[0:11] All right, good evening and welcome to tonight's council meeting for the City of Coventain, March 3rd,

[0:16] 2026. This meeting is hereby called the order. I need a roll call.

[0:21] Councilman Callahan? Yeah.

[0:23] Councilman Bushnell? Yeah.

[0:24] Councilman Roberts? Yeah.

[0:25] Councilman Inning? Yeah.

[0:27] Councilman Barrell? Yeah.

[0:28] Councilman Bosford? Councilman Barrett? Yeah. Here.

[0:31] All right, if you can rise for a moment of silence, which will be followed by the pledge of allegiance,

[0:39] And with our city attorney, Rod Rodriguez, please lead us in the pledge of allegiance.

[0:57] We

[1:02] had on the agenda this evening in a mirror who asked to be heard, Patrick Brooks, with Brooks Bikesound.

[1:08] I saw on Facebook that he's in Hawaii, so I do not think he is going to be here today.

[1:15] We will move on to the consent calendar.

[1:17] We have regular meeting minutes of February 3rd, 2026.

[1:22] We had special meeting minutes of February 18th, and special meeting minutes of February 24th.

[1:28] We certainly had a busy month for the Covenant City Council.

[1:32] Under introduction of item number 2026-0301, we have an ordinance of the

[1:38] City of Covenant to amend the 2026 operating and capital budget.

[1:43] I need a motion to accept the consent calendar.

[1:45] Motion to accept?

[1:46] Is there a second?

[1:47] Second.

[1:48] Roe call.

[1:51] Councilman Bush now.

[1:52] Yes.

[1:52] Councilman Roberts.

[1:54] Yes.

[1:54] Councilman Inman.

[1:55] Yes.

[1:55] Councilman Barrell.

[1:58] Councilman Calhant.

[1:59] Yes.

[2:00] Regular agenda unfun unfinished business items to be voted on.

[2:04] Number one is public hearing and action on item number 2026-02-01.

[2:11] It is an ordinance of the city of Covent and amending the following provisions of the Covent and Code of Ordnance.

[2:17] Chapter 42, Environmental Article 1, and General Section 42-2, Noise Control.

[2:24] I am the sponsor of this item, and it is simply because, and we have Kevin Collins here today,

[2:32] our deputy chief, that this is not an overhaul of the ordinance.

[2:38] We're going to take a look at all of our ordinances in due time.

[2:42] We have desire line that is assisting us and bringing us into what I refer to as the 21st century.

[2:48] But this one here is because we want to give the Covenant Police Department the tools,

[2:55] because some of the unique circumstances, this is old language that needs to be tweaked.

[3:00] and that language, the public safety committee, of which I am chairman, met with the police department,

[3:07] and we crafted and worked with the administration to tweak it so that it can be utilized correctly.

[3:13] Is that a fair assessment? And so those of...

[3:17] Can I make a point? Yes, ma'am.

[3:19] So we got two ordinances related to this topic,

[3:23] and so I just want to find out why the first one is the noise control on this,

[3:27] the second one is disturbing the piece so they kind of go hand in hand.

[3:30] And it's a very good point because that would be what I just said will also refer to the next one.

[3:35] This would go with disturbing the piece and we've had so that it's a little clearer for those that are listening.

[3:42] Some instances where our older ordinances have not allowed the police department to perhaps write citations and enforce the way that they need to.

[3:54] It is not wholesale changes again, but we did make the noise ordinance be in conjunction with the disturbing of the peace and vice versa.

[4:05] So, if there are any public comments, I will hear them now.

[4:10] Come forward and give us your name and address, please.

[4:22] My name is Robin Schulberg, I live at 1852, Louisiana, Tongue Road, which is unincorporated, coming to me.

[4:30] I had a couple of problems with the disturbing the peace ordinance.

[4:36] The one was the question of whistles are included as unreasonably disturbing or alarm the public.

[4:46] I hate to interrupt, but we're going to take that one up next.

[4:51] You don't have to go far. You don't have to go far. It's common.

[4:55] But do you have anything on the noise so that gives the police department an ample warning to discuss whistles when we come back?

[5:07] Yes.

[5:08] So what we did with this ordinance is we took out a lot of the specificity in terms of the types of noises and all the decibel readings.

[5:16] And we basically revised it to lean on disturbing the peace.

[5:20] So if you were just going about your life, living in your life, you have a loud neighbor

[5:24] or you hear loud noise that's disturbing, this would point then to the next ordinance that is up for adoption.

[5:34] We kept construction noise in here to make sure that if we have construction that's been permitted or unpermitted,

[5:40] we could handle that through code enforcement and through permits because that's going to be handled a little bit differently than a disturbing the peace case.

[5:46] All right. Any further public comment on the proposed noise ordnance revision?

[5:59] I do have a quick comment. I think that both of these were, well, can I say this

[6:06] overdue to be looked at just simply because I know within the district that I represent.

[6:12] There were a number of instances where the police were, well, for lack of a better way of saying it,

[6:19] not able to perform their functions to the degree that they would love like to.

[6:24] So this allows for them to have that pathway going forward.

[6:28] And I think it's important for our neighbors that we live around to have that piece of mind

[6:34] that they know that they can contact our police department.

[6:37] They can come out, go through an investigation, well, assess the circumstances.

[6:41] us, go through an investigation and then follow up upon that investigation if need be.

[6:46] So, that's it.

[6:48] I think a nice clean way to say it is that the holder ordinance hampered the ability

[6:53] to do their job in a timely fashion, and I think that Kudos to the Police Department for

[7:01] bringing the entire tension.

