Coraggio Consulting
Prince William Board of County Supervisors Meeting — Work Session, Tuesday, May 20, 2025

Date: Tuesday, May 20, 2025
Place: Prince William County Board of County Supervisors, Virginia
Length: 3h 6m (video)
Official meeting video (Prince William County, Granicus): https://pwcgov.granicus.com/player/clip/3647
Official Board of County Supervisors page (Prince William County): https://www.pwcva.gov/department/board-county-supervisors

Machine transcript (speech-to-text) produced by Coraggio Consulting. Not an official county record. Names and numbers may be misspelled; check the video at the timestamp before quoting.
Speech-to-text: whisper.cpp, model large-v3-turbo. Produced 2026-10-29. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

[00:37:28] help if i turn on my microphone is two o'clock on tuesday may 20th let's begin with a moment of silence thank you all rise for the pledge of allegiance if you are able one nation under god

[00:38:04] all right thank you everyone it seems so empty after we had all those proclamations and commendations last meeting all right we are moving into agenda item number three public comment time we do not have anyone signed up in person to speak um i'll turn over to supervisor bailey for remote public comment time.

[00:38:27] There is no remote public comment time, Madam Chair. Back to you. All right. Thank you so very much. We will move on then to agenda item number four, county executive time. Mr. Shorter, the floor is yours. Thank you very much, Madam Chair, members of the board. Good afternoon. Happy to be here this afternoon with you.

[00:38:46] Three directives were issued last week at our last meeting. I want to go over those really quickly. Staff was directed to look at increasing the net financial worth limitation for tax relief for elderly individuals and individuals with disabilities.

[00:39:02] This directive was assigned to our finance department. We were also asked to develop a draft ordinance that establishes a local foundation and soil management fund. This was assigned to our public works department. And then finally, we were directed to work with the Marine Corps-based Quantico to analyze and provide the board with recommendations on how to further implement comprehensive land use plan, Land Use Policy 30.

[00:39:34] And this was assigned to our planning office. There were no directives closed during the last meeting. In terms of Memorial Day and the Memorial Day event this evening, I just wanted to remind the board and obviously the public that we will be tonight celebrating the Memorial Day event.

[00:39:56] The event will be held at the Freedom Park War Memorial at 6.30 p.m. this evening. So all are welcome to attend. And then finally, Madam Chair, wanted to just give a quick highlight and announce the launch of the 3-1-1 system.

[00:40:17] The system was launched last week. We are very, very excited about what the future will hold now that our county is among so many, where we have a now automated system in so many ways for our residents to engage us.

[00:40:34] Instead of going through it verbally, what I want to do is pull up the video that the communications team put together. And there we go.

[00:40:59] Chat with Ask Will, our 24-7 virtual assistant, for quick answers and guidance. Tap the mobile app to report issues, request services, and track updates right from your phone. Click through the website to submit service requests and explore helpful guiding resources.

[00:41:18] Call 311 to speak directly with the customer service representative. PwC 311. One platform. Four simple ways to connect. Chat, tap, click, or call to connect. Welcome to PwC.

[00:41:36] Keep it going. Obviously very, very excited about this and about the launch. We talk often about the customer experience here in Prince William County. This is a tool to certainly get us to a place where we want to be in terms of increasing and improving the customer experience with our county.

[00:41:55] Many modems, many ways that now residents could get in touch, and not only that, ways for us now to track how we are doing in terms of how quickly we're getting back and whether we are responding properly to the service request. So to Rob Mancini, the entire HR team, thank you, thank you, thank you for all the work.

[00:42:16] And did I say, so IT, did I say HR, IT, I meant IT, so do it. The Department of Information Technology, Rob Mancini, director, did the work in putting us on a path to get here.

[00:42:33] I will also just want to acknowledge the 11 agencies that are sort of first out the gate in terms of coming onto the platform, I think 43 or 44 service request types. So just, again, want to acknowledge the great work and look forward to all of the reporting that we will be able to do to this board and to the community about the ways that we have helped and we do help this community.

[00:43:00] That said, Madam Chair, I think that is all for me by way of announcements. All right, thank you. I have Supervisor Franklin. Yeah, thank you. Just first want to highlight the 311 system. I did a kind of a walkthrough and a shadowing effort for our 911 operators, and you'd be surprised how many calls actually come through for just typical questions.

[00:43:25] You know, where is this county service? Who do I call for this? And I think the 311 service will help to eliminate unnecessary calls that may not be emergencies, but these individuals don't know who else to call. So I think that's a good system to launch, so thank you. And then I was just telling Supervisor Gordy and Michelle Roble that I got an email from a constituent that said that their 19-year-old son went to our job fair and actually got a job.

[00:43:53] So I think I say that to say that, you know, our efforts here in the county are actually working and people are benefiting from some of the services that we are launching. So thank you to the county exec and your staff for the work that you guys have been doing.

[00:44:10] All right, Supervisor Angry. Thank you, Madam Chair. Just a little bit to the 311 because I love technology, right? So technology brings us really into this, what are we, 26th century? I don't even know where we are. We're, like, way up there in the 25, and we're way up there.

[00:44:27] But my point is I know there were some concerns with, like, you know, each of our district offices and the fact of, you know, our constituent services and folks calling in to, you know, have us deal with them. I know that process still exists.

[00:44:42] What I like what you said is that the data collection. I think what we don't do well is track how well we're dealing with constituent services. And, you know, once we get used to this, I think that's going to allow us that opportunity to do so.

[00:44:58] And so my question is, is that able to be captured from the district offices in terms of constituent services? All the questions that clearly Supervisor Frank just spoke to some of the 911 call questions have been.

[00:45:14] So will that capture all that, and will we get a rollout to kind of see how well we're doing? It absolutely will. The functionality here is pretty amazing. Accountability for us is one of the core elements of adopting a 311 platform.

[00:45:30] So, yes, we will know who is calling, why they are calling, how long it took us to close the service request, where they are calling from in terms of the magisterial district. We expect, and I know your staffs, all of you, were briefed.

[00:45:48] Rob and his team went by and made sure that he briefed your offices. So we expect that your offices will use the tool as well. And honestly, I'm going to say that I expect that our own employees will, in some cases, use the tool.

[00:46:03] Yes, and to that point of using the tool, because, you know, we're going to still get calls in manually. So we have a similar software that we use in Office where we load into manually to track some of this data. Is there a feature or an option to, if we're still getting calls for constituent services for tracking measures, can we, and I'm not trying to add extra work on folks, but we kind of do that right now with certain things that we do.

[00:46:27] So is there an option to or feature to add manually some of these calls that we can then track to spit out the data to show, you know, how well we're doing in a month or how many constituent services that we're serving? You know, the expectation is that when a service request is opened, whether it is the constituent that's opening that service request, the resident, the visitor, or your chief of staff, right?

[00:46:49] Whoever is opening the service request, we will be able to track that service request number. Now, one of the amazing tools about this platform as well is that if you are calling, I don't know how many times, especially in the private sector, you can call and expect that there's a history of the fact that you called about the same issue before.

[00:47:11] We can do that here. So if residents are calling our government for a specific issue and they call a week later, we will have record of the fact that that call occurred. So, yes, there will be a lot of opportunity for us to provide report outs in terms of what types of service requests we received.

[00:47:34] Thank you. All right. Thank you very much. Supervisor Bailey. Thank you, Madam Chair. I concur with my colleague. This is exciting. Rob and his team, the expectation for completion was supposed to have been this summer, and it's not the summer, it's the spring.

[00:47:56] And so I love it when a plan comes together and things are instituted as we expect. This is another example of when the county is growing and the level of service that we need, We have to grow along with that level of service.

[00:48:14] And so I'm very appreciative of what Rob and his team have done, as well as, you know, they also instituted, was it the 988 system? They instituted that, too. So it's enough for our mental health. I think that was done as well. But it's a little bit at a time.

[00:48:31] And so I'm really thankful for, because our offices do need the assistance, you know what I mean, and to make sure that we are responding quickly to our community. So thank you to you and to Rob Mancini's team for just having a vision for this.

[00:48:51] All right. I don't have anyone else in queue, if that's it for you. I will go on to agenda item number five, and that is county attorney time. Thank you, Madam Chair, members of the board. This afternoon in closed session, we will have consultation with legal counsel and briefings by staff members regarding legal advice and personnel discussion regarding the following pending internal audits.

[00:49:12] on the American Rescue Plan Act calendar year 2024, subrecipient monitoring report interim, and government staffing assessment phase two, where discussion in an open meeting would adversely affect the litigating posture, bargaining position, or negotiating strategy of the public body, and consultation with legal counsel and briefings by staff members regarding specific legal matters requiring the provision of legal advice by such counsel pertaining to land use law, along with consultation with legal counsel and briefings by staff members regarding actual litigation of violation notices issued to the owners of three properties associated with the Woodbine Cemetery located at 8,000 Stillbrook Road, 12916 Canova Drive,

[00:49:52] 12920 Canova Drive, Manassas, where such consultation, discussion, or briefing in an open meeting would adversely affect the bargaining position, negotiating strategy, or litigating posture of the public body. These items are appropriate for closed session pursuant to 2.2-3711A1-7-8 of the Code of Virginia. Move for approval, Madam Chair. Second. All right, thank you so very much.

[00:50:16] Let's go ahead and take our vote. All right, thank you so very much. We are going to go back to Mr. Schorter to tee up our work sessions for today. Yes, thank you very much, Madam Chair, members of the board. Really excited, obviously, anytime we get to pull up PWC Works, but certainly excited that Mandy Spina is going to give us an update today on our permitting process in all of the work that we've done around improvement.

[00:50:52] I'll say that Mandy has just done a phenomenal job in partnership with the various stakeholder groups, including the chamber, and this is an opportunity really for her to give an update to the board and to the community on some of that work. So Mandy, if you are ready. Good afternoon, Madam Chair, members of the board, Mandy Spina, Director of Development Services. So one of the things that I love most about my job is getting to highlight the amazing work that my staff does on a day-to-day basis.

[00:51:25] Being a regulatory agency, there are guardrails that are put in place when we look at building safety, different ordinances that we must adhere to. But one thing that's really unique about us is the amount that we collaborate with different stakeholders. And we take pride in that. We want people to come to the table. We want the processes to be streamlined. So when we speak specifically to the Permitting Process Initiatives Project.

[00:51:50] That is a mouthful. There are five key items that we're really focused on. So Nikki, if you could, right there is good. So under our main goals, we're really focused on achieving cost and time savings. We're looking at reducing uncertainty. We want people to come into the development process and know what that process looks like from start to finish.

[00:52:10] We want to look at eliminating redundant or unnecessary steps. We are looking at promoting predictability. Our customers expect predictability and consistency from us, and then enhancing our customer experience through modernization. In our post-COVID era, we are largely in a technological era, and with that comes some challenges when we have a mix of hybrid services for in-person or virtual, and what we can do to enhance those services through technology.

[00:52:39] So really, in the fall of 2024, I provided an initial update when we went live with PWC Works on the permitting process improvements. Since September, I am proud to announce, and as you look as Nikki scrolls through the amount of work that's been done, we have either initiated or completed 11 different process improvements.

[00:53:03] And they make an impact at various levels of our stakeholders, whether they're a homeowner applying for their own permit for a project. They're a small business coming in looking for services. They're a developer contractor that we're working through various stakeholders that we work with throughout the process. But I did want to highlight three specific projects that would be of note. One, if you go up just a little bit, Nikki, I'm looking at the virtual appointments right there. So in October of 2024, our fire marshal's office was piloting a virtual appointment an option that allowed customers to schedule an appointment similar to the DMV, if you think of

[00:53:42] their system, and come in and do an expedited plan review process. That allows collaboration through a virtual environment. So when they did that pilot, very successful, they're now getting ready at the end of June to launch that into full implementation mode. So not only when I speak for the permitting process improvements, is it development services, it's also our other sister agencies that work with us through those processes. So that's one that I did want to highlight. We've had significant success with the pilot where we'll move to full implementation. So big thank you to Chief Smolsky, to Chief LaBelle for their help through that project. Next, we're going to

[00:54:20] go down to the bottom. I'm going to save the Chamber of Commerce project that we're working on for last. But next we're going to move to, it's the very last one. It's our ePortal application improvements. So if you are coming through the county to do any form of development and you're putting through an application through the ePortal, we know that there is a portion where people may not understand the full process.

[00:54:43] And when we've talked to different stakeholders, they've said, you know, sometimes I may get an approval letter and I don't realize there's a next step. Or I didn't know that the word approved meant this. I didn't know issued meant this. So how do we handle those? So in the ePortal system, we are going to get ready to launch likely in the spring.

