Beginning July 1, 2020, Virginia House Bill 1250, commonly known as the Community Policing Act, will become law. It requires local law enforcement agencies to collect and report certain data pertaining to drivers to the Virginia State Police during a motor vehicle (traffic) stop.

In Prince William County, some of this data was previously collected on stops that resulted in an arrest or the issuance of a Virginia Uniformed Summons (VUS).

The Police Department will comply with this mandate, issuing written warning notices for the purpose of collecting the required data outside of an arrest or VUS being issued. This means police officers must document the demographic information of individuals on all traffic stop encounters. The data that is required to be collected during traffic stops includes;

• the race, ethnicity, age, and gender of the person stopped;
• the reason for the stop;
• the location of the stop;
• whether a warning, written citation, or summons was issued or whether any persons were arrested;
• if a warning, written citation, or summons was issued or an arrest was made, the warning provided, violation charged, or crime charged; and
• whether the vehicle or any person was searched.
As the Police Department complies with this new mandate, we want our community to be aware that additional questioning by our officers may occur during these stops so our agency can collect the required data.

A written warning notice is also new for our Department. These notices are considered only a warning of an infraction and are not meant to serve as a citation of a violation requiring a court appearance or payment of a fine. No action by the recipient will be needed following the issuance of a warning notice by an officer.

The Department remains committed to ensuring all community members are treated fairly and impartially. This new law seeks to “prohibit law-enforcement officers from engaging in bias-based profiling in the performance of their official duties.” The Police Department supports this effort and will provide all required data to ensure this does not occur in our community.

— Prince William police

Small business owners in Prince William County will have a second chance at a grant to help them recover from the coronavirus pandemic.

The Board of County Supervisors authorized the second round of grants for small businesses, this time with different eligibility requirements. Last month, the county allocated $5 million from its federal CARES Act grant signed by President Donald Trump to use as small business relief.

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A major healthcare provider in Prince William County and Manassas will resume regular procedures today.

Novant Health / UVA Health System Prince William Medical Center in Manassas and Haymarket Medical Center in Haymarket tells us:

Novant Health UVA Health System, an integrated network of physician clinics, outpatient services and medical centers in northern and central Virginia, is pleased to announce that it is currently offering all services that were paused in mid-March due to COVID-19.

Services now available include non-time sensitive and non-emergency surgeries and procedures, pediatric well checks, routine care office visits and care for both chronic diseases and acute issues. These are in addition to the medically necessary, time-sensitive procedures – and imaging, labs and other appointments to support them – that resumed on May 11.

“At the advice of our physicians, and on behalf of our patients who have delayed care, we have thoughtfully decided to resume these services,” said Al Pilong, chief executive officer, Novant Health UVA Health System. “We continue to see promising declines in the number of COVID-19 cases in our health districts, and our team stands ready to care for the community.”

While virtual care options are still available at NovantHealthUVA.org/virtual, Novant Health UVA Health System has added heightened safety measures for in-person visits, including:

–Temperature screenings for everyone entering the health system’s facilities
–Universal masking
–Enhanced cleaning processes
–Increased resources to infection prevention teams
–Preadmission testing for procedures and surgeries, which includes testing for COVID-19
–Lowering the number of patients allowed in clinics at one time
–Reducing the use of waiting rooms
–Limiting visitors in facilities

“As we reintroduce services and begin to find a new normal after COVID-19, our utmost priority remains the safety of our team members and our patients,” Pilong said. “We look forward to continuing to bring the best of health to our communities – and the quality care they’ve come to expect from us – now that it is safe to do so for all services across our entire health system.”

Urgent patient needs will continue to be prioritized. The Novant Health UVA Health System team will be contacting patients directly to reschedule services that were previously delayed. Patients with questions should contact their provider.

They left the area. Now they’re back.

Police are now working to close a portion of U.S. Route 29 in Gainesville as protestors are filing down an exit ramp from Linton Hall Road and walking onto the six-lane thoroughfare that connects Interstate 66 and Charlottesville 81 miles to the south.

*UPDATE: Demonstrators are back in the roadway on Linton Hall Rd in the area of Virginia Gateway. Traffic being diverted. Use caution and follow police direction. https://t.co/1Q6nvlqBoU

— Prince William County Police (@PWCPolice) June 2, 2020

Those protestors are now headed toward Interstate 66. Virginia State Police have been called to the scene to assist Prince William police.

