Board of County Supervisors - Regular Meeting

All right, everyone. It is 02:00, and today is Tuesday, 04/07/2026. Let us begin with a moment of silence. Thank you. All rise if you are able for pledge of allegiance.

All right, thank you everyone. Before we move on to agenda item number three, I want to waive the rules of procedure because we have a couple of things to add to the agenda. First, supervisor Lacroix has some appointments that she would like to make. And I would like to add as 12 d, the resolution to appoint Austin Haynes to the industrial development committee I mean, authority. 12 e, appoint Michael Garcia the second to the Prince William Water Board of Directors.

And 12 f, and as to appoint Brian Landom to the Planning Commission. Also, supervisor Angry would like to add autism acceptance month to accommodations and proclamations, and that will now be for l. So with those changes noted, I know we have a lot of people. If you can please find a seat. We have a few seats.

I call it infill development. So we have a few seats. And if there is not a seat, if you would like to sit on the atrium, you still will be able to be heard. And when it's time to come in and speak, you will be able to do so. So I'm gonna give people a minute to get settled. We got a couple seats on this side in the, you know, front over there. Yes. People have their hands up. We got a couple seats over here. Brother, I think your feet people are over there.

They're waiting for you, but oh, she's just waving. Alright. So moving on to agenda item number three. Can I get a motion to approve the minutes?

So moved Madam Chair.

Second.

It's been properly moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? All right. Let's go ahead and take our votes.

Chair Jefferson?

Vote unanimous.

All right, thank you very much. We are now moving on to agenda item number four. That's where most people I assume are here for. So again, adding Autism Acceptance Month. Can I get a motion for 4A through 4L?

So moved. Second.

It's been properly moved and seconded. It looks like before we go down, Supervisor Vega.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am on the agenda to introduce the Scottish American Heritage Month proclamation. However, I will defer to Supervisor Gordy since he is of Scottish descent.

Alright. Thank you.

I am too.

I will invite all of you down. My name's Stuart. Alright. Let's go ahead on our votes. And anyone who wants to join us for Scottish American Heritage Month, let's go to the front.

Yeah, the vote is up there, bro. Candidates? All right, so I'm going to move down. Again, everyone, for 4A, please come on down. If you're with 4A, please meet us at the podium.

Alright. I promise I will not read this in Scottish brogue so that we can understand it. Alright. Millions of Americans trace their roots to the Scottish Highlands, Midland Valley, and the Southern Uplands. Scottish immigrants endured several hardships to build new lives, transformed our largest cities into centers of commerce and industry, and made great cultural, spiritual, and economic contributions that exemplified the diversity of our nation.

Scottish Americans played an important part in creating the fabric of our history through their service in the government and military and also through their faith and family values. To this day, many Americans of Scottish descent continue to play a vital role in shaping our history and culture, enriching all aspects of our lives. Today, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors proclaims April 2026 as Scottish American Heritage Month.

Thank you. Good afternoon. Thank you to the county board of supervisors for the opportunity to recognize Scottish American Heritage Month. Today, we honor the generations of Scottish immigrants and their descendants who helped shape this country through service, innovation, strong sense of community. From the earliest days of our nation, Scottish Americans have played a role in building our institutions, defending our freedoms, and contributing to the cultural fabric that defines who we are.

Their legacy is seen in values that still resonate today, hard work, resilience, education, and civic responsibility. Whether in public service, industry, the arts, or local communities like ours Mhmm. That influence continues to make a lasting impact. Sky's heritage is also something we celebrate through tradition, music, language, athletics, and gatherings that bring people together and keep history alive for future generations. As we recognize this month, we not only look back with appreciation, but also forward.

With a commitment to preserving those traditions and continue that legacy of contribution and service. Thank you again for the opportunity.

I neglected to say we'll do this photo, but then the rest of them we're going to hold towards the end because we have a lot of photos. Alright. If we can have everyone associated with four b and that's sexual assault awareness month. Okay. I like it.

Sexual assault awareness month calls attention to the fact that sexual violence is widespread and impacts every person and every community. Statistics show that more than fifty three percent of women and more than 29% of men reported experiencing sexual assault in their lifetime, with many reporting that the person who harmed them was someone who they knew. Prince William County must join with others around the world in committing to prevent sexual abuse, assault, and harassment. Therefore, today, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors hereby broke claims the month of April 2026 is sexual assault awareness month and each day of the year as an opportunity to create change for the future. Is anyone one person like to speak on behalf of this proclamation?

Good afternoon, chairwoman Jefferson. Thank you. And, members of the board, my name is Paige Mead. I serve as a volunteer, and board member for ACTS, Action and Community Through Service. And I'm also the co chair of the twenty twenty six sexual assault awareness month steering committee. But today, I'm here to share something with you that is far more personal. In 1992, I was sexually assaulted here in Prince William County, our community, a place that I call home. For a long time, I carried that quietly. And like many survivors, I didn't know if I'd be believed or supported or judged. I eventually found help through acts.

I found people who believed me without question, who walked alongside me without judgment, and who helped me see that my experience did not define me. But if I chose, I could use that experience to help other people. And so I got involved. This proclamation is deeply meaningful to me, not just as a board member or a steering committee member, but as somebody who was victimized by a serial predator in our county. This proclamation tells me and every other survivor that Prince William County cares.

You see us, you stand with us, and you're committed to doing better. Healing doesn't happen in isolation. It happens when communities like ours decide that survivors matter and then act like it. I hope that everyone in this community who's quietly carrying excuse me. Sorry. Who's quietly carrying something heavy heavy today knows that they are not alone, that help is available, and that this community believes you.

Thank you.

So I'm gonna give you the proclamation, but we're gonna take our photo. So everyone hang around till we're done, and then we're gonna it's gonna be like an assembly line. It'll work. Thank you. We are now on to 4C and that's to proclaim April 2026 as Financial Literacy Month.

Will everyone associated with that proclamation please come forward? And this is financial literacy month. As a nation, our life expectancies have grown. It's great that we're living longer, but our medical bills and retirement are often higher than they were or higher than they were for our parents and grandparents. We need to know how to invest.

We need to be financially literate. By taking ownership and building wealth through financial planning, we can also achieve the American dream and make it possible for our children and grandchildren too. We need to save up for our futures, whether it's buying our first home, going on family vacation, paying for our kids braces for college tuitions, and retiring with dignity. Financial planning, financial literacy is extremely important for everyone in the community. Therefore today, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors hereby proclaims April 2026 is financial literacy month in Prince William County. Would anyone like to say offer some words? Paige.

Madam Chair, good afternoon Madam Chair, members of the board, Mr. Shorter and Ms. Robill. I'm Paige Thacker with Virginia Cooperative Extension and with me are Margie Leon, our Financial Education Program Manager, Joelle Hewley and Scott Mingavir from United Way National Capital Region, David Hun from SkillSource Northern Virginia Career Works, and Captain Castilla. And I just wanted to say a few words about the importance of financial literacy and appreciate the opportunity for the proclamation.

I'll keep it brief. Financial literacy is a foundational skill that directs directly affects household stability, workforce reliability, long term economic and long term economic resilience. It influences how residents budget, manage debt, handle emergencies, and plan for housing, education, and retirement. Although Prince William County has a high median household income, financial security is uneven. More than one third of county households, over 55,000 households fall below the ALICE or the, asset limited income constrained employed, threshold, meaning that they earn above the poverty level but still cannot meet basic living costs.

Nearly 30% of households are housing cost burdened, and many working families lack emergency savings despite steady employment. These pressures matter to to the county. Financial instability contributes to housing and security, workforce turnover, increased demand for public services, and reduced economic mobility. Financial literacy serves as preventative a preventative strategy helping residents better manage rising costs, reduce high interest debt, and prepare for financial disruptions before they become crises. Prince William County is already demonstrating leadership through partnerships with schools, nonprofits, libraries, cooperative extension, and community organizations.

Prince William County supports financial stability through such programs as the Prince William Financial Empowerment Center, which is made up of Northern Virginia Career Works, United Way, and Cooperative Extension, offering free financial coaching, housing counseling, small business support, and tax preparation in partnership with community organizations. These efforts align with county priorities related to economic development, equity, residential and residential well-being. Prince William County employees also received support through the Total Money Makeover information sharing group that was founded, in 2011 by captain Ruben Castilla that, through his help, employees and their families have improved their financial stability. And since its inception, participants collectively have paid out paid off over 19,000,000 in debt. Supporting financial literacy aligns with the board's priorities around economic development, equity, and quality of life.

Continued emphasis on financial education strengthens the local workforce, stabilizes families, and reduces long term strain on county systems. In short, financial literacy is not just an individual benefit, it's a strategic investment that contributes to a stronger, more resilient Prince William County. Thank you. Thank you.

All right. And next one, four d. We are actually gonna do that one in the evening. So I'm gonna hold that for the 07:00 meeting. So then we are going to go to 4 E, and that is proclaim April 2026 is Earth Month.

So, Katam, if you and your team, anyone associated with Earth month who wants to come on down? Last time you were here, they made fun of you because you were suited up, I believe. That's good. I remember I had to clap after Bob. Okay.

So you speak. Alright. For e, Earth Month. Since 1970, Earth Month has been observed globally as a way to increase awareness about sustainability and the responsible stewardship of natural resources. Here in Prince William County, we are committed to preserving our natural resources, protecting water quality, enhancing green spaces, and promoting sustainable practices that support a healthy environment and quality of life.

The county's master strategic plan and community energy and sustainability master plan encourage environmental stewardship, community engagement, and long term sustainability for future generations. Therefore, today, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors hereby proclaims April 2026 as Earth Month in Prince William County, and we encourage everyone to participate in activities that promote conservation, environmental education, and the protection of natural resources throughout our community. Would you like to offer some remarks?

Thank you, madam chair, members of the board. My name is Lucas Heisman. I'm here today serving Public Works. I'm the deputy director of Public Works. And behind me, we have our partners with the Office of Sustainability, Risk and Wellness, as well as the Cooperative Extension. And I consider myself blessed to be here to introduce the man that's gonna talk to you and to introduce all these fine people that I've had the opportunity to work with hand in hand for this earth and for a better Prince William County. And to further that, I wanna introduce mister Andrew Uglow. He's our MS four coordinator. Thank you.

Good afternoon, madam chair and members of the board. My name is Andrew Uglow, stormwater coordinator, MS-four coordinator for public works. I'm pleased to accept this proclamation recognizing Earth Month in Prince William County. Earth Month reminds us how important it is to keep our county safe and clean by reducing trash and preventing pollutants from entering our creeks, streams, and drinking water sources. April also coincides with National Native Plant Month highlighting the value of plant native species and education around the harm caused by invasive plants.

We are grateful for the many partners and community members who make this work possible including the Prince William Wildflower Society, Prince William Trails and Streams Coalition, various civic associations, youth groups like the Scouts and four H participants, the Bandelong Crew, you know who you are, Keep Prince William Beautiful, Prince William Conservation Alliance, Prince William County Public Schools, Prince William Water, Parks and Recs, Keep Prince William Beautiful. And then our partners, Prince William Soy and Water Conservation District and the Virginia Cooperative Extension and many other organizations that I did not name. We want to highlight the important resources available at our county landfill for residents and recognize the litter crew for their ongoing efforts to keep our community clean by removing 194,000 pounds of debris from our rotaries in 2025 alone. Along with other members, have probably well over exceeded 200,000 pounds. We are proud to partner with the Office of Sustainability, Public Works and the Risk and Wellness Services to host a series of Earth Month activities for our employees throughout the month of April.

Earth Month is an opportunity for each and every one of us to reflect on how we can better protect our environment and work together toward a cleaner, healthier Prince William County. Protect our storm drains, protect our streams, protect our drinking water because with you, we can. Thank you to all the volunteers and staff.

Thank you. Thank for safekeeping. We'll take a photo at the end. Thank you.

Thank you.

All right. Next we have Child Abuse Prevention Month. Phyllis, if you and your team can step forward. What a wonderful group of people in blue. Children are our most precious resource.

They deserve to grow up in safe, nurturing environments. But unfortunately, just last year, over two thousand cases of suspected child abuse and neglect were reported in Prince William County. And we must do better to care for our community's children, and we are committed to supporting families through programs that help prevent child abuse and neglect because prevention is the best defense for our children and families. During the month of April, we displayed pinwheels to serve as a reminder that together we can prevent child abuse and neglect and keep children safe. I would also like to take a moment to thank director Phyllis Jennings Holt and the entire department of social services for their leadership and tireless effort on behalf of children and families.

Therefore, today, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors proclaims April 2026 as Child Abuse Prevention Month. Director, do you have any remarks you'd like to offer? I do. Thank you.

Good afternoon, madam chair Jefferson, vice chair Angry, members of the board, county execs, mister Shorter, and county attorney Michelle Robill, Phyllis Dennis Holt, director of social services. Today with me, I have Lori Wilson, chair of DSS advisory board, Jacob Mosner, and Chrissy Falls, members of the DSS advisory board, deputy director Holly Handy, assistant director Lina Pierofoy, program managers Clyde Portis and Teresa Wilson, senior human services caseworker Fiorella Dench, and several human service caseworkers, Alice Stern, Ofua Manu, Maria Allman Gonzalez, Angie Wanike, Yael Washington, and Charlene Govan. On behalf of the department, thank you for the proclamation and recognizing April as child abuse prevention month. Child abuse prevention is a shared responsibility it takes all of us, families, neighbors, and community partners working together to ensure every child grows up safe, supported, and nurtured. I would like to take time to thank my dedicated staff and community partners who do this work every day with compassion and care.

Each of you have a little blue bag at your space, that's filled with items that provide a powerful message about protecting children. Some of you have a football, which represents connection and teamwork. Just like a team works together in the field, protecting children takes a community. Some of you have a rubber duck, which represents caring, nurturing, and safe environments. It symbolizes the importance of intensive care.

Each of you have a pen, which represents having a voice in advocacy. Speaking up for children is important. Each of you have a lanyard that represents responsibility and visibility. It symbolizes accountability and the role each of us play in being alert, present, and ready to help children. And lastly, each of you have a key chain. Keys can open doors and connect families to resources, services, and support systems that can positively change the life of a child. Finally, I hope each of you like your items, and thank you again for the proclamation and your continued support for the department and Prince William County community. Thank you.

Thank you for safekeeping. We'll take our fingers later. Next is four gs, and that is Public Safety Telecommunicator Week, and that's April 12 through April 18. If people associate that, come on up. Oh, you might win today.

I hope so. You had the whole group almost? Oh, wow. Alright. While they're coming, I just wanna say these are the group of people. 911, where's your emergency? Thank you so very much. It is so great to have you all in here today. And with that, the public safety telecommunicators of Prince William County Public Safety Communication Centers are the first of the first responders who answer our 911 calls. They are virtually on the scene providing emergency medical instructions and moral support to callers in distress while dispatching firefighters, police, paramedics, and other first responders.

