Board of Supervisors - Regular Meeting

Okay. I'm going to call to order this meeting of the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors on Monday, February 23rd, 2026. Our first order of business is to go into closed meeting. Be it resolved the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors of Montgomery County, Virginia, hereby enters into closed meeting for the purpose of discussing the following. Section 2.2-37115. Discussion concerning a prospective business or industry or the expansion of an existing business or industry where no previous announcement has been made of the business or industry's interest in locating or expanding its facilities in the community. One, project 2026-00002 and one discussion, consideration or interviews of prospective candidates for employment, assignment, appointment, promotion, performance, demotion, salaries, disciplining or resignation of specific officers, appointees, or employees of any public body, one library board. Is there a motion?

So move. Second. Okay. Madame clerk, if you'll call the role, please. Mr. King. Hi. Mr. Kits. Hi. Mr. Fijicowski. Hi. Mr. BS. Hi. Mr. Gravski. Hi. Miss Karan. I Chair Deontz. I. Seven eyes. We are in closed meeting. [clears throat] Get you.

Is there a motion to come out of closed session? So moved. Second. Okay. Is there any discussion? Madame clerk, if you'll call the role, please. Mr. King. I. Mr. Ficowski. I. Miss Biggs I Mr. Gravsky I Miss Karan I Mr. Kits I chair deonts I seven I's

next we need to certify our closed meeting oh there we go whereas the board of supervisors of Montgomery County has convened a closed meeting on this date pursuant to an affirmative recorded vote and in accordance with the provisions of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and whereas section 2.2-3711 2-3711 of the code of Virginia requires a certification by the board that such closed meeting was conducted in conformity with Virginia law. Now therefore be it resolved that the board of supervisors of Montgomery County, Virginia hereby certifies that to the best of each member's knowledge, one, only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements by Virginia law were discussed in the closed meeting to which this certification resolution applies. And two, only such public business matters as were identified in the motion conveying the closed meeting were heard, discussed, or considered by the board. Is there a motion?

So moved. Second. Okay. Is there any discussion? Madame clerk, if you'll call the role, please. Mr. Fikowski. I. Miss Biggs. I. Mr. Gravski. I. Miss. Karan. I. Mr. Kits. Hi. Mr. King. Hi. Chair Namz. I. Seven eyes. Okay. Next, we have our moment of silence and pledge of allegiance led by our county administrator, Angie Hill.

Please rise as you're able for a moment of silence and then join me as I lead us in the pledge. Let us pledge. 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.

Thank you. Thank you, Angie. First on our agenda this evening, we have a presentation of Montgomery County Public Schools fiscal year 27 budget. And I'm not sure who all is coming. All right, we've got a whole army of people coming up. Welcome. We're really glad that you're here. And I'm going to let everybody introduce themselves because I don't want to mess anything up. Good evening.

Turn your mic on if you don't mind. Sorry. Thank you. There we go. I'm always get confused about the red lights here or the red dot. But uh Chair Damas, Vice Chair, M I got You got to say your last name for me. Fidget. Fij Alcowski. [laughter] there will be a test.

Members of the board, we um thank you. We're we're excited to present this to you. Um as a as a new superintendent, I just want to say um we appreciate your support of our schools and and I look forward to working with you throughout the next year in developing our next budget. Um I do invite you out to our schools on my visits. Um anytime you want to see what's going on with our with our school division, please pick up the phone, call me. Uh we want to be very transparent and outward facing on all the things going on within our schools. And again uh just thank you for supporting us. [clears throat]

Good evening, Madame Chair, board members, Miss Hill. Um Mr. Bendon and I appreciate the opportunity here tonight to present to you the school board's proposed operating budget for fiscal year 2627. I'm gonna make sure we have the clicker just about that. Sorry, went too [laughter] far. Is there a keyboard there? You can hit the back arrow. We're used to the clicker. Sorry.

There we go.

Great. Great. So this evening's presentation will highlight the division's accomplishment during the current fiscal year, outline key financial indicators shaping the proposed budget, provide an overview of the governor's proposed budget, and review our budget priorities and proposed additions. We will conclude with a summary of the proposed operating budget and the school nutrition program budget. This year, the division implemented salary compression adjustments that reduced the pay scales from more than 30 steps to 20. This restructuring allowed us to offer more competitive starting salaries while improving overall compensation alignment. Competitive salaries are essential to attracting and retaining highquality staff. The division also increased the minimum hourly wage from $15 to $16 per hour, further enhancing our competitiveness within the region. The implementation of the free student breakfast has increased participation by 40% this year with 3,150 students now participating. This expansion supports student readiness and academic performance. Additionally, year-end funds for fiscal year 2025 enable the division to allocate additional revenue to the self-funded self health insurance reserve, strengthening our longtimeterm financial position. It is important to begin with an overview of our four primary revenue sources that support our division operations. Federal funds are those that are derived primarily of title programs, Medicaid reimbursements, and special education services. State funds represent our largest funding source, and that is driven by the standards of quality or SOQ. The SOQ

establishes the constitutionally mandated minimum requirements for public education in Virginia, including staffing and program standards. the state calculation tool, which we talk about on a pretty regular basis here during budget time. It was most recently updated December 17th and it determines our funding levels. County funds um as you're aware are provided in accordance with the code of Virginia and are based on those ESO requirements as well. They typically reflect reflect an approximate 55% state and 45% local cost sharing ratio. And then local funds being our smallest source of revenue are those which just include reimbursements, refunds, rebates, and donations. The Virginia Department of Education calculates school funding using several factors, including the local composite index or LCI and the average daily membership or ADM. The LCI, which is updated every two years, reflects a locality's ability to pay based on several local financial indicators. The most recent update in November of 2025 increased the division's LCI slightly. As the LCI increases, the state expects a greater local contribution resulting in reduced state funding. SOQ funding is updated annually based on ADM. Enrollment is reported by the division twice per year with the final ADM determined on March 31st. The total on March 31st then determines the final state funding for that current fiscal year. In 2027 fiscal year, the state reduced division's projected ADM from 9,115 students to 8,898. A recent demographic study that was

conducted by the district did not project a decline of that magnitude. Therefore, the proposed budget this evening is based on a more moderate ADM projection of 9,05. While divisions may budget using their own projections, the final March 31st ADM determines actual state funding for that fiscal year. Due to the state's estimated enrollment decline, SOQ funded positions decreased from 711 positions to 688 positions, a reduction of approximately 23 positions for the district. The district currently employs 1,824 staff members, leaving the division responsible for funding positions beyond the SOQ allocation. Although overall enrollment has declined, the demand for student support services continues to increase. These services require personnel and resources that are not fully recognized within the SOQ funding model. We'll talk a little bit more about that this afternoon. [clears throat] In 2023, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission released a comprehensive study identifying the long-standing funding challenges across Virginia school divisions. We have included a link in the presentation if you're interested in taking a look at the study. Um, the study found that on average, Virginia school divisions receive approximately 14% less funding than comparable divisions nationwide, roughly $1,900 less per student. Based on our current enrollment, that equates to an estimated funding gap of approximately 17 million. [snorts] [clears throat and cough] While overall student enrollment has declined, the complexity and intensity of student needs continues to grow, particularly in special education and mental health services. These services are driven by federally mandated

requirements and individual student needs, not by general enrollment trends. The division is legally and eth ethically obligated to provide the services to the students as required. The district filled several of those open positions for these service this year. We were fortunate to get several speech um language therapists. Um and the cost so far this fiscal year, as you can see on this slide, um has reflected in a savings of hiring employees versus contracting for the services. We have found that contracting for the services, we pay approximately three times the amount that we would in hiring employees. And you also receive when you hire employees and and they remain, you know, retained in the division, you'll find that you'll receive more quality services as well. [clears throat] Students requiring special services often need lower staffto student ratios, individualized programming, contracted services, and targeted interventions. Additionally, increasing mental health needs have required expanding counseling, behavioral supports, and preventative services to maintain safe and supportive learning environments. As a result, reductions in overall enrollment do not proportionally reduce the resources that are required to meet the obligations. The Virginia Department of Education released the school performance and support framework in December, establishing a unified statewide accountability system. The proposed budget strategically aligns those resources with the new standards and to support measurable student growth and continuous improvement. The key priorities in this request are targeted interventions, student readiness, and instructional excellence. The attached chart highlights the

