City Council - Regular Meeting

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I want to welcome everyone to our September 8, 2026 work session. I'll turn it over to Mr. Manager to introduce the topics.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Every year as part of the legislative process and the budget process, the General Assembly makes a variety of changes, and so we'll spend summer, fall, winter digesting those changes and then bringing forward actions for council. Sometimes the actions are mandatory, we have to do, sometimes they're discretionary. sometimes they're giving us the authority to do certain things this is one that's been kicking around for a few years it's regarding cannabis legislation we've had some work sessions and a retreat on this with council in the past few years as we've learned information about what was tracking but we finally have some concrete legislation that's that's moved forward and so now it's up to localities to respond and adopt their effectuating ordinances. And so I'll turn it over to Planning Director Jimmy McNamara to go through a presentation about where we're at today and where we're likely going in the future. Jimmy.

Let me ask a question before we start. I just had a chance to kind of glance at these. As you discuss each one, you know I love to have slides read anyway. Would you let us know if these are mandatory, if they're mandated by the General Assembly, or whether or not the city has discretion? You might have already planned that, but thank you.

Yes, ma'am. So good evening, everyone, and thank you for your attention this evening. So we're going to be talking about the biennial budget and the nearly 200 pages of cannabis regulation that was passed as part of this budget. The budget itself was passed in late June, June 29th by the General Assembly. Its passing did incorporate the full legal and regulatory framework for commercial adult use retail cannabis market which we regulated by the Cannabis Control Authority or the CCA. So the CCA is responsible for licensing and regulating the market. As we are all aware, there have been multiple pieces of legislation that have been considered over the past couple years. Some were passed within a reenactment clause, which were not reenacted. Some were discussed and not passed. But when it comes to establishing regulations here in Virginia, With the passing of HB30, we now have a bit more clarity on what regulations are being proposed and what authority looks like from a locality perspective and what we have with regards to this market. The new law requires marijuana business licenses for different aspects of the market. In total, there are eight different types of licenses which will be granted as part of the CCA's regulatory duties. I'd like to give, dive into each one of these licenses and give the specifics of each and just to, you know, get to the punch line here. All these licenses are going to be required. We cannot regulate out these licenses as part of the legislation. So we'll talk about what each of these is and what is available for the city from a regulatory standpoint. The first license is for a cultivation facility, and this includes cultivation, labeling, packaging, purchase, sale, transfer, and transportation of marijuana, marijuana plants, and marijuana seeds between licensees. This includes both outdoor cultivation and indoor cultivation facilities like greenhouses. This license breaks facilities down between Tier 1 and Tier 5 facilities. Tier 1s have up to 5,000 square feet of indoor or outdoor area, where Tier 5 facilities are up to 35,000 of indoor only. Only Tiers 1 and 2 include outdoor cultivation. Only five Tier 5 facilities can be issued prior to 2028, and there are no caps on the number of Tier 1 to Tier 4 facilities that will be licensed.

I'm sorry, could you repeat that last statement you just made about how many there are?

Yeah, only five Tier 5 facilities can be issued prior to 2028. After that, there will be no cap on the Tier 5 facilities. However, even prior to 2028, there is no caps on the number of Tier 1 to Tier 4 facilities that will be permitted across the state. The next type of license that we'll be talking about is a processing facility, and this is a facility that's authorized to take raw cannabis from cultivation sites and convert it into finished, packaged, and tested products for ready for retail. So under HB30, processing facilities may handle all post-harvest activities, including extraction, infusion, manufacturing of edibles and concentrates, packaging, labeling, and preparing products for distribution. This license allows the business to purchase cannabis from cultivators, transfer products to transporters, sell processed cannabis to retailers, and move product to other processing facilities when necessary. It's also worth noting that the processing licenses are not capped under the statute, meaning that the CCA can issue as many as are needed to meet market demand for this type of facility. Next we have testing facilities, and these are independent labs responsible for verifying product safety. They analyze cannabis for potency, contaminants, residual solvents, and product formulation accuracy. So Virginia prohibits common ownership between testing facilities and cultivation or processing operations to ensure integrity and consumer trust. These labs will also support enforcement efforts by ensuring that all products sold in Virginia comply with the state's THC limits, packaging rules, and the CCA health standards. The next type of facility is a transporter license, and this is to move cannabis between licensed businesses, so whether it be cultivation sites, processors, retailers, and testing labs. Transporters may store cannabis temporarily at their permitted facilities, but they cannot sell or alter the product. The next is delivery operators, and these are authorized to take products directly to consumers from retail store or the micro business, which we'll talk more about here in just a moment. But deliveries must be in person with identity verification performed at the point of delivery. And perhaps the most discussed license of them all is the retail store license. So these retail stores are the consumer facing portion of the commercial market. These businesses can sell cannabis products, seeds, and immature plants. Retail floor space is limited to 2,500 square feet to prevent oversized or mall anchor type operations. So before January 2028, the state may issue no more than 350 retail licenses. Localities cannot prohibit these stores but may influence their placement through zoning, buffers, and conditional use permits. And for all the facilities that we've talked about so far, the conditional use permit remains on the table for each of these types of facilities and the ones that we're going to talk about here in just a second. Dual licensed facilities, so these allow existing medical cannabis operators to participate in both the medical and the adult use markets. These businesses must apply to the CCA and they are also have to pay a $10 million conversion fee or enter into a board approved payment plan. They must also show that they can continue serving medical patients without disruption. Micro businesses are the last license that we'll be discussing and these are very small vertically integrated operations that allow folks to cultivate, process and sell cannabis under one license. There are certain limitations that do apply such as canopy limits but these licenses are designed to generate economic opportunity for smaller operators and impact licensees. And so this is, you know, all operations are under one roof approach. So timeline, when we talk about the statewide rollout for the schedule here, as we said in June, the biennial budget was passed with the full commercial framework included in the legislation. By February 1st, 2027, the CCA will begin accepting license applications. May 1st, the initial licenses will begin being issued. And then on July 1st, 2027, retail sales will officially begin. So with all these timelines in front of us, it is critical that we move our regulations forward prior to state deadlines to ensure proper zoning and local authority and to establish the rules for which they will be operating under the localities zoning provisions. A little bit about what we can and what we cannot do. State law does prohibit localities from banning cannabis business operations. We cannot enact ordinances that prohibit cannabis cultivation, process, sale, distribution, or related activities. The state also mandates a 1,000-foot buffer between retail stores and microbusinesses and sensitive uses, including schools, hospitals, institutions of higher learning, child day programs. Localities may decrease these distances, but they may not make them more restrictive. So although we cannot ban these cannabis businesses, we do retain significant local control. Localities may restrict cannabis-related activity in public parks, playgrounds, streets, and sidewalks. We may also require conditional use permits, set hours of operation, impose design and security or order control requirements to protect the public welfare. and zoning and land use planning and conditional use permit review will be our primary tools for how we manage the canvas business integration into the city and So our next step is adopting and initiating resolution directing staff to prepare necessary ordinance amendments reflecting the state requirements. This includes making all cannabis activities requiring a CCA license to subject to a conditional use permit in the appropriate zoning districts. We aim to have our ordinance adopted by January 1st, 2027 to ensure alignment with the CCA's licensing window and providing predictable local processes for applicants. So all this being said, this does conclude my presentation, and I'm available for any questions. And I will note that we also have City Attorney Benjamin Titter here, who's also been involved with the assessment of the legislation, and we can answer any questions you have.

Councilman Budd. Thank you, Mayor West. Thank you for the presentation. The question I have, I know during the presentation you talked about the state having a cap. Can the city also do a cap? Are you allowed to do that?

Yeah, no, we have no authority to impose a more stringent cap than what the state has imposed.

Well, the question I was asking, though, if the state has 350, I believe, if I heard you correctly, they're going to, I guess, give 350 licenses or statewide licenses, I guess, for that business. The question I had, though, can Chesapeake cap the number that we allow to come into our city, maybe not.

Councilmember, I think getting at the root of your question, the framework for this regulation does desire and direct the Cannabis Control Authority, the board, to make sure that the licenses are distributed appropriately throughout the Commonwealth based off of demographic, market need, and things like that. So it would not be as though the board would be targeting a particular region or part of the Commonwealth to put a significant number of those licenses in. They would want to try and spread that out throughout the Commonwealth.

OK. So in other words, it depends on the state. They decide how many licenses they give to a locality. OK. Thank you.

Vice Mayor Ritter?

Thank you. I may have some other questions after I hear from other members of council. First of all, will these facilities need to get a city business license?

Yes, they will be required to go through all proper business license approvals.

Okay. And that's a check on location also. I understand that. Commissioner, the revenue has instituted that?

Yes, ma'am. It's customary process now that when a business licensee comes in to apply for a permit, that they do consult with zoning to make sure that there are proper approvals in place prior to issuing that business license.

Okay, but do you think the scenario could exist where... someone with a state-issued license could object to a local license? I mean, that's something maybe you can research if it's that voluminous a bill.

We can look into that scenario, but, yeah, it's certainly possible. I'm sure there would be some investigation that we would need to do into that topic.

Okay, because without that, If I remember correctly, the legislation is allowing a 10% sales tax going to the state, and the city could impose up to a 3.5% sales tax. But without a local business license, that would be very hard to track, would it not?

Yes, ma'am.

OK. And I believe I am correct. in that state and local taxes remitted to the commissioner of the revenue must be remitted every month?

