] I'm the one that helps oversee it, and I organize it. We do it very, very consistently, and we have a dismissal board that keeps everything rolling. The cars typically come on.

[01:11:50] We do not back up onto Stonewall, just like everybody has said. Sorry. I think that the renovation would definitely help resolve these space challenges and would support the teaching and the learning and the safety of the students.

[01:12:07] I would respectfully request your support in updating our Pennington facilities so that our students and our staff and our community will help out in the future. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Thank you. You want to come on down, sir.

[01:12:23] We have to come to the podium, please. Can I stand here? I need you because we've got to be able to hear you on camera. That's okay. I live right on the corner of Stonewall. I'm sorry, what is your name?

[01:12:39] My name is Richard Lee. My wife, Pamela, is here too. We live right on the corner of Stonewall and Park, so right there at the top of the hill. I think this is great.

[01:12:54] I have no issues with their expansion. I think what they're trying to do is great. Maybe this is already being addressed. I don't know. This is the first meeting I've attended about it.

[01:13:09] And the East Street, I noticed they're all saying that there's no backup on the Stonewall at that time of day or the morning. But unless, I don't know, but unless there's going to be parking, no parking signs where they can't park on Stonewall, is there going to be no parking signs there?

[01:13:38] I don't know that, but I don't believe so right now that hadn't been talked about. It's just dangerous right there, kids walking across the street to get into their vehicles right there. Because there's usually cars on both sides of the street.

[01:13:53] They may not be waiting to go into the parking lot, but they're parking there to wait for their kids, I guess. I've seen parents go to the park on the street, go to the school, and bring their kids across the street.

[01:14:10] Okay, okay. Well, we have staff here, and we'll get with you after this meeting, if you can hang around for a little bit, so we can have the conversation with you to hear more about it. Because, you know, this very little room, when this car is on both sides of the street, and I go up there a lot. Okay.

[01:14:25] So. Thank you, Ms. Lee. Thank you. We'll be sure to get with you. Thank you so much for being here. any other people here for this public hearing vice mayor wolf are you there i am mayor thank you ma'am a question for staff um is a and i'm sorry if this was covered and i missed it it's been very hard to listen um but is there as a condition of the sup a limit on the number of students that will be allowed at the school going forward yes it's part of the first condition that

[01:15:04] limit their enrollment to 672 that's in the list right yes okay i think i heard a yes but again it's very difficult to hear yes it is a yes thank you ma'am okay thank you anyone else that wishes to speak on this item for the public hearing before we have the motion to close the public hearing okay if not i'll call on councilman smith for that motion madam mayor i move that the public hearing because in action on resolution r-2026-12 be scheduled for the next regular city council

[01:15:43] meeting we have a motion by councilman smith seconded by councilwoman ellis to close the public hearing on item r2026-12 to be voted on in our next regularly scheduled council meeting any discussion hearing and seeing none mr smith please call the roll council member smith yes

[01:16:04] council member ellis council member hudson yes vice mayor wolf no so that's only three mr brown three to one it's closed okay just want to make sure thank you okay that's closed thank you you

[01:16:36] good all right that takes us forward to item two on the agenda ordinances and resolutions item 2.1 is ordinance number 0 2025-909 anterberg park and historic site historic overlay district 9201 Maple Street. First reading, Mr. Arcieri. Good evening.

[01:16:57] Your Honor, members of council, good evening. The ordinance before you 2025-909 establishes a single-site historic district at the Annenberg Park and Historic Site. This was the subject of a public hearing which is closed. Staff, the Planning Commission, the Architectural Review Board, and the Historic Resources Board all recommend approval. Stand ready for any questions.

[01:17:17] Recommend adoption on first reading. Thank you. Any questions for Mr. Arcieri? I entertain a motion, Mr. Smith. Madam Mayor, I move approval. Go ahead. I move approval of ordinance 0-2025-909.

[01:17:35] Second. I clear the motion by Councilman Smith, seconded by Councilwoman Ellis, to approve ordinance number 0-2025-909. Any discussion? Hearing and seeing none, Mr. Smith, please call the roll. Councilmember Smith.

[01:17:51] Yes. Councilmember Ellis. Yes. Councilmember Hudson. Yes. Vice Mayor Wolfe. Yes. The motion carries. Thank you for that. That moves us forward to item 2.2, resolution number R-2025-910, Pierce Funeral Home Columbarium at 9605 Center Street.

[01:18:11] Mr. Arcieri is still here. Your Honor, resolution 2025-910 is for the approval of a new indoor Columbarium at the existing Pierce Funeral Home property at 9605 Center Street. The public hearing is closed. Staff and the Planning Commission recommend approval. Stand ready for any questions.

