Coraggio Consulting
Prince William Board of County Supervisors Meeting — Work Session, Tuesday, September 16, 2025

Date: Tuesday, September 16, 2025
Place: Prince William County Board of County Supervisors, Virginia
Length: 2h 6m (video)
Official meeting video (Prince William County, Granicus): https://pwcgov.granicus.com/player/clip/3689
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.

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[00:46:02] All right, everyone. It is 2.01. We're going to go ahead and get started. Let's begin with a moment of silence.

[00:46:24] Thank you very much. All rise, if you are able, for Pledge of Allegiance. Which it stands, the nation, God, the divisible, liberty and justice for all.

[00:46:44] All right, everyone. We are now going to go into agenda item number three, and that is public comment time. Do we have anyone in person? We do not have any speakers signed up.

[00:46:59] Do we have anyone virtual? Nope. Supervisor Bailey, then on to you. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Good afternoon. Is everyone ready? Be there, Andrea.

[00:47:18] Just a moment. Okay. Take your time.

[00:47:34] Good afternoon. Good afternoon. That sounds great. Thank you so much. Thank you. Mr. Weston.

[00:47:50] Hello. How are you? Fine, please. You may begin. Yes. So in light of some of the things that have been going on nationwide here, I was wondering if the board would consider pushing forward of the motion to put a memorial for Charlie Kirk on all school campuses within the county.

[00:48:22] Please continue. We can't respond to your question, sir, but we are listening to your request.

[00:48:37] Okay. So basically the framework of my request is, you know, with a lot of the ongoing conversations that are happening around the political violence that's happened recently, the folks up in Minnesota and now with Charlie Kirk, you know, I mean, one of the things that he really stood for was really, you know, open dialogue and thought and really education focused a lot in schools.

[00:49:07] And so what I'm I'm looking for and asking is I would like to set up or somehow see about getting a countywide motion pushed so that we could put a memorial in or not a memorial, but like a mural of Charlie Kirk in all the schools in the county, you know, because we already have them.

[00:49:37] I already see him up in, like, my daughter's school. You know, they have pictures of all kinds of people that kids should look up to. And when I think around, I mean, he's done a lot for education, a lot for critical thinking. And as a critical thinking instructor myself and as a member of the former member of the military, I should say, I know that's one of the important things.

[00:50:02] And as I've grown through the military, you know, a lot of the challenges that we always faced with people's fitness levels, people's ability to think and learn and, you know, other factors and language problems and stuff like that, you know, it really wasn't just a military problem.

[00:50:21] It was really a national problem, you know, with our education system. Thank you. Thank you so much, Mr. Whitson. We appreciate your comments. I think that's all of the guests that we have, right? Okay. Madam Chair, back to you.

[00:50:40] All right. Thank you very much. We are moving on to Agenda I Am No. 4, and that is county executive time. Mr. Shorter, the floor is yours. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I will go over a few updates, primarily the directives that were issued the last time we were together. First directive that was issued was for staff to prepare a resolution for the board's consideration to budget and appropriate funding to initiate and procure on-call project labor agreement consulting services.

[00:51:10] This directive was assigned to procurement services. Staff was also directed to amend the agreement between the police department and the incorporated towns of the county for the use of the Mike Pennington Scenario-Based Training Center. This directive was assigned to the police department.

[00:51:28] Staff was directed to research, review, and evaluate the county's authority and potential options regarding environmental sustainability associated with data centers. Several departments will be working on this, including environmental sustainability, planning, executive management, and the county attorney's office.

[00:51:48] And then finally, staff was directed to revise the language of the proposed draft foundation and sole management fund ordinance based on the feedback received from the board, industry, and the public and stakeholders. This was assigned to the Department of Development Services.

[00:52:04] There were no directives closed since we were together last. I wanted to appreciate and just lift up staff for the amazing events that the county has held over the last week, One being the communications engagement team, police, fire and rescue, and the board, and all those involved with the September 11th remembrance ceremony.

[00:52:29] I especially want to thank Detective Kupka for sharing his experience with us, his very direct experience with us. It was obviously incredibly moving, and it is so important for us to come together, certainly as a community, to honor those we lost, as we do every year on the 11th.

[00:52:50] I think with that, Madam Chair, that is all for me. All right, thank you very much. Anyone have any questions? All right, seeing none, we will go over to Madam County Attorney. Thank you, Madam Chair, members of the board. We have no items for discussion for closed session this afternoon.

[00:53:09] All right, thank you very much. I'm going to kick it back over to Mr. Shorter for our work session today. All right, thank you very much, Madam Chair. So I am very excited for the team to get started with this presentation today.

[00:53:26] As you know, and other board members and certainly our community, we worked really hard over this last year to put together a strategic plan proposal for your adoption. You adopted that strategic plan. Part of our commitment as an organization, after that strategic plan was adopted, is that we were going to really be thoughtful about implementation.

[00:53:51] We came to you in July to talk KPIs, actually June to talk KPIs, and now we are back. The first two strategic plan goal teams, and I'll say, I know I've said it to the board before, but for the community's awareness, we have established strategic plan goal teams across the organization, really, and that is to say staff in multiple agencies to make sure that we were keeping to our commitment around implementation. We're going to hear today from two of our first strategic plan

[00:54:28] goal teams. They are the first out, and that is environment, and the second is smart growth. And I'll say that we have set, as a cabinet and as a staff, through at least one round of meetings with all of the strategic plan goal teams, and they have just done absolutely amazing work to make sure that there are work plans in place for us to do just this. I'm excited to have the conversation to let you see what we have been working on and really how the organization

[00:55:03] is reshaping the work that we are doing to really focus on the strategic plan goals. So all of our work across the board really will be focused over the next four years on the things that you have adopted and that the community provided input to. I'm going to turn it over to Kay Wallace first.

[00:55:24] Kay has been our leader around strategic plan implementation and has done phenomenal work with our various teams to make this possible. Who you see here with us in audience today is just a sampling of the staff from across our county government who have really taken time. This is in addition to their day-to-day, taking time to do just this, to do the work of the strategic plan.

[00:55:53] And so with that, Madam Chair, I'm going to turn it over to Kay Wallace. Kay, if you could hear me, okay? Yes. All right. I'll turn it over to you. Thank you, Mr. Shorter. Can you all hear me okay? Can you hear me?

[00:56:12] We hear you. Yes, we can hear you. Yes, great. Good afternoon, Madam Chair, members of the board. My name is Kay Wallace, and I am the County Strategic Plan Coordinator. I do apologize for not being there in person today. However, I'm not feeling well. So as Mr. Shorter already said, he gave a great intro to this.

