Good afternoon and welcome to Hampton City Council work session.

I'm gonna ask the clerk to call the role, please.

Councilman Bowman.

President.

Vice Mayor Brown.

President.

Councilwoman Campbell.

Present.

Councilwoman Fairby.

Present.

Councilwoman Harper.

Councilwoman Muggler.

President Mayor Gray.

President.

And we have a couple of presentations on the agenda this afternoon.

So I'm gonna ask the city manager to uh introduce the first one.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Our first item was one I know we're all excited about.

Uh the council got to take a tour yesterday with several members of our school board and Dr.

Haynes' team and see firsthand many of the capital improvements that the school system has done with the money we appropriate to them each year for capital improvements.

Realizing that the public couldn't go on all of those tours, we wanted to do a presentation today that shares you know some of the before and after pictures and shows the the good work that our school system is doing with the money that we appropriate each year.

So uh first off, I want to recognize we have I think everyone or almost everyone from the school board, our Dr.

Richard Mason, who is the board chair next to him, Dr.

Tina Banks Gray, next to her.

Uh, and Stephen Sherry next to her, Reverend Woodhouse, and am I missing anybody?

I think we may have the other ones joining us shortly.

I believe Dr.

Haynes is going to kick this off and then turn it over.

Uh, or maybe Dr.

Mason, and then they'll introduce Dr.

Dan Bowling, who will take us through a visual tour of the good work the school system has been doing.

Okay, all right.

Good afternoon.

All right, good afternoon, Mayor Gray, Vice Mayor Brown, members of City Council, my Mary.

It is certainly good to stand before you today, and on behalf of the school board, I certainly want to express our sincere appreciation for the strong and enduring partnership that we share with City Council.

The relationship between City Council and the School Board is one rooted in mutual respect, shared responsibility, and collective commitment to the success of our children and our city.

And I also must add that it's very rare.

And that mantra reflects a belief that when the city and the school division work collaboratively, we create conditions for stable, sustainable, and forward-thinking investments in our schools.

This afternoon's discussion around capital improvements is about more than just buildings and infrastructure.

As you witnessed during yesterday's site visit, it's about ensuring our learning environments reflect the high expectations we have for our students, our staff, and our families, and that our facilities support the innovative instruction and programming taking place across the division.

So with that, it is certainly my honor and pleasure to introduce our superintendent, Dr.

Haynes, who will provide greater insight into the direction and the focus of today's presentation.

Good afternoon, Mayor Gray, Vice Mayor Brown, City Council members, City Manager Munting, and City Attorney Sid Noor.

I want to begin by sincerely thanking you for your continued collaboration, of course, in partnership with Hampton City Schools, as mentioned by our chair, Dr.

Mason.

Your support reflects what we often say, but more importantly, what we work hard to live out every day.

Of course, yesterday's capital improvement tour was a powerful example of that partnership actually in action.

Having the opportunity to tour several of our schools alongside members of City Council and the school board allowed us to see firsthand the impact of thoughtful investment and shared priorities.

We are deeply grateful for the city's ongoing commitment to public education and for the trust you place in us as stewards of these resources.

That partnership makes a real difference for our students, our staff, and of course, our community.

At this time, I'd like to turn the presentation over to Dr.

Dan Bowling, our chief operations officer, who will provide an overview of the capital improvement efforts and highlight the work that continues across the division.

I must add prior to Dr.

Bowling coming up, I think City Attorney Sidnail got a great partnership with Bethel High School yesterday as well.

So we're looking forward for more things to come around the Academy of Law and Public Safety.

Well, good afternoon, Mayor Gray, Vice Mayor Brown, members of City Council, City Manager Button, City Attorney Sidner, an honored guest.

My name is Dr.

Bowling, and I'm the Chief Operations Office for Hampton City Schools.

It is my honor this afternoon, along with the members of my team, Mr.

John Cobraly, HCS maintenance supervisor, and Miss Tina Zanders, HCS project manager, to present on the many wonderful improvements we made to our school division, primarily over this last summer.

Now, this last summer we were hard at work having completed over 30 capital improvement projects division wide.

And we thought the best place to start this afternoon, of course, let's start big.

Let's start with our biggest capital improvement project from the summer, which was the complete renovation of Bassett Elementary School.

Now, before we get to the fun stuff, the before and after pictures, let me give you a little bit of background information on Bassett Elementary School.

The school is located at 671 Bell Street.

It is one of 18 elementary schools in Hampton, Virginia.

It serves approximately 490 students in pre-K through grades pre-K through 5.

The school was opened in 1970, making it approximately 55 years old.

The building is over 58,000 square feet and sits on approximately 20 acres of land.

And since this opening, Bassett has remained in continuous operation and over its 55 year history, has never undergone any major renovations.

Now having said that, if you had pulled up to Bassett Elementary School prior to when we began our work last summer, this is what you would have seen.

A very old, a very tired.

It looked every year of its 55 years of age.

It really lacked any kind of curve appeal.

It didn't scream elementary school.

Sticking on the outside of the building, it had its original windows and doors.

They were single pane glass, highly energy inefficient.

The door frames were rusted and made the operations of the doors very difficult to open and close.

