11/07/2017

[0:00:04] welcome everyone about calling this meeting to order please stand with us we'll be led prayer by alderman gallagher please remain standing and for the pledge of allegiance they'll be led by arm and pain heavenly father we thank you for the opportunity to meet here tonight lord we thank you for the month of november where we show thanks for everything that you've done for us lord lord we want to remember the victims of texas lord we pray that you would be with the families and we pray that you would send your holy spirit to comfort them lord we know we don't have a problem with guns or things like that lord but we've got a problem with sin lord and i just pray that you would uh awaken our country and pray that you would awaken our spirits in your name we pray amen of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands one nation under god indivisible with the kingdom first on the agenda this evening is approval minutes for the october 17 2017 meeting mr raymond we approved the minutes of the regular meeting of october 17 2017 with any additions relations or corrections second we have a motion balance second alderman brooks is there any discussion hearing none yes okay that motion carries next on the agenda is the approval of the minutes for the october 23rd 2017 special call meeting mr mayor we approve the minutes of the special meeting of october 23rd 2017 within the editions deletions or corrections

[0:02:07] second we have a motion bottom in pain second by alderman hale is there any discussion hearing none roll call yes yes okay that motion carries next on the agenda is a proposal from urban art associates for for the monument signage design this is basically what we talked about many times this is for the city entrance signs it will have a brick base they'll be installed at the northern and southern entrance to the city on interstate 55. we're still looking at the locations the ideally we want it right on the entrance i would like that city boundary so when you cross out of tennessee and mississippi going southbound on 55 you know mdot has the blue sign but we're a little tight for space there because that your ramp is right there so what we had talked about is either getting a um an easement from the property owners just south of here a lot south of here maybe trimming the trees back a little bit and putting it right there that we gained a lot of visibility we've also tossed the idea around uh the proposal that we have for you know doing the city hall renovation we think that we could possibly work that into that and install the sign on the single floor you know this closer the annexed area that's closer to the interstate if we mounted it on the roof it would gain a lot of visibility there our problem on this side is that the lot north of us is has a downward grade so it's you know obviously with i mean ideally with the sun you want you know to have the most visibility as

[0:04:09] you can so a long way to answer your question we hadn't picked the locations yet but we're kind of narrowing that down and then on the south side again we're faced with the same struggle you know when you when you're going northbound on 55 you get in the star landing area you have old airways that goes parallel to the interstate so there's not a lot of room there you know you've got the tree line you can't put it on mdot property it's got to be off of the uh of the federal interstate system but there is an area on the other side the hillwood property that is a great location it's on a hill and we would kind of tilt it towards the northbound traffic so that's what we're leaning towards at this point but we're going to still work on that we just want to get the design done whitney's actually reaching out to some people now uh to see the locations there thank you hey mayor uh have we thought about i know urban art does this for you know for a living that's not a problem but we thought about getting some ideas from some of our vocational students over southaven or anything like that just some ideas for some signage but they may come up with a good design we could maybe incorporate into it some way or just just throwing it out there to see if it's an idea yeah that's an idea we could i guess the the one reason we may be a little bit fearful that is as whitney knows we we um i guess it's safe to say we learned a lot in this we've never the city's never again the city's never had this before the signs are not as uh big difference in these signs it's more of a structure than a normal sign we started out with a few sign companies that are historic for doing signs in the mid-south area and it was very unsuccessful we had a hard time finding a good design so i think that was the main reason that we felt like that we wanted to go with someone that you know that is a professional person an architect type

[0:06:10] um but sure i mean we welcome ideas i mean i don't see anything wrong with that um but i do think uh you're still going to need an architect involved because it's um it's a structure you know not just engineering and everything else yeah and then we hope to have landscaping lighting on this too or at night you know it's visible on the interstate look really nice um but that yeah i mean that's something we could do i'd love to see some ideas and and if we did that maybe we could take that and also share those ideas with urban ark and let them work it into the design so yeah the reason i ask is my uh my son-in-law is they're down in georgia and they they did a kind of a similar concept as it is they they did a competition really and uh it designed they designed the logo for the town they they did some signage logos they did but they also used it in their uh some of their media advertising and it was just it brought the community together and you know the winner got some kind of prize and that type of thing that shirts made it was a really big deal big community effort sure so so um just reach out to the i mean is there any someone in particular that you would you could you could contact the vocational center over satellite high school you know their their drafting and design things like that i know we did some of that when i was in school of course that was when we had push pencils but uh yeah i just think it and it may not they may not be interested in it but i just thought it would be a good idea that's a good idea we'll check into that any other discussion and also one other thing too the price includes um three designs like one of the designs is for the interstate sun and then they're also we're trying to have a a consistent theme like what like our logo and that sign would be consistent throughout the city so if we put it on

[0:08:13] the northbound in southbound 55 and then we've also talked about at the corner of northwest drive and main street having a directional sign like showing that it's a municipal district of northwest drive police department city hall you know court and all that and having another sign there so they're not just dec not just design the one on the interstate but also tying that in as we may need a higher elevation for some of them so all that's included with that any other discussion your motion is to let the mayor execute the agreement yes okay again we had a motion by ottoman hale second alderman brooks all in favor say hi all opposed say no i just have it motion carries all right next on the agenda is a resolution for a budget amendment for fy18 mr chris wilson mayor board this is a very minor amendment thirty three thousand dollars to reflect uh revenue that is received for our tree bank and by ordinance it has to be expended back out for that very purpose and replanting trees that a developer has i'll make that motion second we have a motion of alderman flores second by alderman wheeler is there any discussion yes yes okay that motion carries next hundred agendas resolution to surplus property and our southampton police department and our i-tech department mr merriman without the resolution of the very report of honor of the city of south africa declaring surplus property police department as president of this state second we have a motion about alderman brooks second ottoman kelly is there any discussion hearing mountain roll call

