Coraggio Consulting
Prince William Board of County Supervisors — Joint Meeting with the School Board, Tuesday, October 13, 2026

Date: Tuesday, October 13, 2026
Place: Prince William County Board of County Supervisors, Virginia
Length: 1h 48m (video)
Official meeting video (Prince William County, Granicus): https://pwcgov.granicus.com/player/clip/3921
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 2026-10-26. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:00] - All right, everyone, it is 6:30 on Tuesday, October 13th. We are gonna go ahead and get started if people can take their seats. Before we formally begin, I have two of my colleagues who have to read their COIA statements.

[00:00:20] - Okay, I thought Angry was gonna go first, but I'll go. Thank you, Madam Chair and Mr. Chairman. Before the board and school board begin their discussion and consideration of the board and school board legislative priorities and draft agendas, I need to declare a personal interest these matters. My wife is a school's employee. As a school's employee, my wife and I are members of a group which is affected by these matters. I will be participating in these matters because I'll be able to do so fairly, objectively in the public interest. Thank you, Madam Chair.

[00:00:49] Madam Chair and Mr. Chair, before the board and school board begin their discussions and considerations of the board and school board legislative priorities and draft agendas, I need to declare a personal interest in these matters. My wife is a school's employee.

[00:01:06] As a school's employee, my wife and I are members of a group which is affected by these matters. I will be participating in them, in these matters, because I am able to do so fairly, objectively, and in the public interest. Thank you, Madam Chair. All right, thank you so very much.

[00:01:23] It is a welcome sight to see so many of our legislators. Before I begin, I have the honor of introducing my congressman, and many of you, congressman for many of you, Representative Eugene Vindman. Would you like to present a few remarks?

[00:01:39] Thank you, Chair. Thank you for inviting me to attend this event. The last time I went to a meeting of the executive legislative meeting of the school board and the board of supervisors was a little less than two years ago.

[00:02:01] It was when I had been elected but had not been sworn in. And I will tell you, we've done some tremendous work, but we have a lot more work to do. So just a couple of things I want to cover briefly. CPF program, the community project funding program.

[00:02:17] Obviously, it's a pot of money that the federal government or Congress allocates to each member. And every year we have an allocation. In 27, we were able to support the Prince William Police Department communications improvements to the tune of about $770,000.

[00:02:37] Prince William County Police Department, again, to acquire a Marine vessel for $700,000. Phase 2 of Route 1 VRE station, pedestrian bridge, $850,000. FY 26, a pedestrian bridge on Route 1, $1 million.

[00:02:54] And we're just getting started. So I live in Prince William County. My kids have gone to school in Prince William County. I consider myself a strong supporter of both the county administration and the school board and want to be able to help. Just briefly, we have a youth mentorship program that is something that we started in this district. We love the opportunity to be able to partner with the schools in Prince William County and across the district to mentor young folks to enter a lifetime of

[00:03:31] service. Service Academy nominations, a congressional app challenge, congressional art competition, And besides that, again, I'm here to listen and let me know how I can help.

[00:03:48] Thank you. Thank you so very much. Chair Lateef? Am I presenting now? Oh, you're just going to do your welcome report. Okay, very good. So thank you for being here, everyone.

[00:04:03] My name is Barbara Lateef, chair of the school board. And yes, please. And it will remain so for as long as the public will continue to accept it. But these speakers are great, fantastic.

[00:04:20] It's the best this room has ever sounded. So thank you guys for setting this up so well. First off, I want to thank Congressman Vindman for being here. I think it's really important. And I'm going to just say this, this is my 10th year doing this. And he is the only congressman in our region who's come to our meetings to do this.

[00:04:38] I am grateful to have him as our congressman who has an ear to the ground of what's actually happening to the public. From a school standpoint, he has a summer youth initiative program that has been great.

[00:04:55] He has a program where he has a youth mentorship program, which has been excellent. These are opportunities that I have to say this in this day and age where our children have an opportunity in real live fashion, in person, talking to adults, getting mentored by adults, engaging in civics, know their responsibilities and rights, and they're not getting it from a screen or a textbook, and most importantly, not from AI.

[00:05:23] And in a time of dwindling opportunities for our children, for real world opportunities, I want to congratulate the congressman's office for engaging with the students of Prince William and the broader district that he represents for being able to do that. It is really important for us, and I think it's a model for how all the other offices should work.

[00:05:42] So I want to thank him and continue to thank him for sticking up for our students. You know, as for all of us, we do worry about a lot of the federal issues are impacting schools, and I won't get into all that. But other than that, I want to thank everyone for being here, and you'll hear about our legislative priorities.

[00:06:00] All right, thank you very much. Before we continue, I just want to have a few ground rules. We can only have four microphones active at one time. So when it comes to discussion, I will be doing my best at looking around. I will make sure that I get to everyone that I see.

[00:06:16] I also want to give a couple of acknowledges. We have Terrell Robinson, who is the chief of staff for Luke Torian. He is joining us here tonight. And we have Irene Roberts, who's the regional director for Senator Tim King. So thank you very much for being able to join us today.

[00:06:33] Really, I mean, looking around, I am very impressed by the number of people that we have here today. I guess dinner time does work and a good meal. So when we repeat this next year, I hope to see as many folks here again. But partnerships are very vital.

[00:06:50] It's what's needed to keep Prince William County moving forward. We are the second largest jurisdiction, the second largest county in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and we are growing. And so tonight we have a lot of things to discuss. I'm hoping to have a fruitful discussion. Again, I will be doing my best to make sure I'm looking around and getting as many people who want to speak as I can.

[00:07:11] But we're going to start out with Chair Lateef, who did not resist that cheesecake I see. You were trying. Yeah, I know I was trying. Can I have each of the school boards just introduce themselves? We'll start on this side with Lisa Zargarpur. Hi, Lisa Zargarpur, Coles District.

[00:07:30] Erica Trenenek, Brentsville District. Tracy Blake, Neabsco District. Justin Wilk, Potomac. Lori Williams, Woodbridge District. Wonderful, thank you.

[00:07:46] On behalf of the Prince William County School Board, thank you for the opportunity to share our priorities for this upcoming General Assembly session. In the packet, you will see our legislative priorities. Our agenda is centered on straightforward goals, ensuring that every student has access to outstanding educators, strong academic opportunities, modern learning environments, and support necessary to succeed.

[00:08:06] One of our most urgent priorities is strengthening the Virginia teacher pipeline. Recruiting talented educators is becoming increasingly difficult, particularly in the hard-to-staff areas such as special education. We support meaningful financial incentives for individuals entering the profession, including reduced or free state tuition for teacher preparation programs tied to a commitment to teach in Virginia.

[00:08:28] We also support expanding teacher residencies and apprenticeships, providing financial support during student teaching and addressing housing and other cost of living pressures that can prevent talented people from entering or staying in the profession. Recruitment alone, however, is not enough. Virginia must also remain competitive in keeping exceptional educators.

[00:08:46] That means increasing the Commonwealth's investment in teacher and support staff salaries and benefits. Additionally, we support restoring full funding for the cost of competing adjustments for Region 4 school divisions. We are competing for talent not only with surrounding school divisions, but with employers throughout one of the highest cost regions in Virginia.

[00:09:04] We also support greater flexibility in staffing early childhood special education programs. Qualified educators with K-12 special ed endorsements should have additional pathways to serve students ages 2 to 5. We are also asking the General Assembly to modernize several licensure and employment requirements that unnecessarily restrict our workforce.

[00:09:25] For elementary educators, we support allowing successful completion of the rigorous praxis and examination to satisfy content requirements for an elementary endorsement, bringing that process more closely in line with the pathways available for secondary educators. Virginia's educator shortage also requires practical flexibility.

[00:09:42] We support extending the current 90-day limitation for qualified and effective long-term substitute teachers. When a substitute holds a degree, has proven effectiveness, and provides stability for students, requiring a school division to replace that educator simply because an arbitrary deadline has been reached creates unnecessary disruption. We support making Virginia's international educator license renewable. Prince William County Schools currently hires approximately 100 international educators each year and these educators are an important part of addressing our staffing needs. And you know federal help will help with this as well as we continue to look for helping staff our schools. We also support allowing educators

[00:10:20] endorsed in deaf and hard of hearing education to teach American Sign Language courses and we We are asking Virginia to reduce the required break in services for VRS retirees returning to critical shortage positions from six months to one month. Experienced educators who want to continue serving students should have a reasonable pathway to return.

[00:10:36] Our workforce challenges extend beyond classroom teachers. Bus drivers, instructional assistants, specialists, and other support professionals are essential to the daily operations of our school. For example, we support eliminating the outdated requirement that prospective school bus drivers submit two personal statements attesting to their moral character candidates already complete professional reference checks and required criminal background screenings reducing unnecessary administrative barriers helps us recruit employees more efficiently while maintaining safety that same principle eliminating unnecessary barriers while maintaining high standards should guide our approach to student learning and accountability prince william county school supports rigorous

[00:11:16] academic standards and high expectations for every student at the same time accountability must be fair reliable and focused on improving learning we support repealing the requirement that a single high stakes assessment account for 10 percent of students final grade until virginia has established an assessment and performance system that is both rigorous and equitable we also support extending the final sol testing window from two weeks to four weeks this would provide greater flexibility for schools particularly when accommodating students with disabilities, other students requiring additional support in unforeseen circumstances.

[00:11:51] More broadly, we believe Virginia's accountability framework should place significant value, recognize both student mastery and student growth. A strong accountability system should provide communities with accurate picture of school performance while also recognizing progress schools made with students they serve. Finally, we want to make the transition from high school to post-secondary education easier for Virginia students.

[00:12:10] We support expanding direct admission partnerships between Virginia public high schools and institutions of higher education. We also want students to receive clearer and earlier information about state and federal financial aid, including financial aid information alongside admissions offers whenever possible. Students should not miss an opportunity for higher education simply because the admission or financial aid process became a barrier.

