Cc Meeting - Regular Meeting

So, we'll we'll skip over you and come come to you during the budget request time. Okay. Were you looking for the um agenda or for the sign up?

Okay.

7 o'clock. Um, call the order called to order the meeting of the uh, regular meeting of the Franklin City Council uh, for the February the 23rd, 2026. Um, roll call. Dr. Johnson presop m sorry, Mr. Grizzard present. All right, everybody's present. Uh if you will please turn your cell phones off and uh join us. Stand and join us in the pledge of allegiance if you would.

Americans time um Mr. back. Step down. You're the first one on the list. Good evening, Mr. Mayor, council members. I'm Councilman Greg McLemore, 204 Madison Street. And in commemoration of Black History Month, being the last council meeting of Black History Month, I would like to mention the father of Black History Week, Cottage G. Woodson, who began Black History Week in 1926. It started out as Black History Week in February. February was chosen because it was the h uh birthday month of both George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. But today, I want to recognize the powerful and lasting legacy of Marcus Garvey, a man whose vision reshaped global black consciousness. Born in Jamaica in 1887, Garvey rose to become one of the most influential leaders of the 20th century. At a time when colonialism and segregation sought to crush dignity and ambition, Garvey preached something radical, black pride, economic independence, and self-determination. In 1940, he founded the Negro the Universal Negro Improvement Association or UNIA. It grew to be one of the largest mass movements of African descended people in history

with millions of members worldwide. Under his leadership, the UNIA created businesses, newspapers, and institutions that encouraged black communities to control their own economic futures. Garvey also established the Black Cross Nurses, a humanitarian arm modeled after the Red Cross. The Black Cross provided medical training and care within black communities at a time when access to health services was often denied. It symbolized self resilience and organized compassion. In 1919, he launched the Black Star Line, a bold shipping enterprise meant to connect people of African descent across the globe and promote economic independence. Though it faced setbacks, it stood as a powerful symbol of ownership and international unity. Gafi Gavei also introduced the red, black and green liberation flag. Today, widely known as the pan-African flag, red for the blood that unites us, black for the people, and green for the rich land of Africa. The flag remains global emblem of pride and resistance. His teachings would later influence the rostafar movement with viewed which viewed Africa as a spiritual homeland and embraced black dignity and divine identity. Garvey's call for African redemption helped shape that spiritual awakening. Leaders like Malcolm X were directly influenced by his message. But more importantly, millions of ordinary people were empowered by his words. Marcus Garvey taught a simple but informative truth. A people believe in themselves can change the world. Thank you very much.

Thank you, sir. Thank you very much. And then, uh, is it Regina Hill here? I know she was running late. She's the last person on the list to tonight. All right, we'll move on. Um, do I have a motion to approve the agenda? Representative. So, I have a motion. Do I have a second? Second. I have a motion to second. Any discussion? Hearing none. Seeing none, I'll call for the vote. I I I I and I thank you. Agenda's approved. And then uh we move on to presentations from outside agencies. Uh we'll start with Ed Jackson from Rollins Museum.

Good evening.

Good evening, Mayor Kaplan, members of the city council and staff. My name is Anne Jackson Edwards and I'm the executive director of RS Museum Arts. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you all tonight. I want to begin by saying how thankful we we are for the city of Franklin support of RS Museum Arts. Previous funding received has truly made a difference in our ability to serve your residents and we are truly grateful for that continued partnership. RS Museum Arts began in 1958 as the Walter Caesar Rolls Library and Museum and became a separate nonprofit entity in 1980. While we're located in Courtland, our mission has always been regional. Franklin has long been an important part of the community that we serve. At its core, our mission is simple. To make the arts accessible, and to provide meaningful cultural enrichment for the people of Franklin and our surrounding area. We serve Franklin residents every day through free exhibitions, arts education, outreach programs, summer camps, and community partnerships that bring the arts directly into schools, neighborhoods, and shared community spaces. In rural areas like ours where access to the arts can be limited, these opportunities really matter. The impact of this work extends beyond creativity alone. According to the arts and economic prosperity six study by Americans for the arts, investing in arts and culture strengthens local economies, supports local jobs, and helps build healthy, vibrant, and livable communities. Supporting the arts is not a luxury. It's a proven investment in community well-being. One of the most important ways we serve Franklin is through collaboration. We work closely with Franklin City Public Schools, providing monthly art outreach programs that give students hands-on experiences, mentorship from working artists and exposure to creative career paths, including fine, applied, and trade-based arts. We also partner with Early Childhood Western Tidewater, the Food Bank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore, Franklin Department of Parks and Recreation, the Village at Woods Edge, Grace's Little Angels, and Western Tidewater Community Services Board. Together, we're creating programming that supports education, wellness, family engagement, and connection. In the coming months, we

also have partnerships planned with the YMCA and the Hayden Village Center, further expanding our reach within Franklin. Additionally, over onethird of our museum members live in the city of Franklin, reflecting the strong and ongoing relationship we already have with the Franklin community. This Saturday, many of the vendors participating in our wellness resource fair are Franklin based organizations, and we expect to serve a large number of Franklin residents through this event. Through classes, workshops, exhibitions, teen programs, and summer camps, RS Museum Arts weaves the arts into everyday community life. We want to make sure that the residents of Franklin, regardless of age, income, or location, have equitable access to the arts and the many benefits they bring. As you consider our budget request, I respectfully ask that you continue continue your support of ROS Museum Arts. With the opportunity to receive matching funds of up to $4,500 through the Virginia Commission for the Arts Creative Communities Partnership Grant, your investment can go even further. Your support allows us not only to sustain these programs, but to deepen our partnerships in Franklin and expand opportunities for your residents. We are proud to serve this community and remain committed to ensuring that the arts continue to be an accessible and meaningful resource for all. Together we can build a vibrant, creative, and connected community. Thank you for your time and for your continued commitment to the city of Franklin.

Any questions? Any questions from the council? I'll comment that I've been to a number of the events lately and they have really really been wonderful. Um, one of was was um focused on one of our city residents who was a costume designer. Um, his husband works for the city and was just it was wonderful. So, thank you very much. Thank you. Uh we have up next uh Carl Hec.