[7:03] And like I said, we have a public safety committee meeting, the public doesn't know how

[7:08] many meetings go into all these, but it's a lot.

[7:12] And we didn't want to willy-nilly change the noise ordinance or disturbing the peace.

[7:17] This is only one singular issue about some of this older language that allows the police

[7:22] department to effectively do their job.

[7:25] And I will tell the public that we are going to address, we are going to address.

[7:30] More addressing the entire code of ordinances, and I had no doubt we will come back and look at the noise ordinance, and with all the special interest that are involved in it.

[7:44] So with that, if there are no more comments, I need a motion to close the public hearing.

[7:50] Motion to close. Is there a second? I'll make a motion to adopt. Is there a second?

[7:55] Second, Roe Call.

[7:58] Councillor Roberts.

[7:59] Yes.

[7:59] Councillor Allen.

[8:00] Yes.

[8:01] Councillor Allen.

[8:01] Yes.

[8:02] Councillor Allen.

[8:03] Yes.

[8:03] Councillor Allen.

[8:05] Yes.

[8:07] Moving on to public hearing and action on item number 2026-0202-0202.

[8:13] An ordinance of the city of Coventon amending the following provisions of the Coventon

[8:17] Code of Ordnance, chapter 66, specifically offenses against public morals.

[8:23] Section 66-106. It's the disturbing the piece ordinance. Um, you've heard the comments that I have made, and if you'd like to come up, we would be interested in hearing which you have to say.

[8:38] Robin Schoberg, 1522, Louisiana, Tongue Road, Unincorporated Covington, including whistles

[8:47] in the act that, on reasonably disturbs Iran, alarms the public.

[8:54] This is not a good time to include it, because it's a viewpoint discrimination.

[9:00] It's a viewpoint discrimination.

[9:03] I'm sure people are aware that ICE and border patrol have been in our community,

[9:09] And the people come out and film them and blow whistles of the other people in the neighborhood,

[9:18] know that ISIS there.

[9:21] And including this makes it look like you're giving police a reason to arrest those people.

[9:28] So that's all I have to say about that.

[9:31] And viewpoint discrimination is a pretty serious thing.

[9:35] The other comment I had maybe this should be deferred to when you go over all the audiences.

[9:42] The language about addressing an offensive, decisive, derusive or annoying words.

[9:51] I mean, I'm sure I do that all the time to people.

[9:54] It's all language.

[9:56] I know it's been a firm with the intent requirement,

[9:59] but I think it's overall under the first amendment.

[10:03] And there have been challenge, well, I don't know if there have been challenges, because that

[10:07] of the statute doesn't lend itself to go into the Supreme Court.

[10:13] But I think that is overboard under the, under the first amendment that takes common occurrence.

[10:22] So what you could come up to me and say, I think you're a terrible lawyer, and their intent

[10:27] is to make me feel bad and ascend to me.

[10:30] Now, because that makes them disturbed, is that disturbing with peace and all.

[10:35] So I'd suggest taking words out of this and changing this to threats.

[10:40] And I guess that's something for later.

[10:42] And I would encourage you to participate when we get to that section,

[10:47] when we overhaul the ordinance,

[10:50] we're simply at this point giving the police department.

[10:54] All of your examples are not disturbing the peace.

[10:59] they would be discretionary. We can't take the best. The best item the police department

[11:05] has is the discretion, but when they find our ordinances so out of date that they can't

[11:12] write simple tickets and citations, I think the public safety demands that we give them

[11:18] the tools to do that. Anything in everything is subject to challenge, that's why they build

[11:25] the courthouses. And at the end of the day, I appreciate your comments. And we have Deputy Chief

[11:32] Collins here. If you would like to hear from him, I'm sure he would enjoy coming up to

[11:39] the podium. But at the end of the day, he might be able to give you some of that historical

[11:44] perspective of why we're doing what we're doing.

[11:52] Good afternoon, Deputy Chief Kevin Collins. I'm really going to need historical respect. But I

[11:57] I think you've kind of took the words out of my mouth where the things that you mentioned are kind of discretionary.

[12:02] I don't think any of our officers would immediately write a citation on a rest of one for just, I guess, talking bad about somebody like that.

[12:14] I think the discretion part is a big assist.

[12:20] This is there for us and some of those things just like the start of the piece with the noise ordinance.

[12:26] Once we saw that there was an issue, we went to the council and talked to the mayor and we tried to address it accordingly.

[12:32] So I think that's the same process.

[12:34] It's going to happen with some of these issues that you brought up as well.

[12:37] As we brought in and update some of the city orders.

[12:42] And then as the citation is written based on the circumstances of what that officer is going

[12:50] it observes and sees with criteria that actually have real criteria keep in mind that

[12:58] that's what the mayor's court in 22nd JDC is for.

[13:01] The writing that take it means nothing more than they have been accused of so doing and

[13:05] have their day in court, so but there are instances where this police department has failed to

[13:12] issue citations based upon some old ordinances, and that's not acceptable for public safety.

[13:20] Right. And one last thing before I said, we also take into consideration the mortality of

[13:24] the circumstances, so it's not just one point. It'll be everything that we observe, and we allow

[13:29] office of discretion to make the right decision. Thank you. Thank you.

[13:35] Sure.

[13:40] It's too much to office of discretion is not a good thing when there's a question of

[13:46] constitution. That's why we're doing the exact body opposite.

[13:52] Thank you.

[13:53] But please be involved in the process. Is there any other public comment?

[13:58] Hearing none, is there any further counsel comment?

[14:01] All right, I need a motion to close the public hearing.

[14:06] I need a second.

[14:09] Is there a motion to adopt?

[14:12] And I'll need another second.

