12/18/2018

[0:00:02] good evening hit can they work oh welcome everyone i'm not calling this meeting to order please stand with us

[0:02:05] i will be led in prayer arm of lords would you lead us and then after the prayer we have a special guest with us tonight the weevilos scouts pax 73 from saint timothy's church is with us are you with us uh would you please come forward and uh lead us in the pledge of allegiance this thing yeah so we'll have the prayer first and after our prayer if y'all would uh be so kind to lead us in the pledge we appreciate that let's bow dear heavenly father we thank you for this data lord we thank you for the many blessings you bestowed upon us father we thank you for the blessings that you have bestowed on our city we thank you for the success that we've had over the past years father we ask that you continue to bless the city father we want to remember you at this time of the year father like we always do we want to continue to seek your will and discernment especially for me for these meetings and how we lead the sin father we ask that you bless all the constituents here and we ask that you put a hedge protection over them and their families precious nonsense pray in christ one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice okay obviously tonight uh this is going

[0:04:08] to be a different kind of meeting i'm going to pull my mayor's scrapbook out of all the meetings that i've done for the city i've never been honored to have the president of mr miss claus so we appreciate y'all being with us now this is a new one i will tell you that santa's been great to me over the years with the exception of one thing in 1975 i wanted to stretch armstrong golf and i never got that and so for all these years i've just been kind of lacking so santa if you can help me out i appreciate that but seriously um everybody's got a lot of important stuff to do i know we have some people in the audience that have important things to do we have a lot of important city business to take care of tonight so we're going to move the citizens agenda up front and uh right now if miss debbie mcgee would come forward i appreciate that good evening i'd like to take this opportunity to introduce myself to those of you who don't know me i am sandy hoots and i'm also thanks life with alderman charlie pates and the co-founder of christmas on springfield cove other than the magic the idea of bringing the magic of christmas to thousands of children each year beginning in 1983 and building the first santa house alderman takes has not been part of this event for the past 28 years i don't have to tell you how broken i am at what is happening to bring us here tonight my sister diddy mcgee and her family and i have been committed to it faithfully for every friday and saturday night for the past 35 years bringing the joy of christmas and the magic of it to thousands of children and their parents this certificate of appreciation given to my family and i

[0:06:09] in 1993 by the late former mayor joe cates should certainly give you an idea of how much it meant to our board of aldermen and mayor during a time when things were not so political and thousand office were no so fast to blame or accuse others of the absurdity of misinformation several years ago i contacted the mayor's office to be added to the board meeting the docket to go with the board to ask permission to put directional signs leading children to each santa to santa in which it's been them for so many years i was told sandy don't worry about it you've been doing santa for so long that your grandfather did and unless you hear from the city don't worry about it unfortunately i can't give you the name of that person but i am sure there are a few farmers here tonight that would back me up now it's 2018 the last year of christmas on springfield cove and we had to learn that the rules of the 35 years had changed we are no longer allowed to put up the directional signs for christmas on springfield cove in the same spot they have been in for all these years the reason for putting the signs where they have been is they cannot be seen placed where they are now on the office right away shane shame on this office and the elected officials that have been sitting on this floor for the past six years and not one person has notified me by snail mail text mail email phone call or violation on my front door to tell me that i needed to ask permission again to put up the signs after failed attempts to reach the mayor me transferred to office austin the code enforcement supervisor i contacted several current board members two of them were shocked that signs had been removed and gave us their support over the phone another court current board member and

[0:08:11] guys may not break out to the next media because it would cause hurt feelings and make us look bad what do you think all this chaos and heartbreak has done to my family and uh could have been so thankful and i'll bring the real southern santa to the children of this city at the southern county finally i'd like to thank the citizens of southampton in desoto county the many friends families and neighbors of colonial hill subdivision in springfield come to all of our santas of the years delay bill house tommy cox simon dean mike myrick phillips robert ayer robert compton and the many sanders that he built it over the years thank you we love you and we couldn't have done it without you but mostly to my immediate family who has been my by my side every step of the sharing your love and compassion to yourself i love you all very much and i couldn't have done it without you and we couldn't have done it without each other thank you hmm as most of you already know i'm betting again i know pretty much all of you brandon we've gone to church together william i'll play funko with your mom so darren we went to school together i've been a part of for the most part a lifelong resident of the city of south haven and have always taken pride in our city i volunteer with the southaven volunteers of policing group and have for many years while my children are in school i work with both southampton high school and the high school band volunteering in order to make our community and our

[0:10:13] schools a better place i also volunteer with the desoto county vips the events that unfolded beginning on friday november the 30th and ended up on the news over the weekend of december 8th and 9th are to say the least disappointing in order to understand how this happened i feel unsure of the timeline which things occurred first the christmas on springfield coast signs were placed on a highway 51 on friday afternoon november 30th i realized this was a friday and the signs may have gone gone unnoticed for code enforcement on that day however they were there all day on monday and tuesday december the 3rd and the 4th nothing was said or done until wednesday morning december 5th when it would be two weeks before we could come before the board of aldermen to ask about the signs we've been hosting christmas on springfield cove in the colonial who knows neighborhood for the last 35 years and in that time have been before the board on many occasions regarding the signs we were told several years back we would no longer have to come before the board unless we were notified by the city once we got the call the signs were missing sandy got in her car to verify once verified and posted to facebook that they were missing sandy called our author and charlie hoots who tried to contact both code enforcement and the mayor i told everyone on facebook that was responding to my post surely it was not code enforcement you can imagine my dismay when my sister caught when i was informed that it was in fact code enforcement that had picked up the signs and they were locked in the back of his truck at this time several things were happening at once my sister was told by austin that the signs could be put back on the highway if the mayor or the board of aldermen directly told him to do so that's what he was she was told the only miscommunication about the science or the placement or replacement of the signs was it given to anyone at this point was my code my austin in the code enforcement

