[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. Will

[55:13] be able to put together a three year

[55:15] I'm sorry, one year, three year, and five

[55:17] year plan so we can plan ahead, budget,

[55:20] and request the money as needed. So, we're

[55:22] not coming to you guys when we have

[55:24] a emergency and things breaking down. So here's

[55:29] an example of some of the predictive maintenance

[55:31] that we've, been using over the past couple

[55:33] of months and past four months. This is,

[55:35] electrical testing and inspection that we did at

[55:38] the, exhibition hall. We identified some faulty fuses.

[55:44] So this this fuse that you see on

[55:45] the table here, this fuse powers up the

[55:48] exhibition hall. This fuse was delegated. If this

[55:52] fuse would have continued to be in service,

[55:55] we possibly could have could have lost this

[55:56] fuse on the load to doing an event.

[55:59] So we it had a ball concert or

[56:01] anything in the exhibition hall. We'd have lost

[56:03] power, which would have been embarrassing for us

[56:06] and as as well to the patrons ruining

[56:08] the experience. So by doing this test and

[56:11] inspection, we were able to identify it before

[56:13] we fail, change it out, and, prevent any,

[56:18] interruption in services that we may had. So

[56:20] this is this is vital to, for us

[56:23] to step, for us to step up our

[56:24] program and to help us provide adequate service.

[56:30] Here's another example of predictive maintenance. This is

[56:34] for all the rotating equipment. So we have

[56:36] a ton of rotating equipment around the facilities

[56:38] with our air handling units. And there's a

[56:42] lot of vibration, a lot of movement, a

[56:45] lot of this equipment is old, hasn't been

[56:46] touched as far as tighten down tighten down

[56:49] boats in a while because because the the

[56:53] practice of it is is is not where

[56:56] it needed to be. So what we're doing

[56:58] is we we revamp in our rotational PMs

[57:02] and we're doing the the vibration analysis. This

[57:04] will tell us any type of movement we

[57:06] may have on the shaft that you that

[57:08] you can't see with your eye and tell

[57:10] us if we have any potential failures in

[57:13] our bearings or shaft alignments. Some of the

[57:19] employee training and process improvements that we're going

[57:21] to implement is work order process flow. We're

[57:25] implementing a CMS system working with MGO. This

[57:30] process will help us be able to track

[57:32] our assets, to know exactly what work we've

[57:34] done on our assets, how much money we

[57:36] spend on our assets, so that way we're

[57:38] not pouring too much money into our assets.

[57:40] And let's say for instance, have an air

[57:42] handling unit and I spent 80% of the

[57:45] value of a new one, I know it's

[57:47] time to purchase a new air handling unit

[57:49] versus continue to put money into asset that's

[57:53] that's past its life cycle. We're improve our

[57:56] planning and scheduling. We're actually doing some training

[57:59] on planning and scheduling. We're working with, with

[58:01] Shell. Shell Geisman employee, mister Glenn. He's come

[58:04] in. He's helping us, organize and try to

[58:07] help bring City Perish employees in the building's

[58:10] grounds area up to industry standards on how

[58:13] we actually do our planning and scheduling. So

[58:17] while I'm researching with BRCC and I have

[58:20] a group of failure prevention associates, they're they're

[58:23] going to come out and help us with

[58:25] millwright precision training. That's going to help us

[58:28] with our shaft alignments, pump pump installs, and

[58:33] overall mechanical maintenance inspections. We're going to do

[58:37] some continuous improvement for our HVAC employees. We're

[58:41] going to do boiler maintenance training, five s

[58:43] training, that's six sigma six sigma practices that's

[58:46] used across industrial industry standards. Hazard eliminations, and

[58:51] then also we're going to do some management

[58:54] training to help our management staff make sure

[58:58] that we're managing our guys adequately. Alright. That

[59:03] is it. Any questions? Okay. Councilman Moak. You

[59:10] have two minutes. Thank you Mayor Pro Tem.

[59:17] Feel like I'm working directly under him right

[59:18] now. Can you go back to the slide

[59:23] that has the list of facilities and the

[59:25] man hours? Right there. Okay. Did that take

[59:40] up my time going to that slide or

[59:42] no? Community centers. Throw those out and I

[59:51] don't mean throw them out as whatever but

[59:52] I'm not going to talk about them on

[59:54] the list. Parish prison. I'm to talk about

[59:55] headquarters, police headquarters, juvenile service, juvenile court, EMS

[59:59] fire. What is EOPP building? EOPP. I mean,

[1:00:07] I mean, I know I got a contact

[1:00:09] in Lasix and one eye but it does

[1:00:10] say it's on 4523 Plank Road. Emergency Operations

[1:00:19] Building. Emergency ATM. It's emergency what? That's the

[1:00:24] Emergency Response Building. That's the ATM Building. The

[1:00:27] the address is wrong with it. Okay. Think

[1:00:29] so. That's on Harding. Okay. That's the other

[1:00:30] address is wrong. Yeah. You what? Keep keep

[1:00:57] your office as social service. You had you

[1:01:02] had to forgive me. I'm five months in.

[1:01:04] He's active. Right. That's the And and anyone

[1:01:08] you know, feel free to assist. They just

[1:01:10] with this. Okay. Okay. You. Yes. City Court

[1:01:20] Building, City Hall, we know okay. In the

[1:01:24] City Hall, the City Court Building, Nineteenth JDC

[1:01:31] what else do we have downtown? Know Human

[1:01:35] Resources is right downtown and we have we

[1:01:38] have a planning commission over on is that

[1:01:43] North? Laurel. Laurel? Yeah, Laurel. What has anything

[1:01:50] been looked into or and and again, it's

[1:01:54] hard to ask these. Know you've been in

[1:01:55] five months and I respect that, but does

[1:01:57] anybody else have the answer to these? Has

[1:01:58] anybody been looked into the percent of use

[1:02:02] for each of these buildings? In other words,

[1:02:05] the occupancy of each of these buildings. And

[1:02:08] I'll give you one example. I've started at

[1:02:11] the Tenth Floor with some other council members

[1:02:14] and went floor to floor to floor to

[1:02:16] floor to floor, seeing what exactly this building

[1:02:18] is used for. And I know we've had

[1:02:21] a couple floors that we've got multiple areas

[1:02:24] of just stuff stacked up. Has there been

[1:02:28] any thought, any study, any last time it

[1:02:32] was done on consolidation of these buildings or

[1:02:35] resources? Yeah, that's, I'll let Darryl answer that.

[1:02:41] I know in City Hall, we we have

[1:02:44] consolidated storage space. Like right now, we have

[1:02:47] some vacant space that the registrar of voters

[1:02:49] uses for elections. We have some space. The

[1:02:52] Tenth Floor has the the restaurant or the

[1:02:55] food service area that has basically been shut

[1:02:57] down because of the COVID epidemic that's getting

[1:03:01] ready to be reopened. But we don't have

[1:03:03] a lot of storage space. We had OCD

[1:03:06] space that's actually now been fully repurposed and

[1:03:09] those files have basically been eradicated. So we're

[1:03:12] really doing everything we can to maximize the

[1:03:14] use of space. Well, I mean, I'll just

[1:03:17] be like when I first came in and

[1:03:21] didn't even have a desk in the office,

[1:03:23] I got taken to, I forget what floor

[1:03:27] it was, where the courtrooms were, and there's

[1:03:28] just desks stacked all through, and they're still

[1:03:31] there. And I guess what I'm looking at

[1:03:33] is, I'm looking at the building and it

[1:03:34] doesn't seem that big, it may be huge,

[1:03:37] Where I forget the Where sign all your

[1:03:45] paperwork and everything? So across from where the

[1:03:47] voters registration Where the voters is on the

[1:03:50] Ninth Floor at the parish attorney's Office is

[1:03:53] what you're referencing. Yeah, but then a couple

[1:03:56] of other locations Right. It may be the

[1:03:59] public defender space. They have space in their

[1:04:02] floor that they're struggling to make better use

[1:04:05] of their space that exists. Well, I was

[1:04:08] just thinking, it seemed like some of these

[1:04:10] services could be pulled here with redoing the

[1:04:15] resources of It just seemed like we had

[1:04:17] a lot of open space and that would

[1:04:18] save us money by releasing these older buildings

[1:04:21] that we're having to proactively maintain and take

[1:04:25] on. Don't even know what to, and I

[1:04:28] know it's a brand new building. I don't

[1:04:30] know if they just built it for complete

[1:04:32] size or if there was more space available

[1:04:34] in there that certain services could go to

[1:04:36] the courthouse over here. It just seems like

[1:04:39] I know the state a while back went

[1:04:41] through a big consolidation thing and they built

[1:04:43] buildings, but We do know again in our

[1:04:45] building, I'd have to say that pretty much

[1:04:47] if there's a vacant space, it's sitting there

[1:04:50] based on like in Hiller's case, there's some

[1:04:52] space that he needs to build out that

[1:04:53] we just haven't had the funding to do

[1:04:55] yet. I think that funding is actually being

[1:04:57] appropriated. Some of the other buildings we do

[1:05:01] have two or three buildings that we are

[1:05:02] on the verge of working on selling. The

[1:05:05] old Council on Aging building on Florida Boulevard,

[1:05:08] the old detox building on Florida And Nineteenth,

[1:05:10] and we have a fire station building that

[1:05:12] is going to be sold also. Okay. And

[1:05:15] I get that, but like the Council on

[1:05:16] Aging, you're selling that building, but where did

[1:05:19] they go? They have a new space. They

[1:05:22] have a new space. They were in a

[1:05:23] building that belonged to City Parish that they

[1:05:25] are actually going to move they're fully vacating.

[1:05:28] I guess that's what I was kind of

[1:05:30] getting at is, I don't know how many

[1:05:32] spaces they have at this new space, they

[1:05:34] couldn't come down here? Oh, no, the Council

[1:05:36] on Aging is huge. It's a huge complex

[1:05:38] that they built their own dedicated funds. But

[1:05:42] again, maximization is one of the things we've

[1:05:44] really worked on, trying to consolidate things, make

[1:05:46] sure we don't have things. The Public Safety

[1:05:48] Complex, there's a space out there that has

[1:05:51] been vacant in H2, which is next to

[1:05:53] the police headquarters. We have moved the Cooperative

[1:05:58] Extension Service. They vacated a building that we

[1:06:01] had there in that space. Some of the

[1:06:03] ARP money is set up to actually redo

[1:06:05] part of H2. The registrar of voters will

[1:06:08] be moving out of one location on Corsey

[1:06:11] end of the building. So we have a

[1:06:12] lot of plans in terms of how to

[1:06:14] maximize those building spaces. It is pretty critical

[1:06:17] to us. Do we have any kind of

[1:06:19] reporter information on occupancy, vacancy, and stuff like

[1:06:23] that as far as each building? Yes, And

[1:06:27] we can also provide what we're doing with

[1:06:29] those ARP funds to help people understand what

[1:06:31] we're retrofitting in terms of filling out vacant

[1:06:33] space. We can get that back. Alright. Thank

[1:06:38] you. Councilman Hurst. I know when they saw

[1:06:42] me and Moke walk in the building and

[1:06:44] they they start looking at their watches. I

[1:06:45] never had. But you have three minutes. Gens

[1:06:50] three. So to answer one thing about Aaron's,

[1:06:54] I did have the opportunity. I think you

[1:06:56] should go also visit the new COA Building.

