ai lant.
>> councilmember fox will be
giving the invocation followed
by the pledge of allegince from
councilmember bagdassarian.
MS. Fox?
>> tonight I'm just going say
that I'm thankful for the
privilege of being here this
evening and serveg you
serving you tonight
and I'm thankful to be in this
wonderful town and country and
for the liberties afforded us in
this country and I ask that we
ask to preserve our individual
libtds in this
liberties and so would you take
a noament
moment to reflect on the things
in your lives that you are
thankful for.
Thank you.
>> thank you.
MR. Bagdassarian?
[Inaudible]
>> all right, let the record
reflect that all members of town
council are here tonight.
We have two work session
minutes, one from SEPTEMBER 13,
2021.
Do I have a motion to accept
them?
Vice-mayor martinez second by
councilmember cummings, all in
favor, aye -- perng.
>>
>> I'm going abstain --
>> okay, so that is 6-0-1, and
regular minutes of the SEPTEMBER
14th meeting, all in favor
indicate by saying aye.
Opposed?
So that is 7-0.
Adopting the meeting --
>> MADAM Mayor.
>> do I have a motion to adopt
the meeting agenda?
Moved by councilmember martinez
and second?
>> second
second.
>> councilmember steinberg.
>> do you have a change --
>> I would loo
like to move c and
the hope is this item can be
reconsidered at the
the council's
next meet.
>> you are tabling it to the
OCTOBER 12 meeting?
All right, all in favor of the
motion to defer to OCTOBER 22 --
did I say the right day?
The 12th okay, the 12th.
Okay to the town manager can get
information that came in late
this afternoon.
All in favor, aye.
Opposed?
Okay, so that is 6-0-1.
All right, we have no
certificates of recognition but
we do have a presentation for
the national arts and humanities
month.
Gets over in your space?
I'm sorry.
All right, I'm going read this
proclamation and then I'm going
to go down on the floor and
kaeley boyle is going to accept
this.
This is national arts and
humanities month, OCTOBER 2021.
Whereas, the covid-19 pandemic
has devastated america'
s arts
sector, with 99% of producing
and presenting organizations
having canceled events with
artists being among the most
severely affected segment of the
nation'
s workforce;
yet, notwithstanding this fact
the arts have helped
collectively lead us throughout
the darkest times of the
pandemic-
lifting our spirits,
unifying communities, and
helping to jump-start the
economy;
and whereas, the nation'
s
120,000 non-profit arts
organizations, the national
endowment for the arts, the
national endowment for the
humanities, the nation'
s 4,500
local arts agencies, and the
arts and humanities councils of
our 50 states and six U.S.
Jurisdictions and districts have
regularly issued official
proclamations on an annual basis
designating OCTOBER as national
arts and humanities month;
and whereas, cities and states-
through their local and state
arts agencies representing
thousands of cultural
organizations-
have celebrated
the value and importance of
culture in the lives of
americans and the health of
thriving communities during
national arts and humanities
month for several years;
and whereas, the humanities help
diverse communities across the
united states explore their
history and culture with the
support and partnership of the
national endowment for the
humanities, the 50 state and six
territorial and district
humanities councils, and local
educational and cultural
institutions;
and whereas, we recognize the
loudoun arts film festival as a
non-profit organization in our
community serving as a platform
for independent filmmaking,
creative expression, and
immersive entertainment;
therefore, proclaimed, that the
mayor and council of the town of
leesburg in virginia do hereby
proclaim OCTOBER as national
arts and humanities month, and
recognize kaeley boyle as the
co-founder and director of
loudoun arts film festival.
We call upon our community
members to celebrate and promote
the arts and culture in our
nation and to specifically
encourage greater participation
by those said community members
in taking action for the arts
and humanities in their towns
and cities.
Proclaimed this 28th day of
SEPTEMBER, 2021.
So I'm going to go down and
present this to kaeley at this
point and if you would just give
me a couple of minutes.
And so kaeley is here, there she
s and I want to recognize kaeley
for the fact that she started
this film festival and then
covid hit and she had to do it
virtually and now you are able
to do it in person.
Eye tended several events and I
was so impressed.
The quality of the filming and
the topics, just a really
thoughtful time to reflect on
what I had just seen.
And so I really appreciate you
doing this and the organization
you put together for a two-week
festival is just amazing.
I want to thank you very much
and I want to give you this as a
recognition for all of your hard
work but I would like you to say
a few words about it and what it
meant to you to today
do all ofnlg.
>> thank
of this.>> I would be remiss not to
think about owen my cofounder.
We started this DECEMBER 2019
and come up with this idea and
then covid hit.
And we were able to do a
drive-in last year mixed with a
virtual festival but it's been
just such a blessing to bring it
back to leesburg which was the
original intend and jack
jack
o'donnel and ellen, we would not
have been able to do this
without them.
>> thank you and if you ever go
by the bridge that goes over the
town branch and there is a
bridge there on king street and
look over the side of the
bridge, kaeley is the artist who
did the train mural on both
sides, and I'm sure that you
could write a book on that.
Thank you for all that you do
and for making the arts to
important.
[Applause]
>> okay, we have a presentation
from the tree commission.
Elizabeth welsh is she here?
Oh, there is elizabeth.
Good evening.
>> okay, thank you.
