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I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next slide. I'm going to go to the next slide. I'm going to go to the next slide. I'm going to go to the next slide. I'm going to go to the next slide. I'm going to go to the next slide. I'm going to go to the next slide. I'm going to go to the next slide. I'm going to go to the next slide. I know it's not so long, but it's very dangerous. It's not too much to get through the whole thing. But look at the mirror and I can't see it. I'm going to get a chance to walk in there. I'm going to make a chance to walk in there. I'm going to put this down. I'm going to put this down. I'm going to put this down. I'm going to put this down. I'm going to put this down. I'm going to put this down. I'm going to put this down. I'm going to put this down. you Thank you. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. 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I'm going to go to the next room. you you Good evening and welcome to the April 22nd meeting of the Percival Town Council. Please rise for the legible agents. Are there any amendments to the agenda this evening? Very good. Next on the agenda is the consent agenda which consists of appropriation of budget amendment here. Point of order. We need to adopt the agenda before we move on to consent agenda. All in favour of accepting the agenda as written? We need a motion, first of all. Can I hear a motion? I move. All right. I move to adopt the agenda for April 22, 2025 as presented. Second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Next we have the consent agenda this evening. This consists of four items. Properation of Budget Amendment V8, 25-038. PFAS grant funding. Approval of the meeting minutes of March 26 of this this year, approval of the minutes of April 2nd of this year and approval of the minutes of April 9th this year. Do I hear a motion to approve the consent agenda? Mayor, I move to, I go long to be voting. I move that the personal town council approve the consent agenda items 5A through 5D. I'll second that. Council member Rainer, how do you vote? Yes. Council member Wright, how do you vote? Yes. Council member Luke, how do you vote? Yes. Council member Khalil, how do you vote? Yes. Councilmember Stout, how do you vote? Yes. And Mayor votes, yes. Next we have Town Manager Key updates. Thank you, Mayor and Town Council and community. Just three major updates updates wireless edge is being granted their construction Permit bring in wireless coverage to the community of earth form and local's growth Second we updated the utility model. Thank you to the tongue staff and you should be receiving that within the next couple of days. The updated utility model is to drive your decisions on the budget. And thirdly, we had a strategic work session concerning the Western Loud and Recreation Center. We will be having a follow-up meeting tomorrow with the county to discuss how we may be able to extend water and sewer to the facility. So those are the three updates. Thank you. Thank you, town manager. Next on the agenda are the quarterly reports for the committee's commissions and boards. These are posted online and they have been submitted to the town council. Are there any council members who have questions or comments on the quarterly reports? I have a question there. For the EDAC report. So we've talked about the Main Street, Virginia, not requiring the town to put forth any expenditures are personnel. And on the second page, first paragraph, second item it actually says confirm there were no BMS requirements for count expenditures or personnel. The third, findings that there are no BMS required costs or personnel. And then on the fifth part, it says, the planning department will submit a $15,000 BMS grant application to fund the historic downtown design guidelines, plan to determine town consensus and design recommendations for Vingert Square, and the Nichols Hardware redevelopment. So my question is, did the planning department are you doing that grant on your own time or is that going to be actual taxpayer paid time? Yes, ma'am. That is a grant that we, John and myself, are working on. So yes, it does require staff time, not very much. Some of it is our own time. John works 24 hours a week, but he does give extra time for special projects like this so the town does not pay him for. Okay, so then the two items I mentioned in the previous two paragraphs are false. It does require. And then I have another question. It depends on what you mean by minimal staff hours and time versus requirement that we give time. Again every Virginia Main Street program typically takes a little bit of time to launch so that it is successful. Okay. So where it was said in the past that no staff time is required, you're now kind of backpedaling in staff time. Will we be in terms of? Oh. Oh. That's good. That's good. That's good. OK, another question. Why is it that we are applying for grants that benefit to select business owners in town, Vingert Square and Nichols Hardware. My philosophy has always been what you do for one, you need to be ready to do for everyone. And so are we ready to help every business owner in this town secure grants? There is only one grant available for $25,000 for what they call a white elephant project. And so it's a very particular kind of building that needs a lot of rehab or restoration. Nichols Hardware came to us interested in the grant. And so we were just responding to a citizen request. It wasn't that we targeted them or we singled them out, but they actually came and asked for the grant. Okay. So then in actuality taxpayer dollars are going to fun time to apply for grants for two particular business owners in town. That's a very common practice. I would say we can, I don't know how much you want to discuss it, but yes. Point of order, this, we can move to 11C when we actually are discussing the Main Street Program versus right now. Well, this is the EDAC report. This is in the EDAC report. So that's what I'm dressing. And then once again regarding the historic district master plan and design guidelines that seem to be in the works, we, I understand, already have some guidelines and it looks like on the last page there would be about $140,000 allocated to a downtown master plan and design guidelines. Edak, where are these lines going to come from? Are they going to be grant funds? Are they going to be town funds? For this master plan design? May I ask you for the reference? I'm not familiar with $140,000. It's $115,000 for the Perseville Historic Downtown Master Plan and Design Guidelines. And then it's $25,000 for design guidelines portion only. So combined. The reference to the $1,500,000 for the master plan. That was grant funding that we applied to Loudon County for. We applied to the town for, we are not receiving that funding. So that was again, that was an effort that will not happen in terms of the 115. The 25 again is the grant I referred to earlier. We are trying to do this in house with essentially minimal grant funding. We're trying to apply for a grant, but recognizing Loudon County or the town will not be giving us money. Okay, thank you. It's all ahead. Okay, thank you. Next time the agenda we have citizen and business comments and our first comment to this evening is supervisor Caleb Kirschner. Good evening, my honor. Oh yes. Good evening, may I have some members? I'm Taylor Persian on this'm a department for those who may not know me, I'm a department district supervisor, I'm a live planning board supervisor. I'm a former resident and a first-of-date person. I'm a first-aid student for your public service. I respect the work you do for the town council, and our respect is status as an independent doctrine of law. However, a letting at least, we're still at least department is the wrong solution. And that is my considered opinion, along with the opinion of many of mine and your constituents. Who have reached out to me over the last several weeks. As an elected official, we have to balance supporting law enforcement and public safety with saving taxpayer dollars, keeping our residents safe and secure should and is our top priority. Perseville has been one of the safest, as we know, places in Virginia, and that's been true in large part because of the presence of our police department. And now the majority of this board wants to end that and have the county provide you with law enforcement. Yet none of you who support this measure have reached out to me to ask if the county can pay for it. None of you have reached out to Sheriff Chapman to find out if this plan is even feasible or realistic. Loud and recently passed the law enforcement department. out to Sheriff Chapman to find out if this plan is even feasible or realistic. Loud and recently passed our FY 2026 budget every single dollar is already tightly programmed. I went to bat for you and secured millions of dollars for Perseville's capital project including in part the shared use path to the WNOD Trail, sidewalk improvements along nursery avenue, and route 287 and Eastgate Drive intersection improvements. But now, without warning, you want Loudon to cover your complex and expensive proposal. That was short-sighted, and as your colleague and your district supervisor, I must expect better from you. Thank you. Clearly from Sheriff Chapman's public comments, he also believes that this action is not ready for action. But finally, and I want to just conclude, local law enforcement isn't just a vital service for Perseville, it is part of your history. It's been here since 1908 when the town hired its first town manager. If you dissolve your police department, that won't just be making a bad decision. It will undercut the character of the town. And it's hard to imagine. It's hard to imagine Mayberry when Andy and Barney no longer wear. Applause The next speaker is Chair Phyllis Randall. Applause Good evening mayor and town Council members. I'm Phyllis Rando, and I am addressing you today as Chair at large of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors. The Loudoun County budget process is an IS in full about a nine-month process that starts with the County Administrator meeting with the Department heads to access their needs for the upcoming fiscal year. Our FY26 budget process ended April 1st. In other words, we have completed our budget process. The Sheriff's Department came before us on Monday, May 3rd and received the additional positions that were included in the county administrator's proposed budget. They received all of the positions requested. Not included in that request were enough full-time positions to take on the law enforcement duties in Percibo. The sheriff did not request them because he was not informed by any member of this council or administration that he would need them. In short, the BOS has not allocated positions for extension of law enforcement into Percival. In addition, and to date, there have been no request for an off-site budget adjustment to increase or to be placed on the BOS agendas for law enforcement in Percival. I know there has been a request for the agenda because I set the agenda. In fact, Mayor, you have not reached out to me at any point to have a discussion about budget allocations or adjustments. However, you have repeatedly stated the county will cover the cost of policing and Perseville. While the county may be required to pick up law enforcement, please remember the county has allocated almost five million dollars to Perseville for other services. In addition, the county continues to maintain firemen's field. As chair of all 440,000 citizens of loud and please know, I can't allow the citizens of Loudoun County to cover this cost made by the Perseville Town Council. It is very unlikely it will save you any money in the end. Thank you. Thank you. Wow. Wow. Wow. away Grace Tannis laying here in Percival. Four weeks ago I stood up here and I announced the concerns citizens of Perciville are launching a recall campaign to remove you, Mr. Mayor, and your majority council members, your campaign running minutes. We base that decision on a variety of violations of your oaths of office. You've misused your office by firing Rick Bremseth for no cause so so you can give a quid pro quo favor to your campaign supporter, Kwasi Frencher. You've each neglected the duties of your office by allowing and supporting vice-marin council member Ben Net to commit various numerous conflicts of interest. He was placed on a Brady Giglio list and fire from the police department for that. Will you now misuse your office to find him a position on the town staff so that he can work your agenda from the inside paid for by our taxes? On April 9th, excuse me, you crossed a very important line that's completely unacceptable to our community. You're ill-conceived, an uncoordinated plan to abolish our very respected police department is going to place the safety of the community directly at risk and a lit of firestorm of support to remove all four of you. So tonight, I come forward again to tell you that we needed 495 signatures to recall each of you four. I have here 1888 signatures. I have here 1888. I have here 1888. I have here one thousand and eighty eights. To talk to to talk to recall mayor Bertel. I've got one thousand eighty one to recall I've got 1885 Recall Council Member Cleal. Ben Net, wherever he is, congratulations. He's the winner because I got 191 signatures to recall Council Member and Vice Mayor of Ben Net. First of all, I want to look real quick. First of all, I get a real quick. First of all, I get a written down. You can still sign a night out front or you can come to Main Street, sign tomorrow. And, first of all, please, department, we love you guys, we respect you guys. We're not going to let you guys get screwed without a fight. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Sir Morgan. Sarah Morgan, 608 Grace Sands Lane. I came up two weeks ago, sobbing mess, a little bit better today. Since you guys don't seem to want to listen to words, since my parents raised me that if I don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. And I know there's a lot of people that want to speak, so I'm not even going to take my whole two minutes, but I could do this all night. next speaker is Paul McCrea, 240 West O street. At their last meeting, the four of you snuck agenda items in it, the end of the meeting, and took away my lawful right to comment on them. That's the sign of a corrupt politician. Then you decide to take away our police department. A police department has been essentially here since 1908. That was in the first police officer who was hired for the town. That was why the town was created. They had to incorporate to be able to have a police department. Now, they only had one for a lot of years, but now we have a professional certified police department. Don't take away our police department. The other thing you did was to hire your friend without interviewing anybody else. That's what no one does at this kind of government level. You pick the best person for the job and you can't do that just by picking somebody you know. So, it's obvious now you're going to be recalled. I don't think you're going to survive it. I think your best hope is to avoid charges on violation of state code. So good luck with that. The next speaker is Mitch Syped. Even Council, Mitch Syped, 260 East King James Street, right here in Dugoray, town of Percibel. And we're going to hear a lot of great speakers tonight are very passionate about some of the decisions I've been made. I'm going to go back to my days at History Teacher. We're going to do a quick history lesson on a book called, Unterony by Gail Professor Timothy Snyder. So I'm going to go lessons five back to one. Lesson five in this book is to remember professional ethics. Timothy Sire says, when political leaders said a negative example, professional commitments to just practice become more important. I want to commend Council Member's Reiner, right, and stout for upholding your duty. I want to commend the organizers of the Recall petition for following the rules and the processes and procedures to do it right. And I want to remind team Mayberry that we expect better of you. Less number four, take responsibility for the face of the world. I want to thank everyone that's here tonight. We're at full capacity. We're outside. We're online. This is citizen standing up for what they believe in and for what's right. So whether you're in attendance here watching online, choosing to speak, we're just getting involved. Remember, as Snyder says, life is political, not because the world cares about how you feel because the world reacts to what you do. Lesson three, but where are the one party state? He may bear acting like they're the only four voices in this town that matter. Kermajority has taken that attitude and it shows. Snyder says, the party that exercises such control proposes few policies that are popular with the society at large and several that are unpopular and thus must either fear democracy or weaken it. Lesson two, defend institutions. That's why we're here tonight. Institutions are what make our world run. So many are speaking tonight, so many are here to voice their opinion, to protect our pleas, to protect our town staff and our town programs. I commend that effort. Less number one, do not obey an advance, and we're not obeying. The next speaker is Erica Stout. Quick note guys, I only have two minutes to hold the applause please. You know I have a lot to say. Two ten upper-bacterists, Erica Stout. I don't want to be here. I shouldn't have to be here. Town Council should be boring. It shouldn't require getting a babysitter to hold local government accountable at every meeting but here we are. Vice Mayor Net, wherever you are, you said it was your idea that Councilmember Khalil brought forward. Why is she the one being your big idea forward? Was the purpose of that statement to make sure everyone knows your one really calling the shots? Quote as a town employee, I see some of the areas for cost saving measures, unquote. Like just getting rid of your whole department because you can't be chief, because who here has heard of a braided police chief, or of someone in a position of public trust, that's braided, it doesn't happen. You should have known that, but you were arrogant and dismissive of any ethical or moral standard. Now myself and many others saw this coming last year as you lied your way through your campaign. You made yourself a victim of the system, but the real victim is now the town, because it is at your hands that we are in this mess. Every person I've personally spoken with, is rather paying more in taxes than lose our PD. Maybe you all would know that if you cared enough about the town to ask, but you all do not care and has been made abundantly clear. Vice Mayor Net is on the Brady Gaglio list, placed there by the Commonwealth Attorney. He now also has an advisory opinion against him telling him not to talk or vote and then an investigation was announced today. Mayor Brato was suspended from the coalition of Loudentowns, the first time that's ever happened in the organization's history. Why do you all think you're the victims? Do you know Brato, Net, Luke and Cleal all think you are so important that all these institutions and other powers are against you and colluding against you? Why are you so self-important? This is Perseville, lower yourselves, shrink those egos a bit, and maybe we can stop this boat from totally sinking. It's day 112 by Wata Racer, still the same. Despite your two dumb promise to lower them on day one, you've made a move to lower