Coraggio Consulting
Prince William Board of County Supervisors Meeting, Tuesday, February 3, 2026

Date: Tuesday, February 3, 2026
Place: Prince William County Board of County Supervisors, Virginia
Length: 2h 49m (video)
Official meeting video (Prince William County, Granicus): https://pwcgov.granicus.com/player/clip/3775
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 2026-10-28. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:00] everyone, please find a seat. It is 2 o'clock on Tuesday, February 3rd. Let us begin with a moment of silence. Thank you. Please rise, if you are able, for the Pledge of Allegiance.

[00:00:37] All right. Thank you, everyone. I want to do this early in the meeting. Before we get to agenda item number three i would like to get a motion and a second to cancel our seven o'clock meeting we had two land uses on the land use cases on the docket for seven o'clock today both of the applicants have decided to defer so can i get a motion so second all right it's been

[00:01:11] properly moved and seconded and that's gordy stewart is there any discussion supervisor vega thank you madam chair miss robo if you could for those here in chambers and those watching at home who are also anticipating on showing up to speak for the 7 p.m. session.

[00:01:28] Can you explain the reasons why an applicant can ask to defer their project or if they have to have a reason? Madam Chair, members of the board, property owners can petition the board with the land use application to change the zoning or allow a proper use of their property.

[00:01:48] And it's their petition, their application before the board. And so if they are requesting a deferral to another time frame, they can request that. Thank you, Ms. Robo. Madam Chair, I do want to state that I don't want this to become the norm here in Prince William County.

[00:02:05] We have serious matters that need our attention and for us to take action on. And it seems like this is happening more frequent than I personally would like. And so for the applicants that are perhaps watching at home and their attorneys, I would recommend that you all do your homework ahead of time, that you are thorough in making sure that you speak with every member of this board to ensure that the items that have been set on the agenda actually move forward this creates a very difficult environment not just for us board members but also for staff who have diligently planned to make their presentations but most importantly it causes additional strains on the general public who had to make special accommodations to ensure that they're here

[00:02:42] to speak on said items I won't be opposing it this time madam chair but I certainly wanted to be on the record stating my position and feelings as to this request thank you is there anyone who wishes to speak on that supervisor angry manager i'll simply say i had comments planned during supervisor's time but uh supervisor vega just nailed it um perfectly perfectly perfectly for the comments that i wanted to add to that so i won't be speaking there but thanks supervisor vega i 100 agree completely completely with your comments so i certainly understand the frustration

[00:03:20] and as soon as I was aware of things, I tried to call as many people in support and in opposition of applications so that they can get the word out. It's certainly a very difficult position to be in. Unfortunately, some things were happening this afternoon, and I'm glad that we are able to go ahead and make a decision sooner rather than later to cancel the 7 o'clock meeting, and I want to make sure that people are aware of that and that the staff has time to disseminate that. I do not want anyone to come i realize that coming to these meetings for some people is a true hardship

[00:03:56] you've got a plan around it so with that i don't see anyone else in queue so let's go ahead and take our vote all right thank you so very much we are going to move on to agenda item number three and that is approval of the minutes um can i get a motion so moved madam chair second it's been properly moved and seconded are there any changes or amendments seeing none let's go ahead and take

[00:04:28] a vote vote unanimous all right we're now moving on to agenda item number for accommodations and proclamations before um i ask for a motion is there anything anyone would like to pull consideration all right seeing done i would like to go ahead and get a motion and a second so it's been properly moved and seconded any discussion i just want to let everyone know though for item 4e while we are going to vote on here on this one there is no one unfortunately

[00:05:06] who was able to join us for burn awareness week so i will be giving that to them at a future board meeting or in my office all right let's go ahead and take the vote unanimous all right thank you

[00:05:24] for 4a supervisor vega if you can join me at the podium and this one is for 4a commend prince

[00:06:05] william resolves chapter of the daughters of the american revolution on its 25th anniversary the prince william resolves chapter of the daughters of the american revolution was chartered on February 3rd, 2001, and in 2026 proudly celebrates its 25th anniversary, marking a quarter century of dedicated service to the residents of Prince William County and the Commonwealth of Virginia.

[00:06:30] The chapter takes its name from the historic Prince William Resolves of 1774, an early and resolute expression of colonial resistance that demonstrated Prince William County's significant role in the American Revolution and the founding ideals of liberty, self-governance, and patriotism.

[00:06:49] For 25 years, the Prince William Resolves Chapter has actively promoted historic preservation, has made lasting contributions to education, and has demonstrated a strong commitment to patriotism through commemorative events, citizenship ceremonies, veteran support, memorial services, and community programs that honor those who have sacrificed and served our nation, while also encouraging civic pride and active engagement with the community.

[00:07:18] Therefore, today, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors hereby commends, recognizes, and congratulates the Prince William Resolves Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, on the occasion of its 25th anniversary and commends its members for their outstanding contributions to historic preservation, education, and leadership in advancing the America 2050 commemorative efforts.

[00:07:41] Would you like to say a few words? Good afternoon. My name is Susan Schneider. I am the regent of the Prince William Resolves Chapter, National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution. It's great to see many familiar faces as you've attended many of our different commemorations and celebrations.

[00:08:02] Today is especially meaningful as this very day marks our chapter's 25th anniversary, and I am truly thrilled to be here with you as we celebrate this milestone. Thank you to the Prince William County Board of Supervisors for this beautiful proclamation and special thanks to Coles District Supervisor Vega for presenting it and for her continued support of our chapter.

[00:08:22] For 25 years, we have been honored to work alongside the county in preserving local history, supporting education, honoring veterans, and commemorating the ideals of liberty and civic responsibility rooted here in Prince William County. As we look ahead to America's 250th anniversary, we are grateful for this partnership and excited to continue educating commemorating and engaging our community together this proclamation will mean a great deal to our members when it is read at our anniversary celebration on saturday

[00:08:51] and we sincerely thank you for this thoughtful recognition yes ma'am we're now on to 4b and that is proclaimed january 2026 firefighter cancer awareness month could everyone associated with

[00:09:31] this proclamation come down swilliam county firefighters serve our community with courage professionalism and selfless dedication, often placing themselves in hazardous environments to protect lives and property. Occupational cancer is the leading cause of line of death duty in fire service, resulting from, at a minimum, repeated exposure to carcinogens encountered

[00:10:06] during emergency response training and fire suppression activities. Members of IAFF Local 2998 and the Prince William County Fire and Rescue System, both career and volunteer, have been deeply impacted by cancer, with numerous members diagnosed in recent years.

[00:10:23] Recently, Prince William County mourned the loss of Assistant Chief Lance McClintock, who dedicated more than three decades of service to the community, and Rescue Chief Michael Fields of the Noakesville Volunteer Fire Department, whose career spanned more than two decades, both of whom lost their lives following courageous battles with cancer.

[00:10:41] Therefore, today, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors hereby proclaims January 2026 is Firefighter Cancer Awareness Month in Prince William County and encourages all residents to recognize the sacrifices of firefighters and support efforts to reduce occupational cancer risks and improve firefighter health and safety.

[00:11:02] Would you like to offer a few remarks? Good afternoon, members of the board and everyone else here today. I just wanted to say thank you to the chair for seeing this through.

[00:11:19] It was a little bit late with hitting some deadlines, and so here we are retroactively proclaiming January Cancer Awareness Month. However, that intent still hits home with our members. Like the proclamation says, this is for both CUR and volunteer members of our fire and rescue system.

[00:11:38] On the dais, I work with the county staff to disseminate what we hope is close to the proper shirts. I don't know how often people strip at the microphone, but we've got these cancer awareness shirts that we've made available both to all of you but also for county staff.

[00:11:56] And on the back of the shirts are different colored ribbons to represent the different presumptive laws here in Virginia. And so it's ceremonial but also very poignant to us. as mentioned in the proclamation we've lost multiple members to cancer of two of which one career one volunteer in the past 12 months today sister Kristen Samuels is with us Kristen last year was diagnosed with stage 3 cervical cancer and I'm happy to say that rather than focusing on the negative of losing our brothers and sisters we can actually focus on the positive

[00:12:31] and that is that she no longer has a haircut like mine and she's fully in remission and so here to celebrate here and finally i'd like to thank um fire rescue system chief uh tom labelle for providing a modification for us to wear these shirts on duty during the month of january our members purchased these shirts with their own money which then ultimately actually went to a charity these shirts were designed by a cancer survivor in our own ranks louis alzar the money was donated to our charitable foundation to help those that are diagnosed and so thank you for

[00:13:09] for allowing our folks to spread that awareness throughout the community as we serve so thank you very much for the proclamation we appreciate it madam chair members of the board mr shorter fire chief tom labelle i just want to say quickly that this is just another iteration of the constant and consistent support this board gives to the volunteer and career firefighters of our community i consider every single one of them my family thank you for being so nice to my

[00:13:41] family all right next we have 4c and that's a resolution to proclaim february 2026 this black

[00:14:20] History Month. Would everyone associated with that please come forward? This is like half of board chambers. How many of you are staying for the end of the meeting? I don't see very many hands. All right, February is nationally recognized as Black History Month. During this

[00:14:59] month, the nation is encouraged to celebrate the history, heritage, and accomplishments of Black Americans past and present. The celebration of Black History Month is a positive way of recognizing the culture and history of African Americans as vital to the core beliefs and values of this country and nation. Prince William County has been enriched by the many black residents who lived and worked to make our community what it is today. The observance of Black History Month calls our attention to the continued need for education regarding the black experience in our county and the commonwealth at large. Therefore today the Prince William Board of County Supervisors

[00:15:34] here in play proclaims March 2026 as Black History Month and encourages resident participation and activities recognizing the past and present accomplishments history and heritage of african americans i also have to say um being the first black chair and that we have several people on our board who have made history we have a majority black board of county supervisors which was something unheard of years ago um we've come a long way in this county and i'm very pleased to also see so many people you know with so many county employees involved in marking our black

[00:16:11] history celebration. So I assume you are our representative. If you want to come forward and offer some remarks, we appreciate that. Thank you, Madam Chair, members of the board, County Executive Shorter, County Attorney, Ms. Robel. I am Dr. Carletta Sims, and I am co-chair of the Prince William County Black History Committee. And this year, it's particularly poignant because we are celebrating, or this year's theme, coined by the Association for the Study of African American

[00:16:43] in life and history is 100 years or a century of black history commemorations. And I think that's really poignant this year, as Madam Chair pointed out, that we have done so many wonderful things in Prince William County.

[00:17:00] And one of those things that I'd like to highlight is that for 30 years, just 10 years after Black History Month was signed into law nationally, Black History Month began, or the Prince William County Black History Committee began celebrating and commemorating Black History Month in this county.

[00:17:23] And one of the things that we have focused and anchored on in the Black History Committee is raising awareness so that we deepen reverence and we continue to build education around the many contributions and the efforts that we, of black people and people of African-American descent, have contributed to the county and also the Commonwealth as well as the United States.

[00:17:52] And this year, I think I wanted to, one of the things that I wanted to highlight is that the county is continuing to do so many things to connect employees, not just black employees. And that's one of the things that I think people get confused by.

[00:18:08] And they ask, why is it that we have Black History Month? Isn't that past? And one of the things is that we have to continue to reflect and to build so that we continue to grow. And we have to denote and speak to the truth of what the history has been.

[00:18:27] It has not always been pretty. It has not always been comfortable. But it is something that we have to hold and build upon so that we continue to connect and grow and build together. And one of the things that the county has done with many of the great efforts of our county executive is to build additional employee groups.

[00:18:52] And we, with his leadership, now have employee resource groups which are built to continue the effort of uplifting employees and helping to continue celebrations throughout the year. Because black history isn't just celebrated throughout one month of the year.

[00:19:11] There's history happening every day. And we need to continue to promote that and educate everyone on those happenings throughout the year. But I would like to highlight one particular employee resource group. It's a new one, and it has just come into fruition.

[00:19:33] It's called the Health Unity, Empowerment, and Success Group, Hughes. And this employee resource group was created specifically to serve black employees across Prince William County government by expanding access to resources and creating pathways for professional advancement.

[00:19:50] And one of the things that we do in Prince William County has been to have our celebrations every year. But we have begun to expand that, to not just have our celebration, which is in February, is Black History Month, which is the kickoff event.

[00:20:07] And we will have that, and you are all invited. That is February 19th, which is a Thursday at 11 a.m. at the Hilton Performing Arts Center. We will be looking at all of our celebrations retrospectively and looking to the future. So please come out if you are able.

[00:20:23] There will be a boxed lunch as well. But we also want to highlight for employees some of the events and activities that are available to them to support them in their employment, in their growth, in their development in the county.

[00:20:39] And Hughes was created to do that. And at this time, I would like to introduce Hughes co-chairs, Princess Wendell Clark and Willie Hardiman, who would like to give a brief reflection. Good afternoon, Chair, Vice Chair, members of the board, county leadership, and colleagues.

[00:21:12] My name is Princess Clark Window. I stand before you as co-chair of Hughes alongside my co-chair, Willie Hardeman. Hughes stands for Health, Unity, Empowerment, and Success. We are an employee resource group dedicated to the growth and belonging of black employees across the county.

[00:21:30] Our name is Intentional. It represents the many shades of our experience. As you know, the black community is not a monolith. We represent many hues, many cultures, and many lived experiences. Some of us arrived here through forced migration, others through immigration, and many of us have been here for generations.

[00:21:51] But however we arrived, we are united now by a single purpose, to serve the residents of Prince William County with excellence. You see, we are a bridge. We break down silos between departments. We foster leadership at every level.

[00:22:10] We provide connection that turns a job into a career and a workforce into a community. When black employees feel supported, empowered, and seen, Prince William County, you get the best of our talent.

