Board of Supervisors - Regular Meeting

Good evening and welcome to everyone. Pittsburgh County Board of Supervisors business meeting today is Tuesday, August 18th, 2026. It is now 712 p.m. 39 Bank Street, Southeast Virginia 24531. Madam Clerk, call the roll.

Yes, sir. Mr. Bowman.

Here.

Mr. Brown.

Here.

Mr. Dalton.

Here.

Mr. Dudley. Present. Mr. Whittle?

Here.

Mr. Ingram? Here. Mr. Tucker?

Here. Thank you so much. Would you all be kind enough to join me in a moment of silence, please? Amen. Would you stand if you're physically able for the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you so much. All right. Gentlemen, is there anything to be added to the agenda?

Mr. Chairman? Yes, sir. If I may, I'd like to make a motion to move the following or make the following revisions to the agenda. Move item 7D to new business. Remove item 7F from the agenda due to further research needed and revisit in 30 days. And add award of contracts, Dewberry to new business. That's my motion, sir.

OK, hang on a second. All right. I'll second that motion, Mr. Chairman. Yes, sir.

All right, Madam Clerk, you got it all?

Yes, sir.

Yep, most of it.

All right. It's moved by Mr. Bowman, seconded by Mr. Dudley. Any discussion on the motion? Hearing none, cast your votes electronically. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. All right. Now I will entertain a motion to approve the agenda as amended.

Mr. Chairman, I'll make that motion. Thank you, Mr. Bowman.

I'll second that motion, Mr. Chairman. Again, Mr. Dudley, thank you. Move that with second. Any discussion on the motion? If not, vote electronically, please. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. That takes us down to the consent agenda. I'll entertain that motion.

Mr. Chairman, I'll make that motion.

Thank you, Mr. Engel. Thank you, Mr. Whittle, for the second. Any discussion on the motion? Hearing none, please cast your votes electronically. All right. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you so much. This moves us down to agenda item eight, presentations. Let's see. General presentations. Do we have any?

No, sir.

All right. Moving right along. Thank you. That brings us down to agenda item nine, which is hearing of the citizens. Each person addressing the board under the hearing of the citizens shall be a resident or landowner of the county or the registered agent of such resident or landowner. Each person shall step up, give his or her name and district in an audible tone of voice for the record. And unless further time is granted by the chairman, shall limit his or her address to three minutes. No person shall be permitted to address the board more than once during the hearing of the citizens. All remarks shall be addressed to the board as a body and not to any individual member thereof. Hearing of the citizens shall Last for a maximum of 45 minutes. Any individual that is signed up to speak during said section who does not get the opportunity to do so because of the aforementioned time limit shall be given speaking priority at the next board meeting. Absent chairman's approval, no person shall be able to speak who has not signed up to speak. Madam Clerk, do we have anyone signed up?

Yes, sir.

Who's our first speaker? lori greco miss greco come on down good evening to you and welcome yes thank you my name is lori greco i'm from chatham

um i'm here to address this fact of this solar nightmare that's going on in my neighborhood and the fact that it came into me on the sneak i had gotten a certified letter back in october that the property that sold across the street was supposed to build a house and harvest head but that it had to be rezoned, my area, to an A1 agriculture, which I come to find out you need to put your solar nightmare in the zone. But that's not what I was informed was coming. to my zone. I was just informed that somebody was going to build a house and they were going to harvest hay. Now also, mind you, I've lived here for 30 years. That field was always hay from the day I moved here. I used to buy hay from across the street. So why it needed to be rezoned for this guy, just for hay, Now solar is coming in right around the court right right behind him also your Project site says that they're supposed to be spaced five miles apart My road is only ten miles long and I got three solars going on and And on the way here, I tracked it three and a half miles from one to the other. I passed one of those nightmares on the way here. Have you looked at it? Have you driven up and down these roads and seen how horrible you've wrecked our neighborhoods? And you don't care. You keep going. So many people have said they don't want these data centers. And then you sneak in another one. You find another place to put them. Do you not care about the citizens that you serve? I mean, this is getting ridiculous. You know, do the supervisors need supervising? Shame on you. Shame on you for doing this to us. You know, a lot of my neighbors I know are furious about this. Dry Fork Road is a nightmare. You've got pipeline, you've got solar, then it's on Irish Road. I can't go left, right, back or forth out of my driveway. I can't come here without passing solar. No matter which way I go, that's all I see. All this land was also agricultural. Do you not need food? Do you people not eat? What is wrong with you? Why did you come to a county and supervise it and then just ruin it? This is a farming community. This had forests in it. We don't want it to look like Durham. We don't want it to look like Greensboro. We don't want that tax bracket that they have in for all the little conveniences of your sports center and all these things that you keep proposing to develop. This is a farming community. You put in an agricultural complex. I applaud you for that. And then right across the street, you put solar. Why is it not an apple orchard or a beef farm or something that can supply Virginia with actual food? instead of cancer crops. I'm sorry. I know you all love your tobacco, but it is a cancer crop. And now the land literally has cancer. You've ripped out the trees. You say it's a very little environmental impact. 18,000 acres or more you're doing, and then another 3,000 with the mega site?

Ma'am, your three minutes is up.

OK, thank you very much.

But wind it down. All right, Madam Clerk, who's our next speaker?

Van Meeks.

Mr. Meeks, good evening, and welcome, sir.

