01/21/2020

[0:00:00] everyone i'm not calling this meeting to work please stand with us i will be led in prayer by alderman gallagher after that please remain standing for the pledge of allegiance that will be led heavenly father lord we thank you for bringing us together tonight lord lord first we want to pray for uh former alderman scott ferguson and his wife who uh passed away lord we pray that you just bring your holy spirit down to comfort the family during their tough time of need lord lord we all also ask you to be with us tonight as we make decisions that will impact the future for our city lord these things we ask in your name amen of the united states of america for which it stands one nation under god indivisible okay first on the agenda this evening is the approval of minutes for the january 7 2020 is there any discussion [Music] yes that motion carries next on the agenda is a handbook amendment mr chris wilson these are two um minor amendments to the handbook the first dealing with the employee lead policy it's been a book for decades now where an employee on leaving voluntarily can cash out and balance up to 160 hours of their unused personal leave the recommendations change that as long

[0:02:01] as they can still do that as long as they're not under pending disciplinary action they won't lose the hours they'll just rotate to their own service credit for first the other minute being that um we're just trying to find another section of vehicle use policy um i'm saying the reason why part of our drug-free alcohol free workplace policy is that you cannot ingest alcohol drugs while operating city vehicle or machinery it's already probably policy which is putting it in the vehicle use policy as well experimentally do we accept the handbook amendment says percentage we have a motion monitor second monitoring wheeler is there any discussion here you know yes [Music] yes that emotion carries next on the agenda is a no parking resolution for the brambles 55 plus subdivision mr nick manley this resolution was our revolutionary note parking was proposed by the planning department and public safety there's certain uh streets that are set forth in the revolution for the bramble subdivision where you can't uh fit emergency vehicles through those in those streets when there's parking on the street uh on vehicles so tonight um looking to get this resolution approved and signed by the mayor to allow or to enforce the no parking um as for those streets that set forth in the resolution of the bramble subdivision um that's presented so we have any questions like our whitney or any of the chiefs be happy to answer those we have a motion monitor in florida second autumn and gallagher is there any discussion we received a request to look into the

[0:04:10] possibility of would we be able to respond to this area should there be vehicles parked on both sides of the road i did go out and look and with the narrow roads there and the potential there were cars parked in the road with the potential of having cars parked directly across one another the likelihood of getting an ambulance through there was very unlikely and a fire truck was impossible so that would be the recommendation are these streets narrower than they are some of the subdivisions well one of the things that i noticed that the street does look a little more narrow but there's no there's no if you get off the road at all they're in the yard so they're not getting off the road at all so the cars were pretty much in the road on both sides is there any other discussions and last thing with that um obviously chief scallions investigated that we did our research you know with planning as well and they are they're built differently the homes are built closer to the street so you have no room there's no ranch there's no park so if you are on the street that's huge scouting instead you know there's nowhere to put the cars other than the street and then you uh you know the situation where emergency vehicles are blocked it's also my i agree with the recommendation any other discussion can you know welcome yes yes yes yes demotion cares next on the agenda is uh hearing from mid-south uh for the missile public improvement district and it's revising the uh the district yesterday at the meeting in december when means december the hearing is set for tonight um for the mid-south public improvement

[0:06:12] district to revise the kid uh as you're called a kid was formed in 2014 as part of the attending law development um since that time there has been a request by the developer to revise the kid to remove some of the territory for some of the property from the pit district um an opinion from the bond council for the pit noting that the revision will not affect any of the bond obligations or debt of the pit so there won't be an adverse effect as far as the debt goes from the pit that as it relates to the city um tonight also uh mr josh code is here as well answering questions i think in the previous uh meeting we discussed the hotel potential at that point at that property and the reason for the um the pit in addition obviously it is a hearing so even the public can speak as well but we have to close this three of you that's fine if you want to do it that way and then close it for the hearing and mr president speak if he has any offer any questions you have for him as well but uh bond council for the pit has provided me the opinion which i provided to the board um noting that it will not affect any of the obligations are revising the property and territory let's grab it and close the public board meeting um all in favor say aye aye all again say no i just haven't motion carries the public meeting uh is now closed and uh we have another motion to open the uh hearing from south public recruitment history all right same thing uh motion to open meeting on the on for the hearing baltimore brooks second bottom kelly all in favor say uh all right any opposed saying no i just have motion carries the public hearing is now open there any discussion uh

[0:08:13] mr poe you want to come forward in case anyone has questions any discussion or questions from the board the charities are being removed [Music] i think it's the ones to the yeah to the south that are surrounding the uh gas station is that your understanding any other discussion among the board anyone in the audience want to speak about the about the pitch did you have anything else to add once it's signed just everyone's assigned to the officially followed chancellor clark's office in this section township um for the removal of the headed territory so that's the only step left uh once the negative resolution and the pip is going to take care of that of changing that okay is there any other discussion so you mentioned can we talk about that [Music] and so this is part of the beginning of this process is cleaning up stuff like the the pit boundaries that's not secret any other discussion i guess you know we didn't make it

[0:10:18] separate i guess we do have to have a separate we need to have a separate just to be formal another motion to approve to formally approve the pit not just a hearing so it's only make a motion to formally approve the kid any other discussion figuring out a role called gaming plays yes appearing to reopen the board meeting second honor and kelly all in favor say aye aye any opposed say no i just have of motion carries the public meeting is now reopened based on the agendas and mou with desoto county for pepper chase road this is the contract of the set of counties to finalize the construct after chase road that takes assist with the medline development i've talked i've worked with the southern county attorney on this and both are good with the uh agreement it's similar to the previous email usually done with the desoto county it's my understanding consider it this morning to approve it as well except tonight just authorize the mayor to sign the mou it will specify that federal county will contribute over two hundred two thousand dollars for the improvements which will be in addition to the grant we get from mba as part of the get grant funds on by the road so authorization tonight for the mayor to sign the mou organic chase road mr america we have adopted entering the agreement with southern county mississippi the city of salvation the road improvement related to new industrial and allow for mayor's son that's presented a motion blower brook second baltimore wheeler is there any discussion

