City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening and welcome to all. Appreciate everybody being here tonight. We'll call this meeting of the Picosa City Council to order. And with that, could we all please rise? And I'll lead us in the invocation and pledge of allegiance. Let us pray. Our father in heaven, we enter your presence with thanksgiving and praise, recognizing you as the source of our many blessings. We're grateful for the mercy and the grace that you blessed us with. We thank you for the opportunity to serve our fellow man. Please lead, guide, and direct us in the way that we should. Help us to follow your will as we make decisions.

We pray. Amen. Amen.

To the flag of the United States of America and to the stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. We move on to item C on our agenda. And it is our pleasure. We have a proclamation to do tonight in honor in recognition of Red Cross month uh which is month of March. and we're very pleased to have with us tonight, Miss Lesie Crocker. Uh she is the executive director of the Coastal Virginia office. So, Miss Crocker, welcome. And if you could please join me at the podium. Uh we present the proclamation. Good evening again and welcome.

Thank you for having me.

You're welcome. Thank you for being with us tonight. And this proclamation is for Red Cross month. Whereas the American Red Cross was founded in 1881 by Clara Barton and has since served as a humanitarian organization guided by its mission to prevent and alleviate human suffering in the face of emergencies. And whereas the American Red Cross plays a vital role in our community by providing disaster relief, supporting military families, collecting and distributing life-saving blood, offering health and safety training, and assisting individuals and families during times of crisis. And whereas the American Red Cross relies heavily on the dedication and generosity of volunteers, blood donors, and community partners who selflessly give their time, talent, and resources to help those in need. And whereas the residents of the city of Picosen benefit from the American Red Cross's preparedness programs and emergency response efforts which strengthen community resilience and readiness in times of disaster. And whereas March has been designated as American Red Cross month to recognize and honor the human humanitarian contributions and life-saving work of the American Red Cross and to encourage and continued public support of its mission. Now therefore, I, David A. Hux, mayor of the city of Possen, do hereby proclaim the month of March 2026 as American Red

Cross month in the city of Picosen. And I urge all residents to recognize the valuable service of the American Red Cross and to support its ongoing efforts to help those in need. In witness whereof, I have here unto set my hand and cause a city seal of Picosen to be affixed this 23rd day of February, 2026. Also in witness whereof, we have here unto set our hand and cause the city of Pose, Virginia to be affixed this 12th day of January, 2026. And this proclamation has the signatures of all seven council members. So thank you very much and we'll present this to you.

Thank you on behalf of the city of Posen. Lovely and thank you for your efforts which continue the greater good of all of the beneficiaries of what you do. And with that, if you wouldn't mind uh remaining at the podium, we'll move on to item D on the agenda, which is your proclamation related to the American Red Cross. Thank you so much. You're welcome, Miss Crocker. Thank you. The floor is yours.

All right. Perfect. So, thank you again, Mayor Hu, Vice Mayor Bunting, and the entire city council for having me out here tonight to share with the community a little bit about what the American Red Cross does and for proclaiming March is the Red Cross month in the city of PO of Picosen for this March of 2026. I am the executive director for the coastal chapter. And just to give a little bit of context, the coastal chapter from a geographic standpoint of our service area is pretty wide. We have almost the entire corner of the southeast of Virginia. So we service everything from Williamsburg south all the way down to the uh North Carolina border. We go as far out as a little bit east of Emporia and all the way over to Virginia Beach. So, we've got a pretty wide territory. Our um chapter is about 15 cities and counties in some total, but we're happy to service every one of them. So the mission of the Red Cross is that we prevent and alleviate human suffering in the face of emergencies by mobilizing the power of volunteers and the generosity of our donors. And in my humble opinion, our generous donors are the best because they give to the Red Cross in multiple ways. They give financially. They give back to the community by donating life-saving blood and by getting trained in life-saving skills such as CPR.

