City Council - Regular Meeting

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Good evening and welcome. City Council is now in session. Please stand for the invocation by Council Member Butler Barlow, which will be followed by the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag.

Let us pray. As we gather tonight to conduct the business of the city of Suffolk, we celebrate together the month of June and the beginning of summer. We honor our graduates and our fathers. We celebrate pride. We recognize Juneteenth. Please open our hearts and our eyes to see the diverse communities that make up our city with new eyes. Help us to find the courage to listen and really hear others when so often we want to be heard first. Let us see and treat all people with simple human dignity. We ask for guidance and wisdom as we strive to make good decisions for our citizens. Amen.

We'll now move to approval of the minutes from the February 18th, 2026 work session and regular meeting. Council, a motion would be in order. Council Member Johnson. Move to approve. A motion for approval from Council Member Johnson. Council Member Williams. Seconded. Seconded from Council Member Williams. Is there any discussion in the motion? Hearing none, Council Members prepare to vote. Please cast your vote. Madam Clerk, please record the vote.

The motion's been approved by a vote of eight to zero.

We have no special presentations this evening. At this time, we'll consider the removal of items from the consent agenda and adoption of the entire agenda as presented. Removal of any item from the consent agenda would only be necessary if any member of city council wishes to vote on a specific item separately. Any motion would be required. Additionally, City Manager Hughes has information regarding consent agenda items number seven, And number eight, Mr. Manager, please provide an overview.

Mayor, Vice Mayor, members of council, I'd like to request that consent agenda items number seven and number eight be removed from the agenda and be added to the June 17th City Council meeting under the ordinance portion of the agenda.

With that being said, a motion to amend the agenda to continue consideration of consent agenda items number seven and eight to the ordinances portion of the June 17th, 2026 agenda. City Council meeting and adopt the remainder of the agenda as presented would be in order. What is your pleasure? Council Member Williams. Move for approval. Motion for approval. Council Member Williams. Council Member Butler-Barlow.

Second.

Second from Council Member Butler-Barlow. Is there any discussion in the motion? Hearing none, Council Members prepare to vote. Please cast your vote. Madam Clerk, please record the vote.

The motion is approved by a vote of eight to zero.

Madam Clerk, do we have any agenda speakers at this time?

We have no agenda speakers, Mayor.

Hearing none, will you please present the consent agenda items for consideration?

Item number nine, a resolution authorizing the city manager to amend the planning next contract. Item number 10, an ordinance to accept inappropriate additional funds from the Federal Aviation Administration for the T-Hanger G project at the Suffolk Executive Airport. Item number 11, an ordinance to accept and appropriate funds from the Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Aviation for the Suffolk Executive Airport. Item number 12, an ordinance to appropriate funds from the fleet management unrestricted net position to the FY 2025-2026 fleet management fund budget in an amount not to exceed $1 million. Item number 13, an ordinance to appropriate funds from the risk management unrestricted net position TO THE FY2025-2026 RISK MANAGEMENT FUND IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $3 MILLION. ITEM NUMBER 14, AN ORDINANCE TO APPROPRIATE FUNDS FROM THE GENERAL FUND COMMITTED FUND BALANCE CAPITAL RESERVE FUND AND TO TRANSFER FUNDS TO THE CAPITAL PROJECTS FUND FOR THE NANSMAN PARKWAY WILROY ROAD OVERPASS PROJECT AND THE DOWNTOWN SUFFOLK LIBRARY PROJECT. AND ITEM NUMBER 15, an ordinance authorizing the issuance and sale of revenue bonds by the city of Suffolk, Virginia, and establishing the terms, details, and provisions for the payment thereof.

Mr. Manager, please provide an overview of the items.

Mayor, Vice Mayor, members of council, consent item number nine, the 2045 comprehensive plan project included the development of a fiscal impact tool to assist in the consideration of future land use proposals. The included resolution will authorize an amendment to our contract with Planning Next, our vendor, to complete this task. Per Suffolk procurement policy, the city council must approve of any contract amount greater than 25%. Funding does exist in the current planning department budget in the amount of $85,470. Consent item number 10. The city has received funding in the amount of $285,000 from the Federal Aviation Administration in support of the Suffolk Executive Airport T-Hanger G project. Adoption of the ordinance will increase the planned revenues and expenditures of the capital fund budget by $285,000. and requires a $15,000 local fund match, which is provided in the fiscal year 25-26 capital fund budget. Consent item number 11, the city has received $36,459.95 in funding from the Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Aviation for repair and maintenance projects in support of the Suffolk Executive Airport. To include $8,250 $14.74 to replace runway edge lighting and real light for runway 22. And $28,245.21 to replace the rotating beacon. Adoption of the ordinance will increase the planned revenues and expenditures of the Aviation Facilities Fund by $36,459.95 and requires $9,100 $14.99 of a local match, which is available in the fiscal year 25-26 Aviation Facilities Fund budget. Consent item number 12. For City Council's consideration is an ordinance to appropriate funds from the Fleet Management Fund unrestricted net position fiscal year 25-26 Fleet Management budget in the amount not to exceed $1 million.00. The funding is needed to cover purchases through the end of the current fiscal year, which is being impacted by continued increases to gasoline, diesel, and automotive supplies. Adoption of the ordinance will increase the planned revenues and expenditures of the fiscal year 25-26 fleet management fund by up to $1 million. Consent item number 13. For City Council's consideration is an ordinance to appropriate funds from the risk management fund unrestricted net position to the fiscal year 25-26 risk management fund budget in an amount not to exceed $3 million. Funding is needed to cover increased medical claims through the end of the current fiscal year. Adoption of the ordinance will increase the planned revenues and expenditures of the fiscal year 25-26 risk management fund budget by up to $3 million. Consent item number 14. FOR CITY COUNCIL'S CONSIDERATION IS AN ORDINANCE TO APPROPRIATE $2,918,750 FROM THE GENERAL FUND COMMITTED FUND BALANCE CAPITAL RESERVE FUND TO TRANSFER FUNDS TO THE CAPITAL PROJECTS FUND IN SUPPORT OF THE NANSMAN PARKWAY-WILROY ROAD OVERPASS PROJECT, THE DOWNTOWN SUFFOLK LIBRARY PROJECT, AND THE NANSMAN RIVER HIGH SCHOOL ENTRANCE WIDENING PROJECT. THE AMOUNTS are broken down as follows. Wilroy Road Overpass Project, additional funding is needed for $1,700,000. The Wilroy Road Overpass Project requires additional funding for the finalization of property acquisition. The Downtown Suffolk Library is requesting $1 million of additional funding. The library project requires additional funding for the operational equipment to include public computer equipment, audio-visual support equipment, the Makerspace Lab, and other programming and teaching equipment that come with the new facility. The final request is for the Nansman River High School entrance widening project in the amount of $218,000, excuse me, $218,750 on your screen, on the council chambers. Just want to provide a little bit of a visual for you. It's an older photo that represents the new alignment off Sleepy Hole Road. in gray leading to Nansford River High School represents the new in and out at the highway. As you're familiar, we're seeing some congestion going in and out of the school. We've been working with Dr. Gordon and the principal out at Nansford River High School. So what we're proposing is shown in red, which essentially is a new lane that will be constructed that will allow for more vehicles to occupy that space and bring them off of Sleepy Hole Road. And so that is what that funding is part of. Consent item number 15, as briefed by Kyle Locks from Davenport Financial during your work session, an ordinance is provided authorizing the issuance and sale of public utility revenue bonds for potential refinancing of capital projects. That completes your consent items. Thank you, Mr.

Manager. If there are no questions about the items, the motion will be in order to approve the consent agenda as presented. Council Member Williams. Move to approve as presented. Approval from Council Member Williams. Council Member Rector. Second. Second from Council Member Rector. Any discussion of the motion? Hearing none, Council Members prepare to vote. Please cast your vote. Madam Clerk, please record the vote.

The motion's approved by a vote of eight to zero.

We have no public hearings, ordinances, or resolutions this evening. So we'll be moving to staff reports. We do have one staff report this evening where we will be receiving a 2026 legislative agenda. Mr.

Manager, mayor, vice mayor, members of council of tonight, the office of the city attorney is going to be presenting a few bills that we would like to highlight. Um, this session, was very active and on the slide some statistics for you. There were a total of 2,366 bills introduced in both houses. Of those, 1,125 passed and 31 of those were vetoed. This presentation and you should have received with your packet a memo from our office with summary of bills that we wanted to bring to city council's attention. This presentation is going to highlight just a few of those because there were a number of bills that either presented things that would require administrative changes or options for city council to take action in the future or things that required ordinance changes. made the department's aware of those and so you will see ordinances coming before you as actions are required. And so to start us off will be Deputy City Attorney Stephanie Peele.