[00:55:02] maybe a little earlier, is when you get to the end of the ePortal application, we're going to have a checkbox. So think about any website you go to. By checking this box, I agree that I've read the following. And it will take you to a separate link that will go to our website, and it will have our process maps. And that will map you out the building process. They'll be interactive where you can click on the different processes, and it'll take you to the form. It will take you to the contact information. Maybe you're in the site plan process, and you have a review that's held up in a different agency that's not development services if you click on that review agency it will take you to their information so a little bit more transparency in terms of the

[00:55:41] totality of the process but then also we're going to list our stated review time so that people know when you come in based on the type of project you have there's various time frames for review this is what you should expect and if you have problems here's who you should call so we're really excited to launch that effort that's one of the more time intensive but it is looking at technology and how we can help our customer base and lastly i wanted to speak to the chamber of commerce so when i was here last we were just starting the process with the chamber of commerce related to permitting recommendations really happy to partner with them they had

[00:56:16] somewhere close to 117 businesses that were providing feedback through their subcommittees so in november we received the initial list from the chamber so what i'm going to walk through is the amount of work that you will see here as we've broken out into three different types of phases. The first we're looking at is the initiation phase, and that's where we received the list from the chamber. In that list, we had 36 total permitting recommendations, with 29 of those being individual recommendations. Some were repeat through the different categories.

[00:56:49] We were looking at different buckets where they broke it out into site plan processes, building and site permitting, building and site inspections, and then bond release. Then we move into the discovery phase, and that's where we really went in in the wintertime and were asking some clarifying questions just to make sure that we as staff understood what they were saying in the recommendations.

[00:57:10] We understood the true intent of those words. So we went through about a month or two of meetings with the Chamber of Commerce and their subcommittees. And lastly is now where we're at is the implementation phase. and so really categorizing the recommendations we've gone to industry and said knowing staff capacity can we prioritize these 36 is a lot of separate recommendations across multiple agencies so in coordination with the commercial development committee at their january meeting they identified two major projects out of the chamber's recommendations for us to focus on one is related to the building plan review process and one is related to the site plan process

[00:57:50] So what you will see here, those two are also broken out. Right here is our site plan process initiation phase. As part of our ongoing efforts with the chamber and in coordination with the CDC, we went to look at different potential improvements. We looked at Loudoun County. They have a different form of conditional site plan approvals.

[00:58:09] We want to talk about their process, what worked great, what are some of the things that were hurdles for them, and then work with industry to get their feedback as well. So to date, we've conducted a process mapping exercise for our current state. Where are we currently? I was really impressed in early January, we got all review agencies for the site plan process, as well as all the directors into the room to really show support for that entire process.

[00:58:34] And that was led by our transformation management office. And it was six hours of really just putting everything to paper. And now we're going to move into what is the future state where we're looking at process improvements. The next one is our building plan review improvement process.

[00:58:51] That actually kicked off last week on May 14th. This was at the initiation of the building official, Eric Mays, but also in conjunction with the Commercial Development Committee, where Mr. Mays came forward and requested that the CDC make a goal to look at the plan review process, specifically focused on three areas.

[00:59:09] One is the expedited plan review process. We had this process prior to COVID. Once we implemented the electronic review, we moved away from expedited. And that meant people came to the table, and we marked up the plans in real time, and everybody moved off from the table.

[00:59:25] So we're looking at that. Do we do it hybrid? Do we do it virtual? Do we do it in person? A lot of options are on the table. We're looking at our third-party plan review process, reviewing that policy for any changes that are needed. And then the potential of waiving commercial building plan review. One thing we learned from the launch of Solar App Plus is that when you look at risk mitigation from a building perspective, are there certain types of plans that can go through a waived process that then are more enforced on the inspection side?

[00:59:52] So we're reviewing those as well. The building official, in conjunction with staff and six industry members, had a kickoff meeting last week. And I think one of the most interesting parts is listening to people talk is that we're all vested in the same end goal. We want the best for what the county is, and we want the best for what the process is.

[01:00:10] And so we had tenured staff in the room. We had new staff in the room. We have designers who have been here for a very long time, and we have designers who are new to the county who just all have the same goal in mind. And I think that's when you see magic happen, is when we're all on the same page working towards that goal. So I'm really excited to have sat in that room to offer my thanks, because I do love the collaboration.

[01:00:31] That's how we get the best product, is when we all come to the table. So you'll see in here, the building official, if anything, is very efficient in listing out his meetings. So the goal of the team, really, is they've had their first meeting. They're going to meet again on May 28th, June 11th, and July 9th, and then kick off subcommittees.

[01:00:49] So a lot of great dialogue. There are two-hour meetings and just coming with the ideas at the table. So that's really a wrap on the three I wanted to speak about. If you have any questions on other processes that are up here, I'd be happy to take any questions. All right, thank you so very much. i'm actually going to go with the first question um i'm just wondering how long does it get um take for example to get a building permit and a site development permit and like what is the ultimate goal for the turnaround time on those types of permits so it will depend um on the type of project so that there are different review times if we're looking through the site plan process

[01:01:24] we adhere to the dcsm stated time frames where our first review will be at 27 days and when you come in for second review, we're at 17 days. Now, if they're expedited, we'll cut those times in half. When we're in building, there are a lot of nuances to their timeframes. If you're coming in with maybe a run-of-the-mill project and you're doing a tenant fit-out, you're going to look at about 20 days on a first review and then a 10-day second review. We may even have projects where we come in at 10 days on the first review and five on the second. So that's where we'll have the different timeframes stated because depending on the type of project depends on your review cycle.

[01:02:00] And then we have implemented different processes within building development, and we're getting ready to do it on the site development side, where if you're hitting that third review mark, we are flagging it on a report to make sure we reach out to look at the deficiencies that are noted. On the site plan process, we're going to bring everybody to the table with the outstanding comment agencies.

[01:02:21] All right, thank you. And you were mentioning something about the waived business plan process. Yes. I mean, what types of business, you know, for example, we get a lot of things coming up on the consolidated land use, you know, a new drive-through for a bunch of Chick-fil-A's, for example.

[01:02:38] Would something like that fall into this, or what are you looking at specifically when you're talking about the WAVE business plan process? So the team right now is really, this will be the focus of their May 28th meeting, but something that we saw in similar. So on the residential side, there is the option where you can waive plan review and at your own risk, then you're going into the inspections phase.

[01:02:59] So that's on the residential side. From the commercial standpoint, you don't see this as often, but is there a way that we could look at very low risk mitigation projects that would fall into this category? That would be for the team really to decide and ultimately the building official on his level of comfort on the risk of a project on what he's comfortable on waiving the plan review.

[01:03:18] But we did see success, again, on the residential side with Solar App Plus, which allows for same-day permitting because it does waive the plan review. So we know the capability is there, but can we leverage that thought process into different types of commercial plans? The only thing I'll say, I mean, I'm sure you guys have thought about this, but when you mentioned waive plan review on the residential side, that just makes me nervous because if someone's doing repairs or something for their house with the goal of flipping it, You know, the person who, I mean, you can hire an inspector, but sometimes until you live it, you don't know what the hidden risks are.

[01:03:52] So I just wanted to name that. Let me go over to Supervisor Bailey for questioning. Thank you, Madam Chair. Mandy, welcome back. Thank you. Again. Thank you. And you've, I just wanted to, first of all, say you've done a phenomenal job.

[01:04:10] You heard our voices. We were talking about the permitting status. You heard our voices and the things that we needed to serve our clients better in our conversations. And you were a part of those conversations. And I just thank you and your staff for collaborating.

[01:04:26] That's the key in all that we do in serving this county is collaborating. And when we don't, we get the results of that. But when we do, we get better results. And so I'm thankful for the collaboration because it's imperative. The question that I have for you is, as we go into the next phase of businesses, be it with the chamber or whatever that looks like, small businesses, whatever it is, what do you think, what specifically do you think we need to take the next steps of improvement?

[01:04:58] What's your next focus? It's availability of services. We need to meet our customers where they are at their point in their process. And a lot of that is I think what we've learned through the Chambers list is that we have a lot of processes that identify some of their needs. They just didn't know they were there.

[01:05:15] And so we're taking that internal look to say how do we make sure people know on an ongoing basis that our processes are there, how they can help them, what types of projects that they're applicable to. So we are taking that internal look to say how do we do a better job of making sure it's out there for people to know.

[01:05:31] So I do think it's the availability of services is key, but it's also making sure people know what is available and who to contact. And as a board member, how do we help you with that? I mean, other than the obvious, is there something specifically that we can do to assist you or support you in that?

[01:05:49] I'd say it's just to continue what you all do now. It's to reach out when you have someone reach out to you. We're also going to set up quarterly meetings. Now that I'm back in the office to set up quarterly meetings to really talk about specific items and give you all the tools that when people may come in or call to say, I know where you need to go with that or have you thought about this?

[01:06:08] Because that is part of the battle is knowing where to send someone because some of the projects are complex and they're intertwined. When we serve as we serve as the lead agency for development. So we are that hub. And so, at any rate, call us if you have a question, but we want to also provide the information to you to have that when your constituents do come in with questions.

[01:06:28] And then the other question I have, and this will be the last one, in terms of the seasoned businesses or those that are, you know, not necessarily in the hopper now, but those seasoned, is there an opportunity there as well with this new process as we go forward?

[01:06:44] Have you thought about that, or do you think we're at a place now where we could just go forward? I think it is something that's on our radar. We are dealing with a lot of businesses who may want to make improvements. And so they've been there for a while. They may have a question about, do I need a permit for this? What do I have to do for this? And they're reaching out quite a bit. We have tried to promote more our commercial project management program because they are a resource. It is on our radar, but they will largely be lumped in with our entire focus of available services.

[01:07:16] Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. all right supervisor bode thank you madam chair thank you mandy uh as always for all your efforts and welcome back like we said earlier thank you for that issue that you helped us through earlier um i know that super is angry and i appreciate the work um but it it highlights some of the issues right um i think that transparency you talked about having a sort of a living list of having people say this is where i'm in the process and let's just say in highly encourage them to check that box say hey i read this thing before moving on i think we'll be will be helpful especially in cases like this where one project was actually moving along they

[01:07:54] just need a little bit more help other project they had thought that their contractor had done the right job and submitted everything to come to find out they didn't so it's all about that sort of accountability and transparency not only for us but frankly the contractors that folks are working with because we know that let's just be real in some cases contractors don't always do everything they're supposed to do and then it's easy to turn around and escape goat the county when that happens. I know I'm not, I'm preaching to the choir here with some of that stuff, but I just say that to say is that it helps make sure everyone knows what page everyone is on, and if that's something that the end user has to follow up with their contractor on,

[01:08:30] that's a lot clearer too, instead of it just going into this sort of black box of, oh, it's in the county process, we don't really know what's happening, so I wanted to highlight that. To that end, as you work through the process and you're having, and you're looking at these efficiencies around transparency especially, how are you sort of belt and suspenderings that kind of communication where the lead contact may be a contractor, but you also know there's an end user there who is obviously the person that's requesting the work done.

[01:08:59] And again, to this point, they might not know what hasn't happened in the process yet. And so they just think it's, hey, it's the county or, hey, we're just in limbo, when it's reality is a step wasn't taken by their contractor. Right. That is a constant struggle that we deal with is the multiple stakeholders within a project at different points in the process.

[01:09:18] And it is just it's us working with the different stakeholders to understand their preferred method of finding that out. We have the e-portal. Anybody can go into it. But what you can see depends on if you're signed up and linked. Most people don't understand that process. So how do we do a better job of explaining that?

[01:09:36] And it's getting out into the community a little bit more and having those dialogues with some of our businesses and some of our, even our residents that pull permits that get lost through the process that then hire contractors. So it is an ongoing struggle when the process or a project is handed off from step to step, that lack in communication is evident.

[01:09:59] How do we bridge that gap? And I think all of us probably experience that at any point on a given day. And it's identifying it, continuing the communication, continuing to provide accessible information that people don't have to. And I think that's speaking to 311 is going to significantly help when people go to search for, do I need a permit for this?

[01:10:19] And it takes you right to that information. How helpful is that? So even when we integrate our own services, but it is a constant struggle. One last one, Madam Chair. Thank you for that. And that sort of leads to my follow-up question is, bless you. You mentioned that another key part of that is, hey, if it gets handed off to another agency, another reviewing partner within the county government, that's clearly delineated, too.

[01:10:40] So folks know, oh, hey, my main sector for X, they're done with their work. Now it's at this other agency. Instead of people thinking, oh, it's just one person the entire time, which I know is also part of the concern. I know that we've also talked in the past about when there are even another layer of government who's involved in these inspections, so the state.

[01:10:57] And so I'm just going to ask this sort of out loud. Is that going to be mentioned, too? not necessarily you don't make you may not have the contact at the state but as part of that sort of transparency that delineation showing hey now you're in the step where it's the state who's handling this and our folks have done the work yes um so when we look at the site plan process specifically part of that mapping will have vdot in there um it will have prince william water in there and and it will link to their contact now of course we will be meeting with them before that goes live just to let them know if you get any additional questions here's why um or people just But it's more information out there, more transparency on where you are in the process.

