Central Virginia
Nelson County
Board of Supervisors Meeting 11/13/2025
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Board of Supervisors Meeting
11/13/2025
I. CALL TO ORDER
A. Moment of Silence
B. Pledge of Allegiance
II. PUBLIC COMMENTS
III. CONSENT AGENDA
A. Resolution – R2025-76 Minutes for Approval
B. Resolution – R2025-77 FY26 Budget Amendment
IV. PRESENTATIONS
A. VDOT Report
B. CVPED Program Updates – Helen Cauthen and Katie Dulaney
C. 2026 TJPDC Legislative Program – David Blount, TJPDC (R2025-78)
D. 2025 MAPP2Health Report – Ryan McKay and Jen Fleisher, VDH
V. NEW & UNFINISHED BUSINESS
A. Piney River Water and Sewer Rates (O2025-09)
VI. REPORTS, APPOINTMENTS, DIRECTIVES AND CORRESPONDENCE
A. Reports
1. County Administrator’s Report
2. Board Reports
B. Appointments
C. Correspondence
D. Directives
VII. OTHER BUSINESS (AS PRESENTED)
VIII. CLOSED SESSION PURSUANT TO §2.2-3711 (A)(7) & (A)(8)
IX. ADJOURN & CONTINUE – EVENING SESSION AT 7PM
Evening Session
I. CALL TO ORDER
II. PUBLIC COMMENTS
III. PUBLIC HEARINGS
A. Battery Energy Storage System Siting Agreements – Colleen and Piney River (R2025-79)
B. Special Use Permit #250278 – Request for Extension of SUP #240239 (Dwelling Units in B-1 Business District)
IV. OTHER BUSINESS (AS PRESENTED)
V. ADJOURNMENT
SPEAKER_15
00:00:00
Board of Supervisors, please stand for a moment of silence.
00:00:22
Okay, Dr. Ligon, please send the pledge for us.
SPEAKER_06
00:00:24
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America,
SPEAKER_11
00:00:34
Indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
SPEAKER_15
00:00:39
OK. We will open the meeting with public comments.
00:00:56
And our first speakers, we have Tish and Christina from Jefferson Area Board for Aging here today.
00:01:08
Good afternoon.
00:01:10
Thanks for coming.
00:01:10
Thank you.
SPEAKER_04
00:01:11
I am Christina Evans.
00:01:15
I'm the CEO of the Jefferson Board for Aging, JAVA for short, and wanted to come today to offer tremendous support that you guys offer for programs and other support measures that we can provide critical safety nets to seniors, adults with disabilities, and caregivers in Nelson County.
00:01:36
Without these supports, many could face isolation,
00:01:39
food insecurity and health issues.
00:01:41
I want to share some of the funding supported by your community.
00:01:44
The Cecilia Epps Community Center provided over 4,900 hours of activities to 31 senior, 31 center members.
00:01:53
These members also received over 1,300 hot delicious meals prepared by our in-house chef.
00:01:59
Aging Services Coordinators provided 1,630 hours of support to 120 individuals to ensure that they connected with the services and programs that we offer to continue living in the community.
00:02:12
For frail and homebound seniors at Nelson who helped need preparing, let me start over for a second.
00:02:21
For frail and homebound seniors in Nelson who need help preparing meals for nutrition to support good health, our home-delivered meal programs provided 3,446 meals to 55 individuals.
00:02:33
144 individuals received support from our insurance counseling program and our long-term care ombudsman advocated for 76 elders to ensure their rights are protected.
00:02:46
This year, with the help from
00:02:48
The grant provided by Nelson County Community Fund, Java was able to launch two new evidence-based pilot programs at the Cecilia Epps Community Center.
00:02:56
These programs included dingo size and a matter of balance.
00:03:01
Both programs promote fitness, health education, and fun to maintain overall health and mobility.
00:03:07
And then I have a story to share with you guys.
00:03:09
And I also have a handout, so you have that story within your handout.
00:03:15
At 78 years of age, Bea had spent her life caring for others.
00:03:19
When she was no longer a caregiver for her family member, she felt like something was missing in her golden years.
00:03:25
She was looking for a place to go and enjoy activities with peers.
00:03:29
After learning about the Nelson Senior Community Center, she was thrilled to begin attending to find new things to do and become a member volunteer where she could still help others.
00:03:39
Staff arranged transportation for her so that she could attend, even when unable to drive.
00:03:44
Bea continues to express her value for loving others through her new friendships at the Center, and we are thankful to have her love and kind spirit as part of our Center family.
00:03:55
And I have a handout for you guys.
SPEAKER_15
00:04:19
Okay, next we have Bowdoin Clark Keirley.
SPEAKER_01
00:04:37
Good afternoon board.
00:04:38
Usually I'm here with my friend and partner, Braden Murphy.
00:04:41
Today it's just me.
00:04:43
Braden is at an ambassador's meeting with the principal of
00:04:49
So he's learning something now.
00:04:52
I'm just here to give a quick update on the Nelson County Sister Cities Initiative.
00:04:57
I understand that in the house building process, there are moments where it looks like nothing's really getting done.
00:05:03
I understand that may look the case, but right now we are working on drafting our letters to send to our foreign international communities.
00:05:12
Right now we're just working with Ms. Maureen Kelley to help develop them and share our best version and also make sure we're sending them to bona fide addresses.
00:05:22
I myself am investigating and exploring opportunities that the Sister Cities program could hold up for an exchange, trade programs, culture days, things to incorporate the high school and the high school programs, but also the middle school and perhaps even elementary school.
00:05:40
I am still open to suggestions.
00:05:42
We're not really asking for anything.
00:05:44
So thank you for hearing me.
00:05:45
Thank you.
00:05:46
Thank you.
00:05:46
Thank you for the update.
SPEAKER_11
00:05:53
Edith Napier.
00:06:03
Good afternoon.
SPEAKER_03
00:06:09
Can you hear me better now?
00:06:11
Yes.
00:06:11
Good.
00:06:11
Good afternoon.
00:06:13
I'm here representing your group.
00:06:15
Can you give your name and address, please?
00:06:18
Yes, I'm sorry.
00:06:19
I'm Edith Napier.
00:06:20
I reside on Napier Loop Road in
00:06:23
Arrington, Virginia, West District.
00:06:29
Before I start my comments regarding the group, since Java representatives are here, I will ask this board to please, please look at the rhyme apartments that are for seniors that were set up originally for seniors.
00:06:45
The last time I was there, it was not something we want our seniors to have.
00:06:57
I'm honored today to speak on behalf of the Nelson County Juneteenth Celebration Committee.
00:07:07
To begin, I would like to ask the members of our committee who are present to please stand.
00:07:17
Thank you.
00:07:18
Their dedication and hard work are the backbone of this celebration, and I extend
00:07:25
My deepest thanks to each of them.
00:07:28
We are preparing for the fourth annual Juneteenth celebration of Nelson County, scheduled for Saturday, June 20th, 2026 at 3 p.m. You'll be hearing a lot more about that in Getting Flyers.
00:07:43
This event continues to grow in reach and in path, offering our community a space to honor history, celebrate
00:07:53
Progress and Invest in the Future.
00:07:57
In 2025, our theme focused on historical black colleges and universities and the educational opportunities they offer to all students.
00:08:11
We welcome college students who shared their experiences and answered questions from attendees, creating an inspiring and exclusive dialogue
00:08:21
that resonated across generations.
00:08:26
We are grateful to the Nelson Heritage Center for once again opening its doors to host this event.
00:08:32
While the Juneteenth Committee operates independently, we deeply value the center's support and partnership in making this celebration possible.
00:08:44
Today, we request a $5,000 donation
00:08:48
on behalf of the citizens of Nelson County to support the 2026 Juneteenth celebration.
00:08:57
We also ask that this contribution be considered as a reoccurring county budget line item, ensuring continued support for this meaningful tradition.
00:09:12
Your investment will help us provide enriching programs
00:09:17
Foster educational engagement and celebrate the diverse heritage that strengthen our community.
00:09:25
With your support, we can continue to offer students and families experiences that uplift, inform, and inspire.
00:09:36
Thank you for your time and consideration and your commitment
SPEAKER_15
00:09:52
Mr. Edward Waterfield.
SPEAKER_13
00:10:12
The best kept secret in this county is that... Can you give your name and address please?
00:10:15
You just said my name, Edward Waterfield.
00:10:18
I'm homeless because, as you know, you stole my land six years ago from me.
00:10:23
The woman has never, ever been in the courtroom who broke in there and stole my knees.
00:10:29
Four years later, where I lived for 21 years, I'm gone.
00:10:33
Mr. Rutherford, you're all being impeached.
00:10:35
I'm sure you're aware of that.
00:10:36
I filed it three months ago, supposed to be heard within 15 days.
00:10:42
Typical Nelson County.
00:10:44
Mr. Rutherford,
00:10:46
the one back here grinning like a possum, he should have been in jail a long, long time ago.
00:10:52
Numerous women have been sexually assaulted because of what Nelson County has did with keeping crooked cops.
00:11:01
And if any of you here, and you were there, Mr. Rutherford, and you were there too, Mr. Reed, at the April the 4th town hall meeting of your sheriff, Mark Embrey,
00:11:15
where Mr. Embrey admitted he laughed at a senior citizen getting urine and feces thrown on them for two and a half hours December 11th of 2019.
00:11:27
I will never forget what you people done to me and you'll never go walk away from what you've done to me.
00:11:35
And here's Mr. Rutherford, he thinks he's funny.
00:11:37
I filed a FOIA complaint with him
00:11:39
August the 13th, now a FOIA has to be addressed, at least responded to in five days.
00:11:46
August.
00:11:51
You gonna answer, Mr. Rutherford?
SPEAKER_15
00:11:54
Please address the board.
SPEAKER_13
00:11:56
Again, Adult Protective Services, Java, call the Java, what is the line, when you need help, call it, call it.
00:12:09
Collin is not in service.
00:12:11
It hasn't been in service for three years, the Java outreach line.
00:12:16
It's ridiculous.
00:12:19
It's ridiculous what's going on in this county.
00:12:21
If Mark Embrey, three days, well 12 days later, he's getting awards for protecting senior citizens.
00:12:29
He laughed.
00:12:31
Him and Mr. Phillips both laughed.
00:12:34
And this is what Mr. Rutherford, he thinks he's funny, he got a devoid regret.
00:12:39
He put something on there.
00:12:40
Better things to do than drugs.
00:12:43
I know somebody much closer to him.
00:12:45
He needs to worry about being on drugs.
00:12:52
Okay, that's all the people that have signed up for public comments.
SPEAKER_15
00:13:16
Is there anyone else present who would like to speak during public comments?
00:13:22
Okay, I'll close public comments and we'll move on to the consent agenda.
00:13:33
Lord, what's your pleasure on the consent agenda?
SPEAKER_16
00:13:36
Mr. Chairman, I move we approve the consent agenda as presented.
00:13:39
Second.
00:13:40
Good job.
SPEAKER_15
00:13:41
Got a second from Mr. Parr, I believe.
SPEAKER_05
00:13:48
Mr. Parr.
SPEAKER_14
00:13:50
Yes.
SPEAKER_05
00:13:50
Mr. Rutherford.
SPEAKER_15
00:13:51
Yes.
00:13:51
Mr. Reed.
00:13:52
Yes.
00:13:56
Okay.
00:13:57
Our first presentation today is our VDOT report.
00:14:03
Do we have someone from VDOT to give that report today?
SPEAKER_07
00:14:08
We haven't heard anything from Mr. Brown, so it's quite possible he wasn't aware our meeting date changed.
SPEAKER_15
00:14:18
If he comes back, we will give him another chance.
00:14:22
If not, we'll see him next month.
00:14:26
So next we have our CVPED program updates from Helen Cawthon and Katie Delaney.
00:14:33
That's the Central Virginia Partnership for Economic Development.
SPEAKER_12
00:14:36
Yes.
00:14:36
Good afternoon.
00:14:37
We got out here quickly.
00:14:38
Didn't expect that.
00:14:41
Do you guys want to do a live answer?
SPEAKER_05
00:14:44
I think you just need to switch the power on if it's not on.
00:14:47
It should be green if it's there.
SPEAKER_12
00:14:48
Thanks.
00:14:52
There you go.
00:14:53
Thank you.
00:14:53
I'm Helen Cawthon, President of Central Virginia Partnership for Economic Development.
00:14:56
Here to just give you a quick update on a couple of new things that we're doing and really appreciate your all's support with supporters since our inception almost 30 years ago.
00:15:09
It's not advancing.
00:15:11
Maybe it wasn't on.
00:15:12
Maybe it was on.
00:15:13
There we go.
00:15:14
So we're a public-private partnership, Nelson all the way up to Culpeper.
00:15:18
So really basically this side of the mountain, eight counties plus city of Charlottesville.
00:15:22
Again, we celebrate our 30th anniversary this month.
00:15:25
We're actually not going to officially celebrate until our annual meeting next June, but we have been around for 30 years and another week.
00:15:34
Our leadership includes Candice McGarry, so each of our public sector side is represented by the county administrator or their designee.
00:15:43
We really appreciate Candice's support.
00:15:45
and then we also, it's chaired currently by Susan Gruver of UVA Community Credit Union, so every year it switches back and forth from public to private sector and then of course, Maureen Kelley is one of our favorite economic development directors.
00:15:59
Maureen is one of the most creative persons I've ever met, so she's wonderful to have on our team and is a great supporter as well.
00:16:08
So since 2023, we just wanted to share with you some updates
00:16:13
It's just been a crazy exciting time for this region.
00:16:17
The most recent announcement of AstraZeneca, $4.5 billion project, 3,000 construction jobs and 600 long-term jobs.
00:16:27
I think what's exciting about that is that's really going to benefit everyone.
00:16:31
It is at the Rivanna Futures site right next to Rivanna Station.
00:16:35
They're taking the back lots, which is unusual.
00:16:38
Usually a new project would take the front lots.
00:16:40
But we're excited about that.
00:16:42
It's really gonna elevate most of our region.
00:16:45
We don't have internationally recognized names, and this is one.
00:16:48
So it's really unusual to get a big whale for our region.
00:16:52
That's not typically what we do in economic development.
00:16:54
We're focused on smaller companies, mostly privately held.
