[8:26] Alright.

[8:27] We are live and late breaking here at six thirty PM on

[8:30] Tuesday, August eleventh.

[8:32] Town council regular meeting town council of Warrington meeting.

[8:36] All members are present.

[8:37] A quorum is established. Business may be conducted.

[8:41] And we will kick things off with our usual

[8:45] invocation.

[8:47] And I am sorry to be now oh, I'm sorry.

[8:52] The invocation is John Kovacas,

[8:53] pastor of Warrens and Bible Fellowship,

[8:54] who will offer the invocation.

[8:55] After the invocation, we ask that you all remain standing,

[8:58] we'll turn to the flag, recite the pledge of allegiance,

[9:00] and we'll go from there.

[9:01] Mister Kovacas?

[9:02] Thank you so much. My honor to be here this evening.

[9:05] Let's bow our heads.

[9:07] Father in heaven,

[9:09] we pray that you would preside over this meeting,

[9:12] that you would conduct this meeting in dignity and the

[9:15] honor that it deserves.

[9:16] I thank you for these public servants who come here

[9:18] unfailingly, father.

[9:20] Sometimes under great scrutiny, I pray, father,

[9:23] we give them a blessing of wisdom,

[9:25] a blessing of discernment.

[9:26] I pray that the decisions and the discussions they have this

[9:29] evening will be met with the same grace and mercy we have

[9:32] all received from you.

[9:33] And I pray that you be lord over this town and this council.

[9:38] In Jesus name. Amen. Thank you.

[10:01] First item of business this evening is our proclamations

[10:04] and recognitions.

[10:05] Recognitions.

[10:05] We will turn it over to and welcome mister Rex to your

[10:08] first official town council meeting.

[10:11] Thank you.

[10:11] Second, sir.

[10:13] Did he lead the I wasn't here. He led the July meeting.

[10:16] Okay. Was leading the last meeting.

[10:19] Stephanie Millard was gracious enough to help him out as as needed, sir.

[10:22] Okay. So you're it still feels like the first.

[10:25] So I wasn't here, so it's my first for you.

[10:28] So okay.

[10:29] Well, good evening, mayor and council, members of Warrenton,

[10:33] town of Warrenton.

[10:35] Excited to kinda highlight some of the things that have gone on

[10:37] with team Warrenton this past month.

[10:41] It's been a busy month,

[10:42] and so I wanna do a few recognitions for members of our team.

[10:47] So throughout all my career in local government,

[10:50] I've always created a folder in my Outlook inbox called kudos.

[10:55] And so whenever I get a a citizen email or or from

[10:59] an elected official or from a staff member kinda recognizing

[11:03] a member of our team,

[11:05] I always put it in there and and kinda store those away so I

[11:09] can always go back and read them.

[11:10] And this past couple weeks ago,

[11:13] I got a really nice email from from a resident of Oliver

[11:17] City, and they were talking about Wayne Toomey.

[11:21] We all know Wayne.

[11:22] He's been in in public works for a long time,

[11:24] salt of the earth guy,

[11:26] and I have to share a quote from this email because it

[11:29] really captures what I think excellence in action means for our culture.

[11:35] The resident wrote,

[11:36] at a time when public servants often receive much public

[11:39] criticism, it is great to see the example of dedication,

[11:42] competence, and professionalism set by mister Toomey.

[11:46] And I think, of course,

[11:47] he was talking specifically about Wayne,

[11:49] and Wayne kinda went above and beyond to help him out with

[11:51] some really small issues, but just, again,

[11:55] went way above and beyond.

[11:57] And so it was but I I I felt like those words really

[12:00] captured what what excellence in action means and and sets us

[12:04] up for a a great culture here at the town of Warrenton.

[12:07] So I wanted to recognize Wayne.

[12:09] Also, our our town clerk, Steven.

[12:12] He just sent an email to you talking about a a course that

[12:15] was recently approved that he designed

[12:18] helping to certify FOIA representatives throughout the state.

[12:23] Really a great recognition there and appreciate what

[12:25] Steven does for the town,

[12:27] not only keeping us compliant but really enhancing the

[12:29] transparency of of everything that happens here in Warrenton.

[12:34] Continuing on, so we had an incident here in in downtown

[12:39] a couple weeks ago, something on a Wednesday that was totally

[12:43] unexpected, and we we had to evacuate downtown.

[12:47] And, you know, it was not a this was not sort of a ballet

[12:51] type of event.

[12:53] This was just get out of the building as quick as you can,

[12:56] and it took a lot of effort to help make that happen.

[12:59] I know it was the the sheriff's office initially that came over

[13:01] here and helped us evacuate,

[13:03] but it also internally we learned some lessons about how

[13:06] we can communicate better,

[13:08] and and hopefully nothing like that ever happens again.

[13:10] But if it does, we are prepared and and ready for that.

[13:13] But there were a lot of members of the team that helped to make

[13:16] sure that we were safe throughout that event,

[13:19] so I wanna recognize town staff for that.

[13:22] And then July twentieth was a very busy day in the town.

[13:25] If you recall back, we had a major waterline break

[13:29] up on Winchester Street, had to close the street down,

[13:32] and then at the same time,

[13:33] we also had a dump truck that took out a utility pole down by

[13:37] the by the middle middle school construction site,

[13:40] and those things happened within like a matter of hours,

[13:43] and so it was a lot of a lot of chaos, a lot of managed chaos,

[13:46] and and response from the team.

[13:48] So our utilities team wanted to give them a shout out and then

[13:51] also recognize the police department for helping to kind

[13:55] of address the utility pole situation there.

[13:58] And actually some of the of the wires fell onto a

[14:02] vehicle as they were driving on Shirley there,

[14:04] and so we had some response from the fire department fire

[14:08] and rescue as well.

[14:09] So, again, a very busy July twentieth,

[14:12] if you remember back to that day.

[14:14] Our public works team did a Build a Birdhouse event with

[14:18] some members of the public and wanted to recognize just that

[14:20] engagement effort that that took place.

[14:23] Proud of them for having some fun there and and getting some things done.

[14:27] And then of course, last week was our national night out,

[14:30] the annual event where we get to showcase all of our public

[14:34] safety professionals, law enforcement officers,

[14:36] and all the partner agencies that came out.

[14:38] So, again, that was all put on by the town and and the amazing

[14:42] staff and volunteers that helped to make that happen.

