Coraggio Consulting
Prince William Board of County Supervisors Meeting, Tuesday, April 8, 2025

Date: Tuesday, April 8, 2025
Place: Prince William County Board of County Supervisors, Virginia
Length: 3h 56m (video)
Official meeting video (Prince William County, Granicus): https://pwcgov.granicus.com/player/clip/3627
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 2026-10-30. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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

[00:32:48] of seats please come on in i will let everyone get settled before we start the meeting all right

[00:33:31] we got seats on both sides all right i asked unless you're signing up to speak please take a seat because i want to start the meeting but i want to make sure that people get settled in and also note i see you chief labelle you know you're supposed to be sitting you know what the

[00:34:10] fire marshal says all right i call you out like that all right everyone it is 201 on tuesday april 8th. We are going to get started and we are going to begin with a moment of silence.

[00:34:42] Thank you. Please rise if you are able for the Pledge of Allegiance.

[00:35:01] Thank you everyone. We are going to begin with approval of minutes. Can I get a motion for 3A? So moved. Second.

[00:35:17] Alright. Any discussion? Let's go ahead and vote. Unanimous. Supervisor Gordy absent from meeting and all subsequent votes. Alright. Thank you. So for agenda item number 4, I have a request.

[00:35:36] We're going to break it up. We're going to do 4A through 4E and then 4F and 4G. I also want to note for 4G, the people who are going to be receiving that proclamation will be here for the evening session. And I also want to note that we're going to have a little flexibility today because 4A, the Freedom High School Eagles Varsity Girls Basketball Team, we are waiting for some of the students, more of the students to come.

[00:36:03] All right. With that said, I'd like to get a motion for 4A through 4E. So moved, Madam Chair. Second. All right. Any discussion? Anonymous.

[00:36:25] All right. And then we're going to do 4F and 4G. So move, Madam Chair. Second. All right. Thank you for that. 4F and G, we're doing those together.

[00:36:45] B and B.

[00:36:56] Anonymous. Supervisor Vega abstaining for vote.

[00:37:13] All right. Thank you so very much. So with number 4A, I'm sorry. Do we have the basketball team here, Supervisor Franklin? If not, we can do them a little later. All right. I just want to make sure. All right. So we are going to begin with 4B, and I will be going down to the podium.

[00:37:30] Thank you.

[00:38:10] All right. 4B, all right. That's the Proclaim April 2025 Child Abuse Prevention Month. Children are precious and deserve to grow up in a safe, nurturing environment, free from abuse and neglect.

[00:38:30] But sadly, we know that this is not always the case. Child abuse and neglect have devastating and long-lasting consequences for individuals, families, and communities. For children who survived abuse, the scars often linger, impacting their physical and mental health, development, and well-being throughout their life.

[00:38:49] In fiscal year 2024, nearly 2,500 cases of suspected child abuse and neglect were reported in Prince William County. Prince William County is committed to supporting families through programs that prevent child abuse and neglect, including partnerships between families and child welfare professionals, community organizations, and law enforcement agencies.

[00:39:10] Therefore, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors hereby proclaims April 2025 is Child Abuse Prevention Month. Do you have any words for us? Thank you.

[00:39:28] Good afternoon, Madam Chair and members of the board. Phyllis Jennings-Holt, Director of Social Services. Today I have with me Holly Handy, our Acting Deputy Director. Lori Wilson, the Chair of the Advisory Board. Chloris Torian, part of our DSS Advisory Board.

[00:39:46] And then I have members of the Child Advocacy Center with me today. And if they could wave their hand, they're very shy. I have Clyde Portis, who is the Human Services Program Manager, Rebecca Wagner, Karen McGurk, Dahlia Beckney, Laura Thomas, and Madeline Mazzino-Dislav.

[00:40:11] And I have our intern with us as well, from George Mason. Prince William County Department of Social Services is honored to accept this proclamation, recognizing April as Child Abuse Prevention Month. This proclamation not only acknowledges the importance of preventing child abuse, but it highlights the commitment to protect children, strengthening families, and building safe, nurturing communities.

[00:40:38] Each child deserves to grow up feeling safe, supported, and loved, and the Child Advocacy Center, along with the Prevention Assessment Team and many other DSS staff, work together with caregivers, educators, advocates, and community members to create a community where our children can thrive and be free of harm.

[00:40:56] Blue is the color chosen because it symbolizes hope, healing, and awareness for children and families affected by abuse. DSS staff will be wearing blue every Friday throughout the month of April, and we ask everyone to join us in doing so.

[00:41:13] A tradition began in 1989 when a Virginia grandmother named Bonnie Finney tied a blue ribbon to the antenna of her car to honor her grandson, who died tragically as a result of abuse. She chose blue to represent the bruises on his body and as a reminder of the seriousness of child abuse which started the Blue Ribbon Campaign.

[00:41:37] Today, I leave with each of you a blue ribbon with a pen attached that symbolizes prevention and the work of our CAC. We thank you for your continued support and the work that we do for the children and families of this county. Thank you.

[00:41:58] Next, we're going to have here with a little politician back there.

[00:43:20] I love this. We have item 4C, and I think that, are you filling in for Supervisor Gordy? Supervisor Gordy is unable to be here, so we have Supervisor Angry, who has also served. Can everyone associate this, if you can come up?

[00:43:45] Do you have any military children? And it doesn't matter, if your parents serve, then you are a military child, so you can be 40, 50, it doesn't matter. So if you'd like to join me, you're a military child, please come on down front here. If not, we actually will present this at a later time.

[00:44:05] Oh, we have people. All right. Well, if you feel the need, feel the... All right, I'll let you read this. All right, thank you. All right, we're proclaiming... That's what I'm talking about. We're proclaiming April 2025 as the month of the military child.

[00:44:23] This is sponsored by Supervisor Gordy. The month of the military child aims to acknowledge and honor the resilience and strength of military children who often face frequent moves, family separations, and other unique experiences due to their parents' service.

[00:44:40] The month of the military child is an opportunity to remember children's roles in strengthening the military family and to recognize the unique challenges military children face daily. Whether it's enduring deployments, reintegrating into new states and countries, caring for wounded warrior parents, or coping with the loss of a fallen parent, Military children are resilient and strong, and they exemplify an amazing capacity to adapt.

[00:45:07] The Prince William Board of County Supervisors hereby proclaims April 2025 as the month of the military child. All right. I feel like, yeah, we'll let you do some things since you speak all the time.

[00:45:32] Thank you. See how you get voluntold? So, my father, who is deceased, is a retired Lieutenant Colonel Jesse Arnett, United States Air Force. So, I'm his proud daughter.

[00:45:48] I'm his mini-me. I look just like him. And from what I'm told, I act like him, too. I have to agree with that. Very stubborn. So, for those of you who have served and for those of you who are family of people who have served, the job is never done. It's never done.

[00:46:04] The family is serving, too. Kids serve, too. Sacrifices are never singular. Sacrifice is plural. And we have to look at every person who gives and say thank you. It's not enough to say I appreciate your service if we don't treat them right every day.

[00:46:25] So don't just say I appreciate your service. Give them a handshake. Make sure the kids are taken care of. Make sure they have food for school. Make sure they have companionship. Because a true thank you includes action. Thank you.

[00:46:48] So I gotta say, I just gotta say one thing. He's not going to like me for this. But I would like for Supervisor Ware to join us in this. You know, that's a military child right there I know of. Some would say I'm still a child. Who wants to let the kids?

[00:47:11] One of us. And they should hold it.

[00:47:22] Oh, the rest of you. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm going to get as far out of the picture frame as possible.

[00:47:32] All right, I'm just trying to get all this together

[00:48:33] because we've got quite a few. We are on to item 4E, and that's a proclaim. April 20th through April 26th, 2025, is Volunteer Week. Can we have the Virginia Cooperative Extension come up? You back, Kim, you back.

[00:48:54] Okay, we'll take it.

[00:49:16] There always seems to be one group that has the big crowd. And I'm always sad when y'all leave. All right. Volunteers across Prince William County serve the community with pride and commitment, Continuously enhancing the quality of life in Prince William County and supporting the county's strategic vision to be a community of choice.

[00:49:43] Prince William County agencies, including but not limited to the Clerk of the Circuit Court, libraries, Area on Aging, Fire and Rescue, Parks and Recreation, and the Virginia Cooperative Extension Prince William, thrive with volunteer participation, increasing the number of residents who are touched by quality of life services and programs.

[00:50:05] In 2024, over 2,700 Prince William County volunteers gave nearly 300,000 hours in support of our programs. The value of their time is equivalent to 151 full-time staff, and that equals nearly $10,000.

[00:50:24] I feel like I'm missing a zero, but okay. The Prince William Board of County Supervisors proclaims April 20th to April 26, 2025 National Volunteer Week, recognizes and thanks all of our dedicated volunteers who lend their time, talent, voice and support to the causes they care about.

[00:50:43] Thank you. Wow. Thank you all so very much. If you have a few words to share, I would appreciate it. Ms. Jefferson, thank you, members of the board, Ms. Robo and Mr. Shorter. To continue with National Volunteer Month, which you started last week, it's my pleasure to recognize the departments who utilize volunteers and those who volunteer for them in honor of the 2025 National Volunteer Week.

[00:51:11] Volunteering helps connect communities through service. According to Serve Virginia, 67% of Virginians said that they volunteered for an organization in the past year, and that doesn't count like helping a neighbor out or other sort of passive volunteering.

[00:51:28] What motivates people to volunteer is a desire to share their skills and experience and to help others. 30% of volunteers stated they started contributing because it was an important part of their spirituality. 28% said they started giving back because they were helped in a time of need.

[00:51:48] And 49% of volunteers they polled regularly volunteer because helping others gives them a sense of fulfillment in their lives. That motivation of our community and the strengths they bring to our programs and services is invaluable.

[00:52:04] The 2,751 volunteers who have served in the past year represent multiple generations and the diversity of our community. They're distinguished veterans, teens, adults, youth, students, parents, grandparents, working and retired professionals who each share their time and expertise assisting the county and meeting their performance goals and your strategic goals.

[00:52:33] Thank you to the 860 volunteers who support the Safe and Secure Community Quad, including the Fire and Rescue System, Office of Criminal Justice Services, Clerk of the Circuit Court, Adult Detention Center, the Police Department, and Animal Control, and the Sheriff's Office.

[00:52:51] And then the 1,777 volunteers who support health, well-being, environmental, and environmental sustainability quadrant, like the libraries, Area Agency on Aging, Parks and Recreation, Historic Preservation, Social Services, the Health Department, and Virginia Cooperative Extension.

[00:53:10] The 294,624 hours of volunteer time they've given in the past year is the equivalent of the 151 full-time staff. And it's important to note here right at budget time, that's almost $10 million that is saved towards service in the community.

[00:53:36] Volunteering connects communities. It creates a sense of purpose where people build new skills, develop confidence, reduce stress, improve mental health, build community, boost happiness. And those volunteers make a significant difference in the lives of individuals and families in the community.

[00:53:55] I'd like to thank Lori Gray and RISC for helping compile the volunteer data. And then today we have volunteer coordinators and volunteers representing Fire and Rescue, the libraries, Office of Criminal Justice Services, the Medical Reserve Corps, Master Gardeners, 4-H youth, development leaders, and 4-H youth, and the libraries.

[00:54:25] Did I say the libraries? I did. So, we're grateful to our volunteers who choose to invest their time back into Prince William County, and we thank you. Give us a minute as we're going to have to step outside because this is a big old group.

[00:56:40] Madam Chair, I think our basketball team has arrived.

[00:57:08] If the basketball team has arrived we will go back and do them. We're here? Sure yep all right. They are here. Come on up Freedom. Before I get started I would like for Supervisor Vega and Angry to join and I'll explain later why. First I would like to congratulate Freedom High School's outstanding season led by coach Mia Alexis Lloyd who made a strong debut in her first year as coach. The Eagles had a 10 game winning streak, claimed the number one seed for the Cardinal District playoffs and won several accolades.

[00:58:37] including senior starters Lonnie Johnson, Lana Johnson, and Savannah Price were named first team all-conference for the Cardinal District. Lonnie Johnson was also named Cardinal District Player of the Year, and Coach Loy was named the Cardinal District Coach of the Year. Congratulations again, and today the Prince William County Board of Supervisors commends the Freedom High School Eagles varsity basketball team for their incredible basketball season and their outstanding contributions to Prince William County. Now, before I let the coach speak who didn't know she

[00:59:16] was speaking, I brought Supervisor Vega and Supervisor Angry down here because before I met Coach Lloyd, I got a phone call from Supervisor Angry who said, hey, you know, there's this new basketball coach at Freedom High School and, you know, they're looking for sponsorships. So I said, well you know freedom is my district Vic step away and so so he introduced us we met and myself supervisor angry and supervisor Vega all helped to sponsor the basketball wear their shoes uniforms

[00:59:52] and things of that nature and and it was all because she was bold enough to ask so with that congratulations coach Lloyd I want you to say a few words Lonnie Johnson I want you to raise your hand player of the year and please um i just want to thank everyone for recognizing us it was our first year and um she was right i was bugging everybody um i sent about 50 emails out i think vega was first and then i met mr angry just happened to be doing one of his events at my

[01:00:29] flag football practice and i bumped into him and then that worked out and the next you know miss franklin was next so i was very grateful for them to cover like all the stuff we needed for our season and definitely appreciate y'all recognizing us thank you all and congratulations

[01:00:48] i've got to say for a first year coach that's pretty dang impressive right we're going on to

[01:02:28] 4f and that is national education and sharing day rabbi basis for the continuity of any society's education and in prince william county the education of our youth is a priority education and Sharing Day is a day established by Congress in the 1970s in honor of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schmierson.

[01:03:07] Education and Sharing Day is observed each year on the Rebbe's birthday in recognition of his outstanding and lasting contributions toward the improvement of education, morality, and acts of charity around the world. And it is a day to pause and reflect on our responsibility to ensure that our youth have the foundation necessary to lead lives rich in purpose and fulfillment through service and good works. April 9th, 2025 will mark 123 years since the Rebbe's birth, and this year marks the 75th

[01:03:41] anniversary of his leadership of the Chabad-Luvavitch movement. Today, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors hereby proclaims that April 9th, 2025 will be recognized as Education and sharing day in Prince William County and calls upon government officials, educators, volunteers, and citizens to reach out to those within our community and work to create a better, brighter, and more hopeful future for us all.

[01:04:06] Would you like to say a few words? So thank you, Chair, for really leading the efforts on this, and it's always great to be back and see the supervisors. This year, April 9th, our counties joining with this proclamation are Congress, National Congress, states around the U.S., as well as counties and locales throughout the country, recognizing the life and legacy of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, and as well as Education Sharing Day USA.

[01:04:37] To understand a little bit the connection, I wanted to share a bit about the Rebbe's life. The Rebbe was born in Ukraine right before World War I. He experienced, his father was the chief rabbi of the local community in Dinepur, and he experienced the pogroms. He saw the effects of the expulsion of Jews and the migration of Jews during World War I, and unfortunately was in Europe during the rise. He was in Germany during the rise of the Nazis, and he was in France during the invasion of the Nazis into France, and he was on one of the last boats to

[01:05:12] come into America. And five years after World War II is when he took on the leadership in 1950 to lead the Chabad movement in New York. And he dedicated his life to uplift the Jewish community from all that which he saw. And being a student that studied in the Berlin University and as well as a subborn in France, he saw firsthand how societies could be great at education, but still have big parts of their societies be susceptible to negative influence. And one of the things when he came to America, which he put a big emphasis on as a result, was the importance not just to

[01:05:50] educate information and give our children the tools of how to be successful but teach them the importance of life values and morals and in our education if we fail to do that we could have very wise and talented scientists but they could use all that information for the wrong things and unfortunately he saw that firsthand throughout his throughout his child in an early adulthood so one of the big things for example which the Rebbe advocated for and many states and even And recently, I believe Kentucky and others just adopted that.

