Dan Hoffman: 0:11

Hello, and welcome to another edition of the Rouse Review. I'm your city manager, Dan Hoffman, and Sarah Fry is the PIO.

Sarah Frey: 0:17

Hi, Dan. Hi, everybody.

Dan Hoffman: 0:18

Hello, everybody. Okay, we're gonna have a We're going to have a concise episode today because, uh, there's really not a lot going on at council tomorrow. Uh, second reading for a couple of things for a few things that we talked about at the last meeting. Uh, I think we've got a bond resolution, which is really not a huge issue. It's more of a technical matter. So Not a lot to talk about on the agenda. It is summer. Uh, council is, you know, they take a recess in July. Uh, things calm down a little bit on the council meeting front. Uh, but that does not mean there's not a tremendous amount happening in the city. It's when all of our events pick up, it's when things get crazy in the parks, uh, which we will talk about in just a moment with Chris Conyer, parks director. Um, and, uh, You know, otherwise I would encourage folks to, you know, a couple of things, a couple of notes from the city manager, uh, as we get into. Uh, the council meeting tomorrow night. First off, uh, you can come by any council meeting, even if there's a light agenda. Public comment is at every meeting. Feel free, stop by, tell us what's on your mind. You get three minutes. Uh, secondly, uh, the city local tax revenue does not fund the, uh, conflict in Gaza. If you've watched any of our council meetings as of late, we've had some, uh, concerned individuals coming and expressing their feelings and opinions about that conflict, uh, which I don't think anyone's going to argue is not, uh, a horrible, horrible situation. Uh, and if council were to decide to make a public statement about that conflict, uh, that is within their right to do so. But I don't want anybody to get the idea that somehow our city council has any involvement, uh, or role in that beyond just expressing that opinion. Uh, I would encourage anybody who wants to, uh, weigh in on that to speak to your local congressman. You know, the, these are bigger discussions that are, have They're being held everywhere, uh, but there is really little that the city council, uh, can do. And there's definitely nothing that in my capacity as city manager or any of our staff can do about the war in Gaza. So, so I've said what I needed to say about Gaza. Moving on. Um, We are taking a little break. So this will be our last podcast until when, Sarah?

Sarah Frey: 2:45

Our last podcast until August. Until August.

Dan Hoffman: 2:47

I know it's already late June, but we're kind of like, uh, we're gonna, we're taking a little time off in July, just like Council. Um, if you have requests for topics between now and August, feel free to send them to Sarah. Sarah, what's your email address?

Sarah Frey: 3:04

Sarah with an H, dot Fry, F R E Y, at winchesterva. gov.

Dan Hoffman: 3:08

Send them along to Sarah. Uh, if, if you have topics, if you have questions, if you have things you want us to cover, feel free to send them in. Uh, and with that, we're going to take a quick break, and we're going to come back, and uh, pretty soon we're going to talk to Chris Conyers, Park Director.

Sarah Frey: 3:27

Alright, we've got a lot of stuff coming up at the city, because It's summer. Summertime. Summertime. It's hot. It's steamy. And that means Independence Day is right around the corner. So celebrate our nation's birthday with us on Wednesday, July 3rd. We've got Not

Dan Hoffman: 3:41

July 4th. Not July 4th. July 3rd.

Sarah Frey: 3:43

Because we've got two incredible events. First one, Rockin Independence Eve down in Old Town Winchester. Stop by, they've got bands, they've got food, they've got fun. Hang out with that. Or, starting at four o'clock, you can come on over to Jim Barnett Park for family fun and fireworks at the Red, White, and Boom event.

Dan Hoffman: 4:01

Awesome.

Sarah Frey: 4:03

All right. Speaking of July 4th, don't forget. Basically, everything's closed, city offices, the War Memorial building, the courts, all of it. But, the outdoor pool will be open, so stop by Jim Burnett Park's outdoor pool to cool off. It's also a reminder that trash pickup on Thursday, July 4th is moved to Wednesday, July 3rd. So before you go watch the fireworks, make sure your trash has been picked up.

Dan Hoffman: 4:27

Make sure it's been picked up, put it out on the right day, because you don't want this hot sun making your trash stinky.

Sarah Frey: 4:31

Nobody wants that. All right. Next up, Neighborhood Nights.

Dan Hoffman: 4:37

Yes. Huge turnout at the last one.

Sarah Frey: 4:39

Huge turnout. Thank you, Park Place. You guys did us proud. So, let's do it again. Thursday, July 11th at Timbrook Park, starting at 630. We pushed the start time back a little bit. So, help us keep things tidy as we start with the pickup party. Enjoy some free food provided by the Winchester Frederick County Law Enforcement Foundation. Get to know the Winchester Police Department. They're going to be having There are vehicles out, you can meet officers, play yard games, kids can get fingerprinted, uh, rumor has it McGruff might even show up, I don't, I'm just saying. Hang out with your neighbors, and then end the evening with a movie under the stars. Alright, I've shared all the fun and amazing stuff. So, the bad news, the Browse Review is going to take a short little summer hiatus during the month of July. We're sorry. We know you're going to miss us. But, we'll be back in Better Than Ever in August to keep you in the loop on all the things going on in the city of Winchester.