The local taxes under this framework operate a little bit differently. They will all be remitted to the Commonwealth and then on a, quarterly basis, if I recall correctly, the Commonwealth will remit the locality's portions to the locality that have been paid to the Cannabis Control Authority in the preceding term. Is that in the legislation, that framework? Yes, ma'am.

Okay. Could you just check and make sure? I mean, I don't want a repeat of the lottery money. Yeah, we will confirm. Okay. Are we required for a growing facility, for example, to allow them to participate in our land use program for taxation? Or does it become, I don't know that if this is also going to require a use permit for a grower, Can we look at the tax implications? Do they have to be admitted since our land use program is local? And I'm not sure if it's codified or it's a policy.

We can certainly look into that and get you more information.

OK. And whether or not we can determine through the use permit process What the actual function is, is it in a de facto industrial use. So we'll have to get better minds than mine working on that. One of my biggest concerns is, in trying to follow this legislation, There are a lot of things that aren't addressed, particularly how is law enforcement going to be trained with recreational use? And what are the limits? I mean, we have limits, whether we agree with them or not, on DUI with alcohol or with drugs. How is this going to be classified as a drug? And how are the police officers going to be trained? Should this become an issue in an accident or any stop that law enforcement might make?

These are excellent questions, probably beyond the scope of planning, but we will work with police to get answers for counsel.

Okay, Ms. Newins has some insight on that. Do you want to?

I would just say, based on my professional experience, I've worked with law enforcement who they have drug recognition experts who are trained in recognizing someone who's under the influence of all different types of drugs, including marijuana, and they're able to do on a DUI, they can draw someone's blood by law and test that blood to see if it has THC components in it, and that is recognized under a DUI. So they've been successful in getting convictions with marijuana use.

Okay, so one more question. Do they have to do the blood draw at the time of the stop?

They take them to the hospital and they have their blood drawn.

Okay. With their consent? Nope.

It's implied consent. If you operate on the roads of Virginia and you have a Virginia license, it's implied that you're consenting to give either that blood or breath sample.

And if you don't, then it's another charge. So with that question, I mean, that's a great answer and thank you so much. But I think we probably need to look at the ramifications of that and really for situational awareness so that we understand what the police are authorized and not authorized to do. But I'll wait for some other questions. And I may have some more after I hear those.

Before I call on you, Mr. Nunes, my understanding is that from what you've said and presented, we have no control of the lot, but we have some control of taxes, location, and use, correct?

That is correct.

So I guess one of my thoughts on this is, What are our surrounding cities doing? And I ask that because I don't want us to be lax in one area and then another city is sort of strict, and then we would therefore encourage people, particularly outside of the city, to come here. So I think it would be interesting. Interesting to have an awareness of what other cities are doing I believe John man in the audience here today is on a task force that Virginia Beach has already started looking at Missy that Thank you Yeah, it's the City of Virginia Beach Cannabis Advisory Task Force. I'm not suggesting that we necessarily go in that direction, but it would be interesting to just look at what they're doing and see what they already have done. discovered and what kind of actions they're taking. Again, it's more not that we want to be like anybody else or be different than anyone else, but it's just sort of an awareness as we go through this process. Councilman Newlands?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just want to comment on Vice Mayor Ritter's point and then a couple other points. I think it's a point well taken that we need to be aware of the unattended consequences of the General Assembly's actions in giving our law enforcement additional tools they may need because this is going to increase the amount of marijuana use in our community. And inevitably, with alcohol use, people get behind the wheel. So there's likely going to be additional DUI situations or just marijuana-involved situations with police. that perhaps our police need additional funding, tools, resources to combat this unintended consequence that the General Assembly may or may not have thought of when they legalized all these different routes. So just something for us to be aware of in the future when it comes to different funding needs, trying to identify those in advance to help our police department be able to combat this the best way for our community. A couple different other questions. Mr. Manager, Mr. McNamara, there was a provision as well, it wasn't included in here, about advertising, the restrictions on where they can advertise these businesses, perhaps they're called. And the restrictions are much less than where they can actually have them. They can advertise within 500 feet of schools, within 500 feet of playgrounds. So the general assembly is worried about having them so close to playgrounds, but we can entice these children to come to our facilities a lot closer than you can actually physically have the facility. Are there any further restrictions we can place on the advertising aspect, or are we bound to the 500 feet requirement as it relates to advertising the facility?

Yes, that's a good pick-up. We are bound to what has been passed with the code change here. Unfortunately, we do not have additional powers beyond what they have established as law at this point.

Is there anything to the attorneys that perhaps we can regulate in our sign ordinance or consider in our sign ordinance that we love talking about so much with perhaps limitations of where signs can be placed in reference to schools or public property or things of that nature to try to combat this advertising issue when it comes to these businesses. Maybe this is something we can research and get back to us. I know it's kind of a deep question there.

Yeah, Council Member Nunes, there are some restrictions in the state code mostly related to proximity to some of the uses that you've identified and that's something we can certainly look into and compare against our current sign ordinance and determine where we might be able to appropriately address that in our ordinance.

And then just a couple other questions about the penalties. So I know, I believe we have a local ordinance right now that penalizes the use of marijuana in public parks. Does it criminalize it or is it just a civil penalty? And can we criminalize it?

I think I just got to go ahead to answer that. I would need to confirm the city code, but I know at the state level, most of the marijuana possession for personal use has been decriminalized, so it is likely something we would be limited to a civil penalty for. However, the new laws for the retail market do provide for increasing penalties for violations, meaning that on a second, a third, a subsequent offense, you face stiffer penalties than you do on a first offense.

I think it's important we pursue that as a council, is that penalizing the use in, I think it said we could penalize use in public parks, schools, Hospitals other I would say sensitive areas that nobody wants to see someone under the influence I think just like a drunken public if that's a class for misdemeanor We can heighten this from a civil penalty to a misdemeanor as well There's a local ordinance and then have we thought about I know vice mayor would have talked about this the different districts That would be appropriate for this use Are there are you able to discuss that now what the kind of the recommendation is or is that something we'll get in the future? I

We've done some preliminary research on to what we think makes sense. I don't have those with me right now. But if there's a specific one that you want to talk about, we could certainly address that. But in general, we are trying to limit them to where it makes the most sense. You know, certainly we're talking about you know, the processing facilities and such, you certainly wouldn't want to see those in some of your business districts and such. So you'd see those more in your industrial. Likewise with, you know, some of the other facilities, you know, whether it be cultivation or other, you know, you wouldn't want to see those in your business districts either. You would want to see those in more of an industrial. But we've taken a pretty good look at that based on some staff research and such, but no official recommendations at this time.

Is it fair to say we're going to prohibit them in residential areas? You can't have an at-home marijuana shop?

We are not recommending a condition used in any residential districts.

Okay.

With the exception of agriculture, you know, they're certainly permitted residential in agricultural districts, but for the cultivation side of the house, you know, that's where that would make the most sense to have a facility would be in an agricultural district, whether it be greenhouse or outdoor type of cultivation.

But none of the process we're recommending in any kind of residential area? That's correct. OK. Thank you. Those are the questions I have.

Toward your light. No, you go ahead, Dr. Wood. Oh, I just wanted to wonder if the list includes Christian religious churches, because you've got all ages, and there's so many of them in the city. Is that something also that can be added to the list in addition to the schools and the businesses, but places, you know, religious activity, the churches, is that something that could be considered in the ordinances of the proximity?

Wherever is permitted as has been identified within the restrictive uses, we will certainly consider that as part of the ordinance.

Back to Ms. Nguyen's question, and obviously you've taken a very close look at the legislation, and I'm grateful for that. But you asked about the advertising within, so that setback is decreased to 500 feet. But it does say in your presentation that that a conditional use permit may require, it just says signage. So in other words, we might be able to look at it not necessarily as content, but size.

That is correct. As part of the conditional use permit on the site, we could certainly look at signage requirements and what is being proposed as signage.

Okay, and honest to goodness, we can require odor control in the legislation? How do we do that?

But mostly be for the indoor facilities, making sure that the odor did not get outside, so some type of...

I mean we can research it for you right smoking inside I Know this sounds silly, but I think it's a good question Smoking is prohibited in restaurants Does that include marijuana? At smoking right

My understanding is that the Virginia indoor clean air act could still govern and that's where we would find ability to require certain ventilation filtration systems, limit certain activities indoors.

Okay. And could we ask any establishment that chooses to allow it that that be advertised on the outside of the building as people go in?

The filtration system or the fact that they're doing it? I know you can't answer that today. We'll look into it.

OK. So there are a lot of things that we can prohibit. Interestingly, public streets or sidewalks adjoining a public street. So I think we're not at the mercy of just Katie barred the door here. We can craft our ordinances and policies in such a way that the intent of the law may be met, but also the consideration of the public can be woven into that. Is that how you see it?

I believe that's a fair understanding of the tools that we have available to us.

So we're not powerless.

That is correct.

Okay. And I think we probably have a lot that we can look at and... This has to be done prior to January 1st, right?

We're recommending that we get things in place before January 1st. However, the first licenses will not be considered. I believe it's until February 1st. The applications will not be accepted until then, so we have a little bit of play, but we certainly want to make sure that we're moving this forward to take advantage of all regulations that we can.

Okay, and if we find something particularly troublesome, although I don't believe we would be successful. But can we add to our legislative package, for example, the issues for the police department training, maybe a budget amendment? Yes, ma'am. OK. And when will you put that together?

So we'll have the legislative program coming to you, I believe, in November. Okay, thank you.

Thank you. Councilman Jeffries?