[14:15] Roll call, please.

[14:17] Councilman Inman.

[14:18] Councilman Barrel.

[14:20] Yes.

[14:20] Councilman Barret.

[14:21] Yes.

[14:21] Councilman Callahan.

[14:23] Yes.

[14:23] Councilman Robert.

[14:24] Yes.

[14:25] Council Member Robert.

[14:28] Moving on to public hearing and action on item number 2026-0202-0303, which is an ordinance

[14:34] of the city of Coventon to amend the 2026 operating and capital budget Councilman

[14:39] Barrow.

[14:40] Thank you.

[14:41] So as part of our 2026 budget process, we allocated $200,000 for a Tyler Street corridor

[14:47] a traffic study and after further conversation with some of the professionals the city

[14:53] deals with, they said, you may have an opportunity to expand

[14:56] that study a little bit further out and incorporate some of the feeder streets.

[15:00] And sort of bypassed streets. And so this ordinance is going to allocate an additional $100,000 to that study coming from the GMA fund, which is the fund that's funded by the sales tax sharing with the parish.

[15:15] And this could lead to some other grant opportunities for some of those feeder roads and roads along the corridor. And I'll open it up to the administration if they have any further comments.

[15:25] You explained that very well and just so you know we put out an RFQ for that study and the responses came in

[15:32] I believe today and so we'll be evaluating those proposals shortly.

[15:39] All right, is there any public comment? Any further counsel comment?

[15:46] I would point out during some of the, well, I don't know how to characterize it.

[15:53] We've had some meetings where people have been concerned about traffic.

[15:57] obviously we need to do this obviously I'm music to my years to talk about opening up

[16:02] the possibility of grants I think we're definitely can use them so I need a motion

[16:10] to close the public hearing motion to close I need a second motion to adopt I will

[16:16] make and is there a second second roll call please Councilmember Rao yes

[16:23] Yes.

[16:24] Yes.

[16:24] Councilman Callahan.

[16:25] Yes.

[16:25] Councilman Bushnell.

[16:27] Councilman Robert.

[16:28] Yes.

[16:30] Public hearing and action on item number 2026-02-04.

[16:36] It is an ordinance of the city of Covenant to amend the 2026 operating in capital budget again.

[16:41] Councilman Burrell.

[16:43] Thank you.

[16:43] So, as the last item address, one of our concerns around traffic, this item addresses another one of our concerns in the downtown area regarding parking.

[16:52] There are two lots that the city has been using that has been open to the public for parking

[16:59] and those are now on the market for sale and the city does not want to lose those.

[17:04] I think it's about 32 to 35 spaces combined between the two lots.

[17:10] So this would be an amendment to the capital budget for 2026 and increase of $825,000 to potentially purchase those two lots

[17:18] to keep them in the circulation of parking within the downtown area.

[17:22] And again, administration, any further comments?

[17:26] My only comment would be that keeping mind.

[17:30] It's the administration's policy in the previous fiscal year.

[17:34] If we don't use funds for a particular project or we come in under budget, we don't necessarily

[17:40] just ship those funds off to something else.

[17:43] We do a rollback and they go back up to what we refer to as the mothership.

[17:47] Interestingly, in the last month or so, we have sent around $800,000 back to the

[17:55] mothership.

[17:56] So it's not like we're having to deplete our discretionary spending to do this.

[18:00] It's actually the money that we have saved over the past year going back into the account,

[18:05] and then we're now reallocating that, as you perfectly point it out, to lose those parking

[18:11] spaces would be a negative pride downtown.

[18:15] certainly an important priority is there any public comment. Hearing none is there any further

[18:21] council comment.

[18:25] I'll make a motion to close the public hearing is there a second. I need a

[18:29] motion to adopt. I need a second. Second. Roll call please.

[18:35] Councillor Barrett. Yes. Councilman Callahan. Yes. Councilman Bushnell. Yes.

[18:40] Councilman Roberts. Yes. Councilman Inman. Yes. Councilman Barrell. Yes. All right. Moving on

[18:46] to public hearing and action on item number 2026-02-05. It is an ordinance of the city of

[18:54] Coventon authorized in the mayor to purchase on behalf of the city of Coventon,

[18:57] Lot 4, Square 22 of the Division of St. John. Councilman Bush now.

[19:03] Yes, thank you, Governor Greg. This is the properties one of the properties we just spoke about.

[19:07] It's on the corner of Florida and Plaza. The property is currently been leased for many years

[19:13] And as he utilized, as we speak, is for public parking.

[19:19] Any further administration comment?

[19:23] Hearing none?

[19:27] Any public comment?

[19:30] We're going to have a lot of discussion about parking because

[19:34] Coventains of Destination, and it's a good problem to have.

[19:38] But I do want the public to recognize and understand that this is the third.

[19:42] The third time we're discussing parking, and there's another one right after this.

[19:47] So this administration and council is being proactive and I'm in favor of it. Any other council comment?

[19:54] The only thing that I would add is that worst case scenario, this is an investment by the city in terms of property that is currently being used for parking.

[20:04] Well, someone asks, well, what if we build a garage down the road? Well, then that property can be result, and we can recoup that money.

[20:11] So it's not a one-off situation.

[20:14] This is something that, how can I say this,

[20:17] it actually paid dividends over time

[20:20] if the opportunity presents itself down the road.

[20:23] That's it.

[20:24] And I would like to point out in case somebody asks

[20:26] because I've been asked at least three times.

[20:29] We're not gonna overpay for the property.

[20:31] It is illegal to overpay for the property.

[20:33] It is going to have an appraisal.

