Good evening. Good evening. We'll call the meeting to order October 1, 2024. Ashlandtown Council, thank you for being here. I want to take a moment of silence here and just a couple of different things. Probably all of us have heard conversations about, hey, what can we do for people suffering with the effects, the impacts of Helene? And so I know I've in two or three different venues I've heard to talk. But for now, I think just wanted to remind people that if you're going to make donations for anything, be careful and make sure it's a well-known and that you've vetted the organization. And also, the good advice is to wait before hitting that way with a truck full of whatever, because you might be one of 50 trucks that are backed up where a road won't let you through. And so we want to make sure that whatever we do, it's a help and not a hurt. And while I'm talking about natural disasters, I also want to say that we got no control over natural disasters but we do have control about what kind of impacts we can have on other people and so we'll try to have positive impacts on other people and matters that we can control all right so please join me for a moment of silence, reflect on these things. Thank you. All right, Mr. Vice-Man, would you leave us in the pledge? As your able, please stand and draw me into pledge. I pledge that we can just apply the United States of America and to the Republic for full chance one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. All right, thank you. All right, well, I'll review the agenda here for tonight. Well, in our consent agenda, we have the minutes of the September 3rd town council meeting. We have our invoices of the town. We have a proclamation for the General Federation of Women's Club, the Ashcake Women's Club about their service day coming up. We have another proclamation for Hispanic Heritage Month. And we have the Carter Park Trail Project on the Consent Agenda and then Town Hall additional parking lot project as well as purchase and replacement of police cruisers. All those are under the Consent Agenda and will be covered by that but we will read the presentations in the course of our meeting. Then as I say the product will read the proclamations and I'm going to read the woman's club proclamation vice mayor Hodges will read the English version of the Hispanic Heritage Month and Dr. McGraw has bravely said he'll read the in Spanish the proclamation for this Hispanic Heritage Month. All right then we have citizen input time opportunity for anyone to come forward and speak to council on a matter and just mention to people to please come up and When you do identify yourself by name and address we have three discussion items Most of this is I'll say housekeeping Consider updates to chapter two of the town code Consider updates to chapter 4.1 of the town code and consider updates to the town charter all brought to us by Mr. Goodman then we'll have our reports council member reports may as report public works report and the town managers report Is the agenda acceptable as presented? Yes, yes, all right. Thank y'all all right So at this point we'll go to the consent agenda items and ask if there's any questions, comments or emotion concerning the consent agenda. Well, Mr. Mayor, I move to approve the consent agenda as presented and pay the bills. I second. Miss Soapall. Aye. Vice Club when first. After that, we'd like to invite our guests if you would come up and just introduce yourself by name and say a few comments about the good things that you all are going to do and that you've done. All right. All right. And now that moves us to our presentations. And so I'm going to read this general federation of women's club when first. If you would come up and just introduce yourself by name and say a few comments about the good things that y'all are going to do and that you've done. All right? Whereas the General Federation of Women's Clubs, GFWC is 133-year-old International Federation of Women's Clubs with more than 60,000 members and is dedicated to community improvement by enhancing the lives of others through volunteer service. And whereas the GFWC National Day of Service, September 28th, 2024, is a day in which all of GFWC came together in service to highlight and raise awareness about food insecurity and take action to battle food insecurity. And whereas the GFWC Ashkake Women's Club Incorporated is an active member of the General Federation of Women's Clubs and is located in National. And whereas GFWC Ashkake Women's Club Incorporated actively participated on September 28th, 2024, GFWC's National Day of Service by partnering with the first Baptist Church food pantry to collect canned goods and diapers. And whereas GFWC asked a women's club further leverage that partnership with first Baptist Church to deliver meals to those with food and securities. And whereas the GFWC International Organization designated Saturday, September 28th, 2024 as the GFWC National Day of Service for the state organizations and club members to create awareness of the critical issue of food insecurities, hunger, and food safety within the United States. And now therefore it be proclaimed on behalf of the Ashhton Town Council. We hereby celebrate in honor of the GFWC Ask Eight Women's Club and their participation in the GFWC National Day of Service to Battle Food Security dated this first day of October, 2024. And we'll applaud that effort. Thank you. Applause. It would invite you to come forward if you don't mind sharing a little bit more. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Becky Pollard, I used to live in the town limits, but now I've moved just a little bit further west. And with me is Patricia DuVal. And we have been with the Ashcake Wums Club since, well, the club is 25 years old. We're celebrating our 25th anniversary this year. And this was the second year that the GFWC, who is sort of our umbrella organization, proclaimed a national day of service. And we were very excited to participate in it. And we did, as the Proclamation stated, we collected, we collect food items all the time. And we donate them to aces or whatever organization can use them. They all can use them, So we are constantly collecting things. But this year we decided to make 40 bag launches with sandwiches, fruit cups and chips, cookies. And we went out into the town and distributed them to residents that definitely were happy to receive them. So we really appreciate your acknowledging that this was a national day of service and we hope it will continue and we will participate again next year. Thank you. Thank you for all you do. Mr. Mayor, do you want to get a quick photo? Yeah. Are you want to get a quick photo? Yeah. Are you all open to a photo? Is that okay? Sure. Okay. Let's all go down. I can take a picture. Imagine a part time for the hot man. No, I'm not. I'm not. Would you use a knife, that right? Yeah. Okay. Show you how you got good energy. I'm going to cry. I'm going to cry. I'm going to cry. I'm going to cry. I'm going to cry. I'm going to cry. I'm going to cry. Team, where you guys enjoy some food? No. All right. We got a center in the photo of the house. of balance. You have one more time. I can't see it. I don't know. I can't see it. You know. I really don't know. You can't see it. You know. I really don't know. You can't see it. You can't see it. You can't see it. You can't see it. You know. I really don't know. You can't see it. Now Mr. Mayor, do you use which? No, between you hold a certificate, they both are going to pay it. I know. All right. You have a number of minutes. Say it. I see a percentage. Does that mean the number? Yes. Yeah, the number of minutes. All right. You guys are all right. You know what it is? Yes. Yeah. All right, yeah, you guys are all okay. You're the worst at this. Yeah. There we go. Looking perfect. Get a couple more. One long way. Let's see both good sides. I'm going to go ahead and get ourselves together and move with the next proclamation. Whereas Hispanic Heritage Month began as Hispanic Heritage Week and