Board of Supervisors - Regular Meeting

I call the August 25th, 2026, 3 p.m. session of the Henry County Board of Supervisors to order. I'd like to welcome all of our visitors. Remind you, if you want to address the board, you must sign up seven 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 in this evening's meeting as agenda item number 16. Again, welcome everyone. Thank you for coming out and participating in your county government. Our first business item of 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? It is 6-0, Jennifer. Agenda item number six, we'll have a report on delinquent tax collection efforts and I, okay, I'll see you now. We have with us Miss Tiffany C. Hairston of the Treasurer's Office. Tiffany, welcome.

Thank you. Good afternoon. For delinquent taxes personal property collection, as of July 31st, 2026, we collected 89.82% of the 2025 personal property taxes. We collected $235,058.18 in the month. we collected 95.45% of the 2025 real estate taxes. We collected $83,238.66 in a month. Since July 31st, 2026, TAC has collected $828,011.17. Debt set-off we collected $3,066.20 on August 14th. For the year, the total collected was $244,491.79 and total stops was $557. How could this anyone have any questions of Ms. Harrison at this time?

not just sometimes like to say, hey, we don't have a whole lot of discussion. But I know you've had this job just a short time. How do you how is it going? And how do you feel about the the 89% of tax collection at this time, since we've got since everything we've gone through to this point?

Once we add our own DMV stops, they help bring in collection of personal property taxes. Okay.

Thank you.

Okay. Anything else, board members? Thank you. Thank you. That takes us to agenda item number seven. We'll have an update from Piedmont Community Services. We have with us Greg Preston and some of his staff members. Greg is the executive director of Piedmont Community Services. Welcome, Greg.

Mr. Chairman, to the board, Mr. Wagner, again, thank you for allowing Piedmont to be present today. We wanted to take an opportunity, as we do annually, to give an update about Piedmont Community Services data, some of the information that is vital to the county. Likewise, to talk about some new services that we're bringing to the county. So for today's presentation, we'll have an overview about the Community Services Board. We'll talk some about 2025, the impact. We won't do an overview of services due to time constraints, but we will talk about, again, some new services coming to the area and what's coming up next. So again, as a reminder, the Piedmont Community Services, we were formed from a partnership between local government and the General Assembly back in 1968. Piedmont was actually formed in 1972. And statewide, there are 40 community services boards. Piedmont is one of 40. So if you go to Danville, there's a Danville Community Services Board. If you go to Roanoke, there's a Blue Ridge. And we're spread out throughout the state of Virginia. So again, Piedmont was formed in 1972. We serve Henry County, Martinsville, Franklin County, and Patrick County. Currently, we serve right around 7,400 individuals annually. Although the slide says we have 475 staff, we are moving towards about 500 staff currently due to new services that we're providing. wanted to introduce our board of directors so Mr. Garrett Dillard is our board chair we're really excited Mr. Dillard as you all know really motivated really in tune about what's happening in our community our past chair is Mr. Gil Carter the other Henry County representatives is Mr. Bill Atkins Mr. Eric Hairston Ms. Bonnie Martin and also that completes all five of the board members so for our board of directors we have 14 board members we have five board members from Henry County five from Franklin County two from Patrick and also two from Martinsville so we do currently have two vacancies I wanted to briefly introduce our director's team. We've got Ms. Caroline Pilsen, who's our CFO. Sharon Buckman, who's our Chief Human Resources Officer. Sam Petty, IT. Jeriah Morris, we're really excited. Jeriah has joined the team. She's our PR liaison and public information officer. Kelly Coble, Director of Behavioral Health. Regina Clark, Director of Prevention. miss shannon clark director of community support and also miss lynn fleming the assistant to the ceo i wanted to just give you a quick overview about the facilities we operate currently operate over 30 facilities in the four localities and 15 facilities in martinsville and henry county and we will introduce our latest purchase which is located on michael road and miss shannon clark will give you an update on that shortly I just wanted to remind, definitely the board of directors, but more importantly, the community, that we do have a partnership with Genoa Pharmacy. They're actually located at our Clay Street office, 24 Clay Street. They both serve clients and also staff. I'm going to yield to Ms. Gerard Morris. She's going to come up and talk some about the 2025 annual report.

Good afternoon everyone. Very briefly, I just wanted to talk about our annual report for 2025. We're going to talk about both our program growth and the local impact that we've made in this past year. So in 2025, in Henry County alone, we were able to serve 10,048 community members, and that's including in our mental health, our substance use, our IDDD, our housing case management and our prevention services. So our major program highlights include expanding our crisis support through our 23 hour services. We continue to provide services in our recovery housing and our warm line support services. We've expanded waiver access and support coordination in our developmental services and our prevention program continues to work with our youth, students and community partners in Henry County and our other localities. Financially, we continue to prioritize our direct service. So as you see on the chart, 89% of our expenses are reinvested into our people and our operations with a lot of our funding coming from Medicaid, state and federal partnerships. And lastly, we just wanted to give a shout out to our staff. This is a photo from our 50th anniversary. We cannot do the services that we do without our dedicated staff. And so we want to recognize the people who show up in our community every day. Thank you guys.

So I, too, would like to reiterate just the importance of having dedicated staff. And we are really excited to have dedicated, motivated staff that serve the individuals in our community with professionalism. Real quickly, I'll drive through these quickly. Just an example of how to access services. Mental health services, I won't go over those, just wanted to share the variety of services that we provide through mental health. Substance use disorder services, everything from case management to medication, intensive outpatient. On the developmental side of the house, we provide supported living, group homes, case management services. We have an intermediate care facility on 26 Boca Road, and also residential services. And with our recovery supports, we provide, again, a vast variety of services, including peer services, recovery services. We have a program that helps individuals in recovery get employment. So just really excited about the services we provide with recovery. With prevention, provide educational awareness, parenting classes, health fairs, school-based services, mental health first aid training, naloxone training, community coalitions. And with early childhood, again, parenting skills, child development, healthy families, Part C, early intervention, and education. From here, I wanted to invite Ms. Shannon Clark to come up and talk some about the new additions at Henry County.

Good afternoon. First off, I want to say thank you. Thank you to Henry County for taking the lead in regards for us to be able to secure the OAA opioid abatement funds as far as to secure Micah Road. That is going to be, at the end of the day, we appreciate that partnership. Again, thank you. I want to say thank you. to give you a hand for that i want to let you know first off the programs that will be at the mackerel site that will of course increase our ability to serve the community we will have of course a marcus alert which is that co-response we'll have crisis stabilization services we also will have permanent supportive housing the case managers will be located out of this property we'll also have a crisis receiving center and also we'll have a psychosocial day services which is slash clubhouse that will be operating out of this property as well we're excited to be able to have all of these options expand our footprint because again it will keep us to be able to serve individuals in the community especially with crisis at the end of the day we oftentimes have to outsource and send individuals out especially for extended crisis services so this facility and this this micro road project will be able to keep them here for as far as for support so we're excited so again thank you

Good afternoon. I'm Erin Motley. I'm the Assistant Clinical Director of Crisis Services for Piedmont. And so I wanted to talk a little bit about the extension of crisis services. So some of you may be familiar with the Lighthouse over on Commonwealth. That is our crisis receiving center where we assess individuals for inpatient hospitalization and we also assess for crisis stabilization services up to 23 hours. So they come, they stay with us up to 23 hours, they see a nurse practitioner, they see clinicians, and we link them to long-term outpatient services. Try to keep them out of the hospital and in the community. So this crisis receiving center will move to Micah Road. We also are launching Marcus Alert, which is a co-response program with law enforcement and clinicians, where clinicians and law enforcement will respond to calls in the community through dispatch together. to try to provide a better source of right help right now. So if it's a mental health call and clinicians can step in and deescalate and determine what services might be best for them, then the clinician will help advocate and transition them to the right place for mental health services. Um, we are also opening a crisis stabilization unit for adults at the micro road location. So this will be a 12 bed facility and four of those beds will be medical detox. So we can do medical detox for adults, um, from substance use. And this is a more longterm stay. So up to 14 days. So this helps us to avoid possible inpatient hospitalization, which could be an hour. or more away. A lot of times our individuals are going two to three, four hours away to get inpatient treatment. So this is a little bit lesser restrictive service, but it is still inpatient and it's here in the community so we can keep them home, keep them local. We don't have to worry about transportation resources. We don't have to worry about how do we get good discharge planning care and linked back to services provided in the community because we're already here. We know our local providers and we can help link them much easier and more efficiently, I believe, than hospitals outside of our catchment. So those are some of the main crisis services that will be at Micah Road, and we're really excited to move over there and get things going. But thank you all so much for your support and your help in our project with Micah Road.

So, Dale, I think I've got two more minutes. If I could, I wanted to invite Regina Clark. She's the Director of Prevention Services. We've got a really exciting new program for our youth that I close out on promise.

Thank you.

Good afternoon. I'm Regina Clark, Director of Youth and Prevention Services. And like Greg mentioned, we've got one particular thing that I really cannot brag enough about. and that is a new collaborative that has really taken off over the last year, and that's called the HITE Collaborative, Helping Youth Thrive. This came about as kind of an initiative to how do we support our youth more? So just a couple things out of that. Harvest has supported us with some funding to collect some data. We spent the last year and a half to two years doing that, and then we got the ideas and the information from the youth to what they wanted. And so a teen center was one of the things that came out of that. So we have started, last summer we did it in one location. This year it expanded to two. We have the ground floor and factory roasts partnered with us for that. And it's all youth led. We had over 86 students, individual students, participate in that. And, excuse me, over the summer we did it two nights a week. We plan to continue that over the course of the school year, offering monthly teen center events. But we hope to see that growing and we're looking at additional locations. We also, one of the challenges that we've been tackled with is transportation. And so we all know that as a barrier, so we have been working very closely with the radar to figure out how we can work together on that transportation effort. So there will be more to come with that, but we are actively involved with that and trying to find solutions. So that's a little teaser of the things we have going on. But again, thank you.

All right, thank you. So in closing, I would be remiss not to also mention, we're proud of a program we have in Franklin County. It's called the Pearl Program. We provide residential services for pregnant and postpartum women. In partnership with Franklin County, we were able to expand that program, so we purchased another house. Those services are open to Henry County. So Ms. Shannon Clark provides oversight there. So I'm just excited. I don't have 30 seconds. So for Piedmont, we're working on rebranding. We want to make sure that Henry County, Franklin County, Patrick and Mark, so you guys are proud of us, proud of the services that we provide, have confidence in us. And we want to be able to provide as many services as we can at home. and that's why you see us constantly growing constantly expanding dale just wanted to mr um thank you for the partnership um it's not a phone call he doesn't answer you know he just sits down talks to me and and has uh piedmont's best interest in hand so to the board to mr dillard thank you for your leadership thank y'all for allowing us to be here today

Thank you, Mr. Preston. It's obvious that you're proud of what has been accomplished and looking forward into the future. And certainly the same thing can be said of the county as you're saying about your staff, your best resources, the people that are serving. And I appreciate hearing that. I'm going to ask Supervisor Dillard if he would add anything to this to wrap this up.

Yes, I will. Been working, I guess, on the Piedmont board for quite a while and it's amazing to see the growth, the number of people, the number of facilities, the number of resources, the number of programs. the energy that you know that the staff brings and i think that's what we need to combat some of the problems that we have in our community folk who are energetic folk who are looking for new ways and i also think that you have to try everything. You know, if it doesn't work, you know what, no big deal. We'll do something different. But you can't judge everything based off of, you know, one particular resource or one particular program because that's the goal. Let's put it in place. And like I said, if it doesn't work, we'll try something different. I think that's what you know mr preston's leadership peatmont is doing this is a problem let's get a solution let's try it let's you know put the right people in place if it works great if it doesn't you know we'll try something different so i want to commend you know the whole staff and mr preston for you know working to make henry county the best place that it can be great thank you that's a qr code just in case somebody's looking for a job all right great thank you

That takes us to agenda item number eight. We'll have an update from the Blue Ridge Regional Library System. We have with us Director Melissa Chapman. Melissa?