The sidewalks were cracked and broken and uneven and not really safe to walk on.

The parking lot was cracked, crumbling, and had lots of potholes throughout.

As we enter into the building, of course, like most elementary schools, you enter into the main office area, and this is what greeted our guest.

It really wasn't bright and colorful, really wasn't very welcoming, didn't scream elementary school.

The other issue with the office is that it was rather small, and that made the functionality of the space difficult.

They really couldn't function in that small area.

Moving into the classrooms, uh, they were adorned with lots of old mismatched furniture that have been handed down all the years, and it really wasn't in that great a shape.

Uh, the floors needed replacing, the walls needed painting, the ceiling needed done, the lights needed.

It even had 55-year-old chalkboards.

So you can imagine how rough those were after all of those years.

So it needed a complete overhaul.

The specialty classrooms uh were very crowded.

They lacked the necessary space to accommodate our students and staff.

And as you see in the picture, there was really nowhere to really store all that instructional material.

It was just kind of put on shelves in there.

Looking at the restroom facilities throughout the building, uh, they were very dated and it needed a full renovation to all the restrooms.

Now, with that, I'm going to turn the fun stuff over to Mr.

Cobley.

He'll get to show you all the pretty after pictures of what it looks like.

All right, thank you, Dr.

Bowling.

So, in order to uh transform back uh transform Bassett Elementary School this summer, uh we had to do the installation of new storefront uh windows and doors, classroom walls, uh, electrical and LED lighting, flooring, whiteboards, and bulletin boards, hallway tile, decorative tile and carpet, uh, interior storefront walls, office media center, and classroom furniture throughout.

We read the sidewalks in the front, the pavement, the play surface for the students, uh, landscaping, and the painting and the uh interior and exterior of the building.

So, as we start outside, you can see we uh the front lawn was graded and there was new landscaping installed uh along the entire length of the building.

Uh we also installed 13 new steel storefront doors and 18 double-paned uh storefront windows.

This is the play area that we were talking about.

Uh previously it was just bare asphalt.

Uh we repave the surface and resurface it with bright and colorful uh new surface.

Here's the sidewalks.

So now all of our entries and exits out of this building are now ADA compliant in the front of the building.

As you can see, we replaced all of the concrete.

As we go inside the building, this is your main entrance where you come into, and this is a shot of the main office.

Now we extended that office area out by five feet, so it provides visitors with a bright and welcome environment.

As you move into that office area, the newly remodeled main office provides guests with a space that is modern and welcoming.

We did over eight office spaces in the school.

They were all updated and uh provided staff with a functional and professional work environment.

As we move to the media center, it was renovated to allow it to function as either a traditional media center or to serve as a classroom based on the school's needs.

The media center also provides the students with various seating options throughout the space.

As you can see, we have our traditional round tables with hard chairs, but we also have soft seating options as well.

So we moved to the cafeteria.

The renovated cafeteria was designed to foster the school spirit.

Um as you can see with the tables, they got the school's logo on them, but it uh gives the students an inviting dining room atmosphere.

We also did four large restroom spaces and 11 single uh use restrooms throughout the building.

As we move to the hallways, you can see the hallway uh walls there.

They got new uh gray tile on those.

We added tack strips on the left and right so the kids could hang their artwork.

Uh we also did a decorative new flooring throughout the entire building.

Each grade level pod was renovated with new cabinets and sinks and bottle filler water fountains.

All the pre-K classrooms were renovated, creating a clean and bright, cheerful space for HCS's youngest uh students.

All the kindergarten classrooms were outfitted with new whiteboards, uh bulletin boards and furniture.

Classrooms for grades one through five received their new furniture packages as well.

The students' desks were selected so they could be easily arranged in various fashions to support the different teaching and learning styles.

As you can see here, we got them in clusters of six.

The students' guests can also be placed in traditional rows, or like I said, the circle clusters or in a table fashion, dependent on however the teacher's lesson plan is that day.

The classrooms were designed to accommodate 24 students, allowing adequate space for the instruction and various learning activities.

And all the classrooms received new LED lighting, floor, paint, and upgraded electrical service.

Dr.

Bowling.

We also renovated the science classroom at three of our metal schools at Lindsay, Eton, and Tarant.

Now, if you had gone in these science classrooms prior to the renovation, it had been like going into a time machine and going back 60 years in time because these science classrooms were original to the building about 60 years ago is when it was constructed.

So they contain all of their outdated cabinetry, furniture, flooring, and boards.

And the way that that equipment was set up, it really couldn't be moved very easily or it couldn't be moved at all.

So it really did not support modern 21st century science instruction.

Also, every science classroom generally has a science prep room associated with it.

A science prep room is a space where we store all of the supplies and chemicals and the valuable science equivalent we use to do science instruction.

As you can see in the photograph here, this is what these prep rooms look like.

There wasn't a lot of counter space, there wasn't a lot of cabinets, there wasn't anywhere for this equipment, so a lot of times it just got stored right on the floor.

So in order to renovate these 16 science classrooms and nine science prep rooms, that's 25 rooms in total.

We did a demolition of the space and disconnection of the utilities.

We installed new ceiling and LED lights, new decorative flooring.

