City Council - Regular Meeting

on Radio IQ. Hi, I'm Shankar Vedantam, host of Hidden Brain. I'm excited to bring the Hidden Brain Perceptions Tour to Virginia on Friday, August 28th at the Virginia Tech Center for the Arts in Blacksburg. More information and tickets can be found at radioiq.org.

This is The Daily. I'm Zolan Kano-Youngs. Back to my conversation with Benjamin Weiser and Harubi Mekko about the risky legal strategy of Luigi Mangione. Okay, so Harubi, help me understand why Mangione's lawyers would offer this blunt, detailed admission of guilt in this way. Like, on first glance, it doesn't really make sense. It doesn't track, but I'm sure you've got a better understanding than me on this.

We don't know exactly what the discussions were between Mangione and his lawyers. However, what we do know is within an hour of his plea, his lawyers file a motion and state court making two arguments. One, they say there are due process violations. And the second piece, they argue that now that Mangione has pleaded guilty to federal charges, that now this is essentially a double jeopardy case in the state venue and the state case should be tossed out.

How does double jeopardy apply here?

Likely what the Manhattan District Attorney's Office is going to argue against this motion to dismiss is that the federal case and the state case are designed to address different harms, where it's the stalking charges in the federal case. And the state case is very different because he's actually being tried for murder. And New York state law has broader protections for defendants.

Interesting.

What Mangione's lawyers are arguing under state law is the fact that he's already pleaded guilty to stalking, which led to Brian Thompson's death, that the state case is automatically double jeopardied out.

Right. And so that detailed confession he gave, I imagine that was actually key to this argument.

That's correct. It could become very key.

But, Ben, what is the benefit of his lawyers directing him to follow this route, this strategy?

Well, of course, he has been convicted now, and thus we know he faces up to life in prison and under the guidelines could face less time. Perhaps less time that would allow him, if he was sentenced to less time, to walk out of prison before he was 60 years old. And the truth is, in state court, if he were convicted there, he faces a 25 years to life sentence on a second degree murder charge, which, again, in a theoretical sense, would allow him to walk out of prison as well. But the bottom line is that by pleading guilty, as he has, he at least has a chance to you would think, or his lawyers think, to get rid of that state case altogether. It's a better deal for them to only be facing one sentence than two. And he could, if he's very lucky, get a sentence that would allow him to walk out of prison. But he has to be very lucky that there's no state case at all.

Just to jump in very quickly, if his strategy doesn't work and a state trial does go forward, everything he has said during that hearing, his admission, all of that could be admissible in a trial against him. So on some level, it is a risky maneuver.

Okay, so it seems like this detailed admission of guilt we got from Mangione. I understand how it plays into this double jeopardy strategy. But, you know, I also wonder how it might play into something broader. Like, in the minds of some, Luigi Mangione had become something bigger. He had become this idol for standing up against the healthcare insurance industry. So, Harubi, I wonder if you've examined not only how his admission of guilt... and really his detailed explanation of his motive, not only how that factored into his legal strategy, but also how that factors into the broader cultural conversation around this case.

Well, it might be the first time that we've heard Luigi Mangione admit to the killing in this case. For some of his supporters, they've just understood that it was him and that they were supporting him because they saw his action as the actions of a vigilante or someone that was standing up to this victim. bigger, larger force, which is the healthcare insurance industry and the harms that that has been doing to the average American. So I don't think it's as shocking or surprising or turning away some of his most ardent supporters.

It's interesting though, given what Mangione said in court, the government responded to it afterwards.

Just a few moments ago, Mangione pled guilty to his heinous act. This was not a spontaneous act of violence. It was deliberate, calculated, and premeditated.

Jamie McDonald, who has just been named the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District, went outside with other law enforcement officials and spoke to the press. And he addressed the larger cultural conversation that this case had provoked.

The defendant committed this murder in an attempt to draw public attention to his dislike of certain businesses. But we live in a civilized society governed by the rule of law.

He essentially said there's nothing honorable about this. This is an assassination we're talking about.

No grievance, political belief, or ideological cause can ever justify murder.

He said we don't commit murder just because of political grievance or ideological causes.

There can be no celebrity in assassination. Any person who celebrates, encourages, or excuses actions like these is fundamentally wrong.

I know as beat reporters that we never want to lean into predictions in this business, but I do want to ask where things go next in this case and what we can expect the outcome of Mangione's risky move to be here.

Well, for sure, one thing that's coming in December is his sentencing. Mangione will appear before the judge in the federal case. And one aspect of the sentencing that I believe we can expect is that the family of the victim, Mr. Thompson's family, will be given the opportunity to speak and talk about the impact on them that his death has had. And, of course, Mangione will be given an opportunity to speak. Not every defendant speaks at sentencing, but most do. And given what he said and his plea, it will be interesting to see how far he goes in whatever he says, if he says anything, before the judge imposes sentence.

On the state side, the district attorney's office has said that they would litigate that motion to dismiss filed by Mangione's lawyers, and it could really turn into months of court hearings, filings back and forth, and litigation. So this case is not over.

Ben, Harubi, thank you so much for breaking it all down. Thank you, Zola.

Thank you for having us, Zola.

Benjamin Weiser covers federal courts in Manhattan. And Harubi Mekko covers state courts in Manhattan.

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Good evening, and welcome to the 7 p.m. session of the Roanoke City Council meeting. Today is Monday, August 7th, and Mayor Cobb is absent today. We wish him safe travels back. A quorum is present, and we will start this evening with, we will ask the clerk to call that roll. Thank you. Madam City Clerk.

All right, I will call the roll. Yes, ma'am. Mr. Nash.

Here.

Mr. Vollison.

Here.

Ms. Powers. Here. Mr. Hagan.

Here.

Ms. Sanchez-Jones. Here. And Vice Mayor McGuire.

Here. And now a quorum is present. Yes. I'm going to read a couple of... Invocation. Yeah. I'm trying to figure out which way I'm doing it. Okay, we'll start with the... Tonight, our invocation will be delivered by the Reverend Amy Hodge. pastor of Mount Zion AME Church. If she's not here, you get to see me lead a prayer, and I'm not the mayor. All right, we don't see her well. Please stand, and we're going to say a quick prayer. Unless someone else, does he hand up? Yes, sir. I don't think so tonight, but maybe you can reach out and sign up, see if you can sign up perhaps in the future. Okay. Let us pray. God, thank you for bringing us here tonight. Please give us wisdom as we gather together to make decisions that affect the city. And please let us remember that we are all in this together and to be kind to one another. And please again, give us wisdom as we move forward. We have a lot of big decisions to make tonight and in the future. And we appreciate all of that good help and guidance we can get. Amen. I will lead us now in the Pledge of Allegiance. Hold on one second. We're going to say the Pledge of Allegiance now. Is he praying or interrupting? Okay, we're going to say the Pledge of Allegiance. 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. Okay before we have a couple of quick announcements I'm gonna ask councilmember Hagen if he would please read our certification of closed meeting

Yes, of course. I move with regards to any closed meeting just concluded that each member of city council in attendance certified to the best of his or her knowledge that, one, only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, and two, only such public business matters as were identified in any motion by which any closed meeting was convened were heard, discussed, or considered by the members of council in attendance.

Council Member Hagan, and I'll ask the City Clerk to please call the roll. Second. Oh, excuse me, I need a motion and a second.

Okay.

Ready to go.

All right. Mr. Nash.

Aye.

Mr. Vollison.

Aye.

Mr. Powers. Aye. Mr. Hagan. Aye. Ms. Sanchez-Jones. Aye. And Vice Mayor McGuire. Aye. Thank you.

All right, two quick announcements. City Council meetings will be televised live and replayed on RVTV Channel 3 on Thursdays at 7 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and video streamed through YouTube Live at youtube.com forward slash Roanoke VA. Council meetings are offered with closed captioning for the deaf or hard of hearing. One other announcement. The Council of the City of Roanoke is seeking applications for various vacancies on Council-appointed authorities, boards, commissions, and committees. Please access the City's website at roanokeva.gov to complete an online application. We are going to move to item 14 on our agenda, which is Presentations and Acknowledgements. I'm going to turn it over to our city manager, Ms. Turner, for the first, which is volunteer recognition for our Parks and Rec volunteers.

Thank you so much, Vice Mayor McGuire and members of council. I'd like to invite Assistant City Manager Angie O'Brien up, as well as she's also serving as the interim vice Acting Department Director for the Parks and Recreation and she will acknowledge some of our wonderful wonderful volunteers that help us To be able to provide the services that we do to our community Welcome mr. O'Brien

