Board of Supervisors - Regular Meeting

Supervisors meeting for May 26, 26, to order. If we could stand for the Pledge of Allegiance by Supervisor Mullen, sorry, drew to put you on the, and the invocation by Dr. Frazier.

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

Let us pray. Most gracious and loving Father, dear God, we thank you for this day. We thank you for the opportunity to come here to serve our community. We thank you for all of those who serve our first responders, our administrative staff. And dear God, we thank you for all the service men and women, and especially those who made the ultimate sacrifice. We thank you for their service. We thank you for allowing us to see this day that you have made. And dear God, we ask that you allow us to come together as one. Even when we don't totally agree, we can still be respectful and honor each other's thoughts. We ask that you bless our meeting and all these blessings. We ask in your son Jesus' name we do pray. Amen.

Good evening, Madam Chair, members of the board. Your first item of business this evening is the approval of the agenda. We are removing from the agenda the Micra Ministries presentation that was originally advertised under the presentations reports by others. And we're going to move that to the August meeting. Other than that, your agenda is as published.

OK. And is there a motion to approve the agenda? So moved. As amended, yes. All right, let's go ahead and vote.

Seven yes, motion passes.

And I know, Dr. Fraser, you have your disclosure statement to read prior to the consent agenda.

Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. I hereby disclose that as an employee of Sponsorvania County Schools, earning over $5,000 annually, I have an interest in tonight's consent agenda item nine, title FY2026, school adjusted categorical funding. My disclosure is on file with the clerk and is available to the public for review. Ed and Amy, please record this disclosure in the minutes of this meeting as required by law.

So your next item of business is the presentation of the consent agenda. And if I can have the floor computer, please. Your consent agenda for this evening is as follows. Item one is the approval of the minutes of the May 12, 2026 Board of Supervisors meeting. Item two is the approval of a contract to 3R Contracting, LLC, doing business as 3RC Services. This is for the Judicial Center Holding Sales Project in the amount of $419,520. Item three is the approval of a contract to Brown, Edwards & Company, LLP. This is for Financial Audit Services. Item 4 is the approval of the deed of lease agreement with the Virginia Department of Health at the Lee 1 building. Item 5 is the approval of a memorandum of agreement with Rappahannock Juvenile Detention Center for court-ordered services for juveniles. Item six is the approval of a purchase order to Atlantic Emergency Solutions Inc. for three year 2030 Pierce pumpers in the amount of $3,578,250. Item seven is the approval of a Railroad Crossing Elimination Program, RCE, to grant application for federal FY 25 to 26. has a 20% local match, the amount is $615,010. Item eight is authorization for the County Board of Supervisors Chairman to sign a letter to the Commonwealth Transportation Board providing input on transportation priorities. And the final item is FY26 schools adjustment for categorical funding. And that's your consent agenda for the evening.

Okay. At this time, I'll go ahead and open up the public comment on the consent agenda items. Is there anyone in the audience that would like to speak to any of these consent agenda items? Other items, you'll have another opportunity to speak on other things, but if it's consent agenda items, now is the time. Amy, is anybody signed up to speak? No, ma'am. Okay. All right. So this is just on the consent agenda items. All right, I'll go ahead and close the public comment. And does anyone want to pull anything from the consent agenda?

Madam Chair, I'd like to pull item six.

Okay, item six, and I'm gonna pull item seven just to get clarification on that for the public. Anyone else want to pull anything? All right, okay, so we'll do item six and item seven pulled, and is there a motion to approve the others? Okay, let's go ahead and vote.

Seven yes. Motion passes.

OK. And do you want to go ahead and take item six then?

Thanks, Madam Chair. Yes. I just wanted to pull this for explanation for the public. If, Chief, you guys would like to come up and do that. I think it's a good thing. I just wanted the public to hear why and the situation with your pumpers and whatnot.

Of course, good afternoon. So these three vehicle replacements, you can see the year model there of 2030 of the lead time before we're gonna get the vehicles. This is replacing two 2014 engines and one 2016. Each of them have, they range from 135,000 to 165,000 miles on them. So by the time we receive these with about 15,000 miles a year, all three of these vehicles, by the time they're in service, they will be nearing 200,000 miles.

And you mentioned the lead time. You have to get the commitment in now because it takes, what, three or four years?

That's correct. Some of the apparatus is as long as four years, but we're seeing over two years, and the majority of the time it's three years, depending on the type of apparatus and the line that it's coming off of.

Okay, that's the explanation I was hoping, looking for, and I don't have anything else to add. My fellow board members have anything to say? And I can make a motion to approve item six.

Okay, and also on this, just to point out for the public too, there is... because this takes so long to get, there is a savings of about 400,000, I believe, by doing this now and not waiting.

Yeah, with prepayment, there is a reduced amount that we will save money for this. We did this last year, working with Ms. Forey as well, and it's a good decision overall.

Okay, wonderful, thanks so much. Okay, there's a motion on the floor. Any other discussion items? Okay, we'll go ahead and vote on this.

Seven yes motion passes.

Okay, and then I pulled number seven and Paul, this is I just kind of want to put that out out there for public consumption as well. Because this is dealing with the mine road benchmark. railroad crossing yes ma'am okay and so this is from what it looks like we're trying to get this grant I mean this is this would be a pretty extensive project for us to do correct

Yes, ma'am, it's an expensive project. What we're trying to do with this grant application is to get the rest of the PE funding for the project. The first grant basically achieved about 30% PE funding and funding for the NEPA environmental process. This would take us the rest of the way to 100%.

Okay, great. And what this is for the Quad Gates, correct? Or is this the overall project?

It would be the overall basically safety improvements, which one of the features of that are the quad gates. At the benchmark spur, basically it's been mentioned, maybe kind of flashing beacon, basically warning lights. At Lansdowne Road, there's an option of grade separation, or basically quad gates. Okay, great.

And I do also have this on my radar. to bring up to VRE because last year when we did discuss this with VRE, they were willing to also give us some funding towards studying this. So I will bring that up. We had VRE last week. We didn't have a quorum. So we're going to have our VRE board meeting this Friday. So I will bring this up at that meeting as well. Sounds great. All right. I'll keep you posted. Thank you so much. Thank you. Appreciate it. If there's no other questions or discussion on this item, I'll go ahead and motion to approve. And let's go ahead and vote. Seven yes, motion passes. Might have a battery issue there or something, I don't know.

That brings you to public presentations, Madam Chair. Amy, has anybody signed up to speak?

I have one citizen signed up to speak, Catherine Williams.

And can you go ahead and read the guidelines, please?

Yes. The guidelines to speak for public presentations is as follows. Public presentations are an opportunity for you to present matters you believe deserve the board's attention. These presentations are not part of a public hearing. Sign up to speak at each public hearing is separate. Public presentations is one-way comments from you to the board of supervisors. This is not a forum for any dialogue or debate. The board asks members of the public to conduct themselves civilly in their interactions with each other and to respect the time of the speaker who has the floor. Interruptions from those who do not have the floor, including any noises that interfere with the speaker's ability to address the board and any actual threats or intimidation toward a speaker or a member of the public will not be tolerated by this board and may lead to expulsion from the meeting. To make a public presentation, please come to the lectern and clearly state your name and voting district for the record. Individuals speaking on their own behalf will receive three minutes to speak. One individual represents a group and can receive five minutes to speak. Please address your comments directly to the board. Public presentations shall not be used to make political campaign speeches or private advertisements and your written comments are always welcome. Catherine Williams.

Okay. Um, we'll go ahead and just skip ahead and then if she comes, we can ask her to come up. So at this time, if there's anyone in the audience that would like to address the board, just come on up to the podium and press the microphone button and love to hear from you.

Hello, my name's Scott Reinhart with the Berkeley District. I'm here again to speak on behalf of the senior facility. Seven months ago, the Parks and Rec group was asked and committed to providing us with funding needs and site locations. Well, it didn't happen. and um so that was back in november um a letter was sent out to each of you in may addressing this and we haven't got a response back so i just wanted to follow up about somewhat of an urgency is that it was mentioned in last month's meeting that perhaps 2027 will be looked at again well what i'm learning here is if we wait till then they've already missed one deadline if they don't really start working on now they're going to miss another budget schedule so i'm here to ask if we could kind of push things along a little bit we're just asking for some basic fundamental numbers some estimates some locations to be generated and show some movement forward. I'm not raising criticism, but we need to understand, and I say we as the senior citizens, the groups, where we're going with this. It was presented a very nice rosy picture, but not everyone agrees with that. Moving forward, we want to just focus on a centralized location. As of today, there's no dedicated replacement center, and I looked up some numbers. We have over 40,000 residents over the age of 55 that fall into this category for use. So if any help or some way of informing the senior centers, where we're going with it. And I don't wanna wait till 2027 just to find out that nothing's been done and then we lose another cycle, which means that pushes out the 2028, 2029, and then we're not even talking, digging ground or moving anything till who knows when. So I'm trying to get some sense of urgency, at least to get some numbers and see if this is gonna fly or not. So thanks.

Thank you. Anyone else in the audience would like to come up and speak? Just make your way to the podium. Can you push the button? There you go.

Yep. My name is Gloria Benson and I'm from the Livingston District. And I am only here because of a rumor and the signage that I saw at the Belmont Convenience Center where we put our trash. They're starting to close that center down two days every week. And then when I was speaking with individuals, they said that the long-term plan was to close the convenience centers down permanently and that we would all have to contract with a trash company to pick up our trash. And I wanted to know if this was true. Thank you. Oh, and thank you for Jet Park. We love the park, thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else like to speak at this time? Okay.

We're good here? Yeah?

All right.

Man. Today's a tough day. Dale Toler died today. He died because we chose a form of justice over his health. And what's really tough about this is that this is not isolated. This is not isolated. There are a lot of people, there's a backlog of people who need help right now. And the only reason that they are there, the main reason that they are there is because we have made a way of deciding who is right and who is wrong and what we do about that. We have made a machine that needs to get fed. And that, that machine gets fed through a lot of means. But the primary input right now that I've observed is the sheriff's departments. Because that is where the charges start. Now, you know, it would be one thing if what was happening inside Rappahannock Regional Dale was humane. It'd be one thing. I'd understand that. I would understand needing to stack these charges. I would understand it. But what I don't understand is how what we really have here is a class war. It's what it is. Everyone inside the justice system is salaried, almost every one of them. And the people who have to suffer that justice system, primarily, do not. And right now, we have a situation, there's a, we have a, I spoke to a gentleman named Kevin Glass, and he told me, he was an accountant for Spotsylvania about a year ago, and he got fired because he started asking questions about some missing vehicle assets. About a million dollars that's just sorta not documented. And you know, there are a lot of reasons why that can be true. There are a lot of reasons why things can be documented. But you know what's not a good enough answer? The one that's been given. Now, I say all this to say there's a sheriff's race coming up and I think we should all pay very close attention to that race because the sheriff is where justice starts. And where it ends is often where Dale Toller has ended. And that shouldn't be.

