Town Council - Regular Meeting

Welcome everyone. Today is Thursday, December the 4th, 2025 at 6:00 p.m. and we will now open the town council meeting for Bowling Green, Virginia. Would everyone please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance? I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Now take the roll call. Miss Davis here. Mr. Voy, I am here. Mr. Webb will be absent today. He called. Dr. Chenalt here. Vice Mayor Coyle here. Councilman Stor here. Councilman Hagaman here. We have six council persons present and one absent. We have a quorum. First um item on the agenda is uh the consent agenda. the minutes for last month's meeting. Are there any corrections or additions to the U minutes for November?

I make a motion we approve the minutes from November. Now second.

I have a motion. I have a second. Is there any discussion? All in favor, please raise your right hand. Motion passes unanimously. We will now move on to public comment. As I say every month, if you um choose to speak, please come to the podium, state your name and your address, at which time you have three minutes to speak. You will address me, the mayor. And please know that the council cannot respond to your questions or your comments, but that we are listening and we are taking notes. So I will now open public comment. Would anyone like to speak?

If anybody want to go first, I'm okay. Hello, I'm Mike Bagat uh relaxing at property owner. I thank you all council member, may vice mayor, mayor and all town of bowling green staff for serving town. my uh present today here for the tax bill which is this is the tax bill I have received which is called uh in normally annually I get three bills from town special district tax, real estate tax and personal property. This year I have so far received these two which is special district tax. personal property I got message it will be late and I'm okay question is am I going to get real estate tax or not tomorrow is the deadline now uh that's the first second on the special district tax it has gone up 144% for me on my property I would like to kindly ask reason I have emailed all all councilmen and keep loop so that way I won't have to repeat all questions. Also town manager I'm also in touch. She's very nice and I really appreciate that she's serving and she's clearing up lots of other detail and I thank her for providing quick service. Uh this is the what I like to give you guys. The audience for special district was

created in 2011 by our mayor David Stroke. And here's the copy. Yes, Mr. Ashcraft. Thank you. And if I may, if you guys may allow I may need more than three minutes, please. Um, our rules call for three minutes. Uh, I appreciate if you do. If you're not, you know. Uh, so my first thing is this, uh, special district tax. Thank you.

Supposed to be constant, not uh, variable. Second is town supposed to pay 27 26% of this uh tax and uh I mean uh special district supposed to pay 26 74% by town. Now this is other thing is this special district tax collected by town is only used for the special district tax purpose not nothing else. So Mike uh question to you that in uh 20 uh 23 audit I looked at and I asked town manager question how much fund was collected for 29 I mean uh 2023 audit she replied 29,000 something don't quote me on you know exact figure the thing I second thing I asked where is that fund held it says general use fund. These funds only allow you that's what that district uh tax audience in 2011 sign it says it's supposed to go for only that reason after then it uh if you have 20 years bound my question to you as a council why would tax go up if it's 20 years it's a fixed term and after you refinance then principle you financing at lower cost. So it should be lower than you know whatever originally intended. So it should not go up. My other the answer I have received is that property value go up. If property value

goes up, tax rate should go down. As like Caroline County, property value go went up but tax rate went down from 72 to 53 or 52%. So, uh there is lot more discussion I need if somebody if you want to uh create special uh audit on it, I'm willing to help myself also. I like uh council to dissolve this thing. This is not appropriate for only 301 uh district corridor paying this tax and which will benefit town in future when they you know when there is any activity or development it will hold ground will prosper and only right now certain owner or property owner is paying. So I also like to request that uh you give me list of all property owner who's paying tax how much are they paying and what is a contribution equal to that thing and again this is special district tax council has right to dissolve this and that's what it says on last page.

Yes sir. Thank you for speaking. Thank you. And one more thing, what should I do with my real estate bill? If if you guys do not tell me, I don't have it and I will not pay. But I would I would not like to pay any penalty on it. Thank you. Do we have anyone else that wishes to speak at this time? Never mind. Jeff Enry Giles Bowling Green Meadows. Okay. Huh? Is it on?

You can't. Yeah, but it's in my face. Uh, I told my husband I wasn't going to speak, but I lied. Um, I because What's your address, please? Pardon? Address. your address. Thank you. Um Oh, mayor. Yes, ma'am.

And town council. Um I want it on the record because I'll be back in January saying the same thing, I'm sure. But uh I I would like the town council, the town manager, and anybody else involved to stop kicking the can down the road. I am tired of hearing that the problems that we have with the uh trees and bushes in the way so that we don't have to get out into traffic to see if there's traffic is a VOTE problem. If it is a VOTE problem, then there has to be somebody in this town that should be calling VOTE and saying, "We have a a a few problems." Now, a bus driver called on one of the problems because he said a lot of times if a bus driver calls and there's a problem, it'll be taken care of. If that's true, that's a sin. But this is my third time up here to address this problem. And I know I'll be back in January to address it again. And I hope at some point it's the last time that I'll be here because the problem will be solved. That's it.

Thank you, M. That's it for now. There was more, but next month. We look forward to hearing from you then. You too. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Giles. Thank you. Would anyone else like to speak at this time? Well, get my chief done. Hello, Miss Craropper.

Pat Cropper, 251 North Main Street. Mayor, council members, I hope y'all had a good Thanksgiving, the water. Oh my gosh, this poor town. The water is awful. But I'm I'm gonna tell you the water bill that I got this time. Supposedly, it was to go out the second week in November. I went back and looked at the minutes and that's what it stated. I didn't get mine until the 24th of November. Of course, y'all were not open on the or the next day, and you were only open till noon, I believe, on the 26th. So, I came and paid the water bill. I had to get a magnifying glass to look at the print on the water bill. The credibility when I got it in the mail was, "This has got to be a joke." There was no envelope with the bill. The font and the print was so small, a magnifying glass, you had to use it to read it myself. Um, I was concerned when I saw that the cut off date was December the 15th. If you go from November the 24th or 25th or 26th till December the 15th, that doesn't give people a whole lot of time to pay their water bill. I'm concerned about that. Why are we outsourcing the mailing? What is it costing for the mailing? I would like those numbers because I cannot find it in the financial

uh packet that we get. Um I would also like to have the uh bottom line on the harvest festival. I cannot find where we made $4,000, $5,000, or we went in the hole, $3,000, or $5,000. Um, if you point me to the right place in the budget, I'll look that up. I've looked at it and I can't find where the salaries come out of this amount. Uh, what does it cost for the porter pot? All of the I'm looking for a breakdown. But that's my history of doing financial services for over 30ome years. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Craropper. Would anyone else like to speak at this time? Going once, twice. We'll now close public comment. We will move on to member comments. Miss Davis, I do not have any. Mr. Voit,

