Board of Supervisors Adjourned Meeting   9/8/2020

Good evening everyone.

I call the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors to order for this September 8, 2020 5 p.m.

meeting.

This meeting is being held pursuant to and in compliance with ordinance number 20-A8, an ordinance to ensure the continuity of government during the COVID-19 disaster.

Supervisors

who are electronically present at this meeting are Supervisor Bea LaPisto-Kirtley of the Rivanna District, Supervisor Lewis Palmer, the Samuel Miller District, Supervisor Ann Mallek of the White Hall District, Supervisor Diantha McKeel of the Jack Jouett District, Supervisor Donna Price of the Scottsville District, and myself, Supervisor Ned Galloway of the Rio District.

Persons responsible receiving public comment are the Board of Supervisors of Albemarle County,

The opportunities for the public to access and participate in the electronic meeting are posted on the Albemarle County website, on the Board of Supervisors homepage, and on the Edinburgh County calendar.

We also have with us Mr. Jeff Richardson, our County Executive, our County Attorney, Mr. Greg Kantner, our Board Clerk, Ms.

Claudette Borgeson, and our Senior Deputy Clerk, Mr. Travis Morris.

As other staff participate in the meeting, they will introduce themselves as appropriate.

The first item is the selection of offer to receive Civil War memorials.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.

It's my honor to be here today with you.

I appreciate you taking time out for this discussion today and squeezing it in this evening as we work towards our weekend activities.

I'm presenting today really in my role, kind of for both purposes, my role as a co-incident commander for our incident management team related to this activity and due to the portfolio that I'm responsible for, which includes logistics.

There are many things about this work that we've done over the past seven, eight, nine months, but a lot of it is very much a project and logistics related.

We have some additional staff on the call that can help support today's discussion.

There are many staff that have been involved in the planning and work that we've done up to this point and will continue through this weekend that are not represented today.

As it relates to the logistics side, I want to really thank the staff that have been involved working through this project, working through our legal processes and procurement, really doing everything that we can do

to tee this up in a way to have success and meet the board's expectations on this project.

Today is really the purpose for today and the outcome the staff is hoping for is to receive board direction as it relates to the disposition of the monuments ahead of this weekend so that we as then the project team know how to dispose of it.

That is the main objective for today.

I will walk through, and again, I'm going to be the voice, but we have a lot of staff that can lead in the process discussion, as well as any information, depending on where the board wants to go.

We'll walk through the process.

We will do a high level overview of the offers that have been

received to date, including one that I just got an email about five minutes ago that came in just under the deadline.

So I will at least acknowledge that offer that is received and share who that is.

We will talk about the criteria that staff use to help vet these offers.

And then finally, a recommendation of the offers that we received based on the criteria that had been established

We'll pause under that recommendation agenda item to answer board questions, any discussion items, but hopefully at the completion of that staff, we'll get direction on what staff will do come this weekend.

Then we'll finish with just a review of logistics and access as it relates to the weekend.

So we'll transition from today's discussion

and then move to the weekend, again, just to provide a bit of an overview.

Next slide.

Timeline, this actually, Doug Walker shared this and this presentation probably looks very similar because we are using it to kind of guide our discussion today that Doug walked the board through last Wednesday night.

This is our timeline.

This timeline, July 1st, was set by the state code as it took effect.

We had some discussions, some meetings, and we've been operating really on a expedited schedule to meet board expectations and direction on the action that was directed to staff back on August the 6th.

The offer period has ended, and today is to get that input that we need in order to complete the project this coming week.

Next slide.

So this I referred to the Greg Kamler slide, at least on the left side of this.

This is this is the code and the authority for local governing body to make decisions as it relates to disposition of their memorials.

I do think it's worth me reading and y'all can read it.

But the very last paragraph on the left side says the local governing body shall have sole authority to determine the final disposition of a monument or memorial

Our understanding of that is all components of the monument or memorial that are under the local authority, which is all the components related to the statue and the items that are with that.

The evaluation criteria are now switching over to the process.

And again, we shared this with the board last week.

When we received offers that came in from different ways,

different methods via email.

In some cases, they were hand delivered or we got a formal PDF letter.

In all cases, we responded, acknowledged receipt, and then asked a series of questions in order to try to be as objective as possible in being able to compare the offers that came in.

The attributes that are on the right side of the screen really are what we used as we considered the different offers that came in.

It was focused on the type, the logistics, the vision of how our monuments would be used, the specific request on what items were being requested, if there would be the expectations around how that entity would receive those items.

And then finally, make sure we understood as best we could the vision of that entity on how

the monument or the elements of the monument would be used and accessed to.

So that is the criteria, that is the level of due diligence that we did with the offers that have been received prior to today.

This is a summary of the offers and I had shared late this morning on a package of what had been received again prior to 11 o'clock.

We categorized them as complete and incomplete.

I'll start with the incomplete.

We have received requests from two entities, one was a private person.

Why they're incomplete is that we asked that series of questions and either didn't receive all the full answers or we had partial answers in response.

So from a review perspective, we considered that an incomplete offer.

The listing of entities on the left side were fully compliant with providing answers to the questions.

It doesn't show up really well on your PowerPoint, I apologize, but the top three bullets for those entities did request all of the components of them.

So statue, base, cannon, cannonballs, everything that is

tied to the at the ready monument were requested by the top three.

The lower four, I wanted just a component of it.

And I believe in all cases, it was just the cannon and cannonballs.

And I noted earlier, we just received one literally minutes ago as Ned was doing his introduction, I was reading the email was from the 116th Infantry Regiment Foundation,

located out over in Stanton.

It's a museum, and they put in a request to be considered, and they would be considered as part of the boarded item.

They have asked for all components.

Unfortunately, based on the timing of that request, we've not had a chance to vet it against all our questions or do an evaluation.

So I did want to just note that that did formally come in just minutes ago.

