Town Council - Regular Meeting

Welcome. Today is Thursday, May 7th, 2026. It's 4 PM and I would like to open the town council meeting of Bowling Green. Would everyone please join me in the pledge of allegiance? 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.

We'll now take a roll call. Councilwoman Davis, here. Councilman Voit here. Councilman Webb here. Dr. Chenalt will be coming in. We'll deal with that in a few minutes. Vice Mayor Coyle here. Councilman Stor here. Councilman Hagerman not present at moment. We have a quorum. Um, we need a motion. Do you have the town attorney on the phone already?

Oh, I hear you. Hello, Jeff. Thank you. Oh, is that John? Let me try this. I I move to allow Mr. to join the meeting per the uh requirements of our electronically second per our electronic policy

and I have a second from Councilman um Stor. Is is there any discussion? Welcome. You're fine. We have a motion on the table to accept our um Councilman Chenalt by electronic. So, uh, it we're at discussion. Any discussion? All in favor, raise your right hand. Motion passes. Welcome, John. So, I have a full council tonight. First item on our um agenda, we have our consent agenda, items 1 through 4. Item number four, cancellation of the town council meeting should read July 2nd, not July 3rd. There was a clerical error there. Um, do any of these items need to be pulled out for council? Do I have a motion to accept these items?

I make a motion we accept the consent agenda. I have a motion to accept items 1 through 4. Second. Second from Councilwoman Davis. Is there any discussion? Um, Mr. Smith, would you take a roll call, please? Council member Haven. All right. Yes. Vice Mayor. Hi. Yes. Council member Schill. Council member. Yes. Council member Davis.

Yes. Motion passes unanimously. We will next move on to public comment. Anyone wishing to speak, please come to the podium. State your name, your address. You have three minutes to speak. You will direct your um your discussion to me. And per our rules, our council cannot respond to any of your questions or comments. So at this time I would like to open public comment. Does anyone wish to come forward? Welcome Mr. Bagot.

Good afternoon. My name is Mike. property owner 1808 Boulevard. I'm here today to request a town council to consider adjustment to special district tax that was paid in 2025 December which was over tax for mistake. After reviewing the information and document provided by the town manager and town staff, it appears that property owner whose assessment increase ended up paying more than their caps while property whose value stayed at the same or decrease paid less. I appreciate the town manager and staff for their excellent work in providing the necessary document and information so that matter can be properly understood and reviewed by me. And in order to correct this issue fairly, I respectfully ask you that town council consider appro approving either revised special district tax for 2025 or an adjustment or correction for the building already issued. I would also like to request that in future taxpayer be informed in advance of any major changes affecting special district tax so property owner clearly understand how the changes are calculated as you all know I don't have any personal issue with any town council member or any staff this is

I would like to request that in future tax inform this so we can prepare better. My goal simply to help improve this tax system special district and ensure fairness and transparency for future tax payment especially while this loan is being refinanced. Thank you all for your leadership service and consideration. Also, if you need any help, I'm available if you guys want to create any special committee for it. I'm for it and also there is some town council member they have said that it will be taken care and some of town council member they are you know in special district tax so I would like to know how would they take care in future that's all thank you

thank you Mr. begotten. Would anyone else like to come forward at this time? Once, twice, and I'll close public comment. At this time, I would like to open it up to member comments. Miss Davis, I would just like to thank Ender and staff for doing a great job on preparing the budget. Thank you, Councilman White.

Okay. Uh just one, you know, real news thing. Um next week on the 16th is the clean sweep. I don't know how many uh we have registered at the moment, but it should be pretty fun. 8 to 1. Okay. John, do you have anything? Uh-huh. Okay. And Mr. Hagen? No.

Um, I have a couple of things. We had Mindful Miles Saturday. We had over 220 people in town. More than half of them were not Caroline County residents. It was a tremendously successful event. I had a blast. Um, India ran, Jeff ran. It was um we we had a great group and uh I look forward to doing that again in the future. Also, Dr. Chip Campbell, your uncle-in-law, has practiced in this community. He's a dentist. He's right across the street over here. He has been in this community for decades and he is retiring. So, I would like to as the mayor thank Jipa Campbell for his wonderful service to the town of Bowling Green and we wish him great great retirement uh leisure time. And then the last thing on here, um, India Adams Jacobs, our town manager, is being honored with the the public service champions award. This is um put out by the 250 local gov 250 initiative and also by the National Academy of Public Administration. This this is an honor. This 250 people are receiving this award. That averages out to five per state. There are thousands and thousands of jurisdictions all over this country. And we are so proud that you are receiving this award. So thank you. And with that we will move on to the next item. Um yes, we have a resolution.

So the public um let's see the service recognition week resolution. Whereas the week of May 3rd through May 9th, 2026 has been designated as public service recognition week to honor employees of federal, state, and local governments and members of the uniform services who are entrusted with missions fundamental to the United States and deliver services upon which residents depend. This is public service recognition week provides an opportunity to recognize and promote the important contributions of public servants and to honor those who serve their country, Commonwealth, and local communities at all levels of government. And as public servants take a solemn oath to support and uphold the Constitution of the United States and faithfully discharge the duties of their office, reflecting a commitment to the people they serve. Whereas public servants of the town of Bowling Green and across the nation work diligently each day to provide essential services that protect public health and safety, maintain infrastructure, support economic development, and enhance the quality of life for residents. Whereas public servants contribute significantly to the strength and stability of local economies by managing public resources, maintaining critical systems and ensuring the effective delivery of services that community alli rely upon. Whereas public service is a noble calling that requires dedication, professionalism, and a commitment to serve others, often under challenging circumstances. And those who serve

demonstrate perseverance and a continual commitment to their communities. Where's Public Service Recognition Week serves as an opportunity for the town of Bing Green to express its appreciation for the hard work, integrity, and dedication of its employees and all public servants who serve the community. Now therefore, be it resolved by the town council in the town of Bowling, Green, Virginia, that the town council hereby recognizes May 3rd through May 9th, 2026 as public service recognition week in the town of Bowling Green. The town commends the dedication, professionalism, and commitment of all public servants who provide essential services to the residents of Bowling Green and beyond. The town acknowledges the vital role public servants play in strengthening the community, protecting public safety, and sustaining effective and responsive local government. The town council encourages all residents of Bowling Green to observe public service recognition week with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and expressions of appreciation that honor the service and contributions of the public servants. This was adopted this 7th day of May, 2026. We will now move on to item number five. Bing police department. Chief Cecil. What?

Adopt it. Does it need to be adopted or was that I don't know. I don't have the attorney here to prompt me on. Okay, thank you. Please. Good afternoon. Hold on one minute. Mr. They need to adopt it. It wasn't in the consent. It wasn't.

Let's take one break real quick. Chief Cecil may have a motion from this council to adopt this resolution. So move. Thank you. And we have a second. Is there any discussion? All in favor? Is your argument? Motion passes. We have adopted the resolution. Thank you. Please see salt. Could you please your police report?

Does anybody have questions about it?

No. Does this look like we're hitting one of the One of them was Okay. And did we ever find anything out about that? Who may have done it or Okay, we've gotten some video footage of very good through Michael. Should be. Hello. Is it green or red or green? Turn. Does that help? No, it's on a different Hello. Just speak up. I'll pick up. Yeah, you got it. You're loud. Go ahead. Yes, one of them was just video quality wasn't as good.

Okay. Are there any questions for Chief at this time? No. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. No problem. Thank you for your public service. Next item on here is the utilities report from Embodden. All of you have that in your packet. Well, Shane is already attending to another um emergency somewhere else that he he's able to be here this afternoon as well as Mr. Fortune. So, um if you have any questions, I can follow up with both 687.

