We have a quorum.

Thank you, Ms.

Vice Mayor.

Council is now in session.

I'd like to recognize Council Member King at this time for the invitation and the leaders in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Before you, the light of the world, we bend our knees and raise our hands.

We thank you for our citizens and for the opportunity you have afforded us to lead them.

And we ask that you guide us today as we make decisions that impact the lives of others.

Councilmember Jeffreys.

Councilmember Newens.

She is going to be a little bit late.

She's stuck in traffic.

Okay, thank you.

Councilmember Smith?

Here.

Councilmember Ward.

Present.

Councilmember Whitaker.

Present.

Vice Mayor Ritter?

Here.

Mayor West.

Present.

Next is the proposal for proposed agenda.

Are there any proposed changes to the agenda to be considered under the regular agenda?

See none.

I know need a motion.

Second.

Thank you.

Ms.

Vitter and Dr.

Ward.

Please prepare to vote.

Please vote and record.

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

Next for presentations, we have one from American Power Play presentation.

So at this time I would ask you all to join me in welcoming to the podium.

Mr.

Thomas Turner, Virginia State Director of Conservatives, Conservatives for Clean Energy to the podium.

Mr.

Turner is here on behalf of the American Power Play, a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the public and advocating for innovative forward-looking energy policies.

Mr.

Turner, the floor is yours, sir.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Oh, forgive me.

Button.

Oh wow.

Technology.

Magic button.

It gets me.

Mr.

Mayor, Madam Vice Mayor, members of City Council, I'm really pleased to be here once again to stand before you to talk about a topic that I'm very passionate about, which is alternative energy.

As the mayor stated, I am the State Director for Conservative Clean Energy, and we do advance energy policy that is more affordable, reliable, and increasingly clean, and supported all the above approach to energy.

But today I'm here to resent a recognition to your mayor for his leadership in this space.

Mayor West last year advocated very strongly for the energy tax credits at the federal level, willing to even write an up opt-ed in the local newspaper to support those efforts and also the leadership under him.

We have seen expansion in investments in offshore wind with the LS Greenleak uh company coming to Chesapeake.

So for the for those and many other reasons, I would like to present.

I nominated you to be an American power player for 2025.

This isn't a national award.

Many elected officials at the local, state, and federal levels were nominated, and you were chosen by our team here in Virginia.

So, Mr.

Mayor, would you please come down and receive this award?

Thank you, Mr.

Turner.

Thank you very much.

Congratulations, Mr.

Mayor.

This is awesome.

Thank you very much.

I certainly do appreciate it.

Yes, sir.

Glad to have the energy to be able to get come down.

Yes, sir.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Thank you, members of council, for your time.

You guys have a phenomenal evening.

Well, that was a pleasant surprise.

Thank you.

Next is citizens' comments on agenda items only.

Madam Clerk, do we have any speakers who wish to speak at this time?

Yes, sir.

We have five speakers.

The first is John Harbin for questions only.

Vic Nichols, representing CEP, speaking on several items.

Following Vic Nichols is Lee Damore.

Virginia has about 500 of them.

They become a problem.

A lot of people legitimately do not want these things near them.

And yet, like a number of other things, the elected officials run rough shot over them and put them there anyway.

Since when do these things really help us out?

Do you know how much tax money we lose because of them?

It's kind of like Dollar Tree.

For how many years did it take three-quarters of a million dollars out of the Green Bar TIFF when we really need traffic solutions there?

Where's where's any response to an email that I sent in regards to those things?

And what we're looking for in a policy.

I you know, it is just amazing that no matter how much the citizens talk about not wanting these things, and about keeping Chesapeake the same, the things that made Chesapeake different from Virginia Beach, the things that made us stand out, how deep Creek was before the infiltration.

How all these little places are and everything where people meant something, where we all knew the families.

Just what are these big data centers going to do?

We're nothing but a cog and a wheel.

How about us being our own wheel?

Thank you.

Lee Damore representing South, new business item A, followed by Dennis Cashman.

Still on?

Yeah, cool.

Mr.

Mayor, members of City Council, good evening.

My name is Leda Moore.

I was out at 921 Whisper Hollow Drive in Chesapeake.

I would first like to thank members of the Council for listening to constituents' concerns and recognizing the unique challenges data center projects present and their impact on citizens in Chesapeake.

This is much more to the tale than expected tax revenue as it was related to the learned in Northern Virginia.

The rejected project for Etheridge Woods Data Center was the poster child for how not to do it.

Lack of transparency was one of the frequent complaints heard.

Myself and a couple of other residents met with Mr.

McNamara after the votes to decline to discuss improvements to the process.

The fact that Mr.

McNamara admitted he would have recommended approval to the same project, even after it was defeated in planning commotion, planning commission, and city council votes by a wide margin.

This clearly shows the existing ordinances fall short of protecting the citizens.