Dan Hoffman: 5:38

Welcome back, Chris Conyer, Parks Director. Uh, Chris is Your third time? Um, yeah, definitely. You haven't hit the five timers. I think Perry's

Sarah Frey: 5:52

the only one with the five timers jacket.

Dan Hoffman: 5:54

Yeah. Yeah.

Chris Konyar: 5:54

Definitely not five. Yeah.

Dan Hoffman: 5:56

I think this might be three.

Chris Konyar: 5:58

Yes. I'm pretty sure it's three. If I had to

Dan Hoffman: 6:00

guess. Third time on. Yeah. For those of you who don't know, Chris, Chris is our parks and rec director. He's been with us now for two years, three.

Chris Konyar: 6:08

Well, July 7th is three years. So I'm coming up, you know, what. Less than two weeks. It's my three year anniversary. There we go. Yeah. Time

Dan Hoffman: 6:18

flies. It sure does. Uh, and in this, and in this period of time, uh, you've had a few projects. Yeah. Um, I was just reminded this morning that, uh, we still have the skate park coming.

Chris Konyar: 6:32

Yeah, they just, um, I was gonna mention that, but, um, Yeah, they just poured the um, the initial slab, uh, yesterday.

Dan Hoffman: 6:40

Yeah.

Chris Konyar: 6:40

It's finished yesterday. So

Dan Hoffman: 6:42

yet one more thing.

Chris Konyar: 6:44

Uh, yeah, it's a, it's been, uh, a year, I will say that 2023, 2024. Yeah. I can't remember ever being this busy. It's been, it's been cool to be a part of for sure, but a lot going on.

Dan Hoffman: 6:59

And you've done a fantastic job and this summer, uh, will feature when it's not a thousand degrees outside.

Sarah Frey: 7:07

Fingers crossed.

Dan Hoffman: 7:08

Yeah, but say, how are, how are things, uh, right now? It was a very hot weekend, uh, and yeah, the

Chris Konyar: 7:14

pool. The outdoor pool is, uh, quite the scene. It's very crowded, slammed, a lot of people having a good time. Um, so yeah, I am impressed with, you know, just on Tuesday afternoon, you know, we had Wednesday off, Tuesday afternoon, I just couldn't believe the number of people that were in there. It was, it was crazy. And then today, there was a line, And then we're starting to push like capacity where, you know, you can only let so many people in. So, yeah, that, that particular place in the park is particularly super busy. But then, you know, this weekend I was kind of going through all of the different things in the park and, All of the picnic pavilions are completely rented out Saturday and Sunday the pool of course will be Completely slammed we have we have an event called fun in the Sun At the pool, so that's like we'll hype it up even more so The turf we've been doing Uh, drop ins, so all the high school kids that aren't in season anymore, now that school's out, all the college kids that are home, and then even like a large contingency of adults are popping in, and the soccer nights are wow.

Dan Hoffman: 8:36

Really?

Chris Konyar: 8:37

Yeah, they had over a hundred people there. Um. Monday night,

Dan Hoffman: 8:42

that's just open. Yeah. Just, yeah,

Chris Konyar: 8:44

just open. You come in, we have like a little punch pass, you know, you pay like 20 bucks. It's two, there's 10 passes on. It's like two bucks. Yeah. And then, uh, one of our, uh, staff is out there. They punched the pass and they just, you know, they just play. And then we have a flag football night and ultimate Frisbee night. And then you couple that with like, uh, a couple of our summer camps is crazy. That turf is. Weeks like this are a little rough because it gets a little hotter on the turf. So, um, they don't play for quite as long without having to take a break. Um, but yeah. Um, and then Winchester baseball, you know, baseball season's almost over. A couple more travel, but they just got the, um, the Virginia State Championship. They're hosting that. They got that bid. And then Southeast Regional comes in after the 4th. So then that's going to be busy. The Royals are in. So the park is Always jumping. Yeah. Yeah. It's

Dan Hoffman: 9:39

pretty cool. Well, you know, beyond all the investments we've made in Jim Barnett, I think all of our parks, uh, are, have been pretty busy. I know we just got, the new trail over at Weaver Park is done, right? Yes, it's done. New trail over at Weaver Park. Does

Sarah Frey: 9:58

that, like, change the entire landscape of that park?

Chris Konyar: 10:01

Yeah, it really does. I think people don't realize that a simple amenity Like a walking trail. Just makes the park that much more accessible.

