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HomeMy Public PortalAbout2021_tcmin1214 COUNCIL MEETING December 14, 2021 Council Chamber, 25 West Market Street, 7:00 p.m. Mayor Kelly Burk presiding. Council Members Present: Ara Bagdasarian, Zach Cummings, Suzanne Fox, Vice Mayor Marty Martinez, Kari Nacy, Neil Steinberg, and Mayor Kelly Burk. Council Members Absent: None. Staff Present: Town Manager Kaj Dentler, Town Attorney Christopher Spera, Director of Public Works and Capital Projects Renee LaFollette, Director of Parks and Recreation Rich Williams, Director of Finance and Administrative Services Clark Case, Deputy Director of Finance and Administration/Treasurer Lisa Haley, Controller Diane Starkey; Deputy Director,of-Utilities-,.- Patrick Moore, Management and Budget Officer Cole Fazenbaker and Clerk of Council Eileen Boeing. AGENDA ITEMS 1. CALL TO ORDER 2. INVOCATION was given by Council Member Steinberg. 3. SALUTE TO THE FLAG was led by Council Member Fox. 4. ROLL CALL a. All Council Members present. 5. MINUTES a. Work Session Minutes of November 22, 2021 MOTION 2021-220 On a motion by Vice Mayor Martinez, seconded by Council Member Steinberg, the minutes of the Work Session of November 22, 2021, were moved for approval. The motion was approved by the following vote: Aye: Bagdasarian, Cummings, Fox, Vice Mayor Martinez, Nacy, Steinberg and Mayor Burk Nay: None Vote: 7-0 b. Regular Session Minutes of November 23, 2021 MOTION2021-221 On a motion by Vice Mayor Martinez, seconded by Council Member Nacy, the minutes of the Regular Session of November23, 2021, were moved for approval. The motion was approved by the following vote: Aye: Bagdasarian, Cummings, Fox, Vice Mayor Martinez, Nacy, Steinberg and Mayor Burk Nay: None Vote: 7-0 1 I Page COUNCIL MEETING December 14, 2021 6. ADOPTING THE MEETING AGENDA Council Member Cummings requested item 13.a. —Motion to Rescind Resolution 2021- 154 be removed from the agenda. MOTION 2021-223 On a motion by Council Member Cummings, seconded by Council Member Steinberg, the following was proposed: To adopt the agenda with item 13.a. —Motion to Rescind Resolution 2021-154 removed Mayor Burk requested to have item 13.c. —Motion to approve the proclamation for Alaina Plasmier approved and moved to the presentation of the proclamations. MOTION 2021-222 On a motion by Mayor Burk, seconded by Council Member Steinberg, the following was proposed: To move item 13.c. —Motion to Approve the Proclamation for Alaina Plasmier and to move it to Section 8—Presentation of Prodamations The motion was approved by the following vote: Aye: Bagdasarian, Cummings, Fox, Vice Mayor Martinez, Nacy, Steinberg and Mayor Burk Nay: None Vote: 7-0 Council discussed the motion to remove item 13.a. —Motion to Rescind Resolution 2021-154. The motion to adopt the meeting agenda with item 13.a. —Motion to Rescind Resolution 2021-154 removed was approved by the following vote: Aye: Bagdasarian, Cummings, Vice Mayor Martinez, Steinberg and Mayor Burk Nay: Fox, Nacy Vote: 5-2 7. CERTIFICATES OF RECOGNITION a. None. 8. PRESENTATION OF PROCLAMATIONS a. Alaina Plasmier Proclamation Mayor Burk read the proclamation for Alaina Plasmier. Ms. Plasmier accepted the proclamation and made a few remarks. 2 I Page COUNCIL MEETING December 14, 2021 9. PRESENTATIONS a. Trophy Presentation for Best Float in the Holiday Parade Mayor Burk presented the trophy for the best 2021 Holiday Parade Float to the Destiny School of the Arts. The students and the school representative made a few remarks. b. Fiscal Year 2021 Annual Financial Report by Brown Edwards & Company Ms. Ann Genova, Audit Manager with Brown Edwards & Company presented Council with the Fiscal Year 2021 Annual Financial Report. 10. REGIONAL COMMISSION REPORTS Mayor Burk reported on the VML Executive Committee meeting and noted that attendees were very pleased with Leesburg as the host of the in-person VML Conference held last October. 11. PETITIONERS The Petitioner's Section was opened at 7:31 p.m. Jeff Carey. Spoke to Council in opposition of the vaccine mandate. Paul Kershaw, Virginia for Medical Freedom. Spoke to Council in opposition of the vaccine mandate. Bill Fox, 15 Morven Park Road NW. Spoke to Council in opposition of the vaccine mandate. Ron Campbell, 812 Ft. Macleod Terrace NE. Spoke in support of the Leesburg Mobile Park residents. Jenny Hall. Spoke to Council in opposition of the vaccine mandate. Bonnie McLean. Spoke to Council in opposition of the vaccine mandate. Vicente Gonzalez, 15 Leesburg Mobile Park. Spoke to Council to thank them for their ongoing and continued support of the Leesburg Mobile Park residents. Mariana Gonzalez, 349 Shenandoah Street SW. Spoke to Council regarding her desire to stay in the Leesburg Mobile Park. Sarah Richardson. Spoke to Council in opposition of the Virginia Village rezoning application. Paul Coyer. Spoke to Council in opposition of the Vaccine Mandate. The Petitioner's Section was closed at 7:59 p.m. 3 I Page COUNCIL MEETING December 14, 2021 12. APPROVAL OF THE CONSENT AGENDA MOTION2021-224 On a motion by Vice Mayor Martinez, seconded by Council Member Bagdasarian, the following consent agenda was proposed: a. 2021 Tree City USA Application RESOLUTION2021-189 Authorizing the Mayor to Sign the 2021 Tree City USA Application for the Arbor Day Foundation b. Second Amendment to Hospital Tank Antenna Lease Agreement with T-Mobile RESOLUTION2021-190 Authorizing a Second Amendment to the Lease Agreement with T-Mobile Northeast, LLC for Telecommunication Antennas on the Town Hospital Tank Located at 210 Old Waterford Road c. Creek Valley Buffer and Floodplain—Regulatory Amendments RESOLUTION2021-191 Initiation of Amendments to Zoning Ordinance Articles 7, 14 and 18 and Applicable Sections • of the Design and Construction Standards Manual and the Subdivision and Land Development Regulations to Amend Modifications to Creek Valley Buffers and Permitted Uses within Floodplains d. Replacement of Biological Nutrient Reactor Splitter Box Gates at Water Pollution Control Facility RESOLUTION2021-192 Approving a Task Order for the Replacement of Biological Nutrient Reactor Splitter Box Gates at the Water Pollution Control Facility to WGK Construction, LLC in the amount of $113,899 e. Exterior Building Cleaning and Sealant at the Water Pollution Control Facility RESOLUTION2021-193 Approving a Task Order for Exterior Building Cleaning and Sealant Application at the Water Pollution Control Facility to Utility Service Co., Inc. in the amount of$156,623 4 I Page COUNCIL MEETING December 14, 2021 f. Replacement of the Radiator on the Standby Generator at the Water Pollution Control Facility RESOLUTION2021-194 Approving a Task Order for the Replacement of the Radiator on the Standby Generator at the Water Pollution Control Facility to Carter Machinery for$149,905.64 g. Demolition and Replacement of a Digester Motor Control Center at the Water Pollution Control Facility RESOLUTION2021-195 Approving a Task Order for the Demolition and Replacement of a Digester Motor Control Center at the Water Pollution Control Facility to Electric By J&J in the amount of$128,092 h. Pavement Resurfacing—Cornwall Street from King to Memorial RESOLUTION2021-196 Approving a Task Order for the Demolition and Replacement of a Digester Motor Control Center at the Water Pollution Control Facility to Electric By J&J in the amount of$128,092 i. Appointment to Bull Run Alcohol Safety Action Program Policy Board RESOLUTION2021-197 Appointing Kari Nacy to the Bull Run Alcohol Safety Action Program Policy Board j. Appointing Matthew Abate to the Police Citizen Task Force RESOLUTION2021-199 Appointing Matthew Abate to the Police Citizen Task Force The Consent Agenda was approved by the following vote: Aye: Bagdasarian, Cummings, Fox, Vice Mayor Martinez, Nacy, Steinberg, and Mayor Burk Nay: None Vote: 7-0 13. RESOLUTIONS /ORDINANCES / MOTIONS a. Motion to Rescind Resolution 2021-154 This item was removed from the agenda. b. Renaming of Harry Byrd Highway (Route 7) MOTION2021-225 On a motion by Vice Mayor Martinez, seconded by Council Member Steinberg, the following was proposed: 5 I Page COUNCIL MEETING December 14, 2021 RESOL UTION2021-198 Renaming Hany Byrd Highway(Route 7)within Town of Leesburg Corporate Limits to Leesburg Pike Mayor Burk noted the County had voted on renaming roadways in the County and forwarded it to the General Assembly for approval. Vice Mayor Martinez noted that while he made the motion, he would not support it. The motion was approved by the following vote: Aye: Bagdasarian, Cummings, Fox, Nacy, Steinberg and Mayor Burk Nay: Vice Mayor Martinez Vote: 6-1 14. PUBLIC HEARINGS a. None. 15. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a. None. 16. NEW BUSINESS a. None. 17. COUNCIL DISCLOSURES AND COMMENTS / ADDITIONS TO FUTURE MEETINGS Council Member Bagdasarian requested the Economic Development Commission and the Economic Development Director provide input on the economic impact of the Virginia Village, Rezoning Application to be included in the staff report when the item is presented for approval at the next Council meeting. Council Member Fox disclosed she had a meeting with Mr. Brian Cullen regarding the Virginia Village Rezoning Application. Council Member Fox asked for a Motion to Rescind Resolution 2021-154 be added to the January 11, 2022, Council Meeting. Council Member Cummings disclosed he had a conversation with Mr. Brian Cullen and Mr. Andrew Painter regarding the Virginia Village Rezoning and met with Ms. Molly Novotny and Ms. Colleen Gillis with Cooley to review some of their clients' properties in Leesburg. 