Board of Supervisors - Regular Meeting

Call the 3 PM session of the March 24th, 2026 meeting of the Henry County Board of Supervisors to order. Like to welcome all of our visitors. Remind you if you want to address the board, you must sign up 7 days in advance of any of our regular meetings to be put on the agenda. The county administrator is the contact person for the board. However, the public may address the board under the agenda item matters presented by the public that will take up later uh in the meeting uh is agenda item number 20 this evening. Again, welcome everyone. Thank you for coming out and participating in uh your county government. Our first agenda item uh for uh the board's consideration is agenda item number five, the items of consent. What is the pleasure of the board?

Mr. Chairman, I make a motion to approve the items of consent. Second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All in favor? Is 6. Uh Jennifer. Agenda item number six. We'll have an update from Virginia State Senate District 7 with Senator Bill Stanley. Senator Stanley.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, it's honor to be before you today and I want to thank you, of course, every single one of you, for your service to our region, especially to Henry County. It's a tough job that you that you do every time that you serve for us. Uh, unfortunately, unfortunately, I believe that we're making it tougher for you. And I was asked and invited to come here by Supervisor Cobber a while back, and I could not make it then, but I come now um bearing news and information from Richmond. So, if you'll indulge me, and I don't mean to intrude too much on your time. However, there is much uh that was passed by the general assembly that is awaiting the governor's signature that will affect Henry County and every county that I serve in the seven senate district. We adjourned on on March 14th, Sy, and we unfortunately produced the most consequential slate of legislation for local governments in a generation. Operating under a dem democratic trifecta for the first time since 2021, lawmakers passed mandatory public sector collective bargaining, paid family and medical leave, paid sick leave, a minimum wage increase to to $15 an hour, sweeping zoning over preeemptions, historic gun uh control packaging, and dozens of other bills that impose new fiscal administrative and legal obligations on counties, cities, and towns and school boards across the Commonwealth of Virginia. Most of these alleged pieces of legislation affect us all, not just the region of Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads, or Central Virginia. Uh, Governor Abigail Spanberger has until April 13th to sign, veto, or propose amendments to over 1,200 bills that have now reached her desk. What we call the reconvene or veto session is scheduled to start on April 22nd. As you all probably are aware, we were unable to pass a budget that was reconciled by both the House of Delegates and the Virginia State Senate. There is a gulf of $2 billion between the proposals from the House and the Senate of each chamber which will not

easily be rectified and we'll go over briefly what has caused that uh that large divide in monetary spending. So therefore, we passed a resolution on the last day when we adjourned Sydney die on March 14th. uh uh asking the governor to set a special session which must be had and will be had beginning on April 23rd to resolve the budget issues and any other issues that the general assembly sees fit and that the governor can agree to. Uh because we uh adjourned without passing a banial budget and it was stalled over uh revenues from data tax center exemptions, we expect that special session to uh be lengthy. Uh we probably will be going in and out, but we must have a budget in place uh no later than July 1st for you all to be able to plan your budgets. We anticipate right now that perhaps around the Memorial Day week or a little later that we will probably be able to reconcile those two budgets between the House and the Senate. We have two very strong willed personalities on each side. Speaker Don Scott, of course, on the House side and Louise Lucas, our senator, who is a chairman of of finance and appropriations on the Senate side. There are, as I said, many issues between them. The largest one is the data center um tax rebate to give you a kind of a snapshot view of that. Uh the Virginia General Assembly in 2008, before I got there, passed a a tax benefit program to bring data centers to the Commonwealth of Virginia to be competitive with other states who were trying to also bring those data centers to the Commonwealth of Virginia by allowing certain tax concessions when it came to the equipment. That tax concession over a 2-year period adds up to about $2.4 billion. Now, Northern Virginia, the actually the the legislators who have been pushing to pull that tax exemption, Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads, they have benefited from that tax exemption, having over 40 data centers locating in

that region. Uh by one estimation, it is anticipated that yearly revenues uh for those counties for the data centers alone is over 9 billion dollars in tax revenue. When we passed that legislation in 2008 2009, what we were trying to do was actually stimulate the economy in Southside and Southwest Virginia, what they were hoping was was to have those data centers locate down here, creating both jobs and a tax base that would help us in our economic recovery from NAFTA and CAFTA, which we've been recovering for for decades. However, choosing to stay closer to federal government, most of these data centers started in Prince William County, Lowden County, Fairfax County, and those data centers have proliferated, bringing jobs and e economic revenues to those regions. However, they've not come yet to this area, but they were and they are. This board may be considering some of those. I know other counties with county um aatad county other counties have been looking at these been in negotiation with these companies bringing them here. Some of our challenges have always been that we have uh not the not the electric resources in terms of the lines ready to go the electric supply uh Dominion and Northern Virginia uh suppliers have had electric suppliers have had an advantage by the the electric lines that are already in place. We of course have some of our issues and difficulties with APCO that prevent that. The other is that we do though supply a good water supply which is needed to cool these data centers. So they've been coming down here and this was the direction they're coming only to find that the Northern Virginia legislators, the city legislators, the ones that have already benefited have put new regulations on data centers and bills that they've passed to make it almost impossible for those data centers to locate in our region. Now with them removing the the tax benefit that encouraged those data centers, we are the number one state for data centers to uh locate here and

especially in Southside and Southwest Virginia. Without those benefits, one, the renewal of those data centers as they grow out and grow old in Northern Virginia will probably not happen and our chances of bringing these data centers and that revenue here also dissipates with the passage of many of these pieces of legislation. So that is the budget shortfall in in a nutshell. There are other issues, other uh priorities which are differing between House and Senate, but we've always been able to rectify those no matter what party was in power, no matter what year it was. We have a two-year bianial budget, which of course helps you plan your budgets. Right now, I can answer you that I cannot provide you with any assurances of what that number will be or when it will occur, the state funding to the locality here in Henry. So, allow me, if you'll indulge me, just for a little bit. I um I brought a very large uh set of documents, but I tried to boil them down into something that would be manageable so you're not here all night discussing all the,200 bills that were passed. One bill that I that I sponsored based on I think was a need that you will have almost two years to determine how you would go about it is making sure that our ball fields, our recreational fields that are managed by our government will have defibrillators there, at least one for participants. This is actually a life-saving bill. Um we believe it will cost you $1,000 uh per defibrillator. Next year I'll be proposing legislation that will create a grant fund to to offset that cost. So, it is not an unfunded mandate, but I would think that's a positive for us to make sure that we're taking care of our citizens. Uh, too often we're seeing now, especially in adult softball leagues and even younger children, uh, people who are suffering from a heart attack while engaged in a sport that they love. And, you know, for every minute that you don't have someone who maybe can be hit by those battles is one minute uh less that they have a chance of living. And those things go very quickly. Within 8 to 12 minutes, without

a defibrillator um being used, someone suffering a heart attack in your ball field actually can uh the chances of them uh not being able to be resuscitated increases by threefold. So um that is one positive. I hope you wouldn't find it, but I also gave you a a bit of time in which to find a way that we can make this happen and make sure so that's not something that you'll have to comply with July 1st of this year, but perhaps next year, January of next year. One of the biggest things that you all will have to be dealing with here and unfortunately it is a major uh issue as you know in the Commonwealth of Virginia, collective bargaining was permissive. That is some counties could participate but were not forced county cities and towns. However, this year on Senate Bill 378 and House Bill uh 1263, all from Northern Virginia, they repealed our long-standing prohibition on public sector collective bargaining and replaced it now uh with uh a mandatory opt-in framework. Now, this is a mandatory statewide system. We will become the first southern state to restore public sector bargaining rights. A similar legislation was vetoed by Governor Nilin in 2025 and in 2024. What does that mean for our local governments? Well, what it means is an unfunded mandate for you and a significant one. So, if a group of your employees, and this is all state employees, and I must say that the legislators in in Richmond, while they are now putting that on you that you must have collective bargaining for all of your employees, they exempted themselves. We exempted state government from collective bargaining. And there is only one reason why cost. It would put such a burden on the current budget system that we could not handle that. But I have learned this year in my 16th year of serving in the general assembly uh not for me but for thee seems to be how they treat our counties. I am reminded that in the discussion about collective bargaining on the last day of

session, Senator Scott Serville, the sponsor of SB 378 said, "You can't take a breath. you, meaning you, the county, every county, every board of supervisors cannot take a breath unless the general assembly tells you you can, which is disgusting. It's abhorrent and unfortunately with the new uh leadership in the Senate and the House and the governor's mansion is unfortunately true. So, allow me to tell you exactly what this does as a mandate. So if a group of employee pet employees petition and vote to form bargaining units, the locality must bargain collectively in good faith over wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment. Local governing bodies no longer have the discretion like you had before on whether to participate. Existing locally designed bargaining frameworks must transition to the statewide system, which will be one unified system, a one-sizefits-all approach when any current agreement expires for those counties that had them. Health insurance and retirement benefits are excluded from mandatory uh uh bargaining subjects. It creates the public employee relations board, the perb. It's a new state entity which will be uh created with the authority to determine appropriate bargaining units, administer certifications and descertification elections, conduct hearings, promulgate regulations, and critically seek judicial enforcement of its rulings against the counties, cities, and towns, including but not limited to Henry County. Uh, PERB's membership structure does not guarantee any dedicated local government representation on the board despite the board's sweeping authority over local labor relations. Before PERB is fully operational, the Department of Labor and Industry Dole will begin the rulemaking process. So, the rulemaking process will not be with any participation of this body of government or any other county, city or town body of government. And even quite frankly once it's passed over to Dole then it will be not even with our

involvement in the general assembly. These will be administrative rules. Part of this collective bargaining which I think you need to worry about is arbitration provisions. It requires final and binding arbitration for grievances. And anytime there's a negotiation impass when I mean a negotiation impass I mean let's say the union, the Henry County uh public works union wants X, you're willing to pay Y. And then because you will not agree to X, it then goes to arbitration. They then in arbitration consider the employes financial capacity, public and priority sector wages and the overall public interest. Surville has stated that any agreement from mediation or arbitration is subject to funding. If any governing body says it lacks the money, parties must then return to the bargaining table. Not that it ends at that moment, but you must start over. I can assure you that those labor lawyers that we have in the Commonwealth of Virginia are labor lawyers for labor. I am unaware of any labor lawyer that works for or for the benefit of VA. And so that is something that we're going to have to discuss because that will cost major uh dollars to attorneys. I am a trial attorney in civil and criminal law. I do not do this kind of work. But looking at this, maybe I will change what kind of practice I participate in so that my children can go to Harvard. Uh but it is going to cost this county and every other county um enormous amounts of money. Binding arbitration imposes compensation, staffing, benefit obligations regard regardless of your fiscal constraints, which means it it creates unpredictable outcomes for balanced budget localities and will require you most definitely to raise taxes in the very limited ways that we, the state government, allow you to do so. Who is covered by local by uh collective bargaining? Local government employees, general administrative support staff, schoolboard employees,

organized into bargaining units for administrative personnel, principles, assistant principles, instructional personnel, support staff, firefighters, law enforcement officers, state agency employees across the board, classification of categories who work in the localities, approximately 28,000 home care providers that are funded through Medicaid via the Virginia Home Care Authority Council, which is another thing that they've created. and that would fall into the localities based on where they work and provide home care. Uh not covered the Virginia General Assembly, the Virginia state government, university faculty and graduating teachers assistants, elected officials, confidential employees, judicial and legislative branch employees and patients and inmates employed in institutions. I will direct you to a Veco um study which was done demonstrating the fiscal impact and they sent a letter to Governor Spanberger on March 9th opposing the legislation. But they projected just by way of example in Chesterfield County that uh the projected fiscal impact for one year or every year would be $400 million. $400 million for one county. That's Chesterfield County, which I would say is bigger than some of our counties, but not by that much. It's a growing county. Um Chesterfield County then estimated cost equivalent to over 25 cents on the real estate tax rate at a beginning and up to $1.50. Um Prince William County School Board Chair um Babur Latif called it the biggest tax increase in Virginia history. localities reported estimates ranging from from 5 million to $400 million of impact yearly depending on the size of the county. The home care authority which I talked about 28,000 care providers estimated at $18 million a

year to administer. And I must remind you that despite us in this unfunded mandate being placed upon you, no state funding is provided to you nor will be provided to you for compliance. Seven Hampton Roads mayors uh in what would be a Democratic Centerpoint signed a letter opposing the legislation that was ignored. Uh tw July 20 July 1st, 2026 is the initial effective date with grandfathering of existing bargaining representatives. Uh the the per takes effect in 2028 with full implementation phased in over three years but in the meantime Doyle will be making the uh will be making the regulations that will affect you. So what this board just in this one piece of legislation needs to consider is if it's mandatory what is going to be the cost compared to the benefit but not only what is the cost to your annual budget which I believe will be the largest tax increase that Henry County has ever had to endure. And I know that many of you who sit, if not all, who sit on this board have kept taxes low and kept money in the pockets of Henry County residents for a good reason, have worked very, very hard on bringing businesses to this region are going to be affected by this legislation in ways that if you raise and you will have no other choice. the taxes that you're allowed to in the personal property real property arena um in your transient and occupancy tax in in your portion of the sales tax uh in your portion of the grocery tax then those will be significant increases to the people of Southside and southwest Virginia and and and especially Henry County as well. Now, it passed the house 6234 on party line votes, 218 2119 in the senate. Um, both are on the governor's desk and we are told that she's expecting to assign and to sign the bills. We are hopeful that she proposes amendments um or vetos the

