HomeMy Public PortalAbout2020_tcmin0512D
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COUNCIL MEETING May 12, 2020
Council Chambers, 25 West Market Street, 7:00 p.m. Mayor Burk presiding.
Council Members Present: Ron Campbell, Thomas Dunn, Suzanne Fox, Vice Mayor
Marty Martinez, Neil Steinberg, Joshua Thiel, and Mayor Kelly Burk.
Council Members Absent: None.
Staff Present: Town Manager Kaj Dentler, Deputy Town Manager Keith Markel,
Interim Town Attorney Martin Crim, Director of Public Works and Capital Projects
Renee LaFollette, Information Technology Director Jakub Jedrzejczak, Public
Information Officer Betsy Arnett (via WebEx), Emergency Management Coordinator
Joe Dame, Director of Economic Development Russell Seymour (via WebEx),
Information Technology Deputy Director John Callahan, Management and Budget
Officer Jason Cournoyer (via WebEx) and Clerk of Council Eileen Boeing.
AGENDA ITEMS
1. CALL TO ORDER
2. INVOCATION was given by Council Member Campbell.
3. SALUTE TO THE FLAG was led by Vice Mayor Martinez.
4. ROLL CALL
a. Electronic Participation
Vice Mayor Martinez, Council Member Campbell and Council Member
Dunn requested to electronically participate in the May 12, 2020, Council
Meeting due to the health and safety concerns associated with the Coronavirus.
MOTION 2020-118
On a motion by Council Member Steinberg, seconded by Council Member Thiel,
the following was proposed:
To allow Vice Mayor Martinez, Council Member Campbell and Council Member
Dunn to electronically participate in the May 12, 2020, Council Meeting.
The motion was approved by the following vote:
Aye: Fox, Steinberg, Thiel and Mayor Burk
Nay: None
Vote: 4-0-3 (Vice Mayor Martinez, Campbell, Dunn absent)
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5. MINUTES
a. Regular Session Minutes of April 28. 2020
MOTION 2020-119
On a motion by Coundl Member Thiel, seconded by Vice Mayor Martinez, the
minutes of the Regular Session Minutes of April 28, 2020, were moved for approval.
The motion was approved by the following vote:
Aye: Campbell, Dunn~ Fox, Vice Mayor Martinez, Steinberg, Thiel and Mayor
Burk
Nay: None
Vote: 7-0
6. ADOPTING THE MEETING AGENDA
On a motion by Coundl Member Fox, seconded by Coundl Member Thiel, the meeting
agenda was moved for approval.
7.
The motion was approved by the following vote:
Aye: Campbell, Dunn, Fox, Vice Mayor Martinez, Steinberg, Thiel and Mayor Burk
Nay: None
Vote: 7-0
CERTIFICATES OF RECOGNITION
a. None.
8. PROCLAMATIONS
9.
a. None.
PRESENTATIONS
a. COVID-19 Briefing.
Emergency Management Coordinator Joe Dame along with Loudoun
County Health Director Dr. David Goodfriend gave Council an update on the
COVID-19 pandemic. Both Mr. Dame and Dr. Goodfriend noted that the
Governor announced that the Commonwealth would move into Phase One on
May 15 with the exception of five Northern Virginia jurisdictions, including
Loudoun, which was requested by those municipalities. Those jurisdictions are
tentatively expected to enter Phase One two weeks later on May 29.
Council Member Steinberg confirmed with Dr. Goodfriend that if
Loudoun does not meet the criteria established to go into Phase One that the date
could be postponed further. Dr. Goodfriend confirmed that was correct and
added that before the Northern Virginia region goes into Phase One that they will
reconvene to determine if Phase Zero needs to be extended or not.
Council Member Campbell asked who is responsible for enforcement of
the requirements of the phases. Dr. Goodfriend said that is one of the issues
where Loudoun will learn from other jurisdictions already in Phase One. He said
that in previous orders, the Health Department has authority over its regulated
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facilities which are primarily food establishments. Dr. Goodfriend noted under
the Governor's Executive Order Number 61, the Virginia Department of Health
is the entity with the overall authority. He added that as with previous Executive
Orders, the Health Department had the authority but it was really a partnership
between them and the Sherriffs Office and local Police departments. Mr.
Campbell said it would be important to identify who has authority especially as
compliance complaints are received. Mr. Campbell asked about the criteria to
move to Phase One. Dr. Goodfriend talked about the total number of cases that
have not decreased as well as the increased need for accessing and conducting
testing. He noted one of the metrics set by the Governor is to reduce the number
of positive tests. Dr. Goodfriend added that when increasing testing, the number
of positive tests may remain the same but that they are coming out of a much
larger pool of people who have been tested. He added what they would like to
see from a public health standpoint is progress between now and then mainly for
PPE for. our outpatient providers which is an ongoing concern. He also noted
that the goal is to have access for those people who want to get tested so that they
feel comfortable coming back to work, or feel comfortable when someone is
feeling under the weather or if they get a positive test that they know to stay at
home. Dr: Goodfriend added that everyone needs to understand that the
decision is going to be much broader that just a public health decision. Mr.
Campbell spoke about testing and noted that more testing needs to be available.
He added that he also sees as part of the,Phase One protocol for businesses to be
taking the temperature of its employees. Mr. Campbell spoke about how testing
helps identify problem areas. Dr. Goodfriend said that data is now available by
zip code and noted that more densely populated areas and areas with a higher
percentage of working class residents are more likely to get infected. Dr.
Goodfriend added that Metromed and Patient First Urgent Care Centers in
Leesburg are now offering tests. He noted that they are actively working on
getting more tests to more people.
Vice Mayor Martinez noted that he was also concerned about the
enforcement of some of the requirements in the different phases. Mr. Martinez
said he appreciates the work of the Health Department and asked Dr. Goodfriend
ifthere was anything that Leesburg could do to help. Dr. Goodfri~nd said that
everyone needs to continue to practice social distancing, staying at home and
wearing masks. He said this is what helped flatten the curve and noted that with
a flatter curve it is harder to see improvements but that in doing so they have seen
a significant improvement of where they thought they'd be. He urged Council to
continue to spread this message. Mr. Martinez asked when people without
symptoms could begin to be tested. Dr. Goodfriend noted that Metromed and
Patient First Urgent Care in Leesburg have started administering the test and that
. he is not aware that there are any requirements to get tested other than needing
an appointment and that there may be a fee. He discussed some of the barriers to
testing but added that that they are working to bring larger testing to the area
where if someone needs the testing they can go get it. Dt. Goodfriend noted that
the Loudoun Medical Group has also been testing so there's been a lot of
capability for Leesburg residents to get tested if needed. Mr. Martinez asked Dr.
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Goodfriend about answering people who say this is just a flu. Dr. Goodfriend
said it's a challenge because there is no vaccine and no medication to treat it
which differs from the flu. Mr. Martinez asked about the plans for a resurgence.
Dr. Goodfriend said that this is what the various phases are for and it will be
some time before a vaccine will be available. Dr. Goodfriend spoke about
administering flu vaccines in the fall and how they will have to plan for
administering the COVID-19 vaccine when it is ready.
Council Member Dunn asked Dr. Goodfriend about where the State of
Virginia ranks as far as testing. He said he thought Virginia was near the bottom.
Dr. Goodfriend said that several weeks ago Virginia was ranked near the bottom
but that testing in-Virginia has increased significantly as more private facilities are
now performing testing. He added that Virginia is now doing point prevalence
testing where they will go into a facility that has an outbreak and test all the staff
and residents at one time. Dr. Goodfriend added that while Virginia is still not
anywhere near the top of the pack of states that are testing, it is moving up
compared to other states and starting to make up for some lost ground. Mr.
Dunn confirmed that the stay-at-home order was a directive from the Governor
.and not the Board of Supervisors. Mr. Dunn asked staff to send him a copy of all
of the Governor's Executive Orders that have been issued. Mr. Dunn spoke ·
about the length of the stay-at-home order which roughly equates to about two or
three cycles of the timeframe of people contracting the virus. Mr. Dunn
expressed his concerns that while everyone has been staying at home he keeps
hearing that they have not reached the peak of cases. He asked Dr. Goodfriend
to explain. Dr. Goodfriend explained that when the Governor issued the stay-at-
home order, they were on the left side of the curve going up really high and really
fast in terms of number of cases and number of hospitalizations related to
Coronavirus. He believed that the stay-at-home order really did flatten the curve
particularly in the denser populations inside the Beltway and Richmond, so that
Virginia didn't have anything that approximated what happened in New York
City. He said Virginia is now on a fl~ttened curve where they are getting about
the same number that they were getting a month or so ago, but it did not double,
triple, or go up tenfold as was originally thought it would. Dr. Goodfriend said he
anticipated being on the top of a flat curve for a while. He added that the
challenge is, as Virginia reopens, that more people are going to get exposed and
that not everyone can stay home. He said anecdotally they are finding large
numbers of people who are getting infected now because there are those who
have to go out by virtue of their job or their close contacts that they are bringing it
back to their homes. He said if it was possible to have 100% of the population
stay home for 21 days there would be significantly less cases but that because a
large percentage of people have stayed home, the curve has been flattened but did
not go away. Mr. Dunn inquired about nursing homes and other long~term care
facilities. Dr. Goodfriend said that under Virginia law he was not able to speak
to anything specific regarding these facilities. Generically Dr. Goodfriend said
that these facilities have been affected significantly. Mr. Dunn asked Dr.
Goodfriend to explain his comments that this virus has affected the Hispanic
community harder than others and asked about other groups of people who have
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underlying health conditions. Dr. Goodfriend said by virtue of the living
conditions and the type of jobs that our Hispanic population in Loudoun County
disproportionately holds, they're much more likely to be working outside their
home right now and coming in contact with the virus. He said this is a
generalization and in general they are a younger population and that they are not
seeing a disproportionate number ofdeaths coming from the Hispanic
population. Dr. Goodfriend said Loudoun's deaths are by and large from those
who are seniors and particularly those 7 5 and over. Dr. Goodfriend addressed
the population with underlying medical conditions noting that they are much
more likely to be reflected in who dies from the virus and who gets hospitalized
from the virus. He added for those who test positive for the virus, that there's
much more of a reflection of having to be outside your home or if you're in your
home, a more crowded living condition, so you can't separate into different
rooms if one person is sick. He noted that there are a lot of assumptions that do
go into that but in summary said he believes there are two different issues. of who
gets infected and who gets seriously impacted with the hospitalizations .and
deaths. He added that Loudoun does see somewhat of a difference in the
percentage of Hispanics between who's getting infected, which is very
significantly greater in Hispanic populations throughout Northern Virginia, and
who's dying in Loudoun County. He said Loudoun is not seeing that
disproportionately amongst its Hispanic population and that it seems to be evenly
split. Mr. Dunn asked how long retail stores have been allowed to have 10
people or less in their stores. Mr. Dame said that has been allowed since
Executive Order 53 was issued and addressed non-essential businesses. Mr.
Dunn asked if the retail that has been closed felt that for whatever business
reason that 10 was not workable for them. Mr. Dame said that was correct. Mr.
Dunn asked with a stay-at-home, soon to be a safer-at-home order, if it was
sending mixed signals: Mr. Dame explained that with the latest orders that the
threat of the virus is still out there but that people really only go out for essential
items as needed. He added that moving into Phase One that the threat has not
gone away and that you are safer at home, but that it is going to be a balance as
people start to come out and go into these different phases. Mr. Dunn asked staff
to consider looking into wa1.ving the regulation for sidewalk dining to allow more
restaurants to have outdoor dining as long as ADA requirements were still met.
Council Member Fox asked Dr. Goodfriend about the cost of testing. She
said it was her understanding from the Federal government that testing would be '
free. Dr. Goodfriend explained that the test itself may be free but some facilities
where the testing is done may charge a fee for a healthcare visit but not the test.
Ms. Fox asked why Loudoun chose to aggregate its data with other Northern
Virginia jurisdictions and why it did not act on its own. Ms. Fox said the other
areas have higher instances and may prevent Loudoun from meeting the gating
requirements to move to other phases. Dr. Goodfriend said that the guidance
received was that the Governor and the VDH Health Commissioner were
looking for regional information and not necessarily one jurisdiction or another
for not moving forward with the May 15 date for entering Phase One. He said
that is why it was looked at as a region. He noted in some ways Loudoun's data
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is good and some of it is not so good citing that Loudoun' s percent positive rate is
not as high as the other jurisdictions but also Loudoun's testing rate per capita is
not as good as the other jurisdictions. Dr. Goodfriend said in the end Loudoun
could not make a good enough case of why Loudoun was so different from the
others in Northern Virginia. Council Member Fox asked staff if the decision to
delay moving Loudoun into Phase One was a directive from the Governor or an
allowance given to Loudoun at Loudoun's request. Mr. Dame said to his
knowledge it was a directive. Ms. Fox asked if there were specific numbers for
Leesburg. Mr. Dame noted that the data is by zip code and does not allow the
incorporated limits of Leesburg to be extracted from the data. Ms. Fox expressed
concerns with meeting the criteria as outlined to move to the next phases. She
asked Mr. Crim to provide a memo outlining where the Governor derives the
power to issue the Executive Orders. Mr. Crim noted that the Governor derives
these powers from a number of sources and the order itself mentions them. Mr.
