Coraggio Consulting
Prince William Board of County Supervisors Meeting — Work Session, Tuesday, February 13, 2024

Date: Tuesday, February 13, 2024
Place: Prince William County Board of County Supervisors, Virginia
Length: 5h 19m (video)
Official meeting video (Prince William County, Granicus): https://pwcgov.granicus.com/player/clip/3433
Official Board of County Supervisors page (Prince William County): https://www.pwcva.gov/department/board-county-supervisors

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 2026-11-02. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:07:53] All right. Good afternoon. It is 2 o'clock on Tuesday, February 13th, 2024.

[00:31:17] Please join me for a moment of silence.

[00:31:32] Thank you. All rise if you are able to stand for the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance.

[00:31:46] Thank you, everyone. Now we are going to move on to public comment time.

[00:32:04] Andrea, do you? Okay. We have two remote. All right. So just to give everyone a primer right now, we don't have anyone for our public comment in-person comment time.

[00:32:26] I believe we have two people from remote public comments. So, one person? Okay. So, just so everyone's aware, each speaker will have three minutes to share their views and opinions regarding matters before the board. All speakers must state their name in magisterial district or generally where they reside at the beginning of their comments.

[00:32:45] We will close the in-person sign-up list after the first 15 minutes of in-person public comments, which we have no one. So, we are going to move into remote public comment time, I believe, right now. we have um one person signed up to speak today for remote public comment time i will now turn it over to vice chair um voting thank you madam chair miss van shall we begin with the single

[00:33:09] speaker we have this afternoon yes your first and only speaker is mike catch merrick my comments today will focus on electrical power requirements for data centers something the previous board totally ignored. I hope the new board will take this issue seriously before the county is criss crossed by high voltage power line. This is from the Washington Post article of December 14th

[00:33:46] concerning the testimony that was given before the approval. Compass has said its portion of the project will require as much as 1.7 gigawatts of electrical capacity when completed, enough to power 1.3 million ohm. QTS said it would need about 60 percent of that capacity. Dominion energy officials have said that demand will probably require adding more electrical infrastructure to the area. By my calculation, that's 2 million ohms. I know some have used the 500,000 figure.

[00:34:25] I'm asking you to ask Dominion for the real calculation that they use. I know there is a difference between a home that is all electric and one that has gas heat. What value do they use for electrical use per square foot for homes?

[00:34:43] And what do they use for data centers? It is likely that data centers are 250 to 1,000 times more energy intensive than what is used for a home. You need this information if you want to make informed decisions. You should ask Dominion since they will have to deliver power equal to 2 million ohms. So, should they not consider a natural gas power plant on Pagelin? Since it is okay to consume 2 million ohms worth

[00:35:21] of electric power in this area, it should be fine to produce that much power so they can reduce the need for long-distance high-voltage transmission lines. At least, Dominion should be willing to allow a massive increase in solar power. I have a roof I can rent them for a solar array. Please get more information to make the best decisions. You need this information, please. They're not responding to me, but they will respond to you. Thank you very much.

[00:36:00] Thank you, Mr. Kashmiric. Thank you, Ms. Vann. Back to you, Madam Chair. All right. Thank you, Vice Chair Bodie and Ms. Vann. We are now moving on to the county executive.

[00:36:18] Mr. Shorter, the floor is yours. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I appreciate, as always, having Colonel Brooks here with us. And I believe we have the slide deck ready. Colonel Brooks, welcome. Last year we were able to spend some time with you to receive an update, and thankful this year that we're able to receive another in this form.

[00:36:44] So, Colonel Brooks, the floor is yours. Okay. Thank you. Well, good afternoon, Madam Chair, Supervisors, ladies and gentlemen.

[00:37:03] Thank you so much for your time this afternoon, and, you know, thank you so much for welcoming me back here to be amongst you. I won't take up too much of your time. I will try to get through these slides as quickly as possible. But I just wanted to kind of spend a couple of moments just to kind of brag and boast on the relationship that we have, Marine Corps Base Quantico, have with Prince William County.

[00:37:25] It is truly a supporting, supporting relationship. And since my arrival in 2021, I've just been amazed, humbled, and honored to be a part of what we have going on together. So, Marine Corps Base Quantico, we have 28 tenant commands on the installation.

[00:37:46] Our job at the base is to have command and control over those organizations that will provide services and facilities to those 28 tenant commands in order for them to be ready and to help facilitate mission accomplishments.

[00:38:03] 28 commands, 28 different missions aboard the base, and we'll talk about that in a little bit. So there it is. It's 59,000 square acres. 54,000 of those acres are devoted solely for training. Solely for training. We train Marine Corps officers on Marine Corps Base Quantico.

[00:38:22] It is my job to make sure that we're able to continue that training of Marine Corps officers the way that we need to train them within our operational environment, which is Marine Corps Base Quantico. We're not going to grow. We're surrounded by three counties.

[00:38:38] We're also split down the middle by Interstate 95 and Route 1. We have a major train track that goes through the base, VRE and CSX. We have a town on our base. We are the only DOD installation that has a town on it.

[00:38:58] And we'll talk a little bit more about Quantico Town in just a few seconds. We have 10,500 civilians, 4,500 contractors. We have 6,800 military, actually, military members and their families, as well as 5,500 students, military students, that also incorporate our allies and partners across the world.

[00:39:24] We have 1,137 homes. We're only able to accommodate 20% of our military families on base. Other 80% is spread all the way from Fairfax County all the way down to Spotsylvania, with a large majority of our military families living here in Prince William County.

[00:39:43] And just for a fun fact, we have 228 miles of paved roads on the base. We have four endangered species that are located on the base. I won't attempt to say their names, but we are tracking them. So like I said, it says 27 tenant commands, but we actually have 28.

[00:40:05] 59,000 acres across the installation with 184 square miles of special use airspace. Mostly that because we are also the home of HMX, the president's very own helicopter squadron. We not only service military Marines, but we also service our sister services as well, as well as federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies come down and take advantage of the training opportunities that we offer on Quantico.

[00:40:37] just 38 miles from our nation's capital, and we are one of the few bases, very few bases on the East Coast that will allow aircraft to drop munitions within the border, within our ranges. One other additional thing, when it comes to, we have water, we have one water plant, two sewage plants. We make over a million gallons of water a day. We also supply Quantico Town with water, and we take care of their sewage as well.

[00:41:09] And I know that we're working hand-in-hand with them to assist them to get off of our water supply. As I mentioned, we also are home to the FBI Academy and DEA Academy, very good partners with them.

[00:41:29] Again, taking advantage of a lot of training opportunities that help them train their forces. We are one of the few commands in the Marine Corps, well, we are the only command in the Marine Corps, where we reach out and touch just every facet of what we're doing as a Marine Corps.

[00:41:49] The recruiting commercials that you see are generated from Quantico. Those action-packed videos of Marines out around the world doing great things are facilitated and planned at Quantico. We are also the home of our Marine Security Guard School, where they further send them out around the world to protect our embassies.

[00:42:09] They are educated and trained right here on Marine Corps Base Quantico. Officers often find themselves returning to Quantico throughout their career for advanced school and education. Again, crossroads of the Marine Corps.

[00:42:27] If I'm hitting this too fast, please ask questions as I get to these slides. Just wanted to briefly mention the total economic impact that Marine Corps Base Quantico brings to this area. That's Prince William County, Fauquier, and Stafford. a total of 5.88 billion dollars where you can see prince william county specifically down below with a 4.76 billion dollars and um something that i also like to brag about either direct indirect

[00:42:55] jobs 47 over 47 000 jobs that we offer on on the base we have a whole list of projects that are currently ongoing on the base but i definitely wanted to send this one to or show this one to you this is our visitor control center right now we're working our visitor control center out of a small trailer and the work that the amount of visitors that we have coming in and out of the base is incredible. We actually outpace Camp Lejeune, North Carolina and Camp Pendleton, California as far as how many visitors are coming

[00:43:32] day-to-day through our gates. This new project here will facilitate us having longer hours and what's the real benefit to that? Well that benefits the residents of Quantico Town. When I first got here I had a town meeting with the residents of Quantico Town, and I was kind of shocked a little bit because I just wasn't aware of some of their challenges that they have, you know, being located aboard a gated community.

[00:44:02] But, you know, if their sink or toilet breaks, you know, they just cannot call a plumber to come fix it. That plumber would have to go to the gate, get a background check, or if it's during working hours, which they never break during working hours, you know, they have to go to the visitor Control Center stand in line for a bit. Having this Visitor Control Center opening up longer will facilitate smoother operations or access to the base. Not complete access, but it will facilitate a smoother process as we go forward. And because I'm on that, and I mentioned plumbers,

[00:44:40] I would also say that any business is welcome on Quantico. They just have to go through the process go through the visitor control center they conduct a brief background check and they can get a debits card for up to a year and they can come and go whether it's taxi cabs lyft uber food service deliveries they're all welcome here on quantico all we have to do is just go to our website and we'll give specific instructions on how to gain access there now some

[00:45:18] of our partnerships. As many of you know that we have a very productive intergovernmental service agreement with Prince William County. And I tell you, when I say supporting, supporting relationships, that's exactly what this symbolizes. This allows us from the base perspective to get services done cheaper and faster on the base than our regular process. For you all, 10 percent. Thank you, Chris. You get 10 percent back from the overall cost, which goes back into

[00:45:54] your coffers. You also get to pick the contractor to perform the service. You also get the choice of whether you want to perform that or not. It's not a binding contract that will force you to abide if we have a need. You get to make the choice. And that's where trust comes in at, which, again, kind of enforces the partnership that we have.

[00:46:21] And I will tell you, we have used the IGSA on numerous occasions, and we are just truly grateful to be able to be in that position. We also have one IGSA with the Northern Virginia Regional Commission, and we have just crossed the finish line with Stafford County working a deal with them, which gives us flexibility, and we're not always having to come to Prince William County because we do know that it does create some sort of an administrative challenge or burden sometimes.

[00:46:56] One thing that you might not be tracking is public schools in Prince William County. Like I said, we have 80% of our military families that live within your neighborhoods. You have opened up the doors to your churches, your businesses, and your schools.

[00:47:12] I like to think that I have a very good relationship with your school districts. I know that we are working together, striving to go purple, complete purple throughout the entire district. We have accomplished that in the city of Fredericksburg Schools and Stafford County.

[00:47:28] And now we're working with Spotsylvania to help them on that road as well. But something that you may not be aware of is that the school superintendent and myself, we do a lot of joint projects together. This past fall, we joined forces and we did a joint video for impact aid, encouraging those military family members to fill out their impact aid forms, get them back turned in, or get them turned back in.

[00:47:58] Prince William County Schools received $714,000 in impact aid funds last year. In addition, they also received an additional $723,000 to support children with severe disabilities. As well as we work closely together as a DODEA project grant that awards up to $1 million over a five-year period.

[00:48:21] And the grant ends this year and the new one starts in 2025. So just again to illustrate the number of different partnerships that we have together between the base and Prince William County. Not only with Prince William County, but also when you look at right across the Potomac, we have a mutual aid agreement with Charles County.

[00:48:46] City of Fredericksburg, and I'm not going to read the entire slide to you, but all of these are very positive relationships that we have, and we're also looking continually for additional partnerships wherever we can find them, because also another part of my job is to pay attention to the quality of life of our military members and their families. Whatever I can do to increase that, my staff and myself are all for it. Okay, all right. This might go unnoticed. I'm

[00:49:24] I'm not quite sure how many of you are aware of the mutual aid agreements that we have with the base. As you can see, the numbers on the lower right corner, total calls across the top by year. This wasn't really brought to my attention as far as how frequent we do that until we recently conducted a joint exercise last year, which was quite sizable.

[00:49:53] And both sides, both Prince William County Emergency Services and police and ourselves learned a whole lot as far as working together. And I will continue to encourage that we continue to work that because we can never know when a contingency or some man-made crisis might happen.

[00:50:11] But I can get you more information on that if anyone's interested. Okay, I won't hit that too much, but I know that it is the desire of most counties to develop.

[00:50:28] um again to improve quality of life for their residents but when it comes to the base what we're interested in really is compatible development compatible development as you can see includes those type of projects i said earlier that you know we're not growing we're surrounded by three counties our weapon systems that we use to train our marine officers are only getting more and more advanced they're reaching further and further out i think we do a very good job of

[00:51:01] containing that within the boundaries of the base but they do sometimes cause noise and vibrations and you know we're coming to find out that folks who have lived lived here for a while they don't mind it but when you have new residents move in because they got a great deal on some land and a house and you know they're getting settled in and all of a sudden they start hearing these these noises and they're thinking that they're under attack you know they may be you know they may not like that. And I think that's because they probably don't understand it. And I would never say that's the sound of freedom. But we are doing some important work. And it's important work

[00:51:41] that we must always be able to maintain and be able to continue that. There are things that we do. We push out notifications to let everyone know that we're training and what's going on on the base. We welcome anyone who wants to come on to the installation to observe the training, which I highly encourage because when you're there, you get to actually hear it. You get to smell the munitions. You get to feel the vibrations and you get to see the Marines doing the training and it brings it home. And that's why the base is here. That's why the base has been here for so

[00:52:16] long. We must continue it. So when we're talking about development, completely understand. And And Prince William County has done such a great job of Ms. Bailey has always invited me to the table to have those discussions. But we just ask that as you're talking to future developers that you're keeping this in mind because this is what is of interest to the base.

[00:52:41] And again, I will close there. I'll try to go as quickly as I could. If you have any questions for me, please ask away. But, again, I just want to express my appreciation for you to take a little bit of time out of your busy schedule and invite me here today just to talk about us.

[00:52:59] That is all I have. Well, thank you so much. We do have a couple of questions from the dais. First, we're going to start with Supervisor Tom Gordy. Thank you, Madam Chair. Colonel Brooks, first of all, thank you for being here and sharing with us today. And as someone who frequents Quantico and has enjoyed many of the services on that base, I just want to commend you and your leadership.

[00:53:24] Most recently, I've had to get IDs for my kids, and it was seamless. I can't say that that has been the experience at other bases over my career, but I want to commend you and your team. They're very efficient, and, again, that's a testament to your leadership, and I really appreciate what you're doing there to support our Marines as well as some of us Navy Reservists that hang out.

[00:53:51] over there as well um on the uh exceptional family members you talked a little bit about children with severe disabilities is there um from our community perspective i mean that that's sort of a a shared uh service where uh the military will send families um to a locality and a lot of these families they have these exceptional family members um are there any and fortunately We have our community services representative here today.

[00:54:24] Is there any way that we can better serve our families who have children with severe disabilities? Are they getting the services they need? Are there any areas that we lack and can improve upon? I really appreciate that question and kind of a timely question because I'm meeting with ODEA leadership this week.

[00:54:45] And we're talking about that very same thing. The National Capital Region is a very good area to send families with exceptional family members because of the medical care mainly. And they get top priority for housing on the base, which means that normally they would go to a DoDEA school, which we do.

[00:55:02] We have an elementary, middle, and high school on the base. And their capacity is stretched. But DoDEA's motto is if you send them, we will accommodate. And we're in the discussions right now to offer families the choice of going out to Triangle and Duffery schools to kind of provide a little bit of that relief off of DoDEA schools.

[00:55:29] I mean, very timely questions, sir. Like I said, I'm meeting with DoDEA leadership just this week. I had a town hall with the family members because they were getting a little bit frustrated with some of the services that they were receiving for their children. And this is one of the opportunities for additional partnerships that we have with Prince William County.

[00:55:49] Okay. Well, thank you. Definitely keep us posted and let us know how we can be more of a resource to those very special families. And I have a long history of working with that program for about 20 years. So anything we can do to help on that, let us know.

[00:56:06] I really appreciate that. One of the things that has made a lot of news over this past year, and it was driven out of a GAO study on barracks for our military, Quantico was included in the study that GAO did. And then there's been some conversations about a couple things.

[00:56:25] One, privatized barracks and connecting through IGSAs with local communities to help build new barracks or refit new barracks in a timely manner. And then there's been some discussion of giving some of our junior enlisted their BAH to be able to go out onto the economy.

[00:56:47] And when I look at that in a place like Northern Virginia, that BAH gets absorbed very quickly. From your perspective and where you sit, are you seeing any need for addressing barracks at Quantico?

[00:57:05] And are there any junior enlisted who are going to be potentially moving off base, even if it's just temporarily, that we may need to be looking to help support in terms of housing? I really appreciate that question as well.

[00:57:20] Very timely. But yes, to answer your question, we are sending Marines out from the base sergeants without dependents. We are approving them to live out in town. We're doing that as of four weeks ago. Our barracks range from being built in the 1930s to just being built from just 10 years ago.

[00:57:43] Now, the 1930s have been remodeled a couple of times. I don't want y'all to think that we're that bad. But, yeah, I'm pretty sure that maybe you haven't seen the ACMAX, the Assistant Commandant's video, and the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps' video on barracks 2030, but we're getting after it.

[00:58:01] we've been directed to inspect every single barracks room including open squad bays from the ceiling down to the foundation testing every single thing we're going to analyze that data that's going to establish a baseline across the service so that we know what we need to do moving forward but absolutely yes and yes to your questions new barracks will be coming to Quantico okay uh so for those sergeants what is their bah that their what would be their bah bah without

[00:58:36] dependence how much would it be about 18 to 2200 or it's a little bit more than that it's it's around 2400 without dependence so that might get them a one-bedroom apartment if they can find one in prince william right but i will tell you just just bragging on supervisor bailey um we have been in discussions a couple of times and we're talking about um affordable housing or work professional workforce housing i don't like that word affordable housing um but yeah we've been to the table several on several occasions um looking at the way forward because you you're just not

[00:59:13] going to spring up apartment buildings and townhomes overnight so it takes time and i think that we've got we've got a solid foundation of of discussions going forward excellent excellent And my last question, you talked about encroachment or, you know, compatible development.

[00:59:29] Are there currently any areas of concern in terms of encroachment that we should be aware of that we might want to start directing some attention to? Yeah, let me get back to you on that one.

[00:59:53] You know, I don't want to be too quick to answer that question. You know, as we've discovered, decisions, you know, when you see facilities being built, those decisions were made years ago. And, you know, there was a reason and a purpose for that.

[01:00:10] What we're trying to do is take a total look, whole picture of where the base sits and how that already existing infrastructure will affect future operations for the base. All right.

[01:00:26] Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. Thank you. All right. Now we're going to move on to Supervisor Kenny Bode. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Colonel Brooks, for being here with us. And echo a lot of the comments of Supervisor Gordy. We appreciate the partnership. And, you know, you've talked a lot about how we've been open with you.

[01:00:43] I want to say the same thing back to you. We really appreciate your openness. We know that the tenor and the tone that's set by the base is obviously a lot set by the person who's in charge of it. And we can't say that's always been the case that we've had as much of an open relationship with Quantico.

[01:00:59] So that's a testament and kudos to you. So thank you for that. My first question is go actually in reverse order of Supervisor Gordy, which you talk about encroach, but you talk about conservation easements and other things. I know that the REPE program is something that has been used a little bit in the base, based on the 22 projects as of 2022.

[01:01:20] There's been seven projects that amount to about 996 acres, which is a little bit over $5.8 million. That being said, do you see potential and possibilities for us to work with you further to grow that portfolio and to conserve more spaces in and around the base?

[01:01:39] Absolutely. I think there's plenty of opportunity. I think, you know, when you talk about encroachment, when you talk about compatible development, you know, Quantico has enjoyed an agricultural environment for a long time. And I believe that where we are right now is at a point where we need to make additional decisions to ensure that we're doing what's right for the base, but also what's right for the community.

[01:02:05] And I think that we're there. Yes, sir, absolutely. I do see that there's plenty of opportunities to increase REPI programs, the grant money that comes in. But, of course, that requires us to continue those conversations, right?

[01:02:22] but yes we are always available chris landgraf here is is point for me um and i know many of you are you already know him but absolutely appreciate that because i know we've had conversations over the last few years including this coming year about pdr programs other ways in which we're able to do conservation easements secure more park lands some other low use like you said low density land to help promote conservation i know that that's a big part of your mission as well so I appreciate that.

[01:02:53] My second question goes a little bit into a conversation you were having as soon as a Gordy as it pertains to children. I know that over the past couple years we've also talked about child care being an ongoing emergent issue that's been on the public side, been on the private side, been on the defense side as well.

[01:03:10] Can you talk a little bit more about where we're going there and opportunities we might have to partner more on the child care piece as well? I can tell you that child care for the military, like most other places, is a mission enabler. You know, when child care goes, you know, the parents got to leave. They got to go take care of their families.

[01:03:28] And I think that Marine Corps-based Quantico is no exception than what you're finding out in the local communities. You know, when it comes to hiring the right people, qualified people for that job, it's something that we will not lower our standards for.

[01:03:43] But it is challenging finding appropriate child care providers to look after the little ones. And it's a big deal. We are on the verge, on the edge of getting a third child development center approved.

[01:03:59] We're just waiting for the folks to push the voting button, yes. But again, the challenge of finding the professionals to go into those development centers is challenging. It really is.

[01:04:14] And we're looking at all kinds of different possibilities to include families having daycare centers out of their own homes, right? And we've even said, hey, if you're willing to do that, we're going to put you near or at the top of the housing waiting list because that's how, you know, that's how bad we're needing it.

[01:04:32] But I will tell you that the professionals that we do have that's on the base, they are professionals and they enjoy what they do. They really do. And we've had so many CODEL visits to Marine Corps Base Quantico wanting to see how child development centers are ran on a military installation.

[01:04:51] I think that we have one of the better ones in DOD, if I must say. I might be a little biased, but if I say so myself. Appreciate that. The last one, if I could, Madam Chair. It goes to the piece that you mentioned on the schools.

