Board of Aldermen - workshop

Which means we are live for our Facebook work session. So we will have, this is in preparation for our last meeting, our recess meeting in August, next Tuesday the 18th at 530. And our first item to do is for a presentation by Michelle Anderson. I think the whole of the Humane Society is here, but Michelle Anderson. I'm assuming you're going to be making, right down here, if you would, come on down to the end of the table, and y'all can tell us what you want us to know about your year, your project, your organization, et cetera, et cetera.

Good morning, Mayor and Alderman and all the other meeting members here. My name is Ryan Handern. I'm the Vice President of the Octavio County Humane Society. We're happy to be here this morning. Thank you very much for having us. To my left is Marty Hogue. He's the President of the Humane Society. This is Sarah Hankins. She's the manager of our shelter. And this is Michelle Anderson. She's our Executive Director. And we're really grateful to have you. We're really grateful to be here.

Okay. I believe y'all have a PowerPoint. We do. Okay.

Just as a recap for people who aren't familiar with everything the the Oktava County Humane Society does, we do of course manage the Starkville Animal Shelter through an agreement with the City of Starkville and Oktava County. We also recently in November of 2024 opened the OCHS State in New York Clinic. We provide low-cost spay and neuter surgeries and well and sick care for our own pets. We also provide services for shelter animals and rescues. OCHS also runs the OCHS Express Animal Relocation Program. We transport animals to rescue partners up north, typically up north, and out west where there's a higher adoption demand. And we also provide pet retention and community support services to help pet owners keep animals in their homes and out of the shelter. 2025 impact We've relocated, we average somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000 animals being relocated from Mississippi every year. Since we started this program really heavily in 2012, we have relocated over 35,000 dogs and cats, homeless dogs and cats out of Mississippi. Do you spay and neuter before you relocate them? So when they are transported, they don't necessarily have to be spayed and neutered, but the agreements that we have with all the destination shelters and rescues require them to spay and neuter them before they're adopted out. We've also, last year we performed close to 2,000 surgeries on owned animals. We actually did more than that if you include our shelter animals and rescue partners. And then we provided around 300 We average somewhere between 20 and 25 pet owners helped each month through either our Community Second Chance Fund where we provide vouchers or subsidies for medical assistance for an animal that may have had a catastrophic injury or illness and the pet owner is not able to cover the cost. We've also helped a pet owner fix his fence so that he can keep his dog because he kept coming to the shelter. And then we've also helped with food, donated food, and other assistance to help animals stay with their owners and, again, out of the shelter. Some of the challenges that we continue to see are basically that shelter intake remains basically the same, and it has for a number of years. um our operating costs though however continue to increase and um and our adoption rates this year are down 30 from last year and and it is you know people can't afford they can't afford to adopt they can't afford to feed the animals that they have and so um you know we've done we've done everything from adoption promotions and we have a very heavy social media presence but it's just it's not working and transport has done has been essential in making sure that our animals that we're able to that are live release and the positive outcomes for the animals that come to us are stay high but the fact is is that animal relocation cannot solve um the problem that we continue to face and so Without a change in approach, we're going to continue to face the same issues that we have with homeless and neglected animals in Starkville and up to my county. And we're not going to fix the problem at the source. And so we are coming to you guys today. In addition, of course, to ask you for an additional $5,000 increase in our allotment for our shelter operations to be able to give our shelter staff a small increase in pay this year. We are also asking you guys to consider a spay, neuter, voucher program. for Starkville residents. And so we're asking for $36,000, which would basically cover 500 or 700 vouchers for spay and neuter surgeries for dogs and cats in Starkville. We've broken it down to two different tiers. The first tier would be focused on lower income pet owners we do have income limits and the income would need to be verified as well as startle residency and of course this is the goal is to remove the financial barriers to people who for these spay and neuter surgeries and prevent the families from surrendering animals to the unwanted litters and even their animals who become pregnant to the shelter. The second tier is more broad and it's basically just to, you know, we want to encourage the community to get behind this and support this and it addresses our overpopulation problem regardless of income level and so it just kind of gets the word out. The idea is that the vouchers can be used at any veterinary clinic in Ottobah County.

What's a spay and neuter cost?

Well, so it depends. So at our clinic, the OCHS spay and neuter clinic, it's $65 for a cat and $110 for a dog. At any of our local clinics, it depends on the size. It depends on if it's a cat or dog. It could go anywhere from $150 to $600 or $700. It's a big dog. Or a tiny dog. Well, yes.

The degree of difficulty I was going with.