So, given the offers to date, prior to the one that just came in at four o'clock and changed, staff reviewed, based on the criteria that had been established, mentioned about that previously, we reviewed the components of the offers and if the board were

So, based on offers to date, the recommendation would be to provide the monument and its components to the Shenandoah Valley Battlefield Foundation.

The left side of this slide talks about the organization at a very high level.

It was established in 1996.

It's in partnership with the National Park Service, along with the State Department of Historic Resources.

One of the attributes

was positive in their request is that they were willing to send a flatbed and actually receive the items this weekend as part of our project.

And then also cover what would be that cost to transport it the distance.

And as indicated, they're interested in all elements.

I thought it would be good if I could for a moment on the planned use, but the right side really details

the rest of the proposal on how it would be used.

But I thought it would be helpful to read to the board so that there's no subjectivity in my information.

And it's straight from what the proposal stated.

And the question was, how would the item be presented?

I'm not gonna read the entire thing.

I promise it would be one paragraph.

I've been reading verbatim.

The monument would be used to mark the location where Virginia troops fought and be dedicated

to those men who fought and died for Virginia on that particular field of battle.

It would be rededicated as, air quote, the Virginia Monument.

An interpretive marker would be installed nearby relating the history of the monument itself and recognizing its significance and detailing its journey to the battlefield.

The cannon would be used on the battlefield to mark the locations or location where artillery was positioned during the fight.

The cast cannonball piece would

be used as a bronze element for a new stone monument that would be created to mark the location where artillery played a decisive role in the outcome of the fighting.

All the items would be used as interpretive elements of a battlefield landscape and carried forward as culturally significant historic features of that landscape.

They would be maintained with respect to commonly afforded memorial objects and grave markers.

I thought it would be helpful for the board to understand the intended use of the statue and its components.

Next slide, Ellen.

So that's the background.

That's the process.

I noted the offers that have come in to date.

We talked at a high level about the criteria that was used to do the review.

The decision that staff is looking for today

Again, this will build into our project this weekend, is whether the board is interested in accepting the Shenandoah Valley battlefields offer to take all the components of our monuments, or to stick to our current schedule, if you will.

And basically, as we as part of our current scope, remove the after ready statue, and it's

its elements, and then move those to a temporary storage location.

I'm going to stop talking for now, Supervisor Galloway, and turn it over to the board for questions and consideration.

Thank you.

And I'll just go through our order for questions for Trevor at this time.

No questions at this time.

I don't think, I have only one quick question, Trevor.

I thought I saw in here, and maybe I missed, I can't find it now, but this would be permanent.

If we give it to, say, this particular entity, Shenandoah Valley Battlefield Foundation that you're discussing now, that would be a permanent give.

I thought I saw something in here that led me to believe

Our operating assumption has been that if we were to provide this to one of the offers, it would be from, that is the assumptions we've been operating under.

Yes, ma'am.

Okay.

All right.

I just can't find that verbiage in here, and I apologize for that.

Yes, ma'am.

Yes, Trevor, you mentioned the possibility of storage.

I do have some information on that.

The storage and location of where it would go has been complicated and has its challenges.

We have lined up a

In the event of the second bullet, if we are going to retain it in storage, it is a temporary location within the county.

The cost of our existing contract or the

Our contract includes not just the removal, but the movement of that statute to this designated site.

So there's no additional cost to locate it in a temporary location as part of the existing contract.

Once we move on to the logistics, I'll talk a little more about our budget and where we are in that.

I will note that if we go for option one, we built into the RFP a deduct

that turns into $3,600 of savings.

And so there's a little bit of savings if the board would so choose to accept the offer from Shenandoah Valley Battlefield Foundation.

And then really the question I think you're asking Supervisor Mallek is like what the long-term solution would be.

That is still a work in progress.

We have some working numbers as it relates to

you know, how we would then move it to a permanent location, how that would be stored, and depending on where that would land, it could be on a, I'll say, a less expensive side using something like a Connex box to something that would be more, you know, more expensive depending on where that would be.

So we're still as an incident management team working through, you know, what I would say is the hold and retain options within the county.

I think I can address that, though.

The way that it will be disassembled, remember the monument base, the concrete is a piece that we're most worried about.

Big equipment and heavy equipment is needed to move it down in sections.

The way that it would be stored in a temporary location would allow us, we believe, through forklifts to then, you know,

Relocate it into our storage unit and then take it to wherever it needs to go.

So the cost of that piece is not as significant as what the project will become come Saturday.

And I also want to just remind the board on, you know, this is a construction project that concrete is 110 years old.

We have an engineering report on it.

We are hopeful that everything will go smoothly.

But as many of us know, when you're taking things apart, especially that are that aged, there is some risk that all the components may not even be able to be restored or reused.

Thank you, Chair Galloway.

Mr. Henry, thank you for your presentation.

I appreciate the work the County staff has done and the respectful manner in which this has been undertaken.

I have one question that I think may be more appropriate to County Attorney Mr. Campner.

And I believe it's clear, I just want to ensure that the three-day window that we are operating under right now is a minimum time period.

It is not a limitation

and should the decision be to remove and store, then we can accept offers applications at any time until a final decision is made.

Yes, and that's the language in the statutes a little odd because it says it were to make it available for 30 days.

No more, no less, but I think that would be interpreted to mean a minimum amount of time.

And in the end, the board has sole authority to decide what to do.

So the period is unlimited.

Chair Galloway, I have no further questions at this time.

I would, however, after we finish this, as you indicated, like an opportunity to make comments before any motions.

Did I get everyone?

I got everybody in the order, right?

You do have a question.

Quick question to either Greg or Trevor.

The time capsule that is in the monument.

That is again at the discretion and disposition of the board.

The plan today is to try to carefully remove that as best we can.

We have worked with the UVA Special Collections that once we are able to retrieve that

Bronsbox.

Hopefully it is intact.