Prince William police have spent much of the afternoon escorting what it described as a peaceful protest that centered around Gainesville, and the intersection of Linton Hall Road and Route 29. The area is surrounded by homes and businesses, including the Virignia Gateway shopping center and a Regal Cinema.

Earlier, police were called to the cinema for a report of a fight between two rival groups, according to initial reports.

For the first time, the protests over the past four days have took place in the Virignia suburbs of Prince William County, located just over 30 miles from the urban core of Washington, D.C.

Today marked the third consecutive day of protests here in the 13th District.
It was powerful to join what seemed like 1,000 people who peacefully gathered to demand justice for the Black community and march together in solidarity along Linton Hall Road in Gainesville. https://t.co/ySVa6w2A4b

— Danica Roem (@pwcdanica) June 2, 2020

Very powerful & peaceful protest in Gainesville Virginia ???? pic.twitter.com/Lmxx1RjwPm

— Yellow Bridge News (@stillgot6) June 2, 2020

More as we have it.

10 p.m.

Protestors marched from Linton Hall Road on U.S. Route 29 north to Interstate 66, turned around, and marched back to Linton Hall Road.

*UPDATE: Crowd now back at Lee Hwy and Linton Hall Rd. Traffic remains diverted. https://t.co/fxXkt984ZT

— Prince William County Police (@PWCPolice) June 2, 2020

11 p.m.

U.S. Route 29 in Gainesville has reopened.

*UPDATE: Roadway is clear and has reopened. https://t.co/x5XUJwS7vd

— Prince William County Police (@PWCPolice) June 2, 2020

Construction on the Hilton Hotel in the town of Haymarket has been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The hotel was originally expected to open in early 2021. 

During their meeting on Tuesday, May 26, the town council discussed the addition of a new item to their Fiscal Year 2021 budget. This item is a Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) which would have been paid on temporary lodging at hotels. 

However, due to the delayed construction of what would be the town’s only hotel, the TOT may need to be adjusted or removed from the town’s budget for FY21. 

This delay also delays Haymarket’s plan to launch a tourism advertising campaign, which would have been funded in part from the TOT. Business Manager Chris Coon explained how the coronavirus will affect these budget items:

“These funds would not be spent until there is revenue received, thus we would work on multiple options and then have to decide when the revenue was received. I know that the hotel has been delayed and pending updates, those items may need to be adjusted or removed from our Fiscal Year 2020-2021 budget,” Coon said.

Residential Taxes

Haymarket residents are expected to see lower residential tax bills for FY21. 

The tax rate dropped from $1.361 per $100 assessed value to $1.261 per $100 assessed value. The average residential tax bill should be reduced by $2.26 based on these numbers, coming out to $4877.82.

Coon noted that assessments from Prince William County would ultimately dictate how each property is affected, however.

Of the FY21’s $2 million budget, residents can also look forward to seeing $80,000 dedicated to town events and $100,000 dedicated to community development.

Haymarket is welcoming five non-incumbent candidates to their town council after the Tuesday, May 19, election, including Kenneth Luersen who will be mayor.

Luersen beat out incumbent David Leake by 13 points. Leake has served as mayor since 2012.

Luersen ran against Leake in 2018 as well but failed to unseat him as Haymarket’s mayor in that election.

In addition to the mayor’s seat, there were six positions open on the town council and ten candidates competing for them. Here’s who won:

• Tracy Lynn Pater
• R. Marchant Schneider
• Joe Pasanello
• Robert Weir
• Chris Morris (Incumbent)
• Steven Shannon (Incumbent)

The new councilmembers will take their seats on July 1.

The Novant Health UVA Health System will resume medically necessary, time-sensitive procedures.

Prince William Medical Center and Haymarket Medical Center will be rescheduling patients with postponed appointments and procedures. In addition, they will also provide imaging, labs, and other appointments to support these procedures.

“We are not performing elective surgeries at this time, as we’re still seeing COVID-19 numbers grow in our health district,” said Stephen Smith, MD, president, and chief operating officer of Prince William Medical Center and Haymarket Medical Center. 

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam said that a 14-day decline in local Coronavirus cases would be required to perform elective procedures.

Virtual care options will continue as well and the system has encouraged people to use it as much as possible.

They have also added new safety measures. These include patient and team member temperature screenings, universal masking, enhanced cleaning processes, and increased resources to infection prevention teams.

The health system has also lowered the amount of patients in clinics at one time and reduced the number of waiting rooms. Previous restrictions will remain in place.