[00:56:31] What I'll do is briefly share information with you all first, and then I'm going to turn it over to Julia Mano and Tanya Washington and the teams so that they can share information with you all. What I also will do is ask, I believe, Dominique, one of our Deputy Transformation Management Officers, is in the boardroom, and I will ask her to please transition my slides for me as I begin my brief portion of the presentation.

[00:57:02] Okay, so as I stated that we are here just to give you all a brief overview of our implementation process. Specifically, what we're going to do is I'm going to just basically remind you of what the implementation process is, and then you're going to hear sample action plans from two of our strategic goal teams, specifically the Environment Goal Team and the Smart Growth Goal Team.

[00:57:28] Next slide, please. This slide here shows you all and reminds the community about the eight goal areas in our four-year strategic plan. Those goal areas are education, environment, government, mobility, quality of life, safe and secure community, service delivery, and Smart Growth.

[00:57:52] Next slide, please. The next thing we wanted to remind you all about is as far as our execution timeline is concerned, the board, as you know, adopts a strategic plan by calendar year. However, for execution purposes, we will be executing the plan in accordance with the county's operating cycle, which is the fiscal year.

[00:58:14] So as an example, for year one of our strategic plan, by calendar year, it runs from January 1st through December 31st of 2025. For operating purposes, our year one execution will be the fiscal year 26, which is July 1st, 2025, through June 30th, 2026.

[00:58:37] Next slide, please. On February of this year, the board officially adopted the new four-year strategic plan. And just like we do with our annual budget, once the plan is approved, it was handed over to Mr. Shorter for implementation.

[00:58:55] As part of our efforts as a county to continuously improve, this time around, executive management wanted to take a more intentional and focused approach to putting the plan into action. To support that, we have formed cross-functional teams made up of staff from our various county departments.

[00:59:14] These teams are responsible for creating detailed action plans that lay out projects, initiatives, and activities that will help us meet the goals in the strategic plan. This new approach that we're using is going to help us to stay aligned, break down silos, and move together in the same direction.

[00:59:34] Since May of this year, the Strategic Goal Teams have been working diligently to draft these action plans. Each action plan takes around six to eight hours to complete over the course of several meetings between the teams, and that does not include the extra time spent gathering data and other information between the sessions.

[00:59:53] As of today, all six goal teams have collectively completed about half of their assigned action plans, and we're on track to finish all of them by early next year. The good news about this whole process is that we're doing a lot of the heavy lifting right now, and once this first round of action plans is complete, future annual action plans for years 2, 3, and 4 of our strategic plan will take less time to develop because we'll already have the foundation of these first action

[01:00:24] plans in place. Next slide, please. Over the next few months, the board will hear from all six of our strategic goal teams. Today, you will hear presentations from goal team number two, which is the environment goal team, and goal team number six, which is the smart growth goal team. I will now turn the presentation over to Julia Mano, who is one of the co-leaders of the Environment

[01:00:54] Goal Team. Julia? Thank you, Kay. Good afternoon, Chair Jefferson and members of the board. Julia Mano with the Office of Sustainability. This afternoon, I'm going to be sharing some of the work that has been done so far by the Environment Goal Team in implementing the County Strategic Plan. So this is our Environment Goal Team. Many of us are here today. I am the goal sponsor with

[01:01:32] the Office of Sustainability. Kathy Holzlander here with Public Works is our goal champion. Our goal team members include Janet Bartnick from Parks and Recreation, Katie Kitzmiller from Emergency Management, Kevin Milstead from Facilities and Fleet Management, Kevin Weirach from Transportation, Kristen Alexander with Development Services, Luke Davies with the Virginia Department of Health, Paige Thacker with the Cooperative Extension, and Reza Ramiar from

[01:02:03] the planning office. Just a reminder of our environment goal. It is to preserve the county's natural beauty and resources so that open spaces are created and maintained and residents can enjoy nature. We have five objectives under this goal. The first one is to safeguard the quality of the county's air, water, and other natural resources to ensure that they are not compromised for current and future generations. To enhance and expand public parks, trails, and green spaces to improve

[01:02:41] accessibility to utilize the community energy and sustainability master plan and comprehensive plan to guide decision-making and encourage leadership businesses and residents to help the board achieve our climate mitigation and resiliency goals to support and incentivize the development and use of renewable energy sources to reduce impacts on air quality and the environment and to reduce and mitigate the impacts of flooding in communities. This afternoon I'm going to be focusing on some

[01:03:15] examples of work plans for Objectives 4 and 5. First, looking at Objective 4, to support and incentivize the development and use of renewable energy sources to reduce impacts on air quality in the environment. This objective owner is facilities and fleet management. There are four strategies under this objective. To propose DCSM and green zoning regulations to encourage water and energy efficient buildings, multifamily and mixed-use areas, and transit-oriented development.

[01:03:51] to foster collaboration between the county and schools on sustainability solutions to transition the county's fleet to electric or hybrid vehicles install ev charging stations at county facilities design new facilities to lead gold standards and install solar arrays on county buildings to transition to net zero county buildings and to facilitate or sorry and to promote existing renewable energy efficiency programs and incentives to assist residents and businesses

[01:04:24] with the transition. I'm going to be going through some of the major projects and initiatives that are currently taking place that contribute to the achievement of this objective, as well as some examples of implementation in FY26. Our first major initiative for Objective 4 is to incorporate green zoning regulations into the ZTA, a DCSM green update, and updating the transit section of the DCSM. As you know, the county is undergoing a major zoning update, and this effort will be led

[01:05:01] by planning, development services, and the Department of Transportation. And your work includes kickoff of the project. The next initiative is electric vehicle transition for our county fleet. The county is gradually purchasing EV and hybrid vehicles when it's a good fit. And we have almost completed the design phase for a large installation of county fleet chargers just behind DSB with the capacity for 70 charging ports. We're also working on

[01:05:35] consolidating our energy emissions and utility bill data. This initiative will help with accuracy and efficiency of bill payment, as well as collect the data that we'll need to create our first county government operations greenhouse gas inventory. We have many building energy efficiency and renewable energy projects that have been initiated. This includes the construction of three new buildings to a LEED gold standard, solar projects on three existing buildings,

[01:06:12] a building electrification study, a net zero plan, and facilities and fleet management will be developing an internal design standards manual for county buildings. In addition to work that is already underway, we will be developing a template for electric vehicle cost-benefit analysis. We received technical advisement from the Department of Energy to refine our cost-benefit analysis, particularly with the evolving EV market and incentives. We'll also be exploring the option to address our county's energy efficiency backlog through an energy savings

[01:06:52] performance contract, which many of our surrounding localities and our school system utilize to finance renewable energy and energy efficiency upgrades. Moving on to objective five, to reduce and mitigate the impacts of flooding in communities. This objective owner is emergency management, and the four strategies under this objective are consider establishing a flood bond to address post-development flooding issues, to continue to update maps and monitor flood-prone

[01:07:30] locations in the county, to work with local, state, and federal agencies to identify funding for projects that would reduce or eliminate the risk of repetitive flooding, and to work with emergency management to identify and implement mitigation actions. Some of our major initiatives under Objective 5 include emergency management leading the development of a flood resilience Plan. This is a very important initiative for many reasons, including the fact that completion

[01:08:09] of this plan will qualify the county to apply for state funds for flood mitigation, which is particularly important right now with the rollback of federal funding supporting resiliency. And the Office of Sustainability is also currently recruiting a climate risk and resilience manager to support this effort. We'll also be identifying flood-prone areas and conducting site-specific flood studies. This first year, Parks and Rec are completing flood studies at Ripon Lodge and Silver Lake Park, as well as completing a project to raise the dam at Locashade Park.