Sorry, go ahead. And so we would coordinate that. We would work with our staff. OCHS would absorb the cost of actually managing the voucher program, and every bit of the money would go directly toward a voucher for the state. And this just goes back to our point is that this is an investment and it reduces cost for taxpayers and for local government. We're addressing the challenge at the source instead of reacting to it and treating it after the animals are either in the shelter or on the streets and suffering. And so our costs right now are Our cost right now for sheltering animals is somewhere around $375 over the last four years. And it continues to increase every single year. If the city wants to maximize their investment in the community and sheltering and what OCHS is doing, voucher program can do that and it's basically you're investing 45 or 75 dollars in an animal versus what happens when we get that animal into our shelter and have to you know determine an outcome do you have any stats on how many people come to you and say I need I need to get my pets spayed or neutered and then go away because they can't afford it so I mean We don't specifically ask folks to we get people who come to us all the time and say the clinic most anyone who has come to the clinic and that has been over three four thousand people now since november of 2024 um tell us that that the clinic has been um a godsend to them because they could not afford um they could not afford it otherwise we work with all the local veterinary clinics in town and they have been wonderful um about continuing to work with us. And our clinic actually refers out to them. But the fact remains that we all kind of, the OCHS spay and neuter clinic is focused on solely well largely focused on spay and neuter and so therefore and because we're also a non-profit we're able to keep the costs low so you're not turning people away is what i'm hearing you we are not turning people away we have grants we work with local rescues and also we have grants one in particular that's about to run out it's our largest grant from banfield foundation where we're able to subsidize, largely subsidize even our cost for the grant. And so we have, we work with Operation Colony Cats out of Columbus. They are, I don't know if anyone follows them in here, but they're constantly posting every week free spay and neuter surgeries at our clinic. And they're covering the difference in the cost. And so it's a combination of, if somebody comes to us and says, no ma'am, you're not turning anyone away. If somebody comes to us and says, I can't afford it, we work it out in fact at the moment we are we are working with a colony a cat a woman who is managing it has about 10 or 15 cats inside the city of Starkville and she is taking care of all of them but she wants to get them fixed she doesn't want to surrender them to the shelter and we're working with she can't afford it we're working with her on that so we're utilizing those grants to do that okay I was just wondering how this I mean are you gonna you're gonna have a wide outreach it says

come on down? I think you've quasi been doing that. So my question, I guess, is you're just wanting money to be able to do more?

Yes. So we want to be able to focus on Starkville and Octoberhut County for this particular initiative. And we don't have an unending number of grants. Our Banfield Foundation grant is going away. And the demand that we get at our clinic is not just from Octavaha and Starkville. It's from all over. We are asking the city and the county to invest in Starkville and Octavaha County residents as an investment to reduce the number of animals coming to the Starkville shelter. that are surrendered to our shelter. And we're hoping that this program kind of sets a precedent for our nearby communities who have no animal shelter, who have no animal control, who are constantly reaching out to us for help. And I know this is going to be successful. There's going to be a huge demand that we can go to them and say, look how successful this was. So rather than investing half a million dollars in a new animal shelter, or having to invest in mass euthanasia of animals that are on the streets, why don't you invest money on the front end to prevent these unwanted litters in the first place? We estimate that there are somewhere around 7,500 dogs and cats in Starkville and Ottobock County that are living in homes that are experiencing financial vulnerability. And so we anticipate with this particular ask that in the first year, we're going to impact about 20%. So within five years, assuming that no other animals are born, we could have completely spayed and neutered all of those animals within five years. And so the expectation is that in the next few years, we're going to start seeing the number of animals coming into the shelter going down. And in the next five years that we're going to start seeing a pretty significant decrease in our numbers.

Okay. Well, I'm a huge supporter of shelter medicine out at the university as well as the spay and neuter program. Dr. Busby's mobile spay and neuter clinic, who I thought was fabulous, because he was here, but he went other locations as well. So I think it's very worthwhile. Does this 36,000 times two, is that to fulfill or to backfill the loss of the Banfield Grant?

Not necessarily. We are still, I mean, it will certainly help for Octavia and to the hot and struggle residents, but we are still piecing together the difference of the costs from the voucher and the in the actual cost to stay at our clinic. But again, the voucher is for any veterinary clinic in October County.

Well, I would assume okay, let me I'll get to you. I would assume that we've got multiple veterinarians and I think you said it depends on the vet as to how much it's going to cost. So we're going to bid that out for the lowest As opposed to spreading it, well, I mean, you want to spread it around, but if somebody's here and somebody else is here, and you're getting the same service, how do you manage that?

So our initial thought was that we were going to leave it open since we do have a great working relationship with all the veterinarians in town. and you know they have and we work well with them even with our OCHS Bay and Neuter clinic is that we would give them the opportunity to work with us on reducing their prices for this particular initiative and for us to be able to go out there and

Okay, that's fine, I just, go ahead, yes ma'am.

Okay, I'm struggling financially. I have a pet that needs to be spayed and neutered, spayed or neutered, and it's gonna cost $250. 75 is really not gonna move the needle on that. Have y'all considered reducing the number of vouchers in order to be able to actually accomplish the goal of getting the animal spayed or neutered? Having a sliding scale that takes into account I saw that you had tiers, but have you considered more of a sliding scale so that these things can be accomplished? It takes longer to get to your end goal of getting all the animals addressed, but...

So we're pretty excited about doing the 1500 with the expectation that we are going to have to come up with raising the money to cover...

The remainder?

Yes.

Okay. Okay. That's one thing. And with the donation that we've made in the past, outside contribution that we've made in the past to the Humane Society, we do that on the front end. I would recommend that with this particular program that we do it on a reimbursement basis rather than an upfront payment. So when you've provided vouchers to X number of people, you submit an invoice to us and we pay them.