[01:11:33] But people, if they're following along any portal, can see where the comments are coming from. This will give them another avenue to maybe reach out if they don't have the direct contact information. Great. Thank you. You're welcome. All right. Supervisor Franklin. Yeah, just a quick question, then a comment.

[01:11:50] For the site plan and the building review, do applicants know that they have to do both? Like, is that clear to them? Typically in their processes, yes. where it can be a little convoluted is when they're um sometimes when we're dealing with the site plan into the building with a building release letter we do get some comments about that but for the most part they do yes okay and then i appreciate because you know we've met um for a while about this process and i appreciate you kind of updating um how the process will work for applicants i will say there's still a lot of work for us to to do um there are still challenges i'm

[01:12:24] still getting calls about um challenges with the permitting process i think part of what i'm realizing is i think our process has been so convoluted that even we as the county uh kind of trip over ourselves keeping up with where various applicants are and that's not a criticism so much as it's um kind of a realization um because a lot of the businesses and you you've heard this before a lot of the businesses that call a complaint are the very small businesses that can't afford the attorney they can't afford to get the professionals to come in and read

[01:13:03] through the paperwork but what's interesting is it's the same same complaints that the the bigger applicants have so I appreciate you kind of updating this process but just know I think we still have a long way to go. And we have to figure out, I think, when we're looking at these processes, it has to be, how do we simplify internally? And how do we simplify for the applicant? And I think that's where I see that the challenges are. Everything just seems very bureaucratic and red tape, and we need to figure out how to cut through all that.

[01:13:38] Thank you. And one thing you'll see, too, is at the very end, if you could scroll to the very, very bottom um i'm fully aware that there this doesn't end it's an ongoing um even when everything on this list is checked off most of these projects you'll see with an end when we did solar app plus we knew going full implementation would check the box um i don't see this last circle being checked ever it's an ongoing process for us development changes um it's just reality so i i don't ever envision so this may be a five page long event but that's that's reality and that's development

[01:14:14] um but i don't i don't envision that that gets checked off all right thank you supervisor gordy thank you madam chair and mandy again welcome back um i just have to say that ricky did a great job in your absence and and i think that speaks to the deep bench that you have in development services and that you have a great staff um uh working with you over there so um i i want to thank you again for what you're doing here uh you know when i came in as a supervisor almost a year

[01:14:47] and a half ago this was top of mind of things that i was receiving feedback from constituents and businesses in the brentsville district um and uh so this is is something that i'm very excited to see continuing to move forward.

[01:15:04] And one of the things that was kind of brought up to me in speaking with some of the folks in the development community is that, you know, our process is very linear and you've got to go to this step before you go to this step, you've got to do this step before you go to this one.

[01:15:23] But in some other localities, well, when you get to this step, now four or five processes now work in tandem with each other. Are we looking at moving to where, you know, we're breaking away from that just complete linear to now kind of having more of a treat approach where you have multiple branches of processes and inspections and taking place?

[01:15:46] Yes. So you've hit the nail on the head, and this is largely what we're going to see with the site plan process. When we met with the chamber and the commercial development committee, we were specifically looking at Loudon. They have a conditional process where once you hit a certain step, they'll branch off and you can do certain other steps while it's continuing in the review.

[01:16:04] So we've met once with them. We are setting up another meeting this summer to talk to their staff and really look at what did you learn through that process? What are the hurdles? And look at both of our process maps and say, how do they, is every process is going to be different in what we call things? But what is feasible for us to look at adopting?

[01:16:22] And, but that is a top of mind for us on the site plan process. So, but it is interesting. We have some of those in the building world. But I think most of the people that are working in building understand that process. We have a lot of concurrent processes that can happen. But the site plan process has been one that has not been looked at.

[01:16:41] And it's one that is high priority for the Commercial Development Committee as well. Thank you. Thank you very much. That's great. Appreciate it. Thank you. Supervisor Vega. Thank you, Madam Chair. I just have a quick question. So if somebody initiates a process online and then they walk in in person, they can still be helped, yes?

[01:16:59] If they start online, typically they are only online. And I have an issue with that. And I brought it up before. I do think that we've got to figure out a way to fix that because as somebody who personally dealt with that, it was very difficult because, one, either the response is not timely, and sometimes people just want to talk to a human being, right?

[01:17:22] And if they walk in, and not everyone lives close to this building, right? And so if they have a process and they have a question and they come to the counter and they're sitting and they get called to the window just to be told, well, you started online, we can't help you.

[01:17:38] I personally have an issue with that, and it's about customer service and the experience. So if there's any way that we can look into improving that, that would be great. But on that note, I'd also like to know why they can't. So when we put this in place, it was largely due to COVID when we went electronic and putting parameters that won for more for staffing reasons to ensure that if you're coming in online, there are certain documents that you may be uploading.

[01:18:03] The staff is looking for that electronic process. When you're sitting in the atrium and you come to a counter, we are changing documents on the fly and we're not uploading them for you. So there are different sets of that process related to documents. One conversation, to your point, that we are having is, well, if you're working on a residential project and you're a homeowner and you start online, what is the disservice to then allowing the in-person service?

[01:18:30] So we are having the conversation. It is tied to staffing at some point related to a staff member understanding the workflow through the electronic process versus the workflow that may happen in person into our system, two different tracks.

[01:18:48] But there is a way that we can merge that. So we are having those discussions, but it has been a priority for us to look at because we have talked about that before as well. Well, I'm glad that it's a priority and that you guys are looking into it and any updates that you can provide as you all go through the process would be greatly appreciated. Absolutely. And one additional thing is we are also trying to align in-person services across the counter functions.

[01:19:11] If you go to the zoning counter, you can get help for anything. But if you come to the building counter, it's only for residential. so we want to make sure that we are consistent across the board in the services that are offered and really reaching out to the customers who are sitting in the lobby to ask their experience but thank you for that all right thank you very much doesn't seem like we have any other questions so we can move on i appreciate you mandy thank you and again welcome back thank you very much mandy so madam chair members of the board really this is based on the request of vice chair bailey just a few board meetings ago for an update on the crisis receiving center

[01:19:50] So this is going to be a two-parter in that we're going to first receive a program update from Lisa Madron, and then we're going to have an update from FFM from Matt, who will provide an update on the construction side. So program and then construction.

[01:20:08] Lisa, feel free to take it away. Thank you. Good afternoon, Madam Chair, members of the Board. I'm Lisa Madron, the Chief Transformation Officer. And I'm here today to update you about the crisis-receiving center complex.

[01:20:23] And I'll briefly review some information on the CRC complex and provide timeline and events around opening. The CRC complex will have an adult crisis receiving center with 16 23-hour observation units and 16 crisis stabilization beds, and a youth CRC with 16 23-hour observation units and 16 crisis stabilization beds.

[01:20:52] The complex will also have eight co-located outpatient or community-based community services programs. The CRC part of the complex will be open every day of the year and will provide emergency stabilization for those experiencing mental health and substance use crises.

[01:21:14] The CRC is a secure, supportive setting for both voluntary and involuntary care. There are separate entrances for the adult and the youth CRCs, and there's also a separate entrance for the community services programs. The CRC program model begins with an assessment and a 23-hour stabilization unit, if that's needed, and will offer a residential component if more stabilization may be needed.

[01:21:47] The CRC will also offer withdrawal management when that may be needed. The treatment services that will be provided at the CRC are through a vendor, Connections Health Solutions. Next slide, please. Connections is a national leader in crisis services with almost 30 years of experience managing a continuum of crisis services.

[01:22:12] Connections currently operates in Arizona, Washington State, Pennsylvania, and they are the vendor for the regional crisis stabilization program in Chantilly, Virginia. Next slide, please. In previous presentations, I've shared milestones for the CRC, starting with the board directive on March 9, 2021, to explore establishing a CSU and another directive in July of 2021 to seeking funding to establishing a CRC.

[01:22:42] In 2022, the Prince William Board approved funding for the adult CRC center, and Connections was awarded the operating contract, and in December, the state provided us funding to open part of the youth CRC simultaneously, recognizing that our need was mainly for adults, but that there was scarce youth resources and a need in the region.

[01:23:08] Next slide. In 2023, the board purchased Worth Avenue, the building, and the dedication ceremony was held in May. Taft Construction was awarded the contract, and construction began in January of 2024. Additional funding was provided by the state for the full youth program of the 16 and 16 observation units and beds.

[01:23:33] Legislative changes occurred through advocacy for operating the model, and things seemed to be running smoothly, especially for this size of a project, until August of 2024, when the Department of Medical Assistance Services, DMAS, designated the CRC an institute for mental disease, based primarily on having more than 16 beds.

[01:23:55] This designation prevents full billing of Medicaid for treatment services. To be able to bill Medicaid for crisis treatment services, DMAS needed to request a waiver from the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare, CMS.

[01:24:13] This application process alone can take six months to a year, and DMAS took an unprecedented action and submitted the waiver application in December of 2024. The review and the approval of the waiver by CMS typically takes 18 to 24 months, and we are currently waiting on CMS's review and approval in order to bill full Medicaid.

[01:24:43] Based on the construction schedule, which you'll hear more about from Matt, we anticipate the occupancy permit by August of 2025. This will permit connections to apply for the state licenses needed to operate the CRC.

[01:25:00] The license application process can take up to 90 days to be approved, but we have been assured by the state that this process will be expedited. The ribbon-cutting event for the center is scheduled for September 8th, and I believe you've all received a hold of the date.

[01:25:16] And we will be hosting specialty and community tours on the 9th and the 10th to highlight the CRC and the CS programs and provide tours and information about the complex prior to the anticipated opening the week of October 6th.

[01:25:32] We are able to proceed with the opening for the adult and the youth CRCs without a waiver because of the match funding provided by you and the state, each of you providing the $5.7 million to make up the estimated $11.4 anticipated full Medicaid revenue.

[01:25:56] We are very grateful for your continued support and interest in changing the way crisis services are offered in our community, our region, and our state. All right, just quickly, do we see, it doesn't look like, but I just want to verify, do you anticipate any further delays to opening on time?

[01:26:23] I hope and pray not. Jess Hannah asked, and you're mentioning the, I guess we're waiting, we're in the approval process for DMAS. You were saying we're on an expedited review. Again, how long is that expected to take? So the expedited review is for the licenses once the occupancy permit, when construction's finished.

[01:26:45] That's through the state for connections to get the licenses needed to operate the services they'll be operating there. What is now with CMS is not necessarily expedited, although I know that DMAS is certainly looking for it as soon as possible, And they took action that is beyond what they've ever done to complete the application for a waiver and submit it in a short time frame.

[01:27:11] That process, though, that CMS has can take what we're told is anywhere from 18 to 24 months. All right. Thank you. Supervisor Bailey. Thank you, Madam Chair, for asking the questions, the elephant in the room, so to speak.

[01:27:29] We appreciate that because, Lisa, just thank you and your team for your collaboration with Matt and how you have driven this project for us. And we're the wind beneath your wings here on the board.

[01:27:47] We appreciate it. There has been some opportunities, unusual opportunities, and a high level of support for this project. Wouldn't you say that was not expected? And so I think it's a testament to your level of professionalism and expertise, along with your leader, Mr. Elijah Johnson.

[01:28:12] Y'all know how to get it done, and we really appreciate that because there are people waiting to be healed. And so I'm very grateful on behalf of the board for how you have taught us and taught us how to be patient and wait, but move forward at the same time.

[01:28:33] And so we're grateful. Supervisor Angry. Yeah, and I don't have a question. I actually toured it, and I just noticed the team sitting right here. And I just want to thank Matt and Amir and the team because I know that they had done some creative things to actually save the county money in identifying some wiring.

[01:28:56] So I just want to recognize and commend you and the team for what you've done inside of that building, that huge building, and the progress made. So you saved up some money. There's a lot of other kind of probably pitfalls, but not even aware of right now.

[01:29:12] It's a big project. I get it now. I've gone to see it all, and just wanted to kind of shout out you guys and the team for everything you're doing with the contractors to make that building a possibility. So thank you. All right. We don't have anyone else.

[01:29:27] Thank you so very much for the presentation. Mr. Shorter. Oh, sorry. Who? Sorry. Okay. Oh, I forgot. This is a two-parter. All right, go on. Good afternoon, Chair Jefferson, members of the board. Matt Villareal, your Director of Facilities and Fleet Management.

[01:29:45] And today I'm pleased to provide an update on the Worth Avenue revenue project. It's hard for me to say. Thank you, sir. Project. This presentation will cover, I'm going to talk about three different things. I'll give you a timeline overview about what we've done in that facility dating back to 2021.

