Good evening and uh welcome to the Hanton Hampton City Council legislative session.

I'm gonna ask Clerk to call the roll, please.

Councilman Bowman.

Present Vice Mayor Brown here.

Councilwoman Campbell, present, Councilwoman Faraby.

Present.

Councilwoman Harper.

Present.

Councilwoman Muggler.

Present.

Mayor Greg.

Present.

The uh invitation uh this evening will be led by uh Councilman Randy Bowman, and then we uh followed by the uh Pledge of Allegiance, and uh we have with us this evening uh the West End Pac 2413, who who is going to assist us with the Pledge of Allegiance, and so so that we can keep it moving, I'm gonna ask the Cub Scout Pack to come right on up here.

Don't be scared.

Don't be scared, Joy.

Colton.

All right, so please stand and uh join us with the invocation followed by the pleasure of leaders.

Let us pray.

Loving and gracious God, we come together to thank you for the gift of community and the bond that unite us.

We ask that you bless our neighborhood, our city, and everyone who lives and works around us.

Grant us with the wisdom to understand one another, the grace to bridge our differences, and the courage to act as instruments of peace.

Strengthen our hearts so that we may readily share each other's joys and shoulder each other's burdens.

Protect protect the vulnerable among us and give us a spirit of true compassion and generosity.

May our homes be havens of peace and our streets place of kindness.

Let us move forward with the unified purpose supporting one another and uplifting our shared spaces.

And scouts, if you turn around, the flag is behind you.

Okay, so we we had with us uh the scouts this evening.

We had Mr.

Colton Maney, uh who's a weebelo.

We had Joycelon, also known as Joy, who's a baby, her last name is Bailey, and she's a bear.

We had Gabrielle Carlisle, a wolf.

We had Journey Lassiter, a tiger, Josiah Cook, a tiger, and Mavea Carlisle, a lion.

And joining them this evening was Pastor Paul Thomas from West End Baptist Church.

Uh Nicholas Oney, the cup master, and Jamar Lasseter, the assistant cubaster.

So thank you all for coming out and join us this evening.

And I have another special presentation.

Last week I had the opportunity to uh I receive an email from a teacher at Captain John Smith, Miss Martin, and uh she invited me to come out and see a mural that her kids in her class uh had worked on.

And uh so uh I, you know, I told her I said my schedule is real tight.

I was leaving to go out of town on a trip the next day, but I said I'm gonna try to find time to squeeze it in, and I did, and I'm so happy that I did because when I got there, I was uh just really surprised at what the young people in this class had done with uh creating this mural for their school, which you can see right here on the screen.

And uh it's got their shark mascot there and uh all the other kinds of uh uh fish in the sea and uh home of the sharks is the name of it.

If you can't see that, but this is all done with bottle caps.

And um the students and teachers, and I guess everybody else who who came in and out of school collected a whole lot of bottle caps, and Miss Martin uh, you know, came up with this idea, and I think she did the design of it, and then they kids, and it's not really that easy because they had to sand each of the bottle caps before they glued it in order to make it stick.

But it uh turned out to be a wonderful piece of art, and we're we're really pushing uh you know the creativity of our young kids, and uh, you know, this is just a great example of public art that I hope we can have find a way to let the public enjoy it over the summer because I know you all would be out of school, so I think we may be looking for some ways to do that.

So I'm gonna ask Miss Martin if she would come up to the mic and uh thank the students have a quick speaking part and uh tell us a little bit about uh their art project.

Good evening.

I would like to thank Mayor Gray and the council for this amazing opportunity to share our Captain John Smith mural tonight.

Our student representatives are very excited to be here, but also a little nervous.

I was so grateful for Mayor Gray for taking the time to come see our beautiful mural that our students worked so hard on.

This project came about when our principal, it's brown, approached me about adding a splash of color to the front of our building.

I said off right away, designing and coming up with a mural that the whole school community could be involved in.

When we came back from the winter break, it was time to collect those bottle caps.

Evelyn's gonna share a little bit about collecting those caps.

We collected bottle caps of every size and color.

I didn't know there was so many different sizes after we collected the caps.

We had to sand them down so they would be able to stick them to the wood.

Students began to paint the backgrounds.

Helena is gonna share a little bit of that painting experience.

Um students from all grades, precade fifth, were able to paint on the board.

We worked on one board at a time.

Mishwarton had outline shapes, and students painted everything in.

After the boards are painted, students started to match bottle cap colors to the paint color on each of the boards.

Bailey is gonna share a little bit about that process.

We had the, we had tubes of bottle caps for each color.

We would pick different size caps to place on the board to match the correct color.

We would lay the cap with the solid top part on the board, filling in the space.

Sometimes we add a search to the caps just to find the right size.

For the younger students, I would place a dollop of glue on each of the bottle caps so that they can just turn them over and stick them down.

However, Samantha's experience with glue was a little bit different.

It was fun getting to add the glue to the bottle caps, but it was also very hard.

Miss Martin made it look so easy, but it really wasn't.

There was a lot to choose from.

And when I mean a lot, a lot.

As the boards were finished, I would take them down and stack them up across my cabinets.

And the students' curiosity started to get the best of them.

Every time they would come in, they would start asking questions.

Had been completed, and if we were starting a new panel of the mural, we will try to guess how it will look when it all came together.

We will ask Mrs.

Martin, and she would say, you will see.

Parents and community members were already stopping to take pictures as we were still finishing up that mural.

Throughout the next weeks, our parents and community members were stopping to take pictures and to ask about exactly how this mural was created.

It warms my heart to see people talking about and enjoying our students' hard work.

I cannot wait to see what the future brings for our mural and future art projects.

Thank you so much for having us here tonight.

Thank you.

And Miss Miss Martin.

So again, congratulations to uh students and staff at Captain John Smith's elementary school, Miss Victoria Martin, who is the arts education teacher there, and the students attending tonight, uh, Samantha Decker, Bailey Robinson, Evelyn Howell, Zayd Merriweather Holly, and Helena Moore.

But great job.

And 10,000 bottle caps in order to make that happen.

10,000.

Okay, so on May 4th, Hampton was proud to partner with NUPA News, Habitat for Humanity, and many other groups for a joint city home repair blitz, where exteriors were painted, walls were completed, and all of this work was done over 12 homes across the city.

The event uh received tremendous support from our community development department with the planning and logistics of the event, and I had uh opportunity to spend time working alongside some of my peers here on the dais.

We were fortunate to have Councilwoman Campbell's uh council Carolyn Campbell's husband, John Campbell, and his friend Mike Riley, who are uh team captains, and uh they led the uh joint effort uh for a lot of the work we did, and we appreciate that.

And we all worked together on a home where we painted the exterior, repaired a fence, replaced the soffit on the uh front porch, and the work was tough, but it was rewarding.

But we it became easier when we had some reinforcements who showed up from Joint Base Langley Eustace to join our team.

And I later learned that they were there as volunteers from Joint Base Langley Eustace.

Now, this event received support from representatives of Joint Base Langley Eustace.

Their commitment to serving our community extends beyond the gates of the installation and demonstrates the strong partnership that exists between our military and our city.

And what stood out most of the day was seeing the neighbors, businesses, military personnel, elected officials, and community organizations working side by side to make a tangible difference in people's lives.

And when people come together with a shared purpose, remarkable things happen.

And Hampton remains committed to working with our partners in our neighboring cities and our military to support initiatives that strengthen our neighborhoods, improve quality of life, and ensure that all residents have a community and opportunity to thrive.

So uh please join me in uh thanking uh John Campbell and Mike Riley.

Uh Mike couldn't be here tonight, and our friends at Joint Base Langley Eustace.

And we have with us uh I'm gonna list the names, I'm not sure everybody we have, but Airman First Class, Trenton Harbor, and if you would just come on up front when I call your name.

Uh senior airman Diana Hernandez Molina, Airman First Class, Angel Mondragon, and if I didn't pronounce that right, you can tell me what it is.

