Good evening. Welcome to the May 21, 2024 meeting of the Ashland town council. Thank you all for being here. Starting off with a moment of silence, something to reflect on before our meeting. Someone brought up to me recently that with some changes in Hanover County Public Schools that this, I guess about 10 days May 31st will be the last time for the school bills to ring in play elementary after I guess being built and I think about 1930 or so so I know that that'll be true for Henry Clay but also for Gandhi, John M. Gandhi, the name will not be in use and also for students that went to Gandhi when it was in what is now the school board building. They said goodbye to there. They said goodbye to their school a long time ago. And so what I would advise us to reflect on is, yes, there's a lot to be said for posterity and history and memories and buildings, but this is all about education. So we want to reflect on that this May 31st, it would certainly hope that all our students, parents, teachers, everyone will concentrate on the good education in the legacy that comes by way of education in students' lives, more than it comes by way of edifices. So please join me in a moment of silence for that. Thank you. Mr. Vice-Mayor, would you lead us in the pledge? As you're able, please stand and join me in the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under the government in the visible with liberty and justice for all. All right, we'll take a look at the agenda for this evening. We have on our consent agenda minutes for our May 7, 2024 Council meeting. We have our invoices. We have a referral conditional use permit 24 0508. for the first time in the year. I'm going to start with the committee. I'm going to start with the committee. I'm going to start with the committee. I'm going to start with the committee. I'm going to start with the committee. I'm going to start with the part. Conditional use permit 24-0325 on horse business park height. Conditional use permit 24-0325 on horse business park. Substation. After that we have an approval for in the Consent of the first subdivision 23-1221 Bryce subdivision. A lot line adjustment. We have our public work week proclamation which will read when we get to that point. So that's what's on our consent agenda at this moment. After the consent agenda, we have our citizen input time opportunity for individuals come forward and speak to council on matters that they like. I understand that we may have, we may get to enjoy a point this evening during citizen input time. We have a public hearing ordinance 24, 2024-03 FEMA,, mapping, update, federal emergency management authority. I believe it is. We have one action item, ordinance 24-10, repeal town code section 2.3 or 2-3, and then we have our reports from our department's planning department, finance department, and police department. All right, is there consensus for the agenda as presented? Yes. Okay. All right, so. There's a fair. Yes, sir. If there's an interest in discussing any items on the consent agenda instead of voting in a block, then now'd be the appropriate time to make a motion to amend the agenda. All right. But my understanding from staff there is an interest in taking item D and item E from the consent agenda and moving them to the action item location I guess D going to be B and E going to be C that's a request is there a motion to that effect so move. Second. Mr. Mayor. Yes. That's all good. Mr. Paul. Aye. Vice Mayor Hodges. Aye. Dr. McGraw. Aye. It's Barnhart. Aye. O'Paul. Aye. Vice Mayor Hodges. Aye. Dr. McGraw. Aye. Ms. Barnhart. Aye. Mayor Trevett. Aye. All right. So now for the remaining consent agenda, besides items D and E, are there any questions, comments, or motion concerning those? Mr. Mayor, I move to approve the consent agenda as amended and pay the bills. Aye second. Mr. Soapall. Aye. Vice Mayor Hodges. Aye. Mr. Dr. McGraw. Aye. Mr. Barnhart. Aye. Mayor Trevett. Aye. All right, thank you. All right, well that will take care of the consent agenda and it'll put us almost at citizen input time but first I'd like to read the proclamation there for our public works. Whereas the town of Ashland relies heavily on public works, infrastructure, facilities and services for the health, safety, and well-being of residents, visitors, and commerce. And whereas public works employees dedicate their time and expertise to planning, designing, building, operating, and maintaining local streets, sidewalks, stormwater facilities, public buildings, and other infrastructure. And whereas it is in the public interest for citizens and civic leaders to maintain an awareness of public works needs and programs in order to support the best options for the town. And whereas this year marks the 64th anniversary of the American Public Works Association's National Public Works Week. Now therefore, on behalf of the Ashland Town Council, we do hereby express the gratitude of our community to our local public works employees and proclaim the week of May 19th through May 25th, 2024 as public works week in the town of Ashland. And so doing the Council calls upon all citizens and civic organizations to acquaint themselves with the issues involved in providing the public works services upon which we all depend and to recognize the contribution public works officials make each day to preserve and improve our health, safety, comfort, and quality of life dated this 21st day of May, 2024. And I'll just give opportunity for comments to be made if you'd like to make comments about our appreciation for the public works staff. Okay, well, I'm Pamela Soapal and I haven't been on council very long, but I've had some citizen requests that have been routed through public works, and they are doing a fine job at keeping up with everything and answering concerns and taking care of things. Really appreciate that. For sure. Any other comments? I love it when people say, oh, you live in the town of Ashley and you pay that extra tax and I go, no, no, no, no, we pay for extra services. And our public works are one of the monks, the best services. Had a guy who just recently moved into the town from just outside and goes, hey, I heard this rumor that they pick up sticks. Yeah, big ones too. Four inches by four feet or something to that effect. And he's like, that is amazing and it's not just that like there's other little events I think people don't realize sometimes that the work that goes into light of the tracks and our public works does a lot of the backbone to that and other other things as well but mostly the pickup the leaf pickup and itself is great and they put up complicated Christmas trees. Yes they do. Yes Christmas trees. Yes, they do. Yes, they do. Yes. So very much appreciative of them. Well, they're everywhere. I mean, I mean, there's anything that needs to be done after a storm or just making sure our streets are clean or whatever, they're everywhere, which is really appreciative. I will say because I am on liaison to the park and wreck, they are always out taking care of our parks and our trails, etc. And so we don't ever have to worry about that type of things. So we're just very appreciative of them. Thank you. Thank you. Just want to take extra time to express that. I know none of the staff members are here tonight, but they'll they'll hear And I'll share that with them and I'll also say I mean public works is certainly some of the unsunx heroes of any municipal government I mean public works is certainly some of the unsung heroes of any municipal government. They are so incredibly critical to our quality of life. You've mentioned all the good things that the operations crew do, but our engineering staff upstairs as well are absolutely outstanding, whether it's Miss STEM Bjorns, Expertise and Strong Order Management and all the creative things we've done there. Mr. Rovener's persistence in managing our contractors that we have. Everyone really doesn't know what's the ending job. So I want to share my genuine heartfelt thanks for everything they do. Right. Well, thanks and appreciate you passing that on. All right. Well, that brings us to our citizen input time and Miss Burton. Come on up and for the record, your name and address. But thank you for coming again with another one of your delightful points. Hello, and thank you for letting me be here and read my poem. My name is Sherry Burton and I am a poet. I live in our beautiful center of the universe railroad town of Ashland, Virginia. Well, we have something planned for all of you. We are strawberry tears coming up Saturday June 1st and I hope you'll all be there. Now, I have written a poem about our strawberry fair. And it is called The Fun and Thrills at Ashland's Strawberry Fair. In Ashland it's time again, sweet smells in the air. Look around, thousands come to celebrate strawberry fair. Randolph-Vacon College campus, hundreds of vendors, you'll see, while you pick a box of strawberries, jam shortcakes are