Okay. So, if there are any questions, you can direct them to the town manager and she will get the answers to your questions. I do have one question. Go for it. You know, India, we talked about Dominion Power and the poles specifically on Milford Street. You know, they've replaced a number of poles. So, now we have the double poles. I don't know if this is the time to go into it, but I mean know how do we ensure that they remove the secondary poll like we discussed before?

Yeah, we've um be compiling that list and sent that to them. Um there has been a change in their government affairs rep. Um Mr. Miller was just here last month, but now there's someone else. So, I'll be having a conversation with the new representative um about that promise and I'll continue to follow up on that. So, we'll be getting our emails from somebody else from now on. Yes, ma'am. Okay. Her name is Gates, I believe, but obviously introduction.

Okay. Thank you. Any other questions about um our public works or utilities? Okay, we'll move on. Next is the finance director's report. Um, you all have that in front of you. And were there any questions from this council to be directed in that manner? any questions from council? If not, I'm going to move on. Next is item number nine. We're going to move on to the town manager report. And at this time, I will turn this over to Miss India Adams Jacobs.

Yeah. Thank you, Mayor. Um, I'd like to just thank uh Chief Cecil and Officer I for helping with the final race and ensuring that we had our public safety as well as Caroline County Sheriff's Office and Sheriff Moer for providing safety for the race Paul's weekend. Um, everything went great and they're already looking forward to next year. Um, also like to thank all of our staff for public safety or public service recogn recognition week um for this week of May. Um, in the close you'll see in my report. I'll just focus on two items. Um, one is the PE that we are required to submit to DDH ahead of our manifest working with the team as well as the tech. Uh, that was uh provided to BDH on April 30th. Um, and then we did receive a free demo for a manhole uh by ART at courthouse and um last week which will provide an additional potentially 10 to 15 years um on that manhole uh for preventive maintenance. Um there's a lot more in the report, but in the interest of time, um I'll be brief. Um and just thank the team for all of their hard work. Um and I'd also like to introduce Mr. Hickman if he would come up briefly. He's serving as our inter finance director uh due to a vacancy. Um and I'll let him give a brief background on on himself and then we'll jump into it.

Welcome, Mr. Hickman.

Okay. Good afternoon, council members. Uh, I did have an opportunity to speak with several of you on Tuesday, but again, my name is Perry Hickman and I've actually uh I recently came on board with the town as an interim finance director. Uh prior to joining the town, I actually worked with USDA rural development uh as a state director wherein I actually assisted several well worked throughout the entire state with their uh housing issues, working with uh water and waste projects, also working with uh essential community facilities. So I um so some of those talents will be actually utilized here within the town of Bowling Green. I know that there are several projects that are underway as far as the preliminary engineering report is being being worked on as it pertains to your water and your wastewater project. So, looking forward to working with each of you uh as we go forward. Thank you.

Thank you. Adams Jacobs, is there anything else on your report or would you like to move on to the playground replacement proposal?

No. Um the playground replacement. Um I think as we spoke um last time, Sean and Mr. Fortune gave an update on uh some of the versa uh findings uh from our buildings and grounds review from our insurance company. And one of those was the replacement of the program. Um so we reached out to a company, Carolina Wreck, who's going to be here to give just a couple concepts. earning replacement and briefly consideration at rates. So with that I will bring up Mr. Ross.

Well hello everybody. Um as India mentioned I'm Ross Gold. I am the sales representative and project manager for Carolina Recre in Virginia. Um I guess before I get started too I want to thank everybody for your public service and the opportunity to present here today. So much appreciated. Um so yes here is the uh presentation for the playground. Um India Sean and myself we met back in March and walked through the existing playground sites out here at Bowling Green playground uh both the 5 to2 and the 2 to 5 uh ages areas. Uh as part of this meeting, we reviewed the existing conditions uh and came up with some key objectives to uh mitigate liability as well as to enhance the space and uh lead you guys into having a safe fun environment for the kids uh that come out to play on this playground. So uh through this meeting the key objectives that we found uh is a which is included in our proposal is a uh proposed removal and replacement of aging and non-compliant equipment. So uh the existing swing set that's out there is compliant. It's safe and we plan to keep that structure. We've uh measured the existing use zones of that structure and our new designs incorporate that as part of um the new equipment. So uh in addition to that the existing tire swing was found to have a use zone uh issue. So um that with India's uh collaboration is planned to be removed uh by the town prior to our involvement on the project. Uh as well as the main playground structure that is in the 5 to12 area. We found there to be a number of uh compliance issues with the ASM and ADA. Um and so by removing that we'll relinquish those uh from the site. Uh, additionally in that 2 to5 area, we found that uh essentially all of the 2 to 5 playground equipment in that space uh falls short of the current and most

stringent ASM and ADA guidelines. So again, as part of the proposal, uh we're offering proposing to remove and replace that equipment with similar and compliant equipment. Uh in addition to the playground equipment, we're also proposing removal and replacement of the playground surfacing. So what's currently there is engineered ribb fiber which is what we are proposing uh as the new surface at a compliant depth that is rated for the specific fall height of whichever equipment you guys select. Um tying in with that new border or sorry mulch system will be a new border system. So in uh replacement of the existing pressuret treated timbers which what we've seen over the years has a tendency to rot and splinter. Uh we're proposing a replacement using 12 and 8 inch composite borders. Uh they will last longer than all of us and uh they're interlocking, very easy to install and also easy to uh relocate if you guys ultimately decide to expand the playground at some point in the future. So um additionally addressing the ADA accessibility components of the site. So uh with the town uh proposing to remove the existing equipment prior to our involvement in the scope, we will come in and do light grading to promote healthy drainage of the space as well as to ensure smooth access and ADA compliant access into the playground area as well as creating those smooth transition points throughout the play space that ASM and ADA requires. um which again ties into the last bullet point and objective here which is to correcting the grade and the drainage of the space while also using the new designs that we're proposing to um uh correct the layout and use zone issues that we found. So uh what you'll see in the coming slides are dotted lines around the equipment. Those are ASMU zones. Um those are non- encroachment zones. You can't have borders inside of those areas. And that's what we found to be the case in some of the spots on the existing playground.

So, uh just a quick overview on the two different uh age groups and designs that we're proposing that I'll I'll go over in the coming slides here. For the two to five area, we've developed one option. Uh with the small playground structure, uh the all of the equipment in this ages 2 to 5 area is rated specifically for children ages 2 to 5. Um so, it includes a small playground structure. It includes a variety of farm themed motion toys or coil mounted spring toys as well as the borders and engineered wood fiber that I had mentioned previously. Um, uniquely for the ages 2 to 5 area, we're also proposing a full removal and replacement of the existing playand area with new play sand. Um, and then for the ages 5 to 12 area, we're proposing three different options at varying price points from 35 to 66,000. Each option is turnkey. Again, this area similar to the 2 to 5 area will have the matching engineered wood fiber safety compliant surfacing at the necessary depth for the fall height of the equipment as well as the borders. Uh so having consistency between the two areas is important. Uh but I'd say paramount to everything, safety and compliance with those ADA and ASM standards. So, here's a uh quick overview on the ages 2 to five area. And you can see, as I mentioned, the small playground structure. Uh this is the back side of it. Uh but some key things to know here are the playin area. You'll notice that this is an expanded area. It's it's a couple hundred square feet larger than the existing area. Um and you can go to the next slide. Thank you. Um and um just a quick zoom in on the equipment here. These are the uh the four different cola mounted spring riders that I mentioned previously. Um went with farm themed. Try to pick up on uh you know the greens uh as an ode to the

uh the town's colors here. Um other other important things to note the ADA stair entry. So this is sort of the one of the key elements that uh is found to be missing on the existing equipment. um with ADA compliant handrails and barriers on the side as well as the the step heights from the finished floor elevation to that first step on the playground system. Uh additionally featured on this playground, you'll have a variety too here uh plate panels, a wave mirror panel and a bubble window panel. Uh these structures are modular. Everything is custom made to order. So, uh, these panels can be interchanged fairly easily, um, at a later date or during the design process itself. Um, and then also kids love to slide, so we've incorporated a twoft single slide on this unit. So, and there also you can see the interlocking borders going around the perimeter. So, they're they're black borders. They come in green, too. Um, so something to consider as again just an ode to the town's colors here. So,

may I ask? Yeah. One of the things on that I see that is lacking on here are shade sails. Um that is one of the complaints I get from parents is the heat, the lack of of any shade over there which makes it Yeah. not really conducive to bringing their children there to play. So what what if anything are we going to do to address that?

