City Council Meeting

Catherine ReadAll right. I'm looking for my Fairfax City Restaurant Week Committee. Yes,

Catherine Readmulti-generational local favorites. And whereas Fairfax City, Virginia has solidified its place as a regional dining destination located at the very epicenter of northern Virginia with a global diversity of food and innovative and exciting approaches to the dining experience. And whereas a collaboration between the Fairfax City Economic Development, the Central Fairfax Chamber of Commerce, and the Old Town Fairfax Business Association has developed a robust program to promote Fairfax City Restaurant Week as a highly anticipated biannual event featuring new restaurants and many established dining destinations. And whereas the businesses participating in Fairfax City Restaurant Week play an essential role in supporting the city's financial health

by collecting and contributing to the city's meals tax revenue, which provides funding for critical public services all residents and visitors. And whereas the 2026 Winter Fairfax City Restaurant Week features 24 of the finest restaurants throughout the city, all offering set price lunches, dinners, two for $10 options, and more, along with programming to entice our residents, visitors, George Mason University and Northern Virginia Community College students, and the business community to try something new and to bring along family and friends. Now therefore I, Catherine S. Reed, Mayor of the City of Fairfax, do hereby proclaim February 27 through March 8, 2026 as Winter Fairfax City Restaurant Week and call upon everyone to visit fairfaxcityrestaurantweek.com

to learn about this exciting economic development initiative that supports our small and independent restaurant community and to visit our partner restaurants during Restaurant Week and beyond to show that support for our culinary community while finding a new favorite meal in Fairfax City along the way. And with that, I will turn it over to Ms. Tara Borway. Thank you.

Tara BorwaystaffHello, everybody. Joking on the way up here, I said we should just make it restaurant year. It does seem like we are doing these proclamations every few months. but I will say that no matter how often it feels that these come around people are super excited every time and that is you know in part mostly part I would say due to our amazing restaurants and the buzz that is generated by our residents and attracting visitors which is one of the goals of the restaurant week so we have our amazing partners here the Central Fair Chamber of Commerce and the Old Town Fairfax Business Association, which really help make this event possible. Coordinating with restaurants isn't the easiest. Because they're busy people and they're, you know,

Jennifer Rosethere's not a microphone that I can't step in front of Jennifer Rose Central Fairfax Chamber and what I love the most about our restaurant scene in the city of Fairfax and Tina hit it nail on the head they're independently owned they're they're small mom-and-pop businesses they're not the big box restaurants that participate in our restaurant week and this horrible weather has not treated our restaurants kindly so get on out there and eat your way around the world you can do that in the city of Fairfax from Azerbaijani food yes I said Azerbaijani food to Vietnamese and everything in between. There is something for you to explore in the city of Fairfax. So please eat with us this year.

Catherine ReadAnd I would just say that there are some things that are on the Restaurant Week menu that only appear on the Restaurant Week menu. I could say something about the lobster BLT, which I always have at least twice. Well done. Well done. All right. So at this time, I'm going to recognize Mr. Dan Alexander, our city manager, to present the proposed FY27 budget. Traditionally, this is an opportunity for all of us to be presented with the budget. And traditionally, we do not comment or have debate on the budget at this time because the budget adoption will happen on May 5th, and there will be plenty of work sessions and opportunities in the coming months for us here on the dais and for the public to address the budget that is presented here tonight.

Stacey Hardy-ChandlerI know I bring them up all the time, but the village and the city is continuing to do fantastic work. I'm so honored to be the liaison for them. They are embarking on volunteer training using the grant that they received. They have continued their lecture series on various aging topics and I encourage people to attend those. They're up for their expo in April. I believe it's April 10th. So please mark your calendars. Lots of resources. If you are not an older adult, you know an older adult. And if you're lucky, you're going to be an older adult. So it's all relevant information. The other thing I want to highlight is upcoming restaurant week, any excuse to eat. And we do have some wonderful places. As I mentioned, I now encourage meetings at Fairfax City restaurants and various