bill, but we are not um we're not expecting that to occur. All right. So also this is a wave of labor employment mandates that hits local payrolls that is going to affect our ability to not only keep small businesses in Henry County and regions in southside and southwest but also to attract businesses in Southside and Southwest Virginia. HB1 raises the minimum wage uh to to 1375 on January 1 and $15 an hour on January 1, 2028. After that, every January, it it adjusts annual only upward, not downward based on the CPI. It applies to all employees, including our local governments. Passed on party line vote, uh the the governor has said, quote, she looks forward to signing this bill. The companion bill allows then then repeals the minimum wage exemption for farm workers and certain temporary uh foreign workers that we bring in for agriculture. So now all of our farmers in Henry County and every county that I serve and every county in Southside and Southwest Virginia must pay the minimum wage where we have allowed for an exemption for seasonal work. So that is going to drive up the cost of food. It may drive uh many of these smaller farms to close down and it will have a tumultuous effect on our economy. I understand that the word that was used over and over when I started in the general assembly this session was affordability, but so far nothing I've told you will make living where we live or even in the Commonwealth of Virginia more affordable. House Bill 5, Senate Bill 199, now it applies to local governments as well. Expands paid sick leave to all employees of private, state, and local government employers. workers now include acrew one hour per 30 hours work work capped at 40 hours five days per

year. Uh permits uh permitted uses include personal and family illnesses. Um they can double their paid unpaid sick leave. They also have unpaid sick leave which you then can if they go out on unpaid sick leave and we'll talk about this in a minute. You must maintain and retain them. That is under SB2 Senator Boyce's paid family and medical leave insurance program. creates a state administrated administered insurance program providing up to 12 weeks, three months of paid leave per benefit year. That's every year with 80% of the average weekly wage of that employee capped at 100% of statewide average weekly wage uh while they are out. Qualifying events include serious health conditions for any type of family member. That can be your nephew, your grand nephew, your child, uh your husband, your wife, your your partner, serious health conditions, caring for a new child, caring for a family member, domestic violence, stalking safety services, military created leave, and unl unlike the family medical leave act, there are effectively no tenure requirements. What that means is employee working for the local government here can be on for 4 days and immediately take 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave under this insurance program. It's funded by payroll premiums shared by employers and employ employees. You will then on every check that an employee that you give to your employee that employee you will have to pay uh up to let's see it's 80% of this of this average weekly wage that will be a tax rate. Okay. Um then 20% is paid for by the employee. So whether the employee takes the family uh takes the paid family medical leave or

not, every single one of our employees will have that amount of whatever that amount is determined to be. 80% will be taken by the employer. 20% will be paid by the employee. So we're going to see our employees taking home for this insurance less in their paychecks. They have called this minimal reasonable fees to the employee. Uh however, it's um it's it's going to cost both governments and businesses uh a large amount every month and the employees themselves. Contributions begin on April 1st, 2028. Um employees employers with 10 or fewer employees are exempt. But any any business that has 10 or more employees are not exempt and they must withhold and remit employee and employer contributions to the Commonwealth of Virginia. Local governments must participate but you may apply for approval to use our private plan which would be an insurance plan that would cover you in lie of state participation. I'm unaware because in all the other states where this has occurred, they have not been able to to successfully launch this yet. I'm unaware of a liability policy or even a reasonable or affordable liability policy that a local government can uh can get into pay for and cover when this occurs. Job restoration and health coverage maintenance are required during the 12 weeks of leave. So, and you so that means you cannot fire or let go or hire someone to take the employees place who is left on the medical leave for 12 weeks and you must maintain their health insurance. This is awaiting government action. Uh very quickly, we have other things that affect local governments. SB215 salary history ban. It prohibits all employers including local governments from seeking prospective employees wage

history or using it to set compensation. Another one is heat illness prevention. Requires state workers, local workers and private workers. It requires you the employer to protect workers from extreme heat affecting local outdoor workers, road crews, parks, utilities and public employees. U the heat the extreme heat is marked at 81 degrees. Let me say that again. 80 some odd degrees. That is extreme heat. And therefore, you must pro provide make certain accommodations for time off during the workday and other accommodations that the bill requires for world. Uh workplace violence prevention requires you, the employer, and also private employers with 100 or plus employees to develop comprehensive prevention programs which are then judged and can create a civil cause of action. if you do not comply or it's deemed that your program was not sufficient. Uh Senate Bill 324 public work contract compliance documentation narrow to focus on contractors rather than locality responsibility. Um, you have you have on HB 338 enables localities who must adopt ordinances requiring a 90-day worker retention when building service building service contractors change. So, even though the building service contractor change, you may be forced into retaining the worker of the old contractor. Um, there's a bill that affects Northern Virginia more than us, SB28 domestic worker overtime protections, but they exempted themselves from it as well. Now, we've talked about the budget impass. The data centers are at at the at the center of that. Uh, we'll see what happens. There may be a compromise. I will just end that discussion by saying what we have been begging and pleading for is if they're going to do this then maybe exempt us below the

James River something you know below Richmond proper that allows us to try to compete if that's our choice to do so it doesn't force data centers on but it it makes it we have then also legislation in the forcing of of solar farms we're expecting they have bills that have permit solar farms in certain ways is we're expecting some amendments that may mandate solar farms where you the board of supervisors do not have the opportunity to determine for yourself where do you want them and if you want them where they go and how big they should be. They are moving to making sure that you, we in the rural areas are putting photovalttaic lenses on farms so that they in Northern Virginia can feel good at night when they go and they plug their Prius in uh to the wall and they go to bed and they just know that the electric genie has put that solar power from Henry County in their vehicles and it's not fossil fuel uh power or electricity. Law enforcement funding. There has been no standalone reform of HB599 formula passed. HB599 funding levels and that in that includes the SRO are determined through the appropriations act. So they remain at this time unsolved and unresolved pursuant through the budget. I will say the caboose bill, which is usually where we clean up our spending and we kind of encourage and set up for the spending uh for the last part of this fiscal year, uh struck language that would have uh withheld HB599 and jail perm payments from localities who weren't cooperating with ICE detainer, who were cooperating with ICE detainer request. So, you're going to have to look and be very mindful and vigilant of local autonomy when it comes to this budget. Instead, sometimes we give you large amounts of money or we give you amounts of money and we say, "Okay, you spend it." Generally, here you're going to find probably more specific direction on what you can spend it on, where you can

spend it, when you can spend it, how you can spend it. Okay. Now, local revenues. Let's talk about something good where where you bring money in. SB 661 skill games were passed. Skill game legalization were passed. You may know and I I disclose this of course I've represented Fmatic for years who is one of the skill game manufacturers Remy Sadler. I got an injunction on those matters. What we've seen though over the time is the casinos have prevented us from passing gaming legislation that will allow someone other than a casino to participate that is a local business. Like them or hate them we have lost billions of dollars in revenue that could have gone not only to the state but also to the locality. In the skill games legislation, it provides a 25% tax on gross profits per machine. It limits the number of machines in gas stations. They will not be allowed in vape shops. Uh it's uh four machines in a gas station. Um or I'm sorry, it's three machines in a gas station, four machines in a restaurant or bar, seven in a truck stop. Uh it provides of the gross revenues which we anticipate 400 to $600 million um 15% of all revenues generated um by say the Henry County if you had skilled games machines would go back to you the locality uh to be spent in the way that you saw fit probably for your collective bargaining agreement or your lawyer. 1% goes to local police and state police. Um the other there's other pair outs. Um but they don't affect us at the local uh area. Right now localities will be able to opt out. So you can as a board propose a referendum that the local residents and citizens will determine whether they want to have them or not have them. They'll be you're automatically presumed to have them, but you can have a referendum that opts out.

Licensing on that begins July 1, 2026. Uh cannabis retail sales. I know you're all very excited about this. Unfortunately, we now have a statewide licensing framework with retail sales beginning January 1st, 2027. The final conference report that came out on the last night includes a 6% state can cannabis excise tax and a 5.3 state retail sales and use tax plus a local option tax which you then can add to it which sounds like this. All of those taxes go to the state, but you can add to it by adding a 1 to three and a half percent tax, which then you would retain as the county. Critically, and this is something we I must say I was not for cannabis retail, and we fought to try to get this section in to give you that autonomy that I believe you deserve. Localities cannot opt out of recreational retail cannabis. You can retain zoning authority and can levy the local tax, but you cannot ban retail establishments. And there will be up to 350 retail licenses statewide. Our governor has pledged to sign this bill as it is. So there will be cannabis retail stores in Henry County. The question is how many? It will be based on the 350 licenses. And ladies and gentlemen, members of the board, I will tell you that if you think 350 is the top line that they're going to go at, no, next year what you'll see is they will come back and say we don't 350 is not enough. We need 500. And if the same rules will apply so local taxes, I'm sorry that I've got so much and I can stop you. Just tell me to stop. I haven't gotten to zoning yet. But be it expands bold gross receipts deductions for businesses conducted who conduct business in other states.

Uh Veco who you are a member of expressed serious concerns about total revenue loss for localities. When it came out of conference we were able to move it to a studyon directive but we understand that perhaps the governor's office may amend it back to its original form. And so uh also grocery tax elimination bills which would have eliminated the local 1% optional grocery sales tax. We were able to continue that until 2027. I'm not aware Henry County um has the 1% grocery tax. Um but it is there has been a movement since we eliminated the state grocery tax to eliminate it. So be aware that this may be um something that we take up next year. uh real property and affordable housing tax provisions. HB844 makes affordable housing nonprofits eligible for local option property tax exemptions which mean that uh housing nonprofits could build homes and be exempt from you taxing them for the monies that are made on it. Um HB282 uh added certain areas and cities to the list of jurisdictions authorized to set separate split property tax rates for land versus improvements. I bring this up um because when they start with one county we call it a Christmas tree. Pretty soon they're hanging the next ball and the next ball and it will ultimately affect us. Sometimes they use this the stupid phrase which I hate which is it's the camel's nose under the tent. Soon the camel will be fully in your tent and there will be no space for you. This is where we're going. Zoning preeemptions advance and fortunately some of the biggest housing bills that we had that would have taken away a lot of your autonomy did ultimately fail. Uh the the many advocacy call groups called 2026 session

monumental year for housing. There was an unprecedented number of zoning bills that advanced and though I must say most of the aggressive bills that would have harmed us down here did fail. Bills that preempt local zoning authority. The faith and housing act Senate Bill 388 allows by development of affordable housing at up to 20 units per acre of land owned by property exempt religious organizations and 501c3 nonprofits. Localities cannot require special exemptions, exceptions, special use permits, reasonzoning, or have any discretionary review. Requirements include a 5-year ownership. At least 60% of units must be affordable uh at less than 80% AMI for rentals or 120% AMI for sales. 30-year affordability uh deed restrictions and public water and sewer within 500 ft must be without zoning or application hooked up to these type of developments. Allows up to 30% of ground floor non-residential uses. Basically, what we're saying there is what there's they want apartments over top of commercial buildings. We see that some of the town centers that they're doing. They want that in those areas. uh mandatory now and this was something that I fought last year in mine to allow permissive ADUs, accessory dwelling units. A lot of what we're seeing now is people are building a second building on their property and they're Airbnbing it. They used to be called granny pods. You know, when your grandmother, your mother got older, you'd build a second residence for them, a smaller residence, and they would then be cared for in those residences. Well, now what they did was they mandate that you the locality must permit accessory dwelling units in single family residential zoning districts regardless of size of the lot. Localities cannot impose

setbacks more restrictive than those for the primary dwelling unit cannot require familial relationships between occupants and permit fees are capped at $500. This will take effect July 1st, 2027. Parking reform caps caps minimum off- streetet parking requirements for projects near mass transit. We don't have to worry about that in residential mixeduse revitalization zones and for all affordable housing. What they're trying to do here is administratively require parking reductions. and their mindset is to force residents to use public transportation and to take gas powered cars off the roadways. Small zoning uh HP 1212 requires localities with 20,000 population or more to adopt at least one zoning district permitting duplexes and town houses by right on lots with minimum area not exceeding 3,000 square feet. Localities can determine location application of the district. Once again, ladies and gentlemen, members of this board, we are taking your ability to make determinations for your citizens, the one that elect you and from Richmond, we are dictating policy as to your future. And that, ladies and gentlemen, in my opinion, is wrong. And it's not something that we should do. but especially down here in Southside Southwest. I can assure you that we fought on the floor and I fought on the floor in every single one of these bills whether it was in committee or on the floor of the Senate speaking vocally. But as I told them, you don't know who we are and you don't care to know who we are. You've never been down here and you only see us when you fly over top of us in your jet going to another destination. But you are affecting us in ways that they have no idea what they're doing with these one-sizefits-all type laws. And we will spend many years

repealing, adjusting, and not having these laws apply to our regions as they now start to come to fruition. We will see that these do not work in our region, and we will demand their repeal. Renter protections. Uh I'll go over this briefly. a waiting period before landlords can pursue termination for non-payment from 5 to 14 days. There's an eviction reduction program. Um, and they expanded the waist where landlords really are not going to be encouraged to rent uh their properties out because it is almost near to impossible if these laws are signed by the governor for them to use judicial authorities to use the courts in order to proceed with eviction processes getting out the non-paying tenant so that they can then replace it with a paying tenant. Um, one inclusion expanding local tools that did happen is Senate Bill 74 inclusing expands to all localities the authority to establish affordable dwelling unit program with bonus density incentives. Uh, the right first refusal empowers all localities to adopt ordinances granting RO RFRs to purchase subsidized multif family housing when affordability commitments are expiring. I swear I'm almost done and I'm sorry. Um I won't go over the major bills that failed, but the major bills that failed, you need to be vigilant again that these will come back. For every bill that failed on the Democrat side, they were very mad and very determined to bring these bills back and they said, "Wait till next year." Public safety and guns, we're going to have an issue with our sheriffs, our constitutional officers. 15 or 20 gun bills passed. uh positions Virginia as the um almost number two state in gun uh gun control and second amendment restrictions. We will be the 11th or 12th state with an assault weapons ban if it's signed. Senate Bill