[00:22:26] Black History Month anchors that. It allows us to honor the resilience of the past while also investing in the talent of the present. this moment that we see this clearly is in our Juneteenth and me celebration. The growth of that celebration has been a collective effort and we want to thank the Office of Equity and Inclusion, Parks and Recreation, and the tireless partnerships that we've handled throughout the logistics and the community partnerships as well. Our attendance has risen, participation has deepened, and

[00:23:03] employees are showing up and feeling more connected, more invested in this work. Moments like our annual festival reflect what happens when leadership invests not just in programs, but in people. We want to thank the board and county leadership for supporting Hughes by investing in us. You affirm that our collective strength comes from honoring the full spectrum of who we are. Finally, we want to recognize and thank the Black History Committee.

[00:23:34] For years, they have championed this resolution and have kept the legacy of black history alive in our county. We are honored to stand alongside you. Our presence here signals both continuity and expansion.

[00:23:51] While the Black History Committee ensures we celebrate our history every February, Hughes exists to ensure that the resources development and empowerment of black employees continue every single day of the year. together hand in hand we are ensuring that black history informs not just what we remember

[00:24:14] but also how we lead thank you you're not tall you know move forward you're going to be in the front

[00:24:34] all right and we have someone from american heart month correct

[00:25:40] come on oh yes oh hey you know what i knew we forgot something there you go we didn't have it in the picture thank you so much you're welcome all right thank you for coming today this is for 4d proclaimed february 2026 is american heart month cardiac arrest is a leading cause of death worldwide and each year more than 350 000 cardiac arrests occur outside of hospitals in the united

[00:26:13] states with approximately 10 of those people surviving about 70 of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur at home, meaning that people nearby, often family members, are the first and most critical link in the chain of survival. Immediate cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR, can double or even triple a person's chances of survival. Yet only about 41% of people who experience cardiac arrest receive immediate CPR from somebody nearby, and fewer than 12% receive aid from an

[00:26:46] automated external defibrillator or AED before advanced help arrives. Therefore today the Prince William Board of County Supervisors hereby proclaims February 2026 as American Heart Month and encourages all residents to learn CPR, promote awareness of cardiac arrest and emergency response and join the effort to build a nation of lifesavers ensuring that everyone everywhere is prepared to Act in the event of a cardiac emergency. Would you like to offer a few remarks for us? I'd like

[00:27:24] to thank Madam Chair and the Prince William County Board of Supervisors. I'd like to thank Madam Chair and the Board of Supervisors for Prince William County for this powerful proclamation. This American Heart Month, we have an important message. Cardiac arrest is the leading cause of death worldwide, as you heard, but we can change that. CPR saves lives. I'm thrilled to be standing here as one of the youth leaders from Prince William County. I'm a heart warrior ambassador for the American Heart Association, one of many here in Prince William County. We support the mission of American Heart in many ways. As learning hands-only CPR through the Kids Heart

[00:28:02] Challenge and American Heart Challenge programs that American Heart Association makes available to our schools throughout the country, equipping people across generations to learn how to save a life. I myself have two congenital heart defects and I've described four open heart surgeries, so i know firsthand the risk cardiac arrest can happen to anyone and anywhere this heart month i hope you join us in expanding the nation of lifesavers by visiting heart.org slash nation or by joining your school's kids heart challenge team at heart.org slash schools thank you

[00:28:38] and the final one burn awareness week again i will give that to them at a later date

[00:29:07] all right and thank you to everyone who's come out we are now going on to agenda item number five and that is our consent agenda.

[00:29:38] Before I ask for a motion, does anyone have anything that they would like to pull from consideration? I don't see anything. So can I get a motion for agenda item number five? Move for approval, Madam Chair.

[00:29:55] Second. It's improperly moved and seconded. Any discussion? Supervisor Bode. Thank you, Madam Chair. Just very quickly, 5A, just wanted to highlight and commend Christina Wynn and her team for continuing their work on the target industry update and policy alignment study.

[00:30:11] I know that we've had conversations on this dais about really wanting to update our target industry list to incorporate more engaging and emergent industries, as well as explore sort of taking the data center industry out of that list.

[00:30:26] So really wanted to highlight that and continue that work and really wanted to commend the team and, of course, the county exec for his efforts, his leadership in that regard. Thank you, Madam Chair. All right. I don't see anyone else in the queue, so let's go ahead and take our votes. All right. Thank you so very much. We are now moving on to agenda item number six, and that is public comment time. I'm going to call everyone up. We have about four speakers today. I'm going to ask you to go to the back and to speak. You will have three minutes to talk, and you will

[00:31:01] have a timer up there. First, I have Ashley Studham. Then I have Linda Carr. I have Michael Slater and Gabrielle Tibbs. And I also ask to make sure that you adjust the microphone, just as Ashley expertly did so that we can make sure that we hear you. All right you may begin. Okay good afternoon Madam Chair, Vice Chair, members of the board. My name is Ashley Studholm. I'm in the

[00:31:35] Occoquan District and representing the Prince William Conservation Alliance and we are an environmental non-profit that focuses on creating equitable and sustainable communities throughout Prince William County and of course part of that is also being good stewards to our parkland which is why I would like to speak today. So I'm here to speak on one of the agenda items in opposition to initiate the CPA, the comprehensive plan amendment for the Benison proposal. This proposal

[00:32:10] lies within the legislative boundary of Prince William Forest Park which is one of our national parks, one of two here. And that means that this land was identified by Congress as important to the long-term protection, integrity, and potential future expansion of the park. Most of the land within the legislative boundary that was zoned A1 was included as part of the Rural Crescent as a way for us to be good neighbors to the park. And the land proposed here is mostly forested and Zone A1, which I think is appropriate for this area. That zoning supports watershed protection

[00:32:50] for Quantico Creek and contributes to the ecological integrity of Prince William Forest Park. Because of its condition and location, this land has the potential to one day become parkland if there's an opportunity there. But once development pressure is introduced, these values are permanently diminished under current by right development this site could accommodate three homes and that is a scale that is far easier for the park to manage than what is

[00:33:25] being proposed George Lifford the superintendent of Prince William Forest Park has stated that he is not supportive of this initiation and I also I understand that this initiation doesn't guarantee a rezoning but just to just to study it however it does commit the county the applicant and park service staff to a lengthy and costly process to evaluate which something that frankly

[00:33:54] doesn't provide a foreseeable benefit to the park so I would say Prince William Forest is really a not just for the residents of Prince William County, but for all of Northern Virginia and for the country.

[00:34:13] And we should be proud stewards of that. And so my recommendation is that this remains A-1 and that this isn't initiated. That would be the first step to upzoning it in the future. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please.

[00:34:36] Hello. Can I start? Hi, I'm the property owner and applicant for Comprehensive Plan Amendment, CPA 2026-0004-LeBenison, which is before you today for initiation.

[00:34:53] I'm Linda Carr. This is my husband of 45 years. We retired in 2023. I currently live in Fairfax County. I've been living there since 1980. I moved there from college. I lived in Fairfax County, and it had a lot of open space and farmland at that time.

[00:35:10] They actually sold chickens and rabbits, not for pets, but for food. But Fairfax County has grown immensely, and it's quite expensive to live there. My son and my nephew currently live in Prince William County, and they love it. My son bought a house in Prince William County 10 years ago.

[00:35:28] He started looking for a bigger house in 2023 in Prince William County. We were driving all around, and we saw different houses and different developments, but the houses were selling very quickly and they were quite expensive my nephew and his family they've lived here for 20 years plus 20 years they've we've attended competitions at the college down the not the college but the high school off of 234 we really like the area we like the people we like access to the entertainment and the businesses when we stumbled upon the property at hideaway drive we thought it was a blessing and that's why we named it labinison labinison

[00:36:07] means a blessing. My son and my nephew wanted to live there. It was sectioned for seven homes. I just didn't think one person living on four acres or ten acres was a good use of the resources. So we thought a housing project with two to three homes per acre would be better and also maintain the woods and open space for kids to play on or to walk a dog or just be nice and serene.

[00:36:34] We looked at the comprehensive plan for Prince William County, and we wanted to support that. So we looked at the Prince William County Planning Office intent, which says housing is a key component to achieve the county's vision of being a community of choice for residents.

[00:36:53] The region is facing an unprecedented demand for new housing and that they had a vision for diversified housing. So our goal was to reinvest in Prince William County and to work with the county to make their vision a reality. So providing styles of homes of detached single-family and large multifamily buildings with a variety was our goal.

[00:37:17] So parcels subdivided for residential before the comprehensive plan update designated this property as parks and open space, But we're looking today for the opportunity to submit a rezoning package and share my vision of a neighborhood designed to bring people together, provide a variety of housing opportunities, and allow for a significant amount of open space and preservation.

[00:37:41] So I ask that you at least consider my request. Thank you. Before I call the next speaker, I ask that everyone please adjust the mic and make sure you're speaking into it, because it's hard to hear from up here. So next speaker. Hi, my name is Michael Slater.

[00:37:58] I live in Four Seasons, the Potomac District. I started off with something different here, but seeing all of these positive celebrations today, it's a very refreshing breath of fresh air, and I'm glad to see that. And I don't want to diminish that in any way, but there is still an issue in front of this county.

[00:38:19] It's like Shakespeare said, that damn spot that just won't go away. I'm talking about data centers. I'm not a prophet. I don't have a crystal ball, but the truth is very evident that data centers will be a central topic, a key issue in the next election.

[00:38:38] Any member of this board who votes for or otherwise behaves in such a fashion to facilitate putting any more data centers in proximity to residential neighborhoods is going to severely jeopardize his or her re-election.

[00:38:54] That's not a threat. That's just a fact. I've been around. I've listened to people. I know what they say and they keep talking about this. We have yet to hear any positive aspects in which data centers contribute to the quality of life of nearby residents. And that's because there are no positive features, none. And collectively, these green shirts like this, these green shirts have a voice and we will use that voice across the county, across district

[00:39:27] boundaries, and the ugliness of this whole issue will become glaringly visible to all the constituents in all districts. Viktor Frankl, in his book, Man's Search for Meaning, said that there's two kinds of people in the world, decent and indecent. Now, we ask that you show who you are with a glimmer of decency, and we ask that you show this so that we may resume our lives free

[00:40:03] of worry. These aren't empty words folks. This county is supposed to be about the people who live here, not how much money we can bring in. What we are feeling is unbridled fury and that's because we're fighting for our homes. We hope you can relate to that. Make no mistake, we are a people who vote and we refuse to be ignored or brushed aside. This issue will stay with us

[00:40:40] until someone stands up and says publicly, I will not support any more data centers near people's homes. That person will find their election potential to skyrocket. And I don't know what else to say. I've been before this board numerous times now, and I've run out of things to say to make you see this. It's not worth it, folks. This is where we live. And thank you so much.

[00:41:14] Thank you. Next speaker, please. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you, Chair, Vice Chair. Congratulations, Supervisor Angry.

[00:41:31] Mr. Shorter, I see Elisha Johnson. Thank you so much. I'm here today as a resident of Prince William County, but also representing Streetlight Community Outreach Ministries. And this is Dr. Sinclair, who so graciously came to support me today.

[00:41:49] And I want to talk a little bit about those in this county that are very often and so easily forgotten. Thank you for the opportunity today. I want to thank you for your leadership, your support. I want to thank the Prince William County and Department of Social Services for the strong partnership they share with Streetlight.

[00:42:12] Especially during this not even recent, still we face this snow and ice storm. During some of the most challenging days, the county stepped in with staff support at our hypothermia shelter east, which made it possible for us to keep our people safe and keep the doors open 24-7.

[00:42:35] When the Bill Mayor drop-in became unavailable due to shelter construction, we were faced with an immediate gap in services. Working closely with DSS, we were able to quickly identify a new model, and we are operating this season out of the Super 8 Hotel, who graciously gave us a wonderful deal.

[00:42:55] We have 26 beds available right now, 3 overflow, so we can serve 29 individuals every night. This model is working. The challenge we are facing is volume, urgency, and duration.

[00:43:13] Because of this year's unprecedented ice storm, which we had last year a little bit of that in January, we have opened the doors 24-7 since Saturday, January 24th, and we are still open today, 11 days later, with very limited funding.

[00:43:33] But keeping the shelter open around the clock has been necessary because it's simply not safe for our most vulnerable clients to be outside. I see sidewalks, unsafe bus stops, and people being forced to walk in the streets create immediate danger.

[00:43:50] But it's important to say clearly, the need for extended daytime hours or also capacity is not just the extreme weather event. Also, just during very cold temperatures and sometimes not a place to know where to go is very unsafe.

[00:44:08] Very often, we just send them to the mall or to the library. We have people that are coming out of the hospital overcoming pneumonia, surgery, weak on wheelchairs and walker, and they don't know where to go. So we are just asking to find it in your hearts and work something into the budget of hypothermia, which you already graciously helped us go into the hotel to sustain this next year until the navigation center is built.

[00:44:41] i'm sorry thank you so very much for your time thank you you're welcome all right supervisor angry i'm turning to you for remote public comment time thank you madam chair uh chris so i think we have two signed up for public comment recognizing that the public hearings are canceled for this evening so uh if for some reason someone's still on this line for a public hearing let's see uh what what the plan is but i think i have two so chris go ahead Good afternoon, Vice Chair and the Board.

[00:45:10] As of right now, we have no speakers for this afternoon. Okay. All right. Thank you, sir. Thank you. All right. Thank you, sir. We have completed our public comment time. I'm going to go on to agenda item number six, and that is county executive time.

[00:45:26] Mr. Shorter, the floor is yours. Good afternoon, Madam Chair, members of the board. A few quick updates. So as you recall, there were no directives issued during our last meeting. There was one directive closed since our last meeting.