just for me. Handmade goods, sweets and candles, t-shirts, tumblers, and more, and many food vendors, tasty delights are in store. Happy faces so contagious, you're in the right town. Balloons and bubbles, you might see. Over here, Mom, delightful sounds. And block after block, colorful tents you see there. Only once a year in Ashwin. You'll just love our strawberry pair Thank you miss Bart. Wonderful. All right. This takes us to our public hearing All right, this takes us to our public hearing, Ordinus 2024-03, FEMA, FLIP, Plain, Mapping, Update. Welcome to savings. Good evening. So the public hearing before you this evening is for ordinance 2024-03, the FEMA flood plain ordinance and mapping update. So this is a request from the town to approve ordinance 2024-03, which will adopt the June 2024 FEMA floodplain mapping, as well as amend the code section for floodplains to, mainly in regards to the floodplain administrator. We're going? OK. I'm sorry. What's OK? You needed to be turned on. Okay. I'm sorry. What's okay? It needed to be turned on. Technology. So just a note, approval of this map is required to happen before the end of June so that the town can continue to participate in the National Flood Insurance Program. And so FEMA has this National Flood Insurance Program where they offer insurance to property owners who are fall within the flood plain. There is also the opportunity for people to get third-party insurance carriers. I know we do have a couple of providers here in town and so we do but we do have a handful of people who use the federal program. The last time these maps were updated was in 2008 and so it's been a while since we've updated the floodplain maps. There's been a lot of development not here just here in the town, but in the entire watershed. And so we were glad that FEMA came in and updated those. It has been a multi-year process. You're all probably sick of hearing. We talk about the floodplain update. So they started this probably maybe even before COVID. Yet definitely before COVID, they started this process. And so we're happy to see it coming to completion. Throughout the process, not only did FEMA provide community input, but we did as well. And we tried to make sure that our citizens were well informed every time we got a communication from FEMA or there were maps available. We did send out a mass communication to anyone whose property fell within the floodplain, which was over 200 properties here in town. So the map update, just so you know where you can find this, there is an online mapping tool where you can go on the FEMA website directly through this link that was available in the staff report too if you want to share that with anyone. And you can click on this, put in your address, and you can go and see exactly what has changed on your property, and I'll show you an example here in a minute. We also have a floodplain website linked here, and this presentation will be available through the minutes. Went there posted. And we're also going to, after this, if it's adopted, we'll update the official zoning map, which is where our floodplain map is shown. So here's an example of what you may see when you go onto the FEMA website, and you can drill down even closer into your property. The purple areas are areas that used to be in the floodplain in 2008, but we're taken out. And the yellow areas are areas that were not, but are now in the floodplain. And so you can see there was an expansion of the floodplain in a good portion of the town in this area. And so those people who may not have needed flood insurance previously may want to consider it at this time. And then we on our permitting side will now be using these new maps when reviewing floodplain permits. I think one of the most positive things to come out through this process is that FEMA studied our flood way, so that kind of hashed area in the middle that goes along the stream there that creek. We did not have that measured previously, and so in order to make a determination for floodplain permits, people were having to do additional studies, H&H hydraulic and hydroanalysis studies, because we did not know where the floodway was and we did not know what the impact would be. And so now that that's been studied, it will be easier for people to get floodplain permits. And you can build in the floodplain. You just have to do some flood proofing, and we do work with the engineers to make sure that we're not increasing it over the required amount or the amount that we can't go above. So there's that and then here's our website for the flood plain that's available on the town website under Planning Crew Development webpage and we try to keep this updated with as much information as possible. We're going to add, so we have the link to the FEMA maps where it's the interactive map, but we're also going to add PDF maps. Once this is approved, we'll add the PDF maps so everyone can go on there and see the most recent ones. And if there's anything else that you think would be beneficial to have on this page, please let us know. Most of this is a requirement through the Community Rating System Program that we participate in so that people can get a discount on their insurance. So other amendments other than the requirement to adopt the map is that we're moving responsibility and appeal authority from public or two public works from planning. And so right now the zoning administrator and the Board of Zoning Appeals handles administration and variances. We looked at several other localities and really pulled mainly from Hanover, Hanover, Henan, and Raiko to move this to public works and the director of public works would handle appeals if they came up through the town engineer. We also are providing greater detail on the flood administrators appeals if they came up through the town engineer. We also are providing greater detail on the flood administrators' rule. We're updating definitions as requested by FEMA. DCR and FEMA have reviewed this ordinance numerous times over the years. We did last updated several years ago. You may recall we had to update our comprehensive plan as for the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act certification. And we also updated our floodplain ordinance. Now this is a re-review and there were again some minor, this time minor revisions that were being requested. I will say that as part of my review, I think a question was brought up by the town attorney perhaps of the ordinance that was presented in your packet. There were, it appeared that there were a few areas that were not red line to remove zoning administrator and change that to floodplain administrator. So I'd request this evening that as part of your motion, if you were to approve this, you do it as presented to include amending all flood or zoning administrator terms to be floodplain administrator. Okay. And there are sample questions. Thank you, sir. All right. Any questions for Staya for this point? I'll just for clarification for people who are listening at home. Mm-hmm. The link to the floodplain in the staff report is at the end of the conclusion and doesn't look like a typical link. It's in nice APA font and format but when you click on it it takes you right there. It doesn't have a blue link or just wanted to clarify. Is it not underlined? No, it's in complete APA format which is no underline. It is just in black and just like the other lines. Anyway, I just thought that some people might go, it's not there and it's absolutely there. I just thought I would share. Before you go away. What triggers this as far as, you say it was last time, it was 2008. What is it that sets it into motion again? You know, we see that on the map that some things have moved out some things have moved in as far as In the purple and the yellow and all that so for you know, I've gotten a couple of calls from individuals Who were just concerned This this is my who institutes this change FEMA does and so they do they have a rolling kind of cycle of going to communities and updating the maps I don't know that it's every 10 years. The schedule would make one think that every 10 years they're coming and looking at it because it was adopted in 2018. And it was around 2018 when they came to us and said they'd be updating our maps. It just took a while to finish. And so I'm not sure that honestly, if there's like the census is every 10 years if this floodplain, but FEMA is the one that stepped in and said these maps need to be updated. And I'm not sure again if the flood not having the floodway mapped, moved us above on the priority list, but FEMA is the one that pushed it through. Okay, it just curious that obviously nature is not static. Things do change back and forth. And so I just wanted, if I was a property owner, and now I feel like some of my property is more influenced or affected by the flood plain and by this map, I'll say. And then we have two, three dry years, and I'm thinking, well