City Council - Regular Meeting

I hereby call to order this Monday, 27, April, Williamsburg City Council meeting to order. Mr. Short, will you lead us in the pledge of allegiance? I pledge. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Mr. Short. Item two is the adoption of the meeting agenda. Is there a motion to adopt the agenda? Thank you, Mr. Wood. Is there a second? I second.

Thank you, Mr. Combi. Any discussion? All in favor say I. I

eyes have it 5 Z. Item three, matters from the mayor. Uh 15 April, Mr. Short, Mr. Wood, and I along with former mayors Bruce Allen and Lana Williams attended the fire department dedication of station number two. Uh if you haven't seen it, it's a beautiful s facility um that's already making positive results in the in the city. On 24th April, I had the opportunity to visit to visit the public works uh compound and see a demonstration of our new sewer flush truck and that's going to make uh greatly improve the efficient efficiency and safety as we maintain our sewer lines. I also visited uh with the uh other parts of water department and got to see a lot of the different meters that we use. Um, and that was very interesting and and very educational. And also I met with the uh street department and refuge department leads as well and and got a a group of information and we thank our public works folks and thanks to Trafford and his department leads for the tour and the demonstration. Appreciate it. Just a reminder on 6th May there will be a comprehensive plan open house at K Collins Middle School from 4:00 to 7:00 and encouraging all citizens to stop by and see what's going on with the comp plan and to and provide your inputs. And then tomorrow night I'll be at pitch night and Greg or Stephanie is going to talk a little bit about that later on uh this evening. Item four is matters from council. I had the honor uh yesterday of delivering the proclamation to Wesburg Symph Symphony um for their 30th anniversary. Um it was highly impressive. It was standing room only. They were out um in the in the yard outside of the church

uh listening. It was it was beautiful music, inspiring. Um, so it's an impressive gem that if you haven't had an opportunity to check it out, I would I will definitely recommend that to anybody. Any other comments? All right. Item five is consideration of the consent agenda. Is there a motion to adopt the consent agenda? So moved. Thank you, Mr. Short. Is there a second? Second.

Thank you, Mr. Slo. Any discussion? All in favor, please say I. I. My eyes have it 50. Item six is consider recognizing May 4th through 8th as economic development week in the city of Wesboro. Whereas an economic development professionals across the nation and Virginia work every day with businesses, educational institutions, government leaders, and community partners to strengthen local economies, create opportunities, and ensure vibrant communities for current and future generations. And where is economic development is a strategic investment in our communities that helps create highquality jobs, attract new businesses, support the growth of existing industries, and generate the revenues that sustain essential services such as education, transportation, housing, and healthcare. And whereas economic development professionals serve as stewards of progress, connecting residents, business leaders, elected officials, industry executives, and educational institutions to advance job creation, community investment, infrastructure improvements, and long-term opportunity. And whereas economic developers contribute to the continued strength and vitality of Waysboro, Virginia, building on past achievements while shaping a resilient and prosperous future. And whereas the International Economic Development Council is celebrating 100 years of leadership dedicated to fostering growth, innovation, inclusion, sustainability, and resilience in communities of all sizes. Now therefore, be it resolved that the city of Wesville, Virginia, hereby recognizes May 4th through 8th, 2026 as Economic Development Week, celebrating 100 years of impact while reflecting on the progress achieved, honoring the professionals who strengthen our

communities today and inspiring the next century of economic opportunity and growth. Mr. Hitch, Stephanie Congratulations, Mr. Mr. Mayor and members of council, thank you for the proclamation and your continued support in our efforts. E economic development is a team sport and you are an integral part of that team and we appreciate um your working together with us as we work to bring new investment and new jobs to the city of Wesboro. One example of that, as Mr. for mayor, as the mayor mentioned, um is our Grow Wesboro Rockfish Gateway pitch night tomorrow night. This is the end of a um 7-week um business planning training class. Um the top eight candidates of the 20ome people that could finished that class will be presenting their business idea tomorrow night at the foundry beginning at 6 PM. And we have over $60,000 of startup grant funds to give um some of those businesses. So, I hope to see you there. Thank you.

Thank you, Greg. Thank you. Item seven is consider receiving a pres presentation on the community vitality fund supported one waysboro program. Mr. Short.

Well, yeah. So, I'm happy to um welcome our friends from a variety of wonderful local not forprofits to uh provide a presentation and uh update to council on the efforts thus far. Um we had a little bit of a of a um of a delay in the start um of the program this year, but as promised, wanted to u marry up our budget conversation um and awareness for the community uh of the program and the initiative and all the amazing things that have already taken place with the um with the program as such. And so um I will um whoever wants to go first u Sarah. So, she'll um um uh uh everybody's going to do a tag team match here over here. Uh no WWE sort of stuff, but uh but some tag teaming of uh of presentation. So, um appreciate y'all uh being here this night and and what you do in our community.

Good evening and thank you so much for inviting us to speak here. Am I am I do I have the angle right here? Um it's an honor to be here and um we really appreciate you carving out time to listen um to what we have to say. Um and we're excited to share with you um all the good things that your investment um has made happen in our community. Um so I thought about giving you a pop quiz on what all of our acronyms stand for, but I decided to go easy on you. Um so the five partners are the community assistance network at Embrace otherwise known as CAN the life works project and river city bread basket um which is often abbreviated as RCBB um housing emergency relief organization which is hero Renewing Homes of Greater Augusta RHGA and um the Wesboro area refuge ministry known as warm. So since this um since one ways was announced these five partners have been meeting regularly um to collaborate to share information and to support each other. Those meetings have been very fruitful. Um we all knew each other already and we interacted and crossed paths um with each other. Uh but these meetings have given us a chance to be a little bit more intentional and in-depth about the way that we work together and um and a lot of good ideas have come out of those meetings um insights and um partnerships. Um and so we're we're grateful that you have facilitated that by uniting us in this program. Um so each of our organizations will now share a brief report on how your funding has helped us um help the people of Wsboro. So um first we have Embrace and the Community Assistance Network and Chris Hopkins will be speaking on their behalf.

Thank you and thanks for allowing Embrace Centers for Community to present some first quarter stats about the one waysboro project and hopefully enlighten our audience to the great joy Embrace and our community assistance network receives and serving this community as the resource navigator and help desk. My name is Chris Hopkins and I'm the associate site director for Embrace in Wesboro, recently added to the team in December. The city of Wesboro provided Embrace with the $15,000 grant which is 17% of the total funding to run the CAN operations. The Embrace Community Assistance Network, CAN for short, is actively serving all Stanton, Augusta County, and Wesboro saw. It is a pilot project supported by the community foundation to assist neighbors in crisis with navigating the overwhelming and sometimes impossible and complex systems for finding resources. CAN is the community help desk for listening with compassion, identifying what matters most and connecting the vulnerable to stability. And it doesn't end there. Our CAN staff maintains the walk with clients from crisis to stability to resilience. And from the beginning in 2023, CAN was supposed to be a permanent part of Embrace and sustainable funding supported by our village project, the transitional cottages we recently applied to the city for the conditional use permits. With current can funding ending this year, and the village being delayed for over two years, we hope that this presentation helps the city of Wesboro continue funding this high impact service. And what you're about to see or hear is only for Wesboro and it's directly accountable to this initiative. So Wesboro can in the first quarter enrolled 152 households. That's 328 family members that were served 244 cases or individual needs. This rep um this helps Ken navigate

these families through crisis relief and there were a total of 376 referrals from this enrollment. In addition, 493 hours of time were donated to the CAM program in the first quarter. These hours calculated as an inind donation value of $35 an hour, which is a national average, is $17,000 per quarter and a projected value of close to 70,000 for this year. Embrace Wainsboro Community Garden fridge and food pantry. Combined food distribution totaled 15,000 pounds in the first quarter. Feeding America sets the per pound value at $1.73, which is about a $26,000 cost per quarter and projected at 104,000 for this year. USDA USDA data shows that if that food were purchased by consumers at current prices, consumers would spend somewhere between 519,000 and $1,38,000 per year on equivalent poundage. Time donated to the food pantry garden fridge in the first quarter was 178 hours and calculated that's $6,200 in kind donation for the quarter. Note, our community garden is getting running in the second quarter. This will significantly increase for the remainder of the year. Augusta Health Free Neighborhood Medical Clinic is hosted at Embrace. The first quarter of 26 shows an average of 49 visits of Wesboro residents per clinic. It's held 24 times per year. Augusta Health estimated that without this clinic, these patients would have gone to the emergency room for treatment. Each of the each of these visits of uninsured clients would have cost the hospital an average of $2,175 per visit. That's a savings of $2.6 million per year from our neighbor neighborhood hospital. Our clinics have

600 have total 674 hours of volunteer time in this first quarter and that's an incline value of 23,590 with a projected yearly value of close to $100,000. The community clothing closet and green hanger project distributed 2,800 items this quarter. It's expected to distribute well over 10,000 this year. And the first quarter of 2026 brought in 530 volunteer hours or about $19,000 for the quarter projected to be 74,000 for the year. All in total for the first quarter, just under a million dollars of community impact to Wesboro. So, let's talk about some success stories from Embrace. A client success TF sought assistance from CAN and housing was secured at the Ruth warm house. She has successfully transitioned into HUD housing and continues to thrive. Embrace CAN helped her access resources for her electric bill with Dominion Energy and Hero provided support for her payments. TF was assisted in getting approved for the PIP program percentage of income payment through DSS and Embrace CAN has since worked with her on renewing that application. TF is regularly checked on to see how both she and her granddaughter for whom she is a caregiver are doing. She expresses gratitude for the support received from the from the can and one ways noting these organizations have helped her achieve stability and happiness in the community. A second would be one of our volunteers. In August of 23, KS entered rehab for alcohol abuse, marking the beginning of a recovery journey. During this period, he considered retiring from his position at V Virginia Eagle dist Distribution. He was already retired from the Navy, having served 22 years and completed two tours in Iraq, earning him a 100%

disability rating. While in rehab, Embrace reached out through his wife to see if he'd be interested in bringing becoming a community health care worker. His first response was, "What is that?" After the role was explained, he decided to roll in the course and a after completing rehab. After successfully finishing the program and becoming a certified community healthcare worker, he started his new path at Embrace. He's also joined the Disabled American Veterans Organization and became a chapter service officer. This ro role allows him to assist fellow veterans in the area in filing their Virginia disability claims. Additionally, he's become a registered peer recovery specialist, a state program dedicated to supporting individuals struggling with addiction and mental health. As a peer recovery specialist, he offers guidance and a listening ear helping others as they work through their recovery. Uh KS states, "My time with Canbrace has played an important role in my own recovery. I truly enjoy supporting people during their crisis because I understand what it feels like to be in their shoes. While I wish I had the resources to help everyone, at the very least I can offer a listening ear that to those who need to share their struggles. working alongside our partners in Wesboro, Hero, LifeWorks, Warm, and Renewing Homes, we've been it's been ex uh incredibly rewarding, and without this supportive circle, we couldn't make such a meaningful difference for our neighbors in need. In conclusion, a little math takes Embrace's quarterly impact of 934,000 and contributes over 3.7 million for the year to this economy. plus. And the plus is important. All of the organizations presenting tonight want to be clear that we're thankful for the city of Wesboro's vision to see the need and provide this seed fuzzing funding. And with continued support and resources, we plan to increase this impact year-over-year. Since Embrace can lost funding from the

US budget cuts for training and support of our certified community health workers and the community foundation pilot funding expires this year. Continued local support is more critical to us than ever to continue to grow and impact Williamsburg going forward. Thank you. Thank you, Sarah.

