[This transcript was generated automatically from audio using AI and hasn't been reviewed by a person -- it can contain mistakes, including plausible-sounding sentences that were never actually said. Treat it as a starting point, not a verbatim record.]

[0:16] We're not at work session anymore.
[1:04] John Kevin Daley.
[1:06] Ron DeNorth, town clerk.
[1:07] Danny Davis, town administrator.
[1:11] So now you know how I make short meetings.
[1:12] I just skip things.
[1:15] All right.
[1:16] Public comment.
[1:16] Does anyone here wish to say anything?
[1:19] We ask you to keep it to three minutes or less.
[1:22] And if not, then okay.
[1:25] We will move along.
[1:26] You're going to have a...
[1:28] You don't have a comment?
[1:29] Not yet.
[1:30] No, who are?
[1:31] There's okay.
[1:34] We're going to have a presentation by Mitchell and Company.
[1:40] This is, this is what God do you, and you're okay with it set up like this.
[1:44] Oh, yeah, it's fine, it's switched around from what I'm used to, but yes, it's not.
[1:54] Hi, I'm Sandy Tondrow, Mitchell and Company, and I was told to keep this short, so I'm
[2:04] I know you did say, I won't say who did.
[2:11] We completed the audit for the fiscal year ending June 30,
[2:17] 2019, and just to mention,
[2:18] we do as part of the process I met with Danny and went over some of the results and questions
[2:23] back in September, and then on Tuesday, I met with the Finance Committee and went over all
[2:29] this and kind of probably excruciating detail for them.
[2:35] Kind of the same presentation that I'm going to go over with you all.
[2:39] I just went over a more detailed with them.
[2:41] So with you all, I'm going to try and kind of just stick to this and kind of like a high level.
[2:46] Major happenings for the year.
[2:48] I believe you also got a draft copy of the report, which I didn't really go into in detail or anything.
[2:55] since it's so big, but I'll refer you to a couple of pages in case you want to make no
[3:00] and go back later to look at some more detail.
[3:04] The first page is just a comparative balance sheet looking at some of the comparatives
[3:09] from this year to last year for all of the three funds that general fund the health fund in
[3:14] the water and sewer.
[3:17] As you can see, the cash and investment balances are up over the prior year, and your
[3:24] cash investments is basically made up of the checking account, some CDs and the investments
[3:30] with the BML.
[3:33] The best thing to note about all of this is with the investing strategy
[3:39] and what you've earned on the CDs and even the money earned on the checking account across
[3:45] all three funds was almost $100,000 in interest for the year. So that's really great.
[3:52] Receivables are up for the year, primarily due to two changes for this year, one being the change in the property tax building in the past you all just build once a year in the fall, switching to the county building for you, they build once in the spring and once in the fall.
[4:13] So, and because they also, they collect the monies after they built, and then remit to you
[4:19] kind of a month behind. So, at the end of the year, there were still some outstanding,
[4:26] the county had collected a lot of it. They just didn't remit it to you until July.
[4:32] So, that was 95,000 of this receivable in the general fund. The other large portion is a little
[4:39] change in how the town decided to handle the meals and occupancy tax.
[4:46] In the past we always kind of recorded that more on a cash basis and discussions with
[4:52] Danny and he really kind of wanted to get it to match up more with the year because it's
[4:58] is behind.
[5:00] The meals taxes paid usually a month behind. The occupancy is like a whole quarter behind.
[5:07] So although in past years you still had 12 months of income in there, it wasn't always representative of what was truly happening during the year because it was paid behind.
[5:17] So the money that you received in July, we actually booked as a receivable at the end of June.
[5:24] So, that accounts for that. So it's definitely money you got in. It's not crazy receivables that you're never going to see.
[5:34] And as far as fixed assets, the major, there weren't major fixed asset additions in the general fund.
[5:41] Mostly just the sidewalk work that you all did and you had received the grant for that in the prior year, but most of the work was done in this current year.
[5:49] And then in the water and sewer fund, the biggest change was the Ridgeview Project, which was completed during this year.
[5:59] On the liability side, payables and total actually are down.
[6:03] That was primarily due to, in the prior year, there was some owed on the Ridgeview Project,
[6:09] could actually start it in like June of what year was at 18.
[6:13] And so there were some outstanding payables, but then, as that project was finished and
[6:18] completed, that was all paid up.
[6:21] And so at the end of this year, it was mostly just some standard bills that weren't paid
[6:26] until July.
[6:27] The biggest probably being, we did a current last year, the money for the record's digitations
[6:34] and say that word right.
[6:36] You know what I mean.
[6:41] So that's in there, so that makes the general fund up a little bit.
[6:47] Long term debt is down, you haven't added any additional long term debt so obviously over time you've been paying down that principle.
[6:55] And there's just a small portion of that that is allocated to the general fund and the rest is all water and sewer debt.
[7:02] In the other obligations, it's basically made up of our cruel for vacation and sick time for the employees.
[7:11] The unfunded pension liability,
[7:17] and that amount, which I'll talk about a little bit more just at the end,
[7:21] but that is down from the prior year, in the prior year, just like 319,000, and it is down to 173,000.
[7:33] And as far as your equity, that's what you have left to spend, but it is kind of made up of a couple different categories, especially in the water and sewer, a high part of that is mostly wound up in your fixed assets, the infrastructure of the water and sewer system, leaving us with an unrestricted in the water and sewer of 884,000th and at the end of the year.
[7:58] In the general fund, there is also some wrapped up in the fixed assets, but you have restricted
[8:05] of $6.5 million, and then there is restricted related to the fire program that is at $50,000.
[8:15] If you all remember, you kind of backed as a pass through the state gives money to for use
[8:22] for the fire department, and then when they spend it, you all pass that through to them,
[8:28] and they haven't spent any of the past couple of years with the change over to the county,
[8:33] but as Danny said, they are aware that that money is there, so you're just holding onto it
[8:38] until they're ready for it. And if you want to see more information about the balance sheet,
[8:43] page 11 of this report, and also on page 20 for the health center. The health center, you know,
[8:50] as you all know, you sold the building.
[8:53] So mostly there wasn't a whole lot of activity in there.
[8:56] There's mostly just the cost of the proceeds that you received on the sale and cash.
[9:03] There's a receivable for the 50,000 that old docs still owes to you all that's going to be paid out over the next several years.
[9:10] And then just a payable for as part of the sale, you all agreed to pay some elevator repairs.
[9:17] So you'll have to reimburse them for that.
[9:21] The next page just, just high-level profit and loss all three funds had surplus for the year.
[9:30] The general fund, a surplus of 1.1 million.
[9:34] Mostly the revenues were up mostly the normal revenue categories, just increasing the meals and occupancy.
[9:42] And then the additional with the real estate billing coming through this year.
[9:48] the first part of the year. The health center mostly just related to the sale and water and
[9:56] were ahead of surplus of 83,000 up.
[10:00] From 55,000 last year, expenses were fairly flat. The biggest change there was just the increases in the water and sewer rates and actual usage of water and sewer.
