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HomeMy Public PortalAbout2024_tcwsmin0318Council Work Session March 18, 2024 Council Chamber, 25 West Market Street, Leesburg, Virginia, 7:00 p.m. Mayor Kelly Burk presiding. Council Members Present: Ara Bagdasarian, Todd Cimino -Johnson, Zach Cummings, Kari Nacy, Vice Mayor Neil Steinberg, Patrick Wilt, and Mayor Kelly Burk. Council Members Absent: None. Staff Present: Town Manager Kaj Dentler, Town Attorney Christopher Spera, Deputy Town Manager Keith Markel, Finance Director Clark Case, Assistant Town Manager Kate Trask, Airport Director Scott Coffman, Community Development Director James David, Economic Development Director Russell Seymour, Thomas Balch Library Director Alexandra Gressitt, Parks and Recreation Director Rich Williams, Public Works and Capital Projects Director Renee LaFollette, Utilities Director Amy Wyks, Public Works and Capital Projects Deputy Director Chris Kohr, Capital Projects Assistance Director Douglas Wagner, Finance Deputy Director/Treasurer Lisa Haley, Management and Budget Officer Cole Fazenbaker, Deputy Management and Budget Officer Tamara Keesecker, Utilities Program Coordinator Betsy Payne, Management and Budget Analyst Liz Weaver and Clerk of Council Eileen Boeing. Minutes prepared by Deputy Clerk of Council Lyndon Gonzalez. AGENDA ITEMS I. Items for Discussion a. Proposed Budget for Fiscal Year 2025 — Final Mark-up Session Council and staff discussed the item. The mark-up results are as follows: It was the consensus of Council to: • remove $10,000 for facilitator for Council Retreat • add a Performing Arts Commission starting in in FY2025 • double the Planning Commission stipend • double the Board of Architectural Review stipend • add $3,000 for Commission of Public An • use $630,000 of Unassigned Fund Balance to study Catoctin Circle and East Market Street (traffic calming and safety improvements) • add a one-time $25,000 donation to LAWS Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Services using the Unassigned Fund Balance for construction of the new facility • add $120,000 of Unassigned Fund Balance for Electric Vehicle Charging Station • add $200,000 of Unassigned Fund Balance for Comprehensive Parles Master Plan There was no consensus of Council to: • eliminate the cost-ofliving adjustment from the Fiscal Year 2025 • look at the Unassigned Fund Balance up to $3.8 million to rebate or pay for tangible personal property for FY 2025 for residents and businesses • double the Board of Zoning Appeals stipend 1 HPTge Council Work Session March 18, 2024 • add $4,650 for Diversity Commission The request to add $6,000 for Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission "Park Day" was withdrawn. The request to add part-time elective employees' benefits will not be included in the budget but will be explored by staff and brought back at a later time. There was no action taken on the request to accelerate the construction of pickleball courts, however the staff will work to complete the construction sooner and make sure funds are available. The budget adoption is scheduled for March 19, 2024. b. Town Utility Customer Assistance Program Mr. Keith Markel presented Council with an update on the implementation plan for the Leesburg Customer Assistance Program (LCAP) which is scheduled to begin July 1, 2024. He explained the requirements for consideration in the program and how the approval process would work. Council and staff discussed the item. It was the consensus of Council to move the item to the March 19, 2024 Consent Agenda. 2. Additions to Future Council Meetings a. Proclamation Requests i. A proclamation request was received to proclaim the week of May 19 — 25, 2024, National Public Works Week at the May 14, 2024, Council Meeting. It was the consensus of Council to add this proclamation to the May 14, 2024, Council Meeting agenda. ii. A proclamation request was received to proclaim April Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month in the Town of Leesburg at the April 9, 2024, Council Meeting. It was the consensus of Council to add this proclamation to the April 9, 2024, Council Meeting agenda. iii. A proclamation request was received to proclaim April Child Abuse Prevention in the Town of Leesburg at the April 9, 2024, Council Meeting. It was the consensus of Council to add this proclamation to the April 9, 2024, Council Meeting agenda. 21Page Council Work Session March 18, 2024 b. Future Council Meeting and Agenda Topics i. None. 3. Adjournment On a motion by Vice Mayor Steinberg, seconded by Council Member Bagdasarian, the meeting was adjourned at 8:37p. m. Clerk of Council 2024 mwsmm0318 3rPagc March 18, 2024 — Leesburg 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 Leesburg Town Council Work Session, March 181h, 2024. Our first item for discussion tonight is the proposed budget for fiscal year 2025, but I would like to get a consensus from the group. What we're going to do is we have items on the board already we have not voted on. They were simply put up. I'm going to ask if the Council would prefer that we do whatever item that we want to bring up. We need to have four votes to discuss and talk about. Then to keep it on the board or to put it on the board, we need to have five votes, the majority. Is that acceptable to everybody that we do it that way? Anybody have any problems with that? Just because it's the super majority that you're going to have to have for the budget. If you don't want to do five and you want to do four and then take it out [crosstalk] with-- It does, it takes five. Council Member Patrick Wilt: Okay. Council Member Zach Cummings: Okay. Can we get a clarification on that from the Town Attorney? Mayor Burk: There Is no legal ramifications to it, it's just how we want to run it. Chris Spero: The budget is four, the tax rate is five. In order to approve it, the tax rate you need the super majority. The budget itself is just a regular vote. If you're voting on the tax rate, that's a super majority. Mayor Burk: Yes. We got that. If you don't want to do it that way, let me know so we can adjust how -- If you want to leave it at-- If you want to do it at four, if you want to do it at none, I need to hear from you as to how you want to do this. Council Member Cummings: Four. I think we should do four. Mayor Burk: Anybody else have an objection? [crosstalk] Council Member Cummings: [inaudible] Mayor Burk: He wants to do just four. Council Member Cummings: If we've always done four [inaudible] Mayor Burk: Well, it's done different ways. In the last number of years, it's been four. We can keep it four or we can make it more efficient and do five. It doesn't matter; however the majority of people want to do it. You want four? Council Member Cummings: Okay, yes. Mayor Burk: [inaudible] four? Four? [laughter] Council Member Ara Bagdasarian: For clarification, I mean, it's going to require five votes ideally. Mayor Burk: At the end, it will require for the budget, not four. I mean, not for the tax rate on the budget. [crosstalk] If we have someone who feels very strongly about it, we can do four. Okay. Anybody have a problem with that? 11March 18, 2024 Council Member Cummings: No. Mayor Burk: All right. Okay. Now I'm going to ask us to go through the items that are on, that have been put up there. Then when we've gone through all of these items, I will ask for any new additional items. Put on. The first item that we put on there was to double the Planning Commission stipend with the Board of Architectural Review and the Board of Zoning. The reason being that they-- I put this one up. The reason being that they have not had an increase in since 2013, but their workload has dramatically increased. They are presenting applications to us that they meet multiple times on to get it to the point that it's pretty clean by the times it gets to us. For all their efforts, it seemed like it was time to finally allow them to get a pay increase, a stipend increase. They're not paid, it's a stipend. Are there four votes that would like to double the stipend for the planning commission, the Board of Architectural Review, and the Board of Zoning appeal? All right, do I need to name them off? Council Member Kari Nacy: I just have a question. Mayor Burk: Yes, ma'am. Council Member Nacy: I would be willing to support this, but since it's going to change the tax rate, can we find a way to find the money? Can we move stuff around so it doesn't change the tax rate? Does that make sense? [laughs] Mayor Burk: We have not found that yet. Not at this point. Council Member Nacy: Okay. All right. I'm going to -- Mayor Burk: All right. Again, 1'11 ask, do we have four votes that would be willing to support the doubling the Planning Commission, Board of Architectural Review and the Planning and Zoning Appeal? Yes, sir. Council Member Bagdasarian: Can we see what it looks like with that taken out, what the impact to the tax rate is? If you just delete that cell [silence]. Cell C7. Yes. If you take those out, what is the impact to that actual tax rate? Cole Fazenbaker: Just a little clarification. None of them are added at this point. Council Member Bagdasarian: Okay. Cole Fazenbaker: The tax rate is at 1774, and if you approve those, double then it goes up to 1779. Mayor Burk: I can tell you the $6,000 from Parks and Rec is corning out. They don't need it. Anyway, that's the only one I know that is coming out. Any other questions? Do we have four votes to keep it in? Yes, ma'am. Council Member Nacy: Could, what if I just want to support one of them and not all three, can we vote on them separately, or are they a chunk? Mayor Burk: We most certainly could vote on them separately. Council Member Nacy: Together? Okay. Mayor Burk: Would you like to have us vote on separately? Council Member Nacy: Yes. Mayor Burk: Are there four people that would be willing to support doubling the Planning Commissions stipend? That's everybody. Are there four people that would be willing to double the Board of Architectural Review stipend? That's Mr. Bagdasarian, Mr. Steinberg, myself, Dr. Cimino- 2IMarch 18, 2024 Johnson. Is there four people that would be willing to double the Board of Zoning Appeals stipend, which is considerably less because they only get paid $100, so it would take it up to $200, and they don't always meet? If I'm correct. Mr. Dentler, that's an estimate of what it would-- Kaj Dentler: Correct. They only get paid when they meet. Mayor Burk: Right. They don't meet, they don't have a standard time to meet. Yes, Mr. Bagdasarian? Council Member Bagdasarian: I have a question about that. ,at is the workload and frequency of the BZA? Kaj Dentler: Have Mr. David come forward. James David: Good evening. James David, Director of Community Development. Very infrequent. Mayor Burk: Very infrequently? James David: I think they've met once in the last year. Testament to how good our Zoning Administrator is. Council Member Bagdasarian: Incredible. [laughter] Mayor Burk: The money should go-- No. [laughs] Are there four people that are in favor of doubling the Board of Zoning Appeals stipend? Mr. Wilt, Mr. Steinberg, and myself. That doesn't pass, so that comes out. The next item is-- it's hard for me to see here. Oh, add $3,000 for the Commission on Public Art. Who brought that one up? Who was that for? You brought it up? Council Member Cummings: No. Mayor Burk: Oh, that came from the Commission themselves. Kaj Dentler: This is the Commission's request. Mayor Burk: Okay. I don't know who you say made the motion, but it came from the Commission that they do the calendar every year and have a couple of other standard events that they do with an art show and a couple of other events, so they're asking for $3,000. Council Member Nacy: Does that have to be the unassigned [inaudible] Mayor Burk: That would come from the unassigned? Because it's a calendar, it goes-- Kaj Dentler: This would not be because it will continue as we have understood it. Mayor Burk: All right. Do we have any questions on that? Council Member Cummings: I just have one. Mayor Burk: Yes? Council Member Cummings: Is this in addition to what they already have budgeted, correct? Kaj Dentler: Cole is that correct? Cole Fazenbaker: Correct. Cole Fazenbaker: This is an increase. Currently, they have $12,000. This would increase their budget to $15,000. 