City Council - workshop

Good afternoon and welcome at this time. I'll call our Suffolk City Council work session to order. We have two topics for discussion today. Our first is a traffic safety fund update. Mr. Manager.

Mayor, Vice Mayor, members of Council, City Council's commitment to public safety remains an unwavering priority. This includes adopting General Assembly approved technology to ensure that those traveling on our roadways follow the laws for the safety of all automobiles, pedestrians, and workers. Recently, the General Assembly made amendments to the legislation overseeing the use of photo monitoring devices. Today's presentation will provide an overview of our current program and changes required based upon the revised legislation. Today's presentation will feature three speakers. Greg Benton, Director of Public Works, will kick us off, followed by Chief Bowie, and finally, Stephanie Wells. I'd mention that there will be action in the consent agenda item setting up the fund that will be discussed as well. Welcome, Greg.

Good afternoon, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Members of Council, Mr. Manager. Thanks for the opportunity to provide this update on our safety camera program. Today's briefing is a joint presentation. As the city manager mentioned, I will begin with a program overview and safety-driven purpose, after which Chief of Police, Chief Bowie, will walk you through the enforcement and reduction data. Our Finance Director, Stephanie Wells, will then close the briefing with details on the proposed Traffic Safety Fund that will help us better manage and reinvest these revenues into safety projects across the city. Council adopted the automated traffic enforcement program in March of 2023 to improve safety at signalized intersections, highway work zones, school crossings, and on school buses. Since adoption, the state has made several important legislative updates related to signage, notification procedures, and how funds must be used, each of which strengthens the program's focus on public safety. Our traffic enforcement program consists of various speed monitoring devices to include red light cameras, work zone cameras, school zone cameras, and school bus cameras. These devices allow us to consistently enforce speeding in high risk zones. This consistency is what produces measurable sustained safety improvements. This slide shows examples of types of safety projects this program supports. These range from sidewalk additions and pedestrian crossing upgrades to speed feedback signs, street lighting, guardrail improvements, and other equipment that directly supports safer operations for both the public and our first responders. Every one of these projects is tied back to the mission of increasing safety. And finally, I want to summarize the process of the Public Safety Committee, which meets regularly to evaluate and approve projects funded through this program. Funding requests are reviewed for compliance with legislation, alignment with safety priorities, and readiness for implementation. The structure ensures that every dollar collected is reinvested into initiatives that make Suffolk safer for drivers, pedestrians, students, and our neighborhoods. With that foundation, I'll now turn the presentation over to Chief Bowie, who will walk you through our enforcement data and the clear reductions and violations across the city.

Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor, Vice Mayor, members of council, and city manager. It's my pleasure to be here today on behalf of the police department. We're going to discuss a little bit about the goals we wanted to achieve with speed cameras in our work zones, in our school zones, and we're going to show you some of the data of what we've accomplished over the past couple of years. The goal had always been for our speed cameras to change the behaviors of our drivers in our construction areas. It had nothing to do with anything else except to change the behavior to make our construction workers and our students safer as they go to school and as they're at work. The first one we'll start with is the SIPSA interchange. That's, for lack of a better term, what I consider the six lanes, east and westbound. You can see from ending in May 26 of how the graph shows of how citations issued have gone down drastically. What that's telling us is people are learning that the cameras are out there, and they're starting to ask themselves when they're in the construction zone, say, how fast am I going? And it's changing their behavior as the number of citation issues shows us. The Holland Road on Route 58, east and westbound, that's the one that was there the longest. And you can see from beginning to end that the number of citations drastically reduced. It's exactly what we're looking for. It's telling us that people are starting to pay attention and people are starting to slow down. Our school zones. Nassau Suffolk Academy on Pruden Boulevard. Since inception, there's been a 66.9% decrease in the numbers of citations issued. The Harborview Nassau Suffolk Academy campus, 56.7% decline in the number of citations issued. Oakland Elementary School. 63% decline in issued citations from year 23-24 to 25-26. Creekside Elementary, 84% decline in issued citations from the same timeframe. MacBinn Elementary, 63% decline in the number of citations issued. Nansen Parkway Elementary School, 59% decrease in the number of citations issued. Florence Bowser, 62.9% decline in the number of citations issued since inception. Elephant's Fork Elementary School, 64% decline since inception. John F. Kennedy, 50% decline. John Yates Middle School, 53% decline in the number of citations issued. Kings Fork Middle and Kings Fork High School, 66% decline in the number of citations issued. And these are our red light cameras. Harborview Boulevard at Bridge Road, since inception, 31.96% decline in the number of citations issued for disregarding red lights at that intersection. And just so I didn't state it up front, but to say these are high-risk intersections. These are intersections that we get a lot of accidents at. College Drive at Bridge Road, 15% decline in the number of red light citations we've issued. Prudent Boulevard at Lake Prince, this is a big one. This is one of the first ones put up. 90% decline in the number of citations issued from the beginning to the end. Main Street at Constance Road, 14.4% decline. Holland Road at Route 58, that's another big accident intersection, there's been a 60% decline in the number of citations issued. Nassau Parkway at Portsmouth Boulevard, a 43% decline in issued citations from 2025 to 2026. We're talking, just briefly if I can say, we were talking earlier that the behavior change is what we're looking for, and I kind of gauge that. Not only do I see the data that's driven by these cameras, but I also, I live it every day. I travel, you know, Hamburger Alley Route 58 every day, twice a day. And since the beginning of these, before these cameras, during these cameras, and after, I have seen an extreme change in behavior. SPEEDS OUT THERE, NOT ONLY HAVE I SEEN THE DECREASE THROUGH DATA, I'VE SEEN IT THROUGH MY OWN PERSONAL EYE, IS THAT SPEEDS HAVE DECREASED IN THESE AREAS. AND WE TALKED EARLIER THAT YOU FIND YOURSELF DRIVING DOWN THE ROAD AND THEN ALL OF A SUDDEN YOU SAY, OH, MY GOD, I'M IN A WORK ZONE. AND THE FIRST THING I THINK ABOUT IS HOW FAST AM I GOING? HOW FAST AM I GOING? I'M LOOKING AT MY SPEEDOMETER. SO I'M PROUD TO SAY I'VE YET TO DONATE $100 TO THE CALLS, BUT IT AIN'T OVER YET. Our enforcement locations, right at this moment, there's zero speed work cameras going at this time. We have 12 school zone cameras, 51 school bus armed cameras, and eight photo-enforced intersection cameras. And with that being said, I'll hang around to answer any questions after we're done. And with that, I'll hand it over to our finance director, Ms. Wells.

