Meeting of the Southaven, Mississippi Mayor and Board of Aldermen - November 7, 2023

[0:05:19] order please stand with us we'll be led In Prayer by otman Gallagher after our prayer uh please remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance uh that will be led by timate as George pay Heavenly Father we thank you for the opportunity to come together Lord Lord I just want to bring the people of the Middle East over to you Lord there's so many innocent lives and innocent people Lord Jesus and I just pray that you would uh send your workers there to to help them with all their medical needs and uh physical needs Lord Jesus Lord we just pray that you'd be with us through our meeting in your name we pray amen amen amen I pledge alance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic stands one nation God indivisible and justice for all first on our agenda this evening is the approval of minutes for the October 17 2023 meeting so move second we have a motion otman Hoots second otman Jerome is there any discussion hearing none roll call Alman P yes Alman who yes Alman Jerome yes yes yes yes okay that motion carries next on our agenda is uh engineering work authorizations for the Snowden Lane and nil road projects um this is what I had briefed the board on recently you know as uh the Snowden district has developed uh and the and obviously the Getwell traffic has you know increased as well uh it's going to be ever uh ever so important to uh improve our traffic Grid in that area we have pending developments uh on both of those roads Snowden Lane uh which is the road you know that goes by our soccer complex so south of Goodman Road on Snowden Lane is now a two-lane road and uh so there there needs to be an expansion to make

[0:07:23] that three lanes and some other improvements in that area so we have agreements with developers where pay half and the city pays half uh same type situation on nail Road um just west of Getwell Road going towards tul so the nail Road Extension would actually push nail Road through to tul uh and obviously you know if you travel that area you know that would make a tremendous difference in allowing traffic to escape off of Getwell Road and get to tul um so both of these projects uh have private developments that have Arrangements where they pay 50% of of this so the city uh needs to be preparing um for our 50% and and obviously the the design has to be done so what we're proposing tonight is that we hire civil link to uh design both of these projects I'll make that motion Mr second okay we have a motion by Alman Payne a second by Alman Gallagher and is there any other discussion followup questions or anything and uh Dan Cordell is in the audience if needed we already got that money to do that with um yeah what we'll do on these um it's going to be a significant amount of money and do you know that I did not bring I I last week I brought uh I'll get that for all of us but anyway you know that I have a capital Improvement uh spreadsheet that I that we use frequently and you know as a working document and so I have the exact numbers on there I'm sure Dan has it but anyway what we'll do as far as the funding is um by the time the majority of the money is needed it be 2025 so we'll have uh other debt rolling off so what we'll do is just use some of the available Debt Service for that um so it should be a very easy to fund in that manner yeah do you have the totals Dan projected totals the nail Road section is roughly 7 million total U that's both parts all in and then the Snowden Lane is right at three 2.8 million yeah is

[0:09:26] that these Agreements are complet but we wouldn't start the construction phase of our portions until all the Agreements are in place and fundings there this is basically to get started with the design portion so that these numbers can be confirmed and that there's a a plan in place to pull the trigger when they're ready would we add storm sewer on May Boulevard I mean not May sorry snow is that has um you know it's kind of tight and the typical section go to three lane does go a little bit on the west side where the developments happen but we're also going to be developing into the the the soccer field side well CU it basically a another room there is ditch and so all that'll be piped and so you'll have Curb gutter uh a barrier which will help protect soccer fields uh and basically if you look at the um lights for the fields now and where they tie in if you can imagine a slope from there going up and then there'll be a curb and gutter section okay so the ditch area will basically go away mayor what we looking are we still looking that going from uh Elmore to swiy swiy to to yeah the the Elmore on nail the Elmore to swey project was one that um we we put in no plan years years ago and um so it was designed Whitney's familiar with that we had it designed then uh we went through a a cycle where the funding was not as much you know every four years it's not as much money as we have so so it got put on the back burner as this as growth started occurring more rapidly in other places so that's why it's uh been kind of put on the Shelf so to speak but it is in the plan it's still in the longrange plan to do that and we continue to look for uh other funding sources for that one time were looking at the bill the

[0:11:30] $25 million combine all of it and actually applied for it we just didn't rate out on that one that year and we um we applied for uh uh Senator wicker uh reached out um to us a few years ago there was a a program and uh and we used the um entire nail Road uh extension connection and made application for federal money we didn't get it what was the name of that Whitney do you remember that I think that was the build program build it had a different name than that it was it's okay I thought maybe you I can't recall but we did make that so that the you know the long range plan for the city is eventually to run nail make nail a East West Corridor it needs to be yeah and so we'll continue but it was I remember it was $22 million is what the estimate was to do that R it was just two big of a project all together so we had to way a frag that expensive because of the wets and the bridge and this has so much traffic because ofad prior that but we still have the design so we'll still keep that in the works and like I said that's still we'll still keep looking as Dan said for other um different programs that could help us with the funding of it any other discussion about these two projects and so George otman pain and answer your question like so the money if you do half of that you're looking at basically 4.7 million something like that um we may tie in the uh one of the no projects that we have uh running the trail South to um south of church or two Church Road we'll have some co-op money in that and the timing of all those will come together so we may work all that together as one package Bond issuance but um we won't need to do that until 2025 okay okay is there any other discussion hearing none roll call yes

[0:13:36] yes yes yes yes yes that motion carries thank you Dan next on the agenda is the resolution uh to amend our property maintenance code Mr Nick Manley City attorney uh yes mayor board this uh resolution was previously discussed um at a prior meeting when we amended the property maintenance code at the time we took out a reference to trees um and went back and have revise that uh language to basically provide more clarity along with more specifics um in regards to trees being VI or overgrown trees being a violation of the property maintenance code to limit it to um where an overgrown tree or overgrown vegetation um or other dead plant life can make become affected by rats spice other rodent snakes Vermin wild animals such that it threatens the endangerment of the community or the public life safety of the citizens so that was the U direction we took with it from the pro from the discussion we had the prior meeting to provide more clarity and then also um so that it would not be as over Brad and be more specific in the violation itself so tonight's being presented for approval um once it's approved they going to effect 30 days from now um assuming approval so uh any questions I'll be happy to answer so may this is like we talked about before the the the illustrations you showed us like with the overgrown shrubs and yeah yes sir what we did is um we left the other and just added one to specifically address these so like you know how we were talking about um uh bushes you know the height of the roof line and all that we didn't touch that and um we just added one that specifically addresses the trees and then so what what our code enforcement team was uh expressing concern about is not necessarily the trees like up against the house but

[0:15:38] trees in general that are that are not kept to where all these conditions that are in there you know applying so I sent y all those pictures that code enforcement sent to me showing you examples of why why it's needed and it it affects Public Safety too like you know for visibility some sometimes it U you know it can be an extreme um not just a a barrier but it becomes a visibility issue for Public Safety if someone's trying to you know address either a crime or a um or someone that's in need in a residence so that's why it affects you know that as well and addition to the you know the rodents and the you know the pest that that like to make their home there and and again just adding to that you know when you have a tree that's in that bad a condition it's not just affecting that property it's affecting the multiple properties that are neighboring that because as y'all know if you have some of these pests they're they're not just staying in that yard they're going you know to the other homes as well I think Nick uh uh wrote that and I think keeping it separate like that I think it perfectly addresses that without touching the other part of the main Cod so any is there a motion to approve it or or further discuss I'll make a motion to amend the city property M okay second we have a motion mman wheeler second mman Payne uh any further discussion hearing none roll call yes yes yes yes yes yes that motion carries next on our agenda are two change orders for fire station number five uh yeah these are uh change they don't they don't require action these have already been approved based on the approval you gave at the time of the um Award of the