[00:12:32] Our mission is to launch thriving futures for every student. Many students, for many students, that future will include entering the workforce directly after graduation or pursuing credentials, apprenticeships, and other career prep opportunities. We are asking Virginia to create stronger incentives for private sector employees to provide work-based learning opportunities for students and to fully fund career and technical education certifications and apprenticeship programs.

[00:12:56] Businesses need talented employees and students need authentic opportunities to develop knowledge and skills employers are seeking. State policy can help bring those two needs together. Students also deserve high quality and efficient, environmentally responsible places to learn. We support greater state prep, school construction, renovation, modernization.

[00:13:14] School construction cannot continue to fall almost entirely in local communities. Maintaining modern education facilities should be a shared state and local responsibility. Another significant priority is modernizing Virginia's support for classrooms. The Commonwealth must recognize the actual cost of meeting the standards of quality in operating a modern school system.

[00:13:32] Today's schools must provide far more than minimum instructional requirements envisioned decades ago. students need safe facilities technology mental health support specialized personnel nurses and highly qualified educators we therefore support full funding not simply minimum funding of the soqs including the cost of critical support personnel taken together these priorities are about giving school divisions the people resources flexibility and authority needed necessary to serve students effectively we're asking the commonwealth to invest in educators who make learning possible modernize policies that no longer reflect today's workforce realities create a fair system of assessment and accountability, and strengthen the pathways connecting our classrooms to college, careers, and commonwealth economy.

[00:14:13] Speaking of investment, we support all legislation that secures additional funding to offset reductions in federal support for school divisions, and for full funding of universal free meals through the federal child nutrition programs, we oppose all bills that are unfunded mandates.

[00:14:29] Prince William County Public Schools serves one of the largest and most diverse student populations in the nation. The decisions made during this General Assembly session will have a direct impact on our classrooms, our workforce, and ultimately the future of our students. We look forward to working collaboratively with the delegation, leaders across the Commonwealth to advance policies to strengthen public education and help every student thrive.

[00:14:49] Happy to take questions. All right, thank you so very much. I'm going to open the discussion first regarding school board, their priorities, if anyone has any questions, or if anyone from our Richmond delegation wants to share their thoughts of they're working on regarding education all right not everyone at once i'm looking i'm looking all right we are going to move on to the next and i just want all of our legislators to know that i will give you time at the end to talk about some of the priorities your priorities and what you're

[00:15:24] monitoring enrichment all right so i'm going to ask mr glenn loop um to present for the county thank you chair jefferson in the spirit of time i'm going to highlight the priorities that are all new items in this year's legislative agenda. The board will act on the full agenda next Tuesday at the full supervisor meeting, which has about 125 items in it, but I'm going to highlight the top 10 new items from this year's legislative agenda. First, clarify public parking requirements as

[00:16:02] the legislators in this room know last year. Legislation was filed under the affordability package that addresses zoning and planning and parking standards. Some of those standards were deemed to be rather stringent upon a place such as Prince William County. So we're proposing a collection of items to reform that bill. Update procurement limits on transportation projects.

[00:16:31] These are limits that haven't changed since 2017. So transportation's requesting some adjustments in that that are not very dramatic. Combat exploitive towing practices. The police department brought forth this concept based upon a series of case studies on abusive towing practices.

[00:16:51] I think the testimony that you could hear from the police department on this clearly makes the case for presenting some degree of reform in this measure, either in the form of resolution, study, or legislation. Allowing adult detention officers to process walk-in warrants and protective orders and also seek to allow adult detention center officers and sheriff's deputies to serve protective orders.

[00:17:18] This is an efficiency request also by the police department. The feasibility study, presenting the concept of a feasibility study for bottled recycling programs, Chair Jefferson brought this concept forward based upon an Oregon model.

[00:17:35] I don't know how many of you remember going back to when former Senator Madison Murray bottle bill legislation was his pet project during his entire tenure in the General Assembly. This could be an opportunity to take a fresh look at that type of a recycling proposal at the local and regional level. Moving to a collection of budget priorities for this session, funding for the Sudley Road Corridor Improvement Project. This is a $6.5 million request for a combination economic and community development measure to benefit the

[00:18:11] Sudley Road corridor brought forth by our planning department. This would be a very nominal investment for a significant potential economic impact on that corridor. Funding for the Powell Creek crossing of the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail, a $7.5 million request to complete sections of this trail and links to the Leesylvania State Park. Funding for foundation and soil management. This is based upon legislation that Delegate Henson spearheaded, what, one, two years ago, I believe. This would be a funding request to capitalize that at some

[00:18:49] level from the General Assembly. And funding for the improvements at the Virginia Railway Express Woodbridge Station. This is a concept and a project that's been included for several years in the capital improvement program for the Virginia Railway Express. This comes with the blessing of the Virginia Railway Express and with county requests to upgrade facilities at that station. And lastly, the police department also brought forth an area of concern with e-bike regulation. Also, Supervisor Angry encouraged the inclusion of this in this year's legislative

[00:19:29] agenda and i think the virginia association of counties is going to include language on this subject as well this will await the work the issuance of a work group report from dmv that's supposed to be out sometime in early november but there's a great deal of public safety concerns surrounding this area and the concerns are reflected in the reform package that's in front of you be glad to take any questions anybody may have miss jefferson all right thank you so very much i'm looking around the room if you have any questions um delegate henson good evening

[00:20:07] delegate henson of whipperidge i guess my two things are can you expound upon the towing practices and then the walk-in warrants or if someone in the room can yes we have staff in the police department that can address those items all right and supervisor bailey thank you very much madam chair good evening to everyone just wanted to highlight uh the uh last item if i could the funding for improvements at the VRE railway station in Woodridge.

[00:20:39] And if my colleague, Supervisor LaCroix, had any additional comments, I welcome them. But just want to thank the Congressman for his support and allowing us to move forward with that project as well, earlier part of the year.

[00:20:55] This is an opportunity for us to enhance the mobility and the transportation, seeing that And plumbing has increased going in and out of the county, D.C. area, back home to Prince William County. And so it will allow us to improve that station.

[00:21:11] There's several things going on there, including the bridge and the enhancements that's denoted here. But we do need the support of the General Assembly as we go forward to make sure that this project is completed. So thank you in advance for your support. All right. Thank you so very much.

[00:21:28] I'm looking at the other side of the room. Who was it? turn on your light is it senator who had their light on or who wants to speak mr shorter madam chair we wanted to respond to delegate henson's request i think there was a question on uh two items that pd put forward good evening thank you for the question i'm shana rubish i'm an assistant chief with the police department in prince william county and i can explain a little bit about the predatory tow practices in the last year the police department has taken reports from community

[00:22:03] members who have had their car towed by there are a handful of operators that we believe are operating under predatory tow practices. This would fall under 46.2-18 prohibited acts by tow truck drivers and towing and recovery operators. We're looking to create some mechanisms through legislation or a study to look at 46.2-118 to add some additional scrutiny to what it is people or tow operators may charge. We've had community members have their car towed by someone that they

[00:22:42] did not call to tow their car, and then were charged in some cases upward of $10,000 to get their car back we've also had some bad actor tow operators who have filed mechanics liens on people's vehicles to convert the title to their ownership rather than giving the car back we have some we have coordinated with some counties in nearby jurisdictions who have had experiences similar to what our community members have in Prince William County and we've also coordinated with

[00:23:17] National Insurance Crime Bureau and TOW, sorry, the president of one of our TOW lobbyists that would like to partner with us on this. I'm sorry, you had a follow-up?

[00:23:40] Yes. So my question, I believe you already stated you're fine with a study if this is converted into a study? Yes. We believe the legislation is in order, but if a study is appropriate to examine how it's Occurring in different areas around the state that would be what wonderful as well. Gotcha. And have you interacted with Arlington County because I know we had a bill dealing with their Funding and how much they can charge for towing So what I'm afraid of is if we build it bring this bill forward

[00:24:14] They may have some concerns too. So I don't know if you if the county has already talked to Arlington possibly I'm not aware that we have spoken to Arlington directly. Okay. No worries delegate did you have a question about the adult detention center issue yes uh the walk-in warrants and protective orders so good evening i'm dave burkhardt i'm the assistant chief of police for operations for the police department so this request is simply an ask to fill what

[00:24:47] appears to be an inadvertent gap in the state code so the state code when someone walks up to the adc and they say i know i'm wanted i want to turn myself in jailers and corrections officers don't have the authority to execute the warrant if the person happens to be in their custody and a warrants obtained they can execute a warrant so they know how to execute warrants and they're trained in executing warrants and the state code allows it in those circumstances but someone appears at the jail and says I want to turn myself in I have to tell them essentially to hold that thought call a police officer to come in off the street to execute that

[00:25:27] want so it's really just an inadvertent gap in the law that appeals understood uh senator to careful you had a question no okay it's okay if you do all right thank you delegate henson anything else all right so madam chair yes if i may uh just before the police sit down i just wanted to commend the police department today the power went out in the sudley corridor and traffic lights on one of the busiest off ramps from i-66 right in the middle of rush hour were all down and the police department within minutes had officers at each one of those intersections directing traffic

[00:26:05] with no accidents and thank you so very much for that i do believe that we have the best police department in the commonwealth of virginia i'm going to move on to supervisor victor angry thank you madam chair um i just i want to um be clear in uh the concerns of what i would say are e-vehicles not just e-bikes um and you know there's a saying don't throw out the baby with the bathwater so i do know that there are many people who now have an opportunity to take advantage

[00:26:42] of travel to get to and from and these are adults these are law-abiding my concern is the youth and how reckless it's become with not understanding stop signs not understanding crosswalks not understanding stopping and looking both ways before you zoom across the street at 25 miles an hour on an electric vehicle so i think there's something that we need to tighten up on in this realm that's going to require a whole lot more digging and thought process to it because what i don't want to do is inconvenience those who are taking advantage of now an opportunity of

[00:27:20] where we should be and i'm sorry i'll just put it out there this is the marty mcfly back to the future this is 2026 we have an opportunity to use our technology to an advantage which i'm seeing a lot of good in that but it's the bad that i'm seeing and the potential of any one of us hitting anyone on one of these vehicles because i just no one wants that so i think there's something that we can do to tighten up what we are now experiencing with electric vehicles thank you manager all right thank you i don't know if anyone wanted to respond to that um supervisor gordy um

[00:27:59] i just want to echo what uh supervisor angry just said about the e-bikes i'm getting a lot of calls from folks complaining about how fast kids are riding on the sidewalks with their e-bikes. And we're also seeing an increase in accidents and people getting hurt.

