Finance/Government Operations and Economic Development Committee

meeting

Loudoun County Board of Supervisors 4h 4m 4 speakers 7 agenda items transcribed 4 days ago official recording ↗

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What items are on the consent agenda and how are they approved?

Matthew F. Letourneau 15:57

Right. Good evening and welcome to the November member meeting of the uh Finance, Government, Operations and Economic Development Committee. Call the meeting to order. This room has a hearing loop. If you need hearing assistance, switch your hearing aids to telecoil mode. If you need a headset, we have those available as well. Please see the clerk to request one. Uh Chair Randall is not able to join us this evening. She's uh not feeling a hundred percent. Uh moving on, we will first adopt our consent agenda. We have seven items proposed for consent. They are item two, quarterly report, FY25 first quarter financial upgrade, cash proffer, and debt report. Item three, Loudoun County Communications Commission 2024 Annual Report.

Matthew F. Letourneau 16:43

Item four, contract renewal job order contract for general construction work. Item five, contract renewal task force, roadway and transportation design services. Services for federal projects. Item six, contract award, construction engineering inspection services for the Route 7, Route 690, Hillsborough Road Interchange. Item seven, award authority increase, information technology consulting services. Item eight, countryside boulevard area pedestrian study. I will make a motion to approve the consent agenda reserved seconds. Seconded by Supervisor Omstead, any discussion on these items. Supervisor Brisbane.

Juli E. Briskman 17:19

I don't know if anybody read the entire countryside boulevard um uh study. There were a couple different scenarios in there. Um t tonight's uh motion that we just that will pass is to um move forward staff's scenario number one. However, they I may bring something a little bit different when it comes to the board meeting. I need to have some conversations with DTCI and V dot to make sure the the proposed projects align correctly and to see if there's if there's any way to accelerate the um project. Thank you.

Matthew F. Letourneau 17:56

Okay. Thank you, Ms. Brisbane. Any other discussion on the consent agenda? All in favor of the motion say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? Motion carries. Five zero. Okay. Next is our monthly update from our Department of Economic Development. Mr. Reiser, good to see you. I know that we have uh visitors from Visit Louden today. Ms. Ericsson, welcome as always.

Buddy Rizer 18:20

And uh J J Singh from EDE.

Matthew F. Letourneau 18:23

Excellent.

Buddy Rizer 18:25

Um September is the most recent month for local unemployment data. The rate was 2.8% for Loudoun compared to 2.9% for Virginia and 4.1 for the rest of the U.S. The jobs report released on November 1st showed that the unemployment remained 4.1 for the U.S. in October. Nationally, only 12,000 jobs were added in October, which was below expectations, even after projections were lower. To account for the hurricanes and the Boeing strike. It was the lowest monthly increase in more than three years. Out of those 12,000, we had a lot posted here in Loudoun County. Newly posted jobs in Loudoun in October were 2,600. Active open jobs in Loudoun County is now about 15,000. On November 6th, the Fed lowered the Fed funds rate by point two five.

Buddy Rizer 19:16

After uh have having those rates uh pretty steady since uh uh August of twenty-three, inflation continues to stay low, and the interest rate should help encourage investment in business uh and commercial buildings, including projects that are incredibly important for Loudoun County, like our metro projects. Uh with that, I'll turn it over to JJ from EDAC, who has a quick report, then we'll get into tourism with Beth.

Unknown 19:40

Uh thank you, buddy, and uh thank you, Chair. Uh EDAC Chair Siobhan McFadden and Vice Chair Chin Shinbaro were not able to come today, so they asked me to speak in their stead. First, the EDAC is grateful for your recent vote on nine members to the EDAC. We feel that we brought a lot of talent and diversity to the Commission. We've also been engaged with the Rural Economic Development Council, REDC, which focuses on our Western and Rural businesses. Uh Bill Hatch of Zephaniah Farms is the REDC liaison to the EDAC, and Mayor Kelly Burke is also a member. We invite all of you to our next meeting Friday, December 6th at 8 a.m., where we'll be discussing artificial intelligence.