City Council - Regular Meeting

Myself, Mr. Fowler, and Mr. Larvelands. 4.30 p.m. First item to hear from Mr. Chris Massingale, President and CEO of Louisiana Central. Number two, to hear a quarterly report from the administration on minority contracts and permits. Footnote, Alexandria City Council meetings and Council Committee meetings are broadcast live and may be viewed by the public on Optimum Channel 4. A rebroadcast may be viewed on Optimum Cable Channel 4 and the City of Alexandria website, which is www.cityofalexandria.gov. Mr. Massingale, good afternoon and thank you for coming. It's your hour.

Thank you very much, Mr Chairman. I appreciate that. Good afternoon, everybody. It's always a pleasure to be back in front of you. In fact, as I stand before you today, I was reminded earlier this morning this is my one-year anniversary today. So thank you for keeping me a year. I hope there's many more to come and it has been a fast year. In fact, I think when I spoke to you last, I'd been on the job about 111 days. We're in the middle of the We Make Good Stuff Roadshow, travelling over 1,700 miles, 700 individual meetings with the business leaders and community leaders across the region. When we kicked that off at the Rapides Foundation, their annual event, I said, look, I want to do 100 meetings and we ended up doing literally over 700 meetings in the course of that very short time frame and it was a wonderful experience for me. I got a chance to really understand the region and our communities in a much more deeper way. And since then, too, we've launched our Ten Parish Comprehensive Economic Development Plan, one of the first real in-depth strategic plan that we've had in a region. We did that on 318 Day. I was excited to do that and you might remember that plan is really anchored on four pillars of opportunity. The first one is really elevating your regional economic development organization, making sure that we are building the technical expertise, the know-how, the understanding of what we're doing in economic development to elevate our success, to elevate the opportunities that we have, that I believe that we have in this region. And that first one is really elevating the work that we do, elevating the organization so we can be effective. And then the second pillar is really the work itself, the way that we go about economic development. There are 16 practice areas of economic development. Now, you can't be all things to all people, but the reality of it is is that when you're the designated regional economic development organization, you've got to have an understanding of all 16. And when are you going to deploy that specialty, that understanding, in your communities, working with your government partners, working with your business leaders and we're going to be much more proactive on that front. In fact we already are and hopefully you all have been seeing some of that work. Because really at the end of the day My focus every morning is how are we creating opportunities, how are we helping to create jobs, and how are we recruiting more capital investment? That is my focus, that is my job, and that's what this Regional Economic Development Organization is centered in all the time. Now, at the same time that I say that to you, I recognize that we also can't be a one-trick pony. Economic development is much more than just a job announcement. It's much more than just one company. It has to be holistic. We have to look at quality of life, we have to look at infrastructure, we have to look at quality of place, we have to look at workforce training and education. When you're doing economic development, you've got to also recognize that you can recruit all the jobs you want, you can help the existing businesses expand, but if they don't want to live here, That could be a problem. And so understanding the importance of those issues is critical to economic development and we're going to continue to do that. And then third is that strategic initiatives and partnerships. It's about strengthening the relationships that we have with our partners, including our government partners, recognizing what we can do as the Regional Economic Development Organization to leverage, to help expand vision and mission, to make sure that we are being good partners, that we are elevating the engagement that we have and being good collaborators. And in fourth, which I think is also very important for central Louisiana, and that's about changing the narrative. It certainly has not been lost on me in the course of now me being here a full year to understand we have a lot more work to do to educate our own people about the good things that are happening, about why it is a good place to be in central Louisiana, why it does matter being in Rapides and Alexandria and Pineville, why we are the economic anchor for this entire part of the state. We've got to take more pride in ourselves. and our community and we've got to make sure we're telling our own story instead of letting other people tell our story and certainly those people who want to drop in in the dark of night and take a video camera and take pictures of some of the worst parts of our community. Will you name me one city in America that doesn't have challenges? that doesn't have a few headwinds. It doesn't mean that we don't recognize them, that we don't understand that they exist, and that we need to continue to double down on strategies to make sure that we are investing in areas of our community that need it. But to come and try to take advantage of that in a negative way, no. No, I'm a big believer as a practicing economic developer, you're going to punch my community, I'm going to punch you back. And that's exactly what we're doing and we're going to continue to do it to create our own narrative about our people and our community because we want to make sure people understand this is a special place and we've got the right kind of assets and the right kind of people to even be more successful and we're going to continue to do that.

Just want to share with you a couple of other things just in

The last year, I've truly been flying and building the plane at the same time. This has been a full retool and a reboot of the Regional Economic Development Organization. And while we've been kind of retooling the organization to elevate our subject matter expertise and the technical work, I think it's important to kind of share with you that in that time period, $4.2 billion of new capital investment, that but for the work that we're doing, But for the collaboration and the technical expertise and leading on projects that have come to us, either through LAD or through our other partners like CLECO and our other partners around the region, that is a pretty significant number. Obviously the data centre is a big part of that. But I would also share with you in the context of me just sharing some information with you that we've actually had three point $1.5 billion of expansion work that we've also been facilitating throughout the 10 parishes below the radar screen without a lot of fanfare because of the technical work that is required to do that. We've got almost 622 million of expansion projects that we're working right now that are active projects that we haven't announced yet. So there is activity going on. There are good things happening. The pipeline continues to be robust because we're being proactive. We're not sitting back and waiting. Nobody's going to come and save us. We've got to make sure that we're doing our part to position Alexandria and Pineville and all ten parishes to capture the opportunities when they come to us. And I think one of my messages tonight is that, one, know that I'm here to be a partner. that I want to be a collaborator with you because, quite frankly, I believe one of my directives is to not just be your chief economic development officer, your chief adviser, but also your chief promoter and your chief partner. So you invite me in, I'll be here. I don't invite myself because we serve ten parishes. Our office is here. We're happy to collaborate. We want a partner and all you've got to do is invite me to the table and I'm happy to be a part of it. And I'm also thankful for the relationship and the partnership that we have with the city of Alexandria. You all have been super supportive on many of our endeavours in the year that I've been here. I appreciate that a great deal. Most recently with what we call Project Jerry now that you all know is Coca-Cola bottling. We're very excited about that project. $106 million of new investment, almost $5.8 million in new payroll, almost $26 million of new taxes will be coming in the door because of that project and it will have a direct impact, a positive impact on the city and the parish and the area that it's expanding in and I'm very excited about that. Let me also share with you that here's kind of where we are from an economic landscape across the region and the contribution that Alexandria makes to that landscape. You know, we're about an $18.8 billion GDP in all ten parishes and for the Alexandria metro, we are the economic anchor. Alexandria is the economic anchor, supporting over 69,000 jobs just in Alexandria. billion of our regional economy. You're supporting major industry sectors from wood products, chemicals, electrical equipment, manufacturing, machinery is all based right here. Now areas for us that we're still paying attention to, you might have seen some of this in the news lately, we're really focused on labour participation. We've got about a 59% labour participation right now and we've got a double down on that. We've seen an uptick in the state, we've seen some improvement, but guess what? We have not seen that improvement here. We've got to do everything we can to make sure we're working strategically, intentionally, in a collaborative fashion to bring strategies to the table to deal with labour participation. We can't afford to let one person be on the sidelines. We need the workforce. We have an amazing skilled workforce right now but we have to add to it and that is a major area for us in economic development because it will have a huge impact on every one of our communities, particularly for Rav Peach Parish because we are the economic anchor for the entire region and we need everybody. We need all people having an opportunity to take part in the new jobs that are being created and to see opportunities fulfilled for their families and that is a big commitment that we have moving forward. I think I'd also just share with you that as we look to the future, our focus is not going to change. It is about implementing our strategic plan. You're going to find with me that I am very focused. You don't do those plans, you don't go through that exercise, you don't hear from the public, you don't hear from your community leaders and business leaders and then put it on the shelf and just keep doing what you've been doing. I think we've heard the old saying, you keep doing what you're doing, you're going to keep getting what you're getting.