[1:06:58] 1 Day about a week and a half

[1:06:59] ago. And the whole bottom floor is bigger

[1:07:02] than my community center on both sides of

[1:07:04] the kitchen. So now they make their own

[1:07:06] meals or their own meal prep, their own

[1:07:08] TV dinner. They do all that stuff there

[1:07:09] to cut down on cost in other areas.

[1:07:11] You're using your time? I got you. So

[1:07:14] when I look at this, I go back

[1:07:16] to what pain points that that I believe

[1:07:18] are part of the reason god put me

[1:07:20] here and I'm going back to that prison.

[1:07:22] I'm looking at two thousand seventy five man

[1:07:24] hours, fourteen forty two work hours. I want

[1:07:28] you to come back to me and quantify

[1:07:29] that and tell me how much it cost

[1:07:31] in terms of material and labor to do

[1:07:34] whatever you did for two thousand seventy five

[1:07:37] hours. And I know you're new, so it

[1:07:39] may not all be you. You have to

[1:07:40] do a little digging, but that's very important

[1:07:42] to understand how much money we're wasting every

[1:07:44] year. And then also, as a matter of

[1:07:54] fact, can probably stop there because that was

[1:07:55] my biggest concern is Okay. Is in turn

[1:08:00] oh, the other one was 20% reduction our

[1:08:03] challenging workforce. So do you know the dollar

[1:08:06] per hour that you're paying those people that

[1:08:09] are unable to get jobs or don't wanna

[1:08:11] get jobs because of what you're paying them?

[1:08:13] I'm trying to figure out what that gap

[1:08:14] you know, we talk all the time about

[1:08:15] trying to fill the workforce and I call

[1:08:17] you and say, hey man, I might have

[1:08:18] somebody. But what's the average pay for those

[1:08:22] jobs that we're talking about have a gap

[1:08:23] in your in your in your department? The

[1:08:25] average pay is roughly around $13 an hour.

[1:08:29] Okay. And what type of job would they

[1:08:32] be doing for about $13 an hour? It

[1:08:34] can range from general maintenance, cleanup to electrical,

[1:08:40] plumbing, HVAC work, boiler maintenance. So now I've

[1:08:46] met with the labor unions and because I

[1:08:47] I really wanna understand what workforce challenges in

[1:08:49] the community to the point where I was

[1:08:51] at the carpenter's union last week all day

[1:08:54] long. Work met with Louisiana Workforce Commission. These

[1:08:58] people who are untrained, skilled labor that are

[1:09:02] going through an apprentice program for what you're

[1:09:05] paying for $13 an hour for somebody who's

[1:09:07] knowledgeable, they will pay $19 an hour for

[1:09:10] somebody who's not knowledgeable and learning that same

[1:09:13] trade, whether it be boilermakers, they can bank

[1:09:15] a little bit more boilermakers, painting electrical so

[1:09:19] this is not a slap and chew. This

[1:09:21] is just a public statement to say, again,

[1:09:24] I've I've I've asked for a pay study.

[1:09:27] I've not gotten my email back from Daryl

[1:09:29] Gissel, I was listening, to approve the pay

[1:09:32] study for the Department of of HR. But

[1:09:37] when we talk about $13 an hour, we

[1:09:39] talk about gaps. We talk about prison is

[1:09:41] not fixed. We talk about challenges and work

[1:09:44] orders that sit out there for four years.

[1:09:46] I need the email approval piece there, I

[1:09:50] guess, so that we can get that study

[1:09:51] done at least to show the disparity with

[1:09:53] it. Then then once we create that gap,

[1:09:56] show how we can close that gap. Thank

[1:09:57] you. Okay. Mister Butler, excellent presentation. Four months,

[1:10:03] five months it's been? Five, a little bit,

[1:10:05] yeah, the five months is some change. So

[1:10:07] excellent and just keep on doing what you're

[1:10:09] doing at the Butler Center here over there

[1:10:10] in the District 10, okay? Keep on doing

[1:10:14] what you're Yes, sir. Sir. May add one

[1:10:17] thing about salaries. Looking at Joseph's numbers, he's

[1:10:21] actually done a really good job in terms

[1:10:22] of recruiting. And we have talked to some

[1:10:25] of the labor union groups about bringing in

[1:10:27] people who are retired in some cases, who

[1:10:29] have great skills, who would like to come

[1:10:31] to help us. One of the things that

[1:10:33] you guys did through ARP funding, through the

[1:10:35] funding that was provided to Joseph's organization, we're

[1:10:38] really having the opportunity to get rid of

[1:10:41] a lot of antiquated equipment, which is not

[1:10:43] only going to cut down his maintenance costs,

[1:10:45] is going to greatly reduce energy costs also.

[1:10:47] So we should see some big savings all

[1:10:49] across the board. River Center for instance was

[1:10:51] built back in the 1970s, still has the

[1:10:54] original mechanical equipment. Only want to help you

[1:11:12] close that gap. Let make that clear. Okay,

[1:11:14] thank you. Also I'd have to say Mr.

[1:11:16] Butler you're to be commended about that training

[1:11:18] and that education component. That is of utmost

[1:11:23] importance, train folk then require folk to work.

[1:11:28] So you're to be commended for that. Okay,

[1:11:32] Mr. Gaudet, just two minutes. Thank you ma'am.

[1:11:37] Yeah, Mook took your minutes. Can give an

[1:11:40] update, Darryl, on the City Hall security? Yes.

[1:11:44] We have actually done a study in terms

[1:11:46] of what we need. The ARP funding is

[1:11:49] providing money for the new doors and for

[1:11:54] the scanners, etcetera. We're now working on writing

[1:11:57] the protocol for the scanners to be put

[1:12:00] in place. We have a couple of legal

[1:12:01] things we need to do. Can we have

[1:12:03] signs that say you can't bring weapons in,

[1:12:05] etcetera? These are metal detectors when you say

[1:12:06] scanners? Yes, yes. And so those things we've

[1:12:09] actually set up the teams within the building

[1:12:12] so each operating division, all the different groups

[1:12:15] of sheriff's office, the assessor, etc. We have

[1:12:17] teams now that we've created so that we

[1:12:20] can do alerts within the building. The constable

[1:12:22] has now taken over security in the building.

[1:12:25] So we still have more work to do

[1:12:27] there, but we're on the way to getting

[1:12:28] where we think we need to be. Okay,

[1:12:30] thanks. Thank you. That was an excellent question,

[1:12:32] Councilman Goldaert. I could have given you five

[1:12:34] minutes. Thank you. Yeah, just have one question.

[1:12:43] Has that department ever looked at being privatized?

[1:12:47] The grounds and maintenance? I don't think we've

[1:12:53] ever looked at that. I think it's part

[1:12:54] of the plan of government. I mean, it's

[1:12:56] part of DPW. Well, mean, I don't really

[1:12:58] need the department, but I'm talking about the

[1:13:00] workforce and everything. So, you know, you have

[1:13:02] a list of contractors and a boiler goes

[1:13:04] out. You call a certain company and they

[1:13:07] go do it. We do have a lot

[1:13:09] of contractors in place. Probably knows a huge

[1:13:11] number of contracts for outside services. One of

[1:13:14] the things that straightened out, for some reason

[1:13:16] we had a bizarre setup where if we

[1:13:19] had a contractor to do mechanical equipment, we

[1:13:22] would order the parts and they would have

[1:13:24] to wait for us to get them the

[1:13:26] parts to put the product in place. That

[1:13:28] made no sense. So we're doing a lot

[1:13:30] of those things to kind of clean up

[1:13:32] how the maintenance is actually done. The River

[1:13:34] Center now is going to be fully maintained

[1:13:36] by the River Center under their contract as

[1:13:39] opposed to us sharing those responsibilities. And I

[1:13:43] do want to add something and this is

[1:13:44] just Permission first. Yeah, hold on. And that

[1:13:48] word privatized, yeah, let's let's let's be mindful

[1:13:53] of that in my opinion there. Yeah, these

[1:13:55] folk working like Hebrews saying, you tell them

[1:13:57] privatized and okay, go on councilman Hurd. So

[1:14:00] that I was One minute. Yeah. I was

[1:14:03] just gonna address that one statement. And I

[1:14:05] talked about this on the radio the other

[1:14:07] day, and then I actually talked about it

[1:14:09] with interim director Fred Ray for the challenge

[1:14:11] of improvisation is that when we put contracts

[1:14:14] in place, they are specified for a job

[1:14:17] or whatever it may be. A lot of

[1:14:19] times, we have jack of all trades who

[1:14:22] may be on one job, but then when

[1:14:23] that job ends, we can move them over

[1:14:25] here. We don't have to constantly bid it

[1:14:27] out and slow the process down to solve

[1:14:29] city problems. We can move it from one

[1:14:31] space to another. So when we control the

[1:14:33] workforce, we have the ability to solve problems

[1:14:35] a lot faster. When we privatize them, we

[1:14:38] have to then go bid them out for

[1:14:39] the new project because they guess what? They

[1:14:42] bid based on what we told them would

[1:14:44] be a part of that packet and not

[1:14:47] playing A, B, C and D. They're only

[1:14:49] gonna do E, F and G because that's

[1:14:51] what they bid for. But we still need

[1:14:52] A, B and C and D done. So

[1:14:55] for that reason, I'm probably against privatization and

[1:14:58] more so looking at how we, from an

[1:15:00] internal standpoint, close that workforce gap. Then Aaron,

[1:15:02] we can talk about that offline, but I

[1:15:04] wanted to make that public. Juvenile service. Thank

[1:15:09] you so very much, mister Butler. Juvenile services,

[1:15:12] if you'll come on up. Oh, I saw

[1:15:18] Fred move out. It's about to say, Fred,

[1:15:20] you got juvenile services too? Wow. Good afternoon,

[1:15:28] everyone. Thank you for the opportunity to present

[1:15:31] the 2023 operating budget for juvenile services. So

[1:15:37] our purpose is to provide supervision and probation

[1:15:42] services as well as oversee the juvenile detention

[1:15:45] center. Next slide please. Next slide, please. The

[1:15:57] mission, is to help change lives and build

[1:16:00] futures and restore hope to the youth and

[1:16:03] to their families. Our mantra at Juvenile Services

[1:16:06] is hope. Have only positive expectations. So the

[1:16:18] Department of Juvenile Services basically have two divisions,

[1:16:22] Probation and Family Services and the Juvenile Detention

[1:16:25] Center. Well, the probation side is responsible for

[1:16:30] pretrial and post disposition monitoring of our youth.

[1:16:34] And with detention, we provide for the care

[1:16:38] and the custody as well as the services

[1:16:40] for those detained youth, which include medical, mental

[1:16:44] health screenings, educational, faith based programming, and educational

[1:16:49] services where our partner is the East Baton

[1:16:52] Rouge Parish School System. As it relates to

[1:16:57] family services, FANS, also known as family in

[1:17:01] needs of services, that particular department welcomed the

[1:17:06] individual families from off of the street. They

[1:17:09] do not have to be a part of

[1:17:10] the system. And if they have a need,

[1:17:12] they come into our facility and we partner

[1:17:14] them or refer them to the necessary community

[1:17:17] service providers in an effort to keep them

[1:17:20] out of delinquency and the juvenile detention center.