[01:05:09] I know that you already talked about the fact that you're looking at maybe having some folks being able to go to Dumfries and some of those adjacent schools, what have you. If you could, Sparks on this version, say the biggest challenge right now when it comes education as it pertains to Prince William County and our partnership what would it be what's a hurdle that you think that we could tackle in in the near to midterm you're not talking about on-base schools you're talking about countywide correct yeah I don't know the answer to that

[01:05:45] question for you I can tell you the work that that we're doing with with the with superintendent school superintendent McDade acknowledging the population within the schools is important you know we're not saying that military children are special or more special than any other child but they do come along with some special challenges you know the average military child moves every two to three years from the time they enter kindergarten to the time they graduate to 12th grade Prince William County has done an excellent job working with us getting influx military family

[01:06:23] liaison coordinators within their schools we've worked together to acknowledge some of those different challenges that the military children have to meet those needs and then to highlight those military children. But I think that's a mutual benefit. You know, military children comes along with a certain level of resilience that can be passed on to maybe a child that is not part of a, you know, is not military connected. They share stories, they talk, they live each other's experiences. I think that's the mutual benefit by having, you know,

[01:06:59] military kids in with the with the community's kids i really do but to answer your question though nothing's coming to mind at the moment but i just uh i'm just appreciative of the relationship and partnerships that we currently have with prince william county schools i appreciate that and you're absolutely right you know i have a blended family so my wife is former army so the uh the or three older kids um have already shared some of that resilience with our two younger children that i've had with my wife and there's a we talk about diversity all the time but that diversity of experience when it comes to that resilience that those children bring is definitely an asset and a benefit so the last thing I'll leave you with is you talked a little bit about climate resiliency

[01:07:39] and our ISGAs you know we adopted the community energy sustainability master plan back last year I know that you all were stakeholders in talking through that and as we now turn from adoption to implementation we'll love to continue for us to partner with the county with you all on how we can make sure that from our side of the fence and your side of the fence we're doing everything we can to partner to make our our communities as resilient from a climate perspective as possible no i perfectly agree and i tell you we may have a fence in different areas but there's definitely not our side and your side of the fence i think today's military installations require commanders

[01:08:15] requires the communities to be seamless and um almost like there's no fence at all because that's how we affect each other in the community great thank you so much again colonel brooks back to you madam chair thank you thank you i feel like i'm gonna game show back to you madam chair next we're gonna have supervisor victor angry thank you madam chair colonel bull sorry major hey um there first i want to just uh start by chris laying on your go-to guy really awesome everything we're talking about there's some keys that even my counterpart here was speaking on which

[01:08:52] was the child care situation um before i get to that i want to say it has been an honor working with you. I remember Colonel Messina coming in and you came in and replaced. The unfortunate thing that I know is sad is that you got a star in your future and you won't be with us forever. And so there's transition that happens. And so I can only hope that whoever the commanders are that come in to Quantico, the relationship you built to carry on what Colonel Messina started has been insurmountable. Like you really get it. And for me sitting

[01:09:26] up here as a retired army person working with you on the other side of the fence as I say it is interesting because I'm going to get into the child care. If there's one thing I know I stood in front of formations at 6 a.m. for PT and soldiers are late because why? They got to wait for the daycare to open or the child care to open for the kid to get there and that has been a problem since I mean 2009 probably before then. We are like 14 years later and we're still having the same issue i know we've been having a lot of discussions about how to work with the community

[01:10:03] and military installations and creating uh that i'm going to use the term targeted industry that what you talked about with home daycares and my wife did that for a very long time i don't know where that program went but it seemed to have slipped away and that we need to really grow that tighten that and create that not just for our installations but for our communities because our installations live in our communities i just i want to let you know that i know we are working that piece if there's a question that i have for you it's about our housing situation um housing

[01:10:38] shortages for even the county and localities uh is detrimental for our military installations as well because probably 80 percent of your force lives out in the community so um i'm hoping that I don't know what that discussion is and how we're developing or working with you for Quantico or even Fort Belvoir.

[01:11:00] I know that's Fairfax, but many of Fort Belvoir's citizens live in Prince William County as well. Is the discussion of housing, and are we having those communications? Are you hearing any of that kind of talk? Absolutely, I am. Like I said, Supervisor Bailey and I are having numerous conversations.

[01:11:17] I'm having just as many conversations with Stafford County and Spotsylvania County. And, you know, that's a very interesting point because we can't house everyone. I wish I could house everyone on the base, but because we can't, you know, Marines and their families, sailors, soldiers, everyone's going to make the best decision for their family, how their family unit is put together.

[01:11:41] And for a lot, you know, they go further south. I don't want them further south. I want them closer to the base. Going further south incurs additional challenges for the family. You know, they're up later, earlier, going back home later, gas.

[01:11:58] I mean, everyone I think here is aware of what comes along the further you live out. And it can be dangerous for the service member. But there are numerous conversations about getting more housing in the area. And like I said earlier, you know, you're not springing these things up overnight.

[01:12:15] You're really not. And that's why the conversation is just so important because, you know, we go back to the compatible piece. You know, I do want housing for our military members, but I don't want it right on the border of the base.

[01:12:32] You know, if we could push it into the county a little bit more, to me, it would be beneficial for everyone. It will, and because there's a conversation to be had about that, and thank you for addressing it. The base is there, and it is the sounds of freedom.

[01:12:48] It really is. And so when these communities are built up, you do have the residents that complain about the noise or the helicopters. But the fact of the matter is, you know, that's what that is. And so thank you for addressing that. And that is something that we really always focus on as we hear and we think about where we're going to build the next community.

[01:13:09] You've got a lot of land on Quantico, as you said. You know, going down Aiden Road and seeing a Marine on the side of Aiden Road, that's a bad sign. That means they got lost when they're, you know, field training and they walk to the road to get picked up. That's bad land nav. But it's just folks need to know that.

[01:13:29] And so I just I really appreciate you being here and kind of addressing those situations. I want to end by just saying this. BAH, Basic Allowance for Housing, that's what they're discussing. I don't know if everybody knew that. I just thought I'd break down that acronym because we're big on acronyms. So thank you, sir.

[01:13:44] No, thank you. Thank you, Master. Appreciate it. All right. I appreciate that. And now on to Supervisor Andrea Bailey. Thank you, Madam Chair. Sir, welcome again and again. So glad you came. Chris, I want to thank you for orchestrating this and getting the colonel here so that we could have this robust conversation.

[01:14:03] It has been an absolute joy to practice with you mutual benefit in the continuity of partnership. And it came from Colonel Bentley. He introduced me to you. I was working with him and now with you. And you think you're going somewhere, but we ain't having it. But I say that to say that you get it.

[01:14:21] You get how building this partnership with the community and Quantico Base and helping us to understand what the military is about and what civilian life is about and how it can be compatible. I'm grateful that we have spent thus far over $4 million with your organization on projects that, and I thought I saw Luke come in.

[01:14:44] Raise your hand, Luke. There you are. Luke Heisman on the county staff has been very integrally involved, him and Tom Smith, our Tom Smith. He thinks he's gone, too, but we're going to bring him back. But you've been very pointed in working with us in that, even with the REPI grants.

[01:15:02] Chris, in another audience, you were there, but you brought it to us at Quantico. And it's real important, sir, as you said, that we do continue securing grants to make sure that this happens for the base. You were the economic development arm for the citizens around the base to have jobs.

[01:15:20] And so we're appreciative of that. When we talk about Q-Town, you did establish an avenue so it wasn't landlocked. And so there was accessibility when the citizens need things. And so we have to work with Mayor Brown even more as you're segwaying out to make sure that that's continuing.

[01:15:41] My thing is, oh, and I also want to address the noise issue. I have a friend on the board with me that we've talked about this, and she's expressed a concern with her citizens, and I get it. I get it. It's a security issue, but we still have to be mindful and respectful of the citizens, and so you've done the best that you could in terms of that, understanding the mission that you have, so appreciate that.

[01:16:05] But I want to address the housing issue, and Supervisor Anger, thank you for bringing that to the fore. We have had very robust conversations about the housing issue, and there are projects that's in the works to support you, sir.

[01:16:22] How do we continue those conversations? What does that look like for you to make sure that we are not building right outside the gate, but there is an accessibility and there is an accessibility affordability for your audience?

[01:16:39] What does that look like to you? Well, I appreciate that question. You know, whenever you introduce something to a network of systems, you know, you've got to be very careful because it could create consequences or it could create a series of responses to that input that we wasn't intending.

[01:17:04] I don't have the correct answer for you is where it should go within the county. Because like I said, you know, once there's an accident on 95, then you see Route 1 back up. If there's an accident on Route 1, it goes back and forth.

[01:17:23] But I do know that there's room, there's opportunity through those continued engagements and those continued discussions to identify those areas. Yes, I'm leaving here in about four and a half months, but Chris better be staying on the staff.

[01:17:42] And that's the continuity that brings me joy because my staff, which are mostly civilians, they're remaining. And my job is to facilitate that connection and to ensure that they understand what commander's intent is as far as how we're moving forward with the vision.

[01:18:01] uh facilitates that continued engagements between the base and the county to continue having those discussions because what might seem good today might not be as good you know tomorrow um but as long as we are steady staying engaged with each other we are able to continue to monitor that environment that we're in and we're able to keep pace with that changing environment and make the right decisions for both sides is what i truly believe i appreciate that sir and and uh tom and Tom Gordy and I have had these discussions in his private industry, which we won't name right now.

[01:18:37] He has some wonderful ideas as to how we can elevate that and serve you. And so he and I, I know, will be collaborating a lot more about that as we meet with Chris going forward. But the last thing that I wanted to say to you, you know, when you stop learning things in this world, you stop growing.

[01:18:55] You just offered us a title, a terminology that helps us with the affordable housing piece as well. You said the exceptional child. And that's very key when we learn how to provide child care in and off of the base.

[01:19:15] It's very important to use that terminology so they understand that just because the child is military and is exception that he or she are not separated from. And so I appreciate you saying the exceptional child because that is a great terminology to use rather than what we used in the past.

[01:19:35] And so I'm going to steal that from you. And then lastly, I just wanted to say to my colleagues, thank you for the wonderful questions that you've asked on behalf of Quantico Base. It is not an abnormal entity. It is a part of our family.

[01:19:51] And so it's just been an honor as a military spouse to partner with Quantico to make sure that not only my colleagues understand and I understand have a higher elevation of understanding of the military, but understand that there has been a transition in melding the military and the civilian life under the title of community.

[01:20:18] And so if you would, sir, just briefly say how you feel about that. Thank you, Supervisor Bailey. Well, to the residents of Prince William County, I really want to express my appreciation because, you know, you have the community outside the base, but then you have a military community, and that's how I see Prince William County.

[01:20:39] When we had our Afghan guests a couple of years ago, I was so proud of the support that we're pouring in from the communities to help the base and to help our guests go through their process of getting resettled here in this country. We had over 120 new American citizens born here in Prince William County in your hospitals.

[01:21:01] It started on the base, but it ended, thank goodness, in your hospitals. It was your, it was Prince William County's hospitals that welcomed 120 new Americans here in America. I've seen nothing less but just the utmost respect, the utmost support that comes from Prince William County communities.

[01:21:26] I know that we employ a large amount of citizens and residents who are extremely patriotic And they love doing what they're doing. And I tell you, I just awarded one of our Prince William County citizens a 50-year award.

[01:21:43] That's not sometime in the military. That is 50 straight years on base. And it was an incredible thing to see. And he is still motivated and just hopping around the base. But the outpour of support that we get from Prince William County communities is just outstanding.

[01:21:59] I've never seen anything like it. And I just ask that you continue that support for the future commanders at Quantico because we are, as Supervisor Bailey said, we are one community. It's almost impossible to separate us. Whether it's veterans that have been here and they decide to remain here, they are very influential within your communities, within your churches, your schools.

[01:22:24] And I think they provide a great example for our little ones growing up to have that role model that they can actually be proud of. But we are one community, and it's very hard to separate us out. And that's how I like to see it moving forward. Thank you.

[01:22:41] Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you so much. All right. Thank you for joining us today. I just have a few questions. Many of my questions were answered by my colleagues. The existing visitor center, that's in Stafford County, correct? It's right over the border, I believe? It's right over the border. Right over the border.

[01:22:57] And so the new center, you said it's going to be right outside of your main entrance, or where is it going to be? I know, we can't put it right outside the entrance. It will still be in Stafford County, but as soon as you exit, if you're going 95 south, as soon as you exit off at 150, I'm sorry, 148, it's going to be right, almost right there, like, I don't know, 500 yards.

[01:23:19] Gotcha. All right. And, I mean, I live in Montclair, so I hear and sometimes feel the sounds of freedom. And when I first moved to the area, I'm like, oh, what is this? And so I guess the noise is, again, the primary concern with high-density residential and retail.

[01:23:36] That is quite understandable. Well, thank you so very much for joining us and for, you know, answering all of our questions. Obviously, Quantico is a very important, vibrant part of our community. So thank you for taking the time out of your day. Thank you, Madam Chair. One topic that I thought that I would get into a little bit more was the town of Quantico.

[01:23:55] But, you know, I'm completely available if anyone wants to have a little bit more detailed discussions on the residents of Quantico Town and exactly what we're doing to help improve their quality of life and access to the base as well. I think we've made some great strides in that department and be more than willing to discuss those, what we've been able to accomplish.

[01:24:16] Thank you so much. Thank you. Do you have anything else? I'll just say you're good.

[01:24:32] All right. No, ma'am. Thank you, Madam Chair. All right, I'm going to kick it over now to our county attorney for her time. Thank you, Madam Chair, members of the board. This afternoon in closed session, we will have a discussion of reports or plans related to the security of the McCourt governmental building complex and the safety of persons using such building complex, including briefings by staff members, legal counsel, and law enforcement or emergency service officials concerning actions taken to respond to related threats to public safety.

[01:25:01] This item is appropriate for closed session pursuant to 2.2-3711A19 of the Code of Virginia. So moved, Madam Chair. Second. I love when you guys come up ahead of me. Any discussion? All right, hearing none, let's vote. Vote unanimous.

[01:25:24] Supervisor Bailey absent from vote. All right, we are now on to the work session. We have two presentations this afternoon. First, we are going to start with an economic update from Dr. Cheryl Bailey of the School of Public and International Affairs at Virginia Tech.

[01:25:43] Dr. Bailey. Madam Chair. I was actually going to have Michelle Atreid, our CFO, come down and introduce Dr. Bailey before she gets started. Gotcha. Good afternoon, Madam Chair, members of the board. Each year, as the board embarks on its budget decision-making process, we have typically provided you with an economic update to sort of set that stage.

[01:26:05] This year, I have the pleasure of bringing you a dynamic speaker, Dr. Cheryl Bailey. We closely follow her. We often use her material as a resource for our presentations. um this speaker has a really impressive bio and i would like to share that with you before i turn the mic over to her a dr cheryl bailey has nearly 30 years of experience in administration and finance as a senior executive in state and local government and the private sector including gubernatorial cabinet and state authority director experience in virginia as well as an extensive higher education experience she currently serves as visiting professor of practice in the school of

[01:26:42] Public and International Affairs at Virginia Tech, and as principal of Forward Strategies Consulting, LLC. In these roles, Dr. Bailey teaches graduate financial management and public policy courses, co-hosts the Virginia Local Government Finance Network, provides regular economic updates to diverse groups, designs and presents customized professional development training, and assists organizations with tailored economic and financial analyses that support building financial resiliency and advancing strategic goals and missions.

[01:27:13] Dr. Bailey has overseen enterprise-wide administrative services for complex statewide functions and consolidated county government and public school operations, including directing several landmark initiatives that transformed operations and significantly enhanced outcomes, efficiency, and effectiveness.

[01:27:30] She has a proven record of directing broad-based strategic planning as the foundation for substantial growth and operational advancement. Dr. Bailey also has leading-edge experience at the forefront of public policy initiatives with national, state, and local government and has presented a policy briefing on Capitol Hill on the federal tax policy of municipal securities and financing infrastructure.

[01:27:52] Dr. Bailey has a state and local record of successfully leading financial turnarounds and enhancing performance. Her extensive financial finance experience also includes directing Virginia's Municipal Bond Bank, overseeing $2.6 billion in total bond transactions and funding for multiple diverse state bond pools in just over four years, and directing a public finance division for a national municipal advisory firm as a licensed Series 50 municipal advisor.

[01:28:18] Dr. Bailey has directed complex municipal debt and capital management programs and the financial policy and planning of several regional authorities in major jurisdictions, as well as overseeing the development and financing of large economic development initiatives and public-private partnerships.

[01:28:35] Through her career, she has successfully restructured numerous bond programs and debt portfolios, achieved multiple credit rating upgrades and enhancements, increased statutory authority for infrastructure options, and secured hundreds of millions in refunding savings. She formerly served on the Board of Directors of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board with approval by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

[01:28:56] She's been active in the International City-County Management Association and the Government Finance Officers Association and their state affiliates, having held leadership positions and served on several national and state task forces and committees. She achieved her bachelor's degree summa cum laude in economics from Norfolk State University, her master's and doctoral degrees in economics from Harvard universities, and she has served on the faculties of several universities. She's a graduate of the Virginia Executive Institute, the Senior Executive Institute at the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia, Leadership Metro Richmond, and the Civic Leadership Institute of Hampton Roads, and she has served on the board of directors and councils of numerous civic organizations.

[01:29:35] And without further ado, I will turn it over to Dr. Bailey. Good afternoon, Michelle. I'm almost speechless. I appreciate you reading all that. And as opposed to typically the Cliff Notes version, thank you very much for your generosity.

[01:29:58] I want to say good afternoon, Madam Chair Jefferson, members of the board, county executive of Shorter, other county staff. It is an honor and pleasure to be with you this afternoon to provide a brief economic update focusing on the U.S. and Virginia. And I do have some interesting information on Prince William as well. Our presentation today, I'm going to give an overview of economic conditions in late 23, early 24, review the Federal Reserve of Action

[01:30:35] since 2022 that brings us, that very much bring us to today in terms of our economy. I also discussed the U.S. economic outlook and then some key considerations for organizations as we move forward in these changing economic times. So I'll give you the bottom line up front. We have a partly cloudy, partly sunny forecast. In fact, I should say partly sunny, partly cloudy. We seem to be turning the corner in many areas of the economy, but we still also have some swirling winds

[01:31:11] out there. And you see that the clouds have a little bit of gray, but also they're mostly white. So I really tried to get this visual to kind of capture where we are right now. GDP has been our real GDP, real, indicating that it's adjusted for inflation so we can take out those price effects, our real gross domestic product, that's how we measure our economy and the growth, it has surprised us.

[01:31:47] We expected to slow down toward the end of 2023, especially after the Federal Reserve had done aggressive monetary tightening with increasing interest rates. However, we ended 2023 very robustly. We expected a slowdown in the fourth quarter. It was very mild. We had 4.9% growth in the third quarter, 3.3% growth in the fourth quarter, which was nearly double

[01:32:20] the consensus expectations. So we finished 2023 with a bang. The blue bars are the United States. The red bars are Virginia. You'll see if you feel like we've been on a roller coaster, this slide shows that. You see those red bars. We hit that time of 2020. The gray areas show recessions as determined by the National Bureau of Economic Research. We had a two

[01:32:53] quarter recession there, a very short recession in 2020. And then we proceeded in the roller coaster there, but we are beginning to normalize and come out on the other side. And I say we're normalizing and emerging into a new reality. Many times people say a new normal. I say a new reality. We're never going to be the same again. I barely go inside Target these days. I always do the app and pick up within two hours. And I'm sure others are doing the same. And we can go into a Target versus a Home Depot versus a Walmart versus a Lowe's conversation, however, in the

[01:33:33] curbside pickup. So I never would allow anyone to pick up, pick anything from me before. But now, if it's not perishable, I'm okay with it. So we are not the same. Our choices have changed and it's showing very much in consumer behavior and all of our behavior. The red bars are Virginia.

[01:33:52] You'll see that Virginia's growth has been a bit more muted in most instances in the quarter since the pandemic. And particularly, you'll see in our employment slides, we've had a bumpier way. But we are hanging in there and we are still looking to get the fourth quarter information for Virginia because the state information always follows the U.S. information by about a month or so.

[01:34:21] In terms of employment, in terms of jobs, the Bureau of Labor Statistics does two surveys every month. They do the establishment survey with businesses and they do the household survey with individuals.

[01:34:34] In the establishment survey, we get the jobs information. The household survey gives us the employment civil, the labor force information, civilian labor force information. So this is the jobs information, and we have roared back from that very sharp and fast decline as related to the pandemic, and we have roared back from that.

[01:35:01] We have actually recovered those jobs. Actually, the U.S. is 3.5% ahead of where we were pre-pandemic in February 2020. Again, Virginia is a little bit, has been a little bit slower in that job growth. We are ahead 1.7% as compared to 2020, but 3.5% in the U.S.

[01:35:27] Now, these are jobs. And a job is a job is a job. These are not the same jobs necessarily in the same places or in the same industry. And we may have a different composition of part-time and full-time jobs. But these are payroll jobs. A job is a job is a job. And so, therefore, this is the total number of jobs in the U.S. and in Virginia.

[01:35:48] Looking at the job growth, well, we've had a red hot jobs market, and now we have a very solid strong jobs market. The blue bars are the monthly growth in jobs, and this is for the U.S., and you'll see to the left in 2021, we had very, very strong monthly growth.

[01:36:12] We thought we were beginning, it has loosened. The labor market has definitely loosened. We could say we went from red hot to hot to now very strong. We still have a very strong job market and we have labor shortages in many areas. There are 10,000 baby boomers retiring a day, and many baby boomers accelerated their retirement during the pandemic, and they've been slow to come back, and many likely will not.

[01:36:41] So with the demographics and with the reduced birth rates that we've had in the U.S. since the great financial crisis of 2007 and 2009, we may have had a little pandemic bump with that, but we're still having slower domestic birth rates.

[01:37:03] then we're just looking to have some real demographic realities here in terms of labor shortage. For a baby boomer such as myself, who grew up with bunches and bunches of people and lots of population and a lot of population growth, it's a different dynamic. It's a different dynamic in the interface between employers and employees and jobs. And employers are holding on to their employees, even when they expected a recession, because it's been so hard to hire.

[01:37:42] Virginia's job growth, this is Virginia's monthly job growth since beginning of 2021. You'll see that Virginia has had a bumpier experience. That December number, which shows the significant reduction there, I am really waiting for the routine revisions. Typically, we get a preliminary number, then some revisions as more information comes along in the ensuing months. So I'm really, really holding any comment until we get another monthly update for the state employment. But

[01:38:20] overall, prior to that, you see that Virginia has a more muted recovery in jobs growth. Well, We have gotten better here toward the end of 2023, except for that December number. But let's just put a P preliminary next to that until we get the next revision.

[01:38:40] In terms of the official unemployment rate, and I always say the official unemployment rate, because Bureau of Labor Statistics actually publishes monthly six measures of labor underutilization. And U3, the one in the middle, is the official unemployment rate.

[01:39:00] That tells us there are many other measures of unemployment that include a wider view. Unemployment is if you have actively looked for work in the past four weeks.

[01:39:17] So it's a four-week look back from the middle of the month to the middle of the month. So if you haven't quite gotten your job search into gear since the holidays, then in the January survey, you may have been not included, depending on whether you actively look for work from the middle of December to the middle of January.

[01:39:42] And so, therefore, it's a four-week look back. The other measures of unemployment give a wider span, up to 12 months, and also for part-times for economic reasons. So, I just say that to know that we want to be mindful of all of those measures. The measures of the broadest measure is more in the 7% zone over double of what the official unemployment rate is, or somewhere, not over double, but close to double of what the official unemployment rate is.

[01:40:18] And so we want to always keep an eye on those measures. Of all the measures, we are in historic low ranges of unemployment. And that's a significant comment with the Fed having had the aggressive increase in interest rates.

[01:40:36] Virginia, as you'll see, is in red here. Traditionally, our unemployment is below the U.S. You'll see to the far right there that red bumpiness in Virginia in terms of recovering those jobs and that employment after the pandemic.

[01:40:55] But we're coming along, but we're still a tad behind the pace at the national level. In terms of average hourly wage growth, it soared after the pandemic.

[01:41:12] It has loosened some. It has moderated, but we are still well above the pre-pandemic levels. It was 4.5% in all of 2023 and 4.5% in December and January.

[01:41:30] So we're running at 4.5% average hourly wage growth. That has helped the economy because consumers have been spending and being a firewall to our economy as we've had many disruptions. Speaking of consumers, so the blue lines are the real disposable income.

