Board of Supervisors - Regular Meeting

Heat. Heat. Roll call, please.

Mr. Holoid, yes. Mrs. Null, yes. Mr. Drury, present. Mr. Ran, here. Mr. Shepard, here. Mr. Chairman, you have a quorum. I'll call on Louise Wang, our youth county uh commission for the invocation, please. One moment. The mic's not on. Hello.

So, to begin, let's take a moment to be grateful for the simple fact that we are here and that we are fortunate or lucky or special enough to be among people we respect and admire. Let's take a moment today to express gratitude. Whether it's to a god or a parent or a spouse or the person sitting next to you for the opportunities we have been given and the mistakes for which we have been forgiven. May we treat all of those around us with love and respect and be grateful that we may come together today to unify and resolve, not divide and confuse. I hope we can lead and serve this community with care, kindness, gentleness, and love. May our time together be productive, our minds open, and our hearts compassionate. Let us recognize the value and worth of our entire community and the dignity of each individual. And finally, though we are grateful, we may remember that gratitude is only one part of our responsibility. As we begin our meeting today, remember that our purpose here is to fill our cups so we might have more to give to others. So we might be able to do more to spread opportunity and love and gratitude out in our world.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Next, uh I'll call on Abigail Shelton to give pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you.

So that doesn't happen. Before I move on to presentations, uh without objection of the board, I would uh remove uh item number nine from the agenda. Seeing no objection, we'll move on to presentations.

Okay. The first presentation first presentation will be service recognition 25 years. Turn your mic on. That helps. Yeah, it just it's on. It just popped on. You move your lips. possessed. [clears throat] Okay. So, presentation to uh Mark El Bellamy, Jr., county administrator.

Well, today we are proud to recognize and celebrate significant milestone. Mark Bellamy is 25 years of dedicated service to York County. Mark began his journey with the county in 2001 as our fleet manager in vehicle maintenance. From the start, he brought uh very positive change, strengthening operations, encouraging employees to take on more and more in-house work, and building a culture of skill, trust, and independence. He led the team through many ch many major challenges, including the aftermath of Hurricane Isabel, always with a calm, steady presence. As he moved into the role of general services director, Mark's leadership continued to shine. He created opportunities for employees to connect most memorably through department bowling events complete with a special trophy. I need to learn more about that. For the winning department and these ga gatherings lifted morale, strengthened relationship and reminded us of the teamwork thrives when people enjoy working together. Colleagues share many stories that reflect Mark's heart, humor, and commitment. Whether it was him and a co-orker inspecting storm water facilities, one with a bad knee and the other with a bad hip, looked like they should have been headed to the orthopedic consultant, or his now legendary stint on a on a knee scooter after breaking his foot. Mark always found a way to keep moving and keep everyone smiling. More than one person remembers watching him gain speed down the administration building ramp, shoot out into the parking lot, narrowly avoiding being run over. Sounds like we have a a preparing.

Yeah, we we we have a slide park or we have a rollerblading park here.

Even injured, he was never slowed down his commitment to work with the people around him. Through it all, Mark has consistently shown genuine care and concern for employees. He takes pride in his work and never misses an opportunity to support others. Those qualities have only deepened during his service as a county administrator, where his professionalism, steady leadership, and commitment to the community are felt every day. So, Mark, on behalf of the board of supervisors, the employees of York County, and the residents we serve, thank you. Thank you for 25 years of dedication, integrity, humor, and heart. Congratulations on this remarkable milestone. We are grateful to have for all you've done and continue to do for your county. And I have here a pin and I believe there's a certificate involved. There we go.

I appreciate it. You're welcome. [applause] [applause] [laughter] Yeah. You hear that? [laughter] Good choice.

Okay, as they make their way back up, we'll next we'll have the uh York County Youth Commission. Uh Mr. Na Nathaniel Dunster of the Youth York County Youth Commission. Welcome Good evening. My name is Nathaniel Dunster and I'm a junior at Tab High School and I'm representing the York County Youth Commission to give our quarterly report regarding our activities inside our county, schools, and community. Firstly, the York County Youth Commission or YCYC's motto is your community, youth community, describing our commitment to work as youth for the betterment of our county, and to fulfill our goals of participating in service opportunities, receiving feedback from local students, and improving our environment where we work, learn, and live. Our officers are Jacob Corbett, chairman, Caitlyn Smith, vice chairman, and Luis Wang, secretary. We have three separate subcommittees on the commission and each serving different roles to help students. On the public relations committee are Eddie Zoo, chair, Abigail Sheldon, Julianne Mcichael, Alex Hayes, and Sna Shaw. They focus on ensuring our events are documented through social media and that our application for the upcoming year is publicized. Next is the special projects committee including Michaela Scott chair and Elizabeth Sherion, Jesse Kak, Nathaniel Dunster, Brady Torres, and Evan Sturggo who plan our special events that the commission uh promotes. Finally, the student relations committee includes Donnie Babbagenov, chair Sophia Connor, Kate Hogan, Natalie Moss, and

Llaya Harmon tasked with creating surveys and managing our annual town hall to receive student feedback. We have monthly meetings discussing discussing future events and occasionally holding guest speakers. Recently, we have had local business owner Desawn Wright and interim superintendent Dr. Carol. Board of Supervisors representative Mr. Ran also attends regularly to discuss positive leadership and life practices. Our latest events have included both the Valentine's Day market and the St. Patrick's Day market holding a booth so children could create holiday crafts. We also worked on promoting the outstanding youth awards in the county and met last week to select this year's winners with Mr. Ran from the board of supervisors and Jacob, our chairman, participating in the process. The 2026 to 2027 YCYC application is now available through March 27th for 8th through 11th graders residing in York County. If you are interested or know anyone who would be, please encourage them to apply. I and any other student here would eagerly tell them that it is a wonderful opportunity to serve the county. In order to inform more people about the commission and learn more about our community's concerns, student all schools were interviewed about their knowledge of the organization. Later, these were put on Instagram to gather more engagement. Some of our future events we plan on having later are a yearly town hall meeting, adopting a local highway, a county high school pickleball tournament, and assisting with more market days. If you wish to contact us or see more information or find our application, please call us at 757-890-3500 or visit our website. Thank you for your time and I'm available for questions.

Mrs. New, I don't have any questions. I just am always very grateful that you all come before us and speak to us. And I do hope that you're learning an awful lot while you're on the board because that's the purpose. So enjoy your summer and happy St. Patrick's Day. We will. Thank you, ma'am. Mr. Shepard.

Yeah, [clears throat] kind of a quick report. I was sitting here trying to digest everything you you guys are doing. I know behind the scenes you guys do a lot. I mean, not only are you on the youth commission, but many of you are on so many other boards and clubs and things like that um that it's very difficult for you even find time. So when Sheila was talking about you being grateful us being grateful that you show up is the fact that you're not being pulled away in so many different directions and yet you're able to accomplish all the stuff uh in representing not only yourself but your family, your schools uh and that's very important and I think that uh um I look at the youth that are coming up now and it's really exciting to see the interest in government and the in service to uh to the community. Um, and I want to stress the fact that people, they look at you as children, okay? Because most of you are under 18, but the fact is that you're part of our government. You are commissioners in York County government. And we we have this uh organization specifically to represent the 13,000 kids that go that go to school. um we want to hear your voices and concerns and you're the ones that convey that information to us up here so we can adjust um rules, regulations, policies, funding and things like that. So what you say to us and what you present to us is very very important and we're really again very appreciative of you taking the personal time and interest um to uh learn about what you're doing and your play in the government of York County. So again, thank you very much for the presentation. Thank all of you for being here. Thank you,

Mr. Drury. Yes. Uh thank you so much for that. Um, I agree Tom's really said a lot uh for what you guys are doing and as I say each time, thank you all for the hard work, dedication, long hours uh that you put in to learning about government and helping others to understand government because uh for me personally before I sat in this seat there's a lot that I didn't know and I've learned a lot since I've been here. So uh hopefully one day when you're sitting in this seat you'll be light years ahead of where I was when I got on board. So, thank you again for your time,

Mr. Mr. Dunster. It's good to see you all again. It seems like the weather has conspired to keep us separated for the past three months, but hopefully in April we get back in sync and get back to joining you all during your meetings, your monthly meetings again. Um, and it occurs to me we should probably be coming up soon on our school town halls. Do you have any um status on where we are with with that and when that will be happening? Uh, not at the moment, sir, but that will be happening this year.

Okay. Yeah, it should probably in the May time frame. I'm I'm thinking that Scott's shaking his head over there. So, for those you don't know, one of the responsibilities of the youth commission is to meet with their student bodies, gather questions that they have for both the um the board of supervisors and school board and all of us here meet with our counterparts on the school board and we go to the schools and we get to have a town hall with all the students where they get to ask the question and hear feedback directly from us. That's a big highlight of of my year and I think everybody else here enjoys doing that as well. So I'm looking forward for the uh 2026 session and um I'll be counting the day. So thanks for coming coming to join us tonight. Appreciate it. So Nathaniel, I did have one question for you. The application are we uh disseminating it amongst the guidance counselors or the principles or who in the school is also making sure that these applications are getting handed out?

Uh yes sir. So, we uh as a committee has worked on that to try to get that out to the schools. We've provided that to the counselors and try to get that application on uh the students Canvas pages where they're able to see it daily when they go to do their assignments. Excellent. And tell the counselors. And how did Jacob wrangle out of this meeting? [laughter] I'm not sure. It's called delegation. Yeah. Thank you very much. We appreciate everything you've done and continue to do as a youth commission and really enjoy uh hearing from you courtly. Thank you. Yes, sir. Thank you. [clears throat]

Next, I'll call on Mr. Mark Bellamy, county administrator, for presentation of the fiscal year 27 budget. [clears throat] I didn't know that.

Mr. Holoy, thank you. I would like to start with a couple items before I do this presentation. First of all, like to say thank you to the budget team who's put a lot of time into this. Uh would you all raise your hands? So, Greg and Amy Virginia, the newest member of our team, Susan and Teresa, have all dedicated quite a bit of time over the last couple months to putting this together for you. So, I'm very grateful for all the work they've done. The other thing I might ask of you, uh, unless you feel super compelled, let's, um, it's a long presentation and I would recommend that we wait till the end to ask questions if you can, but if you feel overwhelmed, please do. Okay. So again, good evening. And when we talk about a county budget, uh, it's easy to focus on numbers because budgets are numbers. things like revenues, expenditures, and financial forecasts. But really, at its core, this budget is really about people. It's about firefighters who respond when someone calls for help. It's about the deputies who keep our neighborhoods safe, the public works crews who maintain our public landscaping, sewer, and storm water systems, and the staff who support programs that enrich the lives of our community. This year's FY27 budget reflects that reality. The largest driver in the budget is an investment in our workforce, particularly implementing the compensation study to ensure we remain competitive in recruiting and retaining the talented employees who deliver these fantastic services every day. But rather than just hearing from me about the value of our employees and the programs, we wanted you to hear directly from the people who experience those services on firsthand. So, we thought throughout

tonight's presentation, we'll get you a couple short video clips uh from the folks out there in the community, and they've taken a moment to share their experiences with our staff. These voices help illustrate what the numbers in the budget actually represent. And because at the end of the day, the budget is more than numbers. It's a reflection of our priorities and our commitment to the community that we all serve. And with that, we'll start by hearing from some citizens. Hi, we're Tim and Kay. We're Yorktown residents for the last 50 years. And we've been loving Yorktown Beach and all of Yorktown for

50 years. Bringing our kids down here and and right now we come down four or five times a week and walk the river. The flowers, the plants, the sand is rad and kept pristine year round. We love it down here. They do a great job with maintaining. It's the whole city. Beautiful. Yeah, we love it down here.