[0:12:16] office my sister and i attempted to contact the mayor's office and each board member to discuss this we were trying to give the city a chance to respond while facebook was blowing up with accusations we were contacted by tv stations when the facebook post reached them at that time we agreed to meet them at 4 pm on thursday december 6th i personally left messages for at least two aldermen and said we would like to discuss this prior to four o'clock and no one responded we again attempted to contact each board member we'll let you down thank you at that time we agreed to meet them at 4 pm on thursday december 6. we again attempted to contact the board and the mayor to give them a chance for us to reach a solution these attempts were ignored or unanswered we left messages stating all we wanted were the signs returned to the place they had been allowed for the first six years of this mayor's tenure when nothing happened it had been communicated by the board of aldermen or the mayor's office concerning a reasonable solution by 4 pm the interviews were done later that evening the mayor began a personal attack on alderman hoots accusing him of an absurdity of misinformation in response to the mayor's post i continually responded and told and posted that we were told by austin in code enforcement office if the mayor or board of aldermen personally told him to put them back he would the posts were commented on and shared by many people many people reaching out to the mayor asked that the signs be placed back in the same spot these were posed by there were posts by alderman kelly that included false information either he was misinformed or misrepresented information that he was given there was never an attempt to inform the organizers of christmas on springfield cove that the signs have been removed and taken to city hall the only communication that occurred with

[0:14:20] the office of code enforcement was after we had found them missing and attempted to locate them that was on thursday morning the signs were removed at 10 o'clock approximately 10 o'clock on wednesday morning there was certainly an absurdity of misinformation provided not only by the office of code enforcement but the mayor himself and alderman kelly i come before this board today to give you the opportunity to do what was not done on wednesday december 5th or thursday december the 6th i'm asking for a variance to the city code to allow the signs for christmas on springfield cove to be placed in the right way where they have previously been for the final weekend of december 21st 22nd and 31st 23rd i'm sorry these are directional signs they are for a specific event and they would be for a limited amount of time we've had many people comment that they were looking for the signs where they have always been and cannot see them i would like to invite the entire board of aldermen and the mayor who i know has been to springfield code with his children before along with their families to join us this weekend for christmas on springfield cove and our final weekend in the spirit of the season and the spirit of community let us all come together i wish everyone a merry christmas thank you for coming forward i really appreciate y'all coming here and uh and i'm not gonna again we have you have more important things to do as we do i do want to clarify some i'm the one that said there was misinformation the misinformation is really simple and i can make this real clear for everyone the current ordinance in the city

[0:16:22] disallows signs in the right-of-way so you made this suggestion that i've been mayor six years before this i want to remind you just to kind of help you understand this i have over 400 employees at work underneath my supervision i don't follow them around daily i know you mentioned something about alderman hoots i'm going to let that go for tonight i'm not going to talk about that but the only thing i'll let you know is that the code enforcement officers are doing their job and when they pull the signs that's what they do for everyone actually they they they went beyond what they normally do to protect your signs the day that they pick those up uh austin kept those in his vehicle because he's familiar with the event he didn't want the signs to get damaged and that's why he did that no one was trying to hide the signs and i'm telling you tonight i didn't even know the signs were pulled up until the next day when whitney whitney is our planning director she is the code enforcement supervisor and she's my department head she's who answers to me so the next day she told me about that alderman who sent me a text message i want to say the night before and asked me if our code of person pulled the signs and i honestly told him i don't know i told you you can pull your text i said contact austin he would know he's our code enforcement supervisor so austin did his job and again i don't go behind my code enforcing officers daily when things are brought to my attention i respond to those but never did i tell him to pull the signs but i will defend what he did he's doing his job so we can make this issue very simple tonight and first of all i want to tell you that i have been to the event i've taken my kids there when they were very young it's an awesome event it's down the street from where i grew up i love the event i love the springfield code event so the way this was blown up in the media is so that's why i use the term absurdity uh never at any time did i do anything to harm the event all that i all that i did was do what i told the people the city i

[0:18:25] would do when i raised my right hand in 2013 and 2017 and that is to support federal and state laws and to support the city of south haven and to do my job the appropriate way i don't have the authority i know everyone doesn't understand how municipal government works i don't have the authority to say we're going to enforce this ordinance but we're not going to enforce this one this one or this one the board of aldermen is a legislative branch of government they set the ordinances so what i told you and to say that i didn't respond is not correct i did issue a public statement about four o'clock that afternoon and i was tied up with other city business to be to be very frank with you i was tied up with other issues that's why i didn't respond to a floor when i responded i made the solution very clear that no one is against the event no one's trying to harm the event the only thing that we've asked to do is move the signs back out of the right of way because it's against the city ordinance so to wrap it up and be real simple i love your event i support your event but i don't have the authority to pick and choose which ordinances i enforced my job again i raised my right hand took an oath to you to everyone in this room as a citizen that i would do my job as your mayor and that is to enforce the ordinances and the rules i don't make them so the solution tonight if you don't like what i propose to move the signs back is someone up here a board member can make a motion and change the ordinance so i'll ask i'm asking right now on behalf of debbie and uh and saint sandy right is there a motion to change the city ordinance to allow signs in public right-of-ways that's not the that's not the way i want that word that's not what i said what i asked for was a specific event directional signs to a specific event for a limited amount of time okay it needs to be worded that way because that