[01:08:50] Planning is currently leading the development of the Sustainability and Resilience Comp Plan Amendment, which will include strategies around flood mitigation. And emergency management plans to pursue a higher community rating score for our county in FY28, and a higher CRS score will result in a larger discount for our residents for flood insurance premiums.

[01:09:19] Some new initiatives that we have planned include homeowner education on stormwater easement maintenance through public works. This first year, we plan to identify homeowners with easements and provide them with educational material.

[01:09:36] And Parks and Rec will be identifying public facilities with flooding issues to plan for mitigation. And with that, I will pass to our Smart Growth team. Good afternoon, Madam Chair, members of the board, Tanya Washington, Director of the Planning Office, here to share highlights from the Smart Growth, a goal team for the strategic plan.

[01:10:16] The Smart Growth goal team includes myself as the goal sponsor, Trevor Johnson, who is also here, and we'll cover part of the presentation later from Economic Development and Tourism. Our goal team also includes Thomas Bowles from the Cooperative Extension, Hunter Ekvall from Communications, Clay Morris from Public Works, Brad Norris with Finance, Patty Pakula with Parks and Recreation, Evandro Santos from Transportation, Alan Smith from the County Attorney's Office, Michelle Smick from the Sustainability Office, and Alex Stanley from

[01:10:52] Development Services. The Smart Growth Goals statement is to advance strategic and intentional community-oriented growth that strengthens and enhances the diversity and sustainability of the local economy and the county. This goal has six objectives. The first is to promote high-quality architectural design, thoughtful placemaking, and appealing public spaces to create vibrant and attractive environments for living, working, and recreation. The second is to ensure the county's

[01:11:27] growth holistically addresses the impact on natural resources and infrastructure and enhances community and economic resilience. The third is to preserve natural areas, parks, and cultural heritage sites while promoting sustainable development. The fourth is to identify strategic emerging sectors to diversify the commercial tax base, lessen reliance on any single industry, and create and retain quality jobs for residents. The fifth is to support the expansion and preservation of agribusiness, agritourism, and maritime industries. And the last is to enhance

[01:12:03] small business support networks to strengthen local entrepreneurial ecosystems and empower underrepresented business owners. And today I'm going to focus on sharing objective three and Trevor will discuss objective six since that covers economic development. Objective three again is to preserve natural areas, parks, and cultural heritage sites while promoting sustainable development. The objective owner is parks and recreation as well as public works with their environmental management division. There are four strategies under this objective. To establish

[01:12:42] minimum natural open space guidelines to encourage the appropriate preservation of natural open space and new developments, preserve natural areas in the rezoning process, as well as to promote reforestation projects to preserve and expand green spaces for the future. And the last is to promote the awareness and use of sustainable materials and practices in all development through land use planning, regulatory tools, and collaboration with the development industry.

[01:13:11] And before I move on, I wanted to note, particularly since you just saw some highlights for the environment goal team, that there are some projects that will help to implement both that goal as well as smart growth. So here are a few of the major projects and initiatives that the goal team has identified that we will be focusing on for year one through the full four years of the strategic plan.

[01:13:39] The first, as mentioned earlier, the update to the zoning ordinance standards. This one particularly focusing on Updating the standards for natural open space and buffers. The planning office, as you know, is leading that. And we have already kicked off that project. And one of the first things that we're looking at now are best practices with other localities that have done these updates.

[01:14:01] Also mentioned earlier the sustainability and resilience comprehensive plan amendment that the planning office is co-leading with the sustainability office. Some of the year one activities include developing a matrix of the Community Energy and Sustainability Master Plan, emergency management, and other action items from the county that we will be incorporating into the comprehensive plan.

[01:14:26] Public Works will be leading an update, a DCSM update to the stormwater regulations, including for underground stormwater management, and that effort is underway with drafting. And then we've also highlighted three new projects that the team has identified that will help to implement this objective.

[01:14:48] The first is a natural open space assessment that would be co-led by Public Works in the planning office. And year one activities include researching existing tree cover and data that we have available to support this effort. Another new effort is an update, an implementation of section 900 of the DCSM to define park level of service for residential development.

[01:15:12] And that will be led by Parks and Recreation. And so they're getting started with initiating that process this year. And then an additional new project is an expansion of the reforestation program that will be co-led by Public Works and Parks and Recreation to identify high priority sites for parkland reforestation.

[01:15:32] And Year 1 activities include identifying candidate areas within parks and conducting a cost-benefit analysis. So I'm going to turn it over to Trevor Johnson for Objective 6. Good afternoon, Madam Chair, members of the board.

[01:15:57] Trevor Johnson, Deputy Director of Economic Development and Tourism. And I'm excited to present Smart Growth Objective Number Six today, which focuses on enhancing small business support networks to strengthen local entrepreneurial ecosystems and empower underrepresented business owners.

[01:16:17] I want to start off by saying we have a really passionate team of small business folks in economic development and tourism that are really excited to see their work reflected in this goal, in this objective. As you know, small businesses are the backbone of the economy.

[01:16:35] Here in Prince William County, they represent about 95% of all businesses in the county, and they're essential to achieving our goals of economic diversification and reducing our reliance on any single industry. The three strategies for Objective 6 are collaborating with partners in developing education, mentor programs, and services to support local entrepreneurs, identifying and removing barriers to business success that attract business owners and investors

[01:17:11] to the local economy, and developing opportunities for local entrepreneurs to network and engage with other entrepreneurs to learn about the county's support services for small businesses. You may remember in 2023, the Department of Economic Development and Tourism completed a study called the Barriers to Success Study that provided us with a clear roadmap for what entrepreneurs need here in Prince William County.

