City Council - Regular Meeting

loved parents Thomas and Eunice Richardson took him when he was a young child to Whirline's Music Store on Canal Street. Who remembers Whirline's? oh good good to be evaluated to determine that's where i got my first instrument to determine which instrument might be most suitable for him the trumpet was determined to be a good fit as it was for me it was here that donald had trumpets lessons donald would subsequently take piano lessons at the well-known salier school of music located in the central city area of our city Subsequently, Donald Richardson attended Carter G. Woodson Junior High School. Anybody from Carter G. Woodson? Yes. Whose music teacher was Mercedes Tucker Stamps. Subsequently, he would attend Booker T. Washington High School, where he continued his music education under the direction of Dr. Ernest Chachere. It was during these days that Donald would play the trumpet and the French horn. Continuing his music education path, Donald enrolled in Xavier University. Richardson's music talents led him to roles such as piano player, organist, and choir director of a gospel choir at St. James AME Church, Regular Baptist Church, Pure Light Baptist Church, Payne Memorial AME, and Regular Baptist Church. Music was his passion, his life. During his 32 years at Andrew J. Bell High School, Richardson would teach, mentor, and cultivate some of New Orleans' most talented and well-known professional musicians. And I knew a few of them when I was at St. Augustine High School in the band. A lot of young people came over after Bell. Years ago, another form of acknowledgement was added to Mr. Richardson's list of notable... recognition a noted mural artist Richard Thomas was commissioned to produce a likeness of Mr. Richardson on one of the columns under the Claiborne Avenue overpass and I want to encourage everyone to visit and take a look at it as soon as you can the unveiling ceremony also included a likeness of the late famous chef Leah Chase I'm gonna ask family members and supporters of Donald Richardson to come forward for a second We are going to take a photo afterwards, so everybody come up and just stand behind those chairs, and we're going to have one or two spokespersons just say something about Mr. Richardson. Come right inside. It's good to see so many folks here in support.

Thank you.

Okay.

Y'all ready? And I appreciate you all putting those so that folks can see them. This camera is showing the public the photos that you have. And it's great to see so many people. That's a good look. Ms. Janice Manuel, the sister of Donald Richardson, would you say a few words for us, please? And good to see you. You can sit right there.

Good morning, Councilman Grant. Thank you for Doing this honor, the proclamation of my late brother Donald W. Richardson, I thank all of Donald's many friends and former students and associates and all who have come out today to share this moment with us. I just want to underscore for a second the importance of educators. As I look at the life of my brother, he personifies and reinforces the importance of good educators, excellent educators. He was committed. He was tireless. He demanded the best from his students. And they accepted the challenge. They were grateful and, as a result, became successful human beings. Teachers are important. They are part of the tentacles that undergird our community. Economic development, opportunities, home ownership. Being prepared in life is what prepares you to be successful and have those things. So, Bell Band was noted for being number one in a number of areas. Competition statewide, citywide, first junior high school to win the competition, the band competition with the Rex, Parade and Bacchus. He was competing, his band was competing against high schools. And that was the distinction that was always Bell's school. What I remember about my brother, and I'm still peeling the onion, even though he's been gone many years. He was hardworking. He was tireless, passionate. Music was his life. And he loved his kids. And the family didn't learn until after his passing that he quietly did things to support his students, like buy groceries, buy clothes. But he'd always say, don't say anything. But that was the way Donald was. And he loved his gospel choir members. And boy, could they sing. So he was just an amazing person, educator. human being, an example for a lot of us. Another one of his accomplishments was that the band was invited to participate in an event in Romania. But there was a conflict. So the decision was made that they should not travel to remain here. But the Cherry Blossom Festival, many festivals where they were successful. And with that...

Thank you very much. With that, I'm going to ask for Mr. Brian Macon, but thank you very much for sharing that information with us. Thank you, Janice, for sharing Donald Richardson with us. I'm going to call my friend, Mr. Macon, to come to a microphone for a second. I've got to give Mr. Macon two minutes, you know, because he's like me sometimes. Brian Macon, anyone. Well, do it so that folks can see you on the camera. Go right to the middle and stand next to Janice.

