[0:08] I'll call the August 25th, 20126 3 p.m.

[0:12] session of the Henry County Board of

[0:14] Supervisors to order. Like to welcome

[0:17] all of our visitors. Remind you if you

[0:19] want to address the board, you must sign

[0:21] up 7 days in advance of any of our

[0:23] regular meetings to be put on the

[0:25] agenda. The county administrator is the

[0:28] contact person for the board. However,

[0:30] the public may address the board under

[0:32] the agenda item matters presented by the

[0:35] public that will take up uh later in

[0:38] this evening's meeting is agenda item

[0:40] number 16. Again, welcome everyone.

[0:44] Thank you for coming out and

[0:45] participating in your county government.

[0:48] Our first business item of consideration

[0:51] uh is agenda item number five, the items

[0:53] of consent. What is the pleasure of the

[0:56] board?

[0:58] >> Mr. Chairman, I make a motion to approve

[0:59] the items of consent.

[1:01] >> Second.

[1:02] >> We have a motion and a second. Any

[1:03] discussion?

[1:05] All in favor? It is uh 6. Jennifer.

[1:11] Agenda item number six. We'll have a

[1:13] report on delinquent tax collection

[1:15] efforts. And I Okay, I see her now. Uh

[1:20] we have with us uh Miss Tiffany C.

[1:22] Haristen of the treasur's office.

[1:25] Tiffany, welcome.

[1:26] >> Thank you. Good afternoon. For

[1:28] delinquent taxes personal property

[1:30] collection, as of July 31st, 2026, we

[1:33] collected 89.82%

[1:36] of the 2025 personal property taxes. We

[1:39] collected $235

[1:41] 235818

[1:44] in a month. For real estate, as of July

[1:46] 31st, 2026, we collected 95.45% 45% of

[1:50] the 2025 real estate taxes. We collected

[1:53] $83,238.66

[1:57] in a month. Since July 31st, 2026, TAC

[2:00] has collected 828,11.17.

[2:05] Debt set off we collected $3,6620

[2:10] on August the 14th. For the year we the

[2:14] total collected was $244,491.79

[2:19] and total stops was $557.

[2:24] » How could does anyone have any questions

[2:26] of Miss Haristen at this time?

[2:29] >> I'll just sometimes like to say hey we

[2:32] don't have a whole lot of discussion. Uh

[2:34] but I know you've had this job just a

[2:36] short time. How do you how is it going

[2:39] and how do you feel about the the 89% of

[2:43] tax collection at this time since we've

[2:45] gone since everything we've gone through

[2:47] to this point?

[2:48] >> I think um once we added our own DMV

[2:51] stops that help bring in collection of

[2:53] personal property taxes more. So I feel

[2:55] like it's going to go well.

[2:56] >> Okay. Thank you.

[2:59] >> Okay. Anything else board members? Thank

[3:02] you.

[3:03] >> Thank you.

[3:05] That takes us to agenda item number

[3:07] seven. We'll have an update from Pedmont

[3:09] Community Services. We have with us Greg

[3:11] Preston and some of his staff members.

[3:14] Greg is the executive director of

[3:15] Pedmont Community Services. Welcome,

[3:18] Greg.

[3:25] » Mr. Chairman,

[3:27] to the board,

[3:29] Mr. Wag, Mr. Uh again, thank you for

[3:32] allowing Petemont to be present today.

[3:35] Um we wanted to take an opportunity as

[3:38] we do annually to give an update about

[3:41] Pete my community services um data um

[3:45] some of the information that um is vital

[3:48] to the county. Um likewise to talk about

[3:51] some new services that we're we're

[3:53] bringing to the county.

[3:55] So for today's uh presentation, we'll

[3:58] have an overview about the community

[4:00] services board. We'll talk some about

[4:02] 2025, the impact. Um we won't do an

[4:06] overview of services due to time

[4:08] constraints. Um but we will talk about

[4:11] um again some new services coming to the

[4:13] area and what's coming up next.

[4:16] So again, as a reminder, um Petemont

[4:19] Community Services, we were formed from

[4:21] a partnership between local government

[4:24] and um and the general assembly back in

[4:26] 1968.

[4:27] Um Pedmont was actually formed in 1972.

[4:32] Um statewide there are 40 community

[4:34] services boards. Peakman is one of 40.

[4:37] So if you go to Danville, there's a

[4:39] Danville Community Services Board. If

[4:40] you go to Rono, there's a Blue Ridge.

[4:42] and we're spread out throughout the

[4:44] state of Virginia.

[4:47] So again, Pedmont was formed in 1972. We

[4:50] serve Henry County, Martinsville,

[4:52] Franklin County, and Patrick County. Um,

[4:55] currently we serve right around 7,400

[4:57] individuals annually. Um, although uh

[5:00] the slide says we have 475 staff, we are

[5:04] moving towards about 500 staff currently

[5:07] due to new services that we're

[5:08] providing.

[5:10] wanted to introduce our board of

[5:13] directors. So, Mr. Garrett Dillard is

[5:15] our board chair. I'm really really

[5:17] excited. Um Mr. Dillard, as you you all

[5:20] know, really motivated, um really um in

[5:24] tune about what's happening in our

[5:26] community. Our past chair is Mr. Gil

[5:28] Carter. Um the other Henry County

[5:31] representatives is Mr. Bill Atkins, Mr.

[5:34] Eric Haristen, Miss Bonnie Martin, and

[5:39] also that completes all five of the

[5:42] board members. So, for our board of

[5:44] directors, we have 14 board members. We

[5:46] have five board members from Henry

[5:48] County, five from Franklin County, um

[5:50] two from Patrick, and also two from

[5:53] Martinsville. So, we do currently have

[5:54] two vacancies.

[5:57] Wanted to briefly introduce our

[6:00] director's team. Um, got Miss Caroline

[6:02] Pilson who's our CFO and Sharon Buckman

[6:05] who's our chief human resources officer,

[6:08] Sam Petty, IT, Jeriah Morris. We're

[6:12] really excited. Geriah has joined the

[6:14] team. She's our PR liaison

[6:16] [clears throat] and public information

[6:18] officer. Kelly Cobalt, director of

[6:20] behavior health. Regina Clark, director

[6:22] of prevention. Miss Shannon Clark,

[6:24] director of community support, and also

[6:26] Miss Lynn Fleming, the assistant to the

[6:29] CEO.

[6:31] Wanted to just give you a quick overview

[6:32] about the facilities we operate.

[6:34] Currently operate over 30 facilities in

[6:37] the in the four localities

[6:40] [snorts] and 15 facilities in in

[6:42] Martinsville and Henry County. And we

[6:44] will introduce our latest um purchase

[6:47] which is located on Michael Road and

[6:49] Miss Shannon Clark will give you an

[6:51] update on that shortly.

[6:53] Um, just wanted to uh remind definitely

[6:57] the board of directors, but you know,

[6:59] more importantly the community that we

[7:01] do have a partnership with Genoa

[7:03] Pharmacy. They're actually located at at

[7:05] our Clay Street office, 24 Clay Street.

[7:08] They both serve clients and also staff.

[7:12] I'm going to yield to Miss Gerard

[7:14] Morris. She's going to come up and talk

[7:15] some about the 2025 annual report.

[7:21] Good afternoon everyone. Very briefly, I

[7:24] just wanted to talk about our annual

[7:26] report for 2025. Um we're going to talk

[7:29] about both our program growth and the

[7:31] local impact that we've made uh in this

[7:33] past year.

[7:35] So in 2025 and in Henry County alone, we

[7:39] were able to serve 10,048 community

[7:42] members and that's including in our

[7:44] mental health, our substance use, our

[7:47] IDD, our housing case management, and

[7:50] our prevention services.

[7:53] So our major program highlights include

[7:56] expanding our crisis support through our

[7:58] 23-hour services.

[8:01] We continue to um provide services in

[8:05] our recovery housing and our warmline

[8:07] support services.

[8:09] We've expanded waiver access and support

[8:11] coordination

[8:13] in our developmental services. And our

[8:15] prevention program continues to work

[8:18] with our youth, students, and community

[8:20] partners in um Henry County and our

[8:22] other localities.

[8:25] Financially, we continue to prioritize

[8:28] our direct service. So, as you see on

[8:30] the chart, 89% of our expenses are

[8:34] reinvested into our people and our

[8:36] operations, uh, with a lot of our

[8:39] funding coming from Medicaid, state, and

[8:41] federal partnerships.

[8:44] And lastly, we just want to give a shout

[8:46] out to our staff. This is a photo from

[8:48] our 50th anniversary. Um,

[8:51] [clears throat] we cannot do the

[8:52] services that we do without our

[8:53] dedicated staff, and so we want to

[8:56] recognize the people who show up in our

[8:57] community every day. Thank you guys.

[9:01] [clears throat]

[9:03] » So I too would like to reiterate um just

[9:06] the importance of having dedicated staff

[9:08] and we are really excited to have

[9:11] dedicated motivated staff that serve the

[9:14] individuals in our community um with professionalism. Um real quickly

[9:19] I'll drive through these um quickly just

[9:21] an example of how to access services. um

[9:26] mental health services. I won't go over

[9:28] those. Just wanted to share the variety

[9:31] of services we provide through mental

[9:33] health. Substance use disorder services,

[9:36] everything from case management to

[9:38] medication, um intensive outpatient.

[9:42] On the developmental side of the house,

[9:44] we provide supported living, group

[9:46] homes, case management services. We have

[9:48] an intermediate care facility on 26

[9:51] Poker Road and also residential

[9:53] services.

[9:55] And with our recovery supports, we

[9:58] provide um again a vast variety of

[10:01] services including peer services,

[10:03] recovery services. We um have a program

[10:07] that that helps individuals in recovery

[10:10] get get employment. So just really

[10:12] excited about the the um services we

[10:15] provide with recovery

[10:18] with prevention um provide um

[10:22] educational awareness, parenting

[10:23] classes, health fairs, school-based

[10:26] services, mental health first aid

[10:28] training, nlloxxone training, community

[10:31] coalitions,

[10:33] and with early childhood again parenting

[10:36] skills, child development, healthy

[10:38] families, part C, early intervention

[10:42] um and education.

[10:44] Um from here wanted to invite Miss

[10:46] Shannon Clark to come up and talk some

[10:49] about the new additions at Henry County.

[10:56] » Good afternoon. First off, I want to say

[10:58] thank you um thank you to Henry County

[11:00] for taking the lead in regards for us to

[11:03] being able to secure the OA opioid

[11:06] abatement funds as far as to secure

[11:08] Micro Road. That is going to be at the

[11:10] end of the day, we appreciate that

[11:12] partnership. Again, thank you. Want to

[11:13] say thank you. Give you a hand for that.

[11:15] Want to let you know first off the

[11:17] programs that will be at the mood site

[11:20] that will of course increase our ability

[11:22] to serve the community. We will have of

[11:24] course a Marcus alert which is that

[11:25] co-response. Um we'll have crisis

[11:28] stabilization services. We also will

[11:30] have permanent supportive housing. The

[11:32] case managers will be located out of

[11:34] this property. We'll also have a crisis

[11:36] receiving center and also we'll have a

[11:38] psychosocial um day services which is

[11:41] slashclub house that will be operating

[11:43] out of this um property as well. We're

[11:45] excited to be able to have all of these

[11:47] options expand our footprint because

[11:49] again it will keep us to be able to

[11:52] serve individuals in the community

[11:53] especially with crisis at the end of the

[11:55] day we u oftentimes have to um outsource

[11:58] and send individuals out especially for

[12:01] uh extended crisis services. So this

[12:03] facility and this this micro road

[12:05] project will be able to keep them here

[12:08] for as far as for support. So we're

[12:09] excited. So again, thank you.

[12:16] » Good afternoon. I'm Aaron Mley. I'm the

[12:18] assistant clinical director of crisis

[12:20] services for Pedmont. And so I wanted to

[12:23] talk a little bit about the extension of

[12:25] crisis services. So some of you may be

[12:27] familiar with the lighthouse over on

[12:29] Commonwealth. Um that is our crisis

[12:31] receiving center where we assess

[12:33] individuals for inpatient

[12:34] hospitalization and we also assess for

[12:38] um crisis stabilization services up to

[12:40] 23 hours. So they come they stay with us

[12:43] up to 23 hours. They see a nurse

[12:45] practitioner, they see clinicians and we

[12:48] link them to long-term outpatient

[12:50] services. Try to keep them out of the

[12:53] hospital and in the community. Um so

[12:56] this crisis receiving center will move

[12:58] to Micah Road. We also are launching

[13:01] Marcus Alert which is a co-response

[13:03] program with law enforcement and

[13:05] clinicians where clinicians and law

[13:08] enforcement will respond to calls in the

[13:10] community through dispatch together um

[13:13] to try to provide a better source of

[13:15] right help right now. So if it's a

[13:17] mental health call and clinicians can

[13:19] step in and deescalate and determine

[13:21] what services might be best for them,

[13:24] then the clinician will help advocate

[13:26] and transition them to the right place

[13:28] for mental health services. Um we are

[13:31] also opening a crisis stabilization unit

[13:34] for adults at the micro road location.

[13:37] So this will be a 12 bed facility and

[13:40] four of those beds will be medical

[13:42] detox. So we can do medical detox for

[13:44] adults um from substance use and this is

[13:48] a more long-term stay so up to 14 days.

[13:51] So this helps us to avoid possible

[13:53] inpatient hospitalization which could be

[13:56] an hour or more away. Um a lot of times

[13:59] our individuals are going two to three

[14:01] four hours away to get inpatient

[14:03] treatment. So this is a little bit

[14:04] lesser restrictive [clears throat]

[14:06] service but it is still in patient and

[14:08] it's here in the community so we can

[14:10] keep them home, keep them local. We

[14:12] don't have to worry about transportation

[14:14] resources. We don't have to worry about

[14:15] how do we get good discharge planning

[14:18] care and linked back to services

[14:20] provided in the community because we're

[14:22] already here. We know our local

[14:24] providers and we can help link them much

[14:27] easier and more efficiently I believe

[14:28] than hospitals outside of our catchment.

[14:31] Um, so those are some of the main crisis

[14:34] services that will be at Micro Road and

[14:37] we're really excited to move

[14:39] [clears throat] over there and get

[14:39] things going. Um, but thank you all so

[14:42] much for your support and your help in

[14:44] our project with Micro Road.

[14:48] >> So, so Dale, I think I got two more

[14:50] minutes. Um,

[14:53] if I could, I wanted to invite Regina

[14:55] Clark. She's a director of prevention

[14:56] services. We got a really exciting new

[14:59] program for for our youth. Close our

[15:02] prom Thursday. Thank you.

[15:05] >> Good afternoon. I'm Regina Clark,

[15:06] director of youth and prevention

[15:08] services. Um, and like Greg mentioned,

[15:10] we've got one particular thing that I

[15:12] really cannot brag enough about, and

[15:14] that is um a new collaborative that has

[15:17] really uh taken off over the last year,

[15:19] and that's called the height

[15:21] collaborative, helping youth thrive. Uh

[15:23] this came about as kind of an initiative

[15:25] to how do we support our youth more. So

[15:28] um just a couple things out of that. Uh

[15:31] Harvest has supported us with some

[15:33] funding to collect some data. We spent

[15:35] the last year and a half uh to two years

[15:37] doing that and then we got the ideas and

[15:39] the information from the youth to what

[15:42] they wanted. Um and so a team center was

[15:45] one of the things that came out of that.

[15:47] So we have started um last summer we did

[15:49] it in one location. This year it

[15:51] expanded to two. Um we have the ground

[15:53] floor and um factory roast uh partnered

[15:58] with us for that. Um and it's all

[16:00] youthled. We had over 86 students,

[16:03] individual students uh participate in

[16:05] that. And excuse me, over the summer we

[16:08] did it two nights a week. Uh we plan to

[16:12] continue that over the course of the

[16:14] school year offering monthly teen center

[16:17] events. Um but we hope to see that

[16:19] growing and we're looking at additional

[16:21] locations. Um we also one of the

[16:25] challenges that we've been tackled with

[16:26] is transportation and so uh we all know

[16:30] that is a barrier. So we have been

[16:31] working uh very closely with uh the

[16:35] radar uh to figure out how we can work

[16:38] together on that transportation effort.

[16:40] So there will be more to come with that

[16:42] but we are actively involved with that

[16:44] um and trying to find solutions. So

[16:47] that's a little teaser of the of the

[16:49] things we have going on. But again,

[16:50] thank you.

[16:51] >> Hey, thank you.

[16:52] >> So So in closing, I I would be remiss

[16:55] not to also mention we we're proud of a

[16:58] program we have um in Franklin County.

[17:01] It's called the Pearl Program. We

[17:02] provide residential services for

[17:04] pregnant and postpartum um women. Um in

[17:08] partnership in Franklin County, we were

[17:10] able to expand that program. So we

[17:12] purchased another house that those

[17:14] services are open to Henry County. Um,

[17:16] so Shannon Clark provides oversight

[17:19] there. So just excited. I know 30

[17:20] seconds there. Um, so um, so for for

[17:25] Petemont, we're working on rebranding.

[17:27] We want to make sure that Henry County,

[17:29] Franklin County, Patrick and Martin, you

[17:31] guys are proud of us, proud of the

[17:33] services that we provide, have

[17:36] confidence in us. Um, and we want to be

[17:38] able to provide as many services we can

[17:40] at home. And that's why you see us

[17:43] constantly growing, constantly

[17:45] expanding. Dale just wanted to Mr. Wag.

[17:48] Um, I call him Dale. Um, thank you for

[17:52] the partnership. Um, it's not a phone

[17:54] call he doesn't answer. You know, he

[17:56] just sits down, talks to me, and and has

[17:59] Pete M's best interest in hand. So, to

[18:02] the board, to Mr. Diller, thank you for

[18:04] your leadership. Thank you'all for

[18:05] allowing us to be here today.

[18:07] >> Thank you, Mr. Preston. uh it's obvious

[18:09] that you're proud of what uh has been

[18:11] accomplished and looking forward into

[18:14] the future and certainly the same thing

[18:16] can be said of the county as you're

[18:18] saying about your staff, your best

[18:21] resources, the people that are serving

[18:23] and

[18:24] I appreciate hearing that. I'm going to

[18:27] ask uh Supervisor Dillard if he would

[18:29] add anything to this uh to wrap this up.

[18:34] >> Yes, I I will. um been working I guess

[18:38] on the Petemont board for quite a while

[18:40] and it's amazing to see the growth the

[18:44] number of people the number of

[18:45] facilities the number of uh resources

[18:48] the number of programs the energy that

[18:51] you know that the staff brings and I

[18:53] think that's what we need to combat some

[18:56] of the problems that we have in our

[18:58] community folk who are energetic folk

[19:00] who are looking for new ways and I also

[19:04] think that you have to try everything.

[19:06] You know, if it doesn't work, you know

[19:08] what? No big deal. We'll do something

[19:10] different. But you you can't judge

[19:12] everything based off of, you know, one

[19:14] particular uh resource or one particular

[19:17] program because that's the goal. Let's

[19:19] put it in place. And like I said, if it

[19:21] doesn't work, we'll try something

[19:22] different. I think that's what, you

[19:24] know, under uh Mr. Preston's leadership,

[19:26] Petemont, is doing. This is a problem.

[19:28] Let's get a solution. Let's try it.

[19:30] Let's, you know, put the right people in

[19:32] place. If it works, great. if it

[19:34] doesn't, you know, we'll try something

[19:35] different. So, want to commend, you

[19:37] know, the whole staff and Mr. Preston

[19:39] for, you know, working to make Henry

[19:40] County the best place that it can be.

[19:42] >> Great. Thank you.

[19:44] >> That's a QR code just in case somebody's

[19:46] looking for a job.

[19:49] » All right. Great. Thank you. That takes

[19:52] us to agenda item uh number eight. We'll

[19:56] have an update

[19:58] uh from the Blue Ridge uh Regional

[20:00] Library System. We have with us uh

[20:02] director Melissa Chapman. Melissa,

[20:10] » thank you. I'll just go ahead and dive

[20:13] right in. Um so quick introduction. My

[20:16] name is Melissa Chapman. I'm the

[20:18] director of Blige Regional Library. And

[20:21] the mission of the Blige Regional

[20:22] Library is to provide free friendly

[20:25] service and access to timely materials

[20:28] that educate, enrich, and entertain the

[20:31] entire community. But for the purposes

[20:34] of this presentation and since we are on

[20:37] limited time, I'm just going to focus on

[20:40] the Basset branch and do a little bit of

[20:42] a dive into it. Um, so the Basset

[20:47] Library offers a variety of programs

[20:49] that are geared to users of all ages,

[20:53] toddlers all the way up to 100. The

[20:57] programs encourage literacy and critical

[20:59] thinking, particularly among children

[21:01] and teens. And our craft programs allow

[21:05] users to engage in their creativity and

[21:08] provides an opportunity for

[21:10] socialization, which is vital.

[21:15] And we they offer quite a wide variety

[21:18] of sto of programs. Some of them are the

[21:21] ones we all know about story time, but

[21:24] we also have Lego club. A new one that

[21:27] launched um within the past year is a

[21:30] teen stream. They also have chess club

[21:34] which is relatively new. And of course

[21:36] the crafty creations and our other craft

[21:39] classes that are wildly popular.

[21:44] And here's some pictures. I'm going to

[21:46] go through some pictures of some of the

[21:48] children's programming. They have

[21:50] [clears throat] a very popular and very

[21:53] vibrant children's programming.

