Coraggio Consulting
Prince William Board of County Supervisors Meeting — Work Session, Tuesday, September 10, 2024

Date: Tuesday, September 10, 2024
Place: Prince William County Board of County Supervisors, Virginia
Length: 4h 53m (video)
Official meeting video (Prince William County, Granicus): https://pwcgov.granicus.com/player/clip/3541
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 2026-10-31. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

[00:22:09] Good afternoon, everyone. Today is September 10, 2024. We are going to begin the meeting. We're going to start with a moment of silence. Thank you so very much. All rise if you are able for

[00:22:32] the Pledge of Allegiance. All right. Thank you so very much. We are moving on to agenda item number three, which is public comment time. What I'm going to do is I will call speakers up five at a time. And just a reminder, you have three minutes to speak. Please state your name and where you generally reside right now i have one person signed up and that is miss rachel ellis

[00:23:11] good afternoon rachel ellis gamesville district the last couple months i've been working with residents throughout the county on the strategic strategic planning committee and one thing has been clear to me even residents on the eastern side of the county see us as one prince william there are some issues that directly impact one district more than others and there are some issues that are prevalent across the county as a whole i challenge this board to look at prince

[00:23:48] William County as one county. I am asking each member of this board to rebuild the trust and transparency that residents have noted as the number one weakness in the county, which is further explained as zero, not feeling heard, disconnected from other districts, politicized, improper influences, divisiveness. Start rebuilding the trust and transparency by visiting other districts within the county. Ask what challenges their residents are facing and how you can help that supervisor. Work together as one board serving one Prince William. On Monday, there's a multi-district

[00:24:23] town hall on the proposed affordable dwelling unit ordinance. I am inviting each of you to come out and listen to concerns of residents outside of your district. It was obvious watching last week's board meeting that some of you do not understand the impact of all the infrastructure to include transmission lines and substations needed to power all the data centers that this County has approved. If you are voting on it, then please take the time to understand the unintended consequences. Just because your district will not be visually impacted, you should understand that your district's residents will help to subsidize it. Another unintended consequence of the data

[00:25:02] center craze has been the increased dump truck traffic. I am at least eight miles away from the nearest data center being built, yet I am now feeling the impacts. My home sits fairly close to Shelter Lane with one house between me and the road. Daily, even on Saturdays, dump trucks are flying up and down a hilly residential rural road to dump dirt. Yesterday, Flagman had the road stop for a paving project. Eight dump trucks were lined up during the short interval of traffic taking turns. While I turn onto this road or cross this road in my car, I often cross this road while walking or running. This is dangerous to all residents that live in this area. I should be

[00:25:39] able to cross a road without having to run fast because a dump truck has emptied its load and is speeding back to get another load. Let's also talk about the quality of dirt that is being dumped in an area that relies solely on wells as a water resource. Has the county even considered that? The destructive tentacles of the data center industry are reaching well beyond the parcel they are building on. They are turning residential roads into industrial roads with dump truck traffic. And knowing what this county has already approved, this will continue for decades to come. Maybe once the tentacles of Parsons or Mid-County reach the eastern end of

[00:26:15] the county maybe this board will work together to come up with solutions to a problem that they have created residents want and deserve more from this board work together as one board serving one prince william thank you thank you so very much do we have any other speakers miss madden all right so then i will turn it over um to supervisor bode for um virtual thank you chair jefferson miss van miss madden how many folks do we have online this afternoon too let's begin your first speaker is

[00:26:47] Elena Schlossberg. Good afternoon, everyone. Rachel did a fabulous job. So, obviously, I already sent my comments in, but I really like them, so I'm going to read a little bit from what I sent you. This is really about what is the strategic plan. The strategic plan is the foundation of a quality community for everybody in the county. What's frustrating is it's supposed

[00:27:26] to align our goals with actual policy that is supported by everyone, government and citizens alike, we all want our county and therefore our communities to succeed. This is not, sometimes I feel like there is still this adversarial between the board and citizens, but we are really all one community. We are all one county, which I think Rachel expressed very eloquently. My concern is that this county has adopted a comprehensive plan that in practice does not align with smart growth goals, which plays a key role in our collective future, both in our quality of life and our tax

[00:28:05] burden. When the Gainesville community met for this strategic goal meeting, the first thing I said was, you know, we feel like this is an exercise in futility, which is why it is so important to take into consideration the concerns of the community. Right now, one of my biggest concerns is that you all would like to see protection of open space. We have adopted a PDR program. We have an arts, ag, and overlay district that has no ordinance. And right now,

[00:28:42] what we are seeing is our open spaces, which by the way, number one in every single district, and you have the information I sent you, in every single district, protecting our green spaces and open space was either number one or tied in all seven districts. How are you guys going to do that?

[00:29:01] How are you going to do that if your smart growth strategies do not align with your strategic plan? And what are your smart growth strategies? Well, they are strengthen and direct development towards existing communities, provide a variety of transportation choices, make development decisions predictable. But when you allow communities to go into an assemblage either for data center development or housing where it doesn't belong. That makes the future for why we built here in Prince William County and why we love it at risk. I'm going to urge everyone,

[00:29:36] Kim isn't here anymore, but she left some amazing programs. And I know Ashley is doing a fabulous job as the new executive director, but I really invite you all to revisit those programs. I think they're very informative and they'll help teach you what it looks like to preserve open space and perpetuity because right now we are not doing that so thanks everyone thank you miss

[00:30:01] slasberg as always next speaker please your next speaker is jessica grove miss grove good afternoon supervisors i have to be quick today so i had to cut my talking points drastically but i wanted to again again bring it to your attention that you don't seem to be listening you don't seem to be listening to the residents of the county who keep coming to speak to you or write to you or those that participate in county focus groups to give you feedback. In phase two of the strategic plan

[00:30:38] development process, the number one issue was that reported a weakness of the county was trust and transparency. 42 people brought it up. 25 people mentioned overdevelopment. So the two biggest issues that were brought up en masse were ignored by the board in their work session. After that meeting, it was not mentioned once that the citizens are looking for trust and transparency.

[00:31:02] I hope that you hear from enough people to make some better decisions moving forward. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Grove. Was that the last speaker, Ms. Phan? Yes, there are no more speakers. Thank you, as always, for your assistance. Back to you, Madam Chair. All right, thank you so very much, and thank you for people who took the time today to speak with us. We're going to move on to county executive time, so Mr. Shorter, the floor is now yours. Good afternoon, and thank you very much, Madam Chair, members of the board. A few updates before I call up Lisa Madron to provide an update on the CRC consistent with Supervisor Bailey's request last week.

[00:31:43] We are working as a team to really assess all of the current directives, even directives that are a few years old. With that, what I plan to do moving forward where possible is come to the board meeting to reflect out directives from the prior board meeting and where they have been assigned. And so I hope in the next few days also to send a memo to the board lifting up all of those directives that are currently outstanding and making sure that the board is aware of

[00:32:18] directives that have been closed over the last few years. With that in mind, last week there were four directives that we discussed. One, the cancellation of Route 15, the pedestrian bridge, We have assigned that to transportation.

[00:32:34] I appreciate the board's interest in having us come back and have a further discussion about that directive. We will likely have transportation come back in the coming months, this fall, likely in November or December, with a fuller, complete presentation and an opportunity for us to have a discussion.

[00:32:53] There was also a directive issued about exploring restoring property for historical preservation. That has been assigned to Parks and Recreation, and we will follow up soon.

[00:33:09] We were also asked to arrange a presentation for Prince William Water. They will likely be coming in December. I certainly recall that that presentation, among other things, will include PFAS, salinity, and water capacity generally, as requested by Supervisor Weir.

[00:33:31] And then finally, the directive regarding the establishment of two additional board, not additional, but two board committees, budget and finance in the inter-jurisdictional committee. I'll be working with communications, our county attorney, and finance to draft language around those board committees and come back to the board in the coming weeks.

[00:33:52] So certainly more to come on that. I plan to make this, take a few minutes, and make this a regular piece of what I report out on moving forward. In addition to the directives, you all may recall the conversation we had about towns.

[00:34:11] Madam Chair. I do quickly, I'll let you go through that, because I know Supervisor Rear had a comment. Was it about the directives? Okay. Mr. Shorter, I just want to be clear that you're making a differentiation, because I believe there's a legal distinction between actions that were done by directive and actions that were done by resolution with a vote and that they're being handled as two separate categories?

[00:34:40] They are being handled as two separate categories. What I'll do my best to report out on really are directives. Resolutions are formal action by the board and will be handled as they always have been. Really, the intent here is just to lift up directives, which in my mind have gone sometimes months without us addressing it to the collective board where we might be having conversations with a single board member.

[00:35:08] So, yes, they will be treated separately. All right. We did talk about better collaboration and just more communication with towns. And so I have reached out to the town managers consistent with our conversation. We are tentatively scheduled right now for first meeting on October 18th, so that is tentative.

[00:35:29] We have gotten acceptance from most of our towns, but not all, so we'll certainly update the board as we go forward. I'm hoping that those meetings will be quarterly, and we'll be really looking to the town managers to help with the agenda-setting process so that it's just not the county providing information, but it is an information exchange.

[00:35:52] Wanted to remind the board, but also the public, of the September 11th Remembrance Ceremony tomorrow morning at 9.30 a.m. As you all know, our county lost 22 lives 23 years ago, and so we are, as we do every year, remembering, honoring those lives, the families, and the residents of Prince William County.

[00:36:20] So all are invited to attend tomorrow morning, that ceremony. Also just wanted to acknowledge Superintendent Pete Melitas. He is retiring next month after 42 years of service to Prince William County, 16 of those years as superintendent for ADC.

[00:36:43] He has served the county well, and I just wanted to lift up his name here today as he is winding down his time in the county. And then to Supervisor Bailey's request last week when we were together, I have asked Lisa Madron to please come forward.

[00:37:09] She's going to give a brief summary on where we stand with the CRC and answer some questions that came up by way of discussion last week and then certainly take any questions that you all might have. Lisa, turn it over to you.

[00:37:25] Thank you. Good afternoon. I apologize real quick. Supervisor Bailey. Thank you, Madam Chair. I just had a quick question for the county exec. Thank you so much for making an attempt to have those meetings with the town managers. I think that will help us tremendously just in keeping good, healthy relationships and making sure our level of service is where it needs to be.

[00:37:49] Just as feedback, will you be coming back to us in terms of what the needs are? And I ask that not to micromanage anything, but I ask that because a lot of times I know my office with the two towns, I get phone calls from the citizens.

[00:38:07] You know what I mean? And so if we could look like it's a collaborative effort in terms of communication. Absolutely. We'll be creative about how we lift up the topic areas that come up at these meetings. I'm hoping that things like emergency management coordination, certainly special events like the one we're about to host this week.

[00:38:28] These are the kinds of things that we're talking about, but certainly where other things come up, I want to make sure that the board is aware, so we will absolutely, probably not at board meetings, but certainly by way of communication to the board, we'll be reporting out on important agenda items.

[00:38:45] Thank you. Thank you. Good afternoon, Chair Jefferson, members of the board. I'm Lisa Madron, currently serving as your Chief Transformation Officer. As indicated in the emails that were sent to you by Mr. Shorter, the Department of Medical Assistance had contacted us in July over the Crisis Receiving Center, asking that we complete a form that they use when considering residential facilities for an Institute of Mental Disease or an IMD to determine Medicaid payment.

[00:39:18] After completing the form, DMAS did inform us that they determined the CRC at Worth Avenue to be an IMD facility. And an IMD facility was from a policy in 1965 created around the time of deinstitutionalization to shift payment from the federal government to the states and to decrease deinstitutionalization from returning.

[00:39:47] And it basically says if you have, if you're an institution of more than 16 beds and you treat someone with a diagnosis, a DSM diagnosis, Diagnostic Statistical Manual, Mental Health or Substance Abuse Diagnosis, you can be considered an IMD and therefore not eligible for Medicaid reimbursement.

[00:40:07] Although we challenge this designation, given the fact that this is a crisis facility, not a long-term care facility which the policy speaks to, and the exception that is in the policy known as psych under 21 for providing youth services so not not including youth beds in this consideration. DMASC persisted in saying that the youth beds would count since the facility was not an inpatient hospital. At the time of the policy there wasn't a CRC or any type of crisis facility so the exception for youth was made

[00:40:44] for inpatient hospitals. At this point, it seems that the only way in Virginia for us to bill for Medicaid would be if the state approves a waiver. DMAS has indicated the intent to apply for an 1115 waiver and has engaged a vendor to assist them with the completion of the application.

[00:41:08] I don't know exactly when that application will be submitted, but they are indicating a targeted date in November of 2024. DMAS would make the application, and I'm told that CMS, the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services, would have between six months to two years to approve the application and then allow IMDs to apply for the waiver. Presently, we're working with Connections, DMAS, DBHDS, and hopefully you, for possible options. Our options include opening the CRC as planned, if funding can be identified to support in the interim

[00:41:47] of the waiver, or opening in a more phased approach, such as when we initially started this, we talked about the adult CRC, 16 beds, 23 hours, and possibly some of the youth observational chairs, the 23 hours.

[00:42:03] We also learned from DBHDS that the $2.1 million in funding that they awarded us in December of 2022 to start part of the youth CRC with our plan to start the adult was not ongoing but one-time funding. DBHDS is aware that we would need the ongoing funding that they've taken as well as the bridge for the Medicaid revenue for us to be able to open as planned. They've communicated as well as DMAS that they want this to work and they're willing to work with us to

[00:42:36] try to figure out how to make this plan. Any questions? Supervisor Franklin. Sure. Yeah. Thank you for all of this. And I'm just going to be a little bit candid. If you can just break that down and just remember we have the public watching. So if you can say that in layman's terms, in terms of what the actual issue is, I think that will be helpful. And then I think I have some follow-up questions. So in the 60s, when deinstitutionalization was happening, a policy got put on the books through the Social Security Administration that basically said we don't want large facilities

[00:43:13] anymore. So we're going to put in incentive and have states be responsible rather than the federal government for any institutions that have 16 or more beds. And we're going to exclude Medicaid payment from that. However, there are some exceptions to this policy. One exception would be for youth. So the policy is really for 22 to 65-year-olds. If you have 16 or more beds, Then that's considered an IMD youth should not count however in the exclusion there was no such thing as a crisis facility

[00:43:47] Everything was long-term care and even in one of their exceptions that they have for Medicaid managed care to bill you can bill them if somebody's not staying longer than 15 days There's also a lump sum that the state can make but what we're being told at this point is because our IMD our CRC is considered an IMD because we're planning to have 16 adult beds and 16 youth beds and because of the Chantilly Regional Center that was opened last year you may recall

[00:44:23] a vendor ended the contract and connections took over primarily to be well positioned to get their license to be able to take over our CRC and the licensing process more smoothly we're now being told that that facility that is in another county because it is operated by connections might count toward our 16 beds so we don't know we don't know where we stand with opening any beds we're trying to get answers we've asked d mass who's known all along what we've been planning to do and has

[00:44:59] supported what we've been planning to do has brought this up now telling us that the youth we can't bill for youth even though there's an exclusion because the policy says the youth must be in an inpatient hospital. What we're trying to avoid in the first place by this community center because crisis centers weren't part of the known entity at the time this policy was there.

[00:45:23] There's also the piece about Medicaid managed cares, being able to pay for these services and an IMD as long as you don't stay longer than 15 days. I'm told by DMAS that that would require a general assembly change and funding. It's not clear why it requires a change since it's in the policy.

[00:45:43] It's also in the policy that the lump sums, a lump sum payment can be made to states for services in an IMD, and DMAS will not comment on that at this time. So really we're not sure what we can open yet, and we're trying to figure out what we can and what General Assembly action, legislative action, is needed. We definitely know the waiver is needed to at least be able

[00:46:17] to have that to go to. However, in other states, and it is the state determination that makes the determination of whether something is considered an IMD or not, and in other states that do not have the waiver, like Arizona, they do not have the state making the strict determination that Virginia has made. And I believe Virginia is making the strict determination, DMAS is, because they recently had a situation of a facility where they did not consider it an IMD, CMS did, and so DMAS

[00:46:53] had to pay CMS back. And I think that's why we're experiencing what we are. Yeah, and so my follow-up questions. A, I guess you kind of explained the process, but if you can just speak a little bit more to kind of what we're doing to kind of fix and mitigate, and then I think, and part of this may be your answer, have we spoken to the congressional delegation, have we spoken to our state delegation with regards to, particularly on the congressional side, reaching out to CMS about these designations and seeing if there are any other type of exclusions or waivers we can get,

[00:47:27] And then speaking with the state, obviously, because they have oversight of DMAS to kind of figure out what our options are there or to get them to look at the definitions a little bit differently. We are trying to figure a lot of that out.

[00:47:43] Connections has had two lobbyists that they've been working with that also helped change some of the things that we needed changing. They're working to see the best approach. They're also working with DMAS on this. They have definitely told us that they think, you know, us having that connection and speaking to our delegation about it, it's somewhat problematic at this point in terms of not knowing what we're asking for, because we know the waiver, and if they can expedite the consideration of this waiver, that is definitely one thing.

[00:48:15] But in terms of the policy, again, when DMAS said that it would take a general assembly change to allow us to bill the Medicaid MCOs for our services it's not clear what that changes because it's in the policy so we're trying to work with the state and with DMAS and connections to to align and see what we can do as soon as possible as well as what options we have in phasing in the services. Sure and I hear you say that you're working with the state um in demos but have we actually spoken to members of our state and congressional delegation about

[00:48:54] this issue i think we've been waiting okay for that yeah so a few a few uh items i'd like to kind of touch on one just to be clear the construction associated with the crisis receiving center is on schedule and there are no projected delays in the construction schedule so the facility will be opened as we have updated, and FFM is certainly here to answer any questions associated with CRC construction. In terms of funding, now we have been, Glenn and Nikki,

[00:49:30] meeting with each of you to talk through the legislative agenda. And so to be clear, this is absolutely a part of our legislative agenda, and we will be making sure once we publish it and that we get concurrence from all of you that where there is a need for General Assembly input or support, that we ask for that support as part of our legislative agenda.

[00:49:59] For now, we are having conversations with the state delegation separate and apart from the legislative agenda about support. And so if that's where you were going, Supervisor, yes, we are having those conversations.

[00:50:19] I think what Lisa is making a point to include and highlight is the fact that we have a partner in Connections and that they have their own resources in terms of lobbying and that they are doing their part as well. Yep, yep. And I would just say from experience on both of those ends, A, connections needs to be in line with our lobbyists and making sure that they're moving step in step together.

[00:50:47] And then I would also say, I know we have the legislative agenda and we'll add this to it and you guys are having discussions aside from that, but this is a priority and it's urgent. And I would make sure that those discussions are happening right now so that the state and congressional delegation understands that, you know, we need to be moving on this daily until we can reconcile and seek some type of solution.

[00:51:12] even if that means sending a letter to CMS, if our congressional delegation can maybe have a meeting with CMS about this issue, and then our delegation, our state delegation, doing the same with DEMAS and making DEMAS answer to them as to how they came to these designations. I mean, this isn't just a discussion. We need to make sure that we're actually pushing our representatives to actually move on this.

[00:51:39] So I would just encourage you all to just make sure that Connections is moving in step with Glenn and Nikki, and then also that we are making official ask of our congressional and state delegation to reach out to CMS, reach out to DEMAS, send those letters, have meetings, and we want some type of solution.

[00:51:59] And I would even give a time frame for that. Absolutely. All right. Thank you so very much. Supervisor Bailey. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Supervisor Franklin. Great minds think alike And I've been thinking about this all weekend I appreciate your input on this And I have been having those discussions But I didn't want to be outside of my colleagues Nor the process that the county is setting up Nor our county exec And so, you know, just in going in front of y'all Didn't want to do that I think it is a collaborative effort

[00:52:34] I appreciate you coming and saying that to expect this before it really did happen because it's been in the works. So I've been talking to the state and to congressional partners since then.

[00:52:50] And so I appreciate the county exec bringing this because this is a county colleague effort, and we collectively need to understand with a pristine project like this, is it not going to stop?

[00:53:07] Thank you for saying that. I appreciate that. But the inside is the essence of why we're building it. And so we do need to have a plan. People are aware of it, but we need to collectively understand what's going on. This is being discussed also in VACO.

[00:53:26] We talked about that in our summit and the expectation of it coming. I didn't know it was going to come this soon. So just to give you a flavor of what partners you have out there. And I'm very thankful that plans haven't stopped to have it built.

[00:53:44] But as Supervisor Franklin is saying, the state controls DMAS. And so, you know, that's cool for us. That's good, you know. And so I think I would ask the county exec to have individual meetings with us if you have time.

[00:54:02] I know your time is valuable also. But I would like to share what that looks like so that we can also share it with the colleagues and share it with the public what we're doing collectively because the state and congressional are very much aware of this.

[00:54:20] And then lastly, Glenn and Nikki, there's verbiage in our legislative agenda that needs to be changed and enhanced. And I don't know if you've done that already. Okay, then that's great. That's great. But I appreciate you responding to this so quickly, because it's very important.

[00:54:40] And just keeping the project going is very important. And I think you're very astute in making sure in that documentation of DEMAS, knowing that this is not an institution, that's not the purpose of this building that we're building.

[00:54:58] And so we have to be very strong and collaborative. And the other thing I would ask my colleagues to consider, if we need to provide a letter in terms of the support of this project, in terms of our county staff and the county exec, we will be willing to do that.

[00:55:17] Thank you. All right, next is Supervisor Weir. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm not going to belabor this too much, but I've always had a bit of a concern about, I guess, haste in some aspects of this project.

[00:55:33] What I would like to know is if the facility construction is ongoing and we've got these problems with respect to operational funding at some point in the future, it occurs to me that the solution doesn't lie within our hands, and I think you would agree that that lies either at the state or the federal level, depending on how you want to interpret it.

[00:55:59] What I haven't heard is the projected range of unbudgeted costs, if any, both short-term and ongoing, if there is no solution to the issue as raised? How much are we looking at? We estimated the revenue to be approximately $8 million for both the adult and the youth that we were anticipating to be able to collect.