2026 marks both the fifty fifty eighth anniversary of nine one one service in The United States, and our community was the first to have 911 service on the East Coast fifty eight years ago. So today, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors proclaims the week of April 12 through 04/18/2026 as public safety telecommunicator week. Thank you to these dedicated women and men who keep our county and our residents safe. Would you like to offer a few remarks?

Good afternoon chair Jefferson, members of the board, county executive Shorter. On behalf of the Department of Public Safety Communications, I wanna sincerely thank you for recognizing National Public Safety Telecommunicator Week with this proclamation. Our telecommunicators are often the first of the first responders. They are the calm voice in the chaos, the ones who answer when someone's world is falling apart and provide instruction and assistance before anyone else arrives on the scene. They carry the weight of a thousand calls, some routine and some are world life changing, and they show up again the next shift to do the exact same thing over and over again. We are proud to serve the residents and visitors of Prince William County, and we're grateful for the recognition. Thank you for your support of the Department of Public Safety Communications.

And just a note to staff, when we take our photos, I would like to go with the public safety communicator, telecommunicators first because I know they're working.

Thank you.

Madam chair. Supervisor Vega. Thank you. Wait one second, please. I know that we're pressed for time, but I saw a moment during our break that I think deserves public acknowledgment. Where's mom? The mom of this young man right here. Where's mom? Where's mama?

What happened?

She's out there. So I was in my car calling my husband and kind of being a little emotional about my daughter turning 18 next month, and I saw what's what's your name? Octavian? Hugging his mom, and mom talking about how proud she was that he was working for Prince William County. And I heard her say, alright. Love you. I'll see you in Chambers. And we began to chat a little bit, and she told me, you're 18 and how many hours? How old are you?

I just turned 18 July.

And and and she shared with me that I think you are the youngest. Is that correct?

One of the youngest. Yes.

One of the youngest. Well, we just wanna welcome you. I know your mom is proud, and we're all proud, and we are thankful for the service that you all provide to county residents. So welcome, and thank you for choosing Prince William County. And

madam chair madam chair madam chair, I'd also like to point out that that young man used to attend Veterans Commission meetings when his mom was staying late to help support us. And so he's been a hand to help to us for quite some time.

Oh, wow. That is beautiful. Alright. Now we have four h and that's crime victims rights week. I'm just now noticing we have our Commonwealth Attorney, Amy Ashworth joining us.

Crime tears at the social fabric of society and it has a devastating impact on both victims and survivors. No one should have to adore the trauma of victimization and its impact alone, whether it's physical, financial, emotional, spiritual, or social. Countless allies work together to help crime victims and survivors by identifying their needs and providing collaborative and comprehensive services. During the twenty twenty six National Crime Victims Rights Week, we we we recommit ourselves to promoting and strengthening the dedicated community that supports victims and survivors of crime. Today, therefore, the principal and board of county supervisors hereby proclaims the week of April 19 through April 2020 04/25/2026 as Crime Victims Rights Week in Prince William County.

Would you like to offer us some remarks?

Good afternoon, and thank you everyone for this proclamation. You know, our office, deals with people who unexpectedly find themselves in the criminal justice system as victims. And it's so important that we deal with them with respect and transparency and help them through one of the most difficult times of their lives. And I can tell you as a prosecutor for over twenty five years, there is nothing better than standing in court and advocating on behalf of victims of crime for justice for what happened to them. And I wanna thank our director of victim witness, Tammy Thomas, who's here, and others who have joined us in recognition of this important week.

Thank you. Alright.

We are up to four I, and that is National Volunteer Week. If you are associated with that, please come on down. I think it's you again, Paige. What you got for us, madam county attorney? Oh, here we worries.

Alright. This is a big group. Oh, how big. Alright. Fire rescues outside. Alright. We got a lot of folks. Volunteers across Prince William County serve the community with pride and commitment. Their dedication makes our community a better place to live and helps us be a community of choice. In 2025, more than 4,000 Prince William County volunteers donated more than three hundred forty thousand hours of their free time to countless programs.

If we were to put a number on how much that time is worth, it would be equivalent to 175 full time staff and nearly $12,000,000. Today, therefore, the Prince William County Board of Supervisors hereby proclaims April 19 through 04/25/2026 as National Volunteer Week, and thanks all of our dedicated volunteers who lend their time, talent, voice and support to our community. Page, would you like to offer us some remarks?

Madam chair, members of the board, Ms. Shorter, Ms. Robel, thank you again for this opportunity, another opportunity to recognize amazing individuals in the community. With me are several directors and volunteers that are doing wonderful things in the community and their enthusiasm skills and experience bring to our county agencies truly invaluable services and expertise. This year we're proud to recognize 4,190 volunteers across the county within county agencies representing multiple generations reflecting the rich diversity of Prince William County.

These volunteers include distinguished veterans, teens, adults, youth, parents, grandparents, both working and retired professionals, many who could not be here today. Each person generously shares their time expertise helping agencies meet performance measures and advance your strategic goals. Their service strengthens Prince William County as a true community of choice. I wanted to recognize that we have thirteen seventy five volunteers supporting the safe and secure community quadrant. That's fire and rescue, office of criminal justice services, clerk of the court of the circuit court, the adult detention center, the police department, animal control, and the sheriff's office.

More than 2,700 volunteers who support, health, well-being, and environmental sustainability quadrant, including the libraries, area agency on aging, parks and recreation, and historic preservation, social services, the health department, and Virginia Cooperative Extension, and over 50 volunteers supporting public works in the mobility, economic growth, and resiliency quadrant. Together, as Chair Jefferson mentioned, these volunteers contributed over 244,000, which is the equivalent of 175 full time positions, and the estimated value of their service is over $12,000,000 or almost 12,000,000. Their level of generosity and commitment to the community is truly remarkable. Volunteering offers many personal benefits as well. It creates a sense of purpose.

It helps people learn new skills, build confidence, reduce stress, improve mental health, and strengthens community connections. And beyond these individual benefits, volunteers make a meaningful difference in the lives of families, neighbors, and community residents every single day. We're incredibly grateful that they choose to invest their time back into Prince William County. To all of them, thank you for your dedication, your passion, and your commitment to service. And again, thank you to the members of the board for giving us the opportunity to highlight and celebrate these outstanding volunteers.

And now we're on to International Compost Awareness Week. So everyone from Public Works, if you all can come on back, we got another one. Alright. So what is compost? Compost consists largely of decayed organic matter and is good for crops and soil.

Instead of filling up our landfills, leaves, branches, fruit scraps, and other organic materials can be converted into compost. The Prince William composting composting facility has been successfully composting since 1994. In fiscal year 2025, roughly 59,000 tons of yard waste were successfully diverted to the county compost facility. Therefore, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors in recognition of the efforts of soil conservation stewards, homeowners, landscapers, farmers, recyclers, public workers, composters, gardeners, and plant growers everywhere, declares the week of May 3 through 05/09/2026 as compost awareness week Enbrel claims 05/09/2026 as the official recognition of Prince William County Compost Awareness Day. Would you like to offer us some remarks?

Thank you, madam chair, members of the board, mister Shorter. Again, here today, Lucas Heisman representing public works for mister Shmoop. And also with me today is miss Renaud Urie and miss Deborah Campbell. I really can't explain how awesome the compost facility is. I've had places reaching out to meet like DeKalb County, Georgia reaching out, to come see and tour our compost facility because we set the example. So I will let Renaud explain further. Thank you.

Thank you Luke. Madam Chair, members of the board, my name is Renaud Urie. I'm the county's recycling program manager. Thank you for recognizing Compost Awareness Day and for your continued support for our sustainability efforts. Composting helps reduce landfill waste and improve soil health in our community.

On May 9, we will host a Compost Awareness Day event at the county compost facility featuring tours alongside our contractor, Convertis, who also will be providing attendees with free compost samples. Hint. Hint. Additionally, county partners including Virginia Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners will provide guidance on composting and gardening and Key Prince William Beautiful will share volunteer opportunities to help keep our community litter free. Along with a few other partners who will be joining us to expand community knowledge on composting and food waste reduction. We hope to see you all there. Thank you.

All right, supervisor Bailey and those associated with the organizing Northern Virginia branch of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. If you all can come on up.

Okay. Good afternoon, everyone. This afternoon we're going to commend the organizing Northern Virginia branch of the Association of the Study of African American Life and History. The study and preservation of African American life, history, and culture are essential to understanding the full and rich narrative of our nation. The establishment of the Organizing Northern Virginia Branch of the Association of the Study of African American Life and History, also known as Asala, found in the town of Dumfries, advances this mission throughout Prince William County by fostering scholarship, civic education and engagement, and cultural enrichment throughout Northern Virginia.

Therefore, today, Prince William excuse me, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors hereby recognizes and commends the organizing Northern Virginia branch of ASALA and extends its sincere appreciation to all those whose efforts have brought this important initiative to fruition and those who work will continue to strengthen understanding the African American history throughout Northern Virginia. Good

afternoon. My name is Doctor. Joseph P. Butey. I'm the president of the organizing chapter or branch.

And I just want to extend my thank you to all the members of the board, especially our Potomac District Supervisor for bringing us here today and recognizing the importance of history for our future, for building community, and building this branch from the Potomac all the way down to Fredericksburg, from the Eastern Shore all the way over to West Virginia side. So we look forward to highlighting all the history in our county, which is very rich, and extending that history to the folks all across Northern Virginia, Fairfax, Arlington, Alexandria, Gainesville, Loudoun County, Stafford, and the list goes on. So we're very excited. In September, we'll formally be chartered as the Northern Virginia branch of ASALA, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. And on my left here are members of our board, members and interested members and other folks from across our large geographic region.

And we say thank you again for recognizing us. Don't forget to tell people about us. Thank you.

All right, and supervisor Inkry and everyone with autism acceptance month, please come on down.

Alright. First of all, thank you board members for allowing the wavering of the rules so we could add Autism Acceptance Month to the agenda. It's been over four years since we've, recognized this month, and so I'm happy that we were able to capture it and started out correctly. So, with me in chamber, I have the associate superintendent for special education for Prince William Schools, Doctor. Ashley Rayner.

And I have the acting director of the ARC of Greater Prince William, Christina Nicole. So autism spectrum disorder, ASD, encompasses a range of developmental differences that shape how individuals communicate, learn, and understand their surroundings. And according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, about one in thirty one children in The United States have been identified with ASD. An estimated five point four million adults in The United States are living with ASD. Now therefore be it resolved that the Prince William Board of County Supervisors does hereby proclaim April 2026 as Autism Acceptance Month in Prince William County and encourages all residents to acknowledge the contributions of individuals on the spectrum on the autism spectrum and those who support them.

Thank you. I have a couple of speakers.

Good

afternoon. I'll apologize now. I'm no Karen Smith. So she was a great public speaker. The Arc of Greater Prince William would like to thank Prince William County Board of County Supervisors for the proclamation. It's not just a statement, it's a commitment to understanding, inclusion, respect for and respect for individuals on the autism spectrum. We lost our executive director Karen Smith a little almost a month ago. She would have been so pleased and so very proud of the board of county supervisors for putting forth this proclamation. Autism is not a limitation. It is a different way of experience and interacting with the world.

Individuals with autism bring unique strengths, perspectives, and talents that enrich our community every day from create creativity to innovation to honesty and deep focus. These qualities qualities serve as recognized and celebrated. However, awareness is not enough. We must move forward to acceptance and meaningful action. This means creating environments where individuals with autism feel supported, valued, and empowered.

To reach full potential, it means ensuring access to education, employment, opportunities, healthcare and community resource. It also means listening truly listening to the voices and expertises of those of the spectrum on the spectrum and their families. Karen Smith spent fifty eight years fighting for people with disabilities to be seen and accepted. With her passing, it is now our shared responsibility to build a more inclusive community. Let us, create a space where differences are not just accepted, but embraced. Together, we foster, a future with every individual regardless of neurological differences is to be treated with dignity, respect, and kindness.

Thank you

for your time.

Thank you, Supervisor Angray, Madam Chair, and members of the board. Before I begin, we would also like extend our condolences to the staff and family at the ARC. On behalf of Prince William County Public Schools, we are deeply grateful for this proclamation alongside our partnership that is long standing with the county in supporting our students and families of individuals with autism. In Prince William County Public Schools, we provide educational services to our students with autism, and we know that the county does even greater work than that by providing comprehensive wraparound supports for not only our students and children with autism, but also their families, representing a true comprehensive systems approach within our community. Our school system serves over 2,700 students with autism.

That number is significant because it is greater by 800 students than it was just three years ago. This growth demonstrates how significant it is that we continue to enhance our supports for this population within our community. We are proud to partner with the county and receive this opportunity to support the proclamation this afternoon. We look forward to continued opportunities to help individuals with autism thrive within our greater community. Thank you very much.

All right, everyone. We are gonna take a fifteen minute recess for photos. And if you would like to join in the photos, please come out to the atrium. Thank you. We're missing supervisors, Angry and Bodhi.

I'd love to see your faces again. We got one. All right, Supervisor Angry, if you can come back in. We are back from recess and I'm moving on to agenda item number five and that is the consent agenda. Does anyone have anything that they would like to pull off?

While you're looking through, I just wanted to welcome Manassas City mayor Michelle Davis Younger. Thank you. Thank you for joining us. All right. I don't see anything. So I'd like to go ahead and entertain a motion for items five a through five n.

So moved. Second.

It's been properly moved. We'll give the second to Supervisor Boddy. Any discussion? Supervisor Boddy.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just very quickly wanted to highlight item 5J which is the adoption of the Prince William area consolidated housing community development annual action plan for fiscal year twenty twenty six. I know it's a mouthful, but I wanted to thank Joan Duckett for working through that report every single year. It highlights a lot of issues and challenges we have around housing in the community and what Prince William County is doing with that. It slides under the radar every single year, but it's important work. It helps inform a lot of our other policies. I just want to highlight that. Thank you, madam chair.

Thank you, supervisor Gordy.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just wanted to point out item 5C. This issue related to special use permit validity. Really appreciate the county staff and working trying to resolve the challenges in issues related to our special use permits, which have do have expiration dates on them if they are not executed in a certain time frame. But given some of the events that have happened with COVID and other things over time, some of these expiration dates have slipped for good reason, but really appreciate the county staff and working to try to help resolve that going forward and look forward to their resolution.

I also want to point out item five f in relation to the $4,200,000 that will be provided by Stanley Martin Homes for the Sedley Manor Interchange. This interchange will be we should be getting a contract for that here within the next three months, but this is to help resolve the issues related to the Karen Johnson Intersection with Wellington Road, and look forward to our transportation department working with the community to come up with the right solution in this location. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Supervisor Bailey.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I'd like to comment on item 5C. Again, the importance of us being able to have the predictability of business going forward in the county with our SUPs is very critical. So I appreciate staff acknowledging that and making efforts to improve that. And then on five g, this is a great this is great progress with our our expert transportation department team and being right on time as we extend and widen Route 1 in the Dumfries area.