Examples like that are a great reminder of what our employees do every day and the impact those services have on our community. As we developed the 27 proposed budget, we kept that impact in mind. The goal was to ensure that our financial decisions continue to support the services and programs our residents value the most. And to guide that process, we focused on four key principles. They were the board's strategic priorities. Supporting and retaining the employees who deliver those services, maintaining strong support for our schools, and incorporating a longer term financial perspective to ensure our annual budget decisions align with the future needs of our county. There are also economic considerations that shape the development of the budget. Outside of the real estate reassessment, revenue growth is stabilizing. While the rate of inflation has stabilized, it's still higher than it was pre- pandemic. Federal and state policies are shifting. As we all know, changes in federal employment could impact our region, and state policies such as collective bargaining could have significant financial consequences for us as a county. Regarding revenue, 2026 is a reassessment year and we are seeing reasonable growth in property values and new construction, although the exemptions continue to rise. In consumer sensitive taxes, we're expecting low to no revenue growth. Going into this budget, a top priority was investing in our people, and we know from the recent compensation study that we needed adjustments to remain competitive and retain our talented staff. And this budget makes those investments in alignment with our implementation plan. We are also investing in our schools, ensuring that

we meet contractual obligations and laying the groundwork for meeting our future capital obligations. Quality of life in York County is high and residents recognize it is a great place to live. As you recall, we conducted a citizen survey uh in May of last year, and nine out of 10 citizens ranked the county as an excellent or good place to be. The overall budget for all funds less transfers this for FY27 is $38 million. For FY27, the proposed general fund budget is $214 million, which represents the count countyy's primary operating fund. And as we move into this portion of the presentation, it's reme it's important to remember that these expenditures support the services residents interact with every day. Our senior center is a great example of that. And here's a quick message from one of our senior center patrons about the impact that those services have on her life. been coming to the senior center for 26 years now. Uh I have learned quilting, I've learned games, I've come to exercise, and it's really a place for meeting new friends and bringing friends with you to the senior center. The opportunities here are just amazing. The staff is very helpful. They're always uh very pleasant. I love every one of them. They're very dear.

That's a great example of how our services supported through the general fund touch our res residents every day. So, let's take a little closer look at how those general fund expenditures are allocated for 2027. The general fund budget is increasing by 14.6 million. And the slide here highlights the primary drivers of that increase. And I'll walk you through each of these drivers in a little more detail. Recruiting and retaining highquality employees who deliver the services our residents expect remains a key priority for this budget. Approximately half of the increase in general fund budget is related to implementation of the compensation study. Approximately 63% of those adjustments support our public safety personnel with the remainder strengthening competitiveness for employees across the organization which would include include public works, libraries, and other essential services. Employee benefits also remain a important component of our overall compensation strategy. For 27, health and dental insurance costs are projected to increase between 10 and 12%. Supporting highquality public education remains a central component of the board's strategic priorities and a key driver of the county's exceptional quality of life. The proposed budget includes $1.2 million increase for the school division to support instructional and operational needs and to secure is to ensure continued academic excellence. Uh these investments continue to yield strong results. And I'd remind you that in the 2026 niche rankings, York County School Division was named the number one school district in both Virginia and the Hampton Roads region. [clears throat] That demonstrates our longstanding commitment to great educational services. Strategic investments in enhanced public

safety technology are included to support operational effectiveness, improve data integration, and enhance officer and community safety. I think all of you have visited with Mr. Hall recently at the 911 center and can appreciate what's going on down there in addition to what the sheriff has been involved in. These targeted upgrades ensure that our public safety agencies remain equipped with modern tools necessary to meet evolving operational demands. Inflation Inflation continues to affect contractual services, particularly information technology, software, and subscription-based systems. Technology costs are also increasingly recurring and subject to annual escalators, contributing to our structural operational growth. Budgeted funding for other operating costs such as postage, replacement library books, vehicle repairs, those are all increasing due to higher usage and continued inflationdriven prices. In addition to these cost pressures, organiza organizational growth over the past several years has increased operational demands across the department requiring additional support staff. Over the past five years, the county has added approximately 50 public safety positions while only five non-public safety general fund positions were added during that same period. While that reflects our strong commitment to frontline services, it also increases the demand on the departments that support our organization as a whole. To help address that, the FY27 budget recommends six new position in the general fund that strengthen internal capacity and support critical services. These positions within the Commonwealth Attorney's Office include one supporting the drug court that would be funded by

opioid uh settlement dollars. The budget also includes additional positions in finance and human resources to help support the growing workforce and operational needs of the organization. a senior appraiser position to support current workload and prepare for the potential transition to an annual real estate assessment as opposed to the every two-year one that we work with now and a library outreach position to expand awareness of programs and services. There are also increases to several of our regional partner organizations, including the Virginia Regional Jail, Williamsburg Area Transit, and Williamsburg Regional Library. These organizations provide services that benefit our residents and operate under cost sharing agreements among participating localities. In addition, this budget increases the county's cash capital contribution. Strengthening this fund allows us to address infrastructure and facility needs with cash where possible as opposed to borrowing, helping to reduce obviously our reliance on debt. The budget also includes an increase to social services primarily due to changes in cost sharing from the administration of the SNAP program that requires the county to absorb a larger share of these costs. And finally, funding for Head Start is increasing to support compensation adjustments for program staff to ensure that programs remain competitive in recruiting and retaining qualified educators. We view each budget request carefully and we don't recommend every request. This year, requested but not recommended and reallocated funding total $4.6 million. departments submitted a number of requests, including 31 additional positions that we're not recommending,

as well as increased funding for materials, supplies, and equipment. While these needs are valid, we must carefully prioritize a request to make sure that we continue a balanced budget. Those are the primary drivers behind the increase in the general fund budget for FY27. So, we'd like to step back here for a second and look at the overall compensation of the general fund expenditures first by functional area and then by expenditure type to see how we've used those resources across the county operations. But before we do that, we'd like you to hear some highlights from the outstanding work our sheriff's office does for the community. On November the 18th, 2025, at approximately 11:25 a.m., sheriff's office deputies responded to the tractor supply for a reported shoplifting that had just occurred. Arriving deputies were told that a male suspect had stolen in excess of $500 in merchandise. And when confronted by employees, fled on foot into the wooded area adjacent to the business.

All right, buddy. You ready to go? Within a few minutes, Deputy Sheriff Ashley Octaviano arrived on scene with K-9 deputy Ghost. Over the course of the next hour and a half, K9 Ghost tracked the suspect for approximately 3 miles through the woods. Put your hands off right now. Send the dog. He'll bite you.

At 1:00 p.m., K9 Ghost located the suspect and he was taken into custody. The suspect, Charles Brandon Evans, age 38, of Picosen, was charged with shoplifting and possession of a scheduled one or two narcotic. He is currently incarcerated in the Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail. Shoplifting is a serious problem, and the sheriff's office works daily with the business community to combat this crime. I have to believe that if you ask Charles Brandon Evans if he's going to try and shoplift again, he will tell you, "Not your county, brother. esic [music] and we thank the sheriff for going along with that. Here you can see the FY27 general fund budget expenses by function compared to the 26 budget. The majority of that $14.6 6 million budget increase is in public safety and transfers to other fund which includes capital cash capital. Public safety and schools together make up about 68% of the general fund reflecting the county's strong focus on safety and education which we are known for. Here you can see the total general fund expenditures by type compared to last year. And as the chart shows, the largest increases are in personnel services and transfers to other funds, which include our contribution to cash capital. Overall, personnel services, school operating support, school debt, together account for more than 75% of the general fund budget, highlighting how much of our budget is dedicated to supporting employees and education. We've now reviewed how the general fund is allocated and the factors driving

this year's expenditure. So, we'll turn and look at the revenue side next. Property taxes make up the majority of our revenue. And the board has asked that we take a look at opportunities to reduce the burden on our residential taxpayers with this budget. And I'm recommending some strategic adjustments to other resources revenue sources to help diversify the county's revenue base. 2026 is a reassessment year and the reassessment reflects the continued strength of the county's residential housing market. We saw relatively low activity at the board of equalization indicating that the values generally align with today's market conditions. The overall increase in assessed values was 11.4%. Of that 11.4% 9.4 4 of that was related to reassessment growth and 2% related to new construction. No change to the real estate tax rate is recommended in this budget. As in prior years, disabled veterans real estate exemption continues to grow with approximately $5.5 million in tax relief expected in 2026. Now, this is on a calendar year, not on the fiscal year. um which is up from 5.1 on the previous year. We have one of the largest concentrations of veterans in the state and when enact enacted in 2011 the effect of this legislation was less than $200,000 in revenue. It has now grown to over $5 million. Also noteworthy, disabled veterans are exempt from personal property for one vehicle, which was about $1.3 million in 2026. And while we support the premise of the program, the state nor the localities envisioned that it would grow at this rate. So, back to the reassessment and what

does that mean for a York County taxpayer? You've seen these uh graphics before in some of our other budget presentations. So, with the reassessment, a home valued at $225,000 would pay a little less than $14 a month. Uh, additional a house valued at $450,000, which is approximately our median household it our household value would pay an additional $28 per month. And a house valued at 900,000 would be an additional monthly cost of about $55. You saw this slide for the first time last year. This is the real estate tax burden and it represents the typical amount a homeowner pays annually in property taxes. is calculated by applying the county's real estate tax rate to the assessed value of the house and is often compared to other household income to understand the share of income residents devote to property taxes. As this comparison shows, York County continues to remain among the lowest real estate burdened localities in the region, reflecting the board's long-standing commitment to maintain a competitive tax environment while delivering highquality services. Due to the recent legislative changes to help diversify the county's revenue base and reduce reliance on property taxes, this budget proposes a 2% increase in the meals tax to go from 4% to 6%. This updates the strategic opportunity to generate revenue which can help support future capital needs such as those outlined in the 15 c 15-year capital outlook. Meals taxes are paid not only by residents, but also by visitors and individuals who work or travel through the county,

allowing a broader group of people to contribute to the services they benefit from while in our county. This slide shows the meals tax rates across our neighboring localities. As you can see, uh, many of the surrounding jurisdictions have already have meals tax rate at or above the level being proposed for York County. With the proposed adjustment to 6%, York County would remain generally in line with the regional peers while diversifying a revenue base and reducing the pressure on property taxes. This slide illustrates what the proposed meals tax adjustments means in practical terms. Much like the housing slide that you saw just a moment ago, because the rate would increase by two percentage points, this impact on an individual purchase is relatively small. For example, on a $12 meal, that increase would be about 25. On a $75 meal, that increase would be about a$1.50. While modest at the individual level, these small contributions across many transactions help generate revenue that supports county services while allowing visitors and non-residents who dine in the county to contribute. We have modest increases in various other revenue sources, including an increase in reimbursements from participating localities for our E911 services and nominal increases in charges for permits and fee and state funding that we get for constitutional officers. This slide shows the total recommended general fund revenue for FY27 compared to last year's budget. the revenue projection, the recent reassessment, as well as the estimated increase to other tax revenues, including the proposed meals tax change. In total, the general fund revenue budget increases by $14.6 million.

