[0:00] Council meeting Wednesday June 106

[0:05] p.m. Notice to the public each person must decide before enter

[0:11] the item they wish to comment on. If they are not seated in the chamber when

[0:16] agenda item is heard they will be notified by offic.

[0:23] Please all

[0:27] open the meeting call to all. of

[0:35] the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one

[0:41] nation under God indivisible and justice for all

[0:52] » here

[0:58] » here

[1:01] Approve of the minutes of the regular meeting of May 13, 2026

[1:12] by

[1:16] public

[1:32] I'm sorry.

[1:39] » Yes.

[1:42] » Yes.

[1:50] » Presentation of recognition.

[1:55] for Russia and

[2:00] Elia. >> I see we have it on here. First off, how

[2:04] y'all doing today, council? >> Good, Chief. How are you?

[2:06] » Um, everybody, um, they was just here. Russian was running a little late. He

[2:13] was finish up a detail and they was also being interviewed by somebody else

[2:17] pertaining to the same incident. So, I had them all together and they to come

[2:21] back. So, can we just get back to it a little later?

[2:26] » All right. Thank you.

[2:30] » Resolve the 2024 2025.

[2:40] » Pending the council's approval of ordinance six later today.

[2:46] the audit findings that were found in our 2024 2025 would be fully resolved.

[2:52] So this should be the last audit finding report until we have to whatever

[2:58] findings that are resulted of the new report.

[3:07] to the financial report.

[3:13] » The report was emailed to everyone yesterday. I emailed it in two different

[3:17] formats. The one the detailed line by line item and then a smaller summary

[3:23] page item. So they list the revenues budget. the

[3:29] the year-to-date budget is the items that

[3:33] were approved in the pending amendment for

[3:37] the current year. Those are the numbers that were represented in there. So, if

[3:40] y'all have any questions, let me know.

[3:46] » Thank you.

[3:56] 2022

[4:00] state agreed upon procedure. >> Uh Mr. Tanny Booty could not make it

[4:06] this afternoon. So managing partner or not managing but a partner with Erikson

[4:12] Krento who happens to be Mr. Tanny's boss. Mr. Ken is here instead. Okay.

[4:20] So, I think uh Tanny sent y'all all the engagement letters. Um so, you should

[4:25] have copies of them. Uh it's pretty much same as last year. The no change in fee

[4:31] from last year and the agreed upon procedures. Every other year we have to

[4:36] do a full scope. So, this year is a year that we have to do a full scope of the

[4:39] uh AUP procedures. But, but that's nothing y'all not used to.

[4:45] Any questions or

[5:06] Yes. >> Yes.

[5:11] » Yes.

[5:25] Thank you.

[5:29] August 2026

[5:36] for the city of the fiscal year beginning July 1st 2025 and ending June

[5:42] 3026 for the general water and gas

[5:48] semic

[5:51] complex debt service for

[6:00] this is the public hearing for the ordinance that's the next agenda item.

[6:07] This public hearing since it is related to a actual the budget overall budget

[6:12] has been published three times in the advocate and has been posted downstairs

[6:16] on our bulletin board since the previous council meeting on May 13th to give the

[6:21] public a com a chance to comment on the current budget and the amendments to the

[6:27] current 2026 budget.

[6:55] August of 2026 operating budget of revenues expend the

[7:01] city of July 1st, 2025 and ended June 30, 2026

[7:08] for the general water and gas fund, low income housing fund, and municipal

[7:14] complex complex debt service fund.

[7:42] Louisiana session

[7:46] operating

[7:51] system.

[8:12] Floors and official

[8:28] Therefore,

[8:38] today

[8:57] I don't know if we need the motion before Mr. Joshua Smith will discuss the

[9:01] numbers. He is here. Yes,

[9:06] » Mr. Joshua Smith of Falcon Winkler.

[9:11] » Good evening, council. So, what you all have in front of you is

[9:15] the pretty much the same handout that was introduced on the May 13 meeting.

[9:20] Um, couple things as it relates to your 2026 budget that you're amending right

[9:26] now to be in compliance with the local governmental budget act. There was a

[9:29] minor just a minor change in that one to accommodate uh some additional PD

[9:34] equipments that are on a later agenda item. It was roughly 30,000. So, I just

[9:39] wanted to point that to your attention. Um, and the handout also summarizes just

[9:44] a few shifts that were made in the 2027 budget. If you would like me to discuss

[9:48] those, I believe that's the next agenda item. Or if you would like to

[9:54] approve this one first and then I can touch base on the 2027.

[10:30] Thank you.

[10:39] August

[10:45] for the city of Coral July 1st

[10:50] and ended June 3027 water and gas

[10:59] service.

[11:02] to the

[11:06] » Again, this public hearing was advertised in the advocate for three

[11:10] consecutive weeks. It's been posted downstairs and also per the Louisiana

[11:15] Governmental Budget Act, it has been available for public inspection at Miss

[11:19] Lynette's Lain's desk, the secretary to the mayor since Thursday following the

[11:24] last meeting until this afternoon.