[01:18:28] Any questions for Mr. Arcieri on this? If not, I'll entertain a motion. Madam Mayor, I move approval of Resolution R-2025-910. I get a motion by Councilman Smith, seconded by Councilwoman Ellis, to approve Resolution R-2025-910.

[01:18:49] Any discussion? Hearing and seeing none, Mr. Smith, please call the roll. Councilmember Smith? Yes. Councilmember Ellis? Yes. Councilmember Hudson? Yes. Vice Mayor Wolfe? Yes. Motion carries. All right, thank you.

[01:19:05] Item 2.3, resolution number R-2026-010, amending the FY 2025 budget by budgeting and appropriating $300,000 of state, federal, city revenue for social services, children's services act, CSA-mandated expenditures.

[01:19:24] Chief Keene is here to help us with that. Thank you, Mayor, Council, Mr. Burke. We got briefed on this case at the council retreat. If you remember the case that we spoke about, this is the example that we didn't know what those expenses would be. The revenue is coming both from the state and from your general fund.

[01:19:45] Thank you. Any questions? Okay. I'll entertain a motion for that. Madam Mayor, I move that resolution number 2026-010 be approved. Second. We have a motion by Councilman Smith, seconded by Councilwoman Hudson to approve resolution number R-2026-010.

[01:20:06] Any discussion? Hearing and seeing none. Mr. Smith, please call the roll. Council Member Smith? Yes. Council Member Hudson? Yes. Council Member Ellis? Yes. Vice Mayor Wolf? Yes. Motion carries. Thank you. Item 2.4, Resolution Number R-2026-008, amending the fiscal year 2026 budget by budgeting and appropriating $725,000 of capital reserve funds to transfer to the EDA for property acquisition.

[01:20:38] Mr. Burke, do you want to add? Okay, thank you. Staff were approached by the property owner at 9137 Portner Avenue to determine if the city would be interested in acquiring the property to incorporate into the redevelopment of the Manassas Shopping Center. Staff conducted initial negotiations for the acquisition and then presented the opportunity to the Economic Development Authority.

[01:21:00] During the discussion of acquisition, the EDA identified the need for funding to support the purchase of this property. City Council was briefed on the need for the funding, and that is why we have this item before you requesting $725,000 be transferred to the EDA for the purchase of that property.

[01:21:18] We do understand that the EDA did approve the acquisition at their previous meeting and that they are planning to incorporate this property into the redevelopment project that will be presented to the EDA in September. I stand ready for any questions that y'all might have.

[01:21:35] Any questions for City Manager? Ms. Ellis. Just clarification more than anything. The $725,000, is that under the, is that, it's being transferred to EDA, but was that funds set aside for EDA to have this ability to purchase this property?

[01:21:59] I'm trying to understand where this money came from. The funds are coming from the capital reserve fund. They were not specifically identified for anything. It's simply moving from your capital reserve so that they can facilitate the purchase of that property.

[01:22:15] So does the EDA have funds above that? I know that they have the shopping center. They're collecting lease revenue. So what is in that account? What do they have right now? They have, I believe it's about $800,000.

[01:22:35] But those funds are going towards the acquisition of an additional adjacent residential property off of Portner Avenue, and that would, at least in the near term, limit their ability to purchase this property.

[01:22:51] That's why they requested the city to forward the funds to them. Okay. Yeah, just for the record, I'm not going to vote for this because I did support the shopping center purchase because I saw the value in redevelopment in the future with the Mathis Avenue Sector Plan that we had years ago put in place as a beginning platform to do some changes in that part of the city.

[01:23:18] I just don't see where this has anything to do with that. I guess you're trying to extend it over as a gateway for that property eventually. It was never put in the market, and it was just brought to the city, and I think that we have purchased enough right now.

[01:23:36] so just want to publicly say that okay thank you any other comments any other discussion points okay that worked did we get the motion okay call for the motion madam may i move the approval of resolution r2026-008 is there a second second okay the motion by councilman smith seconded by

[01:24:07] councilwoman hudson to approve resolution number r 2026-008 any discussion ms hudson um i just wanted to add that um i think without the the plans that the um eda has for this property be really difficult to complete what we're trying to do without moving this forward so that's why i support this mr brown your members of council i apologize for interrupting no you're just just as

[01:24:41] As a reminder, under both your charter and state law, you do need four affirmative votes to pass an appropriation. The way you're nodding suggests that you were aware of that, so I appreciate you bearing with me. No, no, that's good.