[10:15] And if you would like to see more detail of that in the report page 14 for the general fund page 18 for the water and sewer and page 21 for the health center.
[10:29] The next slide is kind of like a graph representation of the operating revenue, basically for all three funds but the biggest fluctuations you probably notice are there in the general fund.
[10:43] Primarily if you see in 2014 was when Salamander opens, so that's where we see kind of the first spike.
[10:50] The next year, you all had received a transportation enhancement grant, so that's why that one is a little out of the line up.
[10:59] But then the steady increases that you've been seeing related to mostly the meals and occupancy and business licenses.
[11:08] Water and sewer has, most of their increase has been consistent with the salamander opening and increase in usage in the town.
[11:20] The next slide just shows just kind of looking at some of these major categories in the general fund just looking at those trends.
[11:29] You know, as I said, the Salamander opening in 2014 and you can really see how over time with maybe 15 being the first fully year,
[11:37] but how the meals have continued to increase as well as the occupancy tax and even the business licenses.
[11:45] I think we were talking another day a little bit about the Frank the bank franchise tax, which was always a pretty good category has fluctuated a little bit over the past couple of years just with the changes in the banks
[11:56] So seeing how that works out over time
[12:02] The next one kind of the same sort of thing with the water and sewer fund just looking at some of those trends
[12:09] You know mostly a trend up. There was a little blip down the one year and 17
[12:15] And I'm not really sure I remember why that happened.
[12:19] But mostly it's been increased with the increases in usage and increases in rates.
[12:29] And we compare from last year to this year the gallons build was up from 35.9 last year
[12:40] up to almost 36.8 million gallons, as well as the rates increasing.
[12:47] The
[12:50] next slide just a little comparison of the general budget to actual, as you know, a
[12:57] big function of a government organizations are to have a budget and try and stick closely
[13:04] to it sometimes. Things can get out of whack, obviously. I think the town's always been pretty
[13:09] conservative on the revenue side, so as you see the actual revenues are usually higher than
[13:14] budget, and kind of the same on the reverse, the actual expenditure to usually lower, although
[13:21] that does tend to, you know, sometimes move year to year if a project doesn't get done
[13:26] in one year, but then you move it to the next year.
[13:35] The next slide is kind of a good slide to kind of see that growth in the surplus that
[13:41] all have had, if this went back further than 2010, as you know, it was in the, you know,
[13:50] even lower position. So this has been a great increase and now you all have the opportunity
[13:56] with this, you know, very healthy surplus to determine, you know, what you need as far as a reserve
[14:04] and what you can do with the rest of that money. So it's very good position to be in right now.
[14:12] And the next slide we've been kind of doing for a couple of years, just a kind of a good
[14:17] way, especially with the water and sewer fund, to see, you know, the numbers we give you
[14:22] with surplus are accounting numbers with some of our funny little adjustments.
[14:28] But a lot of people, you know, probably especially for the town, like to see how the water
[14:33] and sewer fund itself is actually operating.
[14:36] So if we took our surplus, if you're looking at this 2019 column, took our surplus
[14:42] and took out some of the other things that aren't really related to operating the water and
[14:47] sewer fund, like availability fees, the tower rental depreciations, one of those accounting
[14:55] things that we put in, and then we usually for purposes.
[15:00] Accounting, pull the debt service out, the principal portion, but that really is related to your operating. So we had kind of put that back in that actually the operating surplus would be 233,000 and then also comparing just but then comparing to the cash inflow outflow, there was actually more cash flowing out 754,000.
[15:28] but primarily, you know, a lot of the capital expenditures
[15:31] accounted for that this year.
[15:39] And the next slide, the gallons built pump,
[15:43] this has been an area that we've been looking at a lot
[15:46] over the years.
[15:50] You know, it's critical to figure out
[15:53] where the water's going and making sure
[15:55] you're getting the most of it.
[15:59] This year, it was about 79%.
[16:02] So, it last year was 81%, the town has been as high as 88% if I was back in 2016,
[16:10] but it's also been as low as 48%.
[16:13] So, there have definitely been improvements in that area, and I know Dan East talked
[16:18] a lot to, you know, the people over at the water plant and, you know, working on some of it
[16:24] has been, you know, the way that waters tracked and accounted for, and, but I know a lot
[16:29] improvements have been made with the capital improvements you've made and replacing
[16:34] meters and so it's just an area to keep working on and it definitely has seen
[16:38] some improvement.
[16:44] My final slide just to summarize I guess what everybody really
[16:47] wants to know is that we issued a clean opinion on the audit so everything was
[16:51] good and you know just knowing that we you know we love working with management
[16:58] at Danny's Great, and we've gotten to work with John this year, so that's been great.
[17:03] But we really work for council, so if there were big issues or problems, we would definitely
[17:07] bring those to your all's attention, but there was nothing like that noted, and everything
[17:13] was smooth, I had on here the meals and occupancy, but I think we already pretty much talked
[17:20] about that.
[17:20] Was there anything else that we talked about the other day related to that?
[17:24] Just that the beginning balance, the fiscal 19,
[17:30] because the way we're doing the quarters,
[17:32] so the FY19 doesn't look like it has an extra receivable in it.
[17:38] As the way we do comparisons, 19 to 20,
[17:41] it'll be actual fiscal year 19, fiscal year 20.
[17:46] And I think that'll help us going forward
[17:48] to get a true sense of what that's like in those actual months
[17:50] that the taxes were collected.
[17:54] And when you look at the detail there, you could see that adjustment that we did, like on the
[18:02] page, I think I mentioned, looking at page 14, it shows last year's ending fund balance, and then we showed
[18:09] an adjustment to that balance, and that was 312,000. So that was the amount that was really
[18:14] saved in July of 18, that was really fiscal year 18 monies.
[18:24] And then, as I said, I was just going to mention the pension, we've talked about this
[18:28] in the past, but you know, you all have, there is an unfunded liability, I don't think
[18:35] at this point is a huge concern, you know, those amounts are calculated based on, you know,
[18:41] a lot of actuarial calculations looking at if everyone under the town plan retired now that's
[18:48] what you would have to pay and obviously that's not going to happen and you know some
[18:57] people may want to but I don't think it's going to happen so I don't think it's a huge concern
[19:01] and you know the town has always paid what they've been told to pay as far as the rates
[19:06] and you know have never you have never underfunded the plan has just been based on the
[19:11] and how the market has worked out, so I think everything's in line there.
[19:20] And just to mention that we did footnote, you were all also under the Life Insurance Plan with the State.
[19:28] You're unfunded portion there is pretty small, so we didn't do a whole big pension footnote.
[19:35] I don't know if you all have ever looked at this thing that's like 15 pages long of required schedules.
[19:40] So, for $75,000, we didn't think we should do another 15 pages of schedules, so we just did a kind of abbreviated footnote that just mentions that you have it and it's a little bit unfunded, but it's not a huge amount.
[19:57] So, just to know that's in there.
[20:00] And then as far as subsequent events, I was just noting that we did mention in the one footnote that you all approve the contract on the land purchase in fiscal year 19, although it didn't happen.