Dan Hoffman: 10:13

Yeah.

Chris Konyar: 10:13

And it just brings people in. Um, One of the, um, you know, the Kevin Reilly Foundation, Crystal Pruitt.

Dan Hoffman: 10:20

Yeah. You

Chris Konyar: 10:20

know, they're, they're very fond of Weaver Park. Yes, they are. And she They put a

Dan Hoffman: 10:24

lot of work in

Chris Konyar: 10:25

over

Dan Hoffman: 10:25

there. Yeah. Yeah,

Chris Konyar: 10:27

it's, it's really come a long way. And it, you know, we, neighborhood parks is one of the things that we identified early on when I was, you know, when I started as being like a priority, um, to make people aware of them. And then more importantly, to get people to access them and use them. And she just called me the beginning of the week and she's like, I can't even believe how many more people we see out there, because they're out there regularly, especially tending to the garden. She said the trail, just more people out there walking their dog, um, kids riding their bikes or just, just walking the, the park path. And I'm like, you know, and then we did the Arboretum Trail too, and it's the same thing. You know, that was one of my focuses right when I got there. Um, and just that path, you know, I mean, um, I got home from vacation, I took the dog over. And I was like, you know, I'm gonna walk the path, and I'll include the Arboretum. And I saw like nine people on the path, and I stopped and talked to a couple of them. And A couple of them said the same thing. They were like, we, we didn't even know that this was part of Jim Barnett.

Dan Hoffman: 11:28

This is

Chris Konyar: 11:28

awesome. And it was like, well, that's exactly what we're going for. It really

Dan Hoffman: 11:31

has opened up a big chunk of the park.

Chris Konyar: 11:33

Yeah. Yeah. And it's, it's a nice connecting point. It adds a little bit more mileage to your walk. It gives you, you know, a little bit different scenery. Um, and then it's not, you know, it's a nice area. It's shaded. The trees are down there. The pollinator meadow, obviously, um, is starting to come in. So eventually. It's going to be nice down there, but just having that path in, you know, you would think, you know, something as simple as that.

Dan Hoffman: 11:58

Yeah.

Chris Konyar: 11:58

And then I remember doing the, the surveys, you know, we did, we wanted to get the feedback from all the patrons. So we went to all the wards and, um, rotated our park board meetings. And it was like the one thing, and I think it has to do with COVID too, coming out of COVID, but it was like the one thing that everybody consistently said.

Dan Hoffman: 12:16

Yeah.

Chris Konyar: 12:16

And so now that we've done two of them. It's like, it's like magic.

Dan Hoffman: 12:22

I don't even

Chris Konyar: 12:22

know how to explain it. The

Dan Hoffman: 12:24

turnout at the last one was huge, right? Yes, we've been doing the neighborhood nights. We've got the two new trails. Uh, and at Jim Barnett Park, 4th of July is right coming around the corner. Yep. What do we got going on?

Chris Konyar: 12:37

So, we do July 3rd, Independence Eve. To celebrate the fourth, um, two years ago, we brought the fireworks back to the park, which was very popular. Large crowds. Um, you know, last year we capitalized on it again. We added a couple more. You know, food trucks and, um, and a DJ and we open the pool, you know, just kind of simple things. So this year we took the next logical step, especially now that we have the turf. So the turf is going to be transformed into like a fun zone. So everything from inflatables and obstacle course and games, and then they have a laser tag corner because we have a laser tag, um, thing going on, uh, with some programming or whatever. And then we have more, Of course, the Royals are still, um, you know, hosting their game because baseball on the fourth, you know, kind of go hand in hand. Um, and then we added food vendors. So we have everything from your main courses, uh, Jamaican soul food, barbecue. Um, and then we got the, you know, the ice cream and, you know, drinks. Typical Fourth of July stuff. Yeah, yeah. Lemonade. Some

Dan Hoffman: 13:43

rocket pops and such.

Chris Konyar: 13:45

Yeah. And we were able to get a couple sponsors this year. I heard. Yep. Part low insurance and the Erie insurance. Um, they're, they're like partners and, you know, they were very excited about seeing the crowds come out and the four and the fireworks back in Jim Barnett park and just the atmosphere. So they're helping us out this year. Um, which again is, is an awesome addition and it's just a celebration. And then of course at the end of the night, you know, you throw up the fireworks. Um, you know, last year's show both, you know, last two years, pretty impressive, actually. Um, and, um, you know, with it being in Jim, Jim Barnett, there's, you don't have to be right there. You can be in your neighborhood or, um, some people go over to Daniel Morgan, the Arboretum, a lot of people set up in there because there's a lot of shade. Jim Barnett

Dan Hoffman: 14:34

sits up on that hill. Yeah, yeah,

Chris Konyar: 14:35

exactly. Down in family land. I mean, you can, so you can, you can be anywhere in the park and catch the fireworks. And then you're also going to see it from outside the park as well. Yeah.