Yes, Mayor. Just to further support the concerns for the Vice Mayor, the Police Department has been arresting for impairment based on DUIDs for decades, and it's only gotten more advanced and more technical in the last five to ten years. So they're very clearly capable and competent already. This has been a problem prior to it being legal. You do raise very valid concerns as to the volume that – think we can anticipate seeing with the increase going forward with the access. The only question that I have for Mr. McNamara is have they ironed out the enforcement and regulation side of this? I know while this was working its way through, there were talks of the CCA working with the ABC at one point, and then as violations are noted, partnering with local law enforcement. I don't know the volume that that would create for us if that was ultimately what was settled. Do you have any information on that?

Yeah, Councilman Jeffries, the new law does provide and vest in the Cannabis Control Authority certain enforcement. And often those sections do reference in partnership with the local Office of the Commonwealth's Attorney. There are some sections that allow citizens to bring a claim for a common nuisance. We are in a little bit of a situation where we have the legislation, but the board, the CCA, is still actively working on their regulations that will grow out of this legislation. Those are intended to be finalized by February 1st. So in the next couple of months, we should hopefully start seeing some drafts of that, be able to review, provide any comments the city would want to, and there may be additional enforcement information in those regulations as they're published.

If recent history has been any indicator, their enforcement is strictly inspections and notifications. So we want to ensure that they're willing to go the full distance. Otherwise, that's going to all fall on local law enforcement.

Thank you, Councilman Jeffries. Councilwoman King, please.

Thank you so much for the presentation. I really appreciate it. I share the same concerns that all of you share, and I find it distressing that our legislators would force our hands to make drugs more accessible to people in our community. And we can count on the fact that our children will have greater exposure, which they already do, and they're going to school reeking of marijuana because their parents are smoking it. To date, the FDA has not approved any medical uses for marijuana. And the DEA has not scheduled it. But there's a plethora of information about the dangers associated with inhaling the smoke, how it impacts underdeveloped brains up until about age 21 or 22. There's ample research about how it impacts an unborn fetus. And so it's just kind of appalling to me that the state is forcing us to make this accessible in our city. For what it's worth, that's how I feel. So thank you.

Thank you. Okay, I think that is that about wrapping up?

Yes, sir. Just in closing, I would say this was excellent guidance. Jimmy, you know, kind of... talked about what's sort of the core of the issue in front of us. We have to get some guardrails in place, but the state is still writing the rules. And so I think, Mr. Mayor, excellent suggestion to look at what's happening in other jurisdictions. And what I should have said at the beginning, and several of you mentioned this, The thing we're here today to talk about is initiating changes on the zoning side, but this is a complete operational change for many things, so the police training, budget, legislation. It's not just land use planning. That's the small piece of it here today, harms to children. We expect that there's likely going to be an increase in need for, as Dr. King just said, support from substance abuse counselors and others. There's no funding strategy associated with that. We sort of have the law that was handed to us. We're taking a comprehensive look at all of the impacts, and you've brought up many that we'll be looking at. However, the piece for today on the land use side, really appreciate the guidance. We'll get started. And we will keep you all posted as these rules are being drafted right now if there's any material changes that we need to sort of change scope or change course before we bring you something for adoption.

Appreciate that. That's a good wrap-up. And thank you very much for the presentation. Appreciate all the work that you're doing on this. Our regular council meeting will begin at 6.30.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. you Bye. Thank you. Thank you. Oh Thank you.

Mr. Mayor, we're ready to start the meeting.

Thank you, Ms. Vice Mayor. The council is now in session. I'd like to recognize Councilmember Jeffries at this time for the invocation and to lead us into the pledge.

Thank you, Mayor. Let us bow our heads. Our Heavenly Father, we come before you this evening mindful of the week that we mark, the 25th anniversary of September 11th, the day that changed our nation and touched this community as it did every corner of our country. We remember the lives lost, the families still carrying that grief, and the first responders who ran towards danger to save others. As we begin this meeting, we ask for your wisdom to guide our discussions, patience to hear one another well, and clarity to serve the people of this city with integrity. Bless the work we do here tonight, and may it be done in a spirit of unity and service. We ask this in your holy name. Amen.

I pledge allegiance 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.

Thank you so much, Councilman Jeffries. Madam Clerk, would you please call the roll?

Council Member Bunn.

Here.

Council Member Jeffries.

Here.

Council Member King. Here. Council Member Newins. Here. Council Member Smith.

Here.

Council Member Ward. Present. Council Member Whitaker.

Present.

Vice Mayor Ritter. Here. And Mayor West.

Here. Next is the approval of the proposed agenda. Are there any changes council members would like to make to the proposed agenda? Seeing none, can we have a motion, please? Move approval. Thank you, Dr. Ward. Second. Mr. Smith. Second. Thank you. Please prepare to vote. Please vote and record.

Motion to approve the agenda as presented is adopted by a 9-0 vote.

Thank you. The minutes of the meetings of July 14 and 21, 2026 are presented for approval. And without objection, if there are no changes or corrections, the minutes are approved as presented. Tonight, we are so pleased to recognize September 6th through the 12th, 2026, as Zero Waste Awareness Week, and the importance of reducing waste, conserving our natural resources, and protecting the environment for generations to come. Joining us to accept tonight's proclamation on behalf of the Chesapeake Environmental Improvement Council is Chairman Michael Jamieson. Would you please, Mr. Jameson, come forward with some comments. You have the button up there. There you go. Thank you.

We just need to leave that on.

Mr. Mayor and members of council, on behalf of the Chesapeake Environmental Improvement Council, thank you for recognizing Zero Waste Awareness Week here in Chesapeake. The Commonwealth's recognition of this week asked us to think a little bit more about something most of us don't think about very often. We use something, we throw it away, and for us, that's usually where the story ends. But the waste doesn't disappear, and neither do the resources that went into making it. Everything we discard begins somewhere. Materials were used to make it, energy and water to produce it, and transportation to get it to us. When we're finished with it, more resources are still needed to collect and manage what remains. Sometimes disposable is the only practical answer. Other times, something we call waste may still be a resource waiting for its next use. That is the value of awareness. Keeping Chesapeake beautiful will always mean taking care of what finds its way into our parks, neighborhoods, and waterways, but it can also mean looking a little further upstream. Sharing what we know, understanding the alternatives available to us, and perhaps preventing some of that waste from getting there in the first place. By recognizing this week, Chesapeake brings that conversation home and gives all of us, residents, businesses, organizations, and local government alike, a reason to think about what we throw away and what we might do differently. We appreciate the city's recognition of Zero Waste Awareness Week and the work that happens every day to keep Chesapeake clean and beautiful. CEIC is proud to be part of that. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Thank you for what you do and for all the members that are here tonight as well. Next is citizens' comments on public hearing items. The City Council meeting is a limited public forum, so public comments must be related to tonight's agenda items. And when speaking, please focus your remarks on the merits of the application. to the applications that you're speaking on. Doing so helps the hearing fulfill its purpose of gathering relevant information for the voting body. Additionally, to balance order with the public's right to speak, and as outlined in city council's rules of order and procedures, any speaker who delays, interrupts, or disturbs The meeting, through disorderly, insolent, or disturbing actions, speech, or conduct, will be declared out of order. Madam Clerk, are there any speakers who wish to speak prior to the presentation of the public hearing item?

No, sir.

Thank you. So next is Council's consideration of public hearing items. Madam Clerk, would you please?

Item A, a resolution authorizing the city manager to amend a lease with T-Mobile Northeast LLC and Sprintcom LLC to construct, maintain, and operate a private telecommunications facility at a telecommunications tower owned by the city located at 910 Hollywell Lane, requested by Information Technology.

Thank you. And do we have any speakers at this time?

Yes, sir. We have one speaker, Vic Nichols.

I had asked the question last time about these communication towers and we were told that the only thing that would be on them were telecommunications. It would not be ALPRs or the like. Well, flock safety cameras utilize LTE cellular communications to transmit data. They primarily use T-Mobile with AT and Verizon used as backups where T-Mobile is unavailable. They operate through a third-party carrier management service that allows the SIM cards to work across any major network, T-Mobile, AT&T, or Verizon, to ensure a single billing point and reliable connectivity, meaning the system can interface with Verizon infrastructure but is not exclusively limited to it. So the primary network for flock cameras is T-Mobile. The backup networks are AT&T and Verizon. A third-party manager handles the carrier switching, allowing the devices to connect to whatever major LTE network has signal at the installation site. I do this for free. Y'all voted yourselves a raise, and y'all should have kind of known this. So the question is, is this going to be used for flock cameras in any way, shape, or form? Because a telecommunications station could be used for that. I want to see that verified since the last one slipped through a couple of weeks ago. So we need to make sure that we're not going to have any flock cameras using them to spy on us instead of spying on y'all, which is what we really need. Thank you.

Motion is in order. Is that concluded, speakers? Yes, sir. Thank you. Motion is in order.

Move approval.

Thank you. Ms. Vice Mayor, Mr. Smith? Second. Thank you. Any discussion on this item? Seeing none, please prepare to vote. Please vote and record.

Motion to approve the resolution as presented is adopted by a 9-0 vote.

Next is citizens' comments on agenda items. Madam Clerk?

Yes, sir. We have three speakers. The first is Vic Nichols speaking on various items, followed by Jeff Staples.

