County Board - Regular Meeting

Hi, welcome to the Arlington County Board meeting. We're so glad you've joined us. Before the meeting gets started, here are a couple of things you can expect. The Arlington County Board meets monthly with the exception of August. Meetings are typically held in two sessions. Saturday regular meeting and a Tuesday recess meeting. These meetings are where the board makes decisions, hears updates, and receives public input on community issues. Today's recess meeting includes three parts: business and reports, regular agenda, and removed consent agenda. Recess meetings typically include board member reports, county manager reports, public recognitions, and appointments to advisory groups. The board then enters a closed session which is not open to the public and it is limited to matters permitted by the Virginia Freedom of Information Act. Regular agenda includes staff presentations, public hearings, and a full discussion from the county board before a vote. If you are signed up to speak, please note your speaking category. Individuals may speak for two or three minutes, and representatives of civic organizations may speak for two, three minutes, or five minutes. After the regular hearing section, the board will consider items removed from the regular consent agenda. The same speaking rules apply. Individuals may speak for two or three minutes, and those organizational representatives have up to 5 minutes. Remain seated until your name is called. The clerk will call the current and next speaker. When called, come to the podium and use the button on the right to adjust the height. You can also adjust the microphone. A timer will be visible on the podium. Please stay within your allotted time so that everyone has an equal opportunity to be heard. For virtual speakers, keep your camera and microphone off until your name is called. When acknowledged, turn on your camera and unmute. Your timer will appear in the team's meeting and will begin once you're recognized.

If you need a reasonable accommodation, please speak to county staff outside the boardroom or the clerk at the dis.

If you have any questions, staff are happy to assist you. Thank you for being here and sharing your voice with the county board. Have a great meeting. Mace. Good afternoon. Welcome to the April 22nd, 2026 county board recess meeting. full team is here. Most of you know us and our names are the on plaques if you need. Thank you for joining us. We will begin our appointments, awards, recognitions, and reports following a break for dinner, presuming no earlier than 6:30. Looking out at our crowd, there's a fair number of you who will not be here at 6:30. You're welcome, but you do not have to stay. I want to start today briefly and sort of pricelessly with um thanking today is our budget day and all of those of you who are here for proclamations we will get a chance to honor and celebrate the reasons that you have come but I just want to start by thanking today is administrative professionals day and the five of us as well as if you think through the entire community don't know the precise definition but there are over 5,000 county employees who are trying to serve the public and in this moment honoring honoring our administrative professionals seems particularly important. Uh so we have some here and classically this guy has not made sure we had advanced days. We're going to make this right in the coming week. Uh probably through um non-bribery food items that will seek to celebrate you. But we do have uh Carol Garcia Valenuela and David Barrera here and our there are other colleagues listening in the back who do not have to come forward. But I

would ask that those of you in these stands give a round of applause for our administrative professionals who make our work possible and certainly one of them uh my colleague uh Graham Wine Shank has been relentless in working so I'm taking a personal privilege. I know each of us would say that about those we work with. We will spare you the proclamation because probably our administrative professionals are okay without us reading the proclamation at this moment. But uh we will go on. There are many of you who are here for other causes and none of you those of you who came forward, David and Carol, you do not have to stay, but you are welcome to stay. I hope it is an indication of how heartfelt it is from this entire board that we know that we could not do our job to try and serve the public without your service and we are very grateful. We'll begin with appointments. I promise we're getting right to you, those of you who are here. So, I will try to read fast, but not so fast that it can't be heard for the record. Um, I move the following appointments. There's not a need for a second. So, that we will go then um to a vote. I move that we appoint Kate Rafferty to the Arlington Partnership for Children, Youth, and Families for a term ending April 30th, 2028 to the board of equalization. That we appoint board of equalization of real estate assessments that we appoint Johnny Menddees and Jose Jose Pen Penerandana Peniranda, excuse me, for terms ending April 30th, 2027. I move that we also appoint um we reappoint Trevor Montano for a term ending April 30th, 2028 to the Crystal City and Pentagon Cities Council. We appoint Patrick Philippy to a seat representing a Crystal City business owner tenant for a term ending April 30th, 2028. To the Consu community services board, we appoint Angela Sudter for a term ending February 28th, 2029. To the Economic Development Commission, we appoint

Philip Green and Andy Van Horn for terms ending April 30th, 2029. To the Joint Facilities Advisory Commission, we appoint John Mingus as vice chair for a term ending December 30th 31st, 2027. To the Park and Recreation Parks and Recreation Commission, we appoint Richard Viola for a term ending April 30th, 2028. and to the sports commission. We reappoint Samuel Hamilton Humes and David Lancing for terms ending April 30th, 2028. There is no need for a second. Colleagues, all those in favor say I. I. I.

Any opposed? Any abstensions? Hearing none. That motion passes 50. Next, we will turn. If the clerk would bring up some resources for all those in the room this moment, it may not be you, but it may be someone you know who is a federal worker or has been a federal worker or an immigrant or a refugee that needs inclusion in Arlington's story. And so we have these resources here. If you need these resources, see Mr. Kushner, our clerk. Um but just be aware and for those who know um this not an easy moment for many federal workers who certainly are at the heart of Arlington in many ways and also many of our immigrants. Almost everyone in this room is an immigrant someday unless you're Native American. So please let's try and be nice and kind and help with resources those who are going through challenges. Our next item is a recognition of someone who has tried to retire but we have snatched retirement from him a couple of times. It is Earl Conklin who is the JDR court services director and um in a moment I'll just offer a few remarks but what I guess I would say is that both judges are here. Judge Rab and I think and Judge Chick who are the juvenile uh relations court judges um Earl Conklin since I've been here seven years ago. Uh every time he comes I think of what we could be doing to help more young people find their purpose and their meaning. He is you can feel his service. So I'll just say and I'll give colleagues an opportunity to share their remarks. He is 14 years of service to Arlington County and a total of 36 years of service to the Arlington and Falls Church Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court. He graduated with a masters from Michigan State in 1988. He was the first manager of Aurora House for those who know in this room it's

critical institution within Arlington. He came became the false church CSU director in 1997. In 2011, he became the human services director in false church. In December of 2012, he tried to retire for the first time from false church and began his current position at court services unit director. In his current position, he has served as commissioner of the northern Virginia juvenile detention center. He's been actively involved in the efforts to reduce racial and ethnic disparities with the multi- agency red team. He led the CSU during a time of expansion, including the establishment of safe havens, early diversion programs, and database decision-making. He has successfully guided the juvenile court through this COVID pandemic, which is certainly no small feat. Those are my words. I don't know. Uh some things test words and certainly your service is testing those words. I don't think I have everything that I would share about it. uh we will um ask your forgiveness in doing a picture with us. We will also I will also now uh offer at this time a chance for colleagues to offer short remarks and if I'm missing something if um one of the staff leadership uh wants to share anything we'll give an opportunity after colleagues have offered brief remarks and Mr. Conklin. Um I know you will want to say something appropriate um if you like something appropriate as brief or as long as you like in this room because you've earned it. U but first to colleagues to share their remarks. I saw Miss Cunningham first then we'll go to Mr. Kertonus and then vice chair. Go ahead.

I just want to say a huge thank you from our whole community. Um and particularly for me I think it was very early in my tenure. you took the whole day to show me around and and uh the the work that you do is very very close to my heart and you have done it exceptionally well and we are grateful now and will remain grateful as we build on that in the future. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Cunningham, Mr. Karen Thomas.

Thank you Mr. Chair, Mr. Collin. Um the shortest remark I can give you is a big thank you. Um but I want to reason that uh it's not only the extraordinary service the dedication public service to the dedication and the belief in how a better justice system especially for juveniles um should work. It's your ability to actually being a mentor for us the decision makers and also for your co-workers and your teams. uh the enrichment the enriched perspective that you have been providing over many many years as I understand it and definitely over the time that I have been in this office. Um, I really will miss that because it was really formative for my way to think about people and how we deal with, you know, the the the the many situations facets of what criminal justice means. Um so I this is why I'm thanking you for for this amazing work as a you know as a actually as a mentor of my thoughts and my and and and my uh approach to uh the object of your work over so many decades. So thank you so much for this.

Thank you Mr. Karantis Vice Coffee. Thank you. And I've not had the honor to work with you as long as some of the others on the board. Um, but I just echo what Mr. Karen Tennis said. I think the history of juvenile domestic relations court is not so compassionate. It's it's had a really challenging um history in our national politics and policy and throughout your career has really been the intentional move and transition into trauma-informed practice making this a compassionate space for people who are going through some of the worst things they may ever go through in their life. And um I think your leadership here in Arlington is such a critical part of why we have the services that we have, why we can serve our community members the way that we do serve them. Um, and it it is felt. I've had the opportunity to collaborate with you in a couple of spaces in this county and um, I just think the work that that you have done is some of the most important work that government can do to protect kids and families and u people all across our community. And I'm just so grateful and we will we will miss you. But you also get the honor of knowing that the work you've done lives on in legacy because you've built systems and you've built up um your department and people around you who can carry what you've taught them and move it forward even beyond your time here. And so we're just very grateful and um we wish you we wish you luck on this retirement sticking this time.

Thank you Vice Chair Coffee. Mr. thing.

Well, there you go. Well, Earl, I'll keep it brief. Uh, you and I, uh, being the junior member on the county board, you know, we, you and I, we go back many years. Uh, I had to go back and and look at an email from June of 2020, uh, at the time, uh, when we were talking about demographics and disparities within the juvenile detention facility. and um you answered the call. Uh that was at the NAACP and doing criminal justice work. That said, I echo all of what my colleagues have said. I don't think you're going to retire to be honest with you. Uh you're going to you're too young to be retired. Uh but one uh I just want to thank you uh for your service, your selfless service to uh this region. And I say this region because it wasn't just Arlington. You set a high standard for others to emulate and you will be missed. Thank you. and Godspeed.

Thank you. And with that, because I will never be a judge, I'm going to ask that I simply get to say all rise. Thank you very much. So, this was a surprise. I did not prepare remarks. Um, but I was hoping for an opportunity to say something to you as a county board and to the county manager and Michelle. Um, it's often said that the measure of a community is how it cares for its most vulnerable. We see the most vulnerable in our juvenile court. And I will tell you, I know of no community in the Commonwealth of Virginia that comes close in its commitment to the kids who need their help. Thank you for that. You have been such a supporter of court services, the resources we have. I am grateful to to you, to the county manager, to Michelle, to the taxpayers who don't shy down from taking care of their kids. My staff, I mean, the things you rattled off, you know, most of the most of the work is done by the people behind me and across the street at the courthouse and in one of our programs, they are what what makes a difference. They're the ones that sit with kids. They're the ones that counsel kids. They're the ones that handle the intake when it comes in of a of a, you know, a woman or a person who's been harmed and needs a protective order. It's just there's so many different things and functions of our of our operation that they do. I do not um that they get the lion share of any credit for the accomplishments. But thank you for all you do to support us and have done to support us. Um kids continue to need you after I'm gone, so I'm confident you'll

be there for them. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Thank you, Mr. Perhaps any measure of a great public servant is his focus on those doing the frontline work. For those would would those who work in Mr. Conklin's team please stand. Thank you for Thank you so much for what you do. It is also appropriate that you focused forward because kids will continue to need our resources, our commitment, our value, and the team that is there. I will ask if it's okay. We won't do any more rounds of applause just this second. But I would ask Mr. Conklin, if you're willing, would you come forward so we can the board can have a picture with you if that's okay? Thank you.

Should we all go down? Sure. Everybody come back. I feel like this is a more

the team. I I apologize. Everybody who works with Mr. Compton, come up. It's not the board without you. You guys work. Go ahead.

Let's get some more on this side. way to do this.

And then everybody on the side, if you could turn in just a little bit. This one right here first. Two. This phone.

Sorry. kind of like a Thank you again. Um, as you as you we work our way back to our seats, um, here's the hope that we don't just help individual children, but we save we create a system whereby every child in Arlington gets the opportunity that they ought to get and every child in Virginia as well. So now we will turn to proclamations. And I always try to encourage um particularly if you're about to retire, Mr. Conklin and his colleagues, you can stay, but you do not have to stay. Um we now turn to proclamations. There'll be a couple. I think that there are some who are here. We've got a timeline. We've got Mr. Kushner is setting the mark at five minutes, which usually we apply that to our residents, but we don't always apply that to ourselves. Today, we are applying it to ourselves. We're going to do proclamations in five minutes. The first is project peace's 20th anniversary and vice chair coffee and I believe Miss Ortiz go ahead vice chair coffee.

Great.

Thank you. Um so we are celebrating and commemorating project peace's 20y year anniversary. Um 20 years ago, Project Peace uh which stands for partnering to end abuse in the community for everyone uh was founded by uh now Senator Barbara Favola alongside the Department of Human Services here in Arlington County. Um with the focus really to strengthen our response on interpersonal violence, fostering collaboration, bringing together uh public safety, healthcare, education, courts, advocacy, nonprofits, housing, community- based services, and really helping to ensure that survivors can access coordinated trauma-informed and culturally responsive support when they need it most. Um, this is really including things like Doorway's 24-hour crisis hotline, um, court advocacy, hospital accompanyment for people after a sexual assault or other intimate partner violence incident, um, counseling services, prevention and education, working with our schools, our kids, people who need relationship education to understand what healthy, strong, good relationships look like. uh safe housing visitation. Project Peace and our partners really work together across all of these different dimensions collaboratively, interdisciplinarily um to promote healing and reduce barriers for individuals and families who are affected uh by intimate partner violence and all forms of abuse. So, as we celebrate the 20th anniversary, which is a really big deal, um we want to honor the dedication of advocates, of our service providers, our public servants in human services who have done such a good job. Um and everyone whose collective efforts have shaped a stronger and more coordinated response

for Arlington County. Um at the same time we also honor those whose lives have been impacted or lost to intimate partner and sexual violence. Uh I think especially right now we've had some very highprofile domestic violence, intimate partner violence. Um that has really shaken I think a lot of us to the core and and for me personally reminded me why project peace matters so much. I think that uh we often think of smaller incidents um as as smaller incidents and what really is true and what I think is really highlighted by the most recent events is um patterns of abuse don't have to escalate but they always can and they can be fatal. Um it is really really hard to know what is going to happen next. Um, and making sure that people have care and services and support at the times that they need it most is what we all need to focus on because we don't know ahead of time how a situation is going to go. We can only control what we can control and that is providing that support um and help to the people in our community when they need it as fast as we can. So um we are we have nine or 10 proclamations. So we're not reading the whole thing this time. I'm doing okay on time, but I will go ahead and um read the last part of the proclamation um which says, "Now therefore, the county board of Arlington, Virginia does hereby recognize April 2026 as the 20th anniversary of Project Peace in Arlington County and encourage community members, partners, and community leaders to join in celebrating this milestone while continuing to work together to prevent violence, support survivors, and build a safer, more compassionate community. So, thank you. And I believe

um Diana Ortiz from Doorways and Latoya Young from our project peace coordinator um are here to receive this proclamation. So, thank you all.

Please come forward. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And as we're trying to you're just making in in time. Uh we'll have our next is also vice chair coffee. I will say without almost every family I know of there's been this touches all of us and so thank you so much. The next uh is sexual assault awareness and prevention month proclamation by sher coffee.

Thank you. Uh very directly related to the the content of project peace and what I talked about there. Um April is sexual assault awareness and prevention month. And so um we are going to commemorate that with a separate proclamation. Sexual violence affects individuals, families, and the broader community um more frequently than any of us would like to admit or acknowledge. And this month calls attention to the awareness of uh both prevention and support for survivors. Arlington County is committed to fostering a peaceful and respectful community. Project Peace being a huge part of that. um but really our coordinated services approach uh and our values in general in order to make sure that people are treated with dignity and can build healthy relationships free from fear, coercion, abuse and violence. Um preventing sexual violence requires education, awareness, survivor centered support is a really important part of this and continued collaboration not just across the county government and departments but also our schools, our service providers, our families. uh everyone really has a role to play here and I think um I've been fortunate to grow up in a generation where the conversations around uh sexual assault have been much more open and much more forthcoming. Uh but that's not always the case and that's not always the case in every household or in every family. Uh, and so making sure that we have that level of um, support across all our different systems, whether it's at school or your sports teams or your your friends, parents or whoever that trusted adult is in kids' lives, to make sure you're having good conversations um, and and making sure people understand that um, they have the right to say no at all times and that should be respected and you have bodily autonomy. Uh, I think especially in our

um LGBTQ communities, we see elevated rates of sexual assault. Um, and sometimes it's because we don't have the right conversations about what this looks like in all types of relationships, in all cultures. Um, and so bringing awareness to this every year as we do. Um, and I will share that on uh next Thursday night, we also have the annual Takeback the Night event. um which is really focused on sharing survivor stories of sexual assault. And Caroline Romano is here. She's the chair of the Commission on the Status of Women and also the organizer of Take Back the Night. I believe we will be meeting in Courthouse Plaza this year. Um and so if you're interested in that, I hope that you will join us. It's always an emotional but very important time to um allow survivors to really take ownership of their own stories and share what they want to share but also just be uh be with people who are there for them and to support them. So I hope you'll join us and uh similar to the last one I'll just read the last uh clause of our resolution or our proclamation. Now therefore, the county board of Arlington, Virginia does hereby proclaim April 2026 as sexual assault awareness and prevention month in Arlington County and urges all residents to learn more about preventing sexual violence, support survivors, and recognize the organizations and individuals who provide critical advocacy services and assistance. Thank you. And uh Miss Colleen from the Commonwealth Attorney's Office. It's going to be exciting.

Thank you very much. Move the move. Come on. Thank you, Vice Chair Coffee. I will note for colleagues the gauntlet has been shown. She is on time in both cases. Uh Colleen, um I think the SART is meeting and I've tried to respond and colleagues if you wish to go. Uh it is the details of how we address this huge problem and um this is not this is a problem that affects all of us. But I certainly will say and I know I speak on behalf of all of us. We are determined to make progress on this long-standing challenge. I believe that is um vice share coffees too and on time and let me not filibuster. So next we will turn I think there are a few of you who are here. We'll turn to Mr. Spain for month of the military child proclamation. Mr. Spain.

Thank you Mr. Chair and people start clapping. Uh thank you Mr. chair and I'll the vice chair has uh set a high standard so I got to meet this deadline here. So when I call you name we do something a little different. When I called you name will you please stand? Uh Colonel Adrienne Schaefer executive director Military Children's Six Foundation. Uh Sydney Patton Riners executive director armed services YMCA Child Development Center in Arlington. Uh Dulce Carlo, supervisor of community partnership and engagement. You can remain standing. I please call you. uh Susan Loy and those individuals from the community relations uh joint base meer Henderson Hall I think the the executive director is here as well um Mia Munos Diaz Arlington Career Center and Lieutenant Colonel Jamberly Antos thank you Michaela Denton Washington Liberty High School student who's here with Mark Denton Army and Terresa Denton from the Army retired Haley Denton Washington Liberty High School with Mark Denton Army Teresa Denton retired and Kira Curry from Washington Liberty High School and those individuals that are in uniform here also representing the command team from Joint Base Myer Anderson and all. Thank you for being here. This is just going to take a minute or two. Since 1986, April has been recognized as the month of Military Child honoring the sacrifices and challenges faced by military children. There are more than 1.6 million military children in the United States. And because military families move on average every two to three years, these children often face barriers to academic success as well as social isolation as they adjust to new schools, friendships, and community dynamics. We also commend institutions such as Arlington Public Schools, the Military Child Education Coalition Arlington, the Armed Services YMCA, Child Development Center Arlington, and many others that work to ease the transition between school districts for military families while also providing a warm and meaningful

welcome to our community. You should know that we here in Arlington is not only the home of the Pentagon, but many other organizations such as Joint Base Meer Henderson Hall, the National Guard Army of Arlington Hall Readiness Center, Naval Support Facility, where thousands of veterans and military personnel work daily. And as a retired 26-year veteran of the United States Marine Corps, it gives me great pleasure in behalf of my colleagues here on the board to present this proclamation. I think this is the second year we're doing it. Uh we have such a high affinity for our military families here in Arlington and given the time that we're in right now, just to be quite frank, and what's going on abroad, the sacrifices that those in uniform make, but also those families that are back here right each and every day. I understand that sacrifice. We understand that sacrifice and we just want to thank you in this moment. So now therefore, the county board of Arlington does hereby proclaim April 2026 as month of the military child in Arlington and encourages all residents to join in honoring the children and military families in our community. Sign Matt Defronte, chair, Arlington County Board. If you can all come up for a photo. Thank you very much. Who's going to stand? Get in there.

Thank you very much, Mr. Spain. Please give a round of applause to this important piece. All of us, all of you are welcome to stay, but you do not have to. As well, I will say that uh I have not served. Mr. Spain's 26 years is a testament to his service. And also um just we are mindful of the moment we're in and uh none of us is better than those serving our public as you serve our public. Thank you so much. Thank you very much for being here everyone and that runs us right to five minutes. Perfect. Mr. Spain, thank you and thank you everyone who came very much. The next proclamation is also to Mr. Spain. It's autism acceptance month. Over to you, Mr. Spain.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would ask that Maline Summer, our representative from the Autism Society of Northern Virginia, are you with us?

That's perfectly fine. Uh you don't have to stand. Thank you very much. Well, thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the colleagues for supporting this proclamation this month. Arlington prides itself in being a diverse and inclusive community. And today, I want to highlight a part of our community that faces unique challenges. Autism is a complex neurological and developmental condition that manifests differently in everyone. No two on the autism spectrum share the same strengths, challenges, or experiences. Accordingly to the CDC, approximately one in 31 children in the United States are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder ASD. It is very likely that all of us either love someone who has autism or know someone that does. Awareness without acceptance is incomplete. Those with autism should be celebrated as full and valued members of the community. And so we've done. we've proclaimed uh now therefore here in Arlington County, Virginia, April 2026 as Autism Acceptance and Awareness Month in Arlington County and urge all residents, businesses, schools, and organizations to join in recognizing the experiences of of autistic individuals and their families, promoting acceptance and inclusion, and reaffirming our shared commitment to a county where everyone belongs. signed under the seal of Arlington County. Matt Deerante, chair, Arlington County Board. And I will ask the two representatives to come up. Thank you. Please come forward. Thank you. Yes. Yes.

Thank you, Mr. Spain. And please, as folks um slide out of the room, let's give a hand because inclusion means all of us are not are different somehow and this extraordinary learning. Please give them a hand as they depart.

Uh we've got like one minute extra. So I will just say I I omitted and hopefully he is within listening range. Mr. Kushner and Mr. Jonathan Davis are also administrative professionals without whom the county board would not work. So please give them a hand. Great. Thank you. Staying relatively on time. It's next to me. The gauntlet has been thrown. I'll try to be efficient but also heartfelt. And this one uh I will just relate for a moment. Arlington is preparedness month and um I think of our former our friend our former colleague uh Libby Garvey who for whom this was she would have had her kit here. Um and uh it's a whole new level of importance when you have two kids under two. And so we will also be recognizing Mr. Flagler who Mr. Flaggler and I have related as girl dads for the last couple of years. So, um, I think I can still stay within time and and focus on the mission, which is Arlington Preparedness Month highlights the importance of preparing for emergencies and encourages everyone who lives, works, and plays in Arlington to take action and build community resilience. Preparedness goes beyond fire alarms, deadbolt locks, and an emergency kit. It also means being informed about hazards, subscribing to Arlington Alert, reflecting on your family's unique needs, and making a plan for home, work, school, and the broader community. The whole a whole community approach to this problem is central to equitable emergency preparedness, and Arlington County encourages residents to help others prepare, volunteer, and take part in training opportunities that strengthen a more resilient and prepared county. We need only think back just a couple of years to CO for how important resilience and equitable emergency preparedness is. Now therefore, the county board of Arlington, Virginia does

hereby proclaim April 2026 as Arlington Preparedness Month in Arlington County and urges emergency preparedness month in Arlington County and urges all citizens to be informed, make a plan, and build community resilience by being more prepared and helping others to do the same. I think I'm on time and so I will ask if Mr. Flaggler can let the two of us take a picture both at honors the month and also maybe a chance to relate about young children. Thank you. Yeah. Next is to me and this one um I certainly think of Dr. Miller as others. This is um I want to focus next on National Public Safety to Telecommunicator Week and uh Dr. Miller, Mr. Flaggler, um this is an important week and I've had the opportunity to come over and see and interact with those who are when you call 911. The intelligence and the professionalism of those you call is so critical. And time, as those in the this line of work know, time can make the difference in saving

lives. So, we are grateful to our telecommunicators. And this week recognizes the public safety telecommunicators of the Arlington County Emergency Communications Center, who are often the first and most critical contact residents have with Arlington's emergency services. These telecommunicators are the vital link to those calling for help and to police officers, firefighters, paramedics, and sheriff's deputies, providing calm, accurate, and life-saving information that helps protect both emergency responders and the public. Each telecommunicator demonstrates compassion, empathy, diligence, and professionalism in helping keep our county, its residents, employees, and visitors safe. That's a summary of the proclamation that I'll hand to Mr. Flagger in just a minute. The end is now therefore the County Board of Arlington, Virginia does hereby proclaim April 12th to 18, 2026 as National Public Safety Telecommunications Week in Arlington County and urges all residents to honor the employees of the ECC, Emergency Communication Center, and recognize them for their diligence and professional professionalism in service to the community. Thank you very much. We should honor this because it's so important. There are instances that I can think of in my time in Arlington where speaking with you all has been particularly key uh as we work on public safety. And I'll ask that we give a round of applause. And Mr. Flagler, as well as anyone who is a telecommunicator, please come forward. Sorry,

stand on the chair. That's how we end up calling. This works.

