[7:15] Hit it once. Yes, sir. Good afternoon. So

[10:19] today we are here the Metro Council budget

[10:23] hearing and today is the mayor's proposed 2023

[10:28] budget being Tuesday, November 2022. The meeting has

[10:36] been called to order and we have informational

[10:40] presentations by five different entities. And so we

[10:45] will begin with the Prison Medical Services. If

[10:49] you'll come on up, followed by the Department

[10:52] of Buildings and Grounds, Juvenile Services, the mayor's

[10:57] office, and the Mayor's Office of Community Development.

[11:01] Let me say that there will be, because

[11:05] no action will be taken, there will be

[11:09] no public comment. There was an opportunity for

[11:13] this on November 22 at the council meeting

[11:16] and then there will be another opportunity on

[11:19] December 13. So, And you can always reach

[11:25] out to your council person or to the

[11:27] department. So we'll go with Prison Medical Services.

[11:31] Thank you, Councilman Coleman. I'm going to introduce

[11:34] Flint Juneau who is actually the CEO of

[11:36] Turnkey Medical. Turnkey, which you guys probably remember,

[11:40] took over Prison Medical at the beginning of

[11:43] this year. The mayor has asked them to

[11:45] come back in January to do a full

[11:47] one year report in terms of what their

[11:49] activities have been at the prison. But just

[11:51] as a refresher, the current budget for 2023,

[11:55] the proposed budget for prison medical is $6,600,000

[11:59] approximately, just a little bit over that. The

[12:02] base contract is $6,100,000 We have about $380,000

[12:07] worth of medical supplies, which in this case

[12:10] are mainly HIV drugs. We've had an issue

[12:13] with a change in the formulary for HIV

[12:15] drugs. We're working on this with the state.

[12:18] We think we'll find a solution where we

[12:20] will be able to cut those costs, and

[12:22] about $140,000 for contractual services, which include people

[12:26] who have to go to a medical facility

[12:30] where those charges aren't covered by DOC and

[12:33] where we have to send them for x

[12:34] rays, etcetera, outside of the facility. So I'll

[12:37] introduce Flint. Turnkey is actually in 92 facilities

[12:42] and nine states. The RFP process was competitive.

[12:46] We had five different groups that examined coming

[12:48] in and Turnkey was picked through that process.

[12:52] Good afternoon. Thank you all for allowing me

[13:00] to come in and speak with you today.

[13:02] We've enjoyed a partnership with the East Baton

[13:05] Rouge Parish, as Darryl mentioned, since last January,

[13:10] we came in of course in the heart

[13:13] of the COVID epidemic. So we've had some

[13:16] challenges coming in as far as facility movement,

[13:21] you know, working through the epidemic and, but

[13:26] even through that time, we've made drastic improvements

[13:30] and major strides with what we do out

[13:33] at the prison with you all. As he

[13:36] mentioned, I'm Flint Juneau, CEO. I have been

[13:39] down here numerous times personally in in Baton

[13:43] Rouge, I I enjoy the southern hospitality. So

[13:48] I I love eating southern food and sharing

[13:52] hospitality with you all. I am gonna cover

[13:56] a few highlights. As he mentioned, we are

[14:00] willing to come back. What we would like

[14:02] to do and as you guys have asked

[14:06] us, we want to provide kind of an

[14:08] annual review as we go through our relationship

[14:11] with you. We will do that as we

[14:15] wrap up each contract year and give you

[14:18] a little bit more meat and statistics and

[14:22] kind of shifts in things throughout the year.

[14:27] But today I just came in to just

[14:30] kind of give you guys a highlight of

[14:32] where we've been and kind of an idea

[14:35] if you guys have questions, you know, that

[14:37] you want us to address as well in

[14:39] our January presentation. This might spur some ideas

[14:43] and we're always welcoming of those suggestions so

[14:48] we can cater it to a way that's

[14:51] feasible to you guys. So I'm gonna have

[14:57] a hard time reading through this. It's a

[15:00] little far out there. But we, first of

[15:03] all, I wanna just go through some achievements

[15:06] that we had over this last year beginning

[15:09] with, you know, we started a year ago

[15:12] in January 1 and it truly was a

[15:16] very compressed transition process. We actually, I believe,

[15:23] thank you. The contract was actually signed, I

[15:27] believe, less than two weeks before we even

[15:30] started services, but we did a lot of

[15:32] work upfront, meeting with the existing staff, etcetera,

[15:37] working with some of the community clinics and

[15:40] providers to get prepared for the transition. And

[15:43] of course, as you guys know, from Thanksgiving

[15:47] to New Year's Day, people are pretty stable

[15:50] with where they're at. So we had some

[15:53] recruiting challenges to work through those last couple

[15:55] weeks. Although they were challenges, we did a

[16:03] lot initially. To begin with, we increased the

[16:06] staffing out there by more than 2.4, what

[16:10] we call FTEs, full time equivalents. From the

[16:15] get go, we implemented some critical positions that

[16:19] we believe were lacking out there, one being

[16:23] an HMP nurse to make sure we had

[16:28] somebody dedicated to make sure every individual who

[16:32] became incarcerated out there had a full physical

[16:35] within the fourteen day guideline and then an

[16:38] additional physical within a year. Since we implemented

[16:43] that position, we are current on both of

[16:47] those categories, which is very important because the

[16:51] facility is accredited by NCCHC. We did inherit,

[16:58] as you guys know, or probably know through

[17:01] COVID, there's been massive inflation. No area in

[17:06] our industry has been hit harder than the

[17:08] healthcare area, especially nursing for like correctional facilities.

[17:15] Nurses in our industry, we have experienced over

[17:19] a 20% inflation in salaries. So when we

[17:24] came in, we had a vacancy rate to

[17:29] fill positions for full time staff of over

[17:32] 73% of nursing staff and 100% vacancy rate

[17:38] of the CMAs. Now that's not saying that

[17:41] services weren't being provided before we came in,

[17:45] but the individuals providing those services were on

[17:49] like a contract basis or a temporary staff,

[17:52] agency staff, which provides essential services but it

[17:57] doesn't provide the continuity of care that you

[18:00] want to establish to make sure services are

[18:04] being delivered right. The nursing staff were dramatically

[18:09] underpaid out at the prison which was part

[18:13] of the contribution of why they had so

[18:16] many vacancies. We have increased the hourly rate

[18:20] for the nurses out there by over $8

[18:23] an hour from what they were being paid

[18:25] before we assumed the contract. We believe in

[18:29] spending more money on the front end because

[18:32] lower turnover obviously is more financially sound. So

[18:38] we always pay a very competitive rate in

[18:43] the healthcare industry, not just the corrections industry.

[18:48] We so as of today, we've been fully

[18:51] staffed out there. As of today, we we

[18:54] have two individuals filling two of the last

[18:57] permanent positions and we still got a couple

[19:01] temporary staff out there while we get them

[19:04] fully oriented. But within a year, we pretty

[19:08] much stabilized the entire program out there. This

[19:13] also included adding a very qualified RN administrator

[19:19] who works there Monday through Friday. I know

[19:24] in the past that that had been kind

[19:26] of hit and miss due to personal reasons

[19:30] but that is a critical component of the

[19:33] program that has helped to stabilize it as

[19:35] well. We implemented a new medical director who

[19:42] has received great reviews by not only the

[19:47] security staff out there but also by the

[19:49] inmate population out there. And we have implemented

[19:55] a full time psychiatric provider where there were,

[19:58] prior to us, there were only two part

[20:00] times who came out as their scheduled allowed.

[20:06] One main area I do wanna touch on

[20:08] is the community coordinator. That was a new

[20:11] position out here. We, as he mentioned, as

[20:15] Darryl mentioned, we work with over 90 some

[20:18] parishes and counties in the Southern United States

[20:22] and the larger facilities such as Baton Rouge,

[20:26] we are very progressive in trying to continue

[20:31] to care once inmates go back into the

[20:34] community because if they stay healthy, it's proven

[20:38] to reduce the recidivism back into the jail.

[20:41] So we have implemented that system. We're trying

[20:45] to get that program built up and I

[20:48] have a few things that we've already accomplished

[20:50] with that that I'll continue on here in

[20:53] a minute. So as I mentioned, NCCHC, our

[20:59] services now exceed those standards. Should NCCHC come

[21:04] back for a review at any given time

[21:08] when they're scheduled to, we are fully confident

[21:11] that not only we meet the standards but

[21:14] we exceed them and that is a big

[21:19] accomplishment for the parish overall. NTCH, is that

[21:23] the accreditation group? It is, yes. It stands

[21:26] for the National Commission on Correctional Healthcare. And

[21:29] did y'all fail the last time, is that

[21:31] what you're saying? And now you're on position

[21:33] to pass, I may have missed that. No,

[21:35] no, so the facility's still accredited but they

[21:38] only come in every three to four years.

[21:40] Okay. The initial accreditation was done, I believe

[21:45] two years ago, maybe. I'm sorry. But it's

[21:50] not an annual review and we haven't went

[21:52] through one since we've been there. There's also

[21:58] the electronic health record that was in place.

[22:00] We had a seamless transition because the system

[22:04] that the parish was using is the same

[22:07] system we use throughout our company. So we

[22:14] were able to make sure there was no

[22:17] lack of care or loss of care through

[22:19] that transition because the records transitioned smoothly. Some

[22:24] of the new implementations which we're very proud

[22:28] of is we have implemented an MAT program

[22:32] which is medicated or medication assisted treatment. For

[22:37] those of you who are not in the

[22:40] healthcare industry, what that means is we treat

[22:44] people with opioid and alcohol addiction while they're

[22:48] in the facility as long as they you

[22:52] know, are willing to do it and meet

[22:54] the qualifications to prevent detox, to prevent illness

[23:01] from them coming off the medication and also

[23:05] to give them a higher success of when

[23:08] they return to the community, they are not

[23:13] completely off of something and their body's not

[23:17] transitioning. As we know that the parish is,

[23:20] the parish prison is for the parish, it's

[23:23] not the state DOC system. So the amount

[23:26] of time individuals stay in the parish prison

[23:29] is much smaller. So it's better to provide

[23:33] a continuity of care for those services as

[23:37] long as they meet qualifications and are willing

[23:43] to participate. So along with that, we have

[23:49] introduced as part of our discharge planning program,

[23:53] the implementing release of medications which is done

[23:58] through our community coordinator position. Those medications have

[24:02] also been enhanced to include access to Narcan

[24:07] which is in layman terms, somebody is overdosed,

[24:13] it's an inhibitor that prevents bad outcomes. So

[24:18] we've allowed those and we provide education to

[24:22] the inmates at the prison on how to

[24:26] use Narcan, the benefits of having it around

[24:30] if you have even, obviously not for themselves

[24:33] but for family members as well. And we

[24:36] try to get them access so they can

[24:38] have access to NARCAN when they're back in

[24:40] your community as well. Grievances, inmate complaints have

[24:46] reduced by over, regarding medical has reduced by

[24:49] over 50% since we started services in January,

[24:55] which is a substantial reduction. And we also

[24:59] through the year provided numerous COVID vaccines for

[25:04] the population out there and even boosters for

[25:07] those who had been fully vaccinated. And one

[25:12] thing we are working on now is a

[25:14] new technology that's called Custody Protect, which we'll

[25:17] go over that a little bit more in

[25:18] January as that advances, which is a health

[25:22] monitoring system for those at highest risk. It

[25:28] allows, since individuals in correctional facilities are locked

[25:33] down sometimes without correctional staff around or definitely

[25:37] without medical staff around. It's a tool to

[25:42] monitor their vital signs if they're a higher

[25:45] risk category, so hopefully we can catch a

[25:49] downfall and be able to be proactive in

[25:53] addressing it. So those are some highlights that

[25:57] we will expand on in January. Some of

[26:01] the challenges we're still working through. Hey, it's

[26:04] not all roses and perfect after one year.

[26:09] We realize that. A lot of that is

[26:12] due to there is a, and it's not

[26:15] just East Baton Rouge Parish by any means.

[26:17] It's nationally, there's a correctional officer shortage. Out

[26:21] of 91 clients, I do not have one

[26:24] single client that is fully staffed correctionally. It's

[26:28] a national crisis that we're dealing with as

[26:31] well as a national crisis with nursing shortage.

[26:35] Fortunately, we've been able to get staffed up

[26:37] on the medical side. I'm hoping on the

[26:40] correction side that starts reversing. But it does

[26:43] create additional challenges, makes our, sometimes our staff

[26:46] have to work additional hours to get all

[26:49] the tests done and make sure we can

[26:53] coordinate with the other systems going on within

[26:56] the facility. There is a, I believe we're

[27:01] still working with their IT department. The EMR

[27:04] is on, from my understanding, on a older

[27:09] service system. We found a way to move

[27:11] that onto a newer system which we will

[27:16] take care of that for the parish to

[27:19] make it a little bit more secure and

[27:23] prevent any crashing of the system. So we're

[27:26] working with IT to try to get that

[27:28] done. The jail did change. JMS providers, which

[27:34] is the jail management system that does all

[27:36] the security side records. There's been a few

[27:41] hiccups we're still working through with that. The

[27:43] interface, which is how they talk to each

[27:46] other, the two systems, is not the best

[27:51] with the new JMS system, I'll just say

[27:53] that. They don't have the best interface capability.

[27:57] But we are working through it and hopefully

[27:59] we'll get those resolved. And as Darryl mentioned

[28:04] previously for me, the HIV epidemic, of course,

[28:11] Ryan White funding is federal funding that is

[28:15] allocated to combat the HIV epidemic. We're trying

[28:20] to find ways to help that relieve the

[28:23] cost for the parish financial burden for the

[28:27] inmates who are on medication for HIV. So

[28:32] those are kind of the challenges we look

[28:34] to try to overcome in this next year.

[28:39] Questions? Okay, Councilwoman? You for being I can't

[28:46] tell you how much it means that you

[28:47] were willing to come in and speak with

[28:49] us and give us this high level presentation,

[28:52] so it's certainly very, very encouraging. I just

[28:56] wanted to drill down on the so it's

[28:59] a million dollar increase in the budget this

[29:01] year. Is that and I may need Daryl

[29:03] for this. It may not be you. Is

[29:06] that related to salaries for employees? Is that

[29:09] related to medications? Part of the increase this

[29:15] year is actually the CPI increase. It's a

[29:18] 5% CPI adjustment in the contract. Also the

[29:23] HIV, is 380,000 and other contract services is

[29:27] roughly, we estimate, about $140,000 Okay, got it.

[29:31] And then there's an increase from 2022 in

[29:34] that it's kind of hard to explain. In

[29:37] 2022, we budgeted what we estimated the contract

[29:42] to be. So we weren't fully funded even.

[29:44] We're going to come back with a budget

[29:45] supplement to cover the end of twenty twenty

[29:48] two. Got it. Because the right amount wasn't

[29:50] actually budgeted then. Okay. And just out of

[29:53] curiosity, you mentioned Ryan White funds. I know

[29:55] we do see a lot of those funds

[29:58] flowing into the parish. Do we need to

[30:00] apply specifically for? It's very interesting to me.

[30:03] I always thought that those Ryan White funds

[30:05] actually for HIV drugs. Those funds actually go

[30:09] for housing, for medical care, etc. The drugs

[30:13] actually come from a different pot that we

[30:15] actually do not control. They're controlled by the

[30:17] state and administered through the state. And there's

[30:20] a different formulary for small cities versus large

[30:24] cities. It's very complicated. And that formulary is

[30:27] actually changed through some court orders. So we

[30:30] have some work we're trying to do to

[30:31] get through all of that. So we may

[30:33] be able to access some additional funding. We

[30:37] have an agreement with the state to cover

[30:39] three months of 2022. We're trying to get

[30:42] through the paperwork that may carry over into

[30:44] part of 2023. And then we think we

[30:47] do have the way, In theory, what should

[30:50] happen if you go into the facility and

[30:52] you're a local person and you're getting treated

[30:54] at a local clinic, those drugs should follow

[30:57] you into the prison for up to ninety

[31:00] days. So we have work to do to

[31:02] get through that process. Okay. Right. Thank you.

[31:06] And Mr. Junior, just a little quick aside.

[31:09] I was at a social event a couple

[31:11] months ago, was talking with a gentleman who

[31:13] was a nurse, had just gotten a new

[31:14] job. He was telling me about how excited

[31:17] he was and what a great place it

[31:19] was, and he was working at the prison

[31:21] for y'all and he was explaining to me

[31:23] the protocols and how impressed he was. So,

[31:26] that was from an employee at a social

[31:29] event. So, anyway, kudos to you. Wonderful. Great

[31:33] Councilman Hurst. Hey, thank you again for presenting.

[31:38] I had the the fortune to fortunate opportunity

[31:42] to visit the prison or jail. I hate

[31:45] using the word because it's not a prison,

[31:46] it's a jail. Earlier this year. And, you

[31:51] know, the one thing that I look at

[31:53] when I look at the EBR jail is

[31:54] the majority of those people have not been

[31:56] sentenced. They are either awaiting trial or they're

[32:01] waiting to get a bond or they're transitioning

[32:04] back into society from a more hardened facility.

[32:09] And so when I got there, said, hey,

[32:12] show me the medical. I've heard a lot

[32:13] about the medical. And I mean the medical

[32:15] is not as big as the council, the

[32:18] little booth right here, man. But how many

[32:20] prisoners do y'all service? Fluctuates but On average,

[32:26] how many? About 1,000. A thousand inmates. Yep.