00:16:58
But I think the thing that's neat about AstraZeneca is I think that's gonna benefit everybody.
00:17:02
There'll be suppliers that wanna come here.
00:17:04
There'll be warehouse opportunities.
00:17:06
There really will just be a lot of
00:17:09
opportunities from that, even for existing businesses.
00:17:13
Of course, it just got announced, so we don't have details on all of that yet, but look forward to working with Candy and Maureen on those opportunities that potentially could benefit Nelson County and your companies as well.
00:17:26
But it's just such a high number, mainly because of the data center activity with EDGE Corps in Louisa County taking that whole 700 acre business park
00:17:34
right off Shannon Hill exit on 64, $17 billion data center, development by Edgecore, and then several AWS, Cielo, Data Bank, Cloud HQ, and Culpepper.
00:17:47
So just a ton of activity.
00:17:48
Those numbers are just extraordinary.
00:17:50
You all know that.
00:17:51
Usually I come, you know, we think a million dollar expansion is pretty exciting in our region.
00:17:56
So it's kind of crazy what's going on.
00:18:00
I wanted to tell you today about our new Central Virginia Innovation Corridor Strategic Roadmap.
00:18:06
It's pretty much based off of 29, so all the way from Nelson County.
00:18:10
In this case, it goes up to Fauquier.
00:18:12
It's our whole gold Virginia region, which is both planning districts, 9 and 10.
00:18:17
What we're excited about, it's really looking at what's going on here that's extra special and different and unique compared to other places in the country.
00:18:27
and we think with national security, IT, kind of the various things that are going on with advanced materials, data science, AI, even things like Perron Robotics and their autonomous vehicle technology and then life sciences, biotech, a picture there, Klotner Pentaplast is at the top, at the bottom is the Numanian Institute for Biotechnology at the University of Virginia's Fontaine Research Park, not very far from Nelson County.
00:18:54
and what's exciting about that, they're gonna hire 100 researchers and their teams and the whole idea is to get technology to commercialization faster, do more clinical trials so that discoveries can become usable for patients as soon as possible.
00:19:10
So this effort, Maureen's involved with this as well, $100,000 Planning Act grant from Go Virginia didn't cost you all anything other than your regular support for CDPED.
00:19:20
but we're excited about that because we think this study is going to give us very clear recommendations on things to do and what to capture, you know, what to capitalize on and nice thing about Go Virginia as you know from the wine project is that you got a $100,000 planning grant and then it was followed by several hundred thousand dollars for the implementation of the wine study.
00:19:43
What's the second word?
00:19:45
I can't give you that.
00:19:46
Wine something implementation, I apologize.
00:19:48
So this will be the same kind of thing where we have a planning agreement and we hope to get some money for implementation.
00:19:55
The other exciting thing that we're doing is that the Charlottesville Regional Chamber had the Defense Affairs Committee under its umbrella.
00:20:02
We have now moved that under Central Virginia partnerships, so now instead of just being Charlottesville-Alamar focused, it's Nelson County all the way up to Culpeper.
00:20:12
Looking at not only our current defense companies, but those companies that can be suppliers to defense or expand to national security type work.
00:20:23
And so we think there'll be some opportunities for Nelson County as well.
00:20:27
We've hired Miles Davis, who wasn't able to come today, brand new person for this effort.
00:20:33
So we're excited about him getting to know your community and a few of your businesses here that are in the sector.
00:20:39
and again that has separate funding so that was really nice to already have that in place and we're looking very excited about starting to really do something with that.
00:20:52
Next I'd like to introduce Katie Delaney, our Talent Director to give you a little bit of an idea of what we're doing with talent and our workforce development and then we're happy to answer any questions, Katie.
SPEAKER_17
00:21:05
Thank you, Helen, and good afternoon, board.
00:21:07
I'm going to look at this just a little.
00:21:08
Yes, Helen shared about the line implementation grant that is well underway.
00:21:14
I just wanted to update you.
00:21:17
As part of our ongoing talent work, I've been working really closely with Maureen and also Matthew Brown, who's been doing a lot of consulting work and assistance with that project on helping connect interns to the beverage industry in the line.
00:21:34
industry in general.
00:21:35
I think they have found some success with that.
00:21:39
The partnership has been working with VTOP for the past year, which is a state grant, a state initiative that offers wage matching for interns and small businesses.
00:21:50
And most of our beverage industries companies qualify for that.
00:21:55
So I think that's been a big assist.
00:21:57
The career team at UVA has met with them.
00:22:00
And I know they've also made inroads with PVCC.
00:22:03
and that's really exciting.
00:22:06
Honestly, Nelson County has helped launch Momentum for that sector region-wide for us, but those conversations have really started with you all.
00:22:14
I also want to just make sure you know of livingcentralva.org, which is a website that we continually update for our talent efforts, both attraction and retention.
00:22:26
We have on that website live, work, and play featured in each of our localities.
00:22:32
Under live has its own page that spotlights what makes your locality
00:22:36
Wonderful work.
00:22:38
We have our priority, our different sectors, and are adding always testimonials of companies throughout our region and play.
00:22:46
We really focus on the livability and the quality of life that we know in this region is wonderful.
00:22:53
So I think we have, for Nelson, done a good job and have a good effort at the craft beverages and the industry with the wine grant especially.
00:23:02
And there is a lot on
00:23:06
The website also about play but we want you to know that this again that it's an active always living site that we are updating.
00:23:14
I'm in close conversation with Maureen about how to make this a resource for you all and what we can add.
00:23:21
I'll also just say as
00:23:23
The circles that I'm in and Young Professionals faces I think Nelson County I hear talked about all the time as a place that people want to live and buy in our region as a leading locality and so I think having the land that you all have and affordability also the creative there's just a lot of creative
00:23:47
Music, and having Rockfish River here, there's a lot of draw.
00:23:51
And so I hear Nelson County talked about constantly as a really attractive place that folks want to be in our region.
00:24:00
So we want the website to reflect that, and we want to be in touch with you about how to better do that.
00:24:05
So I welcome that conversation, and Helen and I both welcome any questions if you have any for us.
SPEAKER_16
00:24:13
Thank you for the presentation.
SPEAKER_12
00:24:29
No, it's not.
00:24:30
That's in Waynesboro.
00:24:31
We wanted it, and we worked it, but we were second choice.
00:24:35
So we do have the Northrop Frumman facility that's by shops at Stonefield.
00:24:40
They do command centers for submarines, do that technology.
00:24:44
But we actually, as we talk to companies
00:24:48
outside the area, we certainly throw in things like now we'll talk not just about AstraZeneca but Eli Lilly, Merck to try to attract suppliers, especially smaller folks that fit in our region.
00:24:59
As you all know, we don't need a thousand job project that doesn't fit here.
00:25:04
We don't need the big ones but we would like some robust things that benefit our smaller companies.
SPEAKER_06
00:25:10
I have a question.
00:25:11
So I campaigned on wanting to make jobs in the county and the county always says we're friendly to business but we have none coming.
00:25:20
So what do you think is our largest hurdle and what can we do to pave that path?
00:25:25
I don't want to do this forever.
SPEAKER_12
00:25:27
I think sites and buildings are the biggest challenge.
00:25:34
Most of our companies want an existing building and as you all know in our region most of our buildings aren't new and modern and what they're looking for they're fine for companies that are already here but they're tougher to sell when they're looking especially up and down the East Coast and they want a newer building.
SPEAKER_06
00:25:52
So even with the price of construction and renovation, it seems it's always more expensive to renovate a building that's already there.
SPEAKER_12
00:26:00
I'm just saying, that's just what we're finding.
00:26:01
They typically, most of our, many of our clients want an existing building.
00:26:06
And then secondly, if there is a site, it needs to be ready to go.
00:26:10
And so one of the things we've been pitching a lot, and that's
00:26:13
One thing you all even helped Shannon Hill Regional Business Park, a great example, the county decided to invest in that land.
00:26:19
It's almost 700 acres.
00:26:21
They got two different grants from Go Virginia for due diligence, so I think like $1.3 million in two grants, so 600 about each time, and then got $11 million from the state to do site due diligence.
00:26:36
And so by doing that work, that put them in a position to attract
00:26:41
Edgcore, not everybody wants a data center, but Louisa County did, and Edgcore was able to take that site because it had been advanced to a Tier IV.
00:26:49
So I think the biggest challenge throughout our region is those Tier III, IV, V ready-to-go sites that we can pitch, because if it's just land, it's very hard to make the case.
00:27:01
And I'd be happy to sit down with you and talk more about
00:27:04
One more question.
SPEAKER_06
00:27:08
I really liked the idea of making Lovingston an opportunity zone and I've been told that that is not possible and I'm wondering why?
SPEAKER_12
00:27:18
I'm probably not the person to answer that.
00:27:21
There are designated opportunity zones and I don't know how you make yourself one if you aren't already.
00:27:30
I don't remember.
00:27:31
I'd have to look it up.
00:27:32
I'd be happy to get back to you.
SPEAKER_16
00:27:33
Yeah, I remember we did something years ago.
00:27:36
What did we do, Ernie?
00:27:38
We did some suggestive map.
00:27:41
Do you remember, Maureen?
00:27:42
We don't qualify.
00:27:43
We don't qualify?
00:27:44
Is that what it is?
SPEAKER_12
00:27:46
I'm glad she's here.
00:27:47
I wasn't sure you were here to hear what I was afraid about you.
00:27:51
She's awesome.
00:27:53
Hopefully, y'all already know that.
00:27:55
Any other questions?
SPEAKER_15
00:27:58
Thank you for your suggestions and thanks for advocating for us.
SPEAKER_12
00:28:02
I'd be happy to sit down with anyone individually and talk about these issues.
00:28:09
We're happy to do that and be supportive.
SPEAKER_15
00:28:19
Next we have the 2026 Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission Legislative Program, which we spent most of earlier this week talking about.
00:28:33
David Blount, thank you for being here, David.
SPEAKER_10
00:28:36
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
00:28:38
Good afternoon, everyone.
00:28:42
As a follow-up to being here in September, I'm back to present the Regional Legislative Program for 2026 to you for your approval today.
00:28:51
And I had noted in the memo in your packet that there are three top priorities that we're continuing
00:28:58
from 25 to 26.
00:28:59
They are public education funding, budgets and funding, and land use and growth management.
00:29:06
Just briefly highlighting those three
00:29:13
And of course there's realistic levels of state funding support for K-12 education.
00:29:18
One change to note in the position this year is noting the higher costs that are going to be expected to be associated with the upcoming reduction of K-12 education costs which is done every two years.
00:29:32
The second priority on budgets and funding, this is another long-standing position that is pressing our support for additional state funding for aid to local programs, programs that are actually state programs, carried out at the local level.
00:29:51
And then our opposition to unfunded mandates and to restricting or usurping our local revenue generating authorities.
00:30:00
If you look at these two together, there are some changes that have been put into those two statements.
00:30:05
Some new language to recognize the federal government's funding relationship with states and localities is obviously changing.
00:30:13
And also to put some further emphasis on opposition to eliminating or restricting or rather shifting costs.
00:30:24
The third priority on land use and growth management, as you know, localities are very
00:30:37
I remain concerned every year about bills that attempt to somehow limit or restrict or usurp your land use authority.
00:30:44
We've seen a lot of that going on with legislation the past couple years, anticipating that that will continue in the coming year.
00:30:52
We really spent some time in strengthening this position last year going into the 2025 session, so we have not proposed any changes to that position for the coming year.
00:31:05
Following those three priorities, there's the legislative position section that focuses on recommendations and positions that are outside of the top three legislative priorities.
00:31:16
Wanted to highlight just a few changes that are made in some of those areas.
00:31:21
Under the Children's Services Act position, there's some additional language opposing caps on state reimbursement under CSA.
00:31:30
That was an issue that we dealt with this past year.
00:31:33
On page six there's some new language in a couple of different spots on six and seven actually to encourage support for investing in our little services department for administering revised SNAP and Medicaid programs.
00:31:56
There's also, this might be at the top of page seven,
00:31:59
And support for rural hospitals that are facing reductions in overall Medicaid funding and also support for additional funding to local governments and local communities rather to assist low income working families with child care costs.
00:32:13
And then the final change that I would point out to you is on page 8 in the transportation
00:32:19
So those are the things I wanted to highlight for you.
00:32:32
I'm certainly glad to take any questions
SPEAKER_16
00:32:42
As it relates to public health and human services, I heard
00:33:06
I don't know if this is to be accurate or not.
00:33:08
Is it true that there will be an expectation of localities to do some form of match for SNAP benefits?
00:33:14
I think that's still being discussed.
SPEAKER_10
00:33:18
I don't think anything in terms of the benefits that's been decided yet.
00:33:24
I don't know.
00:33:24
I just heard that was...
00:33:25
There was some discussion over at BACO about that, but I don't think there's been any decision.
00:33:31
Any decision, okay.
00:33:32
Yeah.
00:33:32
We don't know yet what
00:33:35
Any other questions?
SPEAKER_15
00:34:01
I just want to flag the fact that TJPVC keeps us up to date.
00:34:06
We give reports at all of our meetings.
00:34:08
We had one last week, and the combination of that, our experience at BACO, and today,
00:34:16
kind of keeps us up to date on all these things.
00:34:18
Now all we have is a new administration to prioritize new things.
00:34:25
There was a lot of discussion about that at VACO, but I know this doesn't really reflect any of that except bringing back the things that we've been working on.
SPEAKER_10
00:34:33
Yeah, it's a continual job of educating.
00:34:36
I appreciate your comments.
00:34:37
And certainly during the legislative session, I'm putting out information on a regular basis about what's going on, but certainly if you have any questions,
00:34:45
I have a question.
SPEAKER_06
00:34:51
I have been on the hunt for a man or woman that can come to us and teach us
00:35:04
about the equation for
00:35:27
how to stop making the wrong decisions and help us in this situation.
SPEAKER_10
00:35:32
It sounds like that first you want to be more aware of the different components and elements in the formula itself.
00:35:39
I don't know to getting kind of at the second part if someone in the school division would be able to explain some of those things.
00:35:46
No, I've asked.
00:35:47
Probably you're looking at someone at the state level.
00:35:49
I used to know some folks in the State Department of Education that knew the LCI formula.
00:35:56
Farwards, backwards, upside down.