I'm using this as an example, but for the police item number five, It basically just says we're going to get two part-time liaisons to engage and strengthen partnerships, and we'll get equipment, supplies to equip personnel to prevent gun violence and improve public safety. Okay, there are no SMART goals, and SMART means specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. If you're running a multi-billion dollar corporation, which is what city council really in effect does, I don't see any smart goals here. So we're putting money to stuff. We have no idea what the outcome will be. We haven't even looked at what an outcome might be or even guessed. I mean, if we sit there and say we're gonna have a 10% reduction in gun violence Okay, are we meaning without suicides? With suicides, what? We don't know what we're throwing money to and whether it is useful or not. And that's my point. It's always been my point. We need to understand what we're spending the money for, not just that it looks good. And by the way, this was not a slap on the police. This has been true of quite of other things that have been brought before the council. So this is to make sure that our money is wisely and well spent. The utility easement across the Northwest River, just how much of a disaster is that going to be? I mean, I know what y'all have kind of done out with... putting in the new pipeline out near West Road and everything and the disaster that you all have made about that. So I'm kind of wondering how that is all going to work together with the water and the sewer lines and just how much of a mess that's going to be. For CM 10 and 11, can we please be a little bit more clear on what the money is? Because you sit there and look at 1.1 million several times, then 4.1 million for properties. So we're going to do this. We're throwing money towards here. And again, the same thing. It needs to be very clear what we're spending, why are we spending it, and what the outcome we are expecting on that. And I don't see it at all. Anywhere. Thank you.

Jeff Staples, representing South, speaking on City Manager Item 7, followed by Ozan Duran.

Good evening, I'm Jeff Staples, 1453 Boxwood Drive in Deep Creek. And I'm talking tonight on the crossing of the Northwest River with water. No real problem with that as far We want the Navy folks to get some water. But I think we need to revise our estimate of how long and how much it will cost to get to all of this water and sewer to the, what they call, Praetorian Park now. So this evidently is going to be a starting point for running that. It's going to be much closer. So $300 million in three years is really not an accurate assessment any longer. We can go back to 2022 planning file that says the city sells water. Central water sewer projects were intended to become the starting point for transmission mains that would ultimately be extended to the Coastal Virginia Commerce Park. HRSD in September 23 record said there was even more specific. They described the sewer transmission line as a first leg of a master plan transmission line with the potential to serve several major future customers expressly including Coastal Virginia Commerce Park. Now it's been renamed. But anyway, so I think we need to revise the estimate of when the water lines can get there so we can decide on data center development in that park. Thank you.

Ozan Duran, representing South, speaking in opposition to City Manager Item 11.

Good evening, City Council. My name is Ozan Duran. I live at 1125 Lilac Avenue, Chesapeake, Virginia. I object to this usage of the high priority one-time fund. We should be funding these types of acquisitions on the city credit, which then rolls into the annual geo debt, as these buildings have long lifespans. This doesn't qualify ethically as a high priority one-time use. How many of us remember the LCRR? Right now, there are 50,000 pipes in Chesapeake that are of unknown material. This means that there are residents today that could be receiving drinking water through lead or galvanized service lines. What concerns me most is that when the city began undertaking this project, they didn't start from the most likely areas. When we look at GIS to see what the pipe material is in South Norfolk or Indian River, where I'm from, the material is still unknown. This is an emergency. This is an infrastructure priority. Before we spend millions more acquiring more property across Chesapeake, we need to make sure people aren't being served by lead pipes. Remember Flint, Michigan? I don't want Chesapeake known in the same light. Thank you.

That concludes the speakers.

Thank you. Next is our consent agenda. Madam Clerk, would you please present?

Item one, acknowledgements, public necessity, convenience, general welfare, and good zoning practice requires the following zoning reclassification requests to be heard. These requests are not public hearing items at this time. These items are tentatively scheduled to be heard by the Planning Commission on October the 14th, 2026, and will be considered by City Council at a future meeting. A, PLN, REZ 2025-022, Reserve at Wexford. B, PLN, REZ 2025-023, Tidewater Express, Inc. C, PLN, REZ 2026-004, Royal Farms. Resignations. A, Patrick Cason, Commission on Health and Well-Being. Terrell Cuffee, Chesapeake Redevelopment Housing Authority, Council Member Pat King, Hampton Roads Planning District Commission, Michael Stites, Natural Event Mitigation Advisory Committee. City Manager Item 1, request to accept and appropriate $12,561 received from the Library of Virginia to the library state aid allocation grant requested by the libraries. Item 2, request to accept and appropriate $40,000 received from the Beasley Foundation to the Beasley Foundation Grant, Clerk of the Circuit Court. Item three, request to accept and appropriate $19,861 received from the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services to the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Victim Fund Grant, Commonwealth's Attorney. Item four, request to accept and appropriate $395 received from the U.S. Department of Justice to the Bureau of Justice Assistance Grant requested by police. Request to accept and appropriate 500,000 received from the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services to the Firearm Violence Intervention and Prevention Grant and establish four part-time positions in the grant. Police. Item six, a resolution authorizing the donation of four sets of the Chesapeake Fire Department's Hearst Hydraulic Rescue Tools to the Cortland Volunteer Fire Department requested by fire. That concludes the consent agenda, Mayor.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Are there any items Councilmembers would like to be removed and considered on the regular agenda? Seeing none, could we have a motion for approval?

May I read a disclosure?

I'm sorry.

Before we do vote on that, I would like to recognize Councilmember Nunes and Councilmember Jeffries for their comments.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I have to read a disclosure. My husband's an employee of the city and a member of the fire department. I'm disclosing this because the personal interest, because city manager items six and eight could benefit any fire department employees. Since the fire department includes three or more people who may be affected, the city attorney has advised I can participate if the disclosure is made. I do not have a conflict that prevents me from participating, and I hereby affirm I can participate fairly objectively and in the public's best interest. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you. Councilman Jeffers?

Yes, sir. I'm an employee of the city and a member of its police department. I am disclosing this personal interest because city manager items four and five could benefit police department employees. Since the police department includes three or more people who may be affected, the city attorney has advised that I can participate if this disclosure is made. I do not have a conflict that prevents me from participating, and I hereby affirm I can participate fairly, objectively, and in the public's best interest.

Thank you, sir. I'll pose the question again. Are there any items council members would like to be removed? Seeing none, could we have a motion? Move approval.

Board? Move approval. Councilman Whitaker?

I'll second. Thank you. Any discussion?

May I ask a question?

Yes. Councilman Newlands?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Manager, there was a question about the appropriation.

You have to take it out of. Oh, I have to take it out of discussion? Yeah, yeah.

Well, then can I make a substitute motion to approve the consent agenda with the exception of item number five?

Very good. I have a second to the second substitute motion. Thank you, Councilman. So next is discussion. Go ahead.

Please prepare to vote please vote and record Motion to motion to approve the consent agenda with the exception of city manager item 5 is adopted by 9 over Council member new ones is recognized Thank You mr. Mayor I'm city manager price item number 5 that was presented in Relating to the grants for firearm violence intervention. It seems like that's an issue. That's riddling our community Is there a value to moving to approve that as an emergency item? So the funds can be expedited to our police department for those positions There's certainly no harm in doing that.

Okay, then I would move to approve that as an emergency item Any others discussion in council King second second any discussion on the Well, the removal, we probably should have voted for the acceptance under the consent agenda first and then come back to vote on your substitute motion. So I want to note we didn't vote to accept all other items except for the one polled. Are we clear? We need to have a motion to approve all the consent items except for the one that was removed, which was item seven? Five. Five. Okay. Item five. Okay.

Just need to vote on item five. Okay. We did vote on the rest of it.

Okay. Okay. My bad. I'm sorry. So we do have a motion to approve item five as well. Please prepare to vote. Please vote and record.

Motion to approve City Manager Item 5 is adopted by a 9-0 vote.

At this point in the agenda, we are going to ask the attorney to provide language to go in for the closed meeting topic. Madam Attorney.

A motion to conduct a closed meeting to discuss the acquisition of certain real properties located in the Deep Creek and Great Bridge planning areas for discussion in an opening meeting would adversely affect the bargaining position or negotiating strategy of the public body, as permitted by Section 2.2-3711A3 of the Code of Virginia.

Thank you. A motion, please. Move approval. Thank you, Mr. Whitaker. A second? Dr. King? Second. Thank you. Please prepare to vote. Please vote and record.

Motion to conduct a closed meeting is adopted by a 9-0 vote.

It is 6-51, and council will go into closed session at this time.

Thank you. Bye. Bye. Thank you.

Madam Attorney, would you please provide the language for the certification of the closed meeting?

A motion to certify that to the best of each member's knowledge, only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements were discussed, and only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard, discussed, or considered.

Thank you. A motion is in order.

Move approval.

Thank you, Dr. King.

Second.

Thank you, Dr. Ward. Any discussion? Please prepare to vote. Please vote and record.

Motion to certify the closed meeting is adopted by a 9-0 vote.

Next on the agenda is our regular agenda, and I'd like to call on City Manager Price at this time.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Item 7 is a resolution authorizing the city manager to execute a memorandum of agreement between the city and the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation and necessary related documents to design a utilities easement across the Northwest River for the purpose of installing water and sewer lines requested by public utility.

My motion is in order. Thank you, Mr. Whitaker. Second. Please hit your vote so I can. Oh, sorry. Thank you. Vice Mayor Ritter, any discussion on this motion? Please prepare to vote. Please vote and record.

Motion to approve the resolution as presented is adopted by a 9-0 vote.

Item 8 is a resolution authorizing the city manager to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the Federal Bureau of Investigation relating to a joint task force collaboration requested by the fire department.

