Cc Meeting - Regular Meeting

All right, ladies and gentlemen.

Ms. Banks, how are you? Good. Good. Ladies and gentlemen, call the work session meeting for Monday, June 8th to order, 5.30 p.m. We'll do a roll call. Mr. Kitchen? Present. Ms. Banks? Present. Ms. Copeland? Present. And Mr. McLemore?

Present.

Thank you very much. All right. Ladies and gentlemen, if you'll turn off your cell phones, I know mine is on.

I'm turning mine off now.

Okay. All right. And we are going to take a motion, if you will, Mr. McElmore, for closed session.

I move that the City Council of Franklin, Virginia convene and close. meeting pursuant to Code Section 2.2-3711A1 for the purpose of appointments.

All right. Do I have a motion and a second? Second. We'll have two seconds. Do I have a motion and a second? I mean, do I have a discussion on the motion? I'll take a vote. Start with Mr. Kitchen. Aye. Aye. Aye.

Aye.

And aye. All right. Ladies and gentlemen, what we're going to do is we're going to ask you to step back. We're going to call the... candidates up one at a time.

Game change of what? Thank you. Hi. I haven't seen you all day. That's all right. I don't know if I can only find you. It's not very far. Brother's keepers right there.

Do y'all know who introduced him to the council? Did you? I was the first one to introduce the Brother Keepers to the Franklin Center. They've never recognized me.

They said, hey. They said, hey.

They said, hey. No, once they got Ms. Copeland, Vice Mayor, and Bobby Cushing went and met with, what you call it? Mr. Cook-Hookman, I was just alone in council. I didn't know about you.

It ain't me, it's you. Heather, you ready? City Manager, you ready? Heather, you ready?

Okay.

We've got, I just thought about this, we've got the brothers keeping on the consent agenda, can we still?

I'm sorry?

All right.

Ladies and gentlemen, I apologize for the late start. We were interviewing school board members. It is 12 minutes after seven on June 8th. I'll call the meeting to order roll call. Dr. Johnson. Present. Mr. Kitchen. Present. Miss Banks. Present. Miss Copeland. Present. Ms. Backmore?

Present.

And Mr. Grizzard? Present. Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, if you'll turn off your cell phones, at least silence them, but please turn them off, and stand and join us if you're able for the Pledge of Allegiance. 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. Sounds good. Thank you very much. We will start with citizens' time, and my friend Mr. McLennie is first. If you will come forward and state your name and your address, and you'll have three minutes to speak.

Thank you, folks.

I'll move the mic up.

There you go. I'm here tonight to speak about the new property assessments that just came out a few weeks ago. The governor keeps talking about affordable housing. I don't know how in the world that the city of Franklin is gonna provide affordable housing with the amount of money that the city is asking for. I've got some rental property, it went up 46%. That's not counting the 30 and 40% it went up two years ago. So I just don't quite understand where the money's gonna come from. I'll tell you where I know where it's gonna come from. It's gonna come from the ones who are living in the property. And I don't understand why the city assessors that come in and do the assessment don't do some comps and look at what these houses were bought for. And I'm not talking about 15, 20 years ago. I'm talking about four or five years ago. know i've got a rental property that i paid twelve thousand dollars for about five years ago all of a sudden the city thinks it's worth over a hundred and thirty thousand dollars and all i did was put a roof and put new windows in it and painted the inside so how in the world and i know they didn't go inside i don't even know if they went around the building or not i just think they probably looked at some paperwork and decided well i think we'll just go up that amount but anyway i went and did all the i did comps on four of my properties and just bear with me a second basically four properties and basic it's four bedroom one and a half baths both of these these houses were built somewhere in the 50s late 50s early 60s maybe late 60s Anyway, in 2024, one was $58,000. This was in 2024 assessment. All of a sudden, it's gone up 39.11% to $86,200. Then I have another one, went up 26.21%. It went from $112,300 to $146,300. Another one went up 32.62% from 93,100 to 129,400. And the last one being a house that was so dilapidated that I managed some property for him. He lives in Georgia. He gave me the house because he didn't want to tear it down and it was so bad, Habitat for Humanity wouldn't even take it. They came in and looked at it and said it would cost too much to fix it or tear it down. He gave it to me just because I've been doing this rental property for years. But if the current rent on this particular one is $710, one of them, if I went up 39.11%, their rent's going up to $987 a month. Another one at $820 a month, 26.21%, it's going to go up to $1,034 a month. If I followed the city's percentage, another one, $700 a month, it would go up to $928.34. That's a 32.62%. And the final one that went up 35.27% would go from $750 to $1,014 a month. Now, I can't justify... I'm sorry, your time is up. The buzzer didn't buzz, but the timer went off. Well, well... Thank you so very much. We hear you. Well, if you hear me, do something about it. That's all I can say.