Yeah, absolutely. Well, this current offering does not include any sort of freestanding fabric shade structures. Um, you know, in speaking with India's kind of the way I approach fabric shade structure scenarios because, you know, it's probably one of the key offerings that our company has are those commercial fabric shades where an unlimited class A contractor and have a distributorship agreement with some national suppliers for these commercial shades. So, it's absolutely something that we can do. Um I look at shade solutions sort of twofold where that on the one hand it's important to have shade for parents and kids and supervisors who are trying to get off the equipment and take a break from the sun which you have currently in that pavilion that's out there. And so now in this space if we look at sort of and uh you'll actually see this on the next slide um these are the use of the equipment that we're proposing. So those dotted lines there cannot be anything inside of those dashed lines. Now the overlapping that you see is in part of the ASM guidelines. So depending on the height of the equipment, what piece of equipment it is, there are certain rules where that these zones can be overlap. So don't be concerned about the crossing of those dotted dashed lines. Uh but there is space here. If you look north and south of that playground structure where that you could theoretically place a four post hip shade structure um and the cost turnkey with permitting, engineering, material, uh freight and install would put you somewhere in the ballpark of 12 to $15,000.

Okay, thank you for that. Any other questions? Any council? Yeah, I just Yeah. the sand. I have issues with sand. Sorry. Um, is there going to be any kind of I mean that's a pretty big plot. Um, you can't really cover it. Um, one thing that's concerned about cats and concerned about animals, etc. Then you have little kids going in there um getting tons of plasma too many sand anymore in playgrounds.

I agree. I agree. And part of why we placed this there was to just carry over sort of the general layout and design elements of what is existing. Uh but by no means are you required um to to get this sand area. So, um, very easily what we could do is remove that section of borders that's closing off that back side. Now, as far as shade is concerned, I'll I'll mention to you that what what you cannot see on this plan is right where that notch is in the in the bottom left hand corner of the border, there's a tree, a large tree that's right there. So, you know, from a shade perspective, depending on the time of day, you might get some nice shade that's casted out there. Um, but it's it's a great point and something that it it is absolutely your decision as to what you guys find the best um for that space. Uh, by removing that bordered section and removing the sand from the scope, you could easily spread the equipment out a little bit more.

Yeah. And you could add, say, more spring riders. You could spread the spring riders out, increase the height or the size of the structure. So, there's a lot that you can do with that space. um the sand itself and in that area of the scope is is very cost effective. So just something to consider that you know by bringing in more playground equipment and mulch you'll likely see you know a net increase in the cost versus uh just having sand with no equipment there. But it's absolutely an option and and something that we'd be happy to redesign and sort of show you what those options are and the cost differences involved with making that change. So you have three motion toys four for for the two to five area.

Yes. Is there anything in little or similar of that that could be um innovative um mobile um module that they can utilize interactive instead of sitting on something new and maybe they could just

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we we have sensory panels. Uh, so whether that be chimes or bongos or xylophones. So, I I'd say it sort of depends on which play activity you're after, right? If we look at climbing for the young kids, we have climbing options. We have balancing options. Um, you know, what we found to be very popular are balance options. They're very low to the ground. Um, they're safe. Um, so whether that be, you know, say a a a wiggle beam, a balance beam that sort of moves in different areas that then transitions you into say log steppers um or a small crawl to uh tunnel um you know creating those cozy spots for children or whether it could also be auditory style play um like those music panels. So there's a lot of options and sort of what I uh try to hone in on with my customers and with India as we work together on this is you know let's let's think about the the sort of play activities that we're trying to accomplish here for the kids. Um some like a lot of variety and some don't want the variety. They want there to be as much climbing as possible or as much balance as possible. I think it really just sort of depends on uh what all you have to offer in the area and what you're really trying to hit on for that space. But if the objective is, hey, we want to sort of have a mixture of everything, it's absolutely something that we can do.

Thank you. You said the swing set is can stay because it's compliant. Does it have like an ADA seat for a child who It does. Yes. Um I haven't gone over to Yeah, they have uh so they they basically look like big car seats. um with a harness that comes over and and latches in in between their lap. Um those seats are not cheap. They're like 2,300 bucks, 2500 bucks just for the seat. Um but yeah, right now I believe if I'm remembering correctly, India, it's it's uh two belt seats and two bucket seats um on the swing. Uh yeah, I think that sounds correct. Yeah.

Yeah. So, one thing to consider with swings is that you can put an ADA swing seat in the same bay. So, if you have every swing bay, unless you have, let's say, a disc swing, um, like the blue arches that are out there, that's a single unit swing. But for most swings like the ones that you have, they're two seat bays. And within each bay, you can have a bucket seat and an ADA seat, but you can't do a belt seat and an ADA seat. And you can't do a belt seat and a bucket seat in the same bay. It's it's limit limiting the range of motion for the users. So, just something to consider. The short answer to your question is yes, absolutely you can do an ADA seat with the existing swing that you have. You'll just be limited to placing it inside of the bay that has the bucket seats.

Okay? which will be on the right side if I'm remembering correctly. The right side if you're standing at the playground looking at the swings. Will ADA actually come in at the end of this project and and go through and look at it? Not by us, but I would strongly encourage you guys to have them come in and look at it and make sure. And and another thing that I would strongly suggest is having a certified playground safety inspector. Now, I am a certified playground safety inspector, but as part of the code of ethics in the CPSI guidelines, I can't as a contractor and builder provide you with that safety inspector. Correct.

So, strongly recommend that you guys do that. Ensure that the the build quality once we're finished is in compliance with ADA and ASM standards, which is what the CPSI and ADA will help take you through. Um, and certainly if any corrective action is needed on our side after that, we'll handle that through a punch list. Very good. Do you have a hard copy of this presentation? Uh not with me, but I can mail you on it. That would be um preferable, please. Absolutely.