3lMarch 18, 2024 Council Member Cummings: Okay. Mayor Burk: All right. Any other questions? Are there four people that are in favor of the $3,000 addition for the Commission on Public Art? Mr. Bagdasarian, Mr. Steinberg, myself, and Dr. Cimino - Johnson. The next one is the $4,650 for the Diversity Commission. Can anyone explain what that is for? Kaj Dentler: Yes. Cole? Cole Fazenbaker: Yes. That's comprised of a few different aspects. Previously, we talked about it just being the web site, but that's only a small portion. We can actually bring up a list of all the different components if you'd like to see. Mayor Burk: I think we should see what were voting on, yes. Cole Fazenbaker: Do you mind switching to the presentation? [silence] Mayor Burk: This is what they're requesting? Cole Fazenbaker: Correct. There's $792 in recurring expenditures for the web site language. There's $2,000 for a one-time job fair, $750 for one-time Halloween parade decorations, and then about $1,100 for materials and supplies for various Town events. Mayor Burk: You know the Economic Development does a job fair for youth, is this one at a location or is this virtual? Cole Fazenbaker: Do you know? I don't know if it's a separate event or the same one. I don't know if this is a separate event than the one that -- Mayor Burk: It is separate from the Economic Development one. Cole Fazenbaker: Okay. Mayor Burk: I know that. I just don't know if it's virtual or is it in person? Is it at a location? Kaj Dentler: I don't have that information. I don't know. Mayor Burk: Dr. Cimino -Johnson? Council Member Todd Cimino -Johnson: Is there a way we could pass on this and then bring it up at another meeting and discuss about taking it out of the Unassigned Fund Balance since it's only $4,600? Mayor Burk: Could we do that? Council Member Cimino -Johnson: Since we don't have enough information. Kaj Dentler: We can have that ready for you tomorrow night if we can't get it before we break. Let us see if we can track the staff member down and get an answer while you work on the other ones. Mayor Burk: Okay. It'II be on tomorrow. We'll let it pass for tonight? Kaj Dentler: No. We're going to circle back. Keith is going to try to track down staff liaison and get the information, and then before you finish everything else, we'll come back to that. Mayor Burk: Okay. Would this come out of the regular budget? Is this recurring? 4IMarch 18, 2024 Kaj Dentler: Correct. Mayor Burk: These are all recurring? Kaj Dentler: As we have understood them, they would be. Cole Fazenbaker: You can see in parentheses, the job fair and the Halloween decorations would be considered one time, and then the other expenses, the web site, and the materials and supplies would be recurring to break it down. Mayor Burk: Oh, I see. You put that beside it. Sony, I didn't see that. Kaj Dentler: Let us clarify that. The reason I said that, because if you remember, they asked to spend money on the parade last fall, and I had to ask you permission for that. Even though it says one time, I'm not sure that it is. Let us try to confirm that, and we'll circle back to clarify. Mayor Burk: My other question on this is, is it above and beyond what they have budgeted already? Cole Fazenbaker: Correct. Kaj Dentler: Yes. Mayor Burk: This is in addition to what they're getting, and what are they getting? Cole Fazenbaker: Correct. This is an additional $4,650. Mayor Burk: From how much --do they get? Cole Fazenbaker: They currently have $3,850 in their budget. Mayor Burk: They have $3,000, and they're requesting $4,000? Coel Fazenbaker: I think $3,800. Kaj Dentler: Madam Mayor, Keith has some information for you. Mayor Burk: Yes. Keith Markel: The job fair is an in -person event. It's going to be held in September. This past year, they also held one at Ida Lee and it's put together by the Diversity Commission. They do targeted outreach to the minority community and work with nonprofits that work with those communities. Anyone's invited to attend, but it is targeted towards certain segments. Mayor Burk: Okay. What are they spending $3,000 on if they're not spending it on this? Cole Fazenbaker: They have it earmarked for two job fairs, donation drives, Kiwanis Club Halloween Parade with floats. It looks like some of it is in addition, like the $750 is in addition to part of their $3,850. Mayor Burk: Okay. Are there any other questions? Mr. Bagdasarian? Council Member Bagdasarian: I'm just wondering, you mentioned the EDC Job Fair, the differences, and is there an opportunity to partner and have a super job fair? I'm just wondering if there's an opportunity. Mayor Burk: It would probably be difficult because the Economic Development one is the youth job fair, and its geared towards young people. As he said, that one must be geared towards adult minority population. [silence] Does anybody else have any questions on this? Are we gathering more information, Mr. Dentler? Any additional information? 5IMarch 18, 2024 Kaj Dentler: Yes. All of those, I think three items in the Diversity Commission are recurring. They would be added on a recurring basis. They're not one-time events. Mayor Burk: Okay. They're all recurring. Yes, Mr. Bagdasarian. Council Member Bagdasarian: I keep coming back -- Mayor Burk: That's okay. That's all right. Council Member Bagdasarian: Actually, this is a suggestion for next year. I think it'll be great for all Commissions, and most do provide an annual update, but also projected investments in the Commission that they foresee coming up. It's the Commission directly. There's time to vet it out and have a better understanding where it's aligned with everything else with the Town for next year. We can't do it tonight. Kaj Dentler: We did invite them to the first work session. They are aware, but they're not here. Mayor Burk: Sorry. I'm chewing ice. Any more questions on this? That's all right. You ask all the questions you want. Are there four people that are willing to add $4,650 to the diversity commission? That does not pass. Mr. Steinberg is the only one-- The $6,000 has been withdrawn. The amount collected above 500,000 for speed cameras would be directed to study to address the safety improvements on-- Kaj Dentler: We discussed that at the last meeting, Madam Mayor, in which that in order for you to do the studies, I believe Council Member Cummings raised, and I think Mr. Steinberg, you raised one, you won't have enough-- it's probable that you won't have enough money to do those studies. If Council is committed to doing those studies and those two roadway areas, then you should use your Unassigned Fund Balance to fund it and not associate it with above the amount or you'll never get there. Mayor Burk: Okay. All right. Then do we have four people that are willing to use the Unassigned Fund Balance to study Catoctin Circle and East Market Street for traffic calming and safety improvements? Council Member Bagdasarian: I've got a question before -- Mayor Burk: Oh, I'm sorry. Council Member Bagdasarian: Yes, I'm sorry. I didn't leave it on. The question is, how does this align or overlap with the Crescent District Master Plan, process, and project? James David: Sorry, 1'11 sit closer. Mayor Burk: I was going to say you might have sit in front. James David: These numbers actually are coming directly from that effort. As part of the Crescent District Master Plan update, the consultant and staff did some outreach, revamped the whole plan. Part of that plan is a renewed commitment to public -private partnership approach and unlocking some of the redevelopment potential could really begin to gather some momentum if we invest early in some planning survey and design for these two roadway segments. We're talking about Catoctin Circle from King to Market, and we're talking about East Market from the bypass down to Mom's Apple Pie. We worked with Stantec, who's our contractor consultant, and said, "Could we have an estimate of the costs for survey, planning, and preliminary design work?" They estimated about 315,000 per segment. Mayor Burk: Oops, sorry 61March 18, 2024 Council Member Bagdasarian: Was this amount previously budgeted as part of the overall plan as this is just accelerating the whole process? James David: This has not been previously budgeted. This is in the planning phase, but we wanted to make it action oriented. If the Council wanted to do something about the the concepts coming out of that draft plan, this would be a great start to get into the CIP. Council Member Bagdasarian: Okay, thank you. James David: I should just note it, it doesn't cover Catoctin Circle from King Street to Davis Avenue, which I think was another road segment that was brought up [crosstalk] with the previous speed camera item. Mayor Burk: It stops at Catoctin Circle? James David: Correct. Mayor Burk: Most certainly long overdue and most certainly needed, that's for sure. Any other questions? Are there four votes to use Unassigned Fund Balance to study Catoctin Circle and East Market Street? All right. Everyone but Mr. Wilt. I'm just doing that for efficiency. I can name everybody off, but if you don't mind doing it that way. Next one. Remove $10,000 for facilitator to Council Retreat and use for Planning Commission stipend. There's one of them. [laughs] Anybody have any questions on this? Yes, sir. Vice Mayor Steinberg: I appreciate wanting to remove it. I'm not sure how we then employ it as part of the stipend for the Planning Commission since that's recurring cost. I concede removing it. Kaj Dentler: Well, you're going to fund it. If you approve it, you'd be anticipating using it in January of 25. Your new budget starts July of '24, and then it would come out in the next year. It would have an impact on it if you use it, but it's not really recurring. It's every other year's expense. If you want to use Unassigned Fund Balance, you could, don't have to. It's not something that stays in the budget. Mayor Burk: Okay. You could use the unassigned to-- but 1 think the intent is to remove it altogether. Kaj Dentler: Yes, correct. That's the intent. I thought you were asking if I answered a question you didn't ask. I apologize. Vice Mayor Steinberg: I would fully support removing it, but I'm not sure why we would then relate it to the Planning Commission's stipend since that is indeed a recurring expense. Kaj Dentler: That is recurring, correct. Mayor Burk: You really can't do that. You could remove it, but we can't use-- Kaj Dentler: You've only had a facilitator every other year. The $10,000 doesn't stay in the budget every year. Mayor Burk: It also can't go to the Planning Commission stipends because stipends are every year. Kaj Dentler: You've already done. You just take it out. It all gets -- Mayor Burk: Evened out in the end. Kaj Dentler: Yes. The staff takes care of all that. Some things go, some things go out. Mayor Burk: We just need to do a straw vote on removing it. Okay. Are there four people that would like to remove the facilitator for our council retreat? Mr. Wilt, Ms. Nacy, Mr. Steinberg, Dr. Cimino - Johnson, and Mr. Cummings. Okay. Next one. My neck is going to be-- Okay. Add a Performing Arts Commission starting in 2024. It says' 24. It should be' 25. Okay. Yes. 7jMarch 18, 2024 Council Member Bagdasarian: I had a question regarding the prior one. This is directed for the Town Manager. I know that ship has already sailed, but what utility does the consultant have from your perspective in the facilitation as well as follow-up to the meeting as far as the value that is derived from that? Kaj Dentler: Are you going back to the facilitator? Council Member Bagdasarian: I'm going back to the consultant. Kaj Dentler: That's what I thought I heard, but my hearing. Okay. First off, I think it's up to the Council. It will really be the new Council. Do you want to have a planning retreat, strategic session, when the new group comes in? If you do, then how do you make that work? Is it just going to be the seven of you talking to each other and trying to figure it out? Maybe that works. Often, we find you need someone that has nothing to do with it, that they can hear all the voices, the ideas, and find the commonalities. That's your choice of how you want it to be efficient - Mayor Burk: Or not to have it at all. Kaj Dentler: -or if you don't even want to have it, then it's entirely up to you. The next two years, what are the goals and priorities of the Council? Council Member Bagdasarian: Traditionally, so I know, obviously, the last three years, we've had two retreats. Has this been a tradition or has this been part of the operating process of the council in the past? Kaj Dentler: Its been a little bit all over the place. Some Councils have not wanted a Retreat at all. Some have, and they've been more elaborate at times in the past and even more skeleton than what you've gone through the last couple of years. All over the place. Council Member Bagdasarian: I'm sure if the future Council is interested in having a facilitator, there can be funding made available, I'm certain. [crosstalk] Mayor Burk: Okay. Back to, where are we? The Performing Arts Commission, starting in FY 2025. Any questions on this? Yes, sir. Vice Mayor Steinberg: I've heard two versions of this. One was to a Performing Arts Commission, and one was to a Performing Arts Council, which was a more extensive proposition. I guess what I'm trying to understand then is what would our expectation be for a Performing Arts Commission, as its proposed? Mayor Burk: Well, I think that's part of what's going to have to happen, is going to have to be a planning process and a design process and a mission statement and the role determination that it's not going to on July unless I'm mistaken, July 251h. We're not just going to have a commission. We're going to have discussions. We're going to have staff, start talking about it, working with groups to try to find out what the role is, what the mission is. We've got some suggestions from Dr. Cimino - Johnson. It could work, but it's not going to start immediately in July, but the intention here is that we will have a Commission on Performing Arts. Chris Spera: Madam Mayor, obviously if this is a standing Commission, there has to be enabling legislation. It has to get added to the Town Code and scope mandate - Mayor Burk: Oh, it does. Chris Spera: -and mission. Oh, yes ma'am. Mayor Burk: Oh, so this is going to have to go to the legislature. Chris Spera: No, no, not in the Charter, but the Town Code. You would have to adopt an Ordinance creating this. 81March 18, 2024 Mayor Burk: Oh, okay, yes. Chris Spera: Just like your other standing commissions, where they each have a mandate, what they're supposed to do, what their scope is, the composition, all that stuff that you see in your other standing commissions. The product of all the discussion that you just mentioned would then have to be written down and added to the Town Code because, as I understand it from Dr. Cimino -Johnson, this is proposed to be a standing Commission rather than ad hoc. We'd have to add it into the Town Code. Mayor Burk: Just so everybody understands, it's not going to be immediate. It will take some time to get this through the Town Code process and the whole planning and designing process. Mr. Bagdasarian? Council Member Bagdasarian: That's fine. Just wanted to verify that and also, I mean, this would be earmarked, so it would not start the first, and obviously we have to look at the Charter purpose, objectives, goals, but I think things needed, thank you. Mayor Burk: Hopefully at some point, we'll have a performing arts center and there'll be an even more important role. All in favor of the Performing Arts Commission starting at some point in FY 2025. That's Mr. Bagdasarian, Ms. Nacy and Mr. Steinberg, Ms. Burke, Mr. Cummings, and Dr. Cimino - Johnson. Add on $25,000 donation to the Loudoun Abused Women's Shelter using Unassigned Fund Balance. I did notice they did get a million dollars the other day. Good for them, but so this would just be a one-time. Any questions on this? Yes, sir. Council Member Cimino -Johnson: I had a question. I know there was a question the other night about could we offset their fees instead of giving them a donation? Did we look into that? Mayor Burk: I don't believe we did. Did we? Kaj Dentler: Well, the question, or the conversation just was about giving them a fee waiver. We can't do that. However, you can make a donation either this amount of 25,000 or eventually the equivalent amount of their fees, which they then pay us back. Council Member Nacy: Mayor Burk: It's probably just cleaner to do it this way, probably just cleaner? Yes, sir. Council Member Bagdasarian: Yes, one of the key considerations that we discussed at our last meeting was the whole nonprofit grant process. What's different about this is that it's a capital project. This is for the construction. I'm assuming this is going towards the construction of the new shelter, which is obviously much needed in Leesburg and Loudoun County. Mayor Burk: Can we add that to make sure that that is understood because I do think you're opening a door that you don't really-? Council Member Nacy: Yes, that would be my intent with adding it was for the actual construction, actual building because Leesburg they've come and briefed us many times in Leesburg is a large user of the current facility so I think it just makes sense. Mayor Burk: Are there four people that would be okay with donating $25,000 from the Unassigned Fund Balance? I lost my place. For $25,000. Where is it? You moved it. Oh, up there. To Loudoun Abuse Women's Shelter for construction of a new facility. That is everyone. The next one, adding $120,000 of Unassigned Fund Balance for electric vehicle charging stations. Isn't that part plan already? We just didn't fund it. Keith Markel: That's right. It's been talked about, it was part of the Unfunded Enhancement Program this current year, so that's why you're not seeing it in your budget. The high side here on this number is that $120,000. We're looking to install the chargers as you all remember, in the Town garage, and then across Lasseter Way, we have two surface spaces there that we also want to charge. We've brought some of the power there. It's part of our other capital project to bring power over to the 9IMarch 18, 2024 streetlights, so we're fully nibbling away at the project, but we do have to get the chargers installed as well as the conduit and the data to those chargers. Mayor Burk: Okay, so this is part of Mr. Bagdasarian's. This is intertwining with Dr. Cimino -Johnson's plan, isn't it? Keith Markel: Correct. Mayor Burk: Okay. My question was, and we know where they're going to be located, you said in the garage? Keith Markel: Yes. Mayor Burk: On the first spot right outside this door, that's not going to be where they are. That's where I always park. [laughs] Keith Markel: No, it can be incremental. Our approach right now is to start with two chargers or a single dual -headed charger, get two spaces to be charging stations, and see what their utilization is. If they're used a great deal of time, then we can add into that. We've built in that capacity. We just keep going down the row and adding in more spaces. If we find they're not in high demand right now, we won't consume those other spaces until they're needed. Mayor Burk: Okay. Mr. Cimino -Johnson, is that okay with you? Council Member Cimino -Johnson: Yes. Mayor Burk: Dr. Cimino -Johnson, sorry. Excuse me. I don't know a lot about electric cars, my brother just bought one, and he was trying to tell me about it today, and I didn't understand a word he was saying. Are there types of chargers? Do all electric cars go into one charger? Keith Markel: Every vehicle will be able to be charged from these stations, and they'll be able to be paid at the charger through an app, so it's very widespread. Mayor Burk: Okay, that was my next question. Is there a fee to it? Keith Markel: There'll be a fee to it, so we're hoping to recover the cost of the charging cost itself. It's not to make money, but at least to break even on the program, and it'll be a level two charger. They won't be the rapid charge, so it'll be what you typically install at your home, or you've seen a lot of businesses, the most common charger out there, which would be the level two, which is the most economical to install and to get power to. Mayor Burk: What happens if the technology changes overnight, and it's a different type of charger altogether? Keith Markel: The biggest issue is the power demand. If you need to bring different power, higher voltage, more demand to those things where you have those level two to the rapid charge, that's when you're bringing new transformers, new power. That's when your costs really escalate, but as far as to swap out a charger for a charger of a level two type, you're not talking about big dollars there. Within the thousands. Just several thousands of dollars. Mayor Burk: Okay. Mr. Bagdasarian? Council Member Bagdasarian: Yes, thank you. How accurate is that 120,000 number? Is that for two units? Keith Markel: That would be at full build out, as I understand it. We've got Chris Kohr here who's closer to it than I am, but I would say this would be on the higher side of that price tag. If we're starting with just the single two -headed charger on it, we could do that at a cost less than that, so we're hoping to be slowly incrementally working our way to the full build -out of the charging program. 