Good evening. Welcome to the April 1st, 2025 meeting of the Ashland Town Council and yes, April 1st, but we are indeed the Ashland Town Council meeting for meeting tonight. In the way of a moment of silence, I just wanted to make mention of a town citizen who passed away recently, Lee Slopey, someone who had served the town on committees, served the community on volunteer organizations, nonprofits, someone who wasn't in Ashland all his life, but he spent a lot of his energy and abilities here in the town of Ashland. So, you know, his family in the town has lost Lee, but we don't have to surrender the opportunity to follow his example of serving our community and serving others. So, please join me with a reflection on that in a moment of silence. Thank you. Mr. Vice-Mir, would you please send this to me? As you're able, please stand and join me in the pledge. A pledge of allegiance to the Dwight of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands a donation under God, indiv, individual with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Thank you. We'll go ahead and review our agenda for this evening. We've got our consent agenda and on that minutes from our March 18th, 2025 Council meeting, minutes from the March 25th, 2025 Council meeting minutes from the March 25th, 2025, Town Council work session, a dark, sky week proclamation. And then we have a presentation from this. It's hard not to say CVTA, but I know I'd have to explain it anyway. Central Virginia Transportation Authority update from Supervisor Sean Davis and Mr. Chad Parsons. We have citizen input time after that for opportunity for an individual come forward and speak to council on a matter of Concerned to them. We have one action item town managers County Year 2020 evaluation resolution then we have reports council member reports Reports, Mayors Report, Public Works Report, and the Town Managers Report. Is the consensus for the agenda as presented? Yes. Yes. All right, thank you. All right. Well, we'll go ahead to the consent agenda. I think that's Let's say not everyone was here. Yes sir. We need to make some move. Nothing. I mean nothing let's say not everyone was here. Yes, sir. We need to make a move. Nothing. I mean, nothing, Mr. Mayor. Oh. Okay. All right. Thank you. Or they are. Cassinna agenda. I don't know that everybody was here. For the meetings, we'll go ahead and we'll have a motion concerning the Consinna agenda. And if someone doesn't vote on that, they can say afterward that you abstained for the reason you abstained. I'll be happy to make it easy. Dr. McGraw, so I'll be happy to make it tonight. I move to approve the consent agenda as presented and pay the bills. I second. Miss Soapall. Aye. Vice Mayor Hodges. Aye. Dr. McGraw is absent. Ms. Barnhart, I, Mayor Trevett. I, I thank y'all. Yeah, we are missing Dr. McGraw this evening. He's away having a vacation with his wife and joins him well deserved R&R. Do you want to read this proclamation on dark sky week? You know, we had a former council member, Dr. George Spagna, a physics professor, and someone who's involved with a keyboard observatory at Randolph-Macon, someone who really cared about having dark skies. So we all get to continue to enjoy the skies we can see it. So I'll read the proclamation. whereas the aesthetic beauty and wonder of starfield skies are the heritage of all humankind and locally to the inhabitants of the town of Ashland and are therefore worthy of celebration. And whereas the experience of standing beneath a starfield night sky inspires feelings of wonder and awe and may encourage interest in science and nature, especially among young people. And whereas the opportunity to view Starfield skies attracts tourists to our region, and therefore economic benefit to the town of Ashland, whereas preserving the rich historic heritage and starry night skies of the town of Ashland is important to its citizens and whereas we are fortunate to have the people of observatory in town on the beautiful campus of Randolph-Macon College which certainly benefits from dark sky principles. And whereas light pollution which is wasted light that performs no function or task, an artificial light that goes where it is not supposed to go is created by glare, light trespass, sky glow and over lighting. And whereas the town council on November 20, 2012, amended section 21-266 of the town code General Lighting Standards to comply with the International Dark Sky Associations suggested requirements to reduce light pollution. And now, there form behalf of the Ashen Town Council, we do hereby proclaim the week of April 21 through 28, 2025 as dark sky week. And further, we encourage all citizens to learn about light pollution into implement practices and lighting improvements that reduced light pollution thereby preserving our night skies dated this first day of April 2025 All right, we already voted for consensus for that proclamation All right, thank you all right So at this point we'll have our presentation on the central Virginia Transportation Authority update in whatever order you desire. Mr. Mayor, the steam council members, Mr. Town Manager, Mr. Goodman. Thank you for having us here this evening. My name is Sean Davis and I have the privilege of chairing the Central Virginia Transportation Authority and again we would not would not be here, except for your invitation, so we're very, very grateful. A little background on the CVTA, I'm the first one to tell you that I wasn't the biggest fan when I heard legislation was going through the General Assembly to construct and ultimately implement a Central Virginia Transportation Authority. And the reason was, was I haven't found a lot of great things that come out of the General Assembly that affect us positively here at the local level. As a part-time job, a side job, a little side gig, I have also served on the hand of a county board of supervisors. So I am familiar with how the General Assembly can act and what we sometimes have to deal with. And that's not a dispersement, but those are the facts that sometimes it's just recognized that the government that serves the people the best is one that's closest to the people. So I myself was not a fan when I heard about this. The Central Virginia Transportation Authority has been a great success. And the reason it's been a success is my belief in my estimation is it was turned over to local governments to run. People like you who are sitting here. The Central Virginia Transportation Authority does not work on ambiguous projects. They put real shovels on the ground and that's not a pun that's absolutely accurate. And if there's one thing that I could tell folks as I go around when I speak to the citizens is that one, it's not a regional government. Decisions