00:35:59
But if you would allow me to give that some thought, there may be some other folks that might be able to do a primer on that.
00:36:06
Certainly, I think if you're more educated about the components and the weighting of those and how it's figured, it might help you in decision making in other areas.
00:36:15
Also, bear in mind, too, that when we're getting ready to receive the updated composite index numbers, probably in the past have been out about right now.
00:36:22
We just haven't seen them yet.
00:36:24
There's always a two-year lag, so they're looking at data that's two years old, so really by the time you're getting to the end of the next biennial budget at the state level, you're really based off of something that's four years old.
00:36:40
Just kind of remember that when you are thinking about the components and maybe where certain, whether it's real estate or income or school enrollment or population has been two years prior as part of your decision making process.
00:36:56
But I'll get back to you.
00:36:59
I'm pretty sure I can come up with some names and context.
SPEAKER_15
00:37:02
We're looking at a new LCI then for this coming budget session.
00:37:07
So it would be a timely thing for us to review for sure.
SPEAKER_10
00:37:13
I'm not an expert in the LCI.
00:37:14
I did have a conversation with Mr. Regevall.
00:37:16
He was over at BACO.
00:37:19
I think based on the analysis that he is doing on an ongoing basis that he's anticipating
00:37:26
increases.
00:37:27
You know, again, if you're looking at data that's two years old coming from the prior two years, which was the beginning of COVID and how things, you know, we have gone up from there.
00:37:36
So I think he was maybe getting a little fidget into what we may see, but hopefully we'll know those numbers soon so we can prepare.
SPEAKER_06
00:37:46
Okay.
SPEAKER_16
00:37:48
Thank you.
00:37:48
Thank you very much.
00:37:50
Is this a, yeah, is this an action item?
00:37:52
Yes.
00:37:53
Mr. Chairman,
00:37:54
I move we approve our 2025-78 as presented.
00:37:57
Second.
SPEAKER_06
00:37:59
Okay.
SPEAKER_15
00:38:01
Motion second.
00:38:02
Any further discussion?
00:38:03
If not, we'll do a roll call.
SPEAKER_06
00:38:06
Mr. Parr?
SPEAKER_15
00:38:06
Yes.
SPEAKER_06
00:38:07
Dr. Lady?
00:38:08
Yes.
00:38:08
Mr. Rutherford?
00:38:09
Yes.
00:38:09
Mr. Reed?
SPEAKER_15
00:38:10
Yes.
00:38:19
Next presentation is the MAP-2 health report from Ryan McKay and Jen Fleischer.
00:38:26
Hello.
SPEAKER_11
00:38:28
Good afternoon.
00:38:28
Thank you all for the opportunity to present our human health assessment.
00:38:33
My name is Ryan McKay,
00:38:42
I'm just going to give you a brief overview of the overall structure, why we do this, why it's important that we work with, and Jen will give you a much more detailed assessment of the results of what happened, particularly around all the work that was done.
00:38:59
Doug, and Nelson County.
00:39:02
So kind of the nuts and bolts.
00:39:04
The IRS requires that nonprofit community hospitals across the country conduct what's called a Community Health Needs Assessment, or CHNA.
00:39:11
We call it locally the CHA, or the Community Health Assessment.
00:39:15
A lot of this is really to drive an understanding of what the needs are in our communities related to health and health outcomes.
00:39:25
What can we do to improve those?
00:39:27
What can we leverage in our communities from organizations to resources to improve health outcomes over time?
00:39:34
This is an 18-month assessment of the community, and so for us it's Nelson and the entire district, but in strong partnership with UVA Health and obviously St. Terra Martha Jefferson as the region's nonprofit community hospital.
00:39:48
We published the job back in September, and we do this every three years, so we're currently in sort of the health improvement plan phase, and Jesse will talk a little bit about that later.
00:39:58
So some differences, we are in Map to Health 2.0, so previously we did not have a steering committee, so this is a new aspect to what we're doing.
00:40:07
There is a core group, it's the three organizations I mentioned, UVA Health, the Health District, and Zintera.
00:40:13
A lot of what we do at the corporate level is maintaining communication, listening to gathering information and recommendations from the steering committee, and doing some data gathering and analysis.
00:40:25
The steering committee is, I think, the key part to this 2.0, where we're really expanding the breadth and scope of where we're getting information from, relying on organizations and the people that work there.
00:40:35
We have a much more in-depth sense and pulse of what's happening in all of our communities on the health needs.
00:40:42
This ranges everything from physical and mental health to the social drivers of health.
00:40:47
how economics and education and where people live also impact their health outcomes.
00:40:54
So you can see here all of these different types of organizations that we've worked with, certainly led by Jen.
00:41:00
And then looking at our steering committee specific to Nelson County, Rachel Rubinger, Nelson County Schools, and Blue Ridge Medical Center are active partners among the steering committee.
00:41:12
And then you can see here we're really looking at the community.
00:41:14
Where can we get primary sources of information
00:41:19
in Nelson County, and then really looking at some surveys that we provided online for people to provide access.
00:41:27
And so this year, I think we have a really interesting take on how we're doing this, much more on the ground grassroots type innovation to generate information from our community members who might be struggling, who have input on what's happening.
00:41:42
And with that, I will turn it over to Jen to give you
SPEAKER_00
00:41:48
Good afternoon.
00:41:49
Thank you for having us.
00:41:51
Continuing along the outcomes, we'll jump right to the juice of the squeeze.
00:41:57
So we came up with three priorities which we will focus on for the community health improvement plan, which is the implementation of the assessment.
00:42:05
We're going to focus on chronic conditions, specifically obesity and mental health, so lowering obesity rates and improving mental health.
00:42:12
Healthcare Access Broadly, Getting the Right Care at the Right Time in the Right Place, and the Social Drivers of Health.
00:42:18
So healthy food access, economic stability, and transportation.
00:42:23
Now in priority three, we know that UVA Health is not in charge of healthy food banks or growing healthy food.
00:42:32
but we know that they can partner with and measure and support the organizations that can make an impact in that and ultimately, folks with more healthy food access are healthier overall and that can reduce kind of ED visits and any kind of intersection with the hospital.
00:42:49
So we're looking at, whereas priorities one and two are really on the ground, what I would call downstream areas that we're gonna focus on, social drivers of health are upstream interventions
00:43:00
Can we get better transportation for folks not only to get them to their medical appointments but also to reduce the stress of just daily life of managing how to get yourself from one place to another?
00:43:13
Can you get to those essential services that you need?
00:43:16
So the map on the right is kind of the template that we used to drive a lot of our work, which is called a targeted universalism template, which we borrowed from Chicago's Healthy Cities.
00:43:30
And so for Nelson, know that rural localities, low income residents, black and African American residents, and Hispanic and Latinx residents are populations most at risk for poor health.
00:43:42
And thus, they will be our priority populations for any
00:43:45
Now in targeting universalism that means everyone will be elevated in the goals that apply to these three priority areas because we'll be working on transportation not only for our priority populations but for everyone at large just in that the effects will be very broad in just focusing on our priority populations to start.
00:44:09
So the strategic objectives are pretty basic but our goals are kind of lofty.
00:44:14
We would really love to maintain active lifestyles, physical and mental wellness, and strong community connections.
00:44:20
That's a pretty broad goal to achieve in three years, which is, again, the pattern of the community health improvement plan.
00:44:28
How we got here?
00:44:29
First, this primary data.
00:44:31
We went out and interviewed 100 folks from Nelson County.
00:44:36
We talked to over 1,000 people online and in one-on-one interviews.
00:44:41
There were over 300 of those one-on-one interviews.
00:44:43
And then we worked with the steering committee and the core group to distill down that assessment and come up with those priorities.
00:44:49
We also looked at secondary data, census, state data for trends and disparities.
00:44:55
And that validated where and to whom we spoke with folks.
00:44:59
And then that distilled down to these priorities.
00:45:02
We went back to folks that we had spoken to in the fall to gather that initial data to say, hey, look, here's what we heard.
00:45:10
What do you think would be a good solution to this problem?
00:45:13
And so we spoke to, again, these one-on-one interviews throughout the district, Nelson included, to say, when we start implementing change in these areas, what do you think would make a big impact for you?
00:45:25
And gathered that information.
00:45:27
And stop me at any point that you have a question on this.
00:45:29
So this was the star of MAP 2.0 for us, the community health assessment.
00:45:35
We did a randomized door-to-door survey in Tract 9501, which include Arrington, Gladstone, Norwood, Shipman, Schuyler, and Wingina.
00:45:46
So we knocked on 238 doors and got 100 responses asking folks questions like,
00:45:53
In the past 30 days, how many days has your mental health been poor?
00:45:58
What's your biggest obstacle to being healthy?
00:46:01
What would you need to be your healthiest?
00:46:05
What supports do you have now that support your health?
00:46:09
And so these conversations were really enlightening and because it was a randomized survey and statistically sound, we can assume that the answers be captured from this door-to-door survey
00:46:21
are applicable as a proxy for other rural districts in rural localities within the district.
00:46:28
So it was really valuable, not only in hearing from folks in Wojciechna and Shipman and Schuyler, et cetera, but also for the district at large.
00:46:38
This was an amazing project and I highly recommend a randomized door-to-door survey anytime you want to really find out something because you will meet some amazing people.
00:46:46
So the key informant interviews were our second part.
00:46:49
These were the one-on-one convenience surveys, similar questions to our door-knocking in Nelson.
00:46:54
We had about 6% of the respondents from Nelson County, which is interestingly the same proportion that Nelson County sits population-wise in our district.
00:47:03
That was just lucky.
00:47:04
So we did that over 17 events and locations and followed up again in the spring to get some ideas.
00:47:11
We also conducted four focus groups with folks with disabilities, Spanish-speaking community health workers,
00:47:18
folks in the reentry community, which is the picture you're looking at here, and folks in the LGBTQ community.
00:47:23
And again, similar questions to the key informant interviews.
00:47:27
There were 22 respondents altogether.
00:47:29
We had three of those groups had a Nelson County representative in them.
00:47:34
And then we had online surveys.
00:47:36
So here's where we got our greatest respondents.
00:47:38
42 Nelson County residents answered that survey.
00:47:42
And then we had a stakeholder survey
00:47:44
Organizations and agencies that serve folks in the district answered and we had 35% of those respondents said they serve consumers and clients in Nelson County.
00:47:56
We really wanted to hear from providers their perspective on where they thought their clients and consumers had the biggest obstacles to health or what could support them in healthiness and the same thinking around the Nelson County survey but from that kind of working with folks perspective.
00:48:15
Finally, we did a photo voice project with seven Monticello high school students.
00:48:19
It's really hard for us to get voices of adolescents and youth involved in this process for many of the private information and IRB problems that happen when you want to do a study like this.
00:48:32
So photo voices where you give, in this case, these students
00:48:37
a topic to photograph in their neighborhoods and communities and then they sit for a focus group to discuss what those photographs represent and how in this case it represents their health and their future of health.
00:48:49
So they focused around assets, wellbeing, and resilience and what we really learned from them was mental health was a really top priority for them as well as connectivity in their community.
00:49:00
Having that sense of peer connectedness
00:49:02
and peer leadership.
00:49:04
These, the seven kids that worked on this or students that worked on this project were not, had really taken the brunt of the blow in COVID and we knew statistically speaking nationwide that mental health was gonna be on their minds.
00:49:18
But they did not come at us with you adults need to start intervening and getting us some help.
00:49:25
They really wanted to take matters into their own hands and be responsible for peer support groups and mental health
00:49:31
Organizations and Engagement as Advisors for Adults.
00:49:35
And it was really admirable to see their commitment to their own health and that of their peers.
00:49:43
So here's where you get into the kind of nerdy stuff, which is the secondary data I mentioned.
00:49:49
So why did we pick Windjane and Norwood?
00:49:52
That was a census tract that came from the Area Deprivation Index.
00:49:57
And it was our highest ranking track.
00:49:59
Now originally we wanted to do five surveys, but you can tell with taking 238 knocks to get 100 answers, that was impossible for us to pull off as a health district.
00:50:08
Though I would have loved it because the conversations are amazing and the real insights you get from folks are also revealing.
00:50:16
That's it.
00:50:17
Arrington Wojciannis tracked, now the area deprivation index goes by census blocks, so we combined it in average and entry tracks, had scored 70 plus percent higher than the rest of the nation for larger indicators on deprivation, i.e.
00:50:32
more crowding, lack of plumbing, higher poverty thresholds, less home ownership, higher rents, lower incomes.
00:50:40
These 10 indicators you see are kind of what they use to measure that.
00:50:43
So we set out to say, look, let's hear from this census tract and get a better understanding of what's needed to be healthy here.
00:50:50
We also, for the first time ever, got UVA and Sentara patient data.
00:50:56
So we had, for the last three years, anyone who lived in the district, we got to see the highest ranking disease and outpatient and inpatient
00:51:10
problems that were going on from within the health system.
00:51:13
So we have never before been able to get this information.
00:51:16
So this was also very exciting for our process.
00:51:18
You can see I've highlighted that percentage of obesity among UVA patients, 2022 to 2024.
00:51:25
And again, that eligibility, you had to have gone to UVA in the last three years and have been a patient living within the district.
00:51:31
You can see one of the highest ranking in Nelson County is, again, our Wingina census tract.
00:51:37
And then the census tract to the left on the hypertension ranks slightly higher than our census tract for those levels of hypertension.
00:51:45
That's kind of south of Wintergreen and a little more sparsely populated with an older population.
00:51:52
So that's not quite surprising to us.
00:51:55
Of the 118,000 patients in the set we were giving,
00:51:59
Given 99,000 were geocoded, and that's how we made this map.
00:52:04
When we combined it with Sentara's patient data, so UVA uses kind of
00:52:10
Indices to look at their patients, whereas Santerra just gave us kind of flat patient rankings.
00:52:16
You can see there's a lot of disparity by race in these top three problems, blood pressure, obesity, and heart problems.
00:52:24
We noticed that flip for white patients with heart problems moving further down the line
00:52:30
but for the most part this is why we really want to focus on our black and African American residents and reducing that disparity, really focusing on that work to lower obesity, lower blood pressure rates and all the social drivers that contribute to that disparity that you're seeing.
00:52:49
And finally we use the county health rankings and roadmaps.