[0:10:16] yes yes okay and that motion carries next on the agenda is an affiliation agreement we didn't do them all together surplus property the idea department is presenting on this state second we have a motion by alderman brooks second monitoring wheeler is there any discussion hearing none roll call yes yes okay that motion carries as well next on the agenda is an affiliation agreement between the southampton fire department oklahoma community college and northwest community college mr nick manley and chief chief thorne good evening mayor board these agreements are with kalama community college and northwest community college it allows their emts and paramedics in their program to do their clinical rides with the city of south haven fire department we are the biggest agency that they use for this it also helps us sometimes to find candidates to fill a vacancy because we see the students actually in the field working with our paramedics we have paramedics that oversee each one of the students the students are allowed to have interaction with the patients but it's always under the guidance of our paramedic and we have criteria that we must follow for that student that's provided by each one ecologist it's a good benefit for us good benefit for the community samara we've approved an affiliation agreement between the southampton fire department and oklahoma community

[0:12:17] college and northwest community college we have a motion ballroom in pain second by arm and hail is there any discussion is there any other discussion hearing none all in favor say aye aye all opposed say no i just have a motion carries thank you very much thank you all right next on the agenda is a contract with tank pro mr nick manley this is the uh we the city's been using tank pro um for regular scheduled maintenance for routine maintenance on the city's water towers for the last couple years uh over the last couple months ray and dan have met with tank pro and as opposed to having separate contracts you have all under one contract now uh with tank pro to handle all the water tower maintenance for all the there's eight wired hours in the city so this will allow uh for the tank pro to have the under contract for all eight towers to do fairly scary maintenance at different times over the next couple of years uh percentage of this contract with fixed prices under the bid law since it's over two years and it's a fixed price there's a requirement for this to go to bid and the city's been very pleased in talking with ray and dan with tank pro's performance so tonight bring a motion renewed great recommendation to authorize the mayor to sign a contract with tank probe for the maintenance contract for the 8 water towers in the city a second we have a motion by arm and gallagher second of all armament pain is there any discussion hearing none all in favor say aye aye all opposed say no

[0:14:19] i just have it motion carries next on the agenda's bond and uh parameter resolution approving the sale of g.o bond this uh continuation of the bonds uh the city is um appears previously approved to issue this spontaneous tonight i mean this resolution tonight will authorize the sale of the bonds um and there is a meeting tomorrow to get the uh development bank approval as well uh so that the bonds can move forward and start the validation process but i mean with the closing date scheduled for december 21st and so tonight will allow that process to keep moving forward passing these resolutions for the actual sale of the bonds so moved second we have a motion ballroom in flores second parliament is there any discussion hearing none roll call yeah yes yes okay that motion carries takes on the agenda's consideration of two resolutions for the restaurant tourism tax for our parks department thank a motion opened up for discussion we have a motion by alderman brooks second alderman kelly floor is open for discussion mr mayor uh i know when it was voted on the previous two times that there wasn't a repealer uh that was included i know that was included afterwards oh where did the 10 years in this and these two come from was that a number well the ten years just to recap you know when it was initially approved there was no repeal right no repeal date at all on there when that was put on there and since

[0:16:21] then the state legislature has had a i guess an unwritten policy you know that on altruism taxes that they would be reviewed every three years so that's where that came from uh i'm understanding now that uh the message has been understood that for a lot of cities that is a chokes it's a hamper like if you're wanting to you know use that revenue source for a bond to do everything at one time obviously a three-year pillar a repeal date is uh kills that because it's not long enough you know no prudent city is going to go out you know and start all the projects and borrow money with no guarantee whether just a three-year guarantee so in 2014 when we went to jackson we explained that and i think since then some other cities have explained it so the uh it's feedback that we've been given that uh that there is an understanding that there needs to be a longer repeal time than three years so um just feedback from jackson that um that there would be considering longer repeal dates and we feel like what is on our plan to be done can all be done in 10 years and so we feel like they asked us what we want we feel like you know the things that we've communicated that are our priorities in the parks as far as expansion projects we feel like with 10 years revenue we could complete all those and i agree even though this has been heavily discussed i also agree that there shouldn't be an unlimited tax i think that there needs to be checks and balances from the from the taxpayers and even though this has been voted upon twice and approved i do like the idea that um that it ends you know that it has to be brought back before the people again and the both of these resolutions allow that they do explain that after 10 years uh it's mandatory that it would have to be there can't be an extension there would have to be a new vote after 10