[32:29] How many rooms do you have for medical?

[32:32] Actual exam rooms, I think there's a couple

[32:34] exam rooms, there's a main triage room and

[32:38] then several offices. Due to the, as we

[32:42] mentioned, the smaller medical unit, we we use

[32:46] multipurpose rooms, sometimes out on the actual facility.

[32:50] Okay. And tell me about your women's facility

[32:52] at the prison for medical? As far as

[32:58] Just in general? Because when I got there,

[33:00] there wasn't one. So I was hoping there

[33:01] was an Yeah. I yeah. I don't I

[33:04] don't know anything about a prison or a

[33:07] women's facility. What's that? No. There there's no

[33:14] women's health facility in the in the jail.

[33:17] So those people have to be transported out

[33:20] to women's hospital because there's no on-site resources

[33:25] to support the women in jail. So what

[33:27] I'm trying to do is because when I

[33:29] went there, I thought the facility was deplorable.

[33:32] I thought the health care part of it

[33:33] was deplorable as well. And so I've had

[33:35] several conversations of how do we put another

[33:38] facility in place. The challenge is that without

[33:42] a plan, it's even worse than what it

[33:44] is because you end up sending people to

[33:46] a facility that's worse, that you have no

[33:47] control over, or you end up sending somebody

[33:50] to a facility where their parents or family

[33:54] members are unable to access them based on

[33:57] limited transportation. So, I mean, this is where

[34:00] my heart is and I want to help

[34:02] you. So in a perfect world, what would

[34:05] your medical facility look like? In a perfect

[34:09] the facility is dated. I mean they're That's

[34:12] an understatement. Being transparent, my veterinary facility looks

[34:16] better than that and it's built in 1960s.

[34:19] Yeah, the facility's dated, either a new facility

[34:24] or a new bookingmedical unit. Most of our

[34:30] services are provided either through the intake process

[34:33] or directly through a medical unit. But we

[34:37] are limited on what we can provide there

[34:38] as you mentioned just because of the facility

[34:42] layout and when it was built, medical was

[34:46] an afterthought with the way they designed jails

[34:50] back then. So there should be numerous, the

[34:55] perfect facility would have numerous medical exam rooms.

[34:59] Are you comparing this to other sites? Yes.

[35:03] Tell me, I think it's a better way

[35:04] to put it because I believe in a

[35:06] perfect world is dreaming, right? Tell us how

[35:09] this compares to some of the other facilities

[35:11] you've been to to know where we are

[35:12] and where we need to go. So we

[35:16] work with about 90 some facilities, obviously. I've

[35:19] been to many more than that just through

[35:23] my career. Large facilities of this site should

[35:27] have an inpatient infirmary. It should have multiple

[35:32] exam rooms. Should have Quantify that. How many

[35:35] inpatient rooms? Those are overnight rooms, right? We

[35:40] can get I would want to get with

[35:44] our Chief Medical Officer on CEO. Can definitely,

[35:49] if you guys would like us to make

[35:51] some recommendations for a new design, can get

[35:54] all those rooms and that now. I just,

[35:56] I don't want to take a wild guess

[35:58] without considering. No, I just want to know

[36:01] the report that I would ask that you

[36:02] send back is what does adequate health care

[36:05] look like based on the facility to support

[36:07] the amount of the average amount of inmates

[36:11] that we have in there at a single

[36:12] at a single point in time. That's all

[36:14] I need to know. What does that look

[36:15] like for both male and female? Because it's

[36:17] not there right now for sure. Yeah. Yeah.

[36:21] Please. I'm ask you a question. Yeah. You

[36:24] asked for a report on that thing. What

[36:26] about funding? Funding? Well you can't get funded

[36:30] until you got a problem and so I

[36:32] wanna show how big the problem is so

[36:33] we can get to the funding portion. So

[36:35] you have to be able to solve something.

[36:39] Gentleman. Gentleman. Alright. So and the other part

[36:47] is what services are provided to detainees transferred

[36:52] to other facilities out of Parish? I don't

[36:57] have an answer to that. We provide health

[37:03] services to even the females. We do provide

[37:06] services to females. We don't do specialty female

[37:10] care like OBGYN, women's health services, those go

[37:14] out to outside entities and that works through

[37:17] the Department of Corrections. I think actually in

[37:21] the state of Louisiana it's mandated that that's

[37:24] scheduled and managed through the Department of Corrections

[37:30] because we do all of our scheduling for

[37:32] that through them. So ideally it would be

[37:36] great if we could bring an OBGYN on-site.

[37:40] That would be great for security as well

[37:42] because you know they don't want to transfer.

[37:45] But we also have to follow in the

[37:46] guidelines that the state has set up. Okay,

[37:50] so I appreciate that and go back to

[37:52] don't need a whole rendering of how you

[37:54] would redo the facility. Redoing a facility is

[37:57] a waste of time because it needs to

[37:58] be demolished. But just come back and tell

[38:02] me what adequate healthcare is based on the

[38:04] patients, how many rooms, how many physicians, do

[38:06] you need dental which I don't believe you

[38:08] have right now? We do. Oh you do?

[38:10] Okay. Maybe expand the dental because I believe

[38:13] there's one little cubbyhole room if I remember.

[38:16] But just tell me what a perfect world

[38:17] would that look like based on that size.

[38:20] We'd be more than happy to provide you

[38:22] that. I can't give you that. That's fine,

[38:24] don't expect that. Thank you. Okay. Okay, Councilman

[38:30] Moak. I might want to add one thing.

[38:32] There actually has been a study on the

[38:35] prison in terms of rightsizing. The big issue

[38:37] is what size of a facility do we

[38:39] need. The next step really is to have

[38:42] someone design the facility and those discussions are

[38:45] actually going on right now. Does that include

[38:47] the medical portion It would to figure out

[38:50] what we need for a new facility, what

[38:52] space we need, what the cost would be

[38:55] and then determine where it would be located

[38:57] and where the funding would come from. And

[38:58] so as you do that study, Daryl, I'm

[39:00] going add three things to it. Is find

[39:03] a space to add for mental health, find

[39:05] a space dedicated to substance abuse, and then

[39:08] find a space dedicated to rehabilitation because I've

[39:11] already spoken with BRCC and some other folks

[39:14] who would come there and put a program

[39:16] in place so when the inmates transferred out

[39:18] they wouldn't go through the street, they would

[39:20] have a sustainable education platform that would transfer

[39:23] from in the prison walls to out the

[39:24] prison walls so that they could become part

[39:26] of our workforce and not part of recidivism

[39:29] and keep recycling those same criminal activities. And

[39:34] we do Prison Medical now has a person

[39:37] who actually helps transition people out, and the

[39:39] big trick is trying to connect them with

[39:41] all of those groups on the outside. No,

[39:43] I mean inside and then Right. Yeah, like

[39:46] BRCC have a campus inside the walls where

[39:49] they can get high set degrees, earn certificates

[39:52] for short periods of time and if those

[39:54] certificates don't last, the problem is a lot

[39:57] of the things inside the prison don't go

[39:59] outside the walls. Then you give somebody $20

[40:01] and tell them go ahead and have a

[40:02] great day. And we need to make sure

[40:05] that the programs in the prison are sustainable

[40:07] outside so that they add to the workforce

[40:09] and not add to recidivism. Right. Thank you.

[40:12] Okay. Councilman Moak. So I'm just trying to

[40:20] go along, I'm trying to further the discussion.

[40:23] I agree that as far as medical facilities,

[40:27] y'all are just managing what we're providing to

[40:30] you through the contract. Correct. I mean, if

[40:34] we provide you two beds or two rooms

[40:37] to work in and two office spaces to

[40:40] work in, that's what you have, that's what

[40:42] you manage, that's what you contract out? That

[40:46] is correct. We work with what we have,

[40:51] yes. Yes, that's what it sounds like, you're

[40:53] working with what you have. Now, I agree

[40:55] with Councillor Maherst, I think the whole thing

[40:57] needs to be leveled and rebuilt and it's

[40:58] old and I would love for, since y'all

[41:01] are the medical contractors, to come back to

[41:03] us and say, here's the wing that we

[41:05] want, you know, the women's facility, this, that,

[41:08] so on and so forth. I just think

[41:11] that he's called for a report from y'all.

[41:15] I think with that report, I would like

[41:17] to see what your estimated, basically, correct me

[41:21] if I'm wrong, you're asking for what would

[41:24] it take to bring the standard of care

[41:25] up, what facilities and type and stuff that

[41:27] you would need to do that type of

[41:29] stuff. I would like the financial part on

[41:31] your recommendation on what we would also be

[41:34] looking for to do that. So we don't

[41:39] do construction consulting. Okay. So our estimate would

[41:44] be just, I mean that what we could

[41:48] do is make a recommendation of an ideal

[41:50] facility. We do provide the standard of care.

[41:54] I wanna clarify that. We do provide that

[41:56] No, agree. Like you said, it's gone down,

[41:59] it's dropped. I haven't heard, there's problems, don't

[42:03] get me wrong, but medically, I haven't heard

[42:06] the problems that we've had and so on

[42:07] and so forth, I will agree with Councilman

[42:10] Hurst that there are additional services that could

[42:13] be provided if we had more facility resources.

[42:18] Right. And it both, to me, like I

[42:21] said, all the services are great and everything,

[42:23] but it boils back down to like everything

[42:24] else and all the other departments that report

[42:26] to us is, it's about funding. And I

[42:30] think the Sheriff's Office is looking at some

[42:33] things to do for funding and I know

[42:35] we would have to look for funding and

[42:36] stuff. So that was my big thing is,

[42:39] you know, I think y'all are doing a

[42:41] great job with the facilities that we as

[42:45] a city parish have provided to y'all. They

[42:49] are not the best facilities, they are not

[42:50] whatever, but y'all are managing the facilities that

[42:53] we have provided for y'all in the contract.

[42:57] And like I said, I think the complaints

[43:01] have gone down significantly medically and so on

[43:04] and so forth. So anyway, thank you all

[43:05] very much for coming for your report. Thank

[43:07] you. I just wanna clear up that mine

[43:10] wasn't a complaint about how you're servicing. Mine

[43:13] was more about what can we do as

[43:14] a counsel to make sure that you have

[43:16] the best resources because these people aren't convicted.

[43:19] Can think about my son being held in

[43:21] there with no bond, right? I always try

[43:23] to put myself in somebody else's position of

[43:25] my child being there, what would I want?

[43:27] I want the best for him. And so

[43:29] I'm just trying to figure out what does

[43:30] that best look like. That's it. Yeah. And

[43:31] we're more than happy to work with you

[43:33] guys on recommendations and all that. I just

[43:36] want to make sure I get the right

[43:37] people in the room for it. Thank you.

[43:41] So with all of that being said, when

[43:45] we thank you, we look forward to hearing

[43:48] from you in January and even your, maybe

[43:53] your operating manual if you have one to

[43:57] kind of let us see some good stuff

[43:59] and you know, talk about the retention of

[44:03] your staff and all of those things. We

[44:05] look forward to seeing you after Santa. Very

[44:10] good. He's got a better beard than I

[44:12] He should come first. You got a mark.

[44:16] Thank you all. Council Member Coleman, do we

[44:20] have a public hearing component to this? No,

[44:22] we don't. Okay, thank you. Alright. Next, we

[44:30] have the Department of Building and Grounds. And

[44:38] while building and grounds coming forward, Councilman Go.

[44:42] Yeah, as I said earlier, December 13, that

[44:48] would be an opportunity, that's our approval meeting,

[44:51] but that'll be an opportunity for any other

[44:55] questions from the public just as November 22

[44:58] was. I think this may be your first

[45:05] time doing a presentation. Yes, ma'am. Yes. Indeed.

[45:17] Alright. Good evening. Thank you guys for inviting

[45:20] us. I'm Joe Joe Butler, director of buildings

[45:24] and grounds. Here to give you our 2023

[45:27] presentation. Alright, in our buildings grounds, we have

[45:32] a mission to provide quality service in effective

[45:36] and professional manner to ensure safety and the

[45:40] health and welfare of the city employees and

[45:42] the patrons that use our facilities on a

[45:45] daily basis. Something that we take serious. It's

[45:49] something that we discuss every morning. Our morning

[45:51] meetings. Our guys, when they go out and

[45:53] hit the ground, they know that we are

[45:55] here a service to all these facilities that

[45:58] we do manage. So, this year, 2023 for

[46:05] our budget, we have a little bit over

[46:06] $10,000,000 dedicated to building maintenance. Outside of that,

[46:10] for prison maintenance, it's, 907,000 that we have

[46:15] committed for that. And what we managed in

[46:20] that is different contractor services that we have

[46:22] from electrical, plumbing, HVAC, janitorial service, elevator maintenance,

[46:29] and pest control. Prison maintenance, we we offer

[46:34] the same services over the prison maintenance. It's

[46:36] identical to what we do with the rest

[46:38] of the facilities. Well, in our allotment this

[46:44] year for 2023, we we have a 20%

[46:48] vacancy rate. Something that we fighting across DPW

[46:52] as a whole. Find employees to come in.

[46:56] Qualified employees, but, we're pushing with reaching out

[47:01] to BRCC, different technical schools to see if

[47:04] we can get some candidates, out of school

[47:06] and get them trained up to come work

[47:08] for, city parish and some the benefits that

[47:10] we have to offer. What you don't see

[47:14] in there is architecture services. The breakdown, we

[47:17] do have three senior architects. One one junior

[47:22] architect and next year for 2023, we're looking

[47:25] to get an internal architect to come in

[47:28] as well. So, some of the services that

[47:34] architect service provide is developing scope and budgets

[47:38] for facilities. That's facilities they build from the

[47:41] ground up or facilities that require any major

[47:44] renovations. They do select design consultant. So, some

[47:50] of these projects are too big for us

[47:52] to do in house. So, what we do

[47:53] is architects will manage the project from a

[47:57] project manager standpoint and oversee any outside services

[48:01] that we receive from any architectural architectural group.

[48:06] We we also review the invoices of do

[48:10] construction management. So as soon as they as

[48:14] soon as we start breaking ground, we have

[48:16] a a gentleman that that goes out, assesses

[48:19] all the safety aspects, assesses the scope, makes

[48:22] certain that the contractor is working within this

[48:25] necessary scope that we provided for them. For

[48:30] building maintenance, our responsibilities are the overall to

[48:35] I'm sorry. To overall the the manage the

[48:38] maintenance of overall facilities, custodial operations. We also

[48:42] set up for different events that we have

[48:44] that's also on City Parish property, and it's

[48:47] put on for the City Parish employees. Prisoner

[48:53] maintenance, we manage the electrical service, plumbing, HVAC,

[48:58] kitchen and laundry equipment, and also any structural

[49:01] repairs that we have around the prison facilities.

[49:07] What you see right there in front of

[49:08] you is the work request for 2022. So

[49:13] we in total, we have 167 facilities that

[49:16] we manage. We have one hundred and forty

[49:18] forty five that we actually provide services to.

[49:22] So that's all the services that I mentioned.

[49:24] We offer those services to all those facilities.

[49:29] For work orders, we had roughly 12,000, a

[49:31] little bit over 12,000 work orders for the

[49:33] year. We we completed a little bit over

[49:36] 5,800 work orders with a 65% completion rate.

[49:40] We do have a slight backlog. Some of

[49:43] that is due to material costs. Some is

[49:45] some of that is due to some of

[49:49] the some of the items that's just unavailable

[49:51] and we're working plans to change out some

[49:54] of the older assets that we do have.

[49:56] Some of these assets that we have a

[49:57] little bit over twenty years old or better

[49:59] and we're working to to to swap those

[50:03] out. Alright. What you have in front of

[50:08] you is the building ground projects that that

[50:10] we completed over 2022. '1 that you may

[50:15] notice is the front entrance, the apron as

[50:18] you come into City Hall. That was just

[50:22] repaved. We put down new concrete pavers and

[50:26] we resealed the steps. We put a water

[50:28] seal on those steps that would help anything

[50:31] down in B B 1, any leaks that

[50:33] we have coming from the frontage as we

[50:35] did have some issues with that over the

[50:37] past years. So we also assisted with the

[50:42] OCD seven floor renovations. We did this inspection

[50:47] department control installation. We we replaced several pieces

[50:53] of equipment in the prison, ovens, walk in

[50:56] coolers. We did a relamping on the paper

[51:01] clip dock on eleven. You'll see that picture

[51:03] above. And we also replaced some air handlers,

[51:06] two air handlers at the prison as well.

[51:12] Here's, some more of the equipment that I

[51:15] was, discussing that we changed out. Here so

[51:23] this is just a a view of some

[51:25] of the things that we that we took

[51:27] care of over the past year. The first

[51:30] one, the top left, SJ Jewel Newman. We

[51:33] repainted the the gym and relayed the floors.

