City Council - Regular Meeting

Because the best prevention of potential military aggression is a credible deterrence. The UAE says Dubai airport's passenger traffic plunged by 2/3 in March following the Iran war. Traveler numbers sank to 2 and a half million. Iran targeted the airport several times in retaliation for USIsraeli strikes. The Dutch operator of a cruise ship with a suspected deadly hunter virus outbreak on board wants to evacuate two sick passengers. Three have already died. The vessel is currently off the coast of Cape Verie. The BBC's Mimi Swaybe. Negotiations are ongoing with local authorities following what oceanwide expeditions has described as a serious medical situation. The World Health Organization has reported one confirmed and five suspected cases on board of havirus. It stressed that the risk to the wider public remained low. The illness is usually passed to humans from rodents.

I'm Anna Pisaro at the BBC in London. Support for NPR comes from this station and from the Kaufman Foundation providing access to opportunities that help people achieve financial stability, upward mobility, and economic prosperity regardless of race, gender, or geography. Kaufman.org. and from the Loadar Foundation. Inspired by the maxim that helping someone else less fortunate is a path to a happier, healthier, and more meaningful life. Learn more at loadstarfoundation.org.

It's Morning Edition on Radio IQ. I'm Jeff Boser. The Virginia General Assembly is in the midst of a debate about tax incentives that have made the state a world leader in attracting data centers. The tax breaks are set to expire in 2035, but some lawmakers want to end them next year as this fight unfolds. West Virginia is offering its own package of incentives to bring data centers there. Cardinal News reporter Elizabeth Byer is covering this story. She spoke with Fred Eckles.

Elizabeth, last year the West Virginia General Assembly took some steps to make their state more attractive for data centers. What have they done? The West Virginia state legislature passed a couple of bills um in 2025 during their 2025 session to create energy micro grids for data centers and to exempt them from local zoning ordinance that was done in an effort to bring the industry to the state. So, West Virginia recently announced two tech companies that plan to build data centers in their state. And the governor of West Virginia has also recently issued a statement that basically told tech companies that the state is open for data centers, especially if Virginia is becoming less inclined to be as hospitable towards the the tech infrastructure as they currently are.

What are the tax benefits that data centers get in Virginia? data centers that meet certain requirements, including investing at least $150 million and creating at least 50 jobs or in economically distressed localities $70 million and um 10 jobs, those data centers are exempt from paying state retail sales tax and use tax on computers and other equipment.

How is all this playing out now in the general assembly? Some opponents of the tax exemptions have said that they have cost the Commonwealth around $1.9 billion per year, while supporters of the exemption argue that those exemptions have led to $5.5 billion in labor income and uh $9.1 billion in GDP to Virginia's economy annually.

And now we have dueling budget proposals. Earlier this year, the state senate issued a budget proposal that is contingent upon ending tax exemption in 2027. The House of Delegates budget did not include ending the exemption early. So, there's roughly a more than $1 billion difference between the two budget proposals that will need to be rectified.

Now, those who would end the tax breaks early are talking about specific things that they would do with the money in the immediate term. Supporters of the effort to end the tax exemptions early have said that that tax revenue generated um by the ending of that exemption uh could pay for child care programs um school construction and to cover funding cuts that we're seeing on the the federal level to certain federal programs that the state may have to take up and fill in the gaps for in the coming years. So, opponents of the effort to end uh the tax exemptions early have expressed concerns that without those exemptions, uh tech companies would be less inclined to move their infrastructure and projects into Virginia. And some localities could miss out on the jobs and tax revenue that they generate.

And this has now focused attention on an announced mega development in Southside Virginia, which would create 2,000 jobs. It would be among the biggest economic development projects ever in that part of the state. There are those that say without the tax incentives, it's dead. Secretary of Finance Mark Sichls told the state senate finance committee in midappril that if the data center tax exemptions end, so does that project. The developer to date has not said that. Elizabeth Byer reports for cardinal newsws.org. I'm Fred Eckles. Cardinal News is a nonprofit online independent news organization covering Southwest and Southside Virginia.

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There's again a traffic hang up on I64 westbound just east of Charlottesville near where it was a little while ago. I 64 west mile marker 129 3M back up [music] at that spot in Alberal County just east of Charlottesville. Support for Radio IQ comes from Bay Power Solutions providing emergency backup power to regional businesses, military, healthcare, and educational institutions. Regional distributor for Generrack Industrial Power. Bay Powersolutions.com. And from gene new music center, presenting live and live streaming concerts throughout the year. Program details at garnew.org.

Expect some showers and storms by Wednesday. Few isolated showers in areas west today. Otherwise, a mix of sun and clouds. Highs in the low70s to around 78 for Ron Oak, Danville, and the Richmond area. [music]

Why Spirit just couldn't take off again. Marketplace Morning Report is supported by Baron's Investor Circle, offering stock picks, market insights, and access to the Baron's editors behind a century of reporting. At barren.com/investorcircle and by Schwab. At Schwab, investors get choices ranging from self-directed investing to full service wealth management all in one place. Learn more at schwab.com.

From marketplace, I'm Sabri Venesure in New York. Spirit Airlines says it's almost completed customer refunds after going out of business over the weekend. The airlines demise was both expected and unexpected. It's been struggling for years. It was in its second bankruptcy, but up until Friday, President Trump was talking about finding a way to bail Spirit out. So, what happened? Marketplaces Novasafo has that. The US government reportedly offered a $500 million rescue to Spirit Airlines, but it came with big strings attached. as much as a 90% stake in the company and priority in getting paid back. Transportation Secretary Shawn Duffy over the weekend said current holders of the airlines debt bocked.

In the end, this was a creditor issue. Again, they have the final say of whether they want to do a deal with the government. Those creditors preferred liquidation to sell Spirit's assets instead of continuing to contend with jet fuel bills that unexpectedly skyrocketed because of the disruptions from the Iran war. Other budget airlines have also reached out to the Trump administration for financial assistance. I'm Novasafo for Marketplace. Fewer and fewer working Americans are earning a living wage. A new report from Day Force and the Living Wage Institute found that just over half of full-time workers earn enough to provide for themselves and their families. That's down five percentage points compared to four years ago. Market places Kaylee Wells has more.

What counts as a living wage depends on how much stuff costs and right now the cost of housing, food, child care, and other essentials are elevated. Energy prices have recently spiked, of course. Jason Rollins with Dayor says, "Meanwan, wages have been going up, just not as fast as costs. Job growth has recently slowed and millions of workers haven't seen a meaningful improvement in their financial situation."

The report shows familiar demographic gaps. Women are less likely to earn a living wage than men. Hourly workers less likely than salaried workers. Black and Latino workers less likely than white and Asian workers. And all of those gaps got wider in 2025. Certain workers are always more vulnerable when the economy drops in any kind of way. Sabo Wahed is director of the UCLA labor center. When there's an unemployment bump, you often see black workers to experience it harder first and so on.

Wahed says one way to alleviate wage gaps is to elevate the lowest wages. The federal minimum wage, she points out, hasn't increased since 2009. I'm Kaylee Wells for Marketplace.

All right, let's do the numbers. Dow futures [music] are down 135 points. That is 3/10en of a percent. S&P 500 futures are down a tenth of a percent. NASDAQ futures up a tenth [music] of a percent. Marketplace morning report is supported by GE. With GE Key, [music] Agentic AI, and GE Smart Software, GE is at the forefront in Agentic [music] procurement, orchestration, and autonomous supply chains. and by Million [music] Bazillion. A webbby winning podcast from Marketplace teaches your little ones [music] all about money. Listen to Million Bazillion wherever you get your podcasts. Tesla, specifically Tesla's CEO, Elon Musk, has long made big promises about robo taxis. These are fully self-driving taxis. At one point, Musk said half the population of the US would have access to them by the end of last year. In Tesla's earnings call last week, that ambition was whittleled down to a dozen or so states by the end of this year. And the reality right now is even more modest. You're much more likely to see a robo taxi from competitor Whimo. Joining us to talk about Tesla's elusive robo taxi rollout is Kirsten Cororusk, transportation editor at TechCrunch. Good morning.

Morning.

How widespread are Tesla's driverless vehicles right now? not widespread at all. [laughter] They are in Austin and there are a little bit more than a dozen that are considered to be actively in service and they did just roll out in Dallas and Houston. But those two you really need to put a little asterk next to because as far as I can see on my end, it's incredibly limited. Just a couple of vehicles in both of these cities. What has made the general roll out of driverless taxis slower than some people might have expected or hoped?

There's a number of reasons why. There's the technical reasons, right? And then there's the regulatory hoops that all of these companies have had to jump through. And then there's the the hard part of just operating these things. What is the biggest technical hurdle still remaining? Do you think

when I've talked to engineers, they sort of sum it up as, you know, we've solved 99.999% of quote unquote full self-driving. And it's that very last fraction in which sometimes the vehicle doesn't operate as it should. There's also, I think, just this interesting phenomenon about how, you know, we accept as a society people dying in car crashes around 45,000 or so a year. But I think that the level of acceptance of a single autonomous vehicle potentially, you know, killing someone or being involved in a fatal car crash or even injuring someone is very very low and so the bar is high. How big is the regulatory hurdle facing these companies?

It's dependent on the state. So if you're in the state of California and you want to operate a robo taxi service, you have to go through two agencies and have multiple different permits. You want to do that in Arizona. It's a very different process and much faster. If we get a federal framework, I think that could be very helpful and actually encourage the dispersement of this technology in a more clear way. But right now, you see these pockets or heavy hubs of activity. Do you see a a future where autonomous vehicles are are common place and everywhere?

I think that in certain cities, it will absolutely be everywhere. But are we going to see robo taxis in middle America or in smaller towns? I don't think so. Certainly not anytime soon. Kirstston Corasek, transportation editor at TechCrunch. Thank you so much. Thank you. And just last week, Tesla added five more so-called unsupervised robo taxes to its fleet in Texas. [music] In New York, I'm Sabri Benesore with the Marketplace Morning Report [music] from 800 PM American Public Media. [music] Hi, it's Steve Eninsky.

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BBC News with Gavindil. The US military says its warships have helped two US flagged vessels transit the straight of Hormuz, breaking an Iranian blockade. It's denied Iranian reports that one warship had been forced to turn back. Iranian officials had earlier said warning shots had been fired at a US warship. US Central Command said two destroyers were now in the Gulf to assist an operation to secure passage announced by President Trump. Here's our global affairs reporter Sebastian Usher.

After a period in which the US and Iran have been stuck in diplomatic deadlock, the latest incidents in and around the Strait of Hammuz are a reminder of just how close the war is to being reignited. President Trump now seems intent on breaking the Iranian blockade of the Strait of Hummus using US military power. The closure has been Thran's most significant means of putting pressure on the US through squeezing the global economy.