This presentation obviously is outlining the legislative impact changes. My portion of the presentation is going to discuss the fiscal impact. When there is a change in behavior, often that doesn't occur without some type of enforcement, and enforcement in this case was a fiscal impact to those who did not follow the law. And so because the legislature wanted to have more control over what happened with those funds, they did change the language of the state statutes. So two of the main topics that, rather changes, that occurred was the legislation creates a structured use of the funds. Also, it specifies that funds should be placed in a fund for specific use. So discussing the structured use of the funds for first is the program cost. We can use the funds initially for all the costs of the stop signs, not just stop signs, pedestrian crossings, all of our speed monitoring device So we could use it for salaries, but currently we're mostly using it for equipment and the direct cost of the program. The next is there is a zone priority. We first have to use for such purposes as is outlined under safety initiatives in number three, but it has to be used in the highway work zones, high-risk intersection segments, school crossing zones, or safety red zones prior to be using for the next section, which is the safety initiatives. So the safety initiatives would be for the planning, design, construction, implementation, administration, and operation of programs that improve traffic safety, speed management, bicycle and pedestrian safety, public transit, and other local systemic safety initiatives allowed through the Virginia Highway Safety Improvement Program. And I did include that statute there in case anybody wanted to look it up. In addition to that, the Public Safety Committee will continue to review the projects as we find projects to spend the funding on as of July 1, 2026, moving forward. The Code of Virginia also outlines this large highlighted portion here that the funds shall be deposited in a local fund used solely for the planning, design, construction, implementation, et cetera. Our current road maintenance fund includes maintenance, so I did not want to include these funds in that to commingle it with those funds. And so we are going to be requesting or have requested tonight on the consent agenda ordinance to have the council approve the traffic safety funds. So you will see that this evening. And that's all I have.

Thank you. Council, questions or comments from any of our three presenters? Council Member Richter.

Thank you, Mr. Barrett. Chief, do you mind? Just out of curiosity, do you have, on the eastbound and westbound and SIPSA interchange chart that you showed us, is there any reason why April spiked the way it did, you know, when the trend had sort of been working its way down and all of a sudden it just ballooned way up?

And I don't know this to be absolutely certain because I don't have it in front of me, but I know it was periodically the right lane would be closed or the right lane closed. would be open and it's my belief that when all three lanes were moving that the speeds tend to get back to increasing and when a lane is shut down and it's funneling people into two lanes, the speeds decrease because you can't keep that speed up and not cause an accident.

And then on the red light cameras, most of the declines in citation were significant numbers except at Main Street and Constance. That was only like 14%, 16%. Did you have even a rationale for it as to why that is?

It's one of our busiest intersections in the city, and I think you're going to continue probably to have violators. I believe I'll go say that a 14% decrease is still good. We'll take a decrease any day of the week other than an increase And I just think probably there the volume of traffic that we have at that intersection day in and day out. And it's pretty much all day during working hours. And I think other places kind of the traffic slows down during the day, but Main Street seems to stay pretty consistently busy. Thank you, Chief. Yes, sir.

Council Member Wright.

YES, SIR. I HAVE A SIMILAR QUESTION. SO I MADE AN OBSERVATION AS WELL SIMILAR TO THAT OF COUNCILMEMBER RECTORS. SO IN HARBORVIEW AND BRIDGE ROAD, COLLEGE DRIVE AT BRIDGE ROAD, AND AS HE REFERENCED TO MAINE AND CONSTANCE, IS IT, CAN IT BE POSSIBLE THAT IT'S in reference to the type of red light camera it is. So like I know at Harborview and Bridge and College Drive and Bridge, it's that right turn. You have to come to a complete stop, which is the law, right? But people aren't doing it. And so I'm thinking, and I'm not sure, but my question is, is there significant signage I mean, driver's school, they tell us come to a complete stop behind the bar and then advance forward. But I've had to explain it a few times to constituents. So is it possible? Well, I guess my first question is, I know for Harborview Bridge Road and College Drive and Bridge Road, that's the likely scenario. It's the violation of not stopping behind the bar. I'm not so much sure for Main and Constance. But so my first question is, are those lights where it's the turn or are these, is the main and constant one speed?

I mean, I guess it's a question of when you have a right turn on red, do you have more citations? Yes.