And equally as important, our donors give their time by being in service to family, friends, and neighbors alike every day. And in our organization, we have something called mission moments. And today, I would like to briefly share mine with you. So, this photo was taken 10 years ago, and as you can see, we are a military family. And that particular year, my husband was preparing for a 12-month deployment to Poland. Before he left, we went through all of the pre-eployment family rituals, checking off the lists, making sure important documents were in place, talking through the just in case scenarios no family ever really wants to talk about. And during one of those conversations, he reminded me that if something were to happen back home, something serious that he would need to return home for that I would need to call the American Red Cross. I remind I remember filing that away in my mind and moving on and never truly thinking that I would need it. But five months into that deployment, my dad passed away unexpectedly. And thankfully, I was able to contact my husband directly to tell him. In the middle of that heartbreaking conversation, he reminded me again to get him home, I needed to call the Red Cross. They are in fact the only organization that supports our active duty service members with emergency messaging and verification of events. So, I made the call. They connected me with their hero care network and within 24 hours my husband was in the process

of making his way home to us for the allotted time. In one of the hardest moments of our lives, the American Red Cross was the bridge that brought our family back together. And that's my mission moment. Aside from being a bridge, the American Red Cross is the nation's best known nonprofit for things such as brand recognition, having the biggest community impact, and being regarded as the most loved and respected nonprofit by certain generations. And if you are a history buff or love Jeopardy, you might like this slide. I'm not going to read everything up here, but I do want to point out a couple of things that I consider particularly noteworthy. The first thing I want to point out is that our we have a government mandate because the relationship between the American Red Cross and the federal government is unique. We are an independent entity that is organized and exists as a nonprofit taxexempt charitable institution pursuant to our 125year-old United States Congressional Charter. Unlike other congressionally chartered organizations, the Red Cross maintains a special relationship with the federal government. Hence the mandate states which in summation the Red Cross must provide support services for the military and their families as well as respond to other relief during disasters. The second thing that I want to point out is funding. Despite this close relationship with the federal government and contrary to what some believe, the

American Red Cross is not a federal agency, nor do we receive general federal funding. We receive our financial support from our generous donors. And I'd also like to note that every $1 that is donated, 90 cents goes right back into mission delivery. Like the last slide, I'm not going to read all of these principles to you, but I believe it is an important message to relay to the community that we make no discrimination as to national nationality, race, religious beliefs, class, or political opinions of those we serve. We are here to relieve the suffering of individuals being guided solely by their needs and to give priority to the most urgent cases of distress. So rest assured you have a friend in the Red Cross. Now let's get into our work. It is done quite literally down the street across the country and around the world. There are many arms of the Red Cross. We like to call them lines of service and they all make up one Red Cross. Our presence ensures workers are available to provide support throughout including disaster cycle services, blood services, international services, service to the armed forces and training services. Our disaster cycle services help

and heal on massive scale. Our blood services is a journey that begins with recruiting, collecting, testing, processing, safely storing, and delivering products. With international services, we are a part of a global network that plays a support role around the world to help with disasters, build healthier communities, and help keep communities connected. Our service to armed forces provides emergency communications, financial assistance, and supportive social services that enable service members, veterans, and family members serving in the United States Armed Forces to resolve emergencies. And lastly, our training services offers multiple and different types of training classes to help keep our communities safer. So, here are some more fast facts. Every hour, the Red Cross helps a thousand people. And every day, people in our community and around the world face emergencies big and small. Natural disasters, which are growing in frequency and intensity, are devastating a rising number of families and communities. Home fires kill more Americans than all other natural disasters combined every year. And these everyday disasters happen in every community, including yours. Did you know that the Red Cross responds to a home fire every 8 minutes? While the fire department puts out the flames, the Red Cross is there for the impacted families in the immediate aftermath.