[11:40] Okay. So, as it relates to your 2027 U budget, this is once again the same

[11:46] packet that was introduced on May 13th, but what I did hand out this particular

[11:51] time was a summary overview. Um, I did regroup with with the administration

[11:55] team and there was a shuffling in some capital outlay assignments. Um, there

[12:00] was some built-in contingencies for the sewer that was on the back end of the

[12:04] priority list that was roughly 240,000 that we reallocated amongst PD and

[12:09] drainage and streets. And so from a net from a net impact standpoint, you can

[12:14] see on the summary that it actually increased your your uh your budget by

[12:19] roughly 8,100. But from a grand scheme of things, nothing else changed. It was

[12:24] just a rep prioritization of some capital assets.

[12:47] for the city of fiscal year beginning July 1st 26 and ending June 20 June 3027

[12:56] gaseneral

[13:23] by the city.

[13:32] expenses

[13:52] by

[14:04] city dete.

[14:29] without

[14:47] all expenses. only.

[14:57] Now therefore

[15:07] required by the last day.

[15:25] » Yes.

[15:29] Yes, >> thank you.

[15:54] Okay. How y'all doing again? All right. Um, one of the biggest things coming

[15:59] into office um and hiring these these guys on that's standing behind me and um

[16:04] I explain to them to them my vision and what it is I'm expecting from them on

[16:09] every call that they go out on. uh conduct yourself in a professional

[16:13] manner, treat people how you like to be treated or how you like your family

[16:16] members to be treated despite whatever the circumstances is. Uh it was brought

[16:21] to my attention from Assistant Chief Smith that while being out there um on C

[16:26] shift one day these guys uh went above and beyond the call of duty while

[16:30] working on this car. So from there he passed it on to me told me exactly what

[16:35] happened. Told him hey look let's go ahead and put it on paper. He did. And

[16:40] so that's brought that brought us here today. So I'm going pass it on to Re and

[16:43] he'll explain everything up for me.

[16:47] » Good evening, council. How you guys doing?

[16:50] » How are you? >> Awesome. Awesome.

[16:53] So um as you know still investigating cases and still in the mix. Um but but

[16:59] in doing so I believe in patting on the back and praising our officers when they

[17:04] when they do good. And in this case is exactly what they did.

[17:08] And it is nothing that I did. It's all what they did and they deserve it. Uh so

[17:13] with that being said, what I'll do is um I'll just read um the certificate real

[17:17] quick and I'll present it to them because they did an excellent job.

[17:22] So um and it's it's the same for all three officers. So it's in recognition

[17:26] for exceptional performance, professionalism professionalism, and

[17:30] sensitivity. Excuse that mess up. in recognition of your exceptional

[17:33] performance, professionalism, dedication, and sensitivity demonstrated

[17:37] during the investigation of a juvenile sexual battery case on May 27, 2026.

[17:42] Your commitment to serving with integrity, compassion, and respect while

[17:46] handling the highest sensitive investigation exemplifies the highest

[17:48] level of standard in law enforcement. Through your diligence and professional

[17:53] professionalism, you help ensure a thorough investigation while maintaining

[17:57] a victim center approach and safeguarding the dignity of those

[18:00] involved. Your outstanding service, commitment to justice, and unrave

[18:04] dedication reflects great credit upon yourself and the Port Island Police

[18:08] Department and deserving I'm sorry are deserving of special recognition and

[18:12] appreciation given this 10 day of June 2026. And first up is it's going to be

[18:18] officer Delicia Batist. Thank you, Officer Batist.

[18:24] We have Officer Kendrick Rogers. Thank you.

[18:31] And we just got a busy house with Corporal Russian and Juno, but they did

[18:35] an outstanding job. Thank you guys.

[19:13] That's right.

[19:36] This is where we stand.

[19:41] Come closer. Hurry up.

[19:54] Thank you.

[20:09] » Thank you for your service.

[20:17] August

[20:26] and collection

[20:29] extension contract administrative policy provided customer and providing for

[20:36] related matters.

[20:55] Item nine

[20:59] according to section 863 of the code or city relative to the building of utility

[21:06] rates and charges Authorizing

[21:10] utility contract

[21:16] for related matters.

[21:34] cont

[21:51] a section 863 863

[21:57] orders.

[22:05] Amended by the addition of the following subsection with all existing provisions.

[22:18] The city hereby authorizes

[22:44] the use of utility

[22:49] of the current

[22:55] time requiring that all future utility

[23:03] bills

[23:13] authored.

[23:22] customer

[23:37] to all

[23:41] penalties. Disconnection procedures and Connection

[24:07] motion

[24:10] by second by council.

[24:22] Yes.

[24:32] » The previous agenda item authorized us to actually have a policy.