[01:41:49] That's after taxes. And so this is their household's wherewithal. This is disposable income, their spending power, if you will. And the red lines are the consumer spending. You'll see that during the pandemic, right after the gray bars in early 2020 into early 21, the blue bars were high, particularly when those government supports came, those three government supports came. You see, those bars went high. And this is the monthly change. And this is the growth on a year ago basis

[01:42:26] and a year ago look back. But then inflation began to erode that income. And so then you'll see the blue lines dip below the line with the inflation erosion there. Then once the inflation fight, we got a hold of that inflation fight, the blue lines came back above the line.

[01:42:49] Let's take a look at the red bars. The red bars since the pandemic, of course, consumers, we didn't spend as much. We stayed at home. We were cocooning. We did spend on Pelotons and furniture and dishwashers because we were eating at home and wearing the dishwashers and the washing machines out.

[01:43:07] But we weren't traveling and we were hunkering down and kind of waiting to see how things were going to turn out. But then once the vaccines got deployed, we really spent, I call that the happy-glad, the real happy-glad period right there in 2021, we were really happy-glad.

[01:43:29] And one thing we see is that irrespective of the experience with disposable income on a monthly basis, the consumers, those red bars have been above the line all the way through. That has been our firewall to our economy.

[01:43:46] Consumer spending is nearly 70% of GDP, and that has been the firewall, and consumers have spent and spent and spent. Now, there's been a shift. There was more good spending during our stay-at-home time, and then there was a significant shift to services and in-person experiences and travel and hospitality.

[01:44:15] And some of the economists call that the revenue spending. And the consumers have kept spending irrespective of the experience on real disposable income. And how have they done that? They've done that, and this slide shows the personal savings and the consumer debt in terms of all consumer loans with all consumer loans.

[01:44:38] We'll see that the consumers wisely saved money during the early part of the pandemic. We didn't know how it was going to turn out. We thought it was going to be two weeks, initially two weeks or maybe a couple of months.

[01:44:54] And so then we realized what a global pandemic was really all about. And so we hunkered down and saved. But once they started spending, those savings rate really dropped and consumers drew down those savings.

[01:45:09] You'll see that blue line dropped significantly. The excess savings that were accumulated during the pandemic have been estimated to be 2.1 trillion by the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank. And they have estimated that as of December 2023, of that $2.1 trillion, consumers have spent down $1.9 trillion. So that leaves only about $200 million of the excess savings accumulated during the pandemic era. That causes us pause

[01:45:45] in terms of how the consumer is going to keep this up. One way they've kept it up is by increasing their consumer debt. That's the red line. The loans, they've really been taking out loans, heavy increase in credit card loans and some auto loans, but heavy increase in credit card loans, particularly upon younger households. And the delinquency rate of those credit cards is going up. Household balance sheets still look healthy as of the third quarter of 2023. We're waiting

[01:46:19] for the fourth quarter numbers to be issued. And so they are pulling back into the pre-pandemic level. The household balance sheets, their debt service ratio is not alarming yet, but it has increased and they are now back to pre-pandemic levels. The delinquency rate, however, has exceeded the pre-pandemic level. So we're concerned about the ability of consumers to keep funding their expending through debt. And also we have higher interest rates. Those credit cards are taking

[01:46:51] higher rates too. In terms of inflation, we have good news and some hold your horses, be patient news. So we have certainly come from the peak of inflation. It peaked in the middle of 2022. And we are now down, it has come down very, very strongly. But we're not there yet.

[01:47:18] We're not there yet. The blue line is headline inflation. The red line is core CPE, which takes out food and energy, which are the more volatile elements. And the green line is another measure of inflation, which is called the Personal Consumption Expenditure Index. The Fed calls at the PCE inflation. The Fed prefers the PCE inflation index. I say the Fed likes it. I like

[01:47:51] it. And the difference is the CPI has a fixed market basket, but PCE inflation takes into consideration the substitutes that we all do in terms of switching from name brand to store brand in response to prices. And so PCE inflation also has come down. PCE inflation registered. We get that information a little bit behind the core inflation. Core inflation came out this morning.

[01:48:19] This slide includes the announcement of this morning. This morning, we heard that headline CPI, which is the blue line, now registers at 3.1%. Core inflation red, notice that the red line to the far right still is above the headline inflation. We've really benefited from the drop in gas prices and headline inflation, but core inflation is still having some stickiness, some persistence there heavily and related to shelter and medical care. Those are some

[01:48:55] persistence there and some services. We're seeing some recreation and travel price stickiness there because of how consumers are pursuing those types of that kind of buying. So we have 3% in headline inflation as of January, 3.9% in core inflation, and we've kind of stayed in that zone for the last four months. So it's going to take some more effort to get us out of that zone.

[01:49:30] The Fed's long-term target is 2% for PC inflation. In December, PC inflation was 2.6%, And I don't have core here because another purple line would just be too much. Core inflation is at 2.9%.

[01:49:46] So we are not quite at the Fed's long-term target, and we're having some persistent stickiness in certain elements of inflation. It takes shelter a while to work through the inflation data. That shelter includes rental and owner-equivalent cost.

[01:50:07] And so we're going to be patient. And so it's too soon to be calling on when the Fed is going to start cutting rates. In terms of new home sales, of course, the housing market has taken on the chin with the increase in interest rates and mortgage rates.

[01:50:25] However, we have a demand and supply imbalance in the housing market. You'll see that since the Great Financial Crisis, we never quite recovered. That's the big, wide gray bar between 07 and 09. We never quite recovered the home building rate that we had had before. Well, that's kind of good because we had a housing bubble.

[01:50:45] But we also didn't keep up with household formation. Millennials have been formed has been their household formation really began to increase in 2016. Millennials are middle age now. And and so that housing demand has the housing stock has not kept up with the housing demand. And we just have a housing supply and demand imbalance, notwithstanding the reduction in home sales.

[01:51:12] And so what we see is that developers have switched to new home sales, and that actually began to increase in 2023. The new home sales and buyers, too. We have developer buy-downs, rate buy-downs, developer price incentives to move that inventory because the demand is there.

[01:51:32] And looking at existing homes, the supply is down. Home sales are down. Existing homeowners are sitting on their houses. They refinanced or got their mortgage loaned in the 3% range back in 2020, 2021, and they're facing much higher mortgage rates. They were facing economic uncertainty, so they've been sitting tight.

[01:51:58] We believe with the mortgage rate beginning to coming down below seven and easing a bit and inflation being the inflation fight, making great headway there, we're going to see some loosening in the supply. Nothing gangbusters, but hopefully seeing some loosening in the supply.

[01:52:16] We need the supply compared to the demand. So with the demand and supply imbalance, this is the growth in home prices. Even though home sales significantly decreased both in new and existing homes, we still had positive price increases throughout since 2022 and 2023.

[01:52:38] The blue bar is the increase in home prices based upon the Federal Housing Finance Agency's All Transactions House Price Index. This index includes all new and existing home sales and refinancing appraisals.

[01:52:57] So it really captures home crisis across the entire housing market. Blue bars are U.S., Virginia is red, green is what we can get at the all transactions index in a quarterly basis.

[01:53:13] The closest I could get to Prince William is the Washington, D.C., Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, MSA. We know that that's not exactly Prince William, but that's as close as we can get for this quarterly monitoring. And for Prince William itself, it comes out annually.

[01:53:29] And we're still waiting for some of those 2023 numbers. But you'll see here that the U.S. led Virginia and the Washington, I would say the DMV MSA to use the acronyms, DMV for District Maryland, Virginia.

[01:53:45] Although I prefer to say DBM, but whatever, you know, you know, the U.S. was ahead until through 2020 and most of 2022 from 2020 to 2022. In terms of the price growth, Virginia was hanging in there right behind it with the Washington, D.C., Virginia Metro MSA not having the same amount of home price growth.

[01:54:16] Things turned in 2023 with Virginia's home price growth. This is a quarterly basis looking at a year-ago basis. This is year-over-year growth. But year over year growth in 2023, we see that Virginia began to outpace the U.S., but still the Washington, D.C., Virginia MSA was behind the home price growth year over year for Virginia and the U.S.

[01:54:48] We're going to continue to monitor this closely as things unfold in the housing market. In terms of total construction and looking at business investment, business investment is about 18% of GDP.

[01:55:06] And I'm going to highlight a couple of areas because I've highlighted housing because of its importance to both business investment and the economy, nationally, state and local. But also want to say that construction, and just want to give you a quick look here, non-residential construction has pressed on, has increased fairly consistently since the pandemic, where we had significant increases in residential construction with the mortgage rate increase reduction.

[01:55:40] But now that residential construction seemed to have turned the corner in late 2023 and is on the upswing, modest upswing, modest, moderate upswing. In terms of industrial production, the story has been not quite the same in terms of 2023.

[01:55:59] Manufacturing had a challenging year in 2023. It barely eked out manufacturing at 75% of industrial production. Industrial Production Index only barely eked out a 0.2% increase in 2023 overall.

[01:56:17] Manufacturing was a drag in that. It's had a tough time. It had about 15 consecutive months of contraction in the manufacturing sector, according to the ISM Purchasing Managers Index.

[01:56:36] in terms of manufacturing that PMI index, we were able to eke out just a little, some encouraging news in December. It turned into just above the breakeven mark. It got its toe over to the expansion side. So we're looking for some, we're going to continue to monitor that closely. And manufacturing orders, according to PMI index, also eked out an increase. So we're

[01:57:09] hoping that manufacturing turns the corner. Manufacturing slow year, tough year, has dragged down all of our leading indicators. In terms of Federal Reserve, blue line is the Federal Reserve rate increases. And I add the red line because there are two reins on this wagon. There is the federal funds rate, its interest rate, and it's also the balance sheet. You'll see with the red line, the Fed significantly increased its balance sheet. It bought the securities from

[01:57:48] its member banks, the Federal Reserve member banks, and federal agencies and federal mortgage-backed securities. It took those securities onto its balance sheet and then pushed liquidity push liquidity out into the financial market to maintain financial stability. You'll see that was a very steep increase in the red line at the beginning of the pandemic. And the Fed took action in February. You'll see this big thing in February. And that's when I said, oh, something's about to happen. And sure enough, that's when we found out in March in 2020. But the Fed took action

[01:58:27] to significantly increase liquidity and to keep the financial markets functioning. Also, it significantly lowered the interest rate down to 0.25%. It always has a 25 basis point, 0.25% range. And it kept increasing its balance sheet. It kept buying securities. It kept putting cash into or liquidity into the market.

[01:59:00] And then with inflation, it pulled on two reins. It did 11 increases in the federal funds rate, and it started to draw down its balance sheet. The little bump there was last spring for the selected bank failures we had related to cryptocurrency and Silicon Valley. They had short-term bank term funding program, which is going to expire later this year. And so they've

[01:59:32] been pulling down, pulling on both strings, interest rate increases and decreasing its balance sheet. So it's not rolling those securities over, it's letting them slough off from the balance sheet. And so those two things are happening. The red line is what we don't see, But it's happening. And it's led to tighter credit conditions, tighter lending standards across all banks, across all loan categories, commercial and household loans.

[02:00:08] So the question is, can the Fed thread the needle? And the needle has got actually the needlehead has gotten smaller here in terms of taming inflation, maintaining financial stability and avoiding recession. That's that soft landing. And things are looking up in terms of increased possibility for the soft landing. We're not there yet. Remember, partly cloudy, partly sunny, partly cloudy, but increasing sense that we might be able to have this soft landing.

[02:00:42] So the outlook. In terms of leading indicators, you look to the far right. The leading indicators were in contraction territory. It has been steadily increasing and almost to the long-term trend of 100. This is a composite index, which is more valid in a short-term 12-month range.

[02:01:02] and we're almost to the break-even mark. It's at 99.7. This is for the United States based on several macro, U.S. macroeconomic indicators. And so it's encouraging news. So the question is, we have to monitor closely if we can get across the threshold, the break-even mark, long-term trend out of the contraction zone into the projected expansion zone going forward. We still have to see there. Secondly, this is the inverted yield curve. And this is why you're

[02:01:40] hearing so many economists have been screaming, recession is coming as recession is coming. Inversion of the yield curve is when the long-term rate, 10-year, for instance, 10-year rate is lower than the short-term rate. That's when it inverts. Typically, the long-term rate is higher because you have more risk with more time. Here we see that since 1976, when the long-term rate

[02:02:15] is lower than the short-term rate measured by the Treasury's 10-year bond versus a two-year bond, it has predicted a recession every time, except for the pandemic. And actually, if you look at at a daily rate. We did just get right to that zero percent line before the pandemic. It was a global pandemic. But if you look at the gray bars, before the gray bar, the yield curve dipped below zero, which meant the yield curve had inverted. And we have been heavy in the inversion range

[02:02:51] since 2022. However, you'll see that we're climbing back. Now, the question is, is this indicator as valid with a global pandemic as it has been with the other types of recessions because we had supply chains disruptions, et cetera. That's what remains to be seen, how valid or relevant or effective this indicator is for recovery from pandemic, from global pandemics. We're monitoring

[02:03:22] closely. This is the forecast of leading selected economic forecasts that I curate. These are sources that I have vetted and regard with, have high regard. What we'll see, and this chart looks very different than it did 10 days ago. With the strong GDP and employment results, the forecast

[02:03:55] for 2024 are being revised. And so we're going into an area where we're going from about one and a half percent projected growth for 2024 to more than two to two and a half percent growth like we were able to achieve in 2023. We actually ended 2023 at 2.5 percent growth based on the advanced estimate that put out about 10 days ago, maybe about 10 days ago or so, by the Bureau of Economic

[02:04:30] Analysis. We did stronger in 2023 than we did in 2022. What happened to the recession? Well, actually, it didn't happen in the U.S., but it did happen in Europe and the rest of the world. That's another conversation. And so we are looking to maybe pull closer to the 2023 result, potentially in 2024 since we've come into 2024 so strongly. However, 2025, we're still expecting the impact of the interest rates and monetary tightening and tight credit conditions to kind of get us maybe below, perhaps not quite getting in trend growth. Normal trend growth is

[02:05:09] determined to be about 2%. So things are looking better for 2024. I'm no longer seeing that a potential recession is definitely in the forecast. I'm saying now that it's partly sunny, partly cloudy, and we have to monitor closely. The median right now forecast for 2024 is 1.6, and the median of these selected forecasts is 1.7. My finance directors all over the state, always ask me for the CPI forecast, and I've curated this. For 2024, it's averaging about

[02:05:48] 2.6% and still in the around 2.2 median for 2025. We're a long ways from the 2019 and 20 when we had below 2% growth. Not certain we can get there, again, because we have so many changing trade flows and supply shifts, which are going to have some transition costs.

[02:06:14] And so getting back below two, it's going to be a stretch, certainly not between now and 2025 or 2026. And so we'll have to, again, keep an eye on being able to achieve that again. In terms of that, we have some downside risk, some swirling winds facing the U.S. economy.

[02:06:32] I will not read all these to you. We have sticky inflation. We still have some labor market shortages impacting wage pressures there. Then that's going to see what's going to happen with the interest rate. And then the tight credit conditions are now winding their way through the economy. It takes about 18 months. So all of these rate increases are now working their way through.

[02:06:53] So what's going to happen to consumers and businesses? We still have to monitor that. Geopolitical risks have risen. We are in a new era in terms of risk in Europe, Middle East, Asia. How is that going to impact global energy, food, and commodity prices?

[02:07:10] and we're having continued supply chain challenges related to a lot of that geopolitical risk and those shipping attacks. And so we have those trade flows shifting and slower global growth.

[02:07:26] The U.S. is doing much better than most other areas, many other areas of the world economy. And although China and India, when China's slowdown is 5% growth compared to 8% to 10% they had before the pandemic, India is growing like crazy, but it's not that large.

[02:07:50] And so we have overall slower global growth, so that also impacts our businesses and where they're going to sell. In terms, this is Dr. Bailey's key considerations for organizations. Knowing your foundation, your financial foundation, your strengths, weaknesses and vulnerabilities, clearly find the strategic goals, very robust long-term financial planning and scenario planning so that you can have a menu of options to pull from when things change.

[02:08:22] We're in a very dynamic global environment. We want to expect change. And expecting that change, we want to have those early warning systems and our staff engagement is important for that. Also engagement with our community and of all elements, sectors of our community.

[02:08:38] And then in order to actually maintain our resiliency, we want to have adaptable decision-making practices, take that information, be able to process it, decide, and then agility in action. The pandemic taught us that agility in action is extremely important.

[02:08:57] With that, these are the key references. That concludes my presentation. Madam Chair and members of the board, and I will be happy to take any questions. All right, we appreciate the presentation. I'm just waiting to see if any of my colleagues have any questions or any comments.

[02:09:23] Supervisor Bailey. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Dr. Bailey, thank you for joining us this afternoon. We appreciate the presentation that you've given us. I just, one thing that really, I mean, your data was really great, but one thing that struck me towards the end of your presentation Dr. Bailey was when you said scenario planning and I put a big question mark by that if COVID has not taught us anything we need to be prepared in terms of that and agility and action and so in a climate that is transitioning transforming

[02:10:02] growing and different perspectives can you enlighten us and give us some good recommendations as to how we adhere to scenario planning and agility action. Thank you so much, Supervisor Bailey.

[02:10:19] And we'll have to connect maybe the next VACO to see the Bailey name. I'm a Hampton Roads Bailey. Anyway, my dad's actually a Hampton Bailey. And so in scenario planning, I think we have a lot of good bones in this regard, a lot of good DNA in this area.

[02:10:40] we just want to adapt it. I have spent many times in my government career and tabletop exercises with public safety. And so with that, we get these scenarios and we go through the scenarios. And so I would say, take some of that into our financial planning and other areas of planning. So just example. So in our comprehensive long-term financial planning, we would have all of our operating budget, all of our capital budget outline, all of our contractual obligations.

[02:11:15] And then we will really, really look at a number of different scenarios about our various lines of cost and our various lines of revenue. So I would have scenarios around real estate market and our real estate revenues. Real estate revenue is the top local revenue for local governments in Virginia. And then those other key revenues. When I was doing the financial planning for Hampton, the city of Hampton, the city of Norfolk, we had actually regression models. We actually

[02:11:54] built regression models for our top 10 local revenues. And so with that, we can get a number of scenarios of where those stress points may show up in our budget. Also, interest rate scenarios in terms of our debt service element. Then also scenarios on cost. Goodness knows that we had different kinds of cost structures we've exposed to in terms of wages, in terms of building supplies,

[02:12:26] in terms of gasoline, those types of scenarios we would have. And I look for where those stress points are. And then where those stress points are, we would begin to say, okay, what are some options? And then starting to get that shopping list. How could we address that? What would be some ways we could shift or adjust. Again, that transformation. What ways can we transform? What ways can we change the way we operate? Process redesign is one of the hardest things to do in

[02:13:04] government, but it's also very beneficial. You know, bringing out some more efficiency in our operations is challenging when you're already, when you don't have any fat left And you have many, many obligations, many more obligations than you have revenues. But that process redesign thought, can we automate some things? Are there some legacy systems, computer systems? And they can be legacy. And, you know, if you fix one part, it breaks another. Are there some legacy systems we can look at that we can potentially adopt?

[02:13:43] But again, that process redesign, just brainstorming, having some ideas and then getting down a list of potential approaches. And a lot of those brainstorming ideas will actually get incorporated into the next into the next operating budget and plan.

[02:14:02] So those are some of the ideas. I think in terms of agility and action, it is our decision making processes. Again, that process redesign. How do we receive information from the community, from our departments, from our staff? How is it processed? And how do we vet it, do our due diligence, and then have maybe some pilot innovation, pilot innovation projects, some pilot tests to see how we might be able to keep that going?

[02:14:35] So those are just a number of different ideas I put out there. But the first thing is we have this DNA and we want to adopt it from our public safety tabletops that we do on a regular basis. Thank you. And thank you so very much. Thank you, Dr. Bailey, so very much.

[02:14:51] And thank you, Mrs. Autred, for this, queuing up this presentation. Mr. Shorter, I believe that you're going to introduce our next speaker. Thank you. Thank you again, Dr. Bailey. I appreciate your presence here.

[02:15:07] We have been referencing your work for some time, so I appreciate all that you do for us, and we will continue to reference you going forward. Thank you. Thank you so much. I'm very proud of our local governments in Virginia.

[02:15:23] Thank you. Yep. All right. So as Ms. Kay Wallace makes her way down to talk strategic planning, I just want to thank her for all the work that she's done, certainly in our last strategic planning process. It was Kay Wallace who was leading the way, working with the community, working with our staff, and working with our board.

[02:15:45] So excited to be reintroducing this topic as we open the door around strategic planning for this board. We are working with a third party. That third party is here to assist us in the strategic planning process.

[02:16:05] Today really was an opportunity for Kay to walk us through that process, not to get into an extended conversation, if you will, about any of the content around strategic planning or the KPIs associated with strategic planning, but really just to walk us through the process itself, looking for your feedback, your thoughts as we go through these slides.

[02:16:32] So with that, Kay, take us away. Thank you, Mr. Shorter. The first thing I want to say is Dr. Bailey startled me a little bit when she said that millennials are now middle-aged because I'm Gen X, so if they're middle-aged, then what am I? We are forever young, okay? I'm one of you.

[02:16:49] Well, good afternoon, Madam Chair, members of the board, Mr. Shorter, Ms. Roble. My name is Kay Wallace, and I'm the County Strategic Plan Coordinator. I'm here this afternoon to share with you some information about our upcoming strategic planning process. In this presentation today, I will describe our phases of the next strategic plan development process.

[02:17:12] I'm going to share a projected timeline for the project, and then I will also explain the board's responsibilities in the process. Prince William County does community-based strategic planning and relies heavily on input from our residents to develop its four-year plans.

[02:17:30] For our next strategic plan, our goal is to create a relevant plan that is inclusive and actionable with measurable outcomes and key performance indicators. We also want to focus on ownership as far as completing tasks and projects that are associated with our next four-year plan.

[02:17:50] So development of the county's next plan will be divided into five phases. I'll show you all the phases, and then I'll go a little bit deeper into all those phases on subsequent slides. So, phase one is the planning and launch phase, which includes hiring a strategic plan consultant, forming the necessary teams, and convening a community advisory committee.

[02:18:15] In phase two, we will gain insights about the current state of Prince William County and engage the community to solicit input for the next plan. This will be achieved by conducting community focus groups and town halls and by conducting interviews with each board supervisor and the county executive.

[02:18:33] Phase three is strategic plan development. During this phase, the consultant will conduct work sessions with the board and county leadership to select our strategic plan goals, objectives, action strategies, and key performance indicators.

[02:18:52] In phase four, we will present a draft of the strategic plan to the board and the community, and after review and feedback and appropriate edits to the plan, the county executive will recommend that you all adopt the 2025 through 2028 strategic plan.

[02:19:07] And finally, in Phase 5, county leadership and designated staff will develop agency work plans that support implementation of our next four-year plan. Now I'm going to dive a little bit into each of these phases.

[02:19:25] Phase 1 includes onboarding the strategic plan consultant, finalizing the year-long project plan, and convening teams. As Mr. Shorter pointed out, the county has partnered with Performance Breakthroughs, or PBI, for consultation services.

