City Council - Regular Meeting

were very bounded by my experience of going to a conventional grocery store, which made me start to wonder what other fruits and vegetables and foods don't fit within this kind of cultivated garden, so to speak, of the grocery store.

Yeah. I mean, I've read that for fruit producers, the science of producing these varietals has advanced. That sweet is kind of a safe business model for producers. And then, of course, there's what we the consumers want or think we want. So why do you think about why it is the way it is? The fruit business is providing us flashier, maybe sweeter than ever.

Well, I think it all comes down to what people will buy and how they're seduced into buying. And it has to compete with all the prettier, louder packaging of the foods at the middle of the store.

And yet you and others have said sweetness without acid can be boring. Tell me about that. Absolutely.

It's almost always boring. I mean, so I teach a class called Pie School, which is kind of what it sounds like. I teach people how to make pie. And one of the things I always tell my students is that they need to start with great fruit. You can add all sorts of things to very bland apples or mushy strawberries or... tough rhubarb, but it really won't make up for that initial quality. So choose great fruit. And what makes fruit great, besides being fresh and often local, is a balance of tartness and sweetness. And without that tart note, sweetness just isn't that interesting. It's just sweet. It doesn't challenge the palate. It doesn't have more nuanced, smaller, volatile flavors. It's just sweet.

Well, the apple pie, right? I'm just thinking if we made an apple pie with just Honeycrisp, come on, right? I mean, you want the Granny Smith. That's what you mean, yeah?

Yes, that is what I mean. But then I'm also always like, make what you can with what you have. That's just a backstop to this whole conversation for me. It's like, if what you can access is a Honeycrisp and you want to make a pie, make that pie. That's better than no pie. And then the other part of me wants to say, it is... perfectly fine not to eat a fruit that is out of season, but coming to us anyway. I often make that choice. And I often think we have too much choice in a grocery store. And that still feels very strange that I can get berries year round. Part of me is like, that is not how berries are meant to come to us. And their accessibility and the fact that I can choose them divorces me from my sense of season and place. And I value having that sense. That's not a choice everybody wants to make. Nobody wants to say, maybe you just don't have the thing you want. That's not very American.

It's so not American, but it brings up a question of culture, I guess, that I kind of want to ask you. And is there something going on with what society is advancing? Technology is advancing in aggregate. We're wealthier than before. Is that part of it? I ask in part because I'm Chinese and Chinese. There's a term to eat bitterness. And it is kind of a description of a life that is resilient, what you've gone through before. You've eaten bitterness. You've shikou in Chinese. And so in a way, do you think maybe the fruit that we have on offer reflects maybe less of an appreciation for the complications of life?

Absolutely. It represents a turning away from difficulty. And of course, there's reasons we would like to turn away from difficulty when we're just trying to shop for the week. But I think that there's value in eating bitterness. I love that phrase. And I think about the times I have tried to like a food that I don't have a palate for and the delight of that challenge of trying to learn how to like something and how it really was just a matter of time and repetition of continuing to try the thing until I understood it with my senses. but then also gained enough of a context of where the food was coming from and when I would eat it and where it fits in my schedule of cravings, so to speak.

Well, OK, so I put my headphone in one ear and I'm kind of imagining hearing in the other ear this angry listener. Yeah. But you're wanting to throw fruit at you and me who says, who are you? Right. This food writer, opinionator can't even appreciate a good thing. You know, why do you have to find some downside to our fruit lives getting better? I'm sure you know the argument. What do you say?

Oh, absolutely. I'm thinking of that person all the time.

Yeah. And what do you say to that person?

I guess what I say to that person is like we live, many of us in the United States live in a time and a place where we can kind of choose the sweet fruit or the difficult fruit. And I appreciate being able to make both of those choices. And I would hope that that listener also has that choice. I don't want to get rid of sweet fruit. I don't even want to complain about it. I like it. I don't necessarily want to bake with it because its flavors don't improve through my messing with them and putting them under heat and in pastry. But I'm not complaining about its existence. Just that I hope that what I see is that a homogenization of flavors through this overpowering sweetness doesn't erase all the other flavors that we might experience or have access to or go looking for.

Yeah. I wonder if you can kind of say what you just said in food form. Is there a baking thing, a pie that reflects this complexity of flavors?

I always come back to the quince and a bite of quince is what propelled me on my way to writing The Book of Difficult Fruit because I was so confused by my first experience with quince. It's related to apples and pears. It looks like a kind of an exaggerated pear and it smells amazing. It's got this like... Very floral, rosy, but sometimes pineappley scent, but also something else I've never figured out how to describe. And the very first time I took a bite out of it, I felt shocked and betrayed by this fruit that I thought was going to taste delicious because it smelled so good. Yeah, and it just, it was astringent. It wicked all the moisture out of my mouth. It was sour. You know, I chewed and I swallowed, but it was an effort. That started my love affair with Quince, I think because I was surprised. And that's what sweet fruit does not do. It does not surprise me. It always does exactly what it's supposed to do, which is give me pleasure, which can become anesthetizing. I mean, I talk about Quince as being a cook's fruit. And that you need to cook it for a long time with sugar in order to make it more palatable. It will turn a beautiful pink color. It's like a beautiful pink applesauce or a beautiful pink preserve that's called membrillo or fruit cheese. And it's so high in pectin that you can slice it as if it were cheese and serve it with cheese. One of the traditional pairings is a Spanish manchego. But in pie, if you're going to use it in pie, it has such a strong flavor that I suggest using only one or two with apples and pears. I've tried to make a fully quince pie and it's just the flavor is great, but it is overpowering. It's too much. Yes, you get this feeling of having to stop. Yeah. And the trick there also, you've got to saute them in butter and then put them in with the raw ingredients before you bake the pie because they won't bake all the way through like a regular apple.

Wow. We've been talking to Kate Lebo, baker and writer and enjoyer of complex fruit. Kate, so good to talk to you. Thanks so much. Great talking to you, Scott. You're listening to here and now.

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It's here and now. Summer camp is about embracing the outdoors, even when it means getting soaked in a downpour or sweating through a hike. But as climate change fuels dangerous heat and unhealthy air, the outdoors is becoming something camps, including those in Massachusetts, have to protect children from. WBUR's Emily Piper Villillo took a look.

Dozens of kids splashing a pond tucked among trees.

Phoenix!

It's one of three ponds at Hale Education, which runs a summer camp in Westwood with miles of trails to explore. Campers dunk their heads and splash one another until a counselor's voice cuts through. Kids swim to opposite docks and huddle, bobbing in the water as they call out team names.

On my left, we have the Golden Axolotls.

Can I hear your battle cry?

Three, two, one, catch the flag!

All in all, it's a pretty typical day at camp, except for one thing. Um, you see that, like, the sun's a little bit different? That's Isla Pokrant. She's seven. What she's describing is the sun turned into a glowing red orb by a blanket of smoke from Canadian wildfires. Six-year-old Henry LeMoult puts it a little differently.

The animals at Canada Rainforest had a barbecue and they forgot to turn off the grill and the fire spread and almost burned down the entire forest.

These kids aren't phased, but it's a reminder that summers are changing.

It's hot out. It's been a warm summer already.

Aaron Morehouse is Hale's executive director.

What we can say is that this year, last year, the year before, they are different. Like the science shows us that we know that we're facing the hottest days that we've ever faced.