[20:35] And we are only doing what

[20:39] proper elected officials who do we're trying to address the parking issues and we're

[20:44] gobbling up some pretty dog on good property in the process. So I need a motion to

[20:49] close the public hearing. Motion to close. I need a second. Is there a motion to

[20:54] a down? Motion to adopt? Is there a second? Roll call please.

[20:59] Councilman Callahan. Councilman Bushnell. Yes. Councilman Roberts. Yes.

[21:06] Councilman

[21:06] Yes. All right, public hearing and action on item number 2026-002-06 as promised. It is an

[21:16] ordinance of the city of Covington authorized in the mayor to purchase on behalf of the city

[21:20] of Covington. Lot 15 square 14 and this is in the division of St. John, Councilman Barrow.

[21:27] Thank you. Yeah, very similar to the last item. This particular piece of property. I've actually

[21:32] park there many times. Frankly in the past, it was public parking, didn't realize we were

[21:38] just using it as public parking. So the municipal address is 812, Rutland Street,

[21:43] it's between Lee Lane and Florida. So right and really the heart of commerce over there.

[21:48] And it's about depending on how the people are parking, it's a gravel lot, so there's

[21:51] not lines but between 21 and 24 cars. So it's imperative that we keep that in the

[22:02] any public comment or further council comment or administration comment.

[22:06] Yeah,

[22:09] the purchase of the lots that we're talking about.

[22:13] I think the ordinance number is incorrect.

[22:16] So on this one, that's a production says 2026-07 when in fact it's actually

[22:26] 0-02-02.

[22:28] I don't have a no-7.

[22:42] I think what happened is instead of putting an ordinance number at the top of the document, it's a resolution number. That's what's happened.

[22:54] What

[23:03] if we let things wear 14?

[23:10] Did we?

[23:14] Twenty-two and six, but do we have six?

[23:18] Yes, and this is one of those.

[23:20] We also have just 20.

[23:22] What's look at it like that?

[23:29] What's that?

[23:36] What

[23:45] is it?

[23:46] Is it stupid?

[23:46] That what it used to just out of it?

[23:48] No.

[23:50] All of that might be.

[23:51] All right.

[24:06] Um, type the ordinance city of Coven and State of Louisiana has ordinance number 2026-08.

[24:12] Um, we will change that.

[24:18] So as part of the vote, I want the vote to be either for against and the vote will also be to amend the actual first page with the number.

[24:28] I think that's fair.

[24:29] I think that's a good way to do it.

[24:31] So, with that being said, is there a motion to close the public hearing from a second, a motion to adopt, and second, and a role call?

[24:45] Councilman Bushnell?

[24:46] Yes.

[24:46] Councilman Roberts?

[24:47] Yes.

[24:47] Councilman Inman?

[24:48] Yes.

[24:49] Councilman Barrell?

[24:51] Councilman Kalahan?

[24:52] Yes.

[24:54] All right.

[24:54] and Council Clerk in CAO will change the first and Council President and Mayor will sign the actual coordinates.

[25:07] All right under new business items to be voted on resolution number 2026-03.

[25:12] This is a resolution of the Covenant City Council confirming the capital outlay and in

[25:17] Comprehend to Rollovers from the 2025 budget to the 2026 budget.

[25:22] Councilman Roberts.

[25:23] Yes, sir.

[25:23] Thank you.

[25:24] Well, one before I get into this, it's a good reminder of how much work goes into our budget.

[25:29] So, Kudos to all the administrative and everyone that does the work, because there

[25:34] is a lot in here.

[25:36] So it's exactly what it says.

[25:37] It's a roll over.

[25:38] And all it's asking to say is anything that's been in progress, remaining to be done, it's

[25:42] been delayed.

[25:42] You'll see the comments.

[25:43] It tells you where those projects are.

[25:45] If it was happening in 2025, and it hasn't been finished, it has the roll over to 2026.

[25:50] So you'll get all the explanations there and the projects that are still, again, and progress delayed or, again, has to be completed in some way.

[25:59] So it's just an approval process, it's really a office work administrative work. There's anything to follow up on that.

[26:06] So if we have any capital projects that have been budgeted in previous years and the project is still ongoing, we roll those funds over so we can complete the project.

[26:17] Also, if we have an operating expense or a project that is a lower cost, so it doesn't

[26:24] qualify as a capital project, but it's under a purchase order and active purchase order.

[26:28] That's called an incumber, and so we roll those over as well so we can complete purchase.

[26:36] Are there any count of questions for administration?

[26:40] Are there any public comments here in none?

[26:44] I'll need a motion to accept. Motion.

[26:48] I need a second.

[26:48] Second.

[26:49] Roll call, please.

[26:52] Councillor Roberts.

[26:53] Yes.

[26:53] Councillor Inman.

[26:56] Yes.

[27:00] All right.

[27:02] Moving on to resolution number 2026-04.

[27:05] A resolution of the Covington City Council adopted in the 2026 St.

[27:09] Tim and Eparish, Multi-Jourished Dictionary

[27:12] Hazard Mitigation Plan Update.

[27:15] We have with us Chris Brown and rather than me tell you

[27:20] what I already know and I can't explain, he will attempt

[27:24] to do so.

[27:27] Thank you.

[27:28] So the Hazard Mitigation Plan is something

[27:30] that's required by FEMA.

[27:32] It has to be updated every five years.

[27:36] And this is the plan that is what gives us the ability

[27:40] to receive hazard mitigation grant funding from FEMA, without a hazard mitigation grant or without a hazard mitigation plan.

[27:51] A jurisdiction is not eligible to receive any grant funding from FEMA, so it's very important.