Good evening Mr. Mayor, Mr. Vice Mayor, members of City Council. The first bill we're going to discuss under the Administration of Justice is Senate Bill 530. This relates to the State and Local Government Conflict of Interest Act. Basically this new bill is saying that For our city, in January of 2029, you as members of council as well as employees of the local body need to file annual disclosure statements electronically. This is a change. You have until 2029, so it's not anything you have to worry about just yet. But I'm sure that the clerk's office will assist with that. But this is one of the new bills that's coming into play. SENATE BILL 699 WITH RESPECT TO FOIA. IT REQUIRES PUBLIC BODIES THAT ARE SUBJECT TO FOIA TO POST THE PROPOSED AGENDA ON THE PUBLIC BODIES OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT WEBSITE PRIOR TO THE MEETING. THE BILL PROVIDES THAT NO FINAL ACTION MAY BE TAKEN ON ANY ITEMS ADDED TO AN AGENDA AFTER THE MEETING COMMENCES UNLESS THE MATTER IS TIME SENSITIVE OR is the subject of a closed meeting properly identified in a motion in accordance with the FOIA requirements and which defines also what final action means. House Bill 1404, this is something new. This allows the local governing body to appoint a youth representative to serve as a non-voting member of your governing body. So should this be something that council desires, it would require ordinance. House Bill 727, this is with respect to the local boards of social services. It changes the limit on the consecutive terms. Currently, members who are appointed to the different boards and commissions with respect to the social services are allowed to only do two consecutive full terms. This is now allowing them to do three consecutive full terms. And the clerk's office has received this information as well. So they're aware and will notify you should you wish to appoint someone to a term longer than the two years. Next, you will hear from Assistant City Attorney Jennifer Wilmoth.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, members of council. The first bill that I'm going to talk about is House Bill 402. That is a change to the exemption from state inspection for private homes where the resident processes and prepares certain food products, including pickles and other acidified vegetables. It allows such a person to sell products at any location through the internet or by telephone. That's a change previously These items had to be sold in person at a temporary event, the person's home, or a farmer's market, and now they can deliver them by mail or a delivery service or in person. The next one is... Senate Bill 531, this involves accessory dwelling units, requires a locality to include in its zoning ordinances for single-family residents, zoning districts, accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, as the bill defines, as a permitted accessory use. The bill requires that the person seek a permit and that such a permit must be provided must be granted and the permit fee must be $500 or less if it meets the requirements within the bill. There are some things that the locality is restricted from doing. You can't make the setback any different for the ADU that's greater than the setback required for the primary dwelling. THEY CAN'T BE MORE RESTRICTED THAN HEIGHT, REAR, SETBACKS, LOCK COVERAGE AND OTHER THINGS THAT ARE REQUIRED FOR THE PRIMARY DWELLING. THE NEXT ONE, HOUSE BILL 1279, IS IN REGARDS TO RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS, ALLOWS FOR THE ADMINISTRATION APPROVAL OF development and construction of housing on land owned by religious organizations and tax exempt nonprofit organizations. Provides that zoning ordinance shall allow by right development and construction of housing on real property owned by such organizations. SUBJECT TO VARIOUS CONDITIONS AND LIMITATIONS. THE BILL PROVIDES THAT REVIEW OF SUCH DEVELOPMENTS BE COMPLETED PURSUANT TO GENERAL LAW AND STATE'S LOCALITY SHALL NOT REQUIRE A SPECIAL EXCEPTION, SPECIAL USE, OR CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT. THE BILL REQUIRES AT LEAST 60% OF THOSE HOUSING DEVELOPMENTS BE FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING AND THAT THAT HOUSING MUST REMAIN AFFORDABLE FOR 30 YEARS. IT DOES HAVE A DELAYED EFFECTIVE DATE OF JANUARY 27 AND EXPIRES OR 2027 AND EXPIRES in 2031. The next bill is House Bill 711. This involves regulation of solar facilities, provides that a ground-mounted solar energy generation facility to be located on a property zoned agricultural, commercial, industrial, institutional shall be considered pursuant to various criteria included in the local ordinance. And it basically sets a standard for visual impact setbacks, things of the like. It also requires that if you all were to deny a solar facility, you would have to basically promulgate your reasons for denial and then send it to the State Corporation Commission and they will, State Corporation Commission will have a database publicly available on their website for Denials and the reasons for those denials House bill 594 is provides expedited approval for certain affordable housing developments allows a locality by ordinance to authorize a zoning administrator to use an administrative process basically speeds up the process if there was an affordable housing development to To come before the city speeds up the process and The bill also requires the locality prior to the adoption of this ordinance to advertise its intention to propose the ordinance within the newspaper. While it's not required, if you all decided to do that, the bill does allow for the Department of Housing and Community Development to give priority for grants and loans administered by the department. Next one, House Bill 1212. This is about small lots. Requires that the locality with a population of 50,000 or more adopt, maintain, and apply land within its boundaries of at least one zoning district classification that permits single family dwelling units with a minimum lot area not exceeding 3,000 square feet. Also provides that they're not impose a minimum lot width exceeding 30 feet. The next one, House Bill 888. This bill provides locality shall not require as a condition of a zoning approval minimum off-street residential parking, multifamily or mixed-use development located within a designated area as defined in the bill in amounts exceeding 0.5 parking spaces per dwelling unit for multifamily or mixed-use and one parking space per dwelling unit for one-family and two-family dwellings. It also provides that no locality shall adopt or enforce any provision that imposes minimum off-street parking for residential multifamily mixed-use development within a designated area. The next bill, House Bill 655, is in regards to manufactured homes and basically amends the provisions to say that in all zoning districts anywhere that stick-built houses are allowed, now manufactured homes will be allowed. It also removes the authority of localities without a zoning ordinance to designate areas within the locality in which manufactured homes can be located. House Bill 876, temporary support structures for wireless facilities requires a locality to include in its zoning ordinance provision that allows for the use of temporary support structures and that defines the temporary support structures as a monopole or portable wireless communications that the facility uses to provide wireless data or image transmission. House Bill 867 authorizes the locality to provide for an affordable house dwelling unit program by amending zoning ordinances of the locality. So the current law, this was only available to counties with an urban county executive form, and now it applies to all cities. It does have a delayed effective date of July 1, 2027. The next one is the citing of battery energy storage. Deems battery energy storage projects as a permitted accessory use in all zoning districts. And so the bill prohibits the locality from requiring any special exception or other land use approval for battery storage. But it also clarifies that the local authority can still regulate safety and and citing agreements within the ordinance. And now, Sean Dolan will come up and present his bills.