Okay. So, I'm here to represent Hero. I'm the board president and um just a quick refresher about what we do. Um we provide emergency financial assistance with rent and utilities. Um and we were born because we realized that um our counterpart in uh Stanton, SACRA, the Stanton Augusta Church Relief Association provides this kind of assistance only to people who live in Stanton and Augusta County. And so when people in Wesboro were experiencing a crisis um and they would say, "Who should I call for help?" People would say, "Call Sakra." and they'd call Sakra and Sakura would say, "Oh, you live in Wesboro. We can't help you." So, um, long story short, um, some ways bro churches got together and decided that we needed to do something about this and we formed a nonprofit organization. Um so this we were incorporated um at the end of 2023 and um since then we have distributed um over $200,000 in um financial assistance to people in Wsboro only and um the money that we have received from the city of Wesbor accounts for 10% of that. So again, we're very grateful for for your help. Um, of the assistance that we provide, uh, I thought you'd be interested in seeing um, what the breakdown is. So 28% of that goes toward electric bills, 27% goes to water bills. Um, 37% goes towards rent, and 8% goes towards gas. So, um, we looked at, even though we've helped about 600 households since we started, um, we looked at just the families that we've helped, like the first 20,000 that we spent since we got your money. And, um, that's 53

households and 134 individuals. Um, and if you recall, there were some pretty bad ice storms in that time period. Um so this this assistance was critical in helping people um get through that very cold spell um preventing evictions and the associated costs um helping people with unusually high um bills. So again um we are very grateful for that significant um impact. Um, as far as our, you know, coordination with our partners in one ways, um, we've really, uh, enjoyed getting to talk with them more frequently and getting to work with them more closely and we have streamlined our referrals, particularly to the community assistance network. Um, so, you know, we're we're in almost constant communication with them about the people that we're helping. Um, which has been great. Um the coordination is is really wonderful and similarly um we talk a lot with folks at Life Works because you know the the people that we serve often need help from from each organization. Um and we wanted to point out that um there are definitely um increasing there's many factors contributing to an increased level of need um in this the rest of this year. Um we're seeing higher energy costs. We're seeing um the cost of groceries go up. Um wages aren't exactly keeping up with those um increased costs. Um we're seeing um a lot of people who receive benefits, those those benefit amounts aren't changing either. Um and of course there's a continued upward pressure on rent. So um what we hear from the people who ask us for help and you know every day we hear we hear from new people um and their circumstances are really heartbreaking. Um, many of them have

lost a job or they've had their hours reduced. They've gone through a medical emergency or have a family member going through a medical emergency. Um, their car has broken down which means they can't get to work which means they might lose their job. Um, or um their kid has been sick and so they've had to miss work and then they've lost wages. Um, so there's so many different circumstances that they don't have any control over. And um, we take every opportunity to dispel myths about the people who ask for help because it's not because they're not working and it's not because they're lazy. Um, it's because, you know, life has dealt them some tough blows and they don't have a support system there to catch them. So, uh we feel privileged to be there for them and um we really um appreciate this ecosystem of support that each of these organizations contributes to because we think that it takes all of these partners doing all of the things that we do um to promote community stability in Wesboro. Um, and I will now um, oh, I did want to share one quote. Somebody that we helped said, "My family faced an emergency we didn't see coming. We are new to the area and didn't know where to go for help. Hero stepped in and helped without judgment. We are so grateful and blessed for this program." And now I will turn the microphone over to Sharon from Renewing Homes. Good evening and thank you for having us here. My name is Sharon CPPley and I'm the executive director with Renewing Homes of Greater Augusta and we've been in operation since 1994 serving low-income homeowners um in the Stanton Augusta Wesboro area. Um we typically are doing critical home repairs largely

with volunteer workforce. Um there are some requests for repairs that go beyond the capacity to safely perform with volunteers. So such as replacing a roof, hooking up gas appliances, um repairing structural damage to a foundation. And so that's when funding such as we've received from the city of Wesboro this year as well as last year through some community development block grant funding were able to take on those bigger projects that if they are left undone or unresolved then the problems just kind of snowball. You know if a roof is leaking then the walls and the floors rot inside homes. Um so it just it kind of grows on itself. So, we're very appreciative when we have the opportunity to apply funding to those big projects that we can't handle but will have an impact on the health and safety of those homeowners. And so, this year with the uh one waysboro program and the community vitality funds, I've just listed here the projects that we've completed. Some of those have been just purchasing materials with volunteer labor, which is in that final column. um others have been hiring and paying contractors to do the work. Um so the the projects that are listed there in green are the ones that we've approved and obligated funding toward. And so we've nearly spent the $30,000 or committed the $30,000 um for the households that are listed there, eight households with 17 homeowners and uh 28 hours of volunteer labor. Um, so let me see if I know how to do that. Okay, so um, one of the big projects on that first page was, um, a home owned by a lady and her son who

they recently lost, um, the husband and um, they're surviving on less than $1,000 a month. And they contacted us because they were having trouble with their uh, septic system. they weren't on city sewer even though they're within the city limits. Um they have had multiple events where they've had to um pay to have the septic system pumped. So we came in and had um had that happen again because there was raw sewage in the yard. Um their septic system was obviously not working. So we tried going with just having it pumped. Um within a month it needed to be pumped again and the company said you know there's something more than just the drain the tank filling up. We need to that needs to be replaced. And so we have contacted and made application with the city to have them hooked up to city sewer. Um, and that's where the big um, chunk of the $12,000 is going to help cover that cost for hookup and hiring a plumbing contractor to come in and finally resolve that issue for them. In the meantime, we are getting a portagon put out there um and trying to figure out a way that they can access showers, shower facilities to minimize the overloading of the existing non-functional septic system to try to avoid another overflow situation. Our volunteers have been out there several times to help them try to clear the um the debris from the yard. Uh the husband was a hoarder and the wife is trying to work through the loss of her husband but also trying to get the house in a situation where um it's healthier and safer for she and her son

um to live there. Um so that's one example of a typical day in the life of renewing homes. Um so thank you for your support. um we appreciate that so that we can tackle these big projects and then keep our volunteers uh tackling the ones that are within their their scope and their abilities. So, thank you. And I'll turn it back over to Sarah. She's in the

I am not also on the board for warm, but um I'm representing them because they have a board meeting tonight. So, um I was asked to read their slides for them. Um, as you know, Wesboro is the Wesboro Warm is the Wesboro Area Refuge Ministry, and they take care of people uh during the cold months. They provide shelter um in addition to the Ruth's House. Um, and so they served um almost 200 unsheltered neighbors over 18 weeks. Um the guests ranged in age from 20 to 72. Um there were a total of over 4,000 individual visits um because those 200 people, you know, came repeatedly. Um and over the prior year, it was a 26% increase in the number of people served and a 12% increase in unique stays over the prior year. So they have been very busy. Um, and again, back to th those ice storms, um, they needed extra staffing because on those very very cold days, they could not release their guests during the day as they typically do. And so they needed extra staffing to supervise um, during the daytime. Um, that was not something that, you know, they had budgeted for um, because there were 24 days where it was too cold for people to go outside. Um, so that drastically increased their costs and your funding helped them to weather that storm. And now, uh, I will hand it over to the, uh, LifeWorks project and Adrien Young will be speaking on their behalf. Thank you, council, so much for letting us come. Um, so far this year, um, because the city was so generous, um, to

help to pro provide about a fifth of our annual budget, we have had 132 volunteer hours served through the River City Bread Basket. Some of those hours were served by National Honor Society students and other groups in the city of Wesboro that helped to shore us up and keep our doors uh open. We also had a group from the high school, the uh Black Student Union, who was very instrumental in helping us get things together for the go bags that we distribute to the to the homeless. And so far this year, we have had our doors open more than 2,200 times uh to provide food and resources uh to families. Uh to date, the grant has provided about $4,200 in micro grants and we spent about 1,400 on uh capital expenses to keep our doors open. Um we've allocated the remainder of the funds um for micro grants for bus passes that we will distribute um every week through the River City Bread Bread Basket, but as needed through our collaborative partners. um $3,000 for food and over 2,300 in future capital expenses for the River City Bread Basket. Um, practical support is the our mission at the Life Works Project and we have been able to help 27 families so far, just so far. Um, this year, as you can see, and I hate to read to readers, but most of the money has gone to utilities um because people are starting to feel the crunch. But what really warms my heart is that we have been able to do some wonderful simple practical things to help keep

some folks going. Um, we were able to help with with phone bills. One of those to help one of our clients maintain their teleaalth connection with their provider that also helped them to stay in compliance with their legal stakeholder. Um, you heard Sarah talk about the weather um that we experienced. We had a substitute teacher from Waysboro City Schools who lost hours because the schools were closed for a week and we were able to help her with food and we were able to help her keep her utilities on um with the loss of those funds. Um we were able to help a young woman who needed a tent after the season ended for the cold weather shelter um so that she could have um something over her head. and we were able to help someone with a storage unit um who was getting ready to move into an apartment. We also play paid the application fee for someone to get their own apartment. But my favorite story of the last quarter is the denture cream. We had a gentleman who was getting ready for a job interview and he didn't have any money to purchase denture cream so that he could have that wonderful smile and make a nice professional presentation. And so we were able to purchase several tubes of denture cream so that he could not just go to that interview and be ready, but stay ready until he was able to get those paychecks going. That is what really means a lot to us. It's those small things that mean so much to people. I'm going to call him back and find out if he got the job. Trust and believe. But but it's important when something like that happens