[51:38] Chanelville Community Center. We went into total renovation

[51:43] from front to back. Put in some exam

[51:45] rooms. Redid the kitchen for him. We also

[51:49] did some hazard elimination over at Leo Butler

[51:52] Center. They had a retaining wall in the

[51:54] back that had bees and those are hazardous

[51:58] anyone that walked by. So, we replaced that

[52:00] and then over over the at the River

[52:03] Center, we had some air handling units that

[52:06] were dated, they need to be changed out,

[52:08] they were cooling part of the arena, and

[52:10] we changed those out and replaced those mid

[52:14] part of the year. So for the upcoming

[52:21] year, were awarded $10,500,000 Some of the facilities

[52:26] that will be impacted by that is going

[52:27] to be the River Center, City Hall. We're

[52:31] doing security for the First Floor upgrades. We

[52:34] got wind wind retrofit that'll be done in

[52:36] the building as well. We'll be changing out

[52:38] the windows on the building, to make those,

[52:42] missile proof. We have DHDS. They'll have some

[52:45] upgrades and public safety complex over at the

[52:50] police headquarters. We have a lot of renovations

[52:53] that will be taking place over the over

[52:55] the H 2 Building. And juvenile services will

[52:59] will be buying a modular building to extend

[53:02] extend their offices and then also upgrading and

[53:06] and putting in 25 doors and controls. For

[53:12] prison maintenance, some of the facility improvements that

[53:16] we plan on having, We're going to be

[53:19] installing some more kitchen equipment. We also have

[53:23] some 25 rooftop HVACs that we'll be replacing.

[53:28] We have some air handlers, eight air handlers

[53:31] in house that we'll be changing. And we

[53:34] also have some exterior improvements that we'll be

[53:37] doing with lighting. There's bad security lighting around

[53:41] the facility. We're working with energy to improve

[53:43] that. Some of the efforts that we're pushing

[53:49] forward in the department itself that help with

[53:52] overall efficiencies, continuous improvement efforts. So part of

[53:57] that is going to be as you see

[53:58] plan, schedule, execute, analyze and follow-up. That'll just

[54:02] help us as far as we are a

[54:04] service to all the buildings that that we

[54:06] use. I mean, that we service to. So,

[54:08] we wanna do is make certain that we

[54:10] are meeting all the needs of the facilities.

[54:13] So, by by implementing the continuous improvement efforts

[54:17] that would help us make certain that we're

[54:19] executing all the work orders and eliminating any

[54:23] dead dead hours and dead man hours is

[54:26] basically hours wasted going back having to touch

[54:28] the PC equipment twice. So if I have

[54:31] an asset that breaks down, we make certain

[54:33] that we're fixing it right the first time

[54:35] and not having to double up on the

[54:37] work. So what we'll be focusing on is

[54:43] three aspects of maintenance: corrective maintenance, preventive maintenance

[54:46] and predictive. So, we're try to eliminate the

[54:49] corrective maintenance to get away from reactive maintenance

[54:51] and go into a more proactive phase. And

[54:54] that's going be using preventive and predictive maintenance

[54:57] measures. That should help us with better workflow

[55:03] also reduction in asset breakdowns and identifying any

[55:08] equipment that we have in place right now

[55:11] that it needs to be changed out. We

[55:13] will be able to put together a three

[55:14] year I'm sorry, one year, three year, and

[55:17] five year plan so we can plan ahead,

[55:19] budget, and request the money as needed. So,

[55:22] we're not coming to you guys when we

[55:23] have a emergency and things breaking down. So

[55:28] here's an example of some of the predictive

[55:30] maintenance that we've, been using over the past

[55:33] couple of months and past four months. This

[55:35] is, electrical testing and inspection that we did

[55:38] at the, exhibition Hall. We identified some faulty

[55:42] fuses. So this this fuse that you see

[55:45] on the table here, this fuse powers up

[55:48] the exhibition hall. This fuse was delegated. If

[55:52] this fuse would have continued to be in

[55:54] service, we possibly could have could have lost

[55:56] this fuse on the load to doing an

[55:59] event. So we it had a ball concert

[56:01] or anything in the exhibition hall. We'd have

[56:03] lost power, which would have been embarrassing for

[56:05] us and as as well to the patrons

[56:08] ruining the experience. So by doing this test

[56:11] and inspection, we were able to identify it

[56:13] before we fail, change it out, and, prevent

[56:17] any, interruption in services that we may had.

[56:20] So this is this is vital to, for

[56:23] us to step, for us to step up

[56:24] our program and to help us provide adequate

[56:28] service. Here's another example of predictive maintenance. This

[56:33] is for all the rotating equipment. So we

[56:36] have a ton of rotating equipment around the

[56:37] facilities with our air handling units. And there's

[56:42] a lot of vibration, a lot of movement,

[56:44] a lot of this equipment is old, hasn't

[56:46] been touched as far as tighten down tighten

[56:49] down boats in a while because because the

[56:53] the practice of it is is is not

[56:56] where it needed to be. So what we're

[56:58] doing is we we revamp in our rotational

[57:01] PMs and we're doing the the vibration analysis.

[57:04] This will tell us any type of movement

[57:06] we may have on the shaft that you

[57:08] that you can't see with your eye and

[57:10] tell us if we have any potential failures

[57:12] in our bearings or shaft alignments. Some of

[57:18] the employee training and process improvements that we're

[57:21] going to implement is work order process flow.

[57:25] We're implementing a CMS system working with MGO.

[57:29] This process will help us be able to

[57:32] track our assets, to know exactly what work

[57:34] we've done on our assets, how much money

[57:36] we spend on our assets, so that way

[57:38] we're not pouring too much money into our

[57:39] assets. And let's say for instance, have an

[57:42] air handling unit and I spent 80% of

[57:45] the value of a new one, I know

[57:47] it's time to purchase a new air handling

[57:49] unit versus continue to put money into asset

[57:52] that's that's past its life cycle. We're improve

[57:56] our planning and scheduling. We're actually doing some

[57:59] training on planning and scheduling. We're working with,

[58:00] with Shell. Shell Geisman employee, mister Glenn. He's

[58:04] come in. He's helping us, organize and try

[58:07] to help bring City Perish employees in the

[58:10] building's grounds area up to industry standards on

[58:13] how we actually do our planning and scheduling.

[58:16] So while I'm researching with BRCC and I

[58:20] have a group of failure prevention associates, they're

[58:23] they're going to come out and help us

[58:25] with millwright precision training. That's going to help

[58:28] us with our shaft alignments, pump pump installs,

[58:32] and overall mechanical maintenance inspections. We're going to

[58:37] do some continuous improvement for our HVAC employees.

[58:40] We're going to do boiler maintenance training, five

[58:42] s training, that's six sigma six sigma practices

[58:45] that's used across industrial industry standards. Hazard eliminations,

[58:51] and then also we're going to do some

[58:53] management training to help our management staff make

[58:58] sure that we're managing our guys adequately. Alright.

[59:03] That is it. Any questions? Okay. Councilman Moak.

[59:10] You have two minutes. Thank you Mayor Pro

[59:15] Tem. Feel like I'm working directly under him

[59:18] right now. Can you go back to the

[59:22] slide that has the list of facilities and

[59:25] the man hours? Right there. Okay. Did that

[59:40] take up my time going to that slide

[59:41] or no? Community centers. Throw those out and

[59:51] I don't mean throw them out as whatever

[59:52] but I'm not going to talk about them

[59:53] on the list. Parish prison. I'm to talk

[59:55] about headquarters, police headquarters, juvenile service, juvenile court,

[59:58] EMS fire. What is EOPP Building? EOPP. I

[1:00:07] mean, I mean, I know I got a

[1:00:08] contact in Lasix and one eye but it

[1:00:10] does say it's on 4523 Plank Road. Emergency

[1:00:18] Operations Building. Emergency ATM. It's emergency what? That's

[1:00:24] the Emergency Response Building. That's the ATM Building.

[1:00:26] The the address is wrong with it. Okay.

[1:00:28] Think so. That's on Harding. Okay. That's the

[1:00:30] other address is wrong. Yeah. You what? Keep

[1:00:56] keep your office as social service. You had

[1:01:02] you had to forgive me. I'm five months

[1:01:04] in. He's active. Right. That's the And and

[1:01:07] anyone you know, feel free to assist. They

[1:01:10] just with this. Okay. Okay. You. Yes. City

[1:01:20] Court Building, City Hall, we know okay. In

[1:01:24] the City Hall, the City Court Building, Nineteenth

[1:01:28] JDC what else do we have downtown? Know

[1:01:34] Human Resources is right downtown and we have

[1:01:38] we have a planning commission over on is

[1:01:42] that North? Laurel. Laurel? Yeah, Laurel. What has

[1:01:50] anything been looked into or and and again,

[1:01:53] it's hard to ask these. Know you've been

[1:01:55] in five months and I respect that, but

[1:01:57] does anybody else have the answer to these?

[1:01:58] Has anybody been looked into the percent of

[1:02:02] use for each of these buildings? In other

[1:02:05] words, the occupancy of each of these buildings.

[1:02:08] And I'll give you one example. I've started

[1:02:11] at the Tenth Floor with some other council

[1:02:14] members and went floor to floor to floor

[1:02:15] to floor to floor, seeing what exactly this

[1:02:18] building is used for. And I know we've

[1:02:21] had a couple floors that we've got multiple

[1:02:24] areas of just stuff stacked up. Has there

[1:02:28] been any thought, any study, any last time

[1:02:31] it was done on consolidation of these buildings

[1:02:35] or resources? Yeah, that's, I'll let Darryl answer

[1:02:39] that. I know in City Hall, we we

[1:02:44] have consolidated storage space. Like right now, we

[1:02:46] have some vacant space that the registrar of

[1:02:48] voters uses for elections. We have some space.

[1:02:52] The Tenth Floor has the the restaurant or

[1:02:55] the food service area that has basically been

[1:02:57] shut down because of the COVID epidemic that's

[1:03:01] getting ready to be reopened. But we don't

[1:03:03] have a lot of storage space. We had

[1:03:05] OCD space that's actually now been fully repurposed

[1:03:08] and those files have basically been eradicated. So

[1:03:12] we're really doing everything we can to maximize

[1:03:14] the use of space. Well, I mean, I'll

[1:03:17] just be like when I first came in

[1:03:20] and didn't even have a desk in the

[1:03:23] office, I got taken to, I forget what

[1:03:27] floor it was, where the courtrooms were, and

[1:03:28] there's just desks stacked all through, and they're

[1:03:31] still there. And I guess what I'm looking

[1:03:33] at is, I'm looking at the building and

[1:03:34] it doesn't seem that big, it may be

[1:03:36] huge, Where I forget the Where sign all

[1:03:44] your paperwork and everything? So across from where

[1:03:47] the voters registration Where the voters is on

[1:03:50] the Ninth Floor at the parish attorney's Office

[1:03:53] is what you're referencing. Yeah, but then a

[1:03:55] couple of other locations Right. It may be

[1:03:58] the public defender space. They have space in

[1:04:01] their floor that they're struggling to make better

[1:04:05] use of their space that exists. Well, I

[1:04:07] was just thinking, it seemed like some of

[1:04:10] these services could be pulled here with redoing

[1:04:15] the resources of It just seemed like we

[1:04:16] had a lot of open space and that

[1:04:18] would save us money by releasing these older

[1:04:20] buildings that we're having to proactively maintain and

[1:04:25] take on. Don't even know what to, and

[1:04:28] I know it's a brand new building. I

[1:04:30] don't know if they just built it for

[1:04:31] complete size or if there was more space

[1:04:33] available in there that certain services could go

[1:04:36] to the courthouse over here. It just seems

[1:04:39] like I know the state a while back

[1:04:41] went through a big consolidation thing and they

[1:04:42] built buildings, but We do know again in

[1:04:45] our building, I'd have to say that pretty

[1:04:47] much if there's a vacant space, it's sitting

[1:04:49] there based on like in Hiller's case, there's

[1:04:52] some space that he needs to build out

[1:04:53] that we just haven't had the funding to

[1:04:55] do yet. I think that funding is actually

[1:04:57] being appropriated. Some of the other buildings we

[1:05:01] do have two or three buildings that we

[1:05:02] are on the verge of working on selling.

[1:05:05] The old Council on Aging building on Florida

[1:05:07] Boulevard, the old Detox building on Florida And

[1:05:09] Nineteenth, and we have a fire station building

[1:05:12] that is going to be sold also. Okay.

[1:05:14] And I get that, but like the Council

[1:05:16] on Aging, you're selling that building, but where

[1:05:19] did they go? They have a new space.

[1:05:21] They have a new space. They were in

[1:05:23] a building that belonged to City Parish that

[1:05:25] they are actually going to move they're fully

[1:05:27] vacating. I guess that's what I was kind

[1:05:30] of getting at is, I don't know how

[1:05:32] many spaces they have at this new space,

[1:05:34] they couldn't come down here? Oh, no, the

[1:05:36] Council on Aging is huge. It's a huge

[1:05:38] complex that they built their own dedicated funds.

[1:05:41] But again, maximization is one of the things

[1:05:44] we've really worked on, trying to consolidate things,

[1:05:46] make sure we don't have things. The Public

[1:05:48] Safety Complex, there's a space out there that

[1:05:50] has been vacant in H2, which is next

[1:05:53] to the police headquarters. We have moved the

[1:05:58] Cooperative Extension Service. They vacated a building that

[1:06:00] we had there in that space. Some of

[1:06:03] the ARP money is set up to actually

[1:06:05] redo part of H2. The registrar of voters

[1:06:08] will be moving out of one location on

[1:06:10] Corsey end of the building. So we have

[1:06:12] a lot of plans in terms of how

[1:06:14] to maximize those building spaces. It is pretty

[1:06:17] critical to us. Do we have any kind

[1:06:19] of reporter information on occupancy, vacancy, and stuff

[1:06:23] like that as far as each building? Yes,

[1:06:26] And we can also provide what we're doing

[1:06:28] with those ARP funds to help people understand

[1:06:31] what we're retrofitting in terms of filling out

[1:06:33] vacant space. We can get that back. Alright.

[1:06:38] Thank you. Councilman Hurst. I know when they

[1:06:42] saw me and Moke walk in the building

[1:06:43] and they they start looking at their watches.

[1:06:45] I never had. But you have three minutes.

[1:06:48] Gens three. So to answer one thing about

[1:06:54] Aaron's, I did have the opportunity. I think

[1:06:56] you should go also visit the new COA

[1:06:57] Building. 1 Day about a week and a

[1:06:59] half ago. And the whole bottom floor is

[1:07:02] bigger than my community center on both sides

[1:07:04] of the kitchen. So now they make their

[1:07:05] own meals or their own meal prep, their

[1:07:07] own TV dinner. They do all that stuff

[1:07:09] there to cut down on cost in other

[1:07:11] areas. You're using your time? I got you.

[1:07:14] So when I look at this, I go

[1:07:16] back to what pain points that that I

[1:07:18] believe are part of the reason god put

[1:07:20] me here and I'm going back to that

[1:07:21] prison. I'm looking at two thousand seventy five

[1:07:24] man hours, fourteen forty two work hours. I

[1:07:28] want you to come back to me and

[1:07:29] quantify that and tell me how much it

[1:07:31] cost in terms of material and labor to

[1:07:34] do whatever you did for two thousand seventy

[1:07:37] five hours. And I know you're new, so

[1:07:39] it may not all be you. You have

[1:07:40] to do a little digging, but that's very

[1:07:42] important to understand how much money we're wasting

[1:07:44] every year. And then also, as a matter

[1:07:54] of fact, can probably stop there because that

[1:07:55] was my biggest concern is Okay. Is in

[1:08:00] turn oh, the other one was 20% reduction

[1:08:02] our challenging workforce. So do you know the

[1:08:05] dollar per hour that you're paying those people

[1:08:08] that are unable to get jobs or don't

[1:08:11] wanna get jobs because of what you're paying

[1:08:13] them? I'm trying to figure out what that

[1:08:14] gap you know, we talk all the time

[1:08:15] about trying to fill the workforce and I

[1:08:17] call you and say, hey man, I might

[1:08:18] have somebody. But what's the average pay for

[1:08:21] those jobs that we're talking about have a

[1:08:23] gap in your in your in your department?

[1:08:25] The average pay is roughly around $13 an

[1:08:27] hour. Okay. And what type of job would

[1:08:31] they be doing for about $13 an hour?

[1:08:34] It can range from general maintenance, cleanup to

[1:08:39] electrical, plumbing, HVAC work, boiler maintenance. So now

[1:08:45] I've met with the labor unions and because

[1:08:47] I I really wanna understand what workforce challenges

[1:08:49] in the community to the point where I

[1:08:51] was at the carpenter's union last week all

[1:08:53] day long. Work met with Louisiana Workforce Commission.

[1:08:58] These people who are untrained, skilled labor that

[1:09:02] are going through an apprentice program for what

[1:09:05] you're paying for $13 an hour for somebody

[1:09:07] who's knowledgeable, they will pay $19 an hour

[1:09:10] for somebody who's not knowledgeable and learning that

[1:09:13] same trade, whether it be boilermakers, they can

[1:09:15] bank a little bit more boilermakers, painting electrical

[1:09:19] so this is not a slap and chew.

[1:09:21] This is just a public statement to say,

[1:09:24] again, I've I've I've asked for a pay

[1:09:27] study. I've not gotten my email back from

[1:09:29] Daryl Gissel, I was listening, to approve the

[1:09:32] pay study for the Department of of HR.

[1:09:36] But when we talk about $13 an hour,

[1:09:38] we talk about gaps. We talk about prison

[1:09:41] is not fixed. We talk about challenges and

[1:09:43] work orders that sit out there for four

[1:09:45] years. I need the email approval piece there,

[1:09:50] I guess, so that we can get that

[1:09:51] study done at least to show the disparity

[1:09:53] with it. Then then once we create that

[1:09:55] gap, show how we can close that gap.