[01:17:43] What we consistently heard is that there are notable gaps in our support infrastructure, particularly for underrepresentative entrepreneurs who face additional challenges, including language differences, limited networks, and unfamiliarity with available resources.

[01:18:02] So some major projects and initiatives for this objective, central to the strategy of this objective, is the Calibrate at Chen. It's really a flagship small business resource center that's being developed in partnership with the public libraries.

[01:18:23] We're really excited about this facility. It's going to be located at Chen Park Library, and it will serve as a physical hub for programming, but really a visible symbol of the county's commitment to entrepreneurship. And businesses will be able to come there, meet with small business representatives from the county, finance representatives, permitting team.

[01:18:46] It's a one-stop shop for them. Secondly, addressing what we consistently hear as a major challenge for small businesses, We're looking at launching comprehensive financial access initiatives. Access to capital is the number one thing that we hear from small businesses.

[01:19:05] So looking at launching a microloan program for small businesses, but in addition to debt capital like a microloan program, also looking at small business grant programs. You know, the county has existing opportunity funds, and a lot of times those go to larger businesses.

[01:19:23] so looking at need-based and performance-based grants for small businesses will be important as well. Ongoing mentorship programs you know the county works with George Mason University's Accelerate program which is an entrepreneurship program also leadership Prince William has we've partnered with them to develop leadership programs specifically for business owners and establishing referral pathways and leadership development tailored towards entrepreneurs.

[01:19:59] And then lastly, here on this slide, we're deploying an extensive network of small business resource champions throughout the county. Really people that can connect and expand the reach of county staff and can serve as a bridge to reach entrepreneurs throughout the county.

[01:20:23] The next thing, next major initiative ongoing is the Calibrate Small Business Conference. If you haven't been, it's a premier entrepreneurship showcase in northern Virginia. It's an important networking and learning event that serves as a strategic positioning tool to attract and grow new small businesses in Prince William County.

[01:20:49] The next initiative is targeted outreach, new marketing campaigns, multilingual programming, coupled with an expanded business retention and expansion program focused specifically on those small and underrepresented businesses that provides them with individualized support, connecting them with the appropriate resources within the network.

[01:21:19] And then the new one there at the bottom is reactivating the small business advisory group. That's something that came together during the pandemic as a response to what was happening. And so we're looking at reactivating that group.

[01:21:36] And I think they're going to be called the Calibrate Committee. You're going to hear Calibrate all over the place with our small business program. Instead of being reactive, that committee is looking to be proactive. And they're going to be representatives from our chambers, our small business development center, George Mason, but more importantly, successful local business owners who understand the real challenges of building businesses in our market.

[01:22:04] And that's all I have. Thank you.

[01:22:18] So now we would like to open up the floor for any questions, if you all have any about what you've heard thus far. All right. Thank you very much for everyone who presented and for putting this together.

[01:22:38] I think it looks excellent. I'm actually going to kick it started with, I'd like to go to slide number 11 for environment. All right, whenever you start talking about EVs and fast chargers, my ears perk up.

[01:23:00] And so I just wanted to understand, you're saying it's going to go behind DSB. Exactly where is it going to go, and is it for our fleet specifically, these chargers? Yeah, so it's going to go to the right of the Owens building. Okay. And specifically for fleet charging as we transition our white fleet to EVs.

[01:23:20] And are these going to be, I'm just curious, are they going to be like fast chargers or? They are going to be level two. Okay, level two. Okay, versus level three. All right. And my other question is on page, okay, this is page 12.

[01:23:37] You know, I just want to ask about the solar rooftop. And one of them is the JDC or judicial center. Is that the JDC? Are we talking about the juvenile facility? Or are we talking about the complex, the justice complex, ADC and all that?

[01:23:59] Okay. Yep. Kevin Milstead's the lead with Facilities and Fleet Management on this project. Can I answer those questions? Chair Jefferson, members of the board, my name is Kevin Milstead, Facilities and Fleet Management Department.

[01:24:16] We're heading up the initiative to retrofit three existing buildings with rooftop solar. Those three buildings, and sorry if we're getting an acronym soup, but Judicial Center is the courthouse. That is one of them. Directly adjacent to Judicial Center is the Adult Detention Center, and that is also in design right now.

[01:24:38] And a few miles down the road from that, we are looking at Fire Station 22 on Ballsford Road. Does that answer the question? That answers the question. Thank you so very much. And then my other one, I think it's slide 22, Smart Growth Objective No. 6 Action Plan. I think this is really excellent, and I think that this is something that's very much needed.

[01:25:06] And I've had small business owners come to me and talking about their needs and how it's different from some of our larger employers. This is more, I guess, more of a comment. I guess somewhere in here, is there going to be a marketing support or helping people understand how to better market themselves? There is one business owner in particular who really wants to get better on social media and that's something you know when you're a small business you really are a jack of all trades and that ain't his trade right now so i just want to see if that is going to be a part of what you're offering to small businesses yes madam chair thank you for that

[01:25:43] question um that's that's an excellent um point that we want to make with the calibrate at chen center there will be opportunities for connection particularly with mason sbdc um that's our small business development center partnership that we have an moa with george mason and they provide those services helping businesses learn how to market how to do their finances do taxes all of the things it takes to run a small business there's free classes and opportunities for those

[01:26:18] that exist currently what we're excited about is taking that and making them more accessible by having a one-stop shop where you can meet with our staff and learn all the things you need to know with working with the county but also meet with mason sbdc and some of our other partners and learn more about the things it takes to actually operate your business absolutely i really appreciate that thank you so much and with that i'm going to go to supervisor gordy thank you madam chair um just have a question it it's kind of a question that that flows over between sustainability smart

[01:26:52] growth. And that really is, how do we get after reducing water runoff? Instead of managing storm water, reducing the runoff itself from a standpoint of reducing impervious surfaces as part of our smart growth and part of our environmental sustainability goals here. Because the challenge that we're facing on our drinking water and our Occoquan Reservoir is really what's coming downstream so how do we really get after the amount of water that's actually having to flow

[01:27:28] and then you of course that then leads to the flooding because now we're concentrating water into certain areas so so how to so are we in as part of our goal here um trying to figure out ways to reduce that runoff good afternoon supervisor gordy uh great question so i think there there are some initiatives that can help to address that one is through the actually two under the planning office's purviews. So with the sustainability and resilience comprehensive plan amendment, the ultimate goal is to have policies and guidelines for more sustainable,

[01:28:07] more resilient development, which would help to address flood management issues. And so there's an opportunity to include, for example, just off the top of my head, policies around using more pervious surfaces as part of development, just as one example. So that's one opportunity.