to be able to meet the need. And so all of us answer the phone when neighbors have a need or have a request, but this city answered the call and you came alongside us and you are helping us to do this important work of keeping our folks going and that's really what one ways is all about. We are one Wesboro. And because you have decided to support us, we are going to keep this going and rock it through as long as we possibly can. And we hope that you will continue to find it important and continue to find it meaningful and the lives that are changed. Something that as a city we don't want to do without. Thank you very much. We are grateful. Thank you. WE HAVE UM I'LL TRY TO top that. Adrian, uh we have a few remarks in conclusion. Um as you can see from everything that we've shared tonight, your funding truly has had a significant and meaningful impact on the programs offered by each of our organizations. and the increased communication among the partners has facilitated stronger collaboration and mutual support. Um, at the same time, the more closely we've worked together, the more we've realized how distinct our programs really are. Um, there is very little overlap in terms of the kind of services that we offered. And so, um, it's been a pleasure to work together and figure out how to dovetail and complement what we do. Um, but we also have an increased appreciation for the things that each of the other partners does because they're things that are not within our own scope. Um, we all expect the level of need to continue increasing

due to a variety of factors that are systemic and are outside of our clients control. And we all believe that this investment from the city is truly contributing to greater stability and well-being for Wsboro residents in need. Um uh we are thinking about possibilities for um partnership between city departments and one waysboro partners. Um one example that came to mind is um as you as you saw Heroes pays a lot of water bills and that money goes to the city and sometimes people have late fees on their account. We would love if we could call and say hey this is Hero. Can you wave those late fees? because that's money coming out of our budget and nobody wants to see our budget reduced unnecessarily. So, um, so that's one suggestion that we have, but I think that, um, if we spent some time brainstorming together, we could probably come up with some other great partnerships. Um, so we we'd love to discuss that. Um, and we also uh want to call to your attention that each of our organizations is engaged in other partnerships in the SAW area. We attend the saw housing workg groupoups. Um and we also attend um the monthly housing supports meetings that uh were previously hosted by by CAPSAW. Um so we see each other a lot. Um but fortunately we like each other so it's not a bad thing. Um and um we also hope that the city will continue to support innovative housing solutions um in the comprehensive planning process to streamline and simplify zoning uh to encourage um ADU cottage adoption and expand diverse housing options. Um so thank you. Um, we all are grateful to you and the taxpayers uh for investing

in our community and supporting our work. And um, those are all of our websites in case you want more information. Thank you so much. Thank you. Well, we thank you all for uh coming this evening and and providing us uh an overview of of the wonderful things that that you all did and your various organizations. We really appreciate it. It's it's always been the desire of this council uh to try to do something for those that are less fortunate in our city and it it seems like uh we may have hit on something here. So, thank you. U I'll open it up for any comments from my colleagues.

I just want to say just for the groups that are represented here today um that we should be the ones applauding you for all the work that you do and what you do for our community. Um we can't thank you enough.

You know, I would just uh one more thought that I I failed to mention at the beginning when we started talking about this a little over a year ago. Um, uh, one of the the visions was to have, uh, Capsaw serve as sort of like the the the the ring leader, right, organization. And shortly after, uh, we were ready to launch into it. Uh, uh, the rug got pulled from underneath us. And um and I uh um I remember when I you know uh I forget who it was initially when I when I uh you know checked in maybe it was Janelle and and and learned uh how frequently this group of leaders have been communicating and partnering irrespective and with the absence of capsaw um they understood the assignment and have just been crushing it. um not because they needed a leader, a centralized leader, but because of their mutual concern and care for the most vulnerable people in our community. And so I'm just truly truly grateful for their uh collective leadership. So thank you.

Centralized goal that need a centralized leader. Yeah. Thank you again. Good. All right. Thank you. Item eight is to receive a presentation of the recommended fiscal year fiscal year 2027 capital investment program. So we'll call on our chief of internal services uh Mr. McCormick.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um go over a couple procedural items first um and then move into kind of the the um high level projects for 2027. We'll do a quick overview of 2028. um a couple of projects that aren't in the capital improvement uh program because they sit in a different fund just to make sure we keep on our radar and then we'll take any questions. So, some some pacing on this in terms of what to expect. Um we sent out a draft to this program I think Friday before last. There's been no substantive changes to the program. I did make some typographical changes throughout the program just to make things consistent. Um but no major changes from the draft we sent out to council about a week and a half ago, about getting close to two weeks ago. Um so tonight the goal will be to get through 2027 and then in June to bring a budget amendment to actually effectuate the 2027 program and then we'll get an endor endorsement on the rest of the program at that time as well. Just as a reminder, um the only only year we can appropriate is the current year 2027. Everything beyond that is fluid. Um, and we'll deal with it when we get to that year. What it helps with is things like, um, when our community development uh, department has grants they want to put in for, we can say that this is a program. We have it planned. We have a plan to um, secure funding or match funding or whatever those needs are for the remaining years after 2027. So 2027 program that says sources, it should say uses. Um the main use for 2027 is the um firetruck replacement fund. Um we have a 2003 uh Pierce truck that is in need of replacement. It takes about two years in order to get those um to get those trucks in. There's about $200,000 left in that fund currently. Recommendation is to take a million dollars of assigned fund balance from the general fund, move it, get it to $1.2 $2 million and go ahead and get the truck on order so that way that we can

get the truck over the next couple of years before the one that's in reserve is completely run out and before the one that's in frontline is no longer suitable to go to reserve. We'll talk a little bit more about firet truck replacements as we um as we go forward into the next couple of years. Hopeman Parkway bridge uh that's the remainder of the state of good repair funds. Uh we also you'll see in 2028 we do have about a million dollars program there in case of a contingency if there is a need. Our hope is that the state of good repair funds will cover that project in its totality, but the way those funds work is if it goes over, it's on the if the bid goes up more than what the grant was given for, it's on the city to match it. We certainly don't want to be in a spot where we can't complete that project. So, we do have some funds programmed just in case if something happens to that doesn't come to fruition. Um, we'll pull that back in and use it for a different project. Um, bridge preservation program. Uh this is a multi-year project um to do some scoping work on our current bridges and then fix a number of bridges. Right now our hope is to that the bipartisan infrastructure grant will cover most of that. Part of the um recommendation that we got was to do some match with that project. So there are some local funds in here when it's all said and done. Um it'll be about it'll be about $15 million in bridge work total over over three or four years. Um, and it'll be $3 million of local funds and $12 million of bipart bipartisan infrastructure grant funds. One thing to keep in mind is if we don't get those funds, what we would probably pivot to is a revenue sharing application where we take $3 million of local funds and then try to get $3 million of revenue sharing with that and do $6 million of bridge work. Um, skipping down to the east main streetscape, that's the rest of the um, initial um, smart scale funds and then we'll start to work through how we match the revenue sharing and the remainder of the local costs I believe in 2028 or 2029. Um, transit access project that is funded

um, mostly through DRPT funds with a little bit of local match. the community vitality fund. That's um the this is the um infrastructure or the capital piece of the $300,000. It's $300,000 total, $200,000 capital improvement fund, $100,000 in the general fund for the um projects that were just spoke about in the previous uh in the most recent presentation or presentation previous to mine. Um the $200,000 I do have program currently as recurring funds from the general fund. We'll talk about that a little bit as we get on to the next slide that talks about the uses. I'll highlight that. Nature's Crossing and Technology Center. Um that number is comprised of the rest of the business ready sites grant that we've received. And then also the $520,000 in recurring funds that we've been sending to the CIP fund that once we figure out how much grant funding we're getting versus how much we're going to have to borrow, that'll convert over into a transfer to the debt fund to cover any debt that's needed from that project. Um, and then building and mechanical upgrades. And I'm sorry that's a little bit vague because I cut off on the on this piece on your sheet of the CIP. Um, it's uh specific to uh the library as the department start the work in the library. We think that's enough funding to go ahead and get the bids on the street to start to work through um the HVAC and the lighting and ceiling tiles repairs. If we need any more um we can circle back and work on that once the ACE is done. If we don't need quite that much, we can, similar to the um open parkway bridge, if we have any left over, we can slide it into another um CIP account. So that totals 15 $15,959,000. And then the next is the sources. Um, not going to go through all of those, but the two that I would draw your attention to or where I the places I would draw your attention to is everything under the transportation alternative grant and those assigned reserves are items that staff has identified during the audit process. The

council has expressed interest in that we set money aside for for a number of years to be able to have in the general fund. The important distinction is that as staff, we have authority to assign items we don't don't have authority to appropriate. So, what we'll be asking you to do is appropriate those funds once we get to that point. Um, and then as you get down to the funds from the operating budget, that's the recurring transfer um from the general fund to the CIP fund. Uh, something to note on that, as soon as that Nature's Crossing debt payment hits, that will immediately reduce to $200,000 in recurring funds every year. And then the balances needed from local funding ended up being $76,000 this year. The rest of the remaining unassigned fund amounts from last year will go towards the small cap items that we'll talk about at a future meeting. And so the total uses or I'm total sorry the total sources totals to $15,959,000. So it balances um a couple of things 2028 and beyond. Um, we've talked for a couple of years about the need to start to develop um, some funds just in the regular budget to transfer to the CIP to catch recurring projects. And I think the number that I've generally thrown out is around $600,000. And so, as I was working through the firetruck replacement, um, this caught my eye. So, six apparatuses is what we have currently. We have two frontline engines, two reserve engines, a ladder truck, and an ambulance. The hope is that you move the two front line two frontline engines to reserves after 10 years and then you surplus them after 20. And then the ladder truck is about a 20-year useful life. The ambulance, depending on how much we run it, is 15 years. So if you take all those balances and you replace them on that schedule, it averages about $490,000 per year. Um so we may want to look at as we start to see um if your meals taxes start to come in closer to the uh or you me sales real estate if all of those items stop start to come in closer to the budget

