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Oh Americans right now is there monkeys going clue session second bit resolver the Board of Supervisors of Montgomery County Virginia hereby enter into closed meeting for the purpose of discussing the following section 2.2 - 3 7 1 1 discussion and consideration or interviewed of prospective candidates for employment assignment appointment promotion performance promotion salary disciplinary or resignation of specific officers appointment or employees of any public body 1 just in a field board - Fire and Rescue Commission 3 River Highlands are C and D Council pepra ferry regional wastewater treatment Authority social service board request from Virginia Regional Jail Authority Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act board Madame secretary call the roll please we're in close thank you your motion come out rotation seven seconds where is the board supervisor of Montgomery County don't give me just few minutes my iPad more nuts thank you throws up on me board supervisors in Gunma County has to be a closed meeting on this day pursuit to the affirmative recorded vote and then the quarters with revision of Virginia Freedom of Information Act in where is section two points two days three seven one one the Code of Virginia requires a certification by the board that such closed meetings was conducted in conformity with Virginia law now therefore be it resolved that the Board of Supervisors of the booming County Virginia hereby certify that to the best of each members knowledge only public business matters lawfully exempt from open meetings requirements by Virginia law were discussed in the closed meeting to which this certification resolution applies and only such public business matters this was identified in motion debate closed meetings were heard discussed or considered by the board man check your car oh please mr. cherrick board members on a couple of things for the dimension before we get started this evening we do have a large crowd here tonight as you've probably noticed you have requirements as far as number of people in a room and we will have a fire marshal here that will so if you're asked to move please adhere to that we do have some seating that's outside the room here and my understanding is that seating got pretty full we also have a room over here to my right your left it's called multi-purpose trim too there's some seating in there the audio will be available throughout the video will be available out there but big thing is just for the safety of everybody if somebody asks you to please move to another area please respect that because we want everybody to be safe tonight thank you mm-hmm that's a short thing I'd like to read before we get started we appreciate everybody being here tonight at this meeting we realize that many of you are probably here to speak about a current issue in our nation that relates to the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution you have opportunity to speak your thoughts and opinions with the board during the public address portion of this agenda I want to be clear the item you are here to discuss it's not on tonight's agenda and we will not be voting on this item tonight either most likely the item will be headed to our next regular board meeting which is which will be held on the third Monday in December December the 16th that being said at the end of the meeting each board member has a opportunity to say their report some of them may bring it up in their report but just won't be clear that we're not gonna vote on this tonight but we do appreciate everybody showing up mr. chair board members at this time I'd like to ask follow us to rise for a moment of silence and then I'll lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance let us pledge please I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you very much thank you four burners our first item on the agenda this evening is a annual tourism development council update lisa bleakly is here to provide that to us this evening Lisa you brought a crowd with you tonight good evening mr. chairman members of the board and staff it's fantastic to see all the residents here tonight they're learning a little bit they may not know that they were coming to the largest to learn a little bit about a program that benefits the community and is paid for by the visitors to Montgomery County one second and I will know the chillers side thank you for allowing me time this evening to update you on the Montgomery County regional tourism program your consistent support has helped to enabled many beneficial activities of which I'll highlight a few tonight you will receive the written 2019 annual report in early 2020 tonight aw sugar I love an industry data that in part guides our programmatic decisions tactical highlights of the program in 2019 and what's in store for 2020 through this presentation I believe you will be able to see a strong return for your annual contribution of the transient occupancy tax Montgomery County along with many diverse localities in Virginia help to make the Commonwealth a desirable place to visit tourism is an instant revenue generator for the locality and the state I'd like to share a brief video that illustrates this point at the conclusion I would jump right into the recorded economic impact of tourism in Montgomery County [Music] [Music] [Music] their entire boxes transformation what the hell walks period has to offer so I'm home economics would be a diverse you know a tour credit residency the Garden State experience to waste your company here it's really only going to be to the restaurant to see where the food came from the litter is really source closely with the rich andreasontour and we're asking for and directly forward at Burger there you go [Music] [Music] Montgomery County works very closely with the state of Virginia this chart illustrates the economic impact of tourism in Montgomery County who for the past three years this town appears in the 2018 tourism economic impact report which you have in front of you it is conducted by the US Travel Association and commissioned by the Virginia tourism corporation travel expenditures include direct spending on lodging food entertainment retail and transportation the amount that travelers spend throughout Montgomery County continues to trend upwards as does the correlating local tax revenue from those travel expenditures tourism works to keep these numbers on an upward trend by providing reasons to visit to stay longer to spend more and return for another visit this tourism program continues to work for the citizens of Montgomery County quick math helps us tell the story there are thirty four thousand seven hundred thirty nine households in Montgomery County as reported in the last census divided the combined state and local tax revenue generated from spending by visitors in 2018 by the number of households in Montgomery County the resulting quotient is two hundred and eighty one dollars which represents tax savings to each of these households compliments of our visitors spending my visitors benefits our community with each dollar spent in local businesses the towns in the county fund the tourism program with a percentage of the transient occupancy tax also known as the it's paid by how visitors when they stay in hotels 25 of 1% is remitted to the program for reinvestment in tourism Montgomery County estimated its contribution at $12,000 in the fiscal year of 2020 the county also provides us many great support items such as space in departmental assistance as well the cash contributions from Blacksburg and Christiansburg to the program was significantly higher due to the number of sleeping rooms located within the towns your contribution along with the town's contribution to the program is used to increase visitation and