Coraggio Consulting
Manassas City Council 7/28/2025

Date: Monday, July 28, 2025
Place: Manassas City Council, Virginia
Length: 3h 2m (video)
Official meeting video (Wistia / RegionalWebTV): https://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/j6bpykz09x

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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[00:00:00] Thank you very 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 another opportunity to gather together.

[00:00:24] Thank you for continuing to protect everyone in our community. We are thankful for our council, our staff, our men and women in uniform, as well as the residents of this community who continue to show up and contribute to our progress as a whole. Please help us to remember to be kind to one another in our words and deeds.

[00:00:42] We remain thankful for all things. Amen. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

[00:01:03] Thank you for that. I want to say good evening to everyone who's joined us here in person and those who are joining us by social media online. I'm sorry. Oh, okay.

[00:01:20] They didn't tell me the scout was coming. Sorry. Everyone that's joining us online as well, thank you so much for participating in the meeting. And we have some electeds here. We have our vice chair of the school board, just Lisa.

[00:01:36] Lisa's here. School board member is here. Zella Jones is also here from the school board. Thank you for being here. And Ms. Ball in the back. There you go. Thank you for being here. And anybody else that I missed? I saw Delegate Maldonado parking in the parking lot, but she's not in here, so I don't know if she's going to be joining us or not.

[00:01:54] And I don't see him. Oh, Patricia, where is she? Oh, there you are. Patricia Ritchie, folks, our treasurer, and walking in the door right now is our Commissioner of the Revenue, Tim DeMaria. Thank you for being here, sir. Okay, with that, next on the agenda is council time. We do have a pretty full agenda tonight with some public hearings as well as a closed session.

[00:02:11] So, council members, thank you all for being here. It's good to be with you. And, Council Tom, I'll call on Vice Mayor Wolfe to head us out. Yeah, I just want to remark on the passing of a colleague of ours, which is Bob Weir, supervisor from Gainesville, who died the other day of colon cancer.

[00:02:27] And I won't pretend that I knew Bob well. And when we did discuss, we pretty much always managed to disagree. But I've also had colon cancer. And I would be Bob Weir, and I would be dead if it wasn't for a very timely colonostomy. So I want to encourage everyone to not delay that unpleasant experience.

[00:02:47] But it does save lives, save lives, save mine, and our best wishes for the Weir family. And Godspeed, Bob. So thank you. Councilman Ellis. Thank you, Mayor. I also want to echo what Councilman Wolfe said about Mr. Weir.

[00:03:06] Bob was a longtime servant leader, not only on the Board of County Supervisors, but also in his hometown. So it was a very sudden loss. And I know that even our elected neighbors, you know, they have to find a replacement, so it's going to be very tough for them.

[00:03:29] And we hope we can get, you know, his family can have some peace as they move forward. A couple things going on in the city. I just want to remind everyone, the farmer's market is still going on every Thursdays down at the Harris Pavilion.

[00:03:48] Go support our local vendors that are there and our farmers for fresh produce and lots of goodies there, too. They also are on Saturday across from the Baldwin Elementary School. I think it's, like, pretty early to 1 o'clock, early into 1 o'clock.

[00:04:08] So go and support that where we can get our fresh produce. It's a good time to get tomatoes. The art factory has a couple productions coming up. And one that's a favorite with our young people is Sleeping Beauty, August 9th from 11 to 4.

[00:04:27] They have a very busy schedule over there at the art factory right in our old town Manassas. So check it out. They have stuff going on all the time. So just want to tell everyone to try to keep cool out there. This is a heat wave and hydrate, please. Thank you.

[00:04:43] Councilman Smith. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I join in recognizing and remembering Supervisor Robert, Bob Weir. I worked with him a couple of sessions on OmniRide. I served on some committees and commissions, and he and I shared concern with the VRE portion because obviously the VRE terminates at Manassas Airport.

[00:05:10] I do wish his family well and offer prayers for comfort and also prayers for the community in which he served and the Prince William County Board of Supervisors. I also want to recognize and acknowledge Colonel Ulysses Zerk-White.

[00:05:30] That's easy. The easy part. Colonel White just is observing his 95th birthday. He has served, obviously, on the council here two terms, I believe, and he served the community.

[00:05:47] And he actually was one of the founders of my church. At the time, there was not a church for that faith between Richmond and Washington, D.C. He worked with other community members to establish the church here and work throughout our religious life together to support that church.

[00:06:07] And so I don't know if he's watching, but happy birthday, Colonel White. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Mr. Ossina, who made it here in person, thank you, sir. Yes, Mayor, thank you.

[00:06:20] Thank you, Madam Mayor, and bienvenidos a todos.

[00:06:59] Welcome, everyone. It's always great to see you in attendance and some new faces as well. I have a little long list, but I would like to get to the reclinations. I wasn't able to join last meeting, but I just want to make sure that our chief and the police department know that I fully support and I congratulate on all, you know, all the promotions and all the changes.

[00:07:24] I know it's for better and I, you know, I'm sorry for not being here, but I, you know, I truly, you know, I'm truly happy to see those changes and, you know, I'm looking forward to see and to hear the report as well today.

[00:07:40] Thank you, Chief. The Manassas Museum also had highlights from last time. They won the award for excellency from the American Association for the State and Local History for this project of reimagining the Manassas Museum. As you know, the project started back in 2022, so I'm really happy to hear all the hard work, the staff and also boards and volunteers they put in to make this happen, so I wanted to highlight them.

[00:08:13] As we heard from Councilwoman Ellis, the farmer's market is going strong. If you haven't made it, please attend Thursdays and Saturdays as well from the morning all the way to 1 o'clock.

[00:08:31] They also want their goal again. A lot of times, you know, everybody gets the news from social media, from the different news outlets. But I want to make sure that we have them at the last work session. I want to make sure that we shout out to them and remind you that if you do get SNAP benefits, that they do a matching of the $40 and celebrating 40 years of community.

[00:08:58] The Manassas City Police Department also was present at the Wilton Columnius for the 40th anniversary party. So I just want to highlight on what they did and also how great memories they made that day. I serve in a few different boards for transportation.

[00:09:19] So for the BRE, we started our legislative agenda, but also I have joined as we look for a new CEO for the BRE. I'm really happy that our new council for the BRE was approved.

[00:09:35] We have a new person that will be serving, And it's all about getting and moving the BRA forward. Please think about writing, whether it's by yourself or with your family, Monday through Friday. There is discounts for the seniors.

[00:09:55] You just got to make sure that you do it ahead of time. And also don't forget about the bus. Then I also participated in the legislative agenda, and they are starting to work on the budget. So it is, as I said, July 1st, most of the budgets start, but then you start a new process for the next budget.

[00:10:16] So that is no different from our city, but you might not hear until later on in the winter. They also have approved the plan, so please visit online. They have approved the 2050 plan. I know a lot of residents have been asking and are waiting for that weekend service.

[00:10:37] It's more like a Saturday service, and still there's no update, but I will continue to advocate for that. In October, I know it's early, but you can register now. They will have the tour, the BRA, so you can register online, and it's going to take place Saturday, October the 4th, and it's going to be to write together to cure for triple negative breast cancer.

[00:11:03] So it is a great cause. I hope you consider joining. And the last few things, the African-American Parish is coming. It's at number 32. So I hope you consider joining.

[00:11:20] It's going to be in August the 2nd from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. And this is at the same location at Grace Met's Middle School. Please come and join and have a good time. If summer concert programs are still ongoing, don't forget you have the Acoustic Tuesday.

[00:11:42] Our mayor is always inviting and other different officials. So bring you dinner or have dinner and come and join Tuesdays at the pavilion. But there's also the Sunday Fun Day concert. This Sunday is going to be Mike Parker.

[00:12:01] And if you're like me, you're in the last end of the building from the city you might not be getting your city connection timely but please at the beginning of the month you can go online and get all the information there is a few great things coming up a few more that i would like to mention or highlight the national night out at the museum that's a great for uh for everybody this is a family event that i know kids enjoy that you can come, bring your neighbors, and have a good time. And the last one, we'll be

[00:12:36] presenting with our mayor, the Salvadorian American Proclamation. As a person that was born and raised in El Salvador, it is my great honor to be presenting that. We have different dignitaries. We have our council from El Salvador. He is sent by the president, Naive Bukele, and we are happy that he has joined us today. He represents all Virginia. We also have a few different people. I get to that when we do

[00:13:12] that, but I just wanted to make sure that everybody feels welcome, especially on days like today with people like myself. You know, they look like myself or they look different. Immigrants sometimes, you know, they feel, they know the process. I feel blessed here in the city and the way our government works here. You know, we're not like that, but I feel like because of the way we look, we might be treated differently. So I want to make sure that people feel safe. And then you know

[00:13:46] that, you know, Manassas is a diverse community with a 42% Hispanic. And, you know, it's my great honor to ask the first Hispanic person elected to this body to be celebrating today the Salvadorian American Day, which is going to be August the 6th. But you get a chance to come and try some pupusas and enjoy our culture at the Harris Pavilion on August the 10th from noon to the 7th. That'd be all. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Thank you. Councilwoman Hudson. Thank you, Madam Mayor, and good evening

[00:14:23] everyone. Thank you for being here. A few things to report since last meeting. As Councilwoman Vasquez Luna mentioned, we did have the Council of Governments Transportation Planning Board meeting where both VDOT and the Transportation Planning Board staff shared their recommendation to move forward with the I-495 south side expansion project. The visualized 2050 analysis showed the project would not tremendously impact greenhouse gas emissions, but would ultimately reduce travel times as congestion and population is expected to grow before 2050 separately attended the northern virginia regional commission meeting where the washington metro transit authority was

[00:15:02] present and gave a presentation about how things are going with their budget and operations was happy to hear that ridership is up on metro and has continued to increase over the past 51 months they said. And the Metro Better Bus Initiative has been generally effective. I don't think it impacted us here in Manassas too much, but heard from our colleagues in Fairfax, Alexandria, and Arlington that the takeoff was pretty good for that. So future stuff, Acoustic Tuesday tomorrow. Wednesday, there is going to be an update on the Rail with Trail project or analysis

[00:15:38] that's going on that's going to be at the Manassas Park Community Center. This Saturday will be a good day. All are invited to take out some English ivy cleanup with our neighbors, so please join me and others at Baldwin Park behind the museum at 9 a.m. on Saturday if you're interested in some English ivy cleanup. After that, take a quick shower and head over to the African American Heritage Festival at Metz Middle School. I attended that last year and was surprised how big it was.

[00:16:03] It's not indoors, so do plan to be outside, but a lot of awesome exhibits and people to see, so definitely check that out um and then this sunday school board member diana brown and i are hosting a back to school event for high school students at zandra's from two to four we will have games backpack and school supply giveaways and raffles and of course tacos so if you know a high school student who needs some encouragement as the school year is soon to begin please send them our way um and because this is our last meeting before august i would like to also share with the community that I will be speaking at an event called Girls Can Dream Big 2 that's being

[00:16:40] held at the Manassas Museum on August 16th. This event is designed to uplift and empower both women and girls of all ages. I will personally be speaking not about city council stuff but about women in construction and the promising careers in the trades. So please check out my Facebook page tomorrow and I will post the link to register. Should be a really good event on August 16th.

[00:17:02] And that is all. Madam Mayor, thank you for your time. Thank you. Thank you so much for my time. I want to thank Rose for filling in for Eric for us. Thank you so much. We went back like five, ten years. I don't know. Teresa had to look at her calendar. What year are we in? So thank you so much for filling in for him while he's away and doing a great job as usual.

[00:17:20] We were able to celebrate with you and I, Haircut Salon, their new business over there in the Signal Hill Shopping Center. We wish Pratima and Rajendra all the best in their new venture of they do eyebrow threading and haircutting.

[00:17:36] So make sure you get the kids in for their back to school. They're having a back to school special right now. So we were glad to welcome them to the Manassas business family last week. I had my midday with the mayor on Friday. Thank you, Commissioner and treasurer for being my special guests. And I will have it again this coming Friday.

[00:17:53] And we are because it's so hot, we're inside. We're not on the patio. We're actually inside in the genealogy room in the back. So if you are able to join us, bring your lunch and come from 12 to 1 and enjoy a good time. It's questions, answers. You get to meet special guests every week.

[00:18:09] And it's just a good time to sit down and be together. I did my mayor's pick at the market on Saturday. And congratulations to Rising Phoenix Holistic Center. They're located right on Prince William Street. They were the winner for this week. A few council members and myself attended the Prince William County Food Rally that was held at the pavilion on yesterday from 11 to 1 and that was a great event they had the dunk tank with many electeds out and i think that was the most money raiser there was the most money was raised for the dunk tank so i thank everyone who came out brought food to help our neighbors

[00:18:46] in need with that it the food goes to axe the haymarket food pantry and to cfh here in the city I want to congratulate our Treasurer, Patricia Ritchie, folks for receiving her finance officer certificate. I want to make sure I got it right from Wayne State University.

[00:19:03] This certificate is issued to finance officers who complete the required training in public administration to maintain currency in financial matters. So congratulations to you, Madam Treasurer, for doing that. George Mason reached out to me and wanted me to share that for folks who are displaced because of the federal cutbacks, they actually have a website on their website, gmu.edu.

[00:19:29] If you go there and you put in displaced worker support, they have a lot of free things for you right now that you can get from them. They have support for home-based businesses. They have webinars. They have courses and certificates that you can earn all free.

[00:19:46] They actually have a complimentary pack of four tickets for family to attend athletic events at GMU as well, and to their visual and performing arts events. So you just have to bring proof that you were displaced due to the federal cutbacks.