[21:59] And they also have a very vibrant teen

[22:02] program based in Basset, too.

[22:06] And some of the things that they do, I'm

[22:08] so jealous. They look like fun. Um, and

[22:11] of course they have a very vibrant adult

[22:13] programming. The chair exercise is very

[22:16] popular. A lot of these classes fill up.

[22:20] If anybody's interested, call parent at

[22:23] bass. She'll be [clears throat] happy to

[22:25] talk about it.

[22:28] So, Basset also offers all of the

[22:31] resources that you guys think about with

[22:34] the library, books, DVDs, but they also

[22:37] offer some things that you can check out

[22:40] that you won't necessarily think about.

[22:43] We offer nature backpacks that you can

[22:46] get uh park pass to go to any park in

[22:50] the state of Virginia. Basset also has

[22:54] literacy backpacks and developmental

[22:58] backpacks that are very useful to new

[23:02] parents.

[23:05] And you can see the literacy backpack on

[23:09] the left and in the middle is the

[23:12] developmental backpack. And we also have

[23:14] puzzles that people can check out.

[23:18] And here are just a few stats. Um, from

[23:22] January 1st to June 30th, in that

[23:24] six-month period, Basset had over 11,000

[23:27] [snorts]

[23:28] visitors with nearly 11,000 items

[23:33] checked out and almost 4500 children's

[23:38] items checked out.

[23:41] And this gives you an idea of how

[23:43] popular and how much the community

[23:45] really likes their programs with

[23:47] attendance sitting over nearly a [cough]

[23:51] thousand attendees. [clears throat]

[23:53] So it is a very actively used library.

[23:58] And I'd like to close just to highlight

[24:00] the impact that Basset has had on the

[24:04] community. Teresa Wall says, "I love the

[24:08] library. It has great resources and a

[24:11] friendly staff who are so helpful. Thank

[24:14] you for how you serve our community. So,

[24:17] this illustrates the library provides a

[24:20] variety of resources to the community

[24:23] all without a payw wall.

[24:27] I love to read. I love the programs that

[24:30] are offered to me. Teen Stream, Chess

[24:33] [cough] Club, and Lego Club are awesome.

[24:37] So, the library also provides programs

[24:40] for all ages from children and teens and

[24:43] adults and senior citizens. All are

[24:46] welcome at the library.

[24:49] And I want to say thank you to Dale

[24:52] Wagner and the board of supervisors for

[24:56] your continued support for our Henry

[24:58] County branches, Basset, Collinsville,

[25:01] and Ridgeway. [snorts]

[25:02] Thank you to everybody in Henry County.

[25:05] We appreciate your support and we do

[25:08] what we do for you. And I also want to

[25:11] take a moment to [clears throat] thank

[25:13] Karen and [cough] excellent staff at

[25:16] Basset who are having a little too much

[25:17] fun dressed up as crowns.

[25:20] And um our board members Monica,

[25:24] Christopher, Lorie, Twi, Datada, and

[25:27] Shereice for their continued support and

[25:30] service. Thank you very much.

[25:33] >> All right. Thank you, Miss Chapman. Our

[25:38] next agenda item, agenda item number

[25:40] nine, uh we'll have an update from the

[25:43] West Pedmont Higher Education Center. We

[25:46] have with us Eric Jones who's chairman

[25:48] of the board of [snorts] directors and I

[25:51] know that there are some other board

[25:52] members uh present with you along with

[25:55] the executive director.

[25:57] >> Yes. Thank you all. So, Chairman Adams,

[26:00] thank you for the time to the board of

[26:01] supervisors. Thank you so much. Um,

[26:04] being a native of Henry County is is

[26:07] truly uh I'm proud to be back home. Um,

[26:10] I could not come back home. Uh, I was

[26:13] always taught by manners to bring gifts.

[26:16] So, if you may, Mr. Chairman Adams, we

[26:18] do have gifts for the board to to get

[26:21] this start.

[26:23] >> All right. Thank you.

[26:25] >> Thank you.

[26:43] Now, I do have something in common with

[26:44] one of the board of supervisors members.

[26:46] I am a 1997 graduate of Ballpark High

[26:49] School. So, uh, one of the things that I

[26:52] wanted to, uh, go over today as the

[26:55] chair, there is a brand and a

[26:57] recognition change with the West

[26:59] Petemont Higher Education Center. Uh,

[27:01] Erin O. Rubbert created the Rubik's cube

[27:03] in 1974.

[27:05] He did it so his students could

[27:07] understand objects and the spatial

[27:10] relationships between them better. And

[27:12] that's what I intend to do here. The

[27:15] West Pedmont Higher Education Center in

[27:17] the brand name formerly known as the New

[27:19] College Institute is not one thing. It's

[27:22] not one bridge. We bring together

[27:24] multiple services in the higher

[27:27] education realm in the state of

[27:29] Virginia. And we're a part of that

[27:30] system that divides the system in three

[27:32] parts. You have higher higher education

[27:35] systems, community colleges, and your

[27:38] four institutions. So before I get

[27:40] started, I wanted to say uh thank you to

[27:43] uh former chair uh Richard Hall who's

[27:45] here with us today. Uh honorable Randy

[27:48] Rollins, who was new member to the

[27:49] board, uh executive director uh Joe

[27:52] Sumner, and our director of advancement,

[27:55] Olivia Garrett.

[27:58] So this year was a monumental year for

[28:01] the West Pedmont Higher Education

[28:02] Center, formerly known as the New

[28:04] College Institute. Under the code of

[28:06] Virginia, titled 23.1, Chapter 31,

[28:09] Article 4, a new law was signed into

[28:13] establishment and went into in action on

[28:15] July 1st, 2026.

[28:18] The 2026 legislation renamed the former

[28:21] new college institute and revise the

[28:22] government structure, and I'll go over

[28:24] that shortly. and the public educational

[28:26] institutions serving the West Pete

[28:28] region. We wanted to make sure that you

[28:31] knew that this is to serve Franklin

[28:33] County, Patrick County, Henry County, uh

[28:36] the surrounding areas, the city of

[28:38] Martinsville, and we wanted to make sure

[28:40] that it was clear that we were part of

[28:42] the higher education system, being a

[28:45] higher education center that could

[28:47] partner with community colleges and

[28:50] four-year institutions.

[28:53] So our core mission is the center unites

[28:56] universities, communities, colleges,

[28:58] employers and government entities to

[29:01] enhance regional education, economic

[29:03] development. Now I read that from the

[29:05] slide for a very specific reason because

[29:07] it brings together multiple different

[29:09] capacities to form programs that we can

[29:12] engage with workers in the community. We

[29:14] can engage with students. We can engage

[29:17] with

[29:19] multiple organizations that you heard

[29:21] here today. But what sandwiches that

[29:24] together is the key directives. And one

[29:25] of the things I want to hit on too is

[29:27] that first one, diversify and transform

[29:29] regional economy. Uh when I moved and

[29:33] went to college in 1997, the economy has

[29:35] been a constant discussion in the Henry

[29:38] County region and the bolstering of

[29:39] that. And I remember a time when there

[29:41] was a boling bustling economy with

[29:44] multiple different things here that has

[29:46] transformed over time. So this was put

[29:48] into place to help bring together those

[29:50] entities and provide avenues for access

[29:53] to those entities through a very

[29:55] transformational

[29:57] uh center concept through the higher

[29:59] education centers. We have partnered

[30:01] with multiple higher education centers

[30:03] across Virginia. There is a higher

[30:05] education center in Abington uh

[30:08] southwest. There's a higher education

[30:09] center in South Boston. There's a higher

[30:12] education center in Bueno. We have also

[30:14] another higher education center in

[30:16] Danville and then we have us. So that

[30:19] breaks out the multiple bottom layer of

[30:22] the tier of the higher education system

[30:23] [snorts]

[30:24] that supports the community college and

[30:25] fouryear institutions in the common

[30:27] board of Virginia.

[30:30] The board composition is one of the

[30:32] major things that the law changed this

[30:34] year. We went from a 15 member structure

[30:37] to a 20 member structure. And one of the

[30:40] things that we wanted to do was to bring

[30:43] access to higher education and other key

[30:47] figures in the Commonwealth to this

[30:49] region. So the West Pedmont Higher

[30:53] Education Center is a place where you

[30:54] can get access to three House of

[30:56] Delegate members appointed by the

[30:58] speaker, two senators appointed by the

[31:00] rules committee. We have seven uh

[31:03] citizen members. All of us that are

[31:06] citizen members, to include myself, are

[31:07] appointed by the governor and confirmed

[31:09] by the general assembly. We have five

[31:12] educational or business leaders for West

[31:14] Pemmont region. One superintendent, one

[31:16] teacher, three business leaders. That

[31:18] was very intentional. We wanted to make

[31:20] sure that we were hearing from the

[31:22] community about what we wanted. We

[31:24] wanted those people to have a seat at

[31:26] the table. From a higher education

[31:28] perspective, this is what I'm one of the

[31:31] [clears throat] things I'm most excited

[31:32] about. We will have the presidents or

[31:35] their designates from George Mason,

[31:38] Longwood, Rafford, Virginia Tech, and

[31:40] Virginia State University as a part of

[31:42] our board. That means when members of

[31:45] the public come to our board members,

[31:47] you get to interface and engage through

[31:49] public comment with presidents of

[31:52] universities across the state. It's a

[31:54] big jump for us to connect to Northern

[31:57] Virginia and George Mason. I would like

[31:59] to thank Senator Shren Vosman who was a

[32:02] part of our committee to help make that

[32:04] happen. Um, we already have programs

[32:06] with Longwood, but we also wanted to

[32:08] make sure that we was covering down on

[32:10] the Virginia Community College system.

[32:12] So, you'll see the chancellor of the

[32:13] Virginia Community College system as a

[32:15] part of our board. You will also see

[32:17] SHM, which is the organization that

[32:19] brings together and ties together the

[32:20] metrics for the higher education

[32:22] systems, a part of our board. And also

[32:25] we wanted to make sure that we were

[32:26] partnering with in a real way the

[32:28] Patrick Herman community college uh Mr.

[32:30] Greg Hajes has an exhibitional seat at

[32:34] the table with all of us coming together

[32:36] to create programs that can integrate

[32:39] within this community and keep moving

[32:40] forward.

[32:44] This is a complete list of all of our

[32:47] current uh ginatorial members, our

[32:49] legislative members, a higher education.

[32:52] I pointed out the honorable Randy

[32:53] Rollins uh seated behind us uh who has

[32:56] been added to the board, but you see

[32:59] some of the local names that are there.

[33:01] Uh Valerie uh Kumi, uh Kevin Lane,

[33:04] Michael Lungsgard, uh Marcus Stone, Lee

[33:06] Pryin, I talked about Randy Rollins, and

[33:09] Teddy Martin. I talked about our

[33:10] legislative members and I've talked

[33:12] about our higher education members.

[33:14] together. We want to make sure that when

[33:17] ideas come up at the table, we can take

[33:19] action from those meetings and then we

[33:21] can put things into interaction through

[33:23] our executive director, Joe uh Suffer.

[33:29] One of the things I want to cover also

[33:31] is how our decision making gets made and

[33:33] the update to our decision-m process. I

[33:36] remember last year there might have been

[33:38] a little bit of confusion in the

[33:39] community about uh a proposal that was

[33:42] brought about to merge with Patrick and

[33:45] Henry Community College and I want to

[33:46] address that uh directly. Um that was a

[33:50] proposal that was brought together as an

[33:51] idea. Uh one of the things that we

[33:53] wanted to make sure though was that idea

[33:56] went through this three-step process and

[33:58] that three-step process covers one a

[34:01] committee review. So we have committee

[34:02] reviews that cover everything from

[34:04] academic programs to IT to governance

[34:08] rules and an executive committee. Those

[34:11] committees review proposals and make

[34:13] recommendations on specific matters and

[34:15] ideas. Once it comes out of committee,

[34:18] then it goes to board for vote. So one

[34:21] of the things about the idea about the

[34:22] Patrick Community College, we sent it

[34:25] back to committee. It went through

[34:26] committee, but it didn't survive board

[34:28] vote, but it gave us a lot of helpful

[34:30] information for us to inform where we

[34:32] wanted to go in the future. So, I just

[34:34] wanted to make sure that we made that

[34:36] clear. Another reason why we set this up

[34:38] this way is we want to educate our

[34:40] students as they watch us do board

[34:42] actions. This mimics how the general

[34:45] assembly makes decisions through

[34:47] committee bringing things to the floor

[34:49] and then once we get a board vote

[34:51] through through a majority vote then

[34:53] programs are approved decisions and are

[34:55] implemented within the framework

[34:57] established by Virginia law. The next

[34:59] thing that we're going to make sure that

[35:00] we do is be sure to come back to the

[35:03] board of supervisors on a regular basis

[35:05] to give you updates on how we're doing

[35:08] the metrics that we're going about and

[35:10] Joe Sum will talk about that a little

[35:11] bit later in the plan we have moving

[35:13] forward.

[35:16] So why the center matters? We we want to

[35:19] expand opportunities, strengthen the

[35:21] workforce, drive economic growth, and

[35:24] build partnerships in this community. We

[35:27] see across the state that strong

[35:29] communities that have start to emerge

[35:31] build partnerships both with industry,

[35:34] academia,

[35:35] government, and those three work

[35:37] together to serve the citizens of those

[35:40] municipalities. We want to do the same

[35:42] thing here. We want to be a part of the

[35:44] discussion. We want to be a part of that

[35:46] conversation. We did think though that

[35:48] it was necessary to put it to the test.

[35:52] put an idea to the test where the where

[35:54] the general assembly could actually vote

[35:57] on the on the relevance of the West

[35:59] Pedmont Higher Education Center, the

[36:02] change we wanted to make and pretty

[36:04] unanimously both the House of uh

[36:06] delegates and the Senate voted that West

[36:09] Pedmont Higher Education Center is here

[36:11] to stay. Uh we have a direction and when

[36:14] I go to the next slide, um the call to

[36:16] action for the community will be brought

[36:18] to you by Mr. S.

[36:24] Thank you ladies and gentlemen. I would

[36:26] like to just say that over the next

[36:28] couple of months you all will be hearing

[36:29] from our team uh in various capacities.

[36:32] We have been tasked with developing a

[36:33] report that outlines the direction of

[36:35] West Bmont Higher Education Center. Uh

[36:38] that is not a report that is developed

[36:39] behind closed doors. That is not a plan

[36:41] or proposal uh that is dreamed up

[36:43] internally by staff and West Bmont board

[36:46] members only. That is a community and

[36:48] region-driven plan. Uh so there will be

[36:50] times where we will include focus

[36:52] groups, roundts and we'll ask you or

[36:55] your designates to join us. It is

[36:57] important that we hear from you. It is

[36:58] important that we know what it is that

[37:00] we can do to serve you, your

[37:02] organization, our community, and our

[37:04] region. Things that you can look forward

[37:06] to. [clears throat]

[37:08] I had a former board chair once tell me,

[37:10] you don't have to do everything. You

[37:12] pick a few things and you do those few

[37:14] things very well. And that's what we

[37:15] will do. So we are expanding our degree

[37:18] offerings and to do that uh you might

[37:21] have seen the announcement recently. We

[37:22] have brought on Dr. Pam Randall who has

[37:24] joined our team. Dr. Randall uh led the

[37:26] Longwood program at NCI for many years

[37:28] and has retired from Longwood and has

[37:30] now joined the West Vmont Higher

[37:31] Education Center. We're incredibly

[37:33] excited to welcome her as our chief

[37:34] program officer and she has been tasked

[37:36] with identifying growth for new degrees

[37:39] within that area. We know that there is

[37:41] a need. the data and the community tells

[37:43] us preliminarily that there's a need

[37:45] within the business sector something of

[37:47] a launch pad if you will at a bachelor

[37:48] level degree whether that is going to be

[37:50] a business technology business

[37:52] administration business management

[37:54] something of that nature uh also we know

[37:56] that within the cyber security and AI

[37:59] sector there's a real need whether that

[38:01] is at a degree level or more of a

[38:02] professional development has yet to be

[38:04] determined but we are exploring that as

[38:05] well and of course healthcare we know

[38:08] that there's a need in healthcare that

[38:09] was a much larger initiative to take due

[38:11] to all the credentiing and accreditation

[38:13] that is needed in that sector. But we do

[38:15] know that that need exists. So

[38:16] preliminarily we've examined the data.

[38:18] We've looked at um those prior resource

[38:20] that are available to us and identify

[38:22] general areas. But we need to hear from

[38:23] you all and this community in order to

[38:26] be able to refine that to specifically

[38:28] address those needs through program

[38:29] delivery. You'll also see development

[38:31] announcements coming within workforce

[38:33] development. Now when I say workforce

[38:34] development, I want to specify you saw

[38:36] very intentionally that Dr. Greg Hodgees

[38:38] is included on our board of directors.

[38:39] Uh we work we work hand inand with Pat

[38:42] Community College. I have lunch and

[38:43] coffee regularly with Dr. Hodgeges with

[38:45] Dr. Wstrom as we identify how do we work

[38:47] together? How do we not compete? How do

[38:49] we not duplicate? Uh Dr. Wram has a

[38:51] saying that I've borrowed from him. Our

[38:53] population is too finite to continuously

[38:55] subdivide. And so recognizing that we

[38:58] are working together. We're working

[39:00] together on the two plus two model. The

[39:02] degrees I mentioned earlier will be done

[39:03] intentionally based on the two plus two

[39:05] model every time that opportunity is

[39:06] available because we do not look to

[39:08] bring competition to our area. We look

[39:10] to bring support. We look to bring

[39:12] collaboration and opportunity. Uh you

[39:14] will also see as I mentioned within

[39:16] workforce development you'll see some

[39:18] expansion and some exciting news coming

[39:19] as we continue to support public safety,

[39:21] law enforcement uh with trainings with

[39:24] workforce development and specialized

[39:26] opportunities for them. We are expanding

[39:28] our K12 operations as well. Uh we are

[39:30] working in coordination with our sister

[39:32] agency over in Danville, the Institute

[39:34] of Advanced Learning and Research. Uh as

[39:36] well as Henry County Schools. We are

[39:38] working to support them through K12 STEM

[39:41] whether that is through supporting the

[39:42] Goate Tech program or providing

[39:44] extracurriculars or providing Saturday

[39:46] school or summer school or gifted

[39:48] opportunities. And lastly, community. Uh

[39:51] we are growing within the community

[39:52] sector. Obviously, we have always tried

[39:54] to be of service to the community. uh

[39:56] there's always that fine line of

[39:57] ensuring that how are we a service to

[39:59] community while still making sure we

[40:00] cover the overhead of our operations. Uh

[40:02] so we're looking to refine that as well

[40:04] and that will require input from the

[40:05] entirety of our region. So as we move

[40:08] forward there is a plan that is in

[40:09] place. There's a timeline that's being

[40:11] developed that again will include

[40:14] multiple um engagements with the public,

[40:16] multiple engagements with specialized

[40:18] localized groups uh to get those sets of

[40:21] information that we need to ensure that

[40:23] we have created the plan that addresses

[40:25] the needs in our region that creates

[40:26] sustainability for our organization and

[40:29] ensures that we are all clear on the

[40:30] vision moving forward on how West

[40:32] Pedmont Harry Education Center can be a

[40:34] true asset and a value ad to this

[40:36] region.

[40:42] And I'll close with uh again looking at

[40:45] your Rubik's cube. Now if we show up and

[40:48] that Rubik's cube is exactly the way we

[40:50] gave it to you, that means we haven't

[40:52] turned things. We haven't looked at

[40:53] things from a different way. And I

[40:55] assure you, the next time we come back,

[40:57] there will be differences in what that

[40:59] looks like. But it will still at its

[41:01] core be what we are code of Virginia

[41:03] says we are there to do is to serve the

[41:05] community and empower and bring a

[41:08] transformational educational resource to

[41:10] the community. So I challenge you maybe

[41:13] you take out your Rubik's cube today and

[41:15] bring some ideas to us. Mix it up and

[41:17] see if we can get it back together. Uh

[41:19] because one of the things that we're

[41:20] trying to do with this community is

[41:22] bring it back together. Uh show that the

[41:24] West Peak Higher Education Center is

[41:26] moving forward. I thank you for your

[41:28] time and I thank you for uh support and

[41:30] services you provide for our community

[41:32] as well.

[41:33] >> Thank you, Mr. Jones.

[41:42] » So, I've been introduced several times

[41:44] as the honorable Randy Rollins

[41:47] [laughter] better than [clears throat]

[41:48] the dishonorable Randy Rollins.

[41:51] But anyway, I'm a new member of the

[41:54] board of West Pedmont Higher Education

[41:57] Center and I just wanted to share you

[42:00] with you an experience I had with the

[42:02] orientation. On August 4, they invited

[42:06] me to come up and take an orientation of

[42:08] their program. So, I went up there and

[42:11] first thing I found out was I could not

[42:14] find a parking place in the parking lot.

[42:17] It was totally filled. I had to park on

[42:19] the street. I went into the building,

[42:22] was greeted by an individual who took me

[42:25] up to Joe Simmer's office. As I walked

[42:28] through the building, every I can say

[42:31] almost every building, every classroom

[42:33] was filled with something going on. I

[42:36] don't know what was going on in all

[42:37] those cases, but something was going on.