And we can't keep doing that.

And that's why I'm here. I'm not here to accept status quo. I'm not here to accept complacency and I will challenge complacency because it's part of my job to do that. This is an amazing place. We have tremendous assets and I believe that we can compete. In fact, we're doing it. We are competing. While we're building an organization even to do more because we're not going to be passive. We're going to go out, we're going to put the pads on, we're going to get in the field and we're going to compete to the And so we're going to continue to do that. You know, I also love sharing sometimes with communities, particularly when you're the economic anchor. I just want to share a couple more numbers as I kind of round out, Mr Chairman, and I'll sit down because I obviously don't want to dominate your agenda. But I certainly want to give you a little bit of an appreciation of the contribution that Alexandria made. We have, let's see, one, two, three, four, five, about six major sectors that we follow pretty consistently. Healthcare, manufacturing, the agricultural space, defence, aerospace. Speaking about aerospace, maybe you all saw that small little announcement that the state made this morning having to do with some rockets going out of space. Well, let me put that in perspective a little bit. We've been saying transformational as it relates to the data centre and that's really a $3.2 billion project that will ultimately be almost $7 billion to $10 billion once it's fully realised. If you have a five-year-old or a seven-year-old at home and you ask them, hey, will you start counting from one all the way to a billion? Anybody want to take a guess on how long it will take them to count to a billion? Even taking in breaks, taking considerations, but for every minute that is available for that seven-year-old to count to a billion. 32 years for that young person to count to a billion. And our data center project is seven billion. The SpaceX announcement was $100 billion. The state of Louisiana's state budget is $4750 billion. This one project is $100 billion. Needless to say, that in the next 10 years, 11,000 jobs is going to have a transformational, catalytic opportunity for the entire state. Now, why am I bringing that up to you? recognizing that we have about 1,500 indirect aerospace jobs that are supported in Alexandria, Pineville alone. And then when you add the defense, which is one of our biggest impacts to our local economy, we're actually setting, I think, in a very strategic position to take advantage of that type of announcement. Because the industry clusters that support that, we are well positioned for. When it comes to metal fabrication, when it comes to adhesives, plastics, you have an entire industry cluster and with our geographical location being out of the hurricane zone, I believe it's going to open up some more opportunities for us to recruit new capital investment in the aerospace industry. specifically because you're already contributing to that industry sector now. And we have room. We have the location and sites. In fact, I'm so excited to let you know that now we have been brought in to help with the redevelopment of the old IP site that is probably going to end up being one of the top five industrial manufacturing sites in the entire state. And now economic development is leading from the front on the redevelopment of one of the state's top industrial sites in the entire state, opening us up for opportunities in aerospace manufacturing, secondary supply chain manufacturing. I am so excited. I'm trying to kind of regulate My enthusiasm because this announcement is so timely with everything else that's happening. We have an amazing flywheel effect that's going on here in central Louisiana. And so I just want to say thank you for letting me come and just have a couple of minutes to report on what we're doing. We're not going to slow down. In fact, we're building the team. I've got a new team member with me now, my new vice president for strategic initiatives and partnership, Lindsay Green. She's had a tremendous capacity. We're going to continue to build the organization because when you call on me, I want to be ready. I want to be responsive. And I am committed to your mission and your vision. And I'll certainly open myself up to questions.

In your forecasting of names, what skill sets are we down in in Maine?

We need all the welders we can get. We need all the pipe fitters. We need all the electricians. We need all the computer programmers. And here's what's kind of neat. Not only do we need the traditional four-year track, but we also need those stackable credentials. We also need the trades in ways that we have not seen in decades. With all the projects that we have in the pipeline, with the projects that are in the construction phase, we need to double down on that. Even when the data center is fully operational, those jobs still fall into HVAC, security, computer programming, And these are unbelievable. 215 of those jobs are going to be making $91,000 or more. Not with a four-year college degree. With stackable credentials. Pretty important.

We can't produce enough. Yes, sir? Has the trade school been notified of this new announcement in Are they going to be responding accordingly?

The whole state is responding. In fact, this is a great example of Governor Landry's whole of government. They've been working very strategically. Now, for us, our focus has still been on elevating the trades just because of our own projects that we have right here. But we know we're going to be in a position to do more, and we need more. We need to scale programs in ways that we hadn't even thought about.

Now, can you give me some of the pros and cons about the data centre?

Yeah.

Give those to me.

So, the cons, I'd be hard-pressed. Outside of... I think what typically happens is that, particularly in the landscape that we're in, folks have taken a lot of misinformation, particularly the stuff that they've found on the internet while they're going through ChatGPT and others, which is a little ironic, because you're supporting... The data centre operations, it's not going away. In fact, what research is telling us, forecasters are telling us, we're not even scratching the surface with the high compute need that we need, not only from a national security standpoint, but just building the infrastructure we need to maintain the demand that we have. These phones that are in your pocket are more powerful now than they ever have been, and that's not going to stop. I think the areas that people, I think, oftentimes get a lot of misinformation is utilities. It's going to come back onto the ratepayers. That is not the case. Applied Digital is paying for 100% of the added infrastructure for the utility costs. That is not coming back onto the ratepayer. The second most widely questioned that we get is on the water use. Well, the water use is actually the equivalent of about a half a dozen homes because it's being used for the employees' bathrooms and break rooms, et cetera. It's not... That's right. It is a loop system that they bring in and minimal, minimal water use as it relates to what even some folks have experienced in the first couple of generations of data centers. Yes, there are some data centers that the technology, they used a lot of water, but that's not the case now with the next gen of the data centers.

The other one is particularly sometimes communities, they ask a lot of questions about housing.

