Cc Meeting - Regular Meeting

Thank you. Yes, he just called.

can you hear me okay all right the time is now 435 and I'll call the meeting to order 535 excuse me and we'll call the call the work session meeting to order. Please turn off your cell phones. And it doesn't show a roll call, but we usually do a roll call. So, Dr. Johnson? Absent. Mr. Kitchen? Present. Ms. Banks? Present. Ms. Copeland?

Ms. Copeland? Present.

Mr. McElmore by whatsapp. Okay and Mr. Grizzard. All right. All right. We have a motion to go into closed session.

I move that the City Council of Franklin, Virginia convene to close. I move that the City Council of Franklin, Virginia convene to a closed meeting pursuant to Virginia Code Section 2.2-3711A-1 for the purposes of real estate, legal matters, and appointments.

Second.

I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Hearing none, I'll take the vote. Mr. Kitchen? Aye. all right motion carried and i'm going to ask everybody to step out and we're going to start with um mr heck okay

Pursuant to the requirements of Virginia Code Section 2.2-3712, I move that the City Council of Franklin, Virginia reconvene in open meeting.

I have a motion.

Second.

I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All right. I'll take the vote. Start with Dr. Johnson.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye. Aye.

Aye. Ms. McElmore? Aye. And aye. Motion carries. All right, we'll do the certification.

I move that each council member certify that to the best of his or her knowledge, one, only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, and two, only six public business matters as were identified in the motion by which the closed meeting was convened were heard, discussed, or considered in the closed meeting just concluded.

OK. motion certification sorry i certify certified i certify i certify mr mcmahon and i certified thank you very much we got you thank you all right um moving forward and we have the audit report excuse me auditor's report

hi I'm Jeff the land finance director and I'd like to introduce you to Robin Jones she's a our lead auditor for our audit for the fiscal year so I'll let her speak

Good afternoon. How's everyone? Glad to be here and glad that we are now on a track, it looks like, to begin the audit. And Jeff, he said he's gotten some new personnel. and they've worked hard to get caught up and that I will be getting numbers very soon to start on the audit. And we're standing by to get going on it. So that's pretty much where we stand right now.

So we're ready to start.

We are ready to start when we get the numbers. Yeah.

And then as soon as that was done, you do not around it right into the right.

Right. At the same time, we're collecting information for Michael. At the same time we're collecting information for 25, we're also gathering that same information for 26. So we're going to roll right into the 26. Okay.

All right. What is the timeframe for 25?

Okay, normally we get this, okay, let's pretend that we were two years ago or back when we were on schedule. We would normally get the information mid-September because we have accruals to make, but the accruals should be done for 25, which are things that extend past the year end. from we'd normally get information in september and we would have the information by usually november 1st so what is that a month and a half okay so a month and a half to two months to get to get the 25 under done okay and then i'm gonna i'm gonna say if when we get that 25 done you're going to be in november and you're going to be in the holidays so i really don't know that the 26 won't be after the holidays um because it's just because we're also doing other odd governmental audits that are on schedule so we have to fit nam fit dub two of these in right in that whole schedule so everything's falling at the same time yeah

All right.

But I have faith in Jeff. Like I said, he was like fighting this huge grizzly bear when he came on. It was a lot to catch up on.

Like drinking from a water hose, wasn't it?

Yeah, it's pretty, pretty intense job and a massive job.

Fire hose, fire hose.

I'm sorry to come back behind, you know, so much turnover and so much just nobody. Everybody was learning new things and.

It's a lot.

Yeah, it was a lot.

It's going to be a lot. Any questions from council? All right. Rob, thank you for coming. All right.

Thank you for having me.

Okay, I'm sorry, question from the, we have one council member on audio.

Oh, on the audio. Oh yes, I've done this audit previously, yes, I have. Yep.

All right, anything else? Okay. Robin, again, thank you, Jeff. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Yes. All right. Chris Tan from, oh, I'm sorry, Jeremy. Jeremy Roten from the Food Bank. All right.

Make sure everybody has their handouts first. Yes. Yes.

Yes, sir.

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. We're in open session and work session.

Open work session. Open work session.

Yes, sir. Okay. Thank you. All right. We're getting ready to do food bank. It's rolling out. It's the last one for work session.