Um, and then I had Airman uh Nabilla Moona and Senior Airman Cameron Rogers, Airman First Class Caleb Rosales, Airman Brandon Vargas, Airman First Class Miroslavo Osario, and uh unable to be with us tonight is uh Staff Sergeant David Colson and um Colonel Anderson, the base commander that they were uh shared their regrets for not being able to join us, but we are extremely grateful now.

They they're here tonight, and we wanted to recognize them, but when we were up there on the roof and we were pulling out the soffits and doing the painting and all of that stuff, and you know, we were getting a little tired because we've been there for a while, and then all of a sudden the reinforcement showed up, and we were so glad to see them.

So we had to bring them up here tonight and just thank them personally for that.

So, yeah, I think we can.

Okay.

And then lastly, just a couple of announcements.

Um, you know, of course, this uh coming up soon this weekend, actually, I saw I'm putting up the tents and everything today, and you know that June twelfth through the fourteenth is Blackbeard Pirate Festival.

It is that time of the year.

And um the Grand Pirates Bash is Friday, June twelfth, six to nine PM at the Virginia Air and Space Science Center, where you can hobnize with all the pirates, but you should wear your finest pirate attire for that night.

There will also be live entertainment, it's a ticketed event and space is limited, but tickets are for sale through our parks and recreation and leisure services website.

And then um on Saturday night, you may visit Blackbeard's block party with the champagne band performing from six until nine, and to make sure you stay around Saturday night's fireworks display over the Hampton River at 9 30 p.m.

And then on Friday, uh this week kicks off Juneteenth uh weekend, and so on June 19th, we're gonna have out on a Hampton Royals Harbor, our region will have five harbors to host sale two fifty along uh along with New Orleans, Baltimore, New York, and Boston, but none of the other ports will have such a spectacular viewing of the international character tall ships and military vessels as the views from Fort Monroe.

So please plan to come out and see that.

Uh the po the parade of sale ships process uh through the channel and into the Port of Virginia and on June nineteenth, uh, that will be from nine a.m.

until noon.

And then you can celebrate many other Juneteenth events uh throughout the weekend.

So with that, I am going to ask the clerk to read the protocol for consent agenda.

Mayor, it's my understanding that item number two, 26-0196 has been requested to be pulled from the consent agenda, so it will be considered under general items later in the agenda.

The consent agenda consists of routine non-controversial items requiring council approval.

These items are typically adopted with one motion and without discussion.

Tonight, your consent agenda amends the FY twenty twenty-six council approved budget to accept and approve increased funding from the Virginia Department of Transportation to do maintenance and construction of streets and roads, accept and approve increased funding from the state and federal government to support public assistant programs, endorses two projects for consideration under V.

SmartScale program, which would provide additional funding for pedestrian improvements along Briarfield Road and Power Plant Parkway and a pedestrian bridge between Kilgore Avenue and Coliseum Drive.

As requested, renames a portion of Butler Farm Road and a portion of Thomas Nelson Drive to College Drive, which is the final step to the name change from Thomas Nelson Community College to Virginia Peninsula Community College, amends and reenacts the city code to comply with the Virginia Code with respect to background checks, and it approves the minutes from the council's April 22nd work session.

Alright, we need a motion and a second for items one through five and seven.

Mr.

Mayor, I move approval of tonight's consent agenda comprised of items one through five and seven.

Second.

All right, for a motion and second.

Would you call the roll, please?

Councilman Bowman.

Vice Mayor Brown.

Aye.

Councilwoman Campbell.

Aye.

Councilwoman Theraby.

Aye.

Councilwoman Harper.

Aye.

Councilwoman Mugler.

Aye.

Mayor Gray.

Aye.

And then item six will be uh acted on under general items later on the agenda.

All right.

So next I got some proclamations tonight.

Um, sorry, Mr.

Mayor.

So the motion was for items one through five and seven, which means that the item that was excluded was item six, which was the ordinance to re- about the authorized criminal history checks.

I'm not sure that's what was intended.

I I thought what was intended was to pull item two off of the consent agenda and vote on that one separately, which is the encroachment agreement.

I'm sorry, I didn't catch that before you voted.

Mr.

Mayor is correct.

Yes, you may amend your motion.

I am in uh the consent agenda approval to include items one and three through seven.

Second.

All right, we have a motion and second to approve the items as listed.

Madam Clerk, you call the roll.

Councilman Bowman.

All right, Vice Mayor Brown.

Aye, Councilwoman Campbell, aye.

Councilwoman Faraby.

Aye.

Councilwoman Harper.

Aye.

Councilwoman Mugler.

Aye.

Mayor Gray.

Aye.

So then it is item two that will be addressed later on the general items.

Okay, so we had proclamations that were awarded this week for men's health week, which is June 15th and uh 20 through the 21st.

And um, I'm gonna read that proclamation.

Uh so June 15th through 21st, we are proclaiming that as men's health week and uh June 2026 as men's health month in the city of Hampton.

And whereas men's health month is a part of the ongoing international effort to educate men, boys, and their families about the importance of preventative health screenings, early detection, and healthy lifestyles.

And whereas nationwide, men have a life expectancy uh that is approximately six years shorter than that of women and experience higher rates of chronic disease, including diabetes, obesity, cancer, heart disease, and premature mortality.

And whereas men who are educated about the value of preventative health will more likely participate in the health screenings, and whereas men's health months provides an opportunity to recognize the mental and physical health needs of men and boys while encouraging fathers and caregivers, caregivers to serve as positive role models through preventative care, healthy living, and health seeking behaviors.

And whereas the growing epidemic of deaths of despair, including deaths related to suicide, substance use disorders, alcohol misuse, and homelessness underscores the urgent need to raise awareness of unrecognized and undiagnosed depression, mental stress, and emotional stress amongst men and boys, and whereas the centerpiece of men's health Month is National Men's Health Week, a special awareness period passed by Congress and signs to law May 31st, 1994, and observed annually through the efforts of men's health network to build health to build health, empathy, recognition, and understanding of the unique health needs facing men and boys.

Now, therefore, I, James A.

Gray, Mayor, on behalf of the City Council of the City of Hampton, Virginia, do hereby proclaim June 15th through the 21st, 2026 as Men's Health Week and the month of June 2026 as Men's Health Month in the City of Hampton, Virginia.

And furthermore, I encourage all citizens to pursue preventative health practices and early detection efforts.

In witness whereof, I've hearing to set my hand and cause the seal of Hampton seal of the City of Hampton, Virginia to be affixed this 10th day of June 2026, signed Mayor James A.

Gray Jr.

And uh a couple of more proclamations uh this evening.

Um, this uh, as I mentioned this week, it uh coming up later this month is Juneteenth.

And so I have a proclamation for Juneteenth, recognizing June 19th, 2026 as Juneteenth in the City of Hampton, Virginia, and whereas President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1st, 1863, declaring slaves in the Confederate territory free, and whereas this action paved the way for the passing of the 13th Amendment while formally, which formally abolished slavery in the United States of America, and whereas word about the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation was delayed some two and a half years in reaching authorities and African Americans in the South and Southwestern United States.

And whereas on June 19th, 1865, Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas and announced the end of both the Civil War and slavery.

And whereas the celebration of the end of slavery became known as Juneteenth, combining the words of June and 19th, is the oldest known public celebration of the end of slavery in the United States and has been celebrated by the African American community for over 150 years.

And whereas Juneteenth commemorates African American freedom and celebrates the successes gained through education and greater opportunity, and whereas the annual Juneteenth celebration will take place in the city of Hampton with events taking place throughout the month of June 2026.

Now, therefore, I, James A.

Gray, Junior, mayor, on behalf of the City Council of the City of Hampton, Virginia, do hereby recognize June 19, 2026 as Juneteenth Day in City of Hampton, Virginia, and I urge all citizens to become more aware of the significance of this celebration in the African American history and in the heritage of our nation and city.

Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and cause the seal of the city of Hampton, Virginia to be affixed his 10th day of June 2026, signed James A.

Gray, Mayor.

And so I am going to ask Director of our Unity Commission to come up, Mr.

Gabe Diaz, and I'm going to present the proclamation.

Come on.