[0:18:24] years but i know i'm giving you a lot of information but to make to shorten that summarize what i just said um the three-year repeal date was set by the legislature we're understanding now that they're considering longer dates they asked us what we wanted we feel like 10 is sufficient well i i remember after the 3d pillar was added uh i remember thinking well gee that just almost ruined everything that we're trying to do but in many ways looking back now it was it was pretty much a godsend uh with everything that i know the the previous previous board was going through and everything that was happening so in in many ways i've you know i kind of liked the three-year repealer just that i felt that it kept the city accountable and it made that which accountable to the taxpayers made us accountable and made us have to present what we're planning on doing with the money right i always like that i always like to make sure that we've got a plan going forward okay on these next three years these are the things that we want to accomplish this this and this yes and uh if we're i wouldn't mind going back to the three year i don't know if the legislature's gonna put would put that on us or if they allow us to have the 10 but i would hope with the 10 years that we're able to and i know i've seen our stuff but i don't know if it's i don't remember if it's a 10-year i mean if it's great enough for 10 years with everything that we want to do i i hope that we can show these are the things that we want to accomplish this is what we're going to do with this money so that we make sure the taxpayers are pleased with what we're doing with the money and that's how we go forward with it does that make sense it does make sense one thing i will add to that just to point out that because i know that i've answered questions about this too um to clear up uh some misinformation there was never ever any of the previous bills there was never ever any cause in the contract that said it had to be used for xyz or that it can only be used on new

[0:20:28] projects it never said that it was very vague it was it said that the money had to be used for parks and recreation or tourism that's all it said so that is misinformation that is circulated that had to be used on on a project that was on a video from 2010 that was before us uh that was never that's false it was never in the bill that had to be used on a specific project but i will add this we've heavily discussed our capital improvement plan and that's been heavily heavily discussed among this board so you all know what's out there we all are we've not expressed any major disagreement over anything that's on that list so i think that we have done a much better job uh during the last four years and and you know boiling it down to and being clear on what we want to do with the revenue more so than in the past it's realistic and that's why i tell you tonight if you look at the revenue if you back out back out the hotel part of it and just consider the restaurant part of it it's about 1.6 million a year so you know you do that on 10 years you have 16 million dollars that is enough to do as estimated to do the things that are on that capital improvement plan are related to parks now with that being said it's not possible to go in and say we're going to do this this year this this year this day because you know there's some variables in there we don't know exactly what the revenue is going to be and things do change somewhat you have to you have to make some adjustments as you go so it's not as rich it can't be perfectly rigid it has to have a little bit of flexibility in there for this board to make decisions as time goes on but i do respect what you say and i think that we've come a long way as a city and being more specific on what we want to do with the rabbit and then again ultimately they asked us what we want the resolution what we ask for and what we get as we've witnessed the last yeah it could be two different things i

[0:22:30] mean they may come back next year and say well hey thank you for that resolution but you're getting three years you know or you know any other discussion among the board yes sir have you been there on the board i appreciate your patience with me how you like my new outfit when you're 82 and a millionaire you can do what you want to there you go so there you go i i would hope that this board the reason i'm here because of this particular incident about this taxes i don't care if it's a half a penny i don't care if it is a half of a meal people don't want taxes now i understand y'all's argument about well we've got to have more money if we want to do this and we want to do that we got to have more money open up a hot dog stand do whatever but quit taxing the people and quit taxing the tourists i think that it would be terrible for y'all to make a resolution ask for 10 years people can even remember two years let him remember three so what you're doing is you're saying give me a open field for 10 years you let me do what i want to do when i want to do it so i suggest this if you're going to make a resolution then make that resolution public and let us have a public hearing uh bond the resolution and the wording of the resolution thank you i would recommend no taxes thank you sir and again forgive my short response or no response we

[0:24:32] discussed this so heavily it needs no more discussion you know we we've made that clear what we've done with the revenue and how it's been beneficial for the city and with all due respect a lot of people in the city don't agree with you so so is there a motion to approve we have two resolutions is there a motion to approve one of those or is there we need more do we need more discussion on the board i get lots of phone calls not today it's an option that we even have resolutions were [Music] the advice of our legislators or a few of our legislators so i'm not sure exactly what you're talking about can you tell me specifically what you're talking about i'm i'm wondering if we can pass a resolution that's not going to require any vote uh yes i was i was told that to send us a resolution either with an extension request or a new referendum so they can they can bring back a bill that has died is that correct yes it's been voted upon twice yeah it can be it can't either one can be done but again i mean that's something and nick and i talked about this a million times nick has written many of these uh what we send and what we get is that's not our decision that's the decision of the state legislature so they basically asked us what we want or what this board wants and they indicated to me

[0:26:36] that the discussions that they've had with the city of south haven and other cities throughout the state they do understand that a three-year extension or three years revenue is not enough to do the projects that are significant so they expressed that there would be consideration for longer terms so when they asked what do you want we didn't just draw 10 years out of our back pocket we know that it makes sense that 10 years will allow us to complete the items that are you know roughly as approximately complete the items that are on the capital improvement personally i love the section in there that says that after 10 years the tax expires unless the people want to bring it back i i think that's great brings a lot of good faith in continuing that just to kind of i guess start a tradition of doing so personally i would rather uh set down the resolution asking for a referendum just again to have that good faith though leaving up to the people now in 10 years we'll leave it up to the people i agree with aldrin kelly and i will i will share one thing too that um that has been brought to my attention well two things number one is um the people that voted for it twice you know it's been brought to my attention that they they want to know then why does my vote not matter you know like so some people didn't get what they wanted in their votes so you just keep voting on it until you get what you want and that makes a lot of sense to me i mean you know we held two referendums spent a lot of money holding two referendums those people that voted in favor of it what does that say to them well i'll answer that in a roundabout way their vote didn't matter because look at all what we have done with those votes that resolution is dead it's dead and so much question it died it died it ended in july i mean in june so their vote did matter and we were able to do all the projects that we were