the for ladies spending this visitation is a mixture of first-time extended stay and repeat visits the regional tourism program works to generate additional tax revenue direct revenue to local businesses in direct positive impact the more jobs and associated payroll the regional tourism program does this work by promoting local products and services to visitors assisting visitors building connections between visitors local businesses and community organizations the program is not funded by any portion of the mills tax however it is useful to measure the mills tax along with the lodging tax revenue since this is one of the largest areas where visitors spend money the transi knock tax and meals tax revenue from the county increased in 2019 over that reported in 2018 for the same period of January through September the town's also realized increases in both of these metrics the numbers shown here will increase once the last three months of 2019 are added by all accounts revenue in these areas will continue into 2020 whoops getting back to there because jumped ahead okay we subscribe to a monthly destination report that provides a monthly measure for three important metrics in the lodging sector this chart illustrates them the monthly trending of occupancy average daily rate and revenue per per valuable room this is a month over month and year-over-year comparison of hotel room cells in our market it is a historical report but important as a measuring stick and as a predictor for future growth predictions are based on historical trends local market dynamics and future room supply it is important for us to identify potential variables that cause any fluctuation identifying patterns or our anomalies can help identify any need for adjustments in our marketing tactics variables such as weather economy how the Hokie season that's going all these can affect these metrics a recent example this was when approximately 200 hotel sleeping rooms were taken on the overall inventory in August due to the over enrollment for the freshman class this boost this work to boost our occupancy but it will skew some numbers when I'm updating you next year in order to best reach our visitors we have to know who they are and how a destination brand resonates with them we have contracted for an annual visitors profile report and have data from 2016 through 2018 we will use this data to help inform the strategic tourism plan for fiscal year 21 through 23 which by the way would take us up to the tenth year of this program all this data helps to guide our marketing decisions the marketing activities in 2019 focused on the combined home marketing campaign which we wrapped up earlier this year other initiatives this year focused on building awareness for the program locally regionally and statewide these were named for more of an internal audience with the goal of improving the visitor experience we held the first hospitality awards for our area in May at the great rural Maine Events Center in downtown Christiansburg this event was designed and recognized the excellent work by employees of the local hospitality and tourism industry a committee is currently planning the 2020 event to be held in the spring we held the second annual tourism summit in the Hyatt Place in Blacksburg thank you to those who attended I trust you gained an appreciation for tourism as an economic driver in Montgomery County through the speakers from Virginia tourism Virginia restaurant lodging and the Travel Association Virginia Tech panthan School of Business and other local leaders we are planning for the 2020 summit to be held this summer possibly one of the most recognizable tourism slogans ever as Virginia's for letters and it turned 50 this year we were awarded a ten thousand dollar grant to help Virginia tourism corporation celebrate 50 years of love in Montgomery County we worked with over 20 partners throughout the county to promote their businesses and the Virginia's for leathers milestone this was perhaps one of the most valuable aspects of our promotional activity we used the grant to purchase promotional items and paid advertisements and local print and digital spaces we landed the fall study tour for Virginia tourism this year twice a year approximately 50 travel counselors from 13 welcome centers across Virginia and members of the public who the public relations team in Richmond spent a week in our locality their aim is to better understand what the destination has to offer to travelers throughout the state we knew that most of them would come in knowing us by Virginia Tech but we wanted to build on that we loaded up many really cool places throughout the county yes they got the tour Virginia Tech campus and Lane Stadium and many other sites there are many places we didn't have time to go so we included an additional document for them the textbook if you will that each of them received and they all learned a lot and received a congratulatory handshake from our very own dean of tourism the activity of a destination marketing organization can easily cross traditional boundaries just as our tourists do it benefits us to work with our neighbors on behalf of creating the best experiences possible for our shared visitors we are currently working with the rest of the tourism programs in the New River Valley in the Regional Commission and Radford University to develop a regional tourism website the website is being designed to present the NRV communities as a package destination we believe this will be greatly appreciated by our shared visitors such as alumni of our U and V T we have led the formation of a sports advisory group of sports activity stakeholders from across the county and both universities this group works to take advantage of human took facilities and availability we have to host lucrative events during periods of low activity through our affiliation with the Southwest Virginia Cultural Heritage Foundation we are involved with several initiatives there that are focused on place making the rally grant process in Christiansburg is bringing professionals from uva-wise Department of Housing Community Development Virginia tourism Southwest Virginia Cultural Heritage Foundation and local government and residents together to plan a project in downtown Christiansburg stay tuned for more on that and then possibly one of the more proudest moments I have is helping to launch the Montgomery County jr. Appalachian musicians program we launched that in Christiansburg elementary school during the fall of 2018 it was so successful the program expanded into the prices for elementary school this fall most of these students have never held a folk instrument before they certainly were not aware of the rich folk music history and heritage that we have here in our own hometowns we are grateful for debt board members a director teachers and hosting schools for their support it stands to reason if we promote our Appalachian heritage we need to preserve the elements that define it I'd like to show you just a quick snippet of one of the most recent student jams followed by very briefly our executive director of Montgomery County Jam Sydney Hollandsworth who will tell us just a little bit about what this program means to the students [Music] thank you Lisa members of the board we have as Lisa said expand it to the price of sport school this fall and we have 14 students there who are all I believe planning to continue with the program in the spring and just as an example of the way that we are fostering love for this music in our community most of the students as Lisa said have never called this kind of instrument before we're really in fact any instrument they are mostly third through fifth graders and we have a couple of sibling groups in that presence work group who are now playing with each other at home we have several who have