[5:49] Call this meeting to James City, County Board, Sioux, Vice-Regular, meeting to order on October 24, 20, 23 at 1 p.m. Mr. Stevens, if you call the roll, please, sir. Mr. Sadler? Here. Mr. Eisenhower? Here. Mr. Mugletta? Here. Mr. Hibble? Here. I'll present. I need a motion to amend the agenda to remove the first closed session. Item, regarding the Williamsburg Regional Library and a motion to change the adjournment to a continuous of a meeting due to board members attending at the Vaco Annual Conference. So moved.

[6:18] motion roll call, please, sir.

[6:21] Is Sadler?

[6:22] Aye.

[6:22] Stryce Howard?

[6:23] Aye.

[6:23] Mr. McLennan?

[6:24] Aye.

[6:24] Ms. Larson?

[6:25] Aye.

[6:25] Stryce Howard?

[6:26] Aye.

[6:26] All right.

[6:27] Next, I'll go on our presentations.

[6:29] V.D.A.

[6:29] Cordley?

[6:30] Mr. Carol.

[6:33] Good afternoon, Chairman Hepple.

[6:35] Other distinguished members of the board.

[6:37] Appreciate you having me here for the V.D.A. cordley translation update.

[6:42] This quarter goes from July 1st to September 30th.

[6:45] In that timeframe, we have had 655 work orders, we've completed 568 of those for a 87 or 86% completion rate.

[6:59] A couple of highlights for the quarter, we've done a lot of DI and drainage repairs, ditching, some pothole, some sweeping, roadway patching, and working a lot of work out on Route 60.

[7:13] And I'll get to that a little bit between Anderson's corner and New King County line.

[7:19] We've issued the notice proceed for the final mowing and litter pickup for the county October the 30th, and that'll be primary and secondary roads.

[7:29] That'll be the last one until next year's schedule starts.

[7:37] Current projects, we have ACIP project for Long Hill, well, I'm sorry, Hitzgard Rail contract.

[7:45] The contractor has completed 583 of 596 identified hits within the county.

[7:53] Richmond Road, Bike Pass, sidewalk improvements, that project is currently under construction.

[8:00] with a fixed completion date of November 31st, 2024.

[8:06] We have the latex modified seal, and I listed the routes out for that, but that project

[8:12] is complete.

[8:15] The fixed completion date was 1022, but we finished about a month early.

[8:21] We also have the PM5E plant mix schedule, which is ongoing right now.

[8:26] they are over on forge, riverside,

[8:29] I ask them out that way.

[8:32] They will be doing that section of airport

[8:34] that's in the county.

[8:35] And then they'll also be doing Route 60 Eastbound and Westbound

[8:42] from like Lightfoot to the Williamsburg City Limits.

[8:47] Change town Williamsburg City Limits.

[8:51] They've completed O-town paving and they have completed one other section but they're

[9:06] moving their fixed completion date is November the 22nd so they have a lot of work to

[9:13] do between now and then but they're pushing to get it done.

[9:17] Bridge replacement on Diasco's Creek, that project is going really well.

[9:22] The temporary bridge is put up, so the traffic could get around, the contractor is currently

[9:29] placing boarded slabs in the new bridge deck.

[9:33] The project is currently ahead of schedule, so I'm hoping by early next year will be complete

[9:41] done over there.

[9:43] Route 60 between Route 30 and New Kent line, project scheduled to replace four cross drains

[9:49] and 11 drainage pipes planned to get lined.

[9:57] And this is, I'll talk about this in a little bit, but this is pre-work, a contract for

[10:03] pre-work, before a project next summer to actually pave both eastbound and westbound

[10:12] of 60 from Anderson's corner to the New Kent line. And I'll talk about that in a little

[10:16] bit more detail as we move along.

[10:24] And that project has been awarded. They should start

[10:27] in about three weeks, I think. We had a meeting out there today to review the pipes.

[10:35] Some of the completed jobs route one in and ramp tree and brush removal route six, 14 sidewalk

[10:42] walk repair, Long Hill road widening, Old Town road,

[10:45] turn lanes, gift creek connector,

[10:48] the two on a sidewalks,

[10:50] one A9 East and West retaining wall project,

[10:53] and bridge repair patching waterproofing epoxy

[10:55] on Monticello, one A9 and 31.

[11:00] Some upcoming projects, we have the smart scale,

[11:03] Long Hill road shared use path.

[11:05] That has an advertisement for February 13th, 2024.

[11:12] We just advertised last month the Croaker Road for late widening between the library and Route 60, and bids are due on the 25th, and we have the Pocahontas Trail Reconstruction Phase 1, and that is looking at February of 2026 to be advertised.

[11:32] A couple other things in the works,

[11:34] a changed town, transfer bridge replacement.

[11:38] That has been awarded,

[11:40] but with some restriction time restrictions,

[11:43] they haven't started that yet.

[11:45] We also have an HZIP project on 612 Long Hill

[11:49] that has been awarded.

[11:51] We also have a full depth reclamation project

[11:53] for Kingswood, which was advertised today.

[11:58] And that is a full depth reclamation

[12:00] where they go in, take up the pavement, refurbish it, treat it, and then pave over top of it.

[12:07] And then the PM5E project for James City County, which is our paving asphalt paving for

[12:13] next 2024, goes to add next month, 11-9.

[12:22] I'm not going to go through them all, but in your packet,

[12:24] I have the routes, the proposed routes that are being the contract for next summer's paving.

[12:28] It's a fairly large list for James City County about twice the amount of what we had this summer.

[12:36] So a lot of it is high volume secondaries, high volume primaries, but good to get them paved.

[12:48] We do have the, I call it the Gap C Design Bill project. At the back of your pages there's a

[12:57] detail but we had the public hearing on August 24th for that and the schedule is listed.

[13:06] Next thing will be the request for proposals fall of 2023.

[13:13] We also have the, this was the project that I was talking about, the route 60 concrete overlay,

[13:20] unbonded concrete overlay.

[13:22] So it's our we're putting the project together for Route 60 from Anderson's

[13:27] corner out to the New Kent line. Part of that is concrete, part of its asphalt

[13:32] in each direction east and west. We have putting a project together to advertise

[13:37] first of the year for paving the start next summer to do a seven-inch

[13:43] unbonded concrete overlay for each direction Route 60 all four lanes. This will

[13:50] change the elevations so we'll be some shoulder work, some drainage work, all that stuff is part of the project and the maintenance of traffic is certainly part of that project as well but it's good to get that project finally push forward.

[14:06] FY 24 County Safety Projects, we did the Old Town Road, ADA Compliance Sidewalk Repairs, the New Town ADA Compliance Sidewalk Repairs.

[14:16] We did the Route 199 tree trimming and sign day lighting.

[14:20] I don't know if y'all seen that, but we've opened up so you can seal signs and all that stuff.

[14:24] A lot better on 199.

[14:26] And then Governor's Land DI and curb repairs.

[14:30] FY24 plan, we're looking at the Route 5, 614, or either the Route 3746, no left turn project.

[14:38] Couple with the secondary six-year plan.

[14:41] And then we have some work that's on our list for Firmbrook pipe repairs.

[14:47] There's a list of traffic studies in your packet, but I'm just going to go over a couple

[14:51] that I think are important to address.

[14:55] So, speed study on Route 615, Arrambound Road, we will be reducing-

[15:00] I'm using the speed limit from news road to, I call it the foxes, which has just passed the plantation, you know, or the, what is that called? The Powhatan plantation. So just passed Powhatan plantation. Currently it's at 45 miles per hour. But with the increase of pedestrian traffic around veterans park. A lot of traffic in and out of that area. And the 85th percentile is actually reduced since the last time.

[15:29] and we did the speed study for Ironbound Road.

[15:33] We're reducing that from 45 to 40 miles an hour

[15:36] through that section.

[15:39] Another one I would like to bring,

[15:41] use right lane only in route 60,

[15:43] so we're putting up some signage out there

[15:45] on route 60 as you go into Bush Gardens

[15:46] about through traffic,

[15:48] making sure that Bush Gardens traffic sticks

[15:49] to the right around McLaughlin Circle, all that area.

[15:52] So it doesn't bottleneck route 60 through that area.

[15:56] and then the route 199 and 132 South Hensley Street.

[16:01] We did the intersection safety study.

[16:07] There was an accident there involving a school bus that kind of triggered this.

[16:12] Our traffic engineers came up with a recommendation to put up some warning signs

[16:21] and also to put up some rumble strips out there.

[16:26] So the closest was Kingswood, Kings Point.

[16:32] Kings Point.

[16:33] So I talked to the Jouet, I had them do a survey.

[16:38] So we were looking at other options versus a rumble strip

[16:42] out on 199.