Thank you. Anyone else in the audience wish to address the board? OK, seeing none, I'll go ahead and close public comment.

Madam Chair, that brings you to your VDOT reports.

That's it.

Good evening, Madam Chair and members of the board. My name is Paul Iniello. I serve as the county's transportation director. I'm here tonight basically to give a update on the county's smart scale projects, both the local projects and the regional projects. Just before I launch into this, I'll say that what I'll be talking about with Smart Scale is primarily with the urban projects, but we are also doing a lot with rural projects. We just recently approved the secondary six-year plan that had basically 11 trench-widening projects that were either in it or basically associated with it, which basically cover 11 different routes and basically they cover about 53 miles so that's just a huge project that will have a lot of benefit for the county I'll say additionally basically with the CD CTB letter which is the letter to the state which was on the consent agenda tonight as one of its main points that had basically requested the state to increase funding for rural roads as well as to increase funding so that basically the grass alongside roads basically would be mowed more often than the standard kind of twice a year. So just wanted to highlight that. I'll say kind of in a future presentation we can kind of dive more into the rural roads. But I want to talk a little bit about SmartScale tonight. So round seven of SmartScale is upon us. And I just want to give kind of a quick update on just the recent process. So with SmartScale, it's the largest a discretionary grant program that the state has for transportation. It typically has about a billion dollars. So this dwarfs all the other programs that the state has for discretionary transportation projects. And for this grant program for localities the size of Spotsylvania, as well as for regional partner organizations, for FAMPO and GWC, they each get five pre-applications, then that has to be pared down to four final applications. I'll say that this board has previously approved our pre-applications, but tonight we have to take the important decision of approving our final four applications. And I'll say that GWC and FAMPO, they've also made some recent changes to the planned regional list, so just wanted to briefly go over that. So I'll say that the state made some changes to the smart scale process between the pre-application process and the final application process in late April when they came to Fredericksburg. And as a result of those changes, basically large highway widening projects will not probably score as well in smart scale, and just smaller intersection projects, particularly ones that are innovative intersections, examples like a roundabout, will score better. So because of that, the region kind of decided to make some changes with the regional projects that were planned for smart scale. I just want to kind of briefly go over that. So first of all, that the I-95 widening project was on both lists. That can only be submitted once. There was a decision just to submit that on the GWC list, so that came off of the FAMPO list. And then there were two large widening projects. There was a big one in Stafford for Garrisonville widening. which was withdrawn by Stafford. And then we withdrew basically a large widening project for Route 17 between basically Cosner Drive and Massaponix Church Road. We were able to replace that application with a smaller innovative intersection project down in Thornburg, focused on the Route 1 606 intersection. So that is now on the regional list. And I'll say that on our local lists for Spotsylvania, we have the four kind of projects in green. The second project on the list, the Route 17 localized widening, that is a smaller version of the project that was removed off of the regional list. So we do still have a major project at the Route 17 and Mass Ponics Church Road and Lee Hill School Drive intersection. You see that the number five project was removed from the local list. the one down at Route 1, basically in Thornburg for South Roxbury Mill to Route 606, but that's been added to the regional list. So all five of our original pre-applications on the local list are still going to be submitted for smart scale for potential funding. which is great news uh so just want to briefly run down through the uh the local projects uh the first one basically is at route one and mass pontics church road this project has been submitted once to smart scale before we've made some changes so that we think it will score better And what it features are turn lane improvements on Massaponics Church Road to add basically a eastbound left turn lane basically for the eastbound approach on Massaponics Church Road, then a westbound left turn lane for the western approach, and then some localized bike pad accommodations which are consistent with our comprehensive plan and the state's Route 1 corridor study. The second project is a fairly large one. It's about 32 million for the Route 17, Mass Pines Church Road, Lee Hill School Drive intersection improvements. This features a localized widening of the road to four lanes for roughly a distance of close to 1500 feet. And it features turn lane improvements at the intersection of Lee Hill School Drive and Mass Pines Church Road. The third project is the Route 3 westbound widening. This would widen basically Route 3 from two to three lanes from basically the west side of Harrison to west of Spotswood Furnace Road. And it would include one stretch of sidewalk along Spotswood Furnace Road basically from Route 3 up to the Riverbend High School area. so that this would complete a network gap that currently exists in the sidewalk from kind of the Royal Oaks subdivision so that students could walk up to the high school. Fourth project is the Route 639 Star Study Improvements. This was a state study. Ran from basically Route 3 to the Salem Church Road intersection. It features turn lane improvements and safety improvements. The two most significant improvements with this are on the north side there is a turn lane improvement at the General Sims and Salem Church Road. intersection to create an additional turn lane coming off of General Sims. That's kind of the back way out of the mall to kind of make it a little easier to get to Salem Church Road and then down at Salem Church Road and Harrison Road. There is a southbound dual left turn lane to go on to eastbound Harrison Road. In terms of just the process, these projects were reviewed by our Transition Committee and approved on May 14th. FAMPO approved the regional projects and the local projects within their area on May 18th. Even our board is considering this action tonight. GDWC is planning to take action on June 1st. The state is planning to give comments on the pre-applications very soon in the next week or so. A decision on the county leverage funding amount will likely need to be made at the July board meeting. So we'll likely be coming back to you at that time. And then the final application deadline for this round of Smart Scale is August 3rd. So the action requested tonight is approval of the Spotsylvania County applications, the four local ones that I went over, and then the five regional ones, which basically there's the Route 1 South Roxbury Mill Road to Route 606 improvements, the Route 28 Levels Road intersection improvements, the Germanna Point Drive extension to Spotsylvania Avenue, the Route 17 pipeline study improvements, at the Tidewater Trail Cindy Lane Drive intersection, and then I-95, widening to four lanes from exit 130 to exit 126. I'll say that the first two regional projects are on the FAMPO list. The last three are on the GWC list. That concludes my presentation. I'm happy to take any questions the board may have.

Thank you, Paul. Does anyone have any questions at this time? Yes.

Thanks, Madam Chair. Yeah, just for the public, I want to for all the work that you're doing on these projects, and the fact that we're getting five of them in the region is pretty good. We've done historically very well in getting some of these projects approved. What I wanted to point out was the Germanna Point extension. Just so folks online and in the audience understand, that is only for the alternative A solution that they presented. There was a lot of discussion, I think, at previous meetings, and the public

that you know about that particular one and the only thing that's being provided for smart scale is that alternative a correct yes sir thank you okay and I guess so Paul you're looking for a motion then to approve this yes ma'am okay is there a motion I make the motion to approve all right