[1:09:57] Thank you. Okay. Mister Butler, excellent presentation. Four

[1:10:03] months, five months it's been? Five, a little

[1:10:05] bit, yeah, the five months is some change.

[1:10:07] So excellent and just keep on doing what

[1:10:09] you're doing at the Butler Center here over

[1:10:10] there in the District 10, okay? Keep on

[1:10:14] doing what you're Yes, sir. Sir. May add

[1:10:17] one thing about salaries. Looking at Joseph's numbers,

[1:10:20] he's actually done a really good job in

[1:10:22] terms of recruiting. And we have talked to

[1:10:24] some of the labor union groups about bringing

[1:10:26] in people who are retired in some cases,

[1:10:29] who have great skills, who would like to

[1:10:31] come to help us. One of the things

[1:10:32] that you guys did through ARP funding, through

[1:10:35] the funding that was provided to Joseph's organization,

[1:10:38] we're really having the opportunity to get rid

[1:10:41] of a lot of antiquated equipment, which is

[1:10:42] not only going to cut down his maintenance

[1:10:44] costs, is going to greatly reduce energy costs

[1:10:46] also. So we should see some big savings

[1:10:49] all across the board. River Center for instance

[1:10:51] was built back in the 1970s, still has

[1:10:53] the original mechanical equipment. Only want to help

[1:11:12] you close that gap. Let make that clear.

[1:11:13] Okay, thank you. Also I'd have to say

[1:11:16] Mr. Butler you're to be commended about that

[1:11:18] training and that education component. That is of

[1:11:22] utmost importance, train folk then require folk to

[1:11:27] work. So you're to be commended for that.

[1:11:32] Okay, Mr. Gaudet, just two minutes. Thank you

[1:11:36] ma'am. Yeah, Mook took your minutes. Can give

[1:11:40] an update, Darryl, on the City Hall security?

[1:11:44] Yes. We have actually done a study in

[1:11:46] terms of what we need. The ARP funding

[1:11:49] is providing money for the new doors and

[1:11:53] for the scanners, etcetera. We're now working on

[1:11:57] writing the protocol for the scanners to be

[1:12:00] put in place. We have a couple of

[1:12:01] legal things we need to do. Can we

[1:12:03] have signs that say you can't bring weapons

[1:12:04] in, etcetera? These are metal detectors when you

[1:12:06] say scanners? Yes, yes. And so those things

[1:12:09] we've actually set up the teams within the

[1:12:12] building so each operating division, all the different

[1:12:15] groups of sheriff's office, the assessor, etc. We

[1:12:17] have teams now that we've created so that

[1:12:20] we can do alerts within the building. The

[1:12:22] constable has now taken over security in the

[1:12:24] building. So we still have more work to

[1:12:26] do there, but we're on the way to

[1:12:28] getting where we think we need to be.

[1:12:29] Okay, thanks. Thank you. That was an excellent

[1:12:32] question, Councilman Goldaert. I could have given you

[1:12:34] five minutes. Thank you. Yeah, just have one

[1:12:42] question. Has that department ever looked at being

[1:12:44] privatized? The grounds and maintenance? I don't think

[1:12:52] we've ever looked at that. I think it's

[1:12:54] part of the plan of government. I mean,

[1:12:55] it's part of DPW. Well, mean, I don't

[1:12:58] really need the department, but I'm talking about

[1:12:59] the workforce and everything. So, you know, you

[1:13:02] have a list of contractors and a boiler

[1:13:03] goes out. You call a certain company and

[1:13:07] they go do it. We do have a

[1:13:09] lot of contractors in place. Probably knows a

[1:13:11] huge number of contracts for outside services. One

[1:13:14] of the things that straightened out, for some

[1:13:15] reason we had a bizarre setup where if

[1:13:19] we had a contractor to do mechanical equipment,

[1:13:22] we would order the parts and they would

[1:13:24] have to wait for us to get them

[1:13:26] the parts to put the product in place.

[1:13:28] That made no sense. So we're doing a

[1:13:30] lot of those things to kind of clean

[1:13:32] up how the maintenance is actually done. The

[1:13:34] River Center now is going to be fully

[1:13:36] maintained by the River Center under their contract

[1:13:39] as opposed to us sharing those responsibilities. And

[1:13:43] I do want to add something and this

[1:13:44] is just Permission first. Yeah, hold on. And

[1:13:48] that word privatized, yeah, let's let's let's be

[1:13:52] mindful of that in my opinion there. Yeah,

[1:13:55] these folk working like Hebrews saying, you tell

[1:13:57] them privatized and okay, go on councilman Hurd.

[1:14:00] So that I was One minute. Yeah. I

[1:14:03] was just gonna address that one statement. And

[1:14:05] I talked about this on the radio the

[1:14:06] other day, and then I actually talked about

[1:14:08] it with interim director Fred Ray for the

[1:14:11] challenge of improvisation is that when we put

[1:14:14] contracts in place, they are specified for a

[1:14:16] job or whatever it may be. A lot

[1:14:19] of times, we have jack of all trades

[1:14:21] who may be on one job, but then

[1:14:23] when that job ends, we can move them

[1:14:25] over here. We don't have to constantly bid

[1:14:27] it out and slow the process down to

[1:14:29] solve city problems. We can move it from

[1:14:31] one space to another. So when we control

[1:14:33] the workforce, we have the ability to solve

[1:14:35] problems a lot faster. When we privatize them,

[1:14:38] we have to then go bid them out

[1:14:39] for the new project because they guess what?

[1:14:42] They bid based on what we told them

[1:14:44] would be a part of that packet and

[1:14:46] not playing A, B, C and D. They're

[1:14:49] only gonna do E, F and G because

[1:14:51] that's what they bid for. But we still

[1:14:52] need A, B and C and D done.

[1:14:54] So for that reason, I'm probably against privatization

[1:14:58] and more so looking at how we, from

[1:15:00] an internal standpoint, close that workforce gap. Then

[1:15:02] Aaron, we can talk about that offline, but

[1:15:04] I wanted to make that public. Juvenile service.

[1:15:08] Thank you so very much, mister Butler. Juvenile

[1:15:11] services, if you'll come on up. Oh, I

[1:15:18] saw Fred move out. It's about to say,

[1:15:19] Fred, you got juvenile services too? Wow. Good

[1:15:28] afternoon, everyone. Thank you for the opportunity to

[1:15:30] present the 2023 operating budget for juvenile services.

[1:15:36] So our purpose is to provide supervision and

[1:15:42] probation services as well as oversee the juvenile

[1:15:45] detention center. Next slide please. Next slide, please.

[1:15:56] The mission, is to help change lives and

[1:15:59] build futures and restore hope to the youth

[1:16:03] and to their families. Our mantra at Juvenile

[1:16:05] Services is hope. Have only positive expectations. So

[1:16:18] the Department of Juvenile Services basically have two

[1:16:21] divisions, Probation and Family Services and the Juvenile

[1:16:25] Detention Center. Well, the probation side is responsible

[1:16:29] for pretrial and post disposition monitoring of our

[1:16:33] youth. And with detention, we provide for the

[1:16:37] care and the custody as well as the

[1:16:40] services for those detained youth, which include medical,

[1:16:44] mental health screenings, educational, faith based programming, and

[1:16:48] educational services where our partner is the East

[1:16:52] Baton Rouge Parish School System. As it relates

[1:16:57] to family services, FANS, also known as family

[1:17:01] in needs of services, that particular department welcomed

[1:17:06] the individual families from off of the street.

[1:17:08] They do not have to be a part

[1:17:10] of the system. And if they have a

[1:17:11] need, they come into our facility and we

[1:17:14] partner them or refer them to the necessary

[1:17:16] community service providers in an effort to keep

[1:17:20] them out of delinquency and the juvenile detention

[1:17:24] center. The organizational structure shows the position allotments

[1:17:35] for our respective divisions. More than half of

[1:17:39] the positions are concentrated in the juvenile detention

[1:17:43] facility with 51 positions and on probation and

[1:17:47] family services side, there are 33 positions. We

[1:17:55] have two grants that we work with, families

[1:17:58] in needs of services, our FENS grant, and

[1:18:00] this is outside of the City Parish General

[1:18:02] Fund. They provide, services in order that we

[1:18:06] may cover two positions, specifically counselor positions. For

[1:18:11] the Title IV E grant, we have five

[1:18:15] positions, that are covered. I don't have my

[1:18:17] glasses, I'm sorry. We have five positions that

[1:18:20] are covered and this is specifically for our

[1:18:22] commission law enforcement officer positions, the probation post

[1:18:27] officers. So this shows the total budget inclusive

[1:18:34] of sources as well as operations. I want

[1:18:38] to focus on operations. Go to the next

[1:18:41] slide, please. So when we look at 2022

[1:18:46] versus 2023, we saw a 9.12% increase, which

[1:18:53] equated to approximately half a million dollars that

[1:18:58] had been allocated in the proposed 2023 budget.

[1:19:02] Later in the slides, we'll explain or I'll

[1:19:05] explain the need for the positions that we've

[1:19:08] requested. So with our professional service contracts, all

[1:19:20] of these contracts are renewal contracts, which means

[1:19:24] that these providers, for me, have provided a

[1:19:27] proven track record in which they help to

[1:19:31] respond to not only the Department of Juvenile

[1:19:34] Services need, but also to the court orders

[1:19:38] by the juvenile judges from juvenile court. And

[1:19:41] so we have three main providers, which is

[1:19:44] Convenient Care that does business as total occupational

[1:19:48] medical. We have Doctor. Brandon Romano that provides

[1:19:52] four psychological and other evaluations. And we have

[1:19:56] New Decisions that's responsible for social, therapeutics and

[1:20:00] recreational services as well as those medical evaluations

[1:20:05] and on-site medical care. So for the department

[1:20:14] positions request and rationale, I have requested the

[1:20:18] addition of an Assistant Executive Director, three positions

[1:20:23] for Juvenile Probation Officers post two, and for

[1:20:28] data coordinator. By adding these particular positions, it

[1:20:34] will allow our department to operate more effectively

[1:20:38] and efficiently. The creation of the Post two

[1:20:43] allows for recruitment and promotion of retention of

[1:20:47] staff, but it also improves the ratio of

[1:20:52] commission law enforcement officers that's available to help

[1:20:55] improve safety and security of our entire complex.

[1:21:01] Also, the last rationale is with the data

[1:21:05] coordinator, I feel that we will be in

[1:21:07] a better position to respond to data requests

[1:21:10] from three primary organizations that we are responsible

[1:21:13] to provide that data to. That's Louisiana Commission

[1:21:17] for Law Enforcement, the Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiative,

[1:21:21] and the Louisiana Juvenile Detention Association for the

[1:21:26] State of Louisiana in which I serve as

[1:21:28] Vice President. Now over the last year and

[1:21:38] a half, we certainly saw a change in

[1:21:41] the landscape for juvenile services. And in doing

[1:21:46] so, we attribute a lot of that to

[1:21:48] raise the age law as we examine the

[1:21:51] associated data. If I may, I want to

[1:21:58] read from the Louisiana Children's Code Article eight

[1:22:02] zero four, for the definition of child. Child

[1:22:06] means any person under the age of 21,

[1:22:10] including an emancipated minor, who commits a delinquent

[1:22:14] act before attaining 17 years of age. So,

[1:22:20] as a result of these changes, the detention

[1:22:24] center now has to house people that are

[1:22:26] aged 17 to 20 years old, including those

[1:22:30] youth who have been indicted or billed for

[1:22:33] prosecution in adult courts. Doctor Wade, I'm sorry.

[1:22:40] Point of personal privilege, if that's okay. I'm

[1:22:43] so glad that you're talking about this because

[1:22:44] I know that this is a pain point.

[1:22:46] But can you tell us while we're speaking

[1:22:48] on this, you may have been getting to

[1:22:49] it, so I apologize, the youngest age of

[1:22:51] a person in the juvenile detention facilities? The

[1:22:54] youngest age of a person is 10 years

[1:22:56] of age. So 10 to 20? Yes, ma'am.

[1:22:59] Thank you so much. Phase one of raise

[1:23:03] the age only address those youth who committed

[1:23:06] minor offenses. Phase two now addresses anyone who

[1:23:11] commit any offense which includes fourteen-two violent crimes

[1:23:16] which is inclusive of first and second degree

[1:23:18] murder, aggravated rape, and offenses of that nature.

[1:23:25] So the changes to the population created new

[1:23:29] pressures, which you'll see that the allocated ARPA

[1:23:34] funding from the mayor's office is certainly helping

[1:23:37] us to address those challenges. So we are

[1:23:40] thankful for that. This particular slide shows a

[1:23:47] consistent decline in the admissions of juvenile detention

[1:23:51] over a thirteen year period from 02/2007 to

[1:23:55] 2020. Raise the age is kind of what

[1:24:00] I considered as an unfunded mandate. And so

[1:24:04] although those individuals came to juvenile services, there

[1:24:07] was no funding attached to it. I would

[1:24:11] like for you to pay particular attention, 02/2007,

[1:24:15] the admissions population was a little bit over

[1:24:18] a thousand. Over that thirteen year period, it

[1:24:23] declined to three ninety three. The next slide.

[1:24:30] But we then started to experience an admissions

[1:24:33] influx in 2021. And if you are reminded,

[1:24:38] in much of 2020, during the pandemic, we

[1:24:41] were pretty much under a global stay at

[1:24:43] home order. And so we did not experience

[1:24:46] the influx until 2021 when we started to

[1:24:51] return to some states of normalcy. And so

[1:24:55] in 2021, we would see the increase of

[1:24:58] admissions go up to four sixty nine. In

[1:25:03] this particular year, as of today, at one

[1:25:06] p. M. When I ran this data, we

[1:25:08] have admitted four sixty youth to the juvenile

[1:25:12] detention center. Now the average or the range

[1:25:15] over the last five months have been anywhere

[1:25:18] from 32 to 48 admissions averaging about 40

[1:25:23] admissions per month. So we are on track

[1:25:27] according to the data to meet or exceed

[1:25:31] 500 by the end of the year. So

[1:25:41] what are the areas of impact and actions

[1:25:44] as it relates to the challenges with juvenile

[1:25:46] services? I see it as two fold staffing

[1:25:49] and infrastructure. When we look at staffing from

[1:25:53] the City Parish general fund, we have been

[1:25:57] able to address a special recruitment rate increase.

[1:26:03] Let me use for an example, in April

[1:26:05] of this year, detention officers made $11 and

[1:26:10] some change. Right now, their entrance rate is

[1:26:14] nearly $17 an hour. And so I want

[1:26:18] to thank finance and the mayor's office for

[1:26:22] hearing and immediately addressing those needs. Another example

[1:26:27] I like to share. For more than two

[1:26:31] years, we received requisitions, some literally that had

[1:26:37] one name or zero names on those requisitions.

[1:26:41] And so we attributed that to an influx

[1:26:44] of prime in area and this not being

[1:26:46] a very attractive institution in which people desire

[1:26:50] to work. So we are at a point,

[1:26:54] the last requisition I looked at for detention

[1:26:57] officers had 22 names on it. It had

[1:27:02] 22 names. And so that is a significant

[1:27:06] improvement and it certainly speaks to the special

[1:27:09] recruitment rate that has been implemented across the

[1:27:12] board for juvenile services. I want to add,

[1:27:21] you know, the question may eventually be if

[1:27:26] the rate has went up to nearly $17

[1:27:29] an hour, why are there still staffing issues?

[1:27:32] I want to remind everyone that in order

[1:27:35] to work in juvenile detention, you go through

[1:27:38] a series of qualifications, including a state background

[1:27:42] check, a CANS, which is a child abuse

[1:27:46] and neglect system, a matrix, which is a

[1:27:49] psychological evaluation, and a drug examination. And so

[1:27:53] failure to meet any of those standards eliminate

[1:27:57] them from the requisition. So although we started

[1:28:00] at 22 names on the requisition, when you

[1:28:03] go through that process, it dwindles it down

[1:28:06] to maybe three or maybe four that make

[1:28:09] it through the entire process. The one thing

[1:28:18] we identified at the beginning of this year

[1:28:21] is that there is always a need for

[1:28:24] additional training, but especially in light of the

[1:28:27] changed landscape within juvenile services. And so we

[1:28:30] are happy to say that that is in

[1:28:32] progress. They are receiving, those additional trainings that

[1:28:37] are specific to juvenile detention and we are

[1:28:40] in partnership with the Baton Rouge Police Department

[1:28:43] to offer defensive tactics and other professional development

[1:28:48] for our staff. Next slide. The second area

[1:28:57] of impact and actions associated deals with the

[1:29:01] infrastructure for juvenile services. We've often heard on

[1:29:05] the media that it is a building built

[1:29:07] in 1952. However, we are certainly working with

[1:29:11] what we have, But specifically through the funding,

[1:29:15] again from the administration, the allocated ARP money

[1:29:20] of $2,000,000 will help us to update and

[1:29:24] renovate needed areas within the juvenile detention center.