them starting July 1st, but the cost of cutting our police department, at the cost of our police officers, at the cost of our safety, at the cost of our festivals, at the cost of our parades, at the cost of our small town, yet another empty set of promises from the Blue Ridge layer slate, transparency gone, slow growth gone, citizens first gone, They, chair, chair, chair, chair, chair, chair, chair, chair, chair, chair, chair, chair, chair, chair, chair, chair, chair, chair, chair, chair, chair, chair, chair, chair, chair, chair, chair, chair, chair, chair, chair, chair, chair, chair, chair, chair, chair, chair, chair, chair, chair, chair, chair, chair, chair, chair, the Fifth Town Council meeting, which was my first to participate in part, due to council's decision regarding the Main Street Virginia program. Program that I see is once again on the agenda this evening, and I still hope the council will see the benefit of the program and choose to heed the advice of businesses and citizens and understand that yes, it does take money to get grants and staff time. Yet, heating the advice and input of our citizens is something that the majority members of this body seem not to care about and stubbornly resist. There are so many items that I could speak about tonight as it seems like each new day brings a new revelation of misconduct, gross negligence, malfeasance, potentially illegal and definitely unethical actions. I could bring up new investigations by any number of parties over the past month, including today's enhancement by the Office of the Attorney General. But I'll leave this for everybody else in the room. You guys have brought us all together as a town. Congratulations on that. Instead I'll simply state this to the four of you, well, three plus Mr. Net. Are you prepared to take this fight the whole way through it? Are you or your hidden benefactors ready with open wallets and stubborn hearts to fight a battle that winner-lose absolutely will cost you thousands of dollars, time, sleepless nights, media coverage, likely negative for our town, unfortunately. Are you willing to spend the time, energy, sweat, and tears to see this through, knowing that in less than two or four years, you will lose any real election campaign that you might melt. Give it some deep thought, because I can tell you without a doubt that the widely diverse, highly energized group of residents and volunteers that have brought this fight to your doorstep, we are ready, we are willing, and we are funded to see it through. Maybe it's time you better choose what is right for yourselves in our town. Resign. The next speaker is Elizabeth Ford. Do we have Elizabeth Ford? I mean, now she's coming out to lift this in the middle of the nurse. And after Elizabeth we have Mary Jane Williams. A 23-year-old young woman would have died if the personal police department hadn't arrived in seven minutes after she was found in a diabetic coma. A 14-year-old girl was assaulted by a family member, barricaded herself in a room, pulled out through a window by the PPD. If the loudened sheriff's office wouldn't have been close enough, she would have been too late. A child almost died at their hands of their mentally ill mother, who claimed voices were telling her to kill the child, PPD intervened, and saved that child's life. 40 low-goal children, including some of these beautiful ones, come to the homework club, post it, and run by our Perseville Police Department and myself, Better Better Life, who chooses to feed the children in Perseville that need it most. And over time, they became safe when they first met them. They were scared. They only saw lights on versus lights off. You want to turn those lights off for them. I've witnessed PPD go above and beyond. Genuine care, net never showed up to homework club. Removing individuals who pose danger to themselves, immediately responding to concerns. These are not isolated events. These are concerns about children with visible signs of harm that I personally have seen and addressed with the PPD, who take care of these babies in this community. Why would you risk the lives when it's known that officers from Leesburg or somewhere else cannot ride fast enough response time 10 to 15 minutes instead of six? Why would you remove the peace of mind that allows us to walk our streets and I not only worry about a chicken? Seriously we're in Perseville. All right now of CPR, defibrillation, chances of survival decreases by 7 to 10 percent times that by an additional 10 minutes when the PPD can't get there. You're risking the lives of this community and I ask you to stop. Thank you. The next speaker is Mary Jane Williams, followed by Nicole Hosta. Next up is Mary Jane Williams, followed by Nicole Acosta. It's a little hard to go after Elizabeth, but good morning and thank you. Good afternoon and thank you to the town council. My name is Mary Jane Williams and I reside at 313 Locust Grove Drive in Perseville. Tonight's comments are jammed packed with thank you. Thank you Justin Murrell for sharing his insight to the happiness around town with the council. It gave us a step-by-step and I truly appreciated it. Thank you to Sheriff Chapman with this explanation of working papers found in tonight's agenda relating to the relationship between the county sheriff's department and the town of Perseville. The town departments for expressing in common day language reason why keeping the police is vitally important to the daily working sub- our town. To Hannah, Karen and Christina for sharing the breaking news, regarding the criminal investigation into the esteemed vice mayor of our town council. Council members, Brainer, right and stout for being role models for the younger generation. You complete tasks assigned to you. You ask for help before the due date and you show up ready to discuss the vital issues of the town. La down in the HR department. Are we still looking for a new chief? If so, is this the majority of the town council making you do extra work from preparing applications to sorting applications to sharing them with the town council, creating an interview calendar. I thank you for being dedicated to your job and working for us. Council member Rainer, and the independent strong willed women of the town staff. You are showing the younger generation that is fine to have an opinion to express your opinion. You are sending the message that think for yourselves and be strong. It is not bad to be an independent thinker. Although Mayor Brito and Town Manager Frazier told me that when I first started, I was a flipper and a fraud for having an independent thought. So those two ladies who read what is given to them start to think on your own. You're connected to the three men controlling the narrative and they're not doing well. In fact, one is facing a criminal investigation. Do you want to be next? The report on defunding the police. So many issues and so little time. The Pull-in House. How can you give it to Laundering County Sheriff's Department when it doesn't exist anymore? Page 3-8 of your report. Thank you. Next we have Nicolaosta followed by Amy Nieberger. Good evening mayor and council members my name is Nicole Acosta and I'm a resident of Perstville for the last 16 years. I'm here tonight only representing myself and not any organization. I would like to express concerns about the ongoing discussions regarding the potential disbanding of our police department. It's a town resident and someone who spent 12 years in my career working in the field of domestic and sexual violence intervention, in a setting that partnered closely with local law enforcement, I'm concerned about the impact of such a decision and the impact on town residents. I'm also concerned about whether proper legal procedures have been followed to make such a decision. The Commonwealth Attorney has suggested that Council may have acted outside of State Code and that's something that warrants further review before any permanent actions are taken. The services provided by Percival Police Department are an important part of our town's public safety. If we choose to partner with the county through LCSO, the details of that partnership should be made clear to the public as well as the county as a partner before any decisions are made. I'm also concerned about the council's general decision making process during budget deliberations. It seems that major changes are being considered without the benefit of staff reports or consultants input or following town state, town and state policies and procedures which raise concerns about transparency, ethics and governance. In addition, proposals to transfer the meals tax revenue from the general fund and adjust water rates deserves more public discussion. These financial shifts may affect every resident, can affect the town's credit rating and decisions of this magnitude should be made with clear data and public input. I also want to express support for the Main Street Revitalization Program. Small businesses are a cornerstone of small towns like ours and important part of our economy. Thank you for your time and consideration. Next we have Amy Nieberger followed by Dan Reed. Thank you. I am Amy Nieberger and I have lived in Perseville since 2009. I own the historic case family farmhouse, also known as the Big Red House on Maple Avenue. I am a business owner, a mom, and a Gold Star family member. I am alarmed by the proposal to eliminate the Perseville Police Department. As a home and business owner, I worry that my insurance rates will go up if the department is eliminated, and that my property value will go down. The police department is such an essential part of our community. The chief did my fingerprints when I applied to be an adoptive mom 15 years ago. When I became a licensed foster parent I learned quickly that I needed a village to help me. The police department ensured our home and the vulnerable kids we cared for stayed safe. They helped us find a child who snuck out at night because the officers knew the community well. I'm sorry, I just need a breath. They came to my home from medical emergencies and secured the scene when one of our foster kids was hit by a car in front of the McDonald's. When a neighbor harassed us, they gave us advice to diffuse the situation. Police officers are also needed for all of the events our town holds, including the Memorial Day ceremony a year which honors people like my brother, US Army Specialist Christopher Nyberger who was killed in action in the Iraq War in 2007. I have always been touched that the communities still honors our family's service and sacrifice. And I would hate to see those ceremonies end because we don't have law enforcement support. Good governance is not about giving paybacks to someone who helped you get elected. It is not about refusing to communicate or not working with others. It is about what is doing in the best interest of our community. I call on the town council to work together to keep our police department, engage our community in dialogue and figure out solutions to our budget problems that work in all of our best interests. Thank you. The next speaker is Dan Reed, followed by Christy Morgan. Hello. Since the day is a path for Henry, Virginia has always stood for unrestricted citizen input. Your two minute restriction on speakers is ridiculously cowardly and a socialist act. Why are you afraid of? Why not let people speak? But anyway, there's one thing we all have in common. When we were looking for a home for a place to be, we looked at Percivil and we said just the way it is, we can settle it. We can be there. Whatever its issues are, we can live with them. No one said, well, if we can just recreate it and turn it upside down, then we can move there. So that, in and of itself, says a lot. Percival has existed for over 100 years as a community-driven municipality with a spirit of togetherness. No elite group directed it. It stood on the fact that the majority of citizens chose the path it took. Now, to the voting majority, I wanna address the rest of my comments. At this meeting under State statute, you have one opportunity to undo the damage you did with the passing of the zoning ordinance. You can bring the ordinance back for reconsideration. This opportunity only exists for this evening. Passage of the zoning ordinance was cloaked in darkness. The majority of the town's citizens still are unaware of what you did to them. Bring the ordinance back in the light of day, interact, and inform the citizens before you move forward. The ordinance, as passed, represents a wholesale taking from the citizens. Overlays, downzundings, redistricting, all are takings. This ill-fated action is going to result in lower assessments. My preliminary discussions with Loudon County bearers this out and they said in 2026 that you will probably see a drop-off in assessed values because of the impact of the zoning ordinance. At the time you're drastically altering the revenue streams of Perseville, you're also setting up a scenario where the assessed values drop and the real estate tax revenues drop with it. Thank you. The very thing you're going to get. Next speaker is Christy Morgan, followed by Annie Bailey. You know what? This is Rudy D'Akula's carry on. Thank you. Mr. Mayor, I believe Christy Morgan was unable to attend, but she did send an email to be read into the record. Okay, please proceed. I'm unable to be there in person tonight due to a medical issue, but I truly wish I could be. Once again, the majority and their political ally have demonstrated their incompetence, their lack of understanding of how to govern, and their vindictive behavior. While many in town may not have fully grasped what's been happening, a core group has worked hard to shed light on it, the very group that net believed were the only ones who shared our positions. It began with the firing of Rick Bremseff and the appointment of your political ally, first as interim, and now as the official town manager, despite being unqualified for the role. Our town is at a financial tipping point, much of it due to Frazier's actions, and instead of bringing in someone with real governing experience to write the ship, you put the fox in the hen house. We have the required petitions and they will be submitted. Nets votes will be overturned due to conflict of interest and the potential for personal gain. The hundreds of citizens who have shown up and signed are sending a clear message they want their town back. To borrow a phrase, we want our town council meetings to be boring again. For those who haven't yet signed the petitions, we have volunteers here tonight and another signing event tomorrow. Take the opportunity to stand up against the majority and the current town manager. Your voice matters, let it be heard. Applause Next speaker is Annie Bailey to be followed by Beverly Chason. Hi, my name is Annie Bailey, 156 Pasitano Court, and I am a resident as well as an employee in the town of Percivil. My husband and I are both teachers in town and I wanted to address how the dismantling of the police department takes away a layer of safety in our schools. When fully staffed, there are seven police officers on duty and police in Percivil during school hours. That is seven police officers who could get to any of the five public schools in Perseville in under five minutes. That's not even including Patrick Henry College and the numerous preschools and daycares in town. You cannot believe the same would happen if we relied solely on the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office. The presence of the Perseville Police Department is not just reactive in situations that arise. They are proactive in keeping our community safe. Their presence at chunker tree events, at parades, at baseball games, and other big ton of... BAM! Department is not just reactive in situations that arise. They are proactive in keeping our community safe. They're present at chunker tree events, at parades, at baseball games, and other big town events at a layer of security. They have their home art club and our president and community to let people know they care and are here to help. The way this process has been initiated is reckless. I believe some actions are being taken in a hasty manner and are reactive of emotions involved. I teach kindergarten and we talk about how you can't solve a problem if you are not calm and level headed. Our budget is a problem you are trying to solve but we are not witnessing a calm approach to it. Dismantering the police department should be a last resort to balancing the budget. There is always another way if you work hard enough. The personal police officers are the good guys. They get up each morning to protect us and help make this community what it is. You cannot put a price tag on living in the safest town in Virginia. So I respectfully ask you for specifically, do you want to be the good guys or the bad guys in this story? I also would like to remind you that you are representatives of the people and their wishes. Walk around town and you will see neither the citizens of Percivil nor the businesses in town want you to dismantle the police. I hope you make the right choices. The next speaker is Beverly Chasen to be followed by Marty Clogan. Mayor and members of the First of all town council, Beverly Chasen, 110, or 28th Street, Perseville, Virginia. My comments tonight are directed to the Mayberry Council and Mr. Frazier. During your campaign, you may promises to people that you knew you couldn't keep. Fresher, you knew those were hollow promises. You've been around here long enough to know that. Every meeting with our financial consultants, staff, and previous town managers said what you were proposing couldn't be done without destroying our credit rating and or services. Either you thought you were smarter than them or you didn't care. You didn't make these false promises to just people. You made them to friends, to family and neighbors. They voted for you because you told them what they wanted to hear and they trusted you. Bernie made off was able to carry out his Ponzi scheme for over a decade because his clients were his friends, were his family, and were his neighbors. They trusted him. Perhaps if he voted to abolish the police department, he would have been stopped much sooner. Council member Nat took it a step further and he let his fellow officers down. They voted for him for the police officer of the year because they trusted what he told them. He is now a disgrace to his uniform. Your campaign poster, citizens first, slow growth, physical responsibility, transparency. You have completely violated all of your campaign promises, except slow growth. That one is safe because our new zoning ordinance suffocates new business opportunities. Percivilism now united. We are united. With the petition signing and we have met hundreds of citizens over the past few weeks, many that voted for you. Thank you to Aaron, Caleb Kevan, the Perseville Police Department, the Sheriff Chapman, the Commonwealth Attorney, and all that citizens here for supporting Perseville. We are united. Let's have Marty Cloten followed by Dan Carville. Hello, I'm here tonight. My name is Marty Browns or Cloten. I'm here tonight in a capacity of a Proud Retired Perseval Police Officer, hired 1989. I served for eight years on the PPD as an officer and later the sergeant of the first squad we ever fielded in Perseveral. I retired due to a line of duty illness, it almost killed me while I was protecting the citizens of Perseval in 1998. I graduated first in my Academy class, 74 session, Northern Virginia Criminal Justice Academy, received the Valor Award in 1998 for my service during Hurricane Fran