[00:56:25] If we are able to go ahead with the adult and collect the revenue, then it would be around $4 million that we're looking at for the youth. The 2.1 million that was ongoing that the state took back, I believe they are trying to work with us because they did provide us documentation that it was supposed to be ongoing.

[00:56:50] And if I understand correctly, this may be further jeopardized by our partner and their previous relationship with another facility where we might just get lumped in with them. So that's more connected to the IMD and the designation, not the state.

[00:57:09] actually partnering with the Chantilly with the state was what might facilitate and expedite the license for the Worth Avenue facility. All right, Supervisor Gordy. Thank you, Madam Chair. Just piggyback on Supervisor Franklin, I think we should be engaged, I don't think we should wait from a legislative standpoint to engage the congressional delegation. This is more of a constituent matter, not a necessary legislative one, because I think when we take a look at this

[00:57:46] from the beginning. If we go ahead and start working with the congressional delegation and getting them working with CMS, then we can identify specifically with, have them see it from their own individual personal perspective of what the challenges are and then help us find that solution. We don't have to do this alone. We should have them in partnership with us looking at this um having you know work for a member of congress's office this is not outside normal operations this is what we deal with every day so um i would go ahead and engage the congressional

[00:58:24] delegation their local office not necessarily their washington office say hey we need your help um and then um and just for a point of clarity um so we're talking about just medicaid funding but if somebody comes with their own insurance we're still going to be able to we will be taking other insurance uh so so this you know we're not anticipating 100 of the participants are all on medicaid that there are others come in with potentially with their own um uh insurance that can uh pay for services that is correct um not all of the commercial insurances necessarily cover

[00:59:02] all of the aspects of crisis and that is something that's already being dealt with legislatively but absolutely and that's what the estimate of the eight million is for revenue is really an estimate this has never been done before and it's a combination of commercial insurance and medicaid thank you all right supervisor angry yeah i'll be real quick because actually both of you nailed it um so we got a building being built timing is good but we have really sounds like a situation with medicaid and really some legalities of between the state and where we're going with

[00:59:40] So I would simply say that both of these have to happen at the same time. Otherwise, we're going to be sitting here with a facility that's open that probably a bulk of its intake, you know, folks that need to be there are on Medicaid or somewhere forming in that where there's the issue, there lies the issue.

[00:59:57] So I would just like to say for this board and for you, Chris, that both of those really need to be, we need to be pushing, as Supervisor Franklin said, getting everything we need with the legislation in place because it's great to see that the facility is coming up on schedule. We always like to get things built ahead of schedule or even on schedule.

[01:00:15] So that's great. But if we get it all there or when we get it all there, just to have these issues would be like, ah, we missed an opportunity. Now let me ask this one question. I remember a couple years back we were discussing Prince William County being its own medical health department. Would that have any influence over this discussion with this anyway?

[01:00:34] I'm not sure if it would. But, you know, I know, as we were saying, those are still things that we were looking at. So just not for this discussion, just curious about it, but thanks. You said not for this discussion? Are you sure? Not for this discussion. All right.

[01:00:51] Thanks. All right, Supervisor Bode. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll just say very quickly, piggyback off what everyone else is saying, is we need everyone in, and we need to be talking about this right now. I appreciate, well, Senator Franklin and Gordy, this isn't something we need to wait until a lot of clarity is had. We know what the issues are.

[01:01:06] We know the outcome we want to have, so we should at least be talking from that discussion point and help everyone get on the same page of music. The last partner I think we should really engage is also the governor's office directly. We know that he, over the last few years, has prioritized mental health and, frankly, has been a supporter of facilities like ours.

[01:01:24] I mean, he was here for the ceremony we had last year, so I know that he's a big supporter of this. So I would just say that as much as he can play a role in this, we should be, you know, talking to his office as well.

[01:01:40] Because, frankly, we can't have too many folks rowing in the same direction on this. Especially when we know that right now it sounds like we're almost being penalized providing the services that we need to do. Knowing that we're so far behind anyway, especially when it comes to children, we're shooting ourselves in the foot by them saying, essentially, because you're providing more of these services, We're not going to, to Supervisor Ingrid's point, allow for one of the biggest, most at-risk folks that need it, your Medicaid recipients, to avail themselves of this.

[01:02:09] So I think there's a lot of folks that we need to bring in and have a big huddle on this. And, again, I think that one of the outcomes we should say is folks should, especially our community, should not be penalized for providing services that are long overdue and needed. Thank you, Madam Chair. All right, Supervisor Bailey.

[01:02:26] Thank you, Madam Chair. I just wanted to, for Bob, in terms of not anything but just to address what you said about the haste. The haste came out of the fact of the need for the kids. Yeah, and so we can't let this stop us.

[01:02:43] It is two separate things, mental health and then this. It's not separate but still collective, mental health and physical health. So we still need the physical health, the health building, but we need the mental health building as well.

[01:02:59] So I just want to, to what Supervisor Angry just mentioned, I think his point is very valid in terms of keep that on the radar as well. But the other thing is just to make you aware that the Secretary of Health is very much engaged in this.

[01:03:15] You know that. Just to let my colleagues know, he's very much engaged in this. Secretary Littell, very much engaged in this. So that's top cover that we have in terms of partnership. and so if he knows the governor knows so I just wanted to say that for a sense of security with this project so thank you for coming back immediately with the information for my colleagues all right thank you now I have a question um and I feel like I want my security blanket because this makes me nervous the state dropped the ball on us what really makes me nervous is the most vulnerable population the most vulnerable people what will happen to them if we don't have this

[01:03:55] resolved the same thing that has been you know they've been waiting and languishing in hospitals and that's why this is the most convoluted antithesis of what the policy stood for in the 60s don't build institutions we're going to make sure you don't and now they're coming back and when we have a crisis model that shows that we are not building institutions that we are helping in a way that's never been thought of before they're telling us that you can't do it it's because the laws haven't kept up with the real life needs so I appreciate you thank you for coming

[01:04:32] and discussing this I mean this is a weighty issue this is a tough issue and hopefully we will continue to work together to resolve this and again anything that the board collectively needs to do whether it is a letter whether it is you know really pushing whatever relationships we have you know at the congressional state level this is a priority thank you thank you sure thank you

[01:04:56] Thank you, Madam Chair. And Lisa, thank you very much. I know she has been working overtime on this issue along with so many others, so I just want to appreciate you. Madam Chair, I'd now like to invite up Director Tanya Washington to provide an update on the data center overlay boundary study.

[01:05:17] Good afternoon, members of the board. Tonya Washington, Planning Director. This is an update on Directive 24-23, Review of Boundaries Related to Current Data Center Opportunity Overlay District from May of this year.

[01:05:38] County staff was directed to expedite a review of the boundaries of the current data center opportunity overlay district and to recommend any suggested adjustments to the overlay district's boundaries. The planning office provided a memo to the board in June outlining a proposed process to complete this effort, including initial staff analysis starting this summer and bringing on board a consultant later this year after the planning office completes our on-call consultant procurement process with recommendations to the board for changes to the overlay district by November of 2025.

[01:06:14] Following that directive, Chair Jefferson also requested the Planning Office look first at the recommendations from the 2023 Stantec Consultant Report for sites to remove from the overlay district and to bring recommendations on those sites forward as soon as possible.

[01:06:34] The analysis by the consultant Stantec was conducted as part of an earlier directive that included in that scope identifying areas to expand the overlay district as well as sites to remove. The Stantec report recommended nine areas totaling approximately 1,879 acres for removal from the Overlay District.

[01:06:55] The Planning Office is currently wrapping up our analysis of the Stantec report recommendations and will be bringing staff recommendations for removals to the board later this fall for further direction. We also would like to continue our broader analysis of the Overlay District boundaries as a Phase 2.

[01:07:14] once we have a consultant on board later this year to identify any additional areas for possible removal from the overlay district that concludes my update happy to answer any questions well this is really um going supervisor franklin uh just quick question and i guess we'll get into this once we do the official presentation but it was my understanding that um in terms of the amount of parcels left that had not been I guess developed or even purchased in the overlay was very minimal

[01:07:50] and so I'm very curious as to what's being recommended for to be taken out seeing as how I don't think there is a lot left in the overlay in the first place unless I could be we will be able to provide further details on that question as well as focusing on the analysis that we've completed so far but this first phase is focusing just on those nine sites right that have not already been developed for data centers and so that's a starting point for now and then once we conclude that we get direction from the board in

[01:08:25] terms of how you would like to proceed with any recommended removals there are still the opportunity to do a broader look at the the overlay district boundaries because as you know there are sites that have come forward through rezoning applications etc sure that have the issues of proximity to residents to schools etc that have been issues that have been coming up and that's sort of part of the criteria that we're gonna be looking at as well yeah and for the nine sites are they is it land that has not been purchased I think we'll better be able to answer that question when we come back later we can give you the specifics okay on those sites because obviously that would be a

[01:09:03] concern if the land has already been purchased but I'm just going to assume that these are parcels that have not been purchased that is something we will be you know verifying because we're looking at each site site by site to look at what the the occurring conditions are so again we can answer that question um better when we come back all right supervisor weir thank you madam chair for my one eighth november of 2025 is not soon enough um we're at a crisis point now and i think the sooner we understand that the better and we can't

[01:09:40] wait on more than a year to do this. I am curious though, which Stantec report are we using? Are we using the one that was initially supplied or the one that was supplied shortly thereafter in support of the comp plan so that certain parcels could be added back in or are we not addressing the additional parcels? Before Mr. McGettigan comes up to answer that question, I did want to clarify that I noted that this initial analysis that we're looking at, we will be bringing forward recommendations to the board for possible removals uh before the end of this year david mcgett again

[01:10:18] from the planning office um the we will focus on the removals so not the additional additions that um stantec recommended in their final report will be it'll be based on the recommendations in the february 2023 uh report so the original stantec report with the original table and the original boundaries because there were two the the latest one and it was uh the changes i think were on additions not in removals so we will be focusing on removals okay so we're essentially going to

[01:10:55] start from ground zero and with the exception of the stantec report that you're going to use as the basis for some removals spend even more money on studies and consultants than we've already spent in the last couple of years at this point because we are looking at sites that were initially examined by santac what we would like to do is once we bring forward those recommendations to the board we get some clear direction from the board and understand how you would like to proceed at that point we did want to note that

[01:11:28] excuse me with regards to the original directive to do a boundary study that that would that would require some consultant assistance in order for us to really do a broader scan so we definitely we definitely hear a concern supervisor we are at this point again because we are taking some work that has already been completed on behalf of the county but was not moved forward previously we'd like to focus on that and then just you know find out from the board how you would like to proceed at that point I'm not blaming you because you weren't the planning director at the time but it seems like this all got

[01:12:04] pigeonholed two and a half years ago when it was ready to be handled and for a variety of reasons didn't. I would just note that with respect to the current overlay, your predecessor quite famously, it was either that or economic development, I'm not entirely sure which one it was at this point in time, it really doesn't matter, quite famously came in here and told the board and the public that no parcels could be developed in the, or very few parcels could be developed within the overlay because everybody wanted 100 acres, and there were no 100-acre parcels left.

[01:12:44] As we've seen in recent months, recent years, the validity of that statement is questionable as a kind word. We've had many applications come in for far less than 100 acres, 40 acres and such.

[01:13:01] We've also seen quite a number of applications come in where they are aggregations of smaller parcels. So this narrative that there is no available space within the overlay, above and beyond whether there's any power for it at this point in time.

[01:13:18] It's quite frankly a false one, and I would hope that we would stop pushing that narrative on the public because every time somebody comes in with a conglomeration of parcels, I mean, I just end up repeating myself, where's your 100 acres and how is this possible in an area?

[01:13:35] So I think we just need to keep that in mind when we're looking at the overlay and determining what the boundaries can be and not go with this narrative that every data center needs 100 acres. Thank you. All right, Supervisor Gordy.

[01:13:51] Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Ms. Washington, for this update. A couple points. As we're looking at this, and, you know, I've encouraged people to look at the overlay as in a transparent format.

[01:14:09] Too many times when we look at the overlay, we look at it in a solid color, which does not reveal all the activity that currently exists within the overlay, the current economic activity. And when you take a look at the land that is left within the overlay, most of the land that is already, which is not developed, is being developed, it's already been purchased, what's left is current active economic activity.

[01:14:38] So to whatever extent we leave the overlay over these parcels, I think it would also benefit us as a board to understand what are we, if a data center goes in here, what are we giving up? how many jobs, how many businesses, because I'm already seeing, and there's already one area in the Hornbaker Industrial that is being sold out, and numerous businesses will be removed.

[01:15:09] And unfortunately, as we've discussed and as we've talked about a strategic plan, there's no place for them to go in this county for those types of businesses. So the challenge then, so as we look at the overlay, this is no longer just what do we gain this is about what we lose and then the second piece of this is also um and i'll speak a little bit to this during uh supervised time but i i was in richmond this morning to meet with dominion and it's clear there is the infrastructure power

[01:15:42] infrastructure for additional data just is not there um whatever power comes to these sites will have to come from outside the overlay so that's what we're um and that that's a very clear message so as we look at that and as we understand we're not just looking at sites for data centers we're also having to look at how do you get power to those sites where is it coming from what are the what are the transmission routes that will be required to supply power within these corridors

[01:16:18] it is a significant impact and what we're seeing right now is a lot of the routes that are being proposed are eliminating buffers between the residential and the data centers, which are in the overlay, but the residents are not, but the power routes, transmission routes are eliminating the buffers that were intended to protect those communities. So as we're looking at that, I just ask that we would also take a look at these other aspects, not just, you know, looking at it from a land use perspective, but there has to be a broader understanding and a more holistic view

[01:16:58] about the impacts of this activity within what's left, because it will be significant. Thank you. Supervisor Bode. Thank you, Madam Chair. And to dovetail off of that, you know, we also know that a lot of the folks that are selling their land right now to this industry, it's a financial game, They stand to make a lot more money off of the data center industry buying up that land than whoever else might be there.

[01:17:26] So I think that it would behoove us, you know, as recommendations are brought forth and the board acts upon them, us to look at the economic development side of that and come up with a plan to provide incentives for folks to provide that other kind of economic activity. Because, frankly, as other folks have said on this dais, we're putting too many eggs in this one basket, and we're losing other types of robust, diverse economic activity as an outlay.

[01:17:51] So instead of having it, or we take all this land out of the overlay, and we're into two situations where that land then sits vacant for years, or, frankly, then people just bring in rezoning applications to either add it back in the overlay, like we've seen, or just, frankly, go through the SUP process, which still defeats the purpose of taking out of the overlay.

[01:18:09] which is this incentivized data going there, we need to provide something else because just taking it out and just saying, no, we're making it harder, frankly, is only one part of that equation. So we need to come up with another way to incentivize other types of economic activity and other development in that area to offset the fact that we're taking it out of being incentivized for data.

[01:18:27] Thank you, Madam Chair. Supervisor Bailey. Thank you, Madam Chair. Director Washington, really appreciate you bringing this back, bring it to the fore, because it's timely. um we there's been so much controversy around this one piece uh as it relates to data centers and so this is very very timely and just making sure that we understand where we are with old stuff and going forward with new stuff um if we go forward with new stuff uh and so i would ask

[01:19:02] that um in your timeliness um that you make it yesterday but i know you can't but um we need to have it sincerely as soon as we possibly can so that we can address some of the concerns that the public has and put and help them to put things to rest in their minds as to the direction that we're going in with this so it's very timely we do need it yesterday I know that you've got other things to do in conjunction with this but to my colleague's recommendation Mr. Bode it's a great

[01:19:41] time because we can include other aspects to this and not just land and so I know you're in your expertise you are aware of that but I just wanted to say that that is one of my concerns as well that we've done it with blinders on and not really focused on being inclusive with every aspect that we can be inclusive of so thank you for your timeliness but you know if we can we appreciate it. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. Supervisor Rear. Thank you, Madam Chair. To dovetail on

[01:20:18] Supervisor Bodie and Supervisor Gordie, or Supervisors Bordie, we're losing businesses on an ongoing basis, losing revenues, and we're losing employees and employment taxes and spending as a function of what is largely, at this point in time, spec development that may or may not ever be realized from a revenue stream standpoint.

[01:20:44] To that point, I would argue, and I can say this because I was here, as one of the original authors of the overlay, it's outlived its usefulness, and I think we need to look at an alternative.

[01:21:02] The basis of it in 2014 that brought it forward has changed and changed dramatically. Nobody, nobody predicted the exponential growth of the data center industry in Prince William County, at least not to this degree.

[01:21:19] The overlay was created to mitigate impacts to some degree, keep development within existing power corridors principally. That's no longer an option. We don't have transmission corridors now.

[01:21:37] Dominion doesn't have any planned. They're sort of doing it on an ad hoc, one-by-one, one-off basis. So the whole premise behind creating it is now gone as the power lines are tapped. Similarly, a lot of other issues with respect to the data industry weren't known in 2014.

[01:21:58] Nobody considered things like noise or, you know, what the other immediate impacts on neighboring parcels were. And a lot of that had to do with the overlay was, you know, by and large a compromised product.

[01:22:13] And with every compromise, you know, it's not perfect. But the fact of the matter is the overlay district was significantly better than the status quo at the time. which was data center anywhere, anytime, as a by-right use.

[01:22:29] The overlay eliminated that at least to some degree. So it was better than what the existing zoning provided for. I do have one ask, though, and that is when the overlay was initially created, 2015, 16, I don't even remember the date, as part of the process, the planning office met with fairly frequently both community groups and the industry and dominion to craft the initial overlay when it was amended in 2017 planning staff threw that

[01:23:04] that paradigm out the window and just did it on their own and if we're going to go back and revise this or get rid of it or whatever we're going to ultimately end up doing with it i do believe that both the community and the industry and most importantly dominion needs to be involved in the process so that we're all on the same page and operating under the same understandings particularly with respect to transmission and generation capacity in the future and by that I don't mean five years I mean 30 because we've got a 25 to 30 year backlog of generation projects

[01:23:41] that will require new generation and new transmission. Thank you Madam Chair. Supervisor Gordy. One other aspect I wanted to bring to your attention is the innovation district. George Mason the SciTech campus, they are really trying to leverage this development of an innovation district to support what's happening on the SciTech campus.

[01:24:15] We're right there at the precipice of just reaching that tipping point of this thing turning into fantastic economic growth. But when I looked at the map that is of the innovation district, over half of it is data centers.

[01:24:34] So we're literally squeezing out, you know, this other economic engine called the SciTech campus and the potential for, you know, nanofabrication, forensics, and all the other activities that are there on that campus.

[01:24:54] And so as you're looking at that, and I've actually asked Economic Development Director Christina Wynn to work with the Innovation District leadership to present the entire board a presentation on this so that we all have an understanding of what's going on there.

[01:25:12] But I think that also needs to be looked at as part of how do we protect that area around George Mason in order to ensure that they have the land available to support the innovation activities of the SciTech campus.

[01:25:30] Thank you. All right. I wanted to thank you, Director Washington, because, you know, I requested this in May, and I did request that it be expedited, and your team has been working diligently on this, so I want to say thank you. This is a very important issue, particularly for the communities that are impacted by it.

[01:25:48] There's a cliche that a camel is a horse designed by committee. And that's how I feel about the overlay. When it was created, it had a specific purpose. And data centers were quite different then than they are now.

[01:26:07] We have to do what we can to protect communities. And that is the reason I want to start with, what is it that we can take out? And again, I know that's not going to be just an easy vote. And, you know, we're going to have discussions about this. But I do want to know, what can we take out?

[01:26:23] What is not a good fit in 2024 that we didn't know about in 2012 or whenever this was created? And I want to tag on to something a couple of my colleagues said, incentivizing other commercial activities in Innovation Park.

[01:26:40] There is such a thing as too much of a good thing. You know, data centers have helped us bring more revenue into the county, but there have been unintended consequences. They have been going in areas, in some cases, where they really don't belong. We do have concerns about power. But, yes, we have to think about what other industries are we crowding out.

[01:26:59] What else could be there? And that requires imagination. That requires patience. We can't have everything at once. And the problem with this issue with data centers, it doesn't fall evenly onto everyone in the county. I mean, we have to be clear about that.

[01:27:17] There are certain communities that are more impacted than others. And it's easy to take a vote for something that we are not held responsible for by our constituents. And so I want people on the board to really consider this. We take votes for everyone across the county, but not everyone is necessarily going to be voting for the individual supervisors.

[01:27:39] So when we take votes, let's consider the impact on the communities that are, you know, that literally are, I guess, the most directly impact, you know, that, you know, could be harmed. So this directive was given because I just at least want to, let's start the conversation.

[01:27:55] Are there areas that can be removed? We can get to other questions like, you know, have they been sold or is there anything planned? I mean, let's look at is there anything that can be removed that doesn't have a current application on it?

[01:28:11] We can discuss what other incentives or other things that we can do, but we need to have the conversation. We have to acknowledge that things have changed and, again, that the laws or the boundaries, you know, an overlay district that we created doesn't necessarily apply today. So, again, I appreciate you and your team for expediting this, for working on this so diligently.

[01:28:31] And I look forward to continuing these conversations with my colleagues. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Director Washington. Finally, for me, Madam Chair, I just wanted to acknowledge we are in a week, well, I should say in a few days, at the end of this week, going to be welcoming over 150,000 spectators.

[01:28:57] And folks are watching around the world, Prince William County. I just really wanted to lift up and thank all of the staff that played a role in preparing to host the Solheim Cup. As you know, we will be at the end of this week, really starting today, hosting the world's best female golfers.

[01:29:19] And so I really wanted to just acknowledge our police department, fire and rescue, planning, and certainly economic development and tourism and many, many others for all of the work that they've done to get us to this point.

[01:29:36] And just wishing our county the best as we make sure that we have a very safe event over this next few days. All right. Thank you so very much. We are now going to move on to county attorney time. thank you madam chair members of the board we have no items for closed session this afternoon thank you so very much we are now going to go into agenda item number six the work session so i'm going to go back to mr shorter to cue them up very good thank you very much madam chair madam chair members of the board as you know a few months back we really started

[01:30:11] thanks to you all allowing after the restructuring of our government by strategic quadrant allowing for these work sessions to really evolve into updates by quadrant. This is really an opportunity for our agency leaders, our directors, to have an opportunity to really come before you and before the public to give an update on where they stand.