[02:19:41] And Mr. Jeff Parks and his team, Dr. Jessica Brown and Ms. Cynthia Hewey are here in the boardroom today. We've also created teams and identified roles and responsibilities. And this slide shows some of the important players and groups in our strategic planning process.

[02:19:59] As far as roles and responsibilities, the board will select our strategic goals for the next four years and will adopt the plan. The county executive will serve as a liaison between the board and county administration regarding strategic planning development and implementation.

[02:20:16] We have formed a steering committee comprised of the executive cabinet, and they will serve in an advisory role as well as provide input about the contents of our next strategic plan. We are recommending the formation of a community advisory committee comprised of residents appointed by the board who will assist with community engagement as well as provide input into our next strategic plan.

[02:20:42] We also will convene strategic plan work groups that will be comprised of directors and designated staff who will be responsible for drafting strategies in our next plan as well as developing agency work plans that support strategic plan implementation.

[02:20:58] And last, but certainly not least, the most important group in this process is the community. So I'll use the next couple of slides to dive into the community's role for developing our next strategic plan. We recommend convening a community advisory committee comprised of 16 residents appointed by the board.

[02:21:21] The community advisory committee will serve as liaisons between the board and the community and will be an integral part of community outreach by assisting with the community town halls. The committee will also participate in a focus group with the consultant to provide input for the new plan as well as provide feedback on the draft plan itself.

[02:21:43] We ask that you appoint residents to this committee on or before March 12th board meeting. Phase two of this process is where we gain insight to develop the next strategic plan by hearing opinions about the quality of life and services in Prince William County and soliciting input regarding future priorities.

[02:22:06] In addition to forming a community advisory committee, this slide highlights how we will engage the community throughout this process. We are recommending that each board supervisor host a town hall or community conversation in your respective district where attendees can provide input for the strategic plan.

[02:22:26] These town halls will be open to all residents in your district. County staff will provide support for conducting these sessions. We are suggesting eight sessions, one per supervisor, during a projected time period of March to June.

[02:22:44] However, ideally, we would like you to conduct these town halls sooner rather than later. We'll also conduct some community focus groups. The strategic plan consultant will facilitate one focus group in each magisterial district and three additional focus groups, most likely with specific stakeholders such as the business community or other community leaders.

[02:23:08] The county also plans to administer its biennial community survey this spring. This survey will also provide opinions and insight regarding quality of life in Prince William County. In addition to the community engagement, the consultant will also conduct one-on-one interviews with each supervisor and the county executive.

[02:23:32] We want to hear your individual perspectives for the future priorities for the county. These interviews will occur before the board begins to select strategic plan goals. The planned time period for these interviews is March, more likely in April. Finally, in addition to the community focus groups, the consultant will also conduct employee focus groups with Prince William County staff.

[02:23:57] The projected time period for these focus groups is also between May and June. The consultant will then synthesize the information from all of the focus groups, portions of the community survey, as well as the interviews to identify themes and priorities that will be shared with the board and the steering committee.

[02:24:22] Next, let's move on to phase three. So phase three is where we actually work on developing the strategic plan. The board will use the input from the community and staff, as well as the input received from each of you individually about the future priorities for the county to collectively select four-year goals of the next strategic plan.

[02:24:43] The consultant would like to facilitate two work sessions with the board during the months of May and June to accomplish this task. The steering committee will use the four-year goals that are selected by the board to devise objectives for each goal.

[02:25:01] The projected time period for this task is July to August. So at this point, we've developed, or we've selected our strategic plan goals that were selected by the board, and then we've selected our strategic plan objectives that were selected by the steering committee.

[02:25:20] So the next step in the process is to develop action strategies and key performance indicators. The consultant will facilitate two work sessions with each of the county's newly organized government quadrants to develop the action strategies in the next strategic plan.

[02:25:45] After the strategic plan is developed, the county will present the draft to the board and the community and allow the opportunity for feedback over a two or three week period. There will be the opportunity to provide written feedback via Speak Up Prince William, as well as by sending emails to our County Strategic Plan email address.

[02:26:06] The board also usually has a public hearing on the draft plan to hear verbal feedback from the community prior to adoption. After the review period ends, edits and revisions will be made to the plan as approved by the board and or the steering committee.

[02:26:24] Then the county executive will recommend ratification of the plan by the board. The goal is to adopt the next strategic plan in January of 2025, about a year from now. After ratification by the board, the consultant will work with the county to begin developing individual agency work plans that directly support strategic plan implementation.

[02:26:50] With assistance from the consultant, we will develop an execution process that clearly assigns responsibilities to ensure ownership on each aspect of the plan. Measurable metrics or key performance indicators are a priority in this next plan, and we will create a dashboard to report on progress.

[02:27:11] This slide provides a high-level summary of the action items for this entire project. First, we want to give the board an overview of our next strategic plan development process, which I'm doing today.

[02:27:30] We are next asking you all to appoint residents to a community advisory committee. We will then see community, stakeholder, and Prince William County staff input into our next strategic plan, and then we'll receive strategic direction from the board.

[02:27:48] Our next step in the process will actually be to produce a draft of the plan through those work sessions that I mentioned a few moments ago. And then once we create the draft, we'll seek the board and community feedback on that draft plan. We'll revise the draft as appropriate and produce a final draft or final copy of the plan, at which point Mr. Shorter will be recommending that you all adopt our 2025-2028 strategic plan.

[02:28:15] And finally, after we have the plan adopted, we'll begin agency work plans that directly support strategic plan implementation. This is a projected timeline of the process. This schedule, admittedly, is very aggressive and, of course, it's subject to change, but I just want to kind of go over it really quickly right now.

[02:28:39] In the months of February and March, what we will do is finalize our project approach and ask you all to appoint community advisory committee members. Between the months of March and June, we will conduct community surveys, do the focus groups, do the board interviews and the interview with Mr. Shorter, and do other data gathering as needed.

[02:29:01] Between the months of July and October is where we actually do the work sessions to develop the plan. In the month of November, the strategic plan consultant will draft the plan, at which point we'll present that draft to the board and the community for review and feedback for a short period of time, and then we'll finalize the plan with the goal of asking the board to adopt our next four-year plan in January of 2025, at which point strategic plan implementation begins.

[02:29:33] So here's what we're asking you to do. We are asking you to appoint two residents to the community advisory committee. We're asking you to host one community town hall within your magisterial district. We're asking you to assist with assembling a community-focused group within your district. We're asking you to participate in one-on-one interviews with a strategic plan consultant. We're asking you to participate in work sessions to identify your strategic plan goals for the next four years. We're asking you to review and provide feedback on the draft plan,

[02:30:13] hear community feedback on the draft plan, and then adopt the plan in January of 2025. And we're also asking you to support implementation of the plan over the next four years. I feel like I kept it short and sweet, high level and direct. Thank you for your time, and I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have. Thank you so very much for your presentation. We're going to start with um supervisor gordy okay thanks so much for this and uh look forward to um working with you over the next few months i call april 3rd uh for community town hall we've already got a

[02:30:50] plan gainesville high school so uh we read this before you got here so okay so we're already ahead of the game oh i like that that is that is great look at martin i'm the new guy i'm just trying to make everybody look back any dibs on april 4th no um quick question on the uh community advisory committee yes what's the process for appointing folks to that is this through a normal appointment process or how are we going to go about doing that well i we were speaking about that recently and what we have found is that we can go through the normal process where people submit resumes and

[02:31:27] are appointed by the board but we don't absolutely have to do that so that is still a point of discussion at this point um we're going to discuss that with mr shorter and figure out the best most efficient course of action for that because we are a little bit behind the ball in terms of timing and we want to get started as soon as possible. Is there from your experience what kind of individual offers the most value to you in this process? Of course one that is very invested in what's going on in Prince William County and caring about their community but also one ideally

[02:32:02] that doesn't have necessarily a strong political agenda, one that would be a good team player, one that has a basic understanding of strategic planning in general so that they would be able to contribute in a positive way to the process.

[02:32:20] That's all the questions I have for now. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you so much. We're going to go to Supervisor Yossi Vega. Thank you, Madam Chair. Okay, overachiever. It's good to see you. It's been a long time. Thank you. Good to see you, too. I just want to share how happy it makes me to hear that you're requesting for us to appoint two residents, members of the community to be a part of this um i believe that i strongly pushed for this in some of our conversations and that was some of the feedback that i gave that i wanted to see the community be a part of this and so i'm happy to hear that i appreciate the comments or questions rather that supervisor already asked because i do think that it's important to appoint people

[02:32:59] that are going to help us accomplish the task at hand so just wanted to give you kudos for that thank you i know that there's a lot at least in the coles district there are a lot of folks that would be excited uh to be appointed and there is some interest there so thank you that's good thank you all right next we're going to go to supervisor bode thank you madam sharon as a millennial who turns 37 next week i do feel middle you're not middle aged um so uh just a couple questions thank you miss wallace again for for being part of this both four years ago and also this uh this time around hopefully god willing we don't have a pandemic that throws a huge monkey wrench into

[02:33:38] the works this time as we did four years ago my question sort of goes to more about the consultants will be working with for this can you talk a little bit more about their background their experience with this and how they'll be helping to facilitate this because I know if I remember last time around we didn't really have an outside consultant we just sort of did a lot more of this in-house we did and so and there was a very stressful time for me I must say and so I'm very very grateful that mr. shorter and mr. Haynes were willing to allow us to hire a consultant this time. Now, I'll defer to Mr. Haynes on this, but I think the best

[02:34:13] way to get a little bit of background about Performance Breakthroughs Incorporated is from Performance Breakthroughs Incorporated. And so if it's okay with you all, I think Mr. Parks could come up to the podium and just share a little bit about his company and their experience. That'd be great. Thank you. So good afternoon, Madam Chair. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen of the board. I'm Jeff Farks. I am the president of Performance Break-2s. I brought my all-star

[02:34:46] team with me, Dr. Jessica Brown and Ms. Cynthia Huey. Starting with my relationship with Prince William County, I have been a county resident right down Bacon Race Road since Labor Day of 1996. So we have seen everything over the last 28 years, I think it is. PBI is in its 26th year.

[02:35:12] We specialize in helping local governments take the journey to excellence, strategic planning, and even encouraging organizations to move from strategic planning to strategic management is really one of our fortes. As a part of that, we do quite a bit of executive coaching because executive coaching and change management is part of the mindset that needs to be there to help organizations get there.

[02:35:38] As a part of my being in this area, I vote right out there. I do my business license right out there. So I know the county. Both Dr. Brown and Ms. Huey have connections with the county, which they can explain at some other time.

[02:35:56] We pride ourselves on creating inclusive and outcome-based products, which really focus on metrics that are reasonable, measurable, and that people understand and that you can make good decisions from.

[02:36:14] So I stand by to answer any other questions. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you for that, Ms. Wallace, Mr. Parks. I'm proud to represent you on the Board of Supervisors, let me just say that. But also, I appreciate it, because again, for the public's benefit, last time around we didn't really have a consultant involved.

[02:36:32] This time around, if we're going to be having someone doing something as community-focused, as doing our strategic plan, I figured it was important for folks to hear what your all-breath of knowledge was. And it's great to hear that you've been here for a number of years and you understand Prince William County. So thank you very much for indulging me, Madam Chair.

[02:36:47] All right, thank you. And I just want to let all the Millennial Supervisors know that if you're under 40, I don't want to hear anything about being middle-aged, okay? Just want to let you know, I'll rule you out of order. All right, now we're going to go to Supervisor Bailey. That's great answer.

[02:37:07] I loved it. I loved it. Thank you so much, Kay, for this wonderful presentation. And I agree with Supervisor Vega. Some of the things that we asked before, you've answered in this presentation. We really appreciate that. I think one of the things that I wanted to know about is the survey.

[02:37:27] Because I think survey is important because it's going to help you collect the data from the community. And what's the time frame on it? And, you know, just give us a generality of what that looks like. The survey, this iteration of the strategic plan, Supervisor Bailey, is actually our biennial community citizen satisfaction survey.

[02:37:49] So that is a survey that we'll be using to inform us and give us information about residents' opinions regarding the equality of life in Prince William County. The timeline for that, as far as I know, I think it's sometime in March or early April. March, sometime in March is when it will be administered.

[02:38:07] Okay, that's great. And to the gentleman from PBI, thank you. I've had the pleasure of participating on some of your work in a prior life, so thank you for coming. Thank you for living here. That's very important. We need someone that knows, you know.

[02:38:24] And then the other question that I had was for the two representatives that you want us to provide for you, and I really like that part because that was a discussion you and I had. I lost my representation. So is that a, in case one can't be there, the other one can, or is that a collaborative kind of thing that you're expecting?

[02:38:47] We are, it will be 16 people on the community advisory committee, So it's not where one is an alternate for the other or one shows up when the other is in present. They both will be a part of the committee. All of your two appointed residents will be a part of that committee.

[02:39:04] Okay. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. And now we'll go on to Supervisor Bob Ware. This may take a minute. You're going to get a text to say, hurry up. Yeah, well. I mean, in reviewing this over the last couple of days, one of my principal concerns is this time frame seems very, very aggressive.

[02:39:28] In fact, I would suggest too aggressive for a project of this magnitude, scope, and importance, especially how it's going to deal with a variety of issues as we go forward as a board. So I'm a little concerned about the time frame. I'm particularly concerned about the time frame of appointing our appointees.

[02:39:45] You know, we're down to less than a month, and now we're going to drag it out a little bit longer while you guys figure out how we're going to make the appointment process. I'm not real wild about that. I'm also a little concerned about how the strategic plan work group is going to coordinate or work with the community advisory committee.

[02:40:10] It seems to me there's a little bit of a disconnect there where you're asking a community advisory committee to do a lot of work or provide a lot of analysis input, that sort of thing. But it doesn't seem like they're going to have a whole lot of impact on what comes out of that.

[02:40:29] community focus groups limiting it at 20 people means you're going to have the same 20 people that always speak in every district and I'm not sure that that's going to serve us adequately slide seven the one-on-one interviews with the supervisors in March and April it's in the middle of budget season again the aggressive timeline is going to cause a problem for me because I'm going to be looking at the budget and I'm not going to have a whole lot of time for strategic goals Goals input in the middle of budget season, especially when we're approaching markup

[02:41:11] Slide 8 the board will develop the goals and the steering committee will develop the objectives I can't speak to the rest of the board, but I got a problem with that I think the board should be developing both the goals and the objectives or at least a portion of the objectives To implement the goals of the policies that we set I'll get to this one in a second I'm already taking care of that.

[02:41:47] Curious, given that after the strategic plan is ratified, the consultant will then provide training sessions to each individual agency work plan, what is our total out-of-pocket on consultant costs, or what have we budgeted for that?

[02:42:06] We have budgeted about $300,000 for the entire project. Will it be sufficient for this one project? Yes, it will. I'm also curious, with the hosting cost of the town halls, Is that coming out of the county budget, or is that coming out of the supervisor's magisterial budgets?

[02:42:25] At this point, I'll let Mr. Shorty answer that. Our plan is not to burden the supervisor's budgets with town halls that we are recommending we have. So we expect that that will hit the general fund, not the supervisor's individual budget.

[02:42:41] Just a last thought, above and beyond what I would consider overly aggressive timing. I'm just a little concerned that the board's role in this is unduly minimized.

[02:42:58] So you're going to test my memory here, Mr. Weir. So if I forget anything, just let me know. But with regard to the aggressive timeline, we do acknowledge that this is an aggressive timeline. And as far as I know, every time Prince William County develops this strategic plan, they do it over this similar type of timeline, which is a one-year time period.

[02:43:20] And so we do understand that right now we are in budget season. And, of course, budget season or not, anything could happen to knock this timeline off where we may not be adopting the plan in January, maybe a month or two later. So we do acknowledge that. Nonetheless, we still have what we've proposed.

[02:43:38] With regard to the interviews, I do understand that it is budget season right now. We had a discussion about that. What we're trying to do with regard to this process, and we've been working with a consultant on this, is we would like, and I know you all are busy, we would like you all to conduct your community town halls before you do your individual interviews so that at your community town hall, you can hear feedback from the community and then use some of that feedback in addition to your individual perspectives and funnel that information to our consultant who will be analyzing all of our, or gathering all of our qualitative

[02:44:17] data but see that creates a different set of issues if we're going to have those town halls that date prior to budget adoption nobody's going to have any idea how much has been allocated to support the goals or support the programs i mean i think we need to slow our roll on the time frame i would rather spend more time and get a valid work product than rush it through and get something that will be of limited value or perhaps not even viable, given where revenue streams, where the budget is, where budget priorities are placed,

[02:44:52] because you could then end up with a set of 2025, 2026 budget priorities that don't match your strategic priorities. So you've got two different papers that you're going to always be scrambling to somehow meld together and accommodate both.

[02:45:08] So I would appreciate just kind of slowing this down a little bit, Just because we've done it on this time frame in the past doesn't necessarily hold that we have to use the same time frame if it's going to result in something that is less than helpful. That's absolutely understood.

[02:45:26] Thank you very much, Supervisor Weir. What I'll say in terms of the budget planning process, only because we are coming back next week, as it were, to talk about, via the proposed budget, how this board would like to prioritize investments.

[02:45:44] That said, what we plan to do over the next few weeks as we open up the public process around budgeting is really focused on wrapping up the current strategic plan. So the work that Kay and the team will be doing over this next few weeks will really be about going forward what the next four years look like beyond the FY25 budget.

[02:46:06] And so I just want to make sure I sort of made it clear that what you and the board will be doing around this year's budget will really be about your priorities for FY25. What you'll be doing by way of engagement around the strategic plan will be prioritizing this government for the next – for four years in the next – I should say for the next four years beyond this budget.

[02:46:38] Madam Chair, if I may. Yes. I get that, and I actually fundamentally disagree with it. We will be focusing under that scenario on a strategic plan that we didn't craft. So we don't need to budget that strategic plan anymore, and it's very likely or it's possible, I would argue, that the goals and objectives for whatever we develop over whatever time we do may be markedly different than what was adopted three or four years ago.

[02:47:12] So why would we continue down the path of implementing and funding if we may very well change direction in the very near future or in the next couple of months? I think, you know, we have some fundamental things that we have to fund, operational costs, salaries, some CIP projects.

[02:47:31] But for initiatives that are part of the past strategic plan, I don't believe that this particular board is beholden to any of that. Quite frankly, it's not ours. Mr. Weir, if I may, the current strategic plan does not expire until December the 31st of 2024.

[02:47:52] So technically, it is your strategic plan. I know you all are the new board, and some of you all were here when we adopted the current plan. But that plan is in place for one more year. And I would argue we're not beholden to it. Understood. All right, we're going to go on to Supervisor Margaret Franklin.

[02:48:11] Sure, thank you. I would argue that our first goal and objective should be to work with Ms. Wallace on the strategic plan. That's number one. Number two, you know, we just came off a retreat where we kind of came up with some draft and potential goals for how we want to see this county moving forward.

[02:48:33] And I think that's important. It's not like we're starting from zero. Now, from those discussions, a lot of those points intersect, I think, with a lot of the goals that we have discussed moving forward. I would also just say that, I mean, look, in terms of timing, it's aggressive, but we've dealt with a lot more aggressive timeframes before.

[02:48:56] This is the strategic plan. In my opinion, it's almost as important as the comprehensive plan. You know, this board started at the beginning of January. It is now mid-February. So what other time were we going to do it unless you want to push it to after the budget? But then you kind of get pushed up against going into the late spring and summer.

[02:49:17] So I would just encourage us to have an open mind about the strategic plan and treat it as important as some of the other plans that we have, whether it be the comprehensive plan. We have several master plans. And so I would just encourage us to work with Ms. Wallace to make sure that we get this done.

[02:49:36] I think those town halls are going to be critically important. I think our appointees are going to be critically important. and i think that these are the goals that we're setting forth for the county in every single facet and so i think we need to take that seriously all right thank you sir franklin so i am now going to provide my two cents i think this is aggressive but i also think it needs to be and to be quite frank um you know any plan that we put in place is going to have to have some flexibility we're going to have to deviate as necessary as conditions change so i'm not worried

[02:50:14] about the timeline. I do think this needs to be aggressive. And I think that the supervisors, although the process isn't completely ironed out, we need to think about people in our community who are really engaged in the community, who can solicit feedback, who can help us correct any blind spots we have. And with that, my questions, because I looked at this too, you know, and I was wondering, are we going to have a chance, is the board going to have a chance to review the biennial community survey before it's released? Because we may have questions that

[02:50:46] we want to have added to it. So I just received information at the, and to be clear, the Communications Engagement Office will release that community survey. It's what we do on a rec, you know, every two years. I believe that a part of the survey in, well, it is open. So if there's a desire for the board to see, I'm happy to share how that survey will be designed prior to it being released to the public gotcha because again we may have questions we want to have I'm also concerned about low participation rates I don't know what

[02:51:24] it's been in the past but you know we have some vulnerable communities we have some people who quite honestly are not engaged and that's a very big concern of mine you know how are we gonna be promoting the surveys the consulting will be working with us because again we have our networks and people who can reach out and you know I'm sure the people we're appointed also have their networks but we're gonna have blind spots and so I'm just trying to figure out How do we minimize that?

[02:51:49] What I'll plan to do, and I'm sure the communications team is tuned in and will be prepared to help provide in writing some additional information to the board on the community survey itself, the design of the process we'll use to launch the community survey this year.

[02:52:10] I'll also say to Supervisors Weir's question about the appointment of the advisory committee, What I'll do with Ms. Wallace and with DCXO Haynes, we will send out within the week information to the board on the process we would like to use to point those two representatives.

[02:52:36] That way we are clear going forward what role the clerk's office will play in engaging you or how we will get that information from you. All right, and will the committee, community, I'm sorry, advisory committee be involved in the process after we complete the second phase?

[02:52:52] They will be involved throughout the entire process. So they will be heavily involved at the beginning of the process, but they will stay informed throughout the entire process. They're going to participate in a focus group themselves with our consultant to provide input directly into the plan, and then they're going to participate in a session to, well, this isn't with a consultant, but they will actually provide feedback on the plan once it's drafted.

[02:53:18] So they'll be involved throughout the entire process. All right, and I realize for most of the board, it probably will be a little bit of lift because, yes, we are going to budget season to have an additional ask upon us. You know, Tom Gordy is a student right now, but if anyone, you know, and making myself available to members of the board, you know, if you are having these town halls, if you would like me to attend, please work with me in my office because I'd love to get as much feedback.

[02:53:44] Again, this is my first term on the board. I'd love to hear as much from the community as possible. Again, my concern is making sure that we reach out to voices we may not normally hear from. I realize it takes a little bit of additional effort, but I think it's something that is worth it. Because if we are really going to look at the county and really do a strategic plan right, it's better to hear from more voices than less.

[02:54:06] And I look forward to working with you in your office throughout this process. Because, you know, this is going to go by fast. I mean, we're going to spend a year working on this plan, and it's supposed to guide us for another four years. And, you know, again, things change. You know, we are going to stray away from it at times, perhaps, but I really would like for us to do our best to get it right.

[02:54:28] And one thing that I would like to point out is that we're offering the community town halls, and they can be in-person or virtual. And so logistically, it may be easier if you consider doing them virtually with regard to scheduling and everything, because that way you don't have to find a physical location to actually hold that town hall.