Camps like Hale are all about teaching kids how to navigate the outdoors. Rain doesn't stop camp. It becomes part of the adventure. But climate change brings a whole host of challenges. More frequent extreme heat and powerful storms. Algae blooms that make it unsafe to swim. More and more, Massachusetts summers are bringing weather that forces camps to change how they operate.

Every night I have to monitor what the weather is going to look like for the next day.

Emily McDonald heads up camp at the Common School in Amherst.

If it goes to 100, we don't go outside. And that stinks because lots of the camp is outside.

This summer's 4th of July heat wave upended camp routines across the state. The temperature soared to 100 degrees and camps moved children indoors. One turned on a live stream of owls, some closed altogether. At Everwood Day Camp in Sharon, Director Jamie Pickles canceled the afternoon buses.

Kids sort of sitting in a hot bus with no air conditioning, particularly in potential 4th of July traffic, was just a no-go for us.

Roughly 75 kids stayed home that day.

There's a lot of people that come to Everwood who are dependent on travel. So when they can't get here by bus, then it affects their child care, it affects their kids' experience, and people really have to reshuffle.

Children are especially vulnerable to extreme heat and poor air quality, and kids with asthma face even greater risks. Keeping everybody safe now means limiting some outdoor adventures that have always been a part of camp.

Some of the fun of outdoor camp is that you get to take risks.

Catherine Robb's six-year-old attends camp at Hale. She remembers her childhood summers outside and the thrill of a rare thunderstorm. Some of those same carefree experiences now require a different level of caution.

If that's thunderstorms that are happening all the time and it's actually not just a thunderstorm but it's a really extreme weather event, then that can get really dangerous and as we saw in Texas last year, deadly.

Camps are redesigning their campuses for a hotter future with plans to add indoor space and expand shade cover. They're flipping schedules, moving the highest energy activities early in the day when it's still cool. They're even canceling campfires.

Everybody get ready for buddy time!

Hale has adopted a look-out-for-each-other approach. On really hot days, campers stop what they're doing and make sure their buddy is okay.

Lower eight, hurry up!

They've also rolled out mandatory water breaks every 15 minutes and added industrial misting fans. What's driving Executive Director Aaron Morehouse to make these changes is his belief that camp is more important now than ever. Camp teaches children how to work together, he says, how to be adaptable and resilient. And that's what they need to do in a changing world.

So that's another reason why we can't lose summer camp.

If I hold this, can you press the button? The day is winding down and campers crowd around to fill their water bottles one more time before heading home. One camper promises to bring his Pokemon tomorrow. Another has snuck an ant on board and named it Tallulah. As the bus departs, it's the adults who are monitoring the weather. So the kids can just be kids. For Here and Now, I'm Emily Piper Valillo.

Makes me want to be a camp counselor again. A shout out this afternoon and all things considered, what's next for peptides? Now that the FDA has approved a handful of the popular products, you can hear that story right here on your reliable local member station. Here and Now is a production of NPR and WBUR. I'm Robin Young.

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From WHYY in Philadelphia, this is Fresh Air. I'm Tanya Mosley in Los Angeles. Today, historian Mickey McElyea. She spent years reconstructing the story of one September afternoon in 1968 when the Miss America pageant collided with a changing country and the Women's Liberation Movement announced itself to America. There is this

cast of women from various political positions, from various places in the country, who have central roles in making this moment.

Feminists, beauty queens, and defenders of the pageant. Her new book, Liberation Summer, delves into what that day in 1968 set in motion. Also, TV critic David Bianculli reviews the HBO series, Stewart Fails to Save the Universe.

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Good afternoon and welcome to the 2 o'clock p.m. session of Roanoke City Council on Monday, August 3rd, 2026. I'll ask our Deputy City Clerk, Ms. CeCe Webb, to please call the roll.

Ms. Sanchez-Jones? Here. Vice Mayor McGuire?

Here.

Mr. Nash?

Here.

Mr. Vollison?

Here.

Ms. Powers? Mr. Hagan?

Here.

And Mayor Cobb?

Here. And a quorum is present. I'd like to ask one of my council members, actually we'll wait to do that, so one of you get ready with the certified closed meeting. Before that, though, I don't see Reverend Hodge here, so I will lead us in the invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance. Would you please stand? Source of all that is love and goodness and kindness in our world. Thank you for this opportunity to be together as a council, as citizens, as city administration to think about and offer wisdom, individual and collective wisdom for the sake of our city. We are honored to be elected to serve in these roles. We're honored to serve with one another and grateful for this opportunity. to celebrate all that our city is becoming, to take on the challenges our city faces with courage and resilience, and to do our best in every moment that we can to bring our best as leaders of this local government. Bless our time together. In your holy name we pray. Amen. and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. Mr. Vollison, will you please certify our closed meeting? Sure.

I move with respect to any closed meeting just concluded that each member of city council in attendance certified to the best of his or her knowledge that only public business matters lawfully exempted from the open meeting requirements under the Virginia freedom of information act. And only such public business matters as were identified in any motion by which any closed meeting was convened or heard discussed or considered by the members of council in attendance.

Thank you to have a second second. Thank you vice mayor. Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll?

Ms. Santich-Jones? Aye. Vice Mayor McGuire? Aye. Mr. Nash? Aye. Mr. Vollison?

Aye.

Mr. Hagan?

Aye.

And Mayor Cobb?

Aye. And the motion passes. Thank you. A couple of announcements. The Council of the City of Roanoke is seeking applications for various vacancies on Council-appointed authorities, boards, commissions, and committees. Please access the City's website at at roanokeva.gov to complete an online application, or you can call our city clerk's office at 540-853-2541 for more information. I'm honored to give my second State of the City address on Thursday, August 27th from 7.30 to 9 a.m. at Hotel Roanoke. This event is hosted by the Roanoke Regional Chamber, so tickets are available through their website. It will also be live streamed on YouTube, so we encourage folks who may not be able to attend in person to do so through the live stream. And then tomorrow night, August 4th, is our annual National Night Out. And I know that we have been promoting the different locations that this will be taking place throughout our city. It's an opportunity to connect with our public safety, first responder communities, and thank them for all that they do. But it's also a great opportunity to spend some time with neighbors. You can be ambitious and visit all of them tomorrow night, or you can go to your neighborhood National Night Out event. But please take the opportunity to connect with your neighbors at some point tomorrow. All right, we're going to move into our presentations and acknowledgements, and we'll begin today, as we do for our 2 o'clock meetings, with our council shout-outs. This is an opportunity for our council members to highlight special things that have been happening in the life of our city between our meetings that we've been able to either participate in or be present for. So I'm going to start this week with Councilman Hagan.

Hello. Uh, I'm going to give a shout out to the living legends honor, uh, ceremony and luncheon that I know that, uh, councilman of the intentions Jones and mayor as well as myself were able to attend. Um, it's always great to see that recognized over there down and that was closet. Thank you. Yeah.

Sanchez Jones.

And I would like to thank Derek Rubin for the great event that he organized at McCadden Park this past Saturday with lots of fun activities, including a foam, what do you call it? Yes, a foam party. So it was really nice. Thank you, Mr. Rubin.

Thank you. Vice Mayor.