couple I'll try to be quick. Okay. So, uh first of all, thanks to to those of you that that did speak. I'm glad you spoke there. Um now, as far as uh what you passed out, Mr. Beat, I will, you know, take a look at it. Thanks for the homework. I'll probably try to follow up with you a little later about it. Um you don't want to speak out of turn right now regarding that. Um, I guess I I was asked by by two constituents to basically corroborate one other thing that we just heard. I I was getting some complaints about the water bill legibility about it being small and I I did get a um there should be a return envelope in there. Uh so passing that along. Um, going from there, um, you know, just want to announce again, we got the parade next week, not this Saturday, but next Saturday, 5:30. Get there early if you want to have a good spot. Uh, it's back to an evening parade again. Um, and should be pretty fun. Um, planning commission hat. Uh, couple things there. Uh we we do have later on in the meeting and I might have some things to say or you all might have some questions that I can can bounce back about about that uh food truck ordinance we can discuss. Um and in addition to that uh there is no planning commission meeting this month. Uh that one was canceled. So that'll reconvene in January. And I want to put in your head that um we did extend my term till the end of this year. So, we're going to have to have that discussion again in January as far as council representative on there for liaison. And that should be all I have. Thanks.

Thank you, Dr. Chanel.

Yeah, I have a comment starts with a question to the council. Uh, anybody that give give me this information. The empty lot uh down at the 301 207 over at over overpass, is that within town limits? It is. That's what I understand. I brought a citizen brought this up to me that it has become a tractor trailer parking lot. Uh and in fact uh there is a uh truck parked there. The the tractor part which has obviously been wrecked because the right uh fender and bumper are all messed up and has been there quite a while. There's also another car there. I believe it's an SUV that is being worked on over several days. Um, my question is, were the owners or operators of these vehicles given permission by the town to park there? Dr. Chanel, very good point. Um, so years ago in a previous life on council, um, that was brought up and and VOTE, who owns that land, um, it is within the town limits and it's a horrible looking entrance to our town. It it is indeed

because it looks like a junkyard. Uh VOTE uh we need uh I'd like to ask the mayor to direct staff to have VOTE at our next council meeting because they they took it up if we ask them to last time years ago and it's not supposed to be a parking lot for tractor trailers. You know, at the very minimum it it needs to be like a staging place for VOTE trucks or something, but it's not to look like a graveyard, right? and um they know that they just don't enforce it because we don't cry loud enough. So, I'd like to we need to we need to raise that to their attention. Yeah. Because, you know, if you're entering our town from the south, what a crappy entrance.

We we've improved the entrance, the the signs and all, you know, at the other end at Route Two, but somebody coming from that side, it's pretty bad introduction. Thank you, Dr. Chanel. Vice Mayor Coyle. Nothing. Councilman St. Well, I typically have nothing, but I do have something. Okay, go for it.

So, I just uh I feel a sense of responsibility to talk uh since my signature is on this 2011 um ordinance and I appreciate Mike Baguette coming tonight. Uh this was brought to my attention uh a week and a half ago. Um we we have a problem. We have a problem. And and this this new instance brings to the forefront of what a mess has occurred in the last fill in the blank, eight years, six years, whatever. Y

uh and I I first I want to say no one on our current staff save maybe two people at public works or in the maintenance department, Sean and Justin, no one on our staff was here correct

before. So not pointing fingers and our people that are here now are great people and they're trying to run a town and deal with a bunch of old problems. This is an old problem. I I did not know I I you know I did not know that some years ago. So when I got off council in 2016 till three years ago when I got back on council, evidently there was a refinancing of three loans that lumped the loan for the special tax district for the water and sewer out there in with two other notes. One of the reasons I ran and got back on council was because I was hearing from citizens on the 301 quarter, David, we haven't gotten a tax bill out here for the special tax district in a couple years. Really? We haven't been billing you. We've got a problem and we we've been digging oursel out of the problem for a couple years now, but we it just keep things keep popping up. I I want to I've talked to our town manager and uh she is willing u but we need to we need to get together with uh and I and since I've known about this problem um there is no reason anybody that understands the special tax district. The special tax district was created to finance a water and sewer program out there on the 301 corridor. And we did it in 2008, but it, you know, it took till 2011 to create that special tax district. And it was to repay a loan to put that infrastructure in.

It wasn't a um it wasn't a new tax forever. It wasn't a new tax that had a rate tied to per 100. It was a It was, for lack of a better words, it was a loan. I bought a house and I financed it for 20 years and my mortgage is the same price every year. Right. So, when my assessment goes up on my house on Mari Avenue, your mortgage my mortgage does not go up. Correct. It stays the same. So, our staff is juggling 15 balls in the air and now we've got 16.

And I I propose that we create a a committee. And I want to I and I I'll be glad to help with it. I want to get some of our original property owners that were out there on that district because if if any of you talk to any of those people out there, their bills have doubled this year. and we're going off incorrect information. We're going off information that we don't even have, right? So, I mean, our staff doesn't even have a file cabinet we can pull out and look in 2011 for the special tax district.

Uh, Mr. Beagette, he didn't preface his talk by saying he owns the two motel out on the 301 corridor. that gentleman was one of the leaders of the group, the proponents of the group to take on this burden and do this. And u he's been a willing partner and a good partner and we need to jump on this right away. um if if not at the next meeting, maybe at the um at our planning retreat, we need to we need to take this on because we've got a tax consequence we've thrown on people that may not be correct. U so I want to thank Mike for bringing this to our attention. Uh I've spoken since I've learned about I've spoken to several other property owners out there. Maybe you all have too. And it's the same issue across the board. So I I want to I want to uh just want to touch on that and ask us to take that up. Um Miss Giles, where are the trees you're talking about? Because I feel I feel bad if y'all getting up speaking, nobody ever responds to you. Where are the trees pulling out that you're talking about?

I was hoping you would ask all over the place. No. Um I had said at one of the meetings, I I don't remember names. Um, one of them is uh Milford and Martin. You you you coming down Martin, you have to get out into traffic. You you have to get on Milford to see uh the other one that's name I can never remember. Um where Kim Day's house is that street Virginia Avenue and it comes to a T. You know what I'm talking about? Yes. Okay. I know. We have to get Wayne and I pulled out one day and I said, "Back up." There was a car coming and they don't go 25.