Crim briefly explained the powers of the Governor and the State Health
Commissioner. Ms. Fox asked about the financial impacts. Mr. Dentler noted to
Council that a COVID-19 economic impact discussion is scheduled for the June
·8 Work Session when more information would be available. Ms. Fox said that
she would send her questions to Mr. Dentler so that they can discuss offiine.
Council Member Thiel discussed the percentage of people testing positive
in Northern Virginia. Dr. Goodfriend said that it is currently about 20% but that
this number may be artificially high because testing may be done when there's an
outbreak opposed to anyone being tested even if they were asymptomatic. He
noted that Northern Virginia is about 20% and the rest of Virginia is 13%. Mr.
Thiel mentioned that Cornwall and Leesburg Sterling Family Practice and
Lansdowne were testing. Dr. Goodfriend added that Metromed and Patient
First are also testing in Leesburg and that it was his understanding that there is no
requirement of having symptoms to be tested. Mr. Thiel asked if there was any
advertising for the testing. Dr. Goodfriend noted that the County does not
advertise for private entities but if someone asked where they can get tested, the
County will provide the information. He believed it was also listed on the
County's Web site and that testing sites are listed on the Virginia Department of
Health's Web site. Mr. Thiel asked if recovery rate information was available.
Dr. Goodfriend noted that this data is harder to obtain as the focus is on the open
cases and their contacts. Mr. Thiel stated that the good news is that the majority
of those who contract the virus recover. He noted that 35 deaths is sad but
there's roughly 400,000 residents in Loudoun. Mr. Thiel asked if there was
anything Leesburg could do to help. Dr. Goodfriend said continuing to work
with the staff and getting the message out for people to sign up to get the text
messages regarding the virus. Mr. Thiel asked staff if the Town had enough
internet bandwidth to allow them to continue working. Mr. Dame said that the
Town has an agreement with the County agreement through the end of the
month and they've been working with the Director of IT right now to gather the
data to look for an extension since they haven't moved into Phase One and some
· Town staff will still be working from home. Mr. Dame added that the Town is
still working with the vendor to complete the Internet connection that is separate
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10.
from the County but that some of the hardware is still in transit. Mr. Thiel said
he has noticed that roadwork has been continuing and asked if staff has the
proper PPB and is following the guidelines. Mr. Dame said he has been working
with staff and HR and are making sure that staff is following social distancing
protocols. He added that they have pooled together the PPB needs of the
different departments to achieve economy ofscale by ordering in bulk. Mr.
Dame noted that the Town has a good inventory of PPB and that it is being
stored in a centralized location. Mr. Thiel asked if they were any impacts
expected with trash pickup. Mr. Dame said that the essential function remains
steady and that the contractor reported that they will reinstitute bulk pickup
starting on May 18.
Mayor Burk expressed her concerns with data not being available for the
incorporated limits of Leesburg. Sorting the data by zip code does not allow the
Town to evaluate the data as it relates specifically to the Town of Leesburg
residents Mayor Burk asked for an age breakdown of the 35 deaths in Loudoun.
Dr. Goodfriend said of the 35 people who've died in Loudoun County, 28 were
age 80 or above, five were between 70 and 79, one between 60 and 69, and one
between 50 and 59 years of age. Mayor Burk noted that the breakdown within the
age groups has remained steady. Mayor Burk asked if a doctor's note was still
required for testing. Dr. Goodfriend said in general the answer is yes, but that
there were exceptions in private facilities such as the urgent care centers and
healthcare providers previously mentioned and when a point prevalence survey is
conducted. Mayor Burk said that everyone is hopeful more testing will be done
but that it was mentioned that more contact tracers were being brought in. She
asked what they were going to be doing if more testing was not being done. Dr.
Goodfriend said that contact tracing has been going on since the beginning and
when a positive case is identified, they investigate who their close or high-risk
contacts were. Dr. Goodfriend defined a close contact as someone who they
spent at least 10 minutes with within six feet or knowingly coughed or sneezed
on. He added an example of a high-risk contact would be someone that might be
92 years old and in a nursing home. Mayor Burk asked about one of the graphs
presented from VDH that showed the number of cases in Loudoun County
decreasing for the last three days. Dr. Goodfriend cautioned that there are often
reporting delays and there will be spikes and troughs but are more indicative as to
when the data makes its way through the system.
Council requested that all of the Governor's Executive Orders be sent to
Council along with all of the Code citations providing these powers to the
Governor and State Director of Health.
REGIONAL COMMISSION REPORTS
Mayor Burk reported the Northern Virginia Regional Commission continues to
have twice weekly phone calls concerning the different localities and what they're doing
in regard to the COVID-19 virus. Mayor Burk added that over the weekend the Chairs
of Fairfax, Loudoun, Arlington, and Prince William wrote a letter recommending that
the Governor delay the opening of Northern Virginia due to the increase in the total
cases of people getting the virus, the number of tests and a number of other factors in
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regard to the guideline. Mayor Burk added that also over the weekend, the Northern
Virginia Regional Commissioners decided they should also compose a letter expressing
their concerns regarding the numbers. Mayor Burk said she did not sign that letter
because the Health Department doesn't give Town of Leesburg specific statistics so she
felt she did not have the data to justify a position nor was it something that had come
before the Council for debate. She noted that the Governor's Executive Order 62
inaccurately states that Leesburg was included in the request. Mayor Burk stated she
contacted the Governor's office and they acknowledged the mistake and will be making
a correction. Mayor Burk noted that the Governor's Office has already made a change to
the press release. She wanted to clarify with everyone that she had not signed something
that was not brought before Council and that Leesburg did not make a recommendation
one way or the other.
11. PETITIONERS
The Petitioners section was opened at 8:18 p.m.
Tracy Doyle. 240 Alpine Drive. Leesburg (via WebEx). Spoke to Council about
celebrating and honoring Leesburg's graduating high school seniors. She is the parent of
a senior at Loudoun County High School. Ms. Doyle suggested a parade could be held
in their honor later in the summer. She noted that there are a lot of other ideas out there
from all over the country and she would like to see something done in Leesburg to
celebrate its seniors.
The Petitioners section was closed at 8:26 p.m.
12. APPROVAL OF THE CONSENT AGENDA
a. None.
13. RESOLUTIONS /ORDINANCES I MOTIONS
a. Appropriation of Tree Bank Funds for Tree Transplanting
MOTION 2020-120
On a motion by Coundl Member Steinberg, seconded by Vice Mayor Martinez, the
following was proposed:
RESOLUTION 2020-062
Appropriating Tree Bank Funds in the amount of $15,500 for
Transplanting Trees from the Battlefield Parkway I East Market Street
Interchange Project to Areas Damaged by the February 2020 Tornado
Council Member Dunn asked about the transplant location of the trees.
Ms. LaFollette said the trees would be transplanted from the Battlefield and
Route 7 interchange project and moved to the areas near Potomac Crossing that
were damaged by the tornado. Mr. Dunn noted that the trees that were damaged
were mostly pine trees and that they will eventually be removed for future
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roadway improvements~ Ms. LaFollette confirmed that was correct but that any
roadway improvements were a number of years out and transplanting the trees
now would provide a canopy for the time being. Mr. Dunn asked if it would be
more appropriate to potentially put in trees that might be able to survive the
future interchange by moving them back across to the other side where the on
and off-ramps might be. He added that it would be a shame to plant new trees
only to know that sometime in the future they're going to come down. Ms.
LaFollette said she can discuss the locations with the Urban Forester and added
that there are some underground utilities they have to workaround as well.
The motion was approved by the following vote:
Aye: Campbell, Dunn, Vice Mayor Martinez, Steinberg, Thiel and Mayor Burk
Nay: None
Vote: 6-0-1 (Fox absent)
b. Residential Solicitors. Canvassers. and Peddlers -Amending Hours of
Operation
MOTION
On a motion by Coundl Member Steinberg, seconded by Coundl Member Thiel,
the following was proposed:
ORDINANCE
Amending the Town Code to Regulate the Hours of Operation of Peddlers,
Canvassers and Solidtors
Council Member Campbell was not in support of using the
guideline of "sunset" in the Ordinance as an ending time. Mr. Campbell
said it seems to too ambiguous given some of the safety concerns that.
were raised. He stated he would prefer specific times listed even if they
had to be different for certain times of the year and requested an
amendment to the Ordinance language. Mr. Crim explained that the use
of "sunset" was a legally defensible term. He would have to consider the
legality of proposed alternative language. Mr. Campbell stated he
understood the legality of the term but wants to make sure that they
Ordinance is enforceable and easy to understand by residents. Mr.
Campbell suggested stopping at 4:30 p.m. in the winter when it gets darker
earlier and 8:30 p.m. in the summer. Mr. Crim said that there .could be
legal issues with setting a time too early and may pose constitutional
challenges as someone may make a claim that 4:30 p.m. is too early and
people are not home. Mr. Steinberg asked if it was possible to make it so
that the allowable period was from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. every day of the
year. Mr. Crim said that would most likely pass muster. Mayor Burk
asked if there was unanimous consent to move this item to May 26. Mr.
Dunn objected; therefore, Mr. Steinberg made a motion to postpone this
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item to allow Mr. Crim additional time to consult with Mr. Campbell and
revise the proposed Ordinance, as needed. · ·
MOTION 2020-121
On a motion by Council Member Steinberg, seconded by Council Member
Thiel the following was proposed:
To move this item to the next meeting to allow time to incorporate edits as
needed to the proposed ordinance amending the Town Code to regulate the
hours of operation of Peddlers, Canvassers and Solicitors.
The motion was approved by the following vote:
Aye: Campbell, Fox, Vice Mayor Martinez, Steinberg, Thiel and Mayor
Burk
Nay: Dunn
Vote: 6-1
c. National Gun Violence Awareness Day Proclamation
MOTION 2020-122
On a motion by Council Member Campbell, seconded by Vice Mayor Martinez, the
following was proposed:
I move to approve the National Gun Violence Awareness Day Proclamation to be
proclaimed at the May 26, 2020, Town Council Meeting.
The motion was approved by the following vote:
Aye: Campbell, Vice Mayor Martinez, Steinberg, and Mayor Burk
Nay: None
Vote: 4-0-3 (Dunn, Fox, Thiel abstain)
d. Wayne's Crossing Day Proclamation
MOTION 2020-123
On a motion by Mayor Burk, seconded by Council Member Steinberg, the
following was proposed:
I move to approve the Wayne's Crossing Day Proclamation to be proclaimed at the
May 26, 2020, Town Council Meeting.
The motion was approved by the following vote:
Aye: Campbell, Fox, Vice Mayor Martinez, Steinberg, Thiel and Mayor Burk
Nay: None
Vote: 6-0-1 (Dunn abstain)
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14. PUBLIC HEARING
a. None.
15. UNFINISHED BUSINESS
a. None.
16. NEW BUSINESS
a. None.
17. COUNCIL DISCLOSURES AND COMMENTS I ADDITIONS TO
FUTURE MEETINGS
Council Member Campbell requested a fiscal impact analysis and plans to
address the shortfall as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic be given at the May 26
Council Meeting. Mr. Dentler noted that there was a briefing scheduled for June 8 but a
briefing could be provided at the May 26 meeting. Mr. Thiel requested a briefing at the
May 26 meeting and the June 8 meeting. Mr. Campbell was agreeable to the request.
It was the consensus of Council to add an additional CO VID-19 fiscal impact briefing to
the May 26 agenda in addition to the scheduled June 8 briefing (Campbell, Dunn, Fox, Thiel).
Mr. Dentler noted that the information at the May 26 meeting will not be as
comprehensive as the information provided at the June 8 meeting but that staff will
provide whatever is available at the time.
Vice Mayor Martinez said he appreciated Dr. Goodfriend's briefing and hoped
everyone was doing well.
Council Member Dunn confirmed with Mr. Dentler that the items from the April
and May canceled Work Sessions have been rescheduled. Mr. Dentler confirmed that
was correct. Mr. Dunn reiterated that he would like to receive a copy of the Governor's
Executive Orders.
Council Member Thiel made a statement that he was resigning his seat on
Council effective midnight on May 31. He cited a promotion at work, work
commitments, he and his wife expecting their first child, and that he has a contract on a
house and will be moving outside Leesburg's corporate limits as the primary reasons for
his resignation. Mr. Thiel thanked his family, fellow Council Members, staff and the
community for their love and support. He wished everyone well.
18. MAYOR DISCLOSURES AND COMMENTS I ADDITIONS TO FUTURE
MEETINGS
Mayor Burk congratulated Mr. Thiel. Mayor Burk disclosed that she met
twice with Mr. Chuck Kuhn regarding the Westpark property. She also noted
that she has had three calls with Chair Randall regarding updates on the virus.
She said the Chair advised the Town Mayors of the letter to the Governor
regarding going into Phase One after it had been sent. Mayor Burk congratulated
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all the students, the faculty, and the staff of the Loudoun County Public Schools
system. Mayor Burk expressed her deep concern for all of the families that have
lost loved ones during the crisis noting how hard it must be to not be with them at
the end to say goodbye. She added that Council is doing all it can to encourage
people to wear masks, wash their hands and stay home if possible.
Mayor Burk requested staff to research a parade or some other activity to
honor and say goodbye to Leesburg's graduating seniors.
It was the consensus of Council to have staff investigate the options for honoring
Leesburg's seniors with a parade (Mayor Burk, Steinberg, Fox, Thie~ and Dunn).
Mayor Burk requested staff investigate the possibility when they reach the
appropriate phase to do so, of closing traffic on King Street on a Friday or ·
Saturday allowing restaurant owners to move out into the street to serve
customers.