Good evening, board, chairmen, members of the board. Thank you for allowing me to speak tonight, Ben Meeks, Gretna Callens District. I want to start by saying something very clear. I'm not here tonight to speak about public safety. I'm not here to speak about career EMS. I'm not here to speak about Medic 5, and I'm certainly not here to speak against our volunteer fire and rescue agencies. I'm here because I believe Pennsylvania County has an opportunity to build something better. I believe we can create a joint public safety system where public safety, volunteer agencies, and county government work together as one system with equal opportunity and equal expectations and the resources necessary to provide the same quality of service regardless of where a citizen lives in the county. And I believe We should look at what we already have before we spend millions of dollars building something completely new. We don't need to panic as we have a system that works and our volunteers have not collapsed. As you can look at the public safety director's statistics in his counter report last week, that the volunteer agencies covered 76% of the EMS calls in this county and 100% of the fire calls. However, does the system need some work? Absolutely. Back to the combination discussion. Virginia is already using this model. Across the Commonwealth of Virginia, there are 552 licensed EMS agencies. Of those, approximately 139 operate as combination paid and volunteer organizations. 261 are volunteer only and 152 are career only. The combination model isn't some... radical or untested idea. It is already being used in communities across Virginia, including large and growing counties such as Fairfax, Chesterfield, Loudoun, Prince William, and Henrico, as well as communities like ours, Augusta, Goochland, Shenandoah, and Halifax County. And if you want a great example, look at Danville Lifesaving Crew and Danville City, a nonprofit running as a combination agency that covers 15,000 calls a year. They're the only MS agency in the city of Danville. So the question isn't whether career and volunteer personnel can work together. They can, and they do every day. The question for Pennsylvania County is, how do we build the right combination system for us? I believe we should build a joint countywide system. The 10 volunteer rescue squads already have the infrastructure, the stations, trucks, ambulances, rescue equipment, cardiac monitors, medication, medical supplies, licensed EMS agencies, trained providers, leadership structure, and most importantly, we have volunteers who have spent decades building these organizations and serving their communities. That infrastructure has tremendous value, so rather than asking how do we replace it, I think we should be asking how do we strengthen it. Here's the problem we're facing. Our volunteer agencies are being asked to provide a service that increasingly requires a level of staffing and availability that traditional volunteerism alone cannot guarantee. Volunteers are still incredibly important, but people work, they have jobs, families, and responsibilities. They can't always be available at 10 o'clock on a Tuesday morning when the ambulance gets dispatched. And we cannot build a dependable emergency medical system around hoping enough volunteers happen to be available at any given moment. At the same time, our volunteer agencies are already spending enormous amounts of money simply trying to keep the doors open. EMS revenue helps fundraise and helps grant donations, but that money gets consumed by the cost of providing the service. I'll skip over here because I'm running out of time. I don't want to disrespect the board. Everything else that comes with operating the EMS agency. So when we talk about putting additional county money into EMS, I think we should seriously consider where that money will have the greatest impact. What if we funded the service instead of simply funding the system? Here's my proposal. Create a countywide contract for service model where the county provides funding to existing agencies that agree to meet specific measurable standards. For example, the county could establish requirements for minimal staffing, 24-7 coverage, response times, training, equipment, ambulance availability, medical readiness documentation, quality assurance, accountability, financial reporting, mutual aid, and continuing education. In exchange, For meeting those standards, the county provides predictable funding to help agencies maintain career staffing and the infrastructure necessary to provide that service. They can hire the providers and provide benefits. Then we no longer are asking which agency deserves money. We're asking what level of service does this county expect and what does it cost to provide that service? Then we fund agencies based on their ability and their commitment to provide it.

Mr. Meeks, your three minutes is up.

I'm going to wind it down. I'm just simply asking, guys, you have 10 volunteer fire and rescue trucks there. Help us with the funding to staff them with paid people. You can do combination agencies. And instead of having four public safety trucks, you got 14.

Hang on, Mr. Meeks.

Thank you, sir.

I was going to allow you an additional two minutes since you're speaking for the fire department. OK. I'm sorry. The fire and rescue. And also, once you complete, I'd like for you to give a copy of that to public safety, Mr. Key.

Absolutely. And so, and to be all fairness, I kind of skipped ahead here. We don't have to replace public safety or volunteers. I think we need the public safety trucks we have in place, and maybe we need more. I don't know. But here's where the fairness becomes extremely important. Every citizen of Pennsylvania County deserves the same opportunity for a timely and capable emergency response. It shouldn't depend on whether a particular station happens to have volunteers sitting around the station that afternoon. A citizen is one part I'm sorry, a citizen in one part of the county shouldn't have a fundamentally different level of EMS protection than someone else in another part of the county simply because of the staffing model of the agency that services them. The standards should be countywide, but I also believe the resources should be countywide. If we're going to expect volunteer agencies to meet the same standards as the Public Safety Department, then you have to give them the same resources necessary to meet those standards. We can't demand 24-7 coverage from an organization and then tell them they only get a fraction of the money necessary to provide it. At some point, we have to recognize that EMS is a public safety service. The volunteers can and will save the county millions in the long run by already having the infrastructure and continue to use the avenues they have They have to fundraise and grant, et cetera. However, they need more assistance than what they currently have if you expect to judge them on the same scale as public safety. And this is not an us versus them. Let me make that clear. I want to emphasize I have tremendous respect for the public safety personnel. They save lives in this county every week doing their work. they work well with the volunteers and the administration works well i have tremendous respect for the volunteers in this county as well that do the same things i believe we need public safety and we need our volunteer departments i'm not standing here tonight pretending i have every answer what i'm asking what i'm saying is that we should stop looking at this as a choice between one side or the other doesn't have to be career versus volunteer it can be career and volunteer it can be county government and local organizations It can be one system. But if we're going to call it one system, we have to actually operate like one. We cannot continue to have organizations competing against one another for funding, staff, and equipment, resources, and then tell everyone we're one team. You can't tell people we're one team by building a system that forces them to compete against each other. Let's establish countywide standards, countywide expectations, and then build a fair funding model So my request tonight is simple. I'm asking this board to consider creating a countywide joint public safety and EMS working group, bringing together the county administration, the board of supervisors, public safety, the association, and the folks that actually run these calls. And let's sit down together and decide, not decide who gets eliminated, but how can we make the system better for the citizens. I'll be giving a presentation on this and what I propose tomorrow night at the association meeting. I invite all you to be there. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. All right, Madam Clerk, who's our next speaker?