seven yes motion passes thank you okay and now we have a V dot update

Yeah. Good afternoon, everyone. Um, for folks that don't know me, my name is Walter Burke. I'm the new resident engineer for the Virginia department transportation for the Fredericksburg residency. Um, had the pleasure of meeting. Some of you have not had a chance to meet all of you. So I'm looking forward to working with you all, um, in this new role to kind of give you a brief background on myself. Um, then with VDOT for, um, approximately nine years or so, um, counting all my experience. worked in the rural areas out in Fauquier County, Culpeper County, did a stint up in Northern Virginia. So I think I bring a very vast experience of a rural and urban environment that I'm looking forward to provide to you all and help address some of your concerns that you may have. Um, I think I've sent all my contact information out to you all. So if you have any questions outside of this meeting, please feel free to reach out. Um, with that, I'll get in with the quarterly update here on how I'm planning to go through this. Um, update is basically some projects that we've had to provide some updates on, on some secondary six year plan updates and then some general maintenance items. So with that, I'll get started here. So the first project I have on the list is the I-95 exit 126 design build bundle. What this is, is we'll be widening route one, six lanes between the 95 ramps to extend to northbound 95 acceleration lanes. As part of this project, there'll be some construction of the southbound left turn lanes, as well as converting some of the southbound route one turn lanes through lanes, construction of new dedicated right turn lanes. Construction for this is underway with the expected completion of fall 27. I'm kind of moving on to the secondary six year plan mentioned before some new projects that were added to the plan. First on the list there is South Roxbury no road improvements. I'm looking to do construction this summer. And what that will be is to improve some roadside ditches and roadway grade improvements on that. I know our teams are working on that to get that ready for the summer. And then next will be part low road clear zone improvements. We've shown a picture there of kind of this section of part level part low road that we're looking to do those clear zone improvements on Construction will begin this fall. Basically that has a time of year restriction when we can remove the vegetation and trees. So once that lifts, we'll be able to go and remove that vegetation and clear up those clear zone and site distance concerns out there. As part of that too, we'll be doing a trench widening and overlay project. That'll be in calendar year 27. And while we're talking about trench widening, I did want to add this slide in. So through my time all at VDOT from working in the Culpeper District as well as in Northern Virginia, I found this a very unique collaboration, I would say, between VDOT and the county that you all are doing to kind of assist these rural roads here with the trench widening project. So I kind of want to touch on that and express my gratitude for the collaboration that VDOT and the county has here. For folks that don't know and aren't familiar with this project, the county is fully funding the trench widening portion of this to extend and widen these roadways as part of our resurfacing program. So we're being able to go in and widen these roadways and make them safer for the traveling public while we're resurfacing them. So greatly appreciative. I won't go through the entire routes there, but very appreciative of that and looking forward to seeing the final products once we're done with this paving season. Next, we have Route 3 Garbo Improvement Project. As it sounds, this was a Garbo Improvement Project on Route 3. So it's to upgrade sections of Garbro as well as install new sections from Quarter Ave to the Spotsylvania Orange County line. This project was bundled with an advertisement on, you'll see on the next slide, which was another project they were combining together, but they're looking to re-advertise this separately to try and get better bids. I think bids have coming in excessively high, so we're trying to see if we can lower the cost on that. Construction timelines should be determined once they put this back out to add. The next project here that I formally mentioned, which is the Route 3 Clear Zone Improvement Project. So what this is, this is we'll remove median trees within the clear zone, along Route 3 from Quarter Ave to the Spotsylvania County line. Bid receipts for this project were rejected due to the severity of the costs that were received. So construction is currently looking to be scheduled for fall 26. We're actually gonna be doing this with our district roadside section to kind of be able to help get that on track. Next here is route 620 Harrison Road reconstruction. This project will widen Harrison Road from Gorda Road to the old Plank Road. I believe construction is going to be completed later this summer. And that's the only update I have on that one. Next, Route 3 Plank Road operational improvements. So the project scope has been reworked for advertisement here, but kind of in a snippet of what this entails is those concrete islands there. If you can see that are highlighted in those images, we're looking to basically reduce the imprint of those on Route three so we can be able to increase the through lanes on Route three to kind of reduce congestion at those certain locations on at the spotty town center and Bragg Road. Project is re-advertised this April with bids due tomorrow. So we're looking forward to seeing what those come back at. Next here, Route 620, Spotswood Furnace shoulder hardening project will help the future maintenance of the hard surfacing. So you can see from these images there, we went in and we hardened that surface of the shoulder with asphalt, and that project was completed back on March 30th, 2026. Did not have any major concerns from talking with my team, but if there were concerns that you all had received, please feel free to let me know, and we'll look at those appropriately. Next here, Route 2 and 17 widening from the city line to the Shannon Airport. This project was funded with SmartScale. It's to improve the operations by widening roadway and increasing capacity, so we're looking to widen the roadway there from two lanes to four lanes. Field inspections for the design plan reviews, the 60% are under review now, and then we're looking for construction expected to begin late 2029. I'm kind of moving on into the secondary six year plan with real rusted projects. So we got four here that are going to be occurring between this summer and 2030. So two that will be occurring this summer or Shirley Road and Houston Lane. So we're expecting to start construction on those this summer in the next couple of months. I'm waiting on award a higher equipment contract to assist with our state forces. And then we're looking to wrap those up by the end of the year in winter time frame. And then Hayden Road, that'll commence in the summer of 28. And then LaVue Lane will be in 2030. And for folks that don't know in the room, Royal Rustic Project, kind of what this entails is we take a gravel road, we go in and we widen it, replace the drainage facilities along the roadway to make it better and function as it is intended. And then once all those improvements are done, we'll go in and hard surface that with a tar and chip substance to make it more efficient and long lasting for our crews. Next here, we have Salem Church Road and Harrison Road intersection improvements. So the status update for this one is they're preparing plans for right-of-way submission, and then construction is tentatively scheduled for this one still for summer of 2027. What this entails is some large intersection improvements there, some widening, and some dedicated turn lanes going in. Next is a pipeline study for the Route 17 corridor, and kind of what this entails is a general corridor analysis from Massaponics Church Road to Caroline County, and the main focus of this study is to look at safety, capacity preservation, so how can we reduce traffic and allow it to flow smoothly along the Route 17 corridor, and then also what facilities or implementations can we do to enhance bicycle and transit access. on this corridor. So provide an update on that public meeting and public involvement has been completed and the meetings have been held with the cap of the locality with preferred alternatives selections moving forward for smart applications or previously mentioned and then kind of provide an update on mowing here for our maintenance crews. I'm sure everyone here on the board has seen some of our mowing contractors for primaries that have been started That would be the tractor mowing. We're getting ready to issue our first round of secondary mowing, which will be with our contract staff. And that is occurring in the next two weeks or so, weather permitting. And then as far as manicure mowing, maintenance agreements have been in place with the county to utilize this contract. And mowing did start for county year 2026 on that. And then finally, to wrap this up, the resurfacing schedule. So for this year, resurfacing schedule, we have about 150 plus lane miles that'll be completed. Won't go through every route because I don't want to waste your all's time talking about each individual one. But you should have a list in your packet that goes over all those routes that we plan to resurface. And that'll be going on from now until mid-November time frame. And with that, have my new contact information here. This is my phone number. And I think I sent that all to you as well in email. So happy to take any questions that you all may have.

Thank you so much. And welcome to the district. Yeah, thank you. Look forward to working with you. Does anyone have any questions? OK, go ahead.

All right, yeah, welcome aboard. It's been good work with you so far. I did want to ask some questions about another project that's not on your list, because it's kind of under the weeds. We had a constituent reach out about Holly Drive a while back, and we brought it to VDOT, and they put together a plan, and as I've been told, I guess there's some work already underway out there, and I was just wondering if there was any idea of... what the timeline is on that and for completion and what type of surface they're gonna put on there.

I don't know if I haven't upped on that one, but I can follow up with the team.

And that's fine. Yeah, I put you on the spot. You can follow up with me, and I'll get it out there. The weather's been bad. I haven't been out there to drive by to see what it's like. But I know the folks that did report it, I did go out there, and it was pretty bad shape. It looked like a crater on the moon. And so anything that gets done out there is going to be appreciated. Just want to make sure that we – we can get back to the constituents on timeline of what's going on. I've been told that there's been trucks taking stuff out there, so glad to hear that, thanks.

Yep, I'll follow up and give you a call tomorrow.

Thanks.

Supervisor Childress.

Welcome. One of the things I wanted you just to take a look at is Industrial Drive and Route 1. So over there in Four Mile Fork, you have a lot of large supply trucks running through there. You can't turn left onto Route 1 from 12 to 6 p.m. So you're going up an access road that is not very safe. And same thing with the right turn. Just take a look at that if you would. Thank you. Yes, sir.

Supervisor Mullins.

Thanks, Madam Chair. Welcome aboard there, Walter, right? Yes, sir. Okay. Let's start with Chancellor District slide there, 620. I think I just sent you. That's right. Well, I think we should be in my district, but it's not. So I think I sent you a text on that. I'm just curious why it's taken so long. Okay, and then the second question, and not trying to tell you how to do your job, but the right turn lane southbound onto Gordon off of, I mean onto, yeah, onto Gordon, off of Harrison, there's like five feet of gravel that if you put something, a surface on that, you could open that right turn lane right now. as I was coming in, it was backed up all the way to Old Harrison. It's our old plank road. So I'm just kind of curious if you could get me up to date on what are the issues? Is it utilities or something going on?

So I haven't, I guess, been briefed in depth on it. But what I gathered from talking to the construction manager I think they had had some minor utility impacts, but I think they're still on schedule. I think it's a 22 to 24-month cycle, the project. I think that was to combat the maintenance of traffic plan, but I can follow up and give you a direct update as well.

Yeah, I know you're challenged with maintaining the traffic flow, but the layman who drives through it twice a day, twice a day, see something different. So if you can, you can, you can just send me a text or call me on that. Then we go down to Cortland district. The Route 3 eastbound, let's see, I'm sorry, westbound slide there, replace the signal pole and that bump out that goes onto Route 3 from Bragg Road. It's depicted here as that being a project on its own, but is this tied to the other three bump outs, or the other two bump outs that are on Route 3 itself, in other words, Does the contractor or the bid have to do all the bump-outs on Route 3, or can this be addressed as a project by itself?

So I'll have to follow back up on that.

I mean, because the word we've heard previously, previously you getting here, I'm not trying to put you on the spot, but is that some... applicants have proffered to fix this particular one, but they've been told they can't because it's tied to the other bump outs. One is where the Civil War statue is, and the other one is further down past levels.

Yeah, so I'll have to confirm the location, but talking with our project team, I believe there were certain bump outs along the corridor, which this may be the same location that were proffered as far of a previous project. And they got to stay installed for so many years. And I don't know what time frame we are on that. I'll double check with them to see if that's included or not.

And then the last one, just kind of a pet peeve. It's the if you look at that same slide there, If you're on the southbound Bragg Road looking north across Route 3, are you familiar with on the WB1 slide? Yep. Many of us who use that going northbound on Bragg are confused as to why there's only one lane through. The right lane that goes eastbound on Route 3 oftentimes doesn't, you can't queue up to go across the street. So you have to wait a few light cycles to get across, whereas can you maybe look into making that a right turn and a through lane as well? I know I've heard it's because of the amount of Has to be a certain amount of counts or traffic that goes in that lane, but maybe we both need to go out there when I'm on it and I can show you what I see and what my constituents are calling me about and then we can kind of come to it.

Yeah, I'd be happy to go out and look at it. All right.

But otherwise, again, glad to have you. Glad to know that you got the rural road stuff because I know my colleague here is going to be very grateful about that. Thanks a lot. Yes, sir.

Supervisor Frazier. No, I was just gonna ask about that turn. I think also if you do do a through lane right there at Bragg Road, you also have to make a decision if those cars are gonna be able to do a U-turn. Because they do a U-turn on that light onto Route 3. So that's something that we would have to, so when they're going like a turn right or go through, their car's doing a U-turn as well.

So under. Maybe that can be managed by a red light or red, no right turn on when the U-turn's in effect, is that right? Okay.

Sound like a traffic engineer. Supervisor Lane.

so mr burke welcome welcome to uh spottsvania into the region so i'm glad i'm glad you have a rural uh background so i just want to encourage you to whenever you do have time to tell paul to hop in the passenger seat and take you around the western part of the county because it is a little bit different than than the rest of the the rest of the districts but i want to use your expertise in that rural road area to help make sure our areas are well taken care of that the hard shouldering is working out fantastic out our way i think hats off to paul and his whole transportation staff for helping push that initiative One thing I want to stress to you is just the mowing twice a year, especially on some of our rural roads where the trees are growing out and the grass is growing up and causing blind spots, hard for people to get out of their own driveways or private roads. and i understand vdot is not responsible for people's uh you know private private roads going off the main highway but if you've got to stick your front end out there just to see if you can safely enter vdot's road it becomes vdot's problem so i want to make sure we pay close attention to to the rule the rural areas and and the vegetation control and growth that's out that way Also something that we really need to team up with V dot here in the county is just the cleanliness of our roads. We have our own kind of litter litter crew that that we send out to different hotspots in the community. But we really are going to rely on V dot to help us ensure that our community is clean, especially when it comes to taking care of state state maintained roads. We want to partner with the state, but they are state-maintained roads. We're going to hold you accountable to maintain your roads that we all pay taxes for. Understood. Paul, would you mind catching Mr. Burke up on the Bells Crossroad, the Stubbs Bridge, Lawyers Road intersection, that tricky four-way we have out there? Got a couple calls over the... the weekend of some pretty bad accidents that almost took place. So Paul will fill you in on that that hotspot. Paul, I got you another thing lawyers road the rent fares in town and lawyers roads getting destroyed. So would you mind putting your eyeballs on that? And another thing for V dot is do we have anything and Paul, you might be able to answer this. Going west of this courthouse right here, is there anything in the future plans as far as even a study to do any type of improvements to 208?

