City Council - Regular Meeting

Welcome to our city council meeting today, July 1st, 2025. This meeting is hereby called to order. I need a roll call. Councilman Lewis here. Councilman Bushnell here. Councilman Roberts here. Councilman Inman here. Councilman Barrell here. Councilman Bodsburg here. Council member here. We can all rise for a moment of silence and especially remember the Clanton family at this time and with Triny Lucas lead. Thank you. All right. Moving on on the agenda, we have selection of president. I nominate Mark Verrett to second. I have a motion and a second. Roll call. Councilman Bushnell. Yes. Councilman Roberts. Yes. Councilman Inman. Yes. Councilman Burrell. Yes. Councilman Bodzber. No. Council member Barrett. Yes. Councilman Lewis. No. All right. Um, thank you. And I am humbled by the uh support. I think that politics needs to stay out of the council chambers and I will do everything in that fashion to remain under that scenario. Is there a motion for vice president? Motion for vice president. Is there a second? Second. Roll call. Councilman Roberts. Yes. Councilman

Inman, yes. Councilman Barrell, yes. Councilman Bodsburg, yes. Councilman Barrett, yes. Councilman Lewis, yes. Councilman Bushnell, yes. All right. Appears this evening, we have none. Under the consent calendar, we have our regular meeting minutes of June 3rd. 2025 along with introduction of item number 2025-07-01 an ordinance amending the official zoning map of the city of Covington to reszone lot 1A square 2904 in the division of New Covington city of Covington from neighborhood commercial to institutional and providing for further matters in connection therewith we are also introducing item number 2025- -07-02, an ordinance amending the official zoning map of the city of Covington to reszone a parcel of property containing 5.11 acres in section 42-7-11, city of Covington from neighborhood commercial to community business district. And finally, introduction of item number 2025-07-03, an ordinance amending the official zoning map of the city of Covington to reszone a partial of property situated in section 32, Township 6 South, Range 11 East in the city of Covington from institutional to single family residential. I would like a motion to accept the consent calendar. So move. I would like a second. Second. Roll call, please. Councilman Inman, yes. Councilman Burrell, yes. Councilman Bodford, yes. Councilman Barrett, yes. Councilman Lewis, yes. Councilman Bushnell, yes. Councilman Roberts, yes. Regular agenda, unfinished business. Items to be voted on. Public hearing and action on item number 2025-06-01,

an ordinance of the city of Covington to amend the 2025 operating and capital budget. Councilman Robert. Yes, sir. Thank you. Um midyear budget amendments. Uh I wish we were perfect from the beginning, but we're not because we got to go in and actually is a lot of things that's going on and there's money to be spent on it and and truly proud to say that we're all just keep moving forward. So I don't know how everybody does what they do because I thought we had enough work. There's a lot of work out there. And so you see all the amendments, you see how that's broken down into departments and you see where those things are coming from on the bottom with total uh budget adjustments. So any questions on it? I would say I can defer to administration, but it's kind of clear on what we're doing here. Administration, any comments? Um, uh, my only comment is to reiterate something I've mentioned in the past is if you're just outside looking in and you see this budget amendment and you don't hear a lot of discussion between us, it's because the administration and the council has had a lot of discussion in between us. you know, these numbers just didn't appear. You guys are very active. You, uh, you visit with me, we go through it. Uh, staff explains why we're doing what we're doing. Uh, it's well thought out, but I really appreciate the, uh, attention that you give to the matter, and I don't want that to get lost in just the fact that it looks like we're, you know, kind of like, oh, well, you know, we're just we're just doing this. No, there's been a lot of thought and a lot of input by the council on this matter. Any public comment? Are there additional council comments? I mean, I'll just say it just speaks volumes. The amount of stuff that's happening in Coington and uh to be able to keep up with it financially is important. So, I'll definitely approve this. Absolutely. Um I'm in support of it and I'd like a motion to close the public hearing. Motion to close. I'd like a second. Second. Can I get a motion to