estimates or if we start to see less um vacancy savings because we're starting to see better retention rates at some point we're going to need to circle back and say okay that's going to cut off the source that we've generally used for our CIP process um and we need to fund that out of recurring funds to make this a little bit more stable not something that we need to deal with during the current year but probably something you'll start to see us hit more and more as we get into 2028 2029 um greenway phase four we think that project's getting ready to go to bid um in the in the pretty near future. Um we estimate that there is going to be a gap there. You'll see that in 2028. Um you may see us, if VOTE partners with us on that and gives more transportation alternative grants for that, pull that project back into 2027 once those grant funds are actually received um and appropriate at that time. And then um a couple of just various grants that you might see. The example that I generally use is um there are some grant there are some projects in your unplanned unfunded section that have grants attached to them. If we were to get those grants, you might see those projects come back and be appropriated during the 2027 uh fiscal year. The most common example that I use is the basic city um bathroom grant. So we had had that project in on plan unfunded parks and recck found a grant that I think was 5050 at the time. Council said, "Yeah, we'd like to take advantage of that opportunity." All of a sudden grant became funded. We pulled it back and um placed it in the 2025 or 2026 CIP. You have an Eflap grant out there for um and I'll just give you a couple examples. Um you have an EFlap grant potentially hanging out there for the Cros Tunnel Connection Trail. Um Rosenwall Community Center elevator has a grant application pending and then I believe the those are the only two that I see. So, you could see those two get pulled back um into next year if we were to get those grants and make a recommendation to go ahead and fund those. Um, a couple of projects that you either only see part of or don't see any of in

this plan is your high school project. That's the high school project is not in this plan because it is fully in the bond fund. We do have a plan to fund it and how to get through that project, but just want to make everybody aware of that project. Obviously, a very big capital investment that is on the radar and the plan debt debt issuance is in 2027. You just don't see it here because it's in a different fund. And then you don't see the totality of the NCTC project in this because we don't know how much we're how much exactly we're going to have to borrow that's pending some news on grants. And so that's all I have prepared on the CIP plan. Again, our plan our um plan as staff would to be be to bring this back with a um appropriate with a formal appropriation ordinance um and a public hearing probably at the second meeting in May or the first meeting in June. Um and then obviously if council has any questions wouldn't ask you to weigh in on it now because I know that just gotten a lot of this information but if you have questions feel free to ask them now or email them to us and we'll address them as we go.

No. So the the is the intent still to do one borrowing as it pertains to the high school and the NCTC.

So we have um and there's actually another borrowing that that goes into that the Shando Village drive pump station. Our hope would be that all three of those projects hit at the same time and we can do one borrowing that we have one issuance cost on. What I would say is um the savings that you get on is on issuance um isn't enough to necessarily delay the project if there's big gaps. So let's say you've got enough cash flow to get through large portions of the high school project and float it until um um say January or February. I wouldn't rush to borrow if say the Shenro Village Drive pump station comes up and you've got to do it right then. But if they all hit at the same time, NCTC, Shandar Village Drive and um uh the high school project, if they hit at the same time and it works, I would say go ahead and borrow. Um at the same time, if you can spend the money down quickly enough, you don't want to be paying interest on those funds for any longer than what you have to. Um but if that that would be the hope and the intent because it's easier on staff and it's easier on bond council, but if it doesn't work out that way, we'll stagger them over the year.

Okay. Thanks. Yes, sir. Any questions for them? Thank you, sir. Item nine is to hold a public hearing and consider introducing an ordinance imposing taxes for calendar year 2026. Mr. H.

Yes, sir. I'm going to offer brief remarks that um will provide an introduction to the next three items related to the budget. Um quick first item is uh to touch on some key dates as a reminder to um where we are in the process. So this evening you're asked to um thank you. Um you're asked to hold a public hearing and introduce the ordinances related to tax rate, utility fees, and the expenditure side of the budget. On May 4th, uh we have a budget work session scheduled again to continue our conversation and confirm um alignment. And um if that's necessary and then May 11th, we're prepared to do so. Council would be asked to offer final consideration and adopt the ordinances related to the budget. Cameron, as Cameron mentioned, we have a couple then CIP um items as we round out the current fiscal year. Next slide. So, in the general fund, um, just as a very high level reminder, uh, the recommended budget in the general fund is 77.3 million. It's a $4.9 million increase over the current fiscal year. As a percentage, it's roughly 7%. And of note, um, I think this evening is the fact that the budget is recommended, uh, and based on a 5 cent real estate tax increase. All the other tax tax uh rates remain the same in the enterprise. Well, actually, let me pause there for a second. Can you go back one? In terms of um just organizing thoughts around the budget, it's important to keep in mind that u the general fund uh pays for public

education, public safety, public works administration, engineering, and streets. our community development functions, internal services, courts, judicial services, recreation and cultural departments and expenditures, human services which include the health department and valley community services board among others. Um and then so those services and investments are broken out and covered as I said in the general fund. Those items which are not in the general fund and retain their own sort of distinct functional budgets, sources of revenue and expenditure plans include um what we call enterprise or utility funds, more specifically the water, sewer, refues and storm water. We have a couple of other um smaller funds such as the fleet fund, office on youth. Um but those are the big funds that uh reflect the work of the local government as most people um residents think about it. The current budget is essentially a a current level of service or the recommended budget is a current level of service um with a couple of distinct um exceptions to that. One is a recommended uh communications position. Um I think generally the budget responds to priorities identified by the council. Um and when we talk about alignment, we're seeking to confirm that um the plan of expenditure aligns with the council's priorities and preferences. And the same question about alignment also applies to um the revenue plan and the tax rate recommendations. I would say that in terms of that 5 cent real estate tax rate increase, um that's associated with additional investment in the Waysboro High School project. In fact, three cents of that 5- cent increase are dedicated to anticipated fund um to fund debt service. Um I referenced the communication position. Um new elements of this budget include

continued work um in terms of scale adjustment and employee compensation. I think we've talked about in recent meetings um the improvement that we've seen in terms of retention rates and how that translates into um better performance, better service in terms especially in terms of um the work that you see in public works, snow removal, utility repair and also in public safety. I think we've talked a little bit about improvement in service in the police department and I think Chief Holloway offered a couple examples of how um stability in his staffing and the new staffing that the council approved last year have really stabilized and improved service delivery there. Additionally, um the community vitality fund is offered um as a dedicated penny again this year with ongoing and recurring um funding. I think it's important to note um that the recommendation for funding for Waysport Public Schools is based on the current funding formula. Um and that as Mr. McCormack alluded to, the anticipated high school project um ultimately will be the largest capital investment by the city. So good support for good ongoing support for public education in our community. Next slide. enterprise funds. So, uh we are recommending 5% increases in water rates and sewer rates and a $2 per month increase in refuge rates. Um these are impacted by the need to invest in infrastructure, service delivery infrastructure in both water and sewer systems. Um that largely refers to collection and distribution infrastructure or pipes in the ground. um supporting pump stations and ancillary um facilities such as that and then ongoing maintenance of treat

treatment facilities. Um in terms of uh the refuge fund and the needs at the regional landfill, um there are the rate increase there is driven primarily by capital equipment and rolling stock, the need to replace or establish ongoing replacement for our collection vehicles and support our effort at the regional landfield. Um there is inflationary pressure on all four um utility funds and um compensation improvements as I referred to in the general fund apply here as well. That's all I have in terms of introduction. Again, that presentation will cover the next three budget items.

Thank you, Mr. H. Yes, sir. Any questions from council? I hereby open the public hearing. So, the first public hearing, this is item nine, is on taxes. And let me make sure I'm correct here. Yeah. And then yes. So, item nine, taxes. First speaker, um, Mary McDermott.

I'm back. I'm a senior citizen, so I need to go to bed early tonight. The Go Virginia Region 8 board is meeting tomorrow in Winchester in the morning, and I need to get up early and drive. My experience with Go Virginia has taught me that cities and counties throughout Virginia fiercely compete to get businesses to locate in their areas. Our schools are closely tied to economic development. Good schools are key to attracting new businesses and Wesboro falls short. But it's not just economic development. We have a moral responsibility to the children in Wesboro. I told you last time about our daughter who joined our family through adoption. She graduated from the Governor's School, UVA, and then Stanford Law School. We've got kids in our schools with that same potential, and we need to help them realize those dreams. On the other hand, our older daughter Jane got bulli bullied at Kate Collins. Some girls slammed Jane's head against lockers. They slapped her in the face and they spit on her. I met with the assistant principal. It was clear to me that the woman meant well, but was overwhelmed. We got Jane out of there and sent her to Steuart Hall. Most parents don't have the means to do that. You must give our schools the resources they need to focus on all our students and make our schools great. We have a formula that we've used for 20 years to fund the schools. If you honor that formula, I'm fine with a tax increase. If not, I don't want to give you my 87 cents. And Mr. H debt service does not

constitute a resource for the children of our schools and so please don't buy that argument. Thank you

Laura Rian. Good evening. My name is Laura Rian. and I live on Village Drive in the city of Wesboro. I speak tonight as a Waysboro property owner, a local teacher, and a member of the Waysboro Education Association. And I would like to ask you to support Mr. Ham's proposed property tax rate of 87 cents. My husband and I did a little math over dinner tonight before I came here. This number represents a 5 cent increase and that would amount for us estimating high um to an extra $228 per year. We pay our taxes into an escrow fund with our mortgage. So we are looking at less than $20 increase a month. We agreed, which we don't always do. Nobrainer. Totally worth it. A year ago, I spoke to you on this same topic. I said then that like every property owner I've ever met, I did not really want to pay more in taxes. However, as a citizen of this community, I believed and continue to believe it is important to tell you how critical it is for this city to pay for the services we need. My top priority was and is our public schools. You chose a year ago to set the tax rate at 82 cents, 7 cents below Mr. Ham's requested level. Then astonishingly, you proposed that a way to find more revenue for the city needs was to take it from the school budget by capping the funding formula that had been in place for 20 years. I hope that you have heard and absorbed the message from citizens over the last two or three months that this is not whatsboro residents support. In all of the public comment about that proposed cap, I didn't hear a single person say they supported it. Instead, I heard

multiple reasons why continued support of our public schools is crucial to the vitality of this community. Please don't take that to mean that I don't want adequate funding for our other public services. According to the current budget proposal, funds for our city services must be increased to fully and fairly staff those departments. Either we pay them a fair wage in Wesboro or our citizens who work as public servants easily drive to those nearby communities that will pay them more. I understand that you are not magicians. Your options are limited. But one option is to ask the citizens of Wesborough to bear the cost of the services we need as a community rather than putting the burden disproportionately on the school system. Whether our citizens currently have children in schools or not, it is to everyone's benefit for our kids to be not just properly educated, but to receive the robust education that is necessary for thriving in today's world. Let me say that again. This is not just in the interest of our children or young families. It is for the benefit of every single person who lives in this city. I don't like higher taxes. As far as I know, nobody does. It is still the right thing to do to lift this community above barebones budgeting in order to pay for the services that all of us need and want. Police, fire, first aid, trash collection, roads, parks, library, aid to neighbors in need, and schools. I strongly believe that we must pay our employees a fair wage. It is important to educate our kids in school buildings that meet the needs they face in 2026. Do not set the tax rate at a barebones level. We need a tax rate that is sufficient to fund schools, human resources, public safety, and capital needs, and to fulfill the commitments and vision the city council has already planned and promised for this community.

