[0:00] Mary Martin coming? Oh, she—
[0:04] I guess she had a conflict.
[0:09] All right, is everybody ready to begin?
[0:15] I need a few more minutes or ready to go?
[0:22] I'm ready.
[0:27] Ready? Everybody got your mics on?
[0:29] Yeah, mine's on.
[0:33] This is pretty unprofessional. We're
getting it done. It's next time.
[0:38] Yeah, thank you.
[0:42] I can already tell you're going to be
savvy.
[0:51] I don't know what month it was for a
while.
[0:55] Okay, uh, why don't we go ahead then and
come to order?
[1:00] This is a special called meeting of the
Board of Commissioners of the
[1:06] City of Oak Hill for September 1st, 2026,
[1:10] and we will begin with introductions.
Marshall, begin with you.
[1:16] My name is Marshall Albritton. I'm the
city attorney.
[1:19] Jennifer Liepis, Commissioner.
[1:20] David DeMarco, Commissioner.
[1:22] Dale Grimes, Mayor. Winston Evans, Vice
Mayor. Matt Harris, Commissioner.
[1:28] Uh, Steve Collie, City Manager.
[1:30] Desiree Lohr, City Reporter. All right,
please join me in the Pledge of
[1:34] please join me in the Pledge of
Allegiance.
[1:38] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the
[1:44] United States of America and to the
Republic
[1:45] for which it stands, One nation under God,
indivisible,
[1:49] with liberty and justice for all.
[1:51] All right.
[1:59] We have an agenda. Proper notice has been
given of this meeting,
[2:04] and all commissioners are present. And so
we will begin.
[2:09] The main item, the only item on our agenda
is Yes.
[2:13] To review and discuss FAA decisions and
flight patterns that impact Oak Hill.
[2:20] And I guess before we begin that,
[2:23] I just want to make one comment about
another issue that the city is facing and
[2:29] dealing with right now, and that is the
proposed or the changes,
[2:35] potential changes to I-65 that are being
considered by the State Department of
[2:41] Transportation and their consultants.
[2:44] And there was a suggestion that we
received yesterday that we add that to our
[2:51] received yesterday that we add that to our
agenda
[2:51] for today to discuss that. We— there was
not time.
[2:55] We were already too close to the meeting
to add another agenda item under our
[3:02] to add another agenda item under our
rules.
[3:02] And so we have not been able to do so.
[3:06] But I will say that just for anybody who's
listening, Yes.
[3:10] That there was a public meeting, I think
it was August 11th,
[3:15] but it was sometime several weeks ago,
[3:19] that the Department of Transportation and
these consultants had for our area,
[3:25] that being everything from Thompson Lane
south to Brentwood.
[3:30] And the Vice Mayor, Winston Evans, and
myself attended that meeting.
[3:36] There weren't that many attendants there,
attendees there.
[3:41] There were a lot of TDOT people and their
consultants.
[3:45] They outnumbered, I think, all the other
people combined.
[3:50] And so I guess you might say that we had
louder voices than we might otherwise have
[3:57] had. It was not a meeting like a sit-down
meeting like this and people in the
[4:03] audience raising their hands to say
things.
[4:07] The people— the DOT people and the
consultants were spread around with
[4:13] consultants were spread around with
storyboards
[4:14] around the room, and so you just went from
each one all the way around.
[4:20] And so I think Winston and I told
everybody that we met, and that was quite
[4:26] everybody that we met, and that was quite
a few,
[4:26] that Oak Hill definitely needs sound walls
along I-65.
[4:31] So we have— we've made that loud and
clear.
[4:35] And in addition, both the Vice Mayor and
I—
[4:38] And the Mayor.
[4:39] Um, separately, uh, wrote, uh, written
comments that we turned in, um,
[4:44] and they were going to take those.
[4:47] And then I know that some citizens have
written in.
[4:51] I know that a former commissioner, um,
has— of this board has written.
[4:57] And so, um, you know, we're getting, we're
getting the word in there,
[5:02] but we need to get more people, I'm sure.
[5:05] Um, so any of you who are who believe that
we should have sound walls in Oak Hill or
[5:12] have any other suggestions for
improvements to I-65 along that stretch,
[5:17] please send in your comments. The deadline
is September 8th. Is that right?
[5:23] Yeah.
[5:24] September 8th or 9th? 8th, I believe.
[5:27] And so please, please do send in comments
for that.
[5:31] So I just wanted to let you know that it's
not an issue that the board is ignored.
[5:37] I've made this announcement before.
[5:40] I've sent it out in writing to people who
are on my email list,
[5:45] and it was posted on the city website
about this deadline and also the need to
[5:51] about this deadline and also the need to
get
[5:52] comments in. So I ask you to do that.
[5:54] And that's how we're dealing with it at
this point.
[5:59] And we won't— we will not have another
meeting before—
[6:03] of this board before the Before the
deadline of September 8th.
[6:08] So we just need you all to take the
initiative and write in.