We will put that in an appropriate storage for the UVA's direction, and then they will be the subject matter expertise that then can go in and review what has survived over the period of time.

And Supervisor LaPisto-Kirtley, as you indicated in the document that we got from Mr. Henry this morning with regard to the time capsule on page two at the end of paragraph 6b it says following analysis and initial display in Albemarle County the Shenandoah Valley Battlefield Foundation requests consideration allowing those items to be preserved within the archives of the National Historic District on permanent lending from Albemarle County

and periodically displayed within the museum exhibits of the foundation.

It's not stated as a requirement.

Sorry to interrupt.

Do we have, and I don't know, Trevor, if this is a question exactly for you or for Mr. Canton, what do we have

We have these applications and they tell us how the items would be presented, etc.

Well, one day, excuse me, one way to

deal with that if the board does want recourse would be in the memorandum of understanding which is included in the motion.

Right now that really deals with them accepting it, them taking the different items as is and some other provisions but the MOU could also be revised to

And I'm guessing it's just when they say on six, if selected, they mentioned national historic districts, battlefield park sites.

I'm presuming they're talking about themselves.

It seems like they used SVBF,

the full terminology in other areas.

But on that 6A, it just says National Historic Districts, lowercase battlefield park sites.

They only have control over the one site or one sites underneath their foundation.

Yes sir, that's correct.

And I believe the intended location is one of their sites in Winchester.

And I'm glad somebody reread that permanent loan piece.

I missed that.

So just the time capsule items, they're saying the permanent loan.

And just to say, that's what I was trying to get at and I couldn't find it.

Well, when I first read it, I was thinking it was the statues on permanent loan, but then when I reread it, it does begin with long-term present, the contents of the time capsule.

Chair Galloway, that's correct.

Paragraphs five says that they would accept the donation of the items and so there's no loan mentioned there.

Excuse me.

Got it.

It's my understanding, Chair Galloway, that there is a opportunity to participate, not necessarily a requirement, but I think that that is more discretionary, as is a request to potentially

And that's my last question.

In the thinking of your comment about the age of the materials and bringing this down, there is some risk involved in keeping the integrity of this together.

What is the understanding of the applicants

That's a great question.

I know that they are aware of the age and the construction methodology of it.

I defer to

to Blake Appelaup if there was a specific discussion around that.

I do know that their interest was in the full statue monument and associated components.

I think they are less interested in the performance of that.

I think we would have to see what would happen as we do the removal and react to it at that point.

Trevor, I can add to that.

Blake Aflenow, Chief of Facilities Planning and Construction.

There have been discussions that components would be received as is.

In fact the MOU that Mr. Campner referred to previously includes language of that nature.

So should they be awarded it they're aware of the fact that it'll be as is you know after our removal.

Okay.

Being aware of being time sensitive,

I like the Shenandoah Valley Battlefield Foundation because it keeps all the entire, all the pieces of the monument and I like that.

Also I like the fact that they will preserve it, that they will relocate it as the Virginia monument for all soldiers.

I like that also.

What I'm concerned about is if we don't take this opportunity, another offer may not present itself and that concerns me.

What also concerns me very much is the cost of storage.

Maybe a little bit, maybe a lot.

We don't know because we don't know how long it's going to be stored for.

We're in the middle of a pandemic.

I really don't want to spend taxpayers' dollars on storing this.

It could be for months.

It could be for years.

I don't know, and I don't want to spend our money doing that.

We have a good offer to take the statue cannon cannonballs to an appropriate venue, which is a battlefield, where monuments are shown in a contextual arena.

Remember, we've been given the authority from the state.

The time to act, I believe, is now.

Let's get the job done.

Let's move the statue, move the cannon, move the cannonballs in a respectful manner.

I believe our community deserves no less.

So I will be voting for motion number one.

Thank you, Supervisor.

Well, I feel very similar.

I, having been to many battlefields over the course of my life, and most of us probably have, and I've actually been to this one, I think I just can't imagine a better place for this to go than the Shenandoah Valley battlefield.

And I think it's a, I can't imagine us figuring out a better place closer by for it to go.

I think we have so many challenges that are facing this county right now that staff and board and we all have to address that I would rather just move on, get this done with and move the statute while we have

A credible taker to put it in a good place.

From the sounds of it, I think that some folks would like to, and I haven't read the MOU, but we may want to tweak the MOU to make everybody a little bit more comfortable with that it's actually going to the battlefield that they explain in their application.

I do remember the discussion of the as is, so I'm pretty comfortable with that from a while back.

So I'm on for number one.

Let's move on, let's get it done, and let's address all the other things we need to address.

You know, thank you, Ned.

I really would like to just take an opportunity to say, because I didn't say it earlier, staff, you all have done a yeoman's job on this.

And I know it took a lot of time and a lot of effort.

And I thank you for that.

And I want to recognize our community as well.

Don't want to belabor all of this too much, but it really is important when you have decisions like this to take the time and sometimes

Think ahead a little bit.

I guess that's what I'm trying to do.

I would like to ask, I think maybe, Greg, do you have the slides that you showed us at one point about the four sides of the statute?

I think that's really interesting because I'm not sure everybody has had a chance to see those four.

Yeah.

So, okay.

I'll let you.

This is great because you do have them and I really appreciate that.

This is part of the history of Albemarle County.

So this is the one side.

So you have the one side here.

Sure.

I'm not sure if these were the pictures that I took or these were ones that OEI and CAPE already had.

But these are, I assume, all four panels.

There's both base and then the text panels.

This one, for those who can't read it, Emily, if you can go back, Confederate Soldiers, Defenders of the Rights of the States, and then the next panel.

All right, so are we good?

Great, good.

So to me,

Those panels are part of our Albemarle County history.

If we were going to contextualize at any point, those are the pieces that represent our history.

And so let me just switch back a minute and say that, Trevor, what we're talking about today is direction for this weekend.

and I certainly am in favor of this weekend taking the statue down.