[00:45:43] The response to the directive for an inventory of boards, committees, and commissions was sent to you on Monday. And as an update regarding the directive to prepare a resolution to dissolve the Racial and Social Justice Commission, a resolution will come to the board on February 17th.

[00:46:03] In terms of memos to the board, earlier today I sent or shared with the board the next steps needed to move the Purchase of Development Rights Program or PDR program forward following the recent updates to the ordinance.

[00:46:20] I also provided information to the board regarding the recent launch of the planning office's designated cemetery preservation webpage to better present county cemetery information to the public. And information about the map of data centers in the county was just launched, which is available on two platforms, the build-out analysis dashboard and the county mapper.

[00:46:45] This is an interactive map that will show data centers in various stages from pending to completed. This was a big lift, a big and heavy lift from multiple agencies within our government. I really want to thank everyone involved in the project, our planning office, development services, DOIT, and our economic development and tourism team, some of whom are in the audience today.

[00:47:12] Thank you all for the great work. And that is all in terms of updates. Now, Madam Chair, with Item 7A, we are asking for ratification and confirmation of the declaration of a local emergency due to the impacts of the winter storm last week.

[00:47:33] As you know, Madam Chair and members of the board, I declared a local emergency on Saturday, January 24th, to allow the county the ability to receive potential reimbursement of federal or federal support for response and recovery and to allow emergency procurement had it been required.

[00:47:52] It is required by code that the board ratify and confirm the declaration. So that is item 7A. All right, thank you. Before I ask for a motion and we have any discussion, I just want to see if anyone had any questions. I don't see any questions, so can I go ahead and get a motion for 7A?

[00:48:12] Second. It has been properly moved and seconded, and that is Bailey Stewart. Any discussion? All right, seeing none, let's go ahead and take our votes. Thank you.

[00:48:30] All right. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. And before we move on to 7B, just want to take this opportunity to thank all the employees and staff who worked tirelessly over the duration of the storm event. everyone from our public safety personnel to include emergency management, fire, police, public safety communications, and certainly to those in our 24-7 facilities and operations like social service workers who were operating in shelters and managing CPS calls, our juvenile detention center, and our adult detention center workers were also on call during that time. So

[00:49:10] just want to thank them. Also want to just recognize FFM, Parks, and Public Works who were out clearing snow and ice so that we could safely open facilities and our employees and customers could get into our building. So want to really express appreciation to all of them. We're certainly grateful for their work and their support during this time. Madam Chair, with item 7B, We are asking for consideration for the board to ratify the tentative collective bargaining agreement between the county and the police association.

[00:49:49] I'm going to invite Megan Kelly to come to the podium. And while she does, I just want to thank, as I think we have had an opportunity to sit with each of the board members at this point, and just want to thank the team for all of the work that they've done up to this point to work with the Police Association to get us here.

[00:50:10] So, Megan, I'll turn it over to you. Thank you, Mr. Shorter. Good afternoon, Madam Chair, Mr. Vice Chair, and the rest of the members of the board. I'm Megan Kelly from the County Attorney's Office. Before I get started, I just want to recognize Mike Arena and Stacey Walker, who were also on the county team.

[00:50:29] I see Ryan Whaley over there as well, who was on the police union side. Just to give you some background before you have Chief Newsham up here to speak with you. On January 16th you will recall that you ratified a collective bargaining and agreement between the county and the Prince William County Police Association.

[00:50:53] It was a four-year agreement but it included what we called a wage re-opener at the end of the second year that would be effective this coming July for FY 27 and 28. The wage reopener provision automatically reopened negotiations for market adjustments, merit increases, step increases, and any other monetary compensation.

[00:51:14] You may recall that there was some concern about the scale back when we started in 2004, but we didn't have the data to make any kind of solid recommendation to the county executive and to the board, and we were able to get that data. So we began engaging in collective bargaining with the Police Association from May through November of 2025.

[00:51:35] We very quickly came to a tentative agreement upon some information that the chief will share with you. The tentative agreement was ratified by the association on November 20th. And at this point, the board needs to hear the fiscal impact study, which has been prepared by Mr. Sinclair and his team.

[00:51:53] And he will be going over that with you at the end. And you also obviously have to have this meeting, this public hearing, in order to weigh any kinds of issues before voting to ratify the agreement. And it will not be ratified until it is also, I mean, it will not be effective until it is ratified by you.

[00:52:11] So just to go over the very high-level provisions of this agreement with the Police Association, we are increasing the starting salary from $62,000 to $74,000. There will be a revised FY27 pay scale to reflect this increase in starting salary, and it will maintain differentials between steps and grades through the pay scale, which is important because some other jurisdictions didn't do that, and that will be something that they will have to deal with in the future.

[00:52:40] So we're very pleased that that was part of the agreement. They're also going to be receiving a step increase of 3% in both FY27 and 28. And any employees who have topped out their step will receive, in lieu of the step increase, they will receive a one-time lump sum bonus equal to 3% of their salary.

[00:53:02] The FY28 pay scale changes, which would be effective on July 1st, 2027, again, the 3% market increase, the step increase, and again, for those who have reached a top out in lieu of the step increase, they'll receive a 3% lump sum one-time bonus.

[00:53:17] So with those very high-level overview, if anyone has any questions, I'm happy to answer them. Otherwise, I'm going to turn it over to Chief Newsham for the remainder of the next part of the presentation. All right. Good afternoon, Chair Jefferson and members of the board.

[00:53:34] I'm Pete Newsham. I'm the chief of police here in Prince William County. This first slide that I will show you is the current state of affairs. If you look at the left column at the top with regards to starting salaries for comparable jurisdictions, and you can see that the Prince William County Police Department in that group is the lowest.

[00:53:57] That middle column right there is the hiring bonuses for the different jurisdictions. Our hiring bonus, if you were to ask me, is fair. When you compare it to the other jurisdictions in the area, there's obviously a couple that are higher.

[00:54:15] If you look down at MPD in the district and you look at Montgomery County, $25,000 and $20,000. Arlington County is $15,000, and so is Fairfax. But at $10,000, I think that's a pretty good place for us to land. And then if you look to the far right column, that's the starting salaries that is going to be coming up in fiscal 27 for those same jurisdictions.

[00:54:42] A couple of things of significance and relevance with regards to this chart right here is that Fairfax County and Loudoun County both offer starting incentive pay for their salaries for what they call specialty pay.

[00:55:02] That could be things like a language proficiency or it could be education or military. And so those starting salaries that are reflected in that left column, you could actually come in at a higher starting salary if you were in one of those jurisdictions because of a specialty that you may have.

[00:55:21] In Prince William County, we do incentivize military service and we do incentivize college education, but the way we incentivize it is it's a one-time payment. If you have an associate's degree or a military service, you get 1.5%.

[00:55:38] That's a one-time payment after you finish your probationary period. And then for a bachelor's degree, you get a 3% one-time payment. And so there is differences there on the starting salary. The other thing of significance to note up there is that Arlington County and Fairfax County both have a different retirement system than all of those other jurisdictions up there.

[00:56:06] Most of us are in the Virginia retirement system. Those two have separate retirement systems, and what that means for Prince William County is that there is not a very strong likelihood that we would lose veteran office to either one of those jurisdictions because our officers would have to start all over again in those new retirement systems.

[00:56:27] That's not set in stone, but in all likelihood, that would be the case. On this next slide that I will show you, this is just a bar graph which shows you the current state of affairs, and it shows where Prince William County is the lowest at $62,000.

[00:56:45] For Virginia State and the District of Columbia, we show you their pay after their probationary period, and the reason that we've shown it in this graph is because both of those jurisdictions use that in their recruiting advertisement, where the other jurisdictions do not.

[00:57:03] The next slide will show you, did that change slides? It did. Bottom goes backwards. Okay. All right.

[00:57:21] There we go. This slide would show you after the increase, and what it shows you is although Prince William County is coming up to be competitive with the jurisdictions, we're certainly not going to be one of the highest paid jurisdictions for the comparable agencies.

[00:57:38] Now that Megan has showed me how to use the clicker. And then here's some information that we wanted to share with you, and this was based off of some questions that the board had. If you look at the top there, that's the number of applications that we've had over the recent fiscal years.

[00:57:56] This bottom left, someone had asked about whether or not our applicants were from Prince William County or not, and you can see that runs at about 40 to 60 percent. 40% of our applicants are from the county. We're 60% from outside the county.

[00:58:14] And then there's a breakdown on the right of the percentage of our folks who currently live in Prince William County. And so for our sworn officers, it's 45%. And then for our professional staff, it's 57% or closer to 60%.

[00:58:30] The last slide that I will show you is this is our attrition over the last several years, And we've shown almost, let's see, it's about 10 years worth of attrition. And if you look at the period fiscal 21, fiscal 22, fiscal 23, and particularly if you look at the resignations during that period, our resignations increased pretty significantly in that time frame.

[00:59:01] And for those who were on the board at the time probably remember that was a time frame where a lot of the other jurisdictions had surpassed the starting pay for Prince William County. And as a result, we had a number of folks in the agency who were actually leaving the agency to go work at other agencies in Northern Virginia.

[00:59:19] When the board corrected the pay at that time, that attrition, at least on the resignation side, you can see it came back down. One of the board members had asked us to get information about attrition in other jurisdictions, and so we asked all of the jurisdictions if we could get that information.

[00:59:41] Only three of them actually provided it, and they provided it in different formats. But I can tell you, Loudoun County, Arlington, and Fairfax all provided us the information. Arlington asked us not to speak about the information or not to give the information publicly, But I can tell you without revealing the actual numbers, resignations in Arlington County did not dramatically change over the last six or so years.

[01:00:12] So their resignations remained pretty constant. Whereas if you look at Loudoun County, they had an increase in resignations in 2021 and 2022. And other than that, they remained pretty stable. 2018, they had a comparable resignation rate, close to 10%.

[01:00:32] 2022 was 10%, and 2021 was 8%. And then Fairfax County provided us information, but they didn't break it down by resignation. They just broke it down by total losses. And their losses increased in 22 and 23, actually in 24, pretty significantly.

[01:00:54] It went from, in 2020, around 74, 21, 98, 2022, 120, 2023, 142, 2024, 122, and then in 2025, it went back down to 95. So we asked, like I said, we asked all of the jurisdictions.

[01:01:13] Some of them did not provide us with the information yet, and that's the information that we have on that. I will stick around for questions, but I'm going to turn it over to Dave Sinclair so he can talk about the fiscal impact. So here are the costs of the amended CBA for the board's consideration.

[01:01:41] In fiscal year 2027, the impact of increasing the starting salary from $62,000 to $74,000 is $19 million. That would be the impact to the FY27 budget that the board will receive later this month.

[01:02:00] That is a fully loaded cost. That is not just salaries, but that is also employer-paid benefits and taxes. It also includes additional costs. When you increase base salary from $62,000 to $74,000, that also has an impact on Sunday and holiday pay, as well as overtime, because we're increasing base salary.

[01:02:22] In fiscal year 2028, the incremental cost of providing that 3% market adjustment on top of what's occurring in fiscal 27 is $4.1 million for a cumulative increase of $23.1 million.

[01:02:43] I will note that this table does not include the cost of an annual 3% step adjustment for year of service. that is an additional an additional cost of 2.6 million dollars per year however that is already factored and baked into the board's adopted five-year budget plan the costs that you see in the table are not currently programmed in the adopted five-year plan they will need to be added in the upcoming five-year plan that the county executive is scheduled to present on february

[01:03:20] 17th and that's it all right thank you very much does anyone have questions i just want to note something on page seven or slide seven um for fiscal year 26 i i had mentioned this in a meeting with it um yesterday but it looks like the slide there's a error on the slide right there 47 um applicants prince william county residents non it looks like 47 57 so is it 47 percent of our firm

[01:03:58] Okay, and what is it, 53% of non... Oh, yeah, you're right. Okay. All right, that was new math. I'm not a math person. All right, does anyone have any questions? Supervisor Vega. Thank you, Madam Chair.

[01:04:16] Chief Newsham, I have a few questions for you. I was the supervisor that specifically asked for neighboring jurisdiction attrition rates, and while I appreciate you sharing that information right here, right now, it becomes incredibly difficult to try to keep up with some of the numbers or percentages that you stated, I think that that information is valuable to have ahead of time.

[01:04:37] And I know that when we first met, I was under the impression that those numbers would be easy to obtain. And I had to continuously ask the county executive if we had access to that information. Out of the three jurisdictions that you did mention, how many others were asked about their attrition rates? The other ones that we have on the list there. So I think it's seven in total, if you go to the first slide.

[01:05:01] So three out of the seven provided some information? Correct. And then in regards to why people leave the department, I know that it is always the first go-to that folks are leaving because of pay, pay, pay. Can you explain to the board and to the general public what mechanisms your department uses, whether it's through exit interviews, surveys to find out how pleased or displeased folks are when they want to separate from the department?

[01:05:25] We do have, we hold exit interviews with everybody who leaves the department. And, in fact, we speak to them, ask them why they're leaving. And, you know, I was here during that time frame, and I would spend a significant amount of time in the roll calls.

[01:05:40] And the pay was foremost on the officer's mind at the time. One of the things that we saw during that period, because I always ask when somebody's leaving, why are they leaving? And people do leave for other things. One of the constants people leave for is to go to a federal agency.

[01:05:57] That remains pretty consistent. Sometimes people move because a family member or spouse, for example, moves to another jurisdiction and they go with them. That remains pretty consistent. But one of the differences that I saw in our resignations during that time frame when I heard from our officers the concern about the pay was they were leaving to go to other jurisdictions within the Commonwealth of Virginia.

[01:06:22] And that was unsettling for me to see us lose really good people because they were making a family financial decision. Yeah, I ask because I think it's important to know the other reasons. I know from firsthand experience that pay isn't always the driving factor as to why folks in law enforcement leave.