Dan Hoffman: 14:46

So not the only thing happening over there. I've got two other things on my list here one I think is new at least. I don't know. I know I have not seen this name before What is swim ebration?

Chris Konyar: 14:58

Oh, that's just part of July 3rd So they ramp it up we have you know, there's music They just ramp up the vibe at the pool and open it late because you know again It's always nice if you come a little early

Dan Hoffman: 15:11

cooler You know?

Chris Konyar: 15:13

Yeah.

Dan Hoffman: 15:14

Evening. Yeah.

Chris Konyar: 15:15

Especially on days like today, you might want to be in the water cooling off. And then when the, you know, when the sun goes down, then you can set up your chair. Check out the fireworks call today.

Sarah Frey: 15:26

Nice. So that good parking spot,

Chris Konyar: 15:29

but yeah, we try to ramp up the vibe You know cuz it's a special event and we know there's gonna be a lot of people there So that's like but yeah, it's cool. I mean, I just think it's really You know, there's music playing there's food. There's a fun zone. Tell me about the fun zone a little bit Because the fund zone, you do got to pay a little bit, right? Yeah, oh yes, I forgot about that, yeah. So it's 5, I mean you want to buy your ticket early, it's only 5. Yeah. Um, so we've sold quite a few of those already. Good. Um, but if you wait to the day of, it's going to cost you a little bit more, it's 10. But yeah, there is an entrance fee, just because we have so many different options. There's a ton of stuff. Yeah. If you haven't been to Jim Barnett Park, the Preston, It's, it's big, like, you know, the two fields, it's a big area. Um, so the whole place is being transformed with all kinds of different options for all ages too. So adults can mix it up too. They have some stuff for, you know, the wee little kids all the way up through adult. So, yeah. You know, a couple bucks, go in, you only pay one time, you know, you don't have to stay there. You can go out, get an ice cream cone, cool off or whatever and come back later. Um, so you just buy a wristband and you're good to go for the night. And

Sarah Frey: 16:35

what time does that start?

Chris Konyar: 16:36

Oh, that's a good question. I think it's four or four, four 30. So you can

Sarah Frey: 16:40

just like spend your whole evening down there at the park. Four o'clock.

Chris Konyar: 16:44

Four o'clock.

Sarah Frey: 16:45

So get there early, get a good parking spot, take the kids, hang out, get them some food, hang Like, your whole night's right there. Did I hear you

Chris Konyar: 16:51

say laser tag? Laser tag's in there, yeah. That's awesome. Yes, I know. Do you have a laser tag? Some of the, uh, some of the, um, inflatables are, uh, Are like they give me so

Dan Hoffman: 17:00

much anxiety though I the first thing I think of is my kid getting his teeth knocked out Well, no that never happened But but i've also spent so much on my kids teeth that uh, the thought of them getting knocked out I'm, like nope. Nope. You're gonna wear a helmet while you're in the bounce house.

Chris Konyar: 17:16

Yeah, we got one in uh, but kids love them

Dan Hoffman: 17:19

Kids love a bounce house shoot when I was a little kid. I loved the

Chris Konyar: 17:22

bounce

Dan Hoffman: 17:23

house,

Chris Konyar: 17:23

dude The bounce house is where it's at. I know You Yeah, I'm the same way. If you have kids, you're a little like,

Dan Hoffman: 17:29

Oh,

Chris Konyar: 17:29

I don't know about all that. Once you become a grownup and you

Dan Hoffman: 17:31

realize how much, you know, dental bills cost, you're like, holy cow. Yeah. Excellent.

Sarah Frey: 17:36

So I'm the only one that owns inflatables. Is that what I'm hearing?

Dan Hoffman: 17:38

You own a bounce house.

Sarah Frey: 17:41

We owned a small bounce house and we owned an inflatable, like slide bounce situation.

Dan Hoffman: 17:46

All right. But how your kids are little, little though. They're very malleable and resilient at that point. So yeah,

Sarah Frey: 17:53

I've also just got a lot of them. It's fine

Dan Hoffman: 17:57

Put them out in the bounce house

Sarah Frey: 17:58

My wife and

Chris Konyar: 18:02

I on a side note will never forgive my relatives because when my kids were young they bought him a ball pit Worst thing ever it's just we're cleaning up these little boys.