Thank you. Thank you,

Tom Manal. Good evening. Uh Tom Manaval. I live at 145 Huntington Place in Ward D. Um I'm here to speak about the proposed tax rate on my home's value, but I have a problem. I don't know what you intend to do with the funds. Um currently the tax rate by funding agreement is a key component to the funding of Waysboro Public Schools. And if you care about schools, you care, you should care about the tax rate. Um, but we can think of the tax rate along with the funding formula as a child's education savings account because the formula has a two-year delay. Every year you set a rate, you make a deposit. Two years later, our children's schools receive it. Two years ago, the tax rate was delivered a relatively small, modest 2.7% increase, showing up in this year's council budget and school budget. Nobody complained. Last year's increase to the budget or excuse me, to the tax rate was the single largest revenue jump in at least 25 years. at last year's uh deposit um was last year's deposit to support our kids' education. Our children's schools should see it in fiscal year 2028. Tonight's discussion about rate levels should hit fiscal year 20279. It's pretty forwardlooking, but the formula has been the word of this council and the school board for over 20 years. Taxpayers accepted last year's historic increase, trusting that word. Parents trusted it. We all did. But then four months ago, you said the old formula didn't matter anymore and that the school funding should be capped at 3%.

People who understood the math were shocked. Parents were quite dismayed. Taxpayers like me felt deceived. So, we have shown up here every two weeks for the past three months. We have done the analysis. We have shared our homework with you. We have been polite so far and we've asked what's the plan, but we haven't heard an answer and it seems like you're trying to run out the clock before setting the tax rate for 2000 for the next two years. Now, you have promised that you wouldn't hurt the kids, but would you cheat them? Would you take money from that that was set aside for them? Or at least we set aside as taxpayers last this past year. We set it aside assuming the kids would be getting it. So my question is simple. Will you keep your word? Will you honor the commitment and share the revenue generated by the rate increase if any and let let alone last year's rate increase? Now with the formula intact, I fully support the 87 cents that is proposed by the city manager. I want to see continue to grow. I want it to be better. But with the cap, to be honest, I support something much less. Look at what the math would be to make you live through the austere world that you think the schools would have no trouble living with. You could find that number under 80 cents. So the community needs to know, will you be honoring the promised for investments in the next year and in the following year or should we find some people who will? Thank you.

William Cromwell. Uh, Cherrett Benship or Ben Bishop or I'm sorry, I'm missing that. Sheret or Chariot Benhop. I'm There we go. Oh, okay. I'm sorry.

Hi. So, I guess going to be pretty hated here because I'm going to oppose these taxes. Um, I don't mind it if I can live in the city safely. safely just Monday. I live over on the wrong side of track apparently off of 340 and I was walking to DuPont around the Speedway or whatever gas station and across from Danny's is a like a new complex going up or whatever building going up and a gentleman was there and he was in the middle of the road playing with sticks. Hm. Kind of funny. Then I noticed him getting up and talking to himself. So I crossed the street playing leap frog trying to cross the street. There are no crosswalks in this town. Well, there are crosswalks. There's no lights to say walk, don't walk. And so you're playing leaprog all over this town. It's dangerous. But I had to walk across the street and this gentleman followed me. And I had to go into Goodyear and I had to run to the bank. I mean, it's dangerous. It's seriously dangerous. I can't go to the park on the north side because once you go in past the park, you go into a wooded area and a man jumped out at me. It's not safe. So, let's put some safety into Wsboro. You want to raise the taxes? Give me something. Give me some safety. Put some crosswalks in with lights. Going down 340 trying to cross 340. It's impossible to even get to North Street and to the North Park. You're playing leapfrog. You got a new restaurant down there. You're playing leapfrog. Trying to cross 340 is impossible.

It's so dangerous. So, put some crosswalks in there. Get some safety officers down in the parkway into the greenways. Have them patrolling the areas. Let us be safe. It's dangerous. So, raise my taxes, fine, but give me something in return. That's all I'm asking. Sheila Lily. Good evening. I live at 649 Walnut Avenue. I am here to oppose the tax increase. We moved to We bought our house on Walnut about 5 years ago and the taxes just keep going up and up. That is the house that when we moved here from California and I first saw it, I thought, I've got to live in that house someday and I'm going to die in that house someday. I will never move, but I don't want it to become so that it's unaffordable for me because of the taxes. I retired recently. My husband is looking at retiring in the next few years and we want to be able to stay in that house in our retirement, but if the taxes keep going up, we can't afford that. We're also landlords and last year we paid over $14,000 in property taxes on our house and on our rental properties. That's absurd. That is a lot of money. a lot of our percent of our income. We saw that um presentation on the community vitality fund tonight and they're worried about

providing for their people, the citizens of our city and trying to give them money when they don't have can't afford their rent, can't afford their water, can't afford their, you know, whatever. But we're going to keep raising taxes. that's going to keep raising their rent. That's going to cause more problems for them not being able to pay their rent because the the landlords have to raise the rent in order to cover the property taxes. So, it's a vicious cycle. Then the you'll have to raise our taxes to cover what we have to do to help the other people. If we stop raising the taxes like that, we will be able to help the people when they need it and they won't be in such a bind all the time. Um, we have all this new building going on, lots of new houses. We see them everywhere all the time. Why are we not getting new tax money from those that are making up the difference? Also, lots of businesses coming in. We have Northrup Grumman. Are they not bringing in tax money? other new businesses coming in. What's happening with those? Are we not getting tax money from those that are going to help boost our budget? I just ask that you think about those things. I looked up the um rate that Social Security went up this past time, 2.8%. How are the people on social security going to be able to pay with all of the um things going up, the groceries and gasoline and everything else? And now taxes. What happens to those people who are on a fixed income? 2.8% raise is not going to cover all of the new expenses. So I ask you to consider and not raise our taxes. Thank you.

So no one else has signed up to speak on the tax rate. I hereby close the public hearing. Is there a motion to introduce the ordinance? So moved. Thank you, Mr. Short. Is there a second? I second.

Thank you, Mr. Comey. Is there any discussion? The ordinances related to the budget will receive final consideration at the May 11th regular business meeting. Item 10 is to hold a public hearing and consider introducing an ordinance amending section 66-3 C 66-3F 86-28A and 86-139A of the city code utilities. Mr. H. Yes, sir. Miss Ellen O' Hanland. What's

Oh, I'm sorry. You I'm You need to open the public. open the public. You're fine. You can come forward. You're good now. You're good. Good afternoon. Um I don't have a prepared speech. I just want to say it was nice seeing what hero and one ways does. One thing is I want to ask you in raising these utilities. If you noticed a lot of their help to other people are the utilities.

Let's just stop at that. 5% across the board is way too much. You know, I have tenants that can't afford it and, you know, they're trying to double up. They're putting theirelves in serious harm's way because they can't pay the water bills. It needs to stop somewhere and it needs to stop with you all. Uh, Charlotte Benh. I got it. I'm getting better.

You're getting better at it. It's okay. Um, so I just want to bring up a point to you about this. And I noticed this a couple of years ago. I've been here for about eight years now. And I called and I was like, "Hey, my bill went up. What's going on?" And she explained to me. She says, "This is an everyday every year thing." So I was quite surprised when I saw it in the budget this year. And then I started thinking about it. I was like, well, my trash gets picked up. My can gets thrown into my car. I have it on a ring. I reported it. It's thrown in the middle of the street, on the side. I Where's my service? I'm just going to say that. Things got to get better. So, I'm going to continue to say this. You guys have this dream budget. start taking things and cutting them. Stop taking out of our pockets because you know what? I'm going to be one of those people that's going to be asking Harrow and everybody else in Wesboro to assist me. I'm one person. One person trying to own a home. I'm going to lose that home if you keep raising it. Think about that. One person trying to live, trying to work and make it. And I'm barely making it. I hereby close the public hearing. Is there a motion to introduce the ordinance?

So moved. Thank you, Mr. Short. Is there a second? A second. Thank you, Mr. Tommy. Is there any discussion? This would receive final consideration. Yep. Consideration at the May 11th meeting. Item 11 is to hold a public hearing to consider introducing ordinance for the annual budget for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 2027. Mr. H. So, no one has signed up to speak.

I hereby open the public hearing and I hereby close the public hearing. Is there a motion to introduce the ordinance? So moved. Is there a second? I second. Thank you, Mr. Thank you, Mr. Thank you, Mr. This ordinance related to this budget will receive final consideration at the May 11th regular uh meeting. Item 12 is to consider introducing an ordinance amending the fis fiscal year 2026 budget in the amount of 3 million512,692. Mr. McCormick.

