Mr.

Solis, good to see you down there.

Yes, sir, Mr.

Mayor.

Carrie Online.

Yes, sir.

So one of City Council's desired outcomes is safety and security, and we have a very informative briefing on a program called Safety Connect.

And I'll turn it over to uh Deputy City Manager Bob Geis to get us started.

Thank you.

Good evening, and uh thank you for the opportunity to brief you on one of the projects we've been working on.

Bobby and I and the team have been the team has been working on for quite a few years.

Um and one of the uh things we want to include is the ability to um react quickly in the event of emergency.

So one of the things we're rolling out uh is what's called Safety Connect, and it is a application that will be on cities phones that allows us to uh put an SOS out if uh God forbid something unfortunate happened.

So as you know, Bobby uh G uh has uh moved from OEM uh emergency management into the police department and heads our safety and security division of the police department.

And with that, we'll turn it over to Bobby.

All right, thank you, Mr.

Geiss.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Mayor, Vice Mayor, uh members of council.

Uh for those of you that do not know me, um excuse me, my name is Bobby Jellerman.

Uh I've been with the city for 18 years, started in the fire department in 2007, uh, spent 10 years in the field, and then moved into emergency management and spent eight years with them, and then recently we added the position of the security program manager.

And it went from the fire department over to the dark side to the police department.

So it's been very a good a great blessing.

So um, but I'm excited to uh kind of go over something that we've been working on for quite a while now.

So as you all know, um we use Everbridge, that's our mass notification system.

So there's two sides of Everbridge.

Uh you probably know it more so as Chesspeak Alert.

Um there's the employee side and the citizen side.

So the citizen side obviously is Chesspeak Alert, which you can sign up for different uh notifications, and then internally on the employee side, we use it for every department can use it for different types of notifications everywhere from uh the police department uses it for call-outs, dispatch uses it for overtime, fire department uses it for uh working incident notifications, which you all should receive, you should receive those as well as the uh significant police notifications.

Well, we wanted to take it a step further uh and bring an awareness and bring the ability to uh allow employees to notify us if they're in an uh emergent situation.

So that's what I wanted to kind of talk to you all about today.

Uh just real quick, so the purpose just to go over to introduce the application to you all, talk about some of the features, uh, and then talk about the instruction on the use of the app and then the rollout what we're doing for our employees.

So under the scope, so every city uh cell phone, uh whether it be a city issued phone or if you receive the city stipend will automatically receive the app.

Uh it'll be downloaded uh by IT to the device.

And then all city employees that have a personal cell phone will be offered the opportunity to download the app to their uh personal cell phone.

Um one of the major requirements that we're gonna ask all city employees is that and we you know we've been doing this for a couple of years now is that employees keep their information, their contact information uh updated in ESS of the employee self-service.

You know, that's our way of of getting uh information out to them, uh making sure that if they do have a cell phone that it's listed uh in the portal so that we can make contact with them.

Now, obviously some employees are not gonna want to uh download the app, and that's totally their choice.

This is another tool in the toolbox, it's just uh another way of um keeping them safe.

But if they do not wish to download the app, they'll be required to sign a waiver acknowledging that they've been offered the use of the app.

And then most importantly, we'll have training uh on the app and how to use it and when to use it.

So the purpose of the app is to be used really only in the event uh of emergency.

And it limits the abilities, the employees' ability to dial 911.

As you will see in front, kind of some screenshots of what the app looks like.

Now, one thing that's uh important to know is as an employee that lives in the city that they can use the Everbridge app for both uh citizen notifications and employee notifications.

So if you have the if you see the if you look at the pictures in front, that middle uh screenshot, you can see there's two different logos.

So there's the uh Chesapeake Citizen Alerts and then the uh all employee uh alerts.

So that is the one that is a nice amenity of the of having the app, especially if you do live in the city that you can get dual notifications.

Uh and then there's the a major difference will be notification versus incident.

So any type of SOS is triggered, that's considered an incident.

And uh that's how the system recognizes um that there's been an activation.

So you know, a scenario's uh and an employee is um under duress and is unable to dial 911 and they have the app, they have their phone open, they open the app, they hit the SOS, it will start a countdown timer.

Um it also has GPS location, they can move the their location with uh on the pin on the map uh or and they can go ahead and activate it right then and there, uh or there's a countdown timer.

So if the employees in there uh just kind of testing it out or playing with it and they don't want to activate it, they can cancel that, or they can go ahead and um activate it.

So when the activation takes place, the the notification process also takes place, and when that happens, uh key entities which are defined as public safety personnel, um that's uh those within the police department, um, the fire department, OEM, all of dispatch, and then department heads will receive a notification that an SOS has been initiated.

So you'll see on these next two screenshots, this is exactly what would happen.

So it comes in a couple different ways.

It's going to come in through the Everbridge app.

The app itself will give you a notification.

Uh you'll get a text message as well as an email.