A quarterly kind of thing? Mm-hmm. Have y'all talked to the county yet?

Monday.

Okay. All right. Any other questions of our wonderful Humane Society folks? And we do, y'all do God's work, in my opinion. Oh, I'm sorry. Go get my teacher. My peripheral vision was a little off.

I've got two success stories from you guys.

Three.

Well, Rosie and Roxy is what we call them. Roxy was a little dog that was dropped off and they left her and I think chased her down the street. She had puppies the next day or something. But, you know, you touched a little bit more about that airplane that shows up about twice a month, you know, because I see it out there. I'm out at the airport. And you were loading dogs up and sending them up north and That's a big thing. I think they're coming in from other places too, right? We are.

We're a hub for North Central Mississippi.

Yeah. I've seen that plane. I think maybe we'll read it at the airport also. So I had her DNA tested, and a few months went by, and I was contacted by one of her puppies from up north. So that meant that they wanted pictures of the mother. But I fully support what you guys are doing. Again, we got two success stories from there. And I know it's a tough job, and even if we just go over and visit, you know, and take something over there, I'm always like, we're going to take another one home or something. We can't take any more off.

We have an adoption special.

That's okay.

We've run out of couches. Yes, for city leaders.

Pit bulls on couches and we've run out of couches. We have no more couches.

How is your foster program? Is that doing well? Do you have much success with the foster program?

We do. We have a small number of fosters that are pretty consistent. Because our foster program relies so heavily on college students, it kind of goes. But we have a pretty good foster system in place. I would say we probably have about 25 committed fosters that have been with us for several years. And they take multiple animals from us.

I see a lot of your social posts that talk about in need of fosters and you have kittens and that sort of thing. So I just wondered how that program has worked.

Well, our fosters don't get a lot of breaks right now. Yeah, well, I mean, I took that. Especially this time of year, we have all the kitten season. Nowadays, it doesn't really end. It'll go all year round. But in the spring and early summer, we just get inundated with kittens. And we need more fosters than ever all the time. The only way to get ahead of this is by offering more spay and neuter on the front end. This is a case of preventative medicine being cheaper than medicine.

Can you all do the spay and release or the neuter and release program for the cats? Yes, ma'am.

One on that, generally the theory is that they're fixed. and then go back to where they have their territory. So nobody else is going to move in, but there's not going to be a replenishment. Obviously, if they're removed, and everybody knows this from any kind of pest analysis, more are going to move in. So this is the only way. You have to maintain the area, but not maintain the breeding. And the only way to do it is with these spay and neuter initiatives. And as far as the cost on it, the cost of one animal that comes in, and Michelle has the numbers in there well, is so much. But everyone that has a dog that they work at, they don't think they can afford to spay or neuter. So that's going to quickly turn into 6 or 12. And so it's a very predictable exponential problem. And so then does 6 to 12 come in? Because that one didn't come in. And 6 to 12 times 300 is considerably more.

than one at 75 yes so we also vaccinate any tnrs that are okay any other questions of these folks again thank you all so much because you really are doing things i can't even other than to take some stuff to you i can't even go in because i just come right back out again with something. I can't do it. Thank you. Thank you so much. Appreciate y'all being here. All right. With that being said, we can go into our agenda items. We have two sets of minutes. Mr. Huskisson, have you looked at those? Are those consent worthy? Ms. McGoran, are you happy with those as well? Shall we put those on consent? I'm sorry, sir? I said okay with the board. Okay. All right. Well, I looked. And then I have a comment that Mr. Kemp is asking me to make verbally just to notify for the purposes, I think it's legal purposes, Edward, or just to kind of lead in?

We're going to advertise in the paper as just additional notification.

All right. Well, I will make that notification at the board meeting. I'll read that out. And is that just part of the process for this type of funding? Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Okay.

And then Mike will allow you to talk about the Sturgis bike ride.

And can I say something about that?

You can. Go right ahead.

I was just on the phone with the Sturgis mayor getting some file numbers. And I mean, it's really wrapped up from previous years. He's worked hard and the community's worked hard. Not me as much. I've been out more than I've been able to be that way. But 30 vendors inside, 30 vendors outside.

When you say inside, you're talking about in the park area?

In the park, yeah. We tried to put them all inside the park last year, the first deal. To get people in the park, you've got to get the armband, but so many people don't come in there, so we've got that. And like the dinner ride, we had about 100 last year. We're up to 300 already signed up. Oh, my word. That's pretty cool. Yeah, we've really ramped things up, and I used to expect, obviously, double the population or the attendance that we had last year. So that's a lot of things for kids, too. And the city benefits and in turn the city we help with in kind with the sanitation. Right. Mr. Smiley's got his work cut out.

Well, that's great. That's great. And Osita has donated, they've up their donation.

They've up their donation.

