Wow.
96th hall.
Yeah, one line.
42, 42 goats, 30, 20, no sears.
And,
you know,
almost like 38.
That's incredible. That's a lot of money.
And I got 530. You ready?
I mean, hit the button.
Good evening. Meeting of the Green County Board of Supervisors will come to order. First on the agenda, we have closed meeting. Ms. Kemp, can you read the motion?
Yes, sir. Whereas the Board of Supervisors of Green County desires to discuss and close meeting the following matters. Discussion, consideration or interviews of prospective candidates for employment, assignment, appointment, promotion, performance, demotion, salaries,
or resignation of specific public officers, appointees, or employees of any public body
regarding the Water and Sewer Department, Economic Development, the Jefferson Area Board
of for Aging, Java Advisory Council and Region 10, discussion or consideration of the acquisition
of real property for a public purpose or the disposition of publicly held real property
where discussion at open meeting would adversely affect the bargaining position of the public
body, whereas pursuant to Section 2.2-3711A1 and A3 of the Code of Virginia such discussions
may occur in a closed meeting. Now therefore be it resolved that the Board of Supervisors
of Green County does hereby authorize discussion of the afore stated matters of closed meeting.
Thank you Ms. Kemp. I have a motion to adopt. Is there a second?
Okay, we have a motion and a second to go into closed session roll call vote. Mr. Lamb?
Mr. Gouldsby?
Hi.
Ms. Durham?
And the chair votes aye.
Okay.
Yeah, I'm not sure that I have audio.
You have it on right now. Don't you want to be in mute?
What will I think of?
The
video means it's their video, and if I get the license, it says calling green, but it doesn't show.
Well, you're a seer. David, please mute yourself.
You ready, Jim? Yeah, we're good.
We have a motion to come in the open session. So move a second. We have a motion in a second to come in the open session and roll a call.
roll vote. Mr. Lamb. Mr. Hartung. Aye. Mr. Gouldsby. Aye. Ms. Dura. Aye. And the chair
votes aye. Do all members certify that only public business matters lawfully exempted from
the open meeting requirement and only such matters as identified by the motion to enter
and close meeting were discussed? Roll call vote. Mr. Lamb. I certify. Mr. Hartung.
I certify. Mr. Gouldsby. I certify. Ms. Dura. I certify. And the chair certifies.
Yes. Okay. Out of closed session. First, obviously Mr. Hartung is remotely attending the meeting. Is it the board's pleasure to allow him to do that?
Yes. Yes. Okay. Mr. Hartung, where are you physically?
I'm in Houston currently on a business trip.
Okay. Perfect. All right. Well, we will have you as part of the meeting. We just can't see you.
All right, Mr. out of closed session. Yes, sir. I moved to reappoint Mr. Robert Murphy to the Jefferson area board for aging for a two year term to conclude July 31st, 2028.
Okay, their second. I second. Okay, we have a motion in the second roll call vote. Mr. Mr. Goolsbee. Hi. Mr. Hartung. Hi.
Mr. Lamb. And the chair votes aye.
I move to reappoint Dr. Wendy Mitchum to the Region 10 Community Services Board for a three-year term to conclude on June 30, 2029.
Okay, is there a second?
I second.
Okay, we have motion and a second on nomination roll call vote.
Mr. Lamb?
Mr. Hartong?
Aye.
Mr. Gouldsby?
Aye.
Ms. Durham?
Aye.
And the chair votes aye.
And finally, I move to reappoint Ms. Linda Copeland to the Java Advisory Council for a two-year term to conclude August 31, 2028.
Okay, we have a motion to second roll call vote. Mr. Lam, Mr. Hartung.
Aye.
Mr. Gouldsby.
Aye.
Mr. Durham.
Aye.
And the chair votes aye.
Thank you, Mr. Durham.
Thank you.
Thank you to everyone that volunteers their time to these committees.
It's much appreciated.
Want to welcome everyone to the Green County, a meeting of the Green County Board of Supervisors.
As is customary, we will stand and pledge the flag and follow it by a moment of silence.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic with
which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Okay.
Do I have a motion to adopt the agenda?
So moved.
Is there a second?
Second.
Okay, we have a motion and a second to adopt the agenda roll call vote.
Mr. Lamb?
Aye.
Mr. Hartung?
Aye.
Mr. Gulsby?
Aye.
Mr. Durham?
and the chair votes aye. Next on the agenda we have some recognition presentation of the Virginia
Association of County's Achievement Award for the Green County Water and Sewer Department. We
have Mr. Joe Lerks from VACO and Thomas Hucka, the director of water and sewer. Okay, Ms. Shaffer
will be doing it. Yeah, hello everyone. James Hutzer with the Virginia Association of Counties.
I was just talking to my new friends back there and it's really nice to see the whole
community come out to listen to me speak. You guys deserve this award, so I'm happy
everyone's here to get to hear about it. But for those who aren't familiar with the
Association of Counties, we've existed since 1934 and served county leaders' efforts
in many ways, mostly through our advocacy at the state and federal level. We also
serve counties through our member services, educational programs, and many other things
at the Virginia Association of Counties. So we created this achievement award program
in 2003 to highlight the great work that's being done across the state. Hopefully, you know,
these programs can serve as models for other counties to emulate and better deliver public
services for their citizens. So, oh, and it's also fun because this is the best small county
achievement award. So, out of the 95 counties, you know, we have a bunch of more rural counties
in the state and this county won the best small county achievement award. So, congratulations.
I'm sure the County Administrator would like to discuss the program.
Thank you very much.
And also, not only do we have a lot of people, we have all our most esteemed media here.
So, very happy for that.
The water and sewer department was created in 2023 to manage utilities after we acquired it from the rapid and service authority.
And in less than three years, we've achieved, we've addressed a host of repair and upgrade work that was needed.
hired and trained an entirely new staff and we also won an award from VDH for
water quality and for the first time ever for that particular water treatment
plant. So this profession just for, there's a lot of people here that
probably don't know this, it requires by law to have a staff that possess very
specific technical skills including water treatment licenses, waste water
treatment licenses, utility line repair proficiency, and it's also highly regulated by the state,
the Department of Health and DEQ, which is the Department of Environmental Quality.
And you have to have licensed operators who meet the level required by the system's
classification.
So the operators have to have the education, the experience.
They have to take a very, very challenging exam.
Many times people are required, you know, going to have to take it multiple times before they can pass.
And these licenses require biennial review and continuing education hours.
And most importantly, the jobs not only require the experience and water and wastewater treatment and the corresponding state licenses,
but hands-on training working in our specific plants.
So in other words, no operator, no matter how experienced they are anywhere,
can't just come aboard and handle a shift by themselves without a couple, you know,
several weeks of training that is very specific to our plan. So, like many people in the Commonwealth,
actually across the country, it has been very difficult to find people with that high level
of skill to operate this utility, which sometimes, you know, especially in, you know,
certain dry months, might have to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
And there's a shortage.
So this program was able to expand our pool by assisting employees who were on the wastewater
side to get the water treatment licensure by working in the water treatment plant
and vice versa.
People in the water treatment plant went to the wastewater plant and the best part
of the whole program was we did it with our existing very small staff. So, because we were
swapping people, nobody was short. You know, people, we were able to have enough coverage
where we needed it, which gives us the ability that if there are people sick or they're,
you know, whatever is happening that causes us to need extra people, we are now so cross-trained.
Which also, by the way, and the staff, there are many staff here that can tell, well,
some of them may have been intimidated and left, but the staff that run those two,
the water treatment plant and the wastewater plant are here. And it's very invigorating. The
employees loved it. So it was just a win all the way around. And it was really able to help us be
more resilient, create better quality of life, because we no longer have to say, hey, you're
the one person who knows how to do this, so you're going to have to work a 20-hour shift
or you're going to have to work 20 days straight or whatever might happen. And people were able
to advance their own, you know, knowledge base and be able to feel much more fulfilled. It
breaks down silos. When you're wastewater and you understand the water treatment plant works
and vice versa, it really helps you understand the mission and the mission that they have
to fill the pride to be able to deliver this very important public health and safety, you
know, benefit to the community. It's just, that's why I love it. And any community could
do it. So to, you know, the point of why they go does these awards, they should be things
that you can take and achieve anywhere else. And that's how we all help ourselves at
at the local level, be able to be the best we can be.
So, that's it.
Thank you.
Yeah, just wanted to close out.
Say, appreciate you guys for participating in the program.
I'm sure I'll be here next year for another award.
And, you know, keep doing the fantastic work
and keep delivering it for the citizens of Green.
So thank you so much.
Sure, absolutely.
Thank you.
Thank
you.
my word. Hey man, leave the way. You want to start here or you want to get some
We said now everybody like it in between some bodies.