That's all, Mr. Chairman.

That's it? Thank you so much. All right, that moves us down to agenda item 10, public hearings or other public hearings. Each person under the board, or just in the board, rather, under a public hearing shall step up, give his or her name and district and or his or her place of residency for non-county citizens. in an audible tone of voice for the record. And unless further time is granted by the chairman, shall limit his or her address to three minutes. Speakers for a group shall be limited to 10 minutes. Speakers shall conclude their remarks at that time unless the consent of the board is affirmatively given to extend the speaker's allotted time. Absent chairman's approval, no person shall be able to speak who has not signed up to do so. All right. Let's see. Public hearing. All right. On the chapter 35 zoning ordinance amendment. Miss Smith. Good evening.

Good evening. So this is the official public hearing for the zoning ordinance amendments that we've talked about for the last several months that are a result of the legislative changes from this past year. everything that's presented in the red line version is what we've discussed previously with one exception and that is in the RPD zoning district section 35-304 would require architectural design standards and restrictive covenants be part of any rezoning proposal to the residential plan development district

All right. Let's see. It is now 7.31. We open a public hearing. Anyone signed up to speak?

No, sir.

No one signed up to speak. All right. It is still, no, it is now 7.32. We close public hearing. All right, gentlemen, what's your pleasure? Chapter 35, code zoning.

I'll give you a motion, Mr. Chairman.

What is the motion?

I'll make a motion to approve the proposed amendments to PCC Chapter 35 as presented.

Thank you, Mr. Dudley. Is there support for that motion?

I'll second that, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Bowman. All right. Any discussion on the motion? Hearing none, let's vote electronically, please. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. All right, Ms. Smith. Let's see. It's 733. And we're going to open the public hearing on Pennsylvania County Comprehensive Plan, Use and Growth Management. Please.

This is another amendment necessary because of the changes in the legislative regulations. Again, we've discussed this many times over the last few months. This is an amendment to the comprehensive plan adding utility scale solar facility siting policies that were previously in the zoning ordinance, relocating those into the comprehensive plan.

All right. Thank you, ma'am. All right. Anyone sign up to speak?

No, sir.

It is now 7.33. We close public hearings. What's your pleasure?

Mr. Chairman, I'll make a motion to approve the proposed amendments to the comprehensive plan as presented. Thank you, Mr.

Bowman. Support? Second. Thank you. Mr. Brown, any discussion? Hearing none, please vote electronically. Motion so carried. Now, the initial speaker spoke on solar. Where's Ms. Smith? Let's see. Come on back up here. Can you explain to them that this particular This particular public hearing basically brings the county in line. We had to change some policy with the wishes of the state. Would you share that, please?

Yes. So this proposed amendment to the comprehensive plan was necessary because the state basically said you have to allow a special use permit application in any zoning district other than residential for utility scale solar projects. You can no longer have what we had, which was the five mile radius restriction and the 2% cap on the zoning districts for those projects. So the appropriate place to have that guiding principle language is in the comprehensive plan.

Thank you, Ms. Smith. Mr. Evans, would you please share with the audience and all of Pennsylvania County what that means to this county as we had set forth those boundaries?

Yes, sir. As Ms. Smith mentioned, the state code, prevents the county from operating as it has historically with limiting utility-scale solar by distance or by percentage of land use. And the way for the county to have more control over how land is used in reference to solar is to make an amendment to the comprehensive plan. Then moving forward, the Board of Supervisors and the Planning Commission and the Board of Zoning Appeals can rely on the language that's being added and changed in the comprehensive plan to base their decisions so it's not arbitrary and it's not in violation of state code. So it does address some of the concerns that were mentioned by the speaker earlier on solar. And not that we're trying to circumvent the law, but it does encapsulate and moralize THE PRINCIPLES THAT THE COUNTY HAS ATTEMPTED TO PUT IN PLACE WITH SETTING CONTROLS AND LIMITS ON SOLAR, AND IT IMMORTALIZES THAT IN THE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN. THANK YOU, MS. DEVIN.

THANK YOU, MS. SMITH. I APPRECIATE IT. ALSO, BEFORE I GO TO ITEM THREE, THIS BOARD IS BOUND BY THE STATE CODE BECAUSE Virginia is a Dillon rule state, which means that Virginia is the parent, the county, we're the child. So we have to react and respond to the wishes of the actual state itself. OK. All right. Public hearing approval of Resolution 2026-08-1, authorizing and providing for the issuance, sale, and award of solid waste system revenue bonds. Ms. Vande Heide, good evening and welcome.

Thank you. Tonight's public hearing is, as Mr. Tucker just alluded to, is about the proposed issuance of revenue bonds to open the new phase three at the landfill. This will open sale D as well, but the majority of the funds will cover the entire phase, which is for a 20-year period. Sale deed will be for a period of four years. And so it is a requirement before we do this financing to get public input on this matter. It is in an amount not to exceed $7 million.

Thank you, Ms. Van de Hyde. It is now 738. We open that public hearing. Is there anyone signed up to speak?

No, sir.

No one signed up to speak. It is 738. We close the public hearing. All right, gentlemen, what's your pleasure?

I'll make a motion, Mr. Chairman. I'll make a motion to approve resolution number 2026-08-01 as presented.

Thank you, sir. Support for the motion?

I'll second it, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Bowman.

I appreciate that. Any discussion on the motion? Hearing none, cast your votes electronically, please. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. All right. New business, I think, is no unfinished business.

No, we still got number four. Four?

Did I miss four? Public hearing on established tax rate.