[1:17:31] The organizational structure shows the position allotments for

[1:17:36] our respective divisions. More than half of the

[1:17:40] positions are concentrated in the juvenile detention facility

[1:17:44] with 51 positions and on probation and family

[1:17:48] services side, there are 33 positions. We have

[1:17:55] two grants that we work with, families in

[1:17:58] needs of services, our FENS grant, and this

[1:18:00] is outside of the City Parish General Fund.

[1:18:03] They provide, services in order that we may

[1:18:06] cover two positions, specifically counselor positions. For the

[1:18:11] Title IV E grant, we have five positions,

[1:18:16] that are covered. I don't have my glasses,

[1:18:18] I'm sorry. We have five positions that are

[1:18:20] covered and this is specifically for our commission

[1:18:23] law enforcement officer positions, the probation post officers.

[1:18:31] So this shows the total budget inclusive of

[1:18:35] sources as well as operations. I want to

[1:18:38] focus on operations. Go to the next slide,

[1:18:42] please. So when we look at 2022 versus

[1:18:46] 2023, we saw a 9.12% increase, which equated

[1:18:54] to approximately half a million dollars that had

[1:18:58] been allocated in the proposed 2023 budget. Later

[1:19:03] in the slides, we'll explain or I'll explain

[1:19:05] the need for the positions that we've requested.

[1:19:17] So with our professional service contracts, all of

[1:19:20] these contracts are renewal contracts, which means that

[1:19:25] these providers, for me, have provided a proven

[1:19:28] track record in which they help to respond

[1:19:32] to not only the Department of Juvenile Services

[1:19:35] need, but also to the court orders by

[1:19:38] the juvenile judges from juvenile court. And so

[1:19:42] we have three main providers, which is Convenient

[1:19:45] Care that does business as total occupational medical.

[1:19:49] We have Doctor. Brandon Romano that provides four

[1:19:52] psychological and other evaluations. And we have New

[1:19:56] Decisions that's responsible for social, therapeutics and recreational

[1:20:01] services as well as those medical evaluations and

[1:20:05] on-site medical care. So for the department positions

[1:20:14] request and rationale, I have requested the addition

[1:20:19] of an Assistant Executive Director, three positions for

[1:20:24] Juvenile Probation Officers post two, and for data

[1:20:29] coordinator. By adding these particular positions, it will

[1:20:34] allow our department to operate more effectively and

[1:20:38] efficiently. The creation of the Post two allows

[1:20:44] for recruitment and promotion of retention of staff,

[1:20:48] but it also improves the ratio of commission

[1:20:52] law enforcement officers that's available to help improve

[1:20:56] safety and security of our entire complex. Also,

[1:21:02] the last rationale is with the data coordinator,

[1:21:06] I feel that we will be in a

[1:21:07] better position to respond to data requests from

[1:21:10] three primary organizations that we are responsible to

[1:21:14] provide that data to. That's Louisiana Commission for

[1:21:17] Law Enforcement, the Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiative, and

[1:21:22] the Louisiana Juvenile Detention Association for the State

[1:21:26] of Louisiana in which I serve as Vice

[1:21:28] President. Now over the last year and a

[1:21:38] half, we certainly saw a change in the

[1:21:41] landscape for juvenile services. And in doing so,

[1:21:46] we attribute a lot of that to raise

[1:21:48] the age law as we examine the associated

[1:21:52] data. If I may, I want to read

[1:21:58] from the Louisiana Children's Code Article eight zero

[1:22:02] four, for the definition of child. Child means

[1:22:06] any person under the age of 21, including

[1:22:11] an emancipated minor, who commits a delinquent act

[1:22:15] before attaining 17 years of age. So, as

[1:22:20] a result of these changes, the detention center

[1:22:24] now has to house people that are aged

[1:22:27] 17 to 20 years old, including those youth

[1:22:30] who have been indicted or billed for prosecution

[1:22:34] in adult courts. Doctor Wade, I'm sorry. Point

[1:22:41] of personal privilege, if that's okay. I'm so

[1:22:43] glad that you're talking about this because I

[1:22:45] know that this is a pain point. But

[1:22:46] can you tell us while we're speaking on

[1:22:48] this, you may have been getting to it,

[1:22:49] so I apologize, the youngest age of a

[1:22:52] person in the juvenile detention facilities? The youngest

[1:22:54] age of a person is 10 years of

[1:22:56] age. So 10 to 20? Yes, ma'am. Thank

[1:22:59] you so much. Phase one of raise the

[1:23:03] age only address those youth who committed minor

[1:23:07] offenses. Phase two now addresses anyone who commit

[1:23:11] any offense which includes fourteen-two violent crimes which

[1:23:17] is inclusive of first and second degree murder,

[1:23:19] aggravated rape, and offenses of that nature. So

[1:23:26] the changes to the population created new pressures,

[1:23:30] which you'll see that the allocated ARPA funding

[1:23:35] from the mayor's office is certainly helping us

[1:23:38] to address those challenges. So we are thankful

[1:23:40] for that. This particular slide shows a consistent

[1:23:48] decline in the admissions of juvenile detention over

[1:23:52] a thirteen year period from 02/2007 to 2020.

[1:23:58] Raise the age is kind of what I

[1:24:00] considered as an unfunded mandate. And so although

[1:24:04] those individuals came to juvenile services, there was

[1:24:07] no funding attached to it. I would like

[1:24:11] for you to pay particular attention, 02/2007, the

[1:24:15] admissions population was a little bit over a

[1:24:18] thousand. Over that thirteen year period, it declined

[1:24:23] to three ninety three. The next slide. But

[1:24:30] we then started to experience an admissions influx

[1:24:34] in 2021. And if you are reminded, in

[1:24:38] much of 2020, during the pandemic, we were

[1:24:41] pretty much under a global stay at home

[1:24:44] order. And so we did not experience the

[1:24:47] influx until 2021 when we started to return

[1:24:51] to some states of normalcy. And so in

[1:24:55] 2021, we would see the increase of admissions

[1:24:59] go up to four sixty nine. In this

[1:25:03] particular year, as of today, at one p.

[1:25:06] M. When I ran this data, we have

[1:25:08] admitted four sixty youth to the juvenile detention

[1:25:12] center. Now the average or the range over

[1:25:16] the last five months have been anywhere from

[1:25:18] 32 to 48 admissions averaging about 40 admissions

[1:25:24] per month. So we are on track according

[1:25:28] to the data to meet or exceed 500

[1:25:32] by the end of the year. So what

[1:25:42] are the areas of impact and actions as

[1:25:44] it relates to the challenges with juvenile services?

[1:25:47] I see it as two fold staffing and

[1:25:49] infrastructure. When we look at staffing from the

[1:25:53] City Parish general fund, we have been able

[1:25:58] to address a special recruitment rate increase. Let

[1:26:03] me use for an example, in April of

[1:26:06] this year, detention officers made $11 and some

[1:26:10] change. Right now, their entrance rate is nearly

[1:26:15] $17 an hour. And so I want to

[1:26:18] thank finance and the mayor's office for hearing

[1:26:22] and immediately addressing those needs. Another example I

[1:26:28] like to share. For more than two years,

[1:26:33] we received requisitions, some literally that had one

[1:26:37] name or zero names on those requisitions. And

[1:26:41] so we attributed that to an influx of

[1:26:44] prime in area and this not being a

[1:26:47] very attractive institution in which people desire to

[1:26:51] work. So we are at a point, the

[1:26:55] last requisition I looked at for detention officers

[1:26:58] had 22 names on it. It had 22

[1:27:02] names. And so that is a significant improvement

[1:27:07] and it certainly speaks to the special recruitment

[1:27:10] rate that has been implemented across the board

[1:27:13] for juvenile services. I want to add, you

[1:27:21] know, the question may eventually be if the

[1:27:26] rate has went up to nearly $17 an

[1:27:29] hour, why are there still staffing issues? I

[1:27:32] want to remind everyone that in order to

[1:27:35] work in juvenile detention, you go through a

[1:27:39] series of qualifications, including a state background check,

[1:27:43] a CANS, which is a child abuse and

[1:27:46] neglect system, a matrix, which is a psychological

[1:27:50] evaluation, and a drug examination. And so failure

[1:27:54] to meet any of those standards eliminate them

[1:27:57] from the requisition. So although we started at

[1:28:00] 22 names on the requisition, when you go

[1:28:03] through that process, it dwindles it down to

[1:28:07] maybe three or maybe four that make it

[1:28:09] through the entire process. The one thing we

[1:28:19] identified at the beginning of this year is

[1:28:21] that there is always a need for additional

[1:28:24] training, but especially in light of the changed

[1:28:27] landscape within juvenile services. And so we are

[1:28:30] happy to say that that is in progress.

[1:28:33] They are receiving, those additional trainings that are

[1:28:37] specific to juvenile detention and we are in

[1:28:40] partnership with the Baton Rouge Police Department to

[1:28:43] offer defensive tactics and other professional development for

[1:28:48] our staff. Next slide. The second area of

[1:28:58] impact and actions associated deals with the infrastructure

[1:29:02] for juvenile services. We've often heard on the

[1:29:05] media that it is a building built in

[1:29:07] 1952. However, we are certainly working with what

[1:29:12] we have, But specifically through the funding, again

[1:29:15] from the administration, the allocated ARP money of

[1:29:20] $2,000,000 will help us to update and renovate

[1:29:25] needed areas within the juvenile detention center. I

[1:29:29] did not go into much detail simply because

[1:29:32] of the nature of the facility, but in

[1:29:35] general it will help to provide security doors,

[1:29:38] surveillance control and additional trainings, things of that

[1:29:42] nature. So we started this year, early February

[1:29:51] or March, working with DPW to do an

[1:29:55] assessment, working with other state subject matter expertise

[1:30:04] for prisons and for juvenile detention centers to

[1:30:08] come walk our buildings. Not only did we

[1:30:10] invite them in to come walk our buildings

[1:30:13] this summer between July and August, my staff,

[1:30:16] my leadership and administration, we visited approximately five

[1:30:21] or six out of state juvenile detention centers.

[1:30:25] And the purpose of that was to understand

[1:30:28] best practices outside of a state with a

[1:30:32] raise the age law. For example, we visited

[1:30:35] the Harris County Juvenile Detention Center. It was

[1:30:39] quite intriguing because their detention center is located

[1:30:43] in City Hall and it takes up about

[1:30:46] five or six floors. They have recreation on

[1:30:49] the roof so that was a bit surprising

[1:30:51] for us. We also visited the Harris County

[1:30:56] in Marietta, the Regional Youth Center and we

[1:31:00] studied their systems, we studied their practices and

[1:31:04] we studied their policies and through these visits

[1:31:07] and the DPW walk throughs and the experts

[1:31:10] within the state of Louisiana, I believe that

[1:31:13] we are on track to address the needs

[1:31:15] that we have within the detention center. That

[1:31:23] concludes the presentation. Councilwoman Bianca. Thank you so

[1:31:32] much, Doctor. Wade. This has been a passion

[1:31:34] of mine to see what you guys have

[1:31:36] been doing since I started on the council.