[0:17:41] contract obious see to enter these into the minutes there are um three changeovers the first one just increased the number of days 17 days the second one is uh adding steel um as part of the mees or um steel for the training room for in amount of $2,332 and the last one is the amount of $2,630 for the block pan block plan for the mezanine um which is affecting the still door liners for the garage uh so these have already been approved and signed based on the authority you previously gave so tonight just make a note that these are being entered into the minutes tonight for fire station number five okay Andrea you help us with that okay next on our agenda is the gell Road Project change order this uh change order uh we get the form um resolution is required by uh m is um during the actual construction it was noted that the uh certain locations for drainage pipe was needed to be um basically increased and bigger uh these change orders have been approved by MDOT and so tonight need to approve the change order in the amount of $1,318 for the additional pipe as required for the Project based on the actual conditions um after construction second we have a motion by otman Flores second by otman wheeler is there any discussion hearing none roll call B yes who yes jome yes yes yes yes that motion carries next on our agenda is our Municipal questionnaire the authorization tonight to uh to approve the the question there is part of the city's audit this is required it has been completed um by Molen um and it is in compliance with the state laws and the statutes um as far as the advertising and the questionnaire requires so tonight as part of our audit we need authorization um to have the questionnaire approved and for signatur by the mayor so move second we have a motion modman Flores second modderman pay is there any

[0:19:45] discussion hearing none roll call yes yes Jerome yes G yes yes yes that motion carries next on our agenda is approved of our bank plus uh Bank Plus agreements and pricing these uh what the um what we're wanting to do this year what's been suggested this year is is part of the Box purchasing the boxes that um we did last year is to offer a three-year contract and a one-year contract um for those purchases uh so the three-year contract you would have um be locked in for three years for the purchase of the of the boxes at the bank plus Amphitheater and you would have a better um rate over those three years for per seat show um as opposed to the one-year agreement which would just be obviously for the one year but it sets these form agreements set forth the um requirements along with the conditions um for the uh boxes and the price and the timing of payments so it provides more um stability along with consistency and um structure for our program at the amphitheater so tonight the the um request is to approve the um payments I mean the pricing for each box for uh the three-year contract and the one-year contract along with approving the form contract that's presented for the one-year agreement and the three-year agreement and then as those are signed individually for those boxes they'll be entered into the minutes similar as we did similar as we did with the uh um artist agreements in the past so happy answer any questions I think this will provide um a good way forward and provide also with um a good a good contract to head off any issues and or complaints or uh um that may come up based off of not having a contract in place for those boxes I'll make that motion second we have a motion bman wheeler second bman pay is there any discussion then having an incentive you

[0:21:51] know people that's that's the one of the big things you know from a city's perspective is having that incentive uh to renew you know for three instead of instead of just one any other discussion hearing none roll call yes yes yes yes yes yes that motion carries next on our agenda is the resolution to ratify the ratify an emergency purchase for our utilities department yeah this emergency purchase is for the uh a bucket truck we've had the the utility departments have the same issue as the police um have actually getting equipment to even seat bids um based on the information that's been received and the correspondence and letters have been received by the uh utilities department uh if you went to bid for a truck you're looking anywhere from 18 months some cases three three years to get the truck um there was one truck that came available um in Waco Texas that uh we that was found out about by the affili department and so it's bucket truck is needed now and um so due to the uncertainty being able to get a truck when going to bid it's recommended tonight under their power in the 31713 K the Miss code to authorize the purchase of the truck in the amount of $196,300 I think Nick said it mostly best but the other thing just reminding everyone that um having to wait two three years it could put us in a I mean we're it wouldn't be the end of the world if it happened today but uh we could be in a situation where we didn't have uh the other one that were that we that were is currently functional and it would be a a sincere emergency so um I I do think it is it is an emergency

[0:23:54] purchase and thank you to Ray Humphrey for doing the leg work on that and finding this truck in wo Texas any other discussion hearing none roll call yes yes yes yes yes yes that motion carries next on our agenda is authorization for the annual certification for E year ass and the asset forture program with the Department of Justice this is the ual certification program for the um with doj for forfeiture funds that were used um the only thing that's changed from this year's from last year's um certification this year certification is the firm who did our audit which is Watkins W and Stafford um and then we submit this electronically uh but the um uh we didn't this year we did not use any seiz funds um from this program and it's noted in the uh annual certification report um which been signed by Chief Moore now will be signed by the mayor um CER for submission to the doj so tonight we need authorization for the mayor to sign this certification report as required by the doj so move second we have a motion modman Gallagher second orderman pay is there any discussion hearing none roll call yes who yes yes yes yes yes that carries next on our agenda is approval for a rental variance this variance is requested for by consistent with the city's facility use policy for an event at the Snowden house November 20th where alol be served so due to your policy you have to have approval by the board for that so tonight need authorization for that rental variance for the Advent on November 20th at St house second we have a motion modman Flores second modman Payne is there any discussion hearing none all in favor say

[0:25:56] I I any opposed say no eyes have it motion carries next on the agenda is discussion of a proposed um change to our commercial vehicle ordinance yeah and this is obviously not up for vote tonight it's just for discussion purposes and and talking with um the mayor and Whitney and the plan director and getting the board's thoughts on this there's been a proposal just for review and discussion and comment on the um commercial vehicle ordinance which says that no commercial vehicles than pickup trucks with standard factory installed pickup beds of private passenger vehicles used for commercial purposes school buses trailers exceeding 20 ft in actual bed Ling traffickers or heavy equipment shall be parked in any residential Zone in the driveway yard Street except for immediate delivery or service and delivery purposes um this has obviously been revised from the one we have in place now um so uh another's been discussion amongst the board on this issue as well uh so tonight I think that the goal was and um obviously I'll defer to the mayor on the we want to handle it but get the board's thoughts and Direction on this ordinance and um what changes if any or revisions along with timing and U see how everybody wants to proceed like I said this is not we can't we can't consider it for approval tonight because it's for planning ordinance which requires advertisement so it's purely for discussion so um any questions or thoughts or comments are obviously welcome by anyone else do we have can we put the proposed writing up there uh I've got it in an email form but I can uh it's uh it's actually in the pack it's it's in the package it's up there go back up to uh looking yeah there it is no no no go up you're going down go back to the beginning Clos to the beginning I think it's after the Budget Truck the bcy purchase go up can y'all move up see if

[0:28:00] you can find that for us please it's right after the maintenance code so while they're looking for that I'll go ahead and take this time just to kind of update the discussions that we had so we've had citizens that have reached out out to us and we had a a large ordinance public meeting a couple summers ago and we addressed a lot of ordinances that had become outdated and y'all may remember and and we made a bunch of changes and one of them was the commercial vehicle ordinance and we thought we had hammered it down and it was working well but the the problem is that as truck manufacturers have made adjustments even in two years uh really the the key indicator to determine what's a commercial vehicle what's a personal vehicle was gross vehicle weight rating and so we based our last ordinance on that rating and even Insurance that's how insurance policies differentiate what's a commercial vehicle what's personal and but what we learned and our citizens pointed this out and they have a great point is that you can have personal vehicles pick you know really that are pickup trucks that that have a same uh GVWR as as commercial vehicles now so it really doesn't make sense that you that you decide on what's a commercial vehicle and what's a personal vehicle based on that so what we did is just and again like Nick said we're just this is what we've done with it just to start the talk with y'all to make sure we get this right because this is a very touchy issue this is an issue that you're not you can't make everybody happy the two things that we're juggling with this is if you allow commercial vehicles unlimited to park in residential neighborhoods uh you get everything you get things that are just simply undesirable from a property value standpoint um you'll have a lot of citizens that will Echo that they'll say I don't want to see that I don't want to see that

