City Council Special Formal Meeting, 3/10/2026

Welcome one. Welcome all.

Okay, folks. I have to do a reading here. In accordance with the Virginia Beach City me as the mayor of the city of Virginia Beach, I did write to call for a special formal session of the Virginia Beach City Council on Tuesday, March 10th, 2026 at 2 p.m. City Council conference room 2034, building 2nd floor 241 Courthouse Drive.

The purpose of this special formal session is to allow the city council following its regularly scheduled form for formal session as listed in the attached agenda to convene into a close session to discuss the following matters. Number one, publicly held property district five public contract project seagull and road construction participation uh personnel matters, council appointments boards commissions

authorities, agencies, task force and appointees. At the conclusion of the close session, the city council will reconvene into an open session of purpose of certifying the close session.

The special formal section of the session will be broadcast on TV, virgin Virginia Beach.com and Facebook live.

Sincerely, yours truly, Bobby D. Okay, Mr. Jane, I believe we're ready to go.

McKenzie who's live and in action in Richmond and he's getting ready to talk about where we are as it relates to assembly action for this week as they come close to the finish line. So Brent, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Mr. Manager. Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor, members of council. It's a pleasure to be here with you today. Um, as the city manager alluded to, we are in the last week of the general assembly session, or at least the last scheduled week of the general assembly session.

We're all hoping they will adjourn on time this Saturday. Um today we're going to provide you just a real brief update on where we are on our legislative agenda items that are still alive and on some of the legislation that we've been following. So uh the big news as you guys hopefully saw in my emails on Friday and yesterday is that the uh Governor Spanberger added an emergency clause to our 101

legislation, both the charter and the general law. And um both of those were agreed upon by the Senate and the House and um those pieces of legislation are now uh in effect. So our 101 election system is now part of our charter and part of the Virginia code and we are um good to go on that front. So, that was big news here uh over the last couple days and uh we're excited to to have

that accomplished. Um on the next slide, uh you'll see on most of these pieces of legislation that we're we're continuing to work on and to follow. Um Andrew, I'm sorry. Would you change the slide to the next one for me?

Thanks. Uh you'll see that most of these bills are either headed to conference or they're in conference. Just as a reminder, what that means is that uh the House passed a version and the Senate passed a a different version. So, there's some wording that's different, some different uh points of contention, and they appoint a small subcommittee of three members of the Senate and three

members of the House to um to try and come to an agreement and then they'll bring that single agreement back to each chamber. So all of the major legislation that we've been talking about for uh I guess for the last couple months here or almost all of it is in conference including uh the collective bargaining legislation where there are um big differences between the Senate version

and the house version. Um some of them include um uh higher education employees, some of them include or one of them includes healthcare employees. Um and they're just there are a bunch of different points of contention that they're still trying to figure out. So we will see if they are able to come to a conclusion.

Uh similarly the prevailing wage legislation is headed to conference. The Senate version doesn't have local governments involved. The House version does. Um so that that's headed to conference. And similarly the the U paid family leave and the paid sick leave as well. Um on the next slide, the legislation we've been following that provides some additional revenue streams for local governments. Again, uh headed

to conference on cannabis legislation and on skill game legislation, big changes or the cannabis legislation. The the differences aren't stark. They should be able to come to some conclusions there. Um they seem to have come to an agreement on ensuring that local governments retain zoning authority and some taxing authority. Uh they've come to an agreement that they will not include any sort of referendum

language on uh for cannabis um as has been included in uh prior years. Uh but they still got some technical differences to figure out on skill games. Um some some pretty big differences and just like the the number of games that they're allowing, the type of games that they're allowing. So, those are headed to conference. And then, uh, we've talked about this, the 1% sales tax for school construction.

Um, the House version had came to the same conclusion the Senate version did.

It's been continued to 2027, but we anticipate that this language will wind up in the budget in some manner. Um, it was in the Senate budget already, and that was the Senate's preference um, to use that vehicle rather than legislation. And so that seems to be where they're headed on on that front.

On land use legislation, we had a good result earlier in the week. Um the legislation, we've talked about this multiple times, but we had a little bit more of a thorough conversation last week on the legislation that would have required us to uh um basically reszone 75% of all of our commercial properties to allow for multif family. that legislation was uh voted down and so that is no longer in play. Uh that was a

good outcome. Um and then just a little bit ago, the bill at the bottom here, HB888, uh passed the House. It had previously passed the Senate. So that legislation now heads to the governor. Uh talked to planning. They believe that uh both the ADU legislation and this legislation that tries to limit parking uh will fold into some of our comprehensive planning and and shouldn't be too um too much of

a too much of a challenge for us. We last one that's left on here is the SB 388 and HB1279, what they call the faith and housing legislation that would allow for religious organizations and some 501c3s to have uh the right to convert their property into uh mixeduse affordable housing. Uh that legislation is currently in conference. Um right now they put a sunset clause on it so it' be

active for four years. seems to be the only major change that they have been uh willing to to make to it. So, we're still in opposition of that legislation and working towards its defeat. But, um it's a it's uphill climb so far this week on that front.

Sorry. Uh so, here on the last slide, a couple things to to show you. Um we talked last week about some of the ebike legislation. The study is headed to the governor. That's great news. Uh the was a minor change made to the legislation that requires children 14 years or younger to wear helmets when they were the original bill included non-motorized scooters. They decided to take that out. So now it only includes

uh like motorized devices. So that was um a change that came this week through the Senate and that's going back to the House. And then um SB50 was a piece of legislation that would have required folks who lobby local governing bodies to uh file as a lobbyist. That legislation was um was voted down this week uh in in the House Appropriations.

And then finally, the last bill here, HJ28, was agreed to by the General Assembly and now is uh active. um these sort of house joint resolutions don't require the governor's signature. So the uh transit study is now um through its process and will be uh there will be a requirement for them to report the results of the study by the first day of legislative session 2028. A lot of that

will also depend on if the funding winds up in the budget. Uh so we will u wait to see if that takes place. Um, and the last thing I'll leave you with is on the budget, uh, there's a a rule in the House and the Senate that the budget is supposed to be reported out 48 hours prior to it being voted on. So, we should see it on Thursday. Uh, typically

this time of year, you hear lots of rumors and uh, concerns that they're not going to make it in time for Thursday or maybe even Saturday and they may have to go a little extra longer. Um, you know, it's hard to know for sure what to make of those rumors, but you guys will likely start to hear that, but know that we're we're following the process closely and doing everything we can to

move it along and uh to be supportive of our legislators here with any questions or concerns they may have and um we're optimistic that things will work out and hopefully uh conclude on Saturday. So, with that, Mr. Mayor, I'm turn back over to you for any questions or uh comments.

Any questions or comments?

Hey, look forward to having you back next week.

Hey, me too, Mr. Mayor. I appreciate that.

You got it.

So, Mr. Mayor, members of council, I sent council an email, but we're going to make a amendment to the um to the agenda, the presentation agenda, and the next presentation will be the police department. Police Chief Indig is going to give city council overview of some of the very unfortunate shootings that we had at the Ocean Front um this past weekend and also to talk about some of

the challenges we faced, [snorts] some um legislation that we requested from the general assembly that we didn't weren't fortunate to receive and also some recommended next steps as it relates to tackling some of the issues that we face at the ocean front.

[clears throat]

All right. Good afternoon, mayor, vice mayor, members of council.

Thank you for giving us some time to come in and talk about uh this weekend's activity and the incident uh at the oceanfront.

Um, let's talk about police staffing to start. Many times we come in front of this body and we talk about the intelligence. We talk about the social media that drives our actions. We had none of that for this weekend. What we really had was a gut feeling from Deputy Chief Zelms. It is going to be the first warm weekend and we don't want to get caught off guard. Uh so that is why we

mobilized additional personnel and uh provided 50 plus additional officers from other areas of the city or on overtime to respond and provide visibility Friday and Saturday night at the ocean front. But before we go on with that one, I know that there is always the request and I know our business owners at the oceanfront would love to see 70 plus officers out there every weekend. Ladies and gentlemen,

that is not sustainable because when we pull those bodies, they are coming from somewhere and that means that we have less than desirable coverage in other areas of our very large, very populous city. Uh the other area where we try to uh obtain the supplemental staffing is paying overtime. uh you know we do have to pay that bill at the end of the year but I will caution that uh the officers

that we have overtime does not necessarily drive their decisions. uh they do value uh home life and quality time. And something that we need to be considerate is usually they know our officers know by the end of Mar uh April into usually October that is really a no time off that we have that six-month period that we are incredibly busy. So, usually we find February, March, early April is when many of our officers are

trying to take vacations and do other things knowing that there's going to be a six-month period that we expect them to be available and all hands- on deck.

So, this becomes very challenging for us.

So, let's talk about the crowd dynamics that were down there this weekend. Uh, specifically Saturday, we had uh close to 2,000 individuals that descended uh primarily within three blocks. So you can imagine how congested it was between the 16 and 100 16 and 1900 blocks of Atlantic. Uh I will tell you that um assessing the crowd probably 60% of them were clearly minors. There was no

guesstimation on what that was. These were clearly young individuals with uh probably about 40% of the crowd being uh adults. You know, we hear some of the conversations especially in terms of curfew that uh you know there there are adults down there but we are having significant challenges with the young uh individuals that are down there a thousand plus. So, your VBPD was highly

visible, trying to monitor and move the crowds. And that's really what they do all night long is try to break up the fights, the arguments, the conflicts before it evolved into a fight or unfortunately something worse. So, by 6:30 p.m., Captain Wesler had already made the determination that we had to shut Atlantic down on a busy Saturday night in both directions to flush the vehicles and the pedestrians from the

roadway. And I would offer, you know, we talked that we had 70 plus officers down there. Unfortunately, because we're having to flush, uh, some of those officers ended up on traffic post and they're not there highly visible where we would like them as much. So, we're going to need some support from other city departments to take a look at the traffic design that we have down there

on the weekends or assist with some of that traffic mitigation so that we don't have to put officers out on those traffic post when we could use them dealing with some of our disorderly issues. And of course, uh the closure of 17th and Pacific uh significantly uh limits our ability to flush traffic from the area. So, so the shooting incident occurred at 9:52 p.m. on Saturday at

1800 Atlantic. Uh, we had an 18-year-old male from Norphick that fired six shots at several individuals after they tried to rob him of his open carry firearm that was on his person. Uh, unfortunately, his gunfire struck six uninvolved individuals that had absolutely uh nothing to do with the incident. Uh, that gentleman made a lifealtering decision. He is now charged with 18 felonies. And I can tell you

that we are actively seeking other individuals right now. So, I don't know if those individuals would happen to be watching Virginia Beach City Council, but if they are, I'm going to make uh you know, the plea that they should just turn themselves in uh because fugitive apprehension is currently looking for them and it make it easier if they just surrendered.