[01:06:21] As in Virginia, we have that already is the moment, the silence at the beginning of every day in our school system. And that's a great opportunity not just to start our day off in some quiet, but for parents to be involved in education and teach our children what to think during that time and inspire our children to start off our day with a reflection of life.

[01:06:40] You know, Passover is coming up. And one of the big items on Passover, and I think we have, we'll give Virginia to give everyone a box of matzah. Um, it's a unleavened bread and a big idea, symbolism of Passover, why we eat this unleavened bread is because in life, we're usually the whole year around, we're building up our confidence like the leavened bread that's rising. We build up our confidence. We want to be independent.

[01:07:04] We want to be proud. But unfortunately in that process, it's very easy to lose our humility and arrogance is very easily to set up, very easily settles in. So once a year on Passover at the time of the birth of Jewish people at our premise, we want to be humble and we want to make sure there's no arrogance seeping in. So in our education of our youth as well realizing that yes we're all independent individuals with great talents. We're also part of a society and we're all part of something greater than us. There's whatever being you want to give it there's something greater than us that connects us all. So during that moment of silence if we can educate and make sure that our children are getting that idea to think about before we start a day think

[01:07:40] about reflect on what unites us all what connects us all and then when we then do grow and become are all individuals we could do that in a way which is not inhibits on anyone else but in the way that uplifts everyone around us and that at the core is the basis hopefully which we can share whether you're a teacher yourself you probably have people in your society which you can educate to uplift others around us so that when we're successful everyone is successful with that as

[01:08:03] well so with Passover coming up happy Passover to everyone and thank you again and we have

[01:08:45] law day i don't know were you joining us for this one supervisor angry i mean why not you've been down here a lot today all right all right this is item 4g and that's to proclaim may 1st 2025 is law day um and joining me in gordy's abstentia is victor angry all right the united states was formed on the principle of e plurus unum out of many one this principle is enshrined in the

[01:09:22] constitution in which the founders provided for three branches of government to check one another and to prevent tyranny from any one group. And we, as a country and a county, are made stronger by our diversity of viewpoints, religions, experiences, cultures, and so much more.

[01:09:40] In 1958, President Eisenhower proclaimed Law Day to honor the Founders' emphasis on the rule of law when creating the Constitution. Congress later officially designated May 1st as Law Day in 1961. Public education is a valuable component in unifying our community through the values of civic virtue, creating economic prosperity, and bridging our differences to create one educated citizenry.

[01:10:06] In light of this, the circuit court clerk sponsors an annual Law Day art contest to promote the principles that underpin our democracy. This year, the theme is the Constitution's promise out of many who won. The students who participate in the contest will be celebrated on May 1st at Clark Jacqueline Smith's 5th Annual Law Day Ceremony.

[01:10:29] The Prince William Board of County Supervisors proclaims May 1st, 2025, is Law Day and encourages the community to observe the day by promoting law and education and fulfilling our shared civic responsibilities and commitments to the values of liberty, equality, and justice that make us, out of many, one.

[01:10:48] Do you have any words for us? the proclamation pretty much says it all but we do host every year a law day art contest and ceremony and it's always inspiring to see the creativity of the youth in our community and to exhibit that um so with that on behalf of our office i thank you for this proclamation

[01:11:10] and your continued support that was lengthy but all right so we are going on to the consent agenda

[01:12:09] that's item number five. Madam Chair. All right, let's go. Sorry, Madam, we were about to say it probably, but I just wanted to make sure. Madam Chair, before the board considers and votes on the consent agenda, I need to declare a personal interest in item 5J, which authorizes an agreement with the schools for county use of school buses. My wife is a school's employee. As a school's employee, my wife and I are members of a group which is affected by this matter. I will be participating in it in this because i am able to do so fairly objectively in the public interest thank you madam chair madam chair before the board considers and votes on the consent agenda

[01:12:45] i need to declare a personal interest in item 5j which authorizes an agreement with the schools for county use of school buses my wife is a special education instructional aid with the schools as a schools employee my wife and i are members of a group which is affected by this matter i will be participating in this matter because i am able to do so fairly objectively and in the public interest thank you manager i could have saved you guys a few words but all right so um 5j i'm actually going to pull from the consent agenda and that is because well i told you so

[01:13:20] but um we have not yet unfortunately seth has not had been able to have a conversation yet um with the schools i see your hand on i mean we can certainly we can discuss and if you guys want to vote you know after we go through everything else and discuss this i think that'd be the appropriate time to do so but the conversation has not yet been had so he doesn't have the correct information supervisor vega did you have something because i see you you're ready i just

[01:13:51] want to pull five i okay anyone else here five f or wrong one anyone else going once twice All right, so I would like a motion for 5A through 5E and then 5G through 5, hold on, through 5H.

[01:14:28] So move, Madam Chair. Second. All right, any discussion on these items? Let me go. Supervisor Franklin? Yeah, I just want to point out for item 5G, this item is to provide funds to serve children who require foster care and services with regards to educational needs in children who have behavioral or intellectual or developmental challenges.

[01:14:58] I just came off the Children's Services Board for the state, and so a lot of these challenges we've had to deal with, but this is kind of the Prince William County's share of taking care of this issue.

[01:15:15] So I just wanted to flag that, and it's pretty relevant, seeing as how we're also acknowledging Child Abuse Awareness Month. Thank you. Supervisor Bailey. Thank you, Madam Chair. Just wanted to comment on 5F. 5F is the transference of the $2 million for continual construction of the Crisis Receiving Center, so they continue to move on.

[01:15:40] Nothing unusual about it, but just wanted to give a comment on it. Thank you, Madam Chair. All right, if we could take a vote on those items. and then we will go back to the ones that were pulled.

[01:15:59] All right, so we are going back to, I believe it's 5F. Go to that one first. Supervisor Weir. Thank you, Madam Chair. Just wanted to note that my four favorite words, I told you so. Mission aside, the cost of the crisis receiving center is growing rapidly by millions, and I would suggest that perhaps we got in a little bit too much of a hurry.

[01:16:30] I asked the issues about the physical plant before we bought this place, and all of my concerns at the time are now bearing, well, fruit in the form of additional expenditures to bring the place up to speed.

[01:16:50] All right. I should have actually taken this within the motion. Let's go ahead. Would you like to move, Supervisor? I would move for approval, Madam Chair. Second. All right. Any further discussion on 5th? Supervisor Vega. Thank you, Madam Chair.

[01:17:05] I, too, share Supervisor Weir's concerns. However, I do know that collectively, as a board, we believe in the mission and the vision by which the Crisis Receiving Center was established. However, I do think that it's appropriate for at some point for us, Mr. Shorter, to have a more in-depth conversation because we seem to have a lot of hurdles that we're constantly having to overcome, you know.

[01:17:33] And whether this calls for more funding or not, I think that it's quickly, to a certain extent, getting out of our hands. We were originally presented with something, and I understand that as we go along, things are very fluid and that we have to make certain adjustments.

[01:17:49] But certainly, you know, where does it kind of end? What does the future look like? What does the timeline look like? And most importantly, what are those financial impacts going to be? And so not sure if it's something you want to talk to our chair about in terms of bringing an item for the specific item and putting it on the agenda for us to discuss it.

[01:18:06] Because I know that we talk about it in bits and pieces here and there. And, you know, we ask questions, but I do think that it requires specific attention from this board. I appreciate that, Supervisor Vega. What I'll do is plan to bring back both for construction timeline and operational timeline for opening.

[01:18:28] I think both community services and FFM would both do well by just coming up with an update and allowing the board to hear sort of where we are on timeline. Thank you, Madam Chair, if I may. Yes. And if there are any changes, you know, made to what we were promised by the state, if there are any other concerns, I think the Medicaid issue has been resolved, yes?

[01:18:51] Yes. It has not quite been resolved. We are still in the waiver process. I see. So I think anything pertaining to the Crisis Receiving Center should be brought on that day. Very good. Thank you. Supervisor Bailey.

[01:19:07] Thank you. Can I have Lisa Majer and come to, if you don't mind, please? Lisa, if you can just give us an update on this amount that's listed here today, are you prepared to?

[01:19:25] Okay, whomever. Matt. Good afternoon, board members. Matt Villareal, Director of Facilities and Fleet Management. We are seeking $2 million to finish out on the project.

[01:19:44] This will cover, we have about a million dollars of site work that we need to complete, and we have about $400,000 or so that we have to change out of some bathrooms and make them have a proper ratio of patients to showers, and so we have to change these bathrooms to multi-use.

[01:20:02] Right now they're just regular bathrooms. Now we're going to be adding showers to them, so there's a cost to doing that. We have some other small things that kind of add up. We have to put a site fence around the generator and around the dumpster enclosures.

[01:20:18] They're also going to be building a fence around the switchgear that leads from the generator into the building. And also a couple areas where the patients can go outside but still be in a confined, or not confined, but in a space that they're not able to wander off. I'm sorry, poor choice of words, but I'm sorry.

[01:20:37] And those are kind of the things that we're, this $2 million is going to help us finish out this project with. And Matt, just as a secondary question, will this help us to complete the project by the timeline that we've talked about? No, the timeline has been moved from June now until we're anticipating August.

[01:20:57] Okay, but that's... That's for occupancy. And then so then the whole timeline for as services and things, I don't know the answer to that. Okay, so the timeline I have is August, so that's what I'm referring to.

[01:21:13] For occupancy. For occupancy, yes. Yes, and then they have to go through a licensure process, and I believe that's the two or three months, October, is when they're anticipating. Yeah, that was the reason why I was asking to come, just to give the board more clarity to this request.

[01:21:32] Good afternoon, Madam Chair, members of the board. Lisa Madron with the Transformation Management Office, and I just wanted to speak to that timeline for occupancy. once we get occupancy in August, then the licensing to be able to have the contractor connections operate the CRC and have our co-located CS services there can take up to 90 days.

[01:21:53] We are hoping that to be expedited, and we are anticipating an opening October, the week of October 6th, and we are hopefully planning some activities that we want to check with you for ribbon cutting in September, and we will be getting those dates finalized.

[01:22:11] Okay. And then, if I may, Madam Chair, the last question I have is this morning, Glenn, our legislative liaison, Glenn Loop, mentioned the two bills that were to be passed for the approval for the youth portion was passed, if I'm not mistaken, if you could just update us on that in terms of the DMAS approval for the youth portion of the CRC.

[01:22:35] So the bills that were passed allowed the crisis services to operate in an IMD, an Institute for Mental Disorders. That was what was complicated and needed the General Assembly to pass that for DMAS to be able to work that through so we could have the 23 hours operate there and to allow DMAS to pursue the waiver through CMS.

[01:23:04] That is what we are waiting on. That application has been sent by DMAS to CMS, and CMS needs to review and approve it. Once they approve it, then we can have Medicaid reimbursement for youth services and adult.

[01:23:22] Until they approve that, we can operate the youth services and adults, but that gap for Medicaid reimbursement is what we're coming to you and the state for. until the waiver has been approved all right so for five f i don't see anyone else in the queue

[01:23:43] it's been properly moved and seconded let's go ahead and take a vote all right we're going to move on to five i actually be madam chair yes so i just want to make sure supervisor vega was that sufficient or are you looking for additional no um okay we'll come back we need specifics on what

[01:24:17] that gap looks like and for how long we'll come back thank you all right we are going to go on to 35I actually would like to have the discussion inside of a motion. So let's get a motion and a second, then I'll go to Supervisor Vega.

[01:24:33] So move, Madam Chair. Second. Supervisor Vega. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm not sure if Glenn or Nikki is here for the question that I have or if anybody else is prepared to answer. It could be very quick, depending on the answer that I get. Glenn is not here.

[01:24:50] Nikki probably is listening. Happy to take the question if I can. All right, but I don't think you will be able to answer it. I'm just curious, it's a procedural question more than anything. I understand that this item was vetoed by the governor based on an email that Glenn sent to us on 325, and I'm just curious if anything changed because I did try to get answers to my questions and I made some phone calls, and it was my understanding that in order for an item that has been vetoed by the governor, it is required that it gets a two-third of the vote in the General Assembly to overturn it.

[01:25:23] And again, based on the information that I got coming from Richmond, that did not happen. So I'm curious, one, if that's true. If it is, why is this item on the agenda if no action was taken in Richmond? You're right. We will. Please. Elijah to the rescue.

[01:25:43] Thank you. Good afternoon, Madam Chair, board members. Elijah Johnson, Deputy County Executive. Supervisor Vega, this is actually from last year's appropriation. You're correct. The appropriation that was put in for this year did not pass. But this is previous appropriations that we've been working with the State Department of Social Services to get the MOU done so that we can move those funds forward.

[01:26:07] I think I'm a little more confused than I was before I asked the question, but I'm going to try to process that and then, you know, more so a statement. I know that some of us on this day have expressed concerns about certain items being placed on the consent agenda. When you read the staff report and when you read the majority of the documents attached to this item, it all comes from Richmond, but there's great responsibility placed on Prince William County, you know, to include the involvement of the county attorney.

[01:26:36] And so I'm just, you know, a little bit curious in terms of the way that we're handling this and would appreciate it, Mr. Shorter, Madam Chair, respectfully, if items of the like could not be placed on the consent agenda because they require more discussion amongst members of this board.

[01:26:52] I am very cautious about the organization that is being, you know, tasked with handling $2 million because of their past history with mishandling public dollars and I scrutinize everything that they do for several different reasons but more so I just want to make sure that my colleagues on this day as understand what is being asked of us we can call it pass through funds whatever but when you read the 17 pages attached to this item on the agenda there's a great responsibility placed on this county I don't know if the county attorney had a chance to to review this but I do remember madam attorney you know oftentimes we're reminded that you represent the board and not other organizations

[01:27:32] and so i'm just curious as to what the involvement is going to be madam chair members of the board as mr johnson stated the state is giving this money as a pass-through to this organization i think we all wish the state could give it directly to them but the state is going a pass-through and our office has been working with mr johnson and the county exec's office and dss to make sure that the document makes clear that we are not being involved.

[01:28:04] It was written with different verbiage. We went back and forth multiple times on it to make it clear that the county is not really doing anything other than passing the money through. Thank you for that. That puts some of my concerns at ease. But, Madam Chair, my position remains.

[01:28:19] I will not be voting in support of this. And just want to remind, again, my wish is that items of the like be further discussed with members of the board instead of being put on the consent agenda. Thank you, Madam Chair. And before I go to Supervisor Weir, I just want to address that because, again, from the way I looked at it, it is a pass-through.

[01:28:37] I didn't think that would be contentious, but I understand that you may have concerns with some of the organizations involved, and we will have further discussion moving forward. Supervisor Weir. Thank you, Madam Chair, and I associate myself with all Supervisor Vega's comments.

[01:28:55] I think my heartburn comes with Section 3C regarding hard costs and soft costs based on some issues we've had with similar programs, particularly ARPA funding. I do have a question for the county attorney. I'm assuming that the use of these funds for those hard costs, the brick-and-mortar costs and the soft costs will at some point be in some manner audited.