[14:45] So lots of good examples of excellence and

[14:49] action to share with you tonight.

[14:51] So that's it. Go team Warrington.

[14:54] Yeah. Go team. Thank you very much.

[15:00] I will just emphasize the

[15:04] professionalism work and ethic of mister Wayne Toomey.

[15:08] Cannot say enough kind words or professional or supportive

[15:11] words of the work he does for the town of Warrenton.

[15:13] I also wanna point out that when we look at emergency

[15:15] preparedness regarding the bomb threat,

[15:18] this is Johnny Switzer and the work that we have been doing

[15:22] recently to build our emergency responsiveness planning.

[15:27] These are things that five, ten years ago,

[15:29] we would not have been prepared to do.

[15:32] So this is a big thank you to Johnny Switzer,

[15:35] to everyone to Hunter Diggs,

[15:38] you know, everyone who's been part of the process of getting us to this point.

[15:43] These are things that did not exist in the town of Warrenton

[15:46] until the town council directed staff to establish these things

[15:50] and properly fund them.

[15:51] So these are things that create a safe town,

[15:55] and we're grateful for that.

[15:57] Alright.

[16:00] That will now bring us to Citizens Time.

[16:02] And Citizens Time, I have a preamble for that,

[16:05] which I will read.

[16:07] Citizens' time,

[16:08] citizens have up to three minutes to address counsel on

[16:10] any non agenda item.

[16:12] We do have two public hearings tonight.

[16:14] The public hearings are on

[16:21] the Dominion's

[16:23] Brant to easement to anyway,

[16:25] underground some wires and a text amendment.

[16:28] So please, if you're addressing the hotel or if you're addressing

[16:31] undergrounding of of wires near the dog park,

[16:34] please save that for the public hearing.

[16:37] Citizen's time is for other issues.

[16:39] When you come to the mic,

[16:41] please state your name and area of residence when called to the podium.

[16:44] If you have written statements or materials,

[16:45] please provide a copy to the town clerk for the record.

[16:48] A reminder, citizen's time is for comments only,

[16:50] not for questions or debate.

[16:52] All comments should be directed to the chair and council,

[16:55] not other participants.

[16:56] Civility and respect are expected from everyone at all times.

[16:59] And please watch the light at the podium.

[17:01] It is right at the top. Green means your time has begun.

[17:04] Amber indicates that thirty seconds remain,

[17:05] and red means the time is up,

[17:06] and we ask that you yield the floor to the next speaker.

[17:09] Council members will listen to your comments and take notes,

[17:11] but will not rescind during this time.

[17:13] We will have the comp the sign in sheet are provided to all

[17:17] council members, so follow-up is desired by council.

[17:20] They have the opportunity to reach out to you.

[17:21] We thank you for your cooperation. Mister Clough.

[17:24] Mister mayor, our first speaker tonight is miss Ellen,

[17:26] and I apologize if I pronounced his name incorrectly, Dykle.

[17:37] So good evening. I'm Ellen Dykell from ward one.

[17:43] Hey.

[17:44] So last month, the council proposed drafting an ordinance

[17:48] to restrict e scooter and e bike usage due to safety concerns.

[17:53] In that same discussion, LSVs and golf carts came up,

[17:57] and Roy actually let me know that that came up again this morning.

[18:03] While I'm glad that LSV usage isn't being restricted

[18:07] beyond what Virginia law already allows,

[18:09] I'd like to ask the council to also consider allowing golf carts.

[18:14] The legal difference between LSVs and golf carts comes down

[18:17] to equipment and registration.

[18:19] LSVs must be titled, registered, insured,

[18:22] and built with mirrors, windshield, and wipers.

[18:24] Golf carts have none of that by default,

[18:27] which is why they're restricted unless a town passes an

[18:29] ordinance to allow them.

[18:32] LSVs are marginally safer on paper,

[18:35] but significantly more expensive, double the cost or

[18:38] more, putting them out of reach for many residents.

[18:41] I don't believe the windshield wipers or title titling

[18:44] meaningfully changes safety outcomes here.

[18:47] The safety gap I do see is liability insurance.

[18:51] Pairing a golf cart

[18:54] approved ordinance with required insurance and

[18:58] possibly seat belts would close that safety gap while keeping

[19:02] golf carts affordable.

[19:04] I don't think anyone's argued against golf carts so much

[19:07] as no one's made the case for them yet.

[19:09] So let me make it because that is why I'm here tonight.

[19:13] I don't think it's right that only the families with an extra

[19:16] ten grand to spare get to enjoy getting around Borrenton in this way.

[19:21] Beyond affordability, this is about preserving our small town,

[19:25] helping our old town businesses thrive and keeping our

[19:27] community connected.

[19:29] So picture this,

[19:30] taking your grandkids up to Main Street in a golf cart for

[19:33] an ice cream cone or picture puttering over to your friend's

[19:36] house for a cookout in the next neighborhood over,

[19:40] waving to your neighbors as you pass by.

[19:43] Golf carts give residents an affordable way to easily

[19:46] connect with each other and to Old Town as Nova

[19:49] keeps expanding towards us, holding on to that family

[19:52] friendly classic small town charm matters more every year.

[19:59] Additionally, golf cart usage would increase

[20:02] patronage to our Old Town businesses.

[20:04] Residents are more likely to go on a whim for dinner or coffee,

[20:08] for example, when the ride itself is part of the fun,

[20:11] not just a means to get there.

[20:14] Regarding safety impact,

[20:17] Some of the benefits are that it would slow traffic slightly,

[20:21] particularly on Main Street here,

[20:23] which would increase pedestrian awareness and give drivers

[20:26] vastly superior visibility over

[20:31] drivers in traditional vehicles.

[20:37] So in closing, I'd like to propose to the council to

[20:40] consider adopting an ordinance to allow

[20:44] golf carts.

[20:45] Thank you.

[20:49] And obviously, I did write down what I had to say.

[20:53] Thank you. You.

[20:57] Mr.

[20:57] Mayor, have no additional speakers signed up at this time.

[20:59] There are no other speakers.

[21:01] If anyone in the audience has an issue they wish to address

[21:03] on matters of importance to the town of Warrington,

[21:05] they're welcome to stand up now.

[21:11] Hearing none, we will then move on to our next item on the agenda,

[21:15] which is the approval of the agenda.