Whereas June 27th is recognized nationwide as post-traumatic stress disorder awareness day, first established by Congress in 2010 to create awareness of the disorder and to promote outreach and support for those who suffer from it.

And whereas PTSD is formally defined as a mental health condition that develops after an individual goes through a life-threatening event where the lingering feelings of distress, anxiety, and dread continue to interfere with the person's quality of life even after the event has passed.

And whereas individuals with PTSD are diverse in their unique backgrounds and experiences, and whereas the City of Hampton honors our large veteran community and those who may have experienced PTSD due to lived experiences not related to combat, noting that up to six percent of the general population will continue to contend with this disorder in their lifetime.

And whereas residents with PTSD are valued members of our community whose strength, courage, and perseverance continue to move the city of Hampton forward, and whereas individuals with the PTSD seek to build lives for themselves as they push past their adverse experiences by pursuing education, employment, housing, recreation, and meaningful community connection.

And whereas all citizens suffering from PTSD deserve our consideration, and those who are affected by PSD from wounds received while protecting our freedom deserve our respect and special honor.

And whereas recognizing post-traumatic stress disorder awareness day encourages all residents to stand together as a community by promoting understanding, offering support to one another, and creating a space where those who are struggling feel safe and ask for help.

Now, therefore, I James A.

Gray, Jr.

Mayor on behalf of the City Council of the City of Hampton, Virginia, do hereby proclaim June 27, 2026 as post-traumatic stress disorder awareness day in the City of Hampton, Virginia, and I encourage all residents to reach out to their fellow citizens to provide support and remove the stigma associated with this disorder.

Signed James A.

Gray Mayor.

And accepting this proclamation this evening is uh let's see, it's Miss Vivian Austin here.

Ms.

Vivian Austin.

Come on up, Miss Austin.

She's the chair of our mayor's committee for people with disabilities, and uh she will come up and select uh receive the proclamation along with other members from the committee.

So come on up and join us.

All right, Councilman, let's go more time.

So, I hear the place on the asking, I know we have to watch it.

Okay, and before I move on with the agenda, I want to acknowledge uh presence of our delegate of the 86th South District here, representing Hanson Hampton, delegate Virgil Thorne.

How are you doing this evening?

All right.

With that, I'm gonna ask the clerk to read the protocol for public hearings.

The city council is committed to fair and respectful hearings.

The following guidelines help ensure an orderly process.

Individuals wishing to speak must sign up in the city hall lobby, starting one hour before the meeting and ending when the meeting begins.

Speakers will be called in the order they signed up.

Speaker shall address council from the center podium, and each speaker is allowed three minutes.

The timer has a green light, which will turn yellow with one minute remaining, and then red when time is up.

All comments must be addressed to the council, and speakers may not yield their time to others.

After all speakers are heard, the mayor will close the public hearing and invite council discussion and action.

Thank you.

Your first public hearing this evening is item number eight, 26-0154.

It's a use permit application by Delwyn Cosby to allow vehicle repair heavy at 611 Copeland Drive, LRSN 1000 432.

All right, City Manager.

Yes, thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Uh, tonight our senior city planner, James Randolph will be making this presentation for you.

Good evening, honorable mayor, council members, city manager, city attorney.

Before you this evening, you do have use permit number 26-0154, and this is at 6-11 Copeland Drive.

The application is for a use permit to allow for vehicle repair heavy to occur on property that is zoned heavy manufacturing M3.

The purpose of the application is to establish a vehicle paint and repair facility in the Copeland Industrial Park.

This is a general location map showing the property in the southwest portion of the city as indicated by the red star.

This is a closer view of the property, showing it outlined in blue at the intersection of 60th Street and Copeland Drive.

The proposal is to renovate an existing 11,900 square foot building on.743 acres into a vehicle paint and repair facility.

It will operate as a Mako Auto Body Franchise.

It will create 6 to 11 new jobs, provide investments with new equipment, and also includes the installation of new signage.

This is a zoning map of the general area.

All the purple is M3 Heavy Manufacturing, and the blue is M2 light manufacturing.

The future land use map does indicate this area for business and industrial use.

This is a view of the current building from Copeland Drive with an additional view of the proposed signage of the Mako Franchise on the front of the building.

This is additional signage proposed for the side of the building facing 60th Street.

This is a general concept plan showing the general parking.

The building is outlined in blue towards the bottom.

We'll show the circulation and general repair patterns for vehicles entering the facility and leaving.

It also shows the additional as outlined in orange, fenced outside fenced parking and servicing area for final detailing after the work is complete.

This is a closer view of that parking and servicing area outlined in orange.

And this is an example of the type of equipment that will be used in this operation.

In addition to being consistent with the future land use map, the Hampton Community Plan does provide for other public policies with specific emphasis on economic development policy number two to focus business expansion and attraction to strengthen the industrial clusters.

The use permit conditions do include seven conditions limiting vehicles that are being serviced to a maximum of 30 days on site.

Vehicle storage is prohibited.

The outside fence parked parking and servicing area will be screened.

It will require a certificate of occupancy as well as compliance with all applicable laws and nullification and/or revocation should that occur.

A community meeting was held on May 2nd.

The applicant and staff were present.

No one from the community attended.

Staff analysis does provide that this furthers the adopted policies of the Hampton Community Plan.

It is located in an established industrial park.

It provides 6 to 11 new jobs and also investments in equipment.

In conclusion, the applicant will have an opportunity to present, followed by a public hearing.

And planning commission and staff do recommend approval of this use permit with the seven conditions.

And if you have any questions, I would be pleased to answer them.

So any questions from Mr.

Randolph?

Okay.

Thank you.

Is the applicant wish to speak?

Excuse me.

The applicant.

The applicant is here this evening.

Mr.

Cosby, and he's thank you.

Good evening, Honorable Mayor, members of the committee, Council members.

I'm Delwin Cosby, owner of DJ Collision and DJC logistics.

Uh, and I also would like to thank Mr.

Randolph for his presentation.

Um I look forward to uh adding additional jobs to the area also with uh internships and uh things for students who want to learn the trade of uh auto bodies.

Now with this uh body shop, um, we're not just uh auto shop.

We're we're gonna be painting any units that will fit into the paint booth.

So if you have boats, you have chairs, you have school equipment, you have uh anything, then we are we'll be available to uh help it.

Now the primary purpose of me uh getting this uh this uh property is to take care of my fleet.

I'm uh with uh DJC logistics, I'm uh Amazon DSP.

Uh so we have about 50 to 70 uh Amazon vans on the road a date, and it it comes up with a lot of uh dents and dings with uh young drivers that we have out there trying to support the community.

So uh that's the primary purpose.

We're not gonna be in competition with uh other collision shops like uh caliber collision and those guys because we are retail shop.

We are our main deal is to get the dents out, sand it down, put some bond on it, spray paint it, uh, get it in and out of the booth and back on the road.

So uh that will be our main uh uh purpose.

So um also if anybody have any questions for me, I'm uh willing to answer.

Questions by the applicant, uh councilwoman Mugler.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Uh, just a quick question about the paint booth.

You you mentioned that it you can paint other things behind vehicles in there, for example, a piece of furniture, yes.

Okay, and what we do as uh units, and also I didn't mention the first 10 units that uh show up.

We're gonna be giving them a huge discount.

So if anybody have anything we need to say, I might be there.

We're looking for my opening if approved around the third of August.

So we're looking at thank you.

Okay, thank you, sir.

I think that's all the questions for you.

All right, thank you.

Okay, this item uh does require a public hearing, so we're gonna open the public hearing.

We have one person signed up to speak.

Uh Marissa Okus, and when you oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, okay.

All right, there are no speakers on this item, so we'll close the public hearing, and uh we need a motion to say, Mr.

Mayor, I move that city council approve use permit application 26-0154 for heavy vehicle repair at 611 Copeland Drive, subject to seven conditions as presented in the agenda packet.

Second.

All right, we have a motion and second.

Is there any further discussion?

All right, there being no, Madam Clerk, you call the road, please.

Councilman Bowman.

All right, Vice Mayor Brown, Councilwoman Campbell, aye.

Councilwoman Theravy.

Hi.

Councilwoman Harper.