00:52:51
So this is kind of interesting.
00:52:52
This ranks among problem areas in health
00:52:58
where Nelson County has more than 10% of a higher ranking than the state and higher is not better in this case.
00:53:06
So a blue highlight that you see for health and social determinants means that that's a kind of outlier compared to the rest of the district.
00:53:14
So where Nelson County had some kind of highlights was in-health, motor vehicle deaths, injury deaths, firearm deaths,
00:53:23
In our real problem area with social determinants, 12 of the 17 indicators, you're 10% higher than this.
00:53:30
So you're worse off than more than 10% of the state.
00:53:33
So we really wanted to hone in on what can we impact in the social drivers, social determinants as they're called here, as the county health rankings cause them to improve.
00:53:44
And if we tackle any of these 12, we should start to see some moving of the needle.
00:53:48
But these are big things.
00:53:50
Food insecurity is not going to get solved in three years.
00:53:52
But we know in focusing on healthy food access that can maybe make some movement happen in this problem area.
00:54:01
Also, don't take this at face value.
00:54:06
When we flag motor vehicle deaths, for example, that does not mean that we need to go out right now and start improving driving and safety and everything, whatever you go.
00:54:15
That's 14 people that are impacted
00:54:18
throughout the district.
00:54:21
So the ratios are very small.
00:54:22
You always want to look below these charts and say what's really behind them.
00:54:26
But this was one of the three data sets we used.
00:54:29
It doesn't tell us why this is happening or how we tackle it.
00:54:35
It just gives us this kind of broad bird's eye view about where we want to begin.
00:54:39
So I just want to kind of clarify that in this don't panic is basically what I'm saying.
00:54:44
So in the end, what are our problems?
00:54:47
Diabetes, blood pressure, mental health, weight issues, and heart problems.
00:54:50
We need to tackle those problems if we want to improve health in Nelson County.
00:54:55
What are the obstacles to health?
00:54:56
I can't get health care.
00:54:57
I don't have any time to be healthy.
00:54:59
I can't get to healthy food.
00:55:00
I don't have enough money.
00:55:02
There's no transportation to get there.
00:55:04
Aging, now we're not going to stop anyone from aging.
00:55:07
But all of the things that are associated with aging, including
00:55:10
isolation, respite care needed, and services that happen with a body that's aging is really what that's talking to, and then lack of exercise.
00:55:19
But the number one support needed?
SPEAKER_02
00:55:21
Money.
SPEAKER_00
00:55:22
Straight up money.
00:55:23
Not doctors close by, not first, not access to healthier food.
00:55:28
If I'm going to be healthy, I need more money.
00:55:31
And so that's something we kind of swallow as a pill in our healthcare system because it's broken.
00:55:36
and we're used to that in America but it's pretty hard to hear when you knock on someone's door like who's at the bottom of a road out on the cusp of, you know, Wangina or Norwood and their family is living in the rest of the, of the, of the plot of land and they can't afford to get the ride to get to the medical appointment
00:56:00
but they can't call on the family members because they don't have the bandwidth to do it and there's not enough money to fill in the other gaps to make that happen and there's a total willingness to work on this and there's a total drive to go to that appointment and it's the money holding you back and so that was even though I knew that because we are all part of public health
00:56:22
To hear it firsthand and see it repeatedly happen on every door we knocked was disheartening and also opens up an opportunity.
00:56:32
We need to figure out how to increase incomes, economic stability, in order to improve health.
00:56:38
It's not just getting good doctors into hospitals.
00:56:41
We've got to get people on stable ground in order to improve their health.
00:56:44
And so that spoke to that greatly.
00:56:46
The others on the list are ones that you saw.
00:56:49
Just to clarify one, community support.
00:56:52
is peer-to-peer support.
00:56:54
We're really surprised by this.
00:56:55
I've heard this a lot in Nelson, particularly from older adults.
00:56:59
I'm fine, my neighbor gives me a ride, but I really love it.
00:57:02
My doctors ask me to take care of my diabetes with more exercise and better food.
00:57:08
It'd be cool if our neighbors could get together in a group and someone could hold us accountable and we could each together
00:57:16
work as a group on a walking group or a cooking class together.
00:57:21
I say I find that surprising because I thought COVID kind of moved everyone into a let's do it on Zoom and then we'll be fine.
00:57:26
Or I don't have time for that because I'm working so many jobs.
00:57:29
But even with that precept and the money needed, community coming together in real life was a top three request for how to get healthier.
00:57:40
So more of our efforts here in Nelson will look at that kind of community support.
00:57:46
So now we move into implementation again, going back to those 80 folks we talked to.
00:57:49
Hey, what do you want?
00:57:51
Healthy eating classes, budgeting support, transportation to class.
00:57:55
I want community led groups.
00:57:57
I'd love mobile free health care nearby.
00:58:00
We heard that a lot in Nelson.
00:58:01
A lot of folks, I would pull up to a house.
00:58:03
There would be four or five cars parked in a line outside the house, and it was a multi-generational house, so that made sense when I knocked on the door.
00:58:10
Okay, great, there's a teen living here, there's an older adult, there's also a young adult, but none of the cars are running, and there's not enough money to get the cars running, so they're still relying on their neighbor for a ride because John doesn't service that side of Nelson right now.
00:58:25
So this kind of bring the healthcare to you
00:58:29
Even with Blue Ridge Medical Center around, which was highly listed as a great support repeatedly over and over again, was a key component to these ideas they thought would improve health.
00:58:40
Now, most of the people we spoke to in Nelson were going at least 30 minutes for a medical appointment and at least 45 for a dental appointment.
00:58:49
So we know that we need to work on dentistry as an offering in particular, but this transportation and bringing health to you is going to be a key component of our work in the implementation plan.
00:58:59
and then improved efforts at advertising and marketing.
00:59:02
Went to a family, she had a younger daughter who was just pregnant, two older children in their 20s who were just coming home after trying to get jobs and kind of unsuccessful and kind of cobbling it together and I said, you know, Blue Ridge Medical Center is offering dentistry and now specialty care
00:59:19
and she didn't know that but she lived closer than anyone else we had interviewed in that block.
00:59:23
And so kind of getting the word out that there are resources available and that you as a group of supervisors are helping to make that support available is gonna be part of the funding and need necessary to make sure that all of the dots are connected for the folks trying to move these obstacles to their health.
00:59:44
And so really that comes back to
00:59:47
What Now?
00:59:48
So we just started convening and again Rachel will be part of our convening group for the Community Health Improvement Plan.
00:59:54
This will run from 2025 to 2028.
00:59:56
This is Sentara in particular's chance to
01:00:01
And so when we are working on trying to get a robust grant program for folks who, organizations who want to work on the CHIP and work on these objectives and your support of
01:00:21
Nelson County programs that are aligned with CHIP initiatives is really kind of one of the better ways you can help us get the work on the ground done as well as at that legislative level with transportation, economic stability, and healthy food access.
01:00:36
So I'm happy to answer any
SPEAKER_15
01:00:46
I'd just like to say that what really stands out to me in this is something that we're all dealing with and that's poverty and income disparity and not seeing that on your final slide
01:01:04
You know, shows me that a lot of this is beyond your purview, but then again it really isn't because the cost of healthcare is a huge piece of this.
01:01:15
So I just wanted to flag that as a concern that we'd probably like to see a clearer acknowledgement.
SPEAKER_00
01:01:25
Yes.
01:01:27
I'm wondering if you're thinking that not seeing the money part, I think, oh, this might help clarify.
01:01:36
The folks that we interviewed are representative per the census of your socioeconomic status, but we actually spoke to more folks who were living within poverty or range of poverty.
01:01:47
So we did get the full range.
01:01:50
So we spoke to folks who were very well off, and it matched your population set.
01:01:55
But we got a little bit more on the poverty side.
01:01:57
That is, it is not to say that we aren't saying that poverty isn't an obstacle, we're saying that money is the obstacle, so it's a reframing of that, but you are on the nose.
01:02:09
I mean, that's why we're saying economic stability is critical to health, because whether you qualify as someone who's living at a certain AMI for a poverty entitlement package or any kind of other supports, everyone we spoke to elevated that economic stability
01:02:29
towards their health.
01:02:30
So yes and you're not seeing it here because it's not a deep dive and you can see that in the deep data of the report.
01:02:38
Thank you.
01:02:39
Yes, clever.
SPEAKER_16
01:02:41
Did you wanna go?
SPEAKER_06
01:02:44
So if we're not gonna rely on the healthcare system, how can the county help the mental health situation?
01:02:52
Like are you talking about walking paths or?
01:02:57
What can we do if we're not going to rely on health care?
SPEAKER_00
01:03:00
I think relying is a great choice of word because I think what's happening is the health care systems all want you to trust that they will give you care, but we know that Medicaid is
01:03:13
In a big shift right now, we know that ACA and all insurance is gonna really impact how people seek and approach care.
01:03:21
So where you can step in is where you have the most leverage to impact the initiatives that are outside of that realm that support that system, and you are correct.
01:03:33
If there are opportunities for healthy food access, you have a chance for someone to buy a grocery in Norwood, go for it.
01:03:43
If you've got someone saying, if John comes to you and says, we want to up service to Wingina and Arrington and South Shipman, say yes.
01:03:52
I'm not tethered to reality in this answer, but whenever you can align initiatives and funds to removing these obstacles, that's where you can step in as a legislative official.
01:04:08
Higher up, where is it?
01:04:10
In your legislative packet?
01:04:11
Is there, you know, not this time.
01:04:13
Transportation's in it.
01:04:14
That's great.
01:04:14
We need more funding for transportation.
01:04:16
You know, any time that there is an option to improve insurance access or broaden and scale that, try and get that in there.
01:04:26
And that's really where your role lies in improving health in this model.
01:04:32
Did that answer that or no?
01:04:34
You're assuming maybe not.
01:04:35
Help me understand what I'm missing.
01:04:42
Do you want to go out and build a path for you personally?
SPEAKER_06
01:04:46
I have decided things happening privately happen faster.
01:04:53
It is interesting when you say the death of the small grocery.
01:04:59
I'm going to advocate for more now in our zoning.
SPEAKER_00
01:05:07
And it's not to shy away from private investment.
01:05:09
That's required.
01:05:10
The folks working on the chip range from private individuals to private foundations to organizations and agencies.
01:05:18
Anyone can work on the chip.
01:05:20
It just depends on where you can have the most impact for the resources you have to get to that and that can match that.
01:05:27
So you're right.
01:05:29
If there's a new business coming, can there be some sort of incentive for them to support health by connecting their path to the school?
01:05:40
Or where can you keep making those dots sync and connect?
SPEAKER_16
01:05:45
Could you explain the slide before?
SPEAKER_00
01:05:48
Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_16
01:05:50
Sorry.
SPEAKER_00
01:05:50
Not at all.
01:05:51
I'm getting there.
01:05:55
Almost.
SPEAKER_16
01:05:57
What is a social driver?
01:06:04
Is that a I am lower income and that means I don't have access to healthy food on the right side of the slide?
01:06:12
What is a social driver?
SPEAKER_00
01:06:14
You're thinking of it in the right way.
01:06:16
It is non-healthcare related impacts on health.
01:06:20
I don't have a car, thus I cannot get to the doctor on time.
01:06:24
I get charged 100 bucks for being late to that appointment, and then I move down and can't get that appointment again for another eight months.
01:06:29
I am more ill because I don't have a car, not because I don't have a doctor or a healthcare place.
01:06:34
So any social driver is transportation, education, a built environment, the home you live in.
01:06:41
What we heard from Nelson folks, the first time I rolled out in Norwood, three times in a row, I heard, and they're pretty far apart on houses,
01:06:50
What do you need to be healthy?
01:06:53
What would really make you feel like, I am a healthier person?
01:06:55
I kept expecting them to say, if I got more exercise.
01:06:59
Three in a row, if I had home maintenance, right?
01:07:03
So that's a social driver.
01:07:04
Can you fix my AC unit?
01:07:05
It creates mold, and my asthma's bad.
01:07:08
I need a ramp, because my knee's broken, and now I can't get out and do my gardening, which kept me mentally sound, that kind of thing.
01:07:15
So you see the ricochet there.
SPEAKER_16
01:07:17
Does that make sense?
01:07:18
That makes more sense.
01:07:19
Susan?
01:07:20
I guess that.
SPEAKER_00
01:07:21
But they're big, systemic things, right?
01:07:23
They're transportation, right?
01:07:25
That's huge.
01:07:26
But for example, Blue Ridge Medical Center commits to social drivers.
01:07:31
So they ask you when you come in, hey, do you have a seat?
01:07:35
Do you have a ride?
01:07:36
And they have actually not a mobile unit, but a van that they pick patients up.
01:07:41
So they're kind of including social drivers in their offering or social driver activities.
01:07:51
Great.
01:07:51
Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_15
01:07:52
Thank you.
01:08:07
Do you want unfinished business?
01:08:11
The Piney River water and sewer rates?
01:08:13
Do you want to give us an update on that?
SPEAKER_07
01:08:48
This is an extension of the discussion on the Piney River water sewer and system rates.
01:08:58
Here you see our applicable statutes and authorizations related to setting these rates.
01:09:04
Where we are now is we provided public notice and held a public hearing on October 14th and the Board of Deferred Action on the proposed ordinance O 2025-09.
01:09:19
Here I'm just reiterating and re-showing what the proposed rates and effective dates were for water and sewer rates and fees for the monthly service plus grinder pump fees.
01:09:38
Our customer base, as y'all have been shown before, we have about 206 customers, five water only, 18 sewer only, 83 sewer and grinder pumps,
01:09:47
and 100 with Water, Sewer and Grinder Pump.
01:09:53
So here what I thought might be helpful just to show the customer base by service and what their current monthly bill looks like and then what the monthly bill would look like with the rates proposed in the ordinance amendment as of January 1st and then July 1st, 26, July 1st, 27 and July 1st, 28.
01:10:15
So you can see at the bottom, those with the water, sewer, and grinder pump, we have about 100 of those customers.
01:10:21
Their current monthly bill is $68.50.
01:10:24
With the first proposed rate in January, it would go to $85.65.
01:10:29
Then July 1st of 26, $102.81.
01:10:33
And July 1st, 27, $119.95.
01:10:36
And July 1st, $2854.26.