[21:17] I will look to counsel to make a motion to approve said agenda.

[21:22] Mr.

[21:23] Mayor, I make a motion to approve the agenda as written or presented.

[21:27] So moved by Mr.

[21:29] Francis. Is there a second?

[21:31] Second. Second by mister Mooney.

[21:33] Is there a discussion on the motion?

[21:36] Motion on the floor is the approval of the agenda as submitted.

[21:41] No further discussion. I'll call the question.

[21:43] I'll turn it to my right.

[21:44] Mister Mooney? Aye. Mister Francis? Aye.

[21:46] Vice mayor Semple? Aye. Mister Kovalek? Aye. Miss O'Holloran?

[21:49] Aye.

[21:50] Mister Gangon? Aye. And mister McGuire? Aye.

[21:53] Unanimously approved.

[21:56] The agenda is now set,

[21:58] which brings us to our first public hearing.

[22:00] Town of Warrenton has received a request from Dominion Energy

[22:03] to grant an easement along the western property line of one

[22:05] zero three South fifth Street.

[22:07] The purpose of the easement is to allow Dominion Energy Energy

[22:10] the ability to underground existing power lines.

[22:12] Mister Walton will introduce this.

[22:16] Mister Walton, thank you.

[22:18] Thank you, mayor Neville, members of town council.

[22:20] As you said, there's a request from Dominion Energy to grant a

[22:26] utility easement along the western property line.

[22:29] The parcel is a little bit odd shaped,

[22:31] but it includes the dog park area.

[22:34] There's some existing overhead lines that Dominion Energy

[22:36] would like to underground,

[22:38] so it requires the easement to be granted by the town.

[22:41] Happy to answer any questions.

[22:43] Other questions for mister Walton?

[22:48] Hearing no questions. Six forty four.

[22:49] I'll open the public hearing and invite speakers to address

[22:53] counsel on this hearing.

[23:01] Mister mayor, I have no speakers signed up at this time.

[23:04] No speakers have signed up.

[23:05] Is there an audience who wishes to address counsel

[23:07] on this public

[23:09] on this grant?

[23:14] Hearing none at six forty five, we'll close the public hearing.

[23:17] I will turn it over counsel for action on a discussion.

[23:21] Mister mayor. Mister Kefalik.

[23:24] I move to adopt ordinance two zero two six

[23:28] dash zero two.

[23:30] Motion has been put forth to approve the

[23:34] yeah.

[23:35] Yeah. That's what I want. Okay.

[23:37] By mister Kovalek, is there a second? Second.

[23:40] Second by mister Moody.

[23:41] Is there a discussion on the motion?

[23:45] I

[23:47] do have actually one discussion.

[23:49] Mister Kovalek, We do see ordinance twenty six,

[23:54] twenty twenty six-eleven.

[23:56] Okay, no, that's okay, I'm sorry.

[23:58] That is? This is twenty twenty six-eleven.

[24:02] We have twenty twenty six-two as

[24:06] the is there a discrepancy there?

[24:09] Is that what do you look at?

[24:11] Here we have twenty two zero two six dash one one.

[24:14] It is the twenty twenty six dash eleven.

[24:16] The o two was the the scriber's error from copying over.

[24:20] Okay.

[24:20] I will just modify my motion then

[24:23] to I'm I'm move to adopt ordinance two

[24:28] zero two six dash one one.

[24:30] Second.

[24:31] Moved by mister Kovalek, seconded by mister Mooney.

[24:34] Is there a discussion on the motion?

[24:38] Okay.

[24:38] Just for clarification, this is undergrounding of power lines,

[24:41] which I think we all are in favor of.

[24:44] If there is no further discussion,

[24:46] the motion on the floor is to adopt ordinance twenty twenty

[24:49] six dash eleven.

[24:50] I will start to my left. Mister McGuire? Aye. Mister Agnon?

[24:54] Aye. Miss O'Holleran?

[24:56] Aye.

[24:56] Mister Kovalek? Aye. Vice mayor Semple? Aye.

[24:59] Mister Francis? Aye. Mister Mooney? Aye.

[25:02] Motion passes unanimously and we have adopted that

[25:06] ordinance, which brings us now to ZMA twenty six dash o two,

[25:10] ten hotel sleep ten hotel street, which is the applicant,

[25:14] mister Kevin Nash,

[25:14] seeking a zoning man zoning map amendment to of ten hotel

[25:19] street from public, semi public to central business district.

[25:22] This item is specific to the Warren Green Building only.

[25:27] We will discuss eighteen Court Street in our meeting next month.

[25:32] So miss Dehaven.

[25:34] Alright.

[25:36] Do have Steven, if you wanna bring up,

[25:38] do have a little PowerPoint presentation.

[25:43] Working on it right now. I pulled up the wrong one.

[25:45] Sure. Just a little introduction.

[25:47] The applicant mister Kevin Ash is of course seeking his own

[25:50] map amendment for ten hotel street from public semi

[25:54] public PSP to central business district CBD

[25:58] per zoning per article eleven dash three point nine

[26:02] of the zoning ordinance.

[26:03] This proposal does include the redevelopment of ten hotel

[26:06] street into a hotel.

[26:09] The Planning Commission of course has already taken a look

[26:12] at this in the staff report.

[26:14] I did include just some key points that were discussed by

[26:17] the Planning Commission during our meeting.

[26:19] Typical by ripe or permissible uses within the districts,

[26:22] water and sewer capacities.

[26:24] We had our director of utilities, Mr.

[26:26] Steven Friend speak to the Planning Commission to confirm

[26:29] that the proposed use of ten hotel street is

[26:33] considered acceptable for that proposed use for any of those

[26:37] water and sewer capacity requirements.

[26:41] Parking requirements as well,

[26:43] our zoning administrator Heather Jenkins was there as

[26:46] well and confirmed that they do currently meet the parking and

[26:48] an overflow parking requirements as well as more

[26:52] long term loading and unloading space requirements.

[26:54] Within the agenda packet there is a draft parking

[26:58] agreement that the applicant does have with the County

[27:02] of Fauquier County being the owner of the property

[27:05] and so that is contingent on the sale of the property

[27:08] which is of course contingent on the approval of the zoning

[27:12] map amendment.

[27:15] Yes please.

[27:18] And then within it was just for my PowerPoint presentation.

[27:22] I don't have a whole lot of additional information.