Mr. Mayor, Vice Mayor, Members of Council. Continuing in that same theme that we've seen, the next slide is House Bill 352. And what that does is allows the EDA to incorporate, create a grant program like it has for economic development, but it allows that to happen for affordable housing. It creates a new code section. And in this code section, the General Assembly outlined, which would be very helpful should council decide to, by ordinance, create a code section that outlines all of the requirements for this type of grant program. So that is basically expanding the authority of an EDA here in the city of Suffolk to incorporate an affordable housing performance grant program. This next slide is authority that enables the locality to provide for reimbursement of payments related to utility connections for new development. So that can be done through an ordinance and in localities like Suffolk that have an existing affordable dwelling ordinance. the this bill will allow the city to incorporate waivers of certain types of fees related to Development for affordable housing. So that's very helpful The next slide relates to and it's really just a procedural clarification If the city were to sell property if a locality sells property that has a burial site a cemetery or a graveyard it's required in the public hearing notice and to advertise that that property contains a cemetery, for example. The code section says publish that notice in the paper for two weeks or put it, well, it says and put it on your website. This just clarifies that that and really does mean both, that both things are supposed to happen. Publication and posting on the city's website. THE NEXT MATTER RELATES TO TAXATION, AND THIS IS AN OPPORTUNITY SHOULD COUNCIL DECIDE THAT CERTAIN PROPERTY THAT'S CHARITABLE, IT'S A 501C3 ORGANIZATION, SO A CHARITABLE ORGANIZATION THAT IS A MANAGING MEMBER, SAY, OF A LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY, OR THE GENERAL PARTNER OF A PARTNERSHIP THAT HAS A CONTROLLING INTEREST, THAT WHOLE ENTITY CAN BASICALLY BE TREATED AS A CHARITABLE ORGANIZATION. for the purposes of granting some designation of a portion of that property for religious or non-taxable uses. So there's some real opportunity there. In many of the code sections that I've reviewed in looking at this and just in my experience working in the city attorney's office that division between charitable use and non-charitable use, what's taxable or not taxable, there is a lot of regulation and law related to that. And so I'll move on to a separate taxation matter. And this takes into consideration the issues that so many people, employees, Residents of the state of Virginia have when there's a federal government shutdown They may have their personal property taxes due December 5th, and they haven't been paid in 30 days Maybe they're working not getting paid or they've been furloughed What this would allow the City Council to do is by ordinance delay that? Payment time period if you have enough lead time for up to 90 days So the extension and the due date would be 90 days past following the end of a furlough of that type Rounding procedures, so this makes me very glad that the city has the financial experience internally and externally to deal with something as simple as rounding pennies. So as some of you may know, the United States has stopped printing, printing, COINING PENNIES LAST YEAR. AND SO WHAT THIS LEGISLATION DOES IS GENERALLY GIVE SELLERS THE OPPORTUNITY TO ROUND UP OR DOWN TO FIVE CENTS WHEN THEY'RE ENGAGING IN A CASH TRANSACTION. IF THE CITY HAD AN ISSUE WITH CASH TRANSACTIONS AND THE AVAILABILITY OF PENNIES, IT COULD PASS AN ORDINANCE SIMILAR TO WHAT THE STATE HAS DONE REG KIND OF MANDATING HOW THAT ROUNDING WILL OCCUR BUT I EXPECT THAT THAT WOULD TAKE IF THAT WERE TO HAPPEN THAT WOULD TAKE SOME INVOLVEMENT FROM THE FINANCIAL PERSONNEL HERE IN THE CITY TO DETERMINE WHETHER OR NOT IT'S NUMBER ONE IF IT'S NEEDED AND HOW FEASIBLE IT WOULD BE THERE'S A STUDY THAT THE DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION IS SUPPOSED TO RENDER A DECISION BY DECEMBER OF THIS YEAR. SO THIS LEGISLATION, PART OF IT THAT WOULD ALLOW THE CITY TO ROUND THIS EXPIRES NEXT JUNE OR JULY OF 2027. BUT HOPEFULLY BY NOVEMBER OF THIS FALL THE DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION WILL COME UP WITH THE UNIFORM POLICY THAT CITIES COULD ADOPT FOR THIS ROUNDING ISSUE. This final slide relates to taxation. And there's so much verbiage there. Clearly, it would be difficult to process just by looking at it now. Having the opportunity to read it and highlight it and look at some of the different provisions here, the big picture is that if there's a retail or commercial or religious space that's then converted to residential use, THE PART AND THERE'S A LOT OF REQUIREMENTS IN TERMS OF WHAT THAT REALLY MEANS, WHAT THAT CHANGE TO RESIDENTIAL USE MEANS. BUT IF THAT HAPPENS, THE CITY COULD GIVE SOME TAX EXEMPTIONS BASICALLY FOR THE REPURPOSED RESIDENTIAL AREA KIND OF AS AN ASCENTIVE. AND SO THERE'S SOME RECAPTURE PROVISIONS I THINK AS THERE ARE IN MANY PROVISIONS LIKE THIS. THIS TERM WOULD BE ABOUT 15 YEARS. So if there were an excess of non-residential real estate that could be converted, then this was something that would be beneficial. This is something certainly that the localities could consider. And with that, I'll turn this over to Mr. Hutchings, and we'll be available for any questions.

So I have my staff available to answer any questions on these bills or any other bills that you may have a question about. If that's something a little bit more detailed than we can answer tonight We'll certainly get back to you with a report on what something means or does not mean but so at this point We're open to answer any questions Those are canceled questions or comments Councilmember Butler Barlow On the

solar facilities. Does this take away everything that we've put in place? Do we still get to follow the ordinance that we've developed? I know it puts a limitation on our ability to cap it, but are our standards and our ordinances with setbacks and buffering and all of that, do we still get to hold on to that at least?

I think we're going to lose some of that. Now let Assistant City Attorney Jennifer Wilmoth answer that question.

Yes, I think we will lose that because the objective of the law is to standardize it throughout the Commonwealth. So I think we will lose that.

Even though they have a really great example to follow right here. And if we do vote against one, we have to provide an explanation for that. What constitutes a justified denial?

So the bill enumerates several things that you could justify it with, not being in line with the comprehensive plan. There were some other things as well. But basically... You have to put the reason in there and it goes to a database. There were a thing right now. So other than that, I don't see that there is a justification that you necessarily have to justify it other than it not being in line with comprehensive plan. You just have to state your reasons.

Okay. All right. So I guess we will work through that as we go along and the situation arises.

Yes.

Okay. You know, this is extremely disappointing to me that we've worked really hard to have a very comprehensive solar ordinance and now we're getting cut off at the knees. Well, I turned that back for some reason. Sorry, I've mutilated my thing here. So kind of the same question on House Bill 891, Senate Bill 433, citing a battery energy storage project's commercial solar voltaic. Is this kind of the same kind of thing?

So it's going to be a buy-right accessory use that will be subject to building code and other safety things, but not not subject to approval by City Council.

Okay. All right. I think that's it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Council Member Johnson.

Back to that one. I'm just curious with the battery, are we going to be putting out the, are there going to be set procedure by the state then that these organizations will be forced to do, or do we actually come up with that?

As far as the safety?

Right. As far as the battery storage units go. I mean, we've never allowed it up to this point. We've just started talking about it. And so is the state going to provide all the guidance?

The bill does not provide for the state to do that. So as far as I know, they would not.

Generally, Council Member, the Department of Housing and Community Development puts together the building code and the fire code. I think what we will have to use is what exists now in the fire code, and hopefully there will be more regulations forthcoming from that organization. But we're kind of going to be stuck with those things. We can probably use the provision of the fire code that allows us to be a little bit more restrictive if the fire marshal can come up with some justifications that won't get overruled by the same body in the state.

Okay, but we'll be well aware of the safety and guidance as we go along. This will be a new hurdle here. Yes. My real question was on SB 531 zoning, where auxiliary, ADUs, auxiliary, we currently allow that in our code to start with. So this is just going to open it up more?

So we allow it with a CUP. Right. The CUP will go away. So we don't have to require a CUP? No. It's just a right, automatic right. Right. And the other thing that will change, and you'll see this at your next meeting, the planning director is going to talk about this. The other thing is they will now be allowed to be rented.

The whole game changes. Okay, but we will be adjusting our rules and regulations as we go along to compensate for all of these new things, I'm assuming, right?

So we will be adjusting those as they come along. The accessory dwelling unit, I know, having sat through the planning commission, that's going to come before you at the next meeting. Some of these other things will come before you as well to adjust to make sure our code comes into compliance. There will be a lot of changes through the UDL. to match up with things that we're no longer allowed to regulate.

That's a huge one. I mean, it's a lot more implications than just us sitting here saying this is what we're going to do now. All right, thank you. Thank you.

Council Member Bennett.

On 1212, I just have some question on that, about the small lots. Is that, and I know we are having houses now being built I call them skinny houses all over the city. And at first I thought it was going to basically be in the older neighborhoods with small lots. But it appears now that we are having them being built all over the city where there's plenty of land, but they're still building the skinny houses. So how does that work? This has no effect on that, but we have to do something with that.

So the law says that council must adopt and maintain a zoning district classification that permits these types of houses with minimum smaller lots as well as no more than 30 feet width. So it's a zoning, has to be one or more zoning that allows it.

Okay, and that's what I'm saying. I know that that was our concern when we did that because in the older neighborhoods, most of the lots, a lot of the lots was 30 by 50 or something like that. So rather than be able to revitalize those areas, we changed it where we have a smaller lot where they could use those lots, but not, I didn't think we were going to do it over the whole city.

Well, so now what the General Assembly is requiring is that you're going to have to, on the zoning map, designate places where houses can be built on small lots.

Okay.

So you're going to have to create a new zoning designation and identify the place where that zoning designation is going to be allowed.

Okay.

Okay.

Yeah. I hope so.

Council Member Bennett, do you have any other questions, sir? Thank you. Okay, Council, any other questions or comments? Vice Mayor Ward?

Okay, the church, which is private, right? The church is private? Yes. Okay, they have a cemetery in the back. Who's responsible for the upkeep of that cemetery?

So it depends on who the owner is. It's the owner of the property, and... If the church doesn't own the cemetery, then they don't really technically have the right. And when Ms. Carlisle was here, she mentioned there was a new bill that had been passed that allows an organization such as a church to get permission from a judge to go on property they don't own. The current law is that if you don't own property, you're not supposed to go onto that property. So a church or another charitable organization can adopt property, property that they don't own, but they would need to get permission from the court to go on to the property.

How about a company that was, in the beginning, was paid to manage the property, and now they don't exist no more? What happens? You got to get a charity organization?

So there would have to be another organization that would take over that responsibility. We run into that problem where a group of individuals or an entity at one point purchased a plot of land or started a cemetery on a plot of land, and we can't find the successors for that property. The law doesn't really have any way to deal with that. So the state has set up a fund for organizations to get some help to do that work, and there's a new code section that allows organizations to get permission to enter onto property that they don't own.

I know you set up a fund, but the fund they're giving is nothing compared to what's surrounded by us. I mean, it's pennies.

Thank you.

Council Member Rector. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. To piggyback on Vice Mayor Ward's question, You said religious organizations or other organizations could appeal to the court for permission to go into the property to maintain it. Would cities be considered an organization?