[24:38] This agenda item is now the policy that we will follow pending your approval.

[24:44] Again, I want to reiterate that these are for

[24:48] current amounts, not past dues from three months, four months, five months

[24:52] ago. It's for people that had a leak or as in January when we had that huge gas

[25:00] that for those people that are on fixed incomes is to address those needs.

[25:25] Yes.

[25:31] » Yes.

[25:41] waste water treatment facility. >> Mr. Eric, if you want to speak on this

[25:47] or you want me to speak on this, >> the appra appraisal.

[25:52] » This is Yeah. related to the purchase of that land. This is for the appraisal.

[25:58] » Okay. Uh y'all uh we talked about this a little bit and of course we've had

[26:02] several meetings on this. This is um the first step in uh basically uh seeing if

[26:09] the uh land uh along LA1, the big skinny tract of about 31 acres is um you know

[26:16] viable for uh y'all to purchase to use for a wastewater treatment plant. Of

[26:22] course, it's 31 acres, so you're not going to need but probably six or seven

[26:26] for the plant itself. Essentially, what's will happen if the appraisal

[26:30] comes back um at the same value as uh what they've listed it for, then you

[26:37] y'all will proceed to the next uh step, which will be um doing some basically uh

[26:43] research where they make sure that you know it's not a toxic waste dump and

[26:47] things like that to protect um y'all's interests. Also look at things like

[26:51] wetlands and and things like that. It'll be a kind of a long iterative procedure

[26:56] and then if all those things uh pass then uh y'all will uh basically uh you

[27:03] know obviously make the decision to purchase the land.

[27:07] So it's kind of like you'll get updates how it's going, you know, but we're

[27:11] probably talking three or four months before all that

[27:15] stuff is cleared.

[27:20] uh well checking for it. You know, basically they'll have we'll have to

[27:24] hire different um specialty firms to check uh the you know, there's a

[27:30] specialty firm that looks at wetlands. There's a specialty firm that looks for

[27:33] if there's a remediation issues. You know, obviously you're hiring a specialy

[27:39] firm to do the um uh appraisal. And uh there's a few other things we'll have to

[27:45] check. There's some pipelines in that area. We have to make sure what their

[27:48] requirements are as well. Thank you.

[27:57] As mentioned last week, this is one of the steps as a government entity that we

[28:01] have to go through to purchase land. We can't just accept what the realtor says

[28:08] is we've got to go through this one, the appraisal. So, this is the council

[28:11] authorizing the appraisal for us to begin, as Mr. Tony Kellson is that

[28:16] process of actually acquiring that land.

[28:38] Yes.

[28:47] to appraise environmental review and suitability studies.

[28:55] So this is a to enter into a contingent which means based upon if all the

[29:02] following things actually occur pass that we can proceed with the

[29:08] actual purchase agreement. The reason to enter into a contingent

[29:14] purchase agreement is that the seller is what is going to hold it for

[29:20] us to go through all of the legal ramific.

[29:28] So, it's like holding it for us to go through all the things that if someone

[29:32] comes in during the interim while we're doing the appraisal, the wetland studies

[29:37] and all that that they can't buy it from or buy it while we're trying to go

[29:43] through all of our legal steps. We got to go through.

[29:53] Number

[30:04] 13,

[30:08] July 6,6

[30:15] » July 4th is a holiday recognized by ordinance. Our policies and procedures

[30:20] says that when a holiday falls on a Saturday, we observe it on Friday. And

[30:24] since Friday is a half a day, it would be Thursday. We're asking since the

[30:28] council has the authority to override written policies and procedures, given

[30:34] notice to employees that the mayor has asked some employees or done a straw

[30:39] poll with the employees and they would prefer to have not everyone but the ones

[30:44] that she has talked with the majority that they would prefer to have the

[30:46] Monday after the weekend off. So we would be working if this passes our

[30:52] holiday for all city employees would be the Monday and we would work our normal

[30:57] regular schedule full day Thursday and Friday July 3rd as a half day.

[31:22] Item 14 introduction of 206-132

[31:33] allow advertising of open position on the city official website and social

[31:38] media for seven consecutive days include a

[31:42] publication in the official journal.

[32:02] » Social medi

[32:10] Our

[32:18] current current ordinances require us to post job vacancies in the official

[32:24] journal. It is not a state law that we post job vacancies in the official

[32:29] journal. There are other things that we are required to post in the official

[32:33] journal. Employment vacancies is not one of them because it's in our ordinance

[32:37] that we have to publish in currently in our ordinance that we have to publish in

[32:41] our official journal. The mayor has asking to change that to post vacancies

[32:48] on our Facebook page, website page for 7 days because the cost of publication in

[32:54] the official journal cost posting on our Facebook page does not and social media

[33:00] seems to be a better engagement with the authority. Again, this is just the

[33:04] introduction of the ordinance. We still do need the vote to introduce the

[33:07] ordinance, but this ordinance would not go into effect until because it is an

[33:12] orest until next month following a public hearing prior to the vote on

[33:18] that.

