City Council Legislative Session - workshop

Thank you.

Good afternoon and welcome to the Hampton City Council work session. Madam clerk, you call the roll please.

Councilwoman Bowman. Present. Vice Mayor Brown.

Here.

Councilwoman Campbell. Present. Councilwoman Farabee. Present. Councilwoman Harper. Present. Councilwoman Mugler. Present. Mayor Gray.

President and we have two items on the agenda for this work session with presentations one is General Assembly legislative priority discussion and then one on a briefing from our towing advisory board recommendations. So with that I'm going to turn it over to

uh deputy city manager brian de profio was filling in for the city manager who is out of town this week so brian you got it thank you mayor um as you mentioned the first item on the agenda is the 2027 general assembly legislative priorities discussion each year around this time we present the city's draft general assembly legislative priorities this part of the process gives council and the public an opportunity to review the draft before it is finalized and approved by council at a future council meeting. The draft is based on the various issues that have been raised over the past year as well as items that have been priorities in the past and still are issues of concern for our community. Our legislative liaison with Two Capitals Consulting, Mr. Ed Reed is here today to present the draft and I will turn it over to Ed to walk you through the draft as it currently stands. Thank you, Ed.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon. Good afternoon, Mayor, members of Council, City Attorney Sidnor, Deputy City Manager DiPropio, and then City Clerk Glass. It's a pleasure to be before you again this afternoon. It seems like I was just here maybe a couple months ago giving you a recap of the previous session and the budget action that the General Assembly took as a result of the 2026 General Assembly session. Me and my colleague Maddie Bussey from Two Capitals Consulting are happy to be here today to present the draft legislative agenda for the 2027 session. I would also note that we are presenting this, I think, two weeks earlier than we do historically, which I know some of you had heard from members of the delegation. They wanted it moved up a bit, but given the lateness of the budget, this is pretty much as early as we could do. But I think it is certainly a move in the right direction. As a part of today's discussion, we hope to give a little bit of a timeline, a glimpse into the timeline of the upcoming session, review potential legislative requests that have been outlined by perhaps members of council, department heads, and members of the executive leadership team here, review potential budget requests, and review updated priority positions that most of you have seen before um over over the history here of of us creating the general assembly legislative agenda um as a result of today's presentation i will be seeking feedback that you might have as it relates to what you hear in the in the presentation so with that just giving you a glimpse of the timeline we've spent much of august talking with city leadership about potential items to go into the package and i did want to give a thanks to the team in the city attorney's office and the city manager's office for helping to give some background to items that you'll see in the draft package this afternoon. It is our hope that we'll take the feedback and then present a final version as you see there in the timeline at your October 28th legislative meeting. That will be for final adoption and approval, following which we will take the fully adopted version and communicate officially to members of our delegation. The deadline for pre-filing is November 30th. And I'll note that we typically are well ahead of that deadline in terms of getting bills drafted, and you'll hear a little bit about that today. But we typically have things in the hopper quite a bit before November 30th. The governor will present her budget amendments to the current two-year budget on December 17th, after which point we'll be able to finalize the city's budget amendments. And then you'll see there that the General Assembly session convenes on January 13th. This is a short session, fingers crossed, and it's a 45-day session. I will note we are currently in a special session as we speak, but they've recessed at the moment. So now turning to, we'll start with the proposed legislative bill requests. And this is one that we've talked about last year. This is a request to... I'm in Dakota, Virginia, to address the rising challenge with unpermitted events across the city. I think this is particularly in the Buckrow area, but this would grant legislative authority for a locality to create a pop-up zone is what we're calling it. We've been talking to some other localities about potentially changing the name of pop-up zone to something else, but that's what it is at the current moment. And I mentioned this a couple months ago when I briefed you, but we're working with a number of localities on this issue, including Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Newport News, Petersburg, and Richmond. All have some varying challenges with similar events and unpermitted events in their jurisdictions. And as I mentioned, we already have a commitment from Delegate Thornton to reintroduce the legislation. and really proud of the work that the localities have been able to do over the summer. That Senator Aird, who is the chair of the Senate Local Government Committee, has already submitted a draft of the legislation for next session, and we'll be fine-tuning that based on some of the feedback we hear from the localities.