Oh, there it is. Mr. Rowe, public hearing, we open it at 740 on establishment of tax rate for data center, computer equipment, and resolution 20260803. Yes, sir.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, board members. I think you would ask me just to do a really high level presentation on this particular item. As you know, the Code of Virginia enables localities to set separate standalone taxes when it comes to data center equipment, peripherals, and the servers themselves. And so the county board has directed staff, both Mr. Shorter and myself, to look at what other tax rates are across the state, try to negotiate the best tax rate that we can. Obviously, there's a lot of attention, of course, with the stack infrastructure project at the mega site, but absent that project, this rate would be applicable to any data center development in the county. And so what is being proposed is a $1.62 per $100 of assessed value. This board has done a great job as far as trying to negotiate that. What you find is quite a bit of the other counties across the state, what they do is they have an accelerated depreciation schedule. And so our stance was, especially with the stack project, because we made it well known from day one that we were not going to offer any discretionary incentives, is that there would be no accelerated depreciation schedule. So again, they would follow the 10-year depreciation schedule, just the same schedule as paid by any business on business personal property in Pennsylvania County, large or small. For community comparisons, these are again some relevant communities that many know. Obviously there's been a lot of attention on Mecklenburg County and the success that they've had there with revenue generation, building new schools, being able to provide additional services, rescue, EMS, fire, you name it, to their citizenry. But their tax rate is at 66 cents per $100 of assessed value. and they have a five-year depreciation schedule. So again, you're looking at a rate here that is more than double what it is that they have with a longer depreciation timeframe. When you get out of the Northern Virginia, what we kind of call the data center hub connection areas that typically get the higher real estate and the higher tax rates when it comes to the data center and the equipment. So again, let's just call it from, say, Fredericksburg area down to around the Richmond area, they typically are traditionally around $1.25. But again, they have made actual incentive deals within users where they are depreciating that over an accelerated schedule of five years, which again, we made the decision by this board's guidance not to do that. And then finally, again, you can kind of see the communities that are frankly being extremely aggressive. in their tax rates. One that might surprise a lot of folks is Chesterfield County. But again, at 24 cents per $100, five year depreciation schedules. So again, I applaud this board for really having numerous conversations, visiting other communities, being able to determine what may be the best fit for Pennsylvania County when it comes to the revenue generation side of this equation. I do want to speak a little bit about this because this board may obviously face some criticism, which any citizen can certainly leverage against. Well, why can Loudoun County, Prince William County, Fairfax County, Henrico County, why can they get $3 plus per $100? And it's just the actual infrastructure itself. And so they are considered data center connectivity hubs. It's just due to the existing infrastructure and data clusters that are there. This reduces connectivity risk and provides immediate access into what are known internet exchange points, IXPs, and network providers. And so again, it's just the actual data behind that. This impacts the latency and flexibility regarding the types and functions of data centers, which is very important. So again, it allows them to have critical mission ops to just simply, for example, being able to assist the DMV with your driver's license. When you're the DMV, you can wait a millisecond or two. When you actually have critical systems ops, it's got to be instantaneous. This enables them to set higher data center and equipment tax rates because these positive attributes that we mentioned tend to offset that higher tax burden. However, with that being said, Southern Virginia does not have this level of connectivity and ecosystem at this time. But I do want to recognize the fact that the dark fiber installed by Mid-Atlantic Broadband with the guidance from the Tobacco Commission and the visionary leaders in this area, it's an excellent infrastructure resource. And again, it must be further leveraged. Because if it's being leveraged, it means that more investment will be made into that. which will obviously benefit connectivity, not just for businesses in the area, but residents, you name it as well. And as we all know, there's more and more working from home and telework. And so again, that will obviously continue to help the county move forward into the 21st century. So that's what we have here for any specific questions, stand ready to answer them. But again, at this point in time, you're looking just to pretty much set a standardized tax rate just for data center equipment, peripherals and the servers.

Thank you, Mr. Rowe. Any questions? Mr. Goldman.

Mr. Chairman, thank you, Matt. Good presentation. For the citizens out here, we're looking at $1.62 per hundred. What they need to understand is that's divided between Danville and Pennsylvania County, which equates to 81 cents. Is that correct?

That's correct. For the stack project, it is. But then, of course, you also have another property in the county that this board has rezoned that is not subject to Riflin. So, again, that's the important thing, I think, that I want to just stress to everyone is that outside of a STAC project or the mega site or anything else, this is the tax rate that is applicable to any data center project in the county, shared or unshared, if that makes sense, Mr. Brown.

Exactly. But this particular one with STAC, we're splitting the tax rate with DAMP?

50-50 per our RIFA guidelines, yes, sir.

Okay, good. Thank you. That's all I got, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, sir.

Anyone else? Hang on one second. Anyone sign up to speak?

Yes, sir. Ben Davenport.

Mr. Davenport. Good evening, sir, and welcome. Yes, sir.

Ben Davenport.

I'm from Chatham District and pleased to be here. And I just want to say, you know, we're working on this master plan for the Blue Ridge Innovation Corridor, which is a corridor that begins here and goes on up through Martinsville, Roanoke, up to Virginia Tech and Montgomery County. And today we had a meeting about a lot of the things that are going on in that corridor, and we're developing this plan for the next 25 years. And in that plan, there's no shortage for the need of resources. And, you know, I can tell you that it's exciting to me to see something like this data center industry coming to our area because we are in desperate need for a lot of resources. One of the biggest things that kind of came out of left field I wasn't expecting in this particular discussion because we were talking the defense industry and their needs, and what we're doing at the Institute with the advanced training program and the partnership with the Navy anyway, and then they all tie it in with Virginia Tech. We're in a sweet spot, and there's a lot of good things happening. But one of the big things that was talked about was housing. And how do we get more housing? And the more we're able to provide the infrastructure, For that, then the more appealing it's going to be for builders to be able to do that. So we've got a lot of things that are great opportunities. And I guess probably one of the data center things people were saying that that maybe they don't employ a whole lot of people. But, you know, we're growing, and we need to do it gracefully over time. I think it's a blessing in many ways that we are doing it that way, and especially with having a major influx of capital to work and grow. So I just want you all to know I applaud you for sticking to your guns and making this happen. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Davenport. Madam Clerk, who's the next speaker?