was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1968. And whereas in 1988, the commemorative week was expanded to a month, September 15th, to October 15th, and signed into law by President Ronald Reagan. And, whereas throughout the year, and especially during Hispanic Heritage Month, Americans embrace honor and celebrate the Hispanic community and their traditions and contributions. And, whereas the town of Ashland's diverse population contributes to the strength and health of the community, and, whereas the Hispanic residents in the town of Ashland are a diverse group with roots stretching throughout North Central and South America, and many trace their heritage to the original indigenous peoples of Latin America and Africa. And whereas many Hispanic people came to this country as immigrants and have fought for state and national initiatives providing pathways to citizenship and protecting rights. And whereas throughout the history of the United States, members of the Hispanic community have helped shape the social, political, and economic landscape of this country and our community. Now, therefore, on behalf of Ashland Town Council, we hereby proclaim September 15th through October 15th, 2024, as Hispanic Heritage Month in Ashland. And call upon all residents of Ashland to celebrate this month through activities and programs that enlighten and inspire our understanding of this amazing heritage. They did this day, first of October, 2024. All right, thank you, sir. And then Dr. McGraw. Gracias. Spain, if we promote Gada for the president, Lyndon B. Johnson, and D.S. in Newedays, and Cente Ocho, and consider Randa K in D.S. in Newedays, and Cente Ocho, the summer commemorative, is filled with a month of 15 September, 15 October, and if we we promote God for the President Ronald Reagan, and consider that the Rante de Toro el año and especially the Rante del Maze de la Harencia, Spain, those stood on the handsets of Branson, Horan-Honran, and Celebrant, a la comunidad, Hispanos y sus tradiciones y contribuciones y considerando que la suidad de Ashland tiene una problación diversa y considerando que los residentes, Hispanos en la suidad de Ashland son un grupo de verso con raíces que se extienden por América del Norte Central y del Sur. Y muchos remontan su harencia a los pueblos en diginan, originales de América, Latina and Africa, and considering that many Spanish Yergaran are as state-based, as immigrants, and have been lucrative for initiatives, estatales y nacionales que Brendan Bias Haciala, Suida Díña, y protegen los derechos y considerando que a lo largo de la historia de los Estados Unidos, los miembros de la comunidad espanajan, ayuado a dar forma al panorama social, Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, proclamatmos de quince de septiembre al quince de octubre de bante 24, el mes de la herencia, Havana, el en Ashland, y Hase y Yamada a todos los residentes de Ashland para que celebran este mes a través de actividades y programas que iluminan en inspiran nuestras activities and programs that are in the spirit of the new Estas, the principle of the incredible Arencia, the first day of October, the 24th of October. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. That takes us to a citizen part time and just invite again anyone who would like to come up and speak to Councilman on the matter. And for the record name and address, though we know who you are. I am Antonio Coach Miller to a one-don't-con-street downtown Ascent Association. I've been working with Pam, our fabulous Council member and liaison to our organization regarding the easement and lights with Damington, Damington putting the lines underground and behind. Just to make sure that our businesses are taking care of, what I did a quick little survey of just the businesses right there to salon, one doesn't have a back door, and the other just wants to know a concrete start and end day for the work so that they can plan around it. And I think it's a good opportunity for our organization as well as the town to engage those businesses. And they just want information and that mitigates them complaining or being upset with us, me, or you guys. I'm happy to take the information down and we can get it just so they can be prepared and be aware and go from there. Also, I just met with some residents from Sinistreet. We're trying to figure out how to make Halloween on Sinistreet a little bit easier for those residents. They do a great job of coming out for the community and making sure our kids can trick a tree in in peace any suggestions on how we can help them out or anything that I miss as far as talent resources or support please let me know that can be in an email call text whatever we can get lunch it doesn't matter but I'd like to see them support it because I think Halloween is going to be there for the foreseeable future kids are going to have memories there with a trick-or-treated safely and got candy. So I'd like to support them as a capacity. Hopefully by next year, the events that we have will be in conjunction with what they do on the center street. So there's a little bit less stress on them. That's all I got. Thank you guys for all the good work you do. I've been running around here for about this is day 72 and I love it so Hopefully we get 72 more days Thank you mr. Miller. Thank you Mr. Mayor all have the appropriate staff reach out to mr. Miller with those answers All right, I'd bring this to our discussion items and so mr. Goodman, give it to you sir. I'm going to go ahead and move. I'm going to move. Mr. Mayor, members of council, we have three items to bring to you tonight. I guess a sneak peek before we go down the road of a formal process for ordinance adoption and resolution and the advertisements. This is more of a springboard to move forward. There may be a couple of things that we can do to on the road of a formal process for ordinance adoption and resolution and the advertisements. This is more of a springboard to move forward. There may be some polishing that may still be done on the two ordinances as well as the charter that we want to revisit, which requires general assembly action, not just town council action. Mr. McRoberts and I have been talking about these for the last few weeks just off and on, but we really want to just get the ball started so we can get advertisement rolling and actually get the process moving forward. So the first one is related to chapter two of the town code, which is somewhat detailing the powers and administrative powers of the town manager and town council. And where this, the impetus for kind of kicking this off was during the street skate project and during some other projects. We were burdening the mayor with a tremendous amount of need for signatures for easements and right away and when really that was more of an administrative task that could have been handled much better by town staff, specifically the town manager. So in talking with Mr. Rick Roberts, he suggested that we probably ought to update our section, chapter two of the town code with language that would broaden his ability to sign off on some of those more ministerial items, especially when accepting easements and things along those lines. And also, as you move a little further down into the code, it solidifies a little bit more the council manager form of government when it comes to appointing personnel and things along those lines. So I just throw this out at you so we can just get some kid or a sederation on that. And then hopefully advise staff that you would like me to move forward with the official advertisement and set a date for a public hearing. I'm happy to take you to move forward with the official advertisement and set a date for a public hearing. I'm happy to take any questions on that. We'll do them one at a time here. Any questions or comments? It's my understanding of basically there's a code provision that we're trying to update our policies, our code to meet general assembly actions Stay good. Yes, so that's a big part of it And I went to the research I did a lot of this language is based on the city of Harrisonburg. I am finding them to be Really well run city and you've got a really good organization with our ordinances and I think Mr. McRoberts has agreed with that so far so we'll continue to work on polishing that but if you allow me to move forward with that so I can move forward with advertisement I'd appreciate it. And the advertisement if I may is there and it includes a brief description so when we advertise that people know what chapter two is, looking at the agenda unless they went to the attachments, they're not going to know what chapter two is. So maybe when it comes up in future, there'd be some summary language that would help somebody when they look at the agenda. And I'm sorry. Same comment about chapter four which we're going to go into but I don't have any objection to the proposed or advertising the proposed amendments. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Vice Mayor. And Mr. Mayor I'll just add one other item and it's just how we get here. As Mr. Goodman mentioned we had one issue we went into correct and now that we have new town attorneys and staff were more focused on our internal operations. We've asked them that when we go fix one thing in the code if we have time and it's not an unruly chapter, that we also look at other areas where that chapter may need to be updated. Many of our town code chapters have not been updated since 70s, 80s, quite some time and things have changed dramatically since then. So we're trying to be methodical and going through and getting us up to 2024 level standards in our code as well. Right. Yeah, and after, well, you'll present all three and then I'll just make sure we do have consensus to go forward with the advertisement. Okay. You may proceed to the next. Yes. Okay. The next one is a is again more of a housekeeping item. Back in June 4, 2024 you recall that Mr. Jennings presented a item to combine Code Section 4.1 which chapter 5 because General Assembly and action by the General Assembly State Law have required those two chapters to be under the compilation of one single easy to access chapter by the citizenry under the guys of stormwater management and erosion control. During that process of back and forth and back and forth and edits and red line versions such like that, we lost an amendment that town council passed through ordinance 2022-10 in February 21 21, 23. And you've got the red line versions in your packets tonight, but also what I wanted to bring up is just a quick side-by-side comparison that I pulled up just to kind of make it a little easy to see. And so what you see in the left on your screen in the all black writing is the ordinance that you pass by ordinance 2022-10 on February 21st, 2023 to provide slightly more stringent standards for flood protection. We know we're a low-lying town and that we can definitely see high water at times and even flooding with heavy rains. And so this really talks about, you can see the post-development peak flow rate and things along those lines. That language in its core was lost in this most recent compilation of those two chapters. Just this language, and it was caught by one of our engineers as they were going to apply that more stringent language and realize that language was lost. So what you'll see in the right hand side is essentially a mirror image. What has changed in that right hand side is we went from the old language, if you'll see that acronym, I know we love acronyms on both hand side, Virginia Storm Water Management Program to the right which in the red which reflects the new state nomenclature of Virginia erosion and storm water management program. That is really the biggest change between those two. But otherwise, it's just an action, this ordinance would be an action to put back into the ordinance, what was just left out by error as we compiled all those chapters. So nothing new, just putting back what seemingly got it got to race through the power of technology. I'm not going to admit to any error. I think it was the technology. Any comments or questions on this? Moving on. Very good. Thank you very much. And the last one we have for you here is the townshorter. And if you give me, I open it up on the wrong screen. So the Townshorter is passed by the General Assembly in 1858, was last updated in 1980. And for the most part, our charter is still applicable to our town today. But in 2021, by an action of Senate Bill 1157, which is Virginia Code Section 24.2-222.1, changed our elections for towns from May to November to coincide with the general election. That language is still in the charter and we under our own authority, this body under your own authority cannot simply just change the charter. We have to submit that as a change to the general assembly and the General Assembly session will be upon us before we know it. So we wanted to get this ball rolling and get this moving here so we can follow that code of Virginia. So what we're asking for now, I'm presented to you the red line version is to, again, authorize staff to schedule a public hearing and then the way I read the law and Mr. McRoberts may correct me that for our size locality that this simply can be adopted as a resolution of council to transmit then to our General Assembly delegation to consider under the General Assembly session. So we wouldn't actually see its order change until General Assembly takes in action on it in the 2025 session and we won't actually be able to update our child locally here until the spring of 2025 if passed by the general assembly. I will tell you, I've looked in the past couple of years. We are still ahead of the curve with this change even after that 2021 change. Very few towns have gone back to change their charter to make this the charter language in line with the new state law. So I'm happy to answer any questions, but again, much like what the town managers said earlier, if we're gonna change one thing, especially with a charter change that requires so much work and effort and folks that are outside of our control, let's make sure we're updating as much as we possibly can. So if you'll look at that, we again, change the election years to what is what we actually perform, which is on the even number, I'm sorry, the odd number of years. We took out some language that Mr. McRoberts may make me put it back in again, but I thought it was slightly confusing as far as the number of terms equally divisible by three. I think our terms are fairly set. I think we all know what the terms are. We have the terms that guides our elections. So I'm not quite sure that language needs to be in there. And in the, the, the, the charters that I saw from other localities in the past two years, that language has been taken out at the General Assembly level as well. So this may be something that they would take out anyway. And then you see some language in there that the town manager reminded me that the county town state code change as far as how you would fill any vacancies or unexpired terms on this panel and that code changed a few years ago as well. Change some of the language to update from councilman to council member to be a little bit more modern and up to date of our current times. And then again, that big change, which is Section 3.2, is moving from the nomenclature of a may election to a November election, from a July swearing in to a January swearing in an organizational meeting. Again, you'll see just some other nips and tucks there from that language. And then the last thing in section four talks about the town officers in that this body appoints the town manager and that through the council manager for the government, you have delegated the responsibility to hire other such officers and employers other than the town attorney to the town manager for him to run the operational day to day of the town. And that is pretty much it. The last thing, it was somewhat odd. You'll see that last bullet there, number five, and according to the revision of section 15.1, that's 796 of the Code of Virginia, that should not be created any town office of town sergeant. And I had