older siblings that play other instruments that are now able to play with their siblings at home and we actually have one student whose parents are learning the tunes that we are teaching in jam they one was a musician and the other one did not play anything before but they are learning along with her so that they are able to continue playing as a family and part of the model of junior Appalachian musicians that is what we're anything sense of community that goes along with the music if anyone's ever been out to the jam and blocks for her employee it's a huge group usually and that's what we're trying to introduce these students to so we really thank you all for your support in the program and we're looking forward to continuing in prices for and Christmas for this year thank you said Dean I'm coming down to the wire we're looking for at the next year we recognize that tourism is a force for good in the community when responsibly planned and managed recently we learned more about a newly created office of outdoor recreation this office in depth sense at state level in Richmond the office is responsible for promoting Virginia's outdoor assets and top ranked business climate Virginia is the 15th state in the nation to establish such an office the montgomery county regional tourism program will remain closely aligned to this initiative in our own marketing strategy whoops sorry okay so really what's coming up in 2020 we're going to be doing many of the same events our sales blitz is around the state in the welcome center is the hospital wards tourism summit we're all we're all in planning mode for that now for those big events we will launch an integrated marketing campaign we received $40,000 from the Virginia tourism corporation to leverage our existing marketing dollars for that campaign so we'll be hard at work for that and hope to launch it in April in the meantime we're still building some brand awareness in the market we purchased some court signage at Virginia Tech for the winter sports and we'll continue to build on brand awareness within the market and hopefully we can catch a glimpse of ourselves on the newly created ACC Network and then I mentioned earlier the fiscal year 21 through 23 strategic tourism plan should be completed by late spring lastly the Christiansburg office will be relocated in the coming weeks from the County Government Center to downtown Christiansburg a ribbon-cutting for the new location is being planned for for sometime in mid-january and I'll give you more details about that because I would love to see you all there and that is what I have tonight for your 2019 update thank you again for your time and your investment in tourism I'm happy to answer any questions you may have on what I presented tonight yeah just just a couple of short ones Lisa thank you so much for being here this evening talking about the transient occupancy tax does VRBO or Airbnb play any role in the transient occupancy tax all three Ocala T's Blacksburg Christiansburg and the county all three collect occupancy tax from those short-term rentals they do it in depth different methods but they all do collecting that is pass through to our okay break down great I was hoping that that would be your answer and then also I know that because we've opened the Blacksburg tourism office that there's been a lot of close work with dbi is there also close work planned with the downtown Christiansburg Inc organization I'm so glad you asked yes there is an actually the rally project that we are working on now downtown persons from Inc is leading that project for us great great and I think the partnership that has been developing with TBI has been really critical to visibility for our tourism office regionally I also think a component of visibility I know we've been discussing this as part of in onward NRV is using the new River Valley River Stan leggo am I correct that that River Stan logo will be Wu about that maze leaning on there am I correct ends that that River Stein will be used on the regional tourism website and kind of used as a branding tool yes not the Montgomery County Regional so I don't want to be that with that to cause confusion but for the new River Valley website that's comprised of the four counties in the city of record yes the correct great it's a great Lego very new river valley specific so I'm glad to see that it's gonna be used in a broader way than than it has been currently thank you so much for being here tonight really appreciate your presentation least I just wanted to thank you for all you do for us I always knew that tourism brought any money but until I went to the last Sun and realized how much it was and it really opened my eyes and I really look forward to this year's summit I'm sure it'll be as good or better thank you thank you that's too bad stuff up couple of things you've been here and I tell you what I'm getting ready to get off the board but when I see and leave here and some of our board meetings and you're still working I greatly appreciate all the efforts that you put in on behalf of Montgomery County and the two towns I do have a couple of questions for you the meals that are consumed over on Virginia Tech's campus the restaurants are there do they pay the meals taxes the students or the like I think I know the answer to that did not believe yet and as far as I see tax for the hotels and things like that the hotel at the end that Virginia Tech does that pagan occupancy tax if you know I do not believe so thank you guys you're beat yes I just want to say that having been with this lemon firsthand on a whole tour of Montgomery County that we could not have a better salesperson for our County and someone that is so enthusiastic about our County and what our County has and projects that in such a positive way and we never had that before and I want to thank you for all the years work that you have done this has really become something that's very important and you're known sort of outside of just our County for your work and I just wanted to thank you and the other thing I have to say is I'm so thankful you're getting hopefully a bigger office you don't have any so it will be bigger it will be a little bigger thank you that's good it's not the visitor center that came at did the article in the paper made it so like we were open in to visit the travelers through downtown just as Irina's of the in the black june office good Thank You supervisor bone thank you for everything that you do I really appreciate you coming out to Belliveau Estate Winery with your fifty friends couple months ago it was a really fantastic event and I think it was a perfect example of how you leverage the assets that we have in this county and how people just fall in love with this county so thank you for everything you do yeah thank you I just wanted to say thank you for everything you do and for do for this county and I'm really glad to see the jam program taking off so well let's appreciate it a lot of great people thank you thank you very much board members while we're providing updates our next agenda item this evening is an update on the Montgomery County branding project Jennifer Harris is gonna present that information to us I'm excited to be here tonight and share with you information about a project that the cross-departmental team has been working on for a few months now and when I first joined the county in 2017 that's our County Administrator our leader said to me one of the things that is important for Montgomery County so that's I mean I really wanted to work on and finally got momentum last fall and we were able to have a volunteer basis committee and I'm gonna walk you through what we did as a team and identify who was involved and the process that we took to get to the end result and then I'm going to show you that the end ok so first before