[01:30:04] I'll give you some construction highlights. I have a video to show you. And it gives you some ideas of what we've done in that facility. And then I'll let you know about what our next steps are. So if you remember, back in February 2021, it was during the middle of COVID.

[01:30:21] And we were tasked with finding a location to have a COVID-19 vaccination center. We were able to identify and enter into a short-term lease with the formerly space occupied by Gander Mountain.

[01:30:38] And we worked with emergency management to get that site prepared. They did most of the work, but we helped get the site clean for them and secured as well. And then in 21, the board issued two directives to community services to establish the Crisis Receiving Center and the Trauma Treatment Program in Prince William County.

[01:30:56] So subsequently in August, we were asked, FFM was asked, to find lease space that could house a future Crisis Receiving Center. Next slide, please. And then in November of 2022 to September 23, we started an aggressive timetable for selecting an architect and engineer firm to complete the design of the CRC space.

[01:31:25] Typically, selecting an A&E firm takes about six to nine months, and then the design process is usually another 18-plus months to complete. We were able to get a selected A&E firm and truncate the design down to 11 months total.

[01:31:42] In March 21st, after the board had already approved a lease for the facility, we became aware that the facility was going to be sold via an online auction to the highest bidder. And FFM approached the board with this option, and the board passed a resolution authorizing the purchase of the building.

[01:32:02] And we were the winning bidder, obviously, for that purchase. um december 19 2023 that's when we uh selected and awarded the construction contract to taft construction and then in january 24 they began the demolition process in the facility and then in uh february the actual renovation i got it said it right this time so there you go the renovation construction began and then now it's our goal and it's our expectation that we should be able to have occupancy in the facility come this August. Looking at the picture, that's a

[01:32:40] rendering of the exterior of the facility, what it hopefully will look like here in August. So we're excited. We're excited to be part of this project. Here's a picture of us getting the Gander Mountain site at the time prepped and ready for the vaccination site. And when you're looking at that picture, you can see how wide open it is. You can also see how much stuff was in there left behind from Gander Mountain. So we definitely had a lot of work ahead of us when we started this project. So on May 11th, we had the dedication ceremony, which was held on site. We had many

[01:33:15] local representatives there and the governor in attendance for the event. And so you can see there, we had gotten all the Gander Mountain stuff out, but there was still structure there that we were going to have to demolish. But it was still, it was wide open space. So we pretty much had a shell of a building at that time. Next slide, please. So here's a picture of what the layout of the facility is. If you look where it says Crisis Receiving Center, that's the north side of the building that's the main entrance that's where used to see had the big main entrance to gander mountain and that's where we'll have three entrances one for cs one for the youth section

[01:33:55] of the crc and then one for the adult section of the crc and we'll also have a pharmacy right there as well um if you're looking at the picture the where it says crc we're to the left of that that's where the youth inpatient uh facilities will be and on the other side is where the adult inpatient services will be provided. And then beneath that, or it says D, to the left of that, that's going to be the youth observation area. And then to the right is the adult observation area.

[01:34:30] The CS space, that's where CS will be working out of. They'll have their therapists and other people that are doing services directly from the public there as well. And the CRS space, that's where the public safety group will be able to come in and work out of there when they're working with doing co-response. All right. This slide is of pictures of our demolition. As you see the top left picture, that's us. That's during the process of demolishing. If you remember being in that facility, you had to get in a mountain and obviously they had a back of the storefront type thing. There's

[01:35:08] a large wall there. There's the bathrooms and some offices. We had to demolish all that. That's that picture from there. The right picture on the top right, that's if you remember Gander Mountain had that huge facade with those big wooden posts, also a lot of brickwork and stonework, and so there's a picture of after we started taking that down. The bottom left is TAF construction sitting there jackhammering out those columns right there. That was quite a bit of job of work for them. In the bottom right, part of this project, we had to install quite a number of columns into the facility, and so we had to do a lot of saw cuts of the concrete floor to make that

[01:35:46] happen. And that's just a picture of the concrete that we had to remove to do that. As part of this project, we had a lot of underground infrastructure that we had to get completed. The first picture is of the hole they had to dig when they realized that the sewer line had a belly in it or it had a high point in it. So we had to dig down about 20 to 25 feet in order to get to it and fix the line and replace it. As you can see, those gentlemen there are working inside a safety box so they don't have a cave-in on them. The other pictures are of the other infrastructure that we had to put

[01:36:23] in. We had to put a lot of sewer lines in. We had to put water lines in. We also put electricity in so that you had floor boxes to work out of the systems furniture and also in the conference rooms. All right, next I'm going to show you guys a video that has a time lapse and also has very recent pictures and video of the interior of the facility.

[01:36:49] Our partners at Communications were kind enough to come out there and film this for us, so we were greatly appreciative of that. It's the main reception to the youth area.

[01:37:36] Last video has kind of given you the opposite from where

[01:37:49] the governor had spoken. A nice overview of the project.

[01:38:26] We'll have the parking lot repaved before it's opened, or very shortly thereafter. The lighting we've gotten that fixed. That's a good example of our staff being doggedly making sure we're doing the right thing. A lot of the lights were not working. We had gotten an estimate from the contractor's electrician company. They wanted to replace all the poles, replace all the lights, dig new lines out to the lights, and they wanted to charge us about $600,000 for that.

[01:39:01] We went back and said, you know, I think we can do this differently. And thanks to one of our employees, Chris Loftus, he worked with another electrical contractor. They were able to find the trace and find the line where it broke.

[01:39:17] They were able to get that fixed. They were able to do a couple things to the electrical panel. And then we were, that contractor was able to replace the light fixtures with LEDs. I think they were sodium beforehand. So actually I drove out there this morning at 5 a.m. and it's nice and bright.

[01:39:32] it's it's definitely you know very safe as far as lighting goes and we were able to get this done I think it's just under $200,000 so we definitely saved a $400,000 just because we didn't we didn't think it was the right thing to do we want to make sure we did the best thing we could do for the county what we have left to do next slide please I'm sorry so we have the interior finishes that we need to still finish they're pretty close get the exterior facade and parking lot improvements you're going to have to commission the mechanical electrical and life safety systems

[01:40:11] furniture fixtures and equipment installations some of the furniture is starting to go in right now into the ces spaces we got to get the final inspections and system testing and then taff there have staff right now already developing punch lists so that they can start getting ahead of the final of the project and then we'll have project close out and turning over the facility to community services. With that, I have some key players that really helped us out in this whole process. Dennis Flynn from our property management division was tasked with kind of

[01:40:47] managing the acquisition of the property. Nandita Mukherjee worked very closely with A&E firm on the design process at the beginning. Rich Endler, he joined the project and he's been the overall project manager and he's been working very hard on keeping us going forward and keeping us within budget. And Mike Gibbs has been the on-site construction and project management employee there, and he's been making sure that the contractors and their subs are doing what they're supposed to be, and he's been doing an excellent job. So, with that, that's information I had to present.

[01:41:20] I'd love to take any questions. All right, thank you so very much. Supervisor Bailey. Thank you, Madam Chair. Matt, just thank you. You and Ali, you've taken this on in a mighty way, and you've allowed us to spend our dollars you know in a very good way so we really appreciate that and when i went for the tour i was just blown away to to remember what the gander mountain building looked like when i was getting my covet tests and my shots to see what is happening now to heal the land is next to a

[01:41:59] miracle and so um i'm very proud to be a part of a board that also sees the the integrity and the well-being of our county in its entirety to make sure as i always say if we heal minds we heal the land so um thank you um for partnering with lisa and her group also you know in connections it's it's real important and just showing us as a board you know how to make this come to a fruition i'm just grateful thank you you're welcome it's our pleasure and i did get to thank ali

[01:42:36] Ali Hadid had an extremely big role in making sure this happened in a timely fashion. All right, Supervisor Angry. Yeah, and I just want to start there because that's one correction. I called you Amir Ali. I'm sending an email to Amir and looking at you and crossed him up.

[01:42:54] But a tidbit of information I just want to throw you on the spot. Do you know that the sheriff had the vision and the foresight to want this building for this very purpose It was way back when the FBI came in after Gander Mountain. Just want to throw that out there.

[01:43:10] We got a discussion about how we got to this point. So, Michelle Latree, just want to make sure you enter the history books when this is all said and done. So, thanks. Thank you. All right. Thank you. I don't see anyone else. So, thank you very much for this presentation.

[01:43:26] Thank you. We're happy to be part of this process. All right. Thank you very much, Matt. And thank you, Lisa, for the great presentations and update. I'll say, Madam Chair, members of the board, for the final presentation today, As promised a few months ago, we're going to have an update on panhandling.

[01:43:46] This is also somewhat of a two-part, although one presentation where we're going to hear from Phyllis first, just to give an update on where we are with our current, I would say, people power in terms of the outreach team and just some statistics on the profile of those who are experiencing or who are out panhandling.

[01:44:07] And then we're going to hear from Nikki in terms of the communications campaign. and what you all approved a few months ago around the communications piece. So with that, Phyllis, feel free to take us away. Good afternoon, Madam Chair and members of the board.

[01:44:23] Phyllis Jennings-Holt, Director of Social Services. First, I would like to say thank you for giving me this opportunity to share with you information about the work that our street outreach team is doing with engagement with panhandlers and being able to provide you some data.

[01:44:40] Nikki and I will be tag-teaming today. and she will be doing her part with giving information on the campaign of Give Where It Counts. I would like to share with you that this data is unduplicated and is self-reported from the individuals that we've engaged with in the street outreach.

[01:44:59] Go to the next slide. DSS has a street outreach team that consists of three people that work throughout the county, meeting with individuals who may be panhandling to assess the situation and referral for services. the street outreach team works with CS to ensure that individuals are connected with mental health services if needed. Previously, we had one worker that covered the county, but for the past months, we've added two temporary staff, which comprise a team of three. DSS asked for two temporary

[01:45:34] positions in the FY26 budget. You approved that so that those positions could become full-time, and we thank you for that, and we thank you for your support. If a constituent wants to report a concern regarding someone panhandling, they can call 703-792-3939 or they can email pwcpanhandling at princewilliamcounty at pwcgov.org. The message is transcribed and sent to the street outreach team. That message will get to them and they will respond. The street outreach team covers three

[01:46:13] zones. On the west end, it covers Gainesville and Brentsville area. In the central, it covers the Sutley Corridor, the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park. On the eastern end, it covers Woodbridge, Lake Ridge, and Occoquan and Potomac. The street outreach team tries to respond in real time when DSS receives concern in no later than 48 hours. What we know is that everyone that's panhandling is not homeless. And so as we're collecting the data, we have it separated into

[01:46:47] two groups. We have community outreach, which is the non-homeless clients, and then we have street Outreach, which are homeless clients. On April the 17th, we opened up the Prince William County DSS mobile unit that is located at the Manassas Presbyterian Church, and currently right now we are operating every Thursday from 3 to 6 p.m. The data that we are collecting is in several categories. We're tracking age, gender, race and ethnicity, disability, monthly income, veteran

[01:47:26] status, DV survivors, reasons for panhandling, opioid usage, and panhandling by police district. With this slide, what it shows is that during that time period, we engaged with 78 individuals.

[01:47:45] 31 were not homeless under community outreach, and 47 were homeless in street outreach. As we're looking at between gender, among the 31 non-homeless panhandlers, 21 are male, 10 are female.

[01:48:11] Among the 47 panhandlers who are homeless, 35 are male and 12 are female. A key observation is that older adults ages 55 and plus represent a significant portion of both groups, with 11 individuals age 55 plus being non-homeless and 15 individuals of the same group experiencing homelessness.

[01:48:38] Another group that is significant is 45 to 54 with the highest number including that is experiencing homelessness is 10 individuals. When we're looking at race and ethnicity, the chart shows that the high majority is within the white Caucasian category where there was 46 individuals.

[01:49:02] And the next was black African American, which was 15 individuals. So when we're reporting disabilities of the 31 non-homeless panhandlers, 29% reported having a disability or disabling condition.

[01:49:23] Among the 47 panhandlers experiencing homelessness, 40% reporting a disabling condition. The individuals reported dealing with high blood pressure, diabetes, arthritis, and other issues. Among the 31 non-homeless panhandlers, 28.1% reported having a monthly income.

[01:49:50] This could include earnings from employment, limited social benefits, and other small income sources. Among the 47 panhandlers who are homeless, 8.5% reporting having a monthly income. So when we're looking at veteran status, among the 31 non-homeless panhandlers, 9.7% reported being a veteran.

[01:50:15] Among the 47 panhandlers who are homeless, 3.4% reported being a veteran. When we're looking at our domestic violence, among the 31 non-homeless panhandlers, 8.5% identified as being a DV survivor.

[01:50:37] And among the 47 panhandlers who are homeless, 3.2% identified being a DV survivor. With this slide here, as we're looking at panhandling by our police district, The Western District has a high concentration of panhandlers, overall 25 individuals during this period.