[0:28:37] able to do yeah because they went out to the polls and voted at this point we've got to do something new and so i agree with alderman kelly and we're asking you to get back out again and support it so we can do additional projects so you think there should be another referendum okay all right then the other thing that i was going to share is um it was brought to my attention and i never i never really thought about it this way and kind of goes along with mr daniel's uh statements but um why don't the people vote on the military property tax bill is ready but every every year when we you know this board approves a budget for the city that approves much more taxes than a tourism and a one percent restaurant terrorism tax right so my question is and again i'm not i'm just it's a good question i mean and it's not from me somebody asked me that they said why do the people not get to vote every year on the primary tax military because alderman rook said it they vote every four years to allow us to do that then why do we not why should we not be the one that makes a decision on the tourism tax well but because the state mississippi said we can't do it that way that's why no they didn't say that they killed it i mean they didn't pass it the legislature said we're done right but they're also uh they're offering to revive again they're offering yeah and well i appreciate your opinion and alderman kelly's i totally disagree and believe that that it's been voted on two times it was killed because of inefficiency some inefficient legislators that we have some of the other legislators have come to us and said hey we're willing to make this work again let's let them work make it work again so what this point what do you think is going to pass down there yeah one that lets the people speak to one

[0:30:38] another the majority did the majority majority ruled twice and then the people weren't happy with the outcome some of the people weren't happy with the outcome and so they're wanting us to vote a third time well we're not here to to uh for every issue that comes up to take another vote make the motion and then i would like to add one more thing to that the majority we had someone spoke out in the audience but uh the majority did rule i mean it was voted upon twice and the other thing um similar to what alderaan brooks just said lord knows in the 2000 election campaign that i made it clear that i'm a pro parks mayor and that i was for this tax the people elected me overwhelmingly and they elected you overwhelmingly and i think everyone up here indicated that they supported our parks program and the tourism tax so what other message do you need i mean and again even if you did if you've got a 10-year extension approved every four years the city is going to vote on the administration of the city if they don't like that they can elect somebody else that goes in and repeals that just because you get a 10-year thing doesn't uh mean that a new board four years from now can't come in and say well hey we think that was wrong you know we don't agree with mayor muscle white we don't agree with alderman hale or whomever and we want that repeal well all they got to do is go to polls and vote somebody else in but it's still that lingering question that i have and just want everybody to think about is why do the people not get to vote for the property tax military why do they not why do they not get to vote on that i mean why as mississippi citizens why do we not get to vote on the income tax rate i don't like the income tax rate in mississippi i don't get to vote on i've been painted my whole working career why have i never gotten to vote mr

[0:32:41] daniels why have i never gotten a vote on the state income tax rate because it's already pre-determined why though that's not that's grandfathered many many years ago and you accepted that but can it be changed without debate but this is something new that we have an opportunity it's not anything new no it's not new it's been in existence since 2011 existing but the one penny tax for parks and tourist tax is fairly new compared to property tax and valor tax but will we all agree that our property taxes are much more than a penny tax at a restaurant there's no question about that but why don't we not get the phone even go a step farther and uh and with all due respect to my fellow aldermen who i highly respect and i'll i'll say that i think that it is not wise of us to hold another election and spend the money that it takes to have an issue voted on that's already been voted on two times i mean where do the people the people that have overwhelmingly voted yes for this two different times they've got to pay for another election because there's a small group of people that don't want it that's not right in my opinion mayor um am i correct to say that of all the tourism taxes across the state there's quite a few that do not happen bigler on them correct that's correct and those are [Music] perpetual i guess unless someone comes in and changes that there's 40 i did research the first time this came up for extension in 2014 and i believe it was 46 in the state of mississippi that um let me i'm not positive about it but it's a large amount it's it's around 50 or more that do not have a repeal

[0:34:46] so we know we've got a problem we have to solve whether it be an extension of existing tax or or we all agree to for another vote just think about it this way maybe if this tax had been brought up and put on our books six years previous we wouldn't be having this discussion because it would went in with the legislators with no effect and the repealer was put in place for the for the purpose of some counties or cities or whoever had these taxes that chose to not do the right thing with that money and even though that concept is there i challenge anyone to find a flaw in what the city of south haven has done with that money that's a good point the money has been used very wisely and i will uh add to that that um it's very challenging all the projects that have been done since uh i've been mayor um have been done cash only you know we just you know and that gets challenging you know when you're trying to piecemeal a significant project together with one year revenue especially when you get into the third year or you know when you're waiting to see if it gets extended again it gets very challenging but i do think that people the legislators are starting to realize that now and that's been told to them by not just south africa but other cities well this is just discussion too i think this board needs to be unified in whatever you decide i agree with it right whatever my preference is it's just a preference it doesn't mean that that's what my constituents want right but we do um you know we've had this on the agenda for two months it's time to i agree it's time to cook or get out of the cat mr mayor i make a motion of a mayor on the board of aldermen of the city of south haven mississippi

