Can we write it?

Okay, do we have burning?

Can we report it?

I want to thank everyone for being here.

We're going to begin our work session here.

We have two really exciting topics tonight.

Can't wait to get into this franchise renewal thing.

So looking forward to our topics, Mr.

Manager.

Thank you, Mr.

Manager.

I'm glad you're excited.

We also are excited.

I'll welcome up our friends from HRT first.

You've heard from HRT a few times this year about possibilities for um uh modernizing and and uh bringing some new service and critical corridors today is about optimizing the existing system.

So I'll turn it over to um uh William and his team.

Thank you so much, Mr.

Manager, Mr.

Mayor, members of council staff, and members of the public.

We're pleased to be before you.

And uh as the city manager has indicated, we really are focusing on the efficiency of the organization, and this is a strategic topic that we believe will position us well for the future.

Um Mr.

Riamaruso, our chief of planning and development will provide an update.

Mr.

Amaruso.

Thank you, Mr.

Harrell, and good evening, Mayor West, members of council and manager price.

We're very happy to be here to talk about our system optimization plan.

I'd like to recognize that we also have one of our TDCHR commissioners here, Mr.

Tony Goodwin in the audience as well.

He's he follows us around at every city council briefing.

We were in City Council Portsmouth last night, briefing them at the work session, and I admire Tony for doing that since he emanates from Portsmouth, but he goes and visits these foreign lands called Virginia Beach and Chesapeake and North.

So uh just wanted to say hello.

And I'm really excited today to talk about the system optimization plan.

It is a key initiative for Hampton Roads Transit as your regional transit service provider.

Um and we face some challenges that I'd like to share with you.

This is a study that's been underway for some time now, and we're at a point to share some information with you.

Uh we've been working diligently with your staff, so they've seen most of these recommendations.

But I'm here to talk about the system optimization plan purpose.

Um in its very essence, it's its core need is exploring how HRT can put its limited resources to its best use by reducing low ridership bus service and reinvesting those savings and routes with high ridership demand.

And what do I mean by that?

So there are two types of resources.

The one we're always familiar with is financial resources.

Um you all have seen us often enough to know how we fund services here and our complex compact that created Hampton Roads Transit.

We get federal and state operating assistance that helps pay the some of the costs.

You you get revenues from the fare box, and then what's left over the cities pay at the margin.

So collectively among the six member cities, after the allocation of federal operating assistance, state operating assistance, and fair box more or less is about 40 percent that each member city contributes to pay for the cost of the services in their cities.

We live in challenging times.

State operating assistance, while we've had some heady years in the past few years, we're being told uh that it might be more challenging.

Uh agencies that do well have effective and efficient routes in terms of carrying productivity of additional passengers on their routes.

So you get awarded based on how well your routes do in terms of carrying passengers.

Hence the need to look at our system.

We have a system um that has sixty-eight bus routes in total among the six cities.

Uh we haven't looked at that in a cohesive manner in quite some time in terms of how well does every route perform, how many people you're carrying per trip, how many people you're carrying per hour of service, how many people you're carrying per mile of service.

That's what we're measured against.

Increasing ridership is germane to our mission because we want to put service where it's most needed, where we connect to businesses, employment sites.

We are in the bottom quartile when we look at our peers in terms of mid to large transit agencies of passengers that we carry per revenue hour of service.

Uh we have another challenge that's not unique to HRT, but is it being experienced by every transit property in the country?

We're short bus operators.

It's an effect of the pandemic.

Uh we put out about uh 2,0100 trips every single day.

Think about that emanating from two garages on the north side and south side.

Think about that, emanating from two garages on the north side and south side, 2,100 bus trips every day go out of our garages.

But we are missing 1,200 trips a month, which is about 3% of all the trips we put out because we don't have enough bus operators to meet that schedule.

We want to improve our reliability because we know our customers count on us to go to work.

By and large, that's what our customers do.

They're going to work and going to home.

And if they're an hourly wage worker and they miss uh the the bus does not show up and they come to work an hour late because most of our services are running hourly, they're in a difficult situation with their employer.

So it's very important that we keep that compact with our customers.

And then finally, we're always looking ways for reducing costs for our member cities for the local jurisdictions.

And we know the state has told us you get rewarded when you have higher productivity routes.

And so some of our low productivity routes, and I'll share that information in a moment, cost $6.43 more per passenger trip than the routes that do better.

So that's something I want you to keep in mind.

The context for the system optimization plan.

We're trying to return to pre-pandemic, fiscal year 19 service levels, but we're short approximately 50 operators to return to those levels.

Every single day, we're short about 50 operators.

Plus, we have this regional transit system, you've heard of it before, the 13 regional backbone routes, and we're promising 15-minute high-frequency service on uh similar spans of service, no matter what city you're in, seven days a week.

Uh so a customer doesn't have to guess if the route is running in one city or another because it's the same.

That needs another 45 operators on top of the pre-pandemic service levels.

Realistically, we need to match our services to our resources.

That's good business sense.

That's what private businesses do.

We try to act responsibly as stewards of good taxpayers, uh, taxpayer dollars to think as a private sector business.

We need to say we have this big pie.

Perhaps it's time to look at this pie and shrink it down to something that's more productive and right size the network to match our human resources and our financial resources.

But don't worry, we're not going to leave people stranded.

We have microtransit, uh demand responsive service, which is um being piloted right now in the city of Newport News and Virginia Beach.

We won two additional state grants.

Thank you, City of Chesapeake, for agreeing to provide the local match.

We're going to test the pilot of microtransit in your city later this year, it will start, and as well as in the city of Hampton.

This has a place at the table.

Not every place would be a productive route with fixed route service, uh, but certainly there is a demand for some type of transit service, and I believe microtransit can fit that demand without the cost of fixed route service.

And to fully implement our RTS routes, that we want to do that as quickly as possible.

Of the 13 routes, we've only implemented three to date.

One in the South Side on the Route 20 between Norfolk and Virginia Beach, two in the cities on the peninsula.

Uh we need to get moving on the south side, but again, we need bus operators for that.

So doing the system optimization plan, we have some service planning guidelines and principles that we're practicing looking at.

We want to look at optimizing service on low performing rounds.

Should they continue to exist?

Should we do something different?

We want to look at streamlining or consolidating routes that are very close to each other to avoid duplication in the network.

We are also looking at opportunities to realign some of the routes and make them even higher performance than they are today.

And then we want to adjust the levels of service and service ties to make sure we're rapidly adjusting to land use changes in all six cities in your city in particular, the burgeoning growth at Summit Point.

We do have the Route 24 and the Route 13 that come along Volvo Parkway.

Are we matching our services and are we in alignment with the comp plans and the growth plans?

And this city has very ambitious growth plans and comp plan updates.

We want to make sure that we're positioning ourselves for the next 10 to 20 years.

So those are some of the principles.

We have three bar graphs.

I've tried to make these simple.

I know you don't know the bus route numbers and where they operate, but this is how the state measures and awards funding.

First, I look at operating costs per passenger, and we'll talk about that first.

So, how much is it cost to carry that passenger?

So you'll see in green the 13 regional backbone routes, and you can see they all do better than our benchmark of $11.86 by and large.

There's a few right now that are waiting for the 15-minute service, but by and large they all perform very well.

You have one local bus route that you pay for in the city of Chesapeake that also does very well.

That's the Route 13 on Campus Dallow.

But we do have some outliers, and I've highlighted in orange the routes that you participate in funding either wholly or in partnership with the city of Virginia Beach or Norfolk.

We have some outliers, you can see the Route 58 on Bainbridge Boulevard, that in terms of uh cost per passenger are pretty expensive.

It's over $35 to carry the people that use the route on Bainbridge Boulevard.

Um it's an hourly service, so it's three or four passenger trips, passengers per hour of service in each direction.

You run it 12 hours a day, so it's one of the lower performers in the system.

But I want to assure you we're also cognizant of geographic coverage needs.

And Bainbridge is kind of landlocked between the Norfolk Southern Portlock Yards and then the southern branch of the Elizabeth River.

You're kind of landlocked with only a few east-west connections back to the rest of the city.

So sometimes we make an exception to keep that route, and this is one of those routes, but there are other routes we're looking at.

The second way the state looks at it is uh passengers per hour of service.

So here we want to look at how many people you're carrying per hour.

Again, you can see how strong the regional uh the backbone routes perform.

They're all on the left side of this graph, carrying upwards of 14 passengers per hour of service.

In the peak of the peak, they're carrying much more than that.

But again, there's a few routes in the city of Chesapeake that are underperformers, where they're carrying less than 6.8 passengers, which is our benchmark for effective performance.

That is a drag on the system a little bit.

And then finally, the state measures us by passengers per mile.

How many people are you carrying per mile?

And here you can see the same routes are appearing well below the local average of half a passenger per hour per mile of service.

So I just want to give you in context where the routes that you participate in funding are sitting.

Uh, not all of them are candidates for optimization.

I'll go through that in a moment.

So, purpose of need recap.

Why is the SOP important?

We need to match our scheduled service to our existing resources.

Um we need to use our limited resources and uh deploy them to routes that really deserve more frequency, a better span of service, and we need to right size our network overall to sustainably operate the system for the long term.

We all know the cost for operations are increasing, fuel costs are increasing, material costs are increasing, state and federal funding is staying flat or declining.

So that's the hard realities in the world we live in today.

So I'll take a quick spin for you in uh city level recommendation for the city of Chesapeake.

Overall, there are six local bus routes that operate in the city of Chesapeake that you either fully fund after Federal and State operating assistance or share with another city.

We're only proposing one route for elimination.

I have maps for each of this, each of these routes.

This is the Route 6 that runs between downtown Norfolk and South Norfolk, and then end up at Robert Hall Boulevard.

Uh two routes are recommended to be maintained with peak frequency improvements.

The 13 were recommended to go to 30 minute service frequencies.

And the Route 24 was always intended to have 30 minute service frequencies.

It came online in March of 2020, which was the start of the pandemic, so it got caught up in a service reliability plan.

It's only running hourly.

I feel the 24 has great potential.

It operates between uh the Virginia Beach Town Center and comes down Witchduck and then on Chemsville Road and ends at Robert Hall.

Three routes have not been touched at all, the Route 14 that runs between the municipal center and Robert Hall Transfer Center.

Uh the Route 57, which you share funding with the city of Portsmouth that runs along Airline Boulevard and comes to Robert Hall, and the Route 58 that runs between Liberty and Seaboard and winds up at the TCC campus and Walmart down just down a ways from here.

We're also proposing three microtransit zones in Chesapeake with one newly funded zone through that trip grant.

You have areas of your city that have no fixed route service south of the intercoastal waterway, Mount Pleasant Road, but you have growth there.

The densities may not support a fixed route service, where we believe with a demand-responsive service, there is a latent transit demand that people can share a ride on a smaller vehicle like a minivan that doesn't require the commercial driver's license.

You can share a ride and be taken either to a destination within that zone or be connected to a fixed route service without that zone.

And we'll we'll share that with you in a moment.

So the Route 6, just to orient you in all of these maps, if you see it in that beige or orange color, that is the Route 6.

It shares a good portion of its route with the Route 13 along Campistello, but it does continue on Atlantic Avenue and then uh does wind up at Robert Hall.

We're proposing here to eliminate this route.

It has one of the lower performing productivity in terms of passengers carried per hour and per mile.

But the Route 13 can provide most of that coverage.

We're making sure we keep that connection at the food line and the shopping center over at Campus Fellow because that's very important for citizens of South Norfolk and even from Norfolk.

We also have underlying that a proposed microtransit zone, that's at shaded blue area, to provide the uh coverage for that portion of Atlantic Avenue and other portions that are lost of that route.

Um the Route 13, this is a strong route that can be even stronger if we increase the frequencies to 30 minutes.

During the peak of the peak, you're carrying well over 15 passengers per hour of service.

It currently runs hour of service.

We believe, and the analysis we've shown that we can do even better.

The 13 winds up with the downtown Norfolk Transit Center, connects with 12 other routes, and passengers are able to distribute themselves so their jobs on the other side of the Elizabeth River.

The Route 14, we're not recommending any changes.

It runs hourly, emanates from Robert Hall Transfer Center, and then runs right down here, just outside our door here.

Uh even though it has low performance, it has unique geographic coverage.

There's not much else on Battlefield Boulevard.

You have burgeoning plans for the medical center, senior center, riverside growth plan, and we believe that it's in a matter of time that we will see stronger ridership on this route.

So we're not recommending any changes at this time.

The Route 24 I talked about, it comes the only change is a small deviation up in Virginia Beach.

It won't affect you.

Virginia Beach has already accepted that recommendation to give a more direct connection to Pembroke on the other side of Virginia Beach Boulevard.

But it runs straight down Wichduck Road, and then as it crosses into your city, it changes to Kemp's Hill Road.

It provides really strong connections to a lot of land use along Kemptsville, both residential and businesses.

And then it too provides a connection to Robert Hall where you can transfer to other to get to other portions of the city.

So we're recommending 30-minute service frequencies come and give a fair chance of this route.

The Route 57, you share the funding with Portsmouth.

We're not recommending any changes.

It does have okay ridership, and it does have stronger financial performance that we believe we want to maintain that service.

And you can see the connecting point between the uh Portsmouth and Chesapeake.

And then finally, the Route 58.

The fact of the matter is it is the lowest performing route in our 68 route system, low ridership, low financial performance.

We've talked extensively with your staff about this particular route.

By the numbers, I would the studies show that we should recommend eliminating it, but it just connects to too many important things as it makes its way down Bainbridge, including the Walmart, the TCC, the human services on Atlore Street, and the Chesapeake Integrated Behavioral Health Care.

I I don't know at this time why more people are not using it, but we're not recommending elimination, but we are recommending the introduction of microtransit service also to kind of help feed passengers to the fixed route service.

I do know that we need public improvements.

Bainbridge is lacking a lot of sidewalk, ADA accessible bus stops.

It's a challenge for passengers waiting at bus stops along Bainbridge.

But we are not recommending any changes on the 58.

Okay, some of the exciting things, uh, microtransit, we want to test it in other portions of our service district.

This is the one that's shown in green that we made an application for state funding under the TRIP grant program.

We were awarded funding for one year to test a pilot.

You'll notice right away this is south of the Intel Coastal Waterway, and it's kind of centered on Mount Pleasant Road, but also it goes along Cedar Road.

I think there's a latent transit demand there at that.

While it doesn't deserve fixed route service, I believe there are people there that would use transit to get to other portions of our network or to the municipal center or just areas within the zone.

It's 11 square miles.

Uh the state provides 80% of the funding, uh and you all have agreed to provide 20% of the funding to try a one-year pilot.

That's our first uh microtransit zone.

Uh the second one is a mitigative strategy, kind of a hybrid service.

It has the right characteristics in terms of uh zero-car households and and we look at low-income households, that we too think that this would be a nice overlay to provide connections to the fixed route service of the Route 13, the Route 58.

It's about eight square miles.

As we begin to implement the SOP, we free up the resources financially to help fund that we don't have to rely on state grant funding to fund these transit zones.

So this is one that we believe would provide a mitigative strategy if the Route 6 is eliminated.

It has high suitability and particularly on the east east of Atlantic Avenue has the right demographics and we believe this is one that will be a good success for demand responsive service.

Microtransit, for those that aren't familiar with it, is an it's an app based on your phone.

You can make a reservation and you'll be directed to a virtual bus stop.

We do this as a turnkey operation right now.

We use the private companies.

We don't have the vehicles in our fleet, nor do we have non-CDL drivers.

But you can make a reservation.

You'll be directed to meet a vehicle, a minivan within 15 minutes at a virtual bus stop near your house.

You might find one or two of your fellow Chesapeake citizens waiting there as well.

You'll share a ride for a common point.

You'll be dropped off within the zone where you want to go, or you'll be dropped off if you have a destination outside of the zone at an HRT bus stop that the route can then take you to wherever your final destination is.

And then finally, in the South Chesapeake, just north of the intercoastal waterway, kind of helping the lower part of the Route 58 be more successful, centered around the regional medical center, centered around Battlefield Boulevard, another microtransit zone that demonstrates the right suitability.

This is also going to be funded by as we implement the SOP resources will be freed up.

It's not a burden on our operations in terms of bus operators because these are people just like you and I that have regular driver's license.

They don't have to drive a minivan, you don't need a CDL.

So that's a big boon for us.

So what happens if this SOP is accepted?

Um all six cities that come to agreement.

The TDCHR commission votes on this and adopts it.

What are the outcomes we expect?

Right now, system wide, remember 68 bus routes, we're recommending I have that word optimize.

I can also use the word eliminate.

Optimize 12 underperforming routes that are financial drag on the system that hurts all of all the cities across the six cities.

You only have one in your city, the rest are elsewhere.

The local route service reductions will free up the resources, the human resources, to allow us to quickly implement the remaining 10 high frequency regional peaks, peak backbone network.

We also reduce about 90,000 local service hours, reduce the need for 14 peak bus vehicles, and free up 60 65 operators that also allow us to bring back pre-pandemic service levels in the South Side Cities.

So you get back your 30-minute service on a lot of routes that are running hourly.

The customer impacts, uh, we increase regional backbone service so that 300,000 more Hampton Roads resident will be walking distance to a route that operates every 15 minutes.

That's a game changer.

You no longer have to worry about hourly service.

If I miss a bus, I have to wait another hour because in 15 minute service, there'll be another bus by in 15 minutes.

Um how many people might lose service of all 12 routes are eliminated?

Less than 3% of boardings and the lightings occur at those bus stops are along those eliminated routes.

We carry 35,000 people a day, so less than 3% of them would lose fixed route service, but they would still be accommodated by microtransit service.

All customers will experience lower wait times because we bring higher frequency back up.

And we improve reliability, that bond we have with our customers that that unspoken promise.

If we print a schedule and you see it online and it says a bus is going to be there at 11.02 p.m.

or AM, we'll be there.

We won't miss it because we won't be lacking the bus operators.

That's what SOP does for us.

Operational impacts, it helps with operator retention.

You know, um people keep asking us, why are you having such such difficulties in hiring bus operators?

Actually, we big bring them in at the clip that we need to bring them in to get us back to the full workforce.

We're losing them on the back end, we're not retaining them because of mandatory overtime because we don't want to miss trips.

So the we're collective bargaining unit.

So in the collective bargaining work rules, the newest operators, not the youngest, but the newest operators in the systems are the one that we go to first for mandatory overtime.

The effect of that is called operator burnout.

After 12-18 months, they're expecting to have they they work either five twos, five days on, two days off, or four thirties, four days on, three days off.

If we're forcing them to work mandatory overtime, now they're working six ones and five twos.

We burn them out.

So by shrinking down our bus network, we we no longer will have mandatory overtime because we will have enough operators that are freed up.

But most importantly it speeds up the implementation of the high frequency regional backbone network.

I can't emphasize that enough.

That is a game changer.

For the three routes that are running 15 minute service today, we've seen between 35 percent and 64 percent ridership increases.

Frequency does indeed equal freedom and we think with the remaining 10 routes we'll see even more of that.

Your city is going to have a couple of routes a big one is the Route 15 on military highway.

It's waiting for that 15 minute service.

The peak of the peak of the 15 today has already got standing loads but we're operating at 30 minutes.

We need more operators to get down to 15 minute service.

So couple that with the 13 operating 30 minute service and the 24 we believe we really will increase frequency.

So schedule the next steps this is just a plan.

This is our anticipated schedule we're still working things out with our cities in the north peninsula has proportionally there's less routes there but more service cuts being recommended so we're still working things out with them.

But the schedule as it stands today is we'll continue the City Council work session briefings.

Your city number three, we have three more to go we briefed Virginia Beach, Portsmouth and yourselves tonight.