[16:44] The option that we were looking at was doing some flashing lights,

[16:48] intersection ahead type thing, but we don't have electricity in the area, and the area is not good, we've done the 34 solar, so we're still looking at that, but we are adding the flags to the eastbound advanced warning traffic signal head signs that are there.

[17:16] We've issued 55 land use permits and we have closed 115 which is the first time that

[17:31] I've ever set up here and said we've closed more than we've issued.

[17:33] and that was because we held off from issuing any until we got some of these

[17:38] outstanding permits taken care of. There is a lot of utility work going on in

[17:45] the county, a lot of fiber work, so just keep your eyes open when you're traveling,

[17:52] but there's a lot of work going on currently in James City. The last thing I'll

[17:59] kind of go over the gap project, it's nine miles, I-64 roadway widening and pavement rehabilitation.

[18:06] It does have two bridges that will be widened and rehabbed, paving the light foot parking

[18:13] ride lot as part of that as well.

[18:16] The overhead signage and ITS systems for that section are in part of the scope.

[18:21] We will help sound wall barriers, retaining walls, and storm drainage box covers and pipes.

[18:30] And that concludes my presentation.

[18:34] If anyone has any questions or comments, I'd love to take them.

[18:38] Yeah, please.

[18:39] Hi, Rosy.

[18:40] Thanks for being here.

[18:41] Appreciate it.

[18:42] As I mentioned to you in the hall, it was requested by my grandchildren to please make

[18:46] sure that there's shrubs coming out of the woods going across Long Hill into Long Hill Gate

[18:51] or trimmed.

[18:52] But on the other side, I believe it's the county's responsibility, so I'll take a look at it.

[18:57] Okay, thank you.

[18:58] Appreciate it.

[19:00] Just want my grandkids and others to be able to seek it out of there.

[19:03] Everyone everybody be safe.

[19:04] There you go.

[19:05] And also, I, this is on Long Hill as well, somebody mentioned to me that in the round about that

[19:12] the greenery was getting kind of high and it was in pairing visibility through there.

[19:17] So if you could just trim that down, appreciate it.

[19:21] That's it, thanks.

[19:26] I just want to do send my thanks on behalf of the residents of the Meadows for the adjustments

[19:35] of the speed and the next veterans park in that area there.

[19:39] I think it's definitely warranted, too.

[19:43] Yeah, and there's been a lot of, it's been an uptick of vehicles in and out of that park.

[19:47] We have some leagues that go on there now, and I've noticed a lot plus the tourist traffic that goes through there as well.

[19:59] So hopefully it'll make it a little bit safer, and we have that mid block, or it's not really a mid block.

[20:05] We have that pedestrian crossing right here as well, so hopefully it'll make it a little bit safer for everyone.

[20:12] Thank you.

[20:13] And I'll start off with some thanks as well thanks for the work that was done at the intersection of Ron Springs Drive and McGrooter in Grove where there was some challenge in terms of visibility line of sight at that intersection.

[20:31] And thanks for doing everything you can to move along some of these projects and some repaving.

[20:38] Despite that very long list, the list of places that really need it is even longer, as you know, and it would be nice to be able to meet most of those needs in a timely fashion, but I know the fiscal realities of the situation are tough.

[20:57] I had a chance to chat with you before the meeting about a couple of intersections where

[21:03] folks have been concerned about the tripping of the lights and in particular Brookwood

[21:11] 199 and at King's Point driving 199.

[21:16] So both of those, I know you'll take a look and see what can happen there.

[21:21] And I just also wanted to get a sense of the contract, whether a contract has been awarded

[21:32] that included the work at Goodrich-Durphy in the vineyards where there's a problem

[21:40] with the-

[21:41] So the pipe contract that I was referencing, yes, we just awarded it.

[21:47] So I am using that pipe contract. It's for pipe replacement and pipe lining, which is what we're planning on doing at Goodwin Duffy.

[21:57] So next summer, let's start with this. That project, I'm using on Route 60 to start that for the unbonded concrete overlay.

[22:09] the second thing I have on there is the pipe over there to get it replaced and

[22:15] lined. So it is awarded, it's just not the first thing that I'm doing with

[22:20] that thing. So the route 60 work that I just alluded to, that is the first work

[22:25] that's still being done on that contract. We just met with the contractor today.

[22:30] And do you have a sense of when they might get to that? So there are, it's been

[22:35] four pipe replacements, complete replacements underneath the concrete or asphalt pavement and then there are 11

[22:42] cross-pipes that we are lining. I'm hoping that takes two and a half months for them to get all of that complete.

[22:49] It will probably be about three weeks before they start. You know, they have to, we've gone out and looked at those areas,

[22:55] they have to make sure they have all the materials in place for it.

[23:00] But after that, that is our next location.

[23:03] But yeah, we also, yeah, that answers it.

[23:05] And it will continue throughout the winter.

[23:08] It's not dependent on weather.

[23:10] It's not.

[23:11] Yeah.

[23:11] Yeah, that's one good thing about that.

[23:13] It's not something that we have to wait for 80 degree weather

[23:16] or something that nature like an asphalt or patching type thing.

[23:20] Well, thanks for everything you're doing.

[23:21] And we'll just keep on keeping on about the other projects

[23:25] and hope that we can shake some additional money that looks for you.

[23:30] Thank you.

[23:31] Thank you for the help with the trimming from when you are going out on to Route 5.

[23:41] And there were some trees planted for the capital trail beautification.

[23:46] I think that we're growing and impending the light of sight, excuse me.

[23:54] So it sounds like Ms. Saddler and I are going to have to do get out over which intersection

[24:01] gets some help if it's five and six Centerville or the intersection by her?

[24:09] Well, so we have both of them studied.

[24:14] We know there's a need at both of them, we want to move forward with both of them.

[24:19] It just comes down to funding.

[24:20] I don't have enough funding looking at county safety and secondary six-year plan.

[24:27] One's going to come before the other one.

[24:32] Unless there's additional money and then we can do all of it at the same time.

[24:37] But that's the plan.

[24:39] For county safety.

[24:41] There's other, there's other additional funding sources that may push one of them, you

[24:47] know.

[24:49] Okay.

[24:49] I did, and pardon my not remembering this, we had talked before about a possible crosswalk

[25:00] at Jamestown from Greensprings over to Jamestown High School.

[25:08] That is something that is going to happen at some point, right?

[25:13] I'm looking at all three.

[25:14] So we did study it, there needs to be some, I think the county is looking at putting some sidewalks to that location so we can put the crosswalk in that location.

[25:25] But currently right now, there's no facilities, pedestrian facilities that puts people across there.

[25:33] And once you cross route five, you're just sitting in the grass, there's nowhere to go.

[25:38] Okay, close on.

[25:39] So we've applied for that funding for our previous discussions with the board.

[25:44] We hopefully should know January, February, if we're awarded that funding from the state.

[25:49] Okay. Yeah, it just, I want to mention it just because it really worries me.

[25:54] It's students, it's people that are trying to get over to the trail.

[25:58] I see them dart out and it just, it just is really a great concern of mine.

[26:03] So I thought we had done something about trying to get, but I just wanted to get an update.

[26:08] So, all right.

[26:09] We're waiting to hear.

[26:10] Thank you.

[26:11] And then I, of course, appreciate everything V. Does, but as you know, I have many drainage

[26:18] issues in the Berkeley District that for one reason or another, cannot be fully addressed

[26:25] and so I just feel like I need to continue to put a plug in for that as we move forward that

[26:30] someday we might be able to get them addressed.

[26:33] So, thank you.

[26:34] Welcome.

[26:35] All right. Just a couple of things. Um, the light right at Harris teeter just after on

[26:42] Harris teeter and Route 60. If you're coming out of Harris teeter, it's, it's very quick.

[26:49] And it backs up into the roundabout. And so it does give enough time to get enough vehicles out

[26:56] on the 60 before it starts backing up in the roundabout and that locks that entire area up.

[27:02] If you could look at maybe like them, yeah, we'll look at the tree term trimming work down from fordrow down the Haven

[27:11] Thank you for that

[27:12] Got a lot of good reports on that and looks really good and gets everything out of the way there and then the

[27:19] As you and I talked before the meeting the little bump as we come out of new kin in the James City County

[27:24] But that'll be addressed once we put it away

[27:27] But I'll look at that before that

[27:28] I mean, it'll be next summer before that project's kicking off.

[27:32] Okay, and you know that that's going to be a good project for the entire region

[27:38] because that road floods, you wouldn't think that road floods that much,

[27:42] but there'll be standard water all the way across that road and a good rain storm.

[27:47] And so lifting it seven inches will definitely and get and agree and get those

[27:53] ditches where you need to be. It'll be a blessing for everybody up there.

[27:56] All right, thank you.

[27:56] Appreciate that.

[27:57] Any other questions?

