All right, good evening everyone. It is 6 o'clock and I think we'll go ahead and get started. I want to welcome everybody to tonight's Ashland Town Council candidate forum. My name is Lauren Bell. I'm professor of political science at Randolph-Macon College. I will be the moderator for tonight's event. Before we get started, I have just a few kind of announcements about format and some reminders. I think the most important reminder is that the election day is November 7th. Early voting is happening now. So if you don't want to wait until then, you can vote early. We have seven talented candidates for three positions on the Ashland Town Council and so the purpose of tonight's forum is for you all who are here in the council chambers and for those who are watching at home to have a chance to get to know them a little better as you make up your mind about voting. Couple specific housekeeping things, please make sure your phones are silenced. That goes for the candidates also. And related to that, I'll just mention that the microphones are all on. They will continue to all be on, so just be mindful of that. But also as you speak in response to questions, please make sure you're speaking directly into the microphones because that's how your voice we picked up for the television feed for those who are watching at home. For the audience members, this is a participatory event. There is a paper available for you. If you have questions for the candidates, it is up at the lectern. There's also a small bowl there. You can write your question down, leave it in the bowl. And as we get into the Q&A tonight, thank you, Jim Foley, for leading the way. As we get into the Q&A tonight, will those questions we passed up to me and will try to get through as many of them as we can? This is why we do it now. OK, so as we get into tonight's forum, let me just remind all of the candidates that this is, in fact, a forum is not a debate. There are also a lot of you, and we have a short period, a short amount of time for tonight. So I would encourage you not to spend time responding to your fellow candidates' responses, but rather to try to respond to the questions themselves. You have only one minute for each response. And Martha's keeping time, she has signals. So this is going to feel a little... After, so do we get like 10, 20 seconds to think about it? Or do we need to just blow it out and answer immediately? No, no, you can take a beat to think, of course. But once you start answering, you have one minute. It is a little bit like the kind of lightning round of questions, but again, the idea is to get in as many questions as we can tonight so that folks have an opportunity to get to know all of you a little bit better. I will also mention that, again, since you all are not really engaging each other, I don't need to say this, but of course, no ad hominem or personal attacks. You all know this is being sign will cast at home. And so audience members, just be sure you're aware of that as well. And lastly, I want to mention that the opening statement order and the closing statement order were done, we're decided by drawing lots. So it was a random selection. We have the candidate seated in order of their opening statements, but I am going to start with a different person each time so that we kind of just do like around Robin and make sure everybody gets a shot at being first to answer questions. So with that, I think we will go ahead and get started. Opening statements are three minutes each and I will start with Ms. here. Thank you so much. Good evening everybody. Thank you all so much. I see some faces I recognize out here. This is really exciting. Thank you so much to Dr. Bell and for the town staff for giving us this opportunity to get the information out to the voters. And most importantly, thank you to you guys for watching and coming out so that you can make informed decision when we head to the polls That's really important be informed and head to the polls and vote I'm hoping that after tonight. I may hopefully be one of those candidates that you choose to vote for my name is Stephanie hair A little bit about me. I'm 40 years old. I have lived in Ashland for a little over 20 years I am married and we have a daughter who attends Hanover County Public Schools. I have a fat cat named Santa who I love very much. I like to garden, I cook, I eat, and I love to read. I've dabble a little bit in crochet and teach them myself to play piano. When I'm not focused on those things that I love and spending time with my family, my other time is devoted to the work I do sitting on the planning commission for the past three years. I'm your vice chair on the Ashland Planning Commission. And my other love is my nonprofit that I started eight years ago with two of my best friends and we're called Friends for Awareness. I've always had a love to serve and a love to give that and some of the reasons why we created our nonprofit. That has always been in my bones. A love for politics and the political background has not. There was an opportunity to record town meetings back in 2015 and I needed a little bit of extra money and so I did that. I really honestly thought it was all big government and blah blah. Over the next six years, recording those meetings without sounding cliche, it changed my life. It absolutely changed my life and the people that I had the privilege to record over their years inspired me so much. And I realized I was like, it sparked that love of local government. This is where democracy lives. We need us, local government. It's not all big government. And I found out that I could take my, excuse me, my love to serve and my love for local government. And I could combine them. And it was either put up or be quiet, and not usually quiet. And so community leadership academy. I graduated from that, applied and appointed to the Planning Commission. I have graduated from the L. Douglas Wilder VCU Land Use Program. And so there's actually a word for it. It's public service. I just didn't realize that. And so I combined those. My love to serve, my love for local government. And I just want to continue that. I want to work hard for the people of Ashland. I really enjoy that. Thank you. Thank you. Great. Thank you. Next, we'll go to Mr. Tervett. Thank you very much. Stephanie, that's hard to follow. Very well done. Thank you. My name is Steve Tervett. I had the honor of being in my second term as mayor of the town. I've been on council for 10 years. And at first I was hesitant about running again. I thought, well maybe need just step aside and let some new folks come along, but it dawned on me. Well, the voters get to decide that. I don't need to decide that. We'll let them decide. After serving on, I guess, the planning commission for the town, about full term. And then I went to the county for a full term on the county's planning commission for the Asheville District came back and then ran for council and was elected. And I've enjoyed serving, as Stephanie said, it's an honor to serve your town. My background's a little bit different. I spent 30 years in construction as a carpenter. And one of my questions I asked myself is kind of a so-called normal person. My wife might dispute that. Run for the councilman to be elected. And so I've been involved in building things in the past. And one of the things you learn is that everything needs a firm foundation. And so getting involved in local government, serving as other capacities. I've really treasured that concept that everything needs a firm foundation. The town has a tremendous foundation, history, heritage, ordinances, zoning, all of that stuff that's been recorded. That may not sound interesting, but it's the rules that we play with so that it's fair for everybody. All right, now I know that the election is 20 days away, but I wanted to say that tonight I think we can declare a certain measure of victory for all of us. And what I don't mean by that is it's a victory that we have seven individuals willing to run and serve the town. The Virginia Municipal League, town's a partner of that. I get to serve on the board there and recently I have a mayor's conference, I get to serve on the board there, and recently I have a mayor's conference, and I heard mayors from other jurisdictions. They don't have the blessing that we have here in Ashland. One of them said, I'm in my third term as mayor, and I'm so happy because that means I've only got one year left, it's been the three worst years of my life. Another one talked about getting death threats. Another one talked about needing security, not because of the crowd, but because council members were fighting with each other. So we've got a lot to be thankful for in Ashland. And if you don't have individuals that want to serve and are willing to serve, then the town dries up. That's happened in the state of Virginia. Lack of leadership, lack of cooperative leadership, lack of commerce, and lack of vitality can ruin a town. So we're set up good for the future with the team that we've had, the system we have, and with new candidates who are interested in serving the town. Thank you. Great. Thank you. Turning now to Mr. Bre. Hi, guys, don't. I'll give you a little history. I've been here a long time. A fourth generation went to the high school. The rest of the state champ went to college. And Boston University came back after a while. And this place is paradise. It's awesome. It's peaceful. Everything is very close. Like he said, commerce. I also am a builder, class A contractor. And I agree 100% with Mr. Trivette that things need to be built on a strong foundation. But the foundation can only be strong if you're using the proper materials. So if you're building a foundation on, hey, the foundation's going to fall. Like that, I have something to read here that's maybe a little tough to take, but it kind of goes to the base of where we are, what we're dealing with, what we're in. Okay? So Colonel Edward Mendelhaus predicts the creation of the straw man in the United States. He was an American diplomat, politician, and advisor to President Woodrow Wilson. This is the first real evidence that found that current social, financial, and legal system was deliberately designed to enslave humanity. Tough, but don't worry, all right? In a private meeting with Woodrow Wilson, US President 1913 to 21, Colonel Edward Mendelhaus predicted the bank's plans to enslave the American people. He stated, very soon every American will be required to register their biological property, that's you and your children, in a