[01:30:36] This kicked off with Deputy County Executive Dan Alexander in the Safe and Secure Community Quadrant and really want to just give a big thank you to Deputy CXO Quinn Haynes and really the entire team of directors that are about to present to you this afternoon for all the work.

[01:30:57] They are, as you can see in the slides, have done just a phenomenal job with preparing for today. So with that, I will turn it over to Quentin. Thank you, Chris. Good afternoon, Chair Jefferson, members of the board.

[01:31:12] I'm Quentin Hanks, Deputy County Executive for Government Operations, Performance, and Innovation. And I'm excited to start our discussion here today to talk about our quadrant, specifically giving an introduction to the work that we do and talk a little bit about the progress that we have done in an effort to continue to move forward with the county executive's goal of modernizing our business operations or, quote-unquote, what we call our internal operations of county government.

[01:31:37] To our quadrant, internally known as GovOps, and I always say this, yes, government can have a cool name, and so we're called GovOps. is made up of six agencies, facilities and fleet management, human resources, human rights, information technology, management and budget, and procurement services.

[01:31:59] We are also the liaison or the government's liaison to the Office of Elections, Prince William County School District, as well as internal cities and towns to Prince William County. So the approximately 400 dedicated, passionate, and innovative employees who make up our government operations quadrant work tirelessly each and every single day to ensure that our buildings are safe, operational, and welcoming to the public.

[01:32:24] We remain as an employer of choice by recruiting top talent and ensuring our employees have a journey or career trajectory within the county. Our county is free from discriminatory practices and is aware of those laws. We leverage technology, both internally and externally, are simplified and seamless to the public and they're in a convenient, transparent, and accessible manner.

[01:32:50] And we're keeping the future of our county in mind through our budget, our investments, and our strategic planning activities. And last but not least, that we are obtaining quality goods and services from reliable vendors that support our agencies and the employees so that they can do the great work that they are doing each and every day.

[01:33:08] Now, these all align with our unified mission of delivering innovative administrative solutions that optimize agency service delivery. Speaking of service delivery, we have five areas of service within our quadrant. Those are acquisition, asset management, people, planning, and technology.

[01:33:30] Now, I'm going to get out of the way and let our phenomenal directors talk about each of their service areas and talk about the great work that their employees are doing to ensure that we maintain a high-performing organization here in Prince William County. Madam Chair, we'll take your lead on whether you want us to pause throughout the presentation to take questions wait to the end however you want us to do it we'll be flexible to that. I appreciate that what I'm going to be doing is monitoring and if people have speak you know I will kind of signal. Absolutely so first up want to bring up our office of procurement services Ms. Shana Terry who is

[01:34:05] our director as well as our chief procurement officer. Shana the floor is yours. Thank you Quentin, Madam Chair, members of the board very excited to present the office of procurement services objectives, our strategic goals, as well as our initiatives. We are just shy of one year of being a new office. So last year in September, as part of the organizational structure realignment,

[01:34:39] Procurement Services Division of Finance became the Office of Procurement Services in the Office of Executive Management. With this new reporting structure, the Office of Procurement Services was established. We have rebranded ourselves, our office, with a focus on providing strategic, responsible public procurement to deliver the best value for our customers. The Office of Procurement Services support agencies in obtaining mission-critical, high-quality goods and services in a timely manner at a reasonable cost and from reliable vendors. We provide

[01:35:16] guidance and training to our county agencies to ensure compliance with laws, regulations, while promoting transparency in the acquisition process and throughout that process we want to make sure that all of our procurements are conducted in a fair and impartial way that we are avoiding the appearance of impropriety and that all qualified vendors have access to contracting opportunities we want to make sure that our offers are not arbitrarily or capriciously excluded and that when we are tailoring our specifications that we're tailoring them to the needs of the county and that we are not tailoring them to a specific vendor and

[01:35:53] as always we want to maximize competition to the greatest degree possible over the past year we've established a new office and team structure and four core service areas to support strategic procurement to support our county agencies and vendors we have a team of 20 highly experienced procurement professionals who work collaboratively to develop innovative solutions to meet the

[01:36:28] needs of agencies and the public. So within these teams, we have our operational procurement. Our operational procurement focuses on procuring goods and services to support all of our county agencies, and this excludes our capital procurement, which includes construction and architectural engineering services. Our capital procurement team, they focus on procuring construction, architectural engineering services and work closely with our project managers to support our capital improvement program delivery so this includes all of

[01:37:05] your major infrastructure projects facilities buildings internal construction and renovation so all of those projects that you see throughout the county procurement had a hand in working with those project managers and departments to develop their requirements and make sure that we procure those construction services architectural professional services as well as make sure that the contractors are held accountable for performing in accordance with that contract our procurement card team they manage the county's

[01:37:40] procurement card program and that includes our standard procurement cards as well as our virtual procurement cards. Our vendor relations team, this is a new team and service that we have added to the Office of Procurement Services. So we have a vendor relations coordinator that works with our agencies as well as our vendors, specifically providing tools and resources to help our vendors navigate the procurement process. He conducts outreach to our vendor community to make sure

[01:38:12] that they're aware of our upcoming procurement opportunities, attending outreach events to let vendors know that we're looking forward to having them register as a vendor with us and do business with the county. Here you'll see our organizational chart and our current structure provides for staff development, growth, succession planning, and this structure here helps us maximize our resources and build capacity of staff and leadership.

[01:38:49] So when I came on board as the director of the Office of Procurement Services, that was one of my key tasks in developing an office structure that would be collaborative in supporting the different county agencies.

[01:39:04] So we have here, I like to say, instead of a single point of failure, we have several opportunities for success here because we have several levels of leadership here We're in the Deputy Director there as well as our Senior Procurement Officers that work directly with these teams, and then we have our Procurement Manager there.

[01:39:35] So looking at our strategic objectives, so our main objective is to ensure that agencies obtain high-quality goods and services in a timely manner at a reasonable cost and from reliable vendors. So our objectives here, the first one there is modernizing the acquisition process and in improving the overall buyer and vendor experience.

[01:39:59] The goal here is to focus on reducing the administrative burden for our agencies and our vendors, utilizing technology, automating processes that increase efficiency, implementing procurement and contract systems that allow for end-to-end monitoring throughout the entire lifespan of a contract.

[01:40:20] also focus on developing a robust marketplace that connects our partner agencies to vendors that meet their business needs we're also looking to increase competition and cost savings by looking at our overall spin by conducting a spend analysis looking at our contracts to see you know where we can consolidate requirements and eliminate contracts that are being underutilized. Expanding procurement solutions through strategic and sustainable sourcing and use of EVA, GSA, and other strategic sourcing

[01:40:59] marketplaces. Again, we want to leverage our network of cooperatives and other procurement entities that have already procured certain goods and services that allow us to join those particular systems to take advantage of savings to the county and looking at improving contract administration through training and policy development and vendor performance assessments again we are looking at making sure that our county agencies are trained that they are aware of our procurement processes and procedures how to navigate them how to

[01:41:37] apply them when they are procuring services at their level and making sure that we are not making rules for the sake of making rules that we are making sure that there are safeguards in place but again removing any bureaucracy or red tape out of the process that will allow our agencies to timely get the goods and services that they need and again we're looking to increase county agency supplier network through vendor outreach to local and SWAM enterprises we want to increase our supplier pool our supplier network this allows us to

[01:42:13] increase competition and it allows us to achieve savings again we want to humanize the procurement process establishing personalized outreach that is the goal of our vendor relations coordinator we're not just someone behind the screen we have someone that they can come in and talk to I'm interested in registering I'm not sure of your particular processes again we want to humanize that particular process we are finalizing our first annual procurement report that will provide information on our procurement activities such as our contract spin and we look to have that out within the next few months the

[01:42:52] team has made tremendous progress on initiatives that support all of our strategic objectives and i'll go over those on the next couple of slides so in march of 2024 we held a virtual workshop how to do business with the county which was highly successful so as a newly established office It was important for us to conduct outreach events to our vendor community, virtual and in-person, to introduce our newly rebranded office to the vendor community.

[01:43:26] In April, we developed a vendor resources webpage. So this webpage is a place where all of our vendors can go to to find information on how to register with the county. Once they register, they can learn about upcoming opportunities.

[01:43:42] We have recordings on the website of presentations on how to do business with the county. So we look to continue to build on that website just to have a one-stop shop for our vendors with resources and tools that they need. Again, we hired a vendor relations coordinator to provide dedicated staff to conduct vendor outreach and training on how to navigate our procurement process.

[01:44:06] Our vendor relations coordinator, again, attends chamber of commerce events to make sure that vendors know how to register with us and they know of any upcoming opportunities that we have and this is all aimed at increasing our supplier network very very exciting we held our first annual procurement expo we had hundreds of vendors across the region to attend our first annual procurement expo this was a major collaborative effort between the Office of Procurement Services and many of our county agencies who were there and able to connect with our vendors vendors were able to learn about the goods and

[01:44:44] services that the county typically procures to support their mission it was just a great event our theme was making connections and building partnerships I like to give a shout out to the procurement team who worked diligently in a short amount of time to execute this program we had weekly planning meetings and every week the team was energized as we move closer and closer to launching this event being in the middle of it it was very hard to kind of see what a grand event it was but I was glad I was able to go back and look at the buzz video and I hope you all were able to look at that too to capture some of

[01:45:22] those highlights there but these vendors they provide goods and services and there are partners in delivering quality goods and services to the county so long gone are the days of keeping our vendors at armlet we need to engage early and often with our vendor community to be aware of latest trends and technologies, what the market will bear, so that when we put out our requirements, we can leverage that and make sure that we are clearly communicating to the vendor community what our needs are and setting them up with the best possible chance to respond and to deliver.

[01:46:00] Let's see. So next, in May, we rolled out our contract administration toolkit. toolkit includes a comprehensive guide and resources for our agencies to effectively manage contracts this training is required for staff that are assigned as a contract administrator as well as have the duties of reviewing and approving invoices we had over 300 employees enrolled in this class and we've been continually holding these training sessions which has have been

[01:46:35] very beneficial for our county agencies we developed a new vendor performance evaluation process this process includes a continuous and transparent evaluation process that provides the vendor an opportunity to provide feedback on the evaluation as to how they plan to improve improve and this area of focus is very important because in order for us to be able to provide quality goods and services to our community the relationships that we have with our vendors and how they perform has a direct impact on county operations as

[01:47:13] well as service delivery to our communities so next we launched our training and process advisory group interest forms so the goal here is within the county we want to have two different groups advisory groups where we'll work with each of these groups a training advisory group to work with our county agencies to identify what training needs that do they have around procurement so that we can develop training for them and the correct delivery method that works for them to be able to help them to navigate our procurement processes as well as our process advisory group to look at all of

[01:47:51] our procurement processes internally the processes that our agencies have to follow to get their feedback on those policies what do they find burdensome what steps can we remove just to make sure that again we're not making rules for the sake of making rules, but we're protecting the county's interests and making sure that the agencies can get what they need in a timely manner.

[01:48:14] It's also important through this process for us to understand in procurement as we're developing these processes and procedures that we understand the impact to the agencies as we're developing the procedures. And we are also, we're now utilizing EVA, the state's e-procurement portal.

[01:48:36] So through the EVA system, county agencies now have access to state contracts, which allows us to leverage our buying power. It allows for additional savings and discounts on those contracts, as well as we are now cross-posting our solicitations in EVA to allow for greater increased competition.

[01:49:00] So we have access to a larger pool of vendors as well as registered SWAM vendors that we can notify of our opportunities as well. And we were successful in advancing procurement legislative changes for our job order contracting program.

[01:49:23] So these changes allowed an increase in the limit for our contracts for our job order contract as well as the terms. So the big benefit here is that we are able to execute some of our smaller construction projects without going through the formal bidding process.

[01:49:40] So that is a huge win helping us to deliver on our capital projects. We amended our procurement regulations, which allow for increases in efficiency in the procurement process, increasing transparency, and removing barriers to competition.

[01:49:55] And we had a huge impact on the organization in terms of saving through our procurement and virtual card program. We achieved $2.7 million administrative cost savings from a $38 million program expenditure.

[01:50:11] And these administrative cost savings represent organizational efficiencies for the county. It replaces manual paper-based procurement orders and check payments. It expedites the procurement process and reduces the cost of processing purchase orders, invoices, and check payments.

[01:50:30] And these are all of the highlights of the Office of Procurement Services. Happy to take any questions before I turn it over to my next colleague. All right. I appreciate that. Thank you. I actually just have a couple questions. I just want to understand, like, when you guys are determining the best vendor for a particular good or service, you know, what aspects of their application is given the most weight?

[01:50:50] Is it price, past performance, reviews, technical write-up? What does that process look like? So we always consider a contractor's experience. So when we're procuring an invitation for bid, price is the overall writing factor.

[01:51:08] So the goods or services are very descriptive. So there's not a need to include additional criteria in terms of capabilities and things like that. So price is the overriding factor. So lowest, responsive, responsible bidder is awarded.

[01:51:27] So responsive meaning that they submitted all the required documents. Responsible meaning they have the financial capacity, they have the staff, they have the experience, they've completed similar projects of that nature, and they have the equipment and materials to perform the job.

[01:51:44] All right, my other question. And also, on the other side of that, where we evaluate experience and technical capability as the overriding requirement, that would be our request for proposal process where innovation, experience, capability, all of those types of things are the overriding factor.

[01:52:05] Cost has a lower value point, but cost is still considered and negotiated throughout that process. Gotcha. A couple other things. I believe EVA, the procurement portal, that's the state portal, correct? Yes. You know, I had mentioned this once.

[01:52:21] You know, I know that we have a very tight procurement process. But when we have things, like whether it's an unsolicited bid we're looking at or thinking about accepting, I would really like to see us make sure we're not just obviously posting it on our website, which you've shared with me also goes out to vendors.

[01:52:38] But let's, you know, make sure that we post things widely, like are putting things in EVA so that we get more responses. That's really important, making sure things are shared widely. But my other concern is, you know, making sure that we're reaching, like, SWAM vendors. Yes. Can you talk a little bit more about what you're doing to making sure that we cast a wider net?

[01:52:59] Yes. So within the latest update of our procurement regulations, we did include a provision that requires agencies at their delegated procurement authority, which is under $30,000, to solicit at least one SWAM vendor.

[01:53:15] When we issue our solicitations, they are publicly posted, and we are cross-posting in EVA, which has a list of certified SWAM vendors as well as we have certified SWAM vendors within our vendor list as well.

[01:53:34] We're doing outreach events, again, Asian Chamber of Commerce, Black Chamber of Commerce, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, all these different entities that have a wide variety of diverse vendors where we can let them know of our procurement opportunities, invite them to register so that they can be a part of our procurement process. All right, thank you so very much. That's all I have. Supervisor Gordy.

[01:54:03] To what extent are veteran companies included with your SWAM program? We do consider veterans as well. We have some other initiatives that will be rolling out soon that will dig a little deeper into that, considering veteran disabled vendors further.

[01:54:28] So we do have something coming up that will address that, but it's still in the works right now, hopefully to be released soon. I was talking to Mr. Gilkerson. He heads up the Veterans Commission, and he and I talked about this. is something potentially the veterans commission could look into to help try to help work through that process but yeah I really appreciate you taking looking into the veterans community this disabled veterans community to add them into that we're what are we Joe about 45,000 veterans in Prince William County and so it's a significant portion of our community that I think we should

[01:55:06] be uh tapping into as well um in terms of audits how often are you audited and and to what extent does that help you drive better policy going forward yeah so um i do want to circle back to the comment on outreach to veterans so if you know of any events that they're having we're happy to come out our vendor relations coordinator to speak with them let them know how they can register and what opportunities that we have coming in terms of audits we are we're audited on whatever cycle the internal audit program decides that we need to be audited on

[01:55:42] we are maximizing our resources in procurement we don't have an audit branch so contract administrator the the agencies have contract administrators within the department who are conducting that role what we're going to be trying to do is to do some spot checks within those agencies to pre-review all of their documents their processes to let them know hey you might want to consider you know working more in this area or that area so we we need more resources but we're trying to work with what we have so we're going to try to do some of those spot checks

[01:56:17] to get ahead of you know whenever we do have formal audits to come up thank you very much you're welcome supervisor bailey thank you madam chair working with what we have that's a good practice thank you so much but I wanted to say also um um the 2.7 million dollar savings to some that may be small but that's that's big yes that's big and and uh so my question is where where specifically could you just project where those savings came from so what was the highest you

[01:56:54] know that maybe we may have overlooked in the past and I don't have specific numbers on that And as I said, we're going to have our annual procurement report coming out that will give you specific numbers to that. But most of the numbers for where those savings came from, so we have our e-payables program where it's basically like a virtual card program.

[01:57:17] Instead of the vendor being paid with a check, they're paid with a digital procurement card. So that's where a majority of those costs, I would say, came from. So if you have, like, a major capital construction project where you have, you know, tens of thousands of dollars on an invoice, you're able to capture that, you know, on a P-card and then leverage the savings from that as well as bring in rebates to the county.

[01:57:46] And additionally, it seems like you're taking your show on the road, so to speak, in the community, and I think that's great. And to what my colleague was saying about the veterans in the community, we do have, not to take anything from Supervisor Franklin, she has a wonderful pop-up veterans establishment in her district, and it's a lot of small businesses there, you know, as we engage more.

[01:58:16] But I appreciate your conversation about the disabled veterans, too, because that builds community as well. and lets the community know that we're here for them. So thank you for the savings. That's big. You're welcome. And as I said, we're happy to come out to any events where there would be a vendor community population that we can conduct that outreach to.

[01:58:41] And I'm sure one last thing. The other thing, too, you mentioned succession planning, being an OHR person. That's important as you talk about the growth in our community here and motivating and making sure people feel good about what they're doing. and keeping that good, Ben's strength of expertise.

[01:58:59] So I appreciate that as well, the succession planning. Thank you. Supervisor Rear. Thank you, Madam Chair. While I'm encouraged by a lot of what I'm hearing, Commissioner Gordy, Supervisor Gordy's question with respect to the audit and your response troubles me a little bit.

[01:59:17] I would hope that we are putting some sort of audit function into this to correct weaknesses that have been discovered in the past. And I know it's not at your level. at the contract officer's level, but a little more oversight over the contract administrator and what's going on so that we don't have circumstances as we've had in the past of missing documentation, the application not being complete, no liability insurance, you know,

[01:59:53] all these little issues that go on. I would have hoped that we would have come up and perhaps you've got it in the works, but I have an expectation of a little bit more of a robust or more robust review and audit functions so that we don't find ourselves with reports of contract irregularities, missing materials, if something ever happens.

[02:00:16] So if that's something that you can sort of add into the process or focus on in the future, that would make me feel much, much better. Yes, well, on my whiteboard, if I could have my dream, it says compliance branch. I would have a compliance branch within the Office of Procurement Services to do exactly that.

[02:00:36] So, number one, we rolled out processes and procedures. Number two, we provided training to make sure that these contract administrators understand their role. And number three, we're going to do spot checks within those agencies to assist them and help guide them through that contract administration process as we've beefed up our requirements on contract administration.

[02:01:00] But ideally, I would love to have a compliance branch. I might actually fund it. Actually, that's what I was going to ask you. I didn't say that. It's on tape. And also, we do have the RSM annual audit as well as a check and balance for contract compliance.

[02:01:22] All right. We have Supervisor Rear on the hook next year for more money. In a budget season, Supervisor Bodie. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you for the presentation. I just have one quick question. You sort of talked about the Expo, both the one that was done and the one that you are all planning in the future.

[02:01:40] And one of the slides mentions outreach and cross-regional chamber of commerce outreach events. Can you peel back a little bit more about how you're reaching out to the business community? Because, you know, we know that we have our Hispanic chamber, our Asian chamber, you mentioned them a little bit, the black chamber, what have you.

[02:01:59] Can you talk about your collaboration with them and also collaboration possibly more with the school system? Because I know that they may have different vendors for certain things that they prefer and that there's an opportunity there for some synergy around certain public facilities. Could you talk about that a little bit more? Yes, so back in 2019, there was a combined reverse trade show where we had Prince William County schools, we had Stafford County, and we had Prince William County.

[02:02:26] This year, we wanted to focus more on Prince William County. So there is opportunity to do some combined outreach as well. In terms of outreach to the chambers, those chambers generally reach out to us saying, hey, we have this event.

[02:02:42] We would like you to come, set up a table, and do some outreach. And that's how we get invited to those chamber events. So we're open to work with any of the chambers. You're welcome. All right. Thank you so very much for your presentation. Thank you.

[02:02:58] And now I'll turn it over to my colleague, Matt Villareal. Chair Jefferson, members of the board, Matt Villareal, you're a very proud and excited director of facilities and fleet management.

[02:03:21] I really appreciate the opportunity to come brag about my department. Facilities and fleet management, we have a purpose, and our purpose is that we sustain the foundation of local democracy. FFM exists to ensure that the county departments are provided the facilities and fleet and services they need to fulfill the will of the board of county supervisors.

[02:03:45] Every FFM employee takes pride in their work and is causing of its impacts on how well others can serve the community. Thus, we see ourselves as a partner to all county departments. FFM has six divisions with multiple lines of business. We have Buildings and Grounds is the biggest division with 81.47 full-time equivalents and five separate lines of business.

[02:04:10] The facilities maintenance group currently maintains 69 facilities and 1.2 million square feet, which will be increasing to 71 facilities and 1.7 million square feet with the addition of the CRC and the Neabsco Potomac Parking Garage this fiscal year.

[02:04:28] Another line of business is B&G's mail and courier services. Each of your offices interacts with this group when your office receives interoffice mail or needs the mail to mail out something. so I'm sure you've met our couriers on a daily basis. The next division that I'd like to highlight is the Business Services Division.

[02:04:48] This division has eight employees and oversees many of the internal business functions that an organization needs to have to be effective. This past fiscal year, this group oversaw the six divisions complete 10,000-plus financial transactions and the hiring of 41 employees.

[02:05:08] Also, something I'm very proud of with this group is that Business Services oversees our department's apprentice slash intern program. Furthermore, some of your offices have interacted with the Record Center. This past year, they processed over 3,984 record requests and picked up 3,377 boxes of records, ensuring the records are properly managed following the Library of Virginia's retention schedules. The next division is the Facilities Construction Management Division, which has 11 employees. They oversee the design and construction of capital facility projects.