And we try to actually provide information, hey, are you prepared for the influx of housing, particularly on construction? Do you have the right ordinances in place, the right regs in place for temporary housing, work camps, et cetera? We're actually seeing that pretty smooth here. We have not heard of any major issues as it relates to that, which is a good thing. In fact, we've actually heard from your hotelers that rooms in blocks are booked out for the next three years. I wish we had more hotels right now. We could fill every one of them. Yes, keep them coming. Please keep approving them because we need more. The amount of change in the time frame, right, because this is going to take about two years to build out the first phase of this whole development. And you're going to see, you know, in fact, we had some numbers given to us, and we're going to be producing some economic dashboards. We need construction to go for a certain period of time so we can track that information. Parish numbers are saying we're actually over 25%. In tax collection, the city of Boyce is over 250% tax collections just in the last quarter, and we've only been in construction for five months. So there is a huge benefit, and it's just about positioning your community, making sure that we have the right processes in place, the ordinances in place, because we know growth is going to come as a result of it.

Is there anything that the city needs to do that it hasn't done?

The first part.

Is there anything the city needs to do that it hasn't done?

Well, I'm constantly advising we always need to do temperature checks, right? When's the last time that we looked at our codes and ordinances? What does it look like for small business permitting? Because a lot of small businesses, they follow these kinds of developments. Do you have the ability to act quickly? Do you have the ability to shepherd small businesses, startups through your process without a lot of regulatory hindrance? What do your code and ordinances look like for new housing development of all sorts, of all types? We need a diversification of housing stock. We need that in the entire central Louisiana region, not just in Alexandria. But because Alexandria and Pineville is the economic anchor, I've encouraged... both administrations on both sides of the river to be proactive on that front because it's coming. And now we have an opportunity. So can you welcome investment at the speed of business? That's the question.

Okay. Yeah. Mr. Massengill. Yes, sir. I was noting when you say we need to weld those pipe filters and trade workers. Along with the community college, I know LSUA is getting ready to engulf in a large nursing school to help along the way. The $3.2 billion at the data center with the $91,000 a year income, What would be the qualifications for those persons at 91,000, and how many people are expected to be able to attain that?

So about 200 of those positions will be rated with those kind of classifications, and when I tell you master plumbers, electrician, Those are the positions we're talking about, and those positions will be part of that $91,000 that they'll have an opportunity to earn. And they are mandated to do that because of the arrangement and the project and the callbacks that we have as a part of the economic development package.

And just one other thing. With the return of United, so we have Delta United and American, is that something you get in?

Oh, that's... Absolutely. That's a huge positive for the entire region. We applaud the England Economic Development and Industrial District. They serve as the industrial development authority for all of Rat Peach Parish, including the city of Alexandria. We work with them very closely. They are a key partner in the Coca-Cola project. They're a key partner in the data center project. And that's a good thing. So bring us more. Having more options, more flights, more opportunities. creates more synergies and more opportunities for business.

I don't have a question, but I want to thank you, Mr. Chris, for having an open-door policy. You have always invited me to your meetings and to share with the projects that you have done, and I want to thank you for that, and you have a wonderful partner, Ms. Green, that is super dynamic. So we appreciate you, and we hope that you continue to inform us on all the projects that you have.

Thank you, Councilman Parrish. I appreciate it. Yes, sir.

What does that mean?

Good question. It used to be the unemployment rate. For decades we would follow the unemployment rate. It's still important but what we've recognized now in the new economy, it's not the unemployment rate. It is the labor participation rate because it tells us the number of individuals that are either looking for a job or are employed. So there is a whole subset of individuals for a lot of good reasons. Most of the time it's transportation and child care. It could be some educational, there could be some other, there could be some health-related. There are a small subset of that that have to be on the sidelines for some legitimate regions. But what we're finding when we're studying this issue, it really is transportation and child care are the two biggest impediments for individuals getting back into the workforce. And for us, it's the raw numbers. It's the individuals that we have to recruit to go to work in one of our in one of our businesses.

Is it transportation in Alexandria or just in general transportation?

It's in general. That's usually across the board. When you dive into it, that barrier is across the board and we're finding that all over. It's not just an Alexandria issue, it's a statewide issue because when you are interviewing, when you're looking and when you're investigating, when you're looking at the research, the two biggest impediments for people not getting into the workforce is transportation and child care.

And childcare is very important because we want births.

It's critical. If I was Elon Musk for a day, I'd take all that money and I'd put it into childcare. It'd be my number one investment. You're welcome. Thank you all very much. Please call on me any time.

We'll appreciate you greatly.

Absolutely.

Item two. To hear a quarterly report from the Administration on Minority Contracts and Permits Mr. Caffrey, I received this report. Are you going to be the person to speak on this, Mr. Johnson, or no one? Anyway, I'm sorry.

Well, hello, and good afternoon, Councilman. I mean, we can answer questions. Attorney Billings is here as well. We can answer questions that you may have about the report you received.

Mr. Fowler or Mr. Gillings?

All right. Well, I know one thing. You've given us this chart and we can't really see it.

So we sent that to you prior to the printed version digitally so that you could actually examine it.

Well, we've had people show up today to ask questions and talk about it. My main concern is Mr. Goins and Mr. Caffrey There's the permitting process. Tell me if I'm wrong. I've had builders, people who want to tear down houses, were told to get a permit. They had to go out of town to tear down buildings to get permits from Alexandria.

So, Mr. Green, the permitting question is not relevant to the report that we provided. That would be a separate matter that we could actually research and answer for you at a later date.

Okay. Well, my initial request was to receive the report of minority contracts and permits.

So we don't classify permits in that manner. They are classified relative to the source of work that the individuals would be doing, whether it's commercial permitting, whether it's residential. It is not classified in relation to race. It's just classified into just permits. It's permits, that's correct. And so if there was a specific question relative to those permits, we would be able to research that and get that information back to you, which we would do now.

Okay, so our committee, if we delay this two weeks, Mr. Caffrey, will we get a detailed...

If you would send me a specific request relative to what the information is that you're asking us to provide, if that information is available or exists, then we will give you an answer, yes. And you would probably have it prior to that.

I'll tell you what, to put a fine point on that, I know that there's some people here who have some questions. Do you have any questions, Mr. Price?

No, sir.

I have a question. Okay. All right, all right. We're dealing with...

I'll deal with permits in general. We've got so many different kinds of permits that we issue. Probably 200 or 300, I would imagine.

Well, my focus was just on minority contracts.

Yeah, okay.

All right.

Ma'am, what we would do is come back to your situation, and if we don't get to it today, I'll meet with you after the meeting to take down your concern.

All right. Okay?

I'm sorry. I have a question in the back, yeah.

Good afternoon. My name is Richard Horton. I'm just the new chairperson for the Mid-Louisiana Regional Chamber of Commerce. And one of the things that we were looking for, because I have not yet seen it, is reporting of contracts or vendor contracts related to services provided to the city of Alexandria. And that percentage is based on the fee program. And do we have a reporting on that?

Well, we have a report, Mr. Horton, but I don't really understand it. So I would need for someone for the administration to interpret it for me.