maybe no one can institute this to say, hey, come look again, because I think it's different now So this is completely all the federal government This is the federal government there are opportunities to do a letter of map revision or letter of map amendment They're very difficult staff would be happy to to work with folks if they think that there is something that's been Incorrectly identified as being in the floodplain. I don't see a lot of people out here, but I can tell you probably just like you all, we have talked to a ton of people about their properties specifically. And most of the statements have been, I've lived here for 20, 30, 40 years and I've never seen the water get up this far, why is it in the flood plain? And honestly, I'm not an engineer, but it's hard to argue with me. I have in previous situations tried to do some of those map amendments and map revisions, and it's very difficult to prove that to FEMA and have them accepted. Thank you. Yes, sir. The comprehensive plan shows, I think it's map 8.2 100-year zones and E and The intent there I'm sure is to be representational not accurate so Whoever looks at the Compliance shouldn't rely on it should go to the maps in the office and talk to public works Absolutely that is correct. That map is based on our current floodplain layer through GIS. And I think it would be fine for us to in the future update the comprehensive plan. I don't think that we legally have to since the way our codes written it's adopted through the zoning ordinance. All right, thank you. Any other questions? And obviously we have to do what we're told to do by the federal government. I just wanted to ask those questions. Get it before the public. All right. At this point, we'll open the public hearing and invite anyone who would like to come up and speak to this ordinance on the FEMA mapping update. Officially and CNO1 will close the public hearing and bring it back to council for more discussion, questions or motion. I'll be happy to make a motion. I move to approve ORD 2020 4-03 FEMA floodplain maps. With the corrections, with the, oh sorry, as presented. Thank you. I'm sorry, I'm reading it from the orange in the upper mirror. Let me do it again. I move to approve ordinance 2024-03 FEMA floodplain mapping and ordinance update as presented. Thank you. Second. Okay. Ms. Barnhart. Aye. Ms. Sir Paul. Aye. Vice Mayor Hodges. Aye. Dr. McGraw. Aye. Mayor Trevett. Aye. All right. Thank you. That takes us to our first action item. Action item A. Ornus 2024-10 repealed town code section 2-3. All right. You're all right. Action. So we don't have any technical difficulties. I'm just going to do it for my computer up here if that's all right. Thank you guys. Sure. Sure. Check it. Mr. Mayor, members of council, what you have in front of you is a request to repeal town code section 2-3 and that town code section is the salaries and members of council goes on to describe planning commission and board of zoning appeals. The salaries and members of council are set for an annual wage where the wages for planning commission board of zoning appeals are set by meeting attendants. This was erect, was initially codified on July 1, 1994. And since that time, the salary levels have been updated five times in just under 30 years. Just in my time, when we've had to update these salaries, it's been a big deal because it's been a big number, because those numbers have over five years and trying to keep pace with those those the market rate they have and also keep pace with what we need to do to compensate Council for being at the Dias to two nights a month and also all the other meeting jefft 10 So as was discussed in the town managers FY 25 budget staff would like to update this dynamic by having council salaries track with the department head pay ban annually. This would be baked into the compensation plan and the plans reviewed every year. So technically your salary, the council salary would be tracked with the department head pay ban. That depending on the market adjustments with the geographical area we compare ourselves to, the RVA region It may not move where it may move with the region incrementally instead of every five or six years a big jump For that to have to go for and by looking at that when we we looked at this dynamic and we talked with the town with the legal counsel it appeared that By having it in the code that someone makes it a cumbersome for us to include it in the normal budget process. So the purpose in bringing this to you today and talking with legal counsel last week, a repeal of ordinance does not require advertisement or public hearing. But what we would like for you to consider today is that instead of passing your council salary by ordinance is that we include it in with the annual budget resolution document. It's no less public than an ordinance. It receives no less scrutiny than the ordinance. This year, back when we were doing the department head budget presentations, the town manager wrote very plainly in a public meeting as to what the plan was for Council salaries. It was in advertised public hearing. It was in his proposed budget document both in the presentation and in the actual 127 page document. So it's been a very public process to discuss this. By asking you to repeal the code tonight, that way we can move forward with the actual budget resolution on June 4th, cleanly. So in other words, we can't move forward with a budget resolution with your salaries in it if an active code is already in place. We've got to repeal that code so the budget resolution could actually carry the weight, if you will, because otherwise the ordinance trumps the budget resolution. And I have a copy of that, the ordinance here, and you'll see that it's just a red line ordinance that removes the information about salaries for town council planning commission and border zone appeals. That was in the budget agenda package for you tonight as well as that staff report. What was not in the package, and I just wanted to see, so you see how this is going to be written up, is the actual budget appropriations resolution that will be presented in June. This is still a working document, as you can see by the blue lines and such. But as we scroll through this, you'll see that it's got all the other budget numbers for relating to both expenses and revenues. And then when we get down to page six section 14, this will include the information about salary of council salaries and also the board of zoning appeals and the planning commission members what they would be paid for attending a meeting. So again, a very public process. You would vote on this resolution as written this way on June 4th. And I'd be happy to take any questions you might have. I know that might be a little convoluted and a little little sideways. I'll just if I can add one I think I've explained this to two or three people and I think the simplest version of being able to share with them is there are two ways you can update town council salaries. You can do it via an ordinance to change the town code or you can do it through the budget. Our practice has been basically doing both so we're kind of duplicating that effort and this is an effort to say, let's choose one, let's choose the path we want to go down and staff is recommending we do it via the budget rather than doing it as a code update on an annual basis. Yes. Mr. Goodman, would you put back up the ordinance amendment that you had? Yes, sir. I was concerned initially when I saw this in the sense that there was no public hearing. I mean, obviously we all want to be transparent on something as sensitive as what our pay is versus others. It really wasn't identified in the agenda what we were doing. I mean, I'm not being critical. We don't have to hold a public hearing. We are going to adopt a budget. This document wasn't in there and that helps me overcome my concerns that somehow, and I guess I was thinking of the second document, not this one. With the blue. With the blue, the blue, the blue. The blue. The blue. The blue. The blue. The blue. The blue. The blue. The blue. The blue. Because the budget resolution is still kind of being tweaked. I just wanted to show you that it did exist and that's how the form we would take. Well, it helps me feel that we're certainly not trying to not disclose what we're doing. We're very public and that helps me support the request of what we're doing. It's just more what we've been doing. It's a more efficient way Dealing what's the salaries and putting it in the resolution. I think After being advertised Helps Yes, sir. Thank you any other questions or comments? I just got a comment. I'm not sure how important it is But I still wanted to make a comment about maybe why we how we got here I remember when I first ran, you couldn't find the salaries of the individual council members. There was like a lump sum in the budget. This is council salary, like all monies, and it