Dan Hoffman: 18:17

Yeah

Chris Konyar: 18:17

Yeah

Dan Hoffman: 18:18

When I was a kid, I loved the ball pits at like the Burger King, Now I look at them. I'm like, that's filthy. Yeah. Yeah. It's like having a sandbox out back behind your house. Anyways, we digress. So a ton going on at the park, not just around 4th of July, but All summer. Uh, make sure you go check out the new trails, uh, stop over by Weaver park. It's, it's kind of sucked away. And if you, uh, don't live down in that neighborhood, it's, it's an easy park to forget about, but it is big. It is beautiful. Uh, and you know, our community partners, you know, the Kevin Riley foundation, the city. We've put a ton, uh, a ton of love into that park. So make sure you go check it out. If you're down that way, it's just down off of, um, you keep going on South Pleasant Valley, Bruce drive, Bruce drive, there's behind

Sarah Frey: 19:09

spikers. And if you're looking for an excuse to go out there, there's a neighborhood night on August 1st at Weaver park.

Chris Konyar: 19:16

Yeah, there we go. Which will be highlighting some of these, you know, the trail and different things like that. Awesome. But yeah, it's one of those. Yeah. You got to go check it out. It's hidden back in there, but it's, it's a nice, it's a nice park. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. All right.

Dan Hoffman: 19:29

Thank you, Chris, very much for coming in. I will see you around a ton, I'm sure over the next few weeks. Uh, and if you see Chris out and about at the park, stop and say hi. No doubt. Stop in. Thanks Chris.

Chris Konyar: 19:41

All right, folks. Well, we're back

Kit Redmer: 19:44

for another segment of the Ross review. And for this segment, we actually have a couple of visitors or joined here. Uh, Sarah and I are joined by Hannah Hicks and Karen Burrows, who are recent graduates of the city's Leadership Academy. So, before we launch into questions for these ladies on the academy and grill them on their experience, um, Just, you know, I thought I'd mention, uh, for those of you that maybe aren't familiar with the civic leadership academy, that this is a program that's very important to the city. Uh, something that, you know, is a high priority for our city, our city manager and, and city leadership. And essentially it's, it's a program that. is actually a successor program to a program that's existed in Winchester for quite a while, which is, uh, the Insight, uh, Citizen Academy. And Civic Leadership Academy, as you might guess from the name, is a course that has been designed to encourage some of our most, uh, engaged residents who are interested in learning about how the city works. As, as we like to say, you know, Quote unquote, pop the hood on city operations and really give them an inside look on how the city operates, and also encourage them, you know, to, um, to get more involved in, in everything that's happening in the city. So, so for all of you out there listening, that's, that's the purpose of the academy. But of course you're not tuning in here, just listening to me babble about it. So, um, at this time, Hannah and Karen, welcome to our conversation.

Hannah Hicks: 21:16

Thank you. Thank you so much for having us.

Kit Redmer: 21:18

Yeah. Thanks for being here.

Sarah Frey: 21:19

And we're going to start off by, I'm going to start with Hannah, because this question is kind of near and dear to me because I, I like to think I had a little bit of a hand in it, but Hannah, can you tell us kind of what you do and why you decided to apply for and join the Civic Leadership Academy? Sure.

Hannah Hicks: 21:38

So I'm a lifelong citizen of the Winchester area. Um, I work in human resources in the retail sect. Um, so I was just really excited to learn more about the city and its inner workings. And I actually first learned about, um, the Civic Leadership Academy from, um, The pickup parties that I'm sure, um, everyone knows about by now, but you hear me talk about but was super, super excited to just learn a little bit more about all of the buildings that I drive by every day. Um, you know, what goes on and kind of just the inner workings of the whole city.

Sarah Frey: 22:17

Awesome. And Karen, what about you?

Karen Burroughs: 22:19

So I found out about the Civic Leadership Academy through Mr. Hill, our Ward 2 council member. He had brought it up to me at one of the North End Citizens Association meetings and had suggested that I apply because I was interested in just finding out more about the city and our government and how everything works. And, um, it was just a really great opportunity, so I jumped on it. As far as what I do, I supervise benefit programs. So, SNAP, Medicaid, long term care Medicaid, those kind of things with social services.

Kit Redmer: 22:54

And I'm curious, have you guys, both of you, have you always been interested in how the city operates? Or is this something that's kind of been developing as, you know, you kind of progressed in your careers?

Hannah Hicks: 23:04

I know for me, I had just never really given much thought to it. Um, it just had never even really occurred to me what our local government was doing. Um, it just wasn't even on my radar.

Karen Burroughs: 23:18

Alright, yeah, for me, I was not really interested in how the government worked to begin with, and just kind of starting with the North End Citizens Association meetings and learning about everybody's participation there kind of opened the door, and it has been crazy, just a really crazy ride, just learning everything. And you kind of see people going back and forth on Facebook and you're like, that's not how it works. Welcome to our world. Yeah. I don't know how you guys control yourself. Sometimes I'll like say something like, no, you don't understand, but refrain.