We need to remove it from our courthouse space.

I'm not suggesting anything other than proceeding with what we were planning to do this weekend.

But my earlier remarks when we first talked about

the statue and court's fair.

I talked about creating a neutral space for our courthouse.

We're going through a renovation project with the city and our courthouse space is going to change.

And in my head, we really need to make that space completely neutral.

and that leads me looking into the future to say if our courthouse space is neutral, where do we tell the wonderful history, the good and the bad of Albemarle County and how some of these artifacts came to be and what the real story is.

And so for me,

I just would like us to at least think today about do we want to pause, follow through with taking this statue down this weekend, but rather than deciding to send it immediately, we know we don't have to make that decision right now.

Maybe a pause in storing it

to discuss at a higher level how we want to contextualize our Albemarle County history and present ourselves for future generations.

Once those four faces, the faces of that statue are gone, the base of the statue are gone, we're never going to be able to get them back.

It's kind of like when we take old historic houses and we don't follow through and we just tear them down, they're gone forever.

And I'm not sure we've, maybe we need a little bit more time, at least I guess what I'm saying is I need more time to process what our other option might be and to think about

The point in time where we're looking at a new courthouse space with a design and how do we preserve at least those base portions for, or to at least to think through how we might be able to use them for our historic narrative.

So I think right now, I'd like to just hear some reactions to taking the statue down as we've planned, but storing it, even if it's temporary and not a long time, to give us a little bit of thought as to what we feel about the history of Albemarle County and how those particular panels

Were you hoping to hear some feedback from each?

Hope you muted yourself there.

Sorry, as we're going through, people can remark on that, but I'm just putting that on the table that while I understand taking it down this weekend and staff has a plan and I think have done a great job in that plan, I'd like to at least tonight consider storing them, if not just temporarily, but at least storing them to come back for maybe a more in-depth conversation about

So I think I'll go through we'll continue through and then those who have yet to sort of comment will be able to comment on this and then we can go back around as needed.

Thank you.

I'll start out with a reaction to Diantha's idea so I don't forget and I think that having access to all that historical information is wonderful

but I would prefer that it have really good photography and be incorporated into a kiosk of the kinds of things that have been discussed and will be discussed for the next year or more in the courthouse project rather than having the stone there

either on the ground or somehow.

I think we have every great opportunity to make sure that all of the images of all the sides of it are able to be represented, which I support doing.

I do support option number one today.

We in Albemarle have a chance to take this decisive step and really forward the healing in our community.

We've been careful and we've been thoughtful and it's not just the last couple of months.

It's been discussed for many years about how to deal with this.

We've brought many different viewpoints with great staff effort from our citizens into this process.

And our knowledge has grown.

My knowledge has certainly grown in the last five years, way beyond what I learned in my youth.

And I also learned to understand the impacts to our citizens much better.

The most compelling reason to move forward now is to strengthen the atmosphere of neutrality at the courthouse.

People must trust that justice is available to them.

Everyone must be able to trust that.

I appreciate that the Shenandoah Valley Foundation will designate this as a Virginia monument to soldiers who fought.

and avoid having any kind of advocacy other than telling the true history.

I have learned today that it is not a place where people gather for events.

The statues are used to help to identify on the ground where soldiers stood.

from each side on the field and how meaningful this is to the visitors who are able to put themselves more easily into that terribly, terribly stressful situation.

So I really look forward to having that happen.

To me, the time is now to move forward with this decision and to deliver it to the Shenandoah battlefield to be reassembled and given a good place where others can visit it as well.

We do have people in our area who like to visit it, and I'm glad to know that it could be close enough by that that is possible.

So I thank you.

I think that's all.

I was glad to know about UVA Special Collections being able to work on the time capsule.

I think that's a great opportunity and we can decide at a later date who gets to use it.

Thank you.

Thank you Chair Galloway.

I don't want to take too much time.

Like others, I want to thank our county staff, our residents for all their communications throughout this process, and also all of those who responded with an interest in acquiring these objects.

I think the more involvement that we have, the better our opportunity for reaching the best decision.

There's not necessarily a right or wrong so much as a best decision under the facts and circumstances as we know them.

I do want to clarify, I believe that Supervisor McKeel was simply talking about pausing on the disposition, not the removal.

I don't believe any supervisor at this point wants to reconsider the decision to remove the items.

I'm more in alignment with Supervisor McKeel at this point, and I really appreciate a lot of her comments.

I'll try not to repeat them.

As we know, the 30-day was a minimum time period for people to

or organizations to let us know they were interested in the objects.

We're not limited to 30 days, therefore we're not necessarily limited to these six or seven entities that have come through with their request.

And so my

thoughts on the disposition.

It's not specifically related to any or all of those who have requested the items, but more from my perspective, I have spent years thinking about the removal of any items from the courthouses that are not associated directly with the rule of law.

hadn't gone quite so far in terms of reaching that comfort level on what the appropriate disposition would be.

I think we have a couple of questions here.

One is, is there, and if so, where is the appropriate place for the base?

I think the base is the issue as regards the more contentious or some would say controversial issues.

Cannons and the cannonballs, I think any battlefield location, they would be appropriate.

to put in a line of batteries where artillery was set up in the cannonballs or something similar to that.

The statue, from everything I've been able to read and learn, is fairly common for the era during the time period that the statues were made, not necessarily a specific artisan artifact with particular value there.

I think the base is really part of the issue.

I also want to ensure that we are being respectful to those who consider the statue and the base as a memorial for those who fought.

I think a couple of the things that really caught me as I processed this here at the end, part of what is what Supervisor McKeel said, that this particular item has a connection to Albemarle County,

And so I think one of the questions is, is there a place in Albemarle County that it would be appropriate?

And if so, where?

The answer to any of those questions could be yes or no.

My preference would be to remove the items as planned on the 12th, pause on the decision regarding the disposition in order to allow us to complete the process of deciding what would be the best decision for their disposition.

