[5:22] Oh, yes, sir. It's good to see y'all.

[5:27] I tell you, I'm having to use these things more and more every

[5:31] week. Went to the eye doctor and he told me why. And he wants to do something to it too, so we'll

[5:38] take care of that too. But I have a few items of interest for y'all. And first of all, Mr.

[5:48] Slavin, we talked a little bit about Barry Lane. We'll be contacting all the property owners

[5:53] this week and getting some right of entries and having some very good conversations.

[5:59] We sent them a little letter saying we're going forward and appreciate yours and Mr. Fitzgerald's

[6:03] support on that and I think that I think it was the answer they were expecting and it

[6:09] looks good for next summer and we'll be working that way to finish that but we're happy

[6:18] about that.

[6:18] We did some, did the slope fixed at Faley Road there, and that turned out real nice.

[6:28] And so Dr. Seaton, we fixed that, well, Hickory Hill, we're going to go in there and take

[6:38] all that out, probably put a little rock line on there, so because it seems like every

[6:44] time it grows up, then we have the same problem, so we're going to try and address

[6:48] that. Hermitage Road we have got some low shoulders and we're going to go out

[6:53] there and try and that's going to be some of our fall work that we'll be trying

[6:56] to accomplish on this fall.

[7:03] Ms. Carter, 688 we've got all the pipes in we're

[7:08] going to be laying stone out there on that road finally and hopefully going

[7:12] to shoot that this fall but but but that's gonna be a common theory I'll

[7:17] talk to a bunch of y'all about our rural rustics we're trying to shoot

[7:20] a bunch of them in October. First of all, we're hoping for a warm October to accomplish that.

[7:27] Hankey Mountain, 250, they started that work out there. I don't know if you got any calls,

[7:32] but that's a good thing. I ran into the county administrator at one of our, for Highland

[7:42] County, and she was very happy about that work. She says, it's not in her county,

[7:49] but she's heard a lot of thanks for that so and I said well we're happy about

[7:54] that work and she said about everybody over here uses that road on a daily basis

[8:00] and so they were real pleased and we're happy a case been out there and I'm in

[8:05] and I'm think it's looking really really good so we're happy with that 262 we

[8:11] We fixed that one rough spot out there, and the one part in front of the SWOT fire department,

[8:21] we fixed that.

[8:23] We milled.

[8:24] There was a bad spot in the road that we fixed out there.

[8:28] I will look at the issue we talked about before the meeting also.

[8:34] So Mr. Wells, I always like to tell you all about the widening on 81.

[8:43] Boy, they're making hay out there.

[8:44] It's moving along.

[8:46] Still looking at getting those speed enforcement cameras out there.

[8:50] I keep on bringing that out to you.

[8:52] And they kept on saying it's going to be September.

[8:55] They said it was going to be August.

[8:57] And now we're in September.

[8:58] I says you all realize we are already in September.

[9:01] And so, it looks like it's November, December, it's going to be later this fall.

[9:07] State police are the ones that are going to be enforcing all that.

[9:11] And so, I just want to keep you all, as soon as I hear some solid data, I want to let

[9:16] you all know, because it takes pictures of everybody that goes through it.

[9:21] That net, it gets everybody.

[9:24] So, I know I've got a lot of employees that drive it every day, and you all have

[9:27] lot of people in your world that does too.

[9:34] Hey, it happens. It happens to everybody.

[9:38] And then we end up, they have a little extra when they went when they were for us and they

[9:44] go through there, Mr. Shaw, you're exactly right. But be careful. We had a little mill

[9:51] Fill and fill on 219 to 220 as you were to 221, that fixed, and that looks nice.

[9:58] Broderick were about done with that except for some minor items.

[10:02] And Mill Place, we're going to start on that project, notice proceeds of 29, so next week.

[10:11] You know, that's a great little project, putting that double left into there, and then we're

[10:19] going to fix that park and ride also with that project.

[10:22] So B&S is starting it.

[10:24] There's a lot of subs in there.

[10:25] So it's going to be one of those ones.

[10:27] It's going to be coming and going in there.

[10:29] And I'll keep you posted.

[10:31] But they do, they are expecting,

[10:34] they want to start this fall.

[10:39] And I really believe once the winter comes along,

[10:42] they're going to be doing a lot of work on that.

[10:45] Because I know B&S has got a commitment

[10:47] to several of the 81 contractors and so you know they'll be out of that asphalt

[10:56] work in the winter and probably trying to do a lot of that but I'll keep you

[11:00] posted on that project. Mr. Garber, we finished the Samuel Bears, well they

[11:07] finished the Samuel Bears, the old bridge, four-ton bridge out of there we

[11:12] got a at-grade crossing. They did a beautiful job. They did some landscaping going up in

[11:21] that fella. Now there's a marketable site on that side that I didn't know was very marketable

[11:27] at one time. So they've got good access right there and really fit in there nice. It's

[11:36] got a little less yard demo on the opposite side, but that grade crossing looks really

[11:42] good out there. So hats off to the short rail for their work out there. And a local contractor

[11:50] did that. I'm trying to crumb it. Crumb it did that. I thought they did a nice job giving

[11:56] them a little air time. 256, the railroad crossing. They started Friday, finished it

[12:02] Sunday morning early. So it was on time. Rise good and limited. I don't know if

[12:11] Ms. Garber, you heard anything out there on that, Ms. Slavin, but well,

[12:20] good, well, I'll take it.

[12:27] So, and swish your road, swish your road, we've got all the pipes in, we're laying stone out there.

[12:33] You know, I say that a lot, and so you all may wonder, when you put the stone,

[12:39] it's going to be the base for the road and we usually put eight inches out

[12:43] there and and what you do it is you put it in like four-inch lifts and then you

[12:48] roll it in and so that's when I say we're laying stone and we'll do that

[12:52] and then we'll come back with a surface treatment after that but we are

[12:55] doing that on on on Swisher and we hope to shoot that by mid-October.

[13:01] Again, surface treatment is very weather sensitive so hoping that we're

[13:08] going to have good weather to do that. But yes, sir, I see some smiles because folks

[13:16] have probably had an experience with that. But boy, we could get it, we'll get a good

[13:22] product out of that if we have nice weather.

[13:27] Ms. Bragg, we did our Wayne Avenue, we took

[13:31] those speed samples out there and it meets. So, you know, if we want to go to the

[13:36] next step with the flashing, with the variable speed.

[13:45] Yeah. So, so, you know, we try to look

[13:50] for 8 to 10 over, you know, is usually a good application for those. So, if you all are

[13:56] interested in doing that, and those sounds are very, are, are helpful. I mean, I think,

[14:02] I think it's a, it's really a, what kind of people you have? Because, you know,

[14:08] And I know when I go through it, occasionally you do get a little heavier foot.

[14:12] When you see it, you say, oh my, I'm going to slow down.

[14:17] And that's what happened.

[14:19] And you know, the sheriff can't be everywhere.

[14:22] And so many times it's what it is.

[14:25] So whatever you want to do there, we'll move forward.

[14:31] Norfolk Southern, they've got several crossings in your patent farms in Linnhurst that

[14:37] they want to rework again so they've contacted us and for some permits and

[14:43] maybe this fall so as soon as this fall so we'll keep you posted as that comes

[14:48] in please and and we'll keep you all in the loop on on on that mr. y'all there

[14:55] is a couple in your area too Lofton peek in and

[15:00] And poor, poor Creek Lane and Avis all, they're looking at, oh yeah, they done cut all of them.

[15:05] They got them all marked. Okay, they got them all. So, yes, sir. So, you know, and, and, and,

[15:11] and they're pretty logical. Usually you see them coming and they're coming down the line.

[15:15] They come, um, literally on their lines and do them. So, um, um, very good. Uh, a couple

[15:23] other things were on Pilsen Road. Uh, Miss Shaw, we, we are laying stone out there

[15:28] and that might be the first one that we get shot because it'll be ready next week or week

[15:35] after to shoot that road. And there's several shoulder repairs that are complete on 608.

[15:48] And then we've got some other scratching that we're going to do a little bit later.

[15:55] But, and I also put a note in there because y'all called me out last time about fixing

[16:03] that entrance and I was, I didn't have a lot to say.

[16:09] We had talked about it previously, didn't realize it was in a minute when we were discussing

[16:15] it before and we had talked about it before we walked in and so.

[16:20] But, you know, we want to be ready in there to get an estimate now, and if we get to that

[16:27] point where it has to get done, we know how much it'll cost and how we'll go after that

[16:33] if we have to.

[16:35] But it really is the business's responsibility.

[16:40] I know that's what we had previously said, and I've seen a letter come from one of

[16:44] your cohorts in there that was sent out.

[16:47] You know, you know, Mr. Shaw, I'm really glad.

[16:48] A lot of times we write letters

[16:49] and we wonder if people really read them.

[16:52] Doug, I didn't say that, did I?

[16:53] I was just thinking that.

[16:54] But now I know you y'all do, and so.

[16:58] Well, when I get phone calls wanting something

[17:01] and wanting money, and so, you know, I look.

[17:05] Yes, sir.

[17:06] And that's why we call y'all,

[17:09] and then you, I don't remember the one's name now,

[17:12] but the letter was sent, so.

[17:14] Yeah, in full disclosure, we were bringing in our concrete guy and we looked at a bunch

[17:24] and a couple of us came up that, hey, look, there's some place we've gotten calls about

[17:29] before.

[17:29] So we said, well, why don't we get that while he's in here?

[17:34] And then we realized, oh, no.

[17:37] But all good.

[17:39] I wanted to, in case somebody looked at him, it is a saw that we're going to do it.

[17:41] I want to put it in there say that that was we misspoke but y'all have any

[17:47] questions of me yes ma'am I'm not sure if I'd mention this I think I did the

[17:57] timing of the light from Locust Grove on the 340 multiple people said that you get

[18:03] three cars through and then you're done so the people leaving Stone Valley mm-hmm

[18:10] And that's probably one of the greatest complaints I get up there is the light, but they get three cars and then it's over.

[18:19] All right. We will have our folks take a look at that and make sure there isn't anything malfunctioning.

[18:27] Okay, thank you.

[18:31] And I've got one or two.

[18:34] All right.

[18:35] On Pilsen Road, you're not doing that whole road, right?

[18:39] About half of it.

[18:44] We're grading the whole thing and just seeing where we finished out.

[18:50] That was almost two miles, and that was, you know, for, yeah, that, and we're capped at

[19:03] a dollar amount that we could spend without going out to contract, and so we're afraid

[19:09] we're gonna get close to that. We'll come back, we can come back and finish that.

[19:14] All right. And then on you were talking about 81,

[19:21] anything in the works on the 81

[19:23] northbound side from 262 to 64?

[19:29] Yeah, I think that piece is included in the

[19:33] next round of 81 projects. Well, I know it was supposed to be on the next

[19:38] So it's on the list and we had sent a letter,

[19:43] I actually sent a letter requesting that green winter change be added

[19:46] and they sent a response back as I expected saying that it wasn't on the main line

[19:50] so they wasn't going to add it but this project you're talking about is on that next list

[19:54] so they're looking at evaluating, I guess

[19:58] it's like anything else, they got more projects and they got money

[20:02] and so they're going to evaluate it but all indications are that it's there

[20:06] and hopefully it'll score well and it sure is nice going southbound with that other one there.

[20:11] If it if you get that north one to be it'll be it'll be a big help especially on Sundays and

[20:17] things when the traffic backs up. Absolutely. Yes sir.

[20:25] I think that might have been all right.

[20:29] Okay if not I'll call you and I'll be talking to you some more anyway.

[20:36] Yes sir.

[20:37] Down on Klein River Road, you've got it staked, sort of, whatever stage that stake is in.

[20:43] Yes sir.

[20:44] Are y'all going to do anything if there's terms in that road?

[20:46] You've got three very nasty terms in that road.

[20:49] Well beside laying to the inside a little bit, yeah, we always like to do that, but

[20:58] we will try to.

[20:59] Yes sir.

[21:00] And now the property owners we really got to look for their their assistance on that

[21:06] Understand what one of them might take care of the other one. I don't know

[21:09] We'll have to see it might involve fifth liquor or something

[21:12] But okay, but two of those turns don't involve any buildings or you know things that are really problematic

[21:19] The one the furthest one toward new hopes good bit of trees and stuff

[21:23] I don't know but some couple nasty turns in that road should be nice

[21:26] I could get eased out a little bit

[21:30] Yes sir we'll look at it and ask, we try to, and that's some of the liberties that we take

[21:38] on the rural rustics.

[21:39] We always contact the property owners and if there are any agreements we can try and address

[21:45] some of those.

[21:46] But if you have trouble with property owners on those terms, let me know.

[21:50] I will.

[21:51] Yes sir, we will.

[21:52] I got a.

[21:54] Doc?

[21:54] Yeah.

[21:55] So I think it was a month ago.

[21:58] So George Holm and Cattle Scales, the stop sign there was overgrown by vegetation.

[22:03] Did you get to it?

[22:04] Because I haven't been out there in the last few weeks or so.

[22:09] But just like last year, the vegetation, it's almost up over the stop sign or the

[22:15] turning sign.

[22:16] I don't know if that's your responsibility or the county's responsibility.

[22:18] Well, if it's getting the stop sign, we will take care of that.

[22:22] If we have it, we will.

[22:24] It might, it could be the street sign.

[22:27] Okay, well, we'll forget which one it is.

[22:30] Also, the beginning of this cycle, a few months ago,

[22:36] I mentioned something about Hermitage

[22:38] as States Road off Oak Grove, Church Road.

[22:42] That road had been, hasn't been worked on

[22:46] for, it looks like, a long time.

[22:48] Okay.

[22:49] I think you were going to, what's that?

[22:51] What did you say, Hermitage?

[22:53] hermitage estates off of Oak Grove Church Road. It's got grass growing in

[23:00] the middle of the street and kind of potholes and divots and all that kind

[23:05] of stuff all along it there. So I think you said you're gonna try to get it

[23:09] worked on next year because you'd already planned out this year. I just want

[23:13] to make sure we haven't forgotten to keep it on next year. We certainly will.

[23:17] Anyone

[23:23] else? You all good? All right. Thank you, sir. All right. Thank you all.

[23:52] Good afternoon,

[23:53] Mr. Chair, members of the Board, to come for you today to give you our update for September.

[23:58] If our Rescue Agency dispatch were 691, we had 1,349 rescue dispatches for a total of

[24:05] 2040, 61 EMS supervisor responses. Currently, we are down 10 funded positions in our department.

[24:15] We are working on a proposal currently with the county administration and looking at probably

[24:20] starting a recruit school soon as January 1st once we get through the hiring process.

[24:27] Our training division has completed 26 in-station training sessions.

[24:31] We assisted with the EMS release, testing for six new full-time EMS providers.

[24:36] They conducted a CPR class for Craigville Volunteer Fire Department, had 17 students

[24:41] involved, attended a planning session at the Valley Career and Technical Center

[24:45] for the future firefighter one and two program that meeting went very well as

[24:49] we met with them so it it seems like that we may have a opportunity to move

[24:54] forward with that program brief mr. Fitzgerald on and he might be speaking

[24:58] with some of y'all regarding that here in the near future attended the session

[25:02] for the active shooter hostile situation training conducted alert training with

[25:07] the new school employees assisted with interviews for an onboarding with

[25:11] the new hires conducted our monthly FTO meetings and conducted monthly volunteer

[25:16] officer training. So they've been fairly busy over the last couple weeks. Now my

[25:22] report is very short this month so I'll open it up to any questions anyone may

[25:25] have.

[25:31] How many were we down last month? I think we were down seven I believe. I'd

[25:37] have to go back and look. And did we only lose three or we lost more and we

[25:40] hired more. What do you mean? No we lost, we did end up hiring, we were down 11,

[25:46] we hired one last week that was fully trained, we had one person come in

[25:49] fully trained from Crozet, so we were able to hire that person which took us

[25:53] down to 10. So we have not hired any more since then except for that one

[25:58] person which dropped us from 11 to 10. And the reasons for leaving? We've had

[26:03] a couple that either couldn't meet job performance requirements, we had a

[26:07] a couple go to Wainsborough, City Harrisonburg,

[26:10] and some got out of the system all together.

[26:14] Did that include the one that quit last week?

[26:19] That individual that went to Fluvana County,

[26:22] I forgot about Fluvana County, so yes,

[26:24] we did have one go to Fluvana last week.

[26:26] All right.

[26:28] The 12-hour stations,

[26:32] are we good on all the 12-hour stations now?

[26:35] As of right now what we're doing

[26:36] as we're still sending them in at 6 a.m. until we work through a process we met

[26:40] with the the chiefs of those agencies and they're trying to work out a process of

[26:45] they've agreed to maybe looking at a 7 a.m. start time so we're pulling our

[26:48] group and looking at that currently so we're still working with them but in

[26:52] the meantime while we're working the 24-hour shift we're bringing the

[26:55] daylight people in still at 6 a.m. so they're working 6 a.m. to 6 a.m. the

[27:06] you know if we were good with these companies and things

[27:10] and we were told, you know that we were good with them.

[27:14] Yes, sir.

[27:14] Everything was good to go.

[27:15] Yes, sir.

[27:16] And then the last meeting, Mr. Fitzgerald told us

[27:21] that we had to have more meetings.

[27:23] Yes, sir.

[27:24] So I was wondering why we were told

[27:27] that everything's good to go and then it's not.