Um if you when you look at the text message, it'll have a hyperlink in it.

When you click on the link, it'll open up your web browser and it'll give you this uh second screenshot.

You'll be able to actually pull up the location of the employee where they are, and then you'll also be able to get two minutes of live audio and video from the employee's device.

This next slide uh kind of reiterates that.

So the first being the location.

So uh the key entities that receive the notification, they can click on the link, uh the GPS link and see exactly where the employee is.

And then they can also click on the audio video link, and as you can see, I I did a test on my phone, it comes up and and you're gonna see real time exactly what is uh coming off that employee's cell phone.

The nice thing is that there's the ability to do there's a chat feature within the incident, so that uh if the employee is ends up in a barricade situation or is has the ability that they can't talk but they could text the users that uh the key entities that receive the notification, they can go into the chat feature and then communicate with the employee.

And then we can also do follow-up messaging through Everbridge.

Uh and then one of the another key part that we'll be able to do is that we'll do all employee messaging to let the employees know that uh an SOS has been initiated.

So for our next steps, um we spent a lot of time myself, our uh members of IT, uh member of PubCom and Everbridge, we've created a lot of uh instructional instructional documents.

Um it's been introduced to the department heads, uh the app and the directions have been sent out to them as well as the key entities to download and to be in testing and kind of play with the app, create some muscle memory with uh using it, uh, experiment, see how it works, um, use taking that and uh tweaking the materials that we've sent out.

We want to make sure that we kind of that we really have this thing cleaned up uh and ready to go, have the buy-in from our key entities from our department heads that as we roll it out to employees that they are um well informed uh as far as what this will do and the benefits of it.

Um so our our game plan is that we'll roll this out to our general employees uh over the next couple months uh we're in the we're in that testing phase with our department heads right now so with that I'll field any questions anyone may have thank you so much questions comments council members Ms.

Rutter um Mr.

Smith go ahead how easy or how hard is it to actually push your information in to get started it's it's very simple um so anyone that if you have like I said if you have a city cell phone uh and you're and you're using it you're because you've logged in to the phone um we're using single sign on so anything that you've done through the phone uh your information is already in there so basically you the apps pushed right to it you click on the app when an app when it opens up it's gonna ask you to um change your location settings to always allow it's gonna ask you for your phone number to put it in it's gonna ask you for a pin and then from there you're set and you're ready to go.

Yes sir.

Ms.

Thank you.

Thank you for being here Mr.

Chadlerman we miss your weather updates.

Well I'm sorry.

Okay.

So I have a couple questions for you.

This is somewhat similar to the school's use of the Raptor system is it not?

Yes ma'am.

And so will you have the ability in case of an emergency to do a head count to know where employees happen to be during that time.

So through the app we can have the employees check in to let us know if they're if they're safe we can also send out uh messaging through Everbridge through the system and and ask for a confirmation basic a simple yes or no and then from there we can do follow-up messaging if someone obviously if someone says no then we can you know direct resources or or make some phone calls to see why they said no and then we can also continue to message those that do not confirm the message that that's that's uh a staple of the system that's been around for quite some time you can do polling features you can do confirmation but uh the nice part about the app is it does provide a check-in feature that we can that we plan to use in the future after we roll out the the SOS portion.

Okay and I know the schools have been very successful with the use of the student badges and of course all city employees have badges is that part of what you're looking at in the future it is.

So you know real pie in the sky what we want to be able to do is as employees come to work, have them badge in and badge out, have the ability to know you know when they're uh on campus or or that they're in a city facility from there we can feed that information uh back to our EOC we can feed it back into our real time crime and information center we can have a dashboard or a map up and see exactly where you know where a p an employee has badged into a city facility or if they've badged out and then you know if and when the event of something extension emergent happens we know if it especially if it's at a city facility we know who has been there or is there uh at the time of that incident.

So this will cover all city facilities.

Yes ma'am it will and at this point right now we don't have badge access for every single facility at every single door in time as we roll out more security features and as we create the environment where employees have that muscle memory to badge in, badge out.

It's a it's a process and it's uh it is uh something that our culture doesn't have yet um but once we get more badge access once we have the ability to um to ensure we know where people are not just in a building but where in the building they are um that will help us in time.

But right now we're really focused on ensuring that if God forbid something bad happens, we can one notify first responders first and foremost when we can get better situational awareness of the event itself because that SOS feature will allow people when that incident has happened, when you have uh activated it, then your phone can be uh a tool that the first responders get an opportunity to see that as well, which will help build their situational awareness as they're coming to the scene.

And then uh eventually and right now we have manual methods to ensure we know where people are, especially after an incident, like we just like a fire drill or any other type of incident where we'll do a head count, we'll ensure we know you know who came to work today.

That's already a feature that department heads do.

Um it's not quite automated yet, and that will be a next phase.

But right now we do that accountability of our employees after an event manually.

Okay, so I would assume you have a a priority list of facilities that would be addressed or not.