didn't have individuals. And it was only in the ordinance that you could find that. And it was spelled out as a specific dollar amount which was really, really small back in comparison. So I think I agree with the town manager that this makes it cleaner and it's very transparent because when I went on to the website and I think it's under our town clerk's portion where it says council members, how to run for council, what the salaries are, what the expectations are. It's really clean, really easy. where it says council members, how to run for council, what the salaries are, what the expectations, it's really clean, really easy, so it's not confusing. You don't have to search and search to figure out what does it mean to be a council member, whether you're expectations, what's the compensation. So I think it's really clean and I support this. I'm willing to make a motion if somebody doesn't want to. Okay, any other questions coming? Well, I completely missed reading all of that when I ran. I didn't know there was a salary. All right, is there a motion there? Mr. Mayor, I move to repeal town code section 2.3. It's presented. A second. Okay. Dr. McGraw. Aye. Ms. Barnhart. Aye. Ms. Soapall. Aye. Vice Mayor Hodges. Aye. Mayor Trebet. Aye. All right, thank you. Thank you. All right, that brings us to action item B, which was D from above. Referral ordinance 2024-11, lot frontage requirements. Welcome back, Miss Ains. Thank you. It was brought to our... In my apologies to the individuals in the room who are waiting on the last one. We took them in. I guess in order it wasn't the agenda. This should be quick but it was brought to our attention. That in the staff report for the lot frontage requirement ordinance referral that the code sections for the subdivision ordinance that we intend to take to the planning commission to have them review was not included in your staff packet. And so that's why we asked for it to be moved to the action item so we can let you know, not only is the RIN, the residential incentive district that was in your packet being reviewed, but also the subdivision, three subdivision sections here. I believe those are your dies. You've had to look at those further but we're updating the definitions, the location of lots as well as private streets which are excluded and just to refresh everyone and for the public. This came about when we were reviewing the Cali Commons. We realized that when we updated our zoning ordinance back in 2015, 2016, to create the RIN residential incentive zoning district, which allows for cottage courts and cottage homes. And so the cottage court definition says that you don't have to flavort on a public road, but the ordinance here for subdivision says that you do. And so we're just trying to decide if we want those to match or if we need to amend our cottage court definition to say that it does have to have some road frontage, even if that's in the rear and you're fronting on a public green area. So that's the purpose there. So I apologize and so we are recommending referral of this ordinance to the Planning Commission for Review and Recommendation. Again, as presented with the inclusion of those subdivision code sections, which that was the intent. And I apologize it wasn't clear. On that part. Thank you, and I appreciate the responsiveness. It appears that the let frontage requirements are part, it's a zoning and subdivision amendment and the language that you have here is the language that will be changed. We're not approving language, we're sending to the planning commission these sections in order to effectuate the cottage court concept. And obviously it would be nice if we had an ordinance with the strikeovers that showed what our subdivision standards or our private road standards were going to be in the road. We're going to be in what home ownership requirements whoever is maintaining it was going to be. I'm sure that the planning office will add that. I would just hope when Callie commons comes back that we have that kind of information so we know when the zoning is approved how we're planning to manage these private roads. So we know when it's when the zoning is approved How we're planning to manage these private roads? It's my understanding that you would like to see this Amendment reviewed and either changed or not changed prior to seeing Cali Commons. That's correct Okay, and so we'll be sending this to the Planning Commission for conversation on what amendments could be there and what stipulations might be put around private streets. But there is the potential that they say that we should continue our policy of not having private streets. Which and what impact would that have on Cali Court? On Cali Court. So on Cali Commons the impact would be that they would have to have some type of approach. Frontage. We could perhaps change the language where the front of the home, the porch, what is traditionally the front, could front on the green, but perhaps they have to have rear access to a public road and public maintain road. I see. Okay. Thank you. Any other comments or questions? Yeah, I appreciate this exercise going back that this is one of the pieces of foundation that we build our decisions on and we'd like to have that foundation more clear when before we look at Cali Commons again so appreciate it. All right, so is there a motion on this? Sure. I'm happy to make a motion. I moved to approve the referral of ORD 2024-11 to June 12 of 2024 Planning Commission meeting. Second. second. As as presented. Thank you. Once again. Yes as presented. I'm sorry. I'm reading from here not from there. Sorry. I maintain my second. Vice Mayor Hodges. I. Dr. McGraw. I miss Barnhard. I miss so Paul I may your truck I I thank you all right that brings us to the referral rezoning 24-0325 on horse business park and so forth So we it asked to pull these from the consent agenda to give them opportunity for a little bit more discussion and Want to give opportunity for that discussion to take place. Yes, I don't know whether Miss Amos had planned to make comments or whether I did not I have I have a couple motions available But I did not plan to make comments. I will just maybe for the public available, but I did not plan to make comments. I will just maybe for the public, remind everyone that this is an application for rezoning of the property formally known as East Ashland for now known as Iron Horse. It's in the southeast quadrant of the 95 and 54 interchange. They have submitted several applications. One, two conditional use permits, as well as a rezoning request. And as part of that rezoning request, they have submitted two concept plans. And so there are proffers attached to, but we proffers attached to both of those concept plans. There were two transportation impact analysis done. And so because of the complexity of the application, we've moved that to the action item, and I think Vice Mayor Hodges had some additional comments. Thank you, Ms. Amos. I had a concern with an application with two alternatives, and I recognize representatives of the applicants are here, and I hope if given the opportunity they can respond. But my concern is I've never quite experienced in my years of planning an application that has two sort of significantly different concept plans, significantly different traffic impact analyses different traffic impact analyses and proffers, you know, manage the proffers, but they are a, it is a complex case made even more complex by the fact that part of the property is in the county. And it's a little bit like a rubix cube in some ways. And my concern relates to the public. I commend the applicant for holding the community meetings. I think that is the way it should go on a big project like this. And I think showing alternatives, no question about it, and the impacts of the alternatives. No question about it and the impacts of the alternatives. My concern is that after the meetings are held, which would be in the next month, that advertising a case with two such significantly different alternatives as opposed to moving ahead with one of those alternatives as a result of comment. I think as much as the applicant, I think I intended to attend the public presentations. I know one's in formal, one may be a little more formal presentation. And I expect to get feedback as we had when we had five public meetings back a year ago. So this is a case that is complex, has significant public interest, and we want to do it right. So my concern with referring all of this at this time to the planning commission is it may be premature, it may be more appropriate to defer the referral for a month to allow the applicant, the public, the county, the elected officials to absorb the presentation and get the reaction from citizens to their presentation of alternatives and then decide on the referrals hopefully to focus it on one of the two requests so that the public comments and the advertisement and what public