district's state revenue trend since 2022. This is based on actual funding from 2022 through 2025. The notable increases that you see in 2024 and 2025 were primarily due to one-time allocations, both from all-in tutoring funds to the tune of about $3 million that we received in in 2024 and $1 million for a one-time employed bonus. Because these funds were non-reoccurring, they do not res represent sustained growth in state support. As a result, the projected state funding for 2027 raises concerns about the adequacy of ongoing revenue to support current operational needs and maintaining our existing programs and services. Over the last five years, annual state revenues have typically exceeded $5 million. However, the projected $3 million for the current year represents the lowest funding level in over a five-year period. When we look at the history, [clears throat] as previously noted, the state reduced the ADM and SOQ funded positions for many divisions. These division these reductions generate much of the savings that are reflected in the Virginia Department of Education's projections. It is important to note that the proposal was introduced by the outgoing governor. Adjustments are expected as the general assembly continues and the state calculation tool will likely be revised throughout this budget process. Should funding state funding increase or decrease, um the division's local funding request would be adjusted accordingly. Some key highlights of the current governor's proposed budget include a 2% salary increase for both fiscal year 27 and 28 funded by the state only for SOQ positions. The division must fund the

remaining cost for the nonSOQ positions. It also includes one-time bonuses of 2% in both fiscal years, again funded only for those SOQ positions. And the last bullet we're very excited about. Um there's an increased school construction grant funding. Um this this is huge for schools divisions. In in the past our division has not been able to participate. There were certain requirements that could not be met. Um but our current administration worked very hard. Um Dr. Dun Levy, our director of grants and Dr. Brown, director of facilities, they have been in talks. They've worked to do what is required to meet those requirements and be able to apply for that funding. They they are working on that process. Hope to meet the application before the deadline and we're very hopeful to secure some funds for some ongoing capital needs. The district's budget development process includes meetings with all departments, schools, and employee groups to discuss priorities and op operational needs. In addition, multiple discussions take place during schoolboard meetings to asssure transparency and align with our strategic goals. Based on those discussions and the identified needs across division, the proposed vit budget advances the following objectives. Salary enhancements, no increase to employee health insurance costs, health insurance offered for the first time for bus drivers, support for existing operational and instructional needs, expansion of student mental health services, and continued compliance with state requirements. And I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Bennett, and he will talk a little bit more about those additions.

All right. Thank you. So, I'll give a quick uh start off with a quick overview of the budget additions. Um, so the proposed budget includes several salary enhancements uh to help improve the division's recruitment and retention efforts. Uh, state funding provided for the SOQ positions in addition to the local match will also be utilized to cover a portion of these costs. Um, so first, uh, the proposed budget, uh, includes a 2% raise in salary step increase for proposed uh, for employees on our teacher pay scales. Um those mainly include teachers, school counselors, librarians, athletic directors. Um second, uh pay scale adjustments and salary step increases for support staff. Um this will help uh raise the starting pay and help uh the district remain competitive to the surrounding school districts as well as make the steps more consistent across all pay scales. Uh next, uh we would have hourly and daily rate increases for substitutes. um that way uh to remain consistent, the starting rate for substitute pay would uh be in line with their respective salaried position. And lastly, uh increased uh minimum hourly rate from $16 to $17. That's as a result of the pay scale adjustments. Uh next, a 3% increase in the employer cost of health insurance is proposed to help support our self-funded health reserve. This will allow the district to continue providing quality health and dental insurance options at no additional cost to employees while addressing the needs of the health reserve. Uh a health insurance coverage is also offered as Angie mentioned for bus drivers uh which is a benefit offered at most of the surrounding school districts and it allows MCPS to provide consistent and competitive benefit packages uh for these uh employees. Uh we also have uh several operational and instructional increases included uh due to the rising costs. These are net increases for items such as textbooks, supplies and utilities and software.

Some software which was originally purchased during the co pandemic to address learning loss uh was initially covered by ESSER funding. Uh the these software subscriptions have proven to been uh become beneficial to student learning. So, we want to continue to include those uh in our in our instruction. And we also have several new programs and initiatives included in the proposed budget. Um the first is funding for an alternative education program. Uh this is designed to be a structured alternative uh to extended student extended student suspensions for grades 6 through 12. Uh this estimated cost is for staffing only as one-time expenditures are included in the current budget. Second, we have uh funding to cover the port a portion of the AP exam fees. Um $80,000 is proposed as a pilot program for these fees and the administration is exploring other potential funding opportunities. And lastly, uh is to provide free lunch for all students. Uh free breakfast is already being provided this year, but this will establish universal free meals for all students going. And lastly, uh we have new personnel which I'll discuss on the next slide. Okay. So, first uh the proposed budget includes two teachers to serve uh the alternative education program. We also have six elementary assistant principles uh three of which were approved in the current fiscal year. And this addition will will ensure each elementary school has a full-time assistant principal. and our three largest schools will have a second AP to address the growing student needs of these schools. Two ASL teachers and one library media specialist are included to better meet our state SOQ requirements. One CTE marketing teacher is included to ensure equity among our school strands where marketing is not currently offered for students. An additional school counselor and two behavioral specialists are

included to increase mental health services and support. uh two speech therapists and one interpreter are included to reduce our contracted service costs that Angie had mentioned which could ultimately be a significant savings for the school district. We have one bilingual leaison family engagement coordinator to assist with our increasingly diverse student population. One EMT teacher which is a specialized type of instruction that's not currently offered for students. One part-time testing coordinator assistant is needed to further support school operations. And lastly, uh we propose increasing the number of work days for pair of professionals to provide additional time for ensure to ensure proper training uh for these important positions. The next slide shows a summary table of the proposed additions in the school operating fund. A couple things to note on this slide. Uh one is the increase in the transfer to the school nutrition fund in the amount of $1,145,95. This is due to the 40% increase in the breakfast participation over last year and the addition of the free lunch uh for all students. Another thing to note is the budget reductions uh listed for fuels and bus purchases. The reduction in fuels is due to the completion and implementation of the fuel tanks project. And although fuel savings associated with this project have not been realized yet, we do anticipate uh $1 per gallon savings which equates to about $250,000 per year. The other budget reduction for bus purchases is $310,000, which uh is for two buses that are in the current uh fiscal year budget. Historically, bus purchases have been funded through capital funding. Uh so we plan to use capital funds for these purchases the next fiscal year. This table also uh shows our projected revenues by uh funding source. Uh the requested increase for the county would be $8,296,483.

All right. And the next slide summarizes the school nutrition fund um and highlights the budget priorities. First is personnel retention. A salary step increase and pay scale adjustment is also proposed for cafeteria staff and the administrative positions charged to this fund. Uh, next is facilities maintenance. Uh, $200,000 is included for the replacement of outdated kitchen equipment, which is critical to the operational efficiency of the program. Program sustainability, which addresses the rising cost of purchase services and supplies associated with the increase in participation. Universal school meals, uh, which as I mentioned, expanding the division's free breakfast initiative to provide free lunch for all students. And uh lastly a price uh price stability. This the pro proposed budget will maintain the current alle cart milk and adult meal prices to ensure stability despite these r rising operational costs. And in conclusion, we sincerely appreciate the board's continued commitment to our schools. We recognize the fiscal constraints uh that are impacting both the county and the school division and we're committed to working collaboratively together going forward. We appreciate your time, consideration, and welcome any questions you have.