They weren't once you're on the end.
It's like a family photo to fix for anything.
Thanks to my family.
You're not posing in there.
Okay, next on the agenda we have a public hearing public hearing to consider an amendment to the fiscal year 2026 budget to adjust the aggregate amount to be appropriated during the current fiscal year.
for an appropriation which is in excess of 1% of the total expenditure shown on the adopted fiscal year 2026.
Specifically, a resolution authorizing the supplemental appropriation of $3 million in funding from the General Assembly for 2026 water projects
and $210,000 payment to the Rutgersville Volunteer Fire Company for the purchase of their truck.
The staff report.
There's a memo that's included in your package.
And it is so that you can appropriate the three million dollars that we got from the General Assembly toward the white run reservoir projects keeping on the theme of water and tour.
And as you can see that that was approved with the General Assembly budget.
And because it's more than 1% of our general fund, that's why we have to have a public hearing.
And along those same lines, the Rockersville Volunteer Fire Company, we have $210,000 that was allocated, you guys appropriated in a previous fiscal year.
The truck arrived this spring. We've already made the payment. So now the budget is coming to catch up with, you know, where we made the payment in the fiscal year FY26.
So that's what this is for because those two will total those two totals go more than 1% of the general fund. So unless you have any questions.
Thank you. Appreciate it. We might. I doubt it, but we might. It is a public hearing so we will get the sign up sheet open up to the public for comment.
Okay. No one has signed up. Mr. Friedel, can you check Zoom for us, sir?
Absolutely. Anyone that is joining us via the Zoom link, if you want to address the
board on this topic about the budget, please use the Raise Your Hand feature and we'll give
you a moment to find that. It's under your React button and at that point you'll be
able to address the board.
Does
not appear we have any speakers on this topic.
Okay.
Thank you, Mr. Friedel.
I will close the public hearing and open it up to the board of supervisors for discussion
who would like to go first.
I think it's kind of a no-win situation.
Totally self-explanatory.
I think it is.
The last payment was given to represent the truck is in the county and it is in service.
Questions?
Comments, motion?
I'll make a motion to approve the resolution to appropriate amount not to exceed three
million, $210,000 for the white-run reservoir project and payment to Rockersville Voluntary
Fire Company for Apparatus payment for the supplemental budget of probation for the 2026.
Okay. Is there a second? I second. Okay. We have a motion and a second.
Is there any further discussion on motion?
Hearing none, we'll move to a roll call vote.
Mr. Lamb? Mr. Hartle? Aye. Mr. Goolsbee? Aye. Mr. Durer? Aye. And the Chair votes aye.
Consent agenda. Can we take it together?
Thank you.
Motion to take agenda all together. Okay. Is there a second? I'll second here
We have a motion a second to take to consent agenda together roll call vote. Mr. Lamb. Hi, Mr. Harton. Hi
schools be I was Durer I and their chair votes. I
Do not have action items, but we do have items for discussion
Request from the school board for the board of supervisors to petition the court for a referendum on the November ballot for a 1%
local sales tax dedicated exclusively to public school construction and capital improvement projects.
Ms. Shaffer, if you want to tee that off and we'll get into a discussion and the school board
members that are here are welcome to participate in that discussion.
It's kind of the first time we're all digging into it at the same time.
So. Absolutely. So this is a very compressed timeline that the General Assembly has allowed
for us to be for the board to consider whether they want to push forward to the
To request that a amendment be put on the ballot in the fall. So we have here the chairman of the Green County School Board who is and I don't know if there's any other school. I can't tell.
Oh, yeah. Sorry. I'll see you down there. I was going to speak to the issue, too.
Sure. Okay, great. I also feel like there's a lot of people here to listen to me speak.
Good evening, Chairman and members of the board. Thanks for giving me a few minutes tonight.
I'm here this evening as a school board chair, but honestly, I'm here as a partner.
Someone who cares about where this county is headed and wants to help get us there.
We all see the steady growth happening around us and while that can be an
exciting or terrifying thing, depending on your specific views on growth, it does
mean we have to be incredibly proactive about planning for the future. Our job is
to look ahead and ensure that as more families move here, we can continue to
provide safe, functional, and supportive spaces for our kids to learn and our
staff to work. And we can't do that without being smart and responsible
with taxpayer dollars. Recently the state gave all Virginia localities a
tool to do exactly that. We now have the option to ask our voters to approve a 1% local sales tax
that would be dedicated entirely to school construction and capital projects. It would let
us set aside real savings for capital needs, including a new school we'll likely need within
the next seven years, given our growing population and new housing developments, and it
would do that without leaning entirely on our citizens and taxpayers. The school board
unanimously passed the resolution we've presented to you all. To be clear, I'm not here tonight
to ask this Board to raise anyone's taxes. I am simply asking that you approve the resolution
to place this question on the ballot this November. Our goal is that our citizens get
to have the opportunity to look at the options and make the final call for themselves.
Thank you for letting me speak, and I really would like to have Mr.
Dr. Mastrovich to add to the conversation.
Okay, sounds good.
Welcome, sir.
Sorry for the problem, I didn't have the time.
This is cool.
So good evening, Mr. Chairman and Board.
My name is David Mastrovich.
I'm a resident of the Midway District
and I am a member of the School Board.
I'm here this evening to ask you to place
the proposed 1% local sales tax
for school capital projects on the November ballot.
But earlier this year, the Virginia General Assembly gave counties a new tool, allowing
local voters, not Richmond, to decide whether to approve a dedicated 1 percent sales tax
for school capital projects.
I believe the citizens of Green County deserve the opportunity to decide whether this is
the right path for our community.
By placing this question on the ballot, you are not approving a tax, you're given
the people of Green County the right to vote on it. State law is very clear. Every dollar raised
must stay in Green County and may only be used for school capital purposes, including construction,
major renovations, land acquisition, repayment of school construction debt. It cannot be used for
salaries, administrative costs, or other operations. What I appreciate about this proposal
was not simply how the money is spent. It's who makes the decision. This decision belongs,
doesn't belong to Richmond. It doesn't belong to the school board. It doesn't belong to the
board of supervisors. It belongs to the Green County. Its referendum passes, it's because
the citizens choose it. If it fails, it's because the citizen chooses that. That is local
government working exactly as it should. The funding option is particularly well suited for
Green County because of our location. Unlike a property tax, this sales tax paid by anyone
making taxable purchases within Green County, not just our residents. It also excludes groceries
and central personal hygiene products. Another important feature is, unlike a property tax
increase, this proposal includes a sunset provision ensuring voters that this funding
sources not intended to continue indefinitely. Over the years, I've learned one of the best
ways to strengthen your financial position is to invest using other people's money.
I think everybody understands that.
In this case, Green County has the opportunity to invest
its schools with the help of visitors traveling through our community. Estimates suggest that
roughly one quarter of the revenue generated by this tax would come from non-residents.
Overall, the tax could generate approximately $1.3 million each year for school capital projects
while reducing future pressure on local property.
Reasonable people can disagree. Ask why any tax at all is the right answer. It's a fair question.
But perhaps the better question is this. If we choose not to use the tool, what's the
alternative? Do we continue asking the Green County homeowners, the farmers, the businesses
to shoulder the entire burden through property taxes? Do we postpone needed improvements
and leave future generations with even larger repair bills? Rule communities are not presented
by or not preserved by accident. They're preserved when each generation chooses to
invest in the things that make them worth preserving. Few investments are more important
than our schools. Strong schools encourage young families to put down routes. They help protect
values, attract employers, prepare the next generation of farmers, teachers, business owners,
first responders, military members, volunteers, and civic leaders like yourself who will shape
Green County long after we are gone. So my request is simple. Please allow the voters
Ring County to decide this question for themselves by placing the 1% local sales tax referendum
on the whoever ballot.
Thank you for your time.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you.
Anyone else from the school board like to speak to us?
I'm okay.
You okay?
I see you down there.
Thank you.
Thank you for allowing us to speak.
It's no problem.
No problem at all.
Well, it's difficult because it just rolled out
and the timing is interesting.
But yeah, we're used to interesting timing
when it comes to the general assembly.
What's the board's feelings on it?
I think it's another one of them, kind of a no win situation
to them as much as we try to do to keep taxpayers from paying.
This kind of puts it in their hands in general, begin with.
Where it belongs, right?
It's it's the taxpayers vote at that point, you know
we do our best in the budget time to
keep everybody from paying taxes and
And it kind of takes a burden off of us in the general
So I don't have any
Problem whatsoever putting it on it. Oh
Great. I think we should
Yeah, put it on the rough. I'm like Susan's
Mr. Hartung, you're the school board liaison. What's your pleasure?
I agree with the rest of the board and the comments from the school board.