[00:28:17] So this is something that clearly is a countywide issue and is of grave concern for quite a few folks. I also wanted to point out on the ULITAP, the $6.5 million to address the recommendations that were provided in the ULITAP.

[00:28:38] This area, if you're not aware, it's sort of a mixed bag. It's an area that has increasing poverty, but at the same time, it's also part of our Nexus 234 area. So we have the opportunity to do some incredible things and work partnering with Jordan Mason University and everything around Nexus 234.

[00:29:01] We're making investments in terms of residential, a new 1,000-unit development around the Manassas Mall to create redevelopment in that area. But Sudley Road itself is a challenge. And just in the way that it was built, it's not walkable.

[00:29:20] It is very challenging. And those were some of the things that ULI, the TAP, pointed out. And so they came up with some very good recommendations. And we really appreciate your support in trying to help us start to implement some of these recommendations to help resolve some of the challenges that were discovered or outlined and the solutions that were provided.

[00:29:46] So really do appreciate your consideration. Madam Chair. Just to follow up on Supervisor Gordy, I submitted a version of that in this year's budget. Did not make it in, but I'll work with Senator Rome to get the language that the county prefers, And we'll submit that in for this next budget.

[00:30:03] Because I think someone almost every year passes away from trying to cross Sudley because it's multiple, sadly. Thank you so very much. Supervisor Bailey. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. In addition to my earlier comments, I just want to highlight also in needing your support for the funding for the Powell's Creek Crossing of the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail.

[00:30:28] That's a combined trail between the Potomac District and the Woodbridge District, and it is in our efforts in expanding well-being here in our county. And so I just want to highlight that for you in needing your support.

[00:30:44] It was in the priorities last year, I think, Glenn, if I'm not mistaken, and it is reappearing again this year. And so just want to bring that to your attention in terms of it has an environmental component as well in terms of restoration. But just want to highlight that.

[00:31:00] Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you so very much. Anyone want to respond to that or before I go on to the next speaker? I see a head shake. I'm sorry, Delegate Franklin, do you have anything to add? That is wonderful.

[00:31:18] All right. I'm looking across. Does anyone else have any additional questions, comments? I'm looking very slowly. After this, what I'm going to do is I'm going to go around and let all of our lawmakers say a few words about what their legislative priorities are and some things they're working on.

[00:31:34] I see no one else going once, going twice. All right, I'm going to go ahead and I'm going to start over to my right. I'm going to start with Delegate Guzman. If you have some, sorry, caught you off guard. But if you would like to take a few minutes to discuss some of the things that you're working on and maybe some of your priorities, some of the bills that you intend to file.

[00:31:59] Thank you, Madam Chair. First, I would like to thank the County Board of Supervisors for the decisions that you guys have made recently on data centers. The community that I represent is struggling, and I truly appreciate how we are working together to hold data centers accountable.

[00:32:18] As far as the school board, well, as a mom of public schools, I am happy to raise my children in one of the best public schools in the country. We are beyond Virginia now, so congratulations on all the job that you are doing. Thank you.

[00:32:34] And also, I can see in the district that I'm representing now, for those who I live in Knoxville now, I represent parts of Bristol, Knoxville, parts of Gainesville, and parts of the outskirts of Manassas.

[00:32:50] And the community that I represent, well, it has a lot of development, but it's something that, a conversation that we need to start because while we have heard about e-bikes, the community that I represent don't even have bike trails.

[00:33:05] And we see bikes, regular bikes on the streets, and that's a conversation that we need to have. If we talk about transportation, we only have one VRE station within my district, and we would like to have more bus stops as a commissioner at the PRTC.

[00:33:21] That's something that I wanted to advocate for. On data center accountability, I think the communities have spoken loud and clear that we would like for those energy companies that are proposing transmission lights, the need of having underground routes.

[00:33:39] So I'm planning to work on that legislation for the upcoming year to ensure that energy companies, in part of their proposals, they also include underground as one of the proposals when they present to build these transmission lines.

[00:33:54] Education, I'm interested to know, I just came back from Alabama where I was invited by the Council of Southern Governments to visit the public education system in Alabama and how they have involved the private sector in public education as we're looking for resources.

[00:34:16] so I'm working on also legislation that will allow the private sector to send their workforce to our classrooms within their 40-hour work week but we still have to have conversations with appropriations in starting that program. We also we are in desperate need of teachers.

[00:34:38] I have spoken with Delegate Tran about renewing the international licenses. I addressed that it was also one of your priorities last year and I've spoken with her and she told me she's planning to reinstate that provision to ensure that we continue to have that program. I'm also excited to see the amount of international teachers that have come and participated, you know, in that program and how the school board and the superintendent have been so resourceful and thinking outside the box in order to address the teacher shortage.

[00:35:17] And I think that's it for now. And we are still three months ahead. I can believe that we are three months actually away to going back to Richmond. But we will continue to hold town halls and speak to the community to ensure that the voices of the community are heard once we go to Richmond.

[00:35:37] Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you so very much. Delegate Franklin. Thank you, Madam Chair and Mr. Chairman. Thank you all for hosting this meeting. Just a couple of things that I'm following. First, with regards to the schools. I was recently appointed to the State Regional, the Southern Regional Education Board, along with Delegate Sewell, and we actually just returned from Georgia, where a lot of the discussion was around education technology and the importance of it, but also some of the challenges, particularly around what some of the state governments have done in terms

[00:36:14] of restrictions and how state governments can provide more resources and better understanding around education technology. So I was happy to kind of get down in the weeds on that and learn more about some of the challenges. I also have parts of Stafford County, and one thing that they shared, and I'm curious, maybe after we're all done sharing, some of the challenges that Prince William County may have from with regards to state government around resources towards technology infrastructure and I know that that's mentioned in some of your priorities so we'd love to just have a little bit more of a conversation around that and how we can be helpful and then also I don't know that we've

[00:36:52] talked about universal pre-k and the work that you all have done about that I know Senator Foy and I have been bragging to anybody who would listen about the program that we're setting up here in Prince William. So we'd love for you all to also just hit on that a little bit more.

[00:37:08] And then with regards to teacher licensure, we'll definitely support Delegate Guzman, Delegate Schramm for their efforts in this upcoming session. And then also just flagging that we did do some legislation on alternative teacher licensures with regards to a study on how we can better provide pathways for teachers, particularly coming from COVID where we're still having some challenges with staffing. So that's something that I'll make sure to continue to follow. And we'll love you all's kind of assessment on that as well. With regards to the county, totally agree on the Powell's Creek crossing. I know that we've been working on that for a number

[00:37:44] of years now, as we share, as you mentioned, between Woodbridge and Potomac. And so we'll have a deeper conversation about what that could look like. And just to flag, the county has put in a lot of money itself towards the Powell's Creek crossing, so it's not like you guys are just coming to the state asking for money.

[00:38:02] The county has also invested a lot of money towards that as well. And then my good friend next to me has mentioned about the Soil and Management Foundation Program. I think every time I see her several times is when in the same conversation, so we will look at that and want to thank Delegate Henson for actually setting up that program from the state.

[00:38:22] So it is absolutely true that we need some additional funding for it. So let's figure out how the county and the state can maybe do that. And I know we'll have a conversation with appropriators about what makes the most sense, if anything, in the near future. And then just stuff that I'm following, I introduced a number of maternal health bills this past session.

[00:38:43] What I actually learned was Prince William County has some of the highest rates of infant deaths and maternal health, maternal deaths. And so I know that I'm working with Supervisor Bailey on potentially creating a task force to kind of look at this issue. And I'm hoping that the county can really work with us to kind of figure out how those linkages are working here in the county.

[00:39:07] I mean, we're the second largest in the Commonwealth, so just population density probably has a lot to do with it. But we also should talk about access to health care. um and i know that i've had that conversation with centira as well so um just wanted to flag that that's something kind of out of the realm of what we talked about tonight but something that i think we all should be paying attention to so thank you thank you i just want to say we're actually doing very well in time so at the end i'll also let our super superintendent talk about pre-k or anything else she wants to mention and if mrs shorter wants to address anything that was

[00:39:41] raised today all right delegate henson all right good evening so i think this is my fourth session coming up uh more gray hairs so we'll see if i turn fully gray by the end of 2027. um majority of my priorities has dealt with uh health uh and what's happening with a lot of the hospitals and and how the state is helping these hospitals maintain what's happening in Congress.

[00:40:13] As we know, they have passed a lot of things that have affected this state. So my main priority is making sure that we're able to sustain ourselves during these times. I did pass different legislation, 'cause I am on the rural select committee on health, relating to access to care.

[00:40:32] So that has been one of my top priorities of how do we get people access to care and expand that access to care. One of the newer programs that I think I'm working with Amazon with is relating with 24-hour pharmacies, especially in this county.

[00:40:48] We don't have a lot of 24-hour pharmacies. I think the closest one is CVS and Dell City. But how does that help the constituents on the Whippert side of the district? So trying to bob and weave those different things. Those are front and center for me.

[00:41:06] Everything else is, you know, we'll just have to see and just pay attention to what I filed in a couple of weeks. But right now, I'm still talking with the governor's office and with other people to kind of address what my full package would look like. All right, so you're leaving us in suspense.