18. MAYOR DISCLOSURES AND COMMENTS / ADDITIONS TO FUTURE MEETINGS Mayor Burk stated that she and other elected officials officially opened the Holiday Road Show at Morven Park on November 26 and thanked Ms. Stacey Metcalfe and the Board for a great show. Mayor Burk was honored to recognize Morningside resident Ms. Katherine Burch who turned 100 years old. Mayor Burk participated in lighting the Menorah at the Sha'are Shalom synagogue and thanked Rabbi Tow and the Congregation for the warm welcome. Mayor Burk was joined by Council Members Fox, Nacy, and Steinberg, Vice Mayor Martinez and 6 I Page COUNCIL MEETING December 14, 2021 Congresswoman Wexton for the tree lighting celebration in Town. Mayor Burk said she was joined by Maggie, Sam, Caleb, and Savannah who helped pull the lever to light the tree. Mayor Burk presented a proclamation to Caldwell Banker Realtors for 10 years at their present location and 30 years in Leesburg. Mayor Burk attended the annual Parks and Rec Arts and Craft show. Mayor Burk attended the tree and house lighting ceremony at the George Marshall House and noted that they have a decorated tree for every country that was in the Marshall Plan. Mayor Burk participated in the lighting.of the Menorah for the Chabad of Loudoun County and said Rabbi Cohen and the congregation were generous and welcoming. Mayor Burk noted she attended the VML Executive Committee meeting in Charlottesville and congratulated the Town's new police officers. Mayor Burk noted the Christmas parade had to be moved from Saturday to Sunday due to weather but thanked the Parks and Rec staff for a great job reorganizing it to the next day. Mayor Burk spoke at the Loudoun County public hearing regarding the Airport Noise Overlay District as the County is looking to do away with the one-mile overlay district that requires homeowners to be notified that they're living near an airport and noise associated with their location. Mayor Burk wished everyone a Merry Christmas and happy holidays. 19. TOWN MANAGER COMMENTS a. None. 20. CLOSED SESSION a. Pending Litigation/Annexation and/or a Boundary Line Agreement with respect to the JLMA MOTION2021-226 On a motion by Mayor Burk, seconded by Vice Mayor Martinez, the following was proposed: I move pursuant to§2.2-3711(A)(7)and§2.2-3711(A)(8)of the Code of Virginia that the Leesburg Town Council convene in a closed meeting for the purpose of consultation with legal counsel and briefings by staff members pertaining to the pending litigation of Town of Leesburg et al v. Loudoun County et al, Loudoun County Circuit Court No. 19-1768 where such consultation in open session would adversely affect the negotiating or litigating posture of the Town;and consultation with legal counsel regarding specific legal matters requiring the provision of legal advice by such counsel, and pertaining to a potential annexation and/or boundary line agreement with respect to the JLMA. The motion was approved by the following vote: Aye: Bagdasarian, Cummings, Fox, Vice Mayor Martinez, Nacy, Steinberg and Mayor Burk Nay: None Vote: 7-0 Council convened in a closed session at 8:08 p.m. Council convened in an open session at 8:34 p.m. 7IPage COUNCIL MEETING December 14, 2021 MOTION2021-227 On a motion by Mayor Burk, the following was proposed: In accordance with Section§2.2-3712 of the Code of Virginia, I move that Council certify to the best of each member's knowledge, only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements under Virginia Freedom of Information Act and such public business matters for the purpose identified in the motion by which the closed meeting was convened were heard, discussed or considered in the meeting by Council. (ROLL CALL VOTE) Fox-aye, Steinberg-aye, Cummings-aye, Vice Mayor Martinez-aye, Bagdasarian-aye, Nacy-aye, Mayor Burk-aye. Vote 7-0 21. ADJOURNMENT On a motion by Vice Mayor Martinez, seconded by Council Member Steinberg, the meeting was adjourned at 8:35 p.m. Kelly rk, ayor Town of Leesburg ATTEST: "-APen.:edireade2.46) Clerk of Council 2021 tcmin1214 8 I Page December 14,2021 —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 tonight's meeting of December 14th, 2021. If anyone in the room needs hearing assistance, please see the Clerk.We will be running the translation during the petitioner section. Is that correct?We will be running the automatic translation on the overhead starting in the petitioner section. Council Member Steinberg will be giving the invocation followed by salute to the flag, Council Member Fox. Council Member Steinberg. Council Member Neil Steinberg: Thank you, Mayor Burk. I'd like for us to all take a moment of silence to reflect on the families who lost family members or homes in the recent storms in the Midwest and for us all to remember that while we don't often agree with each other,we're here to do good work and how fortunate we are to be here. Council Member Suzanne Fox: Please join me in the pledge. Council Member Steinberg: Thank you. All: 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 for all. Mayor Burk: All right, let the record reflect that all Members of Council are here tonight. We have two sets of minutes.The working session minutes of November 22nd moved by Vice Mayor Martinez,second by Council Member Steinberg, all in favor? Council Members:Aye. Mayor Burk: Opposed?That's 7-0. Regular session minutes of the 23rd, Mr. Martinez. Second? Council Member Kari Nacy: Second. Mayor Burk:All right, Council Member Nacy.All in favor? Council Members: Aye. Mayor Burk: The passes, no nays, that passes 7-0. Adopting the meeting agenda. Are there any changes to the adoption of the meeting agenda? Council Member Ara Bagdasarian: Madam Mayor, I'd like to remove item 13A. Mayor Burk: Item 13A. Council Member Fox: Madam Mayor, point of order. Mayor Burk: Yes. Council Member Fox: A motion to approve an agenda, published agenda is debatable so is any amendment to that agenda. I have a few things to say. Mayor Burk: I'm sorry. I can't hear you very well. Page 1 I December 14,2021 Council Member Fox: [chuckles] A motion to approve an agenda, a published one is debatable and so is any amendment to that agenda. I'd like to say a few words to it. Mayor Burk: Mr. Spera, is that correct reading? Christopher Spera: I believe that is correct. It is a debatable motion but the motion hasn't been seconded yet, so you need a second and once you have a second,then you can have debate. Mayor Burk: Okay.All right.Are we debating taking it off the agenda?Okay.All right.We have a motion to take-- Which one is it? It is motion 13A. It was moved by Council Member Cummings. Is there a second? Council Member Steinberg: Second. Mayor Burk: Seconded by Council Member Steinberg. Ms. Fox, you said you had something you wanted to say? Council Member Fox: Yes, I do have something I wanted to say. The reason I am not willing to take this off the agenda is because we've had a lot of folks who have spoken up about this and have not had their voices heard and I intend to go ahead and speak for them. Mayor Burk:All right.All in favor--I'm also going to ask that we move, it's 13C but it's the presentation to[unintelligible 00:03:48] so I would like to have that moved also. Do I have a second? Council Member Steinberg: Second. Mayor Burk: Seconded by Council Member Steinberg. Okay, so we're adopting the meeting minutes with the removal of the motion-- Council Member Steinberg: [unintelligible] Mayor Burk: Oh, meeting agenda, sorry. We're adapting the meeting agenda with the exception of 13C, that's not there now. It was the motion to give the recognition to Atlanta. We have the other one which is 13A, so all the rest of it we're working to approve.All in favor indicate but saying aye. Council Members:Aye. Mayor Burk: Opposed?That's 7-0. Okay, I will just quickly, obviously, I want to move the presentation so we can present it tonight. Is everybody okay with that? Vice Mayor? All seconded? All in favor of moving that presentation to 8A. Council Member Fox:What presentation, I'm sorry? Mayor Burk: For Alaina. Council Member Fox: Oh, okay, sure. Mayor Burk: That's all. All in favor? Speakers:Aye Mayor Burk: Opposed? Now we have 13 a, do we have Mr. Cummings? Council Member Steinberg: [inaudible] Mayor Burk: I'm sorry. Page 2 I December 14, 2021 Council Member Steinberg: The motion. Council Member Fox: The motion to remove it, and I have some things to say to it. Mayor Burk: Council Member Cummings made the motion. It was seconded by Council Member Steinberg. If you have something you want to say at this point. Council Member Fox: Yes, I do. Thank you. I'm going to read a few things from our employees. We are uncomfortable coming forward.We have experienced pushback at the prospect of