I want to thank and show the opportunity to thank you, Councilman, for the opportunity to present the life that mattered about the people standing here for Donald Richardson, not just choir, the Sunday specials we got to hear and not visit the church three times since that time. The idea of his mentorship, we have in the house Dr. Darryl Dickerson of the Ellsworth Sellers Center. He mentored Donald. Donald mentored him to build several bands, but more importantly, He's over the Ellis Marcellus Center today doing great work. And then we have Richard Thomas. I can't say enough about his work because everyone has seen his murals. But I went to the research hall and learned that because his dad had made a request of the doodling in class that Richard was doing and artistry and his artwork speaks by. It is Donald Richardson that turned the corner that made the impression on that young man. And in closing, we are family people city council our families our kids our bands need us to be family We are struggling in the city today, trying to get our kids to understand this is the better route to take. And I can't say enough what music matters to our lives. We're a city about music. So thank you, council.

I understand the time restraint. You're welcome. You're welcome. And thank you for those comments. Mr. Richard Thomas, why did you do this mural, two minutes, and tell us why it's significant and everyone should go by.

Unfortunately, in our city, we have a lot of unsung heroes. I kind of thought that Donald was one of those guys. Both of us who had classes that we had to sit in and be treated with learning from him and be mentored by him, we understood how special he was. I mean, not just learning how to keep in step or learning music theory, but even right down to learning how to keep our white bucks clean. That was like a discipline. So that type of discipline is what kind of aided all of us in the kind of leaders we've become. And I was aware that he has created a lot of I mean awesome leaders and contributors to our New Orleans culture and community. So I am on the other end of it as a visual artist and I felt like at least I could create some type of replica. Just like I think the street of Ursuline should be named after him because of his significant contributions.

Thank you very much. I appreciate your work. And we're going to close with Mr. Gilbert. I'm sorry.

May I just introduce my oldest son?

Oh, you know something? Well, wait. You know something? That's important. And we have four minutes left. Let's go from my left to right and just say who you are so that the public can know, too. Real fast.

My name is Patricia Jefferson.

And as close as you can get to the microphone, that's dear you.

My name is Patricia Jefferson. I was a member of the regular Baptist church choir.

Thank you.

Good morning. My name is Donna Brown. I was also a member of the Regular Baptist Church Choir that Donald was the Minister of Music at.

Okay. Hello. I'm Otis Kenneth Williams. I was also a member of the Regular Baptist Church Choir.

Joanne Smith, also a member of the Regular Baptist Church Choir under the direction of Dr. Donald Richardson.

My name is Cherry Cole Gamble. I was also a member of the regular Baptist church choir.

Hi, council member. My name is Brennan Manuel. I am Donald's nephew. He's my uncle. I don't want you all to be afraid to go down to that mic. Pull it up. That was my uncle Donald. If I have just maybe a brief moment. You only got a minute, though. We gotta start at the end. He was gone from my life when I was younger, but I do remember his presence. And the most important thing that I think he left with me was his ability to be capable. and to help others. And I think he achieved something that a lot of people aspire to, but not everyone finds, and that's legacy. And I, I don't feel that he's gone, because his presence is here right now. It's still, whenever I drive Claiborne Avenue, it's still there. And we should all aspire to it, and I miss him.

And that's what a good mural will do. I want to thank Mr. Thomas, because I'm on those people who just do graffiti. They just mess up buildings and historic places. So, Mr. Dickerson.

Good morning, Counsel. Dr. Darrell Dickerson, former student of Mr. Richardson and Andrew J. Bell, also a former colleague, because when I finished college, he came over to the school to still teach me some things about music.

All right. Good morning, Dr. Bryce Miller, student of Mr. Richardson. I was trumpet section leader and band captain and went on to become an award winning educator and international musician. And Mr. Donald Richardson played a vital role in the success of my life. I also have several of my mentors, Mr. Hudson, who actually taught me at Bell, along with Mr. Rich and Dr. Dickerson, who's one of the first people I called when I got my pig because we got his. We inspire each other.

My name is Thomas Smith. I'm the number one Marching 100 from Donald Richardson. Marching 100 from St. All. Mr. Donald Richardson made where we march down the street, right on Bourbon Street, and say, oh, we got that check. The same as Mr. Richardson and Mr. Hemp did the same thing. So he blessed us to make it a life. And I thank God for his family. I thank God for what he has done to us. We are the Marching 100 Crusaders.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

Kenneth Brown Sr., also a member of Regular Baptist Church Esquire. I remember Donald as a perfectionist. He would accept nothing less than Regular Baptist Church being the best and number one.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yeah, pull up a little bit.