[02:05:46] This fiscal year, they have six active projects. Three of these projects are slated to go to construction. That would be the Fire and Rescue Station 27, the Homeless Navigation Center East, and the Public Safety Training Center Expansion Project. The next division is Fleet Management, which has 44 employees.

[02:06:06] The county currently has just over 3,100 units, ranging from weed eaters to police cars to landfill compactors. The automotive shop has multiple members that are certified as emergency vehicle technicians that work on fire and rescue equipment. Since 2020, fleet management has placed four times in the top 100 fleets of North America and of the Green Fleets program.

[02:06:29] Next division I'd like to talk about is the property management division, which has 26 employees. They work with departments to arrange their office space or find new space to meet their current needs, which would also include furniture replacement. Each of your offices has worked with the property management team.

[02:06:47] They've facilitated getting your space set up to meet your needs. Also, property management completes construction management and oversees projects like the CRC project, the Judicial Center Renovations, the Building and Facilities Program, and the Fire and Rescue Systems Station Replacement and Renovation Program.

[02:07:05] Furthermore, this division oversees utility usage for the most county facilities and the completion of energy management projects. The last division that I would like to talk about is the Security Management Division, which is the newest division with seven employees. Within the past six months, this group has issued over 7,000 employee ID badges to volunteers, employees, and contractors.

[02:07:30] This has addressed one of the major findings of the RSM security audit. Also, they have instituted controls over the access to video cameras and access control logs. Furthermore, they've begun working with departments to complete security assessments at various facilities. So within the government operations performance and innovation quadrant, FFM's area of service is asset management.

[02:07:59] FFM places a lot of emphasis on having sound asset management practices. In our own department strategic plan, it's our first goal. Listed on this slide are the strategic objectives FFM is responsible for achieving. I'll let you guys read those.

[02:08:14] I don't want to read people outside. So FFM has made some great progress in achieving the strategic initiatives related to asset management.

[02:08:36] First one I want to talk about is the office space standards. This summer, the Department of Facilities and Fleet Management, Property Management Division, finalized and implemented office space standards which have been approved by the county executive. These standards are intended to improve an agency's operational efficiency and overall productivity, maximize space flexibility for future uses, and control the county's renovations expenses by improving space utilization across all agencies. These standards, which are applicable to all county agencies, are related to the construction of new buildings, renovation of existing buildings, and office reconfiguration projects. The office space standards represent the

[02:09:16] baseline requirements for space planning purposes. Next item on here is the program Masterworks. This past January, FFM working with DOIT, Parks and Recreation, Public Works, and Transportation began the process of implementing Masterworks by Arrigo. This is a program for each of the departments to track all aspects of their capital projects. This system addresses concerns that have been raised in previous audits of FFM's Facilities Construction Management Division. Also, this program will work with the county's financial system, Mobius. All aspects related to the management of

[02:09:53] a project will be tracked within this program. This will allow for more transparency and be a resource for future maintenance of the completed projects. Masterworks is currently scheduled to go online in the spring of 2025. Next thing I'd like to highlight is county fleet. Fleet Management Division has been working to reduce its carbon footprint of the fleet. Currently, we have 1,541 vehicles, which includes 41 hybrids and seven electric vehicles. The number of hybrids in the fleet will continue to grow because the police department has determined that hybrid

[02:10:28] vehicles will meet their needs for patrol vehicles. That's a good thing. Next thing that we're working on that's related to asset management is new facility construction standards. FFM's facility construction management division and the property management division are working with a consultant to develop facility design standards.

[02:10:47] Our goal is to improve the efficiency of the facility design process by defining our preferences. The defined standards will be related to a facility's mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems. They will cover IT infrastructure, SEPTED, which is crime prevention through environmental design, security systems, and fit and finishes.

[02:11:08] Furthermore, the standards will define acceptable, sustainable options for future county facilities. Some of those examples of that would be LED light fixtures, solar rays, and electrical vehicle charging stations. Ultimately, the standards will systemize what is in place at our new facilities, making the facilities easier to maintain, all of which will improve the end user's experience in the building.

[02:11:32] Next thing I'd like to talk about is our new security vision. FFM has been managing facility security systems for 20-plus years, and this was originally done in the Buildings and Grounds Division. The creation of this new division has made it possible for the group to be singularly focused on the physical security of county facilities.

[02:11:51] The Securities Division's initial priority has been the employee badges and new controls on county surveillance and access control systems. The Division is now taking an active role in the facility CIP design process. They'll be tasked with the SEPTED reviews of new facilities and major renovations.

[02:12:09] Also in the future, they'll be working with developing security policies and training for county government. The next thing I'd like to highlight is our countywide space project. Currently, we have begun the countywide space project.

[02:12:25] This project will be a completion of a master plan study of the existing government center complex as well as the recently acquired adjacent 48 acres. So when I say government center complex, I'm talking development services building, McCourt, the whole area around that, also the parks area where the stadium is.

[02:12:43] The focus of the master plan will be to provide future needs of county departments located in the current complex. Also, the study will look to reduce the amount of space leased by the county by trying to consolidate the groups that are in warehouse and flex space.

[02:12:59] The study will look at agencies that are in locations that could be of better use for other functions. So, for example, in Manassas, down by the Judicial Center, you have the Buildings and Grounds Office, you have the Office of Elections, and you also have a Fire Marshal's Office. That's all high-needed space that we could utilize for something else.

[02:13:21] The last thing I'd like to talk about are LED upgrades. As you can see in this picture, that's a picture of the lights that were changed out at Chin Library. That was probably about two years ago. The Property Management Division has been working for many years on completing energy efficiency improvements to county facilities.

[02:13:41] In FY24, LED upgrades were completed at the Woodbridge Senior Center, the Scenario-Based Training Center shooting range, McCourt, and the Development Services Building. These projects will save the county approximately $15,000 a year in utility costs.

[02:14:01] In FY23, we had our best year for LED projects with an estimated savings of $53,000 from those projects. As part of the Judicial Center renovation project, many LED upgrades will be completed. We anticipate that as a result of these projects, which will be other things including the HVAC system and the controls for HVAC, we'll realize a $20,000 a year in new energy savings.

[02:14:28] So currently, 89% of the county-owned facilities maintained by FFM have LED lighting. 28% of our lease facilities have LED lighting. So we see that an opportunity is to be working on our lease facilities and try to switch those out to LED to find more savings.

[02:14:55] So facilities and fleet management, our future is a sustainable future. Our vision as a department is that we are the recognized service leader of innovative and sustainable infrastructure solutions. In FFM, we're working towards innovative and sustainable solutions in these four areas. employees ffm is working to develop a sustainable workforce any of you aware of there's a great silver tsunami that's coming aboard especially in the trades and we're seeing lots of people retire out and we are in desperate need of trying to develop a bench strength for this so we are

[02:15:32] marketing ourselves to the local high schools building our brand with the students with the goal that they will see ffm as a viable option for their future career we have a workforce and professional development coordinator in our business services division. While he's only been with us for two years, he's been working with the high schools and Nova Community College. When he visits the high schools, he's been to most of the high schools at this point, and at the schools he teaches classes about job entry skills like how to interview and how to create a resume. Also he has participated in multiple career fairs with the schools. Furthermore, he's coordinated an event

[02:16:10] with the Woodbridge High School called the Vikings Trade Expo. The FFM Divisions of Buildings and Grounds and Fleet Management were on site with equipment and employees to talk about what they do in their jobs maintaining facilities and fleet. It was well-received, and it was so well-received that Unity Reed High School has asked us to come this fall to do a similar event for them.

[02:16:33] This summer, we held our second FFM CareerX. This is a 50-hour immersive career exploration intern-slash-externship. that provides participants the opportunity to learn about the careers and operations of FFM and key county agencies so they can make informed decisions about their career pathways and public service. The goal is to provide participants with an educational experience like no other.

[02:16:59] We set them to learn about the many careers and roles within FFM and key county agencies. This is achieved through an immersive experience so they can make informed decisions about their career pathways and public service. What we did was we paired them up with our divisions. They got to go out and be with a division for pretty much a day, and they've really enjoyed getting to see how we actually do things. We are growing our future workforce by planting seeds now and inspiring them to want to work for FFM and the county in the future. I want to thank Chair

[02:17:35] Jefferson and County Executive Shorter for their participation in the program this year, and also Deputy County Executive Haynes as well. On a positive note, I'm happy to report that this year we had one college student in the program. We have since provided her an internship at our property management division until she goes back to school at Caltech in late this month.

[02:17:58] Last year, we hired a full-time position within buildings and grounds, maintenance and operation technician, and that was our first apprentice that we had on board. We've hired them to a full-time position. This summer, we finalized a process where we can underfill technician positions in buildings and grounds and for fleet management with an apprentice.

[02:18:17] The candidate will go through a two-year program where they will be required to take specific classes and complete different tasks. After two years and successful completion of the program, they will be promoted to a full-time maintenance operation technician. So currently we have one employee in the program with another being processed to be hired.

[02:18:38] Also this year, FFM has been recognized by Governor Youngkin as a Virginia Values Veterans Certified Company, so V3 Certified. This is a recognition for recruiting, hiring, training, and retaining Virginia veterans and service members of the National Guard and Reserve. Also, Prince William County Schools has recognized FFM as a work-based learning platinum partner for 2023-24, and this is for being a supporter of the school division's career and technical education program.

[02:19:08] Another focus for sustaining a workforce is ensuring employees feel safe at work. The security division is taking the lead in this effort. This group is working on improving our current security systems. They are now part of a facility design process making sure future facilities are designed to account for employee security. They'll be working this year on meeting with departments to develop county-wide security protocols and training staff on these practices.

[02:19:36] This group continues to grow and to be a critical tool for the county to ensure a safe workplace. Next part of our sustainability future is our facilities. FFM is working to design and construct sustainable facilities. Currently, when we design new facilities, we're designing them to meet lead gold standards. So Fire and Rescue Station 27, Homeless Navigation Center East, and the Public Safety Training Center expansion will include sustainable features like solar rays, LED lighting, and they'll be all electric. They won't have gas. They'll have EV charging stations,

[02:20:12] and then two of the sites will have geothermal heating and cooling. FFM is working closely with the Office of Sustainability develop a project to install solar arrays and EV charging stations at some of the county facilities. Also with the Office of Sustainability, we are currently completing facility electrification studies for 10 county facilities. These studies will look at the impact of changing the facility from gas to electric. The reason we're doing that is that facilities provide the most carbon output or gassing and switching from natural gas to electricity reduces our carbon footprint of our facilities.

[02:20:51] We've also been working with transportation and sustainability for a grant to add EV chargers at some of the county facilities. Another grant that we have been working on has been the EECBG, which is Energy Efficiency Conservation Block Grant, for completing a study on transitioning the county government buildings to net zero.

[02:21:10] It appears that we may have been successful in being awarded. At this time it looks like 421,000 and we'll be bringing this forward to the board for approval in the future furthermore the future neapsco parking garage when complete it's going to have 35 dual charging stations which will allow 70 vehicles to be charged simultaneously our next thing with sustainability is space planning we are working on some major space initiatives that will shape county facilities for many years currently we are in the process of completing a master plan of the countywide space project as i mentioned earlier the selection

[02:21:46] of an architect engineering firm is in process for the Judicial Center expansion. We continue to search for suitable location for the Homeless Navigation Center West. These three facilities, along with the existing projects, will be impactful on county services for years to come.

[02:22:03] The last thing I'd like to talk about are our daily operations. Our cyclic replacement programs continue to be successful. We've been able to create, we've been able to greatly improve many of the county facilities and parks under this program. Also, we've begun working with Fire and rescue system to bring improvements to the system's facilities around the county. FFM has been working with a consultant on fleet right sizing and electrification study. The findings of this report will guide our fleet acquisition strategy for years to come. And finally, this summer we were re-accredited by the American Public Works Association. We see accreditation as an opportunity

[02:22:40] for FFM to compare its operations against national standards. It allows us to validate current practices and proactively improve by ensuring we are current with new operational standards. Ultimately, this leads to a better experience for the citizens and employees utilizing facilities and fleet.

[02:22:56] So in closing, the future of the Department of Facilities and Fleet Management is going to be dominated by attracting and retaining quality employees, evaluating the security of our facilities and implementing improvements in procedures and technology, constructing efficient and sustainable facilities that will last for many years, developing space plans to effectively utilize our current and future buildings, instituting operations that are focused on preserving our natural resources while proactively striving to improve.

[02:23:24] The department will continue to evolve and meet the expectations set forth by the residents of Prince William County and the Board of County Supervisors. That, I'll stop talking. Thank you so very much. I have Supervisor Franklin up first.

[02:23:40] Sure. Just one feedback for some of our facilities. I know that when we do some of our takings to do road projects, we end up kind of owning some of the parcels. And I have gotten some feedback along Route 1 that some of the parcels that we have could use some sprucing up.

[02:24:00] And obviously, as we revitalize the corridor, we're trying to attract private investment. But we also want to make sure that our county-owned parcels look and are well-maintained as well. So just one piece of feedback, if we can kind of take a look at some of the parcels around the county that we own and make sure that they're kind of spruced up while we try to figure out what we want to do with them.

[02:24:22] All right. Next, we're going to have the Gordy of the Boardy. Thank you, Madam Chair. Ms. Villarreal, thank you for your briefing here. And as a new guy who's been trying to get everything set up for this year, I just want to thank your facilities team for, I mean, just the phenomenal work that they've done to support us.

[02:24:48] And they've just been very gracious, number one, but number two, just so helpful in so many ways. so I just want to commend them you have a great team and I also want to thank you when you were talking about Woodbridge you were talking about that program it's just like unity read can we get you and then so I'm real excited to hear that that's already in in the works and and if when that takes place we would love to come out and support that because that is very very important

[02:25:20] for that, for that school and that community. In terms of, you know, one of the things I always look at when we, when you're talking about buildings and, and, you know, there's always maintenance. So do you have deferred maintenance? Do you have, if you do, how much value? What is that price tag? You know, what, from, as we're kind of starting to think about, you know, budget formation you know what what do you see as some of the main things that we should probably invest

[02:25:59] in over the you know in the next fiscal year to help address some of that backlog of maintenance and ensuring that our facilities have you know are well maintained um um and uh and meeting the needs of our community sure absolutely um we do we do have a backlog of maintenance projects um We do right now, we get $4 million a year for the building facilities program, which we use to do kind of larger ticket items for facilities for the grounds.

[02:26:31] We share that with the parks department. And we do projects like replacing roofs, replacing HVAC systems, paving, just all the stuff that has to be done. It's not very glamorous, but if you don't do it, it takes away from the experience in the building.

[02:26:50] We have a list. It probably goes out about five to ten years, and I have more items than I have money, obviously. And now with the security division, we're starting to see where we've installed cameras. We've been doing it for about 20 years, and so we're starting to see where there's cameras that typically only have a three- to five-year lifespan, but we've got stuff that's probably ten years older.

[02:27:14] So that'll be an opportunity that we'll be looking at to work on as well. so there's definitely there's always more work than we have funds we we make do we have a great team as you said and i definitely appreciate that um they as you know as well as good looking as i can look they make me look that good so it's it's uh definitely all about the staff that we have in this department they they all step up and take a lot of ownership in what they do so i think you all see that every day well as we uh you know as we like i said continue through this um budget

[02:27:50] cycle and and i brought this up during the last budget deliberations but you know making sure that we're maintaining i mean we're building a lot we're you know we're uh it's one thing to to build buildings and build parks but if we don't maintain them um you know we've got to make sure that we have a robust maintenance budget to ensure that we protect and maintain what we build so um as we We'll probably be reaching out to you as we get closer into that cycle to see what are some of the priority issues that we need to look at and see how we can help on that during the next cycle.

[02:28:26] Thank you. Thank you. Supervisor Bailey. Thank you, Madam Chair. Matt, you do have a great team. Thank you. Yeah, you do. You do. The savings, we appreciate. You know, every penny counts. And so I know that the community, the taxpayers, appreciate it as well.

[02:28:45] The question that I had was for the architecture engineering piece that you just spoke about. Is that something new? I'm assuming that it is. As far as the construction standards? Yeah. And didn't you say you were going to have a department or something, or you're creating a… Well, we created the security division, but we are creating standards and more or less preferences for when we construct a new facility.

[02:29:12] Okay. So we identify the different items that we think that has to be in a facility, like whether it's fit and finishes or it has to be this type of an HVAC system or this type of a roof system so that when any firm, they win the award to do the design on a project, we hand them this, and they kind of know then to take that and implement that into their design so that they're not constantly coming to us to say, well, what kind of roof do you want?

[02:29:37] So it's all laid out there. And we're working with, like, IT to make sure that we're, you know, wiring the facilities to meet the future IT infrastructure. We're going to be putting in their information about what security preferences we have to make sure they're designing the facility to meet those.

[02:29:53] So those are some things that I think in the past when we've designed facilities, they might not have been in the forefront. But by doing this, it allows the A&E firm to know what our expectations are and so they can design a facility that really meets the needs of the department that we're building this building for.

[02:30:08] Oh, that's good. I see that as something new. And then the other thing, I remember when you came in our budget season, either year before last or last year, about the hybrid cars. Yes. Now you've got 41 of them. I have 41, and that'll probably double in the next two years because if we're buying patrol vehicles that are hybrids, that's what we primarily buy each year, and we're buying about 40 to 50 a year.

[02:30:34] So the cost is good. The cost is, well, and that's something that there is a delta between what we're buying, the internal combustion engine versus a hybrid, and that's something that we'll have to work on. - Performance, is the performance good? - The performance meets the needs of the Department of Police.

[02:30:50] - Okay, okay. Thank you, Madam Chair. - You're welcome. - All right, the B and Bordy. - Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Matt, for the presentation. Just a couple of accolades and questions. Really appreciate your mentioning of that program you did with Woodbridge High School.

[02:31:08] I would even challenge you to go deeper into the middle schools because frankly, we know at this point in time, a lot of those decisions are starting to be made at the middle school level versus high school, sometimes, you know, by the time they get to high school, especially, you know, sophomore year, I know from my experience, I have a son who's in the Potomac High Welding Program.

[02:31:27] He's had that projected out when he was in the latter stages of middle school. So just wanted to put that on your radar. Secondly, I appreciate all the mentioning you did of the environmental and sustainability mechanisms you are working on, initiatives, what have you, to go in a slightly different direction on access to of transit to our facilities um knowing that our facilities are not only places that people go to get service delivered but also frankly a place that our folks go to work as you mentioned earlier do we look at do we survey do we talk to our employees that work in our facilities to see how they're getting to work you know is there an opportunity to partner

[02:32:05] knowing that a bunch of us are on prtc to enhance uh transit to those facilities to make it so it's easier for our folks that work at those facilities and avail themselves of services to get to those facilities? I do not. So that would be something, an opportunity for us to look into. Appreciate that. Thank you, Madam Chair. All right. Thank you so very much. I'm sorry. Yeah, I just got one quick, one more quick question. The, you thought you were gone, didn't you, Matt? One more quick question. Are you seeing the compatibility between you, because you have a lot of projects that you

[02:32:40] work on with the CIP is it in alignment or because it's a lot of you know it's a lot yeah no I think we've got a lot going on all over the place and I hope I kind of was able to share no you did that um I think we're in alignment with the CIP I think there's obviously always opportunities but I think for the most part that is our guiding document guiding principle of what we're doing and that's what we look to you all for guidance when you but that was just I asked that not to put you on the spot but I ask that as a spot check because that's what we're trying to do

[02:33:16] we're trying to make sure that it's an alignment and you have a big job you have a lot of stuff so that's the reason why I ask that so thank you you're welcome thank you thank you so it's my privilege to bring up Joe Gilkerson for human resources Madam Chair members of the board my

[02:33:51] name is Joe Gilkerson and it is my state privilege and pleasure to talk to you about the great work that Human Resources Office is doing. Just as a quick analogy of what we do, using the example of a recruitment, it's not as simple as an office calling HR to go ahead and post a job.

[02:34:12] We have to work within GovOps. We have to make sure through budget that there's money allocated for that position. We have to make sure that once that person comes on board that there's a place for them working with fleet and facilities, making sure they have the furniture and equipment they need.

[02:34:28] Also working with DOIT, we need to reach out to them to ensure they get the proper equipment, electronic equipment, cell phones, laptops, the software that they need as well. But also working with procurement. I'm probably going to be listed as a dependent on the taxes of the procurement office because we have no less than 10 RFPs at one time in the procurement office, and we need that support in order to provide support to the county as well.

[02:34:53] And also the human rights office, working with my employee relations division and also my EEO division, our team, to make sure that we're working in coordination with one another. So it's a pleasure to work within this group of people as well. I just wanted to list that before we went forward.

[02:35:12] What we do. So in human resource right now, we have these operations that we conduct. We have the training and development division, which is led by Riley Jordan.

[02:35:30] We have talent management, which is led by Adrian Sims. Employee relations and labor relations have been combined as being led by Stacey Walker. Our benefits and retirement management division is led by Andrea Brenner.

[02:35:48] And our human resources information systems management division is led by Jesse Zinn. My two assistant directors are Susan Washington and Stacey Allen. And without that combined leadership, the great work that's happening with the employees and the staff that we have wouldn't be happening, wouldn't be sitting here before you and talking to you about the great work that we're doing.

[02:36:09] We also have a class and compensation team and an equal employment opportunity team that does investigations, works with the Human Rights Office in coordination with that and with our employee relations, labor relations division as well. classification and compensation team works to ensure that people are properly placed within our pay scales, but also if there's any need to look at jobs or at scales, that's the work that they do, the great work that they do. Breaking it down, this is what we look like currently.