My name is elizabeth,
commissioner for -- I'm a tree
commissioner and today I'm
speaking on the spotted
lanternfly and threet it
threat to poses
to loudoun, leesburg and the
northern virginia region.
In our lifetimes we have lost or
are losing the following trees
to these diseases or insects,
american chestnut and the elms
and ash, and while the spotted
lanternfly will not destroy one
tree in particular it is a
threat to our agriculture and
especially our wine and stone
fruit industries such as apple
orchards and cherry trees,
anything in the stone fruit
family.
This is an invasive species from
asia, and they are losely
related to the cicada family and
look like moths but act more
like grasshoppers in my opinion
and I sadly had the opportunity
see some in person in
pennsylvania two weekends ago,
and they usually hop from one
place to another but there has
been a record of them flying up
to 10 miles.
They do not pose a threat to
humans or animals, however they
do consume grapevines, stone
fruit trees, hard woods and
other plants and I will goat to get to
the damage in a bit and it could
have a devastating impact on our
local economy.
Just to give you the stages of
development for the spotted
lanternfly, there are four nymph
stages which you see here.
They are most obvious at their
fourth stage and a lot of people
mistake them for lady dugger
bugs
dug
bugs froma distance until you see the
mature adult, and those are the
egg nests and those can be
scraped offer and destroyed and
I hate to be indelicate, but you
can swish them.
They are resistant to cold
weather and will definitely
survive our winters.
Here are key identifiers.
I will leave this up for a few
seconds.
Okay, so the preferred host tree
is unfortunately another
invalentine's dayive to
valentine's
invasive and that is the tree of
heaven, of which we have many,
many in leesburg, it is the host
tree they need to complete their
life sickle and
sick cycle
cycle and they use this
tree to feed and that makes them
undesirable to predators like
birds because they end up
tasting very bitter.
So they have a lack of
predators, too.
Here is an example of trees
under attack.
More importantly and the
grapevines totally swarmed.
And again two weeks ago I
personally got to see this in
action and it was pretty
disturbing to see in person but
they do indeed swarm like this.
So as of right now, pennsylvania
has the most complete data and
so to compare ourselves to
themselves, they are estimate
around
324 to -- million a year and 484
jobs have been lost so far in
pennsylvania.
So what is the more direct
damage?
I have talked about the
economics but there is also
physical damage, too, and they
feed from the floam of most
trees and love walnuts, birch,
and maple as well.
Plenty of trees that we have
here in leesburg.
And they cause the trees to leak
honeydew which is damaging to
cars and our property and it
leaves the trees vulnerable to
other diseases, the biggest of
which is mold which is difficult
to manage and can destroy trees.
So how close can it?
Mixed report, I was going to
skip straight through this
because last week we already had
a report that it was here in
loudoun but then it was a false
alarm but there have been social
media posts throughout that I
have seen myself, even at market
station of seeing life spotted
lanternflies.
So it's on our borders but it's
been verified in augusta, page,
frederick and other countries.
As of APRIL 2021, a while ago
unfortunately there had been
sitings and now we know that
could be the case.
And here is a map as of two
weeks ago what we had and so now
fairfax and loudoun would
possibly be added to that, too.
So what can the town of leesburg
do and when we are asking?
We are asking the town to create
a proclamation for spotted
lanternfly awareness ago there
are not many farms here within
our town borders, we definitely
have the tree of heaven.
And we have host plants for the
spotted lanternfly that will
effect the rest to
of the county.
I estimated looking up data that
for example our vin
architectural design standards win yards and
wine tourism creates about 56
million a year and that is at
risk and they would like to have
campaigned and social media
posts to reach out to our
citizens.
And just for everyone here, how
they can help, and for the
commissioners who have this
presentation, for more
information, but learn to
identify the life stages as you
follow the nymph stage and it
they are difficult to identify
but once they get to the fourth
stage it's easy to identify
them.
And removing the tree of heaven,
if it's possible for people to
remove those from their
property, that is best but I
have seen towns in pennsylvania
and the mid-atlantic, they are
leaving what we are calling
entrapment trees of heaven but
they are specifically used to
trap nymphs and kill and dispose
of them.
Inspect your surroundings and
look for egg masses and check
tree trucks, wheel wells and
storage buildings and fences and
rock, they are adhere easily.
When we left the other day and I
went up to pennsylvania, we
stopped along the way -- once we
got a little bit out of town to
check our vehicle because there
are just that many and they are
hitchhikers.
Take pictures and/or pap
capture in
a container and please report
it.
And if you have spotted a
spotted lanternfly, again,
please report it, but more
importantly once you have taken
the picture please destroy the
spotted lanternfly, I know it's
pretty, and we had this
conversation earlier with
another person, and they are
like but they are so beautiful,
but they are very damaging and
so please destroy.
And we also have a wealth of
information in our commercial
horticulturist from the virginia
cooperative extension, and she
is willing to give training for
anyone who would like more
information and information on
how to trap and kill the
lanternfly.
>> thank you, very useful
information, I don't think many
of us realize what a predator
this is and we'll follow flu through
with your request.
>> thank you very much.
>> all right, any regional
commission reports?
I sent nine you previously and
that leatds
leatds us
leads us to our petitioners
section.
One of the first orders of
business is to hear from the
public.
All members of the public are
welcomed to address the council
on any item, matter, or issue.
Please identify yourself, and if
comfortable doing so, give your
address for the taped record.