Thank you. I'll just go ahead and dive right in. So, quick introduction. My name is Melissa Chapman. I'm the Director of Blue Ridge Regional Library. And the mission of the Blue Ridge Regional Library is to provide free, friendly service and access to timely materials that educate, enrich, and entertain the entire community. But for the purposes of this presentation, and since we are on limited time, I'm just going to focus on the Bassett branch and do a little bit of a dive into it. So the Bassett Library offers a variety of programs that are geared to users of all ages, from toddlers all the way up to 100. The programs encourage literacy and critical thinking, particularly among the children and teens. And our craft programs allow users to engage in their creativity and provides an opportunity for socialization, which is vital. And they offer quite a wide variety of programs. Some of them are the ones we all know about, Storytime. We also have Lego Club, a new one that launched within the past year is Teen Stream. They also have Chess Club, which is relatively new. And of course, the Crafty Creations and our other craft classes that are wildly popular. And here's some pictures. I'm going to go through some pictures of some of the children's programming. They have a very popular and very vibrant children's programming. And they also have a very vibrant teen program based in Massa too. And some of the things that they do, I'm so jealous. They look like fun. And of course, they have a very vibrant adult programming. The chair exercise is very popular. A lot of these classes fill up. If anybody's interested, call Perrin at Bath. She'll be happy to talk about it. So Bassett also offers all of the resources that you guys think about with the library books, DVDs, but they also offer some things that you can check out that you won't necessarily think about. We offer nature backpacks that you can get a park pass to go to any park in the state of Virginia. Bassett also has literacy backpacks and developmental backpacks that are very useful to new parents. And you can see the literacy backpack on the left and in the middle is the developmental backpack. And we also have puzzles that people can check out. And here are just a few stats. From January 1st to June 30th in that six-month period, Bassett had over 11,000 visitors with nearly 11,000 items checked out and almost 4,500 children's items checked out. And this gives you an idea of how popular and how much the community really likes the programs with attendance sitting over nearly a hundred attendees. So it is a very actively used library. And I'd like to close just to highlight the impact that Bassett has had on the community. Teresa Wall says, I love the library. It has great resources and a friendly staff who are so helpful. Thank you for how you serve our community. So this illustrates that the library provides a variety of resources to the community, all without a paywall. I love to read. I love the programs that are offered to me. Teen Stream, Chess Club, and Lego Club are awesome. So the library also provides programs for all ages, from children and teens and adults and senior citizens. All are welcome at the library. And I want to say thank you to Dale Wagner and the Board of Supervisors for your continued support for our Henry County branches, Bassett, Collinsville, and Ridgeway. Thank you to everybody in Henry County. We appreciate your support and we do what we do for you. And I also want to take a moment to thank Karen and her excellent staff at Bassett who are having a little too much fun dressed up as crowns. And our board members, Monica, Christopher, Lori, Twyla, Donata, and Charisse, for their continued support and service. Thank you very much.

All right. Thank you, Ms. Chapman. Our next agenda item, agenda item number nine, we'll have an update from the West Piedmont Higher Education Center. We have with us Eric Jones, who's chairman of the board of directors, and I know that there are some other board members present with you along with the executive director.

Yes, thank you all. So Chairman Adams, thank you for the time. To the Board of Supervisors, thank you so much. Being a native of Henry County is truly, I'm proud to be back home. I could not come back home. I was always taught by manners to bring gifts. So if you may, Mr. Chairman Adams, we do have gifts for the board to get this done.

All right, thank you. Thank you.

Now, I do have something in common with one of the Board of Supervisors members. I am a 1997 graduate of Ball Park High School. So, one of the things that I wanted to go over today, as a chair, there is a brand and a recognition change with the West Piedmont Higher Education Center. Aaron O. Rubin created the Rubik's Cube in 1974. So that's what I intend to do here. The West Piedmont Higher Education Center and the brand name formerly known as the New College Institute is not one thing. It's not one bridge. We bring together multiple services in the higher education realm in the state of Virginia and we're a part of that system that divides the system in three parts. We have our higher education systems, in your four institutions. So before I get started, I wanted to say thank you to former Chair Richard Hall, who is here with us today, Honorable Randy Rollins, who is a new member to the board, Executive Director Joe Sumner, and our Director of Advancement Olivia Gehrig. So this year was a monumental year for the West Piedmont Higher Education Center, formerly known as the New College Institute. Under the Code of Virginia, Title 23.1, Chapter 31, Article 4, a new law was signed into establishment and went into inaction on July 1st, 2026. The 2026 legislation renamed the former New College Institute and revised the government structure, and I'll go over that shortly. And the public educational institutions serving the West Piedmont region. We wanted to make sure that you knew that This is to serve Franklin County, Patrick County, Henry County, the surrounding areas, the city of Lawrenceville. And we wanted to make sure that it was clear that we were a part of the higher education system, being a higher education center that could partner with community colleges and four year institutions. So our core mission is to center and unite universities, communities, colleges, employers, and government entities to enhance regional education and economic development. Now I read that from the slide for a very specific reason, because it brings together multiple different capacities to form programs that we can engage with workers in the community. We can engage with students. We can engage with multiple organizations that you heard here today. But what sandwiches that together is the key directives. And one of the things I want to hit on too is that first one, diversify and transform regional economy. When I moved and went to college in 1997, the economy has been a constant discussion the henry county region and the bolstering of that and i remember a time when there was a bolstering bustling economy with multiple different things here that has transformed over time so this was put into place to help bring together those entities and provide avenues for access to those entities through a very transformational center concept through the higher education centers We don't partner with multiple higher education centers across Virginia. There's a higher education center in Abingdon, Southwest. There's a higher education center in South Boston. There's a higher education center in Roanoke. We have also another higher education center in Danville. And then we have us. So that breaks out the multiple bottom layer of the tier of the higher education system that supports the community college and four-year institutions in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The board composition is one of the major things that the law changed this year. We went from a 15 member structure to a 20 member structure. And one of the things that we wanted to do was to bring access to higher education and other key figures in the commonwealth to this region. The West Piedmont Higher Education Center is a place where you can get access to three House of Delegate Ministers appointed by the Speaker, two Senators appointed by the Rules Committee. We have seven citizen members. All of us that are citizen members, to include myself, are appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the General Assembly. We have five educational or business leaders from West Piedmont Region, one superintendent, one teacher, three business leaders. that was very intentional. We wanted to make sure that we were hearing from the community about what we wanted. We wanted those people to have a seat at the table. From a higher education perspective, this is one of the things I'm most excited about. We will have the presidents or their designees from George Mason, Longwood, Radford, Virginia Tech, and Virginia State University as a part of our board. That means when members of the public come to our board members, you get to interface and engage through public comment with presidents of universities across the state. It's a big jump for us to connect to Northern Virginia. And George Mason, I would like to thank Senator Shirley Bosman, who was a part of our committee to help make that happen. We already have programs with Longwood, but we also wanted to make sure that we was covering down on the Virginia Community College System. So you'll see the chancellor of the Virginia Community College System as a part of our board. You will also see SHEV, which is the organization that brings together and ties together the metrics for the higher education systems. a part of our board and also we want to make sure that we will partner with in a real way the Patrick and Herman Community College. Mr. Greg Hodges has an exhibition seat at the table with all of us coming together to create programs that can integrate within this community and keep moving forward. This is a complete list of all of our current gubernatorial members, our legislative members, our higher education. I pointed out the Honorable Randy Rollins, seated behind us, who has been added to the board. But you see some of the local names that are there, Valerie Croomey, Kevin Lane, Michael Lunsgaard, Marcus Stone, Lee Perliman. I talked about Randy Rollins and Teddy Martin. I talked about our legislative members and I talked about our higher education members. Together we want to make sure that when ideas come up at the table, we can take action from those meetings and then we can put things into interaction through our executive director, Joe Summer. One of the things I want to cover also is how our decision making gets made and the update to our decision making process. I remember last year there might have been a little bit of confusion in the community about a proposal that was brought about to merge with Patrick and Henry Community College, and I want to address that directly. That was a proposal that was brought together as an idea. One of the things that we wanted to make sure, though, is that idea went through this three-step process. And that three-step process covers, one, committee reviews. So we have committee reviews that cover everything from academic programs to IT to governance, rules, and an executive committee. Those committees review proposals and make recommendations on specific matters and ideas. Once it comes out of committee, Then it goes to board for vote. So one of the things about the idea about the Patrick Cameron Community College, we sent it back to committee. It went to committee, but it didn't survive board vote. But it gave us a lot of helpful information for us to inform where we wanted to go in the future. So I just wanted to make sure that we made that clear. Another reason why we set this up this way is we want to educate our students as they watch us do board actions. This mimics how the General Assembly makes decisions. through committee, bringing things to the floor, and then once we get a board vote through a majority vote, then programs are approved decisions and are implemented within a framework established by Virginia law. The next thing that we're gonna make sure that we do is be sure to come back to the Board of Supervisors on a regular basis to give you updates on how we're doing, the metrics that we're going about, and Joe Sumner will talk about that a little bit later in the plan we have moving forward. So why the center matters? We want to expand opportunities, strengthen the workforce, drive economic growth, and build partnerships in this community. We see across the state that strong communities that have started to emerge build partnerships both with industry, academia, government, and those three work together to serve the citizens of those municipalities. We want to do the same thing here. We want to be a part of the discussion. We want to be a part of that conversation. we did think though that it was necessary to put it to the test put an idea to the test where the where the general assembly can actually vote on the on the relevance of the west piedmont higher education center the change we wanted debate and pretty unanimously, both the House of Delegates and the Senate voted that West Piedmont Higher Education Center is his state. We have a direction and when I go to the next slide, the call to action for the community will be brought to you by Mr. Sullivan.

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to say that over the next couple of months, you all will be hearing from our team in various capacities. We have been tasked with developing a report that outlines the direction of West Piedmont Higher Education Center. That is not a report that is developed behind closed doors. That is not a plan or proposal that is dreamed up internally by staff and West Piedmont board members only. That is a community and region-driven plan. So there will be times where we will include focus groups, round tables, and we'll ask you or your designees to join us is important that we hear from you it is important that we know what it is that we can do to serve you your organization our community and our region things that you can look forward to i had a former board chair once tell me you don't have to do everything you pick a few things and you do those few things very well and that's what we will do so we are expanding our degree offerings And to do that, you might have seen the announcement recently. We have brought on Dr. Pam Randall, who has joined our team. Dr. Randall led the Longwood program at NCI for many years and has retired from Longwood and has now joined the West Piedmont Higher Education Center. We're incredibly excited to welcome her as our chief program officer. And she has been tasked with identifying growth for new degrees. Within that area, we know that there is a need. The data and the community tells us, preliminarily, that there's a need within the business sector, something of a launch pad, if you will, at a bachelor level degree. whether that is going to be a business technology, business administration, business management, something of that nature. Also, we know that within the cybersecurity and AI sector, there's a real need, whether that is at a degree level or more of a professional development has yet to be determined, but we are exploring that as well. And of course, healthcare. We know that there's a need in healthcare. That was a much larger initiative taken on due to all the credentialing and accreditation that is needed in that sector, but we do know that that need exists. So, preliminarily, we've examined the data, we've looked at, those prior resources that are available to us and identify journal areas. But we need to hear from you all and this community in order to be able to refine that to specifically address those needs through the program of liberty. You'll also see development announcements coming within workforce development. Now when I say workforce development, I want to specify. You saw that very intentionally that Dr. Greg Hodges is included on our board of directors. We work hand in hand with Papadena Community College. I have lunch and coffee regularly with Dr. Hodges, with Dr. Wickstrom, as we identify how do we work together? How do we not compete? How do we not duplicate? Dr. Wickstrom has a saying that I'll learn from him. Our population is too finite to continuously subdivide. And so recognizing that, we are working together. We're working together on the 2 plus 2 model. The degrees I mentioned earlier will be done intentionally based on the 2 plus 2 model every time that opportunity is available. Because we do not look to bring competition to our area. We look to bring support. We look to bring collaboration and opportunity. You will also see, as I mentioned, within workforce development, you'll see some expansion and some exciting news coming as we continue to support public safety, law enforcement, uh with trainings with workforce development and specialized opportunities for them we are expanding our k-12 operations as well we are working in coordination with our sister agency over in danville the institute of advanced learning and research as well as harry county schools we are working to support them through k-12 stem whether that is through supporting the go tech program or providing extracurriculars or providing saturday school or summer school or gifted opportunities and lastly community We are growing within the community sector obviously. We always try to be of service to the community. There's always that fine line of ensuring that how are we of service to the community while still making sure we cover the overhead of our operations. So we're looking to refine that as well and that will require input from the entirety of our region. So as we move forward, there is a plan that is in place. There's a timeline that's being developed. That, again, will include multiple engagements with the public, multiple engagements with specialized, localized groups to get those sets of information that we need to ensure that we have created the plan that addresses the needs in our region, that creates sustainability for our organization, and ensures that we are all clear on the vision moving forward on how West Piedmont Higher Education Center can be a true asset and a value add to this region.