[02:54:46] And I also want to point out that the town halls are going to be open to all, so it's as many people in your district as are able to attend. Whereas for the focus groups, we do want the consultant to be a little more focused in those sessions, and so that's why we're limiting those to 20 participants.

[02:55:02] But I feel like that we're given the capability for the community to, in various ways, provide input because those community focus groups will definitely be in person. All right. Hold on. Looks like we have a couple more speakers. Supervisor Gordy again, and Supervisor Bailey.

[02:55:20] Just to follow up on the town halls, in terms of just sort of the format, we're asking the public amount, who will they be speaking to? Certainly not just me, but who will be the audience for the town hall?

[02:55:36] Who will be the listening ear on that part? Okay, so we're using the phrase town hall, but in my opinion, Supervisor Gordy, This is more appropriately termed a community conversation. The idea, and we will provide more detail to you all after the meeting today, I believe Mr. Short will be sending out some type of email to you all, a letter on communication within the next week or so about this.

[02:55:58] But the idea is that the town hall would be basically facilitated by you, but with a standard set of questions that we're going to give you beforehand. We will be county staff support, me and a strategic plan team that we're going to put together as well as your community advisory committee people that would be there to assist with that process. So it's going to be basically a conversation where you're asking the questions, they're providing the input, we have note takers there, and we're going to use all that information and keep it and you'll have it because you will have heard from your own constituents yourself and then use that to help inform your interview with the consultant. I hope

[02:56:37] that answered your question. Sure. And then in terms of the interviews with the individual supervisors, is this um i'm assuming there's a set of questions that you intend to ask us and will we receive those beforehand uh before we sit down with you guys i'm getting a nod yes in the back so i think the question's been answered thank you yes exactly we wouldn't do that to you and one other thing that i would like to say if this is okay for me to say is that um it may not always feel like it at the time but change is good and even though in the past we've had we always want to

[02:57:14] have robust community involvement when we create our strategic plan but four years ago the board didn't give us the goals we gave them to you all what we're trying to do this time is we're trying to get input from the community to hear what they feel are the strengths and weaknesses for Prince William County what are the opportunities and threats where do we go from here for the next four years to make this a community we all want to live in. And then you take that information, the board, and you tell us what you think your goals should be for the next four years based upon that input. So Mr. Weir, to your point that you made earlier, that you feel like that this process actually is removing the board from the process more. Actually, it is involving you all

[02:57:54] more. And when it comes to the objectives, as well as the action strategies, our consultants here, who I'm excited to work with because I know I'm going to learn a lot from them, intend to cascade, it's a process of cascading, alignment and cascading where when you all select the goals and then our leadership, the steering committee, selects the objectives, then the consultant is then going to come back to the board to say, okay, board members, do these objectives align with what you have stated you want your goals to be for the next four years?

[02:58:28] And then we'll do that as we go down to develop the action strategies throughout the entire process of developing the plan. So this time it will be you all selecting the goals for the county for the next four years. All right, Supervisor Bailey. I like it.

[02:58:44] I like it. And I like, Tom, thanks for asking the question about the questions, because I was wondering, do we create that? That's time consuming, but you did the head nod. That's good. But the other thing that I wanted to say, Kay, is please let us know when we make these selections.

[02:59:02] If they're not panning out, let us know immediately. Because every supervisor on the dais, we have to have a voice in it, you know, and that makes everybody's job easier if we're accountable to that. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. All right, thank you so very much.

[02:59:21] This was a really, I think, a very good discussion among us, and thank you for the presentation. Thank you. again you know this is going to be an aggressive process but you know i think we're all in and we'll adjust as we need to as we go along thank you so very much we are going to move into supervisors time um before we go around the day to provide individual updates we need to vote on two resolutions the first item is 7a which is to amend the prince william border county supervisors

[02:59:57] our 2024 meeting calendar to cancel the meeting on may 21st and schedule a meeting on may 7th beginning at 2 p.m the board chambers at the mccourt building i'd like to entertain a motion to approve agenda item 7a so move madam second any discussion i will note that the meeting is being moved because of the valor awards hosted by the prince william chamber of commerce and we want to make sure another number of supervisors will like to attend that event and we want to make sure that

[03:00:28] we accommodate all right let's vote vote unanimous all right thank you so very much the next item is 7b which is a resolution to adopt the updated basic principles of the board of county supervisors is there a motion to approve agenda item 7b so move madam chair second all right discussion

[03:00:57] all right supervisor weir thank you madam chair i know we discussed this at the uh at the retreat but i'm pretty sure there was no universal acceptance of the second to the last bullet point and i would argue that that is not in the interest of individual board members to put a policy in there put a policy that is unattainable like that in because there's no way that i and others are going to comply with it and i don't believe it's in the best

[03:01:35] interest of our of our constituents to put that policy in there and would you please again give me the specific line to agree that when the board takes a policy position by majority vote to stand united on the board position we agree not to condemn other board members for their stance we agree to state our reasons for points of disagreement and not to play the press for the sake of politics at the expense of other board members it's just too broad and if i disagree with something i'm going to make it known so much to say so the whole time to say it um no seriously and i i respect your position um i don't know if you have anything else to add because if not i'll

[03:02:15] go to Supervisor Bode. Thank you, Madam Chair. Just a very, very nitpicky correction. The very first bullet point, interact with mutual respect, honest, and trust. I think it's mostly honesty because honest is an adjective, not a noun. That is... I appreciate that. And that is something we are going to need to adjust for. And I am going to want to have a discussion on Supervisor with points. Supervisor Vega. Thank you, Madam Chair. I did have the same concerns that Supervisor

[03:02:52] Weir raised. I would have worded it differently. But nevertheless, the concerns still remain. And for the sake of transparency, I did raise those concerns during our work session. And I will, though, however, be supporting this. But I do want to remind my colleagues that this is not legally binding in any way, shape, or form. It is a commitment to act in good faith. But my concerns still remain, and I believe that it is my duty, my obligation, to inform my constituency in the Coles District of how I vote, and if I have an inquiry as to how the rest of the board vote, that I absolutely am in the authority to disclose that.

[03:03:28] And so just want to, you know, state for the record that I have concerns with this. I raise those concerns during our work session, and those concerns remain, and that I do have the authority to inform my constituents as I see fit. I also, though, do want to thank our county executive, county staff, for all of their hard work during the two-day retreat.

[03:03:49] I personally found it to be very useful. I learned a lot from some of my colleagues on the dais that I didn't know about after serving one full term with them. And so I did find value in that and, again, want to thank everybody for all of their efforts and their attention to us during the two-day retreat.

[03:04:05] Thank you, Madam Chair. All right. Supervisor Franklin. Sure, I'd just like to say I actually think that these are some very good principles that I think will really keep us grounded over the next several years. And then I'll also just point to the second to the last line, or paragraph rather, and it says we agree not to condemn.

[03:04:28] And I think that's a little bit different than you being able to state your position to your constituents and relate to them that you disagree with a particular vote or position. I think condemn means, I guess in this context, not to make it personal, not to go low, not to disrespect your colleagues.

[03:04:50] I think that's pretty much what the idea around that particular line means. And so I think it's totally acceptable for us to be able to communicate how we feel to our constituents. But I do think that there is a line that should be drawn when it becomes disrespectful.

[03:05:06] So I think that's the intent of this, and I do plan to support this. Thank you. All right, Supervisor Bodie and then Supervisor Gordie. Thank you. That's an interesting mingling of our last names, right? Bordie. There we go. Thank you, Madam Chair. Just wanted to echo some of what Supervisor Franklin just said.

[03:05:24] I appreciate the concerns raised by it. Supervisors Vega and we're, you know, folks should be able to point out the disagreements and point out why they stand apart in votes that are taken. Don't think that any one of us wants to dissuade from that. But as Supervisor Franklin just said, I think it's more to the point of how you go about saying those disagreements as opposed to doing it at all.

[03:05:46] There's a difference between, hey, they were there, I was here, here's why I didn't support it, let's move forward, then, hey, I'm going to the point that that last line makes, I'm not only going to disagree, I'm going to go make political hay over it with the press, with the public, what have you. Because I think that undermines the decorum and the civility that we've talked about, including at the retreat.

[03:06:06] So I agree 100%. We should be able to state to our constituents why we did something or why we didn't do something or why we disagreed with a majority vote or whatever it is. But again, it's the how, not the why. And that's why I'm going to be supporting this. Thank you, Madam Chair. All right. To the other part of the boardy, Supervisor Gordy.

[03:06:24] I agree with what Supervisor Franklin said. I think as we look at that bullet, it really is about the tone and tenor of how we treat one another after a vote. But that kind of gets to the question of that one phrase, to stand united on the board position.

[03:06:42] If we have a very strong disagreement with that position, if there's a vote taken on something in the Brentsville district that I'm completely opposed to, I can't in good faith with the constituents of Brentsville stand united with that decision. And I think you would all feel the same if that were true for your district.

[03:07:02] So for me, it's about, you know, is there a better way that we could stake that? Rather than to say that, you know, we're going to take a vote, we're all going to stand united, when I can't in good conscience stand united behind a decision that I won't support. But again, I don't have to be nasty about it. I don't have to condemn my colleagues for it.

[03:07:20] And I can certainly be respectful of you and the press. And I think that, again, that's what we're trying to get to. But I think it just gets back to that one phrase, that is there a better way that we could say it, remove it, that doesn't feel like we're being tied to something that we can't live with.

[03:07:39] We have a couple more speakers, and I'm going to make a suggestion to the language. Supervisor Bailey. Thank you, Madam Chair. I disagree with everything that's been said thus far.

[03:07:57] I think it does have to, it's referred to decorum and how we really have verbally attacked each other in the past. And I think it's an opportunity for us to move forward. And I do agree that if something is not supporting our districts, that it won't be a united front.

[03:08:20] But I think that that's the beauty about us having such a great team. And the great team was exhibited in the retreat. And so I think we just understand that all the time it's not going to be a united front. That's understandable. But I think this speaks to how we have verbally treated each other on camera with the press in the past.

[03:08:43] And I think this is a great opportunity in us moving forward. And so I will be supporting it. And I do acknowledge and respect my colleagues who said if it's something that my district doesn't want, I'm not going to agree with it. And I think that's been understood the whole time in the past four years, but it's just the way that we've presented that understanding.

[03:09:03] So I'm going to support it. Thank you. All right. Supervisor Ware. Thank you, Madam Chair. To Supervisor Gordy's point, I think the problem is that one clause in combination with the last half of it is where you're sort of pledging not to disagree if you're on the losing side and not play politics with it.

[03:09:28] But there's two sides to every vote. So, I mean, the same thing would go with playing politics with respect to being on the majority side. To that end, I would move a substitute motion, which is the basic principles with item 10 amended to read to agree that when the board takes a policy position by majority vote, board members will not condemn other board members for their stance, yada, yada, yada.

[03:09:54] Essentially just taking out the two stand united on the board position and rephrasing it a little bit. So before I, I will not accept the substitute motion because I want to play around with this a little bit more. So if you guys may allow me.

[03:10:13] I'm willing to walk with you. Madam Chair, a motion was made and we have to act on it, but maybe you can issue a substitute. I will defer. You will defer. Okay, great. He's redrawing his substitute. That's what I, thank you. I was trying to get him to, all right, so one day I will learn parliamentary procedure.

[03:10:31] So let's play around with this because I want to make sure that we have the language right since this is going to be something that we're to agree that when the board takes a policy position, comma, by majority vote, comma, and I'm writing this too, the dissenting, the board members, wait, no, hold on.

[03:11:08] Because I want to make sure that we're also addressing the board. Let's try this. I know. Okay. To agree when the board takes a policy position, comma, by a majority vote, comma, the individual supervisors may disagree.

[03:11:29] However, we will not condemn other board members for their stance. We agree to state our – so do you guys hear what I'm doing there? I don't – well, no, I don't mind the last line, the second sentence.

[03:11:48] We agree to state our reasons for appointed, but I'm duplicating that last line. Wait, turn on your mic. I can't hear you. The simplified way to do it would be by majority vote, comma, and then instead of individual board members or anything like that, just the majority of board members will not condemn.

[03:12:13] And I think that language takes care of everything, and you don't have to change anything else. You would just strike everything from to stand united through we agree not to and replace it with board members will not. So I just, again, because I want to make sure to agree that when the board.

[03:12:29] I think it's grammatically correct. To agree. Yeah, that's what I was wondering. Supervisor Bodie will be our grammar. To agree that when the board takes a policy position, comma, by majority vote, comma. Board members will not.

[03:12:46] Board members will not condemn. Condemn. And then everything's the same. One another. I don't know. Madam Chair. Supervisor Franklin. This is going to come as a shock to everyone, but I actually agree with Supervisor Weird that it will probably be simple.

[03:13:03] Okay. To just add board members. Now, that's just my one-eighth. So I'd like to say that civility is an action, not a noun, so I appreciate that, Supervisor, frankly. Yeah, I would agree that it simplifies it a little bit, so I'm actually fine with what, well, I would prefer what we have, but if we're compromising.

[03:13:24] I think a compromise is great here, and I know Supervote wants to chime in with his grammatical, I assume. I just want to read it out so everyone can hear it. To agree that when the board takes a policy position by majority vote, that board members not condemn other board members for their stance.

[03:13:43] We agree to state our reasons for points of disagreement and not to play the press for the sake of politics at the expense of other board members. So moved. Second. So moved. All right, so we're going to give this to Supervisor Vega.

[03:14:01] All right, any other discussion? All right, hold on. All right, so we're getting the substitute in.

[03:14:26] Some bipartisanship against civility. Go, Supervisor Franklin.

[03:14:48] Unanimous. All right, that was kind of painless, hopefully. All right, so where do we go next? We are going to Supervisor's time. So, you know, we have each supervisor is limited to five minutes.

[03:15:11] We are going to start with updates from Supervisor Bailey. No problem, Madam Chair. Because I just want you guys to notice, I'm always going to start at different ends. Okay, that's great. That's great. Thank you, Madam Chair. Good afternoon, everyone.

[03:15:27] Just wanted to say on February 7th, I want to thank Erica Hilton and Rob Scott for their wonderful foyer training to my staff and it would they entertain a lot of questions and it was it was wonderful uh we've been getting a lot of foyer requests and so we want to be on top of things february 7th also i want to thank uh those who came out to our open house uh it was very enjoyable and we had a lot of we were way ahead of case presentation but we'll come back with it but there were a lot of questions updates and next steps uh for the potomac district and so i want to thank

[03:16:02] the citizens that came and had their questions ready and for you know just the engagement we had about 60 people and it was wonderful so we got to we will increase that county exec for our town hall don't worry february 8th thanks to senator mcpike's office wade hugh and dominion energy for providing us an update on the cherry hill water line so that is moving along in a positive way. February 9th, thank you to the staff for attending the Shape of the Region conference. The theme was social trust and civic healing and in our region there is a necessity for civic healing

[03:16:41] and so we are working on that as well as on the board so we appreciate it. Talking about living and challenging times and well-being and enhancing interconnectivity between the region so it was really good and it also spoke to the CRC and how it's going to be critical in our community. And then on the 10th, I want to thank Dr. Gary Jones and Mr. Joe Gibbs from Youth for Tomorrow for their heart-to-heart gala. It was very enjoyable and entertaining, but it also spoke to giving people a second chance, and it was a young gentleman there that had a second chance, and now he has a plumbing business

[03:17:21] because he went and got a degree, and so it was very heartwarming. Upcoming events on Feb. 10 According to February 16th, in recognition of Black History Month, we will be honoring and celebrating the unsung heroes in our community in the Potomac District.

[03:17:40] On the 18th, I look forward to participating in the Brown Sugars Black History Month program and sharing inspiration on community togetherness. Other than that, that's all I have, and happy Valentine's Day to all the sweethearts in the room. Well, you are next. Supervisor here.

[03:18:02] Thank you, Madam Chair. I'd just like to start off by congratulating Reagan Middle School student David Gill, who he will compete on the Taekwondo National Team, Team USA, representing the U.S. at the World Taekwondo Championship to be held in Hong Kong in November.

[03:18:20] I've got two other things. One, I just want to give my notice that I'm going to put forth a resolution for hopefully inclusion on the next agenda. directing staff to prepare a draft ordinance to amend Prince William County Code Section 26 Stroke 235A to provide an exception to the moratorium on tax exemptions by designation for veterans groups that provide programs on housing for wounded veterans and last but not least without objection I would like to direct the CXO to bring forth at our next meeting the menu of proposed changes

[03:18:57] to the board's rules of procedure as discussed at the retreat for consideration and that's all i have madam chair all right thank you so very much supervisor bode thank you madam chair um just going to be doing one notice of intent to appoint kim kimball brace to the historical commission to fill in that second vacancy for me um looking back a little bit was happy to participate this past weekend on saturday uh for the 4-h competition it was held right here uh in in board

[03:19:31] chambers and in the other rooms around here. It's always great to be able to sit down and really hear from our youth what they're up to, their oratorical skills. It was an oratory contest. Mr. Haynes participated as well. It was great to see. I didn't know he was a 4-H-er until Saturday, so great to meet a 4-H-er who's working in our county government. I know we probably have quite a few otherwise but really wanted to give kudos to to 4-H cooperative extension and all the the parents the mentors the staff and of course the children that participate in in those contests

[03:20:09] participate in 4-H you know it creates a very holistic well-rounded individual that comes out of 4-H they learn a lot of skills frankly I wish I had 4-H in my life when I was coming up but wanted to give them kudos wanted to thank Mary Beth and all her team for including me in on being a judge of that contest.

[03:20:29] The only other thing I have, Madam Chair, is I'm about to give a directive, but before I do the directive, I have to do a declaration because it pertains to schools. So first, Madam Chair, I have a directive that I would like to offer regarding reconstituting the Joint Schools Capital Process Team. However, before doing so, I need to declare a personal interest in this matter.

[03:20:48] My wife is a school's employee. As a school's employee, my wife and I are members of a group which is affected by this matter. I will be participating in it because I am able to do so fairly objectively in the public interest. And therefore, Madam Chair, without objection, I would like to direct county staff to research what it would take to and engage with the school division in reconstituting the Joint County Schools Capital Process Team, which was established in spring of 2017 and comprised a joint board committee and the capital and joint staff work group on capital.

[03:21:23] Such research should include, where applicable, timelines, fiscal impacts, and other pertinent impacts for consideration by the Board of Supervisors. When the research and work is complete, the county executive and county staff should report back to the board with research and recommendations during a board meeting or by memorandum as appropriate.

[03:21:41] Madam Chair. Yes, Supervisor Franklin. Sure, I don't have an issue with it. I'm assuming you talked to the schools about this, and they're okay with reviving it? The school board members that I've spoken to, I've spoken to all of them, the majority I have spoken to, have all been supportive. Madam Chair?

[03:21:58] Supervisor, where? I might ask the supervisor a question. I'm assuming this is strictly related to capital improvements? Yes, sir. All right, anyone else? Supervisor Bodie still have one.

[03:22:13] You're good? All right, then I'll move on to Supervisor Angry. Thank you, Madam Chair. So I got one reappointment notice of intent to reappoint David Brickley to the Historical Commission and then two new appointments for Sidney Billisley to the Solid Waste Advisory and Stephanie Johnson to the Sustainability Commission.

[03:22:34] I believe you have the resumes on that. Okay. And I want to welcome AFC, our latest urgent care facility, to Neabsco District, to Prince William County, right along Dominionville Road there.

[03:22:49] If you haven't been there, they're fully open now. So if you need them, they're there. Also, I want to welcome Duncan. They're officially open now off of Dell Boulevard. And so if you saw the cool commercial, Super Bowl weekend, it was kind of cool. But, yeah, anyway, they were open, so stop on by.

[03:23:05] And I also want to thank Dr. Gary Jones and that team for the Heart to Heart Gala. It was a great event. In Acclaim at Belmont, they held their Black Hills Piedmont fashion show last weekend. It was an outstanding show. They've got two more events coming up.

[03:23:22] And so I just want to recognize that 17 Feb at 2 p.m., there's a team of choir. They're going to have a concert there. And then on 27 Feb at 11 a.m., Buffalo Soldiers Art Exhibit is going to be there as well. And last, I just want to thank the Prince William Road Club for having me spend the morning with them.

[03:23:42] It was an awesome kind of virtual. They were using row machines to do some competitions, and so it kind of set the stage for when they're going to get back out on the water and why that boathouse, to Supervisor Boaties Point, is so important to getting it rebuilt.

[03:23:59] So I want to just let them know I hear them on that. I'll be coming out just to kind of join them some more and learn all I can about rowing. All right. Thank you, Madam Chair. All right. Thank you so very much. We are now going to go over to Supervisor Gordy. Sorry, I'm going to come back in. I did that last time.

[03:24:16] I start one way, then I start on the other and come back in because I'm last. I see what you're doing. You're just trying to keep us on our toes by confusing us. I get it. All right. First, let me start. I'm providing notice of my intent to appoint individuals to serve on various boards, committees, and commissions.

[03:24:32] I intend to reappoint Sam Snow to the Board of Equalization, John O'Leary to the Community Services Board, Eric Brown to the Historical Commission, Kelly Hennaclau to the Prince William Arts Council, Eric Wiesbach to the Prince William Sustainability Commission, Joel Becker to the Solid Waste Citizens Advisory Group, and Pastor Nate Barefield to the Weapons Control Committee.

[03:24:55] My staff has sent over their resumes and content information to the clerk. In one of these individuals, I do want to personally thank Mr. Joel Becker. As you may be aware, on Saturdays, there is a trash pickup at the Noakesville School.

[03:25:12] People can drive their trash over, and there's a recycling garbage truck and a regular garbage truck, and people can go and drop off their household trash. Unfortunately, on the weekend we had snow. The trucks didn't show up, but it didn't keep people from leaving their trash.

[03:25:32] And Mr. Joel Becker took, and it was like two truckloads of trash. And Mr. Joel Becker took it upon himself to go pick that trash up, take it to the landfill, the first truckload. And then another local company in Noakesville said, don't take it all the way down there.

[03:25:51] You can use our dumpster. So it's unfortunate it was that situation, but Joel took it upon himself. And I think our community owes him a great deal of gratitude for taking that on so that when our kids showed up to school on Monday, they didn't show up to a pile of trash in the parking lot.

[03:26:09] So thank you, Joel Becker, for that. Today, I know everybody's focused, y'all wearing your pink, and y'all got all excited about tomorrow, but today's Fat Tuesday. It's Mardi Gras, folks. Laissez le bon temps rouler.

[03:26:26] That's a good time to roll, right? And I noticed we've got a little purple going on back over there. That's right, yep. Well, there you're green. That's it right there. Well, that means tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, which commences the Lenten season.

[03:26:43] And I want to wish all those who observe the Lenten season a blessed and reflective time. I also want to thank the Noakesville Business Association for hosting. They hold a monthly meeting at Vita Nova in Noakesville. And they held a meeting last week on February 8th.

[03:27:02] And they asked me to speak and share about the new board and what we're up to and what's going on. And so it's a great community. I appreciate them for inviting me out. And then the day before, I was invited to go visit the Haymarket Food Pantry.