To our 9:00 a.m. informal session of Ronok City Council on May 4th. And just because I have to, May the 4th be with you. [laughter] All right. City Council meetings will be televised live and replayed on RV TV channel 3 on Thursdays at 7:00 p.m. and Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 pm and video streamed through YouTube live at youtube.comva. Council meetings are offered with closed captioning for the deaf or heart of hearing. This time I'll ask our clerk, Miss McCoy, to please call the role. Miss Sanchez Jones here. Vice Mayor Maguire here. Mr. Nash here. Mr. Volison here. Miss Powers here, Mr. Hagen here,

Mayor Cobb here, and we are all present. Thank you. We have several items for action regarding closed meetings, and I'll take uh each one separately. First is a communication from my office requesting that council convene in a closed meeting to discuss vacancies on certain authorities, boards, commissions, and committees appointed by the council pursuant to section 2.2-3711A1, 2-3711A1 code of Virginia as amended and the boards and uh committees and commissions that we'll be considering today are included in the agenda. I need a motion and a second, please. Second. Thank you. Council members Vol and Powers. Madame Clerk, will you please call the role? Miss Sanchez Jones. Hi.

Vice Mayor Maguire. I. Mr. Nash. Hi. Mr. Hi. Miss Powers. Hi. Mr. Hagen. Hi. Mayor Cobb. I and the motion passes. The second is a communication my from my office requesting that council convene in a closed meeting to discuss the selection of two trustees on the Rono City School Board for a term of office commencing July 1st, 2026 pursuant to section 2.2-3711A1 Code of Virginia as amended. Need a motion and a second, please. Thank you, Council Members Hagen and Nash. U Madame Clerk, will you please call the role? Miss Sanchez Jones.

No, I was just thinking about if it's because of the she pass. You can vote on it. It's just to vote that the group will go into close session even though you will not be allowed to participate. Oh yes. [laughter] Vice Mayor Maguire. Hi, Mr. Nash. Hi, Mr. Vison. Hi, Miss Powers. Hi, Mr. Hagen. Hi.

And Mayor Cobb. Hi. and a motion passes. Third is a communication from the city attorney requesting that city council convene in a closed meeting to consult with legal counsel pertaining to actual litigation regarding a workers's compensation settlement where such consultation or briefing and open meeting would adversely affect the negotiating or litigating posture of the public body. This is pursuant to section 2.2-3711 A7 code of Virginia as amended. Need a motion and second please. Thank you. Council members Powers and Hagen. Madame Clerk, will you please call the role? Miss Sanchez Jones. Hi. Vice Mayor Maguire. Hi. Mr. Nash. Hi. Mr. Hi. Miss Powers. Hi. Mr. Hagen.

Hi. Mayor Cobb. Hi. And the motion passes. The the next item we are withdrawing for today. So, I'll move on to um a communication from the city attorney requesting that city council convene in a closed meeting to consult with legal council regarding a certain legal matter requiring the provision of legal advice by the city attorney concerning an economic development project in the central part of the city of Roanoke pursuant to section 2.2-3711A8 code of Virginia as amended. Need a motion and second, please. you. Council members Vol and Nash. Madame Clerk, will you please call the role? Miss Sanchez Jones.

Vice Mayor Maguire. I. Mr. Nash. Hi. Mr. Volison. Hi. Miss Powers. Hi. Mr. Hagen. Hi. Mayor Cobb.

I. And the motion passes. A communication from the city attorney requesting that city council convene in a closed meeting to consult with legal counsel regarding a certain legal manner requiring the provision of legal advice by the city attorney concerning a prospective business or industry or the expansion of an existing business or industry or no previous announcement has been made of the business or industry's interest in locating or expanding its facilities in the central part of the city of Rono. This is pursuant to section 2.2-37118. 2-3711 A5 code of Virginia as amended. Need a motion. Second, please.

Thank you. Council members Vol and Sanchez Jones. Madame Clerk, will you please call the role? Miss Sanchez Jones, Vice Mayor Maguire. Hi, Mr. Nash. Hi, Mr. Vison. Hi, Miss Powers. Hi, Mr. Hagen. Hi. And Mayor Cob.

Hi. And the motion passes. And finally, a communication from the city attorney requesting that city council convene in a closed meeting to consult with legal counsel regarding a certain legal matter requiring the provision of legal advice by the city attorney concerning a prospective business or industry or the expansion of an existing business or industry or no previous announcement has been made of the business or industry's interest in locating or expanding its facilities in a regional park in which the city is a partner. Pursuant to section 2.2-3711A5 code of Virginia as amended. I need a motion and second please. Thank you. Council members Powers and Vol. Madame clerk will you please call the role.

Sanchez Jones. Hi. Vice Mayor Magguire. Hi. Mr. Nash. Hi. Mr. Volison. Hi. Miss Powers. Hi. Mr. Hagen. Hi. Mayor Cobb. Hi. And the motion passes. At this time, I'm going to recess our council meeting and turn it over to Vice Mayor Maguire, who will lead us through our legislative committee. Thank you very much, Mayor. So, um, I will call to order the May 4th meeting of the Reo City Legislative uh, committee, and I will ask the clerk to call the role. Mr. Hagen, here. Miss Sanchez Jones here. Mayor Joseph Cobb here. Uh, Mr. Mr. Nash here, Mr.

Miss Powers here, Miss Appel will be absent today, and Miss Trigg and Chairman McGuire here. Thank you.

Thank you, Miss McCoy. Um, we are delighted today to have with us our federal legislative consultants um, with Meguire Woods, Clayton Cox and Scott Binkley, uh, to give us an update on some of the federal legislative work they've been helping us with. Um, gentlemen, before I I see you standing up, I'm sorry. Before I hand it over to you, I want to quickly uh, if this sounds okay, we're going to approve our minutes and then I'm going to let Dr. Sbert um, with the school side come up maybe first and give us a quick rundown um, so that you can uh, slide out of here if you don't want to stay for the full presentation. Um, but can I first have a motion, please, to approve our minutes from April 6th? Second. Thank you, Council Member Vol and Council Member Hagen. Could I have the clerk call the role, please? Yes, Mr. Hagen.

Hi, Miss Sanchez Jones. Mayor Cobb. Hi, Mr. Nash. Hi, Mr. Volison. Hi, Miss Powers. Hi, M. And Chairman McGuire. Hi. Thank you very much. And um yes. So now, if I could have you come up, Dr. Sbert, would you uh Everyone should have in front of them a handout. And Dr. Sbert was kind enough to join us to give us uh the schoolide update. So, I'll turn it over to you. I appreciate you being with us,

Mr. Chair, Mr. Mayor, members of council, staff, everyone in attendance. Uh, good morning. Alan Sbert, Ra Public Schools, and um I will be brief, but I do plan on listening to this uh federal presentation. I've been uh tracking the work that McGuire was been doing for you all. Um, as you all are very aware, the over,200 bills made it through the general assembly, considered by the governor. Many more did not. On the public education side, um, over 200 got some level of of observation and review by us. I break them into focus ones, other ones, and then priorities. What you have before you today are the priority positions that align with the board's adopted priorities that were communicated with you and that you kindly incorporated by reference into your own package. And that broke down to about 15 general topics, but really, you know, really you have a House Companion and a Senate companion. So, there's about 30 bills you track on both sides through through in general a very successful session. But um as you also know some work is still not done in Richmond. And so one in a couple in particular um we did align close line with you fully in terms of supporting the 1% sales tax uh referendum that did not survive either chamber but it is in the Senate budget. So we continue to watch that and that is one of the TBDs. Um the other one that um we uh collectively tried to work to oppose under the spirit of local control was the requirement for collective bargaining. We believe that should be up to local school boards as it is now. Some school boards choose, some do not. Some are exploring. Um the the governor's language we thought gave us more time which would make for a more thoughtful approach, but that was rejected. So we are still waiting to see what comes from that. And I checked the headlines this morning and hadn't seen anything just yet. Uh a couple other headlines there. So again, the at the very top, we did um uh have a a night began the session, actually before the session began, a joint letter from the mayor and the chair asserting our position that we think again local control should govern how our city selects its schoolboard members and actually had a another member of the

Senate share with me that uh she thought that was a pretty good approach and that there had been some conversation, but no bill was even introduced this time. Uh it might come up again in the future, but we had some success there. That was a good strategy. Um, also in terms of unfunded mandates, one that we successfully had delayed, worked with others, helped get delayed was one about indoor air quality. We're obviously very committed to indoor air quality. In fact, in Roxy public schools, we have uh HVAC people go from apprentice to to journeyman to master. And the idea that we would be required to bring in outside resources to do work that we already do uh had potential significant costs. That bill only got carried over for a year. And so our plan is we never want to be an organization that only talks about what we oppose. We like to bring constructive ideas to the table. So we'll be working with some other school divisions uh to bring forward a suggestion on how to address some of these concerns about indoor air quality but in a way that respects that small rural divisions might need a consultant whereas larger divisions with great capacity may not except for in certain circumstances. So that's a very high level brief summary of a whole lot of work and happy to answer any questions uh that you might have. Thank you, Dr. Sbert. Anyone have any questions?

Mr. Question about the um the 1% sales tax. How did that because it didn't make it through either house this year and so they're just doing that as a budget conferee?

Well, I'm not sure how much the conferees have worked yet because everything's been held up over the data center debate, but the the Senate bill uh Senator Lucas did ensure the Senate bill has language to provide the provision. Now I think the language includes things that like BML and BO weren't particularly fond of but at least makes the the beginning of it. So we'll really have heard since since the data center conversation taken all the air out of the room really don't have much insight uh maybe Woods does into some of the other things that are cooking right now but we certainly hope they'll move at some point.

Thank you. if it's put into the um budget is does it have delegate Russul's uh retroact like retroactive funding attached to it to pay off like past projects or is it only for future ones going forward? Council member, I've not looked at that budget language since it came out like in after shortly after budget Sunday, but uh I do not believe it did. U but I I don't want to speak definitively. Good question. We were hoping it would be retroactive, right? [snorts] Any other questions? Miss Powers.

I just attended a board meeting with our treasures association and so we got updated on a lot of stuff as well. And so to answer your question, I believe that um Senate Delegate Russell's bill is the preferred bill that they want to go through the three people that um had bills out there. Um, but I believe Senator I mean uh Delegate Roul would allow to retroactive back to um prior years and I believe Senator Lucas's did not. So

correct. Uh but neither bill came out of the general assembly. So all we're left with now is the Senate budget language which if adopted would have the weight of law just wouldn't have had the participatory process that the committees would have had in the Senate House delegates. Any other questions? Well, thank you so much Dr. Sbert. Really appreciate Chair AEL board member Trey give their regrets but we certainly appreciate the opportunity to pull on the same rope with y'all. Thank you.

Definitely give them our best. All right. Well, with that, I will uh turn the floor over if I can to Mr. Cox and Mr. Binkley. Welcome you down to the podium. [snorts] Welcome to Ronote. It's actually my uh third time here, so I'm very excited to be here. But yes, thank you. We'll turn it right over to you.