Norfolk is on September 23rd, Newport News is on October 14th and Hampton is later in October.

We want to have some public open houses on the draft SOP recommendations to let them know why the SOP is so important and why we need to do this.

We'll come back in January for another round of City Council briefings to share with you what the public has said, to share with you what other member cities have said.

We'll brief our own Commission in February on the draft SOP.

Right now we're anticipating the Commission would adopt the SOP in April and maybe a few months late if we still have to negotiate with the peninsula cities they do have some concerns so it might be a little bit late.

We need to do a little bit of implementation planning we don't have the resources to do a and I wouldn't recommend that to do a one and done change we need to strategically implement this in a fashion that the customers understand what's going on so we're seeing it unfolding over what we call three service boards right now in October 2026, May of 2027 and October 27 before full implementation is is done.

So this is the draft schedule as we best know it now but we will be back with you to share what we've learned from the other member cities, the acceptance of the recommendations and also what the public had said.

So the oops that's the other show.

So I'll stop there.

I'm sure you have questions I'm happy to entertain them.

This is a draft plan so we're certainly open to any concerns or comments or questions about microtransit and we'd be happy to answer those questions.

Council any questions or comments?

Mr Smith Yes great presentation Mr.

My question would be in reference to everything that you are doing.

It's going to help the city out it's going to help the citizens out where there will be a reduction in cost.

That that is the whole per you know it will help the cities and customers out and help operator shortfalls but it will also help in costs because the routes that get the 15 minute service are going to generate much more ridership which means we're going to be more productive the state funding will be rewarded.

They reward more passengers per trip more passengers per mile we these 12 routes by and large have a similar characteristic of only carrying three to four passengers think about this.

You're running 12 hours let's say 7 a.m to 7 p.m you're carrying and you are running hourly service.

So 12 trips in the going northbound, 12 trips going southbound, three passengers per trip that's not a lot of people for 124 per hour of service times 365 days a year we want to see 14, 15 passengers.

So yes the the the sh the it eliminates underperforming routes which is the financial drag in the system and in the long run we get more state funding as we have more productivity.

Mr.

Marusa I want to ask you a question.

It seemed like when that was all the our the uh HRT board one of the obstacles with federal guidelines that would not allow you to make these changes is because you now have these the uh transit the smaller transit uh options is that what allows you to do this today?

So you're referring to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.

When you recommend elimination or reduction of service, you have to do a Title VI analysis to show there's no disproportionate disparate impact to low-income minority communities.

Um the mitigative strategies uh to that is microtransit.

You may not have fixed route service, but you're going to have demand responsive service, and you know what?

It's going to be with a better frequency.

It's going to be every 15 minutes.

So we're not going to leave you stranded.

So it will pass the tests of Title VI when we do that analysis.

Very good.

Ms.

Rutter.

Thank you.

I have a couple specific questions, and if you need to send us the answer, that would be fine.

Certainly.

About Route 24.

You're proposing that that stay the way it is, correct?

Yes.

And you also said the microtransit was essentially on demand that you use an app and somebody comes within 15 minutes.

Yes.

So we had a very specific request.

I'm sure the manager and Mr.

Sorry remember about the folks that are served by CAST.

The home the um homeless people that need to get from military highway to stepping stone.

And I can't tell from the map.

Is that going to be eligible for the microtransit?

So we we don't have our microtransit zone in that area.

So the Route 15, we looked, we work with staff to see if we can get the Route 15 bus back there, but the right-of-way and infrastructure doesn't allow for 40 foot bus to turn around safely, actually to turn around at all.

So microtrans would be the right solution.

We can look at having another zone overlay.

Uh the 15 is shared with Norfolk in terms of funding, but and Virginia Beach actually, three cities fund that route.

But there's nothing to say that we can't look at another microtransit zone because I understand the concerns about how long the walk is from Stepping Stone out to Military Highway.

We got one shelter over by not at the we we we have ADA accessible sidewalk now at the McDonald's, which is the closest one to Stepping Stone, but we're still waiting to put that shelter in.

Eventually a shelter will be there.

But yes, it's a pretty long walk.

So a microtransit solution could work back there, because it's a minivan, and we can get that.

So I'll add that to the list of microtransit zone potentials.

Thank you.

Um, I think that's good real quickly, I'm sorry.

And we are providing that service right now, the microtransit service, the city is providing that there, but we'll continue to partner with HRT to make sure we're doing it in the most efficient manner.

Yeah, I think it's the efficiency question, the hours and the weather, and it seems a reasonable thing.

So I appreciate you looking at it.

Thank you.

And yes, we will keep the 24 and we'll improve its frequency to 30 minutes instead of every hour.

I think it has potential, but at hourly service, a lot of people are shying away from it.

Any other comments or questions from council members?

Thank you very much.

I really do appreciate your creative way of looking at this.

Uh, we certainly do need more options for our citizens, and it looks like you are being very creative in in providing them.

So thank you very much for your presentation.

Look forward to working with you in the future.

We'll see you back in January.

Thank you.

All right.

Good luck.

Thank you.

Next up, Mr.

Mayor, uh, later this month you'll have an agenda item uh to consider uh renewal of our uh cable television franchise agreements.

Um since it's been some time since the last uh uh time we renewed those agreements.

Um Liz and Ellen are gonna give council an update about what those agreements entail, what the changes are, so you have a frame of reference for what you'll see when that agenda comes uh to you later this month.

Liz?

Thank you, Mr.

Manager.

Uh good evening, Mayor West and Council members.

Um I am not Heath.

He is under the weather, but he will be back next week, so I have the pleasure of uh sharing this with you.

So this has been a process more than two years in the making, and we're really confident that this is gonna be something that's beneficial both for the city and for our community.

I am joined tonight by deputy uh city attorney, chief deputy city attorney Ellen Bergeren.

Um and she joined uh this process about halfway through, but she has been truly instrumental in making sure that we have this really positive outcome.

So I appreciate her being here.

We're also indebted to Mr.

Matt Ames with the law firm of Hughbacher Ames and Taylor.

Um he really brought his expertise in federal, state, and local uh cable and telecommunications law to bear for this effort.

So this presentation is going to be brief, and that is due in large part to the fact that a majority of the language and the terms in the franchise and telecommunications agreement is actually still really good and really valuable and just did not really need a revision.

Ellen and I will walk you through the aspects that did need to change and all the reasons behind those changes.

So in Chesapeake's case, we have two cable television franchises, Cox Communicates, Cox Communications and Verizon South.

Now, in addition, because of the way that their business model is structured, Verizon Virginia also has a telecommunications franchise agreement with the city, and that does kind of bear on our cable franchise.

The Cox Cable franchise with occasional renewals has been around for decades.

It stretches back to the days of TCI cable, which I had to Google, but that was a thing a while back.

The Verizon Agreement is about 15 years old, and this will be its first full renewal.

So franchise the franchise EVEs have agreed to the renewal items, then the renewal terms.

Cox franchise agreement runs for 10 years with a five-year option to renew.

And the Verizon franchise runs for five years with a five-year extension to review.

So now I'll let Ellen explain just what specifically the franchise agreements establish.

Okay, good evening.

The cable franchises set the rules and procedure for the cable utility operator to install and maintain their cable assets in the right of way.

So any franchise is really special permission to use the right-of-way in a manner that is not open to the general public.

And here it is dealing with the right to own and maintain cable utility infrastructure in the right of way.

Um, giving the cable company the authority to install in that area, but the restoration concerns that have been raised during the last three or four years.

So we uh negotiated with Cox and Verizon on that point, and Verizon did include a provision regarding door tags.

So single family lot and single family owners of single family lots will receive a door tag, notifying them that the um Verizon intends to work in the right of way.

And if it's a multifamily residence, then the owner or the management company will receive notification that they intend to install in the right of way.

We worked also with Cox, and Cox was more comfortable with the traditional language in the existing franchise and did not elect to add language that dealt directly with door tags.

But they did agree, and so did Verizon, moving on to the second aspect we felt needed improvement, was a discussion about what constitutes right-of-way for the purposes of the cable franchises.

So in the past, the definition of right-of-way was a very broad definition.

It could be any city property or any city easement, and now that definition has been refined to only allow work in a portion of the right-of-way that is actually utilized as right-of-way.

So there's more clarity about where the utility operators can install their utility infrastructure.

So airing of these channels is in part governed by the franchise agreements.

So PEG stands for public education and government.

So you may know it as Cox Channel 48, Verizon FIOS Channel 43.

We lovingly call it Chesapeake Television.

This includes those channels and their neighboring channels.

We have originally locally produced programming, video programming, plus some static bulletin board uh information that really provides us with multiple ways to be able to communicate with the public.

As part of this new agreement, the monthly per subscriber fee that each franchisee will pay to the city will increase from 22 cents to 50 cents.

So this is the first increase in the history of the franchise.

Um it aligns Chesapeake with other Hampton Roads municipalities, and is really gonna provide us with some much needed funding for our operations.

Peg money has very specific uses.

So we can only use these PEG funds towards equipment related purchases.

We can't use it for staff.

We can't transfer it or transfer it over to something else or to the general fund.

It's got to be an equipment-related purchase.

So some of the stuff that we use for it, it supports our technical operations plans, including current needs plus repairs and upgrades.

The cameras that we're on right now, the control system behind the scenes, all of the equipment that we use here in City Hall at our studio down the street in the career center, and when we're out and about in the community, in large part, all of that is funded through the Peg funds.

We are preparing to move our studio to a new building.

We're going to the South Norfolk Municipal Building, which is breaking ground on Friday.

Hope to see you there.

So next steps, we have three items for renewals, the renewals that are going to come to you in two weeks on September 23rd.

And following that approval, we anticipate having the franchises in place and operating before the end of the year.

So with that, we will take any questions.

Very quickly.

Yes, we did speak to both of the franchisees about property restoration.

We were able to negotiate a little bit more specifically with Verizon, which you'll see their new restoration agreement as part of the telecommunications franchise.

And the reason why the telecommunications franchise was amended and that new language placed there is because that's where they pull the majority of their permits to work in that area.

And so the provisions that are new for Verizon.

And regarding restoration, any damaged property will be restored to as like near condition as possible within 14 days of completion of construction, accounting for weather conditions and actions by third parties.

So prior to this, there was no specific timeline for restoration by Verizon, and there was no specificity about what happens in that area where it's part of a resident's front lawn, but also still part of the right-of-way.

So they are required now to repair it within 14 days to as light condition near as possible.

And there are enforcement provisions in the agreement that allow liquidated damages, for example, if that's not done, or to be able to make a claim against a letter of credit if it's not completed.

What about Cox?

Cox also agreed their language doesn't have a specific timeline.

Their language states that promptly after installation, repair, or removal of relocation, they'll promptly restore and replace to as good and near better condition as possible the prior uh existing lots.

So they're basically agreeing to restore it to as near light condition as possible, and also under Cox's provision, if they don't do it, we can actually repair it and charge them for that cost.

I'm not sure that we would want to engage in that, but that's an option.

So really the differences are Verizon's a little bit more specific with the timeline where Cox still has that provision in there, but it's not specific as to timeline.

Okay, and then could you go over again the right of way definition?

And are you making a distinction between the rights of way and easements?

Yes.

So prior to the renegotiation of the franchise, there was a very broad definition and rights of way was really any city property or any city easement.

And now the definition provides that it does include public streets, roads, avenues, parks, highways, bridges, and sidewalks.

And it says including public utility easements and public lands if used as a public right of way.

So it removes the uncertainty about whether an ordinary city parcel, for example, if it's not used for right-of-way or ingress or egress by the public for transportation purposes, it can't be used as an installation point for the cable provider.

So really, is it right of A?

Is it used as right of way?

If it's a public easement that's used as right of way or a city easement that's used as right of way, they could install there.

But if it's not used as right of way, they can no longer install there.

And I don't you know, we have a lot of rural roads.

So how would you I mean, in general, consider those rights of way versus easements?

If it's used for public passage.

Um how would that be dealt with?

What would that be considered?

Okay.

Well, you said that there's it's considered a public utility easement because the right of way definition does include public utility easements as an example of where they would be able to install.

Okay, thank you.

Yes, sir.

Council will begin the regular meeting at six thirty.

Somebody will stop talking about money back either.

All the workers.

I will be right back.

Council is now in session.

I'd like to recognize Councilmember Whitaker at this time.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

I'd like to take a moment and recognize former Vice Mayor John Dietrich.

Dr.

Dieter Kay.

Could we a moment of silence, please?

Father God, Lord, we thank you for your mercy for your grace, Lord.

We thank you, Father God, for the opportunity to serve you, Lord, at every capacity.

Father God, I pray that you give us each and every one of this dais a measure of humility and wisdom, Lord, as we deliberate situations regarding our city.

And Father God, I also ask, Lord, that you give that peace that surpasses all understanding to the Dietrich family, friends, and colleagues.

Lord, we thank you and we give you praise.

And it's in your son Christ Jesus' name.

Amen.

Also at this time, I would like to uh ask Scout Troop 934, sponsored by First Baptist Church, South Hill, to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance and their Scout leaders J.W.

Washington and B.G.

Lee.

Please join me in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

Scout salute.

Pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands.

Under God, indivisible Liberty and Justice for all.

Ready?

Two.

Chief Gelisano, if you would please recruit these young men for future prospects.

Thank you, Mr.

Council.

Oh, oh, and you too, Chief.

Thank you, Councilman Whitaker.

Appreciate the prayer and Scouts, uh, 934.

We really are so happy that you are the join us here today.

And we we do the pledge of allegiance every every meeting, but to have you here and to lead us in that really is something special.

So thank you and God bless you.

Madam Clerk, would you please call the roll?

Councilmember Vunn.

Here.

Councilmember King?

Here.

Councilmember Newens?

Here.

Councilmember Ritter.

Here.

Councilmember Smith.

Here.

Councilmember Ward.

Councilmember Whitaker.

Present.

Mayor West.

Here.

Are there any changes to the proposed agenda?

Move approval.

Thank you.

Second.

Thank you, Ms.

Newlands.

Dr.

Ward, please prepare to vote.

Please vote.

And record Madam Clerk.

Motion to approve the agenda as presented as adopted by an 8-0 vote.

There are no minutes to submit it for approval, so we'll go to our recognition.

I'd like to call Economic Development Director Stephen Wright to the podium at this time.

Okay.

Hey, there we go.

All right.

Good evening, Mayor, members of council.

It is indeed my pleasure to be in front of you again this evening.

We have a couple of things to bring before you.

But as I always say, the business community in Chesapeake is probably the most philanthropic business community that I've ever been a part of.

So while we have a business appreciation tournament where we say thank you to the businesses, those businesses decided 25 years ago that they wanted to turn an appreciation event into a fundraising event for a local Chesapeake charity.

So for 25 years, this event has generated several thousand dollars that it's been distributed to various charities across this great city.

I am very pleased to tell you that I think for the third, fifth, fifth year in a row, we have surpassed over ten thousand dollars in proceeds from this tournament that we have an opportunity to give to what we consider a very worthy, very worthy charity here in our city.

The charity I speak of is the Chesapeake Education Foundation.

I think you all know that one of the reasons that we have such a great city, one of the reasons why our economic development efforts have been so successful is because of the wonderful school system that we have.

That school system is led by the 2025 superintendent of the year, Mr.

Jared Codden.

So it it truly gives me great pleasure to have Dr.

Cotton come join me here at the podium.

And also let you know that this year we raised over 13 million, 13 not million, 13,000, excuse me.

Over $13,000 that's going to the Chesapeake Education Foundation.

Most importantly, this money is going to a CTE scholarship so that children that want to get involved in the trades, which is such an important part of our workforce here in Hampton Roads and in Chesapeake.

We want to make sure that those kids that are going into the trades have a bit of a leg up.

And we want to make sure that they have the resources to go through that curriculum and come out and get a job and be a part of this wonderful business community.

So with that, I'd like to say, Dr.

Cotton, I got a big check.

We got a little one that you can take to the bank, but wanted you to get this, and I think we're going to get a picture.

Let's come around this.

Now's the time.

I have to talk about CTE.

Well, I don't think I can take this one to the bank.

I'll I'll get the other one.

Thank you so much.

Um, we appreciate how economic development has been supporting us for the last several years.

Uh, as you heard this particular um scholarship is our career and technical education scholarship that we award at our uh career signing day, which some of you have had the pleasure of attending in the past, where just last year 70 of our students got jobs, careers, excuse me, careers, not just a job, but a career with um 30 different businesses in our community, and the students were excited, the parents were more excited that their child has a has a career and a salary coming forward.

So that's really what we prepare our students for.

But we have the elite scholarship for identified students, one from each high school who will receive a thousand dollar scholarship, and it's the first time that we've really designated scholarships uh specifically for career and technical students to be awarded, and that's quite the event.

We have so many other great things going on with career and technical education in Chesapeake.

We've really been pushing that for the last several years.

I could go on and on about all the wonderful things happening, but I know that um uh you have uh an agenda that you're getting ready to get busy with tonight.

But thank you for your support from City Council.

Thank you, economic development, and where'd you go?

There you are.

Uh, I think you said 13 million.

Is that is that what you heard?

Oh, gotcha.

All right.

But I am happy to see that it's it's even more than last year, and what a great commitment and what a great cause.

So thank you for your support.

And please come visit our career and technical education programs.

We're happy to have you.

Thank you.

Next year it will be 13 million.

Maybe.

Um right.

The the next item that I have before you, it really talks of more about our business community.

Um I said earlier, I think we have the best business community in all of Hampton Roads here.

Um, and I think all of you know that when it comes to our business community here in Chesapeake, there's a segment of our business community that is truly the driving force, and that's our small business community.

Okay.

Um we are very fortunate here in Chesapeake to have some very large industries and corporations.

Uh companies like Dollar Tree, companies like Sumatomo, large companies that employ a lot of people, uh, generate a lot of revenue for the city.

But when you look at all of the businesses here in the city of Chesapeake, over 90%, 90% of the businesses in Chesapeake are small businesses.

And the way that we define a small business here in the city of Chesapeake is any business that employs 50 people or less.

Okay.

So we have an abundance of these small businesses, and collectively, they do so so much, more than actually some of the larger businesses when you put them all together.

So it's always important for us to have an opportunity to recognize those special members of the small business community that are doing wonderful things.

Every year, the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce recognizes a small business of the year from all of the seven cities.

Okay.

I am very pleased to tell you that for 2025, the small business of the year for the City of Chesapeake is Procreate Fertility Center of Virginia.

All right.

Procreate came to Chesapeake back in 2018.

Uh Procreate is a fertility treatment facility.

Um in 2024, uh Dr.

Boca and Dr.

Perez of Procreate were recognized as top docks when it comes to reproductive medicine here in Hampton Roads.

All right.

Now, what they do at Procreate is very, very special.

I think most of you up on the dais, along with myself, are parents.

And I can tell you that the road to being a parent is not always easy.

Okay.

Sometimes it can be challenging, sometimes it can be painful.

But the folks at Procreate, they do a wonderful, wonderful job of working with couples that are trying to have children.

And they do that by combining state of the art treatment and research, and they balance that with a holistic and empathetic approach to working with those couples.

As a result of the work that they do at Procreate, there have been hundreds, hundreds of couples that have had the opportunities to celebrate the true miracle that is childbirth.

Okay.

So when it comes to our workforce that we just celebrated with the school system, I can tell you that the folks at Procreate, they are literally creating our workforce of the future.

With us today, we have three representatives from Procreate.

We also have Miss Denise Joyner and Miss Frances Francesca Nieves.

I would like to call them up and present them with the proclamation.

And the proclamation reads, for six years of consistent excellence and innovation, the Chesapeake City Council congratulates you for your outstanding contributions and commitment to the business community and the surrounding area.