national system designed to keep track of the people that will operate under the ancient system of pledging. By such methodology we can compel people to submit to our agenda which will affect our security as a chargeback for our fiat paper currency. Every American will be forced to register or suffer being able to work in earn a living. It will be our channels, property, and we will hold the security interests over them forever. By operation of the law merchant under the scheme of secured transactions, Americans by unknowingly are unwittingly delivering the bills of lading both certificate to us will be rendered bankrupt and insolvent, secured by their pledges. They will be stripped of their rights and given a commercial value to design to make us a profit and they will be none the wiser. For not one man and a million could ever figure out our plans and if by accident one or two should figure it out. We have in our arsenal plausible deniability. After all, this is the only logical way to fund government by floating leans and debts to the registrants and the form of benefits and privileges. This will inevitably repuss huge rewards beyond our wildest expectations and leave every American a contributor to this fraud which we will call social insurance. Without realizing it, every American will unknowingly be our servant, however begrudgingly. The people will become helpless and without any hope for their redemption, we will employ the high office of presidency of our dummy corporation to foment this plot against America. Now tough, I understand, but you got to know what you're working with and what we're dealing with in order to create a better future for us all. This is a statement that's not easy to hear, but it affects us all, and the sooner we come to realization of certain facts, I think the better we are to move forward. That's all I have to say for now. Next. Okay. Thank you. We will turn now to Ms. Barnhart. Thank you. Dr. Belide, I'd like to begin by saying thank you to you and to the League of Women Voters and also to the town of Ashland for making this event happen tonight. Thank you for hosting us. I'm asking for your vote this evening for my My term as a town council member has given me valuable insight and firsthand experience into how government functions How we can keep Ashland prospering my introduction to Ashland Town government was during 2020, the height of the COVID shutdown. Keeping Ashland moving forward during that time was our town's primary goal. Every effort was made to ensure that our citizens were safe, that our businesses remain open, our town employees supported, and every single dime of that federal COVID money was spent wisely on this town. As a result of that nonpartisan governing, Ashon feared far better than our surrounding cities and towns across the Commonwealth of Virginia, and I'm very proud of that. This is an example of how a town's government should function and get its goals accomplished. It's the model that I was introduced to, it's the model that I continue to use. I am happy to live in Ashland, where people feel that they can approach me. We can have conversations, but I often hear from them, please do not let Ashland move that, lose that small town charm. People love this town, and they wanna move here, and they wanna become a part of this unique community and they want to enjoy our outstanding amenities. But our Ashland is changing and it's growing and we know it has to. It cannot remain stagnant. We see new homes and commercial properties being developed around our town and we're also watching Hanover County approve development right up to our town limits. Well, it's understood that growth is needed to maintain the services that give us this wonderful quality of life that we've all come to expect. But the people want that growth and development to be thoughtful and they also want it to be balanced. Our citizens expect a town council member to keep an eye on past, present, and future projects. And they want us to call upon our very qualified staff for guidance when we are making sound choices. I agree with them. And it's why my experience matters. Our present council comes from very diverse backgrounds and very different life experiences. We approach projects from our unique perspectives. I am proud of the nonpartisan decisions that I have made and I can assure you that each one of those decisions is made after much thought and research. Experience matters to keep Ashlyn Ashlyn. I have that experience and it's why I'm asking for your vote during this election. Thank you. Thank you. We will move now to Miss Soapall. Good evening. I'm Pamela Soapall. I'm a lifelong resident of Hanover County, I come from the Brown Grove neighborhood. And I'm a 39 year resident here in town. While studying political science at the University of Richmond, I was an intern political reporter at NBC12. My assignment was the Virginia General Assembly and that really sparked my interest in knowing more about government. For 21 years I worked for the Commonwealth of Virginia. 19 of those years was in management. After becoming a parent, I chose to work part-time. I owned a business here in town for 12 years. I was a substitute teacher while pursuing my graduate degree in education and I chose not to pursue a full-time teaching position. Attending the citizen leadership academy was a good experience and helped me gain insight into town government. I am currently enrolled at the L-Duckless Wilder VCU School of Government and Public Affairs in a program that provides legal and technical background and education on land use, planning, and zoning. I here in Ashland have participated in the Ashland Variety Show, the Strawberry Fair, Train Day, Ashland Fourth Fridays, National Night Out, Ashland Museum's Open Mic Night farmers market and light up the tracks My memberships include Ashland koanas Ashland market partnership Weinstein JCC and Lewis Genter. Thank you Thank you turning now to Mr. Edwards Thank you very much to Dr. Bell for having us and the League of Women Boaters. Thank you. Well, my name is Derry Edwards. I'm the eldest son of Regina Edwards and my late father, Derry Alonzo Edwards Senior. I'm a proud member of Jerusalem Baptist Church in Ashland, Virginia. I served our United States military and the United States Marines. I also had the pleasure of when I got back home from the Marines, I was a substitute teacher for four years for a hand of a county public schools. I also became a track coach for a patching her for four years and then went to Liberty Middle School for additional two years. I'm currently, I currently hold an MBA in business management. I want to run for the Ashland Town Council because I want to do what's right for the citizens of Ashland. And I believe instead of Ashland citizens learning about projects and phase four, they should learn about it and phase one before the first stake is laid. And I just believe in bringing transparency to the council as well. And I just want to say that thank you for having this forum today. It's very good that citizens come and people need to get involved and thank you very much. Thank you and last but certainly not least miss Abbott. I'm Kathy Abbott. I am running for my third term on Ashland Town Council and there's really only one reason why I ran and keep running, and that is purely the love of this town. Service was something that was instilled in my family as a child. We were very active in our local community. We did a lot of service through our church. And so it was just kind of ingrained that you have to get back to your community. So after I attended Johns Hopkins University and after college by some weird stroke of karma, I wound up as Ted Coppill's secretary in a small television production company, which led to 20 years in network news productions. But I longed for that small sense of community that I grew up with. And by the time that Alan, my husband, and I had decided to find something else besides the New York metropolis to raise our children, my sister, Lori, had already discovered Ashland and having come down so many times for holidays, I fell in love with it and I knew this was the place I was supposed to be. So it didn't take me long, you know, to jump right into Ashland. My husband and I were on the first iteration of Main Street as we tried to pull it together to get nationally accredited. I currently serve with the Downtown Ashland Association, so I've returned on the board again. We were also involved with the first iteration of the Ashland Theatre Foundation where we really tried to bring some kind of community theatre to Ashland. And through those initial efforts, well, you know, where we are today, we have a glorious theatre and a marvelous board that I've had the privilege of serving on as well. of serving on as well. But I'm not a career politician, this is all I wanna do. And it's again simply because I love nurturing and supporting this town. And I think there's a great example just from our last council meeting, how impactful local government is on residents and businesses. We touch you in ways that are far more impactful than your county and your state in many ways. We had a business owner come to council because he was really concerned about, he knows a dance academy right over here, and he was concerned about the kids crossing in that crosswalk. And so he came to council to express his concerns. We don't have, you know, a lot of, we don't have a lot of folks recognizing that this is an act of crosswalk at certain parts of the day, and boom, we instantly had an education and enforcement campaign within the week rolling out. We're looking at infrastructure changes. So that is the kind of instant impact that a small town government can have. And that's what I want to continue to be a part of it. Great. Thank you. Okay. That's one thing to say. I forgot to say, I'd like to thank our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and without him none of us would be here. Thank you. You had plenty of time left, so. All right. Let's go ahead and get into some questions. And I wanna start with a question that I think should be relatively straightforward and easy. And I wanna kinda split the responses by current council members running for reelection and then challengers who are running. So council members, I want you to tell us what you're most proud of from your service on the Council. And challengers, I'd like you to tell us something that you think has been neglected by the Council over the last few years. And I'll start with the Council members and just