are not made there in a vacuum. It's from the folks who sit here in the leadership of the folks on this town council that so many projects have gotten done and delivered to your constituents. And I would have no hesitation and no reservation in telling anybody that the leadership of this council is the reason so many projects have gone through CVTA that had been beneficial to this town. So while we don't have ambiguous projects, we instead deliver real results to localities that are seen and recognized by your constituents. Again, not a regional government, but it's an organization that greatly advances your locality by leveraging taxpayer dollars to bring projects home that are needed and important to your citizens. One of the most important things for folks to realize is, y'all don't have any money, I don't have any money, it's the citizens money. But they do entrust you with signature authority. You are authorized to write checks on their behalf. And y'all have done a phenomenal job. And I say that as a co-labor, as a co-labor. When we go down there, Henrico doesn't make decisions for Ashland. Ashland doesn't make decisions for Chesterfield. Hanover doesn't make decisions for Powhatan. They come together in a collaborative manner. And when you advocate for these projects through what you know is felt through your constituents and what's communicated to you from your constituents, you take that to those folks down there because you know it's important and then it gets done and it would not get done without your leadership. I want to be very clear. Your citizens do benefit from your leadership and these projects are delivered because of this town council, their voices heard through their representation representation which is you while you're on the CVTA. So with that we're very fortunate to have the leadership of John Hodges. Thank you Mr. Hodges. Mayor Trevet came down I believe in the 10th of the last meeting I was out of town. Thank you for that and Dr. McGraw and I worked together in a number of areas. So with that, I think it's important for folks to know and you'll see a brief video here that what they see taking place is not something that you're going to hear about on the press conference when legislators come out and say, hey, let me tell you what I did for you. Instead, they get to see the things that we're concerning to them, be fixed, be implemented in their locality in this town because of y'all taking their voice down to the Central Virginia Transportation Authority. And I'm grateful. I once said, and if you allow me just a second, I talked to a friend of mine one time and people have asked me, said, you know, CVT is still in its infancy. The first meeting was in 2020, right, in the middle of the COVID pandemic. And I believe it was probably the most well-attended virtual meeting in the history of the Commonwealth of Virginia. And it was a little raucous, let's be clear. So they said, what is it like leading an organization like this? And I remind them of a story that a friend of mine told me when I was in the Marine Corps and I just happened to work that into most conversations. But it was a Sardin major and he was a Sardin major of Drill Instructor School down at Paris Island and asked him, I said, how was it? The hours are our joints and those types of things. He said it was the easiest job that I've ever had. That's an interesting. I said, why do you say that? He said because I was working with the cream of the crop. He said I was working with people who wanted to be there, people who had already proven their leadership, people who cared about the organization. He said, how hard is it to really lead in an environment like that? And I said, you know, that's me at CVTA. I don't have to do anything except bring people together to make sure that we can have an open communication about what's important in the town of Ashland or in RICO or Hanover and so I'm very grateful to the leadership of this town council because so many things that have been done are directly because of what y'all have decided to implement in your town and then take down the CVTA to get funded. So with that it's my pleasure to introduce our executive director Mr Mr. Chet Parsons. Thank you. Yeah, yeah, that deserves a close. And thank you for your service. Good evening, I'm Chet Parsons as Mr. Davis mentioned. I'm the executive director of the CBTA and I've got the privilege of visiting all of our member localities with the chair to talk about all the great work that's being done in the region. So I did want to start this evening's presentation with a brief video that kind of gives an overview and some highlights of some of the work that's been done and some of the work that's being planned. So we'll start the video, please. I'm Sean Davis of the Hannover County Board of Seat Devasers and current chair of the Central Virginia Transportation Authority. It's my pleasure to provide an update on the Central Virginia Transportation Authority and share some of the projects we're needing forward with heading into 2025. Since its creation by the General Assembly in 2020, the CDTA has continually sought to procure its mission of identifying and funding prior to transportation investments across the nine Central Virginia localities that encompass planning district 15. I'm very proud to see these projects coming online and watching as the CBTA continues to accomplish so much for the region. Thanks to the stewardship of this week, another transportation projects continue to move through the pipeline and real results have come about for projects that would have been left waiting for federal or state funds. Instead, they were made possible by the CDTA. To in three regional rounds of funding, the CDTA has contributed to 64 projects to the 720 million in allocations through the year 2031, including CDTA distributions to local governments of the DRTC, we made over 1.2 billion in transportation funding available to our region. We continue to make important long-term changes that are going to benefit a whole lot of people in our area. We're also setting the standards for how cooperation law enforcement helps get things done in this week. Before we get to some of our new projects, I want to update you on a pair of projects that was approved in earlier rounds of funding. In New Kent, James City County, the Interstate 64 Gat Project, which the CVTA contributed $100 million to help complete, has proceeded on time and on budget. For average in this 29 mile construction corridor, corridor can see progress being made as a third lane is added in each direction. Construction is scheduled to be completed by the summer of 2027 for the first section and 2029 for the second. And in Chesterfield County, CBTA funds in the amount