[01:06:42] And some of the years that have been referenced here, 21, 22, 23, it was a very difficult period for our police officers, not just in the county, but across the nation. So from a personal perspective, I can understand the challenge as to why folks on the force would want to stay on.

[01:06:58] We have seen quite a shift in the way that our police officers are treated. I am proud to say that in Prince William County, we've always led, even when the times have been challenging, we've always supported the brave men and women on our force. But it's always interesting to know other driving factors that motivate or drive folks to leave what is, in my opinion, a very good department, which is why I ask what the other reasons are.

[01:07:24] Can you elaborate a little bit in regards to the recruits? We see that there has been an uptick in the number of applicants, but based on the report that has been provided, nearly 22, we've seen a drop of nearly 22 percent between FY24 and 25. Why is that?

[01:07:40] I think that one of the reasons we're seeing a drop in applications is because of the starting pay for one i think that's part of it i also think that there's a lot of recruiting going on now in the federal government agencies and they're offering pretty significant signing bonuses and i think that's drawing some of our folks away and we all kind of watched what happened in november with arlington raising their salary up to 90 000 and we actually looked back at the data for them they were kind enough to share that with us in december they i think they announced it early

[01:08:14] November and then in November and December their applications increased pretty significantly. I think they went from like the 200 and something range to the 400 and something range. Yeah I'm going to be tracking that closely to see if they're able to not only hire but retain folks because that's always a challenge. It's enticing but they've had quite a hard time recruiting police officers in their department so that's going to be something that we absolutely have to look at. And then I think I know the answer to this question, but I'm going to ask it anyways.

[01:08:47] Do you believe that this new agreement that has been semi-reached, of course we have to finalize it, do you think it is geared towards not only attracting new talent, but keeping the talent that we have? I certainly hope so. So there's step increases that will occur throughout the officer's career. And I do think, you know, with negotiations that occur through collective bargaining, that there's going to be pressure to have salaries remain consistent with our surrounding jurisdictions. So I think if people, you know, in this profession, you know, because

[01:09:24] you're in it, people don't really get into it for the money, but they really do need to be able to support their families. So I think one of the things I do appreciate you saying, which I also believe to be true, is that Prince William County is a jurisdiction where people want to work because of the way that the department runs our satisfaction ratings, the quality of the people that are here. But at the end of the day, people have to feed their families. And I see if the salaries stay consistent where they're able to do that, I think we're going to have a really good chance of keeping people we at the agency we bend over backwards to try to

[01:10:03] support our officers to make sure that their working environment as good as it can be under the circumstances their work is extremely difficult as you can imagine during the storm and beyond in these temperatures your police service didn't stop your police service continued to work through those extremely difficult times some of those officers actually came to work and didn't go home because they had to spend the nights here. People don't see that kind of thing. But those are the things that, you know, when we talk about making sure that they have a wage where they can support their families, I'm always going to fall 100% on their side, and I know you would too. Thank you,

[01:10:41] Chief. And then, Madam Chair, I have one last question. I know you all started my second round, and it's for Dave. Thank you, Chief. You're welcome. Well, I think it's for you, Dave, but if it's not, you will call on who's responsible for answering. This agreement is subject to appropriations if this board fails to fully fund these increases in future budget cycles what are yes I knew it was going to be her because the next part of the question is what are the legal and operational ramifications for the CBA and I ask this because we're just starting

[01:11:19] budget season we have quite the need let's put it that way so what happens so if we ratify this agreement, and in the out years, the money isn't budgeted and appropriated pursuant to what the requirements are, it's kind of an unknown area. Technically, we could be held for violating the agreement, the contract, which could have far-reaching effects. But from a constitutional standpoint, this board retains the authority to budget and appropriate. So when I say it's kind of unknown it's there are very conflicting there are conflicting laws in this and um there's some

[01:11:58] there's some speculation that if the board were to find itself in a situation where there was some sort of COVID emergency or something like that that severely limited the availability of funds and that was what drove the the failure to to fund it that that might be something that would seem acceptable, but Mrs. Vega, honestly, I, you know, we, there's, there is a, we have to have a good faith expectation that we will fund this in the out years, but it is subject to the authority of the board as provided in the constitution of the Virginia, the constitution of Virginia, excuse me.

[01:12:32] So I hope that answers your question. I did. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. All right. I don't see any other questions, so I'd like to go ahead and get a motion to move this forward so moved second isn't properly moved and seconded any discussion all right supervisor bode thank you madam chair um super as vega thank you for your questions i appreciate all the things that i wasn't asked you asked so thank you for that chief thank you i don't know if he's still there yet chief thank you for for your presentation dave megan thank you for that thank you for your work thank you to the association for your work as well i know that the negotiations aren't always

[01:13:07] easy um but i i appreciate that you all found a way forward that that uh sort of uplifts our office continues that work i will just sort of echo something chief that you said and i i see it all the time especially during um extreme weather like we've had um the the jobs don't start they get harder because whenever there's a crash whenever there's an issue in an emergency isn't just the police and the ms although those folks have their role the police are out there too sometimes and most times they're actually out there first before the rest of the folks get there so to have that happen in some of these really um dangerous situations not only for the folks that

[01:13:42] were in that accident but then the officers them too having to sort of mediate traffic now given that there's also embankment issues and the snow and everything else just wanted to say that and highlight that since you mentioned it um i will be of course uh supporting this i appreciate the work that continues to be done um appreciate the insight that folks shared on sort of where we are in other jurisdictions i did have some of those questions during our meeting so i'm glad you were able to to highlight that as well we all know that especially in this part of the region it's an arms race in terms of the funding you know we announced this another agency announces that it'll continue to grow but I still think that when it comes to something as important as vital

[01:14:21] as our police department we we should be looking out for those folks and continue to uplift them and frankly making sure that folks know that we value our police department that we know it's competitive situations competitive market but we should be leading the way in that as much as we can and that we support and provide for our police office so really wanted to say thanks again for all the efforts. We'll continue to support them. Thank you. Thank you so very much. Supervisor Bailey. Thank you, Madam Chair. First, let me just start by saying thank you to Supervisor Vega for the questions that you asked. I was trying to talk to you earlier because I wanted to hear

[01:14:57] your thoughts on it. And so thank you for those deliberate questions that you asked. We really appreciate it. And I want to say that this has been an opportunity that has started way before 2019. Yeah, Megan? Way before 2019. And now we're at a point where we can honestly and respectfully support the people that support us and take care of us. And so it has not been an easy start in 2021, 2020, but we're at a good place now. And Chief, you're on point. You know,

[01:15:31] your job doesn't stop doesn't stop and so this is a big dollar item it is but it's a necessary dollar item to preserve what we have and to make sure that those who serve us know that we believe and serve them as well so I wanted to say that make them thank you for drinking tea and keeping it going and today thank you for just spreading it out explain the numbers to us so we can really digest the decision that we have to make collective bargaining is not easy but it's necessary and so

[01:16:10] to our our large audience of employees that give their lives for us I just want to thank you and I will be supporting this. Supervisor Gordy. Thank you Madam Chair. Thank you everyone for all the hard work that you've put into this. You know one of the things that I continue to drive towards as well that's not present on these slides is the amount of money that we're saving by retaining those that we have because the amount of investment that we put into each police officer for training

[01:16:43] is significant and every time we lose one of those folks that we train we now have to reinvest that in someone else and so ensuring in this dynamic environment that we live in that's called northern Virginia, our ability to retain those that we've trained actually saves us money in the long term.

[01:17:02] And so while we look at this and we say, okay, you know, we're raising salaries, but what we're also doing is ensuring that we're retaining those that we've already invested in, which saves us money. So at some point, hopefully we can quantify that in order to understand that when we do retain these folks um there is a benefit to our to the community as a whole and to the taxpayer so um i again i appreciate all the hard work i appreciate our police force and the commitment and and all the hard work that's been put in over the last week especially um i know it has not been

[01:17:39] easy um and uh and uh again thank you all right thank you i'm just gonna offer a few words um when you look at the slide those numbers are certainly jarring but there's no way to sugarcoat it we've fallen behind and we have to catch up. When I first came to a board meeting, I believe it was back in 2016, I don't remember what I was speaking on, but there were a number of police and some fire in the room. And I had asked, what's going on? Why are you here? And the guy was like, oh, this is what we do every year to come to ask for a raise. And quite honestly, I was horrified.

[01:18:16] You have this many people off duty coming in their free time asking for a raise? If we're going to say that we support our first responders, if we're going to support our emergency personnel, then we've got to support them. And for me, that's making sure that they're adequately compensated.

[01:18:34] So I appreciate all the work that has gotten us here today. I appreciate the work that the county has done and working with the police union. I 100% support this because we have to. If we don't support it, then what would happen? We would fall even further behind and that would compromise the safety and security of our community. I see one other person in the queue, Supervisor Stewart.

[01:18:57] I want to thank everybody that's spoken so far. I also want to thank all of our first responders, our police especially, because I know your role in 24-7. And so during this Ice Smageddon we just had, I appreciate you guys being out there and looking out for us. It is necessary to make sure we stay competitive with how we pay our officers. You know, having been in the military myself, not a police officer, but just in the military, you don't want to be distracted with certain things, you know, when you're putting your life on the line. You don't want to worry about

[01:19:37] bills at home and that sort of thing when milliseconds matter. And, you know, it's a distraction that no human being needs when they're standing in the breach. So I want to thank you for everything and of course I will also be supporting this. All right thank you very much. Supervisor Vega. Thank you Madam Chair. I would just caution my colleagues to make the representation that by supporting this it's an indication that we support law enforcement. I will not be supporting this collective bargaining agreement for the very same positions that I've maintained since I was elected

[01:20:15] to be a representative on this governing body. I am not for collective bargaining. I am completely opposed to that and in fact as we continue to talk about the budget I'm going to be asking for data in regards to how much collective bargaining has cost the taxpayers of this county. I was very firm in my position that I believe that we could get the very best for not just members of our police department for all folks across our county workforce without the need of collective bargaining but those arguments fell short and here we are today. I want to be very clear as a member of law enforcement because as you all know the media tends to write certain things or maybe

[01:20:53] representatives from certain groups want to misrepresent the facts. I do in fact support the brave men and women in our police force and just public safety in general but for the reasons stated and others that I'll be elaborating on as we move towards the budget season I will not be supporting this measure here today. Thank you Madam Chair. All right thank you so very much. I would like to go ahead and call for the vote. Motion passes six to one. Supervisor Vega voting nay.

[01:21:26] All right. Thank you very much. Mr. Shorter, do you have anything else? I'm sorry. Did you have something? Well, I was going to just say, Madam Chair, this has been quite a long journey. I want to thank the board, Madam Chair, for the support today. And I want to thank Megan Kelly, the entire negotiating team, certainly our chief and our budget and finance team, just for all the work it took over this last year to get to this point so thank you thank you thank you and thank you for

[01:22:05] the support madam chair all right thank you very much supervisor angry thank you madam chair i i think my question um is perfect time to to bring up to your statement or for this board to discuss so we are not out of the storm yet and we just talked about our police officer and what we're doing this ice is an issue and i'm just going to speak as prtc chair we've got our buses fully operational backing service but i cannot go down dale boulevard or any other road and watch people standing in the road at bus stops to wait for a bus like we got to figure something out here those sidewalks are literally too high we don't have side i've been talking about these sidewalk snow

[01:22:45] plows forever but we've got to find some way to carve out these bus stop areas or areas for people to walk outside of on main roads or our police officers are going to do one of two things be arresting people or picking people up to take them to the hospital because it will only be a matter of time before someone gets hit by a car on these roadways and there's a real issue now so i think we need to figure out something i don't know if that's here to discuss but this isn't getting any better there's a projection of a small amount of snow my issue really is in the snow now it's the freezing because we've had ice and as much as it melts it freezes again so if you got

[01:23:23] sliding it's just an issue so i think we need to figure something out because we know some great things here but we're really talking about our constituents and caring about the people we need to have a discussion about how are we going to do or what are we going to do or are we just going to hope the sun comes out to 80 degrees and mill all of this like it's not happening this is probably going to be for the next month or so and i think it's something that we really need to address i just want to make that comment um you know not technically technically to you mr shorter but to this board that if you're not receiving these emails you're not getting these calls these issues

[01:23:58] are happening right now we need to figure something out and i will also go on record of uh congratulating and and really supporting and thanking our superintendent dr bidet for trying to do the right thing to get these children back in school but understanding this ice and these sidewalks are an issue and people are not slowing down on these roads and this is creating a real hazard that we are going to have to address sooner than later all right thank you i think that goes along with 7a so thank you so very much all right if there is anything else i'd like to go to agenda item number eight and that is county attorney time thank you madam chair members of

[01:24:35] the board this afternoon in closed session we will have consultation with legal counsel and briefings by staff members pertaining to the discussion or consideration of the disposition of publicly held real property including parklands along with consultation with legal counsel and briefings by staff members regarding actual litigation of frank washington individually and as trustee of the Scott Cemetery v. International Investments, LLC, and Prince William County Board of Supervisors, United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, case number 25-1884, along with the accompanying consultation with legal counsel and briefings by staff members regarding specific legal matters requiring the provision of legal advice by such counsel

[01:25:15] pertaining to cemetery law and land use law, where such consultation, discussion, or briefing in an open meeting would adversely affect the bargaining position negotiating strategy. or litigating posture of the public body. And this item is appropriate for closed session pursuant to 2.2-3711A3, 7, and 8 of the Code of Virginia.

[01:25:34] Move for approval. Second. It's been properly moved and seconded. Let's take our vote. Vote unanimous. All right. Thank you so very much. We are now going to go back to Mr. Shorter for agenda item number nine, and that is agency time.

[01:25:53] Thank you very much, Madam Chair. For item 9A, we are asking for an initiation of a CPA related to Labenison in the Potomac District. I'm going to invite Director Washington up to start the presentation.