Yes. Okay, next up we are um excited to have a couple of young kids on our staff. So, we're experiencing this and the the various germs that that our young people bring us. Um, but uh I'd love to honor the the week of the young child. It takes me back um to being the the board chair for a daycare about a couple blocks from here and spending a great deal of time with Anita's team trying to get Anora virus um thing under control. So, everyone wash their hands. There's a lot of stuff of foot and we love our kids. So, I will not go through the whole thing because we are on this times crunch, but the week of the young child has observed April 11th through 17th. So hopefully if you have a young child or around them that you got lots of gifts and uh celebrations of teachers. It recognizes the importance of early childhood and celebrates the educators, families, and programs that help young children learn, grow, and thrive. The early years of a child's life lay the foundation for lifelong learning, health, and success. And highquality early childhood education plays a vital role in supporting that development. Arlington County is proud to recognize the contributions of our early childhood educators and programs like the Children's International School, which have helped support young learners and families in our in our community for many, many years. So now, therefore, the County Board of Arlington, Virginia does hereby proclaim April 11th through 17, 2026 as Week of the Young Child in Arlington County and encourages residents to recognize the importance of early learning and the many people who help children thrive.

Thank you. I believe is there a representative? Come on forward. Get a picture. We'll be back up. Oh, thank you. I want to go on record as supportive of young children. Including my exactly Thank you so much.

Thank you very much. And we're going to go back to Miss Cunningham in just a minute, I believe. But, um, thank you. You do not have to stay. You're welcome to. But, um, we're moving through these. And we'll go next back to Miss Cunningham, I believe.

All right. I'm getting my steps in, which is good for this next one. Um, so the next proclamation is for walk month. Um, and I think that track community members are here. Yay. Uh, so walking has a safe and sustainable and accessible form of transportation that supports healthier people, a healthier environment, and a more connected community. Arlington continues to invest deeply in pedestrian safety, sidewalks, trails, and other infrastructure improvements that make make walking easier and safer across the whole county. So, walk month is an opportunity to recognize the benefits of walking, encouraging active transportation, and celebrating Arlington's ongoing commitment to building a more walkable community. Now, therefore, the County Board of Arlington, Virginia does hereby proclaim May 2026 as Walk Month in Arlington County and urges all residents to support and participate in activities that contribute to the health of the community and the environment. So, come on up. Left side. Thank you very much, Miss Cunningham, and those who came and um it's a good thing, Mr. Barrera, you uh included photography in your job duties as assigned and also uh grateful this is

super important. So good for your health. We will turn next to Mr. Karen Tonis.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um not unrelated with the last u uh uh proclamation u uh walking is a not only a very healthy activity but also helps a lot with the climate because if you walk you don't drive. So uh it is Earth Day today actually April 22nd. Um, and that's it's a very nice slide because it shows us the the most recent uh uh you know complete picture of our planet from uh I believe from the Orion capsule from of the Artemis 2 mission uh on its way to a rendevous with the moon and back. Uh, and it's a a beautiful, absolutely beautiful picture of the Atlantic Ocean, Africa, and parts of Spain. I see there, and parts of America, very in the back. Um, this blue marble is in big trouble as you all know, and that is a daily problem for everyone of us. Uh, maybe you still read the Washington Post. They had a uh interview with Jane Goodall uh where she repeated the now late Jade Goodall and she repeated the famous uh if you want to succeed globally you have to act locally and Arlington does that. Earth Day is the opportunity to recognize the importance of a healthy environment, clean air, safe water, parks, trees, natural spaces to play um for everybody. Arlington County is committed in protecting natural resources and reducing pollution in addressing the generational challenge of climate change and support programs in the car conservation. Encourage conservation, waste reduction, environmental education. All of which is not only good for the earth but also good for us as a community and us individually. um residents and businesses and the

community organizations are all an important part of uh the way we think and celebrate Earth Month and Earth Day today. Um we have a proclamation here which I'm not going to read in its entirety. We do do it every every uh year. Uh but I would like to always say for us in Arlington, Earth Day is absolutely every day. We have a climate resolution and actually this year right now as we speak we started going out to our um our residents and ask them how can we help you to to take action. So we are working on a climate action plan after a climate resolution that we did uh that we approved last year and this is now the moment uh to to think about how you can contribute to a lo to local action to local progress on this. Um Miss Fiorretti is here. I would like to give her the um proclamation. She is our climate coordinator and uh the uh muscle and and thinking power behind everything that we do. And as always, I will put this on.

It reminds everybody how hot this has become. Thank you. And give him a hand. Thank you, gentlemen. Thank you both.

Thank you both so much. It is good to honor this day and this month and it is also a challenge. The science uh is not easy on this one at all. Um next we will turn to a highlight of a couple of other proclamations. I think that there are others in the room who are coming for items that will be under the manager report. We'll try to keep moving quickly. We have also um uh gotten a chance to honor a couple of other months that are here. Uh dark sky week for with with all that that the history there and Arbor Day last Friday. Um it was a very nice day, but I had had no sun. So when it got about 70°, that was more sun than I had known at Jamestown Elementary. But it was um an honor to get to represent us as we uh planted a tree in Jamestown's um uh play area. Um it's also ArabAmerican Heritage Month. It is important that we recognize um that and the broad diversity that makes Arlington stronger and strong. Um next we will go to board member reports. Uh it is to board structure and performance the vaunted BAP acronym and um I don't know whether it's to Miss Cunningham or Mr. Spain first. I think Miss Cunningham judging on the lights. Go ahead.

I was going to say we just send it straight to the clerk. Okay. To Mr. Clerk. Yeah, absolutely. It's just a very very brief and high level update which just to notify the board that the request for proposals has been sent to a group of identified research partners um within the coming days. our own website. If you look at our county board homepage as well as the purchasing website should be updated with further details including the scope, limitations and qualifications on the proposal. We'll be accepting um questions and proposals for the next couple of weeks here. Specific details online as we have them. Thank you Miss Cunningham and Mr. Spain. Thank you. I think we'll be back with more once we live through budget.

Sure. We are trying to budget is this evening. So if that gives context I will say that this is the sort of work that is a ton of work from Mr. Mr. Kushner and if he gets it all correct, nobody notices. And if he gets one thing wrong, everybody notices. So, thank you, Mr. Kushner, for the work. Miss Cunningham and Mr. Spain as well. We will move on next to the manager reports. Mr. Schwarz,

thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Uh, first report up, I'm going to ask Nick Rogers and Eileen Wquist to come up here to talk about the low residential study. Our team has been out connecting with residents throughout phase one of the engagement uh over this past fall and a summary of what we heard is um available on the website that we on uh the LRS website. The team also completed some benchmarking research to understand what other communities in Virginia have in the way of imperous area limits and what those limits are. That report is also available on the LRS website. Most recently, the team has been out busy analyzing imperous area and tree canopy and the data related to that to develop some impervious area limit uh limits and as part of the next steps. So, we're going to turn it over to Nick and Eileen who will tell you a little bit about what they've learned and a sneak preview of what is to come. So, over to you, Miss Woodquest.

Great. Thank you. Uh we're excited to be here to provide an update on the LRS study. I know the agenda is very packed today. So we will we will keep things moving. So um so we have some just a slide here that kind of has oh if you can go to the next slide. Sorry I'm looking at my my slides here. Uh we just wanted to reference the LRS study charge. You know, I won't go through this in detail, but again, u the board had asked us to develop um some recommendations uh for um impervious area limits um that will be informed by and address you know the key items here. Um so we just wanted to to reflect back on that for everyone. Next slide. And this is just a refresher on the timeline for the study uh which began uh last year. And you can see we did do as as um uh the the county manager referred a lot of engagement in the fall and we have a summary of that which is available on the on the LRS website now and you can see the orange box is kind of where we are currently. We are looking at developing um the policy options which we will then bring out this summer um for additional engagement and and discussion and kind of evaluation. So that's where we currently are with the study. Again, hoping aiming to wrap up um towards the end of this year. So next slide. We did want to have start to include some more information on some of the key terms um that have come up in the study and and there's you know been questions and so this slide illustrates um you know some comparison. And you can see on the main building footprint um over there on the left. And so that just really is the area um represented by the building on the property. And then lot coverage um is the main main building footprint in addition to driveway parking and um you know larger size sheds. And then some other things that are defined in the um zoning ordinance. So that's lot coverage. And then in comparing that to imperous area, you can see imperous area also includes patios,

walkways and things um any surface that significantly impedes or prevents water from soaking into the ground. So we wanted to you know provide that um illustration because that is something that has there have been some questions as we've been doing engagement on on the study so far. So next slide. So these are the topics that we wanted to touch on today. Um next slide. So again, just to review our engagement in the fall, we had a um great opportunity to talk to a lot of folks about their, you know, questions and and concerns um through the the engagement. Um and we received, you know, feedback at a lot of different events and throughout the county. In general, we really heard a lot of support for the idea of of enacting or creating these impervious area limits in residential neighborhoods. there, you know, there's concern about um kind of the expansion and and um and and growth of impervious area. And we we mentioned the um LRS website does have the summary of the phase one engagement and there's a lot more detail provided there in addition to the benchmarking report. So, if folks have not had a chance to um take a look at that, um Nick is going to talk a little bit more. We have um delved into phase two uh which is really getting more into um trying to analyze you know our existing data on imperousness and tree canopy and looking at where we might start to um create you know uh potential um options for these limits. Um and then we will be you know coming back out for another round of engagement this summer. Currently we are targeting that to to begin in June. So next slide. So again just a couple slides you know summarizing um from phase one some of the key engagements. You can see some of the themes here. Um again overall we heard you know that people um are really supporting the idea of the study and the um the development of these impervious area limits. Some of the other questions you know that came up um clarifying you

know what would count as imperous area. Um obviously you know I think we always hear a lot of interest in how we can conserve mature trees and improve our tree canopy uh which is you know a key focus of the study. Um suggestions are there ways to use incentives um instead of you know rules and so that was that was something that came up um concerns about the size of the building versus overall impervious area on the property. Um and then also interest in how this would relate to the lot sizes. So those are some of the some of the key themes that we heard. Uh, next slide. Here's just a map showing we were um, you know, lucky. We were able to engage with with quite a few of the county civic associations. You can see kind of throughout and you can see the numbers there at the various events. So, fortunately, we were able to to interact with a lot of um, of members of our various civic civic associations throughout Arlington. Next slide. And we did have a number of questions that we, you know, um asked for for folks to provide feedback um through an online feedback form and also at our inerson events. Um this is one of the questions here. What benefits um of limiting impervious area are most important to you? And what we were really hearing from folks was really some of the key environmental concerns. Um more space for trees and plants, water quality, runoff, um also a key factor in terms of um reducing issues with neighbor to neighbor drainage. you know, when you have uh changes on a property next to you and how that's affecting you. So, those were some of the the key benefits that that that we heard highlighted. So, next slide. And then we did also just want to remind if uh folks haven't been on the the mapper the um um the mapping tool that we have available on the low residential website. We just wanted to highlight that as well. You can see the um yellow will show imperous area on a property and the green shows the most recent uh tree canopy data that we have for for the various properties uh from about I

think from 2023 from our survey at that time. So definitely check that out if you haven't had a chance yet. Uh next slide and then I'm going to turn it over to Nick who's going to talk some more about our phase two.

Wonderful Eileen. Uh thanks so much. Turning the corner from phase one to to phase two. This is where we start to really dive deep on that uh data analysis looking at differences between zoning districts, impervious area, different lot sizes, um understand that relationship uh ac across the tree canopy coverage between those different variables and and trying to draw some conclusions that we can utilize to generate those options for imperous area limits uh for our phase 2 engagement. Uh next slide. So a bit more detail on what we've been uh looking at. Uh you know not all impervious area is the impervious area consists of driveways, buildings uh um other features as well that we uh actively maintain and have great accuracy and precision on with our storm water uh utility data. Um and uh just you know trying to attenuate our data analysis uh and align it with the things that that you asked us to consider and keep in mind uh with the board's charge. Next slide please. So um taking a look at more of of that data you can see you know not all of our low residential uh uh areas are the same zoning. We have several different zoning districts represented. you know, our a lot of our focus and our initial focus has been on lots with one family dwellings. It's the majority of the area. It's the majority of the housing supply in the in the low density areas. You can see that the majority of those lots are zoned R six uh with R10 not a very close uh second but in second place. And then we have uh we even have uh one family dwelling units in our R27 uh zoning district as well. Next slide, please. Yep. But um going back to that big tall bar, the R six uh you know for members of the public and and as a reminder to

our board, the minimum lot size uh in our zoning ordinance for R six,000 square ft. And one could draw a conclusion that we have general homogeneous lot sizes. And the data shows that it's anything else. It's anything but. Um all of the lots to the left of that black line on your viewer, those are below 6,000 square ft. technically they would be non-conforming as of right now. Why is that? A lot of our subdivision, a lot of our lots were subdivided and platted back even before we had zoning and and and and those zoning regulations have changed over time. So, we're a community with that's been developing in different ways for a number of decades and the diversity and lot sizes is reflected uh in the data. Uh next slide. Yeah. Um, and so I'll go very, uh, briskly and quickly on these, uh, as a reminder to members of the public, these are posted on on the board's website for this meeting, so they can be referenced um, at any time uh, at home. Um, by and large, uh, on our larger lots, the key takeaways, uh, Mr. Chair, from from this slide, larger lot sizes, more space for trees. Similarly speaking, on our smaller lots, the R27, R5, R six, more space is needed for that, for the house, for the driveway, for the other common features that our homeowners uh typically have on on their lots. And so you see that higher percentage uh there. Next slide. Uh again, a lot of our data analysis is just testing hypotheses, things that we seemingly know from a gut, but we just want to make sure uh that we're seeing that same experience here in Arlington. And so, generally speaking, when impervious area is lower on a property, we have higher tree canopy, we have higher percentages of tree canopy coverage on those uh lots. Next slide,

please. Uh this is an an important slide because it shows the relationship between the impervious area. Again I mentioned that accuracy that precision that we have with the storm water utility data and just taking a look at a relation the relation with lot coverage. Again lot coverage is a zoning regulation whereas impervious area is that hardscape that's on the ground that's preventing the water from infiltrating below. And so it, you know, it is possible for lots to have more imperous area than our lot coverage standards would allow because several elements of imperous area, several types of impervious area as Eileen mentioned are not considered in that lot coverage definition. Uh, next slide. Um, not all impervious area is is created equal. So we h so we have um we wanted to segment and understand the percentage coming from buildings. This is not necessarily main building footprint as it's explicitly outlined in the zoning ordinance but the um but predom it's going to be predominantly that main building in in the yellow there compared to the percentage of other features. That's the driveway, the sidewalks, swimming pools, the other features that we we monitor and document and and categorize in our storm water utility layer. Next slide. And this is where we start to bring in some of that benchmarking report, a multi-page uh document that we have on the website, but we wanted to bring intentional focus on that R six district as well as the R10 on the next slide. But staying here for a moment, you're seeing how our R six district compares to similar zoning districts in other peer and neighboring uh jurisdictions. Um the the benchmarking included analyses of 10 jurisdictions in Virginia as well as two similar jurisdictions

outside of the Commonwealth. And you can see how how some regulate max maximum building footprint. Uh some regulate maximum impervious area. But but we are unique in in from an R six perspective in how we regulate lot coverage except for Fairfax County where they have that percentage requirement for the rear yard only. Uh next slide we'll we'll take a look at R10 and you start to see a little bit of difference here. We we bring in uh the town of Vienna's example. Those that 12 and 16,000 lot more analogous to our R10. So Vienna's lot coverage requirements are similar to ours. Um but you can see H. Hearnden, Norfick, and SUFFK taking at times the more uh conventional approach of perhaps a maximum building footprint limit, probably a maximum impervious area limit. And you're seeing those percentages in comparison. Next slide. Uh Eileen mentioned the uh consultant support. Uh we expect to be wrapping up our our work on the flood modeling uh shortly and we have just uh kicked off work on the test fit lot diagrams. You can see how we've we have a lot of numbers. We have a lot of bars. We allow a lot of charge. But to really reach the five of you and the members of the public, we want something illustrative. We want we wanted something so that members of the public could understand well it amongst these different options what could that mean? What could the possibilities mean for the lot layout? And so uh we're really excited to get this underway and we think it's going to be a a great way uh for us to connect with the public and and have some quality feedback to bring back to you on how to proceed forward into phase three. Next slide. Yep. Um, so this is an important slide.

I'm of course not going to read through all the verbiage here, but we left it on here to understand how those five criteria that you included in the charge, how we are interpreting that and how we're applying that to, um, formulating those recommendations. And so, case in point, um, think about that that those benefits to storm water and tree canopy to really maximize that environmental benefit. One would think, well, let's set that that um u maximum imperous area limit quite low, make that percentage quite aggressive, let's say, so that we're saving as much space for trees as possible. Uh we're setting up our our storm water um uh retention and and management to to be uh as best possible. But then there is, you'll recall previous presentations where we've used that that seesaw, that teeter totter to show at the other end, uh um there could be limitations and impacts to the use of property. And so so we're we're accounting for that and we're trying to thread that needle um as we consider your charge to us and those different uh criteria. Next slide. Yep. And so, u moving ahead to uh phase two, uh as a reminder, we're going to be identifying two to three limits uh of imperous area. Uh we're going to be rolling those out uh this summer. Again, keeping in mind the the board's charge, keeping in mind that criteria, using that as our framework. Uh and we are on schedule to kick off in in June. And uh Mr. Chair, we're that concludes our presentation.

Thank you very much, Mr. Rogers and Miss Wrist really appreciate the work. Uh I will open it for one round of questions and maybe that means not sliding in three questions in one round. Um but I'll yield vice chair coffee I saw first and and then to to all of you should you have questions. Miss Coffee.

Yeah. Thank you all so much for coming in and um for doing all of this work. This is an extensive amount you've covered since we last heard from you. It's very impressive and much appreciated. Um, I was wondering if we could go back to slide 17 of the presentation. Okay. Because I think I there's been so much community discussion around lot coverage versus impervious area, which is better, which is worse. And I remember um gosh two years ago almost when when you all gave us a presentation on the tree canopy and lock coverage and everything um in a work session. Uh thinking about all of the different odd exemptions that our zoning ordinance has for things that don't count towards lot coverage for whatever reason that it was determined at the time. Um, and so am I am I reading this correctly that the orange bars are the imperous area? Um, and the blue shaded area is what lot coverage maximums would be if all imperous area. So basically that everything to the right of the blue box is something that if we counted all impervious area towards lot coverage would be over our lot coverage limits. is just making sure I'm trying to understand that.

I I think the answer is yes. The only caveat I'll I'll um mention, board member coffee, is that the blue box are our current regulations. That's what's on the books right now in our zoning ordinance.

Got it. Okay. Yeah. So, I I think it's just interesting because we've heard from a number of community members that impervious area might be insufficient to address um some of what is happening right now. And I think this is just an interesting, you know, we haven't previewed this these slides or information, so we'll have to we'll have to sit with that and reflect a little bit. But, um, to me, I mean, I think one of my main takeaways from the original presentation on what counts and doesn't count and is exempted is that we were missing a lot of things that that really do matter here. Um, and I think this data does help support that that there are, you know, this the lot coverage only model is leaving out a lot of what is causing um runoff and and unplantable space to kind of proliferate in our community.

So, thank you. And that's one Thank you. Thank you. You did stick with it. Thank you, Miss Coffee. Uh, colleagues, any other questions? You don't have to make them up, but you do get to speak your truth if you want. I will put myself on a 15-second timer. I'll say that I most recently was with was was with the Ashton Heights Civic Association.

They have one resident who uh shall remain nameless who's sometimes shady and is in this room. Um but but I would say that that is a neighborhood that really brought it brought this issue back to the four for me with direct questions. I'm mindful and grateful for the heat island piece of things. They suggested think about um Central Park in New York. There might be concrete everywhere, but when you walk 10 yards into Central Park, there's a different feeling and and thought, and that is not quite the same, but I do want to just mention it. So, I've taken maybe 30 seconds. So, I will uh seeing none, we we'll go to Miss Cunningham. Go ahead.

I just want to say thank you. I know this is enormous amount of work and there's still a lot to come. Uh, but the the care with which you're doing it and the truly cross-dep departmental um analysis so that you're learning from each other is just really inspiring and I want to see more of it everywhere. It's so exciting. And then to your point on New York City, this is second, but it's very short. There was a great article yesterday about, you know, the the mayor's I think he laid down like a 40% tree cover goal for New York City. So, we got to keep ahead. I'm just saying. Got it. Great. And I will say just I think this is public service from our board. Your slide Miss Wquist that was illustrative was to slide three, four, five or six. You know the three bars

that helped this board member start to get it in his head. So Mr. Rogers your point about showing us we have different ways of learning but I I know that showing up this board member will make me actually understand better. So really grateful for that work. Thank you. So, we'll turn now uh you guys uh will have a shift change and you're welcome, but oh uh we will turn now to the Columbia Pike multimodal project after action and uh I believe that is Mr. Schwarz and he is searching for who he will conjure up if it's all right. We can we go in a different order? Sure. Because next I want to make make sure that Latoya and Deborah um get out of here so that they can do more good work in the community. Fantastic.

So, I'm going to ask I'm going to ask them to come up and talk a little bit. You recognized them earlier, talk a little bit about Project Peace. Latoya is our project piece coordinator and Deborah, you all know, is our co-chair of Project Peace. And they're going to talk a little bit about some of the highlights over the last two decades. Why don't you grab two mics and wherever you want to sit, Deborah? You can sit wherever you would like. Sit. That's fine. Sit. Sit down there. and also a little you're gonna talk a little bit about the blueprint uh going forward. So, thank you, Miss Warren. I mean, sorry, Miss Warren.

Good afternoon, board members. It's always a pleasure and an honor to be in front of you and I'm thrilled to have my colleague Latoya Young here who has been with the county for eight months and has managed to master the Arlington way. Tell us.