Thank you, Mayor. I want to give a shout out to the emergency responders, particularly our firefighters and fire EMS. My summer job is working with Roanoke Mountain Adventures, taking people out on the river to do river tubing. And on Saturday, as we were coming down at the Bridge Street trailhead, just as we were coming down the hill, we saw a bicycle accident. And a young man was driving very recklessly, very fast, without a helmet on an e-bike, and he ran head-on into another biker who was wearing a helmet and was on the right side of the trail. But it was a pretty nasty collision, and the first responders got there within just a couple of minutes, just did everything that you could imagine to... comfort the victims to the best of their ability and get folks straightened out and get the care that they needed. But so I want to thank them for that, for their response and what they did that day. But then I want to take the opportunity to flag that I think we have some conversations to have about safety on the Greenway. And this is not the first accident that I've seen on the Greenway. And as we see more and more of these e-bikes on the Greenway and our more and more users, families, people on different mobility devices, I just want to throw that out there that we might think about how we can continue to keep the Greenway safe for everyone because it was a really scary accident, and both of them are lucky that they didn't get killed, frankly, especially the kid that wasn't wearing a helmet. So thank you to the fire and EMS team, and if you're going to be out on a bike or a scooter, please wear a helmet.

Yeah, I want to shout out the summer graduates who graduated last Thursday. They're all Roanoke City Public School students, and these kids just had a little bit of a different journey or process to go through to actually graduate. It was awesome to see them still get their time and their recognition and be able to walk a stage and receive their high school diploma, the same as maybe the students who graduated a few months ago at the Berglund Center. And so I wish all those students nothing but the best in the future.

I'd like to shout out to all the poll workers and the registrar for the past 45 days of early voting. I know that a lot of them have been sitting out in the heat, making sure that we have the ability to voice our opinion. And so I really appreciate all their hard work. I know they've got yet another election to go to after this. And that's just a reminder that tomorrow is an election day. It's primary day. And so the city buses will be running free tomorrow. Thank you.

A couple of things for me. Friday and Saturday night I was able to attend two really unique events at the Jefferson Center. Friday night was the Talent in the Star. This was a program that was started four years ago by TAP. to raise awareness about gun violence and the specific effects on young people in the community. And they announced that this will be the last Talent in the Star program. And one of the main reasons for that is we've seen a significant reduction in youth violence, especially youth-specific gun violence in the community over the last four years. And also youth are very interested in starting work earlier. So TAP, This Valley Works, has a workforce component, and so they're shifting gears to try and work with youth to get them employed and engaged as a means of a deterrent, if you will, or a different kind of pathway away from violence, and so I commend them for that. Saturday Night was an amazing production by a local citizen, Gregory Addison, called The Emerald City. It was a fashion show and hairstyling. It was a packed house, and I always marvel at the creativity and energy of our city and our residents. And then lastly, I'll say that I think for Miss Turner, either the last four years or five years, City of Roanoke has been recognized as a top employer for interns. four years and was able to attend a luncheon last week recognizing all of the interns that we had this summer and they were all phenomenal. It's a great program. It's a high point of the work we do together as a city and it's a great introduction for students to really understand and engage fully for a couple of months in local government work. So I want to commend all of those interns and all of our departments who were able to host an intern this year. I'm going to invite Valerie Brown, who's the executive director of the Greater Williamson Road Area Business Association, and any board members she may have with her today, to come and join me at the podium for a proclamation. So I'm honored to present a proclamation today in celebration of Commonwealth Day of Play. Whereas Commonwealth Day of Play is part of Virginia's statewide Reclaiming Childhood Initiative, established by the governor's office to encourage children and families to prioritize play, physical activity, and meaningful human connection, and the initiative continues to promote the health, well-being, and connectedness of Virginia's children and families. Whereas the Greater Williamson Road Area Business Association is proud to host the second annual Commonwealth Day of Play on Saturday, August 8, 2026, at Brookside Par 3 Golf Course, building on the success of last year's event, which welcomed more than 365 children and their families, and continuing its commitment to bringing the community together through outdoor play, recreation, and meaningful connection. Whereas in an increasingly fast-paced and technology-driven world, Commonwealth Day of Play encourages children, families, and friends to unplug from electronic devices, spend time outdoors, and rediscover the joy of shared experiences that strengthen relationships and create lasting memories. Whereas through games, recreation, health and wellness activities, and the support of community partners including Brain Injury Solutions, First Tee of Roanoke, the Roanoke City Police Department, the Kiwanis Club of Roanoke, K92, ServPro, and others, Commonwealth Day of Play promotes active living, community engagement, and safety, including the distribution of free bicycle helmets to children and adults. Whereas Commonwealth Day of Play is more than a single day of activities, it is a celebration of the power of play to strengthen families, to foster healthier lifestyles, and to build lasting community connections and inspire people of all ages to experience the joy of being active together. Now, therefore, I, Joseph L. Cobb, Mayor of the City of Roanoke, do hereby proclaim August 8, 2026, throughout this great nine-time All-America City, as Commonwealth Day of Play. Thank you and congratulations.

I'd like to take advantage of introducing board members. First is Liz Sturgill. She's the president of our board. And William Dixon, he sits on our board as well. He's been a godsend. He's great. He's absolutely great. And on behalf of the board and everyone involved with Grava, I want to thank you, Mr. Mayor, as well as all of you. for this support. We're pretty excited about this. Last summer, being our first time, we had three weeks to plan it. That's all we had. And by the grace of God, it happened. And the best part about it was there were 365 kids and families out there. Nobody had a phone in their hand. Nobody had an iPad. They were out there playing, laughing, running, just having a really good time. And it just made my heart so happy. And we decided whether it was the Commonwealth's gonna do it again, we were gonna do it again. And it's gonna be part of what we do every year. But we're really thankful that the governor has shown an interest. And they are telling us that someone from the Commonwealth will be there on Saturday. So we can't wait to see who she or he is. So thank you very much. Thank you.

All right, well, let's come up here and get a picture.

Hey, neighbor.

Nice to see you.

All right. I'm just going to make it so you can see you. Slider. There we go.

You can take a slight step that way. There we go. I think I see everybody now.

Wonderful, one, two, three. Thank you.

Looking forward to it, yeah.

Is that at the parking lot again? At the parking lot. Okay, Brookside, okay. Last year was at the parking lot, wasn't it?

No, it was there.

It was there? Okay.

Yeah, the par 3 Brookside course is a great way to act like you're a professional golfer. We'll turn now to our Hearing of citizens upon public matters, and council sets this time aside as a priority for our citizens to be heard. All matters will be referred to the city manager for response, recommendation, or report to the council, as she may deem appropriate. If you've not spoken before council before, you'll just come up to the podium, and you may want to adjust the mic up a little bit. But the mic is live. There's a box in the upper right-hand corner. Green means start. Yellow means you have a minute left. And then stop means please wrap it up. And each speaker will have three minutes to speak. So, Ms. Webb, do we have a speaker signed up today?

We do. We have Kate Kastner. John McIntosh, District Director Freda Cathcart, and E. Duane Howard.

Welcome. Thank you for being here today.