And I'll close with, again, looking at your Rubik's Cube. Now, if we show up and that Rubik's Cube is exactly the way we gave it to you, that means we haven't turned things, we haven't looked at things from a different way. And I assure you, the next time we come back, there will be differences in what that looks like. But it will still, at its core, What we are, our code of Virginia says we are there to do is to serve the community and empower and bring a transformational educational resource to the community. So I challenge you, maybe you take out your group's cube today and bring some ideas to us, mix it up and see if you can get it back together. Because one of the things that we're trying to do with this community is bring it back together, show that the West Piedmont Higher Education Center is moving forward. I thank you for your time and I thank you for the support and services you provide for us.

Thank you, Mr. Jones.

So I've been introduced several times as the honorable Randy Rollins. Better than the dishonorable Randy Rollins. But anyway, I'm a new member of the board of West Piedmont Higher Education Center. And I just wanted to share with you an experience I had with the orientation. On August 4, they invited me to come up and take an orientation of their program. So I went up there, and the first thing I found out was I could not find a parking place in the parking lot. It was totally filled. I had to park on the street. I went into the building, was greeted by an individual who took me up to Joe Sumner's office. As I walked through the building, I can say almost every building, every classroom was filled with something going on. I don't know what was going on in all those cases, but something was going on. It was an educational day. The building was fully occupied and utilized. So that was a good impression. Then I had a presentation about the overview of the institution from Olivia Garrett and Joe Sumner, who were very forthright in answering all the questions, including the ones that maybe I had because I didn't know what I was talking about or didn't have the background to get to it. They were very forthright. Then Joe took me on a tour. He took me to the criminal justice simulation lab, in which they can present on a film to an officer who's being tested. a variety of scenarios so they know how to react to the situation when it's presented to them in real life. Then I went down to the advanced manufacturing center, which they're building a tower which is 40 feet tall in which People who are being trained in the wind energy business, the services, towers, they're all over the state on how to maneuver, how to deal with the situations of emergencies and make repairs. I came away very impressed with both the competence, the innovation, and the forward-looking nature of that presentation. I did my homework as far as understanding where this institution stands in the hierarchy of Virginia's educational institutions. First of all, if I wanted to get a bachelor's degree, I could go to UVA or Virginia Tech or a number of other institutions that you're fully aware of and be a resident on campus and get a degree in four years. Secondly, I could go to a satellite campus such as UVA in Wise, which the state has established around in different places to provide higher education opportunities all the way through the graduate level. Or third, I could come to a higher education center, which in a sense is a way of taking the campus to the students. as opposed to the students going to the campus. So that here in Martinsville, they provide Longwood degrees. And you may have seen a picture in the newspaper of some individuals who graduated recently from that program with a regular degree. So they are bringing that to here as opposed to them, the students having to go other places out of town to get there, either having to give up their jobs so they can take the courses in a different location, or commute on a continuous basis. So it's a great asset that I'm delighted that the decision makers in Richmond have decided to keep. I think it's a huge asset for this area. And we just need to develop it so it's seen by everybody as an opportunity for higher education all the way through the bachelor's degree. So that's my impression. It was a great impression. I'm delighted to be working with them, and I look forward to it. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. All right.

Thank you all. That takes us to agenda item number 10. We'll take up financial matters beginning with 10A, an additional appropriation referencing a return to locality funds for public safety. Mr. Wagner.

Public Safety Director Tim Dutton is asking the board to appropriate $54,672 received from the Virginia Department of Health's return to locality funds. The return to locality funds is derived from a fee for each vehicle registered in a county. Authorized expenditures of the funds are for items such as emergency medical services, trains, supplies, and equipment. Mr. Duffer has stated that funds will be used to purchase standardized medical supplies and to maintain the EMS pharmacy for all EMS agencies. This centralized purchasing model will ensure EMS agencies have access to authorized supplies and will support the operational readiness of the county-wide EMS system, including the volunteer departments. And Public Safety Director Mr. Duffer is here.

There's been an indication that there might be some clarification or questions on this. I'll start with Mr. Pruitt. Do you have some comments on this?

Yeah, I've just got a couple questions for the director. I guess the most important one is this is obviously a change from what has normally been done with these funds and has this been approved by ESAC and is there a true policy or plan in place of how this $54,000 will be separated between the groups or what's eligible to be bought and processes thereof?

Yes, we did talk about it in the last ESAC meeting. The only real change is going to be that most of the purchase that will be purchased through the county purchasing to buy, send us a receipt, then we send them a check. We also added oxygen supply to this as well because that's considered a supply. And we do have a policy. The policy is still in a draft. We talked about it in ESAC in the last meeting. the meeting coming up i will give them the policy and even when i emailed you uh on the 7th you asked questions of there and those uh changes were made to that policy but that policy has not been given to esac yet But that is the gist of it. The biggest change was the question on special events and any community-based special events. That's considered part of our job and part of the agency's. But each agency will continue to get funding as requested. It's mainly geared towards soft supplies, capital. If you do have a capital item that you need to put in there, that is acceptable as well. That's part of the policy. they'll just send a request to my office and we'll approve it to them. So no real major changes, just policy, procedural changes on how we distribute the money.

Mr. Dr. I had a question. Is this a first come, first serve type thing, whereas before it was somewhat split equally? In other words, if there's one agency

capping did they cap out on the expenditures or or we are tracking what each agency spends um and when an agency gets to kind of that level that it was in the past then we'll call and kind of you know see what there is because we don't want to take away from the other agencies if they need it so i will call the individual agencies And that's kind of why I put the large capital, because we do have capital projects sometimes that are eligible. And that may be where we need to come for the ESAC committee again and say, hey, we've got this much money left. I can kind of poll each of the agencies and see what they need. And if that money is available, then we can use that money for that capital project. If we have any carryover money.

Is there still an expiration timeline? It used to be like February.

so yes that was the last year you know that was new to me coming into the office this year i do have that part of the policy that i need expenditures in by a certain date and kind of following along with what y'all have done in the past so we also use full for life for our pharmacy that's where public safety is using a lot pharmacy that's new for where it used to be handled by the hospital. Now the county has taken on that role for all of the agencies. And that's last year, Mr. Wagner asked me what the cost was. Last year we spent a little over $38,000 on the pharmacy alone. And that's not counting the man hours that we had invested in trying to maintain. So pharmacies, it proved to be very expensive.

Any other questions or clarification needed?

I just say definitely put some definites in there about dollar amounts and deadlines and things of that nature just so that it doesn't create a situation where I guess it becomes inequitable where one group gets more funds than the others. So I at least put some kind of exacts in there so people know off top because that may help them prioritize if they only have a certain amount of money what's more important as opposed to thinking they can just keep coming back time after time.

Anything else? Okay. The board's received background material on this as well as had questions answered. What is the action the board would like to take in regard to this additional appropriation?

Mr. Chairman, I'll make a motion to approve, but I would like to, before any funds are spent out of this, let a policy be approved by ESAC.

Would you repeat the motion? Because I think I got a few questionable looks. Not questionable, but maybe not understanding looks.

There's a draft policy in place of how these funds might be spent, but there's nothing. that's been approved by ESAC, and that's why ESAC was built for a reason, was to get approval for these items and major changes to fire and EMS. So I'm fine with appropriating the funds, but until a true policy is approved by ESAC, I would prefer not to spend any of those out.

Okay. So are you asking that we delay until we get that vote by that motion or approve only with the condition that ESAC approve it?

Approve with the condition of ESAC, approve in a policy.

Okay. That's a motion. Is there a second?

I'll second.

Okay, we have a motion second. Any questions or discussion at this time? Okay, all in favor? It is 6-0, Jennifer. Thank you, Tim. Agenda item 10B, an additional appropriation referencing Virginia Department of Criminal Justice's services grant, and this is for the sheriff's office. Mr. Wagner.

Sheriff Wayne Davis is asking the board to approve an additional appropriation of $15,958 received from the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice services. through its Edward Byron Memorial Justice Assistant grant program. Sheriff Davis has indicated that funds will cover overtime pay to provide high impact law enforcement activities and area retention increases in crime. The grant does not require a local match and Lieutenant Colonel Hairston is here should you have questions.

Okay, the board has background material on this as well. What is the desire of the board in regards to this additional appropriation.

Mr. Chairman, I make a motion to approve the additional appropriation of $15,958 received from the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services as it was presented to us.

Second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion?

I just want to always congratulate the Sheriff's Department on the great job they do with their grant writing and receiving the grants brought into Henry County for the great work that you do.

Great. Good comment. Thank you. Any other questions or comments? All in favor? It is 6-0. Jennifer? Attend item 10C, an award of contract referencing custodial services for building and grounds. Mr. Wagner.

Staff is asking the board to award a contract of $111,600 to Sarver Cleaning Services to provide custodial cleaning services at the Henry County Courthouse for fiscal year 2027. Our purchasing department has authorized the use of an existing contract and Staff recommends the board authorize subsequent renewals and accordance with the terms of the existing contract. Funding for this project is included in the fiscal year 2027 courthouse maintenance letter.

In regard to awarding of this contract, what action would the board like to take?

Mr. Chairman, I'll make a motion to approve the contract of $111,600 to Sarver Cleaning Services for custodial cleaning at the courthouse and authorize the subsequent renewals.

Second.

We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All in favor? It is 6-0, Jennifer. 10D, an additional appropriation referencing fresh fruit and vegetable program for the school board. Mr. Wagner.

The school board is requesting an additional appropriation of $235,425 to the school's nutrition budget for the fresh fruit and vegetable program in the elementary schools. The funds are provided by the Virginia Department of Education from the United States Department of Agricultural Allocation and Assistant Superintendent Ben Boone-Sears. Did you have any questions?

In regard to this additional appropriation, what is the desire of the board?

Mr. Chairman, I make a motion to approve the additional appropriation of $235,425 to the public school's nutrition budget for the fresh fruit and vegetable program. Second.

We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All in favor? It's 6-0, Jennifer. That takes us to agenda item number 11, informational items. We'll start with taking comments from the board, starting with Dr. Cobbler.

Okay, surprisingly, Mr. Chairman, I have six points, but I'm not going to elaborate. I'm just going to go through them quickly. I want to recognize the GBAC for the cruise-in work that they do every month that is in our district and Rhythms by the River. They work hard on those two events. We have the Bassett Heritage Festival coming up on September the 5th. We ask everybody to come out and support that event. The fourth point is want to shout out and commend the Dream Center, who has partnered with the Sheriff's Department, the great work that they're doing, starting with the Trash Pandas and Chris Big Trash initiative there. And we are picking up for Reed Creek and beyond. The Dream Center guys are doing a tremendous job. I'll just say that they have their signs, but they are saying that traffic, a lot of traffic, so just kind of watch for their safety out there. Point five is that with the calls and emails, what I'm asking people to do as a supervisor, I can't vet all the calls that are coming in every day or even every week, so what I'm asking people now publicly is just to send me an email. That is starting to work very, very well. My email is on the And my cell phone number is on the Henry County website. And the sixth point I didn't write down. But those are five. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Mr. Prude. Just a couple things. We had a great July 4th event in the town of Ridgeway. It was heavily attended, worked out great. We're still continuing to see heavy, heavy use of the pickleball courts. Any night that you ride by there, it's people playing pickleball and basketball. And the good thing is they're all getting along there in the area. So officially today, we're four months from Christmas. So the town has started the planning of the Christmas parade. That's all I have.