Any public speaker will be
requested to state their name
and spell it for the purposes of
closed captioning.
In the interests of fairness, we
also ask that you observe the
five-minute time limit.
If you are participating in
person on or webex.
The green light will turn yellow
at the end of four minutes
indicating you have one minute
remaining, at that time, we
would appreciate you summing up
and yielding the floor when the
bell indicates that your time
has expired.
For those participating on the
phone, you will hear a bell when
your time is up.
And under the rules of order
adopted by this council, the
five-minute time limit applies
to all.
First up is keith reid to
followed by vincent gonzales.
>> I'm keith reid
reed and I reside
at 980 east virginia place and
i'm here to comment on the
covid-19 resolution that I
understand you guys have
deferred.
The reason I'm not here is not
so much to fight a vaccine
mandate but I'm here to talk
about overreemping
overreefing
overreaching by this
council, a vote of 5-2 so bring
this forward is not only
concerning to me but a lot of
other people here.
At the end of the day at what
point does it not bandage
become
overreaching.
You might be say all of our
employees are going to be fired
after 90 days, okay, at what
point do you tell me to leave
the town because I'm not
vaccinated and I am no longer
allowed to live in this town
because your mandate is about
the vaccine.
And what about political
representatives elected to these
positions?
Are you going to go through and
make an amendment to the state
constitution that requires every
single elected official to
follow through with those
resolutions.
I ask you to think about what
you're doing before you do it
and before you put it out there,%
why not put it out to the public
and let them understand it and
before you lose a lot of vital
employees in this town, think
about the impact there as well.
I thank you.
>> thank you, MR. Reed.
MR. Gonzales followed by cesar
chavez.
Perng.
>> vincent gonzales, a member of
the leesburg mobile human had
community and I've livered
lived there
18 years nearly my whole life,
and I'm here to remind you where
you sit on the town council.
You sit there to protect people
from big quorp rations
corporations and
development companies.
You sit here to protect the
people.
The subject has reached many
social media outlets, something
has never occurred in leesburg
is the potential gentrification
of working-class families, the
seam
same families labeled essential
during the pandemic.
We are your construction worker,
your landscaper and painters,
think about us and remember us.
All eyes are on you.
We will know who fought for us
and who did not.
Our community is based off
latinos.
We are roughly about 20% of the
demographic population of
leesburg.
Our vote will be decisive come
the town election and will
determine if many of you
continue to sit in those seats.
I'm here today to ask to you
fight for us.
Fight for us.
Our community has united.
We are fighting and we want to
stay here in leesburg.
Help me give my community a
voice.
Let them be heard.
We are leesburg as well.
We want to stay in leesburg.
We love leesburg.
So please, fight for us and find
a solution for this issue.
Thank you for your time.
>> thank you, MR. Gonzales.
The clerk, could you please --
the time is three, not five.
Okay.
And cesar chavez followed by
andy argupta.
>> I'm cesar chavez, I'm here to
ask you guys to help us come up
to a solution and answers for
our community, we've been asking
and not getting clear answers
for our community and it's
uncertain what will be our lives
ayear from now after this
corporation dmos and takes
comes in and takes
over our land and we want to
know if we'll be able to stay in
leesburg.
I've been in the community ten
years and I think living in such
a good wear in
area in leesburg has
helped me be the person that I
am today and raise children in
schools that are great.
Loudoun county is known as one
of the top school areas in the
country.
And for us to have that
opportunity is only because we
live in a neighborhood that is
affordable that we would not
have in another county.
Living in this county has helped
not only us but has helped many
of you guys as business owners
and community leaders here today
and we will ask that you return
to us the help we need to
continue to sai stay in
stay in the
community that we love, others
have been here 20 years and now
we are being kicked out and we
don't know where to go and don't
have answers so we know what
follows afterwards.
>> thank you.
Next is andy argupta.
>> good been evening.
`and I've been living in a
trailer park since I first moved
in around 10 years ago.
Many of the families there such
as my own have worked hard to
own a trailer to call it home,
not wanting to continue hunting
for affordable housing and tired
of working just to afford a roof
over their heads.
We are all working-class members
of society and all try our best
to help each other during hard
times especial during what we
are going through now, and we
were surprised to get a letter
that they want to purchase the
property for 11 million and we
all know they would likely
redevelop the land because of
the location of the property
near downtown.
All of the hard work put into
build this community might have
been for nothing just because
people want to buy us out for
their own agenda.
If this happens, many of us
would have to relocation not
just outside of leesburg but
outside of loudoun county due in
large part to the lack of
affordable housing.
This would mean many of us would
lose our jobs and make it even
more difficult to put food on
the table and provide for our
families.
What would they do then?
It's already hard enough to find
employers willing to hire, not
to mention that we are still
suffering from an on-going
pandemic.
And I otherred constantly see
this as more news comes out.
They say they want us to move
our homes but those homes are
meant to stay and I ask you,
councilmembers to help us in any
way you can such as changing the
restructuring plan in leesburg
to the trailer park stays.
>> thank you, carmen, followed
by lourdes.
>> (Speaking spanish).
>> excuse me for interrupting
but could you push the mic so we
can hear you?
We are having trouble hearing
you.
Thank you.
>> start over?
>> no, just continue where you
were, that is g and we'll
good, and we'll
give you extra time.
>> (Speaking spanish).
>> gracias, thank you.