we get started the brain is much more than and that's something that we took some time as a team understanding because when you see the list of folks that were involved in our committee not everyone had a background with branding and design and those sorts of things so we had to take a minute to understand exactly why we're here and what we're gonna be working towards and so it's something that tell her story it's something that provides consistency and professionalism for your organization and so coming up with something that was authentic to our organization and that made sense for us was a goal that we all saw was important and we want to make sure so the result of that yes you have colors you have fonts you have even a new logo but it's also story so excited to tell you about our story so there was a cross-departmental team and as you can see here in alphabetical order but a great group of folks throughout throughout the county and our staff and we actually had an intern that provided a good amount of research for us but she's no longer with us she graduated it and she's gone on to do great things back time we had a good good team and I have to say it was refreshing to work with so many individuals who are dedicated and skilled and brought a unique perspective to the project we met several times with the key goal being the 3ds visuals values and and voice and one of the things that we did as a committee was first we got together and we threw out what we thought made sense for the county as a team and then we decided that we also needed to get the employees of thought so we surveyed them January of 2019 and well we say you're serving them to gain the values for the County asked specific questions to try to get a feel for what our employees thought of the county as a whole and the county as an organization one of the things that I want to bring up is that we value our seal it's something that is part of our history and it's something that we will definitely keep so that was one of the things that as an organization we decided that it had a place and we need to identify what the place was but we could also it could be part of a brand we didn't have to be the only part of our friend so we have created a brand guide and the usage of that is and now as I said we have a team of cross-departmental folks and they have opinions and they were not afraid to share them which is nice it was refreshing it was that we had some I really wish some of the audio had a record of some of the meetings because we public information would get feedback from the committee and so we'd go back to the drawing board and we'd say well this makes sense and we should share these concepts of them and we'd walked in the room and they'd be like that's you know you've missed the mark and it was great and it was nice to be able to be honest and and trust each other enough to know that we all want to get it right and it's just such a great experience so it was that was I'm bowing you that and it did find it refreshing so the next thing we did was we took all the feedback that we had done with our discussions and then the feedback that we received from the employees and we came up with five values that we felt identified in the gum recount here that we could identify with as the county a lot but it made sense for us so one of the things that I think says it all is McHenry County instead asked in both its preservation of its history and a planning for its future the County values integrity and strives to be helpful in providing superior public services and programs to citizens businesses and visitors and an effort to build and maintain trust the county's pride and the all-encompassing and diverse natural resources and cultural experiences available to citizens businesses businesses and visitors throughout the its community so that's how I came to terms with these five values and now we're not going to much more time we came up with the Halle Berry and I'm going to tell you as you can see the logo here bears out the camera bags that's the actual logo we've talked about the colors we thought that the huckleberry was something that we can identify with in the past the present and the future and as you know it sparks the technology and I look with a short video that the public information team created for you that I'll show you in just a minute but also reminds us of the beauty around us and you think about just taking a walk on a trail and then because you have given it to the valid anomaly trail initiative the small also be something that will continue to connect our communities throughout the future so I want to share this brief video with you the best way they do it most president said earlier trail than a foundational critical our state money versus vertical expert but the roots of where your head and soon against to the area extend that to at least year of the monkey nerds circuit 1902 13 and recycle the real money casework old the Merrimack months to the journey of a Cambria he is heavily rely in 1904 DVI never be attempt and the rail line made contract who sent one for German philosopher after construction period these papers death River Lucretia's burglar railroad ortho Cheney canvas tag line blows however nicknamed it out Larry after the delicious while growing areas that grew along side a railway and downsize and her had mines the birth pains were taken because they lost progress turn on construction on September 15th 1904 the first passenger train steamed in a black sir Plus later yes rolled into the last 30 pots and ever 21st 2004 the depot located the Austin site of the loss progression of our employer tional library was making every Junction by resonance one of our pastor Steve easily set off and passed the time paint needy cover berries grown alongside the tracks overall be that determines the chemical estimated not only the garage transportation he wants to the first mystery of the identity County over the next several decades for the changing times a bit a little bit of new transformation that he perhaps different services swindled in August 1938 the last passenger train on Mulberry unloaded his riders town frame and the last frame the left where Ron on June 30 1966 today whether they have a logo holding us together meeting for some big your honor the scene view this around us for others there's a foundation of the connection between communities for you and any Spartan Celtic athletes and a lodge Montgomery County history thank you for bearing with and it was exciting to even dump into our history and come up with something that we felt what standards missed a time and has proven to do that so once we honed in on my concept and we decided that that made sense and it was a good fit for after the committee we decided that we should probably let her employees know and get some feedback from them so we had an employee open house in September of this year and we had a few interactive things one of which was the video that I just shared with you do let the folks know except that um for why we chose this for our symbol in our logo but also through the process of planning for the open house we discovered that in this building we had a piece of the original huckleberry railroad and so that was nice to remember to have that thing at the open house as well and have a quick information session for the employees that were able to swing by for a few minutes and learn an opportunity for employees to have some ownership on the color palette by voting on the colors we had a couple different names for each each color so that is kind of fun that you can see they're casting their votes with the glass beads and so violently this is the the final product and all the variations that we've come up with for the logo we can personalize it with in the the fonts and the colors that we have established and so if