We do, and we're rolling them out uh systematically.

Many of our facilities have where you can badge in and people do that to to gain access, where we aren't um we're not there yet on people badging out.

We're not there people badging in out for lunch and badging in after lunch and those type of things.

So that's a cultural thing that we'll get to.

Um and and really it requires both more badge access for facilities like individual offices, like you could badge into City Hall, um, but you may not have to badge in to a certain area in City Hall.

Um eventually we'll get to that for every division, every department will have badge access.

We're not there yet.

But when we do get there, um it will be an easier thing to get people to swipe in and swipe out.

My old my old life we swiped in and swiped out of all our facilities.

So it's it it can happen.

It just takes time.

Right.

Well, I I know the schools have been working towards that, and it's been pretty successful, but they didn't roll out for every student at the same time.

Do I remember that correctly?

That's correct, yes.

Okay.

So I would have to guess a facility like the jail would be a high priority.

Yes.

I mean, I right now you that's that's probably our most secure facility in the in the city.

And so they do have badge access as you go through.

Like you can't just walk into the jail and and gain access.

So you um you do have multiple layers that you have to go through already.

Um and they do have the ability to have that.

We're not there at City Hall and every room and a city hall.

Certainly you can't get to upper floors uh, you know, in the areas where you typically aren't having um uh citizen access.

Right now you have to badge to those um individual places, but on the first floor, obviously we we don't have that.

You don't have to badge to go see the treasurer, you don't have to badge and and our citizens obviously don't have badges.

So we want to ensure that we are creating that balance between safety and security of the employees, our citizens, and access to the services that we provide.

That is our function.

Okay, and um so is this monitored in the dispatch center on off work or just period.

How do we monitor the incoming?

As far as the the with the app.

So it yes, it will be monitored through the real-time crime and information center, but then it's also monitored by those that receive the notification.

Um that's 24-7.

Well, with the for the employees, yes.

Okay.

I think that's it.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Ms.

Nillis.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Um couple of questions about and I know I came in late, so you may have answered this already.

The when it's being offered to city staff, are we looking at offering, or does that include, I guess, like our quasi-city staff, so like our constitutional officers that are both state and city, as well as potentially uh the court personnel.

So I know they're under the state branch, but this could be something really useful to like our clerks that um are in the courts that I mean deputies obviously have radios that they could get assistance with and you know, weapons, but our clerk's office, they're through the state and they don't have any, I think, type of way to notify for help.

So they're in because they are in ESS, because we have them within our um, they're they'll receive it as well.

Okay.

So they'll be in the initial rollout for all city employees.

They will be offered it.

Okay, wonderful.

Thank you.

And if I could just also um emphasize, so if you have if if the city is paying for a phone, either through a stipend or you know, an actual device, uh, it will be downloaded automatically.

Um for folks who don't have a stipend or do not have a city cell phone, we're going to offer that as a safety and security function.

So um we feel like we don't want to push that on people that don't want to have it.

Some people may not be comfortable having it on their phone.

Um bottom line is everybody knows their phones are being tracked by many, many people and companies not uh so and we aren't using this to track employees.

This is simply in the event of emergency, if you uh hit the SOS, that's when we'll know where you are and be able to check in that way.

I get this image, you know, you when you say SOS, somebody's hiding in the closet, and all of a sudden their phone goes off.

And they're trying to hide from the perpetrator.

I guess that's all taken care of, right?

Um, so uh I think it's all predicated on how you have your your phone set up, if you have your phone on silent or not.

Um actual sound, or is it just like a regular message?

It it'll do both.

So uh to get technical with it there within the app, you can set up different notification sounds.

Uh, and then the same thing.

And I think I've I've said this to most of you on council when we set up um your phones uh within Everbridge to have the Everbridge contact uh as its own specific contact.

So if it does, if you do get a notification that it sounds different than your normal text tone, so that you know it's um something specific.

So that's that's one of those things that you know, the user has to take ownership as far as how it's set up within their device.

That makes sense.

You both are uh doing a great job.

We thank you and appreciate you so much.

Okay, I guess that concludes Mr.

Solis.

Are we that we're gonna do that?

Yes, sir, Mr.

Mayor.

That's all the topics for this evening's four session.

Council begins a regular meeting at six thirty.

I might post down the three.

I have to apply for our food.

Right.

We are actually uh going there with the five blow up and come down.

Oh, I don't know.

Oh, what do you want to go to?

Can we do that?

Yeah, you can probably five way.

Oh, what a colour.

We have a quorum mayor.

Thank you, Miss Vice Mayor.

Council is now in session.

I'd like to recognize Council Member Bunn at this time for the indication and the ladies in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Thank you, Rare West.

Let us pray.

Holy one, we ask for your blessings as we start this city council meeting this evening.

Please be with this council and bless our city management staff and leadership staff and the citizens that are here this evening.

Amen.

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

One nation.