[01:28:27] In addition, through the zoning ordinance update, one of the broader goals that we want to accomplish is green zoning. That is an action item from the CESMP. And so we want to look at opportunities to update our development standards that can help to advance green zoning more broadly.

[01:28:47] And so that's another opportunity where we can address this issue. Okay. Thank you for that. And then I do want to really appreciate, just like with what Chair Jefferson said, really appreciate the work that you guys are doing towards our small business, really trying to help them because we hear often about the challenges of being a small business and the difficulties of, you know, essentially working with the county to even sometimes just getting started in business.

[01:29:19] And so to try to turn this to something that's much more engaging and helping to make that pathway straighter and flatter for our small businesses in Prince William County, I think, is a great effort here and really look forward to hearing more about concrete plans on that.

[01:29:40] That's all I have for now, Madam Chair. Thank you. Thank you. Supervisor Franklin. Sure. Yes, thank you. I'm going to start with the discussions around environmental and sustainability. So I don't know, Julia, if you want to take the stand first. But, yeah, I wanted to just start with, obviously, data centers aren't mentioned, particularly in the presentation.

[01:30:03] But, obviously, that's kind of been our number one issue over the past several years. And I just want to encourage us to continue looking at more sustainable ways to, I guess, do data centers here in this county.

[01:30:20] And so in some of my research, looking at the impact of undergrounding utilities, and obviously that's been helpful here around the county. But can that be even more helpful with regards to the industry? In addition, we know that particularly in certain areas, there's data center technology that's also underground.

[01:30:42] And I think in Arizona, they do something similar. Is that helpful? Is it not helpful? But can we at least explore some of these additional options? And then obviously, you know, we've been talking about kind of a closed-loop system, and some of the data centers use that, but it's not mandatory or mandated.

[01:30:59] But we also know that when you do a closed-loop system, you use more energy. So which one do you pick, right? And so I just want to encourage us to continue to look at how to continue evolving sustainability measures with regards to the industry. And just very quickly, just kind of want your thoughts on that, maybe generally.

[01:31:18] Well, I think in regards to Objective 4, probably more. Actually, yeah, Objectives 3 and 4.

[01:31:39] Slides 9. Utilizing the CESMP for decision-making, obviously energy usage and greenhouse gas emissions are a significant part of the CESMP, which is a plan to meet our climate mitigation and resiliency goals.

[01:31:59] So, yeah, continuing to look at evolving technology, evolving mitigation strategies will be an important part of that implementation. That's right, and really pushing our data centers to start using this technology and not just say that they're considering using some of this technology.

[01:32:15] So I wanted to throw that out, kind of switching to parks, which is not you. I mean, it could be you. But I wanted to talk about how in this plan we're really looking at more ways to develop more parks and things of that nature.

[01:32:30] But what I've said before, and which I think we should continue to do, is invest in our neighborhood parks. We have a lot of neighborhood parks throughout the county. And if we continue to push investments there, we will have to continue to build parks in other places that perhaps residents can't walk to, perhaps.

[01:32:48] We want residents to be able to leave their homes, walk to a park up the street, maybe a block away. And we do have a number of neighborhood parks that are in desperate need of additional resources. And I think Seth has been doing a wonderful job of continuing to kind of bring those to the forefront.

[01:33:06] but I think we can do an even better job as a board in making sure that our neighborhood parks are getting the attention that they deserve. And so while we look at building additional parks, that's great, but I want to make sure that we're not neglecting our neighborhood parks. Also, very quickly, I saw in here mention about transit-oriented development.

[01:33:25] You all have heard me say this before. Obviously, I'm supportive, but let's make sure that that doesn't just mean developing only in certain parts of the county. And if we are going to do transit-oriented development, then let's make sure that we're pushing for additional growth across the county while also pushing for the infrastructure to come with it and not just saying we can only do development in areas where infrastructure already exists.

[01:33:50] We need to push for actual infrastructure measures either by the developer or the county itself needs to continue placing those resources. And then just kind of two more things. I think in here is mentioning about the program and working with homeowners on the easement issue.

[01:34:09] I also just want to point out making sure that we're working with our civic associations and our HOA groups. Those are already well-established in a lot of these neighborhoods, so you don't have to necessarily recreate the will there. So I just wanted to make that note. And then lastly, with regards to, you mentioned about an accelerator program with the small business initiative.

[01:34:29] really no need to get up, but I'll just say that a number of our chambers around really northern Virginia have accelerator programs already that they're being funded through the feds or even some state funding, and it may be worth kind of working with them to making sure that we're not recreating the will as well and maybe putting investments there as opposed to starting our own, but I'm very supportive of us also starting our own. I just want to make sure that we know which programs already exist with other chambers. So, just wanted to flag those things.

[01:35:01] Thank you, Madam Chair. Alright, thank you very much. Supervisor, I don't know, do you have any? That's a lot. I just want to say, do you guys have a comment? I just wanted to respond briefly to Supervisor Franklin's comment related to transit oriented development. That is definitely the approach that we should be taking, which is not only supporting development, particularly higher density development around transit, but also looking at opportunities to expand transit services throughout the county so that we can provide more of a multimodal community

[01:35:37] as well as development around that. So that's definitely on our radar and is reflected in the comprehensive plan. All right, then now we're going to go to Supervisor Bailey. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm going to start with environmental.

[01:35:53] Where is my buddy? The first question I had is, are we holding off on the DCS-M600 so that it is incorporated, the items of it is incorporated with the green zoning.

[01:36:10] I believe the transportation section 600 is complete. Is that it? Oh, sorry. Chair Jefferson, members of the board, Kevin Weirach, transportation planning manager. The section 600 update of the DCSM is currently under review in the county attorney's office right now.

[01:36:31] We're hoping to go back to planning commission this fall for an informational work session just to show the subtle changes we've made since they approved it and then have it up for board consideration after that. Okay, and you'll come back to us with... Absolutely. Okay, all right, thank you. And then my other question was, how is our flood resilience plan marrying with NBRC?

[01:36:54] What's the compatibility there, or is there? Thanks, I call up Brian with Emergence Management. Good afternoon, Brian Meisner, the Emergence Management Coordinator. Thank you for the question, Vice Chair Bailey.

[01:37:10] So we do work closely with the Northern Virginia regional commission. They've got several team members that work on flooding and environmental impacts. So they participate in our local quarterly hazard mitigation meetings. We participate in their quarterly meetings. The flood resilience plan will be specific to Prince William County and the four towns because there are certain elements that we are required to achieve in that plan and have that plan approved by the Department of Conservation and Recreation to be eligible for that community flood preparedness funding uh at the state level okay thanks brian my next question is public works

[01:37:42] i think i saw katab okay that's you katab yes for you uh um are you included in the the coastal flooding monitoring is that a part of your deal in this as well my name chair members of the board katab shimwood the director of public works our team is yes clay and his team is definitely included in that. Okay, and it's a part of this process? Yeah. Okay. Okay. All right. Thank you.