It was the consensus of Council to have staff investigate the options of closing King
Street on a Friday or Saturday night to allow restaurants to serve customers outdoors
(Mayor Burk, Thie~ Steinberg, Fox, and Campbell).
19. TOWN MANAGER CO:Ml\.ffiNTS
Mr. Dentler congratulated Mr. Thiel. Mr. Dentler advised Council that
he asked Mr. Crim to email Council and to include an information memo in the
May 26 Council Meeting regarding the steps and timelines associated with filling
the vacant Council seat. Mr. Dentler also shared sad news that former Utilities
Director and long-time Town employee Mr. Randy Shoemaker passed away. He
noted that Mr. Shoemaker had a lot to do with the Town's utility infrastructure.
20. CLOSED SESSION
a. None.
21. Adjournment
On a motion by Council Member Steinberg, seconded by Council Member Fox, the meeting
was adjourned at 8:59 p.m.
Kell~-
Town of Leesburg
ATTEST:
D ~~ ~,,:..)
Clerk of Council 0
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May 12, 2020 – Town Council Meeting (Note: This is a transcript prepared by a Town contractor based on the video of the meeting. It may not be entirely accurate. For greater accuracy, we encourage you to review the video of the meeting that is on the Town’s Web site – www.leesburgva.gov or refer to the approved Council meeting minutes. Council meeting videos are retained for three calendar years after a meeting per Library of Virginia Records Retention guidelines.)
Mayor Kelly Burk: I would like to call to order the May 12th, 2020, Council meeting of the Leesburg
Town Council. If anyone in the room needs hearing assistance please see the Clerk. Council Member Campbell will be giving the invocation and Council Member Martinez will lead us in the pledge. Council
Member Campbell?
Council Member Ron Campbell: Good evening. In a moment, I'm going to ask you all to join me in a
moment of thoughtful reflection with prayer as we reflect on our work tonight, the lives that we impact in our community. I ask that we do so with compassion and civility. Please join me in a short moment.
Thank you.
Mayor Burk: Mr. Martinez?
Vice Mayor Marty Martinez: Please join me in The Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice.
Mayor Burk: Members of the public can now participate in council member meetings electronically.
Any member of the public that wishes to participate in the public portion of this meeting should log on to WebEx or call in to the telephone number listed on the top of the published agenda. Let me do the
roll call first. Let it reflect that all members of Council are present being Mr. Thiel, Ms. Fox, Ms. Burk, and Mr. Steinberg. Mr. Dunn, Mr. Campbell, and Mr. Martinez, we'll be voting on them joining us
electronically in just a moment. If I could have a motion to allow Vice Mayor Martinez, Council Member Dunn, and Council Member Campbell. It was moved by Mr. Steinberg and seconded by Mr. Thiel to
allow Martinez, Campbell, and Dunn. All in favor.
Council Members: Aye.
Mayor Burk: Opposed. That's four, zero, three.
Eileen Boeing: Did you state the reason?
Mayor Burk: I did not and they are electronically participating because of safety concerns for their health in regard to the Coronavirus. I have one set of minutes, the regular meeting session of April 28th.
Do I have a motion? So moved by Mr. Thiel, seconded by Mr. Martinez. All in favor?
Council Members: Aye.
Mayor Burk: Opposed. I'm going to assume that's seven- zero. I didn't hear from Mr. Dunn. Mr. Dunn, can you hear us?
Council Member Thomas S. Dunn: Yes. I'm here.
Mayor Burk: Do you approve the minutes?
Council Member Dunn: Yes.
Mayor Burk: All right. Thank you. That makes it seven, zero. All right. I need a motion to adopt a
meeting agenda for tonight. So moved by Council Member Fox, seconded by Council Member Thiel. All in favor?
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Council Members: Aye.
Council Member Campbell: Aye.
Mayor Burk: I need the two more ayes.
Vice Mayor Martinez: Aye.
Mayor Burk: Mr. Dunn?
Council Member Dunn: I hit the aye already.
Mayor Burk: All right. That's 7-0. We have no certificates of recognition or proclamations but we do have a presentation and it is the COVID-19 briefing. Is Dr. Goodfriend going to join us?
Joe Dame: He's going to call.
Mayor Burk: He's going to call in? Okay. Thank you. This presentation is about health issues. Am I
correct? Not financial?
Kaj Dentler: The primary focus of tonight's briefing is for Dr. Goodfriend to give you an update on the
current health situation in Loudoun and our region. Of course, you probably are aware the Governor has given direction that Northern Virginia region will be delayed in opening to Phase one so I'm sure
we'll talk about that, and what are the expected timetables that we see at this point to begin to go to Phase one. Then of course, we have some decisions to make, we'll briefly mention what those are.
We'll give you a financial update in June as we get more information on revenues that are coming through.
At this point, it's only been a short amount of time since the third quarter filings have been completed in BPOL and meals tax, so June we'll have a better place of where we are. We'll give you a full update
on that, but tonight is really about the health aspect of it and some of the decisions that we're going to have to make here in the future, that I'm going to have to make regarding events and programs based
on what we know at this time. With that, we'll turn it over to Dr. Goodfriend and Joe Dame our Emergency Management Coordinator to give you an update and answer your questions.
Mayor Burk: All right. Is Dr. Goodfriend on the line yet? Yes? No?
Eileen Boeing: [unintelligible 0:08:01]
Joe Dame: Okay. Yes, we'll get started with the other part here of the presentation. Let me get my clicker here.
One second. While we get this fired up, the points that we're going to look at tonight are looking at the gating criteria that's been set up by the Governor, and then also looking at the phases and the approach.
As Kaj was mentioning, we're also looking at those tentative time frames that our planning team has been working on as decision points as we're moving forward. The major points that we have are, the
Governor has outlined the five gating criteria that are involved that need to be looked at as we begin to transition into the different phases.
Many of these have been publicized. The first one is the downward trend in the percentage of positive tests. Second being downward trends in hospitalizations. Both of those are over a 14-day period. Also
having adequate hospital bed and ICU capacity. A sustainable supply of PPE, both at hospital locations and at our nursing home facilities. The ability to have increased testing and tracing capability. These
are the criteria that are being looked at the Commonwealth level as we look at the different scenarios of moving through the phases.
In the first phase, there are three major criteria that are looked at in operations as you're entering those phases. Those are physical distancing. We'll get into this in the next slide by talking specifically about
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limiting capacities at restaurants, at retail locations, and also how to re-engineer operations to allow for physical distancing, and making sure that we're keeping customers safe as folks come back online.
Second being enhanced cleaning and disinfecting. We've heard a lot about the cleaning of high-touch surfaces, whether those are PIN pads, more places as we start to see door handles coming in. There
are requirements in the document that you have of Phase one for restaurants and what that enhanced cleaning looks like.
The third point is enhanced workplace safety. That would start with making sure that employees are screened and they know what to do if they are ill so they don't come to work. Which will be a key point
to making sure that we are not continuing to the spread of the virus. Also, what does PPE look like? Personal protective equipment at restaurants and different things. In Phase one that is actually required
at restaurants. That's required at retail establishments that open up. That will be something that needs to be looked at as moving into Phase one.
The comparison chart that you see here on this slide is actually looking at where we are now in comparison to what changes when we get into Phase one of the Governor's criteria. Non-essential retail
right now is open but there's a 10-patron limit inside the building no matter the size of the building or the occupancy. As you transition to Phase One, those non-essential retail facilities will be open but
they'll be able to have a 50% capacity inside the building at one time. Restaurants and beverage services right now are takeout and delivery, and that will be increased to allowing the outdoor seating
at 50% capacity. Places of worship are limited right now to groups of 10 coming together, which we heard many places, and that would also be increased to a 50% capacity as well.
Personal grooming, so we're talking about barbershops and salons, massage parlors, those are closed right now. They would be opened up and by and appointment-only basis to make sure that we could
keep the distancing in place and keep capacity down. One point for us that we've looked at specifically as a town is fitness centers, which are closed right now, and in Phase One would remain closed, so
that would lend to a decision on Ida Lee.
On the next slide, the important points we wanted to give some goalposts of where the planning assumptions are of what the potential transition dates would be. As Kaj was alluding to earlier, the gating criteria in Northern Virginia has not been met, so that date has been pushed back to enter Phase
One until May 29th. Then the potential transition date to move to Phase Two would be a June or July timeframe. What we have heard is that the Governor stated that you could be two to three weeks in
these phases, or there could be more time. It really depends on what the caseload looks like as they go through and that data.
Then moving forward, the Phase Three is really to be determined. There was initial point put out of 10 weeks, it could be possibly 10-12 weeks away, but we don't want to put a timeframe on that. We need
to transition through some of these steps to see where we're going to be at. Some of the upcoming decision points that we're going to have to look at and that we've been planning for so far are what does facility reopening look like? As you're well aware we've closed the Thomas Balch Library and the Ida Lee Recreation Center have been closed to the public. They've increased a lot of their online capacity but we haven't had any patrons in there.
We know we've been receiving requests through the Town Manager's office of what does outdoor dining
look like and that's going to be something we need to plan for and understand the capacities and what this 50% capacity looks like. Summer programs are going to be important as we move forward in terms of registration for camps at Ida Lee and what those programs look like. There's a lot of communication that's going on to make sure that within the region we have a good, clear picture of what other programs
are doing as well.
Finally, we're going to need decision points that we're looking for on special events. We've done a lot
of planning on what those events look like and there will be a lot of risk assessment of where are we in these benchmarks to make sure the capacities are there, the gathering sizes are there, and we're going to have to take a close look at those as we're moving forward. That's the briefing I have, have we got Dr. Goodfriend on the line? Keith’s going to--
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Keith Markel: He is on the line [unintelligible 00:15:16]
Eileen Boeing: Betsy, can you unmute caller number five, please? That is Dr. Goodfriend. Thank you.
Dr. David Goodfriend: Yes, good evening, and again I apologize for not being there. Your staff set everything up correctly. Unfortunately, I just missed it on my calendar, so I do apologize. What's
happened since the last time I presented to you, we've moved forward with additional testing opportunities and the County's still not where we want to be. There still are barriers for a number of
folks to get tested. We continue to look for opportunities to increase testing, to bring testing to people who can't come to testing facilities and also for those who are uninsured or underinsured.
As we move forward with testing, we're also planning for how we expand out our contact tracing. The State is actively looking for up to 1,000 contact tracers throughout the State. For Loudoun, that would
come to about 60 or so tracers, and that's a critical component of the reopening phases that Governor Northam has put out. We continue to focus on how we keep our seniors safe. That's an ongoing
challenge in our long-term care facilities. We have teams that are dedicated to seeing how best those facilities can have everything they need to keep their staff and their residents safe. We're continuing to
improve on that as well.
Then lastly, as was mentioned earlier, we're preparing for entering into Phase One. As you're aware,
Northern Virginia has received a delay through Executive Order 62 for two weeks before going into Phase One. I believe the Governor is going to re-look at that data before the 29th to see if any further
extensions are needed but that's going to be a challenge.
In part, we have the benefit of learning from others of how reopening goes and should go. Part of the
challenge is, at least what we're seeing so far is, while a number of businesses have gotten the message about May 15th being a reopening date for some, they haven't yet received the message that doesn't
mean May 15th for Northern Virginia. We want to make sure everyone has the correct information so they're not unintentionally going against the Governor's order. We are looking to see how we do that in
a safe manner, how we continue to enforce what the Governor's orders are, and also beware if and when we find that that spigot may have been turned too quickly and that there are problems in our community. I'm happy to take any questions that you may have.
Mayor Burk: Thank you, Dr. Goodfriend. Mr. Steinberg?
Council Member Neil Steinberg: Thank you, Dr. Goodfriend. I think you answered this. I just want to emphasize the anticipated opening for Northern Virginia is 05/28 but there is a potential if the data
doesn't cooperate, so to speak, that even that date may be extended. Is that correct?
David Goodfriend: Yes, that's correct. That's my understanding of the Governor's executive order.
What our intention is, all the health directors in Northern Virginia came together over the weekend to draft that letter to the Commissioner and to the Chief Administrative Officers. Our intention is to do that
again prior to the expiration of Executive Order 62, and then based on that, have the Governor make a determination as to whether he believes any further extension of Phase One makes sense for Northern
Virginia.
Council Member Steinberg: Okay, thank you very much.
Mayor Burk: Mr. Campbell?
Council Member Campbell: Thank you, Dr. Goodfriend. I do have a couple of questions. I'm not sure
you can answer all of it but the reality is that there are differing opinions on this criteria by municipality, Northern Virginia versus the rest of Virginia. We know that Northern Virginia is not monolithic either in
terms of the number of cases or even safety procedures. The first question I have is about enforcement. Who is the enforcement arm to make sure whatever the protocols are now and the protocols in Phase
One are properly observed? Is that going to be left to the municipalities or is that the Health Department?
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David Goodfriend: That's one of the issues where we're going to learn from other jurisdictions because in the previous orders, the Health Department had authority over its regulated facilities which are
primarily food establishments, but not over all the other establishments that were covered by Executive Order 51 or 53. Under 61, it has the Virginia Department of Health as the authority overall entity.
I think we're going to need to see how that's implemented going forward. My expectation is it will be similar to what we did with food establishments, where it really was a partnership between the Health
Department and the Sheriff's Office and local police departments, if an entity was not following the restrictions of the order. Again, for us, it's fortunate in that having this two-week delay some of those
questions will be answered by the time Loudoun County goes forward.