That's the same thing I'm asking because there are certain guidelines that are there. Now, understand this. It's not that I represent a lot of small businesses within the community and they're looking forward to and they're not reliant upon the city for the contracts, but they would like to know if there's opportunities for them to get there. contracts. Because of the process that has been going on prior to today, they've been discouraged not to even apply or not to even participate. They're discouraged because of how the process takes place. When they apply and everything. They go through a runaround. Like we were saying, as far as licensing and stuff like that, the insurances, because they'll get the insurance that's required, then they have something additional comes up. So instead of when they come in there and make the application and someone, they bring the information that they read through the application process and they bring it, then there's additional things added to it. But they're not walked through that process, what they're missing. But they get walked through the application process. But when they get there and put the application in, there's always additional things on there.

Are these folks aware of the capacity building programs? I know you've been to a few.

Yes, and that's even in capacity building programs. Because a lot of times we're looking at maybe vendor applications for getting certain smaller contracts, which are $30,000 or less. Even in that process, it becomes a hassle for them. making that process. And so they get discouraged and say, well, I don't even want to deal with it. But they don't have to, but it's nice to have and nice to be available on it. Even in the contracts and in mentions on the RFP contracts, it mentions about going to the diversity site. and looking up and contacting different agencies such as Louisiana Central, which is at one time, but on the site it says one thing, but the name of the business has also changed. They don't have Mid-Louisiana Regional Chamber of Commerce listed on there, and many of the other businesses that are economic development entities that they can contact to find out about who's available as minorities. Those things have not been updated. on that website. And so it becomes discouraging to know that, okay, we're supposed to look here to find, but those sites are not available. Those links are not available. And so we're looking forward to improving on that and hopefully We'll get some changes and some adjustments and stuff and hopefully have some more conversation with the diversity. Now, diversity, as we all know, it puts numbers as far as what the city is required to do, but we don't want to look at what required numbers are because that's a limitation. So we don't want to look at that. Just say we're just small businesses. We would like to have opportunity and get an opportunity to surpass any type of being discouraged going forward and trying to even obtain certain things. Like I said, ordinance goals and stuff like that, We don't want to look at that ordinance code. We want to look at it's even across the board for everyone to have the opportunity. If you're coming about to the city and you're a legitimate business, you have your LLC, you have your insurance, everything's in place, you have proper accounting, you're paying your taxes and everything, we want to make sure that they're not limited by saying, oh, we only require to have 10%. So because of that, you know, we've already met that criteria. And then, you know, you're not getting that opportunity. So we don't like the limitations related to that. We want to be able to apply for opportunities either through justice service contracts, which are $30,000 or less, or even RFPs. And that's what matters the most, is the opportunity and not running across those roadblocks. And if a person does come there and they may be missing something on their... on their application, don't just say, well, you don't have this on your application and leave them sitting blank. Help them through that process of ensuring that that application is complete and that thing that they're missing, help them and guide them through that next step of making sure that that part is completed. That's what we're looking forward to as small businesses.

Yes, sir? Could you stick around? I got a question for you.

Yes. And I know sometimes you hear the contracts about lawn service and stuff. I know this is something I always talk about. And I know the contracts come out about lawn service. And a lot of people that have lawn services and stuff, they don't worry about it. They have their lawn, their yards, they do. more than that. They're not looking to deal with all the stuff with contract jargon and stuff like that. They just want to cut some yards. But we do have a couple that just recently came up that do lawn service. They are looking to go further and get contracts and stuff. So we want to make sure that that pathway is clear going forward and we be able to assist them and also the city also assist them in any type of roadblocks they may come across or any shortages they may have to assist them to get over that hurdle.

Thank you, Mr. Horton. Thank you. Can I ask Mr. Horton something?

Okay. Madam President? So, Mr. Horton, I just wanted to know, like, do you be aware when contractors come in, minority contractors come in and make a bid through the city?

Yes, ma'am. I follow what's going on with the contracts and stuff. That's happening. Yes, ma'am.

Can you please not put that block? Can you put it over here? No, you don't block.

Yeah, we're aware of the RFPs that come out and stuff and everything, but not all of the vendor stuff. Remember they had the vendor card that was out and the mayor pulled back all the cards and stuff like that. Even those, just local purchases of certain items that are small, like $10,000, maybe $5,000, $2,000 for supplies of stuff, toilet paper.

So can you make us aware, like send us an email when you have someone that actually... Every time.

Well, I can't do that because there's a reporting system through the APIC program that each division head is supposed to be doing on the purchases that they make, local purchases that they make, and they're supposed to be reporting to you guys.

on that. So you should get that awareness through that reporting.

There's supposed to be a monthly reporting on that. So that would be something that you would give to us and you would review yourself. But we haven't yet. We're supposed to get that report. We still haven't got it. And so like I said, that's sometimes discouraging when you don't get that. But there's certain things that paper inside the building. I know suppliers that all day long supply toilet paper, cleaning supplies and stuff like that all day long. Air fresheners and stuff but they don't get that opportunity because and I understand it because when you have a certain supplier you kind of stick with that person because that's who you want but yet there are more small businesses and opportunities out there that people want to grow and give them an opportunity.

Okay, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I want to know, is Mr. Caffrey going to make a presentation, or how are we going to do this?

If you have questions about the report, Mr. Wolverine, you can ask those questions and we can answer them.

Okay. Well, I'm going to ask and open anyone. What did you give me? What is this?

This is the report that the council has requested that is required by the ordinance for us to provide. It gives you a synopsis of the status of where we are. It also gives you a breakdown of the costs of the spend that we have made in those various departments and areas across the city. If you look at the first page, it gives you a chart that you see across the room in front of you, and it gives you a description of the ordinance's goals, the 2025 annual and 2026 quarterly report.

Is there any way we can get this blown up? We can provide you a blown-up copy. Yes, sir. Really small. So, Mr. Caffrey, in a quarterly report, and I'm reading...

2025, 15.38. Now, this is the first time I've requested a quarterly report that we should be getting. A quarterly report is every four months, so this should be January, February, March, and April. We're now in August. To my knowledge, the administration has not, I just say my knowledge, sent down a quarterly report for the past four months until I requested this information to date. Do we have to request this from you all, or will you all automatically send it since the city really wants to know what's going on with the diversity and inclusion in this area, in this city? We will send a report down any time the council requests it. So, once before in council meeting, we did request one every quarter, again. I had never, I hadn't received one. I may be the only one that missed it in my email, which is possible. I don't know about the other seven, six council persons, but we were requested, we did request a total report each quarter, Ms. Perry. And did you all receive one the last quarter? This is the first time you've seen one before me. Am I the only one not receiving it?

No, you're not.

No, you're not. You're not. If you can, we'll read it.

I also asked for documentation too.

Okay. Well, that seems to be a factor that communications is faltering between the administration and the council on their request for information that is needed to be given to the citizens for our digestion to be able to relate to the citizens. So if you all could do this on a standard basis, it would be greatly appreciated, sir.

Yes, sir.