[01:38:15] Next thing I have is for our smart growth initiative. I'm excited about that. Trevor, where are you? Come on. Just briefly, will the comprehensive programs, well, I think I saw that it's going to include banks and credit unions and all of that for local institutions to help finance in that respect are we working with the local banks and so yes we when we're developing our micro loan program working with the SBA is the model that we usually go with and a lot of

[01:38:54] local financial institutions are certified to offer those micro loan programs through the SBA okay all right thank you that's all I got supervisor Bodie thank you madam chair thank you to all the teams that have been working on this um and i'm going to say it again i always say it but i really wanted to commend the county exec and everyone for really de-siloing all of this to again i i've said it before but to have so many different agencies that basically overlap on so many different things that make sense actually talking to each other working with each other literally built and baked into how they're working through these um this implementation i think is

[01:39:34] applaudable, and I just wanted to say that, so wanted to start with that. That said, I think there's a lot of good cross-pollination of ideas that's been going on with this that I think has helped us move a long way beyond just having a plan that we've adopted and actually having a plan that we're working towards and having actions that we're going to be able to measure to actually help move things along. So I wanted to say that as well. That said, I did have a few points that are somewhat related to the issue areas that we talked about and the goal areas today, but

[01:40:08] I want to talk about, since we are talking about the plan as a whole, one of the things we talk about around smart growth, transit-oriented development, what have you, is also traffic safety, right? We talk about making areas more walkable, smart growth, the built environment, and more sustainable is making sure that people can get around.

[01:40:29] And I know that Suarez Franklin did talk about parks as well. Would love to, as we continue to talk about, especially the vehicle and the walkability side of it is knowing that we've also, since we adopted the, the, the strategic plan, we, and now we've also adopted the comprehensive traffic safety action plan.

[01:40:48] So knowing that there'll likely be KPIs and action items that come from that into this, not to get everyone more work, but they all fold together, right? they all feed on each other so making sure that we look at you know we talked about having these walkable communities in a smart growth environment having strategies around you know reducing the number of fatal crashes things like that because that frankly feeds into what we're talking about so that's one uh two as it pertains to environmental sustainability uh appreciate the the um the conversation my colleagues have had around sustainable growth around uh residential mixed use, also some of the things that Supervisor Franklin said that speaks to some of the directives

[01:41:27] I've been giving around sustainable development around data centers, but also environmental justice. I know that will come out of some of the implementing the CSMP into the comp plan and some of the other issues that we're talking about today, but really hoping that there is going to be some environmental justice minded and speaking to action items in that, knowing that, as was said earlier, there's some really older parts of the county that have bared the brunt of a lot of the older school development, and they've missed out on some of the green spaces and some

[01:42:02] of the other newer ways in which we develop that they never were partied to, and really helping to balance that scale, as it were. Climate and in resilience precision. I know, as Julia said, we're still working on getting a handle on our current GHG inventory, but once we're able to do that, I think that we can start putting in interim milestones and how we get at that, obviously, with various industries, various development patterns around the county, but also transportation, because it all speaks to the two biggest drivers of our greenhouse gas emissions right now, our industry and transportation, essentially.

[01:42:40] So really getting at that as well and having interim steps to show meaningful progress, even as we look at their larger goals. The small business program, I love those. I appreciate how far we come. I'm going to echo what Madam Chair said around that piece as well.

[01:42:56] And really looking at the fact that as the most diverse county in the Commonwealth and having this wide variety of not only ethnic backgrounds, national backgrounds, what have you, but we have a lot of veterans that come here, set their roots, and then have to find a way to make a living outside of that.

[01:43:16] And I think that's particularly, frankly, poignant right now, as we also have to talk about diversifying our economy from one industry, but also the federal government, making ourselves more economically resilient to shocks in federal government and changes in administrations.

[01:43:32] We're seeing how that plays out right now. So really appreciate the work that's being done around that, but hopefully we can get some more KPIs and some more action items around that, especially as it pertains to how many loans, how many things that we've actually deployed to SWAM businesses, veteran-owned businesses, those businesses that we know have the least accessibility to the capital and the things that we've talked about.

[01:43:56] So making sure that we pencil and sharpen our pencils around that. And the last one, Madam Chair, if you'll indulge me, is around delivery KPIs, handshaking with the CIP. We had a big conversation about the CIP this morning at this morning's committee meeting.

[01:44:13] Hopefully that those things can handshake in the long term. Thank you, Madam Chair. Does anyone have any response to that? I was about to give you your second bite at the apple. All right, does anyone have anything else? All right, I'm sorry, Mr. Shorter, and then Supervisor Bailey.

[01:44:32] Maybe Vice Chair Bailey could go first because I was going to... All right, Supervisor Bailey. Appreciate your courtesy. Just want to, again, say to your team, the collaboration and the overlapping gives us a sense of comfort as we move forward.

[01:44:49] And as Supervisor Bodie said, the presentation that we got this morning, I can see how that marries with it as well. And so we appreciate the hard work and how you're working to move us forward, move the county forward when the citizens ask us for what's needed.

[01:45:06] You're working hard on making sure that it makes sense. So thank you so much. Thanks, Madam Chair. All right, Mr. Shorter. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I just, this is a little bit off script, but this is a work session. If you don't mind, some of the team members did not get to speak at podium today and have not actually come before the board.

[01:45:27] So if we could have them all stand up and just one by one with the environment goal team going first and then the smart growth goal team going next, just introduce yourself, what agency you're with. Madam Chair, members of the board, Kathy Holtzlander, Public Works.

[01:45:50] I know most of you through our work on the county's beautification initiative. So great job. Thank you for all your support. Appreciate it. Thank you. Come on, don't be shy. Good evening.

[01:46:08] I'm Reza Ramir with planning office, principal planner. I'm helping in the accessibility office for the CSMP. You may need to either raise the podium or lean in. For the CPA and green zoning. Thank you so much for your support.

[01:46:24] Thank you. Got a mic. Oh, she has a mic. I don't know. I see some people who, you know, I haven't seen speak before, but they know I'm looking at them. Good afternoon, Madam Chair, members of the board.

[01:46:41] I'm Paige Thacker with Cooperative Extension. I served on the environment planning team, and Thomas Bowles served on the smart growth, and then Mary Beth Lurch, our 4-H agent, served on education. So we appreciate the opportunity to be part of this process.