[27:29] There we go.

[27:32] Just for your reference some adjacent uses on the zoning

[27:36] map, future land use,

[27:37] we are within of course the old town district and we are

[27:40] looking at old town mixed use.

[27:42] Of course everyone is very familiar with this building in

[27:45] particular, ten Hotel Street.

[27:50] And then again this is the draft parking lease I just

[27:52] wanted to bring that to your attention.

[27:54] Additional considerations for Town Council

[27:58] ignore the one hundred day review period that is of course

[28:00] the one hundred day time clock for Planning Commission.

[28:03] Town Council does have one year from the date of submission and

[28:06] acceptance of the application to make a decision

[28:09] and then again just keep in consideration specifically for

[28:12] these parking requirements from the zoning ordinance text

[28:15] amendment twenty six dash one that we just looked at last month

[28:20] as far as any of those parking requirements are concerned and

[28:23] then some just additional considerations that I have

[28:26] included if you have questions about any of those please let me know.

[28:30] And then of course just a little bit of an overview we

[28:32] had no speakers present at the Planning Commission public

[28:34] hearing on July twenty four or twenty first

[28:38] and then the decision deadline for town council will be May

[28:41] twenty second twenty twenty seven.

[28:44] Thank you, mister Haven. Mister Mooney?

[28:47] Okay.

[28:50] Any other questions for mister Haven on this application or

[28:52] this soda?

[28:55] Mister mayor.

[28:55] Mister Warren?

[28:56] Yeah. Quick question.

[28:57] Do you know exactly where the loading zone might be?

[29:00] The loading zone let me see.

[29:03] So mister Asha did respond.

[29:05] He did say that they would be looking at four parking spaces

[29:08] are directly behind the hotel for any loading, unloading,

[29:12] handicap, and delivery spaces.

[29:13] Okay.

[29:15] And those are existing right now? Correct. Okay. Gotcha.

[29:18] Thank you.

[29:21] Any other questions?

[29:24] And again, just to be clear,

[29:25] this is just a change in the designation

[29:29] from public, semi public, or semi public to

[29:33] CBD.

[29:34] It's transitioning the property so that it is compliant

[29:38] with its use

[29:40] or proposed use.

[29:41] Correct.

[29:42] Mister mayor, I do have actually one question, Casey.

[29:45] When will the county actually vacate?

[29:49] That I am not sure about.

[29:50] I don't know what agreement the county has with the applicant,

[29:53] so that I can't speak to.

[29:54] So us changing this,

[29:56] we're we're still allowing the use

[29:58] the county to use the facilities at that point?

[30:03] I guess technically up until the moment that the sale is finalized.

[30:06] The sale? Okay.

[30:07] It's just contingent to We can't rezone it under the current owner.

[30:10] Correct? Correct. Yeah.

[30:12] So we can't change the zoning for the current owner.

[30:14] So once the ownership transfers,

[30:17] that is when the trans that is when the change will come into effect.

[30:20] We just set that in motion and it's automatic triggers.

[30:23] Yeah. Thank you.

[30:23] Yeah.

[30:25] Any other questions for miss David?

[30:31] All right.

[30:31] Then I will open the public hearing at six fifty two.

[30:35] Mr. Mary, have no speakers signed up at this time.

[30:37] Again, I will turn to the audience and ask if there's anyone who

[30:40] wishes to address this issue,

[30:42] has the opportunity to come forward.

[30:46] Seeing no takers,

[30:47] I will close the public hearing at six fifty two.

[30:50] We'll turn it over to counsel for a motion and for discussion.

[30:53] Mister Mason. I'll give it to miss Halloran.

[30:56] I move to adopt the ZODA twenty six dash o two.

[31:00] Second.

[31:02] Moved by miss O'Holler and second by our mister

[31:06] second tonight, mister Moody.

[31:07] You're doing a great job. Second. Three for three.

[31:10] Second.

[31:11] There discussion on the motion?

[31:18] Hearing no discussion on the motion,

[31:20] I will move the question.

[31:21] The motion on the floor is considering a

[31:25] is to approve Zoda twenty six dash o two which will rezone

[31:29] ten Hotel Street from PSP to

[31:32] CBD. We'll start to my right.

[31:35] Mister Mooney.

[31:36] Aye. Mister Francis. Aye. Mister Semple. Aye.

[31:40] Mister Kovalek. Aye. Miss Ahollaren. Aye.

[31:43] Mister Gagnon. Aye.

[31:45] And mister McGuire? Aye. Motion passes unanimously.

[31:49] And upon transfer of the property to the new owner,

[31:52] it will now be CBD.

[31:54] Brings us to the consent agenda.

[31:58] I will leave the second to mister Mooney if I look for

[32:00] someone to make the motion.

[32:05] They'll all jump at once.

[32:07] Mister Mayor, I make a motion to accept the consent agenda as presented.

[32:11] Second.

[32:12] So moved by mister Francis and seconded by mister Mooney.

[32:15] Is there discussion on the motion?

[32:18] Hearing none, the motion on the floor is consent agenda to be approved

[32:21] as submitted.

[32:22] I will start to my left. Mister McGuire?

[32:25] Aye. Mister Adnan. Aye. Miss O'Holleran. Aye.

[32:28] Mister Kovalek. Aye. Vice Mayor Semple. Aye. Mister Francis.

[32:32] Aye. Mister Mooney. Aye. Motion passes unanimously.

[32:35] Consent agenda is approved.

[32:37] Thank you, mister

[32:40] Steven.

[32:41] Totally having a moment here.

[32:43] Mister Clough, my brain is not what it once was.

[32:47] So mister Clough,

[32:48] for all the work you've been doing on the minutes, appreciate that.

[32:50] Alright.

[32:52] There is no new business. There is no unfinished business.

[32:55] So moving right along, move to the town attorney's report.

[32:59] Nothing to report tonight.

[33:02] Thank you.

[33:04] And now we move to the town manager's report.

[33:07] Thank you, mayor and council.

[33:08] So one month as in my tenure as town manager,

[33:13] and I I just wanted to take a moment to thank the council,

[33:15] the staff, the community for such a warm welcome to the community.

[33:20] I can call Warrenton home now.

[33:21] We've purchased a home and moved here,

[33:23] and so it feels great to be able to do that.

[33:28] Been drinking from the fire hose for the past month,

[33:31] and I guess if I had to summarize things,

[33:33] I would say that this statement kinda best

[33:36] summarizes it.