So, uh this is the first design that we put together for the uh ages 5 to 12 area. So, um sorry, it's a little dark. Um so on this playground the uh from from from the front-facing view here you can see in that right corner uh an ADA transfer station. So again, with these 5 to 12 playground structures, that is an ADA requirement to have that transfer station there. So that a child who's in a wheelchair, but that also has upper body mobility can go next to the transfer station and pivot themselves off and be able to access the playground. Oh, okay. Um, additionally, what you'll find on this, and you'll see this sort of featured across each of the three designs, is the crater wall climber. It's just a fun and unique access point onto one of the decks. Additionally, we'll have the spacew walk climber. Um, a play counter for imaginary play. And, um, something that will help, albeit it's it's not the perfect solution to your shade question is our our contemporary style leanto roof. So, those do a good job at casting some shade onto the playground. It's not the end all be all solution, but it will help to cut down some of the heating of the equipment that's sitting beneath it. So, um, and then a wave slide. So, in this instance, uh, this is a 4ft wave slide. Um, thank you. This is the back side of the structure. Um, again, you can see the, uh, sort of activity panels. This is the same kind of activity panel um the happy landings activity panel uh that you've seen on the two to five structure. Again, these are interchangeable. We have a huge amount of offerings for these. And you know, ultimately, if you guys want to look and see what those options are and pick and choose that um these panels curated to to what the community needs, they're

interchangeable. They all cost the same, easy to fix and swap around. So, uh and then also here is featured as a new product of ours. It's a geode climber. Sort of a modern take to deck accessing on a playground. Uh so again, this is just the backside of that same structure. This is the site plan again with the U zones. I'll just point those out to you here. The uh photo there of the existing uh surface level spinner is that is not to scale. Um I'll just mention that. But everything else is to scale. As you can see, those are the existing swing sets that we plan to keep. And that is the new playground structure that we're proposing as well as the new bordered area that's surrounding everything. And you can see as a critical path item making sure that those borders do not go anywhere inside of the dash lines which are the U zones. All right. So this is the option two playground. Um so slightly larger. Uh and you'll notice how uh the size Oh, I'm sorry. Actually, one thing I'll mention this one, you can you have the option on this design to keep that surface level spinner. There is enough room with the useone of the playground structure and the swings to keep that if you so choose. So, just a quick note on options two and three that you will not be able to do. Okay. Um, so this is again you can see um sort of the purpose of this is to show you a variety of colors. Uh, all of our colors are fully customizable. Uh, there's no additional cost for colors. At the very end, once a design is selected, we'll furnish a 3D link to our playground equipment, and you guys can go through the model, look at it in a bunch of different angles, click pre-selected color palettes, edit the colors however you'd like, and send us the final iteration of what you ultimately select. Um, if you go to the next slide. So, the key features on this one, the structure is is relatively

similar to the last one, although there is the the additional slide. Um, and the big feature here are the additional climbing apparatuses coming off of the backside of this structure. And um, I don't have this memorized, but at the bottom there's a play capacity. And, um, this one has a play capacity of 36 kids, which means that 36 kids can play at this playground at any given point comfortably without feeling like the the space is cramped. Uh the last option 23. Now also that's just for the playground structure. That does not include the swing sets or the two to five area. It's just for this.

This is just the 5 to 12 area. Correct. And you provide pets to be Yes. Yeah. The monkey is included in our offer. Awesome. Um the play capacity of the two to five area just as a note is 12. Now that was just for the equipment. So you can fit more kids comfortably on that space with the sand area and certainly that number would go up if you decided to remove that and replace it with something else. So um all right, you can skip there. I'm getting a look that I need to kind of speed it up here. So, um the next one, uh yes, start review.

All right. So, uh this is the option three. Um the the biggest difference here that you're going to see, and if you kind of flip back and forth between option two and one and option three, the biggest note, what you'll notice is this 6ft deck. Um all the max height of the other designs h the deck max height deck height is four feet which means the slides are four feet tall which means the access components to the decks are 4 ft tall and this one in particular the bottom level right there where you see that double slide that's 4T. So if you can imagine designs one and two that's going to be the max height and option three you have the additional 2 ft of height which makes it a little bit more exciting. the roof structure increases in height

adding to the focal point and the architecture children 9 to 12 who are taller and yeah absolutely so you know ultimately this is going to really enhance the play value and the risk-taking abilities for the children that fall on the older age uh older side of the age grouping at 5 to 12 it's a big range and in the playground industry the age ranges are are set 6 to 23 months 2 to 5 and 5 to 12 so you presented three options here. What are the prices for each option? Um that is in a subsequent slide. Okay. Uh we'll get to that here then.

Okay. So again, similar to the option two here. Um and and you know, another thing I'll point out is this structure has two of the leanto roofs. You have a triangle lean to roof. Um so again, just adding to the focal point of the structure. Um, and this one in particular, you can see off to the right hand side the crater wall from the previous designs, but this one is six feet as well as the geoc climber at 6 feet as opposed to 4 feet and 2 feet in those previous designs. Um, and the climbing apparatus just to bring some of the kids off the playground, relieve some of the traffic that you may experience on this playground structure, and also give them that sort of feel of an obstacle course that sort of takes them in and around the site. So this is option three. Um this is the site plan. So you can see sort of the scale difference of the different uh options. So it takes up a large majority of that corner and space. Um and for something like this, the locations of the swings could given that they're existing, they're fixed, but that structure could be oriented, twisted uh in a variety of different ways. we could shift it over into the other corner, center it, give you guys the ability to either expand in the future or just lock it in to where it is now. So, that's a quick one. Um, when you talk about those use zones and the proximity, anything, does stuff that's outside of the play area have an impact, like how close things are, cuz the parking's right up on the border of it. The pavilion is only 3 ft from it. Does any of that impact those considerations? No. So there there's no use zones on borders, right? So if you have something that's really close to a border, say you have a parking lot that butts right up against the border, it what matters is that the equipment is set back from that border. Um so in in the case of a parking lot, right, a I've had a lot of clients ask me, well, should we get a fence? It it depends on the speed of the

vehicular traffic, right? Because you don't need a fence, per se, in a parking lot. If it was a small roadway, I'd say absolutely get a fence. I mean, the key thing here is kids wandering off the playground. And so, if there's any concern on your end that kids might be wandering into the parking lot with their driving cars, you know, I don't know how active and busy that parking lot is. Um, but to answer your question, as far as you are concerned, what really matters is what's inside of that bordered area. Now, there is such thing as overhead clearance. Um, so you can't have 84 in above the elevated the tallest elevated play surface, uh, or really any play surface. You have to have 84 in of overhead clearance from any sort of foreign objects, but you you don't have that issue on this site. So, but trees would be one, you know. Um, so something to consider if you were to put playground area in the sand in the 2 to five playground equipment in the sand area of the 2 to five site, you might put yourself into a situation where you have to trim that tree back every once in a while to maintain the overhead clearance.

Um, questions from council. Sorry, I should be asking you guys. No, you're fine. Go ahead.

Um, so, uh, just a quick run through on what the scheduling will look like. So once we have a notice to proceed from the town uh we will generate the link to the 3D model. You're more if you'd like I'm happy to generate that for you early. Uh but ultimately what kickstarts the fabrication process is a notice to proceed from the town with finalized color selections from uh from the time of fabrication start to shipping the materials to site. It's roughly 8 to 10 weeks. We'll communicate throughout the duration of fabrication sort of progress updates. I know that the town is planning or proposing to handle the removal of the existing equipment. So, we'll make sure that nothing shows up early or in advance of when you guys are ready to avoid a scenario where you have uh tens of thousands of dollars of playground equipment sitting in the parking lot. Um, so we'll handle all of the logistics and coordination and then once we receive the thumbs up from the town that the site is ready, uh, or after a pre-construction meeting that we have on site just to make sure that everything is ready and good to go for us to start. We'll authorize the equipment to deliver to the site. Transit time from the factory is 3 to 5 days. Our crew will meet the truck on site, offload the equipment, inventory, stage, lay the equipment out, and start installing. Um at the same time throughout that process India you know if we need to make any sort of adjustments to the site plan we can do that. Uh site planning can be done all in the office uh through back and forth document revisions. Um it can also be done simplistically in the field. Hey I want this to go here. Um obviously layout for us is extremely important. Once it goes in it can't be moved. Um, and then the uh total process really for any of the three designs plus the 2 to 5 area from the install side of things with surfacing and borders is going to be about 1 to two weeks. With great weather, we can get it done in one week. Um, but you know, it's construction. You

never know what could happen. So 1 to two weeks as sort of a general average. Um and then going through closeout punch list uh inspections that you guys may set set up and then any sort of a corrective action that may need to be taken after the fact. Okay. All right. U just a quick note on this. We are proposing this um so you know should the town elect to move forward with this you have the option uh and how we propose this is to be purchased through a cooperative purchasing agreement uh which helps save a lot of time it's pre-negotiated pricing done so at the national level by HGAC our cooperative consortium um allows us as contractors to provide turnkey proposals and scopes of work uh without going through the formal RFP P process, but that also for you as the purchaser guarantees that you get pre uh negotiated and bid level prices. So, um I I don't believe the town is currently a registered member of HGAC. It's a widely used cooperative agreement. We've used it in a number of counties and municipal agencies in Virginia over the years. Um membership registration is free. It's very simple. Um, and we'd be happy to connect you guys with HGAC to help guide you through that process. Okay, so here are the pricing. Varying price levels across the different options. Each one of these prices that you're looking at is a fully inclusive. The only thing that you will not have as part of these estimates is the removal of the existing equipment. Equipment, freight, installation, mulch, borders, everything. And for the two to five area, the sand Uh, also to note, these prices include the HCAC discounts that you receive as part of that cooperative purchasing contract.