[0:30:02] when I walk out my front door and in the driveway so to preserve your property values in your residential neighborhood you've got to have an ordinance that addresses commercial vehicles but then on the flip side of that like I said the other hand that's juggling is you know we want to be conscientious of the fact that you know a lot of people make their living then they have to drive a a company vehicle home and so we don't want to create unnecessary hardships for those people also so we want to you know if it's not something that's really bringing down property values we want to be as lenient as we can to help our citizens that need to bring a a you know a commercial vehicle home um so y'all get the two things that we're juggling there and why we're doing it so where where we landed with that is taking out the gross vehicle weight rating and instead uh let me read it and I'll just kind of get into this again U I know Nick read it but let me I may stop and just kind of add emphasis where we changed it so so to start we decided in a residential uh Zone we want to start by restricting commercial vehicles because we know that brings property vales down when you allow most or a lot of HOA covenants they they restrict all commercial vehicles a lot of them won't even let you put a a sticker on a private passenger automobile that's how serious they uh they view you know the effect it has on property Bas so starting with this no commercial vehicles other than pickup trucks with uh standard Factory installed beds or private passenger vehicles used for commercial purposes let's let me stop right there so what that would do is it would it would stop the argument of somebody having a you know an F350 or a you know Dodge 3500 or something like that which is a huge vehicle but it's it's still built with a standard truck and it's not it's not really any more U detrimental to property values than a than a F-150 is it's a pickup truck so with a with a a factory installed standard bed or private passenger vehicles that are used for commercial purposes so like

[0:32:05] you see real estate agents you see um you know insurance people you see a lot of professional people will have a vehicle that has a it's a private P it's a car SUV van but it could have a sticker on it or something like that it's still not massive it's not bulky you know even though it's not perfect from a desirability standpoint for a property base it's really not obnoxious it's you know we so this is given lenience to that um and then obviously uh that would be the exception but you would still exclude school buses you know if you want to put a school bus in a driveway I don't think I have to explain that uh extra long trailers that are used you know for commercial purposes tractors heavy construction equipment and all that would still be restricted so really you're being a little more lenient in that you're allowing larger uh heavier uh pickup trucks uh as long as they have a standard bet if somebody now this still would restrict you know your double axle stuff you know big huge flatbed commercial trucks and all that it would still restrict that um there's not a way to make this perfect where it accomplishes both goals and so that's where the discussion starts so it's up to y'all to decide what you want to do but I would again I would challenge everybody to consider that those are I mean obviously we want to be lenient with the people that need to bring their vehicle home but if you start allowing anything in a in a residential Zone you are hurting property B you are but the majority of of that of what you were talking about is already restricted in our code of ordinances cor right uh a lot of it is to some degree this is act I mean this is more lenient because before they would be restricted like the you know the big the big vehicles the flatbed trailers and all that um were restricted based on the on their weight so like if they were designed to have a you know a large hauling capacity they were restricted on the other one as well what this does is just makes more

[0:34:08] sense as far as the you know what it's used for like it's not just you know restricting it because of the weight of it or its hauling capacity it's restricting it based on what it's designed to do like if if it comes out of the factory with a flatbed trailer and a double axle I mean there it was built for commercial reasons and uh so this would still restrict um some modifications to vehicles that are lighter that may have that flatbed truck or the um you know box you know the enclosed bed or something like that it would still it would restrict those because there so there are a few situations that this could restrict some that weren't restricted previously just based on the weight the weight capacity well my concern is some of the uh 250s and 2500s 350s and 3500s may have a bed a flat bed on the back of the truck where they may be a welder they have a welding system on the back uh I mean I I don't have a problem with not being on the street but I'd be okay with them parking it in the driveway yeah well and that's kind of that's why I made the comment earlier you're not going to I don't know how we right address that because if you allow understand why we're trying to limit but at the same time we have a lot of folks that can drive one of those type you know tyght Vehicles MH and okay now they're in the same situation as someone driving an 18-wheeler and they've got to go find a place to park it yeah just to go home yeah and you know we're talking about a truck yeah okay you may want you know you don't want it on the street but if they got it you know backed up in their you know sidey yard or their driveway and they poured concrete for it you know it's a different story yeah well that's a service truck I mean if it's a service truck that's a different issue to me well service people are on call 247 I agree with that but here's the thing when you when you say Factory install pickup beds not all them are Factory and stall you have to Define Factory stall because like we used to buy truck I agree with that that would just not come with a bed and then we

[0:36:10] would Mount work beds on them that not that not you talking about yeah not to be get into the semantics of it but or really getting but that's what it said when it says standard factory installed pickup bed that's where it's addressing that it is truly a pickup bed and most of are thinking pickup bed is the normal pickup bed right but you know I'm talking about you know either like a Plumb and service truck you know that may have the boxes along the side you know really nice you know bed on call people yeah but it's not a you know factory installed pickup bed yeah you're or it's a flat bed like you know we've got some I think we have some trucks and or utility department that are you know a 2500 or 250 or 350 50 or 3500 and they've got a flat bed with a welder and you know air compressor on the back but that's not a pickup bed no it's not I agree yeah but but they can't take it home and park in their driveway well now there is in this ordinance Above This there there is some other language that addresses emergency vehicles like there can we go north or no we don't have it on this it is is it on here yes sir okay in our current ordinance it all in addition to this it does give exceptions to emergency vehicles like vehicles that are on the city like the police tow uh thing because time is such an issue with that it's not this it won't it's in the ordinance yeah it's yeah and then it also addresses like what you're talking about like an emergency vehicle like entg or power company something like that or yeah city of South but what about I mean you know what about a plumber like you know like aan Drome saying that's kind of truck similar to that that's on call 247 uh who you know may not be able to easily get to his business you know off thear in Memphis you know to get back

[0:38:12] you know to somebody's house who's flooding or something like that yeah but my qu is you are you talking about a pickup bed that has like tool boxes built in or what do you are you talking about like a I mean there's all kinds of I know I it's so tough and I appreciate I appreciate what Whitney has done so far with this I mean there there's so much that I mean you can get really deep yeah uh you know I guess the best thing is you know look at some pictures of different beds and kind of go from there you know nobody wants a big you know box fan out there but at the same time if this guy's got a really you know a plumber I'm using a plumber I'm going to use our utility department you know truck as an example you know it's a flat bed but it's got stuff you know mounted to the back of it it's got tool boxes on it yeah tool boxes a welder air compressor you know and it's a D le and I understand not want that to be parked on the street but at the same time can we not allow that to be you know in the driveway and at the same time even if it's not a dly but it's a you know 250 2500 350 3500 uh Plumbing truck and some of the new ones you know it it's a pickup truck with a toolbox bed on the back even you know single tire on the back well this would prevent that because that's not a factory installed bed no it doesn't say that you couldn't can we go back please again it's not saying that you couldn't add things to it it's saying that it's a standard pickup bed so like I mean you'll have a lot of people even for personal use that will add you know toolboxes and and a lot of stuff like that to a standard find a picture yeah but that's kind of where I was going I know I'm going to have to and uh so I'll say it again this is challenging well I know and that's why I'm glad we're discussing it yeah because it does affect a lot of people it does but I will I will tell you this because I've