[1:31:38] And I'm so happy that you talked about

[1:31:40] the raise the age law and how that

[1:31:42] law did not come with additional funding to

[1:31:45] change your facility. Also, think I've been out

[1:31:49] there multiple times and I think it's important

[1:31:51] for everyone to know how antiquated your building

[1:31:53] is. And if you go into modern facilities,

[1:31:57] you would have open space where guards could

[1:31:59] see everything that's happening. However, in your facility,

[1:32:02] there are blind spots all over it where

[1:32:05] people can hide or do bad acts or

[1:32:08] whatever they may be up to, and it

[1:32:09] puts the guards in a particular position that

[1:32:12] is unsafe for them as well as the

[1:32:14] people that are in the facility. So can

[1:32:17] you can you tell us a little bit

[1:32:19] about if that $2,000,000 is gonna help with

[1:32:23] some of those issues and and what it

[1:32:26] is looking moving forward through 2023. What do

[1:32:29] we need to be looking for to make

[1:32:31] sure that we're moving forward and getting you

[1:32:33] those funds? Because so certainly the ARP funding

[1:32:37] of $2,000,000 will greatly help with juvenile detention,

[1:32:43] as we specifically look out and look at

[1:32:45] changing doors, with a heightened level of security,

[1:32:49] the locking mechanisms, their surveillance, video, things of

[1:32:52] that nature. Those things that we are able

[1:32:54] to renovate in an 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 Thank you. Thank you. At

[1:46:43] this time we'll have the mayor's office. Thank

[1:46:48] you very much. This should be the briefest

[1:46:50] presentation of the night. My throat says yes.

[1:46:55] Our budgets, I think I have a little

[1:46:58] clicker, the mayor's office budget basically has three

[1:47:02] different divisions, administrative division, grant division, and special

[1:47:07] programs. The actual administrative part of our office,

[1:47:15] the budget there, excuse me, has actually gone

[1:47:18] down just a little bit from last year,

[1:47:20] and that decrease actually includes a 5% pay

[1:47:24] raise that everybody got. And part of that

[1:47:27] decrease is removing two of the positions out

[1:47:30] of our office into a special grants division,

[1:47:33] which we'll talk about in just a minute.

[1:47:35] But our total budget is roughly $2,500,000 for

[1:47:40] the administration part, 15 employees, one of those

[1:47:43] is actually the mayor, and one of those

[1:47:46] positions is made up of two part time

[1:47:48] people who serve as receptionists in our office.

[1:47:53] Grants has been a big challenge in my

[1:47:55] mind in City Parish. We have tried two

[1:47:58] different things to get to where I think

[1:48:01] we should be. We've had a federal grants

[1:48:04] coordinator which we needed to expand. We brought

[1:48:08] in a contract worker who was housed in

[1:48:12] the police department and that person was willing

[1:48:14] to do grant work for other departments. What

[1:48:18] we discovered was that our departments really don't

[1:48:20] have the capability to handle grants. We're trying

[1:48:24] to build that capacity. So this new division,

[1:48:28] we've taken two people, from our team and

[1:48:32] one person from OCD to create a special

[1:48:35] grants office. And the main person in that

[1:48:38] office, their key job will be to go

[1:48:40] out and basically market grants to different departments.

[1:48:45] There are grants all across the board, the

[1:48:47] fire department, police department, etcetera. So they will

[1:48:51] go out and encourage the departments to take

[1:48:53] grants that they find that they think are

[1:48:55] a good match. The National League of Cities,

[1:48:58] which we belong to, is a community. We

[1:49:01] have a special grants program that we have,

[1:49:04] contracted for there where they will actually write

[1:49:07] grants for us for $6,000 So as opposed

[1:49:10] to having a grants division that is stuck

[1:49:12] writing grants, we want to make certain that

[1:49:14] our grants division is out trying to get

[1:49:16] our departments to take those grants. And then

[1:49:19] two people to help administer the grants to

[1:49:21] make sure the departments can get through the

[1:49:23] process. One of the things we're working through

[1:49:26] also, we had a consultant who came in

[1:49:28] who's examined everything from the grant startup process,

[1:49:34] grants review, how it rolls through finance. We're

[1:49:37] trying to make certain that we can streamline

[1:49:39] that process to make it easier for everybody

[1:49:42] along the way. I think everyone here has

[1:49:44] seen that we struggle with grants. It takes

[1:49:46] a long time to get through that process.

[1:49:48] It's very cumbersome if you've ever tried to

[1:49:51] work with one of those grants per se.

[1:49:53] We love the money, but again, the bureaucratic

[1:49:55] process is very difficult. The other part of

[1:49:59] our budget within the mayor's office is special

[1:50:03] programs. Those include community sponsored programs. Those are

[1:50:08] things such as the Kiwanis Christmas Parade, which

[1:50:10] we help fund, White Light Night, which is

[1:50:14] a Dan ten Merchants Program. Different community events

[1:50:18] are funded through this category. Economic development programs,

[1:50:23] our actual, our lobbying functions are categorized in

[1:50:30] that. We do have a Corsten Nichols that

[1:50:34] does lobbying for us on the state level,

[1:50:36] and we have Crossroads that does lobbying work

[1:50:38] for us on the federal level. And then

[1:50:41] under economic development programs, we have things such

[1:50:45] as Oceans Medical, which we gave a stipend,

[1:50:49] a ten year commitment to help incentivize them

[1:50:51] to come to Baton Rouge. That's where these

[1:50:55] funds come from. The summer youth program, there's

[1:50:58] $200,000 in that category. There's also another $250,000

[1:51:04] of ARP money for 2023 that will help

[1:51:07] augment that program. Educational support initiatives used to

[1:51:14] be Cradle to K. That funding is now

[1:51:17] used for special education programs that we can

[1:51:19] help fund through the mayor's office. Neighborhood revitalization

[1:51:23] is a new category in our office. I

[1:51:25] think we explained that in budget meetings. We

[1:51:29] have a process that's been proven successful in

[1:51:32] Monroe and in New Orleans to expedite the

[1:51:37] blight remediation process and get some of those

[1:51:39] properties back in the marketplace. What that does

[1:51:43] is it will give us a way to

[1:51:44] clear titles on the most distressed properties, the

[1:51:47] ones that we just can't quite move through

[1:51:48] the process. There's a way we can take

[1:51:51] it through the court system and then clean

[1:51:53] the title up and get it in commerce

[1:51:55] very quickly. These funds will actually help us

[1:51:58] basically start almost a revolving fund where the

[1:52:03] funds will come in, the properties will be

[1:52:04] sold and the money will go back to

[1:52:06] continue the program. The Baton Rouge Film Commission

[1:52:09] is actually funded through this category also. There's

[1:52:13] a small increase in that this year. I

[1:52:15] think in 2020 or 2019 when we had

[1:52:19] to reduce budgets, we took a little bit

[1:52:21] of money away from that group and we're

[1:52:23] now giving it back. And I'm proud to

[1:52:25] say that the Baton Rouge Film Commission is

[1:52:28] doing extremely well. This year alone in 2020,

[1:52:32] there's $81,000,000 of production that's been done in

[1:52:35] Baton Rouge. The largest project was a Disney

[1:52:39] production that's getting ready to have its main

[1:52:41] screening. It was a $56,000,000 production. So that

[1:52:47] summarizes where we are in terms of our

[1:52:49] funding and where our money goes. Be glad

[1:52:51] to answer any questions. Do. Okay. Councilwoman Banks.

[1:53:03] In each of these categories, is it possible

[1:53:07] based on a 2022 budget to break down

[1:53:14] these initiatives, the ones that were current based

[1:53:16] on districts? We could come back and do

[1:53:21] that. Okay. I don't know about, I don't

[1:53:25] know if And some of them, like I

[1:53:28] was looking at I'm surprised the community sponsored

[1:53:34] program, it looks like that amount, I'm surprised

[1:53:37] it's only 65 because a lot of programs

[1:53:40] have been sponsored through But as it relates

[1:53:44] to that neighborhood revitalization, I probably did miss

[1:53:49] that meeting last Tuesday. Is there a department

[1:53:54] head for that? Marley Pittman who actually housed

[1:53:57] in OCD. Marley who is here. Marley might

[1:54:00] want to come up and give a little

[1:54:01] information. Is actually going to oversee that program

[1:54:04] and it's a program that Marley researched and

[1:54:07] discovered and has convinced everybody that we need

[1:54:11] to do a pilot program. If you have

[1:54:14] time to briefly tell me who qualifies, is

[1:54:20] it something that is from the top down

[1:54:23] or can, is it for non profits, is

[1:54:27] it for profits, how do you determine programs,

[1:54:31] all that good stuff? Yes ma'am. So our

[1:54:34] piece of the project is really about identifying

[1:54:36] the most distressed properties that have had title

[1:54:40] issues for years, if not decades. And so

[1:54:42] this is a process that the city can

[1:54:44] use. The ARP funding that y'all already dedicated

[1:54:46] for blight work, once that property is cleared

[1:54:50] of blight, to take it through a court

[1:54:52] process, to then put it into the land

[1:54:55] bank, so that we're then able to sell

[1:54:58] that to non profits, local developers, and have

[1:55:00] some community control over that property now that

[1:55:03] it has cleared title. I know that there

[1:55:05] we we wanna make sure that it is

[1:55:08] quickly moved out of the land bank and

[1:55:09] into community hands, but with cleared title, they'll

[1:55:13] actually be able to get the financing that

[1:55:14] they need to then do something with it,

[1:55:16] so that property will be a lot more

[1:55:17] useful to our local developers and to our

[1:55:20] local nonprofits, and so there will be a

[1:55:21] lot more interest in it. Because my concern

[1:55:25] is when you said land bank. I know.

[1:55:28] I'm not the man of the land bank

[1:55:30] at all. No. Know. And so are we

[1:55:32] still talking about the Bill Baton Rouge land

[1:55:34] bank? Yes, ma'am. But what's key to know

[1:55:36] is that the the reason the land bank

[1:55:38] really isn't able to to live up to

[1:55:41] some of those hopes that we have for

[1:55:44] our community is that the enabling legislation for

[1:55:47] how they were gonna clear its title, it

[1:55:49] fell. And you know this, and but we

[1:55:51] will actually be handling handing them titled cleared

[1:55:55] title property from the Okay. So they won't

[1:55:58] so we won't have to work with some

[1:55:59] of those other existing issues. And then they'll

[1:56:01] be able to use their equitable resale model

[1:56:03] to get that back into people's hands. Because

[1:56:05] our our goal is not to have the

[1:56:06] auction determine these things. Sure. The other thing

[1:56:09] is I'm concerned about big business with big

[1:56:12] money eating up the little fish and the

[1:56:14] little developers. Yes, ma'am. I'm thinking about a

[1:56:18] particular piece of land that has been difficult,

[1:56:21] it has been targeted by some very wealthy

[1:56:25] people and I could see them using this

[1:56:28] mechanism to clear title, but then there are

[1:56:34] other less fortunate developers that would like to

[1:56:38] have that same opportunity. And a lot of

[1:56:42] these things happen absent the of the council

[1:56:47] members. And so I like the idea that

[1:56:50] when, for instance, ABC, when Okay. I've gotten

[1:56:54] it where and and also planning where they

[1:56:58] let us know what's coming down because they're

[1:57:01] each one of our areas have may have

[1:57:03] a focus that we're working on. And and

[1:57:06] you can help to determine Right. So if

[1:57:08] someone out the blue comes up with their

[1:57:10] own little deal and we aren't aware, that's

[1:57:12] taking resources from like, I work very closely

[1:57:16] with CPEX in Scotlandville. And so if I'm

[1:57:19] working with CPEX and Southern University and we're

[1:57:22] going around trying to make sure that the

[1:57:26] quality of life for people living, working, whatever

[1:57:29] around Southern University and then somebody comes and

[1:57:33] they go through this and it just mess

[1:57:35] up the whole ecosystem. So I'm interested in

[1:57:39] making sure, wanna know how we could mitigate

[1:57:42] that, will that, And just, you know, a

[1:57:44] little bit more focus on I don't wanna

[1:57:47] I I don't like working six years to

[1:57:49] get get us to a point and then

[1:57:51] someone just come in and do their thing.