Great. Thank you very much um for the presentation and also um for the light reading that you have provided which I'm sure all of us will um take advantage of being able to look through. Um I'll see who has questions. I'm sure we have many to kick us off. Miss Kuran, do you have any questions to start things off? Not yet. Not yet. Okay. Mhm. Uh, [clears throat] Supervisor Gravski,

um, thank you all for for the information. Uh, like Chair Deont said, there's there's a lot here to to digest and things like that. Um, and and so, you know, just just looking at some kind of back of the napkin calculations off the top. Um, it looks like we're, you know, over the last two years, our per pupil spending is up maybe about 20%, 22%. Is that about what you guys are coming up with? And um I think we started some of the presentation with you needing to address uh some you know some shortcomings and and I guess you know the question is ensuring that we're investing in the right investing those incremental dollars into the right programs to make sure that it's getting to the the students that need it. And um I guess there wasn't much of a question in that. I apologize as much of a statement, but um those those are some of the things that are just sticking out for me right now.

Thank you. Thank you. We'll have a lot of opportunity between now and adoption, too. So, um Supervisor Bixs, did you have any questions? Well, thank you for the presentation, of course, and um and we have a copy of your presentation. Absolutely. And uh something that you know that has come up in I think our discussion at the leaison meeting so that everyone understands. So when an employee moves up on a salary scale right they move up they get a step increase but they're also going to get the 2% increase on top of that.

That is correct. So what is proposed um for the the teacher scale in in this budget request is a 2% increase as well as a step increase. So we do have steps in our our salary ranges. Um so it includes both the 2% and a step increase. Okay. So does that include like on our principles uh scale and all of that do they do the same thing?

So principles are actually on our support services scales. the the only employees included on teacher scales are um teachers, believe guidance counselors, athletic directors, just a small group um beyond that. Um so everyone else is included in support staff. So that is um principles, that's all support staff, that's uh bookkeepers, administrative assistants. So the the current request for that is to do a salary scale adjustment and that's looking at the market um for all of these positions. We we did some comparable studies to other districts in the area to come up um with the ranges to see where we were in ranges. Um we were having higher turnovers in certain areas and we were trying to determine if that was the the primary cause for that. And looking at that, there were several areas that we were very deficient in. So this is a chance to raise those up. So that would be the adjustment for those particular employees plus a step increase.

Okay. And all of that is included in this budget. Yes, ma'am. Correct. Yes. All right. Thank you. I'm sure we'll have other questions later, but thank you, Supervisor Kits. So, as I'm going through this, and I'm not want to go into details. That's on y'all, but it's about a 13 13 and a quarter somewhere in there. 13.2 somewhere in there. Again, back of an AC. I'm not a math guy. He is. So, um, but we're talking about a 13% increase on based on what we think we're going to get from the state and what we need to try to get from us. Correct. I just want to make sure I'm looking at it about right.

Close enough ballpark. Just Yeah. I'm not holding you to anything. I understand. It's It's an off question. Very close. I think it was 12 and some change. Yes. Okay. Okay. Yep. That's all I have right now. Thank you,

Supervisor King. Did you have any questions? Thank y'all for being here. And on some of this, I seen it on some employees a 2% pay increase plus a bonus. So, so the governor's um current budget proposal includes a bonus. So, um if that would continue through the process and and that was um finalized within the budget, we we would include that. Um that we have to wait and see where it lands as far as the budget if that's actually approved. Right now, this particular request um is for teachers a 2% raise and a step increase. And then for support services, it would be a step increase and a salary adjustment. Um bonuses. um we have had them over the last couple of years. Right now the proposed budget does include um I believe it's a 2% in both fiscal years um we if if it's mandated so if you if you do not take the funds and provide that bonus um then you do give the funds back. So we would look at that. But what is difficult for the division as I'm sure it is for the county um is that our the the money that's provided and supported for the bonus only is provided for SOQ positions and as we stated that's that's around 700 positions for our district and we have another 1,00 that you would have to take a look at that for. Um so so that would have to be considered in that but if you don't spend the bonus money on bonuses then you give it back to the state.

How much of a bonus was y'all thinking? Um we have not even looked at that projection at all at this point. Um you know as it gets closer if if it would actually continue to be a part of of the budget and it was actually approved as as a final budget um then we would take a look at that. In years past we have lowered the amount to be able to spread it across and provide it for everyone. We simply wouldn't have the funds to um do the full amount for everyone. Um, there are provisions in there that allow you to to spread that out evenly among other employees.

Okay. And just one more just for information and please correct me if I'm wrong. [laughter] I'm looking at Angie. The state says local should be given the schools 33,51,000. Right now, local is giving the schools 67 million 953. That's just for information. I think he's um looking at the local require what required effort

what the state says we're required to pay. So, yes. So the the state um divides up there's a local match that we are required to meet and those are for certain categories of of expenditures and so that that basically says if if they provide us for if they provide us for the amount they have allocated for any of that we are required to do that match um with local funds in order to meet that in order to be able to keep the funds from the state and it's broken down by every category you'll see there are SOQ there are lottery funded amounts um they're broken down for vocational gifted did it's um it's it's by line item. Um I think that's the SOQ amount for 2025. Okay. Right. Yes.

That's just for people's information. Local dollars are going more than what we required to do. And and I we can state that um McGomery County has always provided um greater than the required amount and we very much appreciate your support. Thank you, ma'am. Vice Chair Fijowski. Um, good evening. Um, on page, uh, 15, I think it was one of the last pages you put up, um, you had a a thing there, a comment next to the breakfast program, an increase of 40%. What what is that increase over over what? Breakfast.

Yes, the increase is um from breakfast the past year. So, it's comparative to last year's breakfast um with the introduction of free breakfast for this year. It's the increase has been 40% um since last year. Okay. Um I think we got into this conversation last year, but um do we know how many kids would normally get the free breakfast without adding it for everybody? Sure. Versus how many are taking it now this 40%. Gotcha. So um we we actually have 48% um qualified um free and reduced students in our district. Um so our our percentage now is 48%.

So they would qualify for free. So it's about 8% difference in extra students taking advantage of it. Yes, that would be correct. Um do you know approximately where we stand on what we spend on each student altogether all sources? Do we know for for meals? No, just will we spend to educate a child for one year?

Yes. So there are um there's actually a chart um in in the book and I would have to take a look at where that is. Um, I want to say it's it's I believe the current cost is somewhere around 16,000 and that's for this budget. That is correct. Yes, it's on page 16855 is what I calculated based on the operating budget. That's correct.

And on page 35, there's a total cost per people at the top of the page. Um it it it goes from fiscal year 201718 to 2627 just so you can see the rise and and and you will see over the last probably four to five years a pretty steady and increase um in those costs. Um and and that was really as we mentioned it's it's really more about these specialized services that are increasing these costs for us. Thank you.

Okay. And I'm going to follow up a little bit on what um Supervisor Biggs was asking. Um so on the teachers that receive in the proposed budget, they would receive a 2% raise and a step. What is that increase? Is it like a 3.2% increase overall or how does that translate into an overall increase on the teachers? And then we'll visit support staff next. We we have these averages here for you. We thought you might ask that question. Yeah. For teachers, it's an average of about 3.8%. Okay. Across the

And then on the support staff where it's a step in a in a pay scale adjustment, am I saying using the correct verbiage? Um what does that increase equate to? Uh on average it's about 8.6%. Um but the position the employees at the lower pay scales would receive uh the higher rate rate of increase. Okay. Kind of skewing the numbers but on average about 8%. And moving the minimum wage up a dollar I'm sure also kind of skews the average there a little bit. Okay. Um those were my only questions. Oh wait, hold on. I'm sorry. I had one more. Um, do and I'm sure it's in your presentation, but do you know off the top of your head the cost for health insurance for bus drivers?

Yes. Um, to offer it to bus drivers is about 250,000. Okay. Yeah. Thank you. Okay. Did anybody else have any other questions before I have a comment? Supervisor.

Yeah. The reason I wanted to ask about the funding for the salaries is that, you know, we've sort of worked hard over the last years to sort of keep the county employees and the school employees, you know, within the same, you know, salaries as far as, you know, each year. So, I think that's an important number to know, you know, as we go forward so that people understand it's not just a 2% that folks are getting, it's a little bit more. So that reflects back to what happens on the county side with employees. So that's why I ask. Thank you.