Okay. Next person, Selena Joyner. Come forward, please. Good evening. How are you?

And city council members. How are you today?

Well, name and address please.

Um, my name is Selena Joyner and I'm here tonight. Respect address, ma'am. Uh, uh, Bogart. I usually don't put, put my address out there. Sorry about that.

The street, just street name is fine.

Bogart is fine. My name is Selena Joyner and I'm here tonight to respectfully oppose the proposed 7% electric rate increase. I understand the city says this increase is needed support utility infrastructure. I'm fine on that. I support maintaining and improving the electric system. However, before asking residents to pay more, I believe that there are questions that deserve answers. For the past 15 years, I've worked for the government. When I say I work for the government, I work for the government. One thing I learned is that the cost increase the people paying, excuse me, the people paying those deserve clear explanations of supportive data, accountability, and transparency. Before moving to Franklin full-time, I had heard of all these high bills. At that time, I wasn't concerned because I didn't live here permanently, but now I do. After becoming a full-time resident, I began to understand why there was so much concern. My total electric bill was $680. Of that amount, 17 was water. $17 was water. $38 was trash. It was $625. I have a gas system in my house. I have a wood stove. I barely use electric. I am barely there. There's no way in justice where I have a $625 bill. There's no justice for that. I'm alone in that house. It's 1,700 square foot. You say, for many years, I come down here and they'll say something about installation. I'm a contractor. I put brand-new insulation, brand-new windows. I got all that in my house. And as far as justification, there's still no justification of why the electric bill is that high. By comparison, I got a friend who got a 3,500-square-foot house here in Franklin. She said nowhere near her electric bill is that high. Nowhere near. Same age of house, same installation. You can't tell me about installation. I've been a contractor for many years. When I say contractor, class A. I know what that is. My winter bills are definitely high. That's one thing I can always say, but my concerns is just please check and see what's going on with these bills. I know y'all have had many, many years that y'all come in here, but with media and all kinds of things keep coming here, evidently something still is not Operating y'all need to check the SOPs or your standard operational. However, you're doing what here someone just needs to check these bills Yes, ma'am.

If you give your address to mr. Gillespie there is deputy city manager. He'll have them check your meter Mr. I'm sorry, I've done it again Yeah Mr. Frederick boy, yeah I'm sorry Frederick William Parker jr. Two to one lamb you Lane Franklin.

Yes, sir The utility bills just went up again the fuel service charge. It was one and a half cents Grounded last time now, it's almost four cents. Yes, sir. So if you use 500 kilowatts that's $20 they add on to your bill and Now you're allowed, it doesn't say you have to raise it, okay? And it's tough for everybody with the utility bills right now, especially for people that really can't afford it, you know? So isn't there something you could do to mitigate that, to charge less? You know, it says you're allowed, it doesn't say it's mandatory. Can you negotiate with Dominion? Can you, you know, ask them to give us a break or something because of the economy? They're making plenty of money. I know they send out dividend checks all the time. to the stockholders, right? So we're a community. We're supposed to work together. Now, I got a little time. I just want to make another point. I come from a small township in Pennsylvania. We had volunteer fire, volunteer ambulance. Now, we had 8,000 residents, and we had the opportunity to pay $25 a year in case we needed an ambulance. So you got 6,000 people here. Let's say you have 6,000 customers, right? you get everybody pitching $25 for ambulance service, that's $150,000 you have in the pocket there to administer these emergency services, you know, saving some money. We gotta work together. We can't come in here all the time arguing and being criticized each other.

The city has that program. Yes, we're supposed to. The city has that same program.