can expect will be straightforward and not unclear which I'm concerned would happen if we advertise to alternatives. So I'm going in the direction of deferring the referral tonight had some occasion to talk with council, talk with Ms. Barnhart and others. And I think in the public interest, I'm not sure this case is ready to be advertised in June for the Planning Commission for them to sort out all the issues. for them to sort out all the issues. It is a case that legitimately is long time coming and is being handled, I think, very well. I'm just concerned with the focus after the public input sessions that they have. That's where I'm coming from. All right, any other comments? Man. Yeah, man. Again, you know, I spent Hodges and I chatted today I'm sorry. All right. Any other comments? Yeah. Again, you know, I spent my Hodges and I chatted today and this is a very important Development for Ashland and we certainly want to make sure That we get this right. You know, we want to make sure that we are looking at for the Best interest for our community and I too would really Appreciate it if the apacate which would work with us, you know, the council members, any other elected officials out in the Hanover County, whatever we whoever we need to include so that we can collect the information we want to hear from you about both of these applications. I think that we have an idea of about one of them. You know, we spend a lot of time with one of them, but we're not very clear about the other one. So I really appreciate it if you would work with us over the next couple weeks so that we can gather information, um, Anthos plan meetings and talk to our neighbors and, and, and the other, and the other concerns citizens so that we can make a really good decision, a sound decision for our community. So, um, I am supporting, um, the vice mayor of this evening. Yes, sir. Well, it is very confusing to have two very different plans in place and I am worried about planning commissioners having to answer questions or listen to public comment and you're going oh this plan No, it's this plan. It's gonna be like which which one are you concerned about the height? This one has the height, this one doesn't have the height, this one has the buff or this one doesn't. That part's going to be really difficult to maneuver. That's going to be major concern I have over that. I think at a general look, not making a decision, I think there's some appropriateness of some of these ideas that I see presented. It's stuff that has come up in conversations. So it's just a lot to soak in for some people. And so yeah, I don't know if a deferral helps that. I really don't know because you're still going to have the problem. You're still going to come in and you're going to have two different things. And it would just be easier if we just focused it on one. As you say, if council will, if Miss Kyle is willing to kind of try to help us understand, all right, or you interpret our comments and help us to understand your point of view or the applicants point of view. And I have one more one thing to ask. New information has come in this afternoon that I have not had a chance to read so at this point I cannot comment on it. Okay. Thanks. And I will say Ms. Soapal, when you say new information, you're talking about new information in-house. Yes. Yes. Oh yes. Yes, definitely. Good evening. Mr. Mayor and council members. My name is Ashley Kyle. I am with Roth Jackson and I represent Trade Port Ashlandland LLC in connection with its applications filed on March 25th. Thank you for hearing me tonight. We do ask that the town council approved the referral of these applications to the Planning Commission as the staff is recommended in its staff report. Sorry, I really cannot. Oh, sorry, I can't hear you. Yeah, you can tell that towards me. Why does not making content? There we go. You don't want to be loud, but at the same time. I don't. I know you don't want to be loud, but at the same time. I know. We are asking that you approve the referral of these applications to the Planning Commission as staff has recommended in its staff report dated today. Although many strong opinions surround this project in its plans, I hear you want that. I'm on a day-to-day basis. The application process, though, is really the same as it always is. So we filed one zoning application. 20% of the property we filed to be resowned to be to. The other 80% approximately, we file to be resumed to M1, regardless of the land use. A data center is permitted in M1. In fact, even if the business plan, business park plan goes forward, that would not preclude a portion of the business park being a data center or two or three. Typically, the influencer of a project is identified later than this. And large projects like this are almost always faced. We have chosen to provide more insight into this case just to show you our thinking between the two alternatives because one of the high profile tracked case over in handover, and to show you what we have learned from that. And also because this site in and of itself is a high profile because it's located on Route 54 and has so much frontage there, plus it spans two jurisdictions making it complex. So we wanted it to be in high profile. A lot of people care about it because of where it is and because of what just happened in hand over with track. So we have chosen to produce more information than is probably normal and that is why. However, regardless though, commonly the applicant uses the proffers, so the proffers are the guiding document when resounding the file. And the proffers used, they referred to the plans and the elevations just like any other case. But in the proffers, in like other cases which I'll get to in a second, there are variations within Proffers. So here, for example, we've got the data center. If this proceeds forward with the data center, we've got a certain set of sub-proffers. If it proceeds forward with the business part, we've got another sub-center proffers. For example, the data center, we have widened the buffers. We're choosing to adopt the county comments that we received and to increase the buffers widely, just like how tracked it, widely beyond what we would do for the business park. There are more concerns with data centers and screening for them, which is why we wouldn't want to do that. And our properties are set up that way. Also with traffic improvements, we wouldn't want to over build. So the data center and the business park need different traffic improvements. The proper simply outline which traffic improvements would go with each one. So having phase, so this is a lot like having phases in a project. So for example my partner Andy who you all know is over next door tonight at a community meeting for a medical complex. This particular mental complex has had many iterations and now what is being proposed is a multi-phase one. So it would be a medical office building and ER, it's a medical office building only with the S phase one and ER is phase two. A hospital is phase three, and then an expansion of a hospital with a second medical office building is phase four. It may never become anything more than the phase one medical office building. However, the proffers that we have filed taken to account all four of the phases. There's even state approval that they need, that they haven't even filed for yet, for the ER and for the hospital. Yet our proffers, they've taken to account all of the proffers you would need for this fully run medical complex. This is not very different than that. Our proffers set forward, what is different is the different types of uses. But proper set forward what is different is the different types of uses. But what's not different is we're just asking for B2 and M1 for all of the uses. This is park uses and the data center uses. So we ask for approval of the referral because we want to get the process started. We are very fortunate to have three upcoming events before the public won this Thursday at the Depot here in town. I hope to see many of you there, which is an open house format. And then June 3rd will be our community meeting. And then hopefully this would go before the Planning Commission on June 12th. And the Planning Commission can always defer based on the merits of the case, instead of right now we're discussing the procedure. So I guess, you know, we ask, what's the harm in getting started? Okay. We wouldn't have any questions. I have a question? When the... Yes, sir. And I appreciate the explanation. And my question would be in terms of getting going, there is a clock once I believe, once a public hearing has been held before the planning commission on how long they have before they have to make a recommendation. Once there's been a referral in the planning commission meets, then there's a hundred day clock that ticks on the planning commission's job at that point. So if there was a deferral of the referral, the clock