[02:36:44] We have 40 FTEs that we have been allocated to do this great work for the county. I'll just go through each of these divisions quickly. The Benefits, Leave, and Retirement Division, they're there to do exactly that, take care of everyone from getting them onboarded to when they want to retire or they want to off-board with us. They're responsible for health insurance, retirement, life insurance, the flexible spending plan that we have, long-term care insurance, leave administration. We work with ADA and a reasonable accommodation, as well as the AAP

[02:37:21] program that's out there as well. The Employee and Labor Relations Division is just that. It's been newly stood up, especially the Labor Relations Division. With that, right now, the ELRD, as we call it, has been committed to creating a healthy organizational climate in which employees are valued stakeholders. The Employees in Labor Relations have a philosophy that encourages mutual responsibility, but also a constructive work relationship and communication. Communication is key in any organization. When we start to peel back issues that we have, typically it revolves

[02:37:58] around communication or lack thereof. Some areas that ELRD are responsible for, policy and procedure clarification, performance management, disciplinary. Unfortunately, when it happens from time to time, we manage the grievance process. We also manage any separations. On the labor relations side, I want to acknowledge that we were the only jurisdiction in this area that did not go to impasse. And that's the great work of our labor relations team and HR, but also fire and police labor as well. I can't say enough good things about how that interaction happened.

[02:38:37] And it continues to grow and get stronger every day. So I want to give a shout out to them as well. The Shared Services, or HRS Division, Shared Services, they manage all the stuff that goes on behind the scenes.

[02:38:54] The data, and they're doing the centralization of reporting, creating reports, county-wide quality control for payroll and benefits processing, and implements employee-related workflow initiatives for greater efficiencies. We've just, we're going into our second year with Mobius, which is an Oracle platform.

[02:39:14] Every day, we get better at it. Every day, we're finding better ways to utilize that system to be more efficient and to provide more access and resources to our employees and our leadership here in the county. One of the other areas that shared services in the HRS division work at is the timesheet review.

[02:39:35] I'll go over some numbers here later on in this presentation about the amount and volume that they work through, but also onboarding and offboarding. Every employee that comes on board has to go through shared services or they won't get paid. And every time that we do process out for our seasonals, our part-times, our temporaries, that's an in-and-out process that we need to do for everyone.

[02:39:57] The Talent Management Division, they work with department managers and support staff. They lead the efforts to pair talent management with the, I'm sorry, top talent with the right career opportunities. We do this by maintaining the accuracy and integrity of the county's job classifications, recruiting campaigns to attract a diverse pool of talented candidates.

[02:40:24] Some of the other things that talent management does for this is we're at the beginning of the hiring process, posting on job boards that we have out there, performing initial screenings when people apply to us through NeoGov.

[02:40:39] Also, Vacancy Reporting, Career Expo, we'll talk a bit about that down the slides here, but also Job Fairs. As we continue to develop and grow as an organization, NHR, we're starting to do more outreach with Job Fairs and with other outreach with the citizens and the communities.

[02:41:02] Training and Professional Development Division, this is also a fairly new division we've stood back up. Training support the leadership at all levels by offering professional development opportunities through e-learning, live online and in-person training classes, as well as self-paced e-learning courses.

[02:41:20] We have what we call the PwC University, which is an online platform that provides a lot of training and skills for employees to use. I have some numbers for that in the following slides. But also, we do outreach. We do one-on-one trainings. Departments will call us, ask for certain trainings, or we'll have required trainings that we need to push out to the employees.

[02:41:40] We'll go out and do that one-on-one with them. With our Equal Employment Opportunity Team, they ensure the compliance with federal and state laws, regulations, executive orders, and ordinances for county employees and applicants who seek employment with us, providing proactive prevention, proficient resolution, and strategic enforcement on the achievement of non-discriminatory, non-retilatory, and a harassment-free workplace.

[02:42:11] That's what we strive for, and that's what our goals are. Some of the items that the EEO team does, again, ensures that compliance with employment laws and regulations, provides EEO-related trainings, and also conducts EEO investigations when necessary. The classification and compensation team, right now they play a key role in how we attract quality applicants. They ensure that those positions are graded properly, that we're within the salary scales that prevail

[02:42:47] outside of the county as well, but also we look at internal equity as well to make sure that that is happening as well internally. Some of the other things that the classic compensation team do for us. They do salary determinations through evaluating the information provided, writing and updating job descriptions as a never-ending task as jobs evolve. We're always looking to update those job descriptions while working with those departments. Also performing assessments with departments, just overall general assessments of positions, where they're at, and if there's

[02:43:21] been any expansion or creep on those positions. So for our strategic objectives, we follow people. And for that, I won't reread everything that's up there, but it's a very important role I take very seriously for the county. We're very active in supporting the strategic plan under the attracting and developing, I guess I'm reading it, attract and develop the highly skilled workforce. We are doing the PwC Career Expo. We are going to job fairs, ensuring that

[02:43:59] we're getting the word out that we are the premier organization to work for, not only in this region, but I would venture the East Coast at this time. Also, training for internal staff for building a stronger resume is one of the classes that we give so that internal candidates now are getting the opportunities to move around the counties. That's important. Talent Management Division is actively engaged in various activities to address staffing needs. Just to date,

[02:44:28] Since January, we have processed 508 non-public safety hires for this county and received 49,134 applications just since January. Year to date, we've attended nine job fairs that showcase the county career opportunities to applicants. One of the highlights earlier this year, we went to a job fair for historically black colleges and universities, students and alumni that had over 2,000 attendees, getting that word out and ensuring that everyone knows what a good

[02:45:02] place Prince William County is to work at. Leveraging the market data, our benefits team, sorry, our benefits division is surveying county employees to see just what kind of benefits do county employees desire. Our demographics shift and change. We shift in what our desires are and what we want for benefits. Talent management completes surveys annually and after each hiring process just to see what we can do better, what worked well, so we can continue to do that as

[02:45:35] well. And we continue to communicate with departments at every chance we get. Every time we get to speak to a department, whoever it is in that department, be it leadership or employees, that's a touch point for us to create a positive environment and a positive interaction with county employees and citizens as well. Also in supporting the department's growth, the training division has been extremely active in creating and providing both in-person and public, I'm sorry, PwC University courses to continue that growth for our

[02:46:12] employees. One thing that I will touch on now is the Career Expo. On September 21st, this coming next week, we have a Career Expo at the Hilton Center. It'll be going from 9 30 to 1 p.m. to 1 30 p.m. It is an excellent opportunity for the citizens or for anyone in the surrounding area to come in and see what we do. We have jobs that are out there posted.

[02:46:39] Just some statistics from the first one we did back in March. The first ever career expo that we conducted here in the county. 22 departments participated in that. We had 28 new hires come out of that career expo that that is outstanding and we continue to do this we're setting bigger and bigger goals each time as we get better and better at doing this we had 30 computers thank you do it for the support on that what those computers provided was that the employees or I'm sorry the citizens could now sit down and create applications and apply for jobs for the county in a controlled environment where we are actually there to support them to help

[02:47:19] them and walk them through any questions they may have on that application or for the job they have. That was huge. All 30 of those seats were taken at all times with a line out the door. That's how important something like that is for us. We had over 400, roughly, I'll say over 400 attendees.

[02:47:37] Some people snuck through. We couldn't count them, but we had a good turnout, and we're expecting even more this time. I do want to say thank you to CXO, Mr. Chris Shorter, and Mr. Haynes as well for their support in this initiative. This probably wouldn't have happened five years ago, so I appreciate the support that you've all given us for this. Okay, strategic initiatives that we have. The Human Resources Office continues to grow and develop. Every year, every event is something

[02:48:13] new for us to become better at, to grow, to better support the county and better support the employees. The first one we'll talk about is the first college internship program for the undergrad college students. We had 24 selected students come in from undergrad programs from around the country. It was an eight-week paid internship, so we ensured that they were getting compensated for the work that we were providing them. Over 20 county departments participated, and over 20 colleges and universities were represented throughout the country.

[02:48:49] that's amazing. It was great to come in to help meetings, and you'd see an intern give a presentation. So as nervous as I am, they were even more nervous, because that made me feel a little bit better about my nervousness. So that was huge. Thank you, Mr. Haynes, for the support on that. We worked really hard at it, and Mr. Haynes gave us a great deal of support for that, so thank you for that. Our benefits division. We've centralized the leave program in the county, So now all FMLA, other leaves that we have are going to be coming through the HR departments.

[02:49:22] We can better track and manage it and make sure we're consistent in how it's being applied across all the agencies in the county and departments. We're managing the newly approved PPL program, which is six weeks of paid FMLA. And we're proud to say that for the Anthem plan, we now have coverage for in vitro fertilization, IVF, for all the county employees.

[02:49:46] We were able to negotiate that through our contract with Anthem, and it's something that we make sure that we take very seriously. HR doesn't go out and make money, but we recover money. That is our ROI. Every time we negotiate contracts, we recover money.

[02:50:04] We make sure that we're getting the best deal for what we need out there. So those are some things that we take very seriously, and the benefits team does a great job ensuring that that happens. Another initiative that we have going on are other initiatives.

[02:50:23] The police, they're not listed, but fire as well, and general government with the sheriff and ADC pay scale reviews. With procurement's help, we are diligently going at procuring that work to be done right now. We're creating content for the leadership development program.

[02:50:41] Again, I briefly talked about the first career expo we had back in March. In my opinion, it was a huge success. We're continuing to grow and expand our career outreach via local and regional employment events. Most recently, we're at two silos with the Amazon Veteran event.

[02:50:58] We set a table up there. We make sure that we interact. Any chance, any opportunity we have to get out and put a table somewhere, we're going to it at this time. Also, the Mobius update is called Redwood. No sooner do we implement and get everybody trained, they're giving us a big update.

[02:51:15] So we're pretty excited about the big update, pretty excited about retraining everyone and what they're going to see on the screens now. Thank you, Oracle. But it's another touchpoint for us. It's an opportunity to have a positive interaction and just to show people exactly what this can do for them with that self-service interface.

[02:51:39] One other thing that I'll say is that we are also going through what's called reimagination of HR. This is not a knee-jerk reaction. this is a well-thought-out reimagination of how we want HR to look in the future. I'm sure there'll be more information coming, but this is something that we're all looking forward to. Staff has been briefed. Most of the staff is excited. I'm excited about it. This is something that will help us

[02:52:07] better support and enhance what we do as HR professionals here within the county. So by the numbers. As I said earlier, I'd have some numbers for everyone. We currently have 8,483 people that are using our health insurance. That is active duty, that is spouses, family members, retirees, and their family members as well. The benefits team does an excellent job of ensuring that all of them are receiving the best quality health care at an affordable price. That's the key,

[02:52:45] is the affordable price. We are now able to say 100% of all personnel actions are being processed processed electronically. No matter how many pieces of paper I get, I kick them back and say, go through Mobius, because that's what the platform is there for it to do. 63,000 biweekly timesheets are projected for fiscal year 25. That means every timesheet that a county employee submits goes through shared services before it goes up into the payroll department for their final processing. We QA those. We look for anomalies. We look for anything that may be out of whack on them, or we may get a frantic phone call on a Thursday saying, hey, I put the wrong

[02:53:22] numbers in and we'll go and fix that last year in fiscal year 23 we looked at 52,262 applications that were received in the system for jobs in the county employee relations and labor relations division had 800 consultations that could range from hey I need a policy interpretation what do you think to I've got I've got a serious situation going on each one came out with successful results I can assure you of that. 4,751 employees completing one or more e-learning classes.

[02:54:00] We provide the PwC University out there as an e-platform for learning, and our employees are using it. I think that is a great attestment to the employees that are seeking and craving that development and that professional development that that platform is giving them, and we're looking for ways to better improve that as well. 8,383 total attendance for instructor-led countywide training. That is a lot, and it's a testament to the commitment from the county, from the other department directors, from executive leadership on training and why it's important.

[02:54:35] It ranges from new employee orientation, departmental trainings, but also we go to police and fire cadet trainings to give them the information they need to have to be successful here in the county as well. Mobius training was a big training event that we've had, and it's ongoing we continue to do sustainment training with with the mobius training and with redwood coming on i'm sure those numbers will be higher next year as well we do employee eval training employee relations training other trainings as requested by county departments

[02:55:06] and that's just a snapshot of the various trainings that we provide for the county all right at this time i'm open to take any questions anyone may have thank you so very much we're going Let's start with Supervisor Bailey.

[02:55:26] Thank you, Madam Chair. Joe. Yes, ma'am. You are, you're excited. You are, you're energized. You're usually kind of introverted, but today you're not, and I'm liking that. I just got three questions. One is the traction that you're getting through Mobius is excellent, and what that says is that people want to live in Prince William County.

[02:55:53] That's what that says. And two, where my friend is back there, Mr. Mancini, Thank you for partnering with the HR department. What are the opportunities, high level, that you see in terms of us having different talent in the county for the needs that are in the county?

[02:56:17] You understand what I'm saying? What do you see? I think it's limitless to not to just kind of give you a canned answer. It's limitless. The area that we live in and we operate in, there is a talent set for whatever we need. We just need to be able to access it, find it, and get them on board.

[02:56:34] We're very lucky. Okay, so I was hoping you would say that because we're so diverse. I was hoping you would say that. The other thing I have, and not to throttle it down at all, but for me, something that I've noticed, do you see the morale changing?

[02:56:57] It's a good thing when I see EEO complaints and we get the finalization of those. do you see that subsiding? What do you see with that? Because that's not to bring out the good, bad, and the ugly, but that's a part of us sustaining and protecting and working with our employees.

[02:57:18] So just to kind of give you my perspective on it, it's a right of every employee to utilize the Human Rights Office, to utilize the EEOC. I think it's extremely valuable because employees now have another venue to be heard, and I think that's important.

[02:57:37] Our employees need to be heard. If they feel that something isn't right, they should be heard by someone. Hopefully, it's their leadership chain. Hopefully, it's HR or the Human Rights Office, but all employees have a right to be heard, and I think that whether we have a higher number or a lower number, to me, the goal is they're being heard.

[02:57:54] Whether or not they're substantiated or not, it's a venue for them to be heard. Hopefully, that answers the question. Yeah, and does it seem like once they've been heard that we are retaining or we're retaining those employees or are they leaving? Just overall?

[02:58:10] I think overall, I think we're retaining. Maybe we'll have more information on that, but from what I'm seeing, employees are not leaving. I think they value the fact that they're being heard. Feedback that I've received just personally one-on-one in conversations is thank you. You heard me, you listened to me.

[02:58:25] It may or may not have went what they thought it was going to be, but they appreciated the fact that it was transparent, it was done in an unbiased way, and that they were heard. Okay, that's important to know. And then the last question that I have, Madam Chair, thank you, is the outreach opportunities.

[02:58:42] I think we have been very good. I was so impressed with the internship program. They were excited. I even heard that in church, Joe, so you're doing a great job. But the outreach opportunities that we have, you mentioned historically black colleges and universities, very important also.

[02:59:02] but what other outreach opportunities are we focused on? So we're continuing to explore the different avenues we can go down to see how we can do better outreach. Right now, we're focusing on the outreach to those colleges by having people provide applications, come in for internship programs.

[02:59:20] We may do two internship programs instead of one to be able to expand out and bring in more people. Certainly, we have the opportunity with those veterans programs that allow us to bring in veterans. I just read, actually, this morning that the DOD has tweaked that a little bit.

[02:59:38] So I'm going to have to go back and do a deeper dive on that. But I can tell you that I believe the police department is already actively in that. We are making inroads now to be able to make that something we can do for the rest of the departments here as well. Okay, okay. And that's all I have for now, Madam Chair.

[02:59:53] Thank you. Thank you. Supervisor Gordy. Thank you, Joe, for the presentation. Kind of piggybacking on what you were just talking about with veterans, but I'd like to spin it a little bit to military spouses and engaging with, is there an effort to engage with Quantico and maybe some of the other, and Belvoir to communicate opportunities that potentially military spouses could fill?

[03:00:24] We know that this is a massive problem for a lot of our families that are coming into our area. could you speak to that a little bit thank you yes sir so just like we are with the veterans we're continuing that outreach for spouses as well uh a few months ago we had a outreach program at the marine corps museum that was for spouses uh so we're going to continue to to work that as well both especially quantico a marine but we will go to belvoir if we have to no i'm joking we will go to belvoir uh they're they're a great partner with us uh we have uh excellent inroads with them as

[03:00:58] well we hire quite a few spouses of military and veteran spouses we are v3 program I know Matt has a specific one we have one for the county I turn in reports every every three months every quarter we're very active in that HR's had veteran spouses and military spouses active military spouses working for us as well so it's something that we really we don't take for granted we know it's a great resource. We want to tap into that resource, especially if they want to live here. You know, a lot of veterans or a lot of military people, this is the last duty station for them. We want

[03:01:35] them to stay here. They have houses here. They have roots here. We want to keep them here as well. So, you know, one of the big challenges that they've faced in the past is certifications and, you know, Virginia passed a law to adopt or accept other certifications. Do you see any issues in the execution of the certifications transferring into Virginia?

[03:01:59] So on our end, we just get the certification. Unfortunately, that's going to be more of a state, how they get it. But certainly I can tell you, I sit on probably four different veteran committees, ones with NACO, IPMA, various ones, ICMA, just to see how we can do better outreach.

[03:02:17] And part of it is doing that internship program with ICMA, doing outreach with IPMA trying to figure out what certifications can translate over. Medical is a big one. You've got a corpsman that's been doing basically surgery in a combat zone coming over here, can't even get a job as a CNA.

[03:02:36] That's an issue we need to work through to get people to understand the value of that. One of the things that I've been doing just in talking with the Marines at Quantico and at Belvoir when I get a chance to is get certifications before you get out.

[03:02:53] It translates that military work into the civilian lingo, especially if you're an admin or human resources. Army has a robust human resources program. Get those certifications that translate over. Now you're talking apples to apples. You're not trying to figure out what that translates into.

[03:03:09] So those are things that we're looking at, and every conversation we have with this veteran outreach that we do, that's the message we're communicating to them. Yes, sir. Thank you. Supervisor Bode. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Joe, for the presentation. I'm going to ditto a lot of what was said already, also some of the comments I made to some of your colleagues.

[03:03:31] One, definitely encourage you to go down to that middle school level as well as you look at the school system and recruiting folks. Again, those decisions are being made much earlier than they used to be. Two, again, earlier question I posed to Matt, are we surveying or doing demographics looking at how people are getting to work?

[03:03:51] Because to me, transportation is part and parcel of housing, some of the other benefits that we rely on. And so our ability to say, hey, you know, as a community and as a county, we're devoted and committed to allowing you to get to work in multiple ways is, to me, a benefit that goes well beyond the immediate.

[03:04:10] My last sort of question slash comment is looking at the change in demographics on how people work, especially coming out of COVID, where we had a lot of folks go and experience remote work where, frankly, they were told just four or five years ago that their job could not be done from their house.

[03:04:26] or folks that, you know, got a taste for working in a different part of government during those COVID years? Are we still looking at those and tracking those and making appropriate adjustments to how people work and the types of environments that they're working in as a result of that?

[03:04:44] Absolutely. We've recently created some procedures around telework and remote work. I can tell you that thanks to do it. I say things behind his back that's positive as well. They really were ahead of the curve when it came to COVID, getting people out.

[03:05:00] My entire department went out. Myself, Susan, and Stacey were only two that came in the office because we had a few people that had to be at the front desk. So we were ahead of, I think, the rest of the region when it came to teleworking and telecommuting. Those procedures and policies that we have in place now completely support that for the positions that can do it.

[03:05:21] That's the key. unfortunately there are some positions you have to be here for but the ones that can we have a robust program to allow them that opportunity i appreciate that and so my last two points there is one it i think it completely then informs what matt and his folks are doing in terms of county-wide space because frankly if you've started to decentralize and have less folks working in spaces can obviously then utilize the spaces we're looking to do more effectively and the last thing just in terms of housing making sure we continue to have a good bead on where folks in the county who are working live because i think that a missed opportunity that we don't often talk about is if we frankly

[03:05:57] have a lot of folks who work in the county but live somewhere else um those are a lot of missed opportunities in terms of of effectiveness morale what have you but also frankly more folks work in other localities the more often they get poached by those other localities so i would hate for us to do what we used to do in the old days where we would train people up then fairfax would take them. Stafford would take them. Falk Gear would take them. All these other folks take them. And frankly, a lot more folks are more rife for that. They already live in those communities. So as much as we can link those and continue to work in getting data on that, I think we'll be better

[03:06:32] served. Absolutely. I'll just add that our work environment is excellent. And we treat our employees well and treat them right for the hard work that they provide for us. It's getting harder and harder for them to leave us now because we're doing such a good job of taking care of them. So I'll make that statement yes sir all right thank you so very much for your presentation thank you man weren't you supposed to queue up the next person madam chair I guess I'll introduce Raul Raul Torres office of human rights executive director

[03:07:08] madam chair members of the board as I said my name is Raul Torres executive director of the human rights commission and the human rights office I'm not going I'm going to focus today on certain things, on some highlights.

[03:07:27] I have met with all of you individually, so you have an idea what the Human Rights Commission is and what it does. So I'm going to focus more on what our mission is, on how we are organized in our office, why we're important to the Prince William community, our immediate goals, our results that we have brought to this community, and our immediate future.

[03:07:53] So those are the things that I'm going to try to highlight for you. The mission of the Human Rights Office is to eliminate discrimination through the investigation of human rights complaints, both internal and external, meaning county employees and private sector employees, and to prevent discrimination through outreach and education.

[03:08:19] Those are the two main things that the Human Rights Office do. How we are organized? Well, it's like the little engine that could. Out of those 400 employees in the quadrant, we have six.

[03:08:36] So we have a big mission in this county with six employees. So most of them are utility players. They can play all bases. We have two investigators, one administrative specialist for the office.

[03:08:54] We have an outreach and education coordinator, which we lost. It's a vacant, and we expect that we will hire before the end of the year. and very important person, and we have myself as a director giving guidance to this office and an assistant director dealing with the first-line supervision of the investigators and the rest.

[03:09:24] Whenever we need a liaison to personnel, one of these persons is going to be one of the six. If we have a liaison with procurement, one of the six will be. So they have to be utilities because we don't have a budget person. We don't have any other resource but those six that you see there.

[03:09:46] What is our place really in Prince William County? Well, the Human Rights Office is part of the county's infrastructure that enhances the community quality of life. How that? By eliminating and preventing discrimination, it fosters respect and dignity for the residents and the visitors.