addressing Town Council about this issue. I've been told that if I come to speak it won't make a difference. Again, I'm receiving pressure from coworkers to not make things worse. Don't rock the boat, don't poke the bear. This mandate has put department heads in an impossible position to hire. This includes current and open positions, let alone backfilling positions when people decide to walk. There have been a handful of interviews before our vote passed to pass that mandate and two signings of acceptance letters.Once they found out that the mandate passed, they withdrew their acceptance letters. From another employee. Town vaccine requirement has put me in a position where I've had to share personal medical information and in order to request a waiver, which could even be denied. Council Member Fox, I'm afraid that if I were to have the vaccine, I would suffer additional health problems as a result of the vaccine. I'm being afraid that I could risk everything I've spent years building. We have great relationships with our coworkers and our customers. This is all from our employees.These are from our commissioners.To me,this is bad policy. It's divisive, unnecessary, and legally problematic. People do have strong feelings about this, but whatever you believe about the effectiveness of the vaccine, we start inserting ourselves. When we start inserting ourselves into the private and personal decisions of employees,that's not going to foster a positive work environment.We're literally setting up a scenario that pits the vaccinated against the unvaccinated. You've seen so far, and we all know that most of the attention we have is on our police officers who have resigned rather than comply. It's not a good thing. One of the reasons that I feel like it's also legally problematic is because it is unnecessary as there's no data that there's a problem at this point. Even if we had a problem, there's data to show the mandatory universal vaccination would do anything to fix that problem. All of the most recent studies seem to indicate that while vaccination is often effective to reduce symptoms, it does nothing to stop or even slow the spread in the population. Other protocols for remediating or slowing the spread of COVID practices are practices that we have already put in here in place.We have our masks,we have our social distancing, and those are proven to help stop this spread. Instituting a mandatory vaccination policy makes no sense whatsoever. First, we claimed that we felt we had to go ahead and institute this policy because we had no choice because of the Federal mandate. Then there was a stay of that mandate and rather than consider the motion to ascend,we use parliamentary maneuvering to not even discuss it anymore or even vote on it. In my opinion, inserting ourselves into using the threat of losing one's livelihood as the bludgeon to enforce their will in our workforce to get our way. Frankly, I think it's draconian and I think it's tyrannical, and many employees admittedly don't have a problem with this and that's fine.The fact is we also have employees that are vaccinated and are offended by this policy not because they were forced to get the vaccination, but they were forced to divulge personal medical information that they should have not have had to disclose to an employer. We have medical privacy laws for a reason.We're pushing this with the justification that we need a safe work environment, and we have a safe work environment, low rates of COVID vanishingly low death rates, particularly for our workforce-age residents. Now Biden is 0-3 in Federal courts. From what I have to say, I've received communications from our Town employees. I just read them to you about fear tactics, intimidation, and retaliation for speaking out. There have been sick leave threats, there have been forced resignations. Page 3 I December 14, 2021 This is upsetting to me. Regardless of to what extent these accusations are true, they're not the type of messages I want to hear as an employee and as a public official. The mandate was stayed, OSHA suspended enforcement. We're still digging in. We're putting our employees last in my opinion. Their private medical history and medical decisions have always been off-limits, but we've inserted ourselves there. Forcing employees or for any American that matter to choose between their livelihoods and their freedom is a grotesque abuse of power, and I feel like it's our job to encourage and not to enforce. Thank you. Mayor Burk: Thank you, Ms. Fox. Ms. Nacy, you have your light on? Council Member Nacy: Yes, thank you. I echo what Councilwoman Fox said. I just think at this point, it's prudent both legally and in general to rescind this mandate so that we don't lose any more employees, although I think the damage may already be done there, and so that we don't put ourselves in a position for future lawsuits. Mayor Burk: Right.Anyone else? Mr. Cummings? Council Member Zach Cummings: Thank you, I just want to quickly remind the public that we're talking about 3% of our employees, 97% of employees are willing to comply with this, whether that means being vaccinated or requesting a religious or medical exemption and to this point, according to the Town Manager, no medical or religious exemption has been denied. All we're asking is for Town employees to comply with one of the three options that they have in front of them. 97% of the Town employees have complied and I've heard from Town employees who've complied and thanked me and thanked the Council for doing this. To continue bringing this up week after week, and talk about court cases that are talking about private industry and the government,this is a employee-employer situation and we are asking our employees as an idea to work here to comply with this and this is a right to work state and they have every right not to work here but they also have a right to comply with one of the three methods that was given to them by the Town Council. Mayor Burk: Okay,thank you, Mr. Cummings. I would agree with Mr. Cummings remarks,to know that we now have 97% of our employees are vaccinated is a tremendous option and we have given them the opportunity, three different ways and they have taken advantage of it and they are safer and their colleagues are safer. I have heard from many, many employees that literally have come up to me in the hallways and thanked me. They feel better for it, and they're happy that we've done it. I think it's kind of a-- I'm not sure why we're doing it every week, but we've got it to the point where 97% of the people are vaccinated. I'm delighted that our employees are willing to follow the directions and really be cooperative and I'm very grateful that they're willing to do that.That being the case,we have a motion from Council Member Cummings and seconded by Council Member Steinberg to remove 13 A from the agenda. All in favor indicate by saying aye. Council Members: Aye. Mayor Burk: Opposed. Council Members Fox and Nacy: Nay. Mayor Burk: So that is 5-2 that gets removed. All right.We voted on the other one. All right. Next,we have presentations. We have two presentations tonight. One of them is for the holiday float and very excited to go down and present this one. The other one is a recognition for Alaina Plasmier and Alaina. Am I saying that correct,Alaina? Alaina Plasmier:Alaina. Page 4 I December 14,2021 Mayor Burk: Alaina. Thank you. Alaina Plasmier is an eighth-grade girl scout in troop 70084 in Leesburg,Virginia.Whereas,Alaina participated in her middle school food drive, in which she donated over 600 nonperishable food items,which doubled the amount the school was able to donate.Whereas, Alaina also worked over the holiday break by doing odd jobs for neighbors and pet sitting,and whereas, she then used the money she earned to purchase additional nonperishable food items to donate. Whereas, the Town Council thanks Alaina for her hard work and efforts and going above and beyond for the community this holiday season,therefore proclaimed that the Mayor and the Council of the Town of Leesburg in Virginia hereby recognize Alaina Plasmier for making a positive difference in the lives of others and showing great leadership and setting the right examples for others to follow. Proclaimed this 14th day in December 2021. I'm going to go down and present these holiday light trophy and this proclamation. Would be students from Destiny School of the Arts come forward here. Now, this is the trophy that they have won. This is quite impressive, and I noticed that your school's name is on it from 2017 and now it's going to be added for 2021. I was wondering if you girls and boys would turn around and see the cameras. People are watching you in the cameras.Would anybody like to explain what you did and what was great about your float? Because this was for the Christmas parade. You're being awarded recognition that your float was the best one in the Christmas parade. Who would like to take the mic and explain what it looked like and why it's so great?You can. My name is? Jana: My name is Jana. We put a lot of lights on there. We also had a band. I was the bass player; Kevin was the drum