adopt? Motion to adopt. I need a second. Second. Roll call, please. Council member Ralph. Yes. Councilman Bodford. Yes. Councilman Barrett. Yes. Councilman Lewis. Yes. Councilman Bushnell. Yes. Councilman Roberts. Yes. Councilman Emman. Yes. New business. Items removed from the consent calendar is none. We have items to be voted on, including resolution number 2025-16. a resolution of the Covington City Council to consider waving land use permitting requirements for the state of Louisiana expedited temporary housing assistance program. We have done this in the past. It is a requirement in case we are in a disaster. Uh would the administration like to say a few words? Sure. So this is a resolution that we bring to you every summer at the beginning of hurricane season. It's to either opt in or opt out. And what this does is that if we have an event we and we need to get temporary housing brought in, we can we can wave any of our permit regulations and it expedites the process of getting temporary housing in. Thank you. Any public comment? Any council comment? And I'm sorry, just to be clear, you said this is in preparation for hurricane season. No, if we Well, we do this every year during hurricane season. So if we have an event during hurricane season and we need to temporary shelter from the state through goup. We can do that and we can wave whatever permit requirements might apply within our jurisdiction to allow that to come in. Okay. All right. Um I'd like a motion to accept. So move. Can I get a second? Second. Roll call, please. Councilman Bodford. Yes. Councilman Berett? Yes. Councilman Lewis? Yes. Councilman Bushnell? Yes. Councilman Roberts? Yes. Councilman Enman. Yes. Council member Al. Yes. Resolution number 2025-17,

a resolution of the Covington City Council confirming the reappointment of Trreny Lucas as the District Aloyment to the Coington Board of Adjustment for a term of five years. Councilman Lewis. Thank you. Um I've known Trinity a long time. He's a great citizen. um him and his fiance. He served last term and I'm I'm very pleased that he's decided to serve again. Um we've got a great citizen that that does good work for our community and I think we need to praise them every time we get one. Jenny, would you like to say a few words? You can do like the mayor and say a few words. How y'all doing tonight? Um, I've been on the board for two years and um, I'm still learning. It's a learning curve, but it's been definitely a challenge at times and I'm just willing to learn, continue serving. It's fiveyear term. They know that, but that's okay. But I'm glad I'm glad to be back home and serve the community and um just learn as much as I can and implement what I learned. That's all. Thank you for your willingness to serve. Any uh app any further council comment? Uh just a word of thanks, journey. I appreciate you, man, for what you're doing. Absolutely. Thank you very much. Any public comment before we move on? Hearing none, seeing none, I would like a motion to accept. Make a motion to accept. I need a second. Second. Roll call, please. Councilman Barrett, yes. Councilman Lewis, yes. Councilman Bushnell, yes. Councilman Roberts, yes. Councilman Enman, yes. Councilman Burrell, yes. Councilman Boser, yes. Resolution number

2025-18, a resolution of the Covington City Council authorizing the appointment of an assistant city attorney for litigation matters. Uh if anyone is paying any attention to the matters that have come before the city as of late, there are a lot of what I would call um interesting topics. And with that being said, I would uh say that it's it's it would be it would behoove the city to have an assistant city attorney for litigation matters. Any comments by administration? Any public comments? Hearing none. Are there any council comments? I got one. Um, is this something that should be in the budget amendment or will that come later? No. So, we budget at the beginning of the year. We budget funds for there is a tab in your budget binder that says legal and that includes everything we need to pay for our employment attorney for Rod's time. And there is another line item in there that says other just in case issues like this arise. Rod gets paid. Councilman Lewis, anything else? No, I think she answer. Good deal. That was a good question and a good answer. I need a motion to accept. So move. I would like a second. Second. Roll call, please. Councilman Lewis, yes. Councilman Bushnell, yes. Councilman Roberts, yes. Councilman, yes. Councilman Barrell, yes. Councilman Boxford, yes. Councilman Barrett. Yes. Resolution number 2025-9, a resolution of the Covington City Council authorizing the mayor to sign a cooperative agreement between the city of Covington and St. Tamony Parish to undertake eligible community development and housing assistance activities. Councilman Roberts, I thought you were going to finish reading the rest of it there. That's I was, but I seemed seemed like enough to me. Well, it and it is.