kind of go in order. So Mr. Trevett, what's something you're most proud of? You're going to think I'm trying to avoid giving you a straight answer. What I'm most proud of is working as a team. You know, I started writing down a list of things that we accomplished and I say we accomplished because I don't think any one person can lay claim. If an individual is running to lay their own claim or what happens in my advice is don't run. But there's a whole list of things I would have to say, as already mentioned, getting the town through COVID and not just health wise, that's obviously was very important. But a spirit of we can do this, we can survive, we care about each other, we're going to help each other. The town came up with very creative grants to help businesses. So getting through COVID, I would say is one. And then with some of the George Floyd event, and people call social unrest. I'm already, already see time. Yep. All right. Minot go fast. Okay. May Barnard. Sure. I'm just going to piggyback on what the mayor just said. I think one of the best things that is going for this time council is how we work together as a team. As I said before, we come from such diverse backgrounds and experiences. And yet when we walk through that door, we put all that stuff aside. We put all that non-partisan aside because the most important thing for us to do is to figure out how we can best take care of this community. And we spend a lot of time talking to one another, asking questions, whatever, trying to make sure that we can figure out how to solve any problem that comes across our desk. And I'm going to tell you, sometimes those decisions are not easy and we spend a lot of time fretting over them, but the bottom line is when we walk through that door, we need to make decisions that are going to take care of the people that are in this community. And that's what I am most proud of. Great. Thank you. Miss Abbott. Well, I think there are a lot of examples of really wonderful things that have happened over the last five, 10 years. Ashland Theatre comes to mind. We're working on broadband. We're about to initiate the England Street landscaping project, reorganizing England Street and bearing some power lines. So just all the cultural things that and the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of track's train day. But I would have to say that what I personally am most proud of is the staff, our town staff. It's extraordinary and without them, we couldn't even begin to do the kinds of things that we've been able to accomplish and are gearing up to accomplish in service of the people here in Ashland'm very very grateful and proud of that gang. Thank you. Okay, Challengers, you're up now. What's something you think has been neglected by the council over the last few years? Ms. Haer will start with you. Well, quite honestly, I wouldn't want to be a part of something that I didn't think was doing such a good job. And so really, I mean, I was sitting here trying to think about it. Nothing really comes to mind if anything, you know, you always want to work on transparency and communication and relationships and any sort of relationship. And so if, I don't, maybe I don't think it's been neglected but something that just always can be worked on. When we lost our paper we lost some of that communication but she's in this room so I'm going to have to point her out but the town has done a fantastic job with getting Martha Miller. We have our community engagement and there is so many ways now to find stuff out. And I think just that communication and transparency. That's great. That's a minute is quick. Thank you. Yep. I mean it goes quick. Okay. Mr. Abrey. How are you doing? Yeah, I think these guys are doing a great job. Primarily I would say is getting a larger involvement of the people, I mean, there's a pretty diverse group here tonight, but I would engage more people in just making it more so that the reach is greater. You know, people come and there's certain people that will come and be involved, but others will not. And we all have our jobs, we all have things to do, so it's tough to kind of split your time up. But like these folks up here said, they touch all of our lives in some way, shape, or another. And without that input from all groups, at least as much as you can, because sometimes something like this place can be intimidating for certain people. So I would say kind of a better outreach, maybe some to find a way to communicate with others and to get them more involved, because the diversity of ideas, I think, is what works best for everyone in the end. Great. Thank you. Miss Soapall. OK. I've seen a lot here in Ashland, but neglect is not at all what I've seen. I've seen how council has reached out to various communities because sometimes people don't come here. So the community meetings, community events, I think are all good. I love what I see and I do not see in the glide. Great. Straight words. Well, I'm not going to sit here and say that the previous council has been doing a good job. They've been doing a fantastic job. And I'm not going to say where they dropped the ball at, but I'm going to rather add to it. I would say transparency and community outreach. Bringing other ethnicities, groups, people of different backgrounds, and socioeconomic statuses was pretty much, actually, the thing, Ashland is a great, great melting pot of diversity and people of different cultures, excuse me. And if we can just harness that and work on that and we can increase that, then I pretty much think we can all come together and come together for the common good and the betterment of the town of Ashland. Great. Thank you. All right. Each of you is running to represent Ashlanders on the council. What's your personal philosophy of representation? What I mean by that is how do you think about your responsibility to the people that you represent? And I'm gonna start with Mr. Chervette. Okay. I Guess my personal philosophy We need to we need to have the pulse of the community to Represent the community have to know what people think and I can sit here and say I've talked to everybody in the town. Would you try to stay active? You take time to have conversations. Going out and asking people to sign a signature petition or can I put a sign in my yard. You don't say can I put a sign in my yard and then interrupt them if they have a conversation. I have a question for you. So you need to have the pulse of the community and you do that by engagement, activity, and always listening first. And then you act on those things. You act on your own experience, you know, your best wisdom, you ask advice from others, and again you're working as a team with both counsel and staff. And so you work through it and you work to it. And until you finally come to a decision that you feel like this is not the best, doesn't matter if it's the best for me, but if it's the best decision for the community, that's what we need to do. Great. Mr. Embry, philosophy of representation. What moment, Tom? A philosophy of representation. How do you view your responsibility to Ashlander? Man, philosophy and representation. A lot of things in that statement. But I agree with Mr. Trevet here. You know I'm a man and I believe my role as a man is protector, provider, assistant, useful, cooperative, but I like to draw lines in the sand. I want to make sure that everyone comes and has a say like Mr. Trivets says. I mean, that's about it. And I live here. I'm not going anywhere. And like Ms. Abbott, again, said, they touch all of our lives, but I don't want them touching too much of our lives, right? All the time, I don't think government needs to be involved in absolutely everything at every point. So it's nice to have that fine line where we are protected and we are safe, but still allow our freedoms to kind of be creative and do the things that you feel are best in your life as long as you're not harming others and that's essentially where I'm at. Thank you Ms. Barnhart. Thank you. I've just jotted down a bunch of words here. I'm thinking people first and engaging others and listening to diverse voices. I have a teaching background. I spent nearly 40 years in the classroom and I still volunteer at. She was an excellent teacher. Thank you. I still volunteer at... She was a negligent teacher. I think I yelled at you once or twice about something. I think that for my personal philosophy, it's people first, and listening to diverse voices. People want to know that you're listening to them, they want to know that they're being heard. They don't mind if you tell them something that isn't pleasant, they just want to know that you're hearing what they are saying to you. And that when you make a decision for them, that you're making it because it's for the best thing that needs to happen for our community. So as I said, I'm jotting down. People first engaging others, listening to diverse voices. That's the kind of philosophy that I try to follow. Okay. Miss Soap Off. OK. I think it's important to be accessible. People need to know who you are, where you are. You need to be open and honest when I was getting signatures on my petitions. I wanted people to know that I had no intention of getting the signatures and running away and never being seen again. And I think most people here in Ashland know that. And most people here in Ashland know where I live because I'm very open about everything. Great, Liz. Mr. Edwards. Could you repeat the question? Sure. The question is about your own philosophy of representation. What do you think your obligation is to the people who live in Ashland? Well, like Ali said, that's a pretty broad question, but I'm trying to answer the best I can. I believe that my responsibility to the town people would be they need someone that's a leader, someone that is steadfast, someone that can think quick on their feet, someone that is a great communicator, someone that can work well with others, someone that can collaborate, someone that can put together teams and work great with the people in the community. We have a certain responsibility up here. We're not just up here, just say we're up here on the council, we have responsibility to our constituents to the people of Ashland and we are up here to bring people together. And we're here to work hard for the citizens and we work for the citizens of Ashland. You're our bosses. So we do what you say and what you want, ultimately at the citizens of Ashland, you're our bosses. So we do what you say and what you want, ultimately at the end of the day. And I believe