[33:37] We can do anything, but we can't do everything.

[33:40] And I've come to realize that we're doing a lot right now at this time.

[33:45] We have a large capital program.

[33:47] We have a just a lot of projects and initiatives that

[33:50] are in the works.

[33:51] And so I feel like part of my job is to see those through to

[33:54] completion and and to bring value each day to the to the position.

[33:59] So I've kinda categorized those priorities into

[34:03] really into three things that I think best summarize what I'm

[34:06] trying to do right now,

[34:07] and that is finish what we've started,

[34:09] take care of what we have, and plan for the future.

[34:13] And so I wanna report on just a few of those things as

[34:16] as we move forward.

[34:18] For one, also, I wanted to mention in the in the as

[34:22] part of my TAM manager's report,

[34:23] there's a quarterly report in the packet.

[34:25] It's about eighty pages long.

[34:27] I don't expect you to read through all of that.

[34:30] So each month, when we do put in the quarterly report,

[34:33] I'll try to summarize a few key points in there,

[34:36] least from what I'm seeing across the organization.

[34:39] It's very helpful information, but again,

[34:41] that's a lot to take in.

[34:43] So two takeaways that I had from our reports.

[34:45] One is that there's still a lot of development activity

[34:48] happening in the town.

[34:51] I think over the last quarter,

[34:52] we had forty six land development review project

[34:55] reviews, a hundred and thirty five building permit reviews,

[34:58] and more than a thousand inspections during the quarter.

[35:00] So still quite a bit of development activity happening

[35:04] across the town,

[35:06] and that's all while we still work on a on a zoning ordinance

[35:09] update as well.

[35:10] So a lot happening on the development front.

[35:14] The other takeaway I had was on the parks and recreation front.

[35:18] Statistically, seeing a pretty significant increase in our

[35:22] programs in parks and recreation,

[35:24] about a twenty four percent increase in program

[35:27] participation.

[35:28] A lot of that happens at the wharf,

[35:30] but really across the town in our our parks and recreation

[35:33] assets, seeing the utilization happen

[35:37] or increase quite a bit.

[35:40] I sent an email last week council regarding the

[35:44] commercial trash collection.

[35:47] I know that's been a topic recently,

[35:49] and and our objective and my commitment is to make sure that

[35:52] we are compliant with the town code.

[35:55] I do think that there's some changes that that we can make

[35:58] to the town code to really try to capture what the intent of

[36:01] that code is, and I'll give the example of

[36:05] if the town stops collecting from, say,

[36:08] a commercial business that needs a, you know,

[36:11] large dumpster in the future,

[36:13] where are they gonna put that dumpster?

[36:15] Is it gonna take up parking spaces?

[36:17] Does it need to be enclosed?

[36:18] And and how do we sort of transition to that?

[36:21] And so I pulled our team together to start working on

[36:24] this and and come up with a transition plan and expect

[36:28] within a couple weeks to be able to report back to you on

[36:30] exactly what that timeline looks like and and to have a

[36:33] good plan in place to make that that transition for sixty or

[36:38] seventy businesses outside of the historic

[36:41] district to to make that transition.

[36:46] I mentioned taking care of what we have.

[36:49] One of the great tools that's being implemented across the

[36:52] organization right now is the Tyler Enterprise Resource

[36:55] Planning Program or ERP.

[36:57] And while we've done that conversion on the finance side,

[37:01] we still have several modules to move our

[37:04] systems and processes to, including HR, payroll, etcetera.

[37:09] But honestly, one of the most powerful things that we're gonna be converting

[37:12] to is the enterprise asset management module through

[37:16] Tyler.

[37:17] What that means is that's going to be able to centralize our

[37:21] our asset management and our

[37:24] workflow management into a into a system that will allow us

[37:29] to better keep track of all the assets we have.

[37:31] And when you think about what the all the assets the town

[37:33] has, this is, you know,

[37:34] this is anything from a street sign all the way to water and

[37:39] sewer lines and everything in between.

[37:41] And it'll be based in a in a GIS so

[37:45] that we can track those things not

[37:49] just on paper, but visually on a map as well.

[37:52] And so this is gonna be a big this is gonna be a big cultural

[37:55] shift for the organization in terms of more effectively and

[37:58] efficiently being able to manage our assets and keep

[38:01] track of things, be able to replace them.

[38:04] You know, I'd another example would be,

[38:08] if we fill a pothole on a street in the town,

[38:11] how many more times do we go back to that same pothole to refill it?

[38:14] That's the type of data that we'll be able to have and track

[38:17] and understand the assets that we're dealing with.

[38:20] So very, very powerful game changer for team Warrenton and

[38:24] our our ability to operate and manage our assets

[38:29] and and all the workflows as well.

[38:30] So I'm excited to see that through.

[38:32] It's, again, gonna be a pretty big shift for the organization.

[38:36] And finally,

[38:37] the the best part of that program is that there's going

[38:39] to be a citizen report tool.

[38:42] So residents, rather than call you or call town hall,

[38:46] can get on an app, get on the computer, report the pothole,

[38:50] the down sign, the issue.

[38:53] That'll automatically go into the system and generate a work

[38:56] order for us to go out and to fix that

[39:00] particular problem.

[39:01] So, again, it's an engagement tool,

[39:03] and it's also a workflow tool to be able to help us to

[39:06] effectively manage our assets and respond

[39:10] to the the issues in the community.

[39:11] So I'm very excited about that. It's gonna take a lot of work.

[39:15] With that, I'm happy to answer any questions the council may have,

[39:19] but very glad to be here and and appreciate the warm welcome.

[39:22] Thank you very much, sir. Are there questions for mister Rex?

[39:25] Just a comment.

[39:25] Okay. Miss comment from missus Holleran.

[39:27] I just like to say I love the quarterly reports,

[39:29] and I do read them.

[39:30] I think you do get a lot of information out of them,

[39:33] and I appreciate them being in the packet.

[39:35] Thank you for that.

[39:36] Thank you.

[39:38] Miss Hill?

[39:39] I wanted to second that. Yes.

[39:40] These reports really are helpful.

[39:43] And the more we get into them, the better prepared we are.

[39:46] And so I appreciate you reorganizing a little bit.

[39:50] They used to be, I guess,

[39:51] under the consent agenda and now they're under part of your report.