Thank you for getting that up. Thank you, Mayor Kaplan, members of council. It's good to be back and thank you for your support and what is our 21st year of serving the community in Franklin Southampton with economic development services. Um, we're requesting 125,000 this year, which is an increase to do a couple things. Um, restore our budget to where it was before CO, as well as allow us to work on some new things, including a Main Street initiative. Um, I'll mention that about a quarter of our budget goes to pay for things for other organizations as well as R at the business center that we manage on behalf of the city. Um, we also have a request for our four partners for $30,000 each to for the creation of a new visitor center to enhance tourism. We have had a working group in tourism going for about a year and this is a request that they've advanced that we're planning to put in the if we do get the funding from the agencies planning to put in the shared services area somewhere in Franklin Southampton to attract tourists focus and allow us to have a full-time person devoted to this task. Um as well as recombine the city and county efforts. Um recent successes we continue to work with global concentrate. Um, we have had an uptick at the Franklin Business Center recently in capacity with new companies coming. Um, we were able to reuse a warehouse on Commerce Park Drive for the Virginia Food Group. We're working with Hampton Farms on their large expansion of the shared services area as well as an expansion of GMAX of their facilities in Progress Parkway as well as new businesses coming to the Armory Drive area and Ryan Homes. The housing market here is strong, though you don't hear necessarily hear that in the country as well. They've been selling ahead of schedule. We're also working with a group that includes all of White County to develop and enhance

the industrial lands around the Franklin Regional Airport. Um, we continue with our main areas of business attraction, retention, expansion, small business development, and tourism. I mentioned some of the projects that we have done in recent years as well as some of the other ones as well as the amount of job creation that we've created in recent years. Almost 300 projects including the announced and new ones. Um we run the Franklin Business Center that has been at 100% occupancy. We're hoping to be back there someday soon. As we sit today, we are at 85% occupancy with 39 tenants, which is as many as we've ever had. Um, we've had 27 graduates with 18 remain in the local region. About half are minority owned, half are business owned. And in 2025, we had almost 200 full and part-time businesses. In May, we'll be back with our annual economic review of the business center clients. Um we added fieldprint services, a fingerprinting service that um a previous tenant had and then it went away. That service didn't exist in Franklin. So in the first eight months we've done 385 fingerprints. It's something that um isn't available here and a lot of people have commented they had to go 30 40 miles. It's also brought some people in. It's also been an education for us like how much how many businesses need fingerprinting services. you know, it's like that's about 50 a month. So, we do basically two a day. Um, and then our advisory board continues on where do small business development of various types, our programs with the SBDC, we do professional headshot day every year that tracks 50 to 60 people as a well-known public service as well as we're working with the city on the revitalization of its commercial revitalization fund. Um, startup continues on. We are retooling that program to make it even better the next

time we'll be back which will either be in the fall or next year as well as seeking additional funding for that. 15 businesses have been awarded prize money and seven others started up during that time. I mentioned the tourism initiative. We're part of coastal Virginia. We're part of the salty southern route. We started a tourism newsletter in 2024 and we're working on hotel and tourism facilities for the area. Um, our community visioning initiative will be back in we've been doing a lot of work behind the scenes for that, but we are doing a rebranding exercise that'll be announced pretty shortly with community opportunities for community input as well as new developments in the next cycle. So, our projected activities, I mentioned the visitors center, the main street, working with Global Concentrate and other companies. Um, as well as filling the retail vacancies and supporting hotel development. Um, so that's our presentation. I'll be glad to take any questions. Hearing none. Thank you, Mr. Heck.

Thank you.

Appreciate. Uh, next on our list is Mr. Neil uh from the Blackwater Regional Library. Okay. Uh, thank you, Mr. Mayor, Madam Vice Mayor, Rest of Council. My name is Ben, director of Blackwater Regional Library. Just going to update you on some of the things that uh we're doing out in the community. Uh so since uh July 1st we've had over 19,000 visits to the Franklin Library which is up 6% and three over 300 new patrons uh come to the library. Um one thing we've seen a huge increase of in the last year is people using our meeting room over 200 um meeting room groups reaching over 1600 people. Um each time uh we do community conversations and get feedback from the community is uh we hear the community needs more neutral places for people to meet in the community and gather. Uh so so we're happy to uh uh provide that. We provided over 4,000 internet sessions uh through our public computers and 247 Wi-Fi and 26 outreach events out in the community reaching about 2,000 people. Uh overall both in the library and out in the community almost 170 programs reaching 5,200 people since July 1st. Um we're really passionate about being out in the community at community events. Everything from the community services board wellness fair to uh events at the MLK center to uh health events like that the Deltas had last summer, a health rodeo fair uh that we that we were thrilled to be at. um providing free books and early literacy resources. Um the programs we have in the library range from uh local author visits to uh very crowded summer

reading programs uh throughout the summer to smaller scale uh children's teens and adult programs throughout the year. Uh since the last time I was here, uh in the children's area, we have introduced a play table in the Franklin Library Children's Area is preloaded with over 20 educational games of for children and their caregivers uh to learn with. There's a lot of math games and grammar games and and things that contribute it. It's fun for the kids to play the games, but also has a longer term effect. A couple of things that we've added since the last time I was here with you and I think uh there's a couple members of council who weren't here when I last presented to council. We have uh we're very cognizant that we have a aging population in in our area and we have what's called memory kits and these are based around a theme lot remember the 1950s or automobiles and for those uh uh with memory impairments or starting to to have struggles uh with cognitive issues. Uh each of these kits have a DVD, laminated pictures, maybe a music CD from that era, and it helps spark uh it helps spark memory from those who are losing uh uh starting to struggle with memory issues. Uh we also have Roku kits, which are uh you plug these into you check them out from the library for free. You plug them into your TV. If you don't want to pay for Netflix or Peacock or or what have you, the library pays the subscription. You just get it out and plug it in and watch the hottest shows or movies or the Olympics or whatever it might be for free. Um, which is

Do you keep do you keep those at at your home for long periods of time or uh Yeah, a couple weeks. Oh, a couple weeks. Okay. Yeah.