So I'll say currently there isn't a study that basically is funded. We have had some initial discussions with VDOT about doing a two-way study kind of farther west of Smith Station. They've done basically from Smith Station and back to Route 1, and it does appear that that's a possibility, so that's something we'll continue to pursue and work with our VDOT partners.

Okay. Mr. Burke, I just wanted to put that on your radar. As you head out, you'll notice we have one of the busiest state parks in the Commonwealth. Lake Anna. Um, so just as you head out West and once you leave this courthouse area and head out towards Louisa County, it's, uh, you'll, you'll battle the peaks nursery, two lanes down to one. That's where the character of everybody comes out. Uh, not so great in the community, but, uh, if you know, you know, um, you'll find out. Uh, but, uh, other than that, we got one lane, one lane towards the courthouse and one lane leaving. And, We have some safety improvements of needing some turn lanes out there on 208. We've had some fatalities. So I just want to make sure you're aware of that western part of the county. If not, I'm sure you and I and Mr. Guzman will become very good friends. But welcome, Mr. Burke. Appreciate it.

And I have to remind my partner over here that we share some of the suburban roads together. So as we look at Smith Station, is there an update on Smith Station? And I know that was proffered. Are we looking at that? Because we don't want to forget about your suburban folks either.

So yes ma'am, we are working basically with VDOT and basically with the developer, basically on the improvements at Smith Station and 208. And just the eastbound left turn lane, that improvement is advancing. Basically we're also working on just a larger project to try to improve the intersection. It's still in the planning stages, but we hope to have good news for the Transportation Committee and for the board probably at some point later this year.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Thank you. Supervisor Jakubowski.

Yes, thank you and welcome. I look forward to working with you. If you can get me an update at 4 Mile Fork, I know that there is a smart scale plan that has been approved and it's in the works. I don't know what VDOT has done recently over that way, but traffic has gotten substantially worse, especially in the am rush hour, trying to make that left turn onto Route one north, it backs up through the the previous light. And then also the to a widening that's going on from one down over the 95 bridge. If just an update on those two, I'd appreciate it. All right. Thank you very much.

Yep, I'll get with our project team, and then I'll give you a call, or I'll just shoot you an email afterwards, if that's fine.

All right, and I just have one thing that I've noticed. On Route 17, I think the timing of the lights is off. There seems to be, it's backing up for no particular reason, and it's kind of around the Massaponics Church intersection there, but you might wanna start a little farther up, but it's really, really bad, and I think it must be, it's gotta be a timing issue, because it's not as though the amount of traffic It feels the same to me. Something's clogging it up. So if you could take a look at that, that would be really great. I appreciate it. Thank you so much. And again, welcome. We look forward to having a mutually beneficial relationship with you guys. And if there's anything we can do, please reach out. Thank you.

That brings you to your public hearings. Your first public hearing this evening is to consider increase in transient occupancy tax rate from 9% to 11%.

Good evening, Madam Chair, members of the board. Tonight's public hearing focuses on the proposed transient occupancy tax rate increase. The transient occupancy tax is a tax on lodging stays of fewer than 30 consecutive days. It applies to hotels, motels, boarding houses, campgrounds, and short-term rentals such as Airbnb-style properties. Rentals of 30 days or more are not subject to this tax. This tax is paid by guests, not the property owners. It is the responsibility of the lodging operators to collect the tax and remit the payment to the county. The current tax rate is 9% and the proposal is to increase it to 11%. Of the total, 3% will remain dedicated to tourism related activities. The remaining 6% would increase to 8% with the increase going towards supporting general county operations. The proposed increase results in a modest per night cost difference for visitors. Budget hotel stays increased just over a dollar per night, while typical hotel stays will see an increase ranging between $1.88 to $2.40. Short term home rentals will see increase that scale with the nightly rate from about $4 to $10 more per night for higher end lakefront resort properties. The proposed 11% rate would generate approximately two million in new annual revenue for the county. These funds will support county tourism activities and general operations and will help maintain service levels without shifting the additional burden onto property taxpayers. As shown here, the proposed change increases the overall rate from 9% to 11%, aligning with our Stafford neighbors. And at this time, I would entertain any questions by the board and ask that we open the public hearing so we can hear from the public.

Okay, does anybody have any questions on the board before we open to the public? Yes.

Thanks, Julie. So the slide there, number three, is that based on the active models that we have right now? three, one, two, these rates?

The rates? Yes. So this is based off of what the information that we found on average rates of hotel stays. So we tried to give a variety of range so that you can kind of see how it would impact our average daily rate. That's the second rate listed here that was provided to us by tourism. We are looking at our average hotel stays are roughly $94 a night. Okay. And if, if,

if you're in one of the boutique hotels or something elsewhere where the rates are two to three or $400 a night, that would be commensurate with the water home, water for home? That's correct.

So while I have them kind of listed as standard lakefront home resorts, that doesn't mean that a hotel cannot charge that rate. That is an idea to give you what a rate would look like.

OK. Thanks.

Okay, and if there's no other questions from the board, I'll go ahead and open the public hearing. Is anyone signed up? Okay, all right. Is there anyone in the audience that would like to speak on this specific topic? Okay, I guess seeing none, we'll go ahead and close the public hearing. And any other discussion points?

Yes.

So in my trying to understand this, thanks, Madam Chair. I talked with Ed and Mark, and they've explained to me what the TOT is. And it's basically up to 30 days. And that is set by legislation, correct? The max is okay. But that the but it's also set the the length of the stay 30 days. Yeah.

state code it is in the state code that it only applies to rooms or properties that are rented for less than 30 days so up to 29 once you hit 30 days and more you are no longer subject to this tax it's really towards the short term short-term rentals and that is the definition of the short-term rental less than 30 days okay

And are there any localities in the state that have a different amount of days? Like, could it be two weeks or 21 days or one week or anything like that?

I believe everybody is under the same code of Virginia and that everybody is subject to that 30 day law. I'm going to look over to Carl. Please correct me if I'm wrong on that.

Would you repeat that? I'm sorry, I was checking something else.

Everybody is subject to the 30-day short-term rental within the code for transient occupancy.

So, yeah, I mean, this is going to apply to everybody who's renting less than 30 days.

But all localities have that 30-day short-term for transient occupancy.

Yeah, I believe that's a limitation in the state code. I can't say for certain, but I think you're right.

I'm pretty confident. If there is one out there that might have something different, it's because they went to the General Assembly and got a special exception, but I'm not aware of any.

So the only options available to have some different scheme would be to go to the General Assembly then, or have someone ask for a particular locality. Is that correct?

Well, you can get... special permission for special taxes and tax rates from the General Assembly in an individual locality can. However, if it's special legislation for a single locality, it takes 2 thirds to pass in the General Assembly. For example, I know I think Bristol has a 15% transient occupancy tax. And some of the other localities, like Virginia Beach has two transient occupancy tax. I think one is 9% for their general transient occupancy tax. And then they have a special 10.5% rate for the Sandbridge area, which is the high dollar tourist area along the beach there. But that's because they went. in years past and got special permission from the General Assembly to have, and then there are some areas that, like I think Williamsburg, I think they charge either $2 or $4, $2 more per night, you know, and that goes to the local, you know, if you're in that Chamber of Commerce area there in Williamsburg, They have their transgunoxy tax plus $2 per night. So there's all kinds of little nuances and exceptions and special privileges in the code.

Right. But as a general rule in Virginia, we're limited by the authority granted by the General Assembly. So in order to have a locality-specific tax, if it's something you want to do just in Spotsylvania like they do in Williamsburg, Virginia Peach, in certain designated areas, you have to go to the General Assembly. but not only locality-specific tax schemes. If you want to have a general sub-classification and something to say, okay, well, we're going to break down not just general tangible personal property. We want to be able to tax airplanes at a different rate. We want to be able to tax different classifications of property at a different rate that would apply to all localities. Again, the General Assembly authorizes that. It's only then when we're able to then take advantage of that authority to tax different classifications at different rates.

Okay, and that requires, you said two-thirds then?

You'd have to get a legislator to put a special bill in for you if you wanted to do something different.

But to pass, it requires two-thirds, okay.

And I think what Mark is speaking to maybe is, again, just locality specific, whereas if it's a classification that everybody would have the ability to use all localities, it's just a general majority.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Yes. Okay. Any other questions?

Yes, Jake. This one's probably coming right back to you, Mark, with Department of Social Services. A lot of times there's families that are in need who might use a hotel or a motel as a stay. Hopefully they're in there longer than that 30 days to be able to get their feet checked. underneath of them, but if any individual is concerned about this kind of going, being passed along to those that are in need of assistance in our community, can they reach out to the Department of Social Services in the county and that we have programs or we have ways to help them out to put them with certain businesses?

There are programs where we have in the past put individuals or families up in a hotel on an emergency basis and things like that until we can find better housing or something like that.

cases where that has happened in the past but that's going to be handled through through us social services to where it will not so those individuals who may be worried about this uh reach out to the county social services and if they qualify you guys will be able to put them in contact to help help them and not not have this get affected and there's also a lot of

third-party organizations in the area like Micah ministries and stuff to try to help the homeless you answered my question yep thank you more all right madam chair I would also like to add one more bit of information for the public

Although very simply presented, this is increasing the transient occupancy tax rate from 9% to 11%. It is an ordinance change. It is an amendment to the code with respect to section 21-177. And the board's action here would be, to adopt ordinance number 21-103, which effectuates that change. So please, if it pleases the board, please do include the adoption of ordinance 21-103 in the board's motion, please. Thank you.

Absolutely. Okay, and do I have a motion? All right, well, I'll go ahead and make the motion. Not everybody jump up at the same time here. I make a motion to adopt ordinance 21-103. Is that sufficient, Carl? Okay. All right, and let's vote.

6, yes, with Mr. Guzman voting no, the motion passes.

DAVID BURRAGE. That brings you to your next public hearing to consider adopting amendments to County Code Section 7-89 to establish a new location of voter satellite office and remove former locations no longer in use.

so we don't have a presentation on that. We already kind of went over that, right? So I'm just gonna open the public hearing.

Yeah. Okay. I guess the registrar did not make it to the meeting. Are you representing the registrar?