We did painting, we installed new science cabinetry and countertops, new bulletin boards, and whiteboard, and then we added new classroom furniture.

So here's a great example of one of the six science classrooms re-renovated at Lindsay Middle School, and all of our science classrooms were equipped with new science on excuse me, new teacher stations and classroom furniture.

All classrooms received new flooring, paint, and LED lights.

Here's a great example of one of the science classrooms that was renovated at Tarant Middle School.

And all classrooms received new cabinetry and lab workstations.

And when we designed these science classrooms, we made sure that we did it in the way that would maximize the instructional space within those spaces.

We didn't want them crowded and cramped.

Here's a great example of one of the science classrooms that was renovated at Eton Middle School.

And we made sure that when we designed all of these science classrooms, we did it in a way that would incorporate school colors to build a sense of school pride.

Now, if you remember what it looked like before, here's a great example of a renovated science prep room.

Now we have lots of counter space, lots of cabinetry, so now all of that valuable science supplies and equipment can be safely stored away.

Now at this time, I want to turn over to Mrs.

Anders to talk about media centers.

Thank you, Dr.

Bowl.

Hampton City Schools renovated several media centers this past summer.

This is a photo of what the former media centers looked like.

They were outdated, crowded, and decorated with mismatched furniture.

They also contained old bookcases, old flooring, and adequate lighting, and just lacked a modern appeal.

Now to renovate the media centers, we removed the books and old furniture.

We performed demolition of each base, installed new walls, new electrical, we painted each base.

Then we installed new carpet, new ceiling, new LED lights, and of course, new bookcases and furniture.

This is a photo of what the newly renovated media center looks like at Asbury.

All of our media centers received new ceilings and LED lights.

This is a photo of Langley's Media Center.

All media centers are equipped with new shelving.

The 315 new bookshelves installed have the capacity to hold over 60,000 books.

Here's a photo of Mary Peaks Media Center.

Our media centers received 185 various soft seating options for students that can be easily support arranged to support various instructional activities.

On to Bryan Elementary.

Over 65 new tables and 260 chairs were added to the renovated media centers.

Here's a beautiful photo of Machin's Media Center.

All media media centers were painted and carpeted with colors in a manner that improves the visual appeal of the space and promotes school pride.

On to Burbank.

Not only did we offer soft seat options, but all media centers were outfitted with movable furniture that can be easily arranged to support instructional activity.

Here's a photo of Armstrong's Media Center.

As you probably noticed from the previous slides, that our media centers were designed to be bright and welcoming spaces for all students, helping to foster a lifelong love of reading.

Now Moton's Media Center was designed with specialty furniture and flooring to meet the needs of Hampton City School's youngest learners.

Alright, so we're going to move on with additional capital improvement projects at this time.

So we'll start with the breezeway enclosures.

With school safety in mind, six of our schools have had their breezeway entrances enclosed today.

So those schools include Asbury, Barron, Christian Langley, Mary Jackson, and Phillips.

As you can see, the Breezeway enclosures allow students and staff to move safely between the buildings and helping to also modernize the appearance of the building.

The Breezeway enclosures were designed to secure school building entry and exit points while also providing valuable instructional space.

We also did all four high school tracks.

We renovated four of the school athletic fields, high school fields.

This project involved the building of eight new dugouts, four new scores booths, fencing backstops, and the addition of four wireless scoreboards.

We also did roof replace uh roof replacements.

We did over 258,000 square feet of roofing, and that was at Smith Elementary, Langley Elementary, and Buffell High School.

Other capital improvements were at Burbank and Phoebus High School.

Rare Bank Elementary had its chiller and boiler replaced while Phoebus High School had two gymnasium air conditioned units replaced.

That was over 250 tons of new heating and cooling that was upgraded this past summer.

17 marquees were replaced throughout the school division, which means all Hampton City School's marquees now have been upgraded to digital displays.

Jones Magnet School had its ceilings replaced throughout the entire building.

Additionally, over 1,000 LED lights and 233 new doors were installed at Jones.

Several bathroom facilities was also upgraded throughout the district.

Those were located at Hampton High School, the Patriot Center, and Bassett Elementary.

Now, although we did not complete this one last summer, this does mark one of the largest capital improvement projects in recent history for Hampton City Schools, and that was the Science Wing addition to Kickatan High School.

That addition was over 37,000 square feet and brought online 18 new classrooms.

Now keeping the theme of science going, HES was proud to announce a 40,762 square foot science edition to Bethel High School.

Now, this edition is scheduled to open in November of 2026, and it's going to offer 19 new learning spaces.

This new edition is going to house all of our science classrooms and several of our uh academies of Hampton.

Now we are currently busy uh budgeting and planning for our summer 2026 capital improvement projects, and some of those anticipated projects we like to share with you now would be a small addition to Mary Peak Elementary School.

Uh Burbake Elementary School, we're gonna renovate the fifth grade pod, Langley Elementary School, we're gonna renovate one wing of the school, Aberdeen Elementary School.

Uh, we're gonna renovate half of the school this summer, and then we're gonna do the other half next summer.

Bethel High School in anticipation of the new science wing opening.

