City Council - Regular Meeting

We'll go ahead and call this meeting to order. Thank you all for being here tonight. Please pause for a moment of silence. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. good evening everybody thank you all for coming out this evening we've got a couple things want to mention before we get into business As I'm sure you're aware, this weekend is Bristol Rhythm and Roots reunion, so I hope everybody gets a chance to head downtown and enjoy some good music. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday downtown will be packed, so I hope you don't try to drive. I hope you try to walk. There's going to be a lot going on, a lot of fun stuff, so I hope you get to check that out. Always a good time. And then additionally, I did want to point out that next Friday is the annual Virginia High-Tennessee High football game. It's on the Tennessee side this time, so I hope Hope you wear your orange. Hope you go flood the stone castle with orange and drown out that maroon a little bit. So have a good time over there if you can. I'll see you over there. And then additionally, I do want to take a second and just thank our first responders for the work they do in our community, our police, sheriff's office, fire department, EMS and dispatch. They do a fantastic job. They're put in situations that aren't always the greatest. I deal with situations and sometimes people that aren't always the most pleasant. So I just appreciate what they do in our community and what they do for us and how they look out for the citizens of our city. So with that, I want to hand it off to my colleagues on council.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Kind of launching off what you said, our Virginia high Bearcats are now 3-0 after they beat my alma mater, John Battle, on Friday night. Once the scoring started, the scoring didn't stop. It was a very good game. They played very hard, and they did a great job. Looking forward to them continuing the good play going forward. Hope everyone in the city is looking forward to the next two weeks. The next two weeks are very big for Bristol. Obviously, we have rhythm and roots, but then we have the race the week after that. So we have a whole lot of people coming into the city, a whole lot of people who will be spending money here. And this is the time of the year where all of a sudden we're gonna see our admissions tax and our meals tax jump. So very excited for that.

With that, I'll turn it over to our city manager.

Thank you, Mayor Holmes. This Friday, September the 11th, the city of Bristol, Virginia, will be hosting a community observance event commemorating the 25th anniversary of September 11th, 2001. This event will be held at Gene Malcolm Stadium in the parking lot and will begin at 830 a.m. Fire Chief Stacy Farley and his staff have been organizing this event with assistance from the Police Department, Public Works, and Parks and Recreation. We hope you can attend this event. Please bring your own chair because it is in the parking lot. And we anticipate the event will last approximately one hour. And if we have inclement weather, the event will be held at Fire Station one downtown. And we'll make sure that we get that out on social media if we have to change. So thank you very much.

Thank you. All right. With that, we're moving on to the adoption of the agenda. Looking for a motion.

I move for the adoption of the agenda as presented.

Second.

hearing a motion second clerk will you please call the roll barnum yes littleton yes osborne yes pollard yes holmes yes all right thank you moving on to item d proclamations recognitions item d1 proclamation recognizing the 25th anniversary anniversary of rhythm and roots staff report miss bradley

Thank you, Mayor Holmes. Bristol is celebrated as the birthplace of country music, highlighted by the 1927 Bristol Sessions, and has preserved its musical heritage through the Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion since 2001. The festival has welcomed hundreds of thousands of guests to historic downtown Bristol over the past 25 years, boosting the local economy and fostering community through music. Staff recommends that Council approve the proclamation as presented. Thank you.

Thank you. Looking for a motion.

I move for approval of the proclamation recognizing the 25th anniversary of Rhythm and Roots.

Second. All right. Hearing a motion, second. Council discussion.

Well, I'll kick it off. I'm very excited that we're able to do this. You know, we have... 25 years ago was when Rhythm and Roots started, and it started out very small with a very small dedicated group of volunteers, Mr. Shoemaker, Ed Harlow, Leah Ross, several other folks. And it's grown to something substantial for our region and for both of our states. I think that I've been to every Rhythm and Roots except one. I think I missed the first one. But I remember the very second one that I went to, we were in Cumberland Park, no fencing, 20 chairs maybe. And we saw Stonewall Jackson and Little Jimmy Dickens. And they rolled up in one high-top van together and just parked out back at the stage. And that was the big show. So it's changed a whole lot in a quarter of a century. And next year is the 100th anniversary. of the Bristol session, so I'm very hopeful that we're gonna have a very big Rhythm and Roots this weekend, and I think that'll kick off a great year leading up to the centennial of country music.

And I'd just like to add, too, this is such a fantastic festival for our city, such a wonderful event downtown. And I know such a lot of great hard work goes into it. My wife used to work for the Birthplace Country Music years ago, spent about seven years there. all the behind-the-scenes work that goes into it, planning, preparing, the weekend of, the weeks before, so much goes into it, and the staff volunteer work that goes into it. It's just so much happens to pull it off, and it's just a fantastic event. And I know both cities, staff on both sides of the state line put so much into it as well to help pull it off as well. It's such a community effort. And so 25 years of this is such a really cool thing to see. Most festivals don't really last that long. And to have such longevity from something like this, it really shows the community spirit behind it and how much people enjoy it. So it's really, really cool to celebrate this. And we'll have a presentation copy that we'll get to give away at Rhythm & Roots on Saturday. So hopefully we'll see you there as we do that. So any further comments? All right. With that, I will ask the clerk to please call the roll.