[03:27:17] And what an incredible operation that is. It's the demand for food is they are becoming overwhelmed. And so they have a tremendous set of volunteers. Um, and, uh, but even with that, uh, there, you know, like everything, you finally reach a tipping point where you have to say enough's enough.

[03:27:41] Uh, and so they are, they have reached a very, uh, uh, challenging point and they're having to make some adjustments, uh, but we'll see how, uh, things work out for them. But, uh, uh, look forward to hearing more from them on how they continue to serve our community going forward.

[03:27:58] Um, I'm also excited to announce that I'll be hosting an open house, uh, event. at my office on march 1st from 3 to 5 p.m it's open to anyone and everyone to come out check meet our staff and just love to get to know you everybody here on the dais is welcome to attend too so i look forward to we'll have some light refreshments and just a good time getting to know folks so i look forward to visiting with everyone on the first with that turn it over all right Before I turn it over to Supervisor Franklin, what kind of food you got when you're serving?

[03:28:38] That's vague. All right. Supervisor Franklin. I don't commit until I know the food. All right. Yes. Well, thank you. So on last night, I hosted our Woodbridge Black History Month program, our fourth annual, at the Stonebridge Open Space Arts Center.

[03:28:58] We had a panel discussion featuring Kim B. Miller, our former Prince William County Poet Laureate. Also, we were joined by director of the Prince William County Arts Council, as well as Denise McPhail, who is the director of the Creative and Performing Arts Center, also known as CAPAC.

[03:29:14] We toured the gallery to view the current exhibition called Poetic Visions, I Too Sing America. And we were also treated to a poetry reading by Ms. Miller. And I can tell you, it was a wonderful event. I believe we have video that we'll be sending out over our listserv.

[03:29:30] and thank you to those that came out and it was just a wonderful event and our first time being back in person since COVID so thank you to those that came out also just want to highlight on Thursday February 8th I participated in the literacy night at Lisa Vanya Elementary I had a wonderful time reading and I also I just want to thank Lisa Vanya Elementary School we were also joined by a young lady who wrote her own book that she shared and read to to the kids we will get that name for you but that was a wonderful event as well and so thank you to Lisa Vanya for

[03:30:05] the hospitality it was a wonderful wonderful showing by those that attend that school so thank you also as Supervisor Angry mentioned I also attended the Dunkin Donuts grand opening on Dale Boulevard we were also joined by the Garfield High School Band which was incredible and you know we have a Dunkin opening on Route 1 and so it's my understanding we're going to have a special guests as well, so we'll see if we can top what you guys did. Well, I don't know. It's hard to top a high school band, though. I also want to thank Omega Sci-Fi for the invitation to their annual

[03:30:40] talent show. That was also a wonderful event. They had some professionals there. I thought it was going to be like, you know, some kids singing, and we had that, but the talent there, I thought there were some A&R execs in the audience, so thank you to the Omegas for hosting that. I think they been doing that for 30 years so thank you to them for what they do in the community and then lastly the youth for tomorrow gala that was hosted many of my colleagues attended a wonderful wonderful event it was actually my first time attending and I took away a lot from that so

[03:31:15] thank you to youth for tomorrow and the heart to heart gala as well as the organizers for that wonderful invitation and with that I'll do a notice of intent to appoint Sharon Richardson to the Parks and Recreation Commission. Thank you. All right, thank you so very much. It is Supervisor Vega, your turn. Finally, I was always last in school because V, my maiden name starts with a V, my married name is a V, I mean. Anyways, I want to start off with a few notices of intent to reappoint Patrick Sowers to the Community Services Board and Joe Marshall and Michael

[03:31:51] Depew to the Trails and Blue Ways Council. Events, Manassas Ballet Theater, I was able to join them in celebration of their 40th year anniversary this past Friday and ribbon cutting. Again, they provide such a great service to our community and I was thrilled to be a part of their special day.

[03:32:09] Cheers to 40 years and cheers to 40 more. If you haven't been to one of their shows, I highly recommend that you do. I personally have seen the Nutcracker when they put it on and it's phenomenal. And I do know that they have other events coming up. So if you go check them out online, you can see their schedule for upcoming shows.

[03:32:27] This week, I will be joined by Chair Jefferson for a tour of the Yorkshire area as part of the Yorkshire Area TLC project. TLC stands for Transportation and Land Use Connection, for those wondering, not what we traditionally know as TLC. It is, actually, if you really think about it.

[03:32:46] But I see this also as a part of our tender, loving care goals for the Yorkshire area. quite some time now i've been talking about how this area desperately needs it and i am really excited to finally uh get this project started as we um talk land use and make it compatible with our transportation decisions as well so looking forward to that and certainly want to thank the chair for making herself available to join me on saturday morning is the annual prince william polar bear plunge at leesylvania state park so if you are tough and brave enough come join me

[03:33:21] and our sheriff's department along with the police department and let's take the plunge for a great for a great cause it's the special olympics uh so i hope to see i mean i can already envision it in my mind all of us holding hands and going into the water like a trust ball that's right so anybody that's interested um come on out and and join me um and everybody else that's going to be partaking again it's for a great cause benefiting the special olympics um also want to wish a happy belated birthday to our chair jefferson and to supervisor

[03:33:56] franklin i did not know that we had two february babies so all right i think the lights just flickered so happy belated birthday to you both um finally madam chair i would like to issue a directive on an issue my office has been trying to work with the county on for some time and this is of course for the safety and security of our residents, and it has to do with the issue of panhandling.

[03:34:25] I know that it doesn't just happen on the west end of the county. It is happening all over the county, and I think that my colleagues on this day have gotten an email or two or three or a dozen in regards to this issue because of the several dangers, in my opinion, that it presents.

[03:34:41] So a little bit of the backstory. Panhandling, of course, is a big issue across the county. Around 2016, Prince William County repealed their ordinance prohibiting panhandling due to the possible legal implications as courts had deemed banning panhandling outright to be an infringement of the First Amendment's rights of freedom of speech. Since then, there has been no mechanism for our county police to stop this dangerous behavior. Over the past four years, 286 pedestrians have been struck in Prince William County. And of course, there are many other things that we can attribute to that. But of course, we cannot deny or shove aside that panhandling can play a role

[03:35:20] in these number of individuals being struck. Of these incidents, there have been 28 deaths. On Sudley Road alone, which is well known for having panhandlers at almost every intersection during busy times of the day, five pedestrians have been killed. Although the county isn't able to ban panhandling outright, there are still steps we can take, which I believe do not infringe on the rights protected by our constitution's first amendment my office has been trying to work with county staff for years now to address this issue from a variety of angles unfortunately despite countless emails and phone calls with my staff and to include other supervisors offices

[03:35:56] nothing has been accomplished from my understanding the only thing that has come from these efforts is an internal task force being formed which has produced no solutions and has brought nothing before us as a board therefore i believe that we are long past due to take some concrete concrete action as a board. Recently, my office has learned that other neighboring jurisdictions have considered similar ordinances which prohibit the dangerous practice of passing things between pedestrians and vehicles on the roadway. It seems that it has been able to stop panhandling where it has been implemented. The best example being Loudoun County. This reasonable and creative solution appears to be the only effective way to stop this problem. Therefore, I would like to issue

[03:36:35] a directive again without objection that the county attorney's office draft language for a narrowly defined ordinance which prohibits the exchange of objects in the right of way to present to this board for consideration supervisor franklin sure thank you for that um so panhandling has been an issue over the past several years i too have been filtering calls and have been working with elijah johnson on figuring out some type of solution i would love to see what what would be in this ordinance i don't know that i can support that ordinance because i like to see

[03:37:14] what our public safety initiative will come back with and because i know that panhandling is part of the larger package that they are putting together and this may even be a decent time i I don't know, Mr. Shorter, or if Dan Alexander wants to speak to kind of where we are with that, but quite frankly, I'd be much more comfortable following whatever recommendations they have before going this route.

[03:37:39] Madam Chair. All right. Do we have, Mr. Alexander, I don't know, or can we have him speak to that? I'll certainly speak to it, and if there are any questions, we'll certainly have DCXL Alexander stand. We are thinking of this as community-coordinated response, and it is panhandling homeless services, a number of community-based outreach activities happening around the county with a number of internal partners and departments involved.

[03:38:10] Yes, DCXO Johnson has initiated work around specifically panhandling, including some work around designing signage for motorists around ways to provide support to those experiencing homelessness and or needing help versus donating directly.

[03:38:30] So this is really signage directed to drivers. There's also been a number of occasions where, and this is where the community-coordinated response comes in, where community reaches out to our government, lets us know that there is an individual who's frequenting a specific intersection or corner, and we send a coordinated team out to provide support where there might be multiple needs for that individual.

[03:38:59] That said, we still have some work to do internally to define how that community coordinated response will engage. And so if we are at this, while the county attorney, if this passes and the board does not object and the county attorney is working on ordinance language, we will certainly work as a team to come back to the board with a better defined approach to community coordinated response in the coming weeks.

[03:39:27] Madam Chair, can I respond or do you want to respond at the end? I'll let you respond, then I'll go through the list. Thank you. Thank you for that, Chris. I have been working with Elijah for several years now, and I do appreciate the proposal of signage, but being frank here and not argumentative, the signage is pretty much worthless, which is why I decided to issue this directive.

[03:39:50] I'm just putting a sign up that has no teeth to it, that doesn't allow our police department to do anything. We want people to act in good faith, but they don't. And the reality is that the sign, you know, that says don't do it and donate to charity isn't going to stop the problem that we have at hand. To Supervisor Franklin's point, it's a directive, right?

[03:40:09] We're not approving anything today. It is merely asking for our county attorney's office to draft language. Once we have that language presented to us, then we make the decision on whether or not we're going to move forward. And I do appreciate and agree making the connection and tying it all back to the initiatives that already have been highlighted by Supervisor Franklin and our county executive, because I do think that it is important.

[03:40:31] I will also suggest that we have to be a little aggressive when it comes to this problem that we're having because of the safety concerns, the human impact. We constantly hear folks up on this day as talking about speeding, talking about folks walking where they shouldn't be walking um at late hours in the night um all of this comes full circle and we have to be proactive and not reactive this is an opportunity for us to tackle this problem that has been ongoing for a very long time and put forth a solution which is why again i issued the directive and hope that county staff can come back to us with something that we can all collectively agree on i appreciate this i know this is leading to a lot of discussion so

[03:41:08] we're going to go to supervisor bode thank you madam chair and and what i was just going to say is is uh sir sir vega thank you for bringing this up i've gotten uh emails and phone calls to my office too over the last four now almost five years about this um and like you just said this is just a directive so i'll be supporting your directive but again as sir franklin said i do have some concerns on the unintended consequences of this um because sometimes we know that folks aren't always just passing money or passing food to someone there could be something else going on where they're just trying to give someone a bottle of water if it's a hot day to me that shouldn't be something that we should criminalize necessarily there are a lot of other this is a big

[03:41:46] thing i appreciate you you starting this step um but i also appreciate the conversation around the community safety initiative which i feel like will help address some of the underlying symptoms that leads into uh panhandling to begin with so agreed with with the sentiments expressed and looking forward to the conversation thank you madam chair all right thank you so very much let's go to Supervisor Rear.

[03:42:08] Thank you, Madam Chair. Supervisor Rear, I would suggest following it as well. And this brings it back to the whole public safety issue. We're not the only jurisdiction with this problem. And rather than reinventing the wheel, I would suggest we adopt measures.

[03:42:25] And I don't know how the county attorney is going to feel about this. But other jurisdictions, such as the city of Roanoke, have had the same issue where they want to deal with it from a public safety, or take it from a public safety standpoint without somehow infringing upon the First Amendment rights of those with their tin cup out.

[03:42:45] And I would strongly suggest that we follow the lead of those jurisdictions where it's limited on all this. This may not help a whole lot on Sudley Road, but confine it to those areas where it is a public safety issue because the median strip is narrow or non-existent.

[03:43:04] And then it's a citable pedestrian traffic offense, I guess is probably the most descriptive phrase I can come up with, rather than an infringement on their First Amendment rights to stand on the median strip and seek whatever.

[03:43:20] That's just my suggestion. All right, we are now going to go to Supervisor Angry. Thank you, Madam Chair. Supervisor Venker, you bring up a great way to go about this because I don't think that folks realize, But this is panhandling literally has turned into a business.

[03:43:36] And so just today, 11 o'clock, I got a couple of photos from a constituent of a U-Haul unloading roses to go to the corner because it's not just what you're handing them, it's what they're handing you. I kind of like where you're going with this because we have two problems.

[03:43:54] There's an issue with homeless and panhandling that we can address, but there's also what seems to be happening as a side business or something else going on at these intersections. So I think where you're going with this is a great start because I've been hearing this First Amendment right for so long, and, of course, constituents don't want to hear that.

[03:44:12] Many don't even like to be in the turning lane because they don't want to deal with someone knocking on their window or handing them something for a dollar or whatever it is they're asking for. But it's turned into something much more than just Panhandle. And so I like where you're going with this.

[03:44:28] I don't know where to go, and I think we continue working on some more things here. But I like where you're going with this. I'll be supporting that. All right, we're going to go to Supervisor Gordy next. Supervisor Ingrid just basically outlined exactly my concern.

[03:44:44] This is getting out of control. It is now people are selling flowers now. And so I think if you're talking about just putting up a sign saying support homelessness by giving here, now we're not addressing this new problem of people now using the median for commerce.

[03:45:00] It's not a place for commerce. And, oh, by the way, do these folks have a permit to be selling these things? So we're in a situation where we've got to get creative because it is a – this is a problem.

[03:45:16] We've got to figure out how do we get after it. I appreciate the directive and look forward to what comes back on that. As everyone said, we're routinely getting communications into our offices about this, and it seems to be getting worse, and it's expanding, as Supervisor Angry said.

[03:45:39] Thank you. All right, going back to Supervisor Franklin. Sure. So I do want to be careful when we have the social services discussion in separating those that are conducting business in the roadways and those that are asking for help or support. I completely agree that those doing business in the roadways, we have to figure that out and limit that and eliminate it totally agree with that and if that's what we want the ordinance to focus on i could be supportive of that i do have concerns about those that are on the roadways because they are in need now i know when i get those calls or when i see it

[03:46:17] i call it into courtney knows i call it into her fairly regularly and her team will send someone out to offer services obviously the challenge is that some of those individuals do not accept the services and so then the question i think to your point is what do we do after that um you know i have a lot of questions you know i'm curious as to what the police department uh thinks you know i've talked to them about loitering um outside of businesses and i know that we have a plan in place for that somewhat um but um it kind of leads to kind of my next thought and chris which is i would love to have an update on where we are with the community safety initiative um and

[03:46:56] particularly on the panhandling discussion since that's what we're talking about. I'll also just flag that I'd be curious to see the numbers of the pedestrian deaths and how many of those were related to panhandling, because I know a lot of our pedestrian deaths. I specifically asked the police department, and they got back, and they could not determine and say it was because of this, but I did specifically ask, so just to answer your question, they couldn't determine if it was or was not related.

[03:47:24] Sure. And so, yeah, I would love for the board to have an update on where we are with that. And I would say it sounds like we would like to prioritize that. And so maybe within the next couple of board meetings, we can get an update. All right. I appreciate your comments.

[03:47:40] And now we're going to go to Supervisor Bailey before I have a few closing thoughts on this. Thank you, Madam Chair. I agree with everything that my colleagues have said, but I also I'm going to support Supervisor Baker. I think it's very timely. The concern is from a social services standpoint, I mean, now we're getting to a point where we're seeing on Route 234 someone that's expecting.

[03:48:04] So that's another element of what's going on as well, as well as it leading to an additional social services opportunity like human trafficking and drug trafficking. I'm watching that in my district as well.

[03:48:19] So it's critical, along with the flowers, it's critical, and we have to be respectful of humanity, of course, but Chris, I agree, I really would like to see where we are in that. We've been talking about it a long time, and it's important that we don't send the message that everything is A-OK with this activity level.

[03:48:43] And so that really concerns me, as well as the signage. At my community meeting last week, there were two individuals there that was talking about signage that Stafford County has. Not to compare us, but I'm appreciative that you're talking about the signage as well as we go forward with this.

[03:49:00] So I will be supporting this because I think it's critical and it sends a different message for the county as we're transitioning and growing in the county. All right. Thank you. I'm going to go. And I apologize. I didn't really because you don't come onto my screen. Thank you, Madam Chair. I would have interrupted if need be, but I appreciate it.

[03:49:18] If Madam Chair and the board are amenable to it, if I may, I would like to propose a different version of the directive to you. I would propose it be direct the county attorney's office to provide legal research and advice on possible ordinance amendments regarding panhandling and public safety, to include reviewing other Virginia local jurisdiction ordinances and then direct the county executive to provide policy recommendations on the issue once the county attorney has provided the legal advice.

[03:49:49] Supervisor Vega. And that's why you're a lawyer. And we need lawyers. Thank you, Madam Chair. All right. I really appreciate that. I think that's great. Did you have anything else? Just one last thing. I appreciate all of the discussion that we're having.

[03:50:06] It's clear that it's not just a panhandling issue. I do want to say that we do have to figure out what to do with our folks that sell flowers. Because I can appreciate somebody trying to make an honest living and not robbing people, right, and not committing other crimes.

[03:50:22] And so what does that look like? I don't know. Do we have a designated place? Do we establish something for these folks to be able to provide for their families? Again, while making an honest living, I'm all open, you know, for suggestions. But I do believe that we need more opportunity to discuss this further.

[03:50:39] And thank you, Michelle, for your recommendation. I didn't state it on the record, but I appreciate it. And I take it. I accept. All right. Thank you so very much. This was a very good discussion. You know, definitely it is an issue around the county. And Supervisor Franklin is correct. There are people who are doing so out of need.

[03:50:57] And there are people who are doing so, you know, for commerce. I actually had a situation on Minnieville near the Prince William Parkway. where a guy was walking between cars. And that made me so nervous because, you know, that creates so many safety issues right there.

[03:51:16] But with that, I'm going to go on to myself. You know, you can restart the clock. No objection. No objection. All right, no objection. Thank you, Supervisor Vega. We're going to restart the clock because we've got lots to go through.

[03:51:31] I have lots to go through. So it was great to see the supervisors who attended the youth for tomorrow gala on Saturday night. It was a wonderful event, and, you know, I had a chance to interact with a lot of people who I haven't had a chance to meet and interact with, but, you know, I definitely want to make sure that I'm out there supporting the community.

[03:51:50] I have a couple of directives and some notices of intent. The first one is regarding the National Museum of Americans in Wartime. Without objection, I would like to direct county staff to work in conjunction with my office to send a letter to our state delegation this week reaffirming the board's support for state funding for the National Museum of Americans in Wartime, which is consistent with the action the board took last year.

[03:52:17] There are currently two proposed budget amendments under consideration by the General Assembly to appropriate funding for access and infrastructure improvements to the museum. Since the state budget amendments for the museum require a local match from the county, I would therefore also like to direct the county executive to identify options for funding the required match and provide a recommendation to the board.

[03:52:42] Any options shall follow the board's principles of sound financial management, sections 11.04 and 11.05, ensuring the county performs its due diligence in fiscal impact analyses. I don't think there's any objection. And then I have a second directive.

[03:53:00] because we have a lot of land use cases and you know there's limited time for us to get through some of these and i know that there are other considerations so my second directive is geared towards that without objection i would like to direct county staff to draft an amendment to the board's rules or procedures to allow consolidated land use public hearings to be scheduled during the afternoon portion of our meetings this draft amendment should be brought before the board brought forward for board consideration with other proposed amendments to our rules of procedure, which the board discussed at its extended work session on January 29th and 30th,

[03:53:37] and agreed to consider at a future board meeting. I'm hoping that, again, this is, you know, let's look at our options, that this would possibly eliminate the need for us adding additional evening sessions. So those are my two directives. And I actually have a few notice of attend to appoint the following individuals to boards, committee, and commissions. Todd Hewitt to the Investment Oversight Committee, Terry Hill to the Chesapeake Bay Review Board, Elizabeth Ward to

[03:54:11] the Chesapeake Bay Review Board, James Yankee to the Chesapeake Bay Review Board. And with that, Ooh, I took less than a minute. With that, the board will now convene.

[03:54:27] This is ending supervisor's time. The board will now convene for a closed meeting. That's it. Okay.

[03:55:58] So we are now back. The meeting is resumed. 6 of 6, we are back.

[03:56:14] We are back from closed session. We don't have anything to report out, but I believe I need a motion. I need a motion to certify the closed meeting. So moved, Madam Chair. Second. All right. Please vote.

[03:56:35] Unanimous. All right. So thank you, everyone. We are going to reassemble at 7.30 for the evening portion of our meeting. Después de iniciar sesión, verá la pantalla de resumen de cuentas.

[03:56:51] La mayoría de las cuentas comerciales tendrá una licencia comercial y una cuenta comercial de propiedad tangible. All right, everyone. Welcome back to Board Changer, Chambers, Changers. It is now 7.30 and we will begin our evening work session with a presentation from the Budget Office on the proposed fiscal year 2025-2030 capital improvement plan.

[03:57:17] I don't know, Chris, or Mr. Short, did you have any comments before turning it over? Only to thank Dave and his entire team for all the work that they've done to prepare for this evening's presentation. Madam Chair, as you know, we do considerable work with the agencies to get to this point, And so just want to welcome Dave down to start the presentation and thank him for all the work that he's done.

[03:57:46] And Madam Chair? I'm going to do one thing before. I just want to recognize we have Judge Ervning in the chambers. Thank you so very much. Thank you for joining us today. Madam Chair. Madam Chair, before the board considers agenda item 9A, the presentation of the proposed FY25 to FY2030 CIP, I need to declare a personal interest in this matter.

[03:58:09] My wife is a school's employee. As a school's employee, my wife and I are members of a group which is affected by this matter. I will be participating in it because I am able to fairly, objectively, and in the public interest. Thank you so much. Supervisor Ingrid. Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, before the board, consider the agenda item 9A, the presentation of the proposed FY 2025 to 2030 CIP.

[03:58:32] I need to declare a personal interest in this matter. My wife is a special education instructional aide with the schools. As a school's employee, my wife and I are members of a group which is affected by this matter. I will be participating in it because I am able to do so fairly objectively and in the public interest.

[03:58:50] Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you so very much, and thank you for your patience. Good evening, Chair Jefferson, members of the board. My name is Dave Sinclair. I'm the Director of the Office of Management and Budget. First, I'd like to introduce Matt Corneliuson. He is the County CIP Coordinator.

[03:59:06] None of this is possible without him and the work of every county agency that manages and constructs capital facilities in the county, I'd like to thank them as well. Before we begin, just a really quick overview. What is the CIP? It is the county's six-year plan for facility and infrastructure projects. They are guided by the board's adopted policies contained in the strategic and comprehensive plans, and it adheres to the principles of sound financial management, which has specific policy statements related to the CIP, but also to the budget and

[03:59:46] five-year plan. The CIP has an impact on the county's operating budget and proposed five-year plan, which the county executive will present to the board next week. And I'll go over those impacts later on in a summary tonight. The capital projects CIP is funded by many, many funding sources some of which are listed here as we'll see in a couple summary slides the majors are debt nvta funding and state and federal funding and that nvta and state and federal funding

[04:00:26] especially goes hand in hand on our transportation projects i think you are all well aware of the magic that mr cannazales and his staff does leveraging local funding for state and federal capital grants. First, I'd like to just pause a moment and celebrate some of the many victories in terms of completed projects that are either completed or will be completed by the end of the current fiscal year. Balls Ford Road widening route one from Featherstone to Mary's Way,

[04:01:01] they are completed and open to traffic. Congratulations on that. The Brentsville Road interchange, I think I just went through there yesterday. Parts of it is already opened But that will be fully completed this summer, as will the Atomic Neabsco Mills Commuter Parking Garage.