[0:40:15] taken the phone calls both sides yeah in every neighborhood but there are people that with me you know they're whatever you decide they're like why are you allowing on that that's affecting our property values and and actually I think we're been really you know forgiven 20 ft length of trailers actually well the problem is you have so many sub excuse me subdivisions in our city that don't have H I mean that right you know and like that's a good idea in a perfect world because like the HOAs are much more restriced like yeah I know a lot of HOAs like I said they won't let you put a magnet on it yeah but honestly the HOAs don't have any wearing the the enforcement power that we did you want to bet they do want bet no they don't they do have more they have a lot really don't only if they can afford a lawyer let me jump in for a second here uh they can lawyer my thoughts on this are I mean I can sit at my living room and look at my front door and see you know Vans the same size as the Amazon Vans you know but they're plumbers and that kind of stuff they look Vehicles brand new look sharp that kind of stuff I mean I'd like to see us to have this ordinance to allow work vans that are you know and you know we could even say they must be maintained you know we don't want a bunch of broken down stuff and you know something looks ratty but I mean I think most of the companies that have these people at their own call they're nice they nice equipment I think with as far as the pickup trucks are concerned I'd like to see just driving in my neighborhoods uh I mean I've seen a lot of the work beds like you're talking about the flat beds with the boxes on each side of them or stuff like that I mean I think when you know uh we all agree we don't want these commercial vehicles parking on the street because that's one of our biggest problems because they become a hazard but you know we don't want to limit our uh citizens from their ability to work you know and we have and we just like in colonial Hills I bet you I've got 25 or 30 plumbers that live there and they drive home every day their own call 24 hours a day so they have to respond uh

[0:42:19] so I mean uh I'd like to see us rework this to where where IT addresses that it says trucks with work beds and vans and work vans you know and we know when we're talking about work vans it could be the same size of like a an Amazon you Del that's a delivery cargo van that's not but I mean but but they use those I'm talking about the size of them it's what it's what I'm talking about you talking about Sprinter vans yeah you know you know what I'm talking about that size there you know I mean I think we all agree we don't want box trucks in there we don't want you know 18wheeler trucks in there you know uh we want something that fits on your driveway I don't even have a problem I think we ought to address and maybe say you know this vehicle must be parked 15 ft from the street we don't want them parking at the very end of the driveway you know where they're blocking traffic if people are trying to do stuff but I mean I think we're all are in the same place where we you know we pretty much have the same vision we just want to we just got to get it down to where we can make it workable to where it's not going to be a hassle for our code guys to have to deal with and the hassle for the citizens I think if we were to to to do it like I'm talking about I think it would address probably 95% of what we're talking about yeah and that and that's why we're we want to achieve that goal but the question then would be well first of all let me State this I I I agree I think a lot of people agree that on street and the driveway are two things but that's not the only thing we're trying to address here right if it's visible there there are many citizens in this city that are that's not appealing to them they don't like that and they're going to expect this board and and me to advocate for something that protects our property values um but when you get specifically into and I get with what you're saying if you got a somebody who has a um and that's kind of what when it says um this design for private passenger use like there's a lot of plumbers and uh commercial people that use vans that are not like a sprinter van they're not that they're a standard vehicle size that they're converted to that and I would agree that that's not detrimental to property base but how do you want to differentiate between that in the

[0:44:21] massive Sprinter van do you want to do that by size or height or length of this I'm glad we're talking about it because you know that's a challenge of this and the the Sprinter van I think is is the new go-to with I mean I like I mean our guy Advanced Safe and Lock comman he went to a sprinter van Mattis and security Pete had had a Sprinter van for purposes yeah he's you know he's had one for 15 years and parks in his driveway every night uh you know and I think another challenge would be if we do prohibit these things here where are they going to park at I mean you know we got a couple of commercial lots that people are parking 18 wheelers in and we see those things are getting broken into over there because so it's a a nightmare that way so I mean you know uh well and the answer to a lot of that is uh most companies have and I understand that some people on call I I get that but most companies are going to have a place where they they have their vehicles pared so like you can it may not be as convenient as you want um and then again just being fair that you know whatever your profession is you have to consider that before you you know buy that house or go on that profession you know it's not um again it just I'm just trying to tell you about both you're going to have citizens are going to be like man y'all I can't believe you're allowing that and then you're going to have some and I'm sympath I'm sympathetic to that too I mean I don't ever want to create a difficulty where there's not a solution for somebody but I do think a lot of people have solutions they just don't want to do may not be as convenient for them as as parking it in a in a residential neighborhood but um but I was just trying to move the ball down the field a little bit like so you're saying advance of this but do we want to put a size restrict how do we how do we U measure that say length and height yeah length and height will probably take care of that and the other thing is um I got to be fair to my code enforcement office we got to have an ordinance that's simple I mean you know they can't get out there with a measuring stick you know they got to be able to you know they kind of do now with trailers from the curve yeah but that's I mean the trailer is a little

[0:46:24] different instead of you're talking about height and length and I mean you know it's it's got to be a practical ordinance for us to be able to manage it fairly you know but so possibly add Vans but possibly with a length and height and so talk to me y flatbed big big bed trucks with dual axles I we okay with that or no not dual axle but you have no problem with a flatbed truck a du I think we need to call them a work bed because there's a difference between a flatbed work let's talk about a single axle duly that has a flat bed on it that has maybe a welder air compressor something like that mounted to it yeah so again how do we differentiate that and uh put parameters on that anything over two axes but that still does change the bed so no problem with a with a a flat bed just a general flatbed truck in the if it's a single axle I think we I think to me to me a flat bed a certain length a flat bed you can put stuff on top of Lo stuff like the recers and stuff yeah you know you put a work a work bed is going to it would cover the the racks on each side of it with you know the cabinets they have to work with and that kind of stuff uh so I mean I think I mean I think our our code guys would know what a work bed is if you said you know it could have a work beted on the back of it but it just can't be it's too bag it's G to have to be desri it's too bag we want to make it easier for him we don't want to make well I mean it may take a little bit of work that may not be solved tonight no no I'm just like I said I'm just trying to move the ball down the field we don't have to Sol it tonight but but we got to hear from y'all like what your thoughts are you know I don't like them on the street because they take up so much room especially the you know the dues whether it's a you know standard bed or flatbed or a service you know truck it takes up room and some of our streets are kind of narrow so so we agree we agree no dual axles y'all yeah no dual ax but y' what I'm hearing don't have no y'all think a

[0:48:26] flat bed work truck is okay yeah well mayor would it be inappropriate for us to ask Robert what he what he would since he's here he he does code I mean ask us what he think what does he understand what we're talking about or how would he describe yeah but we're going we're going to do that what we're going to do is have another meeting like we had this one just to with with Nick and with Whitney and so we definitely take our Robert's input I'll commit to get some pictures together of different beds you know what I'm talking about so everybody's got visual yeah good ide but no on uh no on enclosed beds your typical your bread snack machine trucks your Wonderbread trucks yeah no those are what they step BS don't enclosed beds no enclosed beded snap you know Golden Flake Fredo snap height regulation too look snap live that's their that's their business yeah they live out of that band yeah they they us to call step step so you're okay with that look I I don't think it's a good idea for the city to put restrictions that that that that adversely affect people's ability to make a Liv make it living and pay and and to prosper and to pay taxes and do all the stuff that but there has to be some parameters what if I'm a self-employed tractor trailer operator you okay with me parking that in your driveway next door no I'm not that you so you see where we're going we're trying to find a happy medium in there cuz you're agreeing with both I don't know where it is yeah that's like I said this it's a challeng honestly with with with the bread trucks chip trucks I'd be okay with that if they put it in their yard no not on the street I'm not good with it again it's too it becomes too ambiguous at that point not and Snap-on Tools I'm going to say this most Snap On tool guys nowadays do not park their trucks at home because they have inventory in their trucks and they don't fit it in the garage so they go they go find someplace where they can