Oh, okay, great, thank you, so sorry. Good evening, I'm Alan LaBeouf, Berkeley District. I'm here for the registrar this evening. She was feeling ill. And so I'm also the chairman for the Spotsylvania County Electoral Board. And I wanted to thank the board of supervisors and the county administrators for getting this project over the finish line. This past week, the registrar's office, election office, has moved to its new location, which is literally next door. We are right across the street from the Cracker Barrel. restaurant or the first unit in that mall so we are moved into the new location and Nice new space for offices space for all of the equipment to be stored right there on site and also space for permanent space for Early voting which is going to be starting in just a few weeks for the upcoming primaries so for the for the primaries that'll be the the new early voting location and also the the November early voting as well. So I appreciate all your help. And I know this is the final step to get it on the books, make it official. So thank you.

DAVID BURRAGE. And as the public knows, and you all know, in the past several years, we've ended up having to bounce from location to location for early voting. Part of that is due to COVID. quite honestly the conduct of some of the poll people supporting candidates out in the parking lots and stuff some of the places that that we rented a space from to have the early voting didn't want us to come back because of the disturbances that it caused so hopefully that this we've got a 10-year lease in this location so hopefully that'll provide some stability And I understand the landlord, the property owner, is gonna have some rules as far as what is allowed and not allowed on their property. And so hopefully that will take care to reduce any of the incidences that we have seen in the past.

Thank you. Mark, if you haven't been to see the facility, please come and take a look at it. It's really great, thank you.

Thank you. Dr. Frazier. Yes, that's what I was going to mention. Before when we did have the early voting over there, the place was very toxic. And I think we owe it to our voters. We owe it to those who want to exercise that right to do it in calm and free from harassment. So I would also like us to take a deeper look at not just the owner of the property taking actions, but what are we going to do as a board if we find out that our voters are being harassed I think it was allowed to go on too long the last time, but I would like to see us get the Sheriff Department involved quicker or make some kind of commitment to our voters because I think there are many of them who probably are not feeling comfortable about that location because of how they were treated in the past. I would hope that we would not have any tolerance for that kind of behavior as elected officials.

Madam Chair, also, as previously, just to add the additional bit of information, this is also a change to the county code. The ordinance is 7-18, and it is removing the previous location of the satellite office at 10300 Spotsylvania Avenue. and establishing the location under section 7-89 of our county code to be located at 4810 South Point Parkway, Spotsylvania, Virginia. Again, the ordinance that the board would refer to as ordinance number 7-18. Thank you.

Okay, so I will go ahead and open the public hearing at this point in time. Is there anyone signed up?

No, ma'am.

Is anyone in the audience, would you like to come up and speak to this issue? Okay, seeing none, I guess I'll close the public hearing and entertain a motion, unless there's other discussion items.

Madam Chairman, I'll make a motion to move forward 7-18, change to the code.

7-18 and or 89.

Let's cover it all.

The section of the county code is section 7-89. The ordinance number is number 7-18. So you were correct. And I was too, so.

All right, we'll go ahead and vote.

Seven yes, motion passes.

We have one presentation this evening. That's the bond referendum update. And Becky's here for that.

Floor computer, please. Good evening, members of the board. I am here tonight to provide an update on our 2026 bond referendum. We do have specific board action we will be requesting tonight as well. Before beginning the presentation, if you'll grant me a little bit of time, I would like to revisit some of the referendum basics for anyone new that is joining the discussion in the audience or at home. A bond referendum is a voting process where residents approve or reject a local government's request to borrow money. These requests are usually for large infrastructure projects like schools and transportation. The bond referendum is important because it gives us the authority to issue bonds the county can then use to fund these large infrastructure projects, which are repaid over the useful life of the project, spreading the cost equitably among current and future taxpayers as they receive the benefits of the infrastructure over time. This puts less stress on our annual budget compared to cash funding of our projects. The debt is authorized, authorizes the county to raise the funds through the sale of general obligation, otherwise known as GO bonds. A GO bond is a long-term borrowing which the county pledges its full faith and credit to repay the debt over a specified term, which is usually, no, this is just me speaking. Yes, sir. Which is typically 20 years. The county does have a AAA bond rating, and issuing the bonds is the least costly financial option available to the county. Traditionally, most local governments, Virginia local governments, issue recurring referendums for transportation, public safety, and schools. However, localities are allowed to add additional categories like, for example, parks and recreation as needs arise. Here we have a timeline of our referendum. We began the process at least meeting with the board, the second meeting in April. The school's board then met on May 19th for their resolution, which was due to the county to meet our deadlines. Tonight, as I mentioned earlier, we are here tonight to approve the categories and the amounts for the referendum. And then in June, we will be coming back to the board with resolutions that will be required to provide you for approval, which will then give us the ability to craft the ballot questions among other many legal documents that'll allow us to file orders with the circuit court, and then the court will order the election by June 25th. The deadline is actually June 30th, but I wanna put in sufficient extra days just to be safe. We are already, in a tight deadline, as I mentioned at our last, our April meeting, where this was accelerated by 45 days due to the redistricting case at the Commonwealth level. However, I did want to share that early voting will start September 19th and the November 3rd election day is when our voters will then decide on whether they want to vote yes or no to each ballot question. We will be holding Educating the Public continuously from now until the election through various means, for example, a website, a public forum, ongoing discussions with the board, postcards, just to name a few. So as I mentioned earlier, we are looking tonight for a decision on the categories and the referendum categories and the borrowing amounts per category. We also are going to be looking at adding a new category tonight, which is solid waste. This is not new. The county has done this before when we added a parks, recreation, and library category. While it is not continuous, it has been done in the past. Before we get into the details of the categories and the amounts, I did wanna reinforce that approval by the board and the voters, this is very important, doesn't guarantee issuance. Just because we're putting the amount out allowing us, the voters are allowing us to issue, there are key things that must be done every year before we issue bonds. Those things include coming to the board in advance of each issuance in the future. These projects will be included in future budgets and CFPs, both of which are subject to annual public hearings. Lastly, a fiscal analysis is performed annually to ensure affordability prior to the annual issuance of the bonds. And here is just a little bit of information going a little deeper into that affordability. There is a sweet spot between these three items, and it starts with our referenda capacity. This is what the voters are approving and allowing us to issue, the total authority. So first, it must be within that authority. Second, we're going to look at the debt capacity. That debt capacity is the capacity within the debt service to expenditure ratios and other fiscal policy ratios to make sure that we are meeting what the board has defined per our fiscal policies, what is good for the county and measures that we need to stay within to be safe for issuing debt for the county. Lastly is our financial capacity. This capacity is in terms of funds available to pay the annual principal and interest. While similar to the debt capacity, we are looking at this every year and looking at it in relation to all of the other needs for the county, operating-wise, and saying, can we afford? Just because the fiscal policy says, okay, yes, you can do it, we wanna take one step further to say, is it affordable when we're looking at everything else on our recommended budget request list to the board when adopting our tax rates? So here is briefly just a picture of our previous expired referendums. As you can see here in 2005, that's the parks and library budget, excuse me, referendum question that we added. But we have traditionally stayed within the three major categories. I would also like to share, as you can see from the dates, we're not staying on a standard cycle of putting these referendum questions on the ballot. It is a needs-based decision by the board. Here is our current referendum that we're working under right now. This is our 2021 referendum. It is set to expire in November of 2029. However, the circuit court may grant a petitioned extension of up to two additional years. Unfortunately, post covid as all of y'all are aware has been extremely difficult as far as cost escalations so when we put the original referendum together this was pre these changes so we incurred significant increases especially in construction and our apparatus fire and rescue apparatus, sometimes as much as 25% to 40% increases. This is eaten away at the buying power of our 2021 referendum. So that being the case, unfortunately, our referendum capacity is projecting to end a little sooner than we originally expected. Public safety, we are looking at FY2028. Mind you, I should remind the board, my apologies, our current five-year adopted plan runs through 2031. So public safety ends FY2028 projected. Transportation, FY2030. And schools, FY28. Here we are moving into a summary of our requested 2026 referendum. So we have our three standard categories plus solid waste, I have also added the referendum amount by category. And because we are looking at varying borrowing periods, I've added those periods because I think it's important to reference those when looking at the bigger picture. On the fourth column, you will see the gross debt service. And that is a per penny tax rate impact. Next is the net debt service, and I will speak to the average in one moment. So the initial estimated tax rate impact of these categories of just under $0.14 does not account for savings from retiring existing debt. So while it's good to know how much per penny on the tax rate these new referendum amounts are what's more important is the net debt service, because the 14 cents does not account for the savings from that retiring existing debt. Once you take into account those savings, the projected impact reduces to about 6.5 pennies on the tax rate. So for public safety, We are looking at two pennies of gross, but the net is actually a negative when taking into account the existing debt service that is expiring. Transportation, because our transportation issuances are 20-year standard, they don't vary, What we're really looking at here is gross and net are about the same, are the same. Minor, minor differences, but rounded up, it's 1.9 pennies on the tax rate. Schools, we are looking at a net debt service of 3.6 pennies. Solid waste, the new category, we are looking at a little over one penny on the tax rate. So I did want to share that the 2026 referendum fully aligns with the adopted five-year CIP. Funding needs shown are through FY32 schools and FY33 public safety. These additional years beyond the 2031 five-year CIP represent ongoing project phases that extend the work outlined in the current CIP. So there is nothing within this referendum that has not been presented as part of our five-year CIP. So on the average annual net debt service, I did want to add, because of the projected borrowing periods being varied, that's why I thought it was important to add this column of the average annual debt service for that borrowing period. So you can see that just for perspective. So we are now moving into our public safety referendum question. The first four rows include one-time projects for our fire training and logistics center, a company for restroom modernization, a burn building replacement, and the addition of a Shady Grove fire station. The last three rows represent annual ongoing equipment and apparatus needs, the majority of which, the vast majority of which are replacements for what we currently have, ongoing replacements as this equipment ages out of the system. The referendum does include 23.5 million for costs beyond the five-year CIP, as earlier mentioned, and 32 and 33. That includes ongoing replacements of equipment of one million, fire and rescue apparatus of 9.1 million, EMS apparatus of 3.6, and the 8.3 million for the new Shady Grove Fire Station. Here we have the transportation ballot question amounts. Again, all of these projects are currently in our CIP and have been well discussed at the Transportation Committee and at the board. This referendum does include $33.6 million to complete our current five-year CIP. However, transportation staff working with VDOT has identified additional funding needs for the planned Germanna Point Drive project of 13.9 million. the Harrison Road widening project at 12.4. And as mentioned earlier tonight, we have actually put in an additional $7.7 million for rural trench widening projects intended to reduce costs through the coordination with VDOT's paving schedule. Moving forward into the schools, the schools of the above costs represent needs identified over a five-year period. This is the last four years in our CIP plus one year. Technology costs include devices, infrastructure, and safety security needs. and that's technology infrastructure. Capital maintenance needs include, without limitation, renovations, repairs and replacements for buildings, parking lots, roofing, electrical, HVAC, lighting, and storm water. Capital additions include building capacity expansions and a new elementary school. Due to the need to prioritize the construction of new buildings to address affordability, the school board prioritized a new elementary school at their most recent board meeting. Funding for a new high school in FY 31 of $9 million. That's to start the project, obviously. And a new career and technical center in 31 of $70 million. That, again, is only partial. Was removed. Lastly, we have the bus transportation category. The 10 and the 113 represent the count of the buses that are included within this referendum. Here we have the new category of solid waste. This referendum includes 29.1 million to complete funding of the current five-year CIP. This, as I mentioned before, this represents a new category. Currently the CIP calls for cash funding of these projects. Adding this category provides flexibility on how we can expend our limited cash funding for needed capital projects. This category will not reduce the amount of planned cash funding of our overall CIP. It just provides us more options on how we can use our limited cash funding. The remaining 4.6 million in convenience center improvements were added to address recent concerns raised regarding the Chancellor convenience site. So I did want to share that I do have information on these projects. However, I also have these subject matter experts. So for any of these, we have members from each category that can come up and answer any questions by the board on these projects. What we are looking for tonight is approval to move forward with the following referendum categories and amounts as listed below. This will allow staff time to draft the necessary resolutions for each referendum and bring back to the board for approval on June 9th. That concludes my presentation.