[01:26:09] Good afternoon, Madam Chair, members of the Board. The Planning Office is here to request the Board's initiation of comprehensive plan amendment, CPA 2026-00004, Labenison. The staff presentation will be led by Ahmad Bezad, and we will be here to answer any questions.

[01:26:29] Thank you. Good afternoon, Madam Chair and members of the board. Ahmad Behzad with Planning Office presenting you the preliminary analysis and recommendation regarding the CPA 2026-0004 Labanistan.

[01:26:53] This is a request for the CPA initiation to initiate the change of long-range land use designation from park and open space to residential neighborhood, Consect 2, for approximately 33 acres of land.

[01:27:14] This is within the Potomac District and also legislative boundary of the Prince William Forest Park. What does that mean is that I want to highlight a couple of things here regarding the legislative boundaries of the parks.

[01:27:33] That's a boundary set by the Congress, which gives the National Park Service authority to acquire lands within that boundary. But it doesn't mean that the National Park Service regulations applies to those lands, especially the privately owned lands.

[01:27:50] But it definitely applies to the public or federal owned lands, which in this case, all the parcels subject to the CPA initiation is privately owned. And it's to the south of Route 23. If you can see here, the Dumfries Road, the Route 234.

[01:28:09] It's to the northeastern edge of the Prince William Forest Park. The existing long-range land use designation for these parcels are parks and open space. And the requested long-range land use designation is residential neighborhood with transect 2.

[01:28:28] The current zoning is agriculture and the request for this application mentioned that the concurrent rezoning will accompany the CPA request and the proposed zoning will be planned mixed residential.

[01:28:45] If we see this table, it shows the demographic changes, which shows the low and high bar for the density change if and only the CPA initiation gets approved by the board.

[01:29:04] And staff recommends initiating the CPA for the reason that it will give us an opportunity to see the impacts of this development and also see the merits of this proposal in relation to the housing policy of the county and also contextual fitness of this proposal within that area.

[01:29:28] but it definitely does not mean that the board will approve the CPA or the rezoning which will accompany the CPA. So that's why we are recommending initiating the CPA. Thank you. And with that, I will open the floor for any questions you might have.

[01:29:46] I'll take the first question, and I want to talk about it being within the legislative boundaries of Prince William Forest Park. Could you give a detailed explanation of exactly what does that mean? I would defer this question to David McGettigan. Thank you, Madam Chair, members of the board.

[01:30:02] David McGettigan from the Planning Office. So the legislative boundary is the boundary authorized by Congress for acquisition of land to add to the forest park. That allows the park to go and acquire the land without having congressional approval.

[01:30:20] That is all that is involved in the legislative boundary. we do keep track of it in our comprehensive planning and it helps guide us in designating parks and open space and that's why this is designated parks and open space all right i know the cpa obviously and i want to say to people the cpa is not a rezoning because we've received a lot of emails the cpa is not a rezoning but there was concern from the superintendent of the

[01:30:52] Park. Superintendent Leifert, I'm sorry if I'm not pronouncing his name, what would you say to his opposition? As staff have noted, the request to the board today is to initiate the comprehensive plan amendment. It is not to request the board to take action on the comprehensive plan amendment itself. What we would do is if the board votes to initiate the CPA, we would do an in-depth

[01:31:27] analysis of the request and take a number of matters into consideration, which would include the potential impacts on Prince William Forest Park. And so we would definitely incorporate and would include considerations of the superintendent's perspective or position on the CPA.

[01:31:47] Thank you. Before I go on to the next, I hear something. I don't know if someone's playing something on the phone or if we can make sure that... Thank you so much. All right. Supervisor Vega, I believe he has some questions. Madam Chair, you're right. The initiation of a CPA is not the rezoning, but let's be real and stop kidding ourselves. When has staff ever recommended a CPA to move forward and then recommend for denial after their findings? That's an actual

[01:32:20] question. Thank you for the question, Supervisor Vega. To my knowledge, it has only been done once. For what matter was that?

[01:32:37] It was for a comprehensive planned amendment to change residential to commercial designation along Minnieville Road. And when was that done? Probably 2007.

[01:32:56] 2007. Thank you. That's the point right there. that the reality is that we're opening a door that we're not going to close, and this will very likely come before this board for us to approve and or deny. And, of course, the Board of County Supervisors reserves the right to approve or to deny, but let's be real.

[01:33:14] We are talking about an area, as has already been mentioned, where the property lies entirely within the legislative boundary of the Prince William Forest Park. There is a reason why this area was designated as park and open space to preserve this land, to protect the environment.

[01:33:32] Folks, whether it's data centers or whether it's development, we are getting to a point where the recklessness of the votes we take on this dais are having real consequences and impacts on our quality of life. And I'm just asking for us to really think about this.

[01:33:49] Because our vote today to greenlight the initiation of this CPA is going to mean just that. that the next thing that will be before us will be a land use application to approve what's been specified in the staff report. The next question that I have is the staff report states 125 dwelling units, but there is eight affordable single family attached units. Is the inclusion of these units the primary driving factor for this initiation? Yes or no? No. No. Thank you for that. And that

[01:34:27] is important because you know we keep getting told by cog um again a bunch of folks that really have no knowledge of what it really is to live in prince william county we're being uh dictated numbers that we have to um meet in terms of housing uh i will later be asking where we are in that in that in that in that um number because we were given a number and we are approving a whole bunch of housing and that's great right because a real way to attack the affordable uh crises in housing that we're experiencing is by having more product on the market I understand that but how we offer that that that product matters and I just want to be very clear here

[01:35:06] that in an effort to try to solve a problem we are opening the door and creating a dozen others so while I'm asking madam chair and to my fellow board mates is for us to be mindful to be very thoughtful in what it is that we're doing why we're doing it and to really really think about the unintended consequences if we decide to vote today to initiate the cpa that's all i have for now supervisor gordy thank you madam chair and thank you supervisor vega for those words um you're exactly right um this will be a cpa but it'll also be a rezoning they will happen simultaneously

[01:35:43] and they will come before this board at the same time and instead of um it so it we're literally already trying to bake the cake um uh in order to make this happen um i will i'll just share my my 90 000 foot view concern that we have as a county this is not the only cpa that's getting ready to come to this board there's at least a half a dozen that i'm aware of go and and we already have a comprehensive plan that we work very diligently on um that sufficiently helps us

[01:36:20] meet the housing requirements and the housing needs for this county through 2040. It's already done, and yet the development community is insistent on ignoring that plan and trying to develop their own plan outside the scope of the current CPA, which is only two years old. And now we've got at least a half a dozen of these CPAs coming in for thousands of homes outside of what the current comprehensive plan is, and we are literally opening up Pandora's box. We also are

[01:36:52] seeing, you know, in our strategic documents, and the one thing that the residents of this county has told this board to prioritize is protection of open space and parks. And here we are taking parks and open space as designated in our comprehensive plan and are going to once again write it off and say we're not going to follow our own strategic plan and invest in the things that the residents of this county have told us that is an absolute priority for them. Number one,

[01:37:26] this is their number one priority. And so, um, so I, I appreciate, um, uh, the desire on the part of the applicant. Um, but, but again, this is just one and, and we're going to open up Pandora's box, um, as we continue to go forward. And so, uh, I'm just, um, have the, um, to, to, uh, appreciate the questions that supervisor vega uh offered and i just want to echo those as well thank you i just want to say if we have questions because we are going to have a discussion time and the discussion is going to be in the motion so if anyone has questions all right supervisor

[01:38:06] bailey i know i was talking to mom chair um i just wanted to if i could ask a couple of questions number one um in terms of the park adjacency in the context of that sensitivity what specific edge conditions and buffering standards will staff evaluate to ensure any future development protects the park's environmental and historic context and that's in reference to the park

[01:38:41] the legislative boundary in the park so if this cpa is initiated staff will evaluate the obviously the adjacency with the park but in terms of the specific buffers and those to that point that is dependent upon what the rezoning application proposes and so that would definitely be evaluated as part of the rezoning application and so there are mechanisms for staff to evaluate that and to work with the applicant if there are concerns or questions about the adequacy of the buffers and

[01:39:17] that is that is part of the normal county review process but that will be taken into consideration before we take a vote on it. Absolutely. Okay. The other thing that I wanted to ask is in terms of affordability, staff notes the affordable units are anticipated.

[01:39:34] Can you clarify what affordability levels are being contemplated in the project? You know, how affordability will be integrated in the neighborhood design rather than isolated? At this point, we do not have those details because a rezoning application has not been OK, OK. So I just I just want to. So here's here's what I want to say.

[01:39:57] I certainly in respect of the legislative boundaries for Prince William Forest Park and also understanding that we certainly want to preserve open space. But also, is this land privately owned? Yes. All right. Thank you. Supervisor Angry.

[01:40:20] Thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you for that lead. because a little research, Prince William Forest is 15,000 acres of land. This land is privately owned, about a but, the forest. Do we know how many more privately owned lands in Prince William County, because I know this goes out to Stafford as well, that literally are bumped up against Prince William Forest?

[01:40:43] That could be in the same situation. It's their land. We don't have a clue of that. We don't have that number. I'd be curious to see how much more land on the outskirts of this 15,000 acre forest is in this situation.

[01:41:00] All right. I don't see anyone else in queue for questions, so thank you so very much. Wait, hold on. Did you have a question? Well, Supervisor Angry, are you asking for that information? I can make it easier.

[01:41:16] How many more around the National Forest? We would have to get back to the board on that question. Thank you. Supervisor Bailey. How many residents? Is that what the question was or what? Privately owned.

[01:41:34] I'm curious how many more situations. I guess we won't even know because this is a landowner who now wants to sell their land. So all of these homes along Prince William Forest could eventually want to sell their homes and be in the same situation. I know that's a difficult question to answer.

[01:41:52] So I just know that along Prince William Forest are homeowners and landowners who own land out there. And again, when we get into this discussion about privately owned land, it's a tough discussion. I get it. But we're not eating at the 15,000 acres of Prince William Forest. These land is literally tied to them.

[01:42:10] That's their private own land. You know, unless we're going to start having federal discussions about taking that land and doing that, then that's something we should be discussing. But if a homeowner landowner wants to sell their land, then I feel like this is what this board obligation is to do, is to look at those opportunities and how best we can go about it.

[01:42:27] And the only way we can do this is to determine what we can do with the land, thus the application. Madam Chair, if I may. All right, Supervisor Bailey. And I just want to say we cannot take federal land. I just have to be very clear. We cannot take federal land. I know. I just want to clarify for everyone.

[01:42:46] We cannot take. All right, Supervisor Bailey. Yeah, we do need to go down that discussion. But the thing that I would be interested in as a research point, I live in an area that this was done in. I live in an area that this was done in.

[01:43:04] And so if you could bring that kind of information back to us to help us make a decision as it relates to privately owned land that was carved out of the forest and what were the implications in that and how did we come to that decision, what were the negotiations with the park superintendents at the time, that kind of thing I think informs us as to how we came about to craft a Brittany with a similar situation of what we're talking about now.

[01:43:36] Is that clarity? I think that would help us as well. If I could perhaps reframe, the question is I think I understand it, but just to make sure we are clear. So the legislative boundary in general reflects privately owned land that is not a part of the park currently.

[01:43:54] It is not owned by the federal government. I believe I heard the question of, if I understand it correctly, how many acres of privately owned property that is within the legislative boundary exists now.

[01:44:10] That was, I think, one question that I heard. With regards to your question, Supervisor Bailey, for the Brittany, was it ever owned by that property? The Brittany was not federally owned, so it was privately owned property. That was the question. Was it federally owned?

[01:44:26] No, it was not. It was privately owned property. It was within the legislative boundary. So projects have been approved and built on privately owned property within a legislative boundary, such as the Brittany. But that one was not owned by the federal government. All right.

[01:44:42] Supervisor Stewart, you have questions? So how many other properties in the comp plan that are privately owned by residents are designated as parks and open space? We'd have to get that exact number to you.

[01:44:57] But there are properties like that throughout the county, not just along the, for instance, the Prince William Forest Park. All right, because that's an issue. That's a problem. David?

[01:45:14] I could just say we have a directive asking us this similar question that we're going to prepare a response to. But generally, with a comprehensive plan being a long-range plan, we also want to plan where parks and open space will go.

[01:45:33] And it doesn't look at the parcels necessarily when doing that plan. It looks at environmental features and things that we want to protect. And the reason to do that is not only to identify land that we may want to acquire as park land, but we may want to have purchase of development rights opportunities on that land, or we may want to, if we develop a transfer development rights program, we might want to protect that.

[01:46:02] So there are various reasons for planning your parks and open space throughout the county. And so that has been done. And it wasn't in consideration of what the land ownership was, but it's the opportunities that we have to make open space corridors and green corridors that connect our open spaces and parks.

[01:46:24] Okay, so why was that not taken into consideration as to, like, people live there, people, multi-generational homes, that sort of thing? Why not take that into consideration, people's private property being designated as such in the comp plan?

[01:46:41] Because it's a long-range plan, and we want to plan for more parks and open space. And it doesn't provide, even though it doesn't provide an opportunity for intense development or rezoning, It does provide an opportunity to participate and get money for the development rights through the Purchase of Development Rights Program, as an example, that isn't afforded if it was just designated agricultural and forestry, which we would not be looking to obtain that

[01:47:20] kind of land. And it still would have the same restrictions as far as rezonings that an agricultural forestly planned land would have. All right. Thank you. So in the meantime, but you did say this at the beginning, you're going to come back with that information. Yeah, we'll come back with more detailed information. Thank you. Talk about this subject more. Thanks. All right. Are there any more questions? I don't see any more questions. So I would like to go ahead and ask for a motion.