Thank you. Motion, please.

Move approval.

Mr. Jeffries.

Move approval.

Mr. Smith.

Second.

Thank you. Any discussion? Please prepare to vote. Please vote and record.

Motion to approve the resolution as presented is adopted by a 9-0 vote.

Item 9 is a resolution authorizing the acquisition in fee simple of certain real property located at 307 Albemarle Drive, Chesapeake, Virginia, from the Economic Development Authority of the City of Chesapeake for a purchase price of $100 requested by Economic Development.

Motion, please.

Move approval.

Thank you, Dr. King. Second. Mr. Jeffries? Second. Thank you. Any discussion? Seeing none, please prepare to vote. Please vote and record.

Motion to approve the resolution as presented is adopted by a 9-0 vote.

Item 10 has multiple parts related to consideration of actions related to the acquisition of commercial property located at 911 Cedar Road requested by Public Works. 10A is a resolution authorizing the city manager to execute an agreement with VMI SIX LLC. to purchase two certain parcels of land, one of which is improved with an office building and parking lot, and one of which is unimproved, containing combined total of approximately 1.259 acres, more or less, located at 911 Cedar Road, Chesapeake, Virginia, for a negotiated purchase price of $1.6 million to provide office space for city departments and other public uses and purposes.

Thank you. Motion, please. Toward? Move approval. Dr. King? Second. Thank you. Any discussion? Please prepare to vote. Please vote and record. Madam Clerk.

Motion to approve the resolution as presented is adopted by a 9-0 vote.

10-B is a request to amend the FY27 capital improvement budget to establish a new project entitled 911 Cedar Road Acquisition.

Motion, please. Mr. Smith? Move to approve. Dr. King? Second. Thank you. Any discussion on this item? Please prepare to vote. Please vote and record.

Motion to approve the request as presented is adopted by a 9-0 vote.

Item 10C is a request to appropriate $1,830,000 from the high priority one-time account to the FY27 capital improvement budget for the purchase of property at 911 Cedar Road requested as an emergency action.

A motion is in order as an emergency item. Dr. Ward? Move approval as an emergency. Mr. Bunn? Second. Thank you. Please prepare any discussion. Ms. Ritter?

Thank you. There was a comment made earlier, and it's a good question, and people ask this all the time. So I thought I would ask the manager, please, What is the value of using one-time money versus borrowing money for a purchase such as this?

Generally speaking, borrowing money over the course of the loan would cost about twice as much as paying cash. So if you financed a building for $4 million, you'd end up over the 20 years paying about $8 million.

So it's pretty similar to what we do with our homes and our mortgages. Very few of us are able to go out and just purchase with cash. In this case, I think the city and the taxpayers benefit because if we borrowed money to pay for this, it would be twice as much repaying the loan. Is that pretty much it? Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you. We do have a motion for approval. Please prepare to vote. Please vote and record, Madam Clerk.

Motion to approve the request as presented and as an emergency action is adopted by a 9-0 vote.

Item 11 has multiple parts in consideration of actions related to the acquisition of commercial properties located at the intersection of Cedar Road and Albemarle Drive requested by Public Works. 11A is a resolution authorizing the city manager to execute an agreement with Transcendental Properties LLC to purchase a parcel of land containing .58 acres, more or less, improved with an office building and paved parking lot located at 528 Albemarle Drive, Chesapeake, Virginia. and a parcel of land containing .55 acres, more or less, located at 523 Albemarle Drive, Chesapeake, Virginia, for a negotiated purchase price of $1.1 million to provide office and storage space for the general registrar and other public uses and purposes.

A motion, please. Mr. Whitaker?

Move approval.

Thank you. Second. Mr. Jeffries?

Second.

Thank you. Any discussion on this item? Seeing none, please prepare to vote. Please vote and record. Madam Clerk.

Motion to approve the resolution as presented is adopted by a 9-0 vote.

11B is a resolution authorizing the city manager to execute an agreement with Cedar Tech LLC to purchase a parcel of land containing .514 acres, more or less. located at 500 Cedar Road, Chesapeake, Virginia, for a negotiated purchase price of $1.1 million to provide office and storage space for the general registrar and other public uses and purposes.

A motion, please. Mr. Smith? Move to approve. Thank you. Dr. King?

Second.

Thank you. Any discussion? Please prepare to vote. Please vote and record.

Motion to approve the resolution as presented is adopted by a 9-0 vote.

11C is a resolution authorizing the city manager to execute an agreement with Transcendental Nautical LLC to purchase a parcel of land containing .505 acres, more or less, improved with an office building located at 504 Cedar Road, Chesapeake, Virginia, for a negotiated purchase price of $1.1 million to provide office and storage space for the general registrar and other public uses and purposes.

Motion, please. Move approval. Thank you, Dr. Ward. Mr. Whitaker?

I'll second that.

Thank you. Any discussion? Please prepare to vote. Dr. King, please.

Just for the purpose of clarification, you said located at 504. You meant Albemarle Drive?

Cedar Road. We've corrected the address from what was published.

Thank you.

Any other discussion? Thank you, Dr. King, for bringing that out. Please prepare to vote. Please vote and record.

Motion to approve the resolution as presented is adopted by a 9-0 vote.

Item 11D is a request to amend the FY27 capital improvement budget to establish a new project entitled Albemarle Drive at Cedar Road office acquisition.

Motion, please.

Move to approve.

Mr. Whitaker, thank you. Mr. Smith?

Second.

Any discussion on this item? Please prepare to vote. Please vote and record.

Motion to approve the request as presented is adopted by a 9-0 vote.

Item 11E is a request to appropriate $4,125,401 from the high priority one-time account to the FY27 capital budget for the acquisition of properties at 528 and 532 Albemarle Drive and 500 and 504 Cedar Road requested as an emergency.

A motion as an order as an emergency. Dr. Ward?

Move approval as an emergency.

Thank you.

Dr. King?

Second. Thank you. Please, any discussion? Please prepare to vote. Please vote and record.

Motion to approve the request as presented and as an emergency action is adopted by a 9-0 vote.

Thank you. That does conclude all of our regular agenda items. Next is citizens' comments on services, policy, and affairs of the city. Now on the agenda of speakers. Madam Clerk, do we have any speakers?

Yes, sir. We have 11 speakers. They will will get three minutes each to speak on their topic. The first speaker is Darlene Statenflora. Is Darlene here? She will be speaking on voting precincts.

Thank you. Good evening. Chesapeake City Council members and everyone gathered here today, whether in person or watching on social media. My name is Darlene State and Flora. I live in the Crestwood section of Crestwood Crestwood section of Chesapeake at 608 Ray Avenue. I come before you today on my own behalf and on behalf of my neighbors regarding the change that moves 72 homes in our neighborhood from Precinct 5, Crestwood Precinct, to Precinct 39, Lake Drummond Precinct, and from Congressional District 3 to Congressional District 2. Proverbs 22.6 says, "'Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.'" My parents, Joseph A. Staton, Sr., and our leafy adult, Staton, taught my siblings and me the importance of faith, education, being productive members of society, and participating in our democratic process. As a child, I remember my mother taking me to Crestwood Junior High School, now Crestwood Middle School, where I watched her vote. She explained to me what she was doing and why it was important. At 18, I proudly cast my vote at Crestwood Precinct, and as I was taught, I taught my children, and they too voted at Crestwood. Crestwood has never been just a polling place. It has been part of our community and part of our history of participating in democracy. That is why I was deeply concerned and outraged when I learned that my voting location had changed from Crestwood Middle School approximately 0.3 miles away to Lake Drummond Masonic Lodge approximately 7.5 miles away. The trip requires crossing a bridge and can take considerably longer depending on traffic and bridge conditions. If this creates a challenge for me, I can only imagine the impact on our seniors, persons with disabilities, and neighbors without reliable transportation. And at the same time, congressional districts was changed from District 3 to District 2. This is more than just a change on a map. It affects our ability to remain connected as a community and to address our concerns collectively. Neighbors who live side by side and share the same streets should not feel separated from one another in this democratic process. Proverbs 31, 8 through 9 tells us to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves and to defend the rights of those in need. The city of Chesapeake's motto is, in God we trust. That is where my ultimate faith and trust lie. I believe our elected officials have a responsibility to listen, to serve, and to do what's right.

Thank you, ma'am. Your time is up. Thank you.

Thank you. Precinct voting, followed by Adam Billet.

Good evening, council members. My name is Antonia Fauntleroy, and I live at 610 Ray Avenue, Chesapeake, Virginia. And I, too, am outraged. I live in the Crestwood Parkside neighborhood of Chesapeake within the Lake Drummond 039 voting precinct. The current voting location for 72 affected Crestwood homes is Drummond Masonic Lodge number 178 at 509 George Washington Highway North. approximately six miles and in a different zip code from my home. My home is separated from the rest of Lake Drummond Precinct by an industrial park, the southern branch of the Elizabeth River, and Shipyard Road 041 Precinct. To vote in person, I must leave my neighborhood and cross the I-64 high-rise bridge to George Washington Highway. And if you don't know, that is quite a hike. The rest of Crestwood, my neighborhood, votes at Crestwood Middle School, which is less than five blocks from my home. My area of Crestwood at Parkside is in Congressional District 02, while the rest of Crestwood is in Congressional District 03. Crestwood should be kept in one district so that our community issues can be addressed with one representative voice. This section of Crestwood was placed in Lake Drummond at great inconvenience to me and in violation of Virginia code requiring the precincts to be continuous. Before the 2021 redistricting, my home was in Crestwood Precinct 5. Previously, localities were responsible to prevent guideline violations, but it appears Chesapeake did not in this case. I desire relief by returning my home and all affected homes from the Lake Drummond Precinct to the Crestwood Precinct, and I'm asking City Council for a resolution supporting this so that the city can help us fix this outrageous offense. Thank you so much. My letter to Dr. King is not included in the envelope because she already has it. Thank you so much.