All righty then. So, yeah, first of all, I do want to thank you guys for having us here tonight to be able to talk about the work that we. The microphone. Oh, is the mic. Here we go. Good. All right. So I do want to apologize that our president and CEO, Chris Tan, wanted to be here tonight. Unfortunately, he was unable to break away from a commitment that he had in Richmond. My name is Jeremy Rodden. I am our director of community engagement for the Food Bank of Southeastern Virginia Eastern Shore. Thanks for giving us a few minutes tonight to talk about our work right here in Franklin. I do want to start out by making it very clear that I am not coming here tonight with any type of ask. Instead, we really think it's very important that Franklin's elected leaders know both the investment the food bank has made in the community and what that investment is accomplishing for your residents and the level of need that we're continuing to see. Almost four years ago now in September of 2022, the food bank opened our Western Tidewater branch right here in Franklin. Establishing that facility represented a multi-million dollar investment in creating a permanent food bank presence in Western Tidewater. It was a significant commitment for our organization, but it was also a very intentional one. OUR SERVICE AREA STRETCHES ACROSS 11 CITIES AND COUNTIES FROM VIRGINIA BEACH AND CHESAPEAKE ALL THE WAY UP TO THE EASTERN SHORE TO THE BORDER OF MARYLAND AND THEN OF COURSE WESTERN TIDE WATER OUT HERE INCLUDING SUSSEX SOUTH HAMPTON AS WELL AS THE CITY OF FRANKLIN WE RECOGNIZED THAT IF WE WERE GOING TO ADEQUATELY SERVE THE CITY OF FRANKLIN AND THE SURROUNDING COMMUNITIES WE NEEDED PERMANENT INFRASTRUCTURE HERE so we put down roots right here in franklin because we needed to be closer to the people that we serve closer to our partner agencies and better position mood food in this part of our region and nearly four years later we can begin to see just how much that investment has changed our ability to serve this community if you look towards the bottom of the page on the handout that i gave you you'll see some numbers that really help put it in perspective feeding america estimates that approximately 1 240 franklin residents are experiencing food insecurity One number that really stands out, of course, is the food insecurity rate of 30.4% amongst children. Put that more simply, one in three children is facing food insecurity. It's important to understand when we talk about food insecurity, we don't mean that they have no food at all, nothing to eat. We talk about households that don't consistently have reliable access to enough nutritious food. That can mean one parent stretching groceries to the next paycheck. It can mean choosing between food and another household expense. It can mean families relying on charitable food assistance to help close the gap. Those 1,240 neighbors are why having strong food access infrastructure right here matters. uh now i'd ask you to look at the big large graph right in the middle there the one showing the pounds of food distributed in franklin since our fiscal year of 2021 there's a great story in that graph and you could see in fy21 before we opened the facility in western tidewater in franklin our distribute distribution here in the city was a fraction of what it is today we opened our branch in 2022 and in the years since we've been able to dramatically increase the amount of food served to franklin residents uh distribution accelerated significantly through fy24 and today we're distributing several times the amount of food in franklin that we were just five years ago i don't want to suggest that the building was the only thing that caused that growth it wasn't comes from a combination of the branch the network of community organizations partner agencies doing the work alongside us our direct distribution programs our donors our volunteers and the tremendous amount of food that goes through our system but having that permanent infrastructure right here in franklin gives the network the greater capacity to serve this region and that's exactly why what that investment was intended to accomplish another number that you'll really stand out if you look along that big chart on the bottom there you'll see all 11 cities and counties that we serve based on the number of meals we serve per PERSON FACING FOOD INSECURITY. FEEDING AMERICA, OUR NATIONAL PARENT ORGANIZATION, THEY TARGET WE SHOULD BE HITTING 82.8 MEALS PER FOOD INSECURED RESIDENT IN THE MUNICIPALITIES WE SERVE. NOW, WE HIT THAT IN ALL 11 OF OUR FACILITIES OR OF OUR MUNICIPALITIES, BUT IF YOU LOOK AT FRANKLIN, YOU'LL SEE THAT IT'S ACTUALLY ALMOST 500 MEALS FOR EVERY FOOD INSECURED RESIDENT SERVED RIGHT HERE IN THE CITY OF FRANKLIN. SO IT'S REALLY NOT CLOSE AT ALL. IF YOU LOOK AT THE SECOND ONE, IT'S ABOUT HALF OF THAT AT ACOMAC COUNTY. So, but it's important to interpret that number the right way. It doesn't mean that we've solved hunger in Franklin. You know, we know that. You know, the fact that we still have one in three children facing food insecurity means it's not solved, but it does tell us that the food access network that we've built here is working, and it's allowing us to get food to people. Food's getting to the community through that facility, the partner agencies and programs, and it's getting to the neighbors who need it. The thing that we're most proud of, though, really, is when you look to the pie chart on the right side of the page, you'll see that almost half of the food that we distribute in the city of Franklin is produce. And then you'll see another 15 percent is protein. So when you put them together nearly two thirds of the food that we distribute in the city of Franklin is either produce or protein. It's really important because as we know, hunger and health are deeply connected. Our goal isn't simply to just provide calories for people. We want families to have access to foods that contribute to good nutrition and good long-term health. So when we talk about the growth of our work here in Franklin, we're not simply talking about moving pounds through a warehouse. We're actually talking about increasing access to nutritious food. So I wanna close with where we started. We're not here tonight to ask council for anything. We're here because we just believe you should know the resource that exists in your community and what's being done on the half of the folks that you represent. In 2022, we made a multimillion dollar commitment to establish a permanent presence. And today with nearly 1,300 Franklin residents facing food insecurity, we're distributing several times the amount of food that we were five years ago. And nearly two-thirds of that is fresh produce or protein. And we're proud of those results. We're proud to have put down roots here. We're proud to work alongside the organizations throughout Franklin and Western Tidewater that make this network possible every day. And most importantly, we want you to know that the food bank is a resource for your constituents. If someone reaches out to you because they're struggling to put food on the table, if a community organization comes to you because they're seeing an increased need, if there's any opportunity where you think the food bank can be helpful, we want you to know who we are and that we're here. The Western Tidewater Branch isn't just a building in Franklin. It represents a long-term commitment to Franklin and the people who call this community home. Thank you for allowing me to share a little bit about that commitment with you tonight, and thank you guys for everything that you do in service to our community.