Thank you. Mr. Dillon.

Yes, sir. Just to continue with the positive energy, you know, that's that's how I vibe off a positive energy. And it's just always good to hear the great things that are going on. I think if we could focus more on that, we would actually realize that the world is not as bad as it seems. But anyway, the Smith River Fest was great and was just great to see all the people working. You know, Roger and his staff did a great job putting that together. The National Night Out, there's got to be some video somewhere of these guys playing wiffle ball, so we can find that video. We're going to, you know, use that to hold it against them sometimes. HITE, you know, some of the great things that they're doing that was mentioned earlier. And then just also a report came out today that, as far as the school system, Henry County is one of nine school divisions that grew in math and reading. And I think anytime we get a win in our community, it's a win for all of us because it takes all of us to make those things happen. And with that being said, just love the thought of, you know, the partnerships that are in this room and the possibility of partnerships. And just encourage everybody to let's work together because, you know, if I do better, you do better. You know, the whole community is doing better. So let's continue that, you know, positive vibe and that spirit of partnership.

All right. Thank you. Mr. Cannon.

The only thing that I have, and Mr. Adams, you reminded me of this, is the Field Elf Festival that will be coming up on Labor Day, Monday Labor Day, from 2 until 7 p.m. So they'll have music and come out and have a good time.

All right. Mr. Lawless.

um first of all i want to say as always thanks for the board for accepting me um you're gonna find out that i am a real individual and as you go out into the public i'm probably gonna do some things i'm not always happy about but i'm always gonna do what i think is best for the community and always put that first i'm learning every day so i want everybody to understand that but i think all of us in life make mistakes and we learn from those mistakes and try to be better individuals i'm growing into this role This role hasn't always been something I've always tried to go for, but I wanted to make a change in my community, so that's why I'm up here. As Ms. Cobbler said earlier, Dr. Cobbler said, I started the trash and grass and drugs, and the reason I did that is I care about this community. I don't want to see my children leave this area. At the end of the day, whether you love me or not, I'm still, my heart's in the right place, and I'm going to do what I think's right, and I'm going to stand up on that. And one of the things that we're doing is we're actually going through and With the help of the Henry County officials and stuff, we've actually been able to start the cleaning process of Collinsville 220. We're actually mowing down the sides of that. A lot of people say to me, well, people should take pride in their own stuff, and I'm going to totally agree with you. But I feel like we need an initiative to step it up and show people that, look, we're interested in our community as well. and that was hard for me to go around to businesses and stuff like that and ask for them to do their part if we're not doing our part as a state so instead of relying on government all the time we said hey as a county let's do what we have to do so i want everybody to understand that with that being said i'm going to ask that some of my district impact funds which is a total of for the first time mowing i just want everybody to know we put out eight bids out there we only got one back and we had to beg that one just so everybody understands And we negotiated him down really low because I want everybody to understand these individuals are taking shovels. They're out there digging the mud off the sides of the road. If you look down the curb lines and stuff like that, they've been edged. The grass is already growing again, so it's going to be a constant battle. But they're looking at doing this one time a year and at the end of the mowing season. At the first part of the mowing season, I'm asking for $6,000 to come out of my district impact funds to be able to do that. And then the second end of the year mowing will be about $4,000. And what we're trying to do is deviate because VDOT only does it three times a year. I really honestly don't think that's acceptable in my own opinion. As you go down the road, you'll see kutsu and stuff like that growing around. And I'm hoping to make enough racket that we get some change. And I hope we keep doing that. And like I said, I guess I put it in a motion that I asked for $6,000 to come to the district impact funds to go to A&J Lawn Care, which was the only people that we could con into doing it. I want everybody to understand that. We did try and that's what we got, but they're doing a great job. So if you see me out there, like give them some major props because this is their calling card. They're taking pride. They're doing things that we really shouldn't have to do, but we're doing them because as the individual said earlier, we want to make this community better and and that's what we're trying to do and that's one thing i want to say so i would i if i can make a motion yeah i would like to make a motion that six thousand dollars be alico allocated to a and j for the cutting of business 220 from the eyesight to walmart so everybody understands i can't do everybody's road but we're going to focus on our business road right now go from there second we have a motion and a second any discussion

All in favor? It is 6-0, Jennifer. Anything else, Mr. Lawless? No, sir.

Thank you, guys. Appreciate it.

I don't know if I can add anything to what's already been said, so I'm going to turn it to Mr. Wagner.

Just a couple items. Just to add on to what Deborah said, the Field Ale Festival celebration is also the 80th anniversary of Field Ale Fire Celebration. We're proud of the legacy that they hold there. It's one of the oldest fire departments in our county. We'll be real close with Baxter, and I don't know exactly which office, but they're right there in the same town. As you know, that will also be a county and PSA holiday, so our offices will be closed. However, our convenience centers for recycling and garbage disposal are open on that Monday. Over the next 30 days, in your awareness, staff will finalize the legislative agendas. If you have any other suggestions you would like to include in that, please let me know. We'll have those back to you for your approval at the next meeting. And then, for many years now, economic development has been a priority of this board. And we've had some successes recently that will materialize over the next 12, 24, 48 months. But I wanted to give you a report on one where we just closed out their performance agreement. Two years ahead of schedule because they're doing so well. In 2022, Crown Holdings announced that they were going to build a plant here and manufacture 8 million lumen cans a day. And we filed a final report with the Commonwealth and with us this past month. And they met every one of the performance metrics that was asked of them to get all their incentive money. So it was money well invested. And I want to show you how great they're doing. They exceeded their capital investment goals by 133%. They exceeded their job goals by 132%, and the average pay is 170% higher than what they had promised. So that's the results we'd like to hear. They're not always like that, but our incentive money is always based on performance. So in this case, they're getting all of their incentive money, and we're proud to have them as a good corporate citizen. I want to share that with you today.

Aren't they making more cans than they had proposed earlier?

I do. Eight million is the minimum. The minimum, right. Wow. And they are the second most productive plant in the world.

For that company. For that company.

Mr. Adams, I remembered I wrote down my sixth point. Go ahead. And you've heard it. The board's heard it a lot. Just since we have some executives, a number of executives more than usual at one board meeting, just to remind everybody publicly that if you want to see our board agenda, Mr. Wagner and Mr. Powell put it out on a Tuesday, and once we see it, then it goes out to the public. So everything that we're seeing up here, you have access to everything that we're seeing on the website once it's released to us and we have a chance to look at it. I think it's important, and I have realized, I keep repeating that a lot, people are actually going on and looking at the agenda and seeing the items and things that are on there prior to the meeting. I think that's really great, and you can see what we're seeing. So I just wanted to...

Thank you.

Make that public again. Thank you. Anything else?

All right. That takes us to agenda item number 12. If someone will cite the items as allowed by the Freedom of Information Act and the Code of Virginia to allow the board to go into a 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 community policy and management team and other personnel matters. 2.23711A7 for discussion of pending legal matters. 2.23711A3 for discussion of the acquisition disposal of real estate. And 2.23711A5 for discussion of as yet unannounced industries.

Second.

We have a motion and a second. All in favor? It's 6-0, Jennifer. I'll see board members upstairs in five minutes. This meeting on a motion by Ms. Buchanan, second by Mr. Poole. Mr. Powell, will you poll the board, please?

Yes, sir. Board members, to the best of your knowledge, only corporate business matters.

Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

Yes, sir.

Yes, sir. Mr. Wagner, were there any items coming out of the closed meeting that we need to consider prior to starting the evening session? Board members, are you aware of any?

No, sir.

Okay. In about one minute, we will start the evening session. I'll call the 6 p.m. session of the Henry County Board of Supervisors to order. I'd like to welcome all of our visitors. Remind you, if you want to address the board, you must sign up seven 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 we'll take up as agenda item number 16 tonight. Again, welcome, everyone. Thank you for coming out and participating in your county government. Our first business item this evening for consideration is agenda item 13, general highway matters. We have with us Robin Keeler and Dave Kaiser from VDOT. Robin, welcome.

Thank you very much for having us tonight. I only have a few things I want to touch base on. finishing up they're going to do the punch list walk through tomorrow and hopefully that means a few days or maybe a week or two after that we should be completely done with that as you all know we have a pipe that washed out on route 58 business and we are working actively on that on the westbound lanes when we get done with the westbound we will have to switch over to the eastbound lines and do those that pipe under that road also so it's going to be ongoing for a little while so that we're working hard to get it done we are actively working on mowing i'm going to get a lot more complaints and requests that we're trying to do the site distance uh problems that we have first and then we but we are working every day trying to get everything moved if this johnson grass is growing so fast um we should have tree trimming starting in a couple weeks in henry county i know that's important to you down on axton road yes ma'am that's that's coming very quickly we talked to them the other day so that's that's something that you look forward to and deer haven uh down in carlisle area has opened back up that road that pipe's been completed

okay board members do you have any items that we need to ask miss Kayla at this time I do they are on 58 East coming from

Stewart, right before you get to the Family Dollar, the old country store, there's a speed limit sign that says 55 miles an hour. Would you be able to take a look at that and see if we might be able to reduce that in order, because as you top that hill, they're going at 60 65 miles an hour and people pulling out of dollar general i'm hoping that that will help ease some of the problems that we have there so if you could take a look at that from maybe from that location even as far up as carver road because there is a some problems through there with people going fast i would definitely appreciate it thank you thank you

I have a couple questions actually. So one of the things I've seen is going through Business 220 in Collinsville through there, some of the sidewalks I'm seeing cones. Is that you guys' cones and y'all aware that the sidewalk's been broken or messed up? I'm just wondering who put their safety cones out there and why it hasn't been addressed.

I don't know.

There's one in front of the Dutch Inn and then there's one in front of the old Casey's Body Shop. that I've seen that had the cones there on the sidewalks. And then the other thing that I guess, you know, I have to say is we got kudzu taking over a lot of our stuff. Is there somebody spraying? Like, what's happening with that? Because I know we talked about the grass, but where are we at with the kudzu spraying?

We don't do a lot of kudzu spraying anymore. We need to do more than what we do. But we don't typically spray a lot off the right-of-way. So if it's on the right-of-way, we typically try to spray it. But if it's off the right-of-way, we don't.

So what if it's covering like guardrails and silencers and stuff like that?

We do try to do that in particular locations.

VC Drive is one that I think of that comes off the top of my head. I think those are the two things I was trying to think of. It was that one. And then here's my next question. And I asked this gentleman before when he was here before, who is responsible for the power lines of getting the cut zoo off of it? I've heard two different things in two different ways. And I'm trying to figure out which way we go about that.

We typically do not get involved with power lines only because of the possibility of electricity. So we don't do that. And of course, usually ADP has a utility easement. So there are easements. If it's on our signs or things like that, of course, we would be responsible for it.

so Del who do we call to get do we call AP do we have a representative for that like who do we get to take care of up low okay we do yes just let me know okay I have one other question I don't want to take anybody else I just thought about it and I didn't come that way this morning but the clover leaf there coming from you know horse pasture into the city They had mowed about two strips in that cloverleaf, but they left the rest of it and I was wondering if they were going to mow that also.

I'm sure they are. I don't know why they didn't while they were there. Maybe something happened.

Thank you.

Yeah, I did just want to thank you for, you know, the work with the dogwood improvements and I know I've spoken to a couple bus drivers and they are said everything's going well and uh you know mr i think that's the idea that mr ben grably brought up years and years ago so it took a while for that to you know get approved and go into motion but you know definitely see the improvements um in that area and i'm sure it's making the school traffic a lot better exiting and entering laurel park yes ma'am

in the Cloverleaf at Stanley Town and that Bassett area I noticed you had was it Department of Corrections I called about that could you just kind of explain that process briefly what happens when you utilize the Department of Corrections because that has been a lot of people have brought to our attention how much trash there's there has been there so I did see the guys and I haven't seen the gals, but I saw the guys over there. So how does that work?