So I'm very appreciative of the work that we're doing there and to make our lives easier as we transport from the South to the North on Route 1. That's real important. And then on item number five n, a great demonstration of identifying issues and analyzing them and moving in strategic direction and problem solving with our internal audit plan. And so I really, really appreciate that. And then to the county exec, your team, for the focus and the training that we had for the IPO journey with the audit committee. It works hand in hand when we sit on the audit committee and making these decisions as we improve processes. So thank you, Madam Chair, for the opportunity to comment.

All right. Thank you very much. I don't see anyone in queue. So let's go ahead and take our votes.

Vote unanimous.

All right, thank you so very much. We are now moving on to public comment time. While I'm waiting for the sheets, for those of us who are doing public comment, I ask that you're going to be standing in the back. I'll call people up in groups of five. You will have three minutes to speak. Please begin by saying your name and the magisterial district where you reside. Thank you. So first up, I have Ashley Stuttle, Neil Kelly. I'm so sorry. I think it's Irene Kelly, Rachel Ellis, and Marilyn Karp. If the three of you can go to the back.

Good afternoon, Madam Chair Jefferson, members of the board. My name is Ashley Stutholm with the Occoquan District. And also welcome, of course, Supervisor Lacroix. And it's nice to see you on the dice today. So my name is Ashley Stutholm.

I'm representing the Prince William Conservation Alliance. We are an environmental non profit who focuses on creating equitable sustainable communities throughout Prince William County. And with today's declaration of Earth Month, I was thinking that it was a good opportunity to reflect on what it means to be a good steward of this wonderfully phenomenal and complicated pale blue dot that we find ourselves living on and what it is to be a good steward on our little piece of the planet here in Prince William County. And we're so fortunate here that we have such a wealth of resources from our two national parks, state lands, wildlife refuges, and we have so much to offer the residents of this community but also abroad and really attract attention to these wonderful protected areas that we have. And our land also provides drinking water both as groundwater and as surface water to the Occoquan Reservoir to up to a million residents throughout this region.

And all of that has been one of our concerns about how the changes in land use have been occurring in this county is all of that has been put at risk at the explosion of a single industry and that's the data center industry. But we have found ourselves in a really unique position with the recent court opinion from the Virginia Court of Appeals. And I think that we have an opportunity to pause and it would be wise to do so. And rather than continuing to industrialize our lands next to our national parks, perhaps we could rethink what could be appropriate there and reimagine something different and attract a different way of protecting these lands that supports and diversifies our economy while also ensuring that these natural resources continue to benefit all communities. So I just wanted to offer that as this decision has been made and we look to a future, I think that there is a brighter future and we have an opportunity to do so and take advantage of that.

So thank you so much.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Good afternoon, members of the board. My name is Neil Kelly, and I'm from the Gainesville Magisterial District. And I'm not gonna use up my whole three minutes today. I'm just gonna say, please take this opportunity to let's rewrite history here in Prince William County and withdraw from the digital gateway lawsuit. If you have $2,000,000 that you've already spent on this burning a hole in the budget, I'm quite sure you could find some department or some of the NGOs that were here today or some of our union people that are looking for a little bit more of an increase in their hourly wage and benefits to absorb that $2,000,000.

So let's try to take that money and spend it someplace. I'd also like to know what is the status of the water survey that was supposed to have been conducted, and we will promise that under the Wheeler administration. We haven't heard anything back on that. So maybe some of that money could be used to get the water study completed and find out what's happening because once we run out of water, then we're gonna have a lot of problems here in Prince William County. So with that, I'm gonna say thank you for this opportunity for me to speak. I know you don't have to listen to me. That's what our county attorney's office has said in the past, but at least I have the opportunity to speak. So thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Good afternoon. I'm Irene Mignani Kelly from Gainesville. Been here before. Four years ago, I requested please slow down on the data centers. You didn't listen to me then, I hope you hear me now. And please just withdraw from the lawsuit. Let it go. We already have proof. The data center said they'd take on the the risk if it didn't work. Let them pay for it.

I don't want my tax dollars to help them fight a battle against me. Prince William County is David. The data centers are Goliath. They have much more power, much more money against us, but you know what? We're on the right side. We don't want data centers near our kids. We don't want data centers near our homes. We don't want them ruining our water source. We don't want them ruining our air. We are on the right side.

Let's keep that battle going, David. Let's let's hope I saw all these positive people here today. I really would hope that my supervisors can maintain that positivity for all of the Prince William County people. That money, like my husband just said, can go for better housing. Help some of our people in food pantries. Let's do something really good for our folks, and let's not hurt them. So, I appreciate your time. I wish you well.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Rachel Ellis, Gainesville District. It is time that the board withdraws from the Prince William Digital Gateway lawsuits, stop any appeals, stop spending taxpayer money funding something that four independent judges have ruled was an illegal hearing. The Virginia Court of Appeals cited supreme court cases in their unanimous ruling, the same cases that any other court during the appeals process has access to and will continue to use to uphold this ruling. Enough is enough. You are no longer serving the residents that elected you if you continue the appeals process.

I know that three of you, supervisor Bailey, supervisor Bodie, and supervisor Angry, were present when supervisor Weir attempted to have this digital gateway hearing rescheduled for improper notice. He knew that the county had failed to advertise legally. And thank you to supervisor Vega for voting yes to his motion. Any continuation of this appeal on behalf of the board is corruption at its best. Only two of you actually voted for this destruction.

One of you abstained. Dollars 1,660,000.00 of taxpayer money, with another $400,000 approved, has been spent trying to defend what has been ruled illegal. You can continue to double down and defend your illegal actions. Again, four judges have ruled it was illegal while wastefully spending residents money, or you can put your constituents first and recognize that it is time to rebuild trust and accountability in the community. Hold an open public vote and withdraw from the digital gateway lawsuit.

And I find it timely that here we are discussing budget season. I don't have a problem with my taxes going towards EMS, towards schools, towards county programs, but I do have a problem with my money going to defend something that has been ruled illegal. This is a new board. I'm asking this board to hold an open vote in the public and withdraw from the digital gateway lawsuits. Thank you.

Thank you. Before I call the next speaker, I would like to get the next line up, and that's Patrick Carters, Paige Kenyon Paige, Meg Haddow, Elena Slotsberg, and Margarita Moylan. If you guys can step to the back. Madame Butterfly, you may begin speaking.

The butterfly is back to talk the butterfly is back to talk about the digital gateway lawsuit. You were warned On 11/30/2023, twelve days before you voted, your own county attorney, Michelle Roby, sent a memo warning you that the public notice for the digital gateway hearing was defective. She told you there was significant risk of a legal challenge. Former supervisor Janine Lawson said it was made crystal clear in writing and in closed session. She and the late supervisor Bob Weir argued the case should be readvertised.

You voted anyway. That memo is public record. Anyone in this room can read it. Your own attorney told you the notice was defective, and you went ahead. Two courts have now confirmed exactly what she warned you about.

In August, Prince William Circuit Court judge Kimberly Irving declared the rezonings void. She ruled that you violated state law and your own zoning ordinance. Last week on March 31, a unanimous three judge panel of Virginia Court of Appeals upheld that ruling. Three judges, no dissent, a 53 page decision that says your ordinances are void abo initio, legally void from the beginning. You broke the law.

You were warned you were breaking the law. Two courts have said now said so now. Now let's talk about what that has cost us. One year one of this lawsuit, you spent nearly $500,000 of taxpayer money. Last December, on a five three vote, you spent another $400,000.

As of mid December, this county has spent more than 1,660,000.00 in legal fees defending or rezoning your own attorney told you was defective. That is our money, our tax money spent by you to sue your own constituents to defend a vote you were warned not to take. The plaintiffs are your residents, the people who voted you into this room. You have thirty days from March 31 to decide whether to appeal the Virginia Supreme Court. I am here today to tell you, stop.

Withdraw the appeal. Stop spending our money to sue us. You lost in circuit court. You lost unanimously in the court of appeals. The supreme court is not going to save you. It is going to cost us hundreds of thousands more, and you will lose again. Direct the county attorney to withdraw. Cease all taxpayer funding of outside legal counsel on this matter. Restart the process lawfully and transparently.

Your time is up, but please state your name and where Now,

Carla Karp Gainesville.

Thank you. Next speaker.

Good afternoon, Page Kenyon, Page Coles District. So, here we are again. I feel like it's been a decade. We're still fighting, although every time I drive down 234 Bypass or Wellington Road, there's another huge monstrosity of a data center that's taking up millions of square feet, and it has got so many people frustrated because we come here and we tell you constantly that it's destroying our beautiful county. But I don't think you can hear us.

I don't see how you cannot. It's time for the elected leaders to turn the page. And to quote Elena Schlossberg, there's an opportunity to chart a new path, one that moves us away from the industrialization and instead focus on future that prioritizes our natural and cultural resources like the Manassas National Battlefield. To be spending 1,600,000.0 in legal things to defend this is ridiculous. This is our hard earned money.

How dare you? Everybody talks about how much energy that the data centers use, but nobody's talking about the heat that it leaves behind. A new study has found that AI data centers are warming the land around them by up to 16 degrees Fahrenheit for miles in every direction. Researchers at Cambridge published a study on it, they analyzed satellite temperature data from across 6,000 data centers over the last twenty years. They focused on centers built away from cities so the heat couldn't be blamed on traffic or factories.

Too bad ours are in our backyards by our schools. What they found after data center starts operating, the land around it gets 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit to 4.3 degrees hotter on average. In some cases, up to 16 degrees hotter. The heat reaches up to six miles in every direction. More than 340,000,000 people live close enough to be affected at this study.

Data heat island effect is what they're calling it. You need to be aware of this. The cooling systems push server heat outward into the surrounding air. The same cops concept as standing behind an AC unit outside a building, except this AC unit is the size of a warehouse. And it gets much bigger. Global electricity use from data centers is expected to more than double by 2030. Infrastructure spending, and these facilities tripled in the last three years alone. They're building on nuclear sites. This is absurd. The concern isn't electricity or the water.

It's the temperature and the air we breathe and land that we live on.

Thank you for your time. Do your job. Next speaker, please.

Patrick Harter's Gainesville district chair Jefferson, board of supervisors, and Jeannie Lacroix, congratulations on your position. It's not often in life that we have an opportunity to do something over again. We don't get mulligans, as we say in golf. And when we do get that opportunity, we need to take advantage of it. So often, I've heard people say, I had to do my life over again, I wouldn't change anything.

And that's a prideful person. I look at conversations I've had, things I've done wrong, and it takes a person with humility to say, I made a mistake or I would have done things differently. When we look at the Prince William digital gateway, I don't care where you were in 2021 or 2023, everybody will admit that that this is the most divisive issue in Prince William County over the last five years. Nothing comes close. It simply has torn apart a community.

The Gainesville District for so long didn't have a supervisor, and it really ripped a hole right down the center of it. And so you have an opportunity to make a difference and to make a change. And if you look to the right or left, on either side view, you'll see this is not the same board. There are four new members on this board. There's been a different tone on this board. It's much different. And Prince William County should not be known as a pay to play county. Prince William should be known as a county that stands within for integrity, that stands up for people. And you are the ones that will make that decision, and you are the ones that are leading this next generation. It's one thing to cover up your own mistakes.

It's another thing to look back at the previous board or the previous generation and try and cover up that one. There's no reason you have to do that. It's very simple. This was not a good decision. This was rushed through. Everybody knows it was rushed through, and this has cost our community and our county everything. It's cost our integrity. It's cost us business opportunities. We lost a pharmaceutical company because we just simply didn't have place for it. So we need to have the supervisor or supervisors that come forth with a vision to say, what does good development look like?

What does reinvestment look like? What does redevelopment look like? And how do we protect some of our open space and open land? Whether it's in the East Side or the West Side, the supervisor should want the same thing. A beautiful, wonderful Prince William County to give to the next generation. The first step in doing that is to not fund this lawsuit. The second step is pull out of it. There's gonna be consequences to that. We know that. But that's what standing firm will look like. And then from there, having a vision for a better Prince William County. So I wish you luck and encouragement. I hope you do this in an open format so we could all see and gain the trust of the people of Prince William County.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

My name is Matt Caddo. I live in the Gainesville district. In the decision by the appeals court, Bob Weir was mentioned and has been referenced here today about how he came out of closed session on 12/12/2023 and warned the board about the defect in the advertising. It was, however, ignored. It was prophetic that three judges in the appeals court unanimously ruled that, in fact, that notice was defective, and it should have been, observed.

Those three judges, I think, were joined by Bob Weir from his place in heaven, although some may dispute where he is, that he he agreed that this was a defective notice. If you look at the decision, the 53 pages, you will see that the judges affirmed the standing argument, which is a critical part of any litigation. And I would direct your attention, particularly, supervisor Angry, and thank you for recognizing in your proclamations earlier, the autism community. One of the plaintiffs in this action lives in Oak Valley, has an adult autistic son who's one of the few joys in his life is to be able to go outdoors, and particularly when the weather permits to be able to swim in their backyard pool. That that plaintiff will have to move from her home because the sound effects that not only just affect autistic children and individuals, but also affect senior citizens and has dramatic safety issues along the way.

The pollution and the host of other impacts referenced by this decision should guide this board. Secondly, the beat the Board of County Supervisors has met its obligation. You've gone through the appeals court. The only things that is left today for the supreme court to adjudicate are issues that have impact on the data center developers. They will take their Hail Mary pass.

It doesn't need any help from nor financial assistance of this board of county supervisors. Those issues are adjudicated. The test on whether there was proper notice has been determined conclusively. I know there's the argument that was made by the by the county attorney that you should protect your reputation in the processing of applications. The best way to do that now is to simply invite these applicants to come and resubmit, properly notice a hearing, and hear them out.

And if they can make the case that they can place these data centers near residential communities with all of the adverse impacts that were granted standing by this appeals court, then let them do it, and God love them if they are able to do it. Redemption is here. Rehear the application. Withdraw from this lawsuit. All issues that impact the county are resolved. The remaining issues, as I said, only apply to data centers. The data center operators said they would accept all the risks. Let them do that. Reimburse the county for the 2,000,000 plus dollars that have been spent. They committed to that. And if you're looking for ways to spend that money and you don't have a place in the budget, reimburse the Oak Valley community for us having to stand up against the board that made the wrong decision. Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Good afternoon. My name is Elena Schlossberg, and I'm a Gainesville resident.

Just

take a breath, because truly, this opportunity how many times do you wish you could get a do over? What I tell my kids is, You can't go back. You cannot change what has already occurred. All you can do is move forward. But in this case, there are three supervisors who can actually, one yes, three can make a different decision.

And it's okay to do that. It is okay to reflect on all this new information. I understand you didn't believe the community then. You can legitimately say you thought you made that vote with the best information you had on hand. But now you have new information.