Thank you, Mayor Lee. So, switching gears back to the 2026 budget. Um, a couple of procedural items. Generally, we would have had the public hearing this evening for this item, but um, we couldn't get it prepped quite in time to get the ad to the paper. So, we'll have the public hearing at the next meeting. So the intent this evening would just be to introduce second um and have any discussion that council wishes and then we can have public hearing and adopt if that's need council desires. So the main pieces of this um budget amendment are $3,512,692 $1,472,000 of that is from restricted fund balance in the general fund appropriated to the general fund for paving. Um over the last couple of years, um public works has gone through some efforts to decrease the cost of paving overall and then work on um making those funds go a little bit further. So we've had a little bit of a surplus at the end of each year from the highway um maintenance reserve. The plan is to use those funds. We've been working on um getting curbs, gutters, and things like that prepared so they'll be ADA compliant and then pave more streets in the um coming year. So that was that's what the $1,478,000 is for. We also have um $925,000 of grants in the sewer fund as well as two as well as $220,000 of net position in the sewer fund. That's for ongoing um cleaning INI um inflow and infiltration inspection services. Um and then we the final large piece of this amendment is um some schoolboard appropriations in the amount of $668,000. That's for grants they've received throughout the year, title one 6b carryover, things like that that they're trying to spend down as we get towards the end of the fiscal year. um as well as a couple of uses of fund balance. So, if council has any questions about the details of this um if I can answer them now, I'd be happy to. If not, I can answer them at the

Any questions? Is there a motion to introduce the ordinance? I'll make the motion. Thank you, Mrs. Slow. Is there a second? Second.

Thank you, Mr. Wood. Any discussion? This ordinance will receive final consideration at the May 11th regular business meeting. Item 13 is to hold a public hearing, a public needs hearing in the preparation for the city's fiscal year 2026 annual action plan for its community development block grant is the middle. Miss Tate um good evening uh mayor and members of council. So, this is a requirement of the community development block grant program that the city hold a public needs hearing in preparation for um allocating the funds um for our 2026 annual action plan. So, the purpose of tonight in the public hearing is to talk through priority goals and eligible activities for the program, to provide an overview of what funding we expect to receive for fiscal year 2026, evaluate past performance for the community development block grant program, and then really allow citizens to provide input on housing and community development needs for Wesboro. Um, and this will provide information on the next steps in the action plan and process so we can talk through what to expect after tonight's public needs hearing. So, just a brief overview of the community development block grant program. It was established in 1974 by the Housing and Community Development Act. It's administered by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. And the purpose is to meet priority housing and community development needs specifically of low and moderate income persons. and you can use these funds for a variety of eligible projects. Um, so as you'll remember, we completed our 2024 2028 consolidated plan in 2024 and that involved stakeholder consultation, a housing market and analysis, housing and homeless needs assessment and worked through what are the priority goals of the program going to be over the next five years. The goals that came out of that plan were improve access to and quality of

housing, provide public services, improve public facilities and infrastructure. The planning and admin just gets included if you're ever to spend any part of your grant on administration. We've moved away from that in past program years, but it needs to be listed as a goal if you were ever to do that. So, this I'm not going to read all these to you. It just covers some of the eligible activities. Um, these are very simplified. Um, and I will just point out the complexity of this program and the complexity to run this program. And so, while you may be able to find something that you can spend those funds on, it's really making sure you spend them in a timely manner and they're allocated and really spent within the year. And that that can be tricky. So, um, any project using CDBG funds needs to meet one of three national objectives. So, it needs to be some kind of urgent need, often in some kind of crisis, prevent or eliminate blight. And there's a percentage amount that your grant can be spent on that, but the way that we typically spend our grants is that they benefit low to moderate income persons. So, just a brief overview of past program performance. So, for the 2024 program year, we funded four different activities. an ADA accessible pedestrian crossing and a new ADA accessible ramp and sidewalk to the Rosenwald Community Center entrance. Um through renewing homes of Greater Augusta, um critical home repair for three homes, including roof replacements, an HVAC upgrade and radon mitigation system. We provided emergency utility and rent payments to help prevent utility shut off and evictions through Life Works and Hero, and also case management services to support housing stability with Warm. and we are required to report those accomplishments to HUD um in our caper at the end of every year. Um we also

have a prior year project that's currently underway and it is land acquisition to support the development of the Alustin Court low-income housing tax credit project. So um we're on track for hopefully when that property closes um that'll be a significant portion of that funding that was allocated in a prior program year to help purchase on that property. So, what do we get for this next round? Um, for the 2026 program year, we will get 163,822 is what we um anticipate. Um, or actually, I think the funding has already been officially announced for that that number. So, that's what we're working with. So, timeline and next steps for allocating that amount. Um, on May 22nd, uh, we'll have the draft plan and notification of a public hearing will be posted. From June 1st to July 1st, we'll have a 30-day public comment period. Um, June 8th, we'll have a public hearing on the draft plan and the proposed activities. July 13th, city council would review and approve the plan, and that falls in line for us to be able to submit the plan um to HUD by the August 14th deadline. And then our our um program year begins October 1st. So during the open comment period um citizens can send comments to our community development department um through email can come in and talk with us or give us a phone call. Um and then tonight's public hearing is really kind of just to hear about community needs and desires prior to us really starting to draft the plan for that funding. and I'd be happy to answer any questions if you have any

questions. In terms of schedule, um, if you wouldn't mind on the previous slide, is there a way that we can merge the June 8th and July 13th uh, and do those at the same meeting? I don't believe so, but I can certainly check if it's a possibility. It's just I know in the the past I don't know if there's any legal reason to prevent us from having a public hearing and then asking council to then take action on it in the same Yeah. And you I I think it's just a requirement that we have a public hearing during the time frame of the 30-day public comment period.

So yes, it probably would be possible for us to do that on the ETH. And even if the if the if the approval of the plan was contingent upon no further public comment, right? Right. Yeah. That extent for that total comment period for the 30-day. But I'm happy to ask the question. Thank you. I hereby open the public hearing.

No one has signed up to speak, sir. I hereby close the public hearing. No action is requested or required this evening. Item 14 is to consider introducing an ordinance amending the zoning map and approving requested associated amendments of propers for tax m tax numbers 31-1-18 31-1-108B and 32-2-1B located at 04 drive and 04 road known as the silver silver creek subdivision applicant wells land development ll LC. Mr. H.

Yes, sir. Uh, before I offer very brief introductory remarks, I need to uh correct an item or bring council's attention to the need to correct an item. At the previous meeting during the public hearing, the applicant had intended to speak but did not sign up to do so and for that reason was not called on to speak. Had a conversation with council and um Miss Michaelelsson believes that that's a we should correct that opportunity. So after I've um offered again brief introductory remarks, I think we should offer the applicant the opportunity to speak and then council can deliberate about how we move forward. So um again this item was considered by the uh planning commission in March and by a vote of 4 to three the planning commission voted to approve the applicants um application eliminating the existing profers established in the mid 2000s 2005 2006 I believe um with one sort of modification and that had to do with the completion of an emergency access road and that modification. Um the applicant profered that the access road connection to Bookerdale would be constructed um prior to the final platting of the 31st lot. Then um at our most recent regular business meeting, April 13th, the council had a public hearing um determined to table the matter and assign staff to return to the applicant for conversation regarding architectural guidelines and road connection. um based on market conditions and changes in those conditions since the original profers were made in 2006. Um I'm here to report to you that the applicant does not wish to profer any architectural standards and we don't have anything new to report in terms of

uh transportation system improvements. So that is my those are my introductory remarks. I think if you have technical questions, Miss Tate can obviously deal with those better than I can. And I think our next step would be to um if the council's inclined to do so, give the applicant opportunity to speak for four minutes. I'm fine with that. Sure.

If the applicant is here and wishes to speak, if the applicant does not wish to speak, we can move on. Good evening. Um, my name is Bill Moore with Westwood Professional Services. We're um, engineering counsel for the applicant. Um, unfortunate that what happened last time, but we're happy they got corrected now. So, uh, I'm here just to answer any technical questions the council might have. And then with me is Mr. Julian Wells, the applicant himself. Uh my name is Julian Wells. Um owner of Wells Land Development. Um I share the same thing as um as Bill. Um I wish I would have been afforded the opportunity to speak last time. Um we have we're bringing um I guess you know I have a 100 lot subdivision that we're looking at trying to get the zoning um and profers approved for tonight. Um and um sorry I'm just trying to go through through some of these things. So um just hoping that we we're able to get approval. Um at this point we have been working on this project for probably I think somewhere around three years down at this at this time. Um we have uh met with um uh planning and and had you know we've went through a whole lot of different things with the road study um with looking at um um a lot of the things and and everything that the city has has kind of looked for or or uh uh for you know for the profers and stuff like that and we have um offered profers in concession for what was previously there. So that's pretty much all I have at this moment.

Any questions for the applicant? No question for that. Oh, I had a question. Yes. So when um the profers that were already in place, at what at what threshold in those in that profer would the connection um to Bookerdale have to be paid? Um so it didn't necessarily say that within the profers. Um what it said is that the connector road uh must be constructed or bonded pri prior to final plot or approval uh at any lot beyond 61.

Okay. So at the 62nd lot the the connector road to Bookerdale would have had to be prior to the sale of the 61st lot. And in the pros you are putting forward, you would be building the emergency access road, the the emergency access only road at the completion of the 31st new lot. That is correct. Yes.

Um the initial contractor that started the development obviously had intended through um the profers to build to completion. What allocation per parcel do you think that that would be to the value of the constructed road that's going to have to be built?

I mean, what what was profered previously was for the road to be constructed. It didn't say if it was a u for a fire truck or or uh f first a truck or whatever else. um it said to be constructed or to be bonded, you know, so one or the other past that 61 lot. So, you know, for for it to be constructed, that that's where I'm, you know, trying to make sure. Yeah. No. So, my my question is not for the So, after the 31st lot, the emergency temporary road for emergency emergency secondary access will have to be put in at the in the current new prof.

Yes. the previous profers would have had the completed road having to be put in after the 61st lot, right? It it it says constructed or bonded. So So it doesn't necessarily say that that road had to be put in. It said it could have could be bonded at that point past the 61 lot. That's where I'm that's where I'm lost. and the original propert.

Um, that means basically the developer could either build the road or have a performance bond in the amount of the construction of the road to secure that eventually the road would be built. Okay, that's that's what I was getting at, which is that um that would be the point at which you would be vested in the road and not

for example, I know the concerns are that you would finish the third phase and then just stop and then at some point somebody may want to buy the prop the remainder of the property. Um but at that point, you know, it wouldn't really be feasible because they would have to build the, you know, build a road on a sale of, you know, 20 houses.