>> do you want me to translate?
>> have we got copies of the
translation?
No?
Go ahead.
>> again, I call on the
authorities to please help us in
this situation, every since we
got notice of the sale it's not
easy to live calmly in our homes
because day after day there are
people measures without
explanation.
And -- why do you want to
displace us for being humble and
hard-working families and
because our homes do not
beautify the city?
That is the question we need the
answer to.
For $11 million we will be
displaced and less valuable for
authorities.
Put yourself in our shoes and
now we are threatened by the
developers -- struggling to
support their families.
Thank you.
>> thank you very much.
Was that carmen?
i have lost my place, and
lourdes suarez followed by emma
ortiz.
>> welcome.
>> (Speak spanish) You you you
you you you.
>> my name is lourdes and my
husband and I are essential
workers and elderly people, we
have a great need to stay here
more than the millionaires who
want to buy and displace us.
There are other places they can
put their business and this is
an example of how in the name of
development they trample on
people.
>> thank you.
Emma ortiz.
>> hi, you might remember me, I
am here again.
I am pleading for my home and
for my son, his home.
He had my house under renovation
in 2020, and how it looks today,
everything is new.
My kitchen, my bathrooms, my
floor.
My windows, my washing machine,
my stove, everything is new.
My savings
ings of 11 years is here.
I don't have other place, this
is my home for my son and for
me.
Please, preserve the mobile home
park.
>> thank you.
>> thank you very much.
MS. Ortiz is followed by
jonathan lopez and he is
followed by veronica
lopez-gonzales, I believe.
>> good evening, to each and
every one of you.
My name is veronica dison
gonzales,
I'm going to read a letter my
husband wrote.
this is my little family, and
first I would like to thank you
for giving me the opportunity to
address these words to you.
I want to address to you to
express my concerns regarding
the leesburg mobile park issue,
I've been living there about
four months.
We decided to buy a mobile home
because it is the only place
where the monthly rent is
affordable for my family, it is
a quiet place away from travel
and a place where humble
families have mutual respect for
each other.
I've recent been informed by a
letter that the mobile park is
about to disappear, and this is
very frustrating but I spent my
savings on buying a mobile home
and I was able with much work to
safe
save this money and I honestly
ask you to ensure the welfare of
the people of the county so they
can give us a solution to this
problem that is impacting many
families.
I would like to you place your
hand on your heart and analyze a
situation and remember that we
are going thraw pandemic
that you a pandemic
that has impacted our homes.
I would also like to add in the
12 years I have lived in the
united states, leesburg is the
place I have loved the most to
live in.
The town of leesburg is
historical roots that we
appreciate.
It will be sad to see that
change one day.
This is a town full of history
and if we let investors come in,
the town will cease to become a
historical sign and it will lose
its history.
I'm sure you are the people in
whoam the
whoam
whom the people of the towns
that placed their trust to make
a decision.
Thank you for the time each of
you have taken to listen to our
testimony.
I hope our word are heart, GOD
bless you and have a good
evening.
Thank you.
>> and next is aaron taylor,
followed by octave I can't
ramo
n.
>> my name is erin taylor, I'm a
homeowner in the leesburg mobile
park since 2017 and I have
nothing but positive things to
say about my neighborhood, I
know many people personally
through church and tutoring
children, I have gone on
vacation with the families and
shared meals and attended
weddings, baby showers and more,
our community is an important
place to live for many people
myself included who would have
no other affordable place to
live in loudoun county.
As a result of the sale, the
rent could increase and if the
tenants with forced off of the
property I don't know what we
and my neighbors would do.
Affordable housing is very hard
to find in the area and the
reality is our homes are simply
not mobile.
Many are decades old and have
had additions build on and many
would not survive a move.
We continue to face job losses
and reduced noam and
income, and we ask
that we be allowed to stay on
the property with no increase
for rent for the current please
term
please
lease term andask that the plans to redevelop
the property be immediately
abandoned and that future plans
be shared with us as far in
advance as possible, this has
far-reaching personal emotional
and financial implications for
all residents.
This is not a business issue,
it's a personal issue and
replacing these family woos be
absolutely devastating.
(Speaking spanish) Thank you for
your time and attention.
>> thank you, MS. Taylor.
Octavio romano followed by
sherry taylor.
>> good evening, everyone.
My name is octavio romero.
I live
romano.I have lived in this park since
2012 and I have my wife and
children.
My wife works in catoctin
elementary school and I am here
to ask you to allow us to stay
in our homes.
As you know, our house is old
and I cannot move.
And from the pandemic I have an
opportunity to -- in front of --
inside of my house because I
think I live there for a long
time.
When I receive a letter like two
months ago that a buyer is
offering $11 million we never
imagined that we would have to
move from leesburg mobile park.
My wife has her job, and my job
is 20 minutes away.
I hope to stay living -- I
appreciate that you help us to
stay in home.
Thank you.
Sherry taylor, followed by
cesar frias?
>> good evening, my name is
cesar frias and I live in the
mobile park.
As you know the land under our
homes will be sold at a cost of
$11 million, that is what this
letter that we received from the
owner stated.
But they do not care what will
happen to more than 75 families
that live there.
They do not care that we have
our homes that our children were
born and lived there and that we
have a supportive community as
neighbors.
The future owner tells us to not
worry for 12 months.
But then what happens after
that?