[0:20:28] is the exception for the supreme court's ruling that the aldermen based their decision on when they created that ordinance there's an exception and an exemption well the ordinance has been in place uh before this board so but anyway that you're talking to the alderman so if you want to arm and hoots would you like to make that motion i would be in favor of a variance but to go back and just change the whole ordinance and throw it at the wouldn't know i mean i would like to have if we could even do that was the other has been the variance applied for i mean that's the variance been applied for through the planning office i'm not saying i'm not saying you did or didn't i'm just saying like from the standpoint there when you grant a variant under our city wardens that are seeing payment procedures there's a certain criteria that have been met to do that uh a planning a variant so tonight according to the supreme court these signs fall under an exemption i'm sorry to interrupt you real quick but you're talking about signs within the city right away that's your city there's a difference there's a distinction between city property and private property city right away is kind of probably example that's a supreme court ruling but go ahead and ship it it says the signs these signs are exempted from all provisions and shall be allowed in addition to all other signs allowed and it goes on to say historical markers name plates traffic directional signs not exceeding four square feet in size and located one foot and it says not exceeding 8.8 square feet in size located at least one foot from the broadway well i think that's probably the fact that the question but what you're referring to is signs placed by the cities historical signs directional signs those are signs placed by a city within the city right away but it is a directional sign but it's not a city

[0:22:30] science there's a distinction disagreement as far as we're getting the supreme court if we're going to argue supreme court precedent supreme court president would say you're talking about city property and that would be only referring to a city sign not even private sign i mean i'm not trying to that's what the supreme court said how far back is this well that's a good question i appreciate the opportunity to explain because you know it's almost unfair on when you get on social media you know against the advice of many i remain on social media but i can tell you that's against the advice of many but i feel like the people in the city um deserve to hear from me and that's why i do engage and you know that afternoon i did engage on faith um on facebook about it many times right and so i will continue to do that because it's a valuable communication tool and again i think it's uh i think it's what the citizens deserve from me and i'll continue to give that um but what can't be what you can't explain every detail on social media is that there's not it's not practical or even possible for our code enforcement officers to have a survey with them like so to answer arnold hood's question every property is different like when you go on any road the right-of-way is not the same every every place so we use general rules just to help with communication generally on a um on an arterial road highway behind the power lines if you put it behind the power lines you're going to be safe knowing that that's off the right of way when you get into a residential street it's generally 16 feet from there yeah it'll vary but you should have a 50 foot right of way and then the width of the street is going to play which is basically last fall so it could be anywhere from 24 feet to 30 feet overtaken but just but just to play it safe we generally would tell someone if you're 10 feet off the curb you're going to be pretty safe so every political sign that goes up there's a revelation just about sure it is and we fight that and that's i'm glad again that you brought that up because we fight that non-stop we don't have enough code enforcing officers the

[0:24:31] political sign uh it is abused and we don't have enough officers to you know to police that i mean this was straight let's get back to what it would take okay let me finish let me finish answering uh's question um it's different every time so they can't take a survey in their hand of every property so generally it's behind the power lines on an arterial road or a highway and it's about 10 feet off the curb in a residential question uh what would define a city a city sign uh that could go in the right way is it the size is it uh uh the fact that the city owns the sign is the other sign city is this i mean it's a city a accept official traffic and street signs that's what your ordinance so your parade signs were in violation of that ordinance what would what would be an official sign i guess then is that official sign would be the uh city government yeah city government signed paid by funding what if what if the city paul decides from springfield code i mean have you're not advertising the city of venice i mean if you're interacting from that standpoint you'd be buying a you're providing signs for private entity i mean what's the stop if many any entity then wants the city signs or city event to see about every sign what if the city sponsored springfield that's something you could do for example liability issues with that i think defining your minutes about why you're sponsoring that 21 1965 i guess or 217 one the promotion of you know that kind of thing you have to make find the resolution wrong but at the end i don't know how you would work the signs you're still going to sign i don't know how to affect you right away from the sign so i don't think i would have to look into that i just wouldn't know right here on top of my head tonight well this is one of one of the things i thought about today because we've denied

[0:26:32] a lot of very you know valuable non-profits about right-of-way signs and other stuff uh and nothing that blew up into a a big hoopla but you know we have denied in the past and and i've been thinking today what was something that we could do and i hate to hear that springfield cove this this is their last year and one of the things i was thinking of if there's any way possible if springfield cove might be interested in doing it again maybe the city could start sponsoring the event you know and that way we could actually order directional steins that stayed up year long year long directing traffic to historic springfield cove home of christmas on springfield i mean something was possible we could donate a little money to help offset costs of helping pay for santa's or this that and the other i don't know if we could start it this year uh for this weekend and i certainly i know the community would hate for it to go away you know i grew up in south haven i grew up in the clumsy hills i went to springfield cove i carried my kids to springfield co you know we all hate to see it go away so do we i know is this anything that would be is there a solution that we can come to for this year and then we would be open to discussing further with with the board if they would like to do but is there some exemption that can be made for the signs for this final year for this final the sign is already correct down the street right i've seen them i live over there all the time i have seen them right but people that are that were they're driving around asking other people where to go because they're not seeing them it's not the people necessarily that live in our community to see them every day that drive our streets right but we had people coming from we had a couple from alabama that came and we had another lady that came the other day that said

[0:28:34] her sister was in from out of town and she knew that we were there when the signs were up and she did not see the signs at night but the signs are the signs are only on highway 51 how did she get that far and not find how to get the springfield code well yeah and i'm not trying to be a smart elephant i really am but in the world of gps i can't imagine that the signs are really strong let me say this the only reason i can answer this question is because i'm i play one go with eight ladies and i promise you there are i don't know i know two addresses i have to find one house in hernando and there's another house in hernando and every single time i'm looking for certain benchmarks to mark my place because i don't know where they live and they all live here in south haven in in the desoto county area well sure i think we all so i think somebody that only comes one time a year if they if they are looking to see if santa is out and those signs are there they know he's there but for instance if if so they see the signs on highway 51 and they turn down custer going that way are there other signs one other sign at the corner of south haven circle and custer i think one the coming one northbound is that snappy there's one on the northbound side it's snappy and there's could we not get permission at the vp but the people that own snappy and friends i mean i would be willing to even donate my time to go near the corner and hold signs you know if i had to grant it i know that's probably against the law no gps i just put springfield cove and it's all i typed it came right up is there is there 10 feet