of 37.5 million are helping to complete a project that will extend will-rejoved from O'Hunter Road to Route 288, including around about the O'Hunter Road. Right away, acquisition is narrowing completion with the scheduled start of construction coming in spring 2025. Now, as far as our new project, one of the biggest pieces on our list is in Hymnwite, Go County, where significant improvements are being planned around the short pump area. The CBTA-Back Suite of Projects will include a newly designed and constructed interchange of Interstate 64 at Northgate Road, a reconstructed interchange at West Broad Street in I-64, improvements on West Broad Street and improvements to a section of Interstate 295. Some 60 million in CBTA regional funds will allow for construction on this vital long-range plan to begin as early as possible. The other big project on our list is in Chesterfield County, which is Phase 1 of the long-discuss Po White Parkwayway Extension. This phase would extend Po White Parkway as a four-lane road to Woolridge Road with a partial clover leaf interchange planned at Charter Colony Parkway and overpasses at Brand of Mill Parkway and Water Mill Parkway. CVTA funding has helped preliminary engineering and design work to begin ahead of construction that is on track to start in 2027. Elsewhere in the region, we're looking to help fund a project on I-64 in New Kent County to improve the interchange in Exit 211, which will be the location of the Rebucky's Travel Center. The installation and construction of a roundabout and new signal configuration requires a new two-lane southbound bridge along Route 106 with the existing two-lane bridge used for northbound traffic in the future. Preliminary engineering began earlier this year with construction expected to start next spring. In the city of Richmond, a new bus rapid transit line is planned that connects northside and southside via high-capacity high-frequency service. The north-south DRT which will significantly improve travel times includes construction of stops and other roadway signal and pedestrian safety improvements along a two and a half mile section of Chamberlain Avenue from the Henrico County line to Lombardy Street including up to 14 stations. Construction is slated to start in 2028. In the mouth of the woods, two projects in Aslan and in Hanover County will bring important updates to the road network. The first is here at the intersection of Route 1 and Aschoke Road, where signal and pedestrian improvements will provide a connection from the intersection to the proposed Route 1 widening improvements to the north. These high visibility crosswalks and push buttons on all legs will also include ADA ramps on all corners with preliminary engineering set for this project in summer of 2025 and completion in 2029. And then over at Route 360 and Walnut Grove Road, an improvement to the intersection there will include preliminary engineering, right of way, and construction that looks to be all wrapped up by late summer, 2033. And less than five years since its formation, the Central Virginia Transportation Authority is bringing much needed relief to areas where congestion, safety, and accessibility have become increasingly more problematic. It is such an honor to serve our region and we are devoted to doing this important work, making plans solutions of reality that people throughout our nine localities. What is happening thanks to the CBTA and its effective use of tax dollars has continued to make our region better. Now, funding these projects, we continue to improve our ability to fix transportation issues and central Virginia. Thank you. So, if it's okay, Mr. Chair, I'd like to take a few minutes and kind of go through a little background of the ZBTA and how the funding is collected and provide the public some information. So we are created by the General Assembly back in 2020 in that session. And the purpose of the CBTA is to collect and distribute funds for the specific purpose of transportation improvements in our region. So the nine localities that make up the CBTA are the only ones that benefit from the revenues that are being created. So we operate off collection of both a sales and use tax and a wholesale gas tax that is collected from our localities. Those taxes stay in our localities and are distributed three different ways, which I'll give you some more information on that in a second. But our purpose, as I said, is to work with our partners in the region, the Richmond Regional Transportation Planning Organization and plan our VA, our planning district commission to use their expertise to identify the issues, What are the problems, the issues that we need to face in the near and distant future, out 20 years? What are those transportation issues going to be? And the CBTA is then able to turn around and provide financial support in many different ways to help achieve those needs and provide those projects or programs in a quicker fashion than we had come to expect in this region. So the tax collections since 2020 have continued to increase. We are seeing well over $200 million a year in taxes being collected just for our nine localities. As you can see on the right hand side of the screen, the sales and use tax is the major component of those revenues and that continues to grow at a very good pace and we continue to watch the fuels tax. That's a little bit more touchy, and it depends on a lot of different factors like the price of gas, and whether people travel with that price of gas. The fuel economy standards in for vehicles, all of those things weigh into the purchase of fuel. So we continue to watch that and work with our General Assembly partners to make sure that the region is receiving the most benefit from these revenues. I mentioned the distribution of the revenues. Half of all of the funds that are collected by the CBTA, Mr. Davis mentioned 1.2 billion, I believe, in the video. Half of all those funds are distributed back to the nine localities, proportional to the amount of taxes that were collected. So that 50% can be used for any transportation purpose that is identified by the locality. CBTA has no oversight into those expenses, and we are so thrilled with all of the creative responses and initiatives that have been developed by our localities, including a wide variety of things, intersection improvements, safety improvements, bicycle pedestrian facilities, even hiring of staff that is focused on transportation needs. So all of those things are celebrated by the CBTA and its membership. 