Adam Billet, speaking on voting precincts, followed by Tim Ruth.

Hello, my name's Adam Billet. Good evening, everyone. I live at 1227 Lake Point Drive in Greenbrier. I was asked to look into this matter by Tim Ruth, the Civic League president at Crestwood at Parkside, and I'd like to tell you what I found. So there's a packet that's being given to you, and the highlighted portion of that has on page four links to all of the things I'll be talking about. links reference the city of chesapeake website references to the virginia state code and the virginia redistricting commission the commission is required to comply with virginia code as shown in part one redistricting guidelines and criteria of note every electoral district shall be composed of contiguous and compact territory B1, districts shall be drawn to preserve communities of interest. And B2, with no district contiguous only by connections by water running downstream or upriver. Part two references the specific parts of code that the commission is required to comply with. And part three is the commission rule explaining how the court must declare a district unlawful or unconstitutional so that a remedy can be obtained. The next two maps in your packet, I don't have time to talk about, but they're from 2016 before all of this happened. The next document is a timeline. On January 8th, 2019, a comprehensive reevaluation of all precincts was presented to city council in special session. Map three shows the new Lake Drummond precinct that was expanded and does not cross the southern branch of the Elizabeth River. Map four is the same map in color so you can see the water. The new precincts were adopted, and this redistricting was by order of the Supreme Court of the United States, which I don't have time to get into. The 2020 census was completed on October 15, 2020. A constitutional amendment establishing the Virginia Redistricting Commission was on November 4. The commission is supposed to perform the required redistricting after each census, but it deadlocked on October 8, 2021, and special masters were called in to draw the maps. Their report to the Supreme Court of Virginia is on the timeline page. The link is. And it was given on December 27, 2021, and it states the districts are all contiguous, which is clearly not the case. The redistricting was passed by the Supreme Court of Virginia on the next day, so they had no time to look at these maps. Map 5 is the new Crestwood 5 precinct after the 2021 redistricting. Please notice that the Crestwood community is no longer in the Crestwood precinct. Map 6 shows the 72 houses in Crestwood at Parkside that are now in the Lake Drummond precinct. Map 7 shows the portion of Lake Drummond precinct in Crestwood at Parkside superimposed on the Crestwood map, and you can see it's clearly not attached to Lake Drummond. Finally, Map 8 is the New Lake Drummond Precinct with a bridge of nothing to the Crestwood Parkside Community of Interest crossing the Elizabeth River and an industrial park.

And there's more, but my time is up.

Thank you, sir.

Tim Ruth, speaking on voting precincts, followed by Vic Nichols.

Hold on.

Good afternoon, mayor and city council members. I, Timothy Ruth, resident of 4815 Bainbridge Boulevard, Chesapeake and president of Crestwood at Parkside League and a citizen of the Crestwood community would like to speak today on behalf of the 72 disposition members of my community. about the improper reassignment of their voting precinct. Let me frame it this way. Your child at age 10 is a student at Crestwood Elementary, where they walk to and from school in 10 minutes. Your child is now reassigned to Grassfield Elementary. Now that casual walk to school, which is located 5.2 miles outside the community, takes an hour and a half, an hour and 51 minutes to walk, and 26 minutes to bicycle. This would be unacceptable to any parent of a 10-year-old child. So why would it make sense to move a portion of a community with all residents residing under the same zip code to be improperly moved to vote? We have the right to vote in person on election day and a voting location near our homes. So what was the goal? We have several senior citizens in our community that now must leave their community and drive six miles away to their newly assigned voting precinct 39, Lake Drummond, to cast a vote. They have voted at the Crestwood Middle School precinct five for years and did not want or ask to be moved. This change in 2021 was not one of the people. It was most likely unlawful. Our Crestwood community had no one representing them on this issue, but we, the Crestwood Civic League at Parkside and our civic leagues, are here today representing them and want this decision reversed and return all Crestwood citizens to Precinct 5 as previously assigned. You have heard today from a few of our voting citizens that have been reassigned, but not at their request to a new precinct. I have a signed joint letter from about 20 residents who wish to be returned to the Crestwood Precinct, and I have presented them to you. There are several other residents here today that agree with relocating them back to their original polling location. This is something that should be done immediately. All logic goes to a mistake that was made in realigning the voting precinct and they need to be returned to the Crestwood precinct five voting location. I would now like to present a resolution that would help us correct this injustice. I read into record. Whereas the community, the Chesapeake community of interest known as Crestwood at Parkside has been improperly subdivided so that 72 homes have been removed from Crestwood precinct five congressional district three and placed in the lake drumming precinct 39 congressional district two. And whereas these involved homes are improperly separated from the lake drumming precinct in a non-continuous manner by the Southern branch of Elizabeth river. And whereas the involved residents were not notified prior to these changes that occurred redistricting 2021. so that those affected could provide input into their choice of voting location, and whereas those affected have suffered severe inconvenience in their ability to vote in person on election day as in their right. Resolved, the Chesapeake City Council declares that the involved area of Crestwood at Parkside, currently in the Lake Drummond Precinct 39, should be returned to the Crestwood Precinct 5. Thank you. Thank you.

Dick Nichols, Affairs of the City.

One, cannabis stores buffer is less than .2 of a mile away. There's nothing on level two home occupations or churches. Is this going to be on our legislative liaison's docket in December? Jarman and Greenbrier and the state extension for the on-ramp 64 West. Have y'all done anything about it? Because Costco is going to be a bust if you don't. One PD's IG discovered the flock contract lets the company retain data for five years and use it for any purpose in flock sole discretion. Do any ALPRs in this city in the contract violate the state's law on data retainment, yes or no? Did the city sign a legal agreement of any kind that allows use of the data for any purpose in flock sole discretion? Or did you even look into it? because that is a violation of law. Now, you can also ban data centers. Here's an example. Virginia code gives localities the power to adopt such measures as it deems expedient to scare the health, safety, and general welfare of their residents. For example, page 13 of the cannabis session handout. several legislators felt localities already had sufficient authority to enact a ban on gas powered leaf blowers here's how they did it under the police powers delegated to them in the virginia code alexandria asked delegate elizabeth bennett parker to request an opinion from then a.g mayores and on 8 12 24 mayores replied with a letter confirming the city had authority to to ban gas powered leaf blower simply by amending its noise ordinance even though it is not a Dillon rule powered specific item. So they did that in a way that the prohibition will take effect on November 17th. Now, Arlington several months ago amended its noise ordinance to do the exact same thing. You could pull the exact same stunt with data centers. because they're allowing other places to do it. And look what Arlington and look what Alexandria did, even though it is not specifically in the code. Y'all need to be a little bit slyer. You know, guys, this is what we pay you for. I'm working for free. Come on, guys, if I can find loopholes like this, you guys should be able to. We don't want data centers. That is obvious. How about doing something for us? Thank you.

Catherine Ennius, speaking on public safety concern, followed by Willie Graves.

Good evening. My name is Catherine Aninos and I work at the Wawa on Woodlake Drive. I'm here because a large vehicle gatherings on Friday and Saturday nights are creating serious safety and access problems for businesses in our area. The situation has become so severe that for our safety, corporate has now has us closing from midnight to 3 a.m. Even when our entrances are physically blocked, drivers have attempted to go around or through the barriers. An employee was nearly struck while securing the entrance, and our delivery truck has been blocked from getting through. If a delivery truck cannot get through, my concern is what could happen if an ambulance, fire engine, or police vehicle needs immediate access. I want to be clear, I'm not criticizing our law enforcement officers. I have seen them responding to these gatherings. to what they can. However, this has become a much larger problem that requires coordinated response from the city. Businesses are already closing. Employees are being placed in danger. Deliveries are being blocked. We should not wait for someone to be seriously injured or for an emergency vehicle to be delayed before taking action. I am asking the city to coordinate with law enforcement, fire rescue, and effective businesses to address this late night activity and ensure that emergency access remains clear. We need more than a temporary closure and individual responses night after night. We need a coordination plan that protects employees, customers, businesses, and first responders. Please help ensure that when an ambulance, fire engine, police vehicles, delivery trucks, employees need access and the way is clear. Let's act before there's a tragedy and not after one. Thank you for your time and your listening.

Willie Graves, followed by Brian Madden.