assisting the county. My squad of five took great pride in protecting this town, interacting with our local residents and children, participating, assisting and hosting multiple community events. We were, and the PPD still is the very definition of community policing, and we were a model. Two things are gonna happen here, service how are you going to duplicate the five-minute or less PPD response time with current county resources? It's not feasible. I live in a western part in filamont. Sheriff's Office response time is very between 10, maybe 30 minutes, depending on the time of day. How busy the county is, why? County why? Personal cannot expect any additional service beyond what all the rest of us in Western Loudon already received. As the economic hub of Western Loudon full of schools, businesses, residents, making personal the largest Virginia town without a local police department in my opinion, professional opinion is dangerous. I can recite numerous examples when a PPD officer arrived first, sometimes minutes before fire rescue the county or anyone, and saved the life, crashes, vehicle crashes, suicide attempts, assaults, me personally as well. In a critical incident, every minute is an eternity. Having personal PD here has saved multiple lives over a century cost. If Loudoun County Sheriff's Office in the county must assume the additional and now total public safety responsibilities for the three square miles of personal, the commercial hub of the west, there will be substantial costs involved. And I can say the rest of the Southern County's 400,000 plus citizens will not want to subsidize the town of Percival if you disband the BPD. The town is going to have to pay for all the new deputies, vehicles, resources and stations just to duplicate patrol function, let alone our community function. I think it's a very, very bad idea. Thank you. Thank you. Daniel Carville should be followed by Christian Reiner. Daniel Carville, 224, absolutely, terrorists. First I want to express how deeply disturbed I am that our new town manager would release such critical information to the public without formal discussions with Lawn County Sheriff's Office. This lack of due diligence demonstrates that you are not qualified for it to hold this position. Perseville deserves a professional town manager, not a politician playing with public safety to lower water rates. We're talking about police response times. We are talking about life and death for our residents. In June of 2019, a Percivil's police officer was dispatched to a domestic violence call about an armed and raised man threatening his family and himself with a knife. While en route to the situation escalated, dispatch reported that this suspect was pouring gasoline throughout the home and on himself. The officer arrived swiftly, three minute response time because he was in a adjacent neighborhood. Once the family was evacuated from the home, the officer was searching for the suspect, approached the residents, heard a loud explosion and screaming. He then saw a man fully engulfed in flames and running from the house without hesitation or regard for his own life or safety. The officer radioed for medical assistance and rushed to the suspect's aid using his bare hands to put out the flames. This is a heroic act of bravery undowally saved this man's life and the family. If we had had a 15 minute response time, this would have been a very, very different result. This officer is named David Lieutenant Camp of the Perseville Police Department. I have known David Camps as my children were in diapers. Thank you. He is a hero to my children and he is my hero. Sorry, I'm sorry. He is also one of the 13 heroes our town council is trying to eliminate. May God bless the men and women of the Purseville to police department. Thank you for your time. The next speaker is Christian Reiner. To be followed by Becky Darden. Hi, the Christian Reiner, 108 Upper Hayford Place, Perseville. These meetings used to be, and they're supposed to be painfully boring. Taxes, zoning, public event announcement, but guess what? It's turning into circus. It's because of you, and I would point at another one there, but, Mr. Shamie's not here. The another wildest part of these meetings, having watched these over and over again, nothing gets done. We should change that and say one step forward, two steps back. And thankfully, that's the leadership of Mr. Innovative Solutions over there that's driven that. I'm speaking tonight because the decisions being made, they're not just foolish, they're dangerous, and they're long lasting. Ignoring our town's finance department, as if bankrupting the town is a strategy, hiring a clearly unqualified buddy of yours to run the town, and then now trying to dismantle a 100-year-old police department. A guy gets fired and then the week after is allowed to vote to dissolve his ex-employer. Spite is a very powerful motivator but ignorance from the other Cronies is on another level. But hey, I guess it's fine. The county's going to pay for it. We'll never have to pay for water ever again. And Percival can sleep sound in bed tonight knowing that a security guard is going to be on a storefront somewhere in Percival. So that was one of the proposals. I brought my kids here tonight for three reasons. The first to show their support for their mum. Yes. Yep. APPLAUSE We're alongside Caleb and Kevin, a fighting for the people of this town. They're showing my kids what persistence, principle, and public service really look like. Second, to show them that bullies always get what's coming to them. Those who abuse power intimidate staff and make decisions behind closed doors get exposed, and they get removed. And finally, to prove that even my first grade daughter could do a better job leading this town. You see, she listens to her friends. She trusts the experts around her, and she was taught to treat others with respect. That's basically the ship, ladies and gentlemen. Something lacking in this room. Thank you. And that speaker is Becky Gardner. She's followed by Amanda Dayton. All right. My name is Becky Gardner, 410 South Nursery. Authority without integrity yields corruption. That's what we're seeing right now. And that's exactly why I wanted to speak tonight. What we're witnessing in Percival are not disagreements and they're not policy differences. Its corruption, masked as procedure, carried out by a majority more focused on power than public service. You may hold office, but that doesn't make you a leader. You may cast votes, but that doesn't mean you serve the people. And you may have the authority to dismantle silence and replace, but that doesn't make it right. Let's name it. A police department, a credited, respected, and part of what made this the safest town in Virginia was set to be eliminated without public input. Not because it failed, but because certain council members thought they could. A fired police officer flagged on the Brady list for dishonesty under state investigation cast a vote to disband the very department he once served. That's not oversight. That's personal vengeance turned into policy. A mayor removed from the coalition of Loudoun Towns for failing to act with transparency now hides behind process while trust crumbles. A former mayor bought the town manager role and now sits atop the rubble of the system he helped collapse. And rounding out this disgrace, council members who act little more than puppets, reading from scripts and calling that representation. The people of Perseval deserve more than placeholders in those seats. We deserve representatives with voices of their own and we'd love to hear your voices. When you stop listening to your community, when you weaponize your position, you tear down institutions that protect us. You are not governing, you are exploiting, and let me be clear, this town is not yours to exploit. Thank you. Next speaker is Amanda Dayton. to we follow by Joan Lair? Good evening Council members. My name is Amanda Dayton and I own the business located at 151 West Main Street. I am here tonight in multiple capacities as a business owner, a property owner, an EDAC member and the president of the Percival Main Street program. I wanted to take a moment to follow up regarding the town's participation in the Virginia Main Street program. I hope that over the past month you have had the opportunity to learn more about this valuable initiative, which is different than Main Street America or Main Street USA, which is Disney, by the way. While I understand that your schedules have been busy, I was hoping to see some of you at our steering committee meetings. I didn't. So there's that. Nevertheless, I trust that you have been able to review the materials that we shared. Meanwhile, the personal mainstream organization has been active, filing our incorporation paperwork, working on our non-profit status. We have also submitted approximately $40,000 worth of grant applications aimed at various restoration projects in town, including supporting one of our oldest businesses in revitalizing their business model to ensure their continued presence in our community. Importantly, these grants do not require matching funds from the town. Our Main Street program is made up of dedicated residents and business owners who are investing their time and resources for free and revitalizing our town. As I mentioned to the town council meeting last month, we are not seeking financial support, but rather the letter of support which has already been submitted and incurs no additional costs to the town. Conversely, creating a resolution to withdraw town support is going to involve costs related to attorney and staff time as well as additional distress from constituents. Councilwoman Luke, you expressed your support for our organization at the previous meeting and I look forward to your continued support and backing now that you've had the opportunity to confirm that there are no costs involved. I was going to address Councilman Net, but he's not here, but I hope that his interest in economic development has led him to request the Edak liaison position. You get the point. I'm going to end with this. I'm going to share a quote, people in small towns, much more than in cities, share a destiny. The decisions that you make impact all of us, our quality of life, safety, convenience and livelihoods. And I hope you're really taking that seriously. Next speaker is Joan Lair to be followed by Heidi Shields. Hi Joan Lair, 824 Woodbind Court and also a business owner here in town. I spent eight years sitting where you sit and let me tell you something if we did what you did this town would have been gone years ago. You're elected by the people and you were, you keep talking about it, they elected us. But the people are questioning why they voted for you. The platform, lower water bills by 50% day one. That's what was said when you walk the streets. And we'll be transparent counsel. Well, the water bills cannot be lowered 50%. I'm not even going to tell you that you're, and the 10% you're talking about is going to save households anywhere from $150 to $500 a year. I think the police station is worth a whole lot more than that. The word transparency is not even in your vocabulary. Nothing that you've done since you've been here is transparent. You did not say you were going to fire the town manager and put your cohort in the position, even though he had no qualifications until you voted to change the qualifications. You did not tell them that you had a plan to make net police chief, which is really what the plan was behind closed doors. You did not say that you were going to disband the police department, but you did that after you needed retaliation for nets being fired. The votes that you made for these things were unethical, if not illegal. The attorney should be fully aware of conflict of interest issues as they impacted his career at a point. A person and employee in a direct line of position should recuse himself or herself from discussion and voting on any issue that impacts their line of management or their department. Now you're trying to disband the police department in an amendment to charter. Don't even know the town rules. You have to have a public hearing to make any changes to the code in charter. You just can't just do this without public input. Maybe your attorney should know that too. And you did not, I'm gonna keep talking. You did not speak to the Loudoun County Service Department yet you said you did and then Quasie said did not deny what you said that he'd already spoken those are two major lies to the public as a resident I thank you the next speaker is Heidi sheels I believe that the town should consider finding a Katie co-op As you have seen during the meeting some members of council are not informed about their agenda changes, motions that we read by the Mayberry members. It was clear that the attorney was aware of these changes prior to the meeting. This is the last meeting. And that he works for the, he's supposed to work for the council as a home as a whole. No communication should go to the council member or town manager without copying the entire council. That was a process we had in place for years. VA rules and professional conduct state that the lawyer should not intentionally prejudice or damage a client during a course of professional relationship with holding information from only specific members of council or not responding to specific members of council's is against the rules. The residents and the owners of businesses in Percival are speaking loudly and they want a fresh start. They want the council members that will work together to discuss this. Can you please allow the next speaker to approach the podium? Bottom line is, resign because the courts are going to take the next step. And it's not going to be far. Next speaker is Heidi Shields to be followed by Katie Copeland. Hello, my name is Heidi Shields. I'm an eighth grader at Blue Ridge Middle School. I'm here to speak about the decision you made at the end of the last meeting to get rid of the police department. We are young, but we are not just teenagers. I was not forced to be up here by my parents, but I chose to be up here representing all the students and teenagers in this community. You are defunding a police department group that keeps our town extremely safe. We are ranked top 10 safest in Virginia for crime and ranked 17th in property crime nationally. That's what you're getting rid of. Not only that you are getting rid of 16 police members that have families, you're taking away their jobs for what? So the water bill would be lower? Find other ways that do that that don't include taking away our safety. You guys said we have an opportunity to strengthen police's principles feature by partnering with the Aladdin County Sheriff Office. We will provide a better public safety access broader resources and and reduce over 3 million and expenses, allowing us to lower taxes for our residents. How would you strengthen Percival's future by putting our safety in the hands of a sheriff department that has to look out for all of Latin County? How will that work when the response time is currently five minutes, and now it's to be moved to 15 minutes. Five minutes is enough to save a life. 15 is enough to lose one. Think carefully. Thank you. Next speaker is Katie Copeland to be followed by Haley Shields. Good evening councilmembers. My name is Katie Copeland, 704 Woodenbridge Drive and I'm here because I'm deeply concerned about the decision you made to dismantle the Persevered Police Department. The decision which is framed as a way to save $3 million seems less about fiscal responsibility and more about personal agendas. It is this, if this is what we truly value about the budget, why hasn't it not been collaborated or have basic communication with the Loud and County Sheriff's Department or show that you have any understanding about the real impact of this move. What's even more alarming is how you step this, how, how to step this decision is but the will of the people of this town. Week after week residents come forward asking to be heard, asking for transparency, asking for accountability and instead the council continues to push through drastic changes that will permanently change our town forever. Our local police department knows this town. They are part of our community. Dismantering them without a clear, thoughtful community-supported plan is not leadership. It is pure recklessness. I urge you stop. Listen and do the work the town elected you to do. Because this is not about a budget line. This is about the future and safety of our town. Next we have Haley Shields to be followed by in Perseville, I'm a 10th grader at Loud and Valley High School. Today I'm standing up for what I think is right. Forbue, I don't think I have to name names. Are abusing your power in position. Four against three. Who will win that every single time? It doesn't matter what the community says. You can do whatever you choose because of the split between the council. I don't think that's fair and I don't think the town should be in the hands of four people to choose whether or not they should be getting rid of the police department. If you go through this, it won't help the town, and that's what you should be doing. You should be doing what's best for the town. That's why you're in these seats right now. Look at me in my eyes and tell me that you aren't doing this for your own agenda. The town trusted you with this position and you're abusing it. You're defunding a police department group that keeps our town extremely safe. We're ranked top town in Virginia, like my sister said. And you're taking away their jobs. Thank you for letting me stand here today. I hope that by the time you decide to get rid of the police department, that the recall is already an action and a go. To everyone behind me, since my sister and I can't, please sign the petition to recall these four members standing in front sitting in front of me. Make this happen before you do not deserve a chair at that table stands thing. Thank you. next speaker is Jeff Pedrick to be followed by Daniel Harris. Sorry, I'm a good little bit taller thandy, Jeff Hedrick, 433 on Chase Court. Recently this is written for Mr. Ned, but he's not here. Mayor, where is he? I'd be kind of cool to tell us. But anyways, during this Ernest's campaign, he liked to tell his grandiose accomplishments in background, most of which folks have rightly raised a skeptical eye to, but one thing that he correctly promoted was the work of the personal police department. In his campaign, he talked about the personal police role in catching a student, bringing a gun to Blue Ridge Middle School. As a parent of two middle schoolers, I thank Mr. Net and the personal police for their role in this. That alone plus all the numerous stories I've been told past hour alone justifies the personal police department in this cluel. For you to say that the police department is a drain on our resources, that is horribly wrong. You should be ashamed to even say that. To the team Mayberry, what discussions have been conduct about this being the police? What do the consultants review the police department say? Are you going to make that report public? Is there a report? I feel something that should be shared. Why do you hold a vote on such an important topic when council members doubt was not in attendance? Why was net included on this? As the Commonwealth Attorney correctly stated, there is an obvious conflict of interest and another, another, and a long line of unethical behavior displayed by team Mayberry. Net even said during that meeting that he was the last to come to the decision that the police department should be disbanded. This gives the appearance of ongoing discussions between net and the three of you. Because he was terminated April 4th, and you all made it decisionally for late. So either you have discussed in those four days or you were including him and stuff he should not have been and you all know that. Either way the smells of corruptions and gives credence that net has acted with a conflict of interest and state one and never should have been allowed to put forth a motion of fire, town manager, Brimzith and higher mayor phrasier, who a carol who called mayor phrasier. That's how he acts. Lastly, I just want to thank Council Member Stout, right and reiner. The three of you, you should look to the left and right. That is how leadership, honor and integrity is done. None of which you three have. Applause Next speaker is Daniela Harris. To be followed by Chris Kermode. Good evening. Daniela Harris. I'm at 504 East Antietietam Court also a 22-year resident of Percibel. My comments are directed to the Mayberry Town Council and the Town Manager. Today I stand before you, not just as a concerned citizen, but as a voice for so many who feel the weight of recent decisions that have affected the heart and soul of our community and our small town that we love. I urge each one of you to take a moment for profound self-reflection because that's what leaders do. Leaders serve others and most importantly, they listen. Consider deeply the impact your choices have had on the citizens of this town. Also, your friends, your family, and your own community. The damage inflicted upon Percival is not a fleeting issue. It is a profound disturbance that will require years likely to mend. The level of short-sightedness exhibited in recent decisions is staggering and quite honestly is beyond comprehension. Yet week after week, this pattern continues. To compel the mistakes of the past, doubling down on actions instead of listening again have left many of us bewildered. It's almost like a made for TV movie, sadly. It appears that the facts are being twisted to fit a narrative that is detrimental to the community you are supposed to serve. This relentless pursuit seems not only to ignore the voices of the community, but also to actively work against the very fabric that holds the town together. It seems at times that there is a determination to dismantle rather than to build the community. I implore each one of you to return to the basics of common sense and integrity, two things also missing. As you look ahead, remember the responsibility you hold and the trust that has been placed in you by your community. If you can't do the job, please resign. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. After Chris from Oed, we will have Caitlin Sirotkin. Good evening, everybody. Chris Kromot, I stay in front of you as a 17 resident of the town of Perciville. Not in any other fashion, as I do hold other responsibilities in this town. Don't be fooled. This is a bad deal for Percivil. Let's be honest, the proposal to shut down the Percivil Police Department and hand control to the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office isn't forward thinking. It's a shortcut. It's an attempt to solve complex problems with simple outsourcing moves that sells out our town's identity, independence, and safety in the name of so-called efficiency. Cost savings is a red herring here. They're dangling $3 million in savings figure like a carrot. But there's long-term financial plan. Where is it? Once Perseville is locked into a contract with the county, those contracts and costs will go up. You think the Sheriff's Office is a charity? Nope, it is a government vendor relationship, and we will be on the hook for future increases with no real leverage. The sheriff and the chairman of the Supervisors just told you so in their public statements. Let's not pretend we're saving money when we're just delaying the bill and handing away control in the process. Your diminishing community trust for a spreadsheet. Our officers are part of this community. They know the kids, they know the streets, the store owners, community policing as an align item. It's built on relationships. This plan destroys that. The Mayberry feel that we keep hearing about won't survive this move because it won't be local anymore. Staffing problems, then fix them. The argument that we can't compete on officer pay as a cop out. If we're willing to pay share of office a premium contract, why aren't we investing that money in our town department instead? In Pune pay, offer incentives, build a real career path, don't use a man-made staffing crisis, mainly made by this former town council and members of it, including the former mayor, as a staffing crisis, justifying blowing up the entire institution. If your roof leaks, you fix it. You don't burn down the house and then turn to your neighbors and live in their attic. Bottom line, this isn't smart, it's not fair and it's definitely not in the best interest of Perseville. We're being asked to surrender safety, trust and control all for the premise of money that may never materialize and services that aren't guaranteed. Say no to this plan, say no to giving what Perseville makes safe, connected, and ours. It's your team, Mayor Berry. You ran on the platform of Mayberry, not Metropolis. Unfortunately, all you brought us is mayhem. You should be ashamed of yourselves. The next speaker is Caitlin Serotkin, to be followed by Dustin Herman. Good evening, town council. My name is Caitlin Serotkin. I am a town resident. I live on Pincost Drive in the May fair community with my family. My husband and my two teenagers. My two teenagers work in town. My daughter serves you ice cream at Grudos. A job she is dreamed of having since we moved here when she was nine years old. My son is umpiring. The upper loud and literally game on Hask Field right across the street right now as we speak, which is why my whole family couldn't be here tonight. My son also mows your lawns. I'm here to talk to you about how your decision to dismantle the personal police department is personal to us and the practicalities and not the politics. Our family moved to the town of Percival primarily because of how safe and convenient it is to walk, bike, work, shop, and get around town. The Percival Police Department has helped our family on more than one occasions. From small things, like when one of my daughters good younger friends was missing in our neighborhood, they quickly located her within 10 minutes. To a situation when we were receiving threats from unknown members on the dark web, including threats to rape my daughter, the Percival Police Department covered shifts when the Sheriff's Office could not cover shifts to monitor our neighborhood to make sure nothing strange was happening on our street. Personally, in March, I was in a live shooting incident out of state, but it was due to the quick response of the police department in the city that I was in that allows me and my daughter to be here today. I stayed barricaded in a closet for 30 minutes when my daughter ran for her life. I cannot imagine what would happen in our high schools, which we have two of in our town, some of you didn't know that when you took office. I can't imagine what would happen with a live shooting incident in our schools if we don't have the quick response that the Percival Police Department allows us. We pay more to live in a town, and I'm gonna finish like you allowed some of the other members of the public to do. We pay more to live in the town than we did when we lived in the county. My family lived in Aldi before this, and we pay more for the services the town should be providing. One of those primary services the town provides is the local police department. If you get rid of that, why bother even being a town? It's just more expensive to live in and you have no way to implement your priorities and policies that you as a council implement. My teenagers are currently able to safely shop, do their jobs, bike, walk around town, attend school sporting events, which sometimes get out of hand in town due to the fact that we have a dedicated department that has created a community of safety and well-being for our residents as a primary objective. Residents know they're going to be paying more when they live in town. And they move here and pay more to live here in exchange for the town services that you should be providing. I'm gonna finish. I think that we have 18 more speakers. You're actually not allowed to do that. We have 18 more speakers after you. Waiting for you. You cannot, you will violate first amendment rights. My not allowing me to finish when you've allowed other speakers to finish. I'm well versed in public service and the rules and regulations that you are bound by. You should try attending a loud and counted supervisors meeting. You are giving me two minutes. I'm attended many. Yeah, but you let other people continue and so I'm allowed to continue now. We expect to be provided with these services. If you need to raise taxes or water rates in order to provide safe water and safe community for the long term please finally buy the bullet to pass before a town is stripped of all the bases special. In fact as a town of tax paying resident I would We have a great salary for our police department so we can attract the best bid date of what they deserve. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Thanks for having me. Thanks for having me. Thanks for having me. Thanks for having me. Thanks for having me. Thanks for having me. Thanks for having me. Thanks for having me. Thanks for having me. Thanks for having me. Thanks for having me. Thanks for having me. Thanks and Shields. Good evening. A foolish consistency. Ralph? We're good? All right. I don't need the time. Dustin Herman, I've been a resident of Percival, 316 Locust Grove for over eight years. Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, a foolish consistency is a hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and devines. This suggests that a rigid adherence to a set of beliefs or actions, even when they no longer seem appropriate, is a characteristic of small-mindedness. It implies that true intelligence and greatness lie in the ability to adapt, learn, and change one's thinking in light of new information or circumstances. To the council majority, you have the ability to change your mind. Take a look around the room today. Look outside. Is this what you imagined would be the case when you campaigned a year ago? I had one of the council majority members stand on my front porch while campaigning as a neighbor, as someone who walked their kids to school right by my house, and convinced me of their plan to reduce water and sewer rates. Like a majority of voters, I believe it. I don't anymore. I changed my mind. Why? Not once did this person bring up defunding our police department to make that happen. I mean, why would he? He was a Perseval police officer of the year. I changed my mind. You can too. Listen to your constituents. Do we really want to be the largest town of Virginia without a police force? You can change your mind to the council majority specifically, Ms. Luke, Ms. Khalil. Just because you join this council as the majority doesn't mean you have to stay in that camp. Vote your consciousness, vote your heart, vote the wishes of your neighbors and friends. Don't vote just because a mayor and a vice mayor tells you what to do. Have a backbone and for the love of God, do the right thing. I'm going to go to the next floor. I'm going to go to the next floor. I'm going to go to the next floor. I'm going to go to the next floor. I'm going to go to the next floor. I'm going to go to the next floor. I'm going to go to the next floor. I'm going to go to the next floor. I'm going to go to the next floor. I wanted to take a moment for a few of you. Maybe you can have it a little extra time to read some job applications if you still need. Science is weird, right? It's what our town feels like. Dear lack of responses, do better. Listen to your constituents. Applause After Suéla Murlow, we have Stephanie Keeney. Hi, my name is Suéla Marlo. I live at 517 Kinmery Circle. I'm an elementary school teacher in town, a soccer coach. I live in town, and I have two kids that go to school here. One of the great things in this town is our police department. The way they work with the community, with the schools, with the sheriff's department, on behalf of the community. A few reasons we moved here was safety in the community, the schools, a small town feel, and I love the parades. For my kids growing up in Perseville, is being able to safely walk to school, ride to school, and walk around school and town. I know that they are safe, but also held accountable. Not only because of the vigilance of our police force, but also because of the relationships our police officers build with the kids and they care and exercise in this community. To have hazardly pull the rug out from under our police is to also pull the rug out from under our community. I think this is absolutely ridiculous to get rid of the police. Thank you for your time. After Stephanie Keeney we have Harvey Flynn. Good evening members of the Council, Towns, staff, fellow residents. My name is Stephanie Keeney. We've lived in Perseville now for over 25 years in Locust Grove. I really wanna make sure that the three of you are listening. I have been attending in the conference room and it's hard to tell that you guys are actually listening. I'm here tonight on behalf of Concerned Citizens alarmed by a pattern of lack of transparency, questionable decision making, and the exclusion of voices, including those of minority council members, town employees, and the citizens you were elected to represent. Since January, major decisions, including the defunding of our police, have been made without proper consultation. Both with the minority council members and with the Loud and County Sheriff's Office. There was no feasibility study, no plan for continuity of service, and no public input. This is not only irresponsible, it is 100% dangerous. Further, the decision to fire our town manager without cause in January, in higher and unqualified replacement only deepened the concerns. This higher compounded by a clear conflict of interest undermines the integrity of the entire council. Additionally, the vice mayor, missing, recently fired police officer was allowed to vote on defunding the very department from which he was terminated. While legally questionable, the optics are damaging to public trust and raise serious concerns about conflicts of interest, which now seem to be front and center of a newly authorized investigation by R.A.G. Thank goodness. I'm not here to speculate on outside influences. The rumors about the Blue Ridge leader editor pulling strings here between the majority of you have been circulating. I do urge the four majority members of this council to look in the mirror and ask yourselves are you making the decisions you believe in and that this town our town are being told what to do. These actions do not align with the values you promised during your campaigns. The town is watching. And if this outpour of citizen support for our town police department isn't your clue that you are in the minority of this decision, I don't know what would be. So tonight we're asking for a transparent, inclusive decision making, honest dialogue among all the council members, and thank you three for being the reasonable council members that you are. Genuine public involvement before decisions are made. You were elected to serve us, not the majority. We expect our leaders to lead with integrity, fairness, and respect. Following Harvey Flynn, we'll have Paul Kako. Harvey Flynn, 220 West F Street, Times Cut Short, so here we go. He's's not here so I'm going to tell you Mr. Mayor. He is not the one for eight years of being mayor. He's not caught from for that job. He cost us millions of dollars when he was mayor. You want him in charge of your business? Anyway I got a couple stories about the police. There was two people in giant going around the room of the cart, filming up with me. So the employee, this is unusual. You know, they had this cart full of meat. So they go up front, call the cops. The town cops are outside waiting within minutes. They take that cartload of meat outside. It's like $900 worth of meat and our town cops arrested them and saved all that. Another story I got. One day, all Hillburg lose miles. There's two You'd town cops, the cop from the security from the school and the principal. There was a kid there being bullied. He come home. There was an officer there that took care of the situation. Are you even listening to me, sir? Because you told me to look at you. I'm looking at you. I want you to look at me. This officer took care of the problem with us. Better than going to the psychiatrist because he sat there and listened to us and talked to us and was reasonable enough that he'd be un-instead of what we was going through. And that was Officer Cagle. He was the officer that day. And there was another officer there too. I can't remember his name, but that's the kind of officers that we had. And another thing, I like the department for the slap in the face to choke of them last meeting. They recognized for their accomplishment that we had them investigated. And they was the best that there was. And they got slept in the face of that meeting. Thank you. After Paul Kacel speaks, we'll have Hooper McCann up. Paul Kacelel 510, South Maple Avenue. It's deeply unfortunate the path that you've for have chosen. You folks drill in the sand. Elections have consequences. I let you know back there that there was something very true and just as important. How you vote, it matters. And by the way, it has consequences. And I really hope that you're beginning to understand what that really means right now. I also told you in another meeting, there's a fundamental truth about democracy. You guys seem to always forget this. Guess what? It's called We the People. Look at right here. We the people. I am grateful for We the People. These brave individuals had the courage. They came together. They stood up and they firmly said, no more, no more. You folks were given countless opportunities to take pause, to reflect, to choose a better way forward. Yet you pressed on with your destructive path. Worse yet, man, your arrogance and your hubris just took over. Vice Mayor Threaten just pursued charges to the fullest extent of the law and to pursue civil action against those who dare to speak out against him. He shouted, is it working? Do you think it's working? It's working. It's working. We, the people, is frigging working. You see, here tonight, guys, we truly, we truly, truly wish that you had chosen a different path. One of unity, community and humility, we wish you had chosen we the people. Councilwoman Rainer, Councilman Wright, Councilist Stout. Thank you. Thank you for the service you've done. And thank you for serving your country as I'm in the mouth there. Thank you, thank you for the service you've done, and thank you for serving your country as a in-emultaer. After Hooper McCann will have Scott Kinney. Good evening. My name's Hooper McCann, round Hill, Virginia. I worked for the town for 25 years. And I have to say it was an absolute honor and privilege to have the opportunity to work with the finest group of local government professionals in the Commonwealth. I can say that without reservation. And to serve this community, I'm so proud to see all y'all out here. This is what local government should be, maybe not to this extreme because this is a lot. But, and I don't know who's standing in front of the occupancy sign, but it's probably over. But this is really, this is local government at its best, is when the people speak. And I hope that you will listen. I've been doing this for 35 years. Kevin's looking at me. It's kind of funny. We graduated from Laanbellia high school together. I won't tell you the date. And Blubert, we went to Blubert Ridge, too. In my 35 years local government, I have never seen anything like this. This is a disgrace. We should be the very best of government at this level. This is the level where you're closest to the people. This is the level where you can do the most. You can make the biggest impact. Boy, have you made an impact? But it's not been positive. The individuals that work for this town do so because they're dedicated to the jobs that they do to the people they serve. It is not about a paycheck. It is not about glory. They do this because there is something inside of them that says I want to make a difference. When you attack those individuals, when you make decisions that go without any consideration of them, their families, you treat them like a number. It will come back to you. When it comes to your New Town manager, you may recall if you remember in 2017, sir, you put me in charge of the town for a month until we could find an interim town manager. And at that time, a news release was drafted about the town manager recruitment process. Mayor Quasifrager commented, the town council has developed a comprehensive process for interviewing the candidates for the manager's position, which includes the town's department heads as we strive to identify. Next speaker is. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Excuse me, sir. I dedicated 25 years of my life, my professional life, and I'm going to finish. It's just one sentence more. This is a quote from Mr. Frazier. Includes the town and department heads as we strive to identify the candidate which best matches the identified knowledge, skills, and abilities for the position as well as the best fit for the Perseville community, the council and the staff. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Is that followed? After Scott Kinney, we have William Hex. Well, you already know who I am. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Is that followed? After Scott Kinney, we will have William Hex. I already know who I am. I'm Scott Kinney. I live at A12 Woodbun Court. I own Shamrock Music Shop on Main Street. And we've lived here, my family, Alyssa and me, and our kids for 16 years. I've had a business for 15 years. My whole life is here. I have a lot of stake here, so I hope you listen while I have to say. One of the things that attracted us to Perseville was the community, and I thought it was kind of cool to have a mayor and a town council, and I couldn't get Bob Lazar to dress like Mayor McChee's, but I tried, but I thought it was pretty cool. And one of the things that also appealed to us was our police department and firefighters, our first responders kept our communities safe. I'm going to go off topic. I don't get out much, but I see my old friend and 21st Street business colleague Michael Oaks who started the Halloween Black Party tradition. And I will tell you that the police volunteered their time. They wouldn't take pay to help us have a safe community event, which is now still going strong in Dylan's woods. And that really stuck with me because the officer that told me about it was so ecstatic. He said, do you realize how good this is for the community? And that's the key. They're not just first responded, they're part of our community. The recent reckless motion to do fun and dissolve our towns, police department immediately compromised the safety of everyone, all of you. And doing so without consulting the minority council members, the citizens of Perseville, business owners, and last but not least, the Sheriff's Department who wrongfully assume could have absorbed the town's policing needs without planning or real cost analysis. It's a betrayal of all of us. This and other actions such as abruptly firing a good town manager without consulting minority town council is in violation of the open meetings of the state. You all took oaths to uphold state laws, breaking the law to force your agenda is not a very good start. But here's the good news. You can reverse your course tonight. Don't be on the wrong side of history. And if you do that, I will respect you for it. And if you do not, the movement to recall you and remove you from office will continue like a tsunami until you are removed from office. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. After William Hicks, we have Beth Goldsmith. A heartfelt thank you to three people who have shown honesty. Integrity and courage is in order. Thank you to Aaron, Kevin, Kevin, and Caleb. Normally, I'd say now you three could leave. You're in sight, common sense, and experience, have not been of any use to the rest of the council. To the folks that have caused such consternation in our town, I really don't know what's up with you. But let's just take a minute to look at commitment and service. At the last meeting you moved to eliminate the town of the personal police department, while I'm not going to discuss the merits of this idea, if there are any, but rather the implications of your actions on the town employees. The people who work for the town are just that, people. They have lives, families, obligations. The lack of compassion and caring for the staff of the police department was unconscionable. This is clearly not thought through. As a police staff resists commendations, the four of you sat there with thinly-velled contempt on your faces. In spite of this, I guarantee that Chief Lombona or other members of the department would be the first ones to put themselves in harm's way to protect any of you if the moment called for it. When you know what comes next, Mr. Frazier has been an advocate of privatizing the water and sewage department. You have employees who have been working for town, working for many years to the town. These people are invested in VRS, expecting they can work for the town until retirement. Yet it is apparent that the promise of security benefits and retirement for town employees is not a priority for you. I sincerely don't think any police officers are gonna come up here and stop me at this point. You really don't get it. The town employees are a real asset to the town. The town employees have always been there to help out, to make our lives better and safer. So please, for the sake of community, I sincerely ask that two of you step down. So the people in the council who are not so easily manipulated by someone who has no role interested in the well for the town can be, it would go a long way in restoring a modicum of honor and integrity to the town council. Thank you. Next speaker is Beth Goldsmith to be followed by Amy Schuhl. Hello, my name is Beth Goldsmith, 301 West School Straight. I'm going to turn around. Hi, Brian. This is an item. Hi, guys. I'm just, I'm almost a year old with how moved I am with how many people are frustrated and fed up and it is standing room only and I just I can't believe it and I'm going to use my time I'm so pro police and I just do not want to see this police department be dissolved, but I'm going to speak just really quickly about the Perseville Main Street program. I hope, Councilman Malook, you've had an opportunity to do the reading. Thank you for listening to me and taking the time to push your decision off to this week. I hope you're better educated on this program. I've actually recently joined the committee because I truly believe in it as a business owner and knowing a lot of other people that are business owners in this town. It is a positive thing that will cost the town no money. So that's all I really wanted to say. I'm excited to come to these meetings every single time, because I think it is so important to get involved. The fact that we had middle schoolers and high schoolers standing up and talking and you have an opportunity to turn this train around. When I heard the amount of petitions that were signed just resign. Just please resign. now, you're in more than a little bit of trouble, and I think once we cross over to the other side, you can't turn this train around. Please make some better decisions, listen to your citizens. I don't know how you sleep at night. Yeah. Good evening. I'm Michelle at one meeting. Pardon me. I just need to pre-announce the next speaker. So after Amy Schull, we'll have, uh, maybe, uh, Sasseel Good evening, Amy Schull at 120 North 18th Street. First time speaker, I've been to several meetings watching what's been going on. I have lots and lots to say but obviously don't have the time. So I'm only going to address what I believe is the most egregious issue. And that is how this town council is being run. I've heard several times from some of the majority that those who have spoken up at these meetings only represent the perceived minority opinion and are always the same voices are only a small portion of the population and do not represent the larger majority of citizens. I think this evening, we already proven that that is not the case, but doing so is really just a way of saying our voices don't matter to discredit any of our concerns. Our voices do count. We are part of this community in this town that we are all proud to call home. Whether you agree with us or not is not the point. We are entitled to clear transparent communications that do not take place behind closed doors, in secret meetings, not inclusive of the entire town council, and certainly not last minute additions for motions and agenda items without opportunity for due public comment and discussion with fellow council members and supporting documentation. Our voices have continued to be ignored. However, over the last week, several other voices have joined our concerns and even more this evening. These voices include the coalition of Loudoun Towns and the mayors have part of that. Kelly Burke, Bridgletton, Ken Wein, Chris Hornbaker, Scott Ramsey, Roger Vance, Sheriff Chapman came out with a recent, loud and commonwealth attorney and the state's attorney general. Those are noteworthy voices and they shouldn't and can't be ignored. It's a shame you didn't take the concerns voiced during these previous meetings into consideration. Perhaps it's not too late, please start working as a full-town council where all viewpoints are considered fully and not splintered into this majority and minority model that we have now. I know I will not agree with all the decisions made or how it's how they're being made up to this point that I object with. I'd like to thank council members, Stout, Rainer and Wright for your strong moral compass, your integrity, and continuing to fight. I know a finish by saying that the Percival Police Department is part of the fabric of our community. You can't put a price on that. Thank you. Next speaker is Midie Sasseil. To be followed by, oh, here we go. To be followed by Eric Bridge. Good evening. Remember the member of the personal view of the police department. I said before you today not only as a former employee of the department, but also as someone who experienced first hand the integrity, the dedication and hard at the fine this agency. From the very first day I joined, I was treated like family, from the chief down to the administrative clerk. That kind of welcome, that sense of belonging and mutual respect speaks volume about the culture within the department. In my time, at thecival Police Department, I saw something truly special. I saw how much is the department care for the people of Percival. A witness chief Barry DeFack, which I still consider as my chief, a true leader and a people person, who make it a priority to visit local businesses, listen to their concern, and build a relationship, and was a visible and approachable presence in the community, not just a figurehead behind the desk. As so supervisors, encouraging officers to respond to calls as soon as they appeared on the computer, not waiting for dispatch to assign them, because they understood how important it was to be there for the resident quickly and reliably. The level of education, the proactive man's site is rare and incredibly valuable. And let me say this clearly, the officers and the supervisors of the Perseveral Police Department enjoy their work. They love their sound, their moral, their energy, their sense of duty. Those are things that make them eager to serve and protect. When officers feel supported, when they take pride in the department, the positivity radiates into the community to serve. It breaks my heart to know their conversation about abolishing this department. I'm here to tell you, this will be a huge mistake. One, the town will certainly come to regret. We have something very special here in Percivil. We have a department built on trust, service, and community. Chief defect led by example, he cared deeply about this community and about the men and women and their East Command. He created a department that truly reflects the value and spirits of the Perseveral Losing that would not just be a policy change. It would be a loss of identity So I urge you Constituent member and residents alike Please consider the heart that makes Perseveral such a special place to live Support your local police department support the people who always support you. Thank you. Next speaker is Eric Bridge, followed by Douglas Gilbert. Good evening, councilmembers. My name is Eric Bridge. For those of you who don't know me. I'm a loud and county resident living around Hill I've invested interest in the town that I love so much my family shops here. I friends who work here and For nearly eight years of my life. I served as a police officer with your police department When I plan to speak tonight First intended to make it very crystal clear to the council the the town staff, the citizens, and the true level of service you're forfitting. If you go forward by eliminating your police apartment and relying solely on the Sheriff's Office for public safety, I plan to discuss the staffing levels of Western Loudoun Station, the response times of the deputies covering 313 square miles of Western Loudoun compared to the response time of the police department in Perseville, even at a reduced staff covering 3.5 square miles. As it turns out after reading the sheriff's response to the 13-page briefing document published for the agenda, I thought better to address that. I'll leave the ethics violations and the criminal conspiracy for everyone else. I'm not sure who on the council majority was the architect of the document but let me tell you, Sheriff Chapman is no idiot and he's surely not going to enter into any kind of contract or MOU with the town of Percival, promising to keep eight deputies in the dedicated to the town, ensuring 24-7 coverage, and continuing the numerous community policing initiatives that we've accomplished all these years, or any other special provision not offered to the towns of Hamilton, Love It's Veil Hillsboro, Round Hill. Frankly, I think you guys slits around and throats by prematurely publishing your manifesto and thinking you're going to lock Sheriff Chapman into any such commitment. You gave him a glimpse of what you had planned and I'm certain he was as surprised as I was and everyone else was by the conditions, demands, and. I think the sheriff's response published in Loudon now says it all while the Loudon Sheriff's Office is willing to provide law enforcement support and services to the town of Perseville. The town council has no jurisdiction to place conditions or requirements on Loudon Sheriff's Office, should its PD be dissolved? I don't know where you're getting your subject matter expert advice, but in 38 years of law enforcement, I've never seen an elected sheriff be bullied by a town council, and I hate to be the bearer of bad news. It's not going to happen now. Thank you. Following Douglass, Gilbert will have Linda Jackson King. Good evening, Mr. Mayor and Council. I voted for the four of you. I emailed you back when my name is Doug Gilbert. I'm a 249-year-old King James Tree. I've been my family and I've been here for 21 years. So I emailed you asked, what's going on? What's this defundee? What's this recall? I got crickets. I've emailed mayors in the past and I've gotten responses. I did not hear anything about defundee police. I heard about solving water problems. And I did not vote for problems. I voted for problem solving. When I heard defund or eliminate the town police, I thought, might as well say, why don't we get rid of the first of a fire and ambulance service. We can just get them from Leesburg. You'll be fine 15 minutes. You'll be okay. Response time matters. We moved here because of having a police department and a fire department response, right? Little town. Once more, we're on the news for the wrong reasons. You know, we are this beautiful little town, we call it Mayberry. But now town is on the news as basically laughing stock. Yeah, and my workplace people are like what is going on with your town? So I think you know if you raised it like oh here's a possibility What about if we get rid of the police department and everybody and what do you think about that? Everybody says no, no, no, no, you said oh that was a bad idea Let's not do that. It's not not that's not what you did right? It's the last second of the of the meeting you put this forward and like oh meetings over no comments That's not how we work as someone said it's of the people it's you know by the people It's for the people so if you can't do that which we voted to for, then either resign or we'll throw you out. Thank you. We have Linda Jackson King in the room. Yes, Mary. She handed me her comments to read on her behalf. So this is for Linda Jackson King for 20 South 12th Street. The subject, the disbanding of the town of Percival Police, I do not favor and I strongly oppose to the town of Percival Government disbanding the town of Percival Police. Of note, the town of Percival has not held a public hearing regarding the disbanding of our own police, Percival police. Towns in Virginia must comply with the code of Virginia. The code of Virginia is the official compilation of laws enacted by the General Assembly and signed by the governor and it applies to all residents and entities within the Commonwealth, including towns. While towns, I.e. the town of Percival have certain powers to enact local ordinances, these ordinances cannot contradict or supersede the code of Virginia. Notice one or more public hearing shall be given in accordance with 15.2-1427. Number two, as you disband your police force, how much longer can the town actually be viable as a town? Three statistics statistics are misleading. Perseville does not have violent crime. Now, major cities and small municipalities that have disbanded their police departments are failing the loss of their police departments as crimes soar in their cities without a police department. Four, further, as the town of Perseville saves 3.1 million in the budget by disbanding or rescinding the police department. The citizens in a very soon to be realized future date after Loudoun County Sheriff's Departments take over the town's police department responsibilities. Our tax bills were more likely increase. 