Thank you. I have a couple questions, but I'm going to refer to Dr. Johnson who worked so hard to get the food bank to come to Franklin. Did you want to make a comment?

I would just like to say I'm proud of the work that the food bank has developed and Terry was a big part of that as well. But we still need to move forward for access because there's still food insecurity in the area. And hopefully at some point we can get the buses back, the food buses that we had back in operation now that COVID is over to get to more localities where individuals do not have transportation. That's one of the things that Dr. Jones Getting everything approved through council and getting federal funds as well. But it started from a thought, an idea, and look what it is now. So basically, it just shows once you strive to do something, it can be successful.

absolutely i think it's something you could be very proud of i know you are um and for sure and thank you very very much mr kitchen anything thank you sir thank you thank you terry it's definitely a blessing to our community thank you thank you you know i i think terry's sitting there in the background but i think i like to think that terry is a big part of why the the food bank has been so successful here. She engages so many groups. And I think it's important to realize that because it, and maybe I'm reading this wrong. These are 500, 494 meals. They didn't all go to Franklin city residents. They're people from South Hampton, or is it just for Franklin people?

This is just what was served within the city of Franklin. Now that, now that's, we bake, Yeah, the data we track is based on where the food was picked up. So if somebody were to come in from, say, Southampton into Terry's facility, that would go towards the Franklin number. So yes, we do. And of course, looking at it from a regional perspective, we know that it's also increased what we've been able to do in Suffolk and what we've been able to do in Isle of Wight and Southampton and Sussex. So having that baseline here, especially for our partner agencies and our neighbors, to not have to try to go all the way to Norfolk

to to get resources and stuff so yeah that but yes it would have been people that may have come in from outside even north carolina um we're 13 miles away it very likely um yeah so it's the whole region and it is um i've often thought that um that people that live in virginia beach and norfolk have the food bank and other opportunities they might not have in Franklin. And that's one of the reasons our numbers are so much higher than Norfolk or Virginia Beach.

Well, not likely. I mean, that's a very reasonable thing to say. There isn't the same network out here. And honestly, most of the people that are out here doing this work are in our network and are connected to partner agencies, whereas in more populous areas like Norfolk and Virginia Beach, we have other people that may not necessarily be directly connected to us as a partner agency, but are, like you said, you know, targeting the same need. So I definitely think that's a reasonable read on that data point for sure. Thank you.

Anything else from council?

Mr. Wright, if I could have a quick comment. Sure. So I want I do want to thank Jeremy and thank Chris Tan as well. And I know Chris couldn't be here. I did want to get a plug in for the peanut butter and jelly challenge out there. The Isle of Wight County put out a challenge to all the localities within the Hampton Roads region to bring all the peanut butter you can and all the jelly that you can. And so we're also, we're meeting that challenge. So every city, every city has agreed in the area to do that. So if anybody in Franklin wants to engage in that challenge and help us with our numbers, the other cities are stepping up. That is to donate? That's to donate peanut butter, jars of peanut butter, unopened. Mr.

Kitchen, you think you can... You know somebody that will help with that, maybe. That's right.

throughout the month of september from september 1st to the 30th september 1st to the september 30th coincidentally hunger action month which we'll address that in a minute anything from city hall mr mcmahon anything from you anything from you any comments

We will. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you for being here. Thanks. All right. I have a motion to adjourn the work session.

I make a motion. Second.

A motion and a second to end the work session. And all in favor? Yes. Thank you. Go ahead. Aye. Aye. Aye.

Aye.

And aye. All right. All right, well, everybody said aye. OK, thank you very much. And in two minutes we'll start the regular session. All right, ladies and gentlemen, call the regular meeting of the Franklin City Council for Monday, August 24th, just in order, into session, and I'll do a roll call. Dr. Johnson? Aye. Mr. Kitchen? Present. Thanks. Present. Mr. Copeland? Mr. McElmore? Present. Okay, and Mr. Griswold? Present. All right. Ladies and gentlemen, if you'll turn off your cell phones, please. And if you'll stand and join me in 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. Thank you very much. We'll start with citizens time. Felicia Hancock, you'll come forward, state your name, your address, and you have three minutes to speak. The yellow light will indicate that you down to one minute starts flashing, then it's down to 30 seconds.

All right. Can't hear you. Okay, my name is Felice Hancock. I live at 1217 Clay Street here in Franklin. And, pardon me. I have multiple disabilities. Hearing issues are plural. Epilepsy and the effects of being harassed by neighbors prior to and continuing from January 2022. And for the most part, police bias. I've succeeded in the acknowledgement of the American Disability Act of 1970.

Can you drop the microphone a little bit? Sure. Yeah.