Tim Clark.

Mr. Clark, good evening and welcome.

Good evening. I'm Tim Clark, Gretna Cowens District. I'm here to show my support for the proposed $1.62 data center equipment tax rate. The rate was not, and I appreciate that the rate was not developed as an incentive or as a discount. The rate, as we saw from Mr. Rowe, is more than three and a half times our normal tax rate on equipment, which I very much appreciate. It brings me great pleasure to know that we're going to charge more tax than what they charge in Fredericksburg for something for these data center folks. It appears that our two decades of regional work to create a site with infrastructure and utilities and the characteristics necessary to obtain a major private investment is finally paying off for the people that live here and work here. The company will be purchasing its land. They'll be funding the rest of the utility infrastructure build out and they're willing to pay the taxes established by this locality. It is our responsibility to let you know our thoughts and feelings about the decisions that you are making as our local elected officials and as a member of the business community that lives here, works here, and employs 86 men and women that build things here. I'm happy to support this $1.62 tax rate with a regular depreciation. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Clark. Madam Clerk, who's our next speaker?

Tim Reynolds.

Mr. Reynolds, good evening, sir. Welcome.

Mr. Chairman, members of the board, I'm Tim Reynolds. I'm from the Stanton River District. I want to also say that I support the new data center proposed tax rate of $1.62. Mr. Rowe has done a really good job of explaining what we have here, and I think we've done a, well, the county's done a really good job at setting that rate, and it will bring many positive things to our county. This has been a long road. I've been around for most of it as we've watched this mega park come forward. And I want to applaud this board and pass boards for your persistence, your stick-to-itiveness. It has not always been easy. There's been rough spots. And as I thought about this tonight, I thought about a sports analogy. It feels like we've driven the ball all the way down the field. maybe starting on the two yard line. And here we are in the red zone, maybe even first and goal. And I feel like we've had a few field goals go wide right over the years. We've had one bounce off the upright. But tonight, with an affirmative vote, you guys can push this ball just a little bit closer to the goal line. And you can push this county a little bit closer to making it a better place for our children and our grandchildren. And that's what I'm concerned about. So I would encourage you to vote for the proposed tax rate tonight. Thank you for letting me speak.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Reynolds. Madam Clerk, who's our next speaker?

That's all, Mr. Chairman.

That's it? All right. Board members, what is your pleasure?

Mr. Chairman, I'd like to make a motion to approve Resolution 2026-08-03. Hang on one second.

Let me close the public hearing at 7.52. Thank you. Go ahead with your motion.

All right. I'd like to make a motion to approve Resolution 2026-08-03, establishing a tangible personal property tax rate of $1.62 per $100 of assessed value for computer equipment and peripherals used in a data center effective August 18, 2026. That is my motion, sir.

I'll second that motion.

Thank you, Mr. Ingram and Mr. Dudley. Any discussion on the motion? Hearing none, would you cast your votes electronically, please? Motion passes 7-0 unanimously. I am so pleased to get that one across the finish line. And let me just say to those that came out to witness the meeting and those that are watching online, what we do here, and especially tonight taking this vote, it is not, this vote that I just took is not for me. I've gone out there, I've put in my four and a half decades on a regular job. But this vote is for those that are coming behind us that are 30 years old and younger. You want your children to have an opportunity to stay in the county. you want good jobs you don't want this board or even future boards to raise the taxes so here we are we have an awesome opportunity to get a lot of much needed things accomplished with the revenue that we will be bringing in with this data center so i appreciate your patience and you know Listen, I relish and I welcome opposing opinions. You know, the Bible teaches that iron sharpeneth iron. We can respectfully disagree, but yet at the same time, it is the board's responsibility to make sure that we move this county forward. As long as we're moving forward, I'm in good shape. Again, thank you. All right, unfinished business, Madam Clerk.

We don't have any unfinished. We do have some items that we've added to new business.

I'm getting there. Mr. Evans, anything unfinished? No, sir. New business, Madam Clerk.

OK. Item A is going to be the Firefly Energy LLC utility easement approval.

OK. That's the Firefly. OK. Thank you, Mr. Evans.

Yes, sir. Mr. Chairman, board members, this item relates to a request for a grant of utility easement across county property for a solar project. This request is not something new to the board. This is anticipated by the original approval that this project received. Earlier this year, the board entered into an amended I entered an amendment to the siting agreement that anticipated this very item as a benchmark for funds to be received or part of a benchmark for funds to be received from Firefly Solar relating to the siting agreement. The easements cross the Ringgold Rail Trail and they are as are any utility easement, not invasive other than the construction of the disruption that is caused by the construction themselves. This board debated this term, this specific grant in the easement in the board meetings leading up to the approval of that amendment to the siting agreement. So there is a pattern of this board having given expectations regarding this granting this easement as well as entering into a specific agreement that anticipates a financial benefit to the county for the granting of this easement. Okay.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Evans. Hang on. Any questions, comments from the board? Yes, sir, Mr. Bowman.

Mr. Chairman, thank you. Mr. Evans, thank you for standing in for the folks with Firefly. They're not here this evening, are they?

That's correct. And I will disclose that they had conversations with me about this. And based on the conversations we had had previously, I am the one that recommended that they not attend. OK.

So I've got a couple of questions. And first off, let me just clarify, this is not the first time they've asked for this or asked for a change, whether it's a siting, whether it's an easement, whatever it is. So I'm going to state right on the outset that I'm kind of tired of the solar farms coming and asking for extensions, if you will, or more permission for doing things of this nature when it should have been done, in my opinion, early on when they submitted their plans to the planning department. These are things that, I mean, these are checklist items here. And so coming after the fact and asking for this now, I'm getting a little bit tired of seeing them in front of us on this agenda. That being said, excuse me, on item seven of the utility easement, and I know you don't have the answer to this, but I'm going to ask it anyway. In there it has termination, and I'm just going to read this quickly. Grantee may terminate this easement at any time by giving grantor, that would be the county, at least one month's prior written notice. Additionally, grantor shall have the right to terminate this easement if during any time period that is after the 45th anniversary of the effective date. Grantee fails to operate. Grantee's facility to send electricity or energy through the utility easement area to a substation or electric wires on a grant force parcel for 60 consecutive months, except to the extent that said failure is a result of a need for repairs or maintenance to grantees facilities or force majeure. So help me here. It says 45th anniversary. In my mind, that's every anniversary is a year. Let's say in 45 years from now, once we sign this contract, that this is in effect? And I know ones in the past have been 20 or 25 years. Why is this 45 years? Because none of us are going to be here in 45 years.