101March 18, 2024 Council Member Bagdasarian: That is definitely the right approach because we don't know what the usage is going to be. Keith Markel: Right. Council Member Bagdasarian: Secondly, you mentioned recouping fees. Do have an idea of what the timeframe for that would be to recoup the investment of the cost? Keith Markel: I think what we're looking for is to cover the cost of the actual power being consumed, but not to fully pay ourselves back for this charger installation or bring new power to the site. Deb Moran has been doing the project. She's closest to it, so I could get with her and get you that follow- up information [crosstalk] Council Member Bagdasarian: That would be great. Keith Markel: -what that cost recovery includes. Council Member Bagdasarian: Okay, thank you. Mayor Burk: Vice Mayor? Vice Mayor Steinberg: Okay, so question asked and answered about what the 120k gets us. Just out of curiosity, how useful is a level two charger short-term parking in the end? I'm just curious. Clark Case: It's what the County's installing in their garages, in their surface lots, their park an ride lots. It's the most standard charger out there. If you go to the rapid charge and see those rapid charging stations for the Testa for example, you'd see at certain points along the 195 corner where the feds have put in more money to those where you charge in 20 minutes versus over a course of several hours, but a level two charger is what you'd see out there. It's the industry standard, and it's very adequate for folks who would be coming Downtown, maybe an employee working in the Downtown, Town staff may want to utilize it, folks coming for lunch and then walking around for an hour, and again, they're just topping off, so these won't be coming in usually with a dead battery. They'd be coming in and just that incremental filling, so level two, from everything we've heard is acceptable. Vice Mayor Steinberg: Okay, thank you. Mayor Burk: Dr. Cimino -Johnson? Council Member Cimino -Johnson: Yes, what's the tax rebate for putting these in, or is there one? Clark Case: I don't believe there's any tax rebate currently available for local governments for installing the chargers themselves. Mayor Burk: Is it just for residential? I know my -- Clark Case: We don't get the tax rebates. You can potentially sell them, but usually with one or two stations, you don't have the economy scale. Mayor Burk: Yes. Could you please come up to the mic? Keith Markel: Right. We are getting a rebate a tax. They found a way 10 do a direct payment to localities for purchase of EV vehicles. We just got a $7,500 rebate for a recent F-150 that we purchased. That's a charging. We are getting money back on that end, but I haven't seen anything on the charging side. Clark Case: Yes. I don't believe you can get a rebate back an this. It has to be provided for by the Federal statute. The way you do that is the Town doesn't get the rebate. The Town sells the rebate to 11March 18, 2024 somebody else who's eligible to get it, but for the charging stations, it's not like it is for the vehicles. Mayor Burk: Right. Okay. Did that answer your question? Okay, Mr. Cummings. Council Member Cummings: Yes. Do we know, did Ms. Moran work to look at the community charging program? That was in some Federal, the infrastructure legislation passed maybe two years ago now that they're matching or the Federal government is covering 80% for local governments and communities to put in charging, they allocated 2.5 billion. Keith Markel: No, I can follow up with her, but I don't know that answer. Council Member Cummings: Yes. I know the part of the grant program is having a plan in place rather than just a hodgepodge of one here, one there, they want a community plan. I obviously would support more electric chargers or some electric chargers. I just want to make sure were with 2.5 billion out in this community charging program. Grant, rd like to make sure we're being efficient in trying to go after that Federal funding. Thanks. Mayor Burk: Mr. Bagdasarian. Council Member Bagdasarian: Just one more follow-up. Help me understand. Is there an actual transaction that occurs with someone who uses the charging station? Keith Markel: Yes. Council Member Bagdasarian: That's to recoup the cost of the actual electricity? Keith Markel: The power being consumed yes. Council Member Bagdasarian: Okay. Thank you. Mayor Burk: AM right. Do we have four people that are interested-- I got to look at it this way, that are interested in using $120,000 of Unassigned Fund Balance for electric vehicle charging stations. All right. That would be Dr. Cimino -Johnson, myself, Vice Mayor, Ms. Nacy, and Mr. Bagdasarian. Add part-time elective employee benefits. That is yours. Did you want to say anything about it? Council Member Cimino -Johnson: This is from the memo I sent around just adding for those elective benefits that doesn't cost the Town anything. Maybe a little bit of administrative dollars that we would be adding people onto the role. Right now, from what I understand, and I believe this is still being looked into, I haven't gotten a full report. Kaj Dentler: Yes, our recommendation would be to allow us to look further into this versus tying into the budget. There are some costs, there are some minor administrative costs, but what happens is, our regular part-time employees all work at least 20 hours a week and so payroll deduction is known. You sign up for a service, we know what you're going to make. The Town is collecting that money pays the bill. If there's a lifeguard involved or someone at the Balch Library and they're not regular part-time, they work one week but don't work the next two weeks, who's paying the bill? There are some mechanics that we have to work through, and it doesn't mean we can't resolve it, but what my recommendation would be is just allow us to explore this further. Should the majority of you wants to do it, there's no issues on our end to explore and come back to you. Council Member Cimino -Johnson: Okay. Mayor Burk: That's acceptable? Council Member Cimino -Johnson: Yes. Mayor Burk: Good. Council Member Cimino -Johnson: Absolutely. 12lMarch 18, 2024 Mayor Burk: We will explore that. Kaj Dentler: Well return. Mayor Burk: Not for the budget. All right. That comes off They add 200,000 of the Unassigned Fund Balance for Comprehensive Park Master Plan. Council Member Cimino -Johnson: I also had this in a memo, but I believe that strongly that we should put the Comprehensive Parks Master Plan on this taken -out Unassigned Fund Balance because it has not been updated since 2002. The world has changed a lot since then. Leesburg has changed a lot since then. I think this would give the staff a greater map to move forward for our parks. We have a new park coming online, Veterans Park. It would be nice to get this in now so that we can move this forward so we can help Rich and his staff with planning and making sure we are where we should be. Because one of the things that I go back to the pickleball courts, and I think all of you have received at least one email about those, but this is something we should have been looking at five years ago. This is a document that I know would definitely help us with our parks. I don't know if Rich has anything else to say about this. Mayor Burk: That's okay. You did a good job explaining. Council Member Cimino -Johnson: Okay. Thank you. Mayor Burk: Anyone over here have questions, Mr. Cummings? Council Member Cummings: Yes. I just have, and I've told Council Member Cimino -Johnson, this, I'm all for a Master Plan. My concern is part of a Master Plan for parks, I would imagine. I've never read a Master Plan for parks but is acquiring land and then billing upon that land, I just don't know. I don't want to see spending $200,000 to write a Master Plan if we don't have the finances to act upon that plan. I'm probably will not support it, but I appreciate the effort. Mayor Burk: Mr. Bagdasarian? Council Member Bagdasarian: I guess the question is like the prior question, how accurate is that number as far as a budgeted line item? Is that what it typically would cost for a Master Plan for parks? Rich Williams: I consulted with Mr. David over here, and that was the number we came up based on other reports that the Town has had done. Council Member Bagdasarian: Okay. While you're up here, so what sort of guiding document or guiding direction does Parks and Rec currently operate under? Rich Williams: Unfortunately, right now, our original Comprehensive Master Plan was developed in 2002, and it was updated in 2017. As well as we did a needs assessment for the community in 2012. Those are the documents that guide for what the community wants as opposed to us do making reactionary moves and developing various projects without really truly knowing what the community as a whole needs, wants, and needs are. What this document would do, it would identify a needs assessment community wide, and then it would lay out a game plan for us to be able to incorporate that for the community over the long-term. Not just in short three-year blocks, but in the long-term over the span of the 20 year lifespan. Council Member Bagdasarian: Okay. Thank you. Mayor Burk: I would just add that, I think the Master Plan is an important component, but the Council has to have the wherewithal and the courage to be able to say this piece of property we need to purchase and we need to get the money to purchase it. The prime example is White Oak. That should have been a park, and to see it turn into houses, because we kept saying, we don't have the money, we don't have the money. I would just caution the Council to be committed to this if we put the money 13IMarch 18, 2024 to it, and I'm willing to be committed to it. [laughs] Yes, sir. Vice Mayor Steinberg: I assume, Mr. Williams, that in addition to land acquisition for potential new parks, this would also then apply to parks that we currently have in the system, and how they would be developed or redeveloped? Rich Williams: Absolutely. It details what the community's looking for, whether they're looking for additional ball fields, they're looking for additional open space, passive parks, or what -- Mayor Burk: I can tell you pickleball is an that list. [laughter] Rich Williams: Pickleball, whatever they're looking for, it really guides us for how we would develop our current parks and any future parks. Council Member Bagdasarian: Okay. Thank you. Mayor Burk: Okay. Are there four votes to take $120,000 out of the Unassigned Fund Balance? No, 200,000. I was in the wrong place again, but 200,000 out of the Unassigned Fund Balance for Comprehensive Park Master Plan. Mr. Wilt, Vice Mayor, Mr-- Sony. Dr. Cimino -Johnson and myself. That goes forward. What? Council Member Cimino -Johnson: I can wear my badge. Mayor Burk: Ott No, that probably wouldn't help. Sorry. Okay, then, where are we now? Oh, accelerated pickleball court, and I thought that we had-- would you like to explain where that is? Kaj Dentler: Yes. Our recommendation is to leave the schedule where it is, and well push hard to get it done sooner than two years. Budget will make sure the money is there. The reason I say that, although the staff is optimistic they can certainly beat a two-year window, there are a lot of things that staff doesn't control. When we go to Utilities, I believe it's NOVEC, am I right? They'll do the work when they're ready to do the work. Contracts, Town Attorneys office, Procurement office, when the contractors put the bid in, when they submit their paperwork. For the Town from our history and our trend to say that were going to be able to build that in one year is very optimistic thinking and I think it is misleading the public. We will push hard to get it done sooner than two years, which is a very reasonable schedule in the first place. Hopefully, we can get it done sooner, but I think if we say one year we will fail in the end of the day. Mayor Burk: All right. Any additional questions on this one? Yes, sir. Council Member Cummings: We could just say it would take four years and when we finish it in one and a half, two we'll be good. Mayor Burk: You want to change that? Kaj Dentler: No. The change is that if staff knows that to push this, they know the demand and the request, we'll push that and the money will be available. If they were able to hit all the schedules, then the money will be there to continue with construction versus having to wait for the second year for the money to kick in. We staff can accommodate that in their schedule. I think [inaudible] able to achieve. We hear loud and clear your intent and the public's request. Mayor Burk: All right. Dr. Cimino -Johnson, is that acceptable? Council Member Cimino -Johnson: Oh, very acceptable. Thank you. 14IMarch 18, 2024 Mayor Burk: Not just acceptable. Very acceptable. Good job. AD right. That is all the things that have been added previously. Are there things that people want and our tax rate is, has it changed? Did it change? Cole Fazenbaker: It's gone up to 17.79. Mayor Burk: 011, I should have written 17.74 was what it was before? Cole Fazenbaker: Correct. Mayor Burk: It's gone up a couple of pennies. Pardon? Are there other things that people are looking to add or delete at this point? Mr. Wilt? Council Member Wilt: Yes. I would like to bring up an operating expense reduction element. We routinely a pay -for -performance percentage increase on staff and then we also add a cost -living adjustment to that. I think over the last several fiscal years, we've grown headcount and actually salaried compensation at higher rates than population growth and inflation. I think that's unsustainable. The private sector taxpayers are very familiar with a pay for performance and that is a good practice, or it helps managers and directors thoughtfully apply that budget and manage staff. COLA is not a common practice in the private sector, and I'd like to eliminate the COLA from our budget. Mayor Burk: All right. I would counter that by pointing out that we have had a problem in the past with hiring our police department. We are at a point now where we are almost completely full because we increased our pay, and we increased our COLA for the officers that was a department that was really struggling. It's now come around. I just read the other day that Vienna is looking to raise their police salaries to 70,000, which would be 5,000 more than we are. I think it'll have a negative impact, not just on the police, but also on staff as a whole. I'm in the building every day and I can tell you the people in this building work very hard. They put a lot of effort, they put a lot of time, they're very dedicated, and customer service is number one. They really do work very hard. They try to answer all of our questions in a way that's very efficient and very effective. The cost -of -living component to it I think is very important especially with the economy, the way it's been going. I would be opposed to it, but I understand where you're coming from. Dr. Cimino - John son. Council Member Cimino -Johnson: Oh, I had a question before we went to this. Mayor Burk: Oh, well, can it hold until we finish this discussion? Yes, sir. Vice Mayor Steinberg: I would offer in the context of affordable housing and having our workforce living closer to where they're working that this is a good way to do that. We have far less control over the price of housing, but if we can see to it that our employees are fairly paid, they might be more inclined or able to actually live in the community where they work. Mayor Burk: All right. Mr. Bagdasarian. Council Member Bagdasarian: Yes, I echo the importance of especially with law enforcement, the compensation there is, it's a very competitive market and the fact that we are very close to full headcount is an important factor, obviously with public safety. I think also was important is that we held during COVID, as far as headcount and any sort of compensation adjustments, that was completely frozen for years during COVID. I think that's part of-- It's reflected in the increase over the last year of 2023 from the prior several years. Mayor Burk: AM right. Anyone else? Yes, Ms. Nacy, Council Member Nacy: Can we see what the impact would be to the real estate tax rate? Cole Fazenbaker: It would essentially go down by a little more than a penny, so it would go down to 16.73 cent. 15IMarch 18, 2024 Mayor Burk: To do away with COLA? Cole Fazenbaker: Correct. Mayor Burk: Okay, but if you left it in, it's not going to change anything because it's already part of it. Cole Fazenbaker: Correct. Mayor Burk: All right. Mr. Wilt would like us to consider examining the cost of living amendment. Are there four people that would like to do away with the cost of living for our employees? Yes. Oh, did Council Member Cummings: Oh, no. I'm sorry. Mayor Burk: Are there four people that would like to do away with the cost of living increase for the employees? Mr. Wilt. All right, so that doesn't go forward. Yes, Mr. Cummings. Council Member Cummings: I just was going to move on to the next topic if possible. Mayor Burk: Oh, you had a question? Council Member Cummings: Oh, sorry. Council Member Cimino -Johnson: Yes, I just had a question about the tax rate. We're sure that the Unassigned Fund Balance items are not impacting that rate? Cole Fazenbaker: Correct. If you look at the chart, when we have an asterisk next to it, that means that it passed but it doesn't affect the tax rate. Council Member Cimino -Johnson: Okay. Thank you. Mayor Burk: All right, Mr. Cummings. Council Member Cummings: Thank you. One thing I'd like to mention for tonight's mark-up session, I'd like to ask us to look at using Unassigned Fund Balance up to $3.8 million. To essentially rebate or pay for the tangible personal property tax in fiscal year '25 for all businesses and residents in the Town. We wouldn't be removing it. It would still be ready to go into the next year's budget. There wouldn't be a need to reactivate it or put funds in there. Wth $10 million in the Unassigned Fund Balance on top of our 20% fiscal policy, I think we have the funds to do it. Our residents are looking at 3% inflation, 4.1% higher utility rates, 5% average increase on property values. That means increased property taxes. We are, in a couple of weeks here, we'll be talking about an unknown stormwater management tax. I think it's time to put some money back in the pockets of our residents. I would ask to use 3.8 million from the Unassigned Fund Balance to do a rebate for tangible personal property taxes for the residents. Mayor Burk: Mr. Dentler, would you like to say anything in regard to that? Kaj Dentler: Mr. Cummings won't be happy with what I'm going to say. It's certainly a well-meaning approach. I understand where he's coming from. I didn't know about the proposal until yesterday. However, this proposal creates unintended consequences. We just met with our rating agencies, and they expect the Town to strictly adhere to our self-imposed fiscal policy. This would put us in conflict with that policy because you're using, as you're proposing, one-time money for a recurring cost, and you can't do that. We don't have a mechanism for rebate, we don't have the authority for rebate, and the mechanics of paying off the bills for each resident, we have to send you a bill, because you've already approved a rate, so we send you a bill, but the Town pays the bill, "Don't worry about it. I have it." The mechanics of that, behind the scenes of even that I don't even see, would be a nightmare. It is in conflict with our 16IMarch 18, 2024 policy. It creates significant issues. You've already approved a rate. There may be other ways that you can consider providing relief using your Unassigned Fund Balance if you're going to develop an additional assistance program. There are many assistance programs out there for real estate. You can also create something for personal property. Personal property for vehicles is a complicated issue across the state. The County's been addressing that as well but to do as proposed is a conflict and will create a problem with our rating agencies. We are literally, I believe, tomorrow, we sign the documents for the sale. The rating agencies were here. They've heard this. For us to begin to deviate would cause, raise eyebrows and put us under scrutiny that we should not be under. We fought for many years to get there. Let me just address on that one other note. I know, Mr. Cummings, you're addressed to 20%. The 20% is our cash flow. It's our emergency fund. It's not above. You can't touch the 20%. That's part of our policy. Although you reference the 20% plus the 10 million, the 20% is not in play. If we have to use the 20%, we've got problems. That's what keeps us at a AAA rating, so in essence, it would be very bad public fiscal policy to take, approve the action that you're proposing. The $10 million that's above that, approximate 10 million, is one-time money, and you can use it for different things. Part of that, the Town has opportunities. We are pursuing land. Most of you, if not all of you, know that, and when that moment comes, you're going to need cash. Our Financial Advisor has told us and you and the credit rating agencies that cash is king. It gives you flexibility to do things when you're ready to move on those things. I cannot recommend this. I know Mr. Case, as the CFO, may add some words that are better than mine, but this would not be good public policy in any way. If we want to do something, we need to find another way to do it, in which we would need time to do. Now we're out of time at this point. The last part I want to say, because I know that were looking ahead, we have the public hearing this week in this room on the Voluntary Settlement Agreement, but that moneys not here yet, and we told the rating agencies, the Mayor was in the room, that were not even counting that money in our plan. Until we know the deal is done and we know the money is trickling in at the pace we think it is, we're not touching R. Now, my point here at the conclusion is, this is not the right time to take on a significant tax relief program of any sort. It needs more time to be thought through. Mayor Burk: Mr. Case? Clark Case: Yes. I have a couple things I want to point out. One is that that $10 million that's sitting in above the 20% has been programmed into your six -year CIP. You're planning to help fund that six - year CIP with that $10 million. That money is already part of the plan for the long term over the six - year period. If you go and give it a tax rebate this year, you're going to have problems in the future years with the CIP projects that you already have put into the plan. You will not be able to afford them. The second thing is rebate programs are very popular at the Federal level because they like to send checks to the taxpayers, and they like to do that deposit to your bank account. We don't have any of that information. We do not have what your personal property tax is, what your assessment is. We don't have the locations. We don't even have the addresses. All of that resides at the County. If you approve a rebate program, we don't have the information to do that rebate and the County is not contracted nor are there systems configured to do that kind of rebate. The sheer mechanics of it are very difficult. I have done this in a prior life and 20% of the rebate checks we sent out came back and wound up being sheeted and never wound up in the taxpayer's pockets. It wound up being sent to the equivalent of a Library of Virginia, but it wasn't in Virginia. The cost of doing that, the staff time to do that, and we are not equipped, were not staffed to do it. We're staffed to do what we do right now. The mechanics are bad, the cost would be probably around a $250,000 that would do nothing but just get the money back. It's not a good deal to the taxpayers to return money in this way. You're far better off to reduce the rate because the reason those 20% come back is people moved out of the community, they're not here anymore, they leave a forwarding address, and we're going to be trying to rebate money to people who are no longer Town residents. The rebate, while it's a popular idea at the Federal level, it's very, very difficult for us to do it at the local level. 