player and then Chase was the pianist. Oh,Savannah Nacy was one of the singers. Mayor Burk:Wonderful.What was different about it?Why do you think yours got selected [inaudible] What do you think? [unintelligible] look good.Was it really lit nicely? Chase: Yes, it was. It was lit nicely. It was a really nice-looking float. Mayor Burk: What did you like about the float? Kevin: I like how ours was very different from everybody else's. Mayor Burk: It was very different. It was big and it was very exciting. Savannah,what did you like about it? Savannah: I liked how ours was designed to show our love. Mayor Burk: Oh, that's sweet. Well, thank you guys very much for coming tonight. I'm going to give this to you guys and I don't know who's going to take it.You guys,this is the recognition,the certificates, and you can put it up in your music classroom, or you can put it up in school somewhere. We're very proud of you for putting it together. We were excited that you all participated. You want to come and join us over here?All right. Thank you. Thank you very much. [applause] Would you like to say anything as the director and the leader of the group? [laughs] I didn't say the name of the school, so we--[inaudible] Speaker:We're Destiny School of the Arts right here in Leesburg and we teach academics and the arts each day.We're so happy to be here.We were really excited to be recognized that the students put in so much work and so did our teachers, so many rehearsals. We couldn't be prouder of what they're doing and who they are. Mayor Burk: Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you guys very much for your hard work. [applause] Page 5 I December 14, 2021 The next one Ms. Fox,would you like to come down and join me on this one?See you,guys. Bye. Now Ms. Fox put this in to recognize Alaina if you want to come forward.We're giving you this proclamation, why don't you stand between us.We're giving you this proclamation because of all your hard work that you did to help others. What made you want to do that? How did you figure out to do something like that? Alaina Plasmier: I just like helping my community. The more and more I donate I feel like the more love I'm giving to the community. Mayor Burk: Oh,this is a very loving night tonight.Wow,that's just fabulous.Well,we really appreciate it.All that that you gave over 600 food items, and then you worked and you got even more, I'm sure you really made a difference. Thank you very much. [applause] Alaina Plasmier: During the holiday season, we usually do a Coat Drive and Can Food Drive in my neighborhood. We usually donate around 500 coats to Mobile Hope and over 500 cans to Loudoun Hunger Relieve. Mayor Burk: That's wonderful. Great. Thank you.Would you like to say anything, Ms. Fox?? Council Member Fox: Sure,just real quick,Alaina.You are an inspiring young lady and I feel that way myself and I know that the Council by proclamation feels the same way about you. We thank you for your service and your care and your support for your fellow human beings in your community.We hope you keep up the good work. Thank you. Mayor Burk: Thank you. Thank you, guys. [applause] Thank you very much. I think[unintelligible] Alaina Plasmier: Thank you. Mayor Burk: All right. Thank you.All right.We are now at the Regional Commission reports. Council Member Cummings: [inaudible] Madam Mayor? Mayor Burk: Pardon me. Council Member Cummings:Your 9B. Mayor Burk: Oh, 9B. I missed one. Someone's here to present. This is the Annual Financial Report by Brown Edwards and Company. Clark Case: Good evening, Mayor Burk, Vice-Mayor Martinez and Members of the Council. I'm Clark Case. I'm the director of finance and administrative services for the Town. I want to introduce Ann Genova who is the Brown Edwards and Company Audit Manager for the audit of the Town.The auditors work for the Town Council, not for the Town Manager of the staff. This report is their report to you. I have also here with me, Diane Starkey. Raise your hand. Diane Starkey is the Town's Controller. She and her team do the vast majority of the heavy lifting to put together the annual comprehensive financial report. Ann is here to tell you about the findings and the results of the audit and some summary information out of what's in the annual report. Annual report is very long, very technical,very detailed.Ann's going to give you a very high-level review of what are key factors and important points.Ann. Page 6 I December 14, 2021 Ann Genova: Hi, thank you Town Council for the opportunity to present on the audit this evening and to serve the Town as the external auditor. I'd like to give a special thanks to the Finance Department, especially Diane Starkey for their cooperation and hard work on the audit. There are several components to the audit, one you have in front of you now, which is the audited financial statements. We help the Town prepare those. Then another component of the audit is that we issue an opinion-- That didn't do what I thought I was going to do. We issue an opinion and I'm pleased to report that we have issued an unmodified clean opinion, and this indicates reasonable but not absolute assurance that the financial statements are materially correct. The Town also submits their annual report to the GFOA and for 2020, they did receive the certificate and then they'll apply for 2021 soon. What I'd like to do today is really drill down into exhibit 3. We're going to be going to page 10 as a starting point. Page 10.We're going to look at exhibit 3 fund balance. I think fund balance would be and very useful and of interest to Town Council. That's why we're going to talk about it today. Fund balance on exhibit 3, what does it mean and why is it useful for Town Council? If the balance remaining after the assets have been used to satisfy outstanding liabilities. Another way to think about it from a Town Council simple perspective is, this is cash that you can be setting aside for the future. It can be set up in one of these five categories.You should see on page 10, exhibit 3,that there's five categories there. There's nonspendable,which is assets that can't be spent in current form.That's lease deposits, prepaid costs, and inventory. There's restricted fund balance,which is externally restricted by let's say the state or the grant agency. That's where you have at the Town gas tax parking in lieu and E-Summons. Committed, now, this one is an interest to Town Council because it's Council designated. This is something that the Council decided they wanted to take some assets, some cash, and set it aside for a certain purpose. General fund, as you can see on exhibit 3, doesn't have committed, but capital projects fund does for those big multi-year projects that you all are working on. This is a particular interest to Town Council. Then there's also a category called assigned,which is intended use. This is what you plan to do with it, but it isn't as formal as Council designated or externally restricted necessarily. It can be things like debt service reserve, open purchase orders for big multi-year projects that you're working on. You want to set that cash aside. The last category is really of interest to Town Council, especially when you're talking about budget and planning and capital projects and what direction you want the Town to go in,and that's unassigned fund balance. That is after you've got the non-spendable and the restricted and the committed and the assigned,what's left?That's unassigned. How do you get at that number?What does it mean and how can Town Council use that is where we're going to go with it now. You can see in this graph here, the graph shows you unassigned general fund balance,which is where you want to zone, focus in on. Last year, it was almost 15 million,this year, if we're going up to 23 million, how do you get that jump?What does it mean to have 23 million in general fund balance? On exhibit 3, go down to that bottom line and keep your eye on that 39 million. Now, let's go to page 12 together. Page 12, if you go down to the bottom, you're going to see that 39 million again. We're going to come at it from a different angle, and that's total fund balance. Now what we're going to do is we're going to drill down and we're going to look a little bit more at how you get there. This is probably what you're seeing in page 12 as well. You've got revenue less expenditures, you get to 8 million. Then you take your non-operating items. Capital lease-funding received, you've got transfers going in and out of general fund, and then you come down to what is called a net change in fund balance.That's like net income if you're a little bit familiar with accounting lingo.That's net changing fund balance to 12 million. Then the Town was going to take that gas tax and they're going to restrict it so I'm backing it out. Then you've got a revenue stabilization reserve of 2 million, we're going to back that out. From this perspective,Town Council's now seeing that unassigned fund balance really is more like 7.9. Keep that number in your head, and we're going to go then back to page 10, and then I'm going to pull it together. Page 7 I December 14, 2021 We've just worked