Billy. So, we know that we do have uh the existing curfew uh until March 19th.

It does start at 11 pm.

Next slide. Next slide.

So, um, starting at 1000 p.m., uh, utilizing the public announcement system in the police cars, we started having our officers go roving and mobile making those announcements at 1000 p.m. Curfew starts at 11:00, 10:15, 10:30, 11 trying to get some voluntary compliance. We did not begin our curfew enforcement till almost 11:30 trying to give some grace because at the end of the day, what

we're looking for is compliance. We're not looking to make mass arrest. We're not looking to make arrest. We're looking for compliance. Um at 11:30, we did start detaining individuals that were clearly minors. Of those that were detained, once again, uh trying to work through the process, they were issued warnings and released to parents. uh they were taken back to the second precinct. Uh many of the parents didn't

show up. Uh Captain Wesler will tell you for hours that uh we were babysitting in the lobby, breaking up fights in the lobby between individuals that we had taken in for curfew. Uh I think something that is of particular note that of the 37, three of the individuals when we stopped them for curfew violations, two of them were in possession of handguns. one of them an intoxicated 15-year-old that had a handgun on his

person. And I think if you remember that I just uh gave you the update and I talked about our nyin process and our ability to link firearms and shell casings. Um just got the nyin result a little bit ago and the firearm that the intoxicated 15-year-old had on his person been involved in two other incidents.

Next slide.

So as we talk about the challenges, I think it's important that we don't forget that we have made significant improvement in the city in the ocean front over the last 5 years. So the numbers go to 2024. We didn't have time to uh pull 2025, but they're very similar to what we had in 2024. And as you can see, we have made significant progress in reducing violent crime in the oceanfront over the last 5 years.

Where we continue to have our challenges is March into April. Once we get into May and uh there on we have very few significant incidents. We really just need assistance and addressing our spring conditions that occur year after year. Unfortunately, So, if we remember 2021, uh a mass shooting that we had with uh uh at least 10 victims.

We know that uh March 7th, 2022, you've all seen this video. I won't show it again, but um through the fireworks on the boardwalk, we had the mass stampede.

Very lucky that we did not have uh mass injuries.

April 5th, 2025, uh we had the individual right in the 17th park to the left of the screen that fired shots and uh also had that mass stampede. And once again, just like this past Saturday night, having officers visible, highly visible in the immediate area is not deterring some [snorts] individuals from pulling the trigger. So, we had 70 officers down there. I would offer I could have had 150. it would not have

We remember what happened the weekend of uh week 17 last year.

And then uh early on Saturday night, Captain Wesler and his team uh decided to close the DQ lot where we continue to struggle and have problems. But we can go ahead and show the video. As we talk about the stampeding and everything that occurs, we continue to have the same issues. And I council, I think we've been put on notice that it's not if, but when we're going to have someone

seriously injured or killed as a result of these stampeding conditions that occur down there.

I think what's quite interesting is if you look at the time stamp, this happened uh 9:51 into 9:52 p.m. So, while officers are managing and dealing with the stampeding there, just up the block, we had six people shot.

So, we're continuing to monitor the social media traffic. We know that uh we were already seeing uh the postings for a takeover of uh uh the beach April 9th through 12th. Actively monitoring that one.

Next building. I think uh something that came to our attention yesterday that was quite interesting that uh begs for discussion is uh Panama City, who I believe uh had uh much more violent crime and shooting incidents than we did last year, has taken a very proactive, aggressive stance uh this year to shut down certain portions of their beach from mid-March all the way till I think

it was on there. I think it's the end of April, March 12th through April 30th.

They are actually closing portions of their beach so they do not have a repeat of the crowds and violence that they had in Panama City last year.

So if we remember uh one of the things that we did ask for um was legislation to try to address these popup events. uh for whatever reason the general assembly chose not to uh move that legislation forward and try to assist us uh in the challenges that we have. So that uh you know what we do have Billy is [snorts] next slide is uh the imminent threat curfew which uh allows the chief the

manager um with the concurrence of the mayor to implement an emergency curfew for 24 hours. uh any additional would have to uh be ratified by the remainder of council to extend it [snorts] and uh you know I think we're at the point where for consideration being that that is the only tool that we have to us right now and it's not a perfect tool but it is the tool that we have is that

we look at utilizing the imminent threat curfew legislation to try to get a handle on what is occurring. And our big concern is right now we do have some social media intelligence that there are some popup events for this coming weekend. We know the weather is probably going to be favorable. Uh right now we're very concerned as a police department that we will see a repeat uh this coming weekend of what we

experienced this past weekend.

So, you know, what we would ask is conversation on whether uh this is the best course of action and trying to keep everyone safe at the ocean front. And really, this is what it's about. It's not about mass arrest. It's not about penalizing a certain group. It's about keeping everyone safe. And unfortunately, we continue to have a proliferation of violence and firearms down there during the spring session.

and uh we need to look at some additional avenues to try to address it.

Mr. Manager, Mr. Mayor, so before um council enters into discussion, so what we have presented before you is a recommendation that um we do a imminent threat curfew for unaccompanied minor for the remaining weekends in March. And the times we would like is from basically dust till dawn about 5 7:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. And we'll have similar exemptions that what we have with the current minor

curfew. And also if for some reason there's a need to carry this into April, we would brief city council prior to making that request. And with that, Mr.

Mayor, um we are available for any questions this Okay, I'm going to get the ball rolling.

I'm going to be honest with you. I am angry and I'm going to be blunt and there are going to be some folks out there are not going to like what I say.

We got to go to the source of the problem and it's the failure of the general assembly to give our police and every police department in the Commonwealth of Virginia the tools that they need to make the public safe.

We requested that. Okay. Totally shut down and ignored. You know what I heard through the grape vine, especially other uh mayors, that the general assembly was taken back that the 757 mayors had the audacity that you know do something about uh you know collective bargaining and that was ma one of the main reasons why we got shot down. That's what I heard. That is unacceptable.

And let's go back a couple years ago when the general assembly had the the audacity to say, "Let's defund the police. Let's reimagine the police.

Let's take away sovereign immunity." But the problem, Chief, it was back then they enacted a legislation that took away a number of the tools that you needed to find guns in youth. Is that a correct assumption? There are things that were taken away from us that we do find challenging. Yes, Mayor.

Yeah. And I'll tell you what, it's uh you know, it's mind-blowing that you know you know in the general assembly they can feel pass feelood ban gun legislation, but it does not confront the problem that we have to endure not only in Virginia Beach, but here. And I'll tell you what, the callous disregard that they show for our police over the years, even in this uh uh session, I understand they had some

problems with sovereign immunity.

How are we going to recruit and retain police? And I'll tell you, we're 100 short. I was on the phone today with the mayor of Norfolk. There half the population, they're 200 police officers short. Okay? And you know, we have an internal threat here, uh, you know, going on in a national crisis. You know, our communities may not be as safe as we think, but you know, how do you get somebody to become a police officer

these days? We need the general assembly to get their act together and appreciate what's going on. The fundamental uh priority of elected people, whether it be at this table in Richmond or Washington, has to be public safety. And regrettably, that is not the case. And the other thing is we have to become a nation of observing laws again. But once again, if we get the tools that we need

and Virginia Beach gets the reputation, if you carry an unauthorized firearm, we're going to find it. But once again, we have to we have to be able to give you those tools to do it. And you know, I'm sorry if I'm animated, but you know, we have youth being shot and it could have been prevented. And that's my opinion. And the thing is it would be bureaucratic malpractice for on our part

if we do not pursue and and you let our folks know in Richmond or whoever that we need to you have to be able to do the jobs that you do you know without you know question or hesitation or things of that nature. And I'm sorry if I'm animated but folks we can't tolerate this anymore. You know, how many meetings are we going to have like this where we're going to talk about

something that could have been prevented if if people above us were doing the right thing? And I'll tell you what, not for nothing, and I'm just going to say this, you know, it's rough being a Dylan rule state these days. And uh I tell you what, you know, it's, you know, some, you know, I think there's got to be some conversations about that, but you know, that's for another day.

But the point is I am sorry I am animated but I'm telling you what I had to do an interview yesterday for channel 13 and they asked me what was the message that I would have for the families of the victims that got shot.

That is a tough message. And the fact is youth and you know and once again the violence doesn't respect any race. It doesn't respect any age. The point is, you know, there's some of the law enforcement things, you know, are challenged in the public domain, but what is is it worth it if it saves one life? And you know, I'm sorry I had to be, but tell you what, I am frustrated.

Rosemary, I'm not sorry you told it like it is. Um, we're really fortunate that no one died.

could have been instead of six injuries, six deaths or more.

We got to do something. Um, we're talking about this dust to dawn through March. I think we should do it through the end of April. Just go ahead and and do it through the end of April.

I would like to see Okay, Jennifer Michael, mayor, thank you for the work that y'all are doing. I know it was a really scary weekend. um and just seeing the footage of it, different angles, it's really um unsettling and that they're so young.