to do a little digging on that because I was a little curious. Well up until the mid-50s town sergeants were elected positions and that's uh we've got a plaque now I believe at the police department that kind of outlines the elected sergeants when the sergeants were appointed and then when the nomenclature changed by the General Assembly in 1978 to take away the title of town sergeant to replace it with chief of police or police chief however when you wanted to use In some instances what back in generations ago that town sergeant because of the elected nature Would some towns were trying to turn that into the town share versus the county sheriff, which again We know that's not quite right And our current law so this I think was that act this 15.1 to 7.96 was the act to make sure no one could basically sidestep the law of creating a constitutional office. So that's the history behind that and the other charters I looked at that were recently adopted and revised in the last two years that sentence was completely struck because that law does not exist any longer. So Mr Mr. McRoberts, do okay? You did a fine job. I know that your staff report says this, but the public hearing is the opportunity for the public to come and be heard on the charter. It does not necessarily have to be an ordinance, it can be a resolution. But it's adopted essentially the same way. All right. Are there any questions at this point? Or do we have consensus on moving forward with this? Yes, consensus. All right, very good. Thanks for the whole heart. Thank you, council. We appreciate it. All right, that brings us to reports. Yeah, and we will start. Thank you, quick receiving. Excuse me. September. I had the opportunity to go to our newest coffee shop for the ribbon cutting. I'm so happy that they're here in town and they're doing well. And they are open at six o'clock in the morning for anyone who is riding the train. I attended the planning commission meeting and we welcomed our newest member, Sylvia Bowman. They did pass the Iron Horse Data Center proposal, and they're going to be moving that on to us, and that I think is coming in the next couple of weeks. Parks and Recreation, we passed the pedestrian plan. They have been working on that project for about a year and a half now. It's a wonderful document. They're very excited to share it with us. Again, we'll be coming to us soon to look over. They also pass a proposed South Taylor Street Park improvement plan, which I think you all will be very happy to see that as well. I know our town manager will say more, but I'm ahead an opportunity to attend a ceremony for our own Emmy, our Parker Recreation star. And it was so nice to go there and surprise her. And thank you so much to Emmy for highlighting all the wonderful things she does in Ashland. She certainly puts on the map in the commonwealth. And you know, we're a little nervous about that, but we're excited for us as well. I did attend the Marcus Alert update. Everything is set and ready to go into effect in the next few months. There's a couple of concerns. Of course, our funding, always funding, and manpower. Those are just two things that everybody's always worried about. And we, of course, will be working with Hanover County when it comes to that program. I want to sub it up and running. And finally, yes, I'm in pink tonight. It's October. It's breast cancer awareness month. And I would like all of you to just please make that appointment for yourself, your friends, your loved ones, but early detection does save lives. Thank you. All right, thank you. Mr. Vice-Mayor. Attend the September Richman Regional Transportation Planning Organization meeting. And in the meeting, they adopted a scope of work for a 2050 long range transportation plan. I think that's, it is significant to the town because DC to RVA, the plan that we're operating under the 323 tracks, it's horizon is 2045. So what will the town look like in 2050? made a point that the environmental impact statement for DC to RVA raised the concern that by 2045, given the number of trains and the constricted 323 configuration, both traffic will be affected and rail traffic, vehicular traffic and rail traffic will be affected by the inadequacy of that infrastructure. So this plan will look at that and hopefully help recommend to the town in the region a way to address that. In another meeting met with the mayor, supervisor Pritchard, interim school board, superintendent Dr. Pinnickut and members of her staff, and two school board members to discuss recreation opportunities at the new elementary school. A particular interest is the potential for a collaborative effort to use space created by the removal elementary school, a particular interest is the potential for a collaborative effort to use space created by the removal of the old Gandy Elementary School to provide for community accessible open space. Attended the September Central Virginia Transportation Authority meeting with the town manager in which the town's plans to use its allocation of local funds to include a railroad overpass in town economic development projects and other transportation projects were approved. Finally met with representatives of the Greater Richmond Transportation Corporation on Monday to ride on a link bus with delegate fowler, the mayor and Miss Amos, and get a first-hand view of that successful program. Thank you. Thank you very much. Dr. McGraw. Yes, I got to present over the plan RVA where we got to hear from one small step, which I invite people to reach out to them. They are just trying to get people to have conversations. And they link people of different backgrounds and it's interesting what types of friendships have developed from that. You may have seen one small step on any of your social media and it was neat to see the people in person. So I might be sharing some of that once I get the links. I'll share it through the manager. Transportation was the number one topic of course course, as Vice Mayor hinted at. And also, there was a J-Lart study that came out not too long ago, and Plan RVA got, took some interest in having an education committee to see if localities would work together to potentially talk to some of our legislators. And sure enough, we're some people from diverse backgrounds that got together and found some common ground on things that they are going to be discussing. And I don't want to take away from any of their thunder, so it's just neat to see people from different localities and different, I think you mentioned just having a different opinion of things. And yet, we all seem to want the one thing. We want a safe community, we want healthy kids, we want kids to have food, you know, things like that. I was at the EDA and it was interesting because the EDA granted a lot of facade grants and business expansions. So you're gonna see some businesses that you may like growing in ways that are kind of neat not only to give too much away, but I mean around the corner looks to a span expand, plan our VA around the corner, they won't expand their business, and there are some other businesses that I unfortunately forgot the names, but it was just neat to see, and ADA was saying, wow, we're getting all these groups that qualify and what happens when we run out of money, and so I encouraged them to think for the future and maybe have a budget to present us to. Maybe there's ways we can continue to cooperate. Went to the RMC master plan, which I think several of you were at as well. And that was a neat initial phase. They seemed to give us a general idea of what the future could hold. And of course, parking, transportation was the number one discussion item at that one. I did attend the Ashland Theatre Major fundraiser full steam ahead which I saw several of you at and that was really nice and well attended even though it wasn't advertised too harsh but it was still a fun night and it's great to have the theater here and that concludes my report. Thank you. Miss Open. Okay. September was a busy month for me too. On the 18th, I attended the Hanover Economic Development