So typically we have a crew every day from corrections and sometimes two crews every day. We rotate them throughout the county doing various jobs, whether it's trash pickup, weeding, you know, they do some work around our facilities for us sometimes and clean up and that sort of thing. So we use them quite a bit and it's very good for them and for us, of course. But, I mean, But they can do about anything. We just have to be careful where we use them. We can't use them around schools, in various places that are businesses and that type of thing. So we have to be careful with that. But other than that, we use them very regularly, sometimes two, three weeks.

I didn't know if there was some kind of system to that, or you're just saying that you utilize who you can every day at some of the most egregious spots. Yes.

Some of the things that take a lot of physical labor and work that we've got that big crew there that can take care of that for us while we concentrate on some more equipment oriented type of work.

I don't think they're allowed to go in residential either. That's why Mr. Dave told me.

Yeah, that's a really trashy spot. So can we put in a request, multiple requests for for that? And I mean, I'm traveling the roads and I'm looking to see who's doing what. When I saw them there, I thought, oh, yay. Yeah, but I but I didn't know they were going to be there. Not that you have to tell me everything there, but every every time you're going to do something. But is there a time that we can call you and request specifically Department of Corrections to come out and do that.

Sure. If you want to send me an email with some places or things, we can certainly look at that. Thank you. OK.

Thank you.

OK. Do we have other items? Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.

Agenda item number 14, proposed zoning ordinance referencing data centers. I'm going to ask our county attorney if he will give us background on this, please.

I will. I have a PowerPoint. Mr. Martin helped me prepare.

What have I done, Brent? Here we go.

Okay, a little background. April 15, Planning Commission had a public hearing on zoning ordinance amendments, including a new data center ordinance. We have no existing data center ordinance standards. No public comments were offered at that public hearing. They made a recommended ordinance to the Board of Supervisors. July 28, Board of Supervisors had a public hearing. Many residents spoke in opposition to data centers requesting moratoriums, stricter regulations. No comments in favor. of data centers. The board at that time approved many zoning ordinance amendments but pulled out the data center and asked for a more rigorous ordinance. So under the previous ordinance, the previous proposed ordinance, data centers were allowed only by special use permit and only in industrially zoned property. And there was required water impact study, cooling technology, water demand, downstream cumulative impacts. required screening of generators, mechanical equipment, required evidence of approval by the utility company about the consumption of data and how that would be met, set a 50 decibel noise limit at the property line with testing before operation and every five years, and a 48-hour window to remedy violations before operations would cease. That's some of the highlights of the proposed data ordinance. new the new um amended ordinance as proposed by staff and so the planning department uh county administration myself met um so we are creating we're recommending this ordinance creates the data center zone so so data centers could only be constructed with a special use permit in a in a data center zone the dc district is not anywhere on the current zoning map um any future location would require a rezoning and a special use permit the entire process would require three public hearings there would be a public hearing before the planning commission so if a landowner in henry county wants to develop a data center he would apply for a rezoning which means going to the planning commission Public hearing before the Planning Commission. Planning Commission would make a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors and the Board of Supervisors would hold a public hearing and decide if they were going to rezone land in Henry County for make it to data center zone from whatever it was previously zoned. If the Board said no, we're not going to rezone the land, that would be the end of the case. There would be no additional public hearings, no additional action, and a data center could not be constructed. If the Board of Supervisors did rezone the land and say, well, this is an appropriate location, then there would still be another public hearing and the person would have to apply for a special use permit and there would be another public hearing before the Board of Zoning Appeals would consider the matter. uh dc district standards so uh front setback um in if if something is rezoned for dc this is some of the requirements would be a front setback minimum of 100 feet from any right-of-way street side and rear setbacks would be a thousand feet when adjoining a non-industrial zone 500 feet if it was in an industrial zone or adjoined an industrial zone Maximum building height would be 75 feet from grade. Taller structure would be allowed only with a special use permit from the VCA. Expanded application requirements. The items here in red were suggestions that were made at the public hearing that were then incorporated into the previously proposed ordinance. So we have a detailed project narrative identifying the applicant, owner, operator, describing proposed data center location, comprehensive site plan showing property lines, setback lines, buildings, access roads, parking entrances, make sure they meet all the VDOT requirements. Third-party water supply impact study with expanded content including demand, cooling technology sources, groundwater analysis, cumulative impacts, drought modeling, recycling and release of water, wastewater treatment and storage. An electrical infrastructure impact analysis covering demand, redundancy, impacts on existing infrastructure, necessary upgrades, and documentation of utility capacity approval. Photometric lighting plan meeting new lighting standards. Acoustical impact analysis by professional engineer modeling sound levels, tonal characteristics, mitigation measures, and demonstrating compliance with county noise ordinances, evaluation of an emergency power technologies to identify systems with the lowest practical environmental impact. Documentation of the right to use the property in a detailed decommissioning plan with required financial security. Operational noise would be limited to 50 decibels at an exterior property line and then this new part with mechanical equipment prohibited from producing clearly audible pure tone at or beyond residentially zoned property lines. emergency backup generator testing that was in the white items were in the originally suggested from the Planning Commission so down to another newer one exterior lighting must be downward directed full cut off and fully shielded to minimize glare light trespass sky glow with color temperature of 3000 K or less and height limits on poles unless greater height is approved by the Board of Zoning Appeals Some other new ones and I think this is one that was of a lot of discussion. Cooling technology is restricted to a closed loop system. So evaporative cooling techniques and cooling towers are not permitted and this is an effort to greatly reduce water consumption. Decommissioning must begin within 12 months after permanent cessation of operations or a year of inactivity and be completed within 24 months unless BZA grants an extension and the county may draw on financial assurances to complete decommissioning if the owner fails to meet the approved plan with cost reviews at least every three years to adjust the security amount. post-construction reporting so within 90 days of full operations or another approved time the owner must submit a post-construction acoustical study demonstrating compliance with noise standards with similar verification required after completion of each phase annual noise testing must be conducted and submitted to the administrator by July 1 and 48 hour period to remedy violations before operations would cease. Emergency planning requirements and emergency response plan must be prepared. in consultation with the Department of Public Safety, identifying hazards, emergency contacts, access procedures, utility shutoffs, fire suppression, hazardous materials, and emergency power systems. The plan must be updated at least every three years, and after material facility modifications and an orientation session for public safety must be provided prior to issuance of a certificate of occupancy. and here's some of the summary of the changes you know where it's allowed previously the proposal was to allow it in any industrial zone with a special use permit that would just be one public hearing in front of the board of zoning appeals but under this it creates a new district so there's no place you can build it in Henry County at this time unless this board rezoned property the zoning map yet no new district uses so we're keeping up the zoning map remains just as it is at this time setbacks 100 foot setbacks for ground equipment 100 100-foot front, 500 to 1,000 feet on side and rear. Application studies, water study, noise test, utility approval. That's under the original one. The new draft is water study, electrical analysis, acoustic analysis, lighting, emergency power, decommissioning. The noise testing is greatly more rigorous, 50 dBA plus pure tone limits. Yearly testing has its post-construction study. Cooling technology, we're requiring a closed loop only, no evaporative cooling or water towers or cooling towers. So that's a greatly enhanced feature. Decommissioning was not detailed in the original proposal, and here there's a full decommissioning plan with bonding requirements. So the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors have already had public hearings on this. The Board may proceed to adopt the data center ordinance and regulate data center districts and regulations without public hearings. The staff recommends adopting the proposed ordinance as amended. okay as stated earlier uh to have nothing as far as an ordinance is concerned what is your uh your take on having nothing at all well we we do not want to have nothing i think this is greatly i think this is a more transparent process there are more public hearings i think it's a more rigorous ordinance there's more requirements to even apply i think that um it is Unlike, I mean, to have, it's the only district that we have created that is not on the map in Henry County, which means that the elected body must have two public hearings before considering rezoning. Well, there'll be a public hearing by the Planning Commission and one by this board. But it would have to be a rezoning before anyone could even apply to build a data center and try to get a special use permit from the board. I mean, I think it's a fair process to... landowner who wants to try to do this but it's going to require a serious commitment of resources a serious commitment of time and expertise to be able to apply for the rezoning and to be able to apply for a special use permit and try to go forward with developing a center but I think it's fair um for landowners in henry county i think it's fair to the public there'll be a lot of transparency a lot of opportunity for public input if and when someone ever tries to rezone their land and then apply for a special use permit to do this would you consider this in simplest term protective measures Yes. I mean, I think, yeah, I think it's very rigorous, very protective. I mean, and beyond what's listed in there, I mean, when the Board of Zoning Appeals considers a special use permit, there's many other conditions. they'll be site specific if this ever came up and someone proposed this development there may be site specific issues or things in the future that we aren't even contemplating today that the board of zoning appeals could add additional conditions to a special use permit that you know that would make it even more rigorous and more protective of landowners

And speaking on that, that could be construction access, staging of construction equipment, maintaining the roadway, all of that is in that specific site.

That's a very good example because on large construction projects now, one of the considerations of the Board of Zoning Appeals is staging areas. It's sometimes a requirement for staging areas because when you're building, you know, data centers are extremely large, and when you're building something that big, you can't just deliver building materials like you would for your home. There's a lot more logistics involved to avoid impeding traffic and impacting your neighbors. So they do put those type of restrictions on large construction projects now, and that's the type of thing that would be, I would anticipate, would be in the special use permit.

One other question in regard to multiple public hearings and it comes to the Board of Supervisors and we take input from the public and we deny one. What is the strength of that from a legal standpoint?

So a rezoning is a legislative matter and the Board of Supervisors, I mean, courts are going to give on a legislative matter like a rezoning they're going to give great deference to the elected body the decision of the board will be considered you know given great weight um and it's in the standard i think that's used in these cases it's fairly debatable so is is this you know is it fairly debatable like they could they approved or they didn't approve it and if you if so they reject it and the developer wants to challenge that in court i think it'll be a difficult decision to overturn It's all fact specific what you know said at public hearings and what the board says and making their decision But I think that you know when you consider rezoning you look at things like the comp plan the future of the county the character of the surrounding neighborhood The general health and welfare of the citizens near the rezoning There's a lot of subjective things that are considered by an elected body when they rezone land And so I think it's all fact-specific to the case that would come and the decision the board makes, but I think the board's decision will be given great weight by any court that it's challenged in.

Board members, do you have any additional questions of Mr. Lyle? Can you speak on a moratorium and the downside of those?

I think I said this at the last meeting. I think a moratorium is a risky proposition just because it sounds so what an elected body doesn't want to do is make an arbitrary and capricious decision. That's the kind of decision that courts will overturn an elected body and say, well, that doesn't There's no facts to support why they did that. There's no good reasoning to support that. So, and to a lawyer, you know, when you put a moratorium, you say, well, we have an ordinance and you can develop a data center on you. You can, by going through this ordinance, you got to get a rezoning, you got to get a special use permit. We have this ordinance. But then you say, we're going to do a moratorium. We're not even going to let anyone apply to do that. That doesn't sound like a fair process to the landowners. It doesn't sound like a fair process to the people who own property in this county who might want to do a lawful activity I don't deny that it has a great impact on the community. But to say you're not even going to be allowed to apply to try to go through the process, I would defend that decision if I had to go to court, but that's not something I think is a great position to be in. I think the ordinance is enough. I think it's fair, transparent, rigorous. I think it's enough that we can protect the community and still allow a fair process to take place. I think a moratorium, to me, at first blush, just sounds like something that's harder to defend in court if someone challenges it. And it's an expensive thing to defend.

you know if someone comes into the planning zone and said we're not even going to take your application I mean you know a judge is going to look down and say why not Mr. Weil the way the way it stands right now if we don't do anything tonight I want to make sure everybody understands this what we do we get ready to do what I want to say is is if for whatever reason if we go I'm trying to remember what I was trying to go with that um all right I remember what I was going to say If we don't put anything in tonight, somebody could come in the industrial park, get a warehouse, and create their own data center. Like, if we don't do anything tonight, they could go into Marr, buy the building, and put in a data center without anything we can do. Is that not correct?