[27:57] And actually, so we do a multi-juris-stictional plan, so all of the jurisdictions within St.

[28:06] Tammany Parish collaborate and come up with a singular plan.

[28:11] The consultant that develops the plan for us is actually paid for by a grant through Goseph.

[28:18] So the jurisdictions have no actual physical costs in developing the plan.

[28:24] And this year, one of the things that was new that I want to give Kudos to our residents

[28:31] is that the steering committee that develops the plan, we actually have an equal number

[28:39] of residents and to city employees.

[28:44] So there were three city employees on the steering committee, there were three residents.

[28:49] and those three residents were Donna Neal, Patrick Fulton, and Lynette Buday, who had

[28:58] developed, who devoted a significant amount of their own personal time to attend these

[29:04] meetings and greatly appreciated.

[29:08] So I would ask the council adopt the plan.

[29:14] very important.

[29:18] Council questions? Any public comment or questions? When he said hurricane

[29:25] and important, he got our attention. All right, thank you, sir. I need a motion to accept.

[29:32] Is there a second? Second.

[29:37] Yes.

[29:38] Yes.

[29:38] Councilman Barrell.

[29:40] Councilman Barrell.

[29:40] Councilman Barrett.

[29:41] Councilman Callahan.

[29:42] Councilman Bush now.

[29:44] Councilman Robert.

[29:46] All right.

[29:47] Now we have resolution number 2026-05.

[29:50] It is a resolution of the Covenant City Council informing the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality.

[29:56] Of the actions regarding the sewage treatment facility.

[30:00] And we have a guest speaker who is going to tell us how it's good news, correct?

[30:09] All right, give us your name and your address and tell us about it.

[30:13] Good evening. I'm David Curtis with Curtis Environmental.

[30:16] We are a environmental consultant that we do work for the city of Coventon, some have seen.

[30:21] For a million faces, some of y'all all new faces. We've been doing work for the city of Coventon for over almost 40 years now.

[30:27] know one of my parents very first customers and we started back in the late 70s early 80s so we have been

[30:34] doing this type of work for the city for a long time and we do appreciate being able to do that.

[30:39] So part of what I'm here for today is you all have an LPDS permit to discharge into the receiving

[30:45] streams of that you are required to do what's called an MWP audit which looks at seven different categories

[30:53] over the course of your treatment plant, your operations, what is the loading

[30:58] coming in, what is going out. So it's a seven-part plan, the lower the

[31:03] score, the better. I don't know, I guess you'll have it in front of y'all this

[31:06] year. So you'll kind of look and I'll breeze through if you have any questions,

[31:11] you know, let us know, but this is a formality of the LPDS permittance required.

[31:16] So part one looks an influence flow, your ability to take in loadings throughout the

[31:20] selection system and handle that load at your treatment plant while not going over your wastewater

[31:25] treatment plant design capacity. You all have an EQ basin that you're able to earn high

[31:29] rate events to discharge into that prevents you from overloading your plant and keeping your

[31:34] plant within compliance. You'll see this year you actually had a lower score. You didn't have

[31:39] any violations where your influence flow or your discharge went above the design capacity. So that's

[31:46] So the things that y'all are investing in are continuing to work.

[31:51] Effluent quality, this to me is one of the most important ones.

[31:54] You'll see again y'all had a zero.

[31:56] The city of Covington averages a 2.7 BOD, which that looks at the ability to reduce organic

[32:02] matter throughout the treatment plant in a two TSS, so that solids leave in your point.

[32:08] You have two guys sitting on the back over there, they do an excellent job of earning

[32:11] your facility.

[32:13] I think D.C. was actually out there a couple of weeks ago and they couldn't find anything wrong.

[32:19] I mean it was kind of, you know, the guy was fishing.

[32:21] And that's their job.

[32:22] They nitpicked.

[32:23] They looked through everything with a fine tooth comb.

[32:24] But when I'm telling you, I have, I run a lot of steel out of plants.

[32:28] This is the best that I know that's out there.

[32:31] And I think they echo that very loud throughout the people.

[32:38] Those are sometimes the people that get forgotten.

[32:40] The wastewater treatment side of it.

[32:41] But they do a very, very good job.

[32:43] Like I said, some of these methods,

[32:45] the lowest we can see is a two in y'all are right there

[32:48] at what we can barely see, almost non-detectic.

[32:51] So that is very good.

[32:54] Moving on like the age of the wastewater treatment plant.

[32:56] Unfortunately, unless you do a major project,

[32:58] or something like that, you really can't lower that.

[33:00] That goes up every year about two and a half points.

[33:02] So it will continue to go up so.

[33:05] But again, that's not something that's gonna really hurt you.

[33:08] The big one that I think that is really a big improvement

[33:11] this year is the overflows and bypasses. Historically, you know, you'll have an older collection

[33:16] system that heavy rain events and things like that, the inundated system and sometimes

[33:20] do overflows in the collection system. I know that the collection side of the wastewater

[33:28] department has been investing a lot of money into pumps and telemetry and generators and things

[33:33] like that to prevent this. And it's very evident that they dropped almost 30 points this year to

[33:39] do that. So continuing to invest in not only the treatment plant, but your collection system

[33:44] is very key here. So that's a big one. I mean, that dropped your score because you

[33:49] overall dropped throughout the year so that's good.