[27:59] Thank you, sir.

[28:01] Thank you.

[28:01] Thanks for your time.

[28:02] Thank you.

[28:03] All right.

[28:04] Next, we'll move into the consent calendar.

[28:06] Days consent now.

[28:07] Calendar consists of the Dopsons of the James City County Emergency Operating Plan 2023.

[28:13] Contract award annual building envelope technical support service.

[28:17] Contract award for 139,990 court support building roof replacement.

[28:24] contract award 100 and 100, 910 James City County Fire Station, number two, Roof Replacement,

[28:34] Dedication of Streets and Section 5 of the Forest Glen subdivision, Establishment of New

[28:40] Positions, Grant Award of 12,236, Fiscal Year 2023, Edward Bryan Memorial Justice Assistant

[28:50] grant, grant award for 7,834 for forced subsidy fund, leave payout, minutes adoption and the 2023 scattered site community development grant.

[29:06] Are there any items anyone wishes to pull or may I have a motion?

[29:10] Move the adoption of the consent calendar.

[29:12] Thank you, roll call, please sir.

[29:14] Sadler?

[29:14] Aye.

[29:15] Mr. Arseneur?

[29:15] Aye.

[29:16] Mr. McLennan?

[29:16] Aye.

[29:17] Mr. Larson?

[29:17] Aye.

[29:18] Mr. Hippell?

[29:19] Aye.

[29:19] All right, more discussions fiscal update 2023 year end and 2020 for for quarter.

[29:28] Welcome.

[29:29] Thank you.

[29:30] Chairman, members of the board, good afternoon, I'm Cheryl Holland, I'm the budget manager

[29:34] for the county, and today I'll provide updates on the county's finances for FY23 which

[29:40] ended June 30th, as well as the first quarter of FY24 which ended on September 30th.

[29:46] This presentation will only focus on the general fund, so we won't be going over CIP, ARPA, or other grant-related funds

[29:53] which exist outside of the county's normal operating activities. To start off with, we'll take a look

[30:00] We look at county's general fund revenues for FY 23.

[30:05] Please, if it's forward, there we go. Please note, these figures are still considered preliminary until we complete our FY 23 financial statement audit in the next few months. Here, we presented budget and actual for FY 23 as well as the comparison to FY 22 actual revenue. General property taxes is our largest revenue source representing two-thirds.

[30:31] of total revenue. This category includes real estate and personal property taxes, and most

[30:36] of the increase here was because FY23 was a reassessment year. Other local taxes include sales,

[30:44] meals, and lodging taxes, as well as business license. This category as well as license permits

[30:50] and fees experience slight increases for FY23. The decrease in use of money and property related to

[30:58] the sale of property where the county was a landlord during FY22, so we were no longer

[31:03] collecting that revenue in FY23. The increase in state and federal revenue primarily was due to

[31:10] increase in state funding to assist with law enforcement, recruitment and retention efforts,

[31:15] and the increase in charges for services was primarily due to increase use of parks and rec

[31:21] programs and facilities. The miscellaneous line item includes property sales that took place during

[31:27] each fiscal year, and those amounts were based on the various properties sold.

[31:34] Lastly, on that fund balance line, you can see that the county used $14.4 million

[31:38] of fund balance, having FY23, and this was for various purposes, including support of

[31:44] the FY23 CIP and other one-time expenditures.

[31:48] Use of fund balance during FY22 was for similar initiatives, but we also used fund balance

[31:54] for the purchase of the courthouse green properties for $7 million.

[31:58] Because fund balance is not a recurring funding source,

[32:01] we provided a year-over-year comparison in red at the bottom of the screen.

[32:06] That way you can see the overall growth in our recurring revenues

[32:09] of $15.2 million or roughly $6.9%.

[32:15] Can I just stop on this one?

[32:18] Do you have a generalist?

[32:22] first today, I know you might not have it right off the top of your head of the amount

[32:27] of the increase in the property tax that was from new construction and like versus reassessment

[32:35] of existing properties.

[32:36] I would have to pull that.

[32:37] I know we have those numbers, but I don't have them with me.

[32:40] If you would mind saying that at some point.

[32:42] And in addition, if we could get some information about the amount of the personal property

[32:51] tax, since we did take action this year on that front.

[32:57] Yes, and personal property tax, I'll note, has a calendar year impact.

[33:02] So part of fiscal year 23 reflected that tax reduction, but the second half of FY23 was

[33:09] back to the 100% assessment there.

[33:15] I'll pull those numbers.

[33:17] Thank you.

[33:17] Absolutely.

[33:19] Turning to the expenditure side, and again, based on preliminary unaudited figures, you

[33:24] You can see that all departments finished the year under budget.

[33:27] On this slide, please note to the actual column, it reflects both expenditures incurred as

[33:31] well as purchase orders that were outstanding as of the end of the year.

[33:35] There were roughly 1.9 million of POs at the end of FY23, and those will carry forward

[33:41] into FY24 so that the planned purchases can take place.

[33:46] Savings resulted in part due to vacancies during FY23, as well as purchases that were not

[33:51] made either due to supply chain issues or changing needs in departments.

[33:56] The surplus in the school division line reflects the school's year end savings for FY 23,

[34:02] of which the county's proportionate share was $8.7 million. Usually we would bring a resolution

[34:08] to the board at this time of year with the school's request on how to use that year end surplus,

[34:13] but we are operating under a new agreement as of this year. And as part of that agreement,

[34:18] the county will retain 10% of the year end savings, and the remaining 90% will be committed back to the schools.

[34:26] We'll talk more about this on the next slide.

[34:30] Additional savings in the school division and transfers to other fund line items related to some debt service savings.

[34:39] This slide provides a quick recap of our preliminary FY23 numbers.

[34:44] Our FY22 ending unassigned fund balance was $65 million and we used roughly $1.5 million

[34:52] of that during FY23.

[34:54] Based on FY23 results so far, we will have a surplus in the general fund of roughly $36 million.

[35:00] However, some of that amount is already committed to specific purposes.

[35:04] As you can see on this slide, $3.4 million will go to debt service needs and $6.6 million

[35:11] will go towards upcoming CIP projects of that 8.7 million of school surplus from FY 237.8 million

[35:21] or 90 percent will go back to the schools per that new agreement we discussed. That leaves roughly

[35:28] 18.3 million that will increase our county unassigned fund balance number. Our fiscal policies require

[35:36] that we maintain an unassigned fund balance of 15% of our general governmental expenditures prior to FY23 that percentage was 12% and that higher percentage means a higher dollar limit requirement.

[35:51] At the end of FY23, that fiscal policy would require roughly 42 million of unassigned fund balance to meet the 15% threshold.

[36:00] But based on the figures shown here, our balance will be roughly 81.7 million or approximately

[36:06] 29 percent, so a very healthy reserve.

[36:10] Over the last few years, we've utilized fund balance for one-time expenditures, including

[36:15] using fund balance for CIP.

[36:17] We've avoided using fund balance for operational needs because those types of expenditures would

[36:23] be ongoing without an ongoing funding source, creating a budgetary imbalance.

[36:28] In recent years, due to inflation and economic uncertainties, we've budgeted conservatively

[36:33] and we've looked to find savings.

[36:35] And we've been fortunate to have positive year end results.

[36:39] Going forward, we need to continue to be strategic on how we use fund balance to help us maintain

[36:43] our strong financial position and help fund future significant expenditures.

[36:49] Now are there any questions on FY23?

[36:51] So, could you just get us a total of what we have given the schools?

[36:59] Would you be able to do just send that out?

[37:02] Yes, I can send that out.

[37:03] Okay.

[37:03] And then, probably a question for them, but if somebody could let me know, did they give

[37:12] a 7% increase?

[37:14] I've gotten a question on whether if they're going to see another, now that the state has

[37:20] come through with their budget or have they just given a 7% if somebody could just let me know that I'd appreciate it.

[37:26] I'll follow up on that. Thank you. Ms. Larson, I believe they did, but we will bear that for you.

[37:31] I think so, but thank you.

[37:33] And the designation of the money that was returned to the school's new purpose is that it's capital.

[37:39] Yeah. Per the new agreement, we're going to be using that as part of building FY25's budget.

[37:48] and so it will be, we'll discuss at that time whether or not it's going to go to capital or operating needs.

[38:00] Thank you.

[38:00] Absolutely. Moving on to the first quarter of FY24.

[38:11] Presented here are the annual budget and first three months of actual revenue for July through September of FY24,

[38:19] compared to actuals for the same time period of FY23.

[38:22] We're early in the fiscal year, so we haven't reached our main real estate or personal property tax due dates.

[38:27] And some of the revenue we received during those first three months actually relate to the prior year.

[38:31] So we've had to accrue those numbers back to FY 23.