So before I get started, I'd like to ask for the Parks and Recreation leadership team to join me up here for this well-deserved recognition of our volunteers. This is going to be Parks Manager Laura Riley. CONSTRUCTION AND PROJECT MANAGER KATIE SLUSHER, RECREATION MANAGER DEBBIE WOODBURY, TRAILS AND GREENWAY COORDINATOR RENEE POWERS, AND I JUST DREW A BLANK. I'M SO SORRY. YEAH. SORRY. THIS IS TIM, OUR EVENTS COORDINATOR. SO YOU ALL CAN JOIN ME OVER HERE. So, Vice Mayor, members of Council, Ms. Turner, Attorney, Ms. Carini, and City Clerk, Ms. McCoy, before I get started with tonight's presentation, I just want to take a minute and speak from a very personal perspective. This coming Thursday will mark my 24 years with the City of Roanoke, and I've had the privilege of working with Parks and Recreation in my portfolio over the last several years uh... and seen this department from a variety of different perspectives but more recently i've had the opportunity to spend even more time working alongside the parks and recreation team and it's giving me something that i don't always have in my role as assistant city manager it's giving me an opportunity to slow down a little bit and observe and really appreciate what this department means to our community and i'll tell you the more i've watched the more impressed i've become I've always been an avid user of our parks, our trails, and our greenways, and all of our natural areas. I use them. I see people using them. I see families out enjoying them. I see people walking their dogs, riding bikes, running, hiking, and playing sports, or just having a picnic with their family and enjoying the outside. But spending more time with this team has allowed me to see what happens behind the scenes and what makes that all possible. And our staff, our team of Parks and Recreation, it is an incredible staff. They care deeply about what they do. They care about the condition of our parks, they care about the programs that we provide, and they care about the experiences that our residents and our visitors have when they walk into one of our facilities or on our trails. But really, what has stuck with me the most isn't just what our staff is doing, because they're not doing that alone. The incredible network of people throughout the city of Roanoke are not just willing to give their time, but they give their energy, their expertise, and sometimes just a Saturday morning because they care about this community. And those are the people that we're here to recognize tonight. And over the course of the presentation, we're going to talk about boards, and coaches, and rec clubs, and community organizations, trail volunteers, our Greenway ambassadors, our tree stewards, our garden clubs, our schools, our businesses, and so many more. But what I hope you take away tonight is just not a list of volunteer programs or a collection of numbers. I hope you see what I've had the privilege to see even more closely over the last few months. I see a community that cares. I see people who are willing to roll up their sleeves. I see people who give their time without expecting anything in return. I see a Parks and Recreation staff that understands the importance of those relationships, and they work every day to support them. So tonight is really about saying something very simple, and that's thank you. Thank you to the people who volunteer, thank you to the people who organize the volunteers, and thank you to the Parks and Recreation staff who create opportunities for people to serve. I'm genuinely proud to be part of this organization and to have had the opportunity to see this work from a little bit closer over the last few months. So with that, I'm going to take a few minutes to show you what our volunteers have accomplished in FY26. And more importantly, recognize the people behind those accomplishments. Tonight is about people. It's about the people in the city of Roanoke. Tonight we're here for a very simple reason, and that's to say thank you. Parks and Recreation is a department that touches virtually every part of this community. But behind every trail, every athletic event, every festival, every park improvement, and every recreation opportunity are people who give their time because they care about Roanoke. Tonight, I want to recognize those people. This isn't just a presentation about volunteer hours. It's about community ownership, civic pride, and people investing in the place that they call home. Volunteers don't just help us deliver Parks and Recreation, they help define what Parks and Recreation mean to our community. As we move through this presentation tonight, I want to keep one thing in mind. Volunteers are not just helping us do more, they are helping us make the community what it is. When we look at everything that happens across our Parks and Recreation system, there are so many moments that simply wouldn't happen without our volunteers. Whether it's a coach giving their time to young athletes, someone helping maintain a trail, a tree steward caring for our urban forest, a Greenway ambassador helping someone navigate the Greenway, or a volunteer supporting one of our many events, each person is making a difference. And that impact goes beyond the individual tasks that they are performing. Volunteers create a sense of community, a sense of connection, and a sense of pride. They are people who have decided that their time is worth investing in their neighborhoods and in their city. That's something we should all recognize and celebrate. And I think it's important to remember that every volunteer has a different reason for getting involved. Some volunteer because they love parks. Some volunteer because they want to give back. Others just want to stay active. Some want to meet people. And some simply saw something that needed to be done and said, I can help. Whatever brought them through our doors, we're grateful that they chose to give their time to Roanoke. So tonight isn't really about the volunteers do for us. It's about what their willingness to serve says about our community. And I'd like to show you just how broad that impact is. As we talk about volunteers in Parks and Recreation, we're talking about a very broad group of people. Volunteerism takes a lot of different forms, and each of these groups play an important role in making our program successful. Council-elected boards. We have residents who serve on our council-appointed boards. These individuals give their time and their expertise to help provide guidance, oversight, and community perspective. They bring different backgrounds and experiences. The service they help connect parks and recreation decisions to the community. They are volunteering their time because they believe in the importance of what we do. Our foundations and friend groups. We have foundation and friend groups that support specific areas of parks and recreation. They help build awareness and support. They help raise resources and create partnerships. They often become advocates for the parks, programs, and the facilities they care about. Our athletic coaches and recreation clubs. Then we have our volunteers that families probably know our best, our athletic coaches and our recreation clubs. And we all know them. They are passionate individuals. These are the people who are willing to give up their evenings, their weekends, and their times with their own family to make sure our young people have an opportunity to play, learn, compete, and grow. Our businesses, schools, churches, and Adopt-a-Park, these organizations play another tremendous effort in our system. These groups demonstrate that volunteerism isn't limited to individuals. Sometimes an entire organization says, we want to make a difference in the community, and they show up together. Our trail work and our greenway ambassadors. They make a visible difference. Trail volunteers help the physical work that keep our trail system in good condition. Our greenway ambassadors provide another welcoming presence to our greenways. They interact with users, provide information, and help identify issues. Every time somebody gets out on one of our trails or our greenways and enjoys the experience, there's a good chance volunteers have played some role in making that possible. Our tree stewards and garden clubs. volunteers who care about trees, plants, landscaping, and beautification. They're helping us preserve and improve the beauty of Roanoke, not just for today, but for the next generation. So when you look at these six categories, what you really see isn't six different volunteer groups. You see hundreds of different ways that people are choosing to invest in Roanoke. Some people give their expertise, some give their weekends, some give their physical labor, some give their leadership, and others give their knowledge. But every one of them is giving something that's incredibly valuable, and that's their time. And what's especially impressive is that these individuals don't all come from the same place or the same background or the same age group. They represent the community itself. I'm going to start with our group of volunteers that we sometimes don't think about when we hear volunteer. That's the residents who serve on our council appointed boards. Our Youth Athletics Review Board. The Youth Athletics Review Board gives us an important connection to families, coaches, and organization in youth athletics. These volunteers bring real world experience from youth sports community. They help provide perspectives on policies and programs and issues affecting youth athletics. They give us an opportunity to hear directly from people who are involved in these programs. They're helping make sure that the decisions we make are informed by the people who are actually experiencing these programs. They don't just represent an opinion, they bring the voice and experience of the youth sports community to the table. Our Mill Mountain Advisory Board represents another important part of our parks and recreation system. Mill Mountain is one of Roanoke's most recognizable and valued public spaces. The board provides community perspective on the mountain, its recreational and environmental and community uses. Members bring different experiences and perspectives to help protect and enhance this important city asset. These volunteers are helping us think beyond today and consider what Mill Mountain should look like and provide for our community in the future. When you have a community asset as important as Mill Mountain, having residents who are willing to invest their time and expertise, its future is incredibly valuable. And then we have our Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, which gives us a broader community perspective across the entire parks and recreation system. They look at Parks and Recreation from a community-wide perspective. They provide feedback and recommendations. They help bring resident perspectives into the conversation. They serve as another connection between the department and the people we serve. One of the things I appreciate most about our advisory boards is that they give residents a seat at the table. When we look at these three boards together, we're really talking about a community engagement in action. These residents are giving us something that staff cannot create on their own, their perspective, their experience, and their willingness to serve. They volunteer their time, attend meetings, review information, ask questions, and have difficult conversations with us, and ultimately give us better decisions. And that's important because our parks and recreation system belongs to the entire community. The more voices we have helping shape it, the stronger our system becomes. These volunteers don't receive a paycheck for the hours they spend serving on these boards. They do it because they believe Roanoke's parks, programs, and recreational opportunities are worth investing their time in. And that's what volunteerism looks like. Another important part of our volunteer community is made up of foundations and friend groups. These organizations bring people together around something they care deeply about, our parks, our history, our facilities, and our community. I'd like to recognize our Roanoke Parks Foundation. The foundation has played an important role in supporting Parks and Recreation and bringing additional resources and opportunities to our community. There are volunteers behind the work that have given their time, their leadership, and their passion because they believe in the importance of Parks and Recreation. We are grateful for the contributions that they've made to our community and the quality of life we enjoy here in Roanoke. I'd like to recognize the Friends of Mountain View. Mountain View is a very special place in our community, and the volunteers of Friends of Mountain View have demonstrated a tremendous commitment to preserving and supporting the important place of Roanoke's history. They have invested their time, their energy, because they understand places like Mountain View are more than buildings or facilities. They're part of our community's story. We appreciate the people who have stepped forward to help protect the history and keep it meaningful for our future generations. Friends of Washington Park, I want to recognize them. Washington Park is a very special place in our history and identity in our community. The volunteers of Friends of Washington Park have worked to celebrate that history, bring people together, and support the continued importance of the park. They remind us that our parks are more than physical spaces. They are places where memories are made, traditions are passed down, and communities come together. When I look at these three organizations, I see three different missions, three different areas of focus, and three different groups of people. But what they have in common is a willingness to give their time to something bigger than themselves. They saw something in our community that was worth supporting. They chose to get involved. That's what we are celebrating tonight. Not just organizations, but the people behind them. The people who show up, who give their time, who care, and want to make Roanoke a better place. And that same spirit of volunteerism shows up every week on our athletic fields and our recreation programs where coaches and recreation volunteers give their time to our residents. Now we get to the group of volunteers that I think many of our people in our community can relate to, our athletic coaches and our rec clubs. These are volunteers who are often on the front lines of our recreation programs. They're on our fields and in our gyms. They're at our practices and at games, helping provide opportunities for young people to be active, learn a new skill, and be part of a team. And when you look at the amount of time they give, it really puts their commitment into perspective. Our Star City Recreation Club. Star City Recreation Club has 40 volunteer coaches. And at FY26, those coaches averaged approximately 250 hours of volunteering. That's a tremendous commitment. And those 250 hours aren't just the hours that we see on game day. Those are the practices, the preparation, the communication with families, organizing teams, and getting ready for the games. And all those things happen behind the scenes. For a young person, though, they don't see the 250 volunteer hours. They see their coach. They see a person who shows up for them. That's a very human line. We can all use that. We can all use people that show up for us. And some of those children, that's all they have. We also want to recognize the Williamson Road Recreation Club. They have more than 30 volunteer coaches, and each of those coaches have spent more than 300 hours coaching in FY26. Think about what that means to someone's personal life. 300 hours of evenings and weekends and practices and games and preparation and time away from their own families. They're giving families an opportunity to participate right in their own community. We must have turned the air off. And for many young people, their coaches become one of those adults who have a positive influence on them, not just an athlete, but as a person. Greater Southwest Athletic Association is another great example of community volunteers stepping up for our youth. They have more than 50 volunteer coaches. And with each coach contributing more than 200 hours in FY26, that's more than 10,000 hours of coaching and volunteer services just from that group. That's a powerful number, 50 times 200, 10,000. So saying more than 10,000 hours is appropriate based on those numbers. Again, those hours represent much more than coaching a game. They represent preparation, planning, communication, mentoring, and being there for young people. Melrose Athletic Club. I'd like to recognize them. Like other organizations on this slide, these volunteers are creating opportunities for young people to participate, compete, make friends, develop confidence, and learn what it means to be part of a team. And we appreciate the time and commitment that they give to make those opportunities possible. When we see a game on Saturday morning, we see the game. When we see kids playing, we see the parents in the stands. And we see the scoreboard. But what we don't always see is everything that happened before that game. We don't see the coach who planned the practice. We don't see the phone calls and all the emails to the parents. We don't see the time spent organizing teams and schedules. We don't see preparation, the field work, or the hours spent simply making sure everything is ready for the game. And we certainly don't see all the evenings and the weekends these volunteers have given up to be there for our kids. That's the real value of these volunteers. They're giving our young people something that goes far beyond recreation. They're giving kids a place to belong. They're giving them positive role models. They're teaching them how to work with others, teaching them how to win with humility, how to handle disappointment, how to keep trying. Those are the lessons that don't end when the game is over. And there's another important impact that's easy to overlook. When parents and volunteers coach, they're not only investing in their child, they're investing in every child on that team. One person's decision to volunteer can affect dozens of young people over a course of a season. So to all of our coaches, our club volunteers, our teams, parents, administrators, and everyone who helps make youth athletics possible, thank you. Thank you for giving up your time, your patience, your energy, and being there for our young people. Because when you give a child a coach who believes in them, you're giving a child something that can stay with them for a lifetime. One of the things that make volunteerism in Roanoke so special is that it isn't limited to individuals. We have businesses, schools, and churches, nonprofit, neighborhood organizations, and community groups that are stepping forward and saying, how can we help? And when those groups come together, the impact can be very remarkable. One of our favorite examples is community high school. Twice a year, they bring their entire student body and faculty out to spend a full day working in our parks. In October of 2025, they spent a day working in Highland Park, including projects at the disc golf course and the dog park, and they contributed 249 hours of volunteer labor in one day. And this spring, they took on another project and mulched four of our playgrounds in one day. That's not just a cleanup day. That's an entire school community learning what it means to give back to a community in which they live. Our Roanoke Disc Golf Club is another great partnership. Their volunteers maintain or get disc golf courses by installing new tees, brushing back course routes, and helping with light, mowing, and general course maintenance. These are the people who use these facilities, enjoy them, and then turn around and take care of them. They're not just users of the park, but they're stewards of the park. Our Roanoke Star Cycling have contributed 60 hours of volunteer labor to our outdoor recreation section of Youth Mountain Bike Summer Camp. That's a great example of how volunteers bring their own skills and passion to help introduce young people to our outdoor recreation. They're not simply giving us hours, they're helping pass a love for outdoors on to the next generation. Roanoke College has developed a very unique way to engage students in volunteerism. They're their office of community services. They support a part-time student employee who leads park cleanups two to three times a week while classes are in session. That creates a consistent opportunity for college students to get involved and help keep our parks safe and clean. So we're not just getting volunteer hours, we're helping develop a culture of service among the next generation of community leaders. We've had several scouts compete Eagle Scout and Gold Award projects in our parks over the past year. Those projects have included new Greenway kiosk at Countryside Park and along Lick Run Greenway, as well as new Blueway kiosk signs along the Runnick River Greenway and the new Memorial Bridge access point. Those projects that leave something behind, a young person comes into our park, identifies a need and develops a project, organizes that work, and creates something that an entire community can use. That's a pretty incredible lesson in leadership, responsibility, and service. We're also grateful for the involvement of Carilion Clinic and VTC. Their employees have participated in several park and greenway cleanups, and they've also helped with a major invasive species removal on Mill Mountain. This is another example of a local organization taking the opportunity to invest in parks and resources back into the community. Adopt a park. which takes an idea of community ownership to another step. These groups aren't just coming out for a one-time volunteer event. They're choosing a park and making an ongoing commitment to help take care of it. Melrose Rugby Neighborhood Forum. They've adopted both McAdden Park and Eureka Park. That's a great example of neighbors taking ownership of a park or parks that are part of their own community. Our Kiwanis Club has adopted Horton Park, and that's also helped us in the past with various Greenway projects and cleanups. Again, it's the same idea, people seeing a community asset and deciding they want to be part of it and taking care of it. When you look at these examples, what really stands out to me is the variety. We have high school students, college students, scouts, cyclists, and disc golfers. We have neighborhood groups and businesses and health care organizations, and we have service organizations. They're all different, but they're choosing to do the same thing. They're giving back to their community, and that's what makes volunteerism so powerful. Our trails and greenways are some of Roanoke's greatest recreational assets, but they require a tremendous amount of effort and work to build, maintain, and care for them. We have an incredible group of volunteers who make that work a priority. In FY26 alone, the organizations and individuals represented on the slide have contributed more than 4,400 hours of volunteerism to our trails, our greenways, and our natural areas. Pathfinders, 2,732.7 hours. Roanoke Mountain Bike Association, 459.5 hours. Roanoke Master Naturalist DC effort 150.3 hours, and our Greenway Ambassadors 1,156 hours, nearly 4,500 hours of volunteerism. I want to recognize the Pathfinders for Greenways. Pathfinders of Greenways have two crews that are actively doing trail maintenance and new trail construction, primarily in Carvens Cove and Mill Mountain. This year, their work has included maintenance on the Happy Valley Fire Road in Carvens Cove, work on the Fishburn Park and the Murray Run Greenway bridges, and new construction on the Laurel Canyon and Rock and Roll Trails at Carvens Cove. And FY26 Pathfinders contributed 2,732.7 hours. That's an extraordinary amount of time and effort. When you're out enjoying one of those trails, you may not recognize how much work went into building and maintaining it, but these volunteers are literally out there doing that work. We want to recognize the Roanoke Mountain Bike Association. Their volunteers have been working on the trails at Mill Mountain, Carvens Cove, and Morningside. They've contributed almost 460 hours to trail work in this past fiscal year. These are the people who love mountain biking, but more importantly, they understand that being a trail user means also being a trail steward. They don't just ride the trails, they take care of them. The Department of Conservation, Recreation, and Roanoke Master Naturalist is another great example of organizations working together to address environmental challenges. as an invasive species specialist, they have an invasive species specialist who lives right here in Roanoke and they've engaged the Roanoke Master Naturalist who work with the Parks and Recreation staff on invasive species removal. This work has taken place along both Fishburn and Fern Park. In FY26, these individuals contributed over 150 hours of volunteerism to do this effort. This is a great example of how volunteers can bring specialized knowledge and expertise to help us protect natural resources in our parks. And then we have our Greenway Ambassadors. These volunteers provide a very different kind of service, but it's just as important. They walk and bike our paved and natural surface greenways, and they become an additional set of eyes and ears for our system. They report issues and answer questions. They give directions, and they assist people who are using our trails and greenways. And FY26, these ambassadors contributed 1,157 hours of volunteerism. And I think that's something really valuable about seeing a friendly, knowledgeable person out on the greenway. They help people feel comfortable, they help people find their way, and they help create the kind of welcoming environment we want people to experience when we're all using our public spaces. So when we add all of those numbers, we're talking nearly, again, 4,500 hours of volunteerism to support our trails on Greenways. They're not just maintaining the trails, but they're building, they help building the outdoor recreation experience that makes Roanoke a special place to live. Our parks are more than trails and athletic fields. They're also living landscapes, and we have volunteers who've dedicated their time and dedicate their time in taking care of those landscapes. Our tree stewards and our garden clubs are a wonderful example of people using their knowledge, their passion, and their time to make our parks more beautiful and healthier for everyone. I want to recognize our tree stewards. These volunteers provide valuable hands-on work in training, pruning, and watering our young trees throughout the city. But their contribution goes beyond the physical work they're doing. They've also become some of our strongest advocates for increasing the tree canopy throughout the city of Roanoke. In FY26, our tree stewards contributed 1,554 hours of volunteerism, When you plant and care for a young tree, you're not necessarily going to see the full benefit immediately. You're investing in something that will continue to grow and provide shade and beauty and environmental benefits for years to come. They're taking care of trees today that will be part of our landscape tomorrow. I'd like to recognize our Mill Mountain Garden Club. The Garden Club oversees the Wildflower Garden at Mill Mountain, and this organization has a very special place in the history of Parks and Recreation. They are the department's longest tenured volunteer organization. Their members continue to maintain the mulch paths in the pond and the plants throughout the garden. In FY26, they contributed 350 hours of volunteer service to the city. That's a credible example of long-term commitment. Generations of volunteers have cared for this space and helped keep it beautiful for everyone who visits Mill Mountain. That's not just volunteerism that stewardship passed from one generation to another. I also want to recognize our Roanoke Valley Garden Club. Their volunteers maintain the landscaping at Wacena Park, Perennial Garden, near the playground and the Perennial Paver parking lot in the Greenway Trailhead. They contributed 95 hours in FY26. This is the kind of work that people may walk past every day without realizing that volunteers are responsible for maintaining it. But those flowers, plants, and landscape areas make a difference in how people view our park system. When you look at these three groups, you see three different types of stewardship. Our tree stewards are focused on the city's urban forest and future tree canopy. The Mill Mountain Garden Club is caring for a garden with decades of history. And the Roanoke Mountain Garden Club is helping beautify one of our neighborhood parks. But the common thread is simple. They all care. They care about how our parks look, they care about our environment, and they care about the experience residents have when they visit our parks. Together, these three groups have contributed over 2,000 hours of volunteer service in the city of Roanoke and FY26. Nearly 2,000 hours of people planting, pruning, watering, gardening, maintaining, and simply making our parks better. They're helping us grow a better Roanoke, one tree, one garden, and one park at a time. So after hearing all the different volunteer organizations, I want to take a moment and look at the impact that they've made collectively. While volunteerism is really about people, the numbers help us understand just how significant their volunteer contribution has been. 2,000 unique volunteers have given their time to Parks and Recreation. Think about that. More than 2,000 people made a conscious decision to give their time to their community and support the City of Roanoke's Parks and Recreation Department and this organization. and the community. They came from different neighborhoods, different organizations, and different generations, and with those different interests, but they all found a way to contribute. Almost 40,000 volunteer hours together. 40,000. That's a remarkable commitment to the city. Those are hours spent coaching kids, building and maintaining trails, caring for trees, cleaning parks, supporting events, maintaining gardens, working on playgrounds, and helping people enjoy our greenways. Those just aren't numbers. Those are 40,000 hours of people choosing to make Roanoke better. Seven and a half miles of new trails. Our volunteers have contributed. they have given this community seven and a half more miles of new trails. That's a physical legacy. Those trails can be used by residents for years to come for walking, running, biking, hiking, exploring, or simply just getting outside. Hundreds of youth have been coached. They're all coached by volunteers. Every one of those coaches is doing more than teaching a sport. They're teaching teamwork, discipline, perseverance, sportsmanship, and what it means to be part of a team. For some of these kids, their coaches may be one of the most positive adult influences they have outside of their family. That's a powerful point. Three parks adopted by community organizations that represent something that we talk about, and that's community ownership. These organizations are saying this park matters to us and we're willing to take care of it. hundreds of trees maintained by our volunteers that work may not always be visible or immediate but it is an investment into our future of our city the trees are being cared for today again will provide shade tomorrow our playgrounds being mulched by volunteers as we've talked about we talked about earlier of these projects involved in community high school where the students and faculty come out to help mulch the playgrounds in just a single day That's a great example of how quickly a community can accomplish something when people come out together. It cost us $9,000 to mulch three playgrounds if we outsource that. We have volunteers that are helping us do that. We have a dog park resurfaced through volunteer support. We have a new kiosk installed. Every one of these numbers and every one of these projects represent people. 2,000 volunteers, 40 hours of volunteer hours, 7 1⁄2 miles of trails, and hundreds of young people coached. Trees cared for, parks adopted, playgrounds improved, and facilities maintained. Every number represents somebody who decided to show up, and that's what makes Roanoke special. Every volunteer in this room and to those who couldn't be here tonight, on behalf of Parks and Recreation and the City of Roanoke, we thank you. We thank you for your time, your talent, your patience, and your passion. And most importantly, thank you for believing in our community that is worth investing in. And if everybody who is a volunteer tonight, I was so worried nobody was going to show up.