Yeah, that's a great question. So this is utility easement. So you would have, as you would have in a lot of other Properties, there's a right that for, let me rephrase it this way. On your own property, at your home, there's often a utility easement that attaches to that. And that utility easement is permanent, usually. It doesn't terminate after 45 years plus 60 months. This simply, and that would be normal for a utility easement. There's no expectation that once you run that line, that you're running electricity through that line, that you would then stop running that utility through that line. So this essentially allows the county, if the project is abandoned at some point, to reclaim that easement. Now the value of that reclamation to the county is minimal. The county is not gaining any significant benefit back by taking that easement back. But it does allow for the surrender of that easement at some point. As to the mention of an extension, this is not an extension. There's no limits. The board specifically put limits on this project previously, and those limits are still in place. This is simply an execution of an item that the board has previously approved. At a previous point, this company approached the board and specifically laid out a timeframe for the request of this easement, and they have followed that timeline.

All right. Thank you for the explanation. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Bowman. Any other discussion? And I think it's important to point out that, you know, an easement is very different than awarding a contract of approval, but at the same time. Mr. Evans, would you do us all a favor and explain to this board and also to the general public if these contracts come up for extension, if you will, hypothetically, based on the current legislation that's in place in Richmond, how we would lose control of the conditions and the proffers. So sometimes we have to act based on our best interest at the local level.

Yes, sir. That's a great point. This is somewhat hypothetical in nature because we don't know how the legislature is going to act in future years, but based on either proposed legislation or sponsored legislation that we've seen in recent years, it is likely that at some point control over the approval process for solar may be removed from the local level. That is the intention of some of the proposed legislation that is not passed. There's been some discussion already in this meeting about legislation that did pass that does change the county's ability to manage solar, and that's the point of the proposal. the approved amendment to the comprehensive plan that was discussed previously. So at each stage, the local government has an incentive at this point to enter into agreements where we have some control over the process, where there's a secured financial benefit and a secured control over contractually to the enforcement of specific standards, setbacks, et cetera, As it relates to solar this project in it is is a little bit unique as they approached the board for an extension previously and The board and they voluntarily agreed as part of that process to never come back and request an extension again and and then entered into basic gave up some rights that were in their sighting agreement as a means of getting that limited extension that the board granted. In exchange for that, there was monetary payments that have already been paid and future payments that are waiting on remaining steps which include this approval of this easement. So any time you have a project like this, it is advisable that there be those siting agreements in place that go above and beyond what we can anticipate. Well, what would be required under the current county code and the state code, but would protect the county moving forward from changes in the state code. So this is a project where we have looked at what was previously put in place. We have added additional protections and additional checks and additional benefits that are up front to the county. And because of that, this project can and should be viewed a little bit different, well, definitely, significantly differently than someone else coming and saying, hey, I want an extension. Or coming and saying, hey, I want a new special use permit for solar. So we have to treat those differently because of what we've done in the past. But this is one of those projects that has some additional protections in place because we've been deliberate about the process.

Thank you, Mr. Evans. All right, gentlemen, this has been before us previously. We got additional funds out of them. I'll entertain a motion.

Mr. Chairman, I want to add, this is a unique project that I inherited in my district. And then we did give the extension for the one year, and hoping that, in negotiation, that they would never come back for another one. You know, for us to sit here and give them a special use permit in the spring with these stipulations, with payments that go along with them, might I add the note that the very, very few solar farms have ever paid a dime to this county, but this one that's not even built yet has.

That is correct.

I'm not a solar farm fan. I want that on the record real quick. And I'm just not going to play political football with it either. But if you're going to give them a special use permit, as bad as I hate to say it, it's kind of hard not to follow what you, it's just bad business. We should not be in this business to start with, as a county, in my opinion. But regardless, we are at this point. Now going forward, I hope we see less and less applications of solar, period. don't want to see it continuing to expand across this county but again I'm a business owner I don't like bad business and to me if you if you deny this after they've guaranteed us one check already and this secures another check and we still don't even know they're gonna get this thing built so we have to keep that in mind if they don't make the deadline within the 12 months I'm not gonna renew another one anyway and I think all of us will be on that page unanimously so I There's where I am. This is my my district, and I'll make a motion to approve the utility easement associated with Firefly Energy.

I'll second it. Thank you so much. I appreciate that. And let me let me So, Mr. Brown.

Go ahead. Go ahead.

I got too fast. I love it when men have integrity and they do exactly what they said they were going to do. So thank you, sir. Any other discussion?

Mr. Chairman, I was going to say I totally agree with Mr. Brown because this was an agreement that we made. And if you back up after the agreements and after the payments. It is truly madness, and I think you ought to keep your word. And if somebody goes against this, I will simply say it's political grandstanding. That's my comment, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, sir. Any additional discussion? Hearing none, please vote electronically. All right, motion passes 6-1. Thank you so very kindly. All right, Madam Clerk, what's our next agenda item under new business?

This next one is going to be the award of the contract for the feasibility study. Mr. Evans is going to handle that.