This slide highlights two potential legislative changes at the state level that could affect the county in the coming years. First, legislation related to collective bargaining for local government employees has passed both chambers. Uh we've had conversation about that individually as late as this evening. If signed by the governor could have significant fiscal implications, particularly related to compensation and benefits. And second, the general assembly is also considered legislation that would allow counties to adopt an admissions tax. If that authority is granted, it could provide additional opportunities for a county to further diversify its revenue base should the board decide to do that. It the the ability to do it doesn't mean you have to do it. And that's the point I wanted to make there. As we transition from the general fund to other funds included in the budget, I want to share a comment we received from a resident about one of those services. The workers attending my broken sewer pipe did a fantastic job fixing my leak. They were on the job right away and had it fixed within a couple of hours. Super friendly and talked me through the whole repair process from start to finish. Thanks so much, fellas. Most people don't think much about services like trash collection or sewer maintenance for that matter until something goes wrong. But the employees who support these services work behind the scenes every day to keep those systems running smoothly to respond quickly when residents need assistance. And many of these services are supported through enterprise funds, which are funded primarily through user fees rather than general tax revenues. For FY27, the total enterprise fund budget is $34.3 million. The first enterprise fund, the solid waste fund, supports the county's trash

and recycling service, which are primarily provided by contractors. There is about a $200,000 increase in expenses for FY27 related to contractual increases and implementation of the compensation plan. Because of this, I am recommending the fees to go up slightly to cover the increase in costs. As you'll see, 68% of our residents have garbage and recycling. It would be an increase of a dollar a month. The county also operates and maintains the wastewater collection system, which serves residents and businesses throughout the service area. Users of the system pay fees that help cover the construction, operation, maintenance, and expansion of these facilities. Currently, sewer operations are funded primarily through user fees, but they're also partially supported by meals tax. However, sewer rates have remained relatively unchanged for some time. Commercial rates have not been changed since 2015. Residential rates since 2021 was the last 2021 was the last time that residential rates were changed. And while the cost of providing services has increased due to inflation and system maintenance needs, to ensure the long-term sustainability, the county commissioned a sewer rate structure analysis from our financial advisors to evaluate the current rate structure and identify a fair, sustainable approach to covering service costs. Based on that study, adjustments to sewer service fees are recommended for 2027. Over time, the goal is to gradually move the program towards greater self-sufficiency where the user fees fully cover the cost of providing sewer services without relying on meals tax. Our financial

advisors, PFM, will be here at the March 19th, this coming Thursday, uh, work session to discuss the results of this study in more detail. Other enterprise funds include the Yorktown operations fund and the regional radio fund. Yorktown operations accounts for doc master activity for the waterfront peers and costs are increasing slightly due to insurance premiums on the dock. Costs for operation of the re regional radio system are increasing by about $500,000 and most of that is related to maintenance of technology investments. Special revenue funds account for revenue that is restricted for a specific purpose. For FY27, the total special revenue budget fund is $20 million. Some of our major special revenue funds include social services and children and family services. Both increased by just slightly over $300,000. The tourism fund decreases slightly from the prior year due to the removal of one-time funding included in last year's budget and the grant-f funded expenditures increased modestly reflecting additional state support for public safety grants. We also have internal service funds that account for activity that provides goods or services to other funds or departments within the county. And for 27, the total internal service fund budget is $34.2 million. Vehicle maintenance fund has increased about a million dollars over the last year. This increase is mostly attributable to vehicle and equipment replacements and increases in repair and personnel cost. Just like everything in our organization, our health and dental insurance costs have also increased and I mentioned that earlier in the presentation. The last internal service fund is the

workers comp fund and that has a slight increase in premiums. Now that we've talked about the operating budget, I want to briefly go back and talk about the capital improvements program. I presented to you my preliminary capital projects program at the December 16th uh session. And since that time, the board has discussed it individually with staff and then again at the board retreat. The preliminary six-year CIP totals $262 million for the general fund projects and $64 million for all other funds. Here you can see the sourcing the funding sources by year for the six-year plan. The board's adopted financial man management policies which we also talked about at your recent retreat on debt govern the issuance of debt which include key two key ratios. First, the general fund supported debt principle will not exceed 3% of the net assessed value of taxable property. And second, the annual debt service expenditures will not exceed 10% of budgeted general fund expenditures. As you can see here, the preliminary six-year plan is in compliance with both of those ratios. We spent some significant time over the past several months discussing the need to take a longer term view of our capital improvements program. That was the emphasis for our October retreat. The six-year capital plan has served us very well for many years, but we're approaching a period now where several large and complex projects are on the horizon. And because of that, we've begun looking further out, developing a 15-year outlook to better understand the timing and scale of those projects and to ensure that our annual budget

decisions align with the county's long-term infrastructure obligation. This slide shows several of the significant projects we expect to address over the next 15 years. There is another one of our work sessions uh before the budget adoption that is dedicated to this topic. So, you'll have the opportunity to discuss this again as well. As we continue through the budget process, there are several opportunities for the residents to learn more about the proposal, share their feedback with the board. the full proposed budget and the budget in brief. Mrs. Null, I know you like the budget and brief and we've prepared another one for you this year. It's available to all the residents. Uh you can find those online as well as at the at the local libraries. We'll be hosting two town hall meetings which are great opportunity for residents to learn more about the budget, ask questions, and share thoughts that they may have regarding the budget. Residents can also provide input through the survey available on our website or by contacting us directly through email or phone. Um both are on this slide right here, the email address and the phone number. Um in addition to the town halls and the public's public hearings, the board will hold six additional budget work sessions over the next month with planned adoption of the budget on May 5. Community feedback is an important part of shaping the final budget and we encourage everyone to get involved. And that concludes the presentation. We'd be happy to answer questions. Uh we have Virginia and Susan and Teresa here that can answer all the technical questions if you have them.

I'll start on my left this time, Mr. Jury. Uh, thanks Mark for the detailed somewhat reader digest of the budget. Um, I I'm not going to ask questions tonight. We've got work sessions coming. I'm not going to take up time tonight to ask questions. Thank you. Yes. Thank you, Mr. String through that fire fire hose. Um, but understand we got to we got to cover a lot one shot and then start getting down in the details. Um, real quick, you mentioned that you're not recommending a real estate tax rate increase, but I don't think you mentioned the personal property tax rate. I'm assuming we're not recommending an increase.

No, sir. No personal property tax increase rate either. All right. Like like Mr. Drury, I'll have more questions as we as we move forward. Thank you. Thank you, Mrs. Nor. [clears throat] It is quite a lot to digest. It is. I think it was a very thorough presentation and I think this is going to be our reading before we go to bed at night. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Shepard. I don't know about you, I already read it. You already read it. You got to read it again.

No, that's a it's a ton of information. Uh, and thanks to the staff. I know this is not an easy thing to put together. Um, [clears throat] but this is probably one of the best budget presentations um that I've seen in in 25 years. Um, because you you're able to summarize it in a manner that makes makes sense. Um, if I look at this in summary, basically we've talked everybody knows we hear a lot about the tax rate. We hear about assessments. Uh we're and we're [clears throat] and the big key here is that over the months people will be thinking about those and they can and by now it you know they should have been able to take pretty much the current tax rate and compared to their assessments and get an idea of what their tax taxes out of pocket pocket expenditures will be. Um the as always we end up with you know people throwing out this it's almost like a mortar round battle of percentages and stuff like that. Uh percentages are interesting but the the big tail is what comes out of your pocket. What do you buy? What do you get for your money? Um, I like the presentations where you have people communicating their feelings about the community and the overall assessment has been that for years has been that people are very happy to live in York County. They want to come to York County because of the school system and because of the school system. We have a really low crime rate. We got a great sheriff's department which we've been able to put a lot of people in over the years. So, we have to keep all that in mind as we look at the at this coming tax uh tax and and the revenue uh session. Uh I think in summary, you know, again, the focus has always been on the tax rate. Uh not much in terms of overall what that service really provides to us. This briefing presentation is a good is a really good summary of that. Um and [clears throat] I know you only you only

spent just a little bit of time about the what is it the impact on there. That's a slide that was presented by our numbers guy here last year. And uh it was it was great. It's a great uh study and looking at what we pay and how that impacts our lives individually. Um and if you look at that how you know you look at it's the lowest and I think it's white may be the lowest one but uh and uh in the peninsula it's it's it's it's very low. Um so and we got about $14 million is what's been added uh to the requ the requirements because of various activities [clears throat] and uh so people kind of keep all those I'm just kind of giving you a big big the big bites. Okay. One of the things that we're going to have to really think about and and this budget pales in comparison of what the requirements is going to be for those 15-year items that we were talking about. the new courthouse, huge expenditure. Uh new administration building, huge expenditure. And we're talking into, you know, the maybe 100 120 $130 million. And that's a hunk of change that we've got to be able to adjust our policies to fit that. So these are things that we're looking at over the future that we need to do. This is a great presentation.

Thank you. So thank you. Well, I'll echo what the other members have said. Mark, great presentation, a lot of information to take in. Had a couple of quick questions though. You mentioned six extra meetings that the board would be meeting on the budget. Are they all televised? Uh, I believe each one of the uh work sessions are downstairs in the East Room. So, we'll have a capability to do that. Okay. And that is our intentions for the for those that are in the East Room. And two other very minor questions. workers comp has gone up slightly, but your safety rate has remained the same or better. I would have to defer to Miss Owens on that. Okay. I believe that to be correct.

I I'll uh reserve that for a Thursday question. Okay. The other one, and I'm asking it because we have a consent calendar item tonight on Head Start. You' indicated the rates went up, but the consent calendar item said that the rates are the same as last year. Do we understand why we would report in one place they're up but in the consent calendar they're flat.

Normally I wouldn't ask for an answer tonight but we have a we have an item to vote on. Right. The federal revenues have not changed and so that's what you're looking at on your item tonight. Okay. But our local contribution to the fund is increasing based on mostly the compensation plan implementation. Thank you. [clears throat] It's all ahead. Okay. Well done. Thank you.

Next, we'll move on to uh citizen comment period. Before I do that, I'm just going to read a note that I prepared last month. I'm going to read it again this month. So, good evening. Before we begin the public comment, uh public hearing portion of this meeting, I'd like to briefly review our rules and expectations for public participants. Citizen input is welcome. This is an opportunity to address the board on any matters within its per purview. Please come to the podium and clearly state your name and address for for the record. Your three minutes will begin after you introduce yourself. Please direct your remarks to the board as a whole through the chair. Public comment is not a question and answer session or debate. If you have a question, please direct it to the chair. I may at my discretion ask the appropriate person to follow up outside of the board meeting. Please avoid repetitive comments. If you agree with the prior speaker, you may simply state your name, position, and to which you agree. And finally, we appreciate everyone helping to keep respectful and orderly meeting. Please focus your comments on the issues. Speak with courtesy and allow others the same opportunity to be heard. Be respectful. Maintain decorum.

Mr. Chairman. Yes. I just a point. Um it's we got like four minutes before the public hearing starts. [snorts] Okay. And I don't believe either one of the public hearings are long. Is that correct, Mr. Bell? For the public hearing items, there's two of them in here. What I'm suggesting is that if I don't know how many people you're going to have want to speak tonight, but if it goes long, you're going to take the public hearings, well, we'll pass 7 o'clock, which is the posted public hearing time. And I was going to recommend we just get the two public hearings done and then then go into a then go right into the citizen comment period

and that would delay it maybe 30 minutes. Okay, with that public sessions are very brief. We'll do that. So, we'll move to item four on the public hearings, which is school capital project financing, and we'll call on Virginia level. Good evening. Good evening.

Uh tonight we're here to hold a public hearing required to issue debt for school capital projects. Uh we are asking the board to approve the issuance of up to $13,465,000 for fiscal year 2025 approved capital projects. Uh the financing is part of the pulled bond program through the Virginia public school authority. Uh this pulled program was created by the general assembly to supplement existing methods of financing for school projects. Um and it provides us a competitive interest rate qualifies as taxexempt and also it reduces our administrative burden to issue. Um the bonds are expected to sell in April and the closing is expected in late April. [snorts] Again, uh this is for the approved fiscal year 2025 capital projects for schools. The projects include the roof coating at Brutin High and the lighted turf field at TAB, which is which are both essentially complete. Um the financing will also be used for the lighted turf fields at Grafton modular classrooms and the A&E for TAB High. Um although [snorts] the majority of that borrowing will occur over the next two years when actual construction begins. I will be happy to take any questions.

Have any questions for Miss Level? Yes. Just how the the work you [clears throat] listed for you mentioned for Tab High, how does that correspond to the other capital project that we have for on the books for tab high that few separate things on the overlap? So the tab highric project is spread over four years in the CIP. Um 3.6 was in fiscal 25 for A&E and that's what would be issued with this issuance. All right. So all right. So this is tied to that work. It is okay. Thank you. You're welcome. [clears throat] So did you say the turf had already been completed

at TAB? at TAM and they're still working on the the working out the details for the turf field at Grafton. Okay. But this funding would take care of those. Yes. Okay. Seeing no further questions from the board, I'll open the public hearing. Call in any citizens who wish to speak on this matter. No questions. Seeing none, I'll close the public hearing. Any further discussions at the board? I'll move R 26-26 or is that is that the 20? Yeah, R26-26. Is that the one? I see two of them in here. Roll call, please.

The motion made by Mr. Sheepard is to adopt resolution R 2626 to approve the application as submitted. Mrs. M. Null. Yes. Mr. Drury. Yes. Mr. Brown. Yes. Mr. Shepard. Yes. Mr. Holoy. Yes. Motion carried. Agenda item number five, additional court assessment for the maintenance of an electronic summon system. I'll call in Richard Hill, county attorney, to introduce the item.