[0:30:39] in front of the subway over there where they could move those signs back is there any kind of limitation towards the intersection they have to be away from because now they're half a block down no and that's what again i'm not not being argumentative don't misunderstand me but that day i i indicated that all you have to do is move it back out of the right way but you do have to have the private property owner's permission so just knowing the area sids market or subway those just from my experience you can build a good carpenter in 10 minutes can put legs on those signs they can be done real quickly yeah we had it done pretty quickly but again the reason for that was because to move them and we don't we didn't know who owned the subway so we went to places that our the person that did that for us went to places where he knew the owners and was able to ask immediately couldn't get them back up but again it's not i just want you to know nobody is you know picking on your event i i love the event i think everyone up here loves the event nobody's picking on that it's really a simple issue of just trying to enforce the ordinance that's all but i don't have the authority excuse me i don't have the authority to change that these people sitting up here can change it so you asked to amend the motion so the motion would be you make a motion to make a variance and allow there to be signs in the right way for directional purposes for three days for a specific event for a limited amount of time that's the repercussions of that nick i'm saying there's there has there's not been no the issue is there's not been a variance actually applied for through the planning i mean they fill the form out with you in your office we have until the 20th when playing commission meets that can be done yeah i mean you've got to do the variance to that i mean but they'll get to show the four factors and i mean i guess if you want to pop up the variance of the planning commission when's the planning commission meet again thursday thursday clock for the variance planning

[0:32:40] commission once again i'm not sure understood correctly what would be the difference if the city purchased these signs from springfield cove on just for the event of a one-time directional i mean i see what you say i think the issue comes for purchasing signs for a non-city so what if springfield code donated the signs to the city you donate the signs and then you put them in the right way i don't i mean it's obviously ultimately the board's call on this but the question becomes what signs can be allowed in the right of way when signs aren't right away and then we have future potential issues i mean only liability if somebody you know has a wreck if i came back because we don't allow we're picking and choosing what signs going right away or i mean that's that's the other issue is do you allow these signs the right way if you have other non-profits well if you've turned down other non-profits that were for a specific event for a limited amount of time and they're directional is that such a horrible thing to allow the issue and i can tell you this just from administering the ordinance the issue is when you allow an exception for one then and i know you don't see it i wouldn't expect you to see that because you're concerned about your event but then when that's done for one event then everybody else is coming and they're all going to ask for an exception so then it it weakens the integrity of the ordinance i'll say that i understand but if you have the variance policy you obviously have a form for variance a variance is used in situations that are unusual that cause a hardship like if somebody is does not have normal circumstances to work with and it causes a hardship for them that's when a variance is considered but variances are turned down frequently variances are not always given this body is already turned down for variance for this for one of

[0:34:42] these specific locations and i can yeah and i can tell you that there are other signs even in that area that's what's coincidental that there are other signs in that area that we have enforced the ordinance and not allowed so it's going to be tough for the board of aldermen you know to uh make sense of that to say well hey we're giving a variance for this but we did it for the others i find it hard to i find it hard to comprehend that for a specific event for an amen for a limited amount of time for directional signs only that you have that many requests for a variant oh they're not selling anything yes ma'am there are many many a lot of people have events on the weekends so having temporary events a very very common thing in the city there are many many there would be many many requests for that we do take down garage sale signs i hear that all the time and it's not just in all again just to help everybody see have wide vision it's not just garage sale signs or your event there are many other events so if you allow it there's other things that uh just for a sundry of different events that people would come up and ask for that so and i'm just again i'm not i love your event if the board wants to give a variance and it's good can i throw something out there uh if we if the signs can be placed 10 feet back often you've been out there is there is there 10 feet at those in front of the subway there in between the curve and the concrete is there 10 feet there to put this sign up okay if that's the case if they can go there you know i think what's the problem is they've been moved so far back down the street now if they need to get them closer to the intersection if there's ten feet across each side and it's cool maybe austin can meet him out there tomorrow well nobody's ever denied that yeah of course and that's again that's what i recommended initially there's there's nothing and now they i think the property owner tomorrow they contact property owner and sids or somewhere wherever you're talking about there and they say yeah

[0:36:44] no i can't imagine anyone can you know it's not our destination does that sound workable i'm sorry i did get a slightly distracted there okay what i'm asking is that where the signs were at in front of somebody okay and i guess that's awesome he thinks there's 10 feet there and have room so you can still place them in the grass there and then across the street 10 feet back from the curb and you might actually have to go across the sidewalk on the other side because there's a sidewalk but you can get them back to the towards the corner where you want them would that be okay it's not 10 feet on like i said on an arterial highway it's not 10 feet behind the power line the property owner was contacted and he did allow the signs to be put on his property the placement of the signs where they're at now was determined by yeah not us so if it's by the subway if it's by the pawn shop you know where they put the signs on the guy's property is up to them but so as they put them in the grass like where they just moved it back would they be legal yeah charlie is the guy that said subway decided they decided on their own property where the sign was going correct no they contacted the property owner he said it was okay to put the sign on his property he owns that entire property so where they put the signs on that property uh was determined by them not on us or the property owner he just said yeah i put the sign on the property so they can they can move it closer so i mean they can move it wherever they want originally there's what you're talking about is up and down the street as opposed to closer to the road it can be seen so let me ask this if we made the variance more directional and more specific to say that an event that had been held for 35 years can place their sons that have been up for 35 years that are directional signs that are defense specific signs and that are up for a limited amount of time i don't