01:10:45
This is the same chart, but it just shows the dollar change and percent change for each of those customer bases.
01:10:50
So you can see the January 2026 proposed rates, all the way at the bottom, the most costly customer base that has the water, sewer, and grinder pump.
01:11:06
Your dollar change would be $17.15 or 25%.
01:11:11
The July 26 rate would be $17.16 increase or 20%.
01:11:19
July 27, you would have a $17.14 increase, which would be 17%.
01:11:27
And then July 28, you would have a $34.31 increase or 29%.
01:11:32
The total for the whole increase range
01:11:38
You would have an increase of $85.76 for 125%.
01:11:40
Something we decided to look at was just proposing alternate percentage increases in their equivalent dollar impact to the proposed water and sewer rates.
01:11:56
We used the monthly service, which is most expensive, the customer-based example of a water, sewer, and grinder pump customer.
01:12:05
So the existing rate is $68.50.
01:12:08
For every 1%, you would add 69 cents to that number.
01:12:13
And here are some other examples of what the dollar impact would be for 3%, 5%, 7%, 10, 12, 15, and 20.
01:12:28
I'm going to turn it over to Grace.
01:12:30
He or she develops the five-year operational revenue expenditure budget and capital expenditure comparison.
SPEAKER_08
01:12:44
Staff was asked to pull data for Piney River operational revenues and expenses.
01:12:49
We show five years worth of data here in this chart from fiscal year 2021 to fiscal year 2025.
01:12:56
The revenues are from water and sewer fees as well as connection and installation fees.
01:13:01
The operational expenditures include general expenses for repairs and maintenance and they do not include capital expenditures.
01:13:08
You can see in these figures that in every year except for FY21,
01:13:12
The expenditures have been higher than the revenues.
01:13:15
During some years, there has been a transfer from the general fund to cover additional needed capital expenses for Piney River.
01:13:22
This transfer helped to absorb some of the operational overages and is shown in this chart as general fund operations supplement.
01:13:30
There was no general fund transfer in the year FY24, which is why that net amount is still in the red.
01:13:37
At the bottom of this chart, we have listed the total capital expenditures for each year,
01:13:41
These have been used for both the disinfectant project and the pump station repair project.
01:13:53
Here we show the five-year Piney River Fund expenses broken down into break-even rates for both operational and operational capital.
01:14:01
We took the total operational expenses and converted that to a monthly expense.
01:14:06
Then we divided by the total number of customers to arrive at an operational break-even rate.
01:14:11
The average operational break-even rate over five years is $74.52.
01:14:18
We then did the same process for the total expenses where we added in the capital expenditures.
01:14:23
The average operational and capital breakeven rate over five years is $107.62.
01:14:28
I want to just claim that to arrive at these figures, we did not do a breakdown to get separate breakeven figures for water, sewer, and pump rates.
01:14:39
This would involve much more time and analysis, so we just used a total number of 206 customers to arrive at a flat breakeven rate.
SPEAKER_07
01:14:56
So some other considerations for proposed water and sewer rates and fees for the monthly service involve possibly shifting the effective date of the initial increase from January 1, 2016 to a later date.
01:15:10
Looking at applying the different monetary or percentage increases to the existing rates referred to on slide 7.
01:15:17
We'll be using a five-year average break-even rate, operational plus capital expenditures, as Grace discussed on slide nine, authorized fewer than the four proposed rate increases, and we're open to other suggestions or any combination of the options above.
01:15:36
Just wanna remind the board, adopted rates may be lower than those advertised for public hearing, but not higher.
01:15:41
So next steps, just,
01:15:47
trying to generate some discussion on the proposed and alternate rates for water and sewer monthly service.
01:15:53
Also have discussion on the proposed other rates, fees, and charges that were proposed in O2025-09.
01:15:58
Consider adoption of O2025-09 as proposed or provide staff some direction on the board's consensus to amend the proposed ordinance O2025-09
01:16:15
in which we could bring back for your consideration of the December 9th regular meeting.
01:16:20
So just want to keep the conversation going and need some direction.
SPEAKER_15
01:16:25
Okay, thank you.
01:16:32
Well, I want time for some discussion on this.
01:16:35
I'll defer to Mr. Parr who, you know, whose district this serves and
01:16:43
Let us know your comments.
01:16:46
What do you think we should be doing?
SPEAKER_14
01:16:49
Well, I've had a lot of conversations and feedback from the community and one thing is clear that the schedule that we have proposed is unaffordable for a vast majority of the community.
01:17:02
I'm not hearing much concern or pushback about the meter sizing and fees.
01:17:09
I think that schedule is realistic and I support that.
01:17:18
What I would like to see us do is consider the chart on page 7, a different percentage increase.
01:17:28
One of the problems we have here is that we haven't had any increases in 15 plus years, 15, 16 years.
01:17:39
It's 2013.
01:17:42
And I think that's something that we need to implement.
01:17:46
We need to start having just regular annual increases like you do with everything else.
01:17:51
I would like to see us implement maybe a five percent rate increase each year and keep the
01:18:06
Meader sizing and fee schedule that we have proposed where we match those with other things in the county.
01:18:14
But I'm going to go back to what I've said all along that looking at this as a breakeven or for-profit venture is
01:18:26
not in keeping with the intent of the original project.
01:18:29
This was a public health crisis in the community and this was a solution.
01:18:37
So I support adjusting connection fees and implementing a regular even increase in the monthly fees in the say 5% range is what I was thinking.
SPEAKER_06
01:19:00
So back of the neck in math here, even though I also haven't had time to break it all out percentage wise, but you're increasing the rate to 7452 with the water sewer grinder pump, that's a 10% increase is what would be the break even if all the numbers were the same.
01:19:24
They're not all the same, we went with the highest rate
01:19:27
Technically, probably at the 12% to 15%, we would get closer to break it even.
01:19:38
I agree once it was out, the 22%, 33% increases every year for several years in a row is just
01:19:52
It kind of makes you sick.
01:19:54
However, I want to remind people, since I've been supervisor, we've been running at a loss, and the loss gets worse every year.
01:20:02
It actually doubled, almost was triple from when I started.
01:20:10
And that's not a good trend, because it is taking from other projects, making jobs, actually.
01:20:20
I do think there needs to be an increase.
01:20:22
I agree what was proposed is preposterous.
01:20:25
But I would love you all to discuss between the 7% and 10% increase this one time, but not table it for future increases.
SPEAKER_15
01:20:46
Tabling it for future increases
01:20:50
I think makes sense to me.
01:20:52
There's no way to predict what service authority and other economic factors are going to do going forward.
01:21:02
And so setting a five-year schedule from my standpoint is probably not in anyone's best interest, I think,
01:21:14
that revisiting it is going to be a good idea, but I do really think, and I think that, I think we're on the same page on this, is that initiating something now, given the fact that it's been, what, 12 years since there has been any increase is really important, and we have to start taking some steps.
01:21:36
And if we were to start that at the first, at the first of the year,
01:21:43
We could have a percentage change at that time which would at least get us on the route.
01:21:49
and something that we could do is reevaluate the rates.
01:21:55
I know it's probably a better thing to do that mid-year instead of on the first of the year.
01:22:01
Maybe I'm wrong about that, but that's what I'm into it.
01:22:04
So, you know, without tying anyone into what the increase is going to look like going forward, we may have better economic situation, we may not, but certainly taking, you know, a step now,
01:22:19
At the very least to take a small step in recognition that we have gone 12 years without any steps is going to be really important.
01:22:28
I do still think that the ultimate goal I would really like to see is that this become not just served by the service authority but part of their system.
01:22:42
That also makes the most sense for me in the county.
01:22:46
So that's just my suggestion.
SPEAKER_06
01:22:51
I have two things from that.
01:22:56
One, the service authority will not want this with this move.
01:23:00
Two, I think setting something up yearly
01:23:05
would actually be more predictable and nicer to the public.
01:23:09
So when it gets tabled several times because of politics, they don't get hit again in 10 years with some 35% increase.
01:23:19
I think predictable and low, predictable and public, that's better for the community.
SPEAKER_16
01:23:34
I certainly understand and agree with with Mr. Parr and understanding why this came to existence.
01:23:43
I mean we have other systems that are kind of in a similar situation that eventually did get absorbed into the social so I guess Shipman being an example of one of those where it expanded and water issues over there but as I look at at this you know
01:23:58
Schuyler, Lovingston got hit with some increases.
01:24:01
I can't remember what those percentages are off the top of my hand.
01:24:03
Obviously, there are more, but I can agree with Dr. Ligon.
01:24:09
Are we at the 5, 7, or 10%?
01:24:12
Maybe it's not 10%, but maybe it's 7, somewhere in between those two numbers.
01:24:18
And I think you could find me at that.
01:24:21
And I think we give people time.
01:24:22
Like a January first date for all the above, all everything to become effective then.
01:24:28
And I agree, it needs to be in our budget cycle.
01:24:31
It needs to be recognized like we do anything else like related to taxes and that this be put into our regular.
01:24:37
That way when we're doing a public hearing with taxes, maybe we're also doing this situation.
01:24:44
But open to discussion on that.
01:24:49
Mr. Parr, I know you'd indicated 5%.
01:24:51
Yeah.
SPEAKER_14
01:25:00
What if we made a decision now, a multi-year percentage chart, and we did it effective with the fiscal year?
01:25:13
Thank you.
SPEAKER_03
01:25:13
So July.
SPEAKER_14
01:25:14
July 1, 10th of January 1.
SPEAKER_03
01:25:17
You could do that.
SPEAKER_14
01:25:18
And then, so I'm at five, y'all are at ten, what if we did seven percent, we enter into, you know, we say this is going to be it for the next four years or whatever, you know, and we say effective July one to start it.
01:25:32
That would give everybody time to prepare and I think seven percent, I would rather it be five, but I don't want it to be ten.
01:25:43
That way it's in keeping with what the rest of the economy is doing for the most part.
01:25:52
what we've had proposed, which is 133% for some users over that cycle, I think it was 130.
01:26:04
Which, when you see it on paper like that, that's a real eye-opener.
01:26:08
I'm sorry, 163% for the sewer only, 164% for sewer and grinder pump over that four year cycle.
SPEAKER_06
01:26:19
So for clarification, say we're landing on 7%.
01:26:24
Are you suggesting 7% yearly or 7% initially, and then in my mind, you do where the Fed would like inflation to be, which is under 3% at or under 3%.
01:26:42
Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_14
01:26:44
I'm not sure.
01:26:45
I'm following the budget.
SPEAKER_06
01:26:46
What do you mean?
01:26:47
So say July 1st.
01:26:49
With the fiscal year, we're increasing rates by 7% this time.
01:26:54
Are you saying every year or there's a lesser percent for the future increases?
SPEAKER_16
01:27:03
I think one thing to note is that this rate has to be decided each individual year with each individual public hearing or can we actually do a five-year?
SPEAKER_07
01:27:13
You can do for the number of years that you advertised.
SPEAKER_16
01:27:18
Okay.
01:27:18
How many?
SPEAKER_07
01:27:19
Five.
01:27:20
We did January 26 and then July 26, 27, 28.
01:27:25
So I think you could literally do 26, 27, 28.
SPEAKER_16
01:27:28
So we got basically 3, 4 years.
01:27:32
You know, in my mind it's 7% flat and that obviously would and would that obviously compound that 7% would be a compounded number at the following?
01:27:43
I can agree with that and that gets us a few years in that direction.
01:27:53
I do understand what Ernie just said in the event that there's a rarity or some major improvement has to be had.
SPEAKER_15
01:28:00
But we can change the roads.
SPEAKER_16
01:28:01
Well, if we do it this way, could we change it halfway through instead of doing 7%?
SPEAKER_07
01:28:08
I think you can with another public hearing.
SPEAKER_16
01:28:11
If there are conditions that require it.
01:28:17
I can agree with that, Mr. Parr.
01:28:19
7% for those years.
01:28:20
And we don't lose any of our ability to...
SPEAKER_14
01:28:23
It's a step, I mean, is overdue.
01:28:26
We need to be
SPEAKER_07
01:28:30
Do you want a motion?
01:28:51
primary points of discussion, but there are other fees that were proposed in the ordinance amendments.
01:28:58
So.
SPEAKER_14
01:28:58
Star hydro fees, return check fees.
01:29:00
Yes, all those other fees.
SPEAKER_07
01:29:03
Yeah.
01:29:03
Do we wanna go ahead and make those changes now to match up with the service authorities?
01:29:07
Yes.
01:29:07
Yeah, I think there's.
SPEAKER_14
01:29:09
I'm comfortable with that.
SPEAKER_16
01:29:11
Are we gonna make that effective, the July number date too?
01:29:13
Yeah, I say we just do it all.
01:29:15
All for July.
01:29:15
Yeah, makes sense.
SPEAKER_07
01:29:22
Okay, so what we'd like to do because we just want to make sure we have it reworked.
SPEAKER_14
01:29:33
And just in case because I couldn't answer this question when it was asked recently and I know a lot of people have this question.
01:29:40
A yard hydrant fee has nothing to do with the red fire hydrant that's in your yard.
01:29:45
It's the little spigot
01:29:47
that sticks up in your yard and you hook your water hose to.
01:29:52
A lot of people thought it was, oh, if I have a fire hydrant, a red fire hydrant in my yard, I'm having to pay.
01:29:57
That's not what it is.
01:29:59
Just for the public's clarification.
SPEAKER_07
01:30:00
The county does pay for those directly to the service.
01:30:03
The red fire hydrant.
01:30:05
Yes, we pay for the fire hydrant protection.
SPEAKER_15
01:30:09
Okay, so to clarify, you'll bring another ordinance to us in December and we don't need to do another public hearing as long as it's beneath than what we had done before.
SPEAKER_07
01:30:21
I believe that to be correct.
01:30:23
Okay.
SPEAKER_14
01:30:29
All right, thank you very much.
01:30:30
Thank you.
SPEAKER_07
01:30:39
I know, I don't know what I want to wear.
01:30:52
To begin my report, I just want to congratulate Mr. Reed and Mr. Rutherford on their re-election to the board and also congratulate Mr. Cameron Lenihan, elected to represent the North District.
01:31:03
Staff will be coordinating an orientation day or days with Mr. Lenihan and county department heads along with constitutional officers for some time in December.