Thank you very much for that. I appreciate it. Does anyone have any questions? OK.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I'd like to go back to the public, the Frem slides. Okay. So I've seen some pretty elaborate restrooms in my time to include Saddam Hussein's palace in Baghdad where there were gold fixtures in there. I'm making a joke here, but maybe you could go into the weeds a little bit, Chief, and tell us why it's $700,000 for modernization.

Certainly. That station was constructed in 2008 and it was a very different use of the building versus the way that it is used today. There is a men's locker room, a women's locker room. In the men's locker room, there's only two showers that are in there and a single shower in the women's side. So as big as that building is, the restroom facilities just are not there. So the concept there would be to open up some block walls between the two space and make restroom pods. So they're unisex pods with a locker room shared around that. Those numbers came from Ben and facilities to give some estimates that are there. We have not done any work into actually evaluating what that's going to cost. That's a best guess at this point. But there will be some walls moved within that space. It's not just a remodeling of an existing space.

And I imagine Ben could get into the weeds, too, about that. We don't need to do that now. But that's just your ceiling. You're not planning on necessarily spending $700,000.

Is that right? That's correct. That is the ceiling for that. And again, this is not an addition going outside. It's also remaining in the existing space. And I don't know if Ben has additional information for us on what those numbers would be or why they're where they are.

Yeah, thanks for that answer and hope the public's paying attention because it's just one of those things that kind of jumps out at you. We can justify and rationalize expensive fire equipment in stations and whatnot, but is it also a challenge because of the footprint that exists that you're kind of constrained?

It is, and that's currently our busiest response district, and so the idea is there is not to add additional brick and mortar. It is to use that space, increase staffing for the long haul in that building to be able to serve that area without having to build or add additional. And you're doing it while you're using it, too.

Yes, sir.

That's right. Okay, thank you very much. Yes, sir.

And I do want to add it's not just restrooms. So includes, you know, shower, locker room. So it's it's it says restroom, but it's the whole gamut. It's everything that includes that.

Just to follow up to that. So when we're building these new fire stations, I'm hoping that we're thinking forward thinking that maybe we need to do a little bit more on that end?

Absolutely. If you look at Fire Station 6's expansion, as well as the new station that we just opened, 3 in Partlow, we've gone to a pod-style restroom. So we have a greater capacity and individual bunk rooms. So this is the modernization of the station that we're going to keep for a long time.

OK, fantastic. Thank you. Does anyone else have any questions? Yes.

I just have one for the schools. When we were looking at that, we We're putting in an elementary school. We've had a tremendous amount of talk about vo-tech, building a career and technical center, yet we're pulling that away.

Thank you for the question. So we've been working on this with the County Administrator for the last two years. And one of the things that we look at is really our capacity at all of our schools. With the growth in the Route 1 area going into the New Post area, our schools are the mostly affected. our Parkside Elementary, Riverview, Lee Hill, Cedar Forest, et cetera. Those schools are seriously overcrowded and because of the continued growth and based on the crop study, we've talked about the last two years that the priority is to build an elementary school. we understand the need and I go through with my board every single time for the last couple of months. The need for CTE is there and it's going to continue to grow. CTE is going to evolve eventually anyway over time but the reality is that we have a current space and the current space has over 20 programs. We do believe it's a priority for us but At the moment, it's not a priority of an elementary school. And so that's the reason why the elementary school is in the, not just the CIP, but as part of the bond referendum in our discussions for the last several months, but also dating back to when I came in at the beginning of the year last year. Mr. Petrovich and I and his team, we've been working on that for quite a bit of time.

How many kids this year weren't able to go into CTE?

So we're at about approximately between 500 and 600. But the reality is that you have to look at CTE in two fronts. And I think there's a misconception of what CTE is and what the technical center is. All of our buildings, all of our high schools have CTE programs, all of them. So children and students have access to that. Now, if students want to go to the Korean Technical Center, there is a wait list. The board did approve an additional three positions, which is going to cut a little bit of that wait list, probably I would say about 250 students, which still allows us to still have a wait list where kids can't get into the CTE center. But I'm going to go back to what I said earlier. I've said it to this board. I've said it to my board. And I'm going to keep saying it because we, as a school district, are responsible for the four E's, which is, one, we want kids to be enrolled in a two-year, four-year college and CTE programs. We want kids to be engaged and be employed, and CTE does provide a lens for that. And we want kids to enlist. So what I want this board to understand and the community to understand is while the need is there and while it's important, the bigger need for us as a district right now is addressing the overcrowdedness in our schools, particularly in where we have the highest growth, which is the Route 1 corridor, and that's where we're seeing most of our growth in our schools. Thank you.

You're welcome. Supervisor Lane.

Are these referendums gonna be kind of narrowed down in their scope. So that's looking back historically, some of the Livingston district has not voted for many of these bond referendums. And it's always because that last language at the very end or for items such as, and then it's kind of open-ended. So particularly to the schools, you know, or the other departments, if we say, okay, it will be used to open up a new fire station at Shady Grove. I mean, will these referendums be narrowed down to the specifics and will that language be put in the referendums as like an open end at the last sentences or items such as, and it's kind of left open-ended. So help me narrow down the language in them and what to expect at the next meeting.

Yes, sir. So traditionally, localities do add that language without limitation. And the reason they put that in as the code allows is because plans change. all the time. Maybe we think now it should be Shady Grove, but something could change between now and the time that we build Shady Grove. If you were to lock it in, that gives us no flexibility within our CIP, because we're also locked in by category. So we could get into some very difficult situations if we don't have that flexibility. But the board has the ability to force certain projects to go through. So just because it says without limitation, really ultimately the authority falls on the board to determine the direction of how and when and what is built or done within our CIP.

And then how many years are we able to borrow against these bonds again?

Yes, eight years is the standard, but we have the ability to petition the Circuit Court for an additional two years, which usually we would receive, so a total of ten years. And I will say, Some areas, especially transportation, I think it is likely that it'll go beyond the two years just because naturally VDOT takes a little longer. Things get pushed out. We put it on our CIP because we need to to get the state and federal funding. But it doesn't happen that fast. So I do believe transportation especially will be pushed out. And we're always looking for additional funding sources, grants, donations, everything. So just because, that's why I say, just because we're putting the borrowing amount in here doesn't mean that that's going to be the final amount for the bonds issued, because we want to reduce the amount we borrow as much as possible every year.

I would just encourage each department to put as much detail, understanding that things do change, but put as much detail as what, so that the taxpayers have somewhat of an idea of what when I go and vote for this, Hopefully, this is what will happen within the next 10 years, hopefully. Yes, sir.

And I'll take that information back. I mean, obviously, Carl is hearing this, as well as our bond counsel. So when we are drafting these questions, we will be sure to do that.

And then Dr. Mitchell already sat down. You can just give me a thumbs up. But the CTE, the Career Tech Center, is still in the school's CIP plan, correct? It's just taken off of the bond referendum.

Yes. And so one of the things that... we try to do, and Ed and I, we spoke about this the first time I arrived here, which is really try to be lockstep in terms of what we're gonna do as a school and also as a county supervisor, and making sure that we are lockstep in our decisions. So even though you see that on this bond referendum that there was the removal of that piece, it doesn't mean that it's not a... It doesn't mean that it's not something that we are going to move forward with. The plan is to do that. I know for myself, I have some steps I'm going to take this summer to be able to try to address the issue around CTE. Because I do believe, and I know that's not something that you as a group can be involved with, but as a school district, I can engage with the business partners that are coming into our school district to be able to get them to help us potentially to find some funding to potentially start that project probably earlier. If we're able to garner some private funds through our work to start that process, the answer is yes, we wanna do that. But for the purpose of the bond referendum, we're talking about doubling the size of what an elementary school would cost to a CTE center. So when you look at the borrowing power from the Board of Supervisors and keeping with the bond rating, If we go and look at a CTE center, first and foremost, we're talking about double the price. So, you know, look at all those things.

I completely understand. I just wanted to make sure it's still in the school CIP. It is still, yes. As fellow supervisors that come from the planning commission side, we know it has to be in the CIP if we want to try to tackle that with the private sector help. So, I think that's kind of... knowing following up on Supervisor Childress's question that's that's motivation for us now to to bring up those discussions when when we have those rezonings or things of that nature so yeah thank you and not just the Career and Technical Center we also have in the out years a new high school

And if the CTC is built, then the idea would be a potentially a new middle school, I believe it is, that is in the out-year CIP to go into that area.

Supervisor Guzman.