Not forever. I apologize. Um, and just some of the things that we have uh coming up um uh in the spring and the rest of rest of the year, we're going to have several author visits over the course of the rest of the year. And our everyday children's programs like story time or crafts, so you're full steam ahead or more recent ones like Pokemon Club or or Lego Lab that we have throughout the month. Uh I I encourage you to to to come visit. We are doing some um we're working with local uh first responders to have uh not coffee with a cop, but cookies with a cop. We're doing a fire a firefighters appreciation day. Um and we have te time every Thursday, every third Thursday where you can come in and get one-on-one help. Um and we encourage you and everyone listening to come u enjoy everything that that we offer the community. Um, uh, my contact I'm happy to answer questions. My contact info is there. Uh, I always like to include a map, uh, this map and each dot on that represents someone in the city of Franklin that's used our library in the last year. Um, so no matter which word you represent, a lot of your neighbors and constituents are enjoying the library. And thank you.

Thank you. Questions? Thank you. I have a couple questions. Can you drop? Yes, sir. Yes. Um I was at I first of all I appreciate I love our library. I frequented I visit frequently and um I noticed today uh the opening time was at 9:00 but at 10:30 it hadn't opened. Uh so today because of some of the feedback we uh we uh received throughout our service area we were on a two-hour delay and that and that was my decision if that was any disappointment. Okay. I apologize. And I I wondered this because I've been attending there for quite some time as you may know.

And how many employees do you have in the Blackwater Regional Library System? Uh counting full-time and part-time uh in our entire library system, we cover five localities. We have about 43. 43. Of that 43, how many happen to be African-American? Um I could get that answer to you, but I don't want to count. noticed we don't have we don't have I I I I strive for us to have a more diverse staff and that's something that we think about in terms of our recruitment. Um okay because I never see it in Franklin but um I look forward to your your efforts to diversify a little bit more reflect the community. Absolutely. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you Mr. Mayor.

All right. Uh next we have Whit Harper from the Western Tidewater Free Clinic. Good evening, mayor, council members, and staff. Um, I'm Whit Harper. I appreciate your time this evening. Uh, I'm a committee member at the Western Tidewater Free Clinic. Um, and I'm here to express, uh, our gratitude for your past support and maybe your consideration for this this coming year. Um, since we opened our doors in 2007, uh, Franklin has been a vital partner in our miss partner in our mission. We are truly thankful for your commitment of 6,500 last year. In the fiscal year 2425, we served 154 city residents through 1,219 visits along with 78 dental patients who received care through 241 visits. Since our inception, we have helped more than 8,470 unduplicated patients through more than 241,000 visits and providing over 333 hund uh,000 free medications valued at over 66.9 million. Uh, if you would allow me to share the story of a patient we're going to call Sarah for patient privacy purposes. In 2005, she discovered a lump, an early sign that she couldn't ignore. Unsure of what to do next, she turned to the Western Tidewater Free Clinic. And uh she came without insurance, but thanks to our every woman's life program, she was able to secure Medicaid coverage. In July, she faced her diagnosis hit on with a mammogram and confirmed the worst, breast cancer. Despite the difficult no difficult news, she showed remarkable strength and determination. and by September she had undergone a double masectomy and reconstructive surgery. Her story is a powerful testament to how

the clinic can transform despair into strength and illness into hope. Uh looking back she she states plainly today that she feels the clinic saved her life. Um your financial support allows us to serve over 2,200 square miles. Um, and we respect respectfully request $52,548 for that for our upcoming year's budget. Um, with the idea that that would enable us to insist to assist approximately 32 Franklin patients through 262 visits. Um, appreciate your uh, investment in our mission and you're certainly any any and all of you are certainly welcome to come and and see the clinic and see what we have there on on Lake Me. All right.

Thank you. Thank you very much. U Natal um Roundtree next from health department. I'm sorry. Did anybody have any questions? Mr. Har. Okay. Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor Kaplan and city council. My name is Natalie Roundtree. I am the business manager for the Western Tidewater Health District of which Franklin Health Department is one of our four offices. We'd like to thank you for all of the support that you've provided in the past and this year we're requesting $110,000 from the city of Franklin. I would like to provide just a few statistics from the fiscal year 25 because the health department is so much more than what most people realize. Most people do not realize that we also are and cover environmental health and environmental health is the PE are the people who go and do the inspections of all your restaurants. There are approximately 54 establishments, three hotels and one makeup parlor that the Virginia Department of Health currently permits in the city of Franklin. And last year, Environmental Health conducted 125 routine inspections and 50 to 75 additional follow-up inspections on all of those establishments. Environmental Health also is responsible for rabies. Believe it or not, they work closely with the Franklin City Animal Control and in 2025 fiscal year, they investigated 40 animal bite reports and that then resulted in seven rabies postexposure treatment follow-ups. The health department also issues vital records and for the city of Franklin during fiscal year 25, 2,836 records were provided to the citizens. We also provide immunizations for adults and for children. And there were 890 immunizations in fiscal year 25. 350 visits for women's health, 278 visits related to STI,

878 visits related to tuberculosis alone. They also provide car seat classes of which there were 39 classes. This is in partnership with the nurse family partnership and the nurse family partnership they do go into the client's homes and there were 26 visits for people who participated in Franklin. There were 591 wick visits. And then we also have an epidemiologist who works in all four of our offices. And they have what are considered reportable condition lab investigations and that can include things such as whooping coughs, whoop, excuse me, whooping cough, lead or healthcare acquired drugresistant organisms. and there were 121 reportable cases of which 21 required investigations. We are also funded of course from the state and federal and through the Franklin Southampton charities and we have a diabetes program and a medication assistance program that is focused solely on Franklin and Southampton counties through the Franklin Southampton charities. And just so you are aware, there are currently 90 people involved in the diabetes program and 155 people being served through the medication assistance program. In fiscal year 26, a population health manager has been hired by Western Tidewater to cover all four locations. And one of the projects he started working August. And one of the programs that is now being implemented is all of the health departments now offer Narcan. And if there are any organizations that would like training, we do have a our population health manager can provide those trainings. And he is currently working to establish an abstinence centered educational program with

Franklin City Schools. So, we look forward to your continued support. And do you have any questions? Any questions? Yes. I'm not sure about the refills, but I do know that they actually have the Narcan canisters, but yes, if you go to the health department, they can provide that information and the cans to you. You're welcome.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Um, next, um, Grozinski with Legal Aid. Can you pass out some? Certainly.