Mr. Evans, thank you again. Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Board. This is something that you are quite familiar with given the volume of conversations we have had over the last 10 months relating to the courthouse. Back earlier this spring, there was a request for proposals that was issued by the county for architectural and engineering services to conduct a feasibility study, a space and needs study for new court facility and the repurposing of the existing courthouse space for the use by the county. The county received a number of proposals. Those were reviewed by a formal selection committee over the course of a number of weeks. That was whittled down to three, top three proposals. Those were interviewed and the final two firms were then presented to the board at a special call meeting. They did interviews earlier this month on August 3rd. We have been in negotiations with the firm that was the favorite from the board's perspective. We have the proposal that's been discussed as part of our work session earlier today and a contract to be approved tonight to proceed with the architectural and engineering firm selection. This will begin a process of assessing the needs, assessing the space, and constructing a plan to move forward with making sure that the court's facilities here in Pennsylvania County are compliant with the requirements of the Code of Virginia and that there is an investment in the future of the county through its court's facilities. The recommended contract that's been provided to each of you all is for Dewberry Architects. As you are aware, the proposals that they have provided have shown some depth of understanding and ingenuity in meeting the county's needs, and it is the recommendation of county staff that this contract be approved tonight. If you have any questions, I can answer them.

Thank you, Mr. Evans.

Discussion from the board. Yes, sir. Mr. Chairman, Mr. Evans, did you mention how much this was costing?

I did not. So after some negotiation, the cost is just under $300,000. So I think $299,000. We looked at the appropriateness of that. We have some range of expectations. It fell within the range of the expectations of those that were reviewing the contract. It's comparable if you look at the previous similar services that were obtained by the county. It's comparable given the scope of this service that's being contracted for. It's well within a reasonable range from our perspective.

All right, thank you. Mr. Chairman? Yes, sir. If there's no other questions, I'd like to make a motion. Yes, sir. I'd like to make the motion to award the contract to Dewberry Architects as outlined in the packet.

I'll second that. Thank you, Mr. Bowman. Mr. Ingram, respectfully. All right, any discussion on that motion?

Mr. Chairman?

Yes, sir.

I did want to say, and I understood county staff, particularly through Mr. Shorter, got this... Project cost down substantially to the tune of, what, 80,000, thereabouts? Substantial reduction. 87,000. So I wanted to say thank you for that. And I think this is a good move. Thank you.

All right. Wonderful. Any other discussion? If none, cast your votes electronically, please. Thank you. Motion passes 7-0 unanimously. Madam Clerk, what's our next item?

We are down to matters from work session, and we don't have any there. So we can go to board member reports.

All right. So we've taken care of everything except board members. Let's see. Let's start with you, Mr. Brown.

This past Saturday, I got to go out and I think Mr. Bowman was there and Mr. Whittle was there and several of the, I think most all the city council was there. But the Golden Elephant Group put on a great day there. It was over in the, I don't know what that shopping center is called. It's where Shules and the DMV, Harbor Freight and Tool, in that parking lot. Dan River District was over there. there in full force with Ringgold and Law Grove bringing out fire trucks but it was a day to honor our local volunteer fire and EMS and public safety and just public servants in general but they did a great job with that they had a band playing and I really enjoyed that one thing I want to invite the public to do and I hope the news will cover this as well something near and dear to my heart I want all of you guys to come out to this it's gonna be put this in your calendar and it's for deputy nick samuels that was killed this year in a horrible motorcycle accident he's a great friend of mine from childhood and grow it all the way up i see a lot of law enforcement folks in the crowd tonight but we're doing a benefit auction um that's going to be on august the 29th it's at the home place vineyard August the 29th at 4 p.m. Matt Boswell and his band will be there. It's going to be dinner, barbecue, a silent auction and a live auction. I'll be there as the auctioneer. And we've got, I think, a couple hundred items. It's going to be a wild night. And I hope we raise a pile of money for his little girl and her future. And I really want the community. We've got law enforcement coming in from all over the state. We're expecting hundreds to be there, but I want to make that a personal invitation. They got plenty of fields to park in, come out, enjoy the music, have a glass of wine, and have a barbecue dinner, and buy something. So, but thank you. I think we had a good meeting today. We're extremely busy schedule. The more, the forward momentum that we have as a county, and we're doing such a great job growing. I know you read a lot of stuff, but, you know, we're really all working hard, and I think we're going in a positive way. You know, and this is challenging, you know, when you've got this many things on your plate, and everything is moving very quickly, so. I hope everybody has a great month, a great week, and I hope to see you on the 29th. Thanks a lot. Thank you, Mr. Brown.

Mr. Bowman. Mr. Chairman, thank you. One of the things that Mr. Brown forgot to mention, he's the auctioneer for that day at Nick Samuels. You've got to go there if you just want to listen to him. It's going to be good to hear him auction off those items, and I plan on going there. Thank you, Justin. I appreciate that. On July 23rd, I was part of a group of people, a large group of people. Senators Louise Lucas and Mamie Locke were here doing a data center listening tour in Danville. Lots of people showed up from Danville, Pennsylvania County. Great time to meet with those folks and to listen to some of the comments from the people. as it pertained to the data centers. Attended the community day at Mount Hermon Volunteer Fire Department, great event there. They actually had one of those blow ups with a pool at the end of it and the kids were having a ball. I mean they were in there in the water just really enjoying themselves. They had out at the Cowan's a tomato festival for those that attended. It was a great event. That was super to be able to participate in that and reading of the Declaration of Independence. That is just a great, great event there. Costumed interpreters showed up to do that. A chamber legislative luncheon that was at the Institute. I attended that with some of my peers. Great information passed out there. I also attended a VACO summit in Richmond last week, along with the chairman, Mr. Tucker. And he and I were there to listen to the different legislation that has been proposed, that has passed in this last session, and that has failed. and also the legislation that may be coming up to be resubmitted again. Folks, it's some tough times up there in Richmond right now with our current administration. So pay attention to the legislators that we have, our delegates. Talk to those folks about anything that is pertinent to you, things you would like to see done, and pay attention to what's being voted on in the General Assembly in Richmond. Also, I want to congratulate Judy Simpson for being reappointed back to the beautification committee. I saw that on a consent agenda. And also, congratulations to Dr. Jerry Fawcett for being appointed to the DCC Advisory Board. Those are two great people. I'm glad to see them represent Pennsylvania County on these two boards. And for that, thank you all for coming out. Thank those that spoke tonight and gave us their input on things that are going on. Ben, I'm going to give you a shout out. That was great information that we needed to hear. I appreciate it.