[20:15] It was just a bigger item for use. We just thought we'd throw it in there, so people are aware of it. Does anybody have any questions?
[20:26] Thanks very much. That was great. I just want to ask you about sliding over the floor on the first
[20:33] I should probably should know this but so 2015 then 2016 and then back to 18 the general fund
[20:45] operating revenue went down. What was the reason for that? Do you recall?
[20:50] I shouldn't know that, I'm...
[20:54] You went down, or...
[20:56] You're looking for 15, 16?
[20:59] Yeah, so...
[20:59] Well, because 15 had the transportation enhancement grant, so that kind of blipped it up a little bit,
[21:06] and then it kind of went back down.
[21:09] And I think since 14 is kind of just been on an upward trend.
[21:14] So was that the road change?
[21:17] to changes.
[21:19] But not just on our social interception project, so we have this grant funds again.
[21:25] Thank you.
[21:25] So then if you do the curve without that, it's still good.
[21:28] Yeah.
[21:29] Yeah.
[21:29] Okay.
[21:30] Thanks.
[21:31] Sure.
[21:32] Yeah.
[21:32] That's one of the challenges.
[21:33] Having those funds is essentially an operating budget.
[21:38] Is that it can skew it if we get a big grant one year or
[21:41] or another.
[21:42] Again, a conversation we're having about trying to create a separate CIP fund.
[21:46] that can then those track in may very year to year because the CIP projects will vary depending
[21:54] on funding and other expenditures, but that would allow our operating to be more normalized
[22:00] for lack of a better word so that we can see those trends more accurately.
[22:11] If there are no questions, if I can just briefly mention what we discussed at Finance Committee
[22:16] on Tuesday. Do you want to discuss? Okay. The Finance Committee had this same conversation.
[22:23] It was very good. They were very pleased, of course, with the results of the fiscal year
[22:29] 19 audit and end of your status for the town. And this led into continued discussions that
[22:37] we've been having over the past three to five months or so regarding financing plans for
[22:45] in that coming up as well as establishing new financial policies and updating our financial policies.
[22:53] And then the third piece of that being the potential line of credit that we've discussed, I think, at least once,
[22:58] with the Council for the utility fund to kind of help replenish our fund balance and the utility fund,
[23:04] allow us to be able to continue forward with the projects needed.
[23:08] The Finance Committee made recommendations on some of the financial policies,
[23:12] And we'll be bringing those to the town council on November 14th to discuss uping, for instance, how much we keep in reserve, so that we have a very solid, strong reserve year after year, to protect against this potential recession, as well as debt policies that will lead into then financing conversations when we're ready for that with town hall.
[23:36] The next piece is going to be discussed one more time at Finance Committee regarding the utility side to make sure that that's all buttoned up and ready to go and they felt that once we got through that we'd be ready for that to counsel for discussion at December.
[23:54] So again, Finance Committee heard a lot of this information and again, and more and again we're very we appreciate their input and review because it helps
[24:06] provide additional insight and additional questions and then allows council to hear that information too.
[24:15] Any questions for Danie or Cindy?
[24:17] No.
[24:18] Well, thank you very much again.
[24:20] Thank you.
[24:21] Thank you very much.
[24:23] On point.
[24:34] We have
[24:39] the support for town projects.
[24:44] Thank you, Madam Vice Mayor.
[24:46] And we have provided an update.
[24:48] Like we did last meeting in response to Councilmember Leonard Morgan's request, we tried to put a budget line in each of these projects. Some of them are still estimates.
[25:00] Some of them are approximation, I can't speak either. Approximations has been a long day. However, we do want to cover those items, just to make sure that they're representative of what we believe the cost to be.
[25:15] I'm happy to answer any questions on these. I do want to also mention an error that I had Council Member Leonard Morgan pointed out on the EV charging stations.
[25:26] We're looking at two options. One is essentially electrify America. The other is not EVGO, it's actually charge point, but we're still waiting for updated information from electrify America, not only their plans for the DC Metro region as a whole, they were still trying to fix issues out or deal with some of their projects in California before they put full attention here to the DC Metro area.
[25:53] So happy to answer any questions that you might have on these projects.
[26:01] How did we end up with such a high number for the maintenance shed?
[26:09] That is that we were talking about like a core data's deal kind of almost prefab building.
[26:16] Yeah, so one of our conversations that we intend to have once we get through this weekend
[26:21] is between the chief and Mr. Cole and Mr. Moore and myself to talk about what are we actually
[26:27] wanting to achieve in this building to make sure that we capture our needs as appropriate but don't over
[26:34] construct it. Nonetheless, we had taken just general size and sent it to a construction firm that
[26:43] I've dealt with in the past before and then also I think we had gotten maybe some general
[26:49] info from other firms but if not so this is just a ballpark. This is a ballpark but it also
[26:56] I mean I ballpark right well it's I would say it is not it is not necessarily out of
[27:03] out of an uncommon amount for the size structure that may potentially be built if we're talking
[27:08] about four bay type building um that's part of the conversation I think there are other opportunities
[27:14] we have in front of us to discuss with council whether uh this still is the right thing to do or
[27:21] whether we look at other options on the existing site um not saying we necessarily need to make
[27:26] that decision immediately, but I think as we get a little bit more information, maybe we
[27:32] have that conversation with Council about opportunities ahead of us.
[27:36] So I think maybe what we can offer to you is when we come back to you with our next
[27:41] status update, which we plan to bring the first meeting in December since we only have one
[27:46] meeting in November, maybe we'll have a little better information that we can discuss that
[27:50] with you.
[27:52] That'd be good if you could do that. Anybody else have any questions, comments, thoughts?
[27:59] Okay, good enough then. Thank you very much, Dan. That's really a good report.
[28:07] Let's see.
[28:11] Do we have any questions or committees?
[28:14] No.
[28:16] Will you finance,
[28:21] yeah?
[28:21] The consent agenda, has anyone like, anybody like to make a motion?
[28:28] I move we accept the consent agenda as detailed.
[28:33] Second.
[28:34] Okay.
[28:35] All those in favor say aye.
[28:37] Aye.
[28:38] Opposed?
[28:41] Just as
[28:47] extensions as all that for that.
[28:49] Sorry about that.
[28:50] Okay.
[28:52] Jim.
[28:53] You have a special funding request for us.
[28:58] If you'd like Madam Vice Mayor, I may ask Jamie to also come to the table and just
[29:03] brief on the conversation from the cultural and community events committee and then
[29:09] stare with you at the report covers it, but stare with you that conversation is needed
[29:13] and then obviously Mr. Herbert, can answer questions.
[29:18] Madam Vice Mayor, members of Council, if you remember Mr. Herbert came to the Council meeting
[29:24] back in July and we started talking about his budget for the forthcoming Christmas in
[29:30] over, especially in light of last year's Christmas in Middleburg.
[29:36] We discussed the funding that the town provides currently to the event to the organization.
[29:44] If you remember, it was in the amount of $9,000.
[29:48] And at the request of Council, Mr. Herbert submitted an application for special event funding
[29:54] that came to our cultural and community events committee.