I use the word disposition, not disposal.

I also think that it is important for us to look beyond just these items at our current Courthouse Square properties.

I think we have to look in total at the Courthouse Square properties.

And there are other items that also need to be considered as to whether or not they are appropriate, recognizing that that question is not on the table today.

So my preference would be to go with resolution number two, remove base on the 12th and 13th as scheduled, the cannons and the cannonballs, but pause on the decision on the disposition.

Thank you.

So the question of which to do, I have to tell you, I could vote yes on both of these options, just to state that up front.

I think of the applicants or the folks that came forward to receive these, I think this is the one that I would support in comparison to the others.

and not the least of which is the idea that the transport is handed off.

I think both from a cost and liability standpoint that that makes part of this very compelling debate logistically.

The thing that gives me some pause is that when we made the vote to remove the statues

One of our speakers, Mr. Dukes, talked about the responsibility of where they go and how they were used.

And we have heard some comments and feedback on that.

So that phrase in that public comment section has continued to echo for me.

And the thought of how we hold, I know the MOU is what will help govern how these things are used.

But if anything, a pause gives us a chance to scrutinize things like that.

Typically when we make decisions like this, staff may wish to be able to just take the football and run with it in this case, but typically we make these decisions and then the MOU can get worked out among staff.

I think in this instance, the MOU as it relates to how these things will be used in their final destination would be critical or important to me to have some input or oversight on.

A pause would certainly allow that to happen because if they really just take the things on the truck and get them out of here, it seems it could be a good way from us or out of our hands at that point.

The storage element, you know, as long as the statue and the elements come down, if it were a temporary storage, then I think that we could get back to this business and figure out that in a short time.

I'd hate to think that temporary storage could turn into a more permanent disposition of itself, that it would just be temporarily stored away.

I wouldn't be in support of that.

I think if the board wished to take

some time and further consider how these things could be used.

I wouldn't be opposed to it, but I'm also, like I said, kind of got one foot on each side of the fence here.

The thought of having the decision done, this position figured out is of interest to me as well.

Now with that, if there were, I know that we had a couple of folks who were able to comment prior to Supervisor McKeel's raising of the storage issue.

I'd like to react because I don't like the idea of it being placed in storage and I'll tell you why.

We don't know how long that's going to be.

We don't know if it's going to be temporary or permanent.

Shenandoah Battlefield could get an offer on some other monuments and say no to us.

They are absolutely, in my opinion, the best arena to have our statues, the cannonballs and the cannons there.

And the fact that they want to rededicate it as the Virginia monument for all soldiers, I think that is very important right there and that says a lot about them.

I don't like the storage idea.

A, it's going to cost us money.

We don't know how much, I mean we weren't even given any kind of a

We don't know how much it would cost us.

We don't know how long they're going to be there.

We don't know what the condition of the stones will be if it takes a while.

If we want to incorporate it into something we're trying, it could be years.

And that also gives other people an opportunity to say, well, you have this monument and you disgraced it by just putting it in storage.

We're not honoring the fallen soldiers.

We're just storing everything and I do believe that we should go ahead

and make this decision today.

I think that the county, the people expect us to make a decision today.

And I think we show leadership by making a decision today.

It's something we wanted.

We wanted from the state to be able to have this authority.

Let's go ahead and act on it.

We've got a really, really good partner in the Shenandoah Battlefield Foundation.

Shenandoah Valley Battlefield Foundation.

They're going to

Honor the monument, which is, I think, something that is important.

But we're not putting it in storage so that we're open for attack from any side because those people will be saying, well, what are you doing with it?

And are you going to melt it down?

Are you going to throw it away?

And is that what you think of our monuments?

I don't want that.

I want it to be relocated to a good place that honors that particular monument in an appropriate setting.

It was not an appropriate setting in the courthouse because the courthouse is justice for all.

And that wasn't an appropriate setting.

And I agree with Supervisor Mallek that to have a kiosk showing what's happened in Albemarle, the good, bad, and the ugly, that's much more appropriate.

Thank you.

I'll be brief.

I really appreciate Diantha's suggestion and interest in preserving our history.

I do understand where she's coming from on that suggestion.

However, I think that I would like to just get it done.

I think that the pictures, whatever we take, can benefit us there.

I think we have a lot of markers and ability to do a good job on the Cork Square without the statue.

I do think since we're dealing with a reputable

this organization that's been around quite a while, that these things could be worked out on the staff level with the MOU as to assure us where specifically it's going, which site, which battlefield it's going to be placed on.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I did, thank you.

And following up on the how is it going to be used question, I did ask that question of someone involved with the Battlefield Foundation to say, are you going to have events around this statue?

And he said, well, let me explain some things to you.

Number one, this is not a Confederate organization.

We're 25 years old and we're federally created and we have no advocacy

As state and local state government employees, as I am one through the museum, we are not permitted in issues of our department.

So I have very good confidence that this will be treated very well and not be a situation where it becomes an issue, a gathering place for and cause difficulty.

This is a hell of ground.

So I think that we would be assured

and certainly can write things into the MOU as many details as people wish to add to make sure that people feel comfortable about it.

But I just wanted people to know this is not going to be used for commercial purposes or turn into a circus of any sort.

So, I just appreciate the board taking this thoughtful approach and I understand that we have lots of thoughts and ideas and I guess for me, I just know once those plaques, the bases are gone, they're really gone.

So I was hoping that maybe we could store them temporarily and take a pause and think about where we might be at this point.

But I understand everybody's concern and I will say though that I do agree with Donna.

There's more on our courthouse space.

that leads to it not being a neutral space and we're going to have to at some point deal with that because we determined that we were going to leave our courts downtown where they are and that's great and we have now the opportunity to redesign those spaces but we have to figure out how to make the courthouse space neutral.

I agree.

And that means plaques.