The establishment of the Procreate Foundation and the steadfast devotion to patient-centered care stand as a beacon of hope, compassion, and innovation for our city.

It is with gratitude that we celebrate Dr.

Perez, Dr.

Boca, and the staff, and the exceptional medical, clinical, administrative support staff whose diligence along with the trust of your patients has made this recognition possible.

You are a vital part of our business tapestry, making Chesapeake a great place where citizens can live, learn, work, farm, and play.

This is signed by our mayor, Dr.

Rick West, September 9th, 2025.

Congratulations.

This is the wonderful award that they receive from the chamber.

And we can maybe get another picture here, maybe step out front.

Now, Ms.

Joyner told me she was going to speak, but she decided to let Dr.

Bolka speak instead.

So, Dr.

Bolka.

Thank you.

Good evening.

Procreate Fertility Center is now a company with approximately 50 employees that started very small in Chesapeake, which has a handful of people with one office and one operating room, and has expanded to having locations also in Virginia Beach and Newport News.

We help patients achieve their dream of having children, as well as to preserve fertility for those who may need to undergo cancer treatment.

We are privileged to serve our community with passion, integrity, and respect, continuously striving to provide personalized, excellent, and innovative medical care.

Fertility treatments are unfortunately very expensive and mostly not covered by health insurance.

Recognizing this problem, we created a nonprofit foundation to assist patients finance their treatments.

Thank you.

Mr.

Mayor, members of council, uh thank you for this opportunity.

As always, I want to thank you for the support that you give the Economic Development Department and the business community.

We would not have the success that we have enjoyed for many, many years without your support.

I also want to recognize the city manager and his staff for the wonderful guidance that they give the Economic Development Department as well.

We look forward to continued growth and prosperity in the city.

Uh, and we are here to work with you to meet that goal.

Mr.

Wright, the yesterday uh NFL veteran William Fuller spoke to the Chesapeake Sports Club, and he said that that Virginia Beach says that they have something in the water.

And the thing about Chesapeake is they have something in the people.

I think you ought to include that.

There's something in our businesses, and we really do appreciate you, appreciate what you're doing and contributing to it to our great city.

So thank you for what you did in bringing everyone here, and thank you for what you're doing.

Thank you.

This City Council meeting constitutes a limited uh public forum.

Therefore, public comments must be relevant to items on the council's agenda or otherwise reasonable considering the purpose of this meeting.

As established by the City Council's rules of order and procedure, any speaker that delays, interrupts, or otherwise disrupts City Council's ability to conduct its meeting in an orderly manner by disorderly, insolent or disturbing action, speech, or other conduct will be declared out of order.

Madam Clerk, do we have any comments under citizens' comments, agenda items?

Yes, sir.

We have one speaker, Vic Nichols speaking on various items.

Have just a few questions tonight on CM9.

Is this correct that we are paying $18,750 of taxpayer dollars so Google can get ads?

How much to re-recoup?

Is it the taxpayer who recoupes the money or is it the business that recoupes the money?

Basically, your taxpayers forced to pay the government who decides who wins and loses in a specific area of business.

On CM11, I just like to verify this that was in the packet.

It said these improvements are necessary due to the high volume of traffic at this intersection.

This project aligns with the desired outcome of connectivity by reducing congestion and improving travel times for commuters who access I-64 at this location.

That is a verbatim read.

On CM 15, is there any possibility of a lawsuit against the city with the sublesse agreement?

And in other words, if something happens, are they going to be able to sue the intermediary and us or just the intermediary if they get approval?

CM16.

How much is the city funds being provided on page two?

And why will it take 20 to 40 years for cost recovery?

Is that just the principal or is that interest?

Because the taxpayer loses out on services when money goes towards businesses.

And you know I would like a new water meter.

On new business item A.

It says that you aim to direct growth in housing, preserve agri and open space, proactively develop necessary infrastructure, and reflect the unique characteristics of various districts through the city.

Number one, y'all didn't come to Greenbrier.

I can imagine why.

Proactively develop necessary infrastructure.

How many times through the years have I said that in specific areas of Greenborough, and we've gotten nothing?

Question is why?

Haven't we gotten nothing?

Reflecting the unique characteristics of various districts.

Green Bar does not have a characteristic.

We have big industry pieces.

We have some city parts.

And we have all types of housing.

We have single family.

We're about everything.

All we've been doing lately is putting a lot of mixed-use developments everywhere.

So how are we going to have specific character districts with those designations?

Just some questions.

Thank you.

That concludes the speakers.

Thank you.

Madam Clerk, would you please cons uh read the consent agenda?

City Clerk items one, acknowledgement for rezoning applications.

Public necessity, convenience, general welfare, and good zoning practice requires a following zoning reclassification request to be heard.

These requests are not public hearing items at this time.

These items are tentatively scheduled to be heard by the planning commission on October the 8th, 2025, and will be considered by City Council at a future meeting.

A PLN REZ 2024-001 Sykes Landing.

B PLN REZ 2025-012 960 Bells Mill Road.

We have three refunds.

The first one is Alston Construction Company Inc., 25,786.51 cents.

B, Boogie Free, LLC, 41,552 and 60 cents.

C, Flex Drive Services, LLC, 10,511.09 cents.

Resignations, A.

Cody Butler, Stormwater Committee.

B.

Michael Hall, Airport Authority.

C.

Dominique Moody, Transportation Toll Facility Advisory Committee.

City Manager Item 1, request to accept and appropriate $25,000 received from the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services to the Witness Pro to the Witness Protect Grant requested by the Sheriff.

Two, request for the authority to apply for an urban area security initiative grant from the U.S.

Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency, requested by police.

Three, request for the authority to apply for an urban area security initiative grant from the U.S.

Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency requested by police.

Four, request to accept and appropriate $200,000 received from the Virginia Department of Emergency Management to the FY26 Call Handling Equipment Grant.

Requested by police.

5.

Request to accept and appropriate 195,368 dollars received from the Virginia Department of Emergency Management to the FY26 NG 911 additional funding grant requested by police.

Item 6, request to accept and appropriate $33,235 received from the Virginia Crisis Intervention Team Coalition to the CIBH Crisis Intervention Team Program Support Grant requested by CIBH.

Item 7, a resolution authorizing the City Manager to enter into the fiscal year 2026 and 2027.

Community Services Performance Contract with the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Development Developmental Services requested by CIBH.

Item 8, request to accept and appropriate $6,250 received from the Virginia Tourism Corporation to the VTC Meta Coop Grant and transfer $18,750 in matching funds from the Parks Recreation and Tourism FY 2026 operating budget to the grant.

Requested by Parks Recreation and Tourism.

Item 9, request to accept and appropriate $6,250 received from the Virginia Tourism Corporation to the Google Ads Co-op grant and transfer $18,750 in matching funds from the Parks Recreation and Tourism FY 2026 operating budget to the grant requested by Parks Recreation and Tourism.

Item 10, request to appropriate $250,000 from the fund balance of the Chesapeake Juvenile Services Special Revenue Fund and transfer those funds to the Building Security Technology Upgrades.

Capital Improvement Project to Upgrade Security Equipment requested by Human Services.

Item 11, request to appropriate $122,966 in funds from traffic proffers to the right turn lanes, Deep Creek Area, Capital Improvement Project for New Turnlanes on Military Highway, requested by public works.

City Attorney Item 1, annual submission of delinquent and uncollectible tax lists from the Chesapeake City Treasurer pursuant to City Code Chapter 30, Article 17, Section 30-525 at sec.

Item two, a resolution authorizing the city's participation in the proposed settlement of opioid related claims against Purdue Pharma, LP, and the Sackler family, and directing the city attorney and or the city's outside council to execute the documents necessary to effectuate the city's participation in the settlements.

Item three, a resolution authorizing the city's participation in the proposed settlement of opioid related claims against Albigin, Amnial, Alpatex, Hycma, Idovore, Myland, Sun, and Zidus, and directing the city attorney and or the city's outside council to execute the documents necessary to effectuate the city's participation in the settlements.

That concludes the consent agenda.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Are there any items that council members would like to be removed from the consent agenda for the regular agenda?

Seeing none, could we have a motion, please?

So move for approval.

Thank you, Dr.

King, Ms.

Ritter.

Any discussion?

Please prepare to vote.

Please vote and record.

Madam Clerk.

Motion to approve the consent agenda as presented is adopted by an 8-0 vote.

Next is our regular agenda.

Price, would you please present your items?

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Item 12 is a resolution authorizing the city manager to enter into a memorandum of understanding with Briggs Funeral Home for removal, storage, and limited cremation of deceased individuals during routine and mass casualty events, ensuring proper handling when ward capacity is exceeded, or next of Kent or unavailable, requested by police department.

And this item was continued from the August 12, 2025 City Council meeting.

Thank you.

A motion is in order.

Move to approve.

Thank you, Mr.

Wither.

Second.

Thank you, Mr.

Bunn.

Any discussion seeing none, please prepare to vote.

Please vote.

Madam Clerk, please record.

Motion to approve the resolution as presented is adopted by an 80.

Item 13 is consideration of emergency communications center replacement and upgrades requested by police.

13A is a request to establish new capital improvement project entitled Emergency Communications Center Replacement and Upgrades.

And B is a request to appropriate $1.5 million to the newly established emergency communications center replacement and upgrades capital improvement project.

Motion, please.

Move approval.

Thank you, Mr.

Ritter.

Thank you, Dr.

Ward.

Any discussion?

Please prepare to vote.

Please vote.

And please record.

Motion to approve item A and item B as presented is adopted by an 8-0 vote.

Item 14 is a request to appropriate $360,000 from the high priority one-time account to the fire vehicle replacement to capital improvement project for the purchase of two fire engines and one medic unit requested by fire and fleet.

I would like to call on Councilman News.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

My husband is an employee of the city and a member of its fire department.

I am disclosing this personal interest because City Manager Item 14 could benefit fire department employees.

Has the fire department is a group of three or more people and all of its members could be affected by this transaction?

The City Attorney advises that I can participate if this disclosure is made.

Therefore, while I do not have a conflict barring my participation, I hereby make this disclosure and affirm that I can participate in this transaction fairly objectively in the public's best interest.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Noah.

Move to approve.

Thank you, Mr.

Vaughn, Ms.

Redder.

Any discussion?

Ms.

Ritter?

Thank you.

Unless.

Do you have a question?

If I might to the city manager, and you may have to ask the Chief.

Are we still collecting EMS profers?

Chief Sam is giving me the yes.

Are we able to access those for the medic unit or have we considered doing that?

Because I know they are only for capital expenses.

Mr.

Manager wants the Chief to come.

Good evening.

No, I don't believe that we can use that money to replace existing equipment.

If we were adding additional capacity to the to the fleet, then we would be able we could use it then, but not to replace existing apparatus.

Okay.

I was hoping that would help.

I was concerned that you have had to make some subtractions from what you originally wanted in the trucks.

So if you might check with the attorney's office and see if there's any way that could help you offset some of those costs so you wouldn't have to make those adjustments.

Yes, ma'am.

It's worth the look.

Thank you, Chief.

Any additional discussion?

Please prepare to vote.

Please vote and record.

Madam Clerk.

Motion to approve the request as presented is adopted by an 8-0.

I am sorry.

Item 15 is a resolution authorizing the city manager to execute a First Amendment to lease of Oak Grove Center by and between the City of Chesapeake and the American Legion Great Bridge Post 280 of Virginia Nonstock Nonprofit Corporation to clarify that the Less C will obtain a service agreement rather than a policy against termites.

Allow the C to sublet to individuals and adjust the insurance requirements relating to sublets requested by public works.

Motion, please.

Bill approval.

Thank you, Dr.

Ward.

Second.

Thank you, Mr.

Whitaker.

Any discussion?

Please prepare to vote.

Please vote and record.

Madam Clerk.

Motion to approve the resolution as presented is adopted by an 8-0 vote.

Item 16 is a request for the authority to apply for a Navy Defense Community Infrastructure Program Grant for a water main to the Naval Support Activity Hampton Roads Northwest Annex requested by public utilities.

Motion, please.

Move approval.

Thank you, Mr.

Whitaker.

Second.

Thank you, Dr.

Ward.

Any discussion?

Ms.

Redder.

I just have a couple of questions for the manager.

Because I don't want this to set off alarm bells for people.

So would you explain what we got in the memo, please, about the necessity and why getting this grant could be very important to our support of the Navy's mission.

Yes, ma'am.

So the Navy would like to get out of the utilities business.

They have private water system that they operate.

They have a private sewage system that they operate.

And then they it's been in the news that they monitor wells around there, around their facility to ensure that those wells don't become contaminated.

So they have had long-term goals to be able to extend utilities to that facility.

Water being the most important.

It is a very, very large capital cost.

Um there's actually only the the this particular grant program nationwide only has about 100 million dollars, and Chesapeake is going to be getting 12 million of that nationwide allocation.

I do want to say thank you, if I could, to Congresswoman Kiggins and Congressman Scott and our entire Federal delegation.

They really have been there for us.

And in fact, um we have been informed that the support from our members of Congress and from uh um top Navy officials was really key to be able to access this this funding.

Um it's not enough to do the entire project.

However, um we will establish a service agreement with the Navy to cover um any additional cost over and above the grant so that they will pay um the city back through the course of their utility bills.

And this is a health and safety issue for the Navy, is it not?

Yes, ma'am.

And is it similar to the Fentrus waterline extension?

Very similar to the Fentress waterline extension.

And they contributed six or seven million dollars to that.

Yes, ma'am.

Okay.

Just want to make sure people understand that this is a health issue for the um Navy installations.

Thank you.

I would like to just take a moment to ditto your comments in terms of our delegation.

It's so good to see uh delegates or representatives from both parties coming together for the betterment of our cities and our region.

So it really is people should know that uh that that does happen, and this is one of those cases where it is happening.

So we certainly do appreciate them and appreciate the efforts that you and your team has made to make this happen.

Please prepare to vote.

Please vote and record.

Motion to approve the request as presented is adopted by an 8-0 vote.

Thanks.

And Mr.

Mayor, if I could, I'm sorry to interrupt.

I would also like to say thank you to Captain Guys.

I think you all know this, but he was really instrumental in working this thing for years with everybody to try to make that happen.

So thank you a lot.

Yes, sir.

Thank you for mentioning that.

Sorry, I didn't.

Next is citizens' comments on services policies and affairs of the city.

Madam Clark, do we have any speakers?

Yes, sir.

We have three speakers.

Each will get three minutes to make their comments.

The first speaker is Vic Nichols speaking on affairs of the city, followed by Carolyn White.

Several items tonight.

Um, did y'all get the rec center memberships issue resolved so that everyone kind of knows what the status is of that and where it's going?

Um I also wanted to um bring up an example.

We had an article about a week ago that said Medicaid hadn't improved U.S.

health care, and it gave several reasons why.

We fund our own health care.

Has there been any checks into that to make sure that that health care is effective because we do pay for a portion of it?

That would definitely be helpful.

On the work session, it was indicated that Chesapeake did a local match.

Who else, what other cities also did a local match?

Because I'm wondering, you know, again, that's taxpayer money that isn't going towards infrastructure.

Yes, it's going to buses and things like that.

But for people like myself who have put in thousands of dollars a year and can't even get a water meter ever spend more than 20 years now.

Um, you know, I want to know what I get out of it too.

Because obviously, some of us that do pay into the system, we would like to have some things also.

You know, we understand that yes, there's going to be a lot of things there, but we would like to have some small things, and I I don't think this is asking that much.

So that's where I want to know, you know, hey, what do everybody get out of what they're getting for what they're putting in?

Another article that came out recently was it discussed in another um another state how much lawsuits, the cost of lawsuits have on the bottom line.

Um without looking at any of the the lawsuits or anything, but settlements and the like.

Is there anything that we are taking and learning from that?

So, in another words, uh I'll just give an example.

Um city saw a $500 million increase in lawsuit payouts.

Now, obviously, we're not going to have that.

Now, obviously, we're not going to have that, but if you get four or five million, eight, nine million, that's a hefty chunk of change.

So things like that, are we taking a look at that?

And next, my favorite bug boo, the traffic in Greenbrier.

Number one issue, but yet it has never been discussed.

It really doesn't get a lot of look.

But that's consistently the same issue time and again.

Now, some of it is people.

I'll tell you right now, if I can finish my sentence, I count literally 1001, 1002, and sit on my horn.

If you're in the left turn lane on Volvo going on to Greenbrier, because people are doing this with the cell phones.

That's what they do.

So if y'all can take a look at other places, that would be helpful.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Next speaker, please.

Mayor West, I'd like to correct what I said.

We have seven speakers, and they will get three minutes each.

Carolyn White is next, speaking on boundary lines, followed by Andrea Bolden.

Good evening.

I'm Carolyn White from the Suffolk side of Pewdesville, Virginia.

How's everybody?

Sorry to hear about your loss.

I used to look at him, he was a good man.

He was a stern man.

But first of all, I want to thank you, Councilwoman Ritter, because when the Suffolk now city manager came and he introduced the boundary line proposition to you all.

Everybody voted for it in favor.

But you spoke up.

You said 12 properties.

Do you know where these properties are?

Do you know what they're all about?

And Councilman, I mean, well, city manager now, Hughes, didn't have the slightest idea.

So tonight, I just want to say to you all you all voted on this thing with no knowledge.

So I'm gonna give you a little bit of knowledge.

I love giving out knowledge.

Happy birthday coming up, Chris.

Okay.

First of all, the 12 properties, half of them belong to one of the members that we have been discussing it with, talking with.

He sent an email to the lawyers, not you, lawyer, but the other one, both the lawyers on councils, telling them that he was not gonna pay the same amount to both cities.

And he asked them to get it.

Please come and let's reason together.

No response.

Now the city has bought this mess to you all saying that they need 12 wooded areas of land.

Don't have anything to do with boundary lines.

It was just all made up stuff just to get you all to side with it.

So I'm asking tonight again, pay attention.

I was at the open house or townhouse meeting on last night, and I saw the map that they had.

Well, now the map has changed again.

Nobody mentioned the 12 properties.

So we're wise enough to see and to look and to hear and see things going on.

Pay attention because Suffolk has been doing this gerrymanding.

Chris said he ain't seen that.

But anyway, when Miss Pinkerman came back, May 13th meeting and said she needed an emergency again for 54 Pewsville district.

That means something was wrong, and she had to do it over again from 21-22.

So pay attention, okay?

Thank you.

Andrea Bolden, appointment for vice mayor, followed by Elizabeth Goodwin.

There we go.

Okay, thank you.

Okay, good evening, Mayor, members of council.

My name is Andrea Bolden, and I am a member and a resident.

My name is Andrea Bolden, and I am a member and a resident I am a resident of Chesapeake.

We come together this evening under difficult circumstances after having lost our dearly beloved vice mayor.

In moments like these, we must choose leaders who provide stability, experience, and integrity.

That is why I urge you to select councilwoman Dr.

Ella P.

Ward as our next vice mayor.

For 19 years, she has dedicated herself to this council and to the people it serves.

She has been here through times of progress and challenges, helping to shape policies that have strengthened our neighborhoods and supported our families.

Her knowledge, steady hand, and proven record make her the clear choice for this moment, representing not for recognition, but for the greater good.

Allow me to share a few accolades with you that you already know, but our general public may not know.

Chesapeake Councilwoman, Dr.

Ella P.

Ward, has been a Portsmouth Public School teacher and administrator.

She was a member of the Chesapeake School Board.

She was vice president for five of her eight years on the Virginia Board of Education.

And she has also served on the board of visitors at Christopher Newport.

She was first elected to the city council in 2006 and successfully has been re-elected to this present day.