5. Ironically, as the town council meeting at April 8th, the town council sat in their seats as the town of Percival Police Department received accolades and an award for their wonderful police department, noting that the town of Percival is one of, if not, safest towns in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The town council will listening to these accolades, knew very well they were going to do, go into a work session, then come out with the idea of disbanding or rescinding the local police department. Certainly shows where the allegiance of the town council lies in regard to the hardworking police officers of the town of Persuble, both past and present. The next speaker is John Platt. I'll see anyone moving up there. Next speaker then is Casey Chapman to be followed by Tanisha Ritter. Casey Chapman, 125 East Rhoad, case co-LC. Good evening. I've been coming to these meetings for maybe a decade, maybe more. I've never seen a turnout like this. I couldn't be any more proud of our town and our citizens for coming out and standing up when it means and when it counts for our police department. I come up here and speak to personal property rights all the time for residents and businesses, but that is nothing compared to standing up for our police department that shows up every day in and out. Rainer's sleeves, snow, shine, whatever. They're there every single time. It doesn't matter if it's a firearm issue or someone stole my son's tricycle. They show up. The fact that you sit up here and in this meeting, Mayor Bertot, have the demeanor that you do is an exclamation point of why you are not and should not be in that seat as the mayor Speaking down to our residents that are voice in their concerns in that manner is inappropriate and uncalled for it is it is used sitting on a pillar of ego that is It isn't even justified in any comparison to anything and the way that you sit there and come off Just smuggly as a prick to these citizens. Should these be called out and I'm calling it out right now, you're a small man with a small mind you don't deserve that seat that you sit in. And if you want to talk about wasting money or draining our resources, there's $200,000 being drained right over there. Once you start with getting him out, because he's done absolutely nothing over a decade to solve problems in this town. His innovative solutions are nothing but stolen ideas from other people. He doesn't have an ounce of original thought in his body and he is not a natural born leader. I don't care what anybody says. I've watched it for a decade. You want to do something for this town? I'll tell you what you can do for this town. resign, leave, go away and let us recover from the devastation that you've put us in because we don't deserve it as a community, our, leave, go away, and let us recover from the devastation that you've put us in, because we don't deserve it as a community, our officers don't deserve it, and our town, staff, citizen, businesses deserve better than the Mayberry for. Thank you. Next speaker is Tanisha Ritter to be followed by David Cam. Hi, I'm KJ Ritter. I'm a student at Blue Ridge Middle School. I'm 12 years old. I'm KJ Ritter. I'm a student at Blue Ridge Middle School. I'm 12 years old. The fact that I'm KJ Ritter. I was student at Blue Ridge Middle School. I'm 12 years old. The fact I'm here says a lot. I know people just like you at my school, hypocritical. And just so you know, I see right through them, like I see right through you. As a black kid, I've always looked up to my grandfather, grandfather Stanley Milan. He's taught me that be a leader, a role model, and a downright good person. I thought it'd be the same for you. Crazy. Oh, I mean, crazy. When I step into school I feel safe because I see a police officer.. If they are not there, the likelihood of a bad behavior not being held accountable increases, just like yours. I'm tired of you grown-ups making bad choices. I mean, actions have consequences. We learn this in preschool. Mind you, I'm 12. so if I can see it, they all can. Applause So, the mighty of fallen, I'm so disappointed. Yes, my father was a mayor last year, so I know every one of you worked with one of you, and my son is the one that is why I'm here. I'm tired, I'm exhausted. He wanted to come here because he's so disappointed in the grownups and how are you all behaving? Especially you, the audacity, what are you doing? What are you doing? I have some more. Please direct your comments to the panel. I need you to be quiet. I can direct my comments to you specifically because the audacity to you, I can direct it to whoever I want to. But my son is here because my father was mayor last year and he looked up to not only my father but also Quasie as an African American person. We are the only black people. Are there any? We are the only black people here sir. So yeah we can direct it to Quasie. And another thing just real quick. I know he didn't grow up in America but do you know Mayberry? Do you know the era in history in which Mayberry was? Are you kidding me? That's how I know you were full of crap when you were following. Like Mayberry, my guy. Jim Crow. OK, that's it. next speaker is David Cam, who'd be followed by Stephanie Maroud. My name is Lieutenant David Camp. I play the personal place of armament. I don't come to speak to the council tonight and to be rude or direct anything ill to you. However, I've listened to everybody speak tonight and I just want to put one thing in perspective that everyone is talking about and it's a question and I'll add it at the end. So just give me time. For response time, what does that mean? We have loud and valley, we have wood grove, blue ridge metal, emric, mountain view, LBCC, Patrick Henry College, daycare facilities, and other school extended care facilities after school in Perseville. Okay? I speak about this active shooter. Before you think none of you can be touched by it, on Thursday I was touched by it. My daughter, Florida State, was in the same room with the government. Thank you, Florida State. Please pardon me for reacting in eliminated threat as soon as possible. I ask you this because I am sure almost every person behind me has a child in one of these facilities and probably in front of me. I know what Mayor did, I know you do, I know you do and I need you to. What I would like everyone to take away from tonight's conversation with the citizens and the unverwelming comments about response time is when response time matters most, what value is that to you? To me, it's priceless. And I can tell you, there are at least 15 people at personal place farm that will put their life on the line for everybody in this town for their children. And when you go to bed at night, just ask yourself, is it worth a million, a hundred million, or is it priceless to you? If it's priceless to you, you have the people here that want to work for you. That is all I have to say. Thank you. Thank you. Oh God. So I'm not someone that normally speaks in front of people. So this is actually really important to me, which is why I'm here. My name is Stephanie Maroute at 421 Crossman Court and I've lived here for 10 years. Council members, right, reiner and stout, I want to thank you before I get into the good stuff for everything that you have done, all of your hard work. What is currently happening in our town is not democracy. I have been watching and shocked as extremely important decisions are being made in haste without feedback from the people and without all council members present. This way of doing business is not only misrepresentative and presumptive, it is irresponsible. Personally, I feel the need to share what happened in my own neighborhood a couple of years ago. In broad daylight, so when you guys claim, you know, most of the crime happens at night, broad daylight, a man in an altered state of mind, drugs, mental illness, I don't know what it was, attempted to break into a home that was only three houses down from our end. The four officers arrived, he was able to break some of the front windows, it was attempting to get the door loose. Thankfully the PPD arrived within minutes, so the perpetrator did not have time to finish what he started. Without such a fast response time, this individual would have surely gotten into the home, and I would like to add that my neighbors across the street, camera, caught this guy walking right in front of my house where my kids are outside playing all the time. What concerns me the most is that the council majority are for disbanding the PPD without consulting with the Loudoun County Sheriff's Department to see how our town might be affected or impacted. A statement was even released from the Sheriff's Office, the Sheriff's Office indicating that there is not an agreement with statements regarding dissolving our PPD. There is no excuse for this, given that one of you, council member Luke said this at the last meeting, that you've known Sheriff Chapman personally for years, and that one of you, Suklil, lives in my neighborhood, and you see my children playing out front all the time. You cannot guarantee the same level of relationship, safety, or response times to urgent matters when officers can be anywhere within Loudoun County or on another urgent call in Western Loudoun County spans 421 square miles by the way. The last thing I want to say is to Vice Mayor Netbeck he's on here. You said elections have consequences and you are absolutely correct. You have lost support from those who initially supported you. And as you can see, I guess, am I the last person? The people of this town are speaking upcival deserves better. Next on the agenda, we have Mayor and Council comments. I will start with Council Member Rayner. First of all, I want to thank every single person who came out tonight. It is truly amazing to watch our community come together like this. It's really unfortunate. It's under these circumstances. But I am so proud to represent all of you. And I mean all of you when I say that. I know we'll always agree on different things. But I am always willing to willing to have a conversation in the open about why I vote a certain way or why I believe a certain way. And I'm also always willing to learn and change my mind if the facts present itself. And I think that's the beauty of democracy and living in this country is that we have the ability to come out and speak our minds and come to council meetings. And so thank you so much for everyone who's come out and spoke their mind emailed. And please keep up the effort. Always share what concerns you, because this is your town, this is all of our town. And I share your sentiment that I have two daughters in elementary school and their safety is paramount. And we live on a street of all kids running and it's all about them and what and the police are what make our town great so thank you again for coming out and keep it coming I did wrestle on what to say today but really the loud and county sheriff's department the Commonwealth Attorneys statements have really covered it these are these are consequences This is what happens when people believe they're above the law and conduct government business as autocrats without concern for anyone else but for themselves and their own agenda. There are a lot of policy making decisions that need to be made. We're in budget season. Our budget is nowhere near ready to be passed. And frankly, there has been so much going on in the last few meetings, we have not done business as we should. I think we're at a critical point where we need to hit the pause button and really regroup on what our next step is because the three of us haven't been included in any of their budget decisions. We haven't had a proper discussion. There's been no research. We haven't had time to talk to our finance staff with all these new revelations. I truly believe, and I'm asking the mayor to call for an emergency strategy meeting of all seven of us, including our financial staff and our town leadership to really sit down in the next week or two to hash it out together as a whole because we haven't done that. We should have, but we haven't. They tentatively put a strategy meeting in for June. That's too late. We need it now because our budget needs to be passed by law and it's not there. Changes were being done this week that we are reading in the weekly report that haven't been authorized. We to do this now so I'm calling on the mayor to call an emergency strategy meeting because this body needs to make some serious Decisions in the next few weeks and we can't do it in our silos that how we've been working Council member right I I can't talk what's been said tonight. There's no way. But I think there's one thing that I can say. I will go on a limb here. I'm going to speak for Aaron and Caleb. The people that deserve the applause are our town citizens. Thank you for coming. Thank you for standing up. I appreciate it. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We may be the faces. We may be the faces and tend to get the credit, but the credit is really to the citizens. This is the town I grew up in, and this is the town I see today, the people come together when we're in crisis. That's what makes a true small town, and that's what I'm seeing, and that's what I'm so happy to see has developed. So thank you, thank you, thank you, and let's not stop until we get our town back and we're all happy again. Thank you. Thank you. Councillor Meverlue. Thank you. I actually agree with Kevin. It is the only other time I've been here when it was as full and people were so open and communicative now, there was pluses and minuses because people have different feelings about all of this stuff. It wasn't about this, it was about the HPOZ. If any of you remember that, I thought it was a very exciting and good meeting because so many people came out and participated. I personally appreciate your being here tonight. Not fun and I'm glad I was here. I'm glad that you all spoke your what you're feeling and I will take that to heart. The light should get up. You don't want to hear it? Because my feet hurt. It's no shoes. Council member Luke. I mean, Council member Colliel. It's really hard to sit here week after, well, two weeks after two weeks and just be constantly criticized. So when you say, why don't you stand up? It's sort of like a guard with me. Like, I don't want to let my guard down because I feel like I have to let me talk. Let me talk. Let me talk. I will give you. This is not public comment time. You all need to know that while we were running, we never, ever, ever had a conversation about transitioning the police to the county. We never had a conversation about that. And it wasn't until, it wasn't until, no, then that, then that supper. The fuck? Yes. It wasn't until some senior members of staff brought up the subject of the police department and told that it takes on our finances. That I started to take a look at what it does. Okay? This is nothing at all against our officers or our police force. I've lived in this town for 25 years. If I wasn't sitting here. We heard that our police department might go away, I would have jumped out of my seat the same way you all have jumped out of your seat. But that's it. Lieutenant Cam. Lieutenant Cam. We're doing the big things. Where's you going to ask for help from you? To Chris's family! And they got us pretty good. She got us in pictures. No more about it. She had to about it. I can't hear you. Okay. I just want to express something. Every one of your personal place options are here today. Got it. I can't. There's a lot of summer in here, summer out there, somewhere outside, you can come and say, and just so you know, every single officer in personal PV is here. You know, I'm all over. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We're right here. We're right here. In the chair of this meeting, I'd like to ask when the The First of all police department is going to help maintain public order in a public I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. And now you want the fear for your sinning. How about that? Madam, you are out of order. Okay, okay. Okay, let me challenge you. Let me challenge you. Let me challenge you all, okay? All of our finances, all of our finances are proposed budget. And all the line items are on the website. I challenge you, I challenge you to come up with solutions that don't involve eliminating the police to come now. So all the time that you all are spending with this recall, why don't you find a place and everybody go over the budget and try to help us, okay? Because I will say this. I will say this. I will say this. We are having an exodus out of Percival right now. Alex. Mayor of Feimec. Mayor of Feimec. Folks appreciate the love the sentiment. We love that you heard it express your views. Thank you to all who made comments during citizen comments. Please let the rest of us do our comments. We'll move on to the action items. We'll get through the rest of this meeting. Please. May I offer what I believe might be a solution? And I'll be less than 30 seconds probably. I'm sorry I was talking. Okay. When I finish. Okay. When I finish. We use a lot of council members to finish. Okay. So a couple of things I'm going to mention tonight. Inquit is over for this meeting. People move here knowing they're going to pay higher taxes and higher water bills. I don't agree with that. a gut a gut punch to people when they come in and they get their first water bill. And I truly believe that that is why we are having in Exodus. Our young families can't afford this. And I spoke before of the two older women that live on Main Street in different houses. And how both of them said they're going to have to leave if something's not done with the water bills. Okay? We were saddled years ago with a treatment plant that was far beyond capacity and that's, we've been carrying that on our back. We can't do it. We can't do it. It was way before, way before, town manager Fraser. Yes it was. Yes it was. Yes it was. OK. So we're saddled with this unbelievable debt right now. And the way we wanted to help was to get the water bills in line. The minority on this council's answer to that was to have the double digit rate increases this year, next year, year after. We can't sustain. We can't sustain that. Okay, okay, okay, I hear you, I hear you. Okay, so here, so how about this? No, no, seriously, how about this? We will reverse. We will reverse. We will reverse. We will reverse. We will reverse. We will reverse. We will reverse. Folks, folks, everyone. No, we can reverse. Thank you, Caleb. We can reverse what we've done. So go back to your double digit water bills. We will continue to fund a police department. And once again, this is nothing against our officers. We value our officers, but the department as a whole is not sustainable because we can't keep a track and keep good officers. OK. Thank you. Good job, officer. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Folks, everyone, everyone. Thank you for being here. Thank you for speaking your voices. Your voices have been heard, at least by three people. I don't know how many. Okay. I will ask you, please, we are all here to support the Personal Police Department. Please do not put any of our officers tonight in a difficult situation. Please be civil. Please let us finish this meeting. We've heard you, but please don't put any of them in a difficult situation tonight. Thank you, Caleb. Okay, all of you, and once I appreciate you being here as well. Okay, you are my neighbors. You are my town neighbors. And I listen to you, okay? So if So if you are okay with the higher taxes and the higher water bills in order to in order to fund our police department I hear you. Mr. Mayor. I believe Mr. Buffington had asked for 30 seconds. I'd be happy to give him 30 of mine unless you'd like to give him his own. Thank you, council member. I'll be brief. Tony Buffington 760 South 20th Street, Persever Virginia. I love our town. I know you do too. So I appreciate that you're here. Thanks for asking for an idea. I have an idea. I'm a member of the Loudon Water Board. I'm not speaking on behalf of the Loudon Water Board. I'm speaking as Tony Buffington, a resident of Perseville. Water and sewer is your problem. You can't figure out how to fix it so you're devouring yourself. That's not the solution. Because what's next? Parts in rec, finance, all of your positions, then we're just under loud in county. I think it's good that we have a mayor and town council men and women who are here and can take care of us. Okay, the more local government is, the better local government is. I think you should talk, begin talks with loud and water about a feasibility study of what it would look like for them to potentially take over, maybe at varying levels, but potentially take over your water and sewer for our town. Maybe they just run it? Maybe we give them everything in full authority to decide rates and all of that. Maybe the rates could be the same as the people in Eastern Loud and if we did that. I don't know. It's not something that you could just come to a meeting and make a motion and then start saying what's how it's going to look. But why don't we fund our awesome award-winning police department so that we continue to be the safest town in Virginia and maybe America and Then have begin discussions with loud and water About what it would look like for them to take over and I'm not talking about a New water line from eastern loud and out to western loud I'm talking about for them to take over your existing water and sewer infrastructure And what that might look like and I think it would probably look pretty good And then you guys can forget about that and we don't have to worry about the political decisions of increasing or not Increasing and running on water and sewer or whatever I think we could at least have answers then that we could really talk about or you all could could really talk about, and our board could talk about, and the board of supervisors could talk about. And maybe we can come to a really good solution where you can have the police department and have water and sewer the Thai quality with a system that's maintained as it should be with better rates for everyone. Maybe, I don't know. But thanks for asking. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Believe me. Cameras everywhere. First off, I want to apologize for being absent from the previous town council meeting. While I was able to participate in the first part of the meeting, work obligations precluded be from participating in the action and discussion items. I'd done my usual review of the agenda packet prior to the meeting, so after mayor and council comments, I turned off my phone and walked back into one of those no phones allowed government buildings that so many of us work in in this area, knowing that the rest of the right nights agenda was fairly routine. You can imagine my shock then when I turned my phone back on two hours later to a long string of text messages blowing up my phone that the police department was set to be eliminated and quasy phrasier was the permanent town manager. To say these actions were rushed is an enormous understatement. An action of this magnitude ought to have been considered publicly for months, with opportunities provided to all key stakeholders to weigh in. The fact that our chief of police was not even consulted is an egregious, professional embarrassment that the four of you sitting next to me ought to feel the weight of right now. Three. Mayor, you told news reporters, you held these discussions with council members before the meeting to quote, bulletproof the idea. For the sake of transparency, which council members? Don't worry, you don't need to answer. That's rhetorical. Everyone in this room already knows the answer. I'd like to read a quote here that I think makes a sound argument for why we should keep our beloved police department. Quote, as other surrounding small towns without their own police departments have learned, LCSO does not have the manpower to dedicate deputies solely to one particular town. Unquote, I myself think that's a pretty convincing argument for keeping our PD. Any guesses? Where I got it? It was in the vice mayor's campaign literature six months ago. We're told this decision is about the money. We're told we are double taxed. This is a soft, morric, and fast-ciled argument. We live in an incorporated town. We pay taxes for the services we receive from our town. If you don't want the town to charge taxes, then you don't want to live in a town. On the other hand, if by double tax you mean we're paying twice for the same service, you're even more wrong because PPD and LCSO do not provide the same type of services or level of service to our town. My conclusion is this. It's abundantly clear that this is primarily a political decision. Four members of this body ran on cutting wasteful spending and were sure they had the solutions to the town's financial woes. Now, deep into budget season, they've realized there's no wasteful spending to cut, something they should have realized a long time ago when they did their homework before running. They've now backed themselves into a corner and found no wasteful spending to cut so they can deliver on their primary campaign promise of cutting water rates. They're playing politics with public safety, and it's not right. Lastly, I don't want to hear any one of you say anything else about fulfilling your campaign promises. Not once did any of you campaign on eliminating the police department. So don't pretend your paragons of integrity following through on your commitments to voters because this was never one of them. All right, so I won't be brief tonight, but I'll save my comments about the police department for the discussion item that follows. There being no action items on that topic. I also want to welcome everyone who came out tonight. I truly appreciate you're coming out to share your thoughts and concerns. I think that going forward we need to have additional public meetings to bring forth a broad cross-section of this community such as yourselves and we'll move on from there. I also heard an assertion this evening that there were unauthorized budget changes that were in the agenda tonight. In fact, those were all authorized by votes of this town council. So what's in the agenda packet is a discussion of potential budgetary impacts to votes that arise out of votes that we're already taken in the past. Also like to make one proclamation this evening. This is on behalf of a citizen who asked that we proclaim the week of April 21 through 28 of 2025 International Dark Sky Week. Not going to read the entire proclamation because then I'll be chewing into my own time. But it finishes with and be it further resolved that the town of Percival encourages all residences and businesses to join in this important week by observing the night sky, learning about the effects of light pollution and practicing responsible outdoor lighting. And finally, I would like to read a letter, at least parts of a letter time permitting, that I wrote to the State Attorney General's office this afternoon. I'm writing to express my growing alarm regarding the criminal investigation. Your office has authorized into Councilmember and Vice Mayor Ben Net, now being carried out by the Virginia State Police. The events surrounding this investigation strongly suggested it was politically motivated, procedurally improper, and fundamentally at odds are the democratic principles that underpin public service in the Commonwealth. And in the interest of time, I will just detail the issues that I set forth before the Attorney General. Number one, violation of procedural rights, then officer net was placed on the Brady list by the Commonwealth Attorney's Office before being allowed to respond to the allegations and before hearing, violating the Virginia Law Enforcement Office's Procedural Guarantee Act and denying him due process. Number two, politically motivated witnesses. A key witness in the alleged HR infraction is Council Member Aaron Rainer, a political opponent. The push for a net dismissal was advanced by then deputy chief of police. The deputy chief of police, a position Mr. Net had proposed eliminating during his campaign and before that individual became the deputy chief of police creating a clear appearance of political or personal retaliation. There's an orchestrated recall effort. We're all facing recall petition driven by political adversaries citing weak or unsubstantiated claims such as alleged FOIA violations and procedural concerns over a town manager hiring, which falls squarely within the lawful authority of the town council. Notably, a listed witness to the recall has failed mayoral candidate Stan Mulan. Again, highlighting the political nature of these attacks. Conflict of interest in the prosecutor's office. A high ranking member of the Commonwealth Attorney's Office, Nicole Whitman, previously ran for office with council member Aaron Rainer, serving as her campaign manager. This constitutes a direct conflict of interest that casts doubt on the integrity of any prosecutor's action involving Mr. Net. And finally, criminalizing a lawful vote, a central event leading to this investigation appeared to be Mr. Net's lawful vote on April 8, 2025 to direct the town attorney to draft a proposal for eliminating the local police department, which is a policy decision. This was debated and voted on publicly with the town attorney confirming that Mr. Net was not barred from participating. That this vote would contribute to a criminal inquiry is alarming and chilling to the democratic process. Thank you. All right. Next on the agenda, there being no action items, our discussion information items. The first is 11 a rescinding town code chapter 42 and disbanding the Perseval Police Department and transferring the United States, and the President of the United States, and the President of the United States, and the President of the United States, and the President of the United States, and the President of the United States, and the President of the United States, and the President of the United States, and the President of the United States, and the President of the United States, the council adopted a motion requesting that the staff prepare for consideration a draft ordinance moving and deleting chapter 42 of the Perseval Town Code. That's the chapter that authorizes the police department and directing that law enforcement responsibility be referred to the Lab and County Sheriff's Office. We have complied with that request and directive and there is in your packet a draft ordinance to that effect. I do want to be clear this is not something because I see my name on the staff report here, not something that we have proposed or requested or suggested, but we have been asked to prepare an ordinance. We have done that as you'll see and as the materials in the packet indicate there are a variety of issues and concerns associated with that both legal and practical, particularly given the time involved here with proposed July 1 date. And some of those are outlined in the staff report and they're further outlined in the other materials that you have. That's really all I have. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Cafferty. In addition to that report, there's also a list that was included in the agenda packet from town staff. Is there a member of the town staff who would like to briefly go through what is included in that? So Mayor and Tung Kong-Sul, when this came before us in our staff meeting, I told the staff to be frank and blunt as to what the impacts of such a move would be on each department. So before you in the package, you have impacts on administration, parks and rec, all the department IT HR and that's presented in the package. So a decision, if a decision is to be made, it's to be made with all the information before you. So you do have that in your package. We will take any questions on any of the specifics that staff identified. Are there questions from council members? Regarding what staff did or in general. My question was regarding what staff did. Yes. 11 be second item Are you asking me if I have questions regarding this are you asking me if I have questions about what he just said? You just want to make either one either one perfect staff can you tell me what the, and I hope don't put you on spot here, what the proposed budget was for the town PD for FY26 as presented at the very first. Take your time. I believe it was 3.4. Thank you. I believe it was 3.4. The budget for public safety is 3.397 million of that 93,000 was for fire and emergency services so it doesn't have anything to do with the PD and rescue services is $45,000. So it's about $3.2 million is for the PD. I will say also there is a revenue component as well. We get state funding, 599 funding, as well as they generate ticket revenue, excitation revenue, and that's about 220,000 that we would lose. So that's an offset that takes you to about 3 million net. But to keep the force we're about 3.2 million. 3 million. Oh, sorry, sorry, yes. Correct. Thank you. Council member Rainer. I would like to call on Amy or Ashley to read the list of all the great things this town would lose if We don't have a police department to support parks and wreck Thank you for the chance Let me get to that section So first of all it would be our parades. We have two parades a year. There's Independence Day and the holidays and Perseville Parades. We rely on law enforcement to have those. So those would not be able to be held. We have several annual festivals. There's the Perseville Music and Arts Festival, which is actually coming up this Saturday. We rely on the PD who are in force that day to come by and make sure everything is running smoothly. We have the Perseval Wine and Food Festival, which is in July, and we need them there. We have actually had command centers there for that festival because there's so many people there, and it's hot, and there's alcohol involved. Then there's a celebrate Perseville which is another festival we have and we have alcohol being you know available there too. So we just we rely on our PD to make sure everything is running smoothly and as Michael Oaks would tell you for the Halloween parade. Exactly our PD is there having having having that presence there makes people feel safe and it makes people feel like you know everybody is going to be okay if there's a problem they're there they're right there to help. So what you're saying is without our PD we will lose all the great family fun activities that are the reason why I moved my family to this town For the jolars. And I would like to mention somebody earlier head mentioned the Memorial Day ceremony. Memorial Day, yep. We have roads closed for that as well and we rely on our PDs to do that. So and we'll know more homework club for those wonderful kids who loved to interact with their police officers. None of that. Exactly. So, our PD is critically important to our community, to the well-being of our community, to making us feel safe in at home and have that sense of community. We don't have that without our PD. Wonderful. Thank you. Councilmember Stout. Iara here. A couple issues in the administration section that gave me pause. I'll just throw them out as bullet points and then you answer them however makes most sense. Have we spoken with Versa about the implications of this action in terms of liability? I have been speaking with Versa every day for the past two weeks and keeping them informed. As risk manager for the town in my role as director of administration, you have to analyze property You have to analyze facilities. You have to analyze Services as well as staff The liabilities associated with them and without them and all the risk involved and what steps we would take and what steps Liabilities which with each action we take I'm actually going to stand up so that I can speak a little clear. Thank you. Okay, so potential ramifications, certainly from this. Yes. Our insurance company is very concerned and they have requested daily updates since it's ever evolving, which I have been providing often based on news stories. Does the timeline open us up to liability? Seems a little rushed to me. So, VersaD has many sections as a large insurance poll company for localities. The public, let me back up, the law enforcement division which I have been speaking with, they do not believe the timeline is feasible. However, as our insurance company, they cannot provide. They cannot tell us what to do they can just give us recommendations which those recommendations can affect insurance coverage. Staff report notes versus said premiums could be reviewed is that the town's premiums to Versa, individual homeowners, home insurance premiums or both? That is the town's insurance premiums. However, Versa has a team of underwriters which they will not speak to, insurance companies which ensure all citizens here, but I think underwriters do take into consideration law enforcement presence within a community in crime rates. So the town's rates could go up, which is paid by the taxpayers, and then the taxpayers own rates could also go up. The underwriters have alluded to that. That's all for you. Thank you. That's very helpful. Thank you. Budget, lease agreement. I don't know if this is Liz, Mr. Cafferkey or perhaps chief. Currently agreement expires April 30th of 26th by my math. We're obligated to that because we have a notification period for termination. So by my math that's about 138K. Whether we terminate the police department or not, we're on the hook for that 138K. Is that accurate? So that is something we have identified. However, legal will need to speak. Review the contract and speak to the contract and our liability associated with the contract. So we're not sure yet, that's fine. The same could be said with the vehicle leases that we have. Sure. Mayor, that's all I have on this specific document, the town manager referenced. Thank you. All right. I'd also like to point out that starting on page 90, there's a template for some considerations that might need to be taken under advice to, if we decided to transition services over a period of time. I think one thing that escaped the attention of many in reviewing this was that there was mentioned a Rice University study of over 500 American towns, some as large as 20,000 and more people. This took place between 1972 and 2019. These 500 plus towns all transitioned to County Sheriff Services, all across the United States. There were no reported increases in crime rates in any of these towns. I'd also like to in alignment with a suggestion made earlier by Council Member Rayner, where she's suggesting that we have additional budget sessions. I'd like to have additional community sessions like this, but not in the town hall or the town meeting format where we can, where we have rigid limits on time permitted per speaker, we can bring in more points of view and further address the issues that are concerned of the community. I see in terms of a potential of going to a structured service over a period of a year or so there are a lot of things that need to be done. We need to have considerable number of meetings with Sheriff Chapman, with the executive leadership in Loudon County and the elected leadership in Loudon County. We also need to have public-structured sessions that are structured around public safety impacts, service quality. How do we maintain service quality if we decide to go to the Sheriff's Department? What are the concierge-like