So, um I had a couple of thoughts and then a couple of questions and then I'm just thinking about mayor um I won't speak for the general assembly. I know you all know that I'm married to a member of the general assembly. So, there is uh we have conversations, but certainly that's not reflective of every uh person there. Um, I think some of the concern I I wouldn't paint the uh the

current administration as anti- police at all. I think the concern is more consequences. So concerns about data collection against how ways that certain policies may be used or implemented. So thinking broadly about um these things.

Um, but with that said, thinking about um the the young people who were detained um this weekend, 34, do you know how many of them were from Virginia Beach? How many of them were um beyond Virginia Beach residents or citizen?

If if you know, if not, we can get that for you.

So, I bring that up to think about um not only as a city our response, but perhaps regionally, too, because having conversations with some of my friends and just thinking about it, you know, there's been some push back to the curfew. Um, but I think about I'm I'll be 40 in July and thinking about when I was 15, 13, 16 and there was no way I was out at 10 p.m. I just wasn't. My mom

was like, "What are you got to be home?"

Oh, yeah. Been there, done that, right? So, I'm thinking about what is going on that there's this thing where we have so many young people who are 11:00 p.m. 10:00 p.m. out and I don't want to judge the parents. I don't want to make assumptions because I don't know it and I don't understand it. But I know that policing ideally is the end game and proactively what are all the

things we can do before it even gets to where you all need to be called and put in into a potentially dangerous situation. then our public is in a dangerous situation. So this is isn't an answer, but my thoughts are going to um just regionally is this something where we could be more collaborative and more cooperative with even other city councils. So [snorts] we recognize the state where Dylan rule but among

ourselves if we know maybe there are young people who are traveling to the beach or so can we work with Norfick, can we work with Newport News and Portsouth and Chesapeake to think about what can we what can we do? what are um proactive things that we can structure for folks beyond, you know, parents saying you can't go out, but if some kids are just going to do it anyway, um

what are some um what's missing? What's happening culturally? I just don't I don't understand it myself and I won't judge it, but I I'm so curious about it.

So, um and then my final question on this proposal. So, let's say um we do um approve this. So, if there's an unaccompanied minor, it's 700 p.m. on the ocean front and so they're there.

What's what would this look like in practice at that point? So, it's, you know, say it's 7:30 and this is approved. What would then happen with those minors?

Council member, we're going to ease into this one. Um, we're going to start with uh, of course, if it's approved, we're going to start with our city comm's team making the announcement. We want to educate as many people as possible. We don't want this to be a surprise. It's not like we're looking to make surprise arrests. We're going to continue to educate educate up until the point that

we can still make detentions and issue warnings. Just because we have the ability to charge them criminally doesn't mean that we have to. But if we start having some of the same conditions that we had Saturday night that's going to lead into gunfire, then uh our response may change. It's going to be situationally dependent. You know, our goal is not to make any arrest. The goal is to send the message, don't come down

here. We have a legal mechanism to prevent it. And I think that's what you have seen with many of the other cities that have been able to implement more proactive strategies because they are our home home rule uh state and they don't need the permission of uh the governing body in Richmond and they've been able to be more flexible and quick that once the message is out they've gotten some substantial compliance and I

think you know we're hoping that we'd be able to mirror that in some regards because they're showing success in other areas and I continue to worry that those other states and cities that are doing that, we're going to get the overflow and then we're going to have a even bigger problem than what we have currently. That's my big concern.

Yeah, Patrick. And then I'd like to respond to Jennifer.

Mr. Mayor, this is Council Member Rouse.

Um I went down there for this situation prior to the shooting. So, I was there probably about an hour before the shooting just because I wanted to see how the police was um handling the situation. Right. I I don't I don't think they did their approach because the city manager was there. But the cops were, as Council Member Hudson would say, they were firm, gentle, and fair, right? You know, or firm, fair,

friendly, fair, and firm.

Firm and fair, right? Yeah. Friendly.

In a card for you.

Yeah. Fair and cool. And just watching them navigate the the minors and the young adults. I think you all would have been proud, right? you know, and they from 2 hours before, 3 hours before they're letting it letting them know, hey, the curfew is going to start and we're going to enforce curfew over a period of time. And they were moving the crowd along, making sure that they weren't loading or making sure they

weren't blocking people from being able to walk on the sidewalk. And whenever they saw the kids start to escalate towards a more contentious situation, they interceded and put themselves in situations to get the get the situation to calm down and deescalate, you know.

So, I do think they'll take that same mantra on with um with any kind of extension that you all gave. And again, if you look at what they the police department did, 37 young minors got picked up for curfew. 34 of them were basically given a warning and just held for their parents to come pick up. The three that were charged was because they had illegal firearms on them as well. So

I do believe that is the the cadence that we want to uh move forward with.

From the previous briefing when the chief asked to move the curfew from 11 to 10, we talked about our partnership with the sheriff's office but also the rec department, right? You know, wasn't ready to wrap that up yet for this weekend cuz we didn't expect it. We were kind of expecting it to be a little bit further on in towards the end of March and in April. But that is still some of

our plans is to use those resources, not necessarily put those um young adults, those kiddos in a situation where they're going to be criminalized, but really to get them out of unsafe environment.

And Jennifer, if I could say, um, you know, a couple of years ago, um, Mayor Donnie Tuck and I from Hampton started the youth violence task force of the 757 mayors. We and we have met and the police chiefs have met and you know the city managers all got together and as a matter of fact the outgrow was our cities you know Rosemary handled that and then that's where we got the uh you

parks after dark you know came from it but you know be assured that you know all the 757 mayors are getting together and that's why you know we actually came to a consensus on you know requesting more collective bargaining local option and but you know we discussed this we discuss uh youth violence it's not it's not common to us and you know it's a difficult thing and if you don't mind me saying it you know

we did request to pop up uh you know legislation from and they turn their back on us okay uh Josh Michael Hutch uh Catch and everybody thank you mayor Thank you, Chief. Uh, all of this is very scary, especially when you see all of that kind of stacked up over the over the years and [clears throat] um what really sticks in my mind is how quickly it can escalate and how um how

every situation like you said is is completely different. So, I mean, you try and put a square peg in a round hole by a curfew at 10:00 and then somebody pulls a gun out at 9:52 or whatever, right? So, um I I I don't I think that um you know, we are so fortunate to have um leadership and and you know, law enforcement personnel that that we we we

trust and we have faith and you know, in in the exercise of any of these types of responsibilities, uh that that they would be exercised in in the the best possible way. and and uh with it in mind that keep everybody safe, including the participants who are there, the minors who went home um who might not have went home if it were allowed to escalate even further and and and all of you all who

are out there risking your lives to protect all of us. Um you know, so we've got to we've got to be able to give you all the tools you need.

Thank you.

Do your job. And um and we also really ought to be able to have continuing [clears throat] dialogue about it too as as and when these authorities are used.

You know, just I guess it would be nice to keep on talking about it.

We're going to go Michael Hutch Cash Stacy A. Thank you, Mayor. Um I have a series of comments and questions that I'm going to direct it toward you, Chief, if that's okay. So just bear with me as I work through those. Uh the first thing I do want to do though is just uh for my part recognize the individuals who were victims on this weekend and pay tribute to the suffering that they have

endured, the challenges that they have faced and will be facing. I also want to make an acknowledgement of the I think the heroism, the strength, courage, dedication and commitment of the Virginia Beach Police Department and public safety professionals who were present there and as they always do respond by running toward danger to keep people safe. I can only imagine how scary I've been at the ocean front when

the shooting has occurred. And it's terrifying. And your natural instinct is to run and hide. And yet, um, the men and women who work for your department and others, uh, like the sheriff's office and medical professionals and others, fire, they run toward those scenarios to save people and to help people. And, and I don't think we should ever go um through a discussion like this without very

seriously acknowledging um, all the heroism that comes with that. So, thank you for that. And to all involved.

Um, I want to just express my agreement with the mayor's frustration about the um, general assembly failing to act on our request for pop-up events. I think this is reflective of um and I'm not attributing blame here or pointing any fingers but I think there's a lack of understanding and cooperation and coordination between our general assembly delegation and members of this body and also um our community and I

think the result of this uh lack of coordination collaboration is uh what we saw um which is a meritorious request that was designed to keep people safe tabled and um that would have been an essential tool that you could have used in the future and I hope we can revisit that conversation because it's a public safety necessity in my view. Um I want to uh also express my support for um what you've presented as a

recommendation for council's consideration and um it's obvious to me that there is an imminent threat. It's also obvious to me based on what you shared um about for example what was it Panama City Beach.

Yes sir.

Shut down the beach that this is a more measured and strategic approach that somewhere is in the middle. Uh we we've gone to great lengths to become a welcoming and safe city for residents and for visitors and safe and welcoming go hand in hand. And it's important to be both. And so, um, in contrast to some other communities that have taken a more draconian, heavy-handed approach, I

think what you brought to us here is measured and responsive to the imminent threat, but also um, in concert with our traditions as a hospitable uh, community. Vice Mayor recommended that it go through April. You show graphics that, you know, those AI graphics we've all seen that are real [clears throat] or fake promotions. I'm not really sure.

U do you have any reason to believe or would you um accept the vice mayor's recommendation to continue through April or you is that something that you think is appropriate?

I I wanted to ask your thoughts on that.

Council member, yes, I would support that greatly knowing that uh you know we traditionally talk about week 17 and the challenges that brings. We're week 10.

Um, and we don't know what uh, you know, the next six weeks, seven weeks holds.

Knowing that traditionally we struggle March and April, I think it would be prudent if uh, this council would consider it that uh, we would just put it in place up until the end of April and then re-evaluate.

So, we've just heard the chief of police make a recommendation for council's consideration as part of this through March and April. And I thank you for that and and I just want to share that I support that request. Um, I also wanted to ask you a question about illegal firearms. You know, when you have discussions and some of the some of the topics came out today that people have different ideas about um the best ways

to keep communities safe. And I think that's normal, that's natural, that's responsible and appropriate. But I think one area where everyone agrees is that we should be targeting people who use and trade in illegally possessed firearms. Right.

Yes, sir.

Anybody disagree with that?