Any question? Can you go back one slide, Jeffrey? Thank you. Are there any questions from council at this time? Thank you so much for this information.

Yeah, absolutely. Well, that gave us a lot to uh consider. Let's see. We are going to move on to new business item number 11. We're going to discuss code enforcement. We have had an issue in town with people breaking codes. Um, a year and a half ago, we passed a fence ordinance. We have three new fences on Travis Street that went up with no permits. One of them looks really nice. One of them is absolutely illegal cuz it's chain link. and we we decided this council voted that there would be no more chain link in the town. It brings property values down. We have um the fuse we went through with Tingler um coming to planning commission. Nikki Tindler spent a lot of money having planning commission look at sign ordinances and changing the parapit sign ordinance. He put his time, his effort, his money. Now you have people just slapping up signs in town. This is against our code. The way we do our enforcement right now is absurd. Somebody has to complain to the town manager. This was not like this in the past. The town manager or the zoning administrator had the authority to go around and look for themselves and say, "Hey, a new sign went up. I didn't

get an application for this. We're losing out on application money, too, by the way." And um we need to give our staff the authority to be able to follow through with this. They don't have this right now. So, it's random. So, if somebody complains, that's what they act on. And then that upsets our citizens because they sit back if they're the one complained on and they say, "Well, mine my yard doesn't look half as bad as so and so's yard and you don't do anything to them." So, the way we have things now, it gives the appearance of not being fair. I would like for this council to look at this and give staff direction on how we can properly take care of following through with enforcing the codes that we put into effect. Otherwise, just get rid of the codes. Just let the town just go willy-nilly cuz you know, I mean, that's what's kind of happening right now. and I don't like it. But at the end of the day, the seven of you have to make that decision. Um, I spoke with our town manager. Um, we're looking at Miss Odum, who was with the Berkeley Group. rather than hiring a full-time person, the town manager told me that we could give Miss Darla Odum um you know, we could pay her just some extra hours, which would be cheaper for our budget to go around to help with code enforcement, but um I'm I'm coming to you. I'm asking the seven of you for your input, your direction. So what happens if someone is violating a sign ordinance? What do you find them?

Well, we had in the past we had a sign go up illegally on a parapit in town and a past town manager went to them and said that sign needs to come down. They made them take it down and it wasn't compliant anyhow. So, when they did apply and put a new sign up, they put a proper sign up that was that the town approved. I'm not necessarily saying we find them. We can. That's up to you. I just want a way to to follow through with the code enforcement that we have. There are yards around town that the grass gets up to your knees and unless somebody complains, nobody says anything. It's it's it's not followed through with this causes a rodent problem which again I go back to Hunter virus and now we got cruise ship people dying with that stuff. This is serious serious issues in this town. So the reason I asked that is and unfortunately when these things

your mic Valerie

unfortunately when these things continue they set a precedent and one of the biggest one here in this town is sandwich boards. Every single person has a sandwich board. Now are you going to go to every single merchant and tell them they're in violation because they've had a sandwich board out there for the last two or three years? Well, that is something for this council. We we can prioritize the codes and which ones we want to look at first. Again, sandwich boards are against our town code. They block the sidewalks. They are dangerous. When people are coming through in wheelchairs or with strollers, they are problematic. So, uh you know, yes, they're nice. we come across as being not businessfriendly if we we take those sandwich boards away from them. But I mean again, why are we making these codes if we're not going to enforce them or follow through with them?

When when was sandwich boards outlawed? I I don't know. I I know that we discussed that would have been like 2018. That was that was back with Ree when the when state made all governments do a sign ordinance at that time

because I mean everywhere I go they're everywhere and you know when you're horizontally challenged with parking and trying to track people in. Sandwich boards are not not offensive to me. I I think there, you know, we all know there's a fine line between being heavy-handed and, you know, I would submit gosh, 90% maybe or 80%, I don't know, of new signage is by new folks opening a little business. And I bet you half of that 90% don't even know you have to apply a permit or stuff like that. So, you know, it's it's got to be a, you know, it's got to be a way to do it and not come across.

Well, we we know when a new business is going to open. Maybe there's a packet we give them and say, "Hey, these are some of the things you need to know before you walk into your shop and start doing things. Um, that's a way to alleviate it from the front end." Yes, Miss Jacobs.

Yeah. Mayor if I may um I I do just want to mention that the attorney is on the call. We did have a brief conversation with staff. Um and I'll let him speak to to his experience with other the other localities, but I also did have a conversation with with Miss Odum and and maybe that there's a discussion that's had later about if you wanted to do proactive on certain items, whether it's tall grass or something specific that that is outlined and defined. Um but that by and large most localities are complaints driven. One of the things we do now have is a promo complete form which is something this open is working on. Um and then just to highlight that on average we probably have seven to 10 complaints per year most of which are grass related. So um if you want to do

I'm happy to wait if you hear me. Yes. Yeah.

Okay. So, um Bowling Green the process isn't different than any other locality I've ever worked with. And that is um typically in Virginia anyway uh code enforcement whether it's building code or zoning code or other ordinances is driven by um complaints that are made and when complaints received the town is is um working on those. So um prevents staff from enforcement if no complaint has been filed but that's just not normally resources from the council and resources and um more resources to having dedicated full or part-time person lead the code enforcement effort to to actually start identifying potential violations on their own. I mean you can do that but there's no law right now the town's enforcing when someone comes in and complains about zoning violation a building code violation then the town um investigates that and um gets the facts and enforces it appropriately. So, you know, question of why I don't know why people are filing complaints dealing with the ones they get. So, it's kind of of people not filing um and also you know how much council wants to dedicate staff time and resources to war and proactive enforcement.

Thank you. Are there any questions for Mr. Gore? We at the council, you don't have to do anything to this, but this is worthy of a discussion because again, we have had some issues in town and people get on Facebook and complain, but they won't fill out a form and give it to the town manager. Um, so my opinion right now would be with the with all that we're trying to get straight and fill in and hire, I am not for hiring a part-time or full-time code enforcement person. I am for being diplomatic and uh responding to complaints right now um and being cognizant of if someone comes in to get a business license, we say, "Oh, by the way, here's this." Um, yeah, I'm not spending any money on that right now. Okay. Very good.

I agree. Yeah. I'll give my two cents and go ahead, Mr. Yeah, the opinions, you know, as as far as like, hey, these people, why are those people have high GRA? There's also people that will complain about the complaints, too. And you know, one of the things I was thinking is, you know, as soon as you if if we move that onus from the constituent to make the complaint to a proactive thing of other people initiating it, that just moves who the bad guy is.