17IMarch 18, 2024 Mayor Burke: Thank you. Ms. Nacy? Council Member Cummings: I have a few questions as well. Mayor Burk: We'll let the rest of the people answer. Council Member Nacy: I was just going to say, were sitting at $0.05 over the tax rate right now, so we've got to think of something to do for our citizens. I appreciate that the wagons have been circled to not make Councilman Cummings' proposal happen, but I feel like we have to do something tonight to either reduce the tax rate back to where it was before, or maybe we need to re -vote on some things we passed. Its the wrong time. People are struggling really bad. It's what you hear the most when you go out and talk to people in the community, and raising the tax rate is just simply out of the question from my perspective. We got to find it somewhere. Mayor Burk: All right, anyone else? Mayor Burk: Yes. Vice Mayor Steinberg: I just want to clarify. We went from $0.1774 to $0.1775 cents. We haven't raised it $0.05. Clark Case: Oh, no, your four, five basis points. Cole Fazenbaker: Five hundredths of a penny. Clark Case: Five hundredths of a penny. Vice Mayor Steinberg: Yes, exactly. It's not $0.05. I'm just wondering. Clark Case: That's correct. Vice Mayor Steinberg: Precisely. Mayor Burk: How much is it again? Could you say that again? How much are we talking about? Clark Case: If you're talking about the cut Council Member Cummings was proposing, that would be correct. In this case, what you've done is you've raised it five basis points. Mayor Burk: Which is five -- Clark Case: Hundredths of a penny. Mayor Burk: Penny, okay. I think that's important too. We're not raising it $0.05. Clark Case: No. You're raising five hundredths of a cent. Mayor Burk: Yes, Mr. Cummings? Council Member Cummings: I just have a question. What I'm hearing is the 20% fiscal policy that we have adopted is not enough. Should we raise the 20% to keep the Unassigned Fund Balance to 25%, 30%? What is the appropriate amount to having as a fiscal policy in the Unassigned Fund Balance? Clark Case: With the 20% is a floor is appropriate. The reason we're telling you that the other amount above it is not just free money that's unassigned, is because it has been programmed into your CIP over the next six years. Your CIP was put together with the idea that that money could be programmed to help you to pay for capital projects and debt service on the capital projects over the next six years. The expectation here is that Council will use a portion of it for things like what you're talking about here, but that will wash out as we add or subtract the fund balance in those future years, 18IMarch 18, 2024 but the base amount that's sitting in there is actually programmed into the CIP. That's why you already planned to spend it. Council Member Cummings: In the fiscal year 2023, we ended with a $6 million, I don't have the exact numbers memorized, but a $6 million surplus. Was that a surplus based on revenue brought in during the fiscal year of 2023, or was that this money that has been transferred? What is that-- it was in the financial services. Clark Case: If you remember back when we were talking about ARPA and how we were going to handle that, the Town had engaged in very deep cuts, hiring freezes. We took across the board cuts to the operating budget. When your ARPA money came in, we were able to use that money to keep Ida Lee open, to keep the staff on. We had made enough cuts to do that without the ARPA money. When we used the ARPA money for recreation, that money fell one time to fund balance. It was a result of the actions we took. Remember, we refinanced $2 million and took that out of the debt service and pushed it into future years so we would have that $2 million reserve fund for revenue standardization. We took a lot of very significant, dramatic action so that we would be able to balance the budget without laying off employees and without having to necessarily kill any capital projects so that we can continue to function. We were not counting on Federal aid. When we got the Federal aid, it meant that those cuts fell to the fund balance. That's why you have that $10 million. Mayor Burk: Mr. Bagdasarian? Council Member Bagdasarian: If you wouldn't mind, Mr. Case, help me understand. What would the impact of the tax relief be at that level for the average business or household? What would that impact? Do we have an analysis of that yet? Clark Case: Oh, I think you have that. Cole Fazenbaker: Kind of round numbers, every penny on the tax rate is approximately $60. If you're looking at 3.8, that's probably close to $200 annual for your real estate tax, for the year. For your average home which is about $600,000. Council Member Bagdasarian: What was that number again? Cole Fazenbaker: $600,000 is the average home. Council Member Bagdasarian: The relief would be approximately? Cole Fazenbaker: The relief would be, doing the mental math, around $200. Council Member Bagdasarian: $200 a year. Cole Fazenbaker: Annual, yes. Council Member Bagdasarian: Oh, for this year specifically or next year? Clark Case: For Fiscal '25. Council Member Bagdasarian: Right. Exactly. Mayor Burk: Is that it? Okay. Did you have more that you -- Council Member Cummings: The $10 million that staff told us a couple of meetings ago, that was above the 20% fiscal policy. How much of that $10 million is budgeted essentially, is earmarked to go towards the CIP or other Town projects? Clark Case: How much of that [inaudible]? 19IMarch 18, 2024 Cole Fazenbaker: I missed the first part but were you asking how much of the Unassigned Fund Balance is programed? Council Member Cummings: The 10 million above the 20% fiscal policy, how much of that is budgeted towards CIP or other projects? Cole Fazenbaker: The majority is programmed directly as paygo in the out years but what its really doing is helping our financial targets in the out years. Whenever we do 20% of Unassigned Fund Balance in the out years, were keeping the tax rate low because if we use all the Unassigned Fund Balance, we would have to raise our taxes in the out years in order to make up that revenue again. That's how our long-term sustainability plan is modeled. Kaj Dentler: Let me see if I can help. The 10 millions available. Although its our program in the out years - Clark Case: Yes. Kaj Dentler: -it's a long-term sustainability plan that they have, that they can program out 10 -plus years and they can see based on different decision points if we are hitting all of our financial targets, would there be a raise, et cetera, potential tax rate required. They're looking in the out years. They're not just looking year one. They're 10 years out. That's what they're referring to, but if Council wanted to use, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this is what they want to know, because I'd want to confirm that I understand it correctly, the $10 million is available now, if you wanted to spend it, if property came available, or whatever, you could use it. It has an impact on the long-term plan that they're dealing with. I don't want you to walk away thinking it's not available for you to use. That's not correct. If that is helpful to you. Council Member Cummings: It's only available to be used on things that you all want us to use it on. Clark Case: Well as [crosstalk] Kaj Dentler: Not that-- Clark, please. Wth all due respect, I don't agree with that statement. It's a little professionally offensive to me and to the staff and I know you don't really mean that. I know you're frustrated. We are more than willing to sit down with you and all of Council to figure out a better plan that can be done. My entire budget was presented on a focus as this is a transition year. As you know, I've held this budget, proposed budget almost flat. You saw the chart of all the unfunded items that were, the directors are asking for. We can always debate whether or not they should be or not. I don't agree with them on everything either, but I held it flat because we know there's a future coming that is very positive but we don't have the money yet. The deal's not done so I wanted to hold it until we get further down the road when were in a better position to have these conversations. The last thing I wanted to say, not directly related to that point that I forgot, the $10 million is drawing interest of north of 5%. That's helping keep our tax rate. You've heard me say for years, this is my 101h year, Leesburg has an artificially low tax rate. I understand the goal to try to drop it, but we are pressing above. We're not able to do a lot of things that individual Council Members want to do. Those future days are coming where well have better flexibility to make some decisions. I just wanted to share that. I don't mean to be disrespectful, Mr. Cummings. If I am, I apologize, but I don't think you really meant what you said to that. The staff has worked hard to deliver a budget and ensure that the Town's finances are a AAA, sterling record and that is what we presented to you. You have options to do if you wish, but this is not the right plan at the right time. Mayor Burk: We pay a tidy sum to have a Financial Advisor. Have we proposed this to our Financial Advisor and have they weighed in? Kaj Dentler: Yes. Clark Case: Yes. 20lMarch 18, 2024 Kaj Dentler: A lot of this information that I'm sharing, Clark and I have talked, correct, the Financial Advisor does not recommend this proposal, that there may be other ways to find tax relief or assistance programs, but it takes time to work through those. The biggest concern that he said, Clark said it this morning before we even got to him, that were violating our own policy, and that will send ripples to the credit agencies that will impact the Town for many years. Does it guarantee were going to lose our rating? I can't say that, but they're not going to believe us when we go through. The Mayor has sat in those sessions in New York as well as here. You know the questions they ask, and what we have to share is honest, transparent, and we've done that. Now, they've reaffirmed our AAA rating. It would give me great pause to do what's being proposed. Mayor Burk: Mr. Steinberg. Vice Mayor Steinberg: Yes. Thanks. I fully appreciate, I truly do, what Councilman Cummings is trying to achieve here, and Councilwoman Nacy as well. I think its incumbent upon us to serve the best we can all the residents of the community, and yet we also know we have priorities. I'm reminded of a Mark Knopfler song, a line in a Mark Knopfler song, which says, "Don't crash the ambulance whatever you do" I would hate to see us take a path in direct contradiction to highly paid staff and outside consultants who tell us, this is not the way to get to where you want to go. believe this conversation requires more careful consideration. It requires a certain amount of patience to get to the end of the