There might be an overstatement, but we do not specifically regulate it, and we'd have to, you know, if someone would apply to do it, we'd have to categorize that building as something, and we don't have a data center in our ordinance now, so I don't know what Mr. Clark would categorize it as, but they might be able to do it without us. We certainly would have much, much, much less say than we do now, but we probably couldn't stop it. That's true. We probably couldn't stop it because it'd probably be treated like some kind of computer warehouse or something. I mean, because we, you know, these are This ordinance, I just, we really should have an ordinance because this is a very important topic that's being, you know, all over Virginia, these data centers are occurring and we want to have an ordinance.

You're saying that we could adopt this tonight and add on to it, correct?

Oh, you can always, the zoning, yes. The zoning ordinance can always be amended by this board. The process is, just like this one came to us, we saw a need to there were other things we amended to but one of them were like oh well we have no data center ordinance and this is a very fast-moving target in Virginia so we've the Planning Commission held a public hearing and they made a recommendation after and we had a public hearing and made these amendments and enhancements and after we if the board passes it tonight The process would have to start over. If you wanted to make amendments to it, this board could come up with a list of things, hey, we want to add to it, we want to do this, send it to the Planning Commission. They would do a public hearing, and then they'd come back as amendments to the ordinance. But this would be on the books as of its adoption tonight. And so if someone came in and applied tomorrow, this is what would apply. But if someone came in and applied tomorrow, if it isn't adopted, someone came in and applied tomorrow, this wouldn't apply, and it's not clear what would.

Any other questions or clarification? All right. With that, what is the desire of the board in regard and consideration of the proposed zoning ordinance?

Mr. Chairman, I make a motion to approve the zoning ordinance as presented.

Second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion?

Just, once again, can you just reiterate, well, I guess I can just reiterate, you know, this is not approving a data center. This is approving an ordinance so that if anyone was to request a data center, this is the process they would have to go through. And to my knowledge, to my understanding, as of now, no one has requested a data center to be built in Henry County.

Yeah. yeah thank you thank you for bringing that out and as part of the discussion thank you mr. Lyle this is I think staff took back what we heard from 37 people last month and tried to put the most protective measures and make it rigorous for anyone to step in here.

That's all I was going to say is that after the meeting last month and our extraordinary hesitation to move for the data center ordinance then. And then I thought that and I see quite a few folks here who also gave really very informative and educated and exceptional presentations. I'm satisfied that we took that information and that we have made the changes and thankful for the administration for the County Administration Office for Lee and his groups that they came together and have brought us a much better option and a much better ordinance.

Can I add to that thank you? I think we have the public to thank for as well.

I have some comments too. Yes, ma'am. And I agree with Ms. Cobbler. I appreciate the Planning Commission and the county's hard work in putting this ordinance together and also the information that was provided to us at the public hearing last month. They took into consideration a lot of what was proposed or what was suggested and I think that You know, without an ordinance in place, we're opening up, we are vulnerable. So we need something in place, guidelines. And I think we understand that it's not about politics, it's about our people, it's about our natural resources. And we need to ensure that Henry County is protected. And that's what this ordinance will do. And I think as the county administrator, the county attorney said, if we find that there are some problems with that, we can certainly go back and revisit it again. But we do need something in place that protects Henry County and also our citizens at this stage. data centers are taking over and you know, we might not realize everything that we do centers around them. So it's fast moving. And if we don't move quickly in order to put something in place, then I think we're opening ourselves up for a lot of heartache and legal problems. So that was my, I had also researched the fact of a moratorium, you know, 180 day or one year moratorium. But I find that in Virginia, legally, that's going to be very hard to defend in court. But I do appreciate everything because it shows me that the people here in Henry County are concerned about where they live. And they brought us some very good suggestions that we have tried to incorporate in what's presented here tonight. It might not be perfect, but certainly it is something that's needed.

Any other discussion? We have a motion and a second. Any other discussion? All in favor? It is 6-0. Jennifer? Agenda item number 15, we'll have a public hearing referencing the FY2026-2027 budget amendment. Mr. Wagner.

At the board's last meeting, staff presented the recommended amendments to the fiscal year 2026-2027 budget to address the Commonwealth adopted budget, which included additional funding for public education and other state-supported services. The Commonwealth budget included an additional $2,152,791 for public education, resulting in an increase of $650,261 of the required local matching funds. To balance the fiscal 26-27 budget, staff suggested using $532,239 from the fiscal year 2025 local carryover funds to help meet the local requirements for public education. In addition, it was suggested that the county delay hiring for several positions and utilize vacancies in order to cover the budget gap. With the recommended amendments exceeding 1% of the total county budget, a public hearing is required, and that public hearing has been properly advertised and scheduled for this week.

Okay, I'll open the public hearing to take input on the budget amendments as described by Mr. Wagner at 6.33 p.m. Is there anyone desiring to address the board on the budget amendment public hearing? I see one hand, I see a couple hands. Let me read a brief policy statement and then I saw Ms. Martin's hand first. This is time for a public comment. We welcome your participation in tonight's meeting. We're here to listen to you. If you care to address the board, come to the podium, state your name. Your subject matter and the district in which you live. We know the subject matter is a public hearing. By coming to the podium, you have agreed that you will exhibit respect for the board and its members and the staff. You will receive the same consideration from the board. Please try to keep your presentation to no more than five minutes. Ms. Martin, I saw your hand first.

have our freedom of speech my name is Mary Martin I live in the Ridgeway district chair party is my school representative Travis is my supervisor and first of all five hundred thirty two thousand two hundred thirty nine dollars in carryover funds that should have been returned to the school it is not intended to plug your budget codes this year and if you check the reading of the law that you'll see that the school was correct in asking that that not be used for that this is the second time that this board has misappropriated legally-finding school money. And that was when we had the 1%.

Did you say the schools misappropriated?

No, I said this board. Oh, this board.

This board. Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt.

They misappropriated the first round of the 1% tax that the citizens of Henry County voted on for the schools. and applied it for use that it was not legally allowed to be used for. They had to bring the attorney general in to explain the law. And once they had to return two million that they kept, they misappropriated. Then they cut the budget by two million. This is not a way to educate our children. this is not a way to keep up good schools now I had a conversation with one of the board members I won't say who and we talked about this and this board member told me that in their opinion they didn't approve of what we were going to do with the money and if we would agree to use the money on something else that they might would give it to us I don't think that board member spoke for the board but that was the feedback I got kind of like we'll give it to you as long as you spend it on what we want you to and you have no authority to do that either and then we had the I think it was at the last meeting they talked about a hundred and twenty three thousand in discretionary funds being available to the school division well it's already on Monday so how does it part with discretionary funds this has got to be addressed this is the second time this has happened and I know everybody up there is well educated and can read and know how to apply the law so I'm at the point that I hate to say this but either this gets worked out between the administration and the school board and the board of supervisors and the attorney for the county and the attorney for the school system either it gets worked out peacefully the way it legally should be or I think the school board should just go ahead and file a lawsuit and we'll take it all in front of the judge and let him explain the law to me because apparently it's not being explained right You don't understand it or you just disregard it. And that's something that has to stop for the betterment of all of our children in Henry County. We talk to Dallas citizens, we talk about economic development. Education and what it is in this county is a huge factor in your economic development. When businesses look to come here, they look at the schools. and we have and this is just got to stop we got to go by what the law says we have to go by that's what you're sworn to do that's what the school board's sworn to do that's what legislators in Richmond set forth and If anybody's got a big problem with it, you need to be lobbying down in Richmond in January, because that's where the rules come from. Thank you for your time, and y'all have a good evening.

good evening i'm amy blake lewis and i reside in the reed creek district i'm here today as superintendent of henry county public schools to speak specifically about the proposed budget and the importance of a strong financial partnership between henry county and its public schools i recognize that both the school board and the board of supervisors have significant responsibilities to the citizens of henry county we will not always agree but our students and taxpayers deserve a relationship grounded in mutual respect, transparency, and a shared commitment to the future of this community. Today I am asking this board to consider whether its current approach to school funding is helping us accomplish that. Henry County Public Schools takes its responsibility as a steward of taxpayer dollars seriously. Ending a fiscal year with unspent funds should not automatically be viewed as evidence that a school division was overfunded. It is evidence of careful management. We have previously requested that unexpended funds be reappropriated for identified school needs including significant capital needs. Virginia code specifically contemplates unexpended local school funds and even provides a mechanism for those funds to be placed in a capital reserve for specific school capital projects. Yet our repeated experience has been that carry forward requests are not supported. I have heard questions in the past suggesting that as a fiscal closeout approaches, the school division is simply quote, finding something to spend money on, end quote. I want to address that directly. We do not spend money simply for the sake of spending it. We work hard to be responsible stewards of public funds. But when a school division knows that dollars responsibly saved at year end are unlikely to be reappropriated for legitimate school needs, the system is unintentionally creating an incentive to spend rather than to save. That is not good public policy. It is not the behavior we should be encouraging from any publicly funded organization. Fiscal responsibility should be rewarded, not penalized. If we save taxpayer dollars in one year and can identify legitimate educational or capital needs for those funds in the next, there should be a reasonable mechanism for their return to the schools. We experienced another example of this tension at the close of fiscal year 26 when school division purchase requests submitted on June 30th were not processed because they did not meet an earlier internal county deadline. Virginia law establishes June 30th as the final day of the fiscal year for every locality and school division in the Commonwealth. I certainly recognize the county's need for internal processes and orderly fiscal closeout. However, an internal administrative deadline should not become an unnecessary barrier to a school division responsibly utilizing appropriated funds before the statutory end of the fiscal year. And perhaps the most important context for this budget conversation is what Henry County Public Schools is accomplishing. Our students and educators are producing results. Preliminary school performance and support framework data shows improvement at every Henry County Public School. Earlier today, Henry County Public Schools was recognized as only one of nine schools in the Commonwealth to receive at least three percentage points of growth in both reading and math. One of only nine. We are achieving these results despite the financial uncertainty and conflict that have too often characterized the relationship between our two boards, not because of a strong local funding partnership. I ask you to imagine what more we could accomplish if the energy currently spent navigating disagreements over appropriated funds could instead be directed towards working together for our students. The Board of Supervisors has an important responsibility to appropriate local funding. The school board has an equally important responsibility to govern the school division and manage the resources entrusted to it. Both boards should respect those distinct responsibilities. Oversight is appropriate. Accountability is appropriate. Questions are appropriate. But effective governance also requires allowing each elected body to fulfill the responsibilities assigned to it. I am not asking this board for a blank check. I am asking for partnership. I am asking that responsible fiscal management not be penalized. That legitimate carry forward request be honored. and that the school board be trusted to manage the resources appropriated for the education of Henry County's children. Our students are demonstrating what is possible. Our teachers are demonstrating what is possible. Our principals are demonstrating what is possible. Imagine what Henry County Public Schools could accomplish if the two governing bodies responsible for supporting them were pulling in the same direction. Our students deserve that from all of us. Thank you.

Is there anyone else wishing to speak in this public hearing on the budget amendment? Anyone else? Seeing and hearing no indication that anyone else, I will close the public hearing at 6.44. Mr. Wagner, any comments to add to this? Board members, you have the board packet before you and the recommendation. What is the desire of the board? Okay, I'll ask again, is there an action that the board would like to take at this time? We've conducted the public hearing.

Mr. Chairman, I make a motion that we approve the 2026-2027 budget amendments as presented.

We have a motion, is there a second? I'll second. We have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion or clarification needed?

I would like to clarify one thing.

Yes, sir.

I'll be the one that said I told Ms. Martin what I did, and I want to say why I said it. Because I am about the trades, and I'm going to keep pushing for the trades. It's because it's where I stand, and I believe that's what this place is based on. So when somebody asked for it, it was me. And I asked for it because I wanted trades back in this community and work ethic and some of the stuff that we're lacking. That's why I did it. So I just want to say that I'm the one. Other than that, we can carry on.