It's looking like they're the slower learners. I can confirm for Harborview and College Drive. I'm not quite certain with Main and Constance, but I'm trying to draw an inference here as to everyone else seems to be catching on at least 50% or more of the time. But if it's the folks that it's the turn, do we have significant signage to help them learn a little quicker.

And I believe the signage is good, and I've been made aware of a couple times to where the stop bar is back further, and in order to see before you turn right, then you have to go beyond the stop bar, and then it's taking your picture and sending you a citation for not coming to a complete stop. I've been made aware that I haven't observed it, and our guys have been out there to make sure our signage is correct, first of all. and that the stop bars are in a spot to where you don't have to violate the law in order to see to turn. So far, I don't know that we've identified any of those, but I have heard that same argument. Okay.

So my thought process is if it is consistently those particular cameras that we have the slow learners, then we may want to take a look at spelling it out for them. You have to come to a complete stop before turning on a red light.

Those two particular intersections, I'll check with them tomorrow and get back with you.

Thank you, sir. Yes, ma'am.

Council Member Vinnie.

Thank you. Stay right there, Chief. Because my question, because I've been approached a lot about, especially at Portsmouth Boulevard. Yes, sir. And the way that line comes up there and people pull up there, and I've sat there a few times just observing. And I've asked, and I think it would be a great idea, it's a cheap fix, I think, if we could just get a sign, a little sign reminding people you have to come to a complete stop on a red light. Yes, sir. They are so used to coming up there and just glancing around because the cameras haven't been there. So they'll come up there and they'll look at that coming. I'm going on out there.

I think everybody's used to yielding instead of stopping.

Right, right. And I think it would be worthwhile if we were to put a small sign then that would take all of the questions away from people that say, I stopped, but didn't stop. And they got a sign reminding them you have to come to a complete stop before you proceed. Yes, sir.

Let me see what I can do for you. All right.

He might be going to answer for me.

I guess, you know, I think we've had this conversation as well. We have many intersections in the city of Suffolk, some with stop signs, some with, signalize lights as well. And the rule is the rule. You're supposed to stop at whether it's a red light or whether it's a stop sign. And so we want to make sure that we treat all of our intersections equally, whether there's a camera or there's not a camera. And so just thinking through what that operation looks like. The stop bar is called the stop bar. So I think maybe what we can do is go back to look at some of the tickets that have been issued. and see if there are some trends and see what that speaks to us, and we can kind of report back and think through that a little bit.

I look at National Parkway itself right there and East Washington Street. You've got an 1,800 violation right there at that one light. So, okay.

Yeah, I mean, ultimately we – There's a lot of legislation in this act that speaks about signage. I mean, the construction zone is a great example. We post a number of signs. There's colorization to it as well that talks about slowing everybody down. Obviously, we're not successful catching everybody in that process, but let us go back and we can kind of get a better review of what type of citations we've got. Okay, thank you.

Council Member Richter?

Chief, forgive me for this next question, but these are the kind of questions that we get from constituents. If I'm the second or third car behind the front car at a stoplight, have I technically stopped behind the bar when the first car goes and the second car goes? I got asked that.

They said I was stopped behind the bar. I know. I remember all the commercials when I was a kid that said, turn right on red after stop. So each individual car as they approach that stop sign or stop light is required to stop and come to a complete stop before proceeding through the red light or the stop sign. Yes, sir.

Council Member Butler-Barlow.

Thank you, Mayor. My question is more for Stephanie, I think. So the rules have changed quite a bit, and we have different requirements of what we can and can't do, the Public Safety Committee. I mean, I think we've made really great choices with the projects we've done. Is there any guidance? Is there going to be oversight from the state? Are we going to be sort of self-monitoring that we're doing these things right? Or do you have any feel for that at this point?

Not only are we self-monitoring, but our citizenry is monitoring. So I think that just like any other legislation, it is up to us to do the right thing pending citizen feedback, pending not legislative action, but... legal action from somebody who may disagree with how something was implemented. So, uh, our plan is to make sure that we follow these three, the structure of the funding and do the same thing that we're doing now with making sure that we're within compliance, whether it's legislative grants, that sort of thing.

Okay, great. Thank you.

Councilman Johnson for the public. If you don't think it works, come out to 58 and look. Because what we've done, I mean, I think 58 is the ultimate success story. People are still going slow. They're still watching the signs. And this all works. And I'm the same way. We stopped stopping at the lights and everything else, too. But the public needs to recognize this is for their safety. And as much as they criticize us, we are very fortunate to have these stoplights. And it's working. So thank you for all you do. And the same thing with the The committee, my question was the same as Ms. Barlow's. Are we going to be able to spend the money the same way we always have? It's going to be a little different now, but we have guidelines. But still, it will be put to effective use, so that's a good thing. Thank you.

Vice Mayor Ward? Chief, I want to ask you a question. I want to get this right. COUNCILMAN WRIGHT BRUNG UP MAKING A RIGHT TURN FROM BRIDGE ROAD INTO HARBORVIEW BOULEVARD. IS THAT WHAT WE'RE SAYING?

SO WHEN YOU'RE COMING EITHER FROM HARBORVIEW, THERE'S A RIGHT TURN AT HARBORVIEW AND BRIDGE ROAD. IF YOU DON'T COME TO A COMPLETE STOP,

Before you turn, you get a ticket. And it's the same on College Drive.

On College Drive going up the hill?

College Drive coming towards Bridge Road when you get ready to make a right turn. You have to come to a complete stop. But they did improve. I will add this. That was one of the locations where the bar originally was a little behind and the trees was there, so people had to advance to see it. But Public Works made the adjustment, I think, last year on that one to where they moved the bar further up. So people getting tickets there are just slow learners.