through revenue and expenditures so far. We're thinking unassigned fund balance that Town Council can be thinking about is 7.9 million. General unassigned fund balance last year was 14 million. It's now 23 million unassigned. How did you get there?You add in that 7.9 million,that's new this year. Let's pull back in that revenue stabilization reserve. Then we're going to take the change of non- spendable assigned committed.We're going to take the change there to get to the 23 million unassigned balance. You can start to see how these pieces fit together between exhibit 3 and exhibit 5. How do you get from 14 million last year to 23 million this year? Then we can say, of that 23 million,what can Town Council start thinking about?What's possible with this money that's leftover? Now you want to say, Town Council, we're going to set aside 2 million revenue stabilization reserve. Then what we're going to do is we've got this policy that requires a 20% of expenditures unassigned fund balance minimum to be held back just in case that rainy day emergency idea. You're going to hold back 11.6 million. Then what are you really left with as Town Council for the unassigned fund balance that you guys can talk about? Well, it's 9.6. Do you see how I got from a 23 million unassigned fund balance on exhibit 3 down to what's really workable for Town Council,which is 9.6? Do you see how that process goes along?You want to keep that 20% minimum and you want to keep that revenue stabilization reserved because that's really future forward-thinking. That's basically what I wanted to show you. It's pretty quick, but I wanted to get you starting to think about,what is fund balance?What do these different categories mean?What's useful for you all when thinking about this stuff? Now would be a good time if you have questions. Again, there's my contact information if you want to ask me further questions about any of it. Mayor Burk: Well, thank you very much. Does anyone have any questions at this point? I think we'll probably have to take some time to look it over. Thank you for the contact information. I'm sure we will be using it. Ann Genova:Well,thank you for the opportunity to speak to you all. Mayor Burk: Thank you. Clark Case: Mayor and Council,the Town staff are also available to meet with you at any time, or you may email us questions. This book is a very large thick book. It's full of very interesting information. It tells you who the largest in employers are. It shows you the trends for all of our revenue and expenditures over the last 10 years. It gives you a huge amount of information about the community. In the very front is a transmittal letter that explains the big picture about what happened to the Town in the last year. Then it's followed by a management discussion and analysis that explains why certain things changed. I encourage you to take your time, look through it, do not hesitate to contact us or Ann. Also included are a couple of required communications from the auditors, which are these two stapled items. These are things where they're talking about what they found in the details of their audit. If you're interested in the details,that's what these tell you. Thank you for your time. Mayor Burk: All right. Thank you very much. Appreciate the information. I'm sure we will be back in touch with you. [chuckles] That does take us now to the regional commission reports. Anybody have any--? The only one I have is that I attended the VML Conference, VML Executive Committee that talked about the conference to a person at that meeting. They all went on about that was probably the best conference that has been held in years.They were very grateful for Town staff for all the hard work that they did. Anybody else?All right. That takes us to our petitioner section. One of the first orders of businesses to hear from the public. All members of the public are welcome to address the Council on any item that Page 8 I December 14, 2021 matter or issue. Please, identify yourself, and if comfortable doing so, give your address for the taped record. Any public speakers will be requested to state their name and spell it for the purpose of closed captioning. In the interest of fairness, we also ask that you observe the three-minute timeline. The green light on the timer will turn yellow at the end of two minutes, indicating you have one minute remaining. At that time, we do appreciate your summing up and yielding the floor when the bell indicates your time has expired. Under the rules of order adopted by this Council, the five-minute time limit applies to all. Our first speaker for tonight is Jeff Carey followed by Paul Kershaw. Are either of them here tonight? All right. Are you here? Jeff Carey: I'm here. Mayor Burk: Come up to the mic and make your three-minute comments. [pause] Jeff Carey: Good evening, Town Council. I just have a few comments I wanted to make on the COVID vaccine mandate. I'll be presenting some data that I think should be taken into consideration in regard to the vaccine mandate. Can I pass these out? Mayor Burk: You may give them to the Clerk. [pause] Jeff Carey: Oh, my time's already running. Mayor Burk: You need to go ahead. Jeff Carey: Can we restart? I don't think this is going to be enough time. I'll be presenting some data that I think should be taken into consideration in regard to the vaccine mandate. I don't know if the Town Council has discussed a fund for the coverage of injuries resulting from the vaccine. In their foresight, the Federal government has put together a $50-billion fund for any injuries resulting from the vaccine mandate for all Federal employees. Page one is the FECA Bulletin from the US Department of Labor. I'll read briefly. However, this executive order now makes COVID vaccination a requirement of most Federal employees. As such, employees impacted by this mandate who receive required COVID-19 vaccinations on or after the date of executive order may be afforded coverage under the FECA for any adverse reactions to the vaccine itself, and for any injury sustained while obtaining the vaccination. If you turn to the first tab, you'll see that there's a study done by the New England Journal of Medicine. There were 21 scientists and doctors involved in this study. It also involved the CDC V-safe COVID-19 Pregnancy Registry team. I think it's 47 members of the CDC. This was published on April 21st. I don't know how this flew under the radar of the media. If you turn to the third tab, you'll see, in the underlying section, a total of 96 of 104 spontaneous abortions, or 92.3% occurred before 13 weeks of gestation after these women received the COVID vaccine. If you turn to the fourth page, that is the COVID response registry team from CDC. If you turn to the fourth tab, that is a stay that was issued by Dr. Michael Yeadon, who is the scientific lead for Pfizer Pharmaceuticals. If you turn to the last tab, he says specifically in regards to the vaccine, "However, if this were to be the case, this would then also prevent the formation of placenta, which would result in vaccinated women essentially becoming infertile." I think those things go hand in hand. Thank you. Mayor Burk: Thank you, Mr. Carey. Mr. Carey, do you spell your name J-E-F-F C-A-R-E-Y? Jeff Carey: Yes, ma'am. Page 9 I December 14,2021 Mayor Burk: Thank you. Paul Kershaw is followed by Bill Fox. Paul Kershaw: Good evening, Madam Mayor, Council Members.Thank you for your time. My name is Paul Kershaw. I'm here with the Virginia for Medical Freedom. Mayor Burk: Would you spell your name, please? Paul Kershaw: P-A-U-L K-E-R-S-H-A-W. Mayor Burk: Thank you. Paul Kershaw: I came here to urge you to vote in favor of motion 13A to rescind the Town vaccine and testing mandate resolution 2021-154, passed by this chamber on October 12th. Since that time, as I'm sure you're well, of the political landscape in Virginia has changed somewhat dramatically. Also, on the Federal level, on November 12th, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reaffirmed its November 6th stay of enforcement and implementation of the Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration's COVID-19 Vaccine Emergency Temporary Standard, calling it, and I quote, "Fatally flawed and staggeringly overbroad". The Court stated COVID-19 does not pose a grave danger because the virus, which is widely present and not particular to any workforce, and quote, "Non-life threatening to a vast majority of employees", does not arise to such a toxic or physically harmful substance, or agent contemplated by the Occupational Safety and Health Act. On November 16th, a judicial panel of multidistrict litigation consolidated all petitions for review of the Emergency Temporary Standard before the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. On December 7th, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia issued a nationwide injunction of Executive Order 14042,which sought to impose the vaccine mandate on Federal contractors across the country. The Court determined that the President never had authority under Federal procurement law to issue the Executive Order in the first place. On December 12th, data obtained