[00:20:05] But I told them I would pass that along to you. And then also joined council members in the passing of Bob Weir, and I reached out and extended condolences on behalf of the council to the Weir family. I did not personally work with him he and I just engage a couple of times but he was always straightforward and honest you can't can't go wrong there but I've been informed that they're doing a private service for him but they are planning to have a public celebration of life in September so we'll get information and we'll pass that along to you as we get it I will be participating

[00:20:40] participating this Friday in the convocation at OHS at two o'clock I believe it is to welcome the teachers back and new teachers to the city. It's always a great time when we can come back together as a family and welcome those who have chosen Manassas for their next chapter. First Friday this Friday the dog days of summer so make sure you bring your pups out. That's always a good time and then everyone had already talked about the African American Festival at Mets and I'll be opening that up and that starts at 11 o'clock. And with that, I will turn it over to city manager Burke. Thank you. I would just like

[00:21:16] to let everyone know that Manassas city public schools are starting their school year Tuesday, August 12th. So please be aware of the increased student pedestrian and bicycle traffic. Please visit the city's website for information about programs offered at our community center. Those include toddler drop-in programs, a Lego club, indoor soccer, and movie nights. There is open gym available at the Boys and Girls Clubs on Fridays from 8.30 p.m. to 10 p.m. and Saturdays from 2.30 p.m. to 4.30 p.m. The Liberia House and Annenberg Mansion will be open on Saturdays from 2 p.m. to

[00:21:53] 4 p.m. in August. And the city is conducting a study on feasibility of long-term development at two sites in the city through a $65,000 housing affordability planning program grant. The city is seeking community input through an online survey that can be found on our website and social media to get input on the potential for mixed-use development with affordable housing units above commercial at the Water Tower parking lot and a market-rate cottage court development across the street at 9500 Liberty Street.

[00:22:26] The museum will open the Give Me Liberty Virginia and the Forging of a Nation exhibit on Friday, September 5th in the May Merchant Hall. This exhibit is the official exhibit of the Virginia 250th Commission brought to Manassas through a partnership with the Prince William County Office of Historic Preservation.

[00:22:49] Dominion Energy will be conducting work on overhead transmission lines on Wellington Road through September with planned lane closures on Wellington Road and Dean Drive. And in addition, Columbia Gas is installing new mains along Prince William Street.

[00:23:05] Please be aware of this work as you travel through these corridors. And finally, the city is proud to confirm that our airport will receive $850,000 in federal funding towards the runway improvements project to facilitate future commercial service.

[00:23:20] And that's all I have, Madam Mayor. Any questions for, you know, okay. That moves us forward in the agenda. One, proclamation for...

[00:23:43] Hello, hello. Just want to make sure.

[00:24:23] Okay. Can I hear me okay? Yes, I hear you. Proclamation, I will read in English, and some will read it in Spanish, for Salvadoran American Day. Whereas over 2.3 million people of Salvadoran descent now live in the United States, and whereas Virginia is home to one of the largest populations of the Salvadoran diaspora, and whereas on July 18, 2006, the United States Congress recognized the contributions of the Salvadoran community

[00:24:59] by formalizing August 6th as Salvadoran American Day in the United States, making Salvadorans the first immigrants to have a federally declared day celebrating their identity and achievements in the United States.

[00:25:15] And whereas the Salvadoran people work individually and organizationally to educate new Salvadoran American citizens about civic values and their patriotic duties, And important actors, such as the Consulate of El Salvadoran, Virginia, play a key role in the accompanying organizational and community support of Salvadorans, so much so that today the first of the United Salvadorans in Virginia has been formed.

[00:25:45] and whereas individual Salvadorans and community leaders work to educate New Salvadoran American citizens on civics and their patriotic duties, and whereas Virginia's Salvadoran American community enriches the city of Manassas and Virginia with its traditions, food, and culture, while also serving as a significant contributor to the workforce and economy growth in Virginia.

[00:26:11] Now, therefore, I, Michelle Davis Younger, mayor of the city of Manassas, Virginia, on behalf of the Manassas City Council, recognizing Sonia Vasquez Luna, the first person of Salvadoran descent elected to the council, hereby proclaim August 6, 2025, Salvadoran American Day in the city of Manassas and take great pride and pleasure in drawing special public attention to the contributions of Salvadoran American residents that improve the quality of life in our community.

[00:26:41] and in communities across the nation. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. And before I get started, just a few words.

[00:26:58] We have two nonprofits, COSALVA, and actually they have their beauty pageant that they use to raise funds. They both are nonprofit and also, as mentioned, the Salvadorian United in Virginia, which is actually an idea and hard work of the council.

[00:27:17] So thank you. I will let you have a couple of minutes at the end and I'm going to read it.

[00:27:49] el día del salvadoreño estadounidense en los Estados Unidos, haciendo a las personas salvadoreñas los primeros inmigrantes que tienen un día declarado a nivel nacional celebrando su identidad y sus logros en los Estados Unidos y considerando que las personas salvadoreñas de forma individual u organizativa trabajan para concientizar los nuevos ciudadanos salvadoreños estadounidenses sobre valores cívicos y sus deberes patrióticos y que

[00:28:18] Actores importantes como el Consulado General de El Salvador en Virginia desempeñan un rol clave en el acompañamiento organizativo comunitario de apoyo para los salvadoreños. Tanto así que hoy en día se ha constituido la primera organización salvadoreña unidos en Virginia en representación de los comités locales salvadoreños, Considerando que las personas salvadoreñas individuales y los líderes comunitarios trabajan para concientizar a los nuevos ciudadanos salvadoreños estadounidenses sobre la cívica y sus deberes patrióticos.

[00:28:53] Y considerando que la comunidad salvadoreña estadounidense de Virginia enriquece a la ciudad de Manazas y Virginia con sus costumbres, comidas y cultura, mientras que también sirve como contribuidora significante de la fuerza laboral y el crecimiento económico de Virginia.

[00:29:12] Por lo tanto, nuestra alcaldesa Michelle Davis Younger, de la alcaldesa de la ciudad de Manassas, Virginia, en nombre del Consejo Municipal de la ciudad de Manassas, y reconociendo a la primera persona descendiente de los salvadoreños que se ha elegido para el consejo, por la presente proclamo el 6 de agosto del 2025, el Día del Salvadoreño Estadounidense, en la ciudad de Manassas, Y me complace, me enorgullece en llamar la atención pública de la contribución de los residentes salvadoreños estadounidenses que mejoran la calidad de vida en nuestra comunidad y comunidades en todo el país.

[00:29:51] Antes de darle el micrófono, también nos incluyeron aquí, le recuerdo que ahora nuestra ciudad trata de traducir todo y que también ustedes pueden conectarse en línea para conseguir todos los recursos locales en español.

[00:30:07] Así es que les introduzco a nuestro canso. Spanish or English? English. On behalf of my government, El Salvador and Consul General from Virginia, we want to tell thanks, Mayor from Manasa City and the members team.

[00:30:31] Because we have a lot of thousands of Salvadorians living here, thank you for the support in different areas. For example, education, transportation, and health. And we have interest for enveloping different cultural activity in your city.

[00:30:51] And thank you. And we hope that you give the permits to make this activity, okay? Accompany this afternoon to organization, ASU, the President ASU and COSALVA, okay?

[00:31:08] Thank you for accompanying this special activity and appreciate your recognizing and proclamation. Good evening, everyone.

[00:31:31] It's a pleasure to recognize faces that we've been working for many years together. First of all, I would like to thank God for this opportunity. I really believe that he is the one who directs us to do the good things. As an organization, as a Salvadorian organization, our goal is to work with every organization, Salvadorian organizations throughout the state.

[00:31:53] Because we believe that everything you do as an organization impacts our communities. So that's why we want to thank you guys for all the hard workers that you got over here in the city, because I've been working with them as well for a while, and all the work that you guys have been doing in our communities.

[00:32:11] I think that makes, you know, our organizations strong and proud of you guys because it's a team effort. You know, without you guys, our job, it will be very difficult. So I'd like to thank everyone, you know, who's been committed to give us this recognition, and I take it on behalf of all the Salvadorians that live, not just in Virginia, but the whole United States, because I think that we have a mission, and our mission, it will be easy to accomplish to have a person like you.

[00:32:43] Thank you so much. Buenas tardes. Gracias a todos por estar acá. Quiero darle un agradecimiento especial a la señora alcaldesa. Gracias y a todos los cánceres. Gracias a todas las autoridades que están acá, de la policía y de cada institución, de lo que significa el gobierno de Manasa.

[00:33:07] Muchísimas gracias. Les agradezco muchísimo. Y es un privilegio para mí como salvadoreña estar acá en nombre de los demás salvadoreños, porque nosotros los salvadoreños somos personas trabajadoras. Trabajamos duro, acá no importa de lo que sea, limpiando pisos, cortando grama, lavando platos, haciendo baños, pagamos impuestos y de verdad el que nos reconozca un día es un privilegio para nosotros.

[00:33:35] Así es que nada, decirles que somos buenas personas, nada más estamos acá para trabajar. Gracias y los esperamos a todos el 10 de agosto en el festival, en el Harris Pavilion.

[00:33:47] Thank you so much for that.

[00:36:28] Item 1.2, moving forward in the agenda, is our crime trends analysis. And our chief, Doug Keene, Douglas Keene, is here to help us with that. Thank you, sir, for being here. Looking forward to this one. Thank you, Mayor. Before we get started, I do want to reach out and offer the city's condolences to the Stewart family.

[00:36:51] She was the victim of the fatality accident Saturday evening. You'll find that that traffic incident is going to be somewhat related to some of the numbers and how I proceed tonight as well. And you said that was a county resident?

[00:37:06] She was a county resident leaving the city, headed towards the county. Oh, wow. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Before I get started tonight, Mayor, Mr. Burke, Vice Mayor, Council, thank you for allowing me to spend a few moments with you tonight and to our residents.

[00:37:25] The importance of tonight is to also clarify some information, as each of us sometimes have to push back and fight and correct information that may be out there on social media. or things that you and I hear about.

[00:37:41] Two things. A, crime is going up. It's through the roof in the city and or events that happen in Prince William County, but have a Manassas address that people attribute back to the city of Manassas. And each one of us work every day to get that corrected information out.

[00:37:57] So as I proceed, I'll try to explain this short presentation, what that means to us, to me as the chief, what it means to you as an elected member and to our residents. So the first thing that we want to track is the calls for service.

[00:38:13] We do a comparison to last year. We're comparing January to June, as you will see. Calls for service are slightly down for 2025. But there's several ways we monitor calls for service. Calls for service can be the residents calling for us, how we respond.

[00:38:31] But also you've heard me in the past explain. we also track part of calls for service those proactive incidents that the police arrive mark out with and count as a calls for service so one of the reasons they are going to be down is going to be contributed back later in another slide and we'll make a connection to traffic enforcement if our officers are stationed out on traffic enforcement then they are not out doing other proactive events throughout the city and i will make that connection here in a few slides so

[00:39:05] One of the things that serious and violent crime, part one offenses, you'll see on the far right side of the slide, crime trends are a tendency to be down at approximately 10%, even though, again, I want to point out these are small numbers.

[00:39:23] Small numbers can have large percentages, so you not only have to look at the percentages, you also have to track the actual numbers of these events. This, to me, in the police department, is good news, but I also want to point out we're only half a year.

[00:39:39] Lots of things can change. As an example, years passed shortly after giving a presentation. We could have a night of a grand larceny of catalytic converters where they go through and maybe hit 20 cars. That's a big number in one night, grand larceny that can change numbers very rapidly.

[00:39:56] So, again, as you can see from this, serious and violent crime, for the most part, is down. You'll see people may look at that and go, oh, no, robbery is up by 25%. There was two additional events. It's not a large number, but it is a large percentage.

[00:40:14] Important things, aggravated assault is way down, and larcenies are down as well. And as you've heard in the news and some of our PSA announcement, auto theft, auto thefts are up in the region. We are up at 11 numbers, but we also do not only through COG, but through the news media and our own social media, trying to get out those PSA announcements, telling people do not leave your cars running, do not leave the keys in your car, or in this case, your fobs, lock your cars.

[00:40:47] You know, our normal routine, 9 o'clock at night, lock your car, lock your house, turn the outside lights on. Those are all things, little things that we can do in partnership with our community to do crime prevention that helps us with some of these numbers.

[00:41:04] Again, another thing that we do a little differently because it's important not only to you, but it's important to our community, what we call select quality of life offenses. These are some of those events that may normally not be found on a crime report from other jurisdictions.

[00:41:23] But here in the city of Manassas, we believe these events impact families and individuals every day, everything from the children attending schools to those adults living in the household. And as you and I and the federal government have put our money where our mouths are at, We have gotten several grants in the past to get additional staff that solely analyze and look at our reports, both for domestic and for mental health cases.

[00:41:54] This, again, overall, smaller numbers, but it is trending in the right direction. We are mandated by law to take domestic reports and to make domestic arrests when we have a clear sign of who that aggressor is.

[00:42:11] Overdoses, again, that's been a problem in the region and across the country. While we did have six increases, large percentage, 66% increase, total number of six.

[00:42:26] But the good number there, knock on wood, is the number of fatal overdoses. Again, PSAs carrying the Norcan. For us, putting Norcan out in the community through our fire department are also help with saving lives with those fatal overdoses. One of the big things that we have invested heavily in, you'll hear a little bit tonight from the behavioral health services as well, mental health reports.

[00:42:52] We have spent a great deal of time, I think I have explained many times in the past, how much actual time it takes for an officer to handle a mental health case. In some cases, 24 or 48 hours of being with one individual while we wait for those commitment orders.

[00:43:10] An excellent trend here of seeing those mental health reports trending down. We do attribute part of that. Again, going to circle back to some of those grants that we've gotten for those positions. Officer Mohler, now Sergeant Mohler, specifically reads every mental health report, makes that connection to both social services and CSB so that if we have an individual that is in need, whether that's from addiction or mental health, or in some cases both of those, she helps them get the services they need so we can get them to a better spot in their life,

[00:43:46] which at the end of the day helps everyone in the city of Manassas. Now I'm going to come back full circle for those traffic events. I do believe that is the number one thing that I hear about. I would dare say that it's probably the one thing that you hear about.

[00:44:05] We've heard about it here at council, people speeding on my street. When are you going to do something with traffic enforcement? You know, we try to listen to our community of where they want our resources to be. I also want to make that connection that you, as city council, added one FTE for specifically traffic enforcement in the FY26 budget.

[00:44:26] But again, not coming out of your tax base that is paid for out of the photo red light money. But again, it eventually give us one additional officer to concentrate on traffic enforcement. As you can clearly see, we heard our community.

[00:44:43] We've put a little bit of effort in doing more traffic enforcement that makes those calls for service to go down slightly. But as you can see, it trends the traffic enforcement up. Not only the incidents, traffic stops sometimes can lead to warnings, but also our traffic tickets are up.

[00:45:04] Accidents are also up. That is a large number. Injuries are also up with that as well. One of the changes that the state made beginning July 1st, which you will see in the final report at the end of the year, what they call a reportable accident until July 1st.

[00:45:24] That was a total of $1,500 worth of damage and or an injury. They have changed that number to $3,000, but we all know in today's atmosphere, a fender bender is going to be $3,000. But it could change these final numbers at the end of the year of what comes back as reportable accidents for the second half of the year because that change has taken place mid-year.