So that's all, you know, communities participating with them, and hopefully all that will be another successful rally. So that'll be interesting to see what kind of attendance you're looking at. All right, I'm going to ask the chief, we asked it last time, but I would like to kind of outline it. So outline the route, if you would. It's not broken, don't fix it.

and now okay but remind everybody because that's because of the construction and and uh potential gravel and bankruptcy and motorists right uh which has a route that again is um they'll go to last year it's going to start off in sturgis come up probably 12 25 north coming on 182 and then we'll take a turn in on the intersection taking it into Tally Ho and the route coming up Greensboro, keeping it straight down Greensboro as it turns into Lampkin and then we'll off into Russell Street onto the Highway 12 here, taking northbound into Highland Village. Okay. I'm sure that I'm going to be somewhere in one of those lead packs. But credit to our motors, specifically Brown, who's been coordinated with other law enforcement briefly. Obviously, it's going to go to Winston County and come back through. So I'd like to take a go and help this out.

And still stop it. Because one year y'all stopped at the fire station. Yeah, so back to Clayton Village. So the best view is going to be probably at Lampkin and Russell at Fire Station Park. That'd be fun. I could see some food trucks. All right, cool. Thank you very much, Chief. Appreciate it. All right, fun. All right, we will have our first public hearing on tax millage and budget for the city of Starkville for the fiscal year 2026-27, and we can discuss that among ourselves, open it as a public hearing, and then come back and have any other discussions that we might want to have. So anybody have anything at this point in time they want to talk about as it relates to the budget before we roll through? Yes, we'll follow back with that. So, all right, well, then we'll go to the next one, which is Mr. Haviland's.

Yes. This is a special exception. is to remove an additional standard that's associated with the use. And that use is a special event facility. And our code currently prohibits any kind of special event facility on the first floor in the downtown pipe zone. And this facility has already kind of started the process of moving in. They've leased the space. So they went to PNZ last week at PNZ 103 to do a recommended approval. But they have also submitted, which you'll see in the packet, since that, the P&C meeting, they've submitted some self-imposed conditions. So we added those into the staff.

Okay. And the staff recommended denial, though, is that correct?

The staff recommendation on the cover sheet is approved because of what PNC said.

I understand.

Okay, so what did you recommend to PNC? We have the recommendation to really represent approval. It's really kind of a tell-all. It's a good business, but there's an existing business and some existing residents that will be impacted by the business.

All right, and you've gotten letters from?

Since P&Z, we've gotten letters from several condominium owners that are directly above the facility and we've also, before the P&Z and after P&Z, have gotten letters from one of the businesses that are within the same building. Okay, I presume those are in the packet as well as the... They were submitted after we turned in the things and we will have copies for everybody.

Okay, probably just if you can I expect to get some all the way, almost all the way up to the Yeah, you probably will, but as you get them, pass them along.

I'll make sure I get it digitally in.

Okay, cool. Any questions? Yes, sir.

The letters you're getting are, I'm assuming they're From the condominium owners that were above, directly above the space.

Most of them in opposition.

Yes, and then the letter we received before is from the business that's on the west end of the restaurant, or east end.

East end, yeah. In opposition also. Correct. Okay.

I do have my question. Yes, ma'am. Are they closing at 9, the event space? Is that their intention, to not have events after 9 p.m.?

I think the convention at DMZ was at 10. 10, okay. If I've heard of UDC, they're supposed to close at 10. Okay.

I was thinking for noise in apartments.

Well, I think they submitted some other things that talk about or that address some of those concerns, but you'll get them. Okay, all right. Thank you, sir. Any other questions? all right and the mayor's got no business yay all right so we have an update and discussion of the code enforcement matter in rolling hills subdivision and vice mayor do you have something you'd like to share with us about that i'm going to pass on abnc today mayor okay in making having any discussion you mean today we'll pass on comments on abnc okay um All right, that'll be fine. Except that I don't know that anybody else wants to pass. So the code enforcement matter in Rolling Hills, I provided that information to the vice mayor as it relates to code enforcement. And I thought it was interesting because in doing a little research, we have an overwhelming number of code items that I just am really surprised about. And I wrote it down. Let me see if I can find it somewhere. Our code officer, we currently have all right hang on y'all bear with me here we currently have over a thousand cases that have been handled by our code enforcement folks for what time interview 2026. okay and and i say that here it is um 1,009 completed cases in 2026, which for, if you recall, we've had a number of folks leave us in code enforcement. We've had, how many, Chief, how many have we gone through? We've lost three folks in code enforcement? We're about to lose another? Is that accurate? So we have one gentleman... Officer Harvey, who has been a strong person for us for the last number of months, and so of the 1,009 completed cases, he was probably the thread that goes through that. And if you look at it, it takes a number of actions. You know, you've got to go, you look at the property, you submit the notice, you go back to the property, you talk to the person if you can. And so there are a number of steps that go with it to clear things. And so to have 1,009 completed cases, I think, is extraordinary. We currently have 127 active cases, which means, you know, from top to bottom, he's working 127 different locations and working the things that crop up because yesterday the grass wasn't tall and today it is because it rained or whatever. So, I mean, it is quite the number. And until I looked at the total, I was – I really – was not realizing it so you do have to take into account those kinds of activities that we're asking essentially one plus one plus you know whoever's going to hang with it long enough to do so I think it's I think it's worth remarking on and and that sort of segues from my perspective it segues to well it doesn't to number three so if anybody anybody wants me to look up anything in the active cases I mean I'm happy to do it but the vice mayor specifically asked me to look up rolling hills and so there were like 30 something cases in rolling hills that had that had been cleared this year so I think that's I think that is it's an interesting number again that folks are complying Because you write the notice, and then the people do what they need to do, and the case gets cleared. So there's currently only one, I believe, active case that hadn't been closed out in Rolling Hills, for example. So anyway, I just think that's interesting. And then secondarily, yeah, sure.