Okay. And I am not seeing any more questions from anybody. Okay. Thank you all very much all of you for being here tonight. We really really appreciate it and we look forward to many more conversations in the coming weeks.

Thank you. I have a question. As we go through this and we're reading it, do we want to do the same thing? Like if we have a question, we send it to Angie and then she replies back to everybody. I think that's probably a good practice because several of us are probably all going to have the same questions and so um if we have a question looking through the book just sending it directly to Angie and then compiling those and and responding back to all of us that would be super helpful. We can compile those and um send them on to the schools and then reply to the entire board.

Great. Thank you for bringing that up, Supervisor BigS. Um okay, just one one question. When do we have when's our next joint meet with the school board?

It's on March uh 16th. I'm going to present my proposed budget to the board of supervisors on March 9th. And then we'll have the joint meeting with the schools on this March 16th. And then the week after that is when we're scheduled for the board of supervisors to establish an advertised tax rate. Okay. Any more questions? All right. So, let's move on um to our public hearing this evening. Um we had a scheduled public hearing related to uh the change in um voting locations or polling locations from Squire Student Center to Johnston soon student center on Virginia Tech's campus. This was um advertised for the June 16th, 2026 primary. However, things have been changing at the general assembly level. Um, and it sounds like now that primary will take place on August the 4th, 2026. So, the public hearing that we advertise this evening needs to be cancelled later on in our agenda. We do have a new business item to readvertise a public hearing with the the new date. Um, but I do want to see if there's anybody in the audience that came to speak to this public hearing about the polling place location. Um, if there's anybody here, we can go ahead and hear from them. Okay. I don't see anybody coming forward. Marty, did you have anything to add or did I handle that correctly?

I think you did great. Yeah.

Oh, thanks Marty. Appreciate it. Okay. So, moving on then to public address. Um, and I'm going to go ahead and go through the guidelines and then we also have them posted around the room. So, the guidelines for public address, a signup sheet was made available in the hallway outside of the meeting room. Speakers are requested to provide their name, uh, address and phone number or where in the county they reside. Um, and then following the names on the signup sheet, we'll allow anybody else in the room to come forward and speak. Each speaker has four minutes whether speaking as an individual or as a representative and all comments must be directed to the chair and other supervisors from the speakers lectturn at the front of the room. Um debate between speakers and members of the audience will not be allowed. Speakers may leave any written statements or comments to the supervisors with the board clerk here at the end. And speakers will be judged out of order should they engage in personal attacks, use profanity or abusive language or debate with the audience and not address the supervisors. Finally, accepted etiquette is to not applaud or make loud responses. So, we did have a signup sheet in the hallway. I do have three people that have signed up. Um, we'll go through those and then anybody else that wants to speak can come forward. First, we have David Vanhuser. Looks like Jen's coming up to help you out. Welcome, sir.

Yes, ma'am. My name is David Vanhuser. uh live here in the town, but I own land in the in the county. Uh I've got a problem with a neighbor here with the uh septic system. Uh the picture that we got pulled up here, I can't really show you much on the septic system. Uh, it points here to the tank. But when he built this pool, he poured a pad for this pool with one of these big pump trucks. This is how the the thing actually works with the concrete in the back. But this big pump truck come down in there. This tank wasn't showing at that time. And when that pump truck come down in here, that is when he's busted that tank. And if you see the picture here, it shows that they should be two tanks a certain distance off the house. The picture here only has one tank. It does show that one tank, but that should be the pump tank, and the sewage would have to run up the hill. It's It's not correct. And I don't know where these property lines here are, but this this buildings ain't off the property line either. But this line here is not correct. I'm not sure what what this GIS site showing, but the uh like I said, that tank wasn't showing at the time when he come down here with this pump truck to pour this pad for this pool and that's when that tank got busted. But there is a problem there.

All right. Thank you very much um for your time this evening, sir. And I think um a member of staff is going to follow up with you again. All right. Great. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you.

All right. And then um next we have Anna Vijayan. And following U Miss Vijayan, we have Carola Hos. And I think we've got a presentation being loaded as well. Great. Thank you, Jen. Welcome. Hi, my name is Anna Vayan and I live in district A. Um, there are many factors that led to the budget increase you saw in the school board's FY27 proposed budget. This presentation will focus on just one of these factors, specifically the need for significant salary scale adjustments for MCPS support staff. In particular, um the school board's approved budget includes $3.15 million in salary scale adjustments for support staff. The proposed salary scale adjustments account for 26% of the total school budget increase or 38% of the increase in the requested amount from the county. So the need for salary scale adjustments is a major reason why the requested budget increase is so large this year. Many school support staff positions have parallels within county government. On the following slides, we will show some salary comparisons for specific positions in MCPS and in a Montgomery County. You will see just how big the gaps are between what the schools pay and what the county pays for similar positions. Um the following slides are just a selection. There are many other positions with similar discrepancies in pay. In total, salary scale adjustments

of $3.15 million are needed to establish organizational parody, meaning bringing MCPS compensation up to where county positions already are. Um, we're starting with custodians or housekeepers. Um, I do want to note that the salary comparisons I'm showing you here are the same as those that appeared in a schoolboard presentation of January 6th, but our numbers do differ slightly from that presentation. And the reason for the difference is because that the numbers they presented um were um included county numbers from FY25. Well, I've updated the counting numbers to the FY26 numbers in my presentation. Okay. So, the MCPS starting salary for custodians was $33,280 this year, while the start starting salary for Montgomery County was over 34,500. And note also that Rowano County schools also paid over 30 40 34,500. Now the MCPS budgeted starting salary for FY27 um with the salary scale adjustment is 35,360. Um this is the only position um in the presentation where the school board is proposing updating the salary scale to a number where the starting salary is a number greater than that for Montgomery County this year. And I'm going to guess that that's because of very real issues with recruitment and retention for custodians along with the fact that custodians are currently one of the very lowest paid employee groups at $16 an hour. Um here's a slide for administrative assistance. MCPS starting salary is $33,280.

Well, Montgomery County and Rowan Oak County Public Schools starting salaries are both over 40,000. So you can see from the bars it's a significant difference. And the MCPS um MCPS is proposing increasing the starting salary for FY27 to 39,520. Um [clears throat] still less than the amount that um Montgomery County pays. Um bookkeepers is a very similar um situation. Um [clears throat] and I need to stop there. Thank you.

Thank you. And then next up, are you continuing the presentation? Okay, great. Welcome.

Thank you. My name is Carolas and I live in Reiner. So again, just to continue these slides, the goal was to look at equivalent positions between MCPS, Montgomery County employees, and then Rono County Public Schools. And um so we've got this these these large disparities for the um paraprofessionals the um there's no equivalent those would be the the aids that are working with directly with students. Those are no equivalent for the county employees but um again Rono public schools are being being paid more than more than ours. If we look at um a human resource specialist or a finance person, the um starting salaries for MCPS is 35,000 whereas in Rono County schools is 46,000 and an equivalent finance person working for you all in the county is earning 56,000. That's a huge disparity in in pay. And so again, MCAPS is planning to bring that starting salary up to 54,000 next year to make things more comparable. Similar with with a technology technician, somebody who can help, you know, set up the computers and that sort of thing. Um MCPS is um has a starting salary of 39,000 whereas Rono County and Montgomery County are starting at 48,000 for the county and 56,000 for Rono County public schools. So um again MCPS is proposing an increase but it would still be somewhat lower than what the county is paying for equivalent positions. technology analyst um we think is parallel to the county position called

application specialist. The MCPS starting salary is 54,60 in Rono County and Montgomery County um starting salaries are both over 62,000. So again, a pretty large large jump. Um we didn't present a slide for HVAC positions. HVAC salaries were um increased by our school board last fall when they found that the MCPS was paying $39,12 $279 for HVAC specialists whereas the county was paying $59,136. So a $20,000 disparity and they'd had a vacant HVAC position for over two years. This chronic underfunding of schools can lead to neglected maintenance which becomes more costly in the long run. So that was something that they already corrected for this fiscal year. They just felt they could not, you know, they couldn't maintain their buildings and so they increased the HVAC technician pay for last, you know, this for this current year last fall. But um, as Supervisor Biggs mentioned, you know, noted that, you know, parody and salary increases between school and county staff was something that that y'all were interested in. But if the salary itself is not on par, then obviously the schools are going to need a higher increase to get there. And as um Ann of Hen mentioned, establishing that greater parity with the county will cost about 30 38% of the increase that the school board is requesting. But we really hope that you feel that treating all of our employees right is important whether they work directly for the county or for the schools. And not to mention that it will serve some of the chronic problems that the schools have been experiencing recruiting and retaining staff to help keep the schools running. And so again, we're talking about people's livelihoods. Um, their salary really matters and we hope

they'll advertise a tax rate increase that will allow these employees to be paid at least on par with employees in similar positions with the county. Thank you. Thank you. Is there anybody else in the room that would like to come forward to speak during public comment? Come on up. Just give us one second to get the screen changed back over. Thank you, Jen. Welcome.