that I'm someone of empathy, of integrity, and honesty, and that's my answer. Great. Thank you. Is that it? Well, since all the good answers are taken. That's my answer. I would just add that part of my personal philosophy is to look at everything that comes before us as council persons with one thought in mind, how is this gonna impact the Ashland of the future? I mean, it's really very easy to think about, you know, the impact of this development or, you know, making decisions about what sidewalks go where, but what we have to always think about is, how are we making decisions that form the Ashland of the future? Because I want the Ashland of the future to be just as charming and innovative and energetic, and I want to keep those young families moving in because Ashland is a wonderful place to be. So we have to make decisions through that prism. Great, Ms. Hare. It is hard to follow when we have seven of us running, and everybody has great answers like that. So that was my answer. My philosophy for running and for being a council member would be just to what I am thinking, what I am saying and what I am doing are all the same. You don't have to question that. And so really that is it. Because yes, of course, most importantly, whatever it was said, we're working for the people of Ashland. All of us truly, I think that's why we're up here. We care, we care about this town, we care about y'all. And so that my philosophy would be, just the integrity of it. What I say, what I think and what I do, they're going to be the same you don't have to question that. Thank you. Great. Good answer. I'm going to turn to it's like being on family feud or something up here. I think we should raise the council number up to nine maybe. All right. So I want to turn to some of the questions that have come up from the audience. And thank you audience because there's always a risk of not having questions. And you all have not left me with that problem. So I they kind of cluster in a couple of pretty clear ways. Several of you and your answers have indicated that it's important to have diverse input. And we've got a couple questions from the audience that ask you to explain how you will go about ensuring that you are hearing diverse input and what you will do proactively to make that happen. And so I wanna start with Mr. Bre as we continue down the road. I have this one idea, do I have a minute? Yeah, you have a minute. I don't know how this would work and I'm a creative warrior, I'm brainiac and I've got creative warriors out there. I was just thinking about this, just based on this particular question. You know, what if we had some type of thing that at the end of the year there was a contest where two families randomly chosen throughout the town could have like a paid vacation somewhere. I don't know something like that maybe gift certificates or something like that so whenever there's an incentive for people, people are more likely to operate or get it, right? If you're not going to work and not getting paid, money is your incentive to go to work, right? And so I mean, we can pretend that everyone wants to do something for their community and everyone's going to be involved. But I mean, the reality of the matter is is there needs to be give and take, causing effect. The universe works anyway. I don't want to get too deep. But, um, yeah, we, we, we, incentive, incentives, something that, that it makes it exciting, you know, even, uh, uh, I don't know, a piece of paper. What do you call the things that, um, yeah, all right, Tom, I've got my time. But just in synop type programs, things that will get people excited about doing it. And then also showing that the communities are rewarded in that essence. Sorry, I was at more. Great. Thank you. Ms. Bonhart, how will you do this? OK. Encourage. Very much. I'm a very first participation. Communication and community engagement has been really important to us in the last few years. How will you do this? Encourage. Very much. On a very strict space. Communication and community engagement has been really important to us in the last few years. And it's one of the reasons that we have hired a community engagement person on our staff who is out of this world. And she makes it a point to try and get on every kind of social media or media or anything she possibly can to make sure people understand what's going on. And as a result of that, I think it's made our town and our town council a lot more approachable. People don't see us as just a bunch of people that sit up here, but we're actually out in the community trying to do something. We try and have a variety of community events that welcome people. We try and highlight different groups and organizations throughout the year at our town council meetings. We really just try and make this town as welcoming, and highlight different groups and organizations throughout the year at our town council meetings. We really just try and make this town as welcoming as accepting as possible understanding that those diverse voices are really important to make this this rich, wonderful place where we live. Thank you. Great. Ms. Soapal, how will you improve diverse, sure. So several people mentioned improving communication from diverse groups and the questions from the audience are, so how exactly will you do that? OK. As I have Canvased this year, I've gone door to door. And I've really put that message out there. Diversity and inclusion. We are diverse, except respect and value diversity. Inclusion, engage with each other and accept differences, no one being left out, removing walls that separate, work well together while being a diverse group. We can all be in a room, and we can be a a diverse group. We can all be in a room and we can be a very diverse group but what we want to get the message out about is working on tearing down the wall that's been brought to us. Thanks. Great. Thank you. Mr. Edwards. There should be a, hopefully you should be an easy answer for me. I just wrote a paper on this just yesterday. I think a way that we can increase diversity, is I say I would say more community outreach to those that we see as different from us or don't have the same ideas or the same cultures as we do. I would say what we can do is reach out to that particular community and see what they like, what activities do they like, what cultures in their families or their traditions that we can bring into the town and we can work together with that community and we can just kind of mix it up and have everybody speak with each other and engage with each other and have a dialogue. That's my answer. Great. Thank you. I think we're moving in the right direction and we have been for years. But I think what is we're struggling with is not everyone in the community has the luxury of time to engage with council or with other committees. They have kids and school activities, jobs, maybe multiple jobs. So it is really difficult to have them come to us or even to get them to engage when we go to them. We do place a high priority on community meetings around the town. So I think one of the things that we probably need to explore is how to solicit input without face to face. Can we open up some doors where we have some forums? You know, I'm just thinking off the top of my head, but just other ways for folks to engage. Great. Thank you. Ms. Herr. Yeah, everybody answered it. Great is just reaching out to your community. I think that's one of the good ways. You know, we have our meetings up here and we hope that people do come and we know that everybody's time is precious. But I think the town does a really good job of actually going out to communities as well. So not just saying, all right, come up here, what would you guys like to see? They try to hit up different pockets throughout town. There's been meetings held in Sejfield and throughout the Berkeley town and where I live in New Street and South Taylor Street at the playground right there. So just trying to reach your community in the areas that they live in and not always hoping that they will come to you. And like we said about in relationships communication and letting someone know that you care and that you're going to listen to them. Thank you. Great. Mr. Chair, a bit. Yes, come back around to me. It has. I started something when I first began as mayor and COVID kind of interrupted it, but what I was doing is asking different individuals from the community to come and lead us in the pleasure of allegiance before the meeting. And I was asking a fireman, a policeman, a cashier, at a grocery store, individuals from different organizations in the community. And the whole thing I was trying to get across with that was, the people that you live next door to, the people that maybe you talk to the most, that's one person and that's one community. I wanted to get across. Ashland's made up a lot of different communities with a lot of different experiences, a lot of different needs. And so I want to get that message across and I think that's all what we're talking about, getting the message across, that everyone is welcome, that everyone's voice needs to be listened to and respected. I went over to Jamestown Road yesterday and talked to people about an issue with the county that might impact their neighborhood. As an example, you go to people. Great. Thank you all. Yeah, I know it's tough with short time frames and lots of people. So by the time you get back to, it gets back around. It might be hard to come up with something new. I want to stick with this theme for one more question. Actually, there are two, again, another kind of group of questions that came from the audience. And several of you talked about kind of being inclusive, identifying ways you could engage in outreach to communities that maybe haven't been as engaged. There are two questions that ask about what they're referring to as extremism and divisive political climate or the extreme and divisive political climate in Hanover. And the question is how you will make sure that all town citizens feel safe to live and thrive. That was one of them. The other one is more specific, asking about whether or how you personally and how the town will be safe for gay and transgender individuals. And so just as a quirk of the cycle that Ms. Sopal, you mentioned about accepting being an accepting community. And you have the first crack at this. OK. I think it's. I think it's. Oh, I'm sorry. I met Ms. Barnhart. I'm sorry. I was excited there for about a second. Do a little more. No, no, no, no. I'm sorry. I was excited there for