[29:58] and we sat together.
[30:00] Review that application just, I think, that was last week.
[30:08] In the committee, after some
[30:10] conversation, I should say that Jim's application was in the amount of $9,000. After some conversation,
[30:19] the committee decided to recommend a council, increasing that amount to $11,000, and making it a
[30:28] one-time funding, specifically targeting the shuttle services
[30:36] that Chris Miss and Middleberg provides to visitors
[30:40] that are coming from the east and the west, right?
[30:43] Both sides.
[30:44] So with that, as a very brief background,
[30:51] I ended over to Mr. Herbert.
[30:52] So, the shuttle expense incursion has been $11,012,000 range.
[31:04] Our proposal received this year, which matches last year's exact number of buses, drivers,
[31:13] same period of time, cost have gone up as $15,000.
[31:19] That's not alarming, it's a very good company, it's reliable, part of the biggest value in
[31:26] dealing with this company, is that the drivers are there, the drivers are professional,
[31:31] the drivers are in the routes, the drivers do what they're told, and we don't have complaints
[31:36] from shuttle users as we did the very first year that we engaged the shuttle company
[31:43] that was a public relations nightmare.
[31:48] So, Christmas in Middleburg is deeply grateful
[31:52] for the towns and this council's interest
[31:58] and further help beyond the $9,000.
[32:03] The committee discussion was to shift
[32:09] a recognition of this cost going against expenses away from temporary staff consulting
[32:20] outsourcing of people, which we're migrating towards to get a permanent part-time solution
[32:28] in place for Christmas and Middellburg, and instead to tie it to something that is concrete
[32:34] And the recommendation was to try it to shuttle bus expenses.
[32:42] So if in the Council's opinion, finances are available in any dollar amount,
[32:50] to offset the shuttle expenses, the proposal was copied to Jamie earlier this week.
[32:56] We are grateful, and if they're not available, we all understand, but there you have it.
[33:07] Very briefly, overall, I think we're in good shape with Christmas and Middleburg this year.
[33:16] We've done a lot of work to go out ahead of the curve and promote that biggest, if femoral revenue item, which is parking.
[33:25] And we have over 200 pre-paid parking tickets right now, so if we can keep that promotion
[33:35] level up and have good weather on the day of, we'll end up doing everything in our power
[33:45] to mitigate this potential bad weather downside.
[33:48] But I'm happy to report that we have one more Angel Sponsor this year than last year.
[33:58] Three quarters of them are even already paid.
[34:02] We have our insurance has been paid, but I haven't yet received the policy in Hardcopy back.
[34:10] And Town of Middleburg is named as Coinshord, and when that certificate of insurance arrives,
[34:16] I'll put it into y'all's hands, so you have it on record.
[34:20] The shuttle bus people have already provided certificates of insurance and Town of Middleburg
[34:26] is named on those.
[34:29] HAs done a great job with the public safety planning and the road closure planning.
[34:34] When I get the physical copy of the insurance policy, I can go to V dot, I expect to
[34:39] next week and get our road closure applications all taken care of.
[34:46] All the barricade infrastructure has been ordered and contracted and AJ is the point of contact.
[34:52] So Lord Levin, he gets the O330 AM telephone call about, you know, can we start unloading now?
[35:01] And we already have 35 elements signed up to be in the parade, including three high school bands.
[35:08] And so when we generally have an 80 complement of all elements, having 30 here was six weeks to go, is ahead of the curve.
[35:20] So, I know people are always concerned, especially after a bad weather year, what are the
[35:27] pulse points, what's the health and well-being, how are things progressing and moving along?
[35:32] And I'm very pleased to make that report.
[35:38] How's the hunt?
[35:39] Are they set and do they have more this year, horses?
[35:43] They too are weather related.
[35:47] They'd love to have 150 riders again.
[35:49] As we know, you know, there's an overall message presented through all promotions of Christmas
[35:59] and Middleberg that brands, Middleberg, with a very warm hearted, open-armed feeling.
[36:09] But it's still, at the end of the day, has an economic development impact, and Middleberg
[36:14] hunt is no less a recipient of that than all the retailers here in town. They have capping
[36:21] fees that create a revenue day for them because so many people from all the other hunts
[36:27] want to have that experience and they pay the guest fee and middleboard hunts signs them up
[36:34] gladly. Bad weather day is bad for that. But there will be there. I was with John Denegro
[36:41] And Penny denegged recently on this and everybody is very excited.
[36:49] Any other questions?
[36:52] Jim, so the shuttle has gone up more than 30 percent, are you not concerned about that?
[36:57] Not really, because what we need to be able to do is flex with their cost increases, their
[37:05] driver wages, their fuel expenses, and everything else.
[37:11] We always tweak this when we get up to the event.
[37:17] My commitment to them is not ultimately for a final
[37:25] dollars-and-sense payment.
[37:29] When we get up to the event and we see that we are dealing with maybe a bad weather forecast.
[37:36] I have a certain period of time.
[37:38] It's like maybe it's like canceling a dinner reservation or a hotel reservation.
[37:44] So 72 hours out, we can tweak this.
[37:48] And until I really see where we get to at the very, very bottom line,
[37:52] I'm not concerned by their expression of it's likely to cost more this year.
[37:58] We do have some manageability over it.
[38:01] It's such a quality assurance with this particular company.
[38:06] I don't on the one hand feel hostage to it, but I know what the alternative creates.
[38:13] And are you able to say what the New Angel's sponsor level is?
[38:17] We have 15 on the books as opposed to 14 on the book from last year.
[38:24] And once again with Angel Sponsors, and with half-page and full-page advertisers,
[38:29] is we have not increased rates because most of them are town businesses. And so we've kept
[38:38] that flat for them for this is now the sixth year running without any cost in Greece.
[38:48] Peter, I mean I'm sorry I'm okay right. Chris, go ahead. I'm sorry.
[38:53] So you said what you're anticipating or what your budget is, 15 for the transportation?
[38:59] Yeah, I really had it in my head that it was going to run up to 12. So it is higher than I expected
[39:06] But it is a manageable expense and it could be less.
[39:11] So my question was, do you see a possibility that could be more?
[39:16] Are you going to add on?
[39:17] No.
[39:19] Okay.
[39:20] There could be less, but that's your ceiling.
[39:23] We are not promoting Christmas and middle bird to have that 25,000 visitor experience again.
[39:34] And so I do not see this going up.
[39:37] Okay, and so your title ask is for 11 and change, is that the number you're looking for?
[39:42] That was actually a recommended number that came out of the committee.
[39:46] My original ask when we were talking about an orange instead of this apples going against a concrete cost outlay as opposed to part-time staffing was for nine.
[40:01] And so my opening statement is I'm grateful for one or more. We're not trying to dictate anything here.
[40:12] I meant to ask also about the in the event of bad weather. Have we got new plans for pulling people out of mud, the mud?
[40:21] Yes, great, and sadly, we've lost Jerry Tumlin, who was one of the major, I'm going to
[40:33] correct the term, pusher, houters, you have to come in behind a vehicle with a very,
[40:39] very padded front of the utility vehicle and push.