[1:29:28] I did not go into much detail simply

[1:29:32] because of the nature of the facility, but

[1:29:34] in general it will help to provide security

[1:29:37] doors, surveillance control and additional trainings, things of

[1:29:42] that nature. So we started this year, early

[1:29:51] February or March, working with DPW to do

[1:29:55] an assessment, working with other state subject matter

[1:30:03] expertise for prisons and for juvenile detention centers

[1:30:07] to come walk our buildings. Not only did

[1:30:10] we invite them in to come walk our

[1:30:12] buildings this summer between July and August, my

[1:30:16] staff, my leadership and administration, we visited approximately

[1:30:21] five or six out of state juvenile detention

[1:30:24] centers. And the purpose of that was to

[1:30:27] understand best practices outside of a state with

[1:30:32] a raise the age law. For example, we

[1:30:35] visited the Harris County Juvenile Detention Center. It

[1:30:39] was quite intriguing because their detention center is

[1:30:42] located in City Hall and it takes up

[1:30:45] about five or six floors. They have recreation

[1:30:48] on the roof so that was a bit

[1:30:51] surprising for us. We also visited the Harris

[1:30:55] County in Marietta, the Regional Youth Center and

[1:31:00] we studied their systems, we studied their practices

[1:31:03] and we studied their policies and through these

[1:31:06] visits and the DPW walk throughs and the

[1:31:09] experts within the state of Louisiana, I believe

[1:31:13] that we are on track to address the

[1:31:15] needs that we have within the detention center.

[1:31:23] That concludes the presentation. Councilwoman Bianca. Thank you

[1:31:31] so much, Doctor. Wade. This has been a

[1:31:34] passion of mine to see what you guys

[1:31:36] have been doing since I started on the

[1:31:37] council. And I'm so happy that you talked

[1:31:40] about the raise the age law and how

[1:31:42] that law did not come with additional funding

[1:31:44] to change your facility. Also, think I've been

[1:31:49] out there multiple times and I think it's

[1:31:51] important for everyone to know how antiquated your

[1:31:53] building is. And if you go into modern

[1:31:55] facilities, you would have open space where guards

[1:31:59] could see everything that's happening. However, in your

[1:32:01] facility, there are blind spots all over it

[1:32:04] where people can hide or do bad acts

[1:32:07] or whatever they may be up to, and

[1:32:09] it puts the guards in a particular position

[1:32:11] that is unsafe for them as well as

[1:32:14] the people that are in the facility. So

[1:32:17] can you can you tell us a little

[1:32:19] bit about if that $2,000,000 is gonna help

[1:32:22] with some of those issues and and what

[1:32:26] it is looking moving forward through 2023. What

[1:32:29] do we need to be looking for to

[1:32:31] make sure that we're moving forward and getting

[1:32:33] you those funds? Because so certainly the ARP

[1:32:36] funding of $2,000,000 will greatly help with juvenile

[1:32:41] detention, as we specifically look out and look

[1:32:45] at changing doors, with a heightened level of

[1:32:48] security, the locking mechanisms, their surveillance, video, things

[1:32:52] of that nature. Those things that we are

[1:32:54] able to renovate in antiquated building. And so

[1:32:59] we will start there. Additionally, not just with

[1:33:04] the facility, but I believe that there was

[1:33:06] a great need for additional training with a

[1:33:09] new population coming into the juvenile detention center

[1:33:12] that officers were not familiar with. And so

[1:33:16] we have seen a drastic improvement. For example,

[1:33:20] it has been more than a year since

[1:33:23] there has been an escape from that particular

[1:33:26] facility. And within the four years that I've

[1:33:29] been there, there have been two escapes. In

[1:33:32] comparison to any other facility, that's a decent

[1:33:37] number. And so I attribute that to the

[1:33:40] officers and to my team members who are

[1:33:43] dedicated, diligent and very determined to do their

[1:33:46] jobs. So one more question. With regard to

[1:33:50] visiting some of these newer facilities and some

[1:33:52] of the educational programs that you guys have

[1:33:54] put in place, are y'all fighting? Can you

[1:33:57] show the recidivism rates with some of your

[1:34:01] residents? Is that declining within moving on, growing

[1:34:05] up? How does that work? How do we

[1:34:07] compare? So at one point we saw the

[1:34:10] recidivism rate declining. Just through observation over the

[1:34:14] last few months, we see the same individuals

[1:34:18] returning. And so we've not yet run the

[1:34:22] statistics for recidivism, but it's certainly something that

[1:34:26] we're watching and we'll be doing at end

[1:34:28] of year. Thank you so much. I just

[1:34:33] want to say God bless you. I have

[1:34:35] spent my career in schools and most recently

[1:34:39] working in a school that had everything from

[1:34:41] six weeks old to 18 years old. And

[1:34:43] I know what we went through just to

[1:34:46] make things developmentally appropriate and to keep children

[1:34:49] of certain age distances apart from each other.

[1:34:52] And just in very controlled school setting, was

[1:34:55] difficult, so I cannot even imagine what it

[1:34:58] has been like for you. So thank you

[1:35:00] for all your efforts. Thank you. Hey Doctor.

[1:35:06] Wade, have you come up with a job

[1:35:08] description for the addition of the Assistant Director?

[1:35:11] Yes, have. And, Mr. Gaudet, I don't have

[1:35:15] that with me, but, I would be happy

[1:35:17] to forward it to What I would like

[1:35:19] to say is through the visitation of juvenile

[1:35:22] detention centers out of state, but specifically in

[1:35:25] state. We have 13 juvenile detention centers with

[1:35:29] about three maybe on the style of the

[1:35:31] East Bainbridge Parish. Most detention centers are operated

[1:35:36] separately than from the services side. And so

[1:35:39] certainly I believe that the addition of the

[1:35:42] Assistant Executive Director allows for more leadership at

[1:35:46] the helm to effectively and efficiently address the

[1:35:51] needs of the entire building as opposed to

[1:35:55] focusing solely on juvenile detention which in the

[1:35:59] last year it has been a huge focus.

[1:36:04] Thank you. Thank you. And I'm sorry, was

[1:36:07] pulling up the budget. Meals caught my attention.

[1:36:10] It's a I I don't know if it's

[1:36:12] a revenue source for you. There's a 50

[1:36:15] in the 2023 budget for juvenile detention meals.

[1:36:18] Help me out with that. So at one

[1:36:20] point, we were receiving funds from the Department

[1:36:25] of Health and Nutrition for those funds to

[1:36:28] supplement. It came with a lot of restrictions

[1:36:31] and stipulations, And so it has dwindled down

[1:36:35] and we are looking to move away from

[1:36:37] it as we do have the funds available

[1:36:40] through our City Parish General Fund account. Y'all

[1:36:43] are cooking on-site. You have a full operational

[1:36:45] kitchen out there. We have a full operational

[1:36:47] kitchen and we have five staff that operate

[1:36:51] the kitchen and the laundry services for detention.

[1:36:54] Okay, thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? Okay.

[1:37:01] I might make one statement about the facility.

[1:37:05] The study that's been done on the prison

[1:37:07] actually has also been done on juvenile services

[1:37:10] and the correctional facility there. So that study

[1:37:13] is done to help right size that doctor

[1:37:15] Wade has worked along with the warden, with

[1:37:17] the consultants, and the next phase really is

[1:37:20] to figure out what it takes to build

[1:37:22] that facility, what the spatial needs are, etcetera.

[1:37:25] So that'll be coming back to the council

[1:37:26] at some point for approval. Councilwoman Banks. I

[1:37:33] I guess I I came in on my

[1:37:36] one of my pet on departments that I

[1:37:39] really appreciate working with you as the director.

[1:37:43] One of the things, I guess again from

[1:37:45] the perspective of being an East Baton Rouge

[1:37:49] Parish school employee and working with, now I

[1:37:55] don't even know if it exists, but when

[1:37:56] I worked with the Office of Adjudicated Youth,

[1:38:01] in which I was responsible for transitioning students

[1:38:04] from juvenile services back into the school system,

[1:38:08] and one of the things that was during

[1:38:11] that time was never put into practice was

[1:38:18] an actual MOU between East Baton Rouge Parish

[1:38:22] School System and the Office of Juvenile Services

[1:38:25] and I was wondering can you elaborate on

[1:38:30] that because with that also it was necessary

[1:38:33] to have the proper staff on both sides

[1:38:36] because students were and I I would be

[1:38:41] remiss if I didn't say that, you know,

[1:38:43] I I'm not sure about this this current

[1:38:45] superintendent but we children actually got Carnegie units

[1:38:49] when they left under your helm where before

[1:38:53] time just went by and a lot of

[1:38:54] the frustration that led to not only recidivism

[1:38:58] but also students dropping out is that when

[1:39:03] they were in detention and they were doing

[1:39:06] the work under the East Bandwidth Parish School

[1:39:08] staff and when they left there were no

[1:39:11] grades, no attendance, no anything. And I know

[1:39:15] that getting that back into full a lot

[1:39:19] of time, a lot of that had been

[1:39:21] delayed with the change in a lot with

[1:39:23] the larger employee and all the other things

[1:39:26] that happened. So I'm going back to find

[1:39:28] out if the MOU had been established and

[1:39:32] what positions possibly on both sides are gonna

[1:39:37] be needed or implemented or suggested for both

[1:39:41] sides and if that is included in your

[1:39:43] current budget? So that's not included in the

[1:39:47] current budget, Councilwoman, but I will say that

[1:39:51] when I started at the helm of juvenile

[1:39:54] services, I went in to do review and

[1:39:57] assessments to see what existed and what needed

[1:40:01] to be maybe modified. I found upon my

[1:40:05] entrance that no students were receiving Carnegie credit

[1:40:08] units, and so it troubled me that these

[1:40:12] young people would attend school between 07:45 a.

[1:40:17] M. And 02:45 p. M. For busy work.

[1:40:20] And so I met with the administration, the

[1:40:23] superintendent, the director of alternative schools for EBR,

[1:40:27] and we quickly put a system in place

[1:40:32] where for the first time in the history

[1:40:34] of juvenile detention, that students receive Carnegie credit

[1:40:39] units. And so it did a few things.

[1:40:42] It incentivized them to want to do the

[1:40:46] work. Also, it prepared them for better reentry

[1:40:51] into society without having an education gap. I

[1:40:56] am thankful for the leadership of EBR, specifically

[1:41:01] Mr. Larry James, the Executive Alternative Director, who

[1:41:07] has worked side by side with me to

[1:41:09] address any needs that I brought to his

[1:41:12] attention. We have a current draft of a

[1:41:15] memorandum of understanding for East Baton Rouge Parish

[1:41:19] School System and juvenile detention that is in

[1:41:22] draft form that we will meet on and

[1:41:25] have conversations on both sides. What are the

[1:41:29] expectations for juvenile services? And then what are

[1:41:33] the expectations for East Baton Rouge Parish School

[1:41:36] System? I would be remiss not to say

[1:41:38] that I believe that our partnership over the

[1:41:42] last three years have seen great improvement, and

[1:41:46] so we hope to continue on a positive

[1:41:48] trajectory. As we go into 2023. We will

[1:41:53] continue those conversations and ultimately between legal services

[1:41:58] for the city and legal services for East

[1:42:01] Baton Rouge Parish enforce a memorandum of understanding.

[1:42:04] Okay. Who which staff of the parish attorney

[1:42:07] works closest with you in juvenile services? So

[1:42:11] that has been attorney, well, attorney Joe Scott,

[1:42:15] Elena Branserou, Don Gilliat, and so I worked

[1:42:18] with multiple ones. But within this year I

[1:42:21] worked a little bit more closely with Attorney

[1:42:24] Joe Scott who's actually here today. Okay, because

[1:42:27] I do know chances are you have to

[1:42:30] go through the General Counsel but also just

[1:42:34] wanting to make sure there was also under

[1:42:39] your staff a Director of Education. At the

[1:42:44] time this was Mr. Newman before he retired.

[1:42:47] So yes, Mr. Newman was the superintendent. The

[1:42:49] superintendent. And so we don't have a superintendent,

[1:42:51] we changed the name to senior shift supervisor

[1:42:55] to stay with best practices. There is no

[1:42:59] detention center that I'm aware of that has

[1:43:01] a detention manager and a superintendent because the

[1:43:05] functions are too similar. And so we changed

[1:43:07] that position to senior shift supervisor. Now we

[1:43:10] have a detention counselor who is a licensed

[1:43:13] professional counselor that will be starting within a

[1:43:16] week. That particular position is charged with the

[1:43:19] coordination of educational activities within the JDC. So

[1:43:23] are they doing academic and mental health or

[1:43:26] just academic? They are doing academics. Way the

[1:43:30] structure is right now, through our partnership with

[1:43:34] East Baton Rouge Parish school system, we have

[1:43:37] on-site five days a week, seven forty five

[1:43:41] a. M. To 02:45 p. M. Certified teachers

[1:43:44] and so the detainees attend class on a

[1:43:47] regular basis. On that particular staff, all East

[1:43:52] Bay Village Parish School System, we have an

[1:43:58] assistant director of EBR Readiness who is on-site

[1:44:02] every day And then we have the teachers

[1:44:04] for the various subjects as well as the

[1:44:07] paras that are needed. Our detention counselor, we

[1:44:11] certainly don't want to intrude on their expertise.

[1:44:14] So our position from the detention counselor is

[1:44:17] to ensure the coordination of educational services. So

[1:44:21] that's a new budget position? It is not.

[1:44:25] Okay, just a name change and a position

[1:44:27] change. Yes ma'am. Once you all get the

[1:44:29] MOU in order, it would be great if

[1:44:32] you would meet with Ms. Brazier so that

[1:44:37] each school counselor has that person's contact so

[1:44:41] that when children transition they will make sure

[1:44:44] those records follow them because that, you know,

[1:44:47] all of that is really the pipeline that

[1:44:49] is leading to a lot of our youth

[1:44:50] violence. You know, we don't have to go

[1:44:53] through that and I do recognize, you know,

[1:44:56] this administrator totally embracing you, Doctor. Larry James,

[1:45:00] having you in professional development as well as

[1:45:03] our fun stuff. So, you know, just thank

[1:45:05] you. We do have to work together and

[1:45:08] that's something I believe since I've been here

[1:45:10] and I do see it working very well

[1:45:12] between Juvenile services and the Spanish Fair School

[1:45:16] System. Thank you. Also, I wanted to share,

[1:45:19] we do have what I call a hope

[1:45:22] series, a leadership series. Again, hope have only

[1:45:26] positive expectations. So we bring in what I

[1:45:29] call realistic speakers for the youth. And recently,

[1:45:33] we had Mr. Bobby Ginn, who is the

[1:45:35] general manager for Winfield. We've had Superintendent Sito

[1:45:40] Narcisse. We've had Baton Rouge Police Department, Chief

[1:45:44] Murphy Paul, Deputy Chief Myron Daniels. We've had

[1:45:49] Ms. Vernadine Mabry, workforce and development. It is

[1:45:52] our goal to be intentional in pairing them

[1:45:55] with the resources so that they can successfully

[1:45:58] reenter into society. All right, thank you so

[1:46:03] very much for all that good information. And

[1:46:06] just keep in mind some individualized academic education

[1:46:09] plans for these children to see where they

[1:46:13] are and where they can go. Absolutely. Yes.

[1:46:17] Thank you so very much. If I could

[1:46:20] just have three seconds just to tell you

[1:46:22] that the city of Birmingham did launch a

[1:46:25] conflict resolution curriculum and so you know once

[1:46:29] that MOU that might be something we can

[1:46:31] also work on as a preventive methods for

[1:46:34] those to avoid recidivism and it'll help us

[1:46:37] in the school system so much better as

[1:46:39] well. Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[1:46:43] At this time we'll have the mayor's office.

[1:46:48] Thank you very much. This should be the

[1:46:50] briefest presentation of the night. My throat says

[1:46:54] yes. Our budgets, I think I have a

[1:46:58] little clicker, the mayor's office budget basically has

[1:47:02] three different divisions, administrative division, grant division, and

[1:47:07] special programs. The actual administrative part of our

[1:47:14] office, the budget there, excuse me, has actually

[1:47:17] gone down just a little bit from last

[1:47:20] year, and that decrease actually includes a 5%

[1:47:23] pay raise that everybody got. And part of

[1:47:27] that decrease is removing two of the positions

[1:47:30] out of our office into a special grants

[1:47:32] division, which we'll talk about in just a

[1:47:34] minute. But our total budget is roughly $2,500,000

[1:47:40] for the administration part, 15 employees, one of

[1:47:43] those is actually the mayor, and one of

[1:47:46] those positions is made up of two part

[1:47:48] time people who serve as receptionists in our

[1:47:50] office. Grants has been a big challenge in

[1:47:55] my mind in City Parish. We have tried

[1:47:58] two different things to get to where I

[1:48:01] think we should be. We've had a federal

[1:48:04] grants coordinator which we needed to expand. We

[1:48:08] brought in a contract worker who was housed

[1:48:11] in the police department and that person was

[1:48:14] willing to do grant work for other departments.

[1:48:17] What we discovered was that our departments really

[1:48:20] don't have the capability to handle grants. We're

[1:48:24] trying to build that capacity. So this new

[1:48:27] division, we've taken two people, from our team

[1:48:31] and one person from OCD to create a

[1:48:34] special grants office. And the main person in

[1:48:38] that office, their key job will be to

[1:48:40] go out and basically market grants to different

[1:48:43] departments. There are grants all across the board,

[1:48:47] the fire department, police department, etcetera. So they

[1:48:50] will go out and encourage the departments to

[1:48:53] take grants that they find that they think

[1:48:55] are a good match. The National League of

[1:48:57] Cities, which we belong to, is a community.