And uh and just for clarification, I'm going to defer to administration to uh to just kind of enlighten us more on this. Sure. So what this does is this allows us to apply for CDBG programs. As funding opportunities arise, we would apply under the parish. It was similar to the watershed initiative. You know, the um the lift station panels that we're elevating. We also did some buyouts and you know in floodprone areas. The parish was the applicant. So this puts us back in a position to be able to do that. It opens us up more opportunities. Excellent. Any public comment? Any council comment? Is there a motion to accept? Motion accept. Is there a second? Second. Roll call, please. Councilman Bushnell, yes. Council Roberts, yes. Councilman Imman, yes. Councilman Barrell, yes. Councilman Bosford, yes. Councilman Barrett, yes. Councilman Lewis, it's good to be able to say yes. We I'm sorry. Well, in um in the fashion of this agenda, I had said it before and I'll say it again that we're here to do the people's business and not political events. And the agenda is finished at this time. We will now move on to council comments and reports. Councilman Lewis, District A. Um, District A is doing good. Um, I don't have too much to report at this time. Uh, just stay tuned and watch our uh, social media. That's it. Good deal. District B, Councilman Bush. Now, District B, ozone dugouts are finished and they look awesome. They did public did a great job on those. Uh, Miss Hurley kicked off her summer reading program this last month and children seem to enjoy themselves. should be hosting another summer reading event on July 22nd at Peter Reverend Peter Eckard's Park from 4 to 5. So mark your

calendars and please get out there intent. Uh please remember everybody to shop local and I hope everybody have a safe and happy 4th of July. Thank you. Good comment. Uh District Councilman Roberts speed bumps. That's all I'm gonna No, I'm joking. Uh so we we've got some speed bumps and uh and they seem to be working. So, no no any bad comments, nothing negative that's come across social media. So, it's nice to see that uh they're they're working how they're supposed to work. Uh I know the mayor commented before the one thing bad about speed bumps is punishes the people that don't speed, but I will say that uh again, I have not heard anything negative about having them put in place and and I think we appreciate them. So, thank you so much. Um I got a handwritten note from one of your constituences constituents thanking me. Oh, good. Very nice. I mean, just just thrilled about the speed bumps. And now, we will be we will be picking up some of the the stop signs, right? So that we have a a straight shot through. Yep. But I think it's going to be a good thing for River Forest. I think it's been excellent so far. So, thank you. Thank you for pushing that forward. Uh, two other things. Sparks in the Park. Everybody who had anything to do at Sparks in the Park, you're amazing. Uh, it was a great event. Uh, the last year, if you remember, we we got rained out. Spur of the moment. Um, but this was awesome and I got there quite early to watch people setting up and everything and so just again everybody who does anything with that, it is a mini wheels turning scenario and they all did a great job. So, thank you for that. And then uh lastly, 4 and the 4th is this Friday. Uh, it's going to be at UB Gallagher Park. It's going to start at probably 7 in the morning. We'll be out there with pre-registration. Uh, I think this is the cool thing. It's the 26th year. Uh I think there was only about 20 spots left and we max out at 400 runners. So there's a lot of people on July 4th that's going to be out at Hugh Gallagher Park. But u just word of caution to anybody that lives in that area just be mindful that there'll be people in the street for the first few

hours of that day and then after that enjoy your fourth of July. Good comments. District D Councilman in All right. I'm going to break this down by quadrant really quickly. Uh the southeast quadrant that's from Tyler to Jefferson 11 21st continued traffic assessment that's traffic flow safety speed mitigation speed reduction request for traffic into the bean that's something we looked at at one point as well the northeast quadrant Tyler to Jefferson 21st to 24th uh that's drainage there were some culverts and catch basins put in recently uh so that's a nice thing able to shore up the road as well sewage line repairs uh and then some permit reviews we have a lot of um uh renovations, home repairs, and then of course Jack and Nats, the never ending what's going on there. Um the northwest quadrant, Tyler Buchanan, 21st to uh 24th, more speed mitigation, the police have been out waterline repairs as well in that that neck of the woods. Southwest quadrant, that's Tyler to Minetry, 11th to 21st. More speed mitigation, Minetry and Fillmore. We've had some speed bumps put in on on Manetry tomorrow. A speed hump if I'm remembering correctly will be uh installed as well. Uh there's some flood mitigation stuff that was done on inspiration and uh there was uh some road bed assessments as well in particular on South Taylor and 11 district as a whole the library kids art kids story time and the we did dig rock study including gemstones fossils and that's just for tomorrow. Check out the online schedule. They got lots going on. Um drainage. The Lakewood Northshore ditch pond was dredged. It added additional capacity for storm water runoff. Um it's protecting portions of 18th, 19th, 20th, East and West St. Mary