[0:12:22] hearing on roll call yes domination carries next on the agenda is a resolution for a sole source provider for the southland police department this is just resolution to authorize sole source purchase of certain software um by the southern police department that will help with um investigations in the context of cell phones um social media authorization for the police department to purchase uh the software another fifteen thousand dollars uh as a sole source um as presented on the black state this is we have a motion monitoring pain second model and peace is there any discussion this whole sports letter that passed to the resolution [Music] any discussion hearing none roll call yes [Music] yes that motion carries next on the agenda is a resolution for unmarked vehicles this resolution will just add a couple more vehicles that are unbelievable unwarranted police department that'll be presented to the officer's office um that once you have a vehicle that's unmarked get present to the author's office they specify that with marking it would hurt or handle their investigation so tonight authorization for the mayor to sign the resolution for the unmarked vehicles pursuing the state law and provided the saying to the state hunter's office mr remember the doctor resolution to the southeastern second fourth city of south haven police unmarked vehicles pursuant to mississippi code 25-1-87 that's the criminal mistake second yes yes

[0:14:31] that motion carries next on the agent is the resolution for uh utility department surplus this is their plus for utility department number 17 25 25 the letter and the equipment is the taxes give a day from uh mr ray humphrey so tonight offers authorization surplus the items that's presented in the resolution and sell their dove deals pursuing the 17 25.5 [Music] we have a motion block from pain second volume of pigs is there any discussion hearing none roll call yes next on the agenda is an mou with the nesworth water association at the previous four meeting we had approved um authorizing the mayor to sign the petition to um uh revised certificated area network water measurement water did not run the revised or certificated area instead they wanted to manage an mou to allow the city to provide the um portable water to the medline development um and so i talked with our attorney the best way to handle that would be doing an mou some traffic mou allowing the city to serve method water uh certificated area in exchange for providing the water and the city getting to build up for that area so tonight um authorization with the mayor deciding to remove the water to allow the sea to provide the water um for the medline development uh nesbot water instead of the agreement last week and approved it um so just waiting on the mayor to sign are waiting for approval from us an american sign and this will then get us hopefully able to get us able to finalize the inducement agreement which is the last agreement to hopefully resolve as part of the mba medline um

[0:16:36] agreements and funding for the project we have a motion bond with painting second model or wheeler is there any discussion from one one thing i meant to add that we talked about last meeting this will the ace grant money that comes from mba will now be able to go um the city to be able to collect that extra money once it's appropriated to the company into the city to help offset the cost for the water construction water lines construction for this project any other discussion here you know on a roll call yes no motion carries next on the agenda is a resolution for the 2020 police record rotation and we receive this on friday morning um the police department has um pursuant to the policy passed by the board has finalized a 2020 record rotation list as presented and to the resolution so they've gone through each of the companies and each checked out pursuant to the policy and the requirements so tonight authorization to sign the resolution and proven the 2020 record rotation will be used by the police department for those vehicles that need to be towed by the police department mr meredith the doctor resolution of the airborne of our city southeastern record rotation for the city of southampton for 20-20 percent of the police record rotation policy as presented on this date we have a motion bomberman brooks second honorary wheeler is there any discussion nick was that changed last year that uh multiple director services yes but there had to be a certain time to wait before that that investing could then become

[0:18:38] eligible for the rotation so yes it was okay any other discussion on the record rotation hearing non-roll call yes technology surplus just another resolution from surplus in the ip department pursuing this code 17-25-25 mr merriman without we declare surplus property announced second model in foreign is there any discussion hearing none we're all caught yes the motion carries next on the agenda is our planning agenda that's what we cook i guess so we just have one item on the agenda it is a request for a conditional use permit um for a full service spa to be located in building 18 of silo square this particular spot incorporates permanent makeup eyebrow microblading eyelash extensions threading body wax and tanning and nail services also has a private rental area in the back for larger groups such as bridal parties and things of that nature uh still goes into account for the half mile radius rule and it does meet those distances the closest full-service spy you have to know is the loss and it is um well done well outside the boundaries uh so planning commission did not unanimously in favor of it mr mayor i have a motion item number one on the planning agenda tonight as presented second one we've got a motion monitor in flores second bottom of gallagher is there any

[0:20:41] discussion here okay all right next one is mayor's report just want to update everyone on a few things uh the first thing is this week the first time in the city of south haven's history in the state of mississippi's history there's been a sales tax diversion for internet sales tax so we know that in 2018 the state legislature approved the infrastructure modernization act and they created a formula by which internet sales tax would be diverted back to the cities there's a list of criteria to determine that amount south haven is obviously one of the most thriving cities in the state from a sales tax revenue standpoint so this bill was a great deal for us it's going to be a big deal it's going to be phased in and in years one and two it's a partial diversion and then years three and four will be maxed out and it's maxed out it's estimated that 1.6 million will go into the city's general fund uh has to be used on infrastructure improvements so it'll be you know we can put that in our streets it's gonna be my recommendation this board uh that we're gonna put that money uh put that money into our street improvement schedule um so it's a big deal 198 446 and 77 cents is the amount of money that we just got uh there's going to be another payment that'll be due in july so we estimate that we'll get between 350 and 400 000 this year and like i said eventually uh we're projecting that's going to be about 1.6 million so that's something that um chris i meant to ask you chris wilson uh do we need to do a budget amendment now or is that something we should wait until july today it should be the same amount coming in july so you can do it for 3.96 and um

[0:22:42] exactly what should i exactly say that's based on performance the law calls forward to hit in january july each year 20 this is the first year four years fourth year fifteen percent of the amount generated that the state puts in that fund which looks to be this looks on paper looks to be twenty percent higher than they anticipated so it looks to be one point six to one point nine million after that fourth year so yeah the amendment would simply be uh we created the budget line for it so 396 would be my recommendation and then add 396 to your fy20 street so that's not we don't have to do that tonight but if someone wants to make that motion that is going to be my recommendation that we put that into the street improvement uh as you all know right now we allocated 2 million in that general fund line for street improvement so this would um eventually you know we would add uh both payments into it to get us um you know a little bit over or right at 2.4 million so is there any interest in doing that now like i said it doesn't look good later or now okay we've got our motion bottom and fluoresce second second pain any other discussion hearing none i'll ever say hi any opposed say no i just have it motion fears again i give kudos to our state legislature mississippi was one of only seven states in the country uh that was not um diverting uh or collecting that sales tax so that bill is huge for our state it's gonna benefit every city uh again give um accommodations to them on the formula uh they set the formula based on the size of the city uh and the amount of money that's been spent in the past on infrastructure improvement by that city and also the sales tax revenue generated in that city so i think it's an extremely fair way not to do it it's going to benefit every city in the state of mississippi so again i commend uh a great piece of legislation that's going to help the