I would like to see some type of public advisory committee to be included in the very early stages of any data center project, depending on the developer to do preliminary meetings and putting up some orange signs is not sufficient.

The impact of data centers far exceed any other proposed projects and requires unique guidelines and complete transparency.

I emailed members of the City Council a PDF with some suggestions from the Chesapeake Sustainability Network.

Data centers are getting a lot more scrutiny from other municipalities.

And I am sure reaching out to them will also be a key component interacting the ordinances.

Thank you for your attention.

I look forward to seeing how this is implemented.

Dennis Cashman.

Yes, uh, this I am Dennis Cashman at 1018 Grantham Lane in Chesapeake, Virginia.

Uh my concern about the lessons learned this past summer about the data center based on I think they called it Ethridge Lakes.

One of them definitely had to do with the buffer zone.

And I do see this memorandum from um Mr.

McNamara dated December 15, 25 about the initiating data centers.

Now it does talk about a 500-foot buffer zone, but I just need clarification on what this buffer zone really means.

It's 500 feet.

In the Etherage Lake proposed, he measured it from the rooftops.

It should be from the property line.

As long as this buffer zone, unfortunately, it's only 500 feet.

I based on other criteria, I think it should be more, but apparently if you are going to settle on 500 feet, I just want to make it clear that it's from the property line to property line of the proposed data center to residential property lines.

And it does mention in here that in this memorandum, there's 27,000 residential zoned parcels that are within 500 feet of property that could be used for a data center.

Again, within 500 feet, I'm not sure about the semantics, but it I need clarification about that.

To me, as long as you're it's like outside of the 500 feet buffer.

If there's a 500 foot buffer zone, you can't be within it.

So it we just need some semantics.

As long as there's if you're going to stick with a minimum of 500 feet, for me that means if my property line is where I am, and this is the 500 feet between where the noise is going to be generated, whether it's a uh generator or the air conditioning, that's the 500 feet.

You can't be within that.

Nothing is within it.

Uh a buffer zone is a dead zone or no no person zone.

That's all.

I'm just looking for clarification with uh examples.

His memorandum does give a nice uh graphics that shows these 27 partials, but maybe it's somewhere within there.

I just need a bigger bigger map.

So that's my biggest concerns right now, and thank you for listening to me.

Thank you, sir.

Kenneth Byrd.

Good evening, uh, Mayor West, Vice Mayor, Ritter, and members of council.

Uh though I think we've all met at some point.

For those of you who have not had a chance to introduce myself to, my name is Kenneth Byrd.

I'm a proud member of your police department, and I also serve on the board of directors for the Virginia Division of Law Enforcement United, of which Tim Schock was a founding member.

Uh a 16-year veteran for serving our city.

Uh, Tim helped start our community policing unit in the early 2000s, and later became an auto theft detective and a valued member of our underwater search and recovery team.

Though I was not fortunate enough to have known Tim, I am proud to take a few minutes to speak in excess of the many letters you have already received in support of the resolution on the agenda tonight.

The resolution renames the lake at Oak Grove Lake Park to the Officer Timothy Shock Memorial Lake, and is what some may call a long time coming.

For me, though, the time that the time has come is what really matters.

Thank you for letting uh me tell you what your vote really means.

Your vote is more than just clicking that green button in front of you and watching that light behind you turn to green as you vote yes.

Your vote of yes means you are honoring the fallen.

Your vote of yes means you are remembering the survivors.

Your vote of yes means you are hourly showing your support yet again for your public safety team.

Your vote of yes means that citizens and visitors for Chesapeake for years to come will learn about Tim's life and Tim's legacy.

But most importantly, your vote of yes means continued healing for Tim's survivors.

Uh whether it's my friend Tammy, Tim's fiance, his son Nicholas, uh, members of our department who knew Tim or all of his family and friends uh who he's left behind.

Uh that is what your vote of yes means is it means more to them than you all will probably ever know.

Uh so on behalf of Law Enforcement United Team Chesapeake, uh, we thank you for voting to make this change uh in the parks naming, and we look forward uh to seeing each of you all at the dedication ceremony uh when it happens.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you so much.

That concludes the speakers.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Next is our consent agenda.

Would you please present Madam Clerk?

Item one, acknowledgements for rezoning applications.

Public necessity.

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 February 11, 2026, and will be considered by City Council at a future meeting.

A PLN REZ 2025-009, Meridian Reserve North, B P L N R E Z 2025-011, Elbow Estates Proper Modification, C PLN PUD M 2025-001, Scenic Heights PUD Modification.

Resignations, a Dr.

Michael Daniels, Chesapeake Redevelopment Housing Authority, B, Antonio Taylor, Chesapeake Agricultural Advisory Commission, and C, Alveda Alexander Community Criminal Justice Board.

City Manager Items one, request to accept and appropriate $10,000 received from the Virginia Department of Forestry to the Virginia Trees for Clean Water Grant.

Requested by parks, recreation, and tourism.

The next three items are requested by police.