Uh, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, this item would uh increase or add an additional $5 court cost to criminal and traffic citations for the York County court system. Uh and the purpose of the assessment is to raise funds uh pursuant to uh state law to be used for the implementation of a digital traffic ticket citation system uh which has been requested by the clerks of the court system to make paperwork easier and has also been endorsed by the sheriff's office to for the same reasons and also to um help make for quicker quicker stops, easier processing um of all those things. So that is and as I as we note in the memo u the sheriff's office issued around 8,000 summones and tickets tickets in 2025 that would have yielded $40,000 and the sheriff who is here and could potentially answer additional questions if there are any um estimates that the cost of implementation for each vehicle is about $1,000. So under that we would be able to implement the system in 40 cars and this would be a separate segregated fund that would be paid to the treasurer from the court system and um set aside for use solely for this purpose.

Sheriff Montgomery, did you have anything to add?

Mr. Chairman, just very quickly to u emphasize what Mr. Hill just said this will speed up uh the interaction between my deputies and the public when we're issuing traffic tickets. Essentially, you'll have a scanner in the vehicle. The barcode on the back of your driver's license will be scanned. That'll transmit the information into a a computer software program in the car will print the ticket. One of the things it also does that the court u the clerks are also concerned about is it eliminates bad handwriting. I wish I could tell you that none of my deputies don't have that issue, but sometimes that can create some problems that so that goes automatically into their system as well as ours. So that'll clear up a lot of the time that some of my clerks in the office uh have to hand uh enter that stuff as well. So we we certainly endorse this program

and this is being used by the state police. Is that my understanding? Virginia State Police is using it as well. Some other localities in the Commonwealth of Virginia have already implemented as well. Okay. Any questions from the board? Yes. So, Sheriff, thank you. Um, this would be making things way more efficient and expedient, right? Correct.

So, I know because I have a son-in-law that's a deputy and um, paperwork is bogging people down at times and they could probably be out doing other things to support the protection of our county. So, uh, what would you say? How much time and efficiency do you do you think this would bring to your staff? On average, on average, when I uh contact other localities, it reduces the average time of interaction on a traffic ticket from 20 minutes down to about eight. That's a lot. That's big. Okay. Thank you very much. [clears throat]

And if I may note also, Mr. Chairman, this is uh would be slated uh with a delayed effective date of July 1st. of this year. This year. Okay. So, go ahead. That's when we'll start collecting that revenue. That's when the fee will go into effect and the clerks will start adding it and it will start. So, July 1st it will go into effect. And I guess the plan is to reach a certain revenue threshold and then purchase the necessary is it hardware or just software we need in the vehicles? Both is the thousand per vehicle is the cost of the software and the hardware for the program. Okay. So, we're going to get to a 40 vehicle threshold and then purchase for 40 vehicles. Is that

my plan is we have I have currently I have uh six people in their traffic unit. They're the ones that write the bulk of these tickets. So, as quickly as we can get that money, those will be the first vehicles that'll have the system installed. And from there, uh we'll start to I'll call them the more proactive deputies will start to get the system as we gather the funds. Okay. All right. Makes sense. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Mrs. N. No questions. Mr. Questions. Okay. Open the public hearing. Call on any citizens who wish to speak on this matter.

Seeing none, close the public hearing. Any board discussion. Move ordinance 26-4 17 or 17. I'm sorry. What am I looking at here? Have a motion for R26-17. It's 24 264. You're at the bottom. [clears throat] 264, isn't it? You went too far down. Yeah, you went further down. I know it's it does say 2617 there. My notes say 267, but on on the um agenda. It said it does say 264. 264 on the agenda. All right. Move 26-4. Roll call. Item five.

The motion made by Mr. Shephard is to adopt proposed ordinance 26-4 as submitted. Mr. Drury, yes. Mr. Ran, yes. Mr. Shepard, yes. Mrs. Null, yes. Mr. Holoid, yes. Motion carry. I'll now move back to citizen comment period. First person I have on my list is uh Mr. Payton Powell. Please come to the microphone. State your name and address. Miss Pton. Well, Miss I'm sorry, Miss Payton Powell. All my life.

Um, my name is uh Payton Powell. I live at 110 Yorkview Road, Yorktown, Virginia. Go ahead.

I'm ready. [clears throat] My family moved here to Yorktown in 1956 after my father's fellow NASA engineers convinced him that York County was the place to be. It had great schools, land to build dream homes on, privacy, beauty, water to view, ski on, boat on, and a town still in the midst of building itself with people who cared and were included in its making York County the envy of the places to live here on the peninsula. Those NASA engineers used to refer to York County as the place filled with freedom and opportunities. The sky was the limit and the future was right here and they could help make a difference. I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to grow up here in York County where I was shown how to be a caring, responsible citizen by the great generation, to pay attention, get involved, and communicate to my county, state, and federal officials just how important our freedom of choice is. I walked out of Mr. Alumis' 12th grade US government class at York High School in 1966, believing that there are four branches of government: executive, judicial, Congress, and the most important branch, the people. Yes, our government's here to take care of us, to protect us, to make us safe, and to make our lives better, create fair voting field for all people, and to listen to us. But in the end, it is we, the people that vote. We currently have a president that is not following the US Constitution and looking to rig the midterm elections. We are all watching our free and fair elections under attack with our own eyes. You know that and I know that is not how our founders intended our government to run. In other states throughout our union, they are willy-nilly just drawing lines. Our legislators here in Virginia gave us the

opportunity to help make the decision whether or not it was going to be yes or no. We the people are the people that vote. I don't know about you, but every day when I step out onto my yard, I realize that this is the very land where my freedom was fought over and won. As those NASA NASA engineers knew back in the late 60s, I feel proud to live in a place of great freedom and many opportunities. So, it is with that said that I put to you our board of directors, and these are rhetorical questions. Can you really sit there knowing that you were on land that gave us our freedom and take our the people's right to have a say out of this democratic process? Are you really okay with us not keeping our national elections fair? You must vote to keep this special election ongoing so that York County residents have a voice in this vote. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Powell. Next, I'll call on Pam Pusho. Good evening. My name is Pampoo show. I reside at 103 Kimberly Court, Grafton area. Your favorite team is in the Super Bowl. The president favors the other team. Imagine you find out that the president has contacted the NFL, their sponsors, and the media that will air it and said his team needs to start out with a seven-point lead. The president threatens to stop mergers, corporate tax breaks, silencing of the media, and who knows what else if his team is not given an advantage from the start of the game. Would you be outraged? I hope so. Trump told Texas Governor Greg Abbott to gerrymander congressional districts so the Republicans would gain five new seats. Sort of like when he asked Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensburgger to find another 11,780 votes so he could win the 2020 election. Now he wants Texas to cheat so he can keep a Republican majority in the House. The Supreme Court said, "Okay." California said they would level the playing field and do the same. Other states have followed suit. Virginia is doing what Trump demanded of Texas. Where was the Republican outcry when Texas redistricted without consent of the electorate? At least Virginia is putting this question to a referendum. Let the voters choose. If enacted, this statute will expire in 2030 and the new census will then determine bipartisan districts as before. Virginia is asking for a level playing field, not one that is rigged by Donald Trump. It is not what most voters want, but it is what many voters believe is necessary. We should all want free and fair elections where voting is made easier, not more restrictive, as the Save Act will require. Steven Ran sent out an email

acting in his role as supervisor urging you to vote no. I believe that is a misuse of his office as is your resolution R26-43. He said, "We have nothing in common with Northern Virginia. Rob Whitman lives in Montrose, a rural community of 533 people 80 miles away from this building. The current congressman for the new proposed district is former Lieutenant Governor Don Byer. He lives in Alexandria, 37 miles from Montrose. Suburban York County has more in common with buyer's district than the mostly rural areas of Whitman's district. Any local candidate can run for this office. Trump started this mess. Pay attention, MAC supporters. Virginia is emulating Trump's actions. How can you argue with that? Worried about Trump's voter fraud? The Extremely Conservative Heritage Foundation's database has found that from 1999 through 2023 of over 1 billion votes cast, there were 77 cases of non-citizens voting. And of those, 10 were undocumented immigrants. That is 0000764% of all votes were cast by non-Americans. Trump feels it so appalling that it necessitates overhauling our entire method of casting ballots and voter registration, costing hundreds of millions of dollars to accomplish. Pure idiocy. Vote yes to keep Trump from rigging this election. Thank you.

Thank you, Miss Bush. I next have uh Duane Regin.

Hello. Um good evening. Happy uh St. Patrick's Day. Um board members, I'm coming up here about the uh York County. Name and address first, please. Oh, Dwayne Reagan. I live at 610 Oral Nick Creek Road. I've been in the county for 64 years if that matters. Thank you.

But uh when I go to the York County dump, um talking about efficiency, what I've heard you talk about, and I didn't add that in here, but um when you go then we got a new sheriff's department right down the street. But on a high uh volume day, the cars are backed up in that one little area where if the sheriff had to get out, it might be a problem. Also, that um the trucks that go in there, it's a small area when they're backing up in there. They're um waiting and I've drove large trucks. That's a lot of fuel and wasted time and manhour time.

But, uh going back on what I wrote here, I believe all y'all have a um little letter for what I wrote. Anyway, uh it could be designed better uh when you have the natural recyclables, the uh sticks, stuff, anything coming out of your yard, the leaves, they're going out in and out of that same driveway. It's probably big enough for two cars. I'm sure all y'all have been out there if you living in the county. Also, the um the dump area when you get up there, uh it's nasty. You get out of your car, you you walk in that stuff, you dump it out, and you get out and it could be dangerous, slipping hazard, and that's on the top there. That's not in the back where you have the containers. Um, let's see here. Also, where the containers at, they're uh I see some elderly people trying to put it in. I've se they have lower containers, but it seems like it's not efficient. You have large trucks coming in there blowing dust around. You got to breathe that stuff. Um,

let's see here. What I do ask, I mean, there's solutions to this, you know, concrete and asphalt. Uh, put the containers lower as I've been to Gloucester dumps where you can dump the stuff in there. It's more efficient, faster, and also if you, uh, design it with a magnet, you can pull the metal out of there. I've seen bicycles, uh, all sorts of stuff going that could be recycled. Um, and that's about it. It's pretty simple, straightforward. I don't know how to do this. First time I've been up here. We got some young people here and y'all are going to be living at it. I mean, uh, I won't be here in a couple years, but we definitely have a trash problem. We build dumps all over the place, so we need to take it, uh, you know, pretty serious. That's all I got to add. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Reggins.

Next, I have O'kee Nettles. Hello, ladies and gentlemen. I have to hit the button or Can you hear me? Name and address. Thank you.

Yeah, I'm here to voice some concerns from my community. I live on 105 Melddy Lane, Oki David Nettles, and with the passing bills that's in the Senate and the House and everything were concerned, my neighbors, which are elderly people and stuff like that. Are it is this going to be a doicile or the cities that or states that where illegals can come and stay with some of the bills? Are they going to be are we going to cooperate with ICE and other federal agencies to make sure that your county stays the way it is? I moved here 10 to 15 years ago and I loved it and I said I'd stay. I'd like to see it stay the same way and just voice some of my neighbors and friends opinions. I thought I'd come here tonight and voice mine to you. Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

I next have Elizabeth Wilkins. Elizabeth Wilkins, 228 Church Street in Yorktown. Good evening, members of the board. With regard to the proposed resolution, which I'm not sure of the status right now, but opposing the state's redistricting amendment, your concern seems to be that having a tiny sliver of Northern Virginia in our district will mean that York County's interests will not be represented in Congress. Actually, many York residents have felt for the entirety of Rob Wittman's 20-year tenure that our interests are not represented. Last year in particular, we've watched as Wittmann rubber stamped Trump's agenda with zero degrees of separation. This from a congressman who started his political career as a so-called moderate. Lately, out of sheer frustration, I've been asking him whether there is anything that Trump has done that he takes issue with, and so far crickets. These are not normal times when a sitting president demands absolute authority to make policy and members of his party then yield the entire power of Congress to the executive branch on a silver platter. When Trump demanded that red states gerrymander their districts for Republican advantage ahead of the midterms, starting with Texas and without any voter input, we heard no complaints from Republicans. Then the Supreme Court poked the hornets's nest, allowing both Texas and California to move ahead with their partisan redistricting plans. After a succession of red states followed suit, Virginia decided to defensively enter this arms

race and put the issue to the voters of the Commonwealth. But really, this debate doesn't belong here. Your choice to engage with this issue by proposing a resolution in opposition is divisive and is counterproductive to the mission of local government, which is simply to work responsibly on behalf of all of its citizens to improve our lives. We've been here before, but York County works best when we come together in bipartisan fashion to solve our collective local problems. As we saw with the cruise ship plans plans for Yorktown, your cautious approach to data center development and environmental resiliency initiatives, as well as ongoing public safety collaborations between citizens and law enforcement. So, please keep up that good work, but I would urge you to minimize, not deepen, the political divisions that threaten the health of our communities. Thank you.