Any other thing on this? Ms. West, do you have something to say?

I just have a comment, a few comments.

So to address Mr. Horton, this report is, so I work on this program and this is something we meet with the departments and report to the division heads. It was never required to bring it to a full report to the council. And previously when I do recall you requesting, I was out with the passing of my mother. And so for This particular program, when you were talking about the processing, I don't understand the issue with vendors being able to participate because what we're talking about here, we request information from vendors consistently, every department. We get at least three quotes for every purchase. And we always try to get at least one of those quotes from a minority vendor. We're not going to say just because a minority vendor is giving a quote, we're going to go with them. We still have to be fiscally responsible, and they have to be the best quote. So I just wanted to let you guys know that.

Can you explain this report to us?

So every department is listed on this side.

Okay.

And then... Each column, so it's minority, small business, women business, and women and minority-owned businesses are in the other columns. And then there's a total at the end letting you know the exact percentage for each department. And at the bottom is the total percentage for the entire city.

So you put together this chart?

No, the finance division puts together that chart.

But before you go there, can this print in the future

Be larger?

We can see it, read it. I mean, you're blind, and I promise, this small print, I need a magnifying glass.

It was emailed in a PDF version, so on the computer you can zoom in, you can print it larger, zoom on...

But when you print it, it still looks the same. It still comes out smaller.

When you go to the print view, you can increase the percentage to roughly 130, 140, and it'll fill up the entire picture. That's why I sent it in a PDF version.

Okay. All right, Mr. Muffin, go ahead, sir.

No, I was just going to explain, if you look across the top, you'll see the labelings. It's minority, small business, women business, women minority, and then blank as if someone didn't fill out anything. And then over to the right, whenever you see minority, that is a sum of minority and women minority. And when you see the column that says women, that is a sum of women business and women minority. When you're looking across the top and towards the bottom right of the page, the highlighted is the percentages for the entire year with minority for the 2025 calendar year being 15.38% and the women being 8.32%. And then for quarter one of this calendar year, you have minority at 13.36% and you have women business at 7.36% of total spending.

Mr. Green, I would like for these numbers to be blown up so that the people here can see them. And I can see them so that, you know, this discussion can be meaningful.

It's hard to read, and I understand you're saying by blowing it up. I have a computer with me at home. I'll have her to do it for me now because I promised when I got this this morning at 730, I was looking like, what the Sam H is this?

Yes, and the email, too. I'm not sure if they forwarded y'all the email, but Donna and Emily have the email of the PDF.

And they tried blowing it up, and they weren't able to do so. Is that correct, Ms. Em? I don't want to put words in your mouth now. That is correct.

Okay. But this would be in Adobe, and we don't really have access to it.

So if the information is going to be presented to us, it must be large enough for us to read and to consume it. And in the future, we would be greatly appreciative, and I would be, because I'm... you know, my focus and everything trying to. So, in the future, when you do your reports, we would greatly appreciate it. You would help us to understand what you're presenting to us to digest.

Okay. And the totals are blown up on this graph here, too, for the totals that I just stated for the year and for the quarter one of this year.

All right.

Okay.

You know, I...

You know, I can applaud you for separating out what's minority, what's not minority, but that's what I was saying, that we don't want to be identified as minority, women minority, and stuff like that. Don't want that type of identification on there. Then you're looking at percentages and limitations, okay? Now, I would like to see it where, just see where your spending is on a particular product, and then look at your vendors. equal among all the vendors for that particular product versus minorities, women minorities and all this stuff like that. Don't separate it like that. Just do it basically by these are small businesses that would like to provide services to the city of Alexandria and that are these services being spread out amongst everyone? Okay, versus... I know you have to get the best price and stuff like that. And I understand the pricing and everything like that is a concern. But at the same time, have those conversations with those other vendors. Hey, right now, your pricing is not at that point. At the price point that we need you to be at. And can you make that adjustment?

That's what I'm saying about

them getting discouraged when they're constantly putting in for something and not getting it and then not being explained as to what is hampering or stopping them from being a competitor in that space. And I know a lot of times you have larger companies, they can do better price points. You know, Walmart does better price points than most people around here, right? But people want to get small businesses going out of business because Walmart's price points. But giving that small business an opportunity to be able to compete at least letting them know where they are in that space. And not necessarily by, you know, as I always say, it's not about the race thing. It's not about that. It's about a small business trying to come up and become a larger business. And that's when you're talking about capacity and stuff. Do they have the capacity?

gain that capacity to not give them anything to build on.

And that's what helps them get that capacity. And maybe they can reach out to other suppliers instead of trying to go to the same supplier to get the better price points on the supplies. That way they can get a better price point on the sale. So that's where I'm looking for the assistance with this. Thank you.

And to touch on that, this report is all compiled after the fact, so it's not a beforehand trying to build a certain thing. Like Stacy said, we purposely do the three-quote system, so we try to make sure one of our quotes, if it's not the amount which needs a bid, we purposely do a three-quote, try to make sure one of the quotes is from a minority vendor, which I know Mr. Price, we probably annoy him with the amount of quotes we try to get. This is all taken after the fact. Any RFP, any bid, anything like that, we encourage all applications. As far as this reporting goes, this is all after the fact. Just taking the data, showing you where we spent it, and by ordinance we are supposed to. This is us providing it.

Thank you. Committee, anybody else? Do you want to speak for one second?

Yes.

When Mr. Horton was in there, it made me want to go ahead and get up. I'm Steven Williams. I'm a local contractor here that does demolition and other things in the community. I had asked Ms. Perry and Mr. Green there I do demolition work. Six years ago, they used to bid to work out, lowest bidder got it. They went to a rotating list. I was tearing down houses. So in order to get on the city, the rotating list, they say I needed insurance and license and all that. So I went and got insurance, license and all of that. The original contract for the first three years said that you needed two years demolition experience, which I had. I'd been tearing down houses for private individuals. The second term or the third year said that I needed two years demolition with a public entity. So what Ms. Shirley explained to me is that I needed to have two houses tore down from a public entity, getting paid through a public entity because the houses get tore down the same. Same inspector, same everything. Same inspector that does the stuff comes to inspect my stuff. but I don't get paid through a public... So I asked her, how can I get opportunity if you don't give me one? She said I need to go out and come back. So if I'm a local here and I spend all my money here and I do the same thing just like any other demolition, I got all the credentials, but I can't get opportunity. I'm not asking for a handout. I'm just asking for opportunity to be able to get on the demolition list. And so that goes a little further. I buy property. I try to keep the neighborhood up. I own a center that I'm trying to fund. If I would get an opportunity of making some money through the city, through the demolition, I could do other things to help the community. I could help the crime with the children and stuff on different things. So I'm not asking for any handout. I'm just asking for opportunity in what I'm doing and what I do contracting in.

Okay. Sir, I know your face. What's your name?

Stephen Williams. Stephen Williams.

Yes, sir. Thank you, Steve.