How about that college drive at Bridge Road? Are we going up the hill?

I think you're coming down a hill.

You're coming from... Okay.

So make a right.

To make a right from Collins to Bridge.

If I could interject briefly. Excuse me, sir. We're talking about every motion. I know we're talking about right turn lanes, but left, straight, right are all in play. You need to come to a complete stop when it's a red light. So we're going to go back and review the footage to see if we're seeing... an increase in one movement over another. But as it relates to enforcement, whether we have an officer there or the camera is there, you have to come to a complete stop. Any turn. When the light is red. Correct. Nothing has changed since we all got our license.

No, I'm just saying because I'm just trying to get it straight because, like, I thought y'all was talking about another intersection, but you're right. Coming down that hill, making that right.

Yes, sir.

A lot of people are guilty of that.

Yes, sir, the manager is 100%.

Yeah, you're trying to get it before the light changes.

Yes, sir.

Right, I got that. And I thought you was talking about College Drive when we're trying to get into the Harborview.

If the light is red, solid red light or a red arrow, if the light is red or it's a stop sign, you must come to a complete stop before turning green.

Right, so they try to time it for it to turn green when it comes to red.

Yeah, I know that part too, yeah.

All right, thank you. I just wanted to make sure I got that right, because I was thinking about something else. Okay, thank you.

Council, any other questions or comments? If not, I want to thank all three of the presenters. Just to get through the program, I'm not going to get through the whole program, obviously, but a public safety committee was actually formed before we had any type of camera enforcement, so that became one. We decided there would be a function of the Public Safety Committee once we started receiving funds and the public needs to know that Suffolk was the poster child for how those funds were being handled because the discussion in the state legislature early on was that the localities would receive no funds. All the money was going to be sent back to Richmond to be used for state purposes and one of their Concerns was that funds being collected didn't end up in the operating fund or the general fund where it was being used for Expenses so to speak but we took an initiative. We basically created The legislative legislative impacts is to create a strict structured use of funds. We've already got that We had a structured use of funds now the guidelines will change but we had a structured use for those funds and And we did that without it being legislated. And then it said, specifies funds should be placed in a fund for specific use, which is what we did also before this legislation was passed. So operationally, we've been handling the collection and appropriation of those funds exactly the way the state wants us to. The only difference is that because we never budgeted for it. That was the first thing. We never anticipated whether we would collect any income from it or not. If you look at when this ordinance was approved in March of 23, it was unanimously approved and money was never discussed. It didn't need to be discussed because the way it was presented, it was an opportunity that was presented to us by our public works director to address feeding and some others and light issue also without involving our police officers and so The reason money was never discussed is that the program was guaranteed to be revenue neutral. It wouldn't cost us anything. Didn't promise anything, because maybe everybody adheres to what the guidelines are. But once it was explained it was guaranteed revenue neutral, there's absolutely no reason not to implement the program. But the change will be that what we consider to be safety concerns, which they are at most Absolutely, there were safety concerns, but they still don't fall within the category now that the state will allow them to use for. A lot of the, you know, we purchased, you're not going to get bulletproof vests coming through here. We're not going to be able to buy vehicles through there. We're not going to be able to buy radios through there. Some of the things that we have used for our public safety, We're not going to be able to use these funds for that, but we will still be able to use them for some of the things like crosswalks that we did and probably sidewalks and anything related, bike paths, anything related traffic-wise or road-wise. So while it's going to be different, it's going to still be very, it's going to be a good program. Now, the money that's going into it, you're not going to anticipate anywhere near that. Just like right now, we've got zero work zones. And at the time that this was implemented, we had Route 58, which was a large ongoing project for over four years with a substantial amount of traffic. Another interesting tidbit is that 75% to 80% of all the citations issued were to non-Suffolk residents. They were not Suffolk residents. They were individuals or whatever blowing through our city. So all in all, it's been a great program, and I take, not personally, but everybody was involved with it, what we've done through the Public Safety Committee, how we've determined how the funds were going to be used. You know, we were the poster child for that because we were able to go to Richmond when that case came up, and I know the chief went a couple of times, and we showed them this money can be collected It can be appropriated equitably and fairly and in a manner that they wanted to see without them keeping it. So it all worked out well. Thank everyone for helping putting that together. I think it was a great program. We still got it there. I would like to say that I have been very proud of myself. I've never gotten a red light ticket or one for traveling too fast until this week. I got my first red light ticket. And it was in my car that had rotten canines on it, so I think the dog was driving at the time. I'm not sure. But anyhow, I'll send my 50 bucks in it. I think that was the Kings Fork Road. I probably rolled through that one a little quick, so I can't make that statement anymore. So if there's no other questions or comments, we'll move to our second item where we're receiving an update from our Parks and Recreation and Capital Improvement Projects.

Mayor, vice mayor, members of council, today's presentation is part two, providing updates to recently approved and active capital improvement projects. Kicking us off is Wayne Rhodes, our newly announced director of capital programs. He'll be providing an update on city facilities, and he'll be followed by Mark Furlow, director of parks and recreation, touching on his active projects.