She has experience as a chair of the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission and has 16 years of experience on the Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization.

She helped in voting to bring over 20 billion dollars to Hampton Roads.

She served as the board chair of the Cornland School Foundation, Incorporated, to restore a one room school that was the only school for African American students and Norford County in 1902 until 1953.

Councilwoman Wood Ward has helped to raise over a hundred thousand dollars thus far.

She was very instrumental in helping to secure nine million dollars to complete the historical village at the dismal swamp, which includes the Cornland School.

Thank you, Ms.

Boder.

Could you conclude your comments?

Your time is up.

Thank you.

Okay.

Thank you.

If you have a last comment, feel free.

Okay.

Well, I by selecting Councilwoman Ward, we send a clear message to our citizens.

Experience matters, dedication matters, and those who have given their lives to public service will be entrusted with the opportunity to lead.

Thank you for the case.

Thank you, ma'am.

Thank you.

Appreciate you.

I know how to cut it off.

Elizabeth Goodwins.

Providing updates on the museum, followed by Pamela Brandy.

Good evening, Mayor, members of council and city manager.

My name is Elizabeth Goodwin, and I serve as the executive director of the Great Bridge Battlefield and Waterways History Foundation.

In July, we expanded our museum operating hours to six days a week to provide better access to both tourists and the community.

And in July, we hosted a traveling exhibit titled Give Me Liberty, Virginia and the Forging of a Nation.

This was on loan from the Virginia Museum of History and Culture in Richmond, and it brought significantly increased attendance to the museum.

This month, we kicked off the fifth season of our History Speaks Lecture Series with an engaging lecture by nationally recognized author and journalist Andrew Lawler.

Lawler discussed his recent book, A Perfect Frenzy, A Royal Governor, His Black Allies, and the Crisis that spurred the American Revolution.

This event was well attended, and I'd like to thank Councilmember Ritter and Bunn for your support.

Also, this month, we are hosting the South Side Artists Association with their, I believe, sixth annual uh Great Bridge Past and Present Art Exhibit.

That actually went up today and it runs through September the 21st.

This Saturday, we will have our Constitution Family Fund Day complete with an encampment outside by the Youth Virginia Regiment.

And Saturday night, we are teaming up with the Chesapeake Public Library Foundation to host an evening with Lafayette.

As many of you know, it was 200 years ago this month that he left for uh France.

And this will feature Colonial Williamsburg's Mark Snyder as General Lafayette and a quartet from the Tidewater winds.

So we're having a lot of partnerships with community organizations.

And in September on the 27th, we turned the museum into a tavern for our third annual tavern night at the museum, complete with our tavern keeper and our town crier for a fun evening in 18th century style.

So tickets are still available for that on our website.

In October, we host our candlelight ghost tour, which is a very popular event, sells out every year.

And in November, we are hosting our second lecture, Michael Sacer, who is an author and educator.

He's written about 20 books, and he will lecture on Dunmore's Southern campaign with an emphasis on Virginia.

And then December brings the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Great Bridge.

We are partnering participating with the Chesapeake 250 Commission, which is planning the Battle of Great Bridge reenactment on December 6th and 7th.

We're working with the daughters and the sons of the American Revolution on their commemoration on December the 6th.

And we're also partnering with the Chesapeake Public Library for Library Day on December 7th.

And on December 9th, we have a lot of full day of activities, including a battle walk in the morning, uh battlefield tour, and several lectures that day.

So I have some brochures if it's okay with Miss Madison.

I can put them out at the table.

You can put them up, she'll hand them out if you can take them to her.

Thank you so much.

We really appreciate you coming and updating us.

Lots are happening.

I'm hoping that 250th event or December program will be a huge turnout when get our citizens out.

It's always a great event every year, but this is going to be even more special, especially with all the work that they're doing at the state level as well.

So thank you for all you're doing.

We appreciate you.

Next speaker, please.

Pamela Brandi, Pewsville Concerns, followed by Tommy Hart.

Hello everyone.

You all have worked together on many projects and matters of concerns of the residents.

But you, City Chesapeake, have decided to back Suffolk in a wrong that they are doing to God's people in Pewsville.

My concern is that you all and Mayor, you said that for Chesapeake is something in the people.

Well, you're right.

It's a lot in the people.

And people in Pewsville and other black communities have did a lot for the city.

We just heard what has been done by uh Councilman Ella Ward.

However, uh, you all joined together, the boundary line in the meeting, the open house last night.

The maps again, we continue to tell you that we like to be able to see it without a magnifying glass.

We have concerns come down with that.

You all, as well as Dominion Power, have taken money from Chesapeake resident and given over to Suffolk.

And I've said and I say again that we want returned back to us what is due us because you all allow City of Suffolk to take our money, and now all of a sudden, since November 1822 to this month, uh finally on my bill, and I'm not saying that's every resident, but on my bill, it changed back to the city of Chesapeake.

However, I was on two of your boys in commission for you all, but I guess that didn't matter because you gave me over to the city of Suffolk.

However, I've asked for all of our money back plus interest.

For the word says that when a thief is caught, he has to return it to these seven foes of his household substance.

And for the interest point, there's a hundredfold because the word also says pay to all what is owned, owed to them, taxes and to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to who is uh honor owed.

The other concerns that we have is what Pink Miss Pinkerman did was our voting district.

It was never about the boundary line, it was about our votes.

Also, we've been talking to you all about gutters, drainage, and sidewalks.

You all said how much money that you've been had for Pewsville, but yet you have never put it in Pewesville because you also said you were going to pave the streets in Pewsville when you did Pewsville Road, has not been done.

We have also continued to talk about all the accidents and all that goes on Pewsville Road, and we have asked for uh a red light for week stop signs and all, and we continue to have accidents, but you all have not seen anything about that.

And the last thing that I would say, the disabled people.

We struggle to come here.

You took away our deaths and all, and you gave it over there, but you care about the people because it's something in the people.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Brandon.

Next speaker, please.

Tommy Hart, speaking on public safety, followed by Dr.

Janelle St.

Louis.

Mayor Will.

Members of Dellson.

Yes.

Is that what it?

Okay.

My name's Tommy Hart.

I live in 1900, St.

Bride's Road, Chesapeake.

I'm not coming here tonight.

Bad mouth in the Chesapeake Police Department itself.

Chesapeake Police Department has very fine, honest police officers.

A majority.

There's some that I have questioned about.

But what I'm here tonight, I've been lecturing y'all now for a year, two years about the murder on the canal bank.

That's not the only murder.

But that's the one that I know the most about, but I know about more of them.

And I'm gonna be right plain with you.

George Pappers was a police officer on the city of Chesapeake.

He came over from South Norfolk.

He was a career criminal hiding behind a badge.

I've been told by a supervisor and a person on the Chesapeake Police Department that knows more about him, his criminal activity than myself, that he was involved in at least 10 murders.

I know of five.

I don't know whether mine and his crossover or not, whether it's 15, 14, 13 or what.

But I can't understand why what he had on the chiefs of police.

Wilverse was the first chief of police.

I went to him when I found out that George Pappers was robbing these businesses.

I had an eyewitness, and I was told, keep your mouth shut or else.

He continued on, and then every time I was he brought up uh from everything that I picked this up from the police officer now.

He broke into Chesapeake Pizza twice, Rabbi Jamaico twice, Rabbi Jack Exxon once, Chesapeake equipment once, one Chesapeake equipment is the one that I had eye witness, and they wouldn't let me prosecute him on it.

Say there's police officers that were on when I was on, and they're on now, probably.

There's nowhere for them to go when they've got something like this, and you go up to the chief of police and he tells you to keep your mouth shut.

You've got nowhere to go.

You need a commission to oversee the police department to where when something like this happens, something can be done about it.

I lived seven years of hell on the Chesapeake Police Department.

I was fired three times, suspended twice, and every time it was lies, it was told on me.

And some of the lies were from high ups, I'm gonna tell you.

But I'm gonna I'm gonna just I'm gonna bring each murder up.

I'm gonna keep on on till y'all get something done to where you've got to somewhere to go to when you've got something this important.

I went to FBI with state police, I went to everybody.

Nobody would do anything to George Pappas.

Mr.

Hart, Mr.

Pappers has passed away, you know that, right?

He's passed away, but there's other people passed away, about 12 or 14 of them that he made passed away.

Yes, sir.

And people need closure.

Thank you, sir.

Your time is up.

Have a good day.

Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Dr.

Janelle St.

Louis, uh, nomination of Dr.

Ella Ward as Vice Mayor.

Good evening.

Mr.

Mayor, members of City Council, and esteemed residents of Chesapeake.

My name is Dr.

Janelle St.

Louis, and I come to you under difficult times after the sudden loss of Vice Mayor, Dr.

Dietrich.

My condolences for your loss.

It is my esteemed pleasure to be before you today.

I rise today to express my wholehearted support for Councilwoman Dr.

Ella Ward.

In her candidacy for Vice Mayor, Dr.

Ward was dedicated, was dedicated nearly two decades of public service to our city.

First elected to Chesapeake City Council in May 2006, she has been continually re-elected in 2010, 2014, 2018, and most recently in 2022.

A testament to her enduring leadership and the trust she has earned from our community.

Her public service is grounded in a remarkable 35-year career as a public school teacher and administrator in Chesapeake.

As an English teacher and journalism teacher, her students won local and state competitions for 12 consecutive years.

Many of today's Chesapeake teachers, administrators, and even elected officials were once her students, who for her lasting influence on generations of leaders.

Beyond her role in education and city government, Dr.

Ward is a pillar of community involvement.

She has served on the board of visitors at Christopher Newport University and is actively engaged in organizations such as the Women's Division of Hands and Roads, Chamber of Commerce, Chesapeake, the Chesapeake Rotary Club, the Chesapeake Sports Club, the Women's Club of South Norfolk, the Cornland School Foundation, the National Council of Negro Women, the Chesapeake NAACP, the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated, among others.

She has also held significant leadership roles locally.

Dr.

Ward served two terms on the Chesapeake School Board from 2000 to 2006, where she was a strong advocate for students, parents, and educators.

Today she represents our city on the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission and the Transportation Planning Organization, giving Chesapeake a strong voice in matters that affect our region.

From the classroom to City Hall, Dr.

Ward has consistently been a champion for meaningful inclusive progress.

Her leadership, dedication, and vision have strengthened our city in education, infrastructure, equity, and civic life.

Chesapeake is stronger today because of Dr.

Ward's wisdom, service, and heart for this community.

She has been a teacher, a mentor, a leader, and above all a servant of the people.

And I know she will continue to lead Chesapeake with excellence.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

That concludes the speaker's mayor west.

Thank you.

Thank you all for being out here and expressing your concerns.

We certainly appreciate having you here tonight.

Next is uh unfinished business.

Do we have any items?

Excuse me.

I apologize.

Yeah, we do.

I did skip this.

We do have a one appointment or one area for economic development.

We have two appointments.

I'd like to call on uh Ms.

Ritter at this time.

Thank you.

Um would put forward the names of Greg Krewer and Roberto Ortiz for the Economic Development Authority and ask for continuance on the third appointment until the end of December, given that we're engaged in some important negotiations and the economic development department has requested Mr.

Cosgrove continue his service.

Thank you, Ms.

Ritter.

Do we have a second, please?

Second.

Absolutely.

Dr.

Ward, that's all the name came up first.

Dr.

Ward, thank you for that second.

Any discussion?

Please prepare to vote.

Please vote and record.

The motion is to appoint Greg Coor and Roberto Ortiz to the Economic Development Authority and continue the third.

Thank you.

Next is uh unfinished business.

Do we have any items council members would like to bring at this time?

See none is next is new business.

Madam Clerk, would you please present new business item A?

An initiating resolution requesting the Chesapeake Planning Commission to consider and make recommendations concerning proposed amendments to the 2035 Chesapeake Comprehensive Plan to amend the text correlating maps and technical document as necessary to repeal the Chesapeake 2035 Comprehensive Plan, including all studies, maps, and plans incorporated therein and adopt the Chesapeake 2045 Comprehensive Plan with all attachments, maps, and appendices included therewith.

Requested by planning.

Thank you.

A motion, please.

Thank you, Mr.

Bond.

Mr.

Smith, thank you very much.

Any discussion.

See none, please prepare to vote.

Please vote.

And Madam Clerk record.

Motion to approve the initiating resolution as presented is adopted by 80 vote.

Are there any additional new business items?

Mr.

Witter.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

I guess this goes to the city manager.

A couple weeks ago, I took the opportunity to go to South Norfolk revitalization and sit in with one of their meetings.

Upon leaving, there was some uh flood borders in the street coming from the stormwater drain.

Uh if you would, I would appreciate it if there's if you could look into it and come back to council to make recommendations of what we can do to alleviate this in the Port Lock area.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Any additional uh new business items?

Mr.

Smith.

Yes, Mr.

Mayor.

If it's appropriate at this time, I would like to nominate the sir.

It's not.

It's not appropriate.

It will take care of it in just a moment.

That's the next thing.

Thank you, though.

Any other new business items.

Before we get to that, let me just I do have a initiating resolution I'd like to read.

It has come to my attention that the billboard industry has been working with the staff to address some of the site citing challenges with the involuntary removal of billboards.

So I'd like to request initiating resolution be prepared directing the staff in the planning commission to make recommendations on amendments that will allow City City Council to approve modifications to setbacks and other design requirements as part of the conditional use permit approval.

I do not believe that requires a vote unless there's any objection to that.

Thank you.

In keeping with council's uh policies and procedures regarding filling vacancies, each council member was asked if they would like to submit nominations for candidates to fill the vacancy.

And we have two candidates that are publicly announced it at this time.

Uh first of all, nominated by councilmember Bond is Jeff Jeffries.

Uh nominated by Councilmember Smith is Dwight Parker.

These two individuals will be invited to uh participate in a closed session interview next Tuesday at four o'clock, and which time council will consider them for uh filling that vacancies.

Any questions on this matter?

Thank you very much.

Next is uh closed meeting, Madam Attorney.

Would you please provide the language?

A motion to conduct a closed meeting for one discussion and consideration of prospective candidates for appointment specifically regarding the position of vice mayor, and two uh two prospective new businesses where no previous announcement has been made of the business's interest in locating in the city for the purpose of discussing potential economic development opportunities as permitted by section two point two-thirty seven eleven A1 and five of the code of Virginia.

Thank you.

A motion, please.

Second.

And before I do have another announcement before we, I mean after the vote, so we won't go directly into closed session, but please prepare to vote.

Mr.

Mayor, may ask a question.

Sure.

Does it matter which order we go in?

For example, can we do the economic development item first?

Okay.

Thank you.

Please prepare to vote.

Please vote and record.

Motion to conduct a closed meeting is adopted by an 8-0 vote.

I did uh forget to uh also include in the uh announcing Mr.

Jeffries and Mr.

Parker, both uh candidates' bios will be put on our uh website tomorrow, I believe.

Um if citizens want to comment, then I think there will be opportunities uh to comment on that on those uh bios.

Okay.

Council will now go into closed session.

It is 840.

740.

It will be you've already moved the plots.

Yeah, yeah.

So we lost it.

Well, I think that's a good thing.

We're ready.

Would you please provide the language for the certification of the closed meeting?

Yes, I'm apologized.

Just for the case.

Okay.

A motion to conduct a close and or actually first I'm gonna read the certification.

My apologies.

A motion is certified that to the best of each member's knowledge, only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements by Virginia law were discussed.

And only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard, discussed or considered.

Second, please.

Second.

No, we gotta vote again.

We do.

May I read the motion for the closed meeting?

Yes, we do.

I apologize.

No problem.

A motion to conduct a closed meeting on September sixteenth, twenty twenty-five at four PM in City Hall.

And uh Lord, give us clarity when we come back.

And it's in yours on Christ Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Real Virginia is proudly produced by the Virginia Farm Bureau.

For nearly a century, Farm Bureau has been a friend of the farm for all Virginians.

Visit our website at VAFB.com.

Hello, everyone, and welcome to Real Virginia, a show about Virginia agriculture and the people who produce the wonderful local products we enjoy, brought to you by the Virginia Farm Bureau.

Here's what's coming up on this week's show.

Virginia's top export crop gets smarter.

Black garlic boasts bold flavors.

And first generation farmers are building new legacies in this week's county close-up.

Researchers at Virginia Tech are studying soybeans for new ways to make growing them more profitable for farmers while still providing a great source of nutrition for consumers everywhere.

We're growing soybeans for animal feed primarily, but we're also growing beans for industrial uses.

Potassium is one of the macronutrients needed for salabine production and salabine house, so it's highly important for water regulation.

So when we have drought stress or disease stress, having enough potassium and all of their nutrients is going to help your salabine crop really thrive in those conditions, and it's going to give it that that boost.

Dr.

Ortell says one of her team's goals is to improve their ability to diagnose potassium deficiencies during the growing season so that farmers can apply a potassium fertilizer before the growing season comes to an end.

An increasingly popular way to apply that fertilizer is with drones.

Alien sprayed drone technology is uh getting a lot of momentum, and uh growers have a lot of interest in um knowing more about these uh technologies and how they can get training and how they can use uh especially the rookrop growers like who are growing soybean, corn, and cotton.

Singh recently presented drone applications for farmers at the Tidewater era and gave a demonstration of a targeted spray in a crop field.

Drones have been used in agriculture for decades.

Recent years have seen striking improvements in battery life, making them a practical tool for many soybean farmers.

We have hybrid drones.

Hybrid drones means we we can use it on the gasoline plus battery.

So they can run for hours and hours.

Even with the battery-operated drone, and if you think like these are limited, uh in terms of the power and the in terms of covering the whole acreage is we can use these drones to spray 30 acres in one hour.

Weeds are a common enemy to soybean farmers.

Dr.

Singh's students are using photography and artificial intelligence technology to take on the age-old problem of weeds.

My students, they built an app where you can upload the imagery and they can uh the system can identify those weeds.

Compared with traditional farm equipment, Dr.

Singh says drones have been shown to do a better job in taking out weeds that are mature.

Not only are the results better, but drones use less of the herbicides that treat weeds with greater precision than traditional methods, allowing for targeted spraying only where needed and reducing costs for farmers.

At the very late stage, or when the weeds are one feet tall or 1.5 feet tall, normally we see uh less than 80% control with the tractor sprayers.

Um, with drones, they are still providing us a great control.

The latest research into growing the best soybeans was on display at this year's Virginia Ag Expo at Brook Farms in Orange County.

Soybeans are only one of the many crops grown on the land.

The annual event is partly run by the Virginia Soybean Association.

This year's soybean crop is looking good to many farmers, and they're looking forward to harvest in the months ahead.

Soybean farmers in Virginia, you know, they are they are doing an excellent job.

They are growing a great crop so far across the state this year.

We've got a really good crop growing, we've had good weather conditions.

My hope is that they are able to take some of the information and data from these trials and take that back to their farm to make the best educated decisions about planting dates, about variety selection, nutrient management, those types of decisions that they're faced with every day.

Give them some unbiased data to help them with those decision making processes.

In Suffolk, Virginia, I'm Burke Moller for Real Virginia.

Soybeans are lagoons and grow inside a pot.

When the plant turns brown and the leaves drop off, it's time to harvest.

Soybeans are also helpful for crop rotation because they deposit nitrogen, which can be useful when planting other crops.

Soybeans are taken from the farm in hopper trucks, which can carry 1,000 bushels, weighing 60,000 pounds.

Many of these trucks arrive at Virginia ports to be shipped to countries across the globe.

I'm Ed Olsen with From the Ground Up.

Today we're going to be talking about red hibiscus, also known as sorrel or roselle.

Stay with us.

Red hibiscus, sorrel, roselle.