Aye, Councilwoman Muggler, aye.

Mayor Gray.

Aye.

Item number nine on your agenda this evening is an ordinance to amend and reenact the zoning ordinance of the city of Hampton, Virginia, Chapter 2, Section 2 2 and Title Definitions.

To amend the definition for amusement centers, amusement or skill-based devices accessory, off-track horse race bedding facility, and physical recreation facility.

Chapter 3, Section 3-2, entitled Table of Uses Permitted to add Amusement or Skill-Based Device Accessory and Off-Track Horse Race Betting Facility to the use table.

Chapter 3, Section 3-3 entitled Additional Standards on Uses to add Additional Standards for Amusement or Skill-Based Device Accessory and Amusement Center's uses in Chapter 9, Section 9-23 entitled Modifications to Permitted Uses.

Mr.

Mayor and Council Members, Chief Planner Donna Woodbull will be making this presentation.

Good evening, Mayor Gray, members of council.

As a clerk just read, this is a proposed zoning ordinance amendment proposal before you regarding amusement centers, gaming devices, and physical recreation facilities.

Specifically, looking to amend chapters two and three to redefine to define and redefine uses, amend and add additional standards related to amusement centers and amusement devices and physical recreation facilities.

The purpose of these amendments are to modernize the zoning ordinance, clarify and define uses, establish clear regulatory thresholds, improve enforcement, and provide a more flexible framework that allows uh low-intensity uses by right while requiring additional review for higher intensity operations.

So some of the solutions that we're going to look through this evening are replacing the coin operated amusement definition with amusement devices, amending the floor area of amendment amusement devices as an accessory use, amend amusement center definition, add a new definition for off-track horse race bedding facility, and amend the rec physical recreation facility definition.

Starting with the coin operated uh amusement machine, uh this is what the current how the current definition reads.

And the problem with that is that this definition is uh too vague.

Uh the word coin operation has become outdated since there are many forms of payment uh for these types of machines.

It doesn't currently uh distinguish between the types of skill-based machine uh skill-based or other forms of arcade games, and uh currently it's overly restrictive in that it does not allow any more than six arcade games, uh style games.

So the solution is this new definition, and I'm not gonna read the whole definition uh but uh it basically uh is inclusive of all the different types of arcade machines that are out there, however, it uh it does not include any games that would be restricted based on age, uh and this is uh amusement devices as an accessory use.

Uh, these are the locations where they are uh currently permitted.

Uh these districts are commercial districts, Phoebus and uh DT1 and DT2, but more important about this slide is the uh instead of the number looking at the number of machines is we'll now assess by the floor area, so a business would be allowed to have 20% of their floor area have these um arcade machines.

So moving on to amusement center, the current uh definition again, uh, it's it's too vague, and it uh has outdated language in there, has the coin operated uh machine term in there, and so uh the amended definition is intended to provide greater clarity and capture uh establishments that are mostly a you know, the intent is for these uh arcade or amusement type devices, and we're also with this uh in addition to amending the definition, looking to add additional zoning districts of where uh amusement centers would be allowed.

So, quite uh simply an amusement center.

Uh, the new definition would be any establishment whose principal use is the operation of amusement devices, and as mentioned, in addition to C2 and C3 and M2, BB3, BB4, DT1, and DT2, those are our Buckrow Beach and Downtown Districts would be added in addition to where they're already allowed in the Phoebus.

You see Phoebus 1, 2, and 3 there, as well as our public open space, and most of these uh except for the uh commercial and I think M2 all require use permit.

So uh in creating the new amusement uh center language uh we kind of set apart the uh OTB or uh what is the full name, off-track horse race bedding facility.

And it by adopting the new amusement center definition, it would make our existing uh OTBs that we have in the city uh would become legal.

They remain legal, but they would be non-conforming.

So we thought it would be better to create a new definition that sets them apart as their own facility, and this pretty much uh this definition, the wording comes straight from the Virginia code that defines what an off-track horse race betting facility is, and where they would be permitted would that would be in the limited commercial C2 Coliseum Central Overlay District, and it would still require a use permit.

And looking now at the physical recreation facility, the current definition, we actually amended this definition not too long ago, uh, but we have found that it uh inadvertently excludes some predominantly outdoor-based recreation, such as mini golf, pickleball courses, which are become quite popular, and even basketball courses, and so this new definition uh just refines it a bit to make it more inclusive, and you'll see some of the red highlights there where it specifically mentions fitness centers, gymnastic facilities, dance and martial arts studios, as well as indoor outdoor courts or fields, and you also see miniature golf uh facilities there.

In addition to this amendment, we're also recommending adding uh the public open space district to the list of permitted uses.

We did do some research here in the area and then elsewhere in the state, and we what we found is that there's uh varying uh degrees throughout all these localities of how they define amusements and devices and amusement centers, and I think we we're pretty much in line with a lot of them, and we're but you know, Hampton is unique just like these other cities are unique, and so what we've presented to you tonight is what we think works best for the city of Hampton, and so uh in draw in conclusion, we believe these recommended uh amendments would eliminate the reliance on outdated terminology.

We have new and amended definitions and use standards uh that would appropriately um define arcade use and it would distinguish between accessory amusement devices as an accessory use versus a full amusement center.

It also uh includes would be inclusive of barcade uses, and again, that's kind of a larger amusement center that has, you know, you think of like eat, drink, and play.

Um, and also uh these amendments would reduce ambiguity and help us with our enforcement and interpretation, and also uh offers greater flexibility with respect to our physical recreation facilities uh within the city.

And so that concludes my presentation after the public hearing.

Uh staff and planning commission and recommend approval of these amendments uh known as zoning ordinance amendment 26-0146.

I'd be happy to answer any questions you have in me at this time.

All right.

Questions from Mr.

Whipple.

Alright.

Thank you.

Thank you for the presentation.

Uh this item requires a public hearing, so we're gonna open the public hearing.

There's no one signed up to speak, and so we'll close a public hearing and call for a motion.

Mr.

Mayor, I move that the city council approve and adopt a zoning ordinance amendment 26-0146 concerning amusement devices and other recreational uses presented in the agenda package.

Second.

Okay, without motion and second.

Is there any further discussion?

All right.

There being no, we call the roll, please.

Councilman Bowman.

Aye.

Vice Mayor Brown.

Aye.

Councilwoman Campbell.

Aye.

Councilwoman Fairby.

Aye.

Councilwoman Harper.

Aye.

Councilwoman Muggler.

Aye.

Mayor Gray.

Aye.

Item number 10 is 26-0192.

It's an ordinance granting a non-exclusive franchise agreement to Lumos Telephone LLC to occupy and use the public streets and public rights of way located in the City of Hampton for providing telecommunication service services.

Mr.

Mayor and Councilmembers.

They contacted the City of Hampton and advise that they desire to use and occupy the public streets and public rights away located within the city for the purposes of constructing, installing, and maintaining network facilities for telecommunication services within and through the city to provide services to the citizens of the city.

Therefore, Lumos requested that the city grant a telecommunications franchise to provide the services that they propose.

Perserant to the Constitution of Virginia and the Virginia Code, the city has the authority to grant franchises and other authorizations for the use and occupancy of the public streets and public rights away.

The franchise term requested by Lumos is for a period of five years, which does not necessitate the bid process required under section 15.2-2100 of the Code of Virginia as amended.

City staff recommends allowing Lumas to use the public streets and public right of ways subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the agenda package in that certain non-exclusive franchise agreement between the city and lumos.

Um and I want to just note because I had a question earlier.

Uh this comes up from time to time that when utility companies go into our city streets, they are required to put them back to the condition.

So when they they open up the street, let's say to put in the fiber, they're going to have to repair it back to the drivable service.

Mr.

Mayor, we did have someone sign up to speak on this public hearing.

Right.

So uh this item does require a public hearing.

We have one person signed up, and uh now it's time to call Miss Marissa Okus.

Would you come up and state your name just to make sure I stated it correctly?

Mayor Gray.

Vice Mayor, uh Marissa Oaks.