Indivisible for liberty for all.

Thank you, Councilman Bunn.

Madam Clerk, would you please call the roll?

Councilmember Bunn.

Here.

Councilmember Jeffries.

Here.

Councilmember King here.

Councilmember Newins?

Here.

Councilmember Smith?

Here.

Councilmember Ward?

Present.

Councilmember Whitaker?

Present.

Vice Mayor Ritter?

Here.

Mayor West.

Here.

Next is the approval of the proposed agenda.

Are there any changes Councilmembers would like to make?

Seeing none, could you have a motion, please?

Move to approve.

Second.

Thank you, Mr.

Smith.

Dr.

Ward, please prepare to vote.

Please vote and record the motion to approve the agenda as presented is adopted by a 9-0 vote.

Next is applicants' agents and citizens' comments on public hearing items.

This City Council meeting constitutes a limited public forum.

Therefore, public comments must be relevant to items on the council's agenda tonight.

And when speaking on the agenda item, please make sure your comments directly relate to the merits of the application.

Which means you focus on the details and the facts of the proposed agenda item.

Focusing comments on the merits of the application will ensure that this public hearing serves its intended purpose for gathering relevant information for the voting body.

Further, to strike a balance between maintaining order and honoring the public's right to express themselves has established 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 this meeting in an orderly manner by disorderly, insolent or disturbing action, speech or other conduct will be declared out of order.

Madam Clerk, are there any speakers who wish to speak on the presentation of the public hearing items?

Not at this time.

Thank you.

Would you please present public hearing item A?

PLN Use 2025-014, Bainbridge Boulevard, South Norfolk Business Overlay District, Residential Balance Builders Inc., Applicant Balance Builders Inc.

and Loma LLC owner for a conditional use permit to allow four single-family detached residential units in the South Norfolk Business Overlay District.

The property is located at 1312 and 1320 Bainbridge Boulevard in the South Norfolk Planning Area.

The planning commission recommends denial.

The applicant proposed revised stipulations dated November the 19th, 2025, for Council's consideration as listed in the official agenda.

Planning Director McNamare, are the what are the planning staff's recommendations?

The original proposal that was presented to Planning Commission included four separate driveway access points on a busy roadway, which create a safety risk due to minimal distance between driveways.

Since that time, the applicant has revised their proposal to consolidate access to two shared driveways.

Staff now finds that this request supports ongoing revitalization efforts in the South Norfolk area and is consistent with the multiple with multiple objectives of the comprehensive plan.

As such, staff now recommends approval with revised stipulations day in November 19, 2025.

Thank you.

Madam Clerk, are there any speakers who wish to speak?

No, sir.

Or not.

A motion is in order with revised stipulations dated November 19, 2025.

Move approval.

Second.

Thank you.

Dr.

King, Ms.

Millens.

Any discussion?

Mr.

Smith.

Yes, I have one question.

That's in reference to the sidewalk.

Is there a role still yet for sidewalk in that area?

Could you correct by the question?

I I didn't quite get it.

I'm speaking on the homes.

Is there a sidewalk available today?

There's a concrete sidewalk that I believe is already existing, so they will be building around that sidewalk.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Smith.

Mr.

Whitaker.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

I've actually spoke to the applicant today and uh and I've heard from many members of the community.

I would like to make a substitute motion to have this postponed till next month to give the applicant the opportunity to touch base and speak with the community to address their concerns.

So your motion is for a continuance for one month.

That is correct.

Do we have a second on that substitute motion?

Second.

Thank you, Ms.

Ritter.

Discussion on the uh substitute motion.

Council?

Ms.

Newens.

I guess may I just ask for clarification from Councilmember Whitaker about the concerns that are surfacing?

Because I have not received any emails or any concerns communicated to me, and there is no one here tonight.

So I feel a bit uncomfortable continuing this without having citizens voice those concerns.

Do you mind just sharing what some of the concerns are that have been addressed to you?

Yes, my understanding is from people in the South Norfolk Civic League and other people in the community that when they when it last went to public hearing, it was a unanimous denial.

And since it has gone back to staff, and staff has now changed their persuasion to approval.

So I think this would give the residents an opportunity to see the changes made and then come it come back to council for further consideration.

And was the applicant supportive of a continuance when you spoke with him or her?

They were do we have a specific date that we would continue it to?

It would be the planning meeting for January.

One month, okay.

January 2018.

Any other discussion, Ms.

Ritter?

Um thank you.

I think it would be a great idea if you would give the some direction to the staff.

I know we'll go ahead and put it in for advertising as to what the outcome would be.

What are you asking the developers to do?

To meet with the community and inform them of the changes that have been made and that the staff has changed their recommendation based on that.

That is correct, yes.

So it would only be to allow for that.

That is correct.

Outcome, correct.

That is correct.

Thank you, Mr.

Whitaker.

Yes.

Any other discussion?

Mr.

Bond.

Thank you, Mayor West.