[39:54] So you can act as a way of filtering some of the more

[39:58] complex information to our benefit.

[40:00] So thank you. Yep.

[40:01] Thanks.

[40:02] I'd like to thank you for also sort of

[40:06] explaining the ERP system,

[40:08] the investment the town made into that and showing the

[40:10] benefits and why this is creating efficiencies

[40:14] and a more responsive and transparent form of of government.

[40:18] So I think this was a very good investment for the town.

[40:22] It was a necessary investment.

[40:24] It was, you know, absolutely essential for us to

[40:26] stay modern and keep up with the times.

[40:30] And thank you very much for the explanation of that.

[40:33] I think that's very helpful.

[40:34] Thank you.

[40:36] Any further questions for mister Rex?

[40:40] Okay.

[40:40] That will bring us now to council members time,

[40:42] which I will start to my left and mister McGuire.

[40:46] Thank you, mister mayor.

[40:47] Thank you for everybody coming out.

[40:49] Also to mister Rex, kudos to you, baptism of fire.

[40:53] You stood up and and you've weathered the storm,

[40:56] and I I appreciate the direction that we're going in.

[40:59] You can never have enough communication,

[41:02] and you're a communicator, and I appreciate that.

[41:04] National

[41:06] Night Out, I was out there.

[41:07] I appreciate all our fire, police, and and EMS.

[41:11] I know a lot of them give up their time,

[41:13] especially on midnights working the overnight shift.

[41:16] They miss a lot out of their families, things like that.

[41:19] So I appreciate that.

[41:20] Also, tomorrow is back to school,

[41:23] so watch your speed limit, things like that, you know,

[41:26] and have a safe rest of the month.

[41:29] Thank you.

[41:30] Thank you, mister Wyarm.

[41:31] What's going on?

[41:34] For those of you who were following

[41:37] the work session this morning, roundabouts are coming.

[41:41] We have three

[41:43] slated for construction over the next

[41:48] three to four years.

[41:51] One at Blackwell and twenty nine,

[41:54] one at Fletcher Drive and twenty nine,

[41:58] a smaller one, and then another one at Winchester Street

[42:02] and twenty nine.

[42:05] And then one that that the town has applied for

[42:08] at

[42:10] potentially at Culpepper and Shirley.

[42:15] So

[42:17] we

[42:19] were assured by one of the VDOT representatives

[42:22] that there would be at least

[42:25] one and probably likely two

[42:30] town hall type meetings where residents can

[42:35] come and learn more about the roundabout projects and speak

[42:39] directly to VDOT representatives.

[42:42] And

[42:44] further, they have they have given us assurances that they

[42:49] would be open to suggestions

[42:53] for possible modifications of roundabouts.

[42:57] And I think my assumption is there would be fewer

[43:03] modifications made to the ones that are already slated because

[43:07] a lot of the engineering is already in in process.

[43:10] But the the one that we've applied for the town's applied

[43:14] for at Culpepper Street, there may be some more

[43:19] flexibility on that one because we just applied for it,

[43:23] there's chance that we will not receive the funding on that.

[43:28] So having said that, the one on Culpepper Street,

[43:33] any interested parties on on those four intersections can

[43:37] come to one of these

[43:39] public meetings and talk to VDOT representatives, especially

[43:44] whoever ends up owning that yellow house on the corner of

[43:47] Culpeper and Shirley, and maybe you could whoever that

[43:51] ends up being, maybe you could come in and if if you

[43:55] want, convince VDOT to try to move that roundabout about

[43:59] twenty feet south so they don't take a chunk out of your front yard.

[44:03] But just saying.

[44:05] So

[44:07] just watch our our town crier and and

[44:11] various news announcements for,

[44:16] you know, the scheduling of these

[44:18] public meetings, and I I would encourage you all to attend

[44:23] to learn more about these roundabouts and make your

[44:26] voices heard.

[44:27] Thank you.

[44:30] Miss Holleran?

[44:33] Couple of things.

[44:33] Our hearts and prayers go out to those affected by the recent

[44:36] earthquakes in Colombia, Panama, and Ecuador.

[44:39] As some of you may or may not know, I come from Panama,

[44:43] and that country has also experienced devastating

[44:46] earthquakes in the past while I lived there.

[44:49] And also want to express my gratitude to the Main Street

[44:53] businesses for their patience during the construction period.

[44:56] I encourage everyone to shop and dine locally to support

[45:00] these businesses and just thank you all for coming out.

[45:06] Thank you, and echo that.

[45:08] Mr. Cavalli?

[45:09] Yeah, I'm gonna actually have to echo everything because between Mr.

[45:12] McGuire and Mr.

[45:13] Janney and Ms. Allen, they took all my talking points.

[45:16] I did, I thank everybody that came out tonight.

[45:19] I always appreciate hearing from the community.

[45:22] I know the members of the council do as well.

[45:25] National Night Out, that was great.

[45:26] I went down there and had a great time talking with people,

[45:29] just checking out all the displays and everything that was out there,

[45:33] so I encourage people to always get out and enjoy what the town has to offer.

[45:40] And then on the roundabout issue,

[45:42] I'm keeping a very close eye.

[45:43] I've

[45:45] been talking about it

[45:48] from the dais for the past couple months about

[45:50] transportation issues through town,

[45:52] what we're going to be faced with over the coming years, really.

[45:56] We say Warranty two thousand forty,

[45:59] really basically only thirteen and a half years away,

[46:01] but we could also think about Warranty in two thousand one

[46:04] hundred forty and how transportation is going to be

[46:05] flowing years from now.

[46:07] So it's something that I do a lot of driving myself,

[46:10] and I see a lot of innovative ways to move traffic

[46:14] through congested areas, through

[46:16] towns like ours and everything,

[46:17] so I think there's a lot of different

[46:19] ways that you can make a community function very well

[46:23] with proper transportation networks.

[46:26] I do encourage that.

[46:27] I also encourage you, if you're going to

[46:31] try to look into this,

[46:32] either coming out of the meetings that we're gonna have

[46:34] or that VDOT will have,

[46:36] go to the Federal Highway Administration site and Google roundabouts.

[46:39] There's a wealth of information in there,

[46:41] and it's great information.

[46:42] It talks about safety, reducing conflict points,

[46:46] efficiency, effectiveness.

[46:48] I mean, know, it's just

[46:51] silly things.