Good afternoon, mayor, vice mayor, city council. Thank you for the opportunity to give you a brief overview of where we are with some of our capital projects. I'd like to start off with the downtown library, which we're all very familiar with. It's been a hot subject the past couple of months, but this 38,000-square-foot, two-story building is approximately 98% complete. It opened on June 27th of 26. The remaining exterior finishes and some site work are ongoing but expected to be complete by July 31, 26. Next, we have driver... uh, elementary demolition. This school that stood for 50 years, uh, is finally down. So, um, the demolition is complete. All structures have been removed. The only thing remaining is the concrete foundation removal and final site restoration. And I think we jumped through our last hurdle for that. And that should begin hopefully within days, not weeks. And that should be completed by September of 2026. Next, we have our fire training, burn building and access road. Uh, 8,500 square feet, four story, uh, train burn building, um, received our final certificate of occupancy. The access road, uh, construction is progressing. The drainage improvements have been made and the stone basis complete. Uh, and we expect paving on that sometime in September of this year. And as you know, that will, uh, that will lead to access to other properties for future projects. Moving on to Phoenix Bank stabilization and renovation. As you can see, we had three phases here. Proud to say the first one of stabilization is complete. The second phase of plaza parking, the design is complete, and the bid solicitation is anticipated to take place in September of 26. And the plaza and parking project, once it gets kicked off, we hope to have that completed, and I'm sure we will by spring of 2027. Third phase would be the building renovation that has been budgeted for there for design and renovation. The design efforts will commence this summer, and we anticipate completion of that project and renovation 12 months after the contract is awarded and the notice to proceed is issued. Moving on to 157 North Main Street, as we all know, the Virginia Pilot Building. So the Virginia Pilot building and renovation is to provide office space for the Commonwealth's attorney and police administration after relocation from their current spaces. The first floor demolition is complete. The design is finalized, and in fact, the bid solicitation was advertised just on July 8th. So the estimated completion for that, once we receive bids and award the contract, we hope to have that complete by December of 2027. That kind of ties into Morgan Memorial. So Morgan Memorial, this project is to relocate workforce development in preparation for the renovations at 157 North Main Street. The status right now is that capital programs in-house, our staff is taking care of doing some minor upgrades and getting that prepped for workforce development, and they're moved to facilitate for the improvements at the former Virginia Pilot Building. Next up, we have Goblin Courts upgrades. This renovation of the third floor jury assembly room and law library space will help create a fourth courtroom and a new jury assembly room. The planning and design budget, as you know, has been approved, and initial design efforts are expected to begin very soon this fall of 2026. Police Training Center in Whaleyville. The renovation of the former Whaleyville Community Center is going to be a great asset for our police department It's going to be converted into a police training facility The budget is in place and planning and design are complete bid solicitation is anticipated to happen in August of this year obviously August 2026 and If everything goes as planned, we will have completion in December of 2027 Fire station for replacement Fire Station 4 is projected to be 19,000 plus square feet of fire station to replace the current fire station on Pitch Kettle Road. The design is underway with final design anticipated early January, February 2027 and an estimated completion sometime summer of 2028. And that brings us to the last project update before we turn it over to Parks and Rec and that would be the school system. We have John F. Kennedy Middle to open fall of 2026. I believe they are in the process of FINALIZING THE DEMOLITION OF THE PREVIOUS SCHOOL, AND NORTHERN SHORES ELEMENTARY EXPANSION IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION AND OPENS FALL OF 2027. SO WITH THAT, I WILL OBVIOUSLY HANG AROUND, BUT I'LL TURN IT OVER TO MR. FURLOUGH.