[0:38:48] think anybody else asking for a variance will meet that requirement but you set precedent for anybody else in the future to go with that requirement only if they've been here 35 years you can't make it that way why can't you it's specific can you not work in the way you want to work you're discriminating that's why because then you're discriminating on everybody else who wants to have a variance later and when you discriminate like that then you subject this city and this body which we're personally liable for to a lawsuit um what if the signs we have now were purchased by the city it's not that's what i was trying to say it's not a city event for the city to purchase the signs that's right what would it take for the fort to be a city-sponsored event the city would have to make findings in this minutes have the money i like i guess allocated and then honestly probably want to get some kind of opinion based on the history of how long it's been in place at the private event and i think you could finally get if you could get there um i really do think you could get there it's just you would want to get a couple i died piece across before you actually went and made that decision because from the standpoint of of of that statute which allows for promotion of terrorism and that type of thing was obviously hearing them talk to my ideas something that would allow for that it's obviously a tourism so those are potential solutions i mean i think that's a great idea but i don't know if it's something we can do by saturday right but i i mean i think it's a great idea and the other thing that like and this is alderman payne's idea but i actually i think it's a great idea is eventually you can maybe incorporate that in with a sign that's already there like you have a speed limit sign or another city traffic sign if you had like a plate below there or something

[0:40:50] like that indicating you know christmas on springfield cove that kind of thing i think that's something that could be done but it doesn't sound like it's possible to do that within a day or so but still i'll leave it to my uh to my board uh i'm just telling i don't have the authority to wave i'm just doing my job when i raise my hand and all we can do is go about what we were told and that's what we were told right now you were told austin told you correctly that the only person or the only body that can change that is the board of aldermen and that's administered through the mail right the mayor administers the ordinance through the board of aldermen so he told you correct and so but before i could administer that it has to be approved this is the governing body of the city okay so tell me again what is the definition of a city side the reason the ordinance says the reason we're asking mayor is because previous administration i know we don't have anything in writing but we do have word for word what happened the first mayor of south haven a garbage collector accidentally full design the city of south haven or out of his pocket as acting mayor of south africa paid for new signs so those signs belong to y'all they can go in the right of way is that correct or not i'm not here to rehash with the previous mayor i don't think i need to go into any detail for everyone to understand that many of the things that happened with the previous mayor not the way we wanted to i'm talking way back not not okay okay but i'll just ask the question uh nick manley is a city attorney does the um does the mayor of the city have authorized legal authorization to pick and choose the ordinances did the mayor have the right whoever that mayor may have been does the mayor of the city have the right to tell them that they could put signs in the right

[0:42:51] of way did he have the legal right to do that not just against the city ordinance okay and that was marriage okay so that was previous to what the administration you may have so this ordinance was chosen i just wanted to ask because they were purchased by mayor we're well where they were and i know ordinances have changed over the years to protect the city and the liabilities the lawsuits and i don't blame you for that at all i know you have to and i'm glad you do very proud to do but my thought was if the city actually purchased them yes then we have the right to put them even in right away when they're not in a in a interference of tracking that's my question well that would be somebody had to go back and find out if city funds were used or there were problems which one's right yeah so i don't know what you noted many years ago prior to 1997. so yeah it was prior to that but their question is nick um can the city purchase is that what you're asking the city purchase the signs or is there any way that the signs can be placed for this weekend the board of aldermen has the authority right now to do that so if there's a motion is there a motion to do that let me ask you one more question like you said earlier uh what's our liability yeah and one of them was if somebody has a wreck from the standpoint of somebody has a reference that was caused by that sign i mean i don't know how much it's your liability but you know maybe a city lobby the standpoint of you allowed an authorized sign in your very i mean right away i don't know how far that would go or not but from the standpoint of you allowed it um i'm not saying it would win the day i don't want to get in too much detail of concession about it yeah i don't know how much that would i don't know how like how feasible an argument that would be but okay but we do have to move on so is there a motion to give a variance for the sign

[0:44:54] i'd like to see us be able to work out something i mean even if it's just placing them as close to the ten foot from the street as it can be you know get them far enough back to where they're i mean they may not be directly behind the power lines but they're in close proximity to that because i know they've done that before with other signs it's like political science and that kind of stuff so i think they said i would be okay with that okay but and again that's been offered already i'll explain that tonight but you have to have the private property owner's permission to do that so that's not an issue in the city but his statement said that would be inside the power line so that would not be on private property according to you correct his own public property that currently right now without an ordinance change or a variance they cannot be placed on on public health so charlie that's the answer to your question is no they can't be placed inside the power lines according to what he said he means outside you know place under the outside the power lines so that they're not in the right way this post is you know as far back as far back as you can get and still be in grass to put some things in the ground right put them right there would that does that sound working with everybody well i think that was always the option i mean that that's what that's what the law is now that was my initial recommendation so yeah that was always are you all if that's if that's what they're gonna do there's no there's no action press taking right is that okay with y'all right you put them back when they were but you're gonna be moving them back as far as you can go you know know before you hit concrete before we hit concrete and that way they're still close to that and they won't be removed now it's real simple let's don't get into like i mentioned earlier it's either public or private we can't put the signs in the public property without a variance from people so does the board want to make a variance to allow them on public property or do you want to go with what we initially recommended and have them place them on private property with the owner's permission i don't know where the power lines power lines go right underneath the you

[0:46:57] know for the edge of the concrete there's i mean if there's grass if there's grass there it would have to be just inside a good angle i mean i think there's room there i mean you've got a sidewalk and then there's grass on the other side of the sidewalk yeah on the vp side i'm talking about on the side of where the subway is there's not any i don't know again what you're talking about is nothing that's not already been offered i mean austin just told you he's offered anything that's on that's off the right-of-way can be plug where the owner's permission can be placed in that's that's their choice we can have somebody put together like a wood sign holder to hold it right there the subway would give us a parking spot but there you know i don't see any problem there would that be okay we're trying to work out something to get closer to the to the intersections if this conversation is changing nothing this is what has already been offered if you put it on all you got to do is move the sign back on to public property with an owner's permission right and that's that's what was offered from the money problem private property right that's what was off from the beginning there's no problem in doing this the answer is no the board will not thank you so before we close does the board want to make a motion to change the city ordinance or make a variance to the ordinance to allow them to put the sign in the public right away let me to change the whole off i think no i mean i think it used to if it was a variance we could give you know something temporary but i think first just go back and rework everything