[03:10:09] So anybody that resides in Prince William County, anybody that we want to attract to Prince William County, anybody that wants to establish a business, they would like to be in a place where it's safe, that's part of the community quality of life, that have good health and good educational systems, are economically developed, and also respect the dignity of its residents.

[03:10:35] So when you see all that, we play an important part in attracting people here if they feel that they're going to be happy here because they're not going to be discriminated at all, that they will share like everybody else on the equal opportunities of this community.

[03:10:54] Our main goals, and by the way, we serve within the people area, people service area of our quadrant, the GOV-OPS quadrant. Our goals are to increase the awareness and enforcement of human rights laws through the investigation of complaints and outreach and education to the public.

[03:11:17] That's our main business. But also to provide high quality and accessible county services to our external and internal communities. That's the other goal that we have. The high quality and the accessibility of our services.

[03:11:36] And third, to demonstrate by actions how much we value our employees by fostering a working environment that is free from discrimination. That's the best way of valuing employees. Respect their dignity and provide them with an environment that is free from discrimination.

[03:11:56] So, as Joe said before, we are an alternative for internal employees to file complaints if they wish. So they have that option. And when they do, we have a process and we have a set of remedies that might be different from the process and the set of remedies provided by the internal process of HR.

[03:12:21] Through 31 years, this office opened doors for business in January of 1993, 31 years ago.

[03:12:39] In more than 30 years of operation, the Human Rights Office has investigated more than 1,500 complaints, internal and external, have provided hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation to victims, making them whole, have mediated internal employee management relations issues.

[03:13:02] We are available for other agencies that we have three certified mediators. So if an agency has an issue that they want two employees to be mediated, or a supervisor or an employee to mediate an issue, they have three certified mediators in our office that they could request those services.

[03:13:24] And we have established a reputation here and outside for conducting fair, neutral, and thorough investigations. Shifts may fall where they fall, for the private sector and for internal process.

[03:13:46] So those are some of the results. In partnership, we have partnered with businesses, chambers of commerce, other agencies, nonprofit sector, you name it. And we have had a list of community partners that is very long.

[03:14:02] We have engaged our diverse ethnic, religious, occupational, and racial sectors of our community at community meetings, fairs, and events. We go to every event. You have one, you invite us, we'll go there. We have participated and created community dialogues, for example, with different sectors and a of our community we have created a world-winning student leadership program within 2020 was for the first time prince william won the best leaders in award the best

[03:14:39] achievement award for for that particular year we are going to start our ninth cohort in that next November. So we go beyond the investigations of complaints and the mere outreach and education.

[03:15:00] In collaboration with the police department, we monitor hate incidents in this community, meaning that incidents that are reported to the police in the community are also reported to us by the police. And what we do with that information, where we monitor the statistics to determine if we can do something to better the community.

[03:15:24] For example, last October, we had a community dialogue with the Jewish community based on the fact that we have reported from the police more than 60% of the hate incidents were against the Jewish community, were anti-Semitic issues.

[03:15:43] So we felt that it was needed for us to meet with the Jewish community, to align their concerns and to give them information about what to do on those kinds of issues. A few months after, we had a community meeting, a community dialogue with the Muslim community because they want to share their concerns, mostly on the school system, about things that were having an anti-Muslim or Islamophobia, as it is technically called, that was happening

[03:16:17] against some students that were wearing particular garments, et cetera, et cetera. So by doing those community dialogues, we are giving some vow for the community to express themselves, express their concerns, and also bring you and the executive the fact that what is the pulse and what is happening in terms of the community.

[03:16:42] So that's what we do. That's what we've been doing for the last 31 years. What is our future, immediate future? Well, our main problem right now is making our services accessible to people that do not speak English.

[03:17:04] That is our main concern. We serve everybody, but we are having an increased number of complainants that either call our office or submit. Because we have our, for example, we have our intake of a form in Spanish.

[03:17:24] But when it comes into the office, nobody but me speaks Spanish. So what to do with a Spanish form that nobody can read in the office? So there's a number of issues that we're having with language and that we have to address.

[03:17:39] That, for us, is our main concern right now. Because if we're going to give a good service and make it accessible to our people, once we outreach them and they come, we have to be able to give them the service. So we are trying to acquire some funds that we can use to run into some, as writers in two contracts, that we can use for interpreter and translation services.

[03:18:07] We don't have funds for that, but we're trying to see if the 26 bless us with some funds that we can use for that particular purposes. Remember that these persons are probably the most vulnerable for discrimination issues.

[03:18:24] They are the type of work and the things that they do probably. Our second future outlook is to strengthen and establish and strengthen the community, a referral network of community volunteers throughout the county that can be there for letting us know what the issues in the community might be.

[03:18:49] We call them community liaison program. And what we eventually want to do is to have this network of people out there So if they see concerns in a particular neighborhood or particular area of the community, that they can refer them to us, and we can go and maybe give them a fair housing training, maybe give them a, if it is a housing issue or an employment training, if it is about employment, the issue that they're having.

[03:19:18] But if we don't know, we don't know. So that's another thing that we're working this year. And finally, we almost have, by the end of this month, we'll have a data collection system that will be Internet-based.

[03:19:33] So we will be able to see where complaints are filed by zip codes, types of complaints, where they are in the county, where they were filed, by discrimination allegation, by discrimination issue.

[03:19:49] So we'll know where the age complaints are coming from, where the sex complaints are coming from, how many of them were from males, from females, et cetera, et cetera. We eventually want to have that in the Internet for the public.

[03:20:07] We would like to have the public to play with it and know all this information. No personal information is being disclosed. This is right now at the zip code level. But also, it's designed to help us to target our outreach and education.

[03:20:24] Because if we know that in certain parts of the county, most of the complaints are on age, we might concentrate on outreach in terms of information and education about age discrimination on that particular part of the county. If on another part of the county, most of the complaints are employment, then we can target our outreach and education with our limited resources to employment training in that part of the county.

[03:20:51] So it's a way of doing sensible, data-driven information and outreach and location. So those are the things that we actually are pursuing. And I was the briefest of the brief.

[03:21:07] Thank you so very much, the briefest of the brief. We're going to go to Supervisor Bodie, then Bailey. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Raul, for the presentation, continued work on these issues.

[03:21:23] I appreciate your data-driven emphasis at the end of that and trying to collect that data, and also a dashboard available to the public, I think is a great idea. Just two things, you mentioned interfacing with different communities that have issues and outreaching. I think partnering with the schools is a great idea as well, so I appreciate that.

[03:21:42] On the radar for the future outlook, especially since I know the board has at least given at least tacit approval for an interjurisdictional, committee is looking at barriers to interfacing with the cities i know that um based on conversations i've had with my own human rights commissioner evelyn brumar and the chair curtis porter who's also constituent of mine that there's interest among the commission with being able to extend that outreach extend those resources to this especially the city of manassas knowing that they deal with some of the issues but knowing that right now we don't have a way of fully having enforcement there so i just want to put that on your radar as well it is of the radar

[03:22:22] Thank you. Supervisor Bailey? He said it is on the radar. What do you mean? No, I'm just kidding. But I just want to reiterate. Thank you. You've been, when did you come, 2018? No? Yes, I'll be six years in, well, more than six years, but I'll be six years in November.

[03:22:42] Yeah, that's what I thought. In terms of hiring here. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But just to piggyback on what my colleague is saying, I think that you and your team do a great job. engaging with the commission you know but it's time for you take your show on the road i'm just offering that as a suggestion because you're very good at what you do i love the fact that you work very closely with our county attorney's office i know you should but i like the relationship because the information comes to us in an immediate fashion and it's succession it says

[03:23:21] that you're working on things and that's important for us to know as we serve the community so i appreciate that but the thing also that I think that I would like to see Raul is for us to address the language barrier issue that you mentioned we've been talking about that for too long because as we talk about it the community grows and we we want to make sure that we are communicating and we are you know talking about the services that we offer we are talking about who we are And that's, you know, I know Nikki and her team, they do really good with that.

[03:23:58] So we just need to broaden that a little bit, I think. What's your thoughts about that really quick? That's a long question, but. I think the county executive is working on that. Through the Office of Equity and Inclusion, they're working on a language access policy.

[03:24:15] Okay, that's all I'm going to hear. And that language access policy may address many of these issues. Now, agencies, some agencies have addressed it better than others because they have more resources. I have no resources. Maybe the Department of Social Services have a lot more resources to use them because they have a pressing need to provide those services.

[03:24:40] But I think that we are working towards that goal, and pretty soon we should have our answer to that kind of issue. That's comforting because I know yours is an element of confidentiality as well. In respect of that, we still need to have that communication on.

[03:24:59] So I appreciate the response. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you so very much, and thank you for being the briefest of the brief. You're welcome. Okay, let's go. I have to introduce you there, babe. Madam Chair, members of the board, the all-knowing Budget Director, Dave Sinclair.

[03:25:20] I don't expect this to be brief. Okay, real quick. Office of Management and Budget, we pursue the county's strategic goals in building communities where every dollar counts in terms of scarcity of resources, right?

[03:25:35] Our office is 15 people, and our mission is to help the board shape the future, partnering with you, elected leadership, and government agencies to recommend the very best use of public resources in pursuit of the community's strategic goals.

[03:25:55] And in terms of strategic objectives, We improve the development, spending, and monitoring of the county budget and capital improvement program. And also, we are also managing the redesign of the county's community partners program.

[03:26:12] So our total budget is $2.5 million, and our staff develops a $2.5 billion county government budget that does not include the schools. It is comprised of 35-plus agencies.

[03:26:29] Why do we budget? Many of you already know the answer to this. Besides the fact that it is mandated by state and county code, yes, it is written in the county code. We also, the budget is a statement of public policy and a community's priorities, right?

[03:26:47] Follow the money. But also plans how funds are prioritized to provide services and infrastructure. And I get it. You hear that there is a lot of needs throughout the community and among county agencies. There's lots of strategic goals, lots of initiatives going on, but we also have to balance that against the community's willingness to pay through our revenue policy.

[03:27:13] One of the things that is paramount to the Office of Management and Budget during the budget process is that we have a transparent and accountable process, and that is something that the Office of Management and Budget prides itself on, is that we are responsive to your questions, the community's questions about the proposed budget, and that we respond to you in a timely manner, and in a transparent fashion. I think you're all familiar with our annual question and answer database. We try to receive those questions and answer them

[03:27:46] as fast as we can. And so if the board loves the budget, dislikes the budget, we hope that there is universal agreement that we're at least trying to be transparent to you and the community. This is our budget timeline. Now, I know you're all familiar with three months of the calendar year where we are living that external budget process with you, but it is really, truly a year-round endeavor. And we actually kicked off the FY26 budget process with agencies last month

[03:28:23] in August. And we start that with budget trainings, how to navigate Mobius budgeting, for example, how to build a better budget request, what are those important elements that results in a successful request. We are meeting with agencies this month to talk about their performance and their spending plans for fiscal year 25. Agency budget requests are due to our office in October and then we have meetings with those agencies to talk about their request, their needs in the month

[03:29:00] of November. And then we develop and work with the Office of Executive Management to develop the county executive's proposed budget, five-year plan, and capital improvement program through the month of December through early February. And then you're all very familiar with the external process that runs from February until budget adoption in April. But the big takeaway from this slide, it is a year-round process in terms of developing and monitoring and working with agencies to ensure that they're making those investments in the community that you authorize through the

[03:29:37] budget. A final project that we are currently developing is the redesign community partner process. When the board approved the FY24 budget, you issued a very clear directive to county staff that you wanted the community partner process examined, and we made recommendations.

[03:29:58] And so the Office of Management and Budget is working closely to redesign that program in the interest of enhanced accountability and transparency, utilizing a standardized framework to evaluate requests from nonprofit organizations, and identifying who those essential providers are that we will transition to contracts and MOUs moving forward.

[03:30:26] And also enhanced participation in the community through the Community Partner Selection Committee that is appointed by the county executive but is comprised of members of the community and county staff moving forward.

[03:30:42] And we'll have more information on that in the coming month, and as soon as we have that, we will include your offices in disseminating that information, specifically with a town hall-style meeting that we're going to have sometime in October to kick off that process.

[03:31:04] And unless there are any questions, I'll turn it over to Rob Mancini. Well, I assume this might be the long one because I'm surprised we don't have more people in the queue for questions, but let's start with Supervisor Weir. Well, you ended with the community partners.

[03:31:20] I'll start with it. Is there any thought to reviewing where the either current or proposed community partners actually spend the money? In other words, are we doing things like looking at their Form 990 and determining what percentage goes to admin or salaries versus what percentage goes to the benefit services that they're providing?

[03:31:46] That is a consideration moving forward. something that we're developing Mr. Weir is a standardized matrix to evaluate applications and I don't know if that specifically will be looked at but it could be a factor moving forward second part of that there's a community partners committee great my question is are there any current community partners on that committee and if so why because that would strike me as an inherent conflict I would have to get back to you on that sir at your leisure that's all I have

[03:32:19] Madam Chair. Supervisor Bailey. Thank you. Boy, Paul, you were quick. Okay. So, I love that. Well, you know, I'm going to. I love that chart, that timeline chart that you did. It just makes it clear. That one. I love it. I love it. Thank you for including that.

[03:32:38] And then how to build a budget better. You mentioned that. Go a little deeper on that. that that just a little bit some of the things that we want to help agencies develop in terms of a better budget request is linking the request to the the community strategic goals how does it apply to the adopted strategic plan that seems like a no-brainer to you and me but it may not be as prevalent to for example someone just starting with the county and is asked to put together a budget request we want to help them utilize performance measures that we have

[03:33:15] extensively in our budget to use performance trends to help justify their request. If there's a significant increase in inputs to a particular program, for example, you can help use that to justify and communicate the return on investment in terms of justifying a budget request. Those are the types of things we're trying to make more of an effort to help agencies process and include in their numbers. Love it. Okay. Thank you, Madam Chair. For example, during the pandemic pre-trial supervision in the Office of Community Justice Services, over three years increased,

[03:33:55] I think, more than 50%. That's just one example. All right. I was wrong. Thank you so very much for your time. All right. Thank you. Who next? Good afternoon, Madam Chair, members of the board.

[03:34:16] I'm Rob Mancini. I am your CIO. I've met most of you, a couple of you I haven't spent much time so it's very nice to meet you. I'm going to go very quickly here because I know we're short on time, so I'm going to start on my overview slide and then I'm going to go to my initiatives and I won't read my slide to you. I'm going to tell you straight from the heart what IT is all about and why I'm here. So let's talk about do it for a minute. The mission statement is pretty straightforward. We see ourselves as a catalyst for this county, all right, to deliver outcomes for this community. Dedicated to IT excellence, that's what we do. I've been in this

[03:34:55] business a long time. That's what IT's job is. We also have a motto. We don't sustain the foundations of democracy like some people do. I'm still getting my mind around that one, but yeah, it's quality, innovation, and business partnership. That's what we want to be known for, right? If you have a business problem, you should be able to go to your IT department and work towards a solution. That's our challenge. That's what we try to do. We have a few departments in do it. I'll tell you what they are. The first one you see there is customer service business group, that's the PMO. That's the on-ramp to IT. We operate a department full of propeller heads.

[03:35:34] You have to have somebody who can speak your language and have a conversation with you about your business problem. That's the PMO's job, to intake IT and hopefully come out the other end with a good business solution, right? We have a financial services and HR and admin team, our administrative group. I have a leadership team, my executive leadership team. There's a communications and infrastructure group that builds foundational technologies and infrastructure.

[03:35:59] You all use it every day. We're using it right now. We have an Enterprise Applications Division who delivers applications and supports applications. They do some great work. I've got some good news on that one by the time I get out of here. And then our Tech Inclusion Team, which is our opportunity to try to deliver an outcome in the community by not only delivering access to broadband, but helping people understand how to use it and the value for their everyday life so that when we deliver transformative services through technology in the government, everybody can participate.

[03:36:28] That's what that group's all about, right? So that's our overview. I like to say this. We deliver services for others, to others, and through others. A lot of departments know a little bit about IT. IT knows a whole lot about every other department.

[03:36:46] We are in every one of our departments, our colleagues. They can't do what they do without us. We wouldn't have a job without them. So we recognize we're like 3M. We make the things that other people make to deliver products to you.

[03:37:02] We know that the products that you see in the community, And I'd like to say all the things that you really like about your government, we're right in there helping to make that happen, right? And so we recognize that we have to be mission-centric, mission-focused for all of those who are trying to meet their mission and help them get the technology and the tools they need to do it, right, and have a good experience along the way.

[03:37:22] We have 95 FTEs, 40 contractors, a $48 million operating budget, $12 to $18 million in capital, depending upon how you slice it up. so we're involved in a good bit of money, and we're pretty good stewards of that money, I'd like to say.

[03:37:39] So I'm going to go here to this slide where I said I'd talk about some initiatives, and you can dive in on any of the other slides that I've skipped here, and we'll go deep dive into any of them if you want to, but I'm trying to save you some time here. So initiatives that we have, I'll boil this down for you.

[03:37:56] The first one, broadband adoption, that's what Tech Inclusion's job is. Ultimately, it's driving up the broadband adoption rate. In this county, it's probably about 95%. Our goal is to get it to 99% as fast as we possibly can, and that's why we're doing tech inclusion.

[03:38:12] The second row here, adoption of platforms and streamlined processes, that's innovation right there. That second row, we are an innovative organization. Our job is to help this government innovate where it needs to. You can see plenty of products on the right side of that table that tell you some of the products that we brought to bear in order to do that.

[03:38:31] Increasing feedback loops and responsiveness. This is all about the IT department understanding what the organization and the community needs from us. So if we have proper feedback loops and we can optimize, we get better at IT. We want to be the IT department that everybody wants us to be, so we need those feedback loops.

[03:38:50] And the last one there is adopting agile methodologies in everything that we do so that we can deliver as fast as possible using modern frameworks. Those are initiatives that we have. I put some takeaways on that last slide. I do want to say one thing.

[03:39:06] I've got a great group of people that I work with that do it. I love my staff. They're great people. We've got our warts like every other department has. But we truly do care and work tirelessly to help this county be successful day in and day out.

[03:39:26] We are on the line 24-7, 365. We are operating things that everybody needs to operate, and they can't go down. And so if you hear the sound of silence like you hear often in this county, remember that we're there. or like the refrigerator. You don't miss the refrigerator until it's out, right? You don't have a lot of outages. I got here seven and a half years ago. We were having several outages per week. I was stunned that this workforce and this government tolerated it. Now you've got the

[03:39:59] sound of silence. We have our problems. We're not perfect, but we know how to do IT, and we're whaling away for you, right? So there's a lot of stuff between my first slide and this last one, but bring bring some questions. I'll take any question you have and I'll dive as deep as you want to go on it. They're very proud of my team. I want to say one thing about my GTS team. I said I'd get back to that. I'm heading to Richmond after I'm done here to go to the Commonwealth of Virginia IT Symposium Conference. At that conference, I'm going to accept an award for my

[03:40:34] GTS team, a Governor's Award for Innovation for the Demographic Dashboard that you all use on a regular basis. So I hope you hope you're happy about that. Okay, so here I am. How can I answer any questions for you or are you going to let me get out of here we do have oh all right we don't have any questions if we're going to give out grades you got an A okay come on Gordy you know you got a question so first of all Ryle was that a human rights violation when he called his staff propeller heads so I just want to um could you speak a little bit to cyber security and you know

[03:41:12] the any the just kind of how you know we're living in a world where this is increasingly a challenge. And what do you see are the greatest challenges from that perspective? And is there anything from the board perspective we can help support greater efforts ensuring the reliability and the protection of our data and our systems? Okay, great. All right, so let's get serious. I love IT. I love what I do, but I'm dead serious about IT. I may joke around about it a lot.

[03:41:45] I'm dead serious about it. We take cyber very seriously, to the tune of 3 million events per month. We are looking at and evaluating in this infrastructure. We take it very seriously. There are things you can do for us. You'll see that in the budget process. I won't advocate for any of them here.

[03:42:02] It wouldn't be appropriate. We're on the job. We need good products. We need good people. We need good cooperation from our colleagues when it's called for. I'm not laying awake at night worried about it. We're in a pretty good position, but you never get comfortable in cyber, Supervisor Gordy, as you know.

[03:42:18] But we're not in a bad place. We've come down the maturity road. We're at level three maturity for our cyber practice. And we can always use more product. But we're not looking to buy a bunch of product and claim victory. The product has to have a job and a reason for it.

[03:42:34] And it has to be valuable for the county or we're not going to go there. So I'm very comfortable saying that we're on the job. But it's day in and day out. You're welcome. All right. I'm going to say thank you so that we can move this along.

[03:42:50] Well, no, thank you so very much. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Hayes, for your team, you know, all the great presentations, this is wonderful.

[03:43:15] We'll go into our, I guess, our next presentation, so I'm going to bring up, oh, you're right here, hey?

[03:43:48] Yes, I thought I teased them for leaving me. Yeah, so. I sat through their presentations. This is a presentation to give the board and the public an update on our strategic plan process and development of that process. As many of you have worked very closely with Kay, really want to, you know, publicly say thank you so much for all the work that you're doing and helping facilitate and usher us through this process.

[03:44:06] Kay will also provide some information on next steps and what we're asking for from the board, and so I'll turn it over to Kay. Thank you, Mr. Haynes. Good evening, Madam Chair, members of the board. My name is Kay Wallace, and I'm the County Strategic Plan Coordinator. I'm here this afternoon to give you all a quick update on the development of our next strategic plan.

[03:44:28] So what I would do during this presentation is remind you all about our current strategic plan development process. I'm also going to review the strategic plan goals that the board selected by the community input that you all received a few months ago. And then I'm also going to share the objectives that are being recommended by the executive cabinet to help accomplish some of these goals.

[03:44:50] And finally, I will review next steps in the process. Development of four-year strategic plans in Prince William County is an institutionalized process, and each iteration of it changes as we try to improve. The intention of our current strategic plan process is to create an inclusive process that inspires ownership of the next strategic plan, to create an aligned and measurable plan to guide the execution of our work, to create an aspirational plan where staff understands their contribution to its success, and finally, to create a strategic plan that our community supports.