Now you know about the diesel generators. You know about the air quality impacts. You know that there is an impact to our water for everybody in this room, whether you're in the West and you're on well water, or you're in the East and you're drinking from the streams that come from the West. I wanna say thank you to Yesslee Vega because we do know why this vote occurred. And this is in I mean, these judges were if you have not read the 53 pages, I recommend you read it after you vote to withdraw.

Given that the and this is this is from the judges and the appellate court. Given that the 12/13/2023 vote was four to three with one abstention, mister Boone. However, it is unclear whether the board would have approved the rezonings if the question had come had been postponed to a later hearing date to satisfy the advertising rules. Chairman Anne Wheeler cast the deciding vote and her term ended in 2023. At least one supervisor suggested at the December 12 meeting that the vote was being rushed through so chairman Wheeler could vote on the rezonings before the board of supervisors was reconstituted.

Thank you, supervisor Yesley Vega. I am asking each and every one of you to return trust to this Board of Supervisors to vote not one more dime on this failed lawsuit. It's okay to admit that you've made a mistake, withdraw from the lawsuit, and redeem your reputation. I believe you can do it. Thank you.

Next speaker please.

Hi. My name is Margarita Moylan, and I reside in the Gainesville District. And first, I wanna welcome Jeanie Lacroix. It's nice to have a new face up there. I've spoken in front of many of you many, many times, and I thought this was a good time to speak in memory of someone who would undoubtedly be leading the fight against the digital gateway and the rezoning of the Royal Crescent, where she's still alive.

Annie Snyder, an 80 year old mother of six, spent her life farming a 180 acres on Pageland Lane in the Gainesville district while becoming one of Northern Virginia's most formidable defenders of rural and historic land. A 53 resident of Prince William County, She took on powerful developers, corporations, and government agencies, and won. From rerouting highways to protecting the Manassas Battlefield in the nineteen fifties to defeating proposed theme parks by Marriott and Disney in the nineteen seventies and beyond. Snyder built a legacy built a legacy of preservation. Most famously, she led the successful fight against the massive shopping mall proposed near the battlefield by developer Till Hazel in what became known as the third battle of Bull Run.

A marine corps veteran, former law student, farmer, and lifelong civic activist, Annie Snyder combined grit, strategy, and an unshakable belief in doing what was right. Her motto, never, never, never give up. Guided by a movement that ultimately secured federal protection from historically sacred land, Annie Annie Snyder's helped stop a mall, a highway, a major theme park development. Her efforts preserved not just land but history itself. If she were still alive, this project would likely never have seen the light of day.

Honor her legacy. Protect the land she fought so hard to save. Please remove yourself from this lawsuit. Do the right thing. Thank you.

Thank you so very much. We do not have anyone else signed up to speak in person, so I'm going to turn it over to Supervisor Angry for remote public comment time.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Do we have anyone remote?

Good afternoon, Vice Chair and the Board. We have one person, and we have Jessica Grove as our first speaker.

Alright. Thank you. Miss Grove, go ahead.

Hi. Good afternoon. My name is Jessica Grove.

I live

in the Gainesville District. I also would like to ask you to remove yourself from the Prince William Digital Gateway lawsuit. I think it's very appropriate that today was declared Earth Month. And as much as I would like to read exactly what was came from the proclamation, I'm driving and I can't do that. But you made a promise to Prince William County that you're gonna protect our air and our water and our quality of life.

And the biggest step forward you can make real quick is pull yourself out of this lawsuit and protect our air, our water, and our quality of life. I saw a news article recently about, I believe it was Louisiana. Meta asked just asked for 10 gas plants to be installed for their data center. 10. And that's for one data center campus.

We would need six nuclear reactors for Prince William Digital Gateway. We don't have that. We don't want that. Please stop spending our taxpayer dollars to fund this lawsuit that is against us and will harm us. I recently came across a native American proverb that I would like to share and this should this you should carry with you at all times, not even related to digital gateway.

But it says, we do not inherit the earth from our ancestors. We borrow it from our children. And we're at a tipping point where we're gonna leave them an abysmal planet earth. So I ask you to please change minds, reverse course, be humble, and say that was a mistake. We are not gonna push this through and pull out of the lawsuit. Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Right. Thank you I'm very

I'm sorry.

We have no more speakers. I apologize.

Alright. Thank you. Before I move on to agenda item number seven, I want to turn the microphone over to supervisor Bode.

Thank you, madam chair. I don't know if miss Ashley Stutholm is still here, it's my understanding as of an email that was sent out I think last week, She's gonna be leaving the county as as the head of of the Prince William Conservation Alliance. Ashley, if you're still here, just wanted to say thank you for your your collaboration. Thank you for your advocacy over the years even before you took the executive director role. I know we've sparred on things. I know we collaborate on things, but this county, definitely owes you a debt of respect and gratitude for your service and wanted to make sure that she heard that before she left. Thank you, madam chair.

Thank you so very much. For the public hearings, there are a couple of things I want to note and I'm not going to go ahead and open them because we may have some questions. But I wanted to bring to attention 7D, the proper amendment. And it's been brought to my attention that the ownership has changed. I'm sorry? 7C. 7C. Oh, I have them, sorry. 7C, I put on the wrong thing. 7C, thank you. 7C, and that's for the court's district in the ABSCO. The ownership has changed and the preference should reflect the new ownership. And this change happened after the planning commission. So we do have the applicant and their attorneys here. Does anyone have any questions or need any clarification on seven C?

Supervisor Vega.

Thank you since I'm into really thick packet it's impossible for us to read through this and it was just handed to us I think an hour or so ago. I would appreciate a summary just for the public's knowledge and for hours as well, miss Jonelle?

Yes. Absolutely. My name is Jonelle Cameron with Walsh, Colucci, Lubeli, and Walsh here today on behalf of the applicant. The only change, is just the entity name for one of, for one of the names. And so, the proffers that were in the staff report, the first entity reads SKWVA Inc. The correct entity name is now SKWVA LLC. That is the only change, that was made was changing, that entity name.

And madam chair, members of the board, when you get to item seven c, if you're gonna take them all, I would just recommend for the board's consideration that the motion read that you're moving to approve or deny the item with an amended ordinance showing the correct name of the owner as SKWVA LLC.

Madam chair, I have that language, so I was gonna make that motion and read that language. Thank you.

So what we're gonna do is I'm gonna go ahead and I'm gonna break this up. I'm gonna do seven c and seven e separately, because I know those are gonna have discussion. But I am going to open the public hearings for seven a through seven d. So I have it doesn't so I do not have anyone signed up to speak in person. Do I have anyone signed up remotely? There is no one signed up in person or remotely from seven a through seven d. So what I would like to do, and I'm gonna move seven c and seven e, and I'm gonna do seven e public hearing separate. I would like a motion for seven a, seven b, and seven d.

So moved, madam chair.

Second. Supervisor Vega.

Thank you, madam chair. I'm not opposing your desire to move seven c and seven e. Just wanna verify with the county attorney that if we're opening up, public comment time, public hearings, does it all have to be at once, or do we have to wait, for c and e, seven c and e, to hear from the speakers in regards to these two items?

I'm gonna do the speakers for seven E separately. That's gonna be completely separate.

Right, I understand that madam chair. I guess my question is, is that gonna happen before in the order that you're doing these others or after?

Going to, I'm sorry. It's going to happen after. I'm gonna do, we have a motion on the floor, we're gonna do those. And then I'm going to do seven c because there's a special motion, there's a correction, and Victor's gonna read it. Then I'm going to go and open the public hearing for seven e. And then we will vote on that separately.

Gotcha, thank you. Madam Chair, can you, I didn't catch who the second was for that. I had supervisor Bailey making the motion, but.

Okay.

Did anyone, I did not, did anyone, who's, okay so it was made by Supervisor Bailey, did anyone second?

I'll second it.

Supervisor, okay Supervisor Boddy seconded. Thank you. So, is there any further discussion on the motion that is on the floor? If not, let's go ahead and take our votes.

Vote unanimous.

Alright, thank you very much. Supervisor Ingrace.

Thank you, madam chair. I'd like to move item 7C with an amended ordinance to correctly show the move of the owners. So SKW, as you heard, SKW VA INC has changed their names to SKW VA LLC. Therefore, motion my motion is to show the correct name as SKWVA LLC. Second.

It's been properly moved and seconded. Any discussion?

Madam Chair, I will simply say, Jonel, maybe you should have just gave us that top sheet and not this whole packet. Thank you, thank you.

All right, I see no further discussion, let's go ahead and take our vote on this.

Vote unanimous.

All right, thank you very much. I am going to go ahead and open the public hearing for agenda item number 7E. I am going to call speakers up. We have a lot of new people here. I'm going to call people up in groups of five. You have three minutes to speak. One person will be allowed to speak on behalf of the organization for five minutes. So first, and again, you're going go to the back. Please adjust the mic so that we can properly hear you. You will see a timer at the front.

So first I have Laura Perez, Melinda V, I should know your name by now, I'm sorry Melinda, Patrice Summers, Brenda Petless or Debtless, Lenorel Thomas. And I love that we have a little person with us. She may join you.

I do apologize.

You wanna sit down? Sit down.

I'm sorry.

No worries. We're not going anywhere.

Okay. My name is Laura Perez. I'm in the Potomac District. Madam Chair, Board, members, I do appreciate the time. Last week when I was here, there was a young lady here who was thirty seven weeks pregnant. And I remember, you know, the Board was really impressed with that. I was impressed with it because my daughter was thirty seven weeks pregnant the day before. And that night we went late into the night because it was an important thing that we had to show up for. And I did. I showed up.

I was in my pajamas that night, came in, dressed, ready to talk to you all, and hope and and pleading that you all would listen to us as employees, regarding the verbiage, of the twelve month, rule with signatures for the union. That night, we left here at 11:00. I got home. By the time I settled in, it was 12:30. 6AM, my daughter calls me. Mommy, I'm in labor. Okay? Which is why my four year old granddaughter is here with me because I am now surrogate mommy while she is

with newborn

baby. So, I'm frantic trying to get this all done and I realized I needed to be here. So, no matter what I was going to be here because the union is important to the employees, The union is important to the county. The union is important to me. Okay? As a mother, a grandmother, a county employee who started back in 2000 and then left and went to another county and then went to Florida, came back and the only place I wanted to work was here in Prince William County. This union means something. It means something to all of us here. You've seen purple coming in and out. I didn't prepare anything because I was so frazzled.

I've been in baby mode for the past week. So I just wanted to say every single time that we get close to being able to file that twelve month signature rule, the verbiage in that prevents us, becomes an obstacle to, and is just a hindrance to the future of the county employees that you see here and the county employees that we all represent. A lot of us are county employees. I've taken the day, half the day here to be able to do this and still run around and do everything I have to do. Okay?

But this is that important to me. Okay? That even with my granddaughter who normally is bouncing off the walls, praise Jesus she is not today. Okay? And who as soon as I'm done here I got to go take her to dance. So I live here, I work here. It was my goal to work here. It was my goal to live here. And because of the lack of representation that we have when it comes to negotiating what we get, our wages, it's almost prohibitive to live here. So, I need you to consider that for all county employees because we want to be here. Thank you.

Thank you. Sorry. We are not allowed to clap and other things. Next speaker please.

I actually hadn't attended to speak today. You've all heard me before.

Bring it closer to you so we can You need speak

I'm for sorry, allergies are killing me. I originally wasn't gonna speak today. You all have heard me. We've had conversations. But thank you for your attendance and attention and your support of all Prince William County employees.

My message is the same as when I stood here a few weeks ago. Prince William general employees are coming together as a family. We are working to ensure that general county employees have a voice and a seat at the table. It is time that those who come to work each day and every day ready to provide services to those who live here, work here, and visit Prince William County. Did you know that there are employees that feel bullied by their supervisors?

Do you know we have employees who have never been told that they're eligible for FMLA? Those type of situations need to stop. Hundreds have signed interest cards so that they may vote to form our collective bargaining unit collective. We come from a diverse background, from a multitude of programs and departments bargaining. Our county employees need to have representation at the table.

Unit. Together, we will have one voice to negotiate actionable changes. At a recent meeting, one of you asked, our other counties, do they have an expiration date? I ask, does Fairfax have an expiration date? No. Does Loudoun County have an expiration date? No. Does Richmond City have an expiration date? No. We have an expiration date.

We didn't have an opportunity to help write our ordinance. Thank you for your time and attention to the removal of the one year expiration date from the ordinance for collective bargaining. This will surely tell all employees that the board really does care about them.

Please, before you go, say your full name and the district will reside.

My name is Melinda Vicasienne, and I'm from Coles District.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Madam chair, board members, and mister Shorter, good afternoon. My name is Patrice Summers. I've been here several times before as well. I am a county employee and a resident. I took time off to be here to talk about the importance of collective bargaining rights for Prince William County general employees. Collective bargaining ensures that many voices of the general employees are being heard and their rights protected.

We are a part of

the Prince William County community, and as county employees, we want our voices to be heard. The current twelve month expiration date on the authorization cards has been a hindrance in our efforts. This expiration date has frustrated the many, including myself because we have to go back to county employees year end after year end. Many are online right now, unable to attend, and many took off to be here in the chamber and have plagued their support and signed the cards several times over. There are many agencies that work remotely.

Some folks just aren't here in the county. Therefore, it's very, very hard and cumbersome to constantly keep going back to employees that made the commitment to resign and or even sign. Please consider removing the restrictive language that has been a hindrance for the general county employees from being able to file a union election. I wanna thank you all for your willingness to listen and hear me as I advocate on behalf of my fellow county employees. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Good afternoon. My name is Brenda DeJas, and I'm a social worker for Prince William County Child Protective Services. In my role, I work with some of the most vulnerable children and families in our county. Children who rely on protection, advocacy, and support of the very system we represent. I'm here today to share why the opportunity to form a union and participate in collective bargaining is deeply important to me, not only as an employee, but as a mother and the sole provider for my family.

I'm a single mother of four children. Three of my children still live at home with me. Two are currently in college. Like many families, I work hard every day to move forward. But the rising cost of living has made that increasingly difficult despite working full time in a profession that I truly love. I cannot afford to live in Prince William County. I can't even afford to live in the state of Virginia. Health care costs alone have become overwhelming. Myself along with two of my children live with ongoing chronic medical chronic medical conditions that require frequent visits to specialists, sometimes multiple times a month. The co pays for those appointments along with the cost of necessary medications add up quickly.

Each month, I face difficult decisions about how to stretch my paycheck to cover housing, medical care, educational expenses, and basic living cost. At the same time, I'm still paying back my own student loans, loans I took out to pursue the education necessary to serve this community as a social worker. I chose this profession because I care deeply about helping vulnerable families and children. Every day in CPS, I see firsthand how important stability and support are for families. It's meaningful work, and I'm proud to do it.

But caring about the work should not mean struggling to survive financially. Right now, I'm living paycheck to paycheck. My goal is not to become wealthy. My goal is stability. I wanna earn a livable wage that allows me to raise my children with dignity, support them through college, manage the medical needs of my family, and save for retirement so I'm not a burden on my children later in life.