[0:36:48] to take up the matter of reinstating for 10 years the authority for the city to levy and collect an additional one-cent sales tax on gross proceeds of restaurants operating within the city from the sales of beverages and prepared food for providing funds to promote southaven tourism parks and recreations originate originally authorized by chapter 955 local and private laws of 2011. second we have russian gallagher second baltimore brooks is there any other discussion so just to clarify that we're not adopting this resolution just to let everybody know this is the resolution that we're going to we want our legislators to send down to jackson correct correct but it is i mean it is a city board resolution right yes for them to vote on yeah for them for them to introduce the tenure nick and i have talked about this in detail but um both of them do have that in there that after 10 years it is mandatory new and referendum it was last year if there's a question in the legislature or something that can't happen that the board may have passed another resolution like we did last year so um they make changes they make changes a lot of times the the lawyers for the legislation require a new resolution as well so based on the last two times expect to be doing this again sorry but how it is and uh and i will add one other thing too and again i don't want to rehash all that's been discussed because it's been so lengthy but it is important to note that the reason it was turned down the last time and this is not

[0:38:49] mayor muscle white saying this this is your other state reps around the state and you can go watch the video don't take my word for it go watch the video when our representative went to the well they clearly indicated that they voted no two hours because of the way six of our house reps voted on other tourism bills throughout the state many of which had a new referendum so the issue was not referendum or no referendum they voted no to our bill clearly because six of our or excuse me five of our reps voted no to other bills just like this throughout the state that had a new referendum so go watch the video so if anyone has questions on why we are doing an extension on one that did fail last year it was clearly communicated that the only reason southaven's bill was not extended in 2017 was because of the actions of five legislators now whether that's right or wrong that's up to everyone to have their own opinion about that but that that is the facts on what happened this message was sent that's great and i'll even go a step further and say that there were one or two of those legislators who told us openly that they always vote uh when there's yes when there's a referendum and their record clearly shows that they do not always vote yes when there is a referendum that is correct so any other discussion one minute okay mr daniel talk about that with arm packs and i'm gonna take one minute

[0:40:52] we've already paid and i was opposed in the very beginning as to how we came about getting our new parks but i also am not foolish enough to believe that it was not a good move it has created a tremendous amount of tourism it has created a great amount of enjoyment for our children park system is great but here's the problem we pay our aggregator tax we pay our car payment we pay all of these other taxes and we put on here tourist tax i'm not a terrorist why should i have to pay to go into my own parks why should i have to pay to take my family out to stay there i'm not a tourist if you could somehow or another that would be a nightmare to a restaurant but somehow another you need to be thinking about your constituents well and and it is fair to know that the city of south haven did not define the word the definition of we do not create the definition of tourism that's something that's been used for many years restaurants and hotels are typical tourist destinations you are correct it applies to everyone that eats in a south haven restaurant but we do know for the tri-state area like we have and the other tourism draws that we have we know that that a large portion of that revenue is generated by people that do not live here so again we didn't create the definition of tourism but it is a fact that uh that restaurants and hotels are a um heavy draw for for tourists i need southeastern restaurants every single day and i'm more than happy to have my money go towards our parks well and uh and since one of our um again i told you i wasn't going to talk much about how i'll say this and since someone pointed out the fact that uh and i don't know if this is true

[0:42:55] or not i was raising three sons two in diapers trying to my wife and i both working maybe i didn't vote in 2010 but what i do remember is i remember hearing a five-minute speech the first time this tax was being proposed and they explained it would be a penny one percent to go to help our parks well i know the benefit of parks i mean i believe that i'm a i'm a living example of the benefit of parks what it meant to my life and i know what it means to a lot of other lives i literally thought about that for about 30 seconds i said that's a great idea you know and so never ever would i have thought years later that i would have had so many discussions as a mayor of this city trying to explain to people that a penny or that a quarter on a 25 tab at a restaurant is a quarter people pitch a quarter on the ground or stick it in a gum machine on the way out i mean a quarter on a 25 bill never ever would have thought that the citizens of our city would question paying that to help our parks and help our youth but so anyway that's why i'm seniors correct all recreation and the other thing too and then i'm going to shut up the other thing is it adds whether you ever play tennis or whether you have grandkids or kids that play baseball or softball or volleyball or whatever it is whether you ever step foot in the senior center it helps every citizen in the city because parks and recreation make your city more economically attractive which brings more jobs which stabilizes your property tax rates i hear that all the time well why did you do tennis i don't play tennis well you're probably not going to see me play much tennis either but that's not the point it's not the point where you play tennis it's the point is it makes your city more economically attractive when you have recreational opportunities and that's not my opinion that that is a

[0:44:57] fact i pointed out to this board recently amazon issued bit specs on a proposed second national headquarters this headquarters is going to bring 53 000 jobs the average salary over 100 grand they had their main headquarters in seattle they're going to build this somewhere in the united states so everyone in the united states is jockeying for this send a proposal when you look at their bid specs what they ask for they ask for your basic stuff obviously you have to be close to an airport you have to have good road infrastructure interstate systems you have to have a trained workforce i mean you have a lot of people you they want to come to an area where the people you know have the you know employment skills to come to work and do the jobs there but when you keep flipping through their their specs one whole page goes into tell us about is your community walkable tell us about your restaurants tell us about your recreational opportunities so they continue to say tell us about your recreational opportunities so i challenge everyone that questions in parks are just for people that walk in the park if that's their only benefit when amazon hq2 the largest economic development in the united states being proposed right now is asking for recreational opportunities okay any other discussion hearing none yes okay that motion carries next on the is agenda's authorization for renewal with shapiro uniforms for our south africa fire department chief thornton all right thank you sir