Yeah. Yeah. Not not true because by the six, you know, by that point in time, by that third phase, majority of the infrastructure would be put in at that point, you know, so the road, you know, would have to be kind of finalized. A lot of times even within the public works and stuff when you're going to actually plan per you know for the permitting they're going to at that point say hey we want the road connected at this point you know the same thing with the fire department and everything we went back and forth at the planning commission um when we had the meetings there uh with you know when that road for the apparatus was going to be done um and you know within the fire code it says that it has to be done past the 30th lot you know so it's the same you know Same thing there. You know, before plans are are actually approved at that point, they're going to say, "Hey, this this has to be constructed at this period of time

as a as an emergency access service road." Um, so so right now we would have to uh have that road done with, you know, at the 30th lot, you know, as an emergency as the emergency, but I'm saying once we Yes. But I'm saying once we go to the um permitting phase, they're you know they're going to come back and say, "Hey, we're we need this road connection at that point." Or fire department could come back at that point and say, "Hey, we need connection at this point as well."

Well, I think it's established that after the 31st lot, the road would be a service emergency access nonpublic street. So let me just call it that a nonpublic access road would be constructed. That is true. Yes. Okay. And so the distinction here is then after lot 61 Mhm. there is no condition there is no requirement for uh for either you or subsequent owner to construct a public access road beyond unit 61. Correct. Correct.

Okay. And so whereas um I think to to my colleagueu's point of when you get to pass uh uh phase three 61 is encumbered within phase three meaning that you could stop at phase three and phase 4 never gets built and it has there's no marketability or land value in it because the only person that's going to be able to to build it would have to sell would have to yield an incredible profit margin on that final phase of the development to facilitate a public road. Who else is going to build a public road?

So, so you know, a lot of the other subdivisions and stuff like that, I would say even for example, Anamarie, they they have one outlet. This subdivision actually has two current uh outlets at this at this point in time, you know, to be able to get out as well. Um to but to I'm sorry, but to a collector, right? So those go out to collectors.

Yes, I understand that. But but even if it's at the third phase and say it's at 60 lot, there's still 40 lots left. You know, it's still more than enough lots in order to to construct the road and stuff like that. Like if you know, us putting the temporary road in for the the fire truck and stuff to be able to come in or the first aid uh for them to be able to have access. At some point, the road's going to have to be completed at some point. The the issue is is that there is a water line that is down on the Bookerdale side that has to be brought up. If if that road is put in too quickly, that road has to be tore back up in in order for that water service and everything for the fire flow uh to come back in and and to basically to be able to be connected, you know. So, that that that's where some of the issue is right now when trying to figure out when that road connection is made. Um, I know the one for Greenwood Homes, they just opened that up and I know they probably built over a hund and some homes at this point in in that subdivision, you know, and they had one outlet out as well. They had it out beside Buffalo Wild Wings, you know, but that access just became available as of just a few days ago, you know. So, so, you know, to to say that basically at 50 50 lots that the road has to be put in or at 40 lots, you know, the other portion of the subdivision and stuff would need to be built. the same thing you're saying if somebody comes in there at 40 lots, you know, and and they're having to put a major road in. It's the same thing if I only build 40 lots, right? It's still a big, you know, it's cumbersome at that point, especially with the water line that has to come in on the back section, you know? So, that that's the whole issue. Um, and I mentioned this at the planning commission as well. Um, that, you know, we I would love to come in on Bookerdale side, you know, but it is, you know, going to be too costly on doing so. You know, we talk about affordability, you know, and that's all I hear everybody preach is is this needs to be affordable and that needs to be affordable, right? But when we're putting these extra standards on the developer that's trying to do the right thing and trying to make

things happen, that doesn't lessen the burden on the citizens, you know, that doesn't make it easier on them as well, you know. So again, you know, with having to make that connection with that waterline and bringing that back up, that's what makes it a little bit too difficult until we get into plans to be able to figure out when when we do uh when we are able to make that connection at that point, you know, or bring that water line up and bring it into the back of the of of the subdivision. I I I appreciate it and I I think you that's that's answered questions uh that I had relative to that. Um, I think you know what I think what you just shared of it would be very costly to connect to Bookerdale. Yes.

As um I think uh one of my continued concerns about never seeing a public road to Bookerell um as a consequence to it because it's saved to the end um with um one of the smallest if not the smallest if I recall correctly I could be wrong but the the smallest of the yield um is in phase four. So, in terms of revenue generated,

I I don't know with it being a 4-3 vote and and we've talked and you I think you know where I'm at, but with a 4-3 vote with the planning commission and still the discussion we've had tonight, I don't think it's a bad idea to hold it over to the next meeting to so we can make sure that everybody's clear and everybody's happy with the decision that we've come to. I would I would offer the opportunity to table it once again until we get those answers cleared up. Yeah. I mean, I would certainly like to an opportunity to I want to do this right colleagues. Yeah. Do it right for everybody involved.

So, my vote um as council rep to the planning commission was a no uh based on my concern for emergency access. And so, my concern has been resolved. Um I just want to put that out there. But I'm not opposed to the table if that's what council desires. So there's a motion to table item 14 uh to gather more information or is there a second?

Um I have questions before we how long we plan on tableabling it? I mean I'm going to ask the same question I asked last time. Um because um Mr. Wells not going to say it, but I think it's it's it's a no-brainer. It's common sense. The longer he has to wait for this thing, it's costing him more money. It it has to be. And so, how long we going how long we going to be? Well, I'm interested in and I'm I'm sure my co all all of my colleagues are interested in making the right decision for um 22,000 people. How long we going to be rather than an individual? How long we going to be? How long we going to be? It sounds like you have your you're have you have your your your mind made up.

No, I'm not. I'm if I had my mind made up, I would have made the vote, right? I'm asking you how long are we going to be? Give us give us some indication. I think the the motion and seconded is to wait till the next meeting. So that would be that would be the decision point. Thank you. So there's a motion to table. It was seconded to wait until the next uh regular business meeting which would be uh May 11th. C can I say something before y'all table it? Am I able to speak to still?

Um what what I don't understand is that between the planning commission and the city council, I've done everything that's been asked of me to do. Um, I don't understand why for the second time now we are tableabling this because of putting a permanent road in as I just stated a second ago that when we go and we do the plans and the plans and stuff are committed at that point in time, they're going to say that when they want that road and everything connected, right? I've had the discussion um with Leslie um as y'all requested the last time over top of architectural the situation. Okay. Y'all asked me Jim Wood Kenny Lee about making the road and making it accessible for the fire truck and for all of that. I've done as as I was asked to do. Okay. Y'all sit up here and y'all act like I have not done anything and and I have not done what y'all requested me to do. Y'all did not afford me the last time to be able to speak. Knew I was here. Knew I was here in in this gallery. And y'all sat here and closed the session without giving me the time and the decency and respect to be able to get up here and talk. Okay. I've done a lot for this city as well. I put my blood, my sweat, and my tears into Wesboro and I've lived here all of my life. Okay? I am a developer here in Wesboro. Not from out of Wsboro, not Stant, not not Illinois, not anywhere else, right here in Wesboro. I do not understand why why y'all sit up here and y'all continue to want to I I don't know if y'all are wanting to because y'all have a lot of growth coming here to the city that y'all are wanting to try to postpone this being able to happen. it it is able to happen as you said Terry Short

without you know any of y'all's help regardless of of any point because within these profers and everything you know I am able to continue moving forward with it at 27 lots at this point in time I am trying to do the right thing architectural reviews it doesn't matter I'm afforded to make changes to the architectural uh you know as declarant of this property okay so so I know you made that the biggest situation the last time that that we were here and that's what you stated which it does not matter whatsoever on that point. You know the other the the the city is needing the the the land to the back in order to make the connector road possible. Okay. The only thing that's happening right now y'all are continuing to delay that point which we are profering to give to the city in return. Okay. for for us making the connection and for that being the situation right now to table that or to table this I don't understand why that is having to take place tonight I don't understand you know if y'all are wanting the road to to be done at some point in time it help happened at planning commission right I'm told hey give give this amount of lots you know uh in order for the apparatus to be able to to to be able to have access to it I did that then it was still not enough. Came back again and I profered some more. It still wasn't enough, you know. So, what is it going to take at this point in time for y'all to be able to approve this simple amendment of the zoning for Silver Creek? It's it it's not that difficult. you know, the 22,000 residents of Wesboro, you know, they're going to be paying the cost, as Lori just said, because y'all are continuing to hold this up. And I don't

understand why because of a connector road. Because the road needs to be connected and at some point it has to be connected regardless. You know, I I don't understand, you know, and I mean, that's pretty much all I wanted to say. You know, y'all sit up here and y'all have the authority to be able to make stuff happen. do the right thing and do the right thing tonight, not postponing it and and and and letting it linger on. For what reason? What does that solve? Last time y'all said go meet with with uh Leslie, I did. So I did that. We had a conversation, reached out to y'all. Nobody has sat there and tried to return or or be respectful on saying, "Hey, this is what we need or this is what we're wanting or this is what needs to happen." You can't sit there and say, "Hey, we're not making a connector road or we're not doing it at at at at some certain lot." But there's no conversation on what that needs to be or what that looks like, you know? So, so what are we doing? It's a waste of my time and energy.

Thank you.

So, there was a motion that was properly seconded to table this until the May 11th. Uh, Mr. Sh, do you want to resend the motion? No, no. I mean, I I'm happy to take a to take a vote. Folk folks want to take a vote, you know, this this evening, but I mean, we have a motion. We have a motion that's properly seconded. Um, you know, I I think to the extent of we we we wanted to afford the applicant the opportunity to to talk with staff. I think in in Mr. Hamp's opening remarks, uh, those were all met with uh a denial, right? So, didn't want to engage with staff on any of the items that council brought forward at the last meeting. I've not had an opportunity. I've been out of town to to speak to colleagues. So, um and if the applicant's not interested, I mean, I know how how I'm going to vote tonight. Um uh but I would love to have some conversations about, you know, positive attributes that my colleagues would would would might find interesting, but if that's not the will of council, I'm happy to render a vote this evening.