And one more thing to note which is very important. We never self-deploy. We come when we are invited or called to help. And we don't just help families recover from disaster. We also prepare communities before home fire strike. You may have heard about Sound the Alarm, an event which is a part of our home campaign. Since 2014, we've been helping families make emergency plans and canvasing at risk neighborhoods, installing free smoke alarms. Equally devastating, the need for blood is constant. Someone in the US needs life-saving blood products every two seconds. And over the past decade, many US military families have experienced multiple deployments creating physical and emotional challenges. So this is the community impact report for coastal Virginia and all of this data was collected from the calendar year of 2025. But I just think that these numbers are staggering and believe it or not, they continue to go up. Never has the American Red Cross been more vital. In local communities, our network of compassionate volunteers and staff provide comfort and care to those in their darkest hours. 90% of our workforce are volunteers. people just like yourselves. If you're thinking about giving back to or looking for something to do with your free time, please consider joining the

Coastal Virginia Volunteer Team. As the flyer says, your time and talent can make a real difference in people's lives and in your community. Now, I have a brief twominut impact video that I hope you all enjoy. The American Red Cross mission is as critical as ever to address today's urgent humanity needs. Our world is changing rapidly. Disasters have become more intense and more frequent. The nation's blood supply is vulnerable to the lowest donor pace in two decades. Emergencies seem to arise around every corner. As Red Crossers, we witness firsthand the profound impact on the communities we serve. We adapt, we evolve, and together we meet these challenges head on with kindness, care, and an unwavering commitment to mission delivery. Because of the generous donations, my sons have their mom, my husband has his wife, and we are eternally grateful that we can actually do things as a family. You know, of the Red Cross, you donate to the Red Cross. You don't actually ever expect to meet the Red Cross. Fiscal year 2024 was a year scarred by tragedy and fortified in triumph. We responded to tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, and wildfires. We provided aid alongside the global Red Cross, Red Crescent movement as conflict and crisis intensified. We supported military members, their families, and veterans as they navigated difficulties unique to our armed services community. We taught more life-saving classes to be ready for loans that matter. And we rolled up a

sleeve and overcame blood shortages to meet patient needs. In our unity, we have found strength. In our diversity, power and in our compassion, healing. Together, we have helped stitch the fabric of humanity back together, one thread at a time, with dedication to service that knows no borders, no race, no creed. For we are the American Red Cross. We embolden and uplift our shared humanity because everyone deserves a tomorrow filled with hope. And I'll leave you with one last thing. I hope you never have to call us for your own personal disaster emergency, but if you do, 1800 Redcross is our phone number and www.redcross.org is how you can reach us virtually. Thank you,

Miss Crocker. Thanks so much for being with us tonight and sharing your testimony, especially your your mission moment. uh you obviously have a servants mentality and we admire and appreciate that and that's that's one thing that we all have in common. I think everybody here tonight has a servants mentality. Pleasure working with you and uh hope to see you again. Thank you very much.

So we will move on to our next presentation. It's our pleasure to have with us tonight Miss Nikki Johnson. Uh she is a regional economist with the Hampton Roads Plan and District Commission. And with her is Mr. Bob Prum. He is the executive director of the Hampton Rose Plan and District Commission. And they are both great friends to us here in Picosen. And over the years I I've gotten to know them well. So Mr. Crumb, thank you for being here. Uh, Miss Johnson, uh, I've only known, uh, two, uh, professional economists in my life. Uh, you and Greg Gutten endorsed. So, uh, it it's my honor. Y'all have a very specialized skill set and a specialized expertise that you share for the greater good of others. And, uh, as I was sharing with you prior to the meeting, I've quoted your facts and figures on many occasions. and you all being here tonight. The timing is ideal since tomorrow night we'll be having our budget retreat to talk about the planning for the budget for fiscal year 27. What you share with us tonight will be of of benefit not only to us making decisions but just to the community at large. So with that, welcome and please share your presentation with us.