[01:24:57] Thank you for bringing that to our attention. So, okay. So, any other discussion points? Thank you, Ms. Hudson. May I ask the attorney for, does voting unsuccessfully on the resolution tonight preclude it from being considered at a later date?

[01:25:29] A member voting with the prevailing side, and keep in mind the prevailing side would be, in this case, if the vote is three to one, one is actually the prevailing side.

[01:25:46] A member of the prevailing side can move for reconsideration. So if you want to have this reconsidered, let's say, at the next meeting, you may want to consider voting no tonight, if there are not four votes to pass it.

[01:26:06] Thank you. Can I ask you a question as well? Are we able to move to defer this topic to the next meeting? You are. Can I? We have to make a motion now to do that. Has the motion for a – We made the motion, and we got it second.

[01:26:26] Okay. So what you could do is make a substitute motion. Now, she can do that right now. May I make a substitute motion to defer this item to the next meeting? Now, this vote will not be to defer.

[01:26:42] This vote will be to substitute the deferral for the vote on that. So you need to have two votes. So we vote on the... The first vote will be whether the motion to defer is substituted for the motion to approve. So you made the motion to defer.

[01:27:02] A motion to substitute. A motion to substitute. And we need a second for that. Yes. To defer, substitute, whatever. Yeah. Is there a second for that? Okay. So Mr. Smith seconded to defer, substitute, motion.

[01:27:18] So the motion that will be voted on is a motion to substitute. If that passes, then you will have a second vote to defer the item to the next meeting. Okay, so now we take the vote on, because we had a motion, we had the second.

[01:27:34] Any discussion on that motion? Okay, Mr. Smith. I'm sorry, I'll just state for the record that I understand EDA's need, both for the property and for the amendment to the budget, and I fully support it, and I thank staff for the work that they've done with the unanimous consent of the council going forward up to this point.

[01:28:04] Thank you. Mr. Smith, go ahead and call the roll for that motion. Council Member Hudson? Yes. Council Member Smith? Yes. Council Member Ellis? No, this is a motion to substitute the motion to defer for the motion to approve.

[01:28:25] So if this passes, the motion to approve is no longer before you. It will be a motion to defer. I don't get a vote. Vice Mayor Wolfe?

[01:28:41] He was getting a call. Vice Mayor Wolfe? Yes! If I may, Madam Mayor, so the motion to approve this appropriation has now been replaced by a motion to defer.

[01:29:01] You may now proceed with a motion to defer to this item to whenever the movement decides that they want it to come up. Thank you, Mr. Byron. Okay. Do you want to make that, since you... I'd like to make the motion to defer item resolution 2026-008 to the next meeting.

[01:29:21] Second. Okay, the motion by Councilwoman Hudson, seconded by Councilman Smith, to defer Resolution R-2026-008 to the next regularly scheduled council meeting. Any discussion? Hearing and seeing none, Mr. Smith, please call the roll.

[01:29:37] Council Member Hudson? Yes. Council Member Smith? Yes. Council Member Ellis? No. Vice Mayor Wolf? Yes. Motion carries. Okay, thank you all for that. Sorry for all the bumps getting through that, but thank you for your patience with that.

[01:29:55] next on the agenda is our public comment time. At this time we welcome residents and community members who wish to speak about services, policies and affairs of the city of Manassas government. Residents who have not requested additional time four days prior to this meeting from the city manager.

[01:30:14] We have a timer and your comments will be limited to three minutes. We appreciate the time you have taken to be here. taken to be here. We treat public comment time as a public hearing, and we do not engage in conversation with speakers. The lack of an immediate response to your comments should not be taken as a lack of interest or concern as we have staff present taking notes and will respond to your concern in a timely manner. So please, when approaching the podium, give us your name and address so that we may follow up with you. We ask that you please be respectful when presenting your comments to not only council members, but to those residents and community members who are also present with that I have the sign-up sheet here

[01:30:54] and I have one person signed up Mr. Bill Billard Dumfries Road if you want to come on down sir and even if you didn't sign up we won't miss anyone you will have an opportunity to address council thank you for being here sir thank you madam mayor the timer set it'll pop on in just a second okay madam mayor members of the council on Bill Billard Dumfries Road now I

[01:31:29] I take no pleasure in saying what I'm about to say, but it's something that needs to be said. And we all know what happened across the street. Manassas GOP headquarters building was vandalized. Somebody spray-painted fash on it, and they also even urinated on it.

[01:31:50] Now, the person who did this is responsible, but we have to ask ourselves what inspired this action. For the past 10 years, conservatives, Republicans, moderates and libertarians have been called every evil name in the book, racist, sexist, homophobe, threat to democracy, all for simply disagreeing with liberal opinion.