I think that I just want to thank them for putting together those thoughts and bringing it in front of us.
And yeah, so I'm in agreement with the rest of the board.
Okay.
I like it for construction, not administrative favor there.
The only question I have, I have absolutely no problem with the referendum because that's the most pure way of figuring out if you're on the right track.
But my only question is, are we short changing the potential success of that item because of the time crunch to do it now instead?
I understand we can wait. I'm saying that I want to wait.
I just think that if we spend the money to put it on the ballot, like, who's going to do the education?
you know what I'm saying? Do you feel like, because you guys are the experts in that field, right?
Do you guys feel like that that's enough time to get your point across to make it successful?
We don't know what it will be, but I mean, there's certainly needs an amount of public education.
Many people don't know that it even is an option at this point.
I would say we're certainly willing to try.
You know, I don't think I think we can put it on the November ballot in 26 or we could push it to 27 or some localities are even doing a special election.
You know, I don't know that there's any guarantee any which way, but I think we feel strongly based on what we know is coming.
Our population is growing. We're going to need a school and we don't want to put that burden on the taxpayers.
So, that's only, you know, as it currently stands.
So, our board is willing to give it a good shot.
So you feel like it's a useful timeline?
Well, maybe it's worth it.
That's all I need to hear.
Oh.
First of you.
Good enough for me.
So if it fails this year, can you come back and put it on next year?
Yes.
Is that standing up?
Yes.
Yes, I wanted to make sure, okay?
Okay, sorry, what's the board's pleasure?
I like your idea because with construction
and also you can pay off some debt too with it later
and build it and then each year or whatever.
I mean, just another small percentage
in the way that housing is going right now.
I mean, a penny's gonna be worth it.
We even know in percent it's gonna be a lot of money.
so I'm okay with it. Okay. So it sounds like I'm looking for a motion.
I'll take a motion. I'll take a stab at it. Yes, ma'am. I'll take a motion that we honor
the request from the school board for the Board of Supervisors to petition the circuit court
for a referendum on the November ballot for a 1% local sales tax dedicated exclusively to
public school construction and capital equipment projects improvement projects
usually do I have a second second okay discussion on the motion miss kiln so
you all are gonna have to do a resolution our next meeting you all mean
this gives us direction but the timeline is that you all would do a
resolution at your next meeting and then the certain court judge has to
sign it by August 14 right to get it on about so we we will present you
with a formal resolution. It sounds like, I mean, depending on what happens, so you will see a formal
resolution. Okay, we can probably just put that on the consent agenda then at the next meeting
since we've already voted or we want to vote against it. It doesn't matter, we'll deal with that next
meeting. All right, we have a motion and a second. Any further discussion?
Hearing none, roll call
Mr. Gulsby. Hi. Mr. Harton. Hi. Mr. Nam. Uh-huh. And the chair votes aye. Thank you all very much.
Thank you. Thank you. Got one more. Exactly. To get that resolution done. Yeah, that's pretty, it's cutting it close.
Okay. Board liaison reports. Who'd like to give first? I have none.
The last planning commission, they had a thing that's going to probably pop up to the board
that probably by the middle of next month, I suspect, and the Thomas Jefferson Planning
Commission, they had theirs last month, and actually they didn't have them this past
month of July.
So I didn't have one.
You didn't have to go to town.
Nope.
Okay.
That's all I had.
others?
County Minister to update. I don't have anything for this particular
meeting. Okay. Other items from the board?
Yes. I have one question. Yes, ma'am. I have been asked by numerous members of the community of how much the lawsuit that Dr. McGuigan filed against the board cost, and I wonder if by our next meeting if we can have those figures. Yes. So that can be put out there.
Would you also like the total figure on the litigation that has not been successful that we've had to defend ourselves with? That would be wonderful. Okay. I think the citizens have a right to know that.
Yep.
We could break it down so that you can see each, yes.
My case.
That would be great.
Thank you.
That is no problem.
Anything else?
Yes, sir.
I have points from people that live on more road, especially, I mean, I don't blame them,
but the people that live in the apartments, they're starting to walk every evening and
and in the mornings and during the day,
the shadows of the trees,
they'd up, they wear dark clothing
and you can't see them.
And I get the people calling me all the time saying that,
hey, there's too dangerous, somebody's gonna get killed
walking on 645, more road.
I just thought I'd bring it.
So you wanna forward that to VDOT
or we wanna do that?
I don't know what to say.
I mean, sometimes they right on the edge of the road
because there's nowhere to go, you know, especially during the winter in the wooded area.
I guess maybe we'd send something to Ms. Shepherd just to make them aware of that.
We'll do.
Okay.
Anything else?
Nothing?
Okay.
Number 14, matters in the public.
Before we get started, I would like to go over the rules of the evening or every
evening when it comes to matters in the public.
But first, matters in the public is intended to be a vehicle for the Board's constituency
to speak on all matters of concern they might have regarding the Board's governance.
These are rules we expect compliance with to make this a fair and proactive and positive
part of our meeting.
You have exactly three minutes to speak.
Please speak directly to the Board.
Please be respectful to your fellow citizens, the Board, and staff as you express your
concern.
Disrespect of any kind is not tolerated.
Personal attacks or debates between speakers and members of the general public will not be tolerated.
Accusations and profanity will not be tolerated.
And obviously threats will not be tolerated.
Failure to follow these guidelines will result in you losing your privilege to speak tonight.
So I wanted to start by putting the rules of the road down.
And Ms. Kemp, if you could get me the sign-up sheet, we shall get started.
Thank you.
First, we have Cynthia Ward.
Good evening.
Thank you.
I'm a Green County resident, a U.S. citizen and above all a Christian.
The Bible teaches us when a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them.
The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native born.
Love them as yourself as you were once foreigners too.
This is a sentiment that is repeated over and over again in the Bible.
We are to love, care for, protect and seek justice for the immigrant, the foreigner,
the stranger among us. The Green County Sheriff's Office decision to target our
neighbors who appear Hispanic or Latino stands in direct opposition to that
biblical command to love our neighbors. The Sheriff's Office did not target
criminals, rapists, or felons. They did not target individuals suspected of
overstaying their visas. They targeted individuals with brown skin on their
way to work. They targeted our neighbors, customers supporting our local
businesses and valued members of our community. Without cause and without due process, these
individuals were detained and taken to ICE detention centers where they faced harsh living
conditions, overcrowding, inadequate nutrition, lack of healthcare, and are denied life-saving
medications. These men have lost income, time with their family, and have had their
freedom needlessly stripped from them. This is not how we love our neighbor. I stand
and solidarity with their immigrant neighbors and request this board stand with them as well.
I request the Board of Supervisors audit the Green County Sheriff's budget to disclose
how much they were paid to target Hispanic and Latino residents and visitors
and to find out how they are using these funds. Thank you for your consideration.
Thank you, ma'am.
Arianna Mostada.
Welcome.
Thank you. Good evening.
My name is Ariana Mosqueda.
I live in the Rutgersville district and I grew up in Green County.
I went to school here my whole life and after all of these years of living here I can say
that I do not feel safe and I'm not alone in that feeling because what has been described
as an effort towards safety by the Sheriff's Office is the complete opposite.
it. Their collaboration with ICE has only instilled fear and cause division. I am here,
like many of us, to speak out against the Green County Sheriff Office's collaboration
with Immigration Customs Enforcement through the 287G agreement. I understand that you,
as the Board of Supervisors, maintain budgetary and financial influence over our county.
So, I demand on behalf of my immigrant neighbors and my community that you do everything in
your power to help protect the immigrant families of Green County.
We are here and we matter.
Our humanity and right to a dignified life is indisputable.
We ask for your empathy and consideration in your financial decision making.
We ask that you redirect funds towards initiatives that allow all people who reside in Green County to thrive rather than towards agreements like the 287G agreement that instill fear and intimidation in people of color.
We will continue to speak up until our demands are met and until the 287G agreement is terminated.
I hope that you, as people in power, reflect on your unique ability to listen to us, the
people you serve, and make a positive change that demonstrates your commitment to the welfare
and success of Green County, which should always include our immigrant community members.
We must remember a community built on trust is a community that thrives.
Thank you.
Mary
Lee Hawkins.
Welcome ma'am. Thank you and thank you for the opportunity to address the
board this evening. My name is Mary Lee Hawkins and I've lived in Green County,
Standardsville Precinct for almost four years. I have never felt so welcomed any place I have
lived. Green is a beautiful county with wide open spaces and the people of Green County are
warm and accepting of newbies. But I'm white. I know my constitutional rights and don't worry
about them being challenged. I want to speak for others, in many cases, folks who have lived
here far longer than I. The constitutional rights I take for granted, such as the rights
remain silent, the right not to be searched without a judicial warrant, and the right
not to be detained without a valid, articulable reason, suspicion of a crime or probable
global cause of a traffic violation applied to everyone, regardless of document status.