Thank you, mayor, and thank you all for having me here today. Good evening. I'm going to be here today to discuss the little book of big data and some of the latest economic trends both in Hampton Roads and in the city of Picosen. So starting with the little book of big data, it's a pocket version of our regional benchmarking study, which is what you also have in front of you. Our regional benchmarking study is a comprehensive annual analysis of our Hampton Roads economy. It's where we benchmark the region's economic performance across a variety of indicators for 10 topics that shape our regional economy. The topics range from general economy to education. The introduction section of the regional benchmarking study does include a locality profile for each of our member localities. And then the final section does compare the localities in the region across several of the indicators that are included in the study. As I mentioned before, the little book of big data is just a pocket version of that regional benchmarking study where we just highlight some of those key topics that are included. So, some of the quick highlights from both of those reports. Now, this data isn't going to match exactly with what you see in those reports because I pulled the latest data available. But starting with population growth, we can see that population continued to rebound in 2024 after we saw that contraction during the COVID era slowdown. Between 2020 and 2024, Hampton Roads population grew at an average annual rate of 0.2% per year. That puts us in the bottom half of our reference metro areas. The reference metro areas are just uh MSAs with a similar population size. So we can compare ourselves. Now if we look at population growth in Picosen, we can see that it surged in

2024 after declining both in 2022 and 2023. The growth in 2024 was the second highest in over a decade. Now, components of population change can show us what's driving these growth trends. In Hampton Roads, we consistently lose residents to net domestic out migration. That means we have more residents leaving the region to go to another part of the country than people from other parts of the country moving here. And so that's consistently dragging down our population growth. Now, as the natural change slows both from an aging population and from lower both rate birth rates overall, what we're seeing is net international migration is becoming the largest contributor of population growth in Hampton Roads. And that's something to consider when we think about immigration policies moving forward. In contrast, the largest contributor of population growth in Picosen is net domestic in migration. We can see that that was the largest in well over a decade. And while ne international migration has remained relatively flat, we can see that the natural change here in the city is negative. So there's more deaths than bursts likely from that aging population overall. Turning to jobs, 2023 marked a full recovery from the pandemic era shock in Hampton Roads. We did see that growth continued in 2024, but then we see a contraction for 2025. If we compare to our reference MSAs from 2019 to 2025, jobs increased about 2.5% here in Hampton Roads. That puts us roughly in the middle of the pack of our reference MSA, slightly towards the bottom, but still relatively in the middle. Now, if we look at the latest

trends in job growth, we can see that since February 2020, that's just a month prior to the pandemic, that by January 2025, jobs were up, like I said, 2.6% in uh Hampton Roads, 4% in the US, and 4.5% in Virginia. But then we see that break starting in 2025. Over the past year, job growth has slowed nationally, but it's contracted here in the region. The main factor for that contraction is the federal cuts that we saw last year. Hampton Roads is home to the third largest federal civilian workforce in the country. We the region lost over 6,000 federal civilian employees in 2025. While we don't have timely data for the city of Picosen, we can look at the latest census 5-year estimates and we see that federal employees, this does not include military, they represent about 14.3% of residents working full-time here in the city. That's above both the regional average and the state, and it's more than four times the national average. If we look at labor market conditions, we know that nationally we saw labor force and individual employment slow over the past year, but not decline. It was not a fullout contraction. However, in Hampton Roads, we saw a steady decline both in the civilian labor force and in individual employment. the number of residents who reported that they were um employed fell below levels that we saw just prior to the pandemic in 2019. Now, the December data, you do see at the very end of that line a slight uptick. That is a positive because that's the first increase that we saw in several months, which means that we likely seen the trough from those federal cuts. And so, we're not likely