Council Member Campbell: Thank you. Again I ask because we can expect that there will be either
some citizen complaints about enforcement and there'll be some business complaints about customers not being compliant and wanting to be compliant. I think we've already seen a few of those things. It is
important that we do get that identified.
The other question I have is this Executive Order 63 and as I've heard the Board of Supervisor members
respond to what their chief complaints are and maybe this is yours. There seem to be two criteria that people have identified the most, that's the increase in cases hasn’t diminished and the hospitalizations
haven't diminished. We're also hearing information out of New York where the new cases are coming from people who have followed the stay-at-home order.
I'm just wondering, again, not arguing about the criteria. Is this the firm criteria that we're now embedded in or like me I hope you would be open to understanding as you said, that there's new learnings yet to
be had and we're finding out about children cases. So what our public wants to know is how firm is the criteria? We know the dates aren't firm, we're trying to hit a moving target and we're trying to set some
policy but these two basic criteria that was to me, the formulation of the complaint. We hadn't had a two-week decline in either of these cases, the number of hospitalizations or the number of increases.
Those you agree are the two main criteria that we're having problems with?
David Goodfriend: For us in Loudoun, I think more broadly for Northern Virginia, we've had a challenge
with-- Yes, our number of cases have essentially remained flat, we haven't seen a decrease. The other piece is access to testing and expanded testing. What our hope is, is that the ability to test will go up
over this time, which even if our case numbers stay the same, our rate of positive tests will go down.
That's one of the metrics that the Governor has used also that currently, where about 20% of the tests
that are done in Northern Virginia come out positive. The goal would be to bring that percentage rate down because it gives us an indication that we're really testing the community better and not just hitting those that are the most obvious people to be infected. We may find that we have the same number of tests positive, but that's out of a pool of a whole bunch more people tested and that would be positive
movement.
We don't know if we would get decrease in hospitalizations now that they're open to elective surgeries
so they may have hospital beds that are being used for things other than coronavirus. From our perspective, we're just giving a public health recommendation to the Chief Administrative Officers and we understand that there are other criteria that jurisdictions need to take into account and not just pure public health.
What we would like to see from a public health standpoint is progress between now and then. Mainly for PPE for our outpatient providers which is an ongoing concern that we hear that they're having difficulty getting enough personal protective equipment for outpatient medical offices, not our hospitals, so that they can see all the patients that need to come into them.
The goal for having people be able to get a test if they need a test. That's important because that way, people feel comfortable going back to work and we can feel comfortable that if someone's feeling under
the weather, that they have that opportunity to get a test and if it's positive stay home. Those are things from a health standpoint we're looking at but understanding that the decision is going to be a broader decision than just a public health decision.
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Council Member Campbell: Thank you for bringing up the point about testing. I think that has been under talked about in the sense of our comfort level with the number of tests that are out there should
be as comfortable because there should be some cause for us saying, "How do we get more? We need more." I also see as part of the Phase One protocol for a lot of our businesses, even take temperature
checks of their employees.
Again, the safety of our public is two way. It's how people feel safe and it's also how we protect folks
and what environment that we're living in. I think it's just important that we talk more about testing, where it can take place, where it is available in our community and we do know that testing has taken
place, but we're far behind on what we need to, but don't you also think that testing allows us to identify where the problem is and where it isn't?
David Goodfriend: In part. I think what we're finding and now that the data is available by zip code, anyone who's interested could go to vdh.virginia.gov/coronavirus and you can find how many cases
there have been by zip code and then essentially every zip code there have been some cases. We know that our more densely populated areas are more likely to have cases for a number of reasons, in
part because we have more people in those zip codes, in part because closer conditions make social distancing more difficult.
Also, we know that working-class folks are much more likely to have to go to work during this time and not stay home so they're more likely to get infected. That's in general what we're seeing from the
numbers, but definitely, testing has expanded. A number of our urgent care centers are now offering testing. Metromed in Leesburg is offering testing. Patient First will be offering testing in Leesburg
starting on Thursday, but there are costs to those locations and barriers to it. That's a great step forward and it's going to help our overall testing numbers. We also need to figure out ways to get more tests to
more people and we're actively working on that.
Council Member Campbell: Thank you, sir. I appreciate the work of you and your department and it's
been very helpful. Thank you.
Mayor Burk: Mr. Martinez?
Vice Mayor Martinez: Dr. Goodfriend, I really appreciate your briefing and you coming here talking to us and Ron Campbell hit on a lot of the stuff that I was going to ask you, especially the testing availability
and such. Also, I'm concerned about the enforcement of some of the requirements we have through these different phases, but I do appreciate your talking to us. I do know that Loudoun County is our
health experts we're looking to, is there anything we can do in Leesburg to help you continue to improve our numbers?
David Goodfriend: I think it's for everyone and as I said before when I was here the last time, social distancing, staying at home, wearing masks are really what-- It's really challenging now for folks, they've
been doing this for a long time, but that's what's keeping our numbers down and when we talked about before flattening that curve, that's what's flattened that curve. When we have a flat curve, it's harder to
see improvement, but that flattening is a significant improvement of where we thought we'd be. Having 30-40 cases a day is unfortunate, having several folks die every week is very unfortunate, but it's significantly less than where we would have been if folks did not take these steps.
It's a reinforcement for all of us saying, "Do I really need to be going out? Am I wearing my face mask?
Do I need to be that close to somebody? Do I have hand sanitizer with me? How do I keep myself safe? Just in case I may be contagious, even though I don't know it, what am I doing to prevent the spread to somebody else?" You passing that word and every citizen continuing to pass that word through social media, through their friends' circles, is really what's going to get us through this.
Vice Mayor Martinez: I truly believe that a lot of the precautions we're taking-- Let's put it this way, I would rather play it safe than catch the virus and pass it on to somebody else who may end up having
to be hospitalized. So I do appreciate that information. As far as availability of testing, you said we're going to have testing done starting Thursday in Leesburg and that it's going to be with people with
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symptoms first. When will we all be able to say, for example, "I have a doctor's appointment, I want to go take the test, but I don't have any symptoms.” When will I be able to take the test?
David Goodfriend: Well, in part as urgent care centers are now doing the tests, that's up to them whether they'll be testing asymptomatic people as well as symptomatic people. As I said, Metromed
currently is doing testing in Leesburg, Patient First will. I'm not aware that they have any requirements or certain symptoms in order to receive a test, but there is a requirement that you have an appointment
at that facility, get seen by a healthcare professional and get a test and there can be a financial barrier to that for some folks.
That's a challenge. What we're hoping is that we'll also have the capability of bringing in larger testing outside of these doctor's offices so that if someone needs a test, they can just go and get it. To do that
outside of a doctor's office requires having sources and consistent reliable sources for these test kits so that we could advertise for them and have it available by appointment. That's something we're
actively working on.
Again, we are heartened that incrementally we're getting better with testing, particularly through our
urgent care centers. For the Leesburg area, it's been a big improvement. I know you've had the Loudoun Medical Group doing their drive-through testing for a while now. They have two urgent care centers
starting up testing this week in Leesburg. There's a lot of capability for folks in the Leesburg area if they need to get tested to go and do that.
Vice Mayor Martinez: Okay. Then the last question I'm going to ask you is a loaded question. How do you answer people who say that this is just a flu and we're exaggerating?
David Goodfriend: It's a challenge because it's a flu where there's no vaccine and there's no medication. We know every year that the flu hits our long-term care centers hard but they hit them hard
when all the staff are vaccinated and all the residents are vaccinated and there's medication. There's Tamiflu if someone gets sick. Right now there is no Tamiflu for coronavirus. There's no vaccine, so
everyone's exposed. We've had about double so far of the deaths from coronavirus in a couple months than we would get from flu in an average year and we still got a long time to go with it.
While the virus itself probably doesn't hit people any harder than the flu, if they've never been exposed to the flu before, not a more severe virus, it is a much bigger killer because no one's immune to it. No
one can get immune to it because there's no vaccine. Again, while every year we work to keep outbreaks from occurring at our long-term care facilities, it really is critical now because it spreads as
easily as the flu or a cold. Other than taking measures of separating folks doing excellent respiratory protection there's nothing that stands in the way from one person in a facility getting coronavirus than having dozens of people getting coronavirus.
Vice Mayor Martinez: Great. I guess I lied because I did have one more question and it had to do with
resurgence and what plans are you guys making for that?
David Goodfriend: We're going through this phase by phase always with an eye towards the future.
Now that we're opening up that spigot, how do we have good control over knowing how this is impacting our community? We have a number of phases to go. We expect this virus to be here through the winter and into vaccination time when a vaccine would finally be available next year.
Now we may get lucky and it may ebb later this summer, which would be terrific but the expectation is
it's going to be there. What we're planning for is after this reopening phase and knowing what's out there in the community, if medications do become available, how do we make sure we get those
distributed to folks so that it may make a difference between being infected and staying at home versus having to get hospitalized? How do we promote flu vaccinations in the fall so that while that's not going
to protect them from coronavirus, it'll be that many fewer folks showing up in the emergency department with respiratory infections or hospitalized with respiratory infections at the same time coronavirus is
coming back?
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Then when vaccinations do come out, how do we get those into people's arms as quickly as possible next year. There are a number of phases that we're planning for the same time. We're on a daily basis
working on what's happening in our community today.
Vice Mayor Martinez: Thank you. I appreciate your comments. Again, thank you again for the briefing.
Mayor Burk: Mr. Dunn?
Council Member Dunn: Thank you. Are we going to be just asking questions—Can we ask questions
for staff now or should we wait those until Dr. Goodfriend's done?
Mayor Burk: No, you most certainly can ask anything you want at this point.
Council Member Dunn: Okay. Now, let's see. Dr. Goodfriend, I listened to the Senate hearing today and Senator Kaine spoke at length about how the US was lagging far behind South Korea and some of
the things that they did. It made me also question where is Virginia, because I think we're close to the bottom unless you can tell me otherwise in the testing. I think we rank pretty low as far as states go in
overall testing. Do you have any information about that?
David Goodfriend: Yes. Several weeks ago Virginia was ranked one of the last states in the nation. It
is moving up and the number of tests being conducted a day in Virginia has increased significantly and it's doing it in different ways. A large part of it is what the private sector is now doing as I've mentioned
with the urgent care centers and other facilities that our hospitals are doing a lot more testing. Also, the State is doing these dedicated point prevalence surveys where they'll come in to a facility that's having
an outbreak and test all the staff and all the residents at one point in time. That's happened at several facilities in Loudoun County. While Virginia is still not anywhere near the top of the pack of states being
tested, it is moving up compared to other states and it's starting to make up for some lost ground.
Council Member Dunn: Great. The extension of the stay at home and the businesses before we get
to Phase One that is a directive from the Governor and not a directive from the Boards of Supervisors, correct?
David Goodfriend: Correct. That was the Governor's Executive Order 62 that came out directing Northern Virginia to not enter into Phase Two until at least two weeks from the expected date of the
15th.
Council Member Dunn: Before I forget, staff could we get a copy of all the Governor's orders related
to the current state of emergency? That would be helpful. For about six weeks, we have been in the stay-at-home situation which equates to roughly, and forgive me if I'm saying this wrong, two to three
cycles of people being able to catch the virus because it generally runs about two to three weeks with most people it seems. Yet we've been staying in and the curve hasn't really been straightened out much
and we're still hearing words about having not reached our peak. How is it that we have gone through roughly two to three cycles of catching the virus and we're still having to stay in and we haven't reached
a peak? You would have thought that we would have reached it by now. Could you explain that a little bit?
David Goodfriend: Yes. How I view it, and it's hard to know what could happen if you took a different path. The way I view is when the Governor issued his stay-at-home order, we were on the left side of that curve going up really high, really fast in terms of number of cases, number of hospitalizations related to coronavirus. What I believe happened is that stay-at-home order really did flatten that curve.
So particularly in our more denser populations inside the Beltway and Richmond, we didn't have anything that approximated what happened in New York City. We're now on a flattened curve where
we're getting about the same numbers that we were getting a month or so ago, but it did not double, triple, go up tenfold as we thought it might have. Being on a flat curve, we're going to be on the top of
that flat curve for a while. Now, the challenge is, as we reopen, more people are going to get exposed, but why it didn't go away during that time is that not everyone can stay home. What we anecdotally are
finding are the large number of people who are getting infected now are those who have to go out by virtue of their job or their close contacts that they bring it back home to.
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As we go about our business, hopefully we're doing a lot less. The gas stations are still open, staff still have to support long-term care facilities and other facilities where they have people in residence. Those
are the ones still getting infected mainly and bringing it home. It's one of the reasons why we're finding our Hispanic populations in Loudoun County are much more likely to be diagnosed with coronavirus
because they disproportionately have to keep working and support a lot of the infrastructure that's going on with our grocery stores, etcetera.
If we could do something where for 21 days everybody, 100% of folks stayed home, then our numbers would have dropped off significantly, but, instead, we got a good percentage of those staying home,
which again in my belief flattened that curve but did not allow the virus to go away.
Council Member Dunn: I'll come back to your point about the Hispanic community in my next question.
Before that, what are the numbers as far as nursing homes go in the County and/or the Town, because we hear how they are being affected quite a bit throughout the nation? Where are we in the County?