[33:54] Just continue putting money back in if you

[33:57] can. I know the mayor may ask you for some or the wastewater department that's some budget items

[34:02] you should always allocate. The next part is being able to dispose of sludge. I don't know how

[34:08] of y'all have been to the treatment point, y'all actually have a way to digest

[34:11] sludge, put it through a belt press, and you actually take it in this land

[34:15] applied in kiln Mississippi. They reuse it. They grow corn for cattle and soybeans and

[34:22] all of that that is reused for food for animals. So that is done. You're able to

[34:28] dispose of it. You don't have it. There are some places that can't do it. The next

[34:32] is development. We have always added points to that because the city of

[34:38] have people come in in here. To me, those are good points. I would take those every year and continue to do so.

[34:46] So you did have 50 points there. Operator training. All of your operators are required depending on the number of

[34:51] licenses to get eight hours per license per year. And all of them maintain their licenses. They go to training.

[34:58] They do. We could see you use is what it's called to be able to get continued education credits. So they all do that.

[35:04] And in total, you went from last year at 90 points to 57.5 this year.

[35:10] So overall, you decrease the lock, and it's evident by, you know, you're all putting money

[35:15] back into not only the treatment plant, the collection system, and having good operators

[35:20] on staff.

[35:21] I mean, that's a very hard thing to find right now in an age where we're losing operators.

[35:26] They're retiring and, you know, you'll have a very good staff, so it makes your life

[35:30] my life easier as a lab and can solve them to be able to continue doing it. So overall again,

[35:36] this is just kind of a formality. There is an ordinance at the end that you'll have to

[35:40] vote on and keep every year you'll see me here and as long as the city has us we will come back

[35:46] and continue to present this and we work very handily with the wastewater staff for anything that

[35:50] comes up and anyway we can help and we do appreciate it. Any questions?

[35:56] No, that's good news.

[35:58] And you're coming asking us to get a lower score, so we're going to try to get a lower

[36:02] score.

[36:03] Yeah, so I mean look, more money into the collection system, you know, skate a system,

[36:07] so imagery generators, any way you can prevent it to where we can get the water out of

[36:11] the collection system into the EQ basins, into the treatment plant for treatment.

[36:15] I mean, that's always a bit a plus.

[36:18] So if we can continue to get that number trending down, you know, that's the way that

[36:23] and we would like to be able to go.

[36:25] Thank you, sir.

[36:27] Yes, sir.

[36:27] I'm proud to mic for him.

[36:28] Yeah, absolutely.

[36:30] Thank you.

[36:36] Thank you, sir.

[36:37] Thank you, sir.

[36:38] Yes, sir.

[36:40] Any other public comment or council comment?

[36:44] The only council comment I have is, I'm glad we had this institutional knowledge

[36:48] just sitting over there in those chairs.

[36:50] They can take care of these problems and stay on top of things.

[36:53] So, well done, Gents.

[36:54] That's good for you.

[36:56] All right.

[36:57] I think that means the Councilman in and did a motion to accept.

[37:02] I'll take a second.

[37:05] Roll call, please.

[37:08] Councilman Barrell.

[37:09] Councilman Barrell.

[37:10] Yes.

[37:11] Councilman Calahan.

[37:12] Yes.

[37:12] Councilman Bushnell.

[37:14] Councilman Roberts.

[37:17] All right.

[37:17] We have resolution number 2026-07.

[37:21] It is a resolution of the Coventin City Council confirm in the appointment of Pamela

[37:25] K as the district A appointment to the Coventon Planning and Zone.

[37:30] Planning Commission to fill an unexpired term. Normally, the Councilman of District A would have this, but

[37:38] Councilman Lewis had made the appointment. And so with his resignation, we have it as unfinished business.

[37:48] So to speak. Is there any public comment or Council comment?

[37:53] Hearing none, I will make a motion to accept. Is there a second?

[37:57] Sir.

[37:58] Roll call, please.

[38:01] Councillor Burett.

[38:02] Yes.

[38:03] Councillor Burett.

[38:04] Yes.

[38:06] Councillor Roberts.

[38:07] Councillor Mowbert.

[38:08] Yes.

[38:08] Councillor Burett.

[38:10] Yes.

[38:11] All right.

[38:11] Our last resolution for the evening is resolution number 2026-08.

[38:17] A resolution of the Coventon City Council acknowledging and accepting the petition for an oil change business at 730-18 highway 25 in the city of Coventon.

[38:28] Councilman Bush now.

[38:30] Thank you, sir.

[38:31] Governor Codel orders a section 22 day as three requires a petitioner to the city council

[38:37] prior to any issue of any permit for all business.

[38:41] The orders are taken written that are written approval from the property over three

[38:44] order of feet and is sent it's all the other properties on Highway 25 and the South.

[38:51] That's my understanding, so they're in a compliance.

[38:55] We'll be in in compliance, is there any public comment or council comment?

[39:02] Hearing none, is there a motion to accept?

[39:06] Is there a second?

[39:08] Roll call, please.

[39:11] Councilman Callahan.

[39:12] Councilman Bushnell.

[39:14] Councilman Roberts.

[39:17] Councilman Barrow.

[39:18] Yes.

[39:18] Councilman Barrow.

[39:20] Yes.

[39:20] We will move on to comments and reports from our council.

[39:23] Council District and committees, and we will begin with District A, Council on the Calhane.

[39:31] At this time.

[39:32] Thank you, sir.

[39:34] District B, Councilman Bush, now.

[39:36] Thank you, Councilor Brett.

[39:38] Well, Craig is in there.

[39:39] And so, while our events so highlight a couple, we got coming up this month.

[39:44] St. Patrick's Day Concert, 30 March 12th at the trailhead at 5.30.

[39:50] The COVID-19 Celtic club parade will be Saturday, March 14th at noon in the downtown.