[00:41:22] Absolutely. Senator McPike. Thank you, Madam Chair and Mr. Chair. It's good to see the boards together and having a good dialogue this evening. I guess a couple things for context. We're coming into the 45-day session, so it's a short session. And I think our context is really revolving around the impacts of H.R. 1 and our social services and our health care space.

[00:41:45] Certainly, we received two weeks ago in the Health Insurance Reform Commission the figures from the Bureau of Insurance. We've lost roughly 100,000 people from insurance rolls so far. Additional are expected to drop off, and that starts to shift sort of the baseline of coverage throughout our communities.

[00:42:04] Certainly in the services spaces coming next year, the impacts of H.R.1. You're going to see a domino. I'm sure some of your agencies are trying to keep track of the rulemaking, which is still not complete. And so systems are expected to roll out next year that aren't yet done.

[00:42:19] And so it's sort of flying blind into fairly significant financial impacts to our communities. So I know all of our staffs are going to be keeping an eye on those. Those are significant risks to our most vulnerable populations. It rolled back to things that we worked on together years ago, which is to make foster care automatic, health care until age 26.

[00:42:40] That is in the essential health plan. That's now an optional that Virginia does. That's now rolled back, so we're going to have to pay for certain things that are excluded at the federal level. And so that's something that's very near and dear to me that I've worked on for years. So there's really a lot of reevaluation that is going to have to occur in a very short session to evaluate the impacts.

[00:43:00] Our revenue has grown, but it's predominantly based on inflation from sales tax. If you look at the general growth rate, it really is attributable to the inflation that our consumers and constituents are facing right now. The other is non-withholding, meaning stock.

[00:43:17] Certainly the stock market has fed our revenue, but both of those are sort of temporary. At the same time, we see a convergence of federal spending shifts that are fairly tectonic in its shape. And so tracking the impacts to our communities on a whole host of fronts is going to be critically important.

[00:43:37] So it's hard to say from a revenue perspective and expenditure because the guidance is still being crafted and created at the federal level. And so there's a lot of work that's being done. I see a few heads nodding in that space that work in that space every day.

[00:43:52] So thank you for your work in the social services sector as well as the education. There certainly impacts to that. We see the impacts to our higher education and the revoking of international students. They pay higher dollars, so that shifts our burden to also our local in-state.

[00:44:11] So there's a pretty significant shift there at the higher ed level. And I think coming up, you'll see certainly the General Assembly taking up data center legislation on a number of different fronts, certainly with the governor's energy plan. I'm working on a demand flex bill that it passed this year focused on really shaving the peak, reducing the requirements for transmission lines.

[00:44:33] And I think you'll see some other initiatives and a lot of debate around data center. I'll leave the remainder of that comment to my colleague on the west side of Prince William County in the Senate. Flock cameras are certainly an area of certain debate right now. And certainly the abuses that have occurred are fairly clear of accessing data that people should not be allowed to access to track or stalk someone in many cases.

[00:45:00] And then also AI. So a number of different fronts there that are joint legislative audit review commission. And happy to have Delegate Thomas. Delegate Torian left the commission. But we're able to add another Prince William member of the delegation to the joint legislative audit review commission.

[00:45:19] Which is driving some of the major independent studies across the commonwealth. And happy to have Delegate Thomas join us this year. So thank you Madam Chair. Lots more to come. We probably spend about eight hours on any one of those topics. So we'll cut it short where it stands. Thank you. Thank you.

[00:45:34] And just for everyone's awareness, we are going to be doing a work session in December on security cameras. We're going to talk about license plate readers, and Flock is one brand. We're going to talk about red light cameras and speed cameras. They are each very different. With that, I'm going to turn it over to Senator Jennifer Carroll-Foy.

[00:45:52] Thank you, Madam Chair and Chair Lateef for organizing this and for the invitation. I would just like to say, I'm sorry, I'm Senator Jennifer Carroll-Foy. Representing the 33rd district. I do believe that the top three issues facing the general assembly for next session will be the demand and next era merger Artificial intelligence and of course data centers now more specifically to the bills budget amendments and committing resolutions that I will be carrying I look forward to carrying a committing resolution with delegate Franklin for Superintendent date and the principal Williams school board for the universal pre-k initiative I believe that this is revolutionary.

[00:46:31] I believe it's a game changer. I want to thank the superintendent and the school board for this initiative, and I know that it's going to be impactful, and we're going to lead the nation on this issue. Also, the budget amendment to fully fund the standards of quality to address the systemic state underfunding of education, which will offer our county some tax relief and fulfill our constitutional duty to provide a world-class education by addressing achievement and learning gaps, support our high-need student populations, and addressing staffing issues.

[00:47:07] I would also put in the budget amendment to remove the artificial limit on support staff in our schools, which I think is extremely important. And because I've heard from the chair multiple times, I will do everything within my power and outside of my power to protect the LCI.

[00:47:25] As Chairman Lateef states, the funding formula between the state and the county has proven to be very beneficial to Prince William County, to the chagrin of Fairfax County, who I also represent, but we will have that out, and this is my home.

[00:47:43] So, let's see. Also, fight for more smart-scale funding to fully fund Prince William County's transportation needs and projects, and then the bills. So the bill that I will be carrying along with Senator McPike, Senator Rome, Delegate Franklin, and Chairman Torian is the bill to establish another general district court and juvenile domestic relations court judgeship.

[00:48:09] The numbers have come back regarding capacity. Our county is growing exponentially, and we look forward to having conversations about new potential criminal justice a facility but right now we do need two new judges and I know that we'll be putting forth to have a general district court in juvenile domestic with juvenile domestic relations court judge and Prince William I'll also be carrying a bill to protect our rail worker and bus drivers the bill will ensure that there's a passenger code of conduct with penalties to ensure workers on passenger lines are protected.

[00:48:48] Also, I passed a bill to protect farm workers last session. I'll be building on that by also including H2 workers, because I do believe that some of the people doing the back-breaking work of putting food on our table, oftentimes food they can't afford. They deserve to get paid at least a minimum wage because all work has dignity.

[00:49:08] And another bill to also include overtime for domestic workers. We know that predominant work of labor is done by African-American and Latino men and women, oftentimes exploited.

[00:49:26] And we want to ensure that we address that gap. And I'll also say the health care breast milk bill. It's a bill because my babies were born in 22 weeks. They would nick you for five months. And if it wasn't for human donor breast milk, I don't think they would be here today.

[00:49:42] So it is the best nutrient, best food source for our micro preemies and our newborns. It has passed the General Assembly multiple times. It's a budget issue. But who can put the costs on a child? So that is something else that I'll be passing, hopefully, through the General Assembly.

[00:50:00] So thank you. All right. Supervisor Vega, you had a question? I do. Senator, how far are you guys along in the process of the bill that you just mentioned in regards to additional judges? So the study just came back and said that given the number of cases that's in general district court and juvenile domestic relations court, we are warranted to more judges.

[00:50:26] And so we just have to put forth the bill, and I'm sure the money will be placed in the budget, as Chairman Torian has assured us that he will make sure that it's paid for, so the likelihood of being passed successfully is great. The reason why I ask is because we just wrapped up a budget of work session on the budget and we were Briefed in regards to our budget forecast and they mentioned the need of possibly adding not one But maybe two judges and the strain that that would create for our coffers And so I would just ask I'm not sure madam chair what that looks like or if mr.

[00:50:58] Shorter you have any guidance in regards to how we can collaborate Just to make sure that it's something that we're also able to afford if it does come to fruition Madam Chair, not sure if you want to add to that. Well, I think one of the issues that we were talking about was space. We ain't got none.

[00:51:15] And for those of you, I mean, Jennifer, you know, because you work for the county prosecutor, we don't have space, and we're trying to figure that out. You know, how we can create additional courtrooms, because that's a real concern.

[00:51:32] Our new judicial center is about five years out, and I think that that's being maybe optimistic, but I'll let Mr. Shorter weigh in on that. If I can briefly. So to address Supervisor Vega, it's actually the Commonwealth.

[00:51:47] So we pay for the judges, and so that will be taken care of in our budget. But as Chairwoman just stated, it is an issue of space. And so right now we actually had, I think we removed the clerk of court out of her space in the courthouse so we can take some of that space.

[00:52:06] I think we have closets that we're trying to make into rooms. I mean, we're getting very creative. What we need to have, and I thank you all for this because I believe that it is being planned, the criminal justice center. But we have a courthouse that was for a population pretty much a quarter of the size that we have now.

[00:52:27] So it is a customer service and public service issue. People should be able to go get their stuff done. But if you come into the courthouse as a public defender, I see this every single day. There are times you can't make your way through the halls. They have people in other court floors because there's just not enough space.

[00:52:44] So it's something that I think we're trying to address in a real way. But, you know, at the end of the day, we've got to have the judges to address the needs of our community because we have cases that's at 9 a.m. not getting hurt until 1 p.m. And that is a lot to ask for people in our community.

[00:53:00] So I look forward to working with Mr. Chris Shorter, with the county to figure out what we can do about this space, but the judge need is there. We will pay for it, and we'll pass the bill and the budget amendment to get that done. All right.

[00:53:17] I'm going to Supervisor, oh, I'm sorry, Gordy. Thank you for that clarification. When we add a judge, we need more clerks, we need more sheriff's deputies. Are you also paying for those? So, thank you, Supervisor, for bringing forth that question.

[00:53:37] I've actually carried a budget amendment to increase the salaries of the sheriffs, not only in Prince William County, but all throughout our Commonwealth of Virginia. So I am actively working on that because I do respect our law enforcement and believe they have a vital need here in our community. So that is something that we're working on. We've given state troopers an increase in salary.

[00:53:55] We have increased the salary of teachers, a number of individuals. So our budget is our budget. Now, we do operate in a surplus because we are well-run Commonwealth, but we have to make sure that we are very judicious in how we allocate funds.