Business Appreciation Event. On the 19th, I attended Downtown Ashland Associationations Business Workshop, which was all in Spanish. Third, after 38 years of living in a multilingual household, where Spanish, German, Japanese, Latin, French, and Italian were studied and spoken, my listening skills paid off. I understood much of what was being said during the conversations. On the 25th, I attended Downtown Ashland Association Board meeting. On the 26th, I attended the community meeting for the Randolph-Macon College Master Plan. I did also attend Full Steam ahead, and then on the 27th, I volunteered at Downtown Ashland Association's final fourth Friday's event for this year. Thank you. All right, thank you. Now, I'll probably repeat some of what's been said, but if I try to skip around, I'll lose my place. But yes, enjoy the ribbon cutting there. Classic coffee tea and books on the ninth. So great to have a business that's serving coffee for people that get on the train or wait for the train so they're feeling rich nicely. On September 12th, went with the manager and Ms. Amos invited by Hannaver County to tour Henry Clay Elementary School just to talk about what I guess the county's timing and I'll just say publicly, the school board will turn the property over at the end of October officially to the county. And then the county, likely the plan is first of the year, they'll start setting some community input meetings. They hear from the community, we've already heard quite a bit. County's probably heard more, but even today I had someone asking me. And then the hope is that I won't go any further than that I'll just say community meetings so it was good to be invited by the county to have that tour on the 18th I attended that business appreciation event put on by Hanover County economic development. So, Blaze or HVAC got the award for business of the year. They do a lot with Hanover Habitat and other community-minded things. On the 19th, was able to go downtown, had a Richmond Region Tourism meeting, and just getting up to date on different initiatives happening. In Richmond there's a lot of good and productive things going on. Just one thing in particular, the figure was given, it was $3.7 billion dollars, was collected in tourism money in the RVA district in 2023 and that was 7.4% above the previous year. So some of that falls off on Ashland as well. And also the Valentine Museum, if you're familiar with that, the museum has been around for a number of years, the downtown Richmond, but it's also become RVA's most recent visitor center. So different exhibits and all that. So feel free to take advantage of that. I was able to leave the RRT meeting and go to the Virginia Municipal League meeting where we talked about the upcoming conference, October 12 through 15, and hope people can attend that. We were talking about some of the legislative agenda items that will be discussed and voted on there and other just general planning for that annual conference. On the 23rd had the opportunity of invitation from an organization that Randolph-Macon College is using as part of their search for a new president. We will miss President Lindgren quite a bit. And basically, it was an opportunity for me. They asked for a comments about what the town likes would like in a president. That's all the well. You just need to have someone just like President Lindgren to say it shortly. And also, they were talking to others in the community as well. But anyway, it was good dialogue with Randolph-Macon College. And I think all of that with the work on the master plan is just continuing to keep a great relationship between the town and the college. On the 25th, I think it's already been mentioned, the Ashland Elementary School vice-brand I had opportunity to speak about some collaborative thoughts about best use of green space. On the 25th I went up to Falls Church for a VML reception where a number of General Assembly members were invited I think less than were invited came but all that came stayed through the course of the event and even talked about some accessory dwelling units, some legislation that we may not agree with, but we agreed to keep talking. So that was a productive ride to Northern Virginia and just trying to encourage them to see local government as an ally and a resource with the General Assembly. The next thing after that was just that's nice ride there on the GRTC's micro transit for Ashland and it's providing lots of service. I'm sure everybody's seeing what we see. Everywhere you go, you see it. I saw someone with a prosthetic leg getting on that bus at Walmart this afternoon. And so they're doing a lot of good things, helping in a lot of different ways in that program. The data is being collected and analyzed and we'll see how we can make it better as time goes by. And also tomorrow, there will be a Hanover County and a town of Ashenly is on meeting. So at least once a year or so, we get together to talk about joint concerns, joint ideas, and joint ways to be productive. So, all right, that's enough from the mayor. It ends my report and so we'll go to the public works report from Mr. Ginny's. Thank you, Mayor Tervett. And evening members of town council, you have the public work September 2024 monthly report as part of your packet. I'd like to highlight a few things going on and touch on some stuff you already voted on tonight. So Public Works Operations is gearing up for our typical leaf season. I say the real leaf season because as you all know, we do pick up some stuff throughout the year. But the leaf vacuuming service for our residents will start up in November. As you all know, we go through the town by three zones. We're going to start November 4th this year in the first zone. And as usual, advertise on Channel 17 and Facebook on our website of the program to make sure our residents in each zone know when we're coming. This is when we go through all the zones, want for a week or so each zone in November and then again in December. That's our typical leaf vacuiting season. Would like to and I do appreciate and thank you all for, my name is just a new hold on. Follow me off here. Do appreciate y'all approving the consent agenda items for the two stormwater projects or two of our stormwater projects. As you know, we've got a lot of them going on. The, let's see if we can pull this up real quick. Is it not connecting? I put the plug in the wrong one in or is he connected to the second interface? Maybe it's the first. Well, is that it's not not recognizing? Let me try the other one, sorry. Oops, that's not it. Let's try it. All right. All right. See if that's it. No? Somewhere on the share job I can pull it up. No, I do not have it anywhere but on my laptop because I threw it together this afternoon and I apologize for that. We'll make, dude. I know some picture. Well, that's what I was going to show you a picture. Is it not the... All right, well, I'll skip those two projects right now, but something else got disconnected, I say. So it's half my fault, sorry about that. There you go. Okay, thank you. So, all right, I appreciate y'all approving on the consent agenda. Two of our stormwater projects. And one was the Carter Park Trail. That is the trail that as you'll recall when I first started, the public works first started this project, was a combination of three things. The trail, the swale, and the RRFB or the rapid rectangular flashing beacons to cross ash cake road right there at Maple Street. Due to different things going on and design stuff, we actually split the project into three parts. We've already installed the flashing beacons for the pedestrians to be able to cross ash cake road more safely. And this is part two of the car is a trail. And the swale is actually wrapping up the design right now which should go out the bid shortly and I hope to bring that to you at your November six meeting for approval. But this is the Carter Park Trail. What it is is we're actually going to make it an asphalt path all the way basically from along Maple Street street all the way from Ashcake Road up to East