Good afternoon, Mayor and members of Council. My name is Kate Kastner, and I'm here for Pedal Safe Roanoke. When you adopted the Safety Action Plan in May, you committed Roanoke to eliminating traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2040. Tonight, I want to name one small thing standing between that commitment and safer streets and offer a solution. The plan calls for protecting people who walk and bike, and the safest bike lanes are physically separated from traffic. But when we ask for protected lanes running in the same direction as vehicular traffic, we keep hearing the same answer. The city can't maintain them because stormwater management has no street sweeper that's small enough to fit in these lanes. So the default becomes a painted stripe or nothing at all. Here's why that matters. A 13-year study of major US cities from the University of Colorado Denver found that physically protected lanes reduce deaths and serious injuries for everyone on the street, drivers and pedestrians included, while painted lanes show no safety benefit at all. The painted stripe isn't a cheaper version of safety. The research says it isn't safety at all. Pedal Safe Roanoke has a proposal before the city right now. Partner with us to acquire and operate a compact sweeper as a demonstration project. It's time limited, reversible, and it produces exactly the data the city says it needs. I'm asking council for three things today. First, immediately accept and advance that demonstration partnership. It commits the city to very little and could unlock a great deal. Second, direct transportation and stormwater management to jointly write a maintenance protocol for protected bike lanes, using the demonstration to capture the real numbers, how much debris is removed, the labor hours, and the cost per mile. Third, commit that once the demonstration shows these lanes can be maintained, protected design becomes the default for new bike facilities on the high injury network, not an exception declined on maintenance grounds. Here's the bottom line. You've already decided that Roanoke should be a city where people don't die crossing the street or riding a bike. Let's not let one small street sweeper stand in the way between having those safer streets that you've already voted for. Thank you.

Thank you, Kate. And I come back up for just a second. I want to thank you too for, um, being the lead writer for the ride of silence this year. It was, um, an honor to ride behind you and for you to lead the way.

Thank you. Really appreciate it. I enjoyed riding with you. Thank you. Thank you.

Who was the next person after Kate?

John. Oh, I'm sorry. John McIntosh.

Mr. McIntosh? Yeah. Come on up, sir. Welcome. Thank you for being here.

Hi. My name is John McIntosh. I've come to address you this afternoon as a Virginia Class A contractor, licensed to do business in Roanoke City. I primarily build single-family houses and stick to neighborhoods that can use some love. I build new houses as opposed to rehabbing old ones. These houses are all subject to the current 2021 International Residential Code, IRC, adopted by the state of Virginia. I became aware that the Virginia General Assembly was debating and subsequently passed Bill 594. This bill is known as expedited approval for certain affordable housing. Contains many ideas to increase housing stock addresses Making houses more affordable the section of this bill addresses houses on smaller Lots the Virginia House passed this January 29th 2026 it passed the Senate March 4th I Wanted to talk to the zoning department at the city concerning this in subdividing a lot that I have on a Southeast I have built a house on the first part of the lot the back yard of the lot is Should be available to build a second house on I've applied for an ARU and I've been granted a permit for that But my interest is in a whole separate house with the light in the light of this bill I Steven at the building department led me to Brittany Gardner. She was a zoning person. I emailed her in the middle of March and asked for her help. She emailed me that my square footage was 6,800. I needed 8,000. Each new lot would require 4,000 square feet per lot. So I didn't qualify. She subsequently quit. July 11, 2026, a federal law, the 21st Century Road to Housing Act, was passed with overwhelming bipartisan support. By overwhelming bipartisan support, I mean 358 to 32 in the House, 85 to 5 in the Senate. Both of these newly enacted laws have striking similarities. Mainly it's the goal of creating more housing stock and more affordable stock. And AI also mentioned that it modernizes locally administered housing programs, cuts zoning and regulatory red tape, and unlocks housing construction. I have just such a situation with this new house in Southeast that I've built. This is a corner lot and divides neatly into two. The lot is bisected by an easement so Aubrey Brooks can park behind his house. My proposed lot is 80 feet by 40 feet. It will easily accommodate another house, a small front, and a small backyard, and off the street parking for two vehicles. I'm not asking for any money. I just like the city to join the state and federal government and allow me to do what they seem to want to have done. If Roanoke is going to change its zoning requirements to reflect the trajectory of the state and federal government, I need a contact to get this moving. If Roanoke's not going to do that, well, I'll just do something else. I have spoken to Philip Moore. He is unable to help me. Oh, yes, and Time is of the essence. I'm currently holding that completed house. It needs to be sold because as soon as it's going to have an impact on other ongoing projects. Also, I'll be 75 in October, so I want to find out if this is going to happen. If not, I'll just do something else.

Thank you, Mr. McIntosh. Perhaps you can connect with Mr. Eumanns. He works with...

I'm sorry. I'm 75 and can't hear.

Oh, okay. My apologies. Perhaps you can connect with Mr. Eumanns right here, this gentleman to your left, and he can probably help you.

Okay.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much for coming today. Our next speaker...

District Director, Freda Cathcart.

Welcome, Director Cathcart.

Thank you for this opportunity. Back on July 24th, I sent an email to Assistant Manager Helen Ferguson and copied every member of the City Council on the email. In that email, I expressed that there appears there may be a misunderstanding regarding Roanoke City's annual contribution to the Blue Ridge Soil and Water Conservation District. The Blue Ridge Soil and Water Conservation District is an independent government body that is defined in the Virginia State Code and Constitution. The district isn't a civic or neighborhood organization, nor is it an agency. We are required to issue annual reports that are submitted to the state as well as the localities that we serve. We are required to do audits which demonstrate that all the money given to the district is appropriately spent and accounted for. The Blue Ridge Soil Water Conservation District received $3,000 last year from Roanoke City and implemented over $7,000 worth of projects within the city. This is a very good return of the city's investment in our district. Our staff is very busy doing the work for the district, and I don't understand why Roanoke City is suddenly asking our staff to do more work than has previously been required by attending a funding seminar that doesn't even apply to the work that our district does. Now we are being asked to sign a new MOU requiring quarterly reporting to be sent to the City of Roanoke. I don't feel comfortable altering the original MOU without getting an opinion from the Office of Attorney General as well as consulting with the Virginia Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts to see if this would create a new precedent that the districts would want to avoid. Please be mindful that the Blue Ridge Soil and Water Conservation District staff does an outstanding job getting the money given to the district on the ground to protect our water and soil. As a director representing Roanoke City on the Blue Ridge Soil and Water Conservation District, I hope that the city will respect our staff's time by not requiring them to do additional tasks, especially during our busiest time of year. Our fiscal year ends on June 30th. i hope this has been a misunderstanding and we can move on functioning as we have in the last couple of decades i have not received a response to that email from anybody and i find that concerning our district only has currently four staff people and we handle over um well this year we'll be handling over um well, over $20 million that will be coming through from state, federal, and local funding. We have no way of generating revenue. We are reliant on the grants given to us by the federal, state, and local governments. And we do really appreciate the $3,000 that we get from Roanoke City. I would like to see more of the money that we receive come to Roanoke City, and in order to do so, we really need to have a better collaborative relationship with the city so that we can move expeditiously and efficiently to get the money that we receive on the ground in Roanoke City. This helps with flood resiliency and the heat dome effect. So I just wanted to bring this to your attention. And I think that we might benefit by having some type of planning meeting with some of the staff of Roanoke City and perhaps members of the council to have a better understanding of what we do, who our partners are, like the Forest Service, the USDA. We have a lot of partners. It's also a way where we understand some of the challenges that are facing Roanoke City that we can advocate in the General Assembly, which I know I ran into the mayor there in the General Assembly. I was fighting hard to return back funding that Governor Youngkin had taken away from our high hazard dam funds. He had clawed back $25 million putting lives and property at stake. We were able to fight and get that money restored as well as I think was a total of 75 million dollars returned to us in the budget that we had to fight very hard for and I went up there several times personally to advocate on that behalf. So I really would like to have a better relationship with Roanoke City so that we can work together to bring more money home here to the city to our district that will benefit everybody. So I thank you for your time today to bring this to your attention.