Hey, just one question. I know that this did get some discussion last year, and I know that besides other reasons that it might not have gone forward. I had also heard that there were concerns about this legislation affecting free speech zones within communities. Can you share anything on that in terms of is that the only reason that it may not be acceptable or are there some other reasons that maybe we're not clear on?

yeah thank you mayor appreciate the question um that is one of the concerns that came up last session as a part of the process over the summer we've been tinkering with potential language to address that issue there are other concerns about what constitutes a pop-up event is it 50 people is it 100 people so fine-tuning the capacity um there are another a couple other nuances that we're looking to just find it was last year was the first session that had been introduced um and so i think with the bill of this magnitude it usually takes a couple couple opportunities before you get a final version of it okay uh vice mayor brown just a piggyback so what constitutes the pop-up what minimum the 25 30 40 50 is the number that's in the event in the bill as it currently stands again i think we've got some work to do to get to where the final version of that is okay thank you All right, the next is also a legislative request to expand the Liz Pendence statute to allow a memorandum of Liz Pendence to be filed when there's an underlying action seeking to enforce a violation with the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code. This is a first year of introducing this code amendment, and so we'll be seeking direction from our delegation on how best to move forward with that request. um the third is one that you've seen previously typically we've had this in the priority position section of your legislative agenda but i think given some of what you're seeing in your neighborhoods and communities as it relates to the increase of speeding incidents it was elevated to a direct legislative request but this would allow for the expansion of speed cameras for the sole purpose of deterring those that are speeding in neighborhoods across across the city. And this comes up every session. We've been able to, I think, fight off some attempts to take away this authority. In the last couple of sessions, we've also been able to fend off, I think, some ability to take the revenues that are given at the local level and turn them over to the state, because it does cost a lot of money to implement and to maintain these systems at the local level. This one's also a new request. It's a legislative amendment regarding the access to abandoned and neglected cemeteries, which I know all of you are very familiar with and has been in the news quite a bit recently. But this will give, I think, the Hampton Police Division a little bit more authority and clarification on some stuff that's already in the code, but modifying existing trespass at night legislation to prohibit trespassing. the nighttime entry to some of these abandoned and neglected cemeteries across the city, and then provide legislative authority for localities to establish and enforce operating hours of these cemeteries as well. This last legislative bill request, I would put in a category of a bill request, but also a budget request. And it's something we talk about quite often, but it's a request for the development of the framework to offset tax revenue losses locally from the Disabled Veterans Tax Exemption Program. We know that the price tag of that program is expanding quite a bit. It's no longer just impacting certain localities, it's impacting small, medium, large size localities pretty much in every corner of the Commonwealth. And so you may recall as a part of the most recent budget, there was language that included the creation of a work group through the Department of Taxation. That work group will meet for the first time next week, and City Manager Bunning will be participating in that work group and the proceedings there. It is our hope that as a result of that work group, there'll be some type of solutions that will be presented to the General Assembly during the upcoming session that we will be able to support that will allow for some relief as it relates to localities that are currently going through that with the disabled veterans tax exemptions. All right, now to the two budget, proposed budget amendments that we have, and you've seen both of these before. This is the request, roughly $800,000 in annual state funding for the reestablishment of the Hampton Health District. This is the third year we've introduced this in one way, shape, or form. It's a tricky one, just kind of given the climate that we're in, all of the impacts at the federal level on the health secretariat are trickling down. So a lot of the needs right now at the state level are through the health secretariat. So we're not seeing a lot of deviation from new initiatives or new spending. And so it is something I think we need to keep in the package. We'll continue to have conversations as things are um we go into the session but that's the reason why you know we've had it in there for multiple sessions at this point the next is also a request that you've seen before and this is for 6.6 million in state funding for some work at fort wool we sort of know the history there and kind of what's taken place i will say that there have been very positive conversations with the secretary of natural and historic resources. I think there's a meeting next week in Richmond with the secretary and his team on