[0:24:43] city of south haven in all cities in mississippi now the next thing uh just quickly before i move on to a few other things we had an issue come up we had a local business owner that brought something to our attention to go back and review our sign ordinance regarding neon signs this was brought to my attention on friday afternoon late obviously we had a holiday yesterday so my first opportunity to talk with staff was today i just won't let everybody know we've already resolved the issue it was just an interpretation issue with that being so that is resolved it was uh clearly a situation where this business had this neon sign prior to uh the signed uh resident of the sign ordinance resolution that amended the ordinance so they uh qualified for grant private clause so that's been communicated back to the business owner uh that issue has been completely resolved with that being said you know we don't like i tell people you know i unfortunately don't have time to sit and read the ordinance book cover to cover every day or before i go to bed each night uh so we address things obviously when these ordinances were made years ago there was a reason for that the board the official board of the city voted in favor of it then but as things are brought to our attention this board has always taken that and looked at it with fresh eyes including myself and if there's something that doesn't make sense anymore we go back to an ordinance committee we look at it again and we present to the full board and we make changes to our ordinances so this is something that uh obviously had a reason for being created when it did but there's a few little things that i want to discuss with the board as far as cleaning that up a little bit making a little more current to our situation our city now so that'll be something that uh when we get into the next ordinance committee meeting we'll get into the details of that but anyway just want everyone to know that the issue was clarified and resolved so next thing up is i want to give everybody an update we

[0:26:46] talked about a few issues over several meetings and just want to let you know why it's not on the agenda now we're still found uh finalizing some details on a couple projects the paving proposal that we discussed one of our thought processes there was that we would check the labor market see what's out there we know for this to be an effective plan for our city uh that we've got to have good personnel that are highly experienced and paid in the street so um nothing has uh been decided on that yet we're still recruiting uh in that market and the uh targeted date to make a decision for 2020 is at the next meeting so on on february the 4th uh bradley wallace our public works director and i had discussions about this we're going to make a decision on february 4th uh what we'll do or to the board what we want to do this year then uh if it turns out that we don't implement this plan in 2020 we'll continue looking at that throughout the year that way when we are ready to do that we'll come back before the board and uh and do that i do still believe like i've said numerous times about that i believe that we can be more efficient i believe we can pay more streets if we get our own equipment get our own work crews but again we don't want to rush into that we'll make sure that we do that the correct way so on february 4th at our next meeting we will be updating the board on that and making a decision on what we do for this this budget year the next thing is the may blvd pedestrian bridge design the board authorized us to start inquiring about qualifications from architects on who would be the right firm to design this bridge chris wilson has taken the lead on that and we've had meetings with architects on that and we hope to have a decision made and a recommendation on back to the board on february 4th so we can go ahead and hire a firm to go ahead and start designing that bridge

[0:28:48] one thing that's noteworthy about that is that all the architects that we've talked to they do indicate that that basically what you're doing the the contractor that lays the bridge uh there's nothing unusual about the uh elevator columns that will be added uh so that would be designed just like another building that stuff like i said nothing unusual and then you'll have a different contractor that comes in and actually lays the bridge on those two uh two side elevator columns so we didn't know all that going in but we feel like this is uh not such an unusual project i mean there's been many of these done throughout the country and uh from an architectural standpoint it's not that complicated of the job so but anyway either way we're going to finalize that and have a recommendation on february 4. last thing is most of you should have gotten a an email or calendar invitation today about a meeting that will occur on february the 11th from 10 am to 12 noon and this is the project that we've been working on for a long time uh you may recall at about i think about 10 months with me when did we hire the planner it's been about 10 months okay so about 10 months ago we hired a chris watson's firm uh to uh update our comprehensive city plan uh by law that has to be done every 20 years it's due it's time for that to happen again so uh this board authorized that to be done so it's been underway and we have a finished product that chris watson wants to bring to your attention and go over the details with you this is extremely important this is you know updating from a planning perspective you know where the city is now what the goals are uh what the recommendation is moving forward uh you know to have a vision for the next 20 years so that's going to be ready and that's what that meeting's about so on february the 11th we will discuss the comprehensive

[0:30:51] city plan okay and then i believe i've been long-winded enough i think that's it let me scan my way okay that's all that i have this evening uh next on our agenda is our citizens agenda and we did have uh mr tim perkins that called and requested to be on the agenda so mr perkins if he would come forward please sign up my concern is really the community that city of southaven is receiving for the lack of maintenance and upkeep on city roads and utilities uh my wife pretty much has a total truck out now because of a manhole was missing a lid on it and i was informed there claimed that we're liable for damage on our vehicle ourselves and that was instructed me by nick manley it was representing the city of south haven that's why i'm here today now trying to figure out what we can do it's not fair to the citizens we all see that paper damages stuff like that that y'all have insurance for and have up to many different companies are out there think maintaining the stuff that's not being done i found clients all pictures in had estimates certainly done okay here it is now a month or so later and i'm still stuck with a total vehicle what do we do from there does anyone on the board want to if anyone has a comment if i i may just first of all just first of all i'm sorry that happened to you uh the second thing is your comment about the city has insurance for that that's that's not correct actually that loss is not an insurable loss that there's no way financially that a city could take liability for every road hazard it would be a totally different situation had we done something like if we had

[0:32:53] been removing the cover working on it and we were negligent putting the cover back on that would be a different situation but it's my understanding and again i'm not i welcome other comments in this room uh a manhole cover can be knocked off by another vehicle by a truck on the road uh so the city when the city was made aware of that we immediately sent street crews out there to to stop that to fix that i stood out there and playing block man hole off while y'all guys showed up because officers come out there as well yeah because then i pulled my truck over and locked the hole off two motorcycles come down through there and they were in that lane as well yeah i have not been blocking it what would happen then yes and i appreciate you doing that but again my point is that you know from a liability standpoint city can't accept liability for everything that happens on a roadway that's not caused by the actual city so i'll let the attorney speak and i'll let the board members speak all this board right here is the one that voted uh on your plane and so i'll let them speak but uh i just want to clarify that issue and again i'm sorry that happened to you um nick is there anything that you would want to add to that last name yeah just just everybody my knowledge this was um reviewed um with the utility department along with public works department welfare engineering department to see if we had anyone out there during that time that would have been the one who removed the manhole and not put it back after review for davidson department um we didn't have anyone uh or any workers out there during that time based on our records um so it wasn't something the city caused and then the city didn't have notice for it as well so the city uh based on our view had no notice and did not cause it um and based on that under not the technical of the fort and very case i mean fortunately in case you see the nation's first of our case we would have immunities um pursuing committee law under in this situation so that is the reason for the denial and the recommendations were denial based on the city's immunities that's set forth by the supreme court of