[42:40] It was an educational day. The building

[42:42] was fully occupied and utilized. So,

[42:45] that was a good impression. Then I had a

[42:48] presentation about the overview of the institution from Olivia Garrett

[42:53] and Joe Sar who were very forthright in

[42:57] answering all the questions including

[42:59] the ones that maybe I had because I

[43:01] didn't know what I was talking about or

[43:03] didn't have the background to get to it.

[43:05] They were very forthright. Then Joe took

[43:08] me on a tour. He took me to the criminal

[43:11] justice simulation lab which in which

[43:14] they can present on a film to a an

[43:18] officer who's being tested a variety of

[43:21] scenarios so they know how to react to

[43:23] the situation when it's presented to

[43:25] them in real life. Then I went down to

[43:28] advanced manufacturing center which they

[43:32] they're building a tower which is 40

[43:34] feet tall in which people who are train

[43:37] being trained in the wind energy

[43:39] business to services towers that are out

[43:42] all over the state on how to maneuver

[43:45] how to deal with the situations and

[43:48] emergencies and make repairs. I came

[43:50] away very impressed with both the

[43:52] competence, the innovation, and the

[43:56] forward-looking nature of that

[43:57] presentation.

[43:59] Um, I did my homework as far as

[44:02] understanding where this institution

[44:04] stands in the hierarchy of Virginia's

[44:06] educational institutions.

[44:09] First of all, if I want to get a

[44:11] bachelor's degree,

[44:13] I could go to UVA or Virginia Tech or a

[44:17] number of other institutions that you

[44:19] are fully aware of and be a resident on campus and get a degree in four

[44:24] years. Secondly, I could go to a

[44:27] satellite campus such as UVA and WISE

[44:32] which the state has established around

[44:34] in different places to provide higher

[44:36] education opportunities all the way

[44:38] through the graduate level. Or third, I

[44:43] could come to a higher education center

[44:46] which in a sense is a way of taking the

[44:48] campus to the students as opposed to the

[44:51] students going to the campus. So that

[44:53] here in Martinsville

[44:56] they provide Longwood degrees and you

[44:59] may have seen a picture in the newspaper

[45:01] of some individuals who graduated

[45:03] recently from that program with it with

[45:06] a regular degree. So they are bringing

[45:08] that to here as opposed to them the

[45:11] students having to go other places out

[45:14] of town to get there have either having

[45:16] to give up their giving up their jobs so

[45:18] they can take the courses in a different

[45:21] location or commute on a continuous

[45:24] basis. So it's a great asset that I'm

[45:27] delighted that the decision makers in

[45:30] Richmond have decided to keep. I think

[45:33] is a huge asset for this area and we

[45:36] just need to develop it so it's seen by

[45:39] everybody as an opportunity for higher

[45:42] education all the way through the

[45:44] bachelor's degree. So that's my

[45:46] impression. It was a great impression.

[45:48] I'm delighted to be working with them

[45:50] and I look forward to it. Thank you, Mr.

[45:51] Chairman.

[45:55] » Right. Thank you all. That takes us to

[45:59] uh agenda item number 10. will take up

[46:01] financial matters beginning with uh 10A

[46:06] an additional appropriation referencing

[46:09] a return to locality funds for public

[46:12] safety. Mr. Wagner,

[46:13] >> public safety director Tim Duff is

[46:15] asking the board to appropriate $54,672

[46:18] received from the Virginia Department of

[46:20] Health's return to locality funds. The

[46:23] return to locality funds is derived from

[46:25] a fee for each vehicle registered in

[46:28] Henry County. authorized expenditures of

[46:30] the funds for items such as emergency

[46:32] medical services, training supplies, and

[46:34] equipment. Mr. Duffish stated that funds

[46:37] will use to purchase standardized

[46:39] medical supplies and to maintain the EMS

[46:42] pharmacy for all EMS agencies. This

[46:44] centralized purchasing model will ensure

[46:46] EMS agencies have access to authorized

[46:49] supplies and will support the

[46:50] operational readiness of the countywide

[46:53] EMS system, including the volunteer

[46:55] departments. And public safety director

[46:57] Mr. Duffer is here.

[47:00] There's been an indication uh that there

[47:02] might be some uh clarification or

[47:04] questions on this. Um um I'll start with

[47:08] Mr. Puit. Uh do you have uh some

[47:10] comments on this?

[47:11] >> Yeah, I'm just got a couple questions

[47:13] for the director.

[47:23] Um, I guess the most important one is

[47:26] this is obviously a change from what has

[47:30] normally been done with these funds and

[47:32] um, has this been approved by ESAC and

[47:35] is there a true policy or plan in place

[47:39] of how this $54,000

[47:42] will be um, separated between the groups

[47:45] or what's eligible to be bought and

[47:48] processes thereof. Uh yes, we did talk

[47:51] about it in the last ESAC meeting. Um

[47:54] the only real change is going to be that

[47:56] most of the purchasing will be purchased

[47:58] through the county purchasing uh machine

[48:01] versus each individual agency have to

[48:04] buy send us a receipt and we send them a

[48:07] check. Uh we also added oxygen

[48:10] um supply to this as well because that's

[48:13] considered a supply. Um and we do have a

[48:17] policy. Um the policy is still in a

[48:20] draft. We talked about it in ESAC in the

[48:22] last meeting that uh the meeting coming

[48:25] up. I will give them the policy and even

[48:28] when I emailed you um on the 7th you

[48:31] asked some questions of there and those

[48:33] uh changes were made to that policy but

[48:36] that policy has not been given to ESAC

[48:39] yet.

[48:41] But that that is the um the gist of it.

[48:44] the the biggest change was the question

[48:47] on uh special events

[48:50] um and any community based special

[48:53] events that's considered part of our job

[48:56] uh and part of the agencies

[48:59] but each agency will continue to get

[49:02] funding uh as requested. Um, it's mainly

[49:06] geared towards soft supplies. Uh,

[49:09] capital. If you do have a capital item

[49:11] that you need need to put in there, that

[49:14] is acceptable as well. That's part of

[49:16] the policy. [clears throat]

[49:17] U just send a request to my office and

[49:21] we'll approve it through that.

[49:24] No real major changes, just policy

[49:28] procedural changes on how we distribute

[49:30] the money.

[49:33] >> Mr. Duffer, I had a question. Is this a

[49:35] first come first serve uh type thing? Uh

[49:37] whereas before it was somewhat split

[49:40] equally. Um in other words, if there's

[49:42] one agency

[49:46] capping do they cap out on expenditures

[49:49] or or

[49:50] >> we are tracking what each agency spends.

[49:53] Um and when an agency gets to kind of

[49:55] that level that it was in the past then

[49:58] we'll call and kind of you know see what

[50:01] there is because we don't want to take

[50:02] away from the other agencies if they

[50:05] need it. So, uh, I will call the

[50:08] individual agencies and that's kind of

[50:10] why I put the large capital um, because

[50:14] we do have capital projects sometimes

[50:16] that are eligible. Uh, and that may be

[50:18] where we need to come for the ESAC

[50:20] committee again and say, "Hey, we've got

[50:23] this much money left." Um, I can kind of

[50:27] hold each of the agencies and see what

[50:29] they need. Um and if that money is

[50:32] available that we can uh use that money

[50:35] for that capital project. Um if we have

[50:38] any carryover money.

[50:40] >> Is there still a uh expiration timeline?

[50:43] Used to be like February.

[50:45] >> So yes, that was last year, you know,

[50:47] that was new to me coming into the

[50:50] office. This year I do have that part of

[50:52] the policy that I need expenditures in

[50:55] uh by a certain date. uh and kind of

[50:58] following along with what what y'all

[51:00] have done in the past. So, uh we also

[51:03] use for life for our pharmacy. Um that's

[51:07] where public safety is using a lot. The

[51:09] pharmacy uh that's new for um

[51:14] where it used to be handled by the

[51:15] hospital. Now the county has taken on

[51:18] that role for all of the agencies. Uh

[51:21] and that's u

[51:24] last year Mr. Ragner asked me what the

[51:27] cost was. Last year we spent um a little

[51:30] over $38,000 on the pharmacy alone and

[51:33] that's not counting the manh hours um

[51:36] that we had in investing trying to

[51:39] maintain it. So pharmacy is proven to be

[51:43] very expensive.

[51:46] >> Any other questions or clarification

[51:48] needed?

[51:50] just I just say definitely put you know

[51:52] some definitence in there about dollar

[51:54] amounts and deadlines and things of that

[51:55] nature just so that it doesn't create a

[51:58] situation uh where I guess becomes

[52:00] inequitable where one um group gets more

[52:04] funds than the others so I you know at

[52:06] least put some kind of exacts in there

[52:09] so people know off top because that may

[52:11] help them prioritize if they only have a

[52:13] certain amount of money what's more

[52:15] important as opposed to thinking they

[52:17] can just keep coming back um you know

[52:19] time after time.

[52:23] » Anything else?

[52:26] Okay. Uh board's received background

[52:28] material on this as well as um uh had

[52:31] questions answered. What is the action

[52:33] the board would like to take in regard

[52:35] to this additional appropriation?

[52:38] >> Uh Mr. Chairman, I'll make a motion, but

[52:41] um to approve, but I would like to

[52:44] before any funds are spent out of this

[52:46] that a policy be approved by ESAC.

[52:54] » Would you repeat the motion because I I think I got a a few questionable

[53:00] looks, not questionable, but uh maybe

[53:02] not understanding looks. And I

[53:04] >> just there's no draft. There's a draft

[53:07] policy in place of how these funds might

[53:10] be spent, but there's nothing um that's

[53:12] been approved by ESAC and um that's way

[53:16] ESAC was built for a reason was to get

[53:18] approval for uh these items and major

[53:21] changes to fire and EMS. So um I'm fine

[53:24] with appropriating the funds, but until

[53:25] a a true policy is approved by ESAC, um

[53:29] I would prefer not to spend any of those

[53:32] out.

[53:34] >> Okay.

[53:39] So, are you asking that we delay until

[53:42] we get that vote by that motion or

[53:45] approve only uh with the condition that

[53:48] ESAC approve it?

[53:50] >> Approve with the condition of ESAC um

[53:53] approving a policy.

[53:54] >> Okay, that's a motion. Is there a

[53:57] second?

[53:59] >> I'll second.

[54:00] >> Okay, we have a motion second. Any

[54:02] questions or discussion at this time?

[54:06] Okay. All in favor? It is uh 6. Uh

[54:10] Jennifer. Thank you, Tam.

[54:13] Uh agenda item 10B, an additional

[54:16] appropriation referencing Virginia

[54:18] Department of Criminal Justices Services

[54:22] Grant. And this is for the sheriff's

[54:24] office. Mr. Wagner. Sheriff Wayne Davis

[54:27] is asking the board app to approve an

[54:28] additional appropriation of $15,958

[54:31] received from the Virginia Department of

[54:33] Criminal Justice Services through its

[54:35] Edwards Burn Memorial Justice Assistant

[54:38] Grant Program. Sheriff Davis has

[54:40] indicated that funds will cover overtime

[54:42] pay to provide high impact law

[54:43] enforcement activities and area

[54:45] expansion [snorts] increases in crime.

[54:48] The grant does not require a local match

[54:50] and Lieutenant Colonel Harston is here

[54:53] should you have questions.

[54:54] >> Okay. The board has background material

[54:56] on this as well. Uh what is the desire

[54:59] of the board in um

[55:03] regards to this additional

[55:04] appropriation?

[55:06] >> Mr. Chairman, I make a motion to approve

[55:08] the additional appropriation of $15,958

[55:13] uh received from the Virginia Department

[55:15] of Criminal Justice Services as it was

[55:18] presented to us.

[55:19] >> Second. We have a motion and a second.

[55:21] Any discussion? Just want to always

[55:24] congratulate the sheriff's department on

[55:26] the great job they do with their grant

[55:28] writing and receiving the the grants

[55:30] brought into Henry County for the great

[55:32] work that you do.

[55:35] Great, good comment. Thank you. Any

[55:38] other uh questions or comments? All in

[55:41] favor? It is uh 6. Uh, Jennifer.

[55:46] Agenda item 10 C, an award of contract

[55:49] referencing custodial services for

[55:51] building and grounds. Mr. Wagner,

[55:53] >> staff is asking the board to award a

[55:55] contract of $111,600

[55:58] to SAR cleaning services to provide

[56:00] custodial cleaning services at the Henry

[56:03] County Courthouse for fiscal year 2027.

[56:06] A purchasing department has authorized

[56:08] the use of the existing contract and

[56:10] staff recommends the board authorize

[56:12] subsequent renewals in accordance with

[56:14] the terms of the existing contract and

[56:16] funding for this project is included in

[56:18] the fiscal year 2027 courthouse

[56:20] maintenance letter

[56:22] >> in regard to awarding of this contract.

[56:25] What action would the board like to

[56:26] take?

[56:27] >> Mr. Chairman, I'll make a motion to

[56:29] approve the contract of $111,600

[56:32] to Sarver Cleaning Services for

[56:35] custodial cleaning at the courthouse

[56:38] [clears throat] and authorize the

[56:39] subsequent renewals.

[56:41] >> Second.

[56:42] >> We have a motion and a second. Any

[56:44] discussion?

[56:45] All in favor? It is 6. Jennifer 10D, an

[56:51] additional appropriation referencing

[56:53] fresh fruit and vegetable program for

[56:56] the school board. Mr. Wagner,

[56:58] >> school board is requesting additional

[57:00] appropriation of $235,425

[57:03] to the school's nutrition budget for the

[57:05] fresh fruit and vegetable program in the

[57:08] elementary schools. The funds are

[57:10] provided by the Virginia Department of

[57:12] Education for the United States

[57:13] Department of Agricultural Allocation

[57:16] and Assistant Superintendent Ben is

[57:18] here. Should you have any questions

[57:21] >> in regard to uh this additional

[57:25] appropriation? What is the desire of the

[57:27] board?

[57:29] >> Mr. Chairman, I make a motion to approve

[57:31] the additional appropriation of 235,425

[57:36] to the public schools nutrition budget

[57:38] for the fresh fruit and vegetable

[57:40] program.

[57:42] >> Second.

[57:43] >> We have a motion and a second. Any

[57:45] discussion?

[57:47] All in favor? Is uh 6. Jennifer, that

[57:51] takes us to agenda item number 11.

[57:54] uhformational items. I will start uh

[57:57] with uh taking comments from the board

[58:00] starting with uh Dr. Cobbler.

[58:02] >> Okay. Surprisingly, Mr. Chairman, I have

[58:04] six points, but I'm not going to

[58:06] elaborate. I'm just going to go through

[58:07] them quickly. Okay.

[58:08] >> Want to recognize the GBAC for the the

[58:11] cruise in work that they do every month

[58:13] that is in our in our district and the

[58:15] rhythms rhythms by the river. They work

[58:18] hard on those two events. We have the

[58:21] Basset Heritage Festival come festival

[58:23] coming up on September the 5th. We ask

[58:26] everybody to come out and and support

[58:28] that event. The fourth point is want to

[58:31] shout out and commend the dream center

[58:34] who has partnered with the sheriff's

[58:35] department the great work that they're

[58:37] doing starting started with the trash

[58:39] pandas and Chris big trash uh uh

[58:42] initiative there and we are picking up

[58:44] for Reed Creek and beyond the the dream

[58:48] center guys are doing a tremendous job.

[58:49] I'll just say that they have their signs

[58:51] but they are saying that traffic a lot

[58:54] of traffic uh so just kind of watch for

[58:56] their safety out there. Point five is

[58:58] that with the calls and emails, what I'm

[59:01] asking people to do as a supervisor, um

[59:04] can't vet all the calls that are coming

[59:05] in every day or even every week. So,

[59:07] what I'm asking people now publicly is

[59:09] just to send me an email. That is

[59:11] starting to work very very well. My

[59:13] email is on the and my cell phone number

[59:16] is on the uh the Henry County website

[59:19] and the six point I didn't write down.

[59:22] So, but those are five.

[59:24] >> All right.

[59:25] >> Thank you.

[59:25] >> All right. Thank you, Mr. approve.

[59:27] >> Um, just a couple things. We had a great

[59:29] um July 4th event, the town of Ridgeway.

[59:31] Um, it was heavily attended, worked out

[59:34] great. Um, we're still cons continuing

[59:37] to see um heavy heavy use of the pickle

[59:40] ball courts. Um, any night that you ride

[59:42] by there, it's people playing pickle

[59:44] ball and basketball. And the good thing

[59:46] is they're all getting along there um in

[59:49] the area. So, um, and officially today

[59:52] we're four months from Christmas. So the

[59:54] town has started the planning of the

[59:56] Christmas parade.

[59:58] >> That's all I have.

[59:59] >> Thank you, Mr. Dylan.

[1:00:01] >> Yes, sir. Just to continue with the

[1:00:03] positive energy. You know, I [laughter]

[1:00:04] that's that's how I vibe off of positive

[1:00:07] energy and it's just always good to hear

[1:00:09] the great things that are going on. I

[1:00:11] think if we could focus more on that, we

[1:00:13] would actually realize that the world is

[1:00:15] not as bad as it seems. But anyway, um

[1:00:17] the Smith River Fest was great. It was

[1:00:19] just great to see all the people

[1:00:20] working. Um, you know, Roger and his

[1:00:22] staff did a great job putting that

[1:00:24] together. The National Night Out,

[1:00:26] there's got to be some video somewhere.

[1:00:27] These guys playing uh whiffle ball. So,

[1:00:30] we can find that video. We're going to,

[1:00:32] you know, use that to hold it against

[1:00:33] them sometimes. Height, you know, some

[1:00:35] of the great things that they're doing

[1:00:37] that was mentioned earlier. And then

[1:00:39] just also a report came out today that

[1:00:42] uh as far as the school system, Henry

[1:00:44] County is one of nine school divisions

[1:00:46] that grew in math and reading. And I

[1:00:49] think anytime we get a win in our

[1:00:52] community, it's a win for all of us

[1:00:54] because it takes all of us to make those

[1:00:55] things happen. And with that being said,

[1:00:58] just love the thought of, you know, the

[1:01:00] partnerships that are in this room and

[1:01:02] the possibility of partnerships and just

[1:01:04] encourage everybody to let's work

[1:01:06] together because, you know, if I do

[1:01:08] better, you do better. You know, the

[1:01:09] whole community is doing better. So,

[1:01:11] let's continue that, you know, positive

[1:01:12] vibe and that spirit of partnership.

[1:01:15] >> All right. Thank you, Miss Buchanan. Um

[1:01:18] the only thing that I have and uh Mr.

[1:01:20] Adams you uh reminded me of this is the

[1:01:23] um Fielddale festival that will be

[1:01:25] coming up on Labor Day, Monday, Labor

[1:01:27] Day from 2 until 700 p.m. So they'll

[1:01:30] have music and uh come out and have a

[1:01:32] good time.

[1:01:33] >> All right, Mr. Lawless.

[1:01:36] [clears throat]

[1:01:37] >> Um first of all, I want to say as

[1:01:39] always, thanks for the board for

[1:01:41] accepting me. um you're going to find

[1:01:43] out I am a real individual and as you go

[1:01:45] out into the public I'm probably going

[1:01:46] to do some things I'm not always happy

[1:01:48] about but I'm always going to do what I

[1:01:50] think is best for the community and

[1:01:51] always put that first. Um I'm learning

[1:01:53] every day so I want everybody to

[1:01:55] understand that. But I think all of us

[1:01:57] in life make mistakes and we learn from

[1:01:59] those mistakes and try to be better

[1:02:00] individuals. Um I'm growing into this

[1:02:03] role. Um this role hasn't always, you

[1:02:05] know, been something I've always tried

[1:02:06] to go for, but I wanted to make a change

[1:02:08] in my community. So that's why I'm up

[1:02:10] here. Um, as I've as Miss Cobbler said

[1:02:14] earlier, Dr. Cobbler said, um, I started

[1:02:16] the trash and grass and drugs. And the

[1:02:18] reason I did that is I care about this

[1:02:19] community. I don't want to see my

[1:02:21] children leave this area. At the end of

[1:02:23] the day, whether you love me or not, I'm

[1:02:25] still my heart's in the right place and

[1:02:26] I'm going to do what I think's right.