[27:30] Well, you were advised that

[27:32] because I was advised that everybody was good to go.

[27:34] and so that when I reported that out that's what was told in any 11th hour it

[27:39] was brought back that after they went back and talked to their membership they

[27:43] had concerns so we did not find that out until the week that we were going to

[27:47] implement it so we met on that Friday try to work with them and come up with

[27:51] a solution so when I told you that we were good to go I was told we were

[27:57] good to go and so each agency and I ask them that question initially said

[28:02] that when they first explained to their you know when we first asked them the

[28:05] question they didn't see an issue with it but after they talked some of their

[28:08] membership went back to their members then they had a problem but they didn't

[28:11] advise us that as soon as they knew about it which kind of got you know

[28:15] everything mixed up is a very big breakdown of communication I believe on

[28:19] both sides so we're working through that process as we go so you weren't

[28:23] misled you were led with what information I was given and that's the

[28:27] information I gave is what I was thought was factual from the reports I was given.

[28:33] And I was informed over the weekend was that one of our agencies that sent Mr.

[28:40] Garber and Mr. Slaven an email concerning this you

[28:53] know I think this

[28:54] concerns the whole county so I think we all should have been informed about

[28:59] the situation and I know personally that there was another agency that wasn't

[29:06] happy with this either now I don't know that there was any emails exchange so I

[29:11] think this has been an ongoing thing so when it concerns our citizens in the way

[29:18] things have been done here I think that Board of Supervisors should be

[29:23] knowing what is going on, you know,

[29:27] it concerns our citizens and things.

[29:29] Mike, let me straighten that out a second.

[29:31] I got a phone call from Mr. Wampler.

[29:35] They had already made arrangements to meet with the chief

[29:38] and voice their concerns.

[29:41] He simply, the chief at Wears Cave invited me

[29:45] or me or Mr. Garber if I wanted to come over and set in.

[29:52] The meeting between them had already been set up.

[29:57] Didn't have anything to do with us.

[29:59] as they croak.

[30:00] The courtesy to him, I went and said in. Gerald didn't. But the invitation to come and

[30:05] sit on their behalf came to me from the fire chief at Weir's Cave. Didn't have

[30:10] anything to do with this. So I went on, I went on his behalf, not the county's

[30:16] behalf. Because he asked me to. Well, I was informed over the weekend that it

[30:22] wasn't Weir's Cave. It was a different agency. Was it in my district? Yeah. Well,

[30:29] then why didn't you tell me about it?

[30:31] I didn't know nothing about it till the weekend.

[30:35] Well, please.

[30:36] And if y'all were sending emails,

[30:38] y'all knew about it before I was.

[30:41] That's the only meeting that I had.

[30:44] There was a concerned voice to me,

[30:46] but that meeting had already took place.

[30:48] But the meeting with the Fire Chief at Wears Cave,

[30:51] that invite came from the Fire Chief

[30:54] himself of Wears Cave, not through the county.

[30:57] Well, this this came from reliable sources. Who was it? I'm not saying because well

[31:04] we do an awful lot of that up here. If it's in my district and there's a concern

[31:09] that I want to know who it is.

[31:13] If it's worth bringing up here in front of

[31:15] everybody and it's in my district I want to know who it is. Well, we're not gonna

[31:21] get up here and talk about he said she said but if we there's well that

[31:25] You're not going to get the information out of people if you start running names and things

[31:30] because I've got information right now back from some of the career side that has spoke

[31:35] out and they have had harsh words back to them.

[31:39] Well, that's fine.

[31:40] It didn't come from me because I've got good relationships with the people I have down

[31:45] there and if somebody is doing that, there's a difference between good information and

[31:51] gossip.

[31:52] Well.

[31:52] And good information we get from that podium when people invest their time and efforts and come up here and

[31:58] Try to work things out with people

[32:00] There's a lot of other stuff. It's gossip

[32:03] And if it's coming out of my district and somebody's talking about they didn't talk to me

[32:07] I want to know it

[32:09] Because I've got good working relationships with them

[32:12] Long-standing relationships with them and I don't want to be used as gossip

[32:18] It ain't gossip. It's a way. It's a way to operate and then you give me a name

[32:22] Yeah, we can talk if you're if you're talking about it up here on my behalf and

[32:26] it's in my area and I don't know nothing about it I want a name well it's

[32:30] county's behalf it ain't just one district it affects it affects the whole

[32:35] county it's my district and I want to know who it is it affects everybody well

[32:40] then then get everybody the name yeah I'd

[32:46] like to also state that you say

[32:47] that you talked to multiple career personnel and they said they've gotten

[32:50] and by class because they spoke out.

[32:52] I hate to tell you that's false.

[32:54] So I don't know what information we're getting there,

[32:56] but I can tell you that I've never lashed out at anybody

[32:59] for giving any information or complaining about anything

[33:02] within our organization.

[33:04] So you might want to check that source.

[33:08] Okay, I appreciate it.

[33:14] Well, I understand that and that comes with the title,

[33:16] but I do have folks that will stand up and speak

[33:19] and I have had that and I've opened my door for that

[33:21] and nobody has ever ever been ridiculed for doing so so if they're telling you

[33:28] that that's false.

[33:33] I have a question. The email that you got Mr. Garber did that

[33:37] come from where's cave? Yes. Nobody else. Thanks.

[33:45] Well no one more thing. If we bring

[33:47] forth issues or things that we have heard or they've been told to us I see

[33:53] no value in any of the any board member getting mad or accusatory or judgmental

[34:02] about it I mean we're all here trying to serve the county so and work together so

[34:07] I know I just doesn't sit well with me when you when we do that that's all well

[34:15] if y'all hear things from people and you have a question please call me and I'll

[34:20] to answer them at any time. You know my phone's on 24 hours a day seven days a

[34:25] week so if there's a concern or question feel free to call me and I'll be glad

[34:29] and I will not tell you a story. I'll tell you the truth no matter what. All

[34:43] right thank you. You all have a good day.

[34:48] Will again.

[34:51] Yeah

[34:55] so the board had

[34:57] requested an update from all porings broadband relative to the VATI 2022

[35:01] project and Tom Ennis is here to provide that update and there will be

[35:05] slides.

[35:15] Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, members of the board. Thank you for an

[35:18] opportunity to provide an update on our broadband project. We've got a long way

[35:24] to go, but we've made a lot of progress in the last couple of months. You should

[35:27] have been seeing construction in virtually every district, whether that's

[35:31] Dominion or All Points Broadband. I've got a couple of high-level bullet

[35:35] points to touch on at the beginning, got some maps, but happy to answer

[35:39] questions at any time. And then at the end, I have a couple talking points

[35:44] about the B program, which is an ever-evolving next step of your broadband funding in Augusta,

[35:51] Virginia, and the country, and I believe Ms. Wetzel has provided updates as those are

[35:56] coming in as well.

[36:00] So we rescoped our project in November of 2024 to reduce the number of poles we were

[36:05] going to attach to.

[36:06] We went from something like 16,000 to 1,600 in Augusta and asked for an extension to

[36:14] June of 2026.

[36:15] We're on track to hit that right now.

[36:20] Touching on Dominion real quick, on their construction, I usually get a report at the

[36:25] end of the month, so maybe next week before our next staff check-in, I'll have a new

[36:29] number.

[36:30] But as of August 27th, they had done 145 of the 170 miles.

[36:35] Most of the remaining miles are crossing 81 or 64 before our meeting on the 8th will have

[36:44] a new update for you on that.

[36:47] All points has built a little under 100 miles of the last mile fiber.

[36:51] That's in areas 1, 2, and 7.

[36:53] I got a map on the next slide for that.

[36:56] As of today, about 750 locations can sign up and get service.

[37:02] They still need to sign up.

[37:04] They pay for the install, they pay for their service plan, we go out and we do the installation.

[37:09] About 750 locations can do that.

[37:12] About twice as many of that locations are eligible to pre-order.

[37:17] And that is mostly in Fiber Service Area number two.

[37:21] By the end of the year, we expect that number to be at about 2,000 locations that can

[37:26] sign up for service.

[37:28] We have one primary cabinet in every Fiber Service Area, so for numbers one and two,

[37:33] Those are complete.

[37:34] They're lit.

[37:35] They're active.

[37:36] Number seven is under construction.

[37:38] The other three are about to be released to construction.

[37:42] One of the Fiber Service areas, number five, I got subsumed into four.

[37:46] That's why there's one missing in your map.

[37:50] In terms of the VDOT land use permit applications, the applications themselves are being processed

[37:56] fairly quickly.

[37:57] We got through an issue where the underground vaults were required to have a concrete

[38:02] collar placed around them. We worked with VDOT to come up with a an above-ground pedestal

[38:07] that still met their requirements and didn't blow up the budget or the construction timeline.

[38:12] So that was to appreciate that collaboration with the Harrisonburg Residency. We are limited

[38:19] though in the number of work zones and total crews we can have in the county and they

[38:24] recently gave us permission to bring in a second vendor but over the summer we

[38:32] strongly encouraged our vendor to bring more crews to Augusta County. They brought in about 30 crews

[38:36] and for reasons passing understanding, they put them all on like the same road,

[38:42] 29 crews all in a row and put us kind of in the penalty box with VDOT in terms of work zones

[38:50] and available crews. So traffic control, top priority, we're meeting again with the Harrison

[38:58] As new vendors are brought in to increase our productivity,

[39:03] we want to make sure that they are following the rules,

[39:05] that they understand what we do in Virginia

[39:07] in terms of traffic control on mainline construction

[39:10] and on the customer drops.

[39:12] Two different types of work.

[39:15] They also have a limit now that school has started

[39:18] on the time of day, so we can work from 9.30 to 3.30

[39:21] with an hour at each end for a setup.

[39:24] So we're limited there,

[39:25] and the working hours that we have per day, but always asking for more permission to do

[39:30] more crews, work longer hours, and there's a bit of give-and-take there between us and

[39:35] the VDOT residency.

[39:37] So we've added a second construction vendor.

[39:39] We're also sourcing a third-party inspection resources to help supplement VDOT for all

[39:44] of the land use permits.

[39:45] They have to approve them.

[39:47] They have to send out inspectors to make sure that we can close them out correctly.

[39:50] If that's an area where we can pay for those resources that may be limited at VDOT, we

[39:55] will do that.

[39:56] We're actively trying to bring those in as well.

[39:59] In terms of customer installations, we have 81 that are currently work in progress.

[40:05] So we've either surveyed the location from the home out to the main road, or that section

[40:11] is being built, or they are scheduled for an indoor installation.

[40:14] and right now we have 31 active customers. Their install is complete. It's about 40

[40:21] in the backlog right now, in addition to the 31 and the 81. So working through

[40:26] that backlog as people sign up, we go out, we survey their home, we do that drop

[40:31] work, and then we schedule a time to be inside with them. So making some

[40:34] progress there.

[40:37] Here's an overall Fiber Service Area map in different

[40:43] sections of the county, this doesn't mean that every single location in the colored

[40:47] polygon can sign up for service, but these are roughly the boundaries of each of the

[40:52] active cabinets. So each one of these different colored polygons has a cabinet the size of

[40:58] a mini fridge, and that provides enough internet signal to reach all the locations in each

[41:04] polygon. The network is designed to scale up quickly within each area as we add new

[41:13] neighborhoods or new construction or the B program finally gets finalized. But

[41:18] this is the way that the county is split up here. We used to have an Augusta 5

[41:23] that was incorporated into Augusta 4. So for the end of Q4 2025, Augusta 2 and

[41:30] 7 should be fully active. At the end of Q1 2026, Augusta 1 will be turned on and

[41:37] and then 3, 4, and 6 will be on by the end of June next year.

[41:43] Now, individual sections in each one of these may be turned on sooner,

[41:46] but that's when we expect the last Fiber Distribution Area to be turned on.

[41:51] Zooming in on Augusta II, each Fiber Service Area is split into Fiber Distribution Areas.

[41:59] These are subsections of where each of the active cabinets serve.

[42:03] So right now, if you live in the 2.3, 2.4, 2.7, 2.8,

[42:09] you can actively sign up for service and get installed.

[42:12] That's where all of the customer action is right now.

[42:16] In November, we are going to turn on 2.5 slash 6.

[42:22] Those were combined into one.

[42:23] And then 2.9, 2.10.

[42:26] And then in December, we're going to turn on 2.1 and 2.2.

[42:30] So, on a rolling basis, we're activating these subsections.

[42:35] We notify customers who have pre-ordered that they can now get their drop installed.

[42:41] We're also doing a lot of marketing for folks who have not yet signed up, and I got a slide

[42:44] on that coming up.

[42:47] Zooming into the next Fiverr service area that will be turned on in the end of the

[42:51] year, November, we're going to turn on 7.3, 7.4, 7.5, and then in December, 7.1,

[42:57] and 7.2.

[42:58] So, again, on a rolling basis, subsections of the network will be turned on.

[43:02] This is the northeast portion of the county, if you want to go back here.

[43:10] So this was the dark blue and the yellow for the rest of this year.

[43:20] This is a dashboard tracking the mainline, last mile construction, so this is not

[43:26] middle mile. This is all points, mainline construction. The different FSAs are in the horizontal

[43:32] bars on the left. If it's orange, that is ready to be released to construction. If it's

[43:38] green, that means that that fiber has been built. So a lot of progress in Augusta II.

[43:54] I'm going to send you an updated one. This is from the – or checking last time.

[43:58] So on the current dashboard – sorry, it's 97 miles total, not 77 here. I'll

[44:04] in the screenshot later, but you can see progress in Augusta 2, Augusta 1, and Augusta 7, which

[44:12] is why we have a lot of currently active locations in Augusta 2 because their bar is green.

[44:21] This is a couple weeks old.

[44:24] I'll send one when I get back to my seat that has the 96, 97 miles in the green

[44:29] bar chart.

[44:29] But

[44:33] we have a promotional offer going out to all of the Augusta locations, about 1,300

[44:40] locations that could sign up for pre-order that haven't, and we're running a promotion

[44:44] in Augusta.

[44:46] Depending on the level of service you sign up, we're going to give a couple of months

[44:49] of free service.

[44:50] We're going to reduce the installation cost, and we want people to take advantage of

[44:54] this network.

[44:54] We have about 350 who've pre-ordered.

[45:00] But we need another, you know,

[45:05] step function in that to get more of the drops queued up before

[45:08] the end of the year. So when it runs some promotions starting in October, this letter will go out.

[45:13] But if they went to the website right now, they can get all of the promotional offers.

[45:27] So for Bede, the state broadband office was required to rerun the entire Bede bidding

[45:34] process at the end of June.

[45:38] After they had just done it in March, after a two-year process, they were instructed

[45:45] to treat fiber broadband and satellite broadband as the same and then award bead funding to

[45:51] the lowest-cost provider, and they took out all of the local input, they took out the

[45:56] requirements for low-cost plans, they took out a whole number of other requirements

[46:00] that were in the program until June 4th, and they rolled this out nationwide in Virginia.

[46:08] The state ran the program very quickly, and then in the beginning of September, they made

[46:15] their announcements to NTIA with what they had awarded.

[46:18] In Augusta, you were primarily awarded fiber broadband providers – not necessarily to

[46:25] points broadband, but Comcast, MGW, all points, others who had applied.

[46:31] So very fortunate that most of the funding went to a Fiber provider.

[46:36] In some counties where they didn't have as active an internet service provider environment,

[46:41] they were awarded substantially all to satellite service.

[46:45] You can see that in some of your neighboring counties if you look at the state map.

[46:48] So overall, good process and results for the residents, regardless of how it

[46:55] turned out for us in particular.

[46:59] There is a back-and-forth between the state agency and the federal agency, and the federal

[47:04] agency has until early December to finalize their rule and their approval of the state's

[47:09] plan.

[47:13] Just last week, they came out with a new request to rebid all of our locations in

[47:19] a 24-hour period.

[47:20] So we're monitoring this actively.

[47:23] fingers across that there's no more re-bidding or re-doing of the network

[47:28] designs but they have until early December to approve of Virginia's plan

[47:32] and then in January is when we expect the actual deployment to begin. So with any

[47:38] federal program ongoing right now it's up in the air until it's finalized but

[47:42] that's where you stand for BID. So with that I would be happy to answer any

[47:48] Any questions?

[47:49] Yeah.

[47:49] Hi.

[47:52] 65AidinCircle, this has been something that I've brought up just about every meeting here.

[47:58] It says it's – this is on the BEED website that's satisfied by satellite only there.

[48:06] So it's been – you know, the person's been complaining for – since before we accepted

[48:14] your contract there and it's still not covered by any fiber and I'm just

[48:21] wondering why is it not covered by any fiber. It gives four options for satellite

[48:27] but it says it's unserved and it's still unserved and and it's supposed to be

[48:32] served and I just don't I don't understand what the process is and why

[48:36] it's not served still. I don't know that address off the top of my head but I

[48:41] I will, 65 Aden?

[48:43] Yeah, and I have looked on your website,

[48:45] put it in, and it says it's not served by you either.

[48:49] So I'm wondering, this is long before you,

[48:54] and long before we accepted the contract, 65 Aden Circle.

[49:01] I don't know who's supposed to be accepting that,

[49:04] but it's in Fishersville, A-D-I-N.

[49:09] So, I'm just wondering, how is this one getting dropped and how many other ones are getting

[49:14] dropped?