Good evening, Mayor and members of the City Council. My name is Willie Graves, 4301 Columbus Avenue in the Western Branch section. I want to start off with a simple question. What does the public facility manual mean to the City of Chesapeake? It is not a list of ideas, it is your rule book. It is the law that was written to protect property owners like me from getting boxed in by new construction. I'm here today because the planning department approved a waiver for this new development. That waiver let a builder skip building a required street, Stub Street, to my 1.8 acre property. Your city code section 8.1K is very clear. It says that the Stub Street shall be provided to connect to neighboring properties. The code uses the word shall. That means it is a must. It is a law, not an option. The planning department approved this waiver by claiming that my 1.8 acre property has another way out near Columbus Avenue. Please look at the handout I gave you. Look at the photo of the gravel driveway. This is my paved driveway. This only serves my primary residence. Look at the red line. That is the end of Columbus Avenue. It runs dead into there. It runs dead into my private driveway. It does not reach the 1.8 acre lot. The city is literally trying to use my private driveway as an excuse to landlock my other property. That is not legal access. Director Tate claims in his paperwork that following the rules, your rules, will cost the builder $120,000 to construct the street, plus the loss of a lot worth $200,000. He is asking you to approve $320,000 shortcut for this developer. Please look at the concept plan I attached. Well, not attached, it's in the folder. My plans prove that they can build the required street and keep their lots. They are not losing anything. Now let's talk about what I lose. My concept plan for my 1.8 acres includes five lots. Director Tate just went on public record valuing the lots at $200,000 each. If you're approving this waiver and the landlock of my property, you're intentionally destroying $1 million worth of my property's value. I see the city attorney over there. And I'm sure you understand the legal liability of the city violating its own binding code to protect a developer's profit while causing a $1 million financial loss to a private citizen. I've been reaching out to the city for months. And the only person I've talked to is Mr. Smith. And I'm being ignored, so I'm standing at this podium today to try to resolve this with you right here, rather than being forced to escalate it to a deeper legal dispute.

Brian Madden Tidewater Express Inc requesting double advertising Good evening Mary West And members of council my name is Brian Madden. I'm here tonight representing Tidewater Express regarding rezoning application NREZ2025-023. I respectfully request your approval for concurrent advertising so this project can maintain its critical development timeline. For the past 10 months, we've been working diligently with the city planning staff to resolve all outstanding items. And we have formally locked in and notarized our proffer statement. The negative part of that, unfortunately, is it was a 10-month project, which is currently putting a bit of strain on our timeline with the developer. Because this the application is mature and the proffers are finalized Granting double advertising tonight will allow us to move seamlessly forward with our construction and maintain a good relationship with our developer I Do really appreciate your time. I'll try to keep it as brief as possible appreciate your time and consideration this evening Thank you all very much.

Thank you

Ozan Duran, representing CELF, speaking on proposed tax rate on data centers.

Good evening, Council. My name is Ozan Duran. I live at 1125 Lilac Avenue, Chesapeake, Virginia. I learned recently that the city is proposing a 2% tax on data center equipment. Northern Virginia, where data centers are flourishing, has a tax rate over 4%, which is what Chesapeake residents that are paying their fair share on their personal property taxes pay. That is the case for Loudoun County. So that sounds like a giveaway to data centers. An incentive. The city follows what council asks. A 2% tax rate sounds like an incentive to me. Are we even trying to discourage data centers? This only sends one message. Please come here. Tax their equipment at the full rate. This is not real estate tax. This is the data center server tax just to make sure that we are both on the same page. Tax their equipment at the full rate. Our residents shouldn't be paying more on their property than data centers on there. On a separate note of everyone paying their fair share, homeowners are more burdened than ever with real estate evaluations negatively affecting most people. I recently learned about a program called CHAP in Charlottesville. This is a grant-based program that for owners of only one home, the city would give back around $1,000 to $2,500 back annually. to reduce their effective real estate tax rate. There are many opportunities for this body to help the average man do so. Thank you.

Markela Moore, speaking on speed limits in business and residential districts, followed by Rosalynn Wooling.

Good evening. My name is Markela Moore, and I live in the Washington borough. I am here tonight to follow up on the June 16th council meeting. During the review of the conditional use permit for Bedford contractor storage, there was a lot of discussion about traffic, the narrow street, and the 35 mile per hour speed limit. Council Member Bunn questioned if the speed limit could be lowered to 25 miles per hour. I believe the answer is yes. Based on the information being circulated, it is my understanding that 25 miles per hour in a business or residential district is the law. Of course, this would need the city attorney's review, But the statutory speed limit in a business or residential district based on the state code 46.2-874 is 25 miles per hour. The code is very clear. There is, however, one exception as noted in your handout. It pertains to roads with four or more lanes and had posted speed limits prior to 2005. Otherwise, effective in 2005 when this code was adopted, the speed limit in business and residential districts is 25 miles per hour. City code section 74-443 subsection A6 is in compliance with state code. City code section C allows for a study, but only when the current speed limit is the one set forth in subsection A6, which is 25 miles per hour. I know you were to get a follow-up report on this and regrets if I'm duplicating information already received. Haven't said that sometimes you know their discussions that go on in council and you're gonna get follow-up reports And if it's not too much to ask and not being too personal if those reports could perhaps be posted on City Council's web page I Could have probably saved you all a bunch of time tonight. All right.

Thank you Thank you Rosalyn wooling speaking on vacant properties I

Good evening, mayor and members of city council. My name is Rosalynn Woolling, and I reside at 320 Keith Court in Chesapeake, Virginia. And this is my second time in 2026 coming before the city council to talk about two vacant properties that are on our block. My neighbor Courtney is here. And Courtney is a new member, a new neighbor of ours, as well as a bunch of other neighbors that I do have. And one property next to Courtney's, I was here in 2014, and the city tore the property down. It was abandoned. And that property has since set vacant since that time. There is a house that's on the corner of Keith Court that's been vacant. I can't even tell you how many years it's been vacant. But they are real eyesores. We're currently having the roads repaved. And they're going to look nice. But we need to have those properties addressed. Right now, the grass and the trees are overgrown on both properties. And we'd like to have someone come out and either deal with the homeowners, the property owners, either sell them or do something because they just really look bad. And no one wants a missing tooth. And that's what I kind of consider these two properties on our block to be missing. And they just really look bad. It's bad for the neighbor. And it's time for a change. It's time for a change. Thank you.

Did you provide the address? If you did, I missed it. Your address.

I'm 320 Keith Court, like a man's name. Thank you. You're welcome.

That concludes the speakers.

So just to speakers who express issues like Ms. Moore's and the concern about Wawa and the lot concerns, Mr. Manager, his staff usually reviews these these requests at their staff meeting probably tomorrow morning and we'll address accordingly. And what I don't think you can address would be the one that several people spoke about, which is obviously their voting changes. And I think, first of all, I don't think anybody on this council who would disagree that you don't it is very inconvenient you want to vote where you've been voting and you want to vote where for the same people but the question i guess is from my perspective and i'm sure other staff members i mean other council members is what authority we have and so before i ask council members to to weigh in i'm going to ask miss lindley if you will address uh have a response to the citizens who are making these requests for changing their voting precincts and who they are voting for.

Don't ask them who they're voting for.

No, I mean in terms of office. Yeah, sorry.

So the speakers tonight correctly identified that there was a redistricting last done actually by the Virginia Supreme Court in 2021. And those, when I say redistricting, that is a statewide process where they identify congressional districts within Virginia. And typically, the statewide redistricting process is done by a bipartisan commission of legislators and citizens. And then they agree, these are going to be our congressional districts in Virginia. However, if that commission is deadlocked, it goes to the Virginia Supreme Court. That's what happened in 2021. All the people on that committee could not agree to where the congressional districts would be at the state level. So it went to the Virginia Supreme Court. And they created these congressional districts in 2021. The city doesn't have a stake in that under the Virginia Constitution. It's all that state redistricting commission process that I just talked about. So when they did that in 2021, the speakers are correct. Some portions of Crestwood, I believe the Lake Drummond area went to the second congressional district. And then Crestwood Parkside went to, I believe, the third congressional district. And so what that means for the city is the state identifies those congressional districts, and then the city is bound to follow them. So we cannot move voting precincts around. So we had to create a Parkside voting precinct, the local precinct, which is just like the polling place you go to in one congressional district. And we had to create a voting precinct and its polling place in the other congressional district. So I hope that was clear. I'm trying. The long and short of it is we identified those voting precincts and polling places just because that was what the state maps gave us. And so that is where we ended up. Typically, this process happens every 10 years. So the council's ability to move voting precincts among the congressional districts, you don't have that authority. You could have a position on how they were drawn. But at this point in time, we've met with at least one of the speakers from tonight before and explained that. But that's our position. I understand the request, but these are the congressional districts that were identified. And then our obligation is to create polling places within those districts that the state has created.

So I think the question is, we can't give them what they want, obviously. So where can they go and try to get the changes that would be what they're looking for?

I would recommend state legislatures, Department of Elections, I mean, anyone more in the state level. Because the localities are not, under the Virginia Constitution, we are not part of the state redistricting process. And so we are in this situation, but we are not empowered to change the core issue.

Thank you. I understand there are a lot of frustrations. I live in an area that seems to change all the time. My representatives right across the street from me, my neighbors across the street, vote for a different set of representatives than I do on my side. So I understand the frustration. I wish we could... I'll find a way to address that. I'm not going to open this up for council discussion at this time, however, because it is citizens' comments. But if council members want to weigh in or have some other ideas during new business, we'll take it then. Okay, does that conclude?

We did have the double advertising request we need to take action on.

Honestly, I don't know. Did anybody have enough information to weigh in on the request for the double advertising?

Question?

Please.

I'm not sure whether it's to Ms. Madison or the city attorney. Isn't there a prescribed emergency necessity?

I believe he discussed the reason earlier. A 10-month? I don't recall what he said, but he did mention the emergency that they're asking.

Okay, I didn't, it didn't seem to be an emergency.

Oh, okay.

We'll ask you to come forward and get your reason for asking.

The emergency is our developer has kind of set a timeline. There you go. Oh, sorry.

It's on.