She's doing an amazing job lifting up survivor voices and overseeing our project peace services. I'm very grateful for that. Also, of course, Da Ortiz is my co-chair of uh Project Peace and um just a tremendous partner. We'll say more about doorways in a minute. Um and I and I know Chair Fronti, you are very mindful of time this evening. You have the big budget ahead of you. And I want to thank Vice Chair Coffee for taking a lot of my talking points and saving all of us about five minutes that you did a beautiful job. Um the county board has been consistently engaged in the work of project peace from day one since then county board member Barbara Favola started uh led the charge in terms of development of project peace and also CMO and I want to especially thank Michelle for her support and really deep engagement in this work um for so many years as well as Anita Freriedman, who's right over here, my boss. Um, we already know that project peace, peace stands for partnering to end abuse in the community for everyone. I'm not sure everyone knows that's an acronym, but that's really an important piece. Um, it is, as vice chair mentioned, a coordinated community response dedicated to advancing the most effective and efficient array of education, prevention, protection, and support services to end intimate partner and sexual violence. So, we're here today. Um, the balloons are are to celebrate. Um, but at the same time, as as you

mentioned, Miss Coffee, it's really a tender moment, and we hold the victims and survivors of the recent tragedies here in Northern Virginia, as well as in Louisiana, um, deep in our hearts. Um, it makes it a sober celebration, but it also reminds us of how critical this work is and renews our commitment um to the collaboration. Um, so we're going to move on to the next slide if we could. This is a little bit about our history. So just some of the background. In the 80s there were a couple of foundational organizations in Virginia focused on one on domestic violence, one on sexual assault and they came together and formed one organization uh now known as the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance. And then in 94 there was the famous federal legislation violence against women act was was passed known as VAWA. Um and then in 2006, um Barbara Favolus led the formation of Project Peace, calling people together, all kinds of partners together to really focus in on domestic violence, forming a leadership roundt that was charged with spearheading the development of that coordinated community response. And it's hard to remember back then, but everything was fragmented. you know, everybody was doing their own siloed work. And so that really enabled the the the task force came together and developed the very first blueprint in 2008, the first of many. And of course, we have a new one coming out. In 2014, the mission of uh project peace expanded to include domestic uh sexual

violence and um the language today is intimate partner violence which really you know globally encompasses both. Um and in 2015 we included youth victims. Um, and as one of our accomplishments, you'll see that youth have been very engaged in this work, which I think is really important. More voices heard. More recently, we restructured last year um in terms of streamlining our committees so that we would make more efficient use of the many folks involved in this work. Next slide, please. So, this is a very dense slide. Um, but it's intentionally dense. It's actually just highlights that we pulled out of many accomplishments of Project Peace as a collective. Um, one of the first early wins was adding sexual assault and dating violence questions to the youth risk behavior survey that was administered every single year or maybe it was every two years. um in in the school system. Um I know this because Alexandria copied Arlington and I was in Alexandria at the time. But um that was a really big deal because um those are very sensitive areas to question. But that gave us the data to develop things like as you see later on the healthy relationships task force which the youth themselves formed and is still uh still in play with our teen network board. Um what else was I going to tell you about? Oh. Um, in 2016, we had two hotlines and the hotlines were combined through a contract with doorways to form one

integrated hotline. And this is really important because, um, survivors of violence may experience a variety of different types of abuse. Um, so that led to, you know, a streamlined process. Um, our Arlington developed an abuser intervention program called it AIP and it it was a it is a statecertified batter intervention program. This is important because it focuses on accountability, helping to build empathy and providing the tools to ensure safety through group and individual counseling. This program is now known as partnershift. Bless you. Now known as partnership and it has expanded its services in response to the need. And this is unusual. Not every community has a program like this. Um and I think it really ensures uh that Arlingtonians are more safe and Latoya is responsible for overseeing that project. Um, our sexual uh assault response team, SART for short, uh, is overseen by uh, the Commonwealth Attorney's Office, and you saw Colleen earlier accepting the proclamation um, for this month. It's a multidisciplinary group of professionals including medical staff through ANOVA, law enforcement, victim advocates who all coordinate to ensure immediate survivor centered care. with the goal of reducing trauma, ensuring timely forensic exams, and having investigations be more efficient and more effective. Want to give a shout out to Doorways, having served our community since 1978.

Um, besides managing the hotline I described, Doorways provides revive domestic and sexual violence counseling for adults, youth, and children impacted by intimate partner violence to foster healing and safety for families. doorways provides, as vice chair mentioned earlier, safety planning, court advocacy, housing, hospital accompiment, and so forth. Thank you, Diana, for your partnership and your leadership in this vital work for survivors. I'm going to turn the presentation over to Latoya, who knows that this is hard work and heartwork, right?

Thank you, Miss Warren. Miss Young, good afternoon, board. I just want to adjust my mic here. There is a button on the right side if you're if you over underneath if you want to lift the podium up a little bit. Uh it's up to you. Okay, perfect.

All right. Well, thank you um county board and um I want to thank you Deborah for grounding us in the history and foundation of Project Peace. Um it's really powerful to be here to reflect on um just how far we've come. Um, I'm honored to be here as a project piece coordinator um to share how the foundation has now shaped um how the work we do today and what we know today. And so picking up where um Deborah left off, um I want to just point out some of the things that have really um focused on our continuous growth and adaptation and community partnership. Um in recent years, um just as of 2020, um we've launched a LGBTQ plus initiative. Um we've also strengthened prevention efforts. Um in addition to that um well within 2019 we developed safe havens um program um and also our resident restaurant initiative ask Angela uh with our phenomenal partners at ACPD and doorways. We've implemented the lethality assessment program um protocol known as LAP. In addition to that um we have uh focused a lot of our prevention efforts with the support of our prevention specialists on our accessible adult campaign. With the partnership uh with doorways we've been able to um use that partnership for core advocacy and safe house bids. So, we've advanced survivor center systems, expanded education and training, and strengthened accountability efforts, and continue

building on a coordinated response. I'm especially proud of the work that has remained rooted in collaboration and our very active engagement and involvement of our county board members. Next slide, please. Thank you. And so as we celebrate 20 years, we also want to look ahead. And so Project Peace is now in a place where we are recommitting to its mission with a refreshed communitydriven vision for the future. One that both recognizes the progress we've made, but also the work that still needs to get done. And so with our new blueprint for progress 2026 um 2026 through 2028 um it's now currently being shaped intentionally through listening partnership and reflection. Most importantly something that I'm really really proud of. It's been informed with and for and by survivors and the community members of Arlington. We really recognize that the people closest to the challenges are also closest to the solutions. And so survivor voices remain central, not just symbolic to us, but truly embedded in our planning, policy, and program design. And so this next chapter that we're looking into is going to be more responsive, more equitable, and more collaborative, and more impactful than ever before. Next slide, please. So, what do we do? We get involved. We recognize that this work cannot and does not happen in a a vacuum. Whether you're a service provider, whether you're one of our victim service

providers such as doorways or elected leader, community member, advocate or survivor, we know and understand that there is a role for everyone in creating safety and preventing violence in Arlington County. And so we invite everyone here and far just to really stay engaged, stay connected, and continue a partner with us. We appreciate all our partners. We recognize that we can build a community where everyone is safe, supported, and able to to thrive. And so we want to thank everyone from all the work that's been put in over the years. And we appreciate them standing with Project Peace for the last 20 years. And we are looking forward to shaping the next 20 years to come.

Did you celebration? Oh, most importantly, we are now celebrating the 20th anniversary um on Tuesday, April 28th um from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. at Leber Run Community Center. We have invited our uh board members along with our community members also commu um including survivors um and Senator Barbara Favvola will also be um speaking and um coming out with us. And so, um, we invite all those that are able to to come celebrate with us both our past, um, and our present, but also looking forward to our future. Thank you guys for the opportunity to speak.

Thank you, Miss Young. Bless your coffee.

Yeah, thank you so much for coming. Um, I hope my colleagues can understand why I, uh, asked the manager to provide us this update. I know you all know about Project Peace and the work that's going on, but really uh it was sitting in our last executive committee meeting, hearing about the the survivor focus group that went on to inform the new blueprint and hearing about everything going on in the new blueprint that I was like really we need we need this level of recognition for the work that goes into this. Um, Miss Young joined us from the federal government and we are so grateful we were able uh to bring her in because Project Peace has a long history of really wonderful staff liaison who have I mean done great work over the last two decades and I I feel so lucky to have you now um working with us and um it's just really worth lifting up. It's it's work that I'm really aware of because I'm the board's liaison and member of of Project Peace. Um but I think to bring a little more elevation to it, especially right now, um on the anniversary during sexual assault awareness and prevention month, um and with such an important event coming up, was just really important to me. And so just this is this is an update, but it's also a little bit of an opportunity to brag about um the amazing work that you all are doing in your department. And so just thank you and happy to open up to colleagues.

Thank you, Vice Chair Coffee, Mr. Caronus.

Uh thank you, Mr. Chair and Vice Chair. Um I'm still extremely impressed by the events uh that we experienced here in Northern Virginia, Nandale, that's next door, and and in Louisiana. But I want to uh to pause on one thing uh that I believe was to me as an Arlingtonian of invaluable uh insight that project peace um that I credit project peace for the ENA in the in the acronym stands for end abuse and it helped me a lot to understand that violence is a form of abuse but not the only form of abuse. A lot happens before we get to the violent outcome. One of the most horrible parts of the experience that we had in the the last few days is the realization that the victims have absolutely no option to defend themselves. They are absolutely captured and they are captured because they're in an environment that has been formed by constant permanent abuse and by the tolerance of everybody else who I mean these thousand behavioral issues that we have around that not only with respect to the abusers but also to a society that tolerates doesn't look at this properly doesn't call it out um is is kind of nonchalant when we when we are confronted by horrible events like that and we don't reverse engineer to see what happened before and what are the

what is the environment of abuse. So project peace has enormously helped me to understand that and to be more sensitive and focused on this. So, thank you for this work.

Thank you, Mr. Caronus. I'll just add um briefly, Barbara Favola, Mary Hines, Katie Crystal, Michelle Cowan have all been giants in this as have you, Miss Warren, and um um I know you are already, Miss Young. And we'll be saying Candace who in just a second, but uh Candace Lopez as well made a big difference. I think we should just name and honor those folks. All five of us are going to try and be there next week. If we can't, it's cuz we have like double schedule. We're trying. But I know every member of this board cares deeply about this work and um we each have different roles to play in ending abuse and uh we're just grateful for all that you've been doing. So with that, Mr. Spain, go ahead.

Yes. Thank you and uh thank you for our your leadership, Vice Chair Coffee, uh and being our liaison uh to project peace and thank you uh to all of you uh Latoya and the entire team for your work and your steadfast dedication um to this area uh abuse in any form right is intolerable and I think there's a lot for us in our community and actually quite honestly in the nation that we folks need to learn. And the only thing I will leave as you were talking I I went to your site and I I think in this moment it's important to really remind people that Doorways has a hotline. Um and um we also have a national sexual assault hotline and those numbers are for doorways 7032370881 and for the national sexual assault hotline is 1 8006564673 or you can call 911. Look, thank you again for your work. I'll try to be there like the chair said um next week. I think we're all going to try to be there. Uh we have your back and thank you for all the hard work you do in our community. Appreciate you.

Thank you so much. I just wanted to add that on the project piece website, there's an outstanding no wrong door resource guide um that the whole collaborative spent quite a lot of time working on and that might be very useful for individuals who need to know what the resources are. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you each. Go ahead, Miss Cunningham.

I know I would also just want to add my thanks. I'm so grateful for the vision that that previous boards and community members had to really dig in deep to educate our our young people from the youngest youngest ages. I love the way it ladders in so that we all can have the vocabulary. we can have the conversations and I think all of us in this time uh and I as Miss Coffee mentioned this week has been particularly heavy and visual visible um knowing that the help is there and that helping each other ask for that help is really really important and we have safe places to go. Um it is very very hard but we must lift those up and continue and continue to go there. So, thank you for answering the phone every time, for building the outreach and the education. Um, and I think all of us in our whole community really need to take that, absorb it, and and have it influence how we act every day and how we communicate with one another and how we model for our children and our community. So, thank you.

Thank you both, as well as uh Miss Freriedman, Miss Ortiz, and Miss Stori for being here and raising the money. Um, sorry to say that. I I just would add it. I would say that certainly Eric Gutchall is here in this room too. So, thank you so much for the ongoing work and for the leazison leadership and with that we will see you next Tuesday as we are possibly able. So, thank you. Sure.

Okay. Next up, thank you very much for for coming in. Appreciate it. Hi Joy. Um, next, um, I'm going to get, uh, Peter Vasalupus, who's going to have an opportunity to come up here, but I did want to talk a little bit about Arlington's, say it with me, semiquincentennial. Semiquentennial, our 250th commemorative commemorative events for Arlington VA 250. So since last year, we've been actively planning a variety of educational programs, historic highlights, cultural activities to celebrate America's 250th birthday. So we've been working with the support from several county departments, CPHD, specifically our historic preservation program, AED, which specifically there the Arlington Convention and Visitor Service, and then libraries are just a few of the organizations we've been working with. So, the historic preservation program collaborated with the Arlington Historical Society uh to support all those efforts on the 250th anniversary and along with the state. And I wanted to talk about a few highlights. Actually, last evening, the Arlington Public Library celebrated our nation's 250th anniversary by looking at American life, history, and culture through the lens of food. And as part of the 2026 Arlington Read series, we had American journalist Francis Lamb and former food critic for the Washington Post, Tom Catzma. They stirred it up with a lively discussion at Darthyham Middle School to a full house. And this is one of the numerous programs the libraries have planned around the 250th birthday. Uh coming up in July, Central Library is going to host an all day community celebration with live music, spoken word performances, genealogology, digitization workshops, hands-on craft

demonstrations, and a lot more. So save that date for Library Fest 250. Our Arlington convention visitor visitor services have been promoting uh Arlington as a tourism designate uh destination for 2 the 250th events and also ACVS has been working with the historical society on the VA250 tourism marketing program. We got a grant from the Virginia Tourism uh Corporation to promote the 2026 Arlington History Fest. And so that is a big effort on the part of the Arlington Historical Society. They've been spearheading that. So enough out of me. I'm going to ask Peter to come up here and talk about all the work he has done. I'm glad he did not come in Revolutionary War garb um so we can all recognize him.

I'm a little disappointed. Yeah, I'm a little disappointed, too. But he is here to talk about all his efforts. You may see soon, Mr. Van. We have a no guns policy here, so musketss are not allowed. Go ahead. Mr. Chairman, I think your mic, you might just add your mic. One press. Oh, there we go. Yep. Thank you.

You would think 35 years in media and broadcasting I'd figured that out. Um, so first off, thank you all for giving me the opportunity to share. I'm very impressed with the list that you had. I might as well just go home. you guys got it covered. Uh um I think uh the slide deck. Yeah. So, as you can see, a couple of years ago, you guys, the the county came to the historical society and said, "Hey, how would you guys like to take the lead and uh put together the VA250 uh uh committee?" And currently, I'm the chair, but it started several years ago. And I'm actually really pleased to have this opportunity to report to you all the good things that have been going on. But the first thing I would want to say is what a wonderful support we're getting from the county, from the county manager's office, from the board, from all the offices that you mentioned. Um, I'm just really impressed at the the type of support we're getting and I'm coming to you with a lot of good news. Uh, you know, you mentioned, by the way, my my uniform. You can go to the next slide. My wife um Oh, I didn't even have that one, but okay. I did have a picture of me in colonial uniform that I I got from chat GPT. So I guess the the question is why are we celebrating the 250th? And the bottom line is why does the 250th matter? Now, I don't know about about you, but I think that this celebration and the commemoration is an exciting time and it really does give us an opportunity to celebrate what I think is a significant milestone for this country, for Arlington, for Virginia. And it prompts a reflection on our nation's origin, struggles, and ongoing promise. And for Arlington, the the anniversary allows us to reflect on who we are. I know about six years ago, we celebrated 100 years, and that's part of the 250th, but there's a lot more going on in Arlington. and Arlington's connection to the past. You can go ahead to the next slide. Um, one of the things

I've really got to enjoy is learning uh Arlington's revolutionary history. And for a lot of people when they come to the history fest on May May 9th, we hope to engage and really uh show that Arlington does have a rich connection. One of them is that uh years ago we were part of Fairfax and when the revolution was starting we were part of the Fairfax muster. So there were plenty of people in what we now call Arlington County that actually participated and came out in uh in the militia and they actually uh served and fought in the war. And if you go to the next slide, one of the most well-known was uh an occupant of the Glee House. And by the way, thank you for all of you that came to the Glee House opening. That was a a really stellar event. Now the David Griffith was a Revolutionary War hero. He he represents uh a time when um uh people in Arlington served their country and he was not only a pastor but he was a surgeon. He was a good friend of George Washington and uh he served with George Washington in Valley Forge. So there's that connection with Arlington and the revolution and boy did he have a commute. He went from the Glee House to Christ Church in Alexandria. So if you think about commuting today, imagine back then. Uh next slide. The other thing uh I had to put this in because my wife is French and she wanted to remind you all that there's a French connection to Arlington history and that is uh General Roshambo who supported uh George Washington in his efforts to defeat the British. Ro Shambo and 5,000 troops landed in Rhode Island and initially they were supposed to support George Washington in retaking uh New York. But um uh Roshimbo realized that there weren't enough troops and he convinced Washington you should go to Yorktown because that'll be an easier battle to win. And they started marching down and the ships sailed and brought the artillery and all the the necessary things to defeat the British. But the best story you should be aware of is

that the French were smart and they built bakeries near New York City and they deceived the British by the smell of baking French bread. And I just think that's a great story. But the Arlington connection is they marched down uh to Maryland and crossed the PTOIC River at Georgetown uh crossing over to what today's Roosevelt Island continuing the march along Arlington Ridge Road where the museum is located and spent the night in Arlington at where the the waste treatment facility is and they ended up going all the way down and the rest is history as they say because the French contribution really was a big part of our victory. Please next slide. So the start of uh talking about where uh where we're going for the uh history in 250s to look back where we were 50 years ago, you're looking at the committee that uh was 50 years ago and um they did a lot. They actually had a parade. There was a parade on George Mason Drive and I got a I got a kick out of the fact that they um made this 300 pound cake that they served after the parade at Blummont Park. Now we're not going to do that. Sorry. But we are going to have our festival and uh if you can go to the next slide. Last night we had a meeting of the uh of the VA250 committee at the Hume School and I said we got to recreate this photograph. So this is the modern-day version of the photograph of some of the committee members. And uh I'm glad you're all uh learning how to pronounce semiquincentennial. I mean let's face it, if you didn't take Latin, you need to understand what the word means. But I do think that uh we're excited about our signature event. It's not going to be a parade, but we're going to do this all day history festival at Kenmore. And I have to tell you, uh David McBride, the principal at Kenmore has been fantastic. All the support that we're getting. Um all of the um uh the county uh civic groups and historic groups are going to be there.

We're going to have like 45 of those popup tents. Uh, I just found out that the old guard uh is going to come and do a demonstration at the at the event. We're going to have a mobile stage with music and um I think it's just going to be a lot of fun. We're going to have like four food trucks. So, you come spend all day, have good food, get your history on and uh I think it's just going to be a real fun event. If you don't mind going to the next slide. Now, one of the things that I have to give a shout out to Patrick Hope. Initially, we were told that the mobile museum was not going to come and that was a big disappointment because why would the mobile museum not want to come to Arlington County and Patrick was great. He lobbied and not only did they change their mind, they now decided to go to two schools. So, the mobile museum is first going to go to Thomas Jefferson and they're going to go to Kenmore. So, think about all the opportunities for students now to have access to this wonderful exhibit and that's just part of where we are this year. So, I'm really proud and again a shout out to Patrick Co for that. Uh, next slide. So, I did want to show you me in uniform uh or this in this case here. I am portraying John Ball at the Ball Sellers House. You had mentioned uh the media campaign that we're working on with Stay Arlington. I got to tell you, they're a great great group of people, Emily and Scott. They've been very helpful and we got that tourism grant as you mentioned and we're now right in the process of doing a media campaign. We we've been buying advertising. We're hiring a video company and we're going to be doing short little videos that we're going to be dispersing on social media and the theme is discover Arlington, be part of history. So, what better way to be part of history is to come to the Ball Sellers House, the oldest house in Arlington. If you've not been there, come on. Now's the time. And I just have to share with you this campaign really is purposeful in trying to identify and

get tourists to come to, you know, yes, Eioima monument is great to go visit. Arlington cemetery is great to visit, but there are other historic locations in Arlington that represent our history and we want tourists coming to Arlington to recognize there's a lot more to Arlington history than just those two sites. So again, discover Arlington, be part of history. You'll be hearing more about this. Next slide. So, one of the things that the co the uh VA250 committee, the Arlington committee, we wanted to do a lot more things that are everlasting and not just one signature event. One of the things that we're producing is a history chronicle. This is the historical society's 70th year. At first, I was really ambitious and I wanted to do 250 stories, but it turned out that was just too much of a challenge. So, I said, "Well, we're celebrating 70 years. We'll do 70 stories." So, we're printing we're printing this newspaper. It's going to be like the size of the beacon and uh it'll be available at the uh uh the festival and afterwards at all the other events that were going on. Uh you can go ahead next slide. The other thing I'm really proud to announce and we're announcing it here live for you guys first to hear this. Uh we are getting the rights to show the movie 1776. Regal theater in Boston is going to allow us to show the the movie on June 30th. uh at 7 pm and we're I'm really excited about this. If you haven't seen this movie or haven't gone to the Fords Theater to see the musical, it's a lot of fun and we'll have displays outside and I I just think it's a great way for the community to get get their July 4th on. It's going to be a couple days before July 4th. Next slide. Some of the other things we're doing, we're creating a history passport that families will be able to pick up at the event and be able to go around and see these sites that a lot of people don't recognize as being historic sites. Glee House being one of them, but think about it. These 13 sites that we put onto this passport, they'll

be able to fill out with their kids and the families and then come to the museum and get a prize. So, that's another way that we're trying to get people engaged in their history. Next slide. Uh we've uh we're putting together a traveling trunk that we're going to be going through all the Arlington public schools and allow kids to get hands-on with uh putting on clothing and uh documents and other things to really help teachers get involved and find another way of teaching and that's going to be something that's starting pretty soon. Next slide. Uh the the one thing that I wanted to share with you, the Arlington Historical Society was recently uh uh invited to become an affiliate with the Virginia uh museum, History Museum and and Culture Museum. We're one of 30 of Northern Virginia that were selected to be affiliates with that museum. We're very excited about that. That gives us opportunities to bring in these type of exhibits into Arlington County and we're just thrilled to be part of their affiliate program. Next, um, we're going to be doing a lot of popup history. In fact, tomorrow I'm going to the Renaissance Hotel, uh, near the airport. They're really eager to us to do special events, trivia quizzes, and other things. So, we're going to be trying to partner with the bids and other places to really get history outside. It's the biggest challenges for the historical society. Not everyone comes to brick and mortar. You got to get out to where the people are. And we're learning that. And that's just part of how we're growing as a historical society. Next, um we've talked about this before, the I know for 911 we do the flag draping, but we're hoping to do that as well uh for July 4th. I think that's something that we'll get a lot of support on and I just think visually it's be exciting for our community. Next slide. And the other thing that we'll be doing at uh July 4th at 2:50 uh ringing of the bells and

right now we're scouring Arlington County looking for um churches, buildings like this is Bloommont Park. They have their own bell, but the historical society we have a bell and I know there are other locations around Arlington that still have bells and we'll try to get everyone to ring that at 250. So that that'll be something that everyone will participate. And one final thing to share. Uh we're hope next slide. Uh we're hoping to do something virtually. This picture is from the Fairlington community. They still do an annual parade. And not everyone is aware of all the things that are going on on the day of July 4th. We're not going to have a singular parade. We were purposeful in not doing something around July 4th. But we're hoping virtually to share and have communities post and put up their events and all of Arlington County can share in all the activities that are going on. Next slide. And then finally, um, you know, I'm here to answer any questions, but all I can say is thank you all so much for all that you've done to support this, and I look forward to having you all come on, uh, May 9th and all the other events that are going on. So, I'm available if you have any questions. Thank you very much, Peter. I've got an email and I'm going to work to make sure that that piece of it happens on May 9th. Um I think all of us have tasted history in different ways and uh again and again your my big ideas with respect to history break down and as you learn more detail it's uh complicated and revealing and um it informs our democracy now and so just immensely thankful for your work. I know there's ongoing work um to make all of these events go well. I think the entire board is very very grateful for the leadership and and the work that's there and um I'm glad you called out Patrick Ho for getting the mobile museum all the

pieces. I won't say that I'm the sole arbiter of any wisdom on this. I do my most recent is I got a little pamphlet of the 25 of the signers of the Constitution and the signers of Declaration of Independence. Some of them really had trouble paying their bills and all sorts of other pieces. These are real human beings. Real history is complicated and messy. Vice Chair Coffee.

Yeah, I I really appreciate the presentation. I think um we've known there's lots of stuff going on and so having it all in one place is really great and really helpful. I'm so excited uh for the event on the 9th and uh even more excited to hear about 1776. I remember I watched um my my grandparents had the VHS of it that I I remember watching with them one night and it it is really a great musical. Um so I think it's really quite the time to be having our uh semiquincentennial celebration. Um but I think everything going on in the country and the world makes it all the more important that we learn and remember our history. Um there are there are many lessons to be taken away that can be applied to today. And so we're grateful for the partnership of the historical society um for bringing bringing so much excitement forward and uh I look forward to participating as much as I can.

Thank you. We're glad you're coming and speaking. Thank you. Yes. Thank you Vice Coffee and Peter for mentioning that and um we're looking forward to it. There's much to do. uh eager for it and um we will leave it there unless there's Oh, by Miss Cunningham.

Sorry, I was a little asleep at the wheel here. Um just a huge thank you. I had a chance to get over to Ball Sellers this week. It was so fun uh to just live the history. Um I am just struck by the incredible amount of work and dedication and care and professionalism that you and the team have uh given us is a huge gift to our community. So, thank you for that. And I was at the uh the library event last night and uh in the in the banter afterwards, someone who I will not name because they may get run out of Maryland said, you know, Bethesda and Arlington like they have so many similarities, but Arlington's just so engaged and like people give their time and it just has so much more life and spunk to it. So, I just wanted to bring that forward and then to again offer my apologies that um my birthday is on the day of that event and it's also Mother's Day and my parents are getting some big awards. So, our family is gathering elsewhere in the midst of uh prior conflicts going back 250 years. Um so I will be thinking of you all and sending good wishes.