Okay, so I don't know about it, so I'd like some information on that. And like I said, we're a community. We're not against anybody here. That's not gonna get nothing done. We have to work together. Nobody's perfect. Nobody is perfect. Myself included, okay? And it's okay. You can mispronounce my name. My first sergeant never got it right. Okay. All right, thanks a lot. God bless. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Renee and Keith Rose.

Did she decide to hand out this dog thing? Oh, just regard. Okay. Thank you very much. All right. Is Samara here? Ms. Green? Oh, I couldn't see you. Okay. You'll come forward with Ms. Vick if she's not here. Okay. Oh, I'm sorry. I skipped over the approval agenda. I'm sorry, thank you very much. Do I have a motion to accept the agenda?

So moved.

Second. Okay. A motion and a second. Any discussion? All right.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye. Aye.

And aye. Thank you very much. Motion carries. I'm sorry. So we have presentation.

Before we go on, would it be improper to make a motion to amend the agenda?

I'm going to retract my motion to approve the agenda.

So what do we do?

OK, so I just want to make a motion to amend the agenda. So I retracted the motion that I made.

Actually, I think you made the motion, didn't you?

No, I didn't.

OK, I thought you made the motion. All right, you were tracked.

So I'll make a motion to amend the agenda.

Okay, have a second? Second. A motion and a second. Any discussion?

I wonder what I've been before. Yeah, what have you been before? Can you add on a closed session for discussion of personnel?

All right, for discussion of personnel, we'd have to do that at the end of the meeting. All right. Take a vote. Dr. Johnson? Aye. Aye.

Aye. Aye.

Aye. Aye. It doesn't make any difference, so I'll vote aye. Okay. Now we have recognition for Mary Vick from Samantha. Samara, excuse me, I'm sorry.

All right. Good evening, Mayor Kaplan, members of city council and city manager. I am proud to share that the Franklin's Farmers Market has received the gold certification from the Virginia Farmers Market Association, which is the highest certification awarded in the state. This achievement reflects the hard work of our market manager, Mary Patterson Vick, our vendors and our parks and recreation team. Their dedication has helped create thriving market and supports local businesses and serves our community. We are grateful for this recognition and we look forward to another successful season.

Thank you very much. That's very, very good. Before you leave, you'll stand, continue. I've gotten this from the governor. um congratulating you announcing that you've been appointed to the today's appointment reflect the depth and talent and dedication that exists across our commonwealth said governor spanberger each of these leaders shares my commitment to public service and finding solutions that deliver to for communities in every region of virginia And I know they will strengthen the boards and commissions they have been appointed to. And you have been appointed to the Veteran and Defense Affairs Committee, Subcommittee of Military Advisory Council. As our Director of Parks and Recreation, we're very proud of you, proud of your accomplishments, and proud of, well, I speak personally that I'm very proud of you for all these things. And I don't know if anybody else on council would like to speak,

Yeah, I do. I just want to say that you are one of our city's beating stars. We call you Sam, Samara. I said Samara, don't you? I just want to thank you for all you do. You have been very instrumental in helping us put together our upcoming Juneteenth Cultural Celebration. And we see it every time we go down Second Avenue, the progress on the Recreation Center. And I hope that you will be present at our award meeting on the 10th. Yes, I will be there. And that's coming on Wednesday night for one. Yes. Thank you for all you've done.

So can I just say something?

You certainly may.

No, you can go back to your seat if you want to. I've just heard Sam, Samantha, Samara. So I just wanted to correct it.

And I said Samantha, and I don't know where that came from. Sam, I've known you for years. You've been Sam for years.

And nobody said anything about Ms. Searles because she's recently married.

That's true.

So I'm sure last time Ms. Searles.

Thank you very much. Many corrections of my foot and mouth. All right. Consent agenda. We have a proclamation that we'd like read. You have this one, I'm sorry. Can we have the members of the Brothers Keepers and the Ladies of Grace come forward, please? Don't be shy.