[49:19] ADIN.

[49:28] I think that area is, so if you go to the state's new bead map, they are saying that that one

[49:37] will be built by Comcast,

[49:42] but I'll follow up with Jennifer and you on that one.

[49:46] Yeah, the new map that's out on the DHCD website, they call it Benefit of the Bar

[49:52] again the winners which it sounds like just as of last week they may have went

[49:57] back and asked again for information so this could still change. It does show down

[50:05] to an address level of who would have gotten the bead a preliminary award for

[50:11] that location and Comcast is in there a fair amount but you know fiber to the

[50:16] home to me I would consider Comcast even though it might not be exactly

[50:21] fiber, just as good. I have it personally and I have really good speed. So you want a wire

[50:28] line. There's several hundred that are still addresses in Augusta County that were still

[50:34] listed as satellite, whether it was Amazon or Starlink. So this is still changing, but

[50:43] I can look up any addresses anybody has relative to the bead funding of who should

[50:50] be serving it and that's what I'm telling people when they call like this is who should your provider

[50:55] should be based on this award and please reach out to them directly for that so Comcast I guess in

[51:02] particular this particular address would be better than um it would still be wire line it would

[51:08] not be satellite so that that would be a plus and

[51:13] I'll add that to our check thank

[51:22] you

[51:22] Yes sir. Mr. Chair.

[51:28] What is your normal cost for installation? So when we

[51:33] started it was $199 and now it's $99 and if you sign up depending on your service

[51:40] level it's either zero or half of. So right now it's it's $99 without a

[51:48] promotion and there are I think about 1300 locations we're going to say if you

[51:57] sign up for the end of October you either get a free installation or a half

[52:01] off installation. Do you know when you dropped your installation costs? It was

[52:06] sometime over the summer. This this past summer? Yeah. All right how much

[52:14] bead money did you get?

[52:17] For this area? We haven't gotten any bead funding yet.

[52:21] It's a provisional award. But you don't expect to get any? No we do but that

[52:27] wouldn't apply to anyone who signed up over the summer. Right.

[52:33] And then the

[52:34] last thing and I have on numerous occasions asked from this is not

[52:46] street names or numbers. I can't read. I mean, maybe it's just me. I don't know. I don't

[52:52] think so. But when you show us these maps, I don't know what area one is or what area

[53:01] two is or what area seven is. I can't read it. So what good is it to me?

[53:07] I will get you a map. It would be helpful with Google satellite image in the back so

[53:15] you can see, okay.

[53:20] When should I expect to get those?

[53:23] I think our next check-in is on the eighth,

[53:26] but I can get that to you by the end of this week,

[53:28] if you want a satellite imagery in the background

[53:33] as opposed to the open streets.

[53:36] Okay, thank you.

[53:40] What would also be helpful if you saw the map

[53:43] of the whole county and what areas is being covered

[53:47] because we still got all the southern end of it might be in the process but it's

[53:54] not being done and and maybe what's the projected date on what possible service

[54:02] could be hooked up. We're a lot of folks down there still asking you know and

[54:08] I know BARC that kind of let the ball fall up there on a lot of that and I

[54:14] I know it's all pending in the bead applications

[54:17] and all of that, but we still got those folks

[54:21] that's asking and they deserve as much service

[54:25] as anybody else in the county.

[54:27] So when I do that map change,

[54:28] I'll put a month of expected service

[54:33] or quarter if it's next April or May,

[54:39] but I can do that on the same map.

[54:41] Are you applying for those areas that BARC didn't cover and what not?

[54:47] We, I believe we applied for one area down there in the kind of the southwestern portion.

[54:58] But I forget off the top of my head who exactly was awarded and where Barc defaulted.

[55:07] But I do know overall that the majority of locations across the county went to some wireline

[55:13] provider.

[55:15] But I can check on that on the state's map in that area kind of the southwestern portion

[55:21] and I can.

[55:22] Well we kind of need the whole southern end of the county all the way across towards

[55:28] the Blue Ridge Mountains and things there.

[55:32] It appears from the original bead map rollout.

[55:37] I had done screenshots of each provider that had selected Augusta County or was provisionally

[55:46] awarded for Augusta County.

[55:48] So from the southern portion of the county that you're alluding to, it looks like it

[55:54] It would be all points, a little bit of satellite from Amazon, a little bit of Zytel, which is

[56:03] a fiber-based company, a little bit of Comcast, and then also MGW.

[56:08] So it looks like there's multiple providers that have been in that area.

[56:12] They're not overlapping.

[56:13] Those awards aren't overlapping, but based on the visual of the map, those were the

[56:20] ones that are in the southern part of the county.

[56:22] I think most of that area was awarded to MGW.

[56:26] The Bark area might have been.

[56:28] Do you have a map of those different companies

[56:31] in the area that they're?

[56:33] It's just a screenshot of the entire county

[56:35] that kind of gives you a visual, which you know

[56:38] your district really well as far as like, you know,

[56:40] if it's 252 versus, you know, Route 11.

[56:45] So I can, I send them an email a few weeks ago,

[56:48] but I can resend them and make sure they're still

[56:51] accurate with what's currently on the DHCD website.

[56:54] Well, and I'm sure it's kind of like what Pam said about reading the maps and things

[56:58] that you're going to have some people that can't really tell off of those maps and, yeah.

[57:05] Yeah.

[57:05] I'm going by like 252, Route 11, and you're doing that type of thing to read them.

[57:09] So, I mean, as a visual of the county, you kind of get a feel for where the service

[57:13] would be.

[57:14] Well, I got-

[57:15] But if you want to look, if you have addresses you want me to look up, I can do that

[57:18] on the site and get to that person's house.

[57:21] Well, had multiple people like on Old Rainbow Road

[57:24] and then we've got people that's in the Visubius area

[57:29] and then we've got people over in,

[57:31] I think the southwestern quarter there

[57:35] that you're talking about and, you know,

[57:38] how far Mark was over there on the eastern side

[57:45] of route 252 Oaks, I don't know exactly, maybe a mile maybe, but then we got folks

[57:51] that's from there back towards the interstate, towards the Rayfien area and

[57:57] things, so I don't know if you're covering any of that in there or not so.

[58:04] So Rayfien would be an area of interest? Well, I can look at a couple streets here

[58:10] in there and have to figure out who's where. Probably anybody that's from the

[58:15] rafing back to well that whole quarter in there you've got Spotswood Road goes

[58:26] through there you got Stover School Road goes through there and then kind of

[58:33] back down to where you're getting back into the Verizon and anywhere that

[58:37] They've got Comcast and things in there.

[58:41] Of course, most everybody that can get the TV

[58:44] can probably get the internet off of Comcast and things.

[58:49] But anybody outside of Comcast TV areas

[58:54] not going to be able to get it.

[58:56] So you've got those.

[58:59] I see a lot of blank spots in there.

[59:03] Yeah.

[59:04] Well, I can look up some of those road you named

[59:05] to kind of give you a visual that shows this area would cover between 252 and

[59:13] Route 11 or this area. So I can kind of give you that a little bit. Well and like

[59:18] in Basuvius you got the south bottom road that comes back up 608 back up

[59:23] through there and Dabney Road back.

[59:29] Well Lofton Road on the eastern side of the

[59:32] road track is covered, but then Lofton Road on the western side of the tracks is not covered, so.

[59:38] Okay. All right, that is helpful to give me some clarity on the areas you're looking at.

[59:46] All right. Is this information available to the average citizen?

[59:53] It is. I mean, we're having trouble. I can't imagine. Yes, ma'am. It's

[1:00:00] It's available on the State Broadband Office website, some of the colors they have put in

[1:00:09] there for different providers, makes it hard to see them. And I don't think they have street

[1:00:15] names on the streets, but you can search by individual address, you can see which provider

[1:00:24] has been provisionally awarded for BID.

[1:00:27] But if you're taking a whole look and trying to see, you know, who has been awarded to

[1:00:32] my Magisterial District, that may be a little bit harder.

[1:00:36] But you can search each individual address and it will zoom to that address, it will

[1:00:39] tell you who was provisionally awarded.

[1:00:42] And it is publicly available, it's on the State Broadband's website.

[1:00:47] You just can't read it.

[1:00:49] It's – I mean, I'm looking at it right now at, you know, the dots for Comcast

[1:00:52] Augusta Green and the map screen. Yeah and what I had sent to the board when

[1:00:59] Mr. Scholl brought it up about a month ago is I went in and I did a screenshot of

[1:01:02] all of Augusta County so everybody kind of has an idea of where their district

[1:01:07] lines are where 81 is where 11 is where 250 is all that and so you like I

[1:01:12] glance at it and say it appears the orange dots for MGW are the bark

[1:01:19] area of the county and maybe a little bit of Bradley pond, but that's just me

[1:01:22] working with the county as a whole over time at a glance I can kind of say where

[1:01:27] things are. So if you want I could probably go district by district and

[1:01:32] blow it up and do screenshots a little bit more that may help you, but to Mr.

[1:01:38] Ennis's point not everything's labeled so if I have an exact address if I

[1:01:42] put that in there I can tell you exactly who is provisionally awarded

[1:01:46] for Bede. And if for some reason it's not on Bede, then I can go to the All Points project

[1:01:53] to see if they're in that, or if they're having to come, then I can also see that.

[1:02:09] One of the other things before Mr. Ennis leaves to point out is we've been hearing for, you

[1:02:17] you know, a decade that individuals need high-speed internet.

[1:02:23] So the Badi project included 1,173 passings for,

[1:02:28] and this is the one that was the MGW project from 2021.

[1:02:32] They're currently at a 42% take rate.

[1:02:34] So even though you're here, we need internet

[1:02:36] and we need internet, only 40% of the people

[1:02:38] have actually signed up for a service

[1:02:40] that's existed now for over a year.

[1:02:44] So one of the talking points just, you know, in the community of people are asking for it,

[1:02:50] most of them will sign up if we're hearing from them on a, you know, a regular basis.

[1:02:56] But if you have individuals that are hesitant to sign up, you know, long-term,

[1:03:05] it's probably better for them to sign up sooner rather than later if they're going,

[1:03:08] if they have somebody in their family that can use it because the offers now

[1:03:11] are going to be better than, you know, the offers once it exists for a while. And we've

[1:03:15] all experienced that with, you know, incumbent providers that have built a service and then

[1:03:21] when you want to connect you have to pay a fee to do that whether it's Comcast or whoever.

[1:03:27] So now that BEAT is out there for funding and has rules relative to service requirements

[1:03:36] And then also these VATI awards, it's a good time for people to look hard at do they want

[1:03:42] to sign up now if somebody in their family can use it and also help with the resellability

[1:03:47] of their house.

[1:03:49] One thing to touch on that, Jennifer, so we do offer a $99 installation fee for those

[1:03:57] who want us to sign up that are in the program.

[1:04:01] If they sign up two years from now, that fee may be higher because the program has ended

[1:04:06] and we're not able to offset their long-drop fee.

[1:04:11] Our grant contract says that we can do that for 12 months.

[1:04:14] Even though we do have several fiber service areas where, you know, technically that

[1:04:20] clock has started, we have not started that 12-month clock, we want people to take

[1:04:24] advantage of the program, the county has invested a lot, the state has invested a

[1:04:28] lot, we've invested a lot.

[1:04:28] We want people to sign up, you know, there may be some neighborhoods where we get there

[1:04:33] and there's not a VDOT right away, and it's a private road, and we may need help with

[1:04:37] an HOA or a community leader to get some notarized easements.

[1:04:41] They're also not going to be on that strict 12-month shot clock, so we will work with

[1:04:47] neighborhoods, work with the community to get people to sign up before the benefits

[1:04:51] of the program expire.

[1:04:53] We're doing a promotion this month, and it's going to end October 31st, but there's a whole

[1:05:02] portion of the county that can't sign up, and they're going to get a promotion too when

[1:05:04] the time comes.

[1:05:06] So Jennifer, is that something that we can post as areas open up on the website, Facebook,

[1:05:15] Facebook, something like that?

[1:05:16] These areas are now open, sign up.

[1:05:20] Is that something we can do?

[1:05:21] said that they know that their area potentially is covered?

[1:05:27] We haven't really done that in the past.

[1:05:30] We would have to have a very clear communication of what is available and what promotion is

[1:05:36] out there.

[1:05:37] If you do have any like, I don't know if you have any social media promotions, we could

[1:05:40] probably just share those.

[1:05:42] That would be the easiest thing to do.

[1:05:44] That way we're sharing like information and there's no confusion.

[1:05:48] Right.

[1:05:48] I understand.

[1:05:49] But I was thinking like, okay.

[1:05:50] some areas in the northern part may be open now and available where in the

[1:05:55] southern part maybe they're not. So if we could just announce that there are

[1:06:00] areas now that are available that kind of thing and not necessarily to the

[1:06:04] dollars but you know it's now available just a suggestion. I'll share some

[1:06:09] options in our staff check-in and you can say yes or no. And to what

[1:06:19] Carolyn said maybe on our website we can post the links to hook up so that

[1:06:27] individuals can click go on to that and see whether their addresses are on there

[1:06:33] and make it so they don't have to look and search and all of that if it's

[1:06:39] readily available that they can you know we can say something about the

[1:06:44] the internet hookups and things for the citizens of the county and if you want to find out whether

[1:06:50] your address is available you can search on here and make it a little easier for them to maybe try

[1:06:58] to find it. Yeah I can go back there's there's just a lot of layers to this but I think we have

[1:07:06] all points information in the link there that you click on and you go to the website to put

[1:07:09] your address in. I might be able to add like a B link to and pretty much just

[1:07:15] preface it by saying you know this is the program that the federal government

[1:07:20] has kind of rolled out and is still being worked through but if you go to

[1:07:25] this link then you can type in your address and figure out who would be

[1:07:28] serving you. So more specific instructions on that might get people

[1:07:33] to where they need to be.

[1:07:36] My only my not comment about that is if you're

[1:07:39] going to do it for all points?

[1:07:40] Shouldn't you do it for all the providers?

[1:07:43] Well, this would be all the providers that put in for Bede.

[1:07:47] So it's going to be a map of anybody nationwide that

[1:07:50] has got a provisional award from Bede.

[1:07:54] Yeah, so MGW's in there, Comcast, Zytel, Amazon, SpaceX.

[1:08:04] It would be for everyone.

[1:08:12] Jennifer, your comments about the 40% take rate or 47%?

[1:08:18] When we started down this road, there was a lot of enthusiasm about it.

[1:08:22] And I think, Gerald, you were there one morning.

[1:08:24] There's a number of people in our neighborhood, handful, talking about this program.

[1:08:29] And part of the problem is, it's gotten drug out so long that now they've made other choices.

[1:08:38] They've, you know, it's just been ongoing.

[1:08:42] And they've just used other providers or they've found other sources.

[1:08:46] So now if it comes by, they're not sure whether the hookup or not, because when they thought

[1:08:51] they were going to get it, they didn't.

[1:08:53] And they went out on their own, found some other options.

[1:08:55] And that's kind of a concern that I have that we've invested in this, and the longer it

[1:09:00] goes on, the more options the consumers are going to find other than this.

[1:09:07] And when you come by their house and say, hey, man, we waited a couple of years

[1:09:10] on this, and we did something else we don't need you now.

[1:09:13] So the take rate might be pretty low because we spent too much time not

[1:09:18] getting the service to them. Yeah and I think in the original grant for the

[1:09:25] VATI 2022 project the take rate was estimated to be extremely low, which

[1:09:32] is a good business presentation to have that your return on investment is

[1:09:37] going to be realistic versus overestimating the take rate. But yeah

[1:09:41] I do understand that people have gotten other things temporarily, so they're also probably

[1:09:47] holding out to say, I made this investment and I have a one-year contract, and when that's

[1:09:51] up, now they have the option of fiber, so they're going to have to make the decision

[1:09:54] if they can get in on one of the promotional deals.

[1:09:58] They can try to get it to the house before that expires, so yeah, yeah, it is.

[1:10:04] Yeah.

[1:10:09] Anyone else?

[1:10:15] Good thing.

[1:10:15] Thank you.

[1:10:23] Rebecca.

[1:10:23] All right.

[1:10:32] Today we have Jay Langston, Executive Director of the Shenandoah Valley Partnership

[1:10:36] with us to discuss organizing a Shenandoah Valley-wide Regional Industrial Facility Authority,

[1:10:44] also known as ARIFA, and to discuss the county's interest in participating. I did

[1:10:51] want to note it is in the Draft Strategic Economic Development Plan to consider joining

[1:10:57] Arifa, as the county works through developing sites and the cost of that development increasing.

[1:11:06] Jay, welcome.

[1:11:10] Thank you, Rebecca.

[1:11:12] Good afternoon.

[1:11:17] I have a few slides to go along with this because it's inextricably tied to a site,

[1:11:25] but we may not need those, and so I'll just hold that off.

[1:11:28] There's no need to go through it if necessary.

[1:11:31] I wanted to give you sort of an overview of what the Regional and Deseroyal Facility Authority,

[1:11:39] I'm going to call it REFA just for short through this, allows and what it can do.

[1:11:49] It is authorized under the Code of Virginia and 15.26400.

[1:11:56] It's very much similar to an EDA.

[1:12:01] What it allows in addition to an EDA though is multiple jurisdictions in revenue sharing

[1:12:08] and cost sharing.

[1:12:11] It is typically used for business parks, industrial parks.