[40:45] If you're pulling, you've got to connect to the other car, you've got to do change,
[40:51] you're
[40:51] plastic and the way automobiles are built now.
[40:54] And so I am negotiating now with a company in Frederick
[40:59] Maryland that provides utility vehicles with heavy duty
[41:04] brush guards upfront that we can hang used tires from
[41:09] and have one of those at each of the three parking stations
[41:13] all day long instead of having to see if we can get
[41:16] Jerry to go back up and down the road here and then there
[41:19] and then back in them forth.
[41:23] I'm confident that we'll reach a satisfactory
[41:25] agreement, and that's what we're doing this year.
[41:31] Banners, will you have banners again this year?
[41:33] On the pedestrian barricades on order,
[41:35] and we will again have banners.
[41:38] And when we install the banners, we will again
[41:41] foot a slip cover, our colon slip covers, the barricade covers.
[41:46] Over one banner, leave the next one blank,
[41:48] And then the next barricade banner customer goes in, and so we're never having consecutive
[41:56] banners covered if there's ever somebody who isn't more than this high and wants
[42:01] to look around, they'll be able to look around and do the see-through.
[42:08] Dan, go ahead.
[42:09] If I may just two items real briefly regarding the transportation at the committee meeting,
[42:14] Betherson from Visit Loudon offered to provide support in terms of potential either other firms
[42:22] are working with this firm to be able to, in the future, probably won't work for this year
[42:27] just because we're so close to the event, but to identify whether the rates are generally
[42:32] in line with what a quality firm would be charging into assistance in any way possible.
[42:38] That's a great value add of the committee, actually, to have that shared expertise.
[42:42] I look forward to that next year.
[42:45] And then on the finance aside, one of the feelings and comments of the additional contribution
[42:51] for this year was that should things go well for Christmas and Middleburg as an organization
[42:59] this year, whether it's good and the revenues are good, that allows again to perhaps start
[43:06] building up that reserve for future years when whether is not good. And so they can carry
[43:14] a little bit of that cushion into the future. This is essentially, again, a little bit
[43:20] of that, it's not seed money because the, or the parade's been going on for 40 years, I guess,
[43:27] but it's, again, helping them kind of get over that hump so that in the future, they don't run
[43:32] into these negative years.
[43:35] So that was a feeling of the committee
[43:36] that that was another positive reason
[43:39] for the additional contribution.
[43:42] Go ahead.
[43:45] Go ahead.
[43:46] So if they're looking for potentially 15
[43:52] to cover the cost of the shuttles,
[43:55] it could be less, but it won't be more.
[43:57] Why don't we give them 15?
[44:00] And whatever they use, they use,
[44:01] and whatever they don't use, get to allocated,
[44:03] Not to other expenses this year, but to transportation for future years and they can put it in the bank and get interest
[44:09] Whatever they want with it. That's fine. If you want to make that motion
[44:12] Philip, do you have something you want to say?
[44:16] Do you really have the staff time to account for every penny?
[44:22] And make sure that it stays and follows up for the next year. We don't have we don't have
[44:31] Roughly the organizational structure
[44:33] that the town of Middleburg is experienced with is to have individual separate funds for such types of things I do not.
[44:45] Yes, we can account for every single penny. QuickBooks is complicated to learn, but it's really good at doing that.
[44:55] And so the retained earnings are...
[45:01] Easily, presentable, and that which flows into the next year. We would even be able to track those
[45:12] expenses not spent, make sure those all go into retained earnings.
[45:19] And there's a way to do it.
[45:20] I can see a way to do it. I'm kind of thinking off the top of my head here. But if that is a request, we'd
[45:26] happy to fulfill it?
[45:28] I do.
[45:30] Well, I'm concerned that I don't remember what year, but at one point you did give some
[45:36] funds at the end of the year to a charity.
[45:39] Are you not going to do that now that you're trying to pay a part-time person?
[45:44] And we are still making some charitable distributions.
[45:50] And we try and do it primarily for those who help us the most.
[45:59] So the Hill School is a nonprofit organization and they not only are an angel sponsor
[46:06] but they give us the critically important staging site.
[46:12] Our charitable distribution back to the Hill School is roughly $1,500 a year.
[46:22] We hope to be able to make a charitable contribution to the American Legion this year and
[46:29] try and do our part as funds are available.
[46:37] With that, because we give to those charities also, it's just we don't want to double
[46:42] give with what we're giving to you.
[46:45] So having this for the parking, I think it's a great idea and then have that carried over into the next year.
[46:53] So yeah, well, I'm sure there's a very easy way to set up an account and quick books to make that happen.
[47:04] Okay, Chris, do you want to make a motion?
[47:13] I move the recommendation of the Cultural and Community Events Committee, the town,
[47:18] Council of provisional one-time funding for Christmas in Middleburg not to exceed the sum of
[47:23] $15,000 for shuttle services associated with the 2019 event with the extra proceeds going
[47:29] towards next year. Second.
[47:33] Bill, did you have a question? Anybody have any other questions? All those of favor say aye.
[47:39] Aye. Opposed? Opposts? Opposts? Okay, passes. Thank you very much, Jim.
[47:44] Deeply grateful Jim I'm glad to hear that you're looking forward to that information for next year's event
[47:49] So that means you're locked in already
[47:57] Well, say when you're victims of success it gets more sophisticated and complicated and
[48:05] And real quick when does your Christmas and little bird committee begin so we'll have now the interesting thing about that Kevin is
[48:14] And having brought on some help that's doing a lot of the heavy lifting that some long
[48:20] suffering volunteers have been doing in the past will have a meeting in early November,
[48:26] will have a meeting right after Thanksgiving before the 7th, but so many of the things
[48:33] that Lord Lovem, you know, Joanne Hazard and D.D. Hubbard, we've gotten solutions to overburdening
[48:42] volunteers like that.
[48:46] And if there are any operational other questions, AJ, you know,
[48:50] can answer as well, but in talking with him, I think we're feeling continued to feel comfortable
[48:54] and on our side, everything is looking positive as well. And, you know, the plan last year worked,
[49:00] we were going to tweak a few things regarding crossings on the barricades and stuff like that,
[49:05] but other than that. Yeah, the pedestrian return down federal street, but no automotive
[49:10] have returned down federal street. AJ's got that all in hand.
[49:22] Thank you all again. Thank you all again. This is a, and it's a very pleasant
[49:27] partnership. Thank you so much.
[49:30] Thank you, brother. Jim, I'm very much looking forward to December 8th.
[49:43] I think it was a great success, Madam Vice Mayor. Again, it was the inaugural October Fest, and we were doing it with
[50:02] We were on South Madison Street. At the end of the day, we had 14 artists participating, and we were fortunate enough to include some quotes from the artists in my report. The overall response from the artist community was that it was very positive that the turnout and the business that the artists were able to conduct.
[50:29] far exceeded anything else that Art and the Burger had previously had. From the
[50:34] October Fest specific perspective, we had wine, we had cider, we had beer,
[50:45] available, we had food as well, and we had a stage with live music all day long.