No, I didn't think so.

We're all on the same page there.

Uh, isn't that good? Um, can you talk a little bit about what because you know this was a bad weekend and there are six victims and there are two other people who you said made decisions that can't change who are going to live with the consequences of that at least two that I that I'm aware of based on news reports. Um, could maybe more who made decisions that are going to impact the rest of their lives.

And what I don't think we always think about is what didn't happen. We don't always know. But in my opinion, based on the reports that I've received from the police department for several many years now, particularly since you became chief, was a deliberate and specific initiative to target people who use and trade in illegal firearms. Could you talk a little bit about that for a moment and

and what impact you think that may have played in what hasn't happened over the years?

Absolutely. You know, when I uh arrived in 2020, you know, we had a great police department. Like anyone else, uh we made some changes. Each of the precincts had a community oriented policing team, which really was kind of a jack of all trades, whatever the captain needed them to do. It could be community engagement.

It could be theft from autos. It could be gun violence. And what we did is we retask each of those into a crime suppression squad to virtually function as that first line against gangs, guns in those precincts. And I will tell you that those uh individuals and those crime suppression squads supported by our special investigations team and everyone supported by the patrol officers, we can't forget them. They do

a lot of great uh gun interdiction out there. that crime suppression every day focuses on the small amount of individuals that are willing to pull the trigger. And I think it's important to remember it is just a small amount of individuals that are willing to pull the trigger on someone else. And that's where we focus our efforts. But only takes one incident. you know, crime is the lowest in the last five years, but

the commentary and the rhetoric on social media is, you know, I thought you told us this was incredibly safe and it's one incident, but that one incident is the now the perception for Virginia Beach at this time. And I would tell you, we we put a a huge priority on gun violence and those individuals that are illegally possessing or utilizing firearms. And I will tell you what's comforting in a way is uh we have a

great relationship with the ATF and the ATF is probably the best federal partner that uh we work with to bring forward charges for individuals illegally using or possessing firearms. So, we just had a great meeting with them last week and one of the the comments that they had is many times where other cities are looking at ATF to adopt their cases and take them federal. Sometimes that

doesn't happen in Virginia Beach because they know that we have a very progressive, proactive office of the Commonwealth attorney that has the same mindset that we do about guns in Virginia Beach. And we have juries that also see it the same way. So, a lot of times when other communities are not getting the results that they want or they think they should out of uh the charges for individuals with guns, we

ask the feds to adopt those. We don't have that in Virginia Beach because many times they're like, "You guys are [clears throat] good."

I think that's really good because um there's obviously no reason for a person to possess or to use or to trade in illegal illegally illegal firearms. So the the more that your officers are getting that upstream, so to speak, I know that it's preventing incidents like what we saw at the ocean front uh all over the city in ways that we we will never know because the those people are

behind bars and and I I watch all you have to do is look at Twitter and and see all the the people who possess and trade and illegally uh possess firearms who are behind bars and and don't the guns and the people aren't on a in a position to find themselves in situations like what happened at the ocean front. So I thank you for that.

And my final question is um I just want to make note that our sheriff Rocky Hulcom is here and um I remember a number of years ago about we having a robust debate about the partnership of sheriff's deputies and the types of trainings that sheriff's deputies did or did not have compared to the members of the Virginia Beach Police Department, but how they can be um a force uh multiplier and an essential partner. and

and I just wonder if you have any thoughts on what the partnership with the sheriff's office could look like as we move forward into these next months and in general at the oceanfront and across the city.

I'm glad you asked, Councilman, cuz uh I will tell you that uh yesterday one of the first calls I made and of course I did bother the good sheriff while he was on the golf course. So I'm I'm sorry, sheriff. I know you were out there and and you were busy while I was in the office, but uh I said uh going going into uh this weekend, I I need

your folks to help us uh to help us run transport to manage uh our intake process. And you know, I mentioned that the curfew violators that we had this weekend, we had to take them to the second precinct because we were not planning on doing curfew enforcement. Uh we really wanted to have the partnership entrenched. Uh we're going to I forget which great neck great neck wreck is

where you know we don't want to further traumatize just curfew violators by taking them to a police precinct. So if we can safely get them off the street, take them to a rec center, get the parents to come get them, that's what we're trying to do. And the sheriff has graciously committed uh folks to help with that. and uh anything that we need moving forward for the summer, he has committed his assistance and we will

continue to work in great partnership to make it happen.

Sorry, one I know I I know I'm taking a lot of time. One other quick follow.

Back in the day, I can remember this when I was out riding the neighborhoods growing up here. You know, there would What does it look like in a in a more typical curfew enforcement scenario?

you know, like if not at the ocean front in a a situation like this, but you know, do do you do you call the parent on the phone from the street? Um, you ask a kid where they live and and take them home. What does that process look like? I know you mentioned the rec center and and I appreciate that cuz you don't you don't want to traumatize them, as you put it,

but I'm just curious what it what what's what it's been looking like or what you expected.

Council member, it could be any of that.

Um I think we looked at the statistics and it was 50 or 60 curfew violations for the entirety of last year. So it's a tool that we have not used um probably to the best of our ability. And I think our officers only use it when they really need to get a young person off the streets. And the first response is usually trying to call a parent. if they're close by, we will drop you off

because the goal is, you know, we don't want our officers sitting in a precinct babysitting for four or five hours because it limited staffing. Uh then our folks are tied up. So the goal is primarily get them back to a parent or guardian in short order. Um, and that's where the sheriff's and uh team is going to help is if we are forced to take a bunch of individuals into custody

because um, you know, we're not getting the compliance that we need and we're having problems, then his team is going to sit with them while we were making those calls to try to get the parents there. And I will tell you, the captain relayed to me, you know, of the 37 that we took into custody. Um, you know, a lot of those parents were coming from festivities. You know, they weren't

coming from home and it wasn't like we didn't know where where our child was and they got out and we weren't paying attention. They were engaged in social functions and uh the captain relayed that many of them seemed very inconvenienced that we interrupted their social activity to come uh take possession of their child.

says something too.

Thank you, mayor.

Okay, before I get to Hutch, I make a comment. You know, Michael has uh Glenn Haven Mall in his district and I remember conversations years ago about when we were talking about putting curfews and you know you know uh supervision and you know things there there were similar concerns but there was problems going on there and you know people weren't going to Glen Haven Mall but now that they were there and it

really seems to be Michael working very well and we got one of the most viable uh malls in this counter Justin Hutch as the fire guy to see the two law enforcement bosses going back and forth at each other. So that's that's good stuff.

Um don't worry, we'll get the fire chief in there.

Yeah, I'm afraid like I'm collateral damage here. Um first, I just would seriously like to say that I support this 100% and going into April and maybe even further. Um what I what I'd really like to drive home as having been out there um over the years and the job that these folks do behind us is second to none. I really mean it. They are friendly, fair, and firm. They try their

hardest to not go to the last part for me and has been down there and as somebody that has grown up down there and had some less than I'm not proud of moments down there. Um and I mean it. I say that not to really not to be funny as in that I could have gotten hurt. My friends could have gotten hurt. Um we didn't have the weapons that that are

prevalent now, but we were ugly. It was bad. It was a lot of testosterone driven stuff. My [snorts] parents didn't necessarily know where I was. No way.

No. [clears throat] Didn't know. So, so but it was down there, you know. That's where we were. um it was a place to go, you know, and and you you fought at times. So for me, what what I'm hearing we and y'all are trying to do is to protect these young [snorts] 90 I we didn't ask the number of men out of that or young men out of that 37, but I bet it was 35, right?

Yes, sir.

Yeah.

Right, Brad?

Yeah. So, thank you.

Brad's in my district, so special special relationship. So, but the the fact of the matter is I know it.

I've been there. I've seen it. I've lived it. Is that we are trying to protect our young folks so they can get to an age where they can enjoy life and not have this happen. That is first and foremost. Second is protecting the tourists that are down there that I know some people got run over in all this that were not part of it. They did.

That's not good, you know. And then third, it's to protect these folks. You know, we we don't want them getting in the middle of it either inadvertently if they're shooting at them or somebody else. It's that's not what we want. We don't want any has been said here. We don't we don't want [snorts] gunfire at our ocean front. We don't want it anywhere. But this seems to be the prevalent thing to the simpleton here.

This is what will help make that happen.

I don't want people to think we're trying to do something to pick on any group or do anything else. That's just not it. you know, we're we want them to be safe. We want them to have a long life and you you could end up not we've been there and had to put them in the body bags. It's not fun. It's just not.

So, the only thing I have about it is the seven because seven would be start we're starting to do it be 7:30 or 8.

Whereas, if you win at 8, it'd be nine.

You know, is that what we're kind of think? Because I was thinking seven is like sundown. You know, I was trying to I don't want to take all the fun, you know what I mean? I was trying to find that sweet spot, but if if I see how this is going to roll, it that's not really seven.

It gives us the ability, but that is not our intent. The intent is to slow roll into it. Uh try to get as much voluntary compliance and then assess what the the right that the tone is down there before we decide on enforcement action.

Yeah. Okay. I I'm in.

Yes, sir. Okay. Cash, then Stacy, and then [clears throat] Chief, I want to thank you for your presentation as always. Um, I think it's important for me just to to to echo that I do support uh this u consideration for council. Uh, I will tell you that we are um and I say we, we are extremely involved in um the fourth precinct and making sure that the community is involved with policing. So this is uh

community policing. And so when you think of our police, I want you to know I've been very active uh with the police, right? And so these are not just enforcers, these are fathers, these are mothers, right? These are coaches.