Good evening, Mayor Kaplan and council. I'm Gail. I work um in outreach for Virginia Legal Aid Society and I'm really pleased to be here with you this evening. Um thank you so much for the invitation. Um, I just want to talk a little bit about what we do and our impact in Franklin and then our budget request. So, our mission is to resolve the serious civil legal problems of our clients. And in so doing, we hope to promote the economic and family stability of the area and to reduce poverty in all of the localities that we serve. And specifically, our attorneys and staff provide free civil legal assistance to people with limited incomes. And those cases that we handle include housing um where we um are helping people who are facing eviction or foreclosure. We do public benefits especially when folks are having issues with their social security um disability um SNAP, TANIF, unemployment benefits. anytime where there's an issue such as a denial or overpayment, we can help with those um problems. We do Medicaid and Medicare issues as well. In family law, we help with protective orders and um we help our protective order clients with other family issues. We also do uncontested divorces in the office and we advise on an array of other family issues as well. Um we do education rights for school children. So if they are not getting the special education services that they need, we can help with that. Um we also help with um appealing disciplinary decisions and then with advanced directives. We do wills, powers of attorney, advanced medical directives and um we help with consumer issues as well like garnishments, warrants and debt, um bankruptcy and so on. So we serve um in the SUFFK office we serve Franklin, Southampton County,

Suffach, Isle of White, Sussex, and Greensville, Emporia. Um we also have offices in Lynchburg, Danville, and Farmville. So we're serving the area in light green in the southern central part of the state. And our intake line covers all of those areas. Um the 866 number on the back of the brochure is the number people will call and that's the statewide legal aid intake number. People put in their zip codes and they get routed to the legal aid that covers where they live. Um and people can reach us every weekday but Wednesday from 9:00 to 3:30 and either people will get advice on that first call or they'll get referred to the local office depending on what their issue is and our attorney's capacity at that time. eligibility is based on the federal poverty guidelines. So we're able to serve people really households with incomes up to 200% of the federal poverty guidelines. Um and that includes the total income in the home as well as the number of people in the home. And um for our domestic violence clients, we're able to serve people with slightly higher incomes. And um senior services typically gives us a grant each fall that allows us to serve seniors with slightly higher incomes as well. We also do a lot of community engagement. Our attorneys are available to give presentations to our partner organizations on any of those areas of law that we cover. Um we work a lot with the um Franklin Southampton Wellness Coalition um in terms of um updating the resource list that we I sent out there. Um and we do legal first aid training for all of our partner organizations. and that's to give our partners the legal capacity, the information, resources that they need when they're helping one of their clients or community members with a legal problem.

So, for our impact in Franklin this past um fiscal year, we closed a total of 101 cases. Um four of those cases were in consumer law, 66 were in housing. And I do want to mention that um we have staff at the eviction dockets in Franklin which is the first and third Fridays of each month. So if people don't get through to us through law line before then they can get information and advice on the spot. Um in uh let me see public benefits we closed eight cases and in family law and education rights we closed 23 cases. So with an average cost of $1,579 per case, our estimated cost of services for Franklin was a little bit over $159,000. And so we ask each of those 26 localities that I mentioned, that whole area in South Central Virginia, um to provide a total of 10% of our annual budget. And the amount for each locality is based on that um locality's poverty population. So, for the city of Franklin, um our request for this year is $5,720. And again, we thank you for your past support. Um are there any questions at this time?

Uh yes. Uh I have one. The uh new laws for uh eviction, I don't think, uh they'll probably be in effect uh when it pass um July 1st. Correct. Will citizens be able to come uh to your office and get that material? And that's a good question. How can they get it?

Right. Excellent question. And one of the main ways that we distribute that legal information is through our website. So our website has information on all of the areas of law that we cover and it is updated every year. Like you mentioned, July 1st is when those laws are going to go into effect. So, all of our housing um flyers are going to be updated with that new information and again that's something that we want to get out to the community and to our partners because that impacts everybody in the community. Yes. Thank you. Any other questions? Yes. Um so I guess you could say the short answer to his question is they'll have to go to the website to get that information that is

or can they call down and get call down there and get it? Um, so one of the actually also one of the reasons I gave you my card is because I'm one of the purveyors of that information. I don't I'm not legally trained. I don't give advice, but I share information um to the community. So, we're at the Franklin Food Bank once a month just talking to participants there. We're at the Wellness Coalition giving presentations or sharing information. So, yes, to some extent that information is widely available on our website. Um, and it's also going to be available through our legal first aid program because aside from that five-hour training, we give by monthly updates to all of our participants. Um, this month it's going to be on child support when those new laws come into effect. We're going to be we're going to be talking about all of the laws, all the new updates that are going to affect our clients. So again, um, calling down to the local office. If you ask for me or, um, if you ask for the updates, I'm sure we'll be able to find a way to to get that out to you. But, and that's a good question as far as us thinking about how to get that information more widely available to everybody.

And, um, lastly, I don't know if you can answer this, but are you familiar with some of the eviction situations here in Franklin? Um, generally I'm one of the staff that goes with our attorneys when there's a large docket. So I would say generally um I'm concerned. But first I'd like to say I really appreciate what your organization does for the community. Thank you.

Because people who are below the poverty level, they still have they should be able to have legal representation because when you don't know your rights, nobody's going to give them to you. they'll take advantage of you and in the system. So, I appreciate the services that you provide. Um, but the uh the evictions that I'm concerned with, I've been hearing some really really crazy things about one of the apartment complexes in our city being Doorchester. People saying that they are behind $20,000 in rent and things of that nature. really big fees. Have you heard of anything like that going on?

You know, we do hear of things like that going on. Um, and generally that is where people wherever they live throughout our service areas should call Law Line and get that advice about their particular situation. Um, and right, we, you know, we're all alarmed when we hear those things for sure. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much, Dr. McCrae.

Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor, Madame Vice Mayor, council members, and staff. Um, thank you for allowing me a moment to just speak with you about uh the college and but first to uh extend my appreciation the college's appreciation for your consistent support of the college not just with funding but your consistent support of the college overall. Um we really enjoy the relationship that we have with the community. Uh more specifically uh I want to extend the appreciation from the faculty and staff and students for your continuous support and funding. Um for the last four or five years, you have consistently uh or or more um four or five years since I've been there as president consistently funded us at about $13,000 a year. Uh and I want to take a moment to let you know how and who that impacts. Um as you know, colleges are consistently and increasingly being asked to do more with less. You know, for example, uh PY Camp Community College operates, we're one, you know, we only operate off of about a $10 million annual state budget. So everything else that we do has to be fundraising or grants and the like. 80% of that budget is salaries um and benefits. So the other 20% is somewhat operational. So when we think about our students and how we support our students, the local dollars go a long way. I will give you a couple of examples. Um, when we look at students who drop out of of college because they're having um life problems, it's not even always academic. Students come

to us and we use something called the emergency funds or stop the drop funds. And you would be amazed that we save students, students stay in college and graduate at over $250. um they sometimes just need an extra $200 or $250 to stay in college. Local funds allow us to do that. In addition, students come to us because they can't study in the dark and their power has been turned off. We have emergency funding from our local dollars that allows us to keep those students. Now, it's a one time a year thing. You can come to the well once. Um and it's not guaranteed. You have to make the case. there's a committee who reviews your request and then if at all possible we fund be we fund those students just paying their power bill. Um so the local funds that we get from our localities go a long way in keeping those students in school. Another thing that we're doing is we are we've started something new this year with local dollars which is our student support center. Um we have re um uh committed space on the Franklin campus and we created a student support center. What we're doing in that student support center is we're staffing that center with math tutors, English tutors, people to help you write a paper uh to do science homework. And we're paying those tutors out of local dollars. We schedule and it's free to the students. So we schedule, we put that schedule out and say we're doing math tutoring on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, for example, from 4 to 6. Any student can show up. The same thing with all the other disciplines. Local dollars has allowed us to be able to do that. Those are the kinds of things that we're doing to keep students in school, you know, across the nation. I know you all have heard the look to the left and look to the right and only one of you are going to be here when you're a freshman in college. Well,

that's true. But what we're trying to do is, and by the way, that's 37% of students who graduate on time. We want to increase that percentage. And the way we do that is by providing wraparound supports to our students. And the only way we can do that is through local dollars like the dollars that Franklin provides, the city of Franklin provides for our students at Camp Community College. In addition to that, we are um funding things like activities for students that keeps them engaged. We do student town halls every year. One of the things that the students say to us and we ask them why would you recommend Camp Community College to your friends? Why? Why not? One of the things that the student says is, "Well, there's not much to do." So, we've engaged with the engage those students in activities like athletic programs and the like and with our sister uh institutions like the universities that are local and we've gotten a a program where they can actually participate in those university activities. Uh so in advance I'm requesting that you all fund us again at the same amount. Um and in advance I thank you for your consideration. Happy to answer any questions.

Questions for Dr. McCra. I just want to comment on I'm sorry uh just what how lucky Franklin is small as we are to to for the college to have been placed here had the camp family not provided the land and and large amount of the funding to to build the building I know was a huge huge um uh reason that you're here and not in in our bigger u locality to the East, but um we're very proud of your sports teams and um and and what you bring to our city. Well, thank you, Mayor. Thanks.

I was just thank you as well. I see students every day that you

Yes. Thank you.

Yes. Uh I would like to thank you, Dr. McCrae, for the um the workforce part. um the programs you have developed, the nursing program as well as the forklift and in um in in the city of Franklin and also in the city of Suffuk. um the new the new campus uh basically with that part where individuals can grow can grow and go uh basically uh it's on Carolina Road and I think it's it's a good thing for this area where individuals can get job training and and make money and and you have a relationship with the shipyard basically where after those individuals are trained for welding and so forth. Uh they're ready, workforce ready uh to go to work.

Absolutely. And and that's a good thing. I want to thank you for having that mindset uh to bring that uh in this area because it's it's well needed. Thank you.

Uh I would like to echo the thank you to you Mr. Mr. McCrae and the college staff. I appreciate all the support that you give our students and the members of our community as well as um I want to thank you for your support that you've given to our community Junth event that we have every year. Um we couldn't make it without people like yourself helping us along the way and I'm just grateful for your leadership here at our community college and hope you will continue. Thank you Mr. McMore. Not not to embarrass you, but but so much is it starts with the leadership. I know it's a team. I know you're going to say it's a team, but

that's right. The leadership of the college is really really shines. Well, thank you for that. And yes, yes, Mr. Mayor, it is the team. I I feel fortunate to be able to work with such a committed group of professionals. Oh, excuse me. Could I say one one more quick thing? Sure. Certainly. Uh that is uh I hope in the near future I know with the basketball team and when we develop um the armory uh in the gym hopefully that will be sufficient where uh uh the college can play some of the college games uh in the city of Franklin. I would love to see that. Absolutely. We would as well. We are looking forward to the opportunity to have the basketball team compete here in Franklin.

Thank you. Okay. All right. Thank you all. All right. And last, Lorraine Green Whitehead of Early Childhood Western Top Water. And um Mary Burg

my assistant and my handler just passing out our impact report and she's going to share the um um request for with me. Uh, good evening, honorable mayor, vice mayor, and members of the city council and city manager, which I just met tonight. Haven't met you yet. Uh, I'm Lorraine Green Whitehead, executive director of Early Childhood Western Tidewater. Our mission is to increase the availability and quality of early child care in our communities. Early child care not only affects school career readiness and success, but also the area workforce. Child care for workers today and skilled workers for the future. One of the main skills that we are encouraging early child care providers to teach our children today is self-regulation, conflict resolution and kindness. We we what we do for them now greatly impacts their tomorrows. This is the critical developmental stage for brain development. We are w we are wiring the hard drive upon which all future learning will be built.