Forming a union would give employees like me a voice and a seat at the table. Firefighters and police in our county already have the ability to collectively bargain, and I believe other county employees deserve that same opportunity. Collective bargaining would allow us to work collaboratively with leadership to address wages, benefits, health care cost, and working conditions in a constructive and transparent way. I truly value working for Prince William County and the community that we serve. I wanna continue doing this work for many, many years.

But in order to sustain this career and support my family, I need the opportunity to advocate for fair compensation and better benefits alongside with my colleagues. Allowing county employees to form a union is not about conflict. It's about partnership, fairness, and ensuring that people who serve this community can also afford to live and care for their families while building a secure future. Please consider taking the next step today to support Prince William County general Your

time is up, Anita, where do you live for records?

I live in Falling Waters, West Virginia.

Alright. Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Good afternoon, chair Jefferson, vice chair Angeri, and members of the board. I request the five minutes, please.

Granted.

My name is Leonora Thomas. I am a Brentsville constituent. Hi, supervisor Gordy. And I'm excited tonight because I see my neighbor down there waving her hand. Hey, neighbor. And I'm also the proud president of SDIU Virginia five twelve. I'm here today on behalf of thousands who serve Prince William County every single day to ask you to vote yes on removing the expiration date language. I want to start by grounding us in what we are really talking about. As you all know very well, Prince William County is not a small operation. It is one of the largest and fastest growing counties in the Commonwealth.

Our general county unit is large and diverse, made up of workers across dozens of departments and well over 100 work sites. These workers are spread across a county that stretches more than 30 miles from one end to the other. That means long drives, different reporting structures, and being creative in how we connect with workers across locations. And yet, despite that size and complexity, these workers have come together to do something powerful. They have organized, they've had conversations, they've built trust across work sites, across job titles, across miles.

That is not easy work, it is not quick work, and it is not accidental work. That is exactly why this provision must be addressed. Right now the ordinance says that an authorization card expires after twelve months. On paper, that may seem like just a simple administrative rule, but in practice, in a county this large with this many work sites and this many workers, it creates a barrier that undermines the very voice that this ordinance is meant to protect. Because let's be clear, an authorization card is not just a piece of paper.

It is a worker saying, as so many of these workers have said today, I want a voice. I want representation. I demand a seat at the table. That choice does not simply expire because twelve months have passed. What happens instead is that workers who have already done this hard work of organizing are told, Start over again.

Year after year, Start over again. They have to go back across miles of county roads, across dozens of work sites and ask the exact same co workers to sign again, not because their support has changed but because the clock ran out. These workers have been organizing for the last three and a half years and each year they are being forced to start over simply because of this provision. That is not about fairness, it's about delay. It delays certification, it delays stability, and it delays the ability for workers in the county to move forward in a constructive relationship.

It also creates an unnecessary administrative burden. Tracking dates, rejecting valid cards, processing repeat filings All of that takes time and resources that could be better spent actually building strong labor management relationships, and most importantly, a risk invalidating the true will of workers. We are not asking for a broad rewrite of this ordinance. We are not asking you to change the structure. This is a narrow targeted amendment.

Remove this provision. Remove the expiration language. That simple change aligns Prince William County with other jurisdictions across Virginia. It respects workers' voices, it reduces unnecessary delays, and it creates a more efficient and consistent process for everyone involved. At the end of the day, this is about trust.

Do you trust workers when they say they want representation? Do we trust the process we have put in place to reflect their will? Do we trust that in a county as large and as complex as Prince William County, we should not be creating additional barriers to participation? I believe the answer is yes. I believe this board has the opportunity to strengthen this ordinance in a very real and practical way, and I respectfully underline underscore, respectfully ask that you adopt the recommended motion to remove the twelve month expiration language. Thank you for your time and for your commitment to the workers who keep Prince William County running.

Thank you. I have one more person. If you would like to speak, please give me your name first and last, as well as your registrar district.

I'm Steven Keaton, and I'm from Manassas City.

Wait. Can you bring it closer to you? You said Steven Keaton?

Steven Keaton, k e a t o n. And

Alright. You may go.

Fellow, Prince William County employees, County Board of Supervisors, and community members, my name is Steven Keaton. I have deep roots in, Prince William County. I was even born at Prince William Hospital in 1965 in Manassas. I have I was the first state licensed plumber hired at the hospital there. I am a master a state certified master plumber, gas fitter, back flow preventer worker.

I think I accepted significant pay cut to come work for the county, and I don't doubt we need representation. I understand that many employees feel that joining a union is the only way to improve their working conditions. I believe that if the county will maybe look outside just a just a little bit out out of what they've been shown, I believe the county will fully honor their commitment that employees are are great their greatest asset. And the union may not even be necessary, but while I respect the right of my colleagues to organize, I have decided not to join this union. This particular union for the reason that I believe that this specific union, the SEIU, is too involved in our political system, and it favors one party over another.

And I urge my fellow employees not to join this union. As a public servant, I'm committed to serving everyone in Prince William County regardless of a affiliate political affiliation, and I wish to remain neutral in my service. But I thank you all for your time. And we've we've heard about vision. And I think 70 if you take take the 30 out and listen to the 70, maybe you'll get a greater vision of what the board could do.

There's different things like we already have a labor relations administrator. We have the employee advisory committee, employee engagement team, office of equality and inclusion, and even the TMO office, but the transformation, you all might be able to help me with that, management office. I've only been here a year and a half, but there are very smart people here that work in the county. I've been in awe. I've only been here a year and a half, and it's amazing the the staff that you have.

If you might wanna I just gave you, like, four or five entities that are here in the county that may be able to help you wrap this up. So we do something new. Don't look like, you know, you wanna be like Loudoun County or Fairfax or you wanna be a nationwide leader. And I think Prince William County, this is a critical moment that you have an opportunity to be the leaders that you really have vision. So thank you so much for listening to me today. God bless you.

Thank you. Supervisor Avery, do we have anyone remotely?

Chris, do have any remote speakers? Nope, not here. All right, thanks.

All right, we do not have anyone remote and I'm sorry if I can ask everyone please have a seat, if you want to have a seat. All right, so I'm going to go ahead and I'd like to get a motion to move 7E4.

So moved. Second.

It's been properly moved and second. Any discussion? Supervisor Vega.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I have a few questions and some comments that I would like to Thank you Madam Chair. Have a few questions and some comments. Who do I address my questions to? Okay.

So just a little bit

of history for those that have recently joined or watching at home don't really know what's going on. What is being asked of us here today, the core of this request, is the deletion of section two dash two seventeen, clause b and three, which currently, authorizes cards or employee signatures, that do expire after a twelve month period. By removing this section to reserve, as it stated in the, motion, the ordinance would effectively allow signatures, to pretty much, indefinitely be used. And if that is not correct, I I I ask it to be corrected to be used as evidence of a desire to certify or decertify a union. Why this clause is extremely important is because these signatures pretty much give an indication of the general workforce's interest, if you will, in being a part of this union.

We know that this is a clause that, the police department, the fire department follows, and they seem to not have any issues in regards to getting to the 30%, that is required, because it shows that there is a great interest in being a part of the union. Now my questions, are, mister Shorter, if a signature is two or three years old, does it still accurately reflect the employee's current desire to be represented by a specific labor organization?

Supervisor, very difficult for me to answer that question. I will say in terms of expiration, I believe at the time when the county is approached, we do a crosswalk to make sure that the employees that are listed are current employees. But in terms of the intent of the employee, it'd be very difficult for me to answer that question.

Thank you for that. My next question is without a limit, a time limit, how does the county protect employees who may have changed their minds but whose signatures remain active indefinitely?

Madam Chair, members of the board, that that issue has not been flushed out in the ordinance. That would be up to that individual employee to come forward. If this goes forward and the twelve months is removed and a unit provides signatures, we will have to go through and verify every signature to make sure they're part of eligible to be part of the bargaining unit and valid. We will if employees come forward to say that they do not want their signature there, we will discuss and figure

out

what we're gonna do. It's not it's not addressed in the ordinance.

Thank you for that, miss Robo. That's a good segue into my following question. Does this ordinance anywhere address, how employees can go about doing that?

No. The ordinance, there are various ways to show the statement of interest if employees want to organize. The twelve month time period does not apply to evidence of currently effective dues payment authorization, so that is one way that an employee can show their interest in joining being organized, but there is no provision in the current ordinance if an employee sign their name and then twelve, thirteen, fourteen months later said that they don't want to.

Thank you for that. And then the last question that I have for this round is while the Virginia Code section 40.1 dash 57.2 permits local collective bargaining ordinances, does removing this standard align with the conformity requirements mentioned in previous board actions?

I'm not quite sure what your question is. The current Virginia code with regards to this discretionary option for governing bodies does not have very much information in it, you know, localities that did go forward kinda created their own territory with regards to it in their own ordinances. As we discussed last week, the general assembly has passed legislation in both houses. We are awaiting the governor's signature as whether she's gonna sign, amend, veto, delay it with an enactment reenactment clause, etcetera. And if it goes forward as has passed both houses in 2028, we will be looking at a new provision with regards to a statewide collective bargaining ordinance.

Thank you for that, miss Robill. That's all I have for now, madam chair.

Thank you.

Alright. I wanted to address a couple of those things. So first, not right. The signatures that they have are less than twelve months old because they have to start the process over and over again. So right now, we're looking at cards that are less than a year old. And also, is the collection of signatures the final step to form a bargaining unit? No, it is not. Because according to the ordinance PWC code two dash, hold on, 217.b.6 through 11, there will be, there is an employee wide election that will take place to determine whether bargaining unit employees wish to be represented by the union. So this is not the final step. They actually have to have an election.

And to mister Steven Keaton, I don't know if you're still here, if you believe the SEIU is too political, you don't have to participate. And I just wanna remind everyone, we are a right to work state. We are a right to work state. So people don't have to join the union or pay the dues. If anything, the people who are in the union doing the work of the union and supporting the union are really carrying the lift for all county employees or everyone in that bargaining unit.

So I think that there's a lot of fear there that is misplaced. We see a lot of purple and gold, but not everyone's wearing purple and gold. This is a right to work state. It is the employees who will have a vote after this process. If we remove the time period, it doesn't mean that collective bargaining is now in place. There will be an election. So I just wanted to make sure that I named that for everyone so that to clear up any confusion or misinformation. Supervisor Bodhi.

Yeah. Thank you, madam chair. You actually went down the beat. I was gonna ask. And so just to either the county exec or the county attorney, once that threshold of the card are signed, there is then an actual election to elect the bargaining unit as their the actual organization as their bargaining unit. Correct?

Madam chair, members of board, yes. Once there is a statement of interest, an election is held. And if a majority of those who vote, whether it's 3,000 that vote or 10 people that vote, the majority will determine. And, with regards to the police, there weren't that many people that voted, but there is an election afterwards after this step.

Yes. So in theory, if someone may have signed a card, for example, then decide, hey. Later on, I don't really want either to be represented by a union at all or I don't want to be SEIU. They could then vote against them being represented by SEIU. Correct? So they still have a voice after that card, set to set. So I I appreciate the clarity there. All I will say, is is it piggybacks a little bit on what was just said. We're talking about completely different bargaining units. We talk about police, fire, and then general service employees.

As one of the speakers eloquently said, we're talking about, sort of centralized, fire and rescue and police staff that are at certain locations. The it's a lot there's a lot less of them, frankly, general employees, lot easier to get a hold of folks to bring them in to have those cards signed in a relatively short matter. When you talk about a a county as big as ours, and miss Thomas talked about it earlier, some of them are in secure facilities some part of the day. Other ones are out in the field all day talking to clients. There's a much different vibe there and a much different level of service.

And to have such a diverse set of folks and have them have the same standard. You know, we started this, collective Barney ordinance, and we wanted it to have sort of be sort of a a smaller, more narrowly tailored thing. I mean, we sort of expanded that over time. We've already revised these ordinance once before. And this time, I believe that we're actually improving it in a way that creates more equity for the broader set of employees to allow them to to get through the process, actually have a voice. So that's why I'm supporting it. And, again, as was said before, if someone leaves the county, that court is no longer valid. Or, again, if someone may have expressed interest twelve, thirteen months, or even six months ago, and then now suddenly the the election is held, that person can then decide, hey. I don't want this organization to represent me, and they can vote nor in the election. Thank you, madam chair.

Madam chair, members of the board, just to clarify, the distinction between showing the statement of interest and then the election. Mister Vody, you said if if an employee changes their mind, they can vote no in the election. If the election is successful though, they will be part of the bargaining unit, and they will be organized at part of the bargaining unit. They cannot be forced to pay dues and be a member of the union, but they will be part of the bargaining unit.

So are there any additional questions? Or comments? Alright discussion. Supervisor Vega, do you have anything else?

I do madam chair, because transparency and accountability matter. First, I wanna thank members of the union that showed up today and those that have actually taken the time, to reach out to my office in a respectful manner. I believe it was the president that made a request and talked about respect. Respect goes a long way, and I firmly believe that respect is not something that you just give randomly. Respect is something that you earn.

Why do I say this? Last week, there was a request made for a survey to be conducted, a survey that would allow members of this governing body to hear from the entire workforce, and that initiative was shut down. While in theory, I thought the survey was a brilliant idea, I can't take credit for it because it wasn't mine. It was supervisor George Stewart's idea. His office reached out to my office because he wanted to hear from everybody in the workforce, and I thought it was a good idea, and I was asked to lead the charge.

What was brought to my attention really has left me in complete and utter shock. And many of you that are here today wearing the shirts probably have no idea the conniving, the harassment tactics that have been used behind the scenes to convince members of this board to vote against their original desire. It is astounding. It is short of disgusting. And if I describe it as such, it's because that's what it is.

That's what it is. And it's not just from those that represent the union. It is not just from leadership. It is from members of this governing body. That's why you always have to be very careful when you send a text message because once you send it, you can't take it back.

You have to be very careful about the phone calls that you make and what you say to people because in Virginia, it's a one consent party state. You can be recorded and you don't even know that you're being recorded. And these things have been shared with me. They've been brought to my attention, and we have members of the media here. So I encourage you all to issue a foyer request so that you can see for yourself so that members of this union wearing the purple shirts know exactly the tactics that those who are the face of your organization use to intimidate, bully, harassed elected officials into doing something that, quite frankly, they don't wanna do.

And I would hope, supervisor Stewart, that you would have the court courage to share that, that you would have the courage to say what transpired, who showed up to your office, who on this day has threatened you, has bullied you, has harassed you into doing something that you initially didn't want to do. Members of the board, folks that are here in chambers, those that are watching at home, It is our responsibility as elected officials, as public servants, to ensure that we are putting forth policy that takes into account everyone's voice. Last week, there were so many mixed signals, words being put into people's mouths that certain folks don't appreciate our workers, this, that, and the other. That couldn't be further from the truth. But when you really come to the table with transparency, with a genuine heart, with good intentions, I believe that we can meet halfway and reach an agreement that's gonna be for the greater good of the entire workforce.