Thank you, Director Cathcart. Thanks for your service. Mr. Howard is our last speaker? Yes. All right. Welcome, Mr. Howard.

Mayor, have you changed the rules? It used to be five people or less. We got five minutes.

My apologies. If you need all five minutes, go for it.

Well, I don't know yet. Good afternoon, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and City Manager. I made the mistake of watching this morning's City Council about the parking study that was present because I've been wanting to come to speak on this subject. It's concerning. We all know how critical parking is, particularly around the heart of the market itself. And I'm assuming downtown Roanoke or someone has given a testosterone truck and a trailer permission to park on the street right across from the center in the square with their truck and their trailer selling coffee and whatever else they sell. They have a stand on the sidewalk selling T-shirts. They're parking over on the curb. I mean, this is profoundly unfair to the businesses downtown. This morning, I've talked to the wiener stand and some of the other store owners down there. They're absolutely appalled at this. I mean, where does it stop? You know, any store would like to have a kind of a tax-free venue of parking on the street down there selling merchandise and food. And then one of the owners down there brought up the fact that, well, what about the vendors on the corner there on the tables that are selling meat, grilled meat and sandwiches? have their business down there I like to come there used to be two parking handicapped parking spaces right there at that corner I don't know why they took away the one. We never have enough of handicapped parking spaces. And so the truck and the trailer, it extends then further down over where the sign says 15-minute parking. So do I assume correctly that this must be a downtown road hook incorporated that gives us permission for something like this? I'm assuming and and I think you need to look into this because it's just fundamentally wrong to the businesses especially as close as Mill Mountain coffee as to it It's hurting their business it's just fundamentally wrong and I hope you all will look into it and and See if that shouldn't be corrected Thank you for bringing that to our attention.

Mr. Howard.

I

That's all of our speakers today. Thank you, Ms. Webb. And thanks to everyone who came out today. We're going to move now to item four in our agenda, which is our consent agenda. All matters listed under this consent agenda are considered to be routine by members of council and will be enacted by one motion. There's generally no separate discussion of the items. If discussion is desired, the particular item can be removed from the consent agenda and considered separately. At this time, I'll ask for a motion and second to approve the consent agenda. The consent agenda. Second. Thank you, Council Members Hagan and Vollison. Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll?

Ms. Sanchez-Jones. Aye. Vice Mayor McGuire. Aye. Mr. Nash.

Aye.

Mr. Vollison.

Aye.

Mr. Hagan.

Aye.

Mayor Cobb.

Aye. And the consent agenda is approved. Moving on to our regular agenda, we have no public hearings or petitions and communications, so we'll move into our reports with city officers and the city manager. And we have two briefings this afternoon, and I'll ask our manager to introduce those briefings.

I'd like to invite Katie Slusher up. Katie serves as our parks planner and construction manager, and she's going to present the Washington Park Master Plan.

Welcome, Ms. Slusher. It's good to see you.

All right. Good afternoon, Mayor, Vice Mayor, members of Council. As the City Manager mentioned, I'm Katie Slusher. I manage planning and development projects for the Parks and Recreation Department. So I'm going to do a quick walkthrough of the master plan that we've developed for Washington Park. So just an outline here of what we'll be talking through from the process, engagement, working through the site plan, and then a grant application scope that we're looking to apply for this month. So in terms of the process, this project has been going about a year. We started last July with some outreach, initial survey, really asking folks what amenities they wanted to see in the park. And then moving into the fall, we had another round of engagement around a couple concept schemes that our consultant team developed to really get people to start thinking about, okay, these different amenities, how are they arranged in the park, what's a good fit where, that sort of thing. And then all that led into the design of the vision plan over the winter and spring. So the engagement process was really critical to this plan. We did a ton of outreach, both dedicated public meetings for the project, but also a lot of time out in the parks trying to reach those folks that may not be attending those public meetings, meet them where they're at at different events in the park. So both department and community events in Washington Park itself. as well as tabling at a number of other events in the Northwest community, again, to just try and reach people where they're already at. And along with those dedicated meetings for the project, we had online surveys and a handful of youth-specific engagement sessions as well. So that was a total of over 1,300 touch points we had with the public through those, whether that's folks at meetings or folks we talked to tabling or folks who responded to the surveys. So these images are from the first round of public engagement and we had these boards where we had folks respond to some images in terms of what are those types of amenities they wanna see and what are the images that are really getting them excited about sort of visualizing what the park could be. So taking those boards to those public meetings but also out into the parks This kind of shows the responses we were getting from folks in terms of what their priorities were. So the more dots, the more responses we got that those were high priorities for folks. So pretty early on, the pavilion emerged as a priority in the upper portion of the park, and folks really are visualizing that as a larger gathering space that could support bigger events. And then this idea of an integrated playscape was another thing that emerged early on as really of interest to folks of all ages, having something that really works with the topography and is integrated into the hillside like that. And then a lot of other pretty straightforward requests, you know, improved restroom facilities, connecting facilities to nature, more seating, more flexible gathering spaces. the online survey this was an opportunity for us to again reach some of those folks that may not be showing up to meetings may not be as engaged but are still active park users users so we were able to distribute this post the QR code post about it online send it out through email to reach an even broader audience And that survey also touched on those programmatic priorities. So again, you can see pretty consistent things showing up in terms of the survey responses. looking for restrooms, looking for a larger gathering pavilion, looking for lighting improvements to improve on safety. And then there was also a mapping space on that survey where folks could pinpoint on a map where they had issues with accessibility, connectivity issues, a need for an amenity. They could pinpoint that on the map so we could see really where folks were locating those things. And then moving into the second round of engagement where we're starting to look at, okay, we have some idea of the amenities that people want. Where are they located in the park? So our consultant team developed this fun mapping activity where everyone got a sticker sheet and it had amenities on it. And importantly, all of the amenities had a dollar amount that they cost. And so everyone had a budget that they had to stay within. And I will say our young folks were better at following those instructions. And so every amenity had a cost. And they really had to prioritize within that budget of what are the most important amenities to me? And also, where would I place them within the park? So this was some outreach at Addison with their student government. And these folks had some really good input on how to really use the unique features of Washington Park. They really felt like instead of having a single cluster of amenities in one space, they said this is a really unique park with a lot of hills and topography, and we really want to see stuff spread across the park and have different spaces for different types of activities. So I thought that was a very interesting observation from that group. This is some outreach with our after-school program, again, doing that same mapping activity, and also, again, seeing kind of which of those images they really respond to, what gets them excited, looking at other kind of inspirational images of parks. So out of that activity with both grownups and our younger folks, we could really start to see drilling down more into you know we heard from folks what amenities they wanted but when they have to really prioritize what is emerging as top priorities and then also where they're putting those amenities so the hillside play continued to be a high priority with the majority of folks placing an upper although there was some interest in having it on that hillside going into lower Amphitheater seating and again more of that event space is also a priority with 71% citing it again in Upper Washington and then the pavilion strongest priority to emerge 82% prioritizing that and again in Upper Washington So all of that fed in to inform the site plan where a couple big priorities organizing it overall. So reclaiming connection, we heard from a lot of folks that just want better connectivity between upper and lower, better circulation, folks that remember having more visual connectivity as well as path connectivity between those and wanting to bring that back. And then the destination for all, again, really trying to use the whole park, use the various spaces and the topography of the park Having active spaces as well as passive spaces for different types of recreation. And so all of that fed into the vision plan here for the park. So a couple things I want to highlight with this plan. One is that a lot of it is just investing in what we already have. So connecting paths that are disconnected, improving fields that we already have, some things like the playground and lower that's really bringing something back that we lost with the pool construction there. And then the big new adds would be that larger pavilion and restrooms in upper and the hillside play in upper. We also really wanted the amenities to be really flexible and to have features that, instead of having to build twice as much, we can kind of get some things to pull double duty. And we also asked the consultant team to do the estimating for the project in bite-sized phases. So all of that's in the plan document, kind of breaking this down into some manageable phasing for us. And I will note as well that in the early outreach, there was a charrette for the cottage, there was some conversation about that, and we have a document that archives all of that that goes along with the plan. Since there were some moving pieces and parts with that, some folks wanting to apply for things sooner and that sort of thing, this plan doesn't really say specifically any sort of role for the cottage, but kind of leaves that open-ended depending on that. ongoing community input. So these diagrams are really just showing again that flexibility where this space can support community performance using that pavilion design to kind of double as an amphitheater rather than having to create a secondary structure. Serving some of our existing big events in the park like the Fleming all-class reunion where you can see that Open lawn where the old pool was located can kind of serve as overflow parking for a bigger event like that a typical weekend of activity distributed around the park and Then something like a cross-country race that could utilize some of those new paths and better connectivity throughout the park So moving into the scope that we're looking at for the grant application. So we are planning to apply for the Land and Water Conservation Fund to try and match the local funds that we have for the park. And we're really gonna be focusing the scope for that grant on that pavilion and restroom facility in Upper, since that was such a high priority for folks, will really serve the whole of Upper. So here's the schematic design that we have for that pavilion. We heard from folks that they want that connectivity to nature, something that feels unique, but also something that's really durable. So this uses a metal base on the column to be really durable for maintenance, and then the wood on the upper part to have that warmth and connectivity to the rest of the park. It has the restroom facility as a separate building to again allow that pavilion to kind of pull double duty and function as a background for that amphitheater lawn so that you could drop a screen down there or have a performance on that kind of extended concrete slab there and you don't have folks kind of coming in and out of the bathroom inside the pavilion that might be a distraction for that use. And it really just creates a heart of the park and a real, a strong entry point to the park as well, a welcoming entry point there. So again, we have a schematic design for this developed to apply for the grant and we'll continue developing that if we're successful there to be able to build basically this focus area of the park now and then again look to those future phases as funding allows. All right, so with that, if there are any questions.