[1:12:19] The idea, I cover 12 localities, not all are on the interstate, not all have the

[1:12:29] opportunity for the good business parks or siting for good projects here.

[1:12:38] Also, the cost of development for business parks, you own one, you know how

[1:12:44] Mill Place has gone, it's been a very successful park, but it's expensive to

[1:12:50] put in the infrastructure. This is a way for multiple localities to participate. The advantages

[1:13:00] are it is shared resources and cost amongst the members. It helps expand the site inventory

[1:13:11] inventory and facility inventory.

[1:13:14] Rebecca and I just attended the Virginia Economic Developers Conference last week.

[1:13:22] VEDP, I'll try not to throw too many acronyms at you as Virginia Economic Development Partnership,

[1:13:30] has taken down through good project success and announcements in the last several months

[1:13:38] over 6,000 acres for business growth. We've only replaced that with about 1,500 acres.

[1:13:49] So we're very good at, you know, in our success, but we're not keeping up with the business

[1:13:56] parks necessary to keep us in good stead going into the future. It also enhances

[1:14:05] This is our regional competitiveness because it will allow another park to be available

[1:14:12] in our footprint here, and it's being encouraged for us by the Virginia Economic Development

[1:14:19] Partnership.

[1:14:21] Also risk mitigation because the cost of this is shared over multiple different localities,

[1:14:31] And it increases bargaining power because you also have a larger facility and, you know,

[1:14:39] the return on investment is better for the investment that you put into it.

[1:14:46] To create a RIFA,

[1:14:50] it really is an agreement by the localities who want to participate

[1:14:57] in the red.

[1:15:01] There are some steps to go through that or administrative in order to do that, but that's a relatively

[1:15:10] easy process to do. It's governed by a board, which is picked by the authority and the localities

[1:15:19] there. It does have an annual cost associated with the RIFA because very similar to an EDA

[1:15:30] You have to have an account and you have to have an audit on a yearly basis.

[1:15:35] There are some administrative issues that go along with, you know, business part, the

[1:15:41] creating of the authority and then the marketing and thereof.

[1:15:49] You have duly elected officers, need an executive director and that's it in a nutshell.

[1:16:00] And it's actually pretty easy to set this up.

[1:16:03] There are five or six rifas in Virginia operating currently.

[1:16:10] We have looked and talked with a couple of our close peers that have similar land, similar

[1:16:22] opportunities for their localities.

[1:16:25] the Western Virginia Rifa, which is in Roanoke, is the one that we have modeled

[1:16:32] sort of this this template after since we have you know or have been looking at

[1:16:39] it. Also the Eastern Virginia Rifa that is in your county is another. Reason

[1:16:48] that I am bringing all of this up is we have been very fortunate to do a lot

[1:16:53] of work on the Blue Mountain site, which is in Weir's Cave, which is nearly 500 acres

[1:17:02] of privately owned industrial zoned property that's next to the airport.

[1:17:12] And it has been a project that you have been working on and long before I got to the

[1:17:19] Shenandoah Valley Partnership, but we have been fortunate in the last several years to

[1:17:24] get three Go Virginia grants to do due diligence work and study the RIFA.

[1:17:32] So we have put in about $500,000 into this particular site to get it to business ready

[1:17:40] standards.

[1:17:41] The third grant currently is finishing up and it will have all of the environmental wet

[1:17:51] lens, everything that you need to make it business ready, done within probably the next couple

[1:17:57] of months or so.

[1:18:00] That's the good news.

[1:18:02] The news that goes along though with continuing the development is it costs approximately

[1:18:10] $100,000 an acre to bring on a business park, an industrial park now.

[1:18:17] Nearly 500 acres, you could do the math.

[1:18:20] We're talking about nearly $50 million in necessary to build this out.

[1:18:28] Does not have to be done all at the same time, but it will require the development

[1:18:35] of this.

[1:18:36] and we have talked at a very high level of maybe moving this ahead by creating a RIFA,

[1:18:47] which Augusta County would be the host for, and inviting other localities to participate

[1:18:56] in that RIFA there. And I wanted to put that idea in front of you

[1:19:02] get your feedback in questions related to that. I got the slides of the site if

[1:19:10] you wanted to see it but most of you probably know this is the property that's

[1:19:14] west of the airport there on Airport Road and I'd be happy to answer any

[1:19:23] questions. I did a very very high level I realize that but it's one of these

[1:19:28] topics that we could talk about for hours on end if if necessary that I get

[1:19:35] everything Rebecca thank

[1:19:44] you we as SVP already your regional economic

[1:19:50] development group we have volunteered to it does require administration for

[1:19:56] RIFA, just like an EDA does. We are offering to be the staff for the RIFA reporting to

[1:20:06] that authority board, since we cover the region already. Have been marketing it with you on

[1:20:15] the market, have been actually doing the administration of the GoVG grants to facilitate

[1:20:25] getting to this point and the good news is is we are getting close to a point

[1:20:31] where we may be able to get some Virginia Business Ready site program

[1:20:37] dollars to help with the development of the site. I will also say that it is the

[1:20:45] most viable site that we have anywhere in our footprint.

[1:20:55] I'll be happy to answer questions.

[1:21:03] It's a lot more complicated than that, obviously, but we are to the point now where we've talked

[1:21:10] with amongst our economic developers and some of the other localities to judge interest

[1:21:21] in participating in this if you so choose to host for this property.

[1:21:30] The other

[1:21:31] two rifas that you talked about, how many localities are in in those? The Roanoke

[1:21:37] Rifa has five. It is the city of Roanoke, Roanoke County,

[1:21:43] Bonnetot, Franklin and the town of Benton. Eastern Virginia has approximately 11 of the 15 localities

[1:21:57] in the Hampton Roads area that are participating. All of the localities on the peninsula are

[1:22:06] engage so Newport News, Williamsburg, James City County, York County,

[1:22:13] Pecoson, because they're in a position of city, they don't have any

[1:22:17] developable property, and then several on the other side of the James River there.

[1:22:24] And on those two rivers, how much resources does each locality have to put up to participate in it?

[1:22:31] It differs by each one.

[1:22:33] That's a good question.

[1:22:35] In the eastern Virginia, they have a split for the smaller localities putting in $5,000.

[1:22:44] The larger localities are putting $10,000 in for that.

[1:22:49] In Roanoke, it's a little bit of a different situation.

[1:22:53] They do have a break between their cities, towns, and they went to the localities

[1:23:01] and ask what would you build willing to do? You want to be a major donor, partner or second

[1:23:10] tier. So they have divided. Each one of those larger ones are putting in approximately $19,000

[1:23:17] for the administration and overseeing of the park. However, part of their higher donation

[1:23:25] is because they are having to do work on their property at the very beginning to

[1:23:32] get it on the market. So they have already passed a bond issuance for that

[1:23:39] property. Similar for the first Rifa, which is near in Montgomery County near

[1:23:49] Pulaski and Christiansburg, theirs is lower on a yearly basis, but they have been at it

[1:23:59] the longest of any. We're predicting at the start that our annual cost, they've gone up

[1:24:07] since I've done this analysis six months ago, but we're looking at around $40,000. Probably

[1:24:15] Let's be, you know, conserving and go $45,000 for annual fees.

[1:24:22] Part of that can be reduced because we can administer it because we already have been

[1:24:28] working on it and we'll offer our time, you know, to devote to this because it's good

[1:24:35] for us in that regard.

[1:24:38] We know that the audit will require probably $10,000 out of that.

[1:24:43] The rest of that would be the maintenance website, marketing, you know, in addition to anything, a website.

[1:24:51] It would probably need its own website, and that would take some work.

[1:24:56] The yearly fee after that may be a little less, but then that would depend upon the board authority,

[1:25:05] Well, the authority board, I'm sorry, got that backwards, and what they would like to

[1:25:11] do in terms of development standpoint.

[1:25:15] We're in a position currently where I said, may be able to get another grant in the works

[1:25:25] that would not put any burden on any of the localities that wanted to join the RIFA

[1:25:33] at this point, so it might not go up,

[1:25:36] but that might is very broad at this point.

[1:25:41] How long has those two been in place?

[1:25:45] Oh, the refas?

[1:25:46] Yeah.

[1:25:49] The Roanoke started in, I think it was 2014,

[1:25:57] but it's been approximately 10 years, eight years for them.

[1:26:01] the eastern Virginia is newer. It has only been in effect for about five years.

[1:26:09] The first RIFA in Montgomery County is more than 20 years old. And has each

[1:26:18] locality got a return on investment? The first RIFA has, yes. It took them a

[1:26:27] a while before they did.

[1:26:29] Each locality, like the cities and the counties,

[1:26:32] and each individual one has got a return on it?

[1:26:36] Yes, yes, for the ones that have participated.

[1:26:39] And you're asking a very good point,

[1:26:41] because there are two levels in ERIFA.

[1:26:46] Participation, just being a part of that,

[1:26:48] which everybody has to pay an annual fee,

[1:26:52] and it can be stepped or it can be the same across the board.

[1:26:55] and for the development of the property those are two different things and so you

[1:27:04] must have and by law you must be paying annual dues on a annual basis you then

[1:27:13] if you choose to participate in the development of like phase a and I could

[1:27:20] show you an example of that if you were interested, then those localities who are

[1:27:27] part of the RIFA can choose to be part of the development and thus then they

[1:27:34] would be the ones that would receive the benefits, you know, the shared

[1:27:39] revenues for the companies that locate in that particular project or

[1:27:46] or development phase.

[1:27:52] The most successful RIFA honestly is the one that's in the

[1:27:55] Danville area. Danville, Pennsylvania County, Halifax County to some degree,

[1:28:05] Patrick County to a little degree had been very very successful with their

[1:28:10] RIFA. They have been working together over time. Cain Creek has

[1:28:16] been extremely successful for them so that has been a good return for those

[1:28:23] localities. It's no guarantee but we have in the Blue Mountain site one of the

[1:28:32] few large sites really along I-81 anywhere in I-81 and been very gracious

[1:28:41] with one owner who is won't the best for the county and has been holding on to

[1:28:50] that property with y'all's agreement for the right kind of development long-term.

[1:29:00] So we are being encouraged not being forced by any means but encouraged by

[1:29:06] VDP to to move forward in the development of that. So for that site you're not

[1:29:15] necessarily thinking of like an industrial park because that would lose

[1:29:19] our whole 500 acres and we lose the size. You're still considering a big thing

[1:29:26] or it depends. I think that depends upon first of all your wishes because it

[1:29:32] It will follow your comprehensive plan in your zoning.

[1:29:36] It will also then be up to the board, the authority, to decide whether they want a particular

[1:29:45] project or not.

[1:29:47] For those properties that you already have that make sense for, let's say, the Martin

[1:29:53] property or your mill place. If there's a project that is a good fit for that.

[1:30:00] There's no sense in going to a property that really is well suited for $100 million or $200

[1:30:07] million project. So we're not talking about a mega site per se or just one project. Personally,

[1:30:18] this is my opinion, I would love to see three or four really good projects on a property of this

[1:30:25] It diminishes your risk, you know, with one sector, but it also provides opportunities to get a diverse portfolio in there and the potential for very good return on good jobs and revenue investment as well.

[1:30:45] Did I answer your question?

[1:30:47] And you had said the board is the one who decides whether it's the right project.

[1:30:54] This board or the RIFA board?

[1:30:56] RIFA board.

[1:30:57] So if it's a project, yeah, what if we don't like it?

[1:31:01] I would, I can't guarantee, but I cannot imagine an authority board going against the wishes

[1:31:11] of the locality with the zoning in the comprehensive plan.

[1:31:16] That would be destructive, I think, for the RIFA,

[1:31:22] very much so.

[1:31:23] And there can always be the agreements,

[1:31:28] legal agreements made in documents,

[1:31:31] both that and in your zoning, you know,

[1:31:34] to prohibit something that you don't want to go in there.

[1:31:38] And

[1:31:46] when we were talking you had given us several different options.

[1:31:51] Can you explain to them what those are?

[1:31:54] I can.

[1:31:56] Ms. Bragg is referring to, you have 500 acres.

[1:32:04] Would you like to consider only a portion of the 500 acres as being part of the RIFA,

[1:32:12] which could then, depending upon how everything's proceed, could go into that.

[1:32:19] I will read you the options because I couldn't remember everything, so I'm going back to my notes.

[1:32:25] It was to proceed with creating the RIFA in its entirety right now for all of the 500 acres,

[1:32:33] knowing that we're not going to develop all of that at one time.

[1:32:39] The other option is less end the discussion if you're not interested in it and that's

[1:32:46] the second alternative.

[1:32:50] Right now, and we could continue down the road, is create the RIFA and how it would operate

[1:32:58] really is on a first come, first serve basis.

[1:33:00] Let's take down all of the property at first or in an agreement like an option agreement

[1:33:08] or continue with your marketing agreement but a good legal document and let's see what

[1:33:16] happens with that first phase.

[1:33:18] We get a project in there that you like, that's successful, okay, we want to continue

[1:33:22] on and that sets the tone for the project.

[1:33:28] We can continue down this path like we are now.

[1:33:32] It's on the market now.

[1:33:34] And if I were to receive a really good lead that I think would fit in there,

[1:33:41] this would be sort of that first option.

[1:33:43] I would come to Rebecca and go, we've got a project that trumps right now anything else

[1:33:49] that we're doing with the property.

[1:33:51] It's before the RIFA, and you would have that option to put that project in.

[1:33:56] and then the last section is you could conceivably divide the property, have part

[1:34:09] of it rifa and retain part of it for yourself just like you have no place

[1:34:14] part of it could still be you know just for Augusta County so that's an

[1:34:19] option. I do have some phasing plans that have been done by engineers

[1:34:25] years visually, unless you want to see it, I won't bother with it, but that gives you

[1:34:30] an idea of sort of the options that we have at this point.

[1:34:35] The reason I'm coming before you now is we're at the point where we either need to start

[1:34:41] moving forward with the RIFA or sort of let the idea go, you know, for a while.

[1:34:48] This was I know talked about in the past before I joined seven years ago, but we

[1:34:55] have been very fortunate to get the property to a point now. It has water

[1:35:00] and sewer. It has a good road connection there. Yes, more has got to be done, but

[1:35:06] it is marketable property.

[1:35:17] I could provide lots of additional information to

[1:35:25] you, I can share with Rebecca to share. I could bury you in paper if you'd like, but

[1:35:32] I will refrain from doing that until you, you know, ask and you need. I did, I should say

[1:35:41] we did have a feasibility study, that's this 100 page document, and it was positive for

[1:35:48] for the property, for both a RIFA but also for the targets that we seek, which are manufacturing

[1:35:55] equipment, you know, north of Grumman type of projects, electronic components and so

[1:36:01] forth.

[1:36:02] It does not have natural gas.

[1:36:04] I don't see it having natural gas.

[1:36:06] Probably will not be a food and beverage site, but then that doesn't compete with

[1:36:13] some of your other good sites for food and beverage as well.

[1:36:22] I've given you a lot to think about,

[1:36:25] probably something new that you've not heard of.

[1:36:28] So, but I'm happy to provide more.

[1:36:34] Rebecca, I'd be interested in hearing your feedback.

[1:36:39] If you don't want to do it now

[1:36:41] and you want to put your thoughts together

[1:36:42] that I understand I don't want to catch off guard.

[1:36:45] I think on a very high level,

[1:36:47] This would be a really good tool to add to our toolkit.

[1:36:53] Site development costs are getting so high.

[1:36:56] Our next item on the agenda is going to be to talk about the VBRSP grant.

[1:37:00] We're looking for resources to help develop the properties that we have.

[1:37:06] I think the board is going to have to talk more about what you want to see at that site

[1:37:12] and what your priorities are on investing in sites and timing and what you're

[1:37:20] looking to see there. And I think if we can have that broader discussion it's

[1:37:25] going to help narrow down on the four options that Jay just outlined. I think

[1:37:32] it's a good idea and I think if we could talk about it more and figure

[1:37:35] out where your priorities are on site development it would help us get to

[1:37:39] get to the answer. Is that helpful? What was that? It is for it is a tier 4 site.

[1:37:48] Yeah, the 199 acres that we did the due diligence on at the very beginning I

[1:37:55] should be in front of the mic I know. It is tier 4. The remaining property that is

[1:38:03] under the due diligence. Now 287 acres will be tier four once we're done. So

[1:38:14] that's the good news and that will bring the entire site up. Not all of that can

[1:38:20] be reached by infrastructure at this point though but we're not trying to

[1:38:25] sell it to one big user anyway.

[1:38:29] I would also just add that with the Rifa you

[1:38:32] can develop multiple sites under ARIFA. So the board can really discuss what's the

[1:38:38] interest in joining ARIFA and what's the interest in putting Blue Mountain under

[1:38:42] that RIFA. There isn't another site right now that we could put under the

[1:38:49] RIFA, but multiple localities I think are looking at their available acreage

[1:38:55] and if they can put more sites on the market. So I think in the future

[1:39:00] there could be more but I just wanted to make sure you all understood it's it's two different

[1:39:04] discussions but they are very tied right now because Blue Mountain's the only option for the RIFA.

[1:39:13] Only 199 acres that you've assessed right now what are the challenges and obstacles to get it

[1:39:19] to a pad ready site?

[1:39:23] It requires an engineering layout which is actually under the current

[1:39:33] contract that we have with the engineer that's doing the balance of that site

[1:39:39] and barring that really would be then getting that information and filing it

[1:39:46] with the county. So it's not far off and money and money for the grading.