David Goodfriend: We're seeing outbreaks in our nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. Unfortunately by Virginia law, I can't speak to anything specifically related to them. I have to make sure
I retain their privacy under Virginia law. Part of that may change. There's a new Federal Regulation that's requiring reporting on the Federal level. I don't know when that data will come out, but within
Virginia, we have to afford by law those facilities the same confidentiality we afford individuals who are sick. So I can't speak specifically to facility or the number of facilities.
Council Member Dunn: You can't speak to even just a generic nursing homes have been affected X, you can't even say that?
David Goodfriend: What I can tell you is they are being affected significantly. If I were to get into within the confines of the corporate limits of Leesburg, then the numbers are small to the extent that it
potentially identifies them. As I said, they are our top priority, all of our long-term care facilities. They're all at risk because they can't wall themselves off from staff that are coming in.
We know that when the virus comes in and hits those residents, they're the ones much more likely to get hospitalized and die from the virus. So, we're putting a lot of effort into it. Both the ones that have
had outbreaks and the ones who have not because everyone's at risk for having the virus enter into their community.
Council Member Dunn: This is the last question I have for you and then I have a couple for staff. Going back to when you mentioned the Hispanic community, one of the things that has been a concern for me
is really not focusing on the underlying medical conditions and lumping those people at risk into identifiable categories rather than the actual underlying medical risk.
Do you know of any place where we have any collection of data on those underlying risks? Say the percentage of risk for people who have diabetes, the percentage of risk for people who have heart
issues, etcetera, rather than, because just saying the Hispanic community is being at risk, then aren't those people who were at risk also don't they have underlying health issues? Just being Hispanic does
not make them more susceptible to the virus. Isn't it the underlying issues that make them more susceptible?
David Goodfriend: There are two pieces to that. By virtue of the living conditions and the type of jobs that our Hispanic population in Loudoun County disproportionately has, they're much more likely to be
working outside their home right now and coming in contact with the virus. In general, they are a younger population. Again, this is a generalization. What we don't see is a disproportionate number of our deaths
coming from the Hispanic population, because our deaths are by and large from those who are seniors, and particularly those 75 and over.
That's the second part of that answer. Of age and underlying medical conditions are much more likely to be reflected in who dies from the virus and who gets hospitalized from the virus. For those who test
positive for the virus, that's much more of a reflection of having to be outside your home or if you're in your home, a more crowded living condition, so you can't separate into different rooms if one person is
Page 10| May 12, 2020
sick. But there are a lot of assumptions that do go into that. Just to summarize, I think there are two different issues of who gets infected and who gets seriously impacted with the hospitalizations and
deaths.
So, we do see somewhat of a difference in the percentage of Hispanics between who's getting infected,
which is very significantly greater in Hispanic populations throughout Northern Virginia, and who's dying in Loudoun County, we're not seeing that disproportionately amongst our Hispanic population. That
seems to be evenly split.
Council Member Dunn: Okay, great. Thank you. A couple of quick questions for staff. In the
PowerPoint presentation, it was pointed out that now our retail can be at 10 people in the business, how long has now been?
Joe Dame: That has been since--
Council Member Dunn: Tell me how long the time that now status has been in effect.
Joe Dame: That has been since the Executive Order 53 which was the non-essential retail. That was a part of that, and that was issued in March. So that has not changed. A lot of the facilities that could
not meet the 10-patron limit made that decision to close, but that has been a part since March.
Council Member Dunn: So you're saying that a lot of the retail that is currently closed they felt for
whatever business reason that 10 just wasn't workable for them, that's why they decided to close.
Joe Dame: That's correct.
Council Member Dunn: On the stay-at-home or what will soon be becoming the safe-at-home order, isn't that sending mixed messages to the public who are the customers of businesses that now will be
opening on a still struggling basis or have been partially closed or working limited? Doesn't stay-at-home and safe-at-home, doesn't that send mixed messages to what would be the businesses’
customers?
Joe Dame: I believe that as the new order that's come out is- you're correct, is safe-at-home, but they're
still saying that the threat of the virus is out there and I think the focus is that we still have the virus surrounding in the community and that we're in the orders now or that you're still only going out for
essentials of getting food, going out and doing that. As we transition into Phase One, the threat has not gone away, so you're still safer at home. It's going to be a balance as people start to come out and go
into these different phases for sure.
Council Member Dunn: Safe-at-home almost sounds worse than stay-at-home. One last thing is the-
- one thing staff maybe we can consider looking at waiving the regulations on sidewalk dining to allow for more restaurants to put chairs out as long as they abide by ADA regulation. Thank you.
Mayor Burk: Thank you, Mr. Dunn. Ms. Fox?
Council Member Suzanne Fox: Thank you, Dr. Goodfriend, for being with us. I have a couple of
questions for you and then for staff. I just was listening to some of your answers on our testing that we were having some barriers and some issues with the testing. We're two months into this crisis so I'm
just wondering what those barriers are and why we're having such issues. I’ve heard a lot about we're doing better, we’re doing better, we're getting more, but we haven't been told why.
We've been staying home for two months. We haven't had testing. It looks like people who have symptoms are going to get testing, which is going to do absolutely nothing for our downward trend and
percentage of positive tests. According to your explanation, it's a little counterintuitive if we're only testing people with symptoms. I'm just trying to figure out, why are we in this position?
David Goodfriend: I think there are a lot of answers to that. For us in public health, one of the real challenges has been the supplies that go along with the test kits. The test kit itself availability had
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improved in the last month, but we were still having significant issues with getting swabs, appropriate personal protective equipment that would be needed to do that, and at least from a public health
standpoint, for us to do it, to have an ongoing supply of those so that we don't have potentially a testing day one day and then have to cancel it and people mistakenly continue to show up.
So, it has been a challenge for the supply chain. What’s helpful hearing though, is now that our urgent care centers are starting to fill in that gap. A challenge in general with urgent care centers is access to
care at an urgent care center. At least for some, I'm aware that there is a fee if you're uninsured or underinsured.
That's a significant barrier. What I don't know, since they're just opening now, and I'll need to research more is whether they have to follow the same criteria of being symptomatic as with the State lab. My
hope and expectation is that they have the capacity that they'll be offering that test to anyone who wants it.
Council Member Fox: You mentioned cost and that could be a barrier. Can you remind me if at the Federal level, they said COVID testing was going to be at no cost to the people who needed the test?
That is something I remember them saying. Is that not true?
David Goodfriend: Yes. That's also what we're trying to clarify. My understanding is that the test itself
should not be a cost to an individual. I'm not sure if that's a requirement, but I know that the Federal government is willing to pay the cost of that test. For some facilities, you still need to see a healthcare
provider and have a visit with a healthcare provider before being able to get the test. At least my understanding is that's not necessarily a waived fee. At least for one of the facilities that I'm aware of,
there is a $90 fee for the healthcare provider visit, but there may not be a fee for being tested.
Council Member Fox: My last question, I suppose has to do with Loudoun. It looks like the leadership
in Northern Virginia got together. The municipalities of Fairfax, Prince William, Arlington, City of Alexandria and Loudoun got together and aggregated their data and that's the data that they sent to
the Governor for this latest determination. I was wondering why Loudoun didn’t just act on its own and they acted with other areas that have higher incidences of-- that might keep our gating criteria-- We wouldn't be able to get where we needed to go had we gone and done this on our own.
David Goodfriend: The guidance that we received was that the Governor, the VDH Health
Commissioner, were looking for regional information and were not particularly looking at the possibility of one jurisdiction versus another jurisdiction, potentially not going forward with the May 15th date for
entering into Phase One.
That's why we looked at it as a region. Loudoun, because we are somewhat different from the jurisdictions inside the Beltway and we are different in some ways from Prince William County, has some different data. Some of it's good. Some of it is not as good. For example, our percent positive rate
is not as high as the other jurisdictions, but also, our testing rate per capita is not as good as the other jurisdictions. So, there are pros and cons to it. When we looked at it in Loudoun County our sense was,
we couldn't make a good enough case of why we were so different from the others in Northern Virginia.
For me over the weekend to go to my CAO or to the VDH Health Commissioner and say we understand you're looking at this as a region, but Loudoun is much more like Fauquier or Loudoun is more like Clarke than it is Prince William. In some ways, as I said, I think we're better with our numbers than
Prince William or Fairfax, but in other ways, we just are not as good. Overall, the recommendations seem like they've [unintelligible 00:57:32] Loudoun as well.
Council Member Fox: Okay. Thank you. Thanks, I appreciate that. I'm going to move to staff now. I've got a couple questions for staff. Council Member Dunn asked about is this a directive, this new 62. What
do you call it?
Joe Dame: Executive Order 62.
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Council Member Fox: Executive Order 62. Now I've been reading different things and it says that our Chair of the Board of Supervisors asked the Governor to allow us to delay the opening. When I'm
hearing allowing, is that him saying, "Okay. You guys can do that," or is that him saying, "Okay. Everybody you have to do that." Is it a directive or is an allowance?
Joe Dame: It's a directive as I understand this as I read it.
Council Member Fox: Okay. I was wondering, we have Loudoun numbers. I've got the latest Loudoun
numbers here. I was wondering, have we put anything out from Leesburg numbers? We've got total cases, total hospitalizations, deaths, survival. Do we have those numbers?
Joe Dame: We don't have specifics for Leesburg. As Dr. Goodfriend mentioned, they are doing it by zip code, which I've looked at that, but we're still-- we can aggregate that data down to just the Leesburg
corporate limits.
Council Member Fox: Okay. Just a couple quick legal questions for our legal counsel. What's going
on here? I'm looking at the gating criteria and it-- To me, it's going to be almost impossible to even get to square one. How are we even going to get to the square three? I don't know how that's going to
happen with the criteria that we need to meet. The things that we're hearing from the Governor and the executive orders he's putting out, I just would like to know just in some sort of memo form, if that's okay,
where he derives the power to do that.
Martin Crim: The Governor derives the power to do that from a number of sources as the order itself
mentions a couple of them. Constitution puts the duty on the Governor to take care that the laws be faithfully executed. The specific statute that governs this is Virginia Code Section 44-146.17 which
makes the Governor the director of emergency management. One of his powers is, "To take such action as is necessary for the adequate promotion and coordination of State and local emergency activities in
time of disasters."
Then the State Health Commissioner also has authority. You notice that the latest orders are co-signed
by the State Health Commissioner. The State Health Commissioner can issue orders, "To meet any emergency for the purpose of suppressing communicable contagious and infectious diseases." Then
there's specific language with regard to the State Health Commissioner’s authority in regard to restaurants, hotels, summer camps, and campgrounds in the State code. That's the authority that
they're acting under to enact these restrictions on access to different types of business and to churches and other locations.
Council Member Fox: Okay. All the rest of the questions seem to be a little bit more financial. We'll be talking about that later, right?
Kaj Dentler: Yes.
Council Member Fox: Okay. Thank you.
Martin Crim: Yes, ma’am.
Mayor Burk: By later he means another month. Not tonight.
Council Member Fox: No, we have a financial quarterly—I’m sorry. We have the quarterly--
Kaj Dentler: Correct.
Council Member Fox: Yes, those are things that are related to this. Okay, thanks.
Mayor Burk: But you are not taking questions on them tonight.
Kaj Dentler: We can address any questions you have. We were going to give you a financial update in June when we have more information because what we're counting on is the revenue that's coming in
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from the third quarter, January, February, March, it's now starting to come in but it's still early to be able to calculate where we are.
We have an idea but we are approximately about $600K plus shy of where we've been in the past, but there are still payments to come and because we've extended the time for payments without penalty
and interest type of thing, then that means we're going to have a longer lag. When we get into June, I'll be able to give you more accurate information of where we stand so that we’ll know how we're going to
close out ‘20 and how we're going to face ‘21.
Council Member Fox: I get that but pertaining to the emergency more-- I think I understand what you're
saying, but there are people-- I got some information from Mr. Rizer about the economic development information for the County. I'm trying to translate that to the Town, so maybe we can have-- I can just
put the questions in writing and give them to you if it's not the time to do that right now.
Kaj Dentler: Sure. If you have specific questions, we'll be happy to answer those and we can talk
offline.
Council Member Fox: Yes, I do. Thanks.
Kaj Dentler: Absolutely.
Mayor Burk: Mr. Thiel?
Council Member Thiel: Thank you Dr. Goodfriend for taking the time to meet with us. Earlier you mentioned that 50% of people that are being tested right now in NOVA are coming back as positive.
Could you elaborate a little bit more on that?
David Goodfriend: I'm sorry if I said that, that was an error. Approximately 20 plus percent of folks who
are being tested are coming back positive. Keep in mind that because testing is limited, some of that may be artificially high because, for example, if we're seeing an outbreak, we'll do significant testing in
that area. Or, as I mentioned, doing a point prevalence survey where we'll go into a facility that's having an outbreak and test everyone there.
As opposed to a situation where, as I mentioned earlier, if anyone wanted to test, even if they were asymptomatic, they would get a test and the expectation that latter scenarios, the numbers would go
down. It's approximately 20 or so percent positive in Northern Virginia, excluding Northern Virginia, in the rest of Virginia it's about 13%.
Council Member Thiel: Okay, perfect. Then I'd also just like to mention that Cornwall is doing testing and then Leesburg Sterling Family Practice and Lansdowne is also doing testing. When you said earlier
that we'll soon be doing testing in Leesburg, was that specifically to everybody that we're going to be focusing on or it's going to be open to everybody's access?
David Goodfriend: The Leesburg facilities I was talking about were the two urgent cares, Metromed, which is currently doing, I believe they started last week, and that's in Leesburg and Patient First that's
scheduled to start doing testing this Thursday. My understanding is that there's not going to be a requirement to have certain symptoms to get testing but I need to confirm that with those entities.