would not start. Correct. So that's one difference. The other difference, and it's an expression of market concerns, not a criticism implied at all in the applicant. I think you all have gone above and beyond. My experience with an application, just like your example of a hotel, it's kind of an evolution. You kind of start with one and you hold the public hearing and you find out nobody likes that. public hearing and you find out nobody likes that and then you evolve to something else that they, that you hope they like. Here we're starting out with two bases and I'm hearing they might get blended in some way but they're two different basic, I know that area being rezoned is not changing, so I understand it, and that helps in the ad. I guess I'm a little concerned, still have the concerns. Do you have any insights as to where the county is on this since this is a joint case? The county has accepted the application. So over there, it's a rezoning and then a traditional use permit for the substation should it go data center and then a special exception for the height for data center buildings. The county has accepted it and they have provided very helpful comments on both scenarios. So at this point, we are full forward with both. So it is the county's plan at least and this may, any of us may have a comment but from your perspective the assumption is that their case will go forward and assume I think a July public hearing if the planning commission not holding that. Yes, that is the timeframe we're looking at now with them. We owe them responses to their comments by the end of June and then that puts us on the plan or keeps us on the July agenda for the planning commission. whatever they do, presumably coordinate with us. It would be interesting if we like the data center and the county like the business part. I'm not sure how we sort that out. And so it is something that I hear you when you say So it is something that I hear you when you say that July meeting in the county is important. I'm concerned with giving our commission and our staff, we're under staff at this point, time to prepare if we deferred to our June agenda, this referral, it's my understanding that the case could be advertised for the town planning commission in July, one week prior to the counties. We meet the third or if we the town planning commission meets the third wins, the second wins, meets the second wins, and I think the county meets the third, I should remember this, but anyway, the third. So in some ways a deferral does not necessarily, at least in terms of coordinated public hearings, it gives us about a month of preparation time that would otherwise have at a time when we're understaffed. We have another number of applications. And I guess as persuasive as you are, I still feel comfortable with the. Can I ask a few questions of Aurora? OK. Thank you. I may have questions for you in a moment but I'll go ahead. Okay. What more information would you need to between now and the next time that this might come up for planning? To vice-marrer's point, like what would happen between now and 30 days from now, 60 days from now, 100 days from now, that would be different than right now? From my end, nothing. And staff, if you all referred the application as submitted, we would review it as submitted. So my understanding that the concern that's been brought up is that there's a concern over referring to separate concept plans under the same rezoning umbrella. Right. The staff is not looking for anything at this point. And so I'm sorry. Okay, I just wanted to make a point to this. Because on one hand I want to agree with you, but on the other hand I want to disagree with you. It's usually my case. I don't know why. And that's all. And in all sincerity, I think in terms of us acting tonight and the public hearing, when does the public hearing get published? We would have to submit that tomorrow. And so the public would come in. The public's been aware of the proposals. By the applicant, because my- Let me tell you what they're aware of. As shown. This document. Understand. Which is different. I understand, but I just know that the applicant has made the public aware by putting stuff out there. There's going to be a meeting here. There's going to be some information here. I mean, I like the fact that I have two things in front of me. That's a little overwhelming and frustrating. I just don't know what waiting an extra month, waiting an extra two month. I'm still going to have two documents in front of me. And I'm not trying to be argumentative. I think we're both trying to seek the best path. From a staff point of view, I respect what Ms. Amos will do the best she can with Clayton. Clayton is doing the best he can. This is one of the most difficult zoning cases. I agree with you. There's been a lot of effort put into basically the comp plan amendment. One of the things we were frustrated with during the comp plan review is that we couldn't get into the details of this. It's a whole different ballgame when you get into zoning matters. And I respect the fact that Ms. Amos will prepare a report in time for whatever we decide. I just think it would be a more complete with public input report done in July than in June. Because it's going to be advertised tomorrow. They can come in and look at the application, but the staff's recommendation, Lord knows I'm not sure what they recommend. You know, you recommend one over the other. I think public input would help inform the staff. So I'm not agreeing that additional 30 days would make no difference. I think you'd know a lot more than 30 days than what you know now. On a very complicated case, that if the comp plan amendment will link the staff report was any indication, the zoning case which has much more detail, twice the number of traffic impact studies, twice the number of proffers roughly. And, you know, just more complication to it than you get with any regular rezoning. So we may need to respectfully disagree. I can. I just feel like zoning has that time to make, I mean, planning will have that leeway either way. Like I don't think that, but that's fine. It's well, I would just like to add, I think both of you are correct, how's that? I think both of you are correct. The concern I have is that we are so careful in being transparent and taking care of our public and listening to our public and it was at five meetings that we had on the last week, just a couple more weeks, just a couple more opportunities to hear people. I think our public would feel a little more comfortable with that. That's where I've come. I think we're gonna be right back here looking at these two things, I don't doubt that, but I just think about our public and how they would like an opportunity to chat with us and share their concerns. I'd like to give Ms. Kyle, it looked like you had something else to say. This is not as smooth as some of our decisions in meetings, but at the same time, there's concern here. We want to do what's best, fair to the applicant and what's best for our community. So this does not make me uncomfortable to go through this discussion. So if you wanted to say something else. I just wanted to say that it sounds like what Miss Amos said and what the staffer. A little bit closer to the mic. What Miss Amos said just now and what the staff reports says today is that it it it recommends a proofful of the referral so it sounds like they're good they're good to go either way. And I guess I just want to make the point that the county so we have not had any public comment yet. The this week's open house kicks it off. And the county did provide comments without any kind of public comment. I mean, they, I think that the comments they have, which is from the staff themselves, with insight from board members in the planning commission to the extent that they got that. So this is, it's just really the initial round of comments in a complicated case like this. I think there are going to be multiple rounds. So there will be multiple times where you'll hear even if you approve the referral tonight. And if we get some comments back from the same as in this staff, I think there's going to be more time to get more and more comments back. And the county was able to provide us comments without public comment either. So I mean, we, I mean, from our point of view, we just wanna go ahead and get started and get things going off. So. Okay, well, we're not shocked that it'd be a point of view. So appreciate that. On the one hand, there's a system, there's a process we go through and we refer to that process, we trust in that process. And one of the things with the process is starting points and stopping points and all the interludes in between. And so I'm seeing both sides of this as well and thinking until we refer it, it's not as real, I don't know how else to put it, to the public and the process hasn't started. Now, you would use the term they have more