Thank you very much Miss Cunningham. and uh you know VHS tapes were part of my history not something that was as I was but I'll leave it there there. Thank you Peter and your team for all of the work and we're looking forward to continuing. Thank you. If may I add one thing this Sunday we're opening a brand new exhibit. It's going to be a permanent exhibit. And for those of you familiar uh at the historical uh museum, the the the school room, we've totally redone the school room. And it's uh the the name of the exhibit is building minds shaping futures. It's all about the history of Arlington education.

And actually, as part of the research, I think it's funny. We've done this digital board showing at one point all the 100 different schools that existed in Arlington at one time. It's really fascinating to see the growth of Arlington's education system. And we're just encouraging you uh please come by and take a look. And we're encouraging people who who went to these schools to come and bring something of their alma mater and if they've got school clothing or anything, it'd be kind of fun. But I think when you go back and look at the history of Arlington and education, the two go together. And it's just something that's been at the forefront of what makes this a great county. So, thank you all so much for this opportunity. I really appreciate it. Absolutely. I do see lights. You've been you you pulled it out of us just for clarity. That's up. Is it upstairs or

downstairs? Upstairs. And by the way, you're all welcome to ring the bell. Okay. Thank you. All right. Thank you.

We do have just you may have questions from Mr. Karen Tonus and then Mr. Spain is the order I saw them in. I'm flexible. Mr. Karan Tonus. Well, uh just to add to the thanks uh and uh to the continuous effort uh I know that all this is embedded in Virginia to 50 uh which has also a lot of events around us. uh they they are uh you know maybe not equally interesting but very interesting still and I think that the city of Alexandria and Fairfax are organizing a lot uh that that we'll be celebrating and also the region as well. I think uh both the district and uh um Maryland uh have a lot to offer this summer on this. So, I I wonder if uh uh the historical society would be a good conduit for information about, you know, what's happening on not only here in Arlington, around

I'm actually glad you brought that up because we're going to be participating in the tall ships that are coming to Alexandria. Yeah. And we actually collaborate a lot with the Alexandria Historical Society. It's really amazing to see what's happening, the synergy with with history and and I thank you for bringing that up. False church and other local areas. Um, yeah, I we will try to be better at getting that information out. That's a great idea. It's a it's a very regional pluribusum kind of attitude. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Karantis. Mr. Spain, Peter, I love your energy.

Really, I do. And you you you may recall about two years ago Donaldson and Run at a barbecue under the shade tree. We were talking about this moment and um look how far you've come. uh with the assistance of our our staff in the county. Now, I'm very appreciative and I know that you are in fact an inclusive leader and you've talked about all the entities you want to bring to the table to celebrate 250 years. So, I really appreciate that. I too like uh my colleague uh Susan Cunningham, I've been called for a family engagement in Houston, Texas on Saturday, May 9th. But you know, one one event does not define any of us on the board and you know that we will be here with you until the end cuz it goes all year. I do have one question if there if there is anything you know we come we hear these presentations you it's great. Is there anything we can do uh along the way any challenges you foresee? Uh sounds like everything's well. Um that's what your testimony is but just want for the record. Are we good? Anything else? If you can, you know, king for a day, is there something else you would need?

I I really want to share one thing. Working with the county manager's office, they stepped up and said, "Tell us the county expenses and we got you covered." And that's what's happening. Thank you.

I mean, dealing with the police department, dealing with the fire. I don't have to worry about that. I mean recently the fire department at first we didn't know whether they were going to bring equipment on but because of the numbers that we're anticipating there's going to be an ambulance on site not predicting anything but just it's always better to be prepared we have police coming for traffic control and I've got nothing but support for that and what what the support I got from stay Arlington they helped me do the tourism grant all I can tell you is that I'm just incredibly pleased with that and um I I'm not the type of person that would have hold back if I had a problem not getting support. And Patrick Hope can tell you that because when that museum backed out, um

I wish I knew how to swear better in Greek, but I was definitely um uh really upset about uh them not wanting to come to Arlington. And I to I took that personally as to why would they not? But he stood he stepped up and he really fought for us. And I I'm telling you that that was a Revolutionary War victory. That's all right. Well, Peter, well, let peace and harmony prevail and thank you for your time. Thank you so much. All right. Thank you again very much and uh do keep us posted if there's things that we can do to help you out as you go forward, help us out as a community. Thank you.

All right. Thank you very much, Peter. Look forward to seeing you May 9th. Um so, next up, another meaty topic. You know, last Wednesday you all had the chance to go out to a ribbon cutting for the Columbia Pike multimodal street improvement project. And so although the project is almost in our rearview mirror, not completely, um, we don't want to forget there are some lessons learned from on project execution. So I have asked and just going to get the seat of honor next to me. I think honor maybe that's not it but uh Hay Hang who's our chief deputy director at the department of environmental services is here to share what staff have learned from the pike project. So I'll turn it over to Hui.

Okay. Good afternoon dear board and county manager and uh the public who are watching this. Uh I'm here to talk about Columbia Pike focusing on the you know post construction uh thoughts and lessons learned and all that. I have a slide deck but uh my talking points are not actually on the slide deck. Uh I'm I would like to have the slides play with the pictures of Columbia Pike before, during, after construction sort of as a reminder of the uh depth of this project. So with that, um I'm going to start to say just a quick reminder. I know you went to the ribbon cutting. uh it's still very fresh uh of what the project is but just for the benefit of the public uh what is Columbia Pike project and actually that's a very good um slide that's up there remind us of where this project is it is in an area with the higher vulnerability index which is a focus uh area for our investment It is along the premium transit corridor which carries the highest bus ridership in Virginia and it uh boosts a six-minute interval bus service which is very much appreciated uh by our residents and what the project encompass the the pike is about 3.6 six mile long and the county portion that we executed the construction was 2.8 uh miles and we coordinated with the federal uh executed DAR project.

There are 32 intersections along the pike that got improvements with that better curb, better ADA ramp that serve all users, you know, um with different mobility demands. We added three new signalized intersections. Many of those serve the community who otherwise uh have challenges getting in and out of their um neighborhood roads because of the pike uh volume. We planted uh almost 600 trees. That is actually about 100 more than what was there. Yes, admitted we had to replace some of them with the construction, but I hope the trees are happy and will grow. Uh we have 24 uh renovated transit stations and 50 bike racks. Again, that piece of multimodal um service is demonstrated on the Pike. How did we do this? First of all, I would really like to thank the community and the county board for support and invest into this uh complex and large project. This is the community supported us through their endurance and the resilience and the staff also put in a lot of effort making it happen. uh people like to recite the amount of investment in monetary uh numbers but I want to say investment is not just monetary it also includes disruptions

temporary in the long run but painful during the period nonetheless after we almost completed the project substantial completion what we say right now and there are still activities going on with you know the punch list uh many of you you know learned all these jarens that basically it's the final quality control period when we are fine-tuning some of the pieces uh what we learned I will say if I have to summarize everything in one sentence I will say a project at this level of complexity requires ires much higher level of effort and resources to manage, coordinate and execute. You, the board, and the county manager, you all stepped up and stepped in to help support this project from time to time when we faced challenges, when things didn't go as smoothly as we wanted to. And I want to thank you for helping with that. Uh now let me sort of divide this into finer pieces looking at each piece. Starting from the planning stage the project we showed it on the website. The project was planned there was a big study in 2012. Actually there were pieces that's buil pieces that's uh realized through site development and things like that. So a Google street view will will show us you know which section was done at when. Um the engagement was done back then before the sixstep public engagement

guide was adopted in 2018. So now I'm looking back I'm thinking I wish we had that guide and we can have a more formalized way of engaging. Another thing is because the project is so complex, it covers such a you know lengthwise, area-wise and time wise such a vast volume. We need to add some sophistication into the communication. The people who were engaged at the beginning during the scoping period might have moved away. The people who are actually involved in the design feedback process may have sold their house and it's a new group of businesses and uh residents who you know to some of them it's a surprise that the construction started. When you ask cons us as project management, yes, we have engaged. We engaged over and over. We went in multiple times. But we also need to recognize things change. People move. And with such a vibrant and dynamic, you know, neighborhood, there's additional layer of attention that we ought to give. So that's one thing. Again this doesn't happen everywhere at every project. Some project that are smaller that are done quicker may not have same amount of challenge or same type of challenge but we definitely re recognize at Columbia Pike we have seen this and then um at design. So before we actually dig um put the shovel in and uh start construction the design period we realized there are things that we could

have done better to help the construction be smoother. For example, tighten up the quality control of our design protocol so that we have less um challenges later. One example is the survey plan, the utility information. We have the majority of the records, but there are still surprises we found when we break the ground. We found some abandoned line or something that didn't show up on the record. How do we inc how do we, you know, mitigate that and apply to future projects? We're thinking like we need to do more test pits. we need to do more, you know, boring to get that information to double check, make sure that's solid so that we don't have the same amount of surprises. We also want to spend more time thinking about constructibility. That's a word basically saying how do you better construct it to cause the least amount of disruption. And when you have to disrupt, how you coordinate and organize that disruption so that there's alternative for people. Simple example could be if you're digging up both side of the sidewalk, then people got nowhere to walk, right? If you are um disrupting one side of the sidewalk, a safer crosswalk and better manage crosswalk need to be provided. Uh this is you know for most of the times we have th those designed and managed. But again when the length is long when the resource is stretched thin when the

same construction manager is asked to walk the entire 2.8 miles instead of what they typically do a block or something. The level of demand could be overwhelming at times. That goes back to the planning stage. Maybe we ought to have planned for more resource and more staff and more effort. Uh putting on project like this. I do want to focus on the piece that's the communication. I already mentioned about even the early engagement we have you know people come and go. I also want to say even during the construction we see a multiple level of communication method is needed. We talk to for example we walk into a business we talk to the person behind the counter that may be the staff not the owner and we sign the easement with the landlord but the landlord is not the people that's running the business. So they signed off agreed to things doesn't mean the businesses don't have additional you know request or thoughts or feedback that requires a very sophisticated multiple level communication. We believe we can do better again for this type of you know complex construction. uh later in the construction uh period we actually put on additional effort to make sure those things are happening. For example, uh people liked the onestop communication channel that's the PC

until they found that the PC may not be able to give them like right on the spot to the minute information. So we said, wait a minute, we don't have to always go to that one person. We can have our construction managers who are on site to spend that extra time walk into these business, talk to them about what to expect today. So little things like that and threading different method together could give us a better coverage. I have to uh caution though what we have realized is uh there is a level of expectation which you know as a citizen I fully understand because I want to know when you're going to come. Actually recently Washington gas stuck up my front lawn. I want to know when they want to come. Why are they doing it? Do they have the easement to do that on my lawn and all those things. So just turn the table. The residents have the right to want to know the information and more information and precise information. But one thing that I have learned in the construction business is if you want the contractor, the team to show up precisely 8:00 as they promised and um pick up by 11 as they said and have things done. Sometimes that works out. A lot of times they're just like the refrigerator delivery guy who took three times to deliver a fridge to one of my friend colleague. So there are times that precision is not achieved and it could also come with a cost. If we hold them and we say

no you can't you must you know do exactly this then they will say well that means I instead of doing that in two weeks and all that in construction we have a a professional term we say the means and the method are in the hand of the contractor because they decide you know what's the best way to construct but as management we need to coordinate with them constantly so that we can extract the most uh fresh and latest information and share. So we are the bridge. We're not only the inspectors, the quality control guys, we're the bridge between the people who are impacted and the actual construction team because they're all contractors. There are things that we learned and we think we can do better like you know the communications that that's something and I want to say though for the Pike there's something special because for the Pike we have the Colombia Pike Partnership which is a group that can help us share information in and out and I know there people actually walk the street too and talk to the businesses. That's where I would say personally I learned that there are resources we can use. There are partners we can work with in a better way. Um because we don't have it everywhere like this. Sometimes we we forgot those there are you know help available. So we're going to reach out more in the future. I'm not saying just Columbia Pack have a partnership. We also have the bids that help us with the business corridor projects and all that. So these are things that we need to among the team share about the thoughts.

Great. And you may have other pieces. I know there may be questions and so is there anything pieces you wanted to add? Go ahead. Yeah, I have a a few more pieces I want to recognize and sorry because I I get excited in talking about these things. It's all good. I just wanted to understand. Yeah.

Uh so that's called MOT management of traffic and by traffic it's actually not just vehicle or traffic. It's also pedestrian also cyclist or modes. Uh we do realize that there are things that we can do better. Actually I think several of you have your personal touch on this one. Remember when we took uh in front of Arlington Village when we took the lane away there's no parking and nothing. There are parking available on the side in a different parking lot. And I think one of you said why don't you put a sign and says parking available there with an arrow.

You know what? That's not a standard construction signage, but when it helps, we can create that. So, we did. And lessons learned is now we are actually making some of those signs in advance before the project starts, making more, you know, sidewalk block, pedestrian go this way, those signage, and we stock them up. We're going to in the future ask the contractor to have more of those available. So, when we say, "Hey, why don't you put another sign here?" because we don't think it's clear. Nobody is scrambling to order another one and they have it available. We have it available.

We did this actually with the DAR project. We helped them with some additional signage when our resident come to us and say, "Hey, we don't think this is clear and uh it's not our project, but it's in our county." So, we actually stepped in to help. we can apply those things on on our future projects as well. Uh at the end uh sort of to to sum up Matt I just want to say uh there is a line out there says the pike took 15 years to build. I want to dispute that it is a longterm investment. It took a lot of time from the time we scope it. We seek funding, we design, we survey, we acquire easement and eventually we build it. That is a long period of time. Yes, that's you know 15 years or take or give. But we did not dig the street up for 15 years. If you actually look at each segment, the construction time is actually pretty on par with industry average and with Arlington's uh construction. It felt really long because of some segments are coming one after other right and they they are all affecting the same corridor. So it does feel long and for that I totally agree with the residents. I said this in one of the Pike partnership meetings. I really feel that to the degree I asked my grown daughter. I said, "Hey, you like to dine out on the weekends. Why don't you go to the Pike?" And she faithfully did that. That is the mother's advice.

Thank you. Thank you very much. M Miss Wang, um I'll open the floor should there be questions. is stunning that the one of us who came up with that idea with Miss is Miss Cunningham, but she said I should get all the credit. No, no, no, no. So, uh, Mr. Spain, to you first. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and to Miss Weey. I'll keep it brief because I know we're on a tight timeline today, and you're probably going to hear this from all my colleagues. Kudos to the entire team. Um, I took some notes. Uh, and I love the way your slide presentation was going. For some odd reason on slide 14, I could not take my eye off of the $2.85 of G for gas. For some odd reason, that just kept popping up. I saw that, too.

And I'm thinking about where we are today. But anyway, you you stated that um, you know, precision is sometimes it's not always going to be achieved, and I can appreciate that. But my takeaway just from your presentation today and what I know of working with everyone on this project, at least from the staff, is that you and Greg and the entire team, y'all led with a sense of empathy, understanding that this was a unique project cuz Columbia Pike is the world in the zip code and it is a unique and of itself. So, board member Karen Torres and I, we're we're stone throws away from it, right, as as residents down there. Um, I will speak with you later, I think, but because it's the hour is late, but I'm very curious because I've always stated about effective communication being the key to success and to hear some of your your thoughts about perhaps how we could use whether there's bids or partnerships perhaps in the future because they're really at the ground floor. It's quite interesting. Um, but I think at the end of the day, it's a terrific project and I want to thank you for all your time on this and I look forward to additional conversations on this outside of today because I do have some uh just some thoughts and u but I appreciate it. Okay,

thank you. Thank you, Miss Vice Chair Coffee. I'll just go down the line list colleagues

that works for me. Um, yeah, echoing the thanks. I think uh we are so glad for this project and somehow even more glad for it to be done. Um and you know I I really your your team let you come up here by yourself, but there's so many other members of staff and and and contracts and everyone throughout the county and our partners who made this possible and made this happen. And I think, you know, it to me is important to acknowledge as well that the the history of Columbia Pike starts be long before the history of this project. Um, and as disruptive as this was for the whole corridor and on the many neighborhoods that that border it, it really was the only option to remedy what was a a legacy of underinvestment or disinvestment. Um, and I think it's also a an important lesson learned when we think about our um, paving programs and other things that we do as a county that sometimes feel like an amenity. What happens when you don't maintain those roads and they do start to have more foundational issues? It takes so much more to go back and redo everything than it does to just maintain and fix and and do it along the way. And so I think um you know we understand the uh the many feelings of our residents um but this really is reflective of a massive investment in the community and in the neighborhoods. Um and and I think you know I hear from my friends who are residents down there all the time now that now that things are clearing up um just how impressed they are with the sidewalks and feeling like they are in a in an space all the time now. The electronic um next bus screens that uh are becoming

more and more standard. the the um bus shelters, the really feeling like it is an upgrade. And so um it's great when when people are sending me, you know, pictures from just their their uh commute to work of getting on the bus and being like, "Oh, like this is really nice." So um I think I think it's been a really tough time and we are fortunate now to move into the phase of maintenance and keeping what we have as a very nice thing. And I think um I'll just close with a kind of a nod to the future. I know the Columbia Pike corridor has gone through a lot when it comes to transportation planning and I think there are a lot of residents who have much higher expectations of what comes next and um we may not be able to reach perfection by the definition of some of those residents. Um, but I really do think that bringing through elements um, as many as we can that get us to faster bus service, the transit uh, signal priority, working with Wamada on coordination is really important to me. And now that the built in infrastructure is there, um, now we get to do the fun part which is thinking about systems design and our master transportation plan. So, thank you.

Excuse me. Thank you, Vice Coffee. Miss Cunningham.

Um, that is so exciting to think about. You know, I think we've been more than a decade talking about how can we move people along the pike more rapidly and already you can see the headways are are they 6 minutes now? Yeah, they're six-minute headways. And uh then we got the signal prioritization in there and I think it's finally going to start to feel like we've we've nailed it. you started to say that uh that some of us stepped in. I thought you were going to say stepped in it because I think that's kind of how it felt a number of times in my glory days as the liaison and I'm sure Mr. Karen Tonus will be able to share a little bit more on on many more glory days. Um but it it drove home to me. I think it must have been Thursday last week. and I looked up and uh we had some of the D de leadership in the in the room and I realized I hadn't talked to you in like two weeks and I hadn't interrupted your weekend. I hadn't, you know, had a concern from either north or south. Uh which is really really great progress. So I'm delighted to hear that we're doing this after action that we're learning as we go. Um I think I'll just tag for the future that uh the the quality control and sort of shared incentives uh in our contracting I think is very very important for these mega projects in particular but really for all of them it's great to have the you know incentives aligned and I think at Crystal City uh metro entrance we were hearing just how tremendously well that's going in part because everything's aligned nicely so let's do more of that um on sidewalks we are more urban than we need to than we used to be uh we're not New York City but we do need to keep our sidewalks open to all of our users. So, really getting tighter about what that looks like and that all levels of ability will be able to navigate during the interruptions. And then finally, um I think the most asked question, and you may have been asking

it when Washington Gas was at your house as well, is how do we coordinate with the utilities? Like it seems like we're, you know, digging up the same thing over and over. It's not the same people digging up, but how do we as a county and how do we in our community understand that coordination and get a better level of service which I know is not fully in your control. So that's it. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Cunningham. Mr. Caronis,

thank you. Uh first of all, uh thank you for for having this conversation today. So it's uh it's refreshing to see that we do you know that that it's worth to come and say okay this is how it worked. This is our first reading of uh of a very long project actually I mean even if it's not accurate that it was 15 years but uh it has been long enough. I mean this has been uh actually I mean if we frame it it's it was a part of the community vision from the community Columbia Pike initiative in the 80s we had the first undergrounding of utilities between Glee and um uh courthouse I think or South Walter Reed anyway

and uh so it's uh I mean in in the 2010s we had the replacement of the bridge on over route the route 27 bridge So there were many options to have a a you know an a pretaste of what uh the challenges would be would be ahead. Uh so um I I will stand on one I will I will I will be in one I I will just put a pin on one thing. Um there are few places in general in this entire region that were so willing to work with us to fix the street. Um the the investment of the community precedes the investment in the community. Uh I think that we need to rethink about how we work with our boosters on site. uh the comm the Columbia Pike Partnerships, the business improvement districts, they are so close with those who are impacted. When we talk about works in in high impact neighborhoods and high vulnerability index neighborhoods, um this is the key of how this is the people. It's uh the moment that a business person will you know cry foul and say what are you doing here which actually happened first in 2019 in the west segments of the pike uh then it's a little bit late it's like drinking water when you're thirsty and you have to avoid to get there right so I think that um I cannot ask your department to be responsible for all this or you know to be expert in all this you are absolutely right to be to point out that there was a a a break in the transmission of experience between

you know different people who started but you know then uh left uh service here. So for me uh there are two things. First of all, heroic work by by the staff. Uh I am the first who will stand up and defend uh really mission centered work. Uh without you we had your dedication you wouldn't we wouldn't have achieved that. Uh and the second thing is I'm really interested in continuing this conversation uh because there are a lot of things that we learned and will benefit the next one because you know we have work to do I believe and it's all all cut out already. Uh so uh with that thank you again for coming to talk about this today.

Thank you.

Thank you. And I have some thoughts. I'm not quite clear whether you have big picture thoughts in response to all the questions. Um I'll just say two thoughts. One, I think all of us are interested, Mr. Spain and Mr. Karan has mentioned explicitly next conversations with you. I tried to jot down notes and synthesize the high points. Um, I could be interested in knowing if there were a countable number of big lessons learned that could go with one sentence to describe them if that could be interesting to me because generally saying it's true also that there probably 50 things you learned but knowing the big themes makes them more likely to be actionable in the next piece. Though I trust I really do trust you'll be actionable. And then the second thing is I'm coming late. There's three of you, three colleagues who've been liaison over the course of this on the board, but it does strike me that our next responsibilities is includes both the public sector finishing the improvements, but also gaining a couple of private sector wins and the CIP is a is a venue during which we can work on that and we need to gain some so working with Columbus Pike Partnership and also being accountable as I'm trying to follow in the footsteps of folks who've worked really hard on comes to my mind as a next thing in addition to an afteraction. But I'll leave there and then give you an opportunity briefly if you want to sort of uh make any concluding brief, you know, thoughts

or if you're good, you don't have to. I'm good. I just want to say the last word is thanks to the community. They lived through it. We built through, but they lived through that and I hope they can live with the result happier. Thank you, Miss Wang. You have just captured the main message that we all most should end with and so very grateful for you capturing the moment and all of the work that you've done. With that, we will go to our next and I believe yeah, we have a bonus round today.

So, I'm going to I'm going to ask Samia Bird to come up and give us a quick update on EHO, which as all you know is expanded housing opportunities. Uh, she has a couple of slides. Thank you, Miss Burton. I think it's options, right? You meant to say options, I believe. Oh, right. Yeah, it's been a while. It's okay, Mr. Schwarz. We're suffering from acronym deprivation. No, it's okay. We appreciate Miss Bird and we are on to a brief but your presentation.

Good evening everyone. I'm just going to uh share my slides very brief. All right. All right. So, thank you. Just wanted to give a very brief update on EHO, primarily stemming from a recent report that we posted as we committed to previously when EHO was adopted in March of 2023 that we would provide data reports updates to just track the data on permitting and development as EHO were enacted. And so our first report was published last December and then we published this one, the second one on March 31st, 2026. Um, and it really does report on well the first report just to say um focused on information in that first year EHO permitting activity July 2023 through June 2024. The second report we shifted some to and it covers actually two and a half years. So it covers data and activities from July 2023 to December 2025. Some of that was to ensure that the data was aligned in terms of how we collect and analyze data as well as in recognition of the EHO cap which was annual. It just made a little bit more sense to um shift that timing a little bit. So uh the time frame actually includes approximately 12 months when regulations were void by courts and permitting activity was ceased. High

level during this period of the second report there were a total of 47 properties that received EHO zoning permits and that's 11 more since July since June 2024. There were three EHO developments that were completed and five were under construction and building permits issued but not yet completed. There were 15 EHO permit holders that had proceeded to develop their properties as single detached houses. And although the EHO developments are not moving forward, that data is included in the report just for completeness sake. And all of this information is posted on our website for EHO as well as the raw data for people who are interested in tracking that information. And I want to say just a little bit more focusing on where we are right now in the EHO litigation. As you can see here and and you all um well know that um in April of 23 there were a group of homeowners that um challenged EHO the circuit court. And then in 2024 of that year, a judge um overturned the EHO um the EHO enactment. And as a result, we voided EHO processes and ceased permitting. And then in October, the judge stayed for some of those permit holders that were in the process, uh stayed judgment for those EHO permits. The county board voted to appeal that um in November of 2024. And then September 2025 um we found ourselves that we were now moving to Virginia court um the case to be further considered. And so um following this ruling the court resumed um October 20 October 1st 2025 moving forward with permits because that was again overturned and now we're still pending um as continued litigation. So

I'm going to stop there and I just wanted to highlight primarily that the data for the second report is available for those who are interested um in the public. Uh it summarizes quite a few things and just the raw data as well for people who want to dig in further.