[0:47:00] i think this is just a formality we had a contract signed with shapiro in march of 2014 it was a one-year contract with three-year renewals so we're asking for that last opportunity on the the third year of the renewal this will allow us to buy our uniforms between now and march of next year so moved second we have a motion bottom and brooks second bottom and hail is there any discussion did you say this was a one-year deal or deal it was a one-year contract with a three-year option it was approved by the board this would be the last the third year of the auction sorry and prices have not gone up they steal what they were in 2014. any other discussion hearing no one i'll favor say aye aye all opposed say no i just have it motion carries thank you sir next on the agenda's resolution for final change orders for elmore road north and south mr dan cordell mayor um you prepared two resolutions on this this is a long way in coming but it's uh finally got all the paperwork back data agency that we've been dealing with i had a lot of turnover finally got all the summary quantities in so we need authorization for the mayor pending state aid approval to authorize his signature for a fifty one thousand dollar six fifty one thousand sixty nine dollar and four cent increase on the decd project ending in 39 which is the north section that is below it is an increase as a summary quantity adjustment it is below our contracted amount in that we

[0:49:04] submitted a contingency when you originally submit the project budget so we're below the contingency fund which i've already paid your portion in this is just to get all the paperwork corrected so the state can make their final payments and adjustments to the contractor and close the job out i need to do them separate two dollars yes okay i'll make the motion for the north side north portion okay wheeler any discussion just for the record all work has been completed this is just closing it all out called warfare completed correct we're not rightly period yes yes our emotion on the other the second one is the the easy same thing it is an increase in the amount of fourteen thousand four hundred fourteen dollars and thirty four cents same deal with the contingency funds we're below the contingency fund so it's uh just authorization for the mayor to execute the supplemental agreements pending state approval i will make that motion for mmo road south as well second about a motion baltimore florida second ballroom in pain is there any discussion hearing now i'm rolling home yes yes and that motion carries next on the agenda a resolution for change order from phase one fire service extension or lake road i want y'all to know i don't save these up or anything it's just happening to hit this way um

[0:51:06] the fire service area extension was really broken up into two parts we had a creek crossing on horn lake that required directional board and then we had the regular general line work that was in other areas mainly south of starlanding road where we're providing some new fire hydrants and increased line sizes in the nesbitt water association this change order i'm requesting is an increase of 136 931.46 originally this project when it was all combined was a 967 thousand dollar project we broke it up because we weren't sure we was not sure when the directional board crew was going to get done with their works we didn't include it in the line work portion with this increase the total project construction will be 539 000 so it's still a significant savings we just need this portion so the line work can be connected to the directional board we're also increasing some fire hydrant locations in that area that density personal rays desires and and we also had some line change increases all of it within the same type of work we're doing in the network water association due to their they didn't have an accurate accounting of all their line sizes so we had to do some adjustments there so this is not a summary change order but it does account for a majority of the changes that have happened during the construction and we're still below so i'm requesting approval for that also so move it's taken we have a motion waterman florida second baller of inhale is there any discussion here you know the royal column yes yes okay that motion carries next on the agenda is phase one fire service extension for pay application two

[0:53:07] this is the pay application that does have one or two items of the change order that you just created that's why we have it on the agenda tonight i'm requesting approval for uh the fire service pay application and the amount of 198 416 and 99 cents over 500 000 so i'll move right second we have a motion bottom and floor second bottom and kelly is there any discussion hearing none roll call yes and that motion carries thank you thank you dan next time we have jenna's the um cindy richard dallas proposal for lease with regents bank i would like to add one thing on this this basically is we did we we approved the lease previously right we've approved the proposal at the previous meeting okay um after we approve this to not assuming the board approves us tonight then we'll approve an actual lease but under their guidelines you have to approve the proposal for the prepared lease um so this was previously approved however talking to the mayor uh there's been some discussion of why could we not just buy the portion that we're leasing and this this uh they have to review um their files as far as the feasibility from cb richard ellison and the bank that being said this does allow this proposal's update or revised to reflect that in the event of a sale to see we have to write a first refusal to any purchase of that parking lot that's used by the courts and i just want the board to know why i didn't go through with the other thing after more thought i wanted i don't i don't like the idea of renting the parking lot from them i don't like that i'd like to have a more permanent solution to try to buy the property we have reached out to them uh chris

[0:55:10] has talked to them and uh at this time they were not ready to do that but we are adding that in where we would have uh first rider refusal on uh purchasing the parking lot so anyway long-range plan of uh on the you know unlimited spots we're not having to lease it anymore uh but in the short term until we get there we've got to have the space so we're gonna have to lease it until then so is there a motion to approve this lease mr ray i move we approve the cbre proposal for lease with regions spain we have a motion pain second honorary kelly is there any discussion hearing none all in favor say aye hi hi hi all both say no nice habit motion carries next on the agenda is a change order for carrichelle's bank pedestrian project uh this is a change order as you said for carry sales bicycle improvements we made a reduction in the grade types that we were putting back into the uh the inlets is a decrease in the contract amount of eight thousand four hundred fifty two dollars i'm requesting y'all's approval of that change order and authorization for the mayor to execute we have a motion ballerman kelly second ballerman payne is there any discussion hearing none all in favor say aye aye all opposed say no eyes have it motion carries thank you thank you next on the agenda's acceptance of bid in our public works department mr bradley wallace um these this litter recommendation from my office for recent bids that you allowed us to go out for a recent