Um question for Councilman Whitaker.

So are you asking for this to go back to planning?

Is that correct?

No.

No.

I don't see where it would be necessary to tie up the applicant for what could potentially turn into months of months more added to the process when the outcome is to address the community and address the citizens' concerns in the community.

Okay.

One of the concerns that I heard from several residents in that area.

And I I could I guess I can direct this to the Planning Director, if that's okay with you, Mr.

Manager.

The excessing or are going out of the driveway?

I guess backing out.

Can you address that?

I think Mr.

Tate just walked into the audience.

So if I could, I might direct those questions to Mr.

Tate.

Merry Christmas, Mr.

Tate.

Good timing, Mr.

Tate.

Yes, sir.

Is it Michael?

Yeah.

Restate that.

One of the concerns that I heard from a lot of residents, several residents from that area, too.

And Brainprints Boulevard is a pretty busy street, I would say.

Is the safety aspect of cars just get in and out of the driveway, like leaving their house?

Right.

So brand new development criteria, we wouldn't normally have residential construction on an arterial roadway.

And you know, this is one of the reasons why, because you wouldn't normally want that.

If this was a discretionary decision of like a rezoning or something, we might consider, you know, is this the best use?

But with Bainbridge Boulevard, it's got a few residential along it anyway.

We didn't think it was completely inconsistent.

We do think that they've minimized some of the safety concerns by pushing the entrances together and only having two conflict points versus that.

You are right, it isn't the ideal condition, but we didn't find it, you know, quite as bad as like Battlefield Boulevard, where we actually have that in some cases.

The other thing I would say as arterials go, Bainbridge is kind of at the lower end, both in the speed and the volume of traffic.

So it's it's not ideal, but it didn't warrant us recommending against it for that.

Okay.

Thank you.

Um support of Mr.

Um Whitaker's secondary motion.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Bond.

Any other comments from questions from Council members?

Madam Clerk, would you please read the motion that we are voting on?

The substitute motion is to continue PLN use 2025-014 to January 20th, 2026 City Council meeting.

Council members, please prepare to vote.

Please vote and record.

Madam Clerk.

Substitute motion to continue the item to January 20th, 2026 is adopted by an 8 to 1 vote.

Thank you.

Item B, please.

PLN Use 2025-019.

McDonald's drive-through South Norfolk, McDonald's Corporation applicant.

Franchise Realty Interstate Corporation Owner, C Far Shaw LLP Agency for Conditional Use Permit to operate an outdoor amplified speaker system within 300 feet of residential property and a request for reasonable deviations from front yard setbacks.

The property is located at 1401 22nd Street in the South Norfolk Planning Area.

The planning commission recommends approval with stipulations as listed in the official agenda.

Thank you.

Planning staff recommendations.

The proposed site layout is consistent with the South Norfolk Business Overlay District as the physical and architectural aspects are reasonably consistent with the historic urban form of the area.

It also aligns with the guiding principles of the village center district in the adopted Pointexer Corridor Strategic Development Plan, which promotes a pedestrian-friendly environment and supports the preservation and growth of existing businesses.

Staff recommends approval of the request with stipulations dated October 16, 2025.

Thank you, Mr.

McMayor.

Are there any speakers, Madam Clerk?

We have two speakers present for questions only.

Okay, thank you.

Motion is in order with stipulations.

Move approval.

Second.

Thank you, Dr.

Ward and Mr.

Whitaker.

Any discussion?

Just a question.

Excuse me, one second.

Let me I I think I had a little uh I need to clarify.

You know, I sometimes some Mr.

Bond, I think you may have said second first.

I I know but I just want to clarify for everybody.

I'm can 100 percent relying on what I see, not what I hear.

So push the button, whoever pushed the button first, that's who I'm gonna recognize.

Just make it clear.

Okay.

All right.

Go ahead.

I'm sorry.

I didn't mean to interrupt.

Well, did Dr.

Ward or Mr.

Bunn want to say anything?

No, I'll go.

Yeah.

All right.

Just uh uh an addition.

There's a request for reasonable deviations from the front yard setback, Dr.

Wood.

Would you like to include that?

One moment.

Uh that is no longer in consideration.

Is that correct?

Yes, it's part of the part of the item itself.

Okay, I had it marked out, but it is it is still.

It's in the title of the item.

Thank you, Mr.

Duplicate.

Would you please thank you?

So that's with stipulations and a request for the reasonable deviation from the front yard and setbacks.

And the second are they okay with that?

We're good.

All good.

Any other discussion?

Please prepare to vote.

Please vote and record.

Please.

Yes.

Motion to approve PLN use 2025-09 with stipulations as presented is adopted by a 9-0 vote.

Item C, please.

PLN U CT 2025-005, Jolliffe Road City Communication Tower, City of Chesapeake, applicant owner, for a conditional use permit to construct an approximately 199-foot-tall communications tower in support of the city's private LTE wireless network.