[0:50:29] put it secure where do where do they securely put that I'm telling you because other any uh no seriously to help us we're not going to Sol this tonight but but again let's make the conversations not useful for helping us make amendments to this and bring it back what questions here in this Whitney do you what are you hearing I mean the main thing from my gu standpoint is to simplify make it easily black and white a lot ofation or somebody tries to the fact is we have to have them allow us to Open Door Check side and a lot of a situation situation we don't want sole cut we can make it officers better off be sides sides of it it's half and um You' got the ones that are mad about the neighbor always coming home with their stuff and you got the ones that are saying this is myeline I got to do make somewhere else money for me so it's just that in thing but of the guys the wor problem right now is just interpr everybody wants to fight about mine's not over T mine's not this I don't use this for this this is just my personal truck and so we get into this argument constantly we just need it simplified one way or the other whatever de we just need it EAS yeah so I'm I'm hearing in U I'm hearing some leniency on you know the type of bed and things like that and your um you know your U your your your Tradesmen you know that we want to give some leniency but but we don't feel like we can do dual axles and big enclosed um you know box trucks that kind of thing am I hearing y'all right and then what else what are we forgetting about what else um would necessarily apply to can y'all think of anything else that would be a A oneof or you know something like that

[0:52:32] that's the thing I was talking about because that's how it used to be I mean again I hate to keep using Insurance reference but that's the world I grew up in um you know insurance policies they they make it black and white as much as I mean with this they do a lot of things are not but with this they say hey if it's this gross vehicle weight it is a commercial vehicle and you have to pay more money for the insurance if it's this it's a personal vehicle and so they try to so this is an issue that affects you know cities but also affects contracts and insurance and even uh I was talking to Robert Booth he's a you know an expert on on commercial vehicles and robertt was telling me that like even the state charges more if you have a certain uh tell me that again I don't I can't say it like you said it Robert if it's a certain parameter you have to pay for commercial tags and yeah but again I'm like ottering pain I'm with you and I this is one I'm sorry go yeah but so what we were trying to do is like again do some deductive reasoning here and try to what is the goal that we're trying to achieve it's not the weight of the vehicle even though like I said in the past and like Robert's talking about the weight of the vehicle and load capacity determine is it commercial or personal but we're trying to look at it from a property value standpoint is it is it a negative you know is what is a negative we all agree that a a massive bread truck that blocks the view that's I mean we know people have to make their living with bread and and uh fro chips yeah I mean but still it's the proper place for that is not in

[0:54:36] a residential driveway it's just it's just not mayor I'll sent you a couple of pictures of examples I was talking about on your phone okay Tex them to you you know uh I think we you I know one of the concerns we probably hear a lot is you know a lot of these trucks you know they're cranking up in the middle of the night that kind of stuff and making you know so noise is is a concern uh we need to you know probably need to think about that you what we what do we have here and what is it doing I think that was one of the big concerns with the Wreckers all the time you know leaving in all all different times of the night they' CR crank those diesels up and you know wake up half the neighborhood that kind of stuff but you know if you again I'm just pointing out how challenging this is if if you got a F250 with a diesel engine it's the same thing and lot of people have those just for personal use you Crank That Thing Up got an entire Street that's hearing it as soon as they crank iank you I know you ain't heard about F150 with straight hey maybe not yours3 in the morning when they pick up the trash bins that that's a bigger issue to me I mean we might get also put in there you know that if you you know just not routine like a emergency on call like you said before earlier you know we addressed it up there you know in some other spots you know these you don't want just necessarily have to have everybody and the brother but if these things are used to to be where're actually on call to make emergency response calls well that's a good idea but the problem with that is it's there's no way to police that like anybody there's no it's impossible what is in our current ordinance is if it's a South police recer which is easily verifiable for us or if it's like a in something that's a serious matter where the people are losing their power you got to have some leniency there but anyway I think we probably need to move on tonight but I think I've gotten some good feedback from y'all so what we'll do is we'll um uh we we go back to the drawing board and try to tweak that a little bit and uh and then we'll try to get something uh back in in front of everybody that meets you know kind of our goals that we talked about tonight I also just want to be very careful though because I mean there's a difference in somebody that's

[0:56:39] got a take- home vehicle that's a perk as part of their job you know and and that's a big deal for a lot of people that are working I mean to have a take-home vehicle and you're not spending all that in gas that's fantastic but also I want to be careful not to affect the people that whose vehicle is their office is their is their entire job whether it be an independent plumber an independent HVAC person or a snap-on dealer somebody or locksmith somebody who doesn't have you know a business necessarily that they go to I mean they everything they have is within their truck and it's kind of hard to go drop it off somewhere when everything they have is in their truck their entire business is in their truck and you kind of want that at your house so that you got a better better way of you know a better eye to keep on it that's my concern yeah I get you in just coincidentally my dad's career was Snap-on Tools he my dad was a finance he was the credit manager for Snap-on tools that was his career job so the tools that were in those trucks my dad was the one that helped him get the tools so I'm very familiar with that business model and I can tell you that Snap-on dealers had to look for a certain area to buy their house if they knew they were going to have that truck in most cities yeah is it will this be Zone will zoning affect this say if they were in an agricultural Zone in South Haven well this is residential Zone Whitney all we're talking about it's residential Zone only residential but I will tell you and not to pick on snapon because again it's what fed me for many years but well I'm familiar with it that's why yeah when it was brought up I go whoa that's that's a big deal I'll tell you this if you're going to allow Snap On tool trucks we don't have anything else to talk about we we can just they're big we can scrap this and just allow well just school buses maybe and 18wheeler tractor trailer rigs and then we're slick we'll have it ready next meeting but well yeah I'm just saying it's yeah it's that gets a little that that's and again not picking on I know I

[0:58:44] I've just got heartburn over when your when your business is your vehicle I do too yall have a problem with uh limiting the distance is it has to be so far from the street parked on the driveway like that's just a public safety visibility issue but this and again not to keep hammering this home but this is an a it's a property value issue like so even if it's not on the street if it's in the driveway I can tell you that you have a large number of citizens um and I know we're joking but if if we allow that tonight I promise you tomorrow you you'll hear from them you know so it's that's why I use the analogy it's I mean you're juggling it I mean it's got to try to find some balance in there somewhere that's fair but anyway we can um I think y'all um given some good feedback tonight and is there anything Whitney can you is there any other questions no I mean I think we're good I yeah Robert some input lay we don't allow correct well what he's saying say's saying just taking the dual axle doesn't stop that well the link will get that though the link yeah the L take there y we got to put a link on there yeah I mean we I mean we can get I mean we can we can get wordy we can I mean the attorneys like to over no fence neck but they they like to get crazy with the word so we can definitely let them go but but again like Whitney's saying it gets after a while it gets challenging like to to apply you know if you're having to do these number of things but but anyway we'll that's some good input