to see further declines, but we are likely to see slower growth moving forward in 2026. Here we can see labor force trends for the city of Pakosen. We see a similar trend that steady decline moving in to 2025. Slightly smaller decline actually compared to Hampton Roads. Both labor force and individual employment levels stayed above those prepandemic levels, just slightly though. But we do see that slight uptick in December as well, which means that we've likely moved past the worst of the decline from those federal cuts. As of December, we see that there were 155 fewer individuals who are in the labor force, which means you're either working or looking for work. When we compare it to January 2025, and we see 201 individuals who reported that they were employed. Now, if we look at the unemployment rate in 2025, the unemployment rate ticked up both nationally in Hampton Roads and in the city of Picosen. Now in Hampton Roads and Picosen, the unemployment rate has historically been below the national average, but we do see over the past year that gap has started to narrow slightly. In Hampton Roads, we saw that the unemployment rate increased about 0.6 percentage points since January 2025 and nationally it increased about 0.4 percentage points. We did see a slightly larger increase in the city of Picosen. it rose 0.7 percentage points over the same period. It's likely due to that outsized impact of those federal cuts. We're still at very historically low unemployment rates. And that is an important key to note. But we do want to make sure that we highlight the fact that individuals are leaving the labor force altogether. And so the gap between these two lines represents the level of unemployment. If that gap remains the same, then you're not going to see big movements in the unemployment rate. And

especially when we think about federal workers overall, are they able to find equivalent jobs here in the region in the private sector or are they going to have to leave the region all together? And that's something to think about moving forward. Turning to the housing market, we did see home sales tick up in 2025. They are still slightly below prepandemic levels. Just prior to the pandemic, we were hovering around 23 to 25 uh,000 home sale 2500 home sales per month. Now, the latest data for December shows we're about 2,200. So, still a positive rebound, but we have yet to make that full recovery. A key driver of the uptick over the past year, of course, is mortgage rates. We saw mortgage rates ease from over 7% to now we're hovering around 6%. And that has really eased pressure on home buying. It's definitely we're seeing this locked in effect dissipate. And that was when if you bought a home in 2020 2021, you're facing a mortgage rate about 2 and a.5%. If you wanted to sell your home a year later, you're now facing a mortgage rate of 7%. And so it really locked by home buyers in and they weren't able to sell their homes quickly. And so now that that's dissipating, we are seeing existing home sales really start to boost and that's really helped this uptick overall. But new construction, however, is not seeing that same trend. This data is only through 2024, but if we look at the latest data through October of 2025, it's actually declined even further. New construction is at historic lows. It's actually at levels that we haven't seen since the housing crisis of '08. This was a trend that was going on several years prior and it's only been exacerbated over the past year with higher input costs, a more constrained labor supply overall.

Now, in contrast, city of Picosen saw new construction in 2024 at its highest level on record. This data goes back to 1990. We know a key driver of this is the legacy of the hosen development that's really helped surge and boost permits here in the city. If we look at home prices overall, we see that they have slowed from their rapid pace during the pandemic. Over the past year, home price growth has accelerated faster in Hampton Roads and in the city of Picosen relative to the nation. So this data looks at the change from February 2020. So from February 2020 to January 2025, we saw home prices increase 35% in Picosen, 41% in Hampton Roads, and 45% nationally. Now, over the past year, we're seeing that slightly faster growth here in the region and in the city relative to the nation. Over the past year, home prices rose an additional 2.6 6 percentage points in Hampton Roads, 3.1 percentage points in Picosen, and just 0.2 percentage points nationally. And so this is likely due to the shortage of available homes. We likely have tighter inventories here in the region and in the city that's not meeting that demand that's pushing prices up and having them accelerate slightly faster than what we see uh nationally. So, I know this was a lot of information moved quickly, but we really hope that these reports that we provide can help our local leaders make more informed decisions. If there's any data that you think should be included, please let me know. We'd really like to make this report better and help to serve you all better. Thank you. Any questions?

E, you have data that goes back to say 1970 with regard to Kosen, specifically building permits. Um, I can look into that. I think the building permit data that I have just starts at 1990. That's the earliest, but we do have historical census data that might get us a little bit earlier. So, I can definitely look into that. Just curious. Thank you. Any other questions for Miss Johnson, Johnson, like Miss Crocker, you are a polished presenter. Thank Thank y'all again for being with us. The information you share is valuable and y'all's presence certainly provides value to our meetings. Thank you, mayor.