Thank you.

Next is Rean Collier. Hello. um tall. Uh I'm Reagan Collier. I live on 115 Emily Lane. Um and good evening, uh members of the board. Um I have been a resident here in York County since I was two years old. Uh so now that is 17 years. Um and I've attended York County public schools all my life. Many members of my family are teachers and both my mother and brother have worked or are still working in York County schools. As either students or faculty, we can all attest to the benefit our safe and inviting, diverse community has had on fostering an effective learning environment. We can also attest to the love shown by working families who have immigrated here to secure better lives for their children and the pain we all feel when that hope is taken from them. Those families who own homes and businesses paid for with the hard work and value they bring to our county. Families that are now being persecuted for wanting a future in the place they have already sunk so much of themselves into. Parents should not be afraid to wait at bus stops and children should not be terrified that their mother or father won't be there when they get back. We have already seen that in the waves of federal ICE raids across the country and on this peninsula, they are willing to illegally detain immigrants pursuing citizenship with no criminal record whatsoever. People who have not broken the law. We've also seen ICE agents who are

willing to endanger, threaten, and kill human beings regardless of their citizenship. Recognizing the terror ICE presence here has caused, we've collected 500 signatures on pledge cards from people in our community who want to see hardworking families protected from unjust persecution. And I'd like to hand these all to someone at this time. Yeah. We would ask that the board remember these names and choose not to be pressured into going along with unjust ICE actions, but instead look proactively to help our community and the families that have been here for even longer than I have. Thank you. Next I have uh Jacquman Ven Monro.

Uh good evening members of board. My name is Jacquan Mont France. I live on Church Street here in Yorktown. I'd like to address the redistricting amend amendment itself. Firstly, the me amendment is a temporary measure. It has a sunset clause. So to say that it has dire consequences for York County, the military, etc. gaslights the real purpose of the amendment, which is to level the playing field in the midterm elections and flyers that target African-American households promised in his re-election campaign. Are you okay with soaring gas prices? Is affordability not a problem for you? Are you okay with Donald Trump's unconstitutional Iran war that has never been approved by Congress? Are you com comfortable with sending American military personnel into harm's way for a misguided war? And how do how do you feel about reinstating the draft to support Trump's war effort? What about the Epstein files? Donald Trump signed an Epstein Transparency Act into law last November that required all of the Epstein files be publicly released. Are you okay with the fact that less than half of the 6 million pages of those files have been released to the public so far? Do you wonder what's in the remaining files as I do? I could go on and on and most of these questions are directly related to the fact that Congress is not doing its job. There are no text uh checks and balances on the executive branch. So what the redistricting amendment boils down to is returning accountability to government. If Trump's gerrymandering efforts

currently underway remain unanswered, it will guarantee that we will have he will have two more years without congressional oversight. If the amendment is passed, however, there will at least be the possibility of holding his his administration to account. So, I urge everybody listening tonight to vote yes on the amendment between now and April the 21st. Thank you. Thank you. Sheila Fuller.

Good evening everyone. I want to wish everyone a happy St. Patrick's Day and I appreciate this opportunity to speak before the board of supervisors. This is my first opportunity so I know my time is starting. I'm at 315 Hodgees Cove Road in 23692. I'm here this evening also to share my concerns regarding the resolution that is proposed by this board of supervisors 26-43. It's in response to President Donald Trump's efforts at urging Republican states to [clears throat] draw redleaning districts to help his party maintain its thin majority in Congress with Texas, Missouri, Indiana, Ohio, and North Carolina as well as fall Florida falling in line. I hope in the state of Virginia we will not do the same. We, the citizens of York County, have a right to vote on this proposed amendment. It is a temporary measure to level the playing field in response to President Trump's efforts of redistricting to sway the midterm elections in order to gain Republican seats in Congress. And as we know, he wants ultimate control of the federal government. It is our responsibility as citizens of York County to support our government's balance of power, to seek transparency in our representatives, those before me today, as well as their uh respect for fairness amongst their constituents, including our right to vote on this proposed amendment free of influence, free of interference from our local board of supervisors. As an American, I feel strongly regarding my right to vote and not have that road that right to vote influenced by my local board of supervisors. You were elected to represent the citizens of this county to be transparent and to

seek justice for your constituents and not impose your views on ourselves. I don't agree with the proposed resolution. Uh please do not pass this resolution. It doesn't represent all the constituents views of this amendment within this county. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Just keep to a minimum. K. Griffin, please. Say it again.

Name was K. Griffin. Move on to the next. Denil Francis. Good evening. Denil Francis, District 2, Tab Lakes. Um, I want to thank you all for featuring the York County Youth Commission tonight. I love that you all highlight them. Um, as somebody who served that youth commission 35 years ago, I love seeing the legacy. Um, I'm here tonight um to express some concern regarding the board of supervisors wasting time. This board is elected to address county issues, not to use board time for political posturing. Though I appreciate the motion tonight to remove item nine from the agenda moments ago. It's not an appropriate use of board of supervisors time to have general assembly resolutions on the agenda. State matters do not belong on county agendas. state matters exceed the scope of your role and duty here. It makes one question why the board of supervisors has that kind of free time or is this a signal of political rot in our community? As the budget presentation showed us tonight, and that was a fantastic presentation, um we have real issues in this community that deserve time, attention, and respect. We have public servants, fire and life safety deputies, county employers, um teachers, school division staff, operations building staff who really deserve attention and advocacy. We have top rated schools with leaking roofs, infrastructure concerns. We have outdated fire stations. This is the core of who serves our community. This is the future of our community. Um, there's limited funding approvals to fully resolve these issues, update buildings

as needed, and fund sustainable long-term solutions for a growing and hopeful future for this community. This is this is a big concern that deserves time and attention, not political posturing. You know, the $4.6 6 million in requests of funds that were denied and not um even considered in the budget that was proposed tonight really points that out to us because what we know is these public agencies and offices do not submit requests that aren't real needs and we've got to triage those requests. And it would be great if we had more creative solutions to diversifying our revenue so that we didn't have to live um in such dire situation with some of the public services that we have. Um every citizen in York County should be upset that valuable board of supervisors time was used to generate a general assembly resolution on the agenda. regardless of which side of the issue people stand. Um, this action disenfranchises voters. That is not okay. That's not a red or blue issue. That is not okay. Voting yes is already in process. Stop putting on a political show. Focus on your role. Do better, please. Your county deserves no less. Thank you for your service, all of you.

Thank you, M. Francis. Excuse me. I'm going to ask that the clapping stop. You're um potentially harassing those who may have a different view and that's why I would like this to remain a quiet decorum and refrain from clapping. Call on Dr. Kennedy.

Uh thank you. Um thank you. Um, sorry. You're tall.

I'm tall. Yes. Thank you, Supervisor Holoid. Uh, I'm Alan Kennedy. I'm a proud homeowner uh in District 1 at 116 Steg Street. Um, and I would like to uh echo many of the other uh comments tonight. Um, I think Mr. Shepard uh asked the right question. What do you get for your money? Um, voting is now underway in the referendum on redistricting. Um, ballots have gone out, voters have already voted, voting continues. um at the and so in the middle of an election um it is deeply distressing um that some members of our board of supervisors may be um may be using their positions to advocate for or or against that referendum. Um, it is even more distressing to see that the board uh on March 3 apparently uh asked a county employee, the county administrator Mark Bellamy, to use county time and public tax dollars to prepare what is effectively a lobbying resolution to lobby the general assembly um and to lobby the voters of your county in a particular direction. That is an abuse of your position and an and a waste of public taxpayer dollars. Um it is also distressing that we had to find out about this tonight uh from the agenda because the March 3rd man the the agenda for March 3rd when apparently this board um asked Mr. Bellamy to use

county resources to prepare these resolutions. That agenda doesn't even include that item. And so it it seems like all of a sudden the board of supervisors is using our money to for lobbying purposes to advocate against a a re a referendum that is already before the voters. um where the voters are already filling out their ballots. I hope that this board will uh will not do so in the future and will renounce any activities that have occurred in this regard um to to emphasize that our board of supervisors should be focusing on local issues. Um, this particular referendum uh also includes uh a uh the the um the proposed resolution also includes a a false statement that it would dilute the votes of York County citizens. That's not true. Um the proposed map actually keeps York County whole. Um so I I would again ask the board to renounce any previous lobbying efforts using county funds and county resources. Thank you. Thank you, Teresa Bennett.

Hello, my name is Teresa Bennett, 101 Ellerson Court, Seafford, Virginia. [clears throat] And I could just say that I'd like to second the last two speakers, but I have to go a little bit further. When I first heard that there was this redistricting resolution being considered by the board, I went in and I researched the responsibilities that the board is tasked with and we got a very clear um outlook on what those responsibilities are this evening and they are really quite overwhelming. I would think they would require much time, [clears throat] forethought, consideration, and debate. Didn't see anything in the list of responsibilities of BOS that related to resolutions. So, I searched that. Um, most resolutions involve administrative type issues. The only thing that this resolution category that this resolution would fall under is sentiment. Your sentiment, not your constituents. If we were not being allowed the opportunity to vote, maybe. But every citizen has the opportunity to vote on the redistricting. You are way surpassing your authority. You are not representing representing a good portion of your constituents. You could almost even say you're not representing half of your cons

constituents if you look at the recent elections. Sentiment. You're going to write a sentiment resolution based on what you feel. You are not the deciders in this. The citizens of the state are the deciders. I hope you will reconsider. I hope you will drop this resolution. It's very disturbing that our dollars and the time of the county are being wasted in this manner when there's a whole lot of very serious issues to be addressed. Thank you.

You next I have Nancy Derry. That might be Denny. I'm not sure.

Good evening. Yes, it is Nancy Derry, 114 Elm Lakeway in TAB. Um, I fully support the board's resolution regarding redistricting. The d the dictionary definition of the word fair means free of bias, dishonesty, or injustice. Uh synonyms are unbiased, equitable, just, and honest. In 2020, Virginia voters overwhelmingly voted for a bipartisan commission to develop the House of Representatives districts for our state. The districts we currently have reflect the voting trends in our state, resulting in five Republican districts and six Democratic districts. More of moreover, [clears throat] the districts were to remain in place until a new national census is conducted in 2020 2030. As a Virginia resident and voter, I'm upset that the Democratic majority in the General Assembly is trying to violate the will of the citizens of our state by changing our districts in response to redistricting in other states. What other states choose to do should not be used to disenfranchise Virginia voters. The general assembly has already approved a map which will result in 10 non-competitive Democratic districts and only one Republican district in the far back reaches of the state. Um this will result in a loss of three Republican House of Representatives seats. Nearly half of the voters in Virginia will be disenfranchised and disrespected by the Democrats in the general assembly. Moreover, the way this referendum is being presented is disingenuous because of the deceptive usage of the word fair, which is wrongly based on the actions of

other states. If the referendum was a sporting event, the Democrats are clearly displaying unsportsmanlike behavior. Having our first congressional district overwhelmed by the voters in Northern Virginia isn't fair or equitable to us. I strongly urge the board to pass the resolution against the April 21st referendum. Thank you so much.

Next, I have Sandra Timo. Well, I personally thank our board of supervisors that you do represent York County with most of our values and name address, please.

And my name is Sandra Tumanello. I live at 138 Prepoint Drive, Yorktown. Thank you.