inspiration and of course my neighbors in the village. Gallagher Park, the tennis court installment will begin in the next few weeks, weather permitting. Um, and I want to say a quick thank you to my neighbors for being such good citizens. Gary Masonry is always out and about checking ditch lines. Jake Vicary, he goes across and cleans Gallagher Park on his own accord. And of course, uh, our own Miss Jan Butler gave me a ring yesterday. We were able to get some people out to the park to uh, assess the damage that was caused by a bunch of limbs that fell. And that was taken care of. and um you know that community involvement is is special. Lastly, a shout out to our city employees, whether it's engineering, they've been amazing. Uh our Covington Police Department, uh with all that they've had to deal with as of late, and public works, my morning drives in the summer, uh I'm looking at road issues, namely potholes, and uh look, public works has been out and about in the district filling those upon the request, and it is greatly appreciated. Happy 4th of July. That it. That's it. Well, I handled some business. Thank you, sir. District E. Councilman Barrell. He ain't seen nothing yet. Just wait. Just kidding. No. Challenge accepted. All is well in District E. Uh Joey commented on Sparks in the Park. Another great event. Weather held out. Was fantastic. Um hopefully some people got to see the new disc golf course that was around the park. see the baskets and the tea uh tea spots that we have. The signs have been ordered. They should be in couple few weeks, something like that. So, we're real close to having that thing completely wrapped up, but it's getting a lot of use already. So, that's exciting and I'm glad people are enjoying it. Um downtown drainage and overlay projects are supposed to start in the relatively near future. I think notes for seed is effective next Monday

the 7th. Same with South New Hampshire overlay. So, there's going to be some construction in the area, but we'll call those growing pains. It's going to be great when it's done. Um, miniature boat launch. Speaking of growing pains, looking fantastic. Getting very, very close. I know some of the citizens and residents in that area want it done even more than I do. Um, but we're getting there. It's going to be a great asset for the city and uh the noise and construction is is nearly done. Um, and then Old Coington Neighborhood Association, they had a survey out over the last few weeks. Um, it closed as of yesterday and we have a meeting in two weeks, the 17th to sit down and discuss how that survey came out and see what we can do to help them address some of their neighborhood issues. Other than that, like everybody said, have a happy 4th of July and everybody stay safe out there. Good stuff, Councilman Law. All right, I just want to give a shout out to the city uh for the kids block party. Was a huge success. I mean, it it was really nice to see that uh all the families out there having a lot of fun. And uh although the rain did kind of come in a little bit at the end, I think the kids have kind of enjoyed that to tell you the truth. Uh not so much the guys with the classic cars. So anyway, um public works uh two shout outs to them. Uh we had a resident in the Savanas and uh Councilman Bushnell uh and myself went over there and took a look at it and they responded immediately and uh cleared out a kind of a little bit of a clogged uh drainage ditch. Uh that should help out in the area as well as uh public works or I guess the they contracted it out to the tree company that went into Bugfly Park from the down trees from that little storm, the water oaks. That was amazing to see those guys that way. They they just came in really quick and got it cleaned up. And uh there was one car I guess that was underneath the limbs, but nobody was hurt. Nobody was uh so that's a good thing. And other than that uh I

wanted to talk about the uh the June June stats for the uh food bank uh averages for uh June 2025 77 daily households uh the total households were 1,218 uh summer stock bags for kids were 619 distributed uh new household registrations 59 new house old signups uh comparison averages of June of 24 there was only 70 daily households and a comparison of uh for June of 2024 was 144. So there's definitely an uptick there. Uh noteworthy items, the 619 summer stock bags for kids were distributed in June. Each school age youth uh on a participant household uh account receive their own food packet at each pickup. The shelves are lean during the summer months. Uh so whatever the community can do to support that uh to have like food drives is would be greatly appreciated as well as funding if you don't want to have a food drive and they encourage everyone to help out stock their shelves. Most needed items are the applesauce, can of spinach or carrots and chicken grits cooking oil and other than that happy Independence Day. All right, piggybacking off of Independence Day, I'd like to echo the comments on Sparks in the Park. It was a wonderful event. The fireworks were longer and higher than I think we've ever had before. The weather was certainly cooperative. Everyone had a great time, even those that were dancing in the pavilion with our uh DJ extraordinaire. Uh hot dog eating contest was as disturbing as it usually is. and the pie eating contest was just downright fun. Um, but I'd like to shout