I was going to say, I think two things were important there. And the number of cases that they're handling is clearly important. But the other, and the general public, and even those of us that sit on the board aren't always understanding of how long it takes to go from the initial contact through, sometimes it's an education experience, and if you get into a more legal process where there's a citation, it can take far longer than any of us would like for it to accomplish these things. If there's a way to speed that up, I'd love to hear it.

Well, you're statutorily limited because you've got to give 10 days. I mean, all of those things are part of that process. And so that's the process. 11 either sub one or sub two just takes time all the way around and I think we're experiencing that but I do think that appreciation for the number of cases that have been found and then completed and then still pending is you know 127 as of this morning about 10 o'clock so I just think that's worth note worth noting and then item b is information and discussion concerning closing fire station number three so number um number three fire station the chief about A month ago? July 10th. All right, you go. On July 10th, the chief came to me and asked me about concerning, or asked me about closing Fire Station 3 to the use of the, from the firefighters, and then moving them all to Fire Station 5. And so, you know, from my perspective, he had all the good reasons to do that, and I think it was an appropriate move, and also considered to be an operational move. So I approved that. And he has since done that. Currently operating out of fire station number three right now is Pafford. And so they are using it, which to me is perfect because they're right there near the hospital, they're near the Carrington, they're near the, what's the other place? i'm sorry startle manor thank you yes so they're very near some of those places that call them with some degree of frequency and so uh i thought that that was a good use i talked to todd palmer who's in charge of the pafford program and they are taking over the utilities etc so there is no cost to the city for that facility any longer um in terms of you know the utilities but we're dead we go um uh they've got that in their name now is that correct okay So I did consider that to be operational. Now where I erred, and you got my apologies, is not notifying the board en masse. I should have done that. as I told the vice mayor when we talked about it a while back I said you know there are occasions in my case in particular when you're sort of up to your ass and alligators you forget you're there to drain the swamp and so I was I had some other things going on and I just clearly neglected to do that so I got I got drawn away from from something of substance that I should have provided it to you but that is my that's my information and discussion concerning closing the fire station number three from me anybody have any questions about that

That fire station has never been our most efficiently – it's just had problems all along, hasn't it?

Yeah, it has. Chief, were you around when that fire – you weren't around when that fire station was built. The Vice Mayor said he wasn't in his position when that fire station was built. But my recollection, as I've been told by those who were a number of years ago, that when they built it, they built it and even when they drive in, you can't open both doors. Is that correct? That's correct. It was Starkville doing what Starkville has occasionally done in the past, and not an admirable thing of not building it with the proper specs. So I think Session 5 is serving you well. All right. Good deal. Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

I just want to say I did get a phone call from our former alderman Beatty and he was concerned about MSU and us not notifying him I told him that station 3 is not what responds to Mississippi State anyway it would be station 1 and 2 One in four would be the ones that would respond quicker. So I didn't think there was a need. And they did communicate with proper channels.