billing inspections wants to be unique and have their own color their letterhead we're good to go with that and we can also vary it depending on the shape of it there needs to be a circle of vertical horizontal and what that said too many questions in fact shivered I don't have anything thank you it looks great appreciate all your effort yeah that was a great effort and I love the video could that video be shared with the school system because I know they you know the impart some of the curriculum they talk about the county history yes and I remember I remember hearing about the train from my mother who wrote it early on so that was exciting to see well also know our website as well and it's being made available through a brand guide all of our voice thank you very much Steve yes another fine job you've done and especially that last picture on their board members who were available to swing by they did and we really appreciate that it showed support of the project and they know the staff that saw you all coming in and especially mr. meadows our county administrator it meant a lot that you all supported us and then participated in that very much thanks so much for the update I actually was privileged to attend the open house and wanted to say something long ago in a board report about how great of a job that the team did in conducting that event it was very engaging also I was able to wear some of my logoed items at the Vaco conference and had several people comment on how nice the logo looked so wanted to relay that as well to you that it has been complimented by others throughout the state okay thank you thank you for all your hard work thank you to board members at this time we have one public hearing the following public hearing was advertised your section of the Roanoke Times on liver 17th this is for a budget amendment for the fiscal year of 2019 2020 budget due to adding 30 million two hundred and sixty eight thousand six hundred eighty dollars in school bond proceeds and five million dollars in County bond county funds which will be used to finance the capital cost for school purposes including without limitation renovations and additions at Christiansburg primary school Christiansburg elementary school and Bellevue elementary school and this is just a public hearing to if any citizen has a comment on this particular item we have no one signed up to speak about the budget amendment but if you'd like to step forward please step forward state's name and address and you have five minutes of speaking seeing the one will close this part mr. cherrick board members the next item on our agenda this evening is public address the Board of Supervisors allow citizens to prevent present comments on issues deserving their attention during public address at each meeting if you wish to speak please observe the policy below regarding public address and the presentation of information we have sign-up sheets outside we have those sign-up sheets here for those that have signed up we will go in order with those after we call the last name on the signup sheet if there's others that wish to speak you'll also have the opportunity to come forward each speaker has five minutes whether speaking is an individual or a representative of a group all comments must be directed to the chair and other supervisors from the speaker's lectern down here at the front please start by stating your name and address debate between speakers and members of the audience will not be allowed speakers may leave any written comments or statements there's a table to the left of the lectern as you come up you can leave your comments or handouts there as speakers will be judged out of order by the chair should the speaker engage in personal attack use profanity or abusive language or debate with the audience and not address the supervisors directly we also ask that folks not applaud or make loud responses we've got a lot of people in the room tonight we want to give everyone ample time to speak so when you clapper or make noise that tends to slow the whole process down so if we can just move quickly through the those others that will benefit all office this evening before we open um can I just clarify because there are people that are not in the room with us yes how do we make sure that once we get to the end of these sheets and and finished with this room that we're honoring everybody outsides ability to I know there are folks Thank You Vice Chair des mots I know there are folks out in the lobby area there's also some folks over in multi-purpose room to listen to the audio after the last name is called we will then open it up for others to come forward at that point in time if you're in one of the areas not in this room would ask that you come in so that you're able to step forward again we do have to pay close attention to the number in the room simply because we got to make sure the ingress and egress is open but we'll manage that as best we can and try to make sure everybody has the opportunity that wants to speak gets recognized this evening so be patient with us too because we're trying to keep an eye on making sure we're making sure we've covered everybody mr. meadows respond better at the good point like are you gonna call like that sort of too ahead I mean like call the speaker and then the next tooth that they can get ready and come up we can certainly do that normally we call and we have a large crowd we call the next two to come up to the front to sit we don't wear our truck for you said tonight so just so you'll be aware who's next on the list thank you that thank you yes sir all right our first speaker this evening is and if I put your names I apologize Jim claggy laughter mister after Jim we have Katherine carpenter and after Katherine we have float Kepner he thank my name is Jim Clark and I live at 220 Huntington Lane and Blacksburg thank you for this opportunity to speak to the board about significant issues facing the people of this County I know there are many people in the county who care deeply about the issues before us ladies and gentlemen reward many of the people here tonight are the good guys moving on that we hear so much about I'm only supposed to address you but I wish those good guys were done their hands in those rare instances in which it is a good guide of the gun that stops a bad guy with a gun I am grateful there is no doubt that guns save lives but guns also cost lives we're told that gun violence is more about health mental health than it is about gun laws but we are shortage of mental health professionals mental health facilities and beds in South West Virginia if you were here to advocate for gun rights I hope you are also here to advocate for expanded mental health care who are the bad guys with a gun that we all fear they are young people who drop out of school as soon as they could there are people addicted to opioids there's no other way to satisfy their addiction there are people with minimum-wage jobs they can't find a way to support a family or navigate a future if you are here to advocate for gun rights I hope you are also here to advocate for better schools and vocational training better drug treatment facilities in health care better paying jobs with lingual wages instead of an endless stream of minimum-wage jobs that lead nowhere what would knock County County look like if all the political energy we see here tonight were to support Republican bill Stanley's bill for statewide bond issue to support school construction statewide including southwest virgin for support democrat free deeds bill for expanding mental health facility statewide including southwest virginia or support a move toward a post-cold economy statewide that would sustain not only our breadwinners but also our grandchildren's environment but included here in southwest virginia when the bad guy