Thank you so much, Mr. Vice Mayor. I'm Clint Cox uh with McGuire Woods Consulting, part of our uh your new federal affairs team. So really excited to be here. Uh very thrilled if if it's any indication from my taxi driver who picked me up. People are very enthusiastic to be here. And so um we're really really uh glad to be part of the team and excited to really hit the ground running. Um I think last time we talked to you about appropriations primarily uh what we call earmarks um and the congressionally directed spending process which is sort of entering its kind of opaque period and we'll get into that in a second. Um, but we wanted to give you a sort of update on what's going on in DC. I think one of the biggest things that we try and do for clients is sort of cut through the noise, cut through what's going on, um, what you read on in the papers, what you see on TV, and then what how that actually will affect, uh, your constituents and your local government. And so, um, we'll get into that in a second, but as a reminder, I'm Clayton. I'm, uh, been McGuire Woods for about five years. I'm the senior vice president there. Uh, prior to my time with McGuire Woods, I was in uh, political fundraising on the Democratic side of the aisle. Uh, worked for President Obama, Secretary Clinton, and then helped with the 2020 campaign. So, very excited to be here, excited to get into our presentation. Uh, we have a really, I think, uh, thrilling afternoon and morning planned where we'll get to see some of these sites that we're working on, um, that we're putting forward to our DC folks. So, excited to be here. With that, I'll hand it to Scott Binkley. Thanks, Clayton, and thank you all for having us. We're excited to be here. Um, this is my first time to Rowan Oak. Um, but got to enjoy some of the, uh, downtown sites and, um, bars and restaurants, uh, yesterday. So, walked around and had some fun. And so, um, but again, excited to be here, excited to, uh, work with you all. And so, um, um, my name is Scott Binkley. I'm a senior vice president with Meguire Woods. Uh we work with local government clients from across the country um and help harness

federal funding uh help as Clayton said cut through the noise um you know um build relationships that can be valuable um should things arise that are unforeseen but also like I said you know go after on a proactive basis federal funding for priority projects and like Clayton said uh we're going to be spending the rest of this morning and the afternoon uh going to tour the sites that we've actually put forward for congressionally directed spending already this year. So, we've already been hard at work um socializing those projects with your delegation. Obviously, your delegation is going to look a little bit different here coming uh moving forward. And so, that's uh one thing we're looking at and working on and and um making sure that uh no matter what happens um you know, with your redistricting uh you know, we're well aligned with your uh both your senators and whoever your member of Congress will be moving forward. Um so, that said, let's get into it. Um I don't know, just click here, I assume. Yeah, there we go. Um, so the DC landscape right now, I'm sure you've guys, you know, are following the news, it's hard not to. Uh, we've got so much going on between, you know, the war in Iran, um, and shutdowns, DHS shutdown, which thankfully as of last week, end of last week. Uh, this is how quickly things are moving and then not moving in DC. This was made, I think, like early last week. And so, this is already uh this is already uh somewhat uh old news here. But, uh, the DHS uh, Department of Homeland Security shutdown is now over. It was the longest shutdown or partial shutdown in the history of our federal government at I think like 76 days. But what they've done is passed a short-term um a short-term stop gap to get that department back open obviously at a crucial time. And so uh that's taken a lot of the oxygen on kind of the legislative front uh lately and you know any sort of policy issue that came up you know would this you know be attached to some sort of DHS uh shutdown aversion. Um, so luckily that's past us for now. It's not going to be long though. Um, you know, they've got a they're in recess this week. Um, you know, a couple other recesses coming up and then of course this summer they're

going to have to deal with it again. Uh, so that's something else also on the horizon, but also something in the rearview mirror. Uh, the other kind of next vehicles or the next things that you're going to be hearing of us talk about in DC are reconciliation efforts, 2.0 and then 3.0. Really, you can only do one per fiscal year. So the the first reconciliation effort was fiscal year 20 and now we're in fiscal year 26. Um and then they would theoretically do another one this fall. The reconciliation effort that they're working on right now led by um budget Senate budget chairman uh Lindsey Graham is pretty narrowly focused on ICE and border protection funding. uh even though they've funded DHS, uh what they're doing is um you know somewhat thoughtfully I guess um looking at the prospects of Democrats taking the House in November and plusing up those agencies to a level of funding that Republicans would appreciate for years forward. So that's what this effort is pretty narrowly focused on. You we're not hearing about, you know, kind of this Christmas tree uh where everybody gets to hang something on the tree as it moves through the process. They want to keep this pretty tight and pretty pretty focused on those two uh subd departments of DHS. So that's something else you're going to be hearing a lot about this this year though is this reconciliation 2.0 which is happening right now and then 3.0 which would happen and I don't think yet we've you know heard exactly what the focus of any additional reconciliation efforts uh would be. Um but I think it's something that's hanging out there so that you know leadership can say if you don't get what you want in this bill don't worry there's going to be another effort later this fall. Um one thing we've touched on but is ongoing is fiscical year 27 appropriations. Um, obviously we've submitted our uh congressionally directed spending requests. And so where we are in the process right now is all of your members of Congress and senators

will collect these requests for various priority projects across the country. They will organize them and sort them into a list of u you know their say top 25 30 40 uh requests and then um put them forward. They're they are capped at a certain level. so that they would put that list forward to the appropriations committee and from there the the members office and the appropriations committee would work to whittle that list down to really the kind of the core group that that would then be included in the bill. Um we haven't yet seen, you know, which your senators are planning to incorporate into that final bill um because the the House is kind of working on their appropriation side yet and that the Senate hasn't kind of put their bills out yet. So, um, it remains to be seen which ones will be moving forward, but we're working hard to socialize our projects with the members of, uh, uh, with your senators and their staff. And I think that today, seeing those projects, you know, firsthand will allow us a really nice opportunity to say, "Hey, we went down there, saw these firsthand. Here's some additional color and and some additional u, you know, advocacy from us on these on these projects that we're going to go see today." Um and then obviously this year being a political year, you know, at a certain point, um probably we're around it now, but later this summer, you know, the legislation is really going to stop for the year just because the more, you know, campaigning in districts and um and with the political kind of reality hanging over their head, you know, I don't think anybody's really going to want to take much of a step out of line to kind of pursue some sort of other policy. But uh we'll go over kind of the the the bills that will likely move and those are big things like farm bills [snorts] and reauthorizations um not small things um you know that are kind of one-offs.

Leon, did I cover that? Is there anything else you'd add?

The only uh dynamic I would sort of add is um the president has put forward his budget. That's kind of the first piece in this process. uh his budget calls for a 10% across the board uh cut in domestic spending um with a large increase in uh defense spending. So that kind of moves the you know goalposts a little bit of how things how the appropriations chairs will approach things. That said, last year the president um sort of put forward some pretty big cuts in domestic spending that were not adopted by the appropriations committees. So, it's always sort of said that, you know, what the president puts out is not what ends up being in the final package. So, I I I would sort of caution folks to read too much into that. I do think that the appropriations chairs are committed to a very, you know, bipartisan process. These are folks who really like to see things get done in their own sort of manner and way, but a lot of that will prevail to larger political forces at hand. uh two years ago, the last time we're in an election year, um and the appropriations committee folks put together a bill, put together a package, and had a lot of, you know, earmarks and other things in there that were going to help local communities. Um all that ends up getting thrown out because, you know, a few tweets by the incoming president saying that this bill should not be passed and uh they end up having to move into a continuing resolution to uh fund the government. So, like we said, anything can kind of happen in an election year. I would expect lastm minute deals. I would expect big things to happen um probably after the midterms. Um I think the main thing right now is they they will continue that appropriations process. We will be able to see different checkpoints probably the next month or so. We will see what the House puts forward. Then we'll see what the Senate puts forward. We'll be able to know where are these domestic programs that are important to the city of Ron Oak and how are they looking and we'll be sure to keep you read in there. Um and then where do our ear marks fall in and how do those

things get affected. Um the next piece that we want to move on to I click right uh is the change in you know the sort of uncertainty of an election year creates all kinds of uh different dynamics going into into the year. Um the other piece that sort of further injects a little bit of uncertainty is your new congressional maps. Um obviously they were approved by the voters of Virginia on uh April 21st. Um now it goes to the Virginia Supreme Court uh to look at some of the wording of the question that was put forward on the ballot to look at um the whole you know mid mid decade redistricting whether or not that passes. I do think um even in that uncertainty there there is an opportunity for the city of Ronoke. Um the new sixth congressional district is sort of a college corridor as people are calling it includes uh includes Stanton, Virginia, includes all the way up to Charlottesville. Um I do think that sort of thematic relationship will allow for the new rel new district um to be I think sort of play more to Ron Oak strengths. I also think the fact that Ron Oak is the second largest city, the largest metropolitan area in the district that will give the city more weight uh with this district. Whereas before it sort of weighted a western Virginia district that kind of went all the way down to the end of the state. I think now this provides um especially with it being a swing seat. It's going to be a seat that uh could probably go anyway. I think that will cause more attention, more um sort of the House and Senate leaders or House leadership will look to uh Ron Oak in this area a little more as a swingier area and that could be something that is advantageous. Same hand, that could also mean a little more changing of who your member of Congress is. Um obviously the other thing to watch is uh the current Congressman Klein, does he run in the sixth district or does he move down to the ninth? Um so

we will see what happens there. So you could really have a whole new cast of characters. Um on the Democratic side, I think the two sort of front runners are uh the author Beth Macy and then Tom Perry who was once member of Congress. Um so we will continue to watch how that plays out and continue to see um how that affects the city of Rono and make sure that we're uh got ourselves in front of uh on both sides of the aisle the front runners so that no matter the outcome we are well positioned. I doing this right? Oh. Um, so next steps on your congressional district and the redistricting need the courts to weigh in. That should happen fairly soon. They're asking to get this done. Um, one outcome of the uh new districts and of the vote was that it moved the primary back into August. Um, so that changes some of the timelines. Um, I think as the maps get settled, as the judiciary does their weigh in, that will change who the state of players are, who are the folks that will be involved running for the seat and, uh, we, you know, part of our job is to make sure that we're doing relationship building that no matter the outcome, no matter who it is, uh, Rono sits at a good juncture with that person. Um so like you can see here runs all the way you know piece piece of Blackburg through Rono, Lynchburg, Charlottesville. Um so that a good sense. Um next we will talk about what sort of is likely to sorry some of the icons didn't transfer over like I thought it would. Uh but so it just says gavvel but um

yeah well worked for me. Um, but we'll get in now to sort of what's next and what is likely to move on the uh legislative front.