We work closely with Ready Region Southeastern for support that provides workshops and materials for 12 early child care centers in Franklin um approximately 501 children on researchbased practices and the new curriculum stream and three as well as provide resources and materials to conduct the lessons. The cumulative goal of the state, region, and localities is that all of our children will be ready for kindergarten and able to begin their formal education on a leveled playing field. We also support parent cafes, which take place at the MLK center um to talk more with parents and get inerson needs assessments. Early child care providers and staff both public and private are required to attend at least 16 hours of training each year. Smart Beginnings provides this training. It helps to keep the cost of daycare down. And in addition, we assist the centers in achieving and maintaining lensure and quality developmentally appropriate programs as well as emphasizing what used to be the soft skills, but now the the businesses are considering what we were talking about earlier, conflict resolution, the ability to get along with co-workers as actually essential skills. Today

we host and facilitate the Western Tidewater Early Childhood Collaboration. This builds a system of services and resources making uh them more available to meet the needs of families. Um collaborative members include the school systems, health department, social services, the children's center, home visiting programs, the list goes on. Honestly, pretty much everyone in this room um is a member of our collaboration. Through grants with local foundations and corporations, we have been able to, this is one of my favorite things, provide cribs for families of newborns who can't afford cribs. This promotes safe sleep. 57% of births to single mothers have been in this community. uh work with the Department of Social Services and Tidewater Community Center for um excuse me, the children's center for home visiting. Uh we work with city schools to conduct child fine recruitment for prek programs to get as many four-year-olds as possible into the prek programs here in Franklin. That's about 8 to10,000 per child when we get them into the VPI program here. Uh we partner with aid now. We are providing a parent community event in March which um Mayor Kaplan attended last year with us. Um and this year it's going to be refresh. We're refreshing school supplies and we're going to have health resources and much much more at SP Morton. Uh we also assisted with getting the ODU mobile health unit in Franklin. This provides uh physicals for prek kids and for the kindergarten kids for enrollment as well as student athletes. Uh we would like to ask your support for our program as we work together, parents, early child care providers,

schools, and the community to raise our children out of poverty and into college and career readiness. And may the force be with you. Dr. Jos was Dr. Jos was at that same same event that I was at. So yes,

and I would like to thank you um for the programs that you do with childhood development. It's very important u for our for our children as well as the parents and basically um it's something that is needed for our community because basically without that and you have shared some devastating stories with me and how y'all have rebound and came in and saved the day and um I I really thank you for that

and I and I just want to say that Miss Lorraine is our snow queen. you would have saw her in the parade, but the parade was cancelled because of weather. But but the next Christmas parade, look for the snow queen. Thank you. Uh I do want to say that um people like you said often see me doing things in the community and thank me. And I actually will have to say that it is actually acts of selfishness because being kind to others and helping our community and raising our children out of poverty, it's my soul food.

Um, I just want to say that, you know, some things only come with time. And when I came on this council some almost 15 years ago, uh Jim Council was here and he was a big advocate of early childhood development. Well, being young to the council and politics, my concern was my adult constituents because they were the ones who voted and I wasn't in tune yet because I had already raised my children. I wasn't in tune to how important that early childhood development was. But as the time went on, I was able to embrace the gravity of how very important it is to get to those children at the earliest possible age. They are indeed our future. and the actions that you show in the community and the love and and and just kindness that you extend to everyone that I see, including myself. I am so grateful and I thank you again for all that your organization does to help our children become productive citizens in our society. Thank you. And I think you I think you you both know my my close how how um early childhood Western Tidewater uh is to my heart. My wife was one of the one of the first people um that worked with the with the organization and drove all the way to Suriri and Sussex and and Isa White and all over the place uh inspecting um daycare centers and and uh and she just she loved that loved that work. So, it's very dear dear to my heart. Thank you very much. Thank you for all you do. Any

other questions? Any other comments? All right. Thank you very much. All right. That ends the presentations. Um could I have a motion to um approve the minutes from our January 12th um meeting that's in your binder? So, move. Have a motion. Do have a second. Second. Thank you. We have a motion to second. Any discussion? All right. Um hearing none, I'll call for the vote. Dr. Johnson to start. I I I we called up. Okay. Uh abstain. I wasn't here for the Okay.

I

and I thank you. Motion carries. Um move on to the consent agenda. Uh we only have one item on the consent agenda and that is the resolution. Um, okay. We've already approved the agenda, so let's do it this way. Um, can I have Miss Banks, would you please read the I'm I'm sorry I didn't give you advanced note. Oh, yes. Um, I'm sorry. From um from social services, your team, would you come up for Hello.

Good evening. February program specialist appreciation month. Whereas the city of Franklin social services provide potential benefits to the most vulnerable. I'm sorry. I think that's supposed to be valuable citizens of the community through programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistant Program, also known as SNAP, temporary assistance for needy families, medical assistance, child care assistance, general relief, auxiliary grant, foster care, IV, refugee cash assistance, employment service programs, energy assistance, and percentage of income payment program. And whereas Franklin benefit program specialists strive to adhere to VDSS core values of commitment to excellence, performing high quality work with integrity, civility, and accountability, embracing differences, being culturally sensitive, valuing diverse backgrounds, and ensuring fairness and inclusion. and people first by upholding our commitment to the Commonwealth, working each day to create better outcomes for the individual families and communities we serve. And whereas benefit program staff in Franklin have been instrumental in meeting community needs, processing applications, and managing cases to ensure qualified individuals and families receive the social services they need in a timely and compassionate manner. And whereas significant financial support and services have been extended to Franklin's valuable population through these benefit programs providing critical assistance for nutrition, housing, child care, medical needs, energy costs, and pathways to employment and self-sufficiency.

And whereas Franklin benefit program specialists exemplify the core values of ethical public service by respecting human dignity, demonstrating personal integrity, promoting professional excellence, and ensuring the accurate application of current policies and guidance. And whereas these dedicated public servants work diligently each day to serve our community's most valuable residents with compassion, professionalism, and dedication, often under challenging circumstances and with limited resources. Now therefore, be it resolved by the city council of Franklin, Virginia, one, that the city of Franklin recognizes and commends all benefit program specialists serving the city of Franklin for their dedicated service to our community's most valuable citizens. Two, the city council hereby proclaims Feb fe February 2026 as benefit program specialist appreciation month in the city of Franklin, encouraging all citizens to acknowledge and celebrate their invaluable contributions to public service.