road that our Town Attorney and outside counsel has gotten us to with regards to the settlement with the county, at which point we should be in a much better position for all kinds of considerations, but we aren't there yet. I believe we should rely on the expert opinions that we have in the room, which I know for me, far exceed anything I could offer. Again, I'm fully sympathetic to the intent, but I think the time frame is not yet right for this process. Thanks. Mayor Burk: Mr. Bagdasarian do you have something you want -- Council Member Bagdasarian: I also appreciate the objective and the intent. I do know that there are things on the horizon. Just from an operational perspective, I look at the strategic Unassigned Fund Balances. It should be utilized for strategic capital investments, specific things for projects like, let's say, pickleball, need I say that, or other sorts of projects that can be accelerated, but one-off capital projects, because that will have less of an impact on ongoing operations in the budget. I certainly appreciate the desire, but there's so many factors that we have to take into consideration here. Mayor Burk: I put out a -- Cole Fazenbaker: Madam Mayor. Sorry. Just one quick clarification on the math that I gave earlier. I was using the real estate conversion. If we're just talking about personal property taxes, the average tax bill for Leesburg is $88. That would be equivalent to $88 for each personal property taxpayer. Mayor Burk: Thank you. I put out a resolution earlier, shared with all of you, to try to pull us forward because we are in a transition. We have had a strong budget. We're known in Leesburg for being careful on what we do in regards to the budget, and that has benefited us through our rating agency's assessments. I put forward a resolution that stated that, the gist of it states that as money comes in from the data center, as a Council, we would take that money and use it to offset the taxes, tax rates, but we would have the money in the bank at that point. We can't do it before we have the money. We would pledge that once the money starts coming in and we have that amount, we can take and use that amount to lower the tax rate. I'm afraid that at this point it's premature and that we're putting ourselves in a dangerous situation, and in the end, it's not going to be good for our residents. I would really-- we rely on our Financial Advisors to give us advice. If we don't want to listen to their advice, then we shouldn't even bother with them. Obviously, we do value their advice. They're saying this is a bad idea at this point. Lets support the resolution or let's move forward, we can't do it at this point. Anyone else at this point? All right. Are there four votes to look at using UAFB up to 3.8 million to rebate or pay for tangible personal property for FY 2025 for residents and businesses? Are there four 21IMarch 18, 2024 people that want to do that? Okay, Mr. Cummings and Ms. Nacy. All right. Any other item at this point? This is our last markup. The way it stands right now is all the items that we have put forward raises slightly, tiny raises the tax rate from 17.74 to 17.79. We don't have an estimate on what implication that we have for someone who has a $600,000 home? Cole Fazenbaker: We do have a chart on the tax bill here. You can see what the variance would be. It's a $3 difference from the current tax rate-- annually. Mayor Burk: The 17.79 would be $3 difference for the year. Cole Fazenbaker: For the year, correct. Mayor Burk: Okay. Thank you. I appreciate that information. No one has anything else because tomorrow-- Yes, sir. Do you have something? Council Member Cimino -Johnson: I've calculated what that difference is. It's $56,396. Mayor Burk: What difference? Council Member Cimino -Johnson: The difference in the tax rates. The 17.74 we started with and the 17.79. Mayor Burk: 17.74 to 17.79 would be how much? Council Member Cimino -Johnson: I have 56,396. Mayor Burk: So where are you getting that as opposed to what they just gave us? Council Member Cimino -Johnson: Increase revenue or if we want to decrease cost somewhere else. Mayor Burk: That would -- Council Member Cimino -Johnson: Is there somewhere we could take that from in order to not increase the property tax rate? Kaj Dentler: Not the property, real estate. Council Member Cimino -Johnson: Real estate, sorry. Kaj Dentler: The problem is that some of those are recurring costs, so that means you can't use Unassigned Fund Balance for that. Now if Council wants us to get it back to 17.74 so that you hold it Flat, you can do that, but what you saw was a $3 increase on the annual cost at 17.79. Mayor Burk: [laughs] Mr. Cimino -Johnson, are you suggesting something in particular? Council Member Cimino -Johnson: No, I just wanted to throw that out there in case anybody was thinking or wanted to know that information. Mayor Burk: Okay, thank you. At this point, we're set. Tomorrow we'll come, you'll bring this all back as a whole. We will be voting on the budget tomorrow as a whole. Is that correct? Kaj Dentler: Correct. The budget as a whole, you have a public hearing on the tax rate first, and then you're able to take your actions to approve the budget. Mayor Burk: All right. Is there any addition or deletion tomorrow? Kaj Dentler: You can make those. We'II make all the adjustments so all the numbers will be in. When you make adjustments tomorrow night, it's a little harder for them to, on the fly, to make sure they've 22IMarch 18, 2024 got it exactly right, but we can work through that. Mayor Burk: All right. Okay. Thank you very much. I appreciate all your hard work on this. I know you guys are numbers people, but-- [laughs] Okay, the next item is the Town Utility Customer Assistant Program. [pause] Mayor Burk: Do we want to take a five-minute time break while they're getting situated? I guess not. [laughs] [pause] [background conversation] Mayor Burk: Oh, I'm sorry. I was waiting for you. Keith Markel: Are we going to wait for the Vice Mayor or were ready to roll? Mayor Burk: No, I asked if people wanted to break, they don't want to break so -- Keith Markel: All right. There we go. Well, good evening, everyone. Good to be back to talk tonight about the Customer Assistance Program. This is a topic that was discussed back during the rate - setting process in January and are coming back to you this evening with the request that you had for us back then. Just want to introduce. This evening, we have Amy Wyks, our Director of Utilities here as part of the team, as well as Liz Weaver and Betsy Payne who have both been behind -the -scenes experts on pulling this all together and providing these recommendations for you this evening. Just as a way of a little background here you asked for us to come back with a customer relief program that would be able to provide financial assistance to customers who may be having financial hardships. You, with that time, appropriated $100,000 in Unassigned Fund Balance to fund this program, and then the future years we'll be talking about where additional funds may come from donations or from additional allocations throughout the annual budget process. This relief program would be in addition to the relief programs are already in place. The Town already has a 25% price discount for qualifying families to meet certain financial thresholds if they are part of certain Federal and State programs as assigned by the county or if you meet certain age requirements, 65 and over, with certain financial criteria being met. This would be in addition to those programs that are currently in place. We did some research. We looked around the state to see what other localities are working with programs that are similar and we found a number of different examples. The common denominator with these is that all of them are typically done in partnership with non -profits that handle the administrative interpretation and implementation of the program and that is true for Loudoun County who has a program already in place that is also available to Leesburg customers today. They are using ARPA funds. They've got about a quarter of a million dollars in ARPA funds that are available through the end of 26 and that is allocated out through a non-profit that they're working with, in that case, Loudoun Cares is the non-profit they've partnered with, to provide up to $2,000 in annual financial assistance to individual households meeting criteria. What were proposing to you this evening is program administration in partnership with a non-profit, similar to what Loudoun County is doing. You have to establish eligibility criteria. What were proposing is limiting that to intown residential utility customers that meet certain household income limits. The financial assistance limits that we propose to you to cap at would be a maximum of two quarterly bills per year and/or $650,000 in annual contribution to that household. I'm sorry $650. Did I say thousand? We're very good here in Leesburg. Mayor Burk: I was like, "What?". [laughter] Keith Markel: I actually calculated back up and see what that does. 231March 18, 2024 [laughter] Keith Markel: $650 annually. That roughly equates out to what, two household bills on average? Two average bills for our intown customers. The non-profit selection process. That's where the next phase would go if you do want to move forward with this. The Town would award the funds through a grant process to an organization. This would be similar to how we awarded funds back during the pandemic. We had those grant programs in place. This would not be an RFP process. This is a grant eligibility process so we would do a call for proposals from non -profits that would be likely candidates to want to administer this program on your behalf. Then interested non -profits would submit their proposals and then the Town would be able to evaluate those proposals. We're proposing that they would be evaluated on the following selection criteria. One, obviously, they've got to be a 501(c)(3), a charitable non-profit. Then they must show that they have a level of experience administering financial assistance programs. There are a number in the community that are currently doing that today. Administrative overhead costs to manage their program. There would be costs involved, obviously, to them. They've got to have staff, they've got time, they've got resources they have to put towards it, so they would be baking that into the program and that would be a cost that would have to be covered by the Town. We'd be looking at who's most competitive with their overhead cost management. Participant eligibility requirements and internal vetting process. How do they go through the process to make sure that the most qualified candidates are receiving the benefits, and what their vetting process looks like. What staffing resources do they have to put towards that vetting process? What support can they provide, whether that be language translation services or speed at which they can turn applications around? That's what we're talking about their response time to customer inquiries. The ability to provide for timely payments. We currently have a very good relationship with those non- profits in the community that are helping customers currently, and they have a strong working relationship with Amy and Betsy and the team there at Utilities. We're not talking about huge numbers of folks here who are applicants, but when we do have those in the pipeline, there are those conversations, those