[01:29:21] Are we on the hook for the audit? Are we on the hook for the results? Since it's a pass-through, do we have to claw it back for the General Assembly? What's our role in this function? The auditing purpose, auditing requirements is on the state Department of Social Services to come out and audit those records.

[01:29:43] And we will include and let they know if there's any issues, they would have to reimburse those funds. The county is not, if you look at that, don't remember the section, the county is not on the hook for any of the funds. Well, I think the part that concerns me is the opening sentence of subparagraph C.

[01:30:00] the county shall enter into agreement with CASA for the funds paid by BDSS. Just by, are we encumbering ourselves in any legal manner, Madam County Attorney? I do not believe so, Mr. Weir.

[01:30:15] We made it clear to the state and to this organization, just as the other ones, that the county is simply a pass-through. All right, Senator Vazorvaga. Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. In closing, I'll just remind my colleagues on the day is that even though it's a request being made by Richmond, There's a reason why they're asking this governing body for a vote, and that if the majority wishes, we don't have to approve this.

[01:30:39] I doubt that that's going to be the case, but just thought I'd share that. All right. I see no other comments. Let's go ahead and take a vote. The motion passes 5 to 2.

[01:30:56] Supervisors Vega and Weir voting nay. Madam Chair, I'm sorry. Not anything with the, I just, it seems like it still says item 5F, crisis receiving, so I just want to make sure we actually voted for 5I instead.

[01:31:30] All right, thank you. So, for 5-J, I just want to let you know, again, we still, there needs to be further conversations with the school board. And so, I would appreciate if we could get a motion to... Madam Chair, move to defer until the first meeting of May.

[01:31:47] May 13th? Second. Works for me. All right. Told you so. No, all right. Any discussion? Let's go ahead and take a vote. Motion passes 6-1.

[01:32:05] Supervisor Bode voting nay. All right, everyone. Let's move forward to see where we're at. Madam Chair? Yes. I just want to make one comment just based on this.

[01:32:20] I really want to go back to item 5th with respect to the Potomac District Supervisors. You know, as we, the CRC is very important to all of us. You know, we've got some changes. I just, I want to support Supervisor Vega's comments in that if we could get some office discussions on, Like, now we're out to October, it sounds like.

[01:32:45] And so I've been telling folks that we've been doing it, ribbon cutting coming up. No, no, no, no, I'm not bad-mouthing or being upset about any of the process. But if we could get, you know, some office updates on this, if it's going to be, this is a big significant change for me.

[01:33:05] And so, and we're spending a little bit more. I don't mind, but if there's more, if you see anything else out there, if we could just be made aware and maybe get ahead of this sooner if we could or any of that. I just want to kind of be sure we kind of ran in on what's going on as a board so we can make sure the same messaging is going on as we talk about it.

[01:33:27] So I just want to put that out there to stress that we can have some communications about this as we see some changes coming on. All right, Supervisor Bailey, did you have, or were you? Yes, ma'am. Thank you, Madam Chair. Understanding and appreciating my colleagues' concerns about the Crisis Receiving Center, let me just say three things.

[01:33:50] Number one, I'm sure my colleagues know that this is the only project that we collectively have focused on to make sure that things are running smoothly, both from the state perspective and locally, so we work very closely together to make sure that this is going through.

[01:34:08] Understanding your concerns about the $2 million, I'm planning with Elijah's group upcoming an update for the Crisis Receiving Center because I realized that there was not detailed updates as we were going for them because it was moving quite expeditiously but smoothly through the process to assure that we stand this mental health crisis receiving center up.

[01:34:39] So just to give you a sense of comfort, there will be an update on May the 1st for the Crisis Receiving Center as it relates to funding, as it relates to policy, as it relates to what's going on with the state and DMASC on May the 1st.

[01:34:58] I just want to offer that to you. I would like for you to be participatory in that process on May the 1st. I just want to offer that to my colleagues just to give you an update because I realized that as we were going through this and things were moving smoothly, that we needed more updates.

[01:35:18] And so the timeline has not changed, but we do need more details. And so May the 1st, you'll be getting that invitation for the updates coming up. If I can, Madam Chair. Yes. So on March 20th, I sent an update to the entire board related to this item, today's item that the board was considering and voted to approve.

[01:35:41] In terms of the actual opening, I'm happy to continue to provide updates as they come. And based on Supervisor Vega's request, we'll come to a board meeting with both the community services team and FFM to provide a more detailed update on construction timeline, as well as the actual opening of the facility in terms of operations.

[01:36:03] If there are any critical changes between now and then, I will certainly send an update to the board to that effect. This will be two opportunities. All right. Are we good? All right. Should we? Thank you so very much.

[01:36:19] All right. Because I want to make sure that we keep it moving. And we are on to agenda item number six, and that is public comment time. So I'm going to be calling people up. Actually, we only have six folks, so I'm going to call all of you up. When you go up, you have three minutes to speak.

[01:36:34] You will see on the time clock over there, it has your time. um state your name and the magisterial district or where you generally reside and so first i have kelly um hanklaw shannon patterson jim rafferty cody thomas liz kronauer and peter alton and my apologies for any mispronunciations but if you all can go up and stand in the back and you can adjust the microphone if you need to you just pull it down

[01:37:08] all right the floor is yours okay good afternoon madam chair and board of county supervisors team My name is Kelly Hanaclaw, resident of Prince William County for 27 years, Brentsville District appointee to the Prince William County Arts Council since 2018, president, founder of 501c3 nonprofit Art of Life Charities, and CEO and artist of a 24-year-old business in Prince William County, Minor Miracles Art Studio. The arts are integral in our county. If a pandemic taught us nothing else, it's that art matters for our well-being. Art heals. Dance, music, theater,

[01:37:44] visual literary arts art is a way of life what do you do with your family and friends do you go to a play at the hilton center take an art class at a local studio watch tv at home or go to the movies in gainesville go to an art or fashion show at your child's school or the kelly center how about two silos or the yard to listen to a band or the gala or a gala at the sweeney barn to hear a singer how about the clearbrook center for the arts in lake ridge to listen to a poet or watch a speed painter, or maybe a craft show in Occoquan. None of these things are possible without art. Art makes our community one in which people want to visit, return, and stay. When you think of public art in

[01:38:22] Prince William County, what do you think of? Where is art? Where do people go and see art outside of public buildings? Outside of Manassas, I can only think of one thing, and it's right here at the McCourt Center, the Liberty Memorial. We are lacking that in our county. Art beautifies a community and gets people talking about an area like the VA love signs or the Outer Banks horse sculptures.

[01:38:47] Wouldn't it be great to have more public art to increase tourism and economy in Prince William County? Well, we cannot do that right now because Prince William County does not have a public arts policy in place. I'm very thankful to Supervisor Angry because he issued a directive to the DPR in April of 2022. The Arts Council was told in September that year about the directive and that the policy would be worked on and the Arts Council would be consulted.

[01:39:14] It was not. I have been actively working with the Arts Council, even created a public art committee where the Arts Council unanimously voted on a public art project to fund a local artist $2,500 after a $10,000 line item for public art was added to the budget by the county. After the vote, DPR and the Budget Office said no.

[01:39:33] I've also been working with both of my representatives since then, both Supervisor Lawson and now Supervisor Gordy. Thankfully, Supervisor Gordy has recently been working on a new directive to move this forward, and hopefully with the Supervisor's blessings, we can do that.

[01:39:49] I do not understand why it has taken three years to get a public art policy in place. We are stuck in a holding pattern with DPR, and previous art-allocated money is being budgeted and returned to the DPR every year that the Arts Council is not able to use the funds. Please create a new accountability and timeline for directives that are issued to your staff.

[01:40:10] Please move public art funding to priority status. Only $65,000 is allocated to all of the arts in our entire county outside of grants to organizations who apply. Of that, a very small percentage would go to public art. In the wide lens view, this is an extremely small amount of money for our large county.

[01:40:28] Thank you. Next speaker, please. Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is Shannon Patterson. I reside in Prince William County. I'm coming on behalf of talking about the meals tax and getting rid of the meals tax. I work as a server in our local restaurants here in Woodbridge.

[01:40:46] And pre-COVID, we were booming. Business was booming. We had people coming in. We had waits at the door, lines, people coming in. Post-COVID, COVID hit, everything shut down. Now we have post-COVID, where we have very few members coming into the restaurant, very few customers coming in. Our headcount has gone down and lower.

[01:41:02] And to add that to that, then you have this meal tax, which customers have to pay an additional amount for what they eat. As a server, that tip is my income. When you take that percentage of meal tax, it comes out of my tip. It comes out of my income. And if an individual has a $20 budget and they're going to dinner, and they take that $20 budget and they go to dinner, and now they have an additional tax, they're still going to spend $20 regardless.

[01:41:24] But where they distribute that $20 is going to be different. So instead of me getting a five for my income, I'm only getting three. So they're taking $2 away every time, or what it may be. If you take that times 10 people coming in per day, take that times five times a week, That's $100 a week that I'm missing out of the income because of a tax that I didn't ask for.

[01:41:43] And then you do that for an entire month. That's $400 that I'm missing out of my income every single month for a tax that I didn't ask for. And when you think about that $400, what could you do for $400? If I got car repairs, I got gas, I got bills, that extra money comes out of not, that never gets to my pocket, but it comes out of my income.

[01:42:00] And as a server, we work to provide great customer service. I know we do at my restaurant, great food. food doesn't change, customer service doesn't change, location hasn't changed, but the taxes change. And that tax not only affects me as a server, but affects every person in this building as well. Because everybody here likes to eat, I guess, right? I don't see anybody who wants to starve. And you want to take your family out, right? You want to have a good time, but you don't want that extra tax. But when that extra tax comes out, it comes out of your pocket, it comes out of my pocket, and where does it go to? I haven't seen it. It doesn't come back to the restaurant, doesn't come back to helping us maintain anything else great in our restaurant or the people it comes back to the county that money's not being dispersed so i'm asking that you talk about

[01:42:40] this meals tax think about not only just your pockets but the servers folks working in the restaurant the tax is no good it doesn't help us out pre-covid had enough to covet taxes enough don't you agree do we need an additional tax over our lives for the food that we want to eat so i come with you on behalf of all the servers of all this of the county all the restaurant owners all the dishwashers all the cooks all the persons all the hostesses even all the customers coming into every restaurant every single day help us get rid of this meal tax thank you thank you next speaker please good afternoon my name is james rafferty i've been a resident of prince william

[01:43:17] county for 40 years i am here also to speak on the meals tax the four percent current meals tax honestly has really hurt our county restaurants it's hard enough to operate the restaurants these days cost of goods and labor have gone through the roof since the pandemic the cost the prices we've honestly we've had to raise our prices to keep up with cost of goods and the higher labor costs the meals tax just adds a higher stress to the restaurant industry particularly in prince william county lowering the tax two percent or it's back to zero percent i believe would be a

[01:43:56] huge help for the industry it's it's hard enough uh there's restaurants closing left and right every day and people you know everyone has budgets like was just said and when when you have to add an additional four percent to the cost of going out to dinner or lunch it really puts a lot of pressure on the restaurants so i would ask for you to please remove or decrease the the tax thank you thank you and everyone we speak if you just give me your magisterial district and if you've already spoken if you're not speeding speaking if you can have a seat um i'd appreciate that thank you. So next speaker. Good afternoon. I'm Liz Kronauer. I'm the chairman of the Trails and

[01:44:36] Blue Ways Council, Brentsville District, and I'm here to represent the Trails and Blue Ways Council and asking you to support funding for trails in the 2026 budget. Could I have a little more than three minutes for this? No? Oh, so that rule went away. The TVC is very grateful to the board for a million in the funding that was designated in the CIP last year. So in preparation, we started working in July, putting together a list of our highest priority trail projects with the ultimate goal of funding a project in every district. In November, we sent you Resolution 24-18, which was a request for funding that included a prioritized list of projects for

[01:45:15] each district. The list did not include costs, because we're just not that smart, but some rough costs were provided to us by DPR, and it really opened our eyes to the cost of things these days. This year, we have been requesting $5 million in funding. And I know this sounds like a tremendous amount, but to put it in perspective, if you compare it with the planned $1 billion investment into road construction, $1 billion, $5 million, half of 1% is really not that much at all.

[01:45:47] To meet the county goals for sustainability, we need to create a balanced mobility system so new roads and new housing developments should be accompanied by new bike and pedestrian infrastructure. And the roads don't have to be all along the roads. This network has been planned, but it's going to take years to create, and we need to get started now. To efficiently create a robust trail system, we need enough funding to support a trail staff person with a steady stream of projects in the planning, design, and construction pipeline. And with all the new

[01:46:24] residential development that's coming all over the county, we really need to be ready to fill in blank segments to connect these developments when they're built, or opportunities to make connections for bike-ped traffic will be lost. As a reminder, a little refresher course, trails have more to offer than just getting from point A to point B. They support health and well-being, and they provide a place for people of all ages and abilities to get healthy exercise with no equipment other than a pair of shoes. They support economic activity. They increase

[01:47:03] property values and attract Fortune 500 companies who consider active transportation systems a real plus, and they support tourism. So for all these reasons, I encourage you to continue funding trail development at at least at the highest level possible in next year's budget and the trails and blueways council is happy to be at your service to keep up the trail project recommendations and thank you as always for your attention thank you for so much um next speaker please hi i'm cody thomas with the electric palm restaurant at the prince william marina i'm

[01:47:41] here to talk about the meals tax and why you should get rid of it i believe this is my third or fourth time coming here talking to everybody asking you guys to get rid of it and you guys haven't listened so i know i'm talking to a brick wall so i'm just wasting my time but someone asked me to come speak so i figured i'll give it another shot so a few years years ago when you guys wanted to pass it we probably got 15 people in the rest of our industry to come down here and talk about it you guys didn't listen to that but when you guys tried passing a boat tax In like 2019, there was 150 to 200 people here.

[01:48:18] And since there are so many people protesting against it, you brought that to the top of the agenda and said, nope, we'll get rid of it. It's not going to even be up for discussion. You got rid of it. But to get restaurant workers to come and talk about how it's hurt in their pockets, that's why you only see a few of us here talking about it.

[01:48:35] Because dishwashers, cooks, servers, bartenders, most of us all work two jobs. They don't have time to come down here and beg you guys to listen to us and then just ignore us. So they're like me, it's a waste of time. But I'm asking you to please reconsider at least knocking it down or getting rid of it because it does affect the servers.

[01:48:57] When the servers don't get the right amount of tips, I know this isn't at every place, but I really do take money out of my pocket and give it to them because fees are getting so high that going out to dinner has become more of a luxury instead of, hey, we can go out for some drinks and appetizers with friends or dinner. It's just costing so much. So that's why I really ask all you guys to think about it. Everybody eats here. Everyone goes out to restaurants. And to be honest with you, if someone would give me money, I'd walk away right now from the restaurant industry. It's not what it used to be. And years ago in the 90s, when my dad owned a restaurant

[01:49:32] down here, you guys, not you guys, but other board people tried passing a meals tax. And maybe him, his brother, or his two brothers had a better way of conveying the message of why not to do it. So back in the 90s, when other board members tried passing the meals tax, you guys were nice enough to listen to everybody that came and said, hey, we don't want a meals tax in Prince William County. And it got knocked down. Then I know a few years later, it got pushed back up to the agenda.