Thank you. All right. Okay. Yes, I will. Uh do I have a motion to to accept this resolution? So move. Second. A motion and a second. Any discussion? hearing none. Thank you for not having any. Um um signify by saying I I I and I want to give him a standing ovation. I I

And I think that was unanimous. Did we get the vote open? I think it's cold. Pass that on. You might want to wipe that down before you pass it around. We thank you so much for everything you all do. I don't think anybody I don't think most citizens realize how much social services does uh how much activity we have in the city and you all know better than I do. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Thank you for that recognition. We really appreciate it. We have a benefit um programs unit of 11. Um so a few of them did come tonight. I would like to take a moment and just recognize them for the work that they do. We have Timmy Perry. She is one of our benefit program supervisors. Um she supervises our families and children side of the benefit programs. And we have Kesha Malone. she um solely does um our child care program. So she assists all of the families um with children in finding and securing child care within our city. And we have Janelle Rener who I think is been with us less than a month. Um brand new today makes a month. So congratulations to her. and um she has jumped into training very enthusiastically and we're looking forward to getting her up to speed so she can start serving our citizens as well.

Thank you so much for all you do. Miss Rex wrote, um as chairman of the board of directors of social services, you make my job last like two hours a month. So, thank you. Thank you. All right. On to the regular agenda. The First budget amendment is 20 20269. Uh do you want to go over that? This budget amendment is to accept and appropriate um both the revenues and expenditures related to a uh Virginia Department of Education uh security grant going to the school system. Do

I have a motion for this? So move second. Second. Have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Is this going earmarked for the security department? Yes, sir. That would be the restriction on the grant. Okay. All right. Any further discussion? All right. I'll take a vote. Dr. Johnson, sorry. I I I I

And I All right. The second one is U budget amendment 20 202610 also for the Franklin City Public Schools. Um, as it's stated in here, 420 almost $421,000 for uh title one and title two and other awards through grants. I have a motion to accept this one. So, move second. I have a motion. I'm sorry. Motion and a second. Any discussion?

Uh, Mr. Saunders, what does this supposedly cover? Um if you go to the section in your agenda and go to the the second page of this item um you'll notice that the there there's a series of grant awards title one title two title all the way through title five and several others following the original budgeted amount that um the school system had in their adopted budget was 1,352,300. um these adjustments have come in and the total that the school system will receive is actually 1.7 million uh and change and so we're just appropriating the increase over what was budgeted.

No sir, this is new for this current fiscal year. You might be referring to items related to the FY25.

Any further discussion? All right, start the vote. I nay I I I I and I motion carries. Uh then we come on to um 2026-11 um employment agreement for uh new city manager. And um I take a motion for this, please. I make a motion that we accept the uh that we sign the contract and uh we've agreed to terms for the selection and appointment of our new city manager. Do I have a second for that motion? Second.

Okay, a motion and a second. Um any discussion? I don't know. I usually start on the end. Dr. Johnson, anything to say? We're in discussion of the motion. Okay. Uh I would just like to say uh that um uh the candidate has um 35 years of experience um notable with budgets who worked for large cities before basically uh as well as small and I think would be an asset uh for the city of Franklin. Mr. kitchen.

Uh, as we discussed this morning, David, we're on a first-name basis now. Um, I've been disappointed in the handling of this process since January the 10th. Spent the past three weeks trying to delete my name from a possible lawsuit and EOC complaint. I intentionally stayed away from last Monday and Tuesday's interviews. However, I received a phone call Friday night from another candidate who was questioning a council person's comment in open session in reference to giving him notice he was not chosen. The notice that he wasn't chosen, he felt like the decision had been made prematurely. I wasn't in a position to change his mind since I wasn't at the meetings. Although I disagree with the process, David, if you get the die tonight, I will support you 100% that you can take to the bank. Welcome to Frank.

Anybody? Well, I'd just like to say once again, I'm going to call on that old word of experience. And to me, there is no substitute for experience. We interviewed um at least five candidates and by far Mr. Freeman had the most experience. He has led a career that has been stellar and he has decided to come to Franklin almost as a sacrifice. He is currently employed with the city of Newport News and he wanted to after 35 years in the business being second in command in several places which if you think about it when you go back 35 years our country wasn't as accepting of African-Americans in high positions. So being in a sec a secondary position after this all this time he wanted to put in five to six years before he retired as a city manager where he's been carrying the load for other city managers. I found that to be very very commendable that he wants to bring his experience and knowledge that surpasses any city manager that we have ever had in the city of Franklin. I'm very honored to have him come and serve as our city manager and I look for great exceptional things from him to have our city grow the way it is capable of growing. I've always seen this city as a diamond in the rough, but it needed

leadership. Our past leadership was lacking in experience. Mr. Freeman brings us that experience and I'm very honored to have him join the city of Franklin to try to take us into the future. Thank you. Thank you,

Mr. Freeman. You and I have had a couple nice conversations so far already just over the weekend. I enjoyed that and look forward to many more. Um, I will concur with Councilman Kitchen though that u we did some things that probably shouldn't have been done the way they were done and u moving forward I look forward to not repeating that and um congratulations and good luck and we welcome you um without further I Oh call for the vote. Call for the vote. Okay. I I I

I at I would you come forward please. I'm also not going to pass any more terms than I have to. I know you already signed the contract, but this is the one I've signed. So, if you want to sign this one as well. Yes, sir. And um I guess we can do that afterwards. But if you want to say a few words and welcome to Franklin. Thank you.

We need to take this pen off, get you a new one. I'm actually under the weather myself there, Mr. Mayor. So, thank you for the fist pump. So, um certainly an honor and a pleasure uh to be here this evening and I certainly appreciate the enthusiasm and the trust that council has placed in me and I pledge to work with you very very hard to move forward the city's priorities, the council's priorities. So, thank you so much. I appreciate that. Thank you very much. Thank you. If y'all if you'll hang around my folks might want to chat with you a little bit. Yes, sir. We'll do.