[50:53] If you remember the artists started at 10 a.m. and then we had a
[50:58] strong carriage that came through down with the mayor and with Mr. Dally. Yes. And we opened
[51:09] the first Cagan and started the October Fest proper.
[51:16] After the event, I wanted to bring
[51:18] to your attention. In my report, I listed all of the partners that were involved, some
[51:25] the merchants, some of the artists, some of the organizational development folks, including
[51:34] the Middle-Bird Police, they had a huge role in making sure that the day went well,
[51:39] both in the planning and execution of October Fest.
[51:45] And after the event, and AJ feel free to join me, we got together as a group, all the people
[51:52] that were involved in the planning, including AJ, and Mr. Davis and myself, and we sat around
[51:58] the table and we talked about how could we even improve the next rendition of an October
[52:05] Fest.
[52:06] So I've included here some ideas like doing a better site with signage, obviously having
[52:14] more time from a marketing perspective.
[52:17] We approximate that we had somewhere between 4,000 and 5,000 people at the event,
[52:27] having more activities for children and family friendly activities could be something that we could do moving forward and I think there's also an opportunity to have even more artists participate and even extend it down federal street.
[52:44] Next time, we ran out of buttons very quickly.
[52:50] That was incredibly more successful than we thought it was going to be.
[52:55] Can we do some, like, artists across North Madison somewhere?
[53:00] We are very flexible.
[53:04] You know, I'm not too flexible.
[53:11] We could have done an even better job. We had volunteers staged at Washington Street and Madison
[53:23] Street and at federal street and Madison Street. There were just a handful, some minor reports
[53:34] of people carrying alcohol outside of the designated zone.
[53:40] That made our list.
[53:41] That's something we could do.
[53:42] That's something we could do a better job of.
[53:47] And then lastly, from a budgetary perspective,
[53:52] the Council had authorized spending of up to $20,000
[53:57] and with the donations and the financial support from the Garden Club
[54:02] in some of the fees that we collected.
[54:04] We actually came in at just almost $17,600.
[54:10] So Mr. Davis and I and everyone else will obviously
[54:15] get together, put together a budget for future events
[54:20] and future October Fests.
[54:22] I don't know that it will necessarily approach
[54:24] what this budget was, but that's downstream.
[54:28] I like the idea, too, that you have on here, the co-check, you give check here, because it's
[54:35] hard to maneuver.
[54:36] That was a beautiful day, but if it's a little cooler or something, it's hard to maneuver
[54:39] with packages and I did have packages, but I also had a good parking space, but I was lucky
[54:45] in that.
[54:45] That was a suggestion of the mayors, and an idea to be able to securely store it and be able
[54:52] to retrieve it either later that evening or even the next day.
[54:55] I think there's potential merit to it, but we'd have to do some logistics.
[55:00] How that works in security, but even if we could find a retailer along South Madison or in that area that had space where an empty
[55:09] storefront, where they could be stored and secured, takes some additional volunteers or folks.
[55:16] I was going to suggest, you know, Salamander does coach check all the time. Maybe they would be willing to undertake that if we have a spot.
[55:22] That's a good idea.
[55:25] Sure.
[55:26] Yeah.
[55:27] That's right.
[55:28] Something of that nature.
[55:31] I know.
[55:33] I do think the report indicates the extent of cost that something like this can take to put
[55:45] it on well.
[55:46] You know, we jumped into this, as we all know, very last minute and quickly, and it turned out phenomenally.
[55:53] The challenge becomes, is that a cost that council is open to continuing to expand year after year.
[56:01] If so, the goal would be to continue the sponsorships and enhance those sponsorships year after year, so that we can either spend more, you know, expand the event with the same amount outlayed net at the end of the day.
[56:15] or to reduce the towns over all long-term contribution.
[56:19] I think one conversation both for the cultural events committee,
[56:23] as well as for the council, perhaps at our strategic retreat
[56:27] when that happens, hopefully early next year,
[56:30] is what kind of is the long-term look of special events
[56:35] for the town of Middleburg?
[56:36] As we're getting into October fest,
[56:38] mainly in other activities,
[56:41] do we need to dedicate additional staff to that?
[56:44] Do we need to bring on a contract partner that does all of our event logistics and support and what's the town's openness to that that type of investment because
[56:57] As you know Mr. Groche's time, you know, kind of diverted it all comes back to economic development, but it diverted from day to day economic development activities to logistics and planning and outreach and coordination.
[57:10] And it'd be nice to have someone on staff
[57:12] we could just go to, too, not just.
[57:14] So those are conversations.
[57:16] I just want to make sure that we know
[57:18] what we're looking forward to as future thinking,
[57:22] as we kind of look strategically, for what does this look like.
[57:26] I think it's a great event to continue forward.
[57:28] And it's such a great part about this as a location.
[57:34] So I shouldn't tell you unique,
[57:35] but it's so special in terms of the beauty
[57:37] of the South Madison Street area.
[57:39] It feels like you're in a European village type place, and so that I think contributes to the success.
[57:47] Regarding flexibility of layout, and I apologize if you said this, the goal would be to expand down federal.
[57:55] That really is where the expansion can occur.
[57:58] If we had children's activities down there, that'll all of a sudden,
[58:02] Rawls have to crowd down there and then we could have the
[58:07] additional artists that aren't but it right up next to
[58:11] grills or cooking so we can have a little bit more space to spread out
[58:15] add some more artists potentially in there and then draw people down
[58:19] because there maybe we have a second beer truck right so we don't have
[58:23] as much of a cue at that one location so a lot of ideas that came
[58:27] forward in our post event debrief that I think lead to
[58:32] Making it even better next year. I know that the artist had some concerns about being
[58:39] Not on Madison Street
[58:41] Because they want to be it's important that they'd be centrally located. Yeah, and I think
[58:47] Once they saw vendors on this down there or something. I think it was one once they saw the
[58:54] The number of people and if we have something to truly draw them down federal then
[59:01] And I felt like, in speaking, especially with Melissa Crayag after words, that there was
[59:08] full agreement that that would be a very good idea to expand down that way, and that they
[59:14] wouldn't necessarily lose business just because they went that direction.
[59:19] I think if nothing else would definitely do better for the artists who had been in front of
[59:24] the church on Washington Street, if they were on federal, they probably would have gotten
[59:29] double or triple the traffic just this year alone and
[59:35] you pay a little more there was a
[59:39] degree to which this was a learning experience for everybody involved the artists and
[59:43] everybody here and everybody who was playing on that rope right we all learned something
[59:50] and so moving forward there are a lot of questions that need to be addressed and
[59:57] we'll just take it one piece at a time right it's very
[1:00:00] Modular.
[1:00:03] It's like a monopoly board.
[1:00:06] I want this one.
[1:00:08] Yep.
[1:00:08] It's a premium price.
[1:00:10] It's like real estate.
[1:00:12] What the event either person or company?
[1:00:16] I would think that would have to be decided though fairly quickly, because you
[1:00:20] would want to start all these plans again, first part of the year, not waiting until June.