[01:50:01] And again, they listen to your constituents. And all your constituents don't want this. And I thought you guys are supposed to listen to what we want in the community. And it really, it stinks that it's just like we're talking to a brick wall because you guys have your agenda and where you need the money to go.

[01:50:20] But I believe you guys raised like $44 million from our restaurants. It feels like you're just using us as an ATM machine. And there's nothing we really can do to fight it because once it passes, if I don't pay it, you're going to throw me in jail. So I just ask that you guys consider about reducing it or getting rid of the tax. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Good afternoon. My name is Peter Alton, and I live in Manassas. And I am also the treasurer for the Prince William County Arts

[01:50:59] Council. And I want to endorse what Kelly Hanaclaus said about public art. And we always have a line item in our budget, which is money allocated by the county, and we have money allocated for public art. Many years ago, I prepared an elevator speech, which all of you know what that is, and it basically had to do with what would life be like without art. I mean, music, singing, painting, poetry, all the different arts, and it would actually be a very sterile

[01:51:37] world. And so public art is a big chunk of art and should be in the county. Supporting this is a person who is the chairperson of the Manassas Architectural Review Board. And they look at and review art, outside art projects that come to them. And in almost every case, they have been approved. And so there are murals going up in Manassas because of that. In addition to that,

[01:52:13] there are statues and other whimsical pieces of art throughout the city. And I think the county needs all that and should have that. We have statues like at the train station and other small statues throughout the city. And actually on the city hall, there are little bricks here and there that are painted with little whimsical pieces of outdoor art.

[01:52:42] And all of that enriches the life. In addition to that, there was a campaign started some years ago where people would take and just take a small rock and paint a design on it and just put it on a window ledge or something somewhere in town.

[01:52:58] And if you found the rock, you could either take it home or put it somewhere else in the city so that people would find it. So I want to again reiterate... I fully support that the county should have public art, and it should be throughout the county.

[01:53:17] There is already some, but we need a lot more, I think. Thank you very much for listening to me. Thank you, and thank you to everyone who came out to speak in person today. We do not have any remote speakers for public comment time or a public hearing, which is agenda item number seven.

[01:53:34] So I am going to move to agenda item number seven, the public hearings. And I am going to go ahead and open the public hearings for agenda items number 7A through 7C.

[01:53:50] Do we have anyone signed up to speak? So we do not have anyone who is signed up to speak either in person or remotely for agenda items 7A through 7C. So with that, I will, if there's anyone in the audience who wants to speak, if not, I'm going to go ahead.

[01:54:09] I will officially close the public hearings for 7A through 7C. I would like to actually take each of these votes individually in case there's any discussion. So with 7A, can I get a resolution to move forward? Second.

[01:54:24] All right, that has been moved by Vega and seconded by Bailey. Any discussion on 7A? All right, let's go ahead and take a vote for that one. Thank you.

[01:54:44] The next one is 7B. If I can get a motion. So moved, Madam Chair. Second. Second. All right, Supervisor Bodie Bailey. Any discussion on 7B? All right, let's go ahead and take our vote for that one.

[01:55:05] Unanimous. All right, agenda item number 7C. I move 7C forward for approval. Second. All right, that's Angry and Bailey. Any discussion around 7C? Madam Chair. Supervisor Vega.

[01:55:21] Thank you. My colleagues up here know how I feel about these. Rick, just real quick, can you talk to me a little bit about negotiation efforts? Where are we? Is everything smooth? I don't think we have anybody here speaking in opposition, but I just want to make sure everything is on track.

[01:55:37] No problem, ma'am. Madam Chair, members of the board, Rick Canizos, your director of transportation. No, ma'am, what we're doing is trying to get our easements from property that we already got the fee simple of. So what happened is we got the fee simple.

[01:55:52] There were some declarations that were found to be with the shopping center that had some common easements through the property. So we're just cleaning up the property that we have already condemned. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. Supervisor Ingrid? Yeah, I just wanted to comment because this is really one of those final steps for the SPOEY.

[01:56:13] So just doing some cleanup to get that road and that development, as you see, it's happening, as I said it would. But again, as we get further, those roads are going to start closing off in detours. And so if you don't have to be in that area, go around because it's going to take a little while to get this all done.

[01:56:31] Two years, two years. So we're close to getting all that started. And the sooner we get there, the sooner we'll get over it. So thank you. Thank you, Matt, and thank you, Rick. I think you just want to say the word spooey, right? Spooey. Spooey. All right. Let's go ahead and take a vote.

[01:56:48] Let's go ahead and take a vote. Vote unanimous. All right. And let's move on to agenda item number eight, and that is county attorney time. Mr. Schroeder, the floor is yours. I do not have a law agreement.

[01:57:04] I keep, you know, I keep demoting you. I was going to go to law school. You know, I'm sorry, but, you know, attorney, I don't know. I got a lot of Laura jokes in me today. All right. It was Law Day. We recognize Law Day. All right. All right. Really quickly, just a few announcements. First, there were two directives, as you all know, issued last week.

[01:57:23] One to review the Animal Advisory Committee policy resolution regarding pet store regulations and come back to the board with staff's analysis and recommendations. That directive was assigned to the county attorney's office, my office, and the police.

[01:57:40] Two, we were asked to bring back a resolution for a new capital improvement project using Potomac District proffer funds to expand the capacity of Forest Green's golf course clubhouse. And that directive was assigned to Parks and Recreation. One directive was closed last week related to an audit for boards, commissions, and committees and their meeting calendar.

[01:58:04] And that is all for me, Madam Chair, unless you have any questions. Supervisor Franklin, and then we are. Yeah, thank you. I know that you sent an e-mail about the Affordable Housing Ordinance being pushed back a few weeks, I guess not necessarily concerns, but wanting to make sure that it was kind of up to par before coming to the board.

[01:58:27] I was wondering if, A, you can speak a little bit about that, and then, B, and I haven't looked at this as closely as I need to, but the $5 million we got from the General Assembly, I think it's my understanding that we would need to take action on some type of ordinance in order for us to get that $5 million.

[01:58:45] Can you just talk about how this will impact us receiving that money? Sure. So I'll take the last thing first. One, you are correct that the stipulation, I understand it, and I'll ask Wade to come up and talk a bit about the benefit of a few more weeks, three more weeks for the ordinance for us to come back on June 3rd versus May 13th.

[01:59:09] But in terms of the General Assembly, that bill does require that we pass an ordinance by the end of this calendar year. Calendar year. Calendar year. So, and that is just as a reminder, $5 million that would be allocated to our housing trust from the state to support affordable housing development in the county.

[01:59:38] And I believe we are well on our way and don't anticipate any challenges unless, for example, we come on June 3rd and the ordinance is not where it should be and the board decides to move in a different direction. Sure. And I guess I'll say, obviously, the board will decide, you know, if we agree with the ordinance or not take an up and down vote.

[02:00:01] But I would hope by June 3rd, staff will at least be comfortable. Yes, that is the hope. This additional three weeks, and Wade, if you want to come up and add to this, this additional three weeks will give us an opportunity to answer some of the basic questions that we have that we want to make sure are answered before we come to the board.

[02:00:21] Madam Chair, members of the board, Wade Hugh, Deputy County Executive. So the time that we've spent up to this point has really been focused on the ordinance itself, all the details, working with the county attorney's office, and now we're at a stage where all the different agencies that are going to be involved largely development services but you've got the zoning administrator that's going to be interpreting some of the codes you've got the staff that are actually going to be working in some cases if it's a buy right and we talk about density bonuses you're going to have staff working with applicants and we just want to make sure that everyone is staff wise is on the same page the planning office when they're working with applicants development services so now we're

[02:00:57] starting to do a lot of what if scenarios what if a project comes in and it's this setup and the person asks for this density bonus or these waivers in the DCSM. Just making sure we're on the same page, clarifying it, codifying it in our policy documents. So again, we'll be consistent.

[02:01:16] And then some of those have raised some questions that we wanted to circle back with the county attorney. So we're just double checking everything before we bring it forward to you. Okay. Just as a reminder, it's been like four years. Just a friendly reminder. Understood. Thank you.

[02:01:32] All right, Supervisor Rear, you were in, you were out. Do you want to pass Supervisor Bailey? You sure about it? Yeah, I'm sure. Okay. Thanks, Madam Chair. I just wanted to just reiterate with the county executive, if you would please have Matt to circle back with my colleagues in reference to the CRC, just to assure that everybody's on the same page as to how we're spending the money and where it's going in the timeline.

[02:01:59] I know you just said that, but I would appreciate that. We had a similar glitch when we were passing the CRC, and I don't, Supervisor Angry was kind of left out of the loop. So I want to make sure everybody is in concert with what's going on, you know, as we move forward, because we're just at the end.

[02:02:20] So thank you so much. Just a reminder. All right. Anything else from you, Mr. Shorter? We good? All right. Now to the real attorney. The real county attorney. I apologize. I'm going to leave the lawyer jokes alone today.

[02:02:36] Thank you, Madam Chair, members of the board. In addition to passing the Law Day commendation this afternoon, which we appreciate, I just want to note that today is International Be Kind to Lawyers Day. Did you just pick that up? My whole office appreciates that, as does Karen in the audience, and we appreciate you.

[02:02:56] So thank you very much. International Be Kind to Lawyers Day. Maybe we'll fold that in with the Law Day next year. So we'll work with the county executive on that commendation. But for the real business, for a closed session this afternoon, there will be consultation with legal counsel and briefings by staff members pertaining to discussion or consideration of the disposition of county-owned real property to include a possible lease of county property, where discussion in an open meeting would adversely affect the bargaining position or negotiating strategy of the public body, with the related discussion concerning a prospective business or industry where no previous announcement has been made of the business or industry's interest

[02:03:34] in locating their facility in the county and where discussion in an open meeting would adversely affect the litigating posture, bargaining position, or negotiating strategy of the public body. And this item is appropriate for closed session pursuant to 2.2-3711A3 and 5 of the Code of Virginia.

[02:03:49] So moved, ma'am, Chair. Second. All right, before we take a vote, I just want to say I apologize because you are correct. It is International Be Kind to Lawyers Day. I had to look it up. I had to look it up. Yes, I did. Yes, I did. You're a lawyer. You're not being kind to you. I will go to my office and grab a treat for you.

[02:04:11] All right. Let's go ahead and take a vote. Vote unanimous. All right. If someone from my office can come bring some fruit snacks, the good ones. Okay.

[02:04:27] I don't know. I'll see what we got over there. I think we got some chocolate. All right. So we are going to go now to supervisor's time. I am actually looking at you, Supervisor Vega, if you want to kick us off. Yeah. I would be delighted to. I just want to report back that on April 4th, myself, Supervisor Angry, and actually Supervisor Bailey attended the Adult Detention Center.

[02:04:53] Well, they call it the jail basic academy graduation. So certainly congratulations to all. Was it 14 or 15 graduates? Only the number 12 stands out in my mind because they had a number record of female correction officers, 14 total.

[02:05:11] And out of the 14, 12 were female. So congratulations to all the graduates. We welcome you to our Prince William County family and certainly wish you much success in your new career. On April 5th, we hosted the much-anticipated Coles District Annual Easter Egg Hunt.

[02:05:27] It was a fantastic event. I'm grateful to Mother Nature and to our good Lord for holding off on the rain because the Easter Bunny came out and the kids had a blast. Not all, I'll be honest. A handful were petrified and screamed as if they had seen Santa Claus because Santa Claus seems to have that effect on children as well.

[02:05:44] but I certainly want to thank folks over at Chris Young Elementary School for allowing us to host the event there this year, and to the parents and everybody else that attended the event. A special thank you to my staff. It's always a great event, but I certainly cannot do it without you all.

[02:06:00] I know they're watching, so Marina, John, and Chelsea, and Alicia, thank you so much. I appreciate you all. Today we attended the Pinwheels for Prevention event against childhood abuse, As stated earlier today, the beginning of this month, we remember the children that have been lost due to abuse.

[02:06:21] And we do our very best to ensure that we protect children who are in environments that are not safe for them. Also, I want to let folks know that on April 11th, I'm going to be touring the Public Safety Communication Center right across the street from where we park.

[02:06:39] And so it's always a great time when we go over and see the phenomenal work that our dispatchers do. On April 14th, we are going to be celebrating Vaisakhi Day, so I'm getting ahead of myself, but I look forward to celebrating with our friends, and a proclamation will be issued on that day.

[02:06:56] That is all I have, Madam Chair. Thank you. Supervisor, oh, wait. Did you want to do your directive? I haven't. I can do it. All right. Did you? All right. You know what? I'm going to go to Supervisor Franklin.

[02:07:21] Thank you for that. I just want to highlight and congratulate the Potomac Library, who celebrated 50 years this weekend. And so, very, very important library in the Woodbridge District, and looking forward to continuing their service.

[02:07:39] And so, thank you to our library team, and happy birthday. I also just want to point out, 23rd, 7 p.m., April 23rd, 7 p.m., at the Fralazzo Building, I'll be hosting a roundtable to discuss the proposed affordable housing ordinance and so looking forward to the public's input as well as the discussion around its importance here in the county. May 15th I'll be at the Woodbridge VRE for Bike to Work Day and on May 31st we will be doing our dumpster day at Fred Lynn from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. I also just want to recognize the

[02:08:15] Child Advocacy Center. I think it was probably the first initiative that I put forward upon coming into office, and Courtney Tierney, who is no longer Director of Social Services, she did an excellent job kind of ushering that program in.

[02:08:32] It's been doing wonderful work, even for an unfortunate topic, but it's something that was needed here in Prince William County, and our staff has been absolutely wonderful. And if you will recall, they actually won a state award last year for their services.

[02:08:48] So thank you to our social services department for the work that they do and those that work at our Child Advocacy Center. Also, again, just want to congratulate the Freedom High School Girls basketball team, Coach Mia Lloyd for winning Player of the Year and Coach Mia Lloyd for getting Coach of the Year and Player Lonnie Johnson for getting Player of the Year.

[02:09:10] And so I attended many of their games, had a great time, and I was encouraged to now go to their soccer games. And so I will be doing that as well and looking forward to it. On a sad note, I just want to keep our colleagues on the Fairfax Board of County Supervisors.

[02:09:29] They lost their lobbyist, Claudia Arco, last week, I'm sorry. And for those of us on VACO, we got a chance to interact with Claudia quite often. And she was a wonderful, wonderful person and served Fairfax very, very well and certainly a shock to all of us.

[02:09:51] But I'm certainly going to miss seeing her smile as we go to these conferences. But, again, our condolences go out to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. And with that, I yield. All right.

[02:10:06] We are going to go over to Supervisor Angry. All right.

[02:10:22] Thank you, Madam Chair. So I'll start by congratulating our Princeton County police officers. We had a promotion ceremony last Wednesday, so congratulations to everyone on that promotion. And then the jail basic graduation, joining my colleagues there, that was outstanding and amazing.

[02:10:45] I missed my Dale City Little League opening ceremony throughout the pitch on that. But, you know, it's that season again, so congratulations to them. Also, congratulations to the Yorkshire Volunteer Fire Department. I know I just want to help you because I joined my colleague, Jesse Vega, here that's in the Coles District.

[02:11:05] That was a great event, so I just want to echo that with you. I know you had a lot. Give a shout out to Chief Deem for me. Yeah, and Chief Jerry Deem is retiring or retired now, so after 17 years, had a great ceremony for him. So thank you again, Supervisor Vega, for all of your support for Yorkshire and Chief Deam and his service.