I don't know what company that means.

and community impact of the Brothers, Keepers, and the Ladies of Grace. Whereas Brothers, Keepers, and the Ladies of Grace are faith-based community organizations dedicated to strengthening individuals, families, and neighborhoods throughout the city of Franklin, South Hampton, Palo Alto County, and surrounding communities. Reverend Dr. Anthony Goodwin, and supported by devoted community leaders and volunteers, these organizations have worked tirelessly to promote responsibility and community involvement. And whereas Ladies of Grace has served as a source of inspiration, empowerment, and encouragement for women, youth, and families while promoting compassion, leadership, service, and community unity through outreach and volunteerism. And whereas together Brother Keefers and the Ladies of Grace have demonstrated a steadfast commitment to uplifting those in need, supporting educational initiatives, mentoring young people, assisting families, and collaborating with local organizations to address community challenges. Whereas the members of Brothers Keepers and Ladies of Grace exemplify the values of integrity, faith, service, leadership, and compassion, serving as role models and inspiring others to contribute to the betterment of their communities. And whereas the City of Franklin recognizes and celebrates the positive impact these organizations have made through their unwavering dedication to serve others in fostering a stronger and more connected community. Now, therefore, be it proper to proclaim that the Franklin City Council and the Mayor of the City of Franklin, Virginia, do hereby recognize and honor brothers, keepers, and ladies of grace and commitment to improving the quality of life for citizens throughout the City of Franklin and surrounding communities. Be it further proclaimed that the Franklin City Council extends a sincere appreciation and gratitude to the members, volunteers, and leadership of Brothers, Teachers, and Ladies of Grace for their continued dedication to helping others through faith, service, and community engagement. to celebrate the contribution of these organizations and their enduring commitment to building a stronger and more vibrant community for future generations. In witness of, Mayor Paul Captain affixed his signature on this eighth day of June, 2020,

Mr. Mayor, I'd just like to say it was only a few years ago

that i asked reverend goodwin to bring the uh brothers keepers down we were trying to get the redistricting done and the maps and i introduced to the franklin city council i said there's this group and they've been really doing a lot in our community and we recognize them and here you are four years later and now you're getting a proclamation congratulations well deserved

I just want to say thank you for being visible in the community. I don't think there's a community event that I've attended that the Brothers Keepers and the Women of Grace haven't been a part of, whether I see a car wash or showing up at the different events that we have. Thank you for being visible. And Pastor Goodwin, you've been just an instrument in the community for years. Since I was a little girl, my aunt loved you, loved you, loved you, loved you. And just grateful for people like you all in our community that are positive role models. for our youth, thank you.

Thank you.

Reverend Goodwin, the ladies make y'all look a whole lot better.

We are so grateful for this treasured moment. Again, we greet you in the name of Jesus, to the Honorable Mayor Paul Kaplan, to the Honorable Vice Mayor Copeland, again, to this amazing city council. I share with you that we have been recognized three times by the House of Delegates, and not once what we thought would be recognized by our own city. But today, y'all have touched our hearts. We feel honor and privilege among men to be recognized by you. We really do not do what we do for an applause, because we do it for a cause. And for that, we say thank you tonight. We appreciate, again, the opportunity to try to bring unity to this community. And we thank each of you for being a major part and a partner with us as we have labored. I'm gonna ask them to stand one more time. Amen. I want you to know tonight, words cannot convey or express our deep appreciation and thanks to you for recognizing the effort of not just some of us, but there's a lot more of us, but each and every person who have committed themselves and compassionate about making this city better. On 4th of July, we feed about 1,200 families. During Thanksgiving, we served more than 300 churches in Turkey, even not only here in Franklin, but in Hampton, Virginia, and other cities. And we want to say thank you again for being a part of this journey with us. And we are so humbled and we're so honored tonight. And may God continue to bless you. God bless you.

I want to make a, uh, something known that was an elderly aunt that was 93 years old. So when I said she loved you, loved you, loved you. I wanted to be clear. She was 93 years old.

Um, Reverend Goodwin, I it's been brought to my attention that we, that we have, we do have one mistake and we will get that corrected. We said ladies of grace instead of women. Uh, yes, we'll, we'll change that. Yes. And reprint happy moment. All right, where are we? All right, regular agenda. We'll talk about the amending the regulation if you go ahead with that.