It goes by many names, but this vibrant plant is more than just a pretty bloom.

It's a staple in teas and traditional dishes around the world.

Ed Olsen with Virginia Cooperative Extension helps us sort out the science and stories behind this garden favorite from the ground up.

We're here today with John Bryant at Old Tavern Farm in Quinton, Virginia.

And we're talking about an emerging crop that homeowners can grow themselves.

It's called either red hibiscus, sorrel, or roselle.

John, can talk to us about what we've got going on here behind us.

This uh beautiful looking green plant right now.

Okay.

This is what, and as Ed said, uh is most commonly referred to around here in the United States as Roselle or even hibiscus.

However, most of the world calls it sorrel.

So I may refer to it more as that uh as I've come to know it.

But we've been growing sorrel now for uh seven or eight years.

It is a long season crop.

We typically plant it in the greenhouse from seed starting in early March with the goal of transplanting it out to the field sometime in mid-April.

And that might be a little bit early for it, but what we found because it is daylight dependent and needs a certain number of uh daylight hours to form its buds and calyxes, which is what we use to make uh hibiscus tea from, is the earlier we can get it out, the more success we're likely going to have for it.

It's a wonderful and a unique crop, and as I said, it's most commonly known for these deep red burgundy calyxes that are used to make the tea.

However, as I've been growing it and I've met more people from South America and the Caribbean and West Africa, India, nations that are much more familiar with this and use it regularly as a staple in their culinary diet.

Uh there's many uses for it, and one are the leaves.

Uh, there was a woman and her daughter at the farm just a couple weeks ago, and they were from Trinidad, and they told me some things I didn't know about the leaves, which is that it's excellent to dry them and then use that for a tea, and she was saying it's known in their area to be a very medicinal uses and excellent for your kidneys.

Um, we every year we sell a decent amount of the leaves to some of our restaurant customers, and they use it uh as seasoning in some of their fish dishes.

Uh we also have found that a good number of the bar managers will buy it because it's got such a distinct floral lemony citrus flavor to the leaves and the calyx uh that they really uh can do different infusions and craft some beautiful cocktails with it.

So when you say um that they make teas out of hibiscus teas, this is what they're using when they're making hibiscus teas, then not a traditional what we think of as a big hibiscus tropical flower.

Correct.

That was something that I learned early on, uh, and is kind of a misnomer, is some misinformation.

Uh if we've been to the Caribbean, we see those beautiful hibiscus flowers, they're absolutely gorgeous.

But what I have come to learn is that the hibiscus flower that we think of has nothing to do with hibiscus tea.

Uh, it's actually the calyx, and there's very small buds just starting to form on these plants now.

And once they flower, those petals will drop, and then it will form the distinctive deep red calyx that then is dried or used fresh to make hibiscus tea.

Um, I'll have to ask the next time I run into one of my customers uh from one of the countries that's more familiar with it if they also call it hibiscus tea or something different.

It's a unique plant, it does very well.

It is relatively low maintenance.

We don't really have much insect problem with it, a little bit of Japanese beetle issue, but what we've also found is it is so prolific and grows so well in our hot summer that it can withstand some insect pressure.

We don't really get concerned.

Um, as you can see behind it is okra, and you can even see some leaf damage from insects on the okra, and it's the same, both are in the same family, the mallow plant family, but it's a wonderful crop to experiment with.

Uh, it is very unique.

Uh many people are not familiar with it.

Many of us that are tea drinkers are familiar with hibiscus tea, but the actual sorrel plant or roselle plant, whatever you want to call it, is a neat thing, and it's also a beautiful plant with these gorgeous red stalks.

Uh so in addition to your garden, you know, it's gonna beautify your landscape as well.

And so you're probably not gonna find this walking into any local garden center or nursery.

So we're probably gonna have to order, like you said, you start it from seed, um, but they could also probably order some cuttings offline, also, probably.

Correct.

Yeah, that we typically uh have got a couple seed companies, one local, where we can find a couple different varieties of the seed for it, and we start it that way.

Um, but then there's probably uh some local uh garden centers or or farm stores uh as well as online where you could order transplants, and I would probably recommend if you can't start your seed early uh in the late winter to get a head start on it, is to try and find a transplant.

Well, thank you so much, John, for talking to us today about Red Roselle.

For more information about red roselle tea, follow this link to a recipe for um University of Florida extension.

For more information about growing Roselle in your garden, talk to a master gardener for from the ground up.

I'm at Olson.

See you next time.

Hi, I'm Chef Tammy Brawley from the Green Kitchen.

Coming up on Heart of the Home, a black garlic popper deli.

We hope you'll stay with us.

With a sweet and tangy twist, black garlic popper deli is perfect for your next dinner get together.

Chef Tammy shows us how easy it is to make from the heart of the home.

Hi, I'm Chef Tammy Brawley from the Green Kitchen, and welcome to Heart of the Home.

Today I'm gonna show you guys a rather unique ingredient to work with.

Um, it's one of my favorites, um, and it is black garlic, believe it or not, and this is what it looks like.

Um, not only are we going to cook with it, but I'm gonna show you how to actually make it homemade if you'd like.

Um, first of all, when once it's done, quote unquote fermenting, um, it does turn black in the colors that I've already shown you.

But you want to start with a fresh head of garlic um or a bulb as they call it, and you want to start with foil, and you want to wrap that up.

Then you want to double wrap it with plastic wrap.

I know that kind of sounds a little counterintuitive, but this is what works.

In the past, when I've tried this recipe, I didn't do the plastic part and the garlic ended up firming up, and I ended up drying it and having to grate it for garlic powder.

Definitely I used it, it was great.

But what I'm looking for is a nice, soft, nutty texture here.

And the way you do this homemade is you actually use a bit of a rice cooker, something that can be at a very low temperature.

Your nicer, fancier rice cookers might not go to the temperature you need, but if you can find a less expensive one, like this one, I actually got at a thrift store.

It needs to be about 140 degrees.

Once you've wrapped your garlic in uh foil and plastic, you put it in the uh rice cooker, and then you actually want to wrap the top of the rice cooker in foil as well.

There is a top there, and then you just want to turn it on warm, and it should be about 140 degrees, um, and you want to plug it in.

Now here's the kicker.

It needs to be for a on for about two weeks.

Some people don't feel very comfortable with leaving appliances on that long, and I totally understand it.

And just to let you know, you can buy black garlic in some of the stores.

Um, so you don't have to do this on your own, but if you wanted to try it, this is a great way to learn.

I actually put mine in a storage building that has electricity.

I leave it on that very low temperature for two weeks, and it comes out perfect.

Some people put these in their garages and things like that, basements even.

Um, but you do want to be prepared that whatever area you do leave it in, you're going to smell garlic, which might not necessarily be a bad thing.

But today we're actually going to cook with the garlic, and I'm so excited.

Um simple recipe, very easy to do.

We're going to be tossing a sauce with some popper deli that we've already got cooked over to the side.

I'm going to turn the heat off just a little bit.

You want to start out with some shallots.

Get those into your pan.

I've probably got my heat on a little high, so I have turned it down.

You don't want them to get crispy, but you do want them to be somewhat soft.

Gonna move those around.

They're gonna become translucent um very quickly.

Nice little thinly sliced shallots.

I'm gonna turn it down just a little bit more.

Now the garlic, when you work with it, um, when you pull it out of the cloves or out of the skins, it is it looks exactly like this.

It's gonna be nice and brown once we pull it out of the foil and the plastic, and you pull those skins off.

What you want to be aware of is this is going to be sticky, um, which it should be, and you should get quite a bit out of one head of garlic.

This particular recipe calls for a half a cup of cloves, which turns out to be about two heads.

So depending on how often you cook with the black garlic, you might want to put several bowls in your rice cooker.

So we've got a little half a cup here.

Your recipe is gonna tell you to chop it.

It's a little hard to chop because it is so soft.

I tend to more mash it when it gets into the pan, but we'll do a little bit of a rough chop.

You can see it's sticking to my knife blade, so you can imagine how sticky it is.

What's fantastic about this flavor is that it's sweet.

It really just the garlic just sweetens right up once it's fermented.

All right, we're gonna come back to our pan and add it to the shallots that have sauteed down.

No, I did not chop that very long as you saw, but we're going to cook it down a little bit with a spatula.

You can even get into that pan with um a potato masher if you'd like, makes it a little easier.

Move this wine out of the way.

And I actually don't mind leaving it in the larger chunks.

Um, I feel like they offer just a lovely pounce of flavor there.

Oh my gosh, it smells so good.

I'm gonna turn the heat back up because we're getting ready to add some wine.

You know, and the rule of thumb is do not cook with any wine that you're afraid to drink.

I have a nice little Pinot Grigio waiting for me over here.

All right, now um, rule of thumb here if you have a gas range, um, you really never want to add alcohol to the edge of the pan.

If you do, you're gonna have a nice little show.

Um, it gets kind of scary.

You want to always add alcohol to the center of a pan so you don't have the flame.

There we go.

Gonna let that kind of come up to temp a little bit, and then we're gonna add in some butter and a little salt, and then we're gonna add some paperdelli pasta that's already been cooked.

Wow.

Gosh, I wish you guys could smell this.

All right, let's add in that butter.

Swirl that around.

That finishes off our sauce.

Turn the heat back up just a bit because I want that alcohol to cook off just a hair, not much.

Anytime you finish a sauce with butter, it just really adds so much flavor.

So I'm gonna hit this now with a little bit of salt and pepper.

Wine is cooking nicely there.

All right.

I'm gonna step over here and grab my pasta.

We're using a papa deli, um, tagliatelle, they're kind of the same.

It's a wide noodle.

You could get away with egg noodles if you wanted.

Um, certainly uh any pasta will do.

Um I really love doing it with the water noodle.

So we're gonna add the pasta to the pan.

We've cooked about a pound of pasta.

I personally like a lot of sauce, so I'm not going to add the entire pound to the sauce.

Gonna do that nice and mixed in.

All right, now I'm gonna move this to a serving dish, and we're done.

And then if you so desire, you can hit that with a little bit of chopped parsley, give a little bit of a green color.

Nice little vibrant color.

And there you have it.

Black garlic paperdelly.

I'm Chef Tammy Brawley from the Green Kitchen.

Join us next time on Heart of the Home.

Garlic is a staple in kitchens around the world and is featured in a wide variety of cuisines.

As a member of the onion family, it's a vegetable that requires a bit of patience to grow.

Garlic takes about nine months to fully mature, making fall the perfect time to plant your cloves.

Mulching heavily helps insulate the soil during the winter.

And after just a couple of months, the little cloves begin the transformation into full bulbs.

By summer, you'll be harvesting your very own Virginia grown garlic.

The birthplace of America's first commercial peanut crop, Sussex County is bursting with cotton bowls and peanut pods, and is growing a new generation of farmers.

Located in Southeastern Virginia, Sussex County is known for its deep agricultural roots and delicious comfort food.

Behind me is the Virginia Diner, which has been serving up Southern Cooking for almost a century.

Join us as we meet the farmers behind this county's key crops cotton, tobacco, peanuts, and soybeans, and see how agriculture is woven into the fabric of this community.

Agriculture here is a way of life for a lot of folks, and it's really ingrained in the culture.

We grow anything from corn, soybeans, cotton, peanuts, wheat, tobacco, and there is some vegetable production here as well.

So it's pretty diverse.

Sussex County Agriculture Extension agent Elizabeth Cooper works with farmers to strengthen their operations and connect them with current research.

When we visited, she was helping soybean producer Jamie Coral look for pest in his crop.

My wife, my son and myself, we raised 500 acres of soybeans.

And I'm a first generation farmer.

My dad was not a farmer.

And farming is something that I always wanted to do.

And so I raised my first crop when I was 16 years old.

And uh hadn't been easy, but it's we're still at it.

Coral's two children are following in his footsteps.

My daughter Jessica, she is 25, and she is now a farm loan officer for USDA.

I'm proud that she is in the agriculture field as well.

My son Justin, he is 18.

He just graduated from high school, and he has always wanted to farm as well.

Coral says that although low soybean prices and wet weather have made this growing season challenging, he remains resilient.

You know, some people they're gonna look at it in a negative way.

Then there are other people that are going to look at it in a positive way.

At that time at 16 years old, I wanted what I wanted, and I wanted to do what I wanted.

Today it takes a lot of faith, and I know it does.

I and I have faith in God and I have faith in agriculture that this will work and it will continue to work.

In central Sussex County, another first generation farmer, Wyatt Cox raises cotton soybeans and peanuts.

It's just a desire, I is all I can say.

This is my 30th crop here that we we've planted this year and growing, and it's just a dream I had, and we we started from nothing and it moved up and established myself pretty well, I think.

Cox says things were different when he started.

A whole lot cheaper.

The only difference here is with the varieties and the great breeding program that we have through the Tide Water A rec and peanut producers is the varieties we're making so much more.

When I first started growing peanuts, if you made 2,000 pounds of peanuts, you were hitting a home run.

And now if we don't have any any less than 4,800 pounds, we're very disappointed.

That's per acre, a dramatic increase in productivity.

According to the latest census of agriculture, there are 106 farms in Sussex County, covering 69,562 acres.

The market value of agricultural products is 64.5 million dollars.

Grains grown here earn 19.3 million dollars, and cotton accounts for 9 million dollars.

Other crops, including peanuts, bring in 3.4 million dollars.

Wyatt Cox's son Jordan raises 185 acres of cotton, along with peanuts, soybeans, and cattle.

I feel like it's just a drive for it.

I mean, there's nothing else I'd want to do versus farm.

Randy Everett shares this same passion raising tobacco, peanuts, cotton, soybeans, corn, and wheat in the old hickory community in far northwestern Sussex County.

The history was in front of me as I came up.

Um I was just interested, and you know, my father took on the operation of old every farms in 1989, and as soon as I got home from school, I was going to find him other be, you know, at the tobacco barns or on a cotton picker or whatever.

I was just always interested.

Everett is the only tobacco producer in Sussex County.

This year's harvest is already well underway.

Our later planted tobacco appears to be uh very good, but of course, with tobacco, you always uh you're always dependent on good weather.

So we you know it's we we've got a good crop in the field on the last 50 to 60 percent, but we've got to get it and harvest it.

And once the tobacco is harvested, it will be cured in barns for several days before being bailed and sold.

I'm just grateful to be able to tell agricultural story.

I'm the sixth generation, and to have a heritage and a legacy that I can tell people about and um and and share with my children and my family.

That's really gratifying, and I hope that I'm able to continue to do it and be an advocate for agriculture.

From Sussex County, Virginia, I'm Elijah Griles.

We're so glad you could join us to celebrate all the bounty Virginia has to offer.

From the kitchen to your home and garden to our beautiful wide open spaces, we're proud to say that this is real Virginia.

For everyone from the Virginia Farm Bureau, thanks for watching.

Make it a great couple of so you've been selected for jury duty.

If you've never been selected to serve as a juror and wonder why, jurors are selected at random from two databases, the Department of Motor Vehicles as well as go to registration.

If you're called in to serve, you'll report to this room.

The jury assembly rooms in Chesapeake Circuit Court.

A juror's term is approximately 30 days, which places you on call two days each week.

You're either on call Mondays and Thursdays or Tuesdays and Fridays.

On average, jurors in this court report about four days during their term.

It could be more or it could be less, but you should expect to report approximately four days.

If you have any questions or want additional information on jury service, please go to the city's website, City of Chesapeake.

I don't think that many kids in my son's school even do it.

Get your head out of the cloud.

Talk to your kid about vaping.

Visit talkabout leaping.org.

You're watching Tessa Peak Television.

I have an emergency one at her location.

Detective Thomas, tell me what is this room that we're standing in right now.

This room is in the criminal investigation section of the Chesapeake Police Department, and it houses all of the homicide cases that have been solved and are currently unsolved for the city of Chesapeake.

So there's a several hundred cases in here if you can look around and see.

And going back to what year?

Well, if you look behind you, it's from the 60s, very early on.

The books are going to be thinner.

There's going to be handwritten notes in there.

As they bring them back here, they were typewriting them, they typing the notes and putting them in the in binders.

And as the years go by through the 60s and to the 70s, you're going to see they get a little bit thicker.

Um, and then when you get into current times of the 90s to the 2000s, you're going to notice these binders.

If you think about what's going on in the world at that time, cases in the 60s, it was a whole lot of let me go talk to somebody, who saw what?

You might have obtained some physical evidence.

There's not gonna be a lot of photographs in the 60s because film was expensive back then.

So the case files are going to be a little bit smaller.

Then you move into the 2000s or 99 or 2000s, we start to get things in the world like cell phones.

We're starting to do computer searches.

So we get somebody's cell phone record now, and they could come back with a couple hundred, if not thousands of pages of data.

Well, we keep it.

So anything that we do in a homicide investigation as an investigator, we keep it.

This is gives us one area that we could go to to find the cases, to find the old cases, and to find cases that have been also closed.

If somebody calls and asks a question about it, we could pull it up.

Right.

Your show is the cold case, right?

Right.

So when you were to call, let's say I want to talk about a case from 1977.

There has to be somewhere to have that case.

Right.

So we come in here, we pull out 1977 case, and it is like looking at a time capsule.

You flip it open and you start reading things about how detectives were back then, who they talked to, what was important back then.

And sometimes you read these cases and try to figure out well, why did they mention this?

Well, because in 77 that was important.

Right, right.

In 2025, it might be like that doesn't mean now, but it meant a lot then.

So it's it's interesting to read the cases.

Especially now that we're in the digital age, everything is so different at your fingertips, and you think you talk about like going back into the 70s or 60s where you couldn't just Google something.

Right.

You had to really do a lot of footwork.

Uh 100%.

So if I wanted to find out about anybody's history.

So let's just say, for example, it's 1975.

You're the victim of a crime.

I know your name, and I know who you are based on what I'm seeing at this crime scene, and possibly from your family who's gonna that we're gonna talk to.

If I want to know about who you really are, I have to go find your friends.

I have to go look at your find your family.

Find your employer, talk to your employer.

A lot of times now, that is true.

We can keyboard a little bit of it, but we still do a lot of street work.

But the computer gives us a head start.

Right.

So now I can I can look you up and find you on Facebook, or I could find you on some social media, and I can know, oh look, she's into what her hobbies are.

These are her friends.

This is where she hangs out.

Let me start going those places to see who knows her.

Right.

That didn't exist in the 60s and 70s.

It was pretty much hey, I know this lady and her mom lives down the street, so you go to that house down the street.

Mom says, Well, she had a best friend, she lives over here.

And if they're home or if they're if you rang the phone, it was busy and you couldn't just sort of different uh very much so that it's a good thing.

No cell phones, you're leaving messages on phones, you're hoping they call back, and if they don't, you're going back out to the house again.

Yeah.

So what's it what does it take to solve a cold case?

So to solve a cold case, it's really gonna take some information that's gonna be that we keep saying it, the puzzle piece, right?

It's difficult.

We're not gonna hold back on it.

It's difficult.

Cold cases, they'll have information that's gonna come to us, we follow up with the information.

Cold cases also have evidence, right?

So if I collect evidence in the 70s, the officers who did the job back then, they didn't know why they were collecting it, but they knew it was important.

Let's you know, let's pick up this carpet fiber or this piece of clothing, let me let me collect it, because I know it's important.

So we have evidence in a lot of these cases.

So we go through, we want to triage them because we don't know number one, how the evidence was packaged.

If it's picked up in the 60s or 70s, more than likely it was put in plastic.

Plastic is bad.

Uh plastic falls apart, things start to deteriorate, DNA breaks down, and then these items wind up touching each other, then you have cross-contamination.

Those are things that make cases difficult.

Then we come along here to 2025, technology now.

So technology advances and we start to have DNA, right?