My name is Freddie Price and my name was invoked a minute ago about getting bids. the ordinance that this council approved. And I have been talking about implementation. The programs are in that executive order. If they are carried out, then we minority businesses will see the benefit of those executive orders and what's in that executive order. The council knows about it. The administration knows about it. What we don't see and what we're hearing is there's not the proof that it's actually being done. Ms. Stacy, I know her, Mr. Caffrey, Mr. Goins, we've gone to committees, we've gone to workshops. There was one that has been done in this past year. about educating minority businesses on how to do business with the city. There's supposed to be a vendor agreement, a vendor listing of all vendors. That's supposed to be able to be there. The mayor himself stood here and said that on the website, on the city website, you write minority business will be able to go, business will be able to go to that website, see what the city is behind and see if they're available. Do they have the capacity? to produce what the city is buying. In the executive order itself, it talks about being able to help minorities if they don't have the capacity to be able to get the capacity that the city will aid minority businesses to do that. I'm looking at your sign there that was produced in 2005. That's not a part of what the ordinance says. Those are not the numbers. I don't know where those numbers come from. They're not the numbers that are in the ordinance unless the ordinance was amended, and I don't think it has been amended. So what I would like to see is, as you said, Mr. Green, it is a requirement in that ordinance that the city will produce a report. You don't have to ask for it. It's in the ordinance. It's spelled out in the ordinance what the requirements are. The city is supposed to be working with all of their departments to get those numbers, the reports of who they're doing business with. And it says that if they don't do it right, they might be subject to disciplinary action. All of that is in the 2009 executive order, which the mayor says he helped write and did write. So I sit here and my name was called. I was quiet. But I want to let you know that I've been watching this for a long time. And you, the city council, is not getting the information that you need in order to see that what's in the ordinance is being carried out for businesses that are in there. I hear Mr. Horton talks about Don't talk about numbers and labels. It's in the ordinance. The mayor wrote the ordinance. And we would like to see the city and the council hold the administration to carrying out the ordinance. If it's implemented correctly, then businesses like mine, and just like the gentleman said, we're not asking for a handout. We're not asking for a favor. The ordinance is already there. Implement the ordinance. That's what I'm asking you all to do.

All right. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Price.

Mr. Mr. Green to address a couple of things. So there will be an RFP that will go out next week relative to the rotation of demolition contractors for the city of Alexandria. That information is available through the community development office, which is part of the planning division. But we will make sure that that information is put out. So individuals will know that. Secondly, with regard to the information contained in the display that you see in the room, those numbers are directly from the ordinance in relation to the percentages. If you would note that it is 10% for minority owned businesses and 10% for women owned businesses. Internally, we've been operating with a 15% minority owned businesses and 7% businesses in 2020 2025. the annual percentage was 15.38% minority owned businesses and 8.32% for women owned businesses. And then the 1st quarter of 2026, it was 13.36% for minority owned businesses, which was roughly a spin of. 797 000 and for women owned businesses with 7.36 so that is in line with regard to the ordinance that has been established there is a monthly report there's a quarterly reporting process as ms west just pointed out so as mr carpenter pointed out that's been conducted with our departments providing that information so that we can make sure that these numbers are accurate In regards to anyone that is seeking to do business with the City of Alexandria, there is a process that is in place for that. They can reach out through our purchasing division, which is housed under our finance, excuse me, purchasing department, which is housed under our finance division, and they can walk through that particular process. The goods and services, and it should be noted that these are discretionary dollars. So the dollars that we're talking about and discussing are dollars that we decide what it is that we're going to purchase. If we're purchasing pens, those are discretionary dollars. If we're purchasing paper, discretionary dollars. And so we normally have a three-quote system that is in place for purchase over a certain amount or purchases of a certain amount. or any purchase, shall I say, and you get those particular three quotes. It is the best quote that we go with, that we're required to go with with regard to that. And so that is the practice that we have in place at this point in time.

Okay.

All right. Mr. Caffrey. I got a question about that, if you don't mind, sir. Go ahead, sir. All right. Mr. Caffrey, for fiscal year quarter one for 2026, minority-owned business percentage is 13.36%, correct? Yes, sir. All right. Are any workers or executive staff members included in that number? Yes, sir.

That does not include our staff. That would be non-discretionary spending as it relates to the budget total. These are just purchases and things. That does not include staff or fringe benefits or anything like that.

All right.

It also doesn't include items that you have to bid on or things that you have to bid on, jobs that you have to bid on as well. This is only discretionary purchasing of the city.

okay and the same applies for seven point three six percent okay so no no no payroll no friends all right i mean i'm not on committee it's not right okay so um mr capri if if i were to come and ask you to pull a contract which is 13 points uh let's say the 13.3 percent that's a minority and you're going to have it If I want to see it, I can see it.

You can see the purchases that we spent, the companies or entities that we spent that money with, with regard to those discretionary purchases, yes. Okay.

Any other questions? All right, Mr. Caffrey, we looked. in the future for getting those timely quarterly reports from the administration.

And let me clarify, you are requesting that the administration provide the council with a quarterly report for APHIS, that is correct? Correct. Based upon the information that you see before you now?

Correct. All right. And we're going to come back. I'm going to resubmit in proper language the information on permits where we'll get a clarity on that. Okay. Any other questions?

I have a question. Don't you guys do monthly reporting of some sort? Or is it just all quarterly reporting?

I do monthly meetings.

And that's what the ordinance is?

So monthly I meet with departments and I talk to them about any issues they may be having.

Okay. Thank you.

All right. Monthly I meet with the departments and talk to them about how we can increase their numbers, any issues they may be having with reaching out to vendors or reaching contractors who may be able to help with a certain thing or if they're just having issues. A lot of times we went to this three-quote system and they were used to using who they wanted to use. So it was encouraging them to continue with the system. It's a process. Yes. And so... We meet with them, we talk about that, and then quarterly we meet with the divisions.

All right. So the only way for us to get information is just every quarter. We would not get everything on a monthly basis.

We don't run the reports monthly, no.

Okay. All right.

Okay. That's it. Economic workforce development planning is adjourned. Thank you kindly for all of your participation and your time. Madam President, I need it.

SpongeBob SquarePants. SpongeBob SquarePants.

SquarePants. SquarePants.

The Alexandria City Council meeting is called to order Tuesday, August 25th, 2026. Alexandria City Council meeting and Council Committee meetings are broadcast live and may be viewed live by the public on Optum Cable Channel 4. A rebroadcast may be viewed on Optum Cable Channel 4 and the City of Alexandria website. We're going to have the invocation by Minister June Edison and we're going to have the pledge of allegiance by Councilman Laverdine.

Heavenly Father, I don't want to stand here and just say words, but I come praying to you, asking you in the name of Jesus, God, give wisdom in this room. Let counsel be wise, Father. And God, let all decisions be made with clear hearts, clear heads, honest agendas, Father. And God, move this city indeed forward and together. So I pray now for this city. I pray for all departments in this building, and certainly I pray for the administration in this council. So I ask you to move us forward in decision-making, in motives, in opportunities, and just enlarge and increase this city for the good. Amen.