We're gonna renovate all of those old science classrooms at Bethel and Hampton High School.

Uh we're gonna finish renovation of the baseball and softball fields.

We're gonna do a breezeway enclosure at the adult learning center and Bridgeport Academy to connect those two buildings together.

And then last but not least, we're going to work at the uh Peninsula Town Center at two of the storefronts there and bring those in to the academies of Hampton.

And with that, that concludes our presentation this afternoon.

Uh, I'm gonna turn the meeting, of course, back over to Mayor Gray.

Um, and then any uh open up for any questions or comments from city council.

Okay, thank you.

Uh thank you for the presentation.

Um City Manager.

Yes, if you don't mind before council makes its comments, I just want to share for the benefit of the public that the way uh school finances are set up that they all have to run through the city budget in terms of the operating and capital budgets being approved.

Ultimately, though, the school board, as was mentioned earlier, makes all the decisions.

But I think I speak for our staff team and for council when I say we're so impressed with what has been done with the money to give a sense of how much what that represents.

Um we have typically given 7.587 million a year to the schools to look at their maintenance needs as well as their technology needs.

And every so often when we have the big projects like the science wing at Kekitan or Bethel, there's extra money that's provided.

And our CIP for the next five years, when we the adopted one that we did this current fiscal year, uh we were looking at um bumping that up a little bit because of cost increases over time to about 11.587 million a year for a total of just under 66 million for a five-year period.

And I think when you see those pictures, and especially when we walk the halls, Bassett looks like a brand new school.

I think you said that costs somewhere in the four to five million dollar range, whereas a brand new elementary school would cost over 30 million dollars, and so they're really using the money very smartly.

Um again, while we don't get to dictate, and nor should we because we're not the in in educational experts, uh, we do provide the money, but we we feel they're doing a really good job.

And as city manager, I certainly have no problem continuing to support the great work that they do with additional allocations.

City manager, do you say that we have sixty-six million dollars budgeted in the five-year-old.

In the five year, yeah, that would that was for fiscal twenty-six.

So this year we gave them seven million five hundred and eighty-seven thousand five hundred dollars.

Um, but over the five-year period when we plan for big um increases for certain like projects like the science wing or others, there are different years that get different amounts.

And we had um started in 29, bumped up the annual recurring amount to 11.587 million.

So for the adopted CIP that we're currently in, fiscal 26 to fiscal 30, there was 65 million nine thirty-seven five hundred that was allocated.

And and what is the total of cost of the renovations that have been completed?

Do we have that number in terms of how much I and I know we started this uh several years ago back when I think even back when I was an assistant city manager, so we've been working on it for a while, but just curious to know if we have a dollar figure for how much has been invested in these uh improvements uh since since we started the MO the last few years.

I I would have to go and dig that number up where I don't have it.

I could tell you what we spent what you see pretty much up there, except for the Breezeway enclosures and of course the Science Wing edition, everything up there was done this summer, uh, and that came out to be about 11.4 million to do all of those spaces.

Um Vice Mayor Brown.

Yeah, thank you, Mayor.

Um yesterday I was kind of figuring to say, Man, uh, do I really want to go on this tour?

It's so cold.

Uh my um cold water pipe froze.

But um, even though it was cold, uh, my heart was warmed to see all the great improvements.

And um Bassett School particularly was the last site, and I I think it was the grand finale for this reason.

We look at Bassett of Title I school, uh, sometime in the Title I schools, uh, they may not get all of the bells and whistles.

If I can say that.

Um Bassett apparently the structure was in solid condition, but to look at the transformation, and every citizen listening or watching should be very proud of the school system and and how you guys have invested uh strategically uh the funds that you get, not only from the city, but from the state.

It is amazing.

It's amazing.

And uh I want to tell uh Dr.

Haynes, uh, your school board members, the staff, uh, as a member of council, how proud I am uh not only to tout the best school system in Virginia, proud of the nation, um, but to to go into a school, and I'm gonna close by saying this.

When I walked into Bassett and I saw the renovation as a as a youngster, can you imagine the colors, the new technology, the new furniture, uh the clean floors, how that is conducive to a good learning environment.

The teachers were fired up, the staff.

It's it's it's a win-win.

And so uh congratulations to your staff.

Uh I'm a proud member of council and to support the school systems like I have for the last many years I've been on council.

So great job.

Appreciate it.

Thank you so much.

Councilwoman Campbell.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Um, great tour yesterday.

I really enjoy going and seeing all the different spaces.

Um I did hear from the kids a while back that they wanted the schools to be more um applicable to real life.

And I gotta tell you when I walked into Bethel and see there's gonna be a hospital in there.

Uh great job, guys.

Great job.

Thank you.

Councilwoman Faraby.

I just want to I'd be remiss if I did not echo the comments that have already been made.

It you all the the city of Hampton is is great, even more great because of the work um that um Dr.

Haynes on your leadership and the leadership of uh your staff and and the guidance from the uh school board.

We're uh even a much better city, and our future is bright because of um the students um and the the love and the care that you're providing and um you know really making it so that those students want to come to school and want to learn.

So I just want to applaud you again for a job well done, keep it up.