Go ahead.

Desmond Venable, educator, business owner, and musician in the city of New Orleans. One thing I want to thank Donald Richardson is for giving us, giving a lot of people a purpose for the reason why I got the so-called hood. Because without music, I would still be in a situation that a lot of our youths are. So he inspired a lot of us. And I thank him for that.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

How you doing, Mr. Green? Emmanuel Hudson. I was the assistant band director with Donald Richardson 1986 through 1988. These are two of my students, Dr. Miller and Desmond Miller. And I also helped out Mr. Richardson at his church.

I got to say it right, regular Baptist church, because he called it irregular Baptist church. Look, I want to thank everyone. I have a proclamation that I'm going to bring down, and Ms. Manuel can hold this proclamation. But it ends with, it has the seven signatures of our city council members, and it just says, Donald W. Richardson, thank you. Life well lived, and thank you for the many contributions that you've made to so many people and to our city and to our nation. I'm coming down for a photo.

Thank you.

madam clerk let's get started roll call council president morrell here vice president willard council member mccarron here council member harris council member king council member green council member hughes here we have seven members we have a quarrel

Let us pray. Most gracious Heavenly Father, we acknowledge you as our creator, our maker, and our sustainer. We thank you for the gift of this new day, for the blessing of life and ability and capacity to live in fullness. Father, we recognize that in many ways we have veered from your pathway and we acknowledge that and we ask, Father, that thou wouldest be gracious to us. Father, we lift our city to you And we thank you, Father, for these, your people who have given their lives to the service of the public, the public's interests. Our prayer is now, God, that you would guard them, protect them, guard their families, protect their families. Guide their hearts and their thoughts that they might govern with wisdom. And that, Lord, as we come together today, we pray that you would smile upon this great city of New Orleans, Louisiana. We ask it in the name of your son, Jesus the Christ. Amen.

Thank you, Pastor Gore. Next up, we'll have the Pledge of Allegiance by Councilman Eugene Green.

At the top of page 26, we have... At the top of page 37. have item 50 resolution r26 314 by council members harris morrell william mccarran king green and hughes by request a resolution stating that the city infrastructure project list adopted pursuant to resolution r25 427 as amended by resolution 25 524 is hereby amended to supersede in its entirety by the amended city infrastructure project list Exhibit 8, which the Council does hereby approve and ratify in accordance with the subject to the renaming requirements and resolution R25427 and subject to any other legal requirements imposed by the Charter or other applicable law.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Kyle is here to present on this.

Kyle, the floor is yours. Good morning, Council. So the resolution before you today is to add additional projects to the list that was included with the bond proposition from last fall that the voters approved. So these are the additional projects that we are trying to fund through the 2026 bond sale that were originally paid through other funds, whether special revenue general fund or grant funds that will allow the city to reclass expenses and ultimately free up that cash so that it's available for the general fund to use. And this is one of the measures that we're using to help with the cash flow issues that the city is currently experiencing.

Thank you, Kyle. Council Vice President Willard.

Thank you, Kyle. We had some, you know, public discussion yesterday in committee, and I just, you know, and I appreciate you working with my office on explaining all this. Just for the public's edification, can you tell us what the difference between the list that were approving today and the one voters passed last fall, what's the difference there?

So, it's nearly identical. Today, we're just adding 12 additional projects to that list. Okay, and why do we have to add those projects to the list this way? So as part of the proposition that was passed by the council last year, there was a project list that was included. Only the projects that are included on the list are available to be funded through the bond sale for this year. And so we needed to have those projects added to allow this ordinance that will also be approved by the council today to fund projects from the 2026 bond sale.

So anytime we want to amend this list to add or remove projects, we have to go through this process?

Yes.

OK. Are any of the projects that were on the list that were approved by the voters last fall being removed?

No.