[00:54:12] So to answer your question, yes, we have provided, I have put in a budget amendment for more money for our sheriffs. I will continue to do so. And as far as our clerks, I look forward to working with the county to address any clerk needs that we need as well. Well, you were in for a shakedown.

[00:54:30] Unfortunately, the members of the Appropriations Committee aren't here because localities. I'm sorry. Oh, we do. Wait, who? Oh, I didn't know that. I'm sorry, Josh. Will you forgive me? I'll babysit for you.

[00:54:47] All right. Delegate Thomas. Madam Chair, thank you. You know, as in the words of the chairman, we'll take a look. Hello, everyone. Delegate Josh Thomas representing District 21 on the, I guess now we're on the OPA on the west side of the county now.

[00:55:06] You know, I will be doing the same priorities I focus on, data centers, affordable housing, veterans issues, and making sure that Prince William family has got a fair shot at the American dream. I think what might be more beneficial to the board is to maybe go over four things that are intricately important or intricately affect the county that we have already passed so that UGOL can take the next step to enjoy those benefits or meet some of those challenges that are facing our constituents.

[00:55:35] I think the first thing is a year ago, I submitted a budget amendment for a telehealth pilot program where if you had a contract or you were going to have a contract with a telehealth provider in our schools, that you would get, I think it was something like a $1,000 or $200,000 grant from the state.

[00:55:52] Because Prince William already had a contract, the budget, or not the budget, excuse me, the state, the executive branch at the time administering the program said, oh, you already have it, we can't do this because of this thing called supplantation. So we put in this year's budget that sub-plantation's okay.

[00:56:08] So now Prince William County should be able to submit in that program and take $200,000 off of your books. Next up is HB 164. This listed a cap on an existing program that I believe Loudoun County has made use of, and Prince William, we would hope, would also make use of, which is you can create grant programs for critical employees of the county, firefighters, teachers, police officers.

[00:56:32] We will continue to fight for more appropriations for the county, but it would be great to see our local electeds also use the powers that we have given localities to help our mutual constituents. Next up is HB 352. This is an abatement program that the city of Richmond pioneered. Essentially what it is is you would need to pass an ordinance to create the program.

[00:56:51] I would highly encourage it to be modeled off of the city of Richmond, where you would take for an affordable housing program, you would abate the taxes on that program, the real estate taxes, the increase in the taxes, And that money would be re-injected back into the project to create either more affordable housing or nicer affordable housing.

[00:57:09] This has resulted in a precipitous increase in permits at the applications in the city of Richmond, where they have been able to see higher grade applications and produce higher quality housing. Last thing I'll say is a bill that was passed by Delegate Carr, HB 806.

[00:57:25] And this gives IDAs like our own here in Prince William the ability to issue bonds, now issue debt for affordable housing projects that make great sense for the locality and we would hope that the locale or prince william will use those new powers thank you madam chair thank you so very much i'm looking around all right then i'm going to go to senator danica roma then after that i do believe that there are a few more questions and we'll get to those um before the end though we will hear from the superintendent and our cx the county cxo danica all right thank you madam chair and thank you to the supervisor and school board members member of congress and

[00:58:01] staff and everyone else for being here today really appreciate it um so to start off with um senator mcpike mentioned the data center stuff so i'll just bring up some of that actively working on moratorium legislation right now both regarding statewide as well as by request from the aquan supervisor of making sure that localities have the authority to be able to implement that there has been some consternation as to whether or not you have that authority but in a dylan rule state making sure that it is crystal clear is always preferred i'll be reintroducing my bill regarding limiting siting of data centers to only industrially zoned areas as well. That bill, that version of that

[00:58:39] did get out of the Senate this year. And while we weren't able to get that out of conference, the bill that Delegate Thomas and I did pass regarding this did actually give the county significant more new authority to be able to adopt in regards to how it's actually assessing these things from the get-go. So that is a good first step into a step where we need many, many more to come.

[00:59:03] Dealing with some of my constituents right now have been working with me on legislation for data centers regarding noise abatement and limiting actually also their lighting. Lighting is another big problem with this. And by the way, if you care about migratory birds or anything like that, you can see that this is a big issue.

[00:59:19] And if you come out to Gainesville or even county part of Manassas, enjoy our friendly light hue in the middle of the night that you often see over these things. Meanwhile, I'll be also dealing with transportation safety. I want to make sure that we actually can give the localities more authority.

[00:59:35] And I see Mr. Canizales is in back. I think Paula's back there as well. I want to basically make sure that localities that have their own transportation departments, for example, are going to be able to do little things where you don't have to run into bureaucratic red tape from VDOT about installing a stop sign, about dealing with crosswalk issues.

[00:59:55] We had one issue, for example, where there was a broken flashing light on Signal View Drive, right next to right where the county and Manassas Park meet. And there was a three-way dispute between the county, the city, and the state about who was going to fix the little battery problem it took to replace the light.

[01:00:17] So Manassas Park just said, we're going to do it. And if you have a problem with that, oh well. And typically, that's not the way we want things to be done. We want it to be nice and smooth. And at the same time, I applauded the city for doing it because someone needed to do it. I want to make things like this crystal clear that when you see a minor little problem, you should be able to fix it.

[01:00:37] Just full stop. Now, regarding what the school board chair said, with Universal Breakfast, it is funded. Yes, I will be putting that back in with funding to make sure that it is able to be supported. I believe we're at 69 of the 100 schools right now in Prince William that have it.

[01:00:53] At the same time, that also means that we have a number that don't, including particularly some of those in the western area between Haymarket, Gainesville, and Bristow. I've also got more legislation working on regarding everything from vet techs to making sure that we have more stringent requirements for how someone who has committed a violent felony before or a gun charge, something like that, has been convicted and is being charged with a second violent felony or weapons charge.

[01:01:23] how are we reviewing the bond process particularly in regards to ankle monitors and making sure that we are tracking where that person is so that the situation that we had in the city of Manassas earlier this year which is one of the worst possible things you could imagine ever happening in that city and I've lived in Greater Manassas my whole life 42 years now the system failed it just it absolutely failed and we've got some work to do at all levels of government to make sure that never, ever happens again.

[01:01:57] Finally, I've got also just other stuff I'm working on regarding anything from the standard deduction to dealing with a click of the court request as well. As for budget amendments, I'll have a number of those in, once again, for my fourth year in a row, to end the data standard sales tax exemption, which cost the Commonwealth $1.9 billion, whether it be, this past year.

[01:02:17] And I'll also have one that would end the sunset date as well as the cap on the heightened data center electricity consumption tax that we passed in our budget earlier this year. That would generate significant new revenue as well.

[01:02:32] And finally, making sure that we are adequately taxing the Tier 2 generators that data centers are using as they are 90% dirtier than the Tier 4s. And we are seeing even -- I just got an email today about a plume of smoke coming off of data centers in Loudoun County that had kicked over to generators, and we don't like seeing that.

[01:02:53] So beyond that, because I'm sure most of the members here are pretty much maxed out legislatively, we'll put in what we can. At the same time, do expect that a number of the items that have come up here might get put in as budget requests or budget amendments as opposed to just regular bills.

[01:03:12] The reason for that is we get to put in a lot more of those than we get to put in for bills. House and Senate are both capped for bills, but we do get pretty much at our discretion the budget amendments that we get to put in. So some of them might be text-only with no funding. Others will be funding. And as Delegate Thomas said before, him and I will certainly be working together to take care of Sudley Road regarding Supervisor Gordy's comments. We watch multiple people get killed there every year crossing the road, and very often there's just not safe places to do it.

[01:03:40] I have a long-time friend of mine, she lost a very dear friend whose name is tattooed on her arm on Sudley Road. Sudley was neglected for a very long time, and that should never, ever happen from anyone in government.

[01:03:58] All right, thank you very much. I want to see if anyone had any additional questions based off what they heard, Supervisor Boudy. Thank you, Madam Chair. Less questions, but a few comments based on what members of the General Assembly have said. One, I wanted to thank each and every one of you in the General Assembly for all the work that you do.

[01:04:14] I know some of you actually, most of you actually represent more localities than just Prince William, but I appreciate ones that prioritize Prince William because second largest locality in the Commonwealth, and as was said before, the most diverse, and we have a lot of needs, and we don't always get them, but I appreciate everything our General Assembly members do to fight for us.

[01:04:35] So on the bead, starting with where Senator Rome sort of let off, really appreciate the work that's being done, sort of trying to get more granular, give us more authority around the smaller traffic safety issues, because, I mean, anyone in this room, but especially with Canizales, as you mentioned, can say how many times we try to do small spot things, but we can't, because as everyone in this room knows, the grand majority of our roads in this county are state-maintained.

[01:05:00] So we have to get the blessing. Rick has to get into a cage match with VDOT over everything, essentially. So I appreciate that. Also appreciate, as you said earlier, the high use, high energy use facilities bill. We are under going through a process right now to see how we can implement that.

[01:05:19] Appreciate Mr. Shorter a few months ago sending us some of their initial findings. Supervisor Vega and I actually sent a reply back to the county exec a few weeks ago to beef up, frankly, because there was a delta between how much authority you gave us and how much staff was initially proposing.

[01:05:36] So we're definitely looking at that, especially as it pertains to water use and what have you. So we wanted to highlight that. Just also wanted to go back to transportation for a second. I appreciate Senator Foy, you mentioned smart scale. So just down the road here, literally, Old Bridge Road and Prince William Parkway, that was a smart-scale funded intersection.

[01:05:54] So thank you for that. But I will say that we still have a lot of other needs. Going back to something that Senator Rome has said for years, we are in this weird place where a lot of these sort of traffic safety projects are too big for us to fund locally in many cases.