[0:57:12] meeting this is for a new excavator a new track excavator and the compact track loader skid steer by piece of equipment they were approved in the budget for this year and we receive these bits from revival equipment for the prices you can see there um 697 2517 for the excavator 63 448 14 with the compact track litter those were within what we expected a little bit lower actually totaled what we expected to do these equipment so we're um recommending that we please accept those bids mr memphis we accept reliable equipment llc as well as the best debts presented on the state sick we have a motion by alderman brooks second ballroom and hail is there any discussion authorize the mayor or public work through assignment authorize the public works director or the mayor to sign any discussion being done all in favor say aye aye all of us say no i just have it motion carries thank you sir next on the agenda is the july 4th contract with argo entertainment mr nick manley this is a contract for the july 4th uh celebration event that we have in the snowden right out of the empire every year this contract will give argo entertainment they will provide argo provide the fireworks along with entertainment for the event um it'll be a family-friendly event this contract sets forth the uh obligations of fargo and also the inflatables that they'll provide along with the specifications for the fireworks that provide we will not be providing that this year or we will do it uh i'm talking with um wes and the city of pointleg the city of walgreens they also use oregon i think they've been very pleased

[0:59:14] with them so we're going to try this this year and we've got the contract we've made amendments to it and they've agreed to our revisions and um so they might recommend approval and having any questions you have from me regarding the contract or with us so i moved second we have a motion ballroom in florida second ballroom in brooks is there any discussion hearing none yes and that motion carries uh next on the agenda is a resolution clean private property mr mayor but we adopt the resolution granting authority to clean private property is presented on the state second we have a motion ballroom brooks second ballroom in hail is there any discussion among the board hearing now is there any discussion from anyone in the audience regarding one of the properties on the list yes sir thank you again morgan i have two requests the first one is that i'm on the public agenda i'd like to re-schedule that for another meeting because there's so many things going on tonight uh and i don't want to keep y'all here any longer than necessary okay so so i'm not going to respond to the citizens agenda but i do want to respond to the resolution to claim private according to my research and i know that nick probably knows just better than i do the municipalities should not have

[1:01:18] the right to enforce imminent domain on a piece of private property because they dislike the shrubbery or they dislike the color of the paint that's not what's going on let me finish let me finish before i before i answer your question the other thing is real quick we're having a hearing you don't there's a hearing on the properties up there so the hearing is limited based on if you're wanting to speak i understand about great stuff yes yes sir i agree with you 100 i understand what it's based on i've read the ordinance i know every i know everything this is a this is number 21 1911 though this is a different section this is going to be a proper property cleaning under 21 1911 and so the hearing would be based on 4031 genevieve the property that's listed there right now not under a maintenance code violation which i think gary franklin that goes to the city courts not this board if you are going excuse me to infringe upon any personal problem i do not find where that you have the right to encroach against a homeowner's bundle of rights or his enjoyment of his property and if you can prove me otherwise i'll receive that i have opposed this from day one from the other administration that the city has no right to tell a homeowner that he has to clean up his garage because to him this is about grabs height this is about violation we need to have other unsafe conditions as in the state of mr thank you so i understand that's what we're discussing here we're not discussing the property maintenance

[1:03:19] that needs to be out here for a week and week we're discussing 4301 genevieve right there grasshoppe that's that's what this hearing is about well it says here personal property now is that personal problem now let me help um now this uh it is all public it's on the website so anything that is discussed up here is available to the public there so that that is out there but i think just to summarize what uh nick and what honor and brooks are talking about what you're what you're referring to is the property maintenance code which does have to do with the physical characteristics the state of repair or disrepair of a home that's not what this is this is a different state law that allows a city to condemn property that is or to claim private property there's a public nuisance where it becomes a public safety hazard and so that's why alderman brooks is talking about grass so like this is when you have tall grass and then you have snakes and rodents that are affecting other people that live in the area state law does give the city authority to do that so that's what this is supposed to have because of public safety correct i understand i understand i've done a little bit of research but the point of trying to make this i would still question even if the state says so or even if this board decides to go ahead and implement this particular resolution but you need to have something that says hey allow me to come now i understand that you haven't noticed i understand that you give homeowners notices to clean up i understand all that but you ought to give somebody an opportunity without always being cited as one example i've known for quite some time many people come to me elderly people 80 years old cannot touch brass

[1:05:23] cannot afford to have the grass gap and of course the answer at that time was well mr daniels you're in a charitable organization why don't your church go do that and that's exactly what we did and that's exactly what i did on a particular incident that you people are going to talk about in the executive meetings but still on and on what does it not set sort of category that you think that you have the authority to go and do whatever you think you want to do to another piece of property that's almost from money we don't state law guidelines what we can and can't do so we follow state laws go in and cut the grass we don't go in and paint the house and all those things we go in and cut the grass and i might also add that that you're talking about an 80 year old lady that can't cut their grass the mayor has set up a a group called search i'm sorry he's saying but i have to shut up but he's also saying if you respond i get a chance job that's we've got to serve south haven group that the mayor has set up and it is specifically for elderly and impoverished people that that have trouble cutting their grass all they've got to do is contact serve south haven and it'll be arranged for them and this is a lengthy process before someone gets on this list it's a very lengthy process they've been getting they've been asked as you mentioned they've been asked to cut the grass and uh but it does as always brooks said when we get to this point we have an obligation as a city to keep our city safe and when it becomes a public safety hazard that's when it becomes moves from that private property issue to a public issue so that's that's why we do have authority by state law to do that how many times has that program been used