Thanks, Clayton. Um, so congressionally directed spending, we've talked a bit about this already. Um, but so right now, as we talked about, they're kind of in their opaque phase where they go into kind of closed door back and forth with the appropriations committee. What we can do to affect the process right now is continue to follow up at the staff level. Um, one thing that I would suggest is a flyin where, you know, leadership and delegates from uh the city come up to DC and we go and meet with your senators. Um, we go and meet with your members of Congress. Um, and theoretically the candidates that are running as well based on timing, we can we can certainly do that as well. Um, but to just socialize and continue to push on these and make sure they're hearing from you um about the positive uh that these projects are going to do for the district uh and the state. And so that where it will go from here is over the course of the summer um the appropriations committees will release their um the Senate appropriations subcommittees will release their budgets and then we'll be able to see which of our CDS requests were included if they were funded at full levels. A lot of times they'll you know um you know give you twothirds of what you asked for um and somehow you're supposed to make that work. Um but uh so then we'll be able to see and then the our advocacy process is still not done. Um we need to make sure that those stay in through the final bill and are included and then obviously one of the big things that you know is somewhat out of our control is the macropolitics of passing a budget. Obviously a lot of times we function under a continuing resolution. Those don't ne those don't generally include earmarks. So we need you know the the the big guys. we need the president and the speaker of the house and, you know, the Senate majority leader to get together and actually pass a budget. And so the good news is that for I I think it's been, you know, several years in a row now, we have actually passed a budget. Um, which is I think maybe

surprising to folks who just watch CNN or Fox News and see the dysfunction. But, um, you know, we feel, you know, that these CDS requests are still, you know, a very good avenue for funding priority projects. we're in the game on this and we're going to continue pushing on those and we'll actually ask for your help and coming up to DC at some point this summer um and uh and help us push on those as well. One thing I mentioned earlier was that I you're not going to see small bills that are just pet projects of one member of Congress or another pass this year because of the dysfunction in DC um because of the the politics and and the the that it is that an onyear uh for members of Congress and Senate. Um so what you are going to see are maybe some some things around AI. There's been a lot of talk about uh preeemption or um you know would some sort of basic regulations. You know now all the policy makers in DC are scared of uh you know uh the new um model out of uh Claude. Um so that's gotten their attention again. Um and so maybe something around that. Um housing is another one. the there have been several bills passed related to housing. I think they just kind of need to get together and see what a you know some sort of uh conferency bill would look like and get that to the president. It's kind of just sitting there as an issue that that has been legislated and several bills have passed. They just need to kind of do one together, the house and the senate. Um the uh a bill, so the farm bill was just passed by the house last week. um that has some kind of um things that the Senate won't want to uh pass and so they're going to have to tweak it and again so then they would have to kind of get back together and go to a conference style approach on that as well and then surface transportation reauthorization that's always something that has bipartisan support so could be something that moves but this is all a wish list you know between you know things like Iran supplemental funding and then just

the budget stuff that we've already talked about that can take up you know you know, an election year almost all of the oxygen in itself. And so those are all kind of would be nice things in addition, but I think the bigger point is beyond that, you're really not going to see much here moving uh going forward this year. Um these are some specific policies I think uh um for the city HUD changes and federal funding guidelines. I think this is what Clayton was mentioning before is kind of keeping this all in the frame of mind that the president is asking for 10% cuts across the board. So what are they going to be able to do um to keep level maintain level funding while trying to satisfy that approach u I think is a real challenge for both Senate and House leadership on the Republican side. Um, and then of course, like we've talked about, all of this is kind of colored with the fact that u it's very likely that that Democrats will take the House. It's becoming even more likely that Democrats will take the Senate. And so I think that uh this time next year, your federal government is going to look very different. Um, obviously your delegation is going to look different. Um and so you know what our role will be here um you know is to maint maintain those relationships and no matter what the outcome is of redistricting or who your next member of Congress is or who takes the House or the Senate uh the good news is you've got a great bipartisan team um that can still you know conduct outreach to the administration if we need to uh but also you know have you covered whether it's you know uh you know Democratic senator uh uh Republican or Republicans or Democrats in leadership. of either chamber.

Yeah, I I would just sort of close out with um I'll never live that icon thing down in my own mind, but um handshake is always going to stick out, but uh the three big things for us going forward is sort of what's next here is number one, monitor our congressionally directed spending, answer the questions. As we've alluded to, it sort of goes into this black hole now where they're negotiating with appropriation staff and they're figuring things out. We are sort of uh you pay us to poke to be like, "Hey, what do you you know what do you need here? How's that looking? This project's really important. We just tooured it." So, congressionary directed spending is probably priority number one, making sure we bring those federal funds down. Number two, keeping an eye on the budget situation, keeping an eye on whatever the president puts forward, whatever uh as the appropriations process plays out. And then thirdly, um any sort of endofear deal, anything that could possibly change the federal funding picture for for Ron Oak. Um we've got some things that I would put within that umbrella. Things like making sure HUD funds and others are continuing to flow down. Um, we utilize your congressional uh your congressional delegation to help make those points to go interface with the administration for us. So, please I I can't say this enough. You know, we we only know what we know. So, please uh keep the information flowing. If uh some federal fund, if something is not going the way it should be, if a draw down's not happening, please let us know. We are here uh to be the the thorns in their side to make sure that the money comes, to make sure that things come as they are supposed to do. So, please let us know what those issues are or you know something's going particularly well, please. We are happy to uh send praise as well. And then the the third thing that I think we want to be is proactive. We want to make sure with these new players, with new maps, with potential change uh that could come from uh a midterm election year, we want to make sure that uh the city is well positioned and that we are um building

those relationships and that there's continuity there. So, um whether it's a a trip this summer up to DC, um or continued, uh check-ins with our federal delegation, which we will do, we want to make sure that um we are being proactive and not reactive. And I think that's our our big thing going forward. So, with that, we are happy to take any questions. Um looking forward to the next few months and uh just really happy and thrilled to be a part of the team.

Well, thank you so much, Clayton and Scott. Um, I will see if any of my colleagues have any questions. I was wondering, not to put you on the spot. You can think about it while they're coming up with their question, but if you had the list handy of what CDS requests we put in, just in case. I know you've given that to us, but if anyone's watching or listening and was curious while you're pulling that together, um, if anyone else wants to ask any questions or Miss Powers,

I don't really have a question. I just will tell you that uh when you were talking about legislation to watch an AI um I read this morning um the Cardinal News has a very good article on some AI legislation in the federal side. It's worthwhile to read. It was very shocking to see some of the items um that they're trying to push good, but things that we would want to see that happen because it could definitely affect citizens in every locality. I believe it's today. We have Samantha in here, but it there but it's the Cardinal News that wrote the article and it's very good.

It's got some good stuff. um several it it it talks about several of the bills from several of the senators around um the area any other questions mayor.

Um thank you guys. This is outstanding. It's it's great to feel so engaged as a city and to have the overview. Um thank you for updating us on HUD funding. uh we've been pretty much at level funding for 30 years uh with HUD and of course the the cost of delivery of the services that we provide has just gone up. So we have we're trying to do more with less and so that has a local impact. So, um, all of us, I think, as are a number of continuums of care nationally, very concerned about these cuts to HUD because they're across the board and the the abrupt shift reduction in permanent supportive housing. All of these things align with the efforts we're taking on locally to try and address our crisis regarding people who are unhoused. So, I appreciate you.

Yeah. [clears throat] permanent. Yeah, we saw that as well. Something that we're tracking and the good news proposes appropriations [laughter] committee.

So, and we see and we saw that last year which is a good thing to just note is that uh president senators really kind isn't adequate anymore but thankfully some of the worst potential cuts we'll keep watching speak to the microphone

any other questions All right. Well, and if you don't have the full list, tell us where what you're going to see today. Yeah, exactly. So, uh in River Kayak Park was one, uh Amtrak station, uh the Mill Mountain Greenway, uh phase one,

and then the city signed on to as a as a supporter of the airport's uh runway extension study. So, I call it four total. uh CDS submissions and we can get you obviously the details of those as far as um you know what the price tag was on each and the details of all that. I don't know if there's a a way that we can submit that officially after this so folks that are watching online can review that too or how you want to handle that but we can discuss it afterwards.

Okay. Yeah. Well, that that would be great. And then um that is that's wonderful. Thank you. I just wanted to throw out something that some of us had talked about just to keep on your radar and we mentioned it when I chatted with you uh before this meeting, but two items. Um one related to our proximity to several national parks is we're really interested in that gateway community designation uh if possible. And then also with the merger coming up soon, um we're interested in, you know, how we can best position ourselves uh in that. and we have some specific uh I think things that we would be interested in bringing to that table if we could get a seat at it.

Yeah, that'd be great. And I think we can help get you a seat at both tables. Um the National Park Service would be one that I'd put on a list for uh a visit this summer uh for any sort of upcoming flyin or delegation up to DC. Um so that would be great. It's something that we've heard from you guys uh before on is that is that designation. Um, and then the merger, we'll um kind of dig in and and really figure out how to best assert ourselves in that conversation and pull up a seat at that table. Sounds like the goal is to be a party of record on that. Um, and so we'll we'll certainly look into how that happens and getting sitting there. For sure. Very much. Of course. Thank you.

Yeah, thank you both. I really appreciate it. I I think it's great that we have a bipartisan team because we have a bipartisan uh you know multi-partisan city and we have uh our our valley is certainly bipartisan and we know we have a a great sort of track record of working together um on different issues and so I think it's great to have you both and I really appreciate your help and support. I'm sorry I can't run around with you today but I think you'll have a good time. Thank you very much.

Thank you. All right, everyone. Any um well, other business is coming up. Our next meeting is Monday, June 1st. [snorts] Um any issues with that? I was going to ask if we could by our next meeting um this was a question for Miss Turner. If we could have our existing legislative uh agenda run through staff and come back to us by the next meeting for any uh feedback on things that staff would like to see and I don't know if there's a designate on your team for that. Vanessa.

Vanessa. Okay, great. Would that be workable that we could get that back by uh our next meeting next month with any um draft input from staff? Yes. Okay. Great. Thank you very much. Well, if there is there any other business? All right. Well, I'm going to adjourn this meeting of the Ronick City Legislative Committee. Thank you all.

All right. Thank you, Vice Mayor Maguire, and I will reconvene our council session. Um, any items listed on the 2pm council docket requiring further discussion or clarification? All right. Any topics for discussion before we go on with our briefing? All right. Then I will call on our city manager and I believe um some staff are going to join us at the table for our budget study. And we we won't be taking any formal recesses during this. So if folks need u breaks just please do that.