[38:35] This year over year information reflects those accrual adjustments for both years so that the numbers are comparable.

[38:41] Some of the differences shown here relate to timing.

[38:44] For example, we received one type of state payment for roughly 400,000 in the first quarter of FY 23,

[38:51] but we didn't receive that same type of funds until October of this year.

[38:55] other differences relate to one time revenue. We sold a property during the first quarter

[39:00] of FY23 from 1.3 million and you can see that causing a difference in the miscellaneous

[39:05] line item. Lastly on the fund balance line you can see the county has used 10.6 million

[39:10] of fund balance in FY24. That went towards support of FY24 CIP as well as outstanding

[39:17] purchase orders from FY23. Use of fund balance in FY23 was for similar initiatives during

[39:23] in the first quarter. The year-over-year change, in quarter one, excluding fund balance,

[39:28] again, is shown in red at the bottom of the screen, and the difference primarily relates

[39:33] to that one-time sale of property in the miscellaneous line item.

[39:39] Switching gears to the expenditure

[39:41] side, this slide shows budget and actuals for the first quarter of FY24. Please note actuals

[39:49] includes both expenditures incurred as well as incumbrances. If all expenses came in evenly,

[39:55] you would expect to see about 25% of the budget use at this point in time.

[40:00] Overall, though, we're at 30% with that last category of contributions and transfers skewing the overall percentage.

[40:07] We'll talk about specific departments next.

[40:12] This line graph reflects department spending in the blue line, as well as 25% benchmark in the green line.

[40:21] For those areas tracking above 25%, it's important to note that not all expenses are incurred,

[40:27] evenly during the course of the fiscal year. For example, in financial administration we pay our

[40:32] annual insurance premiums up front of the start of the year. In addition, our annual audit

[40:37] occurs in the fall, so we are incurring those expenses early in the year. In IT, most of our equipment

[40:44] maintenance and software contracts require payment and full start of the year, and that's why you'll

[40:49] see that department at 39 percent right now. Also, for parks and rec, their operations are seasonal,

[40:55] So they do incur a number of expenditures in the warmer months, so early on during the fiscal year, and that's why you'll see they are at 29%.

[41:05] Contributions and transfers, that category includes support to outside agencies, most of which receive their funding at the start of the year.

[41:13] This also includes our transfers to other funds, most of which we do in July.

[41:17] So again, that's why you see that particular item at 55%.

[41:23] Also, I'll note, again, these numbers included in Conferences and having those in Conferences

[41:29] means that it can cause a higher trend here in their first quarter of the year because

[41:33] most of our purchase orders are issued at the beginning of the fiscal year and they impact

[41:39] the budget at that time.

[41:41] Now these timing differences are normal and generally work themselves out during the course of the

[41:45] fiscal year.

[41:46] FMS will continue to monitor the county's budget and will work with departments on any

[41:51] areas that need to be addressed.

[41:55] That concludes my remarks on FY 23 and the first quarter

[41:58] of FY 24. I'm happy to respond to any questions.

[42:02] Questions?

[42:04] I just had a quick question. So, I mean, I think that pretty good. I mean, 25, 29, but,

[42:12] you know, great presentation, by the way, thank you. But I'm curious, how, what does the

[42:22] conversation look like with between you and say grace, do you deal with grace or do you

[42:27] deal with someone in our office and you say, hey, this is where you're going, watch it

[42:32] or what's your typical conversation like with somebody when it comes to their expenditures?

[42:38] That's a great question.

[42:40] I know I work often with grace or her leadership team.

[42:44] It depends on the particular division and what sort of expenditures we're seeing and what

[42:47] areas may need to be addressed and whether funding maybe needs to shift from one line item to another.

[42:54] Sometimes it's not the overall division that needs to address something but maybe they

[42:59] need to look at their spending in particular line items and also we can help them plan for

[43:03] the next year. If they are seeing this as a recurring expenditure, how can we address it going forward?

[43:10] So one thing that's come out of this I guess is the we're in a healthy situation so we were

[43:16] We're able to do those positions that had been requested that we had not been able to find that we just funded on our consent agenda that we're much needed.

[43:25] Yes, Mr. Lars, on a couple of things, all of those positions were requested in the budget process.

[43:29] We had had a major budget message is not being recommended for funding.

[43:33] They told we're not just under $2 million in terms of implementing them.

[43:36] That was some one time startup costs and other things related to those.

[43:40] So this year we are in this year trending well, but the bigger piece is we had satisfied an additional $2 million for

[43:45] schools and our budget we approved close to 4 million for schools we set aside another

[43:50] two because the state hadn't adopted their budget and the state's adopted budget does

[43:54] provide additional funding to the school division and so it freed up that $2 million to go

[43:59] towards these recurring because it's not just this year trending well as Cheryl had mentioned

[44:02] this recurring expense on and on with full-time positions right and just to say in public what I

[44:10] said to you I think that those positions are needed I don't take an issue with that

[44:16] I do worry because we do lose people, do the compensation.

[44:19] I know we're looking at doing a, but I am just a big believer on if you're going to do

[44:24] a compensation study, you can't stick it on a shelf because then you're just doing another

[44:28] compensation study in another five years and you've done nothing for the compensation study

[44:34] that you did five years prior.

[44:36] And so we know that compensation is an issue and getting to be more of an issue nationwide.

[44:41] So, but I do appreciate that you were able to do those positions.

[44:46] So, and I will tell you our departments just to, you know, they wanted to fill the vacancies.

[44:50] They wanted to retain our staff and then this was really third priority.

[44:53] So it was the opportunity to bring it back to request because we are very aware of that ongoing cost and the need for compensation to match the surrounding location.

[45:09] Thank you. Any other questions? And we've even talked about that in the mayors and chairs, and across the region, you know, what's going on and what's driving some of this and trying to keep up. And every time one that's lagging behind comes up. The others pushed there.

[45:29] up and so it's all it's a battle right now as far as you know and we're

[45:34] trending real well but we also got to realize that you know with the school

[45:39] issue and all that we may have a school build and a county complex and all

[45:45] that and I know a lot of people will look at it and go well maybe we can you know

[45:50] do a rebate on taxes or that's what I'm well just because we're we're doing

[45:57] well and we've got all these other projects we hadn't anticipated that are coming up or we hadn't

[46:03] anticipated that are now costing more than what they should cost. So I think we hold our course

[46:10] and stay where we're at. I think we'll in the long run, service better as far as being able to

[46:17] have our employees more or our employees more be able to get everyone we need on deck. Also be able to

[46:24] take care of the project we have and protect our triple bond rating and that's

[46:29] really very important for our borrowing as we move forward. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[46:35] In fact, I just add to that that I think an important point to underline is the

[46:40] fact that a lot of the savings that we experienced last year were due to vacant

[46:44] positions and we have asked an awful lot of our current employees to pick up for

[46:50] We're folks who are not in those positions now.

[46:56] And so in the future, those will be ongoing costs when we're back to fully staffing.

[47:02] So this is sort of an opportunity to bank some of those resources in order to be prepared for

[47:09] what we need to deal with later on but we ought to recognize that those budgets were built around staffing at a level that was necessary for the provision of services.

[47:20] And I think too talking to some of our senior staff members, just going around and asking you know what's going on, what are you sitting, what are you sitting, and they're training people like they've always done, but used to be they stay longer.

[47:39] Now they're getting a nickel somewhere else and they're leaving.

[47:42] So it's making our senior staff members go, just got that one training to where I need it.

[47:48] Now they moved over to here or left, I've got to train another one.

[47:51] So it's a burnout there as well.

[47:54] And I think that comes with what we're paying and what we have to look at as far as this study.

[47:59] We may have to come up even more in order to make sure that we're retaining these employees that are in that middle ground.

[48:06] because our senior staff is we're wearing them down a little bit having to ask

[48:12] them to do more training more people training you know why they're also trying to

[48:16] do their job so that's not a good scenario for our team.

[48:22] We'll follow up with those questions as well thank you thank you very much all

[48:27] right next we'll do go into a text exemption requirements. Richard welcome sir

[48:35] Thank

[48:39] you for coming.

[48:41] Good afternoon.

[48:44] Mr. Hippell, other members of the board, happy to be here to talk about something that works.

[48:51] Our real estate exemption program for elderly and disabled citizens.

[48:56] It is designed to assist those with limited incomes to remain in their homes without having

[49:05] to be overburdened by real estate taxes.

[49:11] That's the nature of the program,

[49:13] and we hope that we have assisted at least a few.

[49:20] I believe in your packet you had a historical record

[49:26] of what we've done for the past 24 years.

[49:36] And you can see how the exemptions, qualifications, and amounts have, well, I'm sorry, do you know?

[49:46] I don't think I didn't have an attachment.