Mhm. They don't go 25 at all. Well, so those are two the the the one that the bus driver called on was the one on Chase Street. We have to pull out of um Meadow and uh to see. But I didn't mention that because uh he had called on that one. Well, maybe I mean it would be nice because I remember years ago on council I I appreciated when people called in and said, "Hey, my street light is out." Because we, you know, we don't we don't all I I would appreciate a list of your list to give to staff and then and then you have to realize some of it's on VOTE right away. Some of it's people's trees that we can't just go

being told it's VOTE. It's VOTE. Why isn't anybody calling VOTE and saying we have some dangerous places? Well, maybe maybe we need to. So, if you if you would help us with a list, I think that'd be great. And then, uh, Miss Craropper, I'll just say, um, on the on the water, um, I hear you. I mean, I got these readers now. I can't I can't see. I can't my font on my phone. My boys make fun of me. Uh, so I get that. Uh, the envelope not being in there, that's ridiculous. Um, the water is awful. I don't I filter my water at my house because I don't I don't like the taste of chlorine. Now, but a municipality has to put healthy levels of chlorine in there to be safe, right? Um I I do take offense at some people, not not you, but people run down our water here in town because of the gross alpha. Well, if you go right across the town line into the county, the wells are pulling out of the same water. They're drinking gross alpha just like we're drinking gross alpha and you know I remember from years ago the gross alpha the limits there I mean no no amount of radioactivity is good but I mean you you get way more in a dental x-ray so the water is horrible. I don't like the taste of it with chlorine but I don't think it's anything that's u that's harmful. I drink you know I bathe in that gross alpha and I I hope it doesn't hurt me at all. Uh, bottom line on the harvest festival, and I hope you don't mind. I'm just I I I feel so bad when y'all get up and talk and nobody responds to you. Bottom line on the harvest festival, we have a budget every year for the harvest festival. As far as how it shook out, um, the harvest festival is not designed to make money. Hopefully, we don't lose a lot of money, but it's designed to bring people to town. Um, I would ask the mayor if we could look into getting an action a afteraction review. We were supposed to

have a report tonight, but our town manager is ill, so that is why we don't have a report tonight. Awesome. So, maybe we can follow up with that later. So, that's all I have. Oh, I'm sorry. I thought she was Well, David, I talked to Jeffrey about the water bill because Wayne went into shock when we got it. He said we got another tax bill because we had just finished paying just I mean, we got back that day and it didn't even say on it water bill. We didn't even know what it was until I looked at it after I calmed him down. It It needed It needs a lot of change. It needs help. Yes, it needs help. Mr. Stor, is there anything else? That's enough. Okay, Mr. Hegman.

Yeah, I'm I'm just going to jump in. Um just a little. So, I I do know and I thank you so much, Mr. Pagot, for coming. Um, and I do know the town manager spoke at extensive length with you and your son. My challenge is this. Before we, with all due respect, jump to committees and everybody runs around talking to each other. We really need to speak with our town manager to see what discussion she has had. When we do not do that, we tend to undermine what has been accomplished. I know items have been resolved with Mr. McGot, but if we're constantly running out and saying, "We're going to take care of it. We're going to take care of it." We have no idea of what's happened. The reason we have a town manager is so we are not undermining those decisions or the information that she has come up with. Absolutely. There's not much to glean from this piece of paper and there have been challenges but that goes way back even before the last six years. This goes back before the last two town managers. So, I I think before we decide to start doing everything with that, we need to have a discussion with our town manager to see what other information and facts she has before we disseminate to our residents because then we're just giving them the wrong information.

Well, I'm I'm not talking about disseminating anything, but there's there's a term called institutional knowledge. Correct. And this town has no institutional knowledge right now from the past. And this is a perfect example. So I've talked to the town manager and I you did

I've I've talked to her about we need to dig into this and she's in agreement and there's been nothing done inappropriate or usurping the chain of of command or or protocol. So, I'm just here to tell you I was here. Miss Davis was here and Dan Webb is here who's not here tonight. I was here when this was created. So, if I if you want to know something about what happened in the past, I mean, typically you go back and you ask the people that were here, hey, what was the intent? What has happened? because we've got a problem and it's it it's got it's got to be found. We got to find out what the problem is if we're going to correct it. Um I don't know anybody that would agree that a a doubled tax bill that should have been constant over the years is okay and it's it's worth investigating. It's worth putting together a committee or whatever to assist our town manager.

I agree with you. All I'm saying is before we all run out and say I'll take care of the problem for you because we can't I can't run to Mr. Beott and say I'm going to take care of the problem for you. I'll read this and get back to you because

well who told you that someone told Mr. Beat I'm gonna take care of the problem for you? Several people have said that. We have seen an email he sent and several people have said that. With all due respect, Mr. Voit just said, "I'll read this and get back to you." So, all I'm saying is that's great, but how do we get back to him if we don't have the fact? Once we have the facts, fine, we can speak with him. That's all I'm saying is get the understanding of whatever institutional knowledge we should have before we discuss this. Well, how does that differ than what I just said about we need to put a committee together?

All I'm saying is before we even run into doing a committee, we need as a council to discuss it with our town manager to see what If the word committee worries you, I'll take that back. But what It needs to be looked into. Absolutely. And and Okay. Is that No, sir. Not at this time. Mr. Hegman.

M. Toiver. Is there anything due for the town tomorrow as far as taxes? Any taxes due to the town tomorrow? The personal property? All right, Mike, what was the tax that you were thinking about was due tomorrow? Because the only thing I know that would be would be the county is there. Every year I do get real estate special of district. This is only for district for that's the town of Bowling Green. All right. Okay. I do not get so if anybody can print now, I can bring check tomorrow. I don't have it. Okay.

I stopped by at town office two times and asked and they don't have bill.