15% of the funds that are collected go directly to GRTC for the provision of regional public transportation. As you know, GRTC does not have fixed drought bus service in all nine of our localities. So this is a cause for some creative thinking and the general assembly is holding us to provide public transportation services, not just public buses. So because of this, I will say as a result of the creation of the CBTA, GRTC has expanded its board. GRTC has undertaken a study in micro transit, which is a form of on-demand service that can be provided for anyone in the region. And now there are pilot projects in place, I wanna say almost in all nine jurisdictions, but close to nine, including the town of Ashland. We're very happy. So that ribbon cutting was a great event here. Very successful. And then the final 35% of revenues collected stays with the CBTA for distribution for large regional projects, like the I-64 widening project that was mentioned in the video. The the the shore pounded improvements, that's a set of I believe seven different improvements that are in that whole area. And that is an application driven process. The awards for those funds are based on data that is submitted by any locality that identifies a regional project can submit that application and compete for 35% funding. So on top of the local distribution there's also regional funds that are available for use by the localities. In terms of distribution this is is just a simple table. You can see year over year, the sales and use and fuel tax is growing and is being distributed according to the directions that we've been given by the General Assembly. Tittles distribution to date, and this was in June of 2024, was quarters of a billion dollars in funds distributed out. So we're very excited about continuing that trend in the next few years. In terms of the allocations that have been received to date, you can see a distribution of the nine jurisdictions and the funds that have been distributed to each Over the life of the CBTA A good distribution everyone has received funds all nine jurisdictions, so we're excited about that and We're really looking forward to this is the application driven process. We're really looking forward to seeing what happens next in terms of the next round of regional funding. And just to highlight some of the projects that have been funded, this is a distribution of the types of projects. Predominantly, it has been highway focused projects on this $540 million of the life of the CBTA, 21.5 into transit provision, 14.8 million in preliminary engineering, that's to get these projects shovel ready. If you ever go after federal grants, they want to see shovel ready projects, right, or even state grants. So that helps in that regard. And then 140 million to bicycle pedestrian projects and a big component of that project was the fall on trail, which I have some great updates on that. In terms of the GRTC fund, that 15% over the lifetime of the CVTA, almost $120 million has been directed to GRTC, and that has helped do a lot of different things, including keeping the service viable, keeping it fair-free, which is something that started during COVID and has been able to be continued to this day. And that is not something that many metropolitan areas in the country can claim. A lot of those fair free services that were started during COVID have now reverted back to a fair charge. So we're excited to continue this partnership with CRTC. In terms of the project highlights, this was our last round of funding, which was in March of 24. So a great list of regional needs and projects are identified. You can see in the red there, that's the Route 1 and Ashcake Intersection project, which received 2.1 million in funds. And that is to complement the previous funding for the Vaughn-Rade overpass, which I believe now with inflation is up to an award of 5.3 million and a little bit of change. So we're looking forward to continue working with the town to identify ways to get that project over the line. It's a very competitive field with dealing with FRA and all of our rail partners. So we're looking forward to continuing to work. So the Fall Line Trail. Two phases are currently underway. The Northern section, well, before I start that, I want to congratulate the town on finishing the first section of the fall in trail. So that's something to be applauded. The second big section that's underway right now is the Northern section which spans from the southern edge of the town of Ashland. All the way through Hanna Rock County to Mr. Davis' peers on the board there, across the Chicominy River and into Henrico County. So that is currently underway. It's on budget on time. And the last I heard from VDOT is they're very bullish on that section being completed by late summer. So we're looking forward to getting people out on that and enjoying that facility. The Southern section is another V.O.T. administered project and that is going from the, I believe it's from Patent Park on the Southern side of the Appomattox River across around Virginia State University through Petersburg and Colonial Heights into Chesterfield County for a little bit. And that project is out to bid. I don't believe that the bid has been awarded yet, but we're expecting that in the next few weeks, I think. So that project should be underway soon and getting some dirt moved there. And then Henrico and Richmond are both undertaking different segments of the trail in their localities. So lots of activity that's going on and we're excited to see everything happening. Some project pictures. So this is mostly in Hanover County. You can see on the left-hand side, the bridge piers are in place and I believe this is old so there's probably a bridge there now across the chick and then the trail in place going up Guathme Church Road and then on the right hand side is the proposed route around Virginia State down there at the southern end of the trail. The other project to highlight is the I-64 Gat project, 29 miles. If you've traveled the corridor any time in the last few months, it's going full, guns full blazing and I think that we're looking for a completion of of one segment in 2027 and the next segment in 2029. And then the James City County section is also being underway at that point. And the thing to highlight on this slide is the partnerships. Because of CBTA contributing 100 million, all of these other funding sources were able to be combined by V.Dot and get this project started way before anybody expected it to help serve the needs of the region. So what's next? I mentioned that I showed the table of all the projects funded in round three. Round four of regional funding is being prepared to kick off in July. So applications will be open then for all of our locality members to submit regional projects. That is a data driven process providing lots of information to think a smart scale type of application. And that will, as the said, start in July, and it'll