[0:34:55] mississippi and once you have immunity the city then under aeg opinions has a obligation to assert the immunity under the city law and so that was the reasoning for my recommendation and the reasoning for um the city for my position and recommended to the city just before i voted on it but it was based on my recommendation so i don't want um as far as what the as i interpret the law would be and as i interpret the circumstances based on argue of the facts so um it's one of those things where it is an unfortunate situation but i don't think the city um as a marionette if you accept liability was something that mayor has we know that we did not cause and had no notice of and once we did have notice of it we did repair it immediately and put it back as part of the remedy and tim just for your information when you did contact me uh like christy faulkner told you at that point i went back to our department heads just to investigate the situation again because to me uh it would be totally different again that we have been working on if we did something negligent i was prepared to go back to this board and advocate uh you know clearly or definitely inform them uh before they make a decision that we did something uh that was caused by us but it isn't maintenance enough keeping their things something that's supposed to be done with these manholes regularly and i think make sure this doesn't happen well we i mean we definitely maintain the roads yeah the roads got repaved not too long ago coming down state line and if that was somewhere i think the manhole's not set correctly anything once the rosary paid and that was set in there then that'd be a possible cause too i'm a truck driver i haven't run a van holds every day yeah i've never had one come off of my big truck i push anything from anywhere from 40 000 panels to 120 000 pounds oversized well and that's something that um that is i would think that is possible you know that maybe some of the crews did it but uh you know we hire independent contractors to do that work that's been done there and they would have the same thing they would make the same statement to us they would say well it show us

[0:36:57] proof that we caused it we don't we don't know what happened to it the only thing that we know is that that we didn't cause it as a city and that there's no way the city can't take responsibility for every road hazard there's no it's just it's an uninsurable risk you know for the city but there's somebody almost lost their life one guy's on the motorcycle i haven't blocked it that day one of the guys on the motorcycle what do you think would possibly happen to them it's not exactly the same but it'd be something comparable to uh insurance would y'all have you to be on that one as well regardless of manhole everything we pay taxes for you all up you ought to keep up keeping making us all certainly that you get what you ask for i want to ask the board if they want to make a change like i told you about email i don't make that decision chris were you talking did you talk to him or you know okay verbal conversation no that's what i want to do but what i was going to explain to you is that you know your example uh a road hazard would be something you know comparable same thing like if a deer around from somebody they had a fatality you know the city can't be responsible for a you know wild animal that feels across the road there's things that that we do control things that we don't control like i said if my departments had made an error i mean if we're out there and we've left the manhole cover off i'll be the first one tonight is asking this board to change their decisions before seeing the pictures of manhole and actually seeing what it looked like and planting pictures out there they sit there until the waiting y'all's also to show up waiting on y'all's crew show up there were chunks of metal from the ring manhole just sits all scattered all over the road so if we're actually fix that manhole correctly i think somebody had to do that road up we actually put a little ring down that manhole was never the road never blocked off after that back so there's this possibility that manhole could come back off again in the future on somebody else and you're back looking at somebody doing the same thing here now trying to get something taken care of that wasn't fixed right

[0:39:00] well i can assure you that after uh this brought to our attention we didn't send crows back out there so there that was out there when they come and push the lid back over yeah and that's all they did now somebody did put ass on the top of the lid right because i i come down there quite often myself back for through it all the time i live in olive branch we come state line all the way across you know here to our shop over here as well so it's nothing uncommon to see that's the same spot every time yeah right we responded to that someone did check the manhole cover yes sir so so that's been done so are there any questions for uh for tim about this and if someone uh feels differently about it the ways to work the board has the authorization they did hear the facts of your uh your claim was presented uh to the board by city attorney at a previous meeting they voted to decline it as all of them are declined everyone in the city has declined like that but if the board wants to make a motion to change that and pay this claim the floor is open is there a motion thanks for coming okay is there anyone in the audience uh on the citizens agenda that would like to speak clarification um the next city meeting is that going to cover the signs that you were speaking about earlier uh no the way we'll handle that is uh we have an ordinance committee meeting not the public board meeting yes sir so we'll do that and um and there's other things that are on that list on that agenda for that meeting so that'll be discussed in a committee meeting and then after that it'll be presented to the full board if anything changes okay all right thank you thank you

[0:41:01] and again i didn't say this earlier but i appreciate the way you handle your business and ask questions uh with the exception of what i told you earlier yes sir um uh the city you know i'm just gonna go ahead and say i know we got some people in the audience but the suggestion that the city makes ordinances or uh maintains ordinances that hurt small business that that's just 100 false i mean no there's nobody up everybody up here uh has proven that they're about trying to do things that benefit the city economically our results prove that our city is thriving economically right now i know we have challenges in our west end business district i can tell you that we spent hours and hours talking about things that can be done we've done all the things that state law allows us to do to promote uh revitalization as i've stated in other meetings if you haven't been here there is progress i mean there are things that are happening in our original business district that are positive it does not happen overnight you can leave here and you go to any city in america and that's one of the most challenging things that any city faces is to bring back thriving economic success to the to the original business district because things naturally as cities expand things move things develop so it's not anything that's unique to south haven so i just i just want to say that again i've said it 100 times but to this audience too there is no one up here me nor anyone sitting up here that would advocate for anything it's going to hurt small business as i stated earlier every ordinance has a purpose like when the ordinance is created there's a reason for it but just to suggest that the city is out to to punish the west end district or to do something to the west end that they don't do on the east side of town that's that's ridiculous and that's just completely false so anyway i just i just want to again get the opportunity to clarify that is there any any other comments uh from the board does anyone else have anything to add i