What I will not do is support any individual or any group that uses these tactics or those that use the position that has been entrusted by them, by the people of Prince William County, to bully and intimidate members of this board. We were elected by the people of this county to be their voice, to be their representatives because they respected our ability to do so. And to have anybody on this day is diminished that responsibility and diminished accountability. It is quite frankly insulting, and I will not tolerate it. For the members of the union that had all that have always come to me with an open mind, I thank you, and I remain committed to having an open door policy.

I wanna speak to the general workforce as well because believe it or not, we've had some of your peers for those that work in the county come to department heads who have stated and to members of this board that they feel harassed, that they feel that they're being pressured into doing something that they don't wanna do. People have the right to come to work and to serve the people of Prince William County, be left alone, and go home. They have that right. They do. But I wanna leave you with this.

If I've seen those text messages, if I've been previewed to phone calls, alright, imagine what is happening behind the scenes to those employees who have come forward and do not wanna be made public because they fear retaliation. If if folks are willing to do that to elected officials, ask yourself what is happening behind the scenes. I am here willing to work with anybody, but make no mistake. I will truly, truly be an ear for every voice in this county, whether they are a part of the union or not. I respect you as much as those who do not wish to be a part of the union. I thank you all for coming. And to members of the media, you can talk to me after this meeting. Thank you, madam chair.

Supervisor Stewart.

Thank you, madam chair. You know, I didn't think there was any harm in asking with the survey. However, in seeing how the process plays itself out, you know, taking away this time period and having people sign the card, that's an indication of interest in a survey in and of itself, right, as Supervisor Bodhi just recently pointed out. As far as any harassment or intimidation or bullying from anybody, that wasn't anything that I experienced. For the most part, everybody has been the epitome of professional, including the members that came to my office to visit me, and everybody that I'm up here on the dais with.

Everybody been fine with me. So, as far as bullying is concerned, that hasn't been my experience. So, yeah, that's all I got to say about that.

Supervisor Bailey.

Thank you, Supervisor Stewart. I harass you with cookies, so I'm sorry. But, I want to say to the members of the union that came to represent your organization today, thank you for coming out, spending time from your day, and not from your jobs because I know some of you have been harassed about spending time from your jobs in the newspaper. So, I apologize for that because as elected officials, a lot of times recordings are made, harassment is done as a tool to sway votes, period. And so, if anyone on this dais has done that to you or to any employee, not just SEIU, we apologize.

But it's politics, and that's how politics is done. But when you talk about people's lives, I'm a union kid. The two family flat that I grew up in is built by bricks by the union. So I'm sensitive to that, but I'm also sensitive to the people that were not fortunate to be a part of the union. We have spent, along with, madam county attorney and the county exec, a lot of time, a lot of resources.

We've we've started, we've backed up, and we started again because we're trying to make it right for employees. We spent a lot of time not just with the unions, but also when it comes to classification and compensations for our employees. It's all encompassing to make sure that we keep the best and the brightest in our community of the county to do the work for the people. Someone mentioned, I think it was miss Thomas, about partnership. That's the era that we're in right now, partnership.

And when there is disagreement on this dais or not on this dais, that's hard. Why? Because it's a change. And so we we we need to learn how to learn how to partner even when we disagree. And so I I don't wanna play to the cameras or to you, but what I wanna do is if you have been harassed and intimidated or anything on my behalf of the dais, allow me to apologize, but we hear you.

We hear you because we have to have everybody's voice, not just one. And when we make decisions, it should appear as a partnership. And that's evergreen for us. We're keep working on that. But we I appreciate, and I know the board does too, your time taking off from your hardworking jobs, your efforts, and teaching us what unions are supposed to be about to the county attorney and the and and the county exec.

I know this is not easy for y'all. Yeah. I know it's not easy, but it's a evergreen learning thing because it's new for Prince William County. Prince William County is going through change, and change is not good. But one thing changes is inevitable. So I just wanted to say that, and respecting my colleagues and how emotional and how concerned we are, I don't take that for granted. I respect that. But when we make decisions, it's about not just a few, it's about everybody. Everybody. So Madam Chair, thank you for the opportunity to speak.

Thank you. Don't see anyone else in queue so let's go ahead and take our votes.

Motion passes five to three supervisors Gordie, LaCroix and Vega voting nay.

All right thank you so very much. I am now going to move thank you for everyone who's come out we're going to move on to agenda number eight and that is county executive time. I believe that you have a presentation.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair, members of the Board. We will go initially to item 8A. But before we go to 8A, I have just a few announcements. As always, I want to talk through directives. There were no directives issued during our during your last meeting.

There was one directive closed since the last meeting, and that directive last week, staff provided the board with an update on research and strategy options related to restaurant week programming for consideration. And I've also included that information in the recap slides that we'll talk about later on this afternoon. Last month, I shared a memo updating the board on the strategic plan that reflects our progress on our strategic plan priorities, including key initiatives, accomplishments and ongoing work aligned with each strategic plan goal area. We are obviously very excited about the work happening around our strategic planning efforts and just want to really appreciate all the staff involved really from across the county and the work that we are doing around our strategic plan. We are soon to go live with our strategic plan hub on the PwC Works platform and we will certainly keep the board updated as we move forward with the strategic plan.

I also provided the board with an update on the establishment of the temporary racial and social justice task force, which was formally adopted by the Human Rights Commission last month. And, yesterday, I sent the board a message letting the board know that the residential solar permit fee program, reduction program will end on July 31. So happy to answer any questions about that program and all of the great work that the team did to support residents who were installing solar panels on their property. Madam Chair, that is all in terms of

I have supervisor Vega.

Thank you, madam chair. Sure. Mister Shorter, thank you for getting back to my request about, live streaming our board meetings via Facebook. We got that information. For, in terms of next steps so that that actually happens, what do we need to do? Do we just need a consensus from the dais? Because it wasn't very clear.

There I just don't I don't remember what I said in the memo, but I'll I'll circle back, before the meeting is over.

Okay. Thank you. And in lieu of the conversation that we were having, I wanna ask you, it is my understanding based on some information that has been shared that the unions get to promote, right, certain things via flyers. They put them on, you know, employee boards and whatnot. Do we do the same in regards to giving employees a voice if they want to report anything, to the county government side, whether it's HR, human rights, and not directly to the union? Do we advertise that in the same manner that the unions do?

I am not sure on the general government side that we have advertised a sort of a grievance process or some other process to notify management because we just haven't gotten to that point yet in this process. I will say that employees have the right to display information on the same public areas that the unions do Mhmm. At this point. But I hear you that you're looking for a more confidential

Correct.

Process and that we would have to we would have to design. I don't know.

I don't think it needs to be a directive. I'm not sure if you wanna talk to the team and then come back to us with a proposal for our consideration.

I wanna also turn it over to Michelle in case there's

Thank you, madam chair, members of the board. I was just gonna say the the county wide has the internal audits fraud, waste, and abuse, which is an can be anonymous if you want, so anybody could report those. And then when the board's internal auditor gets them, whether it's part of an internal audit or not, they'll turn it over to the county executive and the board to say, here's some information. So that is one avenue that anyone can report a concern that they have.

And that's fair. Don't think we need to reinvent the wheel. However, you know, these things are brought up during orientation, and then they're never brought up again. And so I do think that there needs to be a proactive effort, for folks to be reminded that there are other avenues, that they could have access to in order to report whatever it is that's going on.

That's fair. What I'll do is, I'll send the board an email. We'll work together to figure out what the options are and I will send via memo or email to the board to let you know.

Thank you. Supervisor Brody?

Thank the county exec on the update. I really appreciate your comments around the strategic plan, the implementation there, bring on the presumed PWC works. Think that's a great idea. I appreciate that. Going another direction on PWC works, know that the agribusiness agritourism study is on there. I know that separately also have the maritime study going on. With the next few weeks, so would it be would you be able to give us an update on those two initiatives, see where we are in terms of time frames for that?

Sure. I actually just got a presentation, a great presentation from Christina Wynn and the team on agro business and agro tourism. She will be coming around to each of your offices to talk you through, that presentation. I also have, as part of the recap presentation, an opportunity for the board to weigh in if, the board wanted to make some decisions around committing resources to recommendations associated with. That said now with maritime, I will need to go back to the team that we will provide

an update. Thank you so much.

All right, no other questions, you may proceed. Thank you.

All right. With item 8A, Madam Chair, we'll ask Rick to provide an update on Route 28 widening.

Madam Chair, members of the Board, Rick Canisales, your Director of Transportation. Thank you for the opportunity to talk a little bit about our Route 28 project. All right. Just as a matter of a little background, back in December 2024, the board did direct county staff to take a look at a way to formally take action to cancel the Route 28 bypass project. So on February 4, the board passed a resolution actually canceling the Route 28 bypass project and asked staff to work on widening to do the widening of Route 28 enable to authorize and work some of the bond funds that were authorized through the public for the 2019 mobility road bond.

In February 2025, that same month, later that same month, the Board directed staff to prepare a resolution to initiate a comprehensive plan amendment to remove the Route 28 bypass project from our comprehensive plan and add the Route 28 widening to the plan. So we came back in April and took an action to transfer budget and appropriate the money that was owed back to MVTA for the cancellation of the project. In May, we came back and passed the resolution to initiate that comprehensive plan amendment that was directed by the board. And then in January, the board actually passed a resolution and passed the comprehensive plan amendment to include route to remove Route 28 bypass and include the six lane widening of existing Route 28. So that's kind of where we were and so we started looking at the Route 28 project.

Just a little background on the 28 project. It's a widening of Route 28 from four to six lanes. This goes from the city of Manassas to Fairfax County. It's approximately two and a half miles of road work that need to be done. The last estimate was about $400,000,000 that when we estimated this back in 2020 as one of our alternatives to move forward with.

As you know, since 2020 up to 2026, six years later, that project has increasing costs. We're working through with VDOT right now to do a design and a project on this to look at what that new cost estimate would be. Again, we're currently working with VDOT so that typical section and cross section is not yet known but we do have the $200,000,000 that were authorized by the voters as part of the 2019 bond referendum to be able to do some work on it. Now that money and the way to pay back that money is currently not included in your CIP. So right now there is no identification of if we took out that debt, how we would pay that money back.

Some of the challenges that we have with this corridor. As you can tell from the bottom picture, we have limited right of way. The right of way is right up to some of the existing businesses there. So there's not a lot of room to do. So there it would be a very high like Route 1, a very high cost in right of way as well as utility relocations. If you see in the picture on the top right, you see that we have some transmission lines going through this corridor. Moving those transmission lines are very it's very expensive. And as you can tell, the transmission lines are right up against the right of way needed for this project. The last thing or not the last thing but property impacts. Property impacts we would be last time we identified about 90 plus businesses that we would be impacting as part of this road project.

So we do have a major impact on right of way and businesses within the corridor. The biggest problem is that we have no allocated or approved funding to move forward with this project at this time And we would need jurisdictional agreements, which as you know was one of the reasons we had to cancel the project initially between Fairfax, Manassas, Manassas Park and ourselves. The Route 28 project continues here and what we're looking at with VDOT as I mentioned earlier that we are looking at a design and the concepts with VDOT right now. This concept looks at the corridor from Liberia Avenue out in Manassas all the way out to the Fairfax County line where their 28 improvements begin. So that is past the Bull Run Bridge.

It includes widening the bridge and improving that bridge and it will develop that typical section that I had mentioned that we don't have yet. This again is still in preliminary engineering and design. We have just started this with VDOT and VDOT is taking the leadership on this in order to have that coordination between all the jurisdictions involved. So the approval of the twenty nineteen mobility referendum and what that means. The question to do the Route 28 bypass or widen Route 28 was included in there.

So the question was set so whether we decided to do the bypass or the widening that money could be used. It was approved the mobility road bond or the mobility bond was approved at a 73% rate by the public here in Prince William County. The bond referendum authority allows the county to take out those bonds for the next eight years from 2019 so up to 2027, but it does also allows us to get two additional one year extensions to take us out to 2029. The success of that approved vote for the referendum does not require the board to issue that debt and fund this project. So I'll be clear with that.

That's just an authority that we got from the people Prince William to take out the debt, but it's the board's decision to approve that debt to move forward with the project. With all that in mind and with all that's been said, we as staff have a couple of questions for you and would like some board direction on where we go with this project. Number one is should staff continue to move forward with this project? And again the reason we ask that is the funding and the challenges that we mentioned earlier. So if we do move forward with the project will the bonds be utilized to fund this project?

Those are the $200,000,000 that was allocated in bond funds to do this project. And if we do use those bonds and get those bonds to move forward with the project, we need to identify some funding. Like I mentioned earlier, there's no funding identified in the CIP to be able to cover the debt of the $200,000,000 at this time. And again, once we determine that and if we don't determine that, then should we continue to work with VDOT in doing this design and moving this project forward or should we tell VDOT to maybe put a halt on it for now as we're not as a county ready to fund this project. So those are the four questions I have for you today and looking to see if I can get some guidance on where you would like me to go and how would you like me to move forward with this project.

And if we do move forward with this project where we anticipate the funding to fund it would come from.

All right. Thank you. Supervisor Vega.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Rick, welcome back. I hope this untreated you well. Know, well, appreciate the question. I think I don't want to speak for my colleagues on the dais, but I think that there is a consensus that something has to be done about Route 28.

Yes ma'am.

You know it's an issue that predates my time on the board and one that is long overdue. I think that the biggest challenges as stated in the presentation the funding right where is it where is it going to come But also, you know, I just wanna make sure that we don't run into the the same challenges that we did with the bypass in Fairfax County because even, you know, this proposal is also dependent or involves the Cooperation? No, the bridge. Jurisdiction? Bridge, correct.

And so know obviously I want to hear what my colleagues have to say but I want to keep that at the forefront of discussions because we have to make sure that we are collaborating with our neighbors in Fairfax County so that there is some sort of buy in. So that one, we achieve the end goal, which is to improve traffic, alleviate traffic along, you know, Route 28, while also being mindful of not pushing that bottleneck into an area in the other county that has already spent millions of dollars improving.

Yes ma'am. And just to get to that point, that is the reason I mentioned that VDOT is actually taking over the lead on the design of the project. They would be taking the lead in order to coordinate as the state agency within the four jurisdictions. So that agreement would be made through VDOT and those agreements would be made through VDOT as the design process moves forward. The other thing that VDOT has done as part of the design process is that they will be breaking up the project into phases.

So each individual phase will look at perhaps the phase in Fairfax County, the phase in Prince William County, and the phases in Manassas and Manassas Park and break it up into those phases in order for us, if we're able to fund the project, to fund the phase that corresponds to the county at that time. So that's a strategy that VDOT has taken in order to design this in a way that all jurisdictions can be collaborated with.

And thank you for that. And so when we talk about the phases is there a priority given to said phase depending on how bad it is in certain areas because there are some or how is that?