[01:47:49] So move, Madam Chair. Second. All right. It's been properly moved and seconded. Supervisor Bode. Thank you, Madam Chair. I waited until this part because I didn't have any questions. I had a couple comments. I appreciate the discussion the board has had. I do. I think there's a lot of valid and well-reasoned arguments on all sides of this. I will just reaffirm and say this is the exact reason why I really wish we had funded and had the PDR program moving a lot sooner than now.

[01:48:18] Because right now, this is the only opportunity we're giving folks. Either do nothing with your land or eventually get it developed by something. We are giving people no other options. We've talked about the repeat program we've talked about these other programs that we could allow us to avail ourselves to leverage other sources of funding to help people uh still realize value on their land while also preserving it we're currently not able to do that and so here we are um that said as was said by supervisor bailey context also matters and just south of here this was was done

[01:48:52] before right there is housing that exists just south of here um on this side of 234 so i think that matters too. I will also just say that as a closure, we do have an opportunity to obviously partner with the developer on this to make sure there are very stringent protections on the boundaries of this property. We have the ability to evaluate that as well. I already had my meeting with the applicant, the folks who are looking at this last week, so that's part of the discussion as well. I will just say I'll be supporting this, but I agree with folks that are frustrated by

[01:49:28] this, and I will just say that I will continue to advocate for us to adopt the PDR program and other tools like the TDR program as quickly as possible so we can give landowners other options. Thank you, Madam Chair. Supervisor Bailey. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Supervisor Bodie, for your comments. The other thing, too, I just wanted to make a comment in terms of the tools that we use to make these decisions so that we are not doing it in a vacuum. And a couple of those tools that we use supervisor bode mentions the repi grant those kinds of things integrating with cog as it

[01:50:02] relates to the region and what it looks like with um rules and requirements and so i i we are a county that is growing and people want to live in prince william county and so we we are we have to be responsible with the land of course with parks and recs we have to be responsible of uh the forest Park which is our national treasure but we also have to be responsible in providing shelter for people in this county and so that's why when we make these decisions they're not and this is a

[01:50:39] long-range decision this is a decision that's been in the hopper for a year but prior to that longer than that and so with the tools that we have in our toolbox to make a decision like this it's important that we incorporate not just one perspective from Prince William County but as it relates to what the region has done so we're making informed decisions and so I just I thank Supervisor Vega for bringing that up because that was imperative and and I also thank staff for the hard work that you've done to work with the applicant to to make sure that we are going along

[01:51:15] a path that is correct and the other thing that I wanted to say is as we do this we have to include the community in this decision and and and that's imperative as well that's the other thing that we do not do in a vacuum and i know y'all don't so i don't want that to permeate on camera or off that that's what we do because i know that'll be a part of the process thank you madam chair all right thank you so very much um anything that was said i do want to emphasize for people that this is private land i mean it is privately held land however um i do have concerns you know and

[01:51:53] coming from the superintendent of the Prince William National Forest Park. I want to make sure that I hear that because we've heard similar things from Quantico. Quantico is very concerned about a lot of the building going on around it. And with Quantico, it is a different case. It is because they are doing exercises, military exercises. And that's, you don't want to live right up against the border and hear what's going on. From where I live in Montclair, we hear the sounds of freedom. That's a lot louder if you're living close to the base. I am going to support this but with a very big caveat and it's that I work more closely with the applicant on shaping

[01:52:29] this project and making sure that we are listening to the superintendent of the parks that is that's critical I do understand that there are a lot of people who have concerns about the project I live in close proximity closer than perhaps anyone on the board I mean I know I we're pretty close but Montclair is right there so with that I will support it but again I want to have a greater hand in shaping this. I think that what they're submitting, you know, if this is exactly what the rezoning is going to look like, then that's not something that I will support. So that's all

[01:53:08] I have to say on the project. I know you have a few things you want to say. Yeah, Madam Chair, I just want to thank all the folks from the Potomac District who took the time to email this board. We had a lot of folks concerned. I'm asking that we not initiate the CPA, but as you can tell the cake has already been baked. What I will tell you all is this. This will come before as a formal land use application. When that time happens, you will have another opportunity to voice your concerns or support whatever the case may be. And as stated, you know, I would suggest that you get involved in this process. Reach out to Supervisor Bailey's office. Give your opinion so

[01:53:44] that you can actually have a seat at the table in shaping what this proposal will look like to ensure that all of your concerns are addressed and all of your questions I'm adhered to. I will not be supporting it, and I don't think it's a surprise to anybody, but thank you nonetheless to everybody that reached out to the board in opposition to this CPA initiation. Thank you, Madam Chair. Supervisor Angry. Thank you, Madam Chair. For this board and I guess the public listening, when it comes to land and folks owning land, landowners, I'm always going to look at that first. This country is founded on generational wealth of people having land and selling their

[01:54:23] land and developing it. And that's how these families have been successful for thousands, hundreds of years. So that's my first piece. I'm always going to look at that. Now, if this were 100% federal property, part land, we wouldn't be having this discussion. But the reality is there are folks who own land around many military installations, many federal force. I can tell you Fort Belvoir alone, Davidson Army Airfield built a community right off the back of the runway and 20 years later people complain about engine run-ups.

[01:54:54] Well, you shouldn't have bought that house there because that airfield is going nowhere. I'm pretty sure Quantico is going nowhere, but the folks who have this land have a right to develop or sell the land, I should say. How it's developed is a decision of this board in many localities. So I am willing to see the process through to see what it turns into and then look out for the issues of the folks around it.

[01:55:16] But in no way am I touching federal land, Because if that were the case, we wouldn't be having this discussion. But they have a right to sell their land, and we have a right to figure out how to best develop their land. So I'm willing to take this process where it needs to go to see what that end product will be.

[01:55:32] Thank you, Madam Chair. Supervisor Bailey, and then, okay, Supervisor Bailey. Okay, I just wanted to say also thank you to my citizens that your voices are always heard in my office as well as around in the other supervisor's office as well.

[01:55:49] because we work collaboratively when we make these decisions. It's not just segmented to the one supervisor. That's how we're working. And so I just wanted to make sure that my constituency knows, as I always have, very transparent when you call and when you come, and we hear you.

[01:56:06] That's why I ask, will we be going out to the community? Because we don't want to politicize this at all, but we want to make sure that it's fair and it's equitable in this decision. And how we do that is respecting each other.

[01:56:22] So I just wanted to say that and to thank you to the citizens again because, you know, it's rare that my citizens don't contact me, but it's not rare that my citizens don't contact other supervisors. And I really welcome that. I welcome that.

[01:56:37] That gives me an opportunity to call those supervisors and make a decision. Supervisor Stewart. So this whole thing gives me pause. You know, bottom line is the bill that happens here needs to happen at the extremely low end of what can be developed.

[01:57:05] Anything other than that, and I really can't support it, but, you know, I look, I do agree with Supervisor Angry. It's somebody's private land, and it's theirs to sell.

[01:57:25] And so, yeah, I'm going to, you know, I'm going to reluctantly support it. But definitely, those are my, I'm sending a letter early. That's my demand that we be at the extreme low end of density in this spot.

[01:57:43] I was going to say a few words before I call for the vote. I guess, again, lots of things that you're hearing. I just want to make my position clear. The cake has not been baked. The cake has not been baked. And I do want to look at the density. And I do want to work with everyone on seeing what we can do with this.

[01:58:02] It is their land. It is your land to sell. But it's the decision of the board to rezone it. And that's where I want to make the decision or the distinction. People have the right to sell their land. I am all for capitalism. I'm all for it.

[01:58:18] But as the board, we are looking out for the public good. And there is a lot of concern about this project. And I'm hearing it. So I will support it. I will half-heartedly support it. And I will support it with a very big asterisk that we are going to work on it. And we're going to work on getting this right and something that makes sense for the surrounding community.

[01:58:35] And I want to make sure that everyone understands, do not take my vote for granted. I generally support housing, but do not take my vote for granted. Because we do have a lot of projects coming up that are questionable, that I am making requests of.

[01:58:52] I have typically, as chair, relied on the supervisor because supposedly they're closer to the action. But there are a lot of projects I'm looking at, and they don't sit right with me. I have made requests on certain projects.

[01:59:07] These are things I'd like to see change. But I am going to take a larger role, particularly with the community outcry that we're receiving. Again, I take very seriously hearing from the superintendent of the Prince William Forest Park. I also understand that this is private land. So this is something that I would like to work closely with, you know, with the applicant and with you, Supervisor Bailey, to make sure that we come to a good project.

[01:59:30] I'm sure I would love that. No, please, I appreciate that, but let me finish. I respected your time, and I ask that people respect my time as well. This is not fully baked. It is not finished. What they are submitting, I do not support.

[01:59:49] I will support a CPA so that we can have further discussions and so that our planning staff has time to look at this and to figure out how to make this better. So with that, I would like to call for the vote. Motion passes 5 to 2.

[02:00:11] Supervisors Gordy and Vega voting nay. All right. Thank you. We have Mr. Shorter. I guess we're on to 9B. Yes. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. And with item 9B, we are asking for the board to approve and adopt the Prince William County Affordable Housing Fund policies and guidelines.

[02:00:38] As Joni comes to the podium, I'll just remind the board that you did act in December to approve these guidelines by directive. We are now coming back, as promised, to have the board consider some changes, changes that were based on work that we committed to as part of the directive.

[02:00:59] And so with that, I'll turn it over to Ms. Duckett.

[02:01:14] Don't touch anything.

[02:01:32] Okay. I won't touch anything, I promise. Good afternoon, Madam Chair and board members. Joni Duckett, Director of Housing. Today, I would like to provide an overview of how we arrived at this point. On December 2nd, 2025, the Board of County Supervisors approved the Affordable Housing Fund policies and guidelines.

[02:01:54] Leading up to that approval, the Office of Housing and Community Development undertook extensive efforts to ensure the proposed program was well-studied, impartial, and responsive to all parties that would be involved. OHCD engaged with the Northern Virginia Affordable Housing Alliance as a consultant to provide technical assistance in the development of the Affordable Housing Fund policies and guidelines.

[02:02:23] In addition, we held meetings with industry partners. We collaborated individually with members of the Board of County Supervisors and their staff and conducted a broad internal coordination. I apologize, Supervisor Stewart, that you were not included in these meetings, but we can provide any information you need. Our office also presented to the executive management team.

[02:02:48] We worked closely with the county attorney's office, and we spent countless hours collaborating with Mr. Johnson, whose dedication and efforts were instrumental in helping our office ensure this program was developed thoughtfully and appropriately. On December 2nd, 2025, Supervisor Bodie issued Directive 25-42, initiating a review process to confirm that the newly adopted Affordable Housing Fund policies align with best practices, including those of comparable jurisdictions such as Loudoun County.

[02:03:24] The directive also called for engagement with Loudoun County for staff to return to the Board of County Supervisors with any appropriate updates and recommendations. Finally, it also directed alignment of the Housing Fund with the Affordable Housing Dwelling Unit Ordinance, allowing county staff with the administrative responsibility to review, evaluate, score, and approve loan applications in accordance with board-approved policies and guidelines.

[02:03:56] County staff met with the Assistant Director and the Housing Finance and Development Administrator from the Loudoun County Department of Housing and Community Development.

[02:04:13] The key takeaways from that meeting included that Loudoun County has consolidated two loan programs into one, now encompassing both multifamily and homeownership initiatives. Loudon also refined its scoring matrix and developed a project development description worksheet.

[02:04:37] This worksheet supports developers in completing and submitting applications and assists the review committee in evaluating them. Additionally, the Loudon County team offered friendly advice to our office to proceed at a measured pace as the Prince William County Affordable Housing Fund program is being rolled out.

[02:05:00] Noting that program updates will naturally occur as the program is implemented and issues that are identified and addressed at the time they take place. Our focus for the revisions as directed have been on maintaining flexibility and fostering continuous improvement rather than attempting to perfect every aspect of the program at the onset.

[02:05:28] With that approach, the following actions were taken into consideration and recommended revisions. The scoring criteria with that, our office revisited and revised the scoring criteria based on recommendations, resulting in a more streamlined framework.

[02:05:50] Maximum points were reduced in key categories, including affordability, financial proposal, and development concept. In addition, a project development description worksheet identified in our application as Appendix A was created and incorporated to capture relevant information needed to support both developers, the review and scoring team, to assist the developer submission, to be consistent in the information being provided, and to ensure that the scoring team could objectively score these applications

[02:06:26] and verify long-term public benefit using standardized comparable data. I wanted to briefly provide some context for the revising scoring criteria as well as some of the thought process behind these measures established to ensure applications are scored objectively and that they will support long-term affordable housing for the benefit of all persons.

[02:06:51] The first revision that was made was for housing needs to affordability proposal, which aligns directly with the board goals for deep, long-term affordability. It targets households with greatest housing cost burden, that's 30 to 50 percent of AMI, that's area median income, ensures projects are not just affordable, but deeply affordable.

[02:07:16] It verifies appropriate unit mix, including family-sized units, and ensures accessibility and fair housing compliance. The next revision was project characteristics to a financial proposal, which ensures responsible stewardship of the public funds.

[02:07:38] This demonstrates financial feasibility and transparency. It prevents over-subsidy, confirms funding requested is necessary and appropriate, requires repayment, reinforcing that this would be a loan, not a grant, protects the revolving loan fund for future projects, and encourages disciplined financial planning and hopefully will help reduce risk of project failure.

[02:08:06] Project readiness and experience categories were condensed, and they remain crucial for the risk mitigation. Those show high performance building standards, accessibility compliance, qualified design teams, experienced affordable housing developers, general contractors with comparable project experience, and the ability to navigate complex financing regulations and long-term compliance.

[02:08:39] And then finally, the budget and leverage has been revised to development concept. This section is important to our county. Providing gap financing, we want to ensure that the approved projects are not units in a silo, but that they will be livable communities providing residents with quality amenities.