about a second. Do a little more. No, no, no, no. Ms. Wouple, you get to go next. That's for the next question. But for this one, this is you, yeah, Ms. Barnhart. All right. Well, that is two very extreme questions that we could spend all evening, all day, next month talking about. One minute. Okay, one minute. I I am so happy to see Ashlyn be a leader in town government and the way that we behave towards others. You're not gonna see this town council on YouTube making fools of themselves. You're not gonna see us be lily-n-one another, talking about people like that. We don't do that. And I think that message kind of from the top down of you behave the way you show people how you should behave is certainly an example that we lead. Being involved in all kinds of town activities as we are, I think people get the message that we are trying very hard to make sure every voice is heard. And we know people are diverse, and we know that people are going through problems. And we know our county and our community and our country is going through problems. But I'm so proud that right back here in Ashland, we make it a point to try and really take care of people and listen to people and have events that reflect that for individuals. So as I said, that's a really broad, broad question, and I'm not sure I've really touched on just the very, very edges of it. But I do believe Ashlyn is in such a great spot because we care so much about people. Great. Thank you. Ms. Soapal. Okay, thank you. Okay. I would continue as I have been through canvassing, encouraging all residents to speak out. People need to know that they can talk to the council member if they don't want to come forward and talk with anyone else. Through canvassing, that's exactly what I've been doing. I've received many numerous citizen concerns. To date, all concerns have been forwarded and answered. The citizens have been contacted with not always the answer they want, but they have definitely received answers. So I think it's just good to let people know that you're available, you're there, and just be open and honest and welcoming. Great. Mr. Edwards. Can you break the question down? Does it stand a question? Yes, Judge. Sure. So the question, these two questions are referencing the perception that Hannover has become politically fairly extreme. And the question is whether you are a safe person and the council is a safe place for people who maybe don't feel protected in handover more broadly. And then there was one of the questions specifically referenced for gay and transgender individuals. Oh, I got this one. Well, but it is a rather broad statement again, but I believe that Ashland and the council has always been opening, has been open to everyone of different backgrounds and ethnicities. And I think actually does a very good job itself of inclusion and diversity. Good, perfect. Great. Next. Miss Abbott. Well, I believe that the, when you see evidence of extremism in the county, it's when you drive out of Ashland. That's when you start to see some signs and you know some groups are out there in the county that are very active. But I think for the most part, it stops at, you know, at our town edge. We don't, you don't see that kind of messaging in town. And I think it's because we as a town have purposely gone out of our way to send a very strong message. We, you know, we had a Black Lives Matter rally right here in town that included members of our police in town council. We take careful consideration of what we do for resolutions, which includes a resolution by town council for Pride Month, for example. So I think the message is out there that we don't put up with anything. This hair. What I love about the Ashland Town Council the most is it's nonpartisan. And from that, you don't see an R or a D before my name and you have not immediately canceled out what I may have to say. for my name and you have not immediately canceled out what I may have to say. Unfortunately, that one letter in front of our names has taken away what we may have to say and even though you may be an R and I may be a D or I'm an R and you're a D, we have so much more in common than people think because we care about each other. And we have lost that a lot. And so I love that it's nonpartisan. And what I have to say is not canceled out because of a letter in front of my name. And on the other, we are all born with the right to be our true selves. And I think that that speaks for itself. We're all born with the right to be our true selves and to be happy with who we are if we're not hurting someone. Thank you. Great. Thank you. Sorry, Trimett. Yeah. I referenced the leg of legions earlier in Liberty and Justice for all, period. Liberty and Justice for all. I want to mention that. Also, if you go to talk about extreme as my advice to people is seize the middle. Everywhere you can seize the middle. And if you go to talk about politics, talk about policy, and listen, and discuss. And when you talk about diversity, a word that doesn't go with that, but it is part of it, is sameness. So I've been talking people about sameness, in that we all have the same aspirations. We all have the same concerns. We all love our family. We love our town. We need jobs. We have to, we expect people to be honest with us, to care for one another. And so in the middle of rep, recognizing all the things we share that are the same, diversity is there. And we don't want to ignore it. But at the same time, we're blended together because of what we share together as human beings. And so, Ashland, I think has represented that well, and we're going to continue to. Great. Thank you. Last but not least, Mr. Arbery. Yeah, not least. I'm probably a little bit more controversial on this. Actually, can you ask me the question again? Sure. So the question, sort of the preposterous. So dealing with political extremism, for both of the laws about it, and transvestype, or what trans, whatever those people are. I don't even think that, you know, these definitions number one, political extremism who defines these things. As far as the gay transgender thing, I mean, whatever, I mean, whatever you wanna do, I don't even think your sexual preference should be discussed. My issue comes is when children are becoming involved. And so, you know, I don't know which philosophies are there. I don't, I can't really say that I'm care because as soon as the children are attacked, you know I'm a protector provider, that kind of guy. As soon as we start crossing these lines where the week are vulnerable and being manipulated and taken advantage of, I don't like that. And I don't think we're going to start having crazy parades walking up and down the street. I don't think that's appropriate. There are a lot of things about that that don't think appropriate. But I also don't have an issue. I feel we are a community and as long as we keep our communal ideals together and respect one another and don't do anything that's inappropriate, then we should be all fine. Otherwise, that's when things, the issues are created anyway. Great. Thank you. OK, so moving to the question that you all probably thought I would start with, the question of growth. This is a question that I had in my notes, and then we got a couple of questions. This economic growth? Yes, economic growth development. So the ladies, there are a couple of questions from the audience. I'll just try to sum up. I've been here for almost 25 years now. Growth is a perennial concern in Ashland. And so I wonder if each of you could comment on your position on continued growth, what would that look like? And to give you some additional context, one of the questions from the audience indicates that, word is, it's very expensive, say, to purchase a home in Ashland. So alongside growth, how do you balance growth with affordability and making sure Ashland is a community that really can be welcoming to all? And I will start with Mr. Edwards. Oh, is it? Miss Soap? Sorry. Okay. Yes, sir. Oh, is it Miss Soaple? Sorry. Okay. Miss Soaple, I thought. Whatever. Whatever. Let's go. Yeah, you. Miss Soaple. Let's go. You got it. Yeah, I think it's Mr. Edwards. All right, Ed. Yeah. I wanted to make sure. Yes, sir. I believe the growth that I see for Ashland, first, well if I was to get on the council, I would propose a Ashland bowling alley, where families and kids can go to unwind, give them something to do in the evening, keep them off of the streets, and families can go and just have fun. We don't have to go all the way to Henrico or Mechanicsville or a short pump to enjoy ourselves. We need something here in action that's ours, that we can attract more tourism dollars and people from around, I think it would be some exciting to do to bring a little bit of more excitement to Ashland was a building out. And I believe that as far as affordable housing goes, I believe that with the habitat with their habitat humanity I don't believe in just Placing certain houses for the habitat community in just a one one cluster or one area I I prefer that we put them all around Ashland and We end that not to just so that we don't single out one community or one street or one sector. And as far as affordability, I think we need to make it accessible to everyone. Or if they don't have the means to do that, we can point them in the right direction, give them programs, incentives, scholarships, and certain awards to that effect. Thank you. Ms. Abbott. Well, growth is tricky because Ashland is, and I'm talking about residential and commercial growth, Ashland is a very finite seven square mile space and we've pretty much built it out. And so the emphasis needs to be on infill. So that's where we need to focus any additional housing. We just don't have giant plots of land to build neighborhoods anyway. But I think there should be an emphasis on more affordable housing. I believe that Ashlyn has the most affordable housing in the county. But that doesn't mean there isn't a need for more because we're easily walkable to everything. So again, we need to look at our infill projects and figure out is there a way that we can continue to build out our affordable homes. Great. Miss here. Yeah, I agree that redevelopment is going to be one of our big things coming up. And Miss Abbott's right, we actually do have about half of our homes, or affordable homes. When we say affordable homes, we can't tackle the whole issue of affordability. That is a huge thing. It's not something that Ashlyn can do. So when you're talking about the numbers, yes, Ashlyn does have a tremendous amount of affordable