I'm a proud product of Hampton City Schools, and I remember when Bassett was built.

So uh that's given my age a little bit, but I just want to thank all of y'all for what you do and for putting your money, the money where your mouth is that you know we want to continue to make sure that our students have all the tools and and and everything that they need to be successful and to come back to Hampton once they finish matriculating through high school, college, etc.

So thank you very much.

Councilwoman Mudler.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Uh you know, you couldn't get in and out of here without a few comments from me.

Um and I will try and stay in my lane, but you know that the weeds that I grew up in are in education, so I'll but I will try and keep myself over here.

Um but um I really did enjoy the tour yesterday.

I did I do want to mention that I only got to see three of the spaces and and disappointingly did not get to see um Bassett, which I'll make a private um arrangement to go see that because from the photographs I can see it's an incredible transformation, which was much needed.

Um I too remember when it was built.

Um I was alive and uh walking and all kinds of things at that point.

But anyway, um it's always great to see you know where these dollars go and how far they go, and it's really impressive to see that how far you were able to take these dollars and really make a a big impact in our buildings.

I did have a couple questions about um one of the spaces, it was a bathroom space.

I think at Bassett, it showed the original bathroom space, and on the left hand wall, I don't know what number slide this is, but um it's the old bathroom with the urinals, and on the left wall is the heating unit.

What do what do we have in the new picture?

The new picture didn't show that side of the room.

That's why I'm asking this question.

Would what does it look like now on that left wall?

Is it protruding?

Is it inserted in the wall?

How's it?

No, we took that out.

So we removed that unit and of course filled in, tiled over it, and we took the heater and we moved it into the ceiling.

Great.

Okay.

So you don't have the risk of children touching it, possibly getting burned or dropping things into it that could catch fire.

So now it's it's up in the ceiling.

Perfect.

Um and the lighting in there is that I don't know if I saw the lighting in there.

Um, yeah, that okay, I see the lighting.

Yes, much much better.

Yeah, so all the lighting uh in the buildings.

We have now moved to LED lighting.

Of course, it's high, you know, very energy efficient, uh, nice longevity, and you don't get the flickering effect that you get out of a lot of those uh and incandescent lights and and different things.

So it's a nice, steady, even good light at a at a great energy savings.

Great.

The media center there in Bassett um is now enclosed in glasses.

That that wasn't like that before, was it?

Was it glass and closes?

Yes, yes, it was, yes.

Okay.

It looks great, really shows off the space.

And uh I can't say enough about the furnishings that have been chosen for all the buildings uh throughout your your work.

Um, even down to the tables and the cafeteries with their logos and those kinds of things.

They little things like that really make a big difference, but I love the furnishings you're selecting and um and the new tiles in all the public hallway areas are are really a great improvement, makes it look so much cleaner and and better um in the new lights.

But love the new furnishings and the colors are are fantastic.

Um I you know, I am really excited to see what you've done.

I'm really excited to see where the new um renovation at Bethel is going to go.

I know that's a huge project for you all, and I know it's uh a little bit bigger than the one um that you did at uh Kick Atan based on some learning curves that you experienced in that project, I understand.

So uh really um really excited to see that transformation and the other classroom spaces that will get a renovation there as well.

Um much needed uh obviously.

So all in all, I just want to say thank you for the incredible work you do in the in the compressed period of time that you have to do that work.

It's so um it's so strained to get all that done in a certain number of months, and you can't do all of it, I know uh in in all those months, and sometimes they carry over, but the new breezeway spaces are fantastic, giving you know better learning spaces and and usability and um the new field improvements, all of those things, and it wasn't lost on me, Dr.

Haynes, that we took a little drive about yesterday past uh the back lawn of Kickatan to see that all the portable classrooms are now gone.

It was a beautiful sight for me to see, although I had seen it, but um I I loved that little detour.

I I'm assuming that might have been part of what that was for.

Most things should be intentional.

But uh great work.

Thank you so much for bringing the presentation to us.

There was a time frame when uh the sitting mayor wasn't necessarily particularly interested in seeing these slides during a meeting, but I think it's really important for the public to see these improvements and know that this money is really going toward work and um and improvements for the young people in our community.

So thank you so much.

Thank you.

Councilman Bowman.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um I think yesterday was an eye-opener for me.

Um it validates what we talk about when we talk about the collaboration with the school board and the council, and I think Dr.

Mason said it uh yesterday.

I think we are the only one in the region that has toured the schools, um, and we will continue to do that.

What stuck out to me is if I was a student, it would be a space that you created that I wouldn't want to go home.

But the two things that really really stuck out was you had students at each school on a staff day where they did not have to be at school.

And they were there with smiles on their faces, very energetic, explaining different scenarios about the schools and different um courses and what they liked about the school.

That really stuck out.

So that lets me know that we're on the right pace and doing the right thing.

And the second thing that really really stuck out to me, and it's been in the media, but not for Hampton, is the gender problems with the restrooms, and now that we have individual restrooms, so we don't even have that worry about that situation or that problem.

So I just want to say kudos to you, great job, and continue doing the work that you're doing.

I appreciate the tour yesterday.

Thank you.

Okay.

You know, when we talk about one community, one transformation, excellence with intentionality.