[02:11:28] And so congratulations to Leadership Prince Williams on their boots and bling. I wasn't able to make it, but I heard it was a great event. So I just want to congratulate them on that. Madam Chair, I'm going to be bringing a commendation to you for hopefully, I don't know when we can do it, but I want to congratulate Virginia American Water.

[02:11:49] So they have 34 years of OSHA record of zero accidents. And so I was able to go by this morning and just kind of enjoy the event with them and kind of celebrate with them. And so I'll be coming back with that, and hopefully we can get them in the chamber to recognize them for that great event.

[02:12:09] And Madam Chair, I'm going to pause. Well, actually, I'll tell you what, Friday morning I'll be joining them for our Delaney Road cleanup. So Virginia American Water has sponsored that road, Delaney Road.

[02:12:26] So once a year we go out and actually clean that road up. So we'll be doing that. And, yes, last night I did a midnight ride-along with my goddaughter, Officer Coleman, which was very interesting to see how they run around Prince William County from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m.

[02:12:45] Okay, I didn't make it. I bowed out about 3 a.m. But what an interesting night of affairs. So I will commend all of our police officers for everything they do in this county. And their role is very interesting. So kudos to them.

[02:13:01] So, Madam Chair, thank you. Supervisor Bode. Thank you, Madam Chair. Just a couple of different things for me. First, on the third, I and my chief of staff toured the Adult Detention Center. It's always interesting to go there and sort of see just how much services they offer the folks that are in there and sort of their holistic approach to everything.

[02:13:24] We had a chance to talk to a lot of the staff members, both folks that sort of work there on the inmate side, but also the mental health wing that they have over there. And just knowing how far we've come sort of as a community, but also sort of as a society around how we treat the folks that are being held there and the needs that they have.

[02:13:46] Obviously, then earlier today, we all went to the Pinwheel Garden for Child Abuse Prevention Month. Wanted to thank DSS and all the folks that helped bring that together. It's always a sober but a very enriching experience to make sure that we reflect on that issue.

[02:14:04] Wanted to thank my colleagues for their participation in these last three finance and budget committee meetings. Also wanted to commend County Exec Shorter and his staff and all the other staff and team members that continue to support us in that committee. I think I don't speak only for myself when I say that we've had some very good discussions in those meetings.

[02:14:22] And I think that has led to a lot more understanding and a lot sort of deeper discussions around a lot of the issues. That's basically one part of a very important part of our job, which is the county budget. So I really appreciate my colleagues participating in that. Looking ahead, on the 24th of April, we will be having, well, I will be at the Holy Square community meeting that the applicant will be hosting.

[02:14:46] It's going to be at 7 p.m. in the development services building atrium, so just across the way from here. Again, that's 4-24 at 7 p.m. in the atrium of the DSB. Finally, I have a directive. I gave all of you a heads-up back last week that I'll be giving it.

[02:15:03] So without objection, I would like to direct the county executive to work with staff to research, review, and evaluate planning best practices, existing legal authority regarding microgrids, on-site backup power generation, and other on-site power generation issues, including, but not limited to, any recommendations regarding appropriate land use policies and regulations for board consideration.

[02:15:24] In addition, in preparation of the proposed 2026 legislative agenda for the board consideration, provide recommendations regarding any additional authority regulating microgrids, on-site backup power generation, and any other on-site power generation uses, including addressing potential impacts.

[02:15:40] Such research and recommendations should, when applicable, include proposed timelines, proposed fiscal impacts, other pertinent information for board consideration. The county attorney's office is directed to review the information and recommendations for any legal issues. When the research and work is complete, the county executive should report back to the board with the research and recommendation during a board meeting or by memorandum as appropriate.

[02:16:06] Madam Chair? Yes. I don't know that I object just yet, but I do have questions and maybe possible discussion. Do you want to get through the rest of Supervisor's time and then we come back to it? All right. Okay, let's take this now. Sure. Okay. Well, Supervisor Bode, so just help me understand more clearly, what is the intent of the directive?

[02:16:23] Sure. I appreciate that, Suarez Arbega. So essentially, as we've seen, and yes, it pertains to the data center industry, but it also sort of a more global issue, we're starting to see that large-scale industrial applicants are beginning to look at creative ways to provide power to their facilities, especially as it pertains to data centers.

[02:16:43] There's a case in Loudoun County where they actually built a gas turbine power plant as what they thought was going to be an interim step, but it became sort of their base power load. Um, right now there isn't a lot of, uh, concrete details on how we handle something like that, knowing that gas generators are on the agenda. We know that SMRs have been talked about. We know that things like blue and green hydrogen cells have been talked about as well. Um, but right now there's not a lot of good playbook around how we handle that from a land use perspective.

[02:17:15] And in some cases in other counties, they've interpreted as some of this stuff could be done by right. If it's only feeds that data center building. And I don't want us to get to a point where we're having to react to that when it happens versus us being proactive now, beginning the research on how that can be handled, what our authority is, and if we can start having some kind of discussions around implementing land use policies around that kind of stuff.

[02:17:36] Thank you for that. Because I'm not sure, and the county attorney can clarify, when we were talking about the noise concerns and whatnot, we were told over and over again that we can't regulate a specific industry, and I understand that. And so when I was reading your directive, my concern also stems from possible regulations for residential, right?

[02:17:59] And so am I correct in my assumption, Ms. Robel, that this would impact? Madam Chair, members of the board, that's why with the draft directive it states that we're to look at the analysis to see whether or not legal authority is needed for the board to take some of these actions.

[02:18:15] So then we'll wait then, I guess, until county staff comes back. Thank you. So then I won't object. Thank you, Supervisor Bodie. All right, we've got Supervisor Weir. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm not going to object. However, I think one of the things that we need to include in that study is specifically the gas turbine generators.

[02:18:36] For anybody who doesn't understand what a gas turbine generator is, it's a jet engine. And there are circumstances in several places in the Commonwealth where they line up five jet engines and generate the power off of those.

[02:18:53] And let's just say they're not quiet. So if we have to get zoning ordinances in place, DCSM changes authority from the General Assembly. I would suggest we do that now before the first one pops up in somebody's backyard and deal with it now rather than then.

[02:19:19] All right. Thank you, Supervisor Franklin. Yeah, thank you for that. I just want to thank Supervisor Bodie for the directive. You know, the biggest actual challenge with data centers is the energy usage. And so, by looking at or bringing into our county the discussion around alternative energy sources, I think can be incredibly helpful, both towards the environment and to this larger discussion.

[02:19:50] Because this isn't just a Prince William County challenge. We have an energy challenge nationally. And I don't want to be gloom and doom, but maybe even internationally, there could be some challenges. not specifically from the data center industry, but just because we haven't been sustainable for decades, generations.

[02:20:10] And so now we find ourselves with our backs against the wall. So any opportunity to look at some alternative sources, we should absolutely take the opportunity. And I'm looking forward to seeing what that legal analysis, and hopefully we do have the authority to do something about that. So thank you.

[02:20:27] All right. Anyone else? All right. Well, thank you for that. There was no objections to that, so we'll move forward. Thank you. Supervisor Weir. Thank you, Madam Chair. and I will continue that theme. I have one item.

[02:20:43] Next Thursday evening, the Prince William Committee of 100 is going to be hosting a forum on meeting the energy needs of data centers, where they'll be discussing the challenges of supplying power needed by the growing number of data centers in Prince William County and surrounding jurisdictions without service interruption or spikes in utility rates for the customers.

[02:21:04] For better or for worse, the committee has asked me to sit on the panel. Along with Senator Rome, Bill Murray, VP of Dominion, and the wonderful Kate Smiley from the Data Center Coalition. It should be a, I was going to say, lively, lively panel.

[02:21:25] I may be being kind, hoping it doesn't degenerate into profanity, but my guess is it will. I would encourage anybody who wants to go. It's next Thursday night, April 17th, 6 to 9 p.m. at the Manassas Park Community Center.

[02:21:41] And that's all I've got. Supervisor Bailey. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. On the second, my staff and I had the pleasure of attending the police department's promotion ceremony.

[02:21:57] Congratulations to those who have given their lives to serve. Ceremony well done. Then on the third, I want to congratulate the Human Rights Commission for their lead and learn emerging leaders. They do such a great job with our youth in terms of preparing them for leadership and advocacy.

[02:22:15] We appreciate you. Then on the fourth, the ADC Jail Basic 41 graduation, and I agree with my colleagues. It was an exceptional program, and congratulations to those who graduated, and to the women, you rock.

[02:22:32] Sorry, guys. On the fifth, we had our Potomac District Dumpster Day. Madam Chair, you didn't come. You promised me you'd come. You didn't come. But that's okay. We'll do it another time. We'll do it another time. Anyway, so on the fifth, the Family History and Education Center Open House.

[02:22:53] You know, it was beautiful honoring the wonderful Ms. Joanne Bonneries and the history that she has brought to this county. And it promoted in the Manassas, the new Manassas Museum, the genealogy department. So please, I encourage you to go and just take a gander on the computer about your history, particularly here in Virginia.

[02:23:17] There's a lot of history in Virginia. Being on the 8th, like today, it was wonderful. The weather was a little cool, but congratulations to the Department of Social Services for always acknowledging those who need care. And we had a good time, even though it was cold. It was a great time together.

[02:23:33] On the 10th, we'll be participating in the gauntlet at Patty Elementary with the students there. That's always a great time. And then upcoming events. Additionally, on the 1st, as I mentioned earlier, at Sentara Hospital, we'll be sponsoring an update for the CRC from 8.30 to 12.

[02:23:54] And I'll make sure that my colleagues get invitations specifically to each one of you. And they'll be talking about the updates for the CRC and what's going on from a state level. And then And lastly, put on your calendars for May 10th, our annual PwC Annual 5K Mental Health Awareness Walk from 10 to 2 p.m.

[02:24:15] And again, it will be held at the Locust Shade Park. Thank you, Madam Chair. All right. I am kind of, I guess, with batting cleanup. I've got a few things to mention. But my apologies, Supervisor Bailey, but we didn't receive an information or invitation about Dumpster Day.

[02:24:31] I typically don't do those events, honestly. It was a joke, Madam Chair. Okay. i have no sense of humor it was a joke i ain't because i already offended our county attorney it was a joke you know so i um wanted to for supervisor angry he had on thursday april 3rd he had the pleasure to attend the student leadership council cohort nine graduation ceremony and that is sponsored by the human rights commission uh with which is a nine-month course mr shorter attended dr mcdade attendant and supervisor angry attendant and they are all the first african americans to hold their positions in the county so congratulations on that the other

[02:25:10] thing okay y'all gonna get mad at me because i'm bad with these directives and this is i think a little unfortunate miscommunication so if anyone objects i can redo it for next time but this is actually time sensitive and it's about the noise ordinance without objection i would like to direct the county executive to work with the staff to identify 35 000 in fiscal year 2025 funding to cover the cost of additional noise testing and technical analysis associated with refining the draft noise ordinance and to prepare a resolution to be included for consideration by the board

[02:25:46] during the april 22nd 2025 board meeting already people are in the queue i got weir than franklin what type of testing and for how long um so you stole her question but um franklin's question about supervisor. I'm sorry. I'm tired today, y'all.

[02:26:08] County executive, shorter. Sure. So this is just a continuation of the ongoing work that Wade has been doing with the task force. And so, did I say that right? So this will continue the same contract. It will not be a new contract, and it will continue with the same consultant.

[02:26:31] But are we changing DBC, DBA, octave range? So this is not the policy discussion that the board ultimately will have. This is just a continuation of the testing in order to bring a recommendation.

[02:26:46] But there have been numerous questions about the type of testing and what's being measured and whether there's an argument as to whether we should be measuring DBA, DBC, or octave range. I'm not going to get in the way of it.

[02:27:01] I just hope that my comments are taken into account. All right, Mr. Hugh, do you want to respond, or do you have any additional things to say on this? Madam Chair, members of the board, Wade Hugh, Deputy County Executive.

[02:27:35] So the funding will handle a couple of things. So based on the direction that we got from the board, we do want to do some additional testing. Matter of fact, we did some field testing today. Dominion had a scheduled power outage at the Amazon facility at Tanner Way, which is next to Great Oak. So they were running the generators for about three hours, and we wanted to go out and get some readings there.

[02:27:54] But we send that off to the consultant to do the analysis. We are working with Rutgers University as well because they do a lot of enforcement training. They train police officers all across the United States in enforcement of noise ordinances that deal with DBC, that deal with octaves as well.

[02:28:12] So part of, to answer your question, Supervisor, we're talking, are we being too stringent in terms of the levels that we're trying to track, in terms of how difficult or challenging it may be to actually enforce? And so we're trying to get as much information as we can, again, per the board's direction.

[02:28:30] So that's what the funding will be used for. Any follow-up or, before I go to Supervisor, any follow-up or anything else before I go on to Supervisor Franklin and then Bailey? I mean, he's just reinforcing the concerns I've got in terms of enforceability, civil versus criminal versus how do we do it, how do you triangulate what the source of particular sound is, what's the aggregate impact, I guess we'll see.

[02:28:59] All right, Supervisor Franklin? Sure, yeah, thank you for that. So obviously we're doing additional testing. I guess I'm just curious as to why. Well, because we did the initial testing to kind of frame the scale that we were looking And now we want to do additional testing, again, to make sure any ancillary impact.

[02:29:17] So, for example, the hospitals had reached out to me. They had some concerns. We tested a couple of schools. We want to try to hit a couple of additional schools, maybe with, like, older equipment, just to see. Just, again, I want to make sure that whatever ordinance we bring to you, we don't have the ancillary impacts. We're really targeting a certain industry, and we want to stay focused on that.

[02:29:36] Right. And just so I'm clear, is this coming from the advisory group or from staff? Both. Both. I mean, we're working in tandem. Again, I want to make sure we've got enough of the testing and the results when I bring this forward, but it's done in tandem with the DCOAG. So they're aware, they're supportive. Yep. And obviously I've raised concerns to you about making sure that there aren't any unintended consequences with other industries that may get swept up in this.

[02:30:06] And I like that you mentioned the hospitals, but what other entities besides schools, since we've already done schools, but what other entities besides schools will be using the additional testing? Like restaurants, for example, that are going to have exhaust fans in them, any other type of industries out there. We've been to the junkyard on Route 29. I know it's located right next to Virginia Oaks as well. They're grinding concrete and brush out there, so it would allow us to do some of that additional testing. The testing we're doing on our own. We're sending our staff out in the field to do the test. It's really the analysis. We send the sound files to the consultant, have them analyze it.

[02:30:42] Yep, and I'm supportive of the directive. I would also just like a list of the additional entities that you will be serving. Absolutely, we'll do that. All right, Supervisor Bailey, then Bodie. Thank you, Madam Chair.

[02:30:58] Wait, this was, I'm in support of the directive as well, but this was, wasn't this a line item in your presentation also? Didn't you have this at the end of your presentation? I vaguely remember it was a part of your recommendations. At the end, the recommendation or the request from the board to get direction was to bring back a budget.

[02:31:18] So when we do bring you a proposed ordinance to adopt, any cost that would be associated with enforcing that ordinance. So that's separate from what this is. This money is really needed now so that we can finalize the work and then bring an ordinance forward. But at that time, we would have a budget. So if it involves staff, monitoring equipment, consulting fees, we'd package that up, work with the county executive to bring you that at that time.