Sarah Frey: 23:50

So the other thing that I want to bring up is so Hannah's a lifetime. lifelong resident. But Karen, you're new to the area, aren't you?

Karen Burroughs: 23:56

Right. Yeah. So I'm originally from Oregon. That's where I grew up. And yeah, Portland area. So I moved to Virginia in 2008 and started in Harrisonburg, then ended up in Strasburg and made my way up to Winchester, where I got a house from Habitat for Humanity. And, um, you know, this is going to be our permanent residence. So I want to make sure I'm involved in making sure that we have a good place for my kids to grow up. So it's been really exciting.

Sarah Frey: 24:25

That's fantastic. I love that we're going to hear the perspectives from like the lifelonger and the newbie. I think that's a cool dichotomy. We're

Kit Redmer: 24:33

perfectly balanced at this table. You know, two, two of us are from Winchester and two of us are relatively new.

Sarah Frey: 24:39

Yeah. Cool perspective. Yeah.

Kit Redmer: 24:41

Yeah. Yeah.

Sarah Frey: 24:42

All right, so we covered a lot of ground in the Civic Leadership Academy classes. We had nine full sessions where I think you guys learned soup to nuts everything there is to know about the city, but what would you say was the most surprising thing that you learned?

Hannah Hicks: 25:01

You want to? I was just shocked by how many experts we have working for the city just across all of these different functions. Um, I truly was blown away by the amount of knowledge that each presenter had. Um, both about their inner workings of their particular function, um, and how it plugged into the city as a whole and impacted us as residents. I think it was a really, really incredible experience to hear from so many multifaceted experts of their fields.

Karen Burroughs: 25:34

Yeah, I'll piggyback on that. The amount of experts in the fields was really impressive. I think that a new thing that I learned was that a city has a credit rating, which I guess that makes sense. And it's funny because as I've done, I'm kind of working on getting my master's right now, and I've learned that there are What plays into that credit rating and your tenure in your staff actually plays into the credit rating of the city. And so it's been really interesting kind of learning that and discovering more and then just also hearing her talk about the budget, which surprisingly was very interesting. It was. a lot of really good information about, you know, like why they would extend the amount of people or generations that would have to pay for like a school versus who would end up paying for a fire truck that would be, you know, a shorter use. So that was really cool.

Kit Redmer: 26:21

Yeah, no, those are great points, actually, that you both made. And I second you, Karen, on that, you know, the whole Um, city financing question for me personally is really interesting. And even just to hear, you know, Mary Blau, our, um, our, you know, our deputy city manager for fun and our chief financial officer. She, if you guys ever listened to her, I'm not sure if she covered it in the class, but she can explain to you how the city issues bonds and talking about your credit, the credit rating and, and just the mechanics of that are really, it's really fascinating. At least to me, you know, so that we might have like a, like a, maybe you'll set up an extra session if you guys are interested and you can come back. And for anybody listening, you know, contacts Sarah, I, and we might do that because it is really fascinating.

Sarah Frey: 27:03

And talking about experts. Mary is one of those absolute experts in her field when it comes to. Just municipal finances. It's mind blowing how much she knows.

Karen Burroughs: 27:15

And she's like excited about it and hearing her talk about it. You can like tell that she really enjoys that. She found her niche. Yeah, for sure.

Kit Redmer: 27:22

That's for sure. That's for sure. And, and if, you know, just to also comment, I thought something you guys mentioned that's really interesting too, is it kind of this sense, you know, if you don't really know what's happening inside city hall, um, you know, you don't, not don't necessarily appreciate it, And, um, I don't know, that's something I think is so important, right? Because we all take government for granted. whether it's federal, state, local level. But, um, that's really, you know, if I may just, um, you know, share a little personal experience as well, my, my former career, you know, representing our country as a diplomat and, and you see in other countries, other parts of the world where government doesn't function very well. You know, often my wife is from Mexico and, uh, you know, just a couple of blocks away from her family's house in Mexico is this building. This is, it looks like a big gym, but it's, it was never finished. Okay. Because the local government, um, stole all the money, you know, it's just out there for decades and it's like this lingering eyesore now. It's not to say government here is perfect, of course, but, um, just to kind of add what you're saying, you know, that it does function well. And, uh, as you mentioned, I mean, most of all, there are a lot of really, uh, committed staff members that are serving the public and doing the best they can. And, and so that's, in just a second, what you're saying, you know, if we get nothing out of Civic Leadership Academy, it's showing people how that, how our great, you know, colleagues here at the city are able to do their jobs and do it, you know, transparent way and efficiently. I mean, this is, it's something that's really powerful, I think.

Sarah Frey: 28:51

Yeah.

Kit Redmer: 28:52

Yeah.

Sarah Frey: 28:53

All right. So, like I said, we had nine completely different sessions on everything in the city from parks and rec to how the water gets from the river to your faucet to how we keep you safe and how we form a budget. What was your favorite session or field trip that we offered during the Academy?