Council Member Thiel: Is there any form of advertising that is going to be put out for this display of available testing?
David Goodfriend: We won't do it from the government because those are private entities and I don't think it's appropriate for us to be promoting one entity or another. How we get the word out is in a couple
of ways. One is through our hotline. If anyone calls us and asks, "Where can I get tested?" we provide that. I believe on the County website they also list some facilities that do testing.
On the Virginia Department of Health website, again, it's vdh.virginia.gov/coronavirus/ on the left-hand side there's a button for testing and it'll bring up a Google map of every facility doing testing based on
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the address or zip code a person puts in so they can find the closest location to them. We do promote that website for folks to go to.
Council Member Thiel: Awesome. Maybe some enlightening news and some good news. What is the recovery rate for Loudoun County people who have been infected by COVID?
David Goodfriend: We don't have an exact number and the reason for that is that it takes a lot of work to hunt down somebody who's recovered to document that they've recovered. A lot of our staff are
working on the cases and their close contact. It's a low priority for us to go through a process of documenting that someone's recovered.
That's how those numbers officially show up. The good news is the large majority of everybody recovers. We know that we have about 35 deaths in Loudoun County, which is terrific and terrible loss,
but compared to the thousand plus folks who've been infected, the large majority, almost all of those thousand folks have recovered.
Council Member Thiel: Yes, I agree. Loudoun County is roughly 400 some thousand people or hovers around that. Still, 35 deaths is still sad. That is good news that majority of people are recovering. Last
question I have for you is, what is something that we could do as a governing body or as a town to help out in any way, shape or form to get word out of certain websites? I know we're doing our best and our
Emergency Manager is probably working night and day to help support, but is there anything specific that you think that we could do to help out in any way, shape or form?
David Goodfriend: What we could do is work with your staff. I know the County sends out information on a regular basis, folks can sign up to get those messages whenever they come out, and that's just by
going to loudoun.gov/coronavirus. We encourage folks to go there, sign up to receive those text messages. We'll also work with your staff to see what key messages may make the most sense for the
folks in Leesburg so we can direct those as well, either for your staff to put out or to work with our public affairs folks to get out on our behalf.
Council Member Thiel: Well, thank you very much, Dr. Goodfriend, I really appreciate it. I have two quick questions for staff. I just want to make sure that we are okay with providing bandwidth for our
employees, that they have the accessibility to the Internet and everything, that their work is being completed if need be if they are still working, that is.
Joe Dame: We have that agreement through the end of this month with the County and we've been working with the Director of IT right now to gather the data to look for an extension as we haven't moved
into different phases and we are still going to have some of our staff working from home. That's course one. Course two is we're still working with the vendor to complete the Internet connection that's separate for the Town. We've been looking at some, as the supply chain has been impacted, some hardware that's still coming in in transit, but we're working on that and we're on target to have that bandwidth.
Council Member Thiel: Awesome. Maybe I have two more questions. Sorry. I do see that we are stepping up our roadwork, which is great news. I hope, Renee. It is keeping everybody busy, and I just
want to make sure that everybody is practicing these Governor's guidelines and restrictions, even while out on a work site of some sort. What are we doing to implement that and make sure that we're following those guidelines?
Joe Dame: Sure. We've worked really hard with staff and working through HR to make sure that staff
that are out and at work sites are maintaining appropriate physical distancing. We also have done-- implemented a centralized ordering for PPE to make sure that we, A, are not competing department
against department to get equipment and PPE for staff, but that we're also achieving some economy of scale due to the interruption of the supply chain. So, we have a good supply of PPE that's been stored
in a central location, is able to be distributed to staff.
Council Member Thiel: Awesome. Last time we were here we talked about trash pickup and I just
want to make sure that everything's squared away and still working properly.
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Joe Dame: Yes. That essential function has remained steady and in fact, we got some news from Patriot that they're going to reinstitute their bulk item pickup come Monday, so we are looking good
there on trash collection as well.
Council Member Thiel: Awesome. That's in lieu of the bad situation. That's good news. Thank you
very much. Appreciate it.
Joe Dame: Thank you.
Mayor Burk: Thank you. Dr. Goodfriend, I know you're not going to be surprised that I again state that I think during this whole process, it would have been so helpful for Leesburg to have its own data. While
I'm glad to see that we finally have gone to the zip codes, that's great. Those zip codes, they're not exclusive to Leesburg.
As I've told you many times before at our NVC meetings, it would have been useful to have that data so that we could see the hotspots and see what was going on in Leesburg proper. I'll just continue to
bring that up every chance I get. I did want to ask, the deaths in Loudoun County are up to 35. Do we have that broken down by age range?
David Goodfriend: It is and that's on the County website. The large majority are over age 75 years of age and fairly evenly split between men and women.
Mayor Burk: You don't know what it is right now though?
David Goodfriend. I can find out for you while you're talking. It should be posted on their website. If
you answer that question, I'll pull it up, I’ll get it before your time is up.
Mayor Burk: My next question to you was, we've talked about how the testing, there's new sites for
testing, but do we still continue to need a doctor's note to be able to participate in the testing?
David Goodfriend: In general, that answer is yes, and that's one of the things that we're really trying
to look at. There's some very few exceptions, there's a free clinic out in Sterling that on a very limited basis is doing testing without a doctor's note. Other than that, it's either, like I mentioned with the urgent
care centers where you're going in and getting a health care provider visit and then getting tested. From the State, when we do our point prevalence surveys, there's no need for a doctor's note but that's not
open to the general public.
We've identified that as a significant barrier to access care if you have to get a doctor to evaluate you
before you can get a test. That's a lot of what we're doing and what we're focusing on now. While I have you, I have that data for you. Of the 35 people who've died in Loudoun County, 28 were age 80 or
above, five were between 70 and 79, one between 60 and 69, and one between 50 and 59 years of age.
Mayor Burk: Since the last time I looked at the data when it was down at 22, were 80 and above, the five at 70 and older, 61 and 51, that really hasn't changed. That has stayed the same. That's very stable.
So it's very interesting to look at that data. The other question I had for you was, while we are not really picking up much in regard to testing yet, although we do have hopes that it will grow, you were bringing
in contact tracers, but if we're not testing more, what are those people going to do?
David Goodfriend: Well, part of what they do is we want to have much more rigorous contact tracing
than what we're doing now. We've been doing contact tracing since the start of this process.
Mayor Burk: Oh, really?
David Goodfriend: The process we have is that when we get a case, we'll follow up with that case, try to see who their close or high-risk contacts were. Meaning, a close contact is someone that they spent
at least 10 minutes within six feet, or knowingly coughed or sneezed on. High-risk contacts might be,
Page 16| May 12, 2020
well, it wasn't 10 minutes, but it was a 92-year-old person in the nursing home, and we want to follow up on that.
What's been found to be very effective is to not have that threshold for whether you follow up or not, so really find anyone that person has been in contact with, find those contacts, follow up with those
contacts, and monitor them for the 14 days after their contact. That's been found to be very effective in slowing the spread because we're just hitting the most likely folks to have transmission, but easily there
are a whole bunch of other folks that can transmit the infection. That's really what the goal of bringing on the thousand new contact tracers in Virginia is.
Mayor Burk: Thank you. I have one last question and it deals with the very first chart that we had. If we could go back to the-- It's the graph, report date daily count Loudoun. What does that mean? Do
you know what I'm talking about, Dr. Goodfriend?
Joe Dame: I can help describe it, Dr. Goodfriend.
David Goodfriend: Yes, I can’t--
Joe Dame: It comes from the VDH website and it's one of the metrics when you go into the locality
there, and it's a bar graph of the daily counts.
David Goodfriend: The daily number of positives for the locality?
Joe Dame: Yes, that's correct.
Mayor Burk: So this is the daily number of positives?
Joe Dame: Yes, that's correct. Positive cases and it's actually reported. It's the one that's reported every morning that if you go hover over the Loudoun County symbol, you'll see X number increase, and
that would extrapolate, these data points would extrapolate to the number that you see of new cases that are there. These are new cases that are reported each day by VDH.
Mayor Burk: So for the last three days, we've been going down. All right, thank you very much.
David Goodfriend: Take all that I would just say with a grain of salt, because sometimes there's delays
in getting data to us. So we’ll see big jumps sometimes and troughs that are not necessarily related to changes in people's testing and how many come back positive. Just when it makes it through the system
and gets to us.
Mayor Burk: Okay. All right. Well, thank you, Dr. Goodfriend. We appreciate you taking the time and
coming and speaking to us and try to explain where we are and why we're where we are. Hopefully things will continue to trend downward and we'll be moving forward the next time we talk to you. Thank
you.
David Goodfriend: Thank you.
Mayor Burk: All right. That moves us to we have no consent agenda. We have resolutions.
Council Member Steinberg: [inaudible 01:17:53].
Mayor Burk: I turned the page too soon. Thank you. Regional reports. Does anybody have a regional report? Ironically, I do and I was going to forget it. I wanted to report that Northern Virginia Regional
Commission continues to have twice weekly phone calls concerning the different localities and what they're doing in regard to the COVID-19 virus.
Over this weekend the Chairs, as Miss Fox related to, over the weekend the Chairs of Fairfax, Loudoun, Arlington, and Prince William wrote a letter recommending that the Governor delay the opening of
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Northern Virginia due to the increase in the total cases of people getting the virus, the number of tests, the number of other factors in regard to the guideline.
Then also on this weekend, the Northern Virginia Regional Commissioners decided that they should also compose a letter expressing their concerns for the numbers. I did not sign that letter because the
Health Department doesn't give Leesburg the specific statistics, so I felt I didn't have the data to justify a position, and it was not something that had come before the Council for debate.
So, I didn't feel comfortable making a recommendation for Leesburg. While the Governor's Order, Executive Order 62 does say that Leesburg requested a delay in moving forward with the opening, it
states on May 9th 2020, local officials from counties of Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William, the Cities Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, Manassas, Manassas Park, as well as the towns of
Dumfries, Herndon, Leesburg, and Vienna, the Northern Virginia region, requested to remain in Phase Zero. That is not accurate.
I did not sign anything. I did not agree with it. I didn't pursue it. I did call the Governor's office today and they acknowledged that they made a mistake and they will be making changes. They've already made
a change to the press release. I didn't want anybody to think that I had signed something that I did not bring before Council and that Leesburg did not make a recommendation one way or the other. I just
wanted to clarify that so everybody was aware of that.
All right. That takes us to our petitioners section. We don't have anybody at the petitioners section on
the list, but we do have others on the phone. I need to read our requirements on this. One of the first orders of business is to hear from the public. All members of the public are welcome to address the
Council on any item, matter or issue. Please identify yourself, and if comfortable doing so, give your address for the taped record.
Any public speaker will be requested to state their name and spell it and that's for the purpose of closed captioning. In the interest of fairness, we ask that you observe the five-minute time limit. For those
participating in-person or on WebEx, the green light on the timer will turn yellow at the end of four minutes, indicating that you have one minute remaining. At that time, we would appreciate your summing up and yielding the floor when the bell indicates your time has expired.
For those participating on the phone, you will hear a bell when your time is up. Under the rules of order
adopted by this Council, the five-minute time limit applies to all. Council is now available to hear from members of the public remotely. Once we have heard from anyone present in the room, we will hear
from the members of the public on the phone or WebEx. At this point, we do not have any petitioners. Let's ask at the screener if there is any members of the public that wish to speak that are online.
Betsy Arnett: Madam Mayor, we have one member of the public who has joined this evening's meeting by WebEx, Miss Tracy Doyle. Miss Doyle, I'm going to unmute you to allow you to make your comments.
When I unmute you, you will hear a tone that will be your signal to make your remarks. You will have five minutes to speak and we ask that as soon as you hear the tone, please state and spell your full
name and give your address for the closed captioning. Miss Doyle, I'm unmuting you now.
Tracy Doyle: My name is Tracy Doyle, it's T-R-A-C-Y D-O-Y-L-E. My address is 240, Alpine Drive,
South East in Leesburg 20175. I'm coming in front of the Council. I've never done this before, so I feel a little bit glad that I'm behind this screen. However, I was hoping I would be able to see that you could
see me. I am a parent of a senior at Loudoun County High School. I'm also an educator with Loudoun County Public Schools. I had proposed an idea and sent an email to Mayor Burk just trying to come up with a way that our community could help to honor our seniors. It's a very difficult time for all of us but I definitely think for parents with seniors and the seniors themselves, it's been just unimaginable to think
of your child not having a graduation.
We were just so relieved once Dr. Williams announced that this would in fact happen, although it
wouldn't be in June as scheduled, but at a later date. That was wonderful. However, it didn't take away the disappointment from the many other events that the students are missing. There's been so many events, prom, the spring sports, their Raider Outreach that they do the last three weeks of school helping
Page 18| May 12, 2020
the community, the senior picnic, all of these things where they should be quite frankly not spending time at home, we should see them leave, they should be out with their friends enjoying their last days,
and instead, they're stuck home with us.
Over the last couple weeks, I've seen so many ideas through social media in other towns, in states over
the US, different ways to honor the seniors and I just really want to make some suggestions to see if there was something that, not just the parents of seniors, but just all of us as a community could show
our support and come together. One of the things that I had thought about was presuming that the 4th of July parade would be canceled based on where we were in the phases we have learned so much
about tonight. I had thought what about by the end of July or first week in August before the kids are off to college, would there be a way to do a senior parade?