from Pfizer through a Freedom of Information Act request to the FDA revealed over 160,000 adverse effects of the vaccine in just three months of testing, including a rate of cardiac arrest and congestive heart failure over four times that of patients receiving only a placebo. Adding credence to reports widely available through the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System of hundreds of thousands of serious effects. Externally, the FDA is now requesting up to 75 years to release all of this data publicly. At this point in time, COVID-19 vaccines have been available to anyone and everyone that wishes to take it. If persons can no longer freely decide what is done to their own bodies and they are subject to arbitrary mandates by local governing authorities, then they are no longer persons. They are slaves. Mayor Burk: Thank you, Mr. Kershaw. Bill Fox is followed by Ron Campbell. Bill Fox: My name is Bill Fox, B-I-L-L F-O-X. I'm glad we had some people providing data because I think these types of decisions should be made with data. I'd like to--you're not going to answer me of course, but think to yourselves, did you review any data whatsoever before making this decision? Normally, on things like this, staff provides you with reams of data before you make an important decision like this. Here they only provided you with one piece of data. Here's the number of people who are not vaccinated yet. That was it. You made your whole decision based on the fact that some people were not already vaccinated. This entire decision is based on a fundamental misunderstanding on what the various COVID remediations actually do. They're all effective. Masking is effective. Social distancing is effective and vaccines are effective at doing specific things. Masks are effective if worn in communities to slow down the spread of the COVID virus, so does Page 10 I December 14, 2021 social distancing. That is not what vaccines do. The vaccine remediates the impact of the symptoms of the COVID infection. It does not prevent the spread of the virus. In fact, it doesn't even slow down the spread of the virus. There's a ten percent difference, so you have a 67%chance of spreading the virus to somebody in close contact if you're unvaccinated,a 57%chance if you're vaccinated. That's only initially right after the vaccine, after 90 days, there's zero difference. Vaccinated and unvaccinated populations spread the COVID virus, particularly the Delta variant at the exact same rates. Are you going to mandate every three months that people get vaccinated? Are you going to oversee that program? Because right now, anybody in this room who had their vaccination more than three months ago is exactly as likely to pass the virus onto you as somebody who has not been vaccinated. It's the exact same. This policy accomplishes zero, nothing, and you've created all of this strife in the workplace to accomplish literally nothing. You'd know that if you read the data. The studies that I'm quoting to you aren't stuff that came out last week. These studies were available in October. Did you look at those studies? Did you literally look at any of the data on vaccines and the effectiveness of stopping the spread of the virus? Mayor Burk: Thank you, Mr. Fox. Mr. Campbell is followed by Jenny Hall. Ron Campbell: Good evening. I am here tonight because decisions matter and they have generational consequences.As a former member of this body, I understood that the oath I took was a sacred oath, not just to care when it was convenient or care when it was just politically convenient for a crony or friend, but to care for all of the people all the time. The decision we've made in regards to zoning and changes have had some awesome and some terrible consequences for many in the community that are here tonight. Those are not just housing decisions. Those are human decisions that we make that impact education, healthcare,jobs, a responsibility that doesn't just get decided, "Oh, this is for the County. Oh,this is for the Town". Where's your leadership when it comes to your people, your residents? Who deserve a better than a fair chance to live, to prosper, to grow. The responsibility doesn't stop because you wrote a letter. It stops when the problem is solved,and you'll go to any end to solve your own family's problems, but you won't go to any end to solve the problems that are here tonight. This isn't about affordable housing that doesn't exist. It's called attainable housing. At what level is housing attainable? I'm glad we spend a minute talking about data. Do you understand the data of poverty in the Town of Leesburg?Where people spend over 80%of their income on housing costs that they've lost 46% of their income in the last two years. These aren't poor people.These are rich people.They happen to be victims of a circumstance and now they happen to be victims of a circumstance that was orchestrated by a policy in this Town, that allows their housing to be sold out from under them.Where do you think they can afford to go?You don't have a solution. Nobody has a solution.We have options that we seriously need to talk about. Don't talk about them because we like the person in front of us and we don't like the person in front of us who can offer a solution. Now is the time to come together. Can you imagine the mental frustration and the anguish during what we call this holiday season on these children, these parents, these grandparents, these families? Someone like a Chair of the Board of Supervisor will say, "Well, it's convenient for us to talk about this in January." The truth is never convenient, someone even wrote a book about it, that inconvenient truth. The truth tonight is it's your job, is your responsibility, take it and do something for these lives. Mayor Burk: Thanks. Mr. Campbell, would you spell your name for closed captioning? I didn't catch you at the beginning. Page 11 I December 14,2021 Ron Campbell: Ron, R-O-N Campbell, C-A-M-P-B-E-L-L. Mayor Burk: Thank you very much. Mr. Campbell is followed by Jenny Hall and Jenny Hall is followed by Bonnie McLean. Jenny Hall: Jenny Hall, J-E-N-N-Y H-A-L-L. I've had to pivot what I was going to speak to you tonight, but you stated that many employees are supporting you in your vaccine mandate. That's great. I'd like more transparency in regard to what departments and when they said it, and if that makes you uncomfortable, you shouldn't ask the unvaxxed to disclose their information. The voice of those who are vaxxed do not negate the percentage who you've silenced because they are afraid of speaking out. We're talking about 97%. What are you trying to do 3%to get to 100?What is the end goal?Six months science says the vaccines wane.What are you going to do when they need another one? Are you going to oversee that? This is insanity. Why do you need to mandate 3% of people to do something they may or may not want to do right now. It doesn't mean they won't do it in the future. It means they don't want to do it on your timeline. Now I'm going to talk to those that this affects because that's what I originally was going to talk to. I am sorry to those that this is affecting and employees to those who have resigned, I and many others support you. If you need work, if you are looking for positions, please email your resumes, because I will send them to as many people as I can. To those who haven't received a COVID vaccine at this time,we're talking about 3%. Apparently, we don't care about the 3% but we care about the 3% of people that may have gotten COVID and become sick but we don't care about 3% that use their own brains to decide what is right for them. If you don't decide to get this vaccine please know that you have rights in the workplace. Reach out to me and I will send you the tools to submit for the exemptions that you are guaranteed access to. Mr. Cummings thinks that no one is going to submit for those, but I will support and give the tools to people who will submit those exemptions. I am disappointed with this Council but I am steadfast in what I've been saying to you since October. I will continue to show up for this Town and the people whom you've put in positions to fear losing their jobs for a drug.To others who stand with me in this fight,the one viral thing we should share is kindness with firm conviction. Mayor Burk: Ms. Hall, thank you very much. You're followed by Bonnie McLean followed by Vicente Gonzalez. Bonnie McLean: Bonnie McLean, B-O-N-N-I-E M-C-L-E-A-N. Madam Mayor, Members of Council, I'm speaking in support of what was Motion 13A,which has since been removed from the agenda in support of rescinding resolution 2021-154. Vaccine mandates like the one the Town of Leesburg has adopted present a crisis of conscience for many people of faith. The underlying attitude expressed earlier this evening seems dismissive of the rights and freedoms of a minority. May I remind this body that the United States of America is a republic, not a democracy as a pledge we recited earlier? Equal rights for all are not overruled by the majority. If the alleged 3% of the Town's employees were discriminated against were a certain skin color with that type of