with the gun is a domestic abuser if you are here to advocate for gun rights I hope you are also here to advocate for means to keep guns out of the hands not only of convicted abusers but also of those who are terrorized their own families with threats and violence sometimes the original data by only a toddler who found an unsecured gun or trouble adolescent who sees a gun is an easy way out of suicidal depression if you are here to advocate for gun rights I hope you are also here to advocate for means to protect these young people who have no thoughts of harming others if the only time you turn out in political protests is to protect gun rights or protest tax increases then we will get what we deserve and over our neighborhood defending the decaying community let's put our focus on building a community worth defending one with adequate medical and mental health care well funded schools and sustainable well paying jobs this is what we need be advocating for before our supervisors and before our state legislators otherwise they can write us off with a good as long as they give us our gun rights and go on ignoring all the things that are worth to protect them thank you and thanks for your service 12 community and since I've been sitting for a while I'm gonna stand by the wall I hope that someone else who's been standing for a while is today my seat thank you okay yes thank you my name is Katherine carpenter other than 220 Huntington Lane Blacksburg and I want to thank you all for your service to this to our County the supervisors and for the opportunity to speak to you tonight I wish to speak on the topic of guns and mental illness I'm a Presbyterian pastor there are almost 30 years as a pastor I've worked with numerous people who suffered from severe depression and mental illnesses tonight I wish to share a story that comes from the a time when I served a church in Risberg for Ginny was a small church and I served there for almost eight years one morning I received a phone call from a parishioner asking if I would visit a friend of hers she said her friend a woman in her 40s had just broken up with her fiancee and she was very depressed perhaps even suicidal I'm in immediate lead to this woman's home where I found her alone and sitting in the dark I talked with her for about two hours several times during our conversation she said that she couldn't imagine her life without this man her life was over and that she had no reason to live anymore so I asked her if she had thought of ending her life and she said yes then I said to her if you were to enter life tell me how you were thinking of doing that to which she replied that she would use her son's rifle that was in the closet in a back room and her son was not living hassle time use in another state I thought I'd just walk back there and see that right bow and I did and I picked up a rifle and a box of shells and I brought it out and I told her I was just gonna hold on to these things for a little while that I would give her that back to her when she was feeling better but I didn't think it was a real good idea for her to have a gun in her house the way she was at that moment and she said okay after I left I contacted our local sheriff who also was a member of the church and he came and helped me secure the rifle until such time as I could return it to her and I continue to stay in close contact with her about a year to house leaders that same woman asked me to perform her weapon to a new love which I did and at that time I gave the rifle back to her she's still very happily married I do not know if this woman would have committed suicide I know that she was very depressed and I know that she had thought of it so much so that she made a plan I do know that effect gun had remained in her house it would have been far easier for her to kill herself in a moment of desperation I'm still friends with her and I thank God that she is still happy Kelcey I believe that in order to help people with mental illness who are contemplating suicide we should make sure that they don't have access to a gun guns make suicide far easier a statistical analysis there were 14 different scientific studies as concluded that having access to a firearm triples one's risk of suicide but of one's risk of death by suicide because there's a popular misconception that suicide is inevitable but most people who attempt suicide do not die unless they use a gun across all suicide attempts not involving firearms less than 5% will result in death but for those of us by the statistics are flipped approximately 85% of dumb suicide attempts end in death and the vast majority of all those who survived a suicide attempt do not go on to die by suicide I believe this is a public health issue if someone who was worked with and cared for people with severe mental illness and depression I would call on all of us to do everything we can to reduce the risk of people taking their own life we keep them from having access to a gun we increase our ability to get them the hell that they need if they have it access to a gun they have that access they are far more likely to succeed in taking their own life thank you very much for your time I'm going to stand in the back too if anyone wants to come and sit in my seat thank you our next speaker is float Kettner the next two after miss Kettner our Harlan the Lustgarten and Jennifer Cooper I think you guys okay and then before I said I've dis Elaine I want to thank the board for let mystique set up months ago in Chesterfield County two RFA's 23 was shot by friendly fire this was not innocent where he was danger board only would have been seen in danger before the fourth of July 2013 7 year old Randy McKay of Chester was shot and killed while walking to see fireworks the bullet was random from huge shooting in the air in celebration of the holiday from 99 to may 2018 in Virginia random gun deaths of minors represented 7% of minor deaths by firing 37% of firearm deaths of minors were suicides and 53% were assaults 139 children 13 under about 13 and under or fatally shot since 99 20% of accidents and 11% of suicides does 13 and under 482 from ages 14 17 with 44% suicides and 3% accident in 2018 at least 73 children under the age of 12 or killed after finding a gun including two year old montreal Dunn and two-year-old Tyree Flint how can we trust our children to go over to a friend's house for a sleepover if we can't trust the word of other parents that our children will be a 1% safe and not have access to a fully secured firearm how about guests who visit a child like two-year-old Tyree Flint who found the gun poorly secured by the person who was visiting his family well our sanctuary laws allow the enforcement of a proper secured storage if we are required by the state I feel that if the state and the representatives we have elected and pay for in our taxes have made the decision that is here to protect us our children our thoughts and I'm not talking about whether or not it is a good person stopping a bad person but somebody just being in their community doing what they do every day if the state has made this decision I feel that the localities should follow through with it and not put our men or in a position to have to make that decision when addressing a situation in someone's home or in our public streets it is something I feel that additionally will negatively affect our tourism I think it'll affect people who want to move here I heard people just today a lot of this evening saying if somebody doesn't like it they don't have to be here and I don't think that that's fair for those who want to come see the wonderful area we have and appear in live here the way I do I add just a brief thing of saying because I think that should cover enough we all understand that there are bad people and are good people and I am left having