City Council - Regular Meeting

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praise the Lord everyone. Welcome to our April 23rd public hearing and I ask you all to stand for invocation by Miss Reed and followed by the pledge of allegiance to our flag. Let us pray. Father, we thank you for this night. We thank you for our city. We thank you for all of our amazing citizens. We ask that you guide our conversations tonight and we just ask that you help us honor their voices and their requests and that we represent them well. In your name we pray. Amen. Amen.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Amen. Tonight we have a public hearing on water and storm water rates and our F1 I mean FY 27 budget hearing and I will now turn you over to Miss Alicia.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh before we begin, I'd like to briefly review the process for tonight's public hearing. As mayor said, we have two uh the water and storm water rates public hearing was duly advertised to begin at 6:00 tonight and the proposed budget was duly advertised to begin at 6:15. So with that being said, if the water public hearing ends before 6:15, council will have to take a recess until 6:15 when we reconvene. Uh for each public hearing this evening, speakers will be called in order in which they signed up. As your name is called, please make your way to the podium by using the aisle to my left of the podium. If you are next in line, we ask that you be prepared and waiting in the aisles so we may move efficiently from speaker to speaker. After all registered speakers have had been heard, the mayor will open the floor to anyone who did not sign up to speak uh but who would still like to speak. Each speaker is asked to state their name, locality of residents for the record. Individuals will have three minutes to speak. If you're speaking for a group, you have five. Group representatives should identify the organization they are representing. Each group is allowed one spokesperson. Citizens often express differing opinions to make sure everyone feels comfortable speaking. There is no applause, cheers, or jeers. Do not intimidate, insult, or disrupt others. Do not use profanity, promote businesses, or campaign for office. If you have printed materials that you'd like to share with council, please place them on the table to your left uh and I will collect them and distribute them to council members. After all speakers have been heard, the public hearing will be closed and council will proceed to the next item on the agenda or on the agenda. All right, taking it away. Agenda item number one, water and storm water public hearing. We had one person sign up. That's Peter Sepharati. So, if you want to make your way to the podium, sir. Please state your name. Uh, and locality of residents. Hey, I'm Peter Saffarati. I just wanted to say that I hope we have a lot more storm water this year because we need the rain. And that's all I got to say about that. I only signed up because it looked like you guys weren't have anything to think about. Thank you.

Thank you. And that exhausts my list for water and storm water rates. I don't know if there's anybody in the audience who would like to speak who did not sign up. Is there anyone who would like to speak on storm water rates? No. I can confirm there are no voicemails for this item. No voicemails. So do do you want to go into recess for You have to officially close the public hearing. 9 minutes. Okay. Public hearing is officially now closed on storm water and we'll recess until 6:15.

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meeting will reconvene with the public budget public hearing. I'll turn you over to Miss Alicia. Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. It is now 6:15. So we now starting the budget public hearing. From my list I have Jay White representing Old City Cemetery followed by Michael Bremer and Brent. If you all want to start lining up,

you can go ahead and go ahead. Sir, please state your name, locality of residents, and group represented.

My name is Jay White. I live in the city of Lynchburg and I am representing the Southern Memorial Association aka Old City Cemetery. All right. Good evening. My name is Jay White and I am the executive director of Old City Cemetery um the managing partner for um your property um since uh 1995. I am here with my colleague Amelia Marshall who is our director of operations. Founded in 1806, Old City Cemetery is the oldest municipal cemetery still in operation today in the Commonwealth. our five museums and our pathway uh pathway to pride give voice to the tapestry of voices that we've been entrusted to um tell and the stories we've been entrusted to tell. We have 27 acres, 24,000 graves occupied by 13,000 people of color, 2200 soldiers, local notables, and the vulnerable and forgotten in our potter's field. Uh with over 33,000 visitors per year from 44 states in 16 countries, we are Central Virginia's most popular tourist destination. According to Trip Adviser, based on travel data from the Virginia Tourism Corporation, the Old City Cemetery's economic in economic impact is on the low end about $7 million and on the high end $39 million depending on the type of traveler who you are. So most of the visitors from Old City Cemetery are from out of town. So, we kind of feel like we're closer to that $39 million economic impact. Uh, so it's fair to say that the investment that the city of Lynburg makes into Old City Cemetery every year is a wise use of your funds. But I'm just calling u visiting y'all this evening to um invite all members of city council and your families to come for a visit. Uh attend an upcoming special event, engage in genealogical and historic research in our archives. Uh come visit the goats. uh or just sit among the trees in our class 2 arboritum, our 400 plus species of heirloom roses and antique daffodils.