“We’ve introduced these protocols – including screening and testing patients prior to procedures – to limit exposure to respiratory illnesses in our acute care facilities,” said Smith.

Both hospitals, in accordance with CDC guidance, require that all patients wear a mask or face covering. Patients without a mask will be provided one upon entering the facilities.

The system has opened a new Respiratory Assessment Center inside Novant Health UVA Health System Urgent Care & Occupational Medicine. It is currently only for Novant Health UVA Health System Medical Group patients and Bristow walk-in patients experiencing moderate respiratory symptoms.

“The Respiratory Assessment Center will offer a full range of respiratory assessment services, including chest x-rays,” said Jo Westerfield, vice president of Novant Health UVA Health System Physician Network Services.

It is located at 10322 Bristow Center Drive in Bristow, Virginia. 

More information on their response to the Coronavirus outbreak can be found on their website at NovantHealthUVA.org/coronavirus.

A message board that reads “Vote #TeamHaymarket” has stirring up debate about what type of campaign signs are allowed in the town.

Haymarket resident Rebecca Smith originally posted a photo of the message board to Facebook, alleging the sign’s presence at the corner of Washington and Jefferson streets is a violation of Haymarket Town Ordinance 58-15.5(h) which prohibits electronic message boards.

Since then, the post has been shared several others, all with various captions.

Haymarket Mayor David Leake is one of the members of “Team Haymarket,” and he’s running for reelection on May 19 against challenger Kenneth Luersen. When asked about the sign, Leake stated that Virginia Code 15.2-109, which prohibits localities from banning political signs on private property, overruled the town ordinance.

Mayor Leake’s argument was that since the message board is on private property and displays a political sign, it does not violate any laws.

However, that section of Virginia Code also states that political signs posted on private property still must be in compliance with local zoning restrictions applicable to nonpolitical signs.

So, where does that leave this message board?

The Town Business Manager, Chris Coon, was able to clarify the town ordinance under debate:

“Electronic message board is defined in 58-1.5 as: Any sign that uses changing lights to form a sign message or messages wherein the sequence of messages and the rate of change is electronically programmed and can be modified by electronic processes, Coon told Potomac Local News. “I just reviewed the message board and there are not changing lights and thus it does not meet the Town Code definition of Electronic Message Board and does not violate 58-15.5 (h).”

Coon also stated that the town does not handle political signs the same way as normal signs.

“As you know Political Signs are only utilized very close to elections and they are a core 1st Amendment issue. If there is no threats to Public Health, Safety, or Well Fair the Town would not send a Zoning Violation.”

The other member of “Team Haymarket” is Connor Leake, the mayor’s son, who is seeking a council seat.

There is one mayoral seat up for grabs and five town council seats. A total of 12 candidates are running in the election.

Mayor

• David M Leake (Incumbent)
• Kenneth M. Luersen

Member Town Council – Haymarket

• Chris S. Morris (Incumbent)
• Steven R. Shannon (Incumbent)
• Connor W. Leake (Incumbent)
• Thomas C. Utz
• Robert T. Day (Incumbent)
• Madhusudan Panthi (Incumbent)
• Tracy Lynn Pater
• R. Marchant Schneider
• Joe R. Pasanello
• Robert B. “Bob” Weir

She’s gone again.

During the Town Council meeting on Monday, May 4, Susan Edwards sent an email to the Council resigning from her position, just as she did in 2010.

Edwards began her Town Council career in 2008 only to resign in 2010 for reasons unannounced.

In 2016, she was on the council again before her most recent term which began in 2018 and has now once again ended abruptly. 

In her resignation email, Edwards cites a public, personal attack from a longtime resident as her reason for leaving. She also blames her fellow councilmembers, stating that none of them stood up for her during this attack.

“Not once did any of you stand up for me when a certain long time resident publicly attacked me personally. Today with the same citizens rant filled letter in support of you all for re-election I have reached my limit,” Edwards says in her email.

When Mayor David Leake was asked about Edwards’ leaving, he said:

“I felt as though her resignation was out of the blue. Politicians are constantly receiving comments and opinions from citizens on how they think or feel their jobs should be performed. Upholding a political position can be a very tasking job knowing you cannot please everyone.”

Now that Edwards has resigned, the Council is moving moved to appoint councilmember Chris Morris to fill the position of Vice Mayor on Monday, May 4 during their regular meeting 11. The vacant seat will be filled by a Council-appointed town resident.

Edwards couldn’t be reached for comment.