Okay. Um also, Mr. Craropper on the water. I've been here since 1990 and I drink the water every day and I'm still here. I love the water. To me, the water tastes good. I make my ST with it. I cook with it. I do everything with it. I haven't had no problem with it. Um, as far as other billing and the billing outsourcing that we do right now, our staff is so overwhelmed with everything that's got to be taken care of that wasn't taken care of in the last previous eight years with other managers in the town. So, we're trying to catch up with audits. That's one reason why we're closed a couple days of the week. You got to bear with us until we get these audits done because the state's coming down on us to get it done. So, that's top priority right now. Um, as far as the envelope not being in there, I'm not too sure, but I haven't even got my water bill yet. So, I have no idea. I mean, I checked the mail today. The water bill still wasn't there. My son lives over on um Dorsy Lane. He called me the other night. He goes, "Dad, I'm doing the bills. I ain't got my water bill yet." So, there's some water bills that haven't been gone out. Um personal property taxes, like for my vehicle, we had problems with it. Yeah. A couple years ago, it was coded for Caroline County. It wasn't coded for Bowling Green. And that was I was told by the um tax people over um in the county that they got it coded Bowling Green, but I still haven't got a personal property tax for my vehicle from the town of Bowling Green yet. I got it from the county and I've paid that, but I still don't have nothing from the town. I don't know if it's I don't know if my mail is not coming or what it is because I don't have a water bill. I don't have the personal property tax on my own personal car. But um just I mean we're having trouble with some of the building things. Just bear with us. We're trying to work through it and also work through other things that were left far more important that we need to get taken care of. But thank you. Thanks all for coming.

Um we had as your council voted to extend the deadline for um the personal property taxes. We voted on that I believe last month. So we knew that that was going to go out late. I also have not received a water bill. So, um I understand. Um I'm gonna try to end this on a lighter note. This uh past Saturday was the tree lighting ceremony in Bowling Green. Looks beautiful.

I want people to know that the town does not pay for that. that is provided to this town at the generosity of businesses and of private citizens in this community. Businesses don't a business donates the location. Several businesses pay for the tree and get the equipment there for the citizens to that volunteer their time to decorate it. Um, I bring this up because there were complaints on Facebook and I was thinking this is ridiculous. This is a free gift given to this community. And for someone to complain about a beautiful, precious gift that was given to us that makes our town so much nicer during the holiday season. Quite honestly, it's offensive to me. And I would like to thank the businesses and all of the citizens that were responsible for putting up our town Christmas tree. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. We will now move on to item number two. Caroline Reeds, County Literacy Program. Mr. Michael Mud is going to um speak to us tonight, assistant superintendent of instruction. Welcome, Mr. Mud.

Good evening. Thank you for having me. I do have some materials that I was going to pass out that may be helpful. Mr. Ashcraft, could you get that for me, please?

There. It's a little wonky, but each person can get one of those. Terrific. And I'll go ahead and get started while those materials come around your way. You're going to find um and and again, thank you um to the council and thank you, mayor, for having us this evening. I am Michael Mut. I'm the assistant superintendent for Caroline County Public Schools and I appreciate you allowing us to come and talk to you about Caroline Reeds, our literacy, our communitywide literacy campaign. In the packet, you're going to see at the very top this keychain. We started our school year this year by providing this keychain as a symbol to our staff that went along with our theme, unlocking the keys to success for the year. And in unlocking the keys to success, we analyzed um data and it determined our focus areas. Literacy jumped out as an area of focus for us um for our school system. This focus also coincide happens to coincide with um the final year of state grant funding referred to as all-in funding um that we've had thank you had available to us um for the past few years. And these funds, a big portion of the funds are used to support literacy. And we've done that in many different ways um in the school system, but we were able to also carve out a portion to help launch in this final year of funds a communitywide literacy campaign in focusing on lit literacy and wanting our students to be um strong readers and writers and productive citizens. Um we recognize that uh it t our teachers are working very hard um and other staff around the division um and that we wish to also engage our community our parents and and greater community members um in this effort and expanding our focus on literacy. Um so that's how we unlocked those keys to

success and got our way to our literacy campaign. This long sheet of paper you have here is um are the the ways that we are going to be engaging in our campaign that officially will kick off in 2026 um in January. It unofficially kicks off right before the parade next week which I'll talk about here in just a moment. Um but it will extend for the entire calendar year of 2026. Um and so I'll go ahead and and go through and I'm going to touch on specifically um some of the direct connections to Bowling Green. Um first the cruiser books. So, coming coming soon, the day of the parade, um we are going to have um our uh Caroline Cruiser, our retrofitted school bus that you may have seen um that shows up at events from time to time is going to be outfitted with books and um there is a flyer on the back of the packet there that talks a little bit more about the Caroline Cruiser program, but we're going to be um going out to four different locations that day pre- parade um and um encouraging parents and families to come out. But parents will have an opportunity to come up on the bus and and um select for their children some books that they can choose if they if they celebrate the holidays to give during the holidays. Um or um if they wish to give to their children in another way. Um but the the books that we will be offering are will span ages from zero to all the way up through high school. um but give parents an opportunity to um kick off uh the holiday se kick off the holidays and also our campaign by giving their children the gift of of books and so using um those funds to help us in that way. We'll have four stops. The Bowling Green stop will be here at the Walgreens. Um, we're going to have a stop in in Lady Smith, Port Royal, um,

one out in Dawn, and then we will be done in time for staff to then come and participate in the parade. So, we're very excited about that day, um, December 13th, and looking forward to that. So, that's our unofficial kickoff to the campaign um, in January. We will we are currently collecting data from if any of you receive our our mailers or emailers. Um we have a survey that's taking place right now and we're asking parents um if if uh you had an had an option for a specific genre. What type of book genre would you be interested in? Um, and what we're doing is we're gathering data to see what what types of books would our adults in the community like to read so that we can make this about more than just our um students, but also encouraging our our parents and anybody else in the community who'd like to participate. So, we're going to be hosting throughout the year um book clubs. We're, as I mentioned, we're gathering that data now, and these book clubs will be geared towards the adults um throughout the community. Um and we are looking at various um businesses and other locations where we'll be hosting these book clubs. Um and so once we've identified um what books we'll be offering and genres, we will be getting more information out with dates and times and and how you can get your book. Um so that'll be coming coming soon. Um the next item on the list here is our bookstore cafe as part of our accreditation um in public schools in Virginia. One of the things that we work on at the specific to the at the high school is um supporting student experiences through student internships and also what we call school-based enterprise. School-based enterprise is essentially how we can hold a business in our schools. Um teaching students the skills necessary um for how to run a business. Um and it's that is part of

our um career and technical education programming but open to all students. So, one of the things we're looking to do is to um is to uh create a bookstore that would operate out of our high school. Um and that that is part of a bigger vision um bigger um school uh enterprise vision where we will have a number of different businesses over time that are built um and again not built in as an addition to the school but integrated in the school. Um but this bookstore cafe um is one of the current concepts we're developing as part of this literacy campaign. We have pitched this to a number of different groups including our students. The high school students are super excited about this possibility um and all of our entrepreneur and um enterprise opportunities that are will be coming um their way now and into the future. Um the next item I'll spend a little bit more time on the Main Street kickoff. Uh I joined Dr. Calvaric earlier this week with the Main Street Business Association in this room where we talked about the literacy campaign um and did so in a way um to to garner interest to determine um how they may be interested in supporting. Um one of the things that we would like to do is have our true official kickoff which will be family and childfriendly take place in February. February 7th, I believe, is the date, which um happens to be uh ice cream for breakfast day. And we knew that Gibson's would be open. Uh so we wanted to coincide with something that we we knew might might be an an additional draw into town that day. Um but looking to um bring literacy activities um and um a focus on literacy right onto Main Street here in town. Um we had a lot of of great um thoughts and