Thank you again. Safe travels home. Gladly needed. That that concludes our two special presentations tonight and we'll move on to item E, our audience for visitors. At this time, we will open the floor for public comment related to the city. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Schubert. Uh, seeing none, we will close the move on to item F, approval of the minutes of the regular session of February 9th, 2026. Do we have a motion and a second?

So move, Mr. Mayor. Second. Thank you. Any questions or comments? Christy call for please. Vice Mayor Bunting. Hi. Councilman Fi. Hi. Councilman South Hall. I Councilman Freeman. Hi. Councilwoman Hubard. Hi. Councilwoman EMTT. I. Mayor Hu. I. Mr. Mayor. The motion carried by a vote of seven to zero. Yeah. Thank you, Christie. We'll move on to item G, new business. We have two topics tonight. The first is an ordinance making additional appropriations fiscal year 2026 for the general fund for various departments. Uh we have our assistant city manager, Miss Tanya Okonnell, uh to give us an update.

Thank you, mayor, vice mayor, council members, city manager. Tonight I have the ordinance make an additional appropriation for the fiscal year 2026 for the general fund for various departments. Each of these items that I present to you tonight need to be appropriated to increase the budget and to use for the purpose that it was intended for. So to start with, we had $697 from the state for DMV supplies going to the commissioner revenues. The city received $24,153 in additional direct distribution for the Virginia opioid abatement authority. an additional $23,111 for the Heron project again through the Virginia opioid abatement. If you recall, we had Denise Hall speak about that program. It's an afterchool program that we're starting up that's going to be at the Bakosa Middle School and share with Emas Baptist as well as a donation of $300 for the fire department for fire prevention. We also have for the fire department $19,738 from the Virginia Fire Service Board for Fire Prevention Service as well. And finally, $1,000 from the Kuanas Club for park benches for parks and wreck. So tonight, for your consideration is an ordinance appropriating $68,999 to the general fund for FY26. Happy to answer any questions. I was I was going to ask did the uh the Herm project come into home at Mus or

I believe we're working on it in March to set that up with Okay. Thanks. Thank you, Tanya. Thank you. And with that, do we have a motion in a second? Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor, I propose an ordinance making additional appropriations for fiscal year 2026 for general fund for various departments. Second. Thank you, Christie. Councilwoman EMTT, I. Councilwoman Huard, hi. Councilman F. Hi. Councilman Southpaw. Hi, Vice Mayor Bunding. I, Councilman Freeman. I, Mayor H. I, Mr. Mayor, the motion carried by a vote of seven to zero.

Thank you. Uh topic number two under new business is a resolution making appointments to the wetlands board. Do we have a motion and a second? Mr. Mayor, I propose a resolution appointing Miss Cara Inkeny to the wetlands board with a term expiring on the 31st of January 2031. Second. Thank you. Any questions or comments? Christie. Councilman F. Hi. Vice Mayor Bunting. Hi. Councilman. Hi. Councilman Freeman. Hi. Councilman Southpaw. Hi. Councilwoman Hub. I. Mayor Hugs. I. Mr. Mayor, the motion carried by a vote of seven to zero.

All right. Thank you very much. And thanks to Miss Cara Ancheny for her willingness to serve on the wetland as born. So the next topic, item H, comments of the city manager. Randy. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of council. Just uh one item this evening. Just wanted to remind the public that tomorrow evening at 6 pm, city council will be meeting with the staff in a budget retreat. Uh public welcome. It's the public safety building. You open the main door. It'll be the community room straight in front of you. That's all I have, sir. Thank you, Randy. And we'll move on to item I, uh, council directives. Uh, Mr. Freeman.