run through early spring of 2026. So we're excited about seeing all the great ideas and applications coming in for that. And then the other big thing to highlight is that last bullet part of the enabling legislation for the CBTA gives the authority to issue bonds for the agency. And although we have not done that yet, we are going through our due diligence right now to investigate all of the implications and the possibilities for CBTA to issue bonds and increase our funding capacity even greater than what it is now. So all of our members are dialed in on that and we're looking forward to sharing some new results of that investigation shortly. With that, I would welcome any questions if there's time. If not, I totally understand. And Mr. Davis is here. Good enough as well. I picked up one of these on Pi Day. Yes, sir. There with Plan RVA, CVTA Impact Report. Very well done. You know, a lot of good information. So I'm sure you can get the same information online as well, but anyway. The report is online, but I would be happy to bring some copies of that up here. I should have grabbed more than one. But yeah, they're very, very good. Basically, I should stop talking because, listen to my peers, but especially to our leader in planning and in transportation with the CVTA. And we certainly are happy to have Vice Mayor Hodges there represented us at CVTA. I did want to compliment Chairman Davis. I was have been on the Central Virginia Transportation Authority since its inception. And one quirk is it takes the votes of four largest jurisdictions in order to do anything. Without agreement it, the city, Chesterfield and Henrico, the project didn't move forward. And that also is the case with the chairman. We started off with Henrico, went to Chesterfield and the city of Richmond. Mr. Davis represents the first jurisdiction of representing the smaller jurisdictions of the Central Virginia Transportation Authority, and that's a tribute to his leadership and confidence that the origin has in here. And I think I was expecting perhaps a little more ebulence for lack of a better term over the CV Central Virginia Transportation Authority being able to leverage funds in the smart scale round, and which was intended and dreamed of. And to the extent that, correct me if I'm wrong, about two-thirds of the projects proved for the, or at least recommended to the smart scale system are in the Richmond region over Northern Virginia and the other transportation authority in Hampton Roads. That's a tremendous accomplishment. You're correct, Mr. Vice Mayor. Yes, sir. So, anyway. Any other comments or questions? Thank you. That was very informative. Mr. Mayor, I'll close with this. I want to thank Mr. Parsons again. With so many folks, y'all's input is so important. You lead that organization. But Mr. Parsons does the Yomans work behind the scenes, and you know that from your staff. And it would be inappropriate for me not to mention your town manager who has been plugged in for many years. I know that from working with the county and the leadership between you and Mr. Harris and now Mr. Badesky. Josh, you're just, I mean, you're phenomenal at what you do. And that's an asset to y'all, I know y'all know that. I'm not trying to... I'm not trying to... I'm not trying to... Come out of my way. But it is so important for us to have just competent, hardworking folks that help advise us, help administratively, and help us had the information that we need to have in the form that we need to have in order to make decisions because that's what you're here for us to make. us help administratively and help us had the information that we need to have in the form that we need to have in order to make decisions because that's what you're here for is to make decisions. So very grateful that we have the leadership Mr. Farah, he just does a phenomenal job and that is part of the success there and chief. It's great to see you as well. It's hard not to call you chief. I see you have a lot more hair than it did for a number of years, but I know you'll have a lot more hair than you did for a number of years. But I know you'll have a tremendous staff and that helps you all lead. And I'll just finish with this. I greatly appreciate your leadership. CBT would not be what it is without the town of Ashland. So thank you, sir. Thank you all. Thank you. Thank you both. Thank you both. of Parsons and Mr. Davis leave, I just want to honor them with the new functionality that was mentioned on Facebook this morning. I think we ought to celebrate you know such a good job. You check to make sure we had the warrants for the lights right. And for those watching at home that was $12.59 of Doug Goodman's money. Actually probably Shelley Goodman's, for your honest with you. Excellent. Thank you very much. Mr. Mayor, if I can add one point, just to kind of piggyback on the collaboration discussion that we've had with CBT8. Really is a wonderful example. And one thing that I don't think the public gets to see, I'm sure the board and Cheddar familiar, staff at all levels are working on us. There's a- with CBT8 really is a wonderful example. And one thing that I don't think the public gets to see, I'm sure the board and Cheddar familiar, staff at all levels are working on us. There's a finance directors group who help kind of come up with financial policies. And then the real, a lot of the work gets done at the tech level. And that's for our purposes, Miss Nora Amos, and they are the ones that are really doing that detailed analysis that then supports the board, supports Chet and the work that he can do. So the tech level? I'm sorry. What was the technical advice committee? I have a device committee. So there's committees working at every level and local governments working together across every section of this, that level that even the public doesn't get to see. All right. Thanks, sir. Yeah. It's not a one person. It's not a one group. Yeah Or going effort. Yeah, thank you all again. This is good stuff. All right. And that brings us to citizen input time. Invite any citizen. You have a good evening. Thank you. Any citizen who'd like to come forward, invite you at this time. Just identify yourself by name and address. Good to see you again. All right. Going, going. Hi, go on. All right, so pass by here, citizen input, and move to our action item. Town managers, calendar year 2020, 24 evaluation resolution, and whether Supervisor Davis knew it or not. You made a reference to our town manager about the good job that he does and working on this resolution. It certainly was very apparent that we feel the same way. All right, so. I lost track here. Are you ready to move to that item? Yes, sir. Let's go ahead, move to that item. Well, the manager, I think in