[0:43:02] know autumn and kelly i've been working with alderman kelly for six and a half years on things that we can do to revitalize uh always open the floor it's amazing to me uh on facebook uh all the people that like to churn that on facebook and then when you give them an invitation to come before the board or to come to me and meet and share their ideas funny how they can never have time to do that you know but they love to get on facebook and talk about it so um but anyway anybody's got ideas i'll be glad to meet with anyone and show you what's been done with me cook our planning director and i have for again six and a half years we've looked at every grant that the state has we've looked at every possible incentive nick manley our city attorney helped us create the west end business district years ago based on state law and we're doing the max that state law allows to incentivize regrowth in the original business district and what i've told many many people you can get frustrated with anyone here but there's no there's no government official that can force someone to make a private business decision private businesses go where the most their most customers are and that's not something we can change but we can improve public infrastructure and do things with incentives that are available uh to incentivize that to try to bring business back we have done that uh for six and a half years and um but again the the door is open anyone that uh has an idea that we've not tried or wants to ask if we've tried anything uh the door is open i'll meet with anyone uh we'll schedule a special meeting to bring you before the full board so open invitation any other comments from the board anyone else in the audience like to speak yes sir he was first so you'll get a chance after him okay come forward i'm very embarrassed this is first time

[0:45:12] i'm speaking out like english yeah that's okay just relax i'm concerned about the in my store i'm right next door for the tattoo tattoo shop and last january 15th the code enforcement came up and then made me taken down for my neuroscience actually about three years ago i opened the business four years ago business was really strong i couldn't show up anything so i made some custom-made there's some new signs and first time i didn't know about the rules i'll attach the window the code and personal came up you can up the windows i didn't move back from the away from the window about two i would say about one foot after window and hang on there and this year they came up came back just taking down all the narrow sides so actually by the account when they came back on january 15th i moved back to about three foot away from the window so it's not it's not blocking the window from the from the strip and i'm looking at that even i remove the all the needles it's just showing up the ceiling that's all so i don't think it's going to cover up the windows i know they first time they can always pre under some speakers i remove all of them excuse me what business are what's the name of your business liquor stores symbols i'm looking for some kind of voice if i can hang on away from even from the little bag behind from the window

[0:47:16] i would say even somebody said like you have to put on ten foot away from the window i'll follow i just want to show off without the sign it's look hollow nobody can catch my story and my business already going down more than halfway if you have a son on the building or on the street not much the only one sign for the main sign that's the only one i cannot even do anything more i didn't stop by at the planning office department actually three years ago i would discuss with the painting office and then she did not allow anything so first time that i opened it up only thing she came up like a banner only for the grand opening side yeah it's on the temporary so i took down then after then only the so only sign i can make up for the neon sign to drive like show up to the street and then definitely i didn't put that sign behind the from the window it moved back to about one foot away from there it was something like that so you're saying you moved you didn't have it mounted to the exterior window you had it moved back towards the interior of the yes of the ceiling hang on there okay so never i never attached to the window yeah but obviously the purpose of that would be visible from the street correct yeah well that's something again like i stated earlier uh on april 18 2006 is when this ordinance was passed and what it says it says what's prohibited is exposed neon letters or logos that's all it says and so what i'm recommending is an opportunity to discuss with my board now i wasn't here in 2006. i want to talk to the board and i want to see if they want to clarify that and

[0:49:18] to make sure that that we don't hurt small business but that we achieve the goal of the ordinance so um what i'll tell you is that uh i will talk to code enforcement and the planning department i'll get all the details of your specific situation and then i'm going to talk to the board too and see if there's going to be any changes made and we'll follow up with you and give you some more direction if you would would you leave the the lady sitting right here on the front row the black coat christy faulkner if you would leave her contact information there with you i know the planning office has it but i'd like to have it at my office too real quickly if you don't mind doing that and i promise you a phone call back thank you yes sir thank you i appreciate you yes sir yes ma'am hi my name is melissa burns i live in greenbrook on greenwood parkway i've been there for 23 years it was just recently brought to my attention that y'all passed uh where the cars would no longer be able to park on the road where the bike lanes are march first can you ex maybe elaborate that community explain that to me that's a i'm gonna have to do a serious consolidation but i'll do my best uh this board voted again uh the board voted was it last last meeting or two meetings ago to restrict parking and bike lanes just to give you a quick history about three years ago we added bike lanes to clarington and greenville parkway we were sensitive to the fact that we didn't have bike lanes before so some people had been accustomed to parking on the street regularly so being sensitive to that we did not enforce no parking in the bike lanes immediately uh the plan was an honorary pain uh and i talked about this at the last meeting maybe we didn't uh all come out of the same meeting hearing the same thing but but we uh the

[0:51:20] plan was is to give people time to get adjusted to that um and so fast forward a few years later there's people on both sides of this issue some people are asking well why do you make bike lanes if you're gonna park in them would that be called a parking lane so a lot of good points on both sides the guts of the issue the bigger picture is our city adopted a participation in a plan called green print 2040 which is to make a metro area more pedestrian-friendly so southaven voted i think it was in 15 to become a part of that so since then we started as you've seen or heard us talk about we started pedestrian projects like we have two major pedestrian projects that will be under construction in 2020 later this year that will add a 10-foot multi-use trail that goes all the way from the tennis center at malone at stone grove park across this get well going back west down may boulevard it will connect excuse me the multi-use trail through the park will go through the park and then it will connect to another multi-use trail that's an mdot approved plan that's a 10-foot trail that goes from central park all the way to guetwan may boulevard so the plan is to connect those two uh they've been sidewalk excuse me bike lanes pedestrian lanes added at central park that pick up where the mdot trail ends goes back further west and connects to greenville and so the bike lanes around greenbrook will eventually be connected to the largest pedestrian route in desoto county um i laugh a little bit when people say well man people wearing those bike lanes out well i can't even there's so many bikes on there you're right there's no bikes there because it's not connected yet it's not finished that'd be like saying that people in arkansas are not using interstate 269 well yeah they're not using it yet it's in mississippi but they're not using it yet but eventually they are when it's all connected same thing with the bike lanes so long way to tell you the guts of the issue is we're trying to make the city more pedestrian friendly certainly not