[01:06:11] But they don't score well with a lot of the funding programs that we have. So whatever you all can do, continue working with VDOT to change some of their criteria around that would be appreciated. I'm part of the commuter choice program, a joint council with NVTC, and they just changed some of their criteria to better weight safety.

[01:06:32] So whatever that can be done around that would be appreciated. And I'll just say at the end of this related is more funding for multimodal transit. I know you all have done a great job the last two years working on SJ28 and looking at some possible solutions, but frankly, we just need a lot more support and a lot more cooperation and partnership for getting more authority to look at creativity around funding transportation projects.

[01:06:58] I know that one thing that was given in the budget this year was, in addition to the 1% that was for school renovation, also had transportation added to it for Region 8. But having more granular ability for us to look at creative tax, especially some of your high-end industrial sector folks, would be really helpful.

[01:07:16] Because we don't want to end up hitting mom-and-pop shops when we're trying to fund these larger transportation projects. So just wanted to say that. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you so very much. I'm going to go over to Supervisor Bailey. Thank you, Madam Chair. ditto to what my colleague just said about transportation we really do need your support as it relates to multimodal and and we are really striving to get people in and out of the county but across the county as well so we thank you for whatever you can lend in that regard I just wanted to highlight delegate Thomas to what you said about the IDA bill that you that you introduced

[01:07:52] and was passed we do have a directive in house we picked up on that in reference just making sure that we provide optimum housing here the best way that we can in the county and so just just just note that we picked up on that and there is a directive in-house based upon your initiative in that and then the other thing that I wanted to highlight was pre-k just want to thank our superintendent and our board members and our chair for pre-k that's something that Supervisor Bodie and I have been working on since 2020 when we first got

[01:08:28] in the seat and it finally has come to fruition to to support our families here we'll have the first one i'm proud to say in the potomac district jake justin was like don't forget to say about the potomac but it is to serve our county and so um we need help in that regard because not only do we have the need uh for our citizens but for our veterans as well and so we can't forget them as well when we talk about pre-k and supporting them so just just thank you for the initiative thank you for the funding for that and then I want to go across the county to the subtly corridor as well that has been a robust

[01:09:06] discussion that we've been talking about also since 2020 and we just need the support and the funding to assure that safety as you said senator is is is paramount as we look at subtly and so that is on our radar across the board And so whatever we need to do to come and support your initiative, please allow us to do so. Thank you All right. Thank you so very much. I'm Supervisor Gordy. Thank you, madam chair First of all, thank you everybody for coming out tonight. This has been the most

[01:09:42] Widely or biggest attendance we've had in three years that I've been a part of this and this has been the most productive Conversation I believe we've that we've had so think I really appreciate it personally A couple of things that, while they may not be part of our legislative package, I just ask that you maybe pay attention to and potentially see what the opportunities are there.

[01:10:06] One of the things is I've been working with George Mason University on particularly protecting and ensuring that the university village development includes student housing. If we get student housing at George Mason University, it will unleash that facility.

[01:10:26] and more investment will be made into it they have a robust plan for some incredible opportunities it is a tremendous asset for our county and it can continue to be a greater asset but we need a place for the students to live and and so if that opportunity comes up as a part of a budget amendment to support student housing there I ask you to clearly support that that would be a big win for us. Switching to a completely different topic, you may not know this, but

[01:11:02] the number of farms in Prince William County is actually going up. The amount of land is going down, but the number of farms is going up. And what we don't have, though, are the large commodity farms. They're much more smaller hobby farms, family farms, that are taking the things that they're producing on their land and they're retailing it. They're not selling it as a commodity. The tax policies that we have in this Commonwealth are sometimes more geared towards the commodity farmers at the expense of the retail farmer who's trying to do

[01:11:35] something. And I'll give you, for instance, we have the Burnside Farms. In order to control traffic and control the experience, they offer tickets. Well, they have to tax those. They get taxed on those tickets um and so but what it but what it does is it eats at their ability to be able to um to grow their farm so i'd ask you to just think about those kind of things that the the nature of farming is changing as smart as farmers get small again and um and but really become great assets

[01:12:12] for our community uh burnside farms brings in 60 000 people in three weeks four weeks to look at tulips. And each one of those people, it generates about $265 of revenue for this area. So it's worth the investment to make sure that our small farms are able to thrive. And then the other piece, somewhat closely related to that, but gets to our water quality. We spend a lot of time talking about our water quality. We know we're dealing with PFAS and the Occoquan. We're trying

[01:12:47] figure out how we're going to solve that but i'm also looking at how do we prevent it in the future we have a few waterways left in prince william county where there's no development along them but what can we do to protect them to keep the development away by doing land preservation around them to keep the trees around them to in order to protect that water quality through some of the development things we've done we've been able to protect some of the land but at some point we may need some resources to be able to do that so that it ends up saving us money in the long term as we try to prevent contamination of water sources upstream.

[01:13:26] So just a couple other things there to just ask you to keep in mind. Thank you. All right. Senator McPike. Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate the Supervisor bringing up PFAS. I actually passed a bill this year that allows sanitation authorities to chase PFAS upstream.

[01:13:44] And so through monitoring, so there's now a new structure that folks will do to chase it down, which is helpful. There's still a lot more. I'll be doing a bill likely to provide a regional structure for also biosolid incineration.

[01:14:01] Biosolids have fairly high concentrations of PFAS, unfortunately. So it's sort of twofold. Exactly. It is alarming, highly alarming. And, you know, you're absolutely right. You know, biosolids, we had a good debate this year about applying biosolids to fields contaminated with PFAS.

[01:14:22] It impacts farmers and their land for a lifetime. It's chemicals that never go away. And so, unfortunately, it is our everyday stream in what we consume, what we eat, and our bodies. And it's a very large issue, also important to the Chesapeake Bay Commission, which I serve as the Virginia delegation chair of.

[01:14:40] So we're working through multi-state. As Maryland does something, we're also trying to coordinate in Virginia. So we're not pushing biosolids across state lines, which happens. And so that is a continued emerging thing that I know the entire delegation and the Commonwealth's very interested. So thank you, Madam Chair.

[01:14:56] Madam Chair, if I may. Supervisor Bailey. Thank you. Just quickly, I was remiss in not acknowledging something that is very important to all of us. And I'm honored to work with Delegate Franklin on the Maternal Health Initiative in that it is a continuum from segue from not only maternal health but also in conjunction with mental health.

[01:15:18] And so we've been working very diligently based upon genetics in regards to that and with private partnerships. And so this is something I want to thank our delegation for supporting the mental health initiative that the board put forth with our crisis receiving center, but is a continuum, if I may, when Delegate Franklin brought it forth for maternal health.

[01:15:45] And so we need your support. And when we heal minds and we heal bodies, we heal the land. And so I say that because it is a continuum. It's a high morbidity rate based on comorbidity symptoms that women of culture, of all cultures, have. And so I just want to bring that to your attention. When Bill comes forward, please support us. All right. Thank you very much. I'm looking around. I have Dr. Chair, Dr. Lateef. Great meeting. I agree with Supervisor Gordy. This is our most robust turnout in a long

[01:16:24] time, if not ever. And so we're truly grateful to have you all here. A couple things. I'll be the want to bring up the most unpopular things. So Senator Carol Foy brought up the LCI. So while I understand all of us as elected officials are under enormous pressures, you know, each year is something new and data centers and AI are certainly pressures you guys are feeling. I just want you to all to remember that, you know, this county has changed significantly. Some of the tax revenues coming from data centers have dramatically impacted the way we're able to fund our schools.

[01:16:59] We're still not the highest funded per pupil school district. We're among the lowest in the Northern Virginia region. But with the dollars we've been able to get, we've been able to invest them well. We've taken this school district because of all of you who've supported our schools, General Assembly, Senate, delegates, when you were a reporter, Senator Rome, all of you, even before you got elected, committed to this community.

[01:17:23] We were the 26th best school division in 2018 in the Commonwealth of Virginia. we're now the 12th best by niche rankings, okay? And that's with sort of modest increases in our ability to fund our students. We have universal pre-K that is funded. So as you are making votes on what you're going to do with the data centers, changing the LCI is something that I consider and, you know, many consider hostile to the school division. It is a $40 to $50 million cut if they go with last year's formulaic change.

[01:17:54] lobbyist here, Jim Council, you may know him. You'll meet him more this year. If not, he will remind you that changing that LCI in a negative way will impact our budget dramatically. That's $40 to $50 million straight up to school. Now, it's unclear whether the changes you all are going to make in other things with data centers will replace that funding. That is not clear.

[01:18:16] Chairman Torian has been a stalwart on making sure our schools are funded, and he will continue, I know to work with our school division on making sure that that stays. But that is very important to us. Now, other divisions don't like the LCI. That's not my problem. Okay, let me be crystal clear. They didn't care about us when Arlington had great commercial revenue. They didn't share that with us. You know, Loudoun for many years had tons of data center monies. Their congressman went on TV the other day and he said, well, you know, if we were our own country, we'd have more data centers than any country in the world but he didn't finish the sentence by saying we also have

[01:18:54] the richest school division on planet earth so with these things comes challenges and i know the board of county supervisors making some important votes they're making some changes i support their work i understand where the community is on this but you also have to remember the impact it will have on taxing our local people how it can impact our schools and so be very careful and thoughtful on how you do this. Work with us. Talk to us. Those impacts on the LCI are important. While other districts might benefit from them, we don't. You represent us first, sort of Prince William

[01:19:32] first. And so we really want to work with you on that. Number two, on AI. You are under a lot of pressure in the General Assembly. Do something about AI. I met with all the chairs and superintendents in region four most of the region northern virginia last week two weeks ago we had a whole conversation on this we strongly caution the general assembly to pass any laws telling schools on what to do with ai we would rather you consider putting committees task force together i know the governor is working on that to study what should be done but to restrict us with laws that

[01:20:12] you all are coming with. No one knows the answers or has good solutions yet. We did the cell phone ban long before the General Assembly did it. And much of what we did in Prince William is modeled for the rest of the Commonwealth. And so I urge you to let school divisions make the decisions on how we're going to use instructional technology. We recognize every district's a little different.