I appreciate you sharing that. Mr. Dillon, you've indicated that you'd like something to say.

Yes, sir. And I always like to preface it with, I do work for the schools, but I'm not here as a school representative. I've had no conversations with Dr. Blake Lewis, Dr. Boone, Mr. Martin, or anyone. My comments, my questions are for me personally. I always like to make sure these same type of questions that I ask, you know, anytime we're in, whether it's closed session or whatever, is the move to keep the carryover funds, is that legal? Because that was one of the things that came up in Dr. Blake Lewis's conversation. And if we're going to make a vote, I think that's one thing, you know, first, you know, on public record that that is a legal move. So I'd like to ask that question first and foremost.

So, to my knowledge from reading the audit, All the money that was unencumbered, unexpended at the end of last fiscal year, there were some grant funds, but aside of the other money was all local money. That's what the independent auditor said. And my understanding is this same question came up maybe at the end of the 2024 budget year and the independent auditor made the same conclusion. When they prepared this budget, they specifically asked the school board for documentation of unexpended state funds and there was some grants that are carried over uh but they found that the the money in question at the end of the 20 the june 30th 2025 that all that money was local funds that's what the independent audience explained when you say local funds so that everybody understands what you mean The money from the taxpayers of this guy. So the schools are funded by federal, state.

But I mean as far as like if it's local funds, does that mean...

If it's local funds, then this board has discretion to reappropriate it to them. But in recent years, and I assume this is one of those years I haven't looked at the state budget, but in recent years as part of the budget bill, the state said... So traditionally, all... all the money that was unexpended, it has always been, the auditors have always marked it as local. And because this money, if it was unexpended state funds, it would have to be returned to the state. But in recent years, I think in part of the budget bill, the state has said, if there's unexpended state education money, the school boards can keep it. And I guess, I think it still has to be reappropriated by this board, but you don't have to send it back to Richmond. So, but if you don't reappropriate it, it would get sent back to Richmond, I guess. But, so that came up in 24, they said, well, some of this money, the school said, we think some of the money is the state money. The auditor did not agree with that. It came up again, you know, again, the auditor has said all the money is from the local tax dollars. And so this board can still reappropriate it. That's the, you could, And in years past, you know, we've had agreements where we had a split agreement. They would present projects and the board would fund it, sometimes not. But you always have the discretion to reappropriate it. But there is, according to the auditor, there is no unexpended state funds outside of some grant situations to be carried over specifically for school use. So it's totally discretionary to this body to reappropriate the money.

Okay, thank you. And I guess the second question would be, as we, you know, your team went through the budgeting process, other than using the carryover money to, you know, cover once the state got their budget, what other options were looked at to make up for that 600 and whatever thousand dollars, $615,000 that was needed to meet our local mandate? Were there other options considered besides taking the carryover money and using that to Make sure we met those budgetary request mandates.

You may recall when we went through the budget discussion, this board set the tax rate at 50 cent. That was actually higher than the original recommendation by staff. That 50 cent is based on projected tax revenue regeneration for the next calendar year. without changing that tax rate money would have to come from somewhere so the other consideration is to change that number where we cut from without coming back and raising the taxes so we made a you know looking at the budgets and all the different categories where that money would come from on the county side we're delaying hiring several positions we're using vacancy savings to fill the gaps on the county side and the staff's recommendation to use these funds to meet that budget gap without changing the tax rate or dipping into the savings account. Because we've done that in the last couple of years and we've been able to fully continue to dip into the savings account.

Okay, yes ma'am you go ahead. I heard Dr. Lewis, Dr. Lewis comment about communication and certainly We should be working together. We're not adversaries. We should be communicating with each other, whether it's personally, one-on-one, or through email for documentation, but I think a lot of this can be resolved if there was communication between the two. And don't get me wrong when I say that because I don't put fault on either one. But what I'm saying is that you have a job to do as a school superintendent and Mr. Wagner has a job to do as our county administrator. So when you come together, it looks to me like there could be resolution of some sort. But you know when I when I hear talk about it when I hear lawsuit or something like that I'm thinking why does it come to this because it should be that two entities can sit down and figure it out because all that money When we talk about local funds, it's coming from the taxpayer. Educating our children is coming from the taxpayer. The bills that you pay to Henry County, I mean, it's taxpayer money. So we don't need to rob Peter to pay Paul. We just need to be able to figure it out. So that's just my opinion.

I guess one question, one thought. If we approve the budget tonight, and you know, as you mentioned, if there's conversation and somehow we get everybody on the same page, is there the possibility, option that, you know, that carryover funds that the school system had from the previous budget Is there the possibility that, you know, we could say, okay, we want to return those funds to the school. I know it wouldn't be those exact funds, but that amount of money, is that an option? Not committing to doing that, but would that be an option for us to consider at a future date?

The board at any time can appropriate money. the only caveat to that is if it's greater than one percent of the total county budget you have to have a public hearing before you appropriate that money so at any point in the future you wish to give the schools or any other department additional money appropriate And what is our general funds account now? I will refer that question to our chief financial officer. Okay.

Well, we don't have June 30 of 2026 because the audit is way too early in the adjustment phase. But based on 25, your discretionary money, I think, was in the $12 to $13 million range of discretionary funds that wasn't committed or set aside for a specific purpose. Okay and then last thing is I do believe like

Mr. Buchanan said, we need to get together, have some conversations. And our county depends on us. And, you know, if we fighting back and forth and they're saying this, we're saying that, we're not doing the county any good and it's not beneficial. And, you know, we're all adults, we're all professionals, we're all elected for the people. And I think that we have to be able to sit down and that's whether that's county administrator and superintendent, supervisors and school board members in the same district. But we should be able to have these conversations and it's much easier when we can do it over dinner or you know, in a meeting room or something of that nature as to in a public setting like this because, you know, anything that we say and do in here, I mean, it is public record, it's audio, it's video, but we can have the knock-down drag-outs and, you know, still love each other afterwards, but I would love to see us, somebody take the initiative to organize and coordinate that so that when we get back to this point next year, We've had the conversations and we feel better about the budgetary process. We feel better about the decisions that were made as opposed to all of the tension that is in the air. And I think most things, when you sit down and talk, you find out the he say, she say stuff. It never happened. It's just other folk have said it or it didn't happen quite that way. Or if I did say it, I didn't mean it that way. And I commend, you know, Mr. Lawless for, you know, owning up. Hey, yep, I did it. I said it. And I think we all have to be able to do that. But when you disagree with people, sometimes you do say some things that, you know, and you meet them in that moment, because I'm upset with you, I'm mad with you, but if we could sit down and work through that, you know, an apology, let's get an understanding, this is why I felt that way, you know, goes a long ways, and I think that, you know, we need to take that initiative to make that happen. Mr. Martin, Mr. Adams, you know, you guys lead both of those boards, and I think That's where a great conversation would start. And lastly, I'll say that a budget has to be approved. We can't operate without a budget. So whether I agree, disagree with some of the things about how the school system will get the additional funding, you know, do need to vote to approve that budget so we can move forward, but I do think we need to have some conversations so that we're not back here next year, and if the school system, you know, does find a way to, you know, because sometimes people quit mid-year, sometimes you don't hire folk, you just don't expect that money to be available, and then when that money becomes available, I'm sure they get excited about, hey, we've got some other projects that we would love to work on, But then when those things are taken away from you, I mean, that makes you pretty upset. You know, your parents give you $100 to go out on a trip or whatever, and you save $50 of it, and you get home and they say, give me that money back. You know, you should have went ahead and bought the cotton candy and whatever else you could have got that night. So we do have to think about things, you know, that way and the emotions that are created by our actions. And sometimes we just see the reaction, but we have to understand the action that caused the reaction. So just, you know, my spiel, you know, like I said, whether to agree or disagree, we need to get a budget passed, make sure that everybody has money to operate so that we can move forward. But I do recommend that we find a way to have the necessary conversations.

And a lot of what I was going to say has already been said, but I will say to the school board also and to our board, we are definitely public school advocates. I think you know that. And I know a lot of people on the third floor, a lot of people in the buildings, as a supervisor for Reed Creek, two days ago someone was talking to me about a totally different issue. And before I left, this individual who is a significant, I would consider, a significant business owner in our community, he pointed at me before I was leaving and he said, you need to get that school budget under control. That's what he said. And for my position as an elected official for Reed Creek on the Board of Supervisors, it's my feeling and understanding that public opinion feels that the school board is very generously funded based on the 1%. And I know that that is directed funding and everything. But what I hear is that there is a lot of public support for Henry County Public Schools. and that you have a lot of money so what is daryl what is the percentage of the full county budget how much of that money out of our 220 221 million dollar budget how much of that goes to henry county public schools for our total budget i think the school budget is around 120 125 million I think, yeah, I mean, my niece works for the schools. I think that the schools, I think you should have what you need. I think that you should have more than you need. I feel like that all the children, all the teachers should have what you need and get what you ask for mainly. But I'm just communicating to you to also part of that communication that Garrett was talking about is that we have to continue to prove to our taxpayers and to our citizens that we are doing the best with what they are giving us to manage. that was just two days ago and it came out of nowhere we were not talking about the budget we weren't talking about the schools we were talking about something totally different and that's what this individual said to me and it kind of was like okay so it's appropriate just to mention that that came from a voter in retreat said that to me so that's just food for thought and I do 100% agree on the relationship and the communication moving forward because I believe that This board of supervisors supports Henry County Public Schools and public education very much so.

Any other comments? I think that I agree with the comments of professional behavior, communication. As I recall the whole issue of June 30th, I recall some correspondence in the form of email more than once from county administrator to the school system, but I did not see a reply as to an agreed date. on that and I think that at the very least from a professional standpoint, we can take care of this stuff. immediately there's not that big a separation between the third floor and the fourth floor that the elevator can't make up the difference to get folks to together to do this without attorneys this this whole thing that ended in the 11th hour so to speak or close the business day on june 30th could be resolved tomorrow easily so with that that's my comment we have a motion and a second Any further discussion? Yes, but I'll hold off on it. All right. Thank you.

All in favor? It is 6-0, Jennifer.

That takes us to agenda item number 16, matters presented by the public. The same thing applies as far as a timeline. We had one person that asked to be on the agenda and contacted the county administrator's office, Mr. Darrell Holland.

I'm here tonight with some fellow Farm Bureau members here some are in uniform some are out most of them are over here they're in support of hopefully some of these things I'm going to say this is the third time I've addressed you I don't want to bore you but reiterating what I've already said but there's some of these people that maybe not have heard this before first of all again publicly I'd like to thank the board for rescinding the tax on livestock We appreciate that. You have handouts available that I've made available. Some of you I've spoken to individually. Others I found out yesterday that I've been sending text messages to your landlines. But anyway, the topic of what I want to talk about is the personal property tax on farm equipment. And I'll just talk about farm equipment since you've already taken care of the livestock. In Henry County, I'm sure you have this chart from Tiffany Harrison, our commissioner of revenue. Out of $20 million, that the county derives from taxes on business equipment. Out of $20 million, only $44,000 of that come from taxes on farm equipment. And Richmond and the Code of Virginia recognize that there's a distinction between agricultural equipment and business equipment. That's a conversation that has been made with the legislators in Richmond. And they know the importance of agriculture to the state economy. And that's a distinction made. And I'd like to read this. It says that's defined in Section 58, 1-3505 in the Code of Virginia. It says farm machinery and farm implements are classified as separate items of taxation for the purposes of tangible personal property tax. Virginia localities, that would be Henry County, have the authority to exempt these items from the tangible personal property tax or tax them at a different rate. Local interpretations of these exemptions do vary. 80 of 100 localities in Virginia are able to balance their budget without taxing farm equipment. I think that number is significant. I'd like to ask that the board would phase out local the local tax on farm equipment just as you have rescinded the tax on livestock and I know by talking I've been educated by talking to people too this may not be possible during this budget year but at least if it's on the table for discussion I'd like you to sincerely consider it I think it's not unreasonable and I thank you for your time

Thank you, Mr. Hall. Thank you. Okay, others wishing to speak on their matters presented by the public. We did have some sign up, but I think that some may have signed up for different reasons. I'll call names as they're written here. It looks like Michelle Foley. you wish to speak and not seeing any indication i'll call the next name uh looks like william turner oh lillian turner i'm sorry i'm sorry i thought that was a w it's okay

My name's Lillian. I'm from Bassett. I just wanted to say a few things. I want to bring up the ordinance for the data centers. What you were presented was, we had a meeting with Brandon, and we gave him a list of things that we wanted the community, the community wanted you guys to consider. I'm assuming zoning didn't like very much of that, but there is more that we want put on that list, quite a bit more, actually. I have a list. I won't worry you with it. But if you want to see it, I'll show you afterwards. And I also want to bring back the conversation of the ordinance for the battery energy storage systems. I know they were voted on the last board meeting. And I don't think many people were aware of what they were, that they were being talked about, that the ordinance was even being made. So I think that that should be brought back up. Most of the people fighting data centers don't realize that battery energy storage systems and solar farms are just as bad. They destroy our planet just the same. And that's all I had. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Melody Cartwright.