the potential of maybe having that funding included in the governor's budget amendments in December. But I know the city is again eager to begin that partnership and continue the work there that's needed to preserve the efforts at Fort Wool. All right, the draft policy positions, and again, these are put into eight buckets. These are often the issues that impact the work that's done here at City Hall on a daily basis. We'll start with the resiliency, those on the resiliency front. I will note that if we go back for a second, during each session, The most bills that we end up tackling in some way, shape or form for on behalf of the city usually come into the buckets of community development and fiscal responsibility and revenue generation. And I suspect that the upcoming session that'll be no different. We'll be trying to protect gains in both of those while also continuing to advocate for more flexibility and authority at the local level. As it relates to resiliency in the environment, natural resources continue to request that the state provide ongoing grant funding for localities for flood resilience through the Community Flood Preparedness Fund, and also ensuring a state level coordination for coastal adaptation, while also continuing to have investments in a stormwater local assistance fund, which we've seen at pretty historic levels over the last couple of years. Continuing with the resiliency and environment on the next slide, we've got statements supporting efforts around the increased local authority for a tree canopy and continued funding support for African-American cemeteries via the Department of Historic Resources. We've been able to advocate over the last five years of additional funding through that fund, and I know that will continue to be a priority. All right, turning to community development, Supporting the ability to maintain local authority over land use and zoning issues. This is including, you know, accessory dwelling units, short-term rentals, all the policies as it relates to those issues. I think we'll see a fair amount of bills introduced again on housing, the development of housing at the local level. So protecting and maintaining a local control over zoning is extremely important. Providing additional states funding for the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission. We did see a modest increase in funding during the last session, but given the great work that the PDC does, more funding is needed to continue that work. And a support statement for legislation that will allow for the creation of local ordinances to eliminate and deter the continuation of nuisance and safety-related offenses, including commercial vehicle parking in some of your residential neighborhoods across the city. The last on community development is one that we talk about, I think, pretty much every session, but looking at legislation that might support with an interest of combating blight across our localities. This includes legislation that gives localities the ability to further regulate things like awnings that are in disrepair, missing shingles, broken windows, and things of that sort. Some of you might recall back in, I think it was a 2021 session, we were able to get authority to regulate clutter, put Hampton on the map for being able to do that. And we've been able to get subsequent authority over the years, for instance, on the vacant building registry to give localities additional tools in the toolbox to be able to fight blight across your neighborhoods. Public education, we have two slides devoted here, and these are support positions for programs that benefit residents and families that reside across the city. Increased pay for teachers and pay equity, continued historic investments in pre-K and at-risk add-on, as well as early childhood programs. and any type of childcare assistance programs that benefit families across the city. Ensuring the state pays their obligated amount for public education at the fair amount that they should be. Continuing support for the Virginia Air and Space Science Center. And there's been lots of discussion here, the last bullet point on school infrastructure. So allowing localities have additional tools to increase the investments to meet your construction and maintenance goals at the local level as it relates to public education. Fiscal responsibility and revenue generation. As I mentioned earlier, we spent a lot of time historically, and I think we will in the upcoming session as well, protecting your local fiscal stability and comes in a number of ways that you see listed here on this slide, but requiring that any state constitutional change with local fiscal impact to be able to distribute those costs equitably across the Commonwealth. Updating the tax structure to reflect new technologies that may exist and then opposing any type of state mandated local sales tax exemption that could in fact your revenue generation locally. Also supporting the authority for local governments to impose an excess tax on vaping products, which is this has been in the package. I think now for the last couple of sessions opposing state mandates on local collective bargaining and mandate that the local option authority remain. as has been the case over the last couple of sessions. And then given localities the same flexibility as a state in wrongful incarceration compensation cases. And that came about as part of legislation from two sessions ago. And so we added that in last year to maintain we have some flexibility as legislation may arise as it relates to wrongful incarceration cases.