Okay, the ADA of 1970. It's a federal law and has been acknowledged only within the past year by Franklin and Southampton County. My rights have been and continue to be ignored by Franklin City courts. The Franklin police and the court did not bother to ask or find proof before arresting me with charges after charges. In fact, the proof is that the police arrested me for trespassing on my own land. Epilepsy. The former police chief talked to me at my own home and he initiated training for his department on disabilities. This was great, but it does not create a police officer that has medical degrees. I cannot relate what happened in court nor with police due to my disabilities in spite of explaining I need accommodations. As I said, multiple disabilities. I have asked for a meeting with the city manager and the city appointed police chief some weeks back. No courtesy or reply, hence I'm here. Here with my efforts for the ADA 1970 to be more than partly recognized. This is needed in the light of a police report which lacked proper knowledge of my hearing and seizure disabilities, what that included. how accommodating that police officer who arrested me, I can praise her and her efforts as she was praising herself, in keeping me from looking at police lights. My problem is not with bright lights. It's called cataract surgery. It's not epilepsy. Cataract means my cataracts have been healed and so bright lights of a police car don't bug me now. Another provided accommodation by the said police officer was speaking loudly. Great, the neighbors could hear her, but she only made me so stressed out that I couldn't hear at all. And major cause of seizures is stress. The police officer also stated she was not a horticulturalist expert, but certainly went on telling me to do this and that with my garden, which was in progress. As a result, it is difficult for me to maintain, and I don't feel it's pretty like I planned to.

The time's up. Is it over with? Thank you very much.

All right. Thank you, sir.

And I'm sorry, I did call you Felicia instead of Felice. Thank you. All right. LaShonda Parker. I think she's at the corner of College and Clay.

Hello. Good evening. Mayor, Vice Mayor, members of council, city manager, how are you all this evening? My name is LaChonda Parker and I reside at 423 Johnson Street here in Franklin. I know the question I'm getting ready to ask you is not necessarily in your swim lane, I would say, but as it was explained to me, Everybody still answers to city council. So my question to you all tonight, as a parent who has a child at the elementary school is what is going to be done I'm asking council that I'll talk to the school board later but what is going to be done from council to rectify the problem that we have of not having a principal or an assistant principal at the elementary school this year especially considering the fact that school starts on Monday we have open house on Wednesday School starts Monday. As of now, as of now, there is no principal or assistant principal that is in the school. So I'm asking council, and I understand that you can't respond to me right here, but what is going to be done about that? And the reason that I'm bringing that to you is at the end of the day, as again, as it was explained to me, the school board is not autonomous, even though by law it is, they still answer the city council. So I want to know from you all as a citizen here, it was also explained to me that you all work for the citizens. What are you all going to do about that? THAT IS A VERY, VERY CONCERNING ISSUE FOR ME, ESPECIALLY WITH A CHILD WHO IS CURRENTLY IN SCHOOLS. FOR SOME PEOPLE, IT MAY NOT MATTER BECAUSE THEY DON'T HAVE CHILDREN THERE OR GRANDCHILDREN IN THE SYSTEM. THAT'S PERFECTLY FINE, BUT FOR ME, THAT'S NOT FINE AND IT'S NOT ACCEPTABLE. SO AS THE LEADERS OF THE CITY, AGAIN, i just want to know what's going to be done to rectify that situation because i really doubt that we're going to have someone in place before monday that's all that i have y'all thank you for your time this evening thank you very much john williford good evening good evening but yeah thank you

Good evening, Mayor, members of City Council. My name is John Williford. I reside at 300 Block of Clay Street, and I'm here tonight because I believe our community needs to have an honest conversation about the fire protection and the fire department's ability to meet the standards established by NFPA 1710. First, I want to make this clear. This is not an attack on our firefighters. Our firefighters are the people who answer the calls, run towards emergencies, enter dangerous buildings, and put their lives on the line for the community. They deserve our respect and our support. And I definitely say this because I am one in a neighboring jurisdiction. But supporting our firefighters also means making sure that they have enough people, equipment, and resources to do the job safely. NFPA 1710 provides nationally recognized performance objectives for career fire departments. Among those objectives are benchmarks for turnout and response times, including an 80-second turnout objective for fire responses and a four-minute travel time objective for first arriving engine to applicable response zones. When our department consistently cannot meet those objectives, we need to ask ourselves a very serious question. Are we providing our residents and our firefighters with the level of protection that they should reasonably expect? A fire does not wait for the next available firefighter to get off another call. A cardiac arrest does not wait for another ambulance to become available. A structure fire can become significantly more dangerous in just a few minutes, definitely with today's construction and all the belongings that are in our residences these days. Everything's made of plastics and everything like that. It's the smoke that's killing the people. It's not the actual burning. I mean, that is too, but it's more the smoke that's killing our residents. Response time matters, staffing matters, and having enough personnel on scene matters. This isn't simply about statistics on a spreadsheet, but on every response time number and a person who may be trapped inside a burning home, a child who may need medical attention or a firefighter who may be entering a dangerous structure without personnel necessary to establish or accomplish the job. I'm asking the council not to simply acknowledge that we have a problem, but to require a clear assessment of where our department currently stands and compare with NFPA 1710. I respectfully ask the council to request measurable data showing our actual response times, turnout times, staffing levels, and percentage of calls on which we are able to meet our established performance objectives. We should not wait for a tragedy to tell us that we need more firefighters. We should not ask our firefighters to accomplish a job with fewer people and fewer resources than the job requires. And we should not make the residents find out after an emergency that the resources they thought were available were not actually available. This is about prevention. It is about preparedness, and it's about protecting the public and protecting the men and women who protect us.

Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Mr. Regina Hill.

Mr. Mayor, if I may interrupt, are you assigning staff to talk to these people over their concerns, or are you just listening and letting them go?

I think I said imagine.

Okay.

No problem. No, no, take your time. Take your time. To the next.

All right, Ms. Hill.

Hi, good afternoon, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council, City Manager. I have a question. Actually, I have a statement, then I have a question. So it was brought to my attention that Councilman Johnson, you sat at tables, you sat in rooms with people that I do know, and you called me a low-life, because I moved to the city on a voucher. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm not going to argue about it, but I'm not going to argue about it.

You can't, you can't make allegations during this time.

Well, can I, can I finish? You may finish, but you can't take the obligation away because my second question was, can I meet with you and him? because when I came to this city, we gonna X him out, but when I came to this city, I didn't come to this city on a voucher. I came to this city with a business and I was caregiving on wheels and we transported y'all citizens here to Williamsburg to get jobs. And Misty from the newspaper came to my office twice to interview me. So no life is not what I am. When I came here, I met with the social service department and I went to talk to one of the ladies because I wanted to give back. I picked two citizens every month to buy groceries for. Ever since I've been here, I've been giving out of my own personal pockets, not complaining because I'm still going to do it, but what I will not stand for is defamation of character. Now, I mean, I can say it here, but what I am requesting is for you and I and him to be in a meeting because we can't do that. If we're a city that's building to come together as a whole, then that's what we have to do, come together as a whole. If I came to this city on a voucher, that still should have been classified as a low life. It should have been said, I came one way and I built another way. That's how it should have been presented. You guys have a good day. I'm going back to work.

Thank you very much. Okay. All right. I have a motion to approve the agenda. All right. Second. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Having none, Dr. Johnson?

Aye.

Aye. Aye. Aye.

Aye.

Mr. McLemore? Aye. Okay. All right, thank you. Presentation from Hunger Action Month Proclamation. Yeah.

Hunger Action Month Proclamation. Whereas hunger and poverty are issues of vital concern in Virginia where 12.7% of people face hunger in Virginia and 302,630 children do not know where their next meal will come from. And whereas everyone needs nutritious food to thrive, and in every community in America, people are working hard to provide for themselves and their families. Yet in 2024, 48 million people, one in seven including over 14 million children, one in five face insecurity in the US. That includes more than 700 children in the city of Franklin. And whereas the city of Franklin, Virginia, is committed to taking steps to combat hunger, in every part of our community and to provide additional resources that those in the southeastern Virginia need. And whereas the City of Franklin of Virginia is committed to working with the Food Bank of southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore, a member of the Feeding America nationwide network of food banks in educating people about the role and importance of food banks in addressing hunger and raising awareness of the need to develop more resources and attention to hunger issues. And whereas more than 16.1% of individuals in the city of Franklin rely on food provided by the members of the Food Bank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore annually, and whereas the members of the Food Bank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore distributed more than 22 million meals in fiscal year 2026 through its network of food pantries, food kitchens, shelters, and other community organizations, And whereas the month of September has been designated Hunger Action Month in order to bring attention to food insecurity in our communities and to enlist the public in the movement to end hunger by taking action, including volunteer shifts, social media shares, and donations to ensure every community and everybody in it has the food they need to thrive. And whereas food banks across the country, including The members of the Food Bank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore will host numerous events throughout the month of September to bring awareness and help end hunger in their local community. Now, therefore, I, Mayor Paul Kaplan, do hereby recognize September 2026 as Hunger Action Month in our city of Franklin of Virginia, and I call this observance to the attention of our citizens.

I have a motion to accept that. So moved. Motion to accept. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All right. Hearing none, I'll take the vote. Dr. Johnson?

Aye.

Aye. And aye. Mr. McElmore? Okay. We have unanimous. Can I have Mr. Roden and Terry come forward?

And if it please the council, I'd like to introduce Annette Copeland. And that is our, I call her the Swiss Army mic.

Oh, the mic? I don't need a mic, but OK. I never need it.

Okay, all the other people, because I want all the other people to know who Annette Copeland is. She is our Swiss Army knife, but our official job is a truck driver, but she does more than that. And she is kind of one of the many unsung heroes in the food bank. I wanted to sing a little bit about her today and the success you all heard Jeremy talk about. that this wonderful space right around the corner has had and the impact we've had on our citizens would never have happened without Annette. So I just wanted to take an opportunity for you all to meet her. Some of you, many of you have been in our building. Many of you have served beside us. And I thank you ever so much for that. Your leadership on that and many other things has been very, very important and will continue to be as we move forward. Jeremy, thank you for coming, and thank you for setting aside September as Hunger Action Month.

Thank you very much. You want to take a picture in front of the? The seal? The seal.

Oh, no, come on. All right.

All right.

It's on the second page. Oh, okay.