Thank you, Ms. Flesher, for that really great overview. I'm going to start at this end with Mr. Hagan. Do you have any follow-up questions? All right, Ms. Sanchez-Jones? Vice Mayor?

Yeah, just kind of a couple quick questions. Thank you very much for the presentation. This is really exciting. I think this looks amazing. And it makes sense to me to break it out the way that you described. These are kind of like more in the weeds questions. So if it's not, if you can't answer today, that's fine. But one question I was going to ask is if we're looking at to save money longer term, like is it possible to put solar on any of these new amenities to help power like the pavilion or things like that, if it wouldn't obstruct the aesthetics of it, just something to think about. And then when, I'm sure this is much farther down the road, but when we get to the landscaping, I just wonder how we might save money, plant more natives, and also make it maybe one of our first like Bee City USA designated parks or something like that. I really like the idea of the connectivity, because that's something I hear a lot about is just it's gotten kind of overgrown between the upper and the lower. So I think that is a really nice idea to connect those back in a more intentional way. And my last kind of in-the-weeds question was one of the things that we have heard about over the years in Lower Washington Park, I think a lot of folks have come around to understanding the stream restoration project. And at first it was like, you know, we got some feedback, oh, this looks really weedy. And we knew that we needed to give it some time to kind of get settled and, like, establish, and then we would come back and could add more native flowers or get out some of the invasives. I think it's getting close to that point of needing. It's got, like, Tree of Heaven and some, like, Chinese elms and stuff coming up. Whenever we are ready to do that, I would love, if possible, if you all would welcome the help from any of the different neighborhood gardening partners. There's a lot of groups who have expressed interest in wanting to do kind of like an educational component to that.

throwing that out there that people could still continue to ask about that weedy restoration area which i fully support i think it looks great but um we could get in there and probably yeah we certainly still get questions about that and that is a space maintained by stormwater so we do have to work with them in partnership to make sure that whatever maintenance or improvements there is going through them for the stream restoration area in particular But I will note to your previous question about the native plants. So one of the reasons this firm was selected was their experience designing with native plants and also some experience working with brownfields and really difficult degraded sites. Like, you know, we have the environmental issues here. Yeah. So one of the things that is in the plan is, so it's not just native plant design incorporated throughout, but really looking at how the management of that can be restorative to the soils and actually start to rebuild some new soils. But we also understand that all of that has to be in balance with The expectations about how about what the appearance is so that was a big part of the conversation was you know We want to be using more natives, but we really can't have that be To the detriment of a certain aesthetic so definitely that's great to hear Thank you, and the last thing I would say sorry mayor is just that um reminded me this conversation about the landfill about the historical connections to the park and

And as we're thinking about signage and markers and things like that, I think that we have an opportunity. Washington Park could be, if we ever had some sort of historical black history civil rights walking tour, I think has a lot of potential for the civil rights movement history there. Um, the close proximity to Gainsborough Old Lake Cemetery is right there. So I don't know if there's a way to tell that story in the park of kind of what happened and what it was and how we got to where we are. But it might be nice to capture that if possible in some way. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Vice Mayor. Mr. Nash? Yes. I was going to say, we'll ask the same question about the solar capacity for, you know, the pavilion or the bathrooms. But I was also going to mention that with the caveat of security. And I know that a lot of our bathrooms are A lot of our parks vandalism and destruction of city property within the bathrooms has become. I don't know if it's a growing trend. I don't know if it's data being collected or police information, but I know it's happening. And so just thinking about how do we. You know, properly prepare for the future and is there a way when we design these bathrooms, there's a way to automatically lock the bathroom doors when the park is closed for business, you know. So, just to make sure we're really thinking about the types of lighting in the bathroom, right? Making sure they're well lit bathrooms in the outside of the bathrooms are very well lit as well. So, just making sure that we're thinking about the security of not just the. 1 that's built up top, but eventually whatever quality or standards, the 1 up top is built to make sure that the 1 down below when that is eventually at some point when funding is there for it also renovated and upgraded to the same quality. And then, um. I was going to ask about the amphitheater, like using the does that part of the land naturally kind of create a bowl type of slope effect?

Yeah, it's a little bit of a sloping hillside up. So it creates that natural grade where folks, you know, higher up on the hill can can view what's happening down.

Wouldn't have to be regraded or anything like that.

i mean there's always going to be a little bit of grading for any construction project but that we that is part of there's a couple reasons why it was cited in that particular location one is the subsurface issues we poked holes all over this park with our geotech folks to see know where we could build uh and that uh is not great but it's the best option we've got and so we're really looking at designing custom features largely because they they have to be custom to distribute the weight in such a way that it works here and um also to to utilize existing parking that's there you know adjacent to that easy access but also to utilize that hillside

Last thing I would say is that I love seeing the 5K, like having the area in the park planned for the 5K. I don't know if I'll be walking the 5K trail, but I think it's a great amenity, particularly in that part of town. And for a lot of folks to be able to get exposed to not just continuing to explore the greenway, Um, as I've been doing recently, but, you know, just the whole concept of getting more out there in nature and what is a five K and marathon preparation and all that kind of stuff. But thank you all on your work on this.