Yes. Mr. Mayor, I'm trying to make sure I got the microphone close enough. The item before you today is really a housekeeping matter. Within a couple of years ago, council adopted a resolution and an associated policy for honorary street signs. And in looking at that policy and corresponding resolution, and further in discussing it with city attorney, it was somewhat limiting compared to a number of localities, particularly within the Hampton Roads area. uh essentially what it does is it only uh recognizes folks or honors them if they are deceased and so what we have found out in uh neighboring localities as well is that there there may be uh folks that you want to honor that are still alive and so with that said uh with the consultation of legal advice what you have before you this evening is an amended uh resolution as well as an ordinance that uh in my mind corrects that and allows council to have the opportunity which it has and the authority which it already has TO DESIGNATE HONORARY STREET SIGNS. SO ESSENTIALLY ALL IT DOES IS JUST GIVES COUNCIL, MAKES IT CLEAR, AND MAKES IT CLEAR ON BOTH, NOT ONLY THE RESOLUTION, BUT ALSO IN THE POLICY. SO IN SUMMATION, THAT'S WHAT YOU HAVE BEFORE YOU THIS EVENING.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH. DO I HAVE A MOTION?

I MOVE TO APPROVE 2026-37, AMEND RESOLUTION POLICY FOR HONORARY STREET NAMES AND RESIGNATION.

SECOND. I HAVE A MOTION AND A SECOND. ANY DISCUSSION?

i just want so we under this ordinance we will be able to name future um honorary names other streets after other people as well correct that that's that's correct it is it is a resolution but it's also a corresponding policy so the the policy and the resolution corresponding resolution both will be amended excellent all right any further discussion what will we have to do because i've been trying Yeah, give me the policy.

Okay. All right. Yeah, the procedure is set. It's just this one issue.

Yes, sir. You have to make sure that the horse is in front of the cart first. Yes, sir. So you take care of the policy and the resolution amendments first, and then you can consider an application after that fact.

Okay. Any further discussion? Being none, I'll take the vote. Dr. Johnson, should I start? Aye. and i thank you very much motion carries uh budget amendment 20 26-36 um and there'll be the franklin city public schools um item number 2026-10 um to accept the wallace grant of fifty thousand dollars i believe uh going into the school's budget um not coming from the city all right that's correct mr mayor this the schools have gotten fifty thousand dollars and it increases the spending limit to allow the uh the acceptance of the fifty thousand dollar check so it's acceptance of the money and the budget amendment all right yes sir do i have a motion for this So moved second motion. And a second, uh, any discussion, uh, being none. I'll take the vote. Dr. Johnson.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye. Aye. And I thank you very much. Motion carries 20, 26 to 38, prove the tax utility rates and fee schedules. Um, it was mentioned earlier in our, in our citizens time that we were raising 7%. uh it wasn't seven cents it was seven percent which was less than a penny um it was a about three quarters of a penny there thereabouts thereabouts um all right uh could we could you repeat that i don't think it was heard could you so the the increase in the electric rate is seven percent which is less than a penny it's it's it's point seven percent I'm sorry, 7%, not 7 cents. 7% of 11 cents, which worked out to about less than a penny. That's right, okay. Can we do these, we have to do these individually? Yes, sir, you have to vote on each one of them individually. Okay, so that annual appropriation ordinance, I have a motion for that. So moved. Second. A motion, a second. Discussion?

are being done with. Will this be the time to amend the budget? Remember, I want to suggest to give $6,000 to the electoral board.

I THINK WHAT MY DIRECTION ON THAT WAS, THAT WAS WHAT COUNCIL WANTED TO CONSIDER. I THINK YOU CAN MAKE THAT NOTATION. I JOKINGLY SAID IT WOULDN'T INVOLVE A TAX INCREASE, PER SE, BECAUSE IT WAS ONLY $6,000. BUT MY DIRECTION ON THAT, I THINK FROM COUNCIL, WAS THAT SOMETHING YOU WANTED TO CONSIDER. IF YOU FORMALLY WANTED TO INCLUDE THAT, BY ALL MEANS, YOU CAN MAKE THAT SUGGESTION AND THAT WILL BE ON RECORD.

Okay. Can we, should we vote on this and then do that? Sure. Sure. Okay. Let's vote on this then we'll do that as a separate motion. All right. No discussion. I'll take the vote. Dr. Johnson. Aye. Aye.

Aye. Nay.

Aye. And aye. All right. Motion carries. Part B is the tax rate ordinance which sets the tax at the same rate that we were last year and the year before and the year before and the year before and the year before. One point. Excuse me, $1.03. $1.03. Do I have a motion for that? So moved. Second. Motion to second. Any discussion? Being none, I'll take the vote. Dr. Johnson?