I don't remember whether they mentioned localities in that bill.

Okay. Council, any other questions or comments? If not, I've got a couple of comments, a couple of questions. I'm going to start off with commenting that the state just needs to leave us alone and take care of our own land use issues. This is off the chain ridiculous as far as I'm concerned. Council Member Butler-Barlow, we've gone through a lot of work putting together a lot of ordinances and doing a lot of reviewing, amending ordinances, changing guidelines, especially in regards to solar and warehouse. accessory dwellings, and all the work that we put into it, about half of it's going to go right down the drain because we're being mandated that there's certain things that we cannot do. Now, I just jotted some notes down. There's a lot of information in here, and a lot of it we have to digest, and a lot of it's going to have to go through the city attorney's office in conjunction with planning to determine what we may or may not be able to do I was going through these as we went, and there's one thing I've learned. I don't have a law degree by any shot, but I like to look at words like require, shell, prohibit, the things that give us latitude and those that don't. Going back to—and I'm not going to belabor— them all by any means, but just a couple of the highlights that really jump out at me. The first one even had to do with the sale, the cottage food laws and sale of certain food over to food and internet. I mean over the phone and Internet, rather than what it was intended for, which is an in-house, door-to-door type thing. So if this is being allowed where you can sell goods or services, I imagine, but goods here, vegetables, certain food products, whatever, if you can do it over the Internet or the telephone, I mean, I'm just curious as to how that's regulated, if they have to be licensed at that point, the taxes involved in those sales, it doesn't have a limit on how much you could do So exactly, and I don't need answers to all this now. I'm just saying this is something we need to look into. Have they provided any means to regulate this? And I'll go ahead and ask the city attorney that now.

So all this does, you already have an ordinance in the UDO that allows this type of business to take place, the individual to do that and to produce these food products in their home, but there's a limitation that they can't sell it from their home. And that was back when the law was someone would have to pull into their driveway and have the product sold to them right there at the house or at a farmer's market or there was one other place. They have broadened where the individual can now sell these food products. And they are not regulated by the health department. Um, and they would be taxed as a, as a home occupation by the commissioner of revenue and how the commissioner of revenue identifies this. I can't answer that. That would be a question for the commissioner of revenue. Um, but the law doesn't add anything extra that wasn't already there. It just adds more places where these products can be sold. So on the internet, um, and a few other places that's going to produce considerably more sales. Right. So we currently would prohibit somebody from, our UDO currently prohibits somebody from selling on the internet from their home and mailing it to somebody because we don't say in-person sales. We say all sales from the home. I'm not sure that we can continue to keep that regulation. That's something we would have to research with the planning department, whether we're going to have to change it to no in-person sales at the home and allow for mailing from the home. But as our UDO is currently written, you can't sell those products from your home at all, whether it's in person, mailing it, or else.

And it appears like, well, and rightfully so, a lot of these will not be effective until January 1st or July 30th and then until 27th rather than within a couple months or so.

So a lot of them that are the big changes to how we operate have delayed effective dates. But if they don't have a delayed effective date in our presentation, they do become effective on July 1. We've only identified the dates for things that have delayed effective dates. So like the accessory dwelling units, we have until 2027 to modify our code. There's a few others that have until January. There's some that have until 2028. The electronic filing for your financial disclosures until 2029. So we've identified where we've got some latitude to take time. Those aren't the main ones.

It seems like the first thing we'd have to do is prioritize and then the time schedule would be important. The prioritization and the time schedule and the ones with the shortest time schedule and the highest prioritization stay at the top and then work on them because some of these, even the accessory dwellings, they get a whew. We've been through that, and we've got fairly restricted guidelines, and this just kind of blows a lot of them out of the water. I mean, I don't even see whether there's size limitations. I mean, it talks about setbacks, but I don't see a lot of the guidelines that we have for accessory dwellings that we just went through, I don't know, a year before. I mean, it's just been a year or two since we kind of allowed them to be administratively approved. In addition, residential zoning designations, I think up through RLM maybe or higher, they approved administratively. So there's a lot of work we'd have to do there. A lot of these are directed to affordable housing. There's three or four different bills in here at least, I'm not trying to keep track of them, that are directly related to some type of affordable housing component. So to that effect, I mean, that's, we've always talked about having clear-cut incentives for affordable housing or guidelines, and this is going to kind of push us to that point a little quicker than maybe, you know, we had anticipated. And once again, some of this, you know, the wording, okay, like HB 1279 says allows for the administrative approval. It's not mandating it. It just says it allows it so you don't get that excited about it. Then you look further down there, It says the bill requires, and by that it says to do with the percentage. Number eight, the solar issue. I mean, we're sitting here working our little honeys off to try to get a handle on everything, and half of it just got squashed. And that's not a maybe or allows. It says shall be considered. Anyhow, so we're going to have to – all of these are going to require ordinance changes on our part. There's a lot that looks like it needs – I mean, a lot that looks like it needs to be addressed in the UDO and go through planning, and the whole process is just – I wouldn't say insane, but close to it. There's just a couple more, and then I'll leave it alone. The battery deal, I mean, that just – We did it specifically for manufacturing and intentionally not for solar, and they were just, maybe you will do it for solar, whether you like it or not. So there was a lot of discussion and consternation. I mean, I think we had the right result, but it doesn't appear that the folks in Richmond believe that localities are smart enough to figure this out for themselves. But I don't know how you can do a one-size-fits-all because every locality is different. and we should have the latitude to, you know, do what's best for our citizens and form our own ordinances under our own circumstances, but it's not happening. That's about it. You know, I could go on, but this is probably, you know, I haven't been doing it as long as some, but to look at these bills that have come out of Richmond this year, I think this is, trying to be nice here, the most trying group of bills I've ever seen that have come out of Richmond. So anyhow, enough of that. Council, I'll ask one more time before we move on. Does anybody have any other questions or comments? Council Member Wright.

Yes, I have a couple of comments. I think that it's imperative for the citizens to keep track of the bills as they're moving through the General Assembly. Because a couple of these bills, and I know for a fact a few members of this council were tracking them, the battery storage, the solar farms, we were tracking those. And so I think it's imperative for the citizens to do the same, because while this is bad, we actually dodged two really bad ones, House Bill 816 and HB 804, which is statewide housing targets and the buy-right multifamily zoning. Just like citizens are able to come here and voice their concerns at council, the things that happen at the state level impact us. Before these bills are passed, they go through subcommittees, and people have an opportunity to speak. So for the people under the sound of my voice that are diligent about staying on council, I need you to direct that same diligence when it comes to state bills to ensure your voice is heard. Because once the state mandates something, our hands are tied. So we've done all this work for solar farms, and now our hands are tied. So the energy that certain groups put into MAKING SURE CITY COUNCIL DOES THINGS, TAKE THAT SAME ENERGY TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. BECAUSE WHEN THOSE BILLS COME DOWN, THERE'S NOTHING WE CAN DO ABOUT IT. AND SO WITH THAT, I'LL JUST SAY, THIS IS A LOT, BUT WE ALSO DODGED A LOT. AND I THINK THE TWO BILLS THAT WE DID DODGE ARE COMING BACK AGAIN NEXT SESSION. SO AGAIN, I ENCOURAGE THE CITIZENS to do your due diligence, and you can have the same public hearings that you like to have here, you can have those at the State House.

Council, any other questions or comments? If not, we will move on. We do not have any motions for this evening. Madam Clerk, do we have any non-agenda speakers? And if so, please explain the guidelines.

We do have non-agenda speakers, Mayor. Each person participating under the item of business entitled non-agenda speakers shall limit their remarks to the services, policies, affairs, and affairs of city government and shall be permitted five minutes for the purpose of presenting his or her matter. Speakers appearing before city council will not be permitted to participate in the following activities. Campaign for public office, engage in personal attacks, promote private business ventures, or use profanity or vulgar language. Speakers who violate these rules will be declared out of order by the presiding officer and will immediately yield the floor and be seated. The first speaker is Miguel Lopez, 303 Bullock Street, representing self regarding unlicensed contractors.