It's still going to be there. There's still going to be a and and in fact, it kind of funnels it and it gets it back on whoever's doing it, whether it be India or, you know, we get another person as that code enforcement officer. but it's really at our direction at that point, but it's gonna really make a face of the bad guy at that. Um, I completely agree about not wanting to spend any extra money on something like

um and I completely agree about just getting a better form. I think that might help out some awareness on that. I I want to mention sandwich you mentioned sandwich boards. Uh I did want to mention other side of that. um sandwich boards, yeah, they have issues with the signs, but I I think a greater thing that we don't really enforce either is things that are in the VOTE right away. Like that's a separate issue entirely, which is another discussion. Um and that is everything other than like I yeah, I'll speak for myself and and other people like you know, I I didn't move here to go away for a few days and come back to an HOA style notice almost, right? So that's what I want to stay away from.

Okay, Mr. Davis, agree with Kelly David. Thank you. Mr. Hagen, do you have anything to add? Dr. Palt, do you have anything to add to this conversation?

Okay. Um, so from what I'm hearing from council manager Jacobs, I think that um if we could have a prepared form, which you said you're proactively working on with Miss ODM and maybe um a little more information for business owners or even new property owners moving in. Yeah, we can create a onepage flyer of kind of what to know about code enforcement and have that out front as well with the code enforcement um form complaint form and post it online. Okay. Are there any other suggestions from this council to the town manager for this? No. Okay. Well, next we will move on to item number 12 and that's the proposed budget presentation. And at this time, I'm going to turn this over to Miss India Adams Jacobs. The committee, members of the public, um India Adam Jacobs, my manager, and we present the proposed FY27 budget. So, um, just to kind of set the table for tonight, uh, this is the fiscal year 27 proposed budget. It'll highlight what the town funds, our budget process, priorities, financials, the proposed 2027 budget, budget timeline, as well as next steps. Starting with the town's mission, which is to serve the citizens. This was identified by council at a council strategic planning retreat two years ago. Um what we also identified with Han's vision um which is listed here to include a vibrate lively thriving community that is sustainable, resilient, connected regionally, walkable with connected neighborhoods, a destination for visitors, a small town vibe in a village with historic charm, a cultural and business center of Caroline County that has beautiful spaces and

streetscapes that we maintain on control utilities, public safety, attractive physical assets, amenities and parks, independence and self-governance, sense of community, locations of services for commerce and culture as well as solid waste collection. Um, taking a look at our values and operating principles. We operate on transparency, open communications, good customer service, honesty, integrity, safe management, follow-through, staff development, welcoming that we are facilitative, creative, innovative, efficient, effective, as well as um, exhibit trust. highlighting for the public just a little bit about what the TAM funds. Obviously, we have public safety which includes police, uh staff, vehicles, equipment, building expenses, infrastructure and public works and utilities includes wastewater, water, public works, um including staff, vehicles, equipment, testing, uh vehicles beautifification and parks maintenance. Second part of that uh we have administration which includes staff audit budget preparation legal services day-to-day operations IT software staff development and then economic development and tourism including harvest festival music and green and tourism and events. A bit about our budget process. The adopted budget serves as a tenant's operating capital budget for the next fiscal year. Uh the tenant operates on a fiscal year um from July 1 to June 30th. Our budget must be balanced. Um it needs to include contributions to capital reserves. There's two funds that are featured in our budget general fund as well as enterprise fees funds for fees from services. Highlighting just a bit about federal and state impacts um as they do impact our local uh budget as well. Um there are some historical grant funds that the town has historically leveraged um through programs such as USDA to fund our police vehicles um that are becoming more scarce or not funded at all. Um so those are things we're going to have to plan for in the future. As well as our state impacts, there's no budget pass yet at the state which we are still monitoring. Uh there's some collective bargaining and paid leave paid sick leave expansion as well as uh conditions like retail cannabis that we will have to look at from a land use control perspective.

Highlighting and moving forward to FY27 budget priorities. Um this is strategic plan retreat guidance and I won't read everyone in our goal areas but uh to improve and maintain the town's water and sewer system has been a number one uh priority of council for the last couple of years including upgrading our infrastructure including our water supply uh which is a project I'll touch on a bit later that we have excellent town staff that are well trained appropriately compensated and has development opportunities that are also dedicated to public service uh that we focus on economic development to support business development and expansion that enhances the tax base and that we have smart growth that supports development that improves community vitality. There's also additions here for vibrant downtown um to ensure that the town remains active and attractive and historic. Um some of that is occurring as well as um inputs from our economic development authority as well as our BG main street our national main street affiliate um that has reached mobilizing status and pursuing advancing in the upcoming year. Uh one of the other goals is government performance to improve organizational efficiency financial management um to provide fiscally responsible, sustainable and resilient financial management as well as county relations that we communicate and collaborate with Caroline County for mutually beneficial results. A bit about our budget for this year in terms of alignment with town council strategic priorities and our general fund. We have um some enhancements here to improve customer service uh hours for operation in town hall, enhanced funding for building grounds, some funding for economic development, funding for tourism initiatives, the BGD of Main Street, as well as some funding for um enhanced code enforcement. There are uh some other funds um emphasis in terms of continuing funding for proactive preventative infrastructure maintenance that we prioritize and support uh for our great surge management and administration as well as funding for our economic development authority that has been revised in the last year. In terms of looking at our real estate values, um next slide please. Thank you. Uh you'll see here just a brief chart.

Um this does represent a slight decrease, a 049% decrease um from the prior year through abatements with the commission of revenue's office. There was a decline um from May 25 until now. Um next slide. I'll jump into some of the overview. Um for our 27 proposed budget, uh there are no proposed water rate increases, no proposed seal rate increases, no proposed real estate increases per proposing a flat 13 cents as same as FY26. There's no new personal property tax increases. There's a slight 4% increase for trash from our GFL uh trash refuge service provider, which equates to about $1.32 for residential as well as $2.36 for commercial. This is just a breakdown of where your tax dollars go. Um, and this will be up in the website for anyone who wants to take a look. It's about 26% of your local dollar goes to water and sewer. uh 19 to public works, 16 finance, 15 town council and manager, 10% police, seven general services, five to cap projects fund, one for events and activities, and one transfer to the EDA. So in terms of expenditures for all funds, we have that there about 8.5. Moving on to our budgets, um the same numbers there for you to take a look at. Um, this also highlights the transfers out of about $755,300. Moving on to funding for capital infrastructure and our capital finance and grant surges. Uh, next up for uh budgeting and strategic goals in terms of excellent staff and development performance. Uh, we're proposing one uh full-term capital projects and grants manager. Uh, we have a total of about $1 million worth of projects awarded. um over the last year and that capital projects and grants manager will help with uh the assistant of managing those. Uh historically the parent has had uh instances of of of grant funds or or

loans for major capital projects and is just not being able to see those projects through. Uh so we'll make sure we um don't go through that again. So that position will help with that. We were class reclassify proposing a reclassification of one maintenance worker one to maintenance worker two. One part-time seasonal maintenance worker reclassification of a payroll specialist to staff accountant as well as reclassification from a utilities building specialist to customer service assistant focus on utilities as well as some contractual support for economic development and human resources on an basis. In terms of market alignment, the 2% uh cost of living adjustment um which is kind of consistent with what's going on in the region. uh council also um passed the uh supporting the 10% healthcare increases back in February and then we are competing with all mandated minimum wages at the state level. Highlighting on our general fund you can see some revenues there some slight increases on stock tax as well as men's tax up from uh 450 from 375 in the prior year. Uh we did increase that 1 percentage from 6% to Saturday and you'll see that on the chart a bit later. A slight increase to our real estate tax projected from 257,000 from 250 as well as a slight increase to our intergovernmental service agreement uh with what AP Hill up to 75 from 50,000 budgeted in the previous year. Um, in the expenditure side, I mentioned the healthcare increases, diploma for staff, but this also does include the creation of the general services department for centralization of contracts.