Aye.

Aye. Aye. Nay. Aye. And aye. And part C, the utility rate ordinance, which is the point of 7%, which is less than a penny. All right. Do I have a motion for that? So moved. You have a motion and a second discussion. I'll take the vote. Dr. Johnson may. Aye.

Aye. Aye. Aye.

Aye. Motion carries the fee schedule ordinance, which has been discussed. Uh, do I have a motion for that? So move second motion to second any discussion being none. We'll start the vote. Aye. Aye. Aye. Nay. Aye. And aye. Thank you very much. Now, if you want to make the motion.

I move to add an additional $6,000 to the line item for the electoral board.

Second.

Motion to second. Any discussion on this? We kind of hashed it at last meeting. I'll take the vote.

Aye.

Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. And aye. Thank you very much. Got you. Okay. Number 22, 2026-39 for the Brigadier General Sheila Baxter retired honorary street name. The cart is now behind the horse.

I move to approve 2026-39 Brigadier General Sheila Baxter retired honorary street name application. Second.

I have a motion and a second. Any discussion on this? I would like to say something. I don't think there's a person that I can think of in our community, there's many, many, many people that have been successful from our community, but to rise up to being the highest ranking black female in the United States Army is something to really be so proud of. She is part of Franklin and her family's still here and I don't think there's any opposition to this and I'll take the vote unless there's further comment.

Yeah, I just wanna say, comment, we're late because last year at the Juneteenth Cultural Celebration, we honored and recognized General Baxter as a hometown hero and indeed she deserves this.

I tend to disagree, we're not late, we're right on time.

Okay, all right, and I I will say that was a beautiful ceremony. Thank you.

Thank you.

Mr. Bear I would just like to say it's commendable that she has rose above the call of duty and We're grateful for that

I've been begging her to come back, live here, help us get on city council.

You know, the interesting thing is like most high ranking flag officers of the military, they didn't just become a general. Her, her accomplishments are across the board in so many different areas. Yes. Yes.

I would just like to say thank you, um, to her, you know, get sent to her and, uh, wherever she is just say thank you. Cause she still sews into this community, even though she's not here physically. She still donates, she still helps in different capacities. So that is awesome in itself. She may not be physically here, but she still makes contributions.

She definitely does. She is one of the contributors to this year's Juneteenth Cultural Celebration. And I recognize Sheila from when she was one of Franklin's female basketball stars. She was awesome. She was a star in Franklin.

actually i sent her i sent the family uh i don't have her email address but i sent the to miss lawyer who applied i sent an email today and said it would it was just such an honor that she was our first she was our first person to to not only raise to this rank and so forth some of her her superlatives are amazing but she's our first honorary street name and that's That's quite an honor for a small town. So, um, I, I don't know if we need to take a vote, but I'll take the, we haven't, we it's time to vote. We didn't motion. Did we? Yeah. Yeah.

Oh, we did. Yes.

Yes. Okay. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. And I unanimous. Thank you very much. City managers.

Mr. Mayor, members of council, just very briefly, I wanted to touch on a few matters of very much of interest to the council. Just included a couple of FYIs for council, just to give you an update in terms of, and I'm not going to go through and read all the details, but you have in your packet an update regarding the advisory board for coordinating utility matters. So that's just to give you an update. A lot of work's been done, but we think we have a trajectory to... to align with what council's priority is on that. So we ought to be working real hard to get you something to consider. We're going to run about attorneys first, but apparently there's a locality that we've been talking to some contacts that have been down this road before for a number of years. then additionally the city attorney update on that we've prepared a packet for your consideration and if you have any final comments just let me know by close of business on Wednesday and from that point we're going to go back and staff and we're going to huddle in terms of how to you know get that on the street in terms of the advertisement and the associated link and concerning the city attorney's position.

All right.