It's been interesting. I don't have a prepared speech, but I have been working out at the registars's office out in the parking lot visiting with people have come to vote and I have realized how confusing this bill is that is so deceptive by putting in the fairness, making it like our election is so unfair that the Democrats are in to save the day. and they're very well organized, very well spoken, and they do a wonderful job of doing that. And they have a lot of Soros money to do it with. But I will say that I do know that y'all represent us, and I'm thankful for that. And I do know that we do have a lot of illegals. And I also know that America is made up of people who have come in, foreigners from other countries. Our ancestors were, my husband's grandparents were, and we know that. But there's a big difference in wanting to come to America to assimilate to the American values based on Judea Judeo-Christian values than coming from Marxist areas, Muslim areas who uh really take delight in killing the oppressors, the Christians. So, I think that we're very well represented by you. And I think that it's wonderful if people want to come to America and live a fair, wonderful, wholesome life and use and adopt the values that America was built on. But they take go through the process. They become citizens. They don't just say they're in the process of attaining citizenship the first week they get here where they want to have their Sharia law and and keep the same customs. I I I travel a lot, my husband and I do, and there's no way I would go to Italy and expect to vote or to Germany and vote. Uh everywhere else you have to definitely have your ID and you have to be a citizen. So why is America suddenly

supposed to be a hodgepodge of anyone who come wants to come in and promote anything? That that's just not how we are. And as far as there uh the things been brought up about you folks wasting our money. If we want to look at wasting money, why do we have to extend this voting process to 45 days and it costs $2,000 a day when it could be done much shorter and it would be more efficient if it's done in a shorter time. And if people if it takes people 45 days to be able to get out to vote, that's a problem. Maybe they shouldn't even be voting. People can get out their IDs to go get their beer, to get everything else, but just not to vote. and that's the most important thing they do. So I thank you and I hope that everyone will vote vote no and really read what this says and see how deceptive it is because it is fair now is now uh Republican uh five, Democrat six. What they want to do is make Republican one and Democrat 10 and call it fair. I'm sorry that's not fair. Thank you, Senator

Albert Timelo.

Thank you. Great. Btubanello, 138 Breezy Point Drive here in Yorktown. Uh, I'd like to read a quote to you. Geromandering is a detrimental to our democracy and weakens the individual voices that form our electorate. You've probably heard that. That was made by Congressman Abigail Spanberger, who is now our governor. So, I'm here to support your resolution against this proposed germandering action that's going on now. And I am so into it that I have already voted and I voted no on it. And I have a card for each of you, Madam Secretary. that you would take this and I know that some of you have already voted and if you have if you have please pass that card to a friend and if you haven't please vote no and I support your resolution on this germandering bill. Thank you. Thank you, Buck and Workerley. Hi, my name is Ann Workley. Um, 405 Mariners Way, Yorktown, 23692. So, um, unlike some of the other people in the room, I cannot claim to be a longtime York County resident. Um, I moved here because the Air Force brought me here. Um, I'm a proud veteran. Um, so I'm proud of this country and uh serving for this country. Um, but um I decided to make York County my home. Um,

and it's because I really like this area. I have heard great things about the schools. I don't have kids, but I when I I want to have children and enroll them in the schools here. Um and I but I am concerned about the fact that the board of supervisors is um putting um national politics and state level politics on their um general assembly meetings um and making resolutions for things that aren't really relevant to the um local county politics. Um I just think that um as a whole this country has become very polarized over the last 20 years. Um and it's the only way we can get any semblance of coming together is if we keep things focused on local issues at the local level that people who are involved in local politics are focused on solving the issues of the local community. um when you start to bring in the national issues, it starts to rip the community apart. I think this is very divisive and not helpful for the community um for the this to be on the agenda. You can see all the desperate um political views uh discussed this evening. Um and I just don't think that this is productive or helpful for community. Thank you.

See the floor Bob Hodson.

Hi, good evening. Bob Hodson, 207 Nelson Street. Um, I I'll just quickly speak to Jerry mandering because nobody likes it. I mean, rep Republicans and Democrats don't care for Jerry mandering. I think that's understood. The the response though from the Democratic party is really because the president of the United States directed states to gerrymand at gerrymander at a national level. And so Democratic states really have little option other than to either just accept many more House seats or take action. And their toolbox for taking action is really limited. And so that's why they're doing this. And I I I think that's an understandable position to be in when you think about it from a high level. Um and so that's all I'll say about that. But I did want to speak to, you know, the resolution itself and um I'm here because I'm strongly oppo opposed any board resolution under the state refer referendum. Um I don't think the supervisors have a mandate to represent my views on state level matters and I consider it an overstep of your authority. Furthermore, this marks the third time this board has introduced part a partisan resolution during an election cycle. I don't think that's coincidence. Similar actions were taken regarding critical critical race theory and second amendment. Both were very polarizing issues and I think it was done to mobilize a very specific political base. It was in both cases it was against my views and resolutions were passed. Um, you may may not like the referendum, but that's not not why you're here. I view a yes vote on a resolution like this as an unethical use of your authority, and it's my hope that this resolution will be permanently

tabled because that's the right thing to do. Thank you.

Next, I have an Gregorian. and Gregorian 117 Baldrick Place, Yorktown, Virginia. So, I want to say first I fully support the board taking action on this resolution and voting uh to to support York County in this very uh troubling uh effort to gerrymander our area and our entire state. This is a power grab, plain and simple. Uh, Texas is simply an excuse. Um, if the outrage is sincere, where has it been since the decades of Democrat gerrymandering in blue states such as Illinois, Oregon, California, and New York? The truth is both parties engage in gerrymandering if the voters do not stop them. That is exactly what Virginia did in 2020 by voting uh into our constitution a bipartisan redistricting commission. The campaign to under undermine Virginia's current fair system has been funded by outside interests. One example is this piece of very left-leaning literature that was delivered to my mailbox today called the Virginia Independent, formerly known as the Blue Nation Review, changed their name so that they they could uh could distribute it as an independent organization. Um, so the Democrats weaponized their position of power to push this referendum with illegal processes through the general assembly and deceive the electorate with a very misleading ballot question. 60% of the voters for the new CD8 uh will come from Northern Virginia, a very vastly different locality from York County. Not only will our local voices be diminished, they will be virtually eliminated. Democrats call Virginia's

response leveling the playing field. That framing only works if you ignore a simple fact. The field was already level. Independent experts awarded Virginia's current congressional maps among the highest fairness rating in the country. Drawn by nonpartisan specialists after the bipartisan commission deadlocked in 2021. The proposed Democrat map would shred that. Governor Spamberger's statement was made in 20 2019 during her time as a representative. The only thing that changed between now and then is that she is more than willing to use her position of power to punish people for their political affiliation. I urge everyone listening to please vote no uh by April 21st. Thank you.

Thank you. And Brock Good evening and thank you for this opportunity uh to speak to you. My name is Andrew Brock. I live at 220 Bacon Street and I've been sort of traveling around and today and I didn't think I was going to be here tonight so I have emailed all of you but that was late. You may not have gotten it. So, I got here and um so I'm just going to read my email. Dear supervisors, as a resident of York County, I was appalled to learn of the pro proposed resolution R26-43 opposing mid decade congressional redistricting. If you pass that resolution, I will take it as a clear slap in my face. The next is in all caps. I was yelling into my keyboard. You have no right to speak for me on matters of state and national issues of government. That's not your mandate. I am perfectly capable of exercising my own judgment. And I consider your attempt to take such a formal action as unethical, immoral, and unjust. An intrusion into my rights and the rights of others in our community because it elevates your five voices over all of our individual ones. That's that's not fair. It's an abuse of your p your office and of your power. Your voices are not the only ones deserving of a platform. Do not take advantage of the trust county residents have bestowed on you. Do not pass this illconceived and unfair resolution. Thank you.

That is all the u people I have who have signed up. Are there any remaining people in the audience who wish to speak? So I see one over here. One moment. I'll come back to you please.

[clears throat]

Good evening, members of the board. Gary Porter, 924 Tablakes Drive, Yorktown, Virginia. Been a lot of talk about fairness tonight. Let me uh review some things. Virginia currently has the fairest congressional delegation ratio in the nation. There's a metric comparing the partisan composition of voters of an electorate with the congressional delegation that that state has. And Virginia's ratio of voters to uh seats, as it's called, is 2.7%. It's the lowest in the nation. We have currently the fairest deleg district mapping of any state and you couldn't change our six to five ratio either in one digit either way if it became 4:7 6 to four u 5 to six uh it would not be any fairer in fact it'd be uh worse where than it is right now so I applaud you for watching out for the fairness of this issue to York County voters is this will not be fair to your county. As others have pointed out, the district 8 map that replaces district 1 was drawn by somebody that didn't realize there's a constitutional requirement to keep districts compact.

60% of the new electorate of District 8 will live in Northern Virginia. Northern Virginia will determine who represents us in Congress. And that person will represent the values and the uh uh the needs of Northern Virginia, not York County. Uh if this was really about fairness, the Democrats would have stopped with California. Texas added five red seats. California added five blue seats. That's fair. But they didn't. And has continued. The current uh tally, if you will, shows that Democrat controlled seat uh states are standing to gain 8 to 12 new congressional seats, whereas Republican majority states are are going to be gained anywhere from four to six new seats. So, let's keep fairness in mind. Fairness for whom? The ballot question talks about fairness in a very deceptive way. It does not define fairness in any sense. So keep fairness in mind to your county voters. Thank you. I had a person over here. Please.

Good evening members of the board. Thank you for allowing me time to speak. My name is Bianca Podinger. I live at 402 Queensbury Lane. I'm here today as a York County resident and as a proud Hispanic American citizen who cares deeply about the well-being of everyone who calls this community home. Before I begin, I want to share something personal. My father served in the United States Army out of Fort Bragg in North Carolina and is a proud disabled veteran. Growing up, he often spoke about the values he believed he was serving to protect. Fairness, human dignity, and the idea that everyone deserves due process under the law as the Constitution intended. Those values have always stayed with me. I share this because I want to make it clear that caring about our neighbors who are not American citizens does not mean that we care any less about American citizens. Both things can occur simultaneously. We are complex beings who are capable of caring for human dignity of other human beings while also caring about American citizens. Wanting humane treatment and due process is not about politics to me by any means. It's about the values that many of us were raised to believe in. In our own community, a law-abiding individual who many of us call a neighbor and who runs a local business in our community was detained by ICE for several months under treacherous conditions. During that time, his family lost income and his employees lost wages. Even after he returned home to our community with legal status to be here, his work truck was targeted several more times by immigration enforcement. This is troubling. I am not talking about individuals committing crimes as the York County shoplifter we saw earlier. Some people dismiss this by stating that we must follow the law. I agree we should. But by following the law, this also means acknowledging that people physically pres present in the US are entitled to due process. Many of the individuals affected are people quietly living among us. They work in our local businesses, attend our churches, and their children sit in classrooms alongside ours. When a parent is suddenly taken away with no communication, the emotional impact on

these families and especially those small children can can last a lifetime. [clears throat] Many of these children are American citizens themselves. And regardless on where we stand on immigration, I believe that many of us can agree on some soo sorry on some matters. Families matter. Uh children should not carry unnecessary trauma and fairness for everyone under the law is something that strengthens our country. Hurling racist's remarks to those who are different simply because they do not understand is not a strength. Your county has long been known as a proud and strong community with great schools and great people. And this is why I chose to live here with my family. I know you cannot control US policy. So I simply ask that these issues as these issues arise in our community, we keep the human impact in mind and contri continue striving for policies that reflect fairness and transparency and unity. Thank you for your time and all the work you do for the community.

Thank you. Is there anyone else?

Hi. Um, I'm Terry Hodson, 207 Nelson Street. Uh, I want to thank you for your service. This is a tough job getting yelled at all night long. Uh, praise sometimes, but yelled at, and I know it's difficult. Um, I've heard a lot, uh, spoken tonight. some of it not based on fact, some of it based on racism, some of it based on hurt, anger. Uh um and I was really taken by the woman who spoke about community. And I think that's really important that we concern ourselves with this community. And I think that this resolution that was uh proposed to be put forward it it doesn't it takes away um our right to vote. Someone said that if this resolution at the state level the referendum at state level is passed then it's not fair. But if we all voted if we all voted in the state and and it then it's fair right. But if you guys take away our voice, then that's not fair. And so again, I I think that this should not be on y'all's job. You got enough on your plate. I don't think this should be on it. I think this community needs to really really dig deep and find out what we have in common because we're getting really, really divisive. We have a president who is incredibly divisive. Support him or not. support this state uh resolution um referendum or not, go out and vote, you know, but what we're doing now is just tearing each other apart. And we need to find what we have in common and find the facts. There's a lot of news out there that is not factual. There's been a lot of information put out here that is not factual. get out there, get the information, and like my husband said, Jerry Mandarin, we

probably all agree it's not a good thing. I I wish that this uh referendum at the state level, if it passes or not, either way, I wish that they could come together and and draw out these maps so that they're fair all the way across the state. I don't know how to make that happen. Evidently, they tried, couldn't do it, and Virginia Supreme Court had to kind of figure it out. That's kind of sad. So, everybody needs to do their job. You guys do your job. It's a hard job. I get it, but let's keep it in uh keep it in your wheelhouse. Okay? And again, thank you for your service.