[46:51] You know, we sit here and we think about idle.

[46:53] Environmental.

[46:54] I was just going say, we sit here and we talk about idle.

[46:57] You know, if you have an internal combustion engine and you're

[47:00] idling that at a traffic light,

[47:03] you multiply that by millions and billions of cars maybe,

[47:05] I don't know, it does have impact.

[47:08] So I encourage everybody, educate yourself on it,

[47:11] and please, it's something that we can all benefit from greater

[47:15] awareness of.

[47:16] And then Main Street.

[47:18] I've been walking Main Street,

[47:19] that question came up last month,

[47:21] it was addressed also today during the work session.

[47:24] I am walking Main Street trying to get in touch with people

[47:27] that either post something on social media or that might have

[47:31] comments that I hear about through word-of-mouth.

[47:35] So I am trying to take that to heart and reach out to business

[47:39] owners and everything.

[47:40] There's a number of different

[47:43] meetings, wrap up meetings, we're also

[47:46] trying to plan for this,

[47:47] to try to learn from what maybe we did right and what we could

[47:51] have done better.

[47:52] But I do encourage everybody,

[47:53] please get out and support downtown businesses,

[47:56] especially right now when Main Street shut down.

[47:59] So I'll leave it at that.

[48:01] Thank you, sir. Mr. Semple.

[48:03] Well, thank you. I appreciate everyone coming out.

[48:08] Public participatory process, that's the focus

[48:12] of our local transparency commission and it's very

[48:16] valuable for citizens to be able to access information

[48:21] either through our website or from their own representatives

[48:24] or from the staff.

[48:25] And I must say that I wanna extend my

[48:30] well, thanks as well as my appreciation for for

[48:35] mister Rex's kind of novel it's not novel,

[48:38] but it's it's a refreshing approach to dealing with

[48:42] crises that occur in various aspects of our

[48:46] town over time, especially when we're hit, for example,

[48:49] with buckets of rain.

[48:51] And the value that that that he has

[48:56] brought so far to to our messaging is that you

[49:00] don't sit on the problem and respond to a

[49:04] concern by a citizen in a couple of days or three days later.

[49:07] You do it immediately.

[49:08] You do it in a way that is complete,

[49:11] that it describes the the scope of the issue,

[49:15] references the applicable ordinances if they are if they

[49:19] are applicable, and then offers a solution.

[49:24] One of the things that I think we're going to be seeing a real

[49:26] improvement on is inviting groups of citizens to come and

[49:30] have little mini town halls, which will allow them, for example,

[49:35] in a major development such as what we're experiencing at

[49:37] Warrington Crossing,

[49:38] to fully appreciate scope of the project and what they're

[49:41] looking forward to,

[49:42] and to allow them to participate in the conversation

[49:45] regarding, one of the one of one of the issues we had at

[49:50] Warrington Crossing was that they would continue to work

[49:53] outdoors on Sunday.

[49:55] And now on Falmouth Street, where I live,

[49:57] that didn't sit very well with my neighbors.

[50:00] So I asked Rob Walton if he might be able to figure out how

[50:04] we might be able to reduce the noise on Sunday,

[50:06] and lo and behold, they're indoors,

[50:09] but they can't work outdoors.

[50:10] And that has made a material and effective change for the

[50:14] sun for for our Sunday residents and those who believe

[50:17] that's a time of peace,

[50:18] and and you're not supposed to be out there working anyway.

[50:21] Anyway, so thanks for coming forward.

[50:26] I really do appreciate the communications that I received

[50:28] from my own residents.

[50:30] I don't get too many these days,

[50:32] and I think I think that's a good sign.

[50:36] But we have a lot of in front of us in terms

[50:39] of the remaining portion of that.

[50:41] That development cuts right through the heart of World two,

[50:45] and it's only one third of the way,

[50:47] and they're already occupying those buildings.

[50:50] So it's going to be interesting to see.

[50:52] We have issues regarding the intersection of Walker Drive

[50:56] and East Lee Street that we have to worry about.

[51:00] We also have the intersection at the other end,

[51:02] which couples Falmouth Street and Old Metz Road.

[51:06] And, so it will be a challenge going

[51:08] forward, but I'm confident our staff will be up to it and,

[51:12] look forward to continuing to represent my ward as I see out

[51:16] the rest of my term.

[51:17] Thank you.

[51:20] Miss Francis?

[51:22] Well, I had ten minutes here and I've got all this and and

[51:26] you guys have stolen the thunder.

[51:28] So that's good. That's that's good. Just say ditto.

[51:32] Good. Right.

[51:34] No.

[51:35] I do I do wanna thank special special message here.

[51:39] I wanna thank Michael Wharton for stepping up to discuss what

[51:43] happened with the delay on the Main Street construction project.

[51:48] It's it's very difficult to come in here and stand or sit

[51:52] before this council and listen to the complaints from

[51:56] multiple sources thrown out about the about the project.

[52:02] Michael handled it very well,

[52:03] and he provided some great information,

[52:06] and and I thank him for that.

[52:08] In fact, I saw Michael leaving when I was coming into this meeting,

[52:12] and I personally thanked him out there for being here as well.

[52:17] It it's tough to do that and I appreciate him being here.

[52:21] I wanna take this opportunity to thank my colleagues on the

[52:24] council this evening and you're not gonna believe this.

[52:27] I wanna thank you for your efforts today.

[52:29] I think we accomplished a lot of meaningful work

[52:33] And I think you folks will see some of those results in the

[52:36] very near future.

[52:38] Other than that, enjoy the remainder of your summer

[52:42] and happy Labor Day.

[52:44] Thank you.

[52:46] Mr. Moody. Thank you.

[52:48] I guess I was gonna second the quarter reports,

[52:51] but now I'll third or fourth it.

[52:54] Alright.

[52:55] So I just wanna reiterate real quick that the

[52:59] there'll be a public outreach program during the first Friday

[53:03] about the about the roundabouts.

[53:07] There's also on the boards over there a QR code.

[53:10] So if you want more information,

[53:11] can just scan the QR code.

[53:12] I think that mister Rex and the and the staff and everybody is

[53:16] doing a really good job of trying to really reach out to

[53:19] the public and ask for information, ask for feedback.

[53:22] So there's the QR code. There's the outreach.