I also support law enforcement. I believe we need police officers and sheriff's deputies.
Crimes do happen. Domestic abuse and vehicle accidents happen. And we need the deputies
to staff the forts and the jail, to serve legal documents and transport prisoners. What
What we don't need is for deputies to be terrorizing law-abiding residents or making contractors
not accept jobs here for fear of endangering their crews, or giving outsiders like my friends
who live in Maine who have seen reports of Greene County on national news the impression
that this is a scary place they would never want to visit.
We want the sheriff to do his job, but immigration enforcement has never been in his job description.
It has always been the work of federal agencies.
U.S. immigration and customs enforcement had, prior to 2025, a workforce of 5,000.
There are now 22,000 agents, and with 287 agreements, they have brought in local law enforcement
and literally begun a reign of terror over immigrants.
Immigration isn't administrative
rather than a criminal matter,
but the pathway to American citizenship
for the vast majority is long, complex,
and financially draining.
Visa backlogs can exceed 20 years.
Immigration reform is still possible
despite today's gridlock.
It begins with a recognition of immigrant contributions
and it begins with local governments promoting civil rights and due process for all citizens
within their jurisdiction. As leaders of our county government, I ask you to focus on the
human cost of family separations, especially for long-term residents with deep roots, U.S.
citizen children, and strong community ties. Thank you.
Thank you now.
That was perfect speed right on time. Right on time
Abbey normal
Well, it's not normal. Um, no, no RMA L is not. Sorry. Sorry. Yeah, it's just my name for my name. I'm sorry. Oh, I'm sorry
It's your fault. I
Usually but your names which is odd with my last name. How did I but your other people's names? But that's really bad
I'm really sorry
No, please don't apologize. It's okay.
Okay. Well, welcome tonight. Thank you.
So much. I appreciate the opportunity to be here. Thank you so much.
My name is Abby. I'm a special needs teacher here in Green County.
I've been in the Green County school system for eight years.
I moved here from Seattle, which is a very different vibe.
I was worried about being accepted. Most of green is born and raised and I'm an outsider.
My first year teaching, my 21-month-old suffered a traumatic event that left her with two broken legs and a weak hospital stay.
Not only did we receive a porch full of groceries, but my oldest was cared for by the community while we were in the hospital.
Green is family to us now.
What's happening now with the Sheriff's Department of ICE is not Green County.
We don't put our people in sheds during a record heat wave.
Most of us are gun owners, but we don't wear masks and terrorize people with them.
The justification is immigrants are stealing benefits.
Do you think they uprooted their whole family for $174 in SNAP benefits?
They're not even eligible without a social security number.
In fact, since these mass deportations, I can't afford health insurance for my kids.
There's no benefits for anybody now.
The justification is immigrants are making us poor.
I know my grocery bill has not gotten any lower since ICE killed Sebastian Guerrero
in front of his three-year-old daughter.
The justification is they're taking our jobs, talk to farming communities, talk to people
in healthcare, and education.
It is now harder to find staff.
No one was offered their dream job after ICE killed Lorenzo Solgado for help.
The justification is immigrants make us unsafe.
Mass men and women with guns are patrolling our community and putting people in shits.
Do you feel any safer?
I teach my students about correlation and recognizing the relationship between variables.
I see no correlation between increased ICE presence and our life's getting better.
It's even affected my teaching.
Instead of asking me what correlation means, my students are asking what to do if they
get home and their parents are gone.
I am asking Green County to stop working with ICE, stop intimidating people and
breaking up families. Our flag says death to tyrants. This is tyrannical. And it needs
to end. Thank you so much.
Bethany.
I think it's Cox, but it might not be an X. Hi.
Hope. Like, hope.
Well, that would be, in my handwriting, that would be Cox. So, well, welcome. Thank
you for coming.
Thank you. Good evening, Mr. Chairman and members of the board. My name is Reverend
Bethany Koch and I am the pastor of a church in Charlottesville, though I am not a Green County
resident and our church isn't located in Green County. Faith communities do not follow county lines.
My church has a number of congregants who are Green County residents who don't feel safe speaking
publicly about recent ICE activity here, particularly the joint operations in Rep. Brazil
between the Green County Sheriff's Office and ICE agents in late June. My congregants have
expressed grief and horror over this immigration enforcement in their community. We are part
of the Christian tradition, which emphasizes loving our neighbors and welcoming in the stranger.
But welcoming immigrants and protecting our neighbors who are living peacefully isn't
just a religious value. Practically, our communities are strengthened by the presence
of our immigrant neighbors. They're part of our families, of our economy, of our churches,
So I echo my congregants and my friends in Green County and asking the Board of Supervisors for greater oversight of the Sheriff's Office, particularly on vegetarian matters, and ultimately in asking that the Sheriff's Office stop partnering with ICE.
Our neighbors should not have to fear some.
And the governor is simply driving down the road. Families should not fear being separated and people in this community should not feel afraid to speak publicly about this.
Our immigrant neighbors are a part of this community in green and in the surrounding counties. And this community is stronger with all of us together. Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Doug, all of it. Doug, all of it.
Yeah.
Welcome, sir.
Good evening. I'm Doug Alamance. I'm a candidate for U.S. Congress in the
7th District, which, as you know, all of Green County is apart.
I'm here to speak tonight in support of Sheriff Smith. It is an injustice that the prior
administration put us in a position where these types of programs are
lamentably necessary. But when 10,000 or more, we don't really know.
No one really knows how many immigrants came across the border during the last
administration. When we have 10 million or more that have moved illegally across our
borders, breaking down trust, not being part of our society, not having social
security numbers, not having car insurance, not being able to be part of a
high-trust society, it puts our law enforcement in a dangerous position. I
support Sheriff Smith. I support ICE. It is a federal law enforcement
enforcement agency that is part of the rule of law. We are a nation of laws. We live by
the rule of law. Local law enforcement should cooperate routinely with federal law enforcement.
Thank you very much for your time. And again, I want to give my support to Sheriff Smith
and his entire staff.
Thank you.
Thank you, sir.
Buddy Bauer.
I saw him.
There he is.
Thank you.
Welcome, Mr. Bauer.
Thank you.
Firstly, thank you to all of you for enduring this.
I know you have county business to deal with and all of these outsiders with some green county residents,
but all of these outsiders coming in here just to cause a ruckus when they can't even get their own communities in order.
I'd like to know what country in the world doesn't have immigration law?
What country in the world doesn't have immigration law?
What country can you go to, jump their border,
disrespect their sovereignty and say, forget your culture, forget your ways, we now own this.
Now if people want to acknowledge that they're invading intentionally at the behest of foreign
interests, then say that. Say that so we can deal with it accordingly. If you're okay with invading
our country and disrespecting our sovereignty, then just say that so we can deal with it.
But illegal immigrants cost this country $130 billion a year.
They pay roughly $90 billion in taxes.
They are a net drain on our economic society.
To say that they do not, they are not able to draw on social services, on welfare, on
WIC is a complete lie. You can lie to yourselves all you want, but it's a lie. We're not fooled.
We're not being fooled. I know people who work in those industries. I talk to them from DC area,
go to basketball tournaments up in that area. I know people who work there and say that they
have to give these social services Medicaid with no questions asked in these big cities.
They are absolutely draining on those systems.
The fact that we believe or it is believed
that we are living on stolen land denies the reality that the entire world was
shaped by sometimes war, sometimes settling, migration. The entire world was
shaped as such. So I'm not naive to believe that America was founded by
anything original, but it was founded to be original. It was founded to be
sovereign. It was founded for freedom, and we are seeing our culture eroded. We are seeing
people come in with no respect for our sovereign borders, no respect for our ways of life,
no respect for our constitution, and trying to fundamentally change our country from within.
Fundamental change, as Barack Obama put it. The same man who gave an award to Tom
Holman, the same Tom Holman who is now being villainized for doing his job,
Barack Obama gave that man an award in 2015 for his work in deporting 990,000 illegal immigrants.
When are we going to see consistency? When are we going to see consistency?
Thank you, Mr. Barr.
Thank you.
Rabbi Ezra Leventhal. Rabbi Ezra Leventhal.
Welcome.
Thank you so much.
Thank you, members of the board.
Yes.
My name is Rabbi Ezra Leventhal.
I serve as a rabbi at congregation Beth Israel in Charlottesville now
I don't know if you've looked around recently, but there's not all too many synagogues in this area
So my community members span Albemarle Green Fluvana and Louisa County's alike
Immigration is an issue that is very close to the heart of my community and in honor of that
I'd like to tell you about the story of an undocumented person
He was a husband and a father
His family faced persecution and poverty in their home country and he dreamed of a better life for them in the United States
With few resources and few options available, he did what he could to protect his family.
