The Hampton City Council held its legislative session on Wednesday, March 12, 2025, at 6:30 PM in Council Chambers, 22 Lincoln Street, Hampton, Virginia. All seven council members were present. The meeting included a consent agenda, a Women's History Month presentation, one public comment, appointments to city boards, and a report on upcoming budget input sessions. The meeting adjourned at 7:06 PM.
Good evening, everyone, and welcome to our Hampton City Council uh legislative session. Uh ask the clerk to call the role, please. Councilman Bowman. Present. Vice Mayor Brown. Here. Councilwoman Campbell, present. Councilwoman Fairby here. Councilwoman Harper, present. Councilwoman Muggler, present. Mayor Gray. Okay. And uh this evening, uh Councilwoman Michelle Therapy. Michelle Taylor Farabee will lead us with the invocation, followed by Pledge of Pledge of Allegiance. Dear Heavenly Father, we come to you before you today with hearts full of gratitude for the opportunity to serve this community. We ask for your wisdom and guidance as we make decisions that impact the lives of our citizens. Help us to work together in unity and respect, always striving to serve the with integrity and for the greater good of all. Lord, we lift up our first responders, police officers, firefighters, paramedics, and all who dedicate themselves to keeping our city safe. Protect them, strengthen them, and guide them as they serve our community with courage and compassion. We also pray for our hardworking city workers who maintain the infrastructure and services that allow our city to function. May they feel valued, supported, and equipped to continue their essential work. Lord, we ask that you help us foster a city where diversity is celebrated, where equity and inclusion are the heart of our actions and decisions. May we work toward a community where all people, regardless of background or circumstance, heard, and valued. Let our actions reflect a commitment to justice, fairness, and unity for the good of all. Finally, we pray for our entire city, its leaders, citizens, and all who live and work here. Guide us toward a future where peace, prosperity, and mutual respect abound. In your name we pray. Amen. So March is women's history month, as some of you may know, and uh we have uh women in our community, women in local government uh working around us who've uh uh uh had some remarkable achievements and uh you know, and that's just not today, it's uh women who have served our community uh over the past uh you know hundreds of years uh that have made a difference in the community. And so this uh month as we celebrate women's history month, I want to uh congratulate all of the women uh in Hampton City government, particularly those that are sitting uh on the dais with me this evening and at our clerks table. As you can see, um we uh have quite a few women serving here. I think when we talk about women making history in Hampton, uh this is the first time I think I'm correct in saying that we have had women make up a majority of our city council members, and so we uh congratulate all of the uh women council members here for that achievement. Uh you know, while it's notable today, a lot of times, you know, history is written many many years later, so uh, you know, there it will certainly be uh a point in time where that will be you know celebrated by you know many young people that will follow you and they will uh talk about you and write about you for this remarkable achievement. You also see that we have our city manager, uh I believe our city manager is the first woman who served as a city manager here in Hampton, and she's uh after uh 15 years now, uh the longest serving city manager, and um and uh we certainly pride of what she's to date me. Uh trying to date her. So she too will will go down in history. Hampton history is uh being that first woman to serve in that position, and we have uh our new city attorney, although she's not the first woman in that position. She's continue continuing a uh tradition of great uh women who have served as uh city attorneys here in Hampton. We've had I've had the pleasure working with uh I think all of them, and uh it's been a great pleasure. They certainly served our city well. And then our clerk who uh keeps her straight and helps us run our meetings here in Hampton uh is uh you know serving in that role, and uh she's not the first woman in that role either, but certainly making history here as she uh celebrates her her milestone. So uh I think we all owe you all a debt of gratitude for your service to our community, not only for what you've done, but for what I know you're gonna continue to do in uh serving us going forward. And I'll give you a chance to hear from them uh a little bit uh later on the agenda. Um next, I want I just want to say that uh I am as your new mayor still uh trying to make my way around the city and uh talk to people. It's not like I haven't been out and and met with a lot of folks uh on the campaign trail, but now I'm uh you know, doing my first hundred days as mayor. I'm uh doing listening sessions out in the community. So I've been uh some of those I've arranged for myself and uh with the staff and uh others uh people that reached out to me, invited me to come to uh various events, and I've tried to accommodate those as well. But some of the announced uh listening sessions uh I want to kind of give you those right now. The next one will be next Wednesday, March 19th at Northampton Community Center from 6 until 7 30. And then on March 24th, I'll have another one at Sandy Bottom Nature Park, same time, six uh until uh 7 30.