[1:07:26] that's been used many many times i mean christie faulkner managed it for the first two years five ten twenty it's been underway since fourteen i believe fourteen how about this year yes it's been used right now how many we pull the statistics but it's very it's just frankly nobody i believe has the number off hand but very much yeah and all this is public record like we can we're gonna have to move on tonight but but um anyway i hope we've answered your questions if you have other follow-up questions we can get that information no i just want to uh i just want to make sure that a person's private property is protected we appreciate you saying that and we feel the same way let me say this also even though that i sometimes get involved in my preachers mode i don't have any animosity at all toward you people or toward the police department or toward anybody but i do think that every one of us has a responsibility to protect and end individuals rights yes sir thank you for saying that i appreciate it and we'll reschedule you on the citizens agenda please um just contact christy faulkner and let her know the next meeting you would like to get involved in okay is there anyone in the audience any owners or someone with a financial interest in the property that would like to speak hearing none seeing none roll call yes all right next on the agenda is our planning agenda miss whitney cook yes sir we just got one item and it is final elevation design for a sea sea store at a quick surface restaurant on the northeast corner of church in elmore um if you look at the staff report

[1:09:27] submitted we had them do a lot of changes uh it was very bright uh didn't conform to a lot of the materials we like they have come back with the bronze the stacks done everything we like to initial you know including the design um so once those changes were made by the elevations resubmitted to us we recommended approval what'd you say this once again uh northeast corner of church in elmore that's me yes i'll make the motion to accept item number one in the planning agenda we have a motion ballroom in florida as second ballroom and gallagher is there any discussion hearing none roll call yes you carries thank you uh next on the agendas uh is my mayor's report just to update everyone on a few issues um our veterans excuse me our veterans day luncheon is this friday it's one of the most special events that we do as a city honoring our veterans uh it is going to be uh at 11 o'clock at the arena the luncheon is free to veterans mention admission for guests is ten dollars please make reservations uh with christy faulkner if you would like to if you'd like to attend but we're excited about that two quick updates on uh old business or projects that we've been working on y'all know how heavily we've discussed uh star landing road uh getting starling road in better condition getting it resurfaced also the area of church road between highway 51 interstate 55 has been in horrendous condition we applied for mpo funding federal funds three or four years ago it's a lengthy process so we're really excited that that is underway and going to be done quickly we get into november obviously weather is an issue but today they weren't paving starlanding road

[1:11:30] tomorrow i think the weather is going to be a little too cool for asphalt application but we hope to have star landing done and church road done totally overlaid by late next week so i thought that was a good update now one more thing too proud to say that you all know that we hired the first tennis director in the history of the city of south haven michael johnson michael johnson has a lengthy resume as a tennis pro for many many years we hired him we knew it was the right choice he's done an incredible job so far for the city tennis has been a huge success in the city of south haven just in this short time but i'm proud to announce the mississippi test association recently named michael johnson our south asian tennis director as the tennis professional of the year and uh he's also being considered with that honor he's considered for the united states tennis association uh southern section tennis pro of the year so very proud of michael johnson he's doing an incredible job working his tail off that's all i have this evening next on the agenda is our personnel docket mr mayor i'm going to approve the personnel doctor is presented on the stage no motion baltimore brooks second baltimore kelly is there any discussion hearing none roll call yes yes okay now motion carries next on our agenda is our city attorney's legal update just got one quick item that came in this afternoon and it's a public works allowing them to use old radios from the police department for their communications and it's allowing them to enter into an agreement with integrated wireless the carrier for the radios uh it'd be 390 a month for the agreement but they we made some changes to the agreement a couple months ago and just got it back and allowed for

[1:13:33] bradley wallace to sign the actual subscription agreement along with the addendum that we added for conflicting terms that would we wouldn't be covered by so i said it's 26 300 a month for 15 of for 26 dollars per radio and there's 15 levels just since it's the second motion second we have a motion balance second alderman brooks is there any discussion hearing none roll call yes yes okay and that motion carries next on our agenda is our claims docket mr mayor i mean we approve the claims docket in the amount of four million two hundred and thirteen thousand eight hundred and forty two dollars and 86 cents including demand jacks second you have a motion by alderman payne second ballroom and flores is there any discussion lots of bills hearing yes okay that motion carries next on the agenda is um the reason to determine the need uh this evening for executive session you know motion modern brooks second alderman gallagher all in favor say hi all right all opposed say no i just have it motion carries the need this evening is claims and litigation the southampton police department public works code enforcement potential lease of city property economic development with potential business industry relocating to the city uh and personnel and fire department and is there any did you want to do we need to add you're going to grow okay and also litigation

[1:15:35] regarding a zoning matter so is there an elevation to declare executive session okay and also personnel in public works so we had a motion by um i'm sorry did you make the motion again absolutely okay motion vitamin fluoresce second of all ultimate pain all of everything all folks say no eyes have it motion carries mayor board will now enter executive sessions

Captured 2026-07-26 · source: youtube.com/watch?v=DkaNWqnSlsA