Francis Road. As you'll know, we already have on that Carter Park side, there's like Chip little gravel trail and also there's asphalt from that first house all the way up to Francis Street, but we're gonna make it all 10 foot wide and ADA accessible along that side. So it'll be a much nicer path than what's out there now, easier to use and more weather friendly and everything. Yes, sir. Is there already to ask this? Will this be compatible with the Fall Line Trail 10 foot wide? Yes. Sorry, yes, sir it is. And that's great. I hope that they'll whoever's on the full line trail will not know what officially is at Carter Park and will actually keep on going up to East Francis and into town. Do you anticipate that the work will there is a sort of buffer between the trail and maple street of trees. Do you anticipate many of those trees coming down in order to pay then potentially widen that trail? No sir, we do not. We have walked the trail and looked at, actually some neat features we might put in it. It's a little more meandering to go around trees or at one point we might split five foot to go around one side of the tree and five foot to go around another side of the tree because part of the reason we're doing it on that side is we want to save those trees. Great. Can you just throw out I know you haven't counted them but the round number of trees we would have had to take down had we done it on the other side? So as you all recall, when we first proposed this project, the swale on the trail was all going to be on the east side of Maple Street. And we looked at the design and we said, oh, that sounds great. But we didn't realize that to do so was probably 30 to 40 trees that they would have had to take it out along that corridor. Even though it's town right away behind those houses, there's a big buffer right away. Obviously, we did not want to take out that many trees. It almost defeats a purpose as an environmental project and you're taking out all those trees. So yeah, it would have been a lot of trees, as Mr. Ferris said. Great. Yes, ma'am? You're talking about the slash cottage side. Yes, ma'am. Now, the slash cottage side. At one point, we thought it would be neat to keep the trail. We had more of a nature kind of trail we do have on the Carter Park side and use this on the slash cottage side. Have that be the extension base of the fall line trail, but what are you just taking out too many trees to still do the sway also? Good plan, go ahead. I'm sorry Mr. Jennings, I was looking in here. What is the cost again for this trail that we're gonna be building? And the reason I ask is that for those people that are listening or watching, whenever they ask us, why are we building more sidewalks, why are we not building more trails? I liked them just to know how expensive it is. So yes, ma'am, a total with all the constructing, the making sure it's suitable materials, and getting a nice sub base and the paving, with the contingency just in case they find anything, it's $165,000. Just for that, and I'm looking at rough to me. It's like too big or too long Splot space. Yeah, all right. Just want to share that with people just in case when they ask us we can tell them right thank you Okay, and that's that one 65 is for the trail that's on the West side Yes, man. It's too as you I don't know if you can see in the bottom of the screen, there's a little bit of a little loop right there right at the intersection. I see. And they're going to improve that portion to make it sure it's 10 foot wide, 80 accessible, being able to cross Maple Street, and then the'am. Thank you. And just so you all know that little loop on the right side, we may delay actually constructing that portion depending on the construction of the swale because we don't want to put that in and that might mess some stuff up but but this all this is the Carter Park Trail project. All right. Very good. You know, thank you. So the next project y'all that you've already approved which I appreciate is the town hall additional parking lot That's the parking lot out back here that I know we've been talking about it for a while It'll be a permeable paver parking lot just like the one out front just like our municipal parking lot Just like APDs parking lot they have behind their building Obviously it it'll help Catch some of the contaminants coming out of the off the streets and any storm wall and it'll collect a storm water properly and make it clean Before head swords obey which will help meet our total maximum daily load requirements were supposed to meet with DEQ So the project in the back here as you see Not really clear from this picture, but it's actually going to add 30 parking spaces. And if you can, let's see if I can, so there's two handicapped spaces, one right here behind this back door, and this is a loading space, so that'll be, oh, you've got to be kidding, sorry. Everyone's going so well. It's just laptops, but anyway. So, and then the other, you see the otherkept spaces on this end to be able to all be in my path To get to the front of the globe building also so there's a sidewalk along the back You so they can go either direction, but So with this we are going to there's as you see to the right There's a new entrance in the center of that property on to Thompson Street, which will be a nice wider 24 foot wide entrance Matter of fact, it was funny this morning when I get here early. I'm normally the first one to pull in there Pull in I actually know as a car coming at me the other direction, which I was not ready for and it was not a lot of room to pass So the person inside to back up which is interesting But this will be a standard two-way drive aisle and as you can see Up in the upper left there's actually a drive-out connection with 125 Thompson Street One of the things that we worked out with the adjacent developer is they wanted to have Connectivity and for loading vehicles and stuff because it would be tough to turn around in a parking lot of a lot that size so that way they can come through this parking lot. And just as I've noticed, oh no, there's a concrete pad in the upper left also. We're actually going to put a shed out there. So one of the things that buildings and grounds need some place to store some of the materials that they need for this building, and that way it'll relieve some space over a town shop for other things, and this will be a storage building for some of our materials and stuff for this building. So, and with that I'll be, oh, also, this will be lighted. We're gonna put five lights around this parking lot. So, because that's one of the issues I know we have now. Sometimes it's rather dark when you go back there after hours. Yes, ma'am. OK. You did answer one of my questions. I wanted to know how many handicaps faces, and I know you will have two. And also, I just for clarification for the people watching, the parking lot that's in front of Town Hall right now, which is also for public parking, will be pretty much all for public parking, because the staff people will be parking in the new parking lot. Is that right? Yes, ma'am. The big plans for this parking lot is to, not only have the staff's personal vehicles, but also have the staff's town vehicles of the vehicles that the folks that actually work in town hall back there also, that'll clear up more in the lot across the street over at the old Annex building and clean up the vehicles around the plant. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Very good. OK, with that, I know we, one of the things that, if you all recall, I can go ahead, we can stop this. I was actually planning on bringing three projects to y'all tonight for approval. And one of them was the Stony Run Stream Restoration Project. I'm not sure if y'all have heard, but we put it out the bid. We opened bids on September 23rd and we got zero bids. Well, the reason was is we requested a six month construction time frame. Typically a project like that would take about three months, so it would be no problem with contractors or completing a project like that in six months. Well we didn't take into consideration all the other projects and stuff they have on their plates. So basically we heard from several contractors that will now bid, well which I'll go into, that they just couldn't commit to that timeframe because of everything else in their plate. So we've actually re-avertized it. We're going to open the bids and think the 23rd of this month and then hopefully bring it, the plan is to bring it to the November 6th meeting. We've already heard from at least three contractors that they will bid now. And we put actually an 18 month construction time frame on that. Part of the reason we were rushing was it was ARPA funds. So we had deadlines I've got Doug Breedon down my back and I'm just kidding he monitors the dark the ARPA budget that's why I'm kidding with them but we wanted to have contracts in place by a certain date and we thought six months was reasonable but actually it wasn't because of all the work that that everyone else has got going on and I was I was joking with the town manager, Mr. Farrer, that part of the reason one of our contractors didn't bid was because all the work we've already given them. So it's stuff like that. So this way hopefully we should, we're, we're comfortable that we'll get bids this time and be able to bring it to you November 6th. Yes, sir? I just wanted to compliment you on the presentation of the illustrations tonight. When Stoney Run comes up, it would be helpful to have something similar to know what section and how you've described it in the past, but sometimes a map answers a lot of questions. Thank you. Yes, sir, I plan to actually bring a more formal presentation as for approval for that budget, because it is a more complicated project and would definitely be better suited with some some aerial photos and some visuals. Yes ma'am. And I know you said that there's a concern with a six months because ARPA will that there won't be a problem. We'll be able to use ARPA funds for that. Yes ma'am. So as long as we have a under contract at the end of the year we've actually got to the end of 2026 to spend it, but it shouldn't be a problem. Can I add a little context to that? So I'm going to take off my clerk hat and put my ARPA hat on. So the run to the finish line was to formally obligate this money. The Federal, the US Department of Treasury came out with some additional guidance in June to what is it obligation? And under their guidance, an obligation would not count as much as town council voting on your spin plan that you did in October 21. They wanted more formal contract even though we're dealing with Tally and Armstrong on this who is our own call contractor. We needed to take this extra step and what we're seeing now is that the Henrico's, the Hanover's, the Chesterfield's, the bowling greens, the front rules, the winch esters are all doing the same thing and we're taxing the same very small segment of contractors that do this environmental work. And so that's what we're, the struggles in I applaud Mr. Jennings and his staff for getting the amount of work we've done so far. It's incredible. So thank you. And even on the design side, they're designing all these projects for these other jurisdictions also. design side, they're designing all these projects for these other jurisdictions also, so that's why I've taken so long to get some of the design work done. So yeah, so thank you, Doug. Long to be out of dollars. Did you have another question? I have questions, but I can wait to the end of your presentation. Okay. They're not specific to any, like, the what you're presenting. It's just specific to parks or public works. Okay. All right, I'll just highlight a few more items. As you also saw, there was an invoice for paving of the intersection of Route 54 and Route 1 on your consent agenda. Just want to make, you know, town, the engineering staff coordinated with Lehigh Construction to repave that intersection, and they coordinated with our pavement marking contractor to get that Mark properly and just so I just also want to give you heads up We've actually got three other roads planned for paving two of them are that Henry Clay Road and a north-sneed street And those are actually because of you all remember the Gentlemen that came to a town council meeting a few months back to kind of brought those to our attention. So we looked at him and yes they did need some work. So that's why those are being paved. And we're also going to pave Caroline Street from North Taylor Street to Route 1. And hopefully, if it ever stops raining, those will be done in the next few weeks. Excuse me. So. And I know Josh mentioned it in his Friday last Friday report or a couple weeks ago, his Friday report, but just want to reiterate the PIDs or the passenger information display system that construction is moving forward. We're expected to start within the next few weeks and the go live date is scheduled for November 30th of this year. So, it sounds like everything's in, they've got all the material now and everything's in place to do that. So, also an update to you on the V.Rout 1 project, Ashcake to Arbor Oak. That project was approved by the CTB or the Compton Wealth Transportation Board at their September 17th meeting. So that move, projects moving forward, as a matter of fact, there's a pre-con or a pre-construction meeting this Friday with V.Dott, their contractor, which is J.L. Kentonsons and in town staff. So at that way, to get that project going underway, so construction is expected to start this fall. So, and the only other thing I just wanted to mention, when you're out in the valley, you'll probably notice some activity up at the Archie Canyon, around one intersection, just so you know that is one of our on-call engineers, Timons, they're doing some survey work of the intersection so that they can design a traffic signal and do some enroute improvements, just in the vicinity of that intersection, because we're gonna have to make some meetings and turn lanes and there's no reason to put a signal as it is now and then have to change it all later to what they ultimately what we want. So we're just so, so that, so just in case you'll see some activity out there, that, that signal design and intersection improvement is underway. So, and with that I'd be happy to answer any questions. Anything else? I just got a couple of questions and again this is an ask not task. So I noticed that last year in October, the leaf collection schedule comes up in October. So for November and December, it would be done. And I just wanted a little bit of clarification for residents. If they bagged their leaves, does the brush crew come more often than that schedule? No, they come to the same schedule. Okay, so, okay, because that was just one of the questions that I thought people might have because, you know, I know that they come through on that. All right, if there's a major concern, should they call or just wait on the schedule? It'd be best to call, public works, to call the main number, but what kind of major concern? Some years, nothing's happened yet. I'm just trying to be proactive because some years there's somebody who has a major event, someone's turning 89 or 90 or 100 and they're going to have a Christmas party and these leaves are causing a safety concern, but they're not on the schedule. And I just wanted to know, like, you know, and I'm not trying to tell people to do that but I want to make sure is that okay is it appropriate you know like what like what it like you know how best to do it how soon should they be letting you know of those things that's that's all that's that's kind of where I was going with that if that's okay obviously we prefer earlier is always better to let us know yeah when I was we'd prefer that'd prefer that they stick to the schedule of their zones. Okay, well that's kind of where it's going with the back. I didn't work with people as I said. I didn't know if they bagged and there was more brush crew but if it doesn't change anything it doesn't change anything. Fine. Yeah, so typically excuse me, so typically we do have belief-accoming