So while um staff is on their way in I'll go ahead and get us uh started with with our opening. So um so mayor, vice mayor, members of council um we have made um tremendous progress towards the adoption of the FY2026 2027 budget. As I previously previously stated, each budget development process presents its own set of challenges. Uh we made difficult choices and decisions to facilitate presenting a recommended uh budget to council. Over the past few months, we have engaged with city council and our citizens and employees on the recommended FY2627 budget via a number of different ways. Um, we had our financial planning work session in November. Um, we had multiple public city council briefings. We had individual council briefings. We answered council member questions via email with response posted online. We had two community meetings which allowed us to provide information on the budget and answer questions. Um, we also had an employee budget meeting which allowed us to answer questions directly to our employees. We also had a budget public hearing. Um so um our goal here was to be extremely transparent um to make sure that um all of our information was accessessible accessible by anyone that wanted to truly truly understand. So today our work session is designated as a budget study. Uh the purpose of the budget study is to review and discuss budget questions or potential modifications to the recommended budget so staff can move forward with preparing the required resolutions and ordinances for budget adoption. We are prepared to discuss those items that council identified for review and discussion during our two on twos. Now

Mr. Kseki will bring um our conversation with the budget overview and then we will transition to review of the items that council identified. So I'll turn it over to Mr. Kasseki. Thank you Mr. Turner.

Good morning mayor, members of the city council and vice mayor. Um so before we get started with the budget study portion, just wanted to summarize uh what we've presented on March 23rd. Just a brief overview. So, not many changes u but I'll go over each one in the next couple slides. So, starting off with this slide, you should be familiar with it. We presented it at our community meeting. So, the total budget increase is still $421.5 million and that is a 13.75 million increase. Um included in that revenue is 4 million expected for social services programs. You've heard us say that before. uh 1.5 million for street maintenance and local taxes about 6.9 million. And just to remind you all that that 6.9 is the lowest we've had in the last 5 years. Um when compared to this fiscal year is 21.3 million. Um that includes the meals tax increase of 4 million. So again um this was the first year that PFM highlighted that we need to adjust those programmatic expectations. So, we do have two proposed changes. Um, starting off with looking at our local taxes, which was the sales tax and business license. So, after we met as a budget committee and looking at the current fiscal year 27, um, you've heard us highlight that sales tax has been underperforming and this is a reflection of where we are today. So, this would be the second conser conservative year um, that the sales tax will be underperforming the budget by 1.6 million. So what we've done is we have um adjusted the sales tax projection for fiscal year 27 by 400,000. And then on the flip side we do have business license that has outperformed the budget uh by approximately 400,000 and 500,000.

Um and right now we are comfortable by increasing that by 400. So, it's it is a wash, but we did want to make sure that we reflect exactly what we expect to collect in the upcoming fiscal year. The second um is the Eureka Center fee increase. So, we have two fees that will be proposed. Um the multi-purpose rental room and the damage fee. And then on the next slide, it will be $35 for residents and $70 for non-residents. And a reservation will be required for this. And this is per hour. And then we do have the damage deposit. And this is standard across all of our recreation centers. $250 for residents, $500 for non-residents. So on the next slide, we also wanted to highlight we've had conversations, you know, the community meetings and you all have brought back, you know, some questions as to how did we get here? So we wanted to address that question by highlighting what we did between 2005 and 2020 in comparison to where we are today going into that 5year to 2031. So as you can see on the left hand side we looked at the real estate assessment growth and that averaged about 8% before the economic crisis of 2008. After that 2008 the average dropped to 1.24% 24% and within those years we highlighted that there are decreases of the real estate tax assessment um during that time as well. So that 1.24 is reflective of what was happening in the economy. So how we navigated as a city as you can see we decreased the general fund budget from 259 million to 252 between 2009 and 2013. So that was a $7 million decrease in just being able to provide the essential services first.

And how we did that was departments are required to cut their budgets by approximately 10% in given years. We suspended salary increases uh implemented hiring freeze the managed hiring that we're doing this year. That's what we also carried forward during that time as well. We also made programmatic adjustments and capital improvement adjustments. And then if you look at where we are today, we're pretty much doing the same thing. Um, as you can see, we increased the mills tax fiscal year 26, 5.5 to 6.5. That was a $4 million increase. Um, we also unfunded 29 positions. That was approximately 2.4 million. We reduced our base budget by 5.6 million. So that was part of, you know, making sure that we can sustain what we have built into the base. And then we also revised the external agency process. So these are some of the examples of what we're doing now in comparison of what we did before. So again, just to remind you all that we've been here before and we are taking the necessary steps going into the next fiscal year. So the expenditure highlights um just to highlight the 13.75 million we are allocating that to compensation starting off at 5.2 million. So no changes there from March 23rd. We're still implementing the 2% raises opposed to the three that we had initially proposed. We're also moving the public safety to the next step on the step pay plan. Starting salary will be 42,000 for all employees beginning July 1. And we are increasing our medical and dental as well as our retirement contribution rate from 21% to approximately 22%. On the operating expenditures about 8.6 6 million that would be allocated to the following. You have your RCPS about 1.2 million. Social services program that's a wash from the revenues that we just highlighted about $4 million. Street

maintenance that's 100% reimburseable 1.5 million. We also have contractual obligations, your technology, but also for example your medical and food contract for the sheriff's office. Overtime and temporary wages. We're still continuing with that initiative we started last year focusing on public safety and then we do have utility cost have been increasing um as well as you know the fleet fuel that we identified and how we anticipate managing some of these cost increases that we can't control um for example we have our managed hiring um just to remind you all again is we do have approximately 200 vacancies in any given year and that is because we cannot fill all the positions And those vacancies equal a dollar amount. And that dollar amount is about $15 million. However, we still need to net out our vacancy savings, which is 5 million. So that leaves approximately $10 million to manage. But we unfunded $2.4 million, which was 29 positions. So that leaves about 7.6 to 8 million to navigate for your fuel cost and other items, for example, your overtime and temporary wages because we can't fill the staff. So that is the approach that we're going into fiscal year 27 using. Um but also we have the payroll acral July of next year 2027 that we have to plan for the extra paycheck the 27 pay period. So um those are some of the items that we use that managed hiring for. As I mentioned we did reduce the base budget by 5.6 million and that was including the unfunded positions that were 29. We reallocated one-time funding to the debt service and I'll cover that in the capital improvement program. The reserve funding for risk management, we reduced that by 550,000. GRTC subsidy by 292,000 and other department reductions for that 5.6.

For the capital improvement program, the total is 119.6 million. I've highlighted that we we increased our debt service, but we took that from one time. And for the debt service, if we were to keep the planned 50 million in projects that we're planning in fiscal year 26, our debt service would have increased by $4 million in this fiscal year and total in a span of five years would have been 19 million. So those were some of the decisions that we made in removing the $50 million in projects to just focus on the essential and mandatory projects. And last but not least, we have our external agency process. Um, currently we implemented a new process and allocated 832,000 and the 11.9 million is really allocated to those regional agreements and mandates that we have to do like a blue ridge behavioral health, your health department, your regional center for animal care. So that we cannot really control but it's based on an agreement. So really the process was allocating the 832,000 and that is part of today's discussion as well.

Mr. Kasaki, before we get into the budget discussion, I'd like to invite um we've got five seats up here or um your team. Yes, we'd love to have some of your team up here. Okay,

we've all been working on this collectively and um I think that lends itself to a discussion And also I need to take a quick break. So [laughter] I will be right back. represent them. You only represent yourself. You're a you're a sort of you're a lone voice.

Everybody is a lone voice, Tim. Can you tell me who are from the Palestinian politicians who can claim serious representation on the street? It has not been tested yet. There is a debate in Britain at the moment um because there is as you may well be aware there's there's been an upsurge in attacks on on Jews and on synagogues in recent weeks and one of the things that has has been talked about is what to do about these marches that support Palestinians where sometimes you hear the chant globalize the interifard and there are those who say look that's just about trying to show international support for the Palestinian struggle and there are others and there are Jews among those others who say the inifard included moments where there are acts of violence against Jews. So when you when they you hear the ch globalize the intera what it actually means it it is implicitly a call to take your struggle directly against Jews to to have to attack Jews and so they say it it makes us fearful. Do you have a view on how people should think about that chant globalize the interard? Well, sometimes people who rally under the Palestinian flag with certain slogans can be the most anti-Palestinians and they don't know. So slogans like globalizing the antifada or from the river to the sea, I don't think that they these are propalestinian slogans. They might be.

No problem. So to begin the budget dis budget study discussion, we have three topics that we've met with you all and you would like to bring back to the table. So how we will um work this out is I'll go over just a brief overview of the first discussion and then open it up to the floor for any comments, questions um on that topic. So starting off with the funding available for reallocation. So if you recall um during the budget process we identified funding for uh the pos the possible projects identified on the right hand side and that it totals 21.56 million and included in the 21 million is 18 million that was pulled back from our CPS fund balance for the capital and general fund and that also includes $2 million intended for the Riverdale project and $797,000 for the additional E911 unit. And the project that we would like to discuss today will be fire station number two, which totals approximately $12 million. And if you recall, the land was donated and there is a restriction that it has to be a fire station. the Belmont Library expansion 7.3 million and that expansion includes um different structural changes but also to mimic all the other um branches that we have including some of the plumbing issues that are over there. Jefferson Center 4.9 million that includes 1.5 million for the roof replacement and an additional 3.4 million for the fire suppression system. We also have technology center which is in the municipal building. Uh that that's our server room for 1.5 million. But I will mention that this is in the current fiscal year 26 and we will be moving forward with that project. We just need to identify the funds.

We also have the fishbone mansion. Um that's 1.5 million that was planned for debt and an additional possible 1.5 in grant funding. And I believe you all should have a vision planned and we are working in coordination with uh friends of Mountain View. And part of that, the current estimate is about $6 million for that project. And right now what we're looking at is uh it's a restoration project to repair the wood, the guardrails as well as the HVAC and other issues there. And then we have the caretakers cottage. which we've already committed 150,000 which we intend to use the 797,000 for the additional unit and then parks and recreation projects. So that is currently ongoing because we do have multiple projects included in that including park maintenance that is planned for this fiscal year which is 1.2 2 million and in those uh projects for the maintenance includes your playgrounds, your benches, your basketball courts, tennis courts. Um and also it just depends on what we can afford based on the master plan. And then last but not least, we wanted to bring back the Plato program and activity buses back to the conversation. So with that, I will open it up for questions, comments, and discussions. One of these were based upon the conversations that we had in the two on twos and so we just want to make sure that um we we brought all of the discussions back. So, as a body, you all can staff. Um, one thing to uh to point out is the Jefferson Center, the $1.5 million that we're we're moving forward with the roof. Now, suppression system, we have an estimate because it just it still depends on the type of business that is going to go in the Jefferson Center before we move forward.