[33:35] Yes.

[33:41] Consider approving an additional $1,65

[33:46] to Trust Service LLC for extra work at the police department beyond the

[33:51] original 1,900 painting agreement.

[33:56] » Um, I'd like to start off by saying uh I had the pleasure of meeting a couple of

[34:01] the council who did take me up on my offer to come see the building. um from

[34:07] that moment um what y'all thought it was nice.

[34:12] » All right. Thank you. Thank you. So, like I said before, it was something

[34:16] that was definitely needed. And um I do also wanted to point out uh from and I

[34:22] also brought to y'all attention when y'all came individually uh from last

[34:25] week to this week. Um I showed y'all the quotes and from the amount that we paid,

[34:31] which was a total amount of um $4,460.68 68 cents. The next thing that was close

[34:36] to that was $15,000. So, we was able to save all the way

[34:40] around the board with material along with that company. They they did us a

[34:44] nice service. So, uh that's what I wanted to emphasize on that part.

[35:04] » Yes.

[35:07] Item number 16, consider approving of purchase of

[35:13] cameras and hardware with a threeear software plan at the cost of $25,73040.

[35:22] » Um, I kind of base everything off of last week. uh kind of gave y'all the the

[35:27] the inside and outside of those cameras and the importance of why we need it,

[35:32] which is definitely um they come to to become a secondary uh tool to assist our

[35:37] law enforcement agency. Um they they help the community is is all about

[35:42] community safety. So, uh bringing this in, it give us one step to solving

[35:47] crimes, locating people, uh deterring crimes around our community. Uh it's a

[35:52] start.

[36:07] Yes.

[36:10] » Item 17. Consider approving the purchase of three mobile radios and hardware for

[36:17] service communication at a cost of $7,4574.

[36:25] Um so since last week

[36:30] um Mr. Summers who come, y'all know he do his um annual I mean his weekly uh

[36:35] articles, but he made a story about the things that the police department

[36:39] needed. And based off of that, I was contacted by uh Assistant Chief Tom over

[36:44] there in Bruy. And from there, he he had he actually advised, hey, look, they had

[36:50] uh a total of six cameras. I mean, six radios. They had three incar radios and

[36:56] three portable radios. And before going to surplus them, he off he wanted to

[37:01] know if we wanted them, he'll donate them to us. So So I did I said that. So

[37:07] from there um once I agreed that we we'll take them, he said they was going

[37:12] to start the process with the council and get back with me so we can get them.

[37:15] So just >> correct.

[37:21] » Yes.

[37:29] Yeah, I'll just bring it back.

[37:40] » Item number 18, considering the purchase of speed,000.

[37:48] Um, now with the speed limit signs, um, like I explained last week, that's

[37:54] something that I was bringing on to the next, uh, fiscal year for the budget.

[37:58] Uh, Mr. Josh and I had multiple conversations about that. Uh, me and Mr.

[38:03] Dagel, we we try to meet up with one another once a week and uh, get a lot of

[38:09] things sorted out, which I thank him for that. Uh so with that being said, I

[38:13] think bringing these camera I mean these are speed limit signs will help deter

[38:17] speeders and uh help reduce a lot of um unnecessary movement on our streets.

[38:25] » Yeah, that is the four that I did um explain from last year. Um you can they

[38:30] they collect data and based off of the data uh collected we can start moving

[38:33] them from u other areas around the city limits of Port Island based off of the

[38:38] complaints we get or multiple complaints we get within our citizens.

[38:53] » Yes.

[38:56] » Yes.

[38:59] Yes. >> Item number 19

[39:08] for the poor force management system for the police department,

[39:16] $118,50 annually thereafter.

[39:22] Um, once again, when you guys stopped by, I had the opportunity to show you

[39:26] guys the other quotes from the other companies that we spoken with. And as

[39:30] you can see, uh, it is uh, $18,000 that'll be coming um, every year for the

[39:36] subscription on what they bring to the table. However, um, based on everything

[39:41] else and they're the cheapest ones and it's something that our department, we

[39:46] really need that u that that that RMS system. um who's decided to come out. Um

[39:53] we need that that we need that system to update our um our our system in the in

[39:58] the PD uh to reduce a lot of time being spent in the office along with it. It it

[40:03] make a lot of things simpler for when people need reports and communication

[40:07] and documentation for other agencies around here.

[40:14] That's something. Uh oh. >> Do want to echo what Chief Mitchell

[40:20] says. This is committing for not just the fiscal year 27 budget, but the 28

[40:25] budget, the 29 budget, the 30 budget, and the 31 budget for five years. And

[40:32] unfortunately, that's the way the world is moving is towards subscriptionbased

[40:37] everything. But that's also how everybody is getting into deficits is

[40:42] now we're entering into agreements. I just want as Miss as Chief Mitchell

[40:45] said, we are committing now money for future budgets that we don't even know

[40:51] what next year's resources are going to or revenue is going to be.