[0:53:22] trying to you know make life difficult for someone that's why there were hours put on it a lot of discussion i got the vote for the first time i voted no by the way my plan i voted no because we couldn't agree on the hours because we again were sensitive to both sides of the issue we finally agreed as a board uh that we would um have specified hours for that let me ask you a question yes ma'am do you have family gatherings at your home yes you did we bought our house 23 years ago our court carport was already enclosed it only holds two cars in our driveway we have raised our children there we've had birthday parties there christmas every year thanksgiving every year penals family gatherings after funerals we now have grandchildren they come to visit us regularly they have their birthday parties in our house all of our children and our grandchildren come back for christmas thanksgiving other holidays sunday watching football what are they supposed to do y'all basically telling us we can't have family in our house anymore no no one's telling you that anyway we can't walk in new york if right you aren't at the meeting so if you'll let me answer your question uh that was brought up at the meeting where the board approved that that discussion was a lengthy one now you can go back and watch this video tell you what was it was that last meeting no it was the last thing the last meeting in december you can go back and watch this video take on the city website um the answer to your question and i'm just going to be bold like say the same thing i said then but there has to be some common senses apply to this like this is not a new concept they're bike lanes throughout cities nationwide it's just some of this is new to south haven um there has to be common sense somebody comes and they see uh they see cars all parked at your house that are not there daily they understand that you're having a uh you're having some type of event at your house you know it's not something that's

[0:55:23] there every day so there has to be a level of common sense in the application what if it's just one of my kids that come to visit there's only one car in front of my house are they going to get a ticket i mean if i were you i mean what i would do is um i would i mean if you're talking about one car you have enough to park one part in the driveway well what about my vehicle where i'm going to drive your in a single uh single carport with one a single drive you can park four cars in that driveway my carport is closed in we can get two vehicles in our driveway we're already being forced by this new law to have to sell one of our vehicles because my husband has a work vehicle so therefore we're not no longer allowed to both own our own separate vehicle because we have to consolidate one vehicle so that his work vehicle can go into the driveway also so if anyone else comes to visit our driveway only holds two vehicles that's it so our children cannot come and visit i mean it's basically nobody can come to our house i mean the city is telling us you can't have anybody over at your house ever i mean i can't make that decision for you and i can let the rest of the board speak to that the only thing i can tell you is that you know again this is not the first time bike lanes have been installed if i'm you i'm pouring a different drive i mean i'm pouring more concrete that's what i would do you might have that kind of mountain but way down the coffin a lot well that's i mean like i said i'll let the board you know this is not uh i'm just being real straightforward to answering your question from my point of view um but the board's here if you want to ask any specific questions to them while they go the way they did um they're here i mean what would y'all do y'all have y'all not have do any of y'all have children at home does anybody have to park their vehicle outside of your driveway at your home does anybody have to do that so i mean when you have visitors over or

[0:57:27] if you just have if you have people that have to come to your home if you're already parking a vehicle out there and you have a visitor where does your visitor park on the road so how fair would that be to y'all to be told that someone can't come to your home your child can't come over my son and my grandson can't come over on a sunday and watch a football game without the fear that they're gonna get a ticket they can't come over and visit our home my grandchildren can't come my children can't come because y'all are going to give them a ticket and collect money off them for visiting their parents well the other thing i mean [Music] the other thing too when i say there has to be a common sense application of this the police officer is not going to go up to you with a ticket book in hand without asking questions they're going to use common sense and no one is telling you that you can't have visitors i'll just leave it back our police are not going to go to you and and walk up to you with a ticket book without asking any questions anything that we do they're going to go size up the situation they're going to find out what's going on so they're going to stop at every door and knock on the door and say hey are you having a visitor over today or is that video normally parked there before they write that ticket like i said they're going to size of every situation we're not talking about a large number a large amount of area there i mean they're going to know uh they're going to yeah i think that's i think it's very practical that they can take a common sense approach that i do and do you think it's fair that we have to sell one of our vehicles to accommodate your new law i mean do you own a vehicle and your wife on the vehicle sure both houses okay we are telling us we can't because my husband has a work vehicle i mean i don't make uh just like would that be fair to y'all would you find that fair if your spouse had to sell their vehicle because their company gives them a work vehicle i'm asking the people i mean i'm asking y'all at all

[0:59:36] and i'm not i don't i haven't had the chance to have a full discussion with him yet because granted i was out of town but i grew up in green brook my parents still lived there and i um so i bought my first house in green brook in 1993 i was making twenty one thousand dollars a year and the first thing i did on that was i poured another slab uh to accommodate multiple cars uh i do have compassion for you i know it's a it's a tough situation but as a board i think we're trying to look at what's overall good for the city and this green space 2040 it is good for the city uh in my opinion not saying that sometimes sometimes uh you have to take a step backwards before you take two steps forward uh and i hate that it's like this and i hate that people are affected but i do think it's still overall the best decision for the city my house is so close to the two houses beside me getting poor slab and y'all to prove it it wouldn't happen y'all wouldn't let it happen we have no our homes on greenberg parkway where i'm at i don't know any of y'all can ride behind i will tell you i am the fifth house past the life from the school fought that house there my son was five years old i bought it that summer back then the playground was right there facing on groomer parker i'm sit on my front porch and watch my child play on the playground every day at school i could watch him walk to school when he thought he wanted to because he thought he was grown but mom could still sit there and watch him but i mean the houses are so right by minus the fifth one on the left you're not gonna prove for me to even pour a concrete slab on the side

[1:01:40] our house is too close to both houses on each side of us y'all wouldn't even allow it to happen have you submitted an application for that if you don't contact the planning department no but i mean the person next door to me did and y'all wouldn't approve him and so why would you agree with me well i mean it's something that uh you know it's hard to you know be hypothetical about that without yeah that's something that i mean that can be checked out honey department can check that out and just see what because there are options that can be done you know that uh you know like you said i mean every lot is not exactly the same we can't like we can't afford it well i think alderman gallagher i think he he shed some light on that and i mean it was a 5-1 vote so there's five other people that voted yes any other comments and on the board maybe this is one of my main concerns uh just because i knew that there were residents in greece brooking on clarington that had no other option i drove and i'm an advocate for the bike lanes i i really am i think they bring value to greenbrook i think they bring value to salvation they make it an attractive area for young couples and any couple that want to want to move to i think it's great but not to where it's going to alienate all the residents that depend on having to park there now last night i drove through it was around 6 30 i was just driving to the neighborhood on the way home i counted probably 12 cars on the streets and of the 12 honestly only four had to be there because of the driveway issue uh where they were they so in essence or probably eight that could have fit in the driveway easily now i don't know what the situation was i mean maybe they were waiting on someone to get home or maybe somebody had left before they were able to get back into the driveway