Thank you Miss Bird. Uh colleagues if there's we'll do one round of question or comments but only if you will because you're standing between me and dinner but I'm not saying if you have questions ask them. That is important. But uh go ahead if there's any. Not seeing any. We'll thank Miss Bird and thank all colleagues for and Miss Cunningham everyone for surfacing and moving forward in this regard and this manager as well as Miss Bird. With that colleagues, we will take a brief rest for recess for dinner and we'll return no earlier than 6:30, but I promise it's going to be right at 6:30 for our regular agenda items. I'm not going to adjourn us. I'm going to recess us until 6:30. Thank you.

Oh, you Whoa. Good evening. Um, colleagues, much valley I said we would start right at 6:30 and 6:35. My apologies. We will move directly uh to the first item. And Mr. Clerk, when you're ready, would you call that item, please?

And no crisis if it takes you a minute. Item number 31 is the fiscal year 2027 budget adoption. As a reminder, the public comment period for this item is closed. Discussion is limited to the board. Item 31 is a multi-part item, parts A through I believe it's you, and I will spare you reading each item individually. Fiscal 27 budget adoption.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Um, as a reminder for everyone um here in the room as well as um colleagues and also of course those watching online, the public hearing on the proposed fiscal year 2027 operating budget has concluded and discussion is now with the board. Colleagues, are there any questions for staff that occur to you now? I'm not saying you can't ask them later, but not seeing any. So, I um I'm going to try and outline a little bit what we're going to do. Um and I'm open to uh feedback, but I think this is a good plan that I've sort of notionally represented with the clerk and and colleagues on procedure. Um, first I would ask, so first we're going to show a tiny tweaks to the markup that we did last week. Um, and I'm going to talk to you guys since there's not oodles of other people and colleagues are multitasking. There is a markup that we did last week. We are making very, very small tweaks to it, but it is in consultation with the county attorney. It's wise process to show what we are doing to change. and I'll describe it and then we will I will ask for I will probably make a motion myself and ask for a second and then uh we will move from there and if there amendments we can go to those amendments. The second step is that's going to be the markup the the numbers that govern our world over the coming year um for the most part and then the next stage is going to be um we so we'll vote on that markup. Then we will go through the guidance the 10 pages of policy glory that we have worked on for the last 3 or 4 days a lot and we will I'll just go through it to

describe it and we will have the clerk will show it and then we I will we'll see who wants to make a motion on that and then we'll second and we'll vote on the guidance. Following all of that, there are a series of motions that you guys know about that perhaps our public doesn't know about that we have to do to set each of the rates under state code and state law. And um we are going to um I'm going to ask that the clerk and DMF and Mr. Schwarz and and the county attorney just the one shift that I'm going to suggest is that and I don't think there's a problem with this is to move the real estate tax piece of it to be the first thing we vote on and then all of the other items after that. What I'm current just that seems uh procedurally correct. I have skipped a critical critical step. After we vote on the guidance, we're going to each say our 3 to five minutes of remarks. We're going to ask for your grace in being being succinct. Um and uh don't have a grand plan for exactly the order flexible on that. Um but um that will be where we will give the bulk of our opinions on this budget and then once all five of us have done so, we will turn then to the real estate tax rate. We will vote on the real estate tax rate and then we will vote on each of the other items. Currently, and I will take volunteers. I'm volunteering to read all of the motions. Just be ready with a second. And it's not because these are necessary under state law. And I'm just and perhaps I've been I'm just a touch behind in assigning potential motions. I don't think we need process. We do need to follow the law. We meet.

That's right. We We need And so if I get anything wrong, Ryan will tell me. And if I get anything wrong, the colleagues will tell me, but just be ready with a second so we're not sort of awkwardly all sitting here. So that is what we do next. Um and then um we'll continue with the rest of this. I would say that there is a subsequent part of it and I just want to make sure that I so uh the next item item 32 uh is on the PPT the personal property tax relief act which you could leastly say is the car tax in some ways and and if that's a problem but we will then have a public hearing as required by law for that and we will move forward on that one. I mentioned the PPT because it is related to how we are balancing the budget. And so that is the budget pieces. That's how we'll handle the first part of the meeting. We then have the opportunities grant and Melwood as the two subsequent items. And I think all colleagues and I'll just be transparent with the public. The opportunities grant is also provided for in our budget but we will separately have to take that. We'll get a a manager's presentation with respect to the opportunities grant and Mel would look for um I will share with you suggestions on who we can see who will make the motions. That's the process that I've described. Colleagues good. No questions. DMF or Mr. Clerk, Mr. Kushner, would you show for us please the slightly tweaked spreadsheet?

Yep, that's fine. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you both. Um, usually just to keep everybody on their toes, I make one to three mistakes per meeting. And so, um, in any event, so this part of the just walking through the spreadsheet, this part of the spreadsheet is not different, to my knowledge, lines 29 and up are not different than the spreadsheet we passed via a motion on um on Thursday, last week. uh with the exception of line 29. Let's scroll down just a little bit. Line 29 works in conjunction with line 41, which is a topic we've heard a little bit about gymnastics um in this budget. And uh I think those here in the audience have all heard um from uh I believe from our director of parks recreation or staff that we're making changes to our um the fees that we are in in the first year that we are um going to be asking uh for the competitive gym gymnastics program. And so that number in line 29 is the one-time money that we are putting towards reduction of the fees um for gymnastics. So that's line 29 going down and not trying to there will be more discussion of this in the in the uh guidance. If you look on the right column, the in the notes, we have struck all of the notes because our county attorney and me as a recovering attorney and all of us notes it's they're not sentences and so they're less clearly easily to be

legally binding and so we've struck those. There's not changes there are changes you will note to the gymnastics when we talk about guidance but there's not changes uh to any of the other the substance of any of the other and I need to say just for the record and you tell me if this is not enough Mr. county attorney is the guidance governs any of our prior discussions from last Thursday. We will take a vote on the guidance in addition to this spreadsheet. I'm not aware of any other changes as we go down the spreadsheet and so uh Mr. Clerk has kept me moving. Keep going down please um further if you can and as you can. There is one change that I need to share uh with everyone for the record and that is we have removed in this spreadsheet there used to be I think it was line 58 but maybe I'm misremembering there used to be a a noncost line that indicated that um we would ask for healthc care deductible uh from our firefighters and we have in the spirit of partnership um taken that line out. That is a change in policy such that our firefighters uh will not be asked for those 60 plus thousand in deductibles in that form this year consistent with a prior um collective bargaining piece. And uh so that is a change affirmatively that we have made to my knowledge and unless DMF team corrects me or Mr. Schwarz or colleagues I am not aware of any other changes in this spreadsheets spreadsheet going once

twice. We think we have this. So, I will move that with the changes to the notes, the changes to the one-time piece, and what is reflected in what Mr. Kushner just showed above, as well as the change that I mentioned with respect to firefighter healthcare deductibles. We approve the mark that was just shown above as our numeric uh budget lines at the big picture that are alterations. and the only alterations to the that I'm aware of to the manager's proposed budget. Is there a second? Thank

for sake of clarity of the record, could we call this a motion to adopt the amended chair's markup spreadsheet of the fiscal 27 operating budget as displayed on screen? Yes, exactly what you said. That is what we call it. And you sound better than I do. So, we do that and it is seconded by Mr. Karen Tonis. Is there any discussion on this? Keeping in mind that we will have wholesome discussion going forward this case. It's okay with the vice chair. I'll go to Mr. Spain first and then Oh no, no, no. These are these are for for voting.

Colleagues, the question is on the uh 20 27 mark as displayed and described in the motion that Mr. Kushner helped me articulate. And is there discussion? No. Hearing none. Although Go ahead, Miss Cunningham. I um we had much discussion Thursday and I will share remarks in a little bit. Sure. On this topic. Thank you. Thank you very much Miss Cunningham and I think it is important to share that. So the question is on the motion as seconded by Mr. Caronis. All in fa all those in favor say I. I. All those opposed. I.

So we have four in favor, one opposed. And so that mark moves forward. Next, I'll ask that in due course, Mr. Kushner, can you pull up the guidance, and I will seek to be simultaneously um slow enough so people could take a look at these, but also uh speedy enough so we're not here until tomorrow morning. Um so this is guidance that we write and that we have this board has worked to write in a fairly explanatory nature to the changes and the process that we work through. Some of it significant parts of it are explanatory. Significant parts of it are guidance to the county manager for how to implement the overall budget that we're passing. The first page, these first four paragraphs essentially describe the moment we came into with this budget and we we we had discussion of three or four key principles as we address the budget. One of those being do do core services, keep them going as well as possible. One of them serve the most vulnerable. one of them be financially sustainable in keeping with our history of such and uh th those are kind of the three I guess I would say that stand out to me and colleagues can uh further elaborate on those that's the first four paragraphs let's go down these paragraphs under addressing fiscal challenges for fiscal year 2027 describe changes we have made that have led to sharing of revenue in the first two paragraphs at the top of the page with our schools One of them is a tax rate decision. We advertised 2 cents. The manager proposed 1.5 cents and because we are ultimately headed in the direction of um going with 2 cents. Um I believe we um we have

additional revenue. Um to be concrete, transparent, we and we'll discuss it more. There was some amount of spending that um the county uh focused on that was just county spending that is um out of practice perhaps I think you would say with our revenue sharing for the 1 and a half cents but we have shared just to be concrete and specific we have shared the additional half cent and we have shared the personal property tax relief act which is car tax relief that we did in addition to what is required by state law. We have shared that with the schools as an investment in keeping in in alignment with our partnership within the third paragraph and you can scroll down. It's on housing grants. It discusses housing grants is a unique program that Arlington does that I believe has somewhere around 1500 or more uh households. It is unique in Virginia, to my knowledge, and certainly in Northern Virginia, that we help the disabled, the working poor, and our elderly poor with grants so that they can stay in their homes. And there's a combination of things that we do together. But the program has been expanding in cost at a rate that is even that is not fiscally sustainable. So, we're making some changes. We also have some requirements that we have to do under state law and good practice uh to be sustainable there. So we're making that decision with respect to our housing grant program and that explains the change that we're making. The next paragraph is on the affordable housing investment fund. We had discussion of this at markup. Historically, as Miss Hogan and others uh glued to their television or YouTube stations at home can tell you, we invested in the affordable housing investment fund with all of our closeout slash additional money that we had this year. We had very very little. Our investment is more limited, but we are

choosing to add 21,000 in onetime funding and six 629,000 in ongoing funding to AHIF. Um and then the last paragraph is keep us updated as we deal with uh an economy that is um challengingly created in part by this administration. Um so res resident resilience and well-being the first of those items colleagues I think were in alignment that the food security mini grants we have been doing for a number of years we should make it an ongoing investment. uh the opportunities grant funding. There will be discussion but there's one-time funding uh 437,000 and change for that. I want to just take a minute on the third bullet which is humanitarian assistance. The purpose of this from my perspective and colleagues can illuminate and add to this is um last year we took an investment in our immigrant uh at our most vulnerable community including and really focused on our immigrant families and and uh individuals and we worked with the community foundation to provide funding. We are also continuing that work as that challenge continues. um the free clinic, Arlington free clinic, we are facing a unique moment um in terms of cuts to healthcare which is uh in contradiction in I think all of our views with respect to um Arlington's focus on health for those who are who have the lowest incomes and are most vulnerable. Um the last two items uh 50,000 for OAR is in part because of uh loss of federal funds and also the 50,000 is meant to help the the it's listed there but it's meant to help families facing uh challenges due to the removal or loss of primary wage earners. taken together the humanitarian assistance is its purpose is to meet this moment with respect to challenges that are um priorities of the board and

also uh perhaps you I believe uh uniquely pressing uh as we face this particular year continuing the next is uh we've had discussion and candidly I am not the source of the greatest amount of work on this although I am on the hook over the coming months to continue to work to address it is a super important issue of fair housing uh which Arlington uh is committed to and it asks the manager to continue and develop a work plan. The next will continue on health. This is a question that uh the vice chair led on in drafting and it's important and I will give colleagues all colleagues an opportunity to go to specific pieces of the guidance in your remarks coming up. But this is important as we serve our LGBTQ plus t LGBTQIA+ community. Um, which certainly is also under attack from this administration to be just plain and honest about it. The health insurance um and that's an athma to our values uh in Arlington. Um so health insurance uh thanks to Miss Cunningham for taking lead on the pen on this. It's important and it it helps us work to find consistency. Health equity. This is an effort um candidly this is something that uh is important as we hearken all the way back to a report that talked about uh 2027 health inequities. It's been ongoing. This is part of what uh I believe is an effort to uh really sustain funding towards that as we build a government that is focused uh on serving all of our residents with also with focus on our most vulnerable residents, our lowest income. Um, so that keeps going and I hope Mr. Clerk, if you can scroll down and we'll continue the next um, uh, legal services for our most vulnerable residents. This is consistent with that effort. It's been socialized. We asked the manager to come back with recommendations. Economic development.

If we do not grow our economy, we will not be able to invest in the services that I've just been discussing. And so, we made some changes to do that. uh ongoing funding for the Clarendon Alliance is sort of similar good fiscal sustainability work to make it ongoing as opposed to one time and the other two items uh I think are strategically important investments that we've discussed and we made changes uh during markup continuing below um and uh we'll keep going down Mr. clerk. Uh civic engagement, that's rank choice voting. We've discussed this enough that I think it the paragraph speaks for itself. Environmental stewardship. Um the source of this amongst the board, um I could not pinpoint at this moment, but it is something that all of us care about and it's actually language that we have considered but we have heard from our advocacy community with respect to these two paragraphs. We have tweaked it and we have not just said but this is informed by our advocacy community as all of our policies of course should be because we are servants of the people of Arlington. So that's climate action fund um and a plan for how to work that um and some direction to the manager is appropriate. Next climate aware budget process. We made some progress in this and there was a follow-up question um candidly uh by Miss Cunningham. you did see slides in most uh places but um I think that there's more homework that I could have been doing to see what jurisdictions in America do this really well and how we can do it um in an effective way and then I asked for a lengthy RC score sideby-side analysis that uh in the work session. So we did add a half year's position in the uh county manager in the climate policy office which um I believe is important as we continue to face one of the two defining cl issues of our time which is

climate in addition to economic inequity and um so the community vitality uh grateful for this title um which uh and then looking at this this starts to get into um there's a number of services uh that um make Arlington a service well a ser wells served community and there are things that um Arlingtonians will all of us will share makes us unique and uh the wood shop program had significant community support the Cherrydale library had significant community support I still think it's awesome that Ron Bookbinder spoke on behalf of the library um uh several colleagues have talked about 12 27,000 and the importance of restrooms. Um, and we have moved that forward and we ask uh uh we will work with the department department of parks and recreation on this 27,000. Next is a rather lengthy and you're not going to get to read every word. I don't know logistics and maybe Mr. Manager if you could help with this. The guidance once we passed it I feel like it won't be long before it's up. Is it tonight or tomorrow or something?

Yeah. And I think that's going to be I'm going to assign that to the county board clerk to put on the the county board website.

Great. Thank you. It's administrative professionals days day so you can have more work. No, sorry. Um I Mr. Kushner has been relentless and thank you very much for the work. I don't I think that's a hopefully that's a manageable piece. Gymnastics we have competitive and recreational. So if we if we the big picture here as you've heard I think via email today and out come the phones to make sure that folks can see all the details is uh 25% in our first year we do as a board um there's a concept that I probably am misnaming and Mr. Karen Tonus or others can correct me. There's a concept of price elasticity if a price goes up a certain amount. You don't people don't do the program and so you lose revenue as a whole. And so that is what we are addressing with with pulling down the fees to 25% in the first year. I want to just pause for a second and identify and give credit to who came up with this change and it is Jane Rudolph who separate due course due credit to the 153 in counting emails that came after she and Mr. Schwarz came to me. But I think it's important for you to know that she uh came out to us and said and sent us an email and said 44% won't work. We are by making this choice, we're committing to to making this successful and we have to dig in and make that work. And so she said 25% won't work. Mr. Schwarz agreed and it's to those credits. Is there anything you wish to say at all, Mr. Schwarz, on this, colleagues? I hope it's okay.

Um, no. I think that accurately reflects and also I I take and I you'll talk maybe a little bit about this later, but we want to continue to work with everybody involved to make sure that we talk about things in a positive fashion.

Yep, absolutely. I'll have other pieces uh that I want to describe as to as to that and colleagues and can can further illuminate that. Let's keep making a little bit of progress in fiscal year 2028. Uh we're not in a space that says uh that we that stopping their there's a different ways to fashion that sentence and uh we are on the hook as a board including the vice chair and I in the month of May with meeting with your teams. You'll see it just below. If you scroll down one sentence you'll see it. Um so those bullets you'll see and the detail is there and we worked to try and get right the balance that is there. Um but uh I think it's not surprising that we are in the subsequent year and years we're going to have to work together to make this work. And um so um the the rest of that paragraph you will get to read in detail and I'm confident enough based on your advocacy that you won't be shy about sharing your thoughts which is good. It's good. This could be a civics um lesson for all of us me and board included. Um so their MOAS if we can keep scrolling down. I hope I've given you enough time to get a sense of this but also probably there's things you'll read. Go ahead Mr. Kushner. Um, uh, we stop right there. I had worries about recreational 50% increases and then I looked that the cap on that was $134, in which case I had less worries. Percentages always tell some level of the truth, but you know, I we we were mindful of that. We said we would cap adaptive gymnastics increases at 3%. And I think every single member of this board has been rock solid committed to that. Staffing we'll have to work on. That is gymnastics in a nutshell. So, I'll keep going and and we'll have the

comments. If you got burning, let me know. Facility utilization. Uh just a thanks to Miss Cunningham for both coming up with the idea and then moving me from being lost on the idea to a concrete what I think is a good workable plan on this. So, uh appreciate that colleagues. Thanks to everyone with respect to NVRC. I hold to my promise that if Fairfax ain't given any money, we ain't given a penny more. We need everyone. So next we'll keep going public safety and criminal justice and I would say this has been a priority for this board in this uh budget and in this moment uh public safety can be considered broadly um but we'll have more in more on that in a bit. We have what's not listed here is and I'll just say briefly is two investments in ongoing of 5 million for our police department and 5 million for our fire department based on vacancies and mandatory holdovers. Um so we have invested there and that will there'll be more to say on that. A significant additional piece of investment in ongoing funding is with our sheriff's deputies and it is critical for a progressive and jail and I think consistent with Arlington values that we invest in our sheriff's deputies. Besides that, we had discussion of the deputy independent policing auditor and the 25,000s. Thanks to colleagues for keeping keeping things going. We've been asked and there's been advocacy regarding ongoing funding to the Commonwealth Attorney's Office for restorative justice efforts. This is ongoing funding of 150,000 and then 50,000 for the parallegal supervisor. Those were all mentioned and 107,000 in the office of public defender were all mentioned at markup at as was the 28,000. We'll continue going down. Uh Mr. Kushner, you're ready. And I see that right side getting close to the end. I'm I'm not trying to drone on colleagues, police department. This this really is not much new. Um we we

shortened that. Uh, and there's a period that has one extra space, but we'll fix that. Juveninal diversion services. Uh, this is work that we tried to do to make sure that the manager would help us if we're going to invest in our jail. We know that we want to do as much as we can to help with diversion and juvenile diversion is important. and separately the Northern Virginia juvenile detention facility. The goal is they would say to keep people out of that facility to the most safe extent possible. Criminal justice analysis um we uh I think we need to get a hand, you know, we had the police practices group. We need to get a handle on our analysis of that work as a whole. So, this is direction to the county manager to help um with those bodies. And I think this may be an ongoing bit of work. We have not assigned separate funding to this, but this is asking for preliminary work to help assess it. And then we have to we're going to have to continue to go after this work. So next is vision zero. We discussed this. We did additional um uh additional investment of a limited amount there. Fines and fees. We had some discussion at the markup on this. We'll have more conversation about it with respect to the need to follow up on fines and fees. Um, and the last paragraph underneath the dashes is sort of uh an approximation of the majority position with respect to some of the fines and fees. I do think there's consensus that the entire board wants to work on these fines and fees, but we felt in a different place on the gymnastics pro process in terms of fines and fees than on some of these others where we actually had not discussed it uh at least in detail in my view. So, um, we are intent on investigating that inflation. Um, there's a concept called indexing that we need to consider, uh,

with respect to if you leave the arts grant at $50,000 from 1992 to 2005, it ain't worth the same amount of money. Workforce is also there. There's some additions. just to be clear uh you know the first paragraph um adopts a position that we have been discussing over the last 24 hours that I think is appropriate and uh we go forth from there and then the uh our labor leader discussed the last paragraph that's a lot of me talking colleagues um I would ask uh in this context if now we at a place where uh I suggest there are two different ways of doing this we I suggest that we vote on the guidance. I don't know that there's significant disagreement there and then I suggest we go to speech speechifying or brief moments 3 to 5 minutes on the whole piece and so um um take comments. I will go ahead and move adoption of the guidance. We can get a second on the table and then if we want discussion seconded by Mr. Spain. Is there discussion of the guidance? Keeping in mind that the moment we pass this, I'm then going to give all of us a chance to talk about the mark and the guidance. And I'm not saying if you got things to say, let's let's go. Miss Vice Chair Coffee.

Uh, a question to our clerk/ attorney. Do we need to say that the motion is that the county board adopt the fiscal year 2027 supplemental budget guidance as displayed on screen? For clarity of the record noted, seems to me that that could be a motion. Is that Are you amendable to making that as the motion, Vice Chair Coff? I am. Okay, then I will I will ask if Mr. Spain is okay with second. I will gladly second. Got it. Colleagues, not seeing any other light or vestigial lights. All those in favor of Miss Coffey's Vice Chair Coffey's motion say I.

I. All those opposed. Any abstensions? Got it. So the guidance passes and the mark passes with you know with a 4-1 vote and and we're continuing. Colleagues, in this case, I would ask I don't have a grand perfect plan. If you are ready to speak to the mark and the guidance, I would leave it to you because I've been talking for 15 minutes. I'd love it if someone else was talking. And it also might give me a moment to figure out precisely what I'm going to say. So, colleagues, is is there anyone who would like to see I see Mr. Karen Tonus. Do you want to go ahead? I can. Great. And uh to Mr. Tones.