Hi, all. My name is Miguel Lopez. I live 303 Bullock Street. and I'm gonna start my time. It would be my greatest honor to wake up one day, look at the news, and see an article of something like, the Suffolk Police Department has launched a mass, mass sting operation against unlicensed contractors, barbers or whatever. That would make my year. I'd be so happy for it because that's what we really need. Contractors are hurt out here. I mean, some are getting work, but a lot of us are not getting much work because there's guys out there who have much affordable prices because they're not licensed and they don't have the things that we have. And I've given estimates to people and they say, wow, well, Julio's price was $4,000 cheaper. What's the deal with that? And there's nothing I can really say. But let's get down to the real issues. There's something called a certificate of occupancy. That's something where it certifies that something was permitted, inspected, and safe. And a homeowner can become a victim by not knowing that the person that's doing the work and stuff has to pull permits, has to do all that stuff. So they hire Julio because he has a little magnet on the side of his truck that says licensed and insured. And Julio completes all the work. He pays all his stuff. He goes to get his occupancy certificate and come to find out he fails everything. And he's like, whoa, whoa, whoa. But he said he had a license to pull these problems. He said all this was going to be good. And he winds up being a victim, and he gets charged with a misdemeanor for failure to obtain an occupancy certificate. And when someone catches that three times in a 36-month period, it's a felony to actually not pull your occupancy certificate. certificates and you get busted three times doing that. So that's people who's willingly not pulling it, continually hiring unlicensed contractors. But there's a loophole that these unlicensed contractors thought of. It's like, that's okay, just tell the homeowner to pull the permit. But there's an exemption for that, that the homeowner has to do the work themselves or visually supervise the work being done. And it has to be their primary residence. You can't live one place and then pull a homeowner permit for all your other properties. But there have been Instances where that happened here, but when Tim Stokes of the Planning Community Development Department found out about that He took swift action and I want to give thanks to the Planning Community Development Department They don't have very much power with unlicensed contractors But they do have enough power to shut a job down when they see permits aren't being pulled homeowner permits aren't being pulled correctly and Basically Exemptions for business license is a way that they literally operate their business legally out of Suffolk with no contractor's license because they signed that exemption form. And that is a sworn affidavit that you will not break $1,000 while out here working in labor and material. And there's people so blatantly licensed and insured right on the side of their vehicle like they're real licensed contractors, and they're not. And they turn around and beat my price by $1,000. And then when it leaks and fails, they don't even answer their phones. A non-reputable one will not. Man, okay, cool. I've got a minute and some change left to go. Let's see. Unlicensed contractors for me are very annoying. It's everywhere you see a truck with a ladder with no nut, they're unlicensed. And it's not fair for us to compete with people like this out here. So I do want to thank the business department, business license department people as well, because they are the closest thing to enforcement we will ever see until I wake up and see that. The Suffolk Police Department has started a mass sting operation against these unlicensed, complete, and totally unlicensed contractors. So I just want to give thanks to them over there at the business department side, because they do help enforcement. Because if they don't have a contractor's license, you can't pull a business license. And if you don't have a business license, you can't operate. And just by putting the word licensed and insured on your vehicle, Without a business license, y'all can get $2,500 in muni code 82-827. It's really close by there, but there's a $2,500 fine just for saying you're licensed and insured, and you're not with a business license. Yeah, so by reporting that you don't have a business license to the right here, that you don't have a business license, they take swift action. They make phone calls. They take swift action. I am really happy. I've recently found that out. You can get help by just going to the business license department because you can't have a business license while not having a contractor's license. But there's an exemption form, and I believe that exemption form should be completely and totally abolished because there's people who's going out and they're still working way outside of it, their websites. Thank you so much, you guys. I really appreciate it. Have a great day.

The next speaker is Terrell Davis, 1022 Billing Street in Norfolk, representing self regarding unlicensed contractors. Mr. Davis. The final speaker is Will Webb at 810 Dunnville Ave, representing self regarding Oaklawn Cemetery.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and members of Council. Just behind City Hall is Oak Lawn Cemetery. It is a sacred place, but tragically, it is also a forgotten one. Oak Lawn was established in 1885 by seven African American trustees who acquired the land because they had no other choice. It was born during the dark era of Jim Crow laws, a time when our city maintained public cemeteries, yet strictly dictated who had the right to be buried with dignity within them. Because of the color of their skin, the men and women resting at Oak Lawn were denied entry into the city's primary resting places. They were forced to the margins in life, and they were forced to the margins in death. Today, those margins are quite literal. City property surrounds Oak Lawn Cemetery. It is the development of this property beginning in the late 1970s that has played a direct and devastating role in the destruction of these sacred graves. This past Sunday, I, along with a group of about a dozen dedicated volunteers, spent hours in the woods and along the creek. We cut down limbs, moved debris, and desperately tried to clear a path so that these forgotten graves could see the light of day. What we saw when we got to the bottom graves was heartbreaking. If you stand at those graves and look up at the steep embankment about 20 feet into the air, you see a paved parking lot. You see rows of official city vehicles. and you see the devastating results of decades of neglect and unchecked storm runoff from the construction of the parking lot and municipal office building. The erosion is catastrophic. Graves have nearly washed away entirely. Concrete vaults are cracked open and exposed to the elements. One of those graves belongs to John Beale. John was a private in the 547th Engineering Service Battalion. He was a veteran of World War I. He went overseas to fight for a country that would not let him be buried in its municipal cemeteries when he returned. And today, Private Beale's grave has washed down the hill. His concrete vault is cracked in half. I ask you, is this a promise we made to our veterans? And Private Beale is not alone. Beside him lie John Boone, Alex Walters, Henry Edward Smith, Julian Powell, and many more, troops who fought for the freedom of our country and veterans of World War I, World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. And this isn't just about the distant past. This is about families living today. Yesterday, as I was preparing these remarks, I heard from a coworker who told me his father is buried at Oak Lawn, a man he loved and lost. He passed away in Vietnam. Yet because of the thick brush, the collapse of the hillside, and the lack of safe access, he has not been able to reach or lay eyes on his father's grave in more than 30 years. Now his grandson is asking him to go visit the family plot, and his son has to explain to his grandchild that he doesn't think they can safely get there. No family should ever be barred from honoring their loved ones. But Oak Lawn is not just a resting place for veterans. It is the final resting place of the very pillars of Suffolk's history and progress. It is where Florence Bowser rests. We named a school after her to honor her legendary legacy as an educator, yet we have allowed her final resting place to be choked by weeds and neglect. It is where Wiley H. Crocker rests, founder of the Tidewater Fair Association. Reverend William W. Gaines, founder of the Nansman Collegiate Institute. And right over there, behind City Hall, threatened by mud and overgrowth, lies John W. Richardson. As a city, we are currently spending millions of dollars on a highly worthwhile project, the preservation of the historic Phoenix Bank Building. We celebrate that history, as we should. Yet John W. Richardson was the president and a founder of that very bank. How can we rationalize spending millions of dollars to preserve the brick and mortar of his bank while at the same time leaving the grave of this visionary who built it to wash down a ravine behind City Hall? The city owes these families a duty to maintain the final resting place with dignity and care. We cannot change the Jim Crow laws of the past, but we have a moral obligation to right this historic wrong today. Before I conclude, I want to extend my profound gratitude to Councilman Leotis Williams. Councilman Williams recently spent his own personal resources to have his lawn care company mow the grass at the cemetery, and this isn't the first time he's done that. That act of kindness and respect means a great deal, and it shows the kind of leadership and compassion we need. I also want to thank the volunteers that helped clean up the property last Sunday and those groups that have done it in the past, including Care for Suffolk and the Knights of Columbus. And I also want to thank Deputy City Manager Aziz Felder for his hard work in researching funding opportunities for Oaklawn. But it should not fall to the personal charity of one councilman or a dozen weekend volunteers or civic organizations to maintain a historic cemetery that the city's own infrastructure has played a part in destroying. Furthermore, we must recognize that Oaklawn is not an isolated tragedy. There are other historic neglected cemeteries across Suffolk that desperately need this same care and attention. such as Rosemont, directly adjacent to the East Suffolk Recreation Center. If we are truly to right these historical wrongs, we need a systemic solution. I urge this council to establish a dedicated community-led working group to catalog, assess, and coordinate the preservation of Oak Lawn and all other neglected historical cemeteries throughout our city. I'm dropping in this basket a copy of House Bill 1237, which is actually somewhat adjacent to one of the ones that was briefed a little bit ago, is approved by the General Assembly. This legislation, which has been signed by Governor Spanberger and becomes effective July 1, allows the owners of adjacent land to neglected graveyards, in this situation being the city of Suffolk, to petition the circuit court for a license to maintain the property. This is an avenue that the city could and should use to provide the needed care to Oak Lawn Cemetery as well as potentially Rosemont Cemetery. and other similarly situated cemeteries throughout the city. Thank you for your time.

Okay, that concludes our non-agenda speakers. We'll now move to new business. Madam Clerk, do we have any additions to tonight's agenda?

There are no items, Mayor.

With that being said, do we have any council members with any new business that require the action of the city council for consideration? Council Member Rector.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Sort of along the lines of what we've seen tonight with some of the legislation that got passed by the state, I know that the city planning staff is working as hard as they can to come up with an ordinance for data centers in terms of where they can go and how they could be regulated and that kind of stuff. That process is going to take a while because they really don't have a lot of guidance from other localities because this is so new. So what I would propose that is until the Planning Commission comes back to us with an ordinance that we can consider for data centers, and so we don't run into the conundrum that we did with solar. solar farms where they were being approved before we really had adequate ordinances in place to control them. I'd like to move that a motion be placed on the agenda for the City Council meeting on June 17, 2026 to request the Planning Commission to amend the Unified Development Ordinance to prohibit data centers as a use in all zoning districts. And this would be in effect until This council came back and passed an ordinance regulating data centers, and we had a little bit better control of it. I don't know of any applications that are in the works. I know that they're complicated applications, but like I say, I would prefer that the city not get blindsided by them. So I am requesting this action.