[40:56] » But is is this worth achievement? >> Yes, most definitely.

[41:05] » No, no, we passed that and we since then uh we've been meeting with them. That's

[41:09] Lexapo. That's the policy and procedures. We've been working with them

[41:12] and we meet uh regularly every week and we go over all the policies.

[41:41] Thank y'all. I really appreciate it.

[41:55] » Yes. Uh thank you all for having me again tonight. um from the last meeting

[42:01] last week. Uh this program just just to recap is um mainly just to help your

[42:08] customers with high water bills due to leaks. Um we started this in

[42:13] Chattanooga, Tennessee with utilities there and cities there. And the main

[42:17] goal was just to make it where the city wasn't losing any revenue or having any

[42:21] bad debt due to their customers receiving a $500 water bill, $1,000

[42:25] water bill, $2,000 water bill, whatever it may be. and you all having to put

[42:29] them on a payment plan and kind of chase for that. And then if you do put them on

[42:33] a payment plan, you're doing it without an interest. Um, which means you're

[42:37] waiting on that revenue to come in. What we do is, uh, we do one adjustment every

[42:41] 12 months over two billing cycles. We create a customer service team

[42:46] specifically for the city of Port Allen. We create a local number for them to

[42:50] call in and file claims. Um, when they call in, we send an email over to your

[42:55] utility staff to say, "This customers filed a claim with us. Can they just pay

[42:59] their average water bill as we process this?" There is no cost to the city of

[43:03] Port Allen, but it is a cost to your customers. And on the um the information

[43:08] I gave to you all last week, it's between a dollar and $230

[43:13] a month. You all decide on which coverage you would want to offer them,

[43:18] and that's a flat for all of your customers. We don't want one person to

[43:22] have a adjustment of $500 and then another one having an adjustment for

[43:26] 2500. Um we want it to be across the board the same. Um

[43:31] there is no administrative cost to this program. Um some of our partners what

[43:36] they do since we work with you all to get leak information is they add an

[43:41] admin fee. So if it's a $180 they'll add 20 cents or some will add a dollar. You

[43:47] all keep that revenue as an admin fee. totally up to you all or you can put it

[43:52] on to the mayor or utility uh director, whoever to determine how much that

[43:56] should be. Um, but the goal is just to make it where if you have low income or

[44:01] customers that that have issues with high water bills, which it seems that

[44:05] may have happened in January with the, you know, code snap, we just want to

[44:09] make sure we have something there for them that that's going to help um with

[44:13] with those high water bills. So, um, >> what do I call a high water bill?

[44:18] anything is two times their average. That's high. Um so if they get a leak,

[44:23] whether it's a cattle trough, whether it's a leak from a toilet, main water

[44:27] line, they simply call us and say, "Hey, my water bill is normally $25. It's 50

[44:34] um or it's 500. Does that answer your question?"

[44:37] » Yeah. >> Yeah.

[44:49] So that fee So that fee that the city's going to charge that's going to be for

[44:53] every individual resident. >> That's correct. That

[44:59] » the there's there's two different ways that you can do it. Um and and the way

[45:03] that we set this up is based on what cities and utilities advised us. And one

[45:07] is to make it a line item on the utility bill. And what we do is we send a letter

[45:11] out 30 days, 60 days, or 90 days. We send this letter out, we create it, send

[45:16] it over to the mayor for her to review it. But we send that out to each one of

[45:20] your customers to say, "This program is going to start in 30 days. It's going to

[45:24] start in 60 days. If you don't want it, call this customer service number and

[45:28] tell them you don't want it." Or you can come to your, you know, to the office

[45:31] and and let them know and they'll let us know.

[45:33] » So, they have to call and say they don't want it.

[45:36] » Yes. Yes, they do. They have to opt out. And

[45:40] Yes. And the reason that we do that is that if you do it the other way, all of

[45:46] the customers will opt in when they get the high water bill. And with insurance,

[45:50] we can't go back. >> When they don't opt out,

[45:57] » so if if they do not opt out and they and and they see that that's on their

[46:01] bill, then we will work with the mayor to make sure they get their money back.

[46:04] There's not one customer that will have this program that if they've had it for

[46:09] two months, three months, four months, five months, 10 months, and said, "I did

[46:13] not want this, and I've been charged for it." We will make sure they get their

[46:16] money back. But what we don't want is for them to need it, and they, oh, I

[46:21] didn't see this. I didn't know about it, and now it's too late, and you're going

[46:25] to have to put them on a 10-month payment plan. And that gets cumbersome

[46:29] for your utility office as well, cuz they're going to go back and forth with

[46:32] those customers trying to help them. We want to be a source for your utility

[46:36] staff. And with every partner that we have here in Louisiana, Tennessee,

[46:41] Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Texas, we have not had any complaints when it

[46:48] comes to that. Now, your customers may be upset and they may call, but once

[46:52] they understand how this program works, those customers call back and say, "I I

[46:56] want that program." I prefer that

[47:05] and I have been actually working on this uh since the last time he presented it.