[0:48:59] from analytics it's overkill i'm not hearing a motion one last time is there a motion to offer a variance to allow the sign in public right away or to change the ordinance hearing none we'll move on okay next on the agenda this evening is approval of the minutes for the december 4 2018 meeting mr mayormoo we approve the minutes of a regular meeting of december 4th 2018 with any admissions deletion or correction second we have a motion by alderman payne second monitor groups is there any discussion hearing none roll call yes okay that motion carries next on the agenda's fy 2018 audit services mr mayor make a motion that we missed yes i'm sorry the department of finance and administration is going to recommend that we keep fort berry ballard as our auditors for fiscal year 2018. i'll make that motion second we have a motion bottom in flores second ballroom and brooks is there any discussion you're pleased with them yes she's smiling yes that's what i want to hear any other discussion yes that motion carries thank you next on the agenda f119 budget amendment and basically this was just a it's just the uh the parks expansion enhancement plan uh that was board approved

[0:51:02] basically it's just moving the money to administer these projects we have emotion modern brook second modern wheeler is there any discussion carrick nunn roll call yes yes alderman payne yes yes that motion carries next on the agenda as a resolution for personal property tax exemption for jim codeland and manufacturing company this is the resolution to allow for jim crow personal property tax exemption uh the tax exemption is about personal property from one million seventy two thousand dollars and 112 dollars and 53 cents uh this expansion 22 new jobs um with the five million dollar payroll been recommended by the southern economic council and it was approved by the southern county board supervisor yesterday morning for the county packs i'll make that motion second we have a motion ballroom in flores second alderman payne is there any discussion hearing none roll call yes that motion carries next on the agenda is a resolution for personal property and real property tax exemption for alan richie incorporated this is also the resolution for tax exemption um allen ritchie incorporated uh with a new enterprise for 213 new jobs uh 6 million 256 000 in payroll uh tax exemption for real property around 11 million 57 253 and personal property amount of 554 492 dollars um also recommended by solar economy council and approved affordable advisors today morning i'll make that motion as well we have a motion bomberman flores second bottom of the pain is there any discussion

[0:53:06] hearing none roll call yes that motion carries next on the agenda is a resolution for free court warehouse tax exemption for earth incorporated it's just the free court warehouse taxation earth incorporated for those goods in transit authorized previously by the supervisors and recommended by the southern economic council i will make that motion as well we have a motion alderman flores second baltimore's brooks is there any discussion hearing none roll call yes yes that motion carries next on the agenda is resolution for award of the field of dreams playground i'll do that basically y'all are aware of this this is on our parks and head expansion and enhancement plan uh to add a uh playground at the field of dreams location at stone grove park this playground is designed for special needs children we've got the bids there we have two tonight one of them is for the playground itself and the other is for the site prep so they're both basically in line with budget 300 000 is the cost of the playground itself 148 400 is the cost of the site prep given a total of 448.4 which is within i think the budget that we had we had estimated before bid of 425 so it's pretty much pretty pretty in line with that these are our lowest options so it's my recommendation that we do one at a time that first of all uh that we have a motion to approve the playground for three hundred thousand mr mayor i mean without the resolution of the city southeast board of london and awarding contract to great southern recreation llc for construction of the field and drinks playground that's presented on the state second second we have motion by alderman brooks second baltimore wheeler is there any

[0:55:08] discussion that resolution will note that the reasons for was that extra um handicap swing they provided a loss also providing different shade more shade in for the playground and allowing for um it was more in line with the design and concept of what the city was trying to do with that location for that because our it was a we advertise the prices for those playgrounds so those are the reasons we chose great stuff or that urban ark and west recommended great setting for that project so that's what the resolution will collect and also reflect the minutes to picture those bitterness okay as noted um so we had a we had a motion uh and a second any other discussion this is one of the most worthwhile things that we've ever done certainly and again aldrin brooks thank you for bringing that up basically again it's um obviously it's no secret you know the city of south haven has been a baseball softball city it's been a proven uh successful venture but we're trying to expand the parks to you know be more diverse you know to appeal to more of our citizens so this is a great step forward we're very proud to have this handicap first myself it means a lot of people have to be included thank you sir any other discussion yes that motion carries and then the next motion would need to be to accept the bid for the site prep and again this is just clearing uh clearing the or not trees it's a wide open space but it's for grading uh also um you know the materials that go down underneath for safety and also sidewalks and the lowest was 148.4 for southern state's construction as presented

[0:57:24] associated with the contract second we have a motion bonus brooks second ballerina wheeler is there any discussion that sound prep is for soft stuff in them playground okay i didn't know which type would be part of the playground well i say that i'm not actually positive about that it's my understanding that the site prep is going to prepare the surface so that can be laid down right [Music] as well and andrea will you communicate that for future make sure that doesn't happen okay is there any other discussion hearing none roll call brett yes yes yes that motion carries next on the agenda's award of bid for uniforms for the south bay police department chief cardinal mayor board we went out for our good specs for our uniforms for the office of the department went through the reverse auction and required the law we only got one bid back and that was from mid-south uniforms or mid-south solutions mid-south uniforms on whitton road they are our current provider so we know that they are capable of providing us equipment that we need in the time that we needed there was only about a four percent four to five percent increase in prices but that's over the past uh four years since the last time there was a bid so