And so I think Virginia Beach Police Department brings a different um characteristics of policing of what I witnessed and that was my involvement. I wanted as a African-American to be involved with the police department and know that I could feel safe. And so I interjected myself into the 13week citizens police academy course which I then went on to communicate to my community. Right? Maybe policing used to

be a certain way, but I can tell you since I've been in this seat, it goes more by coaching than it does enforcement. And so when we ask the general assembly to give us the tools necessary, we're not asking the general assembly to give us tools so that we can harass our youth. I think there's a misunderstanding and mayor, I echo your animation, right? This is serious. If if we don't have the tools to um properly

assess the situation, then we end up with a flip-flop situation where the general assembly is telling us what to do. And I understand this is a Dylan rule state. But policing isn't the same way it was before. You've got community leaders who are actively walking their neighborhoods, i.e. me, i.e. I see the uh the the the police um getting to know the community. So, um I am going to say

this, we need to revisit what we asked the general assembly and we need more of a relationship. If they're listening, we need more of a relationship with you. Um I I hate politics. I hate everything about politics, but I love community.

So, uh Chief, I support you.

Thank you, council member.

Right. I support the consideration and I think we need to move forward but I think the general assembly needs to know that we are actively participating. This is not just uh us pen and paper and that's it. We are actively engaged in community efforts with civic town hall meetings. [snorts] Each one of us hold town hall meetings. Uh then we're doing community events. I [snorts] would ask

that the general assembly attend some of our civic meetings. Come and see that we are living this thing out. And so when we ask a request of you to do at the general assembly, we would expect for you to believe that we know what we're talking about. So with that being said, I'm thankful for uh Sheriff Hulcom. You being here wanting to team up with the Virginia Beach Police Department. I know you

you're a man of character and I know that you pass it on to your deputies and with that being said that's where I rest at and would like to see it move forward with the general assembly.

Great Stacy and then Amelia.

Thank you and thank you uh Chief. Thank you council. I know it's a scary situation for for us. It's a scarier situation for the people that serve [clears throat] on the police department that really have their lives on the line. So much appreciated.

But having said that, I am glad that you're taking those to the great neck rec center in district 8 where it's nice and safe and quiet. So it's Yes, sir.

We um on Sunday morning I received and I'm sure everyone at the table received quite a number of telephone calls from the stakeholders down at Yosherront from the hotel owners, restaurant owners, shop owners. Um we had a very large contingent of uh out of town tourists in town this weekend.

Yes, sir.

And they were witness to what went on.

Uh, I'm told that many checked out of their hotels Saturday night, fled the city over and over and over again. It was, "We need to do something. We can't allow this to happen."

And I will tell you, the the reason I ran for council, the reason I'm sitting here today is cuz I got sick and tired of seeing on the news where people would just say, "We need to do something." but they had nothing specific to offer about what we're going to do. And I felt as though I could get on council and offer some specifics about what can we do about housing, what can we do about

these issues that we have in the city.

And this is one where really I I think that our hands are tied. But I do have some things I'd like to put up. I uh when we're on council and we have issues before us and we have a couple of big issues coming up, we get inundated many times by the citizens, concerned citizens who express their views personally.

They come to us, they let us know what their position is, why they feel that way, and what they would like to see happen. And many times I've had two meetings today literally um with people that have had have issues before city council that wanted to meet face to face where they let me know all the details that they wanted to do. They got it off their chest. They made sure that I understand understood what their

position is.

When we have public hearings, the public comes out. Sometimes they come out in force. We have issues coming up before us where we know we're going to spend hours in that chamber listening to people express their views and be passionate about what they believe in.

Will it sway any of us? I don't know. It may or may not. But they've had the opportunity to to voice their view and be heard.

Well, I think we as a council need to show our community. We need to show our stakeholders. We need to show the people that have an investment in this city that we we do care that we do have a position that we are trying and I think that we as a council need to do two things specifically. One is I think we needs to we need to host an event with our local delegation, our state delegation.

We need to host an event to let them know. And I know this is no slight on our lobbyists. I think he does a good job, but there's nothing like hearing it. And there's nothing like being a unified force. If the 11 of us could get together with our local delegation and say, "Show them these films. Show them what's happening down at the Ocean. let them know why we feel the way we feel,

why we feel our hands are tied, and what it's costing us as a community to not implement the suggestions that we've given to the state legislature to pass.

So that one I'd like to have an event whether that be a dinner or lunch or any kind of meeting but the 11 of us need to show up with our local delegation let them know what our position is and that we're unified in that.

Second thing I think we should do is I don't know exactly how Richmond works.

Uh, I'll I don't even know if Richmond does work, but I don't know exactly how they do, but I think the 11 of us need to go to Richmond and express what they're doing to us and that we are unified, that we need this legislation, that it's not just, and again, I'm not slighting our lobbyists, but I think it make a big impact if the 11 of us went to Richmond and stood in front of the

legislators and said, "Folks, this is what we need. You're killing us down here. Literally, you're killing us down here. So, those are two things that I would specifically recommend um that we do as a council to show the public, to show our stakeholders, to show Richmond that we're serious, that we care, and to let our voices be heard directly.

Good point, well, I'm the last person on this little list, but [clears throat] When I heard about this, one of the first people was our city group. I got a call from Amanda.

We had all been at the UNCF event that night. So I saw was going on in Northolk and thinking I guess is wonderful on the beach and then suddenly I heard from her and then also from Patrick and furthermore to our group. So, first of all, we need to understand that our just like he did at the um state of the city, they are everywhere that they're trying to protect us and they keep us informed.

I'm also would like to thank uh police chief ludicate and also the uh partnership they have because that's important because it's embarrassing to hear young people you have to babysit.

You don't think of that group over at the ocean print. I remember many years back Michael and others we walked along for uh April 17th week 17th on the ocean print watching those things. But my suggestion is we need to bring in the public schools because these children go to school. So if we get them involved, talk with the superintendent as well so that they know start teaching them a little

bit younger. We're looking at 15, 13 year olds out open that shouldn't be. So since that is our education group, we need to address this with the public schools to mean that it's very important.

Finally, just saying what Rosemary, what the mayor and what um Councilman Cummings, those are very important. If you are up there face to face with a lot of those delegates, it makes a difference for what you get done because it's involving suddenly they see us, you know, as real people with, real concerns. So, that is very important. I am supportive of what you have up here for that 7 to five and if we need to

extend it like the vice mayor said we need to do that we've got to protect our youth that's our future and as you know bullets they don't have any specific names on them this is true you know that they could have gotten hurt being trampled or anything like that echoes our entire summer, which is one of our economic drivers.

We need these youth to return to Virginia Beach to be our next workforce.

So, we need to address it starting from schools.

Thank you.

Thank you, doctor.

Hey, if I could just uh close out Patrick, did you have something?

Mr. May I was just going to talk about some logistics in terms of we probably need a special meeting for Thursday, but I could wait till after you're finished. If you can do that. Yes, ma'am.

Um, you know, let me just put it this way. This has got to be a confrontation with reality that we cannot ignore. And, you know, I speak to a lot of police everywhere I go. You know, I run into them, whether it be a Walmart or anything. And I can honestly say with a high degree of confidence, they really think that this council and the management have their back.

the tr that same cannot be said about Richmond, you know, given past history and things of that nature. What I recommend, Stacy, is, you know, not only a meeting, I would like our delegation to do a ride along on a Friday or Saturday night at the ocean front and see what the men and women go through.

And if I could say you have to it's appalling some of the verbal abuse that your officers take and I'll say it especially the females. Is that a true statement? Pretty much 100% mayor.

Okay. And you know but once again let's send a clear and coherent message to Richmond.

Take the handcuffs off the police and let them put it on the criminals. Okay, let's end the conversation with that.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Okay, Patrick.

So, Mr. Mayor, members of council, um special, we need legislation to do that.

Council can't vote today. So, Mr. Mayor, I'd like if possible, if council be willing to have a special session on Thursday, 4:00 probably um for to take this item up and probably before that, we'll probably have a close session briefing to talk about the details of the legislation as well, you know. So, Mr. Mayor, is that okay for us to work on?

Anybody okay? This is a high priority folks.

This Thursday.

Okay. This Thursday.

We want to [snorts] end March or the end of April.

I say give them till April. Yeah.

Whatever.

Love the end of April.

Okay.

Can we ask a quick question?

Yeah. So just just the logistics of this is if if you see it's if you decide what that intel however that you don't need it then you can not have it or how is that so you can kind of go back and forth or how's that work or do and I'm okay not I'm just asking what it is council member I think we've got some discretion and and how we go about it

Mark might want to say something you have ability to do yeah let me correct you know I think the end debate and Rosemary said, "I got my months confused a little bit." Uh, but once again, you know, let's do what's recommended and and then, you know, see what happens, field test it, and and we'll, you know, move forward. This is going to be a work in progress and we're going to be counting on your input.

Yes.

I think if parents have to start picking their kids up pretty often, that might end their time of browsing around curfew. And I think it was mentioned before with our youth sometimes parenting is a lost art these days. Okay. But thank you and thank you all. God bless you.

Thank you.

Moving on.

All right.

[snorts]

All

right. So, Mr. Mayor, members of council, um this next presentation will be provided by Emily Labose, our director of cultural affairs. This is the brief city council in keeping with one of our focus action plan items regarding a mayor's advisory panel for our former mobile building in terms of how to work with the public and the city council to determine the next steps on the use of that building.

Okay. Thank you.

Good afternoon, mayor, vice mayor, members of council. Um, I'd like to take this opportunity to discuss next steps um for the city-owned arts facility located at 2200 Parks Avenue, which is the former Mocha building. In council's focus action plan, you identified the goal of assembling an advisory group to help recommend a path forward for the future use of this site. Today, we're sharing a possible framework for how

that advisory process could be structured and the type of input it could provide as council considers the future of the site.

Council has previously expressed its intent that the building continue to serve a cultural use. The idea behind this advisory panel is to help identify the best long-term path for the site while ensuring it remains a cultural and community asset for Virginia Beach.

The panel would bring together a balanced and credible group to guide a structured exploration process.

Their role would be to look at potential uses that support cultural, community, tourism, or related municipal needs.

while focusing on options that are as budgetneutral as possible.

Just as importantly, the process would be transparent and community informed while keeping the focus on practical and financially sound options that serve the city's long-term interest.