[49:48] Ms. Lars, I believe we emailed it to your Friday versus attaching it to the agenda, so my fault

[49:51] I'm not having it there.

[49:52] That's okay.

[49:53] Go ahead.

[49:54] Sorry.

[49:57] But it shows the evolution of our program.

[50:00] from the year 2000, when the limit on income was at $22,500 for a household, assets other

[50:11] than their home were limited to $75,000, and the exemption amount was on the first $65,000

[50:18] of value. Currently, our income level for household income is $45,000, assets not including

[50:29] the home itself at $200,000 and the benefit is an exemption on the first $120,000 of value.

[50:40] We have always pegged our exemption on the value rather than a set dollar amount.

[50:50] The reason

[50:50] for us doing that became evident in between 2015 and 2016. We had no changes in the

[51:00] The value of the exemption from a real estate value, but the right property tax rate went up from $0.77 to $0.84, which meant that our citizens did not lose any benefit for that $120,000 of value.

[51:23] And in fact, their exemption amount went up from $924 a year to a thousand and eight per year because it kept track with the rate.

[51:40] If you compare our program with surrounding jurisdictions, we stack up very well.

[51:48] Hampton has only a deferral or a freeze for their citizens.

[51:56] Newport News for full exemption, your income is limited to $25,000 for household.

[52:03] New Kent has a limit of $50,000 for their income, but they also limit the amount

[52:17] of the exemption as well. City Williamsburg is deferral only. There is no

[52:22] exemption. York County has a tiered system where based on your household

[52:31] income you may get a larger or smaller benefit. Hours if you qualify you know

[52:40] what your benefit is going to be.

[52:43] So, that's where we stand at this point.

[52:48] We have it again, but as with all things, incomes are going up,

[52:55] values of houses are going up, it's about time we made an adjustment.

[53:02] I am here today to recommend that you make adjustments, both to the income requirement,

[53:10] And to the benefit level, whereas right now our income,

[53:18] maximum income to receive this exemption is at $45,000 for household income.

[53:26] I'm going to recommend that that be raised to $55,000.

[53:32] I'm also going to suggest that you raise the actual benefit from the first $120,000 of value.

[53:40] to the first $150,000 of value, that is going to raise the exemption amount in a dollar standpoint

[53:49] from the current $996, which is $120,000 of value at $8,3 per hundred, to approximately $1,245,

[54:03] $150,000 at $83 per hundred.

[54:11] This would not take effect until the school year 2025, we are currently, again, because

[54:19] we are in the middle of the tax year, we cannot change it until the next year, that is my

[54:30] recommendation as commissioner of the revenue, I think that based on the increased

[54:36] incomes that people have had, as well as the increased value that we have on our

[54:43] assessments, that that's probably an appropriate way of moving me at this point.

[54:50] Be happy to take any questions you may have?

[54:54] So first of all, thank you, actually this had been brought to my attention by a senior

[55:03] citizen in my neighborhood who, due to workforce issues, had to work an increasing amount because

[55:13] there was no one to work, and they went $80 over and lost their exemption.

[55:20] And so, which was quite upsetting, because they, while they, yes, they worked increased

[55:31] time.

[55:32] They still made minimum wage, which has been raised a little bit, still there was an income

[55:37] issue.

[55:37] So,

[55:41] but I don't want to take away that when you do something like this, much like other

[55:47] things that we do, it does fall on others because we'll all be paying our regular tax.

[55:56] So I don't want to take away from that, but I do think that as you age, if you want to

[56:01] be able to age in your home, if you want to be able to continue to, I think that helping

[56:06] someone is not a bad idea at all.

[56:09] So, I would agree with the 150, which does raise it just a smidge.

[56:23] So, in the 55,000, but I don't know how other board members feel, so, but I just thought I'd.

[56:33] I'd say, you know, we certainly would like to consider this.

[56:37] We haven't changed the amounts in a while and obviously there have been significant

[56:42] changes in cost-living and the like.

[56:45] I guess I'm curious as to what the cumulative impact of this will be.

[56:50] Do we have any sense of how many people would be affected and what the additional cost

[56:56] might be?

[56:57] It's very hard to come up with that.

[57:02] Again, it raises the, as I was saying, it raises the benefit from approximately $1,000 to approximately $1,250 per qualifying applicant.

[57:19] Unfortunately, we really don't know how many people are going to apply in the future.

[57:24] year. We had 406 this year. I would imagine that there would be an increase. We would probably

[57:33] be up to 500 or so qualifying with the increase in the income level. That would be fairly

[57:42] typical. But it's just a guess.

[57:49] And it's one of those things you can put the applications

[57:55] out there, you can promote them, but if they don't apply, they don't apply. And I hope

[57:59] everybody who qualifies applies.

[58:04] Is there any way to get it? Would there be any way for us to take a look at, it just

[58:13] Just maybe take a look at the real estate and try to get a figure, maybe move this to our November.

[58:20] Would that still work for the budgetary work?

[58:23] I believe the Commissioner of Revenue is time to get his forms changed and applications out early in the year, so November, I think, would work?

[58:31] November would be fine, but as far as passing a resolution on this, we have to get those applications printed to be available to be mailed out.

[58:42] when people are getting their income and statements.

[58:47] Unfortunately, people will get their W2s and their 1099s and put them aside.

[58:54] Often times they get lost by the time the application is due in June.

[59:00] So we try to get them and encourage people to file early.

[59:04] Okay. Maybe we could do that. So is that an idea?

[59:08] Yeah, I think the recommendation is very worthwhile.

[59:11] I think we just want to have a sense of what the range of impact might be.

[59:16] So we know this year, with 400 applicants, the impact is approximately $400,000.

[59:30] If we had 500, we would be looking at approximately 500,000 dollars with an increase in the exemption amount from 120 to 150.

[59:48] We would probably be looking at less than 600,000 dollars.

[59:56] They would be a 20% increase, which would put it right at six times.

[1:00:00] Now, if you want to have something to compare that to, if you have those of you in it, Ms. Larson,

[1:00:09] I'm going to give you my copy here. The Disabled Veterans this year. On our sheet, when I printed

[1:00:18] In addition to this chart, we had 915 disabled veterans qualifying for a real estate exemption.

[1:00:29] It's $3.2 million of real estate tax.

[1:00:34] Since then, we've added another 12 and we have another 5 or 6 that have not been processed yet.

[1:00:44] So, in comparison,

[1:00:51] $600,000 for real estate exemption for our elderly and disabled citizens fails by comparison.

[1:00:59] Thank you.

[1:01:01] The other question I had was noticing that the total assets you didn't recommend an increase of that from $200,000.

[1:01:09] Is that because our surrounding jurisdictions seem to have about that as well?

[1:01:12] out that most of them, and either that or in some cases lower, saying New Kent has

[1:01:20] a higher, currently has a higher income but a lower asset, their assets are leveled

[1:01:26] $150,000.

[1:01:31] Okay, you have maybe, I guess I would make a motion to table until you come back with, and

[1:01:39] then to on November meeting.

[1:01:42] I think with your direction we can do it either way.

[1:01:44] We'll bring it back if you want us direct us to do that in a motion we would do it

[1:01:48] but we weren't asking for action today it really wasn't meant to be.

[1:01:50] Oh sorry okay that's fine it's a board discussion great you can come back

[1:01:55] that'd be great thank you yeah I think the main point is that we just like to get a sense

[1:02:02] of whether the board is supportive of the idea I'd certainly support this

[1:02:06] I should.

[1:02:07] I'll wait to.

[1:02:08] Yeah.

[1:02:11] All right.

[1:02:12] Thank you.

[1:02:14] Thank you.

[1:02:15] Appreciate it.

[1:02:16] Board consideration.

[1:02:17] It's 2024 legislative agenda.

[1:02:19] Adam.

[1:02:26] But after you, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, that's hard to believe, but it's time to talk

[1:02:29] about our 2024 legislative agenda already.

[1:02:32] I provided you with a memo this year.

[1:02:34] A little bit different than usual.

[1:02:35] Sometimes I just slide the whole thing over to you and we talk about it.

[1:02:38] Prime the pump a little bit this year and remind you of what you've talked about throughout

[1:02:43] the past year as you guys are talking and mentioning things, I put it in a folder and bring it all

[1:02:49] to you at the end of the year. So, the ones that we talked about, or the individual you guys

[1:02:54] talked about last year, first one was adopt a resolution supporting NACO's position on regulating

[1:03:00] telecommunications facilities. That was Mr. McGlennon. I've heard this actually from a couple of you,

[1:03:05] I described it to Miss Larson, but deregulate low hazard dams like King's Point and Jolly Pond,

[1:03:11] Encourage and provide for regulate the electric vehicle charging infrastructure that was Mr. McLenon.