[47:11] And so Rissa deals a lot with the utility bills. And so uh coming from the

[47:16] insurance world, uh just know that a lot of times even with subscriptions that

[47:20] people have, you have to opt out of it if the trial is over at seven days. a

[47:25] lot of us forget that we had it in the first place and you've paid for it for

[47:28] five months without realizing that you've done that. Uh and we talked with

[47:32] mayor as well before she left that we would like to be able to poll the

[47:35] citizens to see a yay or a nay as to who would be interested in it, who would not

[47:40] be interested in it. So we're asking that we table this for now until we get

[47:45] some more information.

[47:50] Yeah.

[47:55] » Yeah. And I'm I'm not against it at all. I do think it would be beneficial for

[47:59] our customers, but I rather them know what they're getting into before we just

[48:05] » Yeah. And then I have a lot of calls coming to me.

[48:07] » A lot a lot of calls. >> Yeah. But I do think it would be

[48:10] beneficial, but I think we should just table it for now.

[48:13] » Agree. I think >> not a Yeah. I think we should give them

[48:16] the opportunity to say yay or Yeah, and with that with that, if you

[48:23] want to send a letter out, we can craft that for you to make sure it's it's what

[48:26] they need and then you all can send that out and let them know ahead of time

[48:30] whatever it may be. But we can work with you all to do that.

[48:33] » Yeah. Yeah. To make sure they get that. >> I concur. My recommendation is to table

[48:40] for us to do further research. But I do have one question since this notice

[48:44] seems to be mailed out. The US Postal Service has been anything but reliable.

[48:50] And I'm sure that Arisa can iterate that the number of customers that we get that

[48:57] I did not get my utility bill all the time that we currently do not

[49:04] have the infrastructure for people to have an online account to see their bill

[49:10] or email their bill. So the only way they truly are getting the bill is

[49:16] through the mail and if they don't if the US postal service is unreliable they

[49:19] are not getting that bill. So my concern right now is how would

[49:24] the customers get notice since it as Mr. Payne pointed out, it is an opt out, not

[49:30] an opt in.

[49:34] » As I was saying, I think we need to have a

[49:40] send it through, but y'all say that they say that they

[49:45] don't get their mail. So, I don't know. >> And that's the that's the other thing.

[49:49] If they don't get the mail, then they still don't know. If they're not getting

[49:52] a water bill, they don't know until they have

[49:55] » and that will work. Yes, >> right.

[50:00] » I will I will get with I'll get with you all to put that together if that works.

[50:03] Okay.

[50:08] » Right. Next time. >> Yeah.

[50:16] Yeah.

[50:30] I'll make that motion and I'll second.

[50:46] » Yes. >> Yes.

[50:49] » Number 21. the mayor's

[50:53] application $239,516

[51:00] to Men and other

[51:08] forgot they don't need it. Yes, obviously this is the one that we

[51:13] approved the substantial completion and uh I was remiss in that I didn't realize

[51:19] that the uh pay application did not make the prior council meeting and so we're

[51:25] basically catching up on uh they only put in one pay for the whole job. So,

[51:30] all that's left will be the retainage of 12,000.

[51:35] And of course, since we gave them substantial, the one-year warranty

[51:38] period will start and if we have any problems, they'll fix it under that.

[51:45] So, obviously, I recommend and I hope y'all agree.

[51:51] » I won't I won't I won't do it again. I swear.

[51:54] » I have a question. Where are we on the four pumps? Not to change the subject,

[51:57] but where we >> You know what? I have uh I have to check

[52:01] the days and talk with the vendor. I was I was going to do that today and I just

[52:05] literally forgot. There's very shortly we should have the the shortterm one,

[52:10] the one we were going to get quicker. >> I just know that's been about three

[52:15] months ago that we talked about those so bad.

[52:18] » It's going to be close. I will uh what I'll do is I'll find out and I'll let

[52:22] the mayor know and she can let y'all know.

[52:25] » Thank y'all. Councilwoman

[52:52] » item number August 826.

[52:57] August 227

[53:05] facility.

[53:26] wastewater treatment facility

[53:39] providing

[53:48] We said we want to purchase the land. We just approved that fiscal year budget

[53:53] for 27. It did not have the allocation money in that budget for that land

[53:58] because that would be a substantial change to the budget that was

[54:02] introduced. So to allocate funds to actually purchase a land, we've got to

[54:07] go through the budget amendment process. So this is our first budget amendment to

[54:12] the budget we just adopted at for the fiscal year 27.