[1:39:57] Moroccan Ham County for example is finishing up a pad site in Innovation

[1:40:07] Village and they are spending approximately four million dollars for

[1:40:11] that. Now I would love to be able to take these plans and put this in front

[1:40:17] of the state for the business ready site program and file an application for

[1:40:23] that. It has been strongly encouraged that it would be very well received if it

[1:40:30] were a RIFA project like that, but I think they would also honestly be very

[1:40:37] interested in seeing something of this magnitude regardless of whether it's a

[1:40:41] RIFA or not. On the 199 or whatever acres there, how big a pad site are you

[1:40:49] looking at. For phase A, this is a topic of discussion and we haven't settled but

[1:40:57] I would love to see a 20 acre pad as a start. For I think the property shows

[1:41:08] extremely well. I don't think you're ever going to get the right size of a

[1:41:14] pad for a project but 20 acres would certainly qualify for attracting the

[1:41:21] size of projects that we would like to recruit and if they have to add to it

[1:41:28] well they're already halfway there you know it's the last upfront to capital

[1:41:34] but Rockingham got more money than they asked for in their last VBRSP because

[1:41:44] the state wanted a larger pad. So they had to try to match that and they did, but the

[1:41:50] state may go we'd like to see something bigger. Do you have a particular spot on

[1:41:56] there picked up for the 20 acres right now? Yes. And what's the terrain like that

[1:42:02] on it? What's the high elevation? It's about that's a good question. I think

[1:42:08] is approximately 27 feet from the highest point to the lowest point may not be

[1:42:16] that much but it truly is the property across from the airport on airport road

[1:42:23] and if you would like I can flip flip to it on the slides oh it's alright I'm

[1:42:30] just kind of wanting it to rain because yes it's gently rolling particularly for

[1:42:35] area of what makes this property so attractive is this relatively flat. And it's known not

[1:42:42] to have any karst. It has very minimal wetlands. The phase A of it would be approximately half

[1:42:53] of that 100, well 200 acres, so you're looking at about 100 acres. And you could easily

[1:42:59] They situate a couple of projects that are 200,000 or 300,000 square feet in size on just

[1:43:07] that portion there.

[1:43:14] We have a layout.

[1:43:15] Rebecca has it now.

[1:43:16] She can share.

[1:43:32] The dollars wouldn't fix.

[1:43:35] Yes, sir.

[1:43:37] That's right.

[1:43:39] I see our friends over in the corner.

[1:43:41] They have rough ideas in their mind what their portion of it would be.

[1:43:46] The main thing about it is if you start down this road, there's a certain amount of stuff

[1:43:50] that has to be done.

[1:43:52] There isn't any more tweaking to speak of with some of your stuff.

[1:43:56] It's like you're all in, so that's what everybody needs to keep in mind.

[1:44:00] We're not going to just fiddle with this.

[1:44:02] You're either all in or you're not.

[1:44:04] That is correct.

[1:44:06] So that should be clear to everybody.

[1:44:08] Can we pull out our the KV account down there for A2 vein?

[1:44:12] good. It would last about five seconds.

[1:44:17] Any other questions for now?

[1:44:22] All right, very good.

[1:44:23] Thank you. Thank you very much. And I'd be happy to come back and talk as Rebecca needs.

[1:44:30] Tim needs. Thank you. The

[1:44:44] county received $500,000 for wet utility infrastructure work

[1:44:49] for Mill Place Commerce Park through the Virginia Business Ready Sites Program. Staff

[1:44:54] and Augusta water have reviewed possibilities for that work and for the

[1:44:59] match that will

[1:45:00] Will be required. It's a one-to-one match. Augusta Water is here today to discuss the suggested

[1:45:06] projects, and we will need to talk through the match opportunities. We are still waiting on

[1:45:13] a draft performance agreement from the state to review, and we would also need to draft

[1:45:18] our performance agreement with Augusta Water as we move forward, and I'll turn it over

[1:45:23] to Augusta Water now to talk through the projects.

[1:45:33] Can we

[1:45:37] get the slides up?

[1:45:42] Keep

[1:45:42] going.

[1:45:45] Okay. Almost. There it is.

[1:45:54] Well good afternoon members of the board. So as

[1:45:58] Rebecca said they the county staff did approach us about the grant and if we

[1:46:05] could come up with some projects that would qualify for the grant money and

[1:46:10] And we did, we came with a few, some of them we looked at, and I believe one of them was

[1:46:16] determined that it really wasn't going to be something that would be attractive to the

[1:46:21] state to do, so we took it out, and then we took, left us with three projects.

[1:46:28] We took the one, it was a construction project, which we have up on the screen.

[1:46:32] The other two were study projects that we combined into one, so we made one project

[1:46:39] project of it to make it, again, more appealing to the state that they would approve the funding

[1:46:45] for that.

[1:46:46] So the first one that we want to talk about is the construction project.

[1:46:51] This one would actually, over at Mill Place, we have two different zones, pressure zones

[1:46:59] over there.

[1:47:00] We have a pressure zone that is coming from Berry Farm, which is at a higher pressure,

[1:47:06] and then we've got the mill place pressure zone.

[1:47:09] Right now those two are not connected,

[1:47:12] so we can't get berry farm water over to the mill place tank.

[1:47:17] So this project would construct about 580 feet of pipe

[1:47:23] between those two that would allow us to get water

[1:47:27] from berry farm over into the mill place tank.

[1:47:30] So we see that as something that is very attractive to us.

[1:47:36] us. In fact, we already had that in some of the out years in our capital budget. So we

[1:47:42] were already planning to do this. I think we had construction at 28. Yeah, 2028 was what

[1:47:49] we were projecting on doing that. So this was something that we already knew we wanted

[1:47:54] to see happen. So that is the first project. And we did present these to our board

[1:48:00] last Thursday and we presented it as the two projects the one being the

[1:48:06] construction project that one the board well let me back up the estimated cost

[1:48:13] that we have for this for putting in this pipe work is about $600,000 so we're

[1:48:20] gonna be crossing route 11 we're gonna be crossing the railroad track and it's

[1:48:25] either gonna be 12 inch or 16 inch pipe so it's gonna be large diameter pipe

[1:48:29] that we're talking about. So we had estimated $600,000 for that because it was already in

[1:48:36] our budget. We had already planned to do this. Our board did approve for us to provide the

[1:48:43] $300,000 in matching funds. So if it's $600,000 total, get $300,000 from the state. I guess

[1:48:50] the water will provide the other $300,000 on that. So I'm hoping that that was going

[1:48:56] be an easy sell to the board. The other two projects that we put together into one, those

[1:49:04] were first, one half of that is a study at the Middle River wastewater treatment plant

[1:49:10] to see how we could develop more capacity there and that one was estimated to be around

[1:49:16] $110,000 for that. The other half of that is another study that's going to look at

[1:49:22] the Mill Place Commerce Park and it's looking at improving the water and wastewater capacity

[1:49:27] inside the park. That one is also estimated at around $110,000. So $220 for the total.

[1:49:36] So the state will put up $110,000, then it will have to be a $110,000 match. Neither

[1:49:42] one of, none of that is anything that's in any of our budgets. The board did consider

[1:49:49] that and what they voted on and approved is to offer to do half of the match so up

[1:49:55] to 55,000 so 220 for the total study 110 of it's got to be match so Augusta

[1:50:03] water is offering to do 50% of that match if the county would do the other

[1:50:08] 50% on that and part of that is we do Mr. Schulte may correct me if I'm

[1:50:13] wrong but I think the board's feeling was that the the work at the

[1:50:18] middle river waste to our treatment plant is probably something that benefits us

[1:50:21] more and doing the work in the industrial park in the in the middle

[1:50:26] place commerce park is something that's really for the county it's more of an

[1:50:30] economic development thing so I believe that that's the the feeling behind why

[1:50:35] our board did what they did is to explain that to you so I think that's

[1:50:41] everything I don't know if anyone has any questions I do have people who

[1:50:46] actually know what they're talking about. William Monroe, our Director of

[1:50:50] Engineering, Rachel Cannon, our project engineer here. So if I can't answer it,

[1:50:55] hopefully they can. Mr. Martin, I think our discussion was it's because

[1:51:01] Stanton has the capacity, what was it, 60%? About 72%. 72% of the wastewater

[1:51:10] treatment plant there. So we only have the other portion of it. So you could

[1:51:15] take several businesses in mill place and you can max that out pretty quick. So

[1:51:23] that's kind of the concern of where do we come up with solutions to get more

[1:51:29] capacity at the wastewater treatment plant. So that was kind of the feelings

[1:51:34] of the board and I think I spoke for the board there. Yes sir.

[1:51:40] Sir Rebecca we

[1:51:42] have the grant is for five hundred thousand right and then we would

[1:51:46] match it so we have a million or 500 and there 500 is that correct yes so it's a

[1:51:54] million total project dollars we could if you want if we wanted to provide up to

[1:51:58] 500,000 it would be a million dollars worth of projects so if the cost of this

[1:52:03] is 600 and 7,820 right for both projects we have to come up with well

[1:52:11] they're going to do 300 plus 55 and 55 and we would we could the county could

[1:52:20] provide the 55 and the state would provide the 110 to the 255s right but

[1:52:26] you wouldn't you're not getting the full million you're not getting the full

[1:52:29] right I understand that okay but I'm saying for our portion of it you could

[1:52:35] do both projects and the county portion would be 110 is that right County

[1:52:39] portion is 55. 55 because their board is willing to put 55 into those two

[1:52:44] projects. Right. It's 55 twice. Yes. But Augusta Water's paying 50, they're willing to give 50.

[1:52:50] Augusta Water 55, Augusta County 55, the state 110. Right. But there's two studies, right? There's the

[1:52:57] waste. No, it's a combined. The total amount is 110, not 220. So, he said 220. Yeah. The total

[1:53:05] The total amount is $220, but the state will do $110, so that leaves $110 in the match.

[1:53:16] So $55 is the counting match.

[1:53:19] We'll be getting out of $410,000 total in the match.

[1:53:25] We're offering to put up $355,000.

[1:53:28] So for us it would be $55,000 to do everything.

[1:53:33] Correct.

[1:53:35] That's not a problem, it's in the Beverly Manor District, that supervisor is not here,

[1:53:40] he's got the money, I think we can cover that today.

[1:53:43] I would point out that when we had this conversation, when we applied for the business site ready

[1:53:48] grant program, we actually committed as part of that application two and a half million

[1:53:54] dollars in match because we were trying to get a five million dollar grant to do

[1:53:58] a pad ready site.

[1:54:00] We didn't get that.

[1:54:01] So we got the water the water was a sewer was a question when we went through

[1:54:06] that process so the state in turn said since we have questions on water sewer

[1:54:11] we'll give you half million dollars to go look at some of that so the 55,000

[1:54:16] we can take care of out of economic development capital funds but it will

[1:54:23] require a vote on Wednesday night to move that forward to do that 55,000

[1:54:27] match. So we can reapply the next year. Oh yes. Yes, we could reapply. Mm-hmm. Yep.

[1:54:40] The first project you talked about that that doesn't that is not included in

[1:54:46] what we're the figures were given now right? It's included in the 300,000 Augusta

[1:54:51] water will provide the match for the county will not have to provide a

[1:54:54] for that portion. Okay. Thanks. That one was already in our projected budget in

[1:55:01] some out years. So would you all be doing that earlier?

[1:55:10] My understanding is that we

[1:55:12] have a two-year window to get this done and that's all. So I think it's all

[1:55:19] going to be on the fast track.

[1:55:24] It's doable as long as we can I think

[1:55:26] there's one or two easements. That's where you always run into the problem.

[1:55:29] Once somebody doesn't want to grant an easement, it becomes an issue. But as far

[1:55:36] as constructing 580 feet of pipe, that should not be that big of an

[1:55:42] issue. It is water pipe, so it's not going to have to be super deep. We do

[1:55:47] have, as I mentioned, the crossing of Route 11. So that, you know, we've got

[1:55:52] to get that through VDOT, then there's the railroad crossing. However it is

[1:55:56] Shin Valley Railroad, it's not Norfolk Southern, so that they have typically been

[1:56:01] much more cooperative. Fewer hoops to jump through than what you have whenever you

[1:56:08] have Norfolk Southern typically. So yeah we think it should be doable in two

[1:56:15] years. And this construction project will also help our water tank over

[1:56:22] there if we have an interruption from

[1:56:24] Stanton on water that it provides a way that we can replenish the water over in

[1:56:32] that tank and which that will help us out tremendously too so that that is

[1:56:38] correct that would allow us to get some very

[1:56:40] far water over there you know it's not the end all to everything

[1:56:44] but it certainly will help with that there are some other projects that

[1:56:48] We talked about at our board meeting Thursday and that we're looking at doing

[1:56:54] here in the coming years so our goal is to be to have a complete backup plan so

[1:57:04] that there's not an issue if we we our agreement with Stanton runs out in 2036

[1:57:11] so that's when we'll be renegotiated so we do want to have things ready we were

[1:57:18] So whenever we do those negotiations that we have things where we need to be.

[1:57:23] And you know we had to boil water issue and things here and you never know when you're

[1:57:29] going to have an interruption in your water line and system from Stanton to provide water there.

[1:57:35] So we're kind of looking at this as a backup plan in case we would have an emergency situation

[1:57:40] here too so help take care of us. Well one thing to remember there,

[1:57:44] of the agreement that we have with the City of Stanton, we have to buy one million gallons

[1:57:49] a day. And they have to be able to provide us with three million gallons a day if we

[1:57:54] need it. So it is good to have that much water available if you need it. But regardless

[1:58:03] until 2036, we're going to be buying a million gallons a day of water from the City of

[1:58:08] stand. So okay

[1:58:14] everybody clear on these. I'll be on agenda for Wednesday night. Very good. Thank you. Thank you all.

[1:58:29] Yes sir. I request five

[1:58:32] minute break. Okay. Cool.

[1:58:43] Me if we get the slides up that would be great. Thank you.

[2:07:00] Can we go ahead? Go ahead. Okay. All right. At a past board meeting, we were asked to bring

[2:07:05] back some renderings of the new sign that's proposed at Route 11 in Dickhoff Lane. So I do have

[2:07:11] some pictures here on the screen, and they were in their pockets as well. So this is

[2:07:16] one picture traveling south on Route 11, with the sign kind of tucked in there right

[2:07:25] in here.

[2:07:35] This is another sign kind of at night, closer to the intersection, still

[2:07:39] traveling south and it shows it lit and this is backlighting versus spot lights

[2:07:46] on the ground and this is another view of the sign traveling north so

[2:07:59] that gives

[2:07:59] you an idea of what it looks like this is it without the rendering just a

[2:08:05] simple bricks and color as a courthouse backlighting and the seal

[2:08:09] there on the left-hand side there the impediment and

[2:08:18] this is the

[2:08:19] diagram that I had shown earlier, where we've really talked about. This shows the

[2:08:24] improvements to DeKuff Lane. You've got two, I'm sorry, you've got three lanes

[2:08:29] going out onto Route 11, which are the top of the screen with the arrows. You

[2:08:34] have a right turn lane, straight through and left turn lane, and then a

[2:08:39] designated only left turn lane there. And then you've got one lane that's

[2:08:43] coming into the building with a median in the middle, and the median is

[2:08:47] where the sun is going to be, which is right here.

[2:08:54] Current sun sits just below that right

[2:08:57] here, so we're just kind of moving it over and back just a little bit to get it in the

[2:09:01] median. All that meeting and that intersection is all designed to be not standards. That's

[2:09:07] a project that Mr. Wolf's been working on and it's slated to go to construction here

[2:09:11] hopefully in a year, Doug, am I right on that? About a year after which we are

[2:09:17] planning to build sun.

[2:09:24] The original plan was to go ahead and get it constructed as part

[2:09:27] of the courthouse construction, but timing is not going to allow us to do that, to add

[2:09:32] on to their contract. And we need to build it after decoupling improvements are made,

[2:09:38] just to allow us room, so it doesn't get, you know, damaged or down in the way, that

[2:09:42] kind of thing. So we are planning to bid it out separately on its own. So we'll have

[2:09:46] the construction plans for that to do it already? No, we don't have a cost for that

[2:09:53] this time.

[2:09:58] Sure we did.

[2:10:04] It's a red. It may not be the exact red that that person

[2:10:09] would want but it's it's a red. Yes.

[2:10:13] What's the dimensions on the sign? Oh golly,

[2:10:16] I don't know that I know. I've taught my head. I don't I don't know.

[2:10:24] Honestly I

[2:10:24] so?

[2:10:27] It's sitting so low.

[2:10:35] Yeah, the shrubbery too. This is going to set up higher and it's

[2:10:38] going to allow for some landscaping as well. And it's going to be a boulevard style. So

[2:10:43] like when you get to the intersection, it's going to be a bigger intersection than when

[2:10:47] you have now. So that alone is a presence. And then the sign would be between the

[2:10:52] two lanes. Is there going to be any V dot sign each at that intersection up over this

[2:10:59] to stop lights and all.

[2:11:01] There is a sign that exists right now

[2:11:03] and that intersection that points to Augusta County

[2:11:05] Government Center, so it's green and white.

[2:11:08] Yeah, but you're not gonna change yet.

[2:11:10] No, we will leave it up there.