But they shops in the bill to tax their the products where people generally on that we talked about it, but where people generally on I know they've got lobbyists and all the folks who probably totally against that but what's what's the what's the the temperature which you feel.

Well, I think that the issue probably more around the the increased tax or a new tax, just generally. So we've been pretty much in a posture, I think, in the General Assembly of there being no new taxes added. And so coming into the next session, I think we'll probably see some more of that rhetoric as well. As it relates to public safety, these are going to be all pretty common positions that you're familiar with, but adjusting local and regional jail per diem rates to reflect the inflation and rising costs. Honor the Commonwealth's commitment to the 599, which is the local aid to police departments, which has historically been underfunded and not been kept up with. We've seen modest investments in the program over the last couple of sessions, but nothing to the point where it should be based on the code. increasing locality's ability on barrier crime legislation to enable credible messengers and violence interrupters to effectively address youth violence. The next is related to improving behavioral health responses on your ECO and TDO process. I think we've seen a drastic increase in investment for resources across the state in this area. It's probably not at the level of crisis that it used to be at, though we still need additional resources in that area. and then lastly sort of in conjunction with what the vice mayor just mentioned but uh combating illicit products and some of those you see regulating illicit nicotine vaping cannabis thc those type of products that exist across your communities The second slide on public safety is related to supporting legislation to deter reckless use of motorcycles, dirt bikes, and e-bikes, which are on the rise. There's a current work group being undertaken by the General Assembly right now to come up with some solutions on how the code can be amended to address that. As you might imagine, every year that the code is amended to address it, there's a new technology, a new e-bike or something that comes online that maybe is not aligned with what the code said. So there's always a need to address that. Supporting the appropriate use of license plate readers and other modern technologies that enhance public safety. Continue working with the Virginia ABC to reduce local responsibilities associated with ABC store larcenies. Let's say this is a continued issue across the region. We've had conversations with the Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security's office and they're aware of that concern and have been trying to implement different policies at the agency level to tackle that issue. um including park rangers 911 operators and animal control officers among those eligible for enhanced hazardous duty retirement benefits i think we'll see multiple bills introduced this session on that front and then lastly maintaining hampton's participation and funding in the safer communities program to reduce crime and promote positive community intervention And Hampton recently got an investment of a couple million dollars, $2.5 million into that program and was added to the list of localities. So we want to maintain Hampton's participation and continue an investment on that front. In the area of economic development, just one bullet here, and that's supporting legislation that would provide additional funding, financing, and bonding authority for maintenance and construction of entertainment-related venues and public facilities. And then, likewise, on the FOIA slide here, opposing any legislation that increases the financial or administrative burden on localities, responding to public records requests, which we often see a few bills in that space every session as well. Not a lot of additions to the transportation and transit area, but I think we've seen more cases of sunken and abandoned boats in Virginia's waterways more recently. The state funding has not kept up with those increase of cases, so advocating for increased funding there, and also strengthening the way that we fund HRT and transit across the region. Last year we added a bullet to support the consolidation of Hampton Roads Airports through a regional aviation authority. That was sort of a proactive measure in case legislation came up. We've not seen any legislative action to that effect at this point. and then lastly advancing the regional infrastructure coordination and so last session there was a bill that was passed from delegate anthony that sought to create some type of framework on infrastructure needs across the commonwealth that that study did not have any funding with it so the pdc and the tpo the transportation planning organization are working to to do that work without the funding that came with it. And so advocating for additional funding for that study I think is important. That study will also take a look at including a regional secondary road fund and investments to strengthen military infrastructure and long-term resilience across the region. that is everything in a nutshell i know it was a lot um but again a lot of the the policy positions are things that you you've seen before um but would love your feedback any questions that you have at this point all right thank you questions for mr reed councilwoman mugler

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I chatted with you prior to this meeting and very briefly with Mr. Reid. I would like for my peers to consider support of a Menhaden issue in Virginia. And the essence of the request is that Actually, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation reached out to me in regard to this. And it's just a request to prohibit industrial reduction fishing in Virginia's waters, also to mitigate the impacts of industrial fishing in the Chesapeake Bay. The Menhaden fish is... very inadequate in Virginia's waterways. And because the Chesapeake Bay is so much interwoven with the community of Hampton, That is why the foundation requested that we consider adopting or support for this Manhattan overfishing, basically. And so if folks are agreeable, we can discuss it later, I guess, or I'd like to see if we could add that to our package.