Welcome. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Crystal Melo. Live in Charlottesville. Um, I was coming to update y'all on MVP's response to FK, which MVP didn't completely respond, and now they're saying they could finish on March 20th. And I just want to point that many of us asked for an extension on comments um for an 1800page application. Y'all asked for that. Morgan Griffith asked for that. Diet Sam Russul asked for longer than 15 days to comment. um during the longest government shutdown and also during Thanksgiving week. We we didn't get that opportunity, but they do. And it was only less than 100 pages that they had to respond to. So, I just wanted to point that out. What we're dealing with um things MVP hasn't answered yet. No bat survey has been done at the site yet. A formal assessment for endangered Indiana bats, northern longeared bats, bats is still being prepared. A biological assessment is still happening. No final storm water or erosion control plans for the swan compressor station, which they will be using municipal sources uh for that. They're in Eastmon, which many people say they already have low water pressure. Maybe y'all have heard about that also. Um, no final site maps or schemics, alignment sheets showing exactly where everything will be in relation to the highway, railroad, and river. Well, head protection coordination with McGomery County hasn't happened yet. This is all the things that FK has asked for that MVP hasn't responded to uh as of Friday of last week. Um water uh Virginia Department of Health confirmed the compressor station site is within the watershed of the Western

Virginia Water Authority Spring Hollow Intake and Reservoir. McGomery County drinking water coordination has not happened yet. Compressor station size. The equivalent size of the compressor station pad and the swan compressor station is similar to the other stations. However, in addition to the compressor station pad, the total area of 24.7 acre operational area for the Swan compressor station, which it was 18 when we started this in November, it's already grown. um that will be permanently graded to create the level pad surface, proposed storm water management features, proposed on-site stockpiles, area for the above ground and underground electric utility power feed, and modifications to on-site access roads that are needed within the compressor station site boundaries. These additional requirements are either not present at Bradshaw, Harris and Stalworth Stalworth where I think you visited Steve compressor station or are more extensive at the Swan compressor station due to its unique sightspecific configuration and design. The noise survey. A noise survey was conducted January 23rd and 24th of 2025 to measure one day. They put out this to listen. Four nearby homes in a church and a fire station says primary noise recorded traffic trains, insects, and birds. Existing ambient level 49.1 dBm. One home received a math adjusted reading because of its it sits further from the road than the microphone. The noise levels were then modeled for what noise would be once the station was in operation. Noise increase range from point4 to 3.2 dB during normal operations. All six stay below the federal 55. The closest residents 1,000 ft away was left out of the original noise study. FK caught it. MVP added it measured it at 48.9 existing predicted 52 at the station as the station opens.

The closest residents noise level during emergency shutdowns, blowdowns was 57.9 above the 55 federal limit. MVP's position is that 55 limit only applies to normal operations, not emergency events. They're saying that the blowdowns are an emergency events, but they're planned. They're going to happen. So, I don't understand why that's an emergency situation. I'll get back to you on that, but it doesn't seem fair. It's already over. So, just want to give you an update. Thank you all so much.

Thank you very much. Is there anybody else that would like to come forward to address the board on any topic? Seeing no one else moving to come forward, I'm going to close our public address for this evening. Uh we do not have an addendum to the agenda. So, we'll move to the consent agenda. Is there a motion? Second. Is there any discussion on the consent agenda? Madame clerk, if you'll call the role, please. Miss Biggs, I. Mr. Graphsky, I. Miss Karan, I. Mr. Kits, I. Mr. King, I. Mr. Ficowski, [snorts] I. Chair Deamontz, I. Seven eyes.

Okay. And now we'll move into new business. Our first item of new business this evening is a resol resolution to amend the county's personnel policies and procedures to include an acceptable usage policy and AI policy. Angie, thank you. Troy Cole, our IT director, who you all know, is here to present to you tonight. He's going to give a little bit of information about uh these policies. We do have policies that exist in our personnel policies, but they um needed some updates and this is the AI policy in specific is going to give a framework for that. Um so, Troy, I'll turn it over to you.

Thank you. Uh thank you everybody and I appreciate this opportunity to talk to you about these. Um these two policies are very important to the county and I think you'll have an understanding as we kind of move through these slides. [clears throat and cough] Uh so AI is definitely a hot topic for all counties governments. It's it's um constantly evolving. It's it's growing. AI is constantly learning and it's becoming more of a a common place and it creates new challenges for us to manage and it brings in new risks for us to factor. So here on this first slide, I want to kind of cover those risks. And there's a lot more than what are here, but sensitive information, information that can be breached uh and leaked out on the internet for anybody to to come across. it could be compromised due to the way this information is processed and stored in these different AI um learning models that are available to people like chat GPT um Otter AI. So this information once it's stored all the AI models actually learn and share this information. So that's the part where you know we have to be able to um sorry we have to be able to protect that information. If AI is learning the stuff that we're putting into it then that makes it available to other people when AMA asks the same question or they ask for examples that stuff could be fed back and we don't want that sensitive information to come public knowledge. So AI AI output should always be reviewed because it can create an answer if it doesn't have one. This is called hallucination. And when generating output that output could be incorrect. I think everybody here has used autocorrect at some point

in time or some type of predictive text. How many of you have been put in a situation where it's put in the wrong word or it's come across with the wrong type of meaning that it's not what you wanted? So, we're always talking when you create content with AI, you need to be able to review that information or even maybe let the person that's taking the information from you know that it was created with AI at some point in time to help you. And then misinterpreting data. AI relay relies on the training data which can be end up biased if it fails to understand context and nuances from its sources. Again, it's only as good as the information that's put into it. And some of that can be inaccurate, just as inaccurate as it can be fed back to you. We've seen AI create fictional legal cases. They've appeared in research for several cases leading to sanctions against attorneys and that's not a good thing. And we don't want our employees, you know, to end up in a situation like that either. But there's good. I don't want to scare everybody with all the bad. There are good things. Uh local governments are commonly using AI to increase productivity and automation for things like document processing, workflows, scheduling, chat bots for frequently asked questions like on a website and even language translation. I mean these are the good things. These are the things that you know create time savings and that's that's what we want to do if you we use AI. So on our next slide, this policy aims to focus on the acceptable behavior for safe usage of AI systems by county employees. As AI advances and incorporated into our work environments, there will be a need for a level of oversight. And that's

that's all we can do as this thing continues to grow. So, this new policy will be the framework and it'll provide the safety guidelines for all employees here in the county so we can provide a level of comfort when it's being used. So we have the uh the focus on the acceptable behavior and we have prevent prohibiting usage of sensitive operational data and personal information. And I know sensitive can refer to multiple different items. But if it's something in your department or in your area that you're focusing on and it's sensitive to you, that's the type of stuff we don't want shared because inevitably it could become public knowledge. Um, and then you your guidelines for like public uh public PII information and sieges requirements, different things like that. Uh, we want to be able to protect those. Uh and again I'm going to hit on the subject of the output must be reviewed prior to incorporating into any deliverable. you know, we want to make that known so that just like when you send an email from your phone, a lot of people have the the part like, hey, this was sent from my mobile because you want to make sure that there could be some inaccuracies and if you label something as this output has been generated by AI, people know to be a little more um curious to the information and make sure that it's correct. Um and this policy um requires additional security training and we already cover a lot of that in [snorts] our yearly uh training alongside HR and the IT uh with no. So this living document that we have put uh together is going to be revised to address future risk and benefits as AI continues to evolve as well.