[04:01:23] Fuller Road and Fuller Heights Road improvements will be completed this summer. Excuse me, this spring. This spring, it is imminent. And University Boulevard Extension, Neabsco Mills Road, and University Boulevard Interchange will all be completed either this spring or this summer.

[04:01:48] But it doesn't end there with mobility projects. We've had some terrific wins in terms of our park facilities that are completed by the Outstanding Building and Facilities Capital Program. That's a really striking bridge on Occoquan Greenway.

[04:02:08] And also in terms of our county-owned facilities, whether it be parking lots or, as you can see here, the Owens Building balcony repair. The board allocated nearly $18 million of ARPA funding for park projects.

[04:02:29] And we are starting to see the benefits of that investment by the board and the wisdom of the board. You're seeing some completed projects here at various facilities. I also wish I had a couple more slides because this isn't all.

[04:02:47] for example what you don't see on this slide is a pat white elevator i think that's supposed to be completed here in a month or so from now that had arpa funding on it rosemont lewis park trail improvements forest greens golf cart replacement and monture wall park improvements veterans park entrance improvements braemar park improvements including a basketball court and playground improvements all of which are funded by arpa funding authorized by the board moving on to the

[04:03:23] proposed cip summary almost 60 of the county's six-year cip as proposed tonight are transportation projects the next largest slight in terms of slice in terms of expenditures are public safety projects including renovations and expansions at the judicial center community development That includes park facilities, but also some of the large capital investments at the landfill, and we'll review those tonight.

[04:03:59] On the funding side, debt is the primary funding source at 40% of total investment, followed by NVTA 30% and 70% regional funds and state and federal revenue.

[04:04:16] Those three sources together account for 82% of the funding of the CIP. Moving on to the safe and secure community quadrant of projects.

[04:04:32] First, I'd like to just highlight the Fire and Rescue Station Renovation and Replacement Program. This started in FY24 at $4 million a year funded by the fire levy. That program is off and running.

[04:04:49] county staff has been coordinating with the Prince William County Fire and Rescue System to identify projects such as HVAC system upgrades at seven stations. And that's a good collaborative relationship that is working well. And that funding at $4 million per year is continued over each of the next seven years. Our fire and rescue projects, Fire and Rescue Station 27 at nearly 20 million dollars, is located in the Potomac Magisterial District. The design has

[04:05:28] recently been completed, and we are expected construction is scheduled for this fall. Occupancy is scheduled for fiscal year 27, and a medic unit training begins in fiscal year 25. That is, that takes a long, approximately 18 months is my understanding, to appropriately educate and train a medic unit so you're going to see that lead staffing in the proposed budget fire and rescue

[04:06:03] station 28 is to be determined because there is a site location analysis that will be conducted in fiscal 25 to identify the optimum location of that facility i think it's safe to say it will be in the eastern corridor most likely along the route one corridor we got to do first due station analysis on that, while perhaps also factoring in the benefits of Fire and Rescue Station 27.

[04:06:35] The Public Safety Training Center is a 31,000 square foot facility that will include much-needed classroom space and apparatus space at the training center. Design is going to be completed this spring, and construction is slated for fall. Excuse me. Construction is scheduled for next spring, spring of 2025.

[04:07:07] Staff is recommending as part of the FY25 budget a construction appropriation of $26.4 million because we are forward thinking when we review our capital projects and we do believe we will be going out to bid during fiscal year 25 and we need that appropriation up front for procurement purposes.

[04:07:34] So I just want to highlight that. The judicial center renovation. There's a lot of things going on. The board, when you allocated $6.3 million of fiscal year 23 operating surplus, finished the funding for the renovation project at nearly $28 million. You're going to see a lot of things happening there over the next few months, things that have taken a while to get launched, but the fire alarm system replacement is scheduled

[04:08:09] to be completed by July of this year. And you're going to see windows replacement of the entire facility beginning in April. This is a 40-year-old plus facility, and I don't think the windows have been replaced. And also, as I understand it, bids will be opening next week, next few weeks on elevator replacements. The Judicial Center expansion project adds much needed space at

[04:08:45] the Judicial Center. I'm sure the board is aware of that. It is a $200 million project for a new parking structure. Parking is at a premium out there for the past several years, frankly, and a new courts and administration building. Design is scheduled to begin later this fiscal year and end in early fiscal year 26. The crisis receiving center construction began in November of

[04:09:25] 2023 and that is scheduled to end in February 2025. It provides 16 beds for adult services and currently the operating funding is eight beds for youth services although I think the board understands that there are several bills in the general assembly right now that are in the works to provide additional funding and expand new services and um i know that's a legislative

[04:09:53] priority of the board continuing on in the health well-being and environmental sustainability quadrant we have our homeless navigation center east project design began in january of 2023 and is supposed to end in this april and then construction is slated to begin in january of 2025. In between April and January, I understand we need to get this project rolling, but

[04:10:32] it takes six to nine months for plan review, permitting, and construction bidding. The Juvenile Services Center, as the board is aware, there is a current commonwealth moratorium on state reimbursements for juvenile facilities, and staff is discussing reimbursement options to try to get state participation in this project.

[04:11:05] In terms of the debt service that we have programmed in the proposed five-year plan, we are assuming state reimbursement, interest-only financing on what would be the state portion, and 20-year standard principal and interest financing on what would be the county portion.

[04:11:26] More information to come on this project as it unfolds with the state. On our parks referendum projects, a lot of them have received appropriation in fiscal year 25.

[04:11:46] I know you've been waiting on this, Mr. Angry. We are requesting $800,000 for the design of Neabsco District Park. That is the requested appropriation by staff to start that project.

[04:12:10] Okay, indoor sports facility. So in November, the board took two separate actions. one is to do an interim agreement with a contractor for preliminary engineering and due diligence for this facility and also the board executed an optional purchase agreement for property on telegraph room that 150 day study period is slated to end on may 18th and staff is suggesting

[04:12:45] a work session with the board in May as a future decision point. In the meantime, staff has programmed capacity in the proposed five-year plan for the potential capital costs if the board chooses to proceed with the project. I do want to emphasize that we program this capacity with the understanding that we don't even have an authorized project scope yet. And I'll show you

[04:13:21] what that looks like later on. It has minimal impact in the fiscal year 25 budget. The debt service that we have programmed is only if the board wishes to pursue the acquisition of the land. The facility itself would not impact in fiscal 25. I don't believe it impacts in fiscal year 26, the debt service wouldn't hit until fiscal year 27 at the earliest. On the building

[04:13:57] and facilities capital program, we continue funding in 26 through 29 at $4 million a year. And I know what you're thinking, what happened to fiscal 25? The board already took action on that when you allocated the FY23 surplus. The board provided 5 million, so that's already pre-funded.

[04:14:16] So that work will continue in fiscal year 25. On government operations performance and innovation quadrant, we have countywide space.

[04:14:32] If the board recalls, in January, I believe, you authorized master planning. We already bought the land next to McCourt last year, I believe, and we have begun master planning activities at the McCourt complex for future space needs, such as a new government center or public safety space. And more defined projects will be identified once that master plan

[04:15:02] is completed and will provide recommendations to the board when it is finished. Moving on to mobility, economic growth, and resiliency. Staff is recommending a $13.7 million appropriation for the landfill phase three liner and phase four infrastructure. The phase four infrastructure is a major infrastructure investment as we open phase four of the landfill. That phase four will

[04:15:41] be needed in three or four years from now. And that infrastructure at $12.4 million invests in the road system, an administration building, moving the scale house operations to that new phase.

[04:15:58] And also $1.3 million for landfill liners. I believe that is landfill liner phase 3B, which is needed for the day-to-day operations of the landfill. County watersheds is a $3.9 million appropriation in fiscal 25 to meet state and federal water quality mandates.

[04:16:26] And we'll have more information on this next week from the county executive. What we found out is MS4 permit requirements for reductions of nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediments have been basically accelerated.

[04:16:41] I can't remember, it's 12 or 18 months, and so we need increased investment to meet those reduced loads. I know the TRIP program, the Transportation Roadway Improvement Program, is a priority of the board.

[04:16:58] Every year, staff is looking for opportunities to increase that funding. Each magisterial district receives $225,000, And that local funding is significant because Mr. Canazales and his staff can do wonderful things to leverage other people's funding with that.

[04:17:18] We would like to increase that funding, but given the funding source, which is recordation tax, that funding source is declining because of higher interest rates. Virtually nobody is refinancing.

[04:17:35] we are seeding monthly declines of 40 to 50 percent compared to 18 months ago when there were low interest rates the good news is we were able to sustain this this program that gives you the maximum flexibility and how you want to use those you can use them for safety improvements sidewalk improvements, turn lane projects. But yeah, we are dipping slightly into

[04:18:07] recordation tax fund balance to sustain this level of investment. Mobility referendum projects, here they are listed in the table. What is significant for fiscal 25 is staff is recommending a $70 million appropriation for the Minnieville Road-Prince William Parkway interchange project.

[04:18:32] What is possible, the reason for that is construction bidding is anticipated for the end of fiscal year 25. And as I mentioned earlier, for procurement reasons, if that were to occur, we need construction appropriation from the board to go out to bid on that.

[04:18:54] That construction appropriation is $70 million, and staff is proposing a split between $35 million of debt financing and $35 million of NVTA 30% funds. This is the first debt appropriation for the mobility referendum of projects approved by voters in November 2019.

[04:19:25] Let's talk a moment about Mobility Referendum Debt Service. Mobility referendum debt service in the proposed five-year plan assumes a dedicated funding source to service that debt. Right now, those two or three options is NVTA 30% local funds and grantor's tax funds, both of which must be used to expand mobility capacity in the county.

[04:20:01] I want to be very clear on it, just like I always have been the past two years for the community and the board an option to consider in the future is a potential commercial and industrial tax whose proceeds must be used for mobility purposes staff does not recommend a cni tax in fiscal year 25

[04:20:33] however that is a future consideration and we are recommending as part of this fiscal planning process a mobility work session in april with the board so that we can take inventory of the resources available to the community and also the current and future needs.

[04:20:55] In the meantime, you know transportation staff has been very aggressive in pursuing state and federal grants to buy down that debt requirement. And just like we did on the prior slide with the Minneville Road-Prince William Parkway Interchange Project, we're using NVTA 30% and grantor's tax proceeds to reduce the amount of debt that we have to sell on these referendum projects.

[04:21:40] As I mentioned earlier, our principles of sound financial management, we draw a distinction between capital project budgets, which pays for the design, the land or the right-of-way of a project and the construction, but that capital project has an impact on the operating budget the county executive will share with the board next week. And those impacts are annual debt service costs for projects financed by debt. If you have a mortgage, think of it like that.

[04:22:15] You bought the house, now you have to pay the monthly mortgage cost. That's what debt service on capital projects. But it doesn't end there. It also includes facility operating costs for the maintenance, the utilities, and the program operating costs for the people that provide the services to the community out of that new facility. This slide summarizes staff's requested

[04:22:47] capital appropriation for the board in the FY25 budget. It totals $120 million. And we have itemize this for the board by project, by project phase, the amount of the appropriation, and the funding source. And this is the impact of the proposed CIP on the proposed five-year plan that the board will see next week. For example, the last row, I don't have a laser, but I don't think

[04:23:26] it would work anyway on the TV screen, but the last row is the Mobility Referendum Debt Service. Fiscal year 25, there is no cost in fiscal 25, but as you can see how that ramps up over the next five years to nearly $22 million in fiscal year 29. Given the volume and the magnitude of the county's proposed CIP, I'm giving you a preview of what you are going to see next week

[04:24:05] in the proposed budget presentation by Mr. Shorter. This slide summarizes CIP project delivery improvements. You're going to see centralized project management support, enhanced project estimating capacities. You'd be shocked to know that a lot of our project management is done on Excel. We are in the process currently of implementing project management software to help project estimating capabilities, as well as monitoring and scheduling the progress

[04:24:43] rest of capital projects. And you're also going to see additional positions next week to deliver those projects to the board and the community. And with that, Chair, this is the budget calendar.

[04:25:03] It starts tonight, but the big main event is next week. And with that, I'm happy to try to answer any questions the board may have at this time. All right. I know people are going to be putting comments. I'm sorry, to get an order to speak. What I would like to do in order to facilitate this and have discussion is we're going to break it down and what we're gonna do I'd like to start with safe and secure communities so those are the first few slides let me go to that so I can

[04:25:38] so we're talking about starting on slide 8 well 8 9 10 11 12 so if you have comments please you know board members you have comments questions on those slides please get into the queue and I'm going to start with supervisor no you don't have anything on that all right um we'll come back to yeah we're going to come i'm going to try to do this orderly so that we can go through each section

[04:26:14] and talk about the slides so that we're not jumping around to everything so it looks like supervisor voting thank you madam chair and just give me a second to get back to the presentation just had a couple quick questions um starting with the slide you're actually currently already on dave so uh right now it says that you're funding the the fire and rescue system station renovation and replacement program at four million per year funded by the fire levy do we foresee

[04:26:51] as materials construction costs things have not gotten cheaper over the years if anything they've expanded and escalated quite quickly do we see that four million dollars per year being sufficient for not only the short term but the out years as well yes um that this is a starting point i i would think um please keep in mind this prog this program in terms of identifying projects is is still somewhat of in its infancy um yes and i'll say tell the board i don't mind saying it

[04:27:23] um once you start talking about replacing stations um this will that will most likely involve debt financing to completely replace a project if that is necessary. Appreciate that.

[04:27:39] Skip a couple of slides over to 11. I know Judge Irving is still here so I'm going to talk about the Judicial Center a little bit here. Right now we're just talking about the renovations, not the expansion but the current renovations. Do we believe that the project costs and the current budget we have for this will be sufficient to cover everything that we're seeing the current the current needs uh yes otherwise we would have we'd be asking for an additional appropriation at this time now having said that um every other year it feels like we're getting a

[04:28:16] new judge um as a matter of fact my understanding is jdrc juvenile domestic relations court it's going to get a sixth judge that's been recommended by the virginia supreme court um so space will be need for that new that new courtroom for that new judge and at the moment that's not included but I believe staff will have a recommendation for the board in the future to address that appreciate that Dave because that's that you were reading between the lines there I'm like with my question actually was so I

[04:28:53] appreciate I can't read minds but it does get me to them then on slide 12 knowing that we're then going to be endeavoring into yes sir if I may just continue we have heard from judge irving that it doesn't end with that sixth jdrc judge there there is a strong feeling that there may be a new judge every other year into the future which makes the expansion project all the more necessary right which is exactly where i was in sorry thank you for teeing that up for me uh this was in clear because that then leads me into the

[04:29:30] current project cost of the expansion is 200 million dollars parking structure new courts building what have you obviously with the parking some of the other things things can be added over time but especially as it pertains to what you just said where it seems like every other year we're adding a new judge are we going to be designing engineering the new space such that it can be modularized basically where we can anticipate those kinds of increases in judges so we're not having to come back you know 20 years from now having to do another 200 million dollar project. Yeah I'll defer to Mr. Villarreal on that but my understanding is the new courts

[04:30:07] building is I think it's scoped out for approximately 16 courtrooms at this time. That's all I have for right now Madam Chair. Thank you. All right thank you so much. Supervisor Weir. Thank you Madam Chair.

[04:30:27] We might as well stay on this page to start with. Offer an editorial comment and that is that the circumstances within the existing courthouse come as a result of ignoring the problem for far too long and having walked every square inch of that building thank you judge it's in an unacceptable state so we need to do something in an expedited manner particularly with respect to the courtroom and their staff whether that means thinking outside of the box moving some of the ancillary other people to other space we need to do something and we need to do it quickly I don't know

[04:31:07] how much of that falls upon you CXO or Mr. Villareal but circumstances just are not tenable in my view even in the short term so we needed my editorial comment there um go back a page I'm just now page town that one this one still gives me heartburn with the amount of money that we're spending on this after having acquired a shooting range that we then close to the public so that your combined cost is

[04:31:43] significantly higher in my view then it would have been for appropriately planning and constructing and designing a facility that would have accomplished all of those goals i don't expect you to undo it or fix it now but i think at the end of the day once the final costs come in once the retrofits come in the operating costs for two different two different facilities i think are going to be far higher than we would have been in a combined facility again just my editorial comment and i'll leave it at that madam chair all right we don't have any additional speakers on this one let's go to health well-being and environmental sustainability

[04:32:19] that is slides 13 through 17 all right we're gonna start with Supervisor Bailey thank you madam chair Dave thank you for your presentation this is a this is a good story on this slide my question is at the bottom projected cause outfitting right now I think we're teed up in a positive way our expectation level once we hear back from the GA is ongoing funding for this project but we should

[04:32:56] be from a funding standpoint we're pretty solvent when you say or from a capital standpoint the board authorized the construction contract it's it's under construction now I think we're okay from a capital project standpoint that's good news and I think the only other thing that I want to ask in terms of the community services office space we haven't done a lot of renovation for

[04:33:32] the current space that we have right now do we expect on top of this cost any additional are there any expectations in terms of any additional for the office spaces for the for the professionals that we'll have in the building this this cost is fully funded with that's part of the project scope as well okay Okay. Okay. Thank you, Madam Chair.

[04:33:59] All right. Thank you. Next, we're going to go to Supervisor Bodie. Thank you, Madam Chair. If you could stay there for just one second. You did mention, Dave, the funding that's officially coming from the General Assembly. Does this also contemplate, though, the possibility of having a pharmacy in there?

[04:34:17] Because I know that's another bill that's currently going to the General Assembly and may get passed, probably will. And so are we contemplating that in the costs? That I don't know, but let me find that out for you and get back to the board, if I may. Appreciate that. Next one is just the next slide on the Homeless Navigation Center East.

[04:34:35] You mentioned it when you were talking about it, David. There's a lot of interest in this. You know, we've been working on this project for quite some time. You know, design ending January of last year, especially beginning January of next year, occupancy of 2026.

[04:34:51] That's a long time. And we know right now we're still using Furlazo. We're sort of Frankenstein-monstering things together. Is there any possibility we could get this project moving faster? I'll see what we can find out. Appreciate that.

[04:35:07] It's really a function of, at this juncture, as we get closer to plan review and permitting activities and the volume of comments and iterations of that plan review, and it takes time to bid the construction, to develop the construction documents, to identify the requirements, and give responsible vendors time to put in a bid on that.

[04:35:33] I appreciate it, because in my conversation with the community, especially our community partners and the folks that help around that, this has been a long time coming, so I hope we can work on that. And the very last one I have, Madam Chair, is on the sports facility.

[04:35:51] I know a memo came out to us very recently about this. Just want to keep it on everyone's radar. This is something that we've been looking at. And Dave, correct me if I'm wrong, but it says this is only a purchase agreement. So we haven't actually purchased any land.

[04:36:07] This is only optional purchase, right? That is correct. My understanding is that 150-day study period would end, I believe, May 18th. The board has not taken action on the land. Just wanted to make that clear for the public record.

[04:36:23] Aside from the optional purchase agreement itself. Thank you. All right, we're going to move over to Supervisor Weir. Thank you, Madam Chair. Dave, if you could go to slide 15. If I understand correctly, you're basing your budgeting on the premise that the state will do reimbursement.

[04:36:51] In the current environment, I'm far less optimistic than you are. And I believe in budgeting to the worst-case scenario. So could you give us an alternate CIP or give us an idea of how those numbers change, especially in the out years, 27, 28, and 29, if the state chooses not to reimburse or does not reverse the moratorium?

[04:37:14] If I may, if the state does not reverse the moratorium, then staff would have to come back to the board for some additional options, I think, for the board to consider. What kind of total are we looking at? In terms of debt service, sir?

[04:37:30] How much additional debt service would we be picking up? perhaps two and a half, $3 million of additional debt service. Annually or total? Annually, but in the out years. We're talking fiscal 28, 29.

[04:37:47] Across the five-year plan, Mr. Weir, we weren't assuming state reimbursement until fiscal 29 on the current timeline. But it will significantly increase the bottom line in years 28 and 29 at the very least.

[04:38:02] Yes. All right. And then? Or even fiscal year 30. Okay. I'm just going to make a comment on page 17. The cost of that is going to be crippling, and I believe you've underestimated what the actual debt service on that will be at the end of it.

[04:38:19] And that's fair. If constructed. We did not, obviously, we don't have a scope. We don't have a dollar amount yet. I would just say it's easier for staff to program in debt service now than after the budget is adopted. Again, I would suggest that in this particular instance, it's probably low.

[04:38:45] Do you have anything else, Supervisor Weir? All right, Supervisor Gordy. Thank you, Mr. Sinclair. Thanks for the briefing tonight. On page 14, you know, one of the things that has been mentioned is a similar facility in the west end of the county.

[04:39:08] And while, you know, I don't see anything in here relative, you know, particularly for FY25, but do you have any indications that there's movement in trying to seek a facility that we can start planning for? If I may.

[04:39:23] issue in the other end of the county? I have the subject matter expert in the board chamber today. Good evening. Courtney Tierney, Director of Social Services. Tonight I'm sitting in for Deputy County Executive Johnson. We have looked and looked and looked and I assure you every little tidbit of information we get about a place that might be available to buy. We work in partnership with

[04:40:03] facilities and fleet management and look so it is not a dormant thing it's just very difficult to find a place thank you for that update appreciate it and then going back to uh supervisor weir's question on the debt service for the you said you built it into the debt service so i'm guessing for the uh sports facility that would be um sort of just it's just included in the uh in the line

[04:40:36] item yes so um right now this is the uh oh there it is um as you can see supervisor gordy um that 339 000 in fiscal 25 would be attributed to the land partial year uh principal or there would be no principal costs in fiscal 25 there would be half year interest costs in fiscal 25 but you can see um the increase in debt service if that if that facility were to be constructed in the out

[04:41:14] years okay i don't think the facility really hits until fiscal year 27 the the construction of the facility the cost in 25 and 26 i believe is solely attributable to purchasing the land if the board exercises that option okay thank you all right I have a few questions so on the crisis receiving center slide 13 just so I understand what is the anticipated FTEs needed to staff

[04:41:49] when it opens I'm just those FTEs I believe were have already been funded in CS's budget i'll investigate the history behind that but i believe a lot of them were um funded perhaps in the fiscal 23 budget gotcha and one of the questions i had there are only a small number of available beds is this facility meant to hold people overnight or only provide services for a few hours like um i believe i i'd have to investigate on that because i was just wondering

[04:42:25] because it is i mean there is a lot of work needed but um okay courtney again um there is um So there's an element of them that is for 23 hours and an element of a short stay, several days, not a long stay.