OK. And I think that's important to clarify. So I want to thank you for answering those questions. Thank you, Kyle. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other comments from the dais? All right. I will move. Can I get a second? Second. Seconded by Council Vice President Willard. All in favor? Aye. Any nays? That's seven yays.

at the top of page 27 we have item 21 ordinance calendar 35 522 by council members harris morell william and karen and green by request an ordinance to amend and reordain ordinance 30 532 mcs entitled an ordinance providing a capital budget for the year 2026 to affect the following change to the 2026 capital budget to appropriate funds to the Chief Administrative Office, the Department of Park and Parkways, the Department of Property Management, the Department of Public Works, the New Orleans Mosquito, Termite, and Rodent Control Board, the New Orleans Police Department, and the New Orleans Recreation Commission, and otherwise to provide respect thereto.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Kyle is also here from the CAO's office to explain what this is.

So this is similar to the resolution now this is the budget ordinance that is appropriating the 2026 bond cash towards these projects so these are projects that many of them were ARPA funded projects some general funds special revenue that are eligible to be paid by bonds so by being able to fund these through bonds we'll be able to use that cash ultimately for the general fund.

Great. Any questions from the guys?

Madam Clerk, can you add my name to this, please? Thank you. Same here, Madam Clerk. Is my name on it?

We should add all the council members to this, please.

Thank you. So just to clarify, the 12 projects that we're adding today, those were projects already in the queue, but they were scheduled to be funded through the general fund, is that correct?

General fund, special revenue, and grant funds like the treasury fund, which houses the ARPA projects.

So this move today really just frees up more cash to fund our budget? Correct. Thank you.

Any other questions from the dais? If not, I'll move. Can I get a second? Second. Seconded by Council Member King. All in favor? Aye. Any nays? That's seven yays. Thank you.

All right.

Thank you. At the top of page 26, we have item 20, legislative grouping. Ordinance calendar 35,521 by council members McCarran and Hughes. An ordinance to amend and reordain chapter 159 of the code of the city of New Orleans to establish a governance structure Vesutian Water Board, New Orleans, including composition and role of the Board of Directors, regulation by the City Council, and related policies and otherwise to provide respect thereto. The Joint Climate Change and Sustainability Committee and Public Works Sanitation and Environment Committee recommended approval. We have an amendment to Ordinance 35,521 by Councilmembers McCarran, Hughes, Morrell, and Willard. An amendment to clarify that membership of the Board of Directors is subject to the City Council approval. To clarify that ex-officials members of the Board of Directors may designate representatives to serve on the Board. To clarify Board membership terms. To clarify the scope of the Council powers under applicable law. To make the exercise of approval powers mandatory in certain cases. Six, to clarify the Board approval is not required when the Council exercises its approval power. Seven, to clarify that the Council shall approve any employment contracts governing the Sujan Water Board Executive Director or General Superintendent. Eight, to establish a mechanism for waiver or adjustments of approval requirements in case where the requirements would impair a Board obligation or conflict with state law. And nine, an otherwise Supervisor respects thereto.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Members, this is what we discussed heavily at the Climate and Public Works Committee. But again, for the public today, we are approving the ordinance that will restructure the governance of sewage and water board. This is our initially the ordinance that will get us into the framework that we set up with the state. This is what has been missing for decades. And I wanna be clear about a couple of things about this. This legislation is not a punishment. It is not an indictment of any one person or singular policy. This is about making sense out of the current governance structure of Sewerage and Water Board. So I have any comments from the dais? Okay, Council President Morrell.

Thank you. I'll be brief because this was discussed at length at the Public Works Committee meeting. As someone who has been struggling, excuse me, struggling with sewage and water board and its governance structure for well over a decade, it is really gratifying to see that there is alignment between the state and the city on the future of sewage and water board. Insofar as that I mean that we have decided collectively that the status quo is not good enough. I will tell you, as someone who worked with my colleagues, some of which are on this dais, some of which are no longer on this dais, we have sought every way possible to nibble around the edges of sewage and water board governance. We've tried every version of every good government suggestion on how to restructure sewage and water board, including and not limited to creating the citizen board model. And what I can tell you unequivocally is that For those of you who have endured the sewage and water board in the last few years, that model was irrevocably flawed and led to bad outcomes. what we have known for years what you have known for years as residents of the city is that when you are struggling with the sewage and water board whether it be from the leak outside your house I got a email two days ago from a woman who has a leak in front of her house who has repeatedly called sewage and water board about the leak even after a sewage and water board employee saw the leak they failed to generate a claim regarding the leak and continue to not deny the leak exists, while her smart meter repeatedly tells her that there's a leak from within her house, though she's had two plumbers come through to say there is not. Fundamentally, the sewage and water board is adrift. And as you have known for years, what has been the practice is you call your council person and you hope your council person can intervene on your behalf with sewage and water board to fix the problem. Well, the reality is, until today, we could not fix your problem. me say that again because it's been misunderstood for decades until today the sewage and water board was not subject to the authority of the New Orleans City Council what changes today is that when we see your problems when you call us and say this is a fundamental problem with sewage and water board that we want corrected this council can now by ordinance go in and actually fix the problem What we have before us is the advent of a completely new model for managing this utility like a utility. And I'm very excited about not only having the political responsibility of the sewage and water board, but this council and this mayor having actual responsibility and oversight over the sewage and water board. Thank you.