Item two, request for the authority to apply for a grant from the National Police Dog Foundation.

Item three, request for the authority to apply for a public safety answering point education program grant from the Virginia Department of Emergency Management.

And item four, request to accept and appropriate 236,966 received from the Department of Criminal Justice Services to the Operation Ceasefire Forensic and Analytic Technology Grant.

The next three items are requested by fire.

Number five, request to accept and appropriate 12,000 received from the Beasley Foundation to support the Explorers Post Program.

Item 6, request to accept and appropriate $3,000 received from the Virginia Department of Emergency Management to the FY 2024 State Homeland Security Program Hampton Roads Incident Management Team Grant.

Item 7, request to accept and appropriate $93,948 received from the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency to the FY 2024 Assistance to Firefighters Grant and transfer $9,395 from the Virginia Department of Fire Programs Aid to Localities Fire Program Fund for the required matching funds.

Item eight, resolution petitioning the Virginia Department of Transportation to add streets to the urban highway system requested by public works.

That concludes the consent agenda, Mayor.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

And before we ask for a motion, I would like to call on its new ones.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

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

I'm disclosing this personal interest because city managers items five, six, and seven could benefit fire department employees.

Since the fire department includes three or more people who may be affected, the city attorney advised that I can participate if this disclosure is made.

I do not have any conflict preventing me from participating, so I hereby affirm that I can participate fairly objectively in the public's best interest.

I believe Councilmember Jeffrey is also.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

I'm an employee of the city and a member of its police department.

I am disclosing this personal interest because city manager's items two, three, and four could benefit police department employees.

Since the police department includes three or more people who may be affected, the city attorney has advised that I can participate if this disclosure is made.

I do not have a conflict that prevents me from participating, and I hereby affirm that I can participate fairly objectively and in the public's interest.

Thank you very much, sir.

Are there any items that council members would like to have removed from the for discussion in the regular agenda?

Yes, please.

Ms.

Ritter?

Thank you.

I'd like to have number four removed.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And unless there are other removals, I would move approval of the consent agenda.

We have a motion to approve the consent agenda with the exception of item four.

We have a second, please.

Second.

Thank you, Dr.

Ward.

Any other discussion?

Please prepare to vote.

Please vote and report, Madam Clerk.

Motion to approve the consent agenda with the exception of City Manager Item 4 is adopted is adopted by a 9-0 vote.

Next is our regular agenda, and we'll go to item four from the consent agenda first.

Ms.

Ritter.

Thank you.

The point to remove this is more for the listeners and those here present.

Certainly no objection on my part.

Almost four years ago, I had the privilege of being asked to represent the city at the announcement and roll out of the governor, the new governor's bold blue line, and the new attorney general's ceasefire program.

In light of I I asked the manager if he could, if he could just guess how much we have been able to help our police department.

I don't want the chief may know off the top of his head.

I wouldn't guess on the order of magnitude, but it's in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, and it's gone from everything from training to technology to enhancing our capability and everything from data analytics throughout all works of policing.

I just think it's important at this time to recognize the tremendous advancements that we have been able to get with the grants, especially from the ceasefire project.

And it's meant a lot to our law enforcement professionals.

It's meant a lot to the council, and it's money that did not have to come from our general fund directly from Chesapeake taxpayers.

So I just wanted to note how grateful the city is for this program that helped us so much to bolster our law enforcement efforts here in the city and thank everybody who's had a part in lowering our crime weight and to say really a very heartfelt thank you for this program that's helped so much.

So with that, I move approval of City Manager Consent Agenda Item 4.

Thank you, Mr.

Ritter.

We have a Mr.

Jeffers a second.

Thank you.

Any discussion, further discussion?

Please prepare to vote.

Please vote and record Madam Clerk.

Motion to approve city manager item four is adopted by a 9-0 vote.

Okay, we'll have move.

There you go.

Next is uh item nine, Mr.

Manager.

Would you please present your item?

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Item nine is a request to amend the FY26 operating budget and appropriate 187,500 to the non-departmental account for the Chesapeake Airport Authority requested by the budget department.

Motion, please.

Mr.

Jeffries.

Actually, I had a question for the City Manager.

Can you get a motion first and then look at the motion to approve?

Thank you.

We have a second.

Second.

Thank you, Ms.

Newlands.

Mr.

Jefferson.

Mr.

Manager, we had a presentation last year from the uh airport outlining initiatives that they plan to enact to offset some of these expenses for the city.

Have you gotten a report back on their progress?

Yes, sir.

So following the work session, I believe in response to some questions from Council, Airport Authority staff did uh send you answers to those questions.

Um but we have some additional detailed questions that we will continue to answer both from our perspective and on behalf of council.

Actually, I believe it's this week we have the Airport Authority budget hearing for the next fiscal year.

And so we're going to start um those conversations with how are we implementing um the recommendations that you all presented to City Council.