[39:55] Rockin' to Rails is kicking off this month as well, March 26th, that's Thursday, March 26th,

[40:00] at 5.30, at Reverend Peter Ackens Park, and also our final Friday, Black Party's also

[40:07] kick off on March 27th, at the 6.00 PM. Just a little friend of reminder too, the day like

[40:12] save is time, kicks in Sunday, so don't use that as excuse to miss Sunday, Sunday service.

[40:18] So, and an opportunity to purchase a ticket to help Coventon, come on now, how can someone

[40:27] participate if they would like to participate and what is it?

[40:30] Covered off footballers having their reverse wrap where we have every year, benefits goes

[40:35] strictly to the football team, you get to enter two people through a party with food, drink

[40:42] and music, and you also get a chance to win $10,000.

[40:46] anybody interested in contact myself or co-saltor or you can even go by Holders

[40:51] record. Thank you. Thanks, and thank you, sir. District C.

[40:57] District C is actually quite. I don't have anything to say about you if you see, but I

[41:00] do want to see these words. Desire line. We had opportunity to walk over there.

[41:04] Go see what they're doing. It was a public open to the public. It was kind of

[41:09] heartbreaking and not to see a lot of people there because what they're doing is

[41:12] amazing, the information they're getting out, the information they're collecting.

[41:16] So if you have some input of what you think Covinson should look like and integrity

[41:20] you want to keep in, and everything that's coming to keep in Covinson, get there when

[41:24] they ask you to come there because they're using that information to design what Covinson

[41:29] may or may not look like in the future.

[41:31] So Covinson, super organized, super knowledgeable, had a lot of questions, a lot of conversation,

[41:36] and left there impressed, it's probably the best word that I can use.

[41:39] So could as a Desireline?

[41:40] Very good point.

[41:42] District D.

[41:43] Well, follow-up with the Councilman Roberts.

[41:47] Desireline has been most impressive in my interaction

[41:50] with them.

[41:51] Very professional, professional, very knowledgeable.

[41:54] And I think we're in good hands.

[41:56] I would like to see, as he mentioned, more of the public

[41:58] involved, but good stuff.

[42:01] In terms of the district, district D, over on Jefferson,

[42:04] because there's a new sidewalks.

[42:06] When I do my drive in the district,

[42:08] I am making note of pot holes and letting the City Public Works Department know about those

[42:15] and they've been good about getting out and putting down some cold mix or some crushed

[42:22] stone.

[42:23] And then I follow up as well and make sure that it is up to snuff so to speak.

[42:28] Tile street corridor study is incredibly important to the district as you know, there are

[42:33] streets on both sides, North Taylor, South Taylor and Jefferson.

[42:38] and so key corridors that are off the toleratory corridor and then the library, what's going

[42:44] on there?

[42:44] Well, they have a gene-lifete activity, if you will, where they're going to discuss his, well,

[42:53] in some cases, not so good exploits because he was a buck and ear.

[42:57] That's going to be Wednesday, the 18th, 1130 to 1230.

[43:01] Medicare 101.

[43:03] If you like myself and you're working your way to 65, well,

[43:07] They have a workshop for that Monday the 23rd that 6pm to 730 and then there's the extravaganza Saturday the 29th 10 a.m. to noon so you can bring your kids out of that in local sports the old coach in me has to mention this power lift and state championships are coming up March 25 to 28 so good luck to all of our local schools participating in that boys basketball playoffs tonight.

[43:33] COVID-19 high school and archbishop Hannan are both involved in that good luck to those.

[43:40] Jens and in soccer state champions.

[43:43] The hand and girls under coach Peter's went 20 win and finished the season with 21.

[43:48] One draw and one loss, North Lake Christian under coach Nick Cheta.

[43:54] This is his fourth or fifth state title.

[43:57] I can't remember, but he's got a lineage of success there that is noteworthy.

[44:01] And then SS, a St. Scholastic under Coach Benji, that's a three-peat.

[44:07] So good luck to the people who are in the playoffs this evening.

[44:12] And of course, the power of state championships and congratulations to those honor teams.

[44:17] These student athletes put a lot of work time and effort in and you can get a whole lot of

[44:22] out-of-athletics with participating in those. So that's all.

[44:27] Thank you, sir.

[44:28] Just your key.

[44:29] All right, thank you.

[44:31] Thank you to all of the city employees,

[44:32] every department for another successful Marty Grow.

[44:35] You all have done such a good job over the years,

[44:37] and we've turned into a real signature

[44:39] and destination for those events for a nice

[44:42] family-friendly environment.

[44:44] So thank you again, and that's a lot of hard work.

[44:46] When I was a kid, there was a movie called

[44:48] Never Ending Story, Fred Savage,

[44:50] which leads me to the Columbia Street Landing stage.

[44:53] been working on that since my first meeting and we were real close I thought at our last meeting.

[45:00] Because we were going out to bid and we did. The bid came in a bit higher than we had anticipated. So we're doing a little bit of value engineering with the architect trying to get that a little bit more in line with our budget. But we're going to get it done as long as I'm here, we're going to get it done. And so that leads me to the first sunset at the landing concert is going to be on March 20th. We're going to utilize the city's temporary stage. So the concert is going to happen, March 20th, and it's going to be a great event.

[45:30] a couple other events that I don't think have been mentioned yet,

[45:32] chefs were a, sorry, sorry, I mentioned that, but March 15th,

[45:35] Bogofly Park, and there's a key covenant and beautiful event

[45:38] on March 22nd at the Firehouse Events Center from 2 to 4.

[45:43] And I think that's all I've got right now.

[45:45] Thank you all.

[45:46] Thank you, sir.

[45:48] Well, the Council certainly committed to the landing stage

[45:52] and I know administrations worked on it,

[45:55] but we're going to get that completed now.