[1:57:54] I mean, I think that clearly outlines why

[1:57:57] we need to use the capabilities of a

[1:57:59] land bank. Because we could just take it

[1:58:01] to auction and then just whom Houston Developers

[1:58:03] could kinda come in, use a tax write

[1:58:05] off or something like talking about the the

[1:58:08] service prior to that. Yes ma'am, so once

[1:58:11] it's in a land bank, then the land

[1:58:13] bank can adopt those community plans, can work

[1:58:15] with council members to find ways to sell

[1:58:18] and use that property that meets the best

[1:58:20] needs of the districts, which really our council

[1:58:22] members know. And I'm talking about before we

[1:58:24] even get to that. So how do you

[1:58:26] identify the One of my biggest points, problems

[1:58:28] with land bank is that we just land

[1:58:30] bank. And for me to when I've got

[1:58:33] and talked to other programs that did redevelopment,

[1:58:37] You don't just choose a piece of land.

[1:58:39] Yeah. Used targeting, didn't And we're clear, you

[1:58:43] have to have a specific plan. Yes, ma'am.

[1:58:48] And as a matter of fact, anybody comes

[1:58:49] You're talking my language. I You have to

[1:58:51] have a plan before it even gets to

[1:58:53] a land bank to qualify for all these

[1:58:56] other things. Yeah. Because how often I mean,

[1:58:59] these land bank, it stays forever, you know?

[1:59:02] So I'm talking about where we get where

[1:59:05] someone is coming to meet, they're like, we're

[1:59:07] I'm trying to let's just say Scholumbert Avenue.

[1:59:10] I'm trying to do the Scholumbert Avenue thing

[1:59:12] and this particular property is in the land

[1:59:16] bank Mhmm. And they're able to show you

[1:59:19] substantial abilities and a plan, that should cut

[1:59:25] before you just people just sit in there.

[1:59:27] Yes, ma'am. And so I have several properties

[1:59:29] like that that are in blend in the

[1:59:32] land bank Mhmm. As being they don't have

[1:59:34] to their title, so you can't keep them

[1:59:35] with them. I don't want whatever the existing

[1:59:38] land bank to you start working on those

[1:59:40] property when I got some people waiting with

[1:59:42] money in their pockets to do something else.

[1:59:45] Ma'am. How do we avoid that? So the

[1:59:47] best way to avoid that is to I

[1:59:49] think it's what you said, is to pick

[1:59:50] the properties in the beginning for this process

[1:59:52] that are we know there's a community plan

[1:59:55] for, we know that there's a community partner

[1:59:57] that's ready and willing to do stuff. Because

[1:59:59] I think I know that I have residents

[2:00:01] that reach out to me, local developers that

[2:00:03] reach out to me, same that do to

[2:00:04] you. There is enough people in this community

[2:00:07] who have things that they wanna achieve. So

[2:00:08] we just need to work with them to

[2:00:10] pick the we this is a pilot, so

[2:00:11] just a little 25. It's a good Pilot.

[2:00:14] So we're gonna pick those properties using data,

[2:00:16] using our community partners. We'll take it through

[2:00:19] this process. We'll we'll work out the kinks

[2:00:21] on the small level, and then we'll get

[2:00:23] to, you know, a place where once it

[2:00:24] gets to the land bank, and then we

[2:00:25] immediately sell it back out and we're able

[2:00:27] to do what we need to do as

[2:00:28] as a community with that land. Okay. And

[2:00:31] then eventually get to where mister Gissel said

[2:00:34] that if we're able to if this works

[2:00:36] and then we're able to invest in this

[2:00:38] in a real way, then we have a

[2:00:39] revolving fund where we're constantly doing this. Mhmm.

[2:00:41] And it might only take a year for

[2:00:43] somebody to bring to you a good idea,

[2:00:45] but this clear title has been abandoned for

[2:00:47] ten years or more, fire, all that kind

[2:00:50] of stuff. We'll be able to take it

[2:00:52] through this process, land bank sold within a

[2:00:55] year, year and a half, as opposed to

[2:00:56] a ten year auction, prescriptive period adjudication process.

[2:01:03] Yes, ma'am? Yes, ma'am? Okay. In the right

[2:01:10] area. Mhmm. But I've gone from ten years

[2:01:16] of promising and believing god for Scotlandville area

[2:01:19] to have a full service grocery store. To

[2:01:23] the possibility of having a one and a

[2:01:26] half grocery store. But in the special projects,

[2:01:33] how do we fit that into economic development

[2:01:36] program? You know, we've done Healthy BR. I've

[2:01:40] approved Healthy BR with the promise that it's

[2:01:42] going to get a grocery store in Scotlandville.

[2:01:44] And then once it's approved, I've heard from

[2:01:48] grocery stores from the top of Bank 1

[2:01:51] in downtown to Plank Road to everywhere else

[2:01:56] and so of course I feel like I've

[2:01:57] been I've I've been duped. Then I've there's

[2:02:01] been it we've we've in the past approved

[2:02:05] money for strategic retail strategies. I'm thinking we

[2:02:10] are working again on Scotlandville because nobody was

[2:02:13] talking about a grocery store other than Scotlandville

[2:02:17] for ten years. No other it has the

[2:02:21] largest food bank. It's where all the interest

[2:02:23] was. But like every good plan, once you

[2:02:26] start, then everybody sees it as a good

[2:02:28] plan for their communities. And, you know, I've

[2:02:32] heard the excuse of, well, if I make

[2:02:34] it just for your community, your other colleagues

[2:02:37] are going to get upset, and all kind

[2:02:39] of foolishness like that. How do I get

[2:02:41] to the place where there is a sincere

[2:02:46] focus on a grocery store in this budget,

[2:02:50] in the Scholumbier community, not that we cut

[2:02:53] shortcuts, because I'm confident that we wouldn't check

[2:02:57] the box that are necessary, but that we

[2:03:00] go through the real plan because we don't

[2:03:02] want a project that's gonna Right. And that

[2:03:04] no other funds are there's a dedicated funding

[2:03:09] stream just like we did with Costco under

[2:03:13] Melvin Kip Holden. Like, what does it take

[2:03:18] for that? We still have, and Linda could

[2:03:20] correct me, we still have $750,000 that was

[2:03:23] allocated for a grocery store and I think

[2:03:25] the big issue has been trying to find,

[2:03:28] right now it's set up for disinvested community

[2:03:31] for a food desert. But that's the problem.

[2:03:36] When we deal with downtown, we didn't deal

[2:03:38] with city of Baton Rouge, we dealt with

[2:03:40] downtown. When we dealt with Plank Row, we

[2:03:43] dealt with Plank Row. When we dealt with

[2:03:45] Arden Wood, we say Arden Wood. But when

[2:03:47] it talks about a grocery store in Scotlandville

[2:03:50] that had that had four grocery stores and

[2:03:54] because of federal, state, and local disinvestment, we

[2:03:59] lost those arteries. So at what point is

[2:04:02] there gonna be the retail reciprocity owed to

[2:04:06] the people in the community in and around

[2:04:08] Scotlandville where this city says we are focusing

[2:04:12] on a grocery store in the community of

[2:04:16] Scotlandville. I can say as a realtor from

[2:04:21] the outside, I've worked on grocery store projects

[2:04:23] in other communities and the tough thing there

[2:04:26] is trying to incentivize someone to come in

[2:04:29] which those funds are actually there for. And

[2:04:31] it has never happened, that's my I'm asking

[2:04:37] Darrell to defer to me on this because

[2:04:39] I think that it's something that I could

[2:04:42] probably speak to a little bit more in-depth

[2:04:47] as it relates to the whole grocery store

[2:04:52] closing that gap. I think you will recall

[2:04:56] and maybe some of your colleagues, but you

[2:04:58] certainly have the longevity here. When I first

[2:05:02] came in office, we started an initiative with

[2:05:09] the Fresh food initiative. Yeah, but we started

[2:05:13] an initiative with Together Baton Rouge that asked

[2:05:19] us to use some of our resources to

[2:05:23] help uplift and stand up a grocery store

[2:05:28] in disinvested communities. The name of the company,

[2:05:32] not really a company but nonprofit, was Hope.

[2:05:37] We all came into agreement, counsel as well

[2:05:41] as the administration on that would be a

[2:05:44] good path forward. I will be very candid

[2:05:48] with you and say that we did not

[2:05:50] see the results that we thought we were

[2:05:53] going to see. Now, I'm not going to

[2:05:56] cast a negative light on hope. I think

[2:05:59] that perhaps they it was a little bit

[2:06:04] more challenging for them than than they anticipated.

[2:06:09] Fast forward, as Daryl said, we still have

[2:06:12] that money and that commitment. For example, I

[2:06:17] want to say it was either the North

[2:06:20] Baton Rouge Economic Development District or the Blue

[2:06:23] Ribbon Commission. One of those groups asked us

[2:06:26] to help support a study for retail. And

[2:06:32] I think that I don't know which group

[2:06:34] that was but it was one of the

[2:06:35] groups in the North Baton Rouge area that

[2:06:38] coincides with some of the work that's being

[2:06:40] done in Scotlandville. Do you recall which group

[2:06:43] that was? No, I know it wasn't in

[2:06:45] NBR now because we know that we don't

[2:06:47] need any more studies. We know that together

[2:06:49] Baton Rouge for six years, I already did

[2:06:51] a study on it. It was one of

[2:06:54] Probably NBR now because they came in late.