What awaits us and our families?
We have families that have lived
here for 20, 25 and even more
years.
We are families that have helped
the community grow.
Good families that help the
development of the community
that work every day to fulfill
its obligation.
We live and help lived many
years in harmony with society,
but apparently nobody cares
about us.
But I want to tell you that you,
just like each of you, we also
have the right to have a home
for our children.
That is why I turn to you so
that you can help us stay in our
homes.
You are our authority chosen by
the people and your duty is to
protect each citizen.
It is you, it is you who make
regulation, and decrees and laws
and many other things for the
good of the community.
Do not leave us helpless among a
selling owner who did not think
for a single moment about us,
and a buyer who offers his
millions to at the point us to
live for 12 months and then
throw us out on the streets.
I ask to you listen, we are more
than 70 families with an
uncertain future.
You are the authorities and we
are not asking to you get us
houses or pay us rend but to
help our homes that are going be
taken from us.
We ask that you protect our
homes.
We are families, families with
the right to a home just like
every citizen.
Do not take that right away from
us.
Thank you.
>> thank you.
Was sherry taylor, is she here?
No?
-
okay.
Julie boathouse followed by
ernesto arenas?
>> julie boathouse.
Affordable housing is ahuge
issue and not one that leesburg
can solve alone.
However there are steps you can
take to preserve the affording
housing stock that we have, the
median value of owner occupied
homes is currently around
500,000 and the market rate for
newly build is 500 to 800,000
and the people who live into
these homes are generally
migrating from more expensive
locations.
In this current market building
more market rate housing does
not relieve the existing housing
stock because the people who
live here currently cannot
afford them much of the cost is
due to their large size and many
being built range from 2500 to
4,000 square feet, and older
stock provides homes for
families under 1,000 square feet
including these mobile homes.
My 1950's era home comfortably
accommodates a family of four,
and the how soon has
historically accommodated modest
income residents with homes for
new families but the homes being
built are just as if not more
expensive than the counties, and
I would argue we are facing
jennryification and
jenngentrification and the best
thing you can do is to adopt
policies that head off that
gentrification.
I would ask yourself what is
next?
If this happens to them, about
the garden apartments on fort
evans and plaza or the rentals
on dry
dry mills road be next?
I ask to you adopt policies that
include retaining the decades
old mobile home park and it must
be recognized as residential and
not commercial.
It is the only residential in
the crescent design district and
should never have been included
in the first place either bring
back mobile home zoning or
include a clause in the crescent
design district design district
that includes a prohibition
against destroying affordable
housing.
>> buenos noches.
(Speaking spanish)
>> gracias.
>> any name is nester and I live
in the mobile park and I've
within worried every since
receiving the letter notifying
of the sale and my children ask
us what happens, dad, because we
could lose our house where we
were able to final by give each
of them their own rooms all for
a millionaire who is already a
millionaire and wants to ruin
the lives of those who live
happily, my wife and children
with happy to give in this
community because they have a
roof over their heads.
We don't want anything for free
and we always do our jobs,
cleaning houses and mowing the
grass and working
working in
restaurants, the work that no
one wants to do.
That is who we are, and on
behalf of all of the families we
s ask for your support, between
GOD and you we have no one else
to turn to, you are are an
elected officials.
GOD bless you.
>> thank you.
>> speaking
(Speaking spanish).
>> good evening, my name is be
beatrice and I've been living in
loudoun county for 18 years.
Eight years ago I was able to
buy my mobile home with the help
of my brother, and before that I
was paying $1400 and $1800.
The rent in the apartments was
can pay $620, it's a blessing to
my life.
I work as a housekeeper for a
long time.
My hands hurt a lot and because
I use the vacuum a lot, all day
long.
I'm worried because now that
they are trying to take away my
mobile home, I worry because I'm
a single mom with two daughters,
between 15 and 1 years
13 years old.
I ask to you please help us to
keep our leesburg mobile home.
GOD bless you.
>> thank you.
>> (Speak spanish).
>> good evening, I've been
living in leesburg mobile park
since APRIL of this year, I'm
living here because I have not
found another place to live,
staying here is good for us,
since my daughters and I can
live alone without sharing a
home with other families and she
has a list of addresses where
she has lived, I have lived in
other addresses, in total ten,
and it's good for my daughters'
mental health to move so many
times.
This allows hey to be stable
with in my home because of the
price, stable for families like
me.
I ask to you put in legislation
and respect our homes which is
good both for the government and
private companies.
I work in construction and
although I'm not able to buy a
house in this condition, I
have -- I don't know the rest of
the translation, um, thank you
for your time.
>> okay, thank you very much.
Gracias.
That is the last name on our
list and is there anyone else in
the audience that did not get a
chance to sign up who would like
to speak?
Yes, sir, come forward and
please give us your name and
spell it for the closed
captioning.
>> my name is josh carter, j-o-s-h c-a-r-t-e-r.
205 primrose court, leesburg
virginia.
I'm a proud member of the
leesburg police department and I
police and reside in this town,
i coach and I worship in this
town.
I want you to think long and
hard about the decisions you are
about to make in regard to the
vaccine mandate.
I'm sure -- I'm not sure you
fully understand how your
decision could impact our police
department.
This decision has the potential
to des
decimate lpd and our town
could lose a lot of amazing
police officers who care about
this community and who place
their lives on the line to
protect the citizens of leesburg
on a daily basis.