Uh, yes. I wanted to comment. The mayor and I attended a ribbon cutting at uh New Horizons for the marine a new marine science program. And what they do is they concentrate on engine boat small engine repair and boat building or boat repair. And if we have any students um it's a Yamaha program. Yamaha gave them a whole pile of engines brand new and they get to work on them. So anyone in our uh high school might be interested in that um need to check into it. Additionally um you know this is just an addition to all the other automobile welding and uh healthc care stuff that they have but really good program down there.

Thank you Mr. Freeman. And uh New Horizons continues to expand uh to meet the needs of the community. So kudos to them for that. Keith.

Oh, thank you. Um, I'd like to thank the Picosen Police Department and the fire rescue for their weekly reports that we receive. Um, if you think we don't read them, at least I do. Uh, I especially like to see or don't like to see the fact that people are stopped for speeding at 20 m hour over on the roadways in Picosen. I mean, I see absolutely no reason why they go 45 in a 25 zone and yet they do and they pay the price for it. As far as the fire department's uh report that they just recently changed format, I believe and uh I found it much easier to read. I do thank them for that. So again, uh if you think we don't read it, at least I do and I get a lot of good information out that I use. Thank you very much for that.

That's it. Thank you, Keith. Jeanie, nothing here. Hope you feel better. Thank you. Appreciate you. Appreciate you coming tonight, too. Debbie, um just would like to thank Leslie Crocker for coming out, executive director of the Coastal Virginia Red Cross and Johnson regional economist from Hampton Roads Planning District Commission. Um always enjoy the presentation. They bring a wealth of information um for city council and the city. Appreciate their coming out tonight. Thank you, Debbie. Angie,

um we we did have the presentation from the um HRPDC. Uh, and I would like to encourage everyone at home to go to the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission website. And I think they also share a landing page with their sister organization, the Hampton Roads uh, transportation planning organization, HRTPO, because they have so much stuff on those websites, so much information and studies and plans. Um there's draft plans. There's currently the um a draft plan for the 2050 long range transportation capital constrained transportation plan. I believe that's open for citizen comments right now. Um there's information about maps and the economy and just so much stuff uh upcoming transportation projects that it's just a great place to go poke around and get some great information about uh our region.

Uh thank you Angie. I appreciate that. And also want to recognize uh Angie as well as Jeanie. uh they represent the city on the HRPDC and the HRTPO, but all all council members represent the city at the regional level on various uh boards, committees, and commissions. So, uh it's our pleasure to do that and thank you all for for what you do for us. Uh Mr. South Hall have some comments.

Well, I'd like to uh thank our presenters who presented tonight. They did they presented very nice programs and did it very clearly. Um like to thank Paul in particular. He serves as an example to the rest of the residents in this city who constantly pays attention to the workings of the city government and he attends. You know la last meeting we had a whole group of people who came because they were concerned about their interpretation of things that were happening in their neighborhood. You know I don't see them here tonight. Not one of them. Okay. They weren't here before. Okay. And they aren't the only ones. There's a lot of people in Posan who don't pay close attention to city government and they should they also should pay attention to their state government. You should federal government. Uh I don't know if everyone knows or not but the state at the state level they're still trying to push Virginia from not to not be a right to work state. And uh there's a vote coming up in April to uh redistrict. Everyone needs to pay attention to those. they need to participate in their government. U some of those things I don't be think would be too good for the state or the city. And um I will say one more time that you know this is my favorite place to live and this is the best state in the city in the state the city in best city in the state in and best city in the United States. However, um I made a comment one time before I've been spoiled. I continue to be spoiled. Okay. Uh I work with the city council who gets along very well. Um we talk to each other. We work with the people. The people who came here last week had a big concern. They came here. They expressed their concern and I think they were satisi satisfied when they left. Okay. We work with the people. We don't have a lot of concern some of the other cities have. And it's a great place to live and um frequently I've heard in the past I'm going to talk tonight. Okay. You know, I don't want