Hannah Hicks: 29:16

It's a hard tie for me between we were able to take a trolley tour throughout the city and see all of the plans for development, um, between ward Plaza, uh, some affordable home housing coming in. Um, so that was a really, really cool experience. And I think probably my husband is tired of me pointing out the window every time we're driving and saying, do you know what's going in there? Um, And then my second, uh, was probably the emergency management team. They have so much knowledge under their belts. Um, they shared so many cool aspects of their jobs. We were able to do, um, an emergency management response exercise, and it was such a cool experience.

Karen Burroughs: 30:00

Um, I'll agree with Hannah. The, the zoning and planning was really interesting, so I'll pick that. Two other ones. Sorry. Um, the public works was amazing. Uh, finding out that you can get free glass, sand or pebbles from there is really awesome. And I'm trying to figure out where I'm going to put some because I really want some. And also, I really enjoyed the parks and rec just because we had the opportunity to kind of ask when we're going to get a softball team. for the parks and rec area. So that would be really great to have in the city. We did enjoy playing in the county, but it would be nice to have it a little closer. So that was a really awesome experience. And also just kind of getting the tour of the different facilities. I mean, standing on the baseball field was amazing. It was just kind of a grand view of what the players see. So that was really awesome.

Kit Redmer: 30:54

Hearing from coach Anderson too is pretty cool. He's amazing. Shenandoah university men's baseball coach.

Sarah Frey: 31:01

I will just say not to like, to kidneys own horn because I would have liked to say we had more to do with the individual planning of each session than we did, but the true passion of every department head as they were planning out these sessions for this class, I think you could just feel it in the way that they planned it and how excited they were. And then in addition to that, how excited the class was and how engaged the class was with each session. Okay.

Kit Redmer: 31:28

I totally agree, Sarah. That's actually, I think, some good reason for our residents actually consider taking Civic Leadership Academy, because unlike even the city I previously worked for in Colorado, you know, we have a long track record of delivering this, this course. Now, granted, the academy is a bit of a refresh from the old Insight Academy, so it's a little different, but we've tried to bring in some new, a few new facets of it, but. To the, to the point though, you know, we have staff members that are really passionate about what they do and they know a lot about what they do and they've also been doing it for a number of years and they've been delivering these, you know, presentations and, and our staff, our colleagues, they know what works. Right. And so I think you really see that experience too, coming through in a lot of these sessions.

Karen Burroughs: 32:10

I would say even just down to the IT guy. I mean, I was just engulfed in everything that he was saying because you could just see how passionate he, I mean, what a great hiring decision. I can only imagine how his interview went. I was just sitting there like, man, this guy is like, So into what I don't even care about it, but he had me just totally intrigued by his whole speech

Sarah Frey: 32:33

We are so lucky to have Orlando. Yes, we

Kit Redmer: 32:35

are. We'll make sure he listens to this segment.

Sarah Frey: 32:37

Yeah

Kit Redmer: 32:40

Very cool.

Sarah Frey: 32:41

All right, so it was a long nine months But what do you think your biggest? Takeaway was like what do you think you're gonna take out of this class and go and do with it with your new knowledge?

Hannah Hicks: 32:52

I think there were definitely some opportunities that were highlighted, um, as far as some needs of our fellow residents. So I'm excited to find new volunteer opportunities to dive into, um, and just get more involved with helping out my fellow residents. Oh, that's awesome.

Karen Burroughs: 33:13

Yeah, I agree. The volunteer opportunities, uh, getting involved with the snow busters, a little shameless plug there. That was a great opportunity.

Kit Redmer: 33:21

We'll always take that plug.

Sarah Frey: 33:22

If you guys are going to talk about snow busters and pickup parties, Kit and I are just going to walk out of here so elated.

Karen Burroughs: 33:26

This

Kit Redmer: 33:27

is my favorite segment already, I can tell

Karen Burroughs: 33:30

you. I loved shoveling snow. I mean, I just like shoveling snow in general. People are like, you should have your son do it, and I'm like, no, this is like for me. So that was really, it was really nice to go out and some. You know, when they were there, they would come out and thank us, so that was really amazing. But also learning just about how the city works and kind of having a better understanding, and it really makes me proud to be a Winchester City resident just because the people here, the staff, are just so dedicated to their roles and dedicated to making the city a better place. I mean, down to Dan's. comment in the article about not charging for children for the when ready. That just shows such consideration for single parents and you know, for the fact that they are providing door to door service for disabled and elderly people. This city cares about the citizens and it's awesome to see. So,

Hannah Hicks: 34:19

that's fantastic. That was really

Sarah Frey: 34:19

well said.

Hannah Hicks: 34:20

Oh, thank

Sarah Frey: 34:20

you.