So the the next time we'll likely have a conversation with council about this will be um during the budget budget process with council beginning in March, and we'll specifically outline um airport authorities budget request and what, if anything they have done to implement uh the recommendations from the work that we did with the consultant.

Thank you.

Further discussion.

Uh please prepare to vote.

Please vote and record.

Madam Clerk.

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

Item 10 is a resolution approving the Chesapeake Land Bank Authority 2025 to 2030 strategic plan dated December 2025, requested by Chesapeake Land Bank Authority.

Thank you, Dr.

Ward, Mr.

Whitaker.

Second.

Thank you.

Any discussion?

No.

Dr.

Ward?

Seeing none, please prepare to vote.

Please vote and record.

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

Item 11 is a request to change the funding source of $11,966,159 for the South Central Water and Sewer Transmission Capital Improvement Project from future revenue bonds to Federal grant funding requested by public utilities.

Motion, please.

To move approval.

Thank you, Mr.

Whitaker.

Second.

Thank you.

Any discussion?

I have uh.

Mr.

Whitaker.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh Mr.

Manager, if you'd be so kind, could you please elaborate exactly where this money is.

Exactly where it's come from and where it's going and how it's being how the money is being re established back to the city.

Yes, sir.

So I'll ask Captain Geis if I get myself into trouble to bail me out, but I I think I have a pretty good answer.

So this has been a longtime project in the in the um in the city's plans to provide um utility service, particularly water service, um, to Northwest Annex.

Um we've had that project in the capital improvement program um for a while with city funds from the utility uh uh uh um fund.

Um but the the Navy is the primary customer, and and so um I think it's you know people are aware that the Navy has had some um some issues with contamination um at that site.

There's some concern that that contamination might someday leave the Navy facility and and encroach onto private wells.

And so we've worked really hard, Captain Geist in particular, but um you know, our members of Congress, um, Congresswoman Keggins and Congressman Scott uh in particular really worked hard to um with the Defense Department to get these funds to do two things.

Number one, from our perspective, they um help defray the cost of this project from the utility um to the Federal Government.

The remainder will be picked up by user fees uh from the Navy over time.

Number two, it gains a very significant water customer for the city's um utility uh department, so a very substantial benefit to the city there.

Obviously, I mentioned the benefits to the Navy and the folks uh with Wells in that nearby area.

And then lastly, because if you think about all of the Defense Department's priorities on every facility, having this money appropriated by the Defense Department means that this project rises now to a level of criticality where it's actually going to get done.

Without this funding, it might have been years and years before this project advanced, but now it accelerates that project.

So a lot of really significant benefits both to the Navy and the community.

Articulated very well.

Thank you, sir.

But I do have one more question.

So when that water main is run, the people nearby do not have to connect into that, correct?

That is correct.

So it's very similar to the work we're doing with the airport.

We've talked about it with Fentris.

We have comprehensive plan policies, utility policies, and development and permits policies about the extension of utilities and whether or not those are mandatory connections.

We're changing all of those and aligning them so it's crystal clear that in an event like this, where we're extending to serve a public facility that's otherwise in an area that is not intended for service, that those connections will not be mandatory.

We still will incentivize people to connect if they choose to, like we already do today, but they won't be mandatory.

Thank you very much, Mr.

Manager.

Mr.

Price, this uh funding was rather rather competitive.

Is that correct?

That is correct.

Uh Captain Guys, can you can you give uh uh update on on uh what that funding um request looked like?

Uh yeah, yes, sir.

Um this pro the DCP program, defense community infrastructure program uh is a hundred million dollars across the entire nation.

So our share of that at 12 million dollars is significant.

It's the only project in the Hampton Roads area to be funded.

And uh again, this is going to fund almost half of the water line project itself.

Coincidentally, we also were awarded almost a two million dollar grant by the state of the Commonwealth of Virginia to help for this project as well.

So uh we we've been very successful in getting uh uh defense money and Commonwealth money to help defray the cost of this.

And again, the customer is the Navy.

The Navy is the beneficiary, both on the base and the Navy housing residents that are right outside the base.

They'll be served by this water line.

Thank you, sir, and I appreciate your efforts in making all that happen.

I can tell you I know at the last Hampton Roads uh military facility alliance where they really are there to help protect uh the military facilities throughout our region.

We're very impressed that we could have uh that you could help us get that much money, and you were certainly recognized for those efforts, and we do appreciate that.

We appreciate all that we are able to do with it.

I think we've had enough cop talk.

Let's uh vote.

Please prepare to vote.

Please vote and record.

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

Item 12 is a request to appropriate 184,000 received from the Virginia Department of Social Services to the Department of Human Services FY26 operating budget and transfer 46,000 of matching funds within the Social Services Fund to this program requested by human services as an emergency action.

A motion as emergency is requested.

Ms.

Redder?

Move approval as an emergency.

Dr.

Ward.

Thank you.

Any discussion?

Please prepare to vote.

Please vote and record.

