Speaker numbers apply only to this recording. Names come from transcript evidence. “Possibly” marks uncertain attribution.
The Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors met on October 22, 2025, beginning with a 2 p.m. work session and resuming at 6 p.m. for the evening session. The meeting honored the memory of Dale District Supervisor Jim Holland, who passed away on October 14, 2025. Key topics included annual updates on sports tourism and social services, mobility services, numerous zoning and public hearing items, and several consent agenda approvals.
Good afternoon and welcome to the afternoon session of October twenty second Board of Supervisors meeting. Before we begin today's meeting, I want to take a moment to acknowledge a profound loss that has touched our board and our community. On October 14th, we lost our board colleague, Dell District Supervisor Jim Holland. Since two thousand and eight, Mr. Holland has served on this board with honor and distinction, a testament not only to his dedication to others, but also to the deep trust the community placed in him. Even as he fought a courageous battle with cancer, he remained deeply engaged and thoughtful in his work. Staff has one request. Motion approved the uh amended agenda. All in favor. Item three, everyday excellence. Dr. Casey. Um as we start every meeting, um, we wanted to show the frontline services of our staff to the people of Chesterfield County. And I and I'll just personally note the word excellence is a word that was said many times by our Dell District representative. You know, hence that the term everyday excellence is in the spirit of Mr. Holland of what we try and do uh for the people of Chesterfield County. So today is no different though. Um, and it is a large crowd, but it just shows you it takes uh many of us and many different expertise to help out those in need. Uh and then what started out maybe as a library observation lent itself to uh many different departments, boots on the ground in some cases of a team that that never uh gave up holding somebody's hand until they got to where they needed to be. So with that said, I'll let Ms. Freed explain all the goodness that's behind this story and the people behind it. Great. Thanks, Dr. Casey. Um, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, Dr. Casey. It's um it was just mentioned. Um, as you recall, last month the mental health support services department presented our annual report, and we use this as a success story, and it truly is. When you look at the number of people that have that are involved in this, it represents a number of departments as well. And I'll name everybody in a few minutes. But just to kind of summarize um briefly again, this is a situation that started with a grandmother and a grandson who were living in their vehicle in the parking lot at one of our libraries and had been living there, I think for two and a half months. Um, a lot of support was being provided to them by library personnel and the next door neighbor, I believe, was the husband of a library professional. I may not have all the details correct, but I will say that once they really put on the radar that this family was in need, everybody just sprung into action at that time. And it started with our co-response team coming in. Um they initially realized that there needed to be some engagement with behavioral health professionals and just trying to you know um have them be comfortable enough to speak with behavioral health professionals was uh you know a situation in itself. But once they gained, once the family gained or we gained the trust of the individuals in need, there were lots of immediate things that needed to occur from um you know clothing uh that they needed because they were in their van with uh some pets, some cats, and so um when it came time to try to get them to seek services outside of the van, there was uh some issues there where they needed clothing, and so people had to go immediately and try to obtain clothing for them. There were food issues, there were there were housing issues, and this team behind us just I mean they met all of those needs, and it didn't just continue as a day. Uh they needed to work with the family to be able to obtain benefits for longer term services. There was some placements in in temporary housing, hotels, and and food needs at that time, and then eventually led to a very successful story of um the individuals being placed in in uh group home for the for the son who is doing extremely well, and then longer-term housing for the grandmother as well. And we were able through the help of animal services care for their cats uh during the process and assure them that their animals would be taken care of until they could continue to um to be able to have them. So with that said, um, again, there's so much more to this, but uh that just gives you a flavor. And at this time, I would like to just name the individuals and departments if you'll raise your hand, and I'll probably name a few folks that could not attend today as well, because they definitely deserve recognition. So there's Dana Bamba, Joy Ducas, and from the Chester Library, and Tommy Ducas, who is the husband of Joy Ducas, who provided transportation and a lot of additional help to the family. There's Aaron Lape and Riley Gorman from Chesterfield Fire and EMS, also Lieutenant Abbott was involved as well from the mobile integrated health care team. Caleb Messer from Animal Services, Stephanie Williams, Terry Martin, and Jamie Muchowski from Mental Health Support Services, uh Kat Kerr and Master Officer Jesse Bowen, who represent our Chesterfield co-response team, Officer Tim Morton, who is now retired, but a community engagement officer was also involved in the situation. Eden Griffin, uh Bryant, I mean, excuse me, Brenda Bryant, Angette Gilbert, Stephanie Vess, and Emily Gianbarough, and I'm sorry, I'm batched that. Um, all from our social services, department of social services team.