He got a job as a mess boy on a merchant ship, jumped ship in the United States,
and worked hard until he could afford to send for his family to emigrate with papers.
That man was my great-grandfather, Maurice Levinthal.
I am alive today because he managed to get his family, my family, out of Lithuania.
I am alive today because he was brave enough to fight for his family.
I am alive today because this country is promised to be a haven for the poor, tired, huddled
Mathes' yearning to breathe free.
The sheriff says that he wants to put citizens first.
The sheriff argues that everything he is doing is in accordance with the law.
As a citizen, I will never feel safer in a country where honest, hardworking people
can be taken from their families without due process.
As a citizen, I want my government to treat people with dignity, kindness, and compassion.
Six million of my people died in the name of returning an unstable nation to an imagined,
glorious past. Everything that was done to the Jewish people in the Holocaust was sanctioned
by the law. They were legally deported, detained, and murdered. In the name of putting real
citizens first. It did not make Germans any happier or any safer. And you can ask anyone
in the nation of Germany today, they look back on that period of time with shame and
regret. There is still time for us to learn this lesson. There is still time for us to
love our neighbors. There is still time for us to save our country. I urge for you
to use your power as the Board of Supervisors to refuse federal funding from ICE and
decrease the sheriff's budget if he continues to intimidate our immigrant
population and community and cooperate with ICE. Thank you for your time.
Thank you.
Wayne Smith. Wayne Smith. Wayne Smith.
All right it says Smith comma Wayne.
I'm just thinking it's Wayne Smith so Wayne
Smith or Smith Wayne.
He signed up. He wasn't sure if he was going to speak or not.
Is he here?
I think he's here.
Okay.
Maybe he's with them.
Okay. Well, I'll just mark it out and make a note of it.
Steve, he comes back.
Anna Malo,
welcome.
Thank you for having me.
My name is Anna.
And I wanted to share with you.
I was really nervous about coming here and so I didn't know what to talk about.
I wanted to share with you my experience going to Gena, Louisiana.
I'm a part of the proud union member SEIU Workers United.
And last year we visited a facility in Louisiana which held thousands of detainees.
This facility also held a member of my union, my sister.
While inside she spoke of the horrors she witnessed, pregnant women delivering babies with no medical
care, many of them miscarrying, standing in pools of blood, wailing at their loss.
No food or rotted food, mere worms, bed bugs.
We were standing outside and I had maybe the most visceral experience of my life.
We were chanting, we love you, we see you, we support you.
and people were banging their hands on the windows screaming help us and holding
up signs that said free us. This wasn't a prison, it was a concentration camp and
that's where your neighbors are being taken. I want to dispel some myths
that some people here today are outside agitators as a person who lives
in Charlottesville. It took me 30 minutes to get here, and for a decade, I lived about
15 minutes from here. Whether you want to believe it or not, or whether you even like
me, I am your neighbor. I was born in this country, but my great-grandparents came to
escape poverty. I am from a family of immigrants, and that heritage is the most American thing
about me. All Americans are our neighbors. The fact that there are people here who are
willing to drive up and stand with the intimidation that we face today means that something is
really wrong. I want the people of Green County to know we have your back. And in
my last 50 seconds I want to say something. Sitting in the bus at the front in the south
for a black person was illegal.
It was illegal to sit at the lunch counters.
People did it anyway because the law was not correct.
There are a lot of laws in this country right now
that are not correct.
You don't have to think about the constitution or this
or that, I want you to think about what's right.
Because sometimes what's right is the most important thing.
I don't believe in what's happening here
with the racist policing, and I don't think that you have to support it with your budget.
I think that you can be good stewards of your county's money, and I think you can be even
better neighbors by letting people know you don't stand for this.
Thank you.
You're not.
It's a lot of things that you do behind the scenes
that you don't get credit for,
but you certainly deserve our recognition and our thanks.
So thank you for myself and for others.
My request this evening is not certainly as emotional
as some of the others you've heard.
Mine's a little bit simpler request.
Mine has to do with hazardous waste.
This county does not have any means for its citizens
to dispose of hazardous waste.
I've been in talks with E-mail with Mike Taylor for the last two years trying to figure out
what was going to go on.
There was a tip I was told made last year to try to do a day where people could turn
in waste.
It turned out to be too expensive.
The surrounding communities no longer accept our waste even if you go in there and want
to pay them your hard greenbacks, they will not accept it.
And so you put us at risk, you put the county at risk.
I'm asking you to do something about enabling the recycle center to start a program, at
least some kind of annual program, to give the citizens the means to get rid of hazardous
waste.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Melanie Johnson.
Welcome.
Thank you.
Chairman, members of the board, my name is Melanie Johnson and I live in the Rutgersville
District.
Last month, I shared the story of my neighbor who was detained by ICE after a racially motivated traffic stop conducted by the Green County Sheriff's Office.
After nearly three weeks in deplorable conditions in Farmville, his family was able to hire an immigration lawyer and get him released.
Clearly, he is not a criminal if he is released today.
Six weeks and $25,000 later, his future is still uncertain.
This business owner, father of two, and Green County resident of nearly 20 years has no criminal warrant.
He's never even had a speeding ticket. After three weeks in detention, he took one day off before returning to work.
That's how strong he is.
Across this country, ICE has escalated violence.
In the last two weeks alone, they've killed two people, both fathers, neither with criminal
warrants.
And in Virginia, there are videos of ICE agents mercilessly beating an unarmed man just last
week.
These are the same federal agents you have allowed into Greene County, working alongside
our deputies, whose salaries are funded by our tax fellers.
And when ice comes in,
Commits violence. During a joint operation, Green County faces both moral and legal exposure
under Virginia law. The community impact is undeniable. 9 percent of Green County residents
are Hispanic. I know several who have already chosen to leave because they no longer feel
safe driving to work, taking their kids to school, reporting actual crimes, or even
grocery shopping. Local restaurants and markets are struggling as workers and customers
are afraid to go out. Development projects are at risk when contractors,
laborers, and business owners do not feel comfortable working or living in a
county where 62 people can be stopped in one day based on race. This is not a
just a humanitarian crisis. It's an economic crisis, a workforce crisis,
and a public safety crisis. This new tax proposal going on the ballot to fund
our schools, requires tourism. It requires people to want to come to Green County. And
my goodness, what a beautiful county do we have. Absolutely breathtaking. We have the
prettiest Walmart in the entire U.S. I'm convinced. My breath has taken away every time I drive
up to Walmart and see the mountains in the background. I want visitors to Green County.
I want strong schools. I want people to feel safe and happy about coming here, not
scared and fearful. My expectations are simple. As others have said, we want a full audit of the
money that has come in and how it's been spent. I want the budget reduced. I want the sheriff's
budget reduced by the amount that he has doubled out. Thank you, Ms. Johnson. Please focus on local
matters. That's our job.
Stephen Bitt.
That's good. I'm sorry. Welcome, sir.
Honorable Chairman, members of the board, usually I'm here to yell at y'all, but today's
a little different occasion, so you get a little reprieve today.
If I may, I just want to address the board, but more importantly, I'm going to address
my fellow citizens back here. First off, the comments that I've heard, I understand
a flight considering that even my religious beliefs, I can't then dismiss what I've
heard. However, considering that I have walked a core center in my life and lands that
tyranny, the Elvin Welling was around. I can assure you that the rule of law is
paramount in preventing tyranny. To my citizens, let me advise you right now
that as a contractor working in certain areas, I'm going to give you a little
insight how they're targeted. They're not targeted by our sheriff.
Can you address the board only?
I'll find out. I'll address you then, sir.
Yes, sir. Thank you.
They're not targeted by our sheriff. They're targeted because we walk around
with most sophisticated surveillance device known to man, and voluntarily we walk with
this.
We have automatic license plate readers that are read by third party companies that actually
do this.
Working in the Department of Justice myself, that data is what feeds into the database
to track them.
When a sheriff receives funding, he does receive from ICE.
He also gets it from Secret Service.
He also gets it from DEA and many other federal agencies that are trying to offset
their task force, Gray and Joyce task force, and that's where that funding goes.
Use the board must reward it to the sheriff or you must return to the federal government be advised
That's the only rule law of that when this council here was to object. Don't think so, right man
Anyway, I'm going to point out this that our argument lies at the feet of Vin men and our senators came and
Warner because it is a federal matter. It is not this arena
I'm saying this and loving to all of y'all to be empowered because this is what makes our country great
We need a constitution amendment or we need other laws to put in place to address this.