[01:20:35] We recognize each population's a little different. We know the, we don't know them all, but we know the risks we're worried about them as much as you are but to jump to passing legislation this general assembly on something that we haven't studied well enough i would strongly caution you against jumping on the bandwagon of all the things that might look politically expedient and might look cool for your voters that you did something because doing something has consequences both positive and negative so please you know and work with dr mcdade on this work with the school

[01:21:10] division on this, I really urge you. The school division is very worried about unfunded mandates when it comes to these kinds of things. And these always end up with unfunded mandates that cost us more money. And then last, I would just say to Congressman Vindman, who's here, it's been a tough year for the schools dealing with the federal government. We've had challenges over the last two years, really threats. We appreciate Congressman Vindman's support. We appreciate his defense of our students especially our students our DACA students our students who don't

[01:21:47] have you know status I can tell you you know if you want the numbers we have I can share them with you later but we have hundreds of students who haven't shown up to school this year because we suspect we don't know for sure they were enrolled last year they're not here this year they're worried about being picked up we've had students graduate DACA kids you know brought here without any consent on their own, arrested and deported.

[01:22:15] And the congressman's office has been incredibly helpful to the school division, to those families in trying to work with them. And so as we navigate the challenges of the federal government, I really appreciate Congressman Vindman's. The school board really does. This is something we worry about on a daily basis, and we truly appreciate that work you do.

[01:22:32] All right, I have a couple people in queue, Stuart and Angry, but before I get to you guys, I just want to see if anyone else had any, I don't know if you have a direct response or if anyone had a direct response. Senator Rowe. Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I tell the school board chair that this year we passed SB 394 already.

[01:22:50] That one from a former Fairfax County school board member turned Senator Sella Pekarski. That one deals with the AI guidelines that are supposed to be coming out from the state that are made for the locality or local school divisions. I was the only member of the Senate who voted against it though because I thought that it would actually further permit more AI usage in schools And I don't want to see more AI usage in schools when we have study after study after study that's coming back showing the detriment of screen time, let alone everything else for students and who are having to be engaged with it.

[01:23:22] The second thing I'm also going to address right now is, as I know a number of us have seen today, there's the headline that we saw, and I'll just read the one out of Newsweek that came out this morning. Map shows the 13 states under emergency order to prevent blackouts. this came from pgm and this came from and again this was published in newsweek and the entire point of that is that the grid was so stressed and is under so much stress right now that they're allowing more pollution to go out than they normally allow because yes it is warmer than it typically is in october and at the same time that much pollution that's coming out when we're

[01:23:57] dealing with 13 states that's a that's a crisis level next part regarding data center stuff one of the things that we heard from the industry again and again and again and again was, if you do this in Virginia, we'll go somewhere else. This was the thing we heard again and again and again.

[01:24:18] Let's look at the states where they have said they were going to go elsewhere. Texas, now getting rid of its sales tax exemption. And you have members running left and right right now regarding moratorium. Georgia, another huge state for the industry. Right now, it is the single hottest issue that is eating up everything that's going on within the Georgia legislature right now.

[01:24:45] And candidates are running over themselves right now to get this under control. Ohio, the same exact thing that's playing out. We saw in Maine, their legislature actually passed a moratorium before the governor vetoed it. The New York governor introduced a moratorium. Same happen in Illinois. We're seeing this happening across the country. Governor Josh Stein has supported this in North Carolina as well. The states where they're trying to look and say, well, if we're not Virginia, we'll go somewhere else, are throwing in their own regulations now.

[01:25:16] It's not just Virginia. This isn't just statewide. This is nationwide. And it's time for us to actually get where Western Prince William has been on this for 12 years. Last thing to mention on this is that when we are giving multi-billion dollar tax breaks and we know that there are still hundreds more data centers in the queue waiting for electrical permits so they can actually get permitted from ours so that dominion can flip the switch for them basically we know that there will still be years worth of more construction to happen there will be years worth more jobs that

[01:25:54] will be happening because of that and at the same time we still are going to have to deal with this on the grid we're still going to have to deal with the fact that they're going to come up one after the next after next they should not be getting a dime of taxpayer dollars this is a multi-trillion dollar industry that is being benefited by a multi-billion dollar utility they should not be getting anything from taxpayer dollars final point though i will agree to the congressman at least and thank you for being here tonight i know it's your district and all

[01:26:26] The effects that we saw of H.R. 1 in the state government for Medicaid and SNAP created potentially nine-digit level holes in our budget that we have to backfill. One-third of the state budget this year is dedicated to health care alone.

[01:26:43] And come January, that Medicaid ticking time bob is going to go off. I would suggest that the next Congress that begins in January have reconciliation packages on the table ready to go so that they are expedited through the committee process, that they get onto the president's desk as soon as possible to assist the states and the localities with what are we going to do for funding for SNAP and funding for Medicaid.

[01:27:12] And not to mention the ACA enhanced credits, where we have seen tens of thousands of Virginians already lose their health insurance, and we have seen an unprecedented level of growth in demand on our food banks all across Prince William County right now.

[01:27:28] And including in the West, at one point we had a 5,000% increase at the Haymarket Regional Food Pantry because of all the cuts coming out from D.C. It is out of control, and we've got to get major legislation over the finish line next year to fix it.

[01:27:47] All right. Chair Lateef wanted to respond. Just real quick on that. I want to be very clear. I took no position on more or less data centers. The school board hasn't taken any position on that. What I've made clear is that whatever you all do will impact school funding.

[01:28:03] That includes the LCI. And if you're going to do something to the LCI, we want to see this county made whole and the school division made whole on any other streams of tax revenues that you'll make to fill it up. We have no problem. We understand the tension, the pressures you all are under.

[01:28:20] I'm not taking a position on that. What I am taking a position on very clearly, do not cut school funding to Prince William county we will not tolerate that that is unacceptable all right thank you so very much i'm going to wrap this one i'm going to go to stewart and then angry and then we're going to start to do um i'm going to go back um to superintendent and cxo and then we'll do closing comments so supervisor stewart thank you madam chair uh so senator rome took a lot of my thunder

[01:28:56] about data centers because we are we're getting choked out and it's to the point now where especially on the western side of the county it's it's absurd and we're dealing with noise we're dealing with the smell and we're dealing with the glow so on the state level what what i can say is that we do need to remove the sales tax exemption that that that's something that

[01:29:32] you know when when when people run for office and say data centers should pay their fair share and then don't do that thing. For us, it occurs as a promise that's not being kept. Water.

[01:29:49] We're under assault when it comes to water. Prince William County only has, for instance, two test wells. And I don't know if everybody knows what's going on in Hampton Roads. It's sinking due to the fact that they have depleted their underground aquifers. Thank you.

[01:30:11] And we were supposed to be doing a water study for Prince William. I know that over the years, it's kind of been kicked to the back burner. And I've said this before, without water, it's game over.

[01:30:29] And I don't want to sound like the sky is falling, but without water, all of this goes away. There's no life on the planet. Forget about Prince William. There's no life on the planet. We're done. And Prince William is unique in the fact that it has all four aquifers that exist in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

[01:30:50] And we have no idea what the status of that water is. We can't tell from two wells. The other piece of that is when data centers talk about their, oh, we're using a closed loop system.

[01:31:08] We don't know what's happening to that water when it's emptied. That has the glycol in it. We know that our plants can't handle glycol. So just like your car has antifreeze, that's got to be disposed of in a very, very particular way.

[01:31:26] You don't just pour that down the drain. And I don't want to take up too much time with that. I do want to speak to, you know, thanking my local representatives, Senator Rome, Delegate Thomas, HB 352.

[01:31:42] We really do need to take a look at that because we're also getting crushed in housing. We're building more housing, but we're not building attainable housing. People that are returning back from school, back to Prince William, are typically moving back in with their parents because they can't, you know, any job that they, if they can get a job coming out of university, doesn't pay them enough for housing affordability.

[01:32:08] We've now recently seen that first-time homebuyer age is now at the age of 40. So we have quite literally, if it wasn't due to people's parents, an unhoused population graduating from university all the way up to the age typically of 39.

[01:32:27] And that's an issue. So I really want to dig into HB 352 to find out what Richmond is doing to get the magic to work here as well. And with that, thank you, Madam Chair. all right thank you so very much i'm going to go over to supervisor angry and then we're going to start to wrap with hearing from our superintendent and our cxo all right supervisor angry uh thank you madam chair um first of all thank you chairman latif for your comments and i want to thank the legislation for being here the legislators of richmond um i sit at a vantage point slightly

[01:33:03] different than all of you as a president of virginia association of counties and i will tell you this I believe that every supervisor council person should be the president of the Virginia Association of Counties or whatever that comparison is because you see things slightly different from a vantage point and that vantage point is this Virginia the commonwealth of Virginia is a Dillon rule state and your jobs are tough as legislators because you can't write any one bill that affects one locality it has to affect them all which is what I appreciate about

[01:33:37] this discussion because using Prince William County as we all sit tonight there aren't seven Prince William counties in Prince William County there's one Prince William County there aren't 95 Virginias in Virginias there's only one Virginia we all have to figure out how to work together as a body for you all to do what you do to make sure that we're doing as best we can now it was one point in my career of politics in the last eight years where I thought a deal in rural state is the worst place to be but i've seen what it looks like without this type of control of

[01:34:15] legislation you could easily have any one of these cities or town become the most powerful place and take it away from a neighbor right across the street who's not a part of that jurisdiction so what we have is a complication but i think what we have is actually the best version of how virginia could get along but I'm gonna sit there and say I've heard a lot I heard a lot and you know yeah Prince from County we represent this county we represent what we're doing but it's so much bigger than us it really is regionalism is a real thing and if we don't get outside of our own box and