The property is located at 2305 Jolliffe Road in the Western Branch Planning Area.

The planning commission recommends approval with stipulations as listed in the official agenda.

Mr.

McNamare.

The proposed communication tower is consistent with the policies of the comprehensive plan and city council's desired outcome for connectivity as it will promote the provision of wireless services to support the city private LTE network and will be compatible with surrounding land uses.

Staff recommends approval with stipulations date, October 17th, 2025.

Thank you, sir.

Do we have any speakers, Madam Clerk?

No, sir.

No speakers.

Motion, please, with stipulations?

Move approval with stipulations.

Thank you, Mr.

Jeffreys.

Mr.

Jeffries, you have a motion, sir?

Motion for approval stipulations.

Thank you.

We have a second, please.

Mr.

Smith?

Second.

Thank you, sir.

We're going to get this down before the four years are up.

Please prepare to vote.

Please vote and record.

Madam Clerk.

Motion to approve PLNU CT 2025-005 with stipulations as presented is adopted by a 9-0 vote.

Thank you.

Next is citizens' comments on agenda items only.

Madam Clark, do we have any?

We have one speaker, but uh Vic Nichols, I don't believe she made it.

Okay.

Next is our regular agenda.

Uh Mr.

Manager.

Excuse me, Mr.

Deputy Manager.

Yes, sir, Mr.

Mayor, members of council.

Uh City Manager Item No.

Is a request for the authority to apply for a Virginia housing capacity building training grant from the uh Virginia Housing Department, and that is requested by the uh planning department.

Could we have a motion, please?

Move approval.

Ms.

Newens.

Second.

Thank you.

Mr.

Dr.

Ward.

Any discussion?

Thank you.

Please prepare to vote.

Please vote and record.

Motion to approve the request as presented is adopted by an 8 to 1 vote.

Mr.

Solace?

Yes, sir.

Mr.

Mayor, members of council.

Item number two is consideration of a grant agreement with the Commonwealth of Virginia requested by the Department of Public Utilities.

Item 2A is, and this is two parts, a resolution authorizing the City Manager or designee to execute a domestic grant agreement between the City of Chesapeake and the Commonwealth of Virginia acting through the offices of Secretary of Finance and Secretary of Veterans and Defense Affairs for the purpose of receiving funding to extend the South Central water transmission main from the City of Chesapeake's Northwest River Treatment Plant to the U.S.

Navy Northwest Annex.

Thank you.

A motion, please.

Move approval.

Ms.

Ritter, thank you.

Second.

Thank you, Mr.

Whitaker.

Any discussion?

Yes.

Mr.

Whitaker?

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Mr.

Sullis, will the residents that this project has to pass by, will they be made mandatory tie into this water main?

Or would this be directed for and only for the purpose of bringing water to the Northwest Annex?

Mayor West, Councilmember Whitaker, the residents along the corridor that the water main will pass will not be required to tap into the to the water main.

It is it is the primary focus of the uh project is to serve the U.S.

Navy Northwest Annex.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Mr.

Smith?

Response to that.

Is it still an option?

I believe it will still be an option, Mr.

Mayor, Councilmember Smith, but I'll defer to Director of Public Utilities, David Jurgens, on that.

I believe it is over time, it may be, but now no.

The intent for this project is that this will be a water transmission line solely to serve the Navy, and that at this time it would not be allowed to be connected to, nor would it be required.

But that can be subject to City Council decision at any time if that position were to change.

So as we are voting on it, we are voting on it as a not an option.

That's my understanding.

Is that correct?

That's correct.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Mr.

Smith?

Yes.

Thank you.

Ms.

Ritter?

Thank you.

Don't go away, Mr.

Juckens.

I think we've talked about this.

Folks have come down here who want the hookup not to be mandatory.

Whether they want it optional or not is another question.

I think to build the confidence of people.

You know, distrust of government is somewhat healthy.

We all have it in in some form or fashion.

So I think it would be really helpful to please develop the waiver.

And let people know what it is going to say.

So they have some more confidence in what we're saying to them.

And I would assume that would be the city attorney's office in conjunction with you.

Yes, ma'am.

That would write the waiver.

And we have actually developed a section, a change to the code that was focused primarily on the Fentrest water line, because we have discussed exactly that, where it would be available but not required for connection.

And so we have worked with the City Attorney's Office to develop that code.

We are doing a finishing uh touches on that.

We've got a we'll have a meeting with the City Manager here in a few weeks, and then we'll be bringing that forward to City Council.

Again, the focus on that one was for Fentris, but if the City Council were to decide to do that for other locations, we can do that as well.

Well, I think that would be a good idea because we've got concerns of folks who live on West Road.

We have now concerns about people who would be impacted by taking it to the Northwest facility.

And let them see what the language is.

There is some other language that we might want to put in, not as an agreement with the city, but as a notification to the property owner regarding government-backed home loans.