And as some of you who had a soldiers of mine who became U.S. citizens in Baghdad,
Iraq, Bagram, Afghanistan, and Kandahar, I can assure you that the American dream is alive
and well and is being bought today by those who are not even citizens but earning it.
And this 4th of July, we had a Marine become a citizen as an example.
There are pathways. I suggest empowering those groups that turn around to help these people achieve citizenship.
But at the same time, please note, by Virginia Constitution, that is our Chief Constitution Enforcement Officer,
the Constitution has no address against this. Let me advise you, if a bill of amendments applies to everyone,
then why can't an undocumented citizen or an undocumented person go by a firearm and execute their second amendment?
it. Be a worry that the Constitution is still not defined, and that's how it's set. Our
argument goes to those who represent us on the federal level, not those who are down
here enforcing law that have been placed upon them, and he is powerless because he has no
constitutional means to intervene. But God bless every one of you, and thank you for
giving me my time.
Thank you, Mr. Vitz.
Mary Reich, Mary Reich,
Mary Reich, oh, sorry.
Or Reich, Mary.
Thank you.
On the Green County website, Sheriff Smith is featured as having a certification in racial profiling awareness.
This gives the mistaken notion that this office takes the prevention of bias-based law conduct very seriously.
Instead, the opposite, aiding and abetting ICE.
The dragnet that the sheriff and ICE have created together is significant, terrorizing the Green County community and our friends and neighbors with brown skin.
This flood of pretextual traffic stops blatantly ignores the Fourth Amendment, which is unreasonable
search and seizures, and the Fourteenth Amendment equal protection under the law.
The enormity of this local injustice is hard to put into words.
Countless families are utterly crushed and terrified.
untold numbers are afraid to step outside of their homes to send their
children outside to play to go to school. I have read that this board has
expanded the ability to coordinate with ICE with the recent budget approval
and acceptance of federal ICE money. I ask you to examine your motives and
your heart? Is this what you believe makes grain a better place to live and be?
Whether or not you are a person of faith, do you feel any unease with the
alignment of the sheriff, local law and coordination with ICE, an organization
that murders and violates human's rights.
I request that this Board to not fund
ICE. Choose to make Green County a place that is safe for all. Shuns on ethical
racial profiling. Let Green recreate its reputation. One that is known for
loving neighbors, human kindness, with liberty and justice for all.
And as
Anthony D. Raphael.
Anthony D. Raphael. Welcome.
Thank you. How are you all doing?
Doing well, sir. How are you?
All right. My name is Anthony D. Raffielli. I'm a resident of Green County, Virginia.
First, I'd like to recall some of the words of our founders.
We hold these truths to be self-evident that all people are created equal, that they are
endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights among these, life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness.
These words form the basic tenets of our republic and the foundation upon which our constitution
has been rid.
Recent events have made it clear that our sheriff does not believe in this nation's
founding principles.
Sheriff Smith has worked with the force of tyrannical federal thugs to deprive residents
of our state their constitutional rights guaranteed by the Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments.
He has assisted in destroying the lives of 49 individuals in this county, and he has
done so for what?
Pickup truck?
Tactical year.
How does that benefit any of us in this county?
Now, let me remind you that our Constitution is not reserved exclusively for citizens but
for all people who reside within our borders.
In conclusion, I say that as an American, it is my duty to stand up and speak out when
our government abuses its power to deprive us of our liberties and hereby I call for
the removal or the resignation of Sheriff Stephen Smith.
Thank you.
David Mastavich. David Mastavich. David Mastavich. You good?
We're breathing again.
Okay. Thank you.
All right. Stephanie Hammer.
Hammer or Hamner?
Hammer. Hammer. Okay.
I've gotten into the bad handwriting again. It was going well.
Goody.
Just kidding with you.
I am Stephanie Hammer.
I'm a former middle school teacher here in Green County.
And I think it's important that we acknowledge and understand who we are talking about.
The only original people that belong to the land we call the United States are the American
Indians.
The rest of us come from immigrant families that took a risk to start a new life in
a new world.
We are a nation formed by the immigration of people.
The country we call home, filled with 2.5 million immigrants living in the new world,
declared independence to form a more perfect union.
We should remember the contributions of our immigrant ancestors that made to the development of our country.
Those early immigrants created a country based on a system of government where the power is vested in the people.
We still believe in that.
From the Declaration of Independence to the Vietnam War,
there were 7,300,000 immigrant soldiers
that fought for the United States of America.
They fought for a better future.
They believed in the idea of forming a more perfect union.
They believed in the United States.
In the modern world, we remember those soldiers' sacrifices and call them family.
I am the proud grandchild of immigrants.
They traveled across the ocean with uncertainty and hope.
They lived simply, worked hard, and their generation built America.
I grew to know modern immigrant families as a teacher.
Just like every American parent, they want the best for their children.
They want them to live in a safe, stable environment.
They have high expectations for their children.
They are grateful for what our schools do for their children.
And just like the rest of us celebrate our ancestors' heritage,
they take pride in their heritage too.
And who are their children?
they're good kids. They strive to fit into their new community and have high
ambitions. They behave themselves and talk to their teachers respectfully. They
bring new perspectives into the classroom while working overtime to be a good
American kid. Our American-born children's lives are enriched because
of the diverse perspectives and cultural backgrounds that immigrant
community brings to the classroom.
They are the kind of people we want living in our community.
What does a child think when we teach them about welcoming a
stranger to our country and they see the adults in their world
doing the opposite?
Thank you, Ms. Hammer.
I just have the name Elliott.
Elliott,
welcome.
Thank you.
I've been a resident of Green County in Rockardsville for over 20 years.
I've worked for over 38 years in social services and I can assure you that the tens of thousands
of people that I worked with, not a single one was an undocumented immigrant.
If there was someone who was part of a family who was undocumented, they were not included
on the food stamps, the Medicaid, or the aid to families with dependent children.
In one case, there was a father who was included on the grant with his children born in the
States, but his wife who came here as a four-year-old child but was brought here undocumented
was not allowed to be included on those benefits. So I found that claims that people are stealing
billions of dollars in benefits to just not be the case. And I thank you very much for the
opportunity to speak. Thank you very much.
Jerry Schiller. Jerry Schiller.
Welcome, sir.
I'm Jerry Schiller. I've been a green fed resident from the city of
And I have raised my children here, sent to the schools. I'm as much green county as anybody I think.
I'm a working man. I had a tree service many years, get my truck, go off to work, and by grace of God I came home again.
This is what bothers me. These people that we took were working men like me.
They got in their trucks in the morning, and they went off to work and were snatched off the streets of Green County and disappeared.
no due process, no acknowledgement of who we took, why. This is just not who we are. And
I don't know, I started apparently with you guys passing a resolution to cooperate. You
took the money, I think it was a couple hundred thousand dollars about what a fire truck costs.
And that started the ball rolling in this regard, as I recall. And then of course
of Smith went there from there, but the idea that a working man, minding his own business,
trying to go to work, can be snatched off the streets just does not sit well.
I believe it was a result of that guy up in D.C. that can't finish his sentence trying
to make political hay by dividing us, poor people against poor people.
Well, this is a dwege issue that if we can get some of us
to turn against the others, we're all easier to control.
And that, I believe, is the problem.
But it's not right.
It's not moral.
It doesn't make sense.
Now, I don't believe you all are bad people.
I believe that each one of you people
had maybe had, maybe the money was easy.
Maybe you bought into the rhetoric, what it is.
But I expect that you'll do better.
We ran the experiment.
We can't go back, we can't turn back.
but we can at least learn from our mistakes and do better now.
We can pass a new resolution.
We can't really get money back, maybe, but we can find out who the people were, what
happened to them.
I expect a resolution to find out who they took off our streets and where they've been
held and why they've been held.
And if possible, then these women and children who are hungry, these guys are gone.
They can't work.
Maybe we can help them.
It's a moral issue and it's a logical issue.
So these, the people that you didn't take are still trimmer trees, they're changing
tires, they're stacking lumber.
This is a thing that we need, this is a thing that's right, and I expect that y'all
will do anything.
Thank you.
Kelly Greer.
What's about the, oh, then recognizing in this form,
Mark Hermsky, is it closed?
Yeah, I'm working on it. Thank you. Welcome family. Oh, thank you for chair. Thank the board for giving you an opportunity to speak here.
I'm just, I don't know. I've been here for 15 years in Green County and I've never seen anything like this. I'm kind of stunned that we have a collaboration with a federal basically federal police force.
And the federal police force seems kind of unaccountable to the citizens of this county.
They're sweeping up people in dragnets, multiple people at a time, and taking them God knows
where, do we know where.
I wish the board would find out where these folks are, why they're being held, and get
it so that their families can be in touch with them.
I don't know.
I think it's a bad precedent to be so involved with the federal government.