to trust all of them with whether or not they are properly maintaining their weapons understanding how to use them understand that if they have been imbibing an alcohol that can't even have it in their club box but I've had tough people tell me I stick it in there and it's safe but it's not and I think that in our state as a state it's a Commonwealth of Virginia makes this decision that I as a resident in Montgomery County can trust that our Board of Supervisors will follow through with that and I really appreciate you guys hearing from evening next is Harlem phyllis garden jennifer cooper and then lisa lucas partner Thank You mr. chairman and in 40 members when our nation on wall based on laws the foods that we lose everything I bring this up because I bring up the Dillon rule where dangers is throwing a basic fabric or a representative democracy by saying you can decide on what's constitutional and what is it I'm not opposed to this because because of the gun laws but because violates the principles of whatever country was founded on that's my first point my second point is not a safety safety for your constituents they say were law enforcement officers I might refer to the virginia sheriffs Association since from 1978 to 2017 41 that he's been building a lot of duties to Virginia which is said to be the highest per capita number of law enforcement officers killed of all the different branches state police Blacksburg Christiansburg and so forth all the local towns cities it's because the deputies often respond to the most dangerous Falls domestic major disturbances suicide-by-cop two years ago they would say damn and Walton Road who had a gun I think he was 18 and the deputies wild up shooting him in front of his mother because he was going after the deputies that was a disturbed person that probably shouldn't have done that a taste might have turned out a bit difficult mmm nearly all these deaths 41 deaths occurred in the 86 rural Virginia counties where sheriff's deputies provide the primary law enforcement coverage necklace Montgomery County okay this state pays us base these rural counties 14200 of those positions through these deputies that already don't have enough deputies so we don't want to jeopardize any of those any of that funding coming to Southwest Virginia we need to help the state comply with these law you don't want to make any counterindicated laws to the state laws better that's what we elected that's what we put in responsible positions to to do what's best for us okay I want to thank you for your time next we have Jennifer Cooper lika Lisa Lucas Gartner and Ginny Panna Becker hi I'm Jennifer Cooper 1701 Keith language ensberg I'm here to talk about gun violence prevention and the reasons that I think we should not as Montgomery County pass any type of second amendment sanctuary ordinance oh let me give you a little background in my connection to this county I was born and raised here come on proud graduate of Christiansburg high school and Virginia Tech and my family is one of the few century farms in Virginia right here in Montgomery County so we have been here for generations I recognize the pride in rural life and part of that is gun culture still after a number of the shootings here at Virginia Tech and across the country Sandy Hook a number of them I was still puzzled by the gun culture in America and so I decided to do my masters level thesis on that subject and I'm going to read you just a little bit of the introduction from that Americans take for granted that gun violence is ubiquitous and it is in this country with over 13,000 annual shooting deaths as the debate over gun control deteriorates into shouting matches and threats of interruption most of the rest of the world looks on with confusion feeling America's gun culture and laws and fat and odd in the 1990s Americans killed more people with guns in a typical week than did Western Europeans in a whole year in 2010 more than 73,000 emergency room visits were for firearm related injuries ing to the CDC the United States is the only country with more than 70 guns for people at 88 guns for 100 I'm sorry for 100 Americans and the day compared madly on fatalities too with the United States having three gun homicides 400,000 people which is four times as many as Switzerland ten times as many as India and 20 times as many it's Australia and England clearly the consequences of gun violence in America are extreme so while the research from a thesis helped me understand the gun culture in America and the pioneer spirit and the history of that these statistics were very disturbing to me so what do I believe I believe that gun violence is preventable in fact we know that gun violence is preventable I believe that we should be anti gun violence program safety I believe in gun safety and gun violence prevention I believe in keeping guns out of the hands of people who shouldn't have them and something that I think a lot of people don't realize is that the permitting process in Virginia is blacks and not every rural American or every American that has a gun or even has a permit can use it as well as maybe some of some of the people who are here tonight I also believe in keeping guns out of places they shouldn't be carrying schools bars playgrounds etc I want to close with a I am sad to be here I think I don't want to be here because I feel like our shared values the shared values of family safety that I feel like everybody in this room believes in should overrun our differences and that because my family didn't want me to come tonight because they were concerned for my safety I don't appreciate being told that if I don't like it I can leave as I said my family has been here for generations I also echo what miss Kepler said about the economic growth and tourism in this area if we pass a second amendment sanctuary law what are we saying to everybody about where we live thank you for your time next speaker is Lisa Lukas Gartner then Ginni Panabaker after Ginny is Joe Walker I get it bathing may be telling counsel reporter supervisors hear a little bit of background of myself I I'm not an outsider I'm not a damn Yankee or anything else my family's been here since 1738 and so we've looked with the guys the guns are part of our lives sitting grew up with guns hunting and my years as a police officer I'm throat guns and I had lots of Goddess however when I'm here to address tinnitus about the consideration of the Board of Supervisors thinking about passing a resolution in a sanctuary County Sanctuary kind of that gives you the idea of peace and safety or whatever when I think about guns I don't think about peace and think about safety but I think about violence as well so I think for you all to even consider it is a bad precedent to step into or you're opening up the door or the slippery slope for other groups in our county in the future to come forward it's hundred people that are here versus a couple thousand or hundreds of thousands of people and they're not representing everybody they're representing themselves of what they want you want to do so I think it's a terrible thing for us to even get into personal feelings from an individual group of individuals I think that we have to be passionate about things in our lives that's good things that are good for our community and as Board of Supervisors that's what we've collected you ought to do I don't think guns are good for our community I think that probably nine times out of ten guns are going to be bad for our community so I think that you all shouldn't even delve into it that's why we've elected our state representatives are lawmakers who have made the laws and also under villains rules of course Dylan's room you all know that you can only do what the state allows you to do that's what I'm wondering about people who want the resolution passed