Motion to approve the request as presented and as an emergency action as adopted by a 9-0 vote.

Item 13 is a resolution designating a portion of city-owned property located at 409 Byron Street, known as Oak Grove Lake, to be renamed and known as Officer Timothy Shock Memorial Lake and designating city-owned property located at 409 Byron Street, known as Oak Grove Lake Park, to be renamed and known as Oak Grove Park, requested by Parks Recreation and Tourism.

Ms.

Newit?

Move approval.

Mr.

Jeffries.

Second.

Second.

Thank you.

Mr.

Jeffries.

Thank you.

Ms.

Newth.

Discussion.

I just want to offer a brief comment of thanks to Sergeant Byrd, who offered brief remarks about Tim's legacy and his sacrifice that he made to the city.

Also want to thank his fiancee and son that are present for being here.

Thank you for the sacrifice that you all live every day and for um Law Enforcement United for honoring those who have fallen in our community.

For those who don't know, Law Enforcement United isn't national organization.

It's a nonprofit that honors fallen law enforcement across our nation by doing a bike ride, not a motor bike, Mr.

Mayor, that you are familiar with.

And actual pedal bike ride that's quite significant.

But it it's an honor of our fallen officers, and I'm so glad they were able to do this.

It's long overdue, and I am I just asked my council members to continue to support this item.

Um Captain Jeffries, I don't know if you have any comments you would like to make.

I didn't have the pleasure of knowing Tim, but I certainly know his legacy that he's left behind in the city.

I hadn't plan to speak tonight, but it's uh it's an honor to just even have this forward for a vote tonight.

And I would encourage all the members of council to take to heart Sergeant Byrd's uh comments.

I think he summed it up better than I could as far as the the uh the detective, the father, the son that we lost that day.

And it's just a reminder that you know every day there there are folks that put on the uniform and go out and serve this community, and life is fragile, and whether it's on us on the street or in a training environment.

Uh it's it's what they do every day in a very thankless world.

It's very reassuring to see a city that feels differently.

So thank you.

Mr.

Downs, I appreciate you addressing those that were some of those that are here today in the honor of this.

I do want to take a second, had an opportunity to meet and talk to uh Nicholas Schock.

Would you stand up, say there you are?

Thank you for being here.

Uh very interesting young man.

It's good to have you here.

Yes, sir.

Next is uh that's all our regular agenda.

Oh, we need to do a little little minor thing.

Please prepare to vote.

Please vote and record.

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

See, I was so sure we were going to go 9-0.

I didn't even think we had to do it.

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

Madam Clerk, do we have any?

Yes, sir.

We have four speakers.

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

I was late because of traffic.

Again, the city can't manage the infrastructure for the growth that approves.

Virginia Beach has left their COVID call in to council speaker status.

Why doesn't the city that cares do that?

Caught again.

No one reaffirmed our two A city status.

I guess you decided that you, the government, is more important than we, the people's God-given constitutional rights to defend ourselves, especially from y'all.

We can learn from the Iranians.

If you time traveled to 1950, you could buy home for three times your annual salary.

But today a starter home costs 11 times more.

Why?

It's the bureaucracy premium.

Cost incurred by builders and passed on to buyers priorly to satisfy government mandates and permits.

According to the National Association of Home Builders, regulatory compliance accounts for nearly 25% of the price of a new single family home.

Is it any wonder why nobody can afford anything?

We need a cap on real estate assessments at the acquisition cost for the current buyer who resides in the home and limit the increases in the tax bill in the year after acquisition to 3% and capped at age 70.

The empirical studies are mixed on whether high density increases affordable units.

Increasing household incomes are actually having a much better grim pact on affordability.

Current cost of construction of an apartment, even a basic apartment can't be offset with density at stick construction at moment, and once the height exceeds five stories, and we've got some of them now, the per square cost of construction doubles.

Taxing people who are struggling to stay in housing to subsidize the rent of people needing affordable housing is a spiral to the bottom.

There, you have the tax-free military housing allowance that sets a rental floor over what private sector compensation would sustain.

Going back to DANER centers, let me give you the requirements.

No rate hikes for energy passed on to us.

Communities have a meaningful say in project approvals and community benefits package.

Energy reliability can't worsen because of Daner Center projects and include enforceable commitments the people, not the electeds, can do from utilities to approve energy reliability funded by their revenues, local jobs guarantees, closed loop cooling systems, binding agreements, including local infrastructure investments, improvements to the electrical grid, buying power lines and upgrading water treatment facilities and piping.

And all those agreements must be enforceable through actionable penalties.

Want to make sure of that.

Now, if y'all aren't ready to say yes to that, then you're dumping things off on us.

And already the state has put a ton of more taxes, fees, and everything up there.

So much more for affordable.

So where does Chesapeake stand?

Y'all need to make a decision, and you need to make it pretty quickly.

Because tomorrow starts the General Assembly.

I love it.

One question I have for y'all.