But I know we have volunteers, so if you'll stand up.

Thank you so much, Ms. O'Brien. That was a wonderful presentation, and I will open it up to my colleagues for any comments as folks get settled.

Ms. Powell. We're going to take a picture. Before you leave, sorry.

No problem. You want to do the photo first?

No, they're doing it. Oh, they're doing a photo. Yeah, I think it's going to be from this side.

Thank you, Ms. O'Brien. Thank you, everyone. Ms. Powers.

I just want to say thank you, Ms. O'Brien, for that wonderful presentation. I think it gives, of course, all of our audience, but it gives the people at home who are watching something to think about, things that we take for granted, that we drive through every day and don't realize that we have a lot of volunteer people that do this work. So thank you for everything that you've done, and thank all of our volunteers for what they do. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Powers.

Ms. Sanchez-Jones. Thank you, Mr. O'Brien. Thank you very much.

Mr. Hagan. Yeah, thank you. Very clearly, very thorough with the presentation and everything. It just shows how important our parks are to the city. I mean, our natural beauty is one of the more important things in our government, so thank you.

Anyone else? I just wanted to say to everyone and to you, Ms. O'Brien, THIS IS A VERY PERSONAL ISSUE TO ME BECAUSE I HAVE BEEN SO INVOLVED IN MY PERSONAL LIFE WITH SO MANY OF THE ORGANIZATIONS AND EFFORTS THAT YOU MENTIONED AND SO I REALLY APPRECIATE THE CITY MANAGER FOR BRINGING THIS FORWARD AND YOU FOR THE PRESENTATION. I FEEL THE NEED TO BE HONEST AND SO I DON'T WANT ANYONE TO TAKE THIS PERSONALLY BUT I DO NEED TO SPEAK PERSONALLY. And I'm glad that we're having this acknowledgement for the countless, I mean, you did actually a pretty good job of summarizing the hours that our volunteers put in. It is not my perception or my experience that we have always lived up to the words that we heard tonight about how much our volunteers mean to us and how valuable they are to the efforts across the city. I have been a member of the Parks and Rec Advisory Board, the Mill Mountain Advisory Board. I've been directly involved or have very close friends or associates with most of these organizations that were listed tonight, spoken to the athletic clubs, the recreation clubs. And one of the things that I just consistently hear is that it's harder sometimes than it should be to volunteer with the city and that folks don't always feel appreciated. And I think that we saw that come to the surface when the Roanoke's Park Foundation sent a public letter saying that they were gonna take a step back. And so what I would just like to put out in a spirit of moving forward is that I think that this can be an acknowledgement. It's not enough in my view that we could spend hours talking about all of the great things our volunteers do. I would like it to also be an apology. And I'm glad to apologize to any volunteers or folks that in the past have not felt like they got what they needed or that they were appreciated. I know we have incredible staff. I think we also have some folks that just, you know, it's been bumpy in the past for whatever reason, and some folks haven't had great experiences. And so I want to apologize for that, whether I had a hand in it or not, on behalf of the city, and then also put out that this can be a chance to make amends. And the way I will view this moving forward is that the proof will kind of be in the pudding. Are we able to bring the Roanoke Parks Foundation back to the table to work with us? Are we able to get our youth recreation program sorted out and efficient and equitable and then reconstitute our youth athletics review board? Are we, you know, all of these things that I think challenges that I think we have an opportunity to move forward. So I just put that out there because what I don't want anyone to think is that at least I'm not aware of some of the challenges and the circumstances and just things that we have gone through as a community where again I just don't think we've always lived up to the words that we heard tonight but that doesn't mean that we can't correct and do better moving forward and I just want to put that out there because we have to it is as you laid out such an important part of our city of our economy of our quality of life of our public health and we literally cannot do this work by ourselves the city we don't have the resources and so What's amazing to me is that in spite of some of the challenges that I know are real, that people have faced, we still have this many volunteers and we still have so many people who care and love this city so much that they will give their time and their weekends and their evenings. And so I just ask to council and to city manager and all of our team everywhere that we really just be honest with ourselves that we have some room for improvement. And I think it's wonderful that we gave this acknowledgment tonight. And I want us moving forward to do better. I think that our public deserves that. So I really appreciate the presentation, and I hope that you take that in the spirit of being constructive. Thank you. Thank you again, Ms. O'Brien. I'm going to turn it over to our City Manager, Ms. Turner, and Council Member Fajon Nash for our next presentation, which I have momentarily lost, on the Entertainment District Focus Group. Thank you, Ms. Turner.

Thank you, Vice Mayor. I am actually going to turn it all the way over to Council Member Nash, who has led these efforts for our Focus Group, and we do have some staff members that will be working with him tonight to do a portion of the presentation just to talk about from a staff perspective, certainly some challenges and some good things that are going on with the burgling center and how we got to even speaking or talking about the casino.

I know we're looking forward to it, so I'll turn it over to my friend and colleague, Councilman Nash. Thank you.

It's a little different being on this side of the podium. I haven't been here in a few years now at this point, but thank you all, Council, for the opportunity tonight to present some of the information from our entertainment district focus group. So this started because, as we know, in October, we broke news of a potential opportunity to have an entertainment district that is anchored by a casino. And there was a lot of public comment and opinion and conversation about that opportunity. And so I had had the conversation with you all and I said, hey, we need to kind of quiet some of this noise and really have some real conversations about the Berglund Center, the future of it. Yes, the opportunity we have with a potential casino, but put that aside, put that aside, forget about it. about the fact that we still have challenges that have been long ignored at the Berglund Center in that now right now in this present moment we have to address and we have to face um all while making sure that we are being in line with our city's comprehensive plan um and the goal to continue to make Roanoke a lively place a place that has a diversity and it's entertainment for all um in a place where people here number one here our citizens enjoy to live and have a high quality of life, but also a place where folks come and want to visit and be a tourist in the hopes of maybe some of them becoming long-term citizens. And so with that said, one comment that I'll say about the redevelopment opportunity before I hand it over to Mark Nelson is that right now we have an opportunity to determine the future of the Bergen Center. And it is a real fork in the road type of situation. And I believe that the conversations that we have, the work we will do, whatever decision we will decide will be a pinpoint in Roanoke's history and in the future of the Berglund Center. So without further ado, I will turn this portion of the presentation over to our Economic Development Director, Mark Nelson.