Sometimes we get to do happy things up here. all right agenda so board of equalization is our next event uh do we have the oh yes if you sleep if you'll come forward mr do you have anything to say on this or we'll let selena

so uh so mayor we have four candidates for council's consideration for the board of equalization that was put forward in your packets a little information about each one of the candidates and whatnot so it's that time of year to true up on the board of equalization so that said I was spinning it up for Selena so Selena I didn't know if you had so Selena you're bringing this forward to us is that right good evening mayor vice mayor council city manager we've submitted to you four

submissions for Board of Equalization for your review. Mr. Henry Olds, Ms. Gwen Blue, Ms. Jennifer Bernaco, and Mr. Max Gursky. Once you guys approve, then they will obtain training from Department of Taxation before they are then sworn in by the Circuit Court. Once they're sworn in and finished training, then we can work on getting those advertisements for the hearings in the fall.

OK. Any questions? These people volunteered, Selena? Oh, they volunteered.

All right. Anything else? All right. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. A motion and a second. Any further discussion? All right. We'll take a vote. Start with Dr. Johnson.

Aye.

Aye. Aye.

Aye.

Aye. And aye. All right. Thank you very much.

Thank you, guys. Have a good evening.

It's all passed. And we're on to, I guess, the city manager's section.

Mayor, we still have one item, the Utility Advisory Board disposition, if the council is so ready. Don't want to steal any of the city attorney's thunder. but I do believe from our last meeting, a big discussion was representation. And so there was a big conversation around that given the service area, you know, does it go beyond the city of Franklin? Do we include Isle of Wight service area? Do we include South Hampton and the little tiny portion of Suffolk, which still is there, believe it or not. And again, I don't want to steal any of the city attorney's thunder, but my understanding is There may be some legal challenges or legal things that might prohibit us from going beyond the geographic boundary in terms of what council's authority is in appointing folks. So with that said, I'm going to spin it up and let Kyle take it from there, if you would, Kyle.

Has everyone had a chance to look at ? I think the only big change is putting the other localities on the board.

They can be there. They can't vote. So that's pretty much the only difference. And that's by charter. That's not something that we made up. That's just the charter is limiting your ability on that. I did put two options in.

I think last time we had some questions about how we could appoint people to the board. So if you look at those two, those are the best we can do legally. So you guys can pick and choose whichever one works the best and strike out the other one.

I think what I would add, Mayor and Council, is that at the end of the day, this is really an advisory body. So all the policy actions will be done by you. So all they'll be doing is going over data, listening to things, talking to staff, doing their own research, discussing it amongst themselves, and trying to formulate something that you can take as a framework to consider policy and act on it if you so choose. So it's not really a political body per se, it's really more so advisory in nature. They'll get down into the weeds with staff and with others, and there may be other experts that we have to confer. There are other cities, as we've gone through this, effort that have localities that have utility companies as well so there may be visits or guests or teams calls that will help inform some policy discussions and so forth so it won't be just totally city staff this this will be a learning effort i think for the people that you ultimately appoint so hopefully that helps out as well so

I have a question on Section 3, the last phrase in the red, and not reside in the city. I know we talked about that. If that person doesn't reside in the city, they won't be able to vote. Is that correct? Correct. Okay. So I'd like to strike that. Okay. So they must reside in the city because no need to have the person there who can't vote on their matters.

Did you decide that we would do each ward at large?

Yeah, still have a large person, but this said that person didn't have to live in the city. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

Does have to, yeah, does, yeah.

Right. Okay. Anybody else have any comments? What's been put forward? All right. Do I have a... Can we take a motion at this time to go forward? Or do you have more research you want to do? Oh, which item was that?

So my question is, is this changing it back to basically saying that we're not going to have representation from the other localities?

Yes, because they can't vote.

Charter, yeah.

They wouldn't be.

Right, like anybody could. They can vote to consider.

Really quick.

That first one was the first addition that we had. So if you flip to page 10, that's the version we should be looking at.

So that should clear up the Section 3 issue. And it'll tell you exactly where in the project. Oh, I'm sorry. Now you'll see the options. So option A and option B for your deliberation.

Okay, I'm on page 10 of 14. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place.

Oh, I see it. I'm sorry.

Yeah option B is what Okay They can discuss and

but yeah that clarifies that part and then option b if that's what you all agree on or just include that in a motion b was we we selected our own person each ward selected their own person except the at large is that right i mean that was a and b was each person was voted on by by council yes okay And the discussion, as I remember, was that all other boards are selected by appointment, by the whole council, not by one person.

Yes, the ward member would recommend someone, and then there'd be a council would appoint by vote or approve the recommendation. I won't be.

I think everybody should.

voted on by the entire council okay right right yeah yes that we adopt a resolution of the city council of the city of Franklin establishing the utility advisory board selecting option B and the said correction that the representation of the locality can be present but not vote.

Right. Very good. Second. I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Hearing none, I'll take the vote. Dr. Johnson? Hearing none. Okay. There's a delay. Go ahead. Okay. All right. Dr. Johnson? Aye. Aye.

Aye. Aye.

Aye. And aye. All right. Motion carries 6-1. Thank you very much, Kyle. A lot of work on this. All right, keep going back and forth.

I didn't pull my agenda out. City Manager's Report.