ideas from the folks um that we met with earlier this week and I believe a 100% of the folks that were in the room wanted to be part of this experience. So with our grant funds we'll be able to provide the businesses with all the materials. Our only ask is that they would help host and be a landing spot for these activities to take place. We will help to c we will work with the um those participating um to create a map for families and we'll have a number of different ways of drawing our families into town um that day for a few hours for a focus on literacy and promoting the businesses here in town. We are working with a consultant who has done this type of work. She has done community literacy campaigns before. She is currently in the kind of the rural part of Virginia Beach. Pungo is where she is. Um and has done this type of work in that area. Um she is very familiar with uh these types of activities, the adult book clubs um and a number of different ways of engaging. She came to the harvest um festival earlier this um uh in October u really to just to get a feel for Caroline County and the town. She engaged with some of the um some of the folks that were um the businesses, talked to them a little bit about, you know, what draws folks to their businesses, and then she's used that to help design um some of the the ideas even further. Um she will be coming next week, and Dr. Calvaric and I will be taking her around. She'll be be meeting some of the folks who indicated they were interested to help start developing this idea even further. We will have uh student volunteers and um staff volunteers who will be part of that day. But it should be a really great positive high energy event um taking right taking place right here in town but designed to really promote and kick off this literacy campaign officially for our students and

families. Um ju right after that and right below on your sheet there you'll see a charity challenge that will that will then go right into an experience um in our schools where we will provide reading incentives to students. But instead of receiving and focusing on trinkets as an incentive for reading, there will be incentives um by meeting certain goals that will then promote um student choice and various donations to selected um charities in the community. Um again another brainchild of our consultant who has done this type of work in motivating students um to read um in a way by through service and by giving back to others. Um so we're really excited about that. We've not done that type of reading incentive before. So we're very excited to be um be hosting something like that in our schools. That'll take place in all of our schools and will also include um author visits that will then take us up to spring break. And after spring break, we're going to be promoting our summer reading, summer reading experiences. We're going to be working with our public libraries. Um, but looking to also open our schools and school libraries in the summer, hosting summer literacy activities, um, and engaging our students and families in that way. And finally, uh the last item on the list, um in August, as we come back to school, each level, elementary, middle, and high, will have a signature literacy project that they'll be working on. At elementary, we're going to be working to work to have students write and publish books. Um at middle school, we have a a um reading challenge, um a kind of a competition based challenge that we're working on. um and encouraging uh what we what um Mr. Just is calling one book all eagles and then at the high school um through ourmies uh we are working on a one one book one

academy um model that will culminate with um project-based learning that will align with the selected book for the academy and culminate with a field trip experience for the students. So, lots of different things that we're doing to promote literacy, to get our community involved in promoting the love of literacy and encouraging this for our students. And not on this list, but psych circling back next December, we will do the Caroline Cruiser book um bus again, one one more time as we round out our literacy campaign for 2026. So, I appreciate again your time. we because of the connection directly to Bowling Green, u we did reach out to see if you'd be interested in having me come tonight to talk to you more about it. Um again, business folks were very excited about this, particularly the Main Street event. Um but we're really excited for Caroline County um and and glad to be welcomed into the town and being part of it in that way. I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have.

Are are there any questions from council? I do have a question. We received or at least I received an email earlier this week um from the Dolly Parton program where they give a book a month to children. Yes. And they were asking do you work with such organizations like that? So I'm familiar with that from u my former role in another division where we did engage with the Dolly Parton literacy library and program. Um and we are moving forward and engaging in that in Caroline County. We don't currently, but that is something that we are looking into moving forward. Yes. Very good. Thank you. Thank you. Anything else, Mr. Mud? Thank you for being with us.

Again, thank you so much for the time tonight. We really appreciate it.

Moving on to item number three, we have the town manager report. Um, I'm sure that all of you have read it. Are there any questions from council at this time? Mr. Ashcraft would be more than happy to answer any questions for you. Madame Mayor and members of council, thank you for the opportunity. Uh if I could take you to page two of uh of of the uh report at the top in light of the discussion that's happened earlier in regarding uh certain properties and and bushes and and limbs and things. I wanted to just let you know that the town manager has uh directed staff to be looking at those kind of things. I don't think we have touched on the three addresses that that was reported this evening and we'll certainly look at those. But if you look to see there were six code enforcement letters that have been sent out and uh we haven't uh been in a confrontational mode with any property owner. It's uh more of ad of a notice and some of those matters have been taken care of and to be truthful with you the cold weather tends to take care of some of it as well. But um just to let you know that we're aware that this is a problem and we are in contact with VOTE. Um, so if there's something they don't move on, then we will let you know. But right now, every time we do make a call, they are aware of it. But the three that have been reported this evening might be more severe than uh that I'm aware of. So, we will continue that that communication. So, thank you for allowing me to to say that.

One of the things that um staff does not have preemptive enforcement powers.

That's correct. Um the town manager and I have spoken about that. Uh and the way things are set up right now before staff can act on any violation in town, it has to be reported to them. has to be reported to them in a proper fashion via an email or written letter to the town manager with the address clearly written where the violation is alleged to be taking place. They cannot staff cannot on their own just go out and say, "Oh, that grass is too tall. It's in violation because this council has not given staff those preemptive powers. It's one of the things I would like to speak at speak toward when we have our um retreat because this is in my opinion has been problematic and it has kept count has kept our staff from being able to just go out and do what they need to do.

Sure.