So they are aware of responsibilities that may fall to them.

Is that correct, Ms.

Lindley?

So I think we would sure go a long way if we could provide the text that people will see.

My last question would be on the Northwest River connection to Northwest.

My understanding is the homes along the way will not be impacted by the public utilities franchise area.

I hate that acronym, by the way.

Yes, ma'am.

I have heard you say that before.

Yes, I mean it sounds weird.

So we have not brought forward and we were not intending to bring forward any proposed change to the utilities franchise area until we get further along, and then what we would, unless we are guided to do otherwise, the intent would be to bring forward only a franchise area change for the Northwest Annex itself, and not for any area outside that footprint.

And I think that's similar for what we did for the Hickory Schools complex years ago.

Yes, ma'am, down Hickory Elementary, yes, ma'am.

Uh not elementary, the high school and middle school.

When there's actually for both.

The Hickory Middle Hickory Elementary has a very small island of franchise area, as well as the that was what was done for the middle and high schools as well.

Yes, ma'am.

Okay.

Thank you very much.

Mr.

Newis?

I have a question for Mr.

Solis or Mr.

Jergins.

I'm not sure who would be the best suited to answer it, but to Ms.

Ritter's point about notifications to citizens, Mr.

Jurgins, you indicated there was this would not be accessible for hookup unless there is council action.

So what notification would go out to citizens if there was a future council action?

Not saying that there would be, but how would people know to be on the lookout for something that would come or could come?

So before we do any construction, we send a letter out to every adjoining landowner.

And then we have we host a meeting.

And that's what we did out at uh Grassfield High School a few weeks ago or a couple months ago that generated the conversation around the West Road lines.

So we have those meetings and we send a letter to every property owner along the path adjacent to where the pipeline is.

So that notification occurs, and then we provide information there, and we have a newsletter that we send out to everybody both along the path, as well as anybody who attends and express interest in receiving that newsletter.

So that would be one method that we would normally use for any of our projects to notify landowners.

So if there was any change that hookup did become available or mandatory or anything along those lines, the landowners would be notified by letter or contact by the city prior to that?

Yes, ma'am.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'll be very brief.

So that raises a concern with me.

When someone signs a waiver, it shouldn't go back and then become mandatory.

Should the property change ownership, perhaps it would be an option for them to hook up if the construction allows for it.

But to give them a waiver and then come back at some point and say now you have to.

I would be very concerned about that.

So we want to make sure it's very clear when these waivers are executed.

Okay.

Yes, ma'am.

That is a concern, and I I wouldn't want to sign a waiver and 15 years later find out that it wasn't any good anymore.

So in the ordinance as it's been drafted, and it is just in draft, and still again will be going forward before the city manager for conversation and decision there.

There isn't actually discussion of a waiver.

There is simply the ordinance that for, and again, this was targeted on the Fentrest line, where it would be allowed but not required, but there isn't actually a waiver that would be granted to property owners.

It would just be this is the way it is at that time.

And we're actually far afield from the discussion of accepting a grant from the State for the Navy project.

But we we have the public health and safety concern to consider where for Fentris, the groundwater is contaminated there.

And so there are other factors that would need to be discussed and brought into consideration as we make the decisions of where to go.

Those decisions haven't all been made.

Again, we're bringing that forward a draft ordinance to the city manager for discussion.

So that's not none of that is actually finalized at this point or proposed.

No, I understand that.

And particularly since I live in Fentress.

But we're talking now about other expansions and what we're going to make available to the property owners.

So I hope you'll bear that in mind.

I think you probably hear a consensus up here about what people would hope to see in an upcoming ordinance.

Yes, ma'am.

So I'll leave it at that.

Thank you.

Mr.

Mayor, Vice Mayor, we'll take the feedback from council under advisement when we come back.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Dr.

Ward?

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

And thank you, Mr.

Jackson, before you go.

But because I was hearing, and I was concerned, because it did seem to say that at a future date, Council could possibly make a decision, but I didn't hear until Mr.

asked her a question that it can go back and should, I would think, to the citizens, because we heard a lot of this, you know, the concerns about from the citizens about whether or not they could hook up or could not, or would it be mandatory?

And then I heard and I think I did in the motion that it is not going to consider it the citizens at all is going to be the way that it is now, that it would just be going to the Northwest annex and no citizens would be involved.

But I didn't hear that citizens, if they decide if they wanted to, they could come back and ask or request to get, you know, to hook up.

Now is that correct?

Or does the planning Mr.

Jenkins?

So the item before Council tonight is to approve a grant from the State for this project to Northwest Annex, and then to approve a change in funding.

Discussion over connections to that pipeline.

We'll have two full years before that pipeline will be getting approaching completion where we can make those decisions.

We prefer to make them within the next six months or so.

And we will I held the item for the Fentress water line until we had all three of these projects together so we could have a thorough and complete discussion rather than propose that amendment to ordinance for just that one project when I knew we had these others coming forward, so we could determine what the will of council and will the will of the people was.