I realized our town has a lot of seniors with the three high schools, Loudoun County has 384, Tuscarora has 356, so roughly 400 kids for these three classes we're looking at 1,200. I had just sent that idea
that if it was possible to make something happen following that parade route from Ida Lee to Safeway, either with all three of the high schools. The kids could walk in their cap and gowns with the community
on the sidewalk. Depending on, it looks like based on this presentation, end of July would be out of Phase Two, if not doing one night for each high school. If they weren't able to walk, possibly doing it in
a car parade for the recent, car parade that I saw Jupiter, Florida where the entire high school went through in their cars where then the people came out onto the sidewalks of the community and just
waved.
There's been many different ideas from towns doing, I guess you would call the poster signs of their
senior pictures. A town in Alabama [unintelligible 01:26:14] city Alabama, where they did 279 signs up along the main highway and it was the police, the police chief, the fire services, they were all the
ones that went out and hung these after money was raised. There's just again, a lot of ideas and a lot of things I’ve seen all over the US and there's a Facebook page for parents in Loudoun County, of
families of Loudoun County and as people share ideas every day from different towns, I just wanted to, of course, wait until the more pressing issues such as yes, we're having a graduation were decided, and that's been about a month now.
So I just again wanted to propose this idea to just put it in a bubble up there. I know there's nothing that
could be really decided this soon, depending on what happens with each phase and when things are open. Similar to a First Friday, I just thought if by then we were able to use that first weekend which
would be July 31, Friday night or Saturday, August 1st. It would also hopefully, maybe bring some business like [unintelligible 01:27:33], of people coming into town but it'd be a great way for the
community to show their support and trying to give our seniors a memorable send-off for all the things that they have missed, but just to give them that positive support that I think anyone who has a child
graduating would love.
We've all been there. I'm a graduate of Loudoun Valley High School back when there were only four high schools, and we even had homecoming parades which they no longer have. These kids have really missed a lot and I just thought that in the community we live in there's so many people that I know would be willing to come out and support.
Mayor Burk: Miss Doyle?
Tracy Doyle: That's my idea.
Mayor Burk: Well, thank you very much. We really appreciate your input. I suspect we'll probably be
looking into something in that regard. Thank you.
Tracy Doyle: Okay, great. Thank you so much for having me.
Mayor Burk: Is there anybody in the audience that would like to speak that didn't get a chance? None of you. Is there anybody that has signed up to speak electronically?
Betsy Arnett: Madam Mayor, there are no other callers.
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Mayor Burk: All right. If there's no one else, then I will close the petitioners section. There is no public hearing scheduled for tonight's meeting, therefore the public input portion of the meeting has concluded.
I encourage any member of the public that has joined the meeting through the phone or WebEx to continue watching the meeting on the webcast, or on local cable TV channels, XFINITY, channel 67,
and FIOS channel 35. All right. We have no consent agenda so it takes us to resolutions. The first resolution is appropriating Tree Bank funds in the amount of $15,500 for transplanting trees from
Battlefield Parkway and East Market Street Interchange Project to areas damaged by the February 2020 tornado. Is there a motion?
Council Member Steinberg: So moved.
Mayor Burk: So moved by Mr. Steinberg. Second. Is there no second on this?
Vice Mayor Martinez: Second.
Mayor Burk: Mr. Martinez, we'll give it to him. Anyone have any questions on this?
Council Member Dunn: I had a question, Madam Mayor.
Mayor Burk: Yes?
Council Member Dunn: Where's this location again? Did you say Battlefield Parkway at Route 15 north?
Mayor Burk: It's Battlefield Parkway/East Market Street Interchange Project to areas damaged by the February 2020 tornado. Renee, can you tell us exactly where?
Renee LaFollette: Yes. The trees that are going to be transplanted are on the project site of our interchange at 7 and Battlefield. The Urban forester identified a number of trees that were of sufficient
size to gain immediate canopy where we had damage in both Robinson Park and at the intersection of Battlefield Parkway in the bypass. We just completed taking down approximately 11 trees that were
damaged and a lot of these trees will be transplanted in that location up near Potomac Crossing.
Mayor Burk: Does that answer your question, Mr. Dunn?
Council Member Dunn: Yes. That's my neighborhood. Those trees are primarily pine trees and where most of them came down, Renee, they probably would have come down at the point at which we would
work on that intersection should it become an interchange at some point in the future. Correct?
Renee LaFollette: Correct. That project, we only have funding for an IJR so that interchange project is
a number of years out. So we felt this was a good location to be able to transplant and gain some tree canopy for the next few years.
Council Member Dunn: Could I possibly suggest, while I don't mind beautifying the entrance to my neighborhood, would it be more appropriate to potentially put in trees that might be able to survive the
future interchange by maybe moving them back across to the other side where the on and off-ramps might be? It just seems a shame to plant new trees only to know that sometime in the future, they're
going to come down.
Renee LaFollette: I can work with the urban forester on the actual location of those trees. I know he
was working on a secondary plan for that location because there were more underground utilities than were expected in that location.
Council Member Dunn: Okay. It's just a suggestion. Again, it seems a shame to plant trees knowing that you're definitely going to be taking them out at some time in the future, even if it's 20 years from
now. It'd be nice to plant them and know that they can stay permanently, but thank you for the information.
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Mayor Burk: Anyone else? All right, all in favor indicate by saying aye.
Council Members: Aye.
Mayor Burk: Mr. Campbell, Mr. Martinez. Mr. Dunn, were you an aye?
Council Member Dunn: Yes.
Mayor Burk: Mr. Thiel, Mr. Steinberg, Miss Burk, and Miss Fox is not present. All right. 6-0-1. The next one is the Residential Solicitor, Canvasser, and Peddlers - Amending the Hours of Operation. Do I have
a motion for that one?
Council Member Steinberg: Moved.
Mayor Burk: Moved by Mr. Steinberg, second by Mr. Thiel. Does anybody have any questions or comments in regard to this?
Council Member Campbell: Yes, I do.
Mayor Burk: Mr. Campbell.
Council Member Campbell: In both sections one and two, it talks about standards of conduct Section 20-385 and Section 20-397. It's item number five is written similar in both sections that the hours of no
peddling prior to 9:00 AM or half-hour later or later than a half an hour or prior to sunset. It just seems to be a little bit too ambiguous for me given some of the safety concerns that were raised earlier and
the difference between daylight saving times and what is acceptable in terms of a later hour, what is not acceptable at an earlier time. While we have two different times, and just seems we should address
the time. On one case, it could be 8:30 in another case, it could be 4:30.
I think we just need really to be clear on that as it relates to how residents and others would see
enforcement and the police would see enforcement. I'm hoping that we can make that cleaner. If we have to add more words about daylight saving times and what that really means in terms of what time
we think that is I think we need to be very specific. I don't know if that's the attorney or that's the staff that wrote this.
Mayor Burk: Mr. Crim, would you like to weigh in on this?
Martin Crim: Thank you, Mayor. The sunset is a legally defensible standard. It's readily available by reference to all sorts of resources. We used to use almanacs. It used to be every judge had an almanac on his desk because they needed to figure out what was sunset in a particular day for trial. Now, we
would just look it up online, and it is independent of daylight savings time, it's just whatever that time is for that particular latitude and day of the year the sun has set. There's a specific astronomical definition
of that, that we don't have to get that precise for because it's close enough for prosecution.
The half-hour prior to sunset is easily determinable. Even if somebody challenges it at trial, that is
something that the judge can reference very easily because it's not subject to specific-- You don't even have to have a witness to testify to that the judge can just look it up from the bench and apply that
standard. If the evidence shows that somebody was at the house at a particular time, and the question is, "Was that within half an hour prior to sunset?" then the judge can look that up on the spot, and it's
not going to be any barrier to prosecution.
Council Member Campbell: I guess I understand the legal point that you're making, but as we know,
you could go through a whole week or two weeks where sunset has a different time. Again, the thing about the protection to our citizens who are not going to look at an almanac or what that exact time was
on that exact day at that time of year, times help clarify when people are talking about personal protections, not legal protection.
Page 21| May 12, 2020
That's what I want to be clear on because this should be written so that one it is enforceable, I guess, legally, also, it is knowledgeable to our community about where and when behaviors of peddlers and
solicitors should and should not be allowed. To me, this is not clear enough to our citizens to be able to know when to call and when not to call.
Mayor Burk: So Mr. Campbell, do you have wording that you would like to change as an amendment?
Council Member Campbell: What I suggest, again, that we look at-- It could be more words, the time
of year and be specific about whether it's 4:30 or 8:30 rather just a half-hour prior. I think we can enforce the other two times a year when it's daylight savings time and when it's not and rather than prior to
sunset, what we think is a good time. In the winter, 4:30 is a good time, in the summer 8:30 is a good time.
Mayor Burk: Mr. Steinberg, would you take that as a friendly amendment?
Martin Crim: Mayor, can I may I interject myself? I don't have any idea how to put what he just said
down as an amendment to this. There's a legal concern with having a 4:30 stop time for peddlers and solicitors at any point in the year because as they will be the first to tell you, they need to knock on
people's doors when people are home and that's often not until well after that time. I think you would have a potential constitutional challenge if you tried to set it at 4:30 at any particular time of the year
just as an arbitrary date rather than as in relation to the sunset.
I don't know of any more specific way to draft that than it is written currently but if you want to postpone
this to a future agenda, we could certainly connect with Council Member Campbell and try to understand what his suggestion would be that would be legally defensible.
Mayor Burk: Mr. Steinberg, this is your motion?
Council Member Steinberg: Well, point of information then. Is there some reason why we can't simply
state, for example, 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM every day of the year, if we so chose?
Martin Crim: It'd probably pass muster, yes.
Council Member Steinberg: I'm sorry?
Martin Crim: Yes, you could do that.
Mayor Burk: You two are so muffled, it's like you're [unintelligible 01:40:25]
Council Member Steinberg: I will speak with greater force. I think that would be a much cleaner way
of doing it than trying to bounce around daylight savings time or anything else. I'm willing to postpone this and come up with a clear language, then yes.
Mayor Burk: Mr. Thiel, are you okay postponing? All right, do I need to vote on that?
Martin Crim: You could have that by unanimous consent by asking if there's anyone who objects to
postponing it.
Mayor Burk: Is there anybody that objects to postponing this and bringing it back at another date?
Council Member Steinberg: No.
Council Member Dunn: I object.
Mayor Burk: Do you? Mr. Martinez. Is that you?
Council Member Dunn: Mr. Dunn.
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Mayor Burk: Mr. Dunn.
Vice Mayor Martinez: No, I don't object.
Mayor Burk: Mr. Dunn you object?
Council Member Dunn: Yes.
Mayor Burk: Okay.
Martin Crim: Now if you wish to postpone it, you need a motion to postpone it.
Mayor Burk: I need a motion now to postpone.
Martin Crim: I move we postpone this ordinance to a later date. Do you need a specific date?
Mayor Burk: Do we need a specific date? No.
Council Member Steinberg: Okay. Then that's it.
Mayor Burk: Mr. Thiel, do you want a second that? Okay. Mr. Thiel seconds it. Any additional discussion at this point? All in favor.
Council Member Dunn: Point of order.
Mayor Burk: Yes.
Council Member Dunn: Generally when you postpone it should be postponed to a date-specific. I think it would be more appropriate to do that. To the next meeting if you like.
Mayor Burk: He didn't have a specific date that he wanted to and you don't have to do it. So we have a motion to postpone to an unspecific date and it was seconded by Mr. Thiel. So that's what we're voting
on right now. All in favor?
Vice Mayor Martinez: Point of order.
Mayor Burk: Yes.
Vice Mayor Martinez: Mayor Burk?
Mayor Burk: Yes?
Vice Mayor Martinez: Hello?
Mayor Burk: Yes?
Vice Mayor Martinez: Councilmember Dunn is right. You can't postpone it indefinitely. You have to postpone it to a specific date. I think I would like to make a friendly amendment that we postpone to the next meeting.
Mayor Burk: Postpone to what?
Vice Mayor Martinez: To the next meeting.
Mayor Burk: To the next meeting. Do you object to that Mr. Steinberg?
Council Member Steinberg: No.
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Mayor Burk: All right. All in favor?
Council Member Steinberg: Aye.
Mayor Burk: Opposed?
Vice Mayor Martinez: Aye.
Council Member Campbell: Aye.
Council Member Dunn: Nay.
Mayor Burk Okay, we’re going to have to do that again. All those in favor of postponing to the next meeting indicate by saying aye.
Council Members: Aye.
Mayor Burk: Mr. Thiel, Miss Fox, Miss Burk, Mr. Steinberg, who was the aye?
Vice Mayor Martinez: Martinez
Mayor Burk: Mr. Martinez.
Council Member Campbell: Campbell.
Mayor Burk: And Campbell. Opposed was Mr. Dunn.
Council Member Dunn: Nay.
Mayor Burk: All right, so that one gets moved to the next meeting. Next one is National Gun Violence Awareness Day Proclamation. Mr. Campbell, do you wish to move that?
Council Member Campbell: So moved.
Vice Mayor Martinez: Second.
Mayor Burk: Okay. Mr. Campbell, seconded by Mr. Martinez. Any discussion? All in favor indicate by
saying aye.
Council Member Steinberg: Aye.
Council Member Campbell: Aye
Mayor Burk: Mr. Steinberg, Mr. Campbell. Mr. Martinez?