[1:03:17] Increase the distance of the 40 foot no contact voting center rule that was originally brought up by Mr.

[1:03:22] Eisenhower, but I've heard that a few times given the issues that we had at the vote center this year.

[1:03:29] Also, relaxed development standards for agri-terrism that was Ms. Larson.

[1:03:33] I noted that deputy county attorney Liz Parman has recommended a change in the Virginia code section that requires

[1:03:40] There's a five-year notice period for trash takeover, as we are considering doing that.

[1:03:45] Really, I think that's a pretty old provision that was meant to protect local trash haulers back in the day when there was a lot of local trash haulers, but I think environmental regulations have mostly regulated them out of business.

[1:03:56] The major trash haulers in the county are all from out of state and even from out of country, not all of them, but the vast majority.

[1:04:04] And then lastly, what's not on your list, I did want to mention to you that, I've spoken with Judge Smith.

[1:04:10] The judges of the ninth district circuit have gotten together and they talked to the Judicial Council,

[1:04:18] presented the Judicial Council with the numbers of caseload that they have,

[1:04:21] and I've convinced the Judicial Council to recommend that they add another circuit court judge to our district,

[1:04:27] which would be funded for by the General Assembly.

[1:04:30] That recommendation goes to the General Assembly, and I would recommend that we put that on our legislative agenda to support that effort.

[1:04:37] They really need another judge and to have the General Assembly pay for it would be awesome.

[1:04:42] Not great.

[1:04:44] Other than what you guys have said over the past year, I included your 2023 legislative program which was a break from the norm in that we did it in one page.

[1:04:53] Also, it didn't really ask for any direct legislation, it was mostly a positional paper.

[1:04:58] If you go through it, as I mentioned in the memo, most of this is still relevant.

[1:05:02] I would like to know whether you guys want to keep a couple of the things on there.

[1:05:06] In particular, the school funding, we had that one in there.

[1:05:09] It said change the school funding index to more fairly allocate state funds among localities.

[1:05:14] If you guys want to keep that, that's fine.

[1:05:15] I'm just thinking of space.

[1:05:17] If we want to keep to one page, and how much of yours we add, how small do I get the font?

[1:05:23] Well, yeah, I think the question of whether we're going to likely to have an impact on the question of redoing the local composite index formula and so forth is pretty, pretty limited.

[1:05:38] It's more likely to come as part of the vehicle or BML packages than just being in our package alone and would already be covered by the adoption of those agendas.

[1:05:49] Because what we might want to do, though, is just maybe reemphasize the desire to fully

[1:05:55] remove the cap on support positions that are justified by SOQ.

[1:06:00] We did benefit significantly this year.

[1:06:05] Well, I won't say benefit, we got a restoration of the monies that had been eliminated

[1:06:11] back during the Great Recession, at least partially.

[1:06:14] And if we could continue to get that assistance, it would be a good step in the direction

[1:06:20] of the state taking on its responsibilities.

[1:06:29] Do we know that it's her?

[1:06:31] I think just one thing we need to pay attention to is the 45-day early voting.

[1:06:44] I'd be curious after it's over the cost to the locality, but one thing I've found interesting

[1:06:57] is that the number of days increased, but I believe in talking to the registrar, the

[1:07:07] the training, like they didn't fix the training.

[1:07:12] So she had to, she's having to train people

[1:07:15] that she's already trained for the same election

[1:07:20] within the 45, because of the timing of the general.

[1:07:24] So just something that an unintended consequence perhaps

[1:07:29] that wasn't paid attention to by the general assembly.

[1:07:33] So I'm not necessarily saying that you need to put that

[1:07:35] in the legislative agenda.

[1:07:37] I'm just saying we probably need to be paying a little bit more attention when these, those

[1:07:46] type of things, if they say they're going to keep the 45 day, if they go to change, if

[1:07:51] God forbid, they make it 55 days, just something to put in your tickler file that we need to be

[1:08:00] kind of zoning in on about early voting.

[1:08:03] As you know, we're interviewing potential lobbyists for next year and so that's something

[1:08:09] that we can probably help keep a little closer watch on than.

[1:08:12] Yeah, so I'll be interested in they go to get in to seeing how it's been going with other

[1:08:17] localities too, but I mean, they have the same qualifications that we do, but anyway, so.

[1:08:25] I'd like to bring up one we talk about the 40 foot no contact rule and it's

[1:08:31] basically it's based upon an arc from the entrance and the way with the new

[1:08:38] building they're having to do it is to draw it from around any potential

[1:08:42] entrance to the door but there's some places where that technically you could

[1:08:46] walk right up to the side of the building or whatever I'm not so sure that it

[1:08:50] should be significantly increased from 40, maybe to 50 feet or whatever.

[1:08:55] But I would say to make it around the building itself as opposed to around from an entrance.

[1:09:01] That way you've got the whole building regardless of which entrance you're going into covered.

[1:09:08] The reason I mentioned this is because I went over and it was a great concern to Diana,

[1:09:12] because she's talking about the back part of her new early voting room,

[1:09:18] having to put in another door in order to be able to have that 50-40 foot, so people can't come right up to the windows, where people inside are voting.

[1:09:29] And I hadn't thought about it until I talked to our voter registrar.

[1:09:33] So I think maybe 40 or 50 feet, but instead of, I would focus more on the building envelope itself to basically protect the integrity of the whole building.

[1:09:49] other item that I don't think we would be able to really accommodate much on in terms

[1:09:54] of our legislative package but we might be thinking ahead on this is just whether

[1:10:00] we want to ask the state to consider some kind of regulation related to the use of herbicides

[1:10:08] or pesticides in the vicinity of the Chesapeake and its tributaries.

[1:10:12] I

[1:10:21] think that's something that, again, is more likely to have legs if it's something

[1:10:26] that's part of the broader consideration by the local government lobbying groups and

[1:10:31] maybe we can talk with them about adding that to the next legislative packet beyond

[1:10:39] this year's.

[1:10:47] Any y'all want to take off where

[1:10:53] we were years ago and have a pile of them and no one

[1:10:57] take anything. I don't think you would take anything anyway. That's what I'm

[1:11:03] worried about. Definitely.

[1:11:07] I think that you know we had sort of focused on this

[1:11:11] before.

[1:11:15] I don't I don't see that there's any harm in articulating some of the

[1:11:19] things as accounting like Bayco does that we support. We'd like to see them do

[1:11:26] But we're not necessarily going to be able to get an individual sponsor from our local level.

[1:11:31] What I'm more concerned is that particular items that are more of an impact for us,

[1:11:37] that we would like to have some sort of legislation carried by our local legislators to be more of an action.

[1:11:45] And this is where we'd like action, the rest of this we support.

[1:11:49] And I don't mind if it runs front page and in the back page.

[1:11:53] And the positions that we support I think can be fairly well abbreviated.

[1:11:59] We don't have to have a long detailed discussion necessarily of the positions and a lot of them.

[1:12:06] If you want to look at the Veko agenda, we can say we support the Veko agenda.

[1:12:10] We'll never do that.

[1:12:13] So we can keep the paper fairly slim, I think.

[1:12:17] Yeah, for me, like seeing something, and I do not mean this, but it is political right

[1:12:25] now.

[1:12:26] The grocery tax is getting a lot of TV time.

[1:12:31] But I think by having something on, it's like, that's fine if you support, but please

[1:12:38] understand that supports things at the local level.

[1:12:43] And so we will either have to cut those things, or we will have to do something here, here.

[1:12:49] You can't just take away money without finding money to replace it.

[1:12:55] So for me, you know, you keep something on, I mean, frankly, number six,

[1:13:00] I would just change it to the county request, the General Assembly,

[1:13:03] check any attempt to use Serf Local Zoning Control, boom, period, not even putting it on to short-term rentals.

[1:13:10] But, you know, I think it's important to keep things so that people know that these are

[1:13:16] the type of things that impact them locally.

[1:13:19] So,

[1:13:22] appreciate your work.

[1:13:23] I will probably contact those of you that have names on here.

[1:13:25] I'll probably contact you directly so we can flesh this out a little bit more before I bring

[1:13:29] you the proposed agenda and we'll do that at your next work session meeting.

[1:13:35] I also emailed you guys in sort of exactly what we did last year, not bringing the legislators

[1:13:42] in for the meeting in the work session room and then instead relying upon both staff

[1:13:47] and the board to get the message out to the legislators, are we good with that continuing

[1:13:52] with that?

[1:13:53] I am good with that.

[1:13:55] I know that we have heard from one legislator that is running on a future legislator that's

[1:14:00] running unopposed.

[1:14:02] I do think if we do see some changes that we do somehow do a personal reach out, you know, to say, hey, James City County, you know, these are some things.

[1:14:15] I think losing Senator Norman, somebody that's very familiar served on this body, very familiar with what's going on in James City County, you know, that is obviously going to be a loss.