[1:49:01] We have a special grants program that we

[1:49:03] have, contracted for there where they will actually

[1:49:06] write grants for us for $6,000 So as

[1:49:10] opposed to having a grants division that is

[1:49:12] stuck writing grants, we want to make certain

[1:49:14] that our grants division is out trying to

[1:49:16] get our departments to take those grants. And

[1:49:19] then two people to help administer the grants

[1:49:21] to make sure the departments can get through

[1:49:23] the process. One of the things we're working

[1:49:25] through also, we had a consultant who came

[1:49:28] in who's examined everything from the grant startup

[1:49:33] process, grants review, how it rolls through finance.

[1:49:37] We're trying to make certain that we can

[1:49:38] streamline that process to make it easier for

[1:49:41] everybody along the way. I think everyone here

[1:49:44] has seen that we struggle with grants. It

[1:49:46] takes a long time to get through that

[1:49:48] process. It's very cumbersome if you've ever tried

[1:49:51] to work with one of those grants per

[1:49:52] se. We love the money, but again, the

[1:49:55] bureaucratic process is very difficult. The other part

[1:49:59] of our budget within the mayor's office is

[1:50:02] special programs. Those include community sponsored programs. Those

[1:50:07] are things such as the Kiwanis Christmas Parade,

[1:50:10] which we help fund, White Light Night, which

[1:50:14] is a Dan ten Merchants Program. Different community

[1:50:18] events are funded through this category. Economic development

[1:50:22] programs, our actual, our lobbying functions are categorized

[1:50:29] in that. We do have a Corsten Nichols

[1:50:34] that does lobbying for us on the state

[1:50:36] level, and we have Crossroads that does lobbying

[1:50:38] work for us on the federal level. And

[1:50:41] then under economic development programs, we have things

[1:50:45] such as Oceans Medical, which we gave a

[1:50:48] stipend, a ten year commitment to help incentivize

[1:50:51] them to come to Baton Rouge. That's where

[1:50:55] these funds come from. The summer youth program,

[1:50:58] there's $200,000 in that category. There's also another

[1:51:02] $250,000 of ARP money for 2023 that will

[1:51:07] help augment that program. Educational support initiatives used

[1:51:14] to be Cradle to K. That funding is

[1:51:16] now used for special education programs that we

[1:51:19] can help fund through the mayor's office. Neighborhood

[1:51:22] revitalization is a new category in our office.

[1:51:25] I think we explained that in budget meetings.

[1:51:29] We have a process that's been proven successful

[1:51:32] in Monroe and in New Orleans to expedite

[1:51:36] the blight remediation process and get some of

[1:51:39] those properties back in the marketplace. What that

[1:51:43] does is it will give us a way

[1:51:44] to clear titles on the most distressed properties,

[1:51:47] the ones that we just can't quite move

[1:51:48] through the process. There's a way we can

[1:51:51] take it through the court system and then

[1:51:52] clean the title up and get it in

[1:51:54] commerce very quickly. These funds will actually help

[1:51:57] us basically start almost a revolving fund where

[1:52:02] the funds will come in, the properties will

[1:52:04] be sold and the money will go back

[1:52:06] to continue the program. The Baton Rouge Film

[1:52:09] Commission is actually funded through this category also.

[1:52:12] There's a small increase in that this year.

[1:52:15] I think in 2020 or 2019 when we

[1:52:19] had to reduce budgets, we took a little

[1:52:21] bit of money away from that group and

[1:52:22] we're now giving it back. And I'm proud

[1:52:25] to say that the Baton Rouge Film Commission

[1:52:27] is doing extremely well. This year alone in

[1:52:31] 2020, there's $81,000,000 of production that's been done

[1:52:35] in Baton Rouge. The largest project was a

[1:52:38] Disney production that's getting ready to have its

[1:52:40] main screening. It was a $56,000,000 production. So

[1:52:47] that summarizes where we are in terms of

[1:52:49] our funding and where our money goes. Be

[1:52:51] glad to answer any questions. Do. Okay. Councilwoman

[1:53:02] Banks. In each of these categories, is it

[1:53:06] possible based on a 2022 budget to break

[1:53:13] down these initiatives, the ones that were current

[1:53:16] based on districts? We could come back and

[1:53:21] do that. Okay. I don't know about, I

[1:53:23] don't know if And some of them, like

[1:53:28] I was looking at I'm surprised the community

[1:53:34] sponsored program, it looks like that amount, I'm

[1:53:37] surprised it's only 65 because a lot of

[1:53:40] programs have been sponsored through But as it

[1:53:44] relates to that neighborhood revitalization, I probably did

[1:53:48] miss that meeting last Tuesday. Is there a

[1:53:53] department head for that? Marley Pittman who actually

[1:53:57] housed in OCD. Marley who is here. Marley

[1:53:59] might want to come up and give a

[1:54:01] little information. Is actually going to oversee that

[1:54:04] program and it's a program that Marley researched

[1:54:07] and discovered and has convinced everybody that we

[1:54:11] need to do a pilot program. If you

[1:54:13] have time to briefly tell me who qualifies,

[1:54:18] is it something that is from the top

[1:54:23] down or can, is it for non profits,

[1:54:27] is it for profits, how do you determine

[1:54:29] programs, all that good stuff? Yes ma'am. So

[1:54:34] our piece of the project is really about

[1:54:36] identifying the most distressed properties that have had

[1:54:39] title issues for years, if not decades. And

[1:54:42] so this is a process that the city

[1:54:44] can use. The ARP funding that y'all already

[1:54:46] dedicated for blight work, once that property is

[1:54:49] cleared of blight, to take it through a

[1:54:51] court process, to then put it into the

[1:54:55] land bank, so that we're then able to

[1:54:57] sell that to non profits, local developers, and

[1:55:00] have some community control over that property now

[1:55:02] that it has cleared title. I know that

[1:55:05] there we we wanna make sure that it

[1:55:08] is quickly moved out of the land bank

[1:55:09] and into community hands, but with cleared title,

[1:55:13] they'll actually be able to get the financing

[1:55:14] that they need to then do something with

[1:55:16] it, so that property will be a lot

[1:55:17] more useful to our local developers and to

[1:55:20] our local nonprofits, and so there will be

[1:55:21] a lot more interest in it. Because my

[1:55:24] concern is when you said land bank. I

[1:55:28] know. I'm not the man of the land

[1:55:29] bank at all. No. Know. And so are

[1:55:32] we still talking about the Bill Baton Rouge

[1:55:33] land bank? Yes, ma'am. But what's key to

[1:55:36] know is that the the reason the land

[1:55:38] bank really isn't able to to live up

[1:55:40] to some of those hopes that we have

[1:55:44] for our community is that the enabling legislation

[1:55:47] for how they were gonna clear its title,

[1:55:49] it fell. And you know this, and but

[1:55:51] we will actually be handling handing them titled

[1:55:54] cleared title property from the Okay. So they

[1:55:57] won't so we won't have to work with

[1:55:59] some of those other existing issues. And then

[1:56:00] they'll be able to use their equitable resale

[1:56:02] model to get that back into people's hands.

[1:56:05] Because our our goal is not to have

[1:56:06] the auction determine these things. Sure. The other

[1:56:09] thing is I'm concerned about big business with

[1:56:11] big money eating up the little fish and

[1:56:14] the little developers. Yes, ma'am. I'm thinking about

[1:56:17] a particular piece of land that has been

[1:56:20] difficult, it has been targeted by some very

[1:56:25] wealthy people and I could see them using

[1:56:28] this mechanism to clear title, but then there

[1:56:34] are other less fortunate developers that would like

[1:56:38] to have that same opportunity. And a lot

[1:56:42] of these things happen absent the of the

[1:56:46] council members. And so I like the idea

[1:56:50] that when, for instance, ABC, when Okay. I've

[1:56:54] gotten it where and and also planning where

[1:56:58] they let us know what's coming down because

[1:57:00] they're each one of our areas have may

[1:57:03] have a focus that we're working on. And

[1:57:05] and you can help to determine Right. So

[1:57:08] if someone out the blue comes up with

[1:57:10] their own little deal and we aren't aware,

[1:57:12] that's taking resources from like, I work very

[1:57:16] closely with CPEX in Scotlandville. And so if

[1:57:19] I'm working with CPEX and Southern University and

[1:57:22] we're going around trying to make sure that

[1:57:25] the quality of life for people living, working,

[1:57:29] whatever around Southern University and then somebody comes

[1:57:33] and they go through this and it just

[1:57:35] mess up the whole ecosystem. So I'm interested

[1:57:38] in making sure, wanna know how we could

[1:57:41] mitigate that, will that, And just, you know,

[1:57:44] a little bit more focus on I don't

[1:57:47] wanna I I don't like working six years

[1:57:49] to get get us to a point and

[1:57:51] then someone just come in and do their

[1:57:53] thing. I mean, I think that clearly outlines

[1:57:56] why we need to use the capabilities of

[1:57:59] a land bank. Because we could just take

[1:58:00] it to auction and then just whom Houston

[1:58:03] Developers could kinda come in, use a tax

[1:58:05] write off or something like talking about the

[1:58:06] the service prior to that. Yes ma'am, so

[1:58:11] once it's in a land bank, then the

[1:58:13] land bank can adopt those community plans, can

[1:58:15] work with council members to find ways to

[1:58:17] sell and use that property that meets the

[1:58:20] best needs of the districts, which really our

[1:58:21] council members know. And I'm talking about before

[1:58:24] we even get to that. So how do

[1:58:25] you identify the One of my biggest points,

[1:58:28] problems with land bank is that we just

[1:58:29] land bank. And for me to when I've

[1:58:33] got and talked to other programs that did

[1:58:36] redevelopment, You don't just choose a piece of

[1:58:39] land. Yeah. Used targeting, didn't And we're clear,

[1:58:43] you have to have a specific plan. Yes,

[1:58:47] ma'am. And as a matter of fact, anybody

[1:58:49] comes You're talking my language. I You have

[1:58:51] to have a plan before it even gets

[1:58:52] to a land bank to qualify for all

[1:58:56] these other things. Yeah. Because how often I

[1:58:59] mean, these land bank, it stays forever, you

[1:59:02] know? So I'm talking about where we get

[1:59:05] where someone is coming to meet, they're like,

[1:59:07] we're I'm trying to let's just say Scholumbert

[1:59:09] Avenue. I'm trying to do the Scholumbert Avenue

[1:59:12] thing and this particular property is in the

[1:59:15] land bank Mhmm. And they're able to show

[1:59:18] you substantial abilities and a plan, that should

[1:59:24] cut before you just people just sit in

[1:59:27] there. Yes, ma'am. And so I have several

[1:59:29] properties like that that are in blend in

[1:59:32] the land bank Mhmm. As being they don't

[1:59:34] have to their title, so you can't keep

[1:59:35] them with them. I don't want whatever the

[1:59:37] existing land bank to you start working on

[1:59:40] those property when I got some people waiting

[1:59:42] with money in their pockets to do something

[1:59:44] else. Ma'am. How do we avoid that? So

[1:59:47] the best way to avoid that is to

[1:59:49] I think it's what you said, is to

[1:59:50] pick the properties in the beginning for this

[1:59:52] process that are we know there's a community

[1:59:55] plan for, we know that there's a community

[1:59:57] partner that's ready and willing to do stuff.

[1:59:59] Because I think I know that I have

[2:00:01] residents that reach out to me, local developers

[2:00:03] that reach out to me, same that do

[2:00:04] to you. There is enough people in this

[2:00:06] community who have things that they wanna achieve.

[2:00:08] So we just need to work with them

[2:00:09] to pick the we this is a pilot,

[2:00:11] so just a little 25. It's a good

[2:00:13] Pilot. So we're gonna pick those properties using

[2:00:16] data, using our community partners. We'll take it

[2:00:19] through this process. We'll we'll work out the

[2:00:21] kinks on the small level, and then we'll

[2:00:22] get to, you know, a place where once

[2:00:24] it gets to the land bank, and then

[2:00:25] we immediately sell it back out and we're

[2:00:27] able to do what we need to do

[2:00:28] as as a community with that land. Okay.

[2:00:31] And then eventually get to where mister Gissel

[2:00:34] said that if we're able to if this

[2:00:35] works and then we're able to invest in

[2:00:37] this in a real way, then we have

[2:00:38] a revolving fund where we're constantly doing this.

[2:00:41] Mhmm. And it might only take a year

[2:00:43] for somebody to bring to you a good

[2:00:44] idea, but this clear title has been abandoned

[2:00:47] for ten years or more, fire, all that

[2:00:49] kind of stuff. We'll be able to take

[2:00:51] it through this process, land bank sold within

[2:00:55] a year, year and a half, as opposed

[2:00:56] to a ten year auction, prescriptive period adjudication

[2:01:00] process. Yes, ma'am? Yes, ma'am? Okay. In the

[2:01:10] right area. Mhmm. But I've gone from ten

[2:01:16] years of promising and believing god for Scotlandville

[2:01:19] area to have a full service grocery store.

[2:01:22] To the possibility of having a one and

[2:01:26] a half grocery store. But in the special

[2:01:30] projects, how do we fit that into economic

[2:01:35] development program? You know, we've done Healthy BR.

[2:01:39] I've approved Healthy BR with the promise that

[2:01:42] it's going to get a grocery store in

[2:01:43] Scotlandville. And then once it's approved, I've heard

[2:01:48] from grocery stores from the top of Bank

[2:01:51] 1 in downtown to Plank Road to everywhere

[2:01:55] else and so of course I feel like

[2:01:57] I've been I've I've been duped. Then I've

[2:02:00] there's been it we've we've in the past

[2:02:04] approved money for strategic retail strategies. I'm thinking

[2:02:10] we are working again on Scotlandville because nobody

[2:02:13] was talking about a grocery store other than

[2:02:16] Scotlandville for ten years. No other it has

[2:02:21] the largest food bank. It's where all the

[2:02:23] interest was. But like every good plan, once

[2:02:26] you start, then everybody sees it as a

[2:02:28] good plan for their communities. And, you know,

[2:02:32] I've heard the excuse of, well, if I

[2:02:34] make it just for your community, your other

[2:02:36] colleagues are going to get upset, and all

[2:02:38] kind of foolishness like that. How do I

[2:02:41] get to the place where there is a

[2:02:44] sincere focus on a grocery store in this

[2:02:49] budget, in the Scholumbier community, not that we

[2:02:53] cut shortcuts, because I'm confident that we wouldn't

[2:02:57] check the box that are necessary, but that

[2:03:00] we go through the real plan because we

[2:03:02] don't want a project that's gonna Right. And

[2:03:04] that no other funds are there's a dedicated

[2:03:09] funding stream just like we did with Costco

[2:03:13] under Melvin Kip Holden. Like, what does it

[2:03:17] take for that? We still have, and Linda

[2:03:20] could correct me, we still have $750,000 that

[2:03:23] was allocated for a grocery store and I

[2:03:25] think the big issue has been trying to

[2:03:27] find, right now it's set up for disinvested

[2:03:31] community for a food desert. But that's the

[2:03:34] problem. When we deal with downtown, we didn't

[2:03:38] deal with city of Baton Rouge, we dealt

[2:03:40] with downtown. When we dealt with Plank Row,

[2:03:43] we dealt with Plank Row. When we dealt

[2:03:44] with Arden Wood, we say Arden Wood. But

[2:03:46] when it talks about a grocery store in

[2:03:49] Scotlandville that had that had four grocery stores

[2:03:54] and because of federal, state, and local disinvestment,

[2:03:59] we lost those arteries. So at what point

[2:04:02] is there gonna be the retail reciprocity owed

[2:04:06] to the people in the community in and

[2:04:08] around Scotlandville where this city says we are

[2:04:11] focusing on a grocery store in the community

[2:04:16] of Scotlandville. I can say as a realtor

[2:04:21] from the outside, I've worked on grocery store

[2:04:23] projects in other communities and the tough thing

[2:04:26] there is trying to incentivize someone to come

[2:04:29] in which those funds are actually there for.

[2:04:31] And it has never happened, that's my I'm

[2:04:37] asking Darrell to defer to me on this

[2:04:39] because I think that it's something that I

[2:04:42] could probably speak to a little bit more

[2:04:45] in-depth as it relates to the whole grocery

[2:04:51] store closing that gap. I think you will

[2:04:55] recall and maybe some of your colleagues, but

[2:04:57] you certainly have the longevity here. When I

[2:05:02] first came in office, we started an initiative

[2:05:09] with the Fresh food initiative. Yeah, but we

[2:05:12] started an initiative with Together Baton Rouge that

[2:05:18] asked us to use some of our resources

[2:05:23] to help uplift and stand up a grocery

[2:05:28] store in disinvested communities. The name of the

[2:05:31] company, not really a company but nonprofit, was

[2:05:34] Hope. We all came into agreement, counsel as

[2:05:41] well as the administration on that would be

[2:05:44] a good path forward. I will be very

[2:05:47] candid with you and say that we did

[2:05:50] not see the results that we thought we

[2:05:53] were going to see. Now, I'm not going

[2:05:54] to cast a negative light on hope. I

[2:05:59] think that perhaps they it was a little

[2:06:04] bit more challenging for them than than they

[2:06:06] anticipated. Fast forward, as Daryl said, we still

[2:06:12] have that money and that commitment. For example,

[2:06:17] I want to say it was either the

[2:06:20] North Baton Rouge Economic Development District or the

[2:06:23] Blue Ribbon Commission. One of those groups asked

[2:06:26] us to help support a study for retail.