Thank you, Miss Hudson. I think that uh is anybody else that missed that completes our citizen comment period. I recommend we move to recess. Y minutes recess.

What do you want me to do with this?

Call the meeting back to order. I'm going to continue with the consent calendar and then make our way back to the uh county reports. So on the consent calendar briefly, we have u um three items. uh a Head Start grant, Queens Lake uh dam restoration grant funding authorization, and new quarter park well replacement. Is there any of these items that uh board would like to discuss or pull?

Um if not, I'll move the consent calendar.

Roll. Anybody down there? She's The motion made by Mrs. Null is to approve the consent calendar as amended with the deletion of item nine. Mr. Ran, yes. Mr. Shepard, yes. Mrs. Null, yes. Mr. Drury, yes. Mr. Holoid, yes. [clears throat] Motion carried.

I have no new business. I am going to take us back to county attorney report. Uh thank you, Mr. Holoid. Um I would just note for the board's reference, several of the matters that we've discussed previously uh have now passed in the general assembly and the ones that are of most interest probably to the board. Um the collective bargaining bill has passed and is headed to the governor for her consideration. Um that bill is expected to go into full effect no later than July 1st.

What's the bill number? 2028. Um Senate Bill 378. There's a House bill that's uh essentially identical. They had conference committees and reconciled them together.

And that will u bring about uh essentially mandated collective bargaining for all local governmental entities throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia starting no later than July 1st, 2028. Um we all they the general assembly also passed the legislation that will allow by right development of certain religious and 501c3 property uh under certain conditions that are pretty significant. And so it's it's in it's hard to tell whether that will what impact if any significant it's going to have in York County. That is also headed to the governor. I would note that the version that is headed to the governor uh does not take effect until September 1st of 2026, but there was an amendment um that moves that till January 1st of 2027 and it also expires January 1st of 2031. So it's a very narrow window for individ for people to take advantage of that to the extent that they can. Um on a somewhat positive note uh this board has been asking the general assembly for many years to provide some additional help in regulating um vape shops and liquid nicotine. uh liquid nicotine and nicotine products in general are going to be now much more significantly regulated by the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Author Control Authority and there are a a series of

additional licenses that are um going to be put in place for retailers. um additional penalties for selling uh inappropriately and illegally and it does retain some level of local control over our zoning and our traditional policing powers. So that's some some positive developments. Uh, additionally, the uh the bill there was a a legislation passed that is going to regulate and authorize skill games uh throughout the Commonwealth. However, that bill does provide for localities to uh sponsor a referendum to uh ask whether those um gaming machines will be allowed in the locality.

So, if that is signed into law by the governor, uh it's likely that there will be a recommendation to this board to request such a referendum in the in the immediate future. Would that be during a general election? It would. It could be called during a general election. Yes. One question on the vaping bill. Was there any legislation or any discussion on how to enforce the equivalent of drunk driving? The the what? The equivalent of drunk driving by vaping or by are you talking about marijuana? Marijuana.

Well, that's a whole Yeah. I mean it it is illegal under Virginia law to uh drive while under the influence of THC, but it's very difficult to to inform. You need experts. You need my my deputy who was a longtime prosecutor in Hampton can provide additional information about how difficult those cases are. But um as you noted, the the cannabis or retail marijuana bill also passed. um that will be going into effect fairly quickly and um it has it will significantly curtail our ability locally to regulate uh or do anything about those products. There's some [snorts] space limitations. They're not allowed to be within a thousand feet of a large number of different entities. Plus, there is some ability for the locality to file objections, but ultimately most of the regulatory power over that is going to be through the state cannabis control authority. And then finally, uh, the bill that I brought to your attention not too long ago that deals with minimum off- streetet parking requirements passed. Um, this is another one that it's going to take some time to figure out what impact it will have, but it does put some limits on the num the amount of off- streetet parking you can require by putting it cutting it down somewhat. Um, it doesn't apply everywhere. It only applies in certain districts that have certain floor ratios and also in

dis in areas of the county that are within a certain a distance to a major transportation hub and it's not really defined what that is. So it's not clear whether that's you know your little sign stop or whether it's just a large transfer facility. So, some details are going to have to be worked out and determined what, if any impact this have, if this bill is in fact signed by the governor. Um, for all of these pieces of legislation that have not yet been signed, and none of them have yet, [clears throat] uh, the governor still has the opportunity to potentially improve or change these these bills by proposing amendments, and the general assembly would have to consider those when they come back for their veto session. What about the uh

questions? Yeah. What about that uh [clears throat] I kind of lost the bubble on the on this thing about uh using so much of your commercial space

that that those um those bills have are effectively dead. Well, they are dead for this year. There were two four pieces of legislation, two in each house that were essentially identical that would have one of them, one group would have mandated that the county reach certain t housing targets over the next basically decade 7% that those bills did not pass. And then the other one that would have mandated the allowance of um multi-family development by right into certain commercial and business. uh those bills also did not pass.

It wasn't a I mean it was not an easy thing. I mean I know we we were very vocal about against those uh you know calling up there. We're supposed to we talked to the the representatives and they were kind of surprised I guess the push back. But yeah, there there was another bill that passed that I I mentioned previously that puts some restrictions on um and and allows uh accessory dwelling units by right, but that bill grandfathers existing accessory dwelling ordinances, which we have. So, I think the impact on York County is likely to be minimal.

Okay, Sheila, any questions? No questions. Thank you. Quick question. The skill game is do you feel the the bill adequately defines what a skill game is?

Um, I think actually, interestingly enough, I think it does. Uh, it's much more detailed than the current uh discussions in Virginia law. It requires that they have the machines have to be certified by uh an outside entity regarding the whether they're truly games of skill as opposed to other games. Um they have to meet certain specific thresholds in order to get these l these licensers are limited to a certain number of machines per outlet and facility. you have to pay a pretty significant licensing fee and they're going to be the the I think these are going to be done by the lottery or these licenses but I could be wrong. They they they might be done by the gaming board, but there are um a significant number of good definitions in the law and things that will help

determine exactly what what qualifies and what doesn't. And the types of machines that are these skill game machines is a very narrow subset of what you might otherwise see. That's encouraging because usually you don't get that type of detail. Good. Thank you, Mr. Jury. No, no question. Okay, I'll ask our county administrator. Any comments? No, sir, but available for questions if you have some. Do we have any questions for Mark? Seeing none, I'll move on to matters presented by the board. Sheila, would you like to lead off, please? Matters.

Okay. Well, of course you all know that today is St. Patrick's Day and the wear and the green is what we're all trying to do. But I have a a traditional Celtic blessing that I think might be appreciated by some of us. May the raindrops fall lightly on your brow. May the soft winds freshen your spirits. May the sunshine brighten your heart. May the burdens of the day rest lightly upon you and may God enfold you in the mantle of his love. And I think we all can use a little bit of love tonight. Thank you.

Thank you. Sheila, would you uh care to comment on USS Yorktown?

Oh, well, I don't I like to do things in the background rather than in the forefront, but there's an article in Uh there's an article in the Gazette and there and it's something that's come out of Congressman Whitman's office. So, I've just been handed it so that I can tell you all about it. And you know, bit by bit, we'll get things accomplished. And we've been working with writing letters and talking to people about having the USS Yorktown re named for the bsentennial. And I have a letter here, if I can find where it goes, from Congressman Whittman. And Congressman been Whitman has sent out letters to all all the Virginia delegation and to his friends about not only having a ship named for the USS Yorktown by 2031, but he designated an aircraft carrier. Now, I was looking for I'd like something that floats. I was happy we would be anything like that. But given the tenor of the times and looking towards the future and we need a new aircraft carrier, we really do. The USS Yorktown, the the famous USS Yorktown was in the battle of mid of

midway mid midway

midway in June 14th, 1942. June 4th, 1942. and it fought a valiant battle, but it lost its battle and sunk. But they they were so heroic that there was another ship that was being built at the time and had already been named, but they changed the name to Yorktown to honor the people who gave their lives in that battle of Midway. And it's a rich history that the name Yorktown has had from the very beginning. We've had five ships that have been named Yorktown. And it's about time, I think, that we have a sixth ship named for this wonderful place. After all, if it weren't for the Battle of Yorktown, where would we all be? And so, we're all pushing for it. And I might as well let you all say if you have any contacts whatsoever that you think you can influence somebody so that you could write the secretary of the Navy or any of the other secretariates to push our petition to have a ship name for the USGS work town. And I'm so pleased that Congressman Whittmann has taken on the mantle and has contacted so many people. and I hope he has more success than we have. Thank you.

Thank you. So, okay. I take I want to take my time uh to propose something uh for just kind of a general consensus. Um, [cough and clears throat] it's going to What I'm looking for is a um uh for just an okay to get a u an endorsement for um a sponsorship for the ordinance change down to the planning commission. Um I mean they can do it on their own, but I just thought it you know let you guys know about this. Um we have in our ordinance a um a restriction on access to Route 17. Okay. I mean, well, it's been in the way. That's right.

Essentially, you you know, it's a it's a prime a primary road in the state of Virginia and there is a limited access. Um, and we have a piece of property down near the Wawwa uh near uh Tab. Uh, you know, you got you got Grafton uh not Grafton, but you got the um what am I trying to say? Walmart across from that. Then you got the Wawwa. There's the hospital area right there. And there's a piece of property that a company called A7 Brew Coffee Restaurant wants to go in there and uh and uh there's the the property is such that you you can't get access to 17s. So, [clears throat] we we have talked about this before

and to give this company a chance to to be able to go in there

um we want them to be able to have um that not require to have access to 17 so they can use this piece of property and it's about 121 ft by 225 ft. That's a that's nice piece of property there. They could put a business on it. Um basically the zoning ordinance under section 24.1 uh standards for drive-in fast food and carry out delivery restaurants requires that uh a uh a drive-in fast food and carry out delivery restaurant may have access only to streets classified as major collector uh or a higher order. Okay. Um, so [clears throat] this would because of the restriction to access to 17, this would prohibit them being able to go on a piece of property. And um, the staff suggested a change to the ordinance. Basically, it would say the drive-in, fast food, and carry out delivery restaurant shall have access to streets classified as major collectors or higher order or a local road where such entrance is less than 250 ft from the residential use. In other words, this would you you can't really see it clearly, but there's a square. This is Joseph Drive, that little side street off 17. And the restaurant would go the property is right here. And so to allow this restaurant to go in there, they could have we would allow them to have access off Joseph Road. That's all. Okay. This is one of these ordinance, this little ordinance things that are in here that uh kind of drives me.

May I see that, please? Sure. And uh and you can see there's the little the little piece of property. So the the general the idea is that you know this is one that needs to be cleaned up to allow business go there. Okay, that's good business. You know, nothing to complain about. And where do you want their access to? It' be right Joseph Road. Not to not to 17 and not to Yeah. They can't get not to Victory Boulevard. No. No. Just to Joseph Road. Okay. And have it' be a little fast food coffee shop kind of thing. So you would you would ask planning staff to look at come back with a recommendation.