Any question Council vice member. Councilman Mugler so they want us to reduce the number of fish caught in Hayden fish court or.

They want us to support the prohibition of industrial fishing in Hayden. They're harvested for a variety of other uses and They're sort of an important part of the ecosystem in our waters and a big part of the food chain. And if we deplete our waters from having a sufficient amount of menhaden, then it's going to have a trickle-down effect on the rest of our ecosystem.

Yeah, I can support that. Yeah.

I you know I read a letter and that they they submitted with regarding that and you know I guess the experts in that area like Chesapeake Bay Foundation understand the importance of men hate to maintaining a healthy Chesapeake Bay which we got other regulations that we're trying to do to to do the same reducing nutrients and those kinds of things going to the big and I guess what this would be was because I think is actually asking the General Assembly to direct the Virginia Marine Science Commission to issue some regulations, I guess, that would control the overfishing. So would this be one that we would add under, like, I guess, one of the policy buckets was environment. I guess, would that be the appropriate place for it?

Yeah. Mayor and Councilwoman Mugler, my recommendation would be to add it out of the resiliency and environment section. And I would also note, and we don't have a slide for it, but in your, you know, the package that you'll vote on and take for adoption in October, there's usually a page about organizations in which we generally support the positions of, unless otherwise noted, Chesapeake Bay Foundation is one of those organizations that's typically listed. So maybe this is not all all the way outside of the bounds of something to be included so i think it's appropriate to add it to that section if you want to do so okay other questions comments from our council members

just for the record so that i get the name correct of the uh state organization it is the uh virginia marine resources commission so i just wanted to state the name correctly all right any other any other questions okay all right thank you mr reed we appreciate that and we look forward to uh getting a package adopted here in the next couple months and we have to meet with the local legislators with some items that we have been here that we want to make sure we're so we're we're working on planning and scheduling that meeting now and then I guess we'll be ready to go later in the year. Thank you.

All right. Thank you for your time.

Okay, so the next presentation Brian.

Yes, thank you. The next item on the agenda is a briefing on the Towing Advisory Board recommendations. The last time we reviewed the towing ordinance was in 2008, so it's been several years, about 18 years since we have done that. One of the things that the towing ordinance does is it It regulates how much the city pays for towing or how much is charged for towing services. The tow operators recently approached the city requesting that we consider updating the fees due to the increased costs of providing the service. And the Towing Advisory Board is the entity that... we work with um under the ordinance to review those sorts of things as well as other operating considerations that that they may want to uh consider as part of the the ordinance review and they've identified some of those as well um so uh uh corporal nick kennedy from hampton police division here is here today to present to council the the results of that work with the towing advisory committee or towing advisory board with the hampton police division so corporal kennedy good afternoon thank you good afternoon so i'm going to present obviously the proposed amendment for the towing fees under 21 215.