And then lastly, Mayor, this is a continuation of the discussion in regards to the final appointment for the CIPSA board. So as you recall for the last several council meetings, we've been trying to sort a request coming from Governor Spanberger's office in terms of making a single appointment. So I think we've got three uh three uh prospects for governor spanberger's uh um administration to consider i think it's resnick uh mr duffy as as well as uh mr ricky sykes as well and we've submitted that through the normal channels through sipsa and we're sure that's going to make it its way to uh to uh governor yeah okay and that's all i have uh council okay

all right and then you don't you have the school board calendar approved when you do that yes that that's already been approved but it's more fyi than anything else so okay it has been approved and we don't have to do anything we don't have to write on that right um all right um boards and commissions anything uh yes the um uh this coming wednesday we'll have a jail board meeting basically

and I will be announcing after the board votes on a new superintendent. All right.

Just want to congratulate Mrs. Rhonda Chambliss again for being appointed to the library board. She did inform me that she would not be at this upcoming meeting because of a prior scheduled event, but she will be starting fresh in July. So just wanted to make you all aware she has accepted and she's grateful for the opportunity.

Thank you. Nothing.

I just want to say I attended, uh, my first Hampton roads planning district commission meeting back. And it was, uh, very interesting. We were discussing, uh, lots of things that, uh, pertain to mostly the Hampton roads area, not very much to the affected Franklin, but it's good to be a part and keep up with what's going on in Hampton roads.

All right. Um, Council comments. Anything further that anybody needs to say?

Yes.

I have my first comment is basically attending the high school graduation. High school graduation. And I believe it was 82 graduates, if I'm not mistaken. And it was a good graduation. My next comment is we must continue to bring businesses to our area for tax revenue, basically, to lighten the burden of our citizens. And that's essential to bring more businesses to the area.

Yes, sir. Thank you. I couldn't agree more. This is the second meeting and I said I don't like council member comments but I'll speak anyway. I will not speak at the next meeting. Two weeks ago we had several people that expressed their discontent on two police officers, which means two police cars at a traffic stop. And last Thursday we had a traffic stop at Love's Truck Plaza and there was a second officer there. So the first officer was assaulted but not injured. So thank God for the good guys.

I just wanted to say that I was at the Franklin High School graduation as well. It was a lovely ceremony for the youth of our city. Also, I saw that the greenhouse opened up in the partnership, I think, with Virginia State University. So kudos to Franklin City Public Schools for that. And also, as far as the utility bills are concerned, that task force, the advisory, well, we're not calling it a task force. I apologize. The advisory board. please get with your ward representative. If you have an interest, we continuously receive comments and questions. So this is your opportunity if you wanna be involved to actually get involved.

I also attended the graduation and the re-opening of the greenhouse. I think they said it hadn't been opened in the last, what, 20 years? So kudos to Dr. Candice, our artist, for spearheading that event.

That's what I was told. I don't know. I want to say, first of all, congratulations to all our young graduates of Franklin High. I had the privilege of attending the commencement service of the Paul D. Camp Community College, and that was an excellent service. I wasn't able to attend the high school graduation this year, but I'm sure it was wonderful. And again, congratulations to the students. My heart is a little heavy tonight, but before I tell you about that. I just want to say that We have a ward meeting for Ward three Wednesday night at the Franklin library at five o'clock and We will have the director of Parks and Recreation air explaining to us about the programs going on as well as the progress to the new Recreation Center that's going up on Second Avenue And then I'll put the bad stuff in the middle. Then I'll end with something good. Bad stuff. I was learning that we really, really need to improve our economic development. We don't have, in Franklin, we are at a deficit for an alteration shop. We don't have a shoe store. We don't have a skating ring. We don't have dry cleaners. These are all basic businesses that any city should have. And I think that, excuse me. Yeah, I'm trying to get over some stuff. But anyhow, I think that these are some basic businesses and there really isn't an excuse why we can't do something to close these gaps. We're asking people to pay these high utility bills. We're raising taxes. And what are we offering our citizens? and I think it's up to this council to stop letting the buck get passed and we start demanding that people step up to the plate and do their job as far as economic development is concerned. We need jobs, we need businesses and it's not happening and it didn't just happen overnight. It's been like this for a while. and it's unacceptable and if nobody else will say it, Greg McLemore will say it. It's unacceptable and we need to hold people accountable who we're spending taxpayers money and we're about to fund a budget to increase money to departments who are not producing. It's not fair. That's the bad stuff. Good news. We are counting down the time to the spectacular Juneteenth cultural celebration. It is the largest, longest event we have in the city of Franklin. This is the fourth annual. I'm so honored that we are partnering with the city to bring about this event. We've got great cooperation from the city and also from the Department of Parks and Recreation. We're going to have national speakers. We're going to have, well, actually international speakers. We're going to have national recording artists. We're going to have local recording artists. We're going to have the Nat Turner tent. We're gonna have a lot of events going on for four days. And the purpose we're having that is so if you were living in Chesapeake, Suffolk, any of these cities that have a Juneteenth event, you still have an opportunity to come down to Franklin. We wanna attract people here. Just found out tonight that we're gonna have a huge vendor food vendor here, the biggest one's ever been here before is gonna be here, it's called the Big Brothers, and they're at all of the major festivals, and they're gonna be here at our Juneteenth event. So we're looking forward to having that and hope that everybody will find time to come out. It starts off on June 18th with the Reef Laying Ceremony at the Slave Cemetery, and it ends on sunday with an open air gospel service so thursday friday saturday and sunday it'll be spectacular and i hope that you all will come out and invite your friends thank you all right um two comments i want to