[01:50:59] The largest number was experiencing homelessness, which was 17, and 8 were not homeless. Central District has a significant number, where there was 13 that were not homeless and 17 were homeless. And in the Eastern District, there was a number of 17, which 9 individuals were experiencing homelessness, and 8 was not homeless.

[01:51:21] So there's a variant reason for the next slide. Now I'm back to, should be the reasons for panhandling number 13. There you go.

[01:51:43] So among the non-homes clients, the reasons varied, most tied to economic instability and gaps in the safety net, such as unstable employment, employment in general, disability, medical needs, hotels, and motel costs, and housing insecurity.

[01:52:07] For the 38 folks that were in the street outreach or homeless, the primary reason was essentially not having somewhere to live and needing money to pay for a hotel or a motel, lack of affordable housing, unemployment, and having some type of financial hardship and housing challenges.

[01:52:40] Okay, go ahead. That's what happened. Okay, so when you're looking at the Manisterial District, we're looking at Occoquan, which has, when you're looking at the panhandling, you have for the non-homeless, there was eight, and then for 12, which were homeless.

[01:53:12] In Gainesville, there were 11 that you're looking at were homeless, and six that were non-homeless. Then you have your Potomac District with the 10, and then you have your Woodbridge followed up behind that. So when we're looking at the opioid usage, among the 27 non-homeless panhandlers, there was 0% that reported opioid abuse.

[01:53:38] Among the 47 panhandlers who were homeless, 13.2% opioid abuse. So with our translation, 25.8% who were non-homeless needed translation services, and with the homeless, it was 12.8%.

[01:54:01] What my staff tells me is the language that needs to be translated the most is Spanish. And so our human services manager is able to translate in working with the individuals. If he is not available, then other staff, we have access to Proprio, which is a language line.

[01:54:22] We're able to call in and get that done immediately. And so we're looking at the reasons for when panhandlers exit out of our outreach program.

[01:54:38] We had one that just died due to opioid abuse. Ten clients exited the street outreach program, and they went into emergency shelter and was able to find a bed. So once they go into emergency shelter, their outreach case is closed.

[01:54:56] And then they are assigned a case manager that will be working with them to find stable housing. And then we had two clients that transitioned to permanent housing. One relocated with a family, and one went into permanent housing and was working with a nonprofit to get into stable housing.

[01:55:17] And so this slide here shows the various services that we offer when we are engaging with the individuals who are panhandling. What you will see is under public support at the end, where it says 78, in our HEMIS system, when we are putting in information, Hand-handling falls under public assistance, so that's why that number is high.

[01:55:46] Our next number would be offering services at our drop-in center, information and referral, and our emergency shelters, and then basic needs where, you know, individuals may need clothing, they may need food, some individual items, and so we do assist them with that.

[01:56:06] And then we have the information and referral that was down to 69. So this is the data that we collect, and does anyone have any questions? All right, Supervisor Franklin.

[01:56:40] She asked for questions. Do we have any questions thus far? Yes. So I was looking at the magisterial districts, and honestly, the numbers are quite interesting to me, page 13, particularly with some of the density levels.

[01:56:59] And I'll just go talk about Woodbridge, how these numbers are a lot lower than I expected, which is, you know, a pleasant surprise. But I also wonder if it's because, obviously, I do a lot of phone calls to you all about inquiries that I get for individuals needing services.

[01:57:15] And to be honest, once I call you all, I don't always know what those steps are. I just know that in the end, it's taken care of, and these individuals end up with services. And so I'm wondering if you can talk a little bit, and I think you did, you mentioned some of that on slide 18 with some of those services that are offered.

[01:57:32] But, you know, I wonder if in order to lower some of these numbers and some of the other magisterial districts, if, you know, we should be going by some of the same processes that we followed, at least in my experience. If you can just talk a little bit about that.

[01:57:48] Well, yeah. And what I would say is that it varies. Number one is that I do know that the street outreach team, when they get a call and they go out and they engage with the individual, that individual not necessarily wants to do services the first time.

[01:58:08] Sometimes it takes four or five, six times for them to be ready to engage in services with the department. And so, you know, there are some folks who just want, they will say they just want a hotel.

[01:58:24] Or there are some folks who will just say, I'm out here and I just want to get enough money to buy food. Or I just want to get enough money to pay for my own hotel. So the entries to our services are very different.

[01:58:44] And what I mean by that is that when you do call, usually it's either it could be someone that we've already engaged with and we connect them with that worker. or it could be someone that's new that we're engaging with, and depending on their situation, we might have to pull in all three of our divisions.

[01:59:05] What I mean by that is homeless services, adult protective services, or child protective services, do an assessment, figure out what this individual needs, and what's the best track for that person. Sure, and then just very quickly, how are we defining panhandle or panhandler?

[01:59:25] Well, the way we define panhandling, there's someone that is out on the corner and on the median, and they are asking for money. Okay. For those that are selling products, are we classifying them as panhandlers?

[01:59:40] We are not. And so a couple of things. Number one, we've tried, my staff has tried to engage with the individuals, and typically they don't want to talk with us. Our concern is that, or what has been brought to my attention, is that perhaps these individuals that are selling flowers or items may be labor trafficked or human trafficked, but we don't have that information to say that's what's happening.

[02:00:09] Well, I'm hoping the CSI initiative will be able to dig deep and really get to a grassroots level to kind of figure out who each of these individuals are, not in terms of personally, but in terms of situational, so that we can kind of figure out what, we have some demographic information here, but we really need to kind of go to a grassroots level and figure out the why, which I know we plan to do.

[02:00:34] I do want to just, quick story, this is about two years ago, I got a phone call, I think on a Saturday, I think this is when Courtney Tierney was here, someone said, hey, there are two elderly couple on the street, they look like they have luggage, and they're just on the street, I think I called Elijah, because it was a Saturday, didn't know who else to call, and I think he connected with Courtney, and I got a phone call back probably like two hours later saying, hey, these individuals, we made contact with them, we took care of them so just again want to we have really good services here in any county we can always do

[02:01:10] better but anytime you can kind of go and activate that quickly that lets you know that that we we got some pretty quality services here so thank you thank you all right thank you supervisor gordy thank you madam chair um thank you for this presentation phil's thank you so much um uh one thing, I know the presentation that we printed off from the online, has that now been updated with these slides? Okay, thank you. So my slides were a little off. Going back, you mentioned

[02:01:45] ways that people can connect with you to let folks know about, let staff know about someone who's panhandling, but is this also a capability that will eventually make it into 311, or do we And so that it's very simple, 3-1-1, and it'll help connect into that.

[02:02:06] Perfect. I think it just makes it easier. And that may be something as we get to, you know, with this is something else that we can help in supporting, promoting. This week, you know, some information came out, again, you know, about the point-in-time survey.

[02:02:25] And just looking at some of the numbers coming out of that and the reasons for homelessness. And then looking at the panhandling, there seems to be, you know, clearly there's a link. And it kind of gets back to the why that you mentioned.

[02:02:41] And when I look at, you know, the areas of domestic violence, foster care, formerly institutionalized and limited English proficiency, and just looking at, you know, these are areas that I know when I visited the ADC, We talked about how are you ensuring that folks leaving the ADC have a place to go, that they're not just being dumped out on the street, and they've developed programs to help do that.

[02:03:08] And the same thing with foster care. The number in foster care, that number was tracking about 7%. It went to 10 last year. Now it's at 8%, but it's of a larger number. So we're still looking at, you know, close to 27 young people who've aged out of foster care and are on the streets.

[02:03:29] And these are areas that I think, you know, how can we as a community better work to help support them and give them a soft landing in a right place to keep them from having to go into homelessness and thus into panhandling.

[02:03:47] So as we're looking at this kind of more holistically, how are we, you know, as you're collecting your data on panhandling and as we're collecting data on the point in time survey, you know, how are you guys trying to mirror this up and then identifying steps sort of instead of, you know, trying to looking at it more from the preventative side?

[02:04:13] How do we get ahead of this? Can you speak to that? Well, the first thing I think is that it definitely is a collaborative effort, right? And it's not just a collaborative. It's a collaborative effort within the department, but also within the community.

[02:04:29] And so when you talk about individuals leaving the ADC, we do work with parole and probation at ADC. So when an individual has nowhere to go, they contact our coordinated entry. And then if we have a shelter bed, the shelter bed is available for them.

[02:04:47] And so when you're talking about foster children, I think that we need to be in the process in the beginning and having those conversations about where this young person, what is the plan for this young person now? They are part of that, and so they have to want to be able to work with us.

[02:05:08] And I will tell you that for some youth who turn 18, when they turn 18, they're done with foster care. They're done with social services. They don't want to be involved until reality hits, right, that there's a whole lot going on and I need some support.

[02:05:26] And we're there for them for that. In situations where we know if a child is aging out and they don't have anywhere to go, again, we're bridging those conversations with adult services and foster care. Sometimes a child may end up, a youth may end up in a shelter bed.

[02:05:44] you know, my thought is in the future, what I would like to see happen is having mentoring parents, right? The child isn't, the youth is not in our custody, but we know they still need supportive services as I have an 18 year old and he's not ready to be on his own.

[02:06:05] Amen. I can identify with that. You know, he's 18. I'm not sure who made the magic number. That was it 18 I don't know but but he's fortunate enough to have a support system to help bridge him and so I think that the youth that we work with need that same they need that same support system and so not necessarily that they're in cut of anybody's custody but they need that guidance they need that support they need that touch base for someone to talk them through and show them you know, how to do certain things, as simple as, and I know we don't balance a checkbook anymore,

[02:06:45] but, you know, how to manage your money, how to do a resume, how you go to DMV, you know, checking your credit, all those things. Yeah, I mean, a lot of, you can't even rent without a credit check. Exactly. Or a credit score, so just getting them that is essential. And so, you know, that's something that I would like to see in the future of being able to transition as long as that youth is willing to work with us.

[02:07:07] And so I think that the conversations need to be a continuum, and it is, you know, it's prevention. You know, we have prevention on the protective services side, but we need prevention on this side as well. Yeah, thank you very much. Supervisor Vega.

[02:07:24] Thank you for the presentation. I do find a lot of this information useful. I do want to ask, though, the period of data gathering is between June 1st and April 15th.

[02:07:39] You know, it seems a bit short. Is this going to be the time frame that we continue to utilize moving forward for data gathering? We do it continuously. Okay. And the reason why I ask is because, you know, there are seasonal variations that have to be taken into account.

[02:07:56] Sometimes there's an uptick in panhandling depending on the time of year. You know, I'd make the argument that perhaps during the holiday season, right, because people probably need money for gifts or whatever the case may be. And so, you know, the reason why I asked why this time frame and if we're thinking about possibly expanding it or shifting it a bit.

[02:08:18] Well, the only reason why we use this time frame is because we was doing this prepared presentation for you. Okay. But typically it will be in a year cycle. And so I absolutely agree with you that we're hitting the summer.

[02:08:33] And typically the numbers will, you know, they will increase probably through until we start getting to our colder days. Yeah. So, yes. And I do think that it also helps gather data, you know, long-term trends, right?

[02:08:50] And so that's good to know. The folks that partook in being surveyed, where were they surveyed? Were they surveyed at intersections? Did they come in? How do we do that? In the community. And so we go where they are. Okay. Yes. Okay. And then for the folks that we have either connected or identified that they are partaking in the services that our county provides, have we found or do we have a mechanism to see if they have gone back to panhandling?

[02:09:21] Well, we use our HMIS system to track information. And so we're able to, when somebody gets permanent housing or stability and they're out and then they come back in, we're able to see that once we enter that information again.

[02:09:40] So we haven't identified somebody else going back? Okay, maybe I'm not understanding your question. So somebody that has been connected to services, have they been found panhandling again? I don't know the answer to that question, but I can get that answer for you.

[02:09:58] Okay, thank you. And then I too was going to bring up the lack of definition when it comes to panhandling. I do think that we have to include it in future presentations. I'll go ahead and make the plug, and this really is not pertaining to you or anything more so a decision that we as a governing body have to make.

[02:10:16] I will continue to push for an ordinance that prohibits the dangers of passing items between pedestrians and vehicles. Again, you know, we just brought it up. Now we have folks that are selling food at intersections. The Sudley Road Corridor, I mean, it's everywhere.

[02:10:33] And I'm talking about, you know, goods that, if not properly refrigerated, could make somebody severely ill or even possibly kill them. And we have to be proactive. You know, we talked about it used to be we have folks selling flowers or selling water.

[02:10:50] Where can we put these people? They're trying to make an honest living. We're not trying to kick them while they're down. We want to help them. But at the same time, it is our duty to keep pedestrians and those in vehicles safe. And so now when we see, you know, and it's folks in the Hispanic community.