[2:11:13] It's up there today.

[2:11:15] Yeah, I know there's one there today to match this one.

[2:11:18] Oh no, it's on top up there, it's a green sign, yeah.

[2:11:23] Is it a green sign up on top?

[2:11:26] Yeah, it says Augusta County Government Center

[2:11:28] with air on it. That'll remain in place.

[2:11:34] My only concern is somebody arriving to

[2:11:37] their court date drunk and hitting it. I hope they wouldn't be drunk, but it looks

[2:11:42] like the perfect place for somebody to hit it and having driven up Lutuit

[2:11:47] numerous times and how many times their stop signs are taken out and their road

[2:11:53] signs taken out. Understand your point. One of the main reasons why it was

[2:11:57] put where it is as far as being proposed are all the utilities that are located where

[2:12:05] it's at now and trying to get it there between what's going to be the new road and the bank.

[2:12:12] There's poles there that's not going to be moved, that's going to stay, and there's

[2:12:16] just so many underground utilities to try to maneuver.

[2:12:21] And we thought it would be better to place it into the median where there wasn't anything.

[2:12:26] And this, the area I'm talking about is like right in here.

[2:12:30] And you can see all these lines here that are utilities on the plans.

[2:12:49] Okay.

[2:12:49] I cannot thank the floor.

[2:12:52] I think it's too high.

[2:12:55] Keep the view down.

[2:12:58] Just to take a discussion.

[2:13:01] Okay.

[2:13:03] Thank you all very much.

[2:13:05] Just in case any of y'all want to know why I ask her about duck food.

[2:13:10] I ask her every time I see her if she has dog cages.

[2:13:15] So one day I said, let me tell you my duck story.

[2:13:18] A little duck visit the grocery store and asked if he has any duck food.

[2:13:21] And they said, no, it's a grocery store.

[2:13:23] He goes back the next day, you got any duck food?

[2:13:25] No, it's a grocery store.

[2:13:27] He goes in the third day, got any duck food?

[2:13:29] It's a grocery store.

[2:13:31] If you come in here again, I'll nail your little web feet to the floor.

[2:13:34] He goes in the next day, got any nails?

[2:13:36] It's not a hardware store.

[2:13:37] It's a grocery store.

[2:13:38] Got any duck food?

[2:13:39] Got any indulgages?

[2:13:44] I'm sure. Coming soon to a facility near us.

[2:13:49] Mr. Fitzgerald. Yes, Mr. Chair. Next up is the Natural Chimneys Park campground restroom

[2:13:56] additions. This is two additions to our existing restroom bathhouses in the in

[2:14:05] the park, essentially to build an ADA compliant facility there. Over the years

[2:14:13] we have done some upgrades in there and we've made it more ADA friendly but we

[2:14:19] have not made it ADA compliant. What this project does is basically build

[2:14:24] two little small additions on to the bathhouses specifically for ADA

[2:14:29] bathrooms and we bid this project out back in in December of 24 and at that

[2:14:39] time we got some pretty substantial bids that we thought were that were really

[2:14:45] high and so we put the project on hold for a little bit we've had

[2:14:50] opportunity since then to have some more conversation with Nielsen

[2:14:54] construction to work on getting that cost down to a more reasonable number.

[2:15:00] They have provided us, and I provided in your packet, a cost of now, their cost at $104,280.78 for these two restrooms.

[2:15:13] We would suggest a 10% contingency on that to make that $114,708.86 for a total project cost.

[2:15:23] Nielsen Construction has a contract already in place in Albemarle County that

[2:15:30] is a cooperative contract so they have the language in it that allows other

[2:15:35] localities essentially to use that contract and you use Nielsen to do this

[2:15:41] type of work. They bid that out across the mountain where they had multiple

[2:15:46] building projects within their parks and so when they did that they added

[2:15:50] the Cooperative Contract Clause to it, which allows other localities to use it.

[2:15:55] We would suggest that we use that Cooperative Contract with Albemarle and negotiate the price

[2:16:04] with Nielsen, which we have, and move forward with the project this fall as camping season

[2:16:10] ends.

[2:16:11] We would have the project done before camp season begins in the spring.

[2:16:16] It would be my suggestion that we cover the cost of this from two line items, one being

[2:16:22] 50% of the cost to Mr. Slaven's infrastructure account, which he's agreed to.

[2:16:28] The other 50% of the cost to come from our tourism account, as our campground does provide

[2:16:35] for a tourism opportunity as well.

[2:16:38] So with that, that would be on the agenda for Wednesday night for considerations and

[2:16:42] we can answer any questions that you have.

[2:16:46] Who did we receive bids from besides Nielsen?

[2:16:52] I can send that to you. I've got it on my desk.

[2:16:54] There was, I think, four contractors originally had sent bids in.

[2:16:59] But I can send that to you by email.

[2:17:01] And was Nielsen the lowest? Is that why you...

[2:17:07] Nielsen was actually one of the higher bids originally,

[2:17:10] when we originally built it out.

[2:17:12] Well, when you were, why did you decide to work with them on trying to get the

[2:17:17] cost down and not the other companies? Or maybe you did. So we, when we did the

[2:17:23] bid, so the bid we just let go, we're not going to move forward with the

[2:17:27] bid as we sent it out. So we just stopped it and let all the contractors

[2:17:32] know that the bids came in too high and we were not going to proceed with

[2:17:36] the project at this time. That's what we did back in December. And since

[2:17:41] then and Rusty's conversation with Nielsen on some other projects. They let Rusty know

[2:17:49] that they had a contract in Albemarle County and that if we wanted them to look at the

[2:17:53] project through that lens, then they would do that for us and give us a price. And so

[2:18:00] we said, yeah, let's, if you think that you can do it at a better price for us

[2:18:06] than what you originally had said, then let's look at it.

[2:18:10] So that's how Rusty worked with Nielsen.

[2:18:12] They came back with this new number.

[2:18:15] But the bid document that we sent out has been closed.

[2:18:19] We're not moving forward with that at all.

[2:18:21] So we did not call each one of the bidders

[2:18:24] that put in originally to go back and do it.

[2:18:28] We would have to go back and bid it all out again

[2:18:29] to do that, so we didn't do that

[2:18:31] on this particular one.

[2:18:32] But why wouldn't you if you I mean I don't understand how you can just deal

[2:18:38] with Nielsen and not open it back up to other we can we can do that because they

[2:18:43] have a cooperative contract in Albemarle County and this price is lower than the

[2:18:50] original low bid that we had. Why do we know other companies don't have some

[2:18:54] kind of agreement that we could tag on to? Well we haven't asked that

[2:18:59] question, but I mean we can always re-bid it back out. The issue with re-bidding it

[2:19:05] back out is a time issue because we would like to get the project done while

[2:19:10] camping season's out in order to get the project done before new camping season.

[2:19:15] So it is an option that we could re-bid the project back out again under

[2:19:19] the original terms. When Nielsen looked at this and Rusty would know

[2:19:25] better than me. But when Nielsen looked at the project,

[2:19:30] they did the project based on

[2:19:32] what they saw and not necessarily what our architect had designed fully. And so I think

[2:19:39] they made some adjustments in their pricing to move the project forward. So that's the

[2:19:45] reason why the pricing came down to where it's at.

[2:19:52] Ms. Price what's your opinion on sending it back the need to send it back out

[2:19:59] for others to bid on it well

[2:20:03] I think I would need more details in terms of what

[2:20:06] he's talking about in particular with this contract and the prior bid but

[2:20:10] there is certainly a mechanism within Virginia procurement to use other state

[2:20:15] contracts and that's a commonplace decision by localities I hope that's

[2:20:22] helpful but that's that is certainly provided for as a commonplace solution to the problem

[2:20:31] because that that particular contract has already been it's been bid it's been negotiated so it's a

[2:20:37] competitive solution thanks what was the price that they originally you said they were one of

[2:20:45] the higher bidder so what was the price that they originally bid I can I can get

[2:20:52] that for you and if you want we can let's oh well we won't we let Misty do

[2:21:00] her thing and I'll run down and get that bid sheet on my desk when we come back

[2:21:04] Oh, you got it?

[2:21:06] Oh, Missy's got it, OK.

[2:21:08] You got it.

[2:21:10] There you go.

[2:21:13] OK, so the original low bid was Sustainable Solutions

[2:21:21] of Virginia, and that was $135,899.

[2:21:32] Montgomery Consulting out of Richmond

[2:21:34] bidded at $176,000. Lance construction at Hirshman Park, yeah Broadway, bidded at

[2:21:43] $146,254 and then originally Nielsen's contract was at $164,889. So those

[2:21:53] were the, that's the original, so it was four bidders and those were the

[2:21:59] original bid prices. So they was able to cut just because going through the

[2:22:06] state 164,000 back to 104,000.

[2:22:13] How were they able to cut all of that out of it

[2:22:15] when they've seen that all the material?

[2:22:20] Well again, Rusty's not

[2:22:22] here today but Rusty did the discussion with them and if you see in the

[2:22:28] spreadsheet that we sent out they've got their costs there shown with

[2:22:33] their subcontractor cost and when they went back and looked at it, they

[2:22:42] determined that their cost could come down. So I don't know how to answer that

[2:22:45] other than tell you that Rusty had conversation with them, had them relook at

[2:22:49] it again based on that, and you know they came back to us with the hundred

[2:22:54] and four.

[2:22:57] But it's all in everything in here is what was included in the

[2:23:01] original bid that went out to accomplish, you know, getting both these ADA

[2:23:07] bathrooms constructed.

[2:23:14] I just kind of find it hard to believe that you cut

[2:23:16] $60,000 off of a price that you done turned in.

[2:23:25] I know but why and I know

[2:23:29] they're going through the bids and like that and maybe maybe they are

[2:23:35] projecting of getting material off of multiple jobs and things to save in

[2:23:40] the money, but then I

[2:23:44] got questions to make that too.

[2:23:48] Well, I mean, if they cut the money that much, what's to say sustainable solutions couldn't

[2:23:55] come down even more?

[2:23:59] And if we did send it back out to bid, I understand your urgency for time, but if

[2:24:04] we did send it back out to bid, how long, what additional time do you think that would

[2:24:08] add to the project?

[2:24:10] What's that take that's missed out?

[2:24:21] What?

[2:24:25] We issued it as an IFB so we already have the plans, correct?

[2:24:30] We've got plans, yeah.

[2:24:31] We already have the plans.

[2:24:32] I mean, we could reissue it.

[2:24:34] If I'm not mistaken, I think it has to be up at a minimum of 10 business days.

[2:24:39] So, I mean, you know, I'd say within a month we'd be ready to look at them,

[2:24:46] but there's no guarantee you're going to get lower prices.

[2:24:50] But you have no error acts?

[2:24:51] You're exactly right.

[2:24:52] What was your expectations in pricing on this job?

[2:25:01] Well, Mr. Garber will confirm my estimates.

[2:25:04] They've been real good here lately when we were talking about courthouse.

[2:25:06] But certainly I would have guessed that the square footage cost of this was way up there over $700 a square foot.

[2:25:14] And I was anticipating we'd have it somewhere around $400 a square foot or so.

[2:25:21] So, it is a small project, that does play a role in the price that you get because it's

[2:25:27] not, you know, both these are very small projects and not a lot of material and so forth.

[2:25:32] So your square foot price is going to be a little higher, but originally I think we

[2:25:37] were anticipating around the $400 square foot and I think it was a little over $700 square

[2:25:43] foot originally.

[2:25:45] You negotiated with the low bidder on the animal shelter, why didn't you negotiate with

[2:25:50] the low bidder on this one?

[2:25:52] Yeah, we did on the animal shelter negotiate with the low bidder.

[2:25:57] This particular project, because the timing of it, when we looked at that project cost,

[2:26:04] I had conversations with Mr. Slaven about it.

[2:26:06] We decided at that time that was too much money at the time.

[2:26:10] It was getting close to the time to open up the camp in season

[2:26:14] We said we don't want to move forward with it. So we decided that we were going to cut that off

[2:26:19] And just let folks know that we wasn't moving forward because we didn't feel like we had to the time to negotiate the price

[2:26:25] Get all that done get the contract in place in order to get the construction project done before

[2:26:31] We were able to open up for camping and so we decided to put it on the back burner until

[2:26:37] this about this time and the conversation

[2:26:41] that Rusty and I were having about how do we accomplish this project

[2:26:45] and try to save us some money led to this conversation

[2:26:50] with Nielsen. Certainly if a board wants to send it out to bed again we can

[2:26:54] certainly do that. That's another option to move forward with.

[2:26:59] And the timing of it is still questionable whether we can get to it

[2:27:02] and whether they can get to it we would have to put I think in the bed some requirement for them to

[2:27:07] be complete by a certain date so that we can make sure we had those things done

[2:27:12] by the next camp and see I

[2:27:22] personally would like to see go back out with the

[2:27:25] stipulation had the work has to be completed by its date at

[2:27:42] the moment

[2:27:43] scheduled beyond Wednesday night but what are you gonna do

[2:27:51] Pam was that

[2:27:53] emotion where we're not we can't do that today but look I don't I don't care

[2:27:58] if we can buff it back and get to be a suits me fine I don't have anything

[2:28:02] other than I would like to see this work done. We kicked this thing down the road.

[2:28:08] Actually it's been kicked down the road two years when I thought we were gonna

[2:28:12] maybe be able to work on it.

[2:28:19] She can get it out in ten days. If you take it all

[2:28:25] for wins you want to relook at this thing suits me fine. So that's the way to do it or

[2:28:31] I think we can make it make a motion and put it back in days. I mean, I mean, how long how long do we let people?

[2:28:41] Right

[2:29:06] Okay

[2:29:16] You want to pull it? Yeah, be fine. Okay, all right start over. Thank you

[2:29:22] All right, can I have

[2:29:45] my slides please?

[2:29:48] All right, Mr. Chairman, members of the board,

[2:29:51] I'm pleased to present the fiscal year 25 financial report

[2:29:54] to you.

[2:29:56] Your agenda packet has a budget on sheet revenue

[2:29:59] and expenditures.

[2:29:59] endangers.

[2:30:00] Summaries with explanations of variances for the budget. There's a school fund carryover

[2:30:04] calculation and a 10-year summary. I'm just going to quickly go over some highlights because

[2:30:10] I do realize we're towards the end of September. If you have questions, please let me know.

[2:30:17] Just a quick overview. So our fund structure, our budget does consist of several funds.

[2:30:23] Our general funds are a primary fund for the general government. That's where we

[2:30:28] We have our administration or judicial public safety maintenance, community development and

[2:30:32] cultural.

[2:30:33] We do receive, the general fund does receive transfers from revenue recovery and the county

[2:30:38] capital improvement fund.

[2:30:40] I have ARPA on there, but ARPA is dying down as we wind down with those funds.

[2:30:45] And then the general fund transfers funds to the DSS, CSA, school fund, debt fund

[2:30:52] and county capital improvements.

[2:30:54] investments,

[2:30:57] other funds, fire-revolving loan, asset forfeiture, economic development.

[2:31:02] We also have our school funds for school cafeteria, school capital improvements.

[2:31:06] We have our debt fund.

[2:31:08] We have our head start.

[2:31:09] We have governor's school, and then we have ARPA.

[2:31:12] ARPA should wind down in FY26.

[2:31:15] We've almost spent all of that money that we've received under ARPA, so that one

[2:31:20] should be going away.

[2:31:21] The

[2:31:25] 2025 general fund revenues, property taxes made up of 64% of the budget.

[2:31:32] Local taxes came in second at 18% of the budget and our state funds were third at 9% of the budget.

[2:31:40] Percentages were fairly close to what they were in FY24.

[2:31:44] Our property taxes did increase from 62 to 64%.

[2:31:49] Our local taxes decreased from 19 to 18 percent and our use of money and property decreased

[2:31:55] from four to three, so just some slight changes.

[2:32:02] The real estate assessed value on one one of 25 per the Commissioner Revenue's Memo

[2:32:08] was approximately 11 billion nine hundred, 11 billion nine hundred million dollars that

[2:32:13] equates to about 60.7 million dollars in real estate taxes for the calendar year.

[2:32:18] The assessment did increase over 24 calendar year 24 by about half percent, or $262,000.

[2:32:30] This assessment does not deduct for tax relief the disabled veterans or any kind of TIP agreements.

[2:32:41] Our business personal property, we had an increase of about 25 percent.

[2:32:45] We typically budget for 1% growth, but we have had some new businesses come online.

[2:32:53] Our other personal property, we did have a decrease of about a half a percent.

[2:32:58] When we did the budget, we did expect values to start to decline as the vehicle inventory

[2:33:05] rebounded from COVID.

[2:33:07] We originally estimated that we were going to have a four and a half percent reduction

[2:33:10] in those values, but again, we only had about a half a percent.

[2:33:14] Our

[2:33:20] sales tax revenue, when compared to FY24, was an increase of 2.6%.

[2:33:27] Inflation has trended downward over the last year.

[2:33:31] And, you know, it's likely led to a slight increase in the sales tax revenue.

[2:33:35] The changes in consumer spending patterns can also contribute.

[2:33:39] They're the base for our sales tax revenue and relies primarily on good sold.

[2:33:43] business

[2:33:48] licenses. For 2025, we were at $5.9 million. This was approximately 3%

[2:33:56] more than our FY24 revenues, or about $200,000.