Well, thank you. and and uh as we've stated, this is an opportunity for discussion. Thank you all for summarizing um what council members have brought forward. Um I did want to share um I attended the uh Rono City Public Schools School Board meeting last Tuesday. um and they spent had a really important conversation about uh programming expenditures and reductions and they've modified um they have modified uh recommendations for the Plato program and activity buses. So, what they're looking at for this year, and I'm pulling this from memory, so if I don't get it exactly right, my apologies, but they're they're contracting or reducing the size of Plato. So, it will be fourth and fifth grade at one location, which would be Highland Park Elementary School. Third graders, it's my understanding, would go would be in their home schools. Um, but they would have access to um talented and gifted programming. That's that's available in those schools that the funding would include transportation. Um so and then the subsequent year if they were to go down that path would just uh reduce Plato to fifth grade and it would not include transportation. Um but the the school board in their discussion were very uh appreciative of number one the opportunity to evaluate what has been a really important program in the life of the schools and to just use the language of contracting it just reducing the size of it for this year and then re-evaluating it next year depending on what the the budget realities are. And um I believe this is one of those programs that they had uh four criteria that they reviewed to make these programmatic decisions and those

included transportation and then also any programs that were above the requirements for SOQ or standards of quality. So again, I want to commend the school board for a a really uh important discussion about that and taking all things into consideration. In terms of activity buses, um the recommendation they're considering is not to eliminate activity buses, but to focus them on the spring, which is the highest usage time, which would include not only athletics, but it would include any afterchool programs. Um there was a lot of discussion about you know what are the implications if they just fund activity buses for the spring and not for the fall and winter and I think hardy discussion about that again this was just discussion no decisions have been made they won't be made until subsequent meeting and then there were other programmatic decisions piece which we'll come back to I think in terms of the um what they decided decide to do for um reappropriating um funds that we had already appropriated for the learning cottages. If they decide to request a reappropriation of those um you know, one of the thoughts that I conveyed to them, which I think several council members did, was the opportunity to use some of that to fund partially Plato and activity buses and transportation in general. Um the other though that I think they're concerned about is um bird maintenance items. Um I think it was about 675,000 that they were looking at that were pretty critical and then a contingency fund. And then the schools um and the purpose for that contingency fund is with now not having the

fund balance. um they wanted to have some level of contingency for emergency types of capital issues. So that's just an overview of what I gleaned from that meeting, but I wanted to make sure to share that with you all uh as we get into this conversation about funding available for reallocation. So yes, Mr. for activity buses. That's something that um I put forward in my 2 by two was uh you know I would like to see the Plato program fully funded for two years to give sounds like they started to make this assessment but what does the future of Plato look like um a program when I was in Vern schools um program. So we want to make sure that it's thoughtful way which sounds like it is being done but I wanted to make sure that there was other issue is the activity bus. Um and that is another item that I brought forward. The activity bus is something that I also benefited from as a kid as a swimmer. Um And so when I hear that they would only be able to do that in the spring, there are plenty of fall and winter sports activities that we fund. Now, originally I was thinking that that would come from possibly the fund balance. I know that there's some discussion about the 4.3 million uh and it possibly um I don't mind which source it comes from. Well, and and I want to remind us as council that it's it's the purview and

responsibility of the school board to adopt their budget and work through their budget. I think because we um we received input from citizens as well. It's it's helpful for us to have this conversation, but I would encourage us to share these insights with our schoolboard buddies uh so that they know. Um, but ultimately it's it's the school board's decision and that's what they're appointed to do and it's it's their fiscal responsibility. So I don't want to give the impression that we're we're usurping that authority because that's not our authority. Um, but I think just to give some context uh is important, Mr. Hagen.

Yeah, I was going to echo that actually right before you started talking. Yeah, while absolutely I think that the Plato program and activity buses are very important, it is ultimately the reason why we have a school board and to allocate the funds that we provide. And I have major legal concerns about the ramifications of if we start saying we are going to allocate this, we're going to allocate that, we're going to allocate this in this particular way because I think we usurp their power and authority and that is something which is a very dangerous road to go down in my view. Well, again, and I think because we received a lot of input from citizens as well, uh it's important for us to to talk about this, but within the larger context. Um so other other discussion points for um this this part of our budget discussion in terms of priorities um additional information anyone would like to share, Miss Powers. So um while we're speaking about the Plato program and the activity buses and um you know I have talked to my school board and I had asked for you know the cost and I see here you a question mark. So, I was given a few numbers. So, I'm confused as to why that's not showing up on here because I did ask that that information get sent over here. We we did pull

at the um at the school board meeting last week based on the briefing package that was posted online and consistent with what the mayor just said, there were several options presented as it pertained to the Plato program. Uh the most expensive option um is 1.1 million and that keeps everything uh the way that it currently is based on my understanding of what was presented. that's keeping the Plato program at two locations with transportation as it currently exists. So that was the most expensive option and then um least expensive option again was um was phase phasing it out with it remaining at one location with no transportation at all. And that cost savings, if I interpret the information correctly, is $382,000. So there were a couple of options in between that, but that was um again the 1.1 is the most expensive option and then the uh the 382 is the uh is the least. So from what I'm understanding, mayor, um from your going to the meeting, nothing has been determined yet.

No, this was just uh it was kind of their study of uh the the program they so initially they started with personnel and this was the second piece which is about programming. I think the option that they recommended according to the briefing package again consistent with what the mayor uh just highlighted is that um the recommendation is to phase the program out over the next two years, consolidate the program in one location and to offer transportation to families that need it in order to continue um the uh students participation in the program. And that savings was around 448,000 if I interpret the information.

You have a price for the activity buses. I think they're like 650, but they presented on the activity bus. Um, give me a moment and I will I will get it. Um, we can also um get this pulled from the the information, send it out to everybody.

Yeah. Based on the um based on the briefing package last week, the original consideration associated with eliminating uh the activity bus completely um is $150,000. Uh the recommendation consistent with what the mayor just highlighted uh offering the activity bus Monday through Thursday and only for uh the spring athletic season. the projected cost savings total $232,800.

And and I will add to that, there was conversation about um different modes of transportation. Uh there was pretty hearty conversation about Valley Metro uh being utilized because it's a it's a cost savings. The challenge with that is that it the way Metro is set up, it doesn't go from point to point. so it doesn't go from school to a person's house. And so um but but they had they had a lot of conversation about it and I just want to commend the school board for for wrestling with some difficult decisions. question to the schools but to fire station too.

You mentioned that the stipulation on the land that it has to be for a fire station but is there a timeline or time frame in which if it's not built the land has to be return Yeah. revert back? Yeah. I'm waiting to hear from city attorney's office. We've talked about it. So I'm waiting for Mr. Collins give me that information. That is only the parcel that Bergland donated, right? Um the mother parcel the city purchased. Yeah. How big is the parcel?

It's I don't know the exact size, but the parcel is large enough to construct the fire station based on my past recollection. The additional property that Burgland donated just provides some additional benefit. Yeah. On that same uh note with fire station number two, that is a woefully um uh improved fire station. It is a four square house uh that sits in an odd location uh near DPW. Um, and it really is um I think it's definitely affecting uh the service that comes out of of of two and that's a very important corridor for the city Williamson Road. And so I um I would also think that that would be uh my top priority when it comes to the CIP uh funding if we are going to do any of that funding. Um that that would be my top priority.

Sanchez Jones. And not only that, but the cost will keep increasing and it's going to come to a point that we're not going to be able to afford it. So, I think we should do it now. Other thoughts on Sant about the firehouse? I think it's very important we get that done because it's just going to increase a lot um for the cost for our citizens and those pe those firefighters, men and women working out of that station that they're currently working in deserve a better place to work out of. So that would be my top priority.

Other thoughts? Since we're talking about the fire station or the library?

Wouldn't put that near the top of my list. Just, you know, being transparent. Um I would like to see data about if there's data to suggest that the current station is and and it's maybe outdatedness or you know whatever it may be is causing operational inefficiencies that's endangering [snorts] public safety if that's the case and that changes the narrative um quite a lot. But, you know, I just think with this funding we have um I think there's a lot of other priorities on this list and I also think that we should be still conservative with these funds and how they are used. Um just because we have them don't mean we [clears throat] necessarily need to use them. um at least in this point in time. Um but that's just my opinion.

Helpful. So I would just like to add um you know I know that we've deferred the Belmont Library expansion at least one other time. And this if I'm recalling this would add another wing to it. Would it be to the end? Um I haven't seen a rendering in in a little while but in a minute. Yeah. Um it would you know of course expand it. Um and Mr. Kseki correct me is the 7.3 the own number or is that the updated number for the Belmont? I believe that is the updated but I will check.

I think it's the updated number as well. Um because just like the fire station was originally 9 million and now it's 12. Um, so the Belmont Library expansion, I can't remember what the number was before, but

and the the the plan shows that we will be trying to meet the standards like I said for the other branches. And right now the main issues were having more space for like the teen meetings as well as having community gather gathering areas and visibility and safety was also somewhat of a concern. So they wanted to make sure that as the expansion happened, they have somewhat of a barrier to make sure that that is um included in there and including your plumbing issues um that would have to be fixed. Try again.

So I'm really thankful you brought up the team meeting and everything like that, especially for Southeast because I'm pretty sure that's the only public space that has actual meeting space in Southeast. I could be wrong. Like if somebody knows of something Yeah. apart from like the couple of schools that they have down there. So that's one of the concerns that I have. I want to make sure that hey Southeast is actually especially since we have deferred this previously. Um it's a way of making sure that we can keep our uh word. You mentioned there's plumbing issues at the current Belmont. Yeah, it mostly like a facilities roofing and plumbing. So that's included in the plan if that were to move forward. And plumbing.

Yeah. Question. Is there a way um I know this is I'm I'm of the mindset that uh uh Mr. Nash is that we don't use all those funds that are sitting over here. Is there a way to partially fund some of these capital projects? I know we do them over years. So, is there a way to say, "Hey, you know, we'll give 4 million towards the the fire stations total, that type of deal."

Yeah. So the the challenge is um I mean we can um but we we don't have additional debt capacity right now which is why we had to move these projects out of our CIP from a debt perspective. So this is one-time funding that that's available. So if if if it is the pleasure of council for us to move forward with partially funding some of the projects, we can do that. We just need would have to go back and kind of determine what that would look like. um and bring that back in terms of a figure.

I think that's a good point. Yeah. And and it probably also depends on um just the the schedule, construction schedule, and whether these things can be done in phases or not. Um [clears throat] just a reminder from our friends at RVTV, if you all could find a mic to speak into, um it it'll help the broadcast delivery. So, thank you. Mr. Turner, sorry. Yes. Is the library shovel ready? Pardon me. Is the library ready to go if we I am not sure. I'd have to ask engineering.

Um I had a question on the parks and racks projects. Um, I was I'm an exhibition member of the uh Mil Mountain Advisory Board and during one of our meetings we were we were talking about a variety of things and the the playground at um on Mil Mountain came up and there were some issues related to repair of some of that equipment and then then it came up that there were about 10 playgrounds that were built in 2001 that haven't been fully upgraded. And I um I was curious if that where that kind of align with the like the priority projects in park and recreation. I know that's just one piece, but um do you have any thoughts about that or I know we're doing we've got a a master plan for Washington Park and um Mcaden Park as well. So,

so there are about 20 um 21 playgrounds, I'm sorry, since 2001 to your point. There are a number of playgrounds um that are in great or desire or great need for an update. Um I guess is the the best way to say it. Um there I think there is some dollars that are set aside and for deferred maintenance, but it's not going to go very far. And do we know what um and again this can be provided later. I'm just asking questions out of curiosity. Do we know currently what the cost of

for example the uh the new playground at Williamson Road Library? Do we and I know that's not in a park, but do we know what the average cost of a new playground in a park is? We can get that for you. Okay.