[1:03:43] you know like i said nobody generally the people don't want to park on the street they have to park the street uh i know that that's how it is in my house and i can only imagine that's how it is somewhere else now that being said i'm sure there are other i wish people didn't park on the street and i'm sure there are some that just it's more convenient for them to park there and and they don't park in their driveway because i've seen people park on the street when there's a double you know driveway and a lot of it's for convenience because they don't want to play musical cars in the morning whenever one's going to work and or the kids are going to school or something like that i just i wish that there was a way i wish it was something that we could revisit other than and i appreciate the compromise to allow the parking from 8 30 at night to seven in the morning uh and i would be willing to try it to see if it works but like for this this lady here i don't know that it would work she can't get off her vehicles in her car as it is in their driveway as it is so i mean i still think i like that i wish it was something we could revisit to make it all work i think we could i would love for the ordinance committee to look at it again maybe with the police chief and dan cornell i love the idea but share the road aspect i still think it would work on clarington uh just because it's a lighter load of road than maybe greenville parkway i can see where it wouldn't work there but maybe we look at putting both of the lanes on one side of the street where if they had to they could park on the other side of the street um i mean nothing's ideal but i think it's i think it's definitely worth looking at it any other discussion i think the uh timeline was like our first step to kind of let's try this and see how it works out to see if there's going to be a problem or i mean think about how many family

[1:05:49] gatherings do you have after 8 30 at night and if you're having a family gathering that people don't show up till 8 30 at night then it's gonna be some big parties but i'm telling you we're grandparents our family event stuff starting at at night our grandkids are going to bed so it's just that's not a convenient time that's not even a time that's close to when normal people get off work around five or whatever you're talking about i know that ours is not the only work vehicle that is on the road across the street from me there's a guy that drives a road docker truck that his is there every night too because his driveway is full from his family and he comes in at about 5. i mean it's not our driveway is full i'm not saying this because it's not full it's cool we have nowhere else to park we work vehicles years old yeah so a lot of these homes back in those days life is a little bit different and maybe two cars as much as most families had now it's not the case now everybody has you know yes above the age of 16 probably gonna have a car so i'm i'm i'm well i'm hoping that we'll get all the pain we need to figure something out so i would appreciate it if you all would and somebody would get back with me if y'all do because i'm gonna tell you very seriously we have been there 23 years if it doesn't get resolved we will be one less citizen because y'all won't come between us and our family and that's what's happening certainly and what i wanted to mention to you that uh that you would see in the other uh video take the other discussion there there was discussion about what you're

[1:07:51] saying i think everybody here understands but that's not the intent to try to you know create a hardship for families but um i do have a question what would you say to the people that contact me and say why why are there bike lanes if cars are parked there how would you as how would you resolve it if i use the bike lane because i live on greenbrier parkway and i've probably seen two people ride that bike like i said there will be people that use it when it's connected it's not connected i mean maybe so by the way i mean pushing baby strollers runners joggers you know i've been there 23 years you know what happens everybody still uses the same method they've always used our sidewalk right what i'm trying to explain to you is when you connect the other tracks there will be others that come through there when it's connected yeah when it's connected it will be different than it's been but that's i'm just as soon as i'm not being sarcastic i'm just curious how you would answer that to connect whatever it is and i'm sure that the city is going to get some kind of improvement or gotten some kind of grant no it's not about grants it's about like alderman gallagher was saying it makes your city more economically attractive because a lot of people now they want that but what about us that have already been here the ones that have been making this city where it could be right again just speaking for myself i'm sensitive to that as i stated in the other meeting but i like what would you say to the to the pedestrians that say why do you allow to park cars and pedestrian lanes honestly i don't know what i would say other than the fact that their families just like everybody else is and yeah you don't know their circumstances maybe you should ask whenever they do maybe you should ask them the reverse of me saying that they're telling you well you know there's families out there that only can park too far so they have to park their work vehicle out there or

[1:09:54] maybe their grandchild they were visiting them so there's a car parking actually i have done that and what they say to that they say well why do you have a pedestrian on it why did you make it a podcast that's what they say so it's just something that like i said it would probably do you some good if you have any time to go back and watch the previous discussion because your concerns i mean you have a valid concern and that's something that was discussed in the other meeting i can go back and watch it all i want because it can do anything to help is it going to help us in our own greenberg parkway because i'm not the only one that feels the same way about putting our houses no the only reason i think would have some value to go back and watch it is to know that people are sensitive to your concern that was discussed um but according to uh in reference to what i read said the board did vote it's a it's in advance so the board can go back and vote against that and change that but the board did the board did vote for that um at the last minute in december but again any other board members anybody got anything else you want to add i think this is something we'll continually look at yeah [Music] as a citizen and how how it's going to affect me and how it's going to affect my family and the fact that like i said that's the way that it goes and we're just i mean i'm sure one the citizens not a big deal that y'all but i don't think i'll be the only one on greenville parkway that will go that way i just really i don't if you start throwing tickets out i really don't think that you will and i don't think that you're gonna have people lining up at the door other than rental companies that are already buying all of our houses up in greenbrook to buy our homes because they're not going to be in the same position that forced us to sell our homes to begin with i think you make uh good points very

[1:11:56] well set i appreciate you coming forward anybody get anything else thank you i thought you were asking enough i'm sorry i just i just want to add something to mr jones about the neon all this got started over but um just just a simple process like i said i've backed him up one ever is losing this i talked to linda she said we're gonna you know you guys are gonna revisit we're all gonna talk about it try to get it all resolved and worked out in the meantime like i said i've been here in business since 1994 and nobody's ever said a word to me about me i've had neon since probably about two months after i opened and it's been wide open ever since never been a single word said about it you know it seems like as as business we should receive something we should get a letter going hey you know we changed this we did this we did that but when jimmy came into town a few years ago everybody in town had me and these are people that opened long after me like we discussed about the grandfather real i get that and i appreciate you know you actually pulling that to the therapist and pointing that out but what about jimmy you know i mean we need sandwiches we need signage to survive he'll be closed by the time you guys get a get an answer when you say it'd be a few weeks before the council meet and so forth so long he'll be shut down he's 70 years old him and his wife run that business you know it just upsets me i talked to him yesterday he was a tears i was now i am again you know i mean what about until then he's got three weeks maybe a month two months before the citizen snake he just goes out of business i mean well just to clarify and answer that yeah uh my reference that an ordinance committee meeting is not waiting to address this situation immediately we'll address this situation just like yours okay uh we'll we'll discuss that uh because he brings like us was telling him the ordinance to