We are grateful for your partnership and hope you will consider fully funding our FY2027 request. And Amelia and I or I am happy to answer any questions you have about your investment in Old City Cemetery. Any questions? I appreciate your time very much. Thank you, sir. All right, moving along. Michael Bremer, followed by Brenn Thbot, followed by Michelle Dowy. Please state your name uh and group represent or

Michael Bremer, resident of Ward 4. Good evening, Mayor Taylor, members of council. A public budget is a moral document. It's also a legacy. This proposed maintenance budget recognized the reality of a flattened national and state economy by providing level funding for almost every division and department of city operations with one notable exception, school operations. Lindsburg City Schools administration, backed by its board, has requested $2.4 million above the amount included in the manager's proposal. Several people have expressed support for our superintendent's assertion that she would not be asking for this money if schools didn't need it. This is not a desire. It's not a want. The schools embarking on a new and hopefully bold course need the public to invest in educating our children. We simply must do better. Lynburg weathered an $18 million drop in federal funds in fiscal year 26 and anticipates recovering only 4 million of that this year. That loss constrains our local government's fiscal flexibility. The fiscal 27 budget is still upside down, proposing funding public safety at 23% of local expenditures while providing only 17% for public education. We all know that improving the literacy and mathematical proficiency of our children is a critical need requiring a comprehensive evaluation of how we as a community are going to create and support our future. A two cent increase in the real estate tax rate will provide nearly all the money requested by the school division

and begin to restore balance between funding public safety and public education. As I said, a budget is a moral document. It is also your legacy. Several of you have declined faith-based guidance in your work as council members. Will you pay lip service to your stated priorities or walk as servant leaders by committing communal treasure to the goal of quote continued support of a strong public school system as stated in your priorities to move Lynchburg forward? Will you act in integrity with your moral standard to value our children or choose mere political expediency? The choice choice is yours and we are watching. Thank you for listening for those of you who did. Thank you.

Next on our list is Brenn Thbot uh representing Red Cross Blue Ridge Chapter followed by Michelle Dowy followed by Peter Sepharati.

Uh good evening. I'm Brent Thbot. I'm here representing the Red Cross Blue Ridge Chapter and I'm here with Michelle Dowy our executive director. Um, I reside in Rono, but I am working on behalf of our local Red Cross chapter. Um, we have submitted a request for $8,927 to address a critical gap in Lynchburg's emergency blood supply for patients with cickle cell disease, a condition that disproportionately impacts African-American families. According to the CDC, one in 365 African-American babies is born with the disease. And during a crisis, access to closely matched blood can mean the difference between life and death. In Lynchburg, that gap is very real. While 27% of our population is African-American, only 5% of our blood donors reflect that community. And only 2% of today's donations are compatible with cickle cell patients. As a result, 87% of the needed blood for cickle cell patients here must be shipped in from outside regions costing us precious time and emergencies. At UVA, which is the closest designated cickle cell treatment center, 30% 30% of their cickle cell patients come from Lynchburg here. These are our children and our families and today we're not meeting their needs locally. This proposal offers a practical communitydriven solution, testing new donors to improve match availability and partnering with trusted leaders like the Jubilee Family Development Center to sustainably grow our African-American participation to better support our cickle cell patient community. For less than $9,000, you can directly strengthen Lynchberg's emergency response and save lives. We respectfully ask for your support to fund this initiative so that when the next crisis happens, the blood

is already here. Thank you for your time. All right, next on our list is Michelle Dowy, followed by Peter Sepharati, followed by Molly McClennon.

Hi, good evening. I'm Michelle Dowy, the executive director for the American Red Cross that serves this area. I do reside in Bedford County. Um, but I am here just to support our request for blood and cickle cell initiative and drives here. An investment of $8,927 offers Lynchberg a powerful opportunity to strengthen emergency readiness, improve health equity, and directly support local children and adults living with cickle cell disease. By expanding cickle cell trait testing and launching a community-led donor recruitment initiative, the city can significantly increase its local supply of match bloodsuring faster, safer care when every minute matters. Historically, municipalities have had clearer visibility into disaster relief needs than into the blood supply challenges occurring behind the scenes in local hospitals. As the Red Cross deepens its biomedical work across the Commonwealth, we are committed to helping local governments understand how essential a strong, diverse donor blood base is to community health. With this investment, Lynchburg can position itself as a leader proactively addressing a critical, often overlooked public health need and building a model that can support residents for years to come. Thank you for your consideration.