The one at Williamson Road is about 200k. Okay. All right. Um, in the parks and recreation projects, are the soccer fields included, especially the ones over a river's edge that are in this repair there? Um, at this time they are on the deferred maintenance list. Um, all of our rectangle fields are on the deferred maintenance list. Um, but where where they fall in the priority list um is to be determined. Those rectangular fields bring a lot of money into the city, don't they?

So, um, the soccer fields are included in the general fund. So, we close one one field per year for repairs. So, that would be at least the strategy. And right now, the parks maintenance budget uh in the CIP is about 1.2 million for this fiscal year. So, it would just depend on what the priority is based on the master plan. And as we mentioned, the playgrounds, benches, parking lot repairs, that still need to be done. But for the soccer fields, we close one per year and one is currently closed right now for repairs. Which one is that? I would have to check and just give you that one after. Because I know normally they close one a year for uh to protect the the field, right?

So um this is for our city manager, Mer. Um so as we're talking about parks and recreation projects um I've asked we've talked about the ARPA funds that might be um a balance left. So could you explain to us I mean I believe parks and recck received some ARPA funds. So, if there's funds left over, could that not be used for that? Because I'm understanding that those projects that any money left would have to be used on something that you had already done, a a department or or an item.

That That's correct. And so, that's what we're going through now because I want to make sure that I have at least six months to expend the funding. Um, and so we we are almost at the point where we'll have that figure. And you are correct. We cannot introduce any new projects into um the ARPAR program because all of the funding had to be committed to a project by December of 2024 and all of the funds have to be expended by December 2026. So if there are some leftover funding and there is a project that is already in but we can expand it then we'll look at trying to expand that program because we can introduce new programs.

So I just want to make sure I understand this. So if we can, we will. And so that could be something under parks and recreation, whether it's a soccer field or it's new playgrounds equipment, you could do that if if that project is in the ARPA program already. As an example, I believe Eureka had quite a bit of ARPA funding. So if we needed to expand something at Eureka, we could. What I could not do is take it and put it to another park if it wasn't in. It just depends on how it was set up into the ARPA program. Yeah, you're correct. Question about the

Yeah, Mr. Nash.

It's not really a question. It's just an idea that I'm just throwing out there, but has there ever been the conversation about converting the soccer fields or our rectangular fields? First time I've ever heard it called a rectangular, but I mean it is a rectang Never mind. But um but putting turf down instead of having grass cuz I remember my school did that and a lot of Renault County schools did that. Um you know, North Side had a had a a grass football field, but right after I graduated, they converted to turf just because of the maintenance cost and you know, having to maintain it in the hot summers now is a lot to water those fields as well. So, I don't know if that's something we're considering or but I think it could be a worthwhile thing to look into.

Yeah. Um and I did something similar in a previous locality. So, that is something that we'll we'll look at. Um we have not um to date began to look at that. Well, um just to reflect back on some things I've heard this morning, um there's been um good conversation about the priority for the fire station 2 as well as the Belmont Library expansion with requests for some additional information uh on each of those. um and conversation on priority parks and recreation projects and the potential for um ARPA funds that are project based to be expanded in those particular project areas. We also had a good discussion about the Plato program and activity buses. Any other items on um this uh topic that we want to cover?

Mr. just want to reiterate um I guess I kind of said it earlier but agreeing with Mr. and that I would like to see us keep some of the I know that we have some of [snorts] the fund balance from the schools. You know, I think that it would be wise for us to keep a decent chunk of that. Uh I would say at least 5 million to kind of hold and see what happens over this next year as we are um dealing with so many different changes that are happening. And we just got our federal update from our federal lobbyists that there's certainly a lot of uncertainty. And so I that's one of the things that I would like to to see this body do is to keep some of that money uh just in case things get worse.

Right. Any other discussion on this item before we move to the next ones? We can always come back to All right. So the second topic of discussion that we have um we just have two items here but the context of external agencies. So if you recall the current proposed budget of March 23rd has option one and just to remind you all option one we funded 10 agencies and they're funded based on scoring. And the way that scoring worked was they would receive close to what they asked for and it would have more impact um as to what they would provide as a program of service. And then there was option two. Um option two would fund more agencies approximately 19 and that funding would actually be funded at about 50% of what they asked. So more agencies funded but with less value in terms of the dollar amount. And then the alternative uh council proposal would be to split it by 75% and 25. So the first third based on scoring would get 75% of what they asked and then the second third would get 25% and then the final third would not get any funding. So that is the topic of discussion for today uh with the alternative council proposal. And then also the ambassador program currently in that option one which is in the proposed budget is not funded. uh the request was for 200,000 but just to remind you all the cap is 140,000 or 30% of the operating whichever's lower and I'll um speak on that alternative council proposal because I think I'm pretty the one that put that forward. Um the idea was to hopefully fund more than just the 10 um but also to uh to um reward those that went through the process and uh you know and did the uh

the application. Thank you. That did the application and uh those types of things so that they got the majority of what they wanted. Um while also I know that there are several organizations that this you know new uh this new way of doing external agencies uh definitely threw a wrench in their their uh their plans. And so the idea was to hopefully get more people funded um and to reward those that did do the funding model, but not to necessarily uh you know um admonish everybody that didn't get what they wanted in this new system.

Do we know what that would look like funding wise? Yeah. Because I'm that at this point I'm visual. um in terms of the funding amount. The funding total funding amount doesn't change, right? It's just how it's distributed. It's how it's distributed, but what the impact of that would be. So, you know, for example, we've um you know, in the proposed budget we've put out, we included option one. So, those organizations are likely to be thinking unless there are any major changes that that's what they're going to receive. Right. So, any adjustments to that would uh affect their bottom line.

Correct. the the other concern and I I appreciate the thought process here. Um because it is a new uh model and it takes getting used to. I I also don't want to undermine the the process that we created to do this because it was very thorough and Miss Ferguson can give us some insights on that. Um thank you. Welcome.

Good morning council uh Mayor C, Vice Mayor Magcguire, and council members of council. Um so as uh Mr. Kasseki said this does allow us to fund a few extra um external agencies. Um the biggest hit is to um that middle what because it's the first third that have 75%. So um they will see 75% of their asks. The um middle third will receive 25% of their ask. And so what we notice is that um some organizations that may not have received funding at all in option one will now receive funding. They will receive about 25% of their ask. So for some of the organizations that asked for a larger amount of money um instead of receiving nothing, they will receive something. Um, so it will still be harder for them to um maybe hit their original um KPIs that they set, but for some of the smaller organizations that ask for smaller amounts, they will probably still be able to res um achieve their goals.

Uh again, it it would be helpful to see um I can make sure you guys get that. Um and I was going to say I think everybody after y'all's 212 did receive a a physical copy of it, so I will make sure you guys get that. Okay. All right. On the the physical copies they were giving us, there were three options now instead of two. So I will make sure you guys get that. My apologies. Have a question. So it may not have been on mine. [laughter] I have a question. So I believe I wanted to make sure I understand this from option one and option two. Weren't there some agencies did not meet all of the criteria to even get funding?

Yes. And so that is still across the board. Um with this being a new process this year. Um to Councilman Ballison's point with the adjustment, uh we did decide to fund um all the agencies whether their application was complete or not. Um those who did receive the letter, they have been asked to provide the missing information. Um I have not gotten through all that, but most of them were frantically providing me the information by the deadline, which was Friday. And so they will be hearing from me later on today if I have everything needed. They'll update us on that process. Yes.

Okay. Thank you. you know, I was a I was a fan of the process. Um, and you know, I think that for the, you know, I prefer option one just because I feel like the impact of what those organizations can do with that amount of money is much greater. Um, and I don't know if, you know, if a if a organization asks for a h 100,000 then we're giving them like 15,000. I don't really know if that's really going to help them accomplish what it is they wanted to do versus giving an organization that wanted $120,000 $100,000. That's a lot different for that organization to be able to be impactful just in my opinion. Um, and I also think I was a big fan of the application process. I definitely heard from folks some opinions about it and I told them that you know most of this funding that we give out through this process is taxpayer dollars and so we have to be utmost cautious and responsible and accountable on how we give it out and so we're giving it to you. We're literally giving you our citizens money. Um, and we need to make sure we know how it's being used and what the return on investment both qualitative and quantitatively is going to be on our city and therefore on our citizens. Um, so I lean in favor of option one. And what is the process for us to determine the option? Is it something where is there a deadline we need to let you all know like, hey, we want option one or we want option two or three or how does that actually work with deciding which option? So the funding um will be released July 1, 2026. Um and again the amount unless you all are changing the amount that is in the budget. I mean now we do typically advertise or put in the budget which agencies that we're going to fund. But

if you all decide that um you're not ready to make that decision before we publish the book, then we won't put those in there. But we need to know um to let them know so they can properly prepare. Um but the the period starts July 1, 2026.

So So when we move to budget adoption, I'll get right to you. When we move to budget adoption a week from today, uh we would be uh approving the total amount. uh if we uh wanted further um deliberation on which option we wanted to go with um it wouldn't take effect till July 1st but we would we would be adopting the total amount right [clears throat]

um I don't know if I was clear or I wanted to clarify um that we still use the the um the applications everybody is still ranked and prioritized the same way that they were there wasn't any change in that. It's just the change in in the way that they're funded. So, they all did do the process and and have been doing that as well.

Have one other thing I want to make sure I believe you answered this before for me. So, just want to make sure from my memory going forward for future enhancements of the application. I believe there going to be more comments on the application about benchmarking benchmarking um how the people you actually use the funds um to show us hey this is what I did with this money. Yes. So this year on the application we did specifically ask about the goals and so they'll be asked to report on their goals as we move throughout the year and so that will be a requirement going forward as well. Thank you. I just want to make sure I remember that. Yes ma'am.

Yes. Love to hear more metrics. Well, Miss Ferguson, I want to thank you. You you've put an extraordinary amount of time into this and it's not gone on not gone unnoticed. Um, and it is a way for us to uh raise our standards of accountability and make sure we know um not only who we're funding because all of everyone who applied are worthy organizations and they do important work, but because we're stewards of taxpayer dollars, this is a way for us to know clearly um through this application process and and uh through the monitoring of of the fund. So I I just want to make sure that we extend our thanks to you for your really great work on this. Yeah. Um other any other comments on the um external agencies the the the proposals the options before we move to the ambassador program. So I will just preface this. I've probably been the the one who's brought this up for a while. Um I understand the dilemma here that um the ambassador program is funded uh by an external agency. Um and that we've utilized I think for the last four years we've set aside 150,000 per year through ARPA funding.