Welcome, Mr. Nelson. Good evening, Vice Mayor, members of council, Madam City Manager, Madam City Attorney. Basically, we were asked in May to present to the casino group, and we went through a couple different things. We provided some revenue estimates and some background. So I'll go quickly through the slides. I know we have a lot of folks here tonight. I know we have a busy agenda, so I'll move as quickly as possible. Happy to answer any questions. So, excuse me, basically, why were we looking at an entertainment district? It would boost the local economy through tourism and through small business growth. It would support local artists and musicians and cultural organizations. It would encourage evening, weekend activity downtown. It would create a safe and inclusive, vibrant public space. So what I stressed to the folks in that group, and not all of them agreed with me, but there are five key takeaways I wanted to leave with them. One, we're talking about an entertainment district that includes a casino. The thing we really wanted to look at was an entertainment district and the different options that we would have for that area. I think everybody knows it's well documented that the Berkman Center has a lot of needs, that it has a lot of expenses, and that we need to address those. So this was one of the options that we looked at. The owner will hire between 800 and 1,000 employees with an average of about $55,000 a year with benefits and with a high school diploma. The owner is required to invest $300 million into the entertainment district for Virginia Code. I wanted to stress that fact because it's not taxpayer money. It has to be provided by the developer directly or indirectly, and the Virginia Code is the provision that covers that. The casino will be less than 10% of the entire entertainment district. It would be in one building inside the district itself. It would be the way it's been estimated and talked to us about is it would be the special events center at the back of the building. at the back of the complex. And then this is the thing we wanted people to understand the most. Regardless of whatever happens, whatever gates you have, you can get legislative approval. You can get a council approval. At the end of the day, the citizens have the final say via referendum. We didn't want people, because there was a lot of misunderstanding as to what a casino concept was. The thing we heard a lot was, well, you've decided to do this. Obviously, you're going to go ahead and do it. That's not true. You have to have a referendum that is passed by not the region, Not the county, people inside the city of Roanoke would vote on it if we even got that far. So the overview of casino development, this is what I provided next. In 2019, state Senate Bill 1126 approved by the state legislature. It authorized the development of casinos in five localities, Bristol, Danville, Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Richmond. The Richmond Casino became quite contentious. The other four were constructed. The passage followed a JLARC study. JLARC is the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee for the state legislature. They are the group that provides research for the legislature when different issues arise. And they provided a study that projected about $260 million in state gaming taxes with modest economic impact on local economies. This was in 2019. So the opportunities for the city would be to redevelop the Berglund Center and the surrounding vicinity into a vibrant entertainment destination, to build on an existing city asset and increase activity beyond event days, the potential to generate $15 million to $25 million in annual gaming revenue, and to be part of a broader strategy to better serve the region's residents and grow its visitors' economy. What we stress to them is that if you're going to have a casino in the region, one of the best things to do is to put it here because we have access to so many things. When you look, it's trains, it's cars, and it's planes. We have all those things very close by within striking distance of the Berglund Center. Berglund Center FACTS, the Performing Arts Center and Theater and the Arena were built in 1971 on 26 acres of land. The Special Events Center came in 2007. The complex is in about $30 million needs of repairs, and it serves as the heart and epicenter of entertainment in the Roanoke Valley. Construction and development, Virginia law requires at least $300 million in private investment, as I stated before. The investment must be made by the developer or caused to be made by the developer. It cannot come from tax dollars. It can include construction, hotels, amenities, and infrastructure improvements. And the existing investments I provided were Portsmouth was $340 million, Danville at the time was estimated to be about $400 million and wound up being $750 million, Bristol was about $300 million and then wound up being about $550 million. Potential development, as we've discussed it, would consider having a hotel to support overnight stays, which would increase visitor spending, a parking garage that consolidates the vehicles to account for limited space and to maximize on-site development, restaurant and food options to support local and visitor demand, and then public gathering areas to activate the site. We visited two of the casinos, one of which had a place now where the The State of the City Address takes place there now. It is a space that is separate from the casino. It's built into the building, but anyone, regardless of age, can go into that space. They have quinceañeras there. They have dances there. They hold the State of the City Address there. So beyond the basics of a casino, there would be other uses that would come from this sort of development. So casino operations, the operator would purchase just the special events center. The required investment would be used to update the entire complex, not just the special events center, which would include the buildings the city would continue to own. Again, 800 to 1,000 jobs with an average salary of about $55,000 a year. Most require a high school diploma, and workforce training courses would be covered by the operator. So next, we looked at casino tax rates in Virginia. It's a sliding scale based on adjusted gaming revenue per state code. Adjusted gaming revenue is gross receipts minus winnings paid, and in addition to that, also any sort of promotions or giveaways that the casino has. So state and local taxes, it's 18% of the first $200 million, 6% local rate. 23% are $200 million to $400 million at the 7% local rate. And then 30% on revenues that exceed $400 million at an 8% local rate. Local tax revenue structure, it depends on the legislation. In some places like Portsmouth and Danville, the city gets all of the revenue that's generated. In other places like Bristol, they agreed when they took on the casino concept that they would distribute them regionally. So what this looks like across the state, the casinos in 2024 generated about $969 million in adjusted gaming revenue. Adjusted gaming revenue is basically gross receipts minus winnings and any sort of promotions, which is up from about 32%. I'm sorry, that was 2025, up 32% from 2024. By location, Caesars, Virginia, Danville, you can see the numbers there that they produced. The local revenue share for Caesars was $25.6 million. For Rivers, it was $20 million. For Bristol, it was about $15 million. Early economic activity and revenue potential, we had a consultant that looked at this for us. It assumed years one through four. A projected gaming revenue of $135 to $180 million. Now, this at the time assumed that North Carolina might dip their toe into the casino game. Recently, the person who was driving that in the state legislature was voted out of office. And so they have kind of taken a step back from looking at revenue. looking at casinos themselves. Projected food and beverage revenues estimated between $7 and $9 million. Projected net hotel revenue years three and four would be $6.4 to $6.7 million. JOBS AND ECONOMIC IMPACT, APPROXIMATELY 1560 LOCAL JOBS TO SUPPORT ACROSS THE ECONOMY INCLUDES DIRECT, INDIRECT AND INDUCED EMPLOYMENT. DIRECT EMPLOYMENT IS BASICALLY THINGS THAT COME FROM THE OPERATIONS. INDIRECT COMES FROM SUPPORTING THOSE OPERATIONS AND INDUCED EMPLOYMENT COMES FROM ACTIVITIES AND BUSINESSES THAT COME AS A RESULT OF THOSE OPERATIONS. IF YOU'RE WORKING IN A WATER TREATMENT FACILITY, YOUR DIRECT JOB. IF YOU'RE PROVIDING UNIFORMS TO THE FOLKS IN THE WATER TREATMENT FACILITY, THAT'S AN INDIRECT JOB. If you own a restaurant close to where the facility is, then your employees are called induced jobs. Approximately 155 additional jobs would be generated by food and beverage services, about $350 million in total development activity. The $275 million would basically be that $350 million minus the portion that would go to the state. Where the money would come from, only 7% to 9% of the projected spending would come from Roanoke residents. Approximately 25% of it would be from North Carolina visitors. Over 30% would be from the rest of Virginia. Additional spending from West Virginia and surrounding regions. And over 90% of the projected spending would come from outside Roanoke. Why this matters. So basically, outside visitors bring new money into the local economy. New spending supports jobs, wages, and local businesses. Local spending alone does not necessarily create the economic growth that the region would need to overcome some of these things that we need at the Berglund Center and some of the other issues that we're dealing with. Success spends on capturing regional and out-of-market demand, and this is how communities can grow their economies over time. So the Berglund area today, we have event-based usage, limitations on activities due to market restrictions, and underutilized surrounding area. The entertainment district, whether it includes a casino or not, could be a year-round destination. It can increase visitor activity, additional hotel, dining, and entertainment options, and more jobs and economic activity. Again, the five key takeaways I wanted to leave with the group, and I wanted to leave with this group as well, we're talking about an entertainment district that includes a casino. The casino would hire between 800 and 1,000 people at a wage of about $55,000 that someone with a high school diploma could get. The owner would be required to invest about $300 million into the district, not taxpayer dollars. The casino would be less than 10% of the entire footprint. And finally, the citizens of Roanoke would have a final say as to whether this moved forward via a referendum. So I know I moved very quickly on that. I just wanted to keep time, and I'm happy to answer any questions after Ms. Shawn completes her portion.

Good evening, Vice Mayor, City Council, City Manager, and City Attorney. I have to put my specs on. Oh, lovely building. So we are tertiary or a third-tier market for live entertainment, as you all know, which means we don't get the Beyonce's of the world. We get big names in Roanoke and we get all-star performances, but we don't get the biggest names because we cannot accommodate them. Our deferred capital maintenance is in excess of $31 million. Some of the financial headwinds, of course, the subsidy that the city has to give us every year to keep the lights on. Current subsidy this year, FY27, may exceed budget. We don't expect it to. We budgeted for some deferred maintenance. But again, my building's almost 60 years old. Things happen, things break. And then there are snowstorms like the one we had last year. Certain things can make us exceed our budget. Future year required subsidy is expected to increase, and that's because utilities are increasing, labor costs are increasing, and then again there's deferred maintenance that we don't know what's going to happen to the building at this age. And competitive pressure from other venues, and there's a list in here. that we can talk about. We are a full-service entertainment facility. We handle everything from booking, which is programming, the production, catering, marketing, ticketing. There's nothing we don't do, which is why a lot of agents and promoters love our facility because we handle it all for them. They just have to handle the artist that's going on stage. And we are the largest entertainment and sports facility in southwest Virginia. So everything west of Richmond, that's our facility. We provide entertainment, experience, and other events, concerts, cultural events, sporting, trade shows, consumer shows, conventions, banquets, and quinceañeras. Our venues, you pretty much know the size by now, but Berglund Center, we seat 10,500, which is amazing for a market this size. Our Performing Arts Theater is over 2,100. Combined exhibit space between Berglund Hall and Special Events Center is 57,000 square feet. And then, of course, the beautiful Bella Vista Room has a cap of about 180 people. We do a lot of meetings, banquets, and parties in the Bella Vista Room. We do about 400 events annually and over 400,000 visitors each year. Our studies from zip codes and geographic hot maps show that about 95% of people who come to our building live outside Roanoke zip codes. Approximately 285 full and part-time employees currently and contracted employees that are another 150 rely on the business that we bring to Berkland Center. The good news, too, is we use a lot of nonprofit groups for our concession stands, and we also have a partnership with Angels of Assisi. We give $2 per can of Paws and Pucks beer sold to them every year. We've been able to donate over $30,000 to them in five years, but our nonprofits are paid in excess of $135,000 each year. That's people not on our payroll, and that's commission from beer and food and beverage sales. We are entering our 34th year of Broadway in Roanoke, and we are home to the SPHL's Railyard Dogs hockey team. The league just added two more teams this year, so now we have 12 teams in the league. We're very excited about that. Our primary geographic areas that we draw from are obviously the Roanoke Valley, New River Valley, Lynchburg, and Martinsville and Danville, even West Virginia. I needed to put that on there around Lewisburg. types of live performances and sporting a venue in sporting venues, um, events, rail yard, dogs, hockey, keep us busy about 30 days a year. Music, all genres of music perform in our facility. You see a little bit more country because that's where the money is for promoters, but we've reached out into other markets and we've provided a lot of, a variety of entertainment in different genres, whether at our building or at Elmwood park. Theater, again, Broadway and Roanoke, this is not community theater. This is off-Broadway tours, so it is highly professional. Comedy shows are killing it for us right now. If you haven't seen, sold out, sold out, sold out. So we love that. And then, of course, spectacle shows like Cirque du Soleil, Walking with Dinosaurs, Disney on Ice. How events are booked. We take the call. That means promoters are calling us, agents are calling us, and they want to bring a show here because the routing from one city to another makes sense to drop them in Roanoke. We make the call. I'm on the phone every single day reaching out, looking at tours that it makes sense for them to drop into Roanoke. And then we have a lot of repeat business. And that's a testament to the team that I have and to the building that we have. The folks that come to our building don't know about the boilers. They do know it's a beautiful venue. And we roll out the red carpet. We program our venues by doing riddle deals. That's those people that call us and they just want, we just want to rent your facility. Then there are times when we have an opportunity to go out and buy talent. We take 100% of the risk because, generally speaking, we know it's going to make money. It's rare when we take a risk where we think this is not going to probably work out for us. And then we co-promote, which means we partner with promoters to share in the risk and the revenue, 50-50 partnership up and down. Competing venues, that's what I mentioned earlier. Regionally, of course, we've got Caesars in Danville, John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, Richmond, Freedom Hall, the Knoxville venues, North Charleston in South Carolina, and also Charleston in West Virginia. And then locally we have Salem Civic Center, Jefferson Center, occasionally Elmwood Park, and then smaller venues like Sidewinders, The Exchange, The Harvester, and The Coves at Smith Mountain Lake. The smaller venues don't really harm us in the ways that you would think financially, except for they're getting some of those artists that are less expensive. They're up and coming. They can perform there, but probably within a year to 18 months, they're opening for somebody much larger at my venue. So it's great to have a variety of venues and different sizes to accommodate tourists coming to Roanoke and the Valley. The state of the industry right now, I keep referring to the Beyonce's of the world and that is because those are million dollar artists and we don't generally book a million dollar artist unless they do what we call playing for the door. Like an Elton John, he's going to play for the ticket money. No matter what that ticket money is, it's his. But someone like Beyonce would say, I need a million dollars. or I don't play. And then the burden goes on us to earn a million dollars through ticket sales, food and beverage, merchandise, taxes, the whole thing. And that's too great of a risk. Additionally, artists of that caliber need venues that seat over 22,000 people. She may play our building when she's 85, but she's probably not going to play when she's still making big money. Our capital needs, of course, we talk about it, $31 million. I would like to give former assistant city manager, deputy city manager, Sherman Stovall, a lot of credit because he heard me whining for a long time. And he made it possible for us to get the capital improvements program started back in 2012. And if it were not for him, I'm not sure the state of where we would be right now because the equipment was old even then. But we addressed the most critical parts, and he challenged me to put together a five-year rolling capital improvements program. We were not successful in lobbying for more than $1.5 million a year. When you're talking about that as personal money, that seems like an enormous amount of money, but when you're talking about it addressing capital needs, it's just scraping the surface. And then, of course, those capital needs, the equipment gets older, it starts breaking down more, we find ourselves spending more money in maintenance. So we're not sure how FY27 is going to turn out. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that nothing major breaks down. We have a lot of concerns with safety items, and those are at the top of our list, and we are addressing those in a variety of ways. People are safe. I just want to emphasize that. But this equipment has to be replaced sometime soon. And then, of course, we go back to the boilers and the air handling units. That's a big ticket item. Both of them are. And I don't know that we can limp through five more years.