Farnam? Yes. Littleton? Yes. Osborne? Yes. Pollard? Yes. Holmes?

Yes. All right. Reading of the proclamation. A proclamation recognizing the 25th anniversary of Bristol-Ridman Reunion. Whereas, Bristol is proudly recognized as the birthplace of country music through the historic 1927 Bristol Sessions, and has celebrated and preserved its rich musical heritage through the Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion since the festival's founding in 2001. Whereas, for over 25 years, the festival has welcomed hundreds of thousands of visitors to historic downtown Bristol, strengthening our local economy, showcasing our culture, and fostering a spirited community through the universal language of music. And whereas, the Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion has preserved and promoted the traditions that define our region while providing a stage for both legendary performers and emerging artists, ensuring that the legacy of Appalachian music continues for future generations. And whereas, the 25th anniversary of the Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion is a significant milestone that celebrates a quarter century of musical excellence, cultural preservation, and community pride. Therefore, be it resolved by the authority vested in me as the mayor and on behalf of the Bristol-Virginia City Council, I hereby recognize the 25th anniversary of Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion this eighth day of September 26, 2026. Right moving on to item e ordinances and resolution. Second ordinance reading on the city code chapter 50 article 2 zoning. The first item is public comment I do not have anyone signed up for that. So the second item is staff report Mister teacher.

Yes, thank you, Mister mayor members of Council. So as you remember this is the second ordinance reading for A amendment to Chapter 50, Article 2 that will remove the by right use of data or call center and permit them only by special use permit. Just a quick review. Currently, data and call center are permitted by right in the B2, B3, FRD, OI, and M1 districts. What this change would do is require them to have a special use permit in those same districts plus the m2 district this ordinance was passed on first reading at the august 25th 2026 meeting by a vote of five to nothing and staff recommends approval of the amendments on second ordinance reading thank you looking for a motion

I move for second reading of the ordinance by caption only.

Second. Hearing a motion and a second, council discussion.

I have seen a lot of upset in the public recently concerning the prospect of, well, some people have gotten upset at just the very mention of data centers. I would say that I don't really know where that's coming from, but I kind of do because we've seen recent revelations from some research organizations that the Chinese have developed several hundred social media bots that are intended to create public upset concerning data centers so that the US gets behind in technology development. And we have, well, we've seen some companies developing data centers that have made, frankly, stupid decisions, some of which they try to railroad through their ideas, thinking that they're smarter than everybody else. they don't allow for any public feedback because they think that they're better in some of those cases they have developed they've put in data centers right behind residential subdivisions making a lot of noise and that's one of the things that we're trying to fix tonight in some places they have put high voltage power lines right over top of subdivisions and our subdivision ordinance requires all utilities to be underground They have had a lot of noise associated with these. We have a noise ordinance, which needs some tweaks, but we have one. And they have also had some things that have been, have not allowed for proper regulations concerning their energy requirements and their water requirements, where it's caused the cost to the residents to go up. well I work in information technology and I can tell you that almost any business of any size has a data center it may be a small one it may be referred to as a computer room it could be referred to as a computer closet but almost every business has one there are ways of making sure that the residents are protected. And because of the abuses that we've seen, we know that's important. We will, after this current change, which will give us oversight, we're going to look into those to see what protections may be needed because I think that we could make use of the taxes to offset our local residents' extremely high taxes to lower those a bit if we have some small, controlled, quiet data centers that don't cause anybody else's energy and water costs to go up. In some places, they're put in areas where there's abundant water and they have to generate their own power and feed excess back into the grid, which means it lowers energy prices rather than raising them. I'm not saying that's necessarily a recommendation right now. I'm saying that we need to look at things. We need to make sure that people are protected from anything that goes on. But we don't need any blanket bans either as a knee jerk reaction based on some things that have gone on elsewhere in the state and elsewhere in the country. And we are making sure that the public are protected through what we're doing tonight to make sure that we have oversight of anything that's going on and the people know exactly what's going on and why.

Well, I mean, I agree with a lot of what you said. I think what you mentioned is it gives us a little bit of oversight or control. I mean, we all live here. We don't want something that's like this in our backyard necessarily, something that's loud in our neighborhoods, something that's bad for the environment. So right now there really is no control or oversight. So this is a good step, a proactive step we're taking to... make sure it gives us a little bit of control that we can have.