That hasn't been determined yet ma'am like I said we're at the very beginning stages and that's why I wanted to come to the board to get guidance. We wanted to make sure that the effort that VDOT was doing wasn't just something that was going to be shelved. It was something that we the county could use as they're trying to move forward. So in in the anticipation that we were going to use some of the bond funding and that's why they're trying to move quickly on this. They were waiting for us to pass our comprehensive plan amendment in order for them to be able to do this in an appropriate manner. But that that was the thought. The thought was that they were trying to design something before the time ran out on the bond referendum so we could use some of that money. But if we're not going to be able to use some of that money, then VDOT doesn't have to go as fast as they're going and and you know obviously that's part of the questions that we have for you here today.

Okay. Thank you.

Supervisor Gordy.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So in terms of funding, can't we just get the city of Manassas to pay for it?

Hi, Mayor. Hi.

Welcome, Mayor. No, we love Mayor Younger Davis and really appreciate her being here today and and and listening into this conversation. Now I agree with with supervisor Vega. I you know, I've I've been looking at '28 now since I moved to Prince William County in 2007, and it was a problem in 2007. And it hasn't gotten any better.

So I think in terms of the question related should we continue, I really don't think we have a choice. We really have to move this forward. This is, to me, one of the biggest challenges for transportation that we have, particularly in the western end of the county. The other, in terms of funding, think that's what we would continue to have to work on. But I think with the as you've expressed, working with VDOT continuing and now that they're taking over some of these things, maybe that will help us overcome some of the challenges that we've had in the past because of the interjurisdictional challenges that we've experienced along the way.

So I do want to lend my support for continuing the project and then looking at potential funding sources as we move forward to see what we can do to accomplish that.

Thank you, sir.

Supervisor Pardy.

Thank you, Madam Chair. To piggyback on what just said, you know, supervisor Vega and I also share a lot of Mid County residents that take 28 every single day. I know we the western folks, Bristow, no no disrespect there, but there are lot of folks that are the Coles District and the Western part of the Occoquan District that go up that every single day. Some days, I take it to work because I work in rest, and so depending on what the guys at ninety five and sixty six and twenty eight are saying that day, it has to be going up Clifton or through there or both. It's it's all an interesting little weaving area of of a network of of transportation. But I agree. It has to be dealt with, and I think we're at the cusp of that. So what I did have a couple of questions for you, Rick.

Yes, sir.

Can you tell me about how now that we're looking at this sort of freshly, even though it's been some bond referendum money has been approved for it, how is this in the project and how they're scoping it out at VDOT going to interact with other things that are already going on with '28? So, like, I'm talking about the innovative intersection, projects that are already sort of going on, the BRT action plan by NVTA that sort of imagines a 28 sort of BRT route that goes through there. How is that gonna interact? Or even the Yorkshire Small Area Plan, all those other things that are being done and studies that have already been completed. How is this gonna interact with those pieces?

That's a great question, supervisor Bodhi. What what we've been talking to VDOT. Like I said, we're at the very preliminary stages in this and we have been scoping the project with them, letting them know some of the challenges that we have out there, some of the things that are coming up and some of the issues that may be at hand when they get out there to start designing this. We've talked about reducing typical sections. We've talked about meandering paths or sidewalks around utility facilities.

Those kinds of things have been discussed as part of the scope to look at the corridor and make sure that we're following along with not only like you said, the small area plan that's looking to be developed for this quarter and we're looking to develop that as well as part of that with planning in order to be able to facilitate the road design. But VDOT is taking those things into consideration. They may are discussing these things with us to ask us our opinion on what they should consider in our part of the project.

Appreciate that. Now I could, madam chair, a couple other questions. Talked about phasing, I appreciate Senator Zorvega, you bringing that up. It makes a lot of sense to sort of phase it based on jurisdiction, what have you. But is there an opportunity for sort of sub phases? So for example, narrowing the project scope at least temporarily, between like Compton Road and Orchard Bridge Road where some of those other improvements are coming in, things like that?

Yes, sir. Actually, we have talked to VDOT. That's one of the things we did mention to him. We understand that the possibility of widening from the bridge all the way out to Manassas may become more than $200,000,000 So they're willing to look at that what if we decide to use our debt capacity that was approved by the public that we are able to phase it in a way where we're able to use that money in a certain phase.

Appreciate that. Next question is in terms of how to fund it. Obviously, we talked about bonding. We've talked about some other things. Can you talk a little bit about how we funded the Route 1 widening because to me that's the closest corollary we have to something that is this big and this ambitious.

Well, with the Route 1 widening, sir, as as you know, that's been a a a work that I have started since the beginning of my career here in Prince William County in 2002. Since 2002, we've been widening Route 1 in small pieces like they say, how do you eat an elephant, one bite at a And that's the approach we've been taking at Route 1. We've been taking it about a mile and a half to two mile segments at a time that have been costing somewhere between 100,000,000 to $200,000,000 per segment. If we want to take that approach in '28, we can, but it does not provide the relief that you have discussed about getting the relief of the six lanes throughout the corridor to get that traffic off. It will create bottlenecks kind of like we have created on Route 1 in certain areas like in the Cardinal Drive 234 area.

So but we have funded those with NVTA and smart scale funds that is to answer your second question on the funding and it's taken many years to do so. It'd be one year of smart scale funding, two years of MVTA funding to fund one project and then we try to fund the next one down the road and then we try to fund the next one down the road and that's again taken twenty plus years to do on the Route 1 corridor. On this corridor, again, to fund the corridor, it's very expensive project. It's like Route 1. It's very similar to Route 1.

If you understand the business impacts that we're going to be creating here are similar to the business impacts that are created in Route 1. In Route 1, we decided to underground our utilities and that's going to be the cost of moving some major transmission lines here. So it's a very similar approach. We can approach it that way. But again, talking to you today, if we're breaking it up into mile long segments, this is going to be a ten, fifteen, twenty year project.

Understood. Thank you, Madam Chair. That's all for now.

Supervisor Bailey.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Rick, I know we're in a strange climate now, and thanks for all your efforts, first of all. Excuse me, you and your team in working with VDOT to bring forth recommendations to us. And I want to support the endeavors going forward. But what other nontraditional funding resources, seeing that, you know, the federal piece is kind of wonky right now, and, you know, we're working with Viad, but what other can you suggest to us any other nontraditional funding arms that we can use to support this endeavor going forward?

Again, I think we can go I don't know about much about nontraditional. I think I would say that the traditional methods of doing this are going out to NVTA and asking for the funds there like we did before. We had funding to do the bypass. Maybe that funding or more funding can be approved to this. Adding that to the bond funds would probably get us there and maybe even working with smart scale.

The only reason I don't like working with smart scale as much as I like MBTA is a smart scale project usually makes that project federal, which will make it the project cost 20% more and take 20% more, 25 more time to complete. So by doing that, you're basically just getting smart scale money to fill in the gap of the money you need to cover a federal job. So I'd like to get MVTA money and local monies to be able to do this in a quicker manner. But again, we don't have the money to pay back the debt financing for it now. What I would say to you is that you still have and I mentioned that every time I come up here, but you still have the C and I tax available to you and that C and I tax would collect enough money to cover this project and maybe some other stuff like transit and other stuff that we're looking for and doing that and that available route is still there and that would be maybe a little non traditional to go that route in order to pay the debt capacity on the bonds or we could collect that from the C and I tax throughout the years and build the sections as in sub phases or phases as was mentioned before.

So let me I'll go there since you mentioned it. Do you think that the potentiality and the possibility of us applying again to MVTA is a probability?

It is a probability, but as you know, MVTA funds projects six years out. Yes. So right now, we have already gone through the MVTA cycle. We will be getting an MVTA decision on the six year program here in the next couple of months. So we don't go back to NVTA for another couple of years. So when we go back to NVTA in 2028, that funding won't be available till 2034. So that's it's a six year cycle. So even if we go ask NVTA for those funds, NVTA will not be able to give us those funds till six years past the time of the ask and the request.

And then my last question, in reference to something that supervisor Vega said about our partnering with our regional partners like, the great mayor and Fairfax. And, you know, though how can you suggest to us those kind of conversations that we need to put on the table so everyone is a part of the decision, not just Prince William County?

And and I think, ma'am, that's what VDOT is trying to do at this point in time. That's why they've taken over the design and conceptual design of this project because they want to make sure that we have the correct and ample conversations that need to be had in order to collaborate together between the four jurisdictions in order to get this project completed.

Great, great. Madam Mayor, thanks for your presence.

All right, thank you so very much. I'm actually going to go super I have a couple more people, but I'm going to go to Supervisor Angry first since he hasn't spoken.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Hey, Rick, you're here for direction, but I heard you bring up C and I tax. When you leave here today, you need guidance on just pursuing to get this done too.

Male How to pay for it,

sir.

That's what I need guidance on mostly. Because if we can't pay for it

Male Okay.

We shouldn't be moving forward.

That was my question to you. My comment to this board is clear that everyone sees this as a priority. We don't have means of funding it. We can't get back into MBTA for a couple of years. Sounds like that C and I tax is a discussion we need to be having, so I just throw it out there.

Thank you, sir.

All right. I'm going to go to Bodhi and then Vega.

Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. I refer to the district supervisor.

Thank you. I just want to land this ship because supervisor Victor said he want direction. I have proposals to answering the four questions that you're that you that you have here, and then obviously wanna hear from my colleagues if they're kind of aligned with what I I I'm proposing. But, you know, certainly, since the mayor is here, I've been thinking about this, and I and and I really do think that we would benefit from establish establishing a route twenty eight committee. And here's why.

We are trying to piece this together kinda as we go, and there is never really any true collaboration between the city of Manassas, City of Manassas Park, and Fairfax until, like, way down the road. And when it it's brought when it's brought to us, to make a decision on it, we're trying to catch up. There's so much information, and so I believe that there's value in being a part of these discussions as soon as they begin. And so, madam mayor, food for thought, I wish you weren't retiring, but we're gonna try to collaborate and do as much as we can before you depart or maybe you reconsider. Who knows?

But with that being said, the first question is should staff continue to move the project forward? My my response is absolutely yes. There's not a world where it's a no. But I do, you know, want to see a cost benefit analysis that compares the widening to, say, lower cost operational improvements, is what I think supervisor Bailey was was was trying to reference. I say that because folks that travel on '28 email our office all the time, and they're like, if we could just synchronize the lights, you know, for starters, that would keep traffic flowing in certain parts along 28.

And so I, you know, would like to see something like that in regards to quick improvements, and that, in my opinion, wouldn't really require significant a investment upfront. Two, will bonds be utilized to fund the project? I would like to see, for us to use the 200,000,000, in the 2019, mobility bonds. I understand the NVTA timing restriction that we're under, but I I will make the argument every day and every chance that I get that Route 28 is a regional artery.

It is.

And and I need to remind people of that.

It

is. Because we need everybody to come to the table and to help us improve this, you know, congestion on on 28 and to get traffic moving. And so if we can get any type of matching funds, you always get credit and praise because of your ability to find money under rocks. And so, you know, I think that we need you to do that, to continue to do that, whether it's through matching funds or through or through grants. You know, every little bit helps. Three, what funding will be used, to pay the debt, debt financing? Financing? Again, again, I I wanna want to see every approach possible to grants. And I believe VDOT does have revenue sharing programs. Yes, Rick?

They do, ma'am. Only revenue sharing programs only give $10,000,000 every two years to match with another $10,000,000 So for every two years that we do it, can get $10,000,000 from VEDOT, 10,000,000 from us, 20,000,000.

Okay. Again, every little bit helps. And then the last question you have for us is should VEDOT continue working on preliminary engineering designs? I will say yes, but I'm also very much wanting to see what that right of way is going to look like, like what is actually going to be impacted because right now it's very speculative. And I think that once we have something set we'll be able to make a better decision if this is the direction that we want to go in.

Just to get to some of your comments. Number one as Supervisor Bodhi alluded to there are some intermediate improvements being done. As you know, that we're doing innovative intersection improvements in a couple of different locations. One that's being done by VDOT for the city of Manassas and that's moving forward right now. We have talked to our federal partners.

They have told us that we can move forward with that project and even if we come back and widen and have to take some of that out that they're okay because they feel it's a temporary improvement as it is anyway. We also have money from NVTA to do other intersections a little further down the road on Route 28. So there will be some interim relief in the next few years that will be that will start being constructed in the Route 28 corridor. Again, those are just intersection improvements and operational improvements. They do not add capacity to this corridor.

So what they do is what you just said ma'am, they will look at the signals, they will look at the intersections, they will better the intersections to better the flow of traffic but it doesn't add any capacity so it doesn't add for the traffic congestion that's there currently that comes up. So we will be doing that. We will continue to we can continue to work with VITA. I think VITA is very open to continuing to do this kind of effort. Like I mentioned earlier, I can find the money under rocks.

I can go try to get some money from MVTA. It's just the timing. The timing doesn't match up with the timing of what we could do with $200,000,000 initially because again the $200,000,000 would come in at the latest in 2019 and we would probably not get funding from MVTA unless we got some forward appropriation until 2019 at the earliest. If not, it'd be out to 2034 where it's the actual improvement. Same thing with Smart Scale.

Smart Scale funds are six years out. So anything that we apply for this year for Smart Scale, which we already did and did not include the Route 28 corridor was it's six years out. So anything that we would get for '28 could possibly not be given till '34 or '35. So it's just a timing issue. It's not finding the money.

It's just when would we get that money. Again, the bond funds, they are there and available for the board to take advantage of up to 2029 if we do ask for the two extensions necessary, which I know that Dave's here to talk about that perhaps on the two extensions. But again, we have to find a way to pay for that debt. And like I said, I suggested to you a couple of different methods and what we could do. But that right now currently it's not in the CIP. And David talk a little bit more about that.

Thanks Rick. Dave Sinclair, Office of Management and Budget also known as Mr. Fun. I'm sure the board understands this. The the projected debt service for widening Route 28 is not in the county executive's proposed five year plan, nor is there a funding source.

In terms of existing funding sources, the only way to service the annual debt service, the principal and interest payments for $200,000,000 currently is NVTA 30% revenue. We've had conversations with the board about this, Mr. Canizalas, myself, and others, for the past two or three years. Staff does not recommend tying up that revenue to pay debt service for twenty years $200,000,000 The only other alternative is to start building that capacity into the five year plan. But as you've heard from the chief financial officer this morning, as well as financial advisers, there are debt capacity concerns about the county overall.

And as the board is having also considerations for a future parks and open space and library referendum, as well as Route 28. Staff will do what the board wants, but it is starting to add up. And we'll work with the board, of course, in the future about programming this in the five year plan. Alright.

Thank you so much. I'm sorry. Mister Cannasales, one of the things that you're mentioning, some of the operational. I believe Senator Rome was the one who did the STAR study to synchronize the lights, correct? Do you know anything about this?

We did the STAR study and yes, Senator Rome was kind of leading that effort. Again, she also led the effort in trying to get the monies from MVTA in order to do the innovative intersection. So it's these two different innovative intersection projects that will do some operational improvements on the existing corridor, ma'am.