At the very least, let me just say that if the chief thought that MSU would be impacted by it, we wouldn't have done it. Is that correct? Yes. I have absolute faith in your judgment on that. That's the reason you're the chief, and I'm not a fire person. So I presume a lot of support for you as you make those kinds of decisions. All right. Yes, sir. All right. Item C is adoption of a resolution lowering and setting the city's millage rate downward from 34 mills to 2869 for the fiscal year 2027 for the city of Starkville. And so that, as I understand it, Mr. Corbett, that would be removing all of the appraised value that was increased from the new assessment. The tax credit. Okay, so. If we take our take our millage, I think that's the reason he provided you this information here. To provide the There we are. It's the $2,102,633, and that obviously is an assumption based on an assumption on collections. That's exactly right. And then the other licenses and permits, sales tax, et cetera, et cetera. But the big amount is the $2 million that is associated with the reassessment. So I think that as we look at the things that have been asked of our board, I mean of the board by our department heads, I think it's important to note the things that they are requesting. And so the requests are from the courts. We went over this before at our work session that was strictly related to the budget, but we're now about to get into the middle of it anyway. So Monica is asking for a part-time to a full-time position. And that is due to the fact that there's an additional day that was added to, do you need, can you find it, Mr. Heskelson? Or are you just gonna look on Oliver Vaughn's paper? I saw that, I saw that. Okay, so Larry has asked for that to be increased to a full-time position. courts because we have a number of things that we're handling now and the judge has done that so I think that's probably something that is a reasonable request and each one of the department heads I think it's safe to say have looked at what they need and they're telling us what they need and so we have IT software and that's based on obsolescence of what we've currently got okay and that phone system is the same okay The comprehensive plan was mine because I think it's important. We have annexed territory. We're rolling under the 10 years. And I think it's important for us to look at that. It gives us information, for example, that includes housing and what our housing needs and status currently is. so i think there are a number of things that would we would benefit so you know and it takes a while to do that so 75 000 is in is included in there for half a year because we're just estimating right now what it would cost so you start it maybe at the first of next year it won't get done until 2028 because i think it's in 12 months or so process so you could split it between two budgets The chief has asked for a sergeant position, a police officer position, a new parking position, code enforcement, and I think that is self-evident as to why it's needed. And then the board has already approved the three firefighter positions, and the things that are attendant to that are the promotions that are on the next page, but I'll let that one move. I have agreed not to go back to... get another administrative assistant or secretary from me, so making that choice. We've got jail expenses that we can't do anything about. We've got police vehicle and maintenance that we under budgeted last time. I don't expect that to be a whole lot different, unless and until we continue our new vehicle approval. So that is what would reduce the repairs and maintenance that we are experiencing, and that's the program that we're on with the lease program. Under fire promotions, that was part of that for the new positions. Debt service, can't do anything about that one. Street lighting, we under budgeted and that's not something we can do anything about either because street lights are something that we have, we need, and we have to pay for. PERS, we can't do anything about. Health insurance increase, we can't do anything about. Pay raises, you can do something about it, but I will tell you now that if we don't keep up with other communities And we will go back to losing people. And I can say in the last year or two where we've been working very hard to retain people by paying them the value that at least is commensurate with some of our surrounding communities, that we've been successful in retention. I turn to you. Both chiefs, from a retention standpoint, is that factual? Have we been able to do a better job of retention? That is very true. Chief? Okay, that's the case. Mr. Smiley, how about you? Yes, ma'am. We've never compared. Okay. We very much appreciate it. Okay. Well, that's one of those things that is certainly within our control, but I think it warrants deep study before we start cutting back on our ability to be attractive to high-quality people because we expect high-quality people in our community to serve our citizens. Property insurance, can't do anything about it. parks those are utility bills so we have a splash pad that is in great use and the more it's enjoyed and the more it's used and which is what we've got it there for the more it's going to cost us in terms of in terms of water we have and janitors that's right because that of all the things that parks seem to have issues about it's keeping them clean and that it bubbles up to the surface more than anything else for us when we hear problems with the parks. So the janitorial staff of the restrooms and then the increased utility bills, I don't see us shutting down the splash pad because the water cost is high. Mr. Kemp has agreed to help us with the concept of the sewer. And so while it would normally go through the sewer system and we would charge for it because it is lightly used water, we'll say, He has agreed to reduce that sewer cost to us. So the 60,000 gallons that we use doesn't have an incremental addition to it based on sewer in that same amount. Transfer to Environmental Service Fund. for maintenance. I'm sorry. Okay, help me with that. Ah, okay. All right. That's keeping the keeping Mr. Mr. loves Johnson's area and all the areas that go along with that. So any of those and and for the most part, those are policy decisions. Those are not department head decisions those are policy decisions what do we value what can we what can we do without what we need to do to maintain the quality of service and the quality we assume we want our city to be so It's easy for me to say, and I'm happy to stand here and say that I think we ought to leave it at 34 mills. And we should continue to honor those obligations that we've made to have a huge amount of quality personnel, give them what they need to do their job. And so if we're going to start cutting things back, then leadership tells me that if we start with something, we should start with ourselves. So, you know, the value of a mill right now is 394.5. 0.1 mill is going to be 39.450. So every 0.1 mill we find, we can reduce it by 39.450. And so, you know, the alderman and the mayor, and I include myself in that, we are approximately 206.710. the budget so $22,000 per ward is that accurate? So you know from a leadership standpoint if we want to say you know everybody else sacrifices and then we should start with ourselves and so I would suggest that the board consider what a reduction in our pay I certainly am willing to take one and i think if we're going to do that that's an appropriate consideration to have and i i say that with with no hesitation whatsoever we've shown we've exhibited that kind of leadership before in covid and i certainly think it's appropriate for us to consider doing that now we could all pay ourselves minimum wage of 750 or for 20 hours a week or something along those lines so i would say if we want to start entertaining those kinds of um decreases in in costs, then that's one of the places to start.

And that obviously won't get us there. Well, it won't, but it is a principle. Oh, it's not going to get you. No, no, no. It is a great first step. I didn't mean that at all. What I was going to say was that if you look at all the things that are changed from this year, if we eliminated the police positions that were requested, if we eliminated the additional code enforcement position, if we didn't do pay raises all that sort of thing we still have even with this reduction that you're talking about another million dollars or so that we have to find to cut out of the budget to get down to the level that's being proposed and there's there's no way that you do that without touching police and fire there they are sixty percent of our people They are. They're a significant portion of our people. They're half of our budget, 45% of our budget.

I was going to say, I was going to actually dig for the number.