All right. Right. Thank you. Appreciate it. All right. Um, city manager report. Saving it all for Mr. Freeman. Save it all for Mr. All right. Um, uh, board's commissions. Anybody Dr. Johnson, anything boards commissions tonight? No. Okay. Thank you. Anything from any place else? Okay. Go ahead. Being the chairman of the social services, I will bring paperwork next times in the interest of time. Okay. Thank you. Anybody else? All right. And then council comments right around the horn again.

Miss SP. Oh, I'm sorry. citizens, boards, commissions. We do we we're still we're still floating waiting for just again say if anybody has some names to submit um we glad to bring them forward at the next meeting but have yet to receive any names. All right. Anything for counc comments? Dr. Johnson.

Council comments. I would just like to say for council comments, we must learn to work together for the benefit of our citizens and the community. And let us remember, it's not about us. It's about the citizens and community that we were elected for to serve. And that's the main focus. Thank you. Thank you. Let's get you anything. Are are you lit up? Is your Is your mic on?

I'm getting there, mayor. Hold on. Um, shows my wife, my daughter, my mother-in-law who since died, two sisters-in-law in the chapter of the United Daughters and Confederacy. Um, we all got one. Based in your atrocious spelling skills, I know who you are. Um, thank you. My wife who went to Mitchville High School and has more black friends than white friends. My daughter who married a man of color, my mother-in-law who died 20 years ago. Um, you tried to paint my family as a racist, but you painted yourself as an idiot. So, um, you can come to me anytime you want to. You come near my family, you're going to see the side of me you don't like. That's one thing. The next thing is um we you say every meeting, turn off your cell phones. We got an audience full of people that stare at their cell phones the whole time. Handle that whatever way you want to. Um I don't like kicking the can down the road, but Blackwater Park has been talked about for almost a year now. So, can we get that to that before Mr. Saunders leaves?

I think I can. I think we have a plan for that. All right. That's my warning.

Max. Well, I'm using my cell phone tonight to help me um with my council comments. Um there is a family wellness expo that will be on March 21st, 2026 from 10:00 a.m. to 400 pm at the workforce development center. It is hosted by the SU Suffach, Virginia chapter of the links incorporated. Um I spoke with one of their members today. They are requesting members of council to come and support. There's also a free dental screening that will be held for youth. So, they're trying to um definitely invite as many youth in our community out um to come for that free dental screening and just a day of information. So, just wanted to put that out there. Thank you.

Thanks.

My council comments. I would just like to thank everyone for your participation last week in Ward Five's uh neighborhood watch meeting. It was very informative and thank you, Mayor Kaplan, for that was my pleasure for being the presenter. It was a fun evening. Well, um I would like to say that too many times we've heard about council people wanting to challenge people and I hope that we will be able to come to a consensus that might doesn't always mean right. And also, I would like to commend the vice mayor for her support and cooperation that I've been receiving as um I've been trying to work with her and the rest of my colleagues to um secure our opportunity to go ahead on and get us a permanent city manager. I want to um thank Mr. Saunders for the things that he has done, but um I agree with him. It's time to start turning the reigns over as soon as uh new city manager as soon as possible. And finally, I would like to say uh I'd like to invite everyone to in Ward 3 to attend the Ward 3 meeting this tomorrow night at the Franklin Library from 5 to 6:30. Our guest will be the city manager, the interim city manager, as well as the community development director, Mr. Potter along with Miss Rexro from the social services the point and they will be discussing utility bills, street lighting, street conditions, crime, whatever the citizens want to discuss. We're there to listen to them in an informal environment and setting. But

particularly, I brought um Mr. Carter back because at our last uh ward meeting, he expressed a lot of um insight into zoning in regards to the upkeep of our communities with um uh disabled vehicles and trash in the yards and different things and letting people know that there are um violations when you do these things. So, we want to let the people know what not to do so they can avoid those violations. And Miss Rexro will be a welcomed um guest this month because she can let citizens know about programs that social services offers that they're unaware of that they can take advantage of to help their families and themselves. I look forward to bringing in people with mental health from the mental health department from the free clinic and each month as we host the W three community meetings. We will be featuring different guests and hopefully next month we will have our new city manager and the date of the meeting for next month is going to be also on the 24th. So, tomorrow at the library and then the next meeting will be March 24th at the Ruth Campbell Camp camp library. Thank you very much.

Have no comments this evening. I want to take one of my comments from um Miss Banks is after the our school board contentious school board um um selection last time and her stepping forward at the end of the meeting and and congratulating the winner and and saying that she was willing to work with them. Uh I I I I thank council for um while we did not necessarily um show the best side of ourselves earlier in the process, we have I think we've come together to find a very very very strong city manager and and we've come to consensus and we all voted together tonight and and we support um support Mr. Mr. Mr. Freeman and we're glad to have him. Very glad to have him. Um thank you for the comment Mr. kitchen about the telephone. That telephone is one of the things that that annoys me as people are are using their phones throughout the uh throughout the meetings. Um with that with that,

Mr. Mayor, before you close, may I just add uh I had occasion tonight to check my phone as well and it was because people were telling me that they could not hear the broadcast on the uh cable station. Okay. So, I checked my phone and also they said that you can't see the uh video was not showing the speakers. It just kept the camera on the council. Yeah, we we we we know there's a problem with our system. It's our system has gotten old and u the uh the spectrum system is far advanced of ours and they're not they're not talking to each other well anymore. So, yeah,

Mr. I do want to uh comment on one thing that I forgot about. I'd love for us to follow up on uh some of the comments that I brought up at the last meeting. I'd still like a close to the 2024 budget from the school to see what was there, what the city is expecting our taxpayers to pay to make up the difference. And I look forward to the 2025 budget coming out as well. Yes, sir. All right. U have a motion. Our next meeting is March the 9th. Same channel right here. And uh I'll take a motion to adjurnn.

So moved. Second. Yeah. Being no discussion, I'll Yeah. discussion. I just want to invite Mr. Freeman to take a picture with the council members. Sure. All right. To vote on on adjournment. I I I I I And I've never had anybody that didn't want to make a motion