749 bans the sale and manufacture import transfer of assault style style firearms magazines holding more than 15 rounds after July of this year. It grandfather's existing lawfully owned weapons, but you can't sell them except to an FFL. You can't take them out of state and you can't give them to your family members. It exempts law enforcement, military, and those firearms that are considered by their definition antique. Ladies and gentlemen, I will tell you that every firearm under the classification of what is now an assault weapon is basically every firearm, including what you shoot at turkeys with. Um, HP 1525 raises minimum age for handgun and and firearm purchases, including hunting rifles, to 21. So, your child cannot learn how to hunt or cannot buy a firearm to learn how to hunt. HB 110 requires safe firearm storage in vehicles. Uh, class, it's a misdemeanor to leave a handgun in an unattended vehicle. If someone breaks into your car, breaks the window, roots through your car, finds your firearm hidden under the seat and steals it and then uses it, you're the criminal. That's what that bill says. Uh Senate Bill 727 prohibits prohibits carrying of most common firearms on public property that affects and will affect your local government-owned buildings and parks. Uh it's SB27 for for our police town and gun store unfortunately uh creates a responsible conduct standard for the gun industry that is manufacturers and vendors and it enables civil lawsuits and the law itself and I argued with the patron and courts committee says itself that a a manufacturer or a gun store sells a firearm lawfully to someone

and that person then later uses it in a crime that hurts somebody that you can sue the gun supply store and the manufacturer. And then the law says specifically even when the manufacturer and the guns the gun seller the gun store had no intent for that firearm to be used in any illegal manner which I believe is blatantly unconstitutional. Uh, and also now your school board is going to under HB201 communicate safe firearm storage practices to the parents of every student. The last firearm bill that I think demonstrates where we are going right now is a firearm bill that says your county sheriff when walking into a hospital must be in uniform and then the deputy can carry a firearm, an offduty police officer. And I don't know any police officer who then is off duty who's not potential to being on duty in a moment's not notice cannot carry nor can any private citizen carry a firearm into a hospital or a mental facility. However, and the patron when I asked her about this was explicit that she meant this. However, the person on the TDO, the temporary detention or the person that's having the mental breakdown, the mental breaks that's bringing being brought in on a court order, an emergency custody order to the hospital, can possess a firearm and cannot be dispossessed of that firearm. It's the first Democrat program bill I've ever seen. And it makes no sense because they, as she said, they didn't want to get them in trouble. They were already having a bad day. I kid you not. Uh, your cops are going to have a problem. We eliminate the felony charge for drug residue possession, treating it as a public health issue. So you can have fentanyl residue in a baggie and not be charged with a felony. Cocaine, crack. Same thing. One good thing we do have is uh Chris Head, a Republican senator friend of mine, and I was a co-patron on this bill, director

of the Virginia Department of Fire Programs. We're convening a work group to create a fire programs fund distribution formula. Therefore, we can as as the state distribute to your regions that have volunteer fire departments for retention of those volunteer fire departments and first responders to make sure that we're compensating that area. So, it takes a little bit of the burden off of you. Can't say there's any money yet, but that is promising and may hap may happen um soon. Uh finally, education funding. It partially uh it hinges on the stalled budget but also requires your participation. Uh the bill 187 requires the budget to propose funding and that is state and local to raise Virginia's average teacher salary to the national average by the end of 2026 2028 bianium. The estimated Virginia teacher pay was approximately 62,000 in 2023 6,300 below the national average. So we're going to have to be thinking about because the government is not going to pay for it itself. the state government, they're going to require you that you're going to have to bring your teacher salaries to the national average despite our lower cost of living uh than say Northern Virginia. It that's going to be uh mandated um very quickly to you. Um again, preemptions regarding the uh data centers, I don't think you need to election administration, which of course is a locality and local government thing. You now are mandated to make Sunday early voting mandatory hours between 11:00 a.m. and 5:00 pm. You will carry the cost of that. Um we rejoined Eric and we uh we have created now through SB or HB41 a new state board elections authority that allows the removal of your local electoral board

members or registars for any neglect that it sees fit regardless of whether you or the locality or anybody any citizen or voter in the local county uh registers a a petition of neglect. Um, child protective services intake is now it centralizes CPS intake at the state level rather than the local level. Transfers validity determinations from local departments to the state. Uh, local departments will only retain investigative responsibilities. This is phased in starting 2027 and 2028 and fully implemented by 2030. Um, what we have is a pivotal 30 days ahead. In conclusion, the 2026 session fundamentally withdraws the relationship between Richmond and Virginia's localities. Unfortunately, collective bargain mandate alone represents a generational shift in local government labor relations with potential fiscal impacts dwarfing any other single bill that I've just talked to you about or anyone that may be signed by the governor. Combined with paid family leave, paid sick leave, minimum wage incur increases, and expanded prevailing wage requirements, local government personnel costs fa face upward pressure across every category. Members of the board of supervisors, on the land use front, the faith and housing act, mandatory ADUs and parking reform chips away at your local zoning discretion and abilities to make determinations for yourself. The next 30 days will be decisive. As I said before, Governor Spamber will act on these bills by April 13. Your choices on collective bargaining, the the sighting bills for our data centers and the faith and housing act will be most affecting you as local officials. U quite frankly, I must close only by saying this. It disgusts me that I have to say this to you in 16 years of doing

this. And at the same time that we put local mandates, unfunded local mandates, which fundamentally change our counties, especially in Southside and Southwest Virginia, this Virginia General Assembly, this senator did not vote this way, voted them a 300% pay raise, which will come from you, the Virginia taxpayer. Our salary right now, and I think it's where it should be, is $18,000 a year. It's a full-time job, but you shouldn't like it that much so that you do the job. They're going to raise their benefit package, employment and benefit package over $50,000 per year plus an increase of PDUM plus an increase in their retirement account. Every time that they got a PDM or reimbured cost that goes to the determination of their retirement accounts, this is a general assembly that since 2011 I have never seen before. And ladies and gentlemen, members of this board, supervisors, I hope I never see again. And I'm sorry. And I apologize on behalf of some of the people that I serve that believe this is good for Virginia because ladies and gentlemen, it has been the single worst year in watching the deconstruction of the Commonwealth of Virginia and and putting all of those cost expenses and all this wish list into your hands and laid at your feet. I am certainly open for any questions that you may have. I'm sorry to depress you, but I appreciate your time and indulge you on that time. Senator Stanley, if you could indulge us for just a moment. I think we have a opportunity for response to one of the items. I'm going to ask uh Supervisor Buchanan if she will uh uh read a resolution for consideration by the Henry County Board of Supervisors. All right. This is a resolution of the Henry County Board of Supervisors opposing mandatory collective bargaining legislation.

Whereas current Virginia law provides a local option allowing governing bodies to determine whether and how to engage in collective bargaining based on local physical capacity, workforce need, and service priorities. And whereas HB 1263 and SB 378 would eliminate this local option and and impose a statemandated one-sizefits-all collective bargaining framework administered by a public employee relations board. And whereas this legislation shifts authority away from locally elected officials and imposes an unfunded mandate with significant physical and administrative consequences for local governments and taxpayers. And whereas Virginia localities vary widely in population, resources, and service delivery models and are best positioned to make decisions that reflect their unique circumstances. And whereas mandatory collective bargaining as proposed would divert limited local resources from core services to new administrative and bargaining structures without dedicated funding. Eliminate local flexibility to align workforce decisions with budgets and service deeds. create unpredictable physical obligations through arbitration and expanded dispute resolution processes, increase administrative burden, litigation risk, and long-term cost for local taxpayers. And whereas local governments must maintain balanced budgets while continuing to provide essential services, including public safety, education, and infrastructure. Now therefore, be it resolved that the

Henry County Board of Supervisors strongly opposes HB 1263 and SB 378 and any legislation that mandates collective bargaining for local governments. And be it further resolved that the board urges the governor and members of the Virginia General Assembly to preserve local authority over workforce and labor relations policies. And be it finally resolved that the clerk of the board shall transmit this resolution to the governor and members of the general assembly. Uh, this is adopted this 24th day of March, 2026, signed Jim Adams, chairman of the Henry County Board of Supervisors. And Mr. Chairman, I move that we adopt this resolution.

Second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? I realize some of you have just seen the verbiage on this today. Yes, sir. And therefore, I will abstain from voting because I'm just seeing this and I would like to do my more in-depth research before making a vote on something of this nature because I'm just, you know, we're just getting this um just a few minutes ago. Okay. Any other questions or discussion? Um Mr. Wagner, will you give us uh and I don't know that I could explain it any differently than uh Senator Stanley has. any other uh insight from staff?

So, I think Senator Stanley described it pretty well from a staff standpoint is uh the uncertainty of the the bill and what impact it will have. Um with no one on county staff having any experience working with collective bargaining, we can't fully understand or grasp how deep or wide or that that problem or issue is going to be or if it's going to be a good thing or a bad thing. the experience you know and I guess I would ask that question if we don't know the certainty the depth of it the impact that is going to have why would we vote yay or nay not knowing the impact of it

so so the request you have before you came from the Virginia Association of counties of all jurisdictions um and many of them had signed on to it already and I I think you kind of answered your question is we we know it's going to be a financial impact to our other we just don't know how broad and how deep. Other questions or discussion? All in favor? It's five with one opposed five with one abstaining. Uh Jennifer Senator Stanley thank you so much.

Thank you Mr. Chairman. Thank you members of board supervisors. If I can be of any assistance to you in the future, please do not hesitate to ask. I appreciate again everything you guys do for us here in Henry County and one of the greatest counties in the region. Thank you for the opportunity. Thank you. Our next agenda item uh a consideration of proclamation recognizing April 2026 as child abuse prevention month. Um this proclamation uh will be um presented to the board by uh Dr. Pam Coleman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. proclamation naming April 2026 as child abuse prevention month. Whereas child abuse and neglect remain pervasive issues that impact children and families across the nation, leaving deep and lasting consequences for the well-being and future of the vulnerable young people. And whereas the safety and protection of children is a shared responsibility of individual families, communities, nonprofit, and government organizations requiring collective and compassionate efforts to present abuse and neglect. And whereas the observance of child abuse prevention month serves as an opportunity to raise awareness, educate and call on all people to take action to protect children, strengthen families, and promote positive safe environments for young people to thrive. And whereas courtappointed special advocates, CASA, play a critical role in the child welfare system, ensuring that children who are involved in court proceedings due to abuse or neglect have a voice and receive the support they need to navigate their own traumatic sper experiences all while advocating for their best interest. And whereas CASA volunteers and staff work tirelessly to advocate for v vulnerable children, offering critical insight to the court, supporting efforts to reunify families when possible, and promoting stability and care for those who cannot safely return to their homes. And whereas the continued support of programs and initiatives that address the needs of atrisisk youth is essential to preventing future instances of abuse and neglect and empowering children and families to break cycles of trauma. Now therefore, be it proclaimed that the Henry County Board of Supervisors hereby proclaims the month of April 2026 as Child Abuse Prevention Month in recognition of the importance of protecting children, supporting at risk youth, and honoring the invaluable work of CASA and other community-based

programs dedicated to the well-being of children. Signed, Jim Adams, chairman, Henry County Board of Supervisors. And Mr. Chairman, I make a motion for the for the proclamation.

Second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All in favor? Is 6. Jennifer, I'm going to ask Vice Chairman Puit and Dr. Kaba if you all uh will present this uh to Casa and uh Carrie Walker and possibly someone else uh representing Casa coming up. Just real quick, thank you so much for this proclamation. Uh raising awareness about child abuse prevention is essential to building a safer and stronger community. And um as always, we really uh appreciate the support that we receive from Henry County. And I just encourage everyone here um to get involved if you can with our youth because they are truly the future of our communities. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Thank you. Agenda item number eight, we'll have a monthly report on delinquent tax collection efforts. We have with us uh County Treasurer Tiffany Harrison. Tiffany, welcome.

Good afternoon. For delinquent taxes on personal property, as of February 27th, we collected 86.440% of the 2025 personal property taxes. We collected 979,395.50 for the month. For real estate, as of February 27th, 2026, we collected 93% of the 2025 real estate taxes. We collected 131,96045 for the month. Since February 27th, TACS, which is the taxing authority consulting services, collected $285,2174 for debt set off. In the month we collected $12,696.17 for the year bringing the total to $16,393.88 and for as far as DMB stops we have removed 241 stops.