Um I was encouraged by the women, the Sleep Women Doubt Sayers to sign up to speak in case there are any questions in this matter, but otherwise I don't have anything to share with you today.

Okay, all right, thank you.

All right, there are no other speakers, so we'll close the uh public hearing and uh call for a motion.

Mr.

Mayor, I move that city council approve and adopt item number two six-zero one nine two ordinance approving non-exclusive franchise agreement to Lumos telephone LLC as presented in the agenda package.

Second, second, all right, all right.

We have a motion to second.

Is there any further discussion?

All right, there being a uh Madam Clerk call to roll.

Councilman Bowman, Vice Mayor Brown, Councilwoman Campbell, aye.

Councilwoman Faraby, Councilwoman Harper, aye.

Councilwoman Mugler, aye.

Mayor Gray.

Aye.

Item number 11 is 26-0212, an ordinance to amend and reenact the non-coded ordinance adopted on June 12, 2024, setting the salaries for the mayor and members of city council pursuant to Virginia Code section 15.2-1414.6.

Mr.

Mayor and Council members.

Uh, for the benefit of the public, in 2024, the Virginia General Assembly amended the Virginia Code Section 15.2-1414.6, which provides for the maximum annual salaries for the mayors and council members of all Virginia Cities.

This was the first time those maximums had been increased since 1998.

The Hampton City Council and many others throughout the Commonwealth then adopted ordinances to adjust salaries in response to that.

And Hampton in particular adopted that ordinance on June 12th, 2024, which increased the salary of the mayor to the uh level set forth by the Virginia Code of 47,000 and the salary of each council member to 43,000.

However, in addition to increasing the maximum salaries, the Virginia General Assembly provided that such maximum salaries could be further adjusted by ordinance by an inflation factor not to exceed 5%.

The Virginia Code further provides that proposed increases to such salaries shall be adopted at least four months prior to the date of the next municipal election, and that no increase in such salaries shall take effect until July 1st after the next regularly scheduled general election of council members.

Instead of waiting for another extended period of time to do another large increase, as was needed to be done in 2024, with it not having been increased since 1998.

The proposed non-coded ordinance amendment would give the mayor and the members of council a one-time increase of 4%, the same as the cost of living adjustment approved for the general workforce as part of the fiscal 2027 budget.

If the proposed ordinance is adopted, the cost of living increase for the mayor and council members of City Council will not go into effect until July 1st, 2027.

Thank you for that explanation, city manager.

So is there a motion?

Yes.

Mr.

Mayor, you need to open the public hearing first.

I'm sorry.

I want to open a public hearing because this item does require public hearing.

So there's nobody signed up to speak, so I'm going to close the public hearing and now call for a motion.

Yes, may I move that the city council approve it and adopt items 26-2021 two amended ordinance setting sales for the mayor and members of council as presented in the agenda package.

Second.

I have a motion to second any discussion.

Yeah, I have a um thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

I have a clarifying question.

If we if we this does not pass, and then two years from now, when it's open again, will the um will be it will the salary be caught up to cost of living, or will it just be a certain percentage at the time?

So that particular question is the code is a little bit ambiguous as to whether or not you can do those cumulative adjustments like that.

So we have discussed possibly seeking a clarification before that occurs.

So I don't want to tell you that you would be able to do that right now.

Um the more conservative approach would say is you couldn't do more than five percent at any one time unless we receive guidance that that is permissible.

Okay, thank you.

So any further discussion, any other council members, I'll I will just add to this that you know, again, as the city manager mentioned this is not result in a pay increase for council members this year.

The pay increase of up to four percent wouldn't go into effect until July of July 1st of 2027.

And you know, really this is really about trying to keep salaries of council members um uh keep pace with inflation and really looking at you know, trying to give others who may be interested in running for city office uh more incentive to want to participate if the salaries are in line or uh at a level where they could afford perhaps this to be their full-time job as opposed to a part-time job, which it is now.

So uh, you know, it's not necessarily about just us and who may benefit from a pay increase next year.

We actually, if each year, each time we want to do this, we got to go through the same process because that's the way the uh state code has it set up.

But you know, really it's it's it's really about just kind of setting the pace, setting the tone for salaries for future leaders in our community who want to uh serve on city council and or make sacrifices, uh especially the younger generation who may be working or working with families and may be interested in also serving this capacity that you know that makes it a affordable attraction for them to do so.

City manager.

Uh yes, uh mayor.

I feel to mention I thought it might help give context to it as well that the four percent would be equivalent to seventeen hundred and twenty dollars for the council people and eighteen hundred and eighty for the mayor, because of the slightly different amounts of provided by code for the mayor, um, but if we don't do it regularly, then we would get in the place where once again we may have to try if if it's even allowed, as the city attorney said of doing a much larger increase all at one time.

And so for the budget purposes, it's a lot easier to assume that incremental increase over time.

As you can see, it's it's a relatively minor amount of money in the scheme of things.

I realize every dollar matters to every person, especially those that live paycheck to paycheck, but it's not like it's a huge amount of money.

It's it's a thousand seven hundred and twenty dollars for the council members.

Thank you for that additional context.

All right, any other questions, comments from council members.

I think we have a motion to second.

So, Madame Clerk, you call the role.

Councilman Bowman, aye, Vice Mayor Brown, aye.

Councilwoman Campbell, aye.

Councilwoman Fairby.

Aye.

Councilwoman Harper, aye.

Councilwoman Muggler, aye.

Mayor Gray.

Aye.

The motion carries.

So we have to ask the clerk to read the uh protocol for a public comment.

Council meetings are for conducting city business.

Public comment is allowed on matters within the council's authority and following public hearing items.

Speakers must follow the citizen participation protocol.

Speakers may sign up in the lobby one hour before the meeting and until it begins.

Speaker shall address counsel from the center podium.

Each speaker is allowed three minutes.

The timer has a green light, which will turn yellow with one minute remaining, then red when time is up.

Please speak respectfully and avoid personal attacks.

Focus on topics within council's jurisdiction.

Do not use the platform for political campaign speeches.

Comments must be directed to the council and yielding time is not allowed.

Audience must remain respectful and refrain from interruptions.

Council typically listens without engaging in discussion.

Responses may be provided by the city manager, city attorney, or council members after public comment.

Failure to follow the protocol may result in removal from the podium after a fair warning.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you.

And uh for those who are here speaking at public comment period for the first time.

Uh the red light, green light, yellow light indicators are right over here in front of the vice mayor.

Uh when it's green, uh you you're speaking.

When it turns yellow, you have one minute left.

When it's red, your time is up.

If you wrote a five-minute speech, you still only get three minutes to say your five-minute speech.

And so with that, I'm gonna call the first speaker, uh, who I know has been here before, Miss Linda Seely.

Let me get prepared, Jimmy.

Don't start yet.

Good evening, mayor, vice mayor, council members, city manager, and city attorney.

I'm Linda Seeley, and I'm here tonight to speak on something that I dearly love and dearly care about.

The animals in our city.

They are innocent and defenseless, and please know they depend on e the mayor, vice mayor, council members, and the city manager to work to make sure they're being cared for our city has done great things like implementing a new tethering law and a lease law and supporting the regional animal shelter.

I believe Jason Mitchell and Lieutenant Giles are aware of the staffing problems of animal control, and we'll resolve them as soon as possible.

And I do appreciate the hard work, the current senior animal control officer, Leslie Brazil is doing.

She's doing a fantastic job.

She can trap cats, she's learning the city very well.

She's I commend her.

Routinely we get messages on Facebook and next door about animals in need and people out here needing help with the animals that they have in their in their hands or in their neighborhoods.

Regarding our regional, and this is so important, regarding our regional animal shelter, no animal ever should be turned away.

A prior Newport News department had agreed with this point.

Nothing that's refused from that shelter is really going to be contributing to an animal problem a population because they're not most people that bring them in very rarely are neutered or spayed.

And so what they do when they say we're not going to take them, we're full.

It's a public shelter.

We're paying for them to take our animals.

So as the department had said, they'll go out and dump them.

And that's poor little things are out here fending for themselves.

I wish every animal could have a happy home.

But because people won't stay and neuter their animals, the shelter gets full.