First, I got to turn my mic on. The only thing I wanted to bring up, and we didn't have a chance from the last council meeting, but I just wanted to thank, there's so many people to thank for General Sheila Baxter's event. And I don't want to steal anybody's thunder, but I just want to make council aware that it did, staff did include the wonderful letter from General Baxter. within your agenda packet. But I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank all the city staff that came out to make sure that this great event was befitting of the general. So there were so many people there. I think we had 200 chairs out All the chairs were taken up and we still had about another 100 people out there. So it was a huge event. So everybody out there was smiling, had a wonderful time. But I'm going to be quiet because I don't want to take any of the any of the thunder there from the vice mayor, because but I want to thank you all for bringing this matter forward. This is really one of the fun parts of the job. So thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thank you. All right.

The staff did an amazing job. Parks and Rec, Police Department, Public Works, Electric Department, the sign, the person that makes the sign at Public Works did a beautiful job on that. It was, I can't say enough about it. I want to thank Vice Mayor Copeland for bringing this to the council's attention. And yeah, very much, very much. Thank you very much. And I want to say that, and I told General Baxter this, that when Ms. Copeland brought this to my attention and she started the sales pitch, I'll call it, to bring this before council, and when she said, General Sheila Baxter, I said, okay, you've said enough. I've been familiar with General Baxter for years. I've never known her, but I just, I've watched her career through the Tidewater News. Every time she's gotten a promotion or a transfer, her family made sure the Tidewater News knew about it, and I thank the Tidewater News for being there as well. and and the sales pitch didn't need to happen because because this was something that council really uh got behind and and the city got behind and we're very excited for it and being that we received a letter uh i received a letter from the general and um i'd like for uh vice mayor copeland to read it into the record

Okay, 18th of August, 2026, to the honorable Mayor Kaplan and the City Council of Franklin, Virginia, subject letter of appreciation for the honorary street designation. Dear Mayor and members of the City Council, I am deeply grateful for the extraordinary honor of the street dedication signed at the intersection of Banks, Delk, and Mariner Streets. Receiving such lasting public recognition from my hometown leadership for military and community service is an honor beyond anything I ever imagined. Master Seed, thanks to you, Mayor Kaplan, Vice Mayor Copeland, city council members, Mr. Freeman, and the entire city staff for your thoughtful planning, coordination, and flawless execution. I offer special thanks to the police, fire, parks and recreation, public works, and city manager staff. along with everyone who helped make the ceremony possible. Attendees widely praised the city's efforts to plan a truly memorable occasion. This recognition strengthens my commitment to serving our community in every way I can. I share this meaningful honor with my family, neighbors, friends, residents, and local leaders who make Franklin such a special place to call home. My family and I are grateful to everyone who made 8 August, 2026, a wonderful experience. Thank you for your leadership, your dedication to our community, and this unforgettable honor for my family and me. I am forever grateful. Sincerely, Sheila R. Baxter, Brigadier General, retired.

Thank you. Thank you so much. And again, I can't thank you enough for bringing this to our attention. Anything else from the city manager? No, sir. Okay. Council comments. And we're going to combine commissions and we'll do one time around the horn. Okay. Dr. Johnson, anything?

Yes. We had a jail board meeting. And the new commander was there. And we covered a few things. We have a water problem that we're correcting. And we're working to finish the security for the jail. But everything is moving well. And we're happy about that. We had a meeting basically, and it was virtual, but we have the federal funds to start working with the communities in the Hampton Roads area and in this area. And we are working to open up the college, the workforce office, five days a week instead of two. Five days a week. I pushed that in the budget and we got the money, federal funds for that. We added another position so individuals will be able to get jobs in the area. That's a good thing because that's needed for this area. Those are the two things, basically. And now I have a comment that I'll make. And I would ask that you can ask me questions after I finish. Please, no interruptions. Thank you. We the people would like to know the following. the news reporters, I understand that the school superintendent's contract can be terminated without cause. With his current one year salary plus benefits, I think we are looking at about $270,000. Where is this money coming from? Who else on the city council knew about this separation agreement regarding Dr. Carr? It is my understanding that my board my school board representative did not know anything about it. Does the city council understand the parameters of this lawsuit towards the city council and the board and the school board if they are terminated terminating the superintendent without cause tomorrow night. Such as, lawsuits such as racism, hostile work environment, deprivation. We're talking personnel issues? No, no, we're not. I said don't interrupt.

Well, I know what you said, but I'm still interrupting.

That's not a personnel issue. Robbery. Extortion.

Is this a matter of impending litigation? Make a pardon? A matter of impending litigation?

No, this is what individuals have been calling me about.

I just want to make sure if there's any lawsuits or impending litigation, we should talk about this in closed session as opposed to- I think you're out of order at this time. Providing any additional details.

No, I said there could be a lawsuit. I didn't say there was a lawsuit. Could be. Could be.

I think you're out of order. And I think I'll move it forward to the kitchen. Do you have anything? Yes. Yes. Yes, sir. You are, you are out of order. You are out of order. You have no gavel. I'm not.

Mr. Kitchen, do you have anything? I do. I've got three items of interest. This is not directed at anybody. I'm sorry, Dr., are you done?

No, he's not done. I'm not done. But he's out of order. So he is done. I'm not done. He is done.