[0:59:25] we felt like that was a fair increase we're requesting that that bill be accepted through mr mayor we would award the bid for police uniforms to mid-south solutions as presented in the state we have a motion by alderman payne second bottom of the wheeler is there any discussion hearing none all in favor say i i need a post say no eyes have it motion carries thank you sir next on the agenda is the resolution for southampton fire department sole source provider chief scallions good evening uh as you remember uh saturn fire department was awarded the afg grant earlier this year for the installation of sole source total exhaust extraction systems and we have decided that plymouth has the product that we're looking for and the total cost of that project was 97 688 grant covered everything but 98 158 so we are seeking permission just to go ahead and move forward with the installation with the climate champion that is a sole source mr mayor i hope we approve chief scalia's recommendation and after resolution authorizing single source item purchased by the southern uh fire department second we have a motion bomberman painting second alderman brooks is there any discussion thank you sir next on the agenda is the resolution for the liens it's just a resolution for those

[1:01:31] properties that have been cut pursuant to 21 1911 to be filed as liens and that will actually later be turned into an assessment so tonight authorize the liens and the agility associated with the lien instructor 219k 11. mr mermaid without the resolution mayor moore paul city south africa the cost of leading property imposed ability imposing a lien on the same against property as presented second we have a motion involved in brooks second baltimore and payne is there any discussion i don't have the information i need yet for this from the applicant so i'm gonna hold this till next meeting okay next on the agenda is a dedication of 4.68 acres on the north side of starlanding road west of getwell the city of south haven by lifestyle communities the purpose of this is for our long-awaited fire station number five so i know we have mr brian hill in the audience with lifestyle communities and i want to personally thank brian for this this would be big for our city have this land where we can build fire station number five which will help us protect the residents of the southeastern part of the city better and also allow for more development in that area so thank you very much so sarah we need a motion to accept that correct motion to accept it and allow whitney and the mayor to authorize them taking all actions which could effectuate the acceptance of the property is listed yeah um so do i just make motion to accept that use that motion to accept the property of the 4.6 acres and authorize the mayor and we need to sign the email documents taking you know action associated with the effectuation of that mission right

[1:03:34] so moved second little state agreement scholar gentleman installed that's what he is we'll motion uh bottom of the floor second by alderman brooks is there a discussion thank you brian appreciate it appreciate it sir very much and then just one one last thing you know obviously the uh securing the property was our first step uh the city does have plans um in 2020 to construct you know that's that's been part of our long range plan obviously there'll be a lot more discussion among the board of the general plan has been in 2020 to start to build a fire station is any other discussion hearing none all in favor say aye all opposed say no eyes have it motion carries next on our agenda is our planning agenda miss whitney cook i guess so the first thing we have on the agenda is an application by joey schaefer to rezone 9.26 acres of property it's going to be on the south side of goodman road just east of elmore it's currently zoned planned commercial which is c4 the request is to take it to c3 um we're basing the rezoning on a change in the character of the neighborhood they are as you probably heard this is a new honda dealership requesting this rezoning it's a very close proximity obviously to the landers they wanted to be in that grouping with other car dealerships this is our last parcel of land that kind of fits that profile uh on goodman road it does follow suit with the comprehensive plan designation for future land uses on this so it was voted unanimously in favor by the planning commission mr mayor i make the recommendation if we approve item number one as presented tonight audience on the hearing already i already have hearing aids okay on item one we have a motion foreign second alderman brooks is there any discussion

[1:05:36] so jenny's drive that's the drive back we're like bounce yes they are actually not going to ask you see the corner does hit they actually own a portion on the north side of jennings drive there's a parcel past this what you see in red right there is where the dealership will be located but they are not going to utilize jennings drives as an access point at all they have two points of access which you can see when design review comes through both points of access from goodman road and jennings is technically the energetics would be the back side of that development kind of hit that that far uh southwest corner of the lot what's the inner red box it's two partials um owned by the same entity and they're rezoning both of them that it's a compilation of two partials to get that 9.26 acres just thank you is there any other discussion is there anyone in the audience that has an interest in the property or surrounding properties they'd like to speak hearing or seeing none roll call yes that motion carries item number two is an application for design review uh from slim chickens restaurant this is going to be located on lot one of the silo square as you can see obviously by board we had some adjustments to the actual structure some landscaping adjustments some lighting adjustments which have all been uh brought into compliance by the request of the planning commission there is a possibility of what they're considering a double deck or patio on this one versus just a single story that is still in the works so if the design changes to that we have the administrative approval to look at that through the mayor's office but what you see here was the original proposal except it has had a couple of tweaks uh the materials have been approved by both ryan hill and by the planning commission meant to have a current age look to us but follow suits with salt with salad square

[1:07:37] and all the adjustments requested by the planning commission have been addressed so with that being said we recommend a group was submitted mr mayor i make a recommendation that we approve item number two on the playing agent that's presented tonight a second we have a motion blogger flores second baller we do have gentlemen in the audience who represents slim chickens and um i'm not gonna say he's got unhealthy snacks but he would like to pass out a sample which he didn't rock on brother i'm hungry great but he did bring some samples for everyone at the board level to try um after the meeting so i'll let him handle that and i do understand that we're one of the first locations in the memphis metro is that fair to say that's correct yeah and uh number one and uh again keeping with the promise of brian hill that he would bring something here that we don't have before so again i appreciate you upholding your commitment uh brian any other discussion yes that motion carries the next application is we have a conditional use permit for a convenience store and a single tenant building to be located on the south east corner of tula home and state line road this will be in the pinewood pv that was approved i guess in 2016 with some commercial uses on the end if you'll remember in early 18 we had a huge influx of convenience stores so we put a conditional use stipulation on them that there can all be two at an intersection it must be a lighted intersection and they had to be on opposing corners so it can control both lines of traffic obviously there's no convenience store at this location at the time it is a lighted intersection a major intersection so with that being said it