[00:45:48] The table on the right displays the actual charges that the officers are placing for these traffic enforcement. Again, I just want to point out they're up, but it is also what our community has asked for. And to be honest with you, we couldn't have enough officers and enough time to do traffic enforcement at the rate that our community has asked for it.

[00:46:13] As usual, I talk fast. I told you it was a short presentation, just some highlights for mid-year. I hope the information there helps you and our residents understand the things they hear about, the things they see about, sometimes on social media, are not accurate.

[00:46:31] If they have questions, please reach out to me, reach out to one of you, so that we can get that information corrected and they can get the correct data so that they understand that the city of Manassas is actually a very safe community and their police department works with the residents to ensure we are doing the kind of enforcement activities that they desire.

[00:46:54] Thank you. Thank you, Chief. I just have one question before I let council members. What is the difference in mental health report and mental subject? A mental health report. I'm sorry. No, go ahead. So the mental health report is every physical report that we take of dealing with someone with a mental health issue that we may be out with.

[00:47:18] A mental detention order is those actual paperwork from the court where we make a commitment of someone. So they actually have to be taken to the hospital and actually evaluated. And a mental subject is going to be a connection of both of those combined that we've been out with, but it's not a commitment order or they're determined not to have a mental health disorder.

[00:47:46] Okay. And so not to get into anything with what's coming, but the crisis receiving centers, that's what this kind of tackles when we don't take them to jail, we don't put them in the hospital, they go there, and I know that's to come, but I don't want you to give away anything.

[00:48:03] Yeah, I'll try to explain it as basically as I can. So the commitment order, the detention order service, as we have it listed there, gives us to hold them for 24 hours.

[00:48:19] The new center is designed to hold them up to 23 hours to try to get them the services they need so they will not have to have an actual court order mental commitment. so it's it's designed to get you to a better place before those services are needed and make you a quick connection hopefully with a mental health provider right okay thank you council members any questions for chief vice mayor sure um chief i just want to say uh thank you very much and thank you to your officers uh and just my quick math on part one offenses actually shows

[00:48:53] a 15 percent decrease 15.3 percent so um not wanting to jinx us to your point we do have a safe community we want to make it safer that's why we spend all the money and we have an accredited and fully funded police department so thank you for all you mr barahona everyone for all the work that you guys do thank you that was the same figure we came up with so our math is uh the the math incorrectly. I didn't want to give a percentage out because I really remember this is just the first half of the year. We're just into the summer months. And in actuality, City Manassas

[00:49:33] deals with small numbers, changes large percentages. So I'm always cautious to give that out. Any other comments? Ms. Ellis. So just remind me that the cameras that are out there are at the the high traffic intersections for red lights, going through a red light, right?

[00:49:55] Do we also have speeding cameras? So the state has approved two types of AI enforcement, and that's what that is. Camera enforcement is AI enforcement. One is the photo red light, and I'm going to answer your question probably longer than you intended.

[00:50:16] remember our photo red lights we actually do a in a full analysis before those photo red light cameras are approved accident rate site distance speeds traffic counts all that goes into the analysis before we determine and approve a photo red light enforcement second one is speed the state has approved photo speed enforcement in two locations work zones and school zones we do not have any work zones that we're doing photo speed enforcement in we do do we do do photo speed

[00:50:52] enforcement uh in our school zones as a reminder we have what we call mobile we have a total of four that we move around there's stationed at either dean round or mets elementary where the three school districts that we determine vehicle count and vehicle speeds before that's part of the analysis of where we can do that and as a reminder to the public here and watching school is getting ready to start those photo speed enforcement will be active at the beginning of the school so back

[00:51:27] to this this photo speeding the the one at metz so that's only active during school it's only active when the flashing school zone lights are active that is part of part of the mandate there There was an accident over there, knocked out the power by Liberty Grove recently that I think was caused by a vehicle.

[00:51:54] But from what I'm hearing from the residents in that area, there's a lot of speeding going on Wellington through the parkway. I guess it's like a straight shot to speed. So do we have something over there that is monitoring that activity? Outside his school zone, it'll be an officer, which goes back to these events here on this slide, the number of traffic enforcement details they will send.

[00:52:18] So if it's outside of a flashing school time zone, it'll have to be an actual officer that is stationed there doing speed enforcement. We do do it there, but again, every community, every street seems to want more traffic enforcement in that area.

[00:52:36] So it is limited. Okay. If residents are seeing a big problem, they can just e-mail the police and let them know? Because it did put the power out for eight hours with our seniors living over there. Yeah, they can e-mail us.

[00:52:52] They can call us. We will get them out there. We still get them out there on a regular basis. Okay. Thank you. Anyone else? Ms. Vasquez-Luna. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I echo the words from our Vice Mayor, Wolf, in the sentiment.

[00:53:12] I do want to talk about this one. And as I see, and something that worries me and I hear more and more is that it's speeding. It's like three times because now the speeding above 20 miles, I guess, it has made it to the list.

[00:53:28] So I just wanted to make sure that list is by priority as the most tickets or it's just the bigger category? So that list on the right that is now including speeding are the most frequently written tickets by our staff.

[00:53:44] So the speeding 15 to 9, those are different code sections that we charge them under. And I will tell you, we are concerned, and you hear this in the news for the region, this weekend, our report's writing tickets for 73 in a 35-mile-an-hour zone.

[00:54:03] So we're getting these excessive speeds, and if we're not there doing the traffic enforcement, those are the ones you're getting the phone calls about. So that's the reason, again, you may see the calls for service trending down, but they're trending down because we're pointedly doing traffic enforcement, which will reduce that number.

[00:54:25] Yeah, the 70 plus is becoming more frequent. So what you may see from us, what we are working on are some PSA social media posts. we plan on putting some of that out on social media trying to get people's attention that we are out doing additional enforcement thank you so much yes ma'am any other comments mr. Osino

[00:54:49] yeah I'm going to tell you traffic lights stop signs and traffic enforcement are all a combination

[00:55:49] of traffic calming methods so but again I'll go back to stop signs a little bit because I've had this conversation with a lot of our residents and put stop signs up if there's no one there to enforce people are going to go through the stop signs so stop signs and traffic lights are also

[00:56:08] methods in the traffic transportation community as a traffic calming method and then stopping at

[00:57:00] various intersections we had whether those citations are up or down and likewise for school bus and as well as school zone school buses you know passing a school bus while it's got its arm extended there with a red stop as well as for the school zones during school hours but clarification are you talking about the

[00:57:35] photo red light tickets the photo speed tickets in the automated passing the school bus tickets okay the speeding and school bus i can't rattle those off the top of my head but the photo red light i can they are continuously trending up but part of that reason is is we have added additional intersections as well um but if i remember correctly last year we're in the 23

[00:58:05] 24 000 photo red light ticket range it's a lot of tickets yes thank you very much mr smith Thank you, Chief. Thank you for the report.

[00:58:21] Yes, sir. We won't talk about it because we don't want to jinx it, right? That's correct. Now, wonderful job. To what extent do you know, actually, the information you gather, particularly where we start seeing trends and increasing and having the biggest impact, to what extent does information that you gather and other localities gather eventually makes its way to dmv so they'll know have some indication what what's trending in

[00:58:53] terms of bad driving habits to emphasize to change their testing if you will so every reportable traffic accident is actually uploaded into dmv's database and analyzed by the dmv and the state police. So that's where it goes for accidents. For the other charges, DMV doesn't track it.

[00:59:17] That would be up for us to lobby through the General Assembly either through Virginia Chiefs or VML is where you would do it. But what DMV tracks is accidents. Thank you, sir. I was just concerned because of particular violations.

[00:59:36] Again, I think Councilman El Senna mentioned it, and And it is a fact. School is reopening, and there seems to be a lot of confusion or simple misunderstanding about the rules regarding stopped school buses, even though the light's flashing and the arm is down.

[00:59:53] And several other violations seem to occur, not just here in Manassas, but across the state from what some of your readings will tell you. And I'm just wondering if DMV is paying attention. Yeah, one of the things we do try to do as school gets ready to begin here, again, we'll do some PSA announcements on social media, trying to educate people again.

[01:00:22] I think most people know they lose track of it just to remind them school is starting, speed zones will be enforcement, school buses will be out. and what that law is of when they have to stop. We actually put out a little animated diagram of a divided highway versus non-divided highway so people can have a visual of when they're supposed to stop and when they're not.

[01:00:48] And I'm going to speak just real quickly about trends and complement staff. We do have a crime analyst. She tracks these trends so that we can get out in front of any kind of part one offense that we may see trending up.

[01:01:04] As an example, if we start seeing a quick trend over the weekend for either grand larcenies or auto theft, she's on that first thing Monday morning putting it out on a crime map so our officers know the region where they're occurring, puts it out in what we call a heat map as well of those areas that seemed a larger area that we may be having higher crime in and part of our new computer-aided dispatch that just got turned on you'll see probably in september i do plan on coming back with staff members

[01:01:42] to give you a quick presentation we intend to put on our website a crime an active crime map It'll probably be a 24-hour lag because we have to get the information uploaded, but that will allow our residents to do exactly what I just told you.

[01:02:01] They'll be able to go in and go to a heat map. They'll be able to go to a pushpin map. We also have it broken down into HOAs so the HOA can go in and look at their individual community as well. We intend to turn that on in September.

[01:02:17] And, again, coming back to you and our community, again, just trying to be transparent and getting that information out for them. Thank you, sir. And I know you will, but please pass on our thank you and appreciation to your staff. Thank you, sir.

[01:02:33] Thank you, sir. Yes, sir. Everybody good? Okay. Well, I'll round it out. Thank you, as always, you know, how I feel. I think we have the best. And from our last meeting when we had all the promotions and the recognitions, people are coming here. Again, it starts at the top, and it's the example that you set for people to come to this city and make us safe.

[01:02:53] And our numbers, I think, don't look horrible. Every place is having trouble across the country. So I just appreciate the efforts of all the staff and everyone who works toward making sure that we are definitely safe and people want to be here. So we have First Friday coming, so it always comes with its wonderful challenges.

[01:03:12] But we know y'all are up for it. So thank you for this. is really really helpful um information and and thank you for being open to receiving questions and information from people as well anybody can reach out to you staff for any issues speeding whatever they see i love how they're able to just reach out to you so pass along that as well like mr smith said so thank you thank you mayor and and you brought it up and just a you'll be getting notification of our promotional celebration i think we decided on august the 22nd i'm looking

[01:03:46] the two getting promoted back here shaking their head but you'll get a notification uh on your emails and your calendar we'd love for each one of you to be there as well but you'll get more information about that as well okay thank you yes ma'am so much all right i want to make sure to recognize um our chair of the school board is here ms seaberg is back there and our delegate michelle El Maldonado she was taking photos and doing double duty there so thank you for being here tonight appreciate it okay that takes us forward in the agenda to the consent agenda item number two I'll call on Vice Mayor Wolfe for that motion madam mayor I move adoption of the consent agenda and dispense with the

[01:04:23] reading of the ordinances second we have the motion by Vice Mayor Wolfe seconded by Councilwoman Vasquez Luna to approve our consent agenda any discussion hearing and seeing none this spring please call the roll yes yes Councilmember Ellis? Yes.

[01:04:44] Councilmember Osina? Yes. Councilmember Smith? Yes. Councilmember Hudson? Yes. The motion carries. Thank you so much for that. That moves us forward to item three, public hearings. We have the sign-up sheets up front in front of the dais if you wish to sign up to speak on the public hearings we have for scheduled for tonight.

[01:05:02] It is separate from the comment sheet, so make sure that you sign up for the right one. I'll go over the procedures for public hearings. I'll read the newspaper certification. Yes, certification, newspaper ad certification for public hearings, then staff will present the issue for consideration and the council has the opportunity to ask questions.

[01:05:21] Then I will open the public hearing for public comments and we'll make sure not to miss anyone who wishes to speak regarding a public hearing item. And then the public hearing will be either closed or continue to the next council meeting, closed and continued or voted on, which requires a motion and a vote.

[01:05:37] So with that, I'll read now the newspaper certification statement, which says 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 Prince William Times newspaper, which states that the advertisements appeared on the required dates.

[01:06:06] And Mr. Arcieri is here to help us with item 3.1, the public hearing for franchise for the purpose of installing, operating, and maintaining telecommunications conduits, facilities, and equipment in the public rights of way within the corporate limits of the city of Manassas, Virginia.

[01:06:24] Mr. Arcieri. Good evening, Your Honor. Good evening, members of council. State law does require a public hearing for any franchises granted by the city for operation of facilities within our public right of way. The request before you this evening is a five-year non-exclusive franchise by Cox Communications for placement along the route that I have up on the presentation before you.

[01:06:46] Cox is already, does have one franchise in the city, serving a few select properties, including the school board building at the Apple Federal Credit Union. This is obviously an expansion to enhance their existing services. This is a five-year term proposed, similar to other franchises that have been approved by the city.

[01:07:05] uh the draft ordinance would specify one dollar per linear foot annual payment for each conduit installed so as an example if you had four thousand linear feet of uh conduit and two conduits the annual payment would then be eight thousand dollars a year so um the request is to hold a public hearing and then schedule action in september stand ready to answer any questions and representatives of cox are here if you have any questions uh from them thank you so much mr starciary any questions from council members on this okay public hearing is now open i do not have anyone signed up to speak but if there's anyone here um as president that would like to address

[01:07:41] this item on the agenda please come forward at this time if not i'll entertain a motion madam mayor seeing no one i move that we close the public hearing and schedule for a vote at the september 8th meeting second get a motion by vice mayor will seconded by councilwoman vasquez luna to close the public hearing on this item 3.1.

[01:08:02] Any discussion hearing and seeing them? Ms. Spring, please call the roll. Vice Mayor Wolfe? Yes. Council Member Vasquez-Luna? Yes. Council Member Ellis? Yes. Council Member Ocina? Yes. Council Member Smith? Yes. Council Member Hudson?

[01:08:18] Yes. That motion carries? All right, thank you. Next on the agenda is item 3.2, public hearing for uncodified ordinance number 02026-064 establishing the annual salary of the mayor and members of the city council and i believe mr burke is going to present on that so take it away yes ma'am just for the information for for our residents state code next slide state code 15.2 1414.6 specifies that salaries for council can be established under some

[01:08:57] various requirements. Next slide. There is an exception in there that says that a city with a population of 35,000 to about 75,000, the maximum salary should be $37,000 for the mayor, $34,000 for council. Next slide.