dismissive attitude and discrimination be acceptable. Council Member Cummings mentioned something about complying with exemptions. I would like to point out that, to my knowledge, there is no law or ordinance that requires or makes a demand for an exemption.The mandate is solely for the vaccination. There is no mandate for exemptions in existence anywhere on this Earth that I am aware of. I also remember that this body made comments that seem to suggest that the Town intends on eventually getting rid of employees who have been granted exemptions. Based on your minutes of your October 1291 meeting, I urge you to reconsider your discriminatory policy that puts those with religious Page 12 I December 14, 2021 beliefs in the position of being pressure to divulge details of their beliefs. The First Amendment didn't disappear overnight. It has also been reported that at least one employee has already won a lawsuit against their employer over religious discrimination regarding the exemption issue. It was in six figures. Thank you. Mayor Burk: Ms. McLean is followed by Vicente Gonzalez followed by Marianna Gonzalez. Vicente Gonzalez:Good evening. My name is Vicente Gonzalez.V-I-C-E-N-T-E G-O-N-Z-A-L-E-Z. I'm here today. I'm a resident of the Leesburg Mobile Home Park. I want to share a statement from my community to you guys. On behalf of the Leesburg Mobile Park,we'd like to say thank you for your time and attention over the past three months. We are still extremely concerned about the future of the Leesburg Mobile Park and the likelihood of losing our homes to the redevelopment. Any type of move would be very costly to our community. We will continue to hope that the Town, as well as the County, will work with the new buyer and with us, the homeowners,to find a solution that is in the best interest of the Leesburg Mobile Park residents. Thank you for your time. Mayor Burk: Thank you, Mr. Gonzalez. Marianna Gonzalez followed by Sarah Richardson. Mariana Gonzalez: Hi, my name is Marianna Gonzalez, M-A-R-I-A-N-A G-O-N-Z-A-L-E-Z. I am 15. Mayor Burk: Mariana, could you speak up a little louder? It's hard to hear you. Mariana Martinez: I am 15 years old. I live in 78 Leesburg Mobile Park with my four siblings and two parents. I've been living there for 13 years and it's the only home that I've ever lived in and known well and enjoyed being in. It's the only home that I would want to stay in. I want to stay in our house because we have everything there. Everything is close. The stores, the places we go to hang out.We can walk to the grocery stores because of how close it is. All our friends and families live nearby, so we don't have to worry about not being able to see them. It would be hard to leave because I would have to change schools, make new friends, and starting our whole lives over again would be really hard on us. My family and I feel safe in our community and we wouldn't want to leave.We hope that the buyer will work together with the Town and the County to find a solution that will help the families in the Leesburg Mobile Home Park.Thank you for your time and for listening to what I have to say. Mayor Burk: Thank you. Mariana is followed by Sarah Richardson.Who's followed by Paul Coyer. Sarah Richardson: Sarah Richardson. S-A-R-A-H. Richardson, R-I-C-H-A-R-D-S-O-N. Good evening, Mayor Burk and Members of the Council. I am president of the Virginia Knolls Community Association. You will find my neighborhood of 140 attached Townhouses,just east of Harrison Street and Catoctin Circle. It dates to 1966 and so has very limited parking. I am here to talk about the proposed Virginia Village redevelopment. I lived for two decades in New York City without a car, so I know how easy carless living can be when there is a bus or subway running frequently nearby. In 2009, I lost my job and was offered a job in Leesburg. My first year I lived above what is now Black Hoof Brewing on King Street, but I could duplicate my urban walk-everywhere lifestyle. I discovered how far it is to walk with groceries from Safeway up the hill on King Street. I discovered how long a walk it is from King and Market to Ida Lee. In 2010, I bought a home in Virginia Knolls, which I chose for its walkability, which was roughly the same as what I experienced on King Street. I could walk to many places, but I could not walk to my job, gatherings outside the intercore, medical appointments and many cultural retail and recreational Page 13 I December 14, 2021 venues. My point is that a suburban environment cannot morph into a high-density, urban-style community by rezoning alone. It takes a lot of effective mass transit to make it work. Lacking that here is my worry. Imagine you are a couple living in a one-bedroom unit in the new Virginia Village.You have one dedicated space for a car. Why wouldn't you decide to park your second car on nearby streets?Which my community of Virginia Knolls relies on for parking rather than deal with a time-restricted onsite access to parking the developer proposes. I support environmentally responsible developments. I also take my responsibility to my community seriously. The Virginia redevelopment plan proposes a 30% reduction in required onsite parking. That cut total 280 spaces, as I understand. Consider how that could affect us, the community with street parking that is closest to these densely populated buildings. As one of our residents wrote, the Planning Commission's objections are quite valid. The proposed increase in residential units combined with reduction parking makes no sense. I live in the neighborhood of Virginia Knolls,which I feel quite certain will turn into the overflow parking area. I could go on, but I think I've made my point. I thank you for your time. Please, consider our concerns.We are so close to this development. Thank you. Mayor Burk: Thank you. Ms. Richardson followed by Paul Coyer. Is Paul not here? Paul Coyer: Sorry. I heard you say her name first. My name is Paul Coyer. I'm a professor and a historian and resident of Leesburg.As you all know by now, I was voted on the Balch Library Advisory Commission back in October. The same night you voted in the Vax Mandate. I understand this cause a bit of frustration on your part to hear about it again tonight, but unfortunately, you're going to hear more.As I mentioned the last time I spoke to you in this topic,there was a significant and growing body of scientific data that undermines claims of both the efficacy and the safety of the vax can be efficacious in some instances. The data is worrisome. One point is that, to date, there have been more adverse events reported for these COVID vaccines than for all 70-plus vaccines combined since they started tracking adverse events 30 years ago.That is a data point that I think should give most people pause. I'm going to repeat what I heard Bill Fox ask,whether or not you all had considered this data point or any other significant data points when he made this decision. I suspect the answer is no. According to research published by the New England Journal of Medicine on what little data has been made available from the Pfizer trial, the trial showed that the drug can save one life for every 22,000 people vaccinated. It also appeared from the trial that the drug killed more people than it saved. There were actually 20 deaths in the treatment group versus 14 in placebo after unwinding. That's worrisome as well, I would say. A group of scientists, professors, and medical professionals want the FDA to release data that led to the licensing of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine. In response, Pfizer requested that the FDA keep the data from its human trials secret until 2076.That's 55 years. It wants to change FOIA laws so that it does not have to respond to FOIA requests for those 55 years. Does that sound like a biopharmaceutical firm confident in its data?Again, that's a rhetorical question. This is the same company that in 2009 received the largest fine in US history for, "Bribing doctors and suppressing adverse trial results."That's just one of many, many such horror stories I could tell. The FDA took only 108 days to approve the Pfizer shot,and yet wants more than half a century to make the trial info upon which it depended for that decision open to the public. We have a growing body of court decisions which have been addressed already. I'm not going to repeat all of those, but suffice it to say the legal environment for these decisions is questionable at best. I would like to end by repeating what one of the previous speakers said. The issue that she raised was quite pertinent, that our government was founded not to protect the tyranny of the majority, but to protect the rights of the minority. We have a minority here who has decided that they know what's best for their body and for their health, and that the government shouldn't decide for them.That's something I think that should be respected, and I would urge you guys to rescind this mandate. Page 14 I December 14, 2021 Mayor Burk: Mr. Coyer,would you please spell your name for the close captioning? Paul Coyer: C-O-Y-E-R. Paul is P-A-U-L. Mayor Burk: Thank you. Is there anybody