[01:32:23] Now, I'm not accusing anybody in this council for engaging in that rhetoric, and I would certainly hope not. I don't know. But many people who so happen to be Democrat have engaged in that kind of behavior. Now, people who do so, it doesn't make that person a civil rights activist.

[01:32:42] It makes them a modern segregationist. And engaging in that behavior and that rhetoric is just vile. But that is unfortunate when it comes to partisan politics, to call your opposition every evil name in the book.

[01:32:59] And then it leads to actions that we've seen across the street from here. Now, the peak of this behavior was in the summer of 2020. That was America's crystal knocked, or should I say nights of broken glass, where people decided to burn loot and murder across America over the death, tragic and undeserved death of a career criminal.

[01:33:28] And that's a whole other topic. But this has also happened in this city. And I hate to bring up the past, but we're seeing this kind of behavior continuing with the vandalism that we saw across the street. And we've seen some social media posts that were very disturbing.

[01:33:48] People have dismissed it, silence, sometimes even justifying it. And I'll quote from one of them who quoted years ago, They'll all die out not soon enough, and he was referring to conservatives who disagreed with his liberal opinion.

[01:34:05] Now, I'm going to end on a quote. Ronald Reagan said if fascism would ever come to America, it would come in the name of liberalism. I'm going to be more specific. Racism, bigotry, fascism has come to America in the name of reproductive rights, common sense gun safety legislation, protect democracy, among other things.

[01:34:28] That's all I need to say. Thank you, Mr. Donald. anyone else wish to address council good evening my name is nettie stevens and i live on west street and i'm here to talk about the property purchase you would like to make why you don't even know what you're gonna do with the shopping center and you're still gonna buy more property there are two additional properties on sudley road how are you going to get to that property unless you buy those

[01:35:04] So this is just going on and on and on with no plan. That property on Zillow is valued at $644,000. Tim has it valued at $606,000, but we want to pay $725,000 for it?

[01:35:24] We paid more for the city tavern. And when it was being not billed as much, it doesn't make sense. please at least have a plan and let us know what your plans are and quit just spending our money like mad men. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? My name's Tim Plevniak. We all know each other.

[01:36:02] I don't know if you saw the news yesterday in Fall River, Massachusetts. There was a fire in an assisted living facility. Nine people died. And it was very tragic. But there were a lot of heroic stories there with the firefighters and the public servants that were there to help.

[01:36:24] The reason I bring this up is the firefighters themselves said they could have done more, but they were understaffed. They said of their 10 fire companies there, only two were staffed to where they were supposed to. Every other one was understaffed. They felt if they had the full staff, maybe those nine people didn't have to die. The reason I bring this up is spend more money on real estate. But I understand station one was underfunded. It was supposed to be closed for a

[01:37:02] 24-hour period last week, not Saturday to Sunday. But miraculously, we got some overtime so we could staff it. So take the money from the general fund and pay your firefighters to be on duty. We don't want to have any of these tragedies in our town. We don't want to be on the news.

[01:37:21] We don't need to buy another piece of property. We need to take care of the people in this city. I don't want to see a tragedy here, and then we go, oh, we didn't have staffing. We were relying on the county, or we were relying on Manassas Park to cover it.

[01:37:41] Pay our people, take care of the services first before you buy any more properties. You're getting out of hand. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Anyone else? Good evening, Mayor and Council Lynn Forkel-Green, Manassas City resident.

[01:38:01] I'm here to also ask you to please reconsider the transfer of money to the EDA. I think it is crucial that you understand that this is making the EDA look like a slush fund. 100% you would not use these dollars that are our tax dollars to buy down the tax rate, and yet you're going to freely write this check to the EDA.

[01:38:23] I think it's unconscionable. I think you really need to look at it. And it's unfortunate that Ms. Ellis wasn't able to stop that tonight. It's really unfortunate. Folks do not want you to continue to buy half the city, and our taxes continue to have to go up every single year so we can afford the services that you say we should have.

[01:38:41] When the services we ask for, you will not provide us. To include the fire and rescue, but I have a different perspective on fire and rescue. As most of you know, I sat up there at one time, and I am well-versed in what the fire department is going through. So I have a different opinion of the overtime and a different opinion of us working together with local jurisdictions.

[01:38:59] However, that said, it is not a good look that our city is putting out information that is not necessarily matching the information other people are receiving, and you cannot call it misinformation. So two things can be true at the same time.

[01:39:17] The overtime call was put out for the fire department. That's what a normal staffing call looks like for that department. They ask for people to voluntarily fill those spots. Yes, that is what needs to be told to our residents.