[53:25] And then I just ask everybody not to forget that we're still

[53:28] doing the zoning text or zoning ordinance update,

[53:31] which is a huge project, which takes a lot of feedback.

[53:34] It's gonna be a massive change that's gonna take into effect

[53:38] for a very long time.

[53:39] So please get on the website and put in any input that you

[53:43] have for the zoning update.

[53:46] I would like to thank mister Toomey for his example and for his dedication.

[53:50] Thank everybody who put on the the festival.

[53:54] I think that maybe we should move it.

[53:55] I was out of town again for the next second year in a row.

[53:58] We should put it after school starts or something.

[54:01] Thank you all for for that work.

[54:03] And then I wanna throw out a congratulations to mister

[54:06] Clough.

[54:07] I think there's only four of those courses in the state of

[54:09] Virginia. Three of them, excuse me, as it was.

[54:12] And one of them is yours, and so congratulations on that,

[54:15] and congratulations to the staff who helped you.

[54:18] You know? So good job.

[54:19] That's pretty it's really impressive,

[54:21] and it's great to have you as part of the team here.

[54:26] People have mentioned it.

[54:28] There's just a lot happening in the town.

[54:29] Mister Wharton is extremely busy as one of the businesses

[54:32] greatly affected by the sidewalks.

[54:34] I'm walking out there all the time, and I just, you know,

[54:38] we have school starting.

[54:40] I wish all those kids the best of luck this year and the teachers.

[54:44] Thank the teachers for all their work and the extra things

[54:47] that they buy and put into to their classrooms.

[54:49] But I just I just ask everybody to to breathe for a minute,

[54:53] maybe maybe leave a few minutes early.

[54:56] I see sue I see too many people.

[54:58] This morning, there was a a semi stuck on the road,

[55:02] it couldn't get up the hill.

[55:03] And you see people in their cars, like,

[55:05] doing things like this, and it's just like,

[55:07] I think if everybody gave a little bit of grace and left a

[55:10] few minutes early,

[55:11] we we'd have a little bit more peace and a little bit less frustration.

[55:15] So especially with school starting,

[55:17] the school buses and all the kids everywhere,

[55:19] just ask for that.

[55:20] And then last comment,

[55:22] just thank you to everybody who came out.

[55:24] Thank you for speaking.

[55:26] We we need input from all the citizens,

[55:28] so it's really important that everybody comes out and talk.

[55:31] So with that, again, happy Labor Day, and thank you.

[55:35] I don't know that I could say that any better than mister

[55:37] Mooney did, but I do wanna emphasize, I think,

[55:39] the importance of patience and a little bit of kindness and

[55:43] gentleness and compassion is absolutely something that

[55:47] we all could find a little bit more of as we go through our day to days.

[55:53] As everyone has said, school is starting soon,

[55:55] so please be on the lookout.

[55:57] Caution, follow the school buses,

[56:00] stop when you're supposed to stop, and again,

[56:02] find that patience.

[56:03] Again, I'm just gonna reiterate a lot of what other people said,

[56:06] but that's the way these things tend to go when you're the last one speaking.

[56:09] To mister Wharton, again,

[56:10] remarkable a remarkable effort that he's been able to put

[56:14] forth in dealing with the frustrations

[56:18] with humility and with understanding.

[56:22] And we his position did not exist.

[56:25] I pointed this out this morning.

[56:27] It was only about four years ago that we established his

[56:30] position, so you can imagine what a

[56:32] nightmare this might have been had we not have found someone

[56:36] to take the leadership and ownership role of this position.

[56:39] Again, as a business who's very deeply impacted by this,

[56:43] I feel it very personally.

[56:45] I fear, you know,

[56:46] it's these these next two weeks are gonna be very difficult.

[56:50] Fortunately, the middle two weeks of August tend to be some of our slowest

[56:53] anyway, so it kinda works out,

[56:55] but it kinda works out in a way that's bad because it's the day

[56:58] when, you know, a hundred dollars really makes a difference.

[57:02] So either way,

[57:04] the result of this is going to have been worth it by the time

[57:08] we get to it.

[57:08] And I know all of the businesses will be grateful and

[57:12] will be appreciative of their patience

[57:16] for what we will benefit from this moving forward.

[57:19] So to all the businesses, obviously I feel your pain,

[57:23] obviously I feel your frustration,

[57:25] and I'm deeply grateful for your patience and

[57:28] acknowledgement that this, once accomplished and

[57:31] once finalized, will be

[57:35] beneficial for all of us and the whole of the town of

[57:37] Warrenton.

[57:39] Mister Rex, it's been a you as you drinking from a fire hose,

[57:43] but you have done so with Magnum Infinity.

[57:45] You have done so with calm presence,

[57:49] which has been, I think,

[57:51] comforting to both counsel and staff alike.

[57:54] So you have landed into the role with confidence and with

[57:58] and with vision and with a conviction to do right by this

[58:02] town that we all are very grateful for.

[58:08] Again, I don't know if there's anything else to say.

[58:10] I wanna appreciate this was a very constructive day.

[58:13] We were able to get out before one o'clock,

[58:15] and we're having a meeting.

[58:17] We'll be out before seven o'clock before seven thirty.

[58:20] So I thank counsel for their efficiencies.

[58:23] And also just to the point of the ERP,

[58:25] I do wanna point out that to the point of openness and

[58:29] transparency, this council,

[58:30] previous councils have been making this town more

[58:34] approachable, more available, more accessible with every

[58:38] decision that we make and with everything that we have funded

[58:41] through, whether it be staffing,

[58:43] whether it be through ERP projects,

[58:45] this council previous councils have taken us leaps and

[58:50] bounds from where we were in terms of openness, access,

[58:54] availability, transparency, all of those things.

[58:56] So while we talk about transparency in a very vague

[59:00] and sometimes very

[59:04] pointed way,

[59:06] let's all step back and acknowledge that where we are

[59:09] now from where we were eight years ago when I started is

[59:12] a remarkable difference.

[59:14] And everyone on this council and everyone on the previous

[59:16] council should take pride in making us get to the

[59:21] point where we are and bringing that transparency forward in

[59:25] everything that we've done and making that first and foremost

[59:27] in our decision and policy making project

[59:30] decisions.

[59:31] So with that, no further business

[59:34] needed to be conducted.

[59:36] Seven twenty one, we will adjourn.

Warrenton Town Council Evening Session 8/11/2026

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