Oftentimes you use that when you're talking about 99% graduation rates, low dropout rates, kids graduating from college before they graduate from high school, that part of it.

But this is the same thing.

This is a transformation.

Because to, you know, I've always thought that we can't have the best model for educating our kids and not have them in the best environment and the best environment for the teachers.

And I asked the question about the total dollar amount because I think it's important for us to tell the story.

If you talk about, you know, five million here, four million here, six million here, the public doesn't fully get the big impact of the total dollar amount that's been invested in this transformation.

And this year, well, it was last year too.

This year there's a bill in the General Assembly this year to give uh localities the option of a 1% tax increase for school new new construction, maintenance, and renovation.

But in Hampton, we've done all of this and we've lowered the tax rate by 10 cent.

And so that's not to say that at some point we may not need to do something different or we may not need more investment.

But I think that just you know explains at least to the public, you know, how we have put a priority on education in our community, and our one of our strategic priorities of an educator citizenry that we have invested in that, and we've been able to do that with the resources that we have available to us here in Hampton, and um have not had to rely on increasing taxes in order to do that.

So I would still like to know, you know, when we look at all of those projects, what the total impact is because I think that makes a huge statement when they see you know, so many millions of dollars of their tax dollars have been invested in not only education, but in the transformation of the classrooms and the spaces that kids learn in.

So city manager.

I was just gonna acknowledge we'll work together to get a report back.

One of the questions would be how far to go back because there's been a lot of work that's been going on for some time, but we'll work together and get all of you a report on what we've invested over time so that you can have that when you speak to the public.

Yeah, thank you.

All right, Dr.

Bowling, uh, are you having closing remarks or is that it?

Well, that's all the questions we have.

That's it.

No, I just want to say thank you.

And and again, we we value and appreciate the partnership that we have here.

And I think that everything that you see here uh today uh just sparks what great things could come in the future.

Um as long as we keep getting those checks, that'll be a great thing.

We can keep making it happen.

We'll try to keep them coming.

So yeah, thank you guys.

We really appreciate it.

Thank you.

Yeah.

All right.

Uh city manager, would you want to introduce the next presentation?

Certainly.

Um in early 2025, the city of Hampton and the city of Newport News engaged a transit consultant uh to work with us to review uh the HRT or Hampton Roads Transit System Optimization Plan and assess its impacts on our communities.

Um over the past several months, city staff and a consultant have collaborated with HRT to refine the plan to ensure reliable and efficient transit service while also addressing HRT's broader financial constraints.

And today we're gonna do a presentation for you that updates the revisions that were agreed upon with HRT.

Um Deput City Manager Brian DePropio is gonna start this off, and I believe we have the consultant with us as well today.

Or you're just doing it all.

Okay.

All right.

Thank you.

Um back in this at our December meeting, Ray Amaruso from HRT came and talked about what one of the things that we were doing to deal with some of the challenges at HRT was um implementing a system or exploring a system optimization plan.

And that's basically how do you make your your routes more efficient.

And the one of the key drivers um of that is really the impacts of the pandemic.

There's been several impacts across ridership or ridership is is still down um from pre-pandemic levels.

We've made some progress in getting ridership uh up from its lows, but there, but there's still challenges there.

One of the other challenges is drivers.

Let you know, fewer people are going into uh the bus driving profession, and so HRT has really been struggling with filling um the drivers um to to serve the routes that we have, and they've been down about a hundred drivers for uh from for most of the last couple years.

And so one of the things they want to do is see how can we maximize the use of our drivers to maintain a reliable system and put some additional enhanced services in place.

And the last area is financial.

Also, you know, as I had mentioned, with ridership down, there's also a decrease in revenues that HRT has been experiencing from the folks who use the system.

Now, HRT was really successful in getting pandemic, you know, time frame grants to sort of bridge to where we are today.

But you know, one of the things that we need to do is we need to get that financial model right also over time so that we we don't have any further impacts on uh on the service that HRT provides.

But uh you know the key thing that the system optimization plan is really focusing on is the drivers and it does have some positive impact on the financial challenges as well.

Um the system optimization plan, as I've mentioned, is to make the system basically more efficient, make better use of the drivers and the funding that we have.

Um we also want to provide consistent, better, more consistent service than we have, had you know, from a system um configuration perspective, but also when you don't have sufficient drivers to um to serve your system, you also are missing trips and and those sorts of things.

So right sizing the drivers will help with the reliability of the system.

We also want to simplify the network, um, and really it had been a long time since we really looked very closely at the routes in the city of Hampton and Newport News and in other places in in HRT service area.

And so we really wanted to look at the routes and make sure that they're serving the people where they are and the needs that they have today.

Um of the key things or key tools that's a sort of a new innovation in uh in transit that we're we're looking at, um, and we just deployed our pilot program on January 12th, is microtransit.

That's an on-demand service where within the microtransit zone a small vehicle, small like bus will or small uh van will take you from one place to another within that zone, and it also will connect you to the fixed route service.

And and that's one of the things that we looked at was how can we deploy microtransit in a way where it's covering areas that we may want to reduce bus service but still provide service to our community, and and really when you're looking at that, um you're looking at doing that in areas that are not very dense and that don't have current high transit demand.