Indy India, yes. And I'm not for stopping this at all cuz we're on a crunch. But I just got a text from the citizen that says if it's something that easy fix, she can keep going, but the audio is so overdriven in distorted you can't hear anything that's being said. So it's not an easy fix. But I'm not proposing you stop. I'm just No, it's the whole meeting they said. So, okay.

Um, in terms of administration, um, the three a 3% increase from FY26, um, this continues funding for council and as well as the manager. Um, continues continues contingency for emergencies and this does include tourism funding for BGVA main street. Uh, in finance, uh, we see a 27% reduction from FY26. Um this does include um enhancement from part-time to full-time. This does include additional staffing hours for enhanced office hours back to four days with one day uh being reserved for our exit support as well as our events. Um and this does continue to budget for um audit and pre- audit services under general services. The um proposed budget total and this would be a new department of 156,000. This does include contracted positions for full transparency uh for a town attorney as well as a senior planner deputy zoning administrator the council approved a couple meetings back as well as the economic development support and then outsourcing our payroll function and public safety and police. A 6% increase uh for retention incentives for BGPD staff. Um some enhancements in fuel costs and maintenance costs to vehicles. Moving forward to the volunteer fire department. We do get a grant from the state. That's just a simple pass through to our volunteer fire department. The next public works utilities and development. Uh 8% increase from FY26 uh for $435,759. This does include onetime increases for required buildings and grounds facilities maintenance improvements. That mostly includes town hall, but also some um upgrades at the police facility and some of our um sidewalks uh around town hall as well. The next slide includes our transfers to other funds. Um $755,300. This includes uh transfers to enterprise funds of water and sewer uh transfers to the CIP uh and events and activities funds as well as new transfers to the EDA fund. There's a total on the general fund

totals uh for total general fund expenditures and transfers out from general fund to other funds about 2.4 million. Next slide. That breaks that down a bit further. I'll jump on to enterprise funds. Starting with water. Um there's just a picture here. So you can see the replacement of one of our oldest um fire hydrants in town as about put in about 1932. One of the things we were able to get um through some of our processes last year working with moonshot missions and sir cap was a updated uh GIS internal system. So we now can track all of our most of our assets in hand. And this was identified as one of our oldest fire hydrants, which council approved up to $40,000 to begin replacing those. So there you see the old one on the left from the 30s with the new one that was replaced right there on the right, right in front of town hall. Um, and we we plan to continue to do that in future years. There's also a picture of just some of our outdated infrastructure, corroded infrastructure, so you can see some of the things that are being replaced. In terms of water fund, um our water quality improvement project um to address our gross alpha consent order is included in this 2.1. Uh we do anticipate about $1.3 million for that um in this upcoming year. It also continues repairs and maintenance and continues the capital infrastructure fee. Next, moving on to the sewer fund. You see a picture there from when Main Street was under repair last year. Um and the next picture does include a repair of our drying bed rehab rehabilitation um that was completed just so you can see the condition when it was not functioning before to the rehabilitation of a pilot for a deatering bag that is in place now. Another picture and highlights on sewer fun. We do have about 2.7 budgeted for a wastewater treatment facility built press that will be through a state loan with potential principal forgiveness. Um as well as continuing repairs and maintenance and continuing capital infrastructure fee highlight there another picture there

with the total enterprise funds about $6 million. The proposed rates on the next chart uh that shows no increases. The next slide includes uh real estate uh benchmarking pier communities where you can see us in comparison to some of the other communities. Uh there's Ashley, Warsaw, Tapahanic Orange, Town of Urbana, West Point, Colonial Beach, and Gordonville. Uh we do have one of the lowest tax rates um based on these benchmarking peers. I would I would also mention, I know it's come up a couple of times about whether or not the town could uh split its uh real estate taxes uh into the annual payment. There's only one locality that does that, which is Gordonville. Everyone else assesses annually. Next, on personal property, um, as well, we're one of the lowest at about 72.

Excuse me,

on the meals tax, uh, we're one of the in the top three. We're slightly behind Orange and Gordonville at 7%. Uh water and sewer monthly cost there broken down as well. Moving on to events and activities fund. Uh there's a proposed proposed 45,5 music on the greens, fourth Fridays, parades, and holiday events as well as coordination for winefest which is looking to be brought back after 7-year hiatus post pandemic. Um, moving on, economic development authority fund, the EDA approved their work plan and a request for 25,000 which includes uh 2500 for fourth Friday banners, veterans banners uh town of Green 360, 5,000 for mural funding, 5,000 for improvement uh facade improvement group and then 125 for the wine festival. Next slide includes our EXA fund which we're looking to establish separately this year as there's been an uptick in activity with the the the IXA um because that would need to be audited separately. So we are creating a separate fund for that um and that's up again from 50 to 75. Moving on to our CIP, it does serve as an outline for large scale capital expenditures and it is a plan. No expenditures are guaranteed to occur if we are unable to pay for them within the operating budget. Um, and I just included some of the concepts earlier that you all saw earlier. Next slide, please. Next. Yes, for the playground concepts that you all saw from Caroline Wreck. Um, we do know that those playground replacement does need to occur. So, those concepts are there for the 2 to 5. Next slide on the 12 to 5 as well. Um, and in the general N Jacobs, excuse me.

Yes. on that budget item. Did you kind of budget one one of the options? Did you use one of those options as a model? I use the top option so you can work your way backwards. Number three. Yes. Thank you.

Um moving on to the next slide. Um town hall rehab phase one is included in there. Um as well as the community park playground equipment uh budgeted um there at about 105. Uh we did defer the leaf truck for till 2028 as well as the the courthouse rehab and then the town hall ballroom for rehabilitation. Uh it's been moved to 2028 and we'll be looking at investigating that u with some preservations to determine the best path forward. Um in terms of the police uh we uh did have a lower number for that at first, but as I mentioned the USDA program that we used to leverage to fund um there's no funding for that currently. Um so we kicked that out to 2028. Um but we are budgeting for having to fund that on our own in the future. Moving forward um to the waterfront under the water quality improvement and wells project. This is our gross alpha project with BDH. Um those are the numbers that we have broken down in terms of working with Stantech and what they project moving forward. Um we have the 1.3 uh for this year. Then we do have a water meter replacement and I presented that um a couple months ago. Um there's no other changes to water fan under the sewer fund. Uh we did mention the sledge management upgrades for the belt pressing facility. Um if the pilot program for the bed the drying deering bags work, there's a possibility that that's an option we could go with long-term instead of just a short-term option. We are still investigating that and working with the state. Um, and Brady has identified additional work as it relates to the oxidation ditch rotors of about $435,600 as well as the sand filter rehabilitation which is not the same thing as the drain bed rehabilitation and dewatering box and that's there as well. Those will be the only updates and then we have deferred the generator lift station for Oakidge and Lacy Lane as there's a hazard mitigation grant that we will be able to receive funding uh to get those generators replaced or added. Uh moving forward in the budget summary,

there's the the roll up there with all of the numbers by him and all of the expenditures. This is our rate summary. And the next page, um I will highlight all of the proposed 27 rates are the same as the 26 rates with the exception of two. Um, as you you can recall, the county attorney, myself, and Donaport um did extensive work on updating our 301 special tax district numbers um through the strategic planning retreat and council um chose the option two um and with that rate um as a as identified by Davenport and calculated by Davenport, uh the 301 tax district rate will be at 31 um cents and that will also um the real estate will be separate from that at 13, which also brings it to about to 74. sense for that district. I know that's been a question. Uh the solid waste collection um have increased to 4%. So you see that there and those are the only two changes on the proposed rates. Are there any questions for Miss Jacobs at this time? On the next slide briefly, we're on to the budget timeline. Uh provided the estimates on April 1st. We are at the budget proposal today. uh set the tax rate for advertisement looking at moving forward with the uh budget public hearing for the 28th and then budget adoption by June 4th. And then in the next step slide kind of sums it up. Um, based on council direction today, uh, we'll have to get the ad in the paper by tomorrow at 2 to meet our May 12th deadline uh, to run an ad for May 12th as well as the 20th um, for the advertisement on May 28th and then adoption and appropriations on June 4th. And with that, concludes my presentation. Okay.