[01:47:03] Thank you. I didn't say much. I just want to add, I think, to Supervisor Goldie, your question regarding previous area. Yeah, I think we do a great job in managing the water that's coming from previous areas.

[01:47:22] as far as stormwater management, whether it's dry ponds, wet ponds, whatever. I think we could do more on the use of pavement type of material that actually is premium that actually can take water into this, or even bioretentions and even green roofs.

[01:47:39] There's a lot of devices out there that can be used to reduce some of that runoff that can go ultimately to the Akaquan. Thank you. You know me.

[01:47:59] So we did a representation from Public Works, and we also... Thank you, Tanya. Alex Stanley, Zoning Administration. I've been here for a while now, so several of you already know me.

[01:48:17] But it's a pleasure to work on the group and be a part of the Smart Growth team. I think that's everyone from our team today. Chair Jefferson, member of the board, members of the board, I'm Michelle Smick.

[01:48:36] I'm the Climate Energy Program Manager in the Office of Sustainability.

[01:48:49] Good afternoon, Madam Chair, members of the board. I'm Dominique Ward. I am the Deputy Chief Transformation Management Officer, serving as the lead from the TMO to support Kay Wallace with the strategic plan implementation.

[01:49:15] And we have two of our coaches for each of these teams represented today. In the back, we have Rachel Laguna, Deputy Chief TMO. She is the coach to the Smart Growth Team. And we have Tony Turnage, Deputy Chief TMO, and he is the coach for the environment team.

[01:49:35] Thank you for having us. All right. Thank you so very much. All right, guys. We are now on to supervisor's time, and I'm going to start with Supervisor Bailey. Thank you, Madam Chair.

[01:49:53] Thank you very much. Madam Chair, I want to start out by saying thank you so much to the county exec and his team, Nikki Brown for the wonderful job that they did for the remembrance ceremony for 9-11 and it was beautiful and the day was beautiful. I want to thank Amazon for building our kaboom in the district for the boys and girls club the Heiser boys and girls club and the kids are just going to be so blessed by that kaboom that they built. I know there's another one in the district in in the

[01:50:29] county around but it's going to build a sense of vibrancy and space for kids to grow learn about teamwork so that's exciting congratulations to one of our new pastors pastor sandra james for becoming the first african-american pastor of one of our historical churches first mount zion baptist church my church just saying and uh we're very proud she's a community leader but we're very proud of that step that she will be taken in in the community and on the uh 14th of september my husband and I were bestowed an honor by the Fort Myer and Henderson Hall garrison commander slash

[01:51:09] chaplain for being the keepers of the community. It's our old, where we went and we went to church there, but this is a regional award that you get and I was just in tears. So I thank you so much for honoring the work that we do.

[01:51:26] On the 27th, we'll be having Dumpster Day and Shredding Day, and we'll be at Washington Reed from 9 to 12. So please come and get rid of the stuff. And with that, I'd like to offer two directives, Madam Chair. One is about workforce development, a workforce development center.

[01:51:46] Without objections, I'd like to issue a directive regarding a workforce development center within the Potomac District. Therefore, I would like to direct the county exec to work with staff and to conduct a feasibility study, engage stakeholders, develop a conceptual plan, and prepare a workforce development strategy.

[01:52:06] The county exec is directed to bring back an appropriate recommendation for the board's consideration with an initial report within 120 days. Such recommendations should, where applicable, include timelines, fiscal impacts, and other pertinent impacts for the board's consideration.

[01:52:26] The county attorney's office is directed to review the information and recommend any legal parameters there should be, and with the research and work to be completed by the county with his approval for the board's presentation.

[01:52:43] Thank you very much. My second directive is in reference to a senior paratransit directive. And Madam Chair, I'd like to offer without objections to issue this directive regarding an enhanced paratransit program for seniors to include options for people with disabilities.

[01:53:07] I would like to direct the county exec to work with county staff and the PRTC OmniRide to explore options for an enhanced paratransit program. The analysis should include a financial feasibility assessment and scheduling options, which is always an opportunity.

[01:53:26] The county's attorney's office is directed to review the information and recommendations for any legal issues thereof. When the analysis is complete, the county executive should report back to the board with the outcomes and recommendations during a board meeting or by memorandum as he determines appropriately.

[01:53:45] Madam Chair. Supervisor Franklin. Yeah, I just want to just briefly say thank you, Supervisor Bailey, for issuing those directives. I think particularly on the workforce development piece, as we see that there is a lot of transition happening, particularly on the federal level, we've said before that we're going to have to be well prepared to take on a lot more of the responsibility that we're used to seeing in other levels of government.

[01:54:16] So with regards to workforce development, very supportive of that. I'm looking forward to working with Post Supervisor Bailey as well as our county staff on that. And then just very briefly with regards to paratransit, as you all know, we have a small program with PRTC, but I think it's worth looking at expanding.

[01:54:34] And so I think it'll be important to kind of look at that to see how we can get more individuals, both with disabilities, but also more of our senior population, making sure that they have transportation to get to and from both our senior center, as well as other places around the county, including like our doctor's offices, hospitals, things of that nature.

[01:54:54] So just wanted to express support for that. So thank you. All right. Thank you so much. Anyone else? All right. Ditto everything. Okay. Ditto. all right then we are going to go on to supervisor bode thank you madam chair i'll be very brief uh just want to remind folks of the upcoming events in the occoquan district on saturday october 4th 10 a.m to 1 p.m we can have our dumpster day our fall dumpster day it'll be at the lake ridge commuter lot just off of old bridge road and minneville road we'll have glass recycling again too good to toss stuff we'll uh we'll have a home as well be thrifty will be joining us again

[01:55:32] So, again, even if you don't have anything to toss into the trash or anything like that, we do have Be Thrifty with us for donations, furniture, clothing, those kinds of things. So if you're thinking about doing a neighborhood cleanup around the area, please come on by.

[01:55:48] And then also, finally, Oktoberfest, sorry, Barktoberfest, October 18th, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. It'll be at Canine Gunner Dog Park just down Moneyville Road. We'll also be a celebration and ribbon-cutting of our ADA improvements at that park.

[01:56:04] Really proud of the work that we've been able to get done alongside the Parks Department in making that dog park a lot more accessible. We're going to have a food truck. Dave's dogs will be there. I thought it was appropriate. And we will also have some vendors, a rescue, and some of the other local animal-related nonprofits as well.

[01:56:23] So please join us again Saturday, October 18th, 11 to 1 at Canine Gunner Dog Park. Thank you, Madam Chair. Supervisor Angry. Thanks, Madam Chair. So September 18th, 30th of September 18th, we're going to be holding a transportation town hall public meeting to review proposed traffic calming plans for Cordell Avenue.