[6:13] And I think the City Manager, from his
long experience in dealing with such
[6:19] long experience in dealing with such
matters,
[6:19] has said that having a big crowd of people
writing in is probably going to make more
[6:26] of a difference than for the City of Oak
Hill to pass a resolution saying that
[6:32] Hill to pass a resolution saying that
we're
[6:33] for— We're for Oak Hill. Sound walls. So,
um, power in numbers.
[6:38] Now with that, we will move to the actual
agenda item here.
[6:43] And, um, I know that we've got executive
session on here for after the review and
[6:49] discuss FAA decisions, etc.,
[6:51] but I think probably everything we're
going to Just learn about this is going to
[6:58] need to be in executive session.
[7:00] I think the, uh, I think the best way to
go about this would be go into the
[7:05] executive session and then come back out
of the executive session if you're going
[7:11] of the executive session if you're going
to
[7:11] make, uh, make a decision or ruling on one
way or the other.
[7:15] And we can, we can talk a lot more freely
and have our guests talk about things that
[7:20] could be or could not be privileged in
some of the conversations we've had with,
[7:26] with the attorney that's representing
Creve Hall.
[7:29] So I think it would be—
[7:31] I think it would be in our best interest
to do that at this time.
[7:35] And then we can, we can come back out of
the session if there's any decision to be
[7:40] made.
[7:41] Okay, so why don't we have a motion to go
into executive session,
[7:46] and we need to include in there that
Obviously, the City Manager,
[7:51] we want to be in that discussion. And Mr.
[7:54] Mike Brennan, who is our guest today and
has been working on this issue with
[8:00] some other groups, we'd like for him to be
in that session as well.
[8:06] And Mr. Brennan, just for the record, is
an attorney.
[8:08] And he is an attorney.
[8:09] He's a licensed attorney.
[8:10] Correct. What are we relying on, the
attorney-client privilege or the common
[8:14] attorney-client privilege or the common
entry?
[8:14] Mr. President, if you're both—
[8:17] well, the executive session allows the
board to ask questions of attorneys that
[8:23] they wish to consult about matters that
the city is facing,
[8:27] and it's just that simple.
[8:28] We're not going to try to limit ourselves
to any theory at this
[8:34] point. Okay. All right,
[8:36] is there a motion to go into executive
session with Mr.
[8:42] Collie and Mr. Hearing so moved. Is there
a second?
[8:46] DeMarco second.
[8:47] All right. All in favor, please say aye,
beginning with Commissioner Liepis.
[8:53] Aye.
[8:53] DeMarco, aye.
[8:54] Grimes, aye. Evans, aye.
[8:59] Hear us out. And so the video record, if I
may, will be clear, uh, I will be— I,
[9:03] the city attorney, will be in that meeting
as well.
[9:06] Of course. Sorry, I just assumed that you—
[9:10] Yeah, right.
[9:10] Okay, so now what— how are we going to—
[9:13] We are going to remain in this room. The
video will be shut down.
[9:18] The microphones will stay hot for the
inside the room,
[9:22] but the video will be shut off.
[9:24] And then when we come back out of
executive session,
[9:28] we'll open up the video streaming again.
[9:34] So if I go to the video, what will show?
[9:36] It will just show not streaming yet.
[9:38] Okay.
[9:41] Is that correct, Desiree?
[9:43] We on? Okay, thank you.
[9:45] All right, so we're back on the record now
after We are being in
[9:52] executive session with the board and our
counsel,
[9:58] Marshall Albritton, and the city manager,
and also Mr.— Mr.
[10:04] Brennan, who is also an attorney and was
with us.
[10:09] And we have been discussing the legal
issues involved with possibly
[10:17] Considering legal action involving the FAA
and the decisions that
[10:24] they have made regarding flight patterns
that are affecting,
[10:30] in our particular instance, Oak Hill.
[10:34] And so we've completed that and I believe
we're now ready for a
[10:41] motion. Does someone have a motion to make
at this point?
[10:47] So moved.
[10:54] Do we need a motion?
[10:57] We have a motion to authorize Oak Hill
joining a
[11:04] lawsuit that is— a lawsuit involving the
FAA and
[11:11] authorizing the City Manager and the City
Attorney to
[11:19] negotiate with the— yeah, may I name that?
[11:25] Thompson Burton.
[11:26] Okay, it's out now. I was trying to—
[11:30] the Thompson Burton lawsuit—
[11:33] law firm to represent us in that action.
[11:38] And if no one else will, I will so move.
Hear, hear.
[11:44] Second.
[11:47] All right. Any discussion that we can have
on the record?
[11:53] I think we've thoroughly discussed it.
[11:57] Everybody ready to vote? Ready to vote?
Or— okay. All right.
[12:03] We'll begin with Liepis.
[12:06] Liepis, aye. DeMarco, aye.
[12:08] Grimes,
[12:12] aye. Aye.
[12:17] Harris, aye.
[12:18] Okay, 5-0. The motion is adopted,
[12:22] and I think we have no other business to
conduct,
[12:27] and so we are hereby adjourned.
[12:30] Okay, very good. Good work.
[12:34] Thank you very much.