The panel's role would be advisory, gathering ideas, evaluating possibilities, and ultimately providing recommendations for your consideration.

The proposed panel could include individuals with experience in arts and cultural programming, community engagement, business, and civic leadership.

The goal would be to bring together a thoughtful group that consider that can consider both the c the creative potential of the space and the practical considerations involved in activating the building.

Bringing together diverse perspectives can help ensure that the recommendations reflect the broader interest of the community.

To support the panel's work, the city could engage an independent facilitator with experience guiding arts and civic planning purposes.

That expertise could help guide productive discussions and bring perspectives from similar cultural projects in other communities.

This approach can help maintain transparency and momentum throughout the process.

The panel's work would focus on key areas. First, reviewing the building itself and understanding the opportunities and constraints associated with the facility.

Second, exploring potential cultural uses or partnerships that could activate the space.

And finally, developing recommendations that could help guide the future use of the building in a way that aligns with council's vision for the site.

Community input would be an important part of the process. Residents, arts organizations, and other stakeholders could be invited to share ideas and perspectives about how the building might serve the community.

The advisory panel could also consider that input and ultimately provide recommendations to council on future uses.

So at this stage um the purpose of today's discussion is to share this proposed framework, hear any guidance or feedback you may have and based on council's direction we could prepare and to engage a facilitator in return with recommended structure and membership framework for council's consideration.

So I'm happy to take any questions.

Okay, Michael and then Rosemary.

Thank you mayor. Well, I I'd like to offer some thoughts and then make a recommendation if I could. Um the first is that this is a very special building and it's a very special place and it served the community well as the it's an art center, contemporary art center and then the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art for decades and the building and the operations there and the programming

there occurred with private and public support robust program of public and private support for many decades. And our community has benefited in many ways by that partnership. And I want to thank and credit all involved um at the municipal level and in the private sector and through community leadership who made all of this possible. Uh [snorts] we're in this position related to 2200 Parks Avenue because the

Virginia Mocha Museum made a decision to vacate the building to create a new space at Virginia Wesleyan which opens a new era of opportunity for them and is and as well arts access and opportunity for our community and that's a very exciting next chapter for them and for Virginia Beach and for the region. And what that leaves us here with is um a decision about how to utilize this space

which has been a community and cultural center for as I mentioned decades.

And we have an opportunity here as a community to work together to continue that legacy of culture and community uh in this space which there's a long established tradition particularly with its adjacency to the vibe creative district.

Uh what we need to take note of though is that one um this is a position we find ourselves in all of us um you know by decisions that we didn't make and we have to sort through this as a unified community and understand that we all have good intentions with relation to this space and give each other the grace to work that out. on one hand. Um

I I and so I also want to just emphasize that this council and and I think with support from the community has always identified continued community and cultural use at this site.

[clears throat] We've never deviated from that plan, not one time.

There could be decisions about commercialization at this at this site, but those that has always been rejected through through my understanding through the conversations we've had.

Does anyone disagree with that?

Michael's looking for consensus.

No, no, no one disagrees with that because we've always dedicated this as a community and cultural space. The challenge before us is we have to figure out what is the best use and to continue that legacy of community and public and private partnership to deliver community and culture on this site. And that's what we're in the process of doing. And so I credit you a lot with um developing this process,

Emily, and through your department. I think it presents us with a very special opportunity, but we have to give each other the space and the grace and the time to ensure that we're making the best decision for the community. At the same time, I want to provide the assurance that we're going to continue to take care of this building.

It is important asset that public and private development have fostered and maintained for so many years. And there's no question in my mind based on every interaction I've had the city of Virginia Beach while this process unfolds will continue to take care of this building in that space. Is that correct?

Yes.

Have the same understanding as well. So no one disagrees with that either.

Um [snorts] consensus still consensus. Uh what stood out to me is that um there's a call for continued community, cultural, tourism related m municipal needs at that site. and you called that out as um one of the establishing priorities for this process and this committee and also and I think this is important as budget neutral as possible because we're all well aware of the financial and economic realities that

nonprofit organizations that municipal operations um that fam that families are all facing. And so, um, as budget neutral as possible is an important aspect and from what what I can gather as part of this conversation because we want to continue to honor the community and cultural heritage of this location in a way that also is respectful of the uh, financial realities that taxpayers um, and individuals are facing

throughout our community. So, that's those are two important call outs. So what I heard from you is um a clear articulation of a process, a facilitative process and a step um and and I would like to recommend that um you continue to develop that process as you described here. Um, do you think a six returning within 60 days with a more fleshed out plan would be um would be fair to secure the facilitator and um

and also uh further refine the steps that and processes that you laid out.

Um council member based on procurement processes for the facilitator that I don't um not quite sure on that. Miss May, I think we could probably shoot for 90 days and then if for some reason um we need an extension, the panel that you all would support could bring that request back cuz we typically whenever we do one of these like oneoff um task force panel things, we usually give them a 90-day turnaround.

Second, I'm not I think I wasn't clear about what I was asking. I'm not asking for a 90-day turnaround on the whole process. I'm I'm asking 60 days to further refine this this plan as because I think that was one of your points, right?

Yes.

Uh return with a recommended structure of membership framework. That's what I'm asking about the 60.

Yeah. So that could be done in 60 days.

That Yeah, that we can do that fairly quickly.

So because I think it's important to put a time frame on it as as we know there's a lot of people who are interested in this and and also multiple groups of individuals and organizations are interested. And so that leads to my next qu. So, so on one hand, I want to make sure that there's um a clear understanding about because I think we've fallen short. Let's be honest, I

think we've fallen short in some of our communications on this site. Uh through some of the other processes, we could have done better. We learned some things along the way. Uh so I think if we were clear about we're going to return within 60 days with this recommended structure of membership framework and then move forward into the next step from there.

That's that's fair. And then um I think that um that leads me to my next point and maybe this will be part of the framework, but would it be appropriate? So there was an RFP just to make sure we're all on the same page. There was an RFP that was um released request for proposals and was reviewed by a staff committee. At that time, the council decided not to move forward with any any additional um at

what point or would it be appropriate to issue that RFP again or to issue a different RFP as part of this process to make sure and the reason I'm asking is I want to make sure that there's fair consideration of anyone who may have an interest in the site so that the best decision can be made for the residents and visitors.

Um Mr. Mr. Mayor and Council Member Luchi, it's customary and council is not pouring concrete, but it's customary that typically if you convene a panel like this, the council would take the panel's um advice under consideration and then if it necessitated a RFP, it would come after that. But it's not concrete. If council wanted to do something a part of the process if we were to receive on the proposal and

council want to consider that and move in a different direction. None of these are things that are absolutely set in stone. But typically you would go through this process and let that inform what next steps you would take.

I think the only hesitation I have around that question is that um one of the areas of feedback that I'm receiving I'm sure others are too from the community is that there is some urgency related to uh the site related to uh the building and the condition of the building over time if that's not being used even though I mentioned we'll continue to take care of it but I understand those concerns and so I don't

I want to make sure that we have and I think everyone else does too a clear process, a fair process, one that we all understand, transparent one of course, um but also one that's not so timeconsuming that we we're going to that we're the building remains vacant and unused for another year um or more. So, I don't know if this is possible to run those concurrently or what maybe we don't have to make that

decision right now, but I think those that's a concern that I've heard from the community. I think it's a fair concern. and I think it's one should be considered as part of the process. I also had a chance if and I don't speak for him in any way, hope he doesn't mind me bringing this up. I had a chance to talk to Mr. Remick and um and although I don't speak with him, I think he's I

think he's generally comfortable with the frameworks that that were presented.

I I won't share my comment, you know, I'm not saying he shares my commentary, but with with what uh Miss Labose has presented.

Okay. Rosemary, Stacy, Cash, Amelia, you get your hand up last, Amelia.

That's the way it works.

I was doing what [clears throat] I what you do if that helps.

Most importantly is that we make the right decision where we want. I think it's a wonderful building. I love this building and it's I think all of us have spent time in there for different events. It's meant a lot to us. So, I'm not so interested in rushing anything as long as we take our time to make the right decision. Um, and so this is going to be a mayor's committee that

you will appoint. Is that correct, Mr.

Mayor?

Um, on and I think that's a good criteria of who to appoint, but I think we also need to be really really careful and make sure that all those people are totally neutral. I mean, there's been a lot of interest in this building and there's a lot of people that are interested in having access to it. So, uh we need to have people who can really have no ties whatsoever to um

wanting to acquire this building for themselves.

Then, we don't need self- serving agendas.

We really don't. We really we need to have people who who only have the good of this building at heart and what's best for the citizens of the community.

So that's my comments. Thank you.

Okay, Stacy and then K and then Amelia.

Um I'm going to expand on what vice mayor said and use my own words that I do agree with Councilman Beluchcci that the community would like to see this remain a cultural asset.

And you know, it'd be nice if the Smithsonian came in here and said, "Okay, we want to put a display here."

And that'd be great, but and I'm all for [clears throat] holding out for the right user of this facility, but I don't want to pursue the least worst option.

Personally, I'd rather the building sit empty for two years than to have somebody in there long term that's going to not be an asset to the community. So, I think we need to find the right user, not rush it. I we're under no time deadline. There's nobody holding our feet to the fire saying you have to have it occupied within the year.

Um, so I I think [snorts] we hold out for the right user and we make the decisions as we're presented with the options. Right now, we don't have options that well, we had options and we we decided not to pursue those cuz they weren't none of us felt that they were the right options at the time. So, I'd like to continue with the process, but I don't want to feel as though we're under

pressure, we're rushed, and that um we're going to make a bad decision just for the sake of making a decision.

Okay. Cash and then the mayor.

Yeah. Thank you for the presentation. I appreciate it. Um, I've come to uh be very passionate about this space and um I just want to make sure it's reflective that in the part where it says community input and outcome that it also is reflective of Centervilleish, right? Let me explain. I saw his eyebrows go up. So, I it it takes me about 30 minutes to get to that location. We just wanted to make sure

that uh when you seek engagement.