Oops. Uh and then that's going to lead me into the acceptable use policy. We have an acceptable use policy here, but it needs to be expanded upon. It's a very broad blanket for us with the acceptable use policy. And then as these things grow, especially from AI and other technology needs, we need to put some guard rails in place. So the first part is we want to make sure that the acceptable use policy in incorporates everything from our secure security training that we do yearly protecting sensitive information best practices regarding passwords employee login and remote access reporting suspicious activity. So when we incorporate this, it puts the responsibility on the employee to understand what what they need to do to help protect the county. Um, another part of this is a lot of people have laptops, portable devices. They use USB drives and external drives. And we need people to be conscious of putting public I mean sorry county information and personal information on these devices because when there becomes an overlap we don't know where that information goes. So we have to be very thoughtful in what we're doing there. So this will address that as the responsibility of the employee to make sure that they're separating those two types of data. And then lastly on this, we um want to have it be more part of all the technology purchases in the county. And I don't want you to think that we're not part of that because we are, but there there's some level of teamwork that we we need to to focus on.

And it doesn't want to be an obstacle, but we want to be there to support the change that's needed. So this can set a standard for IT to review and implement resources, infrastructure needs and ensure that we have the proper security in place as we bring on board new software or even hardware. And that's that's pretty much uh my presentation on these two policies. I just want to say that you know we're using both of these policies to outline best practices and safeguard everyone. Thank you, Troy. Thank you.

I know you. Yeah, you might need to stay up for just a moment. We uh provided the policies with to you over the weekend when the agenda was posted. So, if people have had a chance to look at those, you might have a few questions.

And I just want to thank you for your work on this. Um I use ADA AI daytoday in my um full-time job and I know several others up here do as well. And so um this has also you it's been in instructional for me um in just my career uh using AI and and some things I should be looking out for. Let's see if anybody has any questions and I'll start on this side supervisor kids.

So just a disclosure I have a separate AI business. So uh it's it's that's a whole whole separate ball game. So, when they sent this to me, they were like, "Be nice." Um, so I'm not going to get into the weeds. The one thing I'll bring up is something, and this is the Army did this a long time ago. The military across the board, they disabled the USB ports on the computers about 20 years ago and disabled DVD rewritables and USBs as a form of transportation of information. So, but but you're dealing with, and this is where I I think about the PII stuff that you were talking about, uh, in the army or the military, you got Sipper, which is a secured net, and you got Nipper, which is a nonsecure net. Um, and we're talking about people's private information. You don't want to have that leakage of it spilling or spillage is the proper term, going from a secure net to an unsecure. So I just makes that may be something we may have to see depending on the cross usage that you see. It may be something that has to be addressed uh in a in a policy moving forward because when you brought that up it's like I can see that especially now because it's so ingrained in everything that we do and the laptops and everything kind of moves simultaneously. it may be something that that we may have to address here coming up. So, I appreciate you putting the effort into this. Um, and it's it's always going to be a living document because we're always going to catch stuff. We're always going to see things. Somebody's going to find something somewhere. We're go like, "Oh." But, uh, I appreciate you going ahead and getting this done and getting us up to date. Thank you. And one thing we can do, the board has to approve this uh policy, but then we can establish procedures that might be a little bit more specific like you're talking about supervisor kits to that don't have to come before the board that can fit within this framework. But that

those are definitely valid points. Do we have any other questions down here? No. Do we have any questions over here, Supervisor?

Um, I don't have any questions, but I want to thank you. I learned so much from this and I'm really glad like Supervisor Kit said this is a flexible document. I'm sure you're going to have to add a lot to it, but it's like I wanted to know more. Like when I was reading this, I was like, I need to take a class, you know, like I I really appreciate all the work. And just as an aside, I just want to say that I really appreciate I know all we do the IT department here um they are great individuals that help us with whatever we need and whatever questions we have and so shout out to the department. I appreciate that. We take great pride in that. Thank you.

And I don't have any questions either um besides just to say thank you and it's great to see you at a board meeting. [laughter] I think it's rare that we get to have you here when we're not having any problems with our technology. So, good to see you this evening. Um, and seeing no more questions or discussion, you're free to sit back down. Thank you, sir. Or you may go home if you'd like. [laughter] Run. Thank you. Okay. Are we ready for vote? Is there any other discussion needed amongst us? Okay. Madame clerk, if you'll call the role, please. Oh. Yeah, we need Oh, I'm sorry. Is there a motion? I'll make a motion.

Okay, so now we have a motion and a second. Sorry, I thought I did that before the presentation. My apologies. Madame clerk, if you'll call the role, please. Mr. Graphsky, I. Mr. Garon, I. Mr. Kits, I. Mr. King, I. Mr. Fishikowski, I. Miss Figgs, I. Chair Dematz, I. Seven eyes. Okay. Don't be in a hurry to beat my record.

I'm trying to beat your record. All right. So, our next item, I referenced this earlier when we had to cancel our public hearing. This is to schedule the public hearing hearing to temporarily change A3, E3, and F3 um for the now August 4th, 2026 primary. Uh this will change them from Squire Student Center to Johnston Student Center on Virginia Tech campus. Is there a motion? So moved. Is there second? Okay. Is there any discussion? Madame clerk, if you'll call the role, please. Miss Karan, I. Mr. Kits, hi. Mr. King, hi. Mr. Fijicowski. Hi. Miss bigs. I. Mr. Gravski, I. Chair Demottz, I.

Seven eyes. Okay. The next item on our new business is resolution to express opposition to House Bill 1374 and House Bill 1377 regarding the governance of the Virginia Military Institute. And Vice Chair Fijowski asked for this to be placed on the agenda. So, I'll let you speak to it before we get to a motion. Okay. You sure you Okay. Is there a motion? So moved. Is there a second? Second. All right. Now speak to it. That way we can have some back. Yeah. That way I don't mess it up.

Okay. You won't mess it up. All right. Uh yeah, I asked to have this put on here. Um I didn't do any um earlier uh talking to my fellow uh supervisors. maybe a couple of them, but I didn't go to everybody. Um, but I felt it was important enough that it needed to be mentioned. As far as I'm concerned, it does. Uh, the governor and the state legislators have decided to punish VMI by so changing the board of visitors that possibly no VMI alumni would remain on the board. This could be done by July of this year. The current substitute bill still could lead to the defunding of VMI. And I will note that the um the bill that we have listed here in this is the original uh with I think it's the I think it's had some modification, but it's not the one that I'm speaking about. I'm speaking about the latest one. Um, VMI is a federally recognized senior military college where approximately 50% of students go on to serve in all the branches of the US military. The traditions and military lifestyle have produced many heroes, including General George C. Marshall, General George Patton, and our current chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Kaine. Um, and it's that discipline under stress is what they what they push and that's what we want our military leaders to have. Resolutions from many counties that support VMI and keeping the uh board of visitors as it is are Amherst, Augusta, Bannon, Floyd, Rockbridge, Rowan Oak, Russell, and Tazwell. And there may be more added to that by now.

VMI graduates that serve our military have a higher retention rate than all the senior military colleges combined and that's including West Point. So the graduates from VMI stick it out the whole time to get a retirement. I ask that we stand with VMI and its 186year history. the VMI family, the approximately 26,000 graduates to include 285 graduates who have obtained the rank of general or flag officer. And I just hope that we can remove the politics from this. That's all I got to add.

Okay. Thank you. Um, is there any discussion about this resolution? Why are y'all pointing at each other? Somebody speak. I'll call on Supervisor Gravy.