What do you mean by positive attributes for to be clear? I'm sorry. Uh, Vice Mayor Comi, we can only introduce tonight. You can't vote tonight. There we never introduced an ordinance. So, this evening, if you were inclined to move forward, you would be introducing only. Sorry for the interruption. So, we could introduce the ordinance and well, we we could, but what we have on the floor is

is a motion to table which has been seconded and if um that is not open to an amendment or a withdrawal that needs to move forward. Okay. So, the motion was made, properly seconded to table uh item 14 on the agenda until the May 11th regular business meeting. All in favor of tableing uh say I. I. Nay. Any opposed? Nay. Eyes have a 3-2. We'll table till May 11. Item 15 is communication correspondence calendar. Mr. Ham.

Uh very quickly, the Riverfest um celebration is this weekend. There's an event Friday evening at the Wayne. I think it's a a free viewing of the documentary, Hidden Rivers, and then Saturday is the festival proper u down along the riverside from 10:00 to 4:30. Um Greg talked about pitch night. I would add that while it is a free event, if you would like to attend, please register, go to our website, wnsboro business.com, and register. They need to kind of manage a headcount. And um that's all I have this evening. Item 16, citizens comment.

Uh Julie Maxwell. Good evening. My name is Julie Maxwell. I'm the principal of Valley Career and Technical Center. With me tonight, I have the director of the Shannondoa Valley Center for Advanced Learning, Dr. Leanne Whitel. I also have Tommy Shields, who serves on the VCTC Foundation board as a board of director. We are here simply tonight to thank you for your support of our facility and our advanced learning through our career and technical education programs. Just as we take this chance to speak with you tonight, we're also talking to our state legislators, we're seeking some state funding streams for CTE regional programs that are similar to the way that other state educational programs are funded. We continue to have those conversations. We will continue to have those conversations this fall and we ask that you enjoin us in those efforts. We continue to grow technical education by adding new programs at Valley Tech such as firefighting, industrial maintenance, aviation maintenance technology, and by increasing our enrollment in all those programs, we're seeing an influx of increased applications. Next year's incoming class, we had over 675 applications for 550 spots. The number of spots is limited by the Department of Education for class size requirements and with our current staffing and space, which limits us a little bit. On May 9th, we will recognize over 400 high school students who will complete a technical education program with a certificate of completion.

Our staff is inspired by, committed to, and passionate about the opportunity to shape the next generation of mechanics, electricians, nurses, pilots, police officers, and teachers. This year our students were state winners in aviation maintenance, precision machining, industrial motor control, cosmetology, diesel mechanics, phabbotomy, patient care and construction. We not only provide skilled training but teach professional professional and personal responsibility necessary for success. One of those pins that's on your desk happens to be from our precision machining class. mill, lathe, and CNC made by our students. Pretty weight.

Pretty heavy stuff. Might be classified as a weapon, so be very careful.

We also want to extend our complete gratitude to our local business partners who provide students with opportunities to learn on the job and even begin their careers while in high school. We have an apprenticeship signing day in May, that's May 6, to celebrate students who are entering full-time employment as a result of those work experiences and those partnerships. We take great pride in not just what our students can do today, but what they will become tomorrow. Thank you for listening. Thank you for your leadership and your support in our community for career and technical education. We invite you to visit anytime. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you,

Adam Cyple. Good evening, council. My name is Adam Ciple, Ward D. Two weeks ago, members of this council suggested the budget numbers the community has been discussing are false or incomplete. That night and in unanswered messages since, we have been waiting for the true numbers, the data that would finally justify your hesitation to fully fund our schools. As far back as January, we were told in meetings like tonight that there would be a joint meeting at the end of April. It is now April 27th. That meeting is not on the calendar, and those true numbers have yet to be shared. As elected officials, it is disingenuous to suggest the current data is false while refusing or withholding to provide the truth. While we wait for your data, the reality for our schools remains unchanged. You've claimed to be waiting on a list of what our schools truly need. That list was made public last month during Dr. Castle's presentation. It wasn't a list of wishes. It was a census of our challenges. Broken HVACs, weapon detectors, ADA improvements, air quality monitoring, heating, and food re refrigeration were all included. None of those are excess. They're all unfunded necessities. We have 654 students with IEPs and 504 plans, including my own younger child, the highest percentage of special education needs in our neighboring districts. We have 400 English learners speaking 20 different languages. We have 131 students experiencing homelessness or foster care. These aren't abstract statistics. These are children living in our community.

Broken HVAC and teachers with provisional licenses aren't false data either. They are the daily reality for over 3,000 students, young people in our community and the staff of our city's largest employer. I've heard you say you're waiting for a counter proposal. I've been waiting eagerly, too. So, I did the research and built my own counter proposal. It's easy to hide behind funding caps or smoothing formulas. These terms mean nothing to me really. The formulas don't teach our children. Our neighbors in Harrisonenburgg, they've realized this. They face the most similar demographic challenges of the districts I studied and they moved to a meet the need model. They stopped treating education as a line item expense and started treating it as an engine for the city's growth. The result, they opened a brand new high school. They are attracting families, families and businesses because they had the political courage to fund the actual cost of running a community on the rise. Our students deserve champions. It has been a disappointment to me to hear this challenge of needing a plan and needing these um these needs and not seeing our school board chair in these meetings. And that to me sitting out the fight, it shouldn't be on the parents like myself and the classroom teachers that have been coming every week to educate and inform our community or to advocate for the students sitting in cold classrooms because of broken HVAC systems. We need leaders who show up, not leaders who stay home. Now, council, two weeks ago, you claimed you wouldn't do anything to harm our schools, but not doing harm is kind of missing the point, especially when we're talking about children, right? We need they need advocates. They need people who stand up to support them as clearly as possible.

And I have a plan for how you can do this, too. And I'm going to share it with you right now. Next week happens to be teacher appreciation week. Celebrate our teachers by doing three things. Make your data public. schedule the joint public joint meeting that you promised, scrap the cap, and fully fund our schools. Thank you,

Sam Rothre. Good evening. Um, I'm here to ask you to not to consider not changing the public school. uh formula. Um I'm a father of five. All five of my kids are homeschooled. Uh I vote libertarian. On paper, I should be all for capping what we're putting into schools. Um but like we heard earlier today, economics is a team sport. Um, good schools correlate with good tax revenues, expenses for um, policing, expenses for expenditures to help people, um, those all go down. Property values in districts with good schools, they all go up. Wages go up. That means better cash flow and better tax revenue through sales taxes. The investment in school pays off. I also want to um I lost my spot. Sorry. Um as a business owner, I look for people with with education. I want people who can basically read, write, do math, and pass a drug test. I think that's what a lot of people want. And as we grow our manufacturing base, our te our skilled warehousing, we need people with good schools. Earlier today with one Wesboro, we heard that you played a big part in meeting the needs in a lot of nonprofits where people have stagnant wages and food needs. And I just want to posit that schools can continue to to meet those needs and it could possibly be one of the the best returns on investment that you do. So, thank you for your time.

Thank you. Thank you,

Darcy Martin. And a big thanks to city council. Um I appreciate the time that you spend and uh and the work that you do. I really don't have much to say because people who have come before me have said it more eloquently than I can. I am talking about the schools once again. I think my and I appreciate the fact that this budget includes the amount from the from the formula. My concern is that as we go forward, the process of re-evaluating will continue and that needs to be open. It needs to we need to have the figures to justify s excuse me to justify changing the way in which schools are allocated. We need that from you. You all are making the change. You all are proposing the change. We need to understand the numbers that you're using to justify that. And I think I'll stop here because again I people have spoken so eloquently. But it is the children, it is the community and it is the economic growth. I think people have said that very clearly. Thank you

Jennifer.

Jennifer McDonald or McDaniel. I wasn't planning to speak tonight, but um I saw on the uh budget plan that um the 13th Street roundabout is still a possibility. And I think we should actually as a city return that money because one um if there's truck traffic um you would have to take out part of the cemetery probably the bank across the street and widen the road a little bit. Um example of truck traffic would be the roundabout in Troutville. Um a roundabout in Salem um over in Hanging Rock would be another example of something that's more smaller that has car traffic. Um, the issues I have is also bus traffic. If a bus was to go through the roundabout, um, also too, um, if the traffic gets backed up there, sometimes it happens with the schools being open. Um, I do not know what the front of the the, uh, cemetery has underneath of it. I don't know if it's been sold, those lots been sold, or if they're unmarked graves, or I just think of those possibilities of what can go wrong. I think we should return that money because I don't think it should be built. Um, out of Comprompton, you go right, you go up to um, north, turn left onto Northgate, go to the back city, back of the city that way. You on the other end of Comprompton, there's there's a right turn onto um, West Main Street. Not many people use 13th Street that much anymore. People's driving habits change. Most people use 12th Street to turn left because it's a better view. That's what I use. Um, other roads that I think need

to be addressed is Ivy coming into popular. It's scary when people are coming off Ivy and you've got people coming all four people at the same time. It that makes me nervous because one there's two stop I think two or three stops and it goes there's alpha Ivy it goes to the right. I think that road needs to be addressed. Also two um Lynhurst road um there is no basically pullovers for emergency vehicles for that road. Um I had an experience recently where I couldn't get over. I made the choice to drive myself off the road because I couldn't stop because there was um I'll say emergency be behind me. I drove myself off the road at the at the uh the bridge over there in Lynhurst. Um because there is no place to stop going back towards the city. You have a space over there by the park which has great potential of adding a next lane so you emergency vehicles can have a place to pull over or go around us or we driving on the road can can pull over. Also, um let's see the suicide I call it the suicide ramp at exit 96. that ramp at certain times of the day, you take your life in your own hands trying to get on to 64 because you have all this traffic coming down the hill and you try to get on the ramp and you have to slam on your brakes keep from getting hit because you have all this traffic coming down. The ramp is short there. It needs to be expanded. So they can actually 96 corridor can actually have if if in the future

there's trucks that want to go on to 64 that expansion can happen in whatever the technology center or whatever it's going to be down the road. Uh whatever like another example is um I think Tforce. I don't know how they go west. I really don't because they come out and they go right there on the ramp and I don't how they get their acceleration up. So I think I've covered all the the roads. Okay. Thank you, sir. I appreciate your time.

All right. Um I wanted to point something out. Typically don't don't respond, but there was a statement made that the joint session. The joint session was postponed u by both the school board and council. So we're going to come back to that at a later date. That was decision that was a joint decision. Item 17. Is there a motion to adjourn? So moved. Thank you, Mr. Jordan. Is there a second? I'll second. Thank you. All in favor say I. I.