Thank you, and always concerned about what the rural folks are gonna look at on these bond referendums. I was encouraged though, $10 million in rural roads for the trench widening and things like that going forward. I know we've talked with Paul and folks at the Transportation Committee to make sure we get some of that in there. because i think that'll that'll encourage some folks to look at that um one of the things that comes to my mind too is uh there was a discussion earlier about you know closing convenience sites and rumors and and of course we've closed some hours you know um you know i'm hopeful again out in the rural parts of the community what i'm hearing loud and clear is that people are not happy you know so in the in the the waste section there, if we can figure out how we can balance some of these funds, if we have to use bond or something to help keep some of this open longer, or figure out, again, I know there's some work we have to figure out for MS4 and things like that in the future, but again, try to help educate our constituents and stuff on what's out there and what's affordable, but you know, Again, I think we're gonna find a lot of people are not gonna be supportive of that out there because we're closing all these convenience sites, even if it's only a couple hours, a couple days a week, and then we've got all this money we wanna spend on other things. I just throw that out there because I think that's gonna be something to challenge the public with. and I'd like to see if we can work something in the future so maybe we can roll some of that back in the future somehow again. And then the last thing I wanted to ask too is I know we were talking about categories. A lot of discussion lately about a senior center. We got one in the CIP, things like that. Again, I know these bond referendums go out, and three could pass and two couldn't, or however many we have, onesie, twosie type things. I think it'd be nice to have an option out there for the public to be able to vote whether they want a senior center or not. I think that would have a lot of rural support. Again, we've had a lot of folks talk about that. So I just throw that out there to figure out, you know, how do we bring some of this stuff to the public? They're always asking, how do I get a vote? You know, let's put it on a ballot. Well, here's an opportunity where they can have a voice and have a vote. So I just throw out to my colleagues up here maybe how we might be able to put that on there as well.

And it is very early. But finance staff is looking at a potential grant that could be used for a senior center. So then our taxpayers potentially would not have to pay for a new senior center. So that's always good news. Yes. So we're actively looking into that. And we will be sure to bring back more information to the board on that topic.

Right, Supervisor Mullins.

Thanks, Becky. Could you, do you mind putting the slides back up, your presentation? The floor could be up. Could you go back to the process towards the end there, the timeline of?

Oh, the timeline? Yeah. Okay.

And then what, well, this will be four voting options, four bonds that?

Yes, four ballot questions.

Four ballot questions, that's right. And to Supervisor Guzman's, ask there, so to speak. That's actually, I think that's a good thing. Would that have to be a separate bond for like a senior center type thing or could that be part of one of these categories or not?

Well, one of the things, this is what's nice about if the solid waste ballot question were to pass, that frees up over $30 million in cash funding. The nice thing about that is we could use that, not all of it obviously, for other things that aren't on a ballot question.

So could the language be inferring that a utilities bond could free up money for these things or not? Are you getting too specific?

I would say probably not, yeah.

We can talk about that ourselves, but we can't have it as part of language that people are voting on, correct?

Yeah, I think you'd have to keep it very strictly for the category of the ballot measure. There's also requirements where A lot of, not a lot of, all the information that's put out from the government, from the county, has to be very neutral. We can't sell anything. Typically, when you sell something, a certain amount of puffery is expected. But the law actually requires that we be neutral on these things. We can't try to sell them to the public. Just neutral information as to what it would be used for and the like. So no implications or anything like that. So just last point.

And just I did want to point out, if you look at the expired referendums, just because we're not taking it this year doesn't mean that we can't take it next year if we decide. So let's say the solid waste question fails, and we don't get the grant that we need to potentially build a senior center. Well, then at the next general election, we could put a single,

referendum question for a senior center on the ballot like we did in 2026 for the schools okay and just last 20 2006 excuse me that slide that shows like the timeline yeah there you go so tonight we're specifically we're doing what and what comes next okay

So tonight, staff is requesting the board to vote to approve the categories and the amounts as presented for the referendum. And then on the 9th of June, staff would come back with the resolutions and additional information, the ballot questions, all that information for the board.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

OK, Supervisor Jakubowski.

Yes, thank you. And thank you, Becky. A couple of questions I had about this. Why is this coming to us with only one board meeting? You had mentioned that there was an issue with Richmond and their stuff that they did. So can you explain that a little bit more?

yes sir so normally we would have until mid-august to get the information together but because of the redistricting case that was at the virginia supreme court level the argument and carl please you know forgive me i may get this wrong please correct me it is my understanding that at play was the early and they were arguing that the election does not begin on November 3rd to get the questions on the ballot going back 45 days. It's actually from the date of early voting. So you would have to, per the Virginia Supreme Court, the idea is early voting, for example, starts on September 19th. So if you back up 45 days from that, that is June 30th. versus if we use the November 3rd date, we have until mid-August to get the information to the registrar and everybody to get the ballots, the questions on the ballot.

Is that correct? So the issue on the redistricting matter was related to requirements in the code and the Constitution with respect to how, at what point before the election day things had to happen. And there are arguments to say, okay, well, when is the election? Is it November 3rd, election day, so you count backwards from that day? Or does the election actually start when early voting starts? Do you count backwards from that day? And because of the analysis in that case, the concern is that we want to make sure that our referendum timeline that requires us to count backwards, we don't run afoul of that interpretation. So when we start counting backwards for the referendum timeline, we're going to count backwards from that start of that early voting date, November 3rd, so that pushes up the timeline on what we have to do on the front end. That's why the county administration made the decision, well, let's err on the side of caution. It's gonna be a compressed timeline, but that's what we have to work with. So that's why it's only seemingly this one brief time to start the process, put it before you all, and get things going to try to meet those timelines. Hopefully that helped.

And it's also why we kept it within the five year CIP plan. So we aren't trying to introduce anything that hasn't been presented to the board, any committees, school board, et cetera, in this 2026 referendum. So, you know, it's transparent.

No, I appreciate that, because having been through these, what I am trying to do with my questions is let the public know, for transparency reasons and everything else, that this is the reason why this is where we are. Though I will say, even though we have things that are in the CIP, it seems like there are people out there in the public who think that we should be doing other things, so just because it's in the CIP doesn't necessarily mean that it is but you're gonna get people who will one way or the other object to, for example, I think it was in 14, didn't they vote down the bond for solid waste? I think that was 14.

I think you're thinking of the pool.

No, there was a waste one too. Yeah, and that's why we had to cash, and they voted on the pool too, which I did too, but the point is that there is a lot of bad information that goes out there, so what I'm trying to do is get the good information out there so that people understand why. So number one, we're doing this because of what happened at the state Supreme Court with the redistricting case. So that's why this timeline has been advanced. Number two is that if these don't pass and we have to do them, we have to find a way to pay for them. And I do believe that's what we did with solid waste was we had to find the cash somehow to do that. Because some of that is state mandated, especially when it comes to landfills, et cetera. Another item is the, and we had this in the past, this was one of my favorite that people came up with, was that we were taking out long-term bonds for short-term items. Right, so this is something we need to constantly stay on top of because I remember going to, because we did town hall meetings one year and I went to mine at Harrison Road and people were giving me grief that we were taking out 20-year bonds for computers, which is stupid and we don't do that because it makes no sense.

We align with the useful life, yes sir.

And that's the language. It aligns with the useful life. So the amount of debt that is incurred is over the lifetime of the product that we're purchasing.

And to be honest, sometimes it's even a little less because we want to be conservative because we're not replacing everything exactly when we say it could last longer than five years or 12 years. Correct.

Yes. But I think sometimes that we – We need to make sure that we get that information out there. It doesn't mean that the other side will not constantly say they're bad information or misinformation. But at the very least, we can do our best to do that. And then the other item, and this has come up from time to time, too. And let me address, Jake, what you had said about items that are in the bond referendum. sort of having a new item enter in and that has happened in transportation. That did happen. We had other items that were above and all of a sudden new items were entered in. But this board had to vote on it and it was very public. It was very, you know, very much out there. And I'll tell you just from my point of view is I did not support that simply because the voters, I believe, vote for this list of things. And unless there is an overwhelming amount of evidence why something needs to jump ahead, you don't do that. But that was done, and in fact, we're still talking about some of those transportation items just today. But the other item that always comes up is it is said that we use money from one category and we move it to another category, which is absolutely false. But that is another thing that we will constantly hear out there is that yes, what this is is a bait and switch. They're telling us all this money's going over here and then they're gonna move it over to this one to do this thing. And it's just, it's very frustrating. And I think the reason why my hair has turned white is because of all of these things that you have to constantly run down. And it's just so, I understand with lack of information, bad information fills that void. And so what we need to do is make sure that the void is filled with the correct information so that everybody knows. You don't have to agree with it. You don't have to vote for it. That's fine. but at least understand that this is what is, and it's not these made-up items that people come up with. So those are the ones off the top of my head. As more come by, I'll let you know so that we make sure that we get the right information out there to our people.

Absolutely, and we will have a website like we did on the last referendum with numerous FAQs on there. I will make sure that these points are in those FAQs, and if they're not robust enough, we will beefen them up.

Thank you very much.

All right, Dr. Frazier. I think I got my question answered through Becky's explanation.

OK, fantastic. So is there anybody else that has any questions at this point in time? So I guess you're looking for a motion to approve this then, correct?

Yes, ma'am.

OK, so is there a motion? Would anybody like to make the motion?

I'll make the motion.

OK. All right, let's vote. Chase voted twice.

Seven yes, motion passes.

Thank you.

Madam Chair, that takes you to your board reports.

All right, okay.

And Dr. Frazier, please start us off. Thank you. Thank you, Becky. Thank you everyone who presented today. I just had a few comments. Thank you everybody who attended our meeting and who's here. online. We had wonderful graduation activities this past week and we're so grateful first to God for allowing us to get through all of those and the rain stopping in time for us to make that happen and to all of the school staff and everyone who made those young people feel so valued and appreciated and to all of the young people out there who went through graduation, we wish you well. We know that you will represent your community, especially I wanna say thank you to all of our young people who are enlisting in the armed forces. So Mr. Mullins and Mr. Childress and Guzman, I'm taking your thunder a little bit, but we really appreciate our young people stepping up and representing our community well. And I want to just tell you that there were so many of our students who got scholarships and grants and the amount of money awarded to our students. We should be very proud in Sponsorvania, Virginia. And again, thank you to all of our servicemen and women. We are indebted and really appreciate all of our servicemen and women, especially those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. And thank you. Great meeting. That's it.

supervisor wing yeah i have nothing nothing really to report but i am uh since mrs benson is still here i i should have responded to your email this morning and probably would have saved you a little bit of a trip out here but I've got one of the staff members right behind you is gonna catch up with you. We've been watching. Whenever you're ready to leave, we're gonna catch you at the door, but I responded to your email just a little bit ago, and then a staff member's gonna catch up with you as soon as you head out for the evening to explain a little bit for you, but other than that, I wanted to say to all the graduates, congratulations. If I could just say to please, Make the right choices when we're celebrating, when we're over summer break, when we're driving on our roads. We've already had a tragedy hit our community out in the Livingston District already this year. Speaking from experience, it seems like it happens every year. And I know our Sheriff's Department and our first responders deal with it all too often. Just please be very, very careful when you're out on the road and the choices that we make today will determine our tomorrow. So please just be safe and make good choices. So happy graduation and God bless everybody.

