City Council - Special Meeting

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It's going to happen. praise the Lord everyone. Welcome to our February 23rd special call city council meeting. Please stand for invocation followed by the pledge of allegiance. Father God, we thank you for this opportunity to come together, Father. Let us come together in peace and unity. Let your holy will be done in Jesus' name. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America,

to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Madame Clerk.

Yes, Mr. Mayor. Uh, today's agenda is just divided into two sections. Close session and general business. Uh, the first section is close session, and I'll read that into the record. Consideration of a closed meeting pursuant to 2.2-3711A88 of the code of Virginia 1950 as amended to consult with legal counsel representing the city regarding specific legal matters that require the provision of legal advice. The subject of the closed meeting being specific to providing legal advice and legal guidance regarding the requirements of article 12 section one of the constitution of Virginia as applied to the scheduling of early voting for the referendum of on house joint resolution 4 and the council members oathbound duty to uphold the constitution and any related potential litigation.

Yes sir. I'll make a motion to enter close code session on the language that the clerk just described. Do I have a second? Second. Vote. I'm sorry. I will call for the voice vote. Council Missions. Yes. Council member Reid. Yes. Council member Timmer? Yes. Council member Wilder? No. Vice Mayor Demer? Yes. Mayor Taylor? Yes.

The motion passes. We are now in close session. Heat. Heat. N. [music] [music] [music] Heat. Heat. [music]

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So move second. Second. Do we need to read the language out loud? You do not. No. Uh all right. All those in favor say I. I. I. Is there any nos? The eyes had it. The motion passes. Yes, sir. like to uh make a motion to not adopt the resolution that was in the published agenda. Want to speak to you?

Absolutely. I would like to speak to it, Mr. Mayor. Thank you very much. Um good news is we've got a better strategy. Things have changed, but I just want to put this um on the record. Virginia Democrats are deliberately ignoring one of the clearest guardrails in our Commonwealth Constitution, the 90-day quiet period in Article 12, Section One of the Constitution. It requires that no proposed constitutional amendment may be submitted to the voters, including through early voting, sooner than 90 days after final legislative passage. They're doing this not to serve Virginiaians, but because they are consumed by rage and Trump derangement syndrome. Their true goal is to hand Hakee Jeff and national Democrats the tool they desperately want, a 10-1 congressional map that would flip four Republican seats in Virginia alone. That shift would give them the House majority they need in 2027 to impeach President Trump and obstruct the America First agenda for the final two years of his presidency. It's not about fair representation in Virginia. It's about raw national power politics. If Virginia Democrats had simply honored our Constitution and waited the required 90 days after final passage on January 16th, 2026, here's what the timeline would have looked like. The 90-day waiting period would have expired on April 16th, 2026. Early inerson voting would have started the next day, shifting at 6 weeks. The earliest possible referendum election day would be June 2nd, a full six week shift from the brushed April 21 date they forced through. That single compliance requirement would have pushed the entire downstream process out by six weeks. The referendum certification would have happened in mid June, candidate filing deadline in early July, and the congressional primary on September 15th, 3 days before early voting starts for the

general election for November, which is September 18th, 2026. The reason they violated the Constitution is plain and simple. It's the only way they could make it work. In those three days, there's no way an election could have been certified. There's no way that they would have been able to finalize a general election ballot for nominees from 11 brand new districts. Logistically, it would not be possible. The new the new maps would not be able to be implemented for the 2026 midterms. They would not take effect until the 2028 elections for the 121st Congress, which is sworn in on January 3rd, 2029. They violated our Constitution to try to change the makeup of the House of Representatives next year. That's why we're here. Because we have an oath of office to uphold, an oath sworn on the Bible to support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of Virginia. To stand by and not act in the face of this obvious constitutional question that my fourth grader can understand would be a violation of my oath and a disregard for the citizens of our city, the Commonwealth, and the nation. Look forward to tomorrow. We've got something else coming tomorrow that's going to be even better than what you saw here. That's all I've got. Mr. Mayor, you want to speak to your second,

Mr. Mayor. Um, I just very much appreciate the constructive conversation that we were able to have and thank you, Mr. Freriedman, for your input in that conversation. Um, I look forward to tomorrow and um I Yeah, thank you so much,

M. Re. I just think um voting is one of the most important things we get to do and we should never make any attempt to take that from anybody. Um I also don't think it's right to change the rules um when the ball's in our court. So, we are standing firmly against what's happening right now in Richmond. And I think that everybody needs to show up and vote in every election this year, every primary this year, and use our voices. and we should never support anything that obviously would put our city in any type of uh in any form of legal risk. So I'm glad that we are um reversing course on what was happening today and I think tomorrow is going to be a much better option for the city also help our registars's office get the need that they need uh the help that they need. So I am glad that we were able to find a a way to work together. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dean.

Mr. Mayor, [gasps] elections are sacred and as a former election officer and someone who's worked uh as a precinct chief and also as [clears throat] someone who's worked in uh multiple elections as the 45 days. Uh I'm not a fan of the 45 days, but but I'm glad it was here this year because this is a rush for a reason. And the only reason is raw power. Okay, this that's what this is all about. Elections are supposed to be where the people choose the politicians. Gerrymandering is when the politicians get to handpick their people. And that is not the way it's supposed to work. regardless of what we do tomorrow. Standing right there, I had my hand on my father's Bible and I said I would follow the constitution and I will do that because the constitution is not optional in the 90 days. My third grader can figure that out. I hope our Supreme Court comes to some good conclusions but I apologize to the electoral board who I have great respect for and the registar who have to conduct an election and right now the whole thing is a cluster and I apologize for that. y'all don't deserve this. But it was forced on us by a cabal in Richmond trying to steal elections and and ignore our Constitution. And it makes me extremely angry. And I'm I'm I'm sad for our Commonwealth. But when it comes to me and and my vote, it will be based on supporting my oath that I took standing right there.

Dr. Wilder.

Yes. Thank you. You know, I just I'm sitting here in amazement. um is I talked last week about the excitement about um stopping abortions and and and for your gun rights and and I made the comment that where's the outrage when people um see a kid getting killed on the streets? Where's the outrage when other things overlooked? Where's the outrage when when they can't afford babies for for diapers? But look how strange when they can't afford diapers or food. Where when's the outrage for that happens? I don't understand that. Um, we had a situation in Texas. Now, this is Virginia and this is not Texas. So, we had a situation in Texas that has started a lot of this all over our country. Where was the outcry from everyone when they did it in Texas? So, I sit in amazement that we don't have an outcry like we do for other things. So, I'm astonished at that. Um, we had a situation where a person said, "Find me more votes. Find me more votes." That was wrong. So we have where's the outcry when other people do things that are not proper. So I have a problem with that when we we have selective amnesia. We have selective choices. When people do things that are not right, we are silent. But yet when something else happen oh we're going to speak up about this. But what happens when other people are doing things that are not proper? We are silent. And God is going to judge us for all of that. Thank you. Thank you.

Okay. Motion to adjurnn. Mr. Mayor, we got a vote. Oh, we got a vote. Councilor admissions. No. I mean, yes, we're voting to deny. Correct. Voting to deny. Sorry. Yes. Yes. Vote to deny. Uh, Council Reed. Yes. Council member Timmer. Yes. Council Wilder. Uh, I deny it. Yes. I deny all of it. Okay. Uh, Vice Mayor Demer. Yes. Mayor Taylor. Yes. The motion passes. Now motion to adjurnn. Motion to adjurnn. Meeting adjourn. Our next meeting is tomorrow 4:00 tomorrow evening. City chambers second floor training room.