Okay. Thank you. Does anyone have any questions of Miss Haristen at this time? Yeah, I just like to ask just about the percentages and it's a it's not a trick question, but how are you feeling about the 86.40% of personal property collection at this time and the 93% at the at this time of 2025? How do you how do you think things are going? It's going good. Um once we get get more collections in, I know the numbers will rise. Okay. Thank you. Because we change the dates on things. Just kind of wondering if that made a difference at all. Do you think it made a difference? No, not yet. Not yet. Okay. Thank you. Thank you.

Other questions? Thank you. Uh, agenda item number nine, we'll have an update from the Mortonville Henry County Economic Development Corporation. We have with us uh Spencer Johnson and Valeron Harper from uh the EDC. Welcome. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and members of the board. Thank you. It's a pleasure to be with you this afternoon. uh instead of going through our monthly report as Mark typically does, uh he's asked Valerie and I to just give a quick update of some of the exciting uh economic development efforts that are going on with respect to um traditional economic development and tourism and uh business development. So, we prepared a brief presentation with some photos and videos that we hope will will help do just that. So on the economic development side of things, as everyone knows, earlier this month, we welcomed Fukoku Korea to the Patriot Center. Uh this uh announcement came out March 5th. They purchased the Track 8 Shell building, which is what is on the screen. Uh this is a 95,000 square foot facility, and their announcement uh they announced 60 jobs and $19 million of capital investment. And Fukoku manufactures automotive components. They have uh deals with Hyundai, GM, and Ford. So, some of the major brands and they're currently working with Blair Construction right now to fit uh the build out of the facility. And their goal is to be operational by the end of the year. So, very good news there. Next, we have an update from Nathan Troder. If you'll remember last September, we had a big announcement on site there at Track 4, the Patriot Center. This was 118 jobs and $60 million capital investment announcement. and site work has commenced there. As you'll see in this

video, there's lots going on on that tract of land. Uh in fact, Steve Martin's Trenching, a local contractor, has started the foundation work there. And once that is finished, the building should be going vertical soon. Hope to soon see some steel coming out of the ground. And they are building a 115,000t facility. So, this uh will be an impressive uh impressive facility on this site. and their goal as well is is to be operational by the end of this year. And uh they've told us also that they're hoping to start hiring the beginning of the fourth quarter. So again, good news going on at the Patriot Center. Some of our available sites, again, staying in the Patriot Center. This is the Track 2 Shell building, uh the newest constructed facility there. And this is just a fly through of that building. This is a 100,000 ft building. It is expandable to 200,000. So, it can be doubled in size and actually the configuration of of this property. It will also allow this to be doubled even more. We could essentially get a 400,000t facility on this property, which will give us lots of flexibility when when talking to prospects. So, that's a an exciting thing for us. We've not had that that type of flexibility before. Uh, it has four dock doors, one drive indoor, 32 ft ceilings. It's it's a it's a beautiful building. If you've driven by it, it really shows well. and we're looking forward to um to getting a tenant in there soon. And last but not least, Commonwealth Crossing Track 2. This is what the site looked like in 2022. Uh outlined in red is the the grading project that's been going on for the last 22 months. Um they've moved 3 million cubic yards of material there. Of of that 1 million was rock, so lots of blasting was going on there. And this is what this site looks like today.

Track 2 is a 200 acre site with 150 acre pad. It's rail served. There are all utilities to this site. This is a platinum designated site from the site selectors guild. And it's one of only two in the US to achieve the platinum designation which is the highest designation you can reach. Uh this was uh if you remember a $30 million grading project of which $22 million of that came through a grant from the state, $6 million from the Harvest Foundation and the balance uh from the county. Moving on to tourism, just a few updates from our tourism department. Uh these are the 2024 economic impact numbers that were recently released from the state. And I realize this data d it it lags a bit. That's why it's 2024. This data lags quite a bit um couple of uh more than a year actually. So the thing I want to point out to this to you on this slide is is the $78.2 million. This was the total impact for tourist spending in Martinsville in your county. And if you do the math, that's over $200,000 a day that uh visitors spend in our community uh in tourism related endeavors. Uh this creates $3.1 million a year in local tax revenue. And that saves each Martinsville Henry County household $200 a year in state and local taxes and supports 833 jobs a year. This next slide just so show shows you the last eight years of the tourism expenditures and you can see we're heading in the the right direction. The 2020 obviously was co year which really hit the tourism industry hard but you can see we we actually rebounded uh very quickly in 21 and and in 2024 we've we've reached uh numbers that we've not seen before in the past. So definitely heading in the right direction. And lastly on the tourism side we just wrapped up our 2026 tourism collaborative our our tourism team. This

was a one-day event that was held on February 24th by our tourism division and there were 59 attendees. This event brought tourism partners and businesses and organizations together to network and learn about the resources available on the state and local level. U the main topic they discussed was focused on social media. There was a team from the Virginia Tourism Commission uh the state organization in Richmond that presented on this and they also discussed state level grants available through their organization. Uh our EDC staff also presented on the the impact data that I just showed you. And this was the second event this this event uh second year, excuse me, this event was held that we had put it on. It's been very well received. We got a lot of positive comments from that and uh we look forward to continuing that. Um now I'll turn it over to Valerie for a business development update.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon. Mine will be very brief, just two slides actually. Um, first I just wanted to uh reintroduce you or I I think Mark has talked about it before about a couple of programs that we have. Um, one of them is called the briefcase program. Um, for this one, um, brief is a acronym for business relocation incentive and expansion fund. Um, initially it was created to encourage businesses from outside the area to come to our area and we're talking about smaller businesses. Um, but we did open up a local version of it. Um, and this is to encourage um exist existing business, small businesses to um invest in capital in taxable capital um expenditures. So, um, we're just trying to, um, encourage that, um, the main touch point. So, so this briefcase program is a grant program. You can apply for it. Uh, it is actually open right now until I think it's whatever March 31st. I think that's next Tuesday. Um, is the deadline for it. But the main touch points to um, qualify or to apply for it is that you need to be in business 2 years. Um you should have 4 to 34 to 30 employees and um the grants are meant for taxable purchases uh since January of this year through April 30th. Um we do have a limited budget. So it is a competitive grant. Not everyone will be um um will be awarded. Um but it is a 50/50 grant. Generally the awards will be up to $1,200. Um, so not the millions um that our traditional side does, but uh $1,200

to a small business uh is impactful. Um so again, the deadline to apply is March 31st. So within your circles, within your district, if you would still spread the word, the application is super simple. Um doesn't take long at all. Uh, but if you could uh encourage anyone you know to apply, the website for it is yes martinsville.combriefcase. So that's that program. Okay. All right. And then um the staffing program that we wanted to talk about was our YOPro program. Again, I think Mark has talked about it before, uh, but it is, uh, this is a result of some of the feedback that we get from some of our local companies, but also from the public in general about um, not being able to attract young professionals to our area or to keep young professionals here. So, we came up with this program to kind of um, give them a chance to network and grow together. Um, so it is open to individuals who are 21 to 45 years old who live or work in Martinsville or Henry County and are in a professional role. Uh, that could be of course, you know, our doctors, our nurses, uh, that type of thing. But it is also uh folks who are maybe in um some of the manufacturing uh facilities who are in supervision. Um, so we're we're trying to incorporate everybody into it. So for the last few months, we've done um several programs. Again, it's a chance for them to network and do some professional growth. Um, and we're trying to integrate them uh into the community through uh networking, take advantage of tourism assets,

volunteering, um, continuing education. Um, we've even done some workshops on student loan repayment, but we do have on April 15th one coming up and it will be personal branding where um, well, I guess I should say Well, let me say first of all, I'm not a yo pro. Y'all heard that age that age bracket. I'm not a yo, but you know, our office is small, so somebody has staff that think of me as a house mom. So, if you see me at the at the workshop, it's not because I fit into the categories. just a a staffing thing. But um on April 15th, we will do be doing personal branding. And it is just a chance to uh challenge the the participants to um maybe practice their elevator speeches of how to uh how to present themselves. um not only for you know networking opportunities but maybe you're going for a raise or maybe you're applying for another job but um how to present yourself uh in the in the best um in the best light. So that will be April 15th from 5:30 to 7:00. Um we will we're actually trying to move these workshops around again for exposure. So, this one will start at Sugar Street Bakery, which is in the I think it's called the Colony um

shopping center in Collinsville. Um so, we'll start at Sugar Street Bakery and then move over to Scuffle Hill. Um but you can see from the photos, we've been at um Stoneley, we've volunteered at the um the food pantry in Basset, we've been at the museum. So, we we've moved around quite a bit, but we're uh hoping to hoping to still grow that program. Um right now, we have about 86 unique attendees and the attendance has varied a little bit, but um we've had as many as 36 people show up for um the different um programs that we do. and a lot of them are every time that we do it, we have new I think at our last one more than half of the people who came um were new. So, we're still expanding this and we're still hoping to get some new faces there. Uh so, again, if within your district, within your circle, if you have anyone, um please send them our way. And, um we we have a Facebook page for it. Um we we do our announcements again on our website. That one is yesmartarts.comyo-pro. Um, so yes, uh, any questions on either of those programs?

All right. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Agenda item number 10, a consideration of a resolution establishing hospital to home LLC as an emergency medical services agency in Henry County. Uh Mr. Wagner, if you'll give us some background on this, please. Mr. Chair, we received a formal request from Hospitals to Home LLC doing business as H2H Emergency Services um seeking the board's approval of a resolution establishing the company as a emergency medical services agency in any county. The code of Virginia grants the local governing body the authority to approve creation of any new EMS agency formed after July 1st, 1984. H2 has obtained a state EMS license from the office of EMS and intends to provide EMS transport and care for non-emergency doctor's appointments and facility discharges as well as in facility transport services. H2 emergency services will not be dispatched by our 911 center or be eligible to respond to emergency calls. And I've just recently learned that uh company does not plan to establish a physical presence in that community. So it's quite possibly they will not need this designation. So it would be staff's recommendation that we hold off on action on this request so we can gather some more information about how they plan to operate.

So take no action today then that's staff recommendation and there is a company representative here. Okay. Um, does anyone have any questions in regard to this since uh this this bit of information has come about since we uh received our board packet?

That was going to be my question was did they plan to have a building or something here because based on my research it was in Northern Virginia where they're based out of. Yeah, that was the communication provided to me that they did not have a plan to establish a physical presence here in the short term. At least in the short term. So, we need to do more. All right. Um, with no physical presence, does that allow any form of operation other than passing through the area?

So, that's one of the questions we need to ask the company to get a better idea of what they plan to do. Of course, the hospital here is located in the city of Marvel. So, it would not prohibit them responding to to hospital and transport individuals to other facilities. Um, we need some clarification if they would be prohibited from transporting like to a skilled nursing facility such as Basset Rehab Center. All right. So with that, um, accept a motion to table. Either that or just take don't act on it. However,

um, I think we should just table it. Table it until we get more information. Consensus of the board that we get further information before we consider this. Okay, we'll move on to agenda item number 11, financial matters. Uh 11A an additional appropriation referencing Department of Criminal Justice Services Grant for the Sheriff's Office. Mr. Wagner,

Sheriff Davis is requesting the board to appropriate grant funds in the amount of $73,560 received from the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services through its jailbased substance use treatment grant program. Sheriff Davis intends to use the funds to cover overtime pay for deputies facilitating inmate movements to and from the substance abuse programs. The grant does not require any match with that. U thank you for the background. Board's had an opportunity to review this request as part of its uh board packet. What action uh do you desire to take?

Mr. Mr. Chairman, I make a motion to approve the appropriation of $73,560 received through the Virginia DCJS jailbased substant use treatment grant program as presented. Second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All in favor is uh 6. Jennifer 11B, an additional appropriation referencing unexpended local school funds for school boards. Mr. way

school board has requested an additional appropriation of $532,239 from unexpended fiscal year 2025 local school funds uh from a letter from the superintendent which is included in your fact Dr. Amy Blake Lewis. They would use these funds to help cover the cost of installing generators at three elementary schools. Of course, under code section 22.1100, unexpended local school funds remain a part of the funds of the governing body appropriating the funds for use in the next year if you so choose to. You'll note in the packet that staff has recommended that the board defer action on this item given the fiscal uncertainty surrounding the fiscal 2027 budget including potential state funding impacts and life shortfalls in this health insurance and there's representatives from the school board here should you have questions.

Okay, with that uh what action uh does the board desire to take? Well, I would love to hear from the school staff before we make any take any action. I think Dr. Blake Lewis is here and it would be great to hear from them prior to taking any action if that's acceptable. Is there a question in regard or or that you want need them to answer? I guess is what Yes, I I do have a question and Okay. you know, and of course the biggest question is how would this impact you if you know this is not approved.

Thank you, Mr. Dillard. I appreciate the time to clarify a few things. The reappropriation of the 532,239 is existing school funds and we are seeking to use those for some critical safety pro uh projects that do include those generators at three schools. Um, I want to stress to you all that these are not new funds. They are dollars that have already been allocated to the school division and importantly the request exceeds what the county provided above the required local share. So that means that a portion of these funds are state dollars intended for education. I also want to further point out that while Mr. Wagner cited code, he failed to site the override provision. And I am reading from that same code he cited that continues to say, "Chapter 725 of the 2025 general assembly overrides this code section and permits school divisions that have met required local effort and required local match for fiscal year 25 to carry forward any remaining fund balances that are unexpended. The language permits school divisions to use carry forward funds to address any revenue shortfall regardless of the original purpose of such funds. The adopted language requires the state carry forward funds to be reappropriated by the local governing body to the school division's budget for fiscal year 26. I don't think that that could be any more clear. I would also like to add that this places the school division in a position where we feel we're being penalized for good stewardship. We're being thoughtful in how we manage our resources and how we set aside funds to address facility and maintenance needs that are not eligible under the 1% sales tax. Any further questions, Mr. Dylan?