[01:09:19] There is also an exception that indicates that if the city's charter is silent to any maximum limit, then the city can, by ordinance, adopt a salary that is in excess of that prescribed by law.

[01:09:37] And then, next slide, and in the city's charter, it is silent. It basically just says that the council can identify what the salary would be for both the mayor and council. So, in adopted May 23rd, 2022, and effective July 1st, 2023, the salary for the mayor was established at $20,000 and council at $18,000.

[01:10:06] And then there's a number of responsibilities that members of council have to provide. There's meeting attendance, representation on different city boards, councils, and committees. They perform representation on external boards and committees and then attendance at civic events.

[01:10:27] There's also, within the NOVA region, participation in the Metropolitan Council of Governments, the Northern Virginia Regional Commission, and the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority. And then looking at some of the surrounding communities, the salaries for council are incomparable.

[01:10:49] They do range from anywhere from $11,500 for Manassas Park, $34,000 for Charlottesville, and $68,000 for Alexandria. And that's the information that staff has assembled for your consideration.

[01:11:06] Thank you. Any questions for Mr. Burke from Council? If not, I'll open the public hearing at this time on this item. I have one person signed up so far, and you don't have to sign up, so we'll have an opportunity to speak even if you haven't signed up. Gretchen Almstead is on first.

[01:11:24] Hello, ma'am. You have three minutes. Please give us your name and your address. Okay. Hi, my name is Gretchen Almstead. I live at 9804 Hutchison Lane since 1987. Way back in 1970, straight out of graduate school, I earned a whopping salary for a full-time teacher of $7,000.

[01:11:50] But throughout my career in teaching and in social work, there was always a salary scale that was based on tenure, education, and cost of living adjustments. So I never was in a position to ask for a raise.

[01:12:06] But until now, I'm here before you to have you consider a raise for council. And I know there's never a good time to bring this up. It's always going to be blowback and politically not easy to do.

[01:12:21] But the issue does need to be raised. Much of the council's work goes on behind the scenes. They are always on call. Residents always stop them in the grocery store at first Fridays, everywhere they go, with concerns, questions.

[01:12:39] And just like all the mayors and council members before them, the decisions that they make and that they have to face necessitate research, coordination, and a lot of time. between responding to residents, appearances at city events, ribbon cuttings for new businesses, council meetings, local and regional committee meetings, and work sessions, not to mention social media.

[01:13:03] It's more than a halftime job. Currently, the annual salary has been already stated as $20,000 for mayor, $18,000 for council, and the Virginia State Code does allow an annual salary twice that high.

[01:13:20] So clearly, nobody goes into community service for money. or to make money, not at least on a local level. But enhanced salary would make the role more attractive to potential public servants. And after all, the average household income, according to the stats for Manassas, is currently $118,000.

[01:13:41] So we've got a long way to go to get anywhere close to what would be fair compensation. State statute requires that any salary increase take effect July 1, after the next regularly scheduled general election of council members, which wouldn't be until next year, November 2026.

[01:14:03] So any raise that is agreed upon wouldn't take effect until July 1st of 2027. So I believe that our dedicated and conscientious public officials deserve to be compensated for all their time and effort.

[01:14:20] And please consider giving them a raise. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Homestead. Anyone else that wishes to address Council Conde? Hi, Diane Lane, 9327 Camp for Court.

[01:14:38] And I cannot support the amendment as it's currently stated. While I realize some jurisdictions are adjusting to new allowable amounts, I don't believe it's appropriate here. This is a part-time job that seems to expand to meet needs, which makes compensation difficult.

[01:14:57] The advertised increase accounts for 5% increases in 25 and 26, allowable by statute, but it takes the salary for the mayor to $42,000, to the council members to $40,000, whereas our current entry-level salary for police officers is $67,100, and for firefighters it's $55,960.

[01:15:18] So while I'm not aware of the mayor and council having defined hourly equivalents, if we assume 1,080 hours, which is half-time for a full-time equivalent. That equates to a mayor hourly rate of $40.38, counsel at $38.46. When you measure that against the full-time hourly rate for a police officer, that's $32.36 for a full-time police officer and a firefighter of $26.90.

[01:15:53] Life and death, danger decision-making doesn't tie out. So, even the approved salaries without the adjustments still would make the mayor have a $37.58 hourly rate and council at $32.49.

[01:16:11] I ask council to send this back to staff to define expectations for hourly performance, the definition of part-time. Without that, you cannot set a reasonable salary rate. You don't know what to stop and what your hours are.

[01:16:29] There is no job that doesn't have an hourly budget. Even professional staff, sorry, I'm losing the word, which I am in my day job, I'm expected to work 2080.

[01:16:45] That's my definition, minus the time for paid off, which is four weeks a year. That's it. That's when I have to show up. So I know what my compensation is based on those hours. That doesn't seem to be defined anywhere, so it makes it very hard to set fair and equal compensation.

[01:17:01] So I, again, ask council to send this back, define expectations, and then benchmark for similar to government models and population and regional costs, which was somewhat done here. We'll note that Manassas Park is wrong. Their data, their salary income went up on July 1st to $22,000 for the mayor and $21,000, I believe, for council.

[01:17:24] Finally, I leave you with this. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should do something. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else who wishes to come? Hello, my name is Helena Zarita, long-time resident.

[01:17:46] Hold the mic a little bit. My name is Helena Zarita, long-time resident in the city, long-time advocate serving the poor for the last five years. I am livid by seeing this posted, that our council that we trust to serve our community wants more money.

[01:18:08] Why? Half of you were at the Prince William Hunger Free event yesterday, and I thought my council cared. You were there taking pictures, maybe collected, maybe donated.

[01:18:28] But then I see that my council wants a raise when the city is suffering. Do you know how many people I'm serving in my food pantry right now? And what it took for me to come in here today because there's people waiting in my office for food? These are government workers that have lost their jobs?

[01:18:47] I'm so livid right now, I can't even see straight. I've had a hard time thinking about why. Some of you, your Facebooks tell me your life. You're out in other countries, you're out in other cities, and some of you that want to vote for this are not even on this seat half of the time.

[01:19:08] You can't make it. I don't understand this. We should never be voting for this right now until the climate change is in Washington. It shouldn't even be on your agenda. Have a heart. If you really are in this seat to have a heart for the people, kick this off your agenda until we can change Washington. Thank you.

[01:19:32] Thank you. Anyone else wishes to address council? Hi, Mayor and Council. Lynn Farkel-Green, Manasseh City resident, former councilwoman.

[01:19:49] When I was a councilwoman, it was $15,000 a year. It was nowhere to be found online. I didn't even know how much money the position was because I did not run for a career here. I ran to give back to my community. I was not looking at the salary when I ran.

[01:20:06] I was actually very surprised when I found out that our treasurer and our commissioner of revenue are elected six-figure-a-year positions. So, while I agree, likely an increase from 15,000 to 18,000 seemed to make some sense.

[01:20:22] And in my mind, was the restructuring needed because it had not happened in a while? Now you're just getting greedy. This is greed, point blank. If you are here as a job, then I would like to know the benchmark for success in the role.

[01:20:39] Because when I sat here, it was at your discretion which event you went to, which event you stayed at. Some of you just go take a picture and leave. You're not really at that event the whole time, period. You know that I know that. I am so disappointed at the large step that this has been communicated, the large step.

[01:21:05] If you look at a 3% increase, the council increase would be $540, and the mayor increase would be $600. Sure, 3%. Let's do that. That's a COLA increase, right? That is what you're supposed to benchmark yourself. Back when I was on council, all of the data said we sort of got a raise at the same time and about the same amount as our employees.

[01:21:29] So what are we doing? What are you actually doing? And I really, really, really ask that you say no to this and go back to the drawing board. I really understand what our residents are saying, and I support a lot of what they're saying, but it would be very difficult for staff to give a job description to the council and say, this is what you have to do to earn this money.

[01:21:54] So that's a little bit hard to do, but I like the premise that we, as residents, we don't really know what you do. I know what you do because I did it for a little while, but it's not worth that, and I'm pretty disappointed. I hope you will reconsider. Thank you, Ralph and Teresa, for getting back to me today.

[01:22:12] If anybody did after 5 o'clock, I hadn't seen it. Doubt you did. But I really appreciated you letting me know how you felt and communicating with me on this issue because I'm very concerned that we're going in the wrong direction here. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Green. Anyone else?

[01:22:36] Good evening, members of the council. I'm Alan Mutsnik. I live on Park Street in the city. I think I agree with Ms. Lane that this really needs to go back to the drawing board. This needs to be better benchmarked, and I think one of the considerations should be whether or not the council earns fringe benefits.

[01:22:54] I think it's important that people be able to serve on the council and not have to be either retired and wealthy. And so be able to, you know, if they have a full-time job or a part-time job as well, still be able to serve on the council. And it's a big responsibility, although I agree, a lot of the photo ops are probably not necessary.

[01:23:16] But I think for optics purposes, I think it's important that this go back. And I think a smaller increase, maybe to $30,000, would make more sense. We do it more gradually. And certainly with inflation, it should be going up. Everybody's got inflation.

[01:23:32] Everybody's got higher tax payments. but I think it really needs to percolate a lot better before it comes back. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Muchnick. Anyone else? If not, I'll, is there a motion? Madam Mayor, I move to close the public hearing and schedule for a vote on the September 8th meeting.

[01:23:52] Second. We have a motion by Vice Mayor Wolfe and seconded by Councilman Vasquez Luna to close the public hearing and vote on this item on September the 8th, our next council meeting. Any discussion? Mr. Smith.

[01:24:08] I'd like to offer an amendment to that motion that we do not set a date certain to view this matter. That we review it later, but not at a date certain if a motion can be made without a date certain.

[01:24:26] If there were no motion on this. The motion was seconded? Yeah, Ms. Vasquez Luna, she seconded. I have a question. Sure. If there had not been a motion on the floor, would I be allowed to make a motion that we close the public hearing but don't have a date certain when we revisit it?

[01:24:52] Has the motion, has Vice Mayor Wolf's motion been seconded? Yes. Councilwoman Luna seconded it. So you may make a substitute motion or an amendment. And that can include language. We're not required to have a date certain.

[01:25:08] I do not have to have a date when we revisit it. No, you could leave that. I mean, typically, future agendas will be prepared by the city manager in consultation with the mayor, and you can leave it to their discretion as to when it's rescheduled or when it's scheduled.

[01:25:28] Thank you, sir. To answer your question, it does not have to be to a date, sir. Thank you. The other question I will need to submit to you in writing. Thank you, sir. Mr. Brown, we go with Mr. Smith.

[01:25:46] Did Mr. Smith make an amendment? I offered an amendment that we did not set a date certain. I don't think this matters. If that is seconded, then you will vote on whether Mr. Smith's motion is substituted for or whether Mr. Wolfe's motion is amended.

[01:26:07] Stay there. We need a second for Mr. Smith. We'll do a second, but we're just closing the public hearing. And agreeing with what Ralph is saying, referring it to a later date, but not a specific date. And then going to a work session to look at all the information.

[01:26:22] Or another meeting. His motion did not include a reference to a work session. A date or a work session. Right. No date specific. So we're just closing the public hearing. Yes. And deferring it to a later date. Correct. That's what you're seconding. You're good with that. Okay.

[01:26:38] So just to explain the vice mayor's motion, which was seconded, was to close the public hearing and have the council take up this ordinance on September 8th.

[01:26:54] An amendment was offered, which was to close the public hearing and defer consideration to a date uncertain. So now you will vote on whether Councilor Smith's motion or Councilor Wolf's motion is amended, and then after that you can vote on whatever it's approved.

[01:27:15] Okay, so we have the motion by Councilman Smith, and seconded by Councilwoman Ellis to close a public hearing and defer to a later date. Uncertain. Just a later date. Vice Mayor Wolf's motion is amended. Is amended to say. So any discussion on that? No discussion. Everybody understand? Getting ready to vote on Mr. Smith's amendment for that. Ms. Spring, call the roll.

[01:27:49] Council member Smith. Yes. Council member Ellis. Council member Ocina. No. Council member Wolfe. No. Oh, sorry. Vice Mayor Wolfe. No. Council member Vasquez Luna. No. Council member Hudson. No. Okay. So then we go back. So back to Vice Mayor Wolfe's motion. To September 8th. So close a public hearing and vote on September 8th. Correct. Okay. So that motion has been made and seconded. Any discussion on that? Okay. If not, Ms. Byrne, go ahead. Vice Mayor Wolfe. Yes. Council member Vasquez Luna.

[01:28:31] Yes. Council Member Ellis? No. Council Member Osina? Yes. Council Member Smith? No. Council Member Hudson? Yes.

[01:28:48] Motion carried forwarded to it. Thank you, Mr. Brown. Appreciate that. Thank you, Council Members. We'll move forward on the next item on the agenda. Matt comes back. I lost my place, sorry. Oh, item four, ordinances and resolutions, right?

[01:29:06] 4.2. You're skipping 4.1. Took care of that. 4.1 is not on the agenda because that's been forwarded to the September 8th. Item 4.2, resolution number R, 2026-12, Pennington Traditional School SUP.

[01:29:23] Mr. Arcieri. Your Honor, Members of Council, the resolution before you would approve the special use permit for Pennington Traditional School expansion. This was the subject of your public hearing at the last meeting. That public hearing is closed. The special use permit before you with the conditions does include, as a reminder, not only the expansion of the school, but the expanded parking and stacking areas that were of some discussion.

[01:29:47] And this is subject of the remand back to planning commission. All that is included in the package. One item that we did not cover during the public hearing, also in the special use permit, and I've received some questions on this, is a condition allowing the city and the county schools to enter an MOU to hopefully open up some of the grounds of the schools for public use when the school is not in session.

[01:30:08] That's nearly 10 acres of open space, two rectangular fields, a diamond field, not that I've been counting, and a playground that we could, as part of an MOU, make available to the community outside of school hours. It's something I'm excited to bring back to you as a separate agreement if this SUP is approved.

[01:30:24] And with that, I stand ready for any questions. The staff and the Planning Commission recommend approval. Thank you, Ms. Sorcieri. Any questions? Oh, go ahead. Mr. Araceri, number one, any Manassas residents attend the school? None to my knowledge, sir. Okay. Manassas, the impacts of the school are being borne by Prince William County residents or Manassas residents?