There are lots of things down there and other things that might be coming in that people would want to come in that are not necessarily neutral.

And so that's where I was trying to look ahead.

and prepare maybe for the future and the ability to tell our whole story and to have the artifacts that would support that story in a different way than we're trying to tell it now.

But I guess that's it.

So with my head count here, if you count me as a yes for the story,

I think there is a consensus vote there.

And I agree.

So I'll move that the board accept the offer received by the Shenandoah Valley Battlefield Foundation for the at-ready statute, two cannons stacked cannonballs and base and that these items be given to the foundation at the county executive be authorized to sign the memorandum of understanding with the foundation related to the disposition of these items.

All right, that has been made and seconded.

Well, I forgot to actually there is one little one.

I should have asked this before I read the motion.

I was going to bring it up after the vote to see what the process is for that.

I think the important part is that we have some input there.

Thank you sir.

Yeah thank you Chair Galloway because my previous comments were directed solely towards the second option on the resolutions I did not make a comment with regard to any of the entities that had applied and I would just like to state that of those that did apply I fully concur with county staff recommendation that the offer

Ned, so my understanding, I just want to make sure if we want to have a little input into the MOU, we can take the vote first and then come back to that.

I think that's what I'm hearing, and I see Jeff is nodding his head, so that's good.

Other discussion points, supervisors?

I would just like to comment that the, I'm sorry, the chat popped up on me.

You know, the one element of this, and for those who have come to see

Monuments that have been erected after the fact as their place to grieve family members, it does seem that a battlefield is the most logical place to have that experience.

So the fact that these will be going to a battlefield for those who wish to go, to be able to mourn those family members seems to be the most appropriate place.

I didn't mention that earlier when I was talking about this particular site for its selection.

I wanted to make sure that was on.

Ms.

Mallek?

Yes.

Ms.

McKeel?

Yes.

Ms.

Ms.

Price?

Aye.

Ms.

LaPisto-Kirtley?

All right, the motion passes.

Thank you, board.

Thank you, staff, for this.

Mr. Richardson, in terms of the MOU and the details, should we have a brief conversation about how that plays out or how that works?

Mr. Kamner,

Are we on solid ground for the board to give me direction for anything specific in the MOU that they would like for us to accentuate or take away?

As well as who would be prepared to receive the items.

Would we need to okay anything because we have a meeting tomorrow?

I don't know if that's necessary.

It's fine with me if number six is rolled in to the MOU.

I think given the breadth of the motion that was made that allows the county executive to sign the MOU and the direction we're receiving from you right now, I think that's enough for us to move forward.

Yeah, the one element, it's tricky because the statement in there says the whole line is an interpretive marker would be installed nearby relating the history of the monument itself, recognizing its significance and detailing its journey to the battlefield, which includes

our rationale, our vote, our actions.

And that is one narrative that I would want, that I'm concerned about.

I think if some of the concerns about anywhere that this would land from those in past actions of the foundation has taken, but I wouldn't want to just relinquish all input into how

Our story is being told and how it's basically come to today.

I don't know how you get at that in this MOU because it just basically says detailing the journey to the site.

Well, one thing

In the document that was given to us by the

Foundation, it mentioned their need for approval in any press release where their name is mentioned.

Maybe something along those lines for us in any situation where our name is mentioned.

I was going to add that language is in their application, that consultation about the time capsule documents and that kind of thing.

So I think we should definitely have approval.

of any of the written documentation which I thought meant the history of the statue from its raising in the first place and the context at the time and then now.

So that work will need to be done for us too because we will need to be able to have that information about what used to be at the courthouse.

So I hope that something that Greg can come up with which will

I personally don't need to be too specific because I recognize from reading it that they don't need no exact location they want to put it in now and

but that it be on the line that they suggested and that sort of thing.

So I hate to be too restrictive.

All right, well then we can move on to, we do have a second item that we have to quickly cover.

Number three is early voting, outline of election preparations.

Professor Galloway, I apologize for the interruption.

We have two more elements for logistics.

I apologize.

Sorry.

We had two more elements.

I'll be very quick.

I promise.

I think you said that.

I forgot.

My apologies.

So we're working towards this weekend.

Can you go into presentation mode?

Just so it's easier to read.

We will be setting up Friday afternoon, the construction site itself, as you kind of outlined in the picture.

That will be done in the afternoon.

The intention is to start early on Saturday morning with the actual removal process as will have been set up and staged and ready to start once we have daylight and we do a briefing

at the beginning of the event.

This is a cost estimate.

That is our contracted cost estimate, our cost.

With the decision the board just made, that'll come down just a little bit.

We also have additional costs related to site security, safety, and all those elements.

We're well below the, currently the $130,000 that the board appropriated related to this project.

As a reminder, the sidewalk adjacent will be closed because of the safety of the actual activity for both staff and anyone that would be there to view.

Next slide, please.

So the access removal process will be live streamed.

This was briefed last Wednesday.

It will be via our Facebook page.

Our communications and public engagement office will be sending out additional information on how to connect to this activity and this event.

We are highly recommending that this is the best way for those interested in observing to connect in just due to the site safety issues with the construction project and in recognition of the current COVID pandemic

and maintaining all of the required gathering limits by the state and our localities as it relates to gatherings.

There's some information here that will be part of the, will be both live streaming as well as recorded material that will be played throughout the day.

And again, Emily Kilroy, our director of CAPE will be providing additional information

as it relates to these viewing opportunities.

So that's really it for the overall update to the board.

Questions for Trevor?

Only a question about using Facebook for the live stream.

That is a venue that we were able to most easily establish in the time period we have for planning this.

Yeah so we are, thank you for the question Ms.

McKeel, we are evaluating right now getting that stream available on other services as we know there are some folks who don't use Facebook.

I'm just assuming that there will be a sort of hard line for blocks around this thing and there will be no access for any civilians or anybody not directly involved, period.