Vice Mayor Martinez: Aye.
Mayor Burk: Miss Burk. Opposed?
Council Member Dunn: Abstain.
Mayor Burk: Abstained. Okay, no opposition and Mr. Dunn, Miss Fox, and Mr. Thiel abstain. The next one is Wayne's Crossing Day Proclamation. I will move this one for a proclamation to be proclaimed at March 26th Town Council meeting.
Council Member Steinberg: Second.
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Mayor Burk: Second seconded by Mr. Steinberg. This is just a request from the Sons of The American Revolution. All in favor indicate by saying, Aye.
Council Members: Aye.
Mayor Burk: Opposed? Anyone opposed? Okay, that's 7-0. All right. That takes us to--
Council Member Dunn: Abstain. By the way, that was an abstention.
Mayor Burk: Okay. 6-0-1. Council disclosures, Mr. Steinberg?
Council Member Steinberg: I have none. Thank you.
Mayor Burk: Miss Fox? Mr. Dunn? Mr. Dunn? I keep losing my voice tonight. Mr. Dunn?
Council Member Dunn: No disclosure.
Mayor Burk: Mr. Campbell?
Council Member Campbell: No disclosures but on the agenda, it also says additions to future meetings. We still doing that?
Mayor Burk: That is true. Yes, that's correct.
Council Member Campbell: I have at least one, but I do want to make a comment. This to the Town
Manager. The last time we had a fiscal report on the potential impact of COVID-19 on the Town budget we did say we would be doing regular updates and we could expect one in May. I understand all the
reasons why you can till June but I really believe that it's our responsibility to know some of these impacts, to start thinking and planning, and not be in a situation where we have to react in a shorter
period of time than necessary and that we need to know what kind of considerations that you're thinking about in terms of how this town manages those fiscal impacts.
As we know, those conversations are happening in Loudoun County. They're happening at the school, but they're not happening here yet. Maybe they are happening among you and your staff, which I would
agree, but with some of these budget impacts, as Council has to make a decision on I would ask at our next Council meeting that we have some preliminary list of this budget impact. It will have been a month
since the last time we had any update. I believe that it is time for us to start thinking about these very important issues. So I would like to have at our next Council meeting a report on the potential budget impacts.
Mayor Burk: Mr. Dentler, any problem with doing that? Any issue or-
Kaj Dentler: It's Council's prerogative. I'll give you information. Our hope was to do that in June because we're going to have more accurate information than what you're going to receive in two weeks from
now. It still gives us plenty of time to make adjustments but Council prerogative. I'll give you whatever update that you wish to have.
Council Member Fox: Will that be the first meeting in June?
Kaj Dentler: Yes. We have two meetings.
Mayor Burk: So Mr. Campbell would like to have a report the next meeting May 26th to begin--
Kaj Dentler: June the 8th. That's the work session. We can do it that night. June the 8th was your first-
Mayor Burk: Mr. Campbell, correct me if I'm wrong but I believe he wants it at the next meeting. The May meeting.
Page 25| May 12, 2020
Kaj Dentler: The next meeting, the May 26th?
Council Member Campbell: I asked for two things. One is the fiscal impact and the other is the planned
impact about how we address the fiscal impact.
Kaj Dentler: We will cover both of those-
Council Member Campbell: [crosstalk] And the preliminary plan. Excuse me?
Kaj Dentler: My apologies Mr. Campbell. We will cover both of those as we presented in the past. We
will show you what the impact is as we can estimate it at this time and then we'll show you the measures that we’re taken to manage through that.
Mayor Burk: Are you going to do that on the 26th?
Kaj Dentler: Yes. If that's what you wish to have. My only advice to you is, I'm not going to know a lot
more between now and on the 26th in two weeks. We'll know a lot more on the 9th or 8th of June but whatever you wish to have, I will tell you at that time. There's just not a lot going to change over the
next two weeks but whatever you're most comfortable with, I will provide.
Council Member Campbell: If I could add something Mr. Dentler. Where I think you're wrong in that.
The economic situation that we live in right now continues to deteriorate day by day.
Mayor Burk: Mr. Campbell, wait a minute. Let me see if there's four people that are interested in getting
the information, okay? Then you can deal with that.
Council Member Campbell: Well the Town Manager made a statement that may impact people's
votes.
Mayor Burk: Yes. He's willing to do whatever we ask him to do. At this point, are there four people that
are interested in getting the report that Mr. Campbell is asking for on the 26th? All in favor of that, please indicate by saying, Aye.
Council Member Thiel: I'd like to make a friendly amendment. If we could have a briefing at both to have an impact study of what you have gathered since on May 26th and then again on June 8th or 9th,
you said, that'd be most substantial to see continual efforts on how we're impacted economically and looking to reopen.
Kaj Dentler: Sure. No problem.
Mayor Burk: Okay. Is that acceptable, Mr. Campbell?
Council Member Campbell: I would agree. I thought that's what we said all along, so I would agree. Thank you.
Mayor Burk: All right. All in favor of getting a report on May 26th as well as June 8th, indicate by saying aye.
Council Members: Aye.
Mayor Burk: Mr. Thiel, Mrs. Fox, Mr. Campbell. Anyone else? All right.
Council Member Dunn: My head is nodding up and down.
Mayor Burk: Okay. Mr. Dunn. You've got your four votes for that. Are you finished, Mr. Campbell?
Council Member Campbell: Yes.
Page 26| May 12, 2020
Mayor Burk: Okay, thank you. We've had Mr. Campbell speak. We've had Ms. Fox. Mr. Steinberg. Mr. Martinez?
Vice Mayor Martinez: Hello.
Mayor Burk: Yes, Mr. Martinez.
Vice Mayor Martinez: I have no disclosures and I just want to say that I really appreciate Dr. Goodfriend's briefing and I hope all of you are doing well.
Mayor Burk: As we hope you're doing well. Thank you.
Council Member Dunn: Madam Mayor?
Mayor Burk: Yes.
Council Member Dunn: Can I just ask one question before you get to speak because I forgot this?
Kaj, do you have those items that we took off our work session months ago? Have you already set those to schedule coming up and if not, could we do that so we get those work sessions back in place?
If I could get a copy of those orders from the Governor that would be great too. Thank you.
Mayor Burk: All right. I got everybody, correct? Okay. I do have a couple of comments to make-- Didn't
I get you? Oh, I'm sorry. You have something important? Yes, Mr. Thiel.
Council Member Thiel: I do have a statement. Tonight it's with a heavy heart that I announce that I
will be stepping down from Council effective Sunday, May 31st. It's not in my nature to not finish something that I have started but I've recently been promoted at work and will no longer have the ability
to serve in the capacity that I would like to properly serve the Town and its residents. I've also been promoted at home to future dad.
Mayor Burk: Congratulations.
Council Member Thiel: Thank you very much. Also, my wife and I found our forever home in a
community where we will be starting our family and it's unfortunately not within the Town limits. Now is the right time in my life to take a step back from public service in order to support my family, my health
and my career. I've loved this opportunity with the amazing people of Leesburg have given me. There's no way I can ever thank them enough for allowing me to lead and guide the town that I grew up in and
love so dearly. I will forever be filled with gratitude and the honor that has been placed upon me by the people of this town to serve as your councilman.
I love the people of Leesburg and love the office but I realize there are more important things in life than public office. I've spoken to my colleagues and staff about a planned smooth transition for the remainder
of my six months. Especially I want to thank God for gifting me the ability to help my hometown, and serve for the amazing residents of Leesburg. I want to say a big thank you to the wonderful, loyal and
talented, hard-working staff who truly are the backbone of this town and without their dedication to the town it wouldn't be what it is today. Together, we have accomplished some amazing things and I know
they're great things still to come in the Town of Leesburg.
Most importantly, I want to thank my wife, and soon to be mom, for her support and love along this
journey, as well as my parents for raising me and my family and friends who have been there and been very helpful and supportive over the years. I'm truly thankful for this wonderful honor and wish my
Council colleagues all the best. Wish you well. God bless and Godspeed. Thank you.
Mayor Burk: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Thiel. You will be at the next meeting though. You'll serve till
May 31st? Thank you for your time and contribution to this Town Council, and we wish you only the very best. I have a disclosure. On May 8th and May 11th, I had a phone conversation with Mr. Chuck
Kuhn concerning the Westpark property. I've had three calls with Chair Randall about the updates on the virus. She informed the mayors of the letter that she and the other chairs sent out, so we didn't know
Page 27| May 12, 2020
about it ahead of time. Congratulations to all the students, the faculty, and the staff of the Loudoun County Public Schools system. While this remote instruction period is not perfect, everyone is working
really hard to make it work. I'm sorry for the seniors missing the milestone of your last year in high school, but you'll have so many more. That it hurts now but you'll find that there's so much more to be
joyful about in the future so don't despair.
I want to express my deep concern for all of the families that have lost loved ones during the crisis. It is
so hard to lose someone you love. When you can't be with them at the end of their struggle to live and you can't have a community service to say goodbye it just adds to the pain. I wish there was ways to
console and comfort you just so that you know that we're trying, but I want you to know that we on the Council are trying to do what we can to get people to wear masks, to wash their hands and to stay
home, if possible.
People of all ages are dying from this and suffering this disease. You may think that being 20 means
that you won't get sick and that you don't need to wear the mask. Well, you're wrong. We know that even if you're not showing symptoms, you could be carrying the disease. While you're walking around
Home Depot or any other place without a mask thinking that you might be invincible remember the person next to you may not. So for their sake, if you're indoors, please wear a mask.
Please, we are community and it is the community that's going to either make this go away or keep it here killing people. Keep at a distance of six feet when you're out and about. Wear a mask, wash your
hands and for heaven's sakes, stay home if you possibly can. I want to thank the Conference of Mayors who sent us these very lovely masks. They sent 120 cloth masks that I will leave here for staff to use.
You just put them over your ears but that was very nice of them to think of Leesburg and do that for us. I have three things that I would like to ask Council to see if we can bring forward.
The first one is I would like staff to look into some sort of parade type activity or some activity that we can help the seniors say goodbye to their town as they move on to their next level. Maybe it can't be a
parade maybe it can't be anything at all at this point with the different phases but I sure would like to have staff take a look at what something we could do to maybe honor the seniors at our three high schools. I don't know if there's four people that would be interested in participating in that, having staff look into it. Are there four people that would be willing to do that? Okay, Mr. Thiel, Miss Fox, Miss Burk,
Mr. Steinberg. Anybody in the Heatherland? All right.
Council Member Dunn: Yes, my head is nodding up and down.
Mayor Burk: Okay. Thank you. Funny thing we don't hear it. The second thing is-
Council Member Dunn: It's that rattling sound.
Mayor Burk: --I was contacted by a couple of the restaurant owners and they would like to have the Council consider allowing them, when they are in the appropriate phase, to be able to move out to King
Street. Maybe closing the street for a Friday or Saturday night, allowing them to have chairs and tables out on the street. Not sure again that that's going to be possible but they did ask. So I wanted to ask
staff if they would work with the restaurants to look into this and see if that would be possible for them. It most certainly would help their businesses and it might be a neat thing to do, a really cool thing to do downtown but these are not just restaurants downtown. These are also restaurants in shopping malls and things like that. Are there four people that would be interested in having staff look into that? Mr.
Thiel, Miss Burk, Mr. Steinberg, anybody else? Oh, Miss Fox.
Council Member Campbell: I just have a question. Is that in the health department protocol as a
possibility?
Mayor Burk: Yes, and they'll look into that to make sure that they're doing it right, but yes. There are
many localities that are looking at it. All right, and Mr. Campbell. Okay, and the last thing I wrote it down and I can't read it. Yes, well, I can't read it. So I guess we can't do that whatever it was I wanted to bring
up. Anyway, a report?
Page 28| May 12, 2020
Kaj Dentler: Just two things, one, congratulations Mr. Thiel. Certainly the staff will miss you but we'll talk in two weeks to say our parting words. Along those notes, Council will need to consider or you don't
have to make an appointment but you will need to consider if you wish to make an appointment for your seventh seat once Mr. Thiel goes and Mr. Crim-
Mayor Burk: That's what it is. That's what I was going to ask. Can we direct the attorney to--
Kaj Dentler: -will provide you information on what you can do and what your time frames are etcetera
then it will be up to you to decide what you want to do if you want to do anything, so it'll be your decision but he will provide that to you. My recommendation is that he just provides that to you in an email so
that you have time to go and start the process and then you can discuss it whenever you're ready. We'll place it on your agenda for two weeks just as a placeholder if you're ready to take action. If you're not,
obviously you'll just keep going until you either make a decision or you run out of time to make a decision. He'll provide that direction.
Then the last thing is a little bit of a sad news for those of you who've been around a while you may remember former Utilities Director and long-term Town employee Randy Shoemaker. We got word
yesterday that he recently passed away and I think there are some details at Colonial Funeral Home. I don't have much more information than that but if you knew Randy or worked with him, he was with the
Town for what I believe well over 30 years and was Utilities Director for maybe 15-20 plus years. He has a lot to do with where the Town is and our infrastructure and our water and sewer plants, etcetera.
I thought I want to pass that along to you and condolences to the family and I'm sure the Town will want to recognize him in some way. So, just want to pass that along, and thank you very much.
Mayor Burk: Is there a motion to adjourn? It's a move by Mr. Steinberg seconded by Miss Fox, all in favor?
Council Members: Aye.
Mayor Burk: Opposed? 7-0. Good night everyone.