[01:30:45] County residents, sir. And as a part of the SUP, have we placed a limit on the number of students that may be enrolled at this school in the future? Yes, sir. The conditions include a cap on the students. As a reminder, this is a legally nonconforming use at this time, so there is no cap at this time.

[01:31:02] This SUP will impose that cap. Okay, and that number is what? 672, sir. I'm sorry? 672 students, sir. Okay, thank you, sir. Any other questions or comments? Is there a motion? I know more. Madam Mayor?

[01:31:20] Yes. I move adoption of SUP 2025-0002. Did I get it right? No. No, okay, so let me go back. I move the passage of resolution.

[01:31:36] How's that? R-2026-12. How's that one? Did I find the right lottery number? Yes, that's right. You're in the classroom. I'm a slow learner. Is there a second? I'm a second. Oh, okay. I got Ms. Ellis.

[01:31:52] We have the motion by Councilman Ossina and seconded by Councilwoman Ellis to approve resolution R-2026-12. Any discussion? Yes, ma'am. Ms. Dorsey? I just wanted to say that I am appreciative of the fact that, number one, this redrawing and plans here will move all the student drop offs and pickups to onsite along with the buses, and I appreciate that very much.

[01:32:21] So it will not be on Stonewall Road to impede traffic during the school operation of school. And I hope that works out and I know that if it does not, We will be revisiting that issue, Mr. Arcieri. I will be on top of that.

[01:32:38] And secondly, I was pleased to see the efforts by staff to include the ability, if we could strike MOU for city residents to use some of the, I'll call it, athletic facilities there, the fields or what have you, when school is not in operation.

[01:32:56] I think that's a win for our residents in that particular light there, because the more green space and recreation areas that we can have, wherever they might be, and whoever owns them is always a good thing. So thank you for doing that. Any other points of discussion?

[01:33:12] Ms. Vasquez-Luna. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I'll echo Council Member Osina's remarks. And, you know, thank you for being proactive, whether it's green space, parks, or any open space that can be, you know, available for the residents at the non-school hours.

[01:33:32] You know, to me, it's a great asset, so thank you to our city manager and our assistant city manager. I appreciate the work on everybody related to this, and I know it took some time, so everybody that is present here for this, I, you know, I appreciate it.

[01:33:52] I know it was a little long, but I'm really glad with the changes, so thank you. Any other discussion points? Okay, if not, Ms. Spring, call the roll. Council Member Rosina? Yes. Council Member Ellis? Yes. Vice Mayor Wolfe?

[01:34:08] No. Council Member Smith? Yes. Council Member Vasquez-Luna? Yes. Council Member Hudson? Yes. That motion carries. All right. Thank you so much for that. That moves us forward to item 4.3 on the agenda. Resolution number R-2026-65-DBHDS performance contract by annual renewal.

[01:34:28] The Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Development Services. Ms. Bachman? Am I saying it right? Yes. Very good. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Good evening. Hold the mic a little bit close so we can hear you. Good evening, Mayor Davis-Younger and council members.

[01:34:44] I am Georgia Bachman. I'm the acting executive director for Prince William Community Services Board. I'm here with Mike Goodrich, who is the division manager for our admin operations at the CSB.

[01:34:59] So thank you for having us this evening. We're here to request approval of our FY2627 DBHDS performance contract, our biennial renewal. I do want to acknowledge that some additional questions came in.

[01:35:15] We sent an updated slide deck. I'm not sure if that's the one that's-- - We do. - You do? Okay, excellent. And then there were also a few questions that we did want to just take a little more time to make sure that we got some correct data.

[01:35:30] But we will get back to those. And I will address most of the questions here tonight. So thank you. Just wanted to give you an overview of some of our services and programs. This is by no means an exhaustive list. I did want to highlight and point out a few programs.

[01:35:57] We work very hard in the CSB to meet the needs of our community and also to look at where our gaps in services are and build programming using leveraging basically funding from multiple sources.

[01:36:14] So I wanted to just speak for a minute about our medication-assisted treatment program, which we recently expanded to a program that's called Office-Based Addiction Treatment Program.

[01:36:30] We were able to expand this program as a result of a partnership with the cities and the county using the Opioid Abatement Authority Funds, and we already have seen an over 25% increase in participants in this program.

[01:36:49] And as you may know, this is a program that's designed for individuals who are in active treatment. It's an extremely low-barrier program, meaning anyone can come in in active treatment.

[01:37:05] They go right into that program, and we provide the medication, counseling, and wraparound services that they need without sending them through kind of a long array of intake processes.

[01:37:22] Wanted to also mention our New Horizons youth program, mental health and substance use treatment program. That program has clinicians in every high school in Prince William County, cities of Manassas and Manassas Park.

[01:37:42] That is very unique throughout the state. There's very, very few community services boards in the state of Virginia that actually have school-based counseling. As we know, there's been an epidemic of concerns with our youth, and we're addressing them directly in the schools.

[01:38:03] We also are three years into a SAMHSA grant, a multimillion-dollar SAMHSA grant, and have just opened up a new program called System of Care Grant, which we've started a new program called Intensive Care Coordination, And this program is designed to work with our most behaviorally and psychiatrically complex youth.

[01:38:33] And that program is off and running, and they have right now a full caseload. So I wanted to just highlight a few of those programs. And let's see, I will go to the next slide. So to back up a little bit, Prince William CSB is an administrative policy board.

[01:38:57] Our board sets policy for and administers the provision of mental health, developmental, and substance use services. The board members are appointed and accountable to the governing bodies of Prince William County and the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park. Within Prince William County, CS, we have seven operating clinical divisions and one administrative division.

[01:39:23] And some of those, again, are adult services. We do have a full developmental disability services program. As some of you may know, Governor Youngkin released funding for all of the Priority One waivers this year.

[01:39:40] Prince William County got 1,100 waivers this coming fiscal year that will be given out in quarterly implements. We also have our early intervention services that treats our infants and toddlers with developmental delays.

[01:39:57] We have an array of emergency services, including our trauma service and our front door or kind of intake and assessment program. In addition, we have our community support services, and these are our community-based programs that work primarily with individuals out in the community.

[01:40:22] That includes our assertive community treatment teams, our forensic program, as well as our Get on Track team, which is a national model evidence-based program that serves our young people ages 16 to 25 who have episodes of first psychosis episodes, and we wrap treatment around them so that they can continue to kind of function in their lives and not have that stigma that comes with that diagnosis of a more chronic mental illness.

[01:41:02] So let's see, the next page. So in terms of the performance contract, this is the primary accountability and funding mechanism between the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services and the individual community service boards.

[01:41:21] DBHDS plans, develops, directs, funds, and monitors the delivery of comprehensive behavioral health services and developmental disability services throughout the Commonwealth. The contract outlines the scope of services, resources, CSB responsibilities, et cetera.

[01:41:39] This document includes several exhibits that provide additional guidance. And while most of the document is standard, each CSB does submit a unique Exhibit A. The Exhibit A is separated into two sections.

[01:41:57] One is the services that does require each CSB to project our service capacities, our number of individuals served, and identify our core service costs. And then there's also a fiscal section.

[01:42:17] DBHDS uses this information from Exhibit A when presenting data to the Governor or General Assembly, and we do submit a mid-year and end-of-year report and also provide frequent data extracts of services in our client counts.

[01:42:33] DBHDS does request additional information if actual services differ from our projected services by 25% or more. In terms of the approval process, the CSBs have until September 30th to obtain local legislative body approval of the entire performance contract, and so we seek approval from the Board of County Supervisors and each city.

[01:43:02] Though the contract period covers two years, the contract is renewed annually. Every county or city by code shall establish a CSB by itself or in combination with other cities and counties.

[01:43:18] And again, we are one of 40 CSBs in the Commonwealth. The city of Manassas has had a member on our community services board since 1990. We currently have Ms. Lisa Clymer, who is our newest representative from the city of Manassas.

[01:43:38] She is the assistant director of practicum education at GMU in their Department of Social Work and has been a very welcome addition to our board. In terms of funding, the City of Manassas contribution in FY25 was $2,910,000, and for FY26 is budgeted at $3,1,883.

[01:44:05] The contribution amount is determined through the shared services allocation process that is led by the Prince William County Finance Department. Here are the service levels that were requested, and you can see the breakdown by disability area that we serve and the year-to-year numbers.

[01:44:29] These do not include all of the varying touch points that the community members of the City of Manassas have with our prevention, our community outreach teams, our connections team through all of the efforts that are made on our prevention and engagement and outreach staff. Those numbers would not be included in here. And in terms of accessing services,

[01:45:03] This is the main number to funnel referrals to. This is our kind of universal intake phone numbers and addresses. I wanted to also add that we do have other doors, so to speak, in which individuals can access services.

[01:45:27] Again, we have a wellness and prevention team. Some of you may know Heather Martinson. She's all over the community. She does Revive trainings, and she and her team do Revive trainings, mental health first aid, suicide prevention trainings.

[01:45:43] As I said, we have strong partnership with the school system. We are in the schools. We also provide some services to middle schools. We have a homeless outreach team. We have an outreach and engagement team that works closely.

[01:46:01] We actually have a staff person who works actually in the City of Manassas Police Department very closely with Sergeant Muller and was recently actually sent me some information that that partnership is going, as you mentioned, very, very well.

[01:46:23] We're making lots of referrals to the community so that our law enforcement don't have to go out when it's a non-urgent matter. So that's been a very successful partnership. We also have -- well, I'd be remiss if we didn't mention that the CRC is opening soon.

[01:46:45] That will be another front door for our services. You spoke about that earlier. This is intended to address the shortage of psychiatric beds and the boarding of persons in crisis in emergency departments.

[01:47:02] The drop-off will be quick. The vendor of this crisis receiving center is Connections Health. They have a national footprint and have been doing this for decades.

[01:47:21] Their data speaks to dropping people off, having law enforcement drop off, and them being back on the street within 10 minutes, and they track that. data. So we're very excited. It is on track to open in October. And what is highly unique about this program is that we have co-located CS services, so it will truly be a one-stop shopping for our community members. And we are planning to open full capacity in October, which includes the

[01:47:58] 23 hour 16 23 hour observation chairs for adults and youth as well as 16 did I say 16 or did I say 23 okay and 16 crisis day beds as well for adult and youth so we're very excited about that and more to come. But I wanted to end my presentation tonight by sharing a story of something that

[01:48:33] happened in the city of Manassas last week that highlights our staff and impact on the community. We have a connections team that is a group of staff that have come together that includes our peer support specialist team, our substance use disorder staff, as well as some of our prevention staff.

[01:49:02] And this is a fairly new team that has come together under our opioid response coordinator, which was also a position that we were able to get using our opioid abatement authority funds that serves greater Prince William County.

[01:49:21] And this team receives a lot of data from varying sources on spike alerts related to overdoses. And what they have started doing is using that data to drive their going out to specific communities to hand out what we call leave-behind bags.

[01:49:46] It's a resource bag, QR codes, information, naloxone, all kinds of things that could be helpful to someone in crisis. And so they were out last week in a city of Manassas community, saw a young man sitting on the curb looking like he was in distress.

[01:50:09] They went up to him. He was waiting for EMS and had mentioned that he had a friend who was actively overdosing in an apartment. And so they escorted him back to the apartment. They were able to assist him in administering the naloxone, do chest compressions.

[01:50:32] She was unresponsive and then became responsive. And her life was saved that day. So just wanted to share that story. That is all I have.

[01:50:47] Okay. Thank you. Thank you so much. Questions from council members? Thank you for that presentation. Is the motion appropriate at this point? Sure. Mr. Osino. I'm waking up from my 5 o'clock drive this morning here.

[01:51:03] So on your next to last slide. So, yeah, that one. So it looks like, well, let's see. Okay.

[01:51:16] So the the other services went up more than 100. And I know you mark mark on their emergency services, infant and toddlers program. Would you elaborate? And are those the only other services? I mean, to begin with here and then because I think if I look at this correctly, I'm looking at the total up at the top for 25.

[01:51:49] and the jump is attributable to the jump in the other services, correct? And to me, that should be the item that should get the most, should be explained and detailed.

[01:52:06] So questions are simply this. What are other services? You list two of them. Are there more than that? And what are the numbers for those? And then lastly, what would you attribute the reasons for a significant jump? So I want to make sure that we're clear in this presentation.

[01:52:25] The total at the top is not added by the numbers in the columns. So the other services which we differentiate is because they are not in the state performance contract. And so emergency services that the county provides through the CSB is not part of the state performance contract.

[01:52:47] Those are locally funded services. Those locally funded services do include the emergency assessment. And so we would have, for example, 297 City of Manassas residents that came through emergency services and responded to.

[01:53:04] A number of them, if you're homeless, you may not be counted. If you're homeless from the City of Manassas versus Manassas Park, it's not something that we necessarily track when we're providing that service just because we need to get them treatment.

[01:53:21] Another piece that I will mention is that a number of individuals, while they may have an intellectual or a developmentally disabled diagnosis, they may also have a mental health diagnosis. They may have a mental health diagnosis and a substance use disorder diagnosis.

[01:53:40] So they may be counted twice in those numbers, but they would just be one individual served. So this raises even more questions. So first of all, how did you arrive at 664?

[01:53:58] The 663 individuals served? No, under other services for 2025, 664. How did you arrive at that number? What are those?

[01:54:15] You explained kind of broadly, and you used some jargon here. Okay. Sure. So I want to know specifically, 664, you arrived at that number, to present to us. Sure. 664 breaks down into this, this, this, this.

[01:54:34] Sure. What are these items? We have early intervention services. How many? We talked about zero to three. Early intervention, 49 individuals. Okay. We also have assessment and evaluation. That's the emergency assessment and evaluation. There were 297 individuals.

[01:54:53] So those become added. We can certainly get you that breakdown of what those other services are. That would be helpful, I think, for us to see. Sure. And in the future, that would be probably the next slide to have had after this is saying, see the other services, we have a total, but now we're going to break it out here.

[01:55:13] So then I understand what you're saying. So 789 is arrived at, if I take underneath it, 63, 201, and 92 and add them together, do they add up to 789? So where's the difference?

[01:55:31] The difference is in the dual diagnosis. So if you have a substance abuse disorder, you may also have a mental health disorder. So you may get counted as an individual, but you may have two items down below.

[01:55:47] I'm sorry to interrupt. Sorry. So how many of the 63 are dual, and how many of the 201 are dual, and how many of the 92s are dual? With due respect, we would have to go individual, client by client, to understand what those numbers are.