[1:00:26] Absolutely.
[1:00:26] We have been approached by the firm that we've regained to help us with this event.
[1:00:32] They've already requested execution of a contract for future October Fest.
[1:00:38] But that would make your budget go up also.
[1:00:40] It probably would.
[1:00:41] We would have to offset some of that expense with additional sponsorships.
[1:00:47] Evan, this particular company also be ameniable for the Christmas parade and the other events
[1:00:55] middle bird, that may help defraise some of the costs for a single event.
[1:01:00] Perhaps, I don't know that certainly a conversation worth having.
[1:01:04] Okay, the other thing I was going to suggest is, because I know that until the last minute,
[1:01:09] AJ really wasn't brought in.
[1:01:11] Maybe he, you want to come in or send someone to attend the cultural meetings once a month.
[1:01:16] Just so you kind of have an idea of what we're talking about or planning.
[1:01:20] You don't have to.
[1:01:20] as for change. As different things are coming up, it wasn't that we were brought in
[1:01:25] like on this. This came in light. Get it. I understand that.
[1:01:28] It was a two month planning, I think, for start and finish maybe three months. It was very
[1:01:33] quick from, hey, we've got a brewery to let's do something. So I think I was probably brought
[1:01:40] in at the same time as most of the rest of them on this. It just, it just, it just
[1:01:45] So, very quickly, I'll be some more of the information.
[1:01:50] I'll be about it.
[1:01:52] It is something we're working on.
[1:01:55] And overall, I think, the event could have gone any better for a first event.
[1:02:04] Hi, Greg.
[1:02:05] Maybe even if it were a fifth event, it may not have been any better.
[1:02:08] It was surprisingly smooth.
[1:02:15] So, you know, being that you almost had a shoot from the hips of the speed, because it just happens so quickly, everybody involved was professional and everybody involved really worked hard to make this happen from sticking a can of spray foam in a piece.
[1:02:33] I was thinking that.
[1:02:35] to whatever it took.
[1:02:38] Yeah, and we were working on any logistical issues that we had, you know, information sharing.
[1:02:46] It's just one of them, but it's improved greatly, because we all realize what we all stand up.
[1:02:53] Yeah, I just thought if you guys were there at the meeting, and we came up with an idea, you could say,
[1:02:57] whoa, yeah.
[1:02:58] Yeah, but the other part of that is, you're having a lot of time in the meeting.
[1:03:01] I have more hours.
[1:03:02] I'm sorry, I think that communication between...
[1:03:06] Yeah, that's part of our responsibility.
[1:03:09] It's easier.
[1:03:10] OK, no.
[1:03:11] All right, I just want to make sure you're confident.
[1:03:13] So I totally agree first of all that it was wonderful event.
[1:03:17] And also it was very, very busy all around old arcs and around the centre.
[1:03:22] So spreading it out to federal street would work really like a tea.
[1:03:25] I think.
[1:03:26] But that's...
[1:03:27] I want to ask you, were there any negative comments from anyone?
[1:03:30] like serious comments that we can learn from.
[1:03:34] Not ones that just were upset because they went involved.
[1:03:38] But well, so for some of the artists that were involved,
[1:03:40] this was a different type of event.
[1:03:42] It was a different setting.
[1:03:45] A festival is much, has a different environment,
[1:03:52] has a different energy, and so some of the artists
[1:03:55] were not as enthusiastic about it quite frankly. All of the food vendors and all of the beverage
[1:04:03] vendors, the providers, were very enthusiastic about it. Most of the restaurants in town
[1:04:11] did well that day and that evening. And many of the retail shops on the eastern side of town on
[1:04:20] in Washington Street. Also did well. I don't think there was as much impact on the west side
[1:04:28] of Washington Street. That's not really a negative per se. The only other negative that comes
[1:04:36] in mind would be about parking. There were some concerns about parking and people who were
[1:04:45] coming to Middleburg perhaps for the first time and might have been unfamiliar with the town.
[1:04:50] We're not prepared, you know, as you would expect to drive around looking for parking.
[1:04:57] So let's go.
[1:04:57] Oh, that was signage.
[1:04:58] Yes, correct.
[1:05:00] I'm addressing that proactively. It is another potential remedy.
[1:05:07] And one of the coups, I think that Mr. Grosche had been able to pull off was getting approval
[1:05:13] to use the National Sporting Library and Museum, which is a little bit hard to sign, or to just
[1:05:21] tell people go park here because it feels far off. It's really not that far away. But I think that's
[1:05:26] like the key one that we can really see because it will visually separated from the rest
[1:05:30] of the town.
[1:05:31] That is the problem.
[1:05:32] But it's also a nice thing that it's separated from the town so you don't just have
[1:05:35] all those car sitting there.
[1:05:36] Yeah, correct.
[1:05:37] But I'm going to do some signage there to be able to point people that direction and then
[1:05:42] guide them to walk, just straight down federal city.
[1:05:45] Yeah.
[1:05:45] That's what I'm going to say.
[1:05:46] I'm going to encourage them to walk.
[1:05:47] We were very fortunate we had partners specifically with regard to parking the Baptist Church
[1:05:55] on federal street, graciously allowed us to use their lot, the charter school allowed us
[1:06:03] to use their parking lot, the Hill School and the National Sporting Library and Museum.
[1:06:09] And even I think this parking lot, the parking lot, so I'll tell you what this building was
[1:06:14] utilized.
[1:06:15] That sounded great, so we were very fortunate from that perspective, but it still was difficult
[1:06:21] for some folks.
[1:06:22] I will say direct comments about parking, we maybe heard three or four, which for a crowd
[1:06:29] that size is actually phenomenal and I asked a number of folks to do how was parking
[1:06:34] do you have any trouble?
[1:06:36] Oh no, I mean I had to park down there but it wasn't big deal, so definitely an improvement
[1:06:40] opportunity but not something that was an extreme concern and some of those places are far
[1:06:46] considering the hour that the event ended too though.
[1:06:51] True. Yeah, and that was, again, one of the recommendations, definitely from the police,
[1:06:56] from pretty much everyone involved was into the 7. Let's get it completed before it gets too dark.
[1:07:02] That gives the vendors time to break down by 730-ish as it's starting to get dark.
[1:07:10] And yeah, where we had some of the artist parking was at the Baptist Church, so they would have to walk down in the dark,
[1:07:15] get their car drive it back, and then it ranges, but rain, yeah, definitely, definitely
[1:07:22] wanting, I mean, it is, as it's getting dark, you want to guide people at least along the
[1:07:27] street or, you know, help them out. If, man, okay, you have your bike on, I didn't want
[1:07:35] to interrupt you. On the retail side, just just briefly, we did hear from a couple retailers
[1:07:42] and we know this because the type of event it is, it's a different clientele than you're
[1:07:47] going to bring in for even the film festival or goodness the millimetre today, right? It's
[1:07:53] they're just, it's local people coming in to have a great time and joy community but also to
[1:07:58] experience what Middleberg has to offer different than maybe people who are coming to spend a
[1:08:03] weekend at Salamander perhaps or other things. That's not bad. It's a really good thing in fact and
[1:08:09] whole goal was to gain exposure of Middleberg. Some of the retailers said I had a lot of people
[1:08:14] walk in, but they didn't do anything. They didn't buy anything. I tried to say that I think that's
[1:08:21] so positive because then now someone has seen your store. So I wouldn't say they were complaints
[1:08:28] necessarily from the retailers, but that was just some feedback that we heard. And then I do think
[1:08:36] little bit of the, where do I line up for food? How do I buy a ticket? How do I wait for
[1:08:40] the beer? Signage, and again, signage all around could have been better. Mr. Miller brought
[1:08:48] up water station. We had free water from the I at the I on 10, all day long. I went there
[1:08:53] like eight times just keep jogging the water. But there was no big sign that said water station.