My dad was, my dad was a Rock River Republican, we had some political differences, we both agree
that people should be treated as individuals and not as groups. Right now, I treat people as groups
and taking them to facilities where we don't know what's happening to them. I hear there's
a lot of cruelty there. I'm not certain. I haven't been there, but I just hear this
And it makes me wonder, here, it's all the back here.
And I'm just concerned about the President's setting for the future, the lack of transparency,
and also the involvement of federal agents who seem to be not responsible to the individual
citizens.
This morning I read about the District of Tuning in Harris County, Texas, who wants
to investigate the shooting of this man in Houston last week.
And the feds are just locking them out.
They're not saying you can't investigate this, but they're not even getting any of the information
they had.
And this district attorney said there's in the past with issues of this nature of federal
law that they were able to do a parallel investigation and basically they can't
do a parallel investigation because they're not getting the evidence that the government
has.
And I just kind of worry, we don't want to have a situation like that here with shooting
what's going to happen, you know, what kind of work that they give us.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, sir.
Susan Bernard.
Okay.
Todd Sampson.
Welcome, sir.
Thank you.
Good evening.
Good to see all of you.
I'll try and be brief.
I consider people on both sides of this argument dear life, long friends of mine.
And so this is a tough thing for the community.
And the first thing that I want to say is that I hope that we can maintain mutual respect
for one another as citizens after all the words are said here this evening.
I am here to wear two hats.
I'll speak briefly as the chair of the Green County Republican Committee.
As I offer my support to our sheriff, Steve Smith, we think he is on an admirable
job.
We have been reliant on him for many years now in Green County.
and hope to rely on him for many more.
So I just want to publicly say on behalf of our committee
that we thank you, Sheriff,
and all of your people for your work.
I'll elaborate now on that a little bit more personally.
And I just want to say that I'm hearing a lot
about the discomfort that has felt
with the Sheriff and his staff.
Yet it seems that four or five of them are here tonight
and we all seem reasonably comfortable.
In fact, I bet in our heart of hearts
we are more comfortable that they are here
versus if they were not.
So there is something to be said for the work
that they do for the record that they've had, they have earned the benefit of our trust
over the particular sheriff's tenure here. I think it's important to also note, because
I haven't heard it said this evening, that the sheriff is not selecting who ICE is going
after or why. They come in with their reasons. The sheriff, as I understand, may not even
know what they are in certain cases, but he has to make the decision, am I going
to help a federal agency or not.
So the targeting of the sheriff may be easy because it's convenient and it's here and
he's our neighbor and he has to face us, but these are not his decisions.
And I would much rather have a sheriff that regardless of the law enforcement, the particulars
of the case, a sheriff that is willing to work with state and federal officials to
try and keep things peaceful as possible as opposed to the alternative, which would
be making federal officials come in here from any department for any reason and run
Rothschild with no, with no assistance from our locals. So again, I just want to thank
you. Appreciate the work that you guys are doing. God bless you all. Keep you safe. Thank
you. Thank you, sir.
Ellen Dyer. Ellen Coyer.
Welcome.
Good afternoon. I'm Ellen Coyer and
I live here in Stanninsville and I've lived here more than half of my life.
I'm here to support our sheriff and also to support ICE.
And I think immigrants, I support immigrants and I think if someone has been here 20 years,
he should be a citizen by now.
If he's living here, he should be a citizen.
And I think we should not draw conclusion and assume, I think sometimes their assumptions made about what's happening and how people are treated.
And that's all I have to say.
Thank you, Ms. Goddard.
Sarah, Dorian, Christians.
Sarah, okay.
Welcome.
I'm not seeing you.
Is that you talking?
That's me. Yes. Hello. I've been there, so I wasn't seen anything. Good evening, everybody.
I'm Reverend Seredorian Christians. I am the senior pastor at Westminster Presbyterian Church
in Albemarle County. Therefore, I am also one of your neighbors, and I'm glad to be here tonight.
I wasn't planning on speaking, but the Spirit has put a scripture on my heart. I can tell
by the conversations I'm hearing on the lawn around this room that we have a lot of
in this room. I will say I am both lamenting the sin that is Christian nationalism, the
conflation of genuine Christian freedom with a warped sense of American freedom. I'm also
so encouraged and moved by the number of people in this room tonight and the number of people
who are saying, I love living in Green County and what is happening is not who we are.
The scripture that God is putting on my heart is from 1 John. God is love.
God is love. And those
who live in love live in God. And God lives in them.
Love. It is what God is. It is alone. What
we judge all of scripture and all of life by. And if you are a person of faith rolling your
eyes right now with the ooey gooeyness of this. It doesn't have any place in a room like this.
My friends, you are making a mockery of the faith that you claim to profess. God is love. Love is
the goal. It is the measure. It is the way. Beloved, this coordinated effort to profile people
with dark skin, to detain them without due process, and to burden them with the traumatic
and material consequence of those actions is not to live in love.
Any process, any way that we choose to govern ourselves, any way that we enforce immigration
law that doesn't begin there is not Christian and it is not American and it doesn't reflect
the values of Virginia.
My friends, the guys in masks covering their faces, carting people off, they are never
the good guys ever.
Future generations will not judge us with grace to not recognize the depravity of
this national moment to not recognize that? Well, I'm not sure. I'm not sure. With all
due respect to the people that said this is a federal matter, you do have power. You do
have moral authority. Thank you, Ms. Christians. Appreciate it.
CJ Jordan. CJ Jordan.
Welcome, Mr. Jordan. Thank you, sir. How are you? Well, how
you. I'm blessed and highly favored.
First of all I want to make a comment and that comment is to
respond to the fact that this nation was built by immigrants because my ancestors came on a boat
and chains.
So therefore I would like to say this we the people of the United States in order to
form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility,
provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the
blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain the
establishment of this Constitution for the United States of America. Sure, I've
coming through here for over five years, I spend the night in this town on multiple occasions.
I do my ministry in this county. As a brown person, I've never been targeted.
I've never been profiled. So that I wanted to make clear. The other thing I want to make clear
is the fact that this sheriff is not doing anything illegal because I just read the preamble
of the Constitution. And it says to establish justice. Justice is the 287G program.
And therefore,
as a federal partner, he's entitled to deal with when he raises his hand. He swears by
the Constitution. My uncle was a Lynchburg police officer retired with his original
badge. You don't get to do that.
I can tell you he took that oath personally. I can tell you
the men and women in the sheriff department take this oath personally. But they also spent a great
deal of time knowing their neighbors. But those who think that he just randomly wakes up and
and say, hey, I'm going to round up people.
So, that's not what he is. Look at him. He's a lovable, big Santa Claus who loves the
Lord because he is. But he will also tell you that if a member of his family breaks the law,
he will arrest them and he will also pray for them.
So tonight, I want to make it known
that if you decide you want to take any funding from this sheriff, if the Commonwealth wishes
to take any funding from this sheriff, I'm going to personally write to the U.S. Justice Department
and ask for investigation.
He is doing his job. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Jordan.
Ken Copeland. Ken Copeland. Ken Copeland.
Welcome, sir. Good evening. Ken Copeland,
and Standards Bill District want to reiterate as I have before been discussion about what's
happened and a lot of uncertainty around it. What's missing is transparency.
The board
should in my opinion do what is within their power to request the sheriff to provide the
information that's needed to make it more clear. We know, seeing reported, how
many people were detained in the two days in which action was taken with ICE, but
what we don't know is how many traffic stops were made. For what reason?
What was
perception that the stops were made, I'll say, overwhelmingly based upon the
color of the occupants should share information about that can help
understand how many people were stopped and of what potential ethnicity was a
citation issued, or was an individual detained from that stop, and under what law or what
violation? Whether any occupants were taken into custody and detained, and if so, how
many occupants? For each person taken into custody, detained, following a traffic stop
on those dates. What was the reason for taking them into custody? What was the
reason they were detained? And finally, whether the person has been released and
if not where the person is currently being held. This is information that
allows people to get beyond perceptions and assumptions and get to a better
understanding of what's happening. I've heard talk that people are being stopped because
ICE has asked the sheriff to stop them. I seriously have my doubts that in making a
traffic stop, all of those traffic stops were based upon knowledge of who the occupant
was. But again, without information, we don't know. So I would again ask you to urge the
sheriff to share information that helps the public better understand what's going on and
from there have appropriate conversations. Thank you.
Thank you.
Yant.
Thank you.
Tell me the other part of your name.
It's at Cheveri, Jim.
Let me say this is the first time I've ever attended a public meeting like this.
So indulge me if I'm a little bit nervous about it, but I also want to say how impressed
I am by the democracies are taking place here in Green County and that we have such
a diverse range of views and people listen respectfully.