[02:11:05] I've stopped and I've spoken to two women, and, you know, they're just having a hard time and they need extra money. They're selling mangoes, cucumbers. I mean, you name it. We have to be proactive. We have to do better. And we have to find a place to put these folks, which is why this ordinance is extremely important.

[02:11:23] And also the definition of who is a panhandler goes a long way because it helps us for future planning purposes. That's more of a plug, not a question for you, but certainly want to thank you all for your efforts. I know it's been a short window.

[02:11:39] This information is very useful, and hopefully we can continue to think ahead and move towards real-time and meaningful permanent solutions for people that need help. So thank you. All right, Supervisor Bodie. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Phyllis, for all your hard work on this and the entire team that's been sort of working on this issue far longer than we've been sort of talking about it and raising it.

[02:12:00] So I just wanted to highlight that before I move to my questions. Supervisor Franklin brought up a really good point. If you go back to the Magisterial District slide, I know it's harder to get as granular as some of us would like with this, but looking at the numbers, and I assume there is a rough answer to this, do we see a certain type of cluster of amenities that draws folks to there because to the point that Sir Franklin said you would think that would be in the densest parts of the county well there are definitely parts of the Woodbridge that are just there are more dense

[02:12:38] than the Occoquan district but we're not seeing the same numbers so is it just based on topography traffic or there are certain sets of amenities that your folks have been able to see that tend to draw folks to those corners and those medians um I really don't have the answer to that question off the top of my head i think it has to do with what's the most profitable you know i think they have a they sometimes have a tendency to go where they've been able to apparently be successful in getting their needs met i appreciate that because i think that has to be part of the

[02:13:16] conversation too especially we're not to get ahead of the second part of the presentation but i know that one of the things we've been talking about is that supply side of this issue right and if folks in certain parts of the county are giving more often, we know that there's word of mouth that goes along with that, right? If folks hear, hey, this one street corner, this one median has more folks that are going to give, you know, bless those folks that are that generous, but it's kind of starting to be a situation where you're kind of seeing massing here in certain parts of the county of this issue, which just creates more questions and more issues to the point that was made earlier on how we can start translating this data

[02:13:53] into recommendations and actions around addressing this and to the point how can we begin looking at on one side change the culture around it like we've been talking about as a board but also looking at folks you know sort of what led you here and we have some of that data already but also how can we start to get folks to where they need to go versus there and so I think that we need to look under the hood on that too I think you're right I think the top line issue is they would they would go where they're gonna get the most bang for their buck pun intended but I kind of feel like the same time there are probably other factors environmentally speaking in those specific areas that are drawing folks there or basically making it so are there longer lights

[02:14:32] there or is there other things there that are causing it to be a more profitable median not just demographics I think so as we're and I agree like there are other parts of the county that have wealthier folks but we're not necessarily seeing that based on this data so I think we should really look at that piece too what's causing environmentally those areas to be the ones that are the most profitable, or at least the most inviting to folks.

[02:14:56] So that's number one. Number two, as you sort of have an exit survey for folks, as they sort of exit it, is there a follow-up piece that if you have their contact information, we know some of these folks don't have phones, we know some of them do, especially if they're not homeless and they just are on hard times.

[02:15:14] Is there a follow-up mechanism six months after you last connect with them? Because it seems like once they're connected to services, they enter a different world. But in other cases, like you said, especially with the inter-permanent housing, we may not have any more contact with them. So is there another follow-up mechanism at the end of this?

[02:15:31] Not that I'm aware of. Now, I will say that for some of them that exit and go into permanent housing, they still may be working with us at some level. Sure. Whether they have a benefits worker, whether they have a social worker, a follow-up case manager, or someone in the community that's following them.

[02:15:52] I'm not saying that's everyone, but for some of them, there is some ongoing case management because it definitely is a transition to go from being homeless to now managing a whole household and responsibilities.

[02:16:09] Sure. And so we want to be there to support them in being successful. My last question, Madam Chair. We brought it up, I think, the last time we sort of talked about this, is the connection between this and you brought up the homelessness connection, but also the encampments that we have throughout the county. And I don't know if the surveying gets that granular on if they're going back to a camp versus other areas of the county.

[02:16:31] Is there any sort of conversation there around where they're going if they're living in encampment and where they're going from there? Well, when they leave and they exit, sometimes they just leave and we lose contact with them. Now, we keep their case open for 90 days just in case they show back up and we can reengage.

[02:16:52] But after 90 days, their outreach case is closed. Thank you. All right, thank you. Supervisor Bailey. Thank you, Madam Chair. Phyllis, thank you for your report in short order. The question that I have, one of the things that I've noticed, and for me the numbers are small also, but I know you had to do it in a certain amount of time.

[02:17:17] One of the things I've seen also, not just food or flowers, but also as they're doing it, having children with them. Has there been a focus on that? That's mainly in my district. That's been a real concern for me.

[02:17:35] Do you have an account for that, or how are you addressing that entity, or has it shown itself in multiple occasions? We have experienced that a few times and typically what happens is when we get the call, whether it comes from one of your offices or it's coming through coordinated entry, we try to respond in real time.

[02:17:57] And what I mean by that is if a child is out with a parent and they're in the median and safety is an issue and it's a concern, then it goes through our CPS hotline. It is a sign and someone responds out immediately. Now, there are times when we've gotten out there, a worker that's gotten out there, and they're gone.

[02:18:16] But if we know where they went, we will follow back up with them to assess their situation. And there are some times when the worker go out, they're still there, and we will assess their situation for services. There are times when they have been homeless. We have placed them in a hotel.

[02:18:32] We assign it to a caseworker to follow up with the family. Thank you. Just because there's so many questions about those experiencing homelessness, maybe if you could speak to just a timeline of when we would get information on the PIT count that was done in January.

[02:18:57] I believe the information was published May 14th on the PIT count. You got it? Yeah. Very good. All right. It doesn't look like we have any other questions. It looks like we're ready for part two.

[02:19:24] Madam Chair, members of the board, Nikki Brown, communications and engagement. it. I am very excited to be here to talk to you about the results of the panhandling campaign they give local PwC. As you will recall in November we talked about this. We came to the board. The board gave some guidance on wording and language and then also provided some funding for the campaign. So just wanted to update you on that and where we are going in the future.

[02:19:53] So I won't spend a lot of time on this slide because you have seen it multiple times at this point. But just as a reminder, our goal for the campaign was really to change the behavior of the giver. So instead of the giver giving directly to a panhandler, the giver would give to an organization that would then be able to ride services to the panhandler to address the root causes of panhandling. And you can see we did all of these things, which we'll talk about a little bit, at the bottom here to address that. Just as a reminder, here's kind of what that looked like.

[02:20:25] Again, the main message being give where it counts, the secondary message really being handouts don't help, having that a little bit more of a firm message, and hopefully hitting folks so that they understand what the goal of the campaign was. The social media examples, these are some of the graphics that we used with some text around it.

[02:20:43] And then this is what we did. So you all were very gracious and agreed to allocate $60,000 for the campaign and the paid side of things. In December, particularly, actually, I would say the very last week in November to the end of December, we spent about $40,000 of that because we really wanted to hit the giving season, so that Thanksgiving through the holiday season, and you'll see here in just a little bit what the results of that were, but just high-level speaking, we went to movie theaters,

[02:21:17] so we did show the video at both Virginia Gateway and Potomac Mills, both in, actually in the theaters as a preview and then also in their lobbies we had digital ads at Potomac Mills we did streaming ads on different platforms both in English and Spanish we did social media ads in English and Spanish we had posters at Stonebridge in English and Spanish and then we also did some ads in Inside Nova we also had some no-cost options that we pushed out we did a special edition of the newsletter we have a community newsletter that we sent out monthly this was a special edition that was all about the panhandling initiative.

[02:21:56] We did our PWC Works update for those who had signed up to receive information about the project. We sent something out that way. We worked with OmniRides to get posters inside the buses, and then we reached out to our community partners. So the chamber, COC, CCOM, our regional partners, that was a suggestion of the board, which was great, reached out to my regional counterparts, asked them to share, schools, et cetera, Really pushing that we had this toolkit that they can use, and we encouraged them to use it.

[02:22:27] That's on the website. And then, of course, we did a press release. So here are some results, kind of high level. The website from the end of November to the end of January saw about 3,700, almost 3,700 views. You can see the breakdown here.

[02:22:44] Excited that people are going there. Obviously, we would love for that to be more, especially in the toolkit. So we will continue to push the fact that we have a toolkit and people should be using it. But for two months, you know, that's not a bad number. Streaming, I would say, was probably maybe the best ROI in some forms just because we had so many impressions.

[02:23:07] So you can see we had almost 690,000 total impressions. The really big piece of this that I want to leave you with is the total video completion rate is 89%, which is unheard of. Like, that is huge.

[02:23:23] Most folks do not have enough, they don't have the attention span to watch a one minute video, which I know is shocking, but it is true. So typically they keep on scrolling. So 89% kind of marries up with what we're seeing on our YouTube analytics as well.

[02:23:38] So that is really exciting for us 'cause it means that people are actually watching almost the whole video. And then from those streaming platforms, if you were able to click through, we had 561 clicks. Stonebridge, I mentioned we had some posters in English and Spanish. They reported that they had more than 400,000 people in those areas while the posters were up.

[02:23:58] And then they saw traffic increase from about 15% to 38% in those areas. I mentioned the movies. Another, I think, pretty good bang for buck where it ran a lot, 23,000 times, which is a lot, but also had about 270,000 impressions.

[02:24:19] I mentioned the Potomac Mills digital ads. We had those on both ends of the mall, which was great. We did, so we ran two of them, almost 80,000 times with more than 600,000 impressions. And then we did an ad in Inside Nova for two weeks, and we had about 30,000 homes.

[02:24:37] Social media in particular, I won't kind of read through this line by line, but just want to point out a few things. So we did social media ads on Facebook, Instagram, Nextdoor, and X. Facebook and Instagram is Meta. So if you look at kind of what our total views were across Meta, it's 197.

[02:24:59] Our total impressions across all platforms was 118,000. And our total clicks across all was 603. Meta in particular, very interesting, is we found that the video views, And those are the people who engaged with the video, watched the video, was higher in the Spanish campaign than was in the English campaign.

[02:25:18] So that was a good takeaway for us and good for us to know. And then other interesting things, obviously, the engagement rate was high on our meta ads. So there was a high interest and a high level of awareness.

[02:25:35] I won't say it was all positive engagement, but it was engagement. So I'll take that. so at least there was an awareness of the campaign and what was going on and then i think just reinforced what we already knew and that is that next door is really effective for reaching very localized audiences we talked about those no cost options so this is uh no cost to us but we did the i mentioned the special edition community newsletter hit more than 46 000 folks who are signed up to receive information from the county at the time we had almost 400 people signed up

[02:26:09] through pwc works so they got the update then and then we hit about 50 000 writers we're a little later with omniride buses than that uh december time frame but between january and february we hit about 50 000 writers and then we don't have data but anecdotally heard that some of the coc members saw a slight increased um and funding so what is next we have about 20 000 left um it goes goes quick. So we will do movie theaters again hitting Memorial Day and July 4th because we know

[02:26:43] those are big movie kind of weekends or dates. So we're really excited about that. Hopefully we'll hit some blockbusters there. Based on actually the data that Phyllis collected we changed some of the things that we had planned to do in the spring and summer. So instead of looking at Potomac Mills Mall really looking at Manassas Mall and doing some digital ads there we'll do Stonebridge and the posters there again because it is a very nominal cost for us so that's very cost effective we'll do social media again in English and Spanish we're going to hit another

[02:27:17] newspaper the Observer Papers I've talked to Randy so we'll do that and then this time around looking at gas stations and again based on the data that Phil has provided looking in the Sudley road uh quarter and then over uh by probably like at like woodbridge slash uh potomac mills area we are still in conversation with jiffy lube to see if we can do something with them we're waiting to hear back see if we can afford to do that um but they we've been in good conversations with them so hopefully we can partner with them on that and then go back to the no cost piece uh we'll run

[02:27:57] in another piece in our June newsletter. We're gonna do OmniRide buses again. We'll work with transportation and police to identify some intersections for variable message boards, and I'll talk about signage here in just a second. We will continue to push out to our community partners.

[02:28:13] Really appreciate our internal partners and other agencies, 'cause parks, libraries, and some other departments have already said that they'll put up posters in their facilities, they're running the video in their facilities, so that's great. And then we worked with staff to provide information for the HOA conference and the volunteer conference.

[02:28:35] So one of the things that we did for both of those conferences was create this postcard. You have some at your seat as well. Really to encourage agencies and organizations and folks to help amplify the message.

[02:28:54] We wanted to get in front of folks so that they would be able to know that there's a toolkit We want them to help us amplify. So this is really more geared towards organizations or folks who are involved with organizations that can help get the word out that there's this toolkit.