[01:34:52] focus on what that looks like this is how you become a Detroit or you know a a a town that is not flourishing because you're not working together and i i see it from the outside of this but i think we can do a lot better and really figuring out what that looks like so i appreciate everyone being here today tonight i didn't want to really chime in i'm just going to listen in but i feel like there's a lot more work we can do togetherness of regionalism and not in silos of what we believe is the best for our area our county our this is about the commonwealth for

[01:35:28] Virginia and you all in this room as legislators represent that so thank you for being here again really enjoyed this thank you so very much I am actually going to go to our superintendent Latanya McDade because I know there's questions asked about universal pre-k but if you have anything else you want to share we're happy to hear from you I'm sure I'm happy to share about universal pre-k and I'm glad that speaking of togetherness I'm excited that everyone here is in support of universal pre-k and the demand is real in Prince William County I'll give you just a quick update so you know that we are and I've talked about this in the launch of our elevate 2030 strategic plan but we're in year

[01:36:07] one of a four-year phased approach to universal pre-k we started with first converting all of our four-year-old classrooms to full day they were half day which was very challenging for families working families find it difficult in the middle of the day to figure out what to do for child care or even transporting their children. So we started with making all of the classrooms we had full day. And then we added, we've increased our four-year-olds served in Prince William County already in year one by 37%. So we're up to 2,184 four-year-olds being served in our classroom with a wait list

[01:36:46] of over 700 so the demand we see is there the goal is that by 2030 we would be serving the mean birth rate which is 5750 four-year-olds in the county by by 2030 and as you can see we hit the ground running this year some big highlights on this program we've already established 33 new full day classrooms for four-year-olds so that's on top of the classrooms that we converted we adopted and implemented new pre-k curriculum uh creative classroom we also renovated washington

[01:37:20] reed um and that and that is in the potomac district and it will serve as the first stand-alone pre-k center in prince william county schools we're so excited about that it'll have a total of 23 classrooms so the first wing is already completed and we're now working on the the second wing which should be done by december and that'll house 23 um classrooms it's a full service center So our pre-K students will be able to access all of the extra courses, Encore courses, PE and library and art and music.

[01:37:54] So it's a full standalone pre-K center in Prince William County. And so we're really excited about those numbers. So that's where we are today. And I will say that in addition to the long waiting list, just some things that speaks to what we heard earlier in terms of the needs of our county.

[01:38:12] We know that our families, this is a great need for our families because the average spend on child care is $15,000 to $20,000 per year. And without universal pre-K, many of our working families do not qualify for early childhood education, yet they cannot afford to pay $15,000 to $20,000 per year for child care.

[01:38:33] So this has been a huge demand. Again, the wait list is long and we've had families emailing and calling and saying, how can my child access pre-K? So we're really excited about it and we'll keep you posted on year-over-year progress. And I also want to thank everyone who's in support of this because it is no easy feat.

[01:38:53] It takes a significant amount of funding to be able to do this, to offer it as a part of a public school program where it is free to our families. And that, again, cannot happen without your support. So I just want to thank each and every one of you here that continue to support not just Prince William County Public Schools, but this initiative for early childhood access for all.

[01:39:15] Thank you so very much, Mr. Shorter. All right. Thank you very much, Madam Chair, Mr. Chair, elected leaders. Wonderful to be here tonight. Great discussion. I'll just cover a few things that I heard this evening. Happy to certainly answer questions after the fact or respond.

[01:39:32] First, in terms of the work session that the chair mentioned. So on December 8th, we are going to have a public safety work session. We're going to be talking drones, red light, speed, flot cameras, and other technology. So feel free to tune in or show up.

[01:39:50] I'm happy to always have you at the board meetings. In terms of general, the new judges. So what I'll say quickly is that we are doing a significant amount of work on the campus right now to build a new courthouse building.

[01:40:07] That courthouse building will focus on circuit and the clerk administrative offices. What we are doing in the meantime, and this is where this topic of sort of operationally, what we will need to do over the next five to six years, is figuring out renovations for the current courthouse.

[01:40:27] And so that's what, Senator Carol Foy, what we are happy to work with you on in terms of new judges as they are appointed. Happy always to have the additional capacity, but we will be, at least over the next several years, stretched pretty tight on the campus and happy to answer any questions about that.

[01:40:48] In terms of soil and foundation management, we have made significant progress. In fact, just last week, the board approved four applications that we received to award grants associated with the soil and foundation management fund here locally.

[01:41:03] In terms of health care access, we are going to do for the first time ever a full-day health care summit on December 4th. This will include many of our health care stakeholders. We're going to talk access.

[01:41:20] Certainly the changing dynamic given the CRC and what it has meant for public safety and for our crisis intervention teams has been significant. And so we'll be talking about these issues full day, and of course we welcome our elected officials.

[01:41:38] And we provided an update to the board just a few weeks ago on H.R. 1. And so we are certainly monitoring Phyllis Jennings Holt, Director of Social Services is here, provided an update to the board on H.R. 1 what the impacts will be locally.

[01:41:56] And so we are certainly, Senator McPike, monitoring and welcome any additional information as it comes comes forward and i think in terms of noise ordinance we are providing an update to the board actually next week in terms of enforcement around noise ordinance so please do feel free to tune in significant work has happened and we'll be asking the board for its feedback in terms of some of the work that that is that has happened over the last several months and finally affordable housing Development as Senate gonna say senator Bailey Supervisor Bailey just just mentioned there is a directive

[01:42:36] we are working internally to Analyze local impacts and what we could do here in Prince William County based on the bill. So Delegate Thomas, thank you very much for the leadership and madam chair I think that is all for me if there was anything that I did not capture happy to do it after the fact I think that's great. Thank you so very much. I know that some people on our timeline, so I want to make sure I honor that.

[01:43:00] Congressman Vindman, if you have any additional remarks for us. Thank you. First of all, I want to say thank you to Chair Jefferson and Chair Lateef for the opportunity to listen to you all on a number of topics that are important to our community, wide-ranging topics.

[01:43:18] But I want to keep my comments brief and at a high level, given that any one of these could take a really long time to dive into. So first of all, I think the partnership that we have in this room is really critical. Prince William County happens to be the largest jurisdiction, single jurisdiction in the 7th Congressional District out of 11.

[01:43:40] And I live in Prince William County, so I have a particular interest in my kids go to school, Prince William County Public Schools. So as it relates to H.R. 1, my top priority, I think the top priority for the next Congress will be to look at H.R. 1 and attempt to reverse the cuts in both health care and SNAP and H.R. 1.

[01:44:05] As it relates to schools, the Prince William County schools and the schools across the jurisdictions of the 7th Congressional District, I want to make sure that you're aware that my support is ironclad, and i will do everything that i can to help the school system whether it relates to daca uh happy to help there as i've helped the uh the police department as well um this is a problem that we need to uh work through it's it's been decades uh neglected and it's time that we come up with a solution uh for ag policy uh supervisor gordy i happen to sit on the ag committee if i can help

[01:44:44] You know, retail policy sounds like it could be a local or state issue, but if there's a national solution to this issue, I'm happy to entertain that as well. And finally, I think one sort of characteristic that defines this region is traffic and growth and sprawl, whether it's 95 or 29 or, you know, the roads in between.

[01:45:13] and so thinking about how we can address this problem so we have smart growth and communities that really serve the population and so to do that at the federal level i need a plan i need a plan from at the state uh and and local level that i can then fight for federal funds and resources and so um the last thing i'll say is that there are federal facilities uh within prince william county and within the 7th Congressional District that there's a federal nexus where I can drive resources to.

[01:45:49] So whether it's Prince William Forest, which is an absolute gem, a national forest, just a couple dozen miles away from the nation's capital, or military installations and other federal facilities, if there is a federal nexus there, that gives me an opportunity to be able to drive federal resources to that.

[01:46:11] And so I appreciate the partnerships. I want to keep them going. We've got a lot of work to do. And thank you for inviting me. And thank you so very much for joining us. I'm going to now turn it over to Chair Lateef. I just want to say thank you. I think from the whole school board, we really appreciate y'all's being here.

[01:46:28] Thank you. All right. Thank you so very much. Before we adjourn, this is for the Board of County Supervisors. We have to do this procedurally. So I need a motion. Second. Wait, DeSandra. I'm sorry. I just had a comment. Oh, I'm so sorry. It's okay. All right, go, Lori.

[01:46:43] Thank you. Just very quickly, as one of the longest tenured elected officials here, I would like to say this is one of the things I've dreamed about for a very long time, because we can all do well for each other in our county when we collaborate like this. It's only through collaboration like this up and down the ticket that we can do meaningful work for all of our constituents, and I'm just proud to be in this room and to say with everyone, I've seen what happens, and our county and our residents have seen what happens when we all work together.

[01:47:11] We don't always have to have the same position, but the collaboration is what's needed, and we see the results. So I just personally would like to say thank you, because we have an enormous set of talent in this room. We all have our own interests, but when we come together, we do make this county thrive. And I just would be remiss, since we do have Congressman Vindman in the room, of just thanking him for his continued support.

[01:47:33] It's been noticed, and it's been felt, and I have to put in a personal plug for all of my Route 1 students, too. We need our federal grants back for our after-school programs. That's something that we can't do here in this room, but it definitely affects our kids. When our kids don't eat, our kids don't learn, and then our kids end up in the judicial system.

[01:47:50] And that's been something, for me, I've taken personally for all my years as an elected official because we've seen their crime reduced, and we can continue to do that. So I just want to thank you for your support and thank everyone here. We have amazing talent, and I hope that we can continue to meet like this and make meaningful progress.

[01:48:07] So thank you. Thank you. We have a motion on the floor. I've heard a couple people. Has it been properly seconded? It has. Has it been properly moved and seconded? All the members of Board of County Supervisor? Aye. All right. Thank you so very much. We're adjourned.

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