[1:02:28] And I'm going to stand up on that. And

[1:02:30] one of the things that we're doing is

[1:02:31] we're actually going through and uh with

[1:02:33] the help of the Henry County officials

[1:02:35] and stuff, we actually been able to um

[1:02:37] start the cleaning process of

[1:02:39] Collinsville 220. Um we're actually

[1:02:41] mowing down the sides of that. A lot of

[1:02:43] people say to me, "Well, people should

[1:02:45] take pride in their own stuff." And I'm

[1:02:47] going to totally agree with you, but I

[1:02:49] feel like we need an initiative to step

[1:02:50] it up and show people that look, we're

[1:02:53] interested in our community as well. Um,

[1:02:55] and that was hard for me to go around to

[1:02:57] businesses and stuff like that and ask

[1:02:59] for them to do their part if we're not

[1:03:01] doing our part as a state. Um, so

[1:03:03] instead of relying on government all the

[1:03:04] time, we said, "Hey, as a county, let's

[1:03:06] do what we have to do." So, I want

[1:03:08] everybody to understand that. With that

[1:03:09] being said, um, I'm going to ask that

[1:03:12] some of my district impact funds, um,

[1:03:15] which is a total of for the first time

[1:03:17] mowing. I just want everybody to know we

[1:03:18] put out eight bids out there. We only

[1:03:20] got one back and we had to beg that one

[1:03:22] just so everybody understands. and we

[1:03:24] negotiated him down really low because I

[1:03:27] want everybody to understand these

[1:03:28] individuals are taking shovels. They're

[1:03:29] out there digging the mud off sides of

[1:03:31] the road. If you look down the curb

[1:03:33] lines and stuff like that, they've been

[1:03:34] edged. The grass is already growing

[1:03:36] again. So, it's going to be a constant

[1:03:38] battle, but they're looking at doing

[1:03:39] this one time a year and at the end of

[1:03:41] the mowing season. At the first part of

[1:03:43] the mowing season, I'm allocating I'm

[1:03:44] asking for $6,000 to come out of my

[1:03:47] district impact funds to be able to do

[1:03:48] that. And then the second end of the

[1:03:50] year mowing will be about $4,000. And

[1:03:52] what we're trying to do is deviate

[1:03:53] because VOTE only does it three times a

[1:03:56] year. I really honestly don't think

[1:03:57] that's acceptable in my own opinion. Um,

[1:03:59] as you go down the road, you'll see cuts

[1:04:01] and stuff like that growing around. Um,

[1:04:03] and I'm hoping to make enough racket

[1:04:05] that we get some change. Um, and I hope

[1:04:07] we keep doing that. And like I said, um,

[1:04:09] I guess I put it in a motion that I

[1:04:12] asked for $6,000 to come to the district

[1:04:14] impact funds to go to A&J lawn care,

[1:04:17] which was the only people that we could

[1:04:19] con into doing it. I want everybody to

[1:04:21] understand that we did try and that's

[1:04:23] what we got. But they're doing a great

[1:04:25] job. So if you see me out there like

[1:04:27] give them some major props because this

[1:04:29] is their calling card. They're taking

[1:04:31] pride. They're doing things that we

[1:04:33] really shouldn't have to do but we're

[1:04:34] doing them because as my as the

[1:04:37] individual said earlier, we want to make

[1:04:39] this community better and and that's

[1:04:40] what we're trying to do. And that's one

[1:04:43] thing I want to say. So I would I if I

[1:04:45] can make a motion Yeah. I would like to

[1:04:47] make a motion that $6,000 be alloc

[1:04:50] allocated to A&J for the cutting of

[1:04:53] business 220 from the eyesight to

[1:04:55] Walmart so everybody understands I can't

[1:04:57] do everybody's road but we're going to

[1:04:59] focus on our business road right now and

[1:05:00] go from there

[1:05:02] >> second

[1:05:02] >> we have a motion and a second any

[1:05:05] discussion

[1:05:07] all in favor is 6 Jennifer anything else

[1:05:11] Mr. lost.

[1:05:12] >> No sir. Thank you guys. Appreciate it.

[1:05:13] >> I don't know if I can add anything to

[1:05:15] what's already been said. So, I'm going

[1:05:17] to turn it to Mr. Wagner.

[1:05:19] >> Just a couple items. Uh just to add on

[1:05:22] what Deborah said, the Fieldell Festival

[1:05:24] celebration is also the 80th anniversary

[1:05:26] of Fielddale Fire. So, we're proud of

[1:05:28] the legacy that they hold there. It's

[1:05:30] one of the oldest fire departments in

[1:05:32] our county. They're real close with

[1:05:34] Baxton. I don't know exactly which one,

[1:05:36] but they're right there at town. Uh as you know that will also be a county

[1:05:40] and PSA holidays. Our offices will be

[1:05:43] closed. However, our convenience centers

[1:05:45] for recycling and garbage disposal are

[1:05:47] open on that Monday. Um over the next uh

[1:05:52] 30 days and you're aware of this staff

[1:05:54] will finalize the legislative agenda. So

[1:05:56] if you have any other suggestions you

[1:05:58] would like to include in that please let

[1:06:00] me know. We'll have those back to you

[1:06:01] for your approval at the next next

[1:06:03] meeting. And then uh for many years now,

[1:06:07] economic development has been a priority

[1:06:08] in this board and uh we've had some

[1:06:11] successes recently that will materialize

[1:06:14] over the next 12, 24, 48 months. But I

[1:06:17] wanted to give you a report on one where

[1:06:19] we just closed out their performance

[1:06:22] agreement, two years ahead of schedule

[1:06:24] because they're doing so well. In 2022,

[1:06:26] Crown Holdings announced that they were

[1:06:28] going to, you know, build a plant here,

[1:06:30] manufacture 8 million aluminum cans a

[1:06:32] day. and we filed the final report with

[1:06:34] the Commonwealth and with us uh this

[1:06:37] past month and they met every one of

[1:06:39] their performance metrics that was asked

[1:06:41] of them to get all their incentive

[1:06:43] money. So, it was money well invested. I

[1:06:45] want to show you how great they're

[1:06:47] doing. Uh they exceeded their capital

[1:06:49] investment goals by 133%.

[1:06:52] They exceeded their job goals by 132%.

[1:06:56] And the average pay is 170% higher than

[1:07:00] what they promised. So, uh, uh, that's

[1:07:03] the results we like to hear. They're not

[1:07:06] always like that, but our incentive

[1:07:09] money is always based on performance.

[1:07:10] So, in this case, they're getting all of

[1:07:13] their incentive money. We're proud to

[1:07:14] have them as a a good corporate citizen

[1:07:16] in our community. So, I want to share

[1:07:18] that with you today.

[1:07:19] >> Aren't they making more cans than they

[1:07:20] had proposed earlier?

[1:07:23] >> I do. Eight 8 million is the minimum.

[1:07:25] >> The minimum, right?

[1:07:26] >> Yes.

[1:07:28] >> Wow.

[1:07:30] >> Mr. the second most productive plant in

[1:07:33] the world for them.

[1:07:36] >> For that company,

[1:07:39] >> Mr. Adams, I remembered I wrote down my six point. Go ahead. And you've heard

[1:07:44] it. The board's heard it a lot. Just

[1:07:46] since we have some executives, uh,

[1:07:49] number of executives more than usual at

[1:07:51] one board meeting. Just to remind

[1:07:53] everybody publicly that if you want to

[1:07:55] see our board agenda, uh, Mr. Wagner and Mr. pal put it out on a Tuesday and

[1:08:01] once we see it then it goes out to the

[1:08:03] public. So everything that we're seeing

[1:08:05] up here you have access to everything

[1:08:07] that we're seeing on the website once

[1:08:10] it's released to us and we have a chance

[1:08:11] to look at it. I think it's important

[1:08:13] and I have realized I keep repeating

[1:08:15] that a lot. People are actually going on

[1:08:17] and looking at the agenda and seeing the

[1:08:19] items and things that are on there prior

[1:08:21] to the meeting. I think that's really

[1:08:23] great and you can see what we're seeing.

[1:08:25] So, just wanted to

[1:08:27] >> thank you

[1:08:27] >> make that public again. Thank you.

[1:08:28] >> Anything else, Mr.

[1:08:30] >> All right, that takes us to agenda item

[1:08:33] number 12. If someone will cite uh the

[1:08:36] uh items as allowed by the Freedom of

[1:08:38] Information Act and Code of Virginia to

[1:08:40] allow the board to go into a closed

[1:08:42] meeting.

[1:08:43] >> Mr. Chairman, I make a motion the board

[1:08:44] convenes in a closed meeting as

[1:08:46] permitted under the following sections

[1:08:47] of the Virginia Freedom of Information

[1:08:49] Act 2.23711A1 22 3711A1 for discussion

[1:08:53] of appointees to community policy and

[1:08:55] management team and other personnel

[1:08:57] matters. 2.23711

[1:09:00] A7 for discussion of pending legal

[1:09:02] matters. 2.2 3711 A3 for discussion of

[1:09:06] the acquisition disposal of real estate

[1:09:09] and 2.23711

[1:09:11] A5 for discussion of as yet unannounced

[1:09:14] industries.

[1:09:15] >> Second.

[1:09:16] >> We have a motion and a second. All in

[1:09:18] favor is 6 Jennifer. I'll see board

[1:09:22] members upstairs for 5 minutes.

[1:09:25] >> Meeting on a motion by Mr. B. Kennan,

[1:09:28] second by Mr. P.

[1:09:31] Mr. Pow. Will you hold the board,

[1:09:33] please?

[1:09:34] >> Yes, sir. Board members, to the best of

[1:09:36] your knowledge, only public business

[1:09:37] matters law.

[1:09:39] Meet the requirements of the code

[1:09:40] Virginia section 2.2-3711

[1:09:43] were heard and discussed or considered

[1:09:45] in close meeting. Can you vote for Mr.

[1:09:47] Uh, yes sir.

[1:09:48] >> Mr. Laws.

[1:09:49] >> Yes sir.

[1:09:49] >> Mr. Buchanan.

[1:09:50] >> Yes sir.

[1:09:51] >> Mr.

[1:09:52] >> Yes sir.

[1:09:52] >> Dr.

[1:09:53] >> Yes sir.

[1:09:54] >> Mr.

[1:09:54] >> Yes sir.

[1:09:55] >> Uh Mr. Wagner. Uh were there any items

[1:09:58] coming out of closed meeting that we

[1:09:59] need to consider prior to starting the

[1:10:01] evening session?

[1:10:02] >> I'm not aware of any.

[1:10:03] >> Board members. Are you aware of any?

[1:10:05] >> No.

[1:10:05] sir.

[1:10:06] >> Okay. Um

[1:10:09] in about one minute we will start the

[1:10:11] evening session.

[1:10:24] I'll call the 6 p.m. session of the

[1:10:27] Henry County Board of uh Supervisors uh

[1:10:29] to order. Uh I'd like to welcome all of

[1:10:32] our visitors. Remind you uh if you want

[1:10:35] to address the board, you must sign up 7

[1:10:37] days in advance of any of our regular

[1:10:39] meetings to be put on the agenda. The

[1:10:41] county administrator is the contact

[1:10:43] person for the board. However, the

[1:10:45] public may address the board under the

[1:10:47] agenda item matters presented by the

[1:10:50] public that will take up uh as agenda

[1:10:52] item number 16 tonight. Again, welcome

[1:10:56] everyone. Thank you for coming out and

[1:10:58] participating in your county government.

[1:11:01] Our first business item this evening uh

[1:11:04] for consideration is agenda item uh 13,

[1:11:08] general highway matters. We have with us

[1:11:10] uh Robin Keela and Dave Kaiser from uh

[1:11:14] VA. Robin, welcome.

[1:11:15] >> Thank you very much for having us

[1:11:16] tonight. Um I only have a few things I

[1:11:18] want to touch base on. Dogwood Road uh

[1:11:21] is finishing up. They're going to do the

[1:11:23] punch list walkthrough tomorrow and

[1:11:25] hopefully that means a few days or maybe

[1:11:27] a week or two after that. We should be

[1:11:28] completely done with that. Um as you all

[1:11:31] know, we have a pipe that washed down on

[1:11:32] Route 58 business and we are working

[1:11:34] actively on that on the westbound lanes.

[1:11:37] when we get done with the westbound, we

[1:11:38] will have to switch over to the

[1:11:39] eastbound lanes and do those that that

[1:11:41] pipe under that road also. So, it's

[1:11:43] going to be ongoing for a little while.

[1:11:45] So, but we're working hard to get it

[1:11:46] done. Uh we are actively working on

[1:11:49] mowing. I know we're getting a lot of

[1:11:50] mowing complaints and and requests, but

[1:11:52] we're trying to do the site distance uh

[1:11:54] problems that we have first and then we

[1:11:56] but we are working every day trying to

[1:11:58] get everything mowed. It's this Johnson

[1:12:00] grass is growing so fast. Um we should

[1:12:02] have tree trimming starting in a couple

[1:12:04] weeks in Henry County. I know that's

[1:12:06] important to you down there on Axton

[1:12:07] Road. Yes, ma'am.

[1:12:08] >> That's that's coming very quickly. We

[1:12:10] talked to them the other day. So, that's something that you can look

[1:12:12] forward to. And Deer Haven uh down in

[1:12:15] Carile area has opened back up. That

[1:12:16] road that pipe's been completed. Um and

[1:12:19] other than that, we're just working on

[1:12:20] regular routine maintenance

[1:12:23] questions.

[1:12:24] >> Board members, do you have any items uh

[1:12:26] that um we need to ask Miss Kayla at

[1:12:29] this time?

[1:12:30] >> I do. Um they are on 58 East coming from

[1:12:34] um Stewart

[1:12:37] >> um right before you get to the Family

[1:12:38] Dollar uh the Old Country store. There's

[1:12:40] a speed limit sign that says 55 miles an

[1:12:43] hour. Would you be able to take a look

[1:12:45] at that and see if we might be able to

[1:12:47] reduce that in order u because as you

[1:12:50] top that hill they're going at 60 65

[1:12:53] miles an hour and people pulling out of

[1:12:55] Dollar General. I'm hoping that that

[1:12:58] will help ease some of the the problems

[1:13:00] that we have there. So, if you could

[1:13:02] take a look at that from maybe from that

[1:13:04] location, even as far up as Carver Road,

[1:13:07] because there is a uh some problems

[1:13:10] through there with people going fast. I

[1:13:12] would definitely appreciate it. Thank

[1:13:14] you.

[1:13:16] >> Thank you.

[1:13:17] >> Um [clears throat] I have a couple

[1:13:18] questions actually. So, one of the

[1:13:20] things I've seen is going through

[1:13:22] business 220 and Collinsville through

[1:13:23] there, some of the sidewalks I'm seeing

[1:13:25] cones. Was that you guys cones and y'all

[1:13:27] aware that the sidewalk's been broken or messed up or I'm just wondering who

[1:13:32] put those safety cones out there and why

[1:13:34] it hasn't been addressed.

[1:13:35] >> I don't know.

[1:13:36] >> I know one spot was

[1:13:39] >> there's one in front of the Dutch end

[1:13:41] and then there's one in front of the old

[1:13:43] Casey's body shop um that I seen that

[1:13:45] had the cones there on the sidewalks.

[1:13:48] And then the other thing that I guess

[1:13:49] you know I have to say is

[1:13:51] [clears throat] we got cuts taking over

[1:13:52] a lot of our stuff. Is there somebody

[1:13:54] spraying? like what's what's what's

[1:13:56] happening with that? Cuz I know we

[1:13:57] talked about the grass, but where are we

[1:13:58] at with the cut through spraying?

[1:14:00] >> We don't do a lot of cutthrough spraying

[1:14:02] anymore. We need to do more than what we

[1:14:03] do. Um, but we don't typically spray a

[1:14:06] lot off the rightway. So, if it's on the

[1:14:07] rightway, we we typically try to spray

[1:14:09] it, but if it's off the rightway, we

[1:14:10] don't.

[1:14:11] >> So, what if it's covering like guard

[1:14:12] rails and signages and stuff like that?

[1:14:14] >> We do try to do that particular

[1:14:16] location.

[1:14:17] >> BC Drive is one that I think of that

[1:14:18] comes off the top of my head. Okay. Um,

[1:14:21] I think those are the two that's was the

[1:14:23] two thing I was trying to think was that

[1:14:24] one. And then here's my next question,

[1:14:26] you know, and I asked this gentleman

[1:14:27] before when he was here before. Who is

[1:14:29] responsible for the power lines of

[1:14:31] getting the cuts through off of it? I've

[1:14:32] heard two different things from two

[1:14:34] different ways. And I'm trying to figure

[1:14:35] out which way we go about that.

[1:14:37] >> We typically do not get involved with

[1:14:38] power lines only because of the, you

[1:14:40] know, the possibility of the

[1:14:42] electricity. Sure. You know, so we don't

[1:14:44] do that. And it's of course usually AAP

[1:14:46] has a um utility easements. So they're

[1:14:49] responsible for their their own

[1:14:50] easements. Uh if it's you know on our

[1:14:52] signs or things like that of course we

[1:14:54] would be responsible for it all.

[1:14:55] >> So D who do we call to get do we call

[1:14:57] AP? Do we have a representative for

[1:14:58] that? Like who do we take care of our

[1:15:00] folks?

[1:15:00] >> Okay. We do.

[1:15:02] >> Yes. Just let me know where you

[1:15:05] >> I have one other question.

[1:15:07] >> I don't want to take is anybody else. Uh

[1:15:10] I just uh thought about it and I didn't

[1:15:11] come that way this morning, but uh the

[1:15:14] clover leaf there coming from, you know,

[1:15:16] horse pasture into the city. Um they had

[1:15:19] mowed about two strips in that clover

[1:15:21] leaf, but they left the rest of it and I

[1:15:23] was wondering if they were going to mow

[1:15:26] that also.

[1:15:27] >> I'm sure they are. I don't know why they

[1:15:28] didn't while they were there. Maybe

[1:15:30] something happened, but uh yeah, it'll

[1:15:31] be

[1:15:32] >> Thank you. Yes, ma'am.

[1:15:33] >> Yeah. I just did just want to thank you

[1:15:35] for, you know, the work with the Dogwood

[1:15:38] um improvements and I know I've spoken

[1:15:41] to a couple bus drivers and they are

[1:15:43] said everything's going well and uh you

[1:15:45] know, Mr. I think that's the idea that

[1:15:47] Mr. Ben Grabley brought up years and

[1:15:49] years ago. So, it took a while for that

[1:15:51] to, you know, get approved and go into

[1:15:53] motion, but you know, definitely see the

[1:15:55] improvements um in that area. And I'm

[1:15:57] sure it's making the school traffic a

[1:16:00] lot better exiting and entering Laurel

[1:16:02] Park. I'm glad.

[1:16:03] >> Yes, ma'am.

[1:16:04] >> That is great. Good feedback.

[1:16:05] >> In the clover leaf at Stanley Town in

[1:16:07] that Basset area, I noticed you had was

[1:16:09] it Department of Corrections? I called

[1:16:12] about that. Could could you just uh kind

[1:16:14] of explain that process briefly what

[1:16:17] happens when you utilize the Department

[1:16:19] of Corrections because that has been uh

[1:16:23] a lot of people have brought to our

[1:16:24] attention how much trash there there has

[1:16:27] been there. So, I did see the guys and I

[1:16:30] didn't see any gals, but I saw the guys

[1:16:31] over there. So, how does that work?

[1:16:34] >> So, typically we have a crew every day

[1:16:36] from Department of Corrections and

[1:16:38] sometimes two crews every day. We rotate

[1:16:40] them throughout the county doing various

[1:16:41] jobs, whether it's trash pickup, we

[1:16:44] eating, you know, they they do some work

[1:16:45] around our facilities for us, sometimes

[1:16:47] some cleanup and and that sort of thing.

[1:16:49] So, we we use them quite a bit and it's

[1:16:51] very good for them and for us, of

[1:16:52] course. Um, but they can do about

[1:16:55] anything. We just have to be careful

[1:16:57] where we use them. We can't use them

[1:16:58] around schools at various places that

[1:17:00] are some businesses and that type of

[1:17:02] thing. So, we have to be careful with

[1:17:03] that. But other than that, we use them

[1:17:04] very regularly. Um sometimes two of the

[1:17:07] weeks.

[1:17:08] >> I didn't know if you had if there was

[1:17:09] some kind of system to that or you're

[1:17:11] just saying that we utilize who you can

[1:17:13] every day at some of the most egregious

[1:17:15] spots.

[1:17:16] >> Yes. Some of the things that you know

[1:17:17] take a lot of um physical labor hand you

[1:17:20] know hand work that we've got that big

[1:17:21] crew that can take care of that for us

[1:17:23] where we concentrate on some of the more

[1:17:25] equipmentoriented type work.

[1:17:27] I don't think they're allowed to go in

[1:17:29] residential either, right? Mr. Sheriff

[1:17:32] Dave told me that.

[1:17:32] >> Yeah, that's a really trashy spot. So,

[1:17:35] can we put in a request, multiple

[1:17:38] requests for for that? Now, I mean, I've

[1:17:41] traveling the roads and I'm looking to

[1:17:43] see who's doing what. When I saw them

[1:17:44] there, I thought, "Oh, yay."

[1:17:46] >> But I but I didn't know they were going

[1:17:48] to be there. Not that you have to tell

[1:17:50] me everything there, but every every

[1:17:52] time you're going to do something, but

[1:17:53] is there a time that we can call you and

[1:17:56] request specifically Department of

[1:17:58] Corrections to come out and do that?

[1:18:00] >> Sure. If you want to send me an email

[1:18:01] with some list of places or things, we

[1:18:03] can certainly look.

[1:18:04] >> Thank you. Okay. Thank you.

[1:18:10] » Okay. Do we have other items?

[1:18:13] >> Thank you.

[1:18:17] Agenda item number 14, um, proposed

[1:18:21] zoning ordinance, uh, referencing data

[1:18:24] centers. I'm going to ask, uh, our

[1:18:25] county attorney if he will, uh, give us

[1:18:28] background on this, please.

[1:18:30] >> I will. I have a PowerPoint. Mr. Martin,

[1:18:33] help me prepare.

[1:18:42] All right.

[1:18:43] What have I done, Brand? There we go.

[1:18:45] Okay. A little background. April 15th,

[1:18:47] planning commission had a public hearing

[1:18:49] on zoning ordinance amendments,

[1:18:51] including a new data center ordinance.