If you decide to move forward
with mandating this vaccine, the
loss of officers on on you and
I'm going come back and ask what
your plan is to keep my plan and family
and officers safe with new
few to no
officers patrolling our streets.
>> yes, sir.
>> you can go next.
>> hello, my name is william
butter field, w-I-l-l-I-a-h
and -- trust me, it's really
hard, we're from the leesburg
police department as well.
So kind of what -- to echo the
sentiments of my colleague
MR. Carter spoke with you about
and I want to give you the
ability to grasp your decision
if you mandate the vaccine for
all town employees.
I consider myself more of an
independent and I see both sides
of the yielt
yale
aisle and as someone to
give you the facts you would
lose a high number of officers
due to our poor pay scale and --
one question I have kind of a
rhetorical question, but I know
you can't talk but when was this
concern about our public health
and safety about a year ago when
I was going to a call of a
gentleman in town who tested
positive twice and MR. Carter
held his hand on a wound on
someone who was bleeding out and
got a life saver award and could
-
have gotten covid from that but
concern was absent from our town
government because we got no
benefits from covid whereas
others are getting checks from
cares act funding and I will
leave that up to you guise.
Another
guys.You guys are probably going hurt
a profession that already cannot
be replenished, it's hard to
find cops now days.
I was at the recruit firearms
training and got a chance to see
some of the recruits there, and
I don't to speak poorly but your
pool of applicants for police is
not great due to certain things
like starting pay and due to
things like mandating vaccines.
If this becomes mandated I will
be seeking over employment.
I have a lot of certifications
and I'm a firearms instructor
and I'm on the bike and the swat
team, and you guys will be
losing a lot of money that you
invested in me that I gratefully
appreciate that and you will be
losing that in me and other
officers like me, so I urge you
to reconsider and we can make
decisions for ourselves that we
feel are necessary for our
families and community and I ask
to you look at the truth of
that.
>> thank you, anyone nels the anyone else in the
audience who like to come
forward, give us your name and
spell is for closed captioning.
And could we pull down the mike?
>> my name is myra and I've been
living for a few months in the
trailer.
My mom is a hard worker and me
and my sister we are always at
school and we work hard, I don't
want to might have out of the
trailer because my mom works so
hard.
>> thank you, myra what was your
last name?
>> minya.
>> okay, thank you very much.
Anyone else that did not get the
opportunity to speak bhold like who had
like to
would like to speak at this
point, and did we skip you?
Were you not on the list?
No?
Okay, sorry.
>> hi, good evening, my name is
kathryn, k-a-t-h-e-r-I-n-e.
E-s-c-o-b-a-r.
Last time I came to translate
for my grandma and today I'm
here on my own and I don't know
if you guys can directly do
anything [Inaudible] Would
really appreciate if you guys
could help, I feel that it's
unfair for people to have to
leave their homes for a business
which at the end of the day they
are just going to kick everyone
out because they know this will
benefit them economically and
this is one of the few places in
leesburg that is low-income that
provides a safe home because
many places that are low income
are not always in the best
condition and these are one of
the few places that does provide
that and more.
During the pandemic, food pant pantry
would come and drop food off and
it's just the perfect place and
I feel like people should not
have to leave their homes just
for these things.
It's hard, because having to
start brand new with the thought
that oh, now you have to stress
out or stress yourself out more
because you have a family to
provide for, especially
considering that a lot of the
people in the neighborhood are
elderly.
So I just wanted to leave that
thought with you, and we would
really appreciate it if there is
anything that you could do.
Thank you.
>> thank you, anyone nels
anyone else in the
audience who did not get a
chance to sign up who would like
to speak?
Yes, sir, come forward and spell
your name.
>> good evening, matt connelo.
I'm speak on behalf of another
officer, gabriel, and he stated
I have served the leesburg
community and its citizens to
over 17 years, served during the
height of the covid pandemic and
served on a covid task force and
followed the procedures of
wearing a mask and wash my hands
and social distancing but now
you are forcing me to get a
vaccine or lose my job in 920 90
days.
I have worked too hard for you
now to tell me what to do with
my body, and if you divorce us
to
force us to getthe veen
vaccine will you cover us if
something happens and you will
lose numerous employees who will
be hard to replace.
>> all right, anyone else who
would like to have a chance to
speak?
All right, that being the case,
I will close the petitioners
section and thank you all very
much for coming out.
The vaccine issue has been
deferred and we will be looking
at it in preebl few
probably a few weeks.
And the citizens here from the
trailer park there is a citizens
meeting and many of us will be
in attendance and know that we
most certainly hear you and we
are concerned and trying to do
what we can.
Thank you very much, and have a
good evening.
Now that takes us to the
approval of the consent agenda.
I will read the items and then
ask for a motion and a second
and ask if anybody wants
anything removed.
A. Retiree medicare part d
contract with retiree first
b. General hauling and debris
removal services-
contract
awards
c. Amendment to right-of-way
license agreement with lumos
networks, inc.
D. Third renewal of right-of-way
license agreement with at&t
corporation
e. Motion to approve
polish-american heritage month
proclamation.
Moved and seconded and does
anybody have anything they want
removed? That being the case,
in all favor, aye.
Opposed?