So that decision wouldn't have to be made tonight by any means.

There can be significant discussion, recommendations and requests from council that we can bring forward within the next year and make that decision.

So we have time to decide what we want to do and hear from the folks from all three of these projects.

Thank you.

I think that was my concern.

If the citizens are going to be able to come down and ask or require and get the information before any other decisions would be made.

Thank you.

Any further discussion?

Madam Clerk, would you please read the motion?

The motion will be to approve the resolution as presented.

Thank you.

Please prepare to vote.

Please vote and record.

Madam Clerk.

Motion to approve the resolution as presented is adopted by a 9-0 vote.

Mr.

Saltis.

Mr.

Mayor, members of council, uh item 2B, the companion uh item with this is to request a change uh to change the funding source of the uh $1,794,924 for the South Central Water and Sewer Transmission Capital Improvement Project from future revenue bonds to State grant funding.

Motion please.

Move approval.

I do second.

Thank you, Dr.

Ward.

Any discussion?

Please prepare to vote.

Please vote and record motion to approve the request as presented is adopted by a 9-0 vote.

Next item.

Mr.

Mayor, members of council item number three is an initiating resolution requesting the Chesapeake Planning Commission to consider and make recommendations concerning proposed amendments to Chapter 70 of the Chesapeake Code, Article 20 of the Chesapeake Zoning Ordinance, and any necessary and correlating amendments to provide general updates and change criminal zoning enforcement to civil enforcement as requested by the Department of Planning.

Motion please.

Thank you.

Any discussion.

Please prepare to vote.

Please vote and record.

Motion to approve the initiating resolution as presented is adopted by motion to approve the initiating resolution as presented is adopted by a 9-0 vote.

Thank you.

Next is unfinished business.

Do we have any unfinished business council members?

Seeing none, we'll go to new business.

Do we have any new business?

I'm sorry.

I don't see the light on.

Do you have a did you have something?

Just a comment or two, but I can wait until after.

I'm sorry.

Go ahead.

It's not really new business, but I did just want to um say thank you to so many of the great positive things that have been going on getting ready for the holidays, including the Rotary Christmas parade and the senior uh Christmas event.

And I do want to just um say thank you uh to the Chesapeake Women's Club who raised quite a bit of money on the 6th of uh December for scholarships for our young ladies and this small group of 12 women just pulled off of the spectacular event.

So in this um, I mean it has been quite a December, and there's so many things that our citizens could take advantage of uh from Western Branch to Green Brown, the Great Bridge, all of the beautiful homes that have been decorated and the streets.

And if you haven't visited Weston Branch Woodland Trail, please do so uh because it's like trapping room only to see the displays there.

So something positive going into the holidays since we will not be meeting again until January.

Please enjoy some of the festivities, including uh City Hall, Mr.

Mayor.

Wonderful job.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh Dr.

Ward, and you are correct.

It has been five years.

We've been lighting up City Hall for Christmas decorations and uh talking to uh our parks direct parks and recreation director, Mr.

Barber.

They've done a great job every year making it bigger and better, and just the crowd this past uh week was uh was enormous and looking forward to again this weekend uh lighting the tree and seeing the crowds and the kids running around and smiling.

It will be certainly awesome.

Ms.

Newins.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Um, to the note of positivity, I just want to um congratulate and thank our mayor for his leadership.

He on Friday made an announcement with the governor for the largest economic development project in Hampton Roads, uh $689 million investment here in Chesapeake, uh over 400 new jobs.

So I just want to thank you, Mayor West, for your leadership.

I know you were crucial.

Oh, thank you.

Certainly, it took takes a vision of a uh of a staff and a council to something of this magnitude to occur to occur, and I do appreciate that this council comes together with to vote regardless of what our personal opinions are.

We always consider what's best interest for the future of our great city and lucky to have such a great council.

Thank you, Ms.

Newens.

So we are at the closed meeting uh uh announcement or certification language.

A motion to conduct a closed meeting to discuss the acquisition and conveyance of certain real properties located in the southern Chesapeake planning area, where discussion in an open meeting would adversely affect the bargaining position or negotiating strategy of the public body as permitted by section 2.2-3711A3 of the Code of Virginia.

Thank you.

Motion please approval.

Thank you.

Dr.

Ward.

Second, Mr.

Whitaker.

Thank you.

For second, please prepare to vote.

Please vote and record motion to conduct a closed meeting is adopted by a 9-0 vote.

It is 7 05, and council will again go into closed session.

City Turn City Attorney Linley, would you please provide the language for the certification of the closed meeting?

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

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

And then go with those.

And then we'll get to the bottom.

Electric shot.

Don't need to make one with them.

I don't know what the ballot is.

I know that I will be proud of the bigger one.

Oh no, papa.

You should cherish the love you find.

There's something to hold on to this is on your mind.

I know that I will be pretty good.