[1:18:52] We had we have no existing data center

[1:18:54] ordinance standards. No public comments

[1:18:56] were offered at that public hearing. Uh

[1:18:58] they made a recommendation uh

[1:19:00] recommended ordinance uh to the board of

[1:19:02] supervisors. July 28th, board of

[1:19:03] supervisors had a public hearing. Uh

[1:19:05] many residents spoke in opposition to

[1:19:07] data centers requesting moratorium,

[1:19:09] stricter regulations. Um uh no comments

[1:19:12] in favor of uh data centers. Uh the

[1:19:15] board uh at that time uh approved u many

[1:19:19] zoning ordinance amendments but pulled

[1:19:21] out the data center and asked for a more

[1:19:23] rigorous ordinance.

[1:19:26] So under the previous ordinance data

[1:19:29] center the previous proposed ordinance

[1:19:31] data centers were allowed only by

[1:19:33] special use permit and only in

[1:19:35] industrially zoned property. Uh and

[1:19:38] there was um required water impact study

[1:19:41] uh cooling technology, water demand,

[1:19:43] downstream cumulative impacts, required

[1:19:46] screening of generators, mechanical

[1:19:48] equipment, uh required evidence of

[1:19:50] approval by the utility company about

[1:19:52] the consumption of data and how that

[1:19:54] would be met. Uh set a 50 decel noise

[1:19:58] limit at the property line with testing

[1:20:00] before operation and every 5 years and a

[1:20:03] 48 hour window to remedy violations

[1:20:05] before operations would cease. at some

[1:20:06] of the highlights of the proposed data

[1:20:09] ordinance, the new the new um amended

[1:20:12] ordinance as proposed by staff. And so

[1:20:15] the planning department uh county

[1:20:17] administration, myself met um so we are

[1:20:22] creating we're recommending this

[1:20:23] ordinance creates the data center zone.

[1:20:26] So so data centers could only be

[1:20:28] constructed with a special use permit in

[1:20:31] a z in a data center zone. Uh the DC

[1:20:34] district is not anywhere on the current

[1:20:36] zoning map. Um any future location would

[1:20:40] require a resoning and a special use

[1:20:42] permit. The entire process would require

[1:20:45] three public hearings. There'd be a

[1:20:46] public hearing before the planning

[1:20:48] commission. So if a land owner in Henry

[1:20:50] County wants to develop a data center,

[1:20:52] he would uh apply for a reasonzoning,

[1:20:55] which means going to the planning

[1:20:56] commission uh public hearing before the

[1:20:58] planning commission. planning commission

[1:20:59] would make a recommendation to the board

[1:21:01] of supervisors and the board of

[1:21:02] supervisors would hold a uh public

[1:21:06] hearing and decide if they were going to

[1:21:08] reszone land in Henry County for to make

[1:21:11] it uh to data center zone from whatever

[1:21:14] it was previously zoned. If the board

[1:21:16] said no, uh we're not going to reszone

[1:21:18] the land, that would be the end of the

[1:21:20] case. There would be no additional

[1:21:22] public hearings, no additional action,

[1:21:24] and a data center could not be

[1:21:25] constructed. If uh the board of

[1:21:27] supervisors did reszone the land and say

[1:21:29] well this is an appropriate location

[1:21:31] then there would still be another public

[1:21:34] hearing and to go the person would have

[1:21:36] to apply for a special use permit and

[1:21:38] there would be another public hearing

[1:21:39] before the board of zoning appeals um

[1:21:42] would consider the matter

[1:21:45] uh DC district standard. So, uh, front

[1:21:48] setback, um, in if if something is

[1:21:51] reszoned for DC, this is some of the

[1:21:54] requirements. It' be a front setback

[1:21:56] minimum of 100 ft from any right ofway

[1:21:59] street. Side and rear setbacks would be

[1:22:01] a,000 ft um, when adjoining a

[1:22:03] non-industrial zone, 500 ft if it was in

[1:22:06] an industrial zone or um, adjoined an

[1:22:08] industrial zone. Maximum building height

[1:22:10] would be 75 ft from grade. Taller

[1:22:12] structure would be allowed only with a

[1:22:14] special use permit from the BCA.

[1:22:18] expanded application requirements. The

[1:22:20] items here in red were uh

[1:22:24] suggestions that were made at the public

[1:22:26] hearing that were then incorporated into

[1:22:29] the previously proposed ordinance. So,

[1:22:31] we have uh a detailed project narrative

[1:22:34] identifying the applicant, owner,

[1:22:35] operator, describing proposed data

[1:22:37] center location, comprehensive site plan

[1:22:40] showing property lines, setback lines,

[1:22:42] buildings, access roads, parking

[1:22:44] entrances. uh make sure they meet all

[1:22:46] the VOTE requirements. Third-party water

[1:22:48] supply impact study with expanded

[1:22:50] content including demand uh cooling

[1:22:53] technology sources, groundwater

[1:22:55] analysis, cumulative impacts, drought

[1:22:57] modeling, recycling and release of

[1:22:59] water, wastewater treatment and storage.

[1:23:02] Uh an electrical infrastructure impact

[1:23:04] analysis covering demand redundancy

[1:23:07] impacts on existing infrastructure

[1:23:09] necessary upgrades um and documentation

[1:23:12] of utility capacity approval.

[1:23:15] Photometric lighting plan meeting new

[1:23:18] lighting standards. Acoustical impact

[1:23:20] analysis by professional engineer

[1:23:22] modeling sound levels tonal

[1:23:24] characteristics mitigation measures and

[1:23:27] demonstrating compliance with county

[1:23:29] noise ordinances. evaluation of an

[1:23:32] emergency power technologies to identify

[1:23:34] systems with the lowest practical

[1:23:36] environmental impact.

[1:23:40] Um documentation of the right to use the

[1:23:42] property in a detailed decommissioning

[1:23:44] plan with required financial security

[1:23:47] operational noise uh would be limited to

[1:23:50] 50 dB at an exterior property line. And

[1:23:53] then it this new part with mechanical

[1:23:55] equipment prohibited from producing

[1:23:57] clearly audible pure tone at or beyond

[1:24:00] residentially zoned property lines. Um

[1:24:03] emergency backup generator testing that

[1:24:05] was in the the white items were in the

[1:24:08] originally uh suggested from the

[1:24:10] planning commission. So down to another

[1:24:12] newer one. Exterior lighting must be

[1:24:14] downward directed, full cut off, and

[1:24:16] fully shielded to minimize glare, light

[1:24:18] trespass, and sky glow with color

[1:24:21] temperature of 3000K or less, and height

[1:24:25] limits on poles unless uh greater height

[1:24:29] is approved by the board of zoning

[1:24:30] appeals.

[1:24:33] Um, some other new ones, and I think

[1:24:35] this is one that was of a lot of

[1:24:37] discussion, cooling technology is

[1:24:38] restricted to a closed loop system. So

[1:24:41] evaporative cooling techniques and

[1:24:43] cooling towers are not permitted and

[1:24:46] this is an effort to greatly reduce

[1:24:48] water consumption. Uh decommissioning

[1:24:50] must begin within 12 months after

[1:24:52] permanent cessation of operations or a

[1:24:55] year of inactivity and be completed

[1:24:57] within 24 months unless BCAA uh grants

[1:25:00] an extension. And the county may draw on

[1:25:02] financial asurances to complete

[1:25:05] decommissioning if the owner fails to

[1:25:06] meet the approved plan with cost reviews

[1:25:10] at least every three years to adjust the

[1:25:12] security amount.

[1:25:15] We go um post construction reporting. So

[1:25:18] within 90 days of full operations or

[1:25:21] another approved time, the owner must

[1:25:23] submit a post construction acoustical

[1:25:25] study demonstrating compliance with

[1:25:26] noise standards with similar

[1:25:28] verification required after completion

[1:25:30] of each phase. Annual noise testing must

[1:25:33] be conducted and submitted to the

[1:25:34] administrator by July 1 and a 48 hour

[1:25:38] period to remedy violations before

[1:25:40] operations would cease. There's

[1:25:42] emergency planning requirements. An

[1:25:44] emergency response plan must be prepared

[1:25:47] in consultation with um Department of

[1:25:50] Public Safety identifying hazards,

[1:25:51] emergency contacts, access procedures,

[1:25:55] utility shut offs, fire suppression,

[1:25:58] hazards, material, hazardous materials,

[1:26:00] and emergency power systems. The plan

[1:26:02] must be updated at least every few years

[1:26:05] and after material facility

[1:26:06] modifications and an orientation session

[1:26:08] for public safety must be provided prior

[1:26:11] to issuance of a certificate of

[1:26:12] occupancy.

[1:26:15] Um, and here's some of the summary of

[1:26:17] the changes. Um, you know, where it's

[1:26:20] allowed. Previously, the proposal was to

[1:26:23] allow it in any industrial zone with a

[1:26:24] special use permit. That would just be

[1:26:26] one public hearing and front of the

[1:26:28] board of zoning appeals. Um, but under

[1:26:31] this, it's it creates a new district.

[1:26:33] So, there there's no place you can build

[1:26:35] it in Henry County at this time unless

[1:26:38] this board reszoneed property. Um, uh,

[1:26:41] the zoning map. Yeah. No new district

[1:26:43] uses. So, we're keeping all the zoning

[1:26:45] map remains just as it is at this time.

[1:26:48] Setbacks um 100 foot setbacks for ground

[1:26:51] equipment 100

[1:26:55] foot front 500 to,000 ft on side and

[1:26:57] rear. Um application studies, water

[1:27:00] study, noise test, utility approval. the

[1:27:03] new that's under the original one the

[1:27:04] old the new draft is water study

[1:27:06] electrical analysis acoustical acoustic

[1:27:09] analysis lighting emergency power

[1:27:11] decommissioning the noise testing is uh

[1:27:14] greatly more rigorous 50 dBA plus pure

[1:27:18] tone limits yearly testing uh and it has

[1:27:22] this post construction study cooling

[1:27:25] technology um uh we're requiring a

[1:27:29] closed loop only no evaporative cooling

[1:27:32] and or water tower or cooling towers. So

[1:27:35] that's that's a greatly enhanced

[1:27:37] feature. Um decommissioning was not

[1:27:40] detailed in the original proposal and

[1:27:42] here there's a full decommissioning plan

[1:27:45] with um bonding requirements.

[1:27:51] So the planning commission and board of

[1:27:53] supervisors have already had public

[1:27:54] hearings on this. Um the board may

[1:27:56] proceed to adopt the data center uh

[1:27:59] ordinance and regula data center

[1:28:01] districts and regulations um without

[1:28:04] public hearings. Uh the staff recommends

[1:28:07] adopting the data the proposed ordinance

[1:28:11] as amended.

[1:28:17] » Okay. As stated earlier uh to have

[1:28:20] nothing as far as an ordinance is

[1:28:22] concerned. What is your uh your take on

[1:28:25] having nothing at all?

[1:28:27] >> Well, we we do not want to have nothing.

[1:28:30] I I think this is greatly I think this

[1:28:32] is a more transparent process. There are

[1:28:34] more public hearings. I think it's a

[1:28:36] more rigorous ordinance. There's more

[1:28:38] requirements to even apply. I think that

[1:28:42] um it is uh unlike I mean to to have

[1:28:46] it's the only district that we have

[1:28:49] created that is not on the map in Henry

[1:28:51] County which means that the elected body

[1:28:53] must uh have a re have have a two public

[1:28:56] hearings before considering resoning.

[1:28:59] Well, there'll be a public hearing by

[1:29:00] the planning commission and one by this

[1:29:02] board. like that there would have to be

[1:29:04] a reasonzoning before anyone could even

[1:29:06] apply to build a data center uh and and

[1:29:09] go get try to get a special use permit

[1:29:11] from the board of zoning officials. I

[1:29:12] mean, I think it's a fair process to a

[1:29:16] land owner who wants to try to do this,

[1:29:17] but it it's going to require a serious

[1:29:20] commitment of resources, a serious

[1:29:22] commitment of time and expertise to be

[1:29:24] able to apply for the reasonzoning and

[1:29:26] to be able to apply for a special use

[1:29:28] permit and try to go forward with

[1:29:30] developing a center. But I think it's

[1:29:32] fair um for land owners in Henry County.

[1:29:34] I think it's fair to the public.

[1:29:36] There'll be a lot of transparency, a lot

[1:29:38] of opportunity for public input if and

[1:29:40] when someone ever tries to reszone their

[1:29:42] land and then apply for a special use

[1:29:44] permit to do this.

[1:29:46] >> Would you consider this in simplest term

[1:29:49] protective measures?

[1:29:51] >> Yes. I mean I think Yeah. I think it's

[1:29:55] very rigorous, very protective. I mean

[1:29:59] the and beyond what's listed in there. I

[1:30:02] mean when the board of zoning appeals

[1:30:03] considers a special use permit there's

[1:30:05] many other conditions there'll be sight

[1:30:08] specific if this ever came up and

[1:30:10] someone proposed this development. There

[1:30:12] may be sightsp specific issues or things

[1:30:15] in the future that we aren't even

[1:30:16] contemplating today that the board of

[1:30:18] zoning appeals could add additional

[1:30:21] conditions to a special use permit that

[1:30:24] you know that would make it even more

[1:30:25] rigorous and more protective of land

[1:30:28] owners.

[1:30:30] >> And speaking on that, that could be

[1:30:32] construction access, staging of

[1:30:35] construction equipment, maintaining the

[1:30:37] roadway, all of that is in that specific

[1:30:40] site. That's a very good example because

[1:30:42] on large construction projects now, one

[1:30:45] of the considerations of the board of

[1:30:46] zoning appeals is staging areas. There's

[1:30:50] there is often or there is is sometimes

[1:30:53] a requirement for staging areas because

[1:30:56] when you're building, you know, data

[1:30:58] centers are extremely large and when

[1:31:00] you're building something that big, you

[1:31:02] can't just deliver building materials

[1:31:03] like you would for your home. there's a

[1:31:05] lot more logistics and involved to avoid

[1:31:08] impeding traffic and impacting your

[1:31:10] neighbors. So, they do put those type of

[1:31:13] restrictions on large construction

[1:31:15] projects now and and that's the type of

[1:31:17] thing that would be I would anticipate

[1:31:19] would be in the special use permit.

[1:31:21] >> One other question uh in regard to

[1:31:24] multiple public hearings and it comes to

[1:31:26] the board of supervisors

[1:31:29] and uh we take input from the public and

[1:31:32] we deny one. What is the strength of

[1:31:35] that from a legal standpoint?

[1:31:37] >> So a resoning is a legislative matter

[1:31:40] and the board of supervisors I mean

[1:31:43] courts are going to give on a

[1:31:45] legislative matter like a resoning

[1:31:46] they're going to give great deference to

[1:31:48] the elected body. The the decision of

[1:31:50] the board will be considered you know

[1:31:53] given great weight. Um and it's and the

[1:31:55] standard I think that's used in these

[1:31:56] cases is fairly debatable. So is is the

[1:31:59] you know is it fairly debatable like

[1:32:02] they could have they they approved it or

[1:32:03] they didn't approve it and if you if so

[1:32:05] they reject it and the developer wants

[1:32:07] to challenge that in court I I think

[1:32:09] it'll be a difficult decision to

[1:32:12] overturn. Um it it it's all fact

[1:32:14] specific what you know is said at public

[1:32:16] hearings and what the board says in

[1:32:18] making their decision. But I I think

[1:32:20] that you know when you consider resoning

[1:32:22] you look at things like the comp plan,

[1:32:24] the future of the county, the character

[1:32:25] of the surrounding neighborhood. um the

[1:32:28] general health and welfare of the

[1:32:30] citizens near the resoning. Um there

[1:32:33] there's a lot of subjective things that

[1:32:35] are considered by an elected body when

[1:32:37] they reszone land. Um and so I I think

[1:32:41] it would, you know, it's all fact

[1:32:42] specific to the case that would come and

[1:32:44] the decision the board makes, but I I I

[1:32:46] think it's a the board's decision will

[1:32:49] be given great weight by any court that

[1:32:51] it's challenged in.

[1:32:53] >> Board members, do you have any

[1:32:55] additional questions of Miss Lau? Can

[1:32:57] you speak on a moratorum and the

[1:32:59] downside of those?

[1:33:01] >> I I mean I I think I said this at the

[1:33:04] last meeting. I think a moratorum is a risky proposition. Um just because

[1:33:10] it sounds so what what a board with an

[1:33:12] elected body doesn't want to do is make

[1:33:14] an arbitrary and capriccious decision.

[1:33:16] That's the kind of decision that courts

[1:33:18] will overturn an elected body and say

[1:33:21] well that that doesn't that that's

[1:33:22] there's no facts to support why they did

[1:33:24] that. There's no good reasoning to

[1:33:26] support that. So, um, and to a lawyer,

[1:33:29] you know, when you put a moratorium, you

[1:33:31] say, "Well, we have an ordinance and you

[1:33:32] can develop a data center on you. You

[1:33:34] can by going through this ordinance, you

[1:33:36] got to get a resoning. You got to get a

[1:33:38] special use permit. We have this

[1:33:39] ordinance." But then you say, "We're

[1:33:41] going to do a more. We're not even going

[1:33:42] to let anyone apply to do that." That doesn't sound like a fair process

[1:33:45] to the land owners. It doesn't sound

[1:33:47] like a fair process to people on

[1:33:48] property in this county who might want

[1:33:50] to do a lawful activity. I don't deny

[1:33:53] that it has a great impact on the

[1:33:54] community, but to say you're not even

[1:33:57] going to be allowed to apply to try to

[1:34:00] go through the process. Um, you know, I would defend that decision if I had to

[1:34:07] go to court, but that's not something I

[1:34:09] think is a great position to be in. I I

[1:34:12] think the ordinance is enough. I think

[1:34:14] it's fair, transparent, rigorous. I

[1:34:17] think it's enough that this that we can

[1:34:20] protect the community and still allow a

[1:34:22] fair process to take place. I think a

[1:34:24] moratorum to me at first blush is just sounds like something that's harder

[1:34:29] to defend in court if someone challenges

[1:34:30] it and and [clears throat] it's an

[1:34:32] expensive thing to defend. I mean, you

[1:34:34] know, if someone comes into the planning

[1:34:35] and say, "We're not even going to take

[1:34:37] your application." I mean, you know, a

[1:34:40] judge is going to look down and say,

[1:34:41] "Why not, Mr. W?" The way the way it

[1:34:45] stands right now, if we don't do

[1:34:47] anything tonight, I want to make sure

[1:34:48] everybody understands this. What we do,

[1:34:49] we get ready to do. What I want to say

[1:34:52] is is if for whatever reason, if we go

[1:34:56] I'm trying to remember where I was

[1:34:57] trying to go with that. Um, all right. I

[1:35:00] remember what I was going to say to as

[1:35:03] if we don't put anything in tonight.

[1:35:04] Somebody could come in the industrial

[1:35:06] park, get a warehouse, and create their

[1:35:08] own data center today. Like if we don't

[1:35:10] do anything tonight, they could go in

[1:35:12] tomorrow by the building and put in a

[1:35:14] data center without anything we can do.

[1:35:16] Is that not correct?

[1:35:18] >> It that might be an overstatement, but

[1:35:20] it we do not specifically regulate it

[1:35:22] and it would we'd have to, you know,

[1:35:24] someone would apply to do it. We'd have

[1:35:25] to categorize that building as something

[1:35:27] and we don't have a data center in our

[1:35:29] ordinance now. So I don't know what Mr.

[1:35:31] Clark would categorize it as, but they

[1:35:33] might be able to do it without us. We we

[1:35:35] certainly would have much much much less

[1:35:37] say than we do now. But but we we

[1:35:40] probably couldn't stop it. That's true.

[1:35:41] We probably couldn't stop it because

[1:35:43] it'd probably be treated like some kind

[1:35:45] of computer warehouse or something. I

[1:35:47] mean, because we you know, these are

[1:35:49] this ordinance. I we just I just we

[1:35:52] really should have an ordinance because

[1:35:54] this is a a very important topic that's

[1:35:56] being you know, all over Virginia. These

[1:35:58] data centers are occurring and um we we want to have an [clears throat]

[1:36:02] ordinance.

[1:36:03] >> And you're saying that we could adopt

[1:36:04] this tonight and add on to it, correct?

[1:36:06] Oh, you can always the zoning. Yes, the the zoning um ordinance can always

[1:36:12] be amended by this board. The the

[1:36:14] process is that when just like this one

[1:36:16] came to us, we saw a need to there were

[1:36:19] other things we amended too, but one of

[1:36:21] them were like, "Oh, well, we have no

[1:36:22] data center ordinance and this is a very

[1:36:24] um fastmoving target in Virginia." So we

[1:36:28] the planning commission held a public

[1:36:30] hearing and they made a recommendation

[1:36:31] after and and we had a public hearing

[1:36:33] and made these amendments and

[1:36:35] enhancements and after we if the board

[1:36:39] passes it tonight the process would have

[1:36:41] to start over. If you wanted to make

[1:36:43] amendments to it we we this board

[1:36:45] [clears throat] could come up with a

[1:36:46] list of things. Hey, we want to add to

[1:36:47] it. We want to do this. Send it to the

[1:36:49] planning commission. They would do a

[1:36:50] public hearing and then it come back as

[1:36:52] amendments to the ordinance. But this

[1:36:53] would be on the books as of its adoption

[1:36:55] tonight. And so if someone came in and

[1:36:57] applied tomorrow, this is what would

[1:36:59] apply.