Yeah, I'll jump in here. At our last meeting when we did the first reading on this, I made my opinion on data centers known, and I promise I'm not a social media bot or a Chinese influencer. I live here. Since I've made those comments, I would say 100 to 1. I've had people reach out from within the city of Bristol, Virginia, from surrounding communities from Bristol, Tennessee, and from as far as far northern Virginia, expressing their disdain, their opposition to data centers. Virginia as a state has kind of become ground zero for new data centers in the United States. And my concern with them, and I'm very glad we're doing this proactive step. I think this will protect the city of Bristol, Virginia. My concern with data centers in general, I tend to be very skeptical of a lot of the promises that the companies will make with data centers because it's what communities have heard over and over and over throughout the state, whether it's you know, Botetourt County or down here in far southwest Virginia. So I have, you know, a lot of concerns with that. And I'm not opposed to, you know, someone having a computer closet or whatever at their business. But that's, when someone says data center, that's not what they're thinking of. They're thinking of data center. And those are the things that I think that I would say 10 to 1 residents of the city don't want. And that's why I think it's very important that we have this oversight ability.

And I'll just kind of sum up a little bit. Prior to this ordinance taking effect, if we vote to pass it, we voted 5-0 last time, so I would assume we'll do that again. Prior to this taking effect, a data center company or something like that could come into some of these areas that are zoned for call centers, data centers, and could set up shop. and just do it as long as they have the building permits, business permits, whatever. There would be no hearing here. There'd be no hearing at the Planning Commission. That would be how it would roll. Is that correct? That is correct. Thank you. So this ordinance here would make it a special use permit process. So there would be a public hearing. There would be a hearing before council. There would be input from the public. There would be a council vote. There would be a Planning Commission vote, if I'm not mistaken.

Yes, that is correct. Thank you.

So there'd be multiple steps on that process with public input. So as Mr. Pollard stated, as Councilman Farnham and Vice Mayor Osborne stated, there would be public input, there would be protections in place. So whether you like them, you don't like them, what have you, there would be multiple protections in place for our city, for our citizens, and there'd be multiple ways for public input. So I think... this this measure um i know there's a lot of a lot of concern in the public on social media some chatter the city's talking about data centers there's nothing in the works there's no plans but other than we're trying to make sure there's protections in place so i think this is a great step for us to make sure that there is a a measured approach for the city to kind of be prepared for anything that might come our way so i think this is a great Great plan to move forward. I appreciate the city staff for working on this for for putting all this into place and then also the Planning Commission for working through this as well and For us getting to this point. So this is a I think a great great place to be tonight If there's no further comments, I would ask the clerk to please call the roll Farnam.

Yes, Littleton. Yes. I was born. Yes. Yes. Yes

All right. Looking for a council motion and second for adoption.

I move for adoption of the ordinance. Second.

Clerk, will you please call the roll?

Farnham. Yes. Littleton. Yes. Osborne. Yes. Pollard. Yes. Holmes.

Yes. Reading of the ordinance by caption only.

Ordinance 26-9, title, amending chapter 50, land use, article 2, zoning, and section 50-32, non-residential districts. And 50-107, flexible redevelopment district of the code of Bristol, Virginia.

Thank you. All right. Moving on to item F. Other items for consideration. Number one, supplemental appropriation. $833,411. Staff report. Ms. Jones.

Thank you, Mayor. Excuse me. Thank you, Mayor Holmes. This agenda item is for a supplemental appropriation totaling $833,411. Of this, $806,713 comes from the general fund beginning balance for carryover items and $26,698 from the local funded capital projects fund. for carryover items. Staff recommends that council approve the supplemental appropriation as listed.

Thank you. Looking for a motion and a second.

I move for approval of the supplemental appropriation as presented.

Second.

Council discussion?

I just want to say thank you to our CFO for your work and your team's work on presenting this and getting this together. You all do a lot of good stuff over there, and we really appreciate you.

All right. With that, clerk, will you please call the roll?

Farnam? Yes. Littleton? Yes. Osborne? Yes. Pollard?

Yes.

Holmes?

Yes. All right. Next item, item G, matters to be presented by the members of the public, non-agenda items. I do not have anyone signed up for that. So we will move on to the next item, the consent agenda. And I will read through the items. Sorry, there's a fly. First one is the approval of the city council meeting minutes from August 11th, then the minutes from August 25th. then a street closure for the Tribe Pride Parade, then a street closure for trick-or-treating on State Street, then a street closure for the Halloween Parade, then a street closure request for the annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony, then a supplemental appropriation for $114,674, then a purchase of vehicles, and then approval of the purchase of a 275 Ultra Skid Steer Loader. So with that, looking for a motion.

I move for the approval of the consent agenda in full.

Second.

All right.

Hearing a motion and a second, clerk, will you please call the roll?

Farnam? Yes. Littleton? Yes. Osborne? Yes. Pollard? Yes. Holmes?

Yes. All right. Moving on to item I, adjournment. I move for adjournment.

Second.

All right. Hearing a motion and a second, clerk, please call the roll.

Farnham?

Yes.

Littleton? Yes. Osborne? Yes. Pollard? Yes. Holmes?

Yes. We are adjourned at 618. 622.