I was going to ask a question about, you know, can we do another bond? But again, I just have to say this, I do support this, but I want to be very clear to everyone on the DS. We have a lot of needs and wants. We're going to have to be realistic about what our priorities are and we're going to stick with those priorities. We absolutely have to stick with those priorities because if we are gonna do a bond for parks, libraries, potentially in indoor sports, that's gonna be a lot of money.

If we're going to say we wanna put a lot of money in reserves, we're gonna have to actually really prioritize. And I'm asking everyone ahead of next week, I reach out to people, let's talk. I generally don't come in on Fridays, I will meet folks on Fridays because I wanna get a sense of where folks are because we're gonna have to make tough discussions. In order to have things, we have to pay for them. We have to have the money to pay for them. And so, I want people to think about that as we look at potential tax relief, as we look at things that the county needs, as we look at things we simply want, we are going to have to have some financial discipline. So tough choices. With that, Supervisor Bodie.

Thank you Madam Chairman. I appreciate the bead you're taking there. A couple more questions, Rick.

Yes sir.

As part of the scoping, so I know that's VDOT is still sort of really sizing this out. Are we gonna look at, the parallel road of of Mathis Avenue and Old Center Centerville Road as part of this?

No, sir.

We're not? Okay. Appreciate this. I think that as we talk about Suarez Vega's idea around having a a sort of a joint 28, I think that's something that that folks should think about maybe as a separate project, but knowing that that's another stretch of road right along parallel that is gonna be affected by this one way or another. So I just wanted to leave that. I also like that idea. So, I just wanted to say that a joint committee makes a lot of sense. I know that, Loudoun and Fairfax did it on other parts of the quarter way further down towards Dulles, so it's not unheard of. My other question is, you know, we're talking about trying to fund it. Can you talk a little bit about the opportunity for maybe a transportation district or a c and I district that's only sort of four contiguous area around this to help pay for it?

Sure. As as as you know, a transportation district, we've done a few projects this way where we have taxed the the local businesses on on what the improvements will be. We have done that for both the Prince William Parkway in the East end towards the Minnieville side and we also did it towards the Parkway out in the West end on the Brentsville Interchange to Southerly Manor Interchange area as well. That's something that we haven't done in about twenty years though. And the necessary funds for this project compared to the necessary funds that we needed for those projects, it's just a lot different.

It's a very big number here and trying to tax and pay that off in a twenty year frame is almost like paying off the $200,000,000 bond, if you understand. So I'm not sure where that would lead to. On the C And I District, I know that that's been talked about. As a county, we'd like to see the C and I tax be all over the county and be able to do different things with it. But the C and I district will only tax those businesses within that district.

So would that generate enough funds to do this entire project rather than countywide? I just don't see it. But Dave, again, Sinclair could tell me different. But it's just that again, by making that district, you would just be taxing those people around that area, and I'm not sure if the the funding is enough to cover the the amount needed for this project.

Sure. And and I appreciate that, Rick. And I wasn't thinking about it being an all encompassing that's the one silver bullet to do To me, to the earlier point, you're looking at sort of come you know, combining different funding sources and franking frankly, making a super a Frankenstein's monster of different ways to do it. I just throw that out there as a possibility knowing that I know that some folks have have concerns about C and I. So this is broadly because it's countywide. We're not really talking about specific benefits here and there. But with this, I think there's a much more tangible thing to go to talk to folks about and really advocate for how it will improve everyone's quality of life and access to businesses and what have you, if folks are able to flow better and have better sort of visibility into that corridor.

I completely understand and agree if that's something that the Board would like to do. The other thing I would just add to this because you mentioned again the twenty eight committee that was brought up by Supervisor Vega. I will bring this to VDOT. I'll actually say that we had this conversation. They're probably aware that we're having this conversation right now but we'll bring that to VDOT and see if maybe we can start that committee through this design process. That way we can start maybe how we did if you remember how we did the initial bypass where we had a steering committee that kind of led the effort and then we had a technical committee that kind of did the work, right? Maybe that's something I can bring up to Vedat that we can start and that way we can start this '28 committee that sounds like a good idea.

Appreciate it. And then last thing I'll say and I alluded to earlier is as we talk about this, I really hope that as part of the scoping of this and as they continue to design and what have you, they really look at this as a transit oriented corridor. Because the last thing, frankly, from my position we wanna see is just another one. There's widen the road, and there's no really thought about how this sort of interacts with connectivity around transit, bike, ped, all these other multimodal things that you and your your department have been really leaning in on over the years. You know, this is not, you know, 2002. This is now 2026 where everyone acknowledges with all the studies have been done, the BRT, other things that if we're gonna do this right, it has to be a multimodal corridor, and I hope that's part of the work.

It it will be part of the work, and we'll also make it part of the work of the Yorkshire small area plan, will guide this design as well.

Alright. Is there anyone else?

I'll say, madam chair, if I can, just to supervisor Vega's point, if there is an interest in moving forward with a twenty eight committee, this is certainly within scope for the interjurisdictional. And so if there is an interest, then we could certainly come back and put that on agenda for some discussion.

Supervisor Vega? Thank you, madam chair.

I'm not opposed to it it's just that this topic takes so much time but again I don't want to have to establish something else I get it. I think that we should give it a try Madam Chair.

I do not have any objections again Fairfax is going to need to have a seat at the table if we're going to talk about that. Yeah so

they're not a part of that committee.

And there's so many other things too that us City of Manassas and City of Manassas Park have to discuss as much as I hate to stand up something else because we need Fairfax at the table. Yep. And I would say that they're really our most important player in some respects because making sure that we cooperate. I don't want to have a repeat of anything else.

And Madam Chair, I'm not sure if the idea of us doing it through the VDOT process of design and having, like I mentioned earlier, that committee kind of lead the effort as VDOT and the jurisdictional staff work the technical part of it. I think that we can do it through them and they can kind of bring everybody together this inner jurisdictional way to lead this effort and have those conversations, those hard conversations at that level that will trickle down to the technical folks to let us know what we need to do and guide us in what we need to do.

The only follow-up that I have Rick is how is that different than what we've tried in the past?

Again, it's a different corridor, different plans coming into effect and it would be us bringing together all the groups. Again, this would be when I'm talking about the steering committee, I'm talking about someone like yourself and the mayor and the other representatives of the counties coming together to talk about this that would guide the technical efforts of the staff underneath. So you would be kind of like our guiding star up with VDOT kind of bringing us all together And then VDOT and us would take would implement what you're looking for.

I'm fine.

All right. Well, guess we can try that approach.

And we'll discuss it with VIRA. There's an issue there or they come up with an issue, we'll come back to the board and let you know and then we can go about it a different way.

Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am.

All right. Anything else you need from us, Rick or?

Yes. We'll continue on. My plan and what I heard here today, just to reiterate and make sure that we're all on the same page is the fact that we will continue to work with VDOT in doing this design. We will try to get VDOT to establish a 28 steering committee made up of elected leaders from the jurisdictions that could come together and discuss this. They will give guidance to the technical aspect of the technical committees underneath it.

We will continue to look for funding sources as applications come through in the next couple of years and the opportunities for MVTA and smart scale funding sources come up, we'll be looking for those as well as some non conventional as Ms. Bailey mentioned, non conventional ways of funding the project. We will continue to look if there is a way to get the debt service and you will continue to discuss if there is a way to get the debt service needed to fund the $200,000,000 And if there's a way to do that, we will look with VITA to see how we can face the project to take advantage of those funds. Is that where I'm at?

Supervisor Vega?

I just want to know what the timeline then now looks like?

Well again it all depends on you know which way we go. There's some decisions to be made here. We got to talk at a technical committee. You got to determine whether you do want to take out the debt service and there's some funding sources that we you want might want to implement to be able to take care of that debt service. We'll be able to do things sooner rather than later. If we go about it the traditional way of going out for grants and going out for additional funds or doing districts or that sort of thing, that's probably going to take a little longer and we'll probably be looking at funding this facility in the 2030 timeframe to be able to move forward from there.

Yes. I think it's important just to reiterate without a clear funding source, this becomes very difficult. And so, we're we'll certainly go back and be as creative as possible, and and always come back to the board, with some recommendations, but it will be difficult without a clear source of funding for this project.

I agree with you. Can I just

say one more thing? I

know, I know. You know to Supervisor Bodhi and Anne Grace point about the C and I tax you know I have mixed feelings about it but when you come back to us or maybe this is something that we can touch again in our Finance and Budget Committee at our next meeting or whenever, can we get some projections? Because while we talk about designating a certain percentage, mean the price tag is quite large, right? And if we're talking about $10,000,000 $12,000,000 it seems like we're never going to get there. And so I just want to make sure that when you do come back to us with options that we have what's projected in terms of revenue that may be generated.

And I'll look again to Mr. Sinclair, but what I was insinuating when I mentioned the C and I tax was that the C and I tax gives you a mechanism to pay back the debt. So it would be something that you can use that amount of money to pay back the debt that we're taking out upfront for the facility. Okay.

Gotcha. Thank you.

Mister Sinclair would like to add to that.

Yeah. Just for just for perspective only, annual debt service on $200,000,000 would be about $1,718,000,000 dollars a year roughly in, principal and interest costs. Just for perspective only.

Mr. Fun? His name is Mr. Fun. Fun. You're fun. Now this is gonna be an expensive project. Again to everyone, ahead of our markup next week, we're really going to have to think about what are our wants, what are our needs, and taxes do pay for things that we want. Taxes pay for things that we need, so we're going to have to, I'm not gonna lie, I'd love to target that meals tax, and I'm meeting with some restaurant owners, but I'm gonna have to be really judicious about that. And even though looking through this recap packet, what are the things that we're gonna have to say no to?

There's gonna be a lot of people who are mad, don't like us, I don't have any friends, I don't care. But I'm just saying, you know, we have to make some really hard decisions. We have to make some hard decisions.

I would mention to you ma'am, Mr. Sinclair has mentioned that the only funding source that we have available now to do anything with is the MVTA 30%. But as you know and as it's coming forward to you in the next item OmniRide is looking to get funded as well and they're looking to dip into that 30% fund as well. So there's a lot of needs, there's a lot of competing things and projects for these funds and just making sure you're aware of that.

All right, Mr. Sinclair. Mr.

Sinclair, sorry.

Yes. And I apologize to the board for not being clear on this earlier. It's unlikely that the debt service associated with, the $200,000,000 of voter approved debt on Route 28 would impact the f y twenty seven budget. We're talking about the out years of the five year plan. I'd rather I don't think staff would ask the board that this is gonna throw the upcoming discussions on the budget in turmoil, it will not, okay? Thank you.

All right. You look scared. Any additional questions or can we allow Rick to relax? Run, Rick. Thank you. Run.

Thank you.

Run for your life. All right. We are gonna move on to agenda item number nine and that is county attorney time.

Thank you madam chair, members of the board. This afternoon in closed session, we will have consultation with legal counsel and briefings by staff members pertaining to the acquisitions of real property for a public purpose to include parks and recreation, where consultation, briefing, or discussion in an open meeting would adversely affect the bargaining position, litigating posture, or negotiating strategy of the body. And then we will have consultation with legal counsel and briefing by staff members pertaining to actual or probable litigation with the related legal advice regarding public nuisance, and possible legal claims in response to the manufacturer, marketing, sale, and distribution of opioids, and regarding a potential settlement with Associated Pharmacies, and American Associated Pharmacies, J. M. Smith Corporation, Louisiana Wholesale Drug Company, Morrison Dixon Company, North Carolina Mutual Wholesale Drug Company, Inc, and United Natural Foods Inc, including its subsidiaries, Super Value and Advantage Logistics, the six remnant defendants, all for the role in the distribution, manufacture, and sale of the pharmaceutical opioid products, where consultation, briefing, or discussion in an open meeting would adversely affect the bargaining position, litigating posture, or negotiating strategy of the public body.

These items are appropriate for closed session pursuant to 2.2 dash thirty seven eleven a three seven and eight of the Virginia code.

Move for approval. Second.

It's been properly moved and seconded. Let's go ahead and take our vote.

Vote unanimous.

All right. Supervisor Bailey, did Yes, you

I do, Madam Chair. Thank you so much for indulging me. I just want to take an opportunity to recognize my new appointee that will be approved later on after we come back later on tonight. Mister Russell Young, thank you for coming in. We appreciate your service, sir. Thank you.

Oh, I

forgot to note. He is a member of the Dumfries Town Council. So thank you for joining us. All right, Mr. Schoroder, we're going to have some fun. It's up to you.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair, members of the board. So with item 10A, we're going to have a presentation. This is our budget work session item or presentation from Doctor. Bob Snyder. And this is, OmniRide's proposed budget.

Thank you, madam chair, members of the county board of supervisors. So, we are here today to present to you on our budget. But first thing I wanted to do before turning the floor over to our chief financial officer, mister Phil Perella, is just give you kind of a rundown of where we are in some recent initiatives. First and foremost is last year was very interesting for us with the federal return to work after about a five year period of the COVID pandemic. We adapted our services extremely well.

We had some severe overcrowding out of Pentagon, etcetera, but our planning team, fortunately, very wonky, which is very appreciative when it comes time to looking at the granular impact of trips, etcetera. We were able to restore some eliminated trips out of the Gainesville and Lakeridge corridor and have maximized grant funds, and it's a really good example of how we use state dollars to expand our footprint to Front Royal. But that Front Royal route, now Warrington route stops in the Gainesville district. And it stops right there at the University route and it loads up with more, residents from Prince William County traveling into DC. So we're again using state level funding to provide services right here in Prince William County, and we have ongoing system wide growth.

It's not just the express routes. We have this on our routes that we operate in Dale City, we operate in Lakeridge, etcetera. We also launched our transit app, and you say, real time tracking, that should be easy. Not when you have a 1,500 square mile service footprint from Front Royal to DC, from DC to below Fredericksburg. It's a very large service area, makes it more complex.

But now we have that operating successfully. You can track your bus, your trip. It's not theoretical, but it also, this in late excuse me, in early or mid summer, we'll be launching real time surveys from passengers. They can tell us real time how full the bus is, is it clean, etcetera, how is the shelter, how is the bus stop, things of that nature. One of the other important things we've established is an unlimited ride pass for commuters at $285.

We target this to be around 90% of what the federal government allotment is, and the reason we do this in a monthly pass is, for example, in fall when the federal government had a shutdown, we did not lose revenue. When we had a Monday a few weeks ago, we were threatening tornadoes and a lot of people did work from home that day, OPM shutdown, etcetera, we received our full slate of revenue. When we had the ice Icemageddon from the month for the month of January into February, we did not see a dip in revenue. So it's very beneficial in that we have established and consistent funding patterns and that pays dividends over and over, Plus, it also encourages that utilization of services. Because that way, for example, if you're paying by the trip at the end of the month, people might look to slugging instead of coming out of their pockets in the Gainesville district or in Lakeridge or out of the Potomac District, etcetera, including Woodbridge.