That is 7-0 and that takes us to
our resolutions do I have a
motion for the first resolution
which is annual capital funding
to the county of loudoun for
fiscal year 2023, moved and
seconded, councilmember
martinez, is there a potential
presentation on this.
>> there is if you would like
one, MADAM Mayor?
>> do we want a presentation on
the capital funding request to
the county for the fiscal year?
I think I can tell you, and one
of the things I would ask
councilmembers during this
presentation is to look at what
are the items and staff has
prioritized them but we need to
look at it and see if we
really -- if we agree with that
and want to move it forward or
back.
All right?
>> okay, so you gave my
introduction away, so we'll go
with the next slide here.
Every year the county requests
projects from the town to be
included in their cip.
Our applications are due OCTOBER
29, 2021.
Town staff has been working with
the loudoun county staff and
they are recommending that we
submit a pry
prioritized list to
them.
What are the criteria for our
projects to be eligible?
If the capital improvements
facilities owned by the county
are located within the town by
operating by the county -- it
doesn't sound like that applies
but the next one does, local
pedestrian or transportation
related improvements that
benefit loudoun county.
The projects that we are
proposing are these nine
projects and I will go through
them in a little bit more
detail.
This is our prioritized order
and I'm going to cover them in
this order.
Our first project is the route
15 bypass, edwards ferry
interchange, requesting $5
million from the county to match
the 5.4 million we have from
nvta.
Once we get furtherer in the
design it will put this project
in a better position for further
fundser funding from either
smart scale or nvpa.
We are asking 5.8 million for
this widening project in
addition to the 6 million that
loudoun county has already given
us on this project.
As you all know the economy is
killing us on construction
projects and our most recent
estimate is that this project
will also increase in cost, thus
the ask for 5.8 million.
We figure this is a good froj project
to put forward because there are
three schools and it is a major
route to the loudoun county
landfill.
And veterans park, we are asking
for an additional $2 million and
the county briefly gave us 4
million and this 2 million would
complete the master plan
component of this park.
This is currently under design
and is planned to go to
construction mid to late spring
of '22.
Washington and old dming I don't
know trail lighting, we have in
this our cip out in a25 for
design in 26 for construction,
and we are asking for the county
to fund this program in its
entirety in a23
a23 so we can get
this connected to the catoctin
circle and connecting employment
areas with residential.
the mobile command center, this
has been in and out of
discussion but pd has requested
for replace the mobile command
center.
This would help facilitate with
emergency response through all
of the emergency services,
police, sheriff, state patrol.
And the estimated cost on that
is $900,000 and it also serves
as our backup emergency
separations
operations center if power fails
at police stations.
Next we have this project in our
priority futures.
Listed in our current capital
program, requesting 800,000 for
one side of this road to have a
pedestrian sidewalk on it and
the tie for that is the
courthouse expansion.
And we have the church and
layouten street development in
the process of doing bonding to
start that project and it is
close to the county parking
garage and so that is a good
connection and I don't know if
you've been there at lunch time
but a lot of people walk in the
middle of this alley, not the
safest.
Seven is the ida lee recreation
center as an emergency shelter
in place location and this is to
provide a generator to run that
facility so it could be an
additional shelter in town.
Number 8 is our town-wide
fiberoptic redundancy giving us
a redundant ring around town for
all of our communications
facilities and traffic signals.
We have communication to all by
five of our traffic signals now
and this would be a redundancy
effort on that plus to the town
hall and police and all of the
ancillary facilities away from
town hall.
And nine is the traffic signal
camera replacement.
Right now we have cameras on a
lot of our traffic signals, and
we monitor the capacity and
signal timing and police ask for
information on accidents if they
are looking for car, things like
that.
We are starting to have failures
in our cameras and also with our
server and the system we
currently have, we cannot get
any additional licenses for
cameras on
on the server we have,
is that is why we have this
project in here.
With that, I will take your
questions.
And I will go back to the list
of projects.
>> I have a question.
>> okay.
>> is there a reason that the
bridge over the tuscarora creek
at lawson road was not included
in this?
>> we have the application in
for the federal dollars on that,
and this project does not --
that project does not connect to
any county facilities, it
connects to the wno and d trail
but we were looking at the
larger dollar projects for this.
>> okay, anyone else have any
questions at this point?
>> I've got a question, thank
you very much.
The camera server replacement
are you talking about video
analytics being able to track
the flow of traffic and the
traffic signal switches --
>> the signal is not switched
based on what the camera cease
and if we get a complaint about
an intersection our technician
will watch the video and he can
make a signal timing change from
his desk and send it out to the
field.
>> so not real-time video
analytics.
>> correct.
>> MS. Fox?
>> yeah, one second.
The mobile command center for
$900,000 is that just for the
vehicle or is it fully
outfitted?
>> I am not sure, I think it is
fully outfitted.
>> I just don't remember seeing
this and if I missed
something -- you know, last year
maybe if --
>> it's been talked about at
staff level but has not reached
council as far as I'm aware.
>> and it's not a bad idea, I
like it, I was just wonder if
you knew what the yearly cast
for operating this would be.
>> I do not.
>> okay.
>> anyone else have any
questions?
Does anybody want to change the
order of the projects?
Well, you guessed right although
you didn't have the bridge over
lawson road.
That would have made me a lot
more happy.
Okay.
Is -- do you need a motion to
accept these?
>> we do have to have a
resolution to go with your
application to the county.