[2:34:03] Other revenues, Sir Bank

[2:34:06] franchise tax, we increased from 274,000 in FY24 to 293,000 in FY25.

[2:34:15] This was an increase of about 6.8%.

[2:34:18] This tax is assessed based on the ratio of local deposits to total statewide deposits of the bank.

[2:34:26] Our lodging, when comparing FY25 to FY24, we increased about a half a percent, or about almost $6,700.

[2:34:35] Our meals revenue increased by 2.6% over FY24, or about $129,000.

[2:34:42] dollars. Our permits, we did have a 23% increase over FY24, which totaled about

[2:34:50] $108,000. It did look like when I look back through the reports that we had

[2:34:56] some several large permits issued to businesses.

[2:35:01] Our interest on deposit, we

[2:35:02] had a almost 1% decrease when compared to FY24 or about $42,000. And we'll

[2:35:10] note that if you've paid attention the feds just dropped the rate on 917 so I

[2:35:15] expect those rate I expect that income to continue to decline.

[2:35:25] Recordation just

[2:35:27] like interest income it's a volatile revenue source it depends heavenly on

[2:35:31] the economy and our interest rates. For FY 25 we had about 1.1 million

[2:35:37] dollars in local recordation revenue and we had zero from the state. If you

[2:35:44] remember in 2021 the state cut our recordation state funding and I believe

[2:35:51] they moved it to Hampton Roads maybe so we have not gotten that back.

[2:36:00] State

[2:36:00] funding so our library aid and FY 25 increased to $265,970 that was an

[2:36:11] increase of about $18,000.

[2:36:14] Our communication tax was down $29,000 from last year. It continues

[2:36:21] to slowly drop year over year. If you look from 2025 back to 2011, which was the last

[2:36:29] increase we've seen, we're down 39% on our communications tax. The COMP Board,

[2:36:35] We did have an increase of about 4.3% or $268,000.

[2:36:41] This was mainly due to the cost of living increases that the comp board issued.

[2:36:49] Cigarette tax, I will probably drop this one off.

[2:36:51] This is not really that new a revenue for us anymore, but I've kept it on here just

[2:36:56] because we kind of keep playing with the cost per pack and everything.

[2:37:00] So, if you remember, we started this tax in 1-1 of 2022, which was the FY22 revised budget.

[2:37:09] For FY25, we budgeted $600,000, and we actually received just a little over $560,000 in cigarette

[2:37:18] tax revenue.

[2:37:21] The county ordinance was 15 cent per pack and FY23, 22, 23, and 24.

[2:37:28] The FY25 tax was at 30 cent per pack and effective 7, 1 of 25 is maxed out at the 40 cent per pack rate.

[2:37:41] Our 2025 general fund expenditures, you can see that public safety remains the largest portion of the general fund expenditures at 61%.

[2:37:52] This is an increase of about $4.6 million.

[2:37:56] We all know what we've done in the last year with the budget.

[2:38:00] We had increases in fire rescue and ECC and the sheriff's office with personnel.

[2:38:06] The administration decreased over last year by approximately $356,000.

[2:38:13] The main reason for that is because we've concluded the reassessment.

[2:38:16] The reassessment is one-time costs that we occur every five years, and it crosses usually

[2:38:22] two fiscal years, and we've concluded that.

[2:38:27] Our judicial increased over the last fiscal year by about $350,000.

[2:38:33] This increase was mainly due to some grant funding and some personnel changes in the

[2:38:37] Commonwealth Attorney's Office related to the body-worn camera project.

[2:38:41] budget. Our cultural increased over last fiscal year by about $345,000. Parks and Rec continues

[2:38:50] to offer programming that attracts interest and increased expenses, but these expenses

[2:38:54] are offset by revenue. The library also had increases related to increased operating cost

[2:39:00] and personnel changes, but overall these numbers remain consistent with prior years.

[2:39:09] Over 60% of the budget is personnel cost.

[2:39:13] It's by far our largest expenditure at $39.8 million or 61.4% of the budget.

[2:39:21] Our contractual is next at 9.3% of the budget or about $6 million.

[2:39:26] This is the landfill, the dump site hauling, any kind of audits, maintenance service contracts.

[2:39:34] Operations came in next at $5.2 million.

[2:39:37] dollars I mean I'm sorry excuse me let me rephrase that operations came in at

[2:39:43] five point two percent or three point three million dollars and our supplies

[2:39:48] totaled eight percent or about five point one million dollars and it does

[2:39:52] include our utilities our compute contributions were about ten point four

[2:39:58] million dollars or about sixteen point one percent of the budget this does

[2:40:02] include our fire rescue volunteers our contributions to Middle River the

[2:40:06] Detention Center, the Office on Youth, the CSB Tourism, our Health Department, and our

[2:40:12] Animal Service Center.

[2:40:15] These numbers remain consistent with prior years as well.

[2:40:21] Overall our revenues were above what we budgeted for revised.

[2:40:25] We're about $1.1 million over what we had budgeted, or just a little less than 1%,

[2:40:31] it came in about $100.8.

[2:40:33] overall

[2:40:39] our expenditures were under budget including the schools so we were

[2:40:47] total we were 2.5 percent under budget you can see a breakdown we've got total

[2:40:52] expenditures less our transfers to the school fund less our transfers to the

[2:40:57] school capital for buses less our transfers for debt service and county

[2:41:01] capital and then the transfers to DSS and CSA we also still have a transfer

[2:41:06] for the revenue recovery.

[2:41:08] So you can see overall our expenditures

[2:41:10] were about $3.8 million under budget fund

[2:41:17] balance.

[2:41:20] So FY25 fund balance came in over budget by 0.8%.

[2:41:27] Expenditures were under budget due to close management

[2:41:30] by departments and vacancy savings.

[2:41:33] We do use our year-end fund balance

[2:41:35] to supplement our capital budget.

[2:41:36] And for 2025, that nets to $3,957,436.

[2:41:46] And then this is just a breakdown.

[2:41:48] So the general fund balance was 4.7.

[2:41:52] The school did have a fund balance of $824,749.

[2:41:58] That leaves the county with a net fund balance of $3,957,436, as I mentioned.

[2:42:05] So

[2:42:11] just looking forward to FY26, typically I just do a comparison of July of FY24 to, I'm sorry, July of FY25 to July of FY26.

[2:42:24] And you can see, so when you compare the month of July from 24 to 25, which is going to be your FY25 and your FY26 budget, you can see our sales taxes down a little bit.

[2:42:37] We did have increases in our local recordation and our lodging.

[2:42:41] Our meals is down a little bit. Our permits are down a little bit.

[2:42:44] We did have an increase in fines and we had a decrease in interest income and communications.

[2:42:51] Overall, when you compare the month of July for FY25 to the month of July for FY26,

[2:42:57] our revenue is down by about $168,000.

[2:43:02] That's not really telling. It's just a one-month look back snapshot.

[2:43:10] Just to cover revenue recovery really quick.

[2:43:14] So if you look at revenue recovery revenue for FY25, it did increase when compared to FY24.

[2:43:21] Our billing is up about $161,000.

[2:43:25] Just as a reminder, our billing for medical transports has been done solely by the finance department since July of 2018.

[2:43:35] So we're doing really well there.

[2:43:37] We do continue to keep our rates in line with Medicare.

[2:43:42] We're not sure what these Medicare or Medicaid cuts are going to do to our revenue transport,

[2:43:49] but we'll have to wait and see.

[2:43:52] But right now they're doing pretty good.

[2:43:54] And then this is just a comparison.

[2:43:57] This is a four-year look at what the agencies are receiving in reimbursements from the

[2:44:01] revenue recovery.

[2:44:02] You can see Stewards Draft by far is the largest, and Deerfield is the smallest.

[2:44:15] Any questions?

[2:44:19] If not, I'll move on to infrastructure.

[2:44:24] So in your packet, you do have a infrastructure ads and deletes sheet.

[2:44:31] These are just projects that you all have allocated money to.

[2:44:34] The projects are either mostly complete, well, not mostly complete.

[2:44:39] The projects are complete, and there's either a little bit of money left

[2:44:43] that I need you all to uncover so I can put it back into your infrastructure

[2:44:46] accounts or in this case Mrs. Bragg I would like $15.30 to cover the

[2:44:53] overages on the circulation desk and that garbage can. So if you would allow that I would appreciate it.

[2:45:00] Um, it's offset by the fact that I'm giving you some money back on the Stewart's Draft

[2:45:05] Park meeting, so.

[2:45:09] Other than that, the majority of the infrastructure accounts are pretty well

[2:45:12] cleaned up. Um, and then the last thing I have on the agenda for you all is the school

[2:45:19] boards, um,

[2:45:23] year in fund balance memo. Um, Mr. Fitzgerald, do you want to cover that

[2:45:27] since they're asking for something a little bit different than what they have in years

[2:45:31] past? Yeah typically what they've asked for in the years past is to take all

[2:45:37] their fund balance and essentially put it into their into their debt fund. This

[2:45:44] year they had 824,749 dollars in fund balance and they're asking if they

[2:45:53] could put 550,000 of that directly into their school debt service CIP fund and

[2:46:00] And this is also the same fund that you all just increased this budget year by $2 million.

[2:46:06] So they want to take that $550 put in there.

[2:46:10] They keep a consistent line item in that debt fund at $500,000 in the fund balance toward

[2:46:16] the debt fund.

[2:46:17] And so they're asking for $550.

[2:46:19] And then they would like to take the remainder $274,749 and use that to build the first

[2:46:26] phase of the Buffalo Gap girls softball field and by understanding that this would get the

[2:46:33] field built and get it into a playable condition so that they could relocate from the existing

[2:46:40] field which is down over the hill in the floodplain, hard to get to, and so they would build

[2:46:45] it up on the hill. This spot is kind of in behind. If you know where their livestock

[2:46:52] stock building is in our house that we rent.

[2:46:54] It's kind of right in there beside that.

[2:46:57] And so they'd like to use that money

[2:46:59] to get that project built.

[2:47:01] They'll come back in future years

[2:47:03] with their capital budget and increase it

[2:47:06] and do some scoreboards and

[2:47:11] press boxes and dugouts and those types of things

[2:47:14] I think are gonna be at a later phase.

[2:47:16] But this covers the actual building of the field

[2:47:19] and it gets them in a position

[2:47:21] where they can play on it this spring and so their school board has considered that and

[2:47:26] they've actually, you've got to copy in your packet a letter from the school board requesting that

[2:47:31] approval of you all on Wednesday night.

[2:47:38] So from, I'll get a question on that.

[2:47:40] What's the cost of the field?

[2:47:44] $274,749, is my understanding.

[2:47:46] Okay, so all of that is going toward that field.

[2:47:47] All of that is going toward the field, yes.

[2:47:54] If you don't mind, if my memory serves me correct,

[2:47:57] there was a two million dollar increase or 20 million over ten years that they

[2:48:03] asked for for their debt service correct that's correct they gave us a long list

[2:48:08] of things here they need to spend money on the new gym for the fights and another

[2:48:14] new gym for the fights some sidewalks and maintenance thing do y'all remember

[2:48:19] seeing a media tower on that list. At fortifieds? Mm-hmm. There's no so no

[2:48:30] cost associated with it. So I got to ask I said the media tower you have now is

[2:48:38] center block and cement thing all the last as long as the pyramids are we

[2:48:41] doing a new media tower? The answer was all that was gonna sit on top of the

[2:48:46] new field house.

[2:48:50] Did anybody catch the field house is gonna be hit

[2:48:54] underneath the new media tower that they proposed and we're talking to sports

[2:49:02] complexes within spitting or throwing distance of each other on the same high

[2:49:06] school. If the fieldhouse cost half what the gym does that means half of that

[2:49:13] capital funding we just gave them went to those two items sports items on one

[2:49:18] school.

[2:49:21] Where's this 550 gonna go? I got to dig in and I asked and no one

[2:49:28] will tell me, I'm puzzled here, how did they get to $2 million a year? They knew they need

[2:49:35] that much money. But nobody will tell me how much the field house is going to cost.

[2:49:42] And

[2:49:43] when you ask to get mad, some of them get mad. Before they get another dime, I want

[2:49:51] to know how much that field house is going to cost. There ain't no way you can tell

[2:49:55] me that you can propose a six to six and a half million dollar gym know what

[2:50:00] that's gonna cost got all your plans for electrical and you know sidewalks and

[2:50:06] all these improvements around all these other schools you know how much that's

[2:50:09] gonna cost but no one when it was said a media tower no one has told me yet how

[2:50:19] they came up with a figure when they proposed their budget to how much

[2:50:24] they're going to spend on a field house. I asked my Dave Shiffley and asked Dr. Bond.

[2:50:35] Dave's answer me was, oh, it don't work that way, Mr. Saban. We don't get that call. It

[2:50:39] don't work like that. It will work like that when you need the price for the gymnasium.

[2:50:46] Work like that when you need school buses. Simple question. Why didn't you tell us

[2:50:52] It was a field house proposal and what's that going to cost?

[2:50:58] That's all I need to ask.

[2:51:00] But before they get another dime on that, I think we, I, would like to have those answers.

[2:51:08] And by the way, everybody, we sitting here talking about this comprehensive plan.

[2:51:17] How come a penny of that money didn't go to Votech?

[2:51:21] It's earmarked for another sports facility and to fund whatever they're going to do in

[2:51:31] their budget increase.

[2:51:32] We see at least half of that over the next ten years may be thrown at two of those sports

[2:51:38] facilities.

[2:51:39] We all talk really high on we're going to help the VOTEC kids and that should be an emphasis

[2:51:45] even our comp plan.

[2:51:46] Talked about it the other night.

[2:51:48] Why didn't that 5.5-year mark for vote take spin?

[2:51:55] I want to know how much that fieldhouse is going to cost.

[2:51:58] I think we should know it.

[2:52:00] We should have known it before we approved it, but it got by us.

[2:52:04] Because nobody said they were going to build a fieldhouse,

[2:52:09] or at least that's what they didn't propose with the budget.

[2:52:12] I only found out when I asked about the tower,

[2:52:14] and they said, oh, it's the new tower is supposed to sit

[2:52:16] on top of the fieldhouse.

[2:52:19] Yes, ma'am?

[2:52:20] I can see it.

[2:52:21] You got something?

[2:52:22] I was just going to say mention the Career Technical Center also because that has been

[2:52:28] an emphasis and a concern.

[2:52:30] We talk about the importance of providing our youth, our students with the ability to have

[2:52:37] jobs and to stay locally but they're not investing the money in it and that really

[2:52:42] concerns me.

[2:52:44] Sports are good, education is great and so I'm concerned about that.

[2:52:51] that, I can't get excited about this other spending. I just can't. So I'm just saying

[2:52:58] that I'm really disappointed that the Career Technical Center is not getting attention.

[2:53:05] And I think in their plan, it's way down the road and I just think that's not what

[2:53:11] is the best interest of the students in Augusta. And I'm not a school board member. Obviously

[2:53:18] I'm not a school board member, but if we're giving money to the schools to improve what

[2:53:25] they have, I think they're missing the boat with that one.

[2:53:34] I'll see if I can get you some answers before Wednesday night.

[2:53:37] That money goes back to them.

[2:53:40] How come it doesn't come back and go in our capital account?

[2:53:44] That's the request they're making is that they keep that fund balance in their capital

[2:53:50] account.

[2:53:50] And traditionally we have done that for them there's an awful lot of good

[2:53:56] projects ever one of us in here's got good projects that we're leaving lay on

[2:54:00] the table to right there some money for in

[2:54:06] the past one time in the past didn't

[2:54:09] we take the fund balance and direct it to buses is that correct we did do that

[2:54:17] one time where we the board specified that that amount of money would go toward

[2:54:25] school bus purchases and that wasn't their request that we have done

[2:54:31] different things just to clarify so the the 550 that they want placed they say

[2:54:40] school debt service CIP that money is actually how we typically handled it so

[2:54:45] So what that does is I address that and revise that money goes into a county capital line

[2:54:54] item that is designated for the county schools.

[2:54:57] And that is where we pull money if they fall short of their ceiling for debt service.

[2:55:04] So you know that's that's how we typically handle it.

[2:55:07] So the the 550 they would not be keeping in their account.

[2:55:12] It's part of our fund balance and I actually allocate it to their line item and you know when their debt service

[2:55:19] Their total debt service for the year is over the

[2:55:23] Which now it's gonna be a nine point two. Yeah, it's nine point two million dollars now

[2:55:27] If their debt services over that that's where I pull the extra money from and so it's kind of like a savings account for their

[2:55:35] debt service

[2:55:36] And we have pulled from that

[2:55:40] And traditionally we do $500,000, typically it's $500,000.

[2:55:45] Or this last year we did their entire fund balance amount, we put it in that account.

[2:55:51] And then because if you remember during the budget, they need it in order to move their

[2:55:57] 10-year capital plan forward, they need to be able to borrow money for future projects.