homes. I'm sorry, sorry. There is, you have to have smart balance growth. We do have a couple of good lands coming up that we're discussing, the Holland track, and we just have to be careful that we are doing smart balance growth for our town. I think I'm gonna run out of it. That's a hard one for our town. I think I'm going to run it. That's a hard one for a minute. Coming from a plan. I'll never get that one. Mr. Trivett. Yeah, 60 seconds isn't enough. There's seven candidates. There's three seats. You just lost 25. Yeah. I know it. Some of us, someone, you know, will not be successful. That happened to me when I ran in 2000. I was not successful. And I wasn't successful because Walmart was the issue. And I wouldn't promise some people that I would vote no on Walmart. But I also wouldn't promise people that I would vote, wouldn't vote yes on Walmart. So in other words, everything that comes before us, you have to balance it and you have to consider what's the right thing to do. And in the midst of this, we have people who are afraid of growth because they don't like to be crowded, but we also have people who need homes. I live on North Sneed. There's three developments going on. Well, who for sure and one potential. And so I look at that, some of my neighbors are concerned, and I'm looking at that, that's our answer to try and help people have more homes. People move into these homes, and if it's not an affordable home, at least it frees up whatever home they left. So a community is like a child. It grows. And if it doesn't grow, there's something wrong. And so we need to grow gracefully. Mr. Ivory. Well, so there's one of the primary things that people are telling me as I'm walking around is, you know, yeah, growth growth growth. Who benefits from this growth? I mean, clearly it's the government, because they get taxes off of that. So the other issue with the growth question that people are telling me primarily is yeah now we've got these affordable houses here that are X amount of $100,000. Now I've been living here for however many years and now I've got to pay because they decided to put these houses in so now all of a sudden my real estate's worth more money so now I got to pay more money it doesn't make any sense. So that's that's one of the bigger things, I guess, and the kind of one of my new things in this growth thing. You know, we can grow forever. I mean, you can stack houses. We can build this and that. But do we need to provide everything for everybody? We're not the end all. There's plenty of other everybody's savior. I mean, it is what it is. You know, you want to be accepting, but you don't want to have to bring everybody in. Like, oh, yeah, come here, come to us. We're gonna save you. No, no, no. I mean, there's plenty of other lands around with plenty of other houses to find. This place is beautiful and you're lucky if you make it here. I mean, and we're here. So that's it. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Barnard. I will agree that we have to grow. We cannot remain stagnant. It is a double edged sword. I'll just say did it to a lot of things that they've already said. But one of the double edged swords that we have is that people love this town and they want to move here. And then we have that thing called COVID. And just to give you an idea of what that has done to Ashlyn. If you compare March to 22, and March to 23, the ridership alone on Amtrak, up 52%. People can now move here from Northern Virginia and buy a house, and they can jump on the train once or twice a week and commute. And so that has certainly changed how we have to look at affordable housing. I know that I've had some conversations with people on the council about why not look at a tiny house community. Why not look at some other aspects of things that we can do that would provide for people. Because we want to make sure that we have a great group of people living in our town, not just people that can afford $600,000, $100,000 houses. That doesn't, we want, I hate to say the word diversity so many times, but we want people of all backgrounds to be able to afford living here. And Ms. Opal. OK. The growth that I've seen while canvassing, I've seen Ashland, like I've never seen it before, while canvassing. It is beautiful. Everything looks great. I've heard much concern about affordable housing. And it really hits me because when I came to Ashland 39 years ago, I needed affordable housing. So I'm just trying to get information for people and maybe things that they can take to council last week I attended an event in Richmond that talked about affordable housing So I'm just trying to gather ideas and maybe move ideas on to other people Great. All right, so I'm keeping eye on the clock, because we have time probably for about two more questions. So this is a question from the audience. If you could prioritize one thing for the town to spend money on, what would it be? Ms. Abbott. Well, my pet project is England Street. It's been a long time coming and it's taking a lot of planning and a lot of saving money. But I think we've seen the impact of beautifying and making center street, you know, real, excuse me, hubbub for the town, you know, the heart of our town. England Street is also part of our town. And now that we're finally getting to the point where we can really address, you know, how that looks, how we can kind of dress up the buildings and how we can think about, you know, parking and pedestrian traffic, I think it's gonna be a real game changer for, you know, and think about parking and pedestrian traffic. I think it's gonna be a real game changer for the town. And for the feature town. Miss Hare, will you repeat the question? Sure, if you could prioritize one thing for the town to spend money on, what would it be? Oh. Now I'm going to go back to what I was just saying about affordable housing, but that is really important to me. I think that we are making strides to do a couple of studies, but there are, it's a bigger problem than what people think. And there's a lot of different regional partners we could probably get with. So if I could throw some money at it maybe working on things like there's a Maggie Walker Land Trust to help people with affordable homes, any sort of like a program with that, to work to get people in homes, or maybe if we could purchase homes so that we could maybe like keep some of our police officers in town and teachers that sort of thing that's a wish. Mr. Trubitt? Yeah, I'm going to give a bad answer to this. Haven't been involved with looking at the budget every year for the town for 10 years there isn't any one thing that I can say that we should prioritize because the town has made up of a lot of different needs a lot of different systems and all of them affect people's lives and so I really can't say that I know someone asked me not long ago well what about what about a youth center you consider that you know a priority and yes youth are important that I really can't say that. I know someone asked me not long ago, well what about a youth center? You consider that a priority? Yes, youth are important. That is a priority. But at the same time, there's individuals who would say, well what about more medical facilities? Yeah, that's a priority. Well what about housing? Isn't that a priority? What about making sure that we have these and transportation so you don't get stuck, making sure we have trained safety, rail safety and all of that. So we've got a lot of priorities. And on council, that's the hardest part is trying to divvy up just like you're planning your vacation or your kids want to go to the same place, they all want to do the same thing, you got to prioritize and you got to live with the choices. Great. Good answer. Yes. Mr. Abrey. I asked you the question again, so I can install for time. If you could prioritize one thing for the town to spend money on, what would it be? How much money? Do I have to spend it? You can answer this however you want. All right, so private towards. Yeah, I mean, I'm in agreement with Mr. Trevet here. There's not a, I mean, one specific thing. I would kind of put that out to the people and kind of throw out a survey and maybe give a couple options. Well, would you spend this money on type of deal just to get some other input in a minute? I mean, who knows, I mean maybe a callous see-in for a gladiator. I don't know, I'm just kidding, there's any number of things you can do but I would prioritize the people's concerns and whatever that money was spent on if that can be political enough of a question and an answer there. That's it. Great. It's all I got. Thank you. Well if money were no object it would be sidewalks. sidewalk sidewalks sidewalks. I never knew until I became a town council member how expensive it was to build a sidewalk. They are like a $200 plus linear foot, which means when we put a million dollars aside, we can put together about five or six sidewalks in this town. And we currently have a project of roughly six or seven sidewalks are being constructed. We work very hard, the parks and rec department work very hard to try and pick locations all over town because I would like to see our town more walkable, that's a hard word to say, walkable, and have more connectivity. So if I could spend money on anything, it would be sidewalks. They're like mini roads. I just want to say to you, they're like a mini roads. The next time you say, why can't I have a sidewalk? You have to survey, you have to excavate, you have to remove stumps, you have to remove, personal fences, so they have to be in compliance, they have to be a certain width. So please understand when we can't go out and build lots of sidewalks, it's because they're so expensive. Thank you. Okay. A lot of illegal stuff. Ms. Soapal, what would you spend money on if you could prioritize one thing? Two things. Oh. And I had written sidewalks down before you said anything. There are many concerns about drain issues and I never realized how much some sidewalks here in town need it repair until I started canvassing sidewalk repair. And Mr. Edwards? Yes. I have actually three things real quick. I would improve the infrastructure I have an answer to this question, but pretty much he guessed it a bowling alley and I would what I would do I would try to beautify Ashland with I would Utilize our our community and I would commission them to Make some beautiful pieces and bring some beautiful artwork to action. I would say in the Berkeley District commemorate John M. Gandy, the founder of the founder and the principal of John