Do we have road signs in any language other than English?

Because the DMV gives the driver's test in other languages.

But if we only have our signs in English, why are they giving the test in other languages?

You know what I'm concerned about?

It's the idiots out on the road.

You guys drive.

How about y'all be concerned about that too?

Because I'm concerned about a poor person I know that only has one vehicle that got into a major accident.

Should I say more about drivers who shouldn't have been here in the first place?

Okay.

We need to start doing something.

It's 2026.

Let's start doing something for our citizens that actually makes meaningful impacts in the day-to-day lives.

And that means infrastructure, that means doing something about the taxes.

Or you know, since we have it both ways, we got one party at the state and one party at the feds.

Maybe it'd be worth it to try and get them involved into the books.

Because I know y'all don't want to give them to me.

I've already given y'all a couple of places where stuff is hiding.

Next speaker, please.

Thank you.

Tommy Hart, representing Ceph, speaking on public safety, followed by Linda Tyndale.

Good evening, Mayor and Vice Mayor, members of council.

My name's Tommy Hart.

I live in 1900 St.

Brian's Road, Chesapeake.

This event that I'm telling you about tonight was what caused my career ending with the Chesapeake Police Department.

I was a member of the vice squad in internal affairs for the city of Chesapeake.

The whole Great Bridge, Deep Creek, all area was plagued with robberies and armed robberies.

Everybody knew who was doing the robberies, but they wouldn't let nobody do anything.

And finally, the city manager told the chief he needed to do something about it.

And I just happened to be the one, and I I don't know whether the city manager told him to put me on it or not.

I knew that I had about a 50-50 chance that I wouldn't live through it because of the person I was dealing with.

But anyhow, he told us to catch this person robbing these, mostly he did drug stores.

He robbed the drug stores.

And so on the first night that we started the investigation, we staked out police headquarters.

He left.

We followed him all the way to Willoughby Spit in Norfolk, where he backed his police car between two houses, got out, went up to the screen door, screen porch, and the woman that was waiting for him had was looking I reckon because she met him at the screen door, unlocked screen door, they embraced, went in the house.

We sat there for three hours and 45 minutes watching the house, and he never came out.

So when the lights went out, we figured he went to bed for the last time.

So we left.

We stopped on the way back to headquarters and called a sergeant and told him we needed to meet with him and he needed to call the chief.

Well, when I got to headquarters, I was typing up a report.

I thought, hey, I've caught him, you know, over there at Willoughby Svit shacked up with a woman on duty.

Well, I was doing a report, and the sergeant came in, he said, there would be no paperwork.

I said, Well, I'm doing a report.

And he reached over and grabbed the paper out of the typewriter, tore it up, threw it in the trash can.

He said, Either one of y'all, there was another detective work making.

He said, Either one of y'all mentioned this to anybody, you'll be fired.

So I told him, I said, he said, Well, how come you went across the Norfolk City Line?

I said, I was following him.

I said I was investigating him.

He said, You had no business crossing the Norfolk City Line without my permission.

So he hung his hat on that.

And he, so he told me, he said, Well, why'd you go to Norfolk?

I said, Well, he could have been going to Norfolk to hit a drugstore over there.

He said, if you hit a drugstore over there, that's Norfolk's problem.

He said, if it hits a drugstore over there while y'all are watching him, you will not say a word.

You'll just come back to Chesapeake and tell me what he did.

So I said, that's okay.

And this when my mouth outrun my brain.

I told him, I said, that's all right.

I said, when I catch him in Chesapeake robbing a drugstore, I said, I'm going to lock him up and I'm going to take it before a judge.

I said, Looks like me to judge is going to be the only way I can get any justice.

And he I was taken off the case right there.

The next day I found out that myself and Detective Barnett were under investigation by the sergeant.

And he followed Detective Barnett.

They had a hard time following me because I was on a tractor on my farm and he couldn't follow me.

But he followed Detective Barnett over to Victory Boulevard in Portsmouth.

So he comes to me and he says, I want you to write a letter saying you've seen Detective Barnett on Victory Boulevard at this is it time.

And I said, I ain't been over there.

He said he won't know the difference.

I've seen him.

I said, Look, I ain't gonna lie.

So that evening he called me and he met me at Old Drive, the 7 Eleven store, and he handed me a letter and he said, Here, I'm ordering you to sign this.

I'll turn the light on, looked at it.

It was a letter saying that I'd seen Detective Barnett driving his police car across Portsmouth City Line.

And I told him I ain't gonna do it.

Next day I know I was in the chief's office.

He fired me for he read the letter to me that uh I can't say his name, can I?

Anyhow.

Sergeant L.

The letter that he wrote on me about driving across city line.

Well, he knew that wouldn't fly because I want you to ask any policeman you got if they cross the Norfolk Portsmouth, Virginia Beach City Line if they have to call and get oral permission to cross the line.

I've never heard of it.

But he ended up firing me for insubordination.