[2:06:32] And I think that I don't know which

[2:06:33] group that was but it was one of

[2:06:35] the groups in the North Baton Rouge area

[2:06:38] that coincides with some of the work that's

[2:06:40] being done in Scotlandville. Do you recall which

[2:06:42] group that was? No, I know it wasn't

[2:06:45] in NBR now because we know that we

[2:06:47] don't need any more studies. We know that

[2:06:48] together Baton Rouge for six years, I already

[2:06:51] did a study on it. It was one

[2:06:54] of Probably NBR now because they came in

[2:06:55] late. Okay, it was one of those groups.

[2:06:57] But with that being said, the commitment to

[2:07:02] having closing that grocery gap, it still exists.

[2:07:07] Is there a specific plan now that we

[2:07:10] have all rallied around, whether it's been the

[2:07:13] council or the administration? There's not a specific

[2:07:16] plan at this moment, but we still have

[2:07:19] the dollars. We still have the resources to

[2:07:22] make that happen. And I don't think there's

[2:07:24] anybody, whether it's a council member, certainly not

[2:07:27] my administration, that does not want to see

[2:07:31] a grocery store happen in the Scotlandville area.

[2:07:36] You mentioned a few minutes ago being specific.

[2:07:39] I have no problem with Scotlandville because I

[2:07:41] believe that it is certainly part of the

[2:07:44] fabric of North Baton Rouge. And when you

[2:07:47] put a grocery store in Scotlandville, you certainly

[2:07:51] help empower North Baton Rouge. So I don't

[2:07:54] have a problem with that. And the administration

[2:07:57] is certainly open to any plans that perhaps

[2:08:02] we can incentivize. As you well know, Councilwoman,

[2:08:06] there were nothing at one point, and I

[2:08:09] think we all had a meeting about this,

[2:08:11] a public meeting at the library where we

[2:08:14] were talking about the different the potential of

[2:08:17] having grocery stores in the Scotlandville area because

[2:08:21] there had been a lot of discussion around

[2:08:23] it. You remember that meeting? I'm not remember.

[2:08:26] Is Scotlandville Library? No we had it right

[2:08:28] next I probably wasn't there. Okay well some

[2:08:31] of the members of the Schollerville community who've

[2:08:35] been working on that and I think some

[2:08:36] of them have been working with you on

[2:08:38] that were at that meeting. Nevertheless, I would

[2:08:41] certainly welcome any tangible strategic partnership that speaks

[2:08:52] directly to let's get a grocery store in

[2:08:57] Scotlandville with Plan ABC. I do believe that

[2:09:04] there are some other initiatives, as you may

[2:09:07] well know from some of the state legislators,

[2:09:11] that are trying to certainly bring a grocery

[2:09:15] store to that area as well. Listen, we

[2:09:19] have room for more than one grocery store

[2:09:24] when it comes to disinvested communities. So the

[2:09:28] money is here. We are certainly willing and

[2:09:32] ready to move forward with a plan of

[2:09:35] action. So I think, you know, I hear

[2:09:39] what you're saying and I've heard those things

[2:09:41] before as it relates to you saying you

[2:09:45] care about Schollinville and you support, but then

[2:09:49] when we get down to the nuts of

[2:09:51] Nabalta and we bring a plan and we

[2:09:53] think we're ready to go, then you renege

[2:09:55] on those plans. Well I disagree with you.

[2:09:58] You continue and then I'll rebut. Yes, and

[2:10:01] then so the thing about it is one

[2:10:03] of the reasons why we've come up with

[2:10:05] so many plans is because when there have,

[2:10:09] when the goal, when you set a goal

[2:10:12] such as in 2016 and you don't move

[2:10:15] forward, it gives an opportunity for more people

[2:10:19] to just come up with ideas because it's

[2:10:22] difficult to have someone setting a precedent and

[2:10:27] a leadership and stating specifically this is the

[2:10:31] direction we're going. That takes leadership. And so

[2:10:34] that's why we get all these people who

[2:10:38] have not been vested in Schuylenville Twenty And

[2:10:41] Thirty Years, go out of office forty years,

[2:10:43] come back, and they have the assets and

[2:10:47] they are able to get the money at

[2:10:50] the federal level or the state level, you

[2:10:54] know, all out the door. And if we're

[2:10:55] discombobulated with no one standing and saying, this

[2:11:03] is where we are and this is the

[2:11:05] direction we're going. So, it has put me,

[2:11:09] someone who has been fighting since 2012, to

[2:11:13] get these projects off the road to be

[2:11:16] in some several areas of conflict. You know,

[2:11:20] when you met mention North Baton Rouge Economic

[2:11:23] Development District, they weren't even the North Baton

[2:11:25] Rouge Economic Development District when we started getting

[2:11:29] these plans together. They had no funding. They

[2:11:32] didn't even cover at that time. They didn't

[2:11:36] they were not even part of our district.

[2:11:38] Our district didn't even cover their boundaries. So,

[2:11:41] my problem is, you know, just like we're

[2:11:45] heroes for hope, we came up with a

[2:11:47] plan. We we we did every the the

[2:11:49] dots. You know, those developers based on your

[2:11:52] word, based on you bringing that to the

[2:11:54] council, based on you approving those things, and

[2:11:58] now we gotta go to council we gotta

[2:12:01] get the the federal people that gave us

[2:12:03] the money, we done everything, and now you're

[2:12:05] making the developers go ask congressman Graves and

[2:12:09] congressman Carter, and they think it's laughable. And

[2:12:12] so I am dis disgusted that, you know,

[2:12:17] that it's lip service that we could If

[2:12:19] you would come with a plan, that you're

[2:12:21] gonna support it and that you don't have

[2:12:23] a problem with it because in the reality

[2:12:26] of it, we don't see it. And that

[2:12:28] is the disgust and there's no, no, no,

[2:12:31] there is no working together. You know, that's

[2:12:34] me stuck out trying to help developers who

[2:12:37] put all their funding on the retail side

[2:12:40] based on an approval and you don't give

[2:12:43] a damn about the fact that they losing

[2:12:45] money every day. And that's a that's a

[2:12:48] problem for me. And you have the asset.

[2:12:52] You have the federal. You have the ability

[2:12:54] to go to treasure. We've I've asked for

[2:12:57] that. We've asked you to to show to

[2:13:00] all the documentation. I've talked to finance to

[2:13:03] explain what where they're different. We've done everything

[2:13:06] we could do. So, for you to say

[2:13:08] that if we follow that same path to

[2:13:11] get a grocery store, it is is not

[2:13:14] is not really something that I could put

[2:13:17] my dollars on or that I could go

[2:13:20] back to the people and say, the mayor

[2:13:22] said, I can I no longer have that

[2:13:24] kind of support or belief that you would

[2:13:27] do it because you reneged on this other

[2:13:30] deal? So, Councilwoman, it's unfortunate that you feel

[2:13:37] that yeah, it's unfortunate that you listen, I'm

[2:13:43] not gonna I'm not going, you know, I

[2:13:46] could I think you have confused the truth.

[2:13:49] How about we say that? And I'm not

[2:13:51] gonna get into that debate. I've told you

[2:13:53] time and time again, if you want to

[2:13:55] talk to me about that in a civil

[2:13:57] manner, you have come to my We have

[2:14:00] emailed you. But you have you seen the

[2:14:02] emails you Listen, listen. I'm not going to

[2:14:05] debate that with you right now. I'm not

[2:14:07] going to debate it with you right now.

[2:14:09] If you want to have a civil conversation

[2:14:11] with I have had those conversations with you

[2:14:15] and you dismissed them. I have I have.

[2:14:17] I've gone I've gone to every Are you

[2:14:18] gonna let me talk? I listen to you.

[2:14:21] But you're not Madam Leader, Councilwoman, I listen

[2:14:24] to you. I am telling the truth. Mary,

[2:14:26] you're I am telling the truth. Councilor. And

[2:14:28] I'm not going to let you try to

[2:14:29] discredit me. Well, miss. I'm not going to

[2:14:31] get up here and debate with you. I'm

[2:14:33] not going know the problem is you. You

[2:14:35] worry about yourself. That's the problem. You're delusional

[2:14:39] about some of this stuff you're talking about.

[2:14:41] And call the developers, they'll tell you about

[2:14:43] the money that they're The developers tell me

[2:14:45] one thing and they have another conversation with

[2:14:48] But let me just say this, do you

[2:14:50] want to allow me a time to speak

[2:14:52] or you don't? If you're not going tell

[2:14:53] the truth. I'm to tell the truth. I'm

[2:14:55] gonna tell the truth. All right let's see,

[2:14:58] I think this one is. All right. Councilwoman,

[2:15:03] the truth is when you brought that program

[2:15:06] to me, I readily embraced it. I am

[2:15:11] still very dedicated to the project, whether you

[2:15:15] believe it or not. The proof is the

[2:15:18] pudding, and we are getting to that point.

[2:15:22] But the issue is, I'm going to do

[2:15:25] everything decently, in order, cross every T, dot

[2:15:30] every I. So I do not put you,

[2:15:34] the developers, this administration, at any liability. Now

[2:15:38] I'm not going if you wanna have an

[2:15:39] extended conversation with me If we ask you

[2:15:41] to go to U. Treasury, how that's not

[2:15:43] in If if if you wanna have an

[2:15:46] extended conversation with me about this in addition

[2:15:50] to what we've all the information we've already

[2:15:53] shared then you can do that but I'm

[2:15:56] not going to do it at the budget

[2:15:57] hearing. Okay thank you very much thank you.

[2:16:01] Alright, at this time we're gonna ask that

[2:16:04] the Office of Community Development come on down

[2:16:11] and I just hope no children were watching.

[2:16:14] Come on, come on baby. Children need to

[2:16:16] know about debates. That's why our kids can't

[2:16:19] function. They don't have a void. Thank you.

[2:16:33] Good evening, council members. We'll be going through,

[2:16:37] of course, the mayor's office of community development

[2:16:39] budget today. The two documents that you have,

[2:16:41] one is a presentation that is on the

[2:16:43] screen. The other is the detailed budget as

[2:16:46] well that breaks down some of the costs.

[2:16:48] For the office of community development, of course,

[2:16:51] we're currently staffed at four full time staffers

[2:16:54] and nine contracted employees, which includes, of course,

[2:16:59] our community revitalization director that you spoke with

[2:17:01] earlier. It's important to note as we go

[2:17:04] through the budget for the Office of Community

[2:17:06] Development, it is comprised of entitlement funds as

[2:17:11] well as general fund budget as well, which

[2:17:14] we'll go through on the next slide. In

[2:17:17] the first quarter of twenty twenty two, we

[2:17:20] also went paperless in OCD. If you spent

[2:17:23] any time on the Seventh Floor, you'd know

[2:17:25] that we had rooms filled with boxes of

[2:17:28] files that dated back into the early 2000s,

[2:17:32] '20 '10. Our team has now gone paperless

[2:17:35] in doing that. We also held a boot

[2:17:37] camp for our new employees and hosted an

[2:17:40] affordable housing developer workshop all within City Parish.

[2:17:45] In the past, you've seen many of these

[2:17:46] instances done through contractors or third parties, but

[2:17:49] our department has taken on that task. If

[2:17:52] you look behind me, you'll see a row

[2:17:54] of folks. I'm really elated that they've taken

[2:17:56] their time while off to join us today

[2:17:59] to see and understand the proceedings of the

[2:18:01] Office of Community Development, and these contractors and

[2:18:04] employees are committed to the process of improving

[2:18:07] our department and making sure that we are

[2:18:10] putting out our federal funds in a timely

[2:18:12] fashion and a compliant fashion as well. In

[2:18:16] that, we've also had an annual stakeholder meeting

[2:18:19] for community input for our action plan and

[2:18:21] we've hosted a statewide lead hazard reduction grantee

[2:18:25] meeting and many of our members have also

[2:18:27] attended several community development association conferences to increase

[2:18:31] professional development to be able to vet projects

[2:18:34] within our community. Our major programs are funded

[2:18:38] by those four entitlements, which you'll see on

[2:18:41] the next slide, which is CDBG, Community Development

[2:18:45] Block Grants, HOME, HOPWA, housing opportunities for persons

[2:18:51] with AIDS and ESG. Within these grants, you'll

[2:18:57] see under here that we've listed how these

[2:19:00] funds are eligible to be used, whether it's

[2:19:02] home buying activities, homeowner rehab, public facilities, public

[2:19:08] services, and then with our home dollars, construction

[2:19:12] and rehab for sidewalks, utility connections, soft costs,

[2:19:16] also converting properties from commercial to residential, homeowner

[2:19:20] rehab, and tenant based rental assistance. Speaking to

[2:19:25] some of the programs that we've had within

[2:19:26] these budgets, we've done many projects in the

[2:19:29] North Baton Rouge area because these funds are

[2:19:32] focused towards low to moderate income households. For

[2:19:35] example, we've had Elm Grove Capstone Project, which

[2:19:38] put $1,400,000 of home dollars in the Scotlandville

[2:19:41] area. YWCA Providence Place, dollars seven and fifty

[2:19:45] six thousand home project for domestic violence victims

[2:19:49] with the YWCA. Central Road Rehab, which is

[2:19:52] also in the Scotlandville area, 600 ks. And

[2:19:55] then UREC Foster Oaks, dollars one point seven

[2:19:58] million has been put in within those areas.

[2:20:02] In the last three to four years, we've

[2:20:04] put out approximately $10,000,000 in active housing projects

[2:20:09] for low to moderate income home buyer rental

[2:20:13] properties with developers within our community. And if

[2:20:16] you include the C and I grant, Choice

[2:20:19] Neighborhood grant that came from HUD that awarded

[2:20:21] $30,000,000 to our parish, we also included $1,500,000

[2:20:26] in an add on allocation to that as

[2:20:28] well in entitlement funding to support land acquisition

[2:20:32] and rehab that was needed to support that

[2:20:34] project. If you go to the next slide.

[2:20:39] The Office of Community Development within the last

[2:20:42] few years has also received a large amount

[2:20:45] of non entitlement funding as well. What you're

[2:20:49] looking at on this slide particular is our

[2:20:52] funding sources for general fund as well as

[2:20:56] our entitlement programs. As you'll see, 2023 has

[2:21:00] dates in that column. The reason why is

[2:21:03] because we do not receive our entitlements for

[2:21:05] that year until September. So the funding that

[2:21:09] you'll see for fiscal year 2022 will actually

[2:21:12] be spent in 2023. Some of these dollars

[2:21:16] also carry over from year to year when

[2:21:19] you look at the budget within the budget

[2:21:21] book, so you'll see that there's increased funding

[2:21:24] year over year based upon carryover from those

[2:21:26] entitlement funds. For 2022 entitlement funds, again, that

[2:21:32] are spent in 2023, you're looking at $3,200,000

[2:21:36] in CDBG funding, dollars 2,000,000 in HOPWA funding,

[2:21:41] 1.5 in home funding and 273,000 in ESG.

[2:21:46] Those entitlement funds is where most of our

[2:21:48] dollars for our staffing, contracts and administration of

[2:21:54] various grant programs and activities take place year

[2:21:56] over year. There's a reduction from 2022 into

[2:22:01] 2023 for the general fund budget. There was

[2:22:04] a special allocation of $400,000 that you all,

[2:22:07] along with Mayor Broome, awarded to the Office

[2:22:10] of Community Development to improve processes for our

[2:22:13] home rehabilitation program, which is why you saw

[2:22:16] there was a special infusion in 2022 that's

[2:22:19] not a part of the normal allocation, and

[2:22:22] traditionally the department receives 392,000 but you had

[2:22:26] Daryl reference that there was one staff position

[2:22:29] and some funding that moved from OCD to

[2:22:32] the mayor's office for the grant administrator. That

[2:22:35] grant administrator will also be able to support

[2:22:38] grants that are available through HUD for community

[2:22:41] development departments as well and this person is

[2:22:44] particularly specialized in finding new funding sources for

[2:22:47] gap programs that may exist within the department.

[2:22:52] Next slide. Now we're gonna talk about non

[2:22:56] entitlement funding which we've received several projects for

[2:23:00] within the last year. You have emergency rental

[2:23:03] assistance with the Treasury, lead based paint hazard

[2:23:07] reduction, the American Rescue Plan dollars that went

[2:23:10] specifically for home within, the Treasury program, CARES

[2:23:16] Act, Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act,

[2:23:20] weatherization assistance, declared disaster recovery funds and even

[2:23:25] more recently CDBG disaster recovery funds which are

[2:23:29] tied to a specific disaster and they must

[2:23:32] be used to meet unmet needs caused by

[2:23:34] that named disaster. You can look at the

[2:23:38] budget breakdown of that on the next slide.

[2:23:41] Rental assistance particularly I want to take some

[2:23:43] time to talk about because that's a significant

[2:23:45] number when you look at $80000000.80.6 to be

[2:23:48] exact. On the next slide, you'll see the

[2:23:50] breakdown of funding for that program. 59,000,000 of

[2:23:55] that 80,000,000 is allocated to direct assistance for

[2:24:00] residents, meaning those are dollars that are going

[2:24:02] in the hands of tenants to make sure

[2:24:05] that they are not evicted from their homes.