[1:13:59] me is um needs to be tweaked it needs to be approved it just says exposed what's exposed does that mean it's attached to the glass that means in the back of the so there are other questions that need to be addressed from an administrative standpoint so we're not waiting for weeks till we have the ordinance meeting to to talk to him right we're gonna we'll we'll discuss that tomorrow and sometimes when i talk to whitney earlier she said you know he'd be able to put his signs back up so for so long yeah yeah i just you know yeah i want to be sure i'm sorry i want to be sure he's going to have signs tomorrow when he goes to work so he can make money tomorrow you know i mean hopefully he'll call him tomorrow right but i think it's reasonable it was going to be a few weeks a couple weeks few weeks so for so long yeah i mean that's the type of just not attacking but to provide him a blogger through that process right and just to shed a little light too this is a conversation i have a lot of people too everybody looks and i understand i'm not uh you know criticize anyone everybody looks at their individual situation an ordinance is made to be applicable to the entire city so like while it's important to a business to have sign recognition i understand that i'm a small business owner i gotta have sign recognition um you have to have ordinances because everybody is not like one person some people if you don't have any restrictions at all uh it gets blown out of proportion like there's signs all over the front next thing you know it looks like las vegas that's unattractive it hurts like uh i've been on the street like i said for 26 years and i don't want to see one of my neighbors fail we have enough businesses we have enough empty you know enough empty properties i mean there's there's almost as many empty properties on our side of town as there are habitats right yeah do you know just this i appreciate you saying that do you know that i work in the western district

[1:16:01] every day that's your fault i know i just i want you to know because again back to the comments that are made people that work with me a lot of these board members my planning director my city attorney my assistant christie faulkner i have spent more hours discussing ways that we can revitalize original south haven then anything i've done is made right and like these things that you hear like when people say well all these great developments are coming to another part of the city they think that i spend all my time doing i do spend time doing that and it's big it's important for the health of our city but i still have spent more time trying to find ways to bring south the original south haven back like it used to be it was out here the things that happened to it were natural they didn't happen overnight businesses i used to i had a business on there on a 1253 state line in the sota plaza shopping center in the early 90s businesses started to move they started to go to the southeast mayor davis gave incentives to businesses here to move to goodman road so for so long just like you're giving big incentives to move to the east side i get it i understand that well we don't give any sense for them to move there these are new businesses new businesses moved there walmart was given incentives to move several businesses back back in 2000 would be a business giving incentives to move trying to build up goodwin road they did it you know we need all this that's where the money comes from sure but on our side of town we need life we need people to realize that there's activity there we need people to realize there's liveliness there we need people to realize it's it's a rough american you sound like you sound like me thank you you sound like me that's what i said people like mr jimmy you know he's over there struggling there's there's no point for everybody to have trouble talking with me i'll hold myself down my son's down to help him y'all gonna happen give him to him and i'm not just speaking for me i know

[1:18:04] alderman kelly and i really this whole board you know we talk about this all the time you know i write the streets every day i'm i'm the most uh sentimental person you'll ever meet i ride every street in the original business district and i want it to be better than it is i promise you that and i'm like i said earlier my ears are open if you want to come meet i welcome you i get it yeah i know it ain't easy i know it's hard there's a lot a lot of rooms you gotta jump through to do things just this particular situation like suspecting everybody you know it's affecting the whole city it's not just affecting the west end yeah that's right you know he feels strongly about the west end i do too it's where i live yeah but you know i own properties all over the city yeah but i still live in the west end yeah i'm proud from where i'm at well i appreciate i'm glad to hear that and i appreciate uh what you bring to the city and like i said earlier just like your situation we're going to discuss the other and we're going to make a good decision i can promise you that i really appreciate it thank you does anyone else you'd like to speak yes sir i live on fairington i got a little bitty drive a camper or a boat and three vehicles i just want to know how much in my yard i can concrete uh that's the planning office we'll uh gladly look at that and i can answer that question you know that right off the top it's not really a percentage we just have to make sure that you don't encroach on your neighboring there you go all right thank you sir anybody else want to speak all right we're going to move on thank you very much appreciate everybody coming forward uh next on the agenda is our personnel document mr mayor i moved to the approved

[1:20:05] personnel documents presented on the statement we got a motion from arnold brooke second modern kelly is there any discussion hear your gun welcome next on the agenda is our city attorney's legal update mr nick manley legion start uh brittany williams uh adrian um bucy and christina latrell in two minutes for the deputy clerk um no actually put those in a minute since they were scoring by the judge uh next item is refundment of the refund of an assessment of 8416 southern word southernwood code uh this was the case a third party unsuspecting purchaser cut the properties sent the notice the tax to the enamel attacks such as list properties bought the meantime accessory had that better than this so need to refund that um property 8416 um southernwood cove in the amount of 2 557 have been paid and an authorization to pursue the original owner so we have a motion by alderman gallagher second bomber wheeler is there any discussion hearing utility bill adjustment docket mr mayor second motion while i'm in pain second arm or boots is there any discussion

[1:22:09] [Music] next on the agenda are our claims dockets is our motion approved docket one mr wherever we approve docket number one in the amount of one million nine hundred and eighty three thousand two hundred and twenty six dollars and eighteen cents including domain checks kelly is there any discussion hearing none roll call yes 2000 seven dollars and twenty six cents a second the motion volume in pain second bottom and brooks is there any discussion hearing another next on the agenda is the purpose of determining the need for executive session tonight the motion of alderman brooks second model gallagher all favor say aye all right all posts say no i just have a motion carried for me this evening okay the new this evening is personnel and claims in the utilities department uh litigation and claims against the southeastern police department and economic development within the city of south haven is there a motion to declare executive session second

[1:24:11] we have a motion by arnold paine second one with hoots all favor say i i'll post say no i just have it motion carries the mayor board will now enter executive sessions hey

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