Oh, I'm sorry. I've got more slides.

I thought I was wrapping it up. My sorry. My apologies. The extensive list of capital improvements is needed. The total estimated cost to improve or replace is over $30 million, and that is in 2026 numbers. And the $1.5 million of debt is currently allocated to Berglund Center each fiscal year. The boiler replacement, of course, that provides heat. Existing boilers are almost 60 years old. Our building is 55 years old. There was construction for three years before that. And due to the age, the boilers operate inefficiently, which costs us more in utilities and in repairs. And we would like to replace them with high-efficiency boilers, reducing our carbon footprint and saving on energy costs. Air handling units, this is the big ticket item, the really big one, $9 million. We have 28 of them that need to be replaced. They cannot be replaced one at a time or five at a time. When you replace one, you have to replace all of them. And we could be out of commission for three to six months while those replacements are being done. Also, those are original. The hot water line in the Coliseum provides hot water to the dressing rooms and all the restrooms. We have brand new remodeled restrooms. We have hot water right now, but this system continues to break down. and the file on system replacement uh... it's twenty five years old and it's a proprietary system so we have to have parts fabricated uh... the computer software is no longer supported so that's tricky and then uh... it's really hard to get people to repair it The current system does not operate properly and leads to noncompliance with safety standards. It's obsolete, and that's the one we have to babysit the most, especially when events come in. I had mentioned earlier to the focus group that our Broadway show, our very first one last season, had to stop in the middle of the first act because the system went off and we could not override it. We had to get Station 2, is very familiar with our fire alarm system now because they get called out at least twice a month due to faulty equipment. The main electrical panel and wiring replacement, it is severely outdated, and just like some of the other equipment, it was proprietary to Federal Pacific, and all of the electrical panels and wiring throughout our older facilities, that'd be the Coliseum, Berglund Hall, and the Performing Arts Theater, all have Federal Pacific panels and wires. And that's the brain of our entire organization. Federal Pacific has not been in business in many, many years. And we have to buy, literally, parts on eBay to make repairs. Parking lot light replacement, another inefficient area that keeps our electric bill high. And that's because those are high-pressure sodium lights in the parking lot. Definitely not energy efficient. Definitely not the brightest light. And with LED lighting, which we would love to replace, that is a more... safer light because it puts off more lumens and it would reduce our electric bill significantly by probably over a million kilowatts. Roof replacement, this is a project currently underway. We do have some hiccups with service providers and vendors who can handle commercial projects this size, and that's a challenge. And currently using existing bond proceeds to address the roofs at both the Performing Arts Theater and the Coliseum, but we need additional dollars to fill in those gaps. And in summary, you have a list, I believe, in your presentations, but this is where the money is allocated. It's broken down not necessarily by priority, but I'd be happy to put something together for you in that realm. But $31 million, we realize the city has budget challenges. Ms. Turner, blood, sweat, and tears developing the FY27 budget and the whole budget team. I'm coming asking for more money for repair. So that is it for mine, unless anybody has any questions. Yes, ma'am.

Thank you for the presentation. One thing that I saw that was not on the list was the updating of the Internet, the Wi-Fi signal. That's not on there.

Well, our service provider and us, we're having some challenging discussions right now. I'll just say that. for their faulty equipment that we pay a lot of money for. We rely on the city's IT department to keep us going on a lot of levels, but some of our, like our ticketing system and users who come in, whether it's a guest or a promoter, they rely on a Wi-Fi system that's completely open, and we have to provide that to them. That's not possible through the city's IT department because you can understand there's a lot of security risk there. Um, so we are working on that. That's conversation we had today. Um, and it's a conversation we have every day because it, it failed on us again this past Friday night at a show.

John, I had a question for you. Does anyone else have any, do you first, Mr. Vollison? Thank you, Ms. Sean.

I think it's really helpful to hear all the things, um, I remember going on our tour of the facility and just feeling so safe in that boiler room. In that kind of vein, how close are we to closing the Berglund Center on a given day? Does it take one boiler going out? Does it take that fire alarm? That's what I think worries me the most about Berglund Center is that in the current state, It feels like almost any day you have to hope that everything goes right so that the place can stay open.

I don't think we're close to that, but I'm not going to say that that's not on the, you know, in my periphery. I believe, you know, we have three boilers. We have one that's supposed to run all the time and one for redundancy. And then if one of them goes out, you have the third one. It is a challenge to keep two of them up and running at all times. And a boiler goes down, that means our ice rink is going to go down. So I do think it's critical that we look at replacing those boilers. Get rid of the gas and go with steam boilers, also energy efficient. We have to do that. I would say within the next... two to five years we absolutely have to do that same with the air handling units and the fire alarm system is something that we're working on right now i'm going to have some conversations with miss turner hopefully in the next week to see if there is a a way to get that addressed i believe there is uh... but the thirty one million dollars in my mind I don't think we need it all today. I think we need some of it today. And then we need it broken down. Again, it goes back to my rolling five-year capital plan. If we had $10 million, we could probably knock out a lot of the stuff that is keeping us awake at night and then address the other $21 million as we can procure it and get it installed and operable.

Mr. I'm sorry. Go ahead. Vice member, please. Thank you. I just want to interject a little bit. We are at critical mass. We are absolutely at critical mass. Between the Jefferson Center and the Berglund Center, those were two of the main issues, two of the main concerns that I brought to you all at the retreat. When we start talking about, you know, the fire suppression system is not working, We know the roof. We know that we need to replace the boilers. We are at critical mass when we have shows that are coming in and out. Um, and if we don't have these items that are working at the time that we have paid, um, you know, patrons that are there, that is placing us at risk. So I don't want to minimize it. You know, I'm not trying to, you know, start a scare, but I certainly want you all to understand that we are at a critical point with the Berkman Center. We're going to need to make some very hard decisions really soon.

And I would just, I'm sorry.

I just want to, well, I have another question, but if you want to follow up on that.

I was going to jump on that real quick and also say that one of the items that was not listed, and for me, this was very concerning, was the generator replacement that needs to take place. The Berglund Center Civic Center, it is a designated, like something has hit the fan in Roanoke City, Roanoke Valley area. People need to bug out. We need to get people who are most sick or most elderly or most medically compromised to a location that's safe, secure, sanitary, all those types of things. Um, the burglar center is that location for us. Um, it's on file with the red cross and, a bunch of other emergency respond organizations, but us not having, you know, some of these critical, like these are mission critical, right? So having some of these mission critical capital needs in question and having a generator that we don't know if we can really depend on to supply the power that we need are very, very concerning things, not just in the world of entertainment, but in the world of helping to make sure that we have a facility that is a viable option for if something catastrophic is to happen here in Roanoke City or the Roanoke Valley.

Yeah, I think it's called a shelter of last refuge or something like that. But we don't need a Superdome during New Orleans type of deal. I think that's a very valid point, and I'm glad that you brought that up. I mean, I was shocked to hear that those are the original air handlers. That's pretty crazy. But my other question to you is, if we do all these updates, because we've noticed that, you know, the change in market, being a tertiary market, even if we do those updates, does that likely, that's not going to get rid of the subsidy that we have to do every year. So even with those updates, would that make our facility, you know, more competitive, or is that just getting us up to, you know... Just getting up to average, if you will.

I think it would lower the subsidy significantly because of the energy savings and just an overall more efficient operation and state of the art, literally state of the art. I don't know how long. Businesses say state-of-the-art very much because technology changes so much But I do believe that it would help us reduce that subsidy significantly and we have some ideas on that as well of how we would go about increasing revenue while decreasing expenses You may know this, but facilities like ours were not built to make money. They were built to add quality of life, and they were built to employ people and increase the economic impact, give businesses and people a reason to want to be here. Because if you can imagine driving by and see the building boarded up, what does that do to the psyche of people who come here because we've got everything? A city this size, we are so fortunate. And I don't want to see that part of it go away. But again, there are just so many financial challenges. We can't come up with $31 million, and how do we pay for all of that? That's the big question.

Thank you. Powers?

So would you say that some of the risk would be that the businesses that come or the customers that come now might not come in the future if we have all these issues? So it could be, you know, your returning customers might not come back if we don't get all these repairs done. Would you say that's a risk for us to not get all these

Challenges met if the equipment fails that could certainly be a risk because we have to have HVAC And we have to have a functioning fire alarm system. That's primo Paramount to our operations if we don't have safety everything else doesn't matter I don't think it's going to stop people from coming I don't think it's going to stop users from using our facility the only things that will stop it is failed equipment and And I would hate to lose that business.

Y'all are still using high-pressure sodium lights in the parking lot? Is that the only place y'all are using HPS? Yes. Okay, good.

The last frontier. Okay, awesome.

Because many of my clients have switched, in their business, switched over from HPS to LEDs. a long while ago, and they saw like 50% or so cost savings, but in energy alone. So highly recommend switching over.

Agreed. Agreed.

I wanted to follow up on that just really quickly. I know we're trying to move along, but I've heard some conversations about energy costs being part of the big issue here. And I'm looking at a Google Maps view of the center. And I have a couple questions. And if you don't know, we can maybe get back to me. I'm wondering, did we use any Inflation Reduction Act money for some of these equipment updates, federal dollars that were available for some of these air handlers, boilers that could have maybe allowed us? Did we use any of that at all? Not ARPA dollars, but any Inflation Reduction Act? Did we attempt to use any of that for any of these replacements?

No, sir. We did get a shutter venue operators grant. If you recall, it was about $8 million, and we were able to change out a lot of our interior lighting to LED, the theater lights, all of those heat, all that heat that comes off of a stage, that's gone. And we changed a lot of lights in various parts of the facility, including the Coliseum, and that did reduce our kilowatt hours by over a million.

That's what I was wondering. It seems like we could have, maybe could have, should have. But my next question was, I guess, is, you know, we have a situation where we have a facility that needs money because of, in part, a failing roof or bad roof and energy needs. I'm guessing a lot of that is keeping it cool. But it doesn't look like we've ever even painted the roof of the building white, you know, which is something 20, 30 years ago was like the first thing that localities were doing to cut into, you know, saving money. And I'm just wondering, have we ever looked into solarizing the rooftop of this? Some of the schools are saving money by getting solar companies. It's so profitable for them that they're paying for the roof replacements and then putting the solar on top. And so it's a win-win for the schools. And I'm wondering if we've ever considered that for the Civic Center.

We have. We were approached by two different solar companies this past spring, but we were already into the bid process for the replacement of the roof on the theater, and it was too late to get into that. APPLICATION PROCESS WITH THEM OR WHATEVER THE PROCESS WAS WITH THEM. THEY ALSO PUT A LOT OF PRESSURE ON THE CITY TO GET THAT AGREEMENT GOING AND A CONTRACT ISSUED WITHIN LIKE SIX WEEKS AND THERE WAS NO WAY THAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN. SO WE MOVED FORWARD WITH THE BID PROCESS OR THE AWARD FOR THE ROOF ON THE THEATER. IT WILL BE A TPO ROOF WHICH IS A WHITE ROOF SO THAT IT DEFLECTS HEAT. The conversation then became moving forward with the other facilities. Can we look at solar panels? We are completely open to looking at that because we understand the schools have done it. It's been successful.

Thank you. I think it could save a lot of money. And then to Council Member Nash's point, if this is supposed to be a hub for resiliency, if, God forbid, we do have an emergency where we have the community there, if you run out of fuel, you can't run the generators. So there's a benefit to having solar power with battery backup that could make a big difference in an emergency. Agreed. So I hope that we will... I am always a little frustrated that we have not done very much solarizing in Roanoke up until now, so I hope that moving forward we can make those investments that I think will save us money in the future.

Agreed.

Thank you very much.