Karen Burroughs: 34:21

I told you, I turn it on. Good job.

Sarah Frey: 34:24

We won't tell you how nervous Karen was, but I can tell you that she and Anna have been fabulous. I was going to say, I don't

Kit Redmer: 34:30

hear it at all.

Sarah Frey: 34:31

No.

Kit Redmer: 34:32

Well, can I also just add too, I mean, I think for anybody out there that's considering taking the course. In addition to being inspiring and interesting, I mean, it's just like, I don't know about you guys. I was amazed at the plethora. I have to use that word. I'm sorry. Just the, the, the array of, of offerings that we have at our parks and rec department, for example, you know, so it's like really interesting intellectually, but also you can learn so much about, you know, programs that you and your family can take advantage of.

Sarah Frey: 35:00

Right.

Kit Redmer: 35:01

Right. Which I thought was really cool too.

Sarah Frey: 35:04

Okay. My last big question for you guys. Who are you going to encourage to register and apply to take the class in the fall? Who do you think is kind of the ideal candidate for this?

Karen Burroughs: 35:18

Honestly, I think anyone is the ideal candidate if you're planning on running for government or if you have a complaint about how something works and you want to just get in there and actually get educated and see, you know, so you can make an educated takeaway from that instead of just, you know, voicing your opinions. I think that this is a great opportunity for that. That was my position. You know, I was really upset about the school buses. Can I say that? Yeah. Okay. Sorry. I was upset about the school buses and I was, you know, being myself and just being frustrated and my friend suggested, you know, go find out why. And so, you know, I've just gotten so much more involved and that's kind of been my Push into, you know, getting understanding the government and not just our local government, but also how the school board works and how all that operates and how those decisions are made. So really just anybody that is interested in finding out anything about what's going on in our city.

Hannah Hicks: 36:15

Absolutely. Just anybody who is curious or enjoys learning or just wants to meet fellow residents who might just be as interested as they are. Um, it's absolutely a huge, huge opportunity for the residents of our area.

Kit Redmer: 36:32

Well, and it's important to know too. I mean, that was great guys. Um, you know, after the course, it's not like everyone's just gonna, you know, just go away. And, and I mean, we're gonna stay in contact with you. Um, we value your opinion. Um, as we said, you know, the other day, you guys are our eyes and ears in the community. And we're also, you know, Sarah and I are trying to build a cadre of alumni. And so we have some folks and, and important to note too, maybe before we end the segment, Sarah, you know, we had some folks, some alumni from some of the previous inside Academy courses that also attended some of our sessions. So that's an open invitation. If you guys ever want to come back for another, another round, you know, you can do that, but it's just, it is really cool. You said about, you know, meeting some, some people that are interested in getting involved just like you guys are and just getting out there, you know, it's this really great opportunity, I think.

Sarah Frey: 37:22

Right. Absolutely. I totally agree. Alright. With that, thank you so much to Hannah and Karen for coming and talking to us today. We appreciate your perspective so much and also just thank you for caring so much about the city.

Chris Konyar: 37:36

Of course.

Sarah Frey: 37:36

I don't think Anybody gets that enough. Thank you so much because residents like you guys are what make our jobs awesome and easy well never easy, but Definitely awesome though So my last plug is gonna be if you've listened to this and you're like, oh gosh, I have to do this class If you're interested Registration is open for the 2024 2025 class. It's going to kick off in the fall. You can register by visiting www. winchesterva. gov slash academy. If you can't find it there, just visit the city's homepage. You'll find it, I promise.

Kit Redmer: 38:10

And we meet once a month.

Sarah Frey: 38:12

Once a month.

Kit Redmer: 38:13

So it's a commitment for sure. We do ask you to commit, you know, to attending all the sessions, but it's only once a month. So hopefully, you know, all of you listening, if you're interested, you can find a way to do it.

Sarah Frey: 38:24

All right. Once again, www. winchesterva. gov slash Academy. All right. Thanks so much guys.

Kit Redmer: 38:32

Thank you ladies.

Sarah Frey: 38:32

Thank you for having us for having us.

Dan Hoffman: 38:44

Thanks for joining us. Uh, don't forget about us in our time off. We'll see you again in August. Uh, until then, I hope everyone makes full use of your beautiful parks that you come on down to the walk in mall and walk around. Uh, summertime in Winchester, although it might be a little hot sometimes, uh, it is, it is quite nice, uh, make sure you go check out our parks, take WinReady, ride it around, you can get to all your parks using WinReady, you can walk up and down, you can cool off at the incredibly safe Splash Pad, uh, and, cause you know what, we have an officer that walks up and down the walking mall all the time, uh, so go enjoy. The entire city is your playground this summer. Enjoy it. We'll see ya around City Hall, and we'll be back in August.