I mean, we will cover in different speeches a lot of political uh contextual uh information. I wanted to uh first of all state that it's a good thing to be so close in having this uh budget adopted and having it behind us because it has been quite a difficult exercise. Um but more importantly it was a very difficult exercise for the people who actually worked for months now since uh last May since the last April on this budget and that's the staff that worked tirelessly and the county manager. So the first thing I want to say is uh I want to recognize the skill, the dedication and the mission centered attitude. Um the very fact that like I wouldn't say n 90% of the discussion that we have had uh was about less than 1% of this budget uh is a testament to to extraordinarily solid fiscal stewardship. Um, in Arlington, we are literally blessed to have responsible and and responsive fiscal guidance and stewardship and management. And this needs to be explicitly said and acknowledged that goes all the way from the county manager to the department of management, finance, Miss Meredith, and all your team colleagues. Thank you so much for all this. And I say that especially in a budget where here and there in many uh uh places in many discussions that we you have had the

community, we have had the community, the community has had among them. Uh very often staff has been considered as you know the adversary or so and that wasn't never the case. Nobody set out to uh cut a program or to u uh uh you know reduce a library location uh just uh because it was some sort or appeared to be some sort of lowhanging fruit. uh to begin with this board gave guidance if you look in the December guidance for the budget for this year this budget uh every single thing that we've seen uh be discussed here was actually requested for. So this buck really stops with us and uh staff has done their absolutely very best to uh land this um this uh this difficult budget as softly as possible and not only that they've been ready then to work with us and with the community to uh to figure out solutions. So thank you for that as well. Um there are this matters a lot to me because this is my fifth budget uh but the third that is under the current very clear uh you know adver adverse conditions. We have a still a persistent high office vacancy. We have still persistent after effects of the pandemic like remote work and all this that affect that. We have a hostile extremely importantly we have a hostile federal government uh which equals you know with rising unemployment right now federal employment employee employees contractors uh billions of dollars literally lost in contracts in our own local economy. Uh the literal

persecution of our immigrant population. The cows with federal grants and and uh and programs that that we are we are left holding the bag every single time. And if if it's not the case, then it's extremely uncertain where we are going with that. We have a technological revolution talking about AI that is now hitting our labor market. Seriously, uh we have the prospect of reduced growth and stagnation. Uh in the short and medium term, we have uncertainty even with the Commonwealth's finances. We still don't have a budget and it's and and the financial engagement of the commonwealth with things that are extremely important to us like metro transportation or schools or healthcare talking about Medicare. So this budget like the budget before and that the budget tomorrow deals with all these challenges in a way that is in my opinion I I didn't find a better word is gentle. Uh so incremental strategic adaptation is the mod modus operandanda here. Uh not sudden adjustments. You can see how sudden adjustments feel and are uh if you look a little bit around in in our region that is in the more or less in the same situation like we are. That gives us times and space to tweak and optimize our budget and the environment around us. uh it also bring us closer as a community because if there is something that uh I mean I remember my colleague Mr. Spain said budgets are value value statements. Yes, of course they are value statements because they set critical priorities and they and they define uh you know we put our money in our our mouths, right? So uh this literally is when when we say how are we going to help those who are most vulnerable right now, those who are in crisis, those who have who are who who

are uh facing extreme extreme challenges. Uh and you will you will you have seen how we have been talking about housing, how we talking about employment first and foremost because this budget, one of the solid priorities here was not only to uh uh compensate fairly our employees, public safety employees first, but everybody else, but also to avoid layoffs. And this is not a minor feat here. This is really this was really tough. uh and uh I'm happy that that we have been able to accomplish that. I'm also happy that we have been uh able to accomplish uh still a budget that is mostly flat in what it demands from the taxpayer, but it's still solid in what it delivers to the community and to our and to Arlington as a whole. So there is no no discussion. We are asking the taxpayer uh to assume a larger fiscal share of this budget because of the of the reasons that I mentioned before. Uh the uh and we are trying at the same time to economize and to stretch the buck as much as we possibly can. We are funding APS and and you know to the full fair amount at this point. You have seen that this year we have had for the second year in a row some serious conversation about our revenue sharing agreement. Uh I mean speaking for myself I still stand by the revenue sharing agreement. This is extremely important for IPS to know where they are and what are the what their fiscal frame is. But that doesn't mean that we don't have to continue the

dialogue that we started last year in in earnest and uh we need to understand uh that where where their uh you know their fiscal uh needs uh will be so that we can prepare accordingly and and uh u put our budgets into work uh in collaboration in coordination together. Uh I'm also particularly pleased that we could make advances with paying uh better improving significantly improving the compensation for our uh sheriff for our sheriff's deputies. Uh I recognize that they are lagging behind and that this needs we have two of them here right now holding us safe and that they need to be properly recognized and uh we have to recognize the difficulty and the challenges of their work and uh like we did with other um public safety agencies to uh to adapt their pay. uh we did two things that are to me critical and point to an ongoing process. Next one is we introduced steps which is uh the the system that the other u public safety agencies have and the second is we in in addition to that we improve the net pay. Um, I look forward to continue the discussion with the with the Ireland County Sheriff's Office uh to get there uh to get to a to the same level of fair compensation that we have with our with the other uh public safety agencies right now. Last but not least, if there is one uh takeaway for me as a huge challenge in the next uh 12 months towards the next

budget uh process that begins tomorrow. Um it's housing. We haven't been able we have been we have seen the challenge of the housing grants like the chair mentioned before. Uh these are our rental subsidies or our rental support which is extremely important to keep people in their homes right now in a in a in a market that's a runaway train in terms of of cost. But our most impactful instrument which is the brick and mortar creating affordable housing investment fund is going to meet only 25% of the need as we were informed during the work session that we have. This is very low. This is not a good prognostic. This will need very serious attention in the immediate aftermath of this budget. We need to I said that the philosophy of this budget was to adapt strategically and incrementally. We need to do the same with AHF. We cannot afford to wake up in one and a half fiscal years from now with an AHF with an an affordable housing investment fund that won't be able at all to uh serve the pipeline that we have. It's absolutely critical in order to uh make any inroads into uh reducing the the the the extreme housing burden that most of our households have to uh find a viable way to fund AHF and this now really contrasts with all the other needs. So

uh we are at the point where there are no painless decisions. Not today and not tomorrow. So thank you Mr. Chair. Thank you Mr. Karen Tonis. Uh Miss Cunningham.

Thank you. And first I also want to thank our staff. Um we've been a lot. We're always a lot but we're especially a lot uh during budget season. Over the last nine weeks, our staff have shared deep expertise with us and with you, the community, both live in this room, in tons of follow-ups, and in written respon written responses to over 70 questions. The patience, the long hours, and the care it took you to get us up to speed, make it clear to the community, and make the math math is rather tremendous and not unnoticed. So, thank you. And I would say after 60 hours together in this room, I think we're now up to 70. Um, plus countless, those are just budget hours by the way, plus so many hours off camera. I feel pretty confident that I've said to each of you to the community, just about everything I need to about this budget. So, I'll try to just recra recap briefly on the three themes I've seen from this budget season. One is the tax rate. Uh the manager's proposed tax rate increase, which was solely limited to public safety, in my opinion, was very sound. We absolutely could have stayed within that framework while making different choices that still kept our community whole. Working with staff and colleagues and community members, I identified many specific ways to avoid a larger tax increase through spending reductions and expanded revenues. from restructuring personal property tax relief to improving parking compliance and cost recovery and expanding automated traffic enforcement. I presented an alternative mark that balanced with the manager's um proposed tax increase.

That mark was not received well uh and failed on Thursday and instead we passed a mark Thursday and then uh refined it and confirmed it today. that uses every dollar of the two cent property tax rate ceiling that we advertised. And we also tapped our stabilization reserves across our community. Households and businesses, nonprofits, and and all of our county employees and staff are navigating rising costs and increasing uncertainty. raising the homeowners average homeowners bill $466, the average renters's cost about 316 directly impacts housing costs and affordability. And while Arlington's tax rate remains relatively low, these impacts really are real and people feel them in their pocket book. So I was disappointed that we did not work harder before asking residents for more. Secondly, value. In my view, our shared responsibility here and with all of our staff is to deliver the absolute greatest return on every tax dollar. Fabulous services, strong infrastructure, and true return on that investment. That's why I strongly supported the manager's proposed public safety investments to reduce persistent years after year of vacancies that we could not fill and burnout that is affecting people's lives. Those investments should pay back by fiscal year 28 through immediate overtime cost reduction once people are in those roles and trained and a healthier and ready workforce. truly a win-win.

But value is not just about cutting costs. It's about outcomes and making trade-offs, prioritizing evidence-based investments, showing our work, and being honest about what we can and cannot afford. Third, on vision and leadership. We are up here governing the best we can in uncertain times. And that's precisely when leadership and vision matter most. We say we care deeply about our most vulnerable neighbors, but I am concerned this budget does not fully reflect that commitment. Nor does it adequately prepare us for next year where I am quite certain we will still be under continued federal uncertainty and financial challenge. Too often this year, we chose the easier road and avoided difficult conversations about how services are delivered and what change really could look like. Sometimes leadership requires saying no or even yes, but not the same way we've always done it. I believe we can and must get better at that before we we are back here in a few weeks at the capital improvement plan table and then a little less than a year from now when we're back in the operating budget again. So that's enough said on the on the details of the budget. I do before I hand over want to raise another point maybe more important than the budget things that have all been said so far. And so as we turn the page on this fiscal 27 budget, I want to reflect not just on the budget outcome that we're going to vote on, but on how we got here, and how we move forward together to serve our Arlington.

Budgets are moral documents. They show what we value, who we stand for, and especially so when the resources are tight. Behind every line item are real people. The widow choosing between groceries and property taxes, the mother afraid of deportation, and the small business struggling to make payroll this week. And yes, the first responder covering a third extra shift in the in the week and missing a birthday party. So, how we debate the budget matters, too. And that's what I want to reflect on as we close, as I close. You may remember that at last year's budget adoption where the library was graciously hosting us in folding chairs for many of those 60 hours, you could really cut the tension with a knife on the final day. There'd been end runs and broken trust, and we promised each other and our community to do better. Then this fall, at our fiscal year 25 closeout in November, it was clear that federal actions were already creating real consequences. The government was shut down, unemployment was raging, and we knew this was not going to be an easy budget year. And at the same time, as a board, we were deeply distracted and divided by a rushed effort to con reconsider our board structure. We could have done better, and I hope we will. And on the fiscal year 27 budget, we did some things really well, particularly in welcoming public participation from many of our young people and as well as others. And many residents spoke for the first time and felt heard. That really matters and I'm proud that we achieved that. But I do want to lift up important concerns that have been shared by many up here, across the staff, across the community

about our tone with one another, with our staff. So on listening, respect and humility, I think we can and must do better. I take it seriously and I hope that we all will. We can do better and we can start by reflecting on how we can each show up with respect, humility, and care as we lead our community. I look forward to doing that together. Well, maybe a little less togetherness or and a little bit more rest and recharge first. And I'll close with a passage from the book that I recommended to um several of you on the board before I joined you when you were in the midst of the middle missing middle/expanded housing conversation in our community and it was not going well. It's a book by one of our neighbor who I think still lives in DC but I know she's going to live in Arlington eventually, Amanda Ripley um called High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out. and she writes, "High conflicts tend to erupt in places with low trust. When there's low trust, it's very hard to create a consensus about the facts. People become so suspicious of one another that they can believe anything. This makes it easy for conflict entrepreneurs to inflame the conflict further and every attempt to end the conflict fuels more distress. This is the trap of high conflict. And I would just offer that our entire world and country is in that place right now. And it is up to us to hold the line with our community in Arlington to hear each other, to be real, to be human, to care for one another, apologize when we get it wrong. When resources are tight, it's easy to fall into distrust and conflict.

So, I'm inviting us to do the opposite. To call on our better angels, to listen generously, debate honestly, invest where evidence shows results, and be transparent about trade-offs. That's how we build trust. That's how we lead. And that is the considerable work ahead. Thank you, Miss Cunningham, Mr. Spain.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to my colleagues. I feel like I have to make testimony here. Um, I'm going to try to be brief but also concise because there's so much to digest and you know this is getting captured whether you're on YouTube or you'll look at it tomorrow. But I'm going to I have some notes here and I'm going to of course be as authentic authentic as I can and keep it 100 like they see out in the community. We're going to keep it 100. So, let's back up a little bit. I'm the junior member to this board and last year when I got here, we were going through some uncertain times and I remember the county manager proposed the tax rate increase and I advocated against that for a number of reasons. Many of some of the same reasons my colleague Susan Cunningham just spoke about. But I'm glad that we did not raise it at all because at that time we did not know. We did not know. And we're one of the only communities honestly across the Commonwealth that did not raise taxes at all last year. So we got a little bit of what we call I think a reprieve, right? To kind of re-evaluate and see what's going on. But let me say this. Um it's challenging in this community. Arlington being here 19 years. There's a high level of expectation. There's a high level of results. People like to do things the way they've always done them. And change is difficult. All of us on this board came here because somehow or another, a group of people or part of the electorate decided that they wanted to get behind us because we had a platform and we talked about X, Y, and Z. And hence why I believe we're all subscribed Democrats, but you will see even in our discussions that there's vast differences of opinion about how we legislate.

that comes with the territory. When I worked on the hill back in 2011 for a whole year, you know, I saw it every day. When I was in military for 26 years, I saw it saw it every day, right? Differences come. You got to find that commonality to try to move things and move the need on behalf of the people. this budget, this guidance that we have here today, I think it reflects at the end of the day a compromise, an approach that I support, particularly given the current fiscal climate and a high level of uncertainty. There's a few areas that I am going to point out and a board member Takis Karantis spoke about this, but we are navigating a difficult fiscal climate. the budget gaps, the slowing of revenues, the rising costs, the federal funding uncertainty. It's tough, but we found a way to achieve a balanced compromise driven budget while maintaining what I believe is the fiscal discipline. We are protecting our core services and our safety net. We're maintaining essential county functions and we're prioritizing also our most vulnerable residents including food and security, legal aid, direct assistance. We're making strategic strategic investments in public safety and criminal justice. We're strengthening our staffing and our compensation. We talked you heard a little bit earlier about our deputy sheriffs and the sheriff's department. We have a lot more work to do there, but we have moved the needle this year collectively across the public safety enterprise. We expanded oversight and accountability. We supported restorative justice and the legal system capacity. We initiated a systemwide data and performance review to improve some of the outcomes which I think is moving in the right direction. Health and health equity. We're going to

we're responding to the federal health uh care policy changes and we're going to initiate this comprehensive review of health care systems for our lowincome residents. One of the board members talked about housing uh affordability and stability. We talk all the time on this board about AHIF and affordable housing and attainable housing and what that looks like. Let's be honest. I'm a single family homeowner in Arlington, right? But I want my kids who all were in APS schools who who who live here, I also want them to be homeowners one day. And I'll tell you right now, each and every day that's becoming harder and harder and more difficult. So whatever we can do to make way for more affordable housing and attainable housing in this community, AHIF is a small part of it. I'm going to do my damnest every time I'm up here to work for that because there's been so many folks left behind in this whole housing conversation. And that's what I promise people and that's what I'm going to do. The quality of life of our people here and climate environmental leadership, we're doing things there. We're there's some billets that we're keeping uh from reduction. Look, at the end of the day, I've heard some conversations about values and leadership, responsible leadership through balance, compromise, and a time of fiscal constraint. That's what we just we displayed here. It was not easy. It was meant It was not meant to be easy. If it was going to be easy, everybody would be up here doing it. So these are challenging times and sometimes it comes for calls for challenging measures for the advocates that have come and I see our gymnastics team is here. It was tough. It was a hard discussion to have but we have moved the needle and there's more work to be done. Whether it's libraries, whether it's the wood

shop, name the program, bathrooms, everybody wants to keep their programs. But guess what? We're not going to we can't keep everything. And if we want to raise fees and and things of that nature, we also got to socialize that with the community before we do so. We can't just abruptly do that on the move. So I believe as a collective, we were focused, we were policy oriented, and at the heart of this, we made tough, pragmatic decisions without losing sight of our core values and the community impact. So overall, my friends, my colleagues, I'm pleased with the end result and the balance it strikes across competing priorities. Is everyone happy at the end of the day? No, they're not going to be. And that's okay, too. But as long as we keep striving each and every day for perfection, we'll get a little bit better. And that's what I challenge all my colleagues and everyone in the community to think about because we're not always going to get it right on day one or day two. But if we just quickly give up, right, and make excuses about our failures and not look and always dwelling in the negative space and in the past, we'll never get anywhere. We have to be innovative. We have to be creative. We have to be thoughtful. We have to be empathetic. We got to remember where we've come from. And lastly, I'm committed to ensuring all these priorities are implemented with discipline, transparency, and measurable results for our community. We will continue to work collaboratively, make data informed decisions, and stay focused on delivering outcomes that reflect both our fiscal responsibility and our shared values. The biggest accomplishment here, my friends, is not a single program. It is our ability to maintain the core services, invest in priority areas, and

plan for the future while operating under real fiscal pressure. Arlington is not immune from the societal ills. Our neighbors are going through the same thing, same issue. But I believe for the moment, we did the best we could in this time given. There's more work to be done. Let's figure out ways to work together in peace and harmony, and I look forward to it. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you colleagues for this opportunity. Thank you staff. Thank you county manager and the entire team. Thank you Mr. Spain, Vice Chair Coffee.

All right. Thank you. Um wow, what a budget process this has been. Um thousands, literally thousands of items of correspondence that came to this board to very very long nights worth of testimony um and public hearing. Uh God only knows how many hours of staff time inside this room and outside and probably at home as well. Um this is this has been uh I think to understate robust for all of us. Um and really we knew before budget ended last time last fiscal year um that this year was going to be a challenge. There is a reason why we put more than $11 million into a reserve uh in our last budget because we expected it to get worse and it did. Um we asked staff for a budget that was going to give us cuts and hard choices and they did give us that and I just want to really acknowledge staff both leadership and everyone across this organization who frankly have been put through the ringer um by us and by the community. Um because it it's it's your colleagues, it's your friends, it's your programs, it's your work that you have to put in front of us. And that is so hard and so emotionally taxing. No one works in local government because they don't care about what they're doing. This is this is a a field of of passion. Um not, you know, not money, not glamour, for sure. Um and I just I have so much respect for our staff, frankly. I I would put them up against anyone in the country, not just on their expertise and professionalism, but also their values alignment with our community. So many of them are also Arlington residents. They also use our Arlington County services. Um, and when they are

working hard to try and um figure out what the board wants, they they really know and understand what they're trying to do here. And so I'm just I'm so proud of our staff and and so grateful DMF. I think we have this has got to be an alltimer as far as budgets you all have experienced. But um I think that that is just so important to say and and acknowledge right up front. It is so appreciated um and everything you've done. You know, the community may not see how much work goes into this, but we do as a board and it is important. We could not do our jobs without you all. So, thank you. Um, I also just want to acknowledge, um, even though we have made adjustments to the manager's proposed budget, um, there are still job losses that are coming from this and that is felt across the organization. Um, we do prioritize making sure people can find another place in the county if that is available, but that doesn't mean that everyone is happy. And that's that's traumatic because again, it's it's your colleagues, it's your friends, even if it's not your own job. it's it's part of the organization and um I just want to acknowledge that because I think it is really hard and it is something that I take very seriously as we make those decisions. It's not something we can do lightly or that we ever want to be doing. And so um just acknowledging the pain that that does come with that. Um on the flip side, I think we have a lot to be proud of in this budget. Um, in particular, I'm really excited we were able to find some level of money for the affordable housing investment fund. I think that was not some level of additional funding, I should say, because we funded our ongoing commitments. Um, I I know that that was really not an expectation that we had originally of this budget. Um, but it's

so important. Uh, building housing only gets more expensive every year, especially right now. And so, uh, by putting the same amount in every year, we're actually kind of putting less in because we can do less with the same number of dollars and the need is only expanding. Um, we've we've added, you know, food security funding, support for our immigrant community. We're continuing our existing commitments to our afterchool programs and all of our investments in youth mental health and well-being, which is so important. Um, we have additional support for our public defender, for our schools, and other really important areas of our system across the county, not just in uh the county government, but the whole community. And I do believe that this budget lives our Arlington values. Um, I think, you know, even though none of us as individual board members got the budget we might build if we were left fully to our own devices, um, I I do think that it really does reflect the collective of this board. I can see everyone's all five of us, we have fingerprints in this budget somewhere and that does matter because we are all equally elected. Um, all of our voices are co-equal on this board and I think that is super important. Um, at the same time, you know, I I want to acknowledge that while we were able to make the numbers work this year by adding a tax rate increase, the challenges we face this year are not going to go anywhere anytime soon. And frankly, I think they can still get worse. Um, I I think we have likely pushed a number of our problems from this year to next year, and they're going to be coming right back around to us. Uh, and we will figure it out again, I'm sure. Um, but especially I think the difficult conversations that we had to have internally and externally are going to come up next budget. I'm very proud of our community when it comes to how we

we rally and engage and advocate and come out and, you know, I just I'll acknowledge our our new best friends in the audience who we spent so much time with. Um, you know, I think that is such a a thing to be proud of for Arlington County that we have residents who are willing to do that and to really put their full force behind the things that um that they care about. And you know, and Matt and I will see you in May um at at a meeting to be announced. Um and I think Arlington has been so lucky to avoid these types of hard conversations previously. We have been a very well-off community. Um, I don't think we can avoid it anymore. There are no magical programs that no one values and that everyone can agree deserves to be cut for a million plus dollars in savings. It just it doesn't exist. And I'm deeply confident that if there was something that obvious to cut, our staff would have found it and brought it to us by now. Um, and so we have to acknowledge that everything we do is going to continue to get more expensive. Doing exactly the same thing next year is going to cost more than this year. Um, and we are going to have to have honest conversations about what is a priority. Local government is a zero someum game. And in hard times, that means choices. Not because anyone enjoys cutting anything or underfunding our priorities, but because we are elected to make the hard decisions when we have to. We do everything we can to avoid putting ourselves in the position of making hard decisions, but uh given the level of external factors right now, it's pretty impossible to see that. Um, and the flip side of that conversation is really around raising revenue and um, are we is our community really committed to

continuing to tax ourselves out of this. Property taxes are a very blunt instrument in Virginia. We cannot have differential rates. We cannot target um additional tax rate increases to the folks in our community who we know we have who can definitely pay more and contribute more. We have no way to reach those people without also impacting those people who do not have anything more to give and who frankly are some of the people who we are adding additional programs to support. And so it's it's a I think a real conversation that the community needs to have because so many of us say we are really able and willing to contribute more, but that doesn't mean that everyone in our community can make that same commitment. Um and so it's going to be really important that we continue to live our values. we continue to understand all the impacts of our decisions and think really hard about how we will approach these challenges when they are inevitably before us again. Um, and you know, I think I I want to think about how we continue to have those really hard conversations and really think about um respect and how we treat each other. I think Miss Cunningham's comments about the national conduct and situation uh is really resonant because it it spills over it spills over into everything that how we communicate and how we trust how our community trusts government um on what we think is acceptable as far as interactions and conduct. And um I think I think it's just really important to acknowledge that. I think that, you know, as much as we we shared in some really wonderful advocacy, there were also some um I think really inappropriate comments made attacking our staff and their character and and what they were trying to do. Um I think

we we need to make sure that we keep it focused on what we're trying to do and not um not get personal like that. It it's just, you know, it's really hard. These are these are real people. Whether it's the five of us up here who are all real people, whether it's our staff, our community members, everyone in this game is human and it it it comes home with you when those things happen. Whether whether that is the intention or not, um it is really felt and it is impacted and it makes it more challenging um as the levels of of tension and conflict increase um whether internally with the community, externally, whatever it is, um that is felt and there is a threshold for what any individual can take and can handle. Um and so I just you know really want to focus on moving forward and how do we as a collective everyone who is a part of this process really bring it back to respect and positive treatment of each other because um without that I think we are going to um lose what makes Arlington so special. be it our really truly wonderful staff or um the public servants and community members who put themselves forward and volunteer hundreds of thousands of hours every year um to make this a better place. And if we lose that, I I I think that's irreplaceable. So um and lastly, you know, we might call it budget season, but budget is is really a year round kind of thing. And um our guidance in particular gives a lot of homework to start working on fiscal 28 already. Um for me personally, I think recognizing that housing, child care, healthcare are all not really sufficiently addressed by this budget despite being shared

priorities of this board. Those are all things that cost money to invest in. uh it's really kind of unavoidable on any of those to solve those problems without significant financial investments. Um there are ways to collaborate I think especially at the state level some of what we tried to do legislatively this year on getting more private developer contributions to affordable housing. I'm really hopeful we can bring that back. Um I think there are things that we are working towards um but we can't just wait until the next fiscal year to do them. we have to put in the work now um to get ourselves ready for that. And I'm not going to say we start working on the budget tomorrow because first I think we all should take a little break and then we have the CIP coming at us in May. Um but truly preparing for our next budget has to mean serious work this year. And I hope that we and I specifically mean the board, not staff, dear God, you all deserve a break. Um, and I hope you take a real break some time off, please. Um, but I hope that the board is really ready to work even in the off season because I think we have a long way to go before next year. Um, happy to be calling this year to a conclusion, but um, the fun never stops. So, thank you.