So for the last portion of this, if you thought it was over, was that guy who used to tell the stuff, but wait, there's more? So we have a little bit more that I'm going to speed run through. If you have questions, I can answer those. But as I kind of... brought up earlier, there was a lot of noise, there was a lot of feedback about the potential for an entertainment district with a casino component to it. And so I'm very thankful for the opportunity that you all allowed me to put together a focus group and entrusting that with me. And so as a part of that focus group, we brought together residents, business owners, and community stakeholders. Before we started any of our focus group sessions, we sent out a pre-focus group survey because we wanted to get a wrangle on what were some of the most important questions, concerns, fears, hesitations. and where they perhaps saw opportunity just from what they had been exposed to through the media. We were able to have some guest facilitators come in and speak to us. Just for a quick example, the first session we talked about the history of the Bergen Center. We had former Mayor Nelson Harris come and talk about the Berglund Center and talk about the bid process that had to go out for it and of course the urban renewal history, right? And then in the following session we had our very own city attorney, Ms. Laura Carini, go through the legislative process to get this through Richmond, but then also we were thankful to have the Chief of Police from Danville, Virginia, come here and speak to our focus group participants and answer some questions and share firsthand their experience with having a casino within their locality and some of the problems that they have seen and then problems that they have not seen as well from it. And there were a total of five sessions, and that was the type of content we covered. Even for an example, last example, at the third session, we had some information provided to us from Blue Ridge Behavioral Health talking about gaming and gambling addiction, because that was one of the areas of concern identified in that pre-focus group survey. And it was thankful to be able to sit down. It was a great opportunity. be able to sit down with them and talk about this in detail and learn that, number one, Roanoke City, Roanoke Valley already has a gambling and gaming problem. But then, two, that there's already some programs in place to try to tackle and address these concerns. And so I will go ahead and get to the breakdown of our group and our participants. We had a very diverse group. We had representatives from as many areas as I could think to have people be a part of. So we had representatives from the Melrose Rugby Neighborhood Forum. We had Anita James Price. So we had Northwest represented. We had both... neighborhood organizations based in Gainesboro since they are the closest neighborhood to the Berglund Center and also are part of that urban renewal history we wanted representatives there who live immediately adjacent to the property be able to be a part of that conversation and hear that information about how it might impact their neighborhoods regardless of if we did a casino entertainment district or entertainment district without a casino we had a representative from the NAACP we're able to have a member from the Economic Development Authority. We're able to have an individual who's no longer with the Roanoke Civic Center Board, but we had a representative from the Roanoke Civic Center Commission. We had representatives from the Entertainment and Tourism Departments. I want to especially note Jefferson Rose and B.B. DeMure. They are local performers that have went and performed at entertainment districts all over the country, not limited to MGM, just to kind of showcase their talents there. So it was great to be able to pick his brain about how these things operate. Xavier Duckett. We have religious organizations, David Jones, Williams Memorial Baptist Church, and Tim Heffron, who is the director of business relations at the Episcopal of St. Andrews. And then we had a whole host of business community representatives, but two particularly that I want to especially highlight are Valerie Brown with the Williamson Road Business Association and Tina Workman with Downtown Roanoke Incorporated. It was imperative to me that we had them on board because we want whatever we do at the burglar center in the future to not cannibalize or hurt or endanger any of the great stuff that we do have going on for us in our city. We want whatever happens there to be nothing but an added benefit to help us grow and develop and diversify all the good things about Roanoke. So here's a breakdown of Mel's race and just to really show people that we had a diverse group of folks that were a part of our focus group. And so I'm going to kind of just run through this very quickly because I don't want to waste too much time. But it was really interesting to see the results of the pre and post focus group survey. There were a lot of folks who were completely unaware and uninformed about the entertainment district and the casino prior to any of our engagement with them. And as you can see, a majority, 56% of participants had a neutral reaction to the concept, and that is post focus group. 56% of them had a neutral position to the concept. Um, as you can see, pre focus group, um, the key three priorities they identified as areas of, of, um, opportunity that they would, that they would hope to see from the entertainment district, um, was economic growth for our city job creation and revitalization of the burglar center. And by the time we were done and concluded, um, post survey, um, they identified that their three biggest goals and outcomes they wanted to see. was an increase in city revenue, new entertainment offerings, and an improvement in the quality of life here in Roanoke. And as you can see, we were able to also ask them, you know, and get a temperature on what were their thoughts about the entertainment district with and without the casino. But regardless of which direction we go, guys, we still are stuck with the same challenges in the same areas of need with the Berglund Center. That's not going to change based off of the decision we decide. We still got some major hills to climb. And so as you see, OF COURSE, I WAS NOT SURPRISED TO SEE THAT A LOT OF FOLKS WERE STILL MORE IN SUPPORT OF AN ENTERTAINMENT DISTRICT WITHOUT A CASINO, BUT IT WAS KIND OF INTERESTING TO SEE THAT 36 AND 36% BOTH WERE NOT NECESSARILY IN FAVOR OF A CASINO OR THE ENTERTAINMENT DISTRICT WITH OR WITHOUT THE CASINO. SO THAT WAS A LITTLE INTERESTING. THESE RESULTS WERE ANONYMOUS, SO FOLKS COULD HONEST VERY HONESTLY AND NOT FEAR ANY TYPE OF ANYTHING. But I would love to know that neutral fraction of our data. And then as you can see, those are some of the concerns that they had about the entertainment district, with number one being impact on local businesses, pre-survey and focus group, impact on local businesses, and then transparency and accountability from us. from the city. And I felt like this focus group was a good first baby step towards us being transparent and accountable towards our citizens. So to go on, the biggest concerns by the end of the focus group was traffic and infrastructure strain. Public safety concerns still remained. That was a constant throughout. And then the financial risk to taxpayers potentially. And then one of the questions on the survey pre and post was about historical repair and community reinvestment, specifically addressing the fact that the Berglund Center was built on land that was taken through horrible and atrocious means. My family, among many families in Roanoke, my grandfather, grandmother have firsthand accounts of that experience. And so we want to make sure that whatever we do is going towards repairing and restoring some of what was taken away from so many families and people. And so this is some of the information from our survey. As you can see, they were able to free type into the survey what they wanted to see come to the Berglund Center. So as you can see, they wanted to include youth in 21 and under activities, more sports, family entertainment. Someone needed more information before responding, and that makes sense since this was a pre-focused group. And in closing, there were a few things that didn't get on here, but that I wanted to especially highlight for you all. We had our participants do activities, and some of those activities include, like, you control the budget. So they were given a certain amount of money, and they had to choose what at the Berglund Center they prioritized. So whether they were going to build a parking garage, which is like $30 million, in order to help bring a parking solution to the Berglund Center or the deferred maintenance. But one thing that's important for us to note is that the majority of the focus group participants identified that the Berglund Center's capital needs were very important and extremely important. And then one person said it was moderately important. No one said that it was not important, and no one said it was slightly important. And then also when it comes to the public financing and bond support to help tackle these challenges, because if we do have a casino auction, we have someone coming in bringing $300 million that they have to spend. If we don't choose that option, that's fine, but we still have to address these challenges. And we have to then go, unless someone else comes to the table, and just wants to give us the money to put into the building. We have to go and take out bond, take out debt to do this work. And five of the folks, which is about 45%, said they were somewhat supportive. One individual, 9%, was strongly supportive. Two folks were neutral, and then three were strongly in opposition to us taking out debt in order to do any of the needs that the Berglund Center needed. And then lastly, we asked folks, whatever revenue is generated from the entertainment district, how do you envision it being used? And so they were asked to place it in five categories, and they identified K through 12 education as priority number one, Number two was city infrastructure and improvements. Number three was public safety. And I think that's very befitting knowing that public safety was a concern in the beginning and remained a concern in the end. Parks and recreation. And then number five, property tax relief. So in closing, I want to thank the citizens. We had a decent number on some nights of folks come out. Of course, it's not as much as we would have liked to seen. All our meetings were open to the public. We had our meetings live streamed on YouTube. They are still on YouTube, archived on there. But we want to thank the citizens that did come out and ask questions and were involved in the process. I want to thank the folks to my right, the news. I want to thank you all for your many interviews, your many emails, your many questions. And I truly do appreciate y'all understanding the importance of y'all's job. the importance of the work you do. My Facebook post, my comments of the day is don't go as far. People don't ever email me and say, I found out about this because I saw your Facebook post. They say I was watching the news. I was reading the Ronald Times. I was reading the Cardinal. So I appreciate and thank you all for what you do and provide to our citizens. All the city staff that made this possible. RVTV, who helped make sure that our YouTube live stream was going well for all of our five sessions. Berglund Center staff that made sure the... chairs and projectors and everything was set up and ready to go. Roanoke City Police Department, Chief Booth, Chief Chris Wiles from Danville City Police, Sammy Radar and all the folks at Blue Ridge Behavioral Health and our very own Economic Development Department. And with that said, is there any questions before I take my seat? Yes, Councilwoman Sanchez-Jones.

Mr. Nash, I don't know if this question is for Mr. Turner or Mr. Nelson. I have a lot of people have asked me, how come we didn't pursue to get a casino the same way Danville did. What is the difference between the way Danville went about getting a casino and the way Roanoke City is doing it?

Just to clarify on the question, are you asking why we didn't do that the initial round when they first started talking about this process?

What is the difference between Danville getting a casino? How did they go about it? What was their process? and the process that we're going through now.

I'm working off of some, I don't have all the information so I can get you more for it, but basically their process was they were included in the initial five localities that were identified by JLARC as possible targets. And so they started working through that process from the time the bill was passed in 2020. It's a little different from ours. Now, because the state has to approve the casinos, all the different localities, those first five were set, and then one of them dropped out. Obviously, the Richmond one didn't get developed. But from that point forward, it was pretty much a process of kind of speculating when the state might take action, if the state might take action. So they were part of that initial group, which is why they were able to plan a little more structurally.

Any more other questions or comments from council?

all right awesome oh one mr bollison i think one of the things that we hear a lot is um you know i'm i'm a big fan of the entertainment district i think we need to take a parking lot and turn it into something that actually makes tax revenue um and one of the things that uh you know people say well why don't we just why don't we just build a parking garage and let somebody else develop it are there Any other groups that have reached out to the city or that have heard about this entertainment district idea that have been willing to, um.

come forward or is there any thought about doing an RFP process about doing something with another group just that's to do that yeah you know when doing some of my own research online and looking at what other cities I mean one of the actually one of the activities that our participants did was Give us the name and location of a venue you've been to where you and your family enjoyed it. And then we asked them to ask five friends the same question, just to really get a sample of places where we could look at and maybe model. But to answer your question, a lot of... A lot of entertainment agencies who we could outsource a contract with do not handle the capital aspect of your building. They only handle the booking and bringing in an acquisition of the entertainment in the acts. We used to have those services outsourced and They don't focus on the capital. We are supposed to. And so in bringing anyone to the table, I would imagine that they would want to know that if I put money and time and resources into bringing in some entertainment, that the fire alarm is not going to go off on them in the middle of their performance. um they're going to want us to still cough up some money and invest and fix some of the most critical mission critical aspects of the bergman center um but when it comes to our rfp process that would depend on the future of what we decide to do um so we'll have to see anything is possible still nothing is determined mr nelson did you want to

In addition to the casino groups we'd spoken to, we did get one other non-casino-based group that approached us. Because we were still waiting for direction from this body and from Ms. Turner's office, we had not moved forward. We had an initial discussion with them and basically told them we would follow up when we got more feedback from council.

Ms. Sanchez-Jones and then Ms. Powers.

This question is for Mr. Nelson. Yes, do you know how much revenue those roses and pour him bring into vented?

Not off the top of my head, but I can get it for you This powers and then mr. Hagen My question is for mr. Nelson as well. So isn't aren't we waiting on the governor to also? Appoint a gaming board or to do some standards for gaming before they will even move forward with anything as well?

Yes, ma'am, that is the case. She has, just from what I've heard, not directly from her, obviously, but what I've heard from sources at the legislature is that she is looking at the possibility of setting up a gaming commission that would be first looking at different options. That would come first, and then any sort of additional casinos would probably come after that. I can't say for certain that that's the process, but what I've been hearing from sources there is that a gaming commission may come first.

And I'll add to that, too, In Fairfax, they had, oh, you want to speak to Fairfax? So in Fairfax, there had been a push, one of the wealthiest areas in the country, right, in Northern Virginia, but she struck that down. They had been, quote, unquote, added to the list, but she had struck that down and said that until I get the casino board or commission or whatever they're going to title it up, I'm not approving any of these.

Do we know of a deadline? Because I've not seen anything about a deadline. No.

Reagan? This question is for Mr. Nelson. What other localities are looking at bringing a casino, at least publicly, have been brought?

Publicly, I know Fairfax is obviously interested. I'm not sure where that stands. And also Winchester has also put forward a bid. There's also been talks of expansion. Pulaski County is talking to Rosie's about putting, I'm not sure if it would be this kind of casino or there's another kind that involves, the model is a little bit different. It's more similar to the ones you see in Vinton. But Pulaski County is looking for that kind of model. And then Winchester is seeking a full casino. And then Fairfax is out there as well, I think most people.