M. Gandy. And in the Hispanic community put something that represents the Hispanic community for another ethnic group of people. That's something to represent them. I think if we can find a section where everyone asks you, you see a ugly wall or a brick wall or something, I think if we beautify that and we can, it would bring more beauty to Ashland. It would make Ashland better just like they did they did a enrichment with the wall going down on the boulevard I think it would just bring more beauty to Ashland. Thank you. Thank you I would be remiss if I did not ask this question so to So two of the primary relationships that are maintained by the town are the relationship between the town and the county and the relationship between the town and Randolph-Macon College. I'm actually going to give you all a minute and a half to answer this question but it will be the last question because that will take us right up to about 725. So what are your thoughts on these important relationships? The relationship between the town and the county and the relationship between the town and the college and we'll start with this here. Yeah, they're very important. As we know, Hannah Verkowni is coming right up to our doors. And so just like what I've been saying, I'll sound like a broken record now, but the relationship between somebody, you need the communication. And so communication is important. We're working on our towns comp plan right now And it's important to work with the county on theirs as well and what they're doing so that our plans are somewhat Maybe they don't even have to job but so we know what each other's doing and same with Randolph-Macon I think that we are extremely lucky to be a town with a college in it and I think that we are extremely lucky to be a town with a college in it. And we all benefit from that relationship. And once again, just communication so that we all feel like that we're on the same page. And same thing with Randolph-Macon College. They actually, I think they're working on this, but they actually provide their master plan as well. And we put that in our comp plan. And so just making sure that everybody is communicating and working together for the best for all of us. When we're all doing good we're all doing good. Thank you. Mr. Chair. Yeah, Randolph making this working on their their updated master plan as well. We communicate with them on a regular basis. I know the vice mayor and myself, we're part of a RMC, town, gown, liaison committee, and the same thing, but the county meet together. Not as regular as maybe we would like to, but we do get together and we, I guess we know how to stay in our lane to a certain extent, to respect the county's decisions that are strictly county. They respect decisions that are the towns and strictly the towns. And where it crosses over, we try to have conversation. I went to a supervisor meeting that long ago to register some disagreement with a road on their master plan that's in Ashland and I began by saying in a court you might say someone is a friend of the court. I'm here as a council member as a friend to the supervisors. The register a request that for the sake of that road that we would have town staff sit down with county staff and planning and the same thing with council and supervisors and if you're going to do something that's between the two then it needs to be done through conversation, study, analysis and all that. Same thing with the college. President Lengren, he always uses the word that we are inexplicably linked and I highlight that and he's right. So whether it's about trained safety, yeah, time, T.I.M.E. I got you. All right. Mr. Abrie. Mr. Town, can I have one more time for that? Sure. The question is, what are your thoughts on the relationships between the town and the county and the town and Rand land of making college? I mean, that's kind of ambiguous, really. My thoughts between the town and the county, we paid the town, the town, the county, and then the college paid us, right? I mean, is that the relationship? No, that goes. Exactly. Oh, okay. Oh, do we pay the college? Anyway, so, town, county, I guess they're our overlords there. I would say with the college, I would like to utilize them more. Get them kids out of there and get them out into the community a little bit more, maybe get them doing some volunteer service, at least not partying so much, calling them down. A lot of them have matriculated into our area, that's for sure, because we live right by making. And for the most part, they're pretty good kids. I guess this town was kind of based around making. Essentially, it was a big part of it. And I don't really have an answer much more than that. I'll resettle my time on that one. Okay, thank you. I believe that we have a very respectful relationship, both with the county and with Randolph-Macon. And I know that our town manager and the county manager, I work very closely together. They have lunch often and we're not going to agree on everything. You know, we are going to agree to disagree on a lot of things. But we have a very healthy respect for one another. And it's, we could very easily be be a kind of a Davy and Goliath kind of thing with the deal, them against us, but it's not. We have a really respectful relationship with the county. The same thing with Randolph Macon. It's here in our town and they're a vital part of our community. And one of the things that I will share with you, for example, the Secretariat Statue. They have just been so wonderful working with us on that Secretariat Statue. And I will share this with you, a student wrote this a long time ago, having a relationship with Randolph-Macon, sometimes it's like two sisters in one room, and we only have one door to slam, but we love one another, and we'll stick up for one another. And I think that's how we feel about the county and the college. We respect them, they respect us, and we are not always going to agree. But we try very hard to work together and be a part of each other's community. Great. This is Opal. Okay. As far as the town and the county, they were very close together. And I've not heard that there's not been a good relationship, so I assume they have great communication. Earlier this year, I had a lengthy and wonderful meeting with President Lindgren asking him exactly that same question. What's it like? What's the relationship between Randolph-Macon and the town? And he could not stop saying enough good things about the relationship. He took time with me, he talked a lot, he showed me a lot of things, we went over maps, and we just had a wonderful meeting. So I know that the relationship between the town and Randolph-Macon seems to be good according to President Langran. Thank you. Great. Mr. Edwards. I would say that Randolph-Macon adopted Ashland and Ashland adopted Randolph-Macon. They're both two and the same. Ashland is a college town and without Ashland is a college town without Ashland, Rhinoff-Macon wouldn't be the college that it is today, so we both need each other. And when I was a kid, I used to go to run off-macon all the time and play basketball in the big gym. We probably, we would get kicked out a lot, but then we'd go back into the bigger gym. We could get kicked out a lot, but then we go back into the bigger gym. We kicked out again, but yeah, but all in all though, but then, but we were kids, so they just let us go ahead and play and run around because we really didn't have no else to go at that time. So, runoff making has played a big part in Ashland, and they both kind of compliment each other. As far as the county and the Hanova County, Hanova County and the council, I think they're both pretty much well together. They need to work in, you understand, and work in lock-stamp. If you lived in Ash long enough, you know, we pay double taxes to both Hanova County and Ash long. That's a subject we can't, is tick too long. We can't go over today. But money has come from somewhere, doesn't it? But I believe that the relationship between Ashley and the Handle Account is vital and we both need to work together to keep both going at a pretty good pace. This habit I Will be a bit of a nacea here I I believe that both the the town and the county and the town in the college do communicate quite regularly and you know and and jointly come you know up with decisions that benefit both parties Case in point with the college, we had a parking problem where there are residents over on that side of town couldn't find parking. Because the kids from the school were constantly filling up the streets. And we were able to work that out with the system. So I think on that nuts and bolts level we're terrific at communicating. I would say that we could definitely improve that communication on much bigger picture things in terms of like what is what is the college's growth, how does that impact Ashlyn, what is the county's growth, how does that impact Ashlyn, just so we eliminate any opportunity for surprises. Great. All right, well I want to bring us to a close by turning to closing statements. Again, the order for these was determined by drawing lots, so it was done at random. Before I get there, I want to make two comments as a reminder, the official election day is November 7th and you are voting for three positions on the council. I also want to take a minute and thank everybody who has been here in person and who is joining us online. At political science conferences, we say that it's a successful panel or a successful conference if there are more people in the audience than on the panel. I will ask each person to give their closing statement. They have up to two minutes and at the end I will ask that we applaud all of the candidates all of us. So with that Mr. Trivett, you may begin. I've got a handout from 2012. I mean, why did he bring an old-stale handout? Because the dynamics really don't change. The players sometimes, over the years, but the dynamics don't change. So I'm going to read what I wrote then. My goals for the town are your goals. To preserve Ashland's history and enhance its vitality as a wonderful place to work, live, and visit. To overcome economic or other challenges through communication and collaboration with citizens, businesses, and town staff, partnering for solutions. To support mutual respect and promote beneficial cooperation between the town and county and RMS Randolph-Macon College and within the region. To ensure that anyone coming before town council seeking solutions, giving suggestions or making a complaint when matters either business or personal is