We got a request for a motion to have this issue addressed at our meeting on the 17th. Do we have a second? Vice Mayor Ward? Second. We've got a second from Vice Mayor Ward. Do we have any discussion of the motion? Hearing none, I want to thank Council Member Rector for bringing that up. I know this has been a topic of discussion having read the newspaper and some other things. Chesapeake and Virginia Beach are going through this also. They started a little earlier because they have had some interesting in consideration no one has come to us but obviously data centers are very unique in nature and there's a lot of information out there a lot of questions out there and absolutely couldn't agree more that before we even consider anything we need to have the proper ordinances in effect and what concerns me What this will protect us from is that unlike solar, now we did have an ordinance on solar. It was about a paragraph, I think, and it sat there for years not being a concern. And then with the proliferation of solar and getting all these applications, you know, we kind of, got inundated and didn't have the tools. I remember Council Member Johnson, I don't know how many times he said it, we just don't have enough to go by. There's not enough information there. It makes it hard to even develop a rational decision. But the data centers even open up more of an issue because data centers are not specifically mentioned in our UDO. So there could be a case made that a data center by right or However, it could be in an M2 zoning, and we really have nothing to fall back on. But this way, you know, it will prohibit that application from even coming. It will be specific to our ordinances. And until such time, there is an ordinance, if and when, when we do have one. If we don't have one, we don't have one. But this will kind of take that off the table and keep us from even possibly having to deal with a legal issue at some point. And as Councilmember Rector said, I haven't had anyone come to me about one. I don't think we got one in the works, and to my knowledge, there's not one on the horizon. And another thing, because Chesapeake, especially because Chesapeake and Virginia Beach are also working on this, then That makes our job a little easier also when it comes to forming an ordinance. When you have other municipalities that are dealing with the same issues, and the issues really are the same regardless of where you are, the only difference is which cities have the assets to allow one, but the questions are basically the same. As they formulate theirs and they have their discussion, doing kind of piggyback, so it's almost having, you know, the advantage of having three or four localities. We may not be sitting down at the same table, but we can sure be paying attention to what's going on and, you know, be able to learn from them as well as learn from some of the localities that do currently have data centers and have for several years. So with that being said, I support this 100%, Vice Mayor Ward. Did you want to speak again? No, you're good? You can just get ready to vote. All right, any other discussion of the motion? If none, council members, prepare to vote. Please cast your vote. Madam Clerk, please record the vote.

The motion is approved by a vote of eight to zero.

Okay, we'll now move to announcements and comments, and I'll ask our communications department if they have any announcements.

Good evening, mayor, vice mayor, members of state council, city manager. On May 29th, the Suffolk Sheriff's Office, Suffolk Police Department, and other public safety partners facilitated the return of the law enforcement torch run for Special Olympics in Suffolk. The torch run is law enforcement's largest grassroots fundraiser for Special Olympics in Virginia, carrying the flame of hope across the Commonwealth to raise funds and awareness for athletes with intellectual disabilities. This year, agencies statewide raised nearly $2 million to support Special Olympics Virginia athletes. Other outreach efforts included a gang awareness program and participation in the Department of Defense Health and Safety Fair. Suffolk Police also hosted its second VIN etching event in partnership with the Virginia State Police Heat Program, which works to deter auto theft and help investigators identify and recover stolen vehicles. A contractor will begin paving operations on West Washington Street on June 4th from 8.30 a.m. to 5 p.m. This work is part of ongoing improvements to the downtown corridor in support of the new library project. Traffic will be maintained under flagging operations. Separately, a water service interruption is planned for the same day from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., affecting the 200 to 400 block of Jackson Street and the 100 block of Lee Street. If conditions require a delay, that work will be rescheduled for June 8th. Questions can be directed to public utilities at 514-7000. Department of Public Works quarterly report is now available online at suffolkva.us slash public works quarterly report, as well as in hard copy at the public works office located at City Hall and at all Suffolk Public Library branches. The city's communications department has been nominated for a Capital Region Emmy Award for its Paint the Town Downtown Festival Park mural feature. which documented the mural's creation from start to finish. Winners will be announced on June 20th. The department was also recently awarded a bronze Tully Award for the 2025 State of the City video, Mayor Newman's Day Off. You can find both videos on the city's YouTube channel, youtube.com slash cityofsuffolkva. Suffolk Transit has earned two awards from the Virginia Transit Association. There, a Good Time to Rod campaign took home the Outstanding Public Transit Marketing Award for small agencies, and the system also earned a first-place Writership Award, reflecting a 15% jump in writers during the last fiscal year. Suffolk Transit provided nearly 90,000 trips in FY25, ranking it among the Commonwealth's top-performing systems. The new downtown Suffolk Library is nearly here. The ribbon-cutting and grand opening is set for Saturday, June 27th at 9 a.m., at 325 West Washington Street with arts and crafts, tours, and family-friendly activities planned throughout the day. The new two-story, 37,800 square foot building is designed to serve as a community gathering place where residents can connect, learn, and create. The community is invited to attend. And to prepare for the transition, Morgan Memorial Library will close permanently on June 6th at 5 p.m. A 24-hour book return will remain available in the Morgan Memorial parking lot through June 26th for anyone with items still to return. The TGIF Summer Concert Series returns on Friday, June 12th at Downtown Festival Park, opening the season with Island Boy. Plenty of food, drinks, and kids' activities will be on site. For more information, visit suffolkparksandrec.com. or call 514-7250. And National Night Out preparations kick off on Tuesday, June 16th at 6 p.m. with a community kickoff and registration event. Communities that register will be placed on the visitation route for police, fire, and public safety officials and will receive a toolkit including a banner and t-shirts. National Night Out takes place this year on August 6th. More information is available at SuffolkNNO.com. And the Public Safety Committee reminds residents that the online public safety portal is available at suffolkva.us for anonymous suggestions and feedback on community safety matters. The portal is not intended for reporting criminal activity. For emergencies, dial 911. For more information, visit suffolkva.us. And lastly, on your screen, you can see the many ways residents can stay connected with all that's happening across the city of Suffolk. Thank you and have a wonderful night.

Thank you, Mr. Franklin. We'll now move on to...

announcements from council and we are going to start with council member butler-barlow thank you mayor um... just extremely brief comment tonight um... for two meetings in a row i've asked for rain dances and y'all have done a great job and we've gotten good results but it is still really dry we have are experiencing a very unusual drought for this area for this time of year, and it spreads down into North Carolina and to the west of us. So you all did a great job the last two times. I need you to do it again, and hopefully we're going to be getting some rain in the upcoming weeks. To all my farming friends, stay safe out there. I know we had a little accident today. Be cautious, and folks, give everybody a wide berth if you need a piece of equipment. We appreciate it. And with that, I'll say good night.

Councilmember Bennett. I'll be brief, too. I just have a couple items. First, I would like to congratulate all the graduates of Suffolk High Schools. I attended two of them when they were staying for Lakeland. It's a great turnout and great numbers. Really, I didn't realize it was 420 graduates, I think, from Kings Fork. I was a lot of kids, and I didn't write the numbers down, but they had a lot of scholarships, so they have done. The education in Suffolk is growing and doing well, and I just want to say congratulations to all the graduates and to all the teachers and ones that actually put a lot of time in with them during the year. And the other thing, Mr. Manager, I got a request, I'm making a request to... Stratford Terrace. It's an older neighborhood and it's kind of dark with the lights that they have. And they're requesting that they change the lighting to the other type fixtures that they have. They have the old ones in there. And some of the streets are kind of dark. And it's a lot of older people living over there. So I appreciate putting that on the list to try and get those lights upgraded. And with that, I'm going to say good night, too.

Council Member Johnson, why are you here?