So hopefully that clears some things up. Yes, Mr. Haggman. Another one you need to look at, Percy, is when you're going down Anderson Avenue, like going to Food Lion, if you look right, that big sycamore tree, the branches are in the way. You got to pull out on Brris Avenue, kind of see what's coming from Walgreens area down. That's another problem area. Um, as far as what you were just talking about, Madame Mayor, um, there was a letter and it got posted on Facebook and it was for Cynthia Cynthia Fields. What was wrong with her property? I didn't see anything wrong with it. Somebody made a complaint about it, but why look at other properties in this town that are I mean, if they're going to complain about something on Main Street with Cynthia Fields and hers is well addressed, we need to do something with other properties in the town that are horrible and get complaints about all the time. Even some businesses in town are horrible. There are junkyards on the corner as you're coming into our town. that car dealership. I mean, it's trash. And we're worried about junk cars down on the South Main Street, but that place has got all kinds of trash there. They're they're still fixing their cars underneath the overhang. I don't think that's right. They shouldn't be repairing cars on that corner underneath an overhang that's not a closed garage. are washing the cars on the bris and main street side where all the old rags and the vacuum cleaners and everything is is just a junk hole. And it's it's I mean you're trying to beautify a town and some of the members here want didn't want their salary. They wanted to beautify town but then we have that stuff on both ends. So I don't know what what's getting done about it. Nothing. And I just I it's bad.

Our um town manager did speak with Mrs. Fields. I went to her home and and looked um her her Did you see anything wrong? I went up there to look that day and I didn't see a thing with her place. So confirmed and everything.

There was nothing wrong with her property. Um the town manager came and told her that she was completely in compliance. Um but again these are issues that we have to let staff take care of. We walk a fine line when we intervene. We have to be available to our citizens. That's why they elect us. They didn't elect the staff. Staff works for us. They work for you, this council. So the citizens do have a right to come and speak to us. That being said, we can't it is not in our best interest as a council to jump in and say, "Okay, we're going to fix this or we're going to do this." It is your place to listen, to take notes and let the citizens know that you will be in touch with the staff so that we can follow through with this in a correct fashion. This goes back to, I believe, some of what Vice Mayor Coyle was talking about in undermining our staff. At the same time, we are elected officials and we are not hiding from our citizens. I know I don't. They come to my home. They call my home. Miss Fields called my home.

Um, and I didn't have a problem with that. That's why I ran for this position. So, that being said, um, we can move on. Are there any other questions with the Missfield thing? Apparently, somebody had to place a formal complaint. Correct.

I think before we jump the gun and have staff write a letter to do it. Maybe somebody should staff should go by and take a look at it and see if there's really It could have been just an iate neighbor for some reason because she didn't like something that happened and she complained and it went all over Facebook. I just I don't think that's right. I mean, if we're going to send a letter, I think we should send somebody out there. I know we we're short on staff and doing things, but before we blast them with a letter about saying they're not in compliant, maybe somebody from town needs to look at it first and see before Well, no, we don't really need to send them a letter. There's something else going on. How it's done. Somebody reports you.

Yes. It has to be a formal complaint. have a formal complaint before anyone. No, it's a formal complaint by somebody in town, makes a formal complaint about your property, then the town sends a letter to tell them to fix it. And um but I think on Missfield, somebody should have looked at that and somebody should look at all of them before we send out a letter. I I agree. But we will discuss that at our retreat. Put that on your list of things to talk about. Are there any other questions to Mr. Ashcraft?

All right. Thank you, sir. We will move on to our utilities report. Mr. Sylvius, do you uh would you like to come speak to us at this time? Hi, Jamie. How is everybody tonight? Very well, thank you.

So, for the month of October, um everything was pretty quiet. Um I just want to go ahead and address the question from last time of the discrepancy in the data where the dip was in the graph. It it actually appeared here too. It's a discrepancy and we will make sure that error is not the the flow was actually steady. It was it should have be it should be a straight line. I went back through the data and I combed it. There's that should not exist. It's an error. It's it's an anomaly. Uh we'll make sure that's correct going forward. Um outside of that, uh for water still dosing effective levels of chlorine, um wastewater temperatures are colder, biological activity usually slows down, but the numbers are great. Uh so the the plant is very resilient. Um outside of that, everything has been pretty pretty quiet. Um does anybody have any questions? How are the oils and everything looking fogg and all that?

Um the so the way that we can decipher whether or not it is making an impact on the plant is we look at the foam on the surface and it's very minimal. Does that uh change much going into the colder months versus usually gets worse. Yeah. Yeah. usually gets cuz uh you have a little bit of treatment of the fog in the lift stations. Um but that was addressed a while back with blowers and that you know that seems to have helped quite a bit. Um so we don't we don't we hardly notice any foam at all. Okay, cool.

So it yes to answer your question, biological activity slows down. You usually have more grease, more unsightly foam and it does not exist right now. Jamie, when um what is the status of our drying beds? I know that we had uh agreed that we would replace a few of them and then replace some more later. How are we in that process?

I know that um there's been discussion with DEQ for getting the monies allotted and such. Um so, we're just waiting waiting for all that to move forward. Um, in terms of what is going on with the who who's moving forward with right now, I don't have that information right in front of me. Okay. Um, I can get back with that. Um, so I I don't have the answer for that right now. That's right. I'm just curious. Thank you. Have a lovely evening. Merry Christmas. Thank you. You too.

Next on the agenda, item number five, um, public works report and Mr. Shaun Fortune will come forward. We have this report in front of us. Are there any questions to Mr. Fortune at this time?

Any questions? None. Hold on. All right. And answer m uh Virginia and Oak we did trim that back. Oh, you have trimmed it back. I turn it back a week after a

but we see everybody goes we need this and that done. We got a threeman band and that's all we have now. Well, I'm I'm dead serious and I give the town a lot of free time now. I'm on salary. I'm giving a lot of free time. I'm doing stuff after hours and that's just how it is. I mean, we don't we just don't really have enough staff to get out and do everything. We back behind on things now because we uh we actually helping people out with water leaks at the houses. We have to monitor that. Mr. Pie can tell you I spend two hours in the morning sometime just doing that and checking and we take notices out to the customers and everything now to let them know they had water leaks. So it takes up a lot of our time doing that. And then I have to I have to send my guys out and check it to make sure it's not leaking in the meter box. So sometimes we have 20 houses we have to go to. So you figure 20 houses you got to go to then we don't got to open the meter boxes up now we have to go and dig them out and you spend two three hours just doing that. So I mean just not enough staff to keep up with all everything we have to do but we keep it moving. So

well you do a fine job. Yes you do and we are very appreciative. Thank you. But any, you know, any issues come up, we try to take, you know, go out and and answer C Randy, we did go out and look at those properties. So, if they got a notice, we went out and looked at them. And to be honest with you, I'll say it right here. One of the properties was repaired within one day and I went back out and it was fixed. So, had three branches hanging over the sidewalk and it was fixed. So, that's all I'm saying. Very good. I'm not here. Okay. Thank you all. Thank you.