Thank you, Vice Chair Coffee. At the beginning of the year, I said this would be a very difficult budget and it has been. We're leaving vacancies unfilled and cutting a limited but still significant number of positions. We have 240,000 roughly people in Arlington. 30 plus thousand of those are under 18 and two of those are my kids. 86,000 of them voted yesterday or in the weeks that led up to it. Every one of them in some way is our responsibility to try to honor. We are left this year with difficult decisions and I'll describe what I would say is the big picture of this budget in this very difficult moment. As I do so, I want to keep the lens on our residents. We should listen to kids for sure. But our residents who are making these decisions that we're accountable to might be closer to 200,000. They are 60% renters, 40% homeowners. Some have lived here a long time, some have not. Some vote, some do not. Knowing what those people all think is beyond me. I can have a sense but I am only trying to have the best sense possible even if we get thousands of emails we can't know and certainly to use an example that colleagues have used certainly I can't have known what the gymnastics community thought about a lot of things before this year and I

now you know

I know a lot there's a whole bunch of topics that I don't know what you think on I do know a little bit more about what you think about gymnastics But it is that lens of how do we serve our taxpayers, our residents, how do we steward money efficiently and try to serve the goals that we had through which I see things. Roughly, we talked at the beginning of the year or I thought at the beginning of of the year about three buckets of potential collective priorities. Doing the core services and things right. You can think of the different pieces of that. Serving all of our residents, keeping a sense of how do we serve the most vulnerable and staying fiscally sustainable. I think we've made a good cut, made a good shot, done our best. I'm proud of what we've sought to do with respect to those three areas. I'm certainly mindful that in this moment, this budget is hard. None of us signed up to want to when Arlington's history and ideals as a federal bureaucrat and associated town are at stake. You can believe in reducing as we should high conflict and say there's a mismatch between where we are and across the river. We didn't I don't want and I am mindful that there is a 95year-old who lives in a single family home. I knocked on her door and she is Arlington through and through and she said I'm going to have to move

because stewarding tax dollars is hard for me and you know so I'm mindful and I hope that I'm humble of that as the prism of this decision. So the frame, we made a collective decision that we had 60 plus vacancies out of 350 police officers. We made a decision that I hope will pay off financially and reduced overtime costs. We made a decision that we had to invest there. We made a decision that the mandatory holds on our firefighters was a cost on their families and in them that we as Arlingtonians didn't want to do. And then we made a decision that I'll acknowledge is, as with many pieces of our budget, is incomplete and imperfect. That we wanted to invest in our sheriff's deputies. We all shared that decision to some degree as well. The police and fire, we were all aligned on sheriff's deputies. We had SNAP cuts. We had public safety cuts. The administration cut terrorism funding for the DMV. That ain't smart. It ain't about high conflict to say that's dumb. So, I'm not and not to diminish the the prism of that book is hugely beneficial, but but I I think it can coexist with that comment. So, we've made cuts in our expenditures in DPR that are not related to gymnastics. We made cuts in libraries and we made cuts to tax expenditures for even for those who are fiscally progressive. The car tax ain't that popular. But we had been supplementing

it with additional tax expenditures for cars and that is something we agreed on. There are other things we made investments in public safety to do diversion, public defender, a number of those items. But those are the additional marginal investments that we thought were critical at this particular moment. We capped the housing grants program to be more fiscally sustainable. It's the right thing to do and even the strongest of housing advocates want to know how we're going to do it best, but agreed with the concept. I ran for office, this is the moment responses that I have. I ran for office on five things. hunger, housing, schools, climate, and economic development. On hunger, we've invested in AAC and I ain't taking any credit. Everybody on this board said meet the moment. Food costs too much. AAC has too many families. We did the right thing by me moving many grants to ongoing. That's marginal structural change that I think is helpful. It's 150,000. The symbol and the structure that it creates to address food security I think is important. On housing Mr. Karanus all of us care about that issue. Mr. Karan Tonus mentioned the challenge on AHIF. I'm grateful for the investment in a AHIF that we did and mindful that that's a hard choice that we did with the remaining 600 and plus probably 650,000 in ongoing in one time that we invested. I believe it's the right thing to do. We invested in housing grants to make sure that it ain't being capped until the system to make that happen is ready by October 1st. And I know we'll continue on that on schools. We have work to do and I'll acknowledge revenue sharing is a is an agreement

that I said I own communication. I think that the the investments we did on the car tax and the additional half cent are significant and I think we have work to do to have a conversation because to address this partnership. There is no doubt over the last 354 years our schools have been perhaps our greatest economic development tool. People come here for the schools and people in general come here and perhaps one of our economic development greatest partnerships was not unrelated to the schools with respect to the Amazon partnership. Climate is a defining issue of our time. When my kids are 40 or 50, will they go outside for 2 months a year or four months? I really couldn't tell you. But I know that they ought to judge me about how well I do on this. We made some good investments there on economic development. That is a hard hard issue. It is broad and there are many components. Part of it is tax and fiscal policy. Part of it is the reality that commercial rates are determined. They don't immediately drop. So this year we saw a 19% drop in our office valuation. I'm not here to tell you that. I know we're at the bottom, but I do think we're getting close. Um, we also converted six buildings. I think our economic development policies are sound while I think it's essential to return to the respect for our residents for whom we are we must steward their money and invest consistent with their values and ideals. ultimately to narrow the choice $466 of which $288 or $289 roughly is due to

assessment growth in their in your home. That is painful and we should tailor and work to make sure there's relief for low-income homeowners, but it is still true that as your home value increases, there is a benefit to that. In addition to the cost of assessment growth, we made a marginal tax decision um that results in some variation on $177 to invest in the items that I described. I ask I hope that that decision is within reason for the public safety and other priorities that we've all described. So that's plenty. Thank you colleagues for tolerating. I I'm lucky that the clerk didn't time me the way he timed the first couple of people, but I think he noticed. In any event, for our community and for colleagues, there's one more piece of business that is relevant to the gymnastics folks that are here. I mentioned one comment. I think now we've passed the mark. We passed the guidance. We've made our comments. Next, we are going to a whole series of motions beginning with the real estate tax rate. But there's a couple just a couple things that I want to touch on that sort of flesh out a little bit what we've said with respect respect to gymnastics. I'll be brief. There's a very limited number of bullets. We've covered the broad message, but I just want to sort of share a couple of others. Before I do, I just want to join my colleagues in saying to our staff, thank you. I cannot add to each of the deep profound ways different that colleagues have thanked you. I would just ask that I hope I'm as good every day as the thank yous that I try to say from this dis and I hope I'm live up and honor your public service because it is not

lost on how it is not easy to meet this moment and the challenges from of the broader civic moment on you. So, thank you to our staff. I'll just say succinctly with respect to gymnastics, um, some of the proposal we have to take, at least I will take some responsibility. We said serve the most vulnerable. And I've gotten fairly critiqued as to the most vulnerable, but I would say that folks get that it ain't easy to think between housing and hunger and the cost savings. So I I think on process it's a factor of our structural piece that we got a suggestion from the manager. He's a grandfather. Jane Rudolph is a mother. I'm I have kids, but that's not important as much as it's important that you see the humanity. In addition, I'm not saying you can't critique. I just, you know, let's find grace in addition. And I think you have. And so it probably helps that we went from 44 to 25. But I'm just saying like in addition to saying I would do the job better or we need to work on administration. Let's find a way to work together. Jane did that and Mark did that by asking for it to be less. And so I think that's one of the points that I wanted to make. Um they're ready to work. They're ready to move forward. They want to make this work. Um, and we're on the hook for a meeting and I know all colleagues will continue. I'm not betting on whether Mr. Spain will do another flip, but we will continue to engage. Um, and I think that covers most. Um, you know, I don't know if there are any other bullets or comments that one folks want to say. I

think we covered it. I don't want to belabor.

So, we're good. But I hope those just re-emphasizing that I hope is helpful as we try to to solve this and I owe a phone call to one of your colleagues uh tomorrow and we'll do that. Colleagues, with that I will turn and we'll we'll hopefully make progress. You have to hear from me a little bit more but I will do a lot of the reading. I'll look for seconds. Um we'll turn first and and just keep me uh Mr. County Attorney and colleagues keep me on point. So, we're going to turn first to part B, the real estate tax rate. And I will move, and there are reasons for this, and we've said most of our piece. I'll move that the county board adopt a calendar year 2026 base real estate tax rate of 1.053 per $100 of assessed value using the advertisement shown as attachment one in the staff report. In addition, adopt a calendar year 2026 commercial real estate tax for transportation initiatives at the current rate of rate of 0.125 per $100 using the advertisement shown as attachment one in the staff report. Is there a second?

Seconded by Mr. Karen Tonis. Uh I don't know that there's any there needs to be discussion but if there is I think we'll go to a vote. Colleagues, all those in favor of that motion say I. I. All those opposed I.

So four in favor, one opposed. Um that motion passes with respect to part B of the real estate tax rate. Um onward now we'll move to part A and then we'll keep going. And colleagues, just keep helping me with being ready with a second so it's not awkward. For part A. Uh, by the way, just if you want to stay, you guys can, but I ain't going to say anything that's that profound. And I don't think all any of us are going to say anything that's that profound with respect to gymnastics. Leave that to you. I won't be just want to they just want to keep hanging out with us. We're all

I think it's a good civic lesson, but if you leave, I will we will all be fine, but you stay if you want to. For part A, budget and appropriations resolution, I move that the county board one, adopt the fiscal year 2027 county budget resolution, attachment one of the staff report, adopt the fiscal year 2027 county appropriations resolution, attachment two of the staff report. Three, authorize the county manager to negotiate and sign grant agreements with nonprofits that result from the 2027 budget appropriations subject to approval as to form of those those agreements by the county attorney. Four, allocate an appropriate 2.3 million from the self- insurance reserve, 101.491210 to non-EP departmental and 101.910002 in fiscal year 2026 for healthcare expenses above contributions as outlined in the midyear memo. And five, allocate an appropriate 9.2 million from the stabilization reserve 101.491210 491210 to non-EP departmental 101.91002 in fiscal year 2026 for healthcare expenses, revenue shortfalls, snow removal costs above budget and other budget pressures as outlined in the midyear memo and six allocates 6,474,295 from fiscal year 2025 from the budget for buying down Barcraftoft debt and repayment of a lean 5 million and 1.4 4 million respectively to the stabilation stabilization reserve as outlined in the midyear memo and in the board's approved shares mark. Is there a second?

Second on the item six. I think you meant fiscal year 2026, not 2025. I'll say six again. Allocate 6,400. Yes, I meant fiscal year 2026, not fiscal year 2025. with that u that change seconded by vice chair coffee. Um I'll just hold is there any yes Mr. Spain? No colleagues all those in favor say I. I. Any opposed?

That motion passes 50. Um next we will move to part C. Um personal property tax rate. I move that the county board adopt a calendar year 2026 personal property tax rate of $5 per 100 $100 of assessed value and a personal property tax rate of 1.053 per $100 of assessed value equal to the real estate tax rate for public service corporations using the res resolution shown as attachment one in the staff report. Is there a second? Second seconded by vice chair coffee. All those in favor say I.

I. That motion passes 50. Next for part D and F bids in special tax districts. I will take parts D and F in one motion. I move that the county board A adopt a calendar year 2026 tax rate for the Boston Business Improvement Service District not to exceed. 045 per $100 of assessed value. That is in addition to the current real estate tax rate using the resolution shown as attachment one in the staff report. B. adopt a calendar year 2026 tax rate for the National Landing Business Improvement Service District of 0.043 per $100 of assessed value that is in addition to the current real estate tax real estate rate using the resolution shown as attachment one of the staff report and C adopt a calendar year 2026 tax rate for the Rosen business Improvement Service District of 0.078 078 per $100 of assessed value that is in addition to the current real estate tax rate using the resolution shown as attachment one of the staff report. Is there a second?

Second. Seconded by Mr. Spain. Colleagues, all those in favor say I. I. I. Motion passes 5. For the next part which uh is um J, K, L, M, N. And I'll trust the clerk to just correct me. I move J that we adopt an ordinance attachment A to the staff report effective July 1, 2026 to amend, reenact, and recodify chapter 26, article 1, section 26-9 of the Arlington County Code to increase water and sewer rates as specified in the ordinance K. I also move that we adopt an ordinance attachment A of the staff report effective January 1, 2026. I think we were going to not say the letters there.

I it Mr. Defront has a a fixed version of it. Okay, perfect. Just thank you, Miss Cunningham, because I'm rolling and so I'm asking you and everybody keep me straight. This C to J.

Okay. I got the wrong the the wrong piece. So, the numbers we'll we'll go. Is there anything wrong, Mr. County Attorney, with the It's just this motion wherein I need to That's no problem. Okay. So, uh we did we did A, we did B, we did C, we did D, E, and F. So now um we will just uh go on to make the following motion. one motion that that we adopt um I'll just start from the top of this new motion. adop adopt an ordinance attachment A to the staffer board effective July 1, 2026 to amend react reenacting recodify chapter 26 article 1 section 26-9 of the Arlington County code to increase sew water and sewer rates as specified in the ordinance that I will also move that we adopt an ordinance effective January 1, 2026 to amend reenactment recodified chapter 26 article 3 section 26-120 of the artic Arlington County Code to increase the storm water utility rate to $260 per equivalent residential unit. In addition, adopt a resolution attachment B of that staff report providing a financial relief program for certain homeowners to assist with payment of the county's storm water utility fee. I also move as part of this motion that we adopt an ordinance attachment A of the staff board with an effective date of July 1, 2026 to amend, reenact, and adopt the fees depicted on the Department of Environmental Services consolidated development related fees schedule related to and listed under the sections titled Transportation Rightaway fees, public rightaway fees, land disturbing activities fees, civil engineering plan fees, subdivision plat review and bond administration fees, administrative fees for enforcement of storm water management facility inspection maintenance requirements and outdoor outdoor cafe license fees. Um, I also move that we take um we take no action on the ordinance amending and approving the fiscal year 2027 addition

of a zoning fee to the department of community planning, housing and development fee schedule for a local historic district. We made that change in markup. And I move as part of this motion that we enact the ordinance amending, reenacting, and reading the fiscal year 2027 changes to CPHD development related fees as depicted on the inspection services and zoning and planning fee schedules related to building and trade permits, administrative changes, formbbased code applications, site plan applications, administratively reviewed permits and requests, certificates of occupancy, variances, use permits, and other fees as shown in attachments A and B effective July 1, 2026. That is the end of this bucket of motions. Is there a second? Second.

Thank you, Mr. Spain. Colleagues, all those in favor say I. I.

Okay, that p that motion passes unanimously. We will next move to a set of motions. Um that is I'm going to charge you folks by the by the word soon. Um that I will take uh that these are CAD services and a number of other fees. This motion includes the following. I move that we adopt the fiscal year 2027 CAD program service and membership fees attachment one of the staff report that is related to this and that we adopt the fiscal year 2027 CAD staff support fees also in attachment A and that we adopt the 2027 CAD scenic studio fees attachment one of the staff report and that we adopt the fiscal year 2027 Department of Parks and Recreation fee resolution which is attachment one of the staff report which may be particularly interesting to folks Nothing new, but and that we adopt the fiscal year 2027 ACPD summer camp fees to that series of mo series of pieces to that motion. Is there a second?

Attach on the final part attachment one of the staff report. Yes. Effective July 1. Thank you. Adopt the Yes. As Miss Miss Coffee, Vice Chair Coffee stated that is the motion. Is there a second? I think he second. Okay, it's seconded by Mr. Caronis. Colleagues, all those in favor of those set of fees and that motion say I. I. Okay, that motion passes 5-0. Next, series of public safety regulatory and miscellaneous ordinances. Colleagues, next year I'm going to or whenever be more organized than I have been in terms of you can you can delegate. Do you want me to Moren? You got it. And then you guys can go the others. Thank you. I just was because I didn't assign before. I was trying to be

It's okay.

Go ahead. I will take parts QRS and T in one motion. I move that the county board Q adopt increased fees attachment one of the staff report related to offduty details including but not limited to special events effective July 1, 2026. R adopt an ordinance effective July 1, 2026 to amend, reenact, and recottify chapter 9.2 food and food handling code article 3 compliance procedure section 9.2-10B 2-10b licenses for food establishment and article 5 review of plans and specifications section 9.2-21D 2-21D submission of plans, specifications, and other data inspection prior to operation, fees of the Arlington County Code to increase fees related to food establishments attachment A of the staff report and adopt an ordinance effective July 1, 2026 to amend, reenact, and recottify chapter 24.1, Water Recreation Facilities Ordinance Article 1, General Provision Section 24.1-24, fee schedule of the Arlington County Code to increase fees related to water recreation facilities. Attachment B of the staff report s adopt an ordinance attachment A of the staff report with an effective date of July 1, 2026 to amend, reenact, and recodify chapter 27 miscellaneous ordinances section 27-11.2 2 in position of license tax on owners of certain motor vehicles of the Arlington County Code to impose an annual $250 penalty for failure to register a motor vehicle within 30 days and t adopt an ordinance attachment A of the staff report to amend reenact and recottify chapter 39 cigarette tax sections 39-2 definitions 39-4 methods of collection 39-5 registered agents 39-7 sale of cigarettes in vending

machines. Contraband 39-8 illegal acts 39-12 erroneous assessment notices and hearings in the event of sealing of vending machines or seizure of contraband property 39-13 disposal of seized property and 39-14 extensions of the Arlington County Code to A repeal section 39-7 sale of cigarettes in vending machines contraband and B enact other conforming changes to chapter 39 of the county code to enable the county to join the Northern Virginia Cigarette Tax Board and implement various technical corrections. Second. Sorry, that's okay. No, I'm ready. No, that is it.

Good for you. And objectively, you did that better than I did. So, colleagues, all on uh the motion by Vice Chair Coffee, seconded by me. All those in favor say I. I. Thank you. That passes 5-0. For part U, it's short. I move that the county board approve the proposed fiscal year 2020 27 pay plan as set forth in attachments 1 to seven of the staff report. Is there a second? Second. Seconded by Mr. Spain. Colleagues, all those in favor say I. I. Colleagues, thank you. That passes 5-0. We have a budget. And

just just in case you forgot, DPR fees were in there. And so, uh, they were one of those and and and, uh, they're in alignment with what we've described. So, next, you certainly can stay. We're now going to take up a public hearing that is required by the car tax, the PPT. Mr. Kushner, would you read this item? And you guys don't have to stay, but you're welcome as always. Mr. Kushner. Certainly. Item number, excuse me, 32 is the allocation of estate personal property tax relief monies.

Thank you, Mr. Kushner. Let's see. I am not entirely clear and Mr. Schwarz as he checks with our DMF stalwarts. Um, thank you all for coming uh very much. Um, I don't think there's a staff presentation. No, we did not plan a staff presentation here. This is consistent with everything that was on option six. Thank you. So, if you guys were discussing whether DMF has to stay, I leave that to Mr. Schwarz and everybody else, but um I I'm great. We're grateful for the team. So, Mr. Clerk, I think it's next to our public speakers. Are there public speakers on this item?

There are public speakers. One moment, please. Just don't say 152, please. We need that. Uh there are two for this item. Sorry, giving me a moment to pull our computer up. Uh the first speaker on this item is Mr. Alula Kabidi followed by Dr. T Spike Turwilliger virtually I think both is Mr. have indicated virtually I am not we do have one person joining us by telephone um Mr. Alula Kabiti

and the star is that the only person spikeilliger is also there likewise I would say if we've not heard from Mr. I would move on to Dr. T Spike Turwilliger. Mr. Towiliger, are you there? Dr. Til Turwilliger. I I am. Thank you. Go ahead. I believe Yes, you have. Is it three minutes, Mr. Mr. Kushner? It is indeed. My apologies. Thank you. Go ahead.

I'm a long-term resident of I'm a long-term resident of Arlington County and 100% disabled veteran. I am deeply concerned that the board is planning to restrict the vehicle tax relief as noted in the announcement to a maximum vehicle value of $20,000. I do not think the focus on the disabled in the county should be the first place you look for money. It's wrong as I will point out in just two points. First, the addition of the Virginia Constitution, Article 10, Section 6, paragraph A8, says, "One motor vehicle owned and produced primarily for or by a veteran of the Armed Forces of the United States of the Virginia National Guard has been ridded by the United States Department of Veteran Affairs with a 100% service connected, permanent, and total disability. It does not indicate any maximum value of the vehicle and the only county is proposing that a vehicle above $20,000 results in no tax relief seems a violation of the intent of the amendment. Second, even if the county can impose a limit value of $20,000, it seems to be a hugely inappropriate number. Kelly Blue Book says the average cost for a new vehicle in 2025 was 49,750. The limit suggests that the intent of the board is that veterans can only own a vehicle that has a value of less than $20,000 for the relief. During the period of the constitution proposal, as was being voted on, several counties commented negatively. Yet, the amendment got more than 90% approval of voters. If my memory serves correctly, please remember those who serve do not consider the dollar cost of citizens during their service to the nation. I'd note that in making this very bad decision retroactive to January 1st, 2026, it further shows disdain for those who serve. The bottom line is that it seems wrong for one county to capture

relief at such a low number since the language of the Virginia Constitution does not address a number and it does in other statutes. So, the absence of a number seems intentional by both the legislature and the voters. Full disclosure, while my vehicle is well under $20,000, I'm here because it's wrong and I'm fighting against this unfair proposal. Thank you for listening and I hope that this proposal is reconsidered because not only is it wrong, the parameters are unreasonable.

Thank you, Miss Dr. Triliger. If you'll stay on the on the line, um I want to just ask staff about it. There's two components to it. There's staff which has done some analysis and it's plausible that our county attorney might but we'll start with department of management. Mr. I'm going to I'm going to ask Mr. Stevenson to uh address this directly and I think Miss Bush may have some comments. I think that I understand what the speaker said and I just want to clarify that what we're doing here doesn't really address the point that he was making. So I'll turn it over to Richard.

That's correct. They're two entirely different programs. the program this uh the speaker is talking about is not what you are voting on today. This is around the relief that the state um the state provides. Uh if this individual is under in this other program, it's untouched and unchanged from uh the current fiscal year. Thank you, Mr. Stevenson. I'm guess it seems as though you've tried to answer it in full and I don't think there's any additional details that take care of the staff. I would say And there also there is information on our website and I think Richard if you could just you know mention where it can be found so that the speaker could go and check to clarify that so that he understands that.

Sure. We have multiple drivers trying to get to the right website and give us context. Is this on the I believe the information is contained on the commissioner of revenue site um under their taxes and payment uh program. Dr. Dr. Tiger, I hope hope you heard that. Commissioner of revenue sites under taxes and payments. I did hear that, but I did hear that and I understand what that says regarding this. However, the proposal suggests to change that. That's I read the proposal, which is why I made that comment.

Sure, respect that. Um, I think the best venue for any further followup is likely to be uh Mr. Stevenson to give you a call directly uh or or or follow up multiple staff, but that's that's the best way to move forward. We very much appreciate your service and you're coming in and and speaking tonight. And with that, are there other public speakers on this item? There are no no further speakers. Got it. Um colleagues, the next question, we can certainly have discussion on this item. The conversation is now with the board and so I'll turn to Miss Cunningham for a motion.

I move that the county board adopt a calendar year 2026 resolution attachment two of the staff report attached to agenda item 31.C C fixing the methodology that shall be utilized in distributing the state's block grant, which includes providing 100% vehicle tax relief on assessed value up to 4,000 and 13% tax relief for vehicle value between 4,01 and 20,000 on all qualifying vehicles registered in Arlington County. Thank you. The motion has been made. Is there a second? Second.

Seconded by Vice Chair Coffee. Is there discussion, colleagues? I would just raise um I think the point that the uh caller mentioned bears a little bit of clarification in case there are others in the community that that need it. I don't know what the best venue to do that is, but maybe on the personal property tax page or maybe

if you go to the commissional revenues page and and Richard, you're going to have to help me here. are certain classifications of vehicles uh and and owners that are completely exempt and that's correct and we haven't that's not what we're talking about here. This is separate and apart from that. This has to do with the allocation of the state funds and that those exemptions remain that the speaker was concerned about. Right? So there's there's a state exemption and and then everyone else who gets a bill. we're talking about the relief for those who get the bill if they have a certain value of car.

Um I just wanted to make that clear and to the extent we can communicate that I think that'd be helpful and I appreciate them Mr. To Dr. Toiger raising the concern. That's all. Thank you. Question is on the motion then by Miss Cunningham, seconded by Vice Chair Coffee. All those in favor say I. I. I. That motion passes 5-0. Uh Mr. Mr. Kushner, I'd like to turn us next to item 33. Can you call the item, please? Certainly. Item number 33 concerns fiscal year 2027 opportunities grant awards to human services nonprofits. Thank you, Mr. Kushner. We have a changing of the guard. Um, if it is whatever your I'm going to ask uh Go ahead. Go ahead, Mr. Schwarz.

Elizabeth Matlock, who has been here with us all day, and Cynthia Lee Torres are going to join us. They have a in normal times it would seem to be brief but given the hour it will seem excessively long but they have a wonderful presentation for you. So over to you Miss Matlock. Thank you Mr. Schwarz. When you're ready Miss Matlock. Thank you.