Is there any concern that Winchester being on 81, that like us, would be direct competition from anyone?

I would think so, yes. And in addition to that, there was also looming the idea that North Carolina may add casinos at some point as well.

But the guy lost his election?

I don't know if it's solely based around that, but the hardest driving person behind that was the President of the Senate in the state of North Carolina, and he lost his primary.

Okay.

And just a question for Ms. Carini. The governor does not have to evenly apply her veto power. It can be just for any she feels like not particularly liking Roanoke one day or Fairfax. She could theoretically do so, correct?

Yes, that's correct.

OK. Thank you.

And I'd like to stress the information I've heard is secondhand. Obviously, the governor doesn't make a habit to call me and tell me what she's going to do.

I just had one final question, and that was just what's your sense of the upcoming sort of decision point for council or timeline? If we're hearing that the state legislature is only going to consider setting up a gaming commission potentially in the upcoming state legislative session, what is the immediate or sort of upcoming decision point for council?

That's for all of us to decide. I mean, that's not for me to say when that point is. I mean, I think that we have an opportunity right now to decide the fate of the Berglund Center. Cities all across the country are either taking these facilities of this type and knocking them down and selling the land to whoever to come and redevelop. And other facilities are just putting a padlock on the doors and just saying, we'll figure it out later. And so I think that the time in which we decide what's going to happen is a we conversation, not for me to be the one to say. But what I will say is, personally, I do not think that I think there's still life in the Bergen Center. I still think there's a place for it in our community. I think that as much tragedy that was caused to construct it, it would be a shame to tear it down in the lifespan of some folks who saw it constructed and then to see it torn down I think would be a huge disservice and would beg the question of what was it all for then. And so that's just my personal sentiment. I think we have an opportunity regardless of which option or which direction we go, but we have to put our heads together. We have to be on the same page. We have to be united and work with our city manager, our wonderful city manager and our wonderful team to make that happen. So it's on us. Thank you very much.

Did you have a final comment?

Yeah, I just wanted to thank you, Councilman, for actually taking the initiative about doing the focus group. While, you know, I have reservations about this, you know, it's always great to have data and transparency. So, thank you. And thank you all to anybody else who was part of that.

Great. Yes, thank you again, Mr. Nash and team. We are going to keep rolling and move to... Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah, go ahead. Did I cut you off too soon?

No, no. I did it. Trying to rush out of here. I want to make a point to ask... uh... this burning uh... the entire team doctor bobby is here on that they're all going to please stand please stand we did this uh... with internal staff we didn't have consultants come in and run these groups uh... she had to deal with all my emails uh... randomly saying can we meet this week can we meet this week You know, and I'm so thankful for her hard work. All the information that you all have, all the activities our participants did were scanned by her and her team so that it could be in a digital format to present to you all so you could see every single thing that the focus group participants did. So I really, truly thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Vernon.

Thank you.

All right. We are going to move through a public hearing on an easement matter. And then I suspect there are still people here for the hearing of citizens upon public matter. So that will come after a public hearing on an easement matter. So turning to that item 15 on the agenda is authorization of a drainage easement across city-owned property located at 1210 Amherst Street Southwest. bearing tax map number 1330301, also known as Virginia Heights Elementary School. We have one measure and ordinance before us for adoption, and I need a motion and a second, please.

I move the motion.

Second. Thank you, Ms. Powers and Mr. Nash. And I will ask the city clerk to please read the title paragraph.

An ordinance authorizing the conveyance of a drainage easement across property owned by the city of Roanoke, located at 1210 Amherst Street Southwest, also known as Virginia Heights Elementary School. to Gretchen Coleman, the owner of adjacent property located at 1911 Memorial Avenue Southwest, upon certain terms and conditions, and dispensing with a second reading by title of this ordinance.

Thank you very much. And I will recognize David Collins, our Deputy City Attorney, who is present for any questions or comments. Sir, do you want to? Give us any context or do you have anything you'd like to say?

Good evening, Vice Mayor McGuire, members of council, Ms. Turner. Gretchen Coleman owns real property at 1911 Memorial Avenue. This property is directly adjacent and borders Virginia Heights Elementary School. Because of the higher elevation, Virginia Heights Elementary is located next to Ms. Coleman's property. She experiences significant flooding caused by stormwater runoff. She has requested a drainage easement across that property so that she can install drainage facilities to cease the ponding and accumulation of floodwater. City staff has no objections to conveyance of the easement, and RCPS has no objections either. The property is located at the far border of the property, and does not interfere with school operations. If council approves this easement, the easement will be on form approved by the city attorney and will require Ms. Coleman to coordinate any activities on the easement with school officials. Ms. Coleman is here tonight, and I invite her to the podium in the event that she wishes to make any statements at council regarding her request.

Hi, Ms. Coleman.

Thank you for hanging in. Thanks for considering this. I've had a lot of water in my house for a number of years, and I did a lot of work on my roof to mitigate any water coming down from my side, but it is literally inches from a retaining wall that belongs to the city. And there's just no room in there for me to get in there And do anything about it. So the easement will go a long way to not have any water in my house. So I appreciate you considering it.

Thank you very much. Let me see if I can make sure I get this right here. Public hearing. So I think I'll do that. And Madam City Clerk, do we have anyone signed up to speak?

Not on this issue.

Not on this issue. That's what I thought. Okay. So there being no citizens wishing to be heard, close that public hearing. And I turn, are there any questions or comments from council? Mr. Vollison.

Yes, I just wanted to know, I saw the picture of the the gap, if you will, between the retaining wall and what looks like the blacktop at the school. I just kind of wanted to know what you're planning to put in there, just piping to French drain type of thing to get the water from coming onto your property?

Yeah, I actually have a design from an engineer for that, and I

thought i had uh given that to you guys but i can give that to you that's all right it just wasn't in our packet but okay i just was wondering if you had already like had a plan for this i imagine you did because of the easement request but just wanted to make sure yes all right great thank you anyone else all right well i will ask the city clerk to please call the roll mr nash all right

Mr. Volusen?

Aye.

Ms. Powers? Aye. Mr. Hagan?

Aye.

Ms. Sanchez-Jones? Aye. And Vice Mayor McGuire?

Aye. And the ordinance passes. Thank you, Mr. Collins. Thank you, Ms. Coleman.

Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

All right. The fun stuff. Agenda item number 16, hearing of citizens upon public matters. City Council sets this time as a priority for citizens to be heard. If deemed appropriate, matters will be referred to the city manager for response, recommendation, or report to the city council. Before I turn to the city clerk, I just want to ask that everyone speaking tonight, please be respectful. It looks like it's thinned out a little bit, so no waving of big signs that would block anyone behind you, and would ask that there may be people speaking on different sides of this issue, so we are not going to tolerate any I WANT TO ASK THE CITY CLERK IF WE HAVE CITIZENS SIGNED UP TO SPEAK. WE DO. WE HAVE ABOUT 14, 15 SPEAKERS. That sounds good. Sorry to interrupt you. We'll do three minutes then per speaker with a hard cutoff at three minutes. So if you haven't done this before, you'll get a green light when you begin speaking. Yellow light means you have one minute left. Red means your three minutes are over. So please stop speaking and wrap it up. Thank you again for being here. And please, Ms. McCoy, if you could call the first two speakers.

First two speakers, Duane Howard and Bridget Kelly Deering.

Good evening, Mr. Howard.

Good evening. What happened to people that signed up to speak on item 14?

I'm going to have to go back and see what item 14 was, sir. Item 14 was presentations and acknowledgements. So that was not an area where we took comment tonight.

Okay. Well, I had a few comments concerning the casino issue. I did some research today and found out that there are five casinos in various cities within 200 miles of Roanoke. And the gambling situation in Roanoke I just believe would be devastating to the future of our city. As I've said before you, you have gambling literally on every street corner and gas station in this city. And I know people that are addicted to it. I have a friend that lost all his money, can't pay his rent and their bills. And I just can't imagine catering to having a casino. And I kind of question, where do they get all of their numbers to give such profound profits that they lead us to believe that would be coming forward? I don't understand that, where it comes from. I also wanted to comment again about the parking issue that I brought up to you. I don't know if you all remember that of the vendor truck being allowed to park on Saturday down there. I looked closer at the signs. Do you all know that those three parking spaces signs says 15 minute parking for pickup? And I would like someone to respond to me because I've talked to some of the store owners around the market area, and they would like me to get back to them, and I'd like an answer as to why this is allowed. It just makes no sense. The sign says for 15 minutes for a pickup. That's for people that might want to run into the pickup tickets for the theater, run to the wiener stand, get food, and leave. And it's just not right. It's not fair. And I would sincerely ask and respectfully ask for some kind of reply from you all on that. Thank you very much.

Thank you for being here. Sure. I'm sorry, was it Ms. Kelly?

Brenda, yes, Deering. Hello, my name's Bridget Kelly Deering. I live in Southeast Roanoke, and I gave my address when I signed up to speak. Thank you for hearing me. This is not original, and it's controversial. But I'd like to see more...

I'm sorry. Sorry about that. Go ahead.

Okay.

Is the light green? Yes. Yes, ma'am. You're good to go.

I'd like to see more flock cameras, specifically in all city council meetings, especially at closed council meetings. I'd also like to see flock cameras at city council members' street addresses, as well as at the flock dashboard at the Roanoke City Police Headquarters. I want flock cameras at all future police stops, at our mayor's street address, and so on, and so on, and so on. I'm sorry, I'm so nervous. I always get nervous when I do this. But I just want to say, if the majority of this council is in favor of flock cameras, they should have no problem with their privacy being violated. What's good for the goose is good for the gander, right? ALPR cameras are a gross infringement of citizen rights. I don't care if it's Flock or Axion. I want these cameras out of Roanoke. The Roanoke City Police Transparency Portal does nothing to make me feel better. If anything, it heightens how scary this whole business is. When I looked earlier today, the portal states that 417,284 vehicles have been detected in the last 30 days with 380 search sessions. Critics argue that while a single camera may capture only a momentary snapshot, a network of cameras can create a detailed record of someone's movements over time. Privacy advocates warn that such systems could reveal where people live, work, worship, seek medical treatment, or attend political or protest events. Does this make you feel safer? I see this as a perfect tool for corruption. Our police department should not be able to implement technology that can harm ordinary citizens or invade our privacy without City Council's approval. Are we supposed to trust our police departments when we have actively seen real problems within the departments in a multitude of ways? Pardon me for not trusting our police department. Frog's recent attempts to quell citizen unrest at this massive overreach of our privacy rights does nothing to make us feel better, much less safer. The whole system relies on AI, which brings us to another sore point with our city council, specifically data centers. So now, all day long, we're forced to be unwilling participants in the controversial AI experiment of our lifetimes. I say no. Enough is enough. No more flock cameras, no data centers, no tax dollars for flock. I suggest our police department look into what Henry County is doing and put a hold on the ALPR cameras. It's telling. I just want to end with this one sentence. It's telling that only two members of this current city council voted no to the original raving gunshot vote. Thank you, Nick Hagan. Thank you, Vice Mayor McGuire. for your vote. Smile, Roanoke City Council. Big Brother is watching you and so are your constituents. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Geary. Ms. McCoy, would you please call our next two speakers?

Mike Nadjarie and Megan Peterson.

Hello, sir. How did you say your last name?

Nadjar.

Nice to meet you, sir. Welcome. Nice meeting you.

Our concern, I mean I and my neighbors, is about peace, safety, security, health hazards in the neighborhood. There are some individuals behind my bedroom windows, They congregate there, they sleep there, they reside there, and they pile up bunch of trashes. I can turn my head around, not see it, but I cannot block my ears and my nose. Every day, 24 hours, seven days a week, they are a public nuisance. And at night, I have to turn the noisemaker not to hear them. Lots of smell and lots of profanity, verbal confrontation between them. I appreciate the police comes and ask them to leave. And I appreciate the city come and clean up the trash as they leave. it only takes a day or two after that, they come back and they do it again. I have some pictures, it's just a tip of the iceberg. My question is, is there any way, once they clean the area, keep it clean, don't let them go back to the first stage? I have pictures, if you don't mind,

Please, you can give them to Ms. Turner to pass around. Yeah. Give us your address when you signed up, sir. Yes. Okay.

The address is here. I can pass it around for you.

Yeah, you can pass it. I have several. No, I'll take them. Just give them all. We'll pass them around. Okay. Yes. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Yes, thank you for bringing this to our attention. We have your address, and I trust that someone will get back to you. And I'm sorry that you're having to deal with that. It does sound like a severe disturbance. And so we'll see what we can do.

Thank you.

We will be in touch, and I hope that you'll also stay in touch with us. Thank you. Ms. Peterson.