So that there's no negotiation for anybody who would get inside and get hurt.

Questions?

Thank you, Chair Galloway.

No, I don't have any questions, Mr. Henry.

Thank you.

And again, I appreciate county staff doing this in the most respectful way possible.

Many times items have a value far greater than an economic or financial

All right, I'm good.

I don't know if there are no other matters on this.

Are we good?

Yes sir, thank you.

All right, number three, early voting.

Outline of election preparations.

Good evening, Chair Galloway, Members of the Board of Supervisors, I'm Lance Stewart with Facilities and Environmental Services Department.

I am pulling up a PowerPoint presentation now.

And I'm here to discuss, for your benefit and the public's benefit, just an outline of preparations that have been made in advance of the early voting period.

I will provide just a brief background for those unfamiliar with early voting.

Last year, the Commonwealth of Virginia approved a law, later modified, requiring voter registration offices to provide no-excuse early voting by citizens, and that to be effective in presidential election.

That

The initial timeline was extended.

This spring, it now runs through Friday, September 18th, which is just around the corner, through Saturday, October 31st.

That's the last Saturday before the election.

Local voter registration offices are required to provide the service at their main offices.

They can do it by satellite, but they must do it at their office.

They must provide it on weekdays and they have the option

providing in-person voting outside of normal business hours, but not a requirement to.

So in our current circumstances, there are some challenges and some fortuitous solutions in some instances.

Primarily related to the pandemic, challenges to protect our staff, the volunteers who may staff the early voting location, voters against the transmission of COVID-19.

We have state mandates to follow in relation to protection of citizens and others from COVID-19.

We have our own local ordinance and then there are a slew of best practice recommendations by the state and by the CDC and others that we want to try to observe.

I'll say the electoral board worked very diligently to prepare our community and their operations for the election process earlier this year.

They are revisiting those in a continuous process improvement effort, not only for the early voting, but as well the polling precincts that will be open on election day.

Of course we will be implementing some site-specific measures at our 5th Street office building to make sure that physical distancing is observed.

And then I think the electoral board and the registration staff in concert with our communications office are really pushing the American citizens to vote by mail.

We don't know the exact volume that we might get from this easy early voting opportunity.

up to as many as 60% of people who vote.

And our site would be challenged by that.

And they are experiencing a massive set of requests for information for mail-in and a ballot so that is working.

We also just have some some basic challenges about our 5th Street office building.

It's got of course limited parking and volume of people who come.

It is a factor in our ability to meet the challenge of protecting our citizens and providing convenient voting.

The posture of the building right now is has been and we expect it to be broadly speaking that the building is

But to help mitigate those challenges, again, we have many employees in the building who are currently teleworking.

We have commitments from departments within the building that that will continue and will increase the availability of the parking on site.

So we estimate a minimum of 100 parking spaces designated for early voting.

It will be sufficient to meet the need.

and we'll be putting up directional signage to facilitate parking, viewing of people as they wait to go into the polling location and implementing a one-way entrance and a one-way exit point so that people don't have to pass each other.

Just briefly I have an overhead of the site.

You can see the red dot in the middle is conference room A and there is a

what is normally an exit, emergency exit door here near the entrance that steps up from the parking lot.

that would actually be made into the entrance.

Citizens would flow through the space, exit through what is normally our entrance and then walk this way.

This will allow us to use the area immediately to the south of conference room A as a queuing area for citizens should lives get longer.

The orange area

spaces, areas that would be designated for use for early voting.

Employees and their personal cars or fleet vehicles parking in other locations with directional signage in purple to ensure that they know where to go and where not to go.

and then the big purple dot on the left hand side of the screen we imagine and I crafted a large sign so that drivers who are seeking a place they may not be familiar with

have a clear visual indication that this is where you go to early vote.

So that science package is being worked up in cooperation with the electoral board staff, elections officials, and our communications office.

And then just lastly, I just wanted to lay out for everyone what the early voting calendar

will begin on September 18th.

The operation will run every weekday from 8.30 to 5, but also they're doing an early voting, early bird special sort of day on Tuesdays at 7 a.m.

For people who may have to be at work by 8 or 8.30, they'll have that opportunity and also Thursdays

They will stay open an extra late for similar reasons to make it as convenient as possible for people to vote.

Beginning on October 24th and then again on October 31st, the facility will be open and available for early voting on Saturdays from 9 a.m.

to 5 p.m.

That's the end of my presentation.

I'm happy to answer any questions I can or take them down and refer them to the electoral board and get back with you.

Thank you, Lance.

Questions at this time?

Not at this time, thank you very much.

No questions.

Thank you.

I do have one quick comment that I heard the other day that so many people have volunteered as election officials for the day of voting that we now have a waiting list.

And I heard that we were all very concerned about getting enough people to do that.

So I was just very proud of our community for really stepping up on that one.

No, Lance, thank you.

Your presentation answered several of the questions that I had, so I appreciate it.

It was a great and informative presentation, and I hope we can get the word out for this because this is really important.

I'm hearing a lot of people saying that they're going to go and vote in person this year.

So I just think getting the word out is really important.

And Liz, you're right.

I had at least two or three emails from people wanting to volunteer.

So I think the advertisement that we did really paid off and our community has stepped up.

So it's great.

Thank you.

Well, there are handicapped spaces on both levels.

There are also a few handful of non-handicapped spaces that are normally reserved.

I have a new appreciation for stairs.

and the difficulty that stairs create for people of all sorts.

So if we can keep those folks on the squatting level, that will be a huge advantage for them.

And also I am glad to see that there are lots of signs for where curbside should happen.

And that's one of the things that as a poll worker, outside person for 25 years or so, it's always hard to catch people before they struggle out of their car and struggle to the building.

If all of us are on the radio talking about how if you're having trouble walking, please stay in your car and someone will come to you, then we may be able to get more people who can vote safely on that.