He said, Wasn't you ordered to sign a letter for Sergeant L?

And I said, Yeah.

He said, Well, why didn't you sign it?

I said, Because it was a lie.

He said, There's something you gotta learn.

He said, When you're a police officer, sometimes you have to lie for the good of the department.

And I said, not me.

And I was reduced in rank, lost my detective rank, and they put me all the way over in Western Branch, so I couldn't.

I told him I was going to get uh I'll say his name, Pappas.

I mean he I should tie Mr.

Hart, I'm sorry.

Thank you for coming, sir.

I can't wait to read your book.

You need to write a book.

Mr.

Jackson will help you back then.

Hey, I've got enough to last the rest of my life to write a book and we all can read.

But I'm gonna live five more just all right, thank you, sir.

See you next time.

Linda Tyndale, representing West Road Rural Neighbors.

Speaking on South Central Water Main and West Road.

Linda Tyndall, 1045 West Road.

Good evening and happy new year.

Thank you for your continued support concerning the South Central Water Main and Loop, Phase 1 on West Road.

You have agreed that our established improved rural properties have private infrastructure in place and that it should not be mandatory that we connect to the city water system being installed on West Road to the airport.

Mr.

Price plans to offer incentives and payment options to citizens who choose to connect during the construction of the transmission line.

But I still can't sleep at night.

I can't stop thinking that in three or seven or twenty years from now, my cold dead body will be found at the bottom of my stairs after tripping over one of my dogs.

My son will be left with the task of selling the farm.

It will be complicated by a lien that was placed on the deed for failure to comply with city code number 78-52A.

I foresee a future city council that will clearly state that the lien is there because of the PUFA requirement to connect.

Excuse me.

The lien is there because the PUFA requirement to connect was ignored by the property owner.

They will be sorry to say that their hands are tied and they have to follow the Chesapeake City Code, Section 78-52A, that requires owners to connect to public utilities and pay connection fees and monthly service charges if located within the PUFA when new distribution lines become available on their street.

I'm not asking you to modify the code, but I am requesting that you remove our rural portion of West Road, specifically from Dominion Boulevard to Drumcastle from the public utility franchise area.

Thank you again for your continued assistance with this PUFA and water transmission line concern.

It should be optional, not mandatory, and to protect us, we should be removed from the PUFA.

I need something in writing, not just verbal assurances that we do not have to abide by the city code.

Mr.

Price, your earlier comments have me expecting something good next week.

Good night and sweet dreams, everyone.

Katrina Castle speaking on ICE cooperation and enabling.

Good evening, Mr.

Mayor, Madam Vice Mayor, City Council.

My name is Katrina Castle.

I'm a Virginia native.

I'm a resident of Chesapeake, and I have a child in our city's public schools.

I live at 2858 Lambert.

Can you hear me?

Oh.

Can you hear me now?

I feel like a very old commercial.

One more round.

I'm Katrina Castle.

I live at 2858 Lambert.

I'm a Virginia native.

I'm a resident of Chesapeake, and I have a child in our public schools.

And this morning I dropped him off at elementary school because he had missed the bus.

And as I watched him and the other children stream into their school, I found myself feeling ill at ease.

And I started scanning the cars, looking for some tale signs.

Tinted windows, hidden lights, out of place plates.

I felt fear.

I felt anger, and I felt confusion.

What makes us so different?

Am I safer than a mom in Minnesota who did the same thing the morning she was killed?

I searched for some logic that I could cling to that might protect me from a haunting reality and a truth that I didn't want to face.

Are we really so different?

Well, I did some digging.

And it turns out that we're really not that different.

Chesapeake is the second largest city in Virginia, and Minneapolis, Minnesota is the largest city in Minnesota.

Our city is a little more diverse, a little less white, but really no more educated and no more wealthy.

Our immigrant communities are pretty similarly comparable.

In fact, our communities have grown at a rate that their city can't match.

So why her and not me?

The top five states in the country right now for ICE arrests are California, Georgia, Arizona, Florida, and Texas.

But do you know who number six is?

It's Virginia.

Our arrests were up five times in 2025 from the year before, and we have two detention facilities that are overflowing with the usual suspects, citizens, legal residents, and little to no one with any criminal history to speak of.

Our own city became the only one in the region to enable this mass incarceration, tripling the number of people we helpfully detained for ICE by extending the amount of time we were willing to hold them and pocketing a pretty penny for the compliance.

So it seems that the main difference is that our silence has been bought.

The main reason that I get to go home is the city and the city's council's willingness to profit from the exploitation of a marginalized community.

You may think that this cooperation keeps the wrath of the federal government from kicking in my front door, but that's just another pretty lie.

They are lying when they say they are targeting criminals.

Over 70% of the people currently detained in Virginia have no criminal history at all.

They are lying when they say that we are safer.

And they lie when they say that you just have to do what you're told, and no one will get hurt.

So what is the truth?

What is the real difference?