I've got a couple questions. Um, so public safety obviously was able to grant um generators for was it both the high schools, Magnavist and Basset? Has there been a discussion or um is there a possibility that grant funds could be available for these generators um here? And is that a process that's already been denied or looked at?

We have secured a SCAP grant for some functions. We are utilizing some 1% funds to do things that are considered a major renovation, but our goal is to have all of our schools available for public use in the event of an emergency. I don't think I need to remind any of you of the winter storms that we endured uh just back in January. And if all of our schools had been properly outfitted uh with these generators uh looking at future potential events, if we lose power for an extended period of time, our schools would become those shelters and warming centers for the community. This is us being active and proactive members of the community that we serve.

I want you to elaborate on being penalized. Just talk to us about that.

Yes, ma'am. It is it is how we are perceiving this. We are being good stewards of our funds. We are making sure that we are spending um in areas that are supportive of our students, supportive of our faculty, supportive of our community. Um and yet when we come to you with our annual budget request, we know that we cannot include a facilities budget um unless you give us anything over the local required effort. So this past year, you did provide us with I think $103,000 over that local required effort. Um and because of some loss of student uh membership, that amount has grown to you've provided us over 204 307,000. And so when we save money to do a carry forward, we can then turn around and use those funds for a facilities and maintenance budget that otherwise we don't receive. And so when we are being good stewards, we're doing a small carry forward amount. This is not an exorbitant amount. Um this gives Mr. Scott and his team an adequate budget to do those types of items of general repair that aren't included in the 1% sales tax. So, uh, for some of our our new members, Mr. Lawless, the 1% sales tax referendum is limited to new construction and extensive renovation. And so, your daily maintenance, your annual maintenance type projects are not covered with those funds. And so, we rely on a facilities and maintenance budget to make that happen. Okay. Are there other questions while you have Dr. Lewis?

I don't have questions. I'm sorry. Oh, no. Okay.

Well, I do have a few comments. Um, you know, one, you know, we did approve the $6 million transfer for PSA. And I feel like, you know, when we did that, like we mentioned here that a reason that we possibly would defer this vote would be because of uh uncertainty with the budget, but I feel that we had the same information then when we transferred that $6 million. Um, and so therefore, we didn't, you know, feel like we needed to delay or, you know, not give PSA those funds, but we knew that at that same time that, you know, debt services was going to be something that was coming up. We knew that the reassessment was coming up. Um, you know, we also approved the school budget at or near what's required. And I didn't quite say from the standpoint of being a penalty, but this is an opportunity to reward the school system for their, you know, good stewardship. Um, and then there's also mention of the self-insured shortfall and the schools, you know, definitely shouldn't solely take on that responsibility for that. Um, because they were good stewards and then those funds would be used to help, you know, offset that shortfall. And also, you know, I feel like we can't practice budgeting off of unexpended funds. I mean, we can't count on these funds year after year after year. So, as we uh plan our budget, you know, we didn't know if it was going to be 100,000 or if there was going to be, you know, 500,000 or no funds available. So, I'd hate to think that, you know, we're sitting and waiting on those things to plan the next year's budget. Um, of course, you know, by delaying it, it delays the school system to, you know, move forward with their plans. And, you know, lastly, I want to finish with what, um, you know, Senator Stanley said, you know, he

stated that, um, local governments often feel that you can't breathe unless the general assembly allows you to. And I think sometimes the school system may feel that way that they can't breathe unless the board of supervisors allow them to. And I think he said that from a negative connotation. And I feel like we don't want that same feel towards our school system. They feel like they can't breathe. They can't u you know get the unexpended funds. They can't get um you know the the budget um you know the way they would like to budget. So I feel like we you know should not impose that same mentality of you know they can't breathe unless we allow them to.

Okay. Other questions?

I have one of Mr. Wagner. How were unexpended funds handled in the past as far as board board policy? Sue is there was a memorandum of understanding between the school board and board supervisors and several past years that allocated a portion of those money between the two governor bodies uh with the first $500,000 uh going to the school board and then second $500,000 going back to the county board supervisors and then everything above a million dollars would be split equally 50/50. uh that memorandum was for uh if I remember correctly it was for three-year term and it no longer exists. So it's only uh a split if it exceeded a certain amount.

That's correct. Okay.

Mr. Adams by the protocol. Mr. Bradley or Ben would you come to the podium please and not necessarily for questions but I'd like to hear uh from you on this issue please. Mr. Chair, members of the board. Um, not to be redundant, but I had planned uh some comments not only concerning the carryover funds, but our current 2027. So to stay on task, I'll just share my comments with you. Okay. I would like to express my support for the proposed 2627 school budget and our request to reappropriate $532,239 already approved by this body for fiscal year 2025 budget which reflects a strong commitment to student success, staff support, and responsible financial planning that has already been mentioned. Our budgets prioritize student achievement by ensuring access to essential instructional resources, updated technology, and targeted intervention programs. These investments are critical to meeting the diverse academic needs of our students and continuing to improve overall performance. In addition, the budget recognizes the importance of our educators and staff by

supporting competitive compensation, professional development, and appropriate staffing levels. We are invested in people who make the greatest impact in our classroom and the facilities for which learning takes place every day. The inclusion of funding for student support services such as counseling, special education, and mental health resources demonstrates our commitment to educating the whole child and maintaining a safe, supportive learning environment. While we cannot predict the future, the one thing we can do can't do, excuse me, is compromise the safety and efficiency of our schools. And our facilities budget does just that. Furthermore, our budgets reflect fiscal responsibility. It prioritizes high impact areas while maintaining careful stewardship of resources, ensuring that funds are used effectively and align with our strategic goals without uncertainties. Ultimately, a budget is more than a financial plan. It is an investment in our students, our staff, and the future of our community. Thank you. And I just want to let you

know that I do strongly support, our reappropriation, and as you deliberate about our upcoming budget, you will keep those comments in mind. And as a former teacher and coach and as an educator, you and I, we we go back. So I I know that you are one of the most highly respected people in the community and especially in the area of education. And when you speak, I listen. And it's in no disrespect to anyone else. I just know you. I've known you longer and uh much more professionally and personally. So, I would like for you, this is going to be tough. This is this is going to be hard, but I want to, it's like the big elephant in the room. So, here I go. Three things that I've heard recently in the community, and I would ask you and maybe Dr. Amy Blake Lewis to respond to this. What about a quote from someone that said from Henry County Schools, find things to spend it on? I'll just let you if supplies I mean books. I know because I I've been at education administration at the DOE and BCCS that you have to spend out money. I I understand that really not exactly the issue we're talking about now because I will go ahead and say that I do believe that if it was given to you already that you should have it. That's just my one vote, my one opinion. But while you're here, can you address a quote that says find things to spend it on? You or Dr. Amy Blake Lewis? I haven't heard that but however we have

a um capital improvement plan in which we highlight all the things that we want to take place uh over the next I think goes back about five years I would think uh Dr. boom about five years and the funding we look at those projects and we prioritize those projects and when things I'll use Mr. Scott, for an example, he'll bring those things up to us. Uh realizing, for an example, we talked about a roof. The uh warranty of a roof might be expired and we have to spend money on that. So, we look at our capital projects. We prioritize those capital projects and then we try to find the funding to accommodate that. Uh finding things to spend it on. We have a whole list of things that we can find.

Well, meaning that you have money that you have money that you need to expend so you don't lose it. So you find things find things to spend it on. Yeah. Let me let me clarify that Mr. So

I could see that being misqued or misinterpreted. Yes, when we are looking at our spend down uh every month uh when senior leadership is meeting and we're looking at what have we expended, what is still outstanding and we start to say this isn't uh dropping down as quickly as we thought. That may mean that we will have some money like this 532,000 that we can then go to that capital improvement plan and say, "What can we check off? We're going to have this left over. What is something on that list?" It's not a willy-nilly just go buy some paper clips. It is what can we tick off of that list, that outstanding list of projects with this particular pot of money. This money we said that would cover those um projects for those generators at three sites. And so that's how that became the um attachment there with that request for reappropriation. Sometimes it may be, okay, we've had enough. We can do a renovation and add an EMT program at Career Academy, which is what we did with some funds last year when we saw that we had some funds available. We're always looking to see where we can add a program, where we can uh refresh furniture, where we can do something on our capital improvement list, where we might be able to offer an employee salary increase above what the state may mandate. But our budget is is always in flux and we're always looking to see how we can best leverage the resources that we have.

Okay. I mean, thank you. Thank you. Let me ask a question. Well, that that that was that was it. I mean, there are more in terms of just answering kind of things that when when they make the board of supervisors responsible for the school budget and say and and feeling like you're being penalized for uh being frugal. I would say those are the conversations that we're hearing in the community feel that we are responsible for your budget. So, I'm just getting you to respond to a handful of quotes that I'm hearing. I think Miss Buchanan has some.

Well, I've got sever several notes here, but let me ask one question of Miss Lewis. When you were talking about the generators, tell me what schools they're at now and what areas of the county.

Mr. Scott, you will have the more comprehensive and be able to call it from your memory. So currently the the ones that haven't been started up are part of the grant that Mr. P was talking about and that's two high schools Magnav Vista and Basset which are also used for the shelters on them. So currently we have Stanley Town and Sandwell uh that have generators in there as well that that handles that. Laurel Park Acres this would give us Mount Olivet Axton and Jury Mason added to the list. Matthew also has one as well. Um, this particular portion and the reason we chose that area is because of the multiple power outages we've had in that area also over the little time plus being able to afford that as part of the capital improvement plan. And when we lose power at accident, we have no water inside the building because we got booster pumps on there. So, we're going to tie that generator in for there so that we can delay and get some time so we know how to handle the student situations until we decide if we needed to specify.

Okay. So, would it be fair to say at this point when we're trying to look at the budget and what uh Miss Lewis is saying right now with the generators that we have and what are proposed, we're probably within 7 to 10 miles either way on either one of these schools if it was needed as a resource.

Yes. that that's that's I'd say that's fair statement what we've got um keep in mind it's not just for that uh community piece too. It's when we lose power which we have multiple times and we've got students in the building right now is how can we handle that whether it be getting lunches together egress getting people into a gym area until we determine what kind of time frame the power is going to be out um whether or not we're going to have to dismiss or not. plus two and long-term uh power outages. It would cover and protect a lot of money from our refrigeration systems because they stay up and running with the generator process on. Okay. Thank you. Thank you.

And Mr. Wagner, you you mentioned you said the first 500,000 would go to the schools and then if there was more like a million dollars, is that correct? So the previous memo memorandum of understanding that was in place for the past several years. Uh the first $500,000 would go back to the school system. Second $500,000 would go back to the county board of supervisors and then everything above a million dollar would be split between the both parties equal. And so there is noou in place currently or is that still theou?

I'm not aware of anou that is in place at this time. Okay. And I'm asking because if I was going to ask if because this is only 500,000, correct? Slightly more than 500. Yeah. Slightly slightly more. So would that automatically go back to the schools based on the former since if the formula former was in place then? Well, ultimately it's anoub ultimate authority to decide where the unspent funds go. However, if you honored thatou, then they would get the $500,000.

Okay. So, I guess two parts of I guess. One, we need to revisit thatou. And then two, if there's not one in place, you know, do we just need to use the one that was most uh recently in place and let that be the decision maker uh about this $523,000 plus some changes. There's also that override provision in place that I mentioned earlier. The the 2025 general assembly chapter 725 issued an override code that says that the uh local governing body is to reappropriate those funds back to us for fiscal year 26.

And there was some disagreement about that last year. You may recall um our our auditor, our CPA said uh unequivocally that these were local funds. uh our school system filled out a form sent to Richmond saying they spent every one of the state dollars. So there is um our interpretation that there are no state dollars. They've all been spent. These are all local dollars based on what our our auditor said. Um and I I would encourage you to be thinking about anou of how this could go forward so we don't get put in this position. beneficial for the two boards to have a an agreement in place so we can keep working positively in the right direction.

Thank you, Dale. Let me ask a I've got several questions here and I know others do too. Uh it was mentioned somebody mentioned about self- insurance. I heard that the self- insurance fund. Yeah, that was mentioned. Was that you? Yeah, because that was what was mentioned as one of the reasons for delaying the vote. Okay, so let me ask a question. When we're talking about self- insurance, that includes both divisions, right? The school system and the

several years ago, I don't remember the exact year, uh, the school boards come together to create a second insurance fund to help mitigate our escalating health insurance costs just like most localities. a very successful program with u many many budgets that we came to you with no increase in health insurance where other localities and businesses were raising the cost for development insurance costs. We've done really well with the self insurance fund for the last two years taking a pretty hard hit on our um our balance. Uh our chief financial officer has expressed concerns about the solveny of that going forward. If we don't change the trajectory or if we have a couple larger claims that could impact that we would be in a position where uh we're not raising it incrementally each year then we're injecting lots of money into the self insurance fund in the future.

So I heard you use the word solvent. Let me defer to Daryl uh Jones, chief financial officer, but he's done the analysis of those ter dollars if that's okay. Sure.