[2:06:56] Okay, it was one of those groups. But

[2:06:58] with that being said, the commitment to having

[2:07:03] closing that grocery gap, it still exists. Is

[2:07:08] there a specific plan now that we have

[2:07:11] all rallied around, whether it's been the council

[2:07:13] or the administration? There's not a specific plan

[2:07:16] at this moment, but we still have the

[2:07:19] dollars. We still have the resources to make

[2:07:22] that happen. And I don't think there's anybody,

[2:07:25] whether it's a council member, certainly not my

[2:07:27] administration, that does not want to see a

[2:07:31] grocery store happen in the Scotlandville area. You

[2:07:36] mentioned a few minutes ago being specific. I

[2:07:39] have no problem with Scotlandville because I believe

[2:07:42] that it is certainly part of the fabric

[2:07:44] of North Baton Rouge. And when you put

[2:07:47] a grocery store in Scotlandville, you certainly help

[2:07:51] empower North Baton Rouge. So I don't have

[2:07:54] a problem with that. And the administration is

[2:07:57] certainly open to any plans that perhaps we

[2:08:02] can incentivize. As you well know, Councilwoman, there

[2:08:06] were nothing at one point, and I think

[2:08:09] we all had a meeting about this, a

[2:08:11] public meeting at the library where we were

[2:08:14] talking about the different the potential of having

[2:08:18] grocery stores in the Scotlandville area because there

[2:08:21] had been a lot of discussion around it.

[2:08:23] You remember that meeting? I'm not remember. Is

[2:08:26] Scotlandville Library? No we had it right next

[2:08:29] I probably wasn't there. Okay well some of

[2:08:31] the members of the Schollerville community who've been

[2:08:35] working on that and I think some of

[2:08:36] them have been working with you on that

[2:08:38] were at that meeting. Nevertheless, I would certainly

[2:08:42] welcome any tangible strategic partnership that speaks directly

[2:08:53] to let's get a grocery store in Scotlandville

[2:08:58] with Plan ABC. I do believe that there

[2:09:04] are some other initiatives, as you may well

[2:09:07] know from some of the state legislators, that

[2:09:11] are trying to certainly bring a grocery store

[2:09:16] to that area as well. Listen, we have

[2:09:21] room for more than one grocery store when

[2:09:25] it comes to disinvested communities. So the money

[2:09:29] is here. We are certainly willing and ready

[2:09:33] to move forward with a plan of action.

[2:09:36] So I think, you know, I hear what

[2:09:39] you're saying and I've heard those things before

[2:09:43] as it relates to you saying you care

[2:09:46] about Schollinville and you support, but then when

[2:09:49] we get down to the nuts of Nabalta

[2:09:51] and we bring a plan and we think

[2:09:54] we're ready to go, then you renege on

[2:09:56] those plans. Well I disagree with you. You

[2:09:58] continue and then I'll rebut. Yes, and then

[2:10:01] so the thing about it is one of

[2:10:03] the reasons why we've come up with so

[2:10:05] many plans is because when there have, when

[2:10:10] the goal, when you set a goal such

[2:10:12] as in 2016 and you don't move forward,

[2:10:16] it gives an opportunity for more people to

[2:10:19] just come up with ideas because it's difficult

[2:10:23] to have someone setting a precedent and a

[2:10:27] leadership and stating specifically this is the direction

[2:10:31] we're going. That takes leadership. And so that's

[2:10:35] why we get all these people who have

[2:10:38] not been vested in Schuylenville Twenty And Thirty

[2:10:41] Years, go out of office forty years, come

[2:10:44] back, and they have the assets and they

[2:10:48] are able to get the money at the

[2:10:51] federal level or the state level, you know,

[2:10:54] all out the door. And if we're discombobulated

[2:10:58] with no one standing and saying, this is

[2:11:03] where we are and this is the direction

[2:11:06] we're going. So, it has put me, someone

[2:11:09] who has been fighting since 2012, to get

[2:11:14] these projects off the road to be in

[2:11:16] some several areas of conflict. You know, when

[2:11:20] you met mention North Baton Rouge Economic Development

[2:11:23] District, they weren't even the North Baton Rouge

[2:11:25] Economic Development District when we started getting these

[2:11:30] plans together. They had no funding. They didn't

[2:11:33] even cover at that time. They didn't they

[2:11:36] were not even part of our district. Our

[2:11:38] district didn't even cover their boundaries. So, my

[2:11:42] problem is, you know, just like we're heroes

[2:11:45] for hope, we came up with a plan.

[2:11:47] We we we did every the the dots.

[2:11:50] You know, those developers based on your word,

[2:11:53] based on you bringing that to the council,

[2:11:55] based on you approving those things, and now

[2:11:58] we gotta go to council we gotta get

[2:12:01] the the federal people that gave us the

[2:12:03] money, we done everything, and now you're making

[2:12:05] the developers go ask congressman Graves and congressman

[2:12:10] Carter, and they think it's laughable. And so

[2:12:13] I am dis disgusted that, you know, that

[2:12:17] it's lip service that we could If you

[2:12:19] would come with a plan, that you're gonna

[2:12:22] support it and that you don't have a

[2:12:23] problem with it because in the reality of

[2:12:26] it, we don't see it. And that is

[2:12:28] the disgust and there's no, no, no, there

[2:12:31] is no working together. You know, that's me

[2:12:35] stuck out trying to help developers who put

[2:12:37] all their funding on the retail side based

[2:12:40] on an approval and you don't give a

[2:12:43] damn about the fact that they losing money

[2:12:45] every day. And that's a that's a problem

[2:12:49] for me. And you have the asset. You

[2:12:52] have the federal. You have the ability to

[2:12:55] go to treasure. We've I've asked for that.

[2:12:57] We've asked you to to show to all

[2:13:00] the documentation. I've talked to finance to explain

[2:13:04] what where they're different. We've done everything we

[2:13:06] could do. So, for you to say that

[2:13:08] if we follow that same path to get

[2:13:11] a grocery store, it is is not is

[2:13:14] not really something that I could put my

[2:13:18] dollars on or that I could go back

[2:13:20] to the people and say, the mayor said,

[2:13:23] I can I no longer have that kind

[2:13:24] of support or belief that you would do

[2:13:27] it because you reneged on this other deal?

[2:13:32] So, Councilwoman, it's unfortunate that you feel that

[2:13:38] yeah, it's unfortunate that you listen, I'm not

[2:13:43] gonna I'm not going, you know, I could

[2:13:46] I think you have confused the truth. How

[2:13:49] about we say that? And I'm not gonna

[2:13:51] get into that debate. I've told you time

[2:13:53] and time again, if you want to talk

[2:13:55] to me about that in a civil manner,

[2:13:58] you have come to my We have emailed

[2:14:00] you. But you have you seen the emails

[2:14:02] you Listen, listen. I'm not going to debate

[2:14:05] that with you right now. I'm not going

[2:14:08] to debate it with you right now. If

[2:14:09] you want to have a civil conversation with

[2:14:10] I have had those conversations with you and

[2:14:15] you dismissed them. I have I have. I've

[2:14:17] gone I've gone to every Are you gonna

[2:14:19] let me talk? I listen to you. But

[2:14:21] you're not Madam Leader, Councilwoman, I listen to

[2:14:24] you. I am telling the truth. Mary, you're

[2:14:27] I am telling the truth. Councilor. And I'm

[2:14:28] not going to let you try to discredit

[2:14:30] me. Well, miss. I'm not going to get

[2:14:31] up here and debate with you. I'm not

[2:14:33] going know the problem is you. You worry

[2:14:36] about yourself. That's the problem. You're delusional about

[2:14:39] some of this stuff you're talking about. And

[2:14:41] call the developers, they'll tell you about the

[2:14:43] money that they're The developers tell me one

[2:14:45] thing and they have another conversation with But

[2:14:49] let me just say this, do you want

[2:14:50] to allow me a time to speak or

[2:14:52] you don't? If you're not going tell the

[2:14:53] truth. I'm to tell the truth. I'm gonna

[2:14:55] tell the truth. All right let's see, I

[2:14:58] think this one is. All right. Councilwoman, the

[2:15:03] truth is when you brought that program to

[2:15:07] me, I readily embraced it. I am still

[2:15:12] very dedicated to the project, whether you believe

[2:15:15] it or not. The proof is the pudding,

[2:15:20] and we are getting to that point. But

[2:15:22] the issue is, I'm going to do everything

[2:15:26] decently, in order, cross every T, dot every

[2:15:30] I. So I do not put you, the

[2:15:34] developers, this administration, at any liability. Now I'm

[2:15:38] not going if you wanna have an extended

[2:15:40] conversation with me If we ask you to

[2:15:41] go to U. Treasury, how that's not in

[2:15:43] If if if you wanna have an extended

[2:15:46] conversation with me about this in addition to

[2:15:51] what we've all the information we've already shared

[2:15:54] then you can do that but I'm not

[2:15:56] going to do it at the budget hearing.

[2:15:59] Okay thank you very much thank you. Alright,

[2:16:02] at this time we're gonna ask that the

[2:16:05] Office of Community Development come on down and

[2:16:12] I just hope no children were watching. Come

[2:16:14] on, come on baby. Children need to know

[2:16:16] about debates. That's why our kids can't function.

[2:16:20] They don't have a void. Thank you. Good

[2:16:33] evening council members. We'll be going through, of

[2:16:37] course, the mayor's office of community development budget

[2:16:39] today. The two documents that you have, one

[2:16:42] is a presentation that is on the screen.

[2:16:44] The other is the detailed budget as well

[2:16:46] that breaks down some of the costs. For

[2:16:48] the office of community development, of course, we're

[2:16:51] currently staffed at four full time staffers and

[2:16:55] nine contracted employees, which includes, of course, our

[2:16:59] community revitalization director that you spoke with earlier.

[2:17:02] It's important to note as we go through

[2:17:05] the budget for the Office of Community Development,

[2:17:07] it is comprised of entitlement funds as well

[2:17:11] as general fund budget as well, which we'll

[2:17:15] go through on the next slide. In the

[2:17:17] first quarter of twenty twenty two, we also

[2:17:20] went paperless in OCD. If you spent any

[2:17:23] time on the Seventh Floor, you'd know that

[2:17:25] we had rooms filled with boxes of files

[2:17:29] that dated back into the early 2000s, '20

[2:17:32] '10. Our team has now gone paperless in

[2:17:35] doing that. We also held a boot camp

[2:17:38] for our new employees and hosted an affordable

[2:17:41] housing developer workshop all within City Parish. In

[2:17:45] the past, you've seen many of these instances

[2:17:47] done through contractors or third parties, but our

[2:17:49] department has taken on that task. If you

[2:17:52] look behind me, you'll see a row of

[2:17:54] folks. I'm really elated that they've taken their

[2:17:56] time while off to join us today to

[2:17:59] see and understand the proceedings of the Office

[2:18:02] of Community Development, and these contractors and employees

[2:18:04] are committed to the process of improving our

[2:18:07] department and making sure that we are putting

[2:18:10] out our federal funds in a timely fashion

[2:18:13] and a compliant fashion as well. In that,

[2:18:16] we've also had an annual stakeholder meeting for

[2:18:19] community input for our action plan and we've

[2:18:22] hosted a statewide lead hazard reduction grantee meeting

[2:18:26] and many of our members have also attended

[2:18:28] several community development association conferences to increase professional

[2:18:32] development to be able to vet projects within

[2:18:35] our community. Our major programs are funded by

[2:18:38] those four entitlements, which you'll see on the

[2:18:41] next slide, which is CDBG, Community Development Block

[2:18:46] Grants, HOME, HOPWA, housing opportunities for persons with

[2:18:52] AIDS and ESG. Within these grants, you'll see

[2:18:57] under here that we've listed how these funds

[2:19:00] are eligible to be used, whether it's home

[2:19:03] buying activities, homeowner rehab, public facilities, public services,

[2:19:10] and then with our home dollars, construction and

[2:19:12] rehab for sidewalks, utility connections, soft costs, also

[2:19:17] converting properties from commercial to residential, homeowner rehab,

[2:19:21] and tenant based rental assistance. Speaking to some

[2:19:25] of the programs that we've had within these

[2:19:27] budgets, we've done many projects in the North

[2:19:29] Baton Rouge area because these funds are focused

[2:19:32] towards low to moderate income households. For example,

[2:19:35] we've had Elm Grove Capstone Project, which put

[2:19:38] $1,400,000 of home dollars in the Scotlandville area.