the opinion of the council in the opinion of the council has done an excellent job and built on his success and the latest evidence is the ARPA program that we've had a detailed presentation. Now that was creative and legacy generating projects that benefit the whole town. I don't know Mr. Mayor whether you want to read the look or how you want to deal with the resolution. I think it'd be good to go ahead and read it. Right. I defer to. Right. Would you like to read? Me? Oh, sure. Happy to. All right. This is with great pleasure. Whereas on January 25, 2017, the Ashson Town Council hired Josh for our pardon me as our Ashson Town Manager. And whereas the Town Management Agreement requires an annual evaluation of his performance by the Town Council. And whereas the Council has compiled an annual evaluation of the performance of the town manager for CY or calendar year 2024. And whereas the town manager's rating for the calendar year 2024 was outstanding, and the council determined that he had successfully attained his annual performance goals and objectives. And whereas for a calendar year 2024, the council finds that the performance of the town manager continues to be excellent and that the town manager continues to achieve all of his annual goals and objectives. And whereas after renewing pardon me reviewing the financial position of the town the council found finds that in a part of me we are in a position to provide a salary increase to the town manager for his outstanding performance as our town manager. And now therefore it be resolved by the Ashland Town Council at its regular meeting on April 1st of 2025 that a salary increase in the amount of 7% of the town manager salary shall be added to Joshua Farmer's pardon me. Salary for his outstated performance as the town manager during the 2024 calendar year effective June 25, 2025. On the motion of. Do I have to go? Okay. On the motion of. Okay. I move for the adoption of the revolution of 2025-04 Tom Manjera valuation as presented Second the Ashland town council voted to approve the revolution 2025-24s follows is that correct? Okay? Well, okay? That's what it says So I have a motion to second Miss Barnhart. Yes, it is yes, I Miss Opal I my smear Hodges I Dr. McGraw is absent mayor Chabette. I Thank you all Thank you and thank you mr. Manning Thank you, mr. County manager. Thank you all you are Very generous and this is always a very humbling but also prideful moment for me So very much appreciated and thank you all for being great to work for as well Thank you All right that brings us to reports and I guess we switched up Since our last meeting I'll tell you some of the things I've done. I'm not including everything because it would take too long. On the 8th of March I visited with the Medogate al-Pacas at the Ashland Theatre and I really enjoy al-Pacas. I attended history talks on the 9th of March, on the 10th, the Council on Aging meetings, trying to stay informed about issues concerning seniors. VCU class on fundamentals of emergency management, that was on the 12th of March, on the 13th, there was a ribbon cutting for around the table, their new extension of the restaurant. On the 17th there was a ribbon cutting for Harris Automotive on Dow Gill. On the 19th I learned from a presentation here about the dangers of social media. On the 22nd I attended opening day for Ashland Little League. On the 27th, preserving history at Caravades. On the 27th also, there was a women's history month event at La Continas, and it was absolutely fabulous. On the 28th, I attended the second VCU emergency management class. That's a series of three classes. The last one is coming up this month. And on the 29th, I attended women building bridges sponsored by downtown Ashland Association at Ash and Olive. And the last thing this past weekend, I attended the wonderful Secretariat celebration. Thank you. Thank you. We appreciate the fact that you're right. You didn't name everything because I know you're involved in a lot of things. We appreciate your energy level. Thank you. It sir. I'm sorry. Okay. This moment. Sure. I'll be happy to. The art council met and they are, or primary, they're just, they discussed art in orbit, which is a proposal to bring commissioned outdoor art pieces to Ashland. And the idea is to have six different pieces selected from a juried group of pieces that we will have in our downtown area for one year. They'll be placed in what we call our art district, which is along the railroad tracks and up and down England street. And that should be really fun to see different arts pieces from all of our country we hope. Looking forward to that. Planning commission also met and there was nothing on their docket so there won't be anything of interest. I should say coming to us anytime soon to discuss as far as zoning is concerned. And then Park and Rec also met. They are in collaboration with the Arts Council. It's for your subterf and art piece that they want to create to have for the fall line trail, the area, what they call the fall line trail, head area. I don't know what else you would call it. It's where the fall line trail starts at our library. And there's a spot right there that has some park picnic tables. They're hoping to have a piece there that will include something about But also be something be something made for hikers bikers and families to enjoy That will bring them off of the fall line trail or start of the fall line trail And hopefully come into town and enjoy our downtown area as well Thanks to everyone who took part in the Secretary of the event that took place this past weekend It was a lot of fun and I was also involved involved with the fundraiser at the Hannavarts Nectivity Center, the five and ten K event that took place a fundraiser for them. So that's what I did in March. Yes, sir, Mr. Vice-Pierre. I can't hold a candle to my peers. but since our last report, I tended virtually the Richland Regional Transportation Planning March meeting in support of two town projects being added to the region's Transportation Improvement Program. And with the use of CVTA leveraging funds, they ranked well enough to be included in Spark scale. One is Hill Carter Parkway Extension from Kitty Hamilton Road to Corals Road. And that's an important link that will help us with the development of the north end of town. And then Green Chimney Road between on Route 1 to help Carter Parkway south. That's a link that's been missing. Also should help open up the Sedgefield community which has a stub road could be accessed. I was not able to attend the Central Virginia Transportation Authority meeting in March, but we were able to represent it by the mayor. Thank you. I'm reporting. All right. Yeah, and I just want to say, you know, when