So the folks who are there can still have access to transit, um, but you're not spending you know the the money to to run a fixed route bus there.

Um and so microtransit's a more efficient service from that perspective, and really it's best used to support the uh the existing bus network.

So as we go through, we'll show you um how that will how that will work.

Uh this is a map of the current service that um is offered on the peninsula during the weekday midday.

And so one of the things that you'll that you'll notice here is the dark blue lines are 30-minute service, which basically means that the bus comes by bus stop every 30 minutes.

And that is very limited currently on the peninsula, it's limited to Jefferson Avenue.

Um there's a Shell Road route that uh that you can see sort of at the bottom of Hampton down here, that's the 103, and then the 114, which is Mercury Boulevard.

Um, those are really the the primary places where you have 30 minute service currently.

Um so as we get into the other map, you'll sort of see that you know, we we've really looked at how that uh how to improve that.

Oops, sorry.

Um and one other thing that I forgot to mention on this slide was the light blue lines here are 60 minute service.

So really we have a system that is primarily 60 minute service with uh with some a little bit of uh 30 minute service mixed in.

Um what we what we tried to do in the updated plan was provide more 30-minute service um in our network, um, strategically use microtransit, as I had mentioned, um really reduce the amount of transfers to get through uh the areas um that are being served on the peninsula, and um we also uh we're um we're looking at sort of connecting key nodes or key destinations in in the area as well.

And so this is the proposed service structure.

So again, like the other map, the dark blue is the lines are the are the 30-minute service.

So you see all of those sort of light blue lines, almost all of them have been replaced by dark blue lines.

So during the midday service time frame, you will have 30-minute service pretty much throughout the network, except for the 111, which is up here, and that's not a very heavily used route.

This area here in the orange is the existing microtransit pilot zone that we launched on January 12th.

And as you can see, we did have some 60 minute service in this area, this area, and this area.

That 60 minute service would go away and be replaced with the microtransit.

So it would be on demand.

Folks in that in those areas would still be able to access transit and either get someplace else in this zone or get to a fixed route service to take them to their final destination.

So really we've tried to, when we've done this, do it in a way where we are able to enhance service and really not have significant impacts on our folks who rely on transit today.

The other areas which currently are not part of the pilot program, but are our microtransit areas that we would implement in the future is the Fox Hill area, which is currently served by 60 minute bus service.

It's not a very dense area.

There's not a great deal of transit utilization currently, so we would replace that with microtransit as well as down Mallory.

We would also replace that with microtransit for the same reasons.

So a couple things just to note, as I had mentioned, kind of with us trying to get routes that really serve more efficiently.

This 103 currently, you know, would be starting in the eastern part of the city, kind of in the Fox Hill, almost in the Fox Hill area over here, and really would connect down into the shipyard.

So anybody working at the shipyard would be able to take the 103 all the way to the shipyard.

And then this 109 starts at the VA and will take you all the way up to Thomas Nelson Community College.

And so that's just a couple of examples of where in the current system you might need to take multiple trips or multiple different buses and transfer to buses, transfer to other buses to try to get to your final destination.

We're trying to make that more efficient so that people can get on one bus and get get to where they want to go in many instances.

So this basically shows how the service hours and the drive and the peak buses needed and the peak drivers needed will uh will change.

Basically, when we started this process with HRT, they wanted us to get down to about you know 200,000, about 195,000 uh service hours from our current level, which is 100 or 237,000.

We were able to get into that into that neighborhood.

Um they wanted us to get down to about 130 drivers.

We got down to 133, so that'll reduce the uh needed drivers by 25 drivers just on the peninsula, the south side as Mr.

Amaruso said, is going through the same process.

So we're really able to hit the uh hit the marks that HRT was able, you know, sort of established for us as we worked with them in Newport News and our consultant to uh improve our our bus network.

So at so basically one of the other things that we wanted to cover was the proximity to service.

Now currently about 61% of our residents are near or currently about 59% of our residents are near transit service.

That'll increase to 61%, so we actually get a little bit better coverage in terms of residents in that.

And then, but you know, we see a really big increase in the number of people and jobs that are near 30-minute service because as I had mentioned, we're really transform trans um transitioning our services from 60-minute service to 30-minute service.

Um, and so you can see that uh basically it doubles the amount of jobs and and people that will be near 30-minute service during the midday week.

Um as I'd mentioned, we'd expand microtransit to replace 60-minute fixed routes, um, and then you know, also mentioned that you know, we would simplify the trips and you'd be able to take one bus to get to more places.

The next step in this process is that HRT will start doing public outreach on this plan.

Um we'll get public input and uh and then uh and those details will be posted on Go HRT for folks who who want to keep track of that.

Um the plan is for the HRT board to uh to take action on the SOP, you know, the plan that we've just presented on April uh 2026 at their meeting, and but implementation really wouldn't begin until October 2027.

So you have you know a little bit, you know, you have over a year for for folks to um get familiar with this plan and uh and and and uh provide comment and also uh you know uh understand sort of how their um their utilization of the system may change.

So with that uh that concludes my presentation, be happy to to answer any questions.