It also comes from [clears throat] district 10, district 7, district uh sevenish.

Uh because had I not done my own homework, right? I wouldn't have the passion uh to know about that building because it's it's tucked in the side and you know you see so many other buildings but once you become ingrained in it and you see the potential right I want to make sure that uh people in Centerville has that same connection to it for weddings or events that's a historical place that's all I just want

to make sure to connect the dots. That's all I'm asking.

Yeah. Be assured, Cash, there will be a remarkably even and open process. Thank you, Senator. Okay, Amelia.

Okay. I just wanted to reflect on having talked uh spoken to different groups who initially put in their proposals, their concerns were not accepted and we don't know why. as though there was not a debrief of what happened the first time. I've heard it several times. All we know we weren't accepted for our proposals and we don't know why. So I wanted to ask about that first.

Any answers?

Let me take a stab at it. As you know, there was a request for proposals and a process that we went through.

Mhm. And correct me if I get any piece of this wrong, but the there was a staff committee, professional staff committee, okay, of cultural affairs, planning, facilities, economic development, economic development who reviewed those and then they presented them to us in a close session briefing. And during that close session briefing as you know there was a robust rigorous discussion and the council at

that time decided to not move forward with any okay I agree with you is that was when I was out yeah okay and so I didn't I wasn't in this process but I've met many arts advocate just like I am that would say to me we just had our proposals you know turn away but we do not know why. So I'm sure some of them may be here so they'll listen as they prepare

for this next session and that's why I acknowledge that I think we could have done better in communications. I don't I don't think there's any harm in saying that we could have been. But I also think it's important to remember that as I mentioned before, this is um as often is the case um a scenario in which we did not choose to find ourselves in. and and we're and we're working through it um

with the intention of honoring its legacy as a community and cultural space, but also prioritizing the um necessity for being conscious of the budgetary impact on the citizens and the taxpayers and on other essential services we provide. I think that's a responsible position for us to be in.

And the reason I'm saying that is I want to make sure that we're sharing that to those who are interested in this conversation that we're we are being thoughtful and we're being deliberate and we want to make sure we get this right. And that's the responsible thing I think people are expect of us and we're we'll work in partnership. Um but in my view we're um we need to make sure

we're making the right decision as has been noted before. Okay. and to Patrick [clears throat] how long it takes are we willing because it has to be maintained take two years or what are we willing for but taking that responsibility as a council as a city Dr. Ros Hammond is a city facility, a city asset. We are well aware of the cultural importance of this building.

Our staff will make sure we keep it up to an appropriate standard. You know, we understand the care that we need for this building.

Yeah. Because it is a beautiful building. We must also take that step and just like you've written out to be open to whatever ideas that come to this mayor's panel.

Thank you.

Okay. Yeah. Josh.

Um Mr. Mayor, I echo a lot of what's been said. Um, Council Member Luch thought you did a great job explaining the history um and a lot of the things that we just didn't, you know, haven't to date had an opportunity to really talk about out loud. Um, we've certainly spoken with, you know, individual community members and and amongst ourselves, but um I the the only thing I would add is um some young people on

here would be really nice. Um, and I know I don't know if a high high school uh would be necessarily appropriate age, but maybe um I know we've had some really good experiences with um you know with with high school u non- voting members or what have you or just just people there to kind of see how these kinds of decisions are cooked through in community but or college students but [snorts] Michael

could I say one more thing and and I really want to speak to what Councilman green cuz I thought I think he had a really good point, but it's more than just centerville villageish as you as I'm sure you agree.

Um it's it's all districts and it's all parts of Virginia Beach and Virginia Mocha deserves a lot of credit and I remember if anyone remembers some some presentations we received from them. um they serve they they broke down their visitors to zip code and the majority of individuals who visited Virginia Moco were not from 23451.

Majority were from many of the other zip codes around Virginia Beach and throughout the region. I think that was largely driven by um school tours, but but also um it's a tribute to their really remarkable and I think very highly effective and relevant community outreach programs they did. And I think what you were raising as part of this that we should absolutely take into account is that any use of this building

should be um similarly positioned in terms of its broad reach to every district within the city of Virginia Beach and and even our even further across the region. A lot of people perceive this as a north end or oceanfront asset and that's where it was located, but it is a citywide asset. It is an important cultural iconic institution in Virginia Beach that's part that's been part of an institution

building. It was a a very famous museum architect who was involved in it and it very much is a city-wide asset and I think as part of this process a priority um or at least a strong consideration should be given to how that asset is shared in a u evenly distributed or widely distributed way across the city and the region.

Good point.

Okay.

Okay. Good discussion.

We'll get it right. We have to Okay. All right. So, this a mayor, members of council, director Labose is going to give another presentation and this one is just a exciting update regarding where we are with the arts funding that council provided um a couple years ago and really [snorts] been able to kind of put a presentation together that kind of shows some of the successes and some of

some of the community feedback on some of the projects that we've done in the community. So, the next voice you'll hear will be director Labose again. Go ahead, mayor. Vice Mayor, members of council, I have some great news, positive news for you to share this afternoon. I'm bringing a brief update on the arts funding and I want to highlight early impacts of two programs that were made

possible through your decision in July of 2024 to dedicate a portion of the admission tax to arts and cultural investment.

The policy decision expanded arts funding in a number of ways across the city's arts community. I'm going to focus on two of those programs. Um they're both community- based and have produced really exciting results.

The goals behind these two grant programs were simple.

make arts funding more accessible, more visible in neighborhoods, and more supportive to the people creating the work. In less than two years, that investment is already producing strong community participation and creative activity in our neighborhoods in Virginia Beach.

The response to these programs has been extremely encouraging. We saw applications from civic leagues, community groups, nonprofits, artists representing a wide range of neighborhoods and districts.

Many of the applicants were participating in a city arts program for the first time, which tells us that these programs are reaching new audiences and expanding access to arts funding.

In less than two years, 74 grants have been awarded with more than $300,000 invested directly in neighborhoodbased projects and artists.

Those projects have taken place in 13 neighborhoods and have supported more than 60 Virginia Beach artists.

I'm also pleased to share that we just completed the review of the FY2026 creative neighborhoods grant applications and we're awarding 12 um project grants um these creative neighborhood grants and those projects represent every district in Virginia Beach.

One of the most exciting parts of the program has been seeing how neighborhoods are bringing this program to life. They've organized murals, performances workshops community gatherings that have activated shared spaces and bringing neighbors together.

Because these projects are locally driven, they're often creating a lasting sense of ownership and pride that extends beyond the event itself.

In many cases, these projects begin with a relatively small grant, but quickly grow into a highly visible project.

Beyond the vents themselves, we've also seen something else happening in these neighborhoods. Civic League members, artists residents they're collaborating in new ways. They're brainstorming ideas, organizing events, and exploring creative projects that many of us, many of them told us they would not likely would have ever attempted before.

Another important part of this effort is the direct investment in Virginia Beach artists. The individual artist grants provide provide working artists with resources to develop their work and continue contributing to the cultural life of the city.

We've seen a wide range of creative activities made possible through these programs. Artists have used these grants to record original music, prepare exhibitions, frame and present their work, and launch new creative projects.

Taken together, these investments support local creative talent and strengthen our city's creative economy.

We've also heard powerful feedback from participants in these programs. Many for many communities, these grants created the first opportunity to organize arts events locally.

The result has been increased participation, new partnerships, and a stronger sense of neighborhood pride.

As these programs were developed, we also built in safeguards to ensure transparency and responsible stewardship of public funds.

Each program has clear eligibility requirements, a competitive, scored, reviewed process, and technical assistance for applicants.

We also tra track track outcomes and require reporting so that we can measure the community impact.

The result is a transparent investment with measurable community returns.

To help illustrate the impact of these projects, our very talented department of communications produced a very short video. Um, so thank you to the incredible communications team. And I also wanted to recognize Lisa Wigington who is our deputy director. She has spent countless hours mentoring these artists and civic league presidents and civic league members and she's really been the a huge instrument in the

success of this program. So, let's roll the tape.

Let's go [clears throat] over the video.

You're going to have to act it out.

We've practiced it like four times.

Act it out. Come on. You do not want me to.

Patrick could do it. He's really soft.

Oh, yeah. That's right.

Hey, Patrick, can you do this?

Go get your blue.

They're close.

This is the best part, I promise. So,

anybody got popcorn, peanuts, and potato chips? Want me to ask some questions?

It's been five minutes.

What should I do?

Okay.

Want to ask questions?

Anything else? We got the music from Jeopardy.

You could probably go to YouTube, too.

[clears throat] Oh, you want to go through?

Well, I mean, mayor, while they're working on that. Yeah, I I Well, you know, I just I we all have some every member of uh council has some experience with these grants now. [snorts] And um I think it was one of the most important things that we've done in the last several years is establishing the dedicated arts funding that um made these grants possible along with some other opportunities for creative

expression. Couple of things that I just wanted to kind of call out were one when you look at um slide four that shows there were 74 grants awarded 313,000 in direct community investment 61 local artists 13 neighborhoods and thousands participating. Those numbers are meaningful in each way and let me start with the direct community investment.

these projects is is um are positive um from a creative as point of view, creative point of view, but also for an from an economic perspective. The that 313,000 on direct community investment means materials were purchased here. Um locally, artists were paid. Those artists live here. they're um directly engaged in um our community. So that's paying rent, that's paying transportation, that's

that's directly supporting local artists who are part of our community. And then thousands [snorts] of people are participating in these creative projects that are have a meaningful impact on beautifying neighborhoods and on um understanding through an artistic and creative lens uh the human experience that we face by creating placemaking opportunities neighborhood identify.

Okay.

I think that's worth noting that it's a direct positive economic impact. And then the final thing I'll say is that one of the things that I love is that I've seen people, you know, I'm not going to say any particular neighborhood, but it's really across the board who have um they don't always see eye to eye on things, you know, in the in the neighborhood or in community.