[2:19:42] YWCA Providence Place, dollars seven and fifty six

[2:19:45] thousand home project for domestic violence victims with

[2:19:49] the YWCA. Central Road Rehab, which is also

[2:19:52] in the Scotlandville area, 600 ks. And then

[2:19:55] UREC Foster Oaks, dollars one point seven million

[2:19:59] has been put in within those areas. In

[2:20:02] the last three to four years, we've put

[2:20:05] out approximately $10,000,000 in active housing projects for

[2:20:09] low to moderate income home buyer rental properties

[2:20:13] with developers within our community. And if you

[2:20:16] include the C and I grant, Choice Neighborhood

[2:20:19] grant that came from HUD that awarded $30,000,000

[2:20:22] to our parish, we also included $1,500,000 in

[2:20:26] an add on allocation to that as well

[2:20:28] in entitlement funding to support land acquisition and

[2:20:32] rehab that was needed to support that project.

[2:20:36] If you go to the next slide. The

[2:20:40] Office of Community Development within the last few

[2:20:42] years has also received a large amount of

[2:20:46] non entitlement funding as well. What you're looking

[2:20:49] at on this slide particular is our funding

[2:20:52] sources for general fund as well as our

[2:20:56] entitlement programs. As you'll see, 2023 has dates

[2:21:01] in that column. The reason why is because

[2:21:03] we do not receive our entitlements for that

[2:21:06] year until September. So the funding that you'll

[2:21:09] see for fiscal year twenty twenty two will

[2:21:12] actually be spent in 2023. Some of these

[2:21:16] dollars also carry over from year to year

[2:21:18] when you look at the budget within the

[2:21:21] budget book, so you'll see that there's increased

[2:21:23] funding year over year based upon carryover from

[2:21:26] those entitlement funds. For 2022 entitlement funds, again,

[2:21:32] that are spent in 2023, you're looking at

[2:21:35] $3,200,000 in CDBG funding, dollars 2,000,000 in HOPWA

[2:21:39] funding, 1.5 in home funding and 273,000 in

[2:21:45] ESG. Those entitlement funds is where most of

[2:21:48] our dollars for our staffing, contracts and administration

[2:21:53] of various grant programs and activities take place

[2:21:56] year over year. There's a reduction from 2022

[2:22:00] into 2023 for the general fund budget. There

[2:22:04] was a special allocation of $400,000 that you

[2:22:07] all, along with Mayor Broome, awarded to the

[2:22:10] Office of Community Development to improve processes for

[2:22:13] our home rehabilitation program, which is why you

[2:22:16] saw there was a special infusion in 2022

[2:22:19] that's not a part of the normal allocation,

[2:22:21] and traditionally the department receives 392,000 but you

[2:22:26] had Daryl reference that there was one staff

[2:22:29] position and some funding that moved from OCD

[2:22:32] to the mayor's office for the grant administrator.

[2:22:35] That grant administrator will also be able to

[2:22:38] support grants that are available through HUD for

[2:22:41] community development departments as well and this person

[2:22:43] is particularly specialized in finding new funding sources

[2:22:47] for gap programs that may exist within the

[2:22:50] department. Next slide. Now we're gonna talk about

[2:22:56] non entitlement funding which we've received several projects

[2:22:59] for within the last year. You have emergency

[2:23:02] rental assistance with the Treasury, lead based paint

[2:23:06] hazard reduction, the American Rescue Plan dollars that

[2:23:10] went specifically for home within, the Treasury program,

[2:23:15] CARES Act, Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security

[2:23:19] Act, weatherization assistance, declared disaster recovery funds and

[2:23:25] even more recently CDBG disaster recovery funds which

[2:23:29] are tied to a specific disaster and they

[2:23:31] must be used to meet unmet needs caused

[2:23:34] by that named disaster. You can look at

[2:23:38] the budget breakdown of that on the next

[2:23:40] slide. Rental assistance particularly I want to take

[2:23:43] some time to talk about because that's a

[2:23:45] significant number when you look at $80000000.80.6 to

[2:23:48] be exact. On the next slide, you'll see

[2:23:50] the breakdown of funding for that program. 59,000,000

[2:23:54] of that 80,000,000 is allocated to direct assistance

[2:23:59] for residents, meaning those are dollars that are

[2:24:02] going in the hands of tenants to make

[2:24:04] sure that they are not evicted from their

[2:24:07] homes. Another portion of those dollars went to

[2:24:11] the eviction diversion program, which is supported by

[2:24:14] organizations like Southeast Legal Services who just celebrated

[2:24:17] eleven years of being in operation today that

[2:24:20] have served over two forty nine families, six

[2:24:23] zero nine individuals that we have prevented from

[2:24:26] being homeless through the work of that program.

[2:24:31] The last slide, of course, does give that

[2:24:33] information particularly for the districts for the rental

[2:24:36] assistance and I know that there may be

[2:24:38] particular questions about many of the programs within

[2:24:41] CDBG or HOME for your districts and the

[2:24:44] Department of Community Development will start to host

[2:24:47] quarterly meetings to give general information to the

[2:24:51] council members about the projects that are happening,

[2:24:54] hold ups on particular projects because just like

[2:24:56] many other dollars that we see through City

[2:24:59] Parish, when you have federally regulated dollars, There's

[2:25:02] compliance restraints that we have to fall within,

[2:25:05] environmental reviews. So these projects can span anywhere

[2:25:09] from one to five or six years. That

[2:25:11] may seem like a long time just hearing

[2:25:14] that but there are so many phases that

[2:25:16] we have to go through within that. We

[2:25:17] want to make sure that we're having more

[2:25:19] conversations with you all as council members to

[2:25:21] be able to articulate to your residents that

[2:25:24] may be contacting you about them. I'll now

[2:25:27] take any questions. All by myself. First of

[2:25:34] all, Courtney, you did a great job. Thank

[2:25:36] you. Can you go back to slide number

[2:25:39] one? Slide number two. So, entitlement funds, it

[2:25:50] was my understanding that those are like extra

[2:25:53] funds that are pulled from other areas, I

[2:26:00] don't know if it's federal or state, but

[2:26:02] and then it that's how it's not like

[2:26:05] a reoccurring something you could count on, it's

[2:26:08] like lame yap. So explain that to me

[2:26:13] as it relates to this and is this

[2:26:15] part of the proposal for 2023 because they're

[2:26:20] gonna these are the entitled the city has

[2:26:23] received notification of entitlement funds under these programs

[2:26:29] coming in 2023? It's a little bit of

[2:26:32] both. There's some some fact in that so

[2:26:34] I wanna bring some articulation to it and

[2:26:37] align it, the facts there. So first off,

[2:26:39] the city and parish does receive annual allocations.

[2:26:43] You are right, we cannot count on those

[2:26:44] until we get an award letter that comes

[2:26:47] in saying that we will receive them. And

[2:26:49] then part two, we have to submit an

[2:26:51] action plan for those dollars, which also has

[2:26:53] to be approved. So there may be times

[2:26:55] that you'll receive a notification and dollars may

[2:26:58] be withdrawn if you're not spending them down

[2:27:00] enough. These dollars are all contingent. Contingent upon

[2:27:04] criteria of the program, contingent upon criteria of

[2:27:08] the city parish and their prior spending from

[2:27:11] previous years. For example, OCD is still managing

[2:27:15] dollars as far back as 2015. We have

[2:27:19] disaster dollars as far back as Gustaf and

[2:27:22] Ida that are still obligated and tied up

[2:27:24] into programs, however they are still on our

[2:27:29] books and we're still carrying them. What you

[2:27:31] see here, and if you go to the

[2:27:33] next slide for fiscal year twenty twenty two

[2:27:36] that says projected, these dollars were not awarded

[2:27:40] to the OCD until September of twenty twenty

[2:27:44] two. Our fiscal year is almost over at

[2:27:47] that point. So what you're seeing here that

[2:27:49] says fiscal year twenty twenty two, the spending

[2:27:52] of that will happen in 2023 up to

[2:27:55] five years after that. When you see 09/2023

[2:28:00] in all of those areas in September of

[2:28:02] twenty twenty three, we'll be able to speak

[2:28:05] about 2024 spending with twenty twenty three dollars,

[2:28:08] if that makes sense. So what you hear

[2:28:10] me talking about now is general fund from

[2:28:12] 2023 but program year dollars from 2022. But

[2:28:18] they are the are the lanyard. Some of

[2:28:21] it is and some of it isn't but

[2:28:22] you all roll it all in together if

[2:28:24] it had not been used. So you look

[2:28:26] at every year that's there. This shows the

[2:28:28] amount that we were given. Yeah. And we

[2:28:31] award them every year. However, if they're not

[2:28:33] used in a timely fashion, there may be

[2:28:35] land yet to roll over, yes, but that

[2:28:37] the rollover is not reflected in what you're

[2:28:40] looking at right now. Okay. Only what is

[2:28:42] awarded on paper, on books every year. Okay,

[2:28:45] so that was I received a notice that

[2:28:48] there was some entitlement money EBR just got

[2:28:51] like two or three weeks ago like 1,300,000.0,

[2:28:54] 3 point 1 million. So that is from

[2:28:55] the state, that is state OCD, yes ma'am.