[54:18] 2 million a little bit over 2 million would come from

[54:23] cash investments for what was our ARPA funds that we had set aside in case we

[54:28] had to pay back the ARPA that we didn't follow it pending the closing of the

[54:32] ARPA funds. We've closed out the ARPA funds. the ARPA fund got the clearance

[54:37] letter from the treasury department in March that we've cleared. So those funds

[54:42] now we can use for something else. So the mayor has requested that that 2

[54:49] million that we have in investment be used to purchase the land as opposed to

[54:53] going into debt. However, when we use our investments and

[54:59] assets, you're taking money from like rainy day funds in case an emergency

[55:03] comes. So again, council approves the allocation. This is this is the

[55:07] introduction of the ordinance to allow us to spend up to 3 million. I didn't

[55:11] have a number. I chose three because I don't know how much the safe

[55:14] suitability, the environmental review that all of those things

[55:19] to whatever those costs are would come from within this as part of purchasing

[55:24] that land. Again, introduction and we will vote have the public hearing and

[55:28] then actually vote next week. But we still need a vote to actually introduce

[55:31] this

[55:49] Yes.

[55:59] 85284 the road and street department.

[56:06] » The 26 budget, the current budget has money allocated for $25,000 in capital

[56:12] outlay for roads and drainage that was listed as equipment. This is

[56:16] clarification that the equipment that they want to get is these two zeroturn

[56:22] mowers. Um, they told me they needed lawnmowers.

[56:26] I said, "I need more information than that." So, they came back with one

[56:29] quote, the Bobcat quote. Um, I noticed, uh, while it's not

[56:34] required per bid law, based upon conversation last week that you had with

[56:39] Chief Mitchell that y'all wanted additional quotes. I requested go back

[56:42] and get additional quotes. So they gave me the quote also on a scagg tiger cat

[56:50] and some and one from city trailer sales.

[56:54] We are not comparing apples to apples. We might as you can see you've got what

[56:58] the quotes are. The Louisiana bid law since it's underneath $30,000 doesn't

[57:03] require us to go. It is best practices to get quotes. He did that. Um, a

[57:09] question I had was the Bobcat is approximately $400 more than city

[57:15] trailer sales. If we're going that way, what makes the Bobcat better or more

[57:24] whatever? The warranty is a little bit more uh a little bit longer on the

[57:29] Bobcat and the trailer for the zeroturn mowers from

[57:35] City Trailer or X Mark brand EX M A R K and as a person that doesn't operate

[57:43] that I that tells me nothing as I'm sure it tells you. I need more information or

[57:48] whatever. And I'm told that the Bobcat one has a thicker cutting deck that

[57:55] houses the blades. So it less likely to or greater durability. The transmission

[58:04] is more a commercial transmission on the Bobcat being commercial a better

[58:09] commercial. The likelihood that it will last longer. Um question also why do we

[58:17] need this? Um they currently have five mowers that are four or five years

[58:24] and they don't make things. So in case they break down, we're not coming

[58:28] through an emergency to get things. They are a lot of wear and tear because in

[58:33] the course of right now they're using them

[58:37] during the entire shift and they're not taking breaks. So this is to add to the

[58:42] in fleet of inventory. so that we're not using the same piece of equipment all

[58:47] day and not repairing. They said that we are repairing the current ones that we

[58:52] have that hopefully we're not spending as much money on repairing when we get

[58:56] new ones. So, >> okay.

[59:17] I am not in the retail business. Uh I will say that one of the things I

[59:24] noticed on the Bobcat is that it has a Sourcewell

[59:30] contract number. Did not know what Sourcewell contract

[59:33] number was, so I looked it up. Sourcewell contract is a multi-state

[59:39] agreement that is similar to the Louisiana state contract. It is not

[59:44] Louisiana state contract. Um because this is under 30,000 we don't

[59:49] need a state contract. So as a source well document, Bobcat or the dealer that

[59:55] is selling this Bobcat is very easily since this has already been bidded out

[1:00:01] by other states put together an entire document and can give it to us. for a

[1:00:08] retailer, I'm guessing, to put in the time, energy, and effort to produce

[1:00:12] something similar to Bobcat and then we turn around and not buy it is, in my

[1:00:18] opinion, not fair to that retailer that we're going to ask you to put X amount

[1:00:23] of put to put together a similar quote. I don't know. I'm not in retail. That

[1:00:26] would be my logical educated guess.

[1:00:38] I was told that the the deck is thinner, the transmission is not as commercially

[1:00:47] whatever and that also the deck wheels on the Xark tractors are exposed whereas

[1:00:56] on the Bobcat they are not.