Fine. Um, you I guess my my own or my opinions or or understanding of this um is that the evolved or amended House bills um do give back some of that autonomy um to which uh the folks at VMI are agreeable. Again, that's that's my understanding. I haven't done much but scratched the surface uh of of this. I certainly support, you know, our universities having that kind of uh independence um and want to continue to see um their alumni, you know, and have the ability to to serve on that. But I think kind of given the the state uh of things right now, I don't see a need uh for us to oppose the bills given the alignment or you know the the alignment between the uh general assembly and uh the folks at VMI

and you guys were I'm going to you next because you were pointing at each other supervisor kits. Just just for the record, [snorts] I've taught at a senior military college. I've taught at Virginia Tech Army ROC. Uh my daughter's a graduate of James Madison University ROC. And both my daughters are one's commissioned and one's enlisted. So, and I'm retired. So, to say I have a dog in this fight would be an understatement. That being said, it's always it's not always the path that gets you there. People the road to hell is paid with good intentions. I understand [snorts] where people are coming from, but the level of reaction on that was not, I don't think, was as prudent as it could have been. Um, as far as I can tell from the bills, the defunding has been eliminated, but it hasn't passed or gone through the Senate yet, but the bill's been rewritten. As far as the alumni on the board, it is a requirement that five of them, but they limit it. Instead of the entire board, it's five that are on the board. Um, for alumni, um, I I think we let the process work. I think we allow it to to move through. I know why it was brought there and I understand the rationale behind making people pay attention to what the initial underlying problem was and where they are going in the direction that BMI has been going in for a while. But I think we allow the process to work. And [snorts] as far as that goes, if anything goes forward as far as this goes, I'm going to abstain from voting on it because of my background, because of the things that I see and because I've worked with them at an extended background. I don't want to get involved in that part, but I

understand where uh Supervisor Physical is coming from. I understand where the people with the bill are coming from. I just think more people need to be able to talk and to get this out and have the discussions like we're having now to get it out there in the open. But there's things that definitely need to be fixed, things that definitely need to be adjusted. I think we allow the process to work because it was in that vein that it was moving under the last administration and they just changed out the commanding general I think within the last year and we allow the process to do what it's supposed to do. So, that's where I'm at. And just clarifying, are you abstaining from voting on this tonight?

Yes. Okay. I'm not going to go one way or the other, but I understand where he's coming from. I also understand where they're coming from. I just don't I think we got to let the process work. And as far as I can tell within the resolutions that are being pushed forward in House Bill 1377 and 1374 and the way they've been rewritten at this point during crossover, I don't think it's a prudent at this point for us, but I'm going to stay back from it. Okay. Do we have any other comments, Supervisor Bixs?

Yeah. Um, Supervisor Fetchowski and I talked about this a couple times and um, uh, since they have revised the original bills, um, I I I think I'm in in favor of going ahead with these bills. Um, but I just want to give folks sort of like of what the update of what I found. like in House Bill 1377 right now, that's the one where there's going to be a task force to look at things. That is in the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee. And House Bill 1374 is currently in the Senate Education and H and Health Committee. And um that one in particular is addressing how many members, you know, of their board of visitors, you know, can be VMI graduates. And what I got from looking at it is you can have eight board members be VMI graduates. Um six can be non-alumni, but they need to be Virginia residents. And at least five have to have US military experience. And it's my understanding that when these were revised, the leadership of VMI, administrative leadership, supported these two bills going um forward after they were revised. So that's just an update if people are interested in following the bills um you know and making their voices known, that's where they are right now.

Okay. Do we have any more comments? additional. Would you like the last word? [laughter] If I could go right ahead. We'll give you the last word and then we'll vote.

I appreciate you bringing up the uh the makeup of the uh of what they're proposing. Um and up to eight alumni alumni could mean zero alumni because zero is on the way to eight. So, if I was a superintendent and I knew that the state is getting ready to replace all my board of visitors with people that know nothing about VMI's traditions, I think I would probably be going along with it, too. So, I just thought I'd throw that in there.

All right. I just want to say that Supervisor Fijicowski and I had an enjoyable time discussing this back and forth. [laughter] Madame clerk, if you'll call the role, please. Mr. Kits, abstain. Mr. King. Mr. Mr. I. Miss Biggs, no. Mr. Gravy, no. Miss Karan, no. Chair Damas, no. Two eyes. Four. No. one abstain. Motion fails.

Okay. Our next item of business is appropriation of revenue sharing funds and PSA fire hydrant maintenance. Um that was detailed in our packet. Is there a motion? Motion. Second. There any discussion? Okay. Madame clerk, if you'll call the role, please. Mr. King. I. Mr. Fijicowski. I. Miss Biggs. I. Mr. Graphsky. I. Miss Karan. I. Mr. Kits I, Chair Mottz, I, seven eyes.

Okay. And then our next item is an appropriation of $80,000. This is specifically for the April 2026 special election. Um, and just wanted to clarify that this is specifically for that function only if the that election proceeds. Is there a motion? Motion. Is there a second? Second. Okay. Is there any discussion? Yes, Vice Chair Physicowski,

I um I was uh when I first saw this, I was planning on voting against it in protest of the fact that they're even having a special election, but I contacted the registar and she explained to me that they've already had to spend quite a bit of this money just to get ready for it. So, it's one of those things that I definitely will have to uh backtrack on. But the purpose of this money is to fund an election that may or may not be valid. It hasn't been determined yet. May not be determined till after it's it's over. A circuit court judge has found the attempt to gerrymander the congressional districts unconstitutional for not following the rules that were made in 2021, citing a failure to provide the required 90 days public notice. Virginia currently has one of the best and fairest bipartisan redistricting rules in the country. We have six Democratic uh districts and five Republican districts right now. If it goes to 10 and one, then a lot of Republicans will be defranchised as deenfranchised. Say that for me.

Disenfranchised.

Disenfranch. [laughter] It's my terrible chicken scratching and their votes meaningless. Does that sound like restoring fairness to anybody? I thought all votes should be heard and counted and this would last for three voting cycles, which is something else that's not mentioned. They It's mentioned that it's only going to be temporary till 2030. Well, let me see. Congress gets elected every two years. That's three voting cycles. So, for three voting cycles, you're going to have people that identify as Republicans in other parts of the state. I don't think I'll be affected. I'm I'm probably in the only uh well, I know I'm I would be in the only Republican um district, but uh all that their votes would be essentially useless and meaningless. And I thought the whole idea was to have a fair election and have people encouraged to come out and vote, but when you know that it's already stacked against you, why would you bother? That's my two cents.

Thank [clears throat] you for your two cents. I certainly appreciate your passion on that subject. Um so the question before us though is do we want to allocate the funds um to our registar locally to make sure that she has the resources that she needs um if the election is deemed to be um proceeding and so is there any discussion on that topic? Just just one thing. I I was going to not support this, but we do have people working at the register office and it's not their fault what's going on. They work hard and they deserve to be paid. I do not support what is going on, but I will support to pay our staff.

It's a good perspective. Is there any other discussion on this topic? Seeing none, madame clerk, if you'll call the role, please. Mr. Fikowski, I. Miss BS, I. Mr. Ky, I. Miss Karan, I. Mr. Kits, I. Mr. King, I. Chair Dematz, I. Seven eyes. Okay. And then our final action of new business this evening is uh to proclaim March 2026 as National Red Cross Month. Is there a motion? Motion. Second. Is there any discussion? Madame clerk, if you'll call the role, please. Miss Biggs, I. Mr. Gravski, I Miss Karan, I. Mr. Kits, hi. Mr. King, hi. Mr. Fikowski, I. Chair Deontz,

I. Seven eyes. Okay. And now we're on to reports. County attorneys report. No report. Madam Chair. Well, you had to report the last two, so did

you're excused. County administrators report. Um, as I said earlier in the meeting, our next board meeting will be on March the 9th, and I'll present uh the proposed budget to you at that time. And then on March 16th, we'll have a joint meeting with the schools staff. And I have been working with the commissioner of revenues office and her staff regarding the uh transition that was discussed at the previous meeting about going to bianial assessment and establishing a department of assessment. Those meetings are going very well. Terry and I also met with um her entire the commissioner's ta entire staff last week to make sure with we have good communication. Everybody is hearing um what going on and that they can ask questions if they have them. We have been working on the budget a lot. So I only have two other things to share with you tonight. There are two dates that are upcoming. One is this Thursday, the 26th, at 1 p.m. there will be a behavioral health docket graduation that the board is always invited to. I can get more details for that um if you're interested. And then we got a save the date today for Saturday, May 16th. That's for the Day of Hope Recovery 5K and Community Celebration at the Huckleberry Park. that's related to our recovery court

and it's sponsored um with opioid abatement funds by NRVCS New River Community Services, McGomery County and the New River Valley Recovery Ecosystem. So, um if you have any in questions about that, I can share that with you as well. Thank you. So, are we running the 5K? I I'm not running the 5K, but I will cheer for people. All right, let's move on to board member reports and I will start with Supervisor Biggs.

