June 16, 2026 Health & Human Services Committee - Jun 16, 2026

meeting

Fairfax County Board Committees 1h 37m 4 speakers 7 agenda items transcribed 1 day ago official recording ↗

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What were the opening remarks and agenda for the HHS committee meeting?

Unknown 0:00

Hello, everybody. Just calling to order our HHS committee meeting. Welcome back. And before we get started, I just want to make sure people saw the... Meeting minutes from last meeting. Any questions, changes, concerns about the meeting minutes from last meeting? If not, the meeting minutes are adopted. I'll move on from there. Before we get started, I just wanted to say a brief remarks, and Chris does not know this is coming, but I'm going to say it anyway, and don't worry, it's very nice. Today is Chris Leonard's last HHS meeting. As I said, I would be nice. I didn't promise anything but anybody else. And so, like all goodbyes, it's a little bittersweet, right? And I'm sure more for my colleagues, as I've only been here for a short amount of time.

Unknown 0:46

But in that short time, I think I've come to know Chris, as many of us do, as a really nice, straightforward, honest guy. collaborative guy who really cares about the work he's doing and the people he's serving. And that was evident from the first conversation we have. You welcomed me so warmly. You've really been a partner from day one, very open, always willing to meet, but also willing to engage in the tough conversations and actually say, hey, you know what? Maybe we need to take a different approach. And that speaks volumes of your character. So I just wanted to say that. You've been a great asset to the county. You started as a budget analyst in 1999. At 12. At 12, right? Yeah. moved up to the Deputy Director of Community and Recreation Services in 2003, later Acting Director.

Unknown 1:35

When that merged, forming Neighborhood and Community Services, you became the director. I don't know why I'm telling you your history because you know it, but I thought everybody else should know just how long you've served the county and how well you've served the county. In 2020, you were appointed Deputy County Executive for Health, Housing, and Human Services at a particularly difficult time for human services, and you've served impeccably and with heart And now I know you're returning to your roots. I heard there might be some basketball coaching in your future.

Chris Leonard 2:03

Definitely.

Unknown 2:04

Right, which fits you perfectly, and I hope you watched the Knicks game the other night. Unfortunately. Sorry, I didn't mean to needle you a little bit, but it's always so nice. I'm just kidding. Do you want me to send those text messages? So I just wanted to start before we got into the meat of the meeting, just to wish Chris a grateful thank you for all the work you've done and all the best in your basketball coaching or other future. You've made a lasting impact here in the county, and we're really grateful for your years of dedication and service.

Chris Leonard 2:37

Thank you. Yes, I absolutely did not know that was coming today. So I definitely appreciate this. And I've had a great time working with all the board members and the difficult conversations. But we always get there. We seem to always get there in Fairfax. So very, very proud of the organization. You've got a very strong organization, great workforce. So keep leaning on them. But I really appreciate this unexpected surprise. Thank you.

Unknown 3:04

You're welcome, and sorry about the surprise, but at least it's a pleasant one. But you will be missed. So having said that, I want to turn to a couple of items, the items that we're discussing today, and just introduce a bit before turning it over to Chris Leonard for his presentation. We're going to discuss both the H.R. 1 Medicaid, the federal H.R. 1 bill, changing Medicaid and SNAP changes, where the real fundamental restructuring of this program, and I'll speak to a little bit more after you speak, And then the other topic that we're going to dig into is a report from the Beyond the Bell program and the pilot and kind of get some information on how it went and some data. So with that, I'll turn it over to you, Mr. Leonard, and then we'll turn it

Chris Leonard 3:42

over to the

Unknown 3:43

chairman and go on.

Chris Leonard 3:44

Sure. Thank you, Supervisor Seismorizer. The two presentations today, the first presentation is on HR1. Maybe the best thing about HR1 is they did give us some time