Well, there is none.

There is nothing.

No chasm of silence, no level of cooperation, no amount of compliance that will make me safer than her or any of us.

The wolf is at the door, and feeding it won't make it go away.

It will come back, hungrier, and it will not spare us.

It stops when we end it.

You must end the shameful cooperation that puts profit over people and public safety.

You must demand accountability, no warrantless searches, no ice in our schools, and no more compliance.

Do not wait for the truth to find you, bleeding in the street.

Do not ignore the fact that your silence and your privilege does not shield you or anyone else.

Do not wait until it is Camelot or Deep Creek or Hickory.

Stand up now.

Refuse to cooperate now.

It cannot continue without our cooperation.

That is why they demand it and coerce it.

You must not give it to them.

Let them rage, let them say what they will, but do not let them say that our revolutionary state did not earn her motto.

Do not let them say that the city that cares is the city that caved.

Though I am not affiliated with the organization, I am a daughter of the American Revolution, and my ancestors and I understand the assignment.

And my ancestors and I understand the assignment.

We are the mother of presidents, and we can do no less for liberty and justice than the founders that we raised.

We owe our allegiance to the Constitution and our community.

And we must fight for justice to equality.

Is that the last speaker?

Yes, sir.

Thank you.

You know, this uh part of the agenda, Citizens' Comments and Services Policy and Affairs of the City is always an important part of our agenda because we get to hear from different different perspectives, and that's that's a good thing.

And I certainly respect every person who comes to that mic's opinion and so forth.

However, I think it's kind of uh important to point out to our public and to our remind our council that as Old Dominion does their annual uh citizen satisfaction of uh uh comparisons with within the region, Chesapeake is always considered the one of the the highest or maybe second highest in the region of citizen satisfaction.

So when someone says you ought to do something that Virginia Beach is doing, well, in general, our our population is very uh happy and satisfied with the direction there we're going.

I just think it's sometimes sometimes we just need to remind ourselves of that.

Next is unfinished business.

Uh do we have any unfinished business from council members?

May I um just say something about Ms.

Tyndale's comment?

Sure.

Thank you.

Uh thank you for your comments, Ms.

Tyndale.

And uh the manager assures us that these options will be ready, and that will be up to the homeowner.

We have discovered, however, um, through a little bit of research, and if I might um ask Ms.

Lindley to comment about lending requirements and the requirement to be hooked up if the utility service is available.

We talked about that.

And I think your research showed only certain types of financing would be subject to that.

Is that correct?

Yes, ma'am.

Do you want do you remember enough?

I'm sorry I'm doing this without notice, but I think it was federal financing FHA VA.

Oh, yes, I'm sorry.

Yes, you're correct.

It's all the things are fairly finance or VA loans and FHA loans were the ones that would have those criteria as part of the lending.

So the criteria would be should you have federally backed lending for a mortgage on your home.

There, and you know, a good realtor would find this out for a homeowner.

Um that would need to be looked at to see if that requirement would be necessary for the um mortgage to go from one to another.

You know, there it's kind of like living in the fentress overlay, where at the very top of the requirements for your home, and what you can do on your property is what that contract with the United States Navy says.

And after that, that does it that has supremacy over local um decisions.

So that's the one caveat that people should be able to ask their realtor to research for them.

Thank you, Ms.

Redder.

Thank you, Ms.

Mr.

Smith.

Did you have uh unfinished business?

Yes.

Okay.

This is for thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

This is for the city manager, and that it's in reference to an update on the study for attainable affordable housing in the Deep Creek corridor of South Military Highway and and other areas of the city.

Anything on that update-wise?

I know staff's working on that, but we'll I'll get a briefing um on uh when we can expect that uh to be dispatched to council.

Any other unfinished business?

Next is new business.

Madam Clerk, would you please?

A, an initiating resolution requesting the Chesapeake Planning Commission to consider and make recommendations concerning proposed amendments to the Chesapeake Zoning Ordinance to modify tables of permitted and conditional uses to provide that data centers are a conditional use in appropriate zoning districts when certain conditions are met, requested by planning.

A motion please.

Thank you, Ms.

Ritter.

We have a second.

Any discussion?

Motion to approve the initiating resolution as presented is adopted by a nine oh vote.

Are there any additional new business items council members would like to bring up at this time?

Seeing none.

I do believe we have a closed session, Miss Lindley.

I have two to read into the record.

Would you like me to start now?

Yes.

A motion to conduct a closed meeting for one discussion concerning a prospective business where no previous announcement has been made of the business's interest in locating or expanding facilities in the city for the purpose of discussing potential economic development opportunities.

And two, consultation with the city attorney and staff where discussion in an open meeting would adversely affect the litigating posture of the city council, specifically regarding a building code appeal on a property in southern Chesapeake.

All is permitted by section two point two dash thirty seven eleven, A five and seven of the code of Virginia.

Thank you.

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

A motion is certified 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.