[03:45:29] This slide here shows, and you all have seen it before, the five phases of our current strategic plan process. phase one was planning and launch in phase two we engaged the community by speaking to residents community stakeholders county staff and board members to solicit input regarding what our priorities should be in the next strategic plan and i do want to thank you all right now board members for being willing to host your community town halls that you did a couple of months ago and to also assist us with finding participants for the resident focus groups that we did

[03:46:07] we are currently in phase three of the development process where we are drafting the goals objectives and action strategies for the plan in phase four we will present a draft of the plan and seek community feedback before we present the final document to you all and ask you to ratify it at which point we will transition to phase five which is implementation of the plan as stated we are currently in phase three of the strategic plan development process the community input along with

[03:46:41] each board member's perspectives on future priorities for pwc were used by the board to select our strategic plan goals for the next four years the board as you all will recall participated in a marathon six hour work session on july the 9th to to identify those goals for the next four years. So strategic plan goals, every strategic plan, depending on whether it's non-profit, private sector, or government, they have different definitions for what is a goal, what is an objective. So I just wanted to spend a little bit of time on this slide to give you all the definitions of that we are using here in Prince William County for our plans.

[03:47:20] Strategic plan goals are very high-level goals or outcomes that we as a community want to focus on. So strategic plan goals are the what we want to accomplish over the next four years. Very high level. After we received strategic direction from you all on July the 9th about the goals in the next plan, the executive cabinet then used those goals to develop objectives.

[03:47:45] Objectives are mid-level things that we must do over time or that we must do continuously to be successful in accomplishing our goal. So goals are very high level. Objectives are kind of like in a mid-level of things that we have to continuously do to be successful to accomplish that goal.

[03:48:03] And I will give you all an example in a minute. So to be successful in accomplishing that goal, there are many things that we could do to accomplish a goal. Like when you have a high-level goal, you could have 50 objectives. But when it comes to strategic planning, you have to prioritize and decide what objectives do we want to focus on?

[03:48:21] What are our priorities for the next four years? So objectives are those mid-level, what we must do continuously to accomplish those goals. So after we finish finalizing the objectives, then next we will identify the action strategies in the plan.

[03:48:38] And the county leadership team, comprised of the executive cabinet and department directors, will draft and recommend the action strategies for our plan. So action strategies state how we will accomplish the objectives to reach our high-level goals in the plan.

[03:48:54] So I'd like to give you all an example. An example of a strategic plan goal could be to enhance the quality of life for all Prince William County residents. Very high level goal. A whole lot of things could come up underneath that with regard to health, housing, safety, a whole lot of different things.

[03:49:13] But what you would do for that high level goal for your objectives coming down one level is look at what do we want to focus on as a priority over the next, say, four years. So an example of an objective under that to enhance the quality of life for all Prince William County residents could be an objective of to reduce and prevent homelessness.

[03:49:32] Because anybody's quality of life is negative when you don't have a home, and it's positively enhanced if you do have somewhere to stay. So focusing on homelessness, how to reduce it or prevent it, could be an objective, one example of an objective up underneath that high-level goal.

[03:49:49] So an action strategy up underneath that objective, the more lower level things, an example of that could be a program that provides temporary housing or financial assistance to a person or a family who is currently homeless. Another example could be a program that addresses foreclosure prevention to avert possible homelessness.

[03:50:11] Or another example could be an initiative that increases affordable housing in the county. So that's an example of how, for our plan, goals, objectives, and action strategies are defined. Before I present the goals and objectives, I'd like to take a minute to remind you all how we got here today.

[03:50:33] We engaged in a very robust process to solicit input for our next strategic plan. Those efforts included eight community town halls, resident focus groups in each magisterial district. We did a focus group with our strategic plan community advisory committee.

[03:50:49] We did focus groups or community conversations with business owners in Prince William County. We held a focus group with the leaders of our cities and towns in Prince William County. We also did employee focus groups. We did a survey that we sent out, a written survey that we sent out to our county boards, commissions, and committees.

[03:51:10] We also included some strategic plan questions in our community survey. And finally, our strategic plan consultant conducted individual interviews with each one of you as well as Mr. Shorter. Therefore, I think it is fair to say that we did make significant efforts to be very inclusive so that we could hear from everyone and as many people as possible that wanted to participate in this process.

[03:51:34] So regarding the eight goals that I'm getting ready to show you that were selected by you all, as well as the objectives that are being recommended by the executive cabinet, we chose wording for these objectives and goals that we felt would resonate with the residents, community stakeholders, and county staff based upon their input.

[03:51:54] And because all of these goals are equally important, they are listed here in alphabetical order. The first goal is education. The gold statement is to advance equitable, high-quality learning opportunities that build and strengthen an educated, talented, and skilled workforce.

[03:52:13] There are five recommended objectives for this particular gold area. The first objective focuses on lifelong learning, and I'm not going to read all of these, but I'll read like one or two and then tell you what the highlights are of the other ones. So objective number one under this goal is to foster an integrated ecosystem that provides equitable, lifelong learning opportunities for all ages.

[03:52:37] Other objectives for this goal area focuses on awareness and access, creating a talented workforce, and other workforce options. So for goal number two, this focuses on the environment.

[03:52:56] The goal statement is to preserve the county's natural beauty and resources where residents can enjoy nature and open spaces are created and maintained. There are four recommended objectives for this goal area. The first objective focuses on natural resource protection.

[03:53:14] The objective reads to safeguard the quality of our natural resources to ensure they are not compromised for the current and future generations. Other focus areas of the objectives under this goal area look at maintaining and expanding green spaces.

[03:53:31] We're looking at focusing on achieving our climate mitigation and resiliency goals, as well as doing community collaboration and contribution. The theme of goal three is government.

[03:53:48] The government goal statement is to innovate and sustain a collaborative organizational culture that is high-performing, data-driven, customer-centric, and values employees. There are five recommended objectives for this goal area.

[03:54:04] The first one focuses on Prince William County being an employer of choice. The objective statement reads, Position PWC as an employer of choice by cultivating a safe, diverse, and inclusive workplace where employees are treated fairly, compensated competitively, and recognized for their contributions.

[03:54:25] Other focuses under these objectives look at development of staff and leadership, capability and capacity, use of technology to improve service delivery, and cross-collaboration. The fourth goal is mobility.

[03:54:45] The goal statement is to foster an interconnected and accessible transportation network that advances the county's mobility infrastructure, broadens transportation choices, and enhances safety measures. There are five recommended objectives for this goal area.

[03:55:03] The first objective focuses on enhancing connectivity through multimodal options. Other focus areas under these objectives look at design and infrastructure, making sure that residents are aware of transportation options in the county, providing equitable access to multiple options, and safety.

[03:55:30] Goal five looks at the quality of life in Prince William County. The goal statement is enhanced quality of life and increased resident retention, where residents can afford to live, work, play, and retire, and experience the benefits of a resilient and healthy community.

[03:55:47] There are six recommended objectives for this particular goal area. The first one focuses on affordability or affordable housing. The other objectives focus on topics such as workplace options, amenities, and recreation in Prince William County. The ability to be able to age in place. The use of green spaces. And the last one focuses on branding. The theme of goal six is safe and secure community. The goal statement

[03:56:26] is cultivate a safe and secure community that advances stakeholder engagement, collaboration, and evidence-based results. There are five recommended objectives for this goal area. The first one focuses on developing coordinated community responses. The other objectives focus on topics such as expanding data capabilities, prevention, and planned preparedness. Goal seven is service delivery. The goal statement, provide exceptional and accessible county services

[03:57:03] to residents, businesses, and partners. There are four recommended objectives for this goal area. The first objective focuses on access to services. The other objectives focus on topics such as capacity, and capability, reducing barriers to services, and user experience.

[03:57:32] The theme of Goal 8 is smart growth. The goal statement is advanced strategic and intentional community-oriented growth that strengthens and enhances the diversity and sustainability of the economy and county. There are six recommended objectives for this particular goal area.

[03:57:51] The first objective focuses on placemaking. Some of the other focuses of these objectives are on balancing development with climate impacts, diversifying our commercial tax base, agribusiness and agritourism, as well as strengthening local businesses.

[03:58:11] So those are our eight goals. I do know that you all just received this information last week, and with your very busy, full-packed schedules may not have had time to read through all of these yet. So we definitely want you all to be able to digest it before you give us some feedback on the goals and objectives that are being recommended by the executive cabinet.

[03:58:35] What I want to do is right now, as I work toward concluding this presentation, is just review, again, the timeline with you all. This slide shows our current timeline. We are making progress and doing well as far as the time frame is concerned, timeline is concerned.

[03:58:50] Our goal is to have this strategic plan finalized and ask you all as a board to ratify it in February of 2025, approximately one week before the FY26 budget is proposed so that you can move from strategic planning and focus solely on the FY26 budget process.

[03:59:12] As far as next steps, we are asking board members to review the recommended objectives that came from the executive cabinet to see if these objectives align with or support the strategic plan goals.

[03:59:28] Your representatives on the community advisory committee have been provided the information of the goals and the objectives, and they've been instructed to, if they have any kind of feedback or input as far as the objectives and goals are concerned right now, to send that information directly to the supervisor who appointed them to the committee.

[03:59:48] Once, we're asking you all to send your recommended edits or changes or additions to the objectives to Mr. Shorter by Friday, September the 20th. I believe you all will receive an email from Mr. Shorter within the next day or so, day or two, along with instructions of how to reply to him to give any feedback you want to as far as the goals and objectives are concerned.

[04:00:12] After we finalize the objectives, we will move on to the next step, and we can't move on to the next step until we hear from you all to finalize the objectives. But once we finalize the objectives, then the leadership team will begin to draft the action strategies that addresses the how we will accomplish some of these things in the strategic plan over the next couple of years.

[04:00:34] And then finally, we'll work on finalizing the draft in November and December. In January, we'll put the draft out for the community to review and make their comments on. we'll make edits as appropriate. And then in February, Mr. Shorter will ask you all to ratify your next four-year strategic plan. And if you all have any questions, I and Mr. Haynes and Mr.

[04:01:00] Shorter will be happy to answer them at this time. Thank you so very much. Supervisor Weir. Thank you, Madam Chair. In reviewing this, I think I now understand why the consultant got so angry with me for photographing the slides are our comments from the work session. I'm going to be setting quite a lengthy list of things. They're shorter at the end of the day, but I think I have

[04:01:32] a fundamental difference of opinion with respect to goals and objectives. Yes, the board sets the goals, but I would also suggest that that six-hour marathon meeting set particular objectives, many of which I don't see in the strategic plan, or things that were specifically enumerated by a variety of members of the board and concurred with by most and made it as priorities on those task lists and discussion boards.

[04:02:04] I'll give you two examples. Whether you put it in the government section or the streamlining of services section, I think the two most, one of the two, some of the two most used words of that entire session were transparency and accountability and that's nowhere in here and it was also a the number one component I can't speak to all the districts but uh for the Gainesville and the Brentsville districts it was the the number one priority for the residents number one priority for our

[04:02:40] representatives uh to the committee and you know I've had a number of people tell me and even at the meeting why are we bothering to do this if you're not going to if nobody's going to listen and take down what we want and include it in there.

[04:02:56] And this sort of not having that in there sort of buttresses what they said. I'll give you another example, and I'll let everybody else go on. With respect to the smart growth stuff, I mean, it's great to have a smart growth goal, but the objectives, quite frankly, don't have very few, if any, recognized smart growth principles in it.

[04:03:21] So if we're going to talk smart growth, we should at least define it properly. and put an objective in there that matches what is the generally accepted standard for what smart growth is. I'll follow up in writing with all this.

[04:03:37] There's no sense beating this horse tonight. But I just want to go back to the point that, yes, we set the goals, but I think we also set quite a number of the objectives. And from what I recall from the meeting, a lot of our joint objectives don't appear to be in here.

[04:03:55] Thank you. Madam Chair, if I can. Yes, Mr. Shorter. Supervisor, we really appreciate that feedback. I wanted to just acknowledge the appreciation for the time that the board spent together during that six-hour marathon, I should say.

[04:04:13] I just want to remind the board in the community, our last or our current strategic plan does not include a government section, and it certainly doesn't include a streamlining or government effectiveness section.

[04:04:29] And so if you can go back, this is our first time really engaging staff in the way that we did for the specific purpose of making sure that we created a portfolio of actions around transparency and a portfolio of actions around accountability.

[04:04:50] So when we look at this goal in particular, we are essentially saying to the government and certainly to our community that you as a board really want to make sure that our government is best in class.

[04:05:06] Madam Chair, if I might, I get that. And you could infer accountability and all the wonderful words that we want in there. And I get that. However, unless the public sees transparency and accountability and explained how it is, most of them are not going to be able to square that set of objectives with what they see as the problem.

[04:05:37] So unless we address it directly and label what the concern is or what the goal that we want to address is, what the residents want us to address so they can restore their faith in the county, which, quite frankly, some of them don't have, if we don't directly address the issue with essentially the hot-button words that best describe it, I don't know that we're going to make a whole lot of headway.

[04:06:04] That's just my two cents. Thank you. Supervisor Franklin? Sure. I guess I'll just start with the comment from Supervisor Weir. You know, I don't see a huge problem with including language about transparency and accountability. I think that's probably fine.

[04:06:22] And then also I would just say to my colleagues, it's going to be on us to kind of be the bearers of that messaging too, explaining how the strategic plan will help with those two elements and all these other elements as well.

[04:06:39] so just wanted to to point out that uh kate thank you for the work that you've done on the strategic plan i think we've had some fruitful discussions in the woodbridge district um you know i helped to kind of uh lead some of those discussions and and the residents were were very clear about what they wanted to see both along the route one corridor as well as for the county at large so i thought that our sessions were very helpful so thank you i do just want to point out a couple things um for uh the environmental section and these are high level so obviously it's not going to be a lot of specifics in uh you know the the particular objectives the specifics will really

[04:07:17] come out in the programming and i understand that but i do want us to make sure that and i think this falls under probably the first one but uh in the first one just for the public safeguard the quality of our natural resources to ensure they are not compromised for the current and future generations just want to make sure that we specifically look at water quality it's something that we've talked about over the past couple of years but discussions around those forever chemicals have i think become more and more of a forefront discussion over the past year both here in the county and nationally as our epa has started to take steps to make sure that

[04:07:57] our water systems across the country are being mitigated against these forever chemicals so that's one thing I wanted to point out and then obviously salinity is something that has come up here and there but we haven't talked a lot about the impact of salinity on our water and that's something that I'm hoping to elevate as a discussion particularly in the winter months as we're using salt on our roads to kind of rebuild the roads after we have some of our snowstorms but the reality is it's not great for for our environment particularly as it runs off

[04:08:36] into the streams so I want to make sure that we're focusing on water quality particularly on those two issues salinity and the PFAS the forever chemicals and making sure that this county at least is starting to do its part in mitigation and we've talked about the the service authority and the work that they've been doing they're really leading the effort on this but really how the county and our residents can have best practices amongst ourselves to make sure that we're making it easy for our service authority to be able to mitigate against those. So I just want to make sure that that's part of our environmental discussion. I don't know if you have any comments

[04:09:14] to that, but if not, I'll move on to the government section. I do want to talk about, and we've talked about this before, and Mr. Shorter, I know you're going to bring forth probably some processes that we can do moving forward but our permitting process having that as part of our government section in terms of objectives many of our residents may not have brought that up because most residents don't have to go through the permitting process but I can tell you that

[04:09:44] every entity from small businesses to large developers have come to us many of us with the same issue and that it's so hard to get the permitting process underway and complete and finished within a timely manner. I just met with an apartment complex this past Friday who raised the same issue and I said well I said don't take it personal it's not personal to your entity it's just a challenge that we have here in this county so permitting reform as I call it I think

[04:10:22] is something that we need to take a close look at and quite frankly when we talk about delivering high quality services and goods we have to also make sure that we're talking about our business community whether it's a small burger joint that's trying to open up that doesn't have the money for lawyers to go through the permitting process to even the big developers who do have the money for lawyers and have the lawyers who still have the same complaint so it's something that we really do need to focus on and I think that our strategic plan um should reflect that thank you all right um before I go on to supervisor Bodie um because his screen is not working it's going to be Bodie

[04:11:00] and it's going to be Bodie then Bailey because um Kenny unfortunately his screen's not his iPad's not working but I just quickly want to tag on to permitting reform because that's something my office is taking a big interest in um and certainly meeting with businesses to discuss this and I had a great conversation with Russ Gessel who's the developer behind the courts just last week about this and he was giving me a lot of guidance of things that he's seeing and he kind of put things in buckets that's and I don't know if that's going to be a directive but that's definitely something I'm going to speak with Mr. Schurter and others about because we need to have

[04:11:35] a discussion on the dais about what's going on with our permitting process and how we can look at fixing that so i mean i think it'd be great in strategic plan but i definitely like to see something action taken as soon as possible more near term on that so with that i'm going to go to bode then bailey thank you madam chair um to piggyback off of some of what was already said to earlier supervisor ware's point on the transparency and trust i'm going to give much more detailed feedback in the email allison but i i agree 100 i think that service delivery should also include some mentioning of community relations and tweak the goal to include words

[04:12:14] like foster trust, transparency, what have you, because you're absolutely right. What all these goals and objectives within that speak to that, and on the government side speak to that as well, I think as an explicit mentioning of that verbiage, there are still some folks, frankly, that are even giving us feedback now, that there's a disconnect there, where, yes, you're speaking to it, you know, sort of at the periphery, but without explicitly using those words it still sort of feels like tap dancing some folks so that's one thing I wanted to offer and concur in the education section would love for us to be a little bit more explicit in talking about something that I know came up during our work session which is fostering

[04:12:53] a deeper and more collaborative relationship with the school system and to better align our county government policies and priorities with the infrastructure of the schools because I know we talk a lot about our relationship with the school board and I think that talking about that sort of highlights in two different ways one it still delineates that we are the funders of the school system we're not the school division so we don't actually deliver those educational resources but it does highlight a real need that get often communicated to us a lot by our constituents that there's still a disconnect between uh our school planning our facilities especially in the older schools and what the government's doing right we have a housing crisis that we're trying

[04:13:32] to address we have growth issues that we need to address but our school system side doesn't always seem to be handshaking with that and so that's a real uh pain point that i see that we should probably be a little more explicit about um government i already sort of mentioned that but i've been talking about this part sort of all afternoon with all the other uh presentations that were given but being more clear and pointed at aligning that our housing and other county policies incentivize and allow us to have as many members of our employee workforce live and thrive in the county they serve i cannot highlight enough how important that is especially that we

[04:14:09] do have that new goal goal area that mr shorter talked about that we haven't had before which is more of an internal facing goal hey we are one of the biggest employers in the county we are the county and that we should really have goals that speak to that so i agree with that but again that means that our policies as a county that we're doing from the dais we're doing from a county staff side, should be also fostering a thriving set of workforce folks that are able to partake in our community as well as everyone else because they have a good paying job, because they have access to good housing, because they have access to transit and other benefits that avail themselves of it.

[04:14:47] And the last sort of bit is, again, at that service delivery and community relations, just frankly um highlighting more uh an education piece and and and follow-up because i feel like a lot of our processes frankly while they're not hidden from the public they're very arcane to the public our land use process we talk how very often some folks never um interact with the county's land use process as a planning commission whether it's us as a board or public hearings until there's project next to their house that they hear about now we can't fix that all the time but we can at

[04:15:24] least put more resources out there do a lot more proactive positive communications around how we work from that perspective to really help follow up with that and frankly the last thing i'll say on that is you know we put a lot of policies in place this strategic plan is one of them i know miss walsh you'll remember from four years ago when we had the same discussion how we communicate the follow-up and follow-through processes when we adopt these things you know we have the comprehensive plan that we adopted a year and a half ago we're still working through the zoning ordinances and you know we need to continue to have sustained communication with folks because otherwise they feel like they again

[04:16:01] participate in these forums and these hearings and these these community meetings and they don't necessarily get communicated with what happened next how their feedback fed into that the trajectory of that policy maybe how it was changed by what they did so making sure that we're not just as soon as it's adopted we sort of leave it on a shelf in terms of a communication standpoint that was a lot all right I'm supervisor Bailey thank you ma'am chair slide three okay I just just this is this is just a small thing bullet three where it says

[04:16:40] an aspirational plan this is an intentional plan I'm saying that because we've done a lot of work with this plan and I and I get it I mean it's not a biggie but this happy you know just to tighten it we use the word aspirational and inspirational but aspirational means they're very high lofty goals that we know are going to possibly take a long time for us to accomplish and achieve that's what we mean but absolutely this is an intentional plan as well i accept i accept that i just wanted to let you know i'm reading your stuff and you know and this is intentional now i'm going to go really fast

[04:17:15] because i want to be respectful of time uh goal one under education i agree with what my colleague said about our relationship with with the school board but life learning for all ages providing those services i think that's essential because you know for all ages because we've got a seasoned senior community that's yes okay okay and then um under um oh uh goal number three government

[04:17:46] Just, it would inspire me if you could change the language to continue to anticipate growth under government. The third bullet, you mean?

[04:18:02] Uh-huh. Yes. Okay. Under mobility, just going forward, the mobility piece, Just the acknowledgement that what does equitably mean because my goals in Potomac may be different than Bob's goals in Gainesville or Brentsville, you know.

[04:18:32] So how do we justify the equity of that? I think that's still an opportunity for us, but just to bring that to the fore. And then goal six, we're on our way with that. I think we're nailing that. Where's Dan? Dan's here. Okay.

[04:18:47] I think we are nailing that. I'm talking about you, Dan, in terms of coordinating community responses and having the community have input in our safe and security. So I think we know that. And then smart growth, just to, no, seven, service delivery.

[04:19:08] We've got to nail the delivery of projects and what that means to build the trust. Because I agree with Bob about building the trust. But I think that comes with educating, and it's a lot of words, but educating the community of what we're doing with the strategic plan as we talk about smart growth.

[04:19:30] Because we may be saying the same thing, but, you know, you know what I'm saying, you know, to build the trust. Because I think it's there because we are not where we were five or six years ago.

[04:19:45] We're in a different space. So we've got to have smart growth, but we've got to build the trust and bring the community along to help them understand that we are there where you want us to be, but what else is it that you're saying to us? So that builds a trust. And then lastly, if that makes sense. It does.