[01:56:45] That will be at 6 p.m. at Neyapsco Elementary School, and the full details are on the website. So if you want to join us, you're welcome to do so. Also, finally, this Saturday, we're going to be doing our fall dumps today. The big opportunity there is always shredding. So shredding is a big one, and we'll be having a shred truck back out there.

[01:57:03] So that's from 9 to 1 p.m. at the Gemini Way commuter lot, where we hold our farmer's market. And Monday, the 29th, doing another one. Tell you what, we've got another traffic calm and public meeting that we're going to be talking with Hoffman Drive.

[01:57:22] And we're going to be holding that at 6 p.m. at John Jenkins Elementary School. Full details on the website again. and then on october 18th is the our annual community day at cloverdale park that's from 11 to 2 it's a family friendly event it's always a good time i think this is my third annual so i hope you all come out we're going to try to do something a little bit more uh different and better every year so this year we'll uh we'll see how that goes so hope y'all can join us and that is it madam chair thank you all right supervisor gordy thank you madam chair Just a few items to note.

[01:57:59] I also want to thank the county staff for the incredible September 11th Remembrance Ceremony last Thursday. A beautiful morning and a beautiful ceremony. And I also thought Detective Cupcat was probably one of the best presentations on 9-11 and stories that I've ever heard.

[01:58:20] So that was fantastic. And, again, thank you all who supported that event. Later that day, I went and met with the management of Jiffy Lube Live, and I just want to say they have not sold. So, you know, we go through these rumors about once every three months, and so just want to make sure to get ahead of the next round of rumors.

[01:58:43] But they're already scheduling their 26th season and already have their first act booked, so we can look forward to many more concerts at Jiffy Lube Live.

[01:58:56] Yesterday, I was honored to take a tour of the juvenile detention center and to learn about how they are serving the needs of our young folks who have maybe made a wrong turn somewhere in their life and trying to help them get back on the right track and looking forward to learning more about some of the initiatives that they have coming that's more on the preventative side of the ledger.

[01:59:23] And just a great team there at JDC, and they certainly are looking at what's happening amongst our young people in a very holistic way. And I really appreciate the passion and the commitment that they have to our community.

[01:59:39] And then yesterday afternoon, I met with Voice for their Homes for All meeting. And I know you'll be meeting with, if they haven't already met with the rest of you, they certainly will soon. But again, housing clearly is a challenge, and so how we meet that need is certainly a continued conversation, and I look forward to having those conversations going forward.

[02:00:07] Madam Chair, that's all I have. Thank you. Thank you. Supervisor Franklin. Sure. Just very quickly, this past weekend, I hosted Dumpster Day at Ripon Middle School from 10 to 2. I just want to thank everyone who came by, and we'll make sure to share how many tons of materials we were able to collect.

[02:00:27] Also, I helped to sponsor the Fall Festival and Chili Cook-Off at Stonebridge, and just want to thank COJAM and Kimco and all of our vendors and all of our residents who came out to support that. Also, I participated in a panel discussion on HR1 about the impact on Medicaid and SNAP cuts on state and local governments.

[02:00:52] And so I just want to thank those who participated in that discussion. I was alongside Delegate David Bulova in discussing kind of the local and state implications of that. On yesterday, I participated in the Boulay's golf tournament, and we didn't win, but we had a good time.

[02:01:16] I did see a couple others out, including some of my colleagues. I saw Mr. Shorter, but he was leaving early, which probably meant he wasn't doing so well. So that's okay. There's always next time. There's always next time.

[02:01:34] And then lastly, I did, Mr. Schroeder, want to ask about a couple of years ago, we were talking about a branding initiative that Christina Wynn was working on. I just wanted to get an update. You may not be prepared right now. Yeah, we can talk about that maybe amongst ourselves.

[02:01:52] But, Mr. Schroeder, if you can also provide kind of an official update on where we are with the branding. The reason I mention it is because, obviously, we're doing a lot of work in Woodbridge, particularly along the Route 1 corridor. And, you know, we're looking at doing some branding ourselves to instill pride into our community.

[02:02:09] And it will be great to be able to have the support of our county branding initiative to go alongside that. So we'd love an update on that. And with that, that's it. All right. So I don't have much.

[02:02:25] But, again, with everyone else, I want to say the September 11th ceremony was so beautiful and so moving. The impact of that day is felt, you know, obviously around the country, but in places that were directly hit, such as Northern Virginia, being able to host that every year is, you know, is a very beautiful and moving and touching ceremony.

[02:02:49] I did want to say on Tuesday, September 30th, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., I am hosting a community safety town hall. This one right here, Victor Angry will be there as well. It's going to be with Dale City Civic Association, and Police Chief Newsham will be there.

[02:03:06] So that's at the Dale City Christian Church on Lendendale Road. You can check it out. Information is on my Facebook page, and we're also sending it out on my newsletter, which I encourage people to sign up for because we have a lot of things that we like to share. I am very glad that Supervisor Franklin mentioned the branding update because that is something that it didn't come up for a vote.

[02:03:29] I don't believe that there was the support at the time. And I want us, before we dive into branding, I want us to have a real conversation as a board about who we are. What is our county's identity? And we also need to talk about growth and how we grow.

[02:03:45] Now, we have some really great work sessions coming up, one on data centers. We're also going to have another one around revitalization. We need to have these conversations, personally, I feel, before we move forward with any marketing initiatives or any branding initiatives.

[02:04:01] That's because we need to have a more holistic idea of how we're going to grow, what businesses, what industries we want to prioritize, and what our communities look like. I'm happy to continue that conversation offline, but that's something I started talking about in my most recent newsletter, and it's something I'm going to continue to talk about because my team and I, we're going to be doing more town halls.

[02:04:24] I want to make sure that I'm hearing people and listening to people. But right now, truly, personally, I do feel that we need to have a better idea and more comprehensive vision of who we are and what the next steps are before we start to market or we start to brand ourselves.

[02:04:43] Because once we do that, the marketing part becomes easy. The branding part becomes easy. And I'm saying that not just as an elected official, but as someone who's worked in the communication space. You know, we do need to have a few hard conversations, in my opinion, before we move forward with that initiative.

[02:05:00] but I'm happy to talk to you offline. Yeah, and yeah, just simply asking for an update on where we are. So if the county exec can at least provide that, I think we can have the rest of these discussions.

[02:05:17] That is certainly, I have no objection to that. Now, I do hope, Supervisor Franklin, that you don't pull a fast one because the next item on the agenda is number nine, and that's to adjourn the meeting. Second. I'll let you sit here and think.

[02:05:45] During the meeting, I will see everyone here on next Tuesday, September 23rd.

[02:06:16] Next week, next week, next week. Thank you.

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