treated with courtesy and respect. And I finished up just saying I believe good things happen when we communicate, cooperate and work hard towards shared goals. So I asked for your vote that I might have the opportunity to continue to serve the town and the community. If I've got more time, I'll use it. I tell individuals you go to individual events and they'll say we have some important people here and they want to introduce you. And I always try to make the point, the important people are the ones, the citizens, that we have important responsibilities. We have important duties, but if ever you start thinking of yourself as important, look out citizens. So I'm happy to be up here in this room of all the important people. Thank you. Great. And stuff on the follow-up. Kind of what I had to say. Yeah, it's really written down. But yeah, just in closing, it's a very tough choice up here you know we're all very similar we all have these ideals that we can you know be be the one be a part of something be a part of something greater I guess it boils down to resolve and determination desire for responsibility all of these numbers of things. And the choices are tough, but I can guarantee that I'm not here to go along to get along. I like to rock the boat a little bit. I like to kind of dig in and get to the inner workings of things and to see what we can do to actually make things truly better, not just kind of glaze over things for the temporary smile and a pat on the back. I probably sometimes not going to make the most popular decision, but my intentions are always to look for the future. And I can imagine that all the things that we do now are not always going to be immediately seen. And so sometimes, you know, like the founding of this country, they had such an incredible great plan. And they were not here to see kind of the results, but it's turning out pretty well. And just look forward to continue in that tradition to be a responsible person for the people and do the best I can with that. That's it. Great. Ms. Soapall. We have up to two minutes. Okay. Through meeting attendance, canvassing and attending town events, I'm becoming familiar with how our town works. Some examples. How to work with town staff and council members to address citizen and business concerns. How issues are handled that affect homes and properties of residents and business owners, affordable housing drain issues. How and where sidewalks get installed and repaired. And how to make neighborhoods and streets safer. How to better promote business and tourism. I want to see continuing progress made with residents, businesses, and the college by way of community meetings and various events. Please help me amplify your voice as we create an even more diverse and inclusive future for our town of Ashland. Thank you. Okay. Ms. Barnhart, thank you. Again, I'd like to say thank you to Dr. Bell and the League of Women Voters. Also to the town of Ashland for hosting this event and for everyone who's here this evening and tuning in. I'm asking tonight for your vote to re-elect me to the Ashland Town Council. And I have shared with you that my introduction to town government was through a non-partisan approach working towards our town's common goals. I have been following that model because that model serves me well. We enjoy an incredible quality of life here in the center of the universe. And I want to just share a few things that have happened during my tenure. We have a balanced budget. We had a balanced budget for several years. We do whatever we can to cap taxes. We have a police department that is well-trained, well-staffed, and they can boast an average response time of 90 seconds. We have a growing parks and wrecked department. We purchased land for a new park. We're developing a heritage park and we've been refurbishing parks such as the skate park and South Taylor Street. And then we have our wonderful, wonderful pool. We are in the process of building sidewalks because we want this town to be connected to, well, with our special neighborhoods. We've even added a community engagement person because we understood that making sure our public is well informed with the happenings around town is extremely important and we want to make sure what we are transparent. We have an outstanding public works department and dedicated town hall employees. Good town government is an experience team has made all of this happen. And I have been a part of that team and I have the experience to maintain it. I am proud to serve this community and I appreciate the diverse neighborhoods and the town spirit that makes this such a special place to live. I want to keep Ashlyn Ashlyn, but I also want to prepare Ashlyn for the future. Experience does matter and good government is important to lay that foundation. I wish much luck to the other candidates here this evening. I want to thank you for your support and your vote, and I still believe I have much to contribute. Thank you. All right. Ms. Hare. Yeah, thank y'all all so much for coming out tonight. This has been an experience. And I am truly, truly grateful to be sitting up here. Most people don't care what you know. They want to know that you care. And I really hope that after tonight, you've come away with knowing that I really do care about the people of this town and this town and that I will work really, really hard to support and advocate the people of this town. Just want to say that I really think that to sit up here, you really, two things. If you care about all, if you truly care about all, and you have a willingness to learn, right there is two good things. And I have those, and I also am leaning hard on my experience with the Planning Commission, and being vice chair and sitting up here for three years. I truly want to work for this town. And if I can leave you with anything, I love this quote. I have fallen in love with cliches and I know it so silly, but all the the do good and the plant trees so that you know you're not going to enjoy the shade, they last because they really, really matter. And a good friend of mine told me to tend to the garden you can touch. Because a lot of times things can be so overwhelming. Y'all were good people. We're here because we're good people, and we want to do good things. And when we hear on the news, and there's so much stuff going on, we can't reach that far, but you can tend to the garden you can touch. And that's not just your garden, that's not just your yard. You can reach center street, you can reach Berkeley town, you can reach said fields, you can reach him, right, go. We can all work together so that we have a better landscape for all. And I just hope that you come away with a better understanding of all of us. I think all of us up here for doing this. This is not easy. This is not some stepping stone. I don't think for anybody. This is we truly care about our town and the people. So I hope that that come across and I hope I can have your vote on November 7th. Thank you all so much. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you. Is that it? Well, I just want to circle back to something I said earlier, which was if we had the money, what would be my funding priority. And it's not as simple as I want it pretty Ashland. Downtown is kind of our heart, but it's also an economic driver and those are my priorities. To constantly keep the town in a visibly responsible place, but also growing with the businesses, with our families. We need to keep Ashland thriving, so we have a future Ashland. And I think a lot of people think that, oh, we have millions of dollars to spend this fiscal budget. So let's spend it on, you know, on sidewalks or let's spend it on parks and trails. The fact is the vast majority of the money that we get goes towards operations and the services that our citizens enjoy, our police department, our public works who do our snow removal or trash pickup. The fact is that all the projects that make Ashland, Ashland take a lot of time to save up because that's what we have to do. We have to save up forever. We've been saving up forever for England Street and I'm excited that we're finally making progress there. But there are a thousand projects that would benefit everyone in the community that we just have to save up for. So I want to continue to have Ash be in a position of growing its economy, but I also want to stick around for all these projects that we've been working on for years and years, because I want to see them come to fruition, because it benefits all of us. And in the end, as I started, I'm in this because I love Ashland, and I will continue to serve as long as you'll have me. Great, thank you. And once again, last but not least, Mr. Edwards. And perfect placement. Thank you. I'm the last voice to hear. Like me. So I love Ashland. I've been a resident of Ashland for 39 years. I've been raised here. I've been off to the school system, Henry Clay, Gandhi, Liberty and Passion Henry. Funny story. One day we were young. We walked to Henry Clay, and the teacher said, look behind you, the dog walked behind you too. So we had to turn around and take the dog back home, and then the teacher didn't count us late, because we had our dog with us. But I love the town of Ashland. Me, if I had my way, I would bring this strawberry fair back to two days instead of one. Remember when it was on Saturdays and Sundays? And I would like to see just one year, just one, see the accident parade beyond England's street instead of Gandy. But maybe just next year. But I love the town of Ashland. I love the small town of Phil. I would love to keep Ashland small if I can. But I know that economic development and growth is needed to bring it revenue and dollars, but I like to keep that small town feel. One thing I would love to push, real quick, I would like to push if we can get more movies like the one we had major pain where it was in the movie at the Ashland Train Station where he was sitting on the bench. We was like, that's Ashland right there. We got, you know, we famous for a little bit. I think we can bring more that to Ashland, bring a little bit more excitement around Ashland. And I love Ashland. I love the town. I just want to give back to Ashland. I want to give back to me. Thank you. I took my little song back in the day. You might remember the words, don't worry. Be happy. Don't worry. Vote Darerry. Thank you very much. Thank you both for me. November 7th, Derry Edwards for Ashland Town Council. Thank you very much. Would you all help me thank these candidates? Yay! Thank you all again for coming.