[02:31:41] Okay. All right. Thank you, Madam Chair. And Supervisor Brody. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Wade, for the explanation. I think Supervisor Franklin was on point with trying to get a little bit more detail on what the testing. I know that back when we discussed this as a board not too long ago, when you gave your presentation, we also talked about construction noise.

[02:32:02] And we talked about, you know, some of the construction equipment that, you know, is sort of emergent, but also has a slightly different feel to it based on the fact that construction is a temporary thing, or at least it should be, versus the longstanding operational noise of facilities. Can you dig in a little bit more if you guys are going to be doing construction testing with this round, what that looks like, if so?

[02:32:23] Perfect segue. So, actually, we were out a week ago near Innovation. They were doing concrete. They were using the pumper trucks to pump the concrete. Well, that's going to be very typical in what you see in a subdivision when they're pouring foundations. And so, again, making sure that we don't set that level too low to where homeowners are complaining as houses are getting built.

[02:32:42] So that was one type that we just did two weeks ago. Blasting and hoe ramming is another. And there's a facility being built near Chris Young Elementary that it's pretty much solid rock out there. They're doing a lot of blasting, so I'm already emailing back and forth with the superintendent there to try to line up testing as well.

[02:33:00] So thank you. thank you all right doesn't look like we have any further comments so that means no one objects yes yes yes no one objects yay home run all right so thank you very much for that thank you mr hugh for your clarifying comments and with that i'm gonna give i'm done i ain't got nothing

[02:33:21] else i'm gonna give everyone 10 minutes before we go into our closed meeting thank you from closed

[02:33:58] session i just need a motion to certify so moved i'm sorry what are we recording okay so all right we're going to go ahead and vote stragglers all right thank you everyone the board we are actually going to go um to dinner at los was it los tecos los tecos c says supervisor vega so we will be

[02:34:34] there um the evening session of the board begins at seven o'clock and i will see everyone back here

[02:34:41] thank you all right everyone please take a seat we are about to get started thank you so very much

[02:35:21] Give it a little tap.

[02:36:36] uh we generally don't do that so yeah i don't want to i can turn this way all right thank you everyone this is item 4d proclaim april 2025 Sikh and pajabi heritage and appreciation month approximately 700,000 Sikhs live in the united states and about 35,000 of them live in the washington dc metro area where they have been a part of our community since the 1950s there is a notable and prominent Sikh and Punjabi population in Prince William County. Sikhs and Punjabis are

[02:37:14] significant contributors to our county's commerce, owning and operating truck-related businesses, retail stores, restaurants, and medical clinics throughout the county. Prince William is also the home of the Sikh Center of Virginia in Manassas. Additionally, Prince William County is home to the Virginia School of Bangra. Students have competed and placed in national and international competitions, representing Prince William County and Virginia nationally and internationally.

[02:37:43] The Prince William Board of County Supervisors hereby proclaims April 2025 as Sikh and Pujabi Heritage and Appreciation Month, and we present this resolution to the entire Sikh community of Prince William County. I also want to take a moment to wish everyone a blessed and happy Basahi.

[02:38:04] I had it. Basahi Ki. Basahi. Thank you so very much. So would you like to say a few words? Good evening, board, Madam Chair, as well as our own community members and the presiders of Prince William County.

[02:38:29] I just want to say thank you so much. It is not lost upon us that amidst a budget session, a very important period of time of this county as well as the board, that you guys have given us this time and this proclamation. We appreciate it wholeheartedly. As you know, Sikhs and Punjabis take pride in living in Prince William County.

[02:38:49] We love Prince William County. Our kids go to school here. We have businesses here. We work here. And it's a moment of privilege, I want to say, for all of us. It is an example of coexistence, peace, prosperity, love, and courage that we all represent throughout our diverse faiths of this county.

[02:39:10] So nothing but love, appreciation, and a wholehearted thank you to all of you. Appreciate you guys.

[02:39:54] Can you wait until Madam Chair gets back, please?

[02:43:16] I'm not talking to you. I just want to make sure we're honest.

[02:44:08] All right.

[02:44:41] Thank you very much. Did we, okay, I was going to say, did we lose Mr. Shorter? All right. Okay. All right. We got, all right, go angry than Bodie. All right, let's go. Okay. Thank you, Madam Chair. Before the board begins budget recap and the public hearing on the budget, I need to declare a personal interest.

[02:45:02] My wife is a school's employee. As a school's employee, my wife and I are members of a group which is affected by this matter. I will be participating in this matter because I'm able to do so fairly objectively in the public interest. Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, before the board begins budget recap and the budget public, I need to declare a personal interest.

[02:45:22] My wife is a special education instructional aide with the schools. As a school's employee, my wife and I are members of a group which is affected by this matter. I will be participating in this matter because I am able to do so fairly, objectively, and in the public interest. Thank you, Madam Chair.

[02:45:38] All right. Thank you so very much. Mr. Shorter. Thank you, Madam Chair, members of the board. It'll take a minute. Wonderful to be before you this evening for budget recap. As you know, this is the final opportunity for me to make changes to the budget.

[02:45:58] These changes were based on the discussions that we all had. want to take a moment just to appreciate each of you. I know that we had an opportunity to meet with you in your offices over the last several weeks. So based on that input, our general revenue updates, I knew there was something there, general revenue updates, some additional revenue from the state comp board, and then your input around additional items of community interest and

[02:46:33] obviously our public hearings, we are here tonight with our final update to the board. As you know, next week will be the opportunity for the board to essentially mark up the budget based on this discussion tonight and your respective priorities. Just a quick review.

[02:46:58] Now, we saw this slide and a few others last week during the finance and budget committee meeting, so we'll go through relatively quickly, but I'm happy to slow down, Madam Chair, if needed. But this slide really, the top of the slide highlights what we did on February 18th. And so you could see at 92 cent, this is where we advertise it. Well, let me say the real estate, fire levy, and personal property were all proposed at their current rate. All right.

[02:47:29] So real estate at $0.92, which represented, on average, $276 increase over current. The fire levy also proposed at current rate $0.7.2, thank you, Andrea, which would represent, on average, a $22 increase at the time of the presentation on the 18th, and then personal property at $370.

[02:47:55] What the board did in terms of guidance to us for advertisement was asked us to advertise, and you see the bullets at the bottom of this slide, advertise the computer and peripheral rate at 415.

[02:48:11] And what we talked about over several weeks was the decoupling of the personal property computer and peripheral from the personal property vehicle. And so we did that, and we advertised the personal property vehicle at 370 and the personal property computer and peripheral at 415.

[02:48:34] What that meant is that we needed to also advertise the general classification rate at 415, and we've had that discussion a few times over. And separately, the business tangible at 370.

[02:48:56] So what that represented at the time of the presentation for our tax rate per penny was $11.2 million, which, as you can see here, the separation between the schools and the share between the schools and the county.

[02:49:12] So I just wanted to go over that and make sure that we had some grounding in what we did on the 18th in terms of the proposed and what you ultimately gave us in terms of guidance on advertisement. And we reviewed this last week, but I will point that this represents the rates that we came with on the 18th in terms of proposed.

[02:49:42] So you will see $0.92 real estate rate, which represented, on average, a $276 increase for homeowners. And the real estate assessment at the time was 5.6%.

[02:50:00] Based on real estate assessed value increases, what we are saying this evening and talked about last week was that the average residential appreciation is now at 7.2 percent, well, 7.22 percent.

[02:50:20] And so if we left the real estate tax at 92 cents, instead of it representing a $276 increase, it would represent a $353 increase for residents or for homeowners.

[02:50:38] And so to mitigate that increase, what we are recommending is that we lower the property tax rate from the current rate to 90 cents, 90.6 cents. So I wanted to make sure I said that because I don't know that I said it last week during the Finance and Budget Committee meeting this way.

[02:50:57] So I hope that is understood. In terms of the fire levy, we are recommending that the fire levy remain the same and not change the fire levy from what we proposed on the 18th. This will represent a slight increase from $22 on average to $28 on average.

[02:51:16] And we're going to talk about that in a few slides and what that additional revenue would go towards. We talked actually a little bit about it earlier this afternoon, and you can also see on this slide the $370 for personal property, computer, and peripheral, and $370 personal property for vehicle, all right, and the funding, and we'll talk about this in a few slides, the revenue that that represents per nickel, all right, and how that changed from proposed

[02:51:47] to this evening, all right, and this is what ultimately this has done to our overall general revenue. And as you can see here, ultimately at 92, the real estate taxes in terms of a general revenue was just at $1,034.2 million. Once we changed at Budget Recap tonight, changed that to

[02:52:26] 90 cent, 90.6 cents. This is our new estimate in terms of revenue from real estate tax. And this is the delta, right? And so what we are assuming in terms of total general revenue loss based on the new recommendation at 90.6 cents is a $2.5 million loss. And this is what that share

[02:53:02] represents, and I think maybe Supervisor Weir mentioned that earlier today, that share of loss is, well, shared by the county and the schools where the schools would lose from budget recap $1.4 million, and we would lose by way of revenue $1 million. All right. Also wanted to cover as part of this presentation, as mentioned, some additional revenue that based on the state comp

[02:53:34] board, we've received since budget recap, and that is additional compensation for ADC from the state comp board and cumulative for the sheriff, commonwealth attorney, and circuit court clerk, cumulative $200,000 increase as well for them. We're also assuming a $600,000 increase for social services. And then we heard from elections that there was a $74,000 increase for elections that

[02:54:13] we are all that we are including in terms of state contributions that have occurred over the last several, several weeks. Through the question and answer portion of the work that OMB and the team has been doing, you may recall in one of our finance and budget committee meetings that we did fine that two positions in the fire marshal's office were being charged to the general fund instead of being charged to by two development fees. And so we have corrected for that and

[02:54:47] included here the additional revenue to offset those costs that were being billed to general revenue. All right. So earlier today, the board passed, approved the social services CSA board item with additional revenue from the state to support the social services CSA program.

[02:55:15] This is essentially accounting for adding that additional $1 million to the FY26 budget. And you can see here when we proposed on the 18th, we included $2 million, which was 66% supported by the state and 34% supported by the county.

[02:55:40] That has changed where we are adding $3 million based on state contribution and recommending this additional million. So that is a total contribution for social services CSA of $5 million. As you all may recall, the clerk of the circuit court came to provide background on the land management record system, and so we are including that in the recommendation this evening as well at $400,000.

[02:56:12] Noise ordinance enforcement, not new, at $250,000. We had the consultants come in with way, just a few weeks ago, and then a No Wrong Door project manager, FTE, at $146,000.

[02:56:29] And so just to recap, in terms of general revenue for the county, we are recommending that we reduce the overall real estate tax from $0.92 current to $0.90, $0.90.6, which would represent a $1.1 million decrease from our proposed.

[02:56:57] We are also recognizing an additional $2.3 million from the state compensation board and expenditure savings of $3 million due to the fire marshal's office FTE, the reallocation, if you will, of funding associated with the cost of those two FTEs.

[02:57:21] And what that brings us to is $1.8 million and recap expenditure additions. And so you could see here at the bottom of this slide, available capacity.

[02:57:36] So we are, for FY26, no available capacity, but what that available capacity looks like in the out years. Okay, so considerable discussion over the last several weeks about ADC and what we would provide in terms of recommendations for support to our adult detention center.

[02:58:00] And so you can see here on this slide, we talked about it last week during the Finance and Budget Committee meeting. What we are recommending is an additional $1.5 million for ADC to support them all from fund balance. So this would not impact the previous slide in terms of the general fund.

[02:58:19] And so we are recommending retention bonuses for the next four years of $3,000 for all sworn at ADC. We are also recommending a current year $1,500 stipend or bonus, again, from vacancy savings.

[02:58:41] That is to say, using FY25 dollars. This is not an FY26 add-on. We are recommending that we increase the hiring bonus from $5,000 to $10,000, which I think was openly discussed during one of the committee meetings.

[02:59:00] And we are also recommending that we work with ADC to provide funding for a study to provide additional support around organizational development, surveying sworn in other employees at ADC and making sure that we are doing everything that we can to support ADC.

[02:59:21] And that is not just money or finances, but there might be other opportunities to provide support to the staff and employees and sworn at ADC.

[02:59:34] In terms of the additional revenue from the fire levy that we talked about a few slides ago, we are recommending, based on what we have all been discussing in terms of the tariffs and the impact on the building, if you will, of fire stations, the FY26 fire levy revenue, we are recommending that we not reduce, based on the additional revenue from the fire levy,

[03:00:10] the $22. And so we are recommending instead that we maintain the $22 rate. That brings in on average an additional $700,000, and we are recommending that that go towards supporting some additional funding around what we believe might be impacts from the tariffs.

[03:00:37] So with the $3.3 million in fund balance from fire levy and $700,000 from the additional fire levy revenue, we believe that this will support the additional revenue needed to help with any impact from the federal government and the tariffs.

[03:01:08] All right, so in the weeks before the proposed budget and in the weeks following the proposed budget, there were a number of allocations that came in from the state government and federal.

[03:01:28] This is just really a summary of those additional revenue sources, all approved by the board. And so the first one at $9.3 million, this is from our Office of Housing and Community Development.

[03:01:44] This was additional resources to support housing vouchers for the developmentally disabled at $9.3 million. The second bullet also for our Office of Housing and Community Development, bless you, Michelle, to support permanent supportive housing at an additional $2 million.

[03:02:03] And then aging and social services also received additional funding for social services. As you may recall, this was a manager FTE that was converted to caseworker FTEs, and the board supported and approved.

[03:02:22] So I wanted to make sure we covered and included this additional federal revenue, because it would certainly have an impact on our FY26 budget. All right, and we covered these slides last week, but I'll go over them quickly.

[03:02:41] These were all of the items that we have heard from you directly over the last several weeks or that we heard during public hearings from the community. And starting with the trails construction at $5 million, we talked about the fact that we heard a few board members mention this, and we certainly heard from the community.

[03:03:06] And with parks and green space acquisition, no specific amount was discussed. But this, as a priority, was discussed, the procurement of additional land to preserve as parks and green space.

[03:03:23] There was a directive last week. This is consistent with that directive around additional support for Forest Green's golf course. This is for the grill room to join some of the proffer funds that Vice Chair Bailey put forward by way of directive.

[03:03:45] And the recreation center location study this week talked about. This is really an opportunity for us to assess countywide where there may be more opportunities for us to provide more recreation services and potentially recreation centers around the county.

[03:04:04] Additional funding for William's Ordinary Historic Preservation, I understand that this is to support the gap in terms of a funding shortfall that occurred in terms of fundraising. Therapeutic Recreation Programmer, this was an item in the Parks and Recreation budget, and I think all of us received some communication from the community around this specific position, and even had a discussion at one of our board meetings with Seth about it.

[03:04:40] Additional 50K in Arts Council grants support was suggested by a board member. And then swim lane rentals. This is going to be countywide, and this cost is really for the additional lifeguard hours and some equipment to support this expansion of programming.

[03:05:07] Additional items from the board, Employee Home Ownership Program. This is, I believe, estimated to support 40 employees at $25,000 apiece max and $200,000 to support the underwriting.

[03:05:26] But this would be primarily for an item of board interest. This is not something we heard from community but from the board. Redevelopment Fund Reserve, this is really, we talked about this actually during the Budget and Finance Committee meeting last, or Finance and Budget Committee meeting last week, the purpose of a redevelopment fund, how we would use it, and its connection to the Redevelopment Assemblage study.