emails, those phone calls back and forth to make sure that nobody's getting shut off, that everybody is given time to get their paperwork processed. We're also looking al financial health of the organizations. We want to make sure that they've got the capacity. They're going to be here today. They're going to be here tomorrow to manage this. We want this to be a long-term relationship not where were fuming this over into a lot of different non -profits. Then, obviously, the implementation timeline, we've heard from you, you all want to have this up and running by July. To do that, we've got to move aggressively with this timeline. You'll see here our proposed implementation timeline. If you all are in support of this and do want to move forward, we have a draft resolution for your adoption tomorrow evening. Then in April, the Town will announce the grant opportunities. In just a few weeks we'd get that letter of interest to be put out to the community and say, "If you're a non-profit interested, here's where we're going to need you to submit your proposals," with the deadline being April 30th to submit back to the Town. Then staff would do a quick review of those proposals and come back to you with our recommendation of the most qualified non-profit that we'd recommend to manage this program. We will do that selection at the June meeting, and then hopefully, have everything in place and up and running in July, as soon as July 1, as we could. That's our proposed timeline for you. Wth that, we are happy to answer any questions or get into any more details. Mayor Burk: Well, thank you. I appreciate you getting this together so quickly. I'm very excited that were looking to get involved in this. I just have a couple of questions myself. The first one is that the County has an individual limit of $2,000, and Town residents are eligible for that. Keith Markel: They are. 24IMarch 18, 2024 Mayor Burk: Conceivably, could someone in the Town get the $2,000 and the $650? Keith Markel: Yes. Mayor Burk: Oh, okay. Keith Markel: That is a possibility, and that could be something that you all could make that determination, but that could be the case. We also know that many people who are struggling aren't struggling just with their water bill, but it might be gas and electric and a whole myriad of other things. The $2,000 cap in the County's program can be applied across the board to a number of different utilities. Mayor Burk: Oh, okay, so then that would relieve them for the water? Cole: They might be able to use those $2,000 for the Dominion electric bill, and then we could use that $650 for the Town water and sewer bill. Mayor Burk: Okay, great You did explain that there would be some costs associated with the administration of it. Keith Markel: Yes. Mayor Burk: My one question, and I don't know how to be delicate in saying this, is we've got some tremendous non -profits here, but some of them are religiously oriented. Will there be a, I don't know how to say it, will there be a-- I don't want someone to need this money and be a Catholic, but they get it from the Salvation Army, and they use their religious influence on it. Keith Markel: Exactly. The State Code is very clear on that. Yes, those religious organizations like Catholic Charities, like Salvation Army, are all candidates in this as long as everybody understands, and the State Code requires quite clearly, that there can be no criteria based on any beliefs, participation, membership, anything like that. If they're willing to take on the program, it has to be a universal blank canvas of anyone being able to apply, so long as they meet those established criteria that the Town will establish based on State new requirements. Mayor Burk: Okay, good. Great, because we do have some very phenomenal non -profits that are religious -oriented. Keith Markel: Absolutely. Mayor Burk: Thank you. Anyone? Mr. Wilt? Council Member Wilt: Thanks, Keith. The context, so you mentioned a 25% discount program that's already in place. Keith Markel: Yes. Council Member Wilt: Can you describe how that operates? Keith Markel: How that operates? Council Member Wilt: Yes. Keith Markel: In many cases, if individuals qualify at the county, so if they're part of the WIC program, if they're 65 or over and meet certain financial thresholds, so they reach the senior tax discount, all of that information gets transferred to the Town, and that gives them an automatic qualification. We accept the county's vetting process and determination, and that gets applied then to their Town water and sewer bill. If they are part of the voucher housing program, they can get the 25% discount, but they do need to submit that information to the Town. That information is not passed over from the County. 25IMarch 18, 2024 Council Member Wilt: Okay. Is the target population of this proposal the same or different from the population qualifying for the 25% discount? Keith Markel: I think you would see a lot of overlap in that. Council Member Wilt: Okay. In that case, I'm wondering, would it be simpler rather than setting up a dual administration to increase the discount? If there's a further need- I am assuming the context here defines that there's a further need. We're providing a 25% discount. The County's providing up to $2,000 a year. My question would be, does Dominion and NOVEC offer assistant programs? Does a gas supplier-- I assume we're defining an additional need, above all of those but it would be simpler than if we already have a mechanism in place to define what the incremental need is and increase our discount. Keith Markel: That's one option. The only thing I suggest is that you don't capture everybody when you only find those folks that are pre -qualified in those existing programs. If you have the family that the person maybe has a quality job, but then they lose that job, so they're in financial difficulty for maybe a six-month period as they're looking for new work, or they have an illness, or something that wouldn't put them already in that age bracket category, or they're already in some sort of Federal program, those folks could benefit from a program like this that may not otherwise qualify. Council Member Wilt: You already described another one-off where people have to apply to the Town directly. That's an augmented eligibility. Could we not add additional augmented eligibility to keep the existing program operating? Keith Markel: I think the program I'm referring to, and Amy and Betsy probably know this better than I do, those programs are County programs that they share that list with the Town. We take their vetting and their approval process and apply that here, and they have to meet certain-- Those are just certain State and Federal programs. Is that what you're referring to as taking folks to augmented -- Council Member Wilt: Well, if there's some other augmentation to get people into the program rather than creating an entirely new program with an entirely new administration, and an entirely new basis. Keith Markel: They would have to qualify with the County. I don't know, folks that have those hardships that I'm describing, like if you're temporarily unemployed or those sort of things, they wouldn't necessarily qualify for the WIC program, or the housing voucher program, or other things that would be those County programs that they'd be vetted through. Amy, I don't know, maybe you got some perspective. Amy Wyks: No, I was just going to add one of the reasons we're recommending teaming up with a non-profit, is, again, having staff not have to ask for tax forms, bank account statements, W2s, pay stubs. Again, trying not to have staff in the Town being responsible for all that documentation and records management from that standpoint, which is why were proposing to do it through the non- profit who already set up to do that. They have the system, they have the criteria, so not trying to put that onto the staff to understand and decide if someone qualifies or not. Council Member Wilt: What were going to do, a discount program, operate one, but then a cash grant program - Amy Wyks: We think the discount program [inaudible]. Council Member Wilt: -is what you're proposing. Keith Markel: You could have got the County qualification program, the 25% discount that is currently eligible to some customers. Council Member Wilt: Right. You're getting currently the discount program, eligibly vetted - Keith Markel: By the County. Council Member Wilt: -no staff work. 26IMarch 18, 2024 Keith Markel: No staff work. Council Member Wilt: Right. Is there a way-- What I'm hearing is just there's two completely different programs with two completely bases attempting to solve the same problem. I wonder if that's the most efficient way to do things. Keith Markel: I hear you. I don't know how the County would have a program that would-- They won't vet Leesburg water utility customers based on criteria that we give them, is my understanding. If you wanted to -- Amy Wyks: Not without- they would charge us for that. Keith Markel: They would. If they'd be even willing to take that on. Again, they send the administration for this $2,000 annual relief program through a non-profit. The other ones are existing social programs that they already have in place through the Family Services that they qualify for their own purposes, and then we use that list to then qualify them for the 25% discount with the Town. Council Member Wilt: All right Thank you, Keith. Mayor Burk: All right. Dr. Cimino -Johnson. Council Member Cimino -Johnson: I was just going to ask about do we have any idea what the administration fee would be? Keith Markel: I think what they heard was something that 15% of grant award is typically what they'd see as their overhead cost. Council Member Cimino -Johnson: Do we plan on that coming out of the $100,000 or we would -- Keith Markel: Yes, it would need to come from your allocated funds for this program. Council Member Cimino -Johnson: Okay. Thank you. Mayor Burk: Any additional questions at this point? If there's no questions on this, are there four people that would want to bring this to the meeting tomorrow to vote on it tomorrow? Okay. Dr. Cimino -Johnson, Mr. Cummings, Mr. Steinberg, Ms. Nacy, myself, Mr. Bagdasarian. Kaj Dentler: We'll move this to consent tomorrow night. Okay. Mayor Burk: All right. Is anybody have any future Council meeting agenda topics? Do I have a motion to adjourn? Vice Mayor Steinberg: So moved. Mayor Burk: Second? Chris Spera: [inaudible] Mayor Burk: Oh, thank you. I always forget them. Thank you for reminding me. Vice Mayor Steinberg: One moment Mayor Burk: Just one moment. Director of Public Works and Capital Project, Renee Lafollette, would like a proclamation for National Public Works Week. Do I have four people that would support that? Everybody? Diane Rodriguez from LAWS Domestic Violence 8 Sexual Assault Services would like to have a proclamation for Child Abuse Prevention Month in April. Everybody is in favor of that one. Diane Rodriguez from LAWS Domestic Violence 8 Sexual Assault Services would like a proclamation for Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month in April. We have four people that are interested in doing that? That's everybody. All right. Now, do I have a motion to adjourn? 27IMarch 18, 2024 Vice Mayor Steinberg: So moved. Mayor Burk: Second. Council Member Nacy: Second. Mayor Burk: All in favor? All: Aye. Mayor Burk: Opposed? We're done. Well, I thought we'd be a lot longer than that. 28IMarch 18, 2024