Well, we we started the self insurance fund in I think uh 2015 and uh it uh has been it was highly successful, but we built our our reserves to over $9 million. But, uh, fiscal year 25, we incurred a loss of $600,000. Uh, based on where we headed for fiscal year 26, I feel like we're probably going to lose $2 million. Uh, fiscal year 27 projected out ahead, loss could be $2.5 million. So, in a three-year time frame, we basically will have blown through over half of our reserves. We won't be in solid, but it when you in a three-year time frame, use up uh half of your reserves that you took spent a decade trying to build, that's just not good financial uh policy or strategy.

Okay. I guess my question is it it benefits both divisions and if as we continue that downward spiral as it's possibly projected we'll be looking at significant health insurance increases in the near future or major plan revisions to our employees to basically water down our health insurance if we don't do something. soon. I mean, we can't

keep kicking. I'm seeing it. I follow it every month and uh we we're going to have to do something different and it's going to need to be sooner than later or we're going to we're going to use up all the reserves and then we're going to have to make major plan revisions which is going to hurt every employee in our that's employed with the county, the school, social services, and the public service authority. Okay, I hope he's wrong.

And I guess the question would be, you know, let's say you took that 500,000 to help with the reserves this and that. What's going to be the plan moving forward? So I guess the bigger question is what do we have to do to fix the issue with the insurance long term? And you don't have to answer that. It's more of a rhetorical question. But this fixes it or not fixes it. This, you know, puts a band-aid on it, you know, temporarily, but it doesn't fix it. And I guess that's one of my questions is using that 500,000 to temporarily fix something or using that 500,000 for the school system to fix something that's going to be in place, you know, for the next 10, 15, 20 years with generators and things of that nature. Which one outweighs the other? And that's like a rhetorical question, but more so for the board members for us to think about. You know, it's, you know, kind of like when you got that last $10. I mean, I can put that in the bank or I can go out and, you know, enjoy and do something with it, you know, in that moment. And we can take that 500,000, do something for the schools that's long-term, permanent, as opposed to putting it somewhere that, you know, is putting a band-aid on something that still may not be fixing it. Because if we're losing $2 million per year, that $500,000 for that insurance shortfall is really just a drop in the bucket. And I like to always say I'm not saying this as a school employee. I'm saying this as a member of the board of supervisors.

I agree with you. We had recommended to the school system to include in their budget for next year a 6% increase in our health insurance costs. Right. Unfortunately, they didn't heed that advice and only included 3%. We thought it was an opportune time with a $1.1 billion savings in VRS contributions this year. because it's a great time to uh implement a 6% increase in the health insurance costs. So thus that's why until we got their final budget request and we Virginia putting the budget together I wanted to have this information available should we needed to to prop up our self insurance fund. The more data we have the better decisions we'll be able to make.

So you offered you offered the 6% is that what you said? So we re we recommended an increase of 6%. We agreed on a a 5% and then the board took action on 3% as

All right, let let me make another few more comments. And I took some notes while Senator Stanley was talking and again I think Miss Lewis said that they're trying to be good stewards of of the money and so are we. We're I think we're all in this together to be good stewards of the taxpayers money. But he said that local governments could potentially be expected to levy or absorb monies that were not anticipated. We don't have numbers yet from the state about what's coming back to the locality. Uh balancing our budget. Um so it's still kind of up in the air.

Well, during our budget planning session, you heard some of the things that was on the radar. Um you the obvious things, the change to the LCI automatically increases our our contribution requirements to the school system. or change to the formula for the health department changed how much money we have to provide them annually and you know other factors associated with that as as well as all the other unfunding mandates from the commonwealth including CSA funding and u pay raises for constitutional officers. So there is absolutely uncertainty with the budget and uh we will present you a budget next week, but the reality is the state is not going to have a budget next week. So we're probably going to have to come back like we did a couple years ago and asked you to change it and it may be dramatic changes on the second round again. So actually this request could be moved forward or postponed until we get numbers from the state.

So the staff's recommendation was just to allow us to have that amount available to us to as we work through our budget projections and presentations. Okay. knowing that there is going to be a lot of uncertainty in what everybody will present you all at

you know I like I go back to thatou if that's what we're working off of I mean it seems like it should be automatic that the five first 500,000 goes to the school system and if we haven't updated that then that's something that you know we need to make sure we take care of but I would assume that you know if that is the most recent um document that we have in regards to this then we should you know adhere to that. Other questions? Yes, Mr.

Based off of you know I've been around for 3 months. I don't know anything about anything that's been previously said at this point and I want to let everybody know that without knowing the budget going forward into the next year. I don't feel comfortable making a decision at this point. So, I will sustain from the voting process as y if y'all decide to take a vote on it versus tableabling it for later when we actually get the budget. And um and correct me if I'm wrong, but the $500,000 is not going to make or break the budget. I mean, it's not going to make our budget successful or a failure based on $500,000. I mean, you know, true, but it could be that we we I don't know

which and we also and I I guess this hadn't been mentioned. What do we have in our reserve account? County reserve. We presented that to you at the planning session, but I don't have those numbers in front of me there. But, you know, because I think that's important to know um in making a decision like this. But, you know, with our reserves, it's a d we set a dangerous precedent when we continue to take from the reserves. I mean that's that's just a fact

and it is and that's why I I refer back to the 6 million that you know for PSA because we were very you know I think everybody was on board with that and like I said we knew about the debt services we knew about the reassessment we knew the insurance or you know if we didn't know we should have known those things because you know budget and we should know those things well in advance as we make any financial decision and they should be factored into any decision that we making any other questions? Look like we've had discussion before any motion. Is there any motion that anyone wants to offer?

I think we need to wait for the state budget. I mean for the for the money from the state to see where we're we're sitting or either in well in an effort to to get a vote um I make a motion to approve the appropriation of $532,239 from the school's fiscal year 2025 unexpended local funds for the installation of generators at Axton Elementary School, Mount Olivet school and Drew Mason Elementary School. All right, we have a motion. Is there a second? Second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion at this point? And Mr. Lawless, you indicated that you were going to abstain. Yes, sir.

Okay. All in favor? Opposed? Um motion failed on a um two four three against one abstaining. Jennifer, that takes us toformational items. uh comments from the board starting with Dr. Cabba.

Yes. I want to congratulate 250 uh VA 250 commission and their record-breaking celebration this weekend this week. And then also I have a request from my community impact fund of $5,000 for the dream center to begin to help with the massive litter problem that we have in Henry County. And this won't is not a handout to an NGO. It is the guys at the transitional home have been talking with and working with the sheriff's department to have an idea about how to to begin working with uh Chris to really make a dent in this. And uh so I make a a motion or ask to have $5,000 to given to the dream center for for the help of a community project of the litter problem.

Great. Uh have a motion. Is there a second? Second. Have a motion. A second. Any discussion? All in favor? Is 6. Uh anything else? Dr. C. That's all. Thank you. Uh, Mr. Puit. Um, I don't have anything this month. Mr. Do.

Yes, sir. And I spoke to some of you. I want to also use some of the impact funds. Uh, we have a semi-pro football team and they play at the complex and, you know, it's working young men and, you know, they pay for their own equipment, they pay for their own travel and all of that. And in order to play at the sports complex is $275 per game. And I would just like this uh see going to be three or four home games and I would like to make a uh request or a motion that we approve out of my impact funds to cover those uh fees. And the way it will work, I've spoken to Houston at the complex basically he will invoice the county after the ball game. The county would just directly pay um the complex. So this the funds will not go, you know, to the team for anything other than, you know, their rental fee for using the complex. So I'd like to make a motion that um use my impact funds to cover those uh rental fee cost.

So that when uh pretty clear on does that have a lack of better way of saying a cap as far total amount? I'll say $1,200 only because it's about $275 per game. That that way we know financially what Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All in favor? Is 6. Uh Jennifer, any anything else?

Yeah. Well, just I have on my Foot Loose shirt tonight and uh you know, I'm always, you know, seem like I'm always putting something out there about athletics and this and that, but we have some very talented young folk across Henry County and just want us to support them in any way that we can. the um organizations that we fund that you know supports young folk. Um I just want us to make sure that we keep that out in the forefront because as those kids know my daughter was in it and she's at practice you know from 3:30 to 6:30. I mean that's you know as they say idle mind is a devil's workshop. So if we can keep the kids active and busy. um you know, we're not just helping that kid in that moment, but we might be helping that kid and saving a life down the road and also saving us some money because we know as we deal with some of the youth issues that, you know, does begin to cost us money. So maybe I'll be like Mr. uh Lawless and say that's a another form of economic development. That's it.

Thank you. That was an enjoyable show. Uh my wife and I enjoyed it Saturday night. Yes, sir. Mr. Buchanan,

I've got a couple of things here. Um, the horse pasture price road in 57 East waterline extensions, they had sent out um surveys and we have not received the amount of surveys back that we need uh in order to hopefully get a positive uh response back from the state. And I'm hoping that whether the media might get involved in promoting this or um getting the word out. Um we we definitely need uh this back by March the 31st. Um and so I'm hoping that we can do that because it's important.

Let me add one piece of clarifying information. So not to create fear among the residents, the the horsepower price road itself is committed. The surveys are going out to the side roads side roads offer. So we'll be able to offer the water to more residents if we can get those side roads off of horseback. Chances are though um if these surveys don't come back and we don't get grant funding for that, it might be a long long time before this opportunity comes their way again.

Yeah. So give you an example where grant money includes so many connections along the way. If we get you know 15 responses from this hypothetically from Browns Dairy Road and we only get two from Wagon 12 road then you know where the line's going to go. Sure. So wherever we get the most interest from the residents is where those lines are going to go on the side streets and ancillary streets. I will say there is also another effort as well though uh again the easements necessary to build the water line across property lines is going to require a lot of participation from the residents on horseback to price road to make that happen. Right. Thank you.

Um also the uh Rangely water line extension there um we've only had 37% of the surveys returned. Can you just that that needs to be addressed also? I'll have to check on that one. I'm not count.

Yeah. All right. And um our district funds that are available, you know, for for demolition and cleanup. We got a list of the homes that were involved in that. Are we able to get an updated an updated um some updated information on if the contracts have been awarded, what the time frame is for each one of those? Um so we are able to tell our residents when they ask and and I'll add to that a little bit. I mean obviously emails are flowing between that office. I would be glad to be on that chain uh to see the moves that it makes cuz we're pretty much left in the dark. Um, I think all of all of our all of our board needs to be updated, okay,

on that. Appreciate that. We'll get you the information you want. That's all that I have. Thank you, Mr. Lawless.

So, one thing I want to say is this is my new little piece that will be here until I'm gone for the four years or whatever it might be. But one of the things that I ran on was trash, grass, and drugs being number one. So, it's something I still stand behind to this day. And on the other side of it, it has, as Mr. Diller said, economic development every day. So each day it shows what one does for the other. So got this 3D printed locally. So anybody wants one, I definitely get you one. Um, but I wanted to leave that leads into two things I want to talk about. One thing was, um, Mr. Diller has teamed up with me for posters for pandas. Uh, it's actually an anti-littering campaign where it goes to the, uh, elementary kids at no cost to the taxpayer. We'll make sure we understand that. But what it does is it's a coloring contest from K through 3rd where the kids win prizes and then fourth and fifth is a drawing contest where they'll receive a 4 voucher and be able to go for free. Um, and we'll hopefully be able to take those posters and put them in the elementary schools and stuff like that and hopefully to get the kids to where they'll be tugging on their parents' heartstrings when they're throwing something out the window. So, that's one thing. And I want to thank Mr. Dyler for his help on that and helped me get all the protocols to get that to the school. The second thing, and I know we've been here for a long time tonight, so I'm not going to keep us real long, but I actually want to make a motion. And that motion is is I've showed this to everybody up here on the board so far, and I'm asking that this motion is a tire ordinance. And this tire ordinance is made, and I've talked it over with county officials, stuff like that. Um, and what I would like to make a motion is that this be looked over by George Ly and brought back to us by next board meeting for discussion. Now, I know that things will change with this. I know the numbers might change. I know there's things that could possibly change. I understand that and I'm willing to hear

that. But at the same time, I think that we need to start somewhere and we need to make a difference. And I think this is a start for us to be able to start making that difference. And I would ask for um a second on that motion and so we can give it to George L to be able to look at it with Andrew Nester or whatever he's going to do and be able to tell us whether this is legal or not and have discussion by the next meeting that we meet at. So uh so that we all understand we're not voting on an ordinance that can only be done after a public hearing. We're voting on an at an attorney review and bring back information to the board. Is that correct, Mr. Law? Yes, sir. By next meeting. So, we have a second. I'll second it.

And a second. Any discussion? Uh, Mr. Ly, uh, as part of discussion, uh, is this something that's doable? Yes. I mean, I mean, I'll bring back I'll first thing I'll do is look at the state code, see what we're authorized to do, and then get with since I assume it's going to be like a criminal ordinance, I'll get with the Commonwealth attorney and bring back proposals or proposal. And would that be comparable to what other uh localities are doing? That's part every time you ask me to draft a new ordinance, I I look at what similarly situated counties are doing, look for the state authority for what we could do, what's most and the least we could do, and those type options. And exactly

and timeline uh um you bring it back to us, then we would set a date for a public hearing. Yes. If if it under the most expedient way it would go forward is by the next meeting, uh it would be determined that there is something we could do and I bring a proposal. The board likes it and we could you would then ask to advertise a a public hearing and as part of I I apologize I have so many uh questions. As part of what we have all spent almost two years reviewing a comp plan, you will tie this in together and I know Mr. Lawless has spent some time with planning and zoning on this as well, right? Yes. Okay. Y

So, we have a motion and a second. Any other uh questions or discussion? All in favor? It's 6. Uh Jennifer. Uh anything else, Mr. Long? Yes, sir. Thank you.