[01:56:04] Is that something you want us to do and come back to you? Well, I guess all I'm trying to do is understand how we arrived at this number of 789. So somebody was counting the duals at some point, you know, counting.

[01:56:22] I don't know how else to explain it. You arrived at 789 somehow. How did you arrive at it? And then you're saying to me, is that something I'd like to see? Well, I certainly want to. Then if I hadn't asked the question and the 63 and the 201 and 92 don't add up.

[01:56:44] And there was no mention that, listen, the 789 is actually made up of, again, Another slide after this, then, perhaps. Councilman Alcina? Yes. I do apologize. The request for the total number of individuals served did come from staff.

[01:57:01] And if you were to add up just the number of services provided, that's in excess of about 1,000, between 1,000 and 1,100. So if you were to deduct 1,100 from the 800 total individuals, there would be 300 cases of the potential double accounting.

[01:57:24] And again, without getting into more of their details, there may be some individuals that had two diagnoses, three services. So they can definitely get that information for you. But the intent of staff was so that council would know how many individuals in the city of Manassas have been served in this past year and then the total number of services that had been provided.

[01:57:52] And I apologize if that created some concern for you. But effectively, what you'd be looking at just on the raw numbers would be that 300 additional services were provided to individuals.

[01:58:08] And again, not knowing if it was two or three. So if it were two, then again, 300 individuals would have been received two diagnoses or two services. I'm not trying to be hostile. So I'm trying to understand you presented these numbers for a reason, and I'm trying to understand how the numbers work here.

[01:58:29] And so I'm getting now additional information here along the way here. Is it possible that when you reply back, that you redo this in such a way that it would all make sense? That's all. Because, again, part of this is not just for our benefit, but we have residents who are interested in this.

[01:58:50] We have the media that's interested in this. And I would think, you know, we all want to understand what you're presenting along the way here. And that's my entire goal. So if I sounded hostile, that was not my intent. It's over the frustration of every time I asked, it seemed I was one more exception or this is another thing.

[01:59:12] And you guys live it and work it and all that sort of stuff, and I don't. So I guess I need it in such a way that would be helpful for me to be able to go, boom, add it up. Just like I do with the police statistics, when he presents those and he says this, this, and this, I can add up the number and I can go, that's how many.

[01:59:29] That's all along the way. That's all, all right? So please, don't think I'm mad or anything like that. Okay. Any other questions? Ms. Vasquez-Luna. Thank you, Madam Mayor. And, you know, I appreciate, you know, at the end, you know, many of these residents, individuals are better off because of the service that was provided.

[01:59:50] I do want to ask, since it's going to go to the budget amount to 2026, it's going up to $3,183,000. I wanted to ask, is that because of the bigger, I feel like a little bigger trend between 2024 and 2025?

[02:00:08] Or is that just regular expenses going up and, you know, just inflation and stuff? And I don't need a lot of details. I just want to make sure that I understand. Sure, and I think to a certain extent the county negotiates this with the city, and it's based on all of the services.

[02:00:24] So I think the increase to $3 million was commensurate with other joint use agreements that the county has with the cities. And so it's not something that community services necessarily talks about in terms of budget increases.

[02:00:41] It really does have to do with a general overall agreement that the county has with the city. Yes, thank you. And the last one, you know, I know that you talked about, you know, trends and trends and then this one is, you know, it could be, you know, something specific. Some numbers are big. Is there anything that you can, you know, talk about it that you might see in the future, you know, becoming an issue?

[02:01:07] I know a lot of different people are really worried about, you know, having training or having access to the medicine. But looking at this, I mean, we've been very proactive. But I'm just, if you can think of something that might become a trainer, maybe there's nothing, you know, in the future right now.

[02:01:29] I mean, I think the crisis receiving center will teach us a lot, right? So we will have the ability to treat folks that are in crisis immediately within that 10-minute time range that Georgia mentioned. So I think we're going to get a lot of data on that.

[02:01:46] But I really do think prevention is probably the key to this. And Heather Martinson, who has been mentioned, she comes out to numerous events. Frankly, all you really have to do is get in touch with her, and we can certainly get you that contact information. And one of the items that I recall is she comes out to sites such as construction companies, and she talks with construction workers.

[02:02:10] We also have bilingual staff that will also provide the same information in Spanish. Any other questions or comments? Ms. Ellis. So the people or patients that you are serving, are they residents of the city, or have the calls come through in the city?

[02:02:34] And we don't know if they live here or not. Is it by the map or where they live? By the map or where they live? It's where they live. Yes, yes. It's based on where they live. We can track that. Okay. I was just curious because I didn't see that anywhere.

[02:02:50] Thank you. Any other comments or questions? I think Mr. Smith wanted to make the motion. Madam Mayor, I move that we approve the resolution number R-2026. I'll renew the contract with the BDHS.

[02:03:11] Second. 26-65. Thank you. We have the motion by Councilman Smith, seconded by Councilman Vasquez Luna, approving resolution number R-2026-65. Any discussion? Hearing and seeing. If I might, I just want to commend you and anyone that works on these projects, but particularly with regard to the Crisis Receiving Center.

[02:03:37] It's been a long time coming. We've made a lot of progress, and it improves everybody's quality of life. So thank you for any efforts that you do with that. And I know our police department also. Thank you.

[02:03:52] We are very, very excited. And there's many other facilities throughout the state that refer to themselves as crisis receiving center, but this will truly be a state-of-the-art facility in the Commonwealth. So we are very excited. It's much more important that the people are receiving their services, but there are benefits from the city financially for this.

[02:04:13] Absolutely. So thank you. Thank you so much for your time tonight. Any other comments, discussion? Okay. Ms. Spring, please call the roll. Council Member Smith? Yes. I need service someone else.

[02:04:32] That's right. Someone needs to get in the classroom there. Council Member Baskins? Yes. Council Member Ellis? Yes. Council Member Osina? Yes. Vice Mayor Wolfe? Yes. Council Member Hudson?

[02:04:48] Yes. That motion carries. All right. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you both for being here tonight. Have a good night. The next item on the agenda is item 4.4, resolution number R-2026-005, amending the fiscal year 2026 budget by budgeting and appropriating $10,750,000 of school fund balance for the Monassas City Public Schools to purchase property located at 8700 Centerville Road.

[02:05:18] And I don't know if we have any questions. Taft is here. So if you have any questions for Taft and he's here to answer them, Mr. Wolfe. Sure. I'll take this. And I'm going to be the first to say, when this first came up, I was hardly opposed to it.

[02:05:35] And I and others have diligently worked at this. And if I think I said the last time, this is the least bad solution. It's not perfect by any stretch. But I do recognize the need of the schools to move forward with space for their administrative and student needs.

[02:05:55] And frankly, there is no other space in the city that's got 50,000 square feet. And again, I had very much hoped that we could do new construction. It's just the dollars don't work. New construction would be very significantly more expensive than this, even including any downrange rehabilitation refurbishment costs.

[02:06:18] So with that, I move adoption Resolution R-2026-005. Second. Fair the motion by Vice Mayor Wolfe, seconded by Councilwoman Vasquez-Luna to approve. Sorry, I lost my spot. Resolution R-2026-005.

[02:06:37] Any discussion? Ms. Ellis. Yeah, I have a lot of concerns with this. This money is coming from the school fund. We are voting to transfer it into the operating fund.

[02:06:53] We also have some other things on the agenda. What is the total amount that we have in the school fund right now? Can you tell us? So in the operating fund, about $24 million. You have $24 million. What's in the school fund that we're transferring this from?

[02:07:11] So it would be from the operating funds. It would be from that fund that I just spoke about. From the 22. Okay. You said $24 million? In total funds, it's around $24 million, I believe, somewhere around there. Yes, ma'am.

[02:07:27] Okay. And in looking at the assessment that was done in the building in 2021, I believe, some of the items that I think it totals like 4,022,231 of different types of things from HVAC to roof to fire suppression, it's a long, long list.

[02:07:56] The building, and this is all, it's spread out over a couple of years, but a lot of it is going to be soon, unless something's been done by the current owner, which I don't know if that's been done. So I have some concerns about, you know, for education, our kids need a lot, and this fund is going to be depleted by a lot in order to get this building.

[02:08:25] We already lease the one floor, right? We lease the fourth floor fully. We also have the portions of the second floor and a few units on the third floor as well. Okay, so like two floors if you combine them all together.

[02:08:41] That is correct. All the space, okay. And do we pay for any of the repairs now as we lease them, if there's something that goes wrong, or is that on the owner? That would be on the owner currently. Okay, and there's seven tenants still in this building?

[02:08:58] Let me double check that. That's what it was when they did the assessment. I have six residents right now. Six tenants, okay. Six tenants. Does that include the tower on the top? No, that is not including the tower. This is mostly people who are utilizing space within the unit, within the building.

[02:09:18] So as owners of the building, the school will be responsible for all repairs for the tenants. That's how that works. That is correct. And we will also lose the tax revenue that we do get for our real estate, our commercial, since it will be owned by the schools.

[02:09:36] I understand what Councilman Wolfe is saying. The cost to replace it is a lot more than this. But right now we're leasing it and we have the owner responsible to keep it up. I know that we have the alternative school coming up that we want to put in there, which is only a pilot program.

[02:10:00] I just, I find this going to be very difficult to be sustainable, to be a landlord. and the tax revenue that we lose at the city. So they're my main concerns. Thank you for answering the questions.

[02:10:19] Thank you. Ms. Vasquez. Thank you, Madam Mayor. One of the things I want to highlight is, you know, Mr. Kelly, I want to say, you know, before we used to have issues on how much it was there, and I appreciate it that you have it.

[02:10:35] I don't know. For me, the information is very important. I believe when I was elected back in 2022, We were already talking about this, and since then we have explored so many different options.

[02:10:51] And, you know, to me, I believe this vote will be another commitment to our younger residents and also to make our school system stronger and better. So I hope and I advocate which one of you here in the diocese to, you know, support this Because as I have two kids in the school system, I can tell you that, you know, kids are driving, things are getting better.

[02:11:19] But we need a home for our main office. We need more space. And I believe this is about vision and making it better. We did, we're looking at the old police building.

[02:11:34] We did look at, you know, other buildings in the area. And I'm saying about me as a council member trying to find options on top of all those people that do have the experience. They were looking at the same thing. So I just want to say this so the residents know that we have been working at it since 2022.

[02:11:56] And I, you know, command everybody that has worked to get us here. So thank you for the numbers, for the correct numbers, and for working with our city assistant manager for the financial side to make sure that we have everything in order.

[02:12:12] And with that, I continue to advocate for each one of you to support this. Thank you. Any other comments? Mr. Lucina. So, first of all, as Vice Mayor Wolfe mentioned here, this request to purchase 8700 Centerville Road is several years old.

[02:12:39] And I think both the school board and city council looked at several different possibilities. We looked at whether the old police station on Fairview would be suitable. And we found that it could not be and, in fact, needs to be basically torn down.

[02:13:02] The cost of renovating it would far exceed what we might be able to get in terms of life of that building there. We did look at whether getting space for the school administration to be in the annex that is under consideration next to City Hall and found that the space requirements that the school board was looking for would exceed what we could accommodate in that space.

[02:13:35] And do know that we looked at whether giving land over at the old DMV site to the school board to build a new building. And as Vice Mayor Wolfe mentioned, the cost of building something new is pretty high here.

[02:13:56] So with that in mind, I think there's several actually positive reasons why purchasing is better than leasing here. You know, we do tell that a lot of times that it's better to own than it is to lease.

[02:14:15] You know, by this purchase, I believe, to my fellow city councilors, we will eliminate ongoing lease costs. school board. That was brought up in last year's campaign by one of the folks that was running for council and pointed out that these, you know, by continuing to lease, school board has to continually put money out. I would hope that this would give some more certainty to the school

[02:14:48] budget along the way here as you plan. Now, yes, there are improvements, though I do have to question a little bit of what I saw in that report that was done in 2022 where there's a soap one the cost of replacing one soap container one soap dispenser in a bathroom was $345. My goodness I would gladly be able to I have quite a concession I could walk in and give you a little push pumps there for $3.45 for a long, long time at that rate.

[02:15:23] So, again, and, of course, those are quotes and prices, you know, dated back in the report was done in 22, so actually in 21, possibly going up here. But, you know, when you do these repairs, hopefully, in particular, the HVAC is the largest expense there.

[02:15:47] And so, you know, one of the things is, is that when a new system's put in, it's going to be more energy efficient, going to reduce utility costs, because that's what happens now with our equipment, our utilities, require less maintenance there.

[02:16:03] And actually, the life expectancy could be 20 to 30 years, depending on the unit there. Again, saving money in that regard. Having a $8,700 and owning that allows the school board to have a larger facility to consolidate your staff, your services under one roof.

[02:16:28] It'll allow you, if you have leases elsewhere, you can reduce staff travel, IT duplication, maintenance contracts, quite possibly there. Over time, the value of the property is likely to appreciate. And yes, it does go off the tax rolls. But, you know, if if that, you know, the city, the city owns a lot of property that's not on the tax rolls.

[02:16:54] And, you know, we have City Hall, for instance. We don't lease City Hall. We own it as a for instance there. We're talking about building an annex to bring more of our city services together. We're not talking about, you know, going somewhere to lease along the way here.

[02:17:12] And I think certainly the school board is entitled to have that consideration as well there in that regard. So over time, the value of the property is likely to appreciate. And if it's ever sold by the school board, it could recoup part of their investment there along the way here.

[02:17:31] And so for those reasons, I'm going to support this motion to do that. Recognizing that you do know, because you have nine other buildings that need repairs all the time, You don't have a staff that's aware of what's involved, and I'm counting on the school board to be judicious and going into this with their eyes wide open along the way.

[02:17:54] But to finally have a home to use and to expand and consolidate along the way and to be able to have ownership as opposed to having to continue to pay leasing costs, I think is a good move there.

[02:18:10] So that's how I will be voting. Thank you, Mayor. Any other comments? Mr. Smith. Thank you. I am in support of the resolution. In many matters, it boils down to it always being about the kids.

[02:18:30] I have observed the school board, talked to them about the ultimate initiative, not the, an ultimate initiative. And I know the thought processes they have, I've observed it.

[02:18:47] They do have full consideration of the needs of our student body. And my support for this initiative, this resolution, is so we can get to the resolution that's all about the kids.