We just need to stay and neuter these animals.

Less porn, less has to be put to sleep.

I urge citizens all the time, even when I was on campaign, I included PETA.

They gave me a good opportunity to be in areas I hadn't been in a long time.

So that's that's an advantage.

If you're campaigning, you can always insert something on the animals too.

They can benefit as the person that you're campaigning for can benefit.

And I give them the number and tell them how to go about it.

Now, Jimmy, I want you to listen to this.

One other important time is up.

Oh, it is.

I can't say it about you.

Gosh, I I want I gotta tell the citizens something.

But we can only give you three minutes of speech.

Oh, really?

Okay, well, thank you, sir.

I know you don't want to arrest me.

All right, next speaker is Ms.

June Sullivan.

I think you said three minutes.

Good afternoon.

Thank you, Council, for allowing me to speak.

One issue I would like the city to consider is transparency regarding feral cats and cat colonies.

At a recent meeting, I heard that a resident in our area reportedly accepted eight cats into a colony.

What surprised me was that none of us in the neighborhood was aware that a colony existed or was being established.

My concern is that residents who are affected by these decisions should be informed and have the opportunity to understand how colonies are managed.

My family has grossly been impacted.

Over nine cats were born under our shed last year, three this year.

Several times a day, cats pass through our yard.

I've counted about 20.

Feces are everywhere, and odor isn't tolerable.

After animal control picked up several cats to learn that a colony had been formed by a neighbor was totally disappointing.

If colonies are part of Hampton's strategy, I believe residents should know when a colony is established in their neighborhood, who is responsible for managing it and how often how complaints about feces, odors, and transanitation concerns are handled, how many cats are being trapped, relocated and managed.

Just as the city seek public input on other decisions that affect neighborhoods, we should be informed and given opportunity to come in before a colony is approved or relocated in our community because we are the ones who live with the effects.

It is our quality of life, sanitation, odor, and the enjoyment of property that is affected.

I will ask the city this question.

How does Hampton measure success in managing feral cat population?

And how are residents inform about the results?

One final question is given that Hampton has along has long recognized feral cat management as an ongoing issue.

What additional steps and policies the city considering to move from reacting to the problem to being more proactive in managing the problem just to achieve measurable reduction in the population and to impact on and the impact on neighborhoods and citizens' quality of life.

Further, fetal cats, whether they are spaded or not, and colonies created, they are an encroachment on our property and has and is grossly impacting our quality of life.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

I have our president of neighborhood watch, McGruder Neighborhood Watch with me, Judy Allen.

Thank you.

Thank you, Miss Sullivan.

Next speaker is Chris Bowman.

I'm Chris Bowman.

Good evening, mayor, council members, city manager, city attorney, and council clerk.

This evening I'd like to touch on two items.

First, several months ago, I attended a presentation on the infield housing plan book.

I believe 11 proposed models were presented.

I want to commend the council, the community development, and the architect on this plan and the progress to date.

I believe this concept will start in the with area.

I have two recommendations.

Build them to a lead gold level and to a category three when load.

Second, in a recent daily press article on school speed cameras, 445,000 were received from Macon School, 350,000 from Barron Elementary and 334,000 from Bethel High School.

That totals one point million dollars.

1.4 million dollars.

The city has 13 school zones.

If three zones generate 1.4 million, the remaining 10 should generate 11.3.

All in that is 12.7 million dollars.

That's a lot of money and a lot of revenue.

I assume the city gets to keep all this revenue.

If not, then the state does.

We need to petition our delegates, senators, and Congress individuals to have this changed.

This revenue can assist with lowering property tax and increasing salaries for police, fire, rescue, 911 and 311 staff, and our teachers.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Joan Weaver.

One thing that bothers me more than anything is to hear they say, quote unquote, no one from the community came.

Greater width, right here is here, and I want to hold you all accountable, and I would like answers.

City council, overseeing city departments.

You hire and fire.

Is that not correct?

City manager, city attorney, and auditor.

You oversee the effectiveness of city operations.

You are supposed to act as an observant by listening to resident complaints, addressing neighborhood issues and answering questions, community engagement, hosting public meetings, taking comments, establishing short-term objectives for the effectiveness.

The department of taxation and city, yet in our neighborhoodes and compliance, the only time we see you is when you come for our votes.

Let that change.

And we need to have it on the record, an official complaint to where we list concerns for substandard service when we are disrespected, when we are ignored, and we are shuffled on the side, and they go ahead and lead to quote unquote misdemeanors when the biggest misdemeanor is their ineffectiveness and service to our community.

Who do we address to stop them in their tracks before it gets to where it is?

And as I stated, it does not make sense.

If city council, from what I said, if those are your responsibilities, put it on the record and let us know.

No one should be in that situation.

You give all these great expectations about how you want to help the residents, how you listen to the residents when you do anything but that ordinance could be explained right within ordinance that you spit out so easily or resolutions for the citizens, but you don't share that.

Once again, Department of Taxation Codes and Compliances and official step-by-step on what we need to do to get that addressed and have counsel come out and do your job as well.

Not a smooth over about a city attorney who did not.

I'm sorry, see the attorney city manager who did not answer me the last time.

If anything else, you should know.

I will keep coming until you answer me and do right by our community.

Thank you.

No clapping in the council chambers.

All right, thank you, Miss Weaver.

Uh, next speaker is Aaron Burke.

Hello, everyone.

Uh, I'm just about as hot as she is, but for a totally different reason.

I'm back again about this Farrell's hookah bar that is literally destroying my neighborhood day after day, weekend after weekend, and this is my second time being up here to speak on this.

I got three kids back there that wake up at one o'clock in the morning to tell me that somebody's out in front of the house doing whatever they decide they want to do.

I'm seeing people now urinating in front of my house, urinating on people's vehicles that live in that neighborhood.

I'm tired of the trash.

I'm tired of the destruction of property.

I'm tired of people's.

I find people's keys in my backyard, car keys.

Let's not play this game anymore.

You guys need to do something about it.

It needs to change, it needs to stop now.

They don't deserve a liquor license, they don't deserve to even be open at this point.

We're done.

My entire neighborhood is through.

We live on a dead end street.

You can't even get emergency vehicles through our street if something was to happen.

I have elderly, disabled, young children, and a whole lot of people that don't deserve to go through this night after night, day after day, weekend or in the middle of the week.

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, it doesn't matter.

Shut down that place or give us residential parking that only allows us to be there and make it a towaway zone.

They're destroying businesses next door and across the street, and we are tired.

It needs to stop now.

Thank you, Mr.

Burke.

Next speaker is uh Chair Lisa Burke.

Good evening.

By the last name I can guess, you know I am his missus.

Those are also my beautiful children.

The first time I came here, I noticed that all of you applauded the daycare that was approved.

I have children.

Are they not to be considered their safety?

Are they not to be considered during the school days to be able to sleep peacefully?

We live about two miles from Buck Road Beach.

There was a stabbing because of the unruliness that is happening.

Okay, I understand you cannot control the youth, and that is fine.

But I'm trying to raise mine with my husband respectfully.

We cannot do that as long as you allow Farrell's hookabar to advertise that our dead-end subdivision is considered public parking and we cannot tell them they cannot park there.

I appreciate Sergeant Police officers like Sergeant Bradford who listen to us when we do call the non-emergency line.

I also understand that our Hampton Police Department has limited resources, especially when it comes to personnel.

I do not want to bother them for that with this.

However, my children's safety is my number one concern.

And by any means necessary, I will ensure that they are safe.

Them and any other children in my care.

That will include my sister's daughter, because she is currently deployed, therefore, my niece, when she comes to live with me.

I will ensure her safety as well.

I do not want to be pushed aside once again, like last time, to speak with Joshua George, what is it?

Officer Roush, Alexand Bathea, and Katie McHale.

Because those are the people that you allowed us to speak with and to address our concerns with.

And guess what?

They were not helpful.

They were non-responsive, and they also were honestly rude.

So once again, we do not want to close businesses.

Excuse me.

I will say I don't want businesses to close, but if it has to close to ensure my safety, my family's safety, my children's safety, then close it.