They're 45% of our budget. So there's no way you do it. And when you take out the things that we're contractually obligated to pay already, the existing debt service from City Hall, the police station, the link, industrial park that still sits in the general fund debt service those those kinds of things the the utilities that we pay the Software licensing that's already in place the things that we we're left with that we can cut really comes down pretty much to people and so to eliminate even if it were 80% of that, if we were trying to eliminate $800,000 of people-related cost, there's no way to do that without touching two of our most basic services, which is police and fire. I understand the idea that people don't like to pay taxes, but there is a... There is a point at which you do irreparable harm to the city, and you really don't provide a similar benefit to the people in the community. This is just under six mills. That would be about a 4%. overall tax bill amount. I talked to somebody yesterday whose taxes are going up $3,000. So instead of going up $3,000, that person's taxes would go up $2,900. And we have eliminated really basic services that we need to do. I understand that understand about the the tax sentiment I do but I don't I don't understand putting the city in a position that does harm that would take decades decades to recover from whether it's police and fire and staffing them back up streets parks any of those things and we've seen what the city looks like when we don't take care of those things

If we haven't been doing what we've been doing, we wouldn't be having the success. Yes, sir.

Well, we've taken on the concern. We said we don't want to, you know, people paying taxes. A lot of people move out of the city and don't go taxing and paying. We've got to look at a lot of other things, too. I mean, you said we don't want to cut this. But we know more taxes when they get ready to come on to the citizen from the school. We don't pay them some more taxes when they come. And they already paying all these taxes now. What about the citizen? What about the taxpayer? Are we taking them on any kind of consideration?

Well, yes. I mean, from my perspective, the consideration is that we've given you the best police force in the South. We've given you the best fire. I mean, that's what you're paying for.

I look at the business owners. What do we do to encourage them to stay in the city? What do we do for them? I mean, what kind of incentive do we give them? What kind of encouragement do we give them? What about everybody on this side, the boys and girls on the other side, can't go back up and leave?

What would we do then?

What would we do?

Pay taxes.

Ain't nobody here to pay taxes.

Well, whoever owns property is going to be paying taxes. And that's the thing. But we have people moving in. We don't have people. We're one of the few municipalities in the state of Mississippi that people are moving to. It can change, ma'am. Well, it can.

But if we degrade our services. We keep, I mean, we keep it in the tax bill. We'd rather put it in the tax bill. And you know we won't put something on taxes. I just, I don't know. There's something to think about, though.

well this is policy and this is where we are and this is the kind of decision that we've actually made Well, it is. And the county has got the same issue. And in talking to some of the folks that are talking about theirs, they have, as I understand it, no intention of lowering their tax. So I don't think that the city should be the one that takes the brunt of this. I think we give... For the things that we pay, because we're also taxpayers, for the things that we pay, we get the highest value for the dollar. And so I think it is absolutely critical, and from my perspective, code enforcement is critical. Our police, if we don't have a safe city, they'll move out. If we don't have a safe city, we can color them gone. And we've got, what, $50,000 in cameras in there? Fifty-five. Fifty-five? Okay. And cameras are a part of that. You want to take those cameras out? I mean, there's you. You can nickel and dime this down, but you're not going to find a million dollars through this process.

How often do we get a chance to lower the millage for the citizens? How often do we get a chance to lower the millage for the taxpayers?

Every year we adopt a budget.

Yeah.

But we take it somewhere we won't never do it for them. Back in 1989, maybe, it was before the vice mayor. They lowered it from 19 to 16, I believe it was. And there may be some point, something like 16.15 or something. But I remember seeing that in the minutes. But that was the last time that you had a lowering. And to lower something three mils like that takes years. And for years, Starkville has been under a reputation that we were not a place that people were proud of. And I'll just say it that way. And that's the feedback that I got when I moved back in 2004.

Well, at the same time, we're talking about taking a million dollars and remodeling a lot of it all at the same time.

That's not our money. That's a private donation. That's right.

That comes from nothing from the city. Alderman Bone, I'm in the same boat with you. I mean, to the degree. But unfortunately, until legislation one either frees our hands for what we can do, we only have two sources of revenue. And I don't know another way around it. And with the millage increase, what you were saying, the question I would ask is, is that why we're kicking a can? Is that why we can't do projects? Because it was cut however long ago. Are we catching up from that? I'm torn too but we don't have any other sources of revenue and you've got to think about the county's got the opportunity to lower theirs too they sold the hospital we don't have any other source to run this down it's just these two and I don't know they're not any good options but we can look for sure I mean I'll sit down with you and look I've sat in on all these budget meetings I do not mind but you're not going to find I will tell you now you're not going to find a million dollars an additional million dollars

um but again you can lower a tenth there a tenth there another tenth here um you can get it down some and and again starts with us got to absolutely start with us okay anybody else any other comments all right well we will move to uh these are the these three items d e and f are our annual 2% that goes with the funding for CDB or VCC, if you know how you want to reference it, and OCETA, and then the student population for the student affairs. So, consent for those? All right, thank you. Then under the airport, these are all grants that are approved by us, but it's not money from us. This is money, where'd he go? There he is. This is money from MDOT, right? Okay, so that was there. We don't turn that back. Okay, community development. Mr. Pamela, where did you go? Well, there you are. Hi, come on in.