So the reason was already obviously stated. Higher operational fuel, labor costs, inflation, equipment, expenses increases, and complex vehicle recovery options have come and are many of the reasons of why this is even being discussed and it's obviously long overdue. So the goal is to present a fair compensation for operators while maintaining municipal accountability. The proposed rate adjustments for the light duty side, a standard tow rate to increase to 250 per tow applies to the standard passenger vehicles requested by HPD. Daily storage fee increased to $55 per day, governed by the municipal and state timeframe rules that we already have in place. After our surcharge of $25 per tow, this would apply for overnight requests between 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. The highlighted portion that says the chief's comment is a proposal that the chief of police, Jimmy Wyman, wanted to address and propose a different outlook on it, and we will get to those after I present the initial presentation from the board. Labor and recovery rate, the plan is to go to 125 per half hour. And this is assessed for extraordinary services, including but not limited to unusual accident or debris cleanup. Extended wait times, extending the initial 30-minute grace period, which is what we require all auto companies to respond. Specialized recovery operations, use of vehicle wraps, absorbents for oil drying, any recovery supplies that they're needing. Extended recovery situations involving difficult access to hazardous conditions, other non-routine towing or recovery circumstances. We can probably majority all agree that every tow is usually not the same, just as much as the traffic stops not routine. There's always different elements that are presented. Any additional charges assessed under this subsection must be supported by proper documentation, including photographs, invoices, when applicable, and detailed services records validating the necessary of such charges. So if they want to, if they need to charge the 125 per half hour, they need to have the documentation supporting what it is that they're actually charging for. Administration fees would charge per Virginia Code 46 to 1202. And the applicability, commercial vehicles, buses, tractor trailers, and large equipment. Pricing model, itemized, reasonable rates based on complexity of the duration of all the unique different tows that they would present. It's hard to manage what a heavy duty tow is going to resolve in because those are also very unique, but they're also very limited based off of the city. We only have a handful of operators that can do the heavy tow capacity. and then mandatory documentation in their checklist, scene and recovery photographs, clear time logs and labor records, equipment usage and sheets, and detailed itemized invoices. When we get to complaints and disciplinary provisions, the Board has decided to maintain professionalism, accountability, and public trust among operators participating in the police tow record rotation list. The following disciplinary provisions are proposed for complaints determined to have merit following review by the appropriate city attorney authority. So it's presented that the first violation that is found by the board would result to a zero to 90 day suspension, second level, 90 to 180. then severe repeated offenses would be a total of 180 days or 365 or complete removal of the tow record list and then the city shall retain discretion in determining the appropriate disciplinary actions based on the severity going to each category where the chief provides a different proposal. Chief for the after hours tow surcharge, his recommendations was to limit the standard or increase the standard rate to limit the nuisance that would have for separating the charge and be able to not allow companies to step in and try to manipulate the times rather they were trying to go out for so just to make it one flat fee and not have the extra surcharge so the towing advisory board countered that with just increasing the tow rate to 275. for the DMV administration processing fee. He questioned why the companies had a DMV charge when the registration query and tow sheet will be completed by the requesting officers. It was explained to me by majority of the tow companies as there's a lot to take in consideration when providing administrative processing fee to include the value of the vehicle, not only just the DMV fees, but then having to have that vehicle on their storage lot and other fees that can be associated with it. So the request is to make it an administration processing fee of 175. additional recovery and service charges. Chief strongly suggests this extraordinary service need not be so subjective. The reason why we're trying to keep it a little bit vague and not so much of a itemized list is other localities are doing itemized list. And it's very cumbersome to be able to review that list and be able to go, well, how do I know you use 75 feet of your cable to recover that vehicle? whatever the other circumstances may be. It just seems very intuitive to have an itemized list that they have to pick from to say, okay, this is what happened. The plan is we've given them examples. It's for them to explain. If somebody wants to dispute it, they come before the board. We have a meeting set up for them. where the review the board reviews the complaint and the charges that are associated and if the company doesn't have the supporting documentation we request to them to have it removed or they will be found in violation and that would all be done by the board themselves complaints in the DISCIPLINARY PROVISIONS, THE CHIEF WANTED TO HAVE IT MORE OF A DEFINED SUSPENSION. AND SO THE BOARD CAME BACK WITH JUST THE HIGHER END OF EACH PROPOSAL. SO YOUR FIRST LEVEL WOULD BE 90-DAY SUSPENSION. YOUR SECOND VIOLATION WOULD BE 180-DAY SUSPENSION. AND YOUR SEVERE REPEATED OFFENSES WOULD BE THE 12 MONTHS AND OR REMOVAL. So it wouldn't be at range anymore, it would just be the set dates. The city shall retain and of course it continues with the city shall retain discretion in determining the appropriate disciplinary action based upon the severity, frequency and nature of the violations. When a violation is received from the complaint, excuse me, from a complainant and or officer on scene, the complaint will be investigated by and go before the board to determine merit for the complaint. If evidence supports the lead to the allegations, the board will submit the violation. And now the board open for questions.