I am getting calls from the community about SP Morgan.

You are out of order, sir. You are out of order, sir. You are out of order, sir. You are out of order, sir.

Without a principal and a vice principal.

You are out of order, sir. What will this be? You are going to be ejected if you don't stop. I don't want to do that. I agree that the schools are a very touchy subject, but you are out of order. You are out of order. You are out of order.

I'm not out of order, sir.

Please, Chief, come remove Councilman if he does not stop. Mr. Kitchen?

Yes. This is not directed at anyone past or present that's spoken at citizens' time. I'm going to give a report to Chief Porty, who just ducked out of the room. Over the past several weeks, there have been speakers from all corners of this room criticizing police tactics, questioning the necessity of offering backup and serving a search warrant. I'd like to say thank you, Chief, for being a real police chief, feeding your troops through dangerous and difficult times and placing your officers' safety at the forefront of your job. Thank you, sir. Mr. Freeman, two weeks ago when the server was down, And the City Hall staff was given the day off. Was any consideration or compensation given to those employers that showed up for work?

so uh that that question is a little complicated uh so the the workers really weren't given a day off they were asked to take the time to leave the building so that the i.t department could focus on doing the work with the vendor so the the folks that were in the building that depended on their job depending on answering the phone answering emails and text messages the things that that they could not do in the building. Plus that would serve to confuse the customers that came to the building. So having them in the building would inundate our IT staff. So the instructions that were passed on to the directors that were in that department is to allow them to go home and take a day to do some of their work that they could do at the house if they have the equipment or pick up their files to do that. What that did, it would allow them to continue the work there, but it would also allow the same token, the IT director to work directly with the vendor uninterrupted so that the next business day, which was Tuesday morning, they could be up and running. It was not an official day off. So some people may look at it as an official day off, but that's not an official day off. So it was one of those things that a careful balancing act, a very unusual anomaly, a server doesn't go down every day. The server that we actually had, the city got a lot of use out of and the city had it for like 12 years. And so that literally went down at end of the day on Friday. And we had to figure out all this stuff over the weekend. So I know it was very, very complex, but something had to be done over the weekend.

So can anything be done to those people that had to come to work?

So again, it was not like compensation for like a day off. It was you work from home. So it was probably no different than a telework day where they would still be working. We just had to get them out of the building so IT could do the server. Okay.

I'm gonna be a broken record and commend Vice Mayor Copeland for putting together an awesome service for Brigadier General Sheila Baxter. Amazing program for an amazing service member by an amazing vice mayor. Thank you.

That's all I have.

Thank you.

I'm going to run as a write-in candidate for mayor. No, I'm just kidding. At this point, serious consideration because change just needs to happen within our city because we cannot continue this way for our staff, for our city, for our school system. We know that there are problems. But we're going to let them handle their business, and that's all I have to say tonight. Mr. Copeland? Mr. McLemore?

Did I hear correctly, correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like Council Lady Baxter said she is going to do a run-in for me? Then she said she was joking, I think.

Okay.

Thank you for the clarification. Also, one of my concerns, I have a tendency to want to agree with Councilor Kitchin, but even more than that, the meeting tonight, I want to know when Council was consulted in regards to moving the meeting. It's been my experience that we have had meetings without the people being able to watch at home on TV. So I don't think that meetings are supposed to be canceled or moved without at least a strong pull of permission from the council. The meetings are moved without asking council, because had it not been moved, I would have been able to be there. And I like to be in council meetings. But they moved it, and the excuse was because the server was down.

And the server has really nothing to do with council.

But this is not the first time that a council meeting has been moved without consulting with the council. Yeah. Right. Yeah. without asking permission from at least a straw poll of the council. So I hope in the future, if you can decide to move a meeting, that you will have the mayor being the one in charge of the meetings. We'll take the initiative to reach out to the fellow council members

Thank you. Thank you. I don't think we, we didn't change a meeting date. We just, we did cancel a meeting. We didn't tonight was tonight is a regular meeting date. I did. So the chairman said that we have a schedule for meetings. So if you're going to cancel a meeting, I think you would at least inform council people.

I was informed. I was informed.

I was asked or informed about the situation. And I consented to being OK with.

You were too, wasn't you? I was not informed. I was told we would not have a meeting.

I was informed that of the condition, and I agree with not having a meeting.

There was four of us that didn't really need anybody else at that point. Maybe we should have advised you differently. But tonight's meeting is a regular scheduled meeting, so yeah. All right. Mr. Grizzard?

I just like to piggyback off everyone else. I really think that the honor that Vice Mayor Coakley pushed for General Baxter was great. I'm sorry I could not be there. I got stuck at work and I had to be there kind of thing. But moving forward, I agree with what everyone else is saying. We really have to get our act together and start working together as a team and doing what's best for the citizens of this community.

Thank you, sir. Next meeting is September 14th. My last comment is that to answer Dr. Johnson's question and his, where he got started, I had no knowledge of it until I saw it on the news. So none whatsoever. So there you go. And we don't discuss school situations because we don't control the schools. Thank you very much. I have a motion to adjourn. And any opposition? I'll take the vote, Dr. Johnson.

Aye. Aye. Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.