So the first item we have is for an encroachment agreement. This is for the former bookmark location. The owner of L.A. Green has bought that building and is now moving it over. So the left side of it will be the continuation of L.A. Green and the right side will be a retail space. They're just proposing to put like an iron that will power it.

Like restaurant top?

Correct.

I think that's exciting. I love that. So we'll have some more.

It's a really good looking room here.

Are they going to put residential up there?

No, it's going to be a retail space. Just kind of look for something more like a bookstore or something kind of a lower-intensity restaurant. They have a voucher. Okay. That's a really good point.

Yeah, cool. Anybody want to – is it okay to put a consent on that one? Okay. That's a good deal.

um and then the preliminary plan for sterling ridge yes we've already approved this once uh but after the approval when we got ready for the infrastructure plans they said that they wanted to phase the project which means we had to go back and re-review it as a phase project phase projects are treated completely different each phase is like a standalone subdivision so if something happens with the developer it can function on its own So they had to go back through that process. And when they were originally approved, they had five conditions of approval. Since then, one of the conditions dropped off, which is about easement, because now they show it on the preliminary plaque. The other four are still on there. Okay. And it's recommended unanimously by our community.

Okay.

Except for that one?

It's okay. We'll be able to pull it. It's okay. All right. And then we have the final plaque approval.

Yes, this is a minor subdivision. These are the two houses on the corner of Scales and Louisville Street, the two new houses that are for sale. They're just moving the property line in between them 20 feet to the east.

Okay.

All right. Thank you. All right. Let's see. Engineering, we have public infrastructure for Clark Grove. I think you've been in the loop on that one, haven't you? Okay. And Mr. Williams, where are you? There you are. So any issues? No issues with this one, right? Okay. Was it for that one? All right. And then the low quote from Groundstone for storm drain, storm water inlets at Sycamore and Maple. All good? Okay. That's it. Thank you. All right, we will skip the claims docket, then we have financials. Anything about financials we need to know before? No? Any questions for that one? And then, again, acknowledging privilege, license, consent, and then budget adjustments. Would you like to share a little bit of that? Sure. There are two major budget adjustments in this.

One's going to police and one's going to parks. Police is mainly driven by vehicle repair costs, gas and oil, and then their cost of research that they have to do.

And then Mark says utilities also. Utilities. Okay. All right. All right. And then under human resources, we've got Mr. Ashford up? Okay. All right. Any questions of Mr. Ashford? We've got hiring of two reserve firefighters. They're non-EMT. So, Chief, all good? Yes, ma'am. Mr. Ashford, anything about that? No, ma'am. The replacement position. Okay. Consent. And then Ashley Boyd, I know that's a replacement position for Mr. Smiley, correct?

No, that's a... Oh, I'm sorry.

I jumped on. My apologies. Promoting Ashley Boyd. Go ahead.

I'm sorry. It is a replacement position.

Okay. All right. Consent for that one? Okay. And now the sanitation department is a replacement for the... Oh, it's a driver.

Where am I?

I reversed it. It's the one at the bottom. My apologies. Okay, this is also a replacement position.

I got a question. Has that position been vacant or did we just lose somebody on that?

It's been vacant. We just haven't filled it before because of the candidates, but it's been vacant for probably two years, a little bit over two years.

yeah it's been a while okay all right okay and then i'm just going to read what i got you're hiring mr buford for a driver commercial going in sanitation department consent for that one and then the the replacement position for joey is the outreach administrator all right fine it's gonna be one of those fridays All right, code enforcement. We have the items, the locations that need mowing. So 117 Clements, 1699 Rock Hill, 12944 Mississippi 182, and then the parcel number. So consent for that. All right. And then utilities. Last but not least, Edward. Advertising for bids for the wastewater improvement project. Yes, ma'am.

This is an ARC project that we were awarded a couple years ago. Through the design, environmental, through the design, now we're ready to advertise. Okay, all right.

And this isn't the force main?

This is the force main.

Can we put that in, just on the item, on the agenda, can you just word it where it has the force main in there? Yeah. So when we go search it, we know. Sure. Because it doesn't, like the start road wastewater, start road force main or whatever. Yeah.

Sure. We can revise that. Okay. Consent? Consent. Okay. A low quote from Berry Electric for the transfer switch installation. And then the copper top sheet metal and that's to replace the remaining roofs on Buildings that are in need all right Consent for that one and then the low quote for the for the Thompson cat for the mini excavator And this is a new one because we have that much work that needs to be doing and we have enough crews to

operational efficiency changes we've been making is moving from a three-man crew to a two-man crew. So in turn, we have four crews, smaller in size. Right now, we're having to share pieces of equipment. We also added, brought back Mr. Sites, that's going to do concrete work. I saw him doing concrete work yesterday. So again, he'll be needing a piece of equipment at times. So this will get us an additional piece of equipment. So we'll have five pieces to share between the six crews.

Okay. All right. Yes, sir. Okay. And then sole source quote for whatever this is. Annual license. Okay. That's it for that. All right. That takes us to the end. Thank you, everyone. Great weekend. Kids are back.