Questions, comments from council members?

Brian, I did have a question uh, you know, when we look at our total uh transit costs for the city, you know, portion of that was recouped with Fairbox, which is it's is down that hadn't hadn't really come back to pre-COVID levels.

Uh what percentage of the cost of the on-demand service would be recoup with the $2 fair box that it costs you to write?

We we don't have good data on that.

Currently, we have a grant that's um helping us uh you know with that pilot program that we have, and so we'll have a better sense as that pilot program proceeds.

I don't know if um if Karen has a better answer to that, but you know what we're able to do when we do budgeting for HRT is since we have a history of the um the uh the the bus utilization, we're able to take that history and and and project out.

Um and and our farebacks recovery for the bus is about you know six to seven percent today.

Um Karen, did you have uh anything better to add on the microtransit?

And Karen's with uh HRT.

Hi.

Hello, Karen.

Um Chief Planning and Development Officer since Ray has retired.

Um so I think the the best answer is what was just shared.

I I will say that we do have a little bit more experience with the pilots that have been going on in Newport News and is continuing and was going in in the beach.

And one of the things that we are working on as we look to bring the SOP out and can have more information for y'all, is making some assumptions and and and really at this particular moment um it is that we will know more as we see how the the system in Hampton matures.

Uh but we also want to be able to talk about the cost and then the revenues that will come in to provide y'all that whole picture.

So we don't have that right now, but we but we are working on it and we're optimistic for how the system will uh the macrotransit zone will will work uh within uh the city.

Okay.

And I and I asked because I I know um right now when we talk about uh access to for Hampton University students to transit, there is a bus.

Uh I guess the 109, and I don't know what the ridership from the university is on on the 109, but I would think the in-demand or or the on-demand service would be something that students might use, and you know, there is a two-dollar cost.

And I don't know if it would be more cost effective to maybe include a a zone for Hampton University as opposed to that uh you know that uh circulated bus that we have in place and the cost of doing that.

Uh so it's just something to look at.

I know, you know, like I say, I know we're kind of into the pilot, but at some point if we can maybe look at how we carve out a zone for for the students to be able to use in demand on-demand service.

It that may be a better option than the other bus.

Yeah, we we can certainly look at that.

One of the things they will be getting a little bit better service at Hampton University on the 109, which will basically you know be running every half an hour as opposed to right now, any service that runs in that area is every every 60 minutes.

So that might help them, but we'll also look at the microtransit and other options to better provide service to Hampton University students.

Okay.

Um I think uh it's all the uh councilman Mugla.

Okay.

All right.

So that's all the questions, comments.

Uh right.

Back to the city manager.

Thank you.

Well, that completes our items for today's afternoon work session and the open session.

Okay.

All right.

Uh are there any regional issues?

Uh is there any new items, items for new business?

Okay, if none, I will ask the clerk to read the motion required for closed session.

Today the motion required is to convene a closed session pursuant to section 2.2-3711A 3, 5, and 6 for discussion of a potential mixed-use project in Coliseum Central that may involve disposition of publicly public land and the investment of public funds where negotiation is involved.

And public discussion.

And mayor, if I may, can I ask that we hold off on the vote and let me consult with the city attorney?

Yes.

Thank you.

I do apologize, Mayor.

I'd like to restate the motion.

It there were some changes yesterday, and I want to make sure it is exact for the record.

Okay.

The closed session would be convened pursuant to section 2.2-3711A 3, 5, and 6 for discussion of a potential mixed-use project in Coliseum Central that may involve the justice system of public land and the investment of public funds or negotiation involved in public discussion would adversely impact the city's negotiating position and financial interests, and which also involves the location of a prospective business in the area of downtown Hampton, Coliseum Central, Friar Field, and Phoebus, where no previous announcement has been made about the business interest and locating Hampton Section 2.2-37 3711A.1 to discuss appointments as listed on the agenda.

All right, motion and second.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

Um can we just have another minute?

Because I think we got mixed up with two different versions here from yesterday with some changes, and so the verbiage is still not quite right.

If I can just have a minute to consult with class, thank you.

Thank you.

Oh, okay.

I do not find this humorous, but the third time will be the charm.

All right.

It is to convene a closed session pursuant to Virginia Code Section 2.2-3711A point three to discuss or consider the disposition of publicly held real property in the areas of downtown Hampton, Phoebus, Coliseum Central, and Briarfield Road, where discussion in an open meeting would adversely affect the bargaining position or negotiation strategy of the city and Virginia Code Section 2.2-3711 point A point one to discuss appointments as listed on the agenda.

All right.

Now we need a motion and a second.

So move.

I think second.

All right.

Call to roll, please.

Councilman Bowman.

Aye.

Vice Mayor Brown.

Aye.

Councilwoman Campbell.

Aye.

Councilwoman Faraby.

Aye.

Councilwoman Harper.

Hi.

Councilwoman Muggler.

Aye.

Mayor Gray.

Aye.

So we will convene closed session in the laws and conference room at 215.

Uh following the closed session.

Council will reconvene the open meeting in the same location in order to certify the closed session and then proceed to adjourn the meeting.

All right.

So we are adjourned from the work session.