Questions for corporate candidate. Councilman Bowman.

Thank you Mister mayor so the proposal is a 100% markup from 1.25 to 2.50.

So it is a considerable difference compared to 2008. But yes it is a markup based off of what the other localities that are charging we're still not to the increase that York County and other localities are doing. It is in the middle range, but it's not quite as high.

Any other questions? And I did mention to city manager that my reservation with this is that these the automatic suspensions that come with it don't really come with the way to appeal that and similar to what we have going on with the special event permits and so I think what we need to look at how do we how do we add some of the appeal to it that's reasonable so that in you know when there is some dispute regarding whether revocation is correct in that person is not automatically out based on what's written in the code that they do have some way to found appeal. Vice mayor Brown.

Yeah, thank you court Kennedy so do you have any Costa around the region with others are charging for towing you said we're we're we're not there this will help us to get some but in in mind what others charging do you know.

Yes, I can pull that information we have a spreadsheet that was designed almost a year ago of what the localities are charging. It's very intuitive but they're flat rate is your County is just astronomically higher I think there's a start at 300 if it's after hours of the 400 and then you have all the breakdowns of what they can add on top of that not so they it's very hard to follow for complaint wise but most other localities and I can present our have it presented to you guys of what the localities have that we have.

You may not know this, but I'm sure the towing companies do you know how many vehicles have not cannot be retreat because of the high cost of towing as it is now with these fees going up. Do you have any idea what fortunately accrual per day because these charges are going up and I understand why these charges have to happen. But I want us to be sensitive to citizens have to pay gas and wear and tear the vehicles and fuel and all that as well so they have the same kind of cost that the uh towing company is citing i want us to be sensitive to that no sir i do not have those numbers off hand um councilman bowman thank you mr mayor i just want to add on i'm just really not comfortable

um with these rates and i'll tell you why um i had to take someone to the tow yard to retrieve their vehicle over the weekend and in eight hours they had the car towed one mile in eight hours they end up paying 162 but when we got to the window the person tried to give charge more than what was posted on the lot in addition they tried to put tax on it and as the vice mayor lead it to If a car stays two or three days, you're knocking on the door of $1,000. So with this proposal, then you're knocking on the door of $1,500, $1,800. This is highway robbery and people will lose their cars. There are auctions every month where people have lost their cars because they have been in storage facilities and they can't get them back. And I'm not in the business of taking robin from the poor and giving to the rich it just doesn't seem right to me and then they're outside and like an abandoned yard they're not in a building so yes cost of gas might be affecting everyone but outside of that the cars are in the storage yard so this to me is an astronomical fee just to reiterate this is only for police toes reference to crashes not abandonments abandonments is a whole different contract So if someone got stopped and they their license was suspended.

That is one scenario. Yes, sir.

But then that will go to the half until you're right. That's what I'm referring to stuff like that. I just like that. Thank you.

Yeah, we can follow up on the questions and get you the additional information and bring this back. Thank you.

Okay, cool. Thank you. So that concludes all of our presentations for the afternoon. Are there any regional issues? Are there any items for new business? If not, then I'd like to ask the clerk to read the motion for a closed session.

the motion required is to convene a closed session pursuant to virginia code sections 2.2-3711.a.1 to discuss appointments as listed on the agenda all right we call a rope i need a motion the second so moved second all right now you can call a roll Councilman Bowman Mike. Vice mayor Brown I Councilwoman Campbell I want to hear about Councilman Harper I Councilwoman Mugler high near Craig.

I and we will convene closed session in the lawson conference room at a 2 o'clock and follow the closed session Council will reconvene the open meeting in the same location in order to certify the closed session and then to adjourn the meeting. 2 o'clock in the lawson.