Hello, Hammond County Board of Supervisors and Chairman Adams. I am Melody Cartwright. I am a City of Martinsville native and a committed candidate for District 48. I want to go on record that I did, I was one of the people that requested the moratorium. I even really wanted to go farther and do the ban, which I felt like I was really pushing that one. But my question would be, is the reason why the lawyer feels that we cannot legally do the moratorium, which is just a pause, it's not a ban, it's a pause, is the reason why we can't do it, Because other localities are doing it. Is it because of the Dillon rule? Is it the Dillon rule that's preventing us from doing that? And could we get our current delegate to take it to the state to ask for the moratorium if he would be willing to do it? If he's not willing to do it, I guess We have the wrong delegate in place.

Please address the board.

Because I would be willing to do it. Also, I want to say that I'm here to represent, in part, the Henry County Virginia Coalition against data centers. We do not consent. We, the citizens of Henry County, some of them, not all, and the city of Martinsville, which is in the middle of Henry County, we do not consent. Nor do we wish to compromise. There will be, however, consequences to anyone who votes for a data center, now y'all have done ordinances, that's different from voting for a data setting or a center or allowing them in, but the ordinance is the first step to allowing them in. So I feel a little defeated. I understand your reasoning to protect us, but who's gonna protect the land? Who's going to protect the children? Who's going to protect our water and air, our wildlife, our pets? Mainly the children. That's who I'm concerned. And the noise. And there's a whole, I mean, we went through this already. And I appreciate your detailing, adding that to the proposed ordinances. But it's really not going to be enough. It's not going to be enough. we will not consent to the raping of our land. We will not consent to obliterating our wildlife, farm animals, and sounds of nature. And perhaps more importantly, we do not consent to raising our utility bills, which is a real concern, and we have politicians involved with Dominion and Appalachian power, and it's a vicious circle, and it is gonna come around to be the people. I appreciate your time.

Next name is Linda Smith. Linda Smith.

hello board I just wanted to say that I do appreciate the ordinance that you put in place I do think that it would be wonderful if at some point you could add before any entity even applies for coming to this county if they had to come before this board and before these citizens and before the press and answer questions to whatever we have to ask I think it's a little bit harder for them to face the citizens that they're screwing over than it is to just try and grease palms. I didn't really see a whole lot in there about medical issues, like the potential for miscarriages, the potential for birth defects, the potential for anything medically going wrong. That's all, and I appreciate your time.

I had Darryl Holland's name on this, but I had your name on this list as well. And if you need to pass, that's fine.

Said all I had to say.

Thank you. Gordon Metz.

I'm Gordon Metz. I live in the Figsborough area. I guess what I'm doing is not, I just want to have a little information here. I know a lot of people think beef prices are very high, and they are. It's hard for people to afford it. What I'm speaking to is the fact that in agriculture, I don't know of any of you that you might be in farming or not, you might hardly farm, but grain prices today in corn are about the same as they were in 1990. Very little difference. Wheat goes back to 1980-something, within a half a dollar, a dollar of the same price. On the tax on equipment, you've got to understand that a lot of farmers use their combines and stuff two or three times a year for a few weeks, and they pay that tax on it. So it's not like you're paying tax on something you use every day like you do an industrial. The cattle prices, and I'll give you a few figures that I got a few months ago. They're going to be close. The cattle price has gone up 387% since 19. John Deere tractors have gone up 1,300%. Fertilizers have gone up 1,200%. Everything that we do, including taxes, even though we get a break and we appreciate it, our land, if we want to expand, it's almost impossible to pay for it through agriculture. Several years ago I was on a bang down in Williamsburg and we had people from the European Union there talking about agriculture. And I asked them, I said, why can't a wheat farm in Europe make a living on 300 acres and we can't make a living on 3,000 acres of wheat? He said, because we remembered that World War II, we had to depend on other countries for wheat. He says, we will never depend on anybody else for our agriculture products. Of course, that generation is gone, and a lot of folks don't remember that. As we put solar farms in, as we put all the other things in, it takes up agriculture as well as houses and whatnot. Somebody somewhere has got to think, how does agriculture survive? Even though beef prices are up, grain and other things are not, and our expenses are way up, as you consider this tax, I would ask you to consider that, and we appreciate everything you do. Thank you. Thank you.

I will probably mess up this next name, and I apologize. It's signed in versus written in. It looks like the last name is either Morton or Martin, and I'm not sure which one. From Ridgeway area? No, I can see yours very clearly, Mary Martin. But there's actually, I would need help with this first name. It looks like the first initial, the first name is an R. the last name looks like either martin or morton norton or no i signed the wrong place okay all right so you're passing all right and uh miss martin mary martin um uh you don't wish to speak again all right okay um i had next dr amy blake lewis and i say that she's left And then I have Sherry Mitchell.

good evening board of supervisors my name is sherry mitchell and i'm a lifelong resident of henry county i'm back here tonight because i'm not convinced our voices will be heard the last meeting countless citizens expressed the concern over weak battery energy storage site protections and transient toxic waste sites the board hastily passed the language anyway A 50-foot setback is a massive fire and safety hazard to neighboring properties. Now that AEP has expressed interest in a battery site on their 1200 acre property, we may have blown our chance to protect our citizens. While I'm grateful the data center language was paused, the new proposal remains riddled with loopholes. Under no circumstances should it have passed tonight as written. the citizens of Henry County do not consent to a hyperscale data center. Data centers in general, much less hyperscale, do not align with the comprehensive plan of Henry County, nor do they protect our agricultural land or historical heritage. If this board intends to move forward at all, you must protect our resources. We demand the zoning ordinance include these four ironclad protections, pertaining to zero groundwater usage, zero municipal water usage. This is a big one. Capped electricity consumption really shouldn't go over 10 megawatts. That hyperscale deal is really serious, y'all. Rate payer and infrastructure bonds. The developer alone should secure a bond to cover 100% of these increased costs. You still have a critical opportunity tonight to right a wrong. I came here tonight to urge you to vote no on the proposal as written. Now, if you really want to protect us, you will do so because you have the authority to do so. When I first started researching this, I noticed that the planning committee mentioned trends a lot. and a lot of the ordinance was based on trends. Well, the trends have shifted. You can place an immediate pause on accepting any applications for data centers or battery energy storage centers until these independent water power, environmental, and grid protections are fully secured. I repeat, you can tonight place an immediate pause on accepting any applications for data centers or BEST facilities. You can continue with what the ordinance is, but you can place a pause on accepting any permits. Please also consider requiring the proposed developers to prove that their facilities are safe before any permits are granted. That's kind of the opposite of what we do. Make them prove that their facilities are safe. Thank you for your time.

That is all that have signed in to speak on matters presented by the public. I will now offer the opportunity for anyone to speak on the matters presented by the public that did not sign in on any subject. Is there anyone wishing to address the board on matters presented by the public?

I just want to, one, thank you for listening to the last time that we were here. My name is Naomi Hodge-Mews. I live in the Irish state. The horrors that other localities have faced in Georgia, in Lloyd County, these are for real. And I think you try to listen and put these, put some stopgaps in. And I appreciate that, so thank you. However, I want you to really, really, really listen to the angst and the anxiety. You know, Henry County has a 16% poverty rate. Martinsville has 23% poverty rate. If you can imagine your electrical bill going up $100, what that will do, two families. I really, really want you to just be the centuries that I know that you can be. And that's to stand guard and to make sure, because anybody can promise you anything, but look what they did to Georgia. Million-dollar homes with mud for water. Million-dollar homes with mud for water. Nor is that on killing calves. Killing calves. Killing livestock a mile away because of the noise is coming. Stillborn cattle, he just has his arms talking. This is so dangerous that you just really cannot think that, okay, we've got it covered. So be the sentries that you're supposed to be. be extremely, I love the fact that you've got to come to the planning committee again and again. You've got public meetings. Maybe that'll help, but please take it so serious. And thank you for what you've done. Please keep your ears open and know that you've got to protect us because we really cannot afford to have a data center that will kill livestock, take all our water, and just ruin this beautiful country.

Thank you so very much.

Ben Gravely, I live in the Irish Wood District. I live by a mantra, and it's a quote from Dr. King, and it states, There comes a time when silence is betrayal. Now I know we've passed, or you have passed, the budget for the schools. And I listened to the comments. And I listened to what everybody had to say about the working relationships. I know all you guys. I don't have a problem. But at the same time, too, I've always prided myself to be a voice for the voiceless. And some of the comments made were somewhat upsetting to me because the implication is that we are not good stewards over county money. And I take offense to that. I take offense to that. We are and we have very competent financial directors that advises us. I look at information myself. I research information because when I make a decision, I want to make sure that I'm making the best decision with the information that I have. And I think I can speak that of our entire board, you know. And so I hope that we can. And we have, I know, I'll use Mr. Martin for an example. He and I, and we have a legislative liaison that we work with as well. have suggested that why can't we, two of us, two of you guys, district, sit down and have some conversations. And we've proposed that. So I'm not opposed to that at all. And I think in doing so, we will get a better understanding as to what we are trying to do as a school division. I understand, I know you got a tough job. We have a tough job as well, you know. It's tough. But at the same time too, it's for our kids. I propose the question about a year or so ago and most of my questions are proposed as such help me understand why is it such a difficult task to provide for our students in henry county and i will i'm here with that i just have to say something because i i just didn't feel as I didn't want people thinking that we are misappropriating funds. And we aren't. And we can easily validate that. Thank you.

Are there others wishing to speak on the matters presented by the public?

I just have a question. The independent audit that Mr. Lyle mentioned, is that available for a copy to the public or do I need to file it again?

I'm sorry, would you repeat that again, please?

The independent audit that made the determination about the carryover money, is that audit available for the public to see?

okay this is a time for public comment but when you uh when you take uh i will get that clarified when you take a seat okay as far as audits uh mr jones is that public information independent audits the county audits are on the county website if you're specifically looking for a statement in there it's you know like a 200 page document and you unless you're probably a financial whiz and a CPA and even knows, you may not be able to interpret exactly that, extract that from it, but the independent author made an independent determination on the carryover funds at the request of the county administrator and school superintendent for fiscal year 24. And who signs off on that? What parties sign off on that? On the audits. Well, they come to the Board of Supervisors annually and present the audit report to the Board of Supervisors. And the Board of Supervisors accepts it and then it's sent to the state of Virginia. And it's also posted on the county website and sent to basically all our funding agencies.

OK. All funding. OK.

and i guess another question or response is there a way to pull out that statement i guess that's what miss martin is actually asking the statement that clarifies that um what mr lyle said about it being um local funds and not state funds i happen to have a copy right here okay okay are there others he has a copy right here

Are there others wishing to speak on matters presented by the public? Anyone else? With that, that takes us to item 17. I'll entertain a motion for adjournment. I'll make the motion.

Second.

I have a motion and a second. All in favor? 6-0. Everyone have a good evening.