Um remind everyone as we all have seen the traffic start to pour in specifically on Mr. Puit's uh end of town at race weekend. like to congratulate Dr. Cabba on a uh welldeserved recognition as being um one of the um folks recognized in women's month and uh thank you for all that you do and I'm sure that uh we all agree that uh that was welld deserved. Also like to congratulate u Mr. Dylan on making uh the uh birthday equal to the speed limit in most of Henry County. When you ride up when you ride up and down the road and you see those numbers on that uh sign, you're reminded every every day.

Yes, sir. And having been there and done that, I just wish it keep raising his feelings. I do too.

But uh I would uh I've discussed this with Mr. Wagner. This is not unlike uh something that we have done in the past. We don't do it frequently. Uh there is a gap of time and of course we've we've had u staff uh working very diligently on a um number of different things budget related, but there's a gap of time that I think that we can help show our appreciation. I would accept a motion that we offer Good Friday as a paid holiday uh for our employees. Can that be worked out, Mr. Wagon?

Yes. Uh way we manage it with employees that cannot take the day off. They would be allowed extra time or vacation at some point in the future. That's going to have no work responsibility. What is the desire of the board in that regard in in the form of a motion? I'll make a motion that Good Friday be a day off for the county employees. Second. Have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All in favor? Is 6. Jennifer, that's all I have. Mr. Wagner, you mentioned the race already. So, I'll I'll skip over that. Just a reminder, we will meet Thursday, April 7th at 5:00 p.m. presentation.

Thursday, April 7th. That takes us to agenda item 13th, go into closed meeting and someone will cite the items allowing us to go into closed meeting. Mr. Chairman, I make a motion the board convenes in a closed meeting as permitted under the following sections of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act. 2.23711A1 for discussion of appointees to the Henry Martinsville Social Services Board. 2.23711 A7 for discussion of pending legal matters. 2.23711 2 3711 A3 for discussion of the acquisition disposal of real estate and 2.23711 A5 for discussion of as yet unannounced industries. Second.

We have a motion to second. All in favor there 60. Uh Jennifer I'll see you all upstairs in 5 minutes.

Meeting on a motion by Miss Canon, a second by Mr. Puit. Mr. Pal, will you uh hold please? Uh and just for record during close session we did not advertise one item that was discussed that was discussion of awards and recognition to become under code 2.2-371810 we will add that to the to the minutes board members to the best of your knowledge on the public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements of code of Virginia section 2.2-3711 2-3711 were heard discussed or considered in closed meeting? Yes, sir. Mr. Wallace. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Mr. Giller. Yes, sir. Dr.

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Hey. Uh, Mr. Wallace, I believe that uh you have a performance agreement for the board's consideration. Yes, sir. I make a motion that the board accept the performance agreement between Henry County and FKC of America. Second. We have a motion, a second. Any discussion? All in favor? It's uh 6. Jennifer, uh Dr. Cobb, I believe that uh there's an easement agreement uh for the board's consideration. Yes, sir. I move that the board approve a deed of easement with Basset Furniture Industries for public access to the Smith River off Trent Hill Drive. Second.

Have a motion and second. Any discussion? All in favor? It's 6. Uh Jennifer. Um Mr. Wagner, do you have any items prior to a brief recess? Board members, I'll declare a recess uh with us starting promptly at 6 p.m. for the evening session. I'll call the 6 pm session of the March 24th, 2026 meeting of the Henry County Board of Supervisors back to order from our brief s uh recess of the afternoon session. Like to welcome all of our visitors. remind you if you want to address the board at any of our regular meetings, uh you'll need to contact the county administrator's office uh to be put on the agenda at least 7 days in advance of any of our regular meetings. However, the public may address the board under the agenda item matters presented by the public that will come up as agenda item number 20 tonight. Again, welcome everyone. Thank you for coming out and participating in your uh county government. Um, our first agenda item is agenda item 14, a consideration of a resolution in honor of Carlile School girls basketball team. Mr. Dylan, I believe you have some comments and a resolution to read.

Yes, sir, I do. If they can get those young ladies and the coach to come on in. You're late. We're gonna take back the championship. I'll be here in like four minutes.

Are you prepared? Yes. If we're waiting on some additional U players, if you want to uh go to agenda item 15 and we'll jump forward with that if if you're prepared for that.

Yes, sir. I I am. And so, um, just want to, uh, recognize, well, I guess someone is someone going to read the description for the community connected citizen or you want me just to go ahead and Okay. All right. So, you know, we as a board voted a while back to make sure we recognize outstanding citizens in our community and we often call it the triple C award, community connected citizen and you know these are folk who are out there doing outstanding things and you know I have the privilege of recognizing someone who lives in Irishwood district and many folk know her and if you don't know her as an activist is you know her as a minister. If you don't know her as a minister, then you know her as a trailblazer. And I don't think it's ironic that she's being recognized during National Women's History Month um because she is definitely, you know, a strong person first and foremost uh and and a strong woman. And recently, Miss Naomi Hodgej Muse was selected as a recipient of the 2025 Black Appalachin Storytellers Fellowship Award by the National Association of the Black Storytellers. This prestigious honor recognizes her work as a storyteller and culture bearer representing Virginia's central Appalachin region. as a part of the fellowship, she was will receive funding, national recognition, and opportunities to share her storytelling at upcoming conferences. And um she received this for her book, The Tales of Kola Hala. And you know, we'll give her a chance to talk a little more about that. And she also is the president of the local NAACP.

And I want to see this myself on April 30th. Am I correct? She's going to do a onewoman show and I really believe she does that every day. So, she's really just going to be on stage doing what she does on a daily basis. But I would like to recognize Miss Naomi Haj Muse as the uh community connected citizen award. If you'd come forward and you may have a few words that you would like to share and afterwards um Mr. Adams, we'll let you tell us what to do from there. So, let's give a big hand for Miss Naomi Hodgej Muse.

Thank you so very much for this honor. Thank you, Gary in particular. And just thank everyone. Uh, Tales of Kola is basically the story of my family going back to 1749. That's how long we have been here. And my family still owns a piece of the land that we were enslaved on, Kola. And we are the last to leave there. And praise God, we're still there. The house that was built by my great-grandfather is over a hundred years old. It's still standing. I'm still making sure that it stands. My brother lives there. Uh I invite you to read Tales of Kahala. It's not preachy, but it tells you what it's like and what it was like for my family coming from enslavement uh up until current day and going off to college. Uh I am honored to be a storyteller fellow. I'll be going to Rhode Island in November and as part of the circuit and yes, we're having a one moment one woman show at the Blackbox Theater on April 30th. There is no admission. It's going to be at three o'clock and we will be gifted by Valyria Edwards. She will be singing and I will be telling some of the stories found in my book. Once again, thank you so very much for this honor. It's truly appreciated. Thank you.

How would how could someone purchase your book? How can uh folk purchase your book? Well, there will be on sale at the Blackbox Theater after the show, but you can buy on Amazon. It actually won a gold medal for the best book by first time author 2025. And that that's astounding. My co-author is Dr. Christopher Brooks, PhD cultural anthropologist from uh Virginia Commonwealth University. He's written 14 books and two New York New York Times bestsellers. So, it's a very easy read uh and it just it's it's worth reading. So, and thank you so very much for this honor. Yes, ma'am.

Board members, if you will join me down front, uh since this is community connected, Three, two, one. I will stand on the right.

Mr. Dylan, will you catch your breath? We'll jump back to agenda item 14. Yes, I am Carlile Lady Chiefs. Want to commend you all and want to commend your coach. First year head basketball coach and you know I know you ladies have been going at it. You had a tough year last year, losing in the championship game, but you know, you showed that perseverance and you came back uh this year determined more than ever and I've seen some scholarship offers and some great things that are happening. So, I just want to commend you all and that's just um you know, just a great thing and you you all can be examples for other teams, for other schools around here for the work that you all have put in. uh the fact that you ladies, you know, stayed together, worked together, and Miss Buchanan is going to read a resolution, and then afterwards, you know, some of us may have other comments.

Okay. This is a resolution of the Henry County Board of Supervisors honoring the Carile School Girls Basketball Team for winning the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association Division 3 State Championship. Whereas the Henry County Board of Supervisors recognizes the value of having Carile School, an independent college preparatory school located in Henry County. And whereas the Carile School Ladies Chiefs captured the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association Division 3 State Basketball Championship with a 60- 43 victory over Chelsea Academy. And whereas this victory marks Carlile's third state title in the past four years and the program's seventh championship in the last 12 seasons, further demonstrating a tradition of excellence. And whereas under the leadership of firstear head coach Ashley Norton along with assistant coach and I hope I pronounced it right, Dejona Harris and Diane Watkins, the Lady Chiefs compiled an outstanding 19-to5 record and allowed an average of just 39.3 points across three state tournament games. And whereas team members Dember Harris, Zion Squires, Chelsea Harris, Ashley Sams, Journey Porter, Kenzie Board, and Gabby Fountain demonstrated dedication, teamwork, and sportsmanship throughout the season. And whereas the Lady Chief season statistics of 1,353 points, 166 offensive rebounds, 342 defensive

rebounds, 305 assists, uh 222 steals, and 46 blocks reflects the team's strong and disciplined performance. And whereas the board of supervisors is grateful for the pride and recognition that the Carlilele basketball players, coaches, staff, and supporters have brought to their school and the Henry County community. Now therefore, be it proclaimed this 24th day of March, 2026 that the Henry County Board of Supervisors hereby congratulates the Carile School Girls Basketball Team for its outstanding achievement and extends best wishes for continued success in the future. This is signed Jim Adams, chairman, Henry County Board of Supervisors. and would like to make a motion. I'd like to make a motion to um accept and approve this resolution.

Second.

We have a motion and a second. All in favor is 6. Uh Jennifer, board members, if you will uh join me down front and coaches and team members, if you will also join us uh down front. Can you go over that Three, two, one. Leave me hanging.

Maybe maybe one or two. They try. Uh, thank you guys for having us today. Really appreciate it. It's been a It's been a year for sure. These girls persevere through a lot. You might not know, but at the end of the year, they didn't even know if they had a season. Um, like I said, we ended up with seven players. That says a lot for them. A lot of people played a lot of minutes. I probably had three or four that didn't ever come out the game. So, none of them worried about points. None of them worried about accolades. Um, they stuck together. And I was very thankful that they accepted me not knowing me from Adam. So, I won't say too much how I get emotional, but it's all it's all them. They did great. So,

great. Thank you. Absolutely. Congratulations. Again, congratulations to uh the uh team members and coaches uh at Carile. You represent your community and now you're held at a higher standard because you have younger people that's going to look at your example and the marks of achievement that you have. So live up to that higher standard uh that u you now face. Any other comments? All right, that takes us to agenda item 16. And I do understand that some of you may be anxious to get home and do homework. If you need to do so, uh please uh be uh quiet on your exit, but uh I do understand if you if you must leave. We have with us uh on the general highway matters Robin Keeler and David Kaiser from VOTE. Uh Robin is uh now got just about one full month uh in this position.

So uh talk about general highway matters.

Thank you very much for having us this evening. We appreciate it. Um so I don't have a whole lot. I just touch on a few items here. Of course we're working towards getting ready for the race traffic, you know, uh for the race. So we've been concentrating on that this week, but we've also been working on preparing for our schedule work plant and slurry seal. So, we're doing a lot of patching, shoulder work, some tree trimming and that type of thing. Um, we do have plans for our plant mix to begin in June. So, that's the asphalt part of it. And then the surface treatment sometime in May. Um, latex, you you may see some uh some eradication of some lines because they're starting already. And then we don't really know about slurry yet, but it's we'll let you know when we have a little more update on that. Um, we have been working on safety project uh Mary Hunter and Basset. Um, we should complete that by the end of this week and that road will be back open. Um, but other than that, we've just been concentrating on our regular maintenance items and have any questions.

Okay. Uh, one one thing, I didn't catch it if you said it and I apologize. Uh, have we communicated with county staff to set up a secure plan? Oh, I'm sorry. I apologize. Yes. Yes, we have. We our plan is to have that in May at your May meeting. the the the meeting will be there for the for the public if they wish to attend. So anything in regard to communication if you'll just send it to the administrative or deputy county administrator's office. Sure. And on old stage old stage road I'll just get you go over there and check on that. Some potholes were filled but the residents couple residents are saying that it's still needs some work. Sure. We'll take a look at that.

Thank you. One other thing as far as a date uh doesn't involve the uh the board per se here, but uh West Pedmont Planning District Commission uh periodically and it we haven't had one in quite some time has a transportation technical advisory committee meeting and I think it's going to be 11:00 a.m. on April 17th. Okay. Uh you should be getting uh notification from the executive director on that. All right. Sounds good. All right. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Agenda item 17, we'll have an update from the uh Blue Ridge Regional Library uh library members. Uh we got uh executive director and others uh that may be participating. Uh please come forward.