[1:14:27] So, somehow we have to make ourselves known to future general assembly members as the election pans itself out.

[1:14:35] That'd be like a maybe a March work session that we invite them in after the elections and

[1:14:42] Fendon. Well, they're scheduled. Yeah, but at some point we need to make them familiar with that.

[1:14:48] Then maybe April May. Yeah, after.

[1:14:53] Cross over and all that.

[1:14:55] I'll get you a draft for consideration at your next meeting, next month's work session.

[1:15:00] Okay, because we had a, we were looking at possible motion on this one today, but we're gone. No, no need for a motion. It's just given help giving me direction to bring something. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Next we'll move into the solar utility scale solar form application, because I welcome sir. How you doing today? Well, thank you Mr. Chairman and members of the board.

[1:15:29] At the September 12, 2023 Board of Supervisors meeting, the Berkeley Group presented to the Board of Supervisors,

[1:15:38] the draft solar policy language for large-scale solar facilities and a draft ordinance template that addresses various scales of solar facilities.

[1:15:48] Since then, staff has prepared the executive summaries of the draft policy and ordinance

[1:15:55] template to aid the board's review and those are attachments number four and number five

[1:16:01] to your board package.

[1:16:04] Percuss the purpose of today's meeting is to present to the board of supervisors the revised

[1:16:08] language of the drafts authority policy and ordinance template based on feedback from members

[1:16:15] of the Board of Supervisors.

[1:16:18] Staff looks forward to the Board's feedback.

[1:16:21] Based upon these materials and further direction

[1:16:24] at the meeting, staff will prepare the policy

[1:16:28] and ordinance for the planning commission's direct review

[1:16:32] at a public hearing in early 2024.

[1:16:37] But to some, I would be happy to answer any questions

[1:16:38] the Board may have.

[1:16:41] questions.

[1:16:44] No, not a question so much as a compliment. This is much more readable.

[1:16:54] I read

[1:16:55] it, I understand it. I think that that helped focus the discussion a little bit. I think

[1:17:04] we'll go if with the understanding this we'll go back to the planning commission of the full

[1:17:09] process, the public will have a chance to come and it will come back to us. So, we'll

[1:17:13] have plenty of opportunity to take public input and to look at any of the tweaks that

[1:17:20] may need to be made, but I think this is a good, good starting point.

[1:17:24] So, thank you for the work and look forward to working through it.

[1:17:30] Motion to move forward. Press on.

[1:17:33] So moved.

[1:17:34] Thank you.

[1:17:35] We'll call the police.

[1:17:37] Mr. Eisenhower.

[1:17:38] Aye.

[1:17:38] Ms. Sadler.

[1:17:39] Aye.

[1:17:39] Ms. Larson.

[1:17:40] Aye.

[1:17:40] Mr. McLean.

[1:17:41] Aye.

[1:17:41] Mr. Hibble.

[1:17:42] Aye.

[1:17:42] Motion carries.

[1:17:44] All right.

[1:17:44] Next we'll move into the designation of voting represented for the vehicle annual business meeting.

[1:17:51] Mr. Steven, you're up.

[1:17:53] Mr. Chair, I'm members of board.

[1:17:54] Hope it's short and sweet.

[1:17:56] So to say, there are four of you that are planning to attend the vehicle conference.

[1:17:59] We did generally send a voting delegate information for one and I don't know if you would like to volunteer someone or select someone from the four that might be an attendance that we could send that to vacant.

[1:18:09] Their business meeting is Tuesday. I think it's at 10 o'clock in the morning and didn't know if we might have somebody interested in that.

[1:18:17] I think we already have somebody who's going to be there.

[1:18:22] Sure, I'll do it.

[1:18:25] I'll do it.

[1:18:26] I'm moving this Larsen.

[1:18:28] I'm usually only one still there for the business meeting, so yes.

[1:18:32] All right.

[1:18:35] Everybody good?

[1:18:36] Do we need a motion?

[1:18:37] You have a motion.

[1:18:37] Just made motion.

[1:18:38] Oh, please.

[1:18:40] Ms. Sadler.

[1:18:41] Hi.

[1:18:41] Ms. Larsen.

[1:18:42] Mr. McLean.

[1:18:43] Hi.

[1:18:43] Mr. Eisenhower.

[1:18:44] Hi.

[1:18:45] All right.

[1:18:47] Next we're going to board requests and directors.

[1:18:50] Anyone have anything that they want to go over today?

[1:18:53] Or do you want to move on to County Administrator report?

[1:18:55] So,

[1:18:57] I would just mention since it's, we don't have a service 30 here that we had a service

[1:19:03] 30 recognition and I think most of us were there at one time or another but I was very

[1:19:11] impressed with the turnout and the camaraderie and the sense of Emily, if you will, that

[1:19:20] our employees in service 30 had and I'm very impressed with that group of people.

[1:19:25] they do a wonderful work on behalf of our citizens.

[1:19:29] And I just mentioned that Mr. Hipplin, I were right before that ceremony out at Calray

[1:19:35] Farm to hear more about the grant that was received, they are part of to provide assistance

[1:19:43] to food hubs that are reaching people who have food needs and it was very interesting and

[1:19:49] an impressive presentation that the folks at Cal Ray put on for us.

[1:19:56] We've got to ride the wagon around.

[1:19:57] Yes, we did.

[1:19:59] Very, just a couple things very quickly.

[1:20:02] Mr. Stevens, do we have anybody like a police officer?

[1:20:07] I know, probably don't right now, just because of trying to get officers on the street.

[1:20:13] I didn't know if we had an officer that was one that had a recruitment position, just hearing about more and more departments that are doing that, that are using current police officers as sending them to different schools and that kind of thing to recruit potential officers.

[1:20:33] The source and I believe the short answers yes we've had an officer with that's been an assigned duty to them so that's not their primary duty but they do recruiting and then we do take officers with us to job fairs and other activities.

[1:20:45] We have recently put a position in to be an HR person within the department to further help with recruiting efforts and that person to sort of coordinate and ensure that officers are available to go and be at those other job fairs.

[1:20:56] So we have at least a hybrid of what some others are doing and we have put many of the HR type staff in a lot of our departments to focus on each department whether that's general services or fire or police to try to help in our recruitment efforts to make sure somebody that is their job to be focused upon.

[1:21:13] So I'll get a little better description of that for you, but the short answer is we are doing some of that.

[1:21:17] Okay, and then we talked about this intersection before the intersection at five in centerville,

[1:21:28] and there's a no-left turn, but it is constantly, you know, people are getting more and

[1:21:33] more comfortable because it's been a while. We don't

[1:21:36] have any pork chop there, doesn't sound, it sounds like I'm going to have to wrestle and it's

[1:21:40] sadder to see if we can, which one of us is going to get the more concrete there

[1:21:44] in a couple of years. I have had the question, and it's very difficult to have a police officer

[1:21:50] out there because there is no shoulder. They have to wait down the street somewhere

[1:21:55] and just close location. I have had the question asked if you can do something like a red light

[1:22:01] camera there where if there was a turn, so I don't know, I'm asking, so if somebody could just let me

[1:22:10] know at some point. That would be great.

[1:22:14] And just a couple of things. One, I attended

[1:22:18] the Lafayette High School 50th Anniversary Celebration, the planning committee. I just

[1:22:22] they need to be commended because they did an excellent job. They did a Thursday social.

[1:22:28] I should I had a Lafayette 1980 grad in my house who went kicking and screaming and I sent

[1:22:36] and a picture to our children of him

[1:22:38] and it was my, your dad having a terrible time

[1:22:40] as he was talking to like 30 people.

[1:22:44] They did a social-et-prothing moon

[1:22:45] which was really well-attended

[1:22:48] then the game between tab and lofty yet.

[1:22:51] I imagine lofty yet, it's been a long time

[1:22:53] since I've gotten to go to a lofty at home football game

[1:22:55] but it was packed and it was just so many people

[1:22:59] from different classes

[1:23:01] and then on Saturday night they did a banquet

[1:23:04] and they also included their 23, excuse me, Hall of Fame,

[1:23:10] which was 22 people into their Hall of Fame,

[1:23:13] which was incredible.

[1:23:15] And something that I wrote on my county page

[1:23:17] that I just want to reiterate here as well,

[1:23:20] where, in all of the speeches,

[1:23:22] the impact of the teachers and the coaches

[1:23:25] that have had on these young people was just incredible.

[1:23:28] And as I stepped off of the school board

[1:23:32] eight years ago, one thing that was beginning to change were the teachers that were coaching.

[1:23:40] And part of that was the, probably a lot of it, was the increased testing and benchmarking

[1:23:47] and everything that they had to take on.