There you go. I'll be equally brief. First, I'd like to start off by thanking Mr. Webb for coming and talking about the cemeteries tonight. It's a little embarrassing, if you want to know the honest truth from my standpoint, that we haven't already approached this subject. We need to put it on our list, and we need to move forward with it and make our cemeteries place we wouldn't mind be buried in to start with. But I don't see any way that we can avoid this. There's money available from the state. It's not a lot of money, but there is money available. We need to go after it. And we've got the people in the city that can help us do it. We've got good people working for us. I will help promote and push this project. It is something that we need to do as a citizenry. That's number one. Number two, I'm going to piggyback on Councilwoman Wright because Thank you for what you said. To the citizens of our city, wake up, guys. We're not the only ones making the laws and doing these things. I feel like the mayor from this standpoint, and I'm fairly disgusted with Richmond. I don't know what they're thinking. I know they want to do good, but for them to try to take rights away from city councils around this state, we are the ones that need to be deciding what our citizens want and what our citizens don't want. That is our responsibility and our right. I'm thoroughly disgusted with how this is going forward. Meanwhile, we have to take it and make the best of it and still try to make the decisions that are best for our city. But it's up to the people of the state. Just like you come to see us, you need to go see your state representatives. And like she said, there are more rules out there that they're going to be passing if they can pass them. So we need to be on top of it. We need to double down on the people that we have in Richmond looking after us and make sure that they stay there. We've got good people. lobbying force in Richmond, but this just makes the job a little tougher, but we need to stay on them and stay on the fact that we are responsible for the people of this city, and we need to respond to that. And with that, I'll say, oh, just remember, the kids are getting ready to get out of school, and they're so excited all over the city. We've seen so many kids out, so many parents out. Everybody's looking so forward to summer. So beware they're on the roads, and just be very safe and be very careful. With that, I'll say good night. Council Member Wright.

Thank you, Mayor. So I'll be brief as well. I just wanted to congratulate our three high schools. I attended all three of the graduations, and I will say that I am Suffolk proud. I do wish all of our graduates a great next chapter. Go forth, be great, and make us proud. We also have this week a couple of move-up ceremonies of students that are moving up from elementary school to middle school. And if you have any children, you will know that that move to middle school, I don't know, it's a tough one. So I am proud of our kids who are moving up, and I will be praying for them as they journey into middle school. But I hope both our high school graduates and our elementary school graduates have a very safe summer. DO SOME READING THROUGHOUT THE SUMMER, CHALLENGE YOURSELF, CHALLENGE YOUR MIND, AND PREPARE FOR THE UPCOMING YEAR. THE LAST THING THAT I WANTED TO MENTION IS ON FRIDAY, MYSELF AND COUNCILMEMBER BENNETT ARE HOSTING AN INFORMATION SESSION with the citizens of Sleepy Hole Borough and Cypress to talk through and walk through the process of public engagement when it comes to public hearings and making sure your voice is heard when it comes to planning decisions. So that is going to be at the Bennett's Creek Rec Center on Friday at 6 p.m. And I ask for the members of Sleepy Hill Borough and Cypress to attend because there is an item pending on the upcoming planning commission that is of great interest that you may want to know how to be a part of the process. And with that, I'll say good night.

Council Member Richter.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I want to thank all the speakers that came up, particularly Mr. Webb, as it regards the Oak Lawn Cemetery. I want to also thank Councilman Williams. I know that you have been very involved in helping to try to maintain as best you can some of the property on there. This is not... Anything new, particularly to me? Councilman Johnson, you were talking about there's state money and we need to go after it. It was right here on this dais about a year, a little more than a year or so ago, I directed Al Moore and his staff to take a look at that grant and see what it would take to get some of that money here in suffolk to maintain some of these cemeteries that particular year the funding was already gone uh... it's not as councilmember i mean is uh... vice mayor lee ward pointed out It's not a lot of money to begin with. I think it's $400,000, and it's given out on a first-come, first-served basis. But working with, at the time, Deputy City Manager Aziz Felder, we kind of got our ducks in a row so that the next year when the funding opened up again, we had our application ready to go. And we're able to find a little bit of a loophole in the grant application process that would permit a locality like Suffolk to actually apply for the funds. It was really designated for volunteer groups. But we found a way to sort of squeeze the city in there and try to apply for some of these funds. And I believe we actually received some, didn't we?

There are funds in this state dedicated to Oaklawn.

I know we put it in an application for some, didn't we?

Right, but we don't own the cemetery. There's a group that has ownership of that, so they have to do it.

And the ownership group of that cemetery passed away probably in the late 1800s because there's been no, I have a copy of the deed for the cemetery here, and there's been no succession of ownership since the recordation of this deed in 1868, I believe it is. That creates, it very much complicates the situation with trying to maintain that cemetery because Who owns it? Nobody owns it. Technically, if you go on there and it's not your property, as the city attorney pointed out to, you are technically trespassing on that property. The city, I guess, has a recourse perhaps if the grass gets overgrown, perhaps like homeowners, they could go in there and trim it, but I don't know where you would put the lien for the charges for the city going in there and mowing the lawn, so It's a multifaceted problem that I personally have been working on with Councilman Williams for the last at least two years and probably going on three. I've talked to the attorneys that helped set up the, it's now defunct, but there was a Oak Lawn Cemetery LLC that was formed and that was the group that received the $40,000 from Dominion Energy uh... a number of years ago to help maintain that cemetery but when that money dried up uh... the llc essentially sort of dissolved because they failed to continue to get themselves registered with the state so even if there's grant money available there's no organization set up uh... that i can see that can apply for the grant money and and receive it in uh... and once again i've talked to another local attorney about trying to reestablish that but you know once again it's not an easy thing now the drainage situation caused perhaps by the city's building parking lots and whatnot that might be an issue that we can go in there and address but the ongoing maintenance of cemeteries like that is going to continue to be a challenge unless for some reason um you know this council decides that or another council decides that they want to basically take it on um but there is mr webb pointing out there are two or three other cemeteries and um you know we would i guess necessarily need to take those on as well so it it's it's a situation that's going to need to be uh examined very closely but it's not something that's not at least on this councilman's radar to try to deal with. And with that, I will say good night. Council Member Williams. Thank you, Mayor.

Gavin. Thank you, Mayor. First, Mr. Webb, thank you for coming out and speaking on behalf of the many families, the Oak Lawn Cemetery. Just thank you for coming out and voicing your opinion. Really appreciate it. Like Councilman Rector and I, like he said, that we've been working on some things for years. Just to give you a little history, it was about maybe 12 years ago, 12, 13 years ago, I was approached by Mr. George Richards, who was in charge of the cemetery at the time. He was a volunteer. And he asked me would I go over and keep the grass cut, keep it maintained. Well, I did it for about 11 years pro bono. So in the last couple of years, it has gotten very expensive. Labor costs, if everybody know how the gas is now and the equipment, back during that time, I could buy a lawnmower for $9,000. The same lawnmower now is $16,000. So just to give you an idea of, you know, what it takes to maintain that cemetery in a sense as it relates to the equipment. I don't mind doing it. Whenever I get an opportunity and I can fit it into the schedule and set aside the money because I still have to pay my employees, I will continue to do so. I just can't do it on a regular basis like I did at one time. What I'm doing and I have done, I challenge, I challenge the citizens of Suffolk, I challenge any other lawn services, any civic organization, I challenge you to come out and not just Oak Lawn Cemetery but Rosemount. And there are several other cemeteries that need some attention. Please come out. Volunteer. You ride by, you see something, you know it needs to be taken care of. Take the time. Make it a community project. Make it a neighborhood project. But it's going to take all of us collectively to bring the cemeteries back up to par. And I just challenge everyone, please, please, let's come together and let's do our part to make our cemeteries look decent and presentable. Because no one want to go out to visit their family members and you got four foot of grass. I mean, that's just horrible. So, Mr. City Manager, if you would, could we check into that possibility of maybe the city trying to do something to get in and maybe get some of those funds to help out with the cemetery? It's not a whole lot of money that the state is offering because the pot is divided among other localities, and it's on a first-come, first-served basis. But if we can look into that, that would be greatly appreciated. I just want to piggyback off what all the other council members said as it relates to the graduates, the 2026 graduates of our Suffolk Public School System, congratulations. You guys have closed the chapter of your life. Now you get ready to open a new chapter. I'd like to wish everyone much, much, much success. And just remember, anything that you can conceive and believe is possible. Also, your hardest and worstest critic is yourself. It's yourself. So there's nothing you can't do. Let the sky be the limit. Aim for the sky. Aim for the stars.

You'll get there.

Just don't give up. Please don't give up. And to my granddaughter, Kaya Cross, she was a graduate of Kingsfolk High School. Congratulations, baby girl. You did it. You did it. So I wanted to definitely reach out and let people know that my granddaughter graduated this year. As a matter of fact, I had grandkids to graduate in the last four years each year. So they're doing their thing, and I'm so proud of them. And with that... I'd like to say good evening.