And is the attachment ready for circulation for all the details that were part of this presentation?

I'll need to confirm.

Okay.

Okay because newsletters would be a place to help to publicize all that so we want to do our job.

Supervisor Price.

Thank you, Mr. Callaway.

Thank you, Mr. Stewart, for your presentation.

I don't necessarily have a specific question about that, but I do have another question that either you or perhaps Mr. Washburn may need to answer for us.

And that is in the past, and we know that this is going to be a very different election this year, mail-in vote, formerly called absentee voting, or also known as absentee voting.

Those votes are generally tabulated later than one day of election votes are tabulated.

So my question is for in-person voting in advance, starting on the 18th of September through the 31st of October,

Will those votes be calculated on election day and therefore released to the press and to the public, or will those votes be counted later as mail-in votes or absentee ballots are generally counted?

I have an understanding, but I would hate to relay it and be wrong in what I say.

So if it's okay with you, I will get

I appreciate that answer.

That's the right answer.

Thank you Mr. Stewart.

Thank you Chair Galloway.

I have no further questions right now.

I really appreciate everything that the county staff has done to make this as easy as possible for our residents.

Very good Lance.

Thank you for the update.

All right, board.

So next item from the board.

Matters not listed on the agenda.

Any items here?

No, not at this time.

I'm just continue to be impressed with staff.

Everything they do.

I have a short story to tell if you'll indulge me for a minute that I want staff and I want the board to hear.

I think this is a consequence of COVID

and I suspect that there is something we can do about it or help with it or maybe there's already a solution in place that I do not know about.

I got a call today from a 77-year-old individual who has been taking his heart rate at home.

He found it fast on Saturday, went over to the Martha Jefferson place on 29 North.

He was diagnosed as being in atrial fibrillation.

They said he needed to go to the main hospital and he would probably spend the night, excuse me, and they sent him over in an ambulance, leaving his car at 29 North.

About midnight that night on Saturday, he was told by the doctors that he could actually go home and that they would call a cab for him, which they did.

And he waited for two hours.

He was working with the staff at Martha Jeff

to get an Uber or a cab or something.

Turned out that nobody was able to get anything for him and at two o'clock in the morning the security guard ended up taking him over to 29 North to his car where he then drove home.

He was reluctant to call

Me or others in the middle of the night, and he has no family members here.

So this seems to be probably something that is occurring because of a lack of transportation in this COVID time with taxis.

I don't really know.

but I wanted to bring it to the attention of everyone just so that maybe staff could look into that and see if there are some solutions that we could get and how big of a problem is this?

I know having taken my mother over to the Martha Jeff on 29 many times while she was ill and having them send us over to the hospital, the main hospital,

It was always a logistical thing.

Of course, she had me.

But for those of us who do not have a family member nearby that can do that, I'd just like to make sure that that is something that we are aware of and can make sure that Martha Jeff

has a solution for, and maybe we can help them with it.

And that's it.

I just wanted to tell that story, to relay that on.

I really just want to relay that I was contacted by the Greencroft Club, which is a club here in this community, but I want to just let you all know that they actually contacted our ambassadors.

and asked them to come out and take a look at their club to see if they were doing everything proper and to sort of have a run through of the way that the club was dealing with COVID and people that were coming and going from the club.

And they were just so impressed.

They were singing the praise, Jeff,

of our ambassadors and how polite and efficient they were.

They were able to leave some of the brochures that were printed up about the county and the ordinance.

So I'm just going to give kudos to our ambassadors and to that program.

It seems to be working really well and I'm just really appreciative of the program.

Supervisor Price?

Thank you, Chair Galloway.

I have nothing to say.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Thank you.

Sorry to interrupt.

I skipped Supervisor Malley.

No worries.

I'm relating to Liz's tale.

I know at the university there is transportation that is available for patients between the various buildings and campuses.

So I would hope that Martha will quickly follow suit to make sure that that's available for someone.

That must have been a really scary situation for him.

All right, very good.

Mr. Chair, nothing formal at this time.

I'll share a couple of thoughts.

First, I would like to thank Supervisor McKeel for sharing observations about the Ambassador Program.

I think it's very fitting that Lance Stewart, our Facilities and Environmental Services Director, is on the call today to hear the compliment.

He and his staff have made the responsibility and ownership of this program.

And from my perspective, I think they've done an outstanding job of the coordination with the third party member that was aligned to serve our needs over this period of time.

and again thank you for sharing that story.

I think that they have a real strong interest in providing good strong customer service and education that is continuing to benefit our organization and hopefully the broader community.

The other thing that I was going to say Mr. Chair is that we I do want to thank this board publicly for your hard work to get prepared for our half-day retreat tomorrow afternoon.

with the Novak group, Julia Novak, who will be the facilitator for the afternoon session.

We're able, and it was a little bit late, but we were able to also align Professor John Albandian, who's affiliated with the University of Virginia Senior Executive Institute.

Many of our staff have had an opportunity to take his classes here in Charlottesville, as well as at our conferences back when we were traveling over the past years.

But Professor Nalbandian will be joining us virtually in the morning from 1030.

I don't believe until about 12 and then there will be a one hour break for the board before we come back in the afternoon.

I do want to apologize because I do believe several board members have conflicts that will either render you late coming in to the morning session or you may miss the morning session in its entirety.

It will be videotaped and so there will be an opportunity sometime after tomorrow if you take the time to take a look at Professor Nabandian's

I hope that it would be beneficial for the board members who could not be here in the morning.

And I do apologize, we were trying to coordinate that, but the board is super busy and our consultants are as well and we couldn't find a perfect solution and I'm sorry for that.

But we are excited about tomorrow and I do appreciate the board's time in advance.

That's all I have this evening.

All right, very good.

Without objection, we will adjourn to September 9, 2020, 10 30 a.m.

That is an electronic meeting pursuant to ordinance number 20-A8.

Thank you all this evening to everyone and be safe.