we give our reports, I hope the public understands we aren't kind of bragging about what all we're doing. What we're trying to do is show that we are involved because we know to represent the people. We have to be around all the people to know about budgeting. We have to know what's going on. We have to be able to get a feel for the, what's happening in different areas of the town, the energy, the needs and all that. So to a certain extent, I say it's our duty to report what else we're doing, these liaison assignments we have on different committees of the town. So now I can bore you with some more. Fortunately, say March 10th to the 12th. I was able to attend a National League of Cities congressional city. He was more. Fortunately, I'll say March 10th to the 12th, I was able to attend a National League of Cities Congressional City conference, and I had opportunity to sit down with Representative Whitman and get a half hour of his time to talk about Ashland and other needs. And I met with staff for Congresswoman Jennifer McLellan and also for Senator Cain So it was a unique opportunity to be able to get in their office and share local local concerns but also this local ideas Local desire for things we like to see happen. I was able to attend the pathways to the future That's Plan RVA that was referenced by Mr. Davis here earlier. Talk about, again, regional cooperation and it's the same regions as with the CVTA. I'm going to just use the initials because we've had it a few times here yet tonight. But very helpful to get an assessment about how things are going and to see what new faces might be involved and see how to reapply ourselves. We had a session of the IAM tourism, that's a training exercise by Richmond Region Tourism that takes place in different areas of our region. And so on the 19th it was here. I decided to stick my head in the door. Everybody was gone for the tour of the Richmond area and in different tourism interests. But I was able to encourage some staff members of Richmond Region tourism and thank them for coming to Ashland. This is the second time we've gotten to host it. And I think everybody enjoys it from what I was told, someone from Port Smith even came up here to attend. So along with Miss O'Paul attended the Ashen Little League first day opening day. She threw out the first pitch on behalf of the town, did a better job than I likely would have done. So appreciate that, but that was enjoyable. I attended one of our budget workshops and just remind people it's not too late, but it's getting close to too late to make it easy to entertain new ideas, but we definitely want people to input. On the 20th, I attended the Richard Regent Tours and Board meeting at the Ashland Vestible Farm, Hannah Rick County got to host that meeting for change to bring people closer. And I attended on behalf of the Vice Mayor the Central Virginia Transparency Authority meeting on the 28th and that was again very encouraging. I appreciate the opportunity to attend that and then Secretary of Day this past Sunday. I'll say that the attendance was probably less than maybe some people may have wanted or expected but it was the attendees of the people that really care, really enjoy, really want to celebrate and appreciate all that's involved in us hosting this only monument there is in the state of Virginia to a fabulous horse whose records have stood for 52 years and probably will stand for another 52. All right, that's enough for me at this point. And so we'll move on to our Public Works report, Mr. Jenny's. Good evening, members of the town council. The March report for Public Works is part of your packet. You may have noticed that we show one vacancy in the department. That's the lead mechanic position that Scott Samuel retired in from after 31 and a half years with the town. Good news is that we were able to fill that position quicker than I thought. We were able to interview four very strong candidates. And a Mr. Brett Dillard will start with the town on April 10th. So I was very surprised we were able to fill it that quickly, but we're looking forward to Mr. Dillard starting in that position. Public Works Operations accomplished a lot of, as usual, this month, typical street drainage, street sweeping, brush collection. But I think from the town perspective, I think the biggest news was the, taking down the Christmas tree. So I know there was a lot of excitement around that. So that was done this month. So also the permeable paper parking lot, the additional parking lot right here behind Town Hall was substantially complete. There's a few punchless items that need to be done, but staffs already able to park back there, which is exciting. Two of our ARPA stormwater projects have started, which they're underway. They've done some equipment, mobilization, groundwork such as surveying, staking, some of the erosion and sediment control measures are putting in place. That's for the Stoney Run Stream Restoration Project. That's the portion of Stoney Run. That runs along Lee Avenue, between Hanover Avenue and DeGenerne Park. And also they started work on the Maple Street Swale Project. That's the, which used to be just the ditch on the east side of Maple Street between sunny and ash cake roads. So that, both of those projects are underway. Also good news, more work was done in the PIDs or the passenger information passenger information display system at the visitor center. The PID screens and polls were installed. They also got in the electric and the conduit. And I know Mr. Ferris sent it out as Monter is a Friday report. That, well actually you didn't, I was after your report, I'm sorry. They actually went live last Friday, but they're considered to be in a live testing phase. So one of the things are gonna assess how they're working and addressing the issues that come up and also tweak some of the messages that are playing and stuff like that. So that's good news, this is an operation now. Yes. Also, I'm sure you'll notice the the England Street Skate Project is underway. Tally and Armstrong are on call. Contractor started the water line upgrade slash improvement part of that project, which is good to get that project going. I want to thank Kathleen Bison, who's the project manager for the project for Public Works, and also Kelly Frankie, who's our business development coordinator for the town. They've done a really good job of keeping the traveling public and the businesses up to date on what's happening with that project. And with that of the state of the state of the state of the state of the state of the In addition to the Maple Street improvements, they seem to be rolling along. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. And then hopefully soon we'll be able to get the trail paved. They were gonna pave it last week, but unfortunately the ground was still a little bit too wet. So hopefully we can get that trail paved soon and that project will be wrapped up, the trail on the other side of Maple Street. Right, thank you. That's good news, because I know. There's people who are, they've got too much zeal to pay attention to the not yet, stay off the trail signs. And so the sooner we can at least get it from, from already in here at the Carter Park, down the Guacani Road, the better. So anyway, when you see there's a lot of pin up desire for the fall line trail to be finished, glad we got our part done. Yes. Especially with the 80 degree weather we've been having. Yes indeed. And with the streetscape, the way it's looking, you've got crews out there. So I'm trying to make a short meeting longer. Breaking up the road there, and they take a square out, then they work, and then later on they're going to other places. I know it's not haphazard. Assuming they're making those connections they need to make before they can disconnect anyone, and like you say with water work but I just wanted to say publicly they know what to do and they're not going back and doing anything twice that's how you do a process that's underground I guess. Yes sir one of the things they had to do is do some pod holeing or making those little pat those digging out those areas to find exactly where the pipes were because some of the markings were not correct so some of those patches that you see were from just making sure where all the pipes were and now they can come through and make all the connections and install the pipe as they need to. Yeah, just want to encourage the public. They know what they're doing and it will be finished all in due time. Yes, sir. Well, any other comments? Well, comments? Thanks to the crew and welcome Brett. Thank you all. Mr. Town Manager. Thank you Mr. Mayor and Council. First item on my list is just a correction that was on my report. I had listed a few of those historic preservation presentations as being located at caravades. The first one was at caravades. The remainder of them will be here in Town Hall. We said that on the record that is Incorrect in my report if you are using my report to Set your calendar. Take note of that. Next few notes are budget related. Just to give you a preview of what will occur on April 15th, your next town council meeting. You all are aware. You've heard me talk about this for months now, bringing you my recommended town manager budget. That's still in the plan. We will do that. I'm closer than ever to having my budget final to get ready to put in that agenda. But one element I want to make people aware of, like council know, is in addition on that day, we'll have a budget amendment for the current fiscal year. And so that may confuse folks just slightly, but we'll separate them on the agenda. We'll do a budget amendment, and I'll get into that in a moment. And then we'll move on to the town manager's budget. And so please know, especially for the public, that there's an opportunity to comment on the changes made to this budget that I'll be recommending, and then as well on the town manager's budget. But referring to the amendment, that one one that we will bring you. And the line items associated it will be essentially adding to the strategic property acquisition line item. That is, in an effort to potentially cooperate with the economic development authority to purchase a piece of property in town for economic development purposes. I'll be happy to share more information to you and private. So as to not negatively impact a negotiating stance that we may have so that largely other competitors for the property would not know exactly how much we may be willing to pay for it. But the council is aware of this. The EDA was wholly supportive in their meeting last night and that auction and that opportunity will potentially take place on April 11th. So more to follow post at April 11th on that. Should be able to give you live information once the budget amendment is in front of you on the 15th. And then one other item on there that I'm excited about in its mentioned in the report is if you had not had the chance I would recommend you go take a look at our new website or not new website, but redesigned website. Received a little bit of a facelift, a little bit of a new look, and that's the fun part, the aesthetics are great, but I do want the public to know that the arrangement of the website or the rearrangement of the website was done specifically through data and understanding where people go on our website, what search terms they use most frequently. And so we tried to move those pages that are most frequently used to the front for one click access. So if that does look a little odd, like why is that one thing on the front page? It's arjake because that's what people want to see. And we're trying to be good providers of public information. And so we don't want to make that information as accessible as possible. So if you have not had the opportunity, please go take a look at the new website. Miss Miller did a great job working with our website vendor. So with that, I'll be happy to take any questions you may have. Any questions for the manager? All right, I left off something on my report. I just want to mention that it was a VML Virginia Municipal League subcommittee on messaging. We've got three subcommittees going right now, one on messaging, one on the nomination process for officers of VML and the other or just looking at the Constitution for a refresh, just like we had. Yeah, it's purple. Oh, cool. That's a hint. Like the refresh we had on our charter. So I just wanted to say, I asked Mr. Goodman, I have a letter here to delegates Scott White and delegate, Holland Fowler. Did everyone get a copy of that? No, so I just provide that for you for your review, because you're to provide your signature on it. All right. Yeah, so I just want to let everybody know. I can send everyone a copy as soon as we leave the meeting. OK, basically I thank you to the him for helping us with our charter changes. And I bring a VML to say that Mr. human also sent out an email today asking if there's interest in serving on VML policy committees. And I'd ask people, please do consider participating because it's a, from the bottom up organization. And so the more people contributing the better there. With that, is there? I did. I'll admit something in my report. My reports, liaison for the Downtown National Association and Market Ashland Partnership. I wasn't able to attend the last meetings of both, but I did send my report on. So hopefully I'll have reports from this point on. Thank you. Thank you. All right. everyone. We're good. Well done.