Item number six on the agenda is the um finance and treasures report. Miss Toiver is here to speak with us. I hope that you all have looked over her um submission and are there any questions from this council at this time? I did provide an extra revenue for the general fund for you guys so you weren't alarmed. Uh we have to run this report for you guys before the end of the month. So I just provided it as of the actual day of the end of the month for November. Thank you. So I one question.

Go ahead. So, um, I had a couple people ask me about getting a real estate bill when it should have gone to their mortgage company. Mhm. And did it go to the mortgage company and they just got a Okay. Yes. Cuz and and I personally I got two real estate bills to my house and I just want to make sure it did go to the the mortgage. They did go and that's you'll when you get the December report you'll see all those coming in. This whole beginning of this week has been all of those coming in and we've been putting all of those payments in. Good check by check

to the 301 corridor special tax district. Could there if if Mr. Begot has not gotten his normal real estate, not the special tax district but the normal real estate. Could those two have been lumped together? Uh no. No. Okay. So, his will be coming, I guess, or So, based off of the history, from what I've seen, and you've spoke about this as well, the history is iffy. Yeah. Um, that there was only one bill that went out for real estate. If you have the normal real estate, and then there's a 301 special tax district, right? Um, anything else? As mentioned before, the town manager and I, Davenport, we're all looking into that to try to get that figured out already.

Good. Good. Thank you. Any other questions? Merry Christmas, Miss Oliver. Thank you. Have a lovely day. Next on the agenda is the Bowling Green Police Department report. Mr. Justin Cecil, Chief Cecil, are there any questions for him? I'd like to say something, Madame Mayor.

Go ahead, Mr. Higman. Justin, you and your staff are excellent. I've had a couple incidents at my store. Um, we knew we were having problems there. We put up cameras in the parking lot. We put up cameras in the store. We've caught a shoplifter. And over the summer, somebody stole a bunch of my red cones out back three months. But they had a they had a description of the car because our camera showed it. Couldn't didn't have the license plate. They were adamant. They kept looking for the vehicle. They found a vehicle washing clothes at the laundromat the other night. So, we got our cones back. Plus, we got some people barred from the property. So, I mean, that was probably 3 months ago when we did that report and they but they didn't let go. They had the description in their dashboard. They knew it. They found them. They got them and we took care of it. So, I want to thank Justin and his police department for helping us with what's going on at the store.

Thank you. Thank you, Justin. Mr. Roy, I'm continue the same praise stuff. Uh, you know, not maybe it's impactful, but uh, you know, all the events lately, the the the tree ceremony, the the Halloween, you everything, Harvest Fest, you you guys really do step up and you guys patrol your back and forth. You're keeping your eyes on everything. And, you know, there was they were controlling traffic while while we were singing carols during the tree. like you know there's he got somebody just down quarter mile past us. It was Thanks for being out there taking care of everything. Well, we got the Christmas parade coming so get ready.

I've got one more question for you, Justin. What time are we closing down the street? I've been asked that twice today. What time is the street going to be closed for the parade? So, we're closing Mari um at 4. Okay. And but we're going to keep Main Street flowing until about 4:45. The parade will start at 5:30. So, between 4:45 and 5, we'll get Main Street clear. So, can I ask another one? Go ahead. Uh, is is the same layout as as we've had a few Mory and White Street, anything going on down South Main? Only trucks that can't come on my low boys and I'm only aware of one or two right now.

All right. So, that that's pretty normal. Okay. Thanks. Merry Christmas, Chief Cecil. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. I'll see if I can just speak loud enough.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Um before I was hoping to just jump in really briefly before um you conclude the staff reports. Just wanted to add one item if that's okay with Mayor Council. Um Jeff and I have been working with county staff to us start updating the town's ordinances. Um the first we're we're taking it in order. So we're working on chapter 2 administration of government right now. Um we are going through it making some changes. We've had discussions with county staff and we will likely have something before town council to vote on at May next month. Just wanted to provide you all an update to let you know that we are working on it and you should have something before you next month. Thank you.

Thank you. Okay, we will move on to unfinished business. I don't see that we have any or is there any that the staff would or council would like to speak?

Okay, we will move on to new business. Um item number eight, we have the town calendar adoption. Uh we have every year basically adopted the um Commonwealth of Virginia's holiday calendar and that has been proposed. Again, um the staff's support for adopting this calendar is respectfully requested so that they may proceed with the official implementation for 2026. I'm going to break you for a real quick second.

You're good. Thank you. Thank you. Um, in order for this to take place, I would need a motion from this council. So moved. I have a uh a motion from Councilman Voit. Is second. Second from Council Person Hagaman. Are there any discussion items here? We'll move on to the vote. All in favor? I

vote passes all six members. Next item on the agenda, the building maintenance code adoption. And I'm going to turn this over to Miss Danielle at this moment.

Good evening again, Madame Mayor, members of council. Um just for a matter of clarification, the agenda item does reference it as being uh adoption of the maintenance code. That is um a clerical error. That is not correct. It's actually just adoption as you'll see in your packet. It's an ordinance to um add part two to the currently existing code. Right now the town has part one um and so we're just adding part two. If you're wondering what that means, it's really just relating to construction, renovating, and rehabilitation. So, part one really just focuses on um it's the construction codes, right? So, it's focusing on construction of new buildings and structures. Um allows the building official to go into properties, make sure everything is built to code. Part two focuses on uh rehabilitating and renovating those existing buildings. Um and it kind of acts as an alternative to part one. So part one deals with construction, but it also deals with renovation. Part two is an alternative that also deals with renovation and rehabilitation. So, it's just clarifying um making it clear that that the building official will have access to part one and part two, but it is not touching at all on the maintenance code. Just want to make that clear. That's a completely separate discussion. And I'm happy to answer happy to answer any questions that you may have.

Are there any questions from this council? Um, with how you're kind of like changing your description of this, what what would be the way that we would phrase the motion then to adopt it? I think you can just have a motion to adopt the order. You can just read the title actually. I think that would that would handle it. Um, I think that's I think that's pretty clear. Okay.

Actually, you know what? That's a good point. It does not reference part two. So, I think the motion can just say to adopt the ordinance that's included in the packet to include um including part two of the USBC into the town's currently existing ordinance. Okay. But because you said that, I can say so moved. Okay, that works for me. I'll second.

So, I have a motion from Councilman Voit, a second from Councilman Agamman. Is there any further discussion from this council? All in favor, raise your right hand. Motion passes unanimously. Next, we'll move on to item number 10, and that's the mobile vending ordinance. Mr. Smith, I will uh let you take this over for the moment and I will jump in in a little bit.