Sure.

Mr. Volusen just Nash hit on my question, which was about the, um, the. landfill underneath. I mean, we've been told for a while that you can't even really grow trees up there. And I see we have a lot of trees on here. Yeah. So is that that's basically from all the technical you guys have been able to figure out that these are things that we can do?

Yeah. So the trees, you know, we do expect that we would have more of a loss here than we typically would have. And that's, I mean, it's not atypical to lose a certain number in any planting anywhere and have to replant. But that's really the battle here is that you lose more than typical and have to replant. So it would be a process. But again, thinking really long term about how what we can do with this plan is restorative to that landscape and additive and the trees and the plantings play into that, right? Of the more that we have those perennials, those natives that we can allow to grow and then kind of turn back into soil that creates more good, healthy soil to help feed those young trees and plant more. So again, it's not gonna happen overnight that we'll have all of these great new trees there, but just thinking about it as that really long-term process and commitment.

I guess I have that same about the grading and things like that. You guys have looked at where it's right below the surface, where it's not and kind of place things.

Yeah. Like I said, we, we had a bunch of borings from the pool work. So we did even more beyond that, looking at a number of different sites for the pavilion specifically, and have also looked at some unique foundation types to utilize for that so that we're distributing the weight a little more evenly. So. Yeah, it's been an interesting design process, but we really tried to get ahead of that due diligence, so we're not surprised.

That's great. Happened with the old Washington Park pool. That's all the questions I have. Thank you.

So I concur with my colleagues. I'm really impressed with this design. I think it's really exciting. I love the connectivity. I love the... The walking paths, the 5K, just all of that. I had the opportunity to go to visit New Orleans in early June and City Park, which is one of their really large parks, has a similar pathway design, but it's a great way to explore the entirety of the park. And I know on the upper park right now we have a kiosk that describes kind of the history of the landfill and a little bit of the history of Washington Park. But I agree, when you have this much connectivity, to tell this park's story and how that connects with the city is really a wonderful opportunity. I love how interactive it is. This is also a great opportunity to include public art installation, which I know you're already thinking about these things. And I love the intent here to really connect the upper and the lower and really help people see that this is all one. great big park with all of these amenities. So thank you all for your work on this. It's pretty exciting. The other thing I was going to say about City Park was that they have a large pavilion and they do an annual jazz festival there. And it draws all sorts of people. And that may not be the only thing they do, but it creates this idea that we can have festivals in not only downtown, but some of our other parks as well. Thank you. Any other questions? Thank you, Ms. Slusher. We appreciate it. It's good to see you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Turner.

I'd like to bring up Ms. Aquanetta Harris, who serves as our interim director of finance, and she will go over our budget.

Welcome miss Harris.

Good afternoon. Mayor Cobb, vice mayor, members of council, miss Turner. This report presents the monthly financial results for the physical year ending June 30th, 2026. Overall revenue collections remain strong, reaching 97% of the annual budget compared to prior year. Local tax revenues increased by approximately 2.4%. Several local tax categories perform particularly well, including real estate, business license, public service tax, and penalties and insurance. Transient occupancy and emission tax revenues are tracking close to budget. Non-local tax revenues are currently tracking slightly behind prior year collections. Compared to the adopted budget, several revenue categories remain below budget due to the timing of receipts. Please note that finance is currently completing year-end revenue accruals, which will impact the final reported amounts. The next slide presents prepared food and beverage base sales alongside prepared food and beverage tax revenue collections. Prepared food and beverage sales increased by 1.9%, while tax revenue collections increased by 20%. reflecting the increase in the prepared food and beverage tax rate from 5.5 to 6.5. Restaurants actively remain relatively stable throughout the year, with stronger performances during the summer, fall, and the month of May, offsetting softer activity during the late winter and early spring. The next slide continues to highlight the prepared food and beverage base tax timeliness discount. Overall, compliance remains steady with the majority of restaurants continuing to file on time. The city continues to make steady progress in addressing deferred capital maintenance. Current expenditures total approximately 1.8 for elevator replacements and 1.4 for HVAC mechanical and electrical upgrades. General fund expenditures are currently approximately at 90% of the annual budget. Year-to-date expenditures are 2.8 higher than the same period in fiscal year 2025. Overall, expenditures are expected to remain within the budgeted amounts. As part of the fiscal year-end close process, June FY2026 accruals will be processed to ensure expenditures are recorded in the appropriate fiscal year. FY 2026 overtime wages exceeded the annual budget again this was largely due to the snow removal operations and staffing limitations in certain departments. Overall temporary wage expenditures exceed the budget by approximately 5% or 166,000 in some departments these over just are expected to be offset by salary savings resulting from vacant positions. This concludes the June monthly financial report. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mr. Ballison. My first question is, did we just, like, all the restaurants filled up in May?

It appears that way.

So that was a huge bump from the month before.

Yes.

I'm thinking maybe it's graduations or something like that, but that's a good thing. We're happy about that. But I also wanted to comment on... On the expenditure side of things, how I'm seeing that we're under budget, which I'm really want to thank Miss Turner and your whole entire staff for your budget management this past year. It's a huge difference than than the previous ones. And I really want to commend you on making sure that you kept everything in line. I know this isn't the final report, but it looks like you're in a good position.

excuse me um i was going to ask about the sales tax um and are we going to finish the i know we're doing good like overall kind of but i'm just curious about that one uh because we've been talking about it so long and about how it's kind of trending a little below so are we I mean, I did the math and like, as of this report, we're like 6.2 million behind kind of where we thought we would be at. So I think it's pretty safe to say that we're going to finish below what we were anticipating, which I know is offset by some of the other bumps we've seen in other categories, which is great, but still focusing on the sales tax. Is that still in line with what we're seeing in other localities where they're kind of taking a hit in their sales tax as well?

Yeah, and sales tax still is tracking just slightly below the average. But we also in this report, there is a two month lag. So we still have time to hopefully catch up. But there is a two month lag within this report within receiving the funds.

Are other localities still kind of struggling in that area? I remember Mr. Stovall a few months ago kind of saying like upon his own kind of investigation, we're all struggling.

My apologies. Yes, that's what we've been told is that even some of our neighboring is that that has just been an issue. And if you remember when we did our budget this year, Because we were under budget last year, we made some adjustments to make sure that it didn't hit us as hard this year. So we did some adjustments. I don't think that we will end the year as far below as we did last year.

Thank you.

Vice Mayor, do you have questions? Yes, sir. Okay. Thank you. Ms. Sanchez-Jones?

All right. Mr. Hagan?

All right. Ms. Harris, thank you very much. Thank you. We appreciate it. All right, that includes our briefings this afternoon, so we're going to move into our items recommended for action. Item A is authorization to execute a modification to the calendar year 2026 Small Business Development Center subaward agreement. We have one measure of resolution. I'll entertain a motion and second.

Move resolution.

Thank you, Council Members Nash and Hagan. Madam Clerk, will you please read the title paragraph?

A resolution authorizing the city manager or designee to execute a modification to the Virginia Small Business Development Center sub-award agreement issued by George Mason University through the United States Small Business Administration to the City of Roanoke and authorizing the city manager or designee to execute such other documents and to take such further actions as may be necessary to implement, administer and enforce such agreement.