[1:01:01] the streets and drainage supervisor. I called him today to get further

[1:01:05] clarification. Again, I am not in this category or this to I am not a expert in

[1:01:12] I don't even cut my own grass. That's why I hire someone else. So, I don't

[1:01:16] know the first thing about cutting grass. The and

[1:01:21] in the budget that you did approve for 27, we've got some rotary cutters. I

[1:01:27] don't know what that is. The the

[1:01:35] Yeah, that proved because it is in their

[1:01:40] opinion and I've got to realize there that it is

[1:01:45] better quality. I I don't want to say better quality. Like I said, we're not

[1:01:49] comparing apples to apples here. >> Yeah.

[1:01:58] » What they have now Bob

[1:02:02] » right now they got all X marks. Right. That's what I see.

[1:02:04] » That's what I'm told that they got all X marks. Again, I wouldn't know the

[1:02:08] difference between an X mark and a Bobcat unless I saw Xmart or Bobcat on

[1:02:12] the >> commercial.

[1:02:26] That's the difference between

[1:02:35] They're easier the maintenance on the X marks. Those are the ones that's

[1:02:39] constantly being with new parts and having to replace it where opposed to

[1:02:44] the bu

[1:03:00] I mean that he should be here talking his case what he need

[1:03:07] » we don't we don't know we don't know what's going on so we should have had

[1:03:12] somebody here explaining this to us >> probably that would have fell on

[1:03:17] » get up come on

[1:03:22] » my perspective is that these guys have been holding off on purchasing

[1:03:29] lawnmowers. Um I consistently see the issue of us pushing the things back that

[1:03:35] we need um to get resolved. I don't think this is a bad price at all for the

[1:03:40] lawnmowers. I think they need it. I think um

[1:03:45] what's no fleet maint

[1:03:52] lawnmowers. We're spending a lot of money. These lawnmowers that we have now

[1:03:57] are actually shooting out things to on on our citizens and they're trying to

[1:04:02] make claims on our insurance or with us to pay. So, we're actually spending more

[1:04:07] money having these old lawnmowers old. >> So, is that because the mowers aren't

[1:04:12] any good or they just not uh >> It's various different reasons. Yeah,

[1:04:16] because it's it's made for it's made for um residential not commercial

[1:04:24] » at the back >> instead of the side

[1:04:27] and the only reason why I know is because of a lot of the breaking of the

[1:04:31] windows and the came

[1:04:38] from all these broken windows.

[1:04:43] » So did y'all check the about if they cared about or whatever it

[1:04:49] just >> um Mike I think Mike

[1:04:56] » Yeah,

[1:04:59] » we just paid $2,000 for a repair on a vehicle that a rock hit a window.

[1:05:05] » That's just that's just one vehicle. I don't even want to speak about the other

[1:05:09] issues that I had to deny coverage, but I knew we could

[1:05:24] Yeah, I I understand your reason of being fiscally responsible.

[1:05:32] » Yeah. Yeah. Any it can happen any any way. as they will.

[1:05:36] » But I uh Councilwoman um Gordon, I do suggest that we do pay a little bit more

[1:05:43] for something that's commercial and try I know we trying to be fiscally

[1:05:47] responsible, but that little difference >> is worth it because how the lawn mower

[1:05:52] is made. And I I I do have faith in the guys who are bringing this up that

[1:05:58] they're not just finding the first thing they they see. I do suggest that we do

[1:06:03] act on it in that way. believe in quality and not quantity.

[1:06:06] » Yeah.

[1:06:18] » Yeah. I haven't I haven't seen the lawnmowers like like Adrian. I don't

[1:06:22] know exactly, but I know they're constantly showing us and bringing it,

[1:06:26] but I do respect that their knowledge of of this. But I don't think if we're

[1:06:31] making a move, a fiscal move, I think we'll be losing more money going on a

[1:06:37] cheaper route. >> Right.

[1:06:39] » It might seem crazy, but I mean longevity. I think we we we a lot of

[1:06:43] times we push things back and then we now we faced with this problem. We need

[1:06:47] new >> lawnmowers.

[1:06:54] Mhm.

[1:07:10] » Oh, yeah.

[1:07:22] years. >> Sounds like that's Yeah,

[1:07:38] » approve

[1:07:41] of the two

[1:07:51] motion by council.

[1:07:56] » Which one2

[1:08:09] second by council Gregory Can I get a roll call, please?

[1:08:15] » Yes.

[1:08:28] » One thing we have is June 18th at 6:00 at West

[1:08:36] Community Center and Junth day, June 20th.

[1:08:41] Park and senior citizen.

[1:09:11] We have a

[1:09:16] any comments from the council

[1:09:20] announcement from the council.

[1:09:46] You did good.

[1:10:01] That's a good thing.

[1:10:12] See,

[1:10:39] I was going to try

[1:11:35] I'll put that together.

[1:11:39] Thank you for coming.

[1:12:17] Let me turn the light.

[1:12:48] I got to go to church.

[1:12:53] Y'all kept calling y'all sister.

[1:13:14] » My halo

[1:13:18] halo. My was glowing.

[1:13:50] I told Michelle

Copy of 06/10/26 COUNCIL MEETING

Transcript