[02:09:03] And by doing that, providing quality on-site amenities that will support healthy, connected communities. That the projects will include features that may not typically be available in lower-cost housing developments, but are crucial to the residents' well-being.

[02:09:22] That will help the residents reduce the residents' transportation costs and provide greater access to their jobs. Be closer to schools, health care facilities, libraries, and grocery stores. Provide good lighting, defining entrances so that there are no hidden or isolated areas.

[02:09:44] Offering a mix of housing options for both rental and ownership. Home ownership opportunities are especially important as they create pathways to wealth building and provide long-term stability and choices for residents.

[02:10:03] The scoring criteria and submission requirements have been thoughtfully designed and structured to ensure that the affordable housing funds entrusted to our office are invested in projects led by qualified, experienced development teams and designed to deliver clear, measurable affordability outcomes for the county's communities and residents.

[02:10:29] Both the revisions to the scoring criteria and the Appendix A that we have created will work together to ensure funded projects deliver long-term, deeply affordable, accessible housing aligned with the Board's policies and goals and the community's needs.

[02:10:45] We are hopeful that the Appendix A will act as a foundation document that ties the project's narrative claims to verifiable, scorable commitments. Additionally, as part of the directive, the legal and administrative review, county staff consulted with the county attorney's office regarding staff authority to make funding recommendations on behalf of the Board of County Supervisors with final approval of all loan recommendations provided for final execution by the county executive or their designee.

[02:11:23] Concerning the housing board role, rather than endorsing recommended applications, county staff would present the applications to the housing board for informational purposes only.

[02:11:38] The review team composition would include, consist of agency representatives from the Department of Housing, planning, development services, finance, and budget in consultation with the county attorney's office on an as-needed basis.

[02:12:02] Our office also revisited the Affordable Housing Fund implementation schedule that was approved in December based on the recommendations being presented today to the Board of County Supervisors. If approved, the revised schedule will create a more streamlined and efficient timeline for application meetings, the NOFA release, the application submissions, the scoring, and then award announcements while avoiding the holiday season, as the first one did.

[02:12:36] Just had to put that in there. As a result of satisfying the directive that was provided to us, county staff recommends that the Board of County Supervisors approve the following revisions to the current Affordable Housing Fund policy and guidelines.

[02:12:55] Restructured scoring criteria, updated administrative processes for the program implementation and review, including a revised review and approval structure that will authorize county staff to evaluate applications and make funding recommendations on behalf of the Board of County Supervisors in accordance with the board-approved criteria standards outlined in the revised Affordable Housing Fund policies and guidelines.

[02:13:25] The Housing Board will be informed of applications recommended for approval, but will not be required to endorse them. One word that I have become very familiar with and captures this whole process is defensible.

[02:13:42] We are grateful to the county attorney's office for their thorough review and steady guidance. Because of their assistance, we believe the Affordable Housing Fund revisions before you today are stronger, more sound, and clearly defensible.

[02:14:04] Amen. That's it. No, sir. I have that one. no questions i i i'm just looking around does anyone questions yeah you have questions all right i just want to um all right so i just want to make sure if there is a contentious project that is going to get a loan um does the board or can any community members how do we address that

[02:14:40] we would address that so you would handle us you're our shield yes ma'am you look kind of little to protect us all look at my eye i'm tough you're tough all right um trying to get through some my no the process would be with the office of housing and with the scoring team with the scoring review team and then would be provided to the housing board just for presentation we're we're hoping for non-contentious applications so again it's all staff yes ma'am

[02:15:17] all right it's fully administrative does anyone have any questions all right we're gonna have i'm sure a pretty robust discussion i don't see anyone all right thank you very much i see you coming yeah i'm yeah we're gonna get a motion michelle i hear you down there i i all right since there are no questions uh supervisor bode so moved it's been properly moved and a seconded discussion supervisor bode thank you madam chair uh thank you joni thank you elijah uh thank you to the county execs and everyone else who did this um wanted to just highlight first and thank staff

[02:15:56] for the speed in which you returned with this to the board following my directive like i i i will i think i can safely say directive in december talking about it first meeting of february very timely and i appreciate it i know i expressed that we really wanted to not muck up the the the process so i wanted to say that um and wanted to highlight that first um also just wanted to say some of the other things that i like about the the the enhancements and the changes um appreciate that you had the opportunity to talk to the loudest folks i had like i said my staff and i had talked to some of their folks and it seems like they had a lot of good lessons that they shared and i also

[02:16:34] appreciate they did share with you also hey take it slow revisions gonna happen what have you um i do want to say that some of the highlights of what i really like about these changes is one it moves the trust fund to administrative process i know madam chair you sort of said a little bit in passing it's a good question is what happens to the contentious project well we still look at the projects themselves that their land use case that eventually become some of these things right so that's number one two my hope would be actually and this is one of the reason why i pushed for this change and request it at least be analyzed is that i don't want the approval of the funding to become a contentious thing that happens and there's there's there's controversy over that

[02:17:13] um still as was said folks can still voice their concerns voice their opinions talk to staff about what's happening they'll still be a transparent process will be uh made aware of the housing board so they'll still happen and it will still sort of occur in front of the the view of the public it's just it won't be politicized or be potentially politicized uh by coming to the board for for for award it also adjusts the scoring matrix to make affordability the most important factor it's hard to say that we have an affordable housing fund and affordability is not the main thing that it scores on so i wanted to say that that the difference is important i appreciate that because it prioritizes actually affordability and looks at as you said joni deeper affordability

[02:17:52] that we're not able to quite quite get at with some of our other tools in the toolbox um we have also incorporated some of the best practices from other localities like we said um obviously we're building on a learning curve that other folks have already sort of tried and had their challenges with so um really appreciate that work now i will say i'll be hoping that as we go through our first uh period of review and submissions and applications and approvals and awards hopefully that we still look to make uh look improvements like you said naturally things are going to come up that folks will uh will want to see to improve the process

[02:18:30] i really also like the um the addition of the worksheet i think that'll help a lot of folks not only for the developers themselves but also frankly for your staff so everyone is literally reading from the same sheet of music on what's required of folks which i think is going to be uh sort of well in hand as well um i will say in the looking ahead though i hope that we can look at um homeownership carrying greater weight uh we know ownership provides housing stability and economic mobility and these opportunities are out of reach for so many people our community Number two, I know that we have further road to travel in terms of sort of fine-tuning how we talk about things,

[02:19:08] but I don't think affordability should be conflated with unit type. The last two bullets of the affordability matrix concern the development concept, not affordability. They should be moved to the development concept category at some point in the future. Let's not limit ourselves, right? I know there are other tools that were sort of talked about that we didn't adopt.

[02:19:25] I know I had a long discussion with you all, land trusts, emerging developers, resident-led initiatives. There's a lot of good talent in this community just beyond the same old, same old developers that we hear from with these development projects. Let's start to harness and empower them through being able to use some of the resources in this fund.

[02:19:43] Moving away from a strict yearly cadence, I know that's a far-flung thing for right now. Getting a good cadence going so people have regular, reliable timelines is great, but hopefully we'll be able to get to a point where we're able to facilitate more revolving and rolling applications and also ensuring that when we talk about families, we're talking about families of all types and stripes, right?

[02:20:06] We have single mothers out there. We have other folks that have other living arrangements where we shouldn't pigeonhole folks into being families in order to have the best outcome when it comes to waiting with this. So as we continue to look at what's actually on the street, how people are actually living, how we can actually deliver the best impact for affordability for our residents.

[02:20:24] Let's not limit ourselves based on just what we believe our families as they currently exist. Thank you, Madam Chair. All right, Supervisor Bailey. Thank you, Madam Chair. Joni, you watching me? Okay, thank you.

[02:20:39] I just merely want to say thank you because you did come back very quickly with the information that we need to make some good decisions in partnering with you. And that's real important as we go through this housing exercise and making sure that people have shelter all across the county.

[02:20:58] And so we really appreciate that. We've come a long way from 2020 to now. And I just want to, as Madam Chair would say, state that. I want to name that, you know, because that's real important when we talk about making joint decisions on housing for people that have never had housing before or just want to be here.

[02:21:20] So thank you so much. Thank you, Elisha. All right. Anything else? Supervisor Gordy. Thank you, Madam Chair. You know, as we've gone through this process, you know, I've been frustrated at the limitations that we have as a county in terms of what we can do in terms of affordable housing and the ordinance.

[02:21:46] And once again, I know this is being attacked again during this legislative session, and I'm hopeful that moving forward that we will have a greater flexibility as a county to get after affordable housing in Prince William County.

[02:22:02] I've been a steadfast advocate for our affordable housing fund because I do believe the greatest wealth creator in America is homeownership and giving people today, especially when we look at many of the, you know, there have been numerous articles about the struggles of many of our younger population struggling to be able to just get into a home.

[02:22:28] And it's interesting because I'm looking on page 35 of the income limits, and we're talking about 50% of area median income. We're talking about $82,000. And you're talking about a college graduate just trying to figure out how in the world to be able to afford a house in Prince William County.

[02:22:46] You know, we're going to need help. But incidentally, just last week, I believe there was an article that came out discussing how affordable homes or even, as we describe it, low-income housing works better when it's associated with market-rate housing, and that's something that Joni talked about today, and prioritizing those things that give it that connection because it creates a greater sense of community, and it also creates a greater sense of the ability towards wealth creation.

[02:23:17] And so I appreciate all the work the staff has done on this. I look forward to seeing how we can continue to work to open up doors to homeownership to more of our population. And so, yeah, just thank you for all the work you've done on this, Joan.

[02:23:33] You've been at this for quite some time. And so we're finally here. So thank you. And Elijah, you too. All right. I don't see anyone else. So let's go ahead and take our vote.

[02:23:53] Vote unanimous. All right. Thank you very much. Let's have the confetti. All right. Is there anything else on this, Mr. Shorter? All right. Thank you. So we are now moving on to supervisor's time.

[02:24:14] I would like to get, before we go to individual updates, I would like to get a motion to move. Unless anyone has anything else they would like to pull off, I'd like to get a motion for 10A through 10J.

[02:24:32] So moved. Second. It's been properly moved and seconded. Any discussion? Usually there's none, so let's go ahead and vote. Vote unanimous. And then I'd like to get a separate motion for 10K.

[02:24:48] So moved. So it's been moved and seconded. Let's take a vote on that one.

[02:25:03] Motion passes. Vote unanimous. Chair Jefferson abstaining. All right. Thank you so very much. We are now going to go with our individual updates.

[02:25:20] I'm going to go first. Why not? This is a little different. I just turned 50, okay? I'm being bold. I'm being bold, okay? So I would like to begin with my notices to appoint and reappoint. I would like to appoint Michelle Weatherly to the Region 7 Workforce Development Board.

[02:25:37] I would also like to reappoint Mr. Curtis O. Porter to the Human Rights Commission. I also want to make a lot of acknowledgments. Last week was a heck of a week with all the snow and the ice. I would really like to thank VDOT and our emergency personnel.

[02:25:55] They have done a wonderful job. It's been a tough job, and I know not everyone's happy. I know everyone on this board has been working diligently with their constituents, but this has been an unusual circumstance because of the heavy ice and sleet that we've had.

[02:26:11] I also want to thank Volunteer Prince William County. They have been out there coordinating with their volunteers to help people in need. I also would like to thank Mr. Josh Doe in Montclair and his sons because they were helping out in the community as well.

[02:26:27] I have at the end of my block an elderly neighbor who both her and her husband are elderly. She broke her arm. And I went over to check on her and I'm standing in her driveway on frozen over snow. I'm not even making a dent in the snow.

[02:26:43] There was no way I could have helped show her out. But Mr. Doe and his sons, they came out, and they made sure that she was able to go to her physician appointment later that week. So I really want to thank everybody. Even if I don't know your names, I know the work that you've done.

[02:27:00] We could not have gotten out of this. We could not be where we are today. I know it's tough on the schools. Superintendent McDade has been working with the community on trying to reopen schools safely. From what I understand, they also have a two-hour delay tomorrow. I know that there are a lot of happy teenagers.

[02:27:18] My son is among them. But I also want to thank the community members, the custodians and the school staff who've worked hard to, again, clear out the roadways, clear out the sidewalks as best as they can, and welcome our students back. I also want to give a special congratulations.

[02:27:33] We have a young woman, Mystique Rowe, if I'm saying that correctly, who was named to the U.S. World. She's going to be competing in the Olympics on the skeleton team. We did have someone who tried, who was really close, but unfortunately did not qualify for skating.

[02:27:54] And I really hope that at the next Olympics that she will be there shining. But it is amazing what Prince William County residents are able to do and achieve. We also had Shambuzi, I posted on Facebook, who won a Grammy last night.

[02:28:11] And that's a really, or not last, yeah, Saturday, I'm sorry, Sunday night. That's a really big deal. We have some amazing people in our community. And the final thing I just want to say, the state of the county. That was another casualty of the snow. I love the state of the county. It's a great way for members of our community to come out and learn what we're doing within the county.

[02:28:32] So that has been moved to Monday, March 2nd. I'm hoping by March that we will be out of the snowy mess. Apparently, you know, apparently February is the snowiest month in Virginia. So I'm just not even dealing.

[02:28:48] I'm not trying to find anything in February. We're just going straight to March. And hopefully next year I'll be able to keep it in January. So that's it for my updates. I'm going to mix it around a little bit. I'm going to go to Supervisor Angry and then Supervisor Vega. Thank you, Madam Chair. Just to not kind of tie up, you're going to get a lot of thank yous about all the snow support.

[02:29:08] So everybody that you just named and everyone involved, like, thank you. It has been incredible that whole week. And there was a lot going on. Now, all I want to ask and make sure we can do is, I appreciate what VDOT did.