I don't have a report tonight, but I just want to make sure that we get the resolution or the proclamation for problem gambling aware awareness month that was sent over from New River Valley Community Services. Um, that is for the whole month of March and it looks like we won't be able to vote on it until March 9th, but I want to make sure we get that on the agenda. Vicki said she would get that on for us. Yes, we got it after the agenda was published, so we'll be glad to do that. I just wanted to bring that. That's all. Okay. Uh, Supervisor Gravski,

um, I don't have a report tonight, but I do have a request of my colleagues. Um, I was contacted by Chief Sheieler out at the Longop McCoy Fire and Rescue Station. Uh, they've got, you know, a nice monument sign out in front of the station. Um, however, it's it's dated and they are the I learned that they're the only station without a digital display board outside of their station. Um, and Chief Sheila requested if they could have one installed out there. Um, we've received a quote on that and um, I believe it's 23 22 23

I think 23 28 in the thousand. Yeah. Okay. Um, not insignificant but within uh, reach of our discretionary budget. So, um, I'm just asking you all for your support uh, for us to move forward with that project out at uh, Longot Fire and Rescue. Awesome. We'll put that on the agenda for the next meeting. Appreciate it. Yeah. Thanks for bringing that up. Absolutely. Thanks for your support. Is that all you have? That's all I got. All right, Supervisor King. I'm doing a little mixup. Oh, got me. Keeping you on your toes. Yeah.

Tell me, put that pancake breakfast on the sign. [laughter]

Absolutely. I don't have a report, but I would like to ask this board to consider, you know, I'm on the Virginia Fire Service Board, and last budget session, we had $5 million to give out at grants and all. We had $9 million request. There's one department got some money. They're a small department. Their regular yearly budget is $17,000 a year. We give them $89,000 for turnout gear, air packs. Another department we give them, I think it was $69,000 for just air packs and turnout gear. There's a lot of small departments out here needs it. It was not allocated in the budget for this year. Neither group put it in for the state budget. I would like for us to at least consider sending our delegate and senators a note, ask them to restore the PPE grants and maybe send it to the governor because it does help a lot. Like I stated, you know, we we give out $5 million last year. We used every penny of it and we had 9 thou $9 million in asking. We're blessed here in McGomery County. We really are. A lot of places are not blessed. And I'd appreciate if we could do that, have a staff write up something.

We uh sent something to Ballard and Sudterline to today or Friday requesting that, but we can send it to others as well. Okay, that would be great. And just make sure that the support of our board for that request is indicated. Thank you. And just a couple more things. Okay.

On the school side, the county gets a budget, the school gets a budget. Each board decides where that money goes. Each board. So when they come to us and say they need more money for raises and whatever, they set their priorities and we set ours. And one more thing on that free lunch, if you remember, the majority of this board voted to give them that money for students free lunch and breakfast and it didn't happen. That money is already at the schools. They should not ask for it again. They ought to pull it out of their budget and feed the kids what it was allocated for last year. My opinion is if you go into a store, you pay for something, then a year later they send you a bill on it wanting you to pay again. That's not right for the citizens of McGomery County. They done paid once. Thank you.

Thank you, Supervisor Karan.

It's this time I got it right. Um I did I'm continuing with my WO class trainings going well almost budgeting module will end by the end of March. [snorts] Uh I attended the library board as a liaison and director Khan thanked uh our board that uh the staff being paid when they had to close couple days for the snow. So they shared the appreciation. Um that's pretty much it. I attended some interviews with my colleagues. So that was my new experience for library board appointments and um planning commission appointments. So they went well and I met NG for you know learning all about budget oneonone and [snorts] that's that's it. Great.

Thank you

supervisor kits. So, no real report, but I did have a chance to attend High Table at uh Virginia Tech this past weekend and uh was one of the recognized alumni, but it was it was a chance to meet other graduates of the Center for Public Affairs and Policy, which is where I started to get my budget background so I could understand things a little bit more. And it was interesting because there were a lot of things brought up and and it was a lot of levels of talking about different government. But it was good to see people from all over the Commonwealth and up the east coast come back just for high table because it's it's a longunning tradition and they want to grow it. And I just think it's a really good program. Uh especially, you know, being a Hokei going uh and having a chance to go back and just talk about it and talk with your peers and talk with them that are a lot of them are other county officials or not officials but administrators. Um in fact, uh our deputy administrator is an instructor there. So I think it's important that we recognize that. So um but yep, that's it for me.

Great. Thank you, Vice Chair Fijicowski. Um, really nothing to report. I want to thank you all for allowing me to bloate on the uh election stuff. I know was kind of outside of what we were voting on, but um I feel better now. Thank you. Um [laughter] the uh I go for my very first school visit tomorrow. Um I wasn't able to do the ones last week due to my uh illness I had. And uh it's not something I would wish on my worst enemy. I hope you none of you catch any of that. But uh that's all I got. [laughter]

Supervisor Kids, you had something else to add.

It's a caveat and I apologize. I forgot. Um, but one of the things I brought up last year was to make sure that our registar had the funding she needed for the people that she had. And we were addressing it was about early voting and we pretty much agreed more or less that that she needed more for what she had for the amount of people that she needed to be functional because there's a part-time gap in there. This year we're gonna add possibly another election and I know it's on the at the general assembly right now to add two mandatory Sundays in the early voting portion. We need to be cognizant of that as we move forward because there's going to be a shortfall and it's going to it's going to create a ripple effect. I want to make sure that I want to see if we can address this. It's something I wanted to address last month, but I I kind of got sidetracked, but I I want to make sure that she's taken care of and and the administration over there is taken care of and they know that we've got their backs on this stuff as we move forward. Thank you.

That's a good reminder. Okay. And I don't have much to report. Did you want to say something?

I just was going to share that Marty and I do talk with the registar quite frequently throughout the day because her world changes minute by minute. Um, and we do support that. As we find out more details about what exactly her situation will entail, we'll be bringing a a request to you. Thank you. Sorry to interrupt you. Okay. So, I don't have much to report, but I did want to just highlight something really cool that I did this past weekend. Um, I attended a soul food sampling put on by Blackburg Museum and Cultural Foundation at St. Luke Oddfellow's Hall in downtown Blackburg. Um, and I I just want to highlight um this location in particular um because it's kind of a small location that's dwarfed by really really big buildings and it is one of um the few remaining um historic African-American sites in Blackburg. And so the Blackburg Museum and Cultural Foundation um puts on four events a year at this location. Um and it was just a really really nice event. Um we got to meet um some residents that had lived in the new town area of Blackburg. Uh we got to sing some um anthems and just it was a great experience to to learn more about a very specific part of our community's history that um the Blackburg Museum and Cultural Foundation is working very very hard to preserve. So, all of that to say, if you are not following the Blackburg Museum and Cultural Foundation on social media, please do. So, you can see and have access to their events. Um, you can look on on their website for their calendar if you don't have social media. They do four events at St. Luke

and Oddfellows every year. And then they also do event programming at the Alexander Blackhouse and sometimes they do some co-event programming with the Smithfield Plantation. So just a really great way to learn more about um the history of parts of our community. And that is all that I had to add. Seeing nothing else, this meeting is adjourned.