>> so councilmember steinberg
moved that we accept the request
and I'm on --
>> we just need to vote on t we
already discussed.
>> oh, you are right, and why i
doubt you I never know.
That's right, MR. Cummings made
the motion and vice-mayor
martinez seconded, all in favor,
aye.
Opposed?
That passes 7-0.
All right, the capital funding
request -- we just did that.
The virginia main street program
authorizing al tier 2
application to the virginia
department of housing and
community development, and will
martinez made a motion seconded
by councilmember steinberg, is
there a presentation on this?
No?
Okay.
I will not be voting for this
tonight unless we could add -- a -- a time line to the sub
mission that the -- after six
months the economic development development
director needs to come back with
a report as to whether we are
ready to move into tier 3 or
not.
So I'm asking vice-mayor
martinez and councilmember
steinberg if that is a friendly
amendment?
>> I apologize, could you
restate the amendment?
>> I would like to see us have a
time limit on the amount of time
we can stay in tier 2 before we
get a report identifying our
ability to move into tier 3.
>> okay, I guess if you're
asking for a report within a
certain time frame, I am
comfortable with that, yes.
>> MR. Martinez?
>> are you asking for movement
into tier 3 at that report or
just the report.
>> depends on what the report
says.
>> I'm okay with it.
>> my reason for this is we've
been work on this for many, many
years and I don't think we need
to wait another whole year to
get a report on moving to --
>> do we want to include a
specific time frame in the
amendment?
>> I'm just saying six months.
>> six months, all right,.
>> MR. Cummings?
>> I just wanted to make a
point, I spoke with a member of
the edc today and one of the
issues with the tier 2 is there
is some grant money out there
that MAY help us have a
professional run some of the
discussions with the businesses.
And so I support putting a time
line on this because we don't
want it to sit idle for another
year or tworks but
two, but I wonder if we
could have flexibility on that
six months and depending on if
we can get some of this grant
money --
>> there is no reason they could
not put that in the report when
we come back with the report.
>> okay.
>> okay?
All right, all in favor with the
friendly amendment indicate by
saying aye.
Opposed?
All right, that passes 7-0, and
the covid employee vaccine has
been deferred to the next
meeting.
That takes us to future council
meetings and agendas.
Anyone have anything they want
to put on for a future agenda.
>> I do, I was just going to ask
if we could do the spotted
lanternfly lantern proclamation
requested.
>> do we have four people
interested in doing that --
>> I had one land on me in win
winchester and now I know what
it was.
>> all right, disclosures.
>> I do, I just have one on
SEPTEMBER 15th, met with greg
wigfield regarding the greenway
manor application.
>> and MR. Bagdassarian?
>> no disclosures.
>> MS. Fox?
>> just one disclosure.
I too, had a meeting with
MR. Greg witness
witfield on SEPTEMBER
15th.
>> MR. Steinberg?
MR. Cummings?
MR. Martinez?
>> nothing other than a happy
birthday to my 1-year-old
granddaughter delivers by doris,
my wife.
>> there you go.
All right, I would like to thank
kaeley boyle and let me tell you
the movies were independent
films but they were the most
thought provoking things I have
seen in a long, long time.
On the 17th a number of us met
with senators to talk about our
legislative agenda and they
agreed to look at it and get
back to us.
I don't know MR. Dentler if they
have gotten back to us yet on
some of the issues we were going
to investigate further?
Maybe we could make a phone call
and check on that.
On the 18th I want to thank
MR. Bagdassarian and MR. Bobchek
on the wonderful -- I'm just
amazed what a wonderful job the
music festival was and just
another example of how art
drives the committee, and it
economy, and it was
an opportunity to hear great,
great music and a lot of fun.
And I joined the relay of life
cancer survivors and joined --
to serve ice cream, and he's
been doing this almost 20 years
now.
Supervisor umstad and I held a
town hall on homelessness and it
was very informative and I thank
the councilmembers who shows up
and I want to welcome
chick-fil-a, we had a ribbon
cutting and this is their second
chick-fil-a out here in leesburg
and I'm sure they are going to
be very successful.
I want to thank jill MAY and pat
daly for the loudoun laurels,
honoring the people that have
contributed to the community and
raising money to give each -- a
number of students a $40,000
scholarship.
And congratulations to
integrative chiropractor, we
recognized them two years a very
successful business.
And all of the people involved
in the air show,
congratulations, it was a
spectacular vanity and
spectacular event and I met at
the house cafe, one of the
things I thought was very
interesting is there was a young
gentleman there with a young
toddler and he told me he had
been in leesburg three months
and I asked him what brought him
here and he said affordable
housing.
So I guess it's all relative,
and I would like to thank burk
green, for a wonderful family
reunion that honors the
long-time leesburg
african-american families here
in leesburg.
Just this afternoon I attended
the greater washington aviation
operation and it was a very
well-attended event and they had
some of the most amazing private
planes I have ever seen, I'm are
to go fly.
I want to remind everybody that
this weekend is the vml
conference, I hope to see you
all there, and one sad note, ad
barnes our planning commissioner
had a heart attack and will be
having a triple bypass tonight
or tomorrow in the hoapt and I hospital and
I know we all wish him the best.
Town manager?
>> no comment.
>> do I have a motion to
adjourn?
Second?
Made by vice-mayor martinez and
seconded by councilmember
steinberg.
In all favor?
Opposed?