GOOD EVENING, MAYOR, MEMBERS OF COUNCIL. I'M GOING TO UPDATE YOU ON SOME OF THE PROJECTS WE HAVE GOING ON WITH PARKS AND RECREATION. First thing I wanted to talk about was our capital maintenance line item. What we do with that is we do maintenance projects on existing amenities. And so we recently completed a few of them. One of them was the Bennett's Creek Skate Park expansion. And the other one was creating some walking paths at Mariestas Park. Some of the ones that we have upcoming in that maintenance line is the ball field lights for Holland Park, the splash park for Lake Mead Park, replacing two of the older boat ramps at Bennett's Creek Park, renovating the bathrooms at Sleepy Hole Park, and resurfacing the basketball courts at Ida Easter Park, expanding the parking lot at Pewsville Park, and redoing the flooring at East Suffolk Recreation Center, and that's a project we're working on with Capital Programs. The next project is Longacre Park. So the first phase of this project is under design right now, and that includes relocating the pagoda from Mr. Glasscock's property, who donated the land to us, and installing a playground and picnic shelter and some walking paths. Currently we have a budget for design of about $200,000 After the design is completed, we'll have a better idea how much we're going to need for construction. We're anticipating that the project will be completed around December of 26. That'll be the design. And currently, we don't have funding in place for construction. There was a fundraising effort going on to raise money for construction, so we don't really have a timeline established yet on construction. Lone Star Lakes Park. A few years ago we paved the roads on the southern end of the park all the way up to Butler Track. This will be the next step as far as paving. We plan to pick up where we left off at Butler's Track and take it all the way back to the boat ramp at Finger Lakes. And we actually need to replace that boat ramp at the Finger Lake and that will be part of this project. However, the cost is such that we have to break it up into two phases. So what we plan on doing is we're going to pave as much as we can picking up at Butler Track and we'll take it as far as we can north with the money that we have allocated. The MLK Memorial and Peanut Park project, we currently have about $500,000 and we'll be starting community input in August of this year. The Holly Lawn Cemetery roads project, we're currently in design for that project. The budget for design is $70,000 and construction is $210,000. This is to construct the roads that we need to open up that final section at Holly Lawn Cemetery. We are really starting to run out of spaces at Holly Lawn. And it's even tougher to find a cluster of spaces together. A lot of times a family will want to buy a bunch of plots together, and that's becoming more and more difficult as we go to find a big cluster together so that a family can spend eternity together. The Holy Neck feasibility study. So we have $210,000 budgeted this year to do a feasibility study to look at... the location, size and amenities for a regional park and a recreation center in the Holy Neck Borough. And that will begin in the fall of this year. Downtown corridor improvements, the budget is $75,000 for that. We just wrapped up the projects on East Washington and right now we're in the process of identifying some projects. One of the areas that we're looking at with Public Works is on Portsmouth Boulevard. The Phoenix Bank renovation, this project is to convert the historic Phoenix Bank building into a community meeting space. And we'll be getting community input in August of this year. The JFK athletic field, so when they rebuilt JFK Middle School, they did it on two of our athletic fields, the space that those fields occupied. So this project is to reconstruct those two fields in a new location. So there were two softball fields and one football field. One of the softball fields wasn't affected by the construction, so that remained. And then we're going to build one football field and a softball field. Actually, the schools are building the fields. This project is just for us to come in and put the lights on and add a concession stand and a restroom building. The Monogram Park project, this is to add a second softball field at Monogram Park, and we're building it on the former transmitter site. The budget for that is $136,000 for design, and we're budgeting $2.3 million for construction. We're anticipating design to be completed in April of 27, and construction to be completed later that year in December of 27. The East Suffolk Field and Walking Paths. So this project is to create some walking paths on the open field that's next to the East Suffolk Recreation Center and to grade out that field. That project is currently in design. The budget for construction is $532,000. We anticipate completing design in January of 27 and construction in October of 27. Driver Elementary Site. We had a community meeting a few weeks ago to get input on the amenities that the public would like to see out there. We're continuing to accept that feedback online through the end of this month. Once we've compiled all the input that we've got from the community, we'll use that to develop a plan for developing that space into a public park and adding some amenities to it. The budget for that is $620,000. Suffolk Seaboard Coastline Trail. So we currently have three segments under design. There's segment one, which is Moore Avenue to Suburban Drive. Segment 3B, which is Nansen Parkway to the Cedar Lake Shore neighborhood. And then segment 3A, which is Nansen River High School to the driver trailhead. Those funds, two of those projects are smart scale and one of them is transportation alternatives. They are right now scheduled to go out to bid for construction in June of 27. Additionally, we've got an intent to award on a raise grant to construct segment 3C. And we just got an intent to award a transportation alternatives grant for Seaboard West. So that means all of the planned segments for the Seaboard Coastline Trail now have funding in place to construct the whole trail. So we're really excited about that, that Seaboard West was that last piece. So the budget segment one is $5.3 million. 3A is $2.3 million, as well as 3B. And then segment 3C is going to be one of the most expensive segments because we have to require a lot of right-of-way. For that particular segment, we have to take it off the abandoned railroad and bring it out to Nansen Parkway and over the new overpass. So that's why the price tag on that. And then the estimate for Seaboard West is $4 million. And we're anticipating completion for 3A and 3B by June of 28. The Dismal Swamp project, that project is currently in design. The construction budget estimate is $915,000. The project includes putting in a parking lot, a playground, and a picnic shelter, some walking paths. And we're planning on applying for some grants in the spring of 2027 to help fund that project. So if we're successful in getting those grants, we're hoping that we should have that project completed sometime in 2028. Nazan River boat ramp. So this is the last project, the one that everybody talks about all the time, the one I hear the most about. So this project includes constructing a deep water boat launch into the western branch of the Nazan River and trailer parking and improving the access road into the property. So the project is currently under design. We're anticipating going out to bid later this year. The design budget is $285,000, and the construction estimate is $3.3 million. And I'd be happy to answer any questions about any of the projects, and Mr. Rhodes is available as well.

Okay, thank you. Council, questions or comments? Council Member Bennett?

Yes, sir. Should I just stay? A couple of them. You know I wasn't going to let you get away.

No.

The boat ramp. Yeah. When are we looking for completion? Do we have a projected completion date on that? Everywhere I turn, people still beat me up about what we have promised them.

Yeah, so that project should go out to bid by the end of the year. So we're looking at December, and I believe the estimate on construction is about a year. So we'd be looking at wrapping up sometime towards the end of 2027.

Okay. And on the trail, when we're looking at that end, start construction. I know there's some problem trying to get across to National Parkway from the trail.

Yeah, yeah. So that particular segment will go out to bid in June, and we're anticipating that project will take about a year or two. So we should be wrapping up construction sometime towards the middle of 2028.

Okay, thank you. All right.

Vice Mayor Ward. Mark, I just want to ask a question. Sure. And the other one's going to be way out. But anyway, I see you got this. You got anything from Manoya Park? Did you talk to Jerry that you was going to do something with the park?

We just replaced some of the picnic tables out there, and then we're also in the process of replacing, there are three small or mini picnic tables, but they have like a, it's just one table with a shelter, a roof over top of it, and we'll be replacing those this year. So those are the projects we have scheduled for Magnolias.

How about the interest coming from Huntersville? We talked about that.

Yeah, we did some improvements out there. We put in some landscaping, and we also put up a sign, and we enhanced the lighting in that area.