preparation time. And so that preparation time is that preparation time for staff for the most part, but you also speak of preparation time for the public and Coordination with the county all right, so but ultimately We will the planning commission will fair it out what they will fair it out Then when it comes us we will fair it out where we will fair it out and with the public input and conversations with the county We will we will get to a finish point. The question is, are we ready to start right yet to begin that preparation time? And who are we saying as council members that we're going to exercise more due diligence in advance that we would is there any mention of this being our preparation time. Certainly certainly. Okay. And as I said, I was in planning for 30 something years. Yes, sir. I've been on council seven years and I've never seen anything like this. Okay. All right. And I did want to add, I hope the hospital project goes straight. I'd like to add we'd love to have that in Ashland. Yeah, yeah. And we just moved that. That's right. So a few things. We have not received any of the comments from Hanover County. I did not realize that they had sent comments. So it would be nice to see those in speaking with their director of community. I don't know her. I'll. Ms. Hunter. We mentioned that perhaps it would be good if we did meet to discuss through a view of this application so I'm surprised to hear that there's already been comments out there so I do think that there is room over the next month or so for the county and town to sit down on the staff level as well as I think on the Between the town and county boards as well to discuss this application and make sure we're running it together And we are also meeting jointly for the to review the TIA with the town county in V. And so that will happen over To I to Transportation impact analysis TIA with the town county in V.D. And so that will happen over. Two I, two I. Yeah, I'm all. Transportation impact analysis. You say two. Yes, the two of them. And so that will happen over the next month. OK. Point that out. All right. And honestly, I can go either way, my friends. Well, again, maybe just you can for myself. Like, we started our broadband master plan several years back. We anticipated that there might be a potential applicant like this one that I'm seeing. We had approved something close to this, not quite. After a long review, some of us have gone to data centers and explored other items. I've talked to Josh over the last couple of years about potential items, technology zones, not just me, but I feel like the do-dialigence is mostly done. And when I'm just thinking of myself, when someone gives me something to do, and now I have to wait another month to do it, even though I don't have anything else to do with it I know you said you were going to meet with the county and maybe get the the comments I mean if the OSNOT come in time I would assume then the planning which I will defer because we didn't get the stuff we got But I don't see the value in pushing it down when I mean I mean unless this changes to just one document then it makes me super happy but I just don't anticipate that happening after reading the comments and hearing the applicant. So I would be more inclined to still say let's just let planning do what planning does and start the clock. Yeah. I respectfully disagree. I think the burden on our staff of a case, this large doubled because there are two plans. The understanding of the public, I think, you know, now I've had an opportunity to go to data centers and get to know that better. I think there's a learning curve, even though there was a 1,200 acre reason in case I'm not sure at least the citizens of Ashland are caught up with the advantages and disadvantages. I think our role in the process is to consider the public as well as the staff and the applicant, but the public mostly and their understanding and I'm not sure that putting the planning commission on the spot without giving the opportunity for more background data, more public input, excuse me, is really in the best interest of the review of this case. Cause I think one thing that we found out, or at least I found out, with the comp plan update, we referred that comp plan amendment to the planning commission. Nobody came to the planning commission meeting. We had to basically start all over again at the and they made a recommendation of approvals. What we recommended was significantly different than what the planning commission reviewed because there was not the public input. Now the applicant is helping to avoid that situation. But my point is referring something as complicated as this with as many bodies as involved without more public input and deliberation, I think is unnecessarily rushing the process. And I know we're all anxious to get to the end point, but I think it in the end, taking the time to get it right is worth it. And if Mr. Mayor you're willing to take a motion, I'm willing to make one and see what happens. Any other comments first? Well, I'm looking, honestly, to see what more comes out of the meetings that are coming up and just to get more information. As you will, sir. Mr. Mayor, I move to the fur referral of Breeze's zoning 224-0325 Iron Horse Business Park and ordinance 2024-12 rezoning for Iron Horse Business Park, cup 24-0325 Iron Horse Business Park, height and CUP 24-03-25 Iron Horse Business Park substation until June 18th meeting. The second meeting is June 17th, which is a Monday, because the Congressional primary election is June 18th. Thank you very much. June 17th. I'm going to give my motion to reflect June 17th. I'm going to give my motion to reflect June 17th. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Actually June 17th. I'm gonna give my motion to reflect June 17th. Nice second. Thank you ma'am. Miss O'Paul. Aye. Vice Mayor Hodges. Aye. Dr. McGraw. Nay. Miss Parnhart. Aye. Mayor Trevette. And I'll say nay because I respect both these gentlemen and I'm not doing damage either way. All right, so thank you to the applicant and thank you to my peers for a productive conversation. So this is a precursor. Let me just say I'm looking forward to that. Thank you so much. I really appreciate you working with us. Thank you. But just to my peers, we have this town in City magazine. In here is a large take on data centers. And it's written by an attorney that was up in that area. And so I just thought it was really good. It has no opinion on it. It just has information. Just I just thought I'd share Alright this moves us forward to our reports Miss Amos your back I never guess what my first topic is. The public meetings for the iron horse rezoning and conditional use permits. So they have two meetings scheduled and these are being run by the applicant. The first is more of an informational meeting so they will have set up at the depot which is 107 South Railroad Avenue. They will have set up information boards and tables and interactive stations where you can go and get information. And then there's going to be more of a community input session that we're kind of familiar with from the previous application. We're going to hold that at the Ashland Theatre now. I believe that will be held at six o'clock. And so the first information one is May 23rd to this Thursday, between 4.30 and 8. And then the information input meeting is June 3rd, a Monday at six o'clock. And I believe that it's been confirmed at the theater. Have you seen that confirmation? Okay. And so on to other items, the Economic Development Authority is holding a strategic planning session. Unfortunately, the same time is that informational meeting on Thursday at 5.30 p.m. So we're working with Will Cockrole with PPR, consulting to assist them in walking through the strategic planning process. It's been probably seven or eight years since they've gone through that process and in our comprehensive plan, we suggest that they get that updated and so they're moving through that process A ribbon cutting was held for Maddie Kayla's retail business gifts clothing and housewares Which is a one two zero six five Washington highway at little Dodge City Thank you to those council members who were able to attend that ribbon cutting and if you weren't able to go or if you need any clothing gifts or accessories or just to stop in and say hi to our new business owner who is thrilled to be able to make her dream a reality here in town. Please stop in. So happy to answer any questions you may have. Anything anyone? I feel like I've said enough. The conflant printing with the maps, and I'm not being critical just when you realistically expect. Because the last time I was talking about that on Monday as well. And so Mr. Cockrole is also doing the update. And so he's going to be here on Thursday and we're going to corner him and ask how that's going. Hey, good deal. All right. Anything else? All right. Thank you. You have you've done