Leesburg staff schedules master-plan kickoff; council agrees to move September meeting to Sept. 24 for focus session

Leesburg staff told the council that the town's master-plan team is starting branding and stakeholder outreach work and requested the council shift its September meeting date so the consultants can use the meeting as a stakeholder focus session. Council members agreed to move the September meeting to Wednesday, Sept. 24, beginning at 6 p.m., to accommodate an extended session with the master-plan team.

Why it matters: The master plan will guide town branding, outreach and public-space decisions and the council's schedule change makes room for early stakeholder engagement and for council members to approve logos and web-materials before broader public outreach.

Staff described the consultant's current work as building the branding theme (described in the meeting as "small town charm, big ideas") and preparing an outreach schedule that will start with invited stakeholder focus groups and proceed to pop-ups and public focus groups. Staff asked council members to review the existing posted baseline plan ahead of the next meeting; staff said the current plan is posted online and will be shared by link.

Council members voted informally at the meeting to change the September meeting date and time to Sept. 24 at 6 p.m. (no formal roll-call tally was recorded in the transcript). The council agreed that the first 15 minutes of the Sept. 24 meeting would cover routine approval of agenda items and the remainder would be used for the consultant-led focus session.

Ending: Staff will circulate the link to the existing master-plan baseline and the consultant's outreach schedule for council review in advance of the Sept. 24 meeting.