Okay. Mr. Chairman, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Bowman. Mr. Dudley.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to say I appreciate everybody being here. It's good to have a state representative here, Mr. Madison Whittle, back on the back row. Always glad to see him and appreciate him being here in our meetings. We covered a lot of ground today, started at 3 o'clock, and we've gone through a lot of material. A lot has been accomplished and put together just for this meeting. Appreciate everybody coming out. I noticed the folks from the Sheriff's Department. Thank you guys for coming out, being here at this meeting. I know you've got some concerns, and we're looking out for your best interest, I promise you. I promised last month that there would be a... We will be doing something special for World War II veteran this month. And we're going to actually have that next month. All the material did not come through. We'll have a state representative here as well to actually, not a state representative, but one from Washington to come here. And we're going to have a presentation. So thank you so much. Safe travels going home. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Dudley, Mr. Ingram. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just a couple of things. I want to draw attention to item seven, which is a consent agenda. And it is a regular practice that we put items on a consent agenda to facilitate the process. It's items that we can move forward on without a lot of discussion, a lot of drawbacks and headaches. But I will tell you, I beg with citizens all day long to call your representative and ask questions. If there's something on a consent agenda that you don't understand or you don't agree with, all you got to do is call and ask. And I can promise you there's always multiple sides to the story, not just one or two. So I implore people to be involved in local government and to come out and to ask questions. The other thing that I wanted to say is that I got a new grandbaby, grandbaby number 10. Madeline Grace was born on August the 4th, and we real tickled. So having said that, that's all I have, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Ingram. Mr. Dalton.

Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'd like to thank everybody for coming out tonight, everybody that spoke. I want to thank all our staff for helping put everything together. Mr. Short and Mr. Evans, thank you all for what you all do. It's been a long day, but I thank all my board members here. We had a good meeting. And with that, everybody, be safe on the way home. Thanks for coming. Thank you, Mr. Dahl.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, sir. Mr. Whittle.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to thank everybody for coming out. I'd like to thank Ben for his little update there. Thank you, Ben. We needed that. And I'd like to thank the staff for all y'all do. Appreciate y'all about every time I call y'all. Thank y'all. And then thank Mr. Shorter, Mr. Evans. Thank y'all. Everybody have a safe trip home. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Will. Let me make a couple of quick statements here real quick. resolution to do a little fact finding on the cost effectiveness of maintaining our jail or at least gather the information of what it would look like to basically farm that out to Blue Ridge. You know, part of what we do as a board, we have to take a look at everything pretty closely under the microscope. And it has to make sense for the citizens of Pennsylvania County because that's who we are responsible to financially. So that's what that's about. medic five or the potential thereof the reason it was pulled from the agenda because people forever send me these posts on facetime and i sometimes wonder if people have anything else to do with i mean what else could they be doing if they couldn't post but um i just want to say that It is our responsibility as a board to take care of the health and the welfare of our citizens. And in order for us to make a more informed decision, we're going to have to have additional information. So we have our marching orders. We're going to go out and take a look at a facility. We have to talk to paid volunteer leadership to make sure that there is no encroachment on one another, because we all know by now how territorial we are, you know, kind of like a fraternity. I get it. And there again, We have to make sure that when we make the decision, that is something that's sustainable. And with every decision, there is a cost. So we have to rely upon our budget committee and our finance committee to take a look at where the funds are going on. And then we have to ask the difficult questions. Is this sustainable? okay so that's why it was pulled and shout out to mr meeks thank you for being here and i'm very serious make sure you have that in print and for the fire association and also for uh mr key um let me just say uh Throughout the month of the county, when you don't see me, you will see me just about anywhere. Some people didn't believe that I could show up at a livestock event where they're judging lambs and ewes and that sort of thing. I still remember the creed of the FFA, so I actually judge livestock. I've gone to all types of events throughout the county. I've met with political leaders on the national level, met with the governor this month. So I am busy. And I am not doing it for my health. Okay. I am doing it all because I love this county and I want to make sure that we move this county forward. And let me just say to you that are here, let me say to the ones that are watching online and let me say to all of those that are going to go behind those keyboards and get on Facebook, let me tell you what to type. Type this, we're number one in the state of Virginia in job creation. Type that. Get that message out there. Number two, type we're number one in capital investment. When industry looks at this board and when they look at this community, they say, yeah, this is where we want to spend our money. So we're number one in capital investment. And let me tell you something else to type. Shout out to Matt, his team down in Virginia. We're getting a new water plant. Is that right? Brand new water plant. Largest grant given in the state of Virginia. Is that right?

Yes.

How about that? How about typing that type of stuff? And that way we have other people looking at this community and saying, wow, you know, those folks are really on the ball. I told someone earlier today, I don't want to be the smartest guy in the room. I just want to ask the right questions. Because if you learn how to ask the right questions, you can always get the right answer. And all I want to do for this community is make sure that we're moving in the right direction. So thank you all for allowing me the opportunity to serve as your chair and to represent you on just about every different level. From the time I put on my bib overalls until the time I put on my bow tape, okay? I'm all about Pennsylvania County. Mr. Short.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you all for what you do for this county and the citizens and the hard work that you put in. Thank you for the opportunity to serve this county and and the great people of Pennsylvania County. And lastly, thanks to incredible staff that we have that support us and make us all look good. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Mr. Evans. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It's a pleasure to be part of the process and to view the attention that the board gives to the matters that are that are of concern to the citizens of the county. The future is bright. Let's get to work.