[02:29:10] We want you to use it. We want you to be able to share this information. The other thing that we've given out, and that came, I think, maybe from Supervisor Bodhi, was this idea of a magnet. You also have some of those at your desk to hand out. So we have more of all of those.

[02:29:28] So if you need more, let us know. But I really appreciate those ideas that really came from the board the last time I was in front of you all about this. And then I know we've talked a few times about signs with VDOT. We have heard back from VDOT. They are willing to work with us.

[02:29:44] We need to figure out how... My understanding is that they don't necessarily want something that's going to be a permanent structure or a sign. So how we can create signage that we can kind of move, which may be good because based on and the data we're getting, that may be helpful.

[02:30:01] We just have to figure out how to do that 'cause we don't want to create a litter problem. So it needs to be something fairly sturdy that we can hang up in certain intersections. So we're continuing that conversation with VEDA and transportation.

[02:30:19] And then I know you've seen this before, but this is kind of our vision of success. Obviously, we wanna see a reduction in panhandling. We want to increase our resources for community partners, improve public perception of the county, and improve concerns of safety. And I am happy to answer any questions.

[02:30:40] All right, thank you so very much for that. I want to look at slide 24. You mentioned streaming. Where is the streaming? I thought you might ask that question. So just bear with me while I put you on.

[02:30:55] So we use a company that did different channels, um which streamed on tv mobile pc and tablet and it was a ton of different channels that i can share with you all um everything from spanish tv so um i mean like unimas univision uh there's fox a whole bunch of stuff here and then also uh on um the great american family hallmark uh weather

[02:31:30] channel uh lifetime tv land um there's a whole list here so there is a bunch of uh channels i got streamed streamed on i apologize and then also like i said it was streamed through um not just tv but mobile pc and tablet as well um with with tv well they were all pretty high actually mobile being the least tv being the most um and uh the pc and tablets being about 75 now i appreciate this you have a lot of different metrics um for each of the different ways that

[02:32:07] people have seen this is there one way or is there um any form any medium that you feel might be the best investment or that's getting the best i think that from what we saw streaming in particular obviously hit a lot of people um i think that was and it was important for us to do that it's also the most expensive so um that is why we did not recommend it for this time also we knew that there were people being like during that time frame who were at home because of the holidays who were inside because it's cold uh so we felt like that would be a good fit for that

[02:32:46] time frame um i don't know that would be as good this time around just because it's warmer and People aren't necessarily at home as much as they might be during the holidays. But I would say from our perspective, that was probably the most effective based on the data that we have.

[02:33:06] And, again, knowing that we could see the total video completion rate, knowing that people were watching it is super helpful. Thank you. On slide 27, the anecdotal slight increase of funding.

[02:33:23] That's a hard one. I mean, it's great. kind of shows that maybe it's getting out there but do we have anything else that can maybe better link it to that slight increase i mean are there you know seasonal um increases in their funding or decreases i just want to know if there's any better linkages unfortunately no because they don't track my understanding and i'll make sure i'm saying the right thing by looking at elijah but my understanding is they don't track kind of if things are coming in to address that topic right They get a donation, they get a donation, and then they put that to where they can use it.

[02:34:03] And I would say, unfortunately, there is no direct linkage. And so is it possible that people were just giving spirit and gave more during that time to those organizations? Absolutely. So unfortunately, there isn't a way to do a direct correlation between they saw this particular campaign and then they gave to this.

[02:34:25] I think it's helpful to know that if you look at, like, you know, more than 400 people went to the COC members page so they know who the members are. Hopefully that helped in terms of giving them at least some ideas of organizations that can help with this.

[02:34:42] But unfortunately, there's no direct way to correlate it. Do we know the dollar increase? I don't. Okay. And I'm just, is there any further board guidance or anything that you're going to need from us? So we'll run this campaign.

[02:35:02] Happy to come back and tell you kind of the results of this spring-summer campaign. I think you all noted the last time we talked about this, and in fact, I think Supervisor Vega just said this. We know that there will be, and you're probably seeing it, obviously, as it gets warmer, there's more folks who are out.

[02:35:21] So it'll be very interesting to see what the results are from this kind of spring-summer time frame. um it really is we'll continue to i mean obviously this content is ours we'll continue to push it out even after the campaign do it more obviously organically um you know i think it's really a matter of at what point and do you you know do you want to do another push um and get in front of people which would be additional there'd be additional cost to that um i would recommend that at the end of the spring summer we take a look we see if it's effective um we probably look at

[02:35:58] the messaging itself again and make sure that that is resonating with people we we didn't want to change anything between uh december and now because we only had that one really one month and so we wanted to see how effective the wording and the campaign is um i would recommend after we get through this next round we can check that out um and if we need to tweak it we can tweak it so it's really up to the board at that point again happy that we'll continue to push the information out it's just a matter of you know there was some another desire of the board to do another uh push

[02:36:32] like a paid push i appreciate that thank you so very much supervisor bode thank you madam chair thank you nikki for the presentation for all your work on this i know this has been an ongoing conversation i know that that this is sort of unexplored territory for us as a county and sort of especially in this issue area doing these this level of advertising streaming things like that So I'll just say some pretty technical questions about how we did some of the ads.

[02:36:59] To your last point on messaging, I know that we didn't tweak the overall messaging or anything like that. But as you showed, there are different versions of different graphics for the same ad, essentially. And I assume that we ran those simultaneously. Do you have data behind the multivariate testing?

[02:37:15] Were some of the graphics and some of the versions of the ads more effective and more resonant than other ones? Do we have that kind of data? I would have to go back and look. So I don't have that with me, and I can ask that question. I will say, interestingly enough, the feedback when we posted the ads versus when police helped post them was very different.

[02:37:40] I won't say all the time, but there was more of a positive, I think, sentiment when police posted it. So I think part of that depends on the organization that was actually posting the information. But I can definitely ask that question.

[02:37:57] Sure. And I appreciate that, Nikki, because it actually gets to my second question, which is, you highlight here all the things that we did, and including, you just mentioned the police putting stuff out. What other agencies posted? So we asked, so our public safety agencies, we asked to help post the information and shared it again kind of internally with the other agencies that have social.

[02:38:23] Outside of that, it was really what we were hoping for, and I don't know for sure that they did, was like folks who belong to the chamber. And we had those one-on-one conversations with them. So we were really hoping the community and the business community in particular would kind of share and reshare.

[02:38:43] And some folks, I think, did. I mean, we obviously had engagement on our social platforms where people were sharing. But I don't know, you know, in terms of, like, organizations, if they shared as a whole. Right.

[02:38:58] And the reason why I asked you, you hit the nail on the head, that seems to me like a pretty big gap, right? Because part of this, and I hate to say it, especially in terms of the COC, this benefits them directly. It helps them. I know they don't want to profit on it per se, but they have important missions that are really to help these folks versus the point of, hey, they're able to do a lot more and stretch a lot more of that money versus just direct giving that's being done on these street corners and these medians and these shopping centers.

[02:39:23] So they have, frankly, a vested interest in getting out to their newsletters, their email strings, their social media. We know that not all of them are created equal. They don't all have the same level of social engagement management and what have you. But again, it's something that really needs to permeate, not only from us as county government, but all the partners and all the people that are in that continuum of touching this issue.

[02:39:46] So really glad to hear that police had some traction. I know that we have other agencies that have social media accounts, also looking, frankly, at economic development. That's an uncommon one that people may not think about, but I know they have a following too. And in some cases, they're even more active than the county government side.

[02:40:01] So making sure that we're having that all hands on deck, I know you've had those conversations, but really to reinforce that, because to me, There are a lot of folks that consume media and follow other different aspects of us as a county, the county government. I'll just go back to your streaming number.

[02:40:16] Eighty-nine percent of people watching it all the way through, it is unheard of, especially in this day and age of people really only clicking through maybe three to five seconds of a video. And I know this one's significantly longer than that. But how do we convert those folks that are watching it to actually making action?

[02:40:33] And there isn't a great way, to your point earlier, there's no direct reference link. that if they click it on our panhandling website, it'll take them to a specialized donation page on each one of those. That's something we could probably talk to some of the more sophisticated ones about because I know that some of them do have those kind of sophisticated IT departments, but not all of them do.

[02:40:52] So let's start thinking about now how do we get more of those people that are having eyes on it into conversions and also frankly having more of the partners that are involved in this continuum also pushing this out because really the only way we'll be able to change this is if more folks have trusted sources that are putting this out too and not just us thank you madam chair thank you so very much supervisor bailey thank you madam chair uh nikki thank you for your presentation i i wanted to just put out something i on page 28 where you've got the paid cost of 20 20k those are just uh recommendations correct or are they

[02:41:31] we are we're moving forward with the remainder with the remainder that the 20 um the only one And that is kind of a we're waiting to see is Jiffy Lube because we're waiting to hear back from them. OK. OK. And then the one point that I have, I think the gas stations are a very good idea because they're having some problems, you know, just with their customer service, their client base.

[02:41:59] You know, and how can you flush or have you flushed it out, how that looks across the county, particularly in the spots where we may not have a mall, but we've got a high traffic area of, you know, homelessness and our panhandling.

[02:42:16] This may, if I understand your question, Supervisor Bailey, and this may get to Chair Jefferson's question as well. So in terms of the gas stations, you have so many that you can pick from for a certain cost.

[02:42:33] And so we are looking at some, again, right now on the Sudley Corridor and, again, over by Potomac Mills and kind of down in that area. If there is a desire to do more and there is a desire to, I mean, it doesn't have to just be panhandling.

[02:42:56] If we get to the point where we want to talk more homeless services and how you can receive services, that's definitely something that we can look into. Obviously, there's a cost involved with that. Obviously, gas stations aren't cheap, but they, I think, are effective.

[02:43:13] And so, well, we hope they're effective. That's the goal. So happy to have that conversation to determine if there's a need to expand that beyond, I think we're looking at 10 stations, if I remember correctly. So you've identified them already?

[02:43:31] Yes, they're very specific stations that they offer them at, and we've identified them based on where they are on those corridors. Okay, yeah, yes, I'd like to have offline those conversations. Okay, thank you.

[02:43:47] Yeah, no problem. All right, it doesn't look like we have anyone else in queue. I really appreciate this. Thank you so very much. Thank you. All right, we are going on to agenda item number seven. That is supervisor's time. Supervisor Vega, you are up first.

[02:44:04] I have nothing, Madam Chair. All right, Supervisor Angry. Thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, you know, I won't claim her time, but, you know, because I was out last week. First of all, thank everyone for their condolences.

[02:44:21] So I had a death in my family, so I appreciate all the support there. And so before that, May 13th, I had joined Supervisor Vega and Chief Newsham and Alejandra Pond. She's a staff from Congressman Vindman's office for a town hall that we had, wait for it, at the Iglesia Porta del Ciel.

[02:44:45] Good job. All right. Which is a true cornerstone for the Latino community in Prince William County. This is the church for over 30 years they've been there. And we came together with respect and an open conversation and dialogue about building a stronger community and the unity there.

[02:45:04] So Pastor Luis Cartagena for opening the doors of his church for all the residents who attend it. It was a really great session, so I'm really happy we did that, and thank you. And I'm pretty sure we'll be doing more of those.

[02:45:21] Tuesday, April 30th, I had the honor of attending Forest Park High School JROTC Awards Ceremony, where I congratulated the cadets for their outstanding leadership, discipline, and service to our community. On May 10th, my team represented Neabsco District Office at the Spring Dumps Day and Shredding event at the Gemini Way commuter lot.

[02:45:41] I had a scheduling conflict. Of course, I was out of town there, but they did a great job, And we collected 4,180 pounds, 2.9 tons of trash, 580 pounds, 0.29 tons of scrap metal for a total of 2.38 tons of discarded item that helped keep our street and waterways clean.

[02:46:04] And a big heartfelt thank you to the litter crew because that's an awesome crew over there that really make all that possible. So thank you very much. And thanks to everyone that showed up to be a part of that drive and help keep our streets and our community clean. So we also attended the Governor's School at Innovation Park.

[02:46:23] They had their senior ceremony on May 17th also, the graduations, community-wide volunteer recognition event, picnic at May 18th where Congressman, excuse me, Senator McPike was the speaker there, delivered a great speech to all the volunteers in the county.

[02:46:42] So thank you all for everything that you do in volunteerism. We attended, myself and Supervisor Vega, attended the cadet graduation here on May 19th. That was a great event, so congratulations to the fire cadets. It's the Fire Academy cadets.