Thank you, Ms. Webb. Ms. Turner?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. This grant modification increases the amount of federal reimbursement available for the Greater Roanoke and New River Valley Small Business Development Center under an existing agreement. It does not increase the city's spending or require additional local funds, as all associated expenditures were already approved in the FY2026 budget.

Thank you. And I see Ms. Heather Fay out there. Jumping up here to answer any questions we might have, but it's good to see you.

Yes, sir. It's great to see you all, Mayor, Vice Mayor, members of Council, Ms. Turner. If you have any questions for me, I'm happy to address those.

Just linger there for a minute, okay? All right. Any questions from Council? All right. Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll?

is such as Jones. Vice Mayor McGuire, Mr Nash, Mr Volusen, Mr Hagan, Mayor Cobb.

And the resolution is adopted.

Wonderful. Thank you all for your continued support. We appreciate the opportunity to collaborate with you all.

Thank you for being here today.

You're welcome.

Item B is the acceptance and appropriation of the Virginia Department of Fire Programs aid to localities funding. We have one measure in ordinance and I'll entertain a motion and second on the ordinance. Move the ordinance.

Second.

Thank you, Council Members Vollison and Hagan. Madam Clerk, will you please read the title paragraph?

An ordinance authorizing the acceptance of the Virginia Department of Fire Program's FY27 grant, authorizing execution of any required documents on behalf of the City, appropriating grant funds detailed more fully in FRA, and dispensing with the second reading of this ordinance by title.

Thank you, Ms. Turner.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The Virginia Department of Fire Programs aid to localities funding is generated through state legislation associated with insurance premiums dedicated to support Virginia service. This is an annual pass-through funding and does not require a local match. The fire department utilizes these funds for fire equipment, protective clothing and equipment, training, fire prevention initiatives, and other related fire services.

Thank you. Any questions or comments by members of council? Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll?

Ms. Sanchez-Jones? Aye. Vice Mayor McGuire? Aye. Mr. Nash?

Aye.

Mr. Vollison?

Aye.

Mr. Hagan? Aye. And Mayor Cobb?

Aye. The ordinance is adopted. Item C is the execution of Amendment No. 4 to the City's Contract C23-8192-106 with Renovation Alliance to increase the award to reflect incurred costs. We have one measure for resolution, and I'll entertain a motion and second on the resolution.

Move the resolution.

you council members vollison and sanchez jones madam clerk will you please read the title paragraph a resolution authorizing the city manager to execute amendment number four to the city of roanoke's contract with renovation alliance dated march 23 2023 to increase the funding provided by the city of roanoke to renovation alliance pursuant to the city's health homes program to cover incurred expenses and pending reimbursements and authorizing the city manager or designee to take to take such actions and execute such documents in connection with amendment number four thank you madam clerk miss turner thank you mr mayor this item increases the renovation alliance contract

by $703,000 to align the contract with eligible work that has already been performed and paid and is pending reimbursement under the federally funded Healthy Homes Production Grant. This action ensures the contract matches the city's financial records in Oracle and allows the city to fully utilize available federal grant funding before the grant period expires on September 30th, 2026.

Thank you, Ms. Turner. I'm also pleased to welcome Ms. Imbriani, who is the Executive Director of Renovation Alliance. Thank you for being here today. Any discussion by members of council? I have a question.

Yes, Mr. Nash. So I just want some clarification on when Renovation Alliance recorded their expenses in Oracle, which totaled $886,000. Should we have been adjusting at the time when they were making those expenses and monitoring that closer? And now it's like we're kind of coming in realizing like, oh, snap, they've reported this much. And now we're kind of like behind the ball. Is that the kind of situation?

This is a part of our cleanup with the entire division as well as. Oracle. So we've had challenges with both. So the original contract was for $457,000 and it should have been amended the second year where they got an additional, I believe it was $457,000. It was not amended. However, it was eligible. The funding was eligible and we were kept providing the funds over. And this has happened since 2000, 2023. Okay.

So we got $2 million in total. It'll be about $1.3 million towards Renovation Alliance. What about the remaining of that $2 million?

So if you remember at the last council meeting, we decreased the funding for one agency that could not expend their funds, and we increased Renovation Alliance.

Okay.

So this is a part of that.

Okay. Thank you. I understand that. Thank you. Good question. Any other discussion by members of council? All right. Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll?

Ms. Sanchez-Jones? Aye. Vice Mayor McGuire?

Aye.

Mr. Nash?

Aye.

Mr. Vollison?

Aye.

Mr. Hagan? Aye. Mayor Cobb?

Aye. And the resolution is adopted. Now we'll move into our comments by our City Manager, Ms. Turner.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mayor, Vice Mayor, and members of City Council have three comments. Number one, preparations are well underway for the upcoming youth sports season. Youth soccer registration is strong. We have 59 teams that have registered across multiple age divisions, and the season is scheduled to kick off on August 22nd. providing recreational opportunities for hundreds of young athletes throughout the community. Number two, interest in youth flag football has also been impressive with 125 participants currently registered, enough to form 11 to 13 teams, including two girls teams in the 13U division. The flag football season is expected to begin the week of August 24th. And my last comment today is installation of new security doors in the municipal north lobby will begin tomorrow, August 4th, as a part of our ongoing efforts to enhance security. building safety and security. To minimize disruptions to daily operations, the contractor will perform the work overnight. Once installation is complete, employees will access the secured areas using their city identification badge, while visitors will be required an employee escort to certain areas. The doors will automatically release during an emergency to ensure safe and unrestricted egress from the building. And we are currently working on a communication plan for both employees and for the general public.

Thank you for those updates. I'm really excited to hear about the steps we're taking for increased security. Thank you. All right. Our next item is reports of committees. Do we have any council members who serve as liaisons for any of our authorities, boards or committees that have report out today? We have no unfinished business or any additional ordinances and resolutions. So we'll move on to motions and miscellaneous business. Any inquiries or comments by members of council? Mr. Ballison.

Just a quick shout out to

version of me that's in the mr. Volus and welcome or as we should say the famous Jimmy V right we're so glad to see you welcome any other announcements or comments all right You are vacancies on certain authorities boards commissions and committees and I'm gonna ask the vice mayor to read Those appointments and then when we vote on them just answer All nominees vice mayor.

Thank you mayor to the architectural review board council is reappointing Catherine Crow now the equity and empowerment advisory board council is appointing Brittany flowers and To the Human Services Advisory Board, Council is appointing Brandon McCall. To the Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority, Council is reappointing Karen McCalskey Carney. She will need a residency waiver. Also to the Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority, Council is reappointing Thomas Carr. To the Roanoke Valley Resource Authority, Council is appointing Robin Harbin, who will need a residency waiver. And the final two are probably the most exciting board in the city, the Towing Advisory Board. We have two appointments. Both will need residency waivers, Kenneth Wilkerson and Gregory St. Clair. That's about as dramatic as we can get.

All right. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll?

Ms. Sanchez-Jones. Aye. Vice Mayor McGuire. Oh, sorry. All nominees. Nash. Yes. Vice Mayor McGuire. All nominees. Mr. Nash.

All nominees.

Mr. Vollison.

All nominees.

Mr. Hagan.

All nominees.

Mayor Cobb.

All nominees. Thank you all. Madam Clerk, thank you for your great work today. We appreciate it. And there being no further business set forth to come before this council, this meeting is adjourned. Thank you all. Have a good afternoon.