[1:09:00] and big science towards restrooms.
[1:09:05] So, again, it's just logistics coordination.
[1:09:09] And I think it was a great event.
[1:09:12] And I was surprised by the number of families there.
[1:09:14] Yeah, it was a lot of families.
[1:09:16] Increasing some kids activities.
[1:09:18] I mean, I know we waited for a few weeks.
[1:09:19] I think we were in some space painting, which was amazing.
[1:09:22] But yeah, something, some additional activities,
[1:09:25] I think would be great because I was pleasantly surprised
[1:09:28] at the number of families and how kid-friendly it was.
[1:09:32] And throughout the day, there was an expectation
[1:09:35] from the folks who were planning it that families
[1:09:38] and some number of children would be there early in the day,
[1:09:43] but there were still children and folks with dogs
[1:09:46] and it was still a family-friendly environment
[1:09:49] at A to Calk in the evening.
[1:09:52] I think that's valuable.
[1:09:54] With regard to the artists, I guess,
[1:09:56] now that we know that it's a different clientele.
[1:10:00] Different age group, different demands of what they're looking for, maybe make it a little bit more open-ended and provide a description for what the event was this year, demographically, and maybe open it up to artists and artisans, you know, something more craft oriented.
[1:10:28] Yeah, and they can they'll tell or it I mean they'll know who was best suited for being there the other thing I was going to mention I did get some
[1:10:36] Plants about the food line because people didn't understand you buy your ticket here and then you go get another line
[1:10:43] So there was a little bit of misunderstanding about that, but again, fineage would help yeah old ox fully owned that one up and and I mean not that was bad by any means
[1:10:52] It was just unclear, so again, they were fully on board with making that more clear.
[1:10:57] But the food was great, and everything was great.
[1:11:03] I think people later hoes and should get it in free next time.
[1:11:11] I agree.
[1:11:14] I agree.
[1:11:15] I think that's a great idea.
[1:11:16] I'll just go from, I'll just ask your free beer.
[1:11:20] Oh, I'll get it.
[1:11:23] Anybody have any other comments?
[1:11:24] Thank you, Jamie.
[1:11:25] A lot of hard work.
[1:11:26] Thank you and everybody else.
[1:11:28] Thank you.
[1:11:29] Good event.
[1:11:31] Anybody else have anything for you?
[1:11:33] Okay.
[1:11:34] Thanks, Jamie.
[1:11:35] Thank you, man.
[1:11:37] Now, huh.
[1:11:39] Status update on crosswalks.
[1:11:41] The pair.
[1:11:42] So I need to say,
[1:11:43] No, that's a...
[1:11:45] that's all right. I actually don't have a full update for you. I spoke with the V dot
[1:11:54] representative earlier this week and they actually asked for just a little bit more
[1:11:59] time to complete their recommendations. They have come up with a report or a substantive
[1:12:08] memo I would say on what they believe has occurred. They're pretty confident in that and
[1:12:14] review of it, they want to do a final, I think quality control and final, third maybe third
[1:12:20] party look at that, and then also coming forward with some recommendations about options ahead
[1:12:26] of us. I think before I disclose any of that directly, I think it's probably worth having
[1:12:35] conversation with each of you individually about some of those potential options ahead of us,
[1:12:41] And then allow them to come to us at the November 14th meeting to actually present the memo and then discuss it
[1:12:48] have V dot representatives here to discuss it with council.
[1:12:52] So at this point that's not much of an update but we're getting close on that and look forward to seeing what it actually is.
[1:13:00] November 14th meeting sounds like it's going to be very long.
[1:13:03] We have a few different updates that are going to be on that but so far so good.
[1:13:07] Okay.
[1:13:07] It's only one meeting in the month.
[1:13:09] All right, all right, anybody else having questions for you?
[1:13:14] Go ahead.
[1:13:14] I think we are finished with that.
[1:13:18] Anybody else have crossed the information?
[1:13:21] Kind of.
[1:13:22] We didn't while we were talking finances earlier with the budget and things.
[1:13:26] We didn't thank John for all his work that he's done for us this year coming in and
[1:13:31] filling in like that.
[1:13:33] Thank you.
[1:13:34] I know what you're going through, but you've done an excellent job.
[1:13:37] Thank you for being here.
[1:13:38] until Danny and I'm actually having fun.
[1:13:42] It's just a writing amount of block of time.
[1:13:44] This is what we have in trouble.
[1:13:46] So thank you.
[1:13:47] Thank you for the opportunity.
[1:13:49] Well, thank you very much for all your hard work.
[1:13:52] This is appreciate it.
[1:13:53] It really is.
[1:13:54] Okay, do we have to go into closed session?
[1:13:57] I do need it to briefly go into closed session as allowed under the Virginia Freedom
[1:14:03] Innovation Act section 2.2-3711A1 for the discussion or consideration of the acquisition of
[1:14:11] property or the disposition of a publicly held property where discussion in an open meeting
[1:14:16] would adversely affect the bargaining position or negotiating strategy of the public body.
[1:14:23] I further move that these matters be limited to one the disposition of the Asbury Church
[1:14:28] and to the acquisition of property for a new town of administration building.
[1:14:32] I further move that in addition to the Council, the following individuals be present during
[1:14:37] the closed session.
[1:14:38] Danny Davis, Ronan North, Jamie Goche and Wilmore for all of the items.
[1:14:43] I further move that the Council thereafter reconvene an open session for action as appropriate.
[1:14:51] Okay, all those in favor say hi.
[1:14:56] Upon.
[1:14:58] Okay, we're going to close.
[1:15:03] Council, I ask that you served by the domestic each of your knowledge that we only conducted, public committee, public business matters, law enforcement, open meeting, requirements, any agreement or information act.
[1:15:17] And separating only the public business matters that we're discussed in the motion
[1:15:21] about what's supposed to mean, or are discussed or considered in the close mean.
[1:15:27] I would like to remind this press of the close session that a discussion that occurred
[1:15:31] has to be treated as confidential.
[1:15:33] Yes.
[1:15:35] Yes.
[1:15:36] Yes.
[1:15:37] Yes.
[1:15:38] Yes.
[1:15:38] Yes.
[1:15:39] Is there any further business?
[1:15:41] OK.
[1:15:43] I'm sure.
[1:15:44] Thank you.
[1:15:44] Well done.