[02:46:58] And the high school, what was the high school? The high school that had the fire cadet graduation? Unity Reed. Unity Reed, Unity Reed. So thank you to the principal and the staff and everyone for their part in that i want to end by saying happy memorial day and i have a one notice of intent uh that should be on file for uh michael garcia ii to appoint him to the board of equalization and i want to ask if if we can i don't have a directive here but if it needs to be i'm getting more and more issues of trash haulers coming before uh the set time that they can be there like 4 a.m in the

[02:47:36] morning can we get a letter to go out to all the haulers just to simply say let's honor the time of when you are to actually hit these neighborhoods i know i don't want to push it back any further but i just want to make sure that they are in the window i'm getting a lot of calls for trash haulers being in communities before specifically i got one just today for 4 a.m and i believe that is a little too early for them to be in the community 4 a.m is definitely too early but i let me investigate and maybe I'll follow up with you individually if it requires. I'm just not sure about the government's role and what we could do. So, thanks. Yeah, I know

[02:48:15] they're part of that noise on us, but they're coming out a little too ahead of it, but we'll talk more about that. In terms of the communication directly with haulers, I just want to make sure that we do it right. All right. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. Supervisor Bodie? Thank you, Madam Chair. A few housekeeping items first for me. One, I wanted to give my notice to reappoint Noelle Schott to the Animal Advisory Committee.

[02:48:36] Her resume is already on file. We We've appointed her a few times over the years, so that should already be there. I also have a directive that I sent to you all on the dais last week, so I'm going to go ahead and give it now. Without objection, I would like to direct the county executive to work with staff and the county attorney to research, review, and evaluate the provisions that recently passed HB 2630, which authorized localities to establish a tree canopy fund by ordinance.

[02:49:03] This work should include, but not be limited to, any recommendations regarding appropriate land use policies, regulations for board consideration. In addition, such work should draw upon the other policies and documents already adopted by the board, including the environmental chapter of the 2040 Comp Plan and the 25 to 28 Strategic Plan.

[02:49:21] Such research and recommendations should, where applicable, include proposed timelines, potential fiscal impacts, other pertinent information for board consideration. The county attorney's office is directed to review the information and recommendations for legal issues. When the research and work is complete, the county exec should report back to the board with the research and recommendations during a board meeting or by memorandum as appropriate.

[02:49:46] I'm not seeing anyone jump out of their seat, so I appreciate that. You good, Madam Vice? Okay. Thank you. Just a couple quick last things for me. Last Thursday, I attended the Leadership Prince William Human Services Day Poverty and Service Simulation.

[02:50:05] I know that series of angry was there for a little while as well. I have to say that anyone who wants to have real world sort of look at some of these issues and how some even just a little bit of the mindset of folks as they go through, you know, food insecurity, home insecurity, utility insecurity, poverty, all of these issues, It was as close to a sort of immersion simulation as you could think of.

[02:50:34] So I highly recommend it not only for elected officials, but anyone in the community who sort of wants to see why we offer the service that we do and frankly that whole portfolio and frankly some of the wait times and the things that folks have to go through in order to get basic needs met.

[02:50:50] So I wanted to thank the county and leadership, Prince William, for putting that up every year. And it was a really, really important experience that I think a lot of folks should really endeavor to take part in. On Saturday, this past Saturday, I went to two events, went to the EPW annual pride event at the Harris Pavilion in Manassas.

[02:51:11] Always a great time to spend time with the community there. And I also attended Congressman Vindman's Latino listening session at Toto Supermarket in the Woodbridge District. I want to thank him for holding that. There were tough conversations, tough questions asked, but it's always good to sort of hear from folks as we continue to endeavor to have conversations around a wide variety of issues affecting all the communities in our community.

[02:51:36] Thank you so much, Madam Chair. Supervisor Franklin. On Thursday, May 15th, I hosted Bike to Work Day at the Woodbridge VRE station, and I spoke to several commuters who were kind of biking to and from some of the commuter options, particularly the VRE.

[02:52:00] I want to thank VRE and OmniRide for being out and providing some swag as well as making sure that they gave updated information to all of our riders. I think we had about eight people sign up and so that's actually pretty good for, I think, Prince William County.

[02:52:18] I would note, though, that in Arlington they have about 200 people that sign up. But obviously we have a different commute pattern than they do. They can actually bike to work And so that's something just to kind of keep in mind moving forward. Some upcoming events.

[02:52:36] This week I'll be attending a town hall in Belmont Bay with regards to the rezoning. And I will also be part of the Newport Estates HOA board meeting to talk about the Soil Management Fund. And on Saturday I will be hosting Dumpster Day at Fred Lynn Middle, where we will be having a shred truck on site.

[02:52:59] I also want to just flag that I had a VRE meeting last week where we discussed providing ridership data from both VRE and OmniRide to our local boards and commissions. That's something that we talked about, I believe, during budget season, and that information is readily available.

[02:53:20] So I've asked that it be provided to all of the jurisdictions, including Prince William County. And lastly, some of you who are signed up for our newsletter may have noticed that we've changed the newsletter from Woodbridge to Goodbridge, and several people have asked, hey, you know, just inquiring, is this a typo?

[02:53:42] No, it is not a typo. We are doing that on purpose and hoping to instill some pride into our community. And we're also partnering on a more official rollout with the Woodbridge Potomac Civic Association called the Goodbridge Campaign.

[02:53:59] So I just want to thank everyone for their thoughts and emails on that. All positive and looking forward to the greater rollout. So thank you. All right, Supervisor Rear. Thank you, Madam Chair. First and foremost, I'd like to offer my congratulations to Naomi Schneider of Troop 924 for earning her Eagle Scout rank.

[02:54:22] I'm sure her father had nothing to do with it, and I'll be double-checking with her. We are going to have our shred event on May 31 to take the place of the one that didn't happen because the shred truck did not show up May 31, Sudley Elementary.

[02:54:40] if i have to actually go and drive the truck it will be there this time and then lastly i just like to remind everybody of the warrior retreat the 10th anniversary of willing warriors is this monday uh from 11 to 2 out at the willing warriors complex in haymarket thank you all right supervisor bailey thank you madam chair um uh on the 15th of may i had the wonderful opportunity given by our own Christina Wynn from our Economic Development Department, and thanks to Laura Berry, also from Economic Development and Tourists

[02:55:17] for organizing an amazing Good Morning Washington taping with Christina. And we just had a ball, and we had an opportunity to promote the Live Golf Tournament with the WIP Sweet States, and also my upcoming community town hall. That'll be for the Fetler Park market study that we just completed and that town hall is going to be on the 22nd and so it gave me an opportunity to partner with her to talk about the market study and the town hall. And then on the 15th I attended the 36th

[02:55:52] annual Burgundy and Gold Banquet with Youth for Tomorrow with my colleagues and and we had a really good time. Got a chance to meet some commanders so that was exciting as well. On the 16th, I just want to congratulate one of my constituents that's very near and dear to my heart for his being able to receive his honorary doctorate degree from the Eastern Theological Seminary. The Reverend Dr. Cozy E. Bailey received his honorary doctorate and I'm so proud. Have you heard that name? Very proud of him. So

[02:56:28] honey congratulations on the 16th also um i attended the nova labor tribute to um to labor on their 30th anniversary we had a really good time and um the dinner they honored congresswoman jennifer wexton and uaw president sean fain and um and afa president sarah nelson and a few others but it's always a good time to sit down and dine with them.

[02:56:57] On the 17th, my organization that I'm affiliated with here in the community, the Lynx Incorporated, we were able to have our youth award ceremony right here in the chamber. And it was for our high school scholarship awardees.

[02:57:14] And so congratulations to my Potomac High School graduates and my Forest Park High School graduates. I'm really proud of you. On the 17th, my staff attended the Governor's School at Innovation Park. Congratulations to Dr. Barbara Latif's daughter.

[02:57:31] He was very cute when he hugged her, and she didn't want a hug. But anyway, congratulations. And then on the 18th, on Sunday, I just want to make notice of one of my pastors, Pastor Henry During, for executing a groundbreaking ceremony at Star Bethlehem, a project that's been in the hopper for about 20 years to expand a project there at the church.

[02:57:56] And so they are moving forward, and I'm very proud and happy to call them home in my community. On the 19th, I had the wonderful opportunity of accepting an invitation from our own Matt Villarelle to come and look at the Crisis Receiving Center.

[02:58:14] And so to our community, I will say to you that we are very, as the board, very focused on healing minds to heal the land, and the building will be having ribbon-cutting September the 8th. On the 20th was Prince William County Signing Day for our senior citizens, and my staff attended the apprenticeship schools and the military services there, so that was exciting. I wanted to lastly let you know, on the 21st, I'll be attending a town hall

[02:58:49] along with Madam Chair that she has created to support her at the Four Seasons Community. And then the next day, we will introduce our very own Fettler Market Study Town Hall, where we will cast the vision for the area in the Potomac District at the Southbridge HOA Community Center.

[02:59:15] So that will start on Thursday at 6 p.m. Come one, come all. We look forward to telling you about the vision that you have cast and the market study that supports that. As we just go forward to honor the brave men and women who had made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our nation, I just want to acknowledge that and let us not forget any but appreciate all.

[02:59:39] Thank you. Supervisor Gordy. Thank you, Madam Chair. On May 14th, I was honored to join a scouting group at Piney Branch Elementary School and was interviewed by them for them to earn their government badge.

[02:59:59] These kids are very in tune with what's going on. Very smart young men and women and really enjoy the time. And it's really interesting to see how much they're paying attention to what's going on.

[03:00:15] The next day on the 15th, I joined the Prince William Soil and Water Conservation District at their picnic and board meeting at Windy Knoll Farm. We did a tour of the farm and observed some of the conservation programs that are intended to minimize and eliminate erosion and protect our water quality.

[03:00:35] I appreciate all the hard work our Soil and Water Conservation District does on those efforts. um then that evening uh uh was joined by a few of my colleagues at the youth for tomorrow burgundy and gold event uh on uh on saturday may 17th uh we celebrated the 50th noakesville day and uh and and parade um really appreciate the friends of noakesville and the work that they uh put in every year to put on an incredible event and it was just great i mean it's a wonderful crowd the weather could not have been better. It was just a stunningly beautiful day, and thank everyone who

[03:01:14] came out and joined us. I want to thank Captain Eileen Welsh for her service as the Western District Commander for the Prince William County Police Department. I want to wish her well in her new role. She's still with Prince William County Police, but she's moved on to a different role now um and but we look forward to working with david burkhart who will be her replacement and one other thing i want to mention uh yesterday i had to kill three nymphs of lanternflies

[03:01:50] they are out in force um they're on uh they were on my fig trees uh they're coming after the uh the fruit trees um so if you see a black bug with white spots on it it needs to die hit deeds to die um so uh because when they get older and they become a full-fledged spotted lanternfly they are hard to kill they are very fast so get on while they're young get on while they're slow so uh so the county attorneys uh got our head in our hands

[03:02:27] And lastly, as we prepare to remember all of our service members who've given of themselves and paying the ultimate sacrifice for our nation and as a county who is the site of many battlefields, knowing the sacrifices that have been made for our freedom and for our democracy and honoring them this coming Memorial Day, let's ensure that we take time

[03:02:59] to remember through the picnics and the barbecues and the beginning of summer, what that day is all about. And that, I'll turn it over, Madam Chair. Thank you. All right. Supervisor Gordy, thank you for your service in killing those bugs.

[03:03:18] I am deeply afraid of bugs. All right. With that, I want to just tee up next week, or I'm sorry, next meeting. I anticipate having a directive around community gardens. That is something that I've talked about, and I would like to, next meeting, give a formal directive.

[03:03:36] I also want to mention on Saturday, I had a really good meeting with our civic associations. I always feel like these town halls, you know, you put on a couple hours, but they never seem to be long enough. So I'm hoping to work with the civic associations to schedule something for the fall and, you know, possibly start popping into some of their meetings every once in a while.

[03:03:59] The Goodbridge newsletter, you know, I felt like I keep signing up for them, but Margaret, I'm going to, you know, maybe pull you aside because I definitely want to make sure that I'm receiving. For everyone on this board, you know, I've been trying to make sure that I'm on all of your email lists because, you know, I want to keep in touch.

[03:04:17] You guys have your ears close to the ground, and I want to make sure that I work with each of you moving forward. And with that, we are going to take a 10-minute break, and I mean 10 minutes, okay? Do not have me come find y'all. Okay, I see you. I see you. You can go get your smoke break.

[03:04:33] I'll find you. But we are going to do 10 minutes, and then we are going to closed session, so that is 4.37. Thank you.

[03:05:07] All right, we are back from a closed session. I'd like to get a motion to certify. so moved second all right we'll give it to bob supervisor bob we rolling i don't know what's going on my yeah vote unanimous all right and we have one thing to report out uh madam chair

[03:05:46] i move we accept the following internal audit reports american rescue plan act calendar year 2024 sub-recipient monitoring report interim and government staffing assessment phase two second all right let's go ahead and take the vote vote unanimous move to what you're on second all right let's go ahead and take that vote and i will see everyone at 6 30

[03:06:24] at the freedom park war memorial thank you we are out

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Coraggio Consulting · aguyonx.com