Supervisor Jakubowski.

Yes, thank you. First of all, I'd just like to say thank you to everybody. Apparently, for some reason, everybody has found Yakubowski for Supervisor Facebook page, and they like my posts. Didn't say they like me, they just like my post. Not all of them. A lot of good questions, a lot of what I try to do on there is just transparency and make sure that people understand what's going on and what's happening. Lots of misinformation that just floats around and people that just don't want to listen. But biggest posts have been about data centers and obviously with what's going on in the news it coming more to the forefront that people are taking more of an interest in what's happening and I try to share what has gone on, what is happening, what we've done, what we've tried to learn from other places to make sure that our county is protected as much as we can at this time. but knowing that the industry is miles ahead of us and we're learning what they've already known and we're trying to do what is right to make sure that our residents, number one, are protected. And so I encourage people to continue to come to my Facebook page. And I've heard that people can monetize this stuff. I know I can't, but it would be kind of nice. If anybody knows a way, yeah, let me know, please. But no, I really do appreciate the discussions and the comments. And then from there come a lot of emails and different communication. about what is going on so I really I do appreciate that and if I've been short with anybody I apologize but sometimes some comments deserve me to be short with the other thing is the graduates was Very happy to be able to make three of the graduations this year, and thankful to the school staff. And Dr. Mitchell, I think I had said to you, no matter what choice you make about canceling Saturday, it's going to be the wrong choice. Well, I was wrong. You were right. great call that worked out perfectly so if you have lottery numbers for me please let me know afterwards because that was that was really nice yes so Sunday worked out very nicely attending other board members who have never done a graduation I encourage you to do it I've done multiple, many, many, many, and in fact, I think it was in 2016 was the first graduating class that I worked on the budget when they were in kindergarten, so that was a neat class to go to, and I'm still young, Dr. Frazier. I saw that face.

I was like, whoa.

But anyway, yes, youngish. But it's great to see all the kids that are there. And a special congratulations to our youngest daughter, Anna, who graduated this year from Cortland. She did an outstanding job. It's all because of her mother. And we're absolutely blessed to have her. heading off to college and um we're going to be prouder so just wanted to say that and also all the graduates as jake said make make good choices you've done a good job up until now keep it going and um you live in the greatest country in the world and the and the best county in the state and anything that you want to accomplish is is out in front of you so just reach out for it, do it, put in the hard work, and you'll be grateful and thankful that you did. So, thank you.

Thank you, Supervisor Childress.

All right, thank you to everyone who's here and watching. I hope we all enjoyed our three days, and remember why we're here, why Supervisor Yakubowski just said we live in the greatest country in the world, and that's due to the sacrifice of our men and women in uniform. So I want to thank, just remember that every single day. I also want to thank all of our current serving and veteran military personnel as well. And on to the graduations. Congratulations to all of our graduates and to Supervisor Sorry, Jake. Supervisor Lane, Supervisor Yakubowski, make good decisions. Again, what they said, you've made good decisions to this point. Be careful going out there on the roads. Make the right decisions, and the best of luck to you in your future endeavors. Thank you.

Supervisor Gooseman?

Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. So yeah, a lot going on in the county, obviously, with the bond referendum and things like that coming up. Not a big fan of raising taxes, even if it's a transient occupancy tax. Even though it's other people's coming through, I'm just hoping it doesn't deter other tourists from coming here, and we'll see how that goes. I'd like to see some more talk on the SSDs. and then learn more about the senior center grant that's out there too. So that's the first I heard about that one. So excited to hear some of the opportunities we have. Graduation was fun. My first time. Shook a lot of hands at Spotsy High School and Mastroponics High School. Watching the smiles on the faces of the graduates and the parents and some of the tears as some of the parents came up and gave their graduates their diplomas was truly heartwarming. and very thankful for the weather that held off. But yes, the ones elected to join the military, I think we had 91, I think, in the county, was at the ceremony that was over in Fredericksburg. That's a pretty large number, and that's impressive to know that we've got that many Spotsylvanians going out to serve our country, and wish them luck in that. And then lastly, I'm hosting a Berkeley Town Hall this Friday at the Berkeley Elementary School. It's gonna be Friday, May 29th, from six to eight p.m. Hoping a lot of folks will come out. We'll talk about what you wanna talk about. I got two ears and one mouth, so I need to listen more than I talk. So I'm hoping that folks will show up, and I know I've gotten some questions ahead of time, and we'll address some of those. and learn what's on your mind. So again, I want to be up here to represent you and what's on your mind. So I hope you'll come out and look forward to seeing everybody. Thanks.

Thank you. Supervisor Mullins.

Yeah, again, thanks to everyone who's here and listening or watching online. I'm grateful for the rain that we have, and also for Memorial Day weekend, or Memorial Day, actually. A friend of mine, Aaron Vaughn, who was killed in Afghanistan, his mother said something that I thought was interesting. And I think veterans, when we hear someone say, thank you for your service, it makes you feel a little awkward because you really don't know how to answer that, right? And she said, being his mother, she can get away with this. But she says what she does now is she says, thank you for my freedoms. And that's a little dramatic, but in a way it's not just us, it's the history of this nation that we, when the time comes, veterans do their duty and some make the ultimate sacrifice This is the first year in a while that I didn't get to go visit my friends at Arlington, but that's okay. Spend it with my family. So I'm just grateful to be here and I'm grateful to continue my service to the citizens in the county. It's given me a new purpose. Today's National Paper Airplane Day. I was hoping it was National Hot Dog Day, because I want to take advantage of the great memes I've been seeing lately, but it's not. I'll have to wait till July for that. And I just want to say that I did enjoy my third consecutive graduation at River Bend High School with Dr. Mitchell, and we shook, I think, 482 hands. That's right, 482. And I said every single one of their first names as they came across the stage. So made some good friends. I was really surprised and encouraged with the kids that are enlisting in the military, because they're wearing their sash. It always baffles me why anybody joins the Marine Corps, but there was a lot of guys who did join the Marine Corps. I think it's because, you know, there's always a place for, no matter who you are, there's a place for you. That's the Marine Corps. Okay. There were some Aim High Air Force folks and, of course, the cream of the crop, the Navy kids. And I asked a couple of them under their breath, hey, what are you going to do? And they were going, like, nuclear propulsion. Things like that. But anyways, it was a great time. God looked down on us. No rain. And I'm just proud to be a Cortland supervisor and go Bears.

Thank you. Well, I don't think I can say it any better except for what you all have said collectively up here about Memorial Day and just being so appreciative of those who serve our country and being mindful of those who have lost their lives in that service. So it's certainly a day of reflection, a day of thanks to them for their sacrifice and You know, it's a solemn day. The other thing is congratulations to the graduates, for sure. Keep a good thing going. Don't lose sight of your goals. Life is going to kick you down. We've all been there. Just keep moving, keep going, and never lose sight of that. So your community is behind you, believe it or not. And then the last thing I just wanted to mention is on June the 4th, there is a community meeting for the Crossroads Technology Project. There's actually two meetings the same night, which is a little unfortunate. Yeah, Piedmont and Berkeley. Is that at Dominion Raceway? At Dominion Raceway. And then the one for Crossroads is at Costner Park, and that's from 6 to 7. So I will absolutely be there. Unfortunately, it can't be two places at one time. So Supervisor Guzman will be at the Berkeley one. I'll be at the Lee Hill one. But I invite you to come out. If you have questions, please call me, email me. I'm happy to have a conversation about where we were, where we are, where we're going. There's a whole thing with that. So please reach out to me. I've been on the phone pretty much nonstop for the past week. And I don't mind. That's what I'm here for. So please reach out to me. So with that, I'll end. And I guess we'll go to Ed for county administrator and county attorney reports. Carl, do you have an answer?

No report. Thank you.

I only had one thing, and that's to make sure that the public's clear that the convenience centers that we've shut down two days a week, we're not shutting those down permanently. It's just two days a week. And Ben, you can elaborate on that if you want.

Okay, so I guess.

So that takes you closing.

Right. All right, Madam Chair, members of the board, this is your resolution to adjourn into closed meeting. Whereas the Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors desires to adjourn and close meeting for discussion, consideration, or interviews of prospective candidates for employment assignment, appointment promotion, performance demotion, salaries, disciplining, or resignation of specific public officers, appointees, or employees of the county, specifically the Chief of Fire, Rescue, and Emergency Management, and whereas the Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors desires to adjourn and close meeting for discussion or consideration of the acquisition of real property for a public purpose, or the disposition of publicly held real property where discussion in an open meeting would adversely affect the bargaining position or negotiating strategy of the county specifically discussion of real property in the livingston voting district and real property in the berkeley voting district And whereas, the Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors desires to adjourn and close meeting for consultation with legal counsel employed or retained by the county regarding specific legal matters requiring the provision of legal advice by such counsel, specifically regarding a contractual matter and potential administrative and civil causes of action to be made on behalf of the county. And whereas, pursuant to Virginia Code Section 2.2-3711 , Such discussions may enclose meeting now. Therefore, be it resolved that the Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors does hereby authorize discussion of the afore stated matters.

Seven yes, motion passes.

Meeting. Whereas the Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors has convened a closed meeting on this date pursuant to an affirmative recorded vote in accordance with the provisions of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, and whereas Section 2.2-3712D of the Code of Virginia requires a certification by this Board, such closed meeting was conducted in conformity with Virginia law. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors hereby returns to open meeting and certifies by roll call vote that to the best of each member's knowledge, only public business matters lawfully exempted from the open meeting requirements of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard, discussed, or considered in the closed meeting.

Dr. Frazier? Aye. Jake? Aye. Chris? Aye. Gerald? Aye. David?

Aye.

Drew? Aye. And the chair votes aye.

Madam Chair, that brings you to new business. Your next Board of Supervisors meeting is June 3rd here in the boardroom at 4 p.m. June 9th. June 9th. I'm sorry, I don't have my readers on.

And just remember, it's 4 p.m., everybody. So I saw that, and I was like, uh-oh. Oh, nice. Okay. Well, have a great vacation. So we'll be back on June the ninth at 4pm. Thank you.

Motion to adjourn.

So moved.