your time up here tonight. All right. Moving on. Finance Department. Mr. Stone. Welcome back. Welcome back. Good evening Mr. Mayor Council members. In your packet is included the monthly finance department report for April of 2024. Some of the departmental notes we did complete the preliminary audit last month that went well. No exceptions. There was also a real property delinquent notice that was mailed out at the end of April with a due date of May 30th. We did have some taxpayers reach out regarding mail issues and we worked with them and I think we've reached consensus in terms of that position. Thank you for that. Sure. Absolutely. And then we had business licenses that went out applications. They had a due date of May 1st. We're wrapping up processing all of those. They are coming in a little under what we would typically see, so once we've got them all processed, we'll drop them into a database and try to figure out what we're missing in regards to that. So we'll take a look at that. When we look at the major revenues, we have meals tax and year to date as of the end of April, that was up 5.2% as compared to prior year. Lodging tax was up only 1.2%. But the manager did provide me with a Richmond region tourism report that was dated May 16th. That included some interesting information because occupancy is down for the town of Ashland, 4.1%, but the average daily rate or cost is up 11.7%. And so the revenue per room is up 7.1%, but we do wanna recognize the fact that occupancy is down. And so as a result, when we look year to year, it's only an increase in revenue of 1.2%. Sales tax as of the end of April is a whopping 15.1%. We talked about that during the budget presentation and that still looks good. We're happy to see those numbers and real estate is up 4.8% as compared to prior year and personal property is down 1.1%. We also talked about that during the budget process and adjusted those numbers to reflect that. I would be happy. We included that final sheet is the investment report that has the investments for the LGIP accounts for those three major long-term investment accounts and includes those interest earnings. And so I'd be happy to take any questions. Those are looking good. Appreciate that. So we need to remember, as you said, the real estate tax history that one, just like the rest of them, the way the chart set up, obviously we see these are geared toward numbers, finance, money, that's all they. So, doesn't necessarily differentiate between increased amount of real estate as opposed to increased amount of assessments, that sort of thing. And like with the lodging, the increase in income doesn't reflect necessarily the lodging use. So thank you. Correct. There are many variables that go into a final number. When you look at that real estate tax history, it appears that February's much higher than prior year, but a little bit of that was related to the bills were a little bit later going out. This novice got the amounts a couple days later and so that is reflected there. So you're correct in terms of it's great to look at this simple, easy chart, but for all of those numbers there are many variables that go into that. Yeah, it was helpful to have heard that tonight. I appreciate that. Any other comments or questions? All many variables that go into that. Yeah, well it's helpful to have heard that tonight. I appreciate that. Any other comments or questions? All right, thank you. Thank you so much. Have a good evening. You too. Move us along to Chief Anhold with National Police Department. Welcome, sir. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of Town Council. In your report this evening, we'll the Asher Police Department, Month Airport for the month of April. I would like to point out that we did have an increase in part one offenses. The thing will jump out is probably the amount of aggregate assaults we had. So just came the senior preparing to give some information and background on those assaults. In the review, we did find that one of them did not beat the criteria under the Nibers, which is the National Incident Base Reporting System. So it's actually five. So since this was submitted to you all, two of them were actually for a brandishing of a firearm. One was a domestic matter. There was one that was an actual assault where an individual struck with a rock and the other was a verbal threat with a pipe. So I just want to get some foundation to that number since it did count for almost half of our part one crimes. As you're also aware, we have had two shooting incidents in the past couple months. No one was struck in either of those incidents and I'm happy to report the first one which was just where a fire was fired into the air. We have since charged an individual for reckless handling of firearm. The other one there was actually a firearm directed at some folks where they discharged the gun. We have since secured charges on that individual as well. So both still remain under investigation, but I'm glad to report that the investigative unit did secure charges on all those folks. We also had our off-site calle assessment. This one was a remote based assessment and out of it they looked at 125 policies of the standards the action police department must meet and we did find that we have three that required a little bit of tweaking in terms of our policy. We were able to make all those changes before the assessor was done. So we're in compliance with them now. So I'm very happy with the efforts. This was a very tough assessor we had. But he's very honest and thorough. So I feel that it was a very fair accounting of the police department. So while it wasn't perfect, we definitely did really well. All things considered. Three tweaks out of 125. Yes sir. I've gotten the complaint. And remember that's tweaks to the policy, not the actual actions they are taking. They are meeting the standard we have, which is had to get the policy tweak to make us that little bit much better. Yes indeed. We're also participating in the Marcus Alert program. I would like to thank Ms. Martha Miller and Councilwoman Barnhart for the willingness to help out. This is very much in its infancy, so I do not have a lot to report, but we are starting to start and compile that and come compliance with state code. Some other things that we had taken part in that on the month of April was we participate in Operation Stickershock, Ulster Chip Watts, one out with members of the Hanner Shares Office and students and they put basically stickers on all the alcohol to curb underage drinking. So, Ulster Watts got a commendation from the Sheriff's Department of Assistance with that. We also had the National Drug Take Back and this last time we took an 83.5 pounds about prescription medication. So that's great not ending up in the streams but it's also not being abused as well. So it's a great program that the DEA puts on. And we also provided two tours for the APD for Toddler Town and the Girl Scouts. So a little more community outreach. And we had Turing Day, which went off very well. So proud of that. Well done. Thanks, sir. Upcoming events, May 26th will be Randolph-Macon's graduation. June 1st will have the Strawberry Fair. And June 22nd is a Juneteenth at our Randolph-Macon College. And finally, happy to report that two employees, Sharp and Parks, oath authors have completed their field training, and oaths are two is in her third week. And I believe she'll be out of field training the next five or so days. So three more members have been added to police departments. One, two, one. Yeah. We'll hope tonight. Mask what that brings in terms of total. have been added to police farmers. What? What? Mass what that brings in terms of total. Total right now we have 23. We have three in the academy. They are in week 11 of the 26th week academy. So they'll be joining our ranks here soon. We're in the hiring process. And I believe we have three or four that have gone to backgrounds. Don't quote me on that. but I remember that being what Captain Kent told me, so if members are. So we're moving in a positive direction. I feel pretty well that we'll hopefully, if no one leaves, we'll be at 28 by December. So going in a very positive direction, which is very, very good. And a lot of it speaks well of Captain Kent Camp and all the work she's put into our hiring process. Yes indeed. So that will answer any questions anyone may have? Anyone? I noticed no DUI arrest so that means people aren't drinking and driving now. I wish that'd be the case where I can't. I can't honestly say that's true. We just did not have any of this month but no. There are still obviously people out there. They're impaired driving. Wishful thinking. That's all better than you're scared to drive through town. Which I'll take. I'll take that one. It's good. All right. Thank you very much. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Anything else to come before us this evening? All right.