[45:58] it's feet of government, this has been, this has been speed of a different country's government,

[46:05] we're going to get it done. All right, so I did want to, I came here to talk about the

[46:13] Covenant Heritage Foundation and all that they do and their events and it's time to renew membership

[46:22] Councilman and our signature farm to table event and it is going to be off the charts.

[46:28] We're going to have local farmers and it's going to be the explanation by the chefs

[46:34] of utilizing it and talking about the history of Coventon and I want to invite all

[46:38] of y'all except for the fact that it's sold out in five days.

[46:42] And I think that is indicative again of people care about their community.

[46:47] They want to be involved, we will do some more events, but thanks to the city for assisting

[46:55] us with that.

[46:56] It will be held at the trailhead, and please join.

[46:59] That's the first of many events we'll have throughout the year.

[47:03] And with that being said, we are moving the April, we have moved the March 31st City Council

[47:11] meeting to April 7th, so if everyone will take note of that.

[47:16] That's exactly what I'm in.

[47:20] So, with that, are there any administrative or administration or Mayor Mark comments?

[47:29] A few Mayor Mark comments.

[47:30] We'll start off with Kudos to the NAACP and Councilman Callahan and those folks.

[47:35] On short notice, they put together the MLK March and the MLK program on very short notice.

[47:43] And I got that put together and we've initiated conversations about future holiday events that will be back with the NAACP working on that.

[47:53] Monigraw was big, it was really big, tens of thousands of people for the Saturday night parade, tens of thousands on Monigraw Day.

[48:02] Marty Paws was a big success.

[48:06] We mentioned the foreign plug concert coming up,

[48:09] but on the Thursday, for St. Patrick's Day,

[48:12] the coming to Celtic Parade is coming up,

[48:15] another walking parade.

[48:17] Youth Service Bureau will have Chef Svore,

[48:19] at Bogofly, a park that's one of the events

[48:21] that we grandfathered into the park.

[48:23] That monster managed, sparks at the park.

[48:27] One other one.

[48:28] What's that?

[48:29] Blue's very.

[48:31] We could rent the park out every weekend from now until the end of the year and we don't.

[48:38] And that's one of the things that you guys don't always see is the administration or specifically the mayor telling organizations no.

[48:46] No, we're not going to do that.

[48:48] We do all from the trailhead, which is a great alternative.

[48:51] The British car show actually came to us to host it at Bogofly Park initially.

[48:56] And we switch them over to the trailhead and I think it's turned out to be a much much better venue.

[49:01] Shamrock's friend is coming up.

[49:03] We have a more atorium on any more five k's in downtown.

[49:08] They close up too many streets.

[49:10] Take up too much to many resources.

[49:14] I can't read my writing.

[49:20] March to Abo.

[49:21] Oh, rock in the rails coming up.

[49:23] March through April.

[49:24] Block parties are starting kicking up.

[49:26] The British car show we mentioned.

[49:28] I tell you all that to tell you this.

[49:32] When it comes to cultural arts and events, music shows, fundraiser, fun walks, car shows,

[49:39] block parties, the city of Covington is not at capacity.

[49:45] We are beyond capacity.

[49:48] Our PD, our public works, our administration, are strained to keep up with the size of the

[49:55] events that we're doing and the number of events that we're doing.

[49:59] So, I wanted the council to know this because I wanted you to be aware that if you get

[50:04] feedback from somebody coming to you saying, you know, we wanted to do this great event

[50:09] in downtown Cummings and the mayor said, no, the mayor said, no, we can't, we can handle

[50:17] some maybe out of Peter Atkins or a little further out if you want to do a walk or whatever,

[50:23] we have a little march coming up later this month.

[50:26] They weren't going down Boston Street and then down New Hampshire during the British car show.

[50:32] Now, we accommodate, and I'm definitely Chief Collins worked with them and came up with an alternative route.

[50:37] But I need you guys to be aware that we do not have the resources to say yes to just everybody who comes in that wants to do an event in Covington.

[50:49] And Kudos, as you guys have alluded to, to administration, to cultural arts and events, to the fire department, to the police department, to public works, for the work they had done.

[51:02] You know, the money cooperators are beyond our control now.

[51:07] If you, if you were to honestly know, they're beyond our control.

[51:11] And in kudos to our residents and our citizens and our spectators

[51:15] for maintaining the control that they do themselves.

[51:20] Because we couldn't do it without their good behavior.

[51:22] But anyway, I just wanted to give you a heads up that if you hear someone say,

[51:26] hey, the mayor said that we couldn't do this.

[51:28] It's a pretty valid reason.

[51:31] And a very nice Southern living article too, I might add if people wish to, to, yeah, they didn't use my good side.

[51:38] Well, I don't know that oak tree looked pretty good back there.

[51:42] Yes.

[51:43] To the council of Brits, we've got a tremendous article highlighting coming to, in this current issue of Southern living magazine.

[51:51] just a real, just kind of the pinnacle of everything we've been working on for the past

[51:59] several years, built upon the foundation that quite frankly, previous administrations laid

[52:04] down, and we were able to come in and put the bloom on the roads, so we're in a good

[52:09] place.

[52:09] Good place. All right, anything else from administration with the happy birthday

[52:18] When did this occur?

[52:21] Is it today?

[52:23] Oh, well, I really don't want to extend this meeting, but I'm happy birthday

[52:30] All right, so clarification, the next meeting will be Tuesday, March 31st, and not April 7th, right?

[52:38] And not April 7th. And we'll, council members, got that? All right, seal.

City of Covington Council Meeting: March 3, 2026

Transcript