um piggyback on what dr johnson said about the jail board we're excited we can't talk about it but we're excited about a new potential new superintendent that we haven't voted on yet but we're hopefully will on wednesday and um that's something that doesn't affect a lot of people directly but it does affect a lot of people indirectly um uh in many ways i want to thank you again for the juneteenth celebration i know it's going to be excellent it was last year uh i was not able to the year before i was under the weather the whole four weeks unfortunately but you had beautiful weather so that was good um i want to comment about the new business that i agree with you on one and we'll disagree with you another we have we we currently have plans in place at at community development for a major um manufacturing facility that's going to go in our industrial park. We have four new businesses getting ready to break ground on Armory Drive. We have potential other new businesses that are coming that are looking very strong. We have new subdivisions coming up in the city. We have things happening here. I do agree. It would be wonderful to have a dry cleaner here. It would be wonderful to have a skating rink and some of the other things. shoe store would be nice too i think we do have a shoe store but uh at any rate um that's all i have for tonight shoe show yeah yeah um our next Our next meeting is this coming Monday night, but only for a public hearing, a special called meeting. And then our regular meeting will be June 22nd at our normal time. Uh, hopefully seven o'clock and not a five 30. I'm not sure. I don't we'll, we'll, we will post that ladies and gentlemen, if I can get a motion to adjourn.

Oh, I'm sorry. You forgot Mr. Grizzard.

Mr. Grizzard. Are you ready for the closed session?

Okay.

motion to go into motion and go into closed session. All right. I'll read that part. Yep. I moved in the city of Franklin, Virginia city council convened to a closed meeting pursuant to the Virginia code section 2.2 dash 3 7 1 1 a one to discuss the following matters. Uh, this will be for personnel personnel. Do you have, do you have a second second?

All right. Motion second. Any discussion? Being none, we will take the vote, Dr. Johnson.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye. Aye. Aye.

Aye. And aye. All right, ladies and gentlemen, we're going into closed session in this room. All right, can I have a motion to go into closed session? So moved. Second?

Second. Go ahead. Pursuant to the requirements of Virginia Code 2.2-3712, I now entertain a motion that City Council Franklin, Virginia reconvened open session with each member to first certify that to the best of each member's knowledge, one, only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements under this chapter, and two, only such public business matters as were identified in the motion by which the closed meeting was convened were heard, discussed, or considered in the meeting by the public body. Any member of the public body who believes that there was a departure from the requirements of clauses one and two shall so state to vote prior to vote indicating the substance of the departure that is in his or her judgment had taken place. The statement shall be recorded in the minutes of the public body. GREG BRUDNICKI.

We have a motion.

TODD BANDUCCI. So moved. GREG BRUDNICKI.

So moved. OK. TODD BANDUCCI. Second. GREG BRUDNICKI. All right. VOTE ON THE MOTION FIRST. DR. JOHNSON.

AYE.

AYE. AYE. STAYING. AYE. STAYING. OKAY. MOTION CARRIED OF CERTIFICATION, DR. JOHNSON.

CERTIFIED.

AYE CERTIFIED.

AYE CERTIFIED.

AYE CERTIFIED. STAYING. AYE CERTIFIED.

MOTION TO ADJOURN.

Second.

All those in favor? Aye.