Okay, the next question is way out, but anyway, I'm going to ask it. Thank you for doing the playground for the kids. But, you know, I'm one of them dismal swamp guys. I would love to see certain things because I think it's a natural resource. It's there for us, and I like to be used, especially when people want to visit it because it's known all around the world. Thanks to Kevin Hughes, city manager. He knew how I felt about it. I think you knew how I felt about it. He made a trip for me to go there. But the only thing I got, I was looking to see things, but all I seen was a bear claw on a tree. So what I'm saying is, is there any possible way that, and that might not happen, I might not be here, but I'm just saying, is there any possible way we ever, Think about having a building with some live animals in there. When people come, they can see at least one animal. I didn't see a rabbit. I didn't see nothing. I'm just saying because I don't know if that falls under you as a zoo or something because I don't know if you all realize we got one of the best zoos around, the Bronx Zoo. That's when you can see snakes, everything. I mean, that's amazing. As a young child, when you see this, you know, it's amazing. So we got the dismal swamp and I didn't see a rabbit. So I want to say, is there any possible way? I mean, I'm just going out of line that we can get a building almost and put some little babies in there or something. You ever thought about that?

It's not something we've looked at. I know that the visitor center for the Dismal Swamp is on the Chesapeake side of the swamp. Tourism does a lot of work with interpreting the Dismal Swamp. They have a lot of stuff in their visitor center on Main Street. It's not something that we've looked at.

Because I'm involved with, I went to the last meeting that they had by the Dismal Swamp. And they're going to have one in Williamsburg I'm planning on going to. But I just think we as a city of Suffolk, it's not using a natural resource that it is that we could bring on attraction. I mean, we're talking about making money.

So one of the things that we did look at, that we have looked at, we went into a study with the city of Chesapeake to look at making a connection between Suffolk and Chesapeake. Because right now, you can't, there's not a connection that goes all the way through the swamp from Suffolk to Chesapeake. You're right. You have to drive all the way around. So that was one of the things that we got a grant, a FLAP grant, with the city of Chesapeake to take a look at that. So that study is going on right now, and they're looking at some possible alternatives. So that's one of the things that is going on there at the swamp besides the playground.

As a matter of fact, the city manager, he took me far as the water that separates Suffolk and Chesapeake. And I'm trying to figure out how in the world did they go across that? I don't know how they done it. So that's amazing just to see that. What I just want to know is something that we can do in Suffolk that they can at least see a rabbit.

Yeah, I think unfortunately right now the only way to see a rabbit is to go out into the swamp.

I mean, I want to see something. I mean, it was good, but I just want to see some type of animal.

Sure.

I mean, I don't know what I would have done if I seen a bear. I would have ran, but I'm just saying. But at least we can... How about a rabbit? Yeah, a rabbit, I would have tried to probably catch it, but I'm just saying. I just want to see at least an animal.

The other thing we're planning on doing with the playground is to make it educational, too. We've looked at some things that we can add to that playground that will... teach the children about the swamp and we'll have some informational panels and a mock-up. We actually had them the playground company can design a black bear and other animals that you might find. And it's not a real bear, but it's something that they can climb on and enjoy and play, and they can learn a little bit about the animals that are in the swamp.

Maybe some videos about some of the animals might be in there.

And so that's the second part of this project was that the Dismal Swamp was planning on, their plan, their long-term plan is to build an education center next to the park And there may be some opportunities for them to do some things like that in that building.

All right, thank you. Appreciate you, man.

Council, any other questions or comments? Okay, here we go. Wait, he's back. Council Member Bennett.

On the, because I was interested earlier, but on the construction of Holly Lawn, is that being, the funds for that is being used from perpetual care or is that coming from What's that money coming from?

It's a split. Some of the money is coming from petrol care. Some of it is coming from the city.

Okay, because that was some of my concern. I thought the cemetery was supposed to be taking care of itself and not taxpayers taking care of it.

Councilman Bennett, we've been working on basically a 50-50 split as it relates to maintenance projects or advancement in the cemetery. It just doesn't generate enough money to do it on its own.

Okay, see, and that's where it created a problem with me when we're doing that. If we're using taxpayer money for one cemetery and not using some for others, then I have a little issue with that. That's the reason why I thought it was all perpetual care. That's the reason why they pay it to... Maintain and take care of that.

Well, obviously the Maintenance of cemeteries is extremely topical. This is a cemetery that we own and so there are some Maintenance issues stormwater ones that we've had to work on here recently at Holly lawn But unfortunately, it just does not provide enough revenue to do on its own see that's

If a cemetery is not taken care of and the people who supposed to take care is gone I

We just can't do something about that. I mean, there's too many of them out here, and we're not doing nothing.

So the cemeteries that we're talking about today are owned and operated by the city of Suffolk. I think the questions that you're asking are related to privately owned or cemeteries not owned by the city of Suffolk. So there's a distinction.

I'm talking about Pacific Cemetery by our church that I can't even go in there because the trees are so over the graves that I can't go see some relatives. We don't own that property. I know we don't. So what I'm asking you, what can be done? I mean, there's anything we can't take over somebody who's not doing their job or can't do nothing.

There's been some recent legislation passed by the General Assembly that has some avenues and paths related to non-owners and future maintenance. But I can't at this moment provide that detail off the top of my head.

Should I get the city attorney maybe to weigh in on that? The current statute, I know that churches and there's five-year agreements and some different options.

So I provided a memo to city council about what the options are. I don't remember what they are, and I don't have that memo with me. I can redistribute it if city council needs it, but they're worthy options that are available to city council.