Hi. Thank you, City Council. My name is Megan Lyle Peterson. Peterson is going to be dropped as soon as I can get divorced. I live on Campbell Avenue. And yeah, I'd like to say that I believe that every American has a right to privacy. I feel like we could all use that reminder. We have a Fourth Amendment, and that does protect against unlawful search and seizure. And I would like to say that I believe that FLOC is not a tool to aid in police work, despite what it's been sold to you as. Traditional police work involves completing an investigation to find suspects, to then solve a crime. The flock system inverts traditional investigation. The AI flock cameras will watch us as we drive constantly. They track our license plates and even bumper stickers or scrapes on our cars. With no permit or warrant, they subject us all to constant investigation when a crime has not yet even occurred. Then when a crime has occurred, the police get a list of pre-investigated people, which is everyone that drives in the city. Our patterns and data are already in the system and our whereabouts are already known. So this is actually technically a tool for investigating pre-crimes. That completely inverts the way that investigations are supposed to go. The new line is that wanting privacy is selfish or it means you're doing something illegal. So for example, every day I go to the post office to drop off orders because I have an Etsy shop because I'm like a small business owner. One path I take, I could take at least, has a flock camera that will log my plea each time I go. It does feel like there's only a matter of time until one day a police officer from the city will knock on my door and ask me why I committed a hit and run because flock mistakenly returned my plea because there may be a zero that looks like an eight or something because the AI has like up to like 30 to 40% or even higher error rates. And I think that that's scary and it's sad that actually has happened like this is not just like a fake scenario I've like invented to feel scared. It's because I see new stories of this happening to people already. Looks like the technology does have pretty high error rates that does result in things like lawsuits people being lawfully imprisoned or at least for a period of time until the investigation is completed getting their cars and pounded for upwards of seven to eight months in Florida where I'm from. And then also at least 50 police officers have been using this technology to do things like stalk their exes or girlfriends. There's also a website called haveibeenflocked.com and it'll show you if anywhere in the data leaks your plate has been searched. So I looked up my plate and it's been searched out of like New Mexico. I've never been to New Mexico. So some of the reasons that people will put in there, the police officers will put test or training, but real plates have been searched. So there's real concerns about this kind of thing. And I think until the federal government outlaws it, I would urge the city to take a proactive stance to recall this as many other places are doing that they see the unfortunate cons do outweigh the pros. This is also a very popular position to take. It will help you in your political careers. It is truly bipartisan, and I think that there is more awareness happening as people are coming to understand that the error rates, the wrongful imprisonment, and all of that just keeps impounding and pounding. So that is all I have to say, but also that it's not just like flock, but also all ALPRs.

Ms. McCoy, could you call our next two speakers, please?

Yes. Director Freda Cathcart and Elizabeth Saria.

Good evening, Director Cathcart.

Thanks. I'm actually not wearing my shirt today. I'm here as a citizen, but thank you. I don't care.

I appreciate it.

I really appreciated the presentation by Mr. Nash. I'm here because I have concerns about our economic development department. I love Roanoke City. I stayed here after going to Roanoke College for a reason. It's a beautiful place with a lot of potential. Over the time and the years, I've discovered that Roanoke has suffered some really harmful times that have hurt people. And I'm concerned that right now we're not getting the service that we need from the Economic Development Department. The Civic Center serves the public region. I forget the percentage that she said, but I thought it was at least 75% or more that came from outside of Roanoke City. Why are we the ones grappling with this problem of maintaining the center? Why isn't this a regional issue and state and federal? Southwest Virginia is an economically challenged area. There's going to be new money coming into the coffers of the state from RGGI that's going to be reinitiated this year. And the suggestions about the solar panels are good. There's also a way to heat water on top of the roof as well. There's a lot of really good things that we can take advantage of and ask for grants, both state and federal, to bring money to help with the maintenance. As far as the other casino locations that were mentioned in the state, none of those had a history of urban renewal to them or are adjacent to a poverty-stricken neighborhood. I don't understand why the city renewed for a year for only $100,000 the naming rights for the center without putting it out for bids. That's one of the problems I have with the economic development department. I see time and time again where these sweetheart projects are approved without putting them out to bids to see how much people would pay for it. Roanoke has a history of ignoring maintenance issues. And I've said before and I'm going to say it again, Roanoke has an amazing history of black culture here. Why aren't we marketing that? That is not expensive to put together. We've got the good, the bad, and the ugly. But what we have is the resilience of Roanoke City to rise to the occasion and to do amazing things. That would lift up black businesses in northwest Roanoke City that would generate revenue, that would bring up the poverty level. We should not be talking about a casino when we have so much trouble with homelessness and poverty here. It's obscene, and it needs to stop, and we need to get creative about what will work here in the city because there's a lot that can be done, including the Roanoke Star. That's a regional issue, too. I'm from New York City. They did things regionally because they knew it benefited the whole state. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Our next speaker, I believe the last name was Saria. It might be mispronouncing that. I apologize. They may have had to leave. If they come back, they can speak. Could you read the next two speakers out to us, Ms. McCoy?

Casey Meadows and Grayson Cotts.

Casey Meadows and what was that second one?

Grayson Cotts. Cotts. C-O-T-E-S. Casey Meadows.

Thank you. Hello and good evening. My name is Casey Meadows. First of all, I prepared these remarks before I realized the mayor was not going to be here tonight. First of all, thanks to the Parks and Rec folks that volunteer to help keep our city a nice place to live. If any of you are still here. You know what doesn't make our city a better place to live? A casino. Casinos tax the poor and give to the wealthy. That's what they do and it's the last thing this city needs. My biggest takeaway from that presentation that we just saw is that the officials pushing casinos in North Carolina were voted out of office. I really hope you all heard that part. It is disingenuous to present the repairs needed to the Berglund Center as dependent on a casino. And the way it was presented here tonight I thought was shameful, honestly. Another thing that doesn't make our city a better place to live is mass surveillance. I'm here again today to ask you to rethink your support of the flock cameras that you have allowed into our city. I'm hoping you will realize that besides being a violation of our constitutional rights of privacy, these systems are extremely dangerous and ripe for abuse. No amount of oversight will ever make violating the Constitution okay or remove the danger that these systems pose. The only way to ensure that all rights are protected and the dangers are removed are by removing these systems altogether. The warrantless data these systems gather on us is not safe or secure. This is a fact. With just a minimal amount of due diligence, you would understand this fact as well. I would like to take a moment to thank Councilman Hagan for attending our community information session this past weekend, where we brought in an expert on the technology from Dr. Stephen Keener from Justice Forward Virginia, to help educate our community on the dangers posed by systems like flock. Thank you, sir, for taking the time to learn about all sides of an issue and not just taking the police chief's word on it. I want to backpedal just a bit though. On April 20th, many of you sat in this room while voting on the encroachment permit for the Raven audio detection devices and acted as if you had no knowledge of the contract that had already been signed with Flock six months prior. My guess is you thought acknowledging that a contract had already been signed on an issue you had yet to vote on was a bad look. Mayor Cobb, you asked the city attorney Laura Carini during this meeting if a contract needed to be signed, to which she replied yes. Now we have to believe that at least the city attorney knew about the contract considering she signed it. So Mayor, were you truly unaware of this contract? Are the city manager and city attorney making decisions like this without your involvement or were you misleading us too? I think you guys knew this would be unpopular and so you did your best to work with FLOC to build a surveillance network, I'll be done in just a moment, in our city with as little public scrutiny as possible. You're still asking us to trust you to provide oversight of these systems when some of you have clearly been dishonest with your citizens about them. In closing, people do not want the government to have the ability to warrantlessly spy on them. I believe this will increasingly become obvious to everyone and you should all save yourselves the headache. Do the right thing and remove them now. Thank you. Thank you for your comments.

Grayson Coates, talks. Grayson, not with us still. Ms. McCoy, could you call the next two speakers?

Joseph Casita and Mark Burton.

Joseph Casita, did I say that right? Caseta.

Caseta.

Thank you for being with us.

Sam, my name is Joseph Cassetta. I live in the southeast. My address is on the form I filled out. I came here to talk about the flock cameras, and I thought I'd take a slightly different approach of everybody. I moved here blind just under four years ago off a single weekend visit. I love it here. I plan on spending the rest of my life here building positive community. I have reached out to the police twice, candidly, in my time here. Both have been negative interactions. The first time I was driving home across the cap, like over the freeway back towards the southeast, and somebody aggressively tried to pass around somebody on the left in the turning lane going onto the freeway, they didn't realize that lane ended, hit the concrete berm, crashed into that car again. I watched the two of them pull off and stop. I know there was a police report. I realized when I got home I had a dash camera. I went to the police precinct to offer to give them that recording, told them the time that accident happened. They refused to take it. If we really need all those cameras for our public safety and the police aren't willing to take video of an accident that just happened where we could have an innocent citizen be screwed over by the insurance companies, that's pretty telling. Secondly, one other time walking home, I was on the phone with a friend and a young man walked up to me, 19 years old, and he asked me if I could help him. He was having a mental episode, and he said he was worried he might hurt himself and asked if I could call the police for him. And I did. I was right downtown the intersection, Jefferson, right there at the Truist Bank at corner of Elmwood Park. I called the police, told them exactly where I was at, which intersection. We waited there for 20 minutes. I watched two separate police cruisers drive past that intersection. I then told them, I was like, you know what? The main headquarters isn't that far. I'll walk you there. We walked there together, told the person at the counter, They're like, oh, okay, I'll tell them not to worry about that anymore. And then they asked me to take a seat. We sat there for 30 minutes until I finally got up, and I walked that person all the way to the Riverbend Hospital complex myself. So to really think about that, like the message that's getting sent to us is safety. But the culture that I'm seeing is that the police aren't really here to protect and serve. and to take a real far step back. You know, in the 1940s when Nazi Germany rose to power, do you think it just happened overnight in that it was straightforward and honest? Or do you think there was a lot of smoke and mirrors, like saying that's for our public safety? Two and a half years ago, I was at Auschwitz myself, at Auschwitz II, standing there at the crematoriums, listening to a guide explain how that pit scarred into the earth next to those crematoriums was from where the crematoriums couldn't keep up and they were just burning piles of bodies next to it. And somebody there in the group asked that person, because it turns out Auschwitz isn't in the middle of nowhere, okay? It's in a town. And they asked, but the smell? How did the surrounding townsfolk not see or say or do anything?

And they simply responded, because nobody wanted to believe what was actually happening.

Mr. Casella.

Welcome, sir. Good evening. My name is Mark Burton.

Mark Burton.

I don't need to speak anymore. I came to listen, and if I needed to speak, I wanted to have my name in the pot. Good to go. Please call some other people. Have a good evening.

Two more speakers, Ms. McCoy.

All right. Archer Berzins and Reed Norvell.

Hello.

I'm Archer Berzins. Good to meet you all. I want to thank everyone here for the issue of flock safety. It's a very personal issue to me. And it's deeply upsetting to me that Roanoke is the next in a series of cities to support this decision. Everyone here has made a lot of great points, and there's something I want to add. If we are to accept as a people that we want to pursue domestic surveillance, if we are to choose that this power belongs in the hands of our government and is not a threat to personal freedoms, both of which I strongly oppose, I think it's important to scrutinize the third-party company being handed this contract to control this power. Why flock safety? Flock have demonstrated themselves repeatedly to be a dangerous, poorly managed company with a severe lack of security, which should worry anyone considering this decision. On a hardware level, Flock cameras have proven to house numerous security vulnerabilities, which present various opportunities for hacking and direct sabotage on a physical level. Beyond this, as demonstrated by security researcher Ben Jordan, anyone with a network connection and a motive can easily log into a flock network and access live feeds of many active cameras as well as logged videos of license plate records as they please. Think of the possibilities this presents in the wrong hands. Stalking becomes one of only many potential misuses of this system when in the hands of the wrong user. Imagine for a moment there is someone you mistrust, someone who may pose a danger to you and who you would not want to know the full details of your daily plans and commute. Think of how many flock cameras you passed just on your way here today. Every single camera that you passed logged your vehicle and by consequence your identity and used an artificial intelligence to add to a database detailing all of your daily movements. That is how this system works. Are you comfortable with anyone and everyone having access to this information with a minimal amount of IT professionalism? When Flock was presented the details of many security vulnerabilities present in their devices and networks, they did not make the expected decision to address these vulnerabilities and work with security experts to resolve them. They instead ignored the vulnerabilities presented to them and instead placed blame on anyone attempting to discover and share them in hopes of improving security. Flock is not a company invested in safety. It is a company focused on profit, market control, and rapid progress without concern for any potential risks. If you, our council, are to decide that domestic surveillance is something we want in our communities, it's not. We must question the company controlling these systems, and Flock Security does not hold up to these questions.

Thank you.

Our next speaker was Reid Norvell. Reid is not in the building.

And we have one other speaker. The last speaker is Susan Gillette.

Susan Gillette. Thank you, Ms. McCoy.

Susan Gillette, thank you for allowing me to speak today. I will be brief. I'm asking you to get rid of these flock cameras, as so many other people have asked. And I just want to present this. I'm one of the older people here, and if you would have asked me 20 or 30 years ago if we could have this level of surveillance in our community, that the government would be collecting this amount of data on my whereabouts, I would have said no, because we are in the United States of America, and we have a right to privacy. What kind of slippery slope are we on? And where is it going to end? Let's please get these flock cameras out of our neighborhoods. Thank you.

All right. Well, thank you, everyone. There being no further business set forth to come before the council, the council meeting is adjourned.

Thank you. you