[1:00:48] we let us work on this some more and we'll keep we'll keep working on it before we move on anybody got anything else specific okay all right next on our agenda is the resolution for sanitation fees what he said I make that motion okay we have motion mman Hoots is there a second second modman pain is there any discussion is there any anyone in the audience that this applies to that would like to speak hearing none roll call yes yes yes yes yes yes that motion carries next on our agenda is a resolution to clean private property Mr Mayor I move we adopt the resolution granting authority to clean private property as presented on the state second we have a motion byman Payne second byman Jerome is there any discussion hearing none is there anyone in the audience that has a financial interest in any of these properties who would like to speak hearing or seeing none roll call yes yes yes yes yes yes that motion carries next on our agenda is our planning agenda Whitney cook yes sir we just have one item on the agenda tonight it is the design review package for the new Sur Pro headquarters that's going to be uh on the north side of statein road east of Getwell Road uh you'll recall a few months back we did a PUD here called Monahan farms uh and it is proposed to have office and small storage space and residential office what you see here is on lot one this will be the first thing you see coming into uh the city area uh from from the north from the Memphis Area um they've used the nichia panel

[1:02:52] boards they've used ceramic tiles they've used brick um it's got the right arm fencing it's got the decorative lighting it's got the Landscaping this is our third go at it uh first couple ones were a little less than exciting so uh they did do all the corrections for us uh they appeased us on what we wanted to see and uh this was the final outcome of that Planning Commission did not for unanimously may I make a motion we approve item number one on the bu agenda second we have a motion byman wheeler second byman Flores is there any discussion that's a goodl looking building is a very good looking building yes par their Shar any other discussion hearing none roll call yes yes yes yes yes yes that motion carries thank you next on our agenda is our mayor's report got several things tonight I'm going to try to move uh fairly quickly uh first of all just announcing our Veterans Day luncheon uh is this Friday um the Veterans Day luncheon uh just if someone is going just need to reserve a place with Christy fauler um but it's going to be at the community safe room on hoe 51 again like it has been in previous years our guest speaker this year is uh doota County Sheriff elect Thomas Tuggle uh who is a a combat veteran a former Marine that uh that served in combat so he's going to uh if you haven't heard um uh Thomas speak he's a an impressive speaker I'll in fact I I vote him the the most impressive speaker inota County he this guy can get your uh get your your blood going get you fired up and he's going to be a great sheriff for us uh but he's got a great story to tell and uh he's going to be a good speaker for us on Friday um the um y'all know that in the past uh we've joined the county the other cities

[1:04:56] in the doota county in the the imagery cost sharing that's you know for our Maps you know they they fly that um do it in the U usually in the winter months when the leaves are off the trees so they can you know capture the new streets and and all that Whitney use it daily Don't You Whitney and um and then they're they're proposing now to renew it again um we had decided or or thought in South Haven Whitney that doing it every two years years was okay not it's not enough that no one else thinks it's enough either so what they're proposing is that we join uh everybody um and they're going to fly it like twice a year they're going to fly it in the uh in the winter months and also fly it again um in the summer months for like real estate agents when they're trying to you know s show a piece of property when it's at its most beautiful state and so anyway they've asked uh for us to approve um IA Branch um uh had a deal they had their own deal because they were wanting to do it more frequently than everybody else so they're they're not it's not time for them to renew yet so they would be out of it but eventually they've indicated that they probably will join us which will bring the cost down again uh but for now basing it on population if we join this where we flight get it twice a year um it would be $1,943 so if y'all are good with that and want to vote on that I can let the county know that we'll participate in that with that's that's annual and that that is doing a um uh that is locking in a threee let me give you these numbers again the 12943 is locking in a three-year deal where it doesn't go up for three years um if we just do one year it's 10,977 I'll make the motion for three years okay second we have motion bman florz second a and Gallagher any other any discussion who all has access to these it it's used by so many different things

[1:06:58] public yeah the the gis yeah oh yeah it's I mean it's much needed I just didn't know and and thank you for that Whitney but at one time we thought just trying to be efficient we could do it every two years but uh the rest of the Cities feel like it's needed every year and you you obviously do too basally does exist right now that's hard when you're trying in okay any other discussion and otman Flores again made the motion and it was seconded that we uh participate and lock in that three-year price hearing no other discussion roll call please yes yes yes yes yes yes okay and that that motion carries U next just want to give you a brief update youall know that we finished our first concert season at our uh renovated Amphitheater um and in the past years well first of all let me say this we know that the amphitheater the purpose of that we know people love concerts you know it it accents our um our Parks program gives us something special there that nobody else um in this general area has access to unless you get into downtown Memphis at the mud is Mud Island which um I don't even know how that's doing these days but we've become the premier uh the bank plus Amphitheater in South Haven has become the premier outdoor entertainment venue in you know in North Mississippi in the Memphis Metro so um y'all know we made the major investment we had our first year the most concerts we'd ever had previously was eight uh this year we had 12 concerts um basically the amount of money that the city made in the past generally since its um creation was about 150,000 the most we ever made was 237,000 in um I think it was

[1:09:03] 2018 uh when we had Santana at Springfest but the for the most part we really never made more than $200,000 a year so this investment the report to tonight is uh and that's why we did this you know we hired a contracted with um the the CVB uh the same uh producer that's producing the concerts at the Lander Center produced our concerts here think you did a a really good job the whole team did a great job so what this looks like is in the first year and we expect to do better but uh we made 632,000 this year and so it's what we projected would happen we believe that it could be done in a better way where the the taxpayers would benefit from the revenues and and like I started to say earlier that's not our only purpose I mean we benefit economically so much by having those concerts it brings quality quality of life to so many of our citizens it's fun it causes growth around there when the customers come in a lot of people travel you know to these concerts so they you know get a hotel room they go to the restaurants they they buy gas the whole just the economic impact is tremendous but the real dollars what I want and I know y'all wanted this too I wanted to see the real dollars of this be better in the South Haven taxpayers favor and the report tonight is we've done that so we've taken it from about 175,000 a year to 600 32,000 the first year uh we believe believe that we will continue to build on that um as I reported to you in the past we did have some upfront uh cost with um ancillary equipment and things like that um that have put us you know we didn't make money in year one but uh those things will be offset by revenues as we continue going forward so we'll we'll definitely the report is this will be in the green this will be a money maker for our city um but anyway I'll get the exact details any questions about that um some things we don't want to you know we don't want to get in too detailed discussions on the actual uh production because there are some you know there's some uh confidential stuff with the artists there um but any uh specific

[1:11:06] questions about how we did and that um y'all reach out to me you know and I'll get you that information as well so it's a good update tonight we have um all three of these things kind of affect W two in the revitalization and Redevelopment of the West End district and I'm not I could talk about this for an hour but I'm I'm GNA make it quick y'all know that the city like every other City when the older business districts in a city um as things evolve economically demands and economic demands change in cities and in our original bu business district that was created in the early 60s at at Main Street and hoe 51 uh we we've that's affected that I mean it started in the early 1990s you know things started as we started developing to the South and to the uh to the east you know a lot of business uh it changed the economic values real estate values of this area so a lot started going the other way so we I know as long as I've been mayor that's been one of my priorities to try to revitalize the original business district um but contrary to what some of our citizens think that is the most challenging thing for any City you show me any city in America and I'll show you that they have certain parts of their City that are not as in as high demand as others that's just it just it's natural it's not some miraculous formula that a a new mayor in 2013 could fix um I I love original South Haven I grew up in original South Haven I would love it to be like it was in 1985 but that's never going to happen again um but it can still be better than it is now we we did incentiv in 2014 um for those again that don't think that we've done anything we've done a lot we did things in 14 and 15 to add every incentive Financial incentive that state law allows is in place uh to incentivize business to come back to this area and contrary to again to what