Next is Peter Sepharati followed by Molly McClennon. Peter Sepharati Ward one. First of all, um I'm kind of surprised that there was only like seven people in this room for a a budget reading or a budget public hearing. And I'm wondering if if this meeting was adequately uh advertised. I can't believe based on last year's meetings that no one's interested in this topic. uh somebody could look into that and maybe maybe people need to be uh surveyed to see if they actually knew this this was happening. This this just is not normal. Having said that, um I'm going to agree with my friend Michael. Budget is a moral document on more levels than one. Uh I think that there's many areas that a government needs to use tax money or revenue, whatever it comes from, uh to invest where it's needed. But um when you talk about investment um I don't know maybe some of you don't understand this concept but uh we're not talking about a nonprofit um funding opera operation where money is just donated and it's used up and you come back again it's donated when you make an investment people making investments expect a return on their investment and uh so when it comes to Michael mentioned schools uh yeah we Something needs to be done about the uh dismal level of education of the people being turned out passed out of school. It's really bad news. I you already know that. But uh if you're going to invest more of my money or the public's money into school systems, I mean, we need to know that whatever program you're putting into is going to give us a return for it. That's going to give us better educated students. And there should be a review, a quarterly re review, yearly, by annually, whatever it is to see if the programs, whatever they are, are delivering a return on

investment. If they're not, they need to be killed, replaced by something else, and might do do better. Um, that would be moral thing to do. I also um I understand that we're going to be having higher revenue at the same tax rate because of uh additional uh people uh parcels that came on to the uh tax roles and um I'd like to know how much money is in the rever the reserve fund. Is it higher than it was budgeted? And um I really believe that just because the um the assessments have gone up uh you shouldn't keep the same tax rate. Um I think that we need to talk about equalizing for a change. Times are getting tough and um people running this state now are going back to real expensive electricity. People were whining about it before. Electric bills are going to go way up and a lot of other things. People are getting squeezed. So, I'd like to see if there money in the reserve fund that be used to fund the increases in spending in the 27 budget instead of being I don't know what happens to the money. Nobody's really sure sometimes. Anyways, morality includes stewardship, transparency, honesty. So, let's have some of that. I really appreciate your time. Thank you.

Last on our list is Molly McClennon. Please state your name and locality of residence.

I'm Molly McClennon and I've been a resident of Lynchburg for over 55 years and I'm very proud of our city. We have on many occasions been forwardlooking to provide things that make for a good living in our community. I attended the um joint meeting with the school board and noticed their inclusion for alternative education and that is what I would like to speak about because I think it's important and it's for selfish reasons on my part. If I'm living in a city where children are able to get their needs met to learn, to learn how to be part of society, then we all benefit. And times are hard. There are children that just need a little extra or a little something different. So I urge council to support the schools and especially the alternative education. Thank you for listening. Yes, ma'am.

Is there anyone else on the list? There are no other uh speakers. Is there anyone that's not on the list would like to speak on the budget public hearing? The floor is open.

Yes, ma'am. Please state your name and locality of residence.

Okay. My name is Deborah Trevar. I'm from W 2 and u I am interested in keeping taxes down in Lynchburg. And I'm interested and I believe too that it's a it's a moral issue um that that the city council needs to realize that they're spending other people's money and they need to give accountability for exactly how they spend that money. Um as far as the public schools, I believe with Peter that that it's not just throwing more money at it. that's going to make a difference. We need to have measurable outcomes and I like that idea of quarterly reports and is what we're doing working and I know statistically that um the state of Mississippi went from like in about eight years they went from 49th in the country in uh math and or in reading proficiency levels to like first or second now uh presently and they still and they didn't spend and they have one of the lowest per student spending um in the country but yet they've gotten fantastic results because they've been laser focused on academics. We're going to improve academics. That's what schools are for. And uh so they put strategies in place including accountability for students. they would not pass them out of third grade unless they could read and that helped the students all the way up through the rest of their their school career. So, um that's what I would like to see and thank you for listening.

Is there anyone else who would like to speak? No. Are there any voicemails? There are none. Thank you. Public hearing is now closed. Budget. Thank you. Our next meeting is Tuesday 4:00 second floor. Thank you all.