[03:05:57] And that study would essentially support us in working through some of the details of our legal policy procedural activities when it comes to assembling land for the purpose of redevelopment. The coordinated response to FTEs, also an item of board interest. This is to support some of the on-the-ground outreach from our Office of Community Safety. We talked about the current

[03:06:36] planning, the current planner, and I know that the chair mentioned wanting two FTEs instead of, the chair and supervisor Weir mentioned wanting two FTEs instead of the one, but this is the cost of one and would obviously increase with each additional FTE. The trap, neuter, vaccinate, and release directive, we've discussed this is the cost for the feral cat community that we would support with this directive. And then the planning commissioner compensation, this represents

[03:07:11] about a 15% increase to the current compensation for planning commissioners. Okay, we've had a considerable discussion about the landfill and promise committed to coming back to the board tonight as part of budget recap with options. And this certainly provides those options. Option one is what was proposed and presented on the 18th of February. These are additional options,

[03:07:44] including option four, which is essentially status quo, where we leave things as they are. And so happy to, when we come back with questions, Madam Chair, talk a bit more about these various options and what they represent. I believe Catab is here to talk through that.

[03:08:05] All right. And in terms of additional revenue, wanted to make sure that we, and this we talked about, you know, last week as well. This is the personal property computer and peripheral by nickel incremental adjustment or incremental increases.

[03:08:33] And so if we go from 370, we do go from 370 all the way up to, well, 3 to 415. and what that represents in terms of additional revenue, then share between the county and the schools. And so as you can see, at 415, based on current revenue estimates, at 415, this would represent approximately $18 million in additional revenue, where the schools would receive $10.3

[03:09:05] million and the county would receive $7.7 million in additional revenue. I'm happy to come back to this slide once we get into that discussion. And then in terms of personal property vehicle, this slide represents what each additional nickel decrease would represent in terms of the impact on the general fund or the budget. And what you see here is from current, well,

[03:09:39] 370 by nickel all the way down to 340 and what that would mean in terms of impact on the county's general fund. At $340, for example, it would represent a decrease of $19.7 million, with the school share decrease of $11.3 million, and the county's share of $8.4 million.

[03:10:05] All right. I think that might be it. So this is what remains in terms of the timeline for the budget development process this cycle. Tonight, we obviously are going to go through some Q&A. Next week, we do budget markup where we hear directly from the board where you want to be in terms of tax rates and any additional items that the board might want to add to the budget.

[03:10:38] And then prayerfully on April 22nd, we will have budget adoption. All right. I will stop there, Madam Chair, and turn it over to you. Well, I hope this process hasn't been too painful, but perhaps it has been supervisor rear can you go back to page five or slide five i guess it is yep i just want to point out that you know is that slide five yeah even by dropping it to

[03:11:13] 0.906 the net net because you're keeping the rate the same on the fire levy is still plus three so because of the higher assessment you're not really cutting the taxes you're actually increasing it by three dollars on average for what it's worth and I understand this is your budget I understand excuse me this is your budget proposal and I understand that you aren't have to want to need to defend it I have to sell it each one of us has to sell it and even it even it you know the

[03:11:48] proposed new rate of you know 906 that's not making it for me I would argue you One of the things I'm not seeing are any proposed cuts. And then we get to the elephant in the room, which is the delta between the school division ask and what's allocated under the proposed budget.

[03:12:12] For my one-eighth, I'm willing to give them their full ask with their markup and a number of items totaling $17.7 million off of their wish list. but that still leaves a $26 million delta when combined with your portion equates to roughly $45 million, which is a little more than $0.04 on the mill rate, which is where you would actually break even more or less with everybody's taxes.

[03:12:40] So we've got a lot of work to do, and then we need to figure out what we're going to do with the C&P tax. You know, if we're going to raise it, how do we use the additional funds? Do we offset vehicle taxes and make it a net zero game?

[03:12:58] Do we offset some of the vehicle taxes and use the remainder to offset something else? I don't know, but that's a long discussion that we have yet to have, and I still don't see any cuts here on a budget that's grown significantly and at a level that's just unsustainable.

[03:13:14] Yeah, I definitely appreciate that. I will say, and I should have mentioned it the first time, What we are foregoing in terms of additional revenue by lowering from $0.92 to $0.90 is about $14.6 million in additional general fund revenue.

[03:13:33] I absolutely know that there are some outstanding conversations that need to be had around tax rate, around how you would potentially use as a board the additional revenue from computer and peripheral to offset vehicles or to fund some of the priorities that we, you know, we just went over.

[03:13:55] So fully understand that that is a discussion that the board still needs to have. That $14.6 million is just real estate.

[03:15:00] What I will say is I appreciate that we are able to, because we've talked a lot about the tariffs and their impact, both aluminum and lumber in terms of construction. I appreciate that we are now in a position with the fire levy, at least, to set aside some additional funding to support, in case, by way of contingency, we actually have, well, we are going to have increases in some of these supplies and materials.

[03:15:31] Understanding that, but the flip side also applies, which is economic uncertainty for the residents. We heard it this morning. So is this the time to be passing a significant tax increase on to the residents who are already screaming about the taxes they're paying?

[03:15:46] Not only the vehicle tax, but the real estate tax where we're increasing a couple of hundred dollars year over year or each year, which adds up to several thousand over time. I know my real property taxes have at least quadrupled since I bought the house.

[03:16:05] And, you know, I'm just saying. I'm sorry, do you want your second tranche of time? No, I'm going to leave it at that. I'm just saying that this is just going to be unsustainable in the long run and that we're already seeing people feeling the pinch and maybe feeling the pinch even greater as the job market dries up from, potentially dries up from what's going on with the administration.

[03:16:24] So, I mean, I just question whether now is the time to do it. All right. Angry, then Franklin? I'll just pick up where Supervisor World left off because, you know, I've invested my time in really addressing and looking at that fire levy tax, and it's not, well, let me start by saying it is because we have grown our budget in this entire county significantly, and there are areas where it would help our taxpayers, because we can talk terrorists all day, but this is going to affect the residents as well.

[03:16:59] But I also want to say in the event of, you know, this sudden need for apparatus or equipment and all that needs, you know, I still want to point out that I know that we're discussing right now about this C&P tax and where you want to go with that.

[03:17:15] And that additional revenue at least allows us the opportunity to put that money where we need it in the event of these issues going forward with tariffs and whatever the country may find itself in in the future. So I like the opportunity of, again, this board controlling where we send these funds to whatever agency needs them at that time of these issues because we're going to be discussing CFP, we're going to be discussing a lot of everything.

[03:17:43] And so as I asked that question earlier about how many departments have reserves, and I know when I look at that fire levy, it does have a reserve currently right now. So that can be used in some areas to even things that are going on in fire and rescue. But also there's ways that we can take whatever we're going to do with this general fund to make sure that our departments have whatever they need going forward.

[03:18:06] So I'm going to be looking at this, and I've presented this to you all as where my area of emphasis is, and I imagine that everybody has an area of emphasis. So hopefully we can be discussing also about citizens' needs and addressing those in addition to how we set ourselves up for success with whatever our county needs are and the equipment, apparatus, and everything going forward.

[03:18:30] So I'll be having that discussion with you all as we get into this next week. I'll say this to your first point around just the size of the budget. I mean, I was very clear as we came up to this budget that we were in a position where we needed to invest in our staff.

[03:18:52] And so we talked about the FTEs. We talked about FTEs versus contract positions over this last several months. And we are a sophisticated government, and we are a community that is growing and that needs a government that can support it.

[03:19:07] And so my recommendation here with this proposed budget and now with the budget recap in terms of just the number of FTEs and growth in the government is really consistent with the board's ask of this government and the community's need of a government that is capable.

[03:19:26] And with just two minutes, and I'll say because, so I haven't come to you a lot for the ask for me, but I will tell you the ADC was definitely a huge area because we needed to figure that out. So I'm all on board with that. You know, I've said it over and over again so we can just be clear about it.

[03:19:45] You know, I think our fire and rescue system is a huge growth, and I think there is a whole lot of discussion we can have in that area. Even in the fact that we're going to do this 30, 60, 90 new personnel hires, I think as we keep talking about terrorism and the state of the country and where it's going, you know, there is that opportunity to talk about, hold on, do we pause a lot of that, tied to the cip tied to new growth of buildings tied to new apparatus those are areas that if we're going to talk about putting money aside to help them grow i also want to talk about you know not help you know helping that if there's an area that we're going to have to pause some things and

[03:20:25] we need to have a real discussion about all these agencies and departments about and buildings that we're going to pause as we you know figure our way through it but all of this is a what if and suspect so you know while i agree that we do have some growth with our agencies and personnel i will just be very cautious about some of our future build outs that come with personnel and apparatus and all those things that we can pause to look and see where we go so i just want to leave that with the board and thank you really for all you put with this but just there's some things that i believe we can definitely pause and look at and then you know see where we want to put

[03:21:04] this money, because I know we're going to have some revenue growth that, you know, we have opportunities to do different things, like, you know, stop, pause, grow if we want to. So just want to clear that with me. All right. Thanks. Thank you. Supervisor Franklin. Yeah, just a comment, then a couple of questions.

[03:21:21] I'll just start by saying I think Prince William County is kind of on the cusp of, like, our golden era, where, you know, over the past several years, we've been able to reduce taxes, but we haven't been able to get to a flat tax rate yet. But I think in a few years, hopefully maybe even looking at next year or the year after, we will be right where we need to be in terms of a sweet spot.

[03:21:45] Just a couple of questions about the budget, and this may take a little bit of math, and I hate to bring Michelle up here, but I'm just curious, and I know the answers are embedded in some of the materials that have been sent out over the past week, but just in layman's term, if I can just get some of these answers.

[03:22:02] But particularly for C&P, if we break it up, increase to 415 and reduce the car tax, essentially will we lose any money?

[03:22:17] That's my first question, and then I have a follow-up there. Yep. There is a sweet spot here in terms of the amount of revenue that we would be increasing by way of computer and peripheral and the decrease, if you will, from personal property vehicle.

[03:22:42] I don't know if we have that number, so feel free to come on up. Because it looks like at what we're proposing to reduce the real estate rate at we'll lose about $2 million.

[03:23:00] So I'm just curious if we break up C&P, decrease car tax, increase to 415 peripherals. You know, if we essentially lose any money, because I know some of us have expressed interest in reducing the property tax.

[03:23:19] Very good. Dave. And I got three minutes before. I want to make sure I frame this correctly for the board. If you increase computer and peripherals to $4.15 tax rate and reduce the vehicle rate to $3.45, $3.45, hear me out.

[03:23:45] there will be net positive revenue to the county of $1.6 million. Gotcha. So then you're talking about additional pennies on the vehicle rate. Gotcha. Okay, so we'll see an increase in $1.6 million.

[03:24:01] A net increase in revenue. Okay, now just very quickly, and Madam Chair, if I go over, I'll just do my second trunch. But very quickly, the $2 million that you mentioned that we would lose if we decrease the real estate rate, how will that be impacted by the 1.6 increase?

[03:24:21] 1.1, sorry. So we'll still have the $2 million decrease in revenue on the real estate part. Sure, sure.

[03:24:41] Okay, I think we as colleagues will continue to have that discussion between now and the 22nd, but I'm curious about those specific numbers because I think for me that will determine if I'm truly supportive of decreasing real estate and property taxes.

[03:25:08] Sorry. What we've brought tonight is essentially a budget that is flat in the sense that we're not asking the board to allocate additional funding that we need.

[03:25:25] What we are saying is that any new funding from computer and peripheral or decrease in funding from personal property vehicle is up to the board. Of course, of course. Now, I think I was just saying my determination will be determined by the specific numbers, so we'll continue to have that discussion. Just very quickly, had a couple of specific questions. So available capacity, that was mentioned in one of your slides. Can you just talk a little bit about what that means in terms of our budget? Sure. So usually what we do, oh yeah, what we do at the, what we did on

[03:26:02] at proposed on February 18th at the proposed, we give a five-year, which is required that we give a five-year plan, if you will. This is a budget that is balanced. And in FY26, in terms of capacity, there is no additional money to play with. So any more money that comes or additional revenue will have to come from a board decision a policy decision that the board makes um and in the out years you see some additional capacity but not uh not much yeah and i think that's important i guess

[03:26:40] for my colleagues to also pay attention to because we're really um you know uh kind of tight i guess with with the budget we are but i know with the increased uh data center revenue i will be looking at least in the out years, for us to make sure that we have that additional revenue that we've been talking about for years and years as to why we supported the industry.

[03:27:02] My last question is in regards to the landfill. I know we have several options, but my question is really simple in terms of, regardless of those options minus the status quo, will we have the staff to actually do any of those other options? Even if we allocate money towards it, we still need the human resources to do it.

[03:27:21] I appreciate that question. And part of what we talked about on the 18th was the need, if the board decided to not go with status quo and even go with the proposed from the 18th, we would still need time to make sure that we made the change, that we informed the industry, and that we, if needed, recruited additional staff.

[03:27:47] Yeah, because that's the hardest part, actually getting the staff. If we can set goals all we want, but if we're not getting people that are actually interested because of the competitiveness of the market, I just think we need to manage expectations about the landfill. We've been talking about this for a while, and I'm not sure that it's anybody's fault other than the economy.

[03:28:07] We have, and I believe I'm saying this right, but we have asked that we fully implement by January 1, which gives us time from when the board adopts this budget to January to July 1, when we would start potentially recruiting positions.

[03:28:27] So it gives us a little bit of time to fully implement. Sure. Thank you. All right. Supervisor Bode. Thank you, Madam Chair. Chris, thank you for the presentation. Appreciate both here and also last week, the Finance and Budget Committee meeting, having the opportunity to sort of dig into this a little bit more.

[03:28:45] So give us a preview of sort of what was going to be discussed this evening. Just a couple questions from me. If you could go back to slide four.

[03:29:01] So we already discussed how this obviously doesn't include the 415 in computer or peripherals tax that we advertised. And so my first question is, from my understanding, if I remember this correctly, going up to $415,000 changes the math a little bit around each nickel?

[03:29:26] Correct. It makes it go up to about $2 million versus $1.99, something like that. Right. It was $1.95, and now it's $1.99. Gotcha. All right. So appreciate that. Right.

[03:29:44] And then going back to the slide where you gave us the matrix on the vehicle tax, I think that's slide 18.

[03:30:01] I like passing this slide with the kittens. Yes. All right, 18. There we go. Right. And going back to something that Supervisor Franklin was saying earlier, that math, and I know Supervisor Weir sort of gave us the 3.43 as that sweet spot, at least for this year's budget.

[03:30:19] Do we, and I know the answer to this is probably not yet, but do we have any idea in terms of trends how different this will be in coming years, knowing that especially used vehicles may appreciate like they did during COVID?

[03:30:39] I will ask Michelle to jump in on that one. Not exactly. We do get the information, obviously, when we get the information from DMV each year. Our model, we build in a growth projection for the number of vehicles, values of vehicles.

[03:30:59] But the out years are an estimate at this point, right? We retool that out years each year. So that number will change. It could go up in the out. More than likely, we'll increase in the out year the value. Typically, we do see year-over-year growth. Sure.