Okay. We're here to present our recommendations for the FY27 Opportunities Grant. Um, the opportunities grant, as you know, supports nonprofits in their work as they try to create opportunities for Arlington residents to thrive while reducing, eliminating, and preventing inequities in our community. Um, so a little bit of background on the application process this year. The application window was from November 25th, 2025 to January 13th of this year. Uh we hosted one technical assistance session and we had open office hours this year um offering anybody any applicant who wanted to to meet with staff and get feedback, ask questions about their proposals. Uh we did post on the website FAQs for anyone to be able to access um as they came in. Uh and then we also had the recordings from previous year's technical assistance sessions um to offer as much support as possible for the applicants. And this year we had an encouraged cap of $50,000. Uh we were upfront that we were planning on awarding no more than four awards that were larger. And for those larger requests, we had additional questions in the application that really focused on sustainability and scalability of the requests. And to give you an overview of what we've saw, what we've received this year, especially compared to the two prior years of this grant program, um the first year this grant program ran in FY25, we had 2 nearly $2.4 million in of funding. available. Um, last year it was $1.88 million and this year we have $1.69

million available for funding awards. Um, the first year of the program we had 38 proposals and it has grown since then. Um, 55 last year and 69 this year. Really showing the expanding reach of the program. And then at the total requested, the first year we had $5 million requested. Uh last year we had 6.36 million. This year we had 4.93 million showing that that suggested cap did make a difference in uh what people were bringing forward. The number of awardees this the first year we were able to award 22 organizations. Last year we awarded 23. And this year we're proposing 31 awards. Um this graph shows what came in the proposals that came in. As you can see um we had five bucket areas of funding. These buckets were based on research on economic mobility and addressing inequities and really making positive outcomes. And we asked organizations to identify like which bucket their proposal primarily fit in. And as you can see a variety of services from economic security to education including child early childhood um and adult education, health related services and services involving legal support or justice involved support. and then um services involving social connections and community mentorship, things like that. We received, like I said, 69 proposals requesting almost $5 million. And then looking at what the review process involved, um we had community

focus groups. Uh we worked to recruit community members, um adults and teens, and they served in three focus groups. They brought a wealth of professional and personal experience in human services and grant evaluation um to their review. They um looked at executive summaries of all of the proposals that were written by the applicants and uh they discussed them. The discussion focused primarily on what they saw as the community priorities in Arlington right now. uh specifically which proposals were meeting those priorities, meeting the most critical needs and which incorporated effective strategies to result in the greatest most significant impact. And then we also had staff review. So we had staff representing nine departments throughout the county uh representing a wide variety of subject matter expertise and they were randomly assigned on review panels to review up to 10 proposals each. Um so we had the review panels met to discuss more in depth their set of proposals identifying priorities, strengths and weaknesses of the proposals that they uh were reviewing. And then all of the reviewers, all of the review panels met together to discuss the proposals. um really reflecting on the community feedback that was received, the scores that were given and uh to develop the following award recommendation. Um so the grant award kind of guidelines that informed this recommendation, we had we started out this process with 1.25 million in ongoing funding. Uh this initial pot of funding supported 23

awards with four larger requests which were about $100,000 each. Um again this number we said upfront that we would award four larger requests. Um these awards were primarily made based on score although there was consideration for the community feedback that we received through the focus groups. um a diversification of services, equity, and the available funding. And then we also uh have $437,000 in one-time funding made available by the budget that was just adopted. Uh and this supports eight additional awards, one additional larger request, and um this was really based on the priority needs identified by reviewers. And so this chart shows uh what needs then are funded uh by this award recommendation. You can go to the next slide. And the next few slides show the a description of the organizations that are being funded with this award recommendation, the award amounts and a brief summary of the services they will provide. Um they are colorcoded to match the chart that you saw before. So this first chart, this first page really shows the economic security investments being made. You can go on And then in on this page we start to see the focus on education as well and new services. And then we see several investments in organizations supporting health

and then organizations supporting legal support, legal services and support for individuals who are justice involved. And then we also have some organizations that focus more on those social connections and community building. And so our next steps then we will be providing personal feedback scores and some of the discussion feedback, community feedback um to the applicants that will happen over the next couple of months. Um and we will finalize the grant agreements and the reporting metrics um that will be required for the next year. um that will happen by the end of June because the grant period begins on July 1st, 2026 and goes until the end of this next fiscal year. So I think that's the end of that concludes our presentation.

Great. Thank you, Miss Matlock. Thanks for your patience for being here. I think the conversation next is to public testimony. Mr. Kushner, are there any speakers on this item? There is one speaker for this item. Just a moment. Right. Our first speaker on this item um is speaking for three minutes, Mr. Alula Kabidi.

I don't see Mr. Alula on the line. We can certainly reach out and see if Mr. Kabidi is available, but aside from Mr. Kapi, no other speakers. Thank you. Going once, twice, three times. Mr. Kabidi, we will hope to connect with you. But the opportunity for public comment is closed now. So now the discussion is with the board. Yes. I was wondering if you would entertain a motion before we get to this before we can go to discussion. We will without objection. We'll do a motion. We'll do a second. We'll have as fullome discussion as we need. I don't know that there are categories or just questions. It's to Mr. Spain for a motion.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that the county board approve the list of proposed grantees based on community and staff reviewer scores and feedback to receive grants and the amounts included in table one in the staff report dated April 18th, 2026 and authorized the county manager or his designate to sign and amend on behalf of the board the grant agreements between the board and each grant recipient in a form approved by the county attorney. Thank you. Is there a second? Second. Seconded by Mr. McCarronis. Mr. Spain, would you like to speak to it? We can open up to questions. Go ahead.

I'll be I'll be quick. Um, one thing for certain is that uh, as we've found out, like I've found out is no process is perfect, but I do want to commend uh, Elizabeth and Cynthia for your hard work uh, trying to bring everyone together. um communicate with the public um on a very small amount of money um but significant in part. And I just want to let you know that I know every day wasn't a good day, but you probably had more good days than bad days in this adventure. But I just want to sincerely thank you as one board member because I know you heard it. You got it from every corner of Arlington. That said, I think there's a larger conversation to also have about opportunity grants, um, how they're utilized, how we identify, and that conversation, quite honestly for me, is something to take on later on down the road. There's a finite amount of money uh and resources that can go out and and unfortunately, you know, all the nonprofit organizations that applied uh were were not able to uh we were not able to give any level of assistance. And this is not the first year that's happened. But with that being said, I I did a careful review of those awardees this year and every little bit helps. And again, I look forward to additional conversations in the the year and as we move down the road on how we can perhaps enhance um this program, this process in a way um because it's still relatively new and uh the board arrived at this place uh for a number of reasons. But is it perfect? Again, I'll say no. Uh there are some enhancements I think we can perhaps look at down the road, but for that, thank you. And thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Spain. Vice Chair Coffee.

Yeah, thank you. Um and you know, to to build on our our common saying, no process is perfect and no good deed goes unpunished. Um, I think the genesis of uh of switching to this competitive grant model um was without a doubt well motivated, important. really trying to take um some of the more discretionary and and really relationshipbased decisions out of um how we fund our our nonprofit sector because um there are a lot of folks who originally just, you know, had prior year grant agreements that just continued forward in perpetuity and newer or less connected nonprofits were unable to break through because there is limited funding. funding and so um without evaluating and without um outcomes and outputs that we're measuring and performance that we want to see um you know we we really did I think move to this formalized process to try and build that in uh which is I think the right thing to do at the same time um it has led to some immense pain in our uh for our nonprofits for ourselves as board members um and you know I'm super conscious of how how many staff hours go into uh the setup, the uh working with potential applicants, the evaluation and and everything. It it's it's no small amount of work. And so um we know that there are many who are frustrated with this process. And I think um there's a deeper future conversation to have about what we're trying to do here and whether we are succeeding at at doing that. um and and certainly not for for failure of our staff's level of effort and working commitment. Um it's just I think a

really hard model. I think in particular I would flag um the one of the central problems that I see is um organizations who at this point rely upon the grant funding in a way that is probably not structurally sound for money that is discretionary and competitive in nature. Um it's not guaranteed yeartoear that um an organization will get an award. Uh and it is certain it's not even guaranteed that the funding will continue to be included or be included at the same level as the previous fiscal years. Um as as one of m Miss Matlock's slides showed you know it has really varied how much money is even available even though we are getting more and more applicants. Uh and so I think that is um concerning when we when we see a level of reliance on something that we cannot um guarantee and uh it it leads to to stress and strife for our nonprofits who who do really good programs. Um but if we were to fund every nonprofit in Arlington who does a really good program, um I think we could double our budget uh altogether. And so um which is a good thing. I think it means we have a lot of good people doing good work. Um, but it's it's not a reasonable expectation and we have to figure out how to navigate um this process, build out reasonable expectations, make sure that our our necessary programs that um we we do believe should have ongoing and sustainable funding are not in this pool um but perhaps have some other different type of relationship. Um, and you know, again, I think just back to making sure we know what we're trying to do through this process and that what

we are doing aligns with that. And so, um, I really appreciate everything that's gone into this. Um, to our nonprofit community, uh, you all do such incredible work and we really appreciate your effort that has gone into this as well. Um and uh I'm happy to support the staff recommendation.

Thank you, Vice Chair Coffee. Next, I'll go to flexible Mr. Karen Tonus or Miss Cunningham who is ready to go to Mr. Mr. Karen Tonus if that's okay. Uh so briefly, Miss Matlo and Miss Torres, really thank you for bearing with us and trying to make this process work uh for the third year in a row. Uh I fully understand that for two reasons uh your work uh has become more difficult. One is uh the limited amount of money that we have appropriated for for this program which immediately limits the ability to to fund uh more I mean it it forces to cap it forces to to min to minimize awards then they are less useful for the programs that they're applied for and so forth. So there there are cascading consequences of that but our economic uh situation as you've seen in the budget discussion is not going to improve. So this is something that we'll have to deal with. The second thing is the need when when the program was first uh uh conceived was uh under the the the primary idea was to a to bring in novel and uh and and you know grassroots uh informed proposals forward and secondly uh to be therefore also more responsive to uh equity. uh informed decision making. something happened in between and what happened in between was the extreme crisis that we are right now that

affects uh the uh these programs and this and the the basic fabric of Arlington small nonprofits the nonprofits that Miss Coffee mentioned for uh who have been surviving for many years but they cannot scale really uh at the same time they still provide critical uh services that we cannot deliver in any other way. And these two factors really change the way the program works. So while I'm thanking you for all the work, we really need to discuss uh in in this uh in in the coming months uh probably how we will do it next year. uh because I think that we owe you a a policy discussion on that and and a clear guidance um so that we don't waste that that that you know work and that we honor the work that all you and your colleagues and every staff member who has engaged in scoring and also every member of the community has engaged in helping to score. So uh again thank you. I think they I'm supporting the outcome at this uh point but uh looking forward we need to have this discussion again because just the times have changed enormously and that's a completely different frame than what we had at the beginning.

Thank you.

Thank you Mr. Caronius. Miss Cunningham. I I would just add I was on the other side of the table when this first got together at two two of our nonprofits. Um and it was uh it was a really hard transition. I would say that first year where there was sort of a sorting hat. Some went to contract and some stayed in grant. And that first year I would posit those who stayed in grant were much better off because we weren't very good at the contract side yet. So you know I think there are growing pains with these things. Um, but I do uh think we've heard from a number of organizations and you have as well that probably ought to be moving back towards the contract or the type of services they offer should be contracted. Whether they should win them or not should be a competitive uh question. And so I I think I would um just invite the manager as well as the board, but really to look at that this year of like where did all the where did all the flowers go? where did all of our nonprofits go and which are um which are funded, which are services that we really need um and need to make sure I would move those into the departments or the constitutionals or wherever they be they belong and you know uh consider that in the budget next year. I do think that the premise and the the the idea of the program was kind of neat. Um and I think it's actually achieved some of its goals, right? So I think it was really in a time when we internally and externally wanted to think more about equity and to understand each other better and have conversations with different folks than we were having them with previously. And I think on that score it actually has worked really well, you know, to bring community members together, bring staff members together to see different parts of the community. And so I I hope we'll find some way to kind of keep that going. Um, but I think of CDBG and the food miniig grants as two examples where we have

similar community-led or staffled processes that enable things to bubble up, but I think that the charters are a little bit more specific there of what we're looking for. And so that may be something to consider going forward. Um, and then I think the last thing I would say is, if I remember correctly, part of the idea was also to build the capacity of nonprofits in the space so that if you're a brand new nonprofit, you got a little bit of an assist learning how to write a grant and then you could move on from there. And I I think that's been successful as well as well. But I think as we reevaluate the program this year, we should think about each of those deliverables and whether they need to all be in the same thing or we can send some of them into other other programs. And I think I'd be interested to know if you know off the top of your head, but otherwise we can uh follow up later, but how many of the applicants are recurring across two years or 3 years roughly percentage? Because I think if you think about wanting to kind of attract new ideas and and um have things bubble up from the grassroots, we might want to bound that at some point in the future.

I'm not sure. I'll have to Yeah, it's late. You can just we can talk about it all year. All right, I'm done.

Thank you, Miss Cunningham. Um, for my part, um, I appreciate all colleagues comments. It's generally my view that the history of local governments is that we didn't do anything for equity or opportunity. We did streets and sewer in 1960 and not anything else. And we should do stuff for equity and opportunity. I'd be interested as part of the follow-up that we need to do to understand uh whether we do more net than we did before these grants come. And I'd be I'm guessing that we did we we are but that's an open question because I don't know that for sure.

Um and if you know that's fine. I agree with the points on contracts for services. There are things that this government doesn't do that we should partner with organizations that do. We will never have we'll never do legal aid and we should partner and we will never do health equity and we should partner and have contracts. We will never do what AFAC does. We have contract for A if and we're working on the other pieces. I think that's a valid thing. I would acknowledge that the the the method of change here is different. This year we capped at 100 or close there too and 50 and that was a decision that is a distance from I think the genesis of this idea. Miss Crystal really wanted us to take bigger strategic efforts. So that's acknowledged. But we're not perfect. Um I am super grateful for colleagues and for staff. This is not easy. If you think at the local and and at the state and national level of discussions about resources to CDBG, I used to lobby for it. getting CDBG in lots of localities is a big old discussion in big cities across America. And so I'm just grateful for that. I hope those notes are okay. It's late and colleagues have been very kind. I hope I have not trespassed with adding a couple of things with that. Mr. Spain,

I just wanted to add one one last thought, Mr. Chair, and I think we I'm getting this sense from the board and I really appreciate it to Miss Susan Cunningham's point. the quicker the earlier we can kind of figure out what right looks like whether that's contractual and weaving some of these opportunities with nonprofits into the whole our government um that may be a way to go cuz you know for sustainability purposes this is nonsustainable the way we're going in my opinion you know we think about 69 proposals 31 awarded 38 did not receive anything. And so the question becomes now with those 38, what are they going to do? Are they going to fold up, shop, and go home, or are they critically important to our community? And if so, how do we evaluate that? Because I would argue that some of those 38, rightfully so, probably earn or should have a space within some of the grassroot stuff you're talking about, Mr. Chair. And we got to figure that out. And I also want to be cautious of us, you know, how we signal going into next year and be very mindful of the moment we're in right now to ensure these nonprofits we don't set high expectations or set realistic expectations at least on what's available. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Spain. I think it's well said and I think it's shared. Uh I think that that covers is there unless there are any additional comments. Um the question is on the motion made by Mr. Spain, seconded by Mr. Karen Tonus. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed say no. Okay. The motion passes 5-0. We will now turn next to our next item. Mr. Kushner, if you could call this item, please.

Certainly. Item number 34 is the resolution to initiate consideration of the adoption of an ordinance that would establish a historical district overlay zoning of the Nelly Custous Elementary School property, also known as Melwood, located at 750 23rd Street South by designated, excuse me, by designating it a local historic district, pursuant to article 11.3 of the Arlington County zoning ordinance. Thank you, Mr. Clerk. It's over to Mr. Schwarz for the staff presentation. Yeah, thank you. We have Michael Durk who is online. She has a very short verbal presentation. Miss Dur. Thank you. Uh can everybody hear me? Okay. Yep, we can.

Wonderful. So, um good evening everybody. U my name is Michael Durac and I'm the principal planner for the Arlington County Historic Preservation Program or otherwise known as HPP. Uh before the board this evening is a resolution to initiate consideration of the adoption of an ordinance that would establish historic district overlay zoning at the Nelly Custous Elementary School property, also known as Melwood, located at 750 23rd Street South by designating it a local historic district or LHD pursuant to article 11.3 of the Arlington County zoning ordinance. In April 2024, HPP staff received a nomination from a community member to designate the Nelly Custous Elementary School as an LHD. The property owner um does not support the nomination. Um property owner consent is not required for LHD designation. In June 2024, the Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board or HARB directed staff to study the property after determining it might meet two of the 11 historic designation criteria outlined in the zoning ordinance. Following further evaluation and against HPPP staff's recommendation, the HARB concluded at the March 18th, 2026 public hearing that the property met two required designation criteria enumerated in section 11.3.4.8.6 of the zoning ordinance as necessary to receive a local historic district recommendation. Should the county board adopt the initiating resolution this evening? Um staff will bring the HAB's recommendation forward to the county board. At this time, we anticipate bringing forward a request to advertise or RTA for the designation in May 2026 and the final consideration of the

adoption of the historic district zoning overlay for the Nelly Custous Elementary School in June 2026. Concerning engagement, um, HBP staff conducted all required outreach procedures as outlined in section 11.3.4 of the zoning ordinance for potential LHD designations as specified in the staff report for this item. Um, community community feedback was not solicited for the specific action before the board this evening because the proposed adoption of the initiating resolution is a procedural requirement to comply with the code of Virginia. there is no fiscal impact with this action. Uh and that concludes my staff presentation. Thank you very much for your time.

Thank you for the crisp staff presentation, Miss Durk. Really appreciate it. The I believe um there are two next steps. Is there an applicant presentation? Uh or no. I don't believe so now. Okay. I didn't think so. I just trying to trying to see and and get a sense. It's not in my handy script that tells me everything I must do in life. Um, so the question now is there uh public comment on this item. We do have two public comment speakers. A moment please. Beginning with Sorry about that. Uh, our first speaker, Mr. Andrew Painter, followed by Mr. Bernard Burn. Mr. Painter.

Well, good evening, Mr. Chairman and members of the board. My name is Andrew Painter. Microphone may be off. There you go. There we go. Yeah. And you could you could lift up the podium if you wish. On the right below over there on the on your right, but go ahead.

I appreciate it. Um, again, for the record, my name is Andrew Painter with Walsh Kawuchi. I'm speaking on behalf of Melwood and Wesley Housing, uh, two mission aligned partners who who are excited to be moving forward with the project that this board uh, just approved uh, last February to provide muchneeded affordable housing for Arlington County residents with focus on individuals with disabilities. Uh for the record, as staff mentioned, the property owner, Melwood, did not consent to the filing of the local historic district nomination and does not support it continuing to move forward. Uh we believe it's inappropriate uh as it would restrict its rights as a private property owner to modernize and utilize its facility in furtherance of its mission. And fundamentally stepping back, we feel that a local historic district, like all zoning ordinance changes affecting someone else's property, really should not be imposed without having the underlying property owner's consent. Uh while the property was listed as a contributing resource to the Aurora Highlands National Register District in 2008 along 620 along with 623 other contributing buildings. It was not subsequently identified for preservation at all in the 2011 hri a process of adoption itself which involved a lot of community involvement. And I do think it's worth noting that uh your professional historic preservation program staff did not recommend support of the local historic designation at last month's HRLB meeting, finding that the building no longer retained sufficient architectural integrity related to its period of historic significance. We obviously concur with that. Um, your approval of the Melwood project last year followed a lengthy and comprehensive public review process that spanned nearly 5 years. And throughout the entirety of those proceedings, Melwood and Wesley diligently followed every step of the county's framework, be it SPRC meetings, numerous community meetings. We have consistently incorporated feedback and constructive criticism along the way. Um, this process also included its own special GLUP amendment with a series of guiding principles to to specifically deal with

this site and the approved 4.1 responded to those county goals and we have worked collaboratively and in good faith ever since to realize them. Uh, in conclusion, Mr. Chairman, I would just say that, you know, continuing to advance the historic landmark process at this stage, more than a year after the 4.1 was approved, introduces uncertainty into an otherwise well-vetted and approved project. It also contributes to increased costs at a time when there are very real pressing needs for housing in this community and needs that this project is intended to help address. And as such, based purely upon the land use merits of uh of the application and established county policy, we respectfully request that the board not advance uh the uh proposed nomination any further. Thank you very much for your time.

Thank you, Mr. Painter. Next speaker virtually is Mr. Bernie Burn. Are you there, Mr. Burn? Correct. Yes. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Go ahead.

Yes. This is about spelling. The proposed name for this local historic district is Nelly, spelled L ne L Y Cus Elementary School. However, it appears that the name is incorrect. The first word in the name should be spelled N L I E, not N L Y. Figure 29 in 1936 Sanford fire insurance map which depicts the Aurora Highland neighborhood contains a rec red rectangle that identifies a building as the Nelly spelled N L I E Custous Public School. My written comment contains links to this and other documents that I I'm re referencing here. A 1999 Arlington Historical Magazine article entitled Arlington School Closing 1970 through 1984 and the aftermath, which the Arlington Historical Society published, states on page 29, Nelly, spelled N L I E, Kuster School, was closed several years after it renovated in 1975. The Arlington Historical Society's current web page on the Y School states, "As the neighborhood grew, the local population exceeded the school's capacity. Nelly's spelled N L I E Custous Elementary School was built a few blocks away in 1982 and held almost 300 students. I therefore suggest you ask the county manager to provide you with with one or more documents that all public schools has published that show the organization's name for the school. You should then use that name if you approve a local historic district. There's no point in using the wrong name because that goes down in history. I also suggest that you change the advertisement to enable it to spell the

appropriate local historic district's name as both Nelly Ny and Nelly N lie E. This will permit you to use a correct spelling if you approve the designation. Otherwise, you may not be able to approve the correct spelling. Uh so, thank you. It's a very spelling problem. I've been familiar with this for years. I said something I wrote a letter to HLB about it. But actually when they made the motion they said that they simply said orally they propose that the property known as an LA custo. So we need that spelling and we need the advertisement so we cover all bases and we need the county manager to to provide you with the public schools um name actual reg name for it. Thank you.

Thank you Mr. Burn. I believe that is that all of our speak public speakers. There are phone excuse me no further speakers. Thank you. I speak. Thank you Mr. Burn. The conversations now with the board and uh so colleagues um the staff report on this is brief given that we pass a budget. Uh it may be that in addition to me, others have not read every word of the staff report, but there is included in the staff report some process discussions of the rationale for this. Um and uh as I understand it, Mr. Attorney, this is a requirement that is in part driven by a circuit court decision uh for what we must do process-wise to initiate such a study. Is that correct?

That's correct. Okay, that's one thought. A second thought, Mr. Painter, you made some arguments that I uh have had not wrestled with entirely um before and I think it's they're fair arguments. Uh I'll open the floor to questions. Uh and I see Miss Cunningham your uh light. I would just um clarify. I think this is an initiating resolution which means it's the first of three times we will talk about this. So, I would I would offer we should initiate and then we should request to advertise and then we should talk.

Thank you, Miss Cunningham. I mean, from a process standpoint, I've not been one who always I feel like there has to be full and fair process, but um multiple repeated process on the same issue is not always my first instinct. I always want to comply with the law. But I guess I would say that at this this is in this sense I am uh I think it's necessary and appropriate to take this step. So I'll turn to see if colleagues have additional uh comments and I think we would get motion on the floor. But Mr. Spain, go ahead. Yes. Um Mr. Chair, would you entertain a motion? I would. Go ahead.

Yes. So, I move that the county board adopt the initiating resolution attachment I of the staff report to consider adoption of an ordinance that would establish an historic district overlay zoning of Nelly Custous Elementary School elementary school property, also known as Melwood, located at 750 23rd Street South by designating it as a local historic district pursuant to the Arlington County zoning ordinance. Thank you. Is there a second? One one. It should just be attachment one. Sorry, it's just Excuse me. Attachment one. Yeah, that's I've done that multiple times. So,

so let the record reflect that I move that the county board adopt the initiating resolution attachment one of the staff report. Second. Got it. Moved and seconded by Miss Cunningham. Are there questions? I'm not totally discouraging if there are or comments for clarification, but first to Mr. Spain to speak to his

I'll make it brief. Uh, as as much as I I appreciate the the testimony and the conversations that have been going on, um, I am one that also, you know, pursuant to the the ruling of our local circuit court, I want to stay within the the the framing of the law in this one. And as board member Cunningham stated, we are, this is not our last rodeo show and talking about this issue. So, this gets it started. And in that vein, I am fully supportive in initiating this u resolution. Thank you, Mr. Spain. Any other questions or comments? Go ahead.

Just briefly, uh, the issue with the correct spelling of the name Nelly is probably not relevant, right? Not for this vote. No. No. Okay. Good. Thank you, Mr. Karen Tonis. I I don't want to be at odds with a larger family of George Washingtons. Thank you very much. Uh, are there other comments or questions or folks lights on because they're ready for a vote? I think go ahead miss vice chair.

Yeah I I would just uh note for Mr. Painter that um you know I think a lot of what you've shared is is certainly interesting and of of good discussion. Uh I just think that at this stage we will we will have that next month. So we appreciate you being here. Um but I view this as a odd procedural hurdle. So, thank you, Vice Chair. Vice Chair Coffee, you ready for a vote? Miss Cunningham, or do you have questions? Ready for a vote, colleagues? All those in favor say I. I. I.

That passes 5-0. I do think that there's a couple of questions that I want to follow up with the county attorney with respect to the RTA followed by the third process. Um, but uh that is for another day. Thank you, Mr. Painter, uh, and Mr. Burn for coming in and Miss Hogan as well for being here in part on this. I think. Are there any other items to come before the board? There are no other items.

You had me for a second. You had me quite worried. Colleagues, I'm mindful that we don't have Thank you very much, Mr. Pers. I'm mindful that not all things are perfect and easy, but we do have a budget and we have worked very hard on that. So, I think each of us, let's ask for a moment of grace with each other and a moment of thanks with each other in addition to our staff. And I would hope that none of us will show up hoping for a work session next Tuesday. With that, colleagues, I will say I believe there are no reasons why we shouldn't be adjourned and therefore we are.