Just cut it off. Our developer set a timeline. They kind of put a plan in place. And we're having a hard time following that timeline because of the amount of time it took with us in the city to get the process rolling, for lack of a better term. So we're at a point now where we're in a crunch as far as moving the project forward with our developer and getting planning in place to get it useful, to be quite honest.

We're not trying to be uncooperative. We'd love to give you what you want. I think we have to understand from our point of view, when we do allow double advertising, it limits the public's ability to weigh in in a timely manner. So we're reluctant, unless there are really specific reasons that qualify to grant that.

If I could I would then add that that we've been working with the Sunray community who's who's touching the property They're they're in full support We appreciate that So I understand thank you anybody have any other comments on this request Seeing them.

Thank you, sir We will next go to unfinished business any council members have unfinished business at this time new businesses Is that miss Pinkerman Would you mind coming up I have a couple questions It's not about that

Good evening. I'm not going to go into the precinct thing, although I complain all the time about how local precincts are done. This obviously was done five years ago, and I wish we could fix it. But my question is, and because this is coming up on occasion, could you provide to us the cost to your office for Since last fall, every election with the 45-day early, the cost for the satellite votings.

I could get you those numbers, yes.

Okay. I know that it was ballpark $350,000 it was costing your office, I think.

Maybe total.

But anyway, if you could get that for us, please. Sure. Thank you.

You're welcome.

Thank you, Ms. Ritter. Any new business council members would like to bring up? Council Member Newlands is recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'm going to make a motion to approve the concurrent advertising for PLN REZ 2025-023. Okay. Can we have a second?

Do we have a second? Oh, I'm sorry. Mr. Jeffries?

Second.

Thank you. Any discussion? Councilman Smith, did you have a discussion?

It was something else.

Okay. I will go to this. Any other discussion? We do have a motion to grant double advertising. Any comments from planning? Well, we don't have planning here. Mr. Manager, do you have any issues that you would like to...

My only comments are, generally speaking, we reserve double advertising when planning staff is recommending approval and there's no known issues. Tonight was the first time I heard about it, and the planning's not here. I'm not sure if they're recommending approval or if there are any issues. I just want to be eyes wide open about that if they don't know.

I think, Mr. Manager, to that point, that risk will fall upon the applicant then. If there are issues and they're asking for it to be fast-tracked to try to meet their timeline, I think that that's their problem, essentially, that they may get a negative review at council if they don't get those issues worked out. So I appreciate that point, but I think the applicant needs to be aware of that, too, when they're asking for this.

Well, point.

Councilman Bond, is this recognized? Yeah, thank you. Could we give the opportunity to planning to come next week and we could bid on it next week?

I think that would be too late for the applicant is my understanding. I agree with you. It would be good to have a week to get more information, but I don't think that would fit what the applicant is asking for. Is that correct? Yeah. Ms. Witter.

Thank you. Do we know when this is even on a planning commission agenda?

October the 14th. If it was approved, it would come to Council October the 20th.

We do have a rule about asking. And the applicant is obviously complying with that, that the ask has to be made on the first meeting of a month. So he is coming at the appropriate time.

Very good. Thanks for clarifying that. Okay, we do have a motion to grant the double advertising. Council members, please prepare to vote. Please vote and record.

Motion to approve double advertising for PLN REZ 2025-023 Tidewater Express, Inc. is adopted by an 8-1 vote.

Thank you. Next, is there any more new business Council members have?

uh... but uh... councilman smith yes thank you mister mayor i want to take the crestwood community even though they are gone now and reference to coming out and sharing their concerns in reference to voting i want you all to know that i will work with you with the state legislature to see what we can do to get it approved to go back to crestwood in the near future won't be this voting season but hopefully for next time we can work that piece out and mr graze i also want to thank you for coming here speaking in person and reference to your concerns and reference to your property. That's all I would like to share.

Thank you for that, Councilman Smith. I concur with you in terms of working with our legislators. It does seem like a very inconvenient decision. Councilman Jeffries has recognized his time.

Yes, sir, Mr. Mayor. There was a question or concern raised earlier regarding one of the agenda items I wanted to share some insight with regarding the DCHS grant. Yes, sir. in an effort to reduce firearm violence and intervention within the city. That grant's going to be used to create four part-time positions who will have a dual role within the city. One will be outreach after there's been a violent crime committed, but it's also going to be a huge step forward in those positions related to any firearm that's seized within the city, which is hundreds a year. that those firearms will not have the ability to be tested in a very timely manner. And the forensic evidence that comes from those testings will be able to be linked and tied to unsolved crimes, previous violent crimes, homicides, robberies, things of that nature. So it's a huge step forward for our city. It would also lead to the discovery of straw purchases or illegally purchased firearms. So it'll be a huge return on investment for our citizens.

Really do appreciate you sharing that information. I think it's important that we understand the depths of some of these requests, and your inside knowledge of that is very helpful. So thank you for sharing that. Councilman, Vice Mayor Ritter.

Thank you. Just a reminder to those who may still be listening that on Thursday evening at 630 at the City Park, The city is hosting a 9-11 remembrance. I've had a couple people, not very many, ask why it's not on 9-11. And the decision really, if you've ever been to the one of the very moving and inspirational 9-11 morning services, very rarely do we have more than 50 people who are able to attend. So this was done to open the opportunity for the most possible people in the city to attend. It's a unity to remember that this is the eve of the day that the entire world changed. And every person that has been spoken to from the city staff to the committees that originally started the 9-11 ceremony are all in favor of doing this. It's mostly music. The mayor will be the emcee. And we do have a wonderful speaker who happens to be a survivor of the Pentagon attack who pulled people from burning offices. And an experience most of us can only surmise how difficult that must have been. His Naval Academy roommate and his best friend were both lost that day. He's a very humble man, and I think it's going to be a very moving ceremony. And I'm not sure, and we didn't even think of this when the schedule changed. But apparently, there's quite a large event on Sunday at City Park. And Friday morning and all day, there are going to be contractors there putting up tents near the memorial. And that certainly would have diminished the meaning of that morning ceremony. So for those of you here and those of you listening, hope you'll take advantage of the opportunity. Come with us. make this a serious day of remembrance of what happened not only to our nation, but how we felt right after that. There's no more time that we need unity in this country than now. And I think that this will be an inspiring opportunity to do that.

Thank you. Thank you for sharing that.

Council Member Ward? Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I do want to also express my concern about those citizens that have been transferred to a different voting district. Whatever I could do as a public citizen to help, because that's what I'll be after December. But I do want to thank you for your commitment. And sorry, we didn't know exactly what those specifics were in 2021, because it really certainly now that it's coming up and it's extremely late for this election, but I applaud you for looking at that because it's really, and there have been some other ones that have really occurred too with people being moved. from one district to the other or even from just one voting precinct to another not necessarily changing district because of the mouths or the distance from their homes uh it is an atrocity when you live um one third of a mile and now you all of a sudden move to six miles not just in that crestwood but even some in camelot uh deep creek that i have been concerned about uh with all respect i do hope that we can get something resolved and i appreciate you all that you have done to try to let us know what's going on. And it is at the state and federal level. But as a citizen and as a city, hopefully we can help you. One of the other things is I had the opportunity today to participate or at least to be present for the grand opening for the new Veterans Health Care building that We really opened today in Western Branch. And that is an awesome, awesome building, locality. We have so many veterans in our city. And now we have that facility that's open so that they don't have to go to Hampton to get those services. And now we have one on Battlefield. But this is a good thing for the Western Branch area. And I do want to commend the federal electors. Senator Warner was there. Congressman Scott was there. Congresswoman Kiggins was there. Our state legislator, Casey Carnegie, was there. I think I was the only local elected there. But I just want to commend them for what they're doing to help with health care and help with the distance. Our veterans have to travel in order to get just basic, basic lab work done. So I want to commend them for doing that. And of course, one in Battlefield is amazing, but in Western Branch, we really needed that. And in Peelsville, while that part of Chesapeake, a lot of veterans, even in just Western Branch period, including my husband, he's one of those. And now he doesn't have to go to Hampton or fight the traffic, even coming to Battlefield to get basic needs taken care of. So I just want to thank everybody who was involved in getting this facility. It's a wonderful facility. Lots of rooms for our veterans to get the health care they need. And I just want to say thank you. We've got a lot of activities going on to Virginia Symphony because we were, the mayor and I were at City Park on Saturday. And just a beautiful, beautiful rendition. There are so many great things that are going on now, especially the 250, but they gave a wonderful presentation. I say Saturday, it might have been Sunday. But it was really well done. And any time Virginia Symphony performs in our city, we appreciate what they do. I mean, the pieces were just unbelievable. The weather was good, but we had a lot of attendance. I mean, way over 1,000 people. May have been closer to 2,000 at City Park, but it was well done. And thank you, thank you, thank you. You stole my thunder, but thank you for being there.

I really do appreciate it. It was a great event. The weather was beautiful, and you're right. The crowd went all the way to the back of the park there. The park is always a lovely place, and that hour and a half of beautiful music and camaraderie. And I guess the cool thing is you bring in your own chair and your own stuff, so it's all nice out. All right, I think that does conclude our new business. I'm going to close our meeting by asking Councilman Jeffries to do the benediction.

Thank you, Mayor. Lord, thank you for guiding our deliberations this evening as we leave this chamber, keeping our hearts the memory of those lost on September 11th and the courage shown that day and the years since by so many who serve and protect our communities. Grant safe travels home to all gathered here, and give us strength and good judgment as we carry the work of this meeting forward into the days ahead. Watch over our city, our first responders, and our nation. Amen.

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