I've been visiting detainees in the Farmville Detention Center and I've been moved by
that to speak, despite my lack of experience here, and of the people that I've been visiting,
two of them were detained here in Green County in the last month or so. But I want to talk,
in particular, about a single case, the case of Juan Gutierrez Ramirez, who I think is,
at least in my experience, not an atypical case. But what I'd like to highlight is,
I'm not going to advocate for one policy or another.
I just want to highlight the human costs involved in their current immigration policies.
So Juan went to work.
He worked on a – with a roofing company in June 2025.
And after a couple hours of work, agents from ICE swooped down and took all of the members
members of his working crew, 13 members, and detained them.
Juan has a particularly difficult case in that some months after he was detained, they found
out that during his 21 years of living here in Virginia, he was convicted on one DUI charge.
And so it's very likely that he'll be deported.
I don't think that there's any question that he's going to be deported.
And he left behind a pregnant wife and a nine-year-old daughter.
In November, his wife suffered from preeclampsia and was hospitalized.
I was meeting with Juan at the time, and the only thing he wanted to do was to go
and support his wife.
In December, on December 20th, his son was born, Juan Daniel, and once again, the only
thing Juan wanted to do was to go and support his wife and family.
But of course, he was detained at Farmville and wasn't able to do so.
So Juan's family, they used to live in a rented house.
Now they live in a rented, well, then they switch to a rented room,
and now they live in a space with some of their neighbor communities.
They've really been, it's not even fair to say that they are living by hand to mouth.
One now has asked to be sent back to his home, so he can at least send funds from his home.
He asked at the beginning of February, and even today, he remains in Farmville.
Thank you, Mr. J.
Thank you.
Kevin?
Cruise check.
Kevin?
Cruise check?
Or cruise check?
K-R-U-C-Z-E-K.
Kevin?
No?
Okay.
Stephen?
Steve Hollis.
Welcome sir. Chairman, members of the board. Thank you for letting me speak tonight.
My name is Steve Hollis and I live in Rutgersville. I've lived in Rutgersville for over 20 years
and Davis lives with my neighbor for that whole time. How are you doing today, Davis?
Davis, I bet you didn't know I was the son of a legal immigrant.
I was three years old before my mother became a U.S. citizen.
And after high school, I joined the U.S. military, served 20 years and deployed more times than
I have on one hand.
This is my country, and I sworn oath to the Constitution of the United States.
That oath was to protect my country against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
that included in that oath is the obligation to follow the laws of Congress,
and Congress created laws on how to lawfully emigrate to the United States of America.
Sheriff Smith and I had not always seen eye-to-eye as people attest,
but he took a civil oath.
He took a note to the first of the U.S. Constitution and then to the Virginia Constitution.
The U.S. Constitution shrugs any Virginia laws.
And I fully expect Sheriff Smith and his officers to work with federal officials to enforce
federal immigration laws that have been authorized by the United States Congress.
And those who object to Steve Smith and his officers working with federal officials to
enforce federal immigration laws are basically espousing anarchy on congressional immigration
laws. Thank you. Steve, keep up the good work.
Thank you, Mr. Collins.
Okay. I would like to see if Wayne Smith is here still or still
not here. Okay. All right. Fine. Mr. Friedel, can you check on Zoom? And while you're
doing that, I'd like the Vice Chair to go over this list to make sure I got everybody.
Absolutely. So anyone that's joining us via Zoom that wants to address the board on any
matters from the public, please use the raise your hand feature so that we can see your
desire to speak. We'll give you a few moments to find that. You can find it under the
react button. And as soon as we do it, I'll ask you to unmute yourself once I see it.
So the first caller Kevin Kelly can you unmute yourself?
Thank you good evening
Mr. Chairman board of board members administrator Shaffer. I'm Kevin Kelly
resident of Standardsville speaking purely as a citizen. I rise to support
the Sheriff's Department activities with ICE. I think it's important the law
be enforced. My contention is if the law is bad, the law should be changed, not ignored.
And on immigration, my position is that if you come here legally, welcome. God bless
you. I hope you do well.
And that is all I have to say on this. Thank you all. I support
the show.
Thank you, Mr. Haley. Anyone else, Mr. Vredel?
There are no more raised hands. It doesn't appear we have any more remote
speakers. Okay. I will close matters from the public. I want to tell everybody that
I, are you signed up?
What's the board's pleasure? Come on. Thank you. State your
name. Andrew Wilder Young.
Okay. All right. You have three minutes. All right.
Good evening to this honorable Board of Supervisors.
Again, my name is Andrew Wilder Young.
My cousin was a Commonwealth attorney here.
You may remember his name the same as mine.
In my day job, I'm an attorney, but on June 23rd,
I was being held by the sheriff and ICE at gunpoint
for having the nerve to show up and offer legal services
to those that were detained.
I'm here tonight as a patriot who believed in the U.S. Constitution,
due process and limited government.
In this vein, I view Sheriff Smith's racist police tactics
under this agreement to be a sin against God and country.
There is no nobility in breaking up families
and in dehumanizing others because of the color of their skin
to send them off to private prisons.
If there is a judicial warrant signed by a judge,
By all means, serve it.
But using race-based traffic stops as a pretext to deliver people into ICE custody is exactly
the kind of government abuse that the Constitution was written to prevent.
This is foundational to our social contract and is what sets us apart from the rest of
the world.
Sheriff Smith's tactics here violate our American social contract.
The sheriff is a duly elected official, but he is not beyond accountability.
This board controls appropriations and local resources.
This board has a duty to protect taxpayers from civil rights litigation and state AG
investigations, as well as protecting the county from becoming a statewide symbol
of fear and racist terror.
This collaboration threatens the county's reputation and economy, and it makes everybody
less safe when law enforcement cannot be trusted.
Green County should be known as the gateway to Shenandoah National Park and Virginia
Wine Country, not as a place where families, tourists, and people of color are afraid to
drive, work, worship, or visit because the Ku Klux Klan took off their robes and hoods
and went to work for the Green County Sheriff's Office.
I ask you to direct the county attorney to review this program for compliance or lack thereof, and I demand a full accounting of ICE receive money and resources.
I would request further that you prohibit new county resources being used for civil immigration enforcement without a signed judicial warrant and hold the public hearing on this matter with Sheriff Smith.
Rain in this terror, protect the Constitution and protect Green County's future. Thank you.
you.
Okay.
So as I was saying, I am very thankful that everybody came here today and exercised their rights.
I'm very thankful that everybody adhered to the rules of the road, as you say, under our matters from the public.
I appreciate it very much. That is how we exchange ideas.
Right and wrong, as we know, is a lot of gray area in local government.
So we have multiple opinions and personalities that have to come together to negotiate through that minefield of things.
I would like to read a statement from the Green County Board of Supervisors on the issue.
And I make fun of people's handwriting because mine is the worst.
So if I stumble on my own words, I'm really sorry, but I will read them.
In our form of government, which is very prevalent in counties throughout the Commonwealth,
the Board of Supervisors appropriates funds to constitutional offices, the school board, and to internal departments.
Out of these funds, we only have operational control and fiscal control over our direct departments.
We have very little authority over specific functions provided by our constitutional officers.
The sheriff, treasurer, commissioner, revenue, commons attorney, court clerk and the school board are all elected by the voters, the same voters that elect us.
It puts us all on legal footing and it also provides for a check and a balance within our system of how we actually govern as a community.
The Board does have the power of appropriation.
We appropriate lump sums, large lump sums of money to the
constitutionals to provide services that they see fit
to satisfy their constituents.
It becomes between the voters and the constitutionals.
Having said this, Green County is a very safe community.
It is a community of laws.
The Board of Supervisors appropriates a significant percent
of local tax dollars to maintain that long order.
Our citizens demand that we maintain that law and order.
We are responsible for a lump sum appropriation to a constitutional officer.
How law and order is maintained and what that means is not an operational decision we are qualified or constitutionally allowed to make.
So having said that, we appreciate all the dialogue.
we will make sure that everything we do is compliant and we thank you for
coming out tonight and that will be our official word on the matter. Thank you
all very much.
What's the Hollis back at Steve Hollis? I just like to let him
know that I said that same oh 5 30 in the morning at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
Thank you.
Hi, 30 in the morning.
Yeah.
All right.
Mr. Goolsbee.
A motion for adjourns.
All right.
We have a motion for adjournment.
Do we have a second?
Second.
All right.
We have a motion and a second for adjournment.
Roll call vote.
Ms. Durr.
Okay.
Mr. Goolsbee.
Mr. Lamb.
Mr. Hartum.
Can you hear me?
Yeah.
There you are.
What's your vote?
Yes.
Okay.
and the cheerbook time. Meeting adjourned.