[2:28:58] So how much was that? It depends on

[2:29:00] the particular program but I will go, if

[2:29:03] you go to the next slide, two slides

[2:29:05] back, actually one more. So if you look

[2:29:08] here, two to three weeks is not reflected

[2:29:10] within this, but you're probably speaking about approximately

[2:29:14] 1.3 to 1.8 that came from the state

[2:29:18] specifically for infrastructure. Yeah. And I don't know

[2:29:21] if you have that email up but. So

[2:29:23] when it's entitlement, what I I was told

[2:29:27] that when it's entitlement entitlement, it isn't it

[2:29:33] is not earmarked for a particular purpose. Once

[2:29:39] it becomes, once it's entitled, that it may

[2:29:42] have gone out initially under, you know, a

[2:29:48] specific whatever, but once it be kept, once

[2:29:51] that money is left over and that pot

[2:29:54] of money is given to You're probably speaking

[2:29:56] from state language, and and most respectfully, our

[2:30:01] state legislators are very familiar with how money

[2:30:03] goes from congress to the state. When it

[2:30:06] goes to the municipality, we have three layers

[2:30:09] of compliance that we have to follow. Local

[2:30:12] compliance for city parish, HUD compliance from the

[2:30:15] federal level, and we cannot operate as a

[2:30:19] city parish local jurisdiction like a state jurisdiction

[2:30:22] can. Sometimes the state will give us money

[2:30:25] if they have something left over. Before an

[2:30:27] entitlement, we are given these dollars specific under

[2:30:30] these categories and there's project uses for for

[2:30:33] each category that we have to have. So

[2:30:35] the only reason I was asking that is

[2:30:38] how do we as council members, since it's

[2:30:42] not count in, you know, like a lot

[2:30:43] of times you come with your projects you

[2:30:45] don't have enough money. But once we get

[2:30:48] entitlement fund, how do we become a consideration

[2:30:56] for this Absolutely. Every year. I got that

[2:30:58] notice, I already have a plan. So how

[2:31:01] how does that work? So number one, we

[2:31:03] have to look at what the compliance rules

[2:31:05] are for the dollars. It's great to have

[2:31:07] a plan of an idea, but then you

[2:31:10] have to figure out how we can put

[2:31:11] it into a compliant program that will be

[2:31:15] approved by HUD. I have to be very

[2:31:17] honest to say over the last five years,

[2:31:20] when and you're you're familiar because of the

[2:31:22] timeline that you've been here, OCD in in

[2:31:24] the city of Baton Rouge did not have

[2:31:26] favorable consideration with HUD. Over the last five

[2:31:29] years, we've worked very hard to become very

[2:31:32] compliant in our projects. We've had to get

[2:31:34] red tape. We've had to go back to

[2:31:36] HUD and other national departments to make sure

[2:31:39] that we're doing it correctly. Because when many

[2:31:42] other jurisdictions may get a breeze over, city

[2:31:47] parishes look through like a fine tooth comb.

[2:31:49] Yeah. And that's not a problem, it's just

[2:31:50] that is it our responsibility as counsel, you

[2:31:54] know, so I might have a plan and

[2:31:55] yeah, may or may not fit. Yes ma'am.

[2:31:58] But, and hopefully I guess that's now that

[2:32:00] we have an in house OCD, we need

[2:32:03] to know who is the contact person who

[2:32:06] is not as what I found in housing.

[2:32:08] He wrote to tell me why all of

[2:32:10] a sudden I don't qualify or I'm not,

[2:32:13] but how do you make it work? And

[2:32:15] it shouldn't take nine months, ten months. It

[2:32:18] does unfortunately. We have projects that have taken

[2:32:20] over two years to even get approved. Wasn't

[2:32:22] about to say that. Yes ma'am. To work

[2:32:24] the plan out. Yes. To present. And so

[2:32:28] it's like I'm glad we got an in

[2:32:31] house staff again. I think that's gonna be

[2:32:33] helpful. But we really gonna need to know

[2:32:35] what each person does. Sure. And know I

[2:32:38] like the idea of having an in house

[2:32:40] grant department because I've recommended and grants and

[2:32:45] they get approved but it never comes back

[2:32:47] to my district. Yes ma'am. But you know

[2:32:49] so how do we, I don't know if

[2:32:51] that's gonna be a case management project. I

[2:32:54] can give you some information. I'm looking for

[2:32:56] more inclusion. I'm not like, you know, a

[2:32:59] lot of I'm not like every other council

[2:33:01] member that might just wanna wait. I really

[2:33:04] am, you know, if the mayor is right,

[2:33:06] I'm in a hurry to get things done

[2:33:07] in my history. Yes, ma'am. Am in a

[2:33:10] hurry. Patience is a virtue for the Office

[2:33:12] of Community Development because one, every incremental year

[2:33:17] for every entitlement year, we have to put

[2:33:19] in an action plan. That's it. You all

[2:33:21] approve that action plan every year. Every three

[2:33:23] to five years, we have to do a

[2:33:25] consolidated plan. Right. You all have to approve

[2:33:27] that plan every year. I will share another

[2:33:30] non popular thing is meeting after meeting after

[2:33:32] meeting. OCD has to do that on paper.

[2:33:34] None of those are problems for me. I've

[2:33:36] been through all of that. Yes ma'am. I'm

[2:33:38] just saying that before we get to the

[2:33:41] action plan, coming to each council member and

[2:33:43] asking them for project. We legally can't do

[2:33:47] that. Here's what we'd have to do. We

[2:33:49] have to open up an action plan or

[2:33:51] a consolidation plan. We can talk to you

[2:33:54] about concepts, ideas and put together projects that

[2:33:58] may have a general cost, but that project

[2:34:00] then, after the action plan, has to be

[2:34:02] submitted in an RFP period. If the project

[2:34:05] has gone through an RFP, for example, Housing

[2:34:08] for Heroes, the reason why Housing for Heroes

[2:34:11] was able to be allocated or suggested for

[2:34:13] a home or CDBG project, and that's still

[2:34:16] on the table, is because they presented a

[2:34:19] proposal in prior funding rounds for the action

[2:34:22] plan, so we're able to go back to

[2:34:24] that project at any given time. Sure, but

[2:34:26] Holly for Heroes was approved, not presented, under

[2:34:30] ARPA because it fit the ARPA mandates. Yes,

[2:34:34] ma'am. And so and one of the things

[2:34:36] that the expansion of the ARPA program in

[2:34:39] April was because so many municipalities found the

[2:34:43] stringently of using home and CDC that they

[2:34:47] actually wrote guidelines to say, no, do not.

[2:34:51] You all are limiting the process of ARPA.

[2:34:54] ARPA is not for you to keep doing

[2:34:57] what you're doing here. It's to leverage the

[2:35:00] plan so that more people, and you are

[2:35:03] able to do more work, not that slow

[2:35:06] process that home is CDBG. And there's been

[2:35:10] a huge misinterpretation that from this municipality, based

[2:35:16] on what I heard when I talked to

[2:35:17] finance, they were under the impression that you

[2:35:21] have to be go by home guidelines, CD

[2:35:24] guidelines, HUD guidelines. That is not what it

[2:35:28] said. It said if it will If meets

[2:35:31] those qualifications, it automatically meets OPERA. OPERA. It

[2:35:36] did not mean you gotta go through those

[2:35:38] plans to get OPERA. And that So, when

[2:35:42] we get to that and even her, and

[2:35:43] I see why we've had a problem, because

[2:35:45] we are misinterpreting their plans so often. So

[2:35:48] there is something that they offer called technical

[2:35:50] assistance? And that's what I've been asking about

[2:35:52] for nine months. Sure, so I'm gonna speak

[2:35:54] back specifically to And the reason I'm so

[2:35:56] smart in knowing that we're not doing right

[2:35:58] is because I have a relationship with her.

[2:36:01] I have a relationship with Oprah. And the

[2:36:03] reason why I have been disgusted and debusted

[2:36:06] with the mayor is because she's on NLSC

[2:36:10] exactly the board and she won't ask them

[2:36:12] because she's a mayor and she won't ask

[2:36:14] treasury because she won't act wouldn't act and

[2:36:17] we've been doing this nine months and those

[2:36:19] guys lost money and they constantly lose money

[2:36:22] and she just keep passing us on to

[2:36:24] different one of her staff. Dontay just get

[2:36:26] here. What's the other girl name? I'm gonna

[2:36:28] go to respectfully, Councilwoman, I'll share that we

[2:36:32] can go to the patients is the virtue

[2:36:33] piece of this to be able to go

[2:36:35] through because we for example, the YWCA Providence

[2:36:38] project and I'm gonna go back to OCD

[2:36:40] Because they never received AQRA funding that was

[2:36:42] approved by the Right. We're speaking through OCD.

[2:36:45] So I'm going back to that I apologize.

[2:36:47] Speaking back to the OCD lens, you need

[2:36:49] me? Okay. Back to the OCD lens, you

[2:36:52] do have to go through the RFP process.

[2:36:55] Once the RFP process is done, you then

[2:36:57] also have to submit your projects through HUD

[2:37:01] to be approved, which is that one to

[2:37:03] two year project. All is understood per year.

[2:37:05] Yes ma'am. When interjected that housing for heroes

[2:37:09] I just answered your question. That's what got

[2:37:10] me fired up. I answered your question. I

[2:37:12] wanna go on record for that fact. I

[2:37:14] did answer your question. Any more questions? Any

[2:37:17] questions, councilman? Mayor, I hope you don't think

[2:37:21] you're security I mean, you don't think I'm

[2:37:23] about to like No, ma'am. Just wanted to

[2:37:27] be clear. The next slide. Next slide. Yes,

[2:37:30] I'm representing my people. I'm an elected official

[2:37:34] representing the people. I'm just as a married

[2:37:37] and I'm not being negative. Time. And I'm

[2:37:39] not being yeah, Thank you. Please. Could you

[2:37:56] walk me through this slide? I don't fully

[2:37:58] understand it. This is specific to emergency rental

[2:38:01] assistance by district. So the 80,000,000 on the

[2:38:04] previous slide that was non entitlement funding, that

[2:38:12] slide represents 41,000,000 of that that has been

[2:38:15] paid out to date since we received those

[2:38:17] dollars by districts specific only to emergency rental

[2:38:21] funds from the treasury. What's the unclassified? So

[2:38:24] unclassified is a bucket of projects that are

[2:38:29] not labeled by address by district solely because

[2:38:33] our system, and this is an internal system

[2:38:35] glitch, is not sourcing it by district based

[2:38:38] upon the address. These have to go back

[2:38:40] in hand process to see which district those

[2:38:43] are versus the computer generating them. So I

[2:38:46] wanted to show the total so that's why

[2:38:48] that shows there, but it's literally that these

[2:38:50] 10,000 are actually broken up into 12, it

[2:38:53] just has to be manually processed. So District

[2:38:55] 3 being the district that I'm privileged to

[2:38:59] represent? Yes, sir. Three fifty mean three fifty

[2:39:02] residents received emergency rental assistance who were placed

[2:39:06] in District 3? That is correct. That their

[2:39:09] landlord and their address that they are in

[2:39:11] currently, that they receive rental assistance for is

[2:39:14] within District 3. That is correct. And it

[2:39:17] very well may be possible that of that

[2:39:19] 10,000, there may be some District 3 as

[2:39:21] well. Just have to manually place them. Okay.

[2:39:23] That seems like a task. So I couldn't

[2:39:27] have it today, but yes. So do you

[2:39:29] have funding breakdown? Gardere is obviously the area

[2:39:34] that I'm most interested in. Sure. Do you

[2:39:36] have a funding breakdown within the zones within

[2:39:39] East Baton Rouge Parish? Not just for ERAP,

[2:39:41] but for what all funding? You you named

[2:39:43] about 1,700,000.0 within Scottsville. Yes, You have similar

[2:39:47] data. I I'd be interested in receiving it

[2:39:49] for District 3. Absolutely. I do not have

[2:39:51] it today. I apologize. But I can follow-up

[2:39:53] to get that to you. And we are

[2:39:55] planning our first scheduled meetings for each of

[2:39:57] you in January. So we will have more

[2:40:01] information about your district, what's The actual plan

[2:40:03] is Yes, yes sir. Thank you. Thank you

[2:40:06] ma'am. Thank you all. Thank you. Thank you,

[2:40:11] mister Toots. And you all have a good

[2:40:16] good evening.

BudgetHearing_11292022

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