in the audience that did not sign up that would like to speak at this point? No one's come forward, so I will close this petitioner section.That takes us to the consent agenda. I will read the items on the consent agenda then ask for a motion and a second. "Approval of the consent agenda A, 12A 2021 Tree City USA Application. B, Second Amendment to Hospital Tank Antennae Lease T-Mobile. C, Creek Valley Buffer and Flood Plain Regulatory Amendments. D, Replacement of Biological Nutrient Reactor Split Box Gates at Water Pollution Control Facility. E, Exterior Building Cleaning and Sealant at the Water Pollution Control Facility. F, Replacement of the Radiator on the Standby Generator at the Water Pollution Control Facility. G, Demolition, and Replacement of the Digestive Motor Control Center at the Water Pollution Control Facility. H, Payment Resurfacing Cornwall Street at King to Memorial. I, Appointment to Bull Run Alcohol Safety Action Program Policy Board and appoint Matthew Abate to the Police Citizens Task Force. Is there anything anybody wants removed? Is there a motion? Vice Mayor Martinez: So moved. Mayor Burk: Moved by Vice Mayor Martinez. Second? Seconded by Council Member Bagdasarian.All in favor? Council Members: Aye. Mayor Burk: Opposed?That passes 7-0. The next item we have is a resolution. This resolution is the renaming of Harry Byrd highway within the Town of Leesburg Corporate Limits to Leesburg Pike. Do I have a motion? Vice Mayor Martinez: So moved. Mayor Burk: So moved by Council Member Martinez,seconded by Council Member Steinberg. Is there a presentation on this item? Kaj Dentler: Only if Council want it. It's very brief. Mayor Burk: Do we want a presentation?Okay, I just would like to say that this is coming forward after the County has already voted on this and sent it to the General Assembly for approval to change. If we don't want a presentation tonight, anybody have any questions? Mr. Martinez. Vice Mayor Martinez: I just want to say that even though I voted the motion, I'm not going to support it. Thank you. Mayor Burk:All right. Renaming the Harry Byrd Highway within the Town Corporate Limits to Leesburg Pike. Mr. Martinez made the motion, it was seconded by Mr. Steinberg. All in favor indicate by saying, "Aye". Council Members: Aye. Mayor Burk: Opposed? Vice Mayor Martinez: Nay. Mayor Burk: All right, that's six-one. I'm sorry. Thank you.You guys are so quick to catch. Good.Any future meeting agendas? Ms. Nacy, anything you want to future? Council Member Nacy: No. I don't think. Do you want--? Page 15 I December 14, 2021 Mayor Burk: Yes, you're right.We should be doing disclosures too, okay. Mr. Bagdasarian? Council Member Bagdasarian: Yes. Since we're going to have another work session on the Virginia Village project, I'd like for the EDC to weigh in on the economic impact,their perspective on this for our next work session, along with the economic development directors'follow-up. Mayor Burk:The only problem is we're not having a work session.The motion that was made last night was that we would immediately have a vote, it would be on the agenda for a vote.You can ask for their input to be given to us but it won't go to a work session for discussion. Council Member Bagdasarian: I would like their input to be submitted along with the economic development directors'follow-up in advance of the meeting. Mayor Burk: Is that it? Council Member Bagdasarian: That's it. Mayor Burk:Any disclosures?Anything? Council Member Bagdasarian: No. Mayor Burk: Okay. Ms. Fox. Council Member Fox: I have a disclosure. I met with Brian Cullen about the Virginia Village rezoning application last Friday, and I do have one thing to add to the next agenda. I'd like to add the motion to rescind resolution 2021-154. I'd like to add that to the January 11th regular meeting. Mayor Burk:All right. Mr. Steinberg? Council Member Steinberg: [unintelligible] Mayor Burk: Mr. Cummings? Council Member Cummings: Two disclosures. I had phone conversations with Brian Cullen and Andrew Painter on the Virginia Village Rezoning on the 9th and the 13th, and then I also had a meeting on the 13th with Molly Novotny and Colleen Gillis with Cooley, and it was just an overview of some of their clients' properties here in the Town. Mayor Burk: Okay, Mr. Martinez? Vice Mayor Martinez: [unintelligible]. Mayor Burk:All right.On November 26th, I joined the other elected officials to officially open the Holiday Road Show at Morven Park. That was a spectacular live show and if you get the opportunity to attend, please do. Congratulations to Director Stacey Metcalfe and the Morven Park board for this great show. November 28th, I was honored to recognize Katherine Burch,who lives in Morningside and who turned 100 years old. She came into the room dancing and loved all the attention. She really loved Chief Brown. It was great that the staff at Morningside was so welcoming, it was great fun, and happy birthday to Katherine. December 1st, I participated in lighting the Menorah at the Sha'are Shalom synagogue, thanks to Rabbi Tow and the Congregation for the warm welcome. December 3th, Members Fox, Nacy, and Steinberg along with Vice Mayor Martinez and Congresswoman Wexton joined me for the celebration of the tree lighting here in Town. Maggie, Sam, Caleb, and Savannah joined us and pulled the lever to light the tree. It was a great event. Another hard job made to look easy by Parks and Rec staff and the Street Crews that did the decorating on the bucket truck. Page 16 I December 14, 2021 December 3rd, I presented a proclamation to Caldwell Banker, realtors for 10 years at their present location and 30 years in Leesburg. December 4th and 5th, the Parks and Rec held an annual Arts and Craft Show. I did most of my shopping there. It's a great place to get a gift for you or for others, and I look forward to it every year, and Parks and Rec did a great job of putting it together as always. December 4th, I participated in George Marshall house lighting, tree lighting. They have trees for every country that was in the Marshall Plan. They decorate them and light them every year. It's a really very pretty walk and if you get the chance,walk the path in the evening and look at the trees. December 5th participated in the lighting of the Menorah for the Chabad of Loudoun County. Rabbi Cohen is an amazing bundle of joy and movement and everyone was so generous and welcoming. December 8th and 9th, I attended the VML Executive Committee in Charlottesville. Congratulations to our new police officers. The Christmas parade, while it had to be moved from Saturday to Sunday, again Parks and Rec did a great job of organizing it and reorganizing it for the next day. Finally, I spoke before the County Public Hearing on the airport noise overlay for the Leesburg Airport. The County is looking to do away with the one-mile overlay district that requires homeowners to be notified that they're living near an airport and there will be noise associated with their location. Merry Christmas and happy holidays to everyone. Town Manager, do you have? Kaj Dentler: No comment. Mayor Burk:Okay,then we're going to go into a closed session.Pending legislation,annexation,and/or boundary line agreement with respect to the JLMA, so I move pursuant to 2.2-3711(A)(7) and 2.2- 3711(A)(8)to the Code of Virginia that the Leesburg Town Council convene in a closed meeting for the purpose of consultation with legal counsel and briefings by staff members pertaining to pending legislation in the Town of Leesburg et al. versus Loudoun County et al. Loudoun County Circuit Court number 19-1768 where said consultation is open session would adversely affect the negotiating and litigating posture of Town and consulting with the legal counsel regarding the specific legal matters require supervision of legal advice by said counsel and pertaining to the potential annexation and boundary line agreement with respect to the JLMA. Is there a second? Vice Mayor Martinez: Second. Mayor Burk: Seconded by Vice Mayor Martinez.All in favor. Council Members:Aye. Mayor Burk: Opposed. That passes 7-0.All right. Everyone leaves the room at this point. COUNCIL WENT INTO A CLOSED SESSION FROM 8:08 P.M.to 8:34 P.M. Mayor Burk:Alright. In accordance with Section§2.2-3712 of the Code of Virginia, I move that Council certify to the best of each member's knowledge, only public business matters lawfully exempt from the open meeting requirement under Virginia Freedom of Information Act and such public business matters for the purpose identified in the motion by which the closed meeting was convened were heard, discussed and considered by Council. Mayor Burk: Ms. Fox? Council Member Fox:Aye. Mayor Burk: Mr. Steinberg? Council Member Steinberg: Aye. Mayor Burk: Mr. Cummings? Page 17 I December 14, 2021 Council Member Cummings:Aye. Mayor Burk: Vice Mayor? Vice Mayor Martinez:Aye. Mayor Burk: Mr. Bagdasarian? Council Member Bagdasarian:Aye. Mayor Burk: Ms. Nacy? Council Member Nacy:Aye. Mayor Burk: And Mayor Burk, aye. Do I have a motion to adjourn? Vice Mayor Martinez: So moved. Mayor Burk: Second. All in favor? Council Members:Aye. Mayor Burk:We're done. Page 18 I December 14, 2021