it's saying you guys aren't allowed to do what you want to do you all are not allowed to do what these people want you to do you are only allowed if the state allows you to do so the state has these laws we don't have a choice as a county or as a town or locality you have to follow the laws so myself I I loved constitutional law I I've always loved the Constitution I know it very well the basic principle these people who are appointing the resolution we need to know is that they the legislature makes the laws the courts enforce the law and you know I should not pulled into the middle of it it's not your job and you weren't elected to do so so I think the request is unreasonable thank you next we have Ginny Hannah Becker Joe Walker and Mary north hello my name is Virginia or Ginny Hannah Becker I live at 7:05 South Main Street Blacksburg Virginia thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight I have read and seen in the news recently that many Virginia counties are considering declaring the county a Second Amendment sanctuary meaning the county officials will refuse to enforce any new restrictions on gun ownership passed through state or federal legislation as a resident of Montgomery County responsible gun control laws are very important to meet to help ensure that my family and my community that all of us are safe I'm not a gun owner but many of my family members are and I know that they find great value in using guns for hunting sportsmanship and to feel secure in their home and other places however guns are also used to kill people other people for oneself as others have mentioned here tonight some people say guns don't kill people people kill people but research such as a 2016 article in the American Journal of Medicine has shown that people with guns kill people more efficiently than people without guns this research also shows that the United States skunk ohmicide rate is 25 times higher but not of other high-income countries personal gun ownership with insufficient restrictions cannot solve this problem in order for all of us to be safer in our homes in our workplaces in our schools and in our communities we need new legislation that will provide reasonable limits on gun ownership including universal background checks requirements to report lost or stolen firearms and a ban on assault weapons if any new legislation i'm gun control us passed by the virginia legislative assembly or by the federal government I want to see Montgomery County officials enforce such restrictions thank you very much for your time and for listening next we have Joe Walker and Mary north then Robbie Jones they might rank for Survivor loudly theater might expect I'm going I won't speak on our Constitution and what allowance when the government wants to come in and freeze our constitutional rights that have been called for lives of been surrendered for lives have been lost for and protected it's a god-given right that's protected under our Constitution to be able to bear arms to protect ourself just as our Second Amendment says against charity whether it be within our own powerful whether it be from our associates weather-beaten my friends as the Bible says the time is coming where a home work will come against us who want to defend ourselves as I see our retired law enforcement officers here they need our support it's wet it may be one of your family members that my God protects when they're out getting something happens when someone else is not willing to carry your guns because they're afraid that something Bad's gonna happen evils of this world are taking move the day that we lose our guns is today we lose their lives because we have no way to protect ourselves if the walls are implemented to be able to be honored by each and every one of us here the ones that are outside of these walls tonight whether that couldn't be here didn't want to be here that may be against the gun halls it's because they can't rightfully own these killings the criminal don't care whatever all say they don't care about her they weren't Romani they little house they're going to come and get it ladies god I got to write and I will type a 15 that man but that we have one of your family members a small church because my served in the military I'm not a disabled son and they protect their national network for that right to give us this freedom okay we can't control what happens outside of these walls we can't control the truth the left the bar down and a while ago that might kill some money out there or he might stop down here like tonight I'm very good stop by man that was wrong with healed [Music] Terry perfectly alive today around will was shot now but one of its own because of psychological issues yes we do need hilt in the medical industry to get people killed but until people are willing to admit they need help it ain't happen it's just like the drug dealer it's just like the drug abuser it's just like he's looked at people here and I support them they have the right to stand up and say oh no no no we don't want this and I'm sorry for anybody back here that's got a little bit stick your own they don't like that they have it they need the right to ever speak their voice heard also we ought to have further political recognition across the board but what's done for our safety our guns we the folks that I know they got guns even my bad guys that I know that got guns would not protect you your children your grandchildren and your rights [Applause] right folks our next speaker is Mary North after Mary north we have Robbie Jones and Kim Sherlock if I didn't mess that up too bad you supervisors thank you tonight my name is Mary North County and fluid 6020 funny I don't have a gun but today it was interesting on Public Radio one a program that airs and morning covered the subject of gun safety and it was it gave me some extra facts that I didn't have it here they made the point that when asked men and women said that owning a gun was empowering this stuck with me holding the gun has never made me feel empowered but hopefully my college diploma did make me feel empowered and although I might not be able to stop an attacker I am able to research the facts and the facts are against owning a gun less than 1% of incidents of self-defense embalming a gun are successful less than 1 percent a gun in the home increases the risk of gun violence against women 23 to 25 thousand gun suicides happen each year in this country people living in states that have tight gun laws and are surrounded by like-minded states are far less likely to be shot and there are less suicides by gun thank you for your time I have a question yes man I'm having a little bit of difficulty because I thought that the rules said that we were going to be respectful to each speaker as they came up and as someone that has spoken before the Board of Supervisors many years ago it's sort of an intimidating process in the first place and it takes a lot of guts to come up and speak it's not easy for everyone to do so can I ask mr. chair if we could restate what the rules were this may do that oh I'll be glad to read one more coming I do want to point out and I've just mentioned that to the chairs well speakers will be judged out of order if they engage in personal attacks use profanity or abusive language or debate for the audience accepted etiquette of the audience is not to applaud or make loud responses and again that's primarily because there's a lot of folks that want to speak tonight and we want to give everybody ample opportunity to speak and be heard so thanks for adhering to that if you will Thank You next speaker is Robbie Jones after Robbie is Kim trova and after this trophy is Joyce bang never gave me I'm Robert James over here tonight speaking as individual I live at 996 : Road Christiansburg Virginia I'd like to start off by congratu