Because if I have taken matters of my own hands, we will end up on way B 10.

Thank you, Ms.

Bird.

That is a final speaker for the evening.

Uh so I'm gonna turn it over to city manager to address any of the items she chooses to do so at this time.

Certainly, thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

And I normally go on order, but I do want to start with Miss Weaver's comments because I did fail to address everything she wrote brought up last time, and I want to apologize for that.

Um sometimes when I'm trying to manage all the comments, I skipped something and it wasn't intentional.

So I'm gonna start with yours tonight.

Um, I will clarify just one thing first on the facts.

The city council does hire and fire and supervise the city manager, the city attorney, and the city of clerk.

Uh they do not do that for the assessor or the auditor or any of the other department heads.

Uh, the way the council manager form of government is set up is that they hire the three people that I mentioned to manage the city.

Um, all of the department heads report directly to me through my assistant city managers.

Um, the tax assessor in particular, although she does work for me and my responsibility is to hire someone who meets the minimum qualifications.

Um, we cannot, neither the council nor even myself nor the city attorney can direct them how to do the assessment process.

Uh they are certified, they're actually internationally certified and ranked as doing assessments correctly.

But their review as to whether or not they're doing accurate assessments is done first by the state.

Uh they look at how close assessments are to market ratios, and frankly, if we don't do good enough, they can come in and take over our assessment office.

And the second point of review is actually a citizen review.

It's a citizen repeal uh review board.

So if someone does not agree with their tax assessment, the process there is to file an appeal, and then that appeal is reviewed by a citizen board.

And if the citizen board believes the tax assessor made an error, they will make an adjustment.

But we um and I include the council in that as well as the administrative staff cannot do assessments or direct assessments to be a certain way.

And that's been done intentionally because the state and all of us want to make sure that the assessments are truly a reflection of market value and not of some political need to create revenue for the budget.

In terms of the codes department or other city departments where people have complaints.

At one time, we did have an embudsment position many years ago before I was manager.

Um I think it was when uh Jesse Wallace was city manager and we had some budget challenges, and Hardy Cashe was the then unbudsman retired, that position was eliminated.

We asked citizens to call in complaints to our 311 number.

And if people can't dial 311, they are to call 727-8311.

They can be submitted electronically using the website or we're using the app.

We ask people to call them in there, but they don't have to only do them there.

They can do them via council office, via the manager's office.

They want, they we encourage oftentimes to start in the department level, only because it can oftentimes be resolved versus coming to us.

But I understand your point of the question is you're not satisfied with what happened at the department head level.

And so that's where that would come to the manager's office or the council's office.

311 does give us a report of all the complaints for us to investigate and look into.

But the most direct way, if you're unsatisfied with what you've had, is to come to the council and me so that we can look into the complaints.

When something is involved with a code violation, which is I believe what you were speaking about when you reference misdemeanors, once that is issued, that is a court matter.

So we cannot intervene for the court at that point in time.

But we can we can't we can we can certainly look at the process that leads to citations and you know I'm glad to sit down with you anytime as you know and talk through the issues that you have.

But we do not have an official umbudsman any longer.

311 basically serves as the record keeping system, if you will, for us to track the number of complaints that we get on various different departments for various different reasons.

But I always encourage people who are unsatisfied with any resolution to come directly to our office and they will get the highest level of review from our office.

I'm sorry you feel that way.

Um I'm going to move on now to Pharaoh's.

Public roads, however, are public roads, and it's very difficult to keep people from parking on them.

Tonight I heard something I didn't hear last time, which is that the establishment is actually advertising your neighborhood streets as parking for the restaurant.

They absolutely should not be doing that, and we will follow up with them and make sure that they know they should not be encouraging people to go elsewhere to park, they should be accommodating parking on their parking lot.

Um I am hesitant to say this because I don't want to offer something I can't definitely deliver.

But I've asked the staff to look at is it possible to make your streets a resident-only parking zone.

There are certain criteria that have to be met under code.

That code is established by the state, and then we adopt it locally, but it may be because of the problems you're having, and again, maybe please don't take this as an absolute commitment.

We have to do the research that we might be able to qualify your neighborhood as a resident only.

When that happens, typically what happens is we work to get decals, and then the police can look for the decal.

And if the decal is there, of course, they don't get ticketed.

And if someone doesn't have the decal, then they do get ticketed, and that makes it easier.

But it is very hard to qualify to make a public street one of those resident only.

As you were talking, I texted my staff in the back.

If you want to look in the back, Mr.

Jason Mitchell, who's the assistant city manager, and uh Michael Bowery who's over there, he'll raise his hand now.

Um Mr.

Bowery is the director of public works, which is the department that would look and see if we could qualify that.

I will say we've had very candid conversations with Faroes.

Um I am told that they are looking for solutions to the problem.

We've been putting a lot.

I'm just telling you what I've been told that they are looking for solutions.

We have evidence that they've looked at other shopping centers to potentially move, but again, that may not be true.

I'm just sharing what I, you know, what we've been told, and we will continue to keep our eye on the business as well as all businesses that may have a deleterious effect on neighborhoods.

Um, in terms of Mr.

Bowman's uh questions about the school zone cameras, um I just confirmed because the numbers he quoted seemed high.

Um, the total number for our school zone camera enforcement has been right about two million dollars.

So it may be that the ones that he cited were ones where more tickets were generated, but in the entire city, it was about two million dollars.

The general assembly recently adopted legislation that requires that any monies received from school speeding zone camera tickets must be used to improve uh safety and pedestrian safety projects in and first you can cover the cost of the program because there is a cost to administering it, and then with anything left over, it needs to be used for school safety or other uh road safety projects in the vicinity.

And I think not speaking for the General Assembly, but the sense of the debate I heard and saw reflected was that they wanted to make sure localities were not doing this just to supplement their general fund budget, but truly for the reasons that were stated, i.e., public safety, and so they have now restricted how we can use those funds now.

Now the good news is we have lots of safety projects that we want to do in Hampton, and so we do we do the school zone cameras first and foremost to protect our kids.

But and we would prefer to take no tax revenue, I mean no ticket revenue and have everybody go 25 miles in a school zone.

But given that people do violate it, we are taking that money and putting it into pedestrian safety projects.

And while it'd be nice to have the flexibility to do whatever in case an emergency came up, right now we have enough safety projects that we don't anticipate having a problem meeting the state mandate in that regard.

And we will look into the recommendations that you made to enhance the info housing plan.

Now I'll turn to Miss Seely and Miss Sullivan's comments about the animals and feral cats specifically.

This council has been very committed to making sure that we address feral cats and animals broadly.

We have, in fact, I don't know if you noticed it, but before we started, there was an ad up on the TV that was running.

I don't know if you all could see it in the audience, but when I was back in my office, I saw it come up about our PETA clinic to help people get their animals spayed and neutered.

The single most effective thing we can do about getting the numbers of feral cats down is for everyone to act responsibly and get their cats spayed and neutered.

And so we've been trying to expand that program as funds would permit.

This council adopted years ago, not these folks here, but Hampton's council years ago adopted an ordinance that required that feral cats be in managed cat colonies or be picked up.

And the notion behind the managed cat colonies for what it's worth is in a managed cat colony, the cats must be cared for, they must have regular food, they must get their annual shots like feline leukemia and other kinds of things.

And if someone is really caring properly for a cat colony, then there shouldn't be problems for surrounding neighbors.

Unfortunately, some people set up colonies and don't go through the registration process with us so that we can check and make sure they're doing all of those things.

So if you are aware of a cat colony and you want us to know if it's an official cat colony, by all means, please call us and we can check.

And if it is not an official one, the code gives the process for getting it either into compliance or disbanding it.

But I do think the notion Ms.

Sullivan made if we're not already doing it, and it sounds like we're not, and it simply could be because of manning, we've been short in manning and animal control for a little bit of time.

Not because we don't want to fill the jobs, but because they are tough jobs for people.

A lot of people who are uh drawn to be an animal control officer come because they love animals, and then when you have to pick up feral cats and take them and know that ultimately they're probably going to be euthanized, it's a very hard thing for people to do.