Amen. Please face black.

You can do roll call, please.

Mr. Johnson. Here. Ms. Felder. Here. Mr. Green.

Present.

Mr. Fowler. Here. Mr. Villalraga. Here. Ms. Perry. Here. Madam President, you have a quorum.

Approval of the minutes taken from a regular meeting held on August 11. I need a motion and a second. Second. Motion by Councilman Powell and second by Councilman Beloyed. Any public comments? Your public comments. What section of the written minutes you would like to make a comment on? If it is not in the written minutes, there will not be any discussion or comments, only what is in the minutes. If you have any questions pertaining to any items on the agenda, please contact the administration before or after the meeting. Public comments, discussion? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carried. So tonight we're going to recognize Ash Theatre Troupe, the SpongeBob SquarePants. If we can get the representative or get one individual to come and tell us about SpongeBob and all the activities that's going on with this theatre.

My name is Melissa Hunter. I am the director of this troupe, Troupe 731. And we represent Alexandria Senior High's thespian troupe. We have traveled to Indiana twice in the last two years to the International Thespian Festival, and twice in the last two years we have been asked to perform on the main stage in front of the highest caliber of talent in terms of high school theater in our country. And it is such an immense honor. The first time we were part of a group, but last summer, or this past June, rather, we were our whole production was chosen to perform SpongeBob the Musical on the main stage to two sold-out performances of 1,400 attendees each. And we're so honored. It's been a long road, right? We started... Working on that production last fall, we made it a point to build our entire set, props, costumes, out of recycled materials. So we felt very strongly that we were representing the story in a really moving and exciting way. And we really, I think we did Louisiana proud. We're a very hardworking troupe, and it's paying off because now, with all of this attention, the country is taking notice. We have recently been asked to perform a pilot version of a new musical. So we will be the first high school to perform the high school version of this musical, The Noteworthy Life of Howard Barnes. So if you're interested in that, please come check it out in January. And we also were recently picked to perform on a Broadway stage with Broadway stars in a production of a concert version of The Prince of Egypt. So we're very honored to be included in that. And these kids have been working so hard for that. If you would like to support their journey to New York to make that happen, I know that that would be greatly appreciated. And there are ways to sponsor through our website, ashtheater.net. And anything would help us. We're representing Alexandria and representing Ash. And I think we're the only Louisiana school attending the Prince of Egypt. So we want to make that a really special experience for our students. So anything, even just giving us the time of day today. It goes a long way to support these kids and all the work they do.

Are you all in your auditorium now?

Not yet. We'll be there hopefully in a couple of weeks. I've got to look at it.

It's amazing the school has done as well as it has with the complication they had for the year. We congratulate y'all for the hard work you've put in to make that a success.

Thank you. Thank you so much.

Well, thank you guys. We wish you much success when you go to do the Prince of Egypt. Boy, that won't be nothing like SpongeBob, though. Don't be doing that stuff. Yeah, that won't be nothing like SpongeBob. But also, just like she said, they will be taking donations and you can go to the website at ASH, correct?

ASHtheatre.net or through the RPSB ASH page.

Okay, so y'all make it happen. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Okay.

We're going to stand and ask you to introduce yourselves.

What character do you guys play?

Okay.

Hi, my name is Lorelei Bull.

Hi, my name is Gabe Scales, and I played Catchy the Pirate and Larry the Lobster.

Thank you.

Great. May I ask by a show of hands, who's seniors? Any seniors? All right.

Well, we wish you guys all the luck and come back and tell us about the Prince of Egypt. Thank you, guys.

Thank you so much.

Doing a flash mob for us.

A flash mob?

They wanted a picture. Can y'all just stand right here and we can just stand up so they can get the picture?

Why y'all getting out the picture? Did one of y'all say you were Sandy or did I miss it? Oh, man, okay.

One, two, three.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you so much.

You're welcome.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

I'm hot.

Break a leg.

Okay, consent calendar.

G, consent calendar. Number one, introduction of an ordinance authorizing the mayor to accept a low bid submitted for two-to-four billion dual replacement. Number two, introduction of an ordinance authorizing the mayor to accept a low bid submitted for Jackson Street gas main replacement. Number three, introduction of an ordinance authorizing the mayor to accept the proposals received for electric transmission and distribution emergency services.

A motion, please. Move. And a second.

Second.

Motion by Councilman Fowler, second by Councilman Johnson. Any items to the committee?

Age resolution. Number four, resolution authorizing advertisement for beds for breastfeeding.

Motion, please. Move. Motion by Councilman Beloyed, second by Councilman Fowler. Public comments? All in discussion? All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carried.

Number five, a resolution authorizing advertisement for a beautiful 47-foot sheath height hydraulic digger deck truck.

Motion, please. Motion by Councilman Fowler, second by Councilman Beloyed. Public comment? Discussion? All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carried.

Number six, resolution authorizing advertisement for a four-inch hydraulic drive some Mergeable pump.

Motion, please. Motion by Councilman Fowler. Second by Councilman Johnson. Public comments? Discussion? All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carried.

Number seven, a resolution to co-sponsor the YWCA Girls on the Run Central Movement. Fall 2026, 5K race in November 2026.

Motion, please. Motion by Councilman Beloyed. Second by Councilwoman Felter. Public comments? Discussion? All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carried.

Number eight, resolution to co-sponsor the Junior League of Alexandria to find the Good Day Community Party on September 17, 2026 at a city facility.

Motion, please. Move. Motion by Councilman Fowler, second by Councilman Beloyed. Public comments, discussion?

All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carried. Number nine, a resolution setting a public hearing to be held on October 6, 2026, taking action on the cost of demolition of 21 structures and other costs.

Motion, please. Move. Motion by Council Member Lloyd. Second by Council Member Fowler. Public comments? Discussion? All in favor? Aye.

Any opposed? Motion carried. Aye. Ordinances for final adoption subject to public hearing number 10. To consider final adoption of an ordinance authorizing the mayor to accept the lobby as submitted for extrication tools and battery charges for the fire department.

A motion, please. Motion by Council Member Fowler. Second by Council Member Lloyd. Public comments? Discussion? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carried.

Number 11, to consider found adoption of an ordinance authorizing the mayor to renew the existing contract with Solar Escapes LLC for electric utility right-of-way maintenance.

Motion, please. Motion by Councilman Johnson, second by Councilman Beloyed. Public comments, discussion? All in favor?

Any opposed? Motion carried. Number 12, to consider found adoption of an ordinance authorizing the mayor to renew the existing contract with CBS Cleaning Services for janitorial services for the transit buses. And passenger transit vans.

Motion, please. Move. Motion by Councilman Johnson. Second. Second by Councilmember Lloyd. Public comments? Discussion? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carried.