01:31:13
Also, additional new board member training opportunities will be provided to Mr. Lenihan as they are offered.
01:31:21
Our social services
01:31:24
is moving along, the site has been cleared, demolition of the parking area and site work has begun.
01:31:31
Making some progress there.
01:31:35
As far as the Department of Social Services, our agency CPS referral data for October is shown below.
01:31:43
I'll read that off here in a second.
01:31:46
With there still being a discrepancy between the total validated referrals of 11 and the total referrals separated by category, which added up to 12, the state VDS SIT will be looking into this discrepancy.
01:32:00
So for October, we had total referrals of 16.
01:32:04
Eleven of those were validated, five were screened out, which provided a 69% validated ratio and a 31% screened out ratio.
01:32:17
Of those referrals that were validated, we had one investigation and 11 family assessments.
01:32:23
So the percentage investigated was 10% and family assessment percentage was 90%.
01:32:28
And as of the November 6, 2025 CAF review, our agency has made significant progress across all program areas and is transitioning from a corrective action plan to a supportive services plan over the next three months.
01:32:42
So congratulations to our DSS leadership and staff on this achievement.
01:32:48
Excellent work.
01:32:48
We're very excited and proud to have gone beyond the corrective action plan and now into supportive services.
01:32:57
The supportive services plan will provide continuity of support for staff and the new director in order to preserve the department's positive momentum.
01:33:05
We did attach a detailed report for October from the department.
01:33:09
Hereafter this will be provided to the board with the other monthly departmental reports.
SPEAKER_14
01:33:14
Is there any sort of timeline on the supportive services plan?
SPEAKER_07
01:33:20
I believe I said over the next three months.
01:33:22
We're probably going to start in January after the holidays.
01:33:27
They're going to take December to kind of get the supportive plan in place and then three months beyond that.
01:33:35
Let's see, applications for the local DSS advisory board are still being taken, pending the board's advisement on moving forward with that.
01:33:46
Christmas lights, we have a little bit of an update.
01:33:50
and Nellysford, which is the SEPEC territory.
01:33:54
SEPEC has said they will be completing the necessary updates to the outlets on the light poles over the next few weeks.
01:33:59
They'll pick up the lights from the county once they're ready to be installed and will take care of installing the lights for us in that area.
01:34:07
We're super grateful for their assistance with this project.
01:34:11
Lovingston and Shipman is a little bit of a different story with AEP.
01:34:16
Staff, mostly Amanda and Jeff Brantley, have spent two months communicating back and forth with the ADP, collecting poll numbers, working with the Chamber of Commerce volunteer, Mr. Paul Carter,
01:34:28
who personally confirmed white pole numbers and locations in Lovingston and Shipman.
01:34:33
AEP has told us that they are responsible up to the metering point and any electrical wiring and connections beyond the meter or the customer's responsibility and that a certified electrician would be the appropriate route to assess and address any customer-owned wiring receptacles and conduit on the poles.
01:34:49
I've asked AEP representatives to revisit this issue and hope to hear back soon on that.
01:34:56
Jeff Brantley in the meantime has gotten one quote from a local electrical contractor for a cost of
01:35:05
$2,732 per poll to perform the work that would be required, and there are 25 polls, so that's about $65,000, I think, if I did the math right.
01:35:20
Due to the anticipated costs, a written informal solicitation of a minimum of four bidders or offers would be required by the county's purchasing policy.
01:35:31
While we're working towards a successful solution, we're not sure if there will be lights in Lovingston, Shipman for this coming holiday season.
01:35:39
An alternative we discussed a little bit today with Mr. Brantley is possibly our staff just attempting to put the lights up on any of the poles that appear to have receptacles and wiring that look safe and
01:35:58
Okay to connect.
01:35:59
We don't know which ones and we don't know how many.
SPEAKER_16
01:36:03
Is Paul Carter given much of an indication on?
SPEAKER_07
01:36:07
Not that I'm aware of.
SPEAKER_05
01:36:13
By golly.
01:36:14
I mean the conversations that I've had with Mr. Carter and then from what the Chamber indicated in their letter was that
SPEAKER_06
01:36:22
This may be really common, but are we allowed to put a mini solar panel in a little battery pack?
SPEAKER_16
01:36:32
I mean at that point, golly, yeah.
SPEAKER_07
01:36:42
And I think we also have about maybe around $500 worth of
SPEAKER_16
01:36:52
Is the co-op able to assist us at all with the EEP situation from a manpower and logistics standpoint?
SPEAKER_06
01:37:01
Well, Paul Carter worked with the SEVAC.
SPEAKER_16
01:37:03
I know, right?
01:37:08
SEVAC people have assisted in years past, typically retired.
01:37:13
We can check on that.
SPEAKER_07
01:37:14
We're constantly trying to work this out.
SPEAKER_16
01:37:16
Why don't you shoot them a call and say help save Christmas in Lovingston?
SPEAKER_07
01:37:20
The other thing we're checking on is whether or not our Lovingston sidewalk project, is it going to, I think, we think it's relocating the utility poles in Lovingston, not
SPEAKER_16
01:37:38
I mean I really think AEP should throw their stuff underground free not the three million dollar quote we got that one time but
SPEAKER_15
01:38:00
I think Dr. Ligon's suggestion is simple, easy, and if we don't do 25 polls, if we do have a target of how many we can get done this year, that's a pretty easy, simple
01:38:19
non-labor intensive fix.
SPEAKER_16
01:38:21
It's still labor intensive.
SPEAKER_06
01:38:23
It still requires a bucket truck.
SPEAKER_16
01:38:25
Same bucket truck.
01:38:26
Well, you need a bucket truck, but the rest of it in terms of wiring.
01:38:29
It's either receptacle and plug it in or somehow attached in this thing.
01:38:33
I mean, it would be great if the EEP and the co-op could help figure this out.
01:38:37
I mean, they're the ones who are on those things and let me know how I can help.
SPEAKER_06
01:38:41
I hate to be a demi downer, but I'm going to bet a lithium ion battery next to electric
SPEAKER_07
01:38:47
All right, moving on.
01:39:04
A little discussion about our Virginia Tourism Corporation Tourism Region.
01:39:09
Currently the BTC has established the Central Virginia Tourism Region.
01:39:14
This includes Nelson, Madison, Green, Albemarle, Louisa, LaDanna, Hammers, Campbell, Appomattox, Prince Edward, Nottoway, Buckingham, Cumberland, Goochland, Hanover, Powtan,
01:39:25
Amelia D. Witte, Chesterfield, Henrico, Prince George, and Sussex, which is a huge area.
01:39:31
So Nelson and its other Go Virginia Region 9 counterparts of Albemarle, Greene, Orange, LaVeeza, Fubana, Culpeper, Grappahannock, and Fauquier are interested in applying to the BTC for the creation of a distinct tourism region under the BTC structure that would allow more targeted investment, improved data collection, and a unified brand message aligned
01:39:52
with the economic and cultural identity of the Go Virginia Region 9 area.
01:39:59
So the BTC application process requires passage of a resolution to this effect by the governing bodies of the applying entities.
01:40:08
To this end, the board will be more fully briefed and asked to consider such a resolution at an upcoming regular meeting.
01:40:14
So just wanted to give you a primer that that's coming forward at some point here shortly.
01:40:21
Our FY26 general fund financials through October, our year is 33% complete and we have 67% of it remaining.
01:40:30
Aside from property taxes and license fees that are billed at certain times of the year, local revenues are tracking as expected.
01:40:38
The second half of 2025 property tax bills have been sent out and are due December 5th.
01:40:44
We continue to monitor the primary economy driven revenue such as local sales tax, recordation taxes,
01:40:50
Meals and Lodging Taxes and Interest on Investments.
01:40:53
Expenditures are also tracking as expected.
01:40:57
Bear in mind that the transfers to other funds from the general fund are made in the first quarter of the fiscal year and departmental budgets do not yet reflect the approved FY26 salary increases and these will be transferred into those budgets in the coming months.
01:41:13
2026 reassessment notices are expected to go out to citizens by the end of November.
01:41:19
The notices will contain information on how to schedule a meeting with assessors regarding property valuations and following the assessor's hearings, citizen hearings can be scheduled with the Board of Equalization.
01:41:31
The Board of Equalization is a citizen review board that is to be appointed by the Board of Supervisors.
01:41:37
Those hearings will be conducted around February and March and information on those will be provided through public notice.
01:41:45
The VACO Conference just concluded earlier this week and was attended by Supervisors Reed, Rutherford, Parr, and myself.
01:41:53
I attended sessions related to first the economic development benefits of future energy solutions.
01:42:01
Among the discussed future energy solutions were small nuclear modular reactors or SMRs and nuclear fusion and the tax benefits associated with hosting these along with their co-location with data centers and the need
01:42:15
for the State and Country to win the AI war with China.
01:42:20
Nuclear fusion was touted as the long-term energy solution.
01:42:25
I also went to a session on building workforce in Virginia where CTE
01:42:31
Continuing technical education or career technical education and building regional and state partnerships along with working with higher education and private employers was discussed as well as the impact of AI on the workforce.
01:42:44
It was stated in that meeting that AI may not replace you in a workplace but someone who knows how to use AI will.
01:42:53
The third session I went to was how Virginia counties are working with AI.
01:42:58
Google data centers coming to Chesterfield and Botetourt Counties were discussed as well as examples of how Fairfax County has employed some AI strategies mostly to reduce administrative burdens primarily in the area of law enforcement and the emergency call centers.
01:43:14
Human supervision and a trust but verify mantra was noted as key in using AI based platforms as was having an AI policy in place.
01:43:25
You have been provided with the meals and lodging task collection and lodging entity tracking.
01:43:32
The number of lodging units went from 820 to 821 this past month.
01:43:39
RentalScape is the selected short-term rental monitoring and tracking software platform, and staff is in the process with its procurement.
01:43:48
You've also received other department and office reports for October, November, which have been provided to you.
SPEAKER_15
01:44:05
I don't hear any.
01:44:06
Oh, no.
SPEAKER_16
01:44:07
Jesse?
01:44:08
No, mine's more what's on the transient occupancy.
SPEAKER_15
01:44:15
OK. OK.
SPEAKER_07
01:44:16
Thank you, Candy.
01:44:17
Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_15
01:44:23
OK. Board reports.
SPEAKER_16
01:44:27
All right.
01:44:28
Go ahead, Jesse.
01:44:31
We had Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission meeting.
01:44:36
Basically we talked about a lot of the legislative landscape.
01:44:39
I'm trying to think if there's anything other.
01:44:44
It was major, not really.
01:44:45
Thank you to the people of the East for voting for me.
01:44:49
Another term, it's been a great honor serving everyone and look forward to another four.
01:44:53
Feel free, call me as you have over the last eight years, email me and I'm here.
01:44:59
Congratulations, Mr. Reed.
01:45:02
He got more votes than me, as he has every time he runs.
01:45:09
Thank you, Ernie.
01:45:10
Draw your own conclusions.
01:45:14
Other than that, I went to VACO, had some really interesting discussions related towards data centers with some of the localities that are dealing with that.
01:45:20
AI, that is at the top of every topic right now, what that means to workforce.
01:45:29
What the economics of our state has been, it was really interesting, Ernie, Mr. Reed and I attended the Virginia State Budget Outlook and that was very interesting to see what the state has and also what the state is running into dollar sense wise related towards Medicaid, Medicare, if they're gonna absorb some of that.
01:45:53
And the economics of Virginia.
01:45:59
Turns out, you know, the economy is still going in a pretty solid direction for the Commonwealth overall.
01:46:05
It's kind of interesting.
01:46:06
It sounds like that's in large pockets of major pieces like data centers coming in when you got a billion dollar data center that doesn't necessarily mean all the people around it are making more money.
01:46:18
It's just showing that some economy is moving there.
01:46:22
I don't know if they talked about energy much, but there was a lot of discussion about with the new makeup of our legislature that what does it look like for Bi-Rite Solar?
01:46:34
Is that going to be on the table?
01:46:35
Is there going to be more discussions about local authority related towards housing?
01:46:41
A lot of speculation.
01:46:43
Hard to tell with what's coming down the pipe in the new House and Senate.
01:46:49
Other than that, that's what I got.
SPEAKER_06
01:46:57
All I have to report is planning commission meeting, of course we had our joint session, and all of those comments have been presented to the Berkeley group, and we have our next joint meeting on December 17th, and we had a couple of SUPs that we will also see here tonight, so nothing too exciting.
SPEAKER_16
01:47:23
You have another meeting this month, don't you?
01:47:29
Planning Commissioner, the regular.
SPEAKER_14
01:47:34
So emergency service council meeting was canceled this month.
01:47:40
Again, from the FACO conference, one of the sessions I attended was on childcare and early childhood education.
01:47:48
And it was interesting that they framed the conversation around childcare as economic development and economic strategy and the importance of how childcare
01:48:02
I think it's important to note that we have a lot of work to do.
01:48:18
We talked about local action and how we could take non-monetary steps such as zoning laws, repurposing buildings.
01:48:29
I did find it interesting that one of the moderators was from Loudoun County and it seemed like everything her responses were they could just throw money at it.
01:48:37
Her response to the housing crisis is just build more houses and her response to the childcare crisis was
01:48:43
When a business is building a new building, put a childcare center on the first floor.
01:48:49
Well, that's not really realistic in Nelson County.
01:48:52
But there were some ideas of working with the Chamber of Commerce and trying to have private-public partnerships.
01:49:01
But they stressed the importance of childcare.
01:49:04
And one of the concerns they discussed also was
01:49:07
In the last 12 months they've seen a 30% reduction in, and they use the term child care to include child care and early childhood education, and they've seen in the last 12 months a 30 some percent reduction in workforce.
01:49:24
Childcare workers and teachers leaving the profession and of course the original comment on the May was that we need to increase the pay rate but many people either on the panel or in the room that spoke up said it's not just about the pay but it's about the stress and the COVID babies coming up and the lack of discipline and the lack of parental involvement
01:49:53
And that is a driving force that are pushing people out of the profession.
01:49:58
It's less of a money thing.
01:50:00
And then from a public school standpoint, it's also the regulations that are
01:50:07
putting pressure on the locality and the central offices to focus on things that aren't educationally centered.