All right. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Um, so as you know, over the past couple of months, uh, town staff and planning commission have been working to, um, create amendments for the zoning ordinance that are needed to add temporary vendor use for mobile vending units. Um, so we had a a public hearing planning commission last month. Uh we received no comments and at this point we are asking for the authorization of a public hearing for this proposed ordinance which is in your um packet uh for the proposed ordinance of amendments to the town council uh for a town council meeting on January 8th. So to reiterate, u we're requesting a public hearing on that date. Are there any questions from council at this moment? I have some comments, but I want to hear from you.

Um just two little things. Um in the ordinance itself, I think this may have been fixed, but there's two typos, I believe. So you um I have section A and section under 1018 and then 1020. Yes, those those will be fixed ahead of the public hearing. Cool. Um and then the only question I had is the vendors are permitted on private property. They will not be permitted curbside. That is correct.

Okay, cool. I um when I moved to this town, my children were small and you're laughing at me. It's true. They were very young and we had um an ice cream truck that used to come to town. This ordinance does not allow for the good humor man to come through your local neighborhood. I would like to have that I personally would like to see that be an option to be added. And when I spoke to Councilman Webb earlier today, I asked what his opinion was on that and he gave me permission to speak on his behalf that he also would be um in favor of allowing an ice cream truck to be able to go through the neighborhoods. So, I don't know how we do that if we send this back to the planning commission. um if that's something council wants to do or if we go ahead and have our public hearing next month and then look at making any changes. If we do that, then we have to have another public hearing. If it goes back to planning commission, they have to have another public hearing. Either way, if this change is adopted, there will be a second public hearing. Um, go ahead, Mr. Vo. Okay. Yeah. I

You're on planning commission.

Yeah. Well, a couple of things and then I want to ask you a question. Um, so first of all, regarding that that did get turn the volume up. Um, that that was talked about a little bit. Um, the the major purpose of of the ordinance thing was to define where on private property it would be allowed. And there was discussion of, you know, residential side. there's you know business public which can with permission actually still happen under this. Um but yeah the stuff on the streets was not we we did discuss you know the good humor guy and I'll get back to that in a second. Let me finish with with the other because we also talked about churches um and we we didn't go to churches cuz they're you know on residential and we didn't want to have every residential you know having a you know food vendor all the time in there. However, that is still allowable through the special event process. So, you know, a church that's doing a special event can go through that process to to have a food truck and event and anything. And anybody can, you know, file for one of those. But for like, you know, regular business use, you know, this aspect was there. Um, as far as changing this ordinance and another public hearing, um, we kind of were advised kind of both ways over at the other thing. So, let me draw attention to another aspect of this of which I think we can you'll probably discuss more at a later time, but right now it's um the way it's written on here is um up to three days in a row, 10 days in a month. Okay. Um and we had kind of gone a couple different directions with that overtime. The the very first time was 5 days and then that got raised to 10. Uh I've I've actually gotten some feedback in the time since that uh to maybe actually lower that again. But my my question um you for the attorney is you know generally with having to go back to public hearing you know my understanding is you have to do another public hearing when it becomes more

restrictive. Um but in in the case of something like this which direction is actually the one that would be considered more restrictive. Um

well I mean typically there is a need for another hearing when the it's a use that becomes more intense. So I'm not sure that that necessarily is applicable here. Um before you is the request to schedule a public hearing. And so if council is interested in entertaining the ordinance as presented, I think council has a public hearing, gets public input, has a discussion, and decides what it wants to do, whether to adopt it as is, to make amendments to it, or to remain it back to the planning commission. Um, I think that I think that is the posture that the council is in at this moment

to move on to the public hearing next month. Yes, that you're fine. That is Yes. If the council is interested in having the public hearing, it decides when it wants to There we go. If council wants to entertain this ordinance as presented, yes, the next step is to have a public hearing and get input and decide how you want to proceed after that. I'd be happy to go that route. Get the public input. Okay. So, the current what y'all have what the planning commission has proposed does it say no mobile ice cream trucks or

it doesn't define those specifically, but I mean you you'd speak to it better than me. I I'm not sure that this speaks to it or not. I I just wasn't really involved in the discussions to to speak in detail to it. So, I'm not sure that this definition prohibits it, but I think that again depends on the intent of what the planning commission was attempting to Yeah, the the intent was not to police that type of thing, but I think we just go to the public hearing and let it hash out there.

Are they going to be able to do this like these food trucks come in when other businesses are shut down that provide food in town? I mean, is it fair to the corner store to have a sandwich truck come in when the corner store is open? That's kind of or the Good Humor truck coming through and selling ice cream when Gibson's is open. I there's there's competitive stuff in there of not allowing, but that that's some stuff that I think that we could massage a little more later. But the short answer is is yes. The longer answer is we can discuss it more after the public hearing. So, at this time, would this council like to make a motion to um adopt this?

You're just scheduling the public to to schedule the public hearing. Yeah. To adopt this to move on to the public hearing. I move that we authorize the public hearing on January the 8th. Is that the date? Yeah. So, I have a motion from Councilman Stor. Is there a second? Sure. Yes. Okay. Second from Councilman Voit. Is there any further discussion? All in favor?

Okay, motion passes. We will have a public hearing nextformational items. Do we have any? I don't think so. Oh, we do. We have Christmas and Toyland and we have the Christmas parade. Um Jeff, are you involved with the parade this year? I believe I was asked to do sound again. Okay. Yeah.

So, um the parade starts at 5:30. It will be on Main Street and we look forward to having all of you there. And the Christmas in Toyland is is that a town hall afterward? Yes.

All right. And then you can bring your little kitties back here to town hall at the end. Is there any other um information that this council would like to impart to the public? Very good. We'll move on to public comment. Again, you have three minutes to speak. Um, please give your name and address and direct your questions or comments to me and council will not respond to you as you speak. We will now open public comment. Anyone wishing to speak may come forward. Going once, going twice. We will now close public comment. We will go on to member comments. Final member comments. Miss Davis.

Mr. Voit. Mr. Chenalt. Vice Mayor Coyle. Mr. Stor. Thank you. Mr. Haggamman. Not at this time. I have a member comment. Merry Christmas. I hope all of you have a wonderful holiday season. Madame Mayor, I'd like to make a motion to adjourn the meeting tonight. I'll second that one. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All in favor? Raise your right hand. Motion passes. Good night.