They receive a total um a little over 300,000.

300,000. Okay. Um so my reason for thinking of this program a little differently than an exter external agency program. So it is it is under the fiscal responsibility of an external agency. But I I'm I'm concerned that you the value um ad of this program to downtown I I think has been extraordinary. And um so my question in this process was are there ways that we could um add some funding for the subsequent year and then evaluate what that might look like in future budget years. And this goes back to um I guess in part to ARPA, you know, is there a way to expand? I don't know all the answers to that. Um, but when I think about the cross-section of uh this program and how it um benefits so many different facets of um not only downtown but tourism, economic development, um keeping businesses happy, um reducing loitering, uh keeping downtown clean. um I'm probably trying to push it into a different category than external agency funding even though I know it's a program funded under an external agency. So, um I just wanted to give that overview as as to why I think this is important. I wouldn't typically raise a program if I didn't see the intersectional value of it. Um, but I just wanted to be candid about that um as we consider this um and and again they need to know um what funding is they can count on and what they can't so that they can plan as well.

Mr. Turner, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um this program was included in ARPA, so we have additional dollars, but it has to be expended. Um, so we say December 31st, but for an external HD, it'll have to be expended by November 30th to ensure that we meet our deadlines. But what they asked for was for the full year. So this would not fund the full year because all the ARPA funds have to be expended by December 31st. Thank you. And I also recognize that that if we were to fund this at any level, we would have to find that funding somewhere. Um,

on that and um, so I've heard a lot of um, great people talk about the ambassador program and especially people that live downtown um, you know, how they keep it clean and what they're doing. So, you know, I I look at this as a um a partnership with our city, but if that goes away, wouldn't the city have to pick up and do all the cleaning downtown? So, at some point in time, if that goes away, we are going to have more expenses to do this type of thing. And I I think they do a great um a great job. And from what I understand, uh, businesses downtown and property owners downtown are also donate donating funds to this program. So, you know, if it goes away, I don't think those people would be donating money to the city of Ronoke to do our cleanup. So, I I do think this is something important that we really should look at.

So, I will add to that um just in looking through the funding sources. So, um probably um 250,000 of it I think comes from the downtown service district. And if we were to uh not suggesting this, but if we were to raise that amount, you know, potentially more could go to that, um the downtown Renault Inc. Foundation contributes to that. The city uh is certainly been a partner in that. And then um uh visit Virginia's Blue Ridge. Um thank you. Yeah. And and I would just to be candid uh I think they could get more.

Thank you. Um because it's a big part of tourism. So I would advocate for that and would encourage the VBR uh board to consider that as well.

Yeah. I would like to kind of second your emotion about the ambassador program, but I also want to add that I think they do a really great job of outreach, especially with the homeless population that's uh been in downtown. I know that there are a lot of stores that have been worried about that and it's really been a big help to have those ambassadors there to be able to assist in getting people to the right uh resources which has been very important to downtown as well. Um, I will say that I I propose the idea to um downtown Reno that they may want to try sponsorship of this in the future. Um, and but I do think, you know, we should be able to give them the funding for a year so that it at least helps them for this time period to figure out what their next step is on uh probably more sustainably funding this.

Yes, Mr. Hagen. Yeah. um going to echo basically a lot of the stuff that's already been said. Um but yes, like the ambassador program as somebody who lives downtown, owns a building downtown, that kind of thing, like it is unbelievably the difference that I've seen over the um time that they've had the ambassador program. Uh highly recommend it even though it doesn't actually extend to where I'm at. Um, but it's uh, you know, we we still receive a benefit from cleaner streets, that kind of thing. Other comments on this. All right, I think we're ready to move on to the next part.

Okay, so the last topic um that we have is the mill tax increase. Um, so I do want to mention that a decision today would not impact the fiscical year 27 budget. However, um discussions would need to begin that way we can plan for the next fiscal year 28. Um just, you know, reminder, we did increase mills tax last year 5.5 to 6.5%. That was $4 million. Um and the sunset would be effective next fiscal year. So again, like I said, it's it will not impact the current proposed budget, but going into 28, that would be something that we would need to know. That way, we can start planning for. Thank you. Uh we're sorry to interrupt, Mr. Casei. Um what we've just been handed is uh outlines the the three options.

Okay. And recommendations. So thank you. That was quick, Helen. Do you have a printer over there, too? [laughter]

So, as Mr. Kaki said we're um we'll we'll need to keep in mind the um the meals tax increase and the scheduled sunset in fiscal year 28. Our budgeting process is not just annual, it's multi-year. And we we need to keep that in mind as we look forward and as we consider these um you know the slowdown in revenue um what our other revenue options are, how we uh support and grow our our tax base and all all the considerations that are part of that. Any conversation at this point related to the meals tax? All right. Um, and just to recap, uh, what we went over, just to make sure I have the right notes. Um, so we've talked about the, um, fund balance and the funds available for use, um, just to find out which projects um, would likely go on there. And from what I understand, council members are not trying to spend the full 21.5 million, but the goal is to look at some of the projects. Um, so we have some work homework to do on the fire station 2 as well as the park projects.

Yeah. And I think um related to both uh the fire station and the library um just any like updated information we can get on both of those. And one of the things I heard from Mr. Nash was um improvement, you know, how would the new station improve in terms of efficiencies, uh response time, that sort of thing. Um and then on the library, what that expansion would look like and the added benefits uh to the community, [cough] possible.

Oh, and the possible phasing. Yeah. Okay. And then the other item we mentioned the ambassador program. So that was something that Miss Turner will work on looking at the ARPA funding but then to determine it has to be expanded by November if we do move forward with that program. Okay. Any additional topics of discussion for today? I have one more question. Yeah. Sorry, I'm always You're fine. And now's the time.

So, um I think I'll put this in I want to say it. So, you know, we always have emergencies come up, things come up. Do we does the city have historical knowledge of that of you know what were our expenses in the prior years that came up that we had to fund that, you know, that we didn't plan for because it's an emergency. So, I'm just thinking um how in this very tight budget will we be able to fund things like that?

So, that's where the managed hiring comes in because if we have approximately 7 to8 million, again, we're not uh planning on fully staffing every department. So, we would have to take it case by case as we've mentioned in our briefings. So that 7 to8 million will be able to address utilities, your fleet fuel. I mentioned at the community meeting, we spend about 8,000 gallons a week and we know the budget is not sufficient. So we just manage that monthtomonth uh based on what we spend. I'm sorry, Mr. Cass.

Um Miss Miss Powers, we also um ensure that we have um a small amount set aside. system, but amount set aside and our capital contingency um because you know um we we can't plan on a boiler going out or roof. So we always have contingency um built into um to our budget um for capitals in particular. I would just add that if for some reason we are not able to handle any unforeseen expenditure then we would reduce the expenditure level to accommodate.

Yeah. And that goes back to um actually managing the budget because if we see that there's a significant decline in our revenue then we know that we're going to have to um look at it from an expenditure side and and you know which you know could in include you know cutting um significantly. Important question. Thank you. Any other questions? Question.

Yeah, Mr. Nash. And I'm just curious, but with like the cost of like gasoline and diesel for our vehicles, we pay the exact same rate that you see, like do we pay the same? Like if we see diesel like 530, like $5.30 a gallon for our trucks that all require diesel, are we paying $5.30 or is there a different I think we get a slight discount, but it's still almost double what we were paying. Yeah. But I have to get the exact amount. But I think we do get a slight discount, but it's still double. I wonder the quantity we have to purchase. Yeah, we got big vehicles. Yeah, we're filling it.

And that's from gasoline as well as electricity. Electricity has gone up significantly.

Other questions? Well, I'd like for all the budget management team to come up. Come on. Come on. Don't be shy. Miss Ferguson, come on up. Uh, I want to take an opportunity for us as a council to thank you all for your extraordinary work um through the years, but especially this year. This has been a particularly challenging year and you Yeah. Everybody else, come on. um you've um you've gone above and beyond with your time, your energy, your experience, your wisdom, your willingness to work together. I mean, I've I've seen you showing up for meetings on Friday nights when I'm sure you had date nights or other things planned. Um no, it's Monday night with the budget. um and weekends and um you know we're near the finish line on this and and it can we we continue to have very challenging conversations about how to prioritize this funding but I wanted to make sure that you all know Miss Turner um your team Aki Mr. Stovall. Um, all of you, thank you for all that you do. Um, uh, for your thoughtfulness throughout this process and your dedication to the city. We are all grateful. And, um, I'll just offer the opportunity for any other council members that would like to share any comments.

Sure. I want to say thank you, too. And, um, I want to just iriterate what um, Mr. Stovall said. Yes, we have been here before. I remember those sleepless nights myself turning over in my brain, you know, what can I cut and where can I do and and it's it is hard and you guys have all of you have done an incredible job. You've answered all my questions. I apologize for all the emails I've sent you, but you were all very quick to respond and I really do appreciate each and every single one. I would like to thank them, but I think we should I'll give them a stand. [laughter] [applause]

If I had gold stars, I'd put one on each of your foreheads. [laughter] And I would also like to thank the department heads for making the tough decisions on cutting their budgets because I'm sure they have many sleepless nights like just like Miss Powers says we're not we're not quite done yet. You're going to walk us through the rest of the timeline. I know, right? We just have one more thing on the timeline, [laughter] but I do want to also mention we do have other members and I know they're watching um offices as well. Just wanted to thank

everyone in the department. Thank you. So the only other thing on the timeline as you know we do have our adoption next week. Um from the conversations we've had today um I do not anticipate making changes to the general fund. Right now the focus is looking at the available funds for use and looking at ARPA funding for any possible potential for ambassador program as we go ahead and build the adopted budget. Mr. Kasaki. All right. Thank you. Well done today Mr. Mayor. Yes mad something. Um, I just would like to say a special thank you to Mr. Stoval. Uh, Mr. Stovall, this is his last um budget. No, no, no. [laughter] Voting for you to stay.

He has done a phenomenal job in in helping to assist and train um our our team. Um, as you know, um, Alejandro and Tristan are new and Mr. Cassi has been with us for about four years. Um, so he has done a yman's job in helping to train them and um, um, helping Aki as well. So, uh, just a special thank you to him for, um, his dedication and his commitment, uh, to helping us as we, uh, move forward with this very tight budget. So, thank you. Well, I know, Mr. Stovall, you were just looking for a few more fun things to add into your [laughter] into your life. We are really grateful to you. Thank you. Thank you.

So, you forgot to tell him that we were voting on him to extend his term for another year. Did you forget that? I tried to tell him, but he was like, "No, that's not." [laughter] He said, he said, "No, that's not what the MS said." I keep asking him the same question. [laughter] He says, "No, they're ready to fly solo." That's great. That's the best part. All right. Well, thank you all. We are in recess until 2:00 for our closed meetings, and we'll see everybody at two. Thank you.