Any further questions from council? Dr. Chanel? I Okay. Yeah. How about you, Mr. Agamman? No, I was just going to say um do what you got to do to get this advertised. So, do we need to make a motion for that? Yes, you need to make a motion. I need to sign a motion. I'll make a motion that um we give it to you. Oh, it's even here for me. All right. All right. Staff staff recommends that the town council move to set a public hearing for May 28th and advertise for a real estate tax rate of 13 cents. And the budget budget public hearing

and then public hearing request for town council action needed. The budget public hearing is set and advertised and required required public hearing for Thursday, May 28th at 6 p.m. I have a motion from Councilman Hagerman. I have a second for Vice Mayor Coyle. Is there any discussion? I would like a roll call taken by the deputy clerk. Council member Haven. Yes. Council member Stor. Yes. Vice Mayor. Yes. Council member Chanel. Council member W. Yes. Council member. Yes. Council member. Yes.

Motion passes unanimously. We'll move on to item number 13 and that's the appointment of the interim town treasurer. And I will turn this over to the town manager at this moment. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Um, including in your packet is a resolution um that I'm presenting to propose the appointment of interim town treasurer, Miss Morgan, um, to uh, be effective tomorrow and be added to all of the uh, systems as well as the town accounts. So moved. Second. So, I have a motion um from Councilman Voit, a second from Councilman Hagaman. Is there any discussion?

Deputy Clerk, would you take a roll call, please? Yes. Council member, yes. Vice Mayor Coyle, yes. Council member, yes. Yes.

Motion passes unanimously. We'll move on to item number 14, appointment of deputy zoning administrator. At this time, I'll turn this over to Miss Adams Jacobs. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I'm including your packet as a note, as well as a resolution for appointment of deputy zoning administrator, Miss Dala ODM. Our um this will give her the authority to handle code enforcement matters. um as the deputy zoning administrator, essentially me delegating that authority to her uh to follow up on code enforcement matters, sign plans, and help with development review um in my absence if I'm able to attend to create more efficiency for the organization. So, I will need a a motion on this

that's still useful after the discussion we had earlier. Yeah. Okay. Well, so moved then. So, I move a motion and a second from Councilman Hagerman. Is there any further discussion? Would you please take a roll call? Deputy clerk. Council member, yes. Council member, yes. Yes. Council member Schol. Yes. Council member Web. Yes. Council member Vo. Yes. Council member B. Yes. Motion passes unanimously. Moving on to item 15, the sewer main replacement bid award approval. Miss Jacobs.

Thank you. Um, we did put out this RFP um, a while ago or IFB, excuse me, um, for the section um, further up North Main Street. Um, for that repair um, we did have some bids anyone. Um, and this is for the repair of manhole 128. So 124 to 128. Um the most uh responsive bidder came in as Langford Excavating um and Utilities LLC in the amount of $590,978.80. Um so we are um asking council support to authorize for authorization for myself and the town attorney to execute a contract with Langford um as soon as possible. The mayor was posted and so there'll be a 10-day protest period, but after that um to have them to move forward with that repair as quickly as possible. Do I have a motion from this council?

I have a quick question. Yeah, go ahead. That's from Manhole like what street to what street do you know? Is that sunset to uh I don't have to the gunshot? No, but not all the way to the gunshot. Okay. No, he don't know how many. This is the number. It's about 330 ft for what is the emergency section. So, okay. Did they give a time window on how long things will be shut down for this one? Um, I think they said a couple weeks uh for just this section. So, yes, a bit of a detour for that one. Will it be similar to the last one downtown?

Not as deep. Um, and so they hope that they can move um pretty quickly, but everything else is is similar. Will we be able to keep one lane of Main Street open and have traffic alternate going back and forth or will we have to shut Main Street down the way we did last summer? I believe one lane um could be accommodated, but I'm not going to speak on behalf of u the contractors. That's their responsibility to have a traffic plan approved by BOT and whatever BTO mandates we'll have to do.

And when will we know when can we get that information? After we go through the protest period and get under contract, we can get that information as quickly to you and the public. Um, last time we had the closure, we had a conversation with all of our business owners that were going to be impacted, but we have to communicate that through VOTE and we'll get notice out. Thank you. Are there any other questions? No. I mean, this is one of those things we have to do. Would you make a motion, please?

Got a little text to read here. I move to authorize the town manager and town attorney to execute a contract with Langford Excavating Utilities LLC in the amount of $590,978.80 and coordinate with the vendor all necessary details regarding priority project site 1- MH124 to MH128 of IFB-2026-2. I have a motion from Councilman Voit. Is there a second? I have a second from Councilwoman Davis. Is there any further discussion from council? Deputy, would you please take a roll call? Yes. Yes. Vice. Yes. Council member, yes. Council member Webb, yes.

Council member White, yes. Council member Davis, yes. Motion passes unanimously. Miss Adam Jacobs, do you have anything forformational items? We'll move on to our second public comment. The rules are the same as I outlined earlier. Would anyone like to come forward to speak at this time? Going once, twice. Closing public comment. Um, are there any member comments at this time? Miss Davis,

I have Mr. Wait, Mr. Web. Dr. Chenalt, Miss um Coyle, no. Mr. Store, no. Mr. Hagman, no. At this time, I would like to have a motion to go into close session, please. And after that motion, we will take a 5m minute recess. I move to go into close session pursuant to Virginia Code 2.2-3711A1. for discussion of performance of specific public officers to complete the performance evaluation of the town manager.

I have a motion from Councilman Wright and a second second for Councilman Hagman. All in favor, raise your right hand. Dr. Schnel, is your hand raised? Okay, the motion passes.

Councilman Hagerman. All in favor? Thank you. Thank you. Okay, we um are now coming out of close session. I would like to sir have our council persons certify that that we only spoke about what we went to close session for. Miss Davis, I certify. Mr. Wright, I certify. Mr. W, I certify. Dr. Shimalt, I certify. Thank you. Vice Mayor Cole, I certify. Councilman Stor, I certify. Councilman Hagman,

thank you. Um, at this time I would like to ask for um a motion on action for what we discussed and close session.

Madame Mayor, I'd like to make a motion that we uh given the recent performance evaluation of our town manager that we um give a merit-based salary increase of 10%. uh a one-time performance incentive for the over $11 million she has been awarded or secured for the town. A onetime performance u incentive of $25,000. And then the other three adjustments and amendments uh to the compensation package that we addressed in the closed session. So I have a motion from Councilman Stor. I have a second from Councilwoman Davis.

Yes. Is there any further discussion? Um, where is our deputy clerk to take a roll call? I'll do it. Miss Davis, Mr. Vo, yes. Mr. Web, Miss Coral, yes. Mr. Stor, yes. Mr. Chenel, Dr. Schmalt, thank you. And Mr. Hagen, yes. Motion passes unanimously. Is there any other business before this council?

Hearing none, I would like to ask for a motion to order. I make one second. Is there any discussion? All in favor, raise your right hand. All right, let's go eat. Thank you.