[2:56:04] So for like the valley career and technical if they decide they need to borrow money for that project and they have to take one more debt service

[2:56:13] If they have a shortfall in that nine point two million dollars that we allocate each year

[2:56:17] That's where I pull the extra money from so it's kind of a savings account for them that you know

[2:56:22] They use in years where they have a shortfall. So are there funds in it now? There are funds in it now

[2:56:27] Well park

[2:56:34] I'm sorry I can get you that number but we are pulling from it because right now

[2:56:38] their debt service is over the nine point two million dollars and Mark when

[2:56:45] he was here he would update this cash flow analysis to show he would kind of

[2:56:52] show where they're at and you know how much they have to pull from that a

[2:56:55] year and I think the the 550 is about what they estimate so if they aren't

[2:57:01] making their debt service my next question is should they be adding more

[2:57:05] or paying on their debt service well so this allows them to that's why we

[2:57:10] did the additional two million dollars because it gives them a little bit of

[2:57:14] breathing room because they will have some debt that will come off I think

[2:57:20] they've got one next year coming off it's a small one because it's you know

[2:57:23] it was 20, 25, 30 years ago way before my time but they do have a cash flow

[2:57:30] analysis for their 10-year CIP plan. So they do analyze that when they're looking at projects

[2:57:37] to do that are on their 10-year CIP. So just to clarify, now the 274-749 would go into

[2:57:46] their school capital account that they have control over, if that makes sense.

[2:57:52] Well,

[2:57:59] I want to take it one step further. You didn't see my face because I was looking

[2:58:03] at Mr. Slavin, but to have a chairman of the school board not be able to tell you or

[2:58:10] provide you with the cost and to say that we don't do it that way, that's concerning.

[2:58:16] Well, at the risk of getting a bad phone call from Dave by the time I get home this evening,

[2:58:21] if it was in a, okay, I will.

[2:58:25] I had talked to Dr. Bond first.

[2:58:28] This has got none to do with Dr. Bond.

[2:58:30] He didn't do anything wrong.

[2:58:31] I started questioning the media tower and if y'all remember it was written on

[2:58:35] there were media tower now unless you all saw something I didn't that's all it

[2:58:41] said and I'm thinking the media tower down there is any four knots but it's

[2:58:48] about one stop from why do you need a new media tower so when I question him I

[2:58:53] would be honest he was very transparent he said because it's supposed to sit

[2:58:58] on top of the new field house.

[2:59:01] Nobody talked about the field house that our

[2:59:04] budget meeting did they? Did that even come up? No, never come up. No, and I guess

[2:59:11] the media tower sounded small so nobody really questioned it. So I started

[2:59:18] checking while I could check with Dave in all honesty. Checked my board, school

[2:59:22] board reps, you know, none about nothing. So you wouldn't get any

[2:59:27] information errors I called Dave and he was well they need is he talked about

[2:59:32] with other schools have them well there's some other schools that's got

[2:59:36] filled houses but it's my understanding that the community they've raised money

[2:59:42] from the community and paid for or at least nearly all of them they can just

[2:59:49] build one out of their 10-year capital service so I don't know if that's

[2:59:56] That's why he couldn't give me a figure as he thought that there would be private money.

[3:00:00] Any comment? But still, that shouldn't change the cost up. No matter where he gets the money.

[3:00:04] All I know is that's what he told me. And if we go back and we look at those papers,

[3:00:10] if anybody's got them, or Timmy, maybe you can pull them up somewhere, I don't think

[3:00:15] there is a figure written down. Because if you remember when we were talking, I asked

[3:00:23] Dr. Bond and the reps there that day, the new gym, I've heard you are thinking around

[3:00:29] six or six and a half million for that. And they said, is that right? That's about right.

[3:00:36] So figured, so I got a kind of a bar park cost for that. Nobody will tell me what this

[3:00:42] other project's for.

[3:00:45] Yeah, what the cost is. And it bothers me a little bit. And at the

[3:00:50] same time, the reason I went digging, because I think they shortchanged VOTEC. Look,

[3:00:55] Look, I know we've got problems over there,

[3:00:58] as far as being in a partnership and all like that.

[3:01:01] I know there's some of that needs to be ironed out.

[3:01:03] We're kind of handcuffed, or they are kind of handcuffed

[3:01:05] a little bit.

[3:01:08] But we didn't see for the cost of $20 million.

[3:01:13] We saw a fraction of a fraction go

[3:01:17] to vocational education.

[3:01:20] Now, here's almost just a little bit

[3:01:22] south of another million dollars.

[3:01:24] I didn't even hear the word vocational education used trying to proportion this out

[3:01:32] Not one penny up.

[3:01:37] When do they get their term?

[3:01:42] All I hear is this plant ball field

[3:01:45] That stadium this gymnasium

[3:01:49] That field house

[3:01:56] So what's stopping us from doing the same thing that we did about the school buses and

[3:02:04] and airmarking that money towards VOTEC.

[3:02:12] That was a question.

[3:02:13] I don't think anything stops you from doing that.

[3:02:16] I would suggest that we have Dr. Bond

[3:02:22] and his school leadership an opportunity

[3:02:25] to have conversation with you all before we did that.

[3:02:29] I would think that would be a thing to do.

[3:02:32] I can ask if they could come on Wednesday night

[3:02:36] if you'd like for them to be your wins and I'll see if I can find I have the

[3:02:40] capital program looking forward here but I'm not getting my hands on it quickly

[3:02:43] but I can resend that out to you and I can see if I can get some information on

[3:02:49] the cost on the field house and if it I think you're right I'm not sure a field

[3:02:57] house is listed in the ten-year plan and so the question is if it's not

[3:03:02] into 10-year plan then to me it's not really a project it's not gonna not

[3:03:08] gonna happen yeah but the media tower is a question and so I can get those

[3:03:15] answers for you but certainly this board has the ability to do with that as you'd

[3:03:20] like so well I'm not saying do it immediately but I mean I think it

[3:03:26] warrants a good conversation and a good convincing to me how we shouldn't do

[3:03:33] that.

[3:03:35] Hear your case. And I don't think that we'll be, I don't think we would be

[3:03:41] prepared by Wednesday, would we? I wouldn't think so. Well, would they be

[3:03:47] prepared by Wednesday? That's the question. Oh, I think they could, I think

[3:03:53] they could, if I asked them to come Wednesday, I think they would probably

[3:03:55] come and answer questions for you.

[3:04:01] I don't know, I have to check with Dr.

[3:04:02] on the timing of when they need to know something on this softball field project

[3:04:08] as to when they're going to move forward. I'm not sure the timing of the construction on that.

[3:04:15] Well, I suspect they have to wait till they have money.

[3:04:19] Well, they do.

[3:04:21] So I'm thinking that's kind of the timing.

[3:04:25] But I'm certain to get them here. I can try to get them here Wednesday night.

[3:04:31] I can let them know ahead of time what the questions are

[3:04:33] so they can be prepared if that's what the board would like.

[3:04:40] And are you going to, we have a 10-year plan?

[3:04:43] We have a 10-year plan.

[3:04:45] I got to find it.

[3:04:46] I've got it.

[3:04:47] It was sent out, did last year, and we can,

[3:04:51] I'll send it out again.

[3:04:54] OK.

[3:05:08] Okay, Ms. Cook noted this earlier but usually the fund balance just rolls into the county

[3:05:14] school capital account so if there is an issue with timing it can do that and then once the

[3:05:22] board considers the softball field transfer it could be it just depends on

[3:05:27] you know how soon we will find out I ask the question on how quick they need the

[3:05:33] answer if they've got some time and we feel like it would be facilitated better

[3:05:38] at a work session and we can have my work session

[3:05:42] and in this quarter I can

[3:05:44] assure you that he didn't necessarily take that response laying down and he

[3:05:49] probably doesn't want to quote himself here at this meeting today so it was

[3:05:53] not well received.

[3:05:56] His response when he asked a question is pretty much told was

[3:05:59] not of his business. They didn't take that well, but that's right.

[3:06:08] So we'll do that on

[3:06:09] schools. One thing that we'll be on your agenda. We know for Wednesday is the

[3:06:12] infrastructure and deletes. So we'll put that on for Wednesday.

[3:06:21] The

[3:06:21] infrastructure adds and deletes.

[3:06:31] Have we got an updated plan on the

[3:06:33] the technical center yet I do not have anything I don't have anything school

[3:06:41] board yet are they working on it my understanding is they working on it but

[3:06:47] I don't have anything from them well I

[3:06:55] think they probably need to get that put

[3:06:57] in place and then kind of see where that goes along with the 10-year plan

[3:07:05] And you combine both the 10-year plan and the technical school, is it going to be enough

[3:07:13] in debt service to cover all of that?

[3:07:15] So I think before they move forward with anything on the 10-year plan, you kind of

[3:07:23] sort of need to see what the tech plan is and go from there on where you at.

[3:07:55] So

[3:07:58] now the role in good humor and go ahead take your chance good afternoon

[3:08:04] chairman members of the board will have one public hearing on Wednesday this is

[3:08:10] a rezoning request from cross go company and the request is to rezone from

[3:08:15] from general industrial with proffers to general agriculture with proffers, approximately 1.476

[3:08:22] acres out of a 102.84 acre parcel, owned by Crossco Company in Mount Sydney in the North

[3:08:30] River Magisterial District, and it's located right off of Kieseltown Road.

[3:08:36] On your screens are the current proffers and the proposed proffers.

[3:08:41] All of this really depicts is that no ingress or egress will take place off of the property

[3:08:48] that's outlined in that blue outline and that any ingress and egress will happen at that

[3:08:54] existing commercial entrance that's located on Kieseltown.

[3:09:00] And here is an aerial map of the property.

[3:09:03] Kind of further shows that ingress egress point along with a zoning map of the property

[3:09:09] showing the portion that's currently zoned industrial, a future land use map

[3:09:16] of the property, which shows that it's planned for industrial, and lastly a

[3:09:22] planning policy area map showing that the parcel is located within an urban

[3:09:25] service area. And the Planning Commission has recommended approval of the

[3:09:30] rezoning and I'm happy to answer any questions the board has.

[3:09:39] I'm just

[3:09:40] Just curious why, because it looks like they use it for storage and it's still used for

[3:09:45] their business.

[3:09:46] So it's funny because the applicant, as they were going through this process, they would

[3:09:50] like to construct a building that would basically be utilized to store hay.

[3:09:55] Right now, and I can kind of, if we can pull those slides back up.

[3:10:01] So those current, those tractor trailers that are existing on that lot, those are

[3:10:06] hay storage right now.

[3:10:07] And because it's in general industrial and it's, you know, it's technically storing hay

[3:10:14] per the ordinance that should be screened.

[3:10:17] And so the applicant was like, ooh, didn't realize that it needed to be screened.

[3:10:22] But being zoned general agriculture, they're already basically just utilizing the piece of property

[3:10:29] for that purpose anyways, for the storage of the hay that is collected on the adjacent piece of property

[3:10:36] or technically the same parcel.

[3:10:39] And I'm not sure about building prices and building codes.

[3:10:45] That's not my wheelhouse, but it's my understanding that it would be more economical for them

[3:10:51] to construct a building if it was zoned agriculture than if it's zoned industrial.

[3:10:57] Okay.

[3:10:57] Well, that makes more sense because I'm looking at that.

[3:10:59] It's just like, are they going to continue to use that for their trucking business?

[3:11:03] Yeah.

[3:11:03] No, currently it's just hay and they just are utilizing those very attractive storage trailers

[3:11:09] And it's funny because if you drive by each one of them has spray painted on it storage

[3:11:16] Just so that we know

[3:11:20] Yeah,

[3:11:28] are we good? All right. Thank you

[3:11:42] Yes

[3:11:42] Yeah so RFP has been put out for legislative services contract because

[3:11:49] our contract with Eldon James is up this fiscal year and so we've received two

[3:11:55] proposals so I will need two people to serve on the committee from at the board

[3:12:01] level to do interviews with those to review those proposals and or do

[3:12:05] interviews with the candidates.

[3:12:12] All right, she called me a week or so ago. However long

[3:12:15] it took for me to forget, if you remind me today, I've asked Carolyn to butch to do

[3:12:20] that. Carolyn, because she's enthused in butch because he needs something to do.

[3:12:28] I'll reach out. Very good. So, thank you. I believe that's all we have from Staya.

[3:12:34] Yeah.

[3:12:35] Oh, you got food stand.

[3:12:37] All right,

[3:12:40] let's show.

[3:12:43] How is the radio system going?

[3:12:50] So they have been out in the field doing coverage testing.

[3:12:55] And at this point in time, they've kind of stepped back

[3:12:58] to look at all of their results to calculate that.

[3:13:02] So that's where we're at right now.

[3:13:05] Basically, we don't know nothing yet.

[3:13:07] We don't have any final results from that yet.

[3:13:09] All right any indication that it's going well or anything or terrible or I had

[3:13:18] been down there very preliminary in the process so I really don't have any

[3:13:24] idea what the results were overall because the calculations like everything

[3:13:29] together the whole county the whole city so I

[3:13:40] just have a quick question

[3:13:41] ECC we had the contractual employees have they hired trained where are they

[3:13:48] We've had to work in for quite some time now, and the third one will be coming on

[3:13:54] So we still have we have two of our people

[3:13:57] Two contract people, but are they finding employees to replace them because I thought that was just temporary not a permanent

[3:14:05] they have

[3:14:06] brought somebody else's comeback that had previously worked here so they didn't

[3:14:13] require any training and then they've got some interest from another dispatch

[3:14:20] center so they're they're getting some interest in it but the contractors have

[3:14:28] not been replaced yet.

[3:14:33] The goal will be to replace the contractors

[3:14:37] with trained people, but they're down there working full-time right now until we

[3:14:42] get some applicants in and we, you know, put them through the plan I think was to

[3:14:48] get some folks hired, put them through a training so that they could go to the

[3:14:52] Academy in January. The new Academy starts in January, so we'll have some

[3:14:58] folks that will...

[3:15:00] be the plan to get some folks in. We did hire, like she said, a dispatcher who had left

[3:15:04] and he came back. He's already fully trained, so we put him back on a shift, which is a good

[3:15:09] thing. But yes, we're consistently looking to try to get applicants in and get them trained

[3:15:15] so that we can, at some point, let those contractors go. But currently, we have two full time

[3:15:22] with the contractor and one more is on the way, so to fill those slots.

[3:15:28] one more contract one more contractor yes

[3:15:34] so well three contractors but you

[3:15:36] hired somebody so we only need to know we'll still need the three with the

[3:15:42] vacancies that we have down there so we have another vacancy we have multiple

[3:15:47] vacancies no but a new vacancy I don't know when the last time we gave you the

[3:15:52] vacancies but when we voted to have contract people to fill well it's we

[3:15:58] Yeah, we, we've lost some, we've lost somebody since then, yes.

[3:16:01] Okay.

[3:16:02] And then they have to go through the training academy?

[3:16:04] The contractors do not, no.

[3:16:06] No, our people.

[3:16:07] They get a thumbs up higher.

[3:16:08] Our people go through the training academy, the ECC, yeah.

[3:16:11] They, they, uh, at the, uh, Central Chandler, um, the police academy in Weir's Cave,

[3:16:18] they do the sheriff's deputies, and they do our ECC folks there, yes.

[3:16:32] Okay, I do have something.

[3:16:35] I have goodness.

[3:16:35] And I was kind of whining about our airport situation.

[3:16:39] Last Friday afternoon, they did make a decision.

[3:16:42] They haven't made it public, but they gave us what we wanted.

[3:16:46] It's probably going to, they're going to mess the schedule up.

[3:16:49] We'll probably have to have the incumbent carrier there

[3:16:51] a little longer, which is not good,

[3:16:55] but we're going to the right place.

[3:16:57] We'll wind up with the plane probably twice as big

[3:16:59] as we have now, and we'll go to twice as many destinations.

[3:17:05] Who knows the announce everything on Friday afternoon as if they're hoping

[3:17:09] nobody's paying attention I really don't know but I'm hoping this week they'll

[3:17:12] go and make it public but we have it in writing so we it's it's everything we'd

[3:17:19] actually hope for so anyway if I'd be good okay

[3:17:25] anybody else you're also well-behaved a Douglas he's well-behaved we do have a

[3:17:32] closed session that I've given Mr. Bragg since Mr. Wills is not here okay so I

[3:17:38] move that the Board of Supervisors of Augusta County convene in closed

[3:17:41] session pursuant to one the real property exemption under Virginia code 2.2

[3:17:46] dash 3711 a3 which is discussion or consideration of the acquisition of

[3:17:52] real property for a public purpose or for the disposition of publicly held real estate

[3:17:57] property, where discussion in an open meeting would adversely affect the bargaining position

[3:18:04] or negotiating strategy of the public body.

[3:18:07] So A, the Augusta County Courthouse at 6 East Johnson Street, Stanton.

[3:18:13] And then number two, the economic development exemption under Virginia Code 2.2-3711A5,

[3:18:21] which is a discussion concerning a prospective business or industry or the

[3:18:26] expansion of an existing business or industry where no previous announcement

[3:18:31] has been made of its interest in locating or expanding this facility in the

[3:18:36] county. A proposed office space, flex space, storage facilities, manufacturing

[3:18:42] facilities, utility, and mixed-use development. Mr. Chair, as I told

[3:18:51] earlier, I've got a commitment at five o'clock and I don't feel like I should go

[3:18:57] back in closed session and turn around and leave without going through the

[3:19:00] proper things I would like to be excused from going back there and then

[3:19:03] having to interrupt it by walking out so I don't think I should go into closed

[3:19:07] session if I can't stay in closed session.

[3:19:13] Is that okay?

[3:19:16] Okay.

[3:20:00] Yeah we're back.

[3:20:07] All certified and we're out of close.

[3:20:11] We're out.

[3:20:12] See you Wednesday.

Board of Supervisors Staff Briefing

Transcript