[04:42:56] Gotcha. All right. You might want to just hang out over there just in case, you know, save you a few steps. And I just, one last question. You know, what are some examples of wraparound services that the CRC will provide?

[04:43:18] It's like another Courtney question. That's why I told you to stay there. Yeah. Wraparound services would be things like help with housing, help with job search, help with medication of management of maybe not just behavioral health but medical health, those types of family services that might be needed in the home to help stabilize the person.

[04:43:49] All right. Thank you. I appreciate that. Moving on to slide 16. So one of our past meetings, everything blends together, and I've also had people come to my office and ask, you know, request for about $100,000, which seems like a small amount, for better trail connectivity across the county.

[04:44:09] Is that something that's going to be addressing those expenditures or no? There are a couple trail projects that were included in the referendum. As you can see, Neabsco Greenway, Occoquan Greenway, Powell's Creek Crossing, I believe, is part of the National Historic Scenic Trail.

[04:44:29] So there is funding in the referendum itself for trails, but this proposed CIP does not offer additional funding beyond what's in the referendum. Gotcha. All right, just wanted to double-check that. Thank you. And now slide 17. You know, I know that obviously no decision is being made up and down on that today, but I just had a question.

[04:44:57] Again, I know it will be addressed later, but, you know, hear me for a second. What are some other uses that we can leverage this facility for? Because it is a pretty steep cost. What are some other things other than indoor sports? I mean, can we have graduations there?

[04:45:13] Is it going to be that kind of facility? I've heard that that could be a potential use. A potential use, okay. And the other is more just of a comment. I have concerns it is going to be a large sunken cost to build this. I've had people say to me, but, you know, we're going to be keeping money inside of Prince William.

[04:45:31] But the thing is, we're probably going to be operating at a deficit each year. So I want to name that. I, you know, again, I'm awaiting the report and, you know, what the findings are. But I think perhaps a better use for us might be considering, you know, building a rec center.

[04:45:51] I know, you know, or a couple. I know Supervisor Franklin has expressed interest for one in her district. And we can certainly have an indoor track there because that's been something that was specifically named as a need.

[04:46:07] You know, it would not replace, you know, I mean, we're talking about something separate than what this proposal is. But, you know, I want to make sure that we are servicing residents. And that's something that, you know, seems to be needed. And also a facility perhaps on the western end, whether that's Brinsville or Gainesville, because there is no rec center out there.

[04:46:27] I do work out at Dale City Rec Center. And I have friends on the western end who don't have, you know, a similar type of facility out there. So I'm just throwing that out there for people the day has to think about because this is a very large cost.

[04:46:44] So that's my final comment on this. And now we can switch over. We can go to the next section unless anyone else has anything to say. Let's go to buildings and facility maintenance, which is slide 18. Don't think anyone has any comments.

[04:47:06] So we are going to go to government operations, slide 19. Don't see anyone reaching. So we're going to go to mobility, economic, and resiliency, slides 20 through 22. All right.

[04:47:22] I have Supervisor Vega. Thank you, Madam Chair. Hi, Dave. Thanks for your presentation. Slide 21, this is in reference to the 28 bypass. That $298 million number is still based on the original estimate, correct? I believe so, yes.

[04:47:38] Okay. Do we have an updated amount on how much it's expected to cost now? I do not. I know that there's additional options being considered, but I don't have a status of that. I will find out if there is an update, and if not, when that is expected.

[04:47:59] Okay. I think it's important, at least before we continue to proceed with these budget discussions, and I can certainly ask Rick myself. I was just curious if you had an updated number. Oh, didn't even know Rick was here. Hi, Rick.

[04:48:15] Like magic. Good evening. Madam Chair, members of the board, Rick Canizales here, Director of Transportation.

[04:48:31] I do not at this time for you until we determine which way we are going to go or what way we will be going. I think it's not prudent to kind of put that any numbers out there at this point in time. So at this point, I do not have an updated number for the board. But as we find out from NVTA, if we're going to be able to move forward with the updated alignment, we will let you know as soon as we know that to be able to give you an update on where we are with the project. Okay. Thank you. Thanks. All right. Supervisor Bode. Thank you, Madam Chair. Slide 20,

[04:49:09] Dave, if you don't mind. There's two questions on this one. The county watersheds section of that, you know, the Occoquan Reservoir continues to be on the dirty waterway list. I know there's still, as you mentioned, phosphorus, other chemicals that are in it. I know we're going out to PFAS now.

[04:49:28] salinity, a whole host of other things. Now, you said, if I remember right, that this $3.9 million is just for us to then achieve the state and federal mandated levels of those chemicals, right? Well, it's not all going to be accomplished necessarily in fiscal 25. This $3.9 million represents the investment of the stormwater management fee into capital projects towards that end it's not one necessarily single watershed it's it's really a county-wide approach sure and

[04:50:04] just as a follow-up so i don't expect you to know this answer right now up front dave but that going in that direction do we know how much it's going to cost to get there over course of how many years by chance we will find out okay and last thing i'll ask and sort of put out there is you know us just meeting state and federal quality and mandates is great but knowing that the Occoquan Reservoir is one of the only pristine sources of water that we have and is a unique asset to both us and Fairfax County we should really be doing more than just

[04:50:39] meeting state and feds so just want to plant that now that we really should be starting to move the ball forward because we're still again on the dirty waterways list and frankly that's unacceptable to me and I hope that my colleagues will join me in that thank you Dave thank you madam chair all right thank you supervisor we're thank you madam chair I would just note that we're spending 13.7 million more on a landfill and I can't get a toxic waste or hazardous waste pickup stand at balls forward for however many singles of thousands of dollars it would cost throw that

[04:51:14] out there county watershed um Dave do you know if this anticipates any sort of fix or addressing the coming issue of salinity in the aquan i do not we will find out can you also get me a projected price tag whether we would pay for it the service authority would pay for it fairfax water who or if we would be saddled with a share of that because my understanding is we are right on the cusp of a level of salinity that will not be expect acceptable i'm happy to see what we can

[04:51:50] do on that let me go to the next page rick i'm glad you're here let's face it guys through 28 bypass i mean the ever-changing design diminishing value given other things that are going on the other improvements we're making on the on the 234 bypass uh improvements to root 20 set 28 itself uh i could go on and on and on it's time to stick a fork in this thing kill it cut our losses and

[04:52:26] not not spend another 300 million dollars that we don't have and for my two my one eighth i'd say we take this out of the CIP right now and just kill the damn thing we're just wasting our time our money and spinning our wheels and I'll leave it at that madam chair all right thank you supervisor we'll certainly be talking about right route 28 um supervisor Vega thank you madam chair

[04:52:59] um Dave for the entire CIP proposal here um what is the local fund increase from last year 1.3 billion this year I'm sorry ma'am did you mean transportation or overall overall We're gonna find that out for you. Last year's CIP was 1.37 billion. This one is 1.32 billion.

[04:53:37] Thank you. And that looks like, I don't know if anyone has anything else they want to add on the rest of the presentation, but we've covered a lot of the big projects. Yes. All right. We got Supervisor Bodie. Thank you, Madam Chair. Just two final sort of points from me. You know, I talk about it often the building facilities capital program um as you said before dave we use surplus

[04:54:16] funding uh to sort of pre-fund it so we have to do it this year at five million versus the four million um and i know you have a program through fy29 for four million are we do we foresee that same question as the other ones do we foresee four million as enough because you know i talk to directors in the county agencies all the time and it's frankly a knife fight between folks on whose product gets in this time and where are we going and ultimately with this this program if i'm if i'm correct it's to look at keeping things in a good a state of good repair and maintaining things before they get into critical phases we have to replace them completely yes i

[04:54:55] i sometimes get the feeling that this could be 10 million dollars a year um but there is something that i do want the board to please be aware this assumes that the annual funding is coming from the capital reserve. Ideally, this is really something that we need to fund from the annual budget. It's, you know, predicating an assumption that there will always be funding in the capital reserve for something that is really a recurring program cost. That is a weakness that I would

[04:55:30] suggest that I need to address first in the future, getting that funded back in the annual budget um and then we'll be in a better position to talk about increasing the the program i i understand this is a priority of the board as well i appreciate that and and uh just the last thing from me for actually two things one is on the presentation then the last one's on the the uh budget calendar but uh the old bridge gordon boulevard i see rick is still here We have 13.2 debt, 2.1 other, 15.3.

[04:56:07] Right now, I know that we're still really early on. We have a good direction I think we're going. Do we foresee that budget fluctuating very much beyond that? Madam Chair, members of the board, yes.

[04:56:29] The last estimate I heard on concept was around $70 million. Just food for thought. I know, again, it's been said, this time in front of you, you're a guru at getting other people's money to fund our projects, but I just want eyes wide open as we continue to look at the future of that project's funding.

[04:56:47] And this is one of those projects that we believe is a good candidate for federal funds, as you are going to be taking action, hopefully, at your next board meeting regarding a raise federal grant for this project. So we are looking for funds for it actively, but it will be one of those that will be looking for federal funds and be federally funding.

[04:57:09] Appreciate it. Thank you, Rick. Thank you, sir. And then, Dave, last question for you. On your last slide for the budget calendar, we have the FY proposed 2025 budget is next week. Then we have a community meeting, 9 a.m. is a virtual meeting.

[04:57:26] How is that being advertised? We'll be reaching out to your offices if you wish to include that. your weekly or newsletters where available we're also working with our communications office as a matter of fact they're also already doing an article on uh the budget process and uh providing these dates and so we do our best to advertise that it's uh it's been a great affair in the past sure and then will this presentation since this is the cip and not the proposed fy25 budget will Will this be part of that presentation?

[04:58:01] Yes. During that Saturday morning meeting, I'll be presenting the county executive's proposed budget. Matt will be presenting the proposed CIP presentation as you see it today. Excellent. Thank you very much. Thanks, Madam Chair. And I apologize. I'm actually going to interrupt because there was a question I wanted to ask on slide 22.

[04:58:19] I wanted to ask that, and then I'm going to go to Supervisor Rear and Supervisor Bailey. It's a commercial and industrial tax. I believe it was also discussed in last year's budget. You said that's not something the staff is recommending now. I'm just wondering why delay it?

[04:58:37] Primarily because on the Mobility Referendum Debt Service, there's no need for it in fiscal 25. Now, if I understand, it's something that would create a stable, because funds, correct me if I'm wrong, Rick, you're ready.

[04:58:54] You know, funds must be earmarked for transportation if I'm not correct. All right. I just wanted to thank you. If you like, I have an estimate. As you may or may not be aware, that maximum rate is 12 and a half cents. At 12 and a half cents, I have an estimate on that.

[04:59:15] It would generate approximately $23 million at the maximum rate of 12 and a half cents. But Mr. Collins-Ellis, that's more money to play with now. All right. All right. Thank you so very much. And I'm going to go to Supervisor Weirna.

[04:59:31] Thank you for teeing up Bob's soapbox. I look at this, and all I see is an unparalleled level of spending over the next four or five years to a level that's quite frankly unsustainable.

[04:59:54] And the answer is always, let's institute a new tax. Let's institute a new commercial and industrial tax, whether it's this year, next year, or the year after. Let's squeeze another $23 million out of them after having given them an increase in their C&P tax, an increase in their real estate tax, an increase in their personal property tax, and then hitting some of them with a meals tax.

[05:00:16] How about we be responsible and stop spending all this damn money? We've got, what, $200 million in unfunded park referendum projects, and we're going to add another $200 million for a new indoor track? Because it's going to be $200 million or $250 million when it's all said and done.

[05:00:32] I don't think anybody in here can deny that, given the rising construction costs, the rising labor costs. Certainly, you know, the interest rates haven't gone down since this thing was initially proposed. We need to take a serious look at what we're doing because we're getting to the point where we're going to have to make a decision as to whether we fund some niceties we want at the expense of necessities.

[05:00:59] And I think I could argue that that's already happened for the past decade. Otherwise, the judicial complex wouldn't be in the condition that it is. I think we need to refocus our priorities. And, Rick, that includes you guys. It includes Route 28. What could you do with all the money on Route 28 in terms of addressing all the other sorts of issues that we've got in the county?

[05:01:19] I think we need to sit here as a board, come together on what our actual priorities are, define necessities versus niceties, figure out how much money we've got, where we will have to squeeze additional money, and then for once in our lives, live within our means.

[05:01:39] I'm sorry. Can you unconfuse me on one thing because I get this confused every year? What day are we setting the advertised rate? Next week. All right. We're going to go to Supervisor. If you're finished, we're going to go to Supervisor Bailey.

[05:02:00] Thank you, Madam Chair. Dave, thank you for your presentation. And just a few things. One, we really like our trip funds. We appreciate them. But what I heard in your presentation that going forward that the recordation tax may not be able to support that.

[05:02:23] Did I hear that a little bit? What I'm saying is that the TRIP program is sustained at the current levels in fiscal year 25, and we will evaluate that on a year-to-year basis based on that funding source recordation revenue.

[05:02:42] Okay. Okay, I just needed clarity on that. And then the FRS station renovation program? Yes, ma'am. For that, do we have specific stations that we're looking at already?

[05:03:00] Or how does that work? I mean, because I know I have two in my district that need the program. So how does that look? County staff in our facilities and fleet management and fire and rescue staff is working through the Prince William County Fire and Rescue System, the executive committee.

[05:03:20] I understand from Chief LaBelle that there is a committee that includes volunteer chiefs that are identifying projects along with county staff. And some of those, I'll get you the list of these seven stations for HVAC upgrades.

[05:03:37] Please. As a starting point. Okay. That would help. That would help a lot. And then the other question I had, you mentioned about a software package that you're looking at. We are implementing it now. Okay, good. That'll make you more?

[05:03:53] I believe it's called Arrigo or Arriga. More efficient, more detailed. Arrigo, yeah. More efficient, more detailed. Yes, ma'am. to make sure that we are on point with what we're saying. We want to deliver projects on time, on budget, from cradle to grave.

[05:04:10] Okay. And then, Rick, my question for you – hey, Matt, thanks for coming in. My question for you is, in respect of what my colleague is talking about in Route 28, is there a way that you can come to us and kind of explain the Route 28 opportunity or a debacle, according to what Bob may be saying.

[05:04:38] But just come and talk to us about it, to our offices, and explain it in terms of the grants that we have, in terms of why we're in on Route 28. And I ask you that, Rick, not to put you on the spot right now, but if there's something that you can create or come and talk to us about.

[05:04:55] I say that because a couple weeks ago I went to a program for Dulles that didn't necessarily include us, but it did include us. And so I want to make sure that, as Bob is saying, we are spending our funds appropriately.

[05:05:15] And what does that look like? Because I know in my first term, Route 28, that's what we started with. But it's in the region we're part of that reconstruction. We're part of that in the region.

[05:05:31] And so I just want to make sure as we're talking to our communities, even the communities that's on the east, that we're explaining Route 28 and what does that look like and if we're expending our funds appropriately. Thank you for that, Supervisor Madam Chair, members of the board.

[05:05:50] You are correct. It's a regional project. It's important to the region. But I think that before I go speak to everyone on the project, that like I mentioned to Supervisor Vega earlier today, I would like to get some answers from MVTA and some of our regional partners as to some of the alternatives we have given them and some of the thoughts we have shared with them to see how we move forward on this project before I come back to the board and give everybody an update.

[05:06:22] As soon as we get those answers, which I expect those to happen here in the next month or two, I will be coming to you with our alternatives and what we're looking to do. Yeah, because I'd like to know, because I know some of us are sitting on boards like NVTA. That includes Route 28 in those discussions.

[05:06:39] And, you know, I don't want to send a message to the community, any community, that it's a bad project. Or if it is a bad project, why is it? You know, that kind of thing. There needs to be clarity there. And that's what we want to come back with you with as soon as we find out some of these answers.

[05:06:55] Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. All right, thank you. We have Supervisor Gordy. On page 25, just a couple of questions. First to come, as I'm looking at this, and I'm trying to get my head around, you know, just trying to absorb this.

[05:07:14] So we're basically initiating between this year and next year all these different projects. And so as we get to FY29, very few of these actually reduce in terms of debt service as we get out.

[05:07:29] And I'm assuming as we get beyond 29, that many of these will carry over even beyond 29. And so, but, you know, I don't see that any of these are coming to an end within this five-year plan. And so, as I look at this and I'm wondering, okay, so what does this do to us over the next four years as we intend to identify priorities, especially with a new strategic plan that we're working on.

[05:08:03] And I'm looking at this, and are we tying our hands that we lose our flexibility over the next five years by taking on so much debt, number one? Number two, in terms of interest rates and what's going on with them, could we see the potential that these numbers go up if interest rates continue to climb, or are we pretty much locked in on these rates?

[05:08:29] Some of the assumptions in the out years, it might be interest rates might come down. So when we issue debt to finance these facilities, Supervisor Gordy, typically we do a 20-year financing with flat principal payments so that once we issue the debt, the principal and interest costs slowly decrease year after year. For example, on the mobility referendum line, I believe fiscal 29 is the crest. And then thereafter, you'll start seeing those

[05:09:04] debt service payments and totalities slowly start decreasing each year. That is typically how we structure our debt sales. I don't know if that's helpful or not. I'm sorry. Yeah, I feel like I'm just looking at part of the picture as I'm trying to understand the full scope of impact on the county going forward as in and I know we try to but you know we're looking at a budget that we have to work within for five years right but we look at the entirety of the life cycle of a project right through its funding is just kind of understanding where's the crest and where's

[05:09:42] the payoff I can see how you would how you that's a reasonable question especially a project the magnitude of the Judicial Center expansion project. That is a project that we're not going to issue debt in one sale. That might be chopped up in two or three sales. So when you have one sale roll on top of the other, you will get that effect as you see across the five years.

[05:10:07] But I do want to assure you that, you know, after that initial full year of principal and interest costs on a single sale, those debt service payments do decline with each passing fiscal year? Okay. All right. Thank you. All right. Thank you so very much, Mr. Sinclair. This is a great presentation. I'm going to piggyback on something that Supervisor Weir had mentioned about spending.

[05:10:34] You know, a budget is a statement of our priorities. For me, the biggest things I've talked about a lot are education and public safety. Education, education, education, education, because education is what our school system, strong schools, is what's going to make people want to live here i'm going to want to work here that's how we attract talent and obviously community safety you know we need to make sure that our residents feel safe and secure you know where they live where they work you know um so those are big priorities and i do want to engage with everyone on the board about you know what is it that is for us our priorities versus a fun to have or nice to have

[05:11:12] um so you know again those are conversations i definitely look forward to as we dig into this budget cycle you know another thing i i would be remiss of didn't mention i am a single parent and you know i don't have a budget a checkbook i have a notebook and i budget to the penny so i want to make sure that again the money that we are spending you know because this is a huge thing you know we are asking people for their hard-earned dollars we have to make sure that we're spending it in a way that makes sense but i want to thank you and i want to thank the rest of staff everyone who has stayed here tonight for this presentation and to answer our questions.

[05:11:50] I appreciate you. Thank you so much. All righty. So now we are going to move on to public comment time. Do we have any speakers? All righty.

[05:12:07] Do we have any remote speakers? Hold on. Oh, Judge Irving. All right. All right. Hold on. Yeah.

[05:12:32] Technology's not my strong point. There was a comment that we'd be getting a new judge every other year, And I don't want the board to think that that, in reality, is the way this works. We will not be getting a new judge every other year.

[05:12:49] About three and a half to four years ago, we were asked what our needs would be in five years. In five years, the circuit court needs were going to be eight judges. We're at seven, right? In order to get a judge, we go to the judicial council, and we ask them to fund it, and we explain what our current needs are.

[05:13:08] and the first question they asked me when we got our seventh judge was did we have space and we did we had space for the seventh judge it's really tight um it's not good space it's not even finished space yet but we but we had the space to put an office and a courtroom courtroom isn't done it hasn't even been begun yet but we had it and so that was the interplay district court nope j and court just asked for another judge. It is likely that will be funded. They also have the space.

[05:13:41] When I say the space, they had an office and they have a shell of what was going to be a future courtroom that can be easily renovated into a courtroom next to a holding cell. So it's usable space. The district court does a lot of civil things. They will be asking for a judge. I will not be asking for a new circuit court judge until we have some more space. And so I don't want you all to think we need to fund this program because the state's going to keep shoving judges and the counties are going to have to just keep building. The state wouldn't do it like that. They'd have

[05:14:19] every county just terribly upset with them. You need to fund this because we are out of space to meet the current needs of the judiciary and the county residents as we stand now. I had on the last Monday in January had ordered 380 jurors to come in for the five jury trials that we were going to be picking and we couldn't get them there. We ended up with I think about 200 and having to use

[05:14:53] courtroom to not hold civil cases until the jury trials were picked because we're out of space. We're not just out of space because we need an extra judge. We're out of space because there's a lot of work that goes into judicial, to the functions of the judiciary, including land records and all of the things that happen in the courthouse. So please don't go into this making any misconceptions that every other year Prince William County is just going to get another judge because we're just asking for it I wouldn't ask for another judge right now and I and I've said

[05:15:30] I have the workload for extra judges we've got plenty of work I can't fit the jurors in the courthouse we have so I wouldn't I you know I need you all to give me some space before we can adequately meet the needs of the county residents they shouldn't have to wait you know years for their trials, that it's just an untenable situation. It is late. We should have been pushing for this. And that's not really all on you all. I think for a long time, we didn't realize that we were allowed to come to you and ask for this. So now we're coming and asking, but it was

[05:16:08] a little uncomfortable that I might walk out of here with the misconception that somehow every other year we'd get a new judge. I don't think that that is realistic. And I certainly haven't heard from any of the other chief judges that that's what's going to be asked for some of you have mentioned you walk the courthouse it is open to everybody if anybody wants an opportunity to come and see what I'm talking about please let me know I will happily show you through let you know where we're at and and you can see for yourself firsthand how cramped we are so that was it

[05:16:45] unless anybody had any questions no I appreciate it and as I saw you you know Saturday night I mentioned we are my team is going to be making a visit to the courthouse I think the last week of February and I'm hoping to come and come by your office as well just come to see everything absolutely absolutely let me know when you're coming I'm happy to show you all the ins and outs I know I did that with Supervisor Angry before and Supervisor Ware and of course supervisor vega is well aware of the problems that we are facing there so let me know i'm happy to show you around i just didn't want to leave with some form of you know misconception of what

[05:17:22] we were doing over there madam chair is this our one sole opportunity to cross-examine a sitting judge i don't know if i would advise that attorney roble thank you very much i appreciate thank you for coming down thank you so very much um supervisor i supervisor bailey i know that you want to do a notice of intent i don't know if we have time all right quickly and i just want to say

[05:17:55] we need to be making these during our supervisors time making it now because um andrea asked me for it so i just want to let the record show in respect to all my wonderful colleagues notice of intent for Teresa I mean for Althea Pope yes she's next she's next and I will I will be back in

[05:18:24] my cage madam chair next week I promise all right thank you so very much so um our next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday February 20th and this concludes our February this concludes our February 13th 2024 board of county supervisors work session I was really good I'm you know one of these things I'm going to add like five minutes on just to punish folks um but since we

[05:18:58] you know let's let's just vote let's vote thank you so very much everyone

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