[1:13:09] some think we have seen some success I mean I'll tell you right now um from 2000 from 99 to 2011 I had a business office on Airways and I came to State Line Road to eat at Tops Barbecue and some of the restaurants here to avoid the Goodman traffic it for years it looked like a ghost town it really did you go on any day of the week and ride down Main Street in state line now the economy is better I'm telling you the consumer traffic flows are better and I'm not just saying this to be an eternal Optimus but I believe that we still have great potential of revitalizing the West End business district and so we have seen improvements um but to but to add to that um again just listening to you know citizens and and and and things some ideas are good some are not good um but one thing that that we had hoped would happened in the past is that the Chamber of Commerce would have been more involved and I'm not I'm not here to criticize anybody don't misunderstand me but we've asked the Chamber of Commerce to to refocus on the west end and and like I was telling uh Debbie King you know when you're the the Chamber of Commerce you're everything business in your city you're the doctor of business and so if you're the doctor and there's a part of your body that's not doing as well as another what would every doctor do they would focus on that wouldn't they and so what we're asking is the chamber to really add emphasis to helping us you know really call attention really promote the incentives uh understand even though it's on the website and we try to put it everywhere there's some people that still don't know that we have the incentives so that we've asked the Chamber of Commerce to help her help us they're going to going to do that and we're just trying to again kick up the dust again just try to bring attention back to this we're not going to work any Miracles no one's going to come out and say you know what I think I'm gonna go invest $50 million on Main Street because mayor mus white talked about it in a meeting that that's not going to happen I can't make it happen but we can stir the interest back

[1:15:12] up and and and start talking about it again and and bring awareness to it again and so I tell y all that to say we're kicking off another campaign to do some things different to try to revitalize and redevelop the West End and so um we have a committee the Chamber of Commerce has helped us uh set up a committee that's going to focus on that and a lot of that is Step One is again just bringing awareness if it means going door Tod door and knocking on a current business owner's door and say hey did you know did you know you can you know replace this sign and get an incentive or get a a leniency or you can you know do an investment in your building and get a tax abatement no no fees no tap water and sewer tap fees no no building permit fees you you get exemption from all this if you'll reinvest in our West End so we're going to get this committee to kind of rally the troops and hopefully we'll get some of our current business owners in the West End to actually serve on the committee and to get involved and just to there to be ownership of this again and uh we start a Facebook page so if you haven't liked that um I wrote the the entry um go read the entry that's a synopsis of where how we started you know where things were in the 19 1970s where they were in the 80s where they were in the 90s and the decades that have followed so go read that and share that for us and help us you know get that going and I encourage all the citizens to do that as well because we all have the same goal we want the whole city to do well like you know I get accused of that I love one part of the city more than another occasionally and it's so ridiculous it's just absolutely asinine because for one if you're going to accuse me that I probably love this area better than the other to be honest with everybody because it's my home have a lot of sentimental feelings about it but the bottom line is Mayor I have to pay attention and y'all do as well even though you represent specific WS it affects every W our entire city depends on our entire city so like when we have success in one part of our city everybody in our city benefits from that same thing is if we're having challenges

[1:17:13] in one part of our city it it may not be we may not be feeling it right now but eventually it's going to affect everybody in the city so it's important for all of us to have an interest in the Redevelopment of the West End District so I just say all this tonight just again to to kick the dust back up and to encourage everybody to be positive you know not to say well you know this used to look like this in 1985 I know what it used to look like in 1985 and I'd love for it to look like that again I'd love for it to be better than that I would nothing would have made me happier if Snowden Grove Park was built on on Stateline Road I would have loved that I I Wish U Cherry Valley Park looked like snow s and Grove Park I love it but things are developed it didn't develop that way there's so many other contingencies that went into that the land was donated at Snowden if the land had been available over here we may have had Snowden Grove Park over here but these are things that there's so many other factors that have determine this but we can't be negative about it we need to all embrace it for the health of our entire city so I hope that the board and everybody uh that may be watching tonight I hope that you'll uh hear this and and get on board in a positive way and help us stir this thing back up and try to you know make some progress in the Redevelopment of our West End any any questions about that before I move on by the way I got two other things I think that's great I'd like to be part of that uh board we appreciate that um and again speaking of the West End so not again not to Crown on people's shoulder but the things that you see me advocate for are things that you know we know our citizens have different opinions and and so I listen to all of our citizens and and I get some good ideas but but I don't advocate for everything because everything I hear is not a good idea okay so but there's one thing that really hits home with me and and I got to share that with y'all tonight so like when people hear me talk just like I did about you know the way uh Highway 51 and Dorchester Drive looked at some point in our history or

[1:19:15] or 51 in Main Street and I tell them that that y'all are on board with me and we care about Redevelopment and we care about beautification and all these things and we got our Code Enforcement Officers working hard and all and then they said well why do you have why do you allow this building like this and this condition is set here for 8 to 10 years nothing's changed 8 to 10 8 to 10 years nothing's whole time you've been mayor nothing's changed it's looked the same way yesterday as it looked when you took office on June 28th 2013 and you know what my answer to that is I don't I have a pro you you got me I don't have a good I don't I don't have a good answer for that I'm I'm ashamed to say I don't have a good answer for that well and so my team when I say my team all our department heads um in our court is still my team even though I don't I don't you know make decisions in the court but I go to them and I say why has nothing changed the same thing my citizen just told me I'm I'm sending the question back to you why has nothing changed with this why have we not modified the behavior of these people that are violating our codes in the same um uh just horrible condition uh properties the same as it has been and we get into that gets complicated get into all kinds of things but I I say all that to lead you to the Old Highway Baptist Church property and y'all know that we had a gentleman in here a few meetings back that came in and and uh made some comments about why it's in that condition U we have been trying for years to change the condition of that property and and nothing has changed I mean I understand that they paid their fees or whatever but nothing has changed and we've not asked anyone to do anything that's unreasonable but we're at a situation now where I have to answer to our citizens why does it look like that why have y'all not done anything about that and so again not to get into the Weeds about why they haven't done it but the bottom line is it's time for us to do something about it what's what we're doing now is not

[1:21:17] working so it's time for us to demol to condemn that property and demolish that and um and I and so we're having our team uh Fire Marshal everybody's going in looking at the condition of it it's in hor the buildings the old gym uh the buildings that I guess used to be Sunday school buildings are in hor or the school school room used to be a school too are in horrific condition so uh I'm going to be bringing that back to y'all with a request to condemn that property and um because it's a high-profile location our citizens want to know why we've done nothing about it it's time that we do something about that so I want y'all to be thinking about that because that's going to be back in front of you in the very near future and we'll have a lot of data to provide to you as well any questions about that before I move on is there anything operating in that facin at all no there hasn't been anything operating there in in years I know people that went to school there I mean Highway badis Academy was a great place the church was a great place back in the 1970s and I know lots of people that went to church there and went to school there but um but no it's not being not I I don't know what they're telling Whitney I don't know what they're saying but I can tell you there's not I mean look at the building I don't even know if it's safe to go in any of the buildings anymore trying to say they occupi for church we haven't found any evidence of that it's just a couple that basically isain not and if any of the owners or their attorneys are watching tonight my door is wide open I've been pleading to talk to these people for so if they want to come talk to me if we got a better solution I want to hear it but just doing nothing and nothing changing is not acceptable we got to do something different so all right so the um the next thing that uh is related and this is the last thing that's related to our West End is Cherry Valley Park you know I mentioned Cherry Valley Park um I'll go ahead and tell you I've used this term to West um Cherry Valley Park is Hallowed Ground in south hav