services that people expect from a town? Are there any alternatives to using town officers for such activities as road flagging and other things like this? And I'd like to also once again point out, I know that the issue of school safety has been brought up multiple times this evening. I'd like to once again point out for the public we already have sheriff's officers in our schools every hour that they are open. And we have zero Percival police officers there on a standing basis. They're on call. All right. Get one. Council member right. Mr. Mayor, I'd like to make a motion. I'd like to make a motion that we fully fund as prescribed in the town manager's budget for the Perseveral Police Department $3.2 million for FISKY at 26. And I'll second that. Good job, everyone. Good job. Nice second knock. Good job, everyone. I second that. Applause. Discussion. Applause. Since when do you care about process? It's been seconded. It has to be voted on. All right. Councilmember Rainer, how do you vote? Mayor, can we have discussion first? We typically do. Please proceed with discussion. All right. Well, since you're always coming to your first discussion, your statements just then just show that you're not listening to the people and what we're trying to say. Having more rigid time allotted listening sessions is not what we need. We want our police department. This came out of the blue. All those questions you said that need to be done and with the county should have had, they should have been done before this even came for a vote to discuss. Everything has been done backwards since the moment you guys took office January 8th. I am tired of it. This is why we needed a strategy meeting right out of the gates to talk about holistically what we needed to do move forward regarding our budget. I wholeheartedly support our police department in funding it next year. So yes, my vote is yes. Thank you. That's a number right. So had y'all done this correct way, you would have got this before we wasted money because I'm sure the attorney did not produce that document for free. You directed him to do so that cost us money. Had you done it the right way which has not been the typical fashion for anything that has been done, all this should have been done up front. Find out the information, find out the data. find out, is it even feasible? Get the public's input. You went about it the exact opposite way, thinking you could just, nobody would care, and just move on, where you were wrong. You were wrong, you were dead wrong, and there's enough people out here. If there's opposing views, they had the opportunity to get up and speak tonight. We don't need to have another session to find out if there's any opposing posing views so The citizens have spoken They're there. They're right there and By putting this off one day longer does nothing but continue Continue to put a strain on the police officers knowing whether they're gonna have a job or not continue to put a strain on the police officers knowing whether they're going to have a job or not. Continue to put a strain on their families and it also takes a big hit on morale. We need to end this right now and the way to end it is you guys can go to keep this to school. Thank you, Councilmember. I have pages of notes after going over the agenda packet. I have mountains of questions. I'm going to for go all that and just simply say this. I think it is abundantly clear no matter what your position might be on this issue that we cannot figure it out in nine weeks, which is about how long we have until FY 26 starts. We are not going to get a plan in place by July 1st. It is not going to happen. There's no way. There's no way it's feasible. It's a non-starter. That being the case, if we want to consider this proposal at a future date, maybe we can do that. But right now, we need to provide funding for the Per police department in FY26. There's not another option. There's not another option on the table. There's not another option that is going to be ready for operational use, ready for officers, ready in conjunction with the Sheriff's Office, ready with all relevant parties and stakeholders notified in the nine weeks we have from now until FY26 starts. It is impossible. So let's put the merits of the decision aside, push pause on that, plan to discuss it at a future date, and for now, tonight, fully fund the police department in FY26 so that the next nine weeks are not full of chaos and consternation for our officers between now and July 1st. So not cutting the 3.2 million means that other cuts are going to have to be made. And until we can maybe all discuss even in a special meeting where those cuts have to be made, I cannot support the previous decision. I mean, it could, it's hurting the officers now. It could hurt other areas. And until we have decided on where the cuts have to take place in order for us to fund. There you go. We will have to work for your father's house. We will have to work going to have a call. Can you just say that we are here at this point having this discussion that doesn't fix the budget discussion that Erica has been complaining about quite a bit and we want to be able to solve those problems. I say we need our session that Erin is suggesting. We, suggesting where we sit down and hash out a real budget. Not everything in a vacuum. There's more involved than the police. I'm not in favor of voting yes on this motion because I too agree that this town council needs to have a budget session with the finance staff and we'll do it. And to hash out what cuts are available in order to balance the budget. This town council has had this budget for six weeks at this point and I- And we had this budget come for two. The budget was proposed six weeks ago. Yes, but you surprised us with this, not two weeks ago. You surprised our staff two weeks ago with this. This is not fair. We cannot pull this off in nine weeks. This is reckless. And we just... There is a motion on the floor. Council member Rainer, how do you vote? I vote yes. Council member Wright, how do you vote? Yes. Council member Stout, how do you vote? Yes. Council member Khalil, how do you vote? Not at this time. Councilmember Luke, how do you vote? I'm going to wait a week. We're going to have another meeting. I can do you. And Mayor votes no. May to ask the question for staff. If we don't pass this ordinance repealing chapter 42 of the town code, and we also don't fund the police department in the FY26 budget, what happens? And Liz or Mr. Caffric, I'm not sure who wants to. I'll leave a question. Okay. I'll leave a question. We're money to it. You must pass a budget before July 1. Are you have no appropriation and you cannot expend any dollars per state code. I'll let him speak to the police department though. Well my initial reaction is in some ways that's the worst of all possible worlds because you still got the obligation to provide police services and the authority to do that and no budget to do it. Does that answer your question? It does. My concern, Mr. Mayor, is I'm not sure that this ordinance repeal is going to be passed by this town council, which would put us in exactly the worst case scenario that Mr. Cafferty just outlined whereby chapter 42 of town ordinance remains in place with no funding allocated to it in the budget. Raise the rights. Finish your vote. Come on. One more for the show. Yeah, come on. Raise the rights. I've already voted. We are barreling towards catastrophe. And you're driving the train there. So please address the chair if you want the floor. All right. So I propose that we have a special meeting next week. To do a deep dive in the budget and find those cuts otherwise. Mayor, if you think they're not already applying to second jobs, you're wrong. They have families to feed. The damage that is being done tonight is going to fast become permanent if we work out of order. I'm out of order. Thanks for letting me know. Appreciate that. So let's play this out. Vice Mayor Net cannot vote on this anyway, shape or form. That leaves six. You three in the three with common sense that are thinking this through. So what exactly do you think is going to come out of a meeting in a week that's not going to come out right now? That's right. So now, if you're playing a strategy, if you're playing a strategy that will just be deadlocked and that you won't get the blame for it, somebody else will get the blame for it, you're wrong. you're wrong. So we can, we can, we can write now, you all, excuse me, bad, bad grammar. You three can stand up for once and do the right thing, do the right thing knowing that there is no other alternative, none whatsoever that you can pass, not a single one that you can pass. So your only option right now is to do the right thing for the citizens, the right things for the town, and let's vote to keep our police force and get this off our agenda. And then you want to have a talk about budget big time, which you haven't done with us before, we'll be willing to sit down with you and have that talk. But if you're gonna do this game Well, you think you're gonna monopolize it stuff. It's not gonna happen All right, urge on the agenda is review. So apparently it's river shouts the loudest you guess for. I have heard you. I have heard you. I have heard you. I have heard you. I have heard you. I have heard you. I have heard you. I have heard you. I have heard you. I have heard you. I have heard you. I have heard you. I have heard you. I have heard you. You can do it, I'm fine. We are already voted on the motion that was on the table, sir. I'll make another motion then. I make a motion. No, no, no, folks, folks, folks. Just a statement. Yeah, please. You love your time to speak. So I come before you as a tongue manager, not the politician, right? Yeah. So Mayor and Tom Kongso, I think there is an opportunity. You heard the voice of the people tonight. And I believe that if a decision is to be made tonight from this day, I believe you can make that decision tonight. And the reason I say that is I've sat here and I've not heard any opposing views. So again, I'll put on my political hat. I was always for the people. And as we hear the people speak tonight, I think you folks, all of you, this is an opportunity for you to have that strategic and operational meeting that we've been wanting to have and you can do that with a vote tonight. I make this the vote. So I'd like you to even if you have to discuss this again for five minutes rethink what the vote needs to be looking at a voice of the people and here in the voice of the people. Please. So Mr. Mayor, I'll make the motion to fully fund the Percival Police Department for FY 26. And then post-fully funding it agreed to have a full strategy meeting about moving forward about our financial issues and have clear discussions with the county regarding the police department. Sorry. Thank you. Councillor Mevers-Stout. Yes. From my vote. I'm asking for your comments. I don't think we have any choice but to do this. I'm all on board for a strategic budget session. Let's have it next week. Let's have it tomorrow. Let's have it whenever you want. But in the interim, it is unfair to make the officers of PPD wonder if they're going to have a job in two months. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And as I mentioned earlier, it is clear from everything in this packet, sheriff Chapman's statement, and a host of other inputs and comments that we have received that as I stated earlier, we cannot do this transition in two months. It's not going to happen by FY26. Regardless of what your position on it is for against it can't be done in two months. So as to the motion made by Councilmember Rainer, let us immediately fully fund the personal police department for FY26. So that, so that our officers are not worried about where the next paycheck is coming. Let us then also, as Council Member Aynard motioned, have a strategic budget session as soon as we possibly can to work out the rest of the implications this has on the budget. And if we want to begin discussions with the Sheriff's Department about a possible transition about all the options that you mentioned that are on the table and available to us, let's have those once the money is allocated and the officers are sure that their jobs are safe. Council member Wright. She was first. I mean, my comms are like Caleb said, we cannot do this in this short allocated time. It is irresponsible. And from what we all just discuss, we can't send ourselves into a government shutdown for this because we're going to be a deadlock. That's absolutely ass-n-i-n, and it's unfair to our hardworking staff and our PD. And probably might give our director finance a heart attack and we can't have that. We can't have that on our country. This needs to happen because it's just not possible. It's impossible for us to do what you're asking us to do. So I am in support of fully funding our PD. to make a friendly amendment to that motion to trust issue. That strategic budget session no less than includes the six members that are here tonight. Participation. I accept that friendly motion. And as the one who seconded the original motion, I second the friendly amendment. Now for my comments. With the only life ring after life ring after life ring, please, please, please grab one of them. Please, grab a life ring for your own good if not for the towns. Yes, ma'am. Enough is enough with this. Enough is enough. We are being open. We are trying to help you guys and all you are doing is pushing it off. Pushing off the help. We are throwing life rings, please take one. I urge you to take one of these life rings and help yourself. You can't help but reach enough to do this. Just do it. You don't write for me. And we should be kind of like because you want to back this back words and damn it all of her facts like that. You're struggling with the new emotion. Give it nice and stuff. And that's how we should be kind of like from the time we've had the connection. Council Member Caleil. Trusting that all members of council have played it. Trusting that all members of council will take a hard look at the budget and negotiate Honestly, I will support it. No. I'm not in favor. All right, I specifically do not favor the motion that's on the table. And I would urge my fellow members of the town council to read from pages 91 through 98. Does ETH lay out in immediate as of July 1? Elimination of the Perseval Police Department? No, it does not. Mayor, if I may, I'm glad you brought that up because I actually had questions about that document. It does outline a transition period of multiple months between PPD and LCSO. If we remove all the funding for PPD, how does that transition occur? The answer needs to be arrived at by this town council in a strategic budget session to be held next week. In addition, Mr. Mayor, the Chair Randall also said it's going to cost us and we're not going to be saving money. There is a lot to be considered before our budget is due. We cannot do this in the next few weeks, I've heard that councilmember Cleal's comments weren't heard. So give her another round and give her a chance. What I said was I will trust that all the members of this council can sit down and take an honest look at the budget and come up with something that makes sense. And I will trust that what we are discussing tonight will be a factor in our discussions next week or whenever they happen. And because of that I will support it. Let's get us some podium before they change the man. Let's get a vote before they change the man. Let's call the vote. Call for the vote. We're gonna put it on a plate. Without whispering out, we're gonna... Stay out of that! We're gonna... So don't you... Oh. Who's? I'm going to ask that her name. Without whispering out, or I'm going to ask that name. I'm going to ask that her name. I'm going to ask that her name. I'm going to ask that her name. I'm going to ask that her name. I'm going to ask that her name. I'm going to ask that her name. I'm going to ask that her name. Give her a chance. Give her a chance, folks. I'm going to talk to you guys. Yes, I will. OK. The caveat is we actually try to solve the budget problems that our town has. I'm for that. And that doesn't mean we'll keep PD forever. If this works, that's wonderful. But then we have to make real cuts in other places. I'm just not for going more and more into debt every single year. What we have right now before us is 5 million more than last year. And that is without all the other little incremental things that we haven't finished looking at. Which fortunately we have an excellent accounting department, and they will help walk us through that. It is important that we learn how to live within our budget because we are not a growing town. We are a shrinking town. Be quiet folks. And all of this bruja about the county, you are paying for the county now. You are paying $1,200 a month for the county. You are paying 900 and something for the police. Yes, and we're one of the retounds in Loudoun County that have police. Think about it. And Ashburn has been okay. Now it's not a town. And Ash, excuse me. Ashburn has been able to survive with the police, still without the police. And your point is, it has become incredibly obvious you don't care about solutions. We do. And as a final point, I would add that without this strategic budget session, we as a council do not have the information in front of us. We do not have, we do not have the capability of voting on an individual part of the budget, and there's no need to vote on that individual part of the budget. This week, without that strategic budget session, let's just call all about. We have nine weeks. Council member Rainer, how do you vote? Council member Rainer, how do you, Mr. Mayor, can't, Mr. Mayor, sorry, can I just ask that the motion be restated so we're clear or what, we have a clear record of what folks are voting on. With a friendly amendment. With a friendly amendment, I move that we fully fund the Percival Police Department for FY26. It for the amount of 3.2 million. And after we fund it, fully fund the police department, we hold a strategic meeting with all members of council present to discuss the future of the department and what it would look like, what did I say? Including talks with the county on all aspects of what a transition would look like. I'm going to entire budget. Okay, let's full of extra much going on. I can't remember exactly what I said. Okay. So I made the motion to fully Fund the Percival P-Plaise Department for FY 26 for $3.2 million. And after we... I make the motion to fully fund the personal P. Please department for FY 26 for 3.2 million dollars and After we fund the personal PD we hold a strategic Budget meeting with all members of council present to fully discuss the entire budget Moving forward Yes, yes. And I still second that. Yeah. A quick question on that motion. Since you're discussing the entire budget at this strategic session, why only the members present here? Not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not, not, do you vote? Yes. Councilmember Wright, how do you vote? Yes. Councilmember Stout, how do you vote? Yes. Council member Colliel, how do you member Her stout was a yes. Council Member Wright was a yes. Council Member Stout was a yes. Council Member Calil was a yes. Council Member Luke was a nay. No, it wasn't. OK, what was it? Yes, what was it? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me up and see. Mr. Mayor, I got a motion. I'd like to make a motion for a drama to do the time. We can finish the rest of business at another time. Second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Thank you. Thank you. Bye.