Number 13, to consider bond adoption of an ordinance authorizing the mayor to enter into perfection services agreement with Pan American Engineer and LLC for Engineering and PHMSA grant-related services.

Motion, please. Move. Motion by Councilmember Lloyd. Second. Second by Councilwoman Felter. Public comments? Discussion? All in favor?

Aye. Any opposed? Motion carried. Number 14, to consider the foundation of an ordinance amending the Alexandria Police Department's recruitment and retention policies and initiatives. Ordinance number 174-2023 in accordance with resolution number 0435-2023 provided for recruitment of post-certified officers.

Motion by Councilman Fowler. Second by Councilmember Lloyd. public comment, discussion?

Yes, ma'am.

I'm sorry.

Exactly how many, I don't know who's going to answer this on the administration. Exactly how many officers' vacancies does the Alexandria PD have currently?

I don't have that information before me, Councilman.

We know that we have hired more than 20 officers this year.

I note that someone chose to write in handwriting that we've all 20 officers were hired more this year. How many officers were sworn officers as APD actually hired in 26? And how many retain employment today?

So, officer means that that person has completed the processing going through and been sworn. I can tell you now that our count total in the rank and file is 103,000. and then we also have active eight for our community services officers group and then there's another 42 total personnel that is within the confines of communications jailers school patrolman records personnel and administrators and my next question is

I wrote these out if I can. What was the APD authorized strength and actual numbers of sworn officers at the beginning of 24, 25, and 26? Sir? I mean, officers that we have in 24, what did we go to in 25, and where do we stand totally now in 26? I don't have those answers before me.

I didn't know that those questions would be asked, but we need you to get information. Repeat what you said. And, yeah, and so the numbers I just gave you are for 26. 103 totals on Component 8 with regard to CSOs and then 42 with regard to sports action.

Question?

The $25,000 incentive available to the newly hired certified officers, will that go to the current APD offers received with retention incentive as well? I'm not sure I understand your question. The $25,000 that they're offering. And I know that they say they're going to give it in increments, $1,250 each year. So what are we going to do for the officers that are down on the police department?

So the administration put forth a raise for the current officers just last year or so.

Yes.

After that, the state police came back two weeks later and did a raise. We are at the top of the scales in regards to that.

If the officer receives the $12,500 payment for one year, but leaves before completing the four-year commitment, is that officer required to repay any portion of the incentive? I'm sure he is.

I have a question. The incentive pay will be paid in two $12,500 installments, first being payable upon the officer's completion of one year of service and the second being payable

of on the office completion of the third year of service over the fourth year. So kind of explain that to me, how that would work.

So they would have to do three years, and then during the process of them working and serving in the fourth year, that is when that second year would begin.

OK. All right. And Will taxes be taken out of this money, or will it be straightened? I just want to make sure. The government wants that money. I understand.

All right. I'm just making sure. I'm just asking, just asking.

Okay, okay. You ready? All right. I'm good. Thank you, Ms. Caffer. All in favor? Any opposed?

Motion carried. Oh, you're not through?

Because I didn't get all of my answers. He's going to get back with me, and I'm not voting for something that I've already told him what we've got going on.

Okay, motion carried. Motion carried. So it passed. Number 15, to consider found doctrine of an ordinance authorizing the marriage renewal professional service agreement with R. Raffi's for cleaning services at Frank O'Connor Gym and the Youth and Teen Center on Sylvester Street.

Motion, please. Motion by Councilman Beloyed, second by Councilman Fowler. Public comments, discussion, all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carried.

Number 16, to consider file adoption when no one is authorized in the mayor to accept a low bid submitted for single-phase full amount, the administration is requesting to reject all bids, and they are going to re-advertise at a later date. Second.

Public comments, discussion, all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carried.

Number 17, to consider foundation of an ordinance authorizing the mayor to accept a little bid submitted for single-based pad mouth. The administration is requesting that this reject all bids and re-advertise at a later date. Second.

Motion by Councilman Fowler, second by Councilman Beloyed. Public comment, discussion? All in favor?

Any opposed?

Motion carried.

J, resolution, public hearing, community development. Number 18. To continue public hearing concerning the condemnation on the following structure, 2417 13th Street, Idella J. and Lennon Pearson, 2904 Cypress Street, NTP, Renable, LLC, Now, No Peahaw, 3520 Queen Court, James William, Weekoff, 1411 South Harbor Street, Lerona, Doherty, et al. I'm 2417. Okay. We'll call you.

A motion to open the public hearing. Move. Motion by Council Member Lloyd, second by Michaela Jones with Community Development. 2417 13th Street, we are requesting condemnation. Is anyone here from that resident?

Okay.

Yes, ma'am.

I've been making progress, ma'am. I have a dumpster there. I only get paid once a month. And, um... This lady here came and took pictures to see my progress. Because they had two houses over there. I mean, when I came up here before y'all last time, I didn't know that it started that day. Because I told y'all I'm going to get paid once in a while. And I'm doing the best that I can. And all I asked is for some help. To give me extension, please.

What's the address here?

2417 13th Street. And we only have two neighbors in the back. There's no house in front. I stay on the side. Other problems.

My question is, are you raising the house yourself? Are you demolishing it yourself?

Yes, sir.

Okay. All right. And you started that process?

Yes, sir. I have been started. But I got beaten up down the road. But now I got somebody to really help me that I trust. And they've been fair about it.

Miss, what does the house look like? So it was two properties on it. The first house was torn down and the second one is in the process.

But it is a lot of trash with a dumpster on the lot. But it has process. She's trying to do it.

Give her the benefit of the doubt. Well, if you're still down one, so you need some help on the second one, is that what you're saying? Please. Yes. 60 days.

60 days. Please.

Yes, we got you. We got you.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Thank you. We got you. I appreciate it.

You're welcome.

God bless you.

You too.

Thank you all so much.

Thank you all so much.

Hey, make sure you come up tomorrow and get your permit with Ms. Pan, okay?

Okay.

Thank you. You're welcome. Just give me a call, okay? Okay, thank you. Any other motion, please?

Move.

Second.

Motion by everybody. Motion by Councilman Lavandine, second by Councilman Johnson. Public comments? Discussion? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carried.

2904 Cypress Street. We're requesting condemnation.

Do we have anyone from that address represented? Move. Second. Move by Councilman I'm sorry. Councilman Fowler, second by Councilman Beloyed. Public comments? Discussion? All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carried. 3520 Queens Court for requesting condemnation. Do we have anyone from that address? Motion by Councilman Fowler. Second by Councilman Beloyed. Public comments? Discussion? All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carried. 1411 South Harvard Street. We are requesting condemnation. Do we have anyone from that address? Motion, please. Motion by Councilman Fowler.

Second.

Second by Councilman Beloyed. Discussion? All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carried. After the recommendation of the administration on each structure on the comment. We need a motion.

And second to close it.

Motion by Councilman Fowler. Second by Councilman Beloyed to close the public. Motion and second to close the public. Public comments? Discussion? All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carried. Meeting is adjourned.