So we will resubmit this evidence on these cold cases, hoping that a DNA hit will come out.

That's also how you solve cold cases.

As we see on TV, you know, the cold cases, these serial killers being caught from the 60s or 70s, and you're like, wow, how do they do that?

It's because somewhere along the line, a good investigator picked up something that they knew meant something they might not have quite understood what it was then, but they collected it, it was properly preserved, and they could submit it now with our current technology, and it hits on hey, this is so-and-so.

And then we start to develop that lead and build a case on the so-and-so.

That's how they're getting solved.

And somebody coming forward.

Sure.

Uh that somebody coming forward is always welcomed.

We're always trying to do that.

But minus somebody coming forward, I just want people to understand that we also we take it upon ourselves to come in here and go, hey, this is a good case for an evidence resubmission.

Let's do it ourselves.

So even though somebody might not call on a case, the time could come that an investigator could just be like, I'm gonna try this one.

They'll come in and pull it, they'll resubmit it, and it could hit, and that would be incredible for us.

Absolutely.

There are a lot of cases in this room.

And I know there's probably more cases than there are detectives.

How does that work?

How does someone pull a case and why?

So you're correct.

There are a lot more cases than detectives.

So what happens is, like we said earlier, we'll triage the cases as far as knowing which one has good viable evidence.

All these cases are important to the police department.

All these cases, we want to solve all of them.

We we we welcome the day we could bring people such as yourself in here and go, every case in here is solved.

That would be incredible.

The reality is we'll get somebody who calls us, a family member will call us, a crime on tip will come in anonymously and say, hey, I remember when I was 15, this happened.

That statement then gets forwarded up to the criminal investigation section.

The supervisors look at it and they'll send it to one of the homicide detectives.

We'll pull it and go, okay, well, let's see what it's detailing about, what it's talking about.

Come in here, we'll pull the case, and then we'll read on it and try and find out, okay, that makes sense, and that's how we get the interest sparked back up into looking into a cold case, honestly.

Um, do I know every cold case in this room?

No, I don't.

I know a lot of them, um, but they're all just as important.

Um there's there's nobody who holds a higher uh like a status uh in after death.

That they're all equal.

We want to solve them all.

So I have money.

I have an arm up.

I want to have a March 23rd, 2015, in the city of Chesapeake, in the 1900 block of Battery Park Road, Chesapeake police were called to the house where two deceased females were found.

On March 23rd, 2015, in the city of Chesapeake, in the 1900 block of Battery Park Road, Chesapeake police were called to the house where two deceased females were found.

When the officers made entry, they first observed the first victim, Miss Laurel Sanchez, to be in the living room of the house.

Apparently she had been shot.

Upon further uh investigation to the house, they found the second victim, Miss Denise Perdue, in a back bedroom, also shot.

They had a lot of friends that would come and go in the residents, which is what is what alerted the police to their house because they had friends who were going to check on them and kind of just see how they've been doing, and they came across their bodies in the house.

So through the investigation, we were trying to determine do they leave the front door unlocked?

And we found out that there was some conflicting information that the exterior exterior door will be locked, interior door will be unlocked.

There were a lot of people interviewed that knew these two ladies.

So we're trying to find that car.

And it also shows at least one person running from the house into that car.

So there's at least two people, a driver and the person who was seen running into the car.

Yeah, Nice was like my child.

She wasn't like a sister.

I never treated her like a sister, treat her like a little kid, and nobody used to see.

She's a grown woman.

All she cared about was kids, you know, to take care of them.

But Nisi's a good person, and she had a heart of gold, and that I know a lot of people say that about their loved ones and stuff, but I mean it literally.

I mean to tell you she had a not a heart of gold, a heart a heart of platinum.

She would go at Christmas time.

And if somebody needed something, she would hawk her jewelry.

If she couldn't get the money from daddy or Laurel or something, she would hawk her jewelry.

One Christmas, she bought ten bicycles, ten or a lot, something like that.

And she had Laurel in there putting them all together, and Laurel's, you know, would work 10, 15 hours a day up there at McDonald's, bless her heart.

And uh they were putting them together, and she was delivering them clothes, uh, book bags.

She did everything for Corey.

She practically raised him if you could show that or not, but this was the picture.

This was Nasi, uh taking care of this little boy, and she took him everywhere.

I do think the ladies knew who did this.

So we do know that that same morning she went to an ATM machine, took out sixty dollars, so I obtained that video just to see if anybody was behind her with her.

There's nobody with her.

So we have that receipt.

Uh we know a timestamp on that receipt and a timestamp on the video.

Those are hard times.

And in between those times, it's only about two hours.

The video that I have has the vehicle pulling up.

There's again a figure that walks up to the house and then runs back out and gets in this car and leaves.

But the video, I don't know what kind of car it is.

I have an idea.

I have a color, it's red.

Uh I do know there's two people involved.

There's a person who ran from the house and got in the car, and there's a driver of the car.

So uh what we're really hoping is that here it's been eight years since this happened.

If the driver of the car has since dissolved the relationship with the person who was in the car, uh the driver of the car, for all we know, has no idea what happened until after the fact.

I would like that person to come forward to tell me I was driving the car, I had so-and-so in the car, I didn't know anything about it until later on.

It just seems very plausible that the driver possibly may not know what happened.

I'm hoping that relationship has dissolved and that person come forward to me, is what we're hoping.

Uh, but yeah, I think they I think somebody knows.

I I think several people know.

If you know somebody kills somebody, how can you go day in and day out and not?

How does your con how do you have a conscience?

If you know who did this to my sister and Laurel, because they were good girls.

Ease your conscience, because I know it's got to be bothering you.

And even if it isn't, help find these people.

Just tell.

Just tell who it was.

Sure, I like to see everyone who did this to them.

Well, not killed or punished.

Get a chance to be forgiven for what they've done.

You know, this is wrong.

They didn't deserve that.

He specifically went into the house to kill these women.

Um the door, again, we talked to a lot of people.

I don't know if the door was closed or even latched, but the entrance was quick.

Um it was it's immediate.

There was no ransacking of the house.

Um, minus the two individuals laying there.

You wouldn't know anything happened in the house.

Um, the only little bit of disturbance that we had was in the bedroom where Denise was, where she was trying to go out this window that was above a uh bedside table.

But you can't see where uh Denise knew what was going on.

Denise heard enough, or at least had enough wherewithal, she shut the door, and the door was forced open, kicked open, the latch was broken, she's trying to get out the window, and then she shot.

So other than that, the house was pristine.

So we have the surveillance video from ATM, and we matched it up with the surveillance video from a local business, and we're able to find out what the car we believe it to look like.

Um, and it is red in color, possibly four-door, but it did leave off Battery Park, made the right hand turn on to George Washington back at the city of Portsmouth.

We do believe that there are people who have information on this case.

We do want people who have information to contact us.

We are urging those people to come forward and let us know what happened because the Chesby Police Department is still investigating this homicide.

Um we will take any information that that comes in and investigate it.

I haven't heard of how to have June 7th, 2005, at approximately 9 40 p.m., Chesapeake police responded to the 500 block of Marcus Street in reference to three males that had been shot inside the residence.

When police arrived, they located three young males inside the residence that had been shot.

All three males were deceased.

The three victims were Nathaniel Huggins, Matty Toxie, and Andre Jackson.

All were 23 years old.

All were friends with one another and were just hanging out together on that evening watching TV.

Mr.

Huggins was on the phone with a family member the night of he was murdered.

During that conversation, the family member described hearing loud bangs, and then the conversation had stopped.

Being concerned, the family member called the residence several times.

After getting no answer, the family member contacted other family members.

They decided to drive to the residence to make sure Mr.

Huggins was okay.

When they arrived, they found Mr.

Huggins and his friends shot and deceased.

They called police immediately.

It was later determined that a dark colored SUV with custom wheels was seen in the area around 9 p.m.

that evening.

At some point, a black male exited that vehicle.

The male was described as wearing dark-colored pants, a white t-shirt, and had a short afro.

All three young men were described as young, polite individuals that grew up together going to church and had a passion for music.

Anyone who may have seen something, heard something, maybe saw a vehicle, can call a crime line.

You can remain 100% anonymous.

You don't have to provide a name, address, phone number, or any personal information.

If your information results in an arrest, you may be eligible for a reward.

I haven't heard a high one of her okay.

And that looked mach.

When officers arrived in the area, they located Jarmel in the street where they observed that Jarmel had suffered a fatal gunshot wound.

Another bystander had also been shot and was transported to a local hospital where they were treated for their injuries and survived.

When officers arrived on scene, there was a large crowd outside in the area where the shooting happened.

There was a large crowd to the point where people were parking streets over and walking to the party.

So we know that there were many people out there, but yet only few people came forward to share what they saw.

He had to be afraid of him.

Because you shot him in the back and in the back of his head.

And I guess everybody out there must be scared of you.

And I think my heart, I believe, is someone that he called friend because a bruh because he turned his back on him.

And everybody else afraid of whoever that is.

I mean, he was so funny.

And he was a sweetheart.

He really was.

He loved playing basketball.

And he liked cutting grass and he loved hanging out with his friends.

He loved his family.

But he loved his friends.

And it said that he didn't have not one.

That night.

Yeah, I live for minute for minute.

I don't go, I don't live day by day any longer.

I live a minute by minute.

I lost so much weight.

I just can't, you know, I just can't imagine my life without my son, without my baby.

I go to the funeral, I mean to the cemetery a lot.

I'm really angry and hurt.

Will you please come forward?

Before I leave this word, I just wanted to know who took my son's life.

And I know that you all know what happened.

And my mother's health is declining more and more every single day, as well as my stepfather's.

If you know something, please.

Just please give them justice before they close their eyes.

That's all I ask.

Tell a friend so they can tell a friend so they can tell a friend and they could get back.

Somebody, please come forward.

You know, because it's just it's it's unheard of that it was so many people out there, and nobody has said nothing.

My brother has been hanging in that neighborhood since he was about six years old.

And there's no way in the world that they wouldn't see somebody kill him and not say anything.

I just I don't understand it.

We want to remind everybody that even though this crime happened a few years ago, tips can still be submitted to the crime line, which is completely anonymous.

You can call in, submit a tip via text, or even online, or you can call the detective bureau and ask for Detective Robert, and I can speak with you over the phone about what you may have observed.

It may be something very insignificant or small, however, it may be the one piece that helps us put everything together to help solve Jarmel's case for his family, his community, and his friends.

And I'm just asking if you all will please come for and just tell who done it.

Maybe the killing will stop out there.

It's been about 10 more guys murdered in that neighborhood and in one more place.

And it's gonna continue going on unless you all talk.

I haven't heard of how I have a case.

When officers and medics arrived in the area, they located Mr.

Overton laying on the ground outside of his pickup truck bleeding.

He was immediately transported to the hospital where he later died as a result of several gunshot wounds.

Mr.

Overton lived in the Camelot neighborhood and was known by many neighbors to be a scrapper who often collected abandoned items left on the curb for trash pickup.

He was also a handyman who advertised his services for landscaping, moving and hauling, scrap metal pickup, and some other small trades.

Mr.

Oberton was well known in his community, and in speaking with those who knew him, he was well known for saying his favorite quote, keep it real.

Following the crime, Chesapeake police received a few crime line tips, but none of those really gained any traction in the investigation.

It's important for citizens to remember though that even though this crime happened years ago, tips can still be submitted to the crime line.

Crime line is an important resource for investigators because it allows potential witnesses who may not feel comfortable speaking to police or who want to provide information anonymously, a means of communication to provide that information that may help solve the case.

The downside, though, is that due to the anonymous nature, police can't speak to that potential witness and ask further questions.

So when submitting a tip, it's important for citizens to remember to include as much information as possible.

Things like the suspect's physical description, their identity or place of residence, if known, description of any vehicles that may have been involved, and even motive if someone believes they have sufficient information to bring to light what the motive for that crime may have been.

She came back home around 1 p.m., went and visited her younger brother who lived down the street, and then had gone back to her house where she was getting ready to go teach her afternoon dance class at her local dance studio.

When she didn't show up for her afternoon dance class, her mother became aware, became worried, and went back to Donna's house to see what was going on.

When she arrived at Donna's house, she found that the doors were open, but that there was no sign of Donna anywhere.

Families and friends organized some search parties to check the area to try to see if they could locate Donna.

At around 8 p.m., Donna's family officially reported her missing to Chesapeake police, and the search parties continued throughout the night to try to locate where Donna was.

At around midnight, one of the search parties that consisted of her family member and friends located her body in a ditch several miles from her home in the 1700 block of West Road near this airport.

It had been determined in the investigation that Donna had died as a result of a gunshot wound.

When we interviewed everybody after the fact, nobody had anything bad to say about Donna.

She was described as being this very nice, genuine, vibrant, hard-working young woman who really didn't appear to have any enemies.

She had just opened up her own dance studio.

That was her true passion in life, and she worked very hard teaching at other dance studios and just really became an important member of the community with a lot of children, a lot of their family members, and a lot of her neighbors.

To this day, we still don't know the motive for Donna's death, and there's still a lot of mystery going around why she disappeared and why somebody would want to kill her.

We're hoping that somebody may know something that they didn't share back then and they may feel comfortable now coming forward.

Sometimes it's that small detail that someone may think is unimportant that actually is the one piece that we're searching for to kind of tie everything together.

I have an emergency.

His head had been smashed and he had been stabbed.

Um at the time, it was the 1800 block of Wellington Avenue.

Um that section of Wellington Avenue doesn't exist anymore, but the field is still there behind Burton Lumber.

There were tire tracks in the field and uh a knife, uh the murder weapon was laying underneath of him.

But other than that, there was nothing, nothing found in the scene.

John Lee Pope was found by three uh juveniles who were uh walking, I think they were collecting firewood and going fishing.

Um they found him, they went back to their house in Norfolk.

Um, the police came to their house, and the juveniles led the police to where they found uh Mr.

Pope's body.

The last time the victim was seen alive was on the same day, December 15th, 1966, by his mother and father.

Um he lived with them on Campus Dell Road in the uh in Norfolk.

The challenges for this case are the fact that it's a very old uh homicide case.

Everybody that's involved in this case has either lost contact or or died themselves, officers, investigators, the family members of the deceased, they've all passed away, and uh makes it very hard to follow up on this kind of case.

This case doesn't have witnesses and there's no suspects that were ever developed, and that makes uh solving this case at this point very challenging.

However, if somebody possibly has heard anything about this case, we can take any tips that somebody might be able to provide to us and use those to investigate uh to further investigate the case.

Hi, my name is Marvin with the City of Chesapeake Waste Management Division.

If we miss your container on collection day, please leave it at the curb and we'll send somebody back as soon as possible to pick it up.

You can call us at 382 City, or you can visit us at CDFC.

Thank you.

I have an emergency one at our location.

September 16th, 2012, in the city of Chesapeake, uh Brandon Peller's body was dropped off at a Chesapeake General Hospital.

Um he was 24 years old at the time.

And uh the last time the victim was seen alive was that morning.

Prior to being dropped up at the hospital, I believe he was with some friends in the Kemptsville area of Virginia Beach.

So through tracking his phone, we were able to put him in that location of Centerville and Kemptsville.

Several phone calls were made uh in and out of his telephone, and the last one connected to the network right about the city line between Virginia Beach and Chesapeake.

Through the investigation, we talked to several people who knew Mr.

Peller, two brothers and an acquaintance.

We believe what happened somewhere around the time frame prior to going to the hospital that one of the brothers was doing some side work and called Brandon Peller on the phone to ask him to help with the side work.

The brother got the acquaintance to drive him to pick up Mr.

Peller.

On the way to pick up Mr.

Peller, they were flagged down by an unknown vehicle, their own words, with an unknown person in it.

And this unknown person advised them that Mr.

Peller had been shot.

The men picked up Mr.

Peller and put him in their vehicle and drove him to the hospital.

Once at the hospital, the one brother stayed with Mr.

Peller while the acquaintance drove away.

And he was in a black four-door Nissan at the time.

That vehicle was found in the city of Virginia Beach and processed.

The victim owned a silver Mercedes.

That vehicle was also located within the city of Chesapeake, down off Saddlehorn Drive and processed.

I do believe somebody knows what happened.

Um which is what we would like somebody to call us.

Somebody knows what was going on.

I think he was at a house with a couple people, and they could let us know what transpired, that would be great.

Um, my son Brandon, he was very charismatic.

He was a true leader.

Everyone loved him.

He would always make you love him no matter who you were, what you did.

He uh he would give the shirt off his back.

He cared about other people, he would take care of them before he would take care of himself.

I mean, I've heard stories about him taking his money, his paycheck, and helping friends who get their kids school clothes because they didn't have anything, or buying Christmas for his friend's kids because they didn't have any money.

Then he had his own child and he really changed the way he thought and the way he acted, and he was very important to him.

He loved his son.

Um I like to tell the person that may be involved or may have killed my son that um we forgive you.

We're not upset any longer.

We're past that.

We just want to have someone come forward, give us the information or the police, just so we can have closure and put an end to this so that we can move on with our lives and stop focusing on the what happened.

I know there are people out there who know what happened to Brandon Peller.

We were just looking for that phone call to just let us know where he was, who was with them, and what transpired.

What's going to solve this case is somebody coming forward to say that they were either there when the incident happened to Brandon Peller or they have firsthand knowledge told by somebody what happened to Brandon Peller.

And we could cooperate that information and move forward with this investigation and to help the family to get some answers to what questions that they have.

We are a national organization.

Our motto is we ride, we educate, and we serve.

Um we're long-distance motorcycle club that uh has men and women who have the same passion of riding our iron horses.

We try to educate the community on the rich history of the 9th and 10th cavalry of the Buffalo Soldiers, and we serve our community, and we're connected to the Cuffy Town because there are 13 Buffalo soldiers buried in this area.

And because we represent the Buffalo Soldiers, we've connected ourselves with Cuffy Town, and every year on Veterans Day, we come out and we spend time with the local community.

We have a small service, and we have a reef laying and a flag raising at the cemetery.

Buffalo Soldiers are a uh first African American all unit in the in the U.S.

Army.

A vast majority of our members are veterans, retired police officers, uh veterans from various branches of the service.

Our founder, Kenneth Dreammaker Thomas in Chicago, founded the Buffalo Soldiers in 1993.

And he wanted to start an all African American motorcycle club at that time that would have a positive impact on the community and the country.

Anyone that would like to become a member or even just participate, even if they don't want to become a member, they can we can be reached at Hampton Roads BuffaloSoldiers.com.

Hi, my name is Marvin with the City of Chesapeake Waste Management Division.

If we miss your container on collection day, please leave it at the curb and we'll send somebody back as soon as possible to pick it up.

You can call us at 382 City, or you can visit us at City of Chesapeake.net slash trash, and we'll send some out by as soon as possible.

Always remember to have your can out by 7 a.m.

the morning of so that we may be able to get it.

Thank you.

Hi, I'm Officer Dupre Foster with the Chesapeake Police Department, and today we're gonna learn about the SWAT team.

I'm here with Sergeant Sparrow.

Good afternoon.

Hey there.

Thanks for coming out and hanging out with us.

Yes, sir.

So tell me a little bit about the SWAT team and what it's all about.

What do y'all do?

So the SWAT team is a collateral unit within the department.

Uh currently we have 26 operators, and then we have one uh commanding officer, which is a lieutenant.

Uh the SWAT team is basically stood up to respond to high risk situations, whether it'd be high-risk warrant services or barricaded subjects, hostage rescue.

Uh, we also do high-risk tracking in the woods in some type of sometimes we do dignitary protection if we have uh you know VIPs coming in the area like Vice President Pence came not too long ago.

So wow, so y'all do a lot of cool things.