[2:24:08] Another portion of those dollars went to the

[2:24:11] eviction diversion program, which is supported by organizations

[2:24:15] like Southeast Legal Services who just celebrated eleven

[2:24:18] years of being in operation today that have

[2:24:20] served over two forty nine families, six zero

[2:24:24] nine individuals that we have prevented from being

[2:24:27] homeless through the work of that program. The

[2:24:31] last slide, of course, does give that information

[2:24:34] particularly for the districts for the rental assistance

[2:24:37] and I know that there may be particular

[2:24:39] questions about many of the programs within CDBG

[2:24:42] or HOME for your districts and the Department

[2:24:45] of Community Development will start to host quarterly

[2:24:47] meetings to give general information to the council

[2:24:51] members about the projects that are happening, hold

[2:24:54] ups on particular projects because just like many

[2:24:57] other dollars that we see through City Parish,

[2:24:59] when you have federally regulated dollars, There's compliance

[2:25:03] restraints that we have to fall within, environmental

[2:25:06] reviews. So these projects can span anywhere from

[2:25:09] one to five or six years. That may

[2:25:12] seem like a long time just hearing that

[2:25:14] but there are so many phases that we

[2:25:16] have to go through within that. We want

[2:25:17] to make sure that we're having more conversations

[2:25:20] with you all as council members to be

[2:25:22] able to articulate to your residents that may

[2:25:25] be contacting you about them. I'll now take

[2:25:27] any questions. All by myself. First of all,

[2:25:34] Courtney, you did a great job. Thank you.

[2:25:36] Can you go back to slide number one?

[2:25:44] Slide number two. So, entitlement funds, it was

[2:25:50] my understanding that those are like extra funds

[2:25:54] that are pulled from other areas, I don't

[2:26:00] know if it's federal or state, but and

[2:26:02] then it that's how it's not like a

[2:26:05] reoccurring something you could count on, it's like

[2:26:08] lame yap. So explain that to me as

[2:26:13] it relates to this and is this part

[2:26:16] of the proposal for 2023 because they're gonna

[2:26:20] these are the entitled the city has received

[2:26:23] notification of entitlement funds under these programs coming

[2:26:29] in 2023? It's a little bit of both.

[2:26:32] There's some some fact in that so I

[2:26:34] wanna bring some articulation to it and align

[2:26:37] it, the facts there. So first off, the

[2:26:39] city and parish does receive annual allocations. You

[2:26:43] are right, we cannot count on those until

[2:26:45] we get an award letter that comes in

[2:26:47] saying that we will receive them. And then

[2:26:49] part two, we have to submit an action

[2:26:51] plan for those dollars, which also has to

[2:26:53] be approved. So there may be times that

[2:26:55] you'll receive a notification and dollars may be

[2:26:58] withdrawn if you're not spending them down enough.

[2:27:01] These dollars are all contingent. Contingent upon criteria

[2:27:05] of the program, contingent upon criteria of the

[2:27:09] city parish and their prior spending from previous

[2:27:11] years. For example, OCD is still managing dollars

[2:27:15] as far back as 2015. We have disaster

[2:27:20] dollars as far back as Gustaf and Ida

[2:27:22] that are still obligated and tied up into

[2:27:25] programs, however they are still on our books

[2:27:29] and we're still carrying them. What you see

[2:27:32] here, and if you go to the next

[2:27:33] slide for fiscal year twenty twenty two that

[2:27:36] says projected, these dollars were not awarded to

[2:27:41] the OCD until September of twenty twenty two.

[2:27:45] Our fiscal year is almost over at that

[2:27:47] point. So what you're seeing here that says

[2:27:50] fiscal year twenty twenty two, the spending of

[2:27:53] that will happen in 2023 up to five

[2:27:55] years after that. When you see 09/2023 in

[2:28:00] all of those areas in September of twenty

[2:28:03] twenty three, we'll be able to speak about

[2:28:05] 2024 spending with 2023 dollars, if that makes

[2:28:09] sense. So what you hear me talking about

[2:28:11] now is general fund from 2023 but program

[2:28:15] year dollars from 2022. But they are the

[2:28:19] are the lanyard. Some of it is and

[2:28:21] some of it isn't but you all roll

[2:28:23] it all in together if it had not

[2:28:25] been used. So you look at every year

[2:28:27] that's there. This shows the amount that we

[2:28:29] were given. Yeah. And we award them every

[2:28:32] year. However, if they're not used in a

[2:28:34] timely fashion, there may be land yet to

[2:28:36] roll over, yes, but that the rollover is

[2:28:39] not reflected in what you're looking at right

[2:28:41] now. Okay. Only what is awarded on paper,

[2:28:43] on books every year. Okay, so that was

[2:28:46] I received a notice that there was some

[2:28:49] entitlement money EBR just got like two or

[2:28:52] three weeks ago like 1,300,000.0, 3 point 1

[2:28:54] million. So that is from the state, that

[2:28:56] is state OCD, yes ma'am. So how much

[2:28:58] was that? It depends on the particular program

[2:29:01] but I will go, if you go to

[2:29:03] the next slide, two slides back, actually one

[2:29:05] more. So if you look here, two to

[2:29:09] three weeks is not reflected within this, but

[2:29:12] you're probably speaking about approximately one point three

[2:29:16] to 1.8 that came from the state specifically

[2:29:19] for infrastructure. Yeah. And I don't know if

[2:29:21] you have that email up but. So when

[2:29:24] it's entitlement, what I I was told that

[2:29:29] when it's entitlement entitlement, it isn't it is

[2:29:33] not earmarked for a particular purpose. Once it

[2:29:39] becomes, once it's entitled, that it may have

[2:29:42] gone out initially under, you know, a specific

[2:29:48] whatever, but once it be kept, once that

[2:29:51] money is left over and that pot of

[2:29:54] money is given to You're probably speaking from

[2:29:57] state language, and and most respectfully, our state

[2:30:01] legislators are very familiar with how money goes

[2:30:04] from congress to the state. When it goes

[2:30:06] to the municipality, we have three layers of

[2:30:09] compliance that we have to follow. Local compliance

[2:30:12] for city parish, HUD compliance from the federal

[2:30:16] level, and we cannot operate as a city

[2:30:19] parish local jurisdiction like a state jurisdiction can.

[2:30:23] Sometimes the state will give us money if

[2:30:25] they have something left over. Before an entitlement,

[2:30:28] we are given these dollars specific under these

[2:30:31] categories and there's project uses for for each

[2:30:34] category that we have to have. So the

[2:30:35] only reason I was asking that is how

[2:30:38] do we as council members, since it's not

[2:30:42] count in, you know, like a lot of

[2:30:43] times you come with your projects you don't

[2:30:46] have enough money. But once we get entitlement

[2:30:48] fund, how do we become a consideration for

[2:30:57] this Absolutely. Every year. I got that notice,

[2:30:59] I already have a plan. So how how

[2:31:01] does that work? So number one, we have

[2:31:03] to look at what the compliance rules are

[2:31:05] for the dollars. It's great to have a

[2:31:07] plan of an idea, but then you have

[2:31:10] to figure out how we can put it

[2:31:11] into a compliant program that will be approved

[2:31:15] by HUD. I have to be very honest

[2:31:17] to say over the last five years, when

[2:31:20] and you're you're familiar because of the timeline

[2:31:22] that you've been here, OCD in in the

[2:31:24] city of Baton Rouge did not have favorable

[2:31:26] consideration with HUD. Over the last five years,

[2:31:30] we've worked very hard to become very compliant

[2:31:32] in our projects. We've had to get red

[2:31:34] tape. We've had to go back to HUD

[2:31:37] and other national departments to make sure that

[2:31:39] we're doing it correctly. Because when many other

[2:31:42] jurisdictions may get a breeze over, city parishes

[2:31:47] look through like a fine tooth comb. Yeah.

[2:31:49] And that's not a problem, it's just that

[2:31:51] is it our responsibility as counsel, you know,

[2:31:54] so I might have a plan and yeah,

[2:31:55] may or may not fit. Yes ma'am. But,

[2:31:58] and hopefully I guess that's now that we

[2:32:00] have an in house OCD, we need to

[2:32:04] know who is the contact person who is

[2:32:06] not as what I found in housing. He

[2:32:08] wrote to tell me why all of a

[2:32:10] sudden I don't qualify or I'm not, but

[2:32:13] how do you make it work? And it

[2:32:15] shouldn't take nine months, ten months. It does

[2:32:18] unfortunately. We have projects that have taken over

[2:32:20] two years to even get approved. Wasn't about

[2:32:23] to say that. Yes ma'am. To work the

[2:32:24] plan out. Yes. To present. And so it's

[2:32:28] like I'm glad we got an in house

[2:32:31] staff again. I think that's gonna be helpful.

[2:32:34] But we really gonna need to know what

[2:32:35] each person does. Sure. And know I like

[2:32:38] the idea of having an in house grant

[2:32:41] department because I've recommended and grants and they

[2:32:45] get approved but it never comes back to

[2:32:48] my district. Yes ma'am. But you know so

[2:32:50] how do we, I don't know if that's

[2:32:51] gonna be a case management project. I can

[2:32:54] give you some information. I'm looking for more

[2:32:56] inclusion. I'm not like, you know, a lot

[2:32:59] of I'm not like every other council member

[2:33:01] that might just wanna wait. I really am,

[2:33:05] you know, if the mayor is right, I'm

[2:33:06] in a hurry to get things done in

[2:33:08] my history. Yes, ma'am. Am in a hurry.

[2:33:10] Patience is a virtue for the Office of

[2:33:13] Community Development because one, every incremental year for

[2:33:17] every entitlement year, we have to put in

[2:33:19] an action plan. That's it. You all approve

[2:33:21] that action plan every year. Every three to

[2:33:24] five years, we have to do a consolidated

[2:33:25] plan. Right. You all have to approve that

[2:33:27] plan every year. I will share another non

[2:33:30] popular thing is meeting after meeting after meeting.

[2:33:33] OCD has to do that on paper. None

[2:33:35] of those are problems for me. I've been

[2:33:36] through all of that. Yes ma'am. I'm just

[2:33:38] saying that before we get to the action

[2:33:41] plan, coming to each council member and asking

[2:33:44] them for project. We legally can't do that.

[2:33:47] Here's what we'd have to do. We have

[2:33:49] to open up an action plan or a

[2:33:51] consolidation plan. We can talk to you about

[2:33:54] concepts, ideas and put together projects that may

[2:33:58] have a general cost, but that project then,

[2:34:00] after the action plan, has to be submitted

[2:34:03] in an RFP period. If the project has

[2:34:06] gone through an RFP, for example, Housing for

[2:34:09] Heroes, the reason why Housing for Heroes was

[2:34:11] able to be allocated or suggested for a

[2:34:13] home or CDBG project, and that's still on

[2:34:16] the table, is because they presented a proposal

[2:34:20] in prior funding rounds for the action plan,

[2:34:23] so we're able to go back to that

[2:34:24] project at any given time. Sure, but Holly

[2:34:27] for Heroes was approved, not presented, under ARPA

[2:34:30] because it fit the ARPA mandates. Yes, ma'am.

[2:34:34] And so and one of the things that

[2:34:36] the expansion of the ARPA program in April

[2:34:39] was because so many municipalities found the stringently

[2:34:44] of using home and CDC that they actually

[2:34:48] wrote guidelines to say, no, do not. You

[2:34:51] all are limiting the process of ARPA. ARPA

[2:34:55] is not for you to keep doing what

[2:34:57] you're doing here. It's to leverage the plan

[2:35:01] so that more people, and you are able

[2:35:04] to do more work, not that slow process

[2:35:07] that home is CDBG. And there's been a

[2:35:10] huge misinterpretation that from this municipality, based on

[2:35:16] what I heard when I talked to finance,

[2:35:18] they were under the impression that you have

[2:35:21] to be go by home guidelines, CD guidelines,

[2:35:25] HUD guidelines. That is not what it said.

[2:35:28] It said if it will If meets those

[2:35:32] qualifications, it automatically meets OPERA. OPERA. It did

[2:35:36] not mean you gotta go through those plans

[2:35:39] to get OPERA. And that So, when we

[2:35:42] get to that and even her, and I

[2:35:43] see why we've had a problem, because we

[2:35:45] are misinterpreting their plans so often. So there

[2:35:48] is something that they offer called technical assistance?

[2:35:51] And that's what I've been asking about for

[2:35:52] nine months. Sure, so I'm gonna speak back

[2:35:54] specifically to And the reason I'm so smart

[2:35:57] in knowing that we're not doing right is

[2:35:59] because I have a relationship with her. I

[2:36:01] have a relationship with Oprah. And the reason

[2:36:04] why I have been disgusted and debusted with

[2:36:06] the mayor is because she's on NLSC exactly

[2:36:10] the board and she won't ask them because

[2:36:12] she's a mayor and she won't ask treasury

[2:36:15] because she won't act wouldn't act and we've

[2:36:17] been doing this nine months and those guys

[2:36:19] lost money and they constantly lose money and

[2:36:22] she just keep passing us on to different

[2:36:24] one of her staff. Dontay just get here.

[2:36:27] What's the other girl name? I'm gonna go

[2:36:29] to respectfully, Councilwoman, I'll share that we can

[2:36:32] go to the patients is the virtue piece

[2:36:34] of this to be able to go through

[2:36:35] because we for example, the YWCA Providence project

[2:36:38] and I'm gonna go back to OCD Because

[2:36:40] they never received AQRA funding that was approved

[2:36:43] by the Right. We're speaking through OCD. So

[2:36:45] I'm going back to that I apologize. Speaking

[2:36:47] back to the OCD lens, you need me?

[2:36:49] Okay. Back to the OCD lens, you do

[2:36:52] have to go through the RFP process. Once

[2:36:55] the RFP process is done, you then also

[2:36:58] have to submit your projects through HUD to

[2:37:02] be approved, which is that one to two

[2:37:03] year project. All is understood per year. Yes

[2:37:05] ma'am. When interjected that housing for heroes I

[2:37:09] just answered your question. That's what got me

[2:37:11] fired up. I answered your question. I wanna

[2:37:13] go on record for that fact. I did

[2:37:14] answer your question. Any more questions? Any questions,

[2:37:18] councilman? Mayor, I hope you don't think you're

[2:37:22] security I mean, you don't think I'm about

[2:37:24] to like No, ma'am. Just wanted to be

[2:37:27] clear. The next slide. Next slide. Yes, I'm

[2:37:31] representing my people. I'm an elected official representing

[2:37:35] the people. I'm just as a married and

[2:37:37] I'm not being negative. Time. And I'm not

[2:37:39] being yeah, Thank you. Please. Could you walk

[2:37:56] me through this slide? I don't fully understand

[2:37:58] it. This is specific to emergency rental assistance

[2:38:02] by district. So the 80,000,000 on the previous

[2:38:05] slide that was non entitlement funding, that slide

[2:38:12] represents 41,000,000 of that that has been paid

[2:38:16] out to date since we received those dollars

[2:38:18] by districts specific only to emergency rental funds

[2:38:21] from the treasury. What's the unclassified? So unclassified

[2:38:25] is a bucket of projects that are not

[2:38:29] labeled by address by district solely because our

[2:38:34] system, and this is an internal system glitch,

[2:38:36] is not sourcing it by district based upon

[2:38:38] the address. These have to go back in

[2:38:40] hand process to see which district those are

[2:38:44] versus the computer generating them. So I wanted

[2:38:46] to show the total so that's why that

[2:38:48] shows there, but it's literally that these 10,000

[2:38:50] are actually broken up into 12, it just

[2:38:53] has to be manually processed. So District 3

[2:38:56] being the district that I'm privileged to represent?

[2:38:59] Yes, sir. Three fifty mean three fifty residents

[2:39:03] received emergency rental assistance who were placed in

[2:39:07] District 3? That is correct. That their landlord

[2:39:09] and their address that they are in currently,

[2:39:12] that they receive rental assistance for is within

[2:39:15] District 3. That is correct. And it very

[2:39:17] well may be possible that of that 10,000,

[2:39:20] there may be some District 3 as well.

[2:39:21] Just have to manually place them. Okay. That

[2:39:24] seems like a task. So I couldn't have

[2:39:27] it today, but yes. So do you have

[2:39:30] funding breakdown? Gardere is obviously the area that

[2:39:34] I'm most interested in. Sure. Do you have

[2:39:36] a funding breakdown within the zones within East

[2:39:39] Baton Rouge Parish? Not just for ERAP, but

[2:39:41] for what all funding? You you named about

[2:39:44] 1,700,000.0 within Scottsville. Yes, You have similar data.

[2:39:47] I I'd be interested in receiving it for

[2:39:49] District 3. Absolutely. I do not have it

[2:39:51] today. I apologize. But I can follow-up to

[2:39:53] get that to you. And we are planning

[2:39:55] our first scheduled meetings for each of you

[2:39:58] in January. So we will have more information

[2:40:01] about your district, what's The actual plan is

[2:40:03] Yes, yes sir. Thank you. Thank you ma'am.

[2:40:08] Thank you all. Thank you. Thank you, mister

[2:40:12] Toots. And you all have a good good

[2:40:16] evening.

BudgetHearing_11292022

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