[03:31:14] And I appreciate that because, you know, I know a lot of the reason why a lot of us, almost everyone on this dance has talked about this, is we want to try to provide some kind of relief to taxpayers this year while still investing in the places that we need. My concern is maybe this year we lower it down to, you know, 345, not 345, sorry, 355 or 360 or something like that, you know, knowing that it will give some people some relief this year. But then we realize next year that because of tariffs, because of supply chain issues, because of a lot of things we saw,

[03:31:48] Frankly, similarly to COVID, the relief isn't as nearly as pronounced as we originally thought. So I just wanted to throw that out there. It's also a point of discussion. Again, to your point, Michelle, knowing in the out years, it's probably subject to change.

[03:32:05] So I want to make sure that was an eyes wide open conversation. It is a very good and strong point. And I think ultimately we don't know, but given what is happening in our economy and what we saw back during COVID, you are absolutely right to bring that up.

[03:32:24] And we will certainly next year come to the board in the same way with our best recommendation. I appreciate that. And sort of my last, it's not a question, it's just a point. You said it earlier, Chris, this budget really centers around at least as terms of your proposed vision around this.

[03:32:45] really investing the people that help make the county run right the folks that we rely on every single day to make sure that quality services are delivered to our constituencies right from your social workers to fire and rescue to other public safety folks to adc i appreciate your change to the adc by the way um because i know those folks have been really looking for for some some help there too um really looking after the folks that are in that in that engine of the county making sure that folks have the best service every single day and I'm going to run out of time here so I'll just say I think that needs to be taken into account we have all

[03:33:22] these discussions around you know cuts and moving things around because really we have you have a clear vision with your budget I think we need to we need to really take that into account thank you madam chair all right I just had quickly on slide 13 no sorry it's not slide 13 slide 15 I just had a quick question, and I apologize if we discussed this previously.

[03:33:46] The Redevelopment Fund Reserve. In the future, something like the Redevelopment slash assemblage study, are we going to be able to use that fund to pull for a study like that? Because we talked about that fund, but we really didn't set enough parameters. So the Redevelopment Fund itself would ultimately become a part of our principles. And so in the same way that Michelle earlier today went over the various funds and how we supply or support those funds if and when the

[03:34:21] board decides we would ultimately be coming back with a recommendation that this become baked if you will into our principles the study itself really is a precursor to the to the fund and once the fund is established in my mind the fund is similar to the housing trust fund or the housing trust reserve, and that it sparks economic development. So what the study will tell us is what we need to be doing locally to help spark interest, to pull property together where we need

[03:34:57] to assemble property for economic development purposes, and how we spark that activity. Once we are done with this study, and I believe we do have some work that's already been done internally, we would then be in a position to really recommend how we fully leverage the fund, and even how we bake it in.

[03:35:16] I don't know, Michelle, if you wanted to. Yeah, just real quick. So the Redevelopment Opportunity Fund Reserve, if you think about your eat-off, the Economic Development Opportunity Fund Reserve, it creates incentive options for you to incentivize economic development. This would be for redevelopment. The study itself could help not only with setting assemblage, but there are ordinances that could be passed to put specific type of zones, for example, in place that could incentivize development.

[03:35:42] So we would use that consultant money to help figure out what our toolbox should look like. What tools should we put in that toolbox? Well, no, what I was going to say, and I apologize, let me clarify my question, is yes, that will spark the need for this fund reserve.

[03:35:57] However, there may be times where we're going to need maybe additional studies to look at redevelopment. So that's what, I'm sorry, let me clarify. So let's say five years from now we have this fund, but maybe there's another area we want to develop or something changes. In the future, can that fund also be used for studies, or is it just going to be used for projects?

[03:36:16] Because, again, we haven't necessarily defined it. Sure. So that would be a board policy. The principles are your policy. So as we craft those, for example, the EDOF, we have used EDOF funds to help fund consultant studies for various things that we've considered for economic development purposes.

[03:36:32] So I think that is a board decision that could be incorporated into those principles. All right. Thank you, Christina. Hi. We didn't need you, but thank you for coming. I appreciate it. Love you, girl. all right i didn't mean it like that but all right um really that i'm just trying to look quickly and look at my time the only thing i just wanted to say and i wanted to um reiterate is that next week is markup next week is when we really get the arm wrestle bring out your lucky rabbit's foot lucky penny um whatever we want because i you know some of the comments you know people are talking about um the budget but i just want to remind everyone next week is we're going to

[03:37:09] set the tax rates that's when everyone's going to have the calculators um and mr sinclair you will be free soon thereafter you know you'll be free you'll be a free man until next year or until you know you guys are having this year round it's year round but okay but maybe you'll you know get some sleep um supervisor weir thank you madam chair i mean we hear this every year it's a zero based budget revenues match expenditures and then every year as has been pointed out repeatedly we run a surplus so that there's no fat in the budget or wiggle room and i've said this that

[03:37:46] Every budget meeting I've ever been at for the last 45 years, the skeptical side of me doesn't buy into it. There is always room for adjustment. It's just a matter of what priorities we're going to fund and what are we going to force the residents and the businesses to subsidize.

[03:38:09] Understanding the need for improvements in government operations is great, but growth for growth's sake doesn't wash with me. I think there's still a lot of room in this budget, and I think there's a lot of room created by the initial decision in the proposed budget to leave the rate flat but not the actual tax rate flat, which increases the revenues markedly and then leads to an expectation by the school division.

[03:38:42] My personal view is we should have probably started off with a budget that projected a flatter real tax than a flat tax rate. So my goal is going to be to get closer to the flat tax rate, or excuse me, the actual flat tax payment bill.

[03:39:03] It doesn't appear, given their budget ask, that that will impact the school division because they've got a lot of wiggle room built into that delta between the proposed allocation and their budget request, even with their wish list.

[03:39:19] But it will require that the county either take advantage of the remainder of that delta that was marked towards the school division or reduce its expenditures in some form or fashion. And I guess we'll arm wrestle over that issue next week.

[03:39:40] But there are a lot of places to do it. And, you know, it may require a fundamental mind shift in terms of how we approach the revenue sharing agreement and what it actually means if, indeed, the school division, even with their wish list, is funded at something below 57% because they didn't ask for it or actually don't need it by their own admission.

[03:40:07] uh it gives us a little more wiggle room but that's something we're going to have to address next week all right thank you supervisor weird doesn't look like i have anyone else in queue um again next week everyone get comfortable be ready do your push-ups i don't know pilates will retain will um prepare me enough but i'll try thank you sir even miss mr shorter thank you thank you mr treat mr sinclair all right we are going to i'm waiting for the sheets

[03:40:37] because we are actually going to go public hearing and just so everyone understands i'm going to do the public hearings for 13 and then 14 then we do public comment time and then we adjourn and so public hearings that is for the items listed on the agenda i think we have some people who meant

[03:41:16] to sign up for public comment time but i can't stop you um oh i got all the sheets okay all right We are on to agenda item number 13, and that's the public hearings for items 13A to 13I.

[03:41:33] And that's where we're going to be talking, getting additional comments for budget, computers and peripherals, solid waste user fee rates, stormwater management fee, parks and rec fee schedule, building development fee schedule, land development fee schedule. So with that, I am opening, oh, and also fire marshal fee schedule, I'm sorry, budget and appropriate remaining balances for purchase orders and contracts, model project construction balance, et cetera.

[03:41:58] So with that, I am opening the public hearing for 13A through 13I. When I call you, please make your way to the back of the room. You will have three minutes to speak unless you are with an approved 501C3, in which case you have five minutes to speak.

[03:42:17] I am going to call up. I have two people listed. I have Nelson Head and Stephen Amato. Again, please say your name and where you generally reside. We need that for the public record. Madam Chair, before we begin parliamentary inquiry, since these are actually multiple public hearings, can we give them a little leeway on their three minutes as opposed to one public hearing for each one of these things?

[03:42:41] So we can do, so for 13, all those are open at one time. Were you saying you want to give people additional time if they want to speak to different items? They're advertised as separate public hearings, is my understanding. Therefore, since they ideally would get three minutes per topic, I'd be a little generous if we could.

[03:42:58] Well, so I just wanted to say this. 13A through I, that is advertised as one hearing, and those are all opening at the same time. Public hearing for 14A, the proposed real property tax increase, that is separate.

[03:43:15] So that is separate. So that is how it was advertised. you know, Mr. Head, if you'd like to go ahead. Are you ready? Okay. Hi, I'm Nelson Head. I'm one of the owners of Dixie Bones. I shouldn't talk longer than three minutes. If you do, you need to get a hook and pull me out of here. I enjoyed hearing the budget meetings. I've not ever been to one before, and I've enjoyed listening to that. And one of the things that struck me was the funds that you're trying to set aside for economic development. And what I wanted to talk

[03:43:52] to you about tonight are businesses that are already here that are having trouble. And that's the restaurant industry as a whole. Restaurants in Prince William County, like those around the country, are really struggling right now. Boston Market is closed. Fridays, Red Lobster, Hooters, just numbers and numbers of restaurants, even small ones like Padrino's just recently closed.

[03:44:25] The problem is that I go over a little bit of economics. When a customer comes in and you hand them the check, they look at the check and they make a decision at that point, is this a fair price or not? And if it's not a fair price in their mind, they won't come back.

[03:44:47] And what happens is, as the prices go up, it's just an economic function. As prices go up, demand goes down. Since COVID, restaurants in this county, like all over the country, have had all of their prices and all of their costs and all of their goods go up.

[03:45:08] Inflation pushed the food up. And as a result, fewer and fewer customers are eating in our restaurants. The 4% meals tax that you added several years ago just compounded the problem. And as a result, restaurants in this county, like ours, have had their volumes significantly shrinking, and our employees, as a result, are fewer.

[03:45:39] For instance, before COVID, Dixie Bones, we had 40-plus full-time and part-time employees, and now we employ 20. We've lost that many people because of the volumes. When the meals tax, you would think that, I've heard it argued, let's put it this way, I've heard it argued that if you can't afford 4% more on your meal, you shouldn't be eating out.

[03:46:10] Well, that's exactly what's happening. The greatest thing, I know the restaurants are in trouble, and I just want you to know that the best thing you can do to help all of the small businesses in this county is to remove the meals tax from that burden.

[03:46:27] Right now, if you did that, you would allow restaurants to lower their prices by $40 million a year. That's a significant amount of money, and that would take that burden off of the small business and allow their customers to enjoy the meal and then allow their employees to make money to doing it.

[03:46:52] You heard from, well, I'm out of time now. But that's really what I want to say. The single most important thing you can do to save the restaurant industry during these hard times in Prince William County is allow them to lower their prices by $40 million.

[03:47:11] Thank you very much. So real quickly, I apologize, Mr. Amato. I called you up for this one. You're actually for 4A. Did you want to speak to this agenda item? No? All right. So is there anyone else, thank you, sir, who wants to speak to Agenda Items 13A through 13I?

[03:47:28] All right, there is no one else who wants to speak to 13A through 13I. So I am closing the public hearings for 13A through 13I because we also do not have anyone remote, I believe. No one remote. All right, we don't have any remote speakers today.

[03:47:45] All right, so I'm going to move into, again, thank you to everyone who comes out and speaks. We are going to move into the public hearing for agenda item number 14A, and that's the proposed real property tax increase.

[03:48:02] I have one person who has signed up to speak, so I'm going to go ahead and open the public hearing for 14A. The same rules apply, sir. And if you would like to, go ahead. Good evening, Borough County Supervisors, Madam Chair.

[03:48:18] My name is Steve Amato. I'm from the Occoquan District. As I've made remarks on April 1st to the board about surpluses and how the past six fiscal years, which the data I was able to obtain through Freedom of Information and Privacy Act requests, showed we had over $255 million in surplus.

[03:48:40] As Supervisor Ware has addressed in his comments, we've worked towards a great budget, but yet we're generating a lot of surplus. And how does that surplus get back to the average property owner?

[03:48:56] Because 52% of our revenue in each fiscal year is from personal property. I'm sorry, from property taxes, the real estate property taxes. So I'm hoping I could bring up the mission statement here of the Board of Accounting Superbots just for a little review that it's not coming in too clear.

[03:49:26] But the reason I bring up the mission statement is it outlines great aspects of how the county government is to work for citizens. And one of the key areas is the involvement of the citizen in the county government, such as these forums with public comments.

[03:49:51] Once again, I'm a proponent, along with other citizens I've spoken with, to lower that real estate tax rate to .88. I'm glad to see 0.90 was proposed.

[03:50:08] Times will be hard. We're hearing about all kinds of different actions within the economy, tariffs, the unknowns. Well, those unknowns are definitely going to be hitting the property owners. And with that, again, looking back at six fiscal years where there was surpluses provided in revenue, none of that went back to the citizens who provided that 52% of revenue in every fiscal year budget.

[03:50:39] So if the county schools have to take a reduction, they have to take a reduction. Maybe they don't get 33 dean of students. Maybe they get five. What is the purpose of deans of students? To standardize discipline.

[03:50:55] In my era, the principal and assistant principal were the ones that made the discipline to students. So maybe that needs to be adjusted. Everything has to be adjusted. And I look to the board to make those hard decisions.

[03:51:12] We might not have to have a lot of different programs and nice programs and wonderful things that would be great. Reduce the rate to 0.88, and I'll address this further in public comment time. Thank you. All right.

[03:51:29] Thank you so very much. Is there anyone else who wants to speak to Agenda Item 14A? All right. I am going to go ahead and close the public hearing for Agenda Item 14A as we have no remote speakers.

[03:51:45] We are now going into agenda item number 15, and that is public comment time. Right now, I have one person signed up. Mr. Amato, if you would like to... We missed you. I swear this wasn't going to be a one-person show, but I'm trying to bring the overhead up.

[03:52:20] Good evening again, Board of County Superviders and Madam Chair. My name is Steve Amato. I'm from the Occoquan District. A second issue that I'd like to address to the board, which definitely has impacts to every fiscal year budget, is the growth of the Prince William County in the aspect of employees, full-time equivalents, FTEs.

[03:52:46] So the past seven fiscal years, from FY19 through even to today's, this fiscal year, 2025, we have pretty large growth in FTEs.

[03:53:04] I'm not going to explain each year, but you can see them there, what those years are. And the grand total is 618.9 FTEs over the past seven, including this current fiscal year.

[03:53:23] Data obtained by Freedom of Information and Privacy Act. And I also put on here what those surpluses were for the past six fiscal years. And I've run budgets before in two different careers that I've been in.

[03:53:39] But in 2019 fiscal year, the authorized FTEs for the full county, this does not include school. There are no school FTEs in this data. It was 4,802.89.

[03:53:57] Currently, for FY25, that authorization is 5,374.86. So that is an 11.9% growth. So why has the board approved such high government growth of FTEs?

[03:54:17] And I'm sure the board realizes that with every one of these FTEs, it's a must-pay bill because of personnel costs. Well, I'm not sure these 618-plus FTEs are really providing great assistance to our county.

[03:54:39] Property owners are paying high-level taxes. So our recommendations, again, are lower the personal property tax rate to 0.88. Reduce the high growth of FTEs in every fiscal year's budget.

[03:54:57] It's going to reach a point of being unsustainable and increase that data center tax rate. For the past four years, the majority board party has touted about getting a lot of revenue from the data centers.

[03:55:13] Well, let's see that happen. Let's do that. Thank you. All right. Thank you so very much. And that concludes public comment time for today. So let's go on to agenda item number 16. move to adjourn second all right thank you everyone next week is going to be markup so um be right no i'm still i'm talking and we're gonna go i want to talk la la la la la la la la la la la all right thank you very much everyone let's go home all right

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