[1:37:01] But if someone came in and applied

[1:37:02] tomorrow, if it isn't adopted, someone

[1:37:04] came in and applied tomorrow, this

[1:37:06] wouldn't apply. And it's not clear what

[1:37:08] would

[1:37:10] any other questions or clarification.

[1:37:15] All right. With that, what is the um

[1:37:19] desire of the board in regarding uh

[1:37:21] consideration of the proposed zoning

[1:37:24] ordinance?

[1:37:24] >> Mr. Chairman, I make a motion to approve

[1:37:27] the zoning ordinance as presented.

[1:37:29] >> Second.

[1:37:30] >> We have a motion and a second. Any

[1:37:32] discussion?

[1:37:34] >> Just

[1:37:35] >> Yes, sir.

[1:37:35] >> Which again, can you just reiterate

[1:37:38] >> um Well, I guess I can just reiterate,

[1:37:41] you know, this is not approving a data

[1:37:43] center. This is approving an ordinance

[1:37:46] so that if anyone was to request a data

[1:37:50] center, this is a process they would

[1:37:52] have to go through. And to my knowledge,

[1:37:54] to my understanding, as of now, no one

[1:37:57] has requested a data center uh to be

[1:38:01] built in Henry County.

[1:38:02] >> Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for

[1:38:06] bringing that out. And

[1:38:08] >> uh

[1:38:09] as part of the discussion, thank you,

[1:38:11] Mr. Ly. This is uh I think staff took

[1:38:14] back what we heard from 37 people uh

[1:38:18] last month and tried to put the most

[1:38:21] protective measures and make it rigorous

[1:38:23] for uh anyone uh to step in here. That's

[1:38:27] all I was going to say is that after the

[1:38:29] meeting last month and our our

[1:38:32] extraordinary hesitation to move for the

[1:38:37] data center ordinance uh then and then I

[1:38:40] thought that and I see quite a few folks

[1:38:42] here who also gave really very

[1:38:46] informative and educated and uh

[1:38:49] exceptional presentations.

[1:38:51] I'm satisfied that we took that

[1:38:53] information and that we have made the

[1:38:56] changes and thankful for the

[1:38:58] administration for the county

[1:39:00] administration office for Lee and his

[1:39:02] groups that they came together and have

[1:39:06] brought us a much better

[1:39:09] uh option and a much better um

[1:39:12] ordinance.

[1:39:14] >> Can I add to that? Thank you. I think we

[1:39:16] have the public to thank for as as well.

[1:39:19] Mhm.

[1:39:20] >> I have some comments, too. Yes, sir.

[1:39:22] >> And and I agree with Miss Cobbler. U

[1:39:25] I appreciate the planning commission um

[1:39:28] and the uh county's hard work in putting

[1:39:31] this ordinance together and also the

[1:39:33] information that was provided to us at

[1:39:36] the public hearing last month. uh they

[1:39:38] took into consideration

[1:39:40] uh a lot of what was proposed or what

[1:39:44] was suggested and I think that um you

[1:39:48] know without an ordinance in place we're

[1:39:50] opening up we are vulnerable so we need

[1:39:52] something in place um guidelines and I

[1:39:56] think we understand that um it's not

[1:39:59] about politics it's about our people

[1:40:01] it's about uh our natural resources and

[1:40:04] we need to ensure that uh Henry County

[1:40:06] is protected

[1:40:08] And that's what this ordinance will do.

[1:40:10] And I think as the county administrator

[1:40:12] um the county attorney said, if we find

[1:40:15] that there are some problems with that,

[1:40:17] we can certainly go back and revisit it

[1:40:20] again. But we do need something in place

[1:40:22] that protects Henry County and also uh

[1:40:26] our citizens um at this stage because um

[1:40:32] data centers are taking over and you

[1:40:34] know we might not realize everything

[1:40:36] that we do centers around them. So it's

[1:40:39] fast moving and if we don't move quickly

[1:40:43] in order to put something in place then

[1:40:45] uh I think we're opening ourselves up

[1:40:48] for a lot of heartache and um legal

[1:40:50] problems. [clears throat] Um so that was

[1:40:54] my I had also uh researched the fact of

[1:40:56] a moratorum you know 180day or one-year

[1:40:59] moratorum but I find that in Virginia um

[1:41:04] legally that's going to be very hard to

[1:41:06] defend in court. Uh, so, um,

[1:41:11] but I do appreciate everything because

[1:41:14] it shows me that the people here in

[1:41:17] Henry County are concerned about where

[1:41:20] they live and they brought us some very

[1:41:22] good suggestions that we have tried to

[1:41:24] incorporate in what's presented here

[1:41:26] tonight. It might not be perfect, but

[1:41:30] certainly it is uh something that's

[1:41:32] needed.

[1:41:35] >> Any other discussion? We have a motion

[1:41:37] and a second. Any other discussion?

[1:41:40] All in favor?

[1:41:42] It is 6. Jennifer.

[1:41:47] » Um, agenda item number 15. We'll have a

[1:41:51] public hearing referencing uh the FY2026

[1:41:55] 2027 budget amendment. Mr. Wagner.

[1:41:59] >> As board's last meeting, staff presented

[1:42:01] as recommended amendments to the fiscal

[1:42:03] year 2026 27 budget to address the

[1:42:06] common adopted budget which included

[1:42:09] additional funding for public education

[1:42:10] and other states services. The

[1:42:14] Commonwealth budget included an

[1:42:15] additional $2,152,791

[1:42:18] for public education, resulting in

[1:42:21] increase of $615,361

[1:42:24] of the required local matching funds to

[1:42:27] balance the fiscal 2627

[1:42:30] budget. Staff suggested using $532,239

[1:42:35] from the fiscal year 2025

[1:42:37] local carryover funds to help meet the

[1:42:40] local requirements for public education.

[1:42:43] In addition, it was suggested that the

[1:42:45] county delay hiring for several

[1:42:46] positions and utilize vacancy savings in

[1:42:49] order to cover the budget gap. With the

[1:42:52] recommended amendment exceeding 1% of

[1:42:54] the total county budget, a public

[1:42:56] hearing is required and that public

[1:42:57] hearing has been properly advertised and

[1:42:59] scheduled for this meeting.

[1:43:02] >> Okay. I'll open the public hearing to

[1:43:04] take input on the uh budget uh

[1:43:07] amendments uh as described by Mr. Wagner

[1:43:11] at 6:33

[1:43:13] p.m. Is there anyone desiring to address

[1:43:15] the board on the budget

[1:43:18] um amendment public hearing?

[1:43:22] I see one hand. I see a couple hands.

[1:43:24] Let me read a brief policy statement and

[1:43:26] then I saw Miss Martin's hand first. Uh

[1:43:30] this is time for public comment. We

[1:43:32] welcome your participation in tonight's

[1:43:34] meeting. We're here to listen to you.

[1:43:37] Um, if you care to address the board,

[1:43:39] come to the podium, state your name,

[1:43:42] your subject matter, and the district in

[1:43:43] which you live. We know the subject

[1:43:45] matter is a public hearing. By coming to

[1:43:46] the podium, you've agreed that you will

[1:43:48] exhibit respect for the board and its

[1:43:50] members and the staff. You will receive

[1:43:53] the same consideration from the board.

[1:43:56] Please try to keep your uh presentation

[1:43:58] to no more than five minutes. Miss

[1:44:00] Martin, I saw your hand first.

[1:44:08] Thank you for allowing us this

[1:44:10] opportunity to have our freedom of

[1:44:13] speech.

[1:44:15] My name is Mary Martin. I live in the

[1:44:16] Ridgeway District. Chad Party is my

[1:44:19] school board representative and Travis

[1:44:21] is my supervisor.

[1:44:24] And first of all, the $532,239

[1:44:29] in carryover funds that should have been

[1:44:30] to return to the school. It is not

[1:44:33] intended to plug your budget holes this

[1:44:35] year. And if you will check the reading

[1:44:38] of the law on that, you'll see that the

[1:44:40] school was correct in asking that that

[1:44:42] not be used for that.

[1:44:44] This is the second time that this board

[1:44:48] has misappropriated

[1:44:51] legally binding school money.

[1:44:54] And that was when we had the 1%.

[1:44:57] >> Did you say the schools misappropriated?

[1:44:59] >> No, I said this board.

[1:45:01] >> Oh, this board. this. Sorry, I didn't

[1:45:03] mean that.

[1:45:03] >> They misappropriated the first round of

[1:45:06] the 1% tax that the citizens of Henry

[1:45:09] County voted on for the schools

[1:45:13] and applied it for a use that it was not

[1:45:16] legally allowed to be used for.

[1:45:19] We had to bring they had to bring the

[1:45:21] attorney general in to explain the law.

[1:45:27] And once they had to return 2 million

[1:45:31] that they kept, they misappropriated,

[1:45:35] then they cut the budget by 2 million.

[1:45:38] This is not a way to educate our

[1:45:41] children.

[1:45:42] This is not a way to keep up good

[1:45:45] schools.

[1:45:47] Now, I had a conversation with one of

[1:45:50] the board members. I won't say who.

[1:45:53] And we talked about this

[1:45:55] and this board member told me that

[1:46:00] in their opinion, they didn't approve of

[1:46:02] what we were going to do with the money

[1:46:05] and if we would agree

[1:46:08] to use the money as on something else

[1:46:11] that they might would give it to us.

[1:46:13] Now, I don't think that board member

[1:46:15] spoke for the board, but that was the

[1:46:17] feedback I got. Kind of like, we'll give

[1:46:20] it to you as long as you spend it on

[1:46:22] what we want you to, and you have no

[1:46:24] authority to do that either.

[1:46:27] And then we had the uh

[1:46:30] I think it was at the last meeting they

[1:46:32] talked about 123,000 in discretionary

[1:46:35] funds being available to the school

[1:46:37] division. Well, it's already on money.

[1:46:41] of how does it part of discretionary

[1:46:43] funds?

[1:46:44] This has got to be addressed. This is

[1:46:47] the second time this has happened. And I

[1:46:50] know everybody up there is well educated

[1:46:52] and can read

[1:46:55] and know how to apply the law.

[1:46:59] So, I'm at the point that I hate to say

[1:47:02] this, but

[1:47:05] either this gets worked out between the

[1:47:08] administration and the school board and

[1:47:10] the board of supervisors and the

[1:47:12] attorney for the county and the attorney

[1:47:14] for the school system. Either it gets

[1:47:17] worked out peacefully the way it legally

[1:47:20] should be or I think the school board

[1:47:23] should just go ahead and file a lawsuit

[1:47:27] and we'll take it all in front of a

[1:47:28] judge and let him explain the law to you

[1:47:32] because apparently it's not being

[1:47:34] explained right. You don't understand it

[1:47:36] or you just disregard it. And that's

[1:47:39] something that has to stop to the

[1:47:41] betterment of all of our children in

[1:47:43] Henry County. We talk to data centers

[1:47:45] and we talk about economic development.

[1:47:49] Education and what it is in this county

[1:47:53] is a huge factor in your economic

[1:47:55] development.

[1:47:57] When businesses look to come here, they

[1:47:59] look at the schools

[1:48:01] and we have and this it's just got to

[1:48:04] stop. We got to go by what the law says

[1:48:06] we have to go by. That's what you're

[1:48:09] sworn to do. That's what the school

[1:48:11] board sworn to do. That's what

[1:48:13] legislators in Richmond set forth. And

[1:48:16] if anybody's got a big problem with it,

[1:48:18] you need to be lobbying down in Richmond

[1:48:20] in January because that's where the

[1:48:22] rules come from. Thank you for your time

[1:48:24] and y'all have a good evening.

[1:48:26] >> Okay.

[1:48:30] [applause]

[1:48:32] I saw uh Miss Blake Lewis.

[1:48:38] » Good evening. I'm Amy Blake Lewis and I

[1:48:41] reside in the Reed Creek District. I'm

[1:48:43] here today as superintendent of Henry

[1:48:45] County Public Schools to speak

[1:48:47] specifically about the proposed budget

[1:48:49] and the importance of a strong financial

[1:48:51] partnership between Henry County and its

[1:48:54] public schools. I recognize that both

[1:48:56] the school board and the board of

[1:48:58] supervisors have significant

[1:49:00] responsibilities to the citizens of

[1:49:01] Henry County. We will not always agree,

[1:49:05] but our students and taxpayers deserve a

[1:49:07] relationship grounded in mutual respect,

[1:49:10] transparency, and a shared commitment to

[1:49:13] the future of this community. Today, I

[1:49:16] am asking this board to consider whether

[1:49:18] its current approach to school funding

[1:49:20] is helping us accomplish that. Henry

[1:49:23] County Public Schools takes its

[1:49:25] responsibility as a steward of taxpayer

[1:49:27] dollars seriously. Ending a fiscal year

[1:49:30] with unspent funds should not

[1:49:32] automatically be viewed as evidence that

[1:49:34] a school division was overfunded. It is

[1:49:38] evidence of careful management. We have

[1:49:40] previously requested that unexpended

[1:49:43] funds be reappropriated for identified

[1:49:45] school needs, including significant

[1:49:48] capital needs. Virginia code

[1:49:50] specifically contemplates unexpended

[1:49:53] local school funds and even provides a

[1:49:55] mechanism for those funds to be placed

[1:49:57] in a capital reserve for specific school

[1:50:00] capital projects. Yet, our repeated

[1:50:03] experience has been that carry forward

[1:50:05] requests are not supported. I have heard

[1:50:09] questions in the past suggesting that as

[1:50:11] a fiscal closeout approaches, the school

[1:50:14] division is simply quote finding

[1:50:16] something to spend money on end quote. I

[1:50:20] want to address that directly. We do not

[1:50:23] spend money simply for the sake of

[1:50:25] spending it. We work hard to be

[1:50:28] responsible stewards of public funds.

[1:50:30] But when a school division knows that

[1:50:33] dollars responsibly saved at year end

[1:50:36] are unlikely to be reappropriated for

[1:50:39] legitimate school needs, the system is

[1:50:42] unintentionally creating an incentive to

[1:50:44] spend rather than to save. That is not

[1:50:47] good public policy. It is not the

[1:50:49] behavior we should be encouraging from

[1:50:52] any publicly funded organization.

[1:50:55] Fiscal responsibility should be

[1:50:57] rewarded, not penalized.

[1:51:00] If we save taxpayer dollars in one year

[1:51:02] and can identify legitimate educational

[1:51:05] or capital needs for those funds in the

[1:51:07] next, there should be a reasonable

[1:51:09] mechanism for their return to the

[1:51:11] schools. We experienced another example

[1:51:14] of this tension at the close of fiscal

[1:51:17] year 26 when school division purchase

[1:51:19] requests submitted on June 30th were not

[1:51:22] processed because they did not meet an

[1:51:25] earlier internal county deadline.

[1:51:28] Virginia law establishes June 30th as

[1:51:31] the final day of the fiscal year for

[1:51:33] every locality and school division in

[1:51:35] the Commonwealth. I certainly recognize

[1:51:38] the county's need for internal processes

[1:51:40] and orderly fiscal closeout. However, an

[1:51:44] internal administrative deadline should

[1:51:46] not become an unnecessary barrier to a

[1:51:49] school division responsibly utilizing

[1:51:52] appropriated funds before the statutory

[1:51:54] end of the fiscal year. And perhaps the

[1:51:58] most important context for this budget

[1:52:00] conversation is what Henry County Public

[1:52:02] Schools is accomplishing. Our students

[1:52:04] and educators are producing results.

[1:52:07] Preliminary school performance and

[1:52:09] support framework data shows improvement

[1:52:12] at every Henry County Public School.

[1:52:15] Earlier today, Henry County Public

[1:52:17] Schools was recognized as only one of

[1:52:19] nine schools in the Commonwealth to

[1:52:22] receive at least three percentage points

[1:52:24] of growth in both reading and math. One

[1:52:27] of only nine. We are achieving these

[1:52:30] results despite the financial

[1:52:32] uncertainty and conflict that have too

[1:52:35] often characterized the relationship

[1:52:37] between our two boards, not because of a

[1:52:40] strong local funding partnership. I ask

[1:52:43] you to imagine what more we could

[1:52:45] accomplish if the energy currently spent

[1:52:48] navigating disagreements over

[1:52:50] appropriated funds could instead be

[1:52:53] directed towards working together for

[1:52:56] our students. The board of supervisors

[1:52:59] has an important responsibility to

[1:53:01] appropriate local funding. The school

[1:53:03] board has an equally important

[1:53:05] responsibility to govern the school

[1:53:08] division and manage the resources

[1:53:10] entrusted to it. Both boards should

[1:53:13] respect those distinct responsibilities.

[1:53:16] [clears throat] Oversight is

[1:53:17] appropriate. Accountability is

[1:53:19] appropriate. Questions are appropriate.

[1:53:23] But effective governance also requires

[1:53:25] allowing each elected body to fulfill

[1:53:28] the responsibilities assigned to it. I

[1:53:31] am not asking this board for a blank

[1:53:33] check. I am asking for partnership. I am

[1:53:37] asking that responsible fiscal

[1:53:39] management not be penalized. that

[1:53:41] legitimate carry forward request be

[1:53:44] honored and that the school board be

[1:53:46] trusted to manage the resources

[1:53:48] appropriated for the education of Henry

[1:53:50] Countyy's children. Our students are

[1:53:53] demonstrating what is possible. Our

[1:53:55] teachers are demonstrating what is

[1:53:56] possible. Our principles are

[1:53:58] demonstrating what is possible. Imagine

[1:54:01] what Henry County Public Schools could

[1:54:03] accomplish if the two governing bodies

[1:54:05] responsible for supporting them were

[1:54:08] pulling in the same direction. Our

[1:54:10] students deserve that from all of us.

[1:54:12] Thank you.

[1:54:17] [applause]

[1:54:19] » Is there anyone else wishing to uh speak

[1:54:22] in this public hearing on the budget

[1:54:23] amendment?

[1:54:25] Anyone else?

[1:54:27] Seeing and hearing no indication uh that

[1:54:30] anyone else, I will close the public

[1:54:32] hearing at 6:44.

[1:54:37] Um,

[1:54:39] Mr. Wagner, any comments to add to this?

[1:54:44] >> Board members, um, you've have the board

[1:54:47] packet before you and the

[1:54:49] recommendation. What is the desire of

[1:54:51] the board?

[1:55:12] Okay, I'll ask again. Is there an action

[1:55:14] that the board would like to take at

[1:55:16] this time? We've conducted the uh public

[1:55:18] hearing.

[1:55:27] » Mr. Chairman, I make a motion that we

[1:55:29] approve the 2026 2027 budget amendments

[1:55:32] as presented.

[1:55:35] We have a motion. Is there a second?

[1:55:39] >> I'll second.

[1:55:40] >> We have a motion and a second. Is there

[1:55:42] any discussion or clarification needed?

[1:55:45] >> I would like to clarify one thing.

[1:55:46] >> Yes, sir. [clears throat]

[1:55:48] >> I'll be the one that said I told Miss

[1:55:50] Martin what I did and I want to say why

[1:55:52] I said it. Because I am about the

[1:55:54] trades. I'm going to keep pushing for

[1:55:56] the trades. It's because it's what I

[1:55:58] stand in. I believe that's what this

[1:55:59] place is based on. So when somebody

[1:56:01] asked for it, it was me. and I asked for

[1:56:04] it because I wanted trades back in this

[1:56:06] community and work ethic and some of the

[1:56:08] stuff that we're lacking.

[1:56:10] That's why I did it. So, I just want to

[1:56:12] say that I'm the one. Other than that,

[1:56:13] we can carry on.

[1:56:16] >> I I appreciate you u sharing that. Mr.

[1:56:20] Dylan, did your vindicate you would like

[1:56:22] something to say?

[1:56:23] >> Yes, sir. And I always like to preface

[1:56:25] it with I do work for the schools, but

[1:56:28] I'm not here as a school representative.

[1:56:31] I've had no conversations with Dr. Blake

[1:56:33] Lewis, Dr. Boone, Mr. Martin, or anyone.

[1:56:36] You know, my comments, my questions are,

[1:56:38] you know, for me personally. And I

[1:56:41] always like to make sure these same type

[1:56:43] of questions that I ask, you know,

[1:56:44] anytime we're in whether it's close

[1:56:46] session or whatever, is the move to keep

[1:56:50] the carryover funds, is that legal?

[1:56:52] Because that was one of the things that

[1:56:54] came up in Dr. Blake Lewis's

[1:56:55] conversation. And if we're going to make

[1:56:58] a vote, I think that's one thing, you

[1:57:01] know, first, you know, on public record

[1:57:02] that that is a legal move. Um, so I'd

[1:57:05] like to ask that question first and

[1:57:06] foremost.

[1:57:08] So, to my knowledge, from reading from

[1:57:11] reading the audit, all the money that

[1:57:14] was unex unencumbered, unexpended

[1:57:17] um at the end of last fiscal year, there

[1:57:20] was some grant funds, but aside of the other money was all local money.