crew's going around the town in the zones that they're in at the time. And they'll make note of piles that actually people have bagged it just to make sure the brush folks are aware of the bags needed picked up. I think in general, you do a great job picking stuff up quickly. It's just once in a while there's that one day. And it's when you're learning your emotional and lots of things have been planned and you know it just takes one thing to ruin the day for you and so I just you know I want to make sure that you know we're just proactive that's all Stint still speaking on this if we're on heading east on 54 east Patrick Henry Highway And we turn right to go south on Mount Herman Road and again I spoke to our manager about this but I just wanted to make sure that I say it publicly. There is concern that there are typically sometimes that a massive amount of leaves may fall at the same time between Mechumps Drive and where I guess the town limit is at Mechumps Street Creek. And sometimes the water gets diverted because of the leaves and goes across the street. And that at times, if a freeze happens overnight, it causes a concern. And I don't know what the solution is. I just wanted to put it on our radar just to be cognizant. I don't know. Major windstorm comes. That's one of the places we double check to make sure nothing's clogged. I don't know an answer. Again, I'm just an ask, not a task. I just something to be aware of. And I wouldn't have been aware if we didn't have all of this proposals and people asking questions about what's going on over there. And now residents are coming up and telling me what's been the habits. Yeah, Dr. Garalt McGraw. We'll definitely put that on our radar. And luckily we actually have one of our employees actually lives down Mount Herman Lane. Awesome. So we'll make sure that he looks at it and if he notices they're starting to pile up and it's gonna be a problem, we'll definitely do something about it. Also, obviously you'll know that's where the line is with Hanna Rick County slash V.Dott will maintain it. So we'll work with them as necessary too. I appreciate it. Yes ma'am. Regarding the leaves that Dr. McGraw was speaking of that people need picked up, you know, if they want something picked up a little sooner, aren't they also able to go online and fill out the form? Yes ma'am, they could. I wonder if they know about it. Town request form. Yeah. I just wonder if they know about it. Town request form. Yeah, I just wonder if they know. I just want to make sure we're not trying to create an on-demand system. That is, we're not going down that path. This is really special occasions. We know we're a small town and we'll step up. I don't want to advertise. Oh, just call them. We'll be there in 24 hours. Yeah, I thought I read, or I saw this somewhere recently, that the PIDS installation system was scheduled to start this month, earlier? Yes, ma'am. Okay. Expected to start this month and be go live by the end of November. Okay, but no, I'm sorry, not this month. I read somewhere that it was to start last month. Well, so they start, so yes. So at the end of September, they started mobilizing material and stuff like that. Okay, well that's good because a couple of citizens asked me about it and I said it started last month. So that is true. Yeah, okay. Okay, thank you. We may visibly not see any work done, but the project has started. Okay, thank you. At one time, if you had said August, that would have been true, too. That's right. That's right, the force is out of our control. Yes, all right. All right, thank you for your report. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Now we let an acronym slip by and no one. No one caught it. No one caught it. J. Lark. Oh, joint. Legislative audit and review committee, right? Yes. With the General Assembly. I'm going to hit nod my head because I don't know off the top of my head. So anyway now with that. Thank you. With that caught. We'll pass it on to the town manager. Yes thank you, Marin Council. You have my report in front of you but I will highlight a few items and then share a few that were not included on the report. Do you want to follow up? In my report we do list the businesses that received those EDA grants. I apologize. I did not take care of it for enough notes to say what they are all for, but you'll see there that we did award the EDA did award $20,000 to around the table. I'll over on the Ashland Junction Shopping Center, $10,500 to M&W Auto Sales, and then $10,165 to Posse end K9 ranch. So again the ADA continues to try to help make all our businesses a little more functional and as well as a little more attractive. I also wanted to know that was not included in my report by mistake on October 24th the Public Art Committee will be meeting so please add that to your calendars as well. And before I get on too much of a roll I believe it was this week and I'll ask Doug to step in for me and I'll share a few more details. The National Citizen Survey that I've mentioned at previous meetings, I believe those maillars have gone out and dug anything more to add on that particular topic. Yes, sir. We officially launched that on September 17th. The maillars went out late last week. The company that we were working with they're called Polco, has administered those randomly to those scientific sampling of households across Ashland. And then in the middle of the month, we're hoping about October 15th or 16th. We will have links both in English and Spanish that we can offer through our social media streams, our newsletters, our digital newsletters, the town, T, everything that we have, Martha's go throw at it, that we can get that open link out there so folks can do that online survey as well. And then that will be open for a few weeks, and then we will expect them to have a presentation for in a few months. And again, this is a customer satisfaction survey. So this is a genuine how the citizens feel is though we're doing with all facets of local government. So very important data for us to receive. So if you do receive it in your mailbox, please, please fill it out. On the bad news front, I've shared it with council, but I guess first time we'll announce it to the public. Miss Terry Stone, our finance director will be leaving us unfortunately. The job ad is out and on the website. So if you are interested, I'm sorry to transition quickly from sad to trying to move forward. But we do want to fill that position as soon as possible. But Terry has set a very wonderful president in her one year here. She is actually the town's first actual CPA that we've had in that finance role. And my gosh, I noticed a dramatic difference. And she has been absolutely outstanding so we will certainly miss Terry but I believe it will come out soon that she will still be serving the action community in one way or another so more to come on that one and then you've already brought it up so I will not belabor it but just a reminder for the public because it is such a large case our next meeting October 15, is when the Iron Horse Data Center Business Park will come before town council for public hearing. So that is a great opportunity for folks to come and share their opinion on whether that is a good or bad project and what they think council should do with it. And then to end on the good news, which is usually what I forget to do, Ms. Barnhart brought it up, but we did travel to Norfolk to celebrate our own Parks and Rec Manager, Emmy Richards. She won the Outstanding New Professional Award from the Virginia Parks and Rec Society. And so, so very well deserved. Emma, is she there? Yes. Oh, deserve. She is an absolute star in the Parks and Rec field. We heard that even being down there, random people we would approach for direction once we found out who it was, very quickly new Emmy and knew of all the good work she was doing. So she's already created a wonderful reputation for herself and that award is very much well deserved. So with that, I will take any questions you may have. Anything else? All right, we're adjourned. Thank you all.