[04:20:01] Okay. And then lastly, I think that's it. Thank you. Thank you so very much for the presentation. Thank you. Try to keep it short and sweet. Appreciate your time. Thank you.

[04:20:17] So now, and Mr. Hayes, thank you for, you know, your quadrant. so now we are going to move on to supervisor's time i am going to actually start off because i just want to make a quick um comment you know since we brought up permitting process you know i don't necessarily feel this requires a directive but if it does i'll make one up on the fly but i would like for us to have a discussion or have a presentation about some of the problem spots with the permitting process um and we can certainly work on work on that together because it's an issue that i've heard too much and it worries me i mean restaurants are having these problems i got

[04:20:56] pulled into a nail salon that was having these issues obviously you know um you know we know that you know the developers are having this but i'm really also nervous about the small businesses because when they have a issue with the permitting process that for them is you know life or death so i just wanted to raise that thank you madam chair no directive is needed i know you and i have had a conversation about all the work that development services in particular Mandy and the team is doing. I know she's going to get around and has for some of you to do rounds to

[04:21:31] talk about some of the work that she's doing, some of the partnerships that have been established with the business community. We certainly plan to put this up front along with a number of other initiatives that we have heard from you all. And I hope next week to be able to really introduce a platform for us to do that. And so no directive is needed. We hear you. We have certainly been talking about it because we've heard it from almost all of you. And so look forward to the

[04:22:07] conversation that will certainly start next week, but will continue. And I really appreciate that. I know the squeaky wheel gets to grease, and this wheel has been squeaking for a long time. So hopefully we will, sooner rather than later, be able to get some resolution to this.

[04:22:25] So I'm just going to make a couple quick things. Obviously, tomorrow is the 9-11 ceremony at 9-30, the Liberty Memorial Fountain. I am also going to be doing a joint town hall with Supervisor Weir on Wednesday, October 16th. I'm also hosting local government day on Saturday, October 19th.

[04:22:43] So if that's going to be an event, we're going to start to advertise it soon. It's for middle school students. Really introducing local government to our young folks. And middle school is a great age to kind of get people interested. That's when they're starting to think about careers and their future. And, you know, I still got a few other town halls.

[04:23:02] I'd like to play with people. So that's all I'm going to say. Hi, Tom. All right. So with that, I am going to go to Mr. Gordy to start the updates. All right. Thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, I know our staff is working on dates, so at least I'm being responsive.

[04:23:21] I don't know about Vic, but. Well, yesterday was a great day. This is going to be a great week for the Brentsville District. We cut the ribbon on the University Road Extension. Unfortunately, you can't drive until Thursday, so don't go through the barriers.

[04:23:40] Thursday the road will be open but I know that that is a great long-awaited project for our community and then as we talked about also we've got some economic development announcements coming up on Thursday related to the Innovation Park and then also the kickoff of the Solheim Cup which is going to be a great event and hope we've gotten a tremendous volunteer response from the

[04:24:11] community and look forward to having a great group of spectators out to to to support this incredible event for our community a couple of meetings I've had since last week I did I was able to meet and really much enjoyed the meeting with Rabbi Shmuley Pierlstein from over in Haymarket and his community. It's been, you know, it's been a tough year for their community since October 7th of last year, but as they enter into the many of their observances and celebrations coming up,

[04:24:50] just wanted to wish that community very well and look forward to being with them at some events coming up um i also had the opportunity to go to richmond and meet with dominion power um uh again it's not a secret we have many challenges related to electrical transmission um and generation related to the data center development in um in within the data center overlay and um trying to

[04:25:22] understand a better way of planning for what's coming. And so I really appreciate Dominion's willing to have that discussion and looking at more holistic approaches rather than just simply responding to a load letter and doing a siloed approach to meeting these needs. But it's clear um we're going to hit the ceiling in terms of generation um and uh and so uh these are conversations that we will have uh continuing to go forward but i really do appreciate them

[04:25:58] taking the time to educate me and help me better understand this process going forward um i want to thank our public works team uh for executing a fantastic dumpster day on saturday for uh folks in western prince william county we had a good turnout we also had the shredding event and just want to commend the public works teams for once again just doing an excellent job and just to remind our community that on monday we are having the multi-district town hall with supervisor weir and supervisor vega at the at unity reed high school to discuss community safety and the

[04:26:36] Affordable Dwelling Unit Ordinance, and it will begin at 7 p.m. and look forward to having everyone out to come share their perspectives on those issues. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. Supervisor Franklin? Sure, yes, thank you. On September 8th this past weekend, I attended Bethel AME's Church Friends and Family Fund Day, and so thank you for the invitation for everyone that came out. It's their annual Family Fund Day and certainly had a great time and saw some of my colleagues there as well. I also attended a meeting with Bayview Apartments, their management

[04:27:12] company. I meet with them every so often, probably quarterly, just to talk about what's going on in their community and the upgrades that they've made. They've done a lot of work over the past few years alongside us in revitalizing the Route 1 corridor. They've made a lot of upgrades to their facilities. They've made a lot of changes with regards to security and management, and Bayview is now one of the safest places to reside, particularly in my district. So very happy for the partnership that we were able to create with Bayview, and thank you to Dan Alexander, the police

[04:27:49] department, as well as Elijah, and our social services for really working with them over the past couple of years to make those upgrades and to make it a safer community. They are incredibly thankful to the county for our support now they need some help with some permitting and so we'll talk about that on the side and I'm sure we'll be able to get that done but I like it when the apartments come to us and say we need help especially those that are trying to kind of rebrand because we want to make sure that their residents have a safe and nice place to live as well so thank you to to Bayview management for that meeting I also had the opportunity to meet

[04:28:26] with Rabbi Pearlstein about some of the challenges that his community has been facing over the past year. We had a really good discussion about the community within Prince William County. And so looking forward to continue partnerships with the synagogue and with others across the county.

[04:28:48] So thank you for that meeting. And last night I held a community meeting with the residents of the Acclaim at Belmont Bay, as well as residents of Beacon Park to talk about both the rezoning proposed for Belmont Bay, as well as some of the berms that have been set up for some additional development that's taking place in that community.

[04:29:12] And so thank you to the residents that came out. We're also joined by Chair Jefferson, who was able to speak with the residents as well. So thank you for that. some upcoming events. September 13th, Recovery Rocks Rise, Recover, Rock On Together, a Prince William County Community Service community event at the Furlazo building I will be participating in from 10 a.m. till 3 p.m. So we invite the public to please stop by. September 14th is Stonebridge annual fall festival and the chili cook-off. The fall festival is from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. and

[04:29:50] we'll be doing the chili cook-off where I will be a judge once again around noon so please come out to that and then September 28th we're doing dumpster day at Rippon Middle from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. and then October 12th Woodbridge District Community Fund Day from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. so all of those events will be on our website and social media so please come out and then Chair Jefferson I want to thank you for the efforts with regards to permitting reform because as you mentioned this is something that we've been talking about upgrading our permitting process

[04:30:26] for years and I know Mr. Shorter we've had conversations when you came on staff and Wade we've talked and Mandy has been doing a great job in trying to upgrade those processes but I think we still have a long way to go so I'm looking forward to the presentation but I will say I think we should keep our mind keep an open mind with regards to maybe needing to do a directive down the road because i want to make sure that officially we can go on record as having this board be in support of putting together some process so obviously i won't put the cart for the horse but i'm curious to see the presentation and just understanding that

[04:31:03] this is very very important every type of business has come to us about this and at some point we just we just need to really address it so thank you all thank you supervisor vega thank you madam chair i'd like to issue my notice of intent to reappoint lynn meadows to the solid waste citizen advisory group the resume should be on file and just want to remind folks that our annual coals district coat drive is starting so i would like for folks who are interested in providing a warm coat for a child um this winter season to reach out to my office before october 25th that's all i

[04:31:39] have madam chair all right i'm going to go over i'm going to do this a little different supervisor are angry. All right. Thank you, Madam Chair. First, I want to thank the Chesapeake Bay Foundation for another outstanding boat trip. We went down the Potomac River last week, so it's always good as we start talking about water supplies and water, you know, how well it's doing. They give a good trip every year just to let us know exactly how the sediments are doing, what's happening out there. So I'm happy to say that the blue crab is in livestock again. So apparently that they've

[04:32:16] been able to bring that back to about 80% of its inventory of crap. So that's always good to hear. And they basically were saying that the Chesapeake is not in its best, but it's doing better than what it was 10, 20 years ago. So that's always good to hear. I also want to thank the committee for Dulles.

[04:32:33] They did a 2024 Sustainability and Infrastructure Breakfast, and that was very good to hear the panelists and talk about, you know, the infrastructure around in the region. So that was a good session. Also, congratulations to NVTC, Northern Virginia Transportation Commission, for 60 years.

[04:32:53] They celebrated their anniversary last week. And also, I want to congratulate Kit and Faye Wallace on 50 years of marriage. And so you've heard about the 9-11 piece coming up, the ceremony tomorrow. Also, Solheim, we're going to be kicking that off with some practice rounds early.

[04:33:12] But then Thursday at 4.30 starts the official tournament. So that's the place where you really want to be. And then on Thursday, September 19th, I'll be hosting a virtual affordable housing town hall. So there will be a link on the social media website and platforms.

[04:33:30] On Friday, September 20th, I'll be with Supervisor Franklin. We'll be co-hosting a Latino roundtable at Freedom High School at 7 p.m. We've got some food, local organizations, and music. So I hope to see folks there and have a good time. On a somber note, September 7th, Saturday, I attended the funeral of a longtime assistant chief here in Prince William County, Dale City Volunteer Fire Department, Steve Chappell.

[04:33:57] He's one of our assistant chiefs. I was a dedicated public servant, and his contributions to our community will not be forgotten. I extend my deepest condolences to his family and the members of the first responding community who served alongside him. Madam Chair, Phelm Solar Supervisors, it is with a heavy heart that I acknowledge the recent passing of Assistant Chief Steve Chappell of the Dale City Volunteer Fire Department.

[04:34:22] Steve's sudden passing has deeply impacted our community, and we are all mourning the loss of a truly dedicated public servant. Steve was more than just a firefighter and paramedic. He was a hero who, for over 20 years, put his life on the line to ensure the safety of the residents of our district.

[04:34:38] His unwavering commitment to his work and his selflessness left a lasting impression on everyone who had the privilege of knowing him. Steve's leadership, kindness, and sense of duty will be sorely missed. I extend my deepest condolences to Steve's family, friends, and his colleagues at the Dell City Volunteer Fire Department and Department of Fire and Rescue.

[04:35:00] Rest in peace, Assistant Chief Steve Chappell. Your contributions to this community will never be forgotten. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you so very much, Supervisor Agree. Supervisor Bode. Thank you, Madam Chair. Just a few quick things for me. Last week, I was able to attend the monthly or the weekly Woodbridge Rotary Club meeting. Always great to drop it and visit that club. I know the Rotary, whether it's the Woodbridge one or the Lake Ridge chapter, do a lot of great work in our community, so it's always great to spend some time and meet with them.

[04:35:30] Also, that same morning last Thursday I was able to visit our friends over at Westminster at Lake Ridge with Delegate Sewell and get a little bit more understanding of how they are a unique community and how they function because they have an assisted living portion, they have a skilled nursing portion, they have an independent living portion, and how they're sort of managing to collaborate all that over the last few decades and really move the ball forward on engaging their residents as much as they can.

[04:35:59] Also understanding that, as most of the folks in my district know, there is a project that will be going up just on the corner there of Harbor that is going to be hopefully an extension of their community. So I wanted to thank those folks out there for that and Delegate Sewell for all of her collaboration on that.

[04:36:19] I know that over the last few weeks, I know everyone is seated around the county, but especially in my district, there have been a tragic set of traffic accidents. pedestrians struck motorist accidents there was actually a a vehicle which exploded and caught fire near tanyard hill on old bridge road a couple weeks ago so i know that as we continue to have a conversation about traffic safety things are continuing to happen uh that sort of alarm and frankly uh justifiably so um scare residents about the current traffic situation so um as a follow-up

[04:36:55] to the transportation and pedestrian safety listening session that i know that um that wesley dawson his folks had last week at chin park my office will be hosting a traffic safety town hall near the end of october um to give more folks a more inclusive look so we can talk through what's being done currently i know that we're working on a lot of different things from the county perspective what folks are seeing and we can continue to do from a community perspective to address those issues because yes we do need to continue to look at more mechanisms getting our friends in richmond to give us more authority to do things but at the end of the day a lot of this

[04:37:32] is still centered around human behavior as folks drive around our communities and frankly a lot of speeding and stuff like that it's part and separate from a lot of the other things that we're seeing so folks are continuing to drive recklessly we need to do something about that but a lot of that we'll still need to come down to changing hearts and minds about how to navigate our communities.

[04:37:53] Thank you so much, Madam Chair. Thank you, Supervisor Weir. Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess I'll put another plug in for Monday's Town Hall with Supervisors Gordy, myself, and the lovely Supervisor Vega. I would just ask everybody that comes that it's bringing their rocks, selective targeting.

[04:38:11] Not all of us are responsible. I don't want to get hit with all the rocks. Same thing. Gainesville people be nice because we're apparently having an October 16th joint hall with the chair, joint town hall with the chair. Target differentiation, please. Madam Chair, that's all I really have, except I would, I wish I had gone last.

[04:38:33] I would like to waive the rules procedure and consider an item not previously listed on the agenda to extend the tax payment due date for the vehicle classification of tangible personal property by 90 days until December 31st, 2024. And I have a friendly amendment to do that until November 30th, simply because when we discussed this, there was a meeting that we wanted to get past, and I believe that meeting is headed up.

[04:38:58] That date is acceptable to me as a friendly amendment. All right. All right. So let me look and see. Let's have Supervisor Franklin. Yeah, thank you for that, Supervisor Weir.

[04:39:16] I'm happy to support this. I will say we extended this last year under a directive that I issued, and that was because of the amount of inflation that had impacted car values with regards to property taxes.

[04:39:35] Part of the directive was also looking at how we evaluate our cars in terms of assessments. And what we found is we use, what, three or four? There are three or four models that are used throughout the country to do car assessments.

[04:39:52] We use one of those. And so part of that was to look and see, do we need to use a different model that is more favorable to our residents? I don't think we ever circled back on that, but I bring that up because I don't know if it's sustainable for us to extend payments every single year.

[04:40:12] So at some point, we're going to have to get to the bottom of, do we just let the markets dictate or continue to dictate kind of what the assessments will be? Or do we want to go in a direction of looking at using a different model than what we currently use?

[04:40:30] So I think at some point, we're going to have to have that discussion because I don't know if it's going to be sustainable to continue to extend the due date for property taxes. And so I think, I don't know if it's appropriate to have that discussion right now. Perhaps we push that off, because I am going to support this, and I do support it.

[04:40:48] But at some point, we've got to get to the root cause and decide if we're going to let this continue to be an economic issue or if we want to actually look at our valuation model. Thank you. All right. Madam Chair, if I might, in response.

[04:41:05] I agree. I am not fond of the particular valuation device that we use. For a number of reasons, I'm not fond of it, for reasons above and beyond what's happening.

[04:41:21] I think what we have to realize is that in recent years, there have been a number of things that have sort of skewed it. Yes, COVID had a lot to do with it, but a lot more of it had to do with supply side issues, particularly with computer chips.

[04:41:39] It impacted some models more than it did others so that you had extended wait times and less data. I don't know that it's going to be an issue perpetually, if even more than this year.

[04:41:55] But I do think we need to sit down and have a discussion with finance about which model, which data source we're going to use. I just, quite frankly, don't like the one we currently use, but that's a personal issue. I just wanted to interject because the date is actually November 26th.

[04:42:15] We have a work session, Mobility, Economic Growth, and Resiliency. Isn't that when we're going to be talking about taxes, Mr. Shorter, I believe? Because we have another taxes that we were going to look at, like meals tax, C&P, if I'm not mistaken. It may have been the meeting before the 26th meeting where we were going to talk about the taxes.

[04:42:33] So that's November 19th, which is a regular meeting, and that's fair. So I think that that's something, again, we can tackle. we can have the longer discussion when we actually have that presentation. And with that, Supervisor Bode. Thank you, Madam Chair. And, you know, we've talked about this a couple of times in the past few years. And, again, reminding folks that the other compounding factor is the Personal Property Tax Relief Act and how that has not been reformed in Richmond for a number of years.

[04:42:55] So we have a diminishing pot of relief that goes to our residents every year. So we have that and the local side of it. I'm going to support the motion for all the reasons stated already. but i will add to that that ultimately we also control the rate in which we assess that we do the tax rate so if i could if it's not too much work i would love for that to be part of that conversation about taxes that comes back to us in you said it was in november um if we could talk about that as well because i feel like we're in a situation where every year now we get told hey

[04:43:34] things will be normalized and no one will be sort of everyone will be seeing a a diminishment of their their property value of their their vehicle but that is not happening uniformly as we've been told every year so i think we should look at among all the other issues we're talking about in terms of taxes the the actual rate we set thank you all right we don't have any other speakers so

[04:43:54] um are we ready to take the vote right chris oh so just a point of information madam chair November 30th is a Saturday. It's the same day as the real estate?

[04:44:21] It would roll to the Monday, which is the same week that real estate taxes do. I'd also say that yesterday, just as a reminder, we sent a memo out from Michelle Atreid and team regarding the valuation process, regarding J.D. Power.

[04:44:41] It has information about the number of jurisdictions in Virginia that use J.D. Power and also the coverage. So the J.D. Power is one of the only models that covers 95% of vehicles in the country. So just wanted to make sure that that was referenced.

[04:44:59] And that is all. And I appreciate that. Let's go with Friday, November 29th. Thank you for catching that. That's a Saturday. So Friday, November. I mean, I don't want to go too far.

[04:45:15] okay i i you know y'all okay thank you so very much friday november 29th i think we will be fine we will be fine all right so we're ready to take the vote on the 29th okay because that's madam chair yes oh wait hold on let's take down the vote go yes i'm sorry i do think this is okay i do think this is worth probably another 30 seconds of discussion um for this having being

[04:45:52] due right after a holiday. I do think it's worth maybe an extension for at least a little bit more. That's fair. Hold on. Let me look at the calendar. One thing I do want to note, because it wasn't the materials that we got from Michelle Attrade, my only cause of concern is when we delay this, we are losing interest. So the county is actually losing money. So I want to strike a balance between us giving people additional time so that we can have this full

[04:46:26] discussion, but also us not losing a significant amount of interest. And so that's my concern. And so, yes, we could take an extra couple minutes to discuss. Looking at my calendar, you know, I don't want to go to the end of the year because we can also make the argument that's the holidays as well. How do people feel about Friday, December 6th? I'm sorry, Supervisor. Yeah, I was going to say either Tuesday the 3rd or Friday the 6th. Friday the 6th? Going once, twice? Supervisor Franklin? Yeah, I was going to say historically, I think we've made the due date, I think at the

[04:47:05] beginning of January. There are a number of challenges with moving the date into the next calendar year um i'd also want to make sure that i add that the real estate tax is due december 5th so our partner so um so then it will all right i'm sorry because i can't quite hear so um you're saying that so the property tax um is due um thursday december 5th correct there are

[04:47:41] people still who own their houses outright does anyone see any problem and i don't want to keep you know beating the dead horse i mean we could do it's the same day as thursday um december 5th i don't know if there's a real difference in a day i don't know if it presents a problem if you do you think it presents a problem to either go a day after or the same day as the um property tax

[04:48:03] one check so i i don't know if the board would be willing to consider a november date uh it seems from and i and the challenge is i just don't have the data on how many taxpayers would be impacted by this, but we are concerned about taxpayers who own their

[04:48:39] homes outright, retirees who would be paying the property tax on December 5th, along with the vehicle, the personal property tax, and what impact that might have on them to be paying both on the same day. Well, the thing is, I guess we're closed.

[04:49:05] But I just want to say this real quick. This is a deadline. People can pay. If the deadline is on December 5th, people can pay it on the 5th. They can still pay it sooner. So that's where I think we're splitting a little too many hairs here.

[04:49:22] We're splitting too many hairs because, again, they can still pay it early. And if people want to pay on the deadline or on the last day, that is a personal choice that they can make. So I think that we're getting into splitting hairs just a little too much for my comfort. So, you know, I hear the 27th, I hear the 5th, you know, I think December 5th is adequate.

[04:49:46] Unless there is, I'm sorry, Supervisor, I'm sorry, Supervisor, Mr. Shorter, is there a reason you think December, I'm sorry, November date? There is no administrative barrier to, as long as we are in the same calendar year, no administrative barrier to having that date or deadline established on the 5th of December.

[04:50:04] All right, let's go. I think Thursday, December 5th is easier for some people. know you're good with it i think you know folks are good no one i mean your fingers need to work out bob all right so are we good to take the vote all right let's go vote unanimous all right thank you and supervisor um bailey it is your turn to close us out with supervisor's time december 5th

[04:50:39] no i'm just kidding all right thank you madam chair um past events uh september 5th i just want to thank uh elijah and josh for coming and talking to me about the aging programs in my district. And we came up with a game plan of how we're going to serve the community in that way and partner in that way. So thank you so much. I had the pleasure of, along with some of my colleagues, attending the Bethel AME Family and Friends Fund Day. And I want to thank former Secretary of Education, Ann Holton, for coming and being our guest speaker at that event in my

[04:51:15] community and being with the kids they really enjoyed her upcoming events um on september 25th i'll be having my potomac district community town hall it'll be at coveton harper elementary school from 6 30 to 8 30 and so madam chair um put that on your calendar we sent an email please put that on your calendar it's just a reminder for special events this is mental health awareness month um and then Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.

[04:51:43] And then I want to congratulate my Latinx friends, Hispanic Heritage Month, September 15th through October 15th. Ha-ha, mwah. The theme for this year is Pioneers of Change, Shaping the Future Together.

[04:52:00] And thank you, Madam Chair. That's all I got. All right, thank you so very much, everyone. This concludes our meeting. Our next meeting will be next week, Tuesday, on Tuesday, September 17th. Can I get a motion to adjourn? - So moved. - Second. - All right, let's vote.

[04:52:21] - Please, please, please. - Vote unanimous, thank you.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Coraggio Consulting · aguyonx.com