[1:57:24] That's what the independent auditor said

[1:57:26] and my understanding is uh this same

[1:57:29] question came up maybe in at the end of

[1:57:31] the 2024 budget year and and the

[1:57:34] independent auditor made the same

[1:57:35] conclusion when they prepared this

[1:57:37] budget. They specifically asked the

[1:57:39] school board for documentation of

[1:57:42] unexpended

[1:57:43] state funds and there was some grants

[1:57:46] that are carried over. Uh but they found

[1:57:49] that the the money in question at the

[1:57:52] end of the 20 the June 1 June 30th 2025

[1:57:57] that all that money was local funds

[1:58:00] that's what the independent audience

[1:58:01] >> and explain when you say local funds so

[1:58:03] that everybody understands what you mean

[1:58:06] >> that the money from the taxpayers of

[1:58:08] this guy so the the schools are funded

[1:58:10] by federal state

[1:58:11] >> but I mean as far as like if it's local

[1:58:14] funds does that mean

[1:58:15] >> if it's local funds then this board has

[1:58:18] discretion to reappropriate it to them. But in in

[1:58:22] recent years and I I assume this is one

[1:58:24] of those years I haven't looked at the

[1:58:26] state budget but in recent years as part

[1:58:27] of the budget bill the state I said that

[1:58:32] so traditionally all all the money that

[1:58:35] was unexpended has always been the

[1:58:38] auditors have always marked it as local

[1:58:40] and because this this money if it was

[1:58:43] unexpended state funds it would have to

[1:58:44] be returned to the state but in recent

[1:58:46] years I think in part of the budget bill

[1:58:48] the state has said if there'sex expended

[1:58:51] state education money, the school boards

[1:58:54] can keep it

[1:58:56] and and they and it I guess I think it

[1:58:59] still has to be reappropriated by this

[1:59:01] board, but you don't have to send it

[1:59:03] back to Richmond.

[1:59:04] So, but if you don't reappropriate it, would get sent back to Richmond, I

[1:59:08] guess. But, um, so that came up in 24.

[1:59:12] They said, "Well, some of this money

[1:59:13] that the schools said, we think some of

[1:59:15] the money is state money." The auditor

[1:59:18] did not agree with that. it came up

[1:59:20] again. You know, they again the auditor

[1:59:22] has said all the money is from the local

[1:59:25] tax dollars and so this board can still

[1:59:28] reappropriate that that's you could um

[1:59:31] and in years past, you know, we've had

[1:59:33] agreements where we we had a split

[1:59:34] agreement. They would present projects

[1:59:37] and the board would fund it. Sometimes

[1:59:38] not, but you always have the discretion

[1:59:40] to appro reappropriate it. Um but um

[1:59:43] there is according to the auditor there

[1:59:46] is no unexpended state funds outside of

[1:59:49] some grant situations okay to be carried

[1:59:52] over specifically for school use.

[1:59:54] >> So so it's totally discretionary to this

[1:59:57] body

[1:59:58] >> to reappropriate the money.

[2:00:00] >> Okay. Thank you. And I guess a second

[2:00:02] question would be as we, you know, your

[2:00:06] team went through the budgeting process

[2:00:08] other than using the uh carryover money

[2:00:13] to, you know, cover once the state got

[2:00:15] their budget, what other options were

[2:00:17] looked at to make up for that $600 and

[2:00:20] whatever thousand

[2:00:22] uh $615,000

[2:00:24] that was needed to uh meet our local

[2:00:27] mandate. Were there other options uh

[2:00:30] considered besides taking the uh

[2:00:33] carryover money and using that to um

[2:00:36] make sure we met those budgetary request

[2:00:39] mandates?

[2:00:40] So you may recall when we went through

[2:00:42] the budget discussion uh this tax rate

[2:00:45] of 50 cent that was actually higher than

[2:00:49] the original recommendation by staff. Um

[2:00:52] that 50 cent is based on projected tax

[2:00:55] revenue generation for the next calendar

[2:00:57] year.

[2:01:00] without changing that tax rate, money

[2:01:02] would have to come from somewhere. So

[2:01:04] the other consideration is to change

[2:01:06] that number where we cut from uh

[2:01:09] [clears throat] without coming back and

[2:01:10] raising the taxes. Uh so we made the you

[2:01:13] know looking at the budgets and all the

[2:01:14] different categories where that money

[2:01:16] would come from. Uh you know on the

[2:01:18] county side we're delaying hiring

[2:01:19] several positions. We're using vacancy

[2:01:21] savings to fill the gaps on the county

[2:01:23] side and uh it was staff's

[2:01:25] recommendation to use these funds to

[2:01:27] meet that budget gap without changing

[2:01:29] the tax rate or dipping into the savings

[2:01:32] account because we've done that in the

[2:01:34] last couple years

[2:01:36] continue to dip into the savings.

[2:01:40] » Okay. Yes, ma'am. You go ahead.

[2:01:44] >> Um I heard Dr. Lewis uh comment about u

[2:01:51] communication and certainly we should be

[2:01:54] working together. We're not adversaries.

[2:01:56] We should be communicating with each

[2:01:57] other whether it's personally one-on-one

[2:02:00] or through email for documentation. But

[2:02:04] um

[2:02:07] I I think a lot of this can be resolved

[2:02:11] if there was communication

[2:02:14] between the two. And and don't get me

[2:02:18] wrong when I say that because I don't

[2:02:20] put fault on either one, but what I'm

[2:02:22] saying is that you have a job to do uh

[2:02:25] as a school superintendent and Mr.

[2:02:27] Wagner has a job to do as our county

[2:02:29] administrator. So, um, when you when you

[2:02:33] come together, it looks to me like there

[2:02:35] could be a a resolution of some sort.

[2:02:41] Uh, but, you know, when I when I hear

[2:02:43] talk about uh it when I hear a lawsuit

[2:02:48] or something like that, I'm thinking,

[2:02:50] why does it come to this? Because it

[2:02:52] should be that two entities can sit down

[2:02:56] and figure it out because all that money

[2:03:00] is coming when we talk about local

[2:03:01] funds, it's coming from the taxpayer.

[2:03:04] Educating our children is coming from

[2:03:05] the taxpayer. Uh the bills that um you

[2:03:09] pay to uh Henry County. I mean, it's

[2:03:11] taxpayer money. So, um we don't need to

[2:03:15] rob Peter to pay Paul. We just need to

[2:03:17] be able to figure it out. So, that's

[2:03:21] just my opinion.

[2:03:24] I guess one question, one thought. Um,

[2:03:26] if we approve the budget tonight and you

[2:03:29] know, as you mentioned, if there's

[2:03:30] conversation and somehow we get

[2:03:32] everybody on the same page, is there the

[2:03:35] possibility option that you know that um

[2:03:39] carryover funds that the school system

[2:03:41] had from the previous budget? Is there

[2:03:44] the possibility that, you know, we could

[2:03:46] say, okay, we want to return those funds

[2:03:49] to the school. I know it wouldn't be

[2:03:50] those exact funds, but in that amount of

[2:03:52] money, is that an option?

[2:03:56] >> Not committing to doing that, but would

[2:03:58] that be an option for us to consider uh

[2:04:01] at a future date?

[2:04:03] >> So, the board the board at any time can

[2:04:05] appropriate money as the only caveat to

[2:04:09] that is if it's greater than 1% of the

[2:04:11] total county budget, you have to have a

[2:04:12] public hearing before you appropriate

[2:04:14] that money. So at any point in the

[2:04:16] future, you wish to give the schools or

[2:04:18] any other department additional money

[2:04:21] for very additional money. All it is

[2:04:24] required is a majority vote by this

[2:04:25] board. The real question is where does

[2:04:28] the money come from? Do you take it from

[2:04:30] another department or do you take it

[2:04:31] from the general fund savings? But the

[2:04:33] board has that authority to do at any

[2:04:35] meeting at any point with the 1% cap.

[2:04:38] >> And what is our general uh funds

[2:04:42] account? Now

[2:04:44] >> I will defer that question to our chief.

[2:04:46] Okay. That's okay. I don't know if he

[2:04:48] knows that.

[2:04:49] >> Well, we don't have June 30th, 2026

[2:04:51] because the audit is way too early in in

[2:04:55] the adjustment phase. But based on 25

[2:04:59] discretionary money, I think was in the

[2:05:02] 12 to 13 million range of discretionary

[2:05:06] funds that wasn't committed or set aside

[2:05:09] for specific purpose.

[2:05:15] I was expecting to say that when he join

[2:05:18] very

[2:05:20] far from that.

[2:05:23] Okay. And then last thing is I I do

[2:05:26] believe like um Miss McCann said, we

[2:05:30] need to get together, have some

[2:05:31] conversations. Um, you know, our county

[2:05:34] depends on us and you know, if we

[2:05:39] fighting back and forth and they're

[2:05:42] saying this, we're saying that, we're

[2:05:44] not doing the county any good and it's

[2:05:46] not beneficial and you know, we're all

[2:05:50] adults, we're all professionals, we're

[2:05:52] all elected for the people. And I think

[2:05:54] that we have to be able to sit down and

[2:05:56] that's whether that's county

[2:05:57] administrator and superintendent

[2:06:00] um supervisors and uh school board

[2:06:03] members in the same district. But we

[2:06:05] should be able to have these

[2:06:06] conversations and it's much easier when

[2:06:09] we can do it over dinner or you know in

[2:06:12] a meeting room or something of that

[2:06:13] nature as to in a public setting like

[2:06:16] this because you know there anything

[2:06:18] that we say and do it here. I mean it is

[2:06:20] public record. It's audio. It's video

[2:06:23] but we can have the knockdown dragouts

[2:06:26] and you know still love each other

[2:06:27] afterwards. But I would love to see us

[2:06:30] somebody take the initiative to organize

[2:06:33] and coordinate that so that when we get

[2:06:35] back to this point next year, we've had

[2:06:38] the conversations and we feel better

[2:06:40] about the budgetary process. We feel

[2:06:42] better about the decisions that were

[2:06:45] made as opposed to all of the tension

[2:06:47] that is um you know in the air. And I

[2:06:50] think most things when you sit down and

[2:06:52] talk you find out the he say she say

[2:06:55] stuff never happened. It's just other

[2:06:58] folk have said it or it didn't happen

[2:07:00] quite that way or if I did say it, I

[2:07:03] didn't mean it that way. And I commend,

[2:07:05] you know, Mr. Lawless for, you know,

[2:07:06] owning up. Hey, yep, I did it. I said

[2:07:08] it. And I think we all have to be able

[2:07:10] to do that. But when you disagree with

[2:07:13] people, sometimes you do say some things

[2:07:14] that um you know, you meet him in that

[2:07:18] moment because I'm upset with you. I'm

[2:07:20] mad with you. Uh but if we could sit

[2:07:22] down and work through that, you know, an

[2:07:24] apology, um let's get an understanding.

[2:07:28] This is why I felt that way. Um you

[2:07:30] know, goes a long ways. And I think

[2:07:32] that, you know, we need to take that

[2:07:33] initiative to make that happen. Mr.

[2:07:35] Martin, Mr. Adams, you know, you guys

[2:07:37] lead both of those boards. And I think,

[2:07:39] you know, that's where a great

[2:07:40] conversation would would start. Um and

[2:07:43] lastly, I'll say that, um you know, a

[2:07:47] budget has to be approved. I mean, we

[2:07:50] can't operate without a budget. So

[2:07:52] whether I agree, disagree with, you

[2:07:55] know, some of the things about how, you

[2:07:57] know, the school system will get the

[2:08:00] additional funding, you know, do need to

[2:08:03] vote to approve that budget so we can

[2:08:04] move forward. But I do think we need to

[2:08:07] have some conversations so that we're

[2:08:09] not back here next year. And if the

[2:08:11] school system, you know, does find a way

[2:08:13] to, you know, cuz sometimes people quit

[2:08:15] mid mid year, sometimes you don't hire

[2:08:17] folk. um you just don't expect that

[2:08:19] money to be available and then when that

[2:08:21] money becomes available I'm sure they

[2:08:23] get excited about hey we've got some

[2:08:25] other projects that we would love to

[2:08:27] work on but then when those things are

[2:08:29] taken away from you I mean that makes

[2:08:31] you pretty upset you know you know your

[2:08:33] parents give you $100 to go out on a a

[2:08:36] trip or whatever and you save 50 of it

[2:08:38] and you get home and they say give me

[2:08:40] that money back you know you should have

[2:08:42] went ahead and bought the cotton candy

[2:08:43] and whatever else you could have got

[2:08:45] that night so we do have to think about

[2:08:48] things you know that way and the

[2:08:49] emotions that are created by our actions

[2:08:52] and sometimes we just see the reaction

[2:08:55] but we have to understand the action

[2:08:56] that caused the reaction. So just you

[2:08:58] know my spiel um you know like I said

[2:09:01] whether agree or disagree we need to get

[2:09:03] a budget passed make sure everybody has

[2:09:05] money to operate so that we can move

[2:09:08] forward but I do recommend that we find

[2:09:10] a way to have the necessary

[2:09:12] conversations

[2:09:13] >> and and a lot of what I was going to say

[2:09:16] has already been said but I will say uh

[2:09:19] to the school board also and to our

[2:09:23] board we are definitely public school

[2:09:25] advocates. I think you know that and I

[2:09:28] know a lot of people on the third floor

[2:09:31] and a lot of people in the buildings as

[2:09:33] a supervisor for Reed Creek two days ago

[2:09:38] someone was talking to me about a

[2:09:39] totally different issue and before I

[2:09:42] left this individual who is a

[2:09:44] significant I would consider a

[2:09:47] significant business owner in our

[2:09:49] community he pointed at me before I was

[2:09:53] leaving and he said you need to get that

[2:09:56] school budget under control. That's what

[2:09:59] he said. And what is from my position as

[2:10:04] an elected official for Re Creek on the

[2:10:06] board of supervisors, it's my feeling,

[2:10:09] it's understanding that public opinion

[2:10:12] feels that the school board is very

[2:10:16] generously funded based on the 1% and I

[2:10:20] know that that is that is uh directed

[2:10:23] funding and and everything but what I

[2:10:26] hear is that there is a lot of public

[2:10:29] support for Henry County Public Schools

[2:10:33] and that you have a lot of money. So

[2:10:37] what is Darl? What is a percentage of

[2:10:40] the full county budget? How much of that

[2:10:43] money out of our 220 221 million budget?

[2:10:49] How much of that goes to Henry County

[2:10:51] Public Schools?

[2:10:53] >> For our total budget, I think the school

[2:10:55] budget is around 125

[2:10:58] million.

[2:11:00] I think yeah I mean my niece works for

[2:11:03] the schools. I think that the schools I

[2:11:05] think you should have what what you

[2:11:08] need. I think that you should have more

[2:11:10] than you need. I feel like that all the

[2:11:12] children, all the teachers should should

[2:11:14] have what you need and and get what you

[2:11:16] ask for mainly. But I'm just

[2:11:19] communicating to you to also part of

[2:11:22] that communication that Garrett was

[2:11:24] talking about is that we have to

[2:11:26] continue to prove to our taxpayers and

[2:11:30] to our citizens that we are doing the

[2:11:32] best with what they are giving us to

[2:11:35] manage. And that was just two days ago

[2:11:38] and it came out of nowhere. We were not

[2:11:40] talking about the budget. We weren't

[2:11:42] talking about the schools. We were

[2:11:44] talking about something totally

[2:11:45] different. And that's what this

[2:11:47] individual said to me and it kind I was

[2:11:49] like, "Oh, okay." So, it's appropriate

[2:11:51] just to mention that. That came from a

[2:11:54] voter in Reed Creek said that to me. So,

[2:11:56] that's just food for thought and I do

[2:12:00] 100% agree on the relationship and the

[2:12:02] communication moving forward because I

[2:12:04] believe that this board of supervisors

[2:12:08] supports Henry County Public Schools and

[2:12:11] public education very much. So

[2:12:15] >> any other comments?

[2:12:18] I think that uh uh I agree with the

[2:12:21] comments of professional behavior

[2:12:23] communication. As I recall the whole

[2:12:27] issue of June 30th. Uh I recall uh some

[2:12:32] correspondence in the form of email more

[2:12:34] than once from county administrator to

[2:12:37] the school system, but I did not see a

[2:12:39] reply as to an agreed date

[2:12:43] uh on that. And I think that at the very

[2:12:46] least from a professional standpoint, uh

[2:12:49] we can we can take care of this stuff

[2:12:52] immediately. There's not that big a

[2:12:54] separation between the third floor and

[2:12:56] the fourth floor that the elevator can't

[2:12:59] make up the difference to get folks to

[2:13:02] together to do this without attorneys.

[2:13:05] This this whole thing that ended in the

[2:13:08] 11th hour, so to speak, or close

[2:13:11] business day on June 30th could be

[2:13:13] resolved tomorrow easily. So with that,

[2:13:16] that's my comment. We have a motion and

[2:13:19] a second. Any further discussion? Yes,

[2:13:23] but I'll hold off on it. All right.

[2:13:25] Thank all in favor.

[2:13:28] It is 6. Jennifer,

[2:13:31] that takes us to agenda item number 16,

[2:13:34] matters presented by the public. The

[2:13:36] same thing applies as far as a timeline.

[2:13:39] We had uh one person that asked to be on

[2:13:42] the agenda um uh and uh contacted county

[2:13:46] administrator's office as Mr. Daryl

[2:13:48] Holland.

[2:14:01] Good evening, folks.

[2:14:05] I'm here tonight uh with uh some of my

[2:14:10] fellow Farm Bureau members here. Some

[2:14:12] are in uniform, some are out. Most of

[2:14:15] them are over here. They're in support

[2:14:17] of hopefully some of these things I'm

[2:14:19] going to say. This is the uh third time

[2:14:21] I've addressed you. I don't want to bore

[2:14:23] you by uh reiterating what I've already

[2:14:26] said, but there's some of these people

[2:14:28] that maybe not have heard this before.

[2:14:31] Uh first of all, again, publicly, I'd

[2:14:33] like to thank the board for rescending

[2:14:35] the tax on livestock. We appreciate

[2:14:38] that. Um

[2:14:41] you've got you have handouts available

[2:14:43] that I that I've made available. Some of

[2:14:45] you I've spoken to uh individually,

[2:14:50] others I found out yesterday that I've

[2:14:53] been sending text messages to your

[2:14:55] landlines.

[2:14:57] So,

[2:14:58] you probably don't get those. But, uh

[2:15:02] anyway, uh the topic of what I want to

[2:15:05] talk about is the personal property tax

[2:15:08] on farm equipment. And uh I'll just talk

[2:15:10] about farm equipment since you've

[2:15:12] already taken care of the livestock. Uh

[2:15:14] in Henry County, I'm sure you have this

[2:15:17] uh

[2:15:18] chart from Tiffany Harrison, our

[2:15:21] commissioner of revenue. Uh out of $20

[2:15:23] million

[2:15:25] that the county derives from taxes on

[2:15:28] business equipment.

[2:15:31] out of $20 million, uh, only $44,000 of

[2:15:35] that uh, come from taxes on, uh, farm

[2:15:40] equipment. And, uh, Richmond and the

[2:15:44] code of Virginia recognize that there's

[2:15:46] a distinction between agricultural

[2:15:49] equipment and business equipment. Uh

[2:15:53] that's a conversation that has been uh

[2:15:55] made with the uh uh the legis

[2:15:58] legislators in Richmond and they know

[2:16:01] the importance of agriculture to the

[2:16:03] state economy and uh there that's a

[2:16:06] distinction made and I'd like to read

[2:16:08] this. It says that's defined in section

[2:16:12] 581-3505

[2:16:15] in the code of Virginia. It says farm

[2:16:18] machinery and farm implements are

[2:16:20] classified as separate items of taxation

[2:16:24] for the p purposes of tangible personal

[2:16:27] property tax. Virginia localities that

[2:16:30] would be Henry County have the authority

[2:16:33] to exempt these items from the tangible

[2:16:36] uh personal property tax or tax them at

[2:16:39] a different rate. Local interpretations

[2:16:43] of these uh exemptions uh do vary.

[2:16:48] Uh 80 of 100 localities

[2:16:51] in Virginia are able to balance their

[2:16:54] budget without taxing farm equipment. I

[2:16:58] think that number is is significant. Uh,

[2:17:01] I'd uh like to ask uh that the board

[2:17:06] would phase out local the local tax on

[2:17:10] farm equipment just as you have uh

[2:17:12] rescended the tax on livestock. And um I know by talking I've been educated by

[2:17:19] talking to people too. Uh this may not

[2:17:21] be possible during this budget year, but

[2:17:24] at least if it's on the table for

[2:17:26] discussion, I'd like you to sincerely

[2:17:28] consider it. I think it's not

[2:17:30] unreasonable and I thank you for your

[2:17:33] time.

[2:17:34] >> Thank you, Mr. Paul.

[2:17:38] [applause]

[2:17:42] » Okay. Um, others wishing to speak on

[2:17:46] their matters presented by the public.

[2:17:48] Uh, we did have some sign up, but I

[2:17:50] think that some may have signed up for

[2:17:53] um different reasons. I'll call names as

[2:17:57] they're wring written here. Uh it looks

[2:18:00] like Michelle Foley.

[2:18:03] Do you wish to speak? And not seeing any

[2:18:06] indication. I'll call the next name.

[2:18:10] Uh looks like William Turner.

[2:18:14] >> Lillian.

[2:18:21] » It's Lillian

[2:18:22] >> or Lillian Turner. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

[2:18:25] I thought that was a W.

[2:18:26] >> It's okay.

[2:18:28] My name is Lillian. I'm from Basset. I

[2:18:30] just wanted to say a few things. I want

[2:18:33] to bring up the ordinance for the data

[2:18:35] centers. What you were presented was we

[2:18:39] had a meeting with Brandon and we gave

[2:18:41] him a list of things that we wanted the

[2:18:44] community the community wanted you guys

[2:18:46] to consider. I'm assuming zoning didn't

[2:18:48] like very much of that, but there is

[2:18:50] more that we want to put on that list.