Vice Mayor Warden. Yes, I'd also like to give all my congratulations to who graduated, all the schools, all the kids. Every year is a great opportunity that I have to go. I very seldom missed it, but they do a great job. Be proud of the city of Suffolk. The superintendent put on a class act of graduation. I know you have attended, but you enjoyed yourself. And like I said, I made sure that I could make it. I had other arrangements, but I made sure. I might have been late, but I did attend along with some of the other counselors. And I want to give Bond Secure a thumbs up on it. I think they had a community day. AT A FACILITY THAT WAS NICE TO SEE THE PEOPLE COME OUT AND REACH OUT TO THE COMMUNITY. MY PLANS WASN'T NOT TO SAY TOO MUCH TONIGHT. I HAD A LOT OF THINGS GOING ON. BUT THERE'S AN OLD SAYING, SOMETIME IT'S NOT THE MESSAGE, IT'S THE MESSENGER. FOR ME TO HEAR ALL THIS ON THIS COUNCIL TONIGHT, I'M GLAD Acknowledge what I've been saying for 14 years about the cemetery. Thank you. Mr. Webb It took you to come up here To bring it out what I've been saying for 14 years. I don't think y'all notice every time that One of them come from Richmond. I talked about the cemetery. I asked the question sometimes she even said actual city manager and And before you came tonight, I talked with the city manager and I said I don't like to come out front, but I have to speak on this because we sit here and talk about this. And I'm so glad you came up and addressed this. I'm so glad the council realized I've been saying this for 14 years. And I just won't say it just because of me. I don't say it to get a pat on my back. That's not me. I got a grandmother. that was buried right there by the golf course by a tree. Only thing we know is a tree. Houses being built where she was buried at. I got a grandfather. I got a brother buried right there at the cemetery by a church. I've been talking to both city managers over the years about cutting something down because most of the, some of the graves in the back, you can't even go to. Memorial Day, I went to see my brother, see my grandmother, other grandmother, see my grandfather. It's like a forest. It's like a forest. It's like what I'm saying about you have some military people that's all the way in the back that serve the United States Army. And look how they got to lie there. And we talking about cemeteries. I think we got about 10 of them, African-American cemeteries. We got more. We got a lot of cemeteries. I just hope that what you came up here and done move us to pay attention to what's going on. Proof is in the pudding. I had a TV show called Suffer Happenings. Congressman Ford was on my show, and we talked about, I think, the cemetery on 10th Street, right down South 6th or 10th Street. We talked about that. It was so embarrassing. They had holes that people that fought in the army, the military, served the United States, and the company went out of business They can't keep it going. But we allow that to happen in the city of Suffolk. Yes, they give us money. You got to be the first one to get it. But we know how that works. The hookup is who you know when you get the money. The money they talking about, there was enough money. So sometimes you just can't go by the political way. We got to figure out how we can... We can do what's best for our city, just like Mr. Williams. Mr. Williams, when I found out what he'd done, I took pictures of the event, and I was proud of him, some of the things that he'd do. He'd do things like that. We paid people to cut grass where my grandfather's at. Nobody else paid us. We paid other people to get that cut. I know the hurt. So what I'm saying to you, I got aunts up there in Harborview. You know where the hotel is? Hilton Garden Inn? You know what's behind that? A cemetery, a black cemetery. You know what one cemetery up there used to be called? Pole Folks Cemetery. So it hits me hard to see that. what's going on in these cemeteries, not just where I'm at, all around. I really, you know, I wasn't brought up like that, but anyway, and I know what's going on. I know the feeling when you have family members there that you can't do anything. I'm so grateful that Temple Beth-El have a cemetery right on Route 17, that they allow Pewsville and Huntersville people to be buried there. and they keep it up. At one time, I used to cut it free when I had a lawn service. I cut it free, but Temple Beth-El keeps it up. Hughesville, Huntersville, Belleville, that's where a lot of African Americans were born, died at, raised, and that's where they live, they there now. I'm just saying, this is a person that I sat here, For 14 years, I had two things I wanted to do when I got elected, was save the Wallsville School and the cemetery. The Wallsville School was knocked down before I could get really involved. But the cemeteries, I keep fighting. And like I said, I don't need a pat on the back. I'm so glad you came up here. I had no idea. I had talked about the cemetery before you even talked. I didn't know you was going to talk about that. But I thank you so much for doing that. Like I said, councilman, you said if any councilman wanted to be involved in it, I want to be involved. What can we do to improve what's going on in African-American cemeteries in Suffolk? What can we do? We're a city on the move. We don't have to fall behind nobody. We're the city of Suffolk. Let's show them why we're the city of Suffolk. If you don't know this, I know this, and that's how I work on it. And I said this to certain people. They know I said it. Suffolk is different for all seven cities in this area. Suffolk is more family orientated and all the city you go around the 757 you look at it and I figured that out for myself because always traditional family because everybody know everybody and somebody came to this person and that's how Suffolk is. So I just hope that tonight we'll figure out a way to make this city look be even greater and take care of some of these African-American cemeteries, any cemetery, forget that, whatever cemetery it is, take care of the people that fought in the military, people that fought in segregation, people that fought for civil rights. Let's make it what it is, can be. We talk about a lot of things, yeah, so let's do it. Why not? Let's make a commitment. For nobody like Mr. Webb had to come up again and talk about how the cemeteries are in the future. I thank you so much. God bless.

I'll go ahead and wrap it up. Not a whole lot going on in the last couple weeks, so I'll be brief. I did stop by Lake Prince Woods in cooperation with Spectrum Communication, held a seniors digital education workshop. I believe Council Member Rector was there also. And it was fairly well attended. I didn't stay for the entire presentation, but I appreciate Spectrum taking the time out of their day just to, address the citizens and make them aware of a lot of the trials and tribulations. The digital age is kind of like a two-edged sword. There's a lot of really good things that come out of it, and a lot of folks are taking advantage of it using those same assets, and unfortunately a lot of them are seniors. Suffolk Christian Fellowship yesterday had a ribbon-cutting at Sentara Obesee, They're working with OBC Hospital and created a food locker that's in the front. If you haven't seen it, you just need to swing by there. It's really neat. It's sitting up against the front of the building. It's a huge locker with a digital pad. It has about maybe 24 square lockers like you kind of see in a bus station or what have you, but there's food in them. So those that are being served at the hospital, if they qualify – To receive the food, they just give them a PIN number. They punch the PIN number in. It opens up the box. They take their food and go home. It's refrigerated, and it's a great initiative, another thing that we need to do to address those that are in need of food, and it would be a great addition. I want to thank them for what they've done, what Centurion continues to do for us. I did go by Kings Fork High School. They had their honor graduates there, and they also had like a scholarship evening. Council Member Wright was there also. I think he presented a scholarship. But one of my best friends, Carl Ferris, and I created a scholarship that's administered through the Suffolk Foundation in honor of one of my best friends and ex-employees, Sergeant AJ Parker, who grew up in Saratoga, graduated from JFK, spent 23 years in the Army, was really, you know, came to a fork in the road. You know, when he was getting ready to graduate from high school, he could have gone left or gone right. He was kind of running with the wrong crowd and decided to enlist in the Army. Ended up staying in the Army for 23 years. He retired as a Master Sergeant E-8, worked for me for a while in just the Lots of kids, grandkids. He served on Suffolk Redevelopment Housing Authority. And so, I mean, he served, you know, with honor and distinction, you know, for our city and also for our country. And it was a pleasure. We did four scholarships. Not necessarily didn't determine what kids were. We had 30-some, almost 40 applications. And two of the students were Kings Fork High School. One turned out to be Lakeland. One has been River. A lot of it had to do with financial need, and there are circumstances, just like A.J., who grew up in Saratoga. He didn't grow up with a silver spoon in his mouth, so we wanted those scholarships to be given to individuals in similar circumstances that have done well, that have overcome some diversity and have already been accepted into college education. one of our universities, so it was very well attended. They had a lot of honored graduates, and it was a very nice event. And I want to thank everybody for their comments tonight. Like I said, I'm not going to belabor the stuff out of Richmond, but it's just, like I said, I have a hard time coming up with the words. I get the words, but I can't do them in a public setting. Maybe Richmond could come up with something where they would actually allow localities to be able to address a situation similar to what we're experiencing with the cemeteries and the legal hurdles. It's just not as easy as it sounds, and this has come up before. But if we had the latitude as a city, and most of you know this, we're what's called a Dillon State, which means localities can only do what your parents in Richmond gives you permission to do. We just can't willy-nilly... pass laws and ordinances, some things they tell us what we do, sometimes they give us permission to do things, but without that, you know, we just can't, you know, we don't have the tools to do what we need to do. Sometimes, like we heard tonight, you know, we had the tools in the toolbox, now they take tools away from you until you know how to figure it out. So that's another story. We've got a lot of work to do, and I'm sure that we will continue to do the best we can do with what we've got. So in the Spirit of being brief, I had a kind of a long quote, but I went to probably a very much shorter one from Gordon B. Hinckley. He was an American religious leader who passed away in January in 08, and that is, try a little harder to be a little better. And with that, I will ask for a motion to adjourn. Council Member Williams. Got a motion to adjourn from Council Member Williams, Council Member Wright. Second from Council Member Wright. Is there any discussion of the motion? Hearing none, Council Member is prepared to vote. Please vote. Madam Clerk, kindly record the vote.

Motion is approved by a vote of 8-0.

This meeting stands adjourned.