[1:23:49] So they just were not able to do the increased coaching time and we're losing out by doing

[1:23:56] that.

[1:23:57] We really are because the impact on the human beings that these 22 people had turned into was tremendous, and I'm sure that was parents and co-workers and all kinds of people, but what was continuously mentioned throughout their speeches were the impact that those coaches and teachers had had on them, and we just need to be really cognizant of that as we move forward, and I hope the state will look at that that there is so much more to some student than a test score, and I hope we can get back to the

[1:24:27] impact that we've seen there at some point.

[1:24:30] And then just on a personal note, I just want to end and send my sympathies to my aunt,

[1:24:36] Diane Thompson, my uncle John passed away last week as funeral was yesterday, and there's

[1:24:43] not many people in James City County that can say that they passed away within an eighth

[1:24:49] of a mile or in their backyard of where they were born.

[1:24:53] He was born on Central Road at his parents' home and he died at the home that he and my

[1:24:59] aunt built on Central Road and he was a lifelong James City County resident except for a small

[1:25:06] amount of time that they lived in an apartment in my grandparents' basement when they were

[1:25:11] first married and they've raised all three of their sons here and their sons are all

[1:25:15] James City County residents too and there's not a lot of people that you can say that about.

[1:25:20] So I'll miss my uncle and I appreciate you watched our I watched our meetings and was never shy about what his opinion was about things that we're going on and Mr.

[1:25:31] Huffle can verify that 100 percent.

[1:25:33] Thank you.

[1:25:35] That's true.

[1:25:36] Mr. Huffle if I could just jump in I was looking for my piece of paper.

[1:25:39] Oh, I'm sorry.

[1:25:39] No, no, no, you get well, first of all my sympathies to you and your family and your loss.

[1:25:44] I know that was that was very difficult for your aunt and we often think about you.

[1:25:50] and I'm happy to lead it for Theta Ms. Larsen.

[1:25:52] Thank you.

[1:25:53] We keep track of those we do.

[1:25:56] I just want to let you know that I did participate

[1:25:57] in the most recent EDA meeting.

[1:25:59] And also the AFD committee participated

[1:26:03] in that there will be a new application coming forward

[1:26:06] for consideration in the near future.

[1:26:08] So glad to see those to continue into county

[1:26:11] because I think it's a worthwhile project

[1:26:13] and glad that we're able to utilize those efforts

[1:26:18] for helping out those landowners that have those large parcels, especially up our way.

[1:26:24] So, thank you.

[1:26:27] All right, kind of administrator, and I went to mayors and chairs yesterday.

[1:26:32] What is that?

[1:26:33] That was quick.

[1:26:34] And our next one got a lot.

[1:26:36] I got a lot of compost that was in Yorktown and very well attended, and our next one will

[1:26:42] be here in James City County on January, I think, 29th or so, somewhere around there.

[1:26:47] So whoever's chair next year, I already told them that we're going to have a coming event.

[1:26:54] Just be ready, chair.

[1:26:58] John and I, we had a good time in Cal Ray, what a great family they are up there and all

[1:27:03] the work they do in support of the county and it's another one of those things as gyms

[1:27:09] that we have in the community that do their job, do what they need to do and enjoy what

[1:27:15] they're doing, promote the county, promote good living and all that and work

[1:27:19] themselves to the bone. I mean they work out there at that farm. If you ever get a

[1:27:23] chance to go out there and maybe they would love to have any volunteer work for

[1:27:26] them so get a chance and be a great place to go and and a wonderful group. So next I'll

[1:27:33] turn over to county administrator and look to you for him. Mr. Chair, members of board

[1:27:37] two quick items. One I've mentioned before our Halloween with heroes is Wednesday

[1:27:41] This is day, October 25th, so tomorrow, from 6.8 p.m. at the LEC, children and adults alike

[1:27:46] are encouraged to attend, but it's a fun, safe, trick-or-treating event and get to meet

[1:27:50] a lot of our first responders and see a lot of our equipment and tools.

[1:27:53] So really, that's been very popular, it's 4,600 opportunity way.

[1:27:56] Again, October 25th, 6.8 p.m.

[1:28:00] And then we are hosting another, our Clean County Commission is hosting another repair fair

[1:28:04] and recycling expo, it's November 18th, which is a Saturday, from 90 m to 1 p.m. at War

[1:28:09] or how high school you can bring things to drop off for recycling, you can bring register

[1:28:14] and have items fixed, and if you want something registered to be fixed, you do that on our

[1:28:18] website at jamescitycountyva.gov, so we'll talk more about that in the coming meetings,

[1:28:22] but that's coming in November as well.

[1:28:26] All right, next we'll move into a need of motion when we move into a closed session, insulting

[1:28:32] with legal counsel in Florida retained by a public body regarding specified legal matters

[1:28:37] required for the provision of legal advice by such council specified in regarding a proposed under the Virginia Public

[1:28:45] Procurement Act and pursuant of Section 2.2-3711-88 of the Code of Virginia and

[1:28:54] discussion or consideration of acquisition of real estate property for the public purpose or of the

[1:29:00] disposed of public held real estate property where discussion of the meeting would adversely affect

[1:29:05] the bargaining positions of a negotiating strategy of a public body in pursuit of Section 2.2-3711A3, the Code of Virginia, and regarding 111 Grove Heights Avenue and 109 Grove Heights Avenue.

[1:29:23] In consideration, a personnel matter, the appointment of individuals to county boards and or commission is pursuing a section 2.2-3711A1 of the Code of Virginia.

[1:29:36] Appointments to the Board of Zoning Appeal, appointments to the Colonial Jewel and Civil Service, commission appointments to the Social Service Advisory Board, and appointments to the Colonial Community Criminal Justice Board.

[1:29:47] I have a motion.

[1:29:49] So moved.

[1:29:50] So moved.

[1:29:51] Oh, please, sir.

[1:29:52] Ms. Sadler.

[1:29:53] Hi.

[1:29:53] Besides, Trown.

[1:29:54] Mr. Eisenhower.

[1:29:56] I'm sorry about that.

[1:29:57] Mr. McLennan.

[1:29:58] Hi.

[1:29:59] Ms. Larson.

[1:30:00] Aye. Aye. Aye. We're in close session.

[3:06:08] Aye, closed session and needed certification. Mr. Chairman, I move to certify that we only spoke about those items we indicated that we would speak about in going into closed session. Thanks, sir. Roll call, please. Ms. Adler. Hi, Mr. Eisenhower. Mr. Muglenin. Hi, Ms. Larson. Hi, Mr. Rippel. Hi, motion, care. Action is taken. Okay. I have the motions for appointments. The first is to appoint Andrew Frank to the James City County Board of Zoning Appeals for the balance of a five-year term that ends on March 31, 2024.

[3:06:40] So for the Colonial Juvenile Services Commission Appointments, Ms. Melinda Marriott and Ms. Denise Kirschbaum for

[3:06:49] length of term that through June 30th, 2027, for the Social Services Advisory Board, we would be appointing Mr.

[3:07:00] Frank Ferguson to assume the unexpired term of Mr. Wells that expires on November 30th, 2025.

[3:07:06] and we would be appointing Ms. Kenya Williams and Ms. Sharvala West for terms that expire on October 24th, 2027.

[3:07:17] And we would be, I think this is one where we make a recommendation.

[3:07:24] Yes, okay.

[3:07:25] Okay, a recommendation to the point, the honorable judge, Josh DeFord, and Mr.

[3:07:33] Brad Ryan-Hammer, to three-year terms, expiring to October 24th, 2026.

[3:07:39] Right, a motion on the floor for the four-point or four boards appointments for multiple people.

[3:07:46] Roll call please.

[3:07:47] Ms. Sadler?

[3:07:48] Aye.

[3:07:48] Mr. Isaugher?

[3:07:49] Aye.

[3:07:50] Ms. Larson?

[3:07:51] Aye.

[3:07:51] Mr. Hempel?

[3:07:56] We're going to keep the boards for the next regular meeting will be November 14th at 5 p.m. here in the boardroom, but we're going to attend you this meeting until 9 a.m. on November 12th, where four board members will be attending the Vaco Annual Conference at the Homestead Resort in Hot Springs, Virginia.

[3:08:17] So I do have a motion to keep that open.

[3:08:19] and this meeting open for that.

[3:08:21] Motion.

[3:08:22] Motion, roll call, please, sir.

[3:08:23] Mr. Sadler?

[3:08:24] Aye.

[3:08:24] Mr. Eisenhower?

[3:08:25] Aye. Mr. McLean?

[3:08:26] Aye. Mr. Larissa?

[3:08:27] Aye.

[3:08:28] Motion carries.

[3:08:29] Meeting stays on.

[3:08:31] Thank you.

Board of Supervisors Business Meeting

Agenda

Transcript