Pascosian to change. I wanted to be like it used to be. Well, just about every time I heard that, okay, I thought to myself, you know, I've been here a while. Message Point was named after my great-grandfather, and if we didn't change and we kept it the way it used to be, we'd wipe out about 80% of the houses in Picosen and the neighborhood. But we do have to have change, but we need to do it the right way. And I think I said he is doing it the right way. And with that, I'll keep quiet. Okay. And uh really appreciate being here. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. South Hall, for all your comments. Much appreciated. And I would like to thank Mr. Michael Thompson. Uh he's here with us tonight taking care of our IT needs. So Mr. Thompson, welcome back. A pleasure having you here working with us. Uh would also like to thank uh Mr. Bill Bray. Uh welcome back, Mr. Bray. Appreciate you providing the legal counsel tonight. And I didn't realize this two weeks ago, but uh I've come to understand that Mr. Bray is a man of many talents. Uh not only is Mr. Bray an attorney, Mr. Bray pitched in the Major Leagues for 6 years. That is absolutely amazing.

Uh so admire your com your accomplishment. Congratulations on that. And from what I can understand, you had uh a heavy fast ball at 91 to 94 miles an hour and a tight slider. Uh and were the 13th player chosen nationwide in the 2004 draft. Came back there. But yes, again, that's very admirable and uh really appreciate what you're doing for us uh providing legal counsel. It

it's it's a comfort to it. Glad to have you here. uh as as the manager uh spoke to uh a few minutes ago, we will have the budget retreat of council tomorrow night at the public safety building and we announced that the first time uh two weeks ago the council meeting. Just want to thank staff for advertising that thoroughly on the city website and the city Facebook page. So we want to make certain that uh the public was aware of that and like Randy said the public is not only welcome to attend but encouraged to do hope to have a good crowd as we discuss planning for fiscal year 27 budget. Um and would also like to call attention to the letter uh that was written to Congressman Rob Whitman coming from the city of Posen. And this letter requested community project funding for the Picosen Avenue sidewalk project uh that we have planning underway uh for upper Posen Avenue between the garden atriums and Woodland Road and hopefully we we will hear uh the results of the consideration for that funding uh by fall this year. So keep our fingers crossed for that. And would also like to recognize uh the principal author of that letter which was our executive assistant, Miss Ashley Chaikica. So Ashley very very well-written letter. Um I reviewed it, I signed it, and uh I didn't change a single word. I thought it was about as close to perfect as it could possibly be. We would like to also recognize our

assistant city manager uh t Miss Tanya Okonnell for her contributions to that and also to Mr. Keith Keith Webb. Uh he has been quite an asset to the city uh with the modernization project for the middle school as well as the public safety building and uh he's weighing in with the sidewalk project as well. So thank you to Mr. also to uh to Mr. Web. And uh while I'm expressing appreciation, uh it takes so much behind the scenes uh preparation effort on the part of our staff. Uh they're here working at city hall all day long and then they come out to support us at the council meetings as well. Uh Christy keeps things under control. Uh sitting at the dis uh minutes are taken. Of course, Randy sitting right here next to me. I mean, that's that's on purpose. Of course, have my uh other partner over here, vice mayor sitting on my left for a reason as well. So, I'm I'm surrounded by talent. So, any any good council, C O U N S E L that I need. Uh it's readily available as well as staff and all my fellow council members. So, just cannot be uh more thankful uh than I am. So, uh, with that, if there's not anything else, uh, I'll ask for a motion and a second for a journal.

So, move, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. Second. Thank you, Christie. Councilman Freeman. I, Councilwoman EMTT. I, Councilman Southhaul. I, Councilman Fi, I. Councilwoman Huard, I, Vice Mayor Bunting, I, Mayor Hook, I, Mr. Mayor. Motion carried by a vote of seven to zero. Thank you, Christie. We are adjourned.