Yes.

So what does it take to like become a SWAT team officer?

A lot of people ask that.

You have to go through the application process.

Basically, you have to have an exceptional eval, it exceeds e-val, uh, no use of force issues or anything within your uh your file.

You also have to be able to uh have good marksmanship skills, so 90% or above in uh pistol qualifications.

And once you qualify for that and go through the background investigation and pass a physical fitness test, there's a five-week course.

Uh, we call it the basic SWAT operator course, and it encompasses pretty much everything we do.

Uh, since we're a collateral team, people that come out of the basic SWAT school are operational at that point.

They have all the skills they needed to be an operator, um, and that includes building clearing, water operations, um, firearms, um, and all everything pretty much that we need to do our job effectively.

So, that training do you all send officers somewhere else for specialized training?

No, we do that in-house.

Uh we have, I would say collectively, you know, it's probably over a hundred years of experience put together between our senior operators as well as our new operators, and they come from all backgrounds, some come from the military before they were here.

Uh, we often uh cross-train with some military, so we pick up a lot of stuff that we can put together uh in-house and do our SWAT school.

Nice.

And so some of the things that the equipment that you use.

Can you talk a little bit about that equipment?

Anything special?

I guess you have a lot of special.

Oh, yeah.

So we have we have all kinds of equipment.

Obviously, we have our basic our entry gun, so which is uh 11.5 inch barrel.

It's a what we call AR-15 uh rifle.

We use suppressors on those.

Uh the snipers have a 308.

Um, it's a JP precision rifle, and that's that's for long-range uh engagements.

Uh, we also have the breaching unit, they have all their various tools which uh range from manual breaching tools to explosive breaching.

Um, they also use hydraulic breachers.

Uh, we have a maritime unit which has zodiac uh little inflatable boats with motors.

In case we have water out, we can get there, you know, by water.

We also have a tech unit, which is probably our up and coming unit where we're starting to utilize more tech in the SWAT team.

So we have you know miniature robots, we have large robots, we have pole cams that are on a long pole.

We also have drones now, so we have drones.

We've incorporated that in the SWAT team.

Now with the drones, we have a separate drone team in the department.

Correct.

Are they joint with you all or how's that work?

No.

So the UAS team within the department, um, their responsibility is more or less for a major instance, they're gonna give you the bird's eye view in the sky.

Um, they can also do uh for accident reconstruction and whatnot, they can give aerial for that.

Um, not so much on the tactical side, so if we need a drone to go indoors, uh that would be more us.

If we have you know a lot of obstacles to where they would be worried about uh damaging their drones are much more expensive.

So I think one of theirs probably is about $30,000 just for one.

Wow.

So they're not really too keen on getting that close to obstacles, is where ours are a little bit less expensive, and you know, we can we can do a little bit more with them and and risking them damage and get them closer to the event.

So how long have you served on the SWAT team?

I've been on uh this is my fifth year total.

Uh so some guys on the team, and we have one guy that's been on for 20 years, so a few that's been on a little bit less than that.

So we have a lot of experience, and we also have a lot of new guys, which is good, so we're bringing up a lot of new people.

Okay.

And so, what would you say for someone who say they're interested in law enforcement, they want to be a SWAT officer.

See all these TV shows nowadays with SWAT and all these things.

What could you tell them to prepare themselves to become a police officer, maybe even a SWAT officer one day?

So being physically fit obviously is number one.

Uh we carry a lot of gear.

Uh not you know, we just have we have a rifle, pistol, and all that stuff, but also our our entry gear, which includes um soft armor and entry plates, and also a ballistic helmet.

So you can be looking to carry anywhere from 30 to 40 if you're a breacher, maybe even 50 or 60 more pounds on your person getting from point A to point B to wherever the problem is.

And sometimes depending on where we're at on the call out, you know, you could be 50, 100 yards, you gotta get to the staying physically fit, uh, keeping up with the marksmanship skills.

You know, once they're an officer and they come to the department, even if they're not starting out with good marksmanship skills, they can come down to the academy, and the instructors are more than willing on working with them and bringing that up to the level it needs to be.

Um, and just conducting themselves in a professional manner once they get here, staying out of trouble.

Obviously, for one, uh useful force is a big thing, making sure there's no problems with use of force complaints or decision making.

Um, and and pretty much that's it.

You know, being a good officer all around in their primary duty, having a good eval is what we're looking for.

Good deal.

Hey, well, thank you so much for hanging out with us, Sergeant Sparrow.

Sir, take care.

Thank you so much for watching.

That's all we have for today.

If you want to learn more about the Chesapeake Police Department, visit us online at Chesapeake Police.com.

Life doesn't always give you time to change the outcome.

Pre-diabetes does.

With early diagnosis, pre-diabetes can be reversed.

Take the one-minute pre-diabetes risk test today.

Go to do I have prediabetes.org.

Make sure you have the lid nearby that you can smother the fire.

Turn off the burner.

Do not move the pen or the lid until everything has cooled.

Then douse everything in cold water before throwing it away.

Inspect your stove top to make sure there's no permanent damage.

And if a fire starts in your oven, turn off the heat, keep the door closed until it's cool.

Then have it checked or serviced before using it again.

Stay safe in the kitchen.

Hi, I'm Sherry with Waste Management Division of Publix Works.

Please place your uh yard waste and clear plastic bags at the curb.

And if we don't get to you immediately, please leave it there and we'll get to you ASAP.

For more information, please visit City of Chesapeake.net slash trash.

Thank you very much.

Today I'm going to talk to you about physics.

Come on in, girls.

Let's go.

This is the first rocket to get humans to Mars.

Really tall.

I'm a rocket structural engineer designing and building parts of the rocket.

You are the generation that will be stepping foot on Mars.

So I have a group of astronauts on my hands.

Yes.

You can become a rocket scientist or whatever else you want to be.

That you'll see, or oyster castles in this case.

So the oyster castles will protect the wetlands, and the wetlands are going to protect the shore from eroding.

So see you can build them up high and interlock them.

So it helps it's stable, it's a very stable port platform to protect the shoreline from erosion.

We have 777 oyster castles that we're gonna put in on this north facing point.

It's gonna be about 130 linear feet of oyster castles, and the entire project is going to be 670 linear feet.

The rest of it will be with the coconut core logs, and then behind this, we're gonna backfill with sand and we're gonna plant them with the native wetland grass called Spartina Ultra Neflora.

In order for something of this magnitude to occur, you really have to have a lot of community support and community backing for the project.

They need to understand why it's important and why it's gonna benefit the health of the river.

And so we'll need help with if you don't want to carry a log, we need help carrying this down, these down.

We you know we have a lot of materials to get down there.

It's a combination of creating a new shoreline or at least extending out your shoreline to a place in which it previously was established.

The baby oysters, oyster spat will be floating around in the water, and they are looking for a place to hatch themselves onto.

So these oyster castle structures, they provide that perfect place for the new baby spat to find its home.

They really over time just begin to look like a beautiful oyster reef.

And then as you have more oysters there, you also see higher levels of fish biodiversity, um, crustacean biodiversity, and then the other just marine life that exists within our waterways here.

And we're really focusing on Indian River because it in the latest state of the river report, it failed as far as bacteria.

So we're trying to implement living shorelines and rain gardens, and we're about to launch a pet waste campaign.

Our partner HRSD just found out that it was not from humans, so it's probably from dogs.

You know, people think that pet waste is fertilizer, it's not, it's very harmful, has a lot of harmful bacteria.

So um keep your soft shorelines, your living shorelines and wetlands are really important.

It's really important to pick up your dog waste.

It's really important to try to filter storm water when you can.

So as of last Wednesday, we brought in 30 cubic yards of sand.

We think the whole project might take about 120, so we'll be about a quarter of the way just through the sand.

And then the sand is necessary because we need to make the proper elevation for the wetlands to thrive and grow, so then they can protect the shoreline from erosion.

And so what you have over here is the corologs, and behind me is the oyster castle that we've uh put in.

And eventually this will both act as habitat for oysters.

And we're gonna put like uh 80 bushels of oyster shell on here, and it'll also help protect the uh shoreline here from erosion.

If you can see how clips happening over there.

The Indian River, which we're standing in right now, has some definite water quality issues because of bacteria and fertilizer that washes in from lawns, and oysters are a great filter.

They filter like 40 gallons of water an hour, and so we wanted more oysters.

That's what kind of started us.

Um it's surprising to see how many volunteers are out here.

People really care about uh their local environment, and they obviously really care about the watershed around here.

Exciting to see that.

We have a commitment to doing both a service activity and an environmental outreach.

So this was planned into our work schedule, so technically we're out of the office, but it's our way of giving back from the company.

And I've learned that it's a lot messier out here than I ever thought it could be.

And I think that this kind of outreach program would be really great to clean up the shoreline because it needs it.

Wanted to do some good.

Yeah, it is.

I love coming out and doing uh hard work, and uh I have learned that oysters are really important for the river and they can filter out a lot of uh the contamination that's in there.

Yeah, and it's really hard to build an oyster reef.

Oysters like to settle on hard boxes like this.

They prefer oyster shell, but they'll settle on concrete also.

And over time they'll be covered with oysters, we hope.

So this is a long-term project, it's a marathon, not a sprint as we've been saying.

Um, but it's exciting because now you get to look at it, and it really you can tell we're building a wetland and a living shoreline.

Welcome to the Chesapeake Public Library.

We want to learn about our family history.

Do you have anything that could help?

You could check Ancestry.com here at the library or heritage quest.

And it's free.

Times that's also free.

I need to send some documents to my school.

We offer scanning and faxing, or you can always scan your document and attach it to your email.

Free!

Do you have any movies?

We've got all kinds of movies.

Free and free.

So come check us out.

During the fall season, the leaves will, of course, clutter the lawn and make it shore.

But please remember not to rake them or grass clippings into storm drains or ditches.

They clog up the flow of storm water and can lead to flooding.

Leaves and grass clippings can also wreak havoc on local waterways as they decompose.

Ideally, just mulch them right into the lawn using your mower.

This contributes water and nutrients to the lawn and can minimize your need for fertilizer.

If you have too many leaves or grass clippings to mulch and need to get rid of them, place them in clear plastic bags or compostable paper bags, pile them by the curb, and public works will pick them up on your scheduled garbage day.

There's no need to call for bulk pickup for this collection.

Each residence is limited to 30 bags of leaves or grass clippings each week.

The number goes up to 50 bags in the months of November and December.

But remember, mulching in place with your lawnmower works great too.

For more information, call 382 City or go to City of Chesapeake.

Parents make mistakes.

Sometimes they forget.

And that lapse can lead to disastrous results.

Every 10 days in the U.S., a child dies from heat stroke after being left alone in a hot car.

The inside of a car heats up faster than you think.

Never leave a child alone in a motor vehicle.

Look before you lock and visit where's baby.org for more life-saving tips.

Every year, cyclists are either injured or killed by motor vehicles.

So let's do our best to prevent accidents by keeping the following rules in mind.

Cyclists have a right to use the roads, but drivers should be cautious and give cyclists at least three feet of passing distance and only pass when it's safe to do so.

Cyclists should wear helmets, be highly visible, use bike lights and mirrors, and wear reflective gear after dark.

And don't forget to always ride in the same direction as traffic.

Whether you're in a car or on a bike, the same road rules and traffic signals apply to everyone.

So let's look out for each other and keep our Chesapeake Roads safe for all.

Go, go, go, go.

And I have never seen the turnout at a volunteer project so intensely on a weekday.

So we've been doing this now for about three weeks.

We've had people from the city of Chesapeake come out, which we we've really appreciated.

The city participating.

We've got residents at Chesapeake, Norfolk, and Portsmouth coming out.

College students from all the major colleges here in Tidewater come out.

And just people who are interested in helping the river.

And I planted the fences too.

So that was cool.

I've never done anything hands-on like this.

So it was a really good experience, and I hope to come back one day and see everything, you know, grow and that you know, to see that actually helped and did something.

Hopefully, we'll be done by the end of this week.

It's going really well.

Yeah, we've been really, really pleased.

Hands down.

There's no way that we would have been able to accomplish this much in this little amount of time without the like outstanding volunteers that we've had.

So huge kudos to them.

Really hats off.

Stewardship of the environment, stewardship of our river.

It is so impressive.

Got a huge age range of people out here.

And to a person, they're positive, they're encouraging one another, they are loving what they're doing.

It's kind of on the level of prison labor, but no one's complaining about it.

And uh young and old men and women, families.

It's really fantastic and encouraging.

And because of that, we were able to install uh 45 core logs, uh, over 800 oyster castles.

We put in 115 tons of sand, and then we planted the area with over 5,000 marsh grasses.

And because of that, this project now will serve as a buffer between what occurs upland and then what eventually goes into our waterway here at Indian River.

Uh, we will, as a result, see the reduction of 20 pounds of nitrogen that goes into the river annually, uh, 10 pounds of phosphorus that goes into the river annually, and nine tons of sediment that goes into the river annually.

And then also as a result, we'll just see a natural boom and the oyster population and fish and crustacean species that will come here to visit this beautiful wetland and the oyster castle sill.

Over 120 people came to volunteer in this project, both from inside the Indian River community and from the uh larger Hampton Roads area.

We have information about this out on the Friends of Indian River uh Facebook page, and and so we're trying to get word out, and there's been a lot of positive feedback on everything that we've done here.

We expanded the wetlands by some 3,000 square feet, and we put in nearly 800 oyster castles, which should help build the oyster population.

That was very important to us.

I realized at that moment these people really needed us.

And I was going to make a difference right here in my community.

Be there for your community at National Guard.

Life doesn't always give you time to change the outcome.

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You're watching Chesapeake Television.

So this is our second uh tag a cat event.

Uh we found over the past couple months, several years that vehicle catalytic converters are a very high theft item.

The reason for that is catalytic converters, which is a which is part of your vehicle's exhaust system.

They have a lot of precious metals and a lot of high value metals inside these.

And what happens is uh when these devices, these converters are stolen, there's almost like a black market for them where uh the thieves take them and they they sell them for the materials in them.

Uh a lot of times it's it's hard to prosecute these because if you find uh a suspicious individual or vehicle with a bunch of catalytic converters in it, it's hard to find where they came from.

So what we decided to do is we were able to uh get some grant money and we purchased an etching machine.

So what we're doing here today is we uh basically it's an event where citizens bring their car here, we use the etching machine to etch the vehicle's VIN number on the catalytic converter, and then we're using um high heat fluorescent orange spray paint to just spray paint CPD on the catalytic converter.

And our hope is that if uh a thief goes under your vehicle and sees this fluorescent orange paint with CPD, hopefully it'll be a little bit of a deterrent for him.

They'll realize that it's marked, you know, it's it's not worth the the risk is not worth a reward in their case.

Royce's record service, uh, you know, huge thank you to them, they're volunteer volunteering their time.

We've been on Tilden Avenue in in Chesapeake, uh, and uh this is the second one.

We're planning another one in June.

We we don't have the exact logistics worked out on that yet.

But if you follow us on our department social media, our Facebook page, Chesapeake Police Department, um, as soon as we find out uh and get that more concrete, we'll be posting it there on our on our social media.

A couple things you can do to kind of make yourself the the hardest victim to be, um, park under well lit areas, you know, try to park around other cars, um, things like that.

And unfortunately, some of these uh thieves they're they're very skilled and with the right tools, they can get up underneath the vehicle and within 30 seconds to a minute, they can have that catalytic can river off and and load it in there.

Uh there's the suspect vehicle and and they're they're down the road.

And and it could be a fairly expensive, um, it's it's a very expensive repair also.

We're talking in into the thousands of dollars to repair these.

There's also this cute picture of me and him together, just in case he has to prove ownership.

I guess if you have one of those cat pets, you should have kitty litter and stuff like that for them too.

But why would you have a cat when you could have a dog?

Just barking out loud.

Make sure your human is prepared for emergencies.

Learn how at ready.gov slash pets.

Yes.

Yes?

Show me.

Show me.

Show me.

Show me.

Quincy is an electronic storage detection canine, and he can detect a chemical that's sprayed on all memory chips in any device.

Um, from something as small as a micro SD card to a very large computer.

He is mainly used for uh child exploitation, human trafficking, um, and that type of crime, but we've recently found that he can alert to card skimmers, card readers, um guys, other dogs that are trained just like he is, have located uh phones from homicides and um different crimes.

He's alerted to um items that have been buried to the ground.

Um he also alerts to items buried in the water.

Um he is also cross-trained to comfort live victims if we come across them on scene when we're doing warrants, and he will also help comfort them while they're testifying in court.

Well, my biggest concern was that I have another dog at home and how she was gonna react to him, but they've uh taken to each other very well, and um my boys adore him, so they like uh like him just like they like our dog, and he's very good with them too.

I mean, he is cross-trained to do victim comfort if we come across the live victim.

Show me so he's very loving as you can see.

He just does this.

He would do this all day.

Woof woof.

Hey pets, does your human include you in their emergency planning?

Because they should.

My human has made sure that I will have somewhere safe to go if he ever has to evacuate.

He's also created a buddy system with our neighbors, so if an emergency happens while he's not home, they will come to make sure I'm okay.

No matter what happens, he will never leave me home alone if there's a disaster in our area.

Learn more about how you can prepare your humans for emergencies by visiting ready.gov slash pets.

Woo-fuff.

The community emergency response team, CERT, is a partnership between emergency services and the citizens of Chesapeake.

By training volunteers in basic emergency skills, our community is much more prepared for a disastrous event that could overwhelm or delay the city's fire and EMS services.

Teams are located throughout the city, meet monthly, and train quarterly.

CERT needs more members who want to give back and serve their community.

For more information about CERT and how you can help, go to City of Chesapeake.

Prior to me getting um promoted to sergeant, I was a handler for just shy of four uh 15 years.

Hey.

This is uh Echo.

Here I I really wanted a dog.

Yeah, come on.

We uh identify the um Echo as a uh candidate and thanks to Chief Sileski who approving it, giving us the opportunity to uh work her.

Now I uh I'm back in the game, uh so to say.

And uh she's she comes home uh with me.

Uh she loves the family, the family loves her, they're able to get a uh get around her and play with her.

So she came um to the shelter initially as a stray and we did hold her for her stray period.

We were able to locate her owners.

Uh however, her owners weren't able to provide the care that she needed.

They recognized that and they wanted Echo to have a better life.

We recognized her potential as far as being a good working dog.

Like a little cat.

We recognize this potential all the time.

You know, and these animals aren't just wonderful companions.

She works for for play and and uh affection, love.

But they do make great working dogs, especially specific breeds that need a job to do.

Yeah, she doesn't work for food.

Go ahead, good, get up in the camera.

Finding her in animal services uh saved us a lot of money because usually we uh spend uh the prices are going up, so we're spending up to ten thousand dollars for a dog.

Um so that saved us money there, and then putting our own school on saved us additional money.

And uh she's just a big lover.

She likes to jump and hug and give kisses.

Honey, what I think you need is a socket wrench.

I play JB basketball.

I'm sorry, I don't think it looks right.

This is good, and it's all good, baby.

Is it really all good.

If you love me enough to routinely test your handyman skills, not to mention the strength of your marriage, then of course you'll visit nhts a dot gov slash the right seat to make sure I'm in the right car seat.

I'm gonna call my dad.

It's a great accomplishment.

It's one of the hardest schools that you can go through.

Um especially being the first female in Chesapeake to have passed this school.

Um it's very rewarding.

It's very uh exhilarating to say the least.

Uh thank Sheriff Jim O'Sullivan for giving me the opportunity to be able to go through this school and and to obtain this certificate in my portfolio.

Yeah.

Well, Sheriff's Office is extremely proud of Mackenzie, Deputy Powers, uh, for her accomplishment.