Let me ask you another question because I did this 20 years ago on a TV show. Is Sixth Street Cemetery – as getting upkeep or it looked the same it was years ago. Do anybody know that? You all know. Do you know? Yes, sir. Is it about the same as upkeep? No? I know you all. You might. role uh... if you come up with my okay dennis is being kept up now because i'm keep okay that's what i want to have a private citizen yeah i did a show one time yeah and it was sort of had holes in there yeah yeah true okay i'm just making sure because that's what we have yes and we should not that allow that whoever taking it we need to find out because most of them are african-american cemetery that's what i'm saying

But we don't know the ownership of it. However, I have taken it upon myself, my company has, to go in and keep it mold. As of today, we've done it twice. And I have committed to doing it once a month.

And I appreciate that because I didn't say anything about, well, church, I have people that I know who's trying to clean up a grave that they didn't have no money, but they did the best we can. And now it even got worse because they... They don't have the material to keep it going.

Well, let me ask since we're talking about that. I would like to interject and let the public know, which they already know, that when it comes to Oak Lawn Cemetery, that's one of the cemeteries that I took on some 13 years ago. And until recently, other people have stepped up and decided that they was going to do some things. And I kind of pulled back and I've taken all my resources and put it over and, you know, made now, Rosemount is the cemetery that I'm taking care of. So. Now, thank you for that.

Police Chief Boo, I want to ask you a question. And it's a simple question. I see we spent $2.5 million. The Willowville, did that include the fire range or something, shooting range?

No, sir. No, sir. It includes a training facility where we'll store our simulator, and we'll have office space for training personnel and a larger room where we can do, like, defensive tactics training and an outside K-9 training facility. But at this point in time, no firing range.

Okay, so we're still far away from getting that.

I don't know. I like for us to be closer.

Where that 2.7 went to, that's what I want to – Yes, sir, I think we're still a good ways out. Because I see him on his knees. I didn't know he was – we got something like that or what. You know, he's shooting a gun, so I figure I hope he never – everybody was involved in some kind of way.

I can touch on the – so Wayne showed you a slide of the Byrne building in the back of our campus out on Carolina Road. With that road complete, what that opens up is other master plan uses, and one of those proposed is the firing range for the police department.

Well, that's good to know. That's why I didn't know that. It's a little further out than the chief would like. That's a future home. I had an interest in that. I wish I would have known. I wouldn't have said it. Thank you, man. Yes, sir. Thank you.

Counsel, any other questions or comments? If not, I appreciate the presentation. We're getting them back again. Hold on a minute.

Thank you, Mayor. This question is for Mark. So I want to go on record asking this question because I had a few constituents come to me and ask the question. As it relates to Mary Steith Park path, how many times do you have to go around for... It becomes a mouth. I mean, I've been asked that question.

Yeah, that's a good question. And I think we had that figured out, but I do not remember what it is. But I'll tell you what, we will get a sign posted out there that informs people how many times. But I just don't remember what it is off the top of my head. I want to say it's like. maybe four or six times around is a mile, but I wouldn't bet on it.

If you can have that posted, that would be great.

Yep, we'll do that.

And the other thing, since I'm talking about that particular park, the dog stations, have any been put in that park?

At Mariestas? Yes. I believe we do have some out there. If not, I'll make sure we get some put out there.

Okay.

All right.

Thank you. Okay. Council, any other questions or comments? If not, thank you for your presentation. I appreciate the CIP updates. I get calls all the time, but Councilmember Bennett mentioned it. I got one today on the Nansman boat ramp. We should say what the time frame was. And there was also a comment about the Venice Creek boat ramp and that being in need of repair and These things, both of them were addressed in here. So while we have our CIP every year, it's good to go through it periodically to see exactly where we are in the process. And that helps us handle, be able to respond to a lot of constituent questions. I'm glad to see that we've monogrammed park. It's a huge asset we need to keep expanding upon. We've got a lot of land out there. We've got S.Y.A. handling a lot of the larger functions, but the more we can get out there, the quicker, the better off it is. And I was going to ask a question about a traffic light coming out of the boat part, but we'll talk about that later. That's going to be a traffic issue. So, if there are no other questions or comments, that concludes our work session. And we do have a need for a closed session. Madam Clerk, will you please read the motion for consideration?

Pursuant to Virginia Code Section 2.2-375, THE DISCUSSION CONSIDERATION OR INTERVIEWS OF PERSPECTIVE CANDIDATES FOR APPOINTMENT AND THE ASSIGNMENT, APPOINTMENT AND PERFORMANCE OF SPECIFIC PUBLIC OFFICERS OR APPOINTEES OF THE CITY, SPECIFICALLY THE APPOINTMENTS Shown on the attached list for vacancies or term expirations for the Community Policy and Management Team, the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission, the Human Services Advisory Board, the Local Board of Building Code Appeals, the Planning Commission, the Senior Services of Southeastern Virginia Board of Directors, the Southeastern Virginia Alcohol Safety Action Program, the Planning Council, the Tidewater Youth Services Commission, and the Western Tidewater Water Authority.

Council, a motion has been presented for your consideration. Do I have a motion? Council Member Butler-Barlow?

Move to approve.

Motion for approval. Council Member Williams? Second. Second from Council Member Williams. Is there any discussion of the motion? Hearing none, Council Members, prepare to vote. Please cast your vote. Madam Clerk, kindly record the vote.

Motion is approved by a vote of eight to zero.

This meeting stands adjourned. We'll reconvene at 6 p.m.