[02:19:03] The school board plans to implement and pilot of alternative education. They have made a strong case for the need for an alternative education program. They've suffered through the pains that we've expressed up here.

[02:19:22] They've come up with ideas, strategies, and they always, always discuss the need to address for the students. So in the interest of time, I'm supporting both this resolution and the next one.

[02:19:43] Thank you. Any other comments I think I've heard from everybody except Ashley? Did you want me to share why I'm going to support it? Well, sure. I'll just share that. I'm also going to support this resolution. While I was not here for the earlier conversations about this building, the school board has certainly conveyed to me the need for this growth, the need for expanded programs to continue to, as Councilman Smith said, just support our kids.

[02:20:08] And I've also had it explained to me several times that onboarding new students is taking place in lobbies and shared classroom spaces and small offices. So, just as we saw an expansion for Pennington today for their need of, you know, additional programming or just space for those programs, you know, we have support staff that needs our support.

[02:20:33] So, I'm going to support the purchase of this building. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Thank you. Thank you. For me, I just had, I think, pretty much the comments that I had from talking with school board members. If you currently lease about 54% of it, and if you do the alt ed, that just increases leasing to have to get more space, which takes it to 65%, from what I understand.

[02:20:58] And owning it, you're going to be getting rent from tenants. What is that amount? I'd like to know how much. I do have a ballpark number without putting the owner's information out there, obviously. I would say around $340,000-ish, $150,000, give or take, is where I would anticipate the revenue to be.

[02:21:18] In rental income. In rental income, not including any of the office space that we currently are using, obviously. Okay, and then speaking about the repairs, and tell me if I'm wrong, when I looked at the report, over a 10-year period, or is it sooner?

[02:21:36] Because I think Ms. Ellis had said something about coming sooner, but maybe I misunderstood, or I don't know. She said something about it being sooner than 10 years, but the report says 10. Yes, ma'am. It was a 10-year CIP schedule that was created by the individual who did the assessment for us.

[02:21:52] I believe what Ms. Coates-Ellis is referring to is in the first five years of that 10-year CIP schedule was the bulk of those expenses. So I would imagine that's what is being referred to here. Okay. I think that's pretty much it from that report, which was done by Downey and Scott.

[02:22:08] So it's people that we use and we know, and that was their recommendation. So, okay, Ms. Ellis, go ahead. So, you know, I just feel like the amount of money that's being spent and the operation costs, our students, our teachers, they need so much right now.

[02:22:28] I mean, we want our schools to be performing better. They are, you know, there's a lot of potential. We've been working as a council to make sure the funding is there to try to get to where we need to be. I would rather see this money going towards directly to the classroom.

[02:22:46] I know we have admin. I understand that they already are in the facility and it's being leased. So I don't see how buying this building will impact that performance for our admin. And as for the alternative school, that's a pilot program.

[02:23:02] We don't even know if that's going to go on past one year. So we're looking to buy a building for a program that we aren't even sure we're going to have. I would rather see it go right to the classroom, help our kids and our teachers. I support education.

[02:23:18] I just don't support the amount of money that's going towards something that's not directly impacting the performance of our students. So, thank you. - Thank you, Ms. Ellis. - Ms. Vasquezella. - Just one quick question, thank you.

[02:23:33] How much was the last, if I recall it was a couple, it was expensive, how much was the last contract for the rental of the 50 plus percent? You might don't have it, but I know it was. say in the budget we have about seven hundred twenty five thousand dollars seven hundred fifty thousand dollars that we plan to spend on on leasing costs for the for our portion of the building okay thank you everybody good do we have the motion in the second we do okay miss bring you ready to go thank you please call the roll vice mayor yes council member vasquez luna yes council

[02:24:11] member ellis no council member osina yes council member smith yes council member hudson yes motion carries okay thank you that moves forward to moves us forward to item 4.5 resolution number r 2026-006 amending the fiscal year 2026 budget by budgeting and appropriating two million dollars of school fund balance for the monasca city public schools to implement pilot alternate alternative education program and mr kelly is here to answer questions if you all have any

[02:24:46] talk about there miss vasquez luna i'll be quick uh just a comment you know i i believe the uh residents whether you have kids in school or no they have been asking for an improvement and i believe these uh you know all of us can help to make a change you know and and to provide a positive change for the schools but i believe this is going to give a new step in a new direction And I believe on making sure that we meet, whether it's the residents or the students where they are at and help them, accommodate them as needed.

[02:25:26] And, you know, I believe this is very important. And I hope that when we get the results, it's something that we can continue to do. But I'll be supporting it. Vice Mayor. Sure. I'll just throw out, number one, this was a unanimous bipartisan request of the school board, as was the bill.

[02:25:47] And in conversations with school board members, they have continued, continually described this as the single most impactful thing we can do to benefit our students and improve performance levels within our schools.

[02:26:03] When you come to me and tell me that, I can't say no. That simple. Therefore, I would make the motion. Is that good? Ms. Ellis has a discussion. Okay. This pilot program was killed in Richmond.

[02:26:20] The generals only killed it. So it ended up trickling to the locality. The General Assembly is, I don't know why they killed it. No one seems to really know. But if they are not willing to fund it, why are we willing to fund it?

[02:26:38] That's what I question. This is a million dollars to get the facility ready to serve 50 kids. And then it's a million dollars in operating annually. And this is a pilot program.

[02:26:57] Not real clear on what the actual performance benchmarks are for the students. They are being served, from what I can tell, from the Prince William County facility right now. I think it's called Independence.

[02:27:15] And so this is like moving them into a different type of facility where they're more local. So I'm just kind of curious, how are we going to determine after a pilot program if it's successful? You know, it's up to the education system to evaluate that, not council.

[02:27:35] But it will be brought back to us to continue to fund it. And it's for 50 students, and from what I'm hearing, there's a lot more than 50 students that need help. But they are getting help with the county, from what I hear. So we are basically taking on the cost that the General Assembly decided not to fund.

[02:27:57] Vice Mayor, and then Ms. Justice. Sure. I think I can answer some of that in the conversations that we've had with school board members. Let me talk about the General Assembly first. The General Assembly is obviously dealing with the entire state budget, and I believe this was lost in committee.

[02:28:14] Delegate Rome championed it. She believes in it totally, but could not persuade all of her colleagues or enough colleagues to support this at this time. Hopefully, it's something that will be supported later. And frankly, it's something that should be an embedded part of the state funding of local schools.

[02:28:34] The reality of the discussion is that, yes, we do have some kids at a program with Prince William County. There are not enough slots, that's program. We have students who are going either without services, that need services, or are receiving services through the Internet, remote access, and I think the consensus of the group is, and Lisa's nodding her head yes, is that that is probably ineffective at best because you've got the students who need the most attention

[02:29:12] who are now home on the Internet with no supervision. We all know that doesn't work. That gets back to Parenting 101. This is a pilot. There is not a guarantee that it is going to work, And one of the things that the mayor and I have made very clear on two conversations with our friends at the school board is we do need to have metrics and understand this going forward.

[02:29:39] And the schools have committed to provide that to us. They have identified mirror-type programs through the nation. But this is going to be something we're going to create on our own. Again, this is a pilot. But we have a need that is not being met and is, frankly, growing.

[02:29:59] And if we don't do this, if we aren't willing to do something different, we're going to get what we've always got. And I think all of us would agree that is not acceptable. So, again, when the school board sits there unanimously across the political spectrum and tells me this is the single most impactful thing we can do, I've got to do it.

[02:30:23] It's an article of faith to some degree. Okay. Is there a motion? I think we're ready. Ms. Ellis. One more comment. I understand how important it is. I would like to see the state agree to fund it. I would, too. Well, but we're going into a pilot program where we're funding it.

[02:30:39] So when it comes back, why are they going to say, oh, now we're going to fund it? I don't see the harm in just waiting until the next session when we can get them to fund it and commit to fund it. If I may, at least in my understanding, this was one of the top.

[02:30:58] It was really close to getting funded, even though it didn't get funded. I believe we get a lot of unfunded mandates. And I also believe that our budget looks the way our priorities look. and I believe this is within the means.

[02:31:15] There's money that we're not going out to put more money for them. There's just money that they already have that we're just allocating. So when the 50, I mean, the 50 students, I wish it was more, but I do believe that it's a big improvement.

[02:31:31] Last year, residents talked about making a difference and making it better, and I believe this is a way to show all the residents we are working on it. We are allocating this money, and the elected body in the school board, they were elected by the residents, and I'm sure they will do a great job on making the priorities of who should be there, who will be the 50, and even if it was less.

[02:32:01] I think every kid needs an opportunity, so I want to say I hope we continue as a body to advocate and to try to get it. I am thankful for our delegate and our senator, especially the senator for championing this.

[02:32:18] But I hope that we don't have a price tag on our kids, on how much is too much to make a difference in the life. It's not just a student, but also a family, because it does affect the family.

[02:32:35] It does affect the people around them. To me, it's concerning if we think about this program when it can give us so much. We don't know how it's going to be, but I'm sure that everything is going to be positive because it will be a better life for them. Thank you.

[02:32:52] Mr. Osina. Thank you, Mayor. You know, so first of all, well, yes, it wasn't funded by the General Assembly. The governor could have funded it, made a budget amendment and put this in. The governor didn't do it here. You know, if we're going to wait all the time and say it's up to the state, we're not going to do anything unless the state gives us money, then there are going to be a lot of things that don't get done.

[02:33:20] We have to, you know, number one, we have to, these are our kids, first of all, and it's great, you know, to get state money along the way to do those kinds of things. So let me ask you this here. It's my understanding that we only get up to 20 spots at Independent Hill. Is that correct?

[02:33:41] That is correct. Not 50. Is that correct? 50, correct. 20? 20. All right. So there's already a deficit there along the way. All right. Well, you know what? I'm going to call this a school of excellence. What this is all about is a school of excellence. This is what we're about. Our kids who really, really, really need it.

[02:34:00] And let me show you why. Truancy to graduation to accreditation. Our residents want our schools to perform. They talk about truancy. Well, if there's not a place for the kids who are not thriving in a traditional classroom, who need additional help along the way, they're not going to graduate.

[02:34:26] And if they're not going to graduate, the rates, then accreditation scores go down for our schools along the way here. So let's change the formula here. As I said, this is a school of excellence we're talking about here. when we can handle and when we can help those that don't fit or don't do well in a traditional classroom, and we can give them and get them engaged and enrolled along the way here.

[02:34:54] We can improve their behavior. We can improve their learning because it's going to be more one-on-one along the way here. We can build pathways to workforce and life success along the way. We can actually, you know, actually bring them possibly back into the classroom along the way, depending.

[02:35:14] And it helps the teachers system-wide. Because if the teachers aren't dealing with these students in their own classrooms, but there's a place where they can go. And ultimately, we're helping our parents. For whatever reason, these kids are not doing well in a traditional classroom here.

[02:35:37] And so the truancy can be addressed, at least with those students. We can improve graduation rates from middle school, from high school, from elementary school. And those all lead to what? Accreditation.

[02:35:55] And we hear that's the big bugaboo, and this is why this needs to be funded. And if it's a trial, I truly believe we won't be going into uncharted territories, or excuse me, the school board is not.

[02:36:11] Because this is being done all across our Commonwealth and lots of other schools along the way here. And I feel confident they have visited other successful programs, have decided what might be appropriate for our students and our situation, and are choosing actually not having to be the first ones to do it, but actually taking some proven methods along the way to make sure there's success here.

[02:36:39] So yes, it's a trial. We're going to start. They're going to spend, out of their capital fund, you know, $2 million. And we'll see what happens there. I bet there will have to be tweaks, just like a lot of things that we do. We've done a variety of different programs for the fire, the police, you know, different departments along the way.

[02:37:00] And we have to make adjustments along the way. That's part of how these things work. This is how business works, too. It doesn't just go and say, I'm plunking this money down and I'm never going to change course or I'm not going to make modifications or changes along the way. And that's what we have to be doing here, and that's what I expect the school board to be doing in that regard.

[02:37:21] And, yes, money is always a concern because we don't live in a city of unlimited resources here, but we do need to know where we spend the money. And we're not going to spend it on our kids, and we're not going to spend it on the kids who really could, who need extra help along the way here.

[02:37:42] Because there's really no place else to go. there's no more spaces in Independent Hill, then this School of Excellence is what we should be doing. And so I applaud the school board for stepping forth. I also am counting on our representatives to carry this forth in the next session.

[02:38:03] And I would love to have our governor right now come and just out of the budget that he controls, allocate $2 million to help us out. That would be great. It really would. And I'm sure the school board would think it'd be great, too, on that.

[02:38:19] So, Mayor, thank you for the time. The all-ed program service is what grades? Do we know? 5 to 12? Something like that? I believe 5 to 12, if I'm not mistaken. But the programmatic piece, I'm a bean counter here, so keep in mind. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's okay. And echoing and piggybacking off of Vice Mayor Wolfe, the data is going to tell us everything we need to know.

[02:38:41] So we will be looking at that closely just to see, you know, numbers and how things improve and with dropout rates and expulsions and suspensions and we know it's going to have an effect so I'm very very interested in getting you know being kept up to speed on that and I know with our meetings and everything that we've been having I count on that and I know that we'll get that um from from doing this so with that are we ready to move forward with a motion one more thing yes good argument councilman I've seen that I'm just going

[02:39:20] to piggyback on some things it's a pilot program we didn't get it funded in General Assembly that's disappointing and we have to fight for this if this is truly what we need in our school system to help these the children that are falling through the cracks I think we have to you know write some letters and really get on you know people in Richmond and say we need help I will support this pilot program I am happy that we had this discussion and we just have to make sure that we have some help because if we truly have kids that need

[02:39:58] the help it's going to keep going up and up so we need to have some help with that thank you I moved. Oh, you did. I moved and signed a second.

[02:40:13] Okay. So, Ms. Bray, please call the roll. I'm lost. It was a long one. Vice Mayor Walsh. Yes. Council Member Vasquez-Luna. Yes. Council Member Ellis. Yes. Council Member Osina. Yes. Council Member Smith. Here's to increase success and well-being.

[02:40:31] Yes. Council Member Hudson. Yes. Motion carries. All right. Thank you very much. Thank you for being here. Yeah, it was a long time ago. All right. So, next on the agenda, item 4.6.

[02:40:47] 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. Yes, ma'am.

