Good afternoon, everyone.

The special meeting of the Richmond City Council will now come to order.

Madam or Mr.

Clerk, if you would provide the chamber emergency evacuation announcement, followed by the speaker guidelines.

Upon activation of the emergency alarm signal, all persons should immediately exit the building.

Please use the exits to the left or right front of the council chamber or the north or south stairwells outside the rear doors of the chamber.

Do not use elevators or escalators.

After exiting the building, security will direct everyone down ninth street to the fenced area located between Clay and Lee Streets.

Able persons should assist visually and hearing impaired visitors with exiting the building.

Persons appearing before council are not allowed to campaign for public office, promote private business ventures, use language of a personal nature which insults or demeans any person, including comments directed at public officials or staff members that are not related to their official duties, or address or question staff members directly.

With that, Madam Clerk will proceed with a public hearing on the paper.

Do we have persons present desirous of speaking in opposition to the paper if you would come forward?

Seeing none, do we have persons present desirous of speaking in favor of the paper if you would come forward?

Seeing none, bring it back to City Council for discussion.

Councilwoman Gibson.

Thank you, Madam President.

And I am thankful that we have this opportunity today.

This vote is about affordability, and every year it's getting more and more expensive for working families to live in the commonwealth.

And this next era merger really has the potential to be a disaster for the average Virginian.

Customers of the next era energy subsidiary, Florida Power and Light are facing a $7 billion rate increase, which critics have described as the largest rate hike in U.S.

history.

Additionally, a recent report found that next era profits accounted for 27.4% of the average bill in Florida, the highest profit ratio in the country.

Richmond uh residents around the Capitol region are really bearing the brunt of the data center boom on their utility bills, and it's only going to get worse without restrictions on the number of data centers in the state.

And I do not think it's enough to want to intervene personally.

I think the governor and the SCC should fully stop this merger from happening.

But I again I'm really grateful that the city gets the opportunity to be in this case, and my hope is that we continue to do what's best for working in families and residents.

Thank you, Ms.

Gibson.

Vice President Jordan.

Thank you.

And I appreciate the work that our colleagues and partners administration and city attorney's office and staff put in for the quick turnaround here.

And I'm heartened by the fact that at least now there are going to be public hearings, whereas there were not going to be before.

I think we've seen that when people do speak up, you can have an impact.

And I think that's what we're hoping for here.

And just as a reminder, this is the avenue that we can take as a municipality.

And so I'm glad that we are stepping forward to do so.

And I would just add, you know, in addition to the ratepayers and reliability, we have over 5,000 employees here.

And when I attended a listening um session last night, we heard from a Dominion employee who was deeply worried about what their future might be if their protections had changed.

So I think in addition to many concerns, um thinking about those employees.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any further comment at this point?

Um again, um, I think uh for the city, this is critical for us that we have the opportunity to monitor these proceedings and to be vigilant in terms of potential impact, and I won't be redundant.

The legislation speaks for itself.

Um with that, I would ask um for your support so that uh we can have that kind of presence and that opportunity uh for monitoring and participation.

With that, Madam Clerk, I'd ask that you call the question.

Council is voting on resolution number 2026-R034 as read.

Mr.

Breton?

Aye.

Ms.

Gibson, yes.

Ms.

Jones?

Aye.

Vice President Jordan.

Aye.

And President Newbill?

Aye.

That paper has been adopted.