out to the cultural arts director, Sarata. She does a phenomenal job and um, she put herself on Facebook the other day asking for comments of how the city is doing and how she's doing. Somewhat brave. U, but if you get a chance, u, take her up on the offer. uh because I think she really is concerned about uh wanting to do the best for our community. July 11th at uh St. Paul's High School will be the Kowanas Coington prayer breakfast. I encourage everyone to attend. Uh we are getting a table for the city of Coington and city council and I encourage everyone to participate. July 11th, 7 a.m. July 26th will be the Covenant Heritage Foundation a new signature event. I say everything's a signature event, but I think it'll be good. It's uh at the Columbia Street Landing 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Come by and see how it used to be at the landing. If you have not um paid your membership dues, please do so and join us. July 17th is the Old Coington Neighborhood Association meeting and I would like to ask anyone who is interested in neighborhood issues to come out. You don't have to be uh part of the Old Coington Neighborhood Association. In fact, when they had a potluck uh for the neighbors, there were a few people that attended that don't even live there. And so I would encourage you to come out and give your participation. Uh other than that, let's have a good safe forth and I'll turn it over to administration. Uh thank you, Councilman. A little follow up on Councilman Enman on the tennis courts at Hubie Gallagher. Uh the contractor actually fenced it off today

if you saw that. So, hopefully they're going to they're going to get kicked off on that shortly. Uh, following up on Councilman Bushnell on Ozone Field Dugouts, those were done inhouse by public works, and they really did a great job. But when it comes to the benches, we're actually going to rely on the community effort of the DC dogs, the team that plays there, and the b the players themselves are going to build the benches for the dugouts for the community. We're going to provide the material, and they're going to do the construction. So that's that's a real win for us. Uh if you look across the street from the council chambers, you'll see uh the first floor framing coming up for the police department annex. So that's moving along. I'd like to give a special shout out to facilities employee Brett Seager, someone that just quietly is in the background all the time. When you pass Ellis's shell on Boston Street, those planners, he selected the plants, he purchased the plants on our behalf or with our with our funds and he maintains them. Public works did the little uh quadrant right there closer to uh the Greyhound, but he maintains it and it's got a little pop on Boston Street where it looks nice and colorful. In addition to that, Brett working with recreation department employee Brett Holder and Fatser with facilities and Sarata do the banners in downtown. And if you take a ride through downtown today, you'll see a variety of banners on Sparks in the Park, JM Forever, uh the uh the block party. I think that's really starting to uh to add some vibrancy to our downtown area. Um yesterday we in uh on uh West 33rd Avenue in in um uh over in the West 30s, we celebrated a couple of milestones with the West 30s Redemption Company. In 2017,

West 30s Redemption did a house uh blessing a family through home ownership. Yesterday we celebrated West 30's Redemption Company completing their 75th home in the neighborhood. 25% of the housing stock now being renovated or new housing. $10 million in investment. I would suggest more than any individual or organization has ever invested in that particular neighborhood in the history of the neighborhood. So, we're really excited about that and uh and really blessed by the participation of the banks, the business community, the parish, the state, and uh and our church communities. Each house being blessed and and a part of one of our church communities as it is a faith-based organization. So, a really, really nice thing for Coington. Um on Sparks in the Park, we've mentioned it a couple of times. I'd like to remind the council that two years ago, you were generous enough to up the budget for the fireworks. We were we were using a budget that that dated back to the Cooper administration. And then one day we woke up and went, well, of course they're not going as high and as many as they were 15 years ago. And so so last year it got kind of lost because the the fireworks show and thunder and lightning kind of blended together. They happened at the same time. So last night we got or earlier this weekend we got to see the the real show and and it came off. Um And the secret is if you're on one of the avenues uh on the other side of Jefferson, you can see the fireworks show. And so uh on my street, 20th 22nd Avenue, when the first rocket goes off, neighbors come out of their houses to stand in the street together, watch the show, and then go back in. So uh so it's a really nice thing for Coington. I'd also like to give a special shout out to uh

cultural arts and events employee Josh Davis who was there that day to help. Josh is on maternity leave and and he he he was he's he's off and he came in for that one day knowing that we needed the additional help and that was really nice of him. Um Friday, July 11th, we're going to celebrate the the opening of the boat launch and we're going to have a ribbon cutting at 10:30. So you can go have breakfast with Kowanas and then come right over to the boat launch and I have a fly on my forehead. Is he gone now? And um so we'll have a ribbon cutting there and so we hope the council people will be able to join us for that. And then on July 30th uh the uh the LSU continue education for seniors. Ali uh is hosting a historical storytelling at the Ferman auditorium. uh the early years of the city of Covington presented by this mayor Mark. So we'll be doing that on July 30th. Mayor Mark at the front. That's what we got. Sounds good. Rest of administration. Now's your chance. All right. Well, thank you all for being here and u let's continue to do the people's business. We're journaling.