[1:09:39] did the profile to allow it under conditional use permit uh and we're requesting approval for that which may make a motion we approve item number three on the planning agenda second one item three we have a motion monitoring wheeler second monitor and pain is there any discussion um is it a big deal that southeast has seen a letter do we i mean does it matter i just want to make sure that whenever we approach the president it will be correct any other discussion on three hearing none roll call yes the next item is the design review for that actual application uh there were some minor adjustments but all together it was a very attractive building we did have them increase landscaping add a little bit more acorn lighting on it and diversify the materials a little bit more and what you'll see here are the materials they're proposing to use and um with those minor changes planning commission by the united states revit we have a motion ballerina wheeler second baldwin brooks is there any discussion where's this again whitney this is going to be that that's

[1:11:41] southeast corner of state line too long it's the conditions if we go up one more on the pitchers you can start seeing the the three-dimensional oh it's the other way you can actually see the three-dimensional pictures of the building [Music] any other discussion online for our last application is for design review only for a small convenience store at swinging state line this was approved prior to the conditional use permit um stipulations going in and had been rezoned since eight in the 80s as commercial property uh so what you see here is just the design review of it there were some tweets when we asked them to make it a more residential appearance place some cedar shutters on the front place some stone in it obviously the decorative lighting we're having them enhance the landscaping they've agreed to all that uh and with that being said planning commission voting david the same favorite as well we have a motion bomberman brooks second waterman wheeler is there any discussion all right next on the agenda's mayor's report just a few things tonight there's an issue that's been going on i've been dealing with public works about this and basically just want to update you let you know let the board know what's going on recycling is a very volatile thing in our world right now global markets have changed the desire for paper products in china and some other areas has gone drastically down so us recycling paper has changed

[1:13:44] there's other other issues as well uh with um like the standards for the load like when when there's a recycled load uh for it to be marketable it has to be clean like if you mix garbage items it can spoil the whole load so these standards have been increased there's fewer companies that are acting as the distribution area for the products which has driven the cost so nothing no action is being requested of you tonight but i want you to be aware of this because we're continuing to watch this uh but it's gone the price monthly um has gone from 600 to 4500 a month and that's that's not curbside now these are our dumpsters so our containers bradley wallace and i've had numerous conversations i don't want to see the options taken away i want to have the containers there you know where people can recycle it would be a drastic decision to remove those and so it's not my recommendation to do it i just want you to know that the cost is significantly going up so there could be a time in the future where we have to revisit this any other questions you don't have any questions about that so we're feeling yeah it's it's a it's a worldwide issue yeah okay and then um the project our intersection modernization project on highway 51. y'all are familiar with that the intersections of maine at 51 uh brookhaven 51 custer 51 and uh no rasco and custer that's it's for all those were um recently bid uh the city accepted the bid of 609 000 uh we've been excited about seeing that project get going to modernize and just improve the look on highway 51. i just we just think it's a key piece of you know revitalization inviting businesses back and we've got the main street uh pedestrian project that'll happen this year too so we're excited about that that it's gonna you

[1:15:47] know just be more inviting uh to revitalization the bad news tonight i gotta let you know again due to recent steel tariffs um it's affected some of the contractors that produced the mast arms so the the company that the vid was awarded to um i've met with them they've explained it they're at the mercy of the contractors that provide the mast arms and there's a serious delay because of what's going on with steel it's my understanding that there are only three of these in the united states and one of them has recently gone out of business so it's caused a backlog so this project that i had hoped would be under construction and done this month is not going to happen until may or june so that's bad news but i just want y'all to understand if you don't see anything happen that's why it is a big project we're very proud of it so it will happen we'll stay on top of them make sure that that is done at that time and then lastly i just want to wish everyone in attendance tonight and everyone in the city of south haven a merry christmas hope everyone uh and their family is safe and enjoys a merry christmas all right next on the agenda is our personnel doctor mayor i believe that we approve the personnel documents second we have a motion monitoring brooks second ballroom is there any discussion mayor i had just one quick question these merit raises we had down there is that what we were talking about before the educational stuff they've gotten done which one do you want in the code enforcement guys is that is that the educational things we were talking about before then right there's well there's a merit raise and then also is that adjustment on the adjustments on there okay basically there's a slight adjustment on the entry level uh due to the turnover we're losing we've lost two officers this month uh one went to olive branch and another one went to leftist i'm not sure where they went but uh we realize we're uncompetitive we have some things that are happening in this budget year

[1:17:48] that are going to save money and personnel costs so it's going to be budget neutral and we felt like it was a recommendation just to minimize turnover and it also has the stormwater certification those the ones you see out there together stormwater certification right that's what that's about yes they moved into the cross-training position and we'll continue to encourage that we want to we'll continue to encourage cross-training is ready any discussion any other discussion hearing none roll call yes that motion carries next on the agenda is our city attorney's legal update nothing else next on the agenda is a utility bill adjustment document mr mayor i move we approve the adjustments to the utility department link adjustment docket as presented second we have a motion balancing second volume in flores is there any discussion hearing none roll call yes motion carries next on the agenda is our claims talking mr mayor move we approve the claims docket in the amount of 1 million 721 597.88 including demand checks second we have a motion ballroom in pain second volume and fluoresce is there any discussion hearing none roll call yes mr mayor we approved docket number two and the amount of 282

[1:19:53] 960 dollars and 21 cents second we have a motion bottom of pain second volume and flores is there any discussion harry knight roll call yes yes no motion carries next on the agenda is to determine the need for executive session the motion baltimore brooks second model arnold wheeler all in favor say aye aye any opposed say no i just have it motion carries uh the the need this evening is litigation involving the city uh police department and potential litigation by the city economic development potential industry relocating to the city of south haven and also personnel parks is there a motion to declare executive session second we have a motion by alderman payne second ballroom in flores all in favor say aye aye all both say no i was having blessing carries the mayor board will now under executive session oh

Captured 2026-07-26 · source: youtube.com/watch?v=_fcGS-lJ5oQ