[02:29:24] They did that initial one. They cleared it out. But we have turning lanes with mountains of snow that aren't turning lanes anymore and literally are going to cause some serious accidents. I'll even speak about Smoke Court and Dell Boulevard right up here by Stonebridge Town Center.

[02:29:41] That lane is gone, and there are many more lanes like that. I just, if we could somehow, and I know this is going to eat into VDOT's budget because they do that at that one point, and if they come back out and do it again, someone's got to pay for these operators and these contracts. But there are going to be some mountains of snow, and they're sitting right now in these turning lanes and sometimes in the Middle Island lane pushed out more of that.

[02:30:02] We've got to get something through there to push that out a little more. It's getting softer now so you can move it because it was very hard before this last week, very concrete like a brick wall. So I just think we've got to go around Prince William County and look at those areas where it's really going to become a hazard for folks and then figure that out.

[02:30:20] And then also, really, I know you all are saying it, but these people are walking on the road, and I know they've got to get to work, and this is what they're doing to get to these bus stops or to their locations. We've got to figure that out. Like, I don't know what the solution is on that because that's a lot of work to figure, but I just want to stress that.

[02:30:39] I do want to, you know, get in off of that. I want to congratulate the House of Mercy. They did a ribbon cutting for another super ice freezer they have in the location, and things are going well there. I also want to congratulate the police recruit graduation that just graduated.

[02:30:55] Now, I'm going to clean up my little action because I said fire department graduation. But I'm telling you, because our police officers are hot, and there we go. I just got to clear that up. But congratulations, and I was told about that, so congratulations with that.

[02:31:14] So we have a couple of Black History Month events coming up. So I just want to put those on the radar that we have a Black History Month reception hosted by Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated. The details are on my website, and I'll try to get those out again.

[02:31:31] I don't have them here, and I don't want to misquote anything. And that's on February the 7th. February the 8th, this Sunday, is the town of Dumfries is doing a Black History Month celebration at Little Union Baptist Church, and it starts at 1230. And that will do it for my updates.

[02:31:48] Thank you, Madam Chair. All right. Supervisor Vega. Thank you, Madam Chair. I want to start off by giving my notice of intent to reappoint Stephen Spiker to the BOE. His resume should be on file. Talking about the snowstorm, I, too, want to thank Dick Burke and his team.

[02:32:05] as soon as I was getting requests for assistance I was just forwarding them to Dick and team and they were on it as soon as as they could and in my opinion it was a quick turnaround also I do agree with the issue that Supervisor Angry has raised in regards to the ice I can't recall in recent memory another storm that has produced as much ice as this one and so while I understand the frustration this is an opportunity for us to learn from this snowstorm and I think that when another one comes we're going to be better prepared but I certainly want to acknowledge

[02:32:41] the frustration but want to reiterate all of the work from our county staff on making sure that they cleaned the roads and just so that folks can keep this at the forefront of these conversations as well some roads are managed by the HOA some are privately owned not everything is VDOT not everything is the county's responsibility and so while I understand that folks may be frustrated it's also important to make sure that we know who's responsible for cleaning what so that we can go to the proper channels and if folks need guidance our office our offices I don't want to speak for you all but I just did can help you all figure out who is responsible for taking care of

[02:33:20] cleanup and I just want to put in a plug also because I know that Dr. McDade was under a lot of fire taking a lot of arrows I am a parent of two Prince William County Public School students and I understand that oftentimes there are decisions that are made not just on the school side but also here at the Board of County Supervisor level where folks don't really understand the process and all of the considerations that we have to take whether it's land use whether it's the budget whatever the case may be there are a lot of considerations that Dr. McDade has to take

[02:33:56] into account when she decides to open or close the schools we have a lot of students that rely on a hot meal from the school division and when you close schools that impacts students in different capacities with that being said if you as a parent do not feel that it is safe for your child to go to school by all means you have that right to keep your child at home and I only say this because again oftentimes we get emails there is a rhetoric that is pushed a narrative that is pushed and all of the facts do matter so I'm happy that the kids were in school today two hour delay

[02:34:33] I already got the notification while being here that they are delayed again for two hours tomorrow, so plan accordingly. Moving right along, I want to thank Ms. April Thomas with the Realtors Association for inviting me to a very productive meeting. We had over a dozen realtors that attended this meeting, and we discussed several items, and I look forward to more conversations of this sort.

[02:34:56] And lastly, Mr. Shorter, I want to know what all it will take to broadcast our Board of County Supervisors meeting through Facebook Live. And so I can do it in a form of directive.

[02:35:12] I can do it right here, right now, like I just did. But I thought it was very interesting to – it's not a directive, so we don't need the process, but if you all want the process, we can go to it. The Board of County Supervisors over in Stafford, they transmit their Board of County Supervisors meeting through Facebook Live.

[02:35:32] And I just think that it's another way for folks to have access to these meetings and to see it in real time. And so I'd be interested in pursuing that and obviously welcome whatever feedback you can give us. And that is all I have.

[02:35:48] Thank you, Madam Chair. All right. And then, Supervisor Gordy, then Bodie. Oh, I'm sorry. I do have one last thing, and I did still have time. I did. Just go. Just go. i know that the data center maps just went live and we've gotten a lot of emails from folks saying that some information is not accurate be patient it just launched you know they're going to get it right they're going to get these numbers right and so i just wanted to publicly acknowledge the emails that i've gotten while also putting in a plug for those in charge of updating monitoring the the map but i'm also thank you for that it's fantastic thank you all right and supervisor gordy

[02:36:22] Thank you, Madam Chair. First, thank you for recognizing Mystique Rowe, proud graduate of Brentsville District High School. Go Tigers! Yeah, that's it. Go Tigers! And so, yeah, that's very exciting. The first high school graduate from Prince William County to make it to the Winter Olympics.

[02:36:40] That's very, very exciting. And, you know, while everyone was here fighting the snow, the Navy had me out in Denver on orders for a week. So I really want to appreciate all the work of my staff, and I was keeping up with emails and watching what was happening with, you know, folks who were contacting the office.

[02:37:04] And as always, VDOT, Dick Burke, his leadership is always, hey, we're going to be maintaining open lines of communication. And so I really do appreciate VDOT and Dick Burke and his team. And so I just want to highlight that, but also recognize the fact that, I mean, things could always be worse.

[02:37:29] I have family in Northeast Louisiana that have been out of power for over 10 days and still can't walk to their front door because of ice. And so I think we got off pretty well. It's been challenging, but there have certainly been places in our nation who've been hit much harder from all of this.

[02:37:50] And so we just we recognize that that these can be very dangerous events. And and so making sure that we keep an eye on each other, take care of each other. That's what times like this is where we understand what community is all about.

[02:38:08] And so with nothing else to offer, Madam Chair, I will turn it back over to you. Thank you. Thank you. Supervisor Bode. Thank you, Madam Chair. going to sound a little bit of a broken record, but I wanted to open by thanking everyone who's been working hard to keep roads plowed, to plow roads to begin with, all the neighbors that have dug people out, what have you. And to piggyback off of what somebody at Supervisor Vegas said is once you get to, especially to the mid-county rural, more rural parts of our county, it becomes harder to plow those areas, right? There are a lot of roads, especially I know in Mid-County that

[02:38:44] Super Reservaic and I share, where there are so many tucked smaller roads where it gets hard to even get the plow down there to get to plow it. So, you know, as was said, continue to reach out to our offices. You know, we have a good connection to Dick Burke and VDOT, as long as they are VDOT maintained roads and not HOA or pipe stems. I'm on a pipe stem, so it was me and my neighbors plowing ourselves out, but we also had to have shovels because that first upper layer of ice had to be done with that but again if you're if you're in a vdot right of way vdot road um please let our offices know we can get in touch with vdot to have that done and to look at those those

[02:39:23] second looks at those roads um the first responders mentioned it earlier the folks who have been dealing with car accidents with folks um who have been slipping and sliding along the roads and their vehicles all those things wanted to highlight that as well um and in terms of appreciate some that Swearers are angry has said a couple times this time around is, you know, really looking at some of those sidewalks, but also, frankly, the corners where our children gather to get on buses.

[02:39:51] I cannot tell you how many times I've seen where the bus stops are. The kids can't stay on the shoulder. They can't stay on the sidewalk. They can't stay on a corner because there is no corner. It's an ice mountain. And while I do have some adventurous teenagers that like climbing those, much to their own peril. I don't recommend it. And so we still need to have a conversation at some point on how we address that. That all said, really appreciated the time that I was able to have with Christina Wynn and Keisha yesterday talking about the maritime study, which is still moving forward. I'm going to give the kudos to the county exec and everyone in the county staff

[02:40:30] for getting the other things that were discussed earlier, the data center map. I'm going to echo what Suarez or Vegas said it's a work in progress going to take some time for the IT folks and everyone else uh that's been a cross team that's put that together uh to to get the data right um and then also just the fact that we continue to have uh improvements on transparency in this county that I really appreciate you know we have pre-wc works we have that data center map that I know has been requested by uh constituents for for quite some time and the only request that I would add to that at some point, is I keep getting asked, you know, these data centers are either

[02:41:09] complete, under construction, there's permitting that's being done, what's going to be that long range economic impact on the tax rolls? I know that's harder to track, but it's a question I get asked all the time, you know, what's on the horizon? I know that, you know, in terms of complete buildings, they don't get tracked really in our five-year plans or anything like that, but if we get some more data on some of the projections around that, I think would be helpful.

[02:41:34] The last thing I will say is next week on the 11th, I will be having my annual Boards, Committees, and Commission dinner. We're looking forward to breaking bread with all the appointees for the Occoquan District, and I appreciate all your service. Thank you, Madam Chair.

[02:41:49] Thank you so very much. Supervisor Stewart. I want to thank, again, all the first responders and everybody that helped during the ice storm, and I'll pass at this moment. Supervisor Bailey.

[02:42:06] i mean i get his time manager okay just saying um so good afternoon everyone uh just want to say on the 3rd of february i started uh to thanking uh just wanted to thank the county and vdot for on today for the the amazing job that you did in protecting our citizens and i also want to thank dr mcdade everybody has said that uh for her patience and for her overwhelming concern for our families and for our students she you know she took a really hard hit but she's she's really

[02:42:45] trying to make to balance it all out so that our kids are continually educated but she worked well with us in terms of the snow and then to Brian Meisner and his team you rock as well just thank you for uh your care and working with VDOT and lastly for Dick Burke you know the communication allowed us to communicate with our communities, it just gets, it keeps getting gooder and gooder.

[02:43:09] So thank you so much. And I just want to thank the HOA presidents and their management teams for participating in my HOA town hall that I had. It was a robust conversation.

[02:43:26] Keep coming so that we can continually be engaged in the community. Then on the 21st, I participated in the graduation for session 62, where our illustrious vice chair called it the fireman's ground. But it was a beautiful day.

[02:43:41] It was a beautiful day. So congratulations again to you. And then to our own Chrissy Falls for your continual advocacy in human trafficking. I appreciate the training, the in-depth training. It really meant a lot to me and my team, and we will continue to work with you.

[02:43:57] On the 29th, I had my state of the Potomac district. And so to the 100-plus participants that was on that virtual call, thank you so much. It was the best ever. And to my team, who did an exceptional job, especially my chief of staff, who brought us all together and made sure that everybody had a chance to participate, I really appreciate the outcome of the state of Potomac.

[02:44:22] And then on the 31st, the swearing in for our own, our very own, secretary of the commonwealth candy king it was a beautiful day and so secretary we are very proud to call you our own and so thank you so much we had a celebration in the town of dumfries and it was beautiful and then we had a reception reception reception pardon me afterwards where i bestowed her with a proclamation on the second uh i attended yesterday evening the virginia transit Association's reception where all of the transportation authorities came together to meet the Secretary of Transportation, our very own Nick Donahue, who's going to help

[02:45:01] us with making sure that mobility is exceptional in our communities. And so to all of the advocates, professionals, and lawmakers that came, thank you. And again, congratulations to the new VRE CEO, Katie Cho.

[02:45:17] We're glad that you're here. And then upcoming events on the 4th and the 5th, I'm looking forward to being with my colleagues at the VACO Local Government Day in the General Assembly. We've got a lot of work to do there as well. And then on the 7th, as Supervisor Angry had said, we're going to have our Black History Month celebration at Little Union Baptist Church, where I'll be honored to be one of the guest speakers.

[02:45:39] And lastly, I just want to share with all of my colleagues and to the community, in honor of Black History Month, the legacy of Shirley Chisholm, who was the first black woman elected to the United States Congress, who declared, if they don't give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.

[02:45:57] Her courage and vision continues to inspire generations, and I certainly stand on her shoulders, along with Madam Chair, as one of the first. So thank you, and have a great February. All right, thank you. This concludes our supervisor's time.

[02:46:14] We are now going to go in for closed session. Ten minutes, y'all. Okay. You know who you are. Ten minutes. Ten minutes. You have ten minutes break before we go into closed session. I will find you. Thank you.

[02:46:58] All right. Are we rolling? All right.

[02:47:14] We are back from closed session. Can I get a motion to certify? So moved. It's improperly moved and seconded. Let's take a vote. Vote unanimous.

[02:47:37] All right. Before I ask for adjournment, I just want to remind everyone that there is no 7 o'clock meeting it has been canceled so with that can i get a motion to adjourn so moved second all right really nicely you are so gordy bailey all right let's go ahead and take our vote vote unanimous

[02:48:02] cells burying county generated waste and capping cells extending the life of the landfill residents

[02:48:49] can still dispose of trash recycling and yard waste without charge at the landfill and compost facility customers experiencing changes in their collection service fees should contact their contracted hauler or hoa with any questions or concerns for more information visit pwcva.gov slash disposal fees today we welcome for the first time this new traveling exhibit of the history and legacy

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