Good evening. I just wanted to give you a quick update about what we're doing at the library. Um, so the mission of Blige Regional Library is to provide free friendly service and access to timely materials that educate, enrich, and entertain the entire community. And you know, we provide books, but we also have DVDs, YMCA day passes, cake pans, puzzles, much more. Um, we sent out an annual report. You should have it. If you have any questions, just let me know. Um, but we are not going to focus on that. We're going to do a dive into our main program, summer reading. And summer reading is the reading challenge that we have. It um encourages people of all ages to read. It's one of our programs that promotes literacy within the community. It takes place over the months of June and July. All participants receive entries based on the number of minutes they ra they've read and at the end they get the different age groups are entered into drawings for prizes. In the past, they've received our grand prizes, our iPads or Kindle flyers. The younger children um also have different levels where they'll read win prizes like books and such. So, why we do it? Um one of the big things that it does is it helps combat the summer slide. You know, particularly with school age children and teenagers that they over the summer they can lose some of the skills that they learn in school, but summer reading, reading and literacy helps them retain them so they're in a better position when they return to school in the fall. Um, it

improves and encourages literacy. Literacy improves employability. um being able to read and have additionally critical thinking skills makes somebody more employable. It also aids in developing empathy um particularly with reading fiction. You can see things from another point of view and kind of breaks you out of your silo. And particularly with mental health these days, it's a good aid to do that. And of course, if you're like me, you think it's fun. So, these are some of the stats for one of the Henry County branches, Basset. And as you can see, they had phenomenal numbers. They had a lot of attendance for their programs, both preschool, school age, teen, and outreach. Um, and all of that totaled. They had 44 programs and over a thousand people in attendance and they also had a lot of preschool and school age people um participate in our summer reading. So very very strong numbers, numbers we love to see and had a total of 215 people participate. And our Collinsville branch had good numbers for their summer programs. They had a good attendance particularly with school age and teen. It's elusive teenagers. So it's always amazing when we can get um the good teen numbers. and they had 16 summer reading programs and 232 people attend those programs.

And they had a lot of um people participate particularly in teen and adults with a total of at least 73 people participating in summer reading. And of course, Ridgeway also participated and they had good numbers, too. Um, a lot of their strengths are in preschool and outreach. They have a nice area to do more outreach programming. And they had a total of 18 programs and 229 people attended. And like um Collinsville, they also had a very strong teen and particularly adult participation. And we're happy, we're always happy to have adults in there. And they had a total of 83 people participate. And these are just some of the pictures from the summer reading programmings at Basset, Ridgeway, and Collinsville. They had great attendance as you can see. Lots of fun stuff. The um theme last year was color your world. And here's some more. Everybody is having a good time. Um as a quick preview, our theme this year is dinosaurs. And when I came in, I saw a dinosaur saw statue. So I was excited. Um, so I'd like to close with showing some of the impact that the library has on the members of the community. And this was one of the quotes from our I love the library campaign. Um, it reads, I have been coming to Basset Library since I was a kid. It holds a place dear in my

heart. It's always been a place of resources that I needed. I love this library because of the staff location and it being a place for resources. This library is needed in this our community. So this just emphasizes that the library is a place where people can find the resources that they need. It can be access to computers and internet or books. some of the traditional things that we're known for. And from Collinsville Library, I love my library because it is my safe haven. I enjoy the staff. I enjoy their help. I enjoy the computer and books. There are three cards that I never leave home without. And my library card is one of them. And that really emphasizes that the library is a safe space for everyone. We are open to all members of the community irregardless of your social economic status. And for Ridgeway Library, we love story time and the time Miss Libby and Miss Janet spend growing young minds. We love having access to tons of books to grow and learn. And this feeds into the library playing a vital role in the development of literacy in young children, particularly through our story times. Um, and that the story times can help foster a love of reading. And then parents can come in and start to check out books for their kids to read at home. So, I wanted to take a moment to say thank you. Thank you to the Henry County

Board of Supervisors for all the support you've given us, both past, present, and future. We greatly appreciate it. I also want to say thank you to Dale Wagner for his support as well. Um, I also want to say thank you to our the our staff, Karen, Amy, and Kim, the branch managers, and their staff. Without them, we wouldn't be able to do all of the great stuff that we've done with summer reading. I also want to say thank you to our board members, um, Monica, Christopher, Lori, Twyla, Dinatada, and Shereice. We appreciate your support as well. And finally, I just want to say thank you to the community. We do what we do for you guys, and it's always a privilege to be able to do this. Thank you.

Thank you. While you're there, uh if we have uh current or past board members of the library, would you please stand? Guess I just

and and librarians Karen, you thought you were going to hide from Thank you all for volunteering because it is a the volunteers of the community that make this happen. You are the strength of making sure that the uh library is headed on uh good path, good financial uh solid ground. And this last year you had to name a new director. Melissa, thank you so much for being here. Thank you, board members. That takes us to agenda item 18 uh public hearing the reasonzoning application R-26-03 for uh Timothy Clifford Stone. We have with us to give us background on this our director of planning and zoning, Mr. Lee Clark. Mr. Clark.

This property is located on the east side of Crestridge Road, approximately 800 ft south of Pinewood Lanes in the Blackberry District. Property shown on tax map 26711 is lots C, D, and 81. The applicant is requesting reszoning of lot 81 and the front portion of lots C and D from suburban residential district to agricultural district A1. The applicant wishes to combine the parcels to construct a house and accessory building. Following a public hearing, both the planning commission and staff recommended approval of this request. I'll open the public hearing to take input on this at 6:27. Is there anyone desiring to address the board on in this public hearing?

Yes, sir. Uh I have a brief policy statement. It goes for uh uh all of our public hearings tonight because we will have another and m and it also goes for uh matters presented by the public. This is a time for public comment. We welcome your participation in tonight's meeting. We're here to listen to you. Uh if you care to address the board, come to the podium. State your name, your subject matter, and the district in which you live. By coming to the podium, you have agreed that you will exhibit respect to the board, the staff, and its members. You will receive the same consideration from the board. Please try to keep your presentation to no more than three minutes. I saw one hand. Uh please come forward. My name is David Craig. I'm I live in the Blackberry district and I have land that's adjacent and behind the lots that Mr. Stone is wanting to reszone. I've known him pretty much all my life and his dad, Clifford Stone, they have always been a great asset to the community. A the lot that he's want to uh reszone, he's done a lot of work on clearing it off, reeding it and stuff. So, uh I think that what he's doing is going to be a a great input to the community. Thank you.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Greg. Is there anyone else desiring uh to address the board in this public comment on this reszoning application? Seeing and hearing no indication, I will close the public hearing at 6:29. Um this is in my district. Um and I agree with the um uh staff recommendation along with the planning commission uh recommendation. If someone will make a motion on my behalf. Mr. Chairman, I make a motion to approve reszoning application for Timothy Clifford Stone. Second.

We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All in favor? It is 6. Uh Jennifer. Agenda item 19, a public hearing referencing a budget amendment appropriating funds from the 1% sales tax fund for new construction and renovation and a school construction assistant program grant for the school board. Mr. Wagner, if you would give us background on this, please. School board is requesting appropriation of $4,200,000 from the 1% sales tax fund and another1,800,000 received from the school construction assistance program grant. The school board has indicated that the additional $6 million in funding will be used to upgrade the heated ventilation and air conditioning systems at Fielddale College elementary school, Sandville Elementary School, and the Korea Academy. And since the total request exceeds the 1% of the total county budget, you are required to hold a public hearing for appropriation.

I'll open the public hearing to take input on this at 6:30. Is there anyone desiring to address the board on this public hearing on this uh budget amendment? Seeing and hearing no indication that anyone desires to speak, I will close the public hearing at 6:31. Uh what is the desire of the board in as far as uh this? Mr. Chairman, I make a motion to approve the additional appropriation of 4.2 million from the 1% sales tax fund for construction and renovation and 1.8 million from the um school's construction assistance program grant.

Second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All in favor is 6 Jennifer. That takes us to agenda item number 20, matters presented by the public. Is there anyone wishing to speak uh under the agenda item matters presented by the public? Seeing no indication as such, that takes us to uh agenda item number 21. I'll call for I just may ask for one clarification before we close out. Yes, sir.

I know we voted early about the unexpended funds and to delay that. What has to happen next for that vote to come back up? Just want to be clear. We for the unexpended funds for the school system. Do they have to request that again? Does that automatically go to the uh reserves or what's what are the next steps with that? because we didn't vote to allocate it anywhere in particular. We just voted to delay the vote on it. So, we're going to take consideration of the funds as we develop our fiscal year 2027 budget. So, you'll probably have a recommendation for using those funds in the presentation next week or April 2nd.

You say next week or April 2nd? On April 2nd. On April. Okay. Gotcha. And then of course you can do whatever you wish with it at that point include the budget or change it or

and with that recommendation just so because you know I don't want to get lost in transition where you make sure that that what the school requested is in that as an option as well as whatever options you you and the staff come up with so that that doesn't get lost in transition because that's still an option. Correct. Cuz we didn't vote to deny it. we voted to delay it. So that so that vote is still out there. So we want to make sure that you know that's uh pointed out in our options to with those funds.

Actually a point of clarification, the motion was made that we uh and you correct me from a from a procedural standpoint. The motion was made that we give them the 530ome,000. That motion failed. So we actually did not vote to defer the motion was the motion to give them the money failed though. Yeah. Their request as the request that mine I mean we'd have to listen to the recording but I thought the motion from either you or Miss Ka was to so to give them the request for 532,000 and turned it down.

So as clarification and and again I'm not taking argument. I just want to make sure we all understand um that money is still on the so to speak on the table for budget consideration since that motion failed. Is that the way or did I misinterpret? It's a a very good point that I missed as well. So yes, I would think following the the normal um meeting procedures, it could come up again by based on Robert's rules, it could come up again by Mr. different at a later point or it could come up by you all at any point

or does does the school system need to request that again and that's what my original question was you know how does that come back up again that conversation and under Robert's rules of order the uh the voting majority has to bring it back up uh well uh each meeting of this board is a separate legislative session so so you're right during the same meeting if you wanted reconsider it. Someone on the prevailing side, one of the votes that prevailed would have to bring it up. But when we adjourn, um this isn't like the general assembly that goes on for weeks at a time. When we adjourn, next time will be a new legislative session. So So in order for that particular

anybody could bring it up at a at a future meeting, just like you might bring up something to spend $500 to say, you can bring up a motion to allocate anybody here or could the school system request that? I believe as it stands now is is it in dispute that because the it didn't I mean it it was unexpended by the end of the year on the county's books right the money I mean so it's it's like any other unappropriated or money you could make a motion to spend it

and I guess just so we can make sure we do the right thing can we get clarification on that and make sure the school gets clarification on that so that if it can come back up that they know what they have to do or we as a board know what we have to do in order to bring that back up and have that, you know, clearly stated in writing so that we know how to proceed with that. I'm not a parliamentarian, so I would Well, that that's why I said if if we can just we don't have to or I can hire one to to

Well, we don't have to hire anybody. we've got an attorney that take care of that and see it's pretty a simple matter and if he can't take care of that then let's talk about a different conversation. Um so if Mr. Laauo could give us what the next steps would be in regards to that motion being defeated and if the school you know school system or one of us as board members would like to bring that back up let us know what that process is. The way I view it now, I mean, and and is that money that is unexpended at the end of the We used to have an agreement. There is no agreement. So, by law, and there might be some dispute about that, but I mean, by law, it it comes back to the county. So, it is unexpended school funds. They requested to have it back tonight and spend it. It was turned down. And so it is on the you you still every member of this body has the power to make a motion to spend that money at a future meeting for whatever purpose you might convince four of your colleagues to agree with or three of your colleagues to agree. You know what I mean? I mean they don't have to ask for it. I mean, they can they I guess in in theory could come back every meeting theory could come back every meeting and and ask for it, but they don't have to ask for it, but they don't have to because each of this body can make a because each of this body can make a motion to spend unbudgeted funds and motion to spend unbudgeted funds and have them add it to the budget and go have them add it to the budget and go through that like you do for usually through that like you do for usually much smaller amounts, but you could do much smaller amounts, but you could do it. And if you can I mean, I'm not it. And if you can I mean, I'm not suggesting that's a good policy. I'm suggesting that's a good policy. I'm just saying that you have the ability to just saying that you have the ability to do that. I mean, they can they I guess do that. Just like when he presents the budget, you could take that amount of money and ask it to be put in the budget for that specific purpose for the school, you know, to do that. You you can any member can do that. You just have to obviously get three of your colleagues to support you.

Does that answer your question? No. But we can we we we can, you know, I know what questions I want to ask. we can do the research and we can get a good I just want to make sure that everybody knows how to proceed based off of the motion that was made tonight. Um cuz like you said that money is still with the school system at this point. No, it's with the c I I view it as being with the county because it was unspent. It it was not spent within their budget year. Gotcha. And and and it and they asked to have it reappropriated back to them for a purpose and this board rejected that. So it's still with the county.

It's in the fund balance. It's in the fund balance that we have I don't know the exact terminology but unbudgeted unaccounted for and I mean it's accounted for but right 30 pen can you an end in the audit it became a part of the county fund balance right that's right and and and you can at at any meeting in the future a member of this body can make a motion to spend it and if it gets a second there would presumably be a vote gotcha okay Mr. Wagner, do you have any other items of business that we need to consider prior to adjournment? I do not. Thank you. Board members, do you have any other items that we need to consider? I'll call for a motion for adjournment. So moved. Second. I

have a motion to second. All in favor? It is 6. Uh Jennifer, everyone have a good evening.