[01:39:33] Not that they should know it, but they have to know it now. And then if nobody says, yes, pick me, then they have to go ahead and assign mandatory overtime. So for everyone listening and watching, the fire department does a very good job.

[01:39:49] They're in a transition from volunteerism to full career firefighting in a lot of those areas. And you have to allow for that to happen and mature. and that's something the city has been working on for I think about five or seven years. So I think if the city could do a better job at communicating that, you would look better and I know that that's what you would want to do for our residents so they feel safe because I do not think that that situation is being explained properly so people understand we are staffing our fire department, right?

[01:40:19] Okay, finally I would just like to say Mayor, I'm very sorry about the loss of your father. I had made a post with regards to the vandalism across the street. When I made that post, it was three days after it happened and at the end of a full business day I myself had been traveling and I had no idea that you had lost a parent. That said I do wish that you had made a statement and I do wish that we could call down this type of behavior because regardless of how violent it may or may not have been what it sends the message it sends is not good and I know you do not believe in it so I would hope that you would use your voice and your platform to tell people our city is welcoming

[01:40:58] to all, especially when something like this happens across the street from City Hall. Thank you so much. Thank you. Anyone else? Hi, I'm Janet Plebniak, City of Manassas. First off, I'd like to say happy 50th birthday to the City of Manassas, which was May the 1st, 19, 2025. I'm really disappointed. Many of you know Manassas has been around for 50 years. It's kind of sad it wasn't brought up, wasn't announced, wasn't made. There was a little blip on the internet I did see.

[01:41:37] council saying happy birthday manassas um i mayor i agree with your your comment earlier leadership comes from the top when you were congratulating chief keene and it does come from the top i may not have voted for many people here but this is my town we're not democrats and republics we're a community now we need to operate like a community there is a huge separation in this town and it It really is, it shows, and it shouldn't.

[01:42:09] You know, it's one big community. We should be kind and friendly to one another. Treat them with respect. I've been seeing articles on the parking garage at Tomic Mills. They built a 1,400-spot parking garage.

[01:42:25] Hardly any of the spots are getting used anymore. We have one garage down here, and we're talking about building another garage. And we're talking about using less cars in the city. That parking garage should be something that we consider. And so to stay in tradition with my last couple of meetings, I'd like to pray to our Heavenly Father.

[01:42:44] I believe it has been working. I believe people are listening a little bit better. Communications have been better. I just pray that we can all be a family. We all have that family member that we don't like, but we're kind to them and we tolerate them. And I just hope that everybody can work together in the city and be kind and respectful to each other.

[01:43:05] And I ask this through the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Thank you. Anyone else wish to come address council? If not, we'll move forward in the agenda. Next item is the authorization of a closed meeting.

[01:43:22] I'll call on Mr. Brown for that item. Madam Mayor, members of council, next item on your agenda is a closed session to discuss the terms and conditions for the sale of city-owned property on Center Street.

[01:43:41] That discussion is in response to an unsolicited proposal submitted to the city pursuant to the Public-Private Education Facilities and Infrastructure Act of 2002. That discussion does qualify for closed session.

[01:43:57] Convened in closed session, I would recommend Council's adoption of Resolution No. R-2026-22. Mr. Smith. Madam Mayor, I move that we approve Resolution 2026-22.

[01:44:14] Okay, the motion by Councilman Smith, seconded by Councilwoman Ellis to approve Resolution R-2026-22, authorizing a closed meeting. Any discussion? Hearing and seeing none, Mr. Smith, please call the roll. Council Member Smith?

[01:44:31] Yes. Council Member Ellis? Council Member Hudson? Yes. Motion carries. Mr. Wolf is going to go in on the phone. Okay. All right, thank you. We'll be back. We're good?

[01:44:59] All right, Mr. Brown. Madam Mayor, members of council, immediately following the closed session, state law requires that you certify that the only matters discussed were those that are lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements and which were identified in the motion convening the closed session. That certification is included in resolution number R-2026-23, resolution certifying a closed meeting of city council, which I recommend for council's adoption. Thank you. Mr. Smith.

[01:45:33] Madam Mayor, thank you. I move the approval of Resolution R-2026, certifying. Second. We have the motion by Councilman Smith, seconded by Councilman Hudson, to approve Resolution R-2026-23, certifying a closed meeting.

[01:45:51] Any discussion? Hearing and seeing none, Mr. Smith, please call the roll. Councilmember Smith? Yes. Councilmember Hudson? Yes. Councilmember Ellis? The motion carries. Thank you so much. Anything else to come before the council?

[01:46:07] If not, we are adjourned. Thank you.

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