And yet I'm not saying that that's wrong.

Uh, you know, that there's a lot of literature out there that the cats are suffering and that it may be, you know, there's two schools of thought that in candidly, the two schools of thought will never agree, but there is a strong evidence on on both sides, you know, for what people want to believe.

But feral cats, if they're not regularly fed and they're not getting their shots and all those things that the cat colony is intended to do, are struggling.

And so we do our policy has been as we're able, we try to have a full-time person to do trapping as uh weather and other things permit as long as our manning is up.

Um we try to do that, and that will result in feral cats being euthanized.

We prefer them to be in managed cat colonies, uh, we prefer them to have been spayed and neutered, which is a requirement to be in a managed cat colony, uh, but if not, we will pick them up.

Um, but we do struggle with manning because that is a hard thing for people who love animals when they're drawn to that work, so we do have a bit of churn in those jobs.

Although this is the way of saying I want to assure everyone who cares about animals that we will do everything we can with the manning that we have.

We understand the issues, and I think the idea of making sure the neighborhoods are informed when a registered cat colony is established is a very good one.

And if we haven't been doing it, it's likely because of the manning situation I just described, but we will recommit to making sure we do that as as they are established.

I think that covers everything that was brought up.

If I missed anything, as I did last week, inadvertently with Miss Weaver, I apologize.

Um, I'll be glad to stay back if I missed anyone's items, okay.

Thank you for that, city manager.

Okay, moving on to the uh next item on the agenda.

Um get my bearers right.

Is the item that was deferred uh or item that was removed from consent agenda that is now under general items.

Yes, sir.

That's it.

I'm sorry, that's item number two, 26-0196, which was pulled from the consent agenda.

It is a resolution to approve an encroachment agreement pursuant to Hampton City Code, section 34-86 between the City of Hampton and Matthew Sterling Crockett and Elizabeth May Crockett to allow an encroachment into the city's right-of-way for installation of plants for landscaping and a privacy fence within and along the city's right-of-way known as Sunset Road East.

Mr.

Mayor and Council members, uh Mr.

Ms.

Crockett owned property located at 25 Charles Street.

The City of Hampton is the owner of Sunset Road East, which is the right-of-way in question here.

And the Crockett's installed a privacy fence encroaching within the right-of-way without obtaining the required city council approved non-exclusive revocable license.

They also installed trees, bushes, and other plants for landscaping that were encroaching within the right-of-way without obtaining the required city council approved non-exclusive revocable license.

They did this to try to address concerns they had with traffic from the adjacent business Vulcan, and they thought that that would make their quality of life better.

So they I don't think they did it, you know, with any mal reason, but they did in fact do this without getting proper permission.

So I asked staff if they could work with the applicants to determine a way where we could support what they were trying to do to improve their quality of life and protect against the extra traffic that you get in a business like Vulcan without endangering the things that we need encroach we need right-of-way easements for people's benefit.

Um typically the reason why we maintain easements is you got water lines, sewer lines, other things that you have to have access to.

So this request was routed to city staff and local utility companies.

None had objections to having some of these things in the right-of-way, but some of them needed to be moved.

So that should there be a problem with water wet lines or sewer lines, utility lines, they could be gotten to without impacting the fence or the plant material.

So what you have before you tonight is an encroachment application and license uh to encroach into two areas of the right-of-way, area one, which is about 62 plus or minus square feet to allow the existing privacy fence to continue to encroach within the right-of-way, and area two, which is about twelve hundred and sixty-five feet plus or minus to allow for the encroaching existing trees, bushes, and other plants, some of which will be moved, as I said, to be out of the area where we would need to potentially do work.

So staff and the utility companies are comfortable with what is before you tonight, and we recommend approval of the encroachment agreement as a way to try to help the applicant.

All right.

Well, this um Councilwoman Campbell requested this item to be uh pulled out for a separate vote.

So I believe you have a motion.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Yes, I think um I know we had received one complaint um from one neighbor, and I want to make sure that the citizens have an opportunity to speak.

Um July is a holiday, and I don't know who's going to be in.

Um I'd like a little more time to work with the Vulcan because I guarantee that house is not the only one with a dust problem.

So I think we need to make sure that they're doing their job to to um keep the dust down for all the residents on that road.

So um I move that city council defer item 26-0196 to the legislative session on August 12th.

It's your second.

All right.

Well, well there's uh no second on the motion, so uh uh and we'll need another motion on the uh item to move forward with approval motion to approve uh the mayor, yes and fund it.

I got it right here.

Move the city council approve item 26-0196 resolution approved and approachment agreement with Matthew and Ms.

McCrockett as presented in the agenda packet, second.

So we have a motion and a second to approve.

Is there any further discussion?

It being uh madam clerk, you call the roll.

Councilman Bowman.

Aye.

Vice Mayor Brown, aye.

Councilwoman Campbell, nay.

Councilwoman Faraby.

Aye.

Councilwoman Harper.

Aye.

Councilwoman Muggler.

Aye.

Mayor Greg.

Aye.

The motion carries.

Protocol for appointments.

I apologize, Mayor.

There is not a protocol, but I believe Councilwoman Farabee needed to make a statement before we proceed.

Okay.

Ms.

Mayor.

Councilwoman Ferry.

Thank you.

I will not participate in any discussion or vote concerning appointment to the Virginia Peninsula Community College Board of Trustees because my spouse is under consideration for appointment.

Okay.

And I may read the motion for appointments.

Yes, sir.

The first motion is with respect to on the Virginia Peninsula Community College Board of Trustees, appoint Melvin Faraby to a first full term until June 30, 2030.

That motion stands alone.

Stands alone, so we need a um motion of the second.

So moved, Mr.

Mayor.

Second.

Any discussion?

Okay.

Do we call for the vote, please?

Call for the roll.

Councilman Bowman.

Aye.

Vice Mayor Brown.

Aye.

Councilwoman Campbell.

Aye.

Councilwoman Farabee.

Councilwoman Harper.

Aye.

Councilwoman Muggler.

Aye.

Mayor Gray.

Aye.

Now the rest of these will be in one motion.

On the Hampton Animal Response Team, defer action until July 8, 2026.

On the Citizens Police Advisory Group, reappoint Anthony Sandifer to a second term until June 30, 2030.

Appoint Grady McLean the third and Darius Copeland as business community representatives to first terms expiring June 30, 2030.

On the Economic Development Authority, appoint Rob Schufer to fill the unexpired portion of a term until March 31, 2030.

On the neighborhood commission, appoint Brenda Cole for District 4 to fill the unexpired portion of a term until June 30, 2027.

Caroline Peabody as a business representative to fill the unexpired portion of a term until December 31, 2026, and Jason Mitchell is the city manager's representative.

On the senior citizen advisory committee, appoint Dr.

Edward Yule to fill the unexpired portion of a term until May 30, 2029, and reappoint Robert Guerin to fill the unexpired portion of a term until March 20, 2030.

On the Hampton Newport News Community Services Board, reappoint Karen Bowden to serve a third term until June 30, 2030.

On the grievance board, appoint Caroline Nuffy Body to serve a first term until June 30, 2030, and Shelley Lawrence to a partial term ending on June 30, 2029.

On the Peninsula Alcohol Safety Action Program Advisory Board, reappoint Trey Maine Brown to a first full term until June 30, 2030.

On the Hampton Commission on the Arts, point Richard C.

Press to a first term until June 30, 2030, and Jason Mitchell as the city manager's representative until June 30, 2030.

And on the Peninsula Airport Commission, reappoint Jay Joseph to a four-year term, which will expire on June 30, 2029.

All right, we need a motion and a second.

So move.

Second.

Councilman Bowman.

Aye.

Vice Mayor Brown.

Aye.

Councilwoman Campbell.

Aye.

Councilwoman Faraby.

Aye.

Councilwoman Harper?

Aye.

Councilwoman Muggler.

Aye.

Mayor Gray.

Aye.

All right.

Are there any reports by city manager, city council, staff or committees?

Be in none.

Is there any new business?

There's no new business, then we stand adjourned.