[2:18:53] quite a bit more. Actually,

[2:18:55] I have a list. I won't bore you with it,

[2:18:58] but if you want to see it, I'll show you

[2:19:00] afterwards. Um, and I also want to bring

[2:19:04] back the conversation of the ordinance

[2:19:07] for the battery energy storage systems.

[2:19:09] I know they were voted on the last board

[2:19:11] meeting. Um, and I don't think many

[2:19:14] people were aware of what they were,

[2:19:17] that they were being talked about, that

[2:19:19] the ordinance was even being made. So, I

[2:19:22] think that that should be brought back

[2:19:24] up.

[2:19:28] Most of the people fighting data centers

[2:19:31] don't realize that battery energy

[2:19:32] storage systems and solar farms are just

[2:19:35] as bad. They destroy our planet just the

[2:19:38] same.

[2:19:41] And that's all I had. Thank you.

[2:19:44] >> Thank you. Thank you,

[2:19:49] Melody Cartright.

[2:20:01] Hello um H County Board of Supervisors

[2:20:04] and Chairman Adams. I am Melody

[2:20:07] Cartwright.

[2:20:08] I am a city of Martinsville native

[2:20:12] and a committed candidate for district

[2:20:15] 48.

[2:20:17] I want to go on record that I did I was

[2:20:21] one of the people that requested the

[2:20:24] moratorum.

[2:20:26] I even really wanted to go farther and

[2:20:28] do with the the ban which I felt like I

[2:20:32] was really pushing that one. Um but my

[2:20:36] question would be is the reason why the

[2:20:40] lawyer feels that we cannot legally do

[2:20:43] the moratorum which is just a pause.

[2:20:46] It's not a ban. It's a pause. Is the

[2:20:50] reason why we can't do it

[2:20:53] because other localities are doing it.

[2:20:57] Is it because of the Dylan rule? Is it

[2:21:00] the Dylan rule that's preventing us from

[2:21:03] doing that? And could we get our current

[2:21:07] delegate to take it to the state

[2:21:11] to ask for the moratorum

[2:21:14] if he would be willing to do it? If he's

[2:21:17] not willing to do it, I guess

[2:21:21] we have the wrong delegate in place.

[2:21:24] >> Please address the board

[2:21:26] >> because I would be willing to do it. Um,

[2:21:31] also I want to say that I'm here to

[2:21:34] represent in part the Henry County,

[2:21:36] Virginia Coalition against data centers.

[2:21:42] We do not consent.

[2:21:45] We the citizens of Henry County, some of

[2:21:48] them not all,

[2:21:50] and the city of Martinsville, which is

[2:21:53] in the middle of Henry County,

[2:21:56] we do not consent,

[2:22:00] nor do we wish to compromise.

[2:22:04] There will be, however, consequences to

[2:22:07] anyone who votes for a data center. Now,

[2:22:11] y'all done ordinances. That's different

[2:22:14] from voting for a data setting or a

[2:22:17] center or allowing them in. But the

[2:22:19] ordin ordinance is the first step to

[2:22:24] allowing them in.

[2:22:27] So I feel um a little defeated. I

[2:22:31] understand your reasoning

[2:22:34] to protect us, but who's going to

[2:22:37] protect the land? Who's going to protect

[2:22:40] the children? Who's going to protect our

[2:22:43] water and air, our wildlife,

[2:22:48] our pets?

[2:22:50] Mainly the children. That's that's who

[2:22:53] I'm concerned. And the noise. And

[2:22:54] there's a whole I mean, we went through

[2:22:56] this all already. And I appreciate your

[2:22:59] detailing adding that to the proposed

[2:23:03] store ordinances, but it's really not

[2:23:06] going to be enough. It's not going to be

[2:23:08] enough.

[2:23:12] We will not consent

[2:23:14] to the raping of our land.

[2:23:17] We will not consent

[2:23:20] to obliterating [clears throat] our

[2:23:22] wildlife, farm an animals and sounds of

[2:23:25] nature.

[2:23:27] And perhaps more importantly,

[2:23:30] we do not consent to raising our utility

[2:23:36] bills, which is a real concern. And we

[2:23:40] have we have politicians involved with

[2:23:44] dominion and appalachin power and it's a

[2:23:47] vicious circle and it is going to come

[2:23:49] around

[2:23:51] to we the people.

[2:23:54] I appreciate your time.

[2:23:58] » Next thing is uh Linda Smith. Linda

[2:24:02] Smith.

[2:24:13] » [snorts]

[2:24:18] » Hello, Barn. Um, I just wanted to say

[2:24:22] that I do appreciate the ordinance that

[2:24:24] you've put in place. I do think that it

[2:24:27] would be wonderful if at some point you

[2:24:29] could add uh before any entity even

[2:24:32] applies for coming to this county if

[2:24:35] they had to come before this board and

[2:24:37] before these citizens and before the

[2:24:40] press and answer questions um to

[2:24:43] whatever we have to ask. I think it's um

[2:24:47] it's a little bit harder for them to

[2:24:49] face the citizens that they're screwed

[2:24:51] over than it is to just try and grease

[2:24:54] palms. Um so, and I think there I didn't

[2:24:59] really see a whole lot in there about

[2:25:02] medical issues like the potential for

[2:25:04] miscarriages, the potential for birth

[2:25:06] defects, the potential for anything um

[2:25:10] medically going wrong with those. So

[2:25:13] that's all and I appreciate your time.

[2:25:17] [applause]

[2:25:20] » Um I had Daryl Holland's name on this

[2:25:22] but uh I had your name on this list as

[2:25:26] well.

[2:25:28] Uh and if you need to pass on that's

[2:25:30] fine.

[2:25:31] >> Said all I had to say.

[2:25:32] >> Thank you. Uh Gordon Mets.

[2:25:41] I'm Gordon Mets. I live in the Fixboro

[2:25:43] area. I I guess what I'm doing is not I

[2:25:46] just want to have a little information

[2:25:48] here. I know a lot of people think beef

[2:25:49] prices are very high and they are. It's

[2:25:52] hard for people to afford it. Uh what

[2:25:55] I'm speaking to is the fact that in

[2:25:57] agriculture, I don't know if any of you

[2:25:59] that you might be in farming or not. It

[2:26:01] might hardly farm, but uh grain prices

[2:26:04] today and corn about the same were in

[2:26:06] 1990.

[2:26:08] Very little difference. wheat goes back

[2:26:09] to 1980 something within a half a dollar of the same price on the on the

[2:26:15] tax on equipment. You got to understand

[2:26:17] that a lot of farmers use a

[2:26:21] combines and stuff two or three times a

[2:26:23] year for a few weeks and they pay that

[2:26:25] tax on it. So it's not like you paying

[2:26:27] tax on something you use every day like

[2:26:29] you do an industrial thing. The cattle

[2:26:32] prices and I'll give you a few figures

[2:26:33] that I got a few months ago going to be

[2:26:35] close. Cal price has gone up 380

[2:26:38] something% in the last since 1990

[2:26:42] I think it was John Deere tractors gone

[2:26:44] up 1300% fertilizers 11200%.

[2:26:49] Everything we do including taxes even

[2:26:51] though we get a break and we appreciate

[2:26:52] it our land if we want to expand is

[2:26:55] almost impossible to pay for it through

[2:26:57] agriculture.

[2:26:59] Several years ago, I was on a

[2:27:02] bang down in Williamsburg. We had people

[2:27:04] from European Union there talking about

[2:27:06] agriculture. And I asked him, I said,

[2:27:08] "Why can a wheat farm in Europe make a

[2:27:10] living on 300 acres and we can't make a

[2:27:12] living on 3,000 acres of wheat?" He

[2:27:15] said, "Because we remembered that World

[2:27:17] War II, we had depend on other countries

[2:27:20] for wheat." He says, "We will never

[2:27:22] depend on anybody else for agriculture

[2:27:24] products." Of course, those that

[2:27:26] generation's gone and a lot of the folks

[2:27:29] don't remember that. As we put solar

[2:27:31] farms in, as we put all the other things

[2:27:33] in, takes up agriculture as well as

[2:27:34] houses and whatnot. Somebody somewhere

[2:27:37] has got to think how does agriculture

[2:27:39] survive. Even though beef prices are up,

[2:27:42] grain and other things are not, and our

[2:27:44] expenses are way up, as you consider

[2:27:46] this tax, I'd ask you to consider that.

[2:27:49] And we appreciate everything you do.

[2:27:50] Thank you.

[2:27:51] >> THANK YOU.

[2:27:56] I will probably mess up this next name

[2:27:59] and I apologize. It's signed in versus

[2:28:02] uh written in. It looks like the last

[2:28:04] name is either Mortyn or Martin and I'm

[2:28:07] not sure which one from Ridgeway area.

[2:28:10] >> That was me.

[2:28:12] >> No, I I can see yours very clearly. Mary

[2:28:14] Morton, but uh there there's actually

[2:28:19] I would need help with this first name.

[2:28:21] It looks like the first initial uh the

[2:28:23] first name is an R and the last name

[2:28:26] looks like either Martin or Morton.

[2:28:29] >> Norton.

[2:28:30] >> Or I signed the wrong place to fight for

[2:28:33] something.

[2:28:33] >> Okay.

[2:28:35] All right. So, you're passing. All

[2:28:36] right.

[2:28:38] >> And uh Miss Martin, Mary Martin, uh uh

[2:28:42] you don't wish to speak again?

[2:28:46] » All right. Okay.

[2:28:49] Um, I had next Dr. Amy Blake Lewis, and

[2:28:53] I see that she's left.

[2:28:56] Uh, and then I have Sher Mitchell.

[2:29:15] Good evening, Board of Supervisors. My

[2:29:17] name is Sheri Mitchell and I'm a

[2:29:19] lifelong resident of Henry County. I'm

[2:29:21] back here tonight because I'm not

[2:29:23] convinced our voices are being heard.

[2:29:25] The last meeting, countless citizens

[2:29:27] express the concern over weak battery

[2:29:30] energy storage site protections and

[2:29:34] transient toxic waste sites.

[2:29:37] The board [clears throat] hastily passed

[2:29:38] the language anyway. A 50-foot setback

[2:29:42] is a massive fire and safety hazard to

[2:29:44] neighboring properties. Now that AAP has

[2:29:47] expressed interest in a battery site on

[2:29:49] their 12,200 acre property, we may have

[2:29:52] blown our chance to protect our

[2:29:53] citizens. While I'm grateful the data

[2:29:56] center language was paused, the new

[2:29:58] proposal remains riddled with loopholes.

[2:30:01] Under no circumstances

[2:30:03] should it have passed tonight as

[2:30:05] written. The citizens of Henry County do

[2:30:08] not consent to a hypers scale data

[2:30:11] center.

[2:30:13] Data centers in general, much less

[2:30:14] hypers scale, do not align with the

[2:30:17] comprehensive plan of Henry County, nor

[2:30:19] do they protect our agricultural land or

[2:30:22] historical heritage. If this board

[2:30:25] intends to move forward at all, you must

[2:30:26] protect our resources. We demand the

[2:30:29] zoning ordinance include these four

[2:30:31] ironclad protections pertaining to zero

[2:30:35] groundwater usage, zero municipal water

[2:30:39] usage.

[2:30:41] This is a big one. Capped electricity

[2:30:44] consumption

[2:30:45] really shouldn't go over 10 megawatts.

[2:30:48] That hypers scale deal is is really

[2:30:50] serious, y'all.

[2:30:53] Rate payer and infrastructure bonds.

[2:30:58] The developer alone should secure bond

[2:31:00] to cover 100% of these increased costs.

[2:31:04] You still have a critical opportunity

[2:31:05] tonight to write a wrong.

[2:31:09] I came here tonight to urge you to vote

[2:31:11] no on the proposal as written.

[2:31:14] Now, if you really want to protect us,

[2:31:18] you will do so because you have the

[2:31:20] authority to do so.

[2:31:25] When I first started researching this, I

[2:31:27] noticed that the planning committee

[2:31:30] mentioned trends a lot and a lot of the

[2:31:35] ordinance was based on trends. Well, the

[2:31:37] trends have shifted. Okay. You can place

[2:31:40] an immediate pause on accepting any

[2:31:44] applications for data centers or battery energy storage centers until

[2:31:50] these independent water power,

[2:31:52] environmental, and grid protect

[2:31:54] protections are fully secured. I repeat,

[2:31:58] you can tonight

[2:32:01] place an immediate pause on accepting

[2:32:04] any applications for data centers or

[2:32:07] best facilities. You can continue with

[2:32:10] what the ordinance is, but you can place

[2:32:12] a pause on accepting

[2:32:17] any permits.

[2:32:19] Please also consider requiring the

[2:32:21] proposed developers to prove that their

[2:32:23] facilities are safe before any permits

[2:32:26] are granted. That's kind of the opposite

[2:32:27] of what we do.

[2:32:30] Make them

[2:32:33] prove that their facilities are safe.

[2:32:42] » Thank you for your time.

[2:32:44] >> Thank you.

[2:32:49] » [applause]

[2:32:50] >> That is all that have signed in to speak

[2:32:53] on matters presented by the public. I

[2:32:56] will now offer the opportunity for

[2:32:58] anyone to speak on the matters presented

[2:33:02] by the public that did not sign in

[2:33:05] uh on any subject. Is there anyone

[2:33:07] wishing to address the board on matters

[2:33:10] presented by the public?

[2:33:15] Could I just ask a question?

[2:33:17] >> Oh, I'm sorry.

[2:33:20] >> I just want to one, thank you for

[2:33:23] listening to the last time that we were

[2:33:27] here. My name is Naomi Holly Muse. I

[2:33:30] live in the [cough]

[2:33:35] horrors that other localities have faced

[2:33:40] in Georgia, in Lorden County,

[2:33:44] these are for real. And I think you try

[2:33:47] to listen and put these put some stop

[2:33:52] gaps in and I appreciate that. So, thank

[2:33:55] you. However, I want you to really, really listen to the angst and

[2:34:04] the anxiety. You know, Henry County has

[2:34:07] a 16% property rate. Martinsville has

[2:34:10] 23% property rate. If you can imagine

[2:34:13] your electrical bill going up $100, what

[2:34:17] that will do to families,

[2:34:20] I I really really want you to just be

[2:34:23] the centuries that I know that you can

[2:34:26] be.

[2:34:28] And that's to stand guard and to make

[2:34:31] sure because anybody can promise you

[2:34:34] anything, but look what they did to

[2:34:36] Georgia. Milliondoll homes with mud for

[2:34:39] water. They [cough]

[2:34:41] mud and water noise that are killing

[2:34:45] cows killing killing livestock a mile

[2:34:49] away because of the noise is coming

[2:34:53] still going cattle just as far.

[2:34:57] This is so dangerous that you just

[2:35:00] really cannot think that okay we've got

[2:35:04] it covered. So be the centuries that

[2:35:07] you're supposed to be. be be extremely I

[2:35:10] love the fact that you've got to come

[2:35:12] through the planning committee again and

[2:35:13] again. You've got public meetings. Maybe

[2:35:16] that'll help, but please take it so

[2:35:20] serious. And thank you for what you've

[2:35:22] done. Please keep keep your ears open

[2:35:26] and know that you've got to protect us

[2:35:29] because we really cannot afford to have

[2:35:32] a data center that will kill livestock,

[2:35:35] take all our water, and just ruin this

[2:35:38] beautiful. Thank you so very much.

[2:35:42] [applause]

[2:35:51] Ben Grley. I live in the Irishwood

[2:35:53] district.

[2:35:58] I live by a mantra and there's a quote

[2:36:01] from Dr. King

[2:36:03] and it states

[2:36:06] there comes a time when silence is

[2:36:09] betrayal.

[2:36:11] Now I know we've passed or you have

[2:36:13] passed the budget

[2:36:15] uh for the schools.

[2:36:17] Um, and I listen to the comments.

[2:36:22] Uh,

[2:36:24] and I listen to what everybody had to

[2:36:26] say about the working relationships. I

[2:36:29] don't have a pro. I know all of you

[2:36:31] guys. I don't have a problem. Uh, but at

[2:36:34] the same time too, I've always prided

[2:36:36] myself

[2:36:38] to be a voice for the voiceless.

[2:36:42] And some of the comments made

[2:36:45] uh was somewhat upsetting to me because

[2:36:49] the implication is is that we are not

[2:36:54] good stewards over county money. And I

[2:36:57] take offense to that.

[2:37:00] We are and we

[2:37:04] have very

[2:37:06] competent financial

[2:37:09] directors

[2:37:11] that advises us.

[2:37:14] I look at information myself. I research

[2:37:18] information because when I make a

[2:37:20] decision, I want to make sure that I'm

[2:37:22] making the best decision with the

[2:37:24] information that I have. And I think I

[2:37:27] can speak that of our entire board, you

[2:37:32] know, and so

[2:37:34] I hope that we can and we have ex I know

[2:37:41] I'll use Mr. Martin for an example. He

[2:37:43] and I and we have a legislative liaison

[2:37:48] that we work with as well have suggested

[2:37:52] that why can't we

[2:37:55] two of us two of you guys district sit

[2:37:59] down and have some conversations

[2:38:02] and we proposed that.

[2:38:05] So, I'm not opposed to that at all. And

[2:38:09] I think in doing so, we will get a

[2:38:11] better understanding as to what we're

[2:38:15] trying to do as a school division. I

[2:38:18] understand I know you got a tough job.

[2:38:20] We have a tough job as well. You know, I

[2:38:22] it's it's tough, but at the same time

[2:38:26] too,

[2:38:28] uh

[2:38:30] it's it's for our kids. I proposed the

[2:38:34] question about a year or so ago and most

[2:38:38] of my questions are proposed as such.

[2:38:42] Help me understand why is it such a

[2:38:45] difficult task

[2:38:48] to provide for our students in Henry

[2:38:51] County. And I will

[2:38:54] I'm here with that. I just had to say

[2:38:57] something because I I just didn't feel

[2:39:00] as I felt as though

[2:39:03] Um

[2:39:07] I didn't want people thinking that we

[2:39:11] are misappropriating

[2:39:13] funds and we aren't and we can uh easily

[2:39:19] validate that. Thank you.

[2:39:23] [applause]

[2:39:26] Are there others wishing to speak under

[2:39:28] matters presented by the public?

[2:39:32] I just have a question. The

[2:39:35] >> come to the podium.

[2:39:36] >> The independent audit that Mr. Ly

[2:39:38] mentioned, is that available for a copy

[2:39:41] to the public or do I need to

[2:39:46] >> I'm sorry. Would you repeat that again,

[2:39:48] please? I can

[2:39:49] >> independent audit that made the

[2:39:51] determination about the carryover money.

[2:39:53] Is that audit available for the public

[2:39:56] to see?

[2:39:58] Okay, this is a time for public comment,

[2:40:00] but when you uh when you take I will get

[2:40:03] that clarified when you take a seat.

[2:40:05] >> Okay.

[2:40:07] >> As far as audits, uh Mr. Jones,

[2:40:11] >> is that public information, independent

[2:40:13] audits?

[2:40:13] >> The county audits are on the county

[2:40:16] website. If you're specifically looking

[2:40:19] for a statement in there, uh it's you

[2:40:22] know like a 200page document uh and you

[2:40:28] unless you're probably a financial whiz

[2:40:31] and a CPA and even those you may not be

[2:40:34] able to interpret exactly um that

[2:40:38] extract that from it but the independent

[2:40:40] author made a independent determination

[2:40:43] on the carryable funds uh at the request

[2:40:46] of county administrators

[2:40:48] school superintendent for fiscal year

[2:40:49] 24.

[2:40:51] And uh who should [clears throat]

[2:40:54] basically

[2:40:56] state her conclusions and their

[2:40:58] conclusions?

[2:40:59] >> And who signs off on that? What parties

[2:41:02] sign off on that?

[2:41:04] >> On which part?

[2:41:05] >> On the audits. Well, they they come to

[2:41:08] the board of supervisors annually

[2:41:09] present the audit report to the board of

[2:41:11] supervisors and and board of supervisors

[2:41:13] accepts it and then it's sent to the

[2:41:15] state of Virginia and it's also posted

[2:41:17] on county website and sent to basically

[2:41:20] all our funding agencies.

[2:41:22] >> Okay.

[2:41:23] >> All funding. Okay.

[2:41:25] >> And I guess

[2:41:27] another question or response is there a

[2:41:29] way to pull out that statement. I guess

[2:41:31] that's what Miss Martin is actually

[2:41:34] asking. the statement that clarifies

[2:41:37] that um what Mr. Ly said about it being

[2:41:42] um local funds and not state funds.

[2:41:45] >> I happen to have a copy right here.

[2:41:47] >> Okay.

[2:41:49] Are there others?

[2:41:50] >> He has a copy right here.

[2:41:53] >> Are there others wishing to speak on

[2:41:55] matters presented by the public?

[2:42:00] Anyone else?

[2:42:02] With that, uh, that takes us to, um,

[2:42:05] item 17. Uh, I'll entertain a motion for

[2:42:09] adjournment.

[2:42:09] >> I'll make a motion.

[2:42:11] >> Second.

[2:42:12] >> Have a motion. Second. All in favor?

[2:42:15] 6. Everyone, have a good evening.

Henry County Board of Supervisors: August 25, 2026

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