Maybe they don't even like each other, different personality conflicts or whatever. And what I've seen from this program is that before you even get to the creative aspect of it is that people are connecting and coming together as neighbors and as citizens around something that's positive, around something that's creative and they're seeing new sides of each other that [clears throat] maybe they didn't see in

the traditional civic and neighborhood um forums that exist and they're forging connections that are lasting and meaningful and help make our community a stronger, better [clears throat] place to live. So, I think it's a very very exciting program and I think you deserve a lot of credit, Emily, for envisioning it and um and for implementing it. And I agree with you that Lisa Wigington also

um deserves a lot of credit for her work on the grants program and and as the deputy director of cultural affairs.

Yes, I could share. Um, looking forward, we're going to focus on building on the success of the programs. Uh, expanding access to additional neighborhoods, but we've reported that we're this year going to fund grants in every district.

Um, continue to document the positivity across the city.

Oh, okay. Good.

There we go.

Public art is accessible. It's open 24 hours a day.

It's free. So, as much as we can transform our walls, our buildings, our sidewalks, our intersections with art, the better. I mean, it it really it shows people that we care um and that we're creative and we take pride in our city. The pump track has impacted the look of the park um in several different ways. You can see the track from Linhaven Parkway and the way that the pump track is oriented. You can

see all of the art on the outside and one of the sides that says Brigadeon. We were very literal about bringing the community into this project and also gave the community members a hands-on opportunity to do some work on the piece itself.

Virginia Beach is really pushing forward like the arts and really understanding how important they are to a community, not just to individuals.

The Ocean Park Volunteer Rescue Squad mural happened this past summer and uh Princess Anne High School students designed this mural, then applied for grant funding and then they hired myself and another artist Katie Nesbet to help them paint this mural and it was this huge community endeavor. So they had the support of their district. They had um the support of two professional local artists receiving that grant

money. With the grant, we were given that freedom to kind of express ourselves, not having to worry about where funds may be coming from or how we're going to pay for certain things.

Framing is a huge deal if you're an artist. They're very expensive. So, I was able to use the money from the grants to um professionally frame my artwork and also prints have some prints made.

The council wanted had a desire to really spread um arts and culture throughout the city, throughout the districts. Um, so these two specific grants really um give the opportunity to do that.

Art's necessary, you know, otherwise we'll be walking around in a black and white world um with no way or function, right? Um art's necessary from music to dance to everything. I love it.

The grant made a tremendous difference in my life. Life changing. Um, it gave me the confidence to, um, pursue glass.

I feel like we're doing something in Virginia Beach that's not being done in the state of Virginia.

the arts dedication um that made the two grants happen and um a lot of other um arts funding. It's been transformational um to the city to have the community and the city really just say, "Hey, like we want you to succeed." Um was huge. It was a big deal. I am so thankful to Virginia Beach um and just trusting in us artists to use the funds in a beneficial way that can strengthen our

artistic desires and skills and it in return has a ripple effect effect in the way that we um share this knowledge and things that we make with the greater community. I hope it continues because I hope that other artists locally can feel as supported as I did with the grant.

And thank you for running the clock.

Michael was great. Good stuff.

So that's all I'm happy to take any questions.

Any questions at all? Okay. H Let's go with Amelia first.

Mine is short. Thank you again, Emily.

She always, you know, do a wonderful job with what she does organizing everything and bringing creative side.

I just wanted to know on an average what was the amount of the grants.

So the maximum that an individual artist can be awarded is 4500 and then the maximum of the creative neighborhoods is 10,000. But they pro they provide a budget. So based on their needs, funding needs, uh they're allocated [clears throat] what they are have asked for and what is appropriate for that grant. But it's up to 10,000.

See my go first.

So I just want to say thanks um for two of them. Uh, one is is that, you know, Cash and I share the the pump track and obviously it got a lot of play here and it was well worth it and if you're going down Laven Parkway, you can certainly see it and um we had two events that day so we we divided and conquered but um I went to the dedication of the pump track

and uh the the outpouring was really amazing uh from the citizens. I mean from the neighbors and all. I mean they they turned it into a picnic. They had a really good time and the artist she was wonderful and everybody just there it was a good thing and then I would also like to say you know I got the in and at the skate park you know we had the other

artwork that was done there before this thing so um it's really is helping in little small ways you know that it doesn't all have to be grandiose you know and it's uh it's it's nice to see that it's coming up throughout the city and not in just one area so I appreciate it. Thank you. And I think the nice part is all over the city.

Yeah, it's really powerful.

Okay, thanks so much.

Okay, brother.

Want to thank Michael driving force for the arts funding to take the tax. It was a couple years ago, but what a difference it has made.

Michael, thank you for spearheading that.

Good stuff. really share with really thanks for I share that as well with council member Ross Hammond. We we're good team and um I thank you and really the entire council it was not everything is about money. The most important thing of our experience is about how we connect to each other and the arts are a really value uh friendly way to connect people in very very meaningful ways. So that's

what we've done here. Thank you. Thank you, Vice Mayor.

And I think when companies look to come here, you know, that's part of the criteria they look for.

Schools, safety, arts. Oh, yeah.

Okay. At this point, any council comments or anything? Roary.

A couple things. I I I've voted today. I went and tried out the new voters registars's office. I wanted to do a test drive and uh it went really smoothly and everybody was so nice there. So, I just wanted to let the public know that it's ready and open for business. [clears throat] Uh, the second thing I want to just mention quickly, well, actually, is the um the development authority met today

and they voted on the latest big grants and they awarded 12,000 to places all across the city and I think there were 14 different grants that they were given. It's it's it's kind of like a fig grant. I mean, it's kind of like a arts grant, but it's for [snorts] that was kind of fun to see. And I have to say this the state of the city, you guys knocked it out of the park. It

is absolutely stunning and wonderful and the dynamic duo between our mayor and our city manager. I don't know how you top that again.

I really don't. That was absolutely incredible. And uh I hope that Hollywood doesn't come calling. I want to keep you, Patrick. And um Celeste Kellogg with Driving East. Oh my gosh, she fantastic. And I'm just going to toss an idea out and see what y'all think about it.

What do you think about making Driving Each, which actually talks about Virginia Beach, making that an official city song about that idea?

I think that may not be a bad idea, you know, because it sets the tone. It's positive. It's upbeat.

You know, it's uh you know, it's it's not a bad idea at all. Yeah, Michael.

Thank you.

Great idea. And I think we all I think we do have a city song, but I don't know how it was adopted or if it was adopted formally.

I hate to ask, what's our city song?

Happy.

Okay.

Let's try. Yeah.

Mr. Mayor, I just asked Mark if the council wanted to adopt something as an official song what the process would be.

And Mark, go ahead.

I I think the prior mayor probably just did a proclamation. I don't remember for sure, but I believe that's how that came about, but if you were going to make it a legislative action, it would be through a resolution.

Okay. And that's something we can talk about.

Maybe we can talk to Miss Kellogg to see if we could be here that night.

Yeah. So, I make a note and I'll look into it and then communicate thereafter.

And Patrick, I think you're nominated for an Emmy.

Did you have your hand up?

Yeah. Okay.

No, no, no. She You're grabbing me again. I'm ready.

You're ready.

First of all, let's give the two dynamic duo a regionally and other mayors are wondering how they're going to top what we [snorts] have. So, congratulations.

I had my community day meeting last night. It went very well. We had a diverse population attendees that came. We had a minister. We had some of the um police come out. We also had a girl scout and her mom and so forth in there. So, they really enjoyed it. And the little girl scout came up after. She could be about 13 or 14 and wanted to know about environmental. So, I'm going to make

sure she connects with um it's back there Haven River now.

Yes, Karen. We have someone who's interested as a youth area. And I want to thank the whole team, the whole staff that worked with me from uh Taran Denim from the uh your office. We also had Eddie Bodon. Like it or not, he did a presentation for us about the VA health uh Emily Archer.

And then we had the BB trail update from Chad. Um we had for the Cleveland improvement David Gar and I mentioned uh with talking points from Kevin about the budget and so forth. So people are really interested. [clears throat] They ask a lot of questions. Some of them are excited about the VB drill, especially the youth that were there.

And so I want to thank everyone for helping me on this. And that's all I have to say, but I was very pleased with that.

Good care, that's good. So, um, I just, this is a more of a a family comment as well. My my son is in town. Uh, he's serving our country in the Air Force. And so my wife and I, we are so grateful that he's come home for a month to be with us. And uh then he's going to be going over to Israel. But I just want to let you know that he's

going to be coming to uh city council and uh so he's going to see how uh government works on this side, not just in the uniform, but um in being a public servant. So Donovan Min is his name.

Senior Airman uh serving our country in the Air Force.

Oh, good. We're going to open Mike, too.

Bring it to the 24th of the West Neck application.

I'll give him a taste. Right. This is serving your country.

Oh dear.

All right. Is that it? All righty. The chair will entertain a motion to recess into a close session pursuant to the exemptions of open meetings allowed by section 2.23711A.

Vote of Virginia as amended for the following purposes. Publicly held property discussions or consideration the acquisition of real property for public purpose or the disposition of publicly held property where discussion and an open dating would adversely affect the bargaining position or negotiating strate uh strategy of the public body pursuant to section 2.2371 2371 1183 district [snorts] 5 and then

uh public contract discussions award of public contract [snorts] uh with the expenditure of funds uh and discussion of terms or scope of such contract uh an open uh session would adversely affect the bargaining position or negotiating strategy of the public body for so to section 2.2 2 3711A29.

First is project SECL and then the Tower Road course participation and personnel matters discussion consideration or interviews of prospective candidates for employment assignment appointment promotion performance de motion salaries disappointing or resignation of specific public officers appointees or employee employees of the public body pursuant to session 2.2 237181.

That would be council appointments, board commissions committees authorities, agencies, and appointees.

Do I have a motion?

Second.

Ice.

[clears throat] Once in a row.

I

recess into close.

Going to call this meeting back to order. Do I have a motion to approve their closure?

Second.

Councelor Immson.

Okay, thank you all. We are