[1:23:19] Mississippi and if and if you don't understand that ask somebody um if you're too young to understand that ask somebody Cherry Valley Park is Hallowed Ground in South Haven Mississippi there have been so many lives changed by Cherry Valley Park so many great memories I mean they're just they're just countless and countless people uh that either played baseball there football there cheerleading there had a brother that played there a sister that played there uh uh son or daughter that played coached whatever we could go on and on and on um the demise of Youth Football again we could talk about this for hours but fall baseball and soccer the involvement in so and there's nothing bad about that but they have killed youth football in our city so it's not too many years ago that every age classification we had six to seven South Haven teams we have we're lucky to have one team per age group like two year like seven and eights nine T 11s 12s we're lucky if we can put together one team now we have tried everything under the sun to kick back interest up uh as y'all may know we have a a former NFL defensive end um Dewan Robinson that works for us in our parks office he played five years for the Houston Texans we sent him in his Houston Texans jersey to the elementary schools to to try to drum up interest to get the kids handing out flyers try to get kids involved so we've done about everything in the world we know of to kick to kick back up our football program but where that leads to this discussion is Cherry Valley Parks rarely being used anymore it's just it's just it's sad knowing what it used to be and um and so I'm just I just can't accept the way it is right now we just got to keep brainstorming to make it something better we've had people that have brought some ideas together on things that could be there again some of those ideas are not good ideas uh some are good so what I want to see is to do is continue fighting to try to bring back football uh and by the way I'm

[1:25:21] going to get off on a little tangent here if you're a fall if you're a youth baseball coach and you tell a 10-year-old kid that you don't have a spot for him in the spring unless he plays for you in the fall and he doesn't play football because of that you need to quit coaching you Sports because you're part of you're a big part of the problem so if you're watching tonight um that's that's some advice straight from a former youth coach and player um quit doing that um but anyway that's kind of what we face with so we're going to keep trying to stir the interest back up with football but I think Cherry Valley can be better than it is it's Hallowed Ground yeah we're going to stick a historical marker sign there because it's never going to be what it was in the 70s and ' 80s and even '90s it's not going to be that anymore but it can be something better than it is right now and so we're going to keep uh working to try to find that so one of the specific ideas that we're researching y'all know that we've had people uh talk about the skate park um and we I still stand by the decision to close the skate park where it was was the right decision however we're looking into Poss L there's new parks out there that are that can incorporate both like a bike park and a skate park together and so we've got uh some people researching that for us now so um something that wouldn't be overly expensive uh we do face a serious vandalism risk at Cherry Valley Park now it's just it's just bottom line facts um but I'm going to be bringing something back in front of you again to start the Redevelopment of Cherry Valley Park and and again don't have a comprehensive plan laid out for you um one of the thoughts that we've discussed at some point is bringing adult softball to Cherry Valley I still think that's a good idea um but I'm thinking we could um you know take the advice of some of the citizens and maybe start small maybe bring back a bike skate park and see how that works you know maybe um use some of the new technology with cameras you know to help uh minimize the vandalism stuff like that um possibly put a gate you know to monitor the the uh the track traffic after dark there we have a lot of bad

[1:27:25] things that go on after dark there now unfortunately um but anyway I just want to warm y'all up to that and let you know I'm going to be bringing something in front of you to start the revitalization of Cherry Valley Park in some form or fashion mayor I would like to uh add something I mean it would be nice if we could start locking that Park up after dark yeah I mean I think it's you know closing the gates and maybe have you know guy that does the arena maybe when he get when he gets off we we yeah West West AG with you and and we've talked about that and uh and you know we've thrown a lot of things around you know had some meetings with Chief Moore and West together and um again we got to be careful that we don't duplicate mistakes you know you don't want to keep you know repeating the same mistake but we believe that there could be you know some things we can't do that would be bring more negative than good but there's you know the old saying don't let what you can do stop you from doing what you can you know I think that we need to focus on that there's some things that I believe we can do and um you know that's one thing that will allow us to you know to have positive change there is to use a gate and um and then I think there's some you know modern cameras that we can use that have more functions that uh previous technology didn't have that could help us we're not going to put a police officer there 247 and guard the park I mean I've had people that that expect us to do that the answer is no we're not going to do that that doesn't make good sense but there are the some of these other things that we can do that I think that help us manage the negatives and make it a positive thing again but I appreciate you saying that about the gate that is definitely something that we'll do sooner than later yeah um another just and we'll move topics but the other thing is you know um we're not going to put a police officer there 247 but we could focus on having you know a Parks employee that specializes more in Cherry Valley Park find the right person you know that could you know possibly be involved in you know you know having Better Eyes On The Park you know during the daytime hours and then at night lock it and then use the cameras at night but um and i' I've had a lot of positive to the adult

[1:29:30] softball but a few Fields out there for that they they think that would be a it was originally it was originally baseball field it was yeah and I think that would bring a lot more people back over to the west side too well one thing and I agree with you and and that's the Hope um I will say that one thing I mentioned fall baseball and soccer that that killed our football program they there but the other thing is um as our County grew you know and the other cities like Al Branch developed their football program Hernando you know their football programs weren't like Cherry Valley Football in its Heyday was the thing nobody in D soda County competed with Cherry Valley Football and um but the other cities have added leagues you know our population again has grown and spread out more so we have some people that don't they don't want it's out of their way they don't want to go back to Cherry Valley so but I do think if we could do adult soft that may you know may be something that would work there but thanks for those comments I know it's long tonight but that's some stuff that I'm very passionate about and um and I know a lot of our citizens are I I know that they are so I hope that y'all will forgive me for being a little longwinded this evening about that but the good news is the mayor's report is over all right so next on our agenda is our Personnel docket Mr Mayor I move we approve the personel do has presented on this Daye second we have a motion bman pay second bman Hoots is there any discussion question hearing none roll call yes yes yes yes yes yes that motion carries next on our agenda is our city attorney's legal update nothing tonight next on our agenda is our utilities billing leak adjustment docket Mr Mayor I move we approve the utility bill leak adjustment docket as pres second we have a motion modman pay second modman Hoots is there any discussion hearing none roll call yes yes jome yes yes yes yes that motion carries next on our agenda we have two claims

[1:31:36] dockets Mr Mayor move we approve the claim stock at number one in the amount of 4,488 54893 including demand checks second we have a motion modman pay on docket one second modman Flores is there any discussion hearing none roll call yes yes yes yes yes yes that motion carries is there a motion to approve docket two Mr Mayor move we approve docket number two in the amount of $1,288 68 second we have a motion bman Payne on docket two second bman Flores is there any discussion hearing none roll call yes jome yes yes yes yes that motion carries next on our agenda is the purpose of determining the need for executive session some move second we have a motion byman Gallagher second byman wheeler all in favor say I I on post say no eyes have it motion carries a need this evening is the potential lease of city property um potential claims and litigation against the city Economic Development within the city Personnel in police and fire departments and interde departmental personnel with no action is there a motion to declare executive session second we have a motion modman hoot second modman Jerome all in favor say I I any opposed say no eyes have it motion carries the mayor and board will now executive session

Captured 2026-07-26 · source: youtube.com/watch?v=XcNfuk4yxrc