[02:41:03] Mr. Burke. There's been some question in the community about the price of the property. The property is 9317 Portner Avenue that the EDA is looking to purchase. The agreed purchase price is $675,000. They have requested an additional $50,000 in funding from the city for closing and inspection fees, a survey, an environmental assessment, and then working towards demolition.

[02:41:35] So, again, the closing cost is only $675,000 on the property. And I'm ready for any questions that you all might have. Any questions? Okay. Is there a motion? Madam Mayor, I move approval of resolution R-2026-008.

[02:41:56] I hear the motion by Councilman Smith, seconded by Councilwoman Vasquez-Luna, approving resolution number R-2026-008. Any discussion? Hearing Encina, Ms. Spring, please call the roll. Councilmember Smith? Yes.

[02:42:12] Councilmember Vasquez-Luna? Yes. Councilmember Ellis? No. Councilmember Ocina? Yes. Vice Mayor Wolfe? Yes. Councilmember Hudson? Yes. That motion carries. All right.

[02:42:28] Thank you so much for that. Moving forward to item 4.7, resolution number R-2026-062, amending the FY26 budget by budgeting and appropriating $985,456 of airport fund balance for air traffic control tower design.

[02:42:46] Mr. Rivera is here to help us with that. Good evening, Madam Mayor, members of council, Mr. Burke. Last but not least, the airport. I figured I would put a couple slides together for your benefit and the benefit of the public to kind of show you where we're at with this project.

[02:43:03] But as the mayor indicated, this resolution would budget and appropriate airport funds to complete the design of the new tower. That is a conceptual architectural drawing of the new tower.

[02:43:20] We have made it through the 45% design stage, so the next step would be to take it to 100%, and then included in this is also the bid and award phase. The cost to date, $622,930. That represents 45%.

[02:43:39] The total design cost will be $1.8 million. That'll get us at 100% in the bid and award. That below drawing there is actually the layout of the parking lot. with the tower and the base building attached.

[02:43:56] So you'll come in one direction and go out the other one. The 100% design should be completed in March of '26. Bid the project in April '26, apply for BIL funding in June of '26, and hopefully construction in September of '26.

[02:44:19] So tonight we're asking that you budget appropriate additional funding. The amount as indicated by the mayor, $985,456 that will be coming out of the airport. fund that's the layout of the base building which will include a air traffic control tower simulator for the air traffic controllers a step up from what we have now so uh we're asking tonight that you approve resolution r02026-026 and i stand ready for any questions you may have thank you Thank you, Mr. Rivera.

[02:44:57] Any questions? Ms. Ellis has a comment. So, the airport fund is from revenue generated by airport operations and leasing of the facilities, correct? Yes, ma'am. Okay.

[02:45:13] That's it. Thank you. Any other comments or questions? Ms. Vasquez-Luna. Thank you, Madam Mayor. A quick comment. I think out of everything that is happening at the airport, this is one of the most important items that we need to take care of even though it's you know the airport gives money to our general revenue every year and they are you know doing this design and in order to attract our words or funding for this you know this is one of the steps that we need to get closer so

[02:45:47] i hope everybody supports this any other comments or questions is there a motion second we have a the motion by Councilwoman Ellis, seconded by Councilwoman Vasquez-Luna, approving resolution number R-2026-062. Any discussion? Hearing and seeing none, Ms. Spring, please call the roll.

[02:46:12] Councilmember Ellis? Yes. Councilmember Vasquez-Luna? Yes. Vice Mayor Wolfe? Yes. Councilmember Osina? Yes. Councilmember Smith? Yes. Councilmember Hudson? Yes. That motion carries. Thank you so much. Thank you, Mr. Vera. Moves us forward to public comment time.

[02:46:34] I don't have anyone signed up, but if anyone is present who wishes to address council at this time, you may come forward. You have three minutes to speak on any item of concern that you wish to bring before council. If there's anyone present who wishes to address council.

[02:46:52] Hello, Mayor and Council, Lynn Fort Calgary, Manassas City resident. I'm here to talk about a couple of items. One being some of your comments earlier this evening regarding Hastings and the speed, the traffic on there.

[02:47:12] When I was on council, one of my biggest regrets was making the motion to change the speed limit on the entire road of Hastings and making it uniform to 25 miles an hour. It makes zero sense to have it that way, and there is not one residential house that has a driveway that comes out on that road, and part of the speeding that happens is because of that.

[02:47:38] We had speeding before. We had people who were writing the stop signs there before. All of that is true. Chief King can give you all the history. But reducing the speed to 25 has not helped. It's actually made it worse. I think it needs to be reviewed. Wellington is 35 miles an hour.

[02:47:53] I do think that they actually have houses with driveways that feed into that road across from Metz. And if you take a good look at that, that road should be 25 all the time in that section. But because it's earmarked between industrial, it seems to stay at 35 outside of school hours.

[02:48:12] So that's something you should really look at, and if I could go back and change that, I would. So I hope you'll be able to take a good look at that. I would also like to say, with all the construction behind my home on Godwin Drive, the speeding on Clover Hill has gotten worse, if you can even imagine that, and I know some of you live in that area.

[02:48:32] I am asking, which is just insane, I am asking for you to do some kind of evaluation at clover hill in hastings because with the um onboarding of a commercial airport you are probably going to have more traffic coming that way and you may need an actual traffic light there which is insane but i watch the traffic every day i live over there when i tell you that you can be driving and just watch people run the stop sign it's a four-way stop at clover hill and hastings in a four-way stop right down the street at shannon lane and hastings those those intersections are

[02:49:08] often a problem with the running of the stop signs. So you probably should just start looking at it now. Secondly, I'd like to say that it was my understanding from your conversation earlier about your raises that you were going to go into a work session on September 8th. But when I look at your calendar, it says you have a council meeting on September 8th. So I would like that to be clarified for the record, whether you're at a council meeting having this vote or whether you're going into a work session. I'm not sure if you have a work session scheduled for that day that just hasn't been made public yet, but I believe I heard work session and not council meeting.

[02:49:44] No, it was put on for council meeting on the 8th, 4 April. Thank you very much. And then finally, I would just like to mention our quality of life in Manassas City is really declining. I hear from a lot of people, and I know you're doing your level best for your own opinions of what Manassas, I'll wrap it up, what your own opinions are, but when you consider some of the folks who have been here a long time or even a short time, We are, it takes us a long, long amount of time to get across town.

[02:50:12] The traffic lights are still not aligned. So if you could please work on that continuously, I would appreciate it. Thank you. Anyone else who wishes to speak at this time or public comment time? Good evening.

[02:50:37] Alan Muchnick, City of Manassas on Park Street. I'm just going to react to the comments made by Ms. Forkel Green. I think as far as Hastings and Clover Hill, and I know that the city's working on a mobility plan, that intersection probably should have a traffic circle.

[02:50:57] It probably should replace a lot of these four-way stop signs or stop signs with traffic circles. But certainly Hastings should be traffic calm. And I think there's certainly excess capacity on Hastings, way excess. You only need one lane per direction. There's maybe 5,000 vehicles a day pretty much on Hastings that only warrants one.

[02:51:16] It's like half of what's on Grand Avenue or a third of what's on Grand Avenue, for instance, that was traffic calm. So I think long term we should be looking at, and I think we will with the new mobility plan, to look at more traffic calming throughout the city. Because if you design the road for people to drive slower, people will drive slower.

[02:51:35] And if there's only one way to travel, traffic only goes as fast as the slowest driver. So that's a natural traffic calming measure, just to have a single lane of traffic in each direction. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Anyone else who wishes to judge, ask the council. I'm Helen Sarita, longtime resident of Manassas.

[02:52:00] I want to rephrase something from our previous comments. I'm not saying that none of you don't care about the food pantry and the food insecurity going on right now, but today is not the day or the year for any kind of raises.

[02:52:15] There are people in this city right now that are losing their job dailies. There are people that the companies are hiring freeze. I can tell you I haven't received a raise in the last year, and I'm working around the clock to feed those people that need food.

[02:52:33] Going forward, I want to ask Mr. Burke. A couple of weeks ago or a month ago, I pulled two FOIA requests, and I've spoke to you a little bit about them in the past. Please do your due diligence on your staff in the city.

[02:52:50] There's a lot going on under the cover that you do not see, that I am well aware of. And I'm going to ask you to please speak to each one of your employees and tell them that they took an oath to work in this city, that they should not be taking bribes, they should not be working under the scenes to make deals happen in this city.

[02:53:13] I know a lot more than what I can speak about today, as I'm still going through these FOIA requests. But I will say this to each one of the council people. You have taken an oath to work on behalf of these citizens in the city.

[02:53:30] You have represented yourself as though, and that's why you're sitting in this seat. Some of you have done just that. Others, questionable. Don't buddy-buddy up with each other. Take your own votes. Work on what's in front of you.

[02:53:48] Look at it. Do your homework. And vote what you want to vote for, not for what your peers want. Because I think that when you vote together, one of you or two of you have not done your homework on that vote.

[02:54:04] Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else wish to come forward? Okay, if not, we'll move forward. Next four items. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Ms. Plovniak. I did not see you get up. Good evening. My name is Janet Plovniak, and I live at 8605 Williams Road.

[02:54:23] Wow, we spent a lot of money tonight. I wish I could spend money like that, but I can't. I'm going to once again call on our Heavenly Father because it's needed more now than ever. Jesus was here as a servant.

[02:54:41] He came to serve the people, and that's what people in leadership should do, is you should serve the community. The community is hurting. I saw three people that normally are on your side have comments tonight that they don't feel like they're being served either.

[02:55:01] So I would just like to ask Father to give you all empathy, humility, look at the people that are out here in the community, and touch your hearts and try to make you see what needs to be done.

[02:55:18] Our school system used to have an alternative ed program. That got done away with years ago. Our school system used to be a good school system. My kids graduated from here. I would be embarrassed to say they graduated from here now. The school system is not being run for the best interests of the kids.

[02:55:39] We now have, we could take all the kids that need help and leave them in the high school and take the kids that are serious and put them over in the 50-kids spot. That's about how many we probably have. Helping 50 kids, that's going to be 50 lucky kids, how are you going to decide who they are?

[02:55:56] The problem is way bigger, and all we do here is spend money, spend money, spend money. We're going to buy a house on Portner and tear it down. How long is it going to sit torn down? It brings in $7,100 a year in taxes.

[02:56:12] Won't be getting those taxes anymore. I don't know where you all went to school for math and doing your checkbook. It's just common math. You can't keep spending money without having money made back in. So I just ask that you please look inside, look in your hearts.

[02:56:31] We are setting up a future for our young people who are not going to be able to afford to buy a house here. I'd like to say that Manassas is a nice, safe city, but when you talk about the traffic, that makes it unsafe. That is crime. So the crime numbers get miscued, too.

[02:56:49] A poor woman lost her life the other day in the city of Manassas because a truck went flying through the red light at 60 or 70 miles an hour. She's now dead, and that happened in the city of Manassas.

[02:57:06] We need to really take a good look at what we are doing with the city and look at the people and affect the lives of the people that are here. I'm not leaving because I'm going to be here to watch this all change. And I pray my prayers through the name of Jesus Christ.

[02:57:25] Amen. Thank you. Anyone else come forward? Okay. If not, we'll move forward to item six to authorize our closed meeting. Resolution number R-2026-59. Mr. Brown will help us with that. Madam Mayor, members of council, the next item on your agenda is a discussion of the qualification of applicants for city boards and commissions under state law.

[02:57:50] those discussions may take place in a closed meeting of council to convene a closed session i would recommend council's adoption of resolution number r-2026-59 resolution authorizing a closed meeting of city council madam mayor i move resolution r-2026-59 second we have the motion by councilman osina and was that seconded by miss hudson i'm sorry um to approve resolution r 2026-59 authorizing a closed meeting any discussion hearing seeing none miss spring

[02:58:28] please call the roll yes council member hudson yes vice mayor wolf yes council member ellis council member smith yes council member vasquez luna yes that motion carries all right thank you We'll proceed in a closed meeting.

[02:58:47] Mr. Brown. Madam Mayor, members of the council, immediately following a closed session, state law requires you to certify that the only matters discussed are considered in the closed session were those identified in the motion convening the closed session and those that are exempt from the open meeting requirements of state law.

[02:59:17] That certification is included in Resolution No. R-2026-60, Resolution Certifying a Closed Meeting of City Council, which I recommend for Council's adoption. Madam Mayor, I so move.

[02:59:33] Second. We have the motion by Councilman Ocina, seconded by Councilman Smith, approving Resolution No. R-2026-60, Certifying a Closed Meeting. Any discussion? Hearing and seeing them, Ms. Spring, please call the roll. Council Member Ocina?

[02:59:49] Yes. Councilmember Smith? Yes. Vice Mayor Wolfe? Yes. Councilmember Ellis? Yes. Councilmember Hudson? Yes. That motion carries. Thank you very much. Next, we will have Resolution R-2026-1, making appointments to Boards, Committees, Commissioners, Mr. Ocina.

[03:00:08] Yes, thank you, Mayor. We are recommending the following appointments to City Council, to our Boards, Committees, and Commissions. Appoint Paul Flood to the Economic Development Authority as a regular member for a full term beginning July 1, 2025, and ending June 30, 2029.

[03:00:29] Appoint Ed Small to the Local Board of Building Code Appeals as a regular member for a full term beginning July 1, 2025, and ending June 30, 2029. Appoint Charles Sweet to the Planning Commission as a regular member for a full term beginning July 1, 2025 and ending June 30, 2029. Reappoint Robert Carter to the cemeteries committee as a regular member for a full term beginning July 1, 2025 and ending June 30, 2029. Reappoint Mark Olson to the solid waste committee as a regular member for a full term beginning July 1, 2025

[03:01:08] and ending June 30, 2029. Reappoint Chris Harover to the historic resources board as a regular member for a full term beginning July 1, 2025, and term ending June 30, 2029, and nominating Jeremy Rood to the Board of Equalization as a regular member for a partial term beginning July 28, 2025, and ending June 30, 2026.

[03:01:33] We have a motion by Councilman Ossina, seconded by Councilwoman Ellis, approving resolution over R-2026-1. Any discussion? Hearing and seeing none, Ms. Spring, please call the roll. Member Ossina? Yes. Councilmember Ellis?

[03:01:50] Yes. Vice Mayor Wolfe? Yes. Councilmember Smith? Yes. Councilmember Hudson? Yes. That motion carries. All right, thank you. Anything else to come before the council for the good of the community? If not, we are adjourned. Thank you.

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