Um, she's the first female in the city of Chesapeake to be able to graduate such a school.

I happen to know her from when she was in high school, uh volleyball player, uh competitive volleyball, and then Oscar Schmidt volleyball.

She's always been tenacious and an athlete and real competitive.

So then when she joined over here, uh she always stood out as things we would want her to do.

She graduated through the police academy for extra certification.

Uh she did a great job with that.

And then she has a bit of a passion with uh monster trucks and things like that.

She can probably put one together, take it apart.

So this is ideal for her.

It's in her wheelhouse.

So one of the main things that they teach you in training is slow courses.

You're at about five miles per hour controlling this 850 pound bike inside of small cone areas, and when you first start, you think there's there's no way I'm gonna put this in this little area, and as they build you up and you build the confidence within the bike, you realize that you can, but getting past that mental uh block is the hardest part.

We use them for not only parades, um, any escort that we have to do funerals to presidential.

We can also do traffic control with them, um, traffic citations, anything along those lines, these are these are built for.

I see all the the guys that are out doing it, and there's only two other females in the Hampton Roads region, and uh really only one of them rides, from what I understand, and being able to be that female presence out there to show other women in the department or that want to join or from other areas that they can do it and that you know it's it's obtainable.

It's super important to our mission and the sheriff's mission.

Uh Jim O'Sullivan, as we expand the program, as we extend the uh expand the unit that we're able to encompass everybody, males and females, to do the job, and you know, with her being the first, it can open the doors to maybe sometime down in the future having a second female.

Oh, absolutely.

I can't wait until I'm out there serving the city of Chesapeake on my new rod.

Yeah.

Okay, let's pull it up.

It's the vines.

There are trees that just kind of take over, so we were working to uproot them, cut them, spray them to prevent them from growing.

Oh, you got it, you got it, keep going.

Oh I got you instead.

There we go.

There we go.

What are all the invasive species you're talking about?

Well, there's a whole mess of them.

Right now, though, we're focusing mainly on different species of Ligustrum, which is commonly called privet, um, and English ivy specifically.

As you can see, the privet crowds out stuff on the floor.

The ivy acts as a ground cover cover that then creeps up trees, and then as it gets verticality, it puts out its seeds and spreads to these natural areas.

So that sounds invasive to me.

It is.

No, and it's important to have folks, wonderful people out here volunteering, like the people over at Dollar Tree and the uh folks here at Chesapeake to make sure that we can kind of combat these invasive species together.

I think we got a lot done.

We were super energetic, uh, had great teamwork, got a lot, a lot done, had a couple huge massive piles around.

So I think we did great.

If you look here, this native paw palch ramp plant was um crowded out by the ivy, it had no chance of growing.

Um, and now we might be able to see fruit from it.

Um we clear it from the trees over here so it doesn't take over the tops.

If you look back there behind you, you might see a whole bunch more.

Um it's a lot of work, but it's really rewarding, and it's it's good to find something that I'm able to do to help community.

Is that the ticket to do the job?

Yeah, some of them um the privet when it's too big to pull up, we cut it and treat it with the chemical so it doesn't take off roots and it had been cut before, so a lot of it's hard to get up now.

So if I have a big vine, I'll be vine, I cut and spray.

If I have a big privet, cut and spray.

Um, but uh a number of groups, um, some small, some very large, some businesses, some just individuals, um, working with our staff just to clean up our parks and and to get it rid of a lot of these evasive plants.

All right, now if I go from that side, yeah.

There we go.

It's so important that uh we have so much uh extra help out here uh as well as some of our other parks, uh, just because there's so many things that our staff, especially when we get in the middle of uh mowing season and edging season and all, just trying to keep uh uh other facilities nice and beautiful, but this is just the other extra things that just really um just are priceless in helping us so that will just be uh help us with long-term maintenance and also preserve the park and the trees and um and a lot of the vegetation for many many years to come.

We got a lot more people willing to do community service around here than I would have expected, and I like that.

It's a really good thing.

Everybody has a dream.

And with a little help, I made it to the next adventure takes us to yet another park on the water.

Elizabeth River Park is nestled right beneath the Jordan Bridge with ADA accessible pathways, amenities, and more.

On this brisk yet beautiful morning, we perused the grounds under the bridge and ran into one of our park technicians that is usually on site or in the snack shack.

It's convenient, it's a beautiful park, breezes, shade.

It has a calmly fit.

There's nothing like a waterfront park with a nice breeze.

He says you take your walk with your pets.

And we have signs posted throughout the park.

Your dog always, always has to be on a leash.

You're required to pick up after you pit.

Again, we have the mutt mit stations.

We have access to the Jordan Bridge, which is a mile across and a mile back.

A lot of people actually walk or run or jog their dogs across the bridge.

I don't think that's for Penny, but Elizabeth River Park has it all.

Great grills, a view, gazebo, outdoor exercise equipment, playgrounds for people, and a dog park too.

So one for the large dog, one for the smaller dogs.

You have to have your dog rich to have a dog membership with the city of Chesapeake.

One of the unique things about the Elizabeth River Park is that we actually have a fishing pier.

No fishing license required.

And dogs are loud on the pier.

Dogs are allowed on the pier.

Woo-hoo!

Thanks, Mr.

Lightfoot.

We'll save the crabbing lessons for later and visit the dog park too.

Happy trails and happy tales, everybody.

We'll see you next time with Penny in our parks, and we can't get a community.

You know, it's it's just so wonderful to see our seniors out here interacting with each other with us with all the vendors to find out new and interesting information that can help them.

And you know, as Sheriff Newhart's vision many, many years ago to provide that service to the seniors, and I'm just so proud to be able to carry that tradition on today.

Yeah, we're having lots of fun.

The vendors and the stuff that we get and the information about uh Medicare and stuff, you know, information that I didn't really know about.

All right, let's get on for the bandwidth.

It was such an honor to give back and celebrate the individuals who've given so much to our society.

Uh I like to say they're the giants whose shoulders we stand on, and anytime we can recognize their awesomeness, I'm here for it.

As I mentioned, walking around and getting the sage wisdom that only comes from experience in life.

Am I the only one in here that's nice to sit?

I think so.

Are you having fun?

You having fun?

Yo, yeah, lots of fun.

What's your favorite part?

What did I like best?

Oh, I like music.

The band that's a good feeling for me.

See the seeing citizen doing the thing that they want to do.

Yeah, I'm having fun.

What's your favorite part?

Just eating.

The cheesecake.

I think it's an entertainment, and also the food is always good.

We have a packed house here today, and it's uh it's the hardest ticket in town.

The best part of this is just seeing their smiling faces, they're true heroes.

They paved the way for me and my children, and it's just an honor to be in the same room with them.

And present to others, our speaker for this occasion.

A man who loves sharing his ideas and thoughts and feelings with children.

A man who believes in the power of having a voice and exercising that voice.

A man who believes that you can take a reluctant reader and teach them the power of hands on a page, and a man in the rapper's world believes that you can change the world one more at a time.

Please join me in bringing back home to the podium, our aerial hand.

What are the places, what are the things in my life that have had an impact or an influence on who I became?

And I like to think that Chesapeake played a role in that.

And how my family, this city, played a significant role in who I became as an artist, as a writer, as a man.

So we're gonna talk about that today.

When I was in high school at Great Bridge, I graduated in 1986.

Not only would you have not only did we not see any black authors in our school or in the city, I don't ever recall seeing a black author outside of my house.

And I lived with two of them.

It says a lot.

I had an opportunity to speak to some students from Great Bridge High School on the yearbook committee and uh journalism club, and they asked some really important questions that I think are gonna guide my talk today.

One of the questions, if I recall was there a moment in your life where you thought that you were gonna be a writer, you were gonna be a writer who wrote something that mattered to to young people.

Was there like a moment where you knew your words were gonna have that type of impact?

The other question was were there's some teachers who impacted you and helped you become who you are today.

My favorite book as a three-year-old, which I used to run around the house screaming was Fox Sox Knox Box, Fox and Sox, socks in box.

I loved me some Dr.

Seuss.

And so as a three-year-old growing up in New York City, I memorized this book and read it and recited it every day.

Well, one particular day I was at school.

I went to a school called Riverside.

It was inside of a church called Riverside Church, built by John D.

Rockefeller.

And so at the end of the day of school, I built a house out of these wooden blocks.

I wanted to show my mom and surprise her.

This was a castle, you know, in my mind.

And so she arrived to pick me up, and before she get you know came in to get me, this kid came over and he kicked the blocks over and knocked my house down.

And of course, I went up to him with my weapons.

The only weapons I had.

And I said, those were my blocks that you flipped.

Lest you want a quick pay back, better fix my quick block stack.

Right?

And he started crying.

And when my mother came in, the teachers were like, Mrs.

Alexander, when you talk to you, your your son Kwame is arrogant.

He intimidates all the other kids with his words.

And my mother said, Thank you.

We teach him to use his words.

I couldn't articulate it then, but this was the moment where I knew that words were gonna play a profound role in my life, where I knew the power of words.

My mother was the first teacher.

She was that first person who made me.

And my fondest memory of of high school was the crushes I had and playing tennis.

And I started out being a pretty average tennis player and ended up by my senior year being the number one player on the team.

So I learned a lot about resilience and perseverance at Great Bridge High School and in Chesapeake.

I'm writing a book now about tennis, about Althea Gibson.

But certainly it impacted my my writing because everything I do is about helping young people understand that they have a voice, that they matter, that they, you know, one of my favorite quotes is I am the greatest, not because I am better than anyone, but because no one is better than me.

And that's something I learned here in Chesapeake.

So what we have here is we have a residential structure uh that's set for demolition in a couple weeks, and I've went through and I've made sure that the structure's safe for firefighters you train in.

It's uh low visibility conditions, and they have to go through and make a search and try to find victims inside.

As a fire department, we don't they don't come across very often that we have a structure that we can fill full of furniture, fill full of smoke, and get inside and train real life scenario.

A lot of times we're using concrete burn buildings, and we already know the layout when we go inside.

But uh, in this situation, the firefighters have no idea of the layout, they have no idea where the victims are.

Like when they get that call at two o'clock in the morning, and there's a report of victims inside.

This is the same setup here.

That's a problem on this way.

Firefighters are coming off their engine.

Uh, they're gonna be stretching a hose line to the front door, and they're gonna make entry and do what we call a oriented search, and that's where they take their hose line in, and the in the event they find fire, they can put it out.

They're gonna be oriented to their members in the hose line and going off that line into bedrooms looking for victims that may be inside the structure and dragging them outside.

Okay, a second, thank you for bringing up the album.

And then we also can do a what we call a vent inner search.

This is when we pull up in front of a structure and a family member is out front and they're stating, hey, my family's inside, or my child's inside, and they're in that bedroom right there.

As a fire department, we're gonna come off the engine, we're going straight to that window.

We're gonna take the glass out of the window, we're diving in, we're gonna go across the room and shut that door.

That'll isolate us from the heat and fire and give us a chance to do a thorough search of that bedroom.

Isolate.

You can't see anything, all you can do is feel.

Uh so you've got to feel around for that victim and get them right back to the window and outside.

That uh that makes it so we don't have to go in and search find our way through the house because houses can be very chopped up.

It allows us to get right in that bedroom and get them out as fast as possible.

Because at the end of the day, it's about them.

Good job.

Uh we've got everything set up, the train like it's a real deal, and you all put in the effort like it was a real deal, and we appreciate that.

Yeah, man.

Thank you.

Good stuff.

Yeah, realistic.

And then go back and talk about it, learn about it, and uh be ready for the real thing.

That's okay.

Thank you.

Good idea.

Appreciate it.

All right.

Hey pets, does your human have an emergency kit ready for you?

Mine does.

It has enough food and water to last me at least three days, plus my medications, copies of my medical records, and a first aid kit.

There's also this cute picture of me and him together, just in case he has to prove ownership.

I guess if you have one of those cat pets, you should have kitty litter and stuff like that for them too.

But why would you have cats when you could have a dog?

Just barking out loud.

Make sure your human is prepared for emergencies.

Learn how at ready.gov slash pets.

All right, today in the studio, we have a really interesting topic that we're covering, and we have real live meteorological meteorologists.

Wow, I knew that was gonna be a hard one to say.

Jeff Orrich, Eric Seymour from the National Weather Service, Wakefield, both meteorologists, right?

Correct.

Yeah.

Thank you guys so much for being here.

You know, I think everybody's idea picture of a meteorologist is like the seven-day forecast, and you know, on the evening news.

And yeah, with the exactly, we got rain coming, all that stuff.

Um, there's actually a lot more to this science.

Tell me a little bit about what you guys do out at Wakefield.

Jeff, we'll start with you.

So we're really behind the scenes.

I mean, we were a federal agency, so we've worked for the federal with the federal government.

But our job is to really do all the forecast and warnings and provide the information at the local level.

So we do cover a pretty good sized area.

Chesapeake's almost somewhat in the middle.

Uh we go all the way up to Maryland.

Uh we get Ocean City, yeah.

We go across to uh like Fort Ape Hill and like over towards Hanover, Ashland.

We have all of Richmond.

Um we go as far west as Farmville and Louisa and Carl Lake.

So if you're going out to Carl Lake, Lake Gaston, uh we forecast for those areas down to Elizabeth City.

Um so it ends up being 66 different uh counties and cities that we have to forecast for.

And the other side of that is uh obviously the all the water because with the rivers, the tributaries, the bay, the ocean.

So we do a lot of marine forecasting for all of our marine partners, the everything from the Navy uh to the Coast Guard to you know the fishermen, the pilots, and then we also get really big into a big issue around here is tidal flooding.

So we forecast tides nowadays, just like we forecast weather.

So we've been really kind of expanding what we do and how much information we provide.

So you're here in Chesapeake, yeah, we're forecasting the weather like you see every day, but we're also forecasting the tides and what's happening with the water levels here.

So, you know, that's one of our big problems around here is is tidal flooding.

And we'll definitely get into that because that is uh something here in Chesapeake because we are so low and we are so flat and so close to the water.

Um, you mix that the tide with rain and all that sort of stuff, and and it can uh spell some issues.

Eric, what about you?

What what is what is your forte uh at Wakefield?

Um I'm the warning coordination meteorologist, so I am the liaison between our guys that are doing the forecast and everything that Jeff was talking about, and then working with the emergency management community, um working some with the media as well, um trying to trying to be that go-between, answering questions when we're changing things, when things are new that are coming in.

It's my job to make sure that you know those folks know the new things are out there, the new techniques, the new tools that are available to try to help, especially with the emergency management community, trying to help them make decisions, things like that.

Um we get to do some things too where we get to play a little bit, doing tabletop exercises and stuff like that.

So you know, we get to sometimes look at interesting weather cases and apply them in real time and then see um what decisions people make, what things what things we need to communicate.

In a lot of cases, it helps us then improve you know, improve our communication, improve the information that we provide to help people make decisions in a timely fashion.

I think that's a really important piece of this.

So the the city's emergency management department um gets their info from you, the scientists, the experts who are saying this could happen, and then emergency management kind of takes that and runs with whatever the plan may be, right?

That that's kind of how it works.

You guys keep in contact with them.

We do.

I mean, our our our role when you talk talking about hurricanes or winter storms or anything like that, you know, we're the meteorologists are doing the forecast, they're issuing the warnings and everything, but then there's another whole aspect of it now that comes up for us.

It's just as important as the forecast.

We call it decision support services, uh, but really bottom line, what it is is us basically working with our key partners, helping them understand what the weather threats are and sometimes what they aren't, you know, because there's sometimes there's a lot of talk about different things, you know.

There's always a lot of hype out there, you know, on social media, this, that, and the other sources.

So it's like what's real, what's not real, um, what are the real threats um and how bad are those threats going to be?

When are they going to occur?

Um, and we also start talking about what ifs, you know, say, okay, this is our this is our best guess.

I mean, we think it's gonna do XYZ.

We think, okay, the water level is gonna hit five and a half feet.

Maybe there's a chance it could go to six and a half, and so what's the chance that that might occur?

So we start talking in probabilities, you know, uh narrowing down the focus as much as we can to help folks know what to expect, and then also talk a little bit in probabilities because we know you know, tracks of storms can change, things can change, especially that last you know, 24 hours where you have to make maybe some quick adjustments.

And so kind of helping our partners stay ahead of that in case there are changes to the forecast that they could adjust quickly.

And if you think about what all of this was like 10, 20 years ago, it was a very different game.

You guys have incredible technology now to be able to get pretty darn close to what's actually gonna happen.

Talk to me about some of that technology that you guys are able to use to make these accurate forecasts.

Well, I think there's a couple different things.

Um, you know, we've had a lot of changes with like satellite imagery, things like that that have got it's gotten um used to be, you know, a lot of times we would see maybe at best would be a 15-minute between image.

Now we have stuff we can see it minute by minute.

Um so that makes a big difference.

So you're able to then take what's actually happening in reality and then take a look at what the models are saying and and and start comparing apples to apples that way and make adjustments to the models.

But the models have gotten a lot better too.

They've gotten a lot more detailed, um, the ability to, you know, as computer technologies change, it can process so much more data.

Um so and and then we have not only do we have you know, 15, 20 years ago we had like maybe like one or two models.

Now you're talking, we've got so many more models, and you're able to then start taking those models and actually kind of averaging them all together to start coming with consensus views and things like that.

So you've had so much change in that at that point to be able to get the forecast more exact.

And you know, then when you start talking in the near term, you'd look at some of the changes that's happened with radar and things like that, where we're able to, you know, we're we're almost to the point we can almost a lot of times we can, you know, we can see now like if a tornado is on the ground, we actually have the ability to actually see the data, you know, see, you know, um, you know, will we, you know, some of the I wouldn't say damage, but some of the you know, grass and things like that that give debris that gets pulled up into the storm.

We can see that now.

Um so it's so it's made a difference in in that respect as well.

So you've got a lot of those, you know, new tools now for us to work with, and it's helped us get the forecast a lot more accurate.

It's helped our partners too.

I mean, it go back to 20, 25 years ago, you know, Floyd and other storms, um, even get into a little bit of Isabel, um, you know, the the accuracy was good, it's not like it is today.

Um, and so now, you know, when we're a lot of times we're three days out, you know, from a storm, you know, there's there's a lot of that's pretty good confidence.

You may not know every single detail, but there's pretty good confidence on how it's gonna unfold, what the impacts are gonna be, the general impact areas, even with hurricanes.

I mean, three days out, you're you're there's still error, but I mean you're still pretty you're pretty narrowed in, I mean, from a preparedness perspective.

So we're definitely able to communicate, I think, with a lot more confidence.

Um, and we're seeing our our partners, the emergency management, state, local level, even federal level, you know, they push decision timelines further out because they kind of have to because of population increases, so that's kind of forced issues, you know.

There's no way of getting out of here without going across the bridge, you know, pretty much.

So and everybody from North Carolina is coming this way, you know, in a hurricane situation, you know, evacuating.

So they're either coming here or they're going down uh towards Rocky Mount.

So, you know, we're having to make decisions further out in time, um, but the accuracy further out in time is is improving.

So we're we're able to communicate with more with more confidence.

And again, we talked about probabilities.

So with all the models that Eric talked about, you know, we are definitely able to say, okay, you know, this is what we expect, let's say, you know, 50 mile an hour wind.

What's the chance it might go to 75 mile an hour wind?

Um if we're talking about sheltering, you know, what's the chance the winds may go over 110 uh mile per hour wind and maybe start to threaten some of the some of the school shelters.

So, you know, we can definitely have more educated conversations and provide a lot more information now than we used to.

I I think you touched on a really good point there about the education.

Like you guys have the forecast, you have the science that goes behind it, but there's also that um