01:50:15
For example, they're more concerned about how many people are sitting in a seat rather than how many people may have discipline issues and are distracting from the classroom and shouldn't be sitting in that seat.
01:50:28
But the divisions are forced to focus on getting
01:50:31
students in the seats regardless of their discipline problems and how that's trickling down to the mental health of the educators.
01:50:40
And so it was an interesting conversation.
01:50:42
And then another session that Ms. Rutherford and I sat in on was conflict resolution and working with boards and public comments and things like that.
01:50:56
And one thing I do want to, I'm going to say this here because
01:50:59
Word of advice to you coming in as chair for next year.
01:51:03
But one thing we need to make sure is we're always consistently setting the rules for public comments and we're consistent in implementing those rules.
01:51:12
For example, we have to stick to the three minute limit because if you give this person three minutes and 45 seconds and the other person three minutes, then we are setting ourselves up for a potential problem.
01:51:26
But I did learn that free speech trunks everything, and it doesn't matter if that is vulgar or profanity.
01:51:34
I learned that they have the right to say that, and I thought that was interesting.
SPEAKER_06
01:51:44
I have a question.
01:51:45
About affordable childcare, did they say what number was affordable among?
SPEAKER_14
01:51:53
They use a percentage and it's, yeah.
01:51:57
I have to check the notes.
01:51:58
I've got that written down somewhere.
01:51:59
But it's a percentage of household income.
01:52:02
That isn't, yeah.
01:52:03
I think two percent.
01:52:04
But it's a high percent.
01:52:05
I think it's like in the 30s.
01:52:07
Holy cow.
01:52:08
It was something ridiculous that they used.
01:52:10
And I might be wrong on that number.
01:52:12
But whatever it was, the federal guidelines
01:52:15
are higher and the state has put a lower number than their cap to qualify for assistance.
01:52:23
So the good news is Virginia has a better ratio than the federal guidelines, but I'll get you that number.
01:52:30
I can't remember what the number was.
SPEAKER_15
01:52:35
In terms of VACO, the budget presentation for the coming year, Jesse and I were there for that.
01:52:52
went to a presentation on AI that was done by a representative from Dominion Energy and Mr. Mike Turner who is the vice chair of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors and Mr. Turner I think has kind of become a de facto
01:53:17
person who knows all things that has to do with data centers since Loudoun County is the high bar in the state for sure, but he's been dealing with this for four years and has taken a real deep dive into it and I just want to recommend
01:53:35
Their county website has some excellent information and a white paper that Mr. Turner put together that's on that.
01:53:48
That was really almost an identical presentation to the one that was done in the
01:53:56
Energy, Environment, and Land Use Committee that I went to.
01:54:03
Went to the Education Committee meeting and also the Agriculture and Rural Affairs.
01:54:09
The one thing that everyone seemed to agree on in terms of what the future holds is that, oh, and also
01:54:20
We had a speaker give information on what we can expect from the new administration in terms of how it's going to affect counties.
01:54:33
The consensus which really came up in all the committees when we were talking about legislative priorities is that what's most likely to happen is that the high number of bills that were passed in the General Assembly that were budget related but were vetoed by the governor are likely to become real short-term priorities and likely to see passage fairly quickly.
01:54:59
So that's a place you could take a look and see what didn't pass last year, what was vetoed, and what is likely to be coming forward early next year.
01:55:12
I went to a regional food system resilience committee meeting that was put together by the Virginia Tech and the
01:55:28
and the Cooperative Extension Service.
01:55:32
I'm going to be serving on the Virginia Cooperative Extension Leadership Council.
01:55:38
And so that was really informative for me.
01:55:40
It was mostly a listening session as they're putting together priorities for regional food system resilience at all scales, which is really interesting to me.
01:55:50
I enjoyed that a lot.
01:55:56
Probably the thing that took up the most time for me over the last month obviously was campaigning and talking to constituents when you're going door to door many times a week.
01:56:06
You get to talk to a whole lot more people than you do when you're not campaigning.
01:56:12
That was really informative and really interesting and much more enjoyable than you might think.
01:56:20
In addition to that, Jesse and Mr. Parr and myself attended the grand opening of the Bank of the James in Nellysford.
01:56:32
We now have a Bank of the James branch in Nellysford.
01:56:35
For those that don't know, we have local people staffing it.
01:56:38
It looks like it's going to be a real good economic benefit to the community.
01:56:45
Thanks to them for taking the step to
01:56:47
Next, we have appointments and we have quite a few on the list here.
SPEAKER_05
01:57:06
So some of these I'll defer to you all on whether you're ready to proceed.
01:57:11
We do have an application for the South District for the Library Advisory Committee from Deborah Terrell.
01:57:18
Her application was included in your packet.
01:57:23
Social Services Advisory Board,
01:57:26
We have the same applicants as last time.
01:57:29
I did receive a new one today from St. Rutherford just before I came in here today for the meeting.
01:57:35
Board of Equalization, we have not received any new applicants.
01:57:39
We ideally should have a couple more folks on that board and we need to have them appointed by next month because they will need to do training at the start of the year.
SPEAKER_15
01:57:52
But we have applications from the three listed.
SPEAKER_05
01:57:55
Yes.
SPEAKER_15
01:57:56
So we could take action on those.
01:57:58
Well, how many do we need?
SPEAKER_05
01:57:59
A minimum of three.
SPEAKER_16
01:58:01
No.
SPEAKER_05
01:58:02
We need three to five.
SPEAKER_16
01:58:04
I think, haven't all three done this before?
01:58:06
Yes.
01:58:06
And Robert doesn't want to do it, right?
01:58:10
No.
01:58:10
No?
01:58:11
Okay.
01:58:12
It's not the easiest job.
01:58:14
Twice.
01:58:15
Okay.
01:58:16
I mean, I'm, I guess,
01:58:18
I will say this, of course, South District Library, that's Jessica, so whatever Jessica wants to do on that.
01:58:24
Board of Equalization, I certainly am fine if we want to proceed with the three because the process needs to get started soon.
01:58:31
I was going to suggest with the Social Services Board, I had spoken with Jessica briefly.
01:58:37
She had a good idea about maybe having a chance to speak to these individuals, maybe one-on-one as kind of an interview type setup.
01:58:46
if that makes sense, just so that because we know where we've been, we know what needs to be done in the future and expectations.
01:58:58
I don't think that's unreasonable.
01:59:03
Jessica, did you want to elaborate any further on what you thought there?
SPEAKER_06
01:59:06
Well, we learned a lot through the last few months about social services board and just how the state had it set up.
01:59:16
and so you are only as good as what's reported to you.
01:59:22
So it was my hope that we could meet these individuals, tell them kind of our vision but also assessing their ability to critically think and actually really care about what's going on and I would feel more comfortable since we have had these situations the last few months that
01:59:45
see what they've got more than just on paper.
SPEAKER_16
01:59:48
And my vision of what that would look like is just basically subcommittee and then over the course of the next month or at least by January as applications reveal themselves that subcommittee say hey give some kind of report.
SPEAKER_06
02:00:07
That's fair.
SPEAKER_15
02:00:10
Well I would
02:00:15
A subcommittee only makes sense to me if it has full representation from the board, because I think we should all be part of that process if you think that that's an important thing that we go through.
02:00:27
Just myself, I'm comfortable with the applications that we have.
02:00:32
I didn't see any of them that raised any red flags to me.
02:00:36
I was wondering from Candy's perspective what you think the ideal timeline is on this for us to be making decisions and getting the appointments here.
SPEAKER_07
02:00:55
I mean, I think the state expects us to do it as soon as possible.
02:01:01
I think the idea is that they be, you know, we're not looking to
SPEAKER_15
02:01:29
You know, have a one size fits all for all of the applicants.
02:01:33
I think that having diversity on the panel is really important.
02:01:40
You know, from all standpoints, not just by region.
02:01:44
So if the board thinks that interviewing them in a committee framework is something that we want to do, I won't stand in their way.
02:02:00
I just don't feel like it's necessary.
02:02:01
I do think that
02:02:05
Since we have at least one more applicant and we're likely to have more, if we encourage those people to get their applications in as soon as possible, anyone who wants to talk to anyone can certainly do it.
02:02:17
And then we can just bring it to the board in December's meeting to populate the advisory committee.
SPEAKER_14
02:02:30
I agree with Ernie.
02:02:31
I don't know that we need to have official interviews of candidates, but I do think that we should, as board members, do our due diligence and have conversations with candidates.
02:02:47
Given the situation that we're coming out of, I think we owe it to the community and to the rest of the DSS employees to make sure that we vet all the individuals.
02:02:59
I also think that there has been some thought in the community that we weren't ready to make this step quite yet because of the CIP that we've just come out of.
02:03:13
I know I've had conversations with individuals
02:03:18
who apply and we're just kind of waiting for that process to end so now that that has officially ended and we're moving into the next phase I think we'll see some additional applications come in but we definitely don't want to rush into anything.
SPEAKER_15
02:03:33
So if we can look at doing that in December and if we can just send... Everyone makes a good faith effort to talk to each individual applicant instead of the committee?
02:03:43
You know, I'd say it depends.
02:03:46
I mean, we have a representative in each district.
02:03:50
Right.
02:03:51
And certainly talking to your, you know, the applicant in your district makes a whole lot of sense.
02:03:57
I certainly wouldn't advise to do anything else other than that.
02:04:00
Sure.
02:04:01
But I feel that, you know, that you all have a better idea of who's going to be representing you and your committee in your districts than I would.
02:04:10
And I don't think that my priorities, whatever they might be, should be the same ones that are across the board for everybody.
02:04:17
I think we should have a diversity of outlooks on how things are going to be done.
02:04:21
I think doing that by district is the easiest way to do it.
SPEAKER_16
02:04:25
All right.
02:04:26
So we'll just leave that open and then all of us do our own due diligence.
SPEAKER_15
02:04:30
And when you do get applications, if you could send them out to us as you receive them, then that would give us an opportunity to be proactive on it and be prepared for December's meeting.
SPEAKER_07
02:04:41
Does the board need any further information on what an advisory board is and their responsibilities?
02:04:49
Sure, might as well send that with us.
SPEAKER_15
02:04:51
Good, okay, very good.
02:04:55
And we'll all do our homework and get back together.
02:05:01
Do we want to take action on the library committee?
02:05:07
Yes.
02:05:08
Okay.
SPEAKER_14
02:05:09
And what about, we'll do equalization next?
02:05:14
Do them separate.
SPEAKER_06
02:05:14
Do we?
SPEAKER_15
02:05:15
Yeah, we'll do them separate.
02:05:16
Okay.
02:05:16
Let's do the library committee first.
SPEAKER_06
02:05:19
I move that we approve or allow Deborah Terrell to be the South District Nelson County Library Committee.
SPEAKER_15
02:05:30
Second.
02:05:31
Okay, motion second.
02:05:33
Discussion?
02:05:34
Hearing none, let's vote.
SPEAKER_05
02:05:36
Mr. Alfred?
SPEAKER_15
02:05:37
Yes.
SPEAKER_05
02:05:38
Mr. Parr?
SPEAKER_15
02:05:39
Yes.
SPEAKER_05
02:05:39
Dr. Ligon?
02:05:40
Yes.
02:05:40
Mr. Reed?
SPEAKER_15
02:05:41
Yes.
02:05:43
Okay, next up is the Board of Equalization.
SPEAKER_16
02:05:46
So when is the drop-dead deadline?
02:05:49
We need to get extra people.
02:05:50
So let's say we get a couple more people sign up in December.
02:05:52
Can we add them too?
02:05:54
Yes.
SPEAKER_14
02:05:56
Well, and then the flip side of that is what if we get seven people who sign up for seven additional candidates?
SPEAKER_16
02:06:02
Yeah, I'm fine with waiting until December too.
SPEAKER_14
02:06:04
I mean, I'm just, I mean, the odds, you know.
SPEAKER_15
02:06:06
Well, the terms don't expire until the end of the year, so there's no reason why we can't take this up again in December.
02:06:15
Yeah, you can wait until the sign language.
02:06:17
It doesn't bother me.
02:06:19
That works for me.
02:06:21
Okay.
02:06:23
Anyone have correspondence?
02:06:24
Anyone?
SPEAKER_07
02:06:26
Yes.
02:06:27
Sorry.
02:06:27
Both work can certainly go first, but I didn't want to forget that I do have some.
02:06:32
Okay.
02:06:33
Are you ready for me?
02:06:34
OK. Sure.
02:06:35
All right.
02:06:36
I believe I circulated an email that I received from Commonwealth Attorney Rutherford just expressing his interest in us revisiting looking at a door that would be more ADA compliant and also provide greater security for his office now that we are kind of extending out our space needs time frame.
02:07:03
So let's see.
02:07:08
I think I provided some information on some previous quotes we had gotten from about a year ago that we could get updated for an ADA accessible door with remote buttons that would activate the door.
02:07:19
It would have remote buttons that could be activated from the Commonwealth Attorney's Office and or the security desk.
02:07:25
and then we have a quote to add a card reader access to the video system and two-way communication which would include programming a new door into the current door monitoring system.
02:07:39
And the total for both of those items was about $22,000 from a year ago.
02:07:46
So just wanted to get the board's pulse on that.
02:07:49
I definitely think the ADA accessibility issue needs to be addressed.
02:07:55
and I do think the security issues are a serious concern for Mr. Rutherford.
02:08:02
I believe he is here if you have any questions for him.
02:08:06
Or we could just, as a staff, work with him to implement a solution that is acceptable for his needs.
SPEAKER_14
02:08:14
Here's my thought on the door.
02:08:17
I mean, it's right out there.
02:08:19
It's easily accessible to the public without going through security.
02:08:23
We need the ADA button.
02:08:26
And my thing is, at first, I thought we were looking to have to do something
02:08:32
that would, once the Commonwealth Attorney's Office was relocated, would no longer be necessary or, but it looks to me like what we're talking about doing here, even when the Commonwealth Attorney's Office is relocated, it's something that will be appropriate for the next occupant of that space.
02:08:53
So it's not like we're investing money in something that's just gonna be, so I support,
02:08:59
adjustments, and redoing the door so they can buzz in either way, card reader for employees and that type of thing.
02:09:11
So yeah, I think that's something we need to do.
SPEAKER_15
02:09:17
I would agree with that.