Let let me ask this question. this particular use case for this business. That's something that we couldn't address through a special use permit for them. [clears throat] According to staff, we have to change the ordinance. Our ordinance restricts it. Remember, I tried to do that once before and was told my hand got my hand slapped. Yeah, you can't do that. So, so we require small This use case makes a lot of sense. I I would support them going in there have access to his drive. I guess I'm a little concerned the ramifications anywhere else in the county where that language [clears throat] may be problematic and I can't predict the future where that may be and that's

um so I guess we just need to be very careful of how we craft the new language to make sure we're not creating problems to solve just to solve this one problem. So yeah, [clears throat] I got a I think in here I just read they had a restriction there's 250 ft. So you you know it's going to be the property is going to be close enough to the road uh to be able to you know there is some limitations on it. In other words, not pushing it way back into a neighborhood or something like that. Anyway, the idea is if we sponsor that to go down and kind of get a head nod, you know, we can just let the sta let the uh planning staff do the, you know, or the planning department, let the planning commission do its thing and staff will give them stuff and make recommendations back to us

and and maybe planning could consider an amendment to also include parcel size. Maybe that's only applicable to a certain partial size, not to a five acre shopping center, but certain size, but that may help narrow down potential future implications. Well, the idea is just get this going because the business wants to go in there. Yeah. Right now, this is holding them up. Right. I think the other thing too is [clears throat] in recent years, VOTE is trying to get more businesses to come in the same entrance. Right. Right. They're trying to cut down entrances on 17 because we've got them every where you look.

So, I think this would probably help in that regard. Well, yeah. I mean, kind of cut down on the, you know, jamming up the traffic there. That's for sure. Right. That's getting to be kind of a busy area, but the traffic's flowing. Once you get past 17 and um and um and Victor Boulevard, once you get past that and go up there, things smooth out a lot better. So, anyway, that was my my time. I just I think uh we have enough nods at the table to direct staff to have a look at this. Thank you, Mark. Okay, good. Thanks, guys. Wink.

Uh yeah, so a couple things. Um kind of in the same vein that Tom just uh talked about, I'd like to see if we could get the board to consider um looking at the uh shed ordinance that we have here in the county. Um, I have a resident that has a um shipping container that he would like to turn into a shed and uh the county doesn't allow that. He had a shed that pretty much got demolished by a large tree branch and so he wants to protect his lawnmowers and all the stuff. And um so he sent me a picture of what it's going to look like and it looks like a shed. And so I I would like for the board to look at that, maybe go back to the planning team and let them look at it. Um there's got to be some handlebars on it, you know, some some river banks, if you will. Um I would say some something to the effect of the neighbors would have to approve of it. Um and if they don't keep up with it, we would put some stipulation in there. You've got 60 to 90 days to get it off the property. A lot of these containers have wheels on them. So, it's very easy for a rolloff to pick them up, put them on a truck, and get them out of there. So, but this this one he's trying to do, like I said, it looks just like a shed. You would not know it's not a shed other than if you saw it being built. And right now, people are using them for tiny houses. They're they're stacking them on top of each other.

It's like one of those shipping containers. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. People are building houses with them. Yeah. Now, well, that's part of the issue. Yeah, we all have our sheds and container issues in every district and and if we do touch this one, it's going to be very closely controlled, right? I agree 100%. I agree. I mean, I think if Shank Drive is one location where it's just become out of control over the years. So, well, you know, this Yeah, I agree. I mean, I this is what the plan commission's for. This what staff can do. look at come up with recommendations that we get we got two bites at the apple public hearing there public hearing up here

but tied to those are these there's a there's a unfortunately there's a there's a series of these little regulations that we find there's one I think uh you guys were looking at uh in planning department that I asked about this the the distance between a house and a shed right give me the head nod right I would like for them to look at that too I mean to me is why is it anybody else's business how close my shed is to my house? What's the danger in it?

I mean, well, I mean, if the shed catches on fire, okay, get your hose out and go put out the fire. But, I mean, the point is, I mean, people's houses catch on fire from inside the garage when they take their uh their grill inside out to get out of the rain, flip it over, and it burns down half your garage or half your house. So, some of these rules just, you know, they're causing people can't modify a porch or or something because they're just it's like, well, I can see it from the front. Well, why would we care? I mean, that's private property. That's somebody's house. I mean, we we don't want to burn down the house. We don't want to burn down the neighbor's house. We obviously don't want them to junk up the place, but still junking up a place is in the eye of the beholder. And uh so, you know, there's kind of like you got to have your property. you ought to be able to use it. And I mean, so I take a look at that. You know, you know what he they know which one I'm talking about, but it's another one of those where it's just how close is that shed to the to the house? And I I don't understand why that's an issue. So, but we do have a restriction on it,

right? It's probably a reason, you know, but maybe a reason 30 years ago, but that reason may not apply today. And and and along those lines, you know, you're talking about put in a tiny house or whatever this thing is. You know, you got to look at trailers. I mean, trailers on wheels, right? I'm not against trailers, but the point is they're looking at affordable housing. Well, I know. But there's a there's a point though in that there where eventually they're going to be forced. We're going to be forced on us if we don't do something perhaps, but I wouldn't jump overboard on the thought that something might happen in the distant future. No, I'm just saying it's something to consider though.

So, you know, we we can get ahead of it. We can get ahead of it. Okay. Okay. Okay. Um and then you've got sheds and I've got one in my neighborhood uh that has been unfinished and half built for 10 years. Still doesn't have a roof on it. Looks like crap. But that's why I have some issues with the shed ordinance. We we'll put something in the ordinance that would create a way to get out of that. I got I got to go to this. Why were you building a homeowner association here or what?

The point is I got I got a guy got a guy lives down the street on Cal Neck and I get more complaints about his house because it's not a house. It's a shed. It's a huge shed. Was a store at one time and the only thing he's got it wrapped is that black tar paper wrapped around it and the top and then it rots and blows off. And then people I get a lot of complaints and they want me to go down. They want to get this board up here to go down and make them tear it down. Really? I mean, then buy the property. But I'm telling you, there's a there's a point where, you know, you can you can you can build a homeowner association, reverse it in. I'm not trying to do that, but let people do their do what they want to do with it properly. I'm just I'm just pointing out we don't want to let go of the guidelines alto together.

I know, but I'm a big property rights guy. So, yeah, I know.

So, let me bring it back. Let me bring you back to my comments. rest of the comments. I would be very remissed if I didn't mention the businesses and the progress that we're making on being bringing more businesses to uh the county. I see Christiey's back there. I don't see Darren tonight, but um you guys are doing a great job finding us good wholesome businesses and bringing them here. Uh Virginia Beer Company, again, every time I go by there, it seems like their their parking lot's full. um stopped by the other day and they started some outdoor seating now that the weather's breaking. So um that's really great. Uh Qaddy's they've had to shut down the last two two or three two Mondays because they've they had to regroup. They've been so busy. He said they've been so slammed that they've had to close on this past Monday and last Monday um because they couldn't get all the barbecue made quick enough and their their people are just wore out. So, uh, that's a great problem to have. I know they're working hard to be able to stay open that extra day of the week. And so, he said they're working hard to do that. Obviously, if you've been by Chick-fil-A, there's lights on inside. I think there's sheetrock up. They're starting to dig for I think the underground uh BMPs. Uh, I saw that today. So, I would suspect once they get that in, the uh asphalt and concrete's going to get started on the outside. They're still shooting for April the 30th. So, uh, just a little over a month away. U, but I think they're probably going to make it if the weather doesn't hold them up for the outside. Uh, Chipotle got a structure in the ground. Um, it's starting to come along really well. It's a wooden structure and so they're they're getting to the roof now. Cookout, they've got some some angle up, some metal up. Uh, so you'll see that structure out there. And then down at the Yorktown Pub, it seems uh that they're making a lot of progress down

there now that the weather's cleared up a little bit. So excited to see that. And then the last comment I have to make is for all my no zone people out there, if you want to have a part in the committee, you have to put your application in on the go on York County's website and put your name in and application in and then we will review those applicants uh to pick the committee. So, if you're interested, please go online and get that done uh as quickly as possible. I think that closes at the end of the month. Is that right, Mark? Something like the 27th or something. Some somewhere around the end of the month. So, if you want to be on that, go to the website and apply. Thank you,

Mr. Roll. M. Go ahead. Okay, Mr. Chairman. So, there were two items there. I wanted to make sure we didn't miss them. It kind of got co-mingled and we became more of a conversation. So, did I hear concurrence on the board to look at sheds and container storage and distance and distance on sheds carefully? Carefully. Okay. I just I just want Mr. Anderson to run out of things to do. Yeah, of course not.

Okay. Thank you. Sorry for the interruption. So, couple things real quick. Before I do that, though, Mr. Shepherd, I'm on board with you for property rights. I don't like government getting into people's business. I don't like them in my business telling me what I can and can't do my property. I want to be able to join my property. I want my neighbors enjoy their property as well. But I will temper that with I have a friend and co-orker in North Carolina who apparently lives in the only county in North Carolina that doesn't have any zoning whatsoever. It's 2026. They have no zone zoning ordinance in the county whatsoever. and he's living right now with I think somebody decided on a piece of property beside him to build a sand pit and there's wide open so he's dealing with all that right now runoff and so forth so there's a sweet spot there and we have to continuously work towards it um you know definitely lean more towards property rights than than than not but I've also see what happens on the other end when it's it's the wild west and it's very problematic. All right, two things real quick. We heard earlier from the youth commission that um applications are being accepted now for the next class coming up. Um we need more applications. So if you're a parent of a high schooler, if you're the grandparent of a high schooler, if you're the neighbor of a high schooler and that's in York County Public Schools or homeschool, doesn't matter. Um and you think that person would be a good candidate for on the youth commission, encourage them to sign up. The applications are in the um the offices of the uh of each school for the um the guidance counselor. Have them find their colleagues that were sitting up here, chat with them about, hey, what's this all about? Um would I have a good time? The answer will be yes, but talk talk to their colleagues. So, encourage them to do that, please. And the second thing, um I I only have one more opportunity with the board here to announce this. So, I'll do this tonight and I'll do it again first of April, but April 18th, big community event happened in April 18th. I mentioned it before, mentioned

again. Make sure you get on your calendar. Uh, YMCA nationally, healthy kids day, April 18th, the victory YMCA is participating. We got we have great turnout um scheduled. Um, if particularly if you have pre-teen kids with a lot of activities geared towards that. Um I'm I'm on the advisory board of the with the Victory YMCA and on the um the Healthy Kids Day subcommittee and I'm proud to announce that we have all of our slots filled for sponsors and participants. Um we're going to have representation from York County, the sheriff's office, parks and recreation, um fire department, hopefully schedule to work out right. We'll have one or two of our canines out there. Uh different community uh businesses will will be participating as well. It's a great event. Cross my fingers. Maybe this year we'll actually have no rain. Um we'll see how it goes. A lot of activities. Get on your calendar, swing by, visit. If parking's filled up at Victor WCA, go across the street Tab Library. You can park there. You can park across the street. There's a signal crossing there. Come come join us. It'll be a good time. April 18th from um 10 to one, I think. So, thank you.

And finally, my turn, Mr. Bellamy. I think citizen number three tonight who talked about the uh waste um area. Yeah. Um on uh Goodwin Neck Road. I thought he made a couple of reasonable solution or recommendations. I' I'd like Rob and and company to have a look at that. There might be some improvement that we can institute. Yep. I agree.

And Mark's not the only one I'm gonna pick on tonight. So roll the cameras, please, Heather. This is our fire chief out on a 5k run on Saturday morning. I happen to run in run into him and uh about 19 of his of his staff. We were in shorties, the other shorties

and uh and there they are in front of the governor's mansion in in Colonial Williamsburg having finished their run. It was a great event and I just give credit to the chief for uh um you know including his whole team and and and getting out there and doing his part to uh to participate. So thank you. And then the next one was an award given to Battalion Chief uh Seager. He received the hero award from Cantara Medical uh for his commitment uh on keeping the county safe, prepared, and responsive through his efforts as a county deputy emergency management coordinator. I just thank both of these gentlemen for the the work they're done and the recognition they're getting in the community. Thank you. That's all I had. Um Tom, can you take us into close session?

Okay, Mr. Chairman, [clears throat] um let's see. In accordance with section 2.2-3711A7 of the code of Virginia, I move that the board of supervisors convene in a closed meeting to consult with legal counsel on specific legal matters requiring the provisions of legal advice by council. Roll call. Mr. Shepard. Yes. Mrs. Null. Yes. Mr. Mr. Drury. Yes. Mr. R. Yes. Mr. Hoy. Yes. You have a motion carried.

We will adjourn the uh the meeting. I'll announce that the budget work session of the York County Board of Supervisors will be held at 4 p.m. this Thursday, March 19th, in the East Room of York Hall. We stand adjourned. [music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music]

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