02:09:18
And if that's the consensus of the board, we can go forward with it.
02:09:23
Any objections?
02:09:26
Okay, let's get it done.
02:09:29
Alright, thank you so much.
02:09:34
Okay, still on correspondence.
02:09:36
Anyone have anything?
02:09:38
Directives?
SPEAKER_16
02:09:41
I, we've exchanged some emails over the last several days about, obviously we have Mr. Tommy Harvey will be coming off the board
02:09:53
and doing a resolution of some sort to honor his service to our community for the last 41 years.
02:09:59
Of course, this being as official of a directive as we can, but I have some staff can correspond with the family.
02:10:08
And one other suggestion as we've discussed was trying to get all board members who have served with him in his tenure to try to attend.
02:10:18
I've spoken to Mr. Saunders,
02:10:21
and Mr. Bruegher and they had indicated that they would love to be here and whether Mr. Harvey can make it or not be here to honor his service.
02:10:30
It's 41 years, it's a long time, it's a lot of history there and we need to honor that.
02:10:35
So don't think that it's necessary for a motion but I know we corresponded and there's some other ideas floating around as to how we can also honor him and that and I'll leave that at the discretion.
SPEAKER_15
02:10:49
I think we'll let Candy work on this for us.
02:10:55
Thank you.
02:11:01
And if we can help you with any of your ideas as they come forth to try to narrow it down.
SPEAKER_07
02:11:09
Okay, are we looking to do this in December most likely?
02:11:11
Yes.
SPEAKER_16
02:11:12
Okay, that's what I thought.
02:11:13
Another thing I was going to suggest, I did some research at the last conference about the Board of Supervisors certification
02:11:23
And the modules in there looked really helpful.
02:11:26
And I was going to suggest, I spoke to some of the county officials in Brunswick and they, a lot of them did it as not necessarily a group but staggered it out.
02:11:35
And they said it was really helpful.
02:11:38
I was going to suggest, I was hoping to do it this coming year, cycle, and see if any of the other board members wanted to join me with it.
02:11:45
And that was going to suggest for Supervisor Elect, for him though, I mean it doesn't start until next year, but it probably would be helpful to encourage at least knowing some of the laws as it relates to the process as opposed to like what did we and you do?
02:12:01
We did the Santa Anderson thing.
SPEAKER_15
02:12:03
Yeah, we did the training and I did one supervisor training at the VACO office.
02:12:10
That was probably two years ago.
02:12:12
I did take your advice.
02:12:14
I got hold of the woman who's organizing it for VACO and she's going to let us know as soon as the dates are released.
SPEAKER_14
02:12:21
So is this like an in-person thing, a self-study thing?
SPEAKER_16
02:12:25
What is it?
02:12:26
70% virtual, 30% in person.
02:12:31
So each one is broken into modules so that in the event you can't make it to one, you can finish it next year.
02:12:37
So the first set is like budgeting and finance.
02:12:40
The next block is planning and zoning.
02:12:45
Jessica and I, we did the planning commissioner certification.
02:12:48
It's got some of the same people on it.
02:12:50
And then the third block is leadership, conflict resolution, stuff of that nature, some Robert rules of order stuff.
SPEAKER_06
02:12:56
So is this the same class that we talked about a couple months ago, or this is through a different entity?
SPEAKER_16
02:13:03
It's not through VCU, this is through VACO.
SPEAKER_06
02:13:05
Okay, because the VCU one would look really good to you.
SPEAKER_16
02:13:08
Yeah, I can't remember what that one was.
02:13:10
Yeah, that's right, yeah.
02:13:12
It's a lot of the same people.
02:13:13
This one, it's just a little structured.
02:13:15
It looks pretty, a lot easier.
02:13:18
There are a couple trips to Richmond, but I do think it'd be good for us to do it.
02:13:24
I think we should encourage ourselves to be familiar with the law and get these things.
02:13:30
I originally was not the kind of guy that would look at these things and say, hey, I'm not going to waste our time doing this, but the planning commissioner certification thing was great and I was ignorant to have that thought process going into it.
02:13:43
I think it would be good for this board to take advantage of the opportunity.
SPEAKER_15
02:13:48
Okay.
02:13:49
All right.
02:13:53
So if we don't have any other business, then let's take a five minute break at which time we will come back and move from an open session to closed session.
02:14:09
Okay.
02:14:09
Ten minute break.
02:14:11
Call to order the evening session of the Nelson County Board of Supervisors.
02:14:17
First order of business is public comments, and these are comments that are not relevant or about any of the items we have public hearings on.
02:14:30
So the rules for this are you come up to the podium, give your name and address, speak into the microphone, only address the Board of Supervisors.
02:14:41
You have three minutes to tell us what's on your mind.
02:14:46
Dr. Ligon will give you the 30-second sign and then also the stop sign at the end of three minutes.
02:14:55
If you're representing a group, please identify the group at the very beginning and you will receive five minutes if you would like.
02:15:04
Please be nice about it.
02:15:08
I have no one signed up for public comments.
02:15:11
Is there anyone here who would like to speak during public comments?
02:15:15
Then I will open and close the public comment section, and we will move on to the public hearing.
02:15:23
Our first public hearing is for the battery energy storage system siting agreements for Collin and Piney River.
SPEAKER_07
02:15:36
I can just start by introducing this really quickly.
02:15:42
So tonight we have consideration of two siting agreements, one with Piney River, Virginia Bess 1 LLC, and the other with Collin, Virginia Bess 1 LLC for two four megawatt battery energy storage systems to be constructed at CVEC substations in Collin and Piney River.
02:16:03
The site plans were approved administratively as by right accessory uses to a public utility, so no special use permit approval is required.
02:16:13
These battery energy storage systems will benefit local CVEC customers by keeping rates down during peak usage periods.
02:16:20
We do have Gabby Mayer from Light Shift Energy to give you
SPEAKER_02
02:16:31
Thanks, Candy, and thank you to the board for having me again this month.
02:16:35
Today's presentation will be pretty similar to the one I presented last month.
02:16:40
So if you guys have any questions as I'm going through it, please interrupt.
02:16:45
But yeah, as Candy said, I'm Gabby.
02:16:46
I'm here with LightShift Energy talking about the setting agreement portion of the battery energy storage project that LightShift Energy is doing in collaboration with CBEC.
02:16:59
At a high level, the siting agreement is authorized by the Virginia State Code, which states that
02:17:08
The locality and applicant must get into some sort of negotiations and allow for a setting agreement to be signed.
02:17:18
This is a voluntary agreement and the main reason for it is really to allow the applicant to provide additional funds to the locality and really become a partner to the locality to mitigate any impacts that this project might have is what these additional funds really go to.
02:17:37
Once the setting agreement is signed, the locality deems the project substantially in accord with the comprehensive plan.
02:17:47
At a high level, these are all the attributes of that setting agreement, which we went through again last month.
02:17:54
Each one of these attributes is for each setting agreement, so the colleague and
02:18:03
for $8,000 and the $10,000 charitable donation to an organization that the county is choosing at the ribbon cutting.
02:18:11
The setting agreement also goes into the emergency response training and I just wanted to highlight that I forgot last month that along with this emergency response training, we also do work with the fire department and the emergency response team prior to develop an emergency response plan.
02:18:30
and I've been working with John Adkins, I've shared the plan with him back in April and like he's familiar with the project and what's going on and so just wanted to highlight that since I know that was a question that came up last month but yeah just here requesting approval from the board to authorize the county administrator to sign the setting agreement and with that I'll open up to questions from the board.
SPEAKER_15
02:19:00
Do we have any questions before the public hearing?
02:19:06
I just have one clarification.
02:19:09
Is the partnership in administrative actions per site, so is that times two or is that for both of them?
SPEAKER_02
02:19:23
Which specific partnership?
SPEAKER_15
02:19:25
well is it a single one-time payment or is it two part-time payments one for each for project okay so it also means that there would be two ten thousand dollars thank you
SPEAKER_07
02:19:43
Mr. Chairman, just to add really quickly, since this was a question last time, we did follow up with Craig County and Danville to get their signing agreements and those are, as you've seen through email, they are comparable to the ones that we have today.
02:20:01
I don't believe they're in operation, so they couldn't really speak to how well LightShift kind of held up their end of the bargain within the signing agreement itself.
02:20:13
But otherwise, they were very comfortable.
SPEAKER_15
02:20:17
Thank you.
02:20:21
I will then commence with the public hearing.
02:20:25
So I don't have anyone signed up for the public hearing, but I will open it nonetheless with the same rules we had before.
02:20:32
Does anyone present like to speak at the public hearing on the siting agreements?
02:20:39
Okay.
02:20:40
If there's not, I'll close that public hearing and open this to the board for additional questions or actions.
SPEAKER_14
02:20:52
It's your district.
02:20:53
I don't have any questions.
02:20:55
I support it.
02:20:56
I do ask that we allocate the, that we have input on allocating the charitable donation, how that's worked, but it's not time for that conversation right now, I'm sure, but yeah.
SPEAKER_15
02:21:15
Okay, so it will be the board deciding what the, where the donations go?
SPEAKER_11
02:21:23
Yes, okay.
SPEAKER_15
02:21:25
All right, we can do that at a future date, yes.
02:21:28
So, do we have a motion?
SPEAKER_07
02:21:30
You do have a resolution before you.
SPEAKER_15
02:21:33
Oh, it's a resolution, I'm sorry.
02:21:34
So, it's really just the resolution.
02:21:36
Yeah.
SPEAKER_14
02:21:38
Mr. Chairman, I move that we adopt Resolution R 2025-79, Nelson County Board of Supervisors, approval of battery energy storage system siting agreements in Colleen and Piney River as presented.
SPEAKER_15
02:21:53
Okay, any further discussion?
SPEAKER_05
02:21:57
Okay, take a roll call vote.
SPEAKER_15
02:22:11
Okay, our second public hearing is on special use permit 250278, request for an extension of special use permit dwelling units in B-1 business district.
SPEAKER_09
02:22:25
Thank you.
02:22:28
So this is a request for an extension of an existing approved special use permit for dwelling home properties in a B-1 business.
02:22:37
It's at 622 Front Street right here in the town, outlined in green there on the screen.
02:22:41
This is owned by Jesse and Allie Lopez-Lowe.
02:22:45
They recently completed renovation on the structure to be utilized for mixed use, which was two long-term residential rental units and commercial space on the lower level.
02:22:55
The property previously held a special use permit for a dwelling.
02:22:58
That expired after more than two years of vacancy.
02:23:02
The board did approve a new special use permit on November 14th, 2024, so a year tomorrow, with the condition that the dwelling is not permitted to be utilized as short-term rentals.
02:23:14
The owners are requesting the extension of the approved special use permit for an additional year as the units are not yet occupied.
02:23:20
This building is for sale, so they wanted to ensure that they could get some residents in there before they
02:23:31
expired tomorrow.
02:23:33
Mixed use in nature, zoning in the vicinity is B1 and R2, that's the orange.
02:23:38
There are no floodplains or streams on the property.
02:23:41
This property is exempt from the minimum off street parking requirements.
02:23:46
Properties located in Lovingston is designated as a community hub by our 2042 Future Land Use Map.
02:23:53
The core concepts to prioritize regional scale development, redevelopment, and infill within Lovingston to protect the rural landscape, ensure more efficient and effective provision of community services, bolster economic development, and improve quality of life.
02:24:07
Primary land use types include all types of housing, mixed use units, commercial, professional offices, among others.
02:24:15
Relevant planning guidelines for this area include preserving existing structures while allowing for a mix of uses, fostering development of a variety of housing types, and encouraging infill development and retrofitting of existing buildings.
02:24:29
The Planning Commission recommended approval of Special Use Permit 250-278, a one-year extension of former SUP 240-239, for dwelling units of B1 Business,
02:24:42
As you saw in some of our previous work sessions, our most recent work session, mixed use development and fill adaptive rates of structures was something that we were going to be supporting in the ordinance updates, so it's likely that this use will become conforming.
02:24:59
We just wanted to make sure we got the i's and crossed the t's in the meantime.
SPEAKER_15
02:25:09
Okay.
02:25:09
Are there any questions for Dylan before
02:25:15
Since there are not, we'll go on to the public hearing.
02:25:19
The rules are the same.
02:25:21
I do not have anyone who has signed up for the public hearing.
02:25:26
If anyone wishes to speak, this would be your opportunity to come forth.
02:25:31
Since no one is, we will close the public hearing.
02:25:41
Consider taking action on this.
SPEAKER_16
02:25:45
Mr. Chairman, I think it is pertinent they've spent a lot of money and time and trying to get that built and fixed up and it's gone through a couple different applicants and I do think it's appropriate that we grant this extension as they are asking.
02:26:00
Were there any conditions for the Planning Commission?
SPEAKER_09
02:26:04
The only condition was with the former special use permit that they not be utilized in short-term rentals.
SPEAKER_14
02:26:09
And that carries into this as well.
02:26:11
Correct.
SPEAKER_16
02:26:12
Okay, so that already exists.
02:26:14
Alright, so I can just move to approve the extension.
02:26:18
Alright, Mr. Chairman, I move we approve the request for extension of SCP-240239.
02:26:25
Second.
SPEAKER_15
02:26:28
Okay, motion to second.
02:26:30
If there's no further discussion, we'll take a roll call.
02:26:37
Yes.
02:26:38
Thank you, Dylan.
02:26:41
Do we have any other business to consider tonight?
SPEAKER_07
02:26:53
Yes, we were just talking amongst ourselves about the Piney River rate consideration for the summer meeting.
02:27:00
Do we want to do that in the afternoon?
02:27:08
I mean, I don't see any need for it to be in the evening.
02:27:12
OK. OK. All right.
SPEAKER_15
02:27:17
Thank you.
02:27:17
I would agree.
02:27:19
OK. That being done, I will recognize a motion for that.
02:27:25
Yes.
SPEAKER_14
02:27:25
Second.
SPEAKER_15
02:27:28
Motion and a second.
02:27:29
Let us take a roll call.
02:27:31
Mr. Rutherford?
02:27:32
Yes.
SPEAKER_06
02:27:33
Dr. Williams?
02:27:34
Yes.
02:27:34
Mr. Parr?
SPEAKER_15
02:27:34
Yes.
02:27:35
Mr. Reed?