Anybody else? OK, I do have one public comment from Irma Plummer. Ms. Irma, are you here? Oh, there she is.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I am a Sewerage and Water Board employee, but I'm speaking on behalf of my position as a citizen and taxpayer of Orleans Parish. I appreciate the concern this council has for the governance of the Sewerage and Water Board, but as an employee that comes to work every day, I know we are a committed workforce. If you're concerned about how we handle day-to-day, then the open meetings and the monthly board meetings have been available to you. I am asking, and I know I only have two minutes, what is this really about? For where we are, no, I can't speak for we. Where I stand, it seems like a hostile takeover. And you may say that that is not your intent, that it is to provide governance structure. If you will look at Visit the Carrollton Water Plant, the Algiers Water Plant. Read your reports. You will see that showing up at a meeting will not fix a problem specific. It won't. But we are committed, dedicated employees. When I walked in the room today, I ran into, I'm gonna out you, former State Representative Louis Charbonnet. who told me what his problem was, gave me his address, 1515 Lafitte. As a committed employee, he doesn't need to call council. I'm going to take it back to try to find out why there is no commercial new smart meter in front of his establishment.

And so seeing the council as a calvary that's gonna come in and say, hey, I think my two minutes are up.

Thank you. I want to respond real quick. Ma'am? Yes, sir. I just want to respond right here, Councilman McKean. I just want to respond. And what's your name? I want to make sure I get your name correctly. What's your name? Irma Plummer. Ms. Plummer. Thank you, Ms. Plummer. I appreciate your comments, and I've heard this a lot, that this appears to be a takeover. And I want to address the elephant in the room. A lot of people said this is the takeover of a position held by a black man and is racially involved. That is not the intent of this council, and I assure you that is not my intent. This is to have more oversight. We get the calls. Let me make it very clear. We get the calls, we get the emails about things that Sewage and Water Board is doing or not doing. We get the same thing about ENTG, the same thing about DPW, about different departments. So we can call those departments to the table and say, what's going on? Let's open your books, answer our questions. In the past, we haven't had that same ability with Sewage and Water Board. The meetings are not held in the council chambers. So this is just a bit for me, my appreciation. This is just to have more transparency and to let the general public have more access to sewage and water board through that council. I can tell you for me, I get a lot of emails about the meters. One of my pet peeves I get about sewage and water board is that when they dig up a street or fix a problem, dig up the sidewalk, they don't come back and put the concrete back in place. It's either rocks or some type of gravel that doesn't last long. So those are complaints that I get all the time. And the question is who is responsible for that and how do you hold those individuals accountable? So for me, This is about having a tool to hold sewage and water board more accountable. It's not a takeover, I assure you. I don't look at this as a takeover. I don't look at this as attacking anybody on sewage and water board from the individuals digging the ditches to the individuals Mr. Heyman's position. This is solely about more accountability and being able to directly have an impact on issues that we are already being We're already being, we're all already being accused of causing an issue, if that makes sense. So we're already getting the calls and, hey, this is your fault, but we can't do anything about it. Now that gives us some ability to do something about those issues.

May I respond? Please. Sure. Councilman King. Yes, ma'am. You are a member of the board of directors representing the council. Of course. And so.

You're on the board? I'm not.

then I stand corrected. Forgive me for that error, but I know there has been a period of time when you have been on the board, and there have been council members represented on the board for the entire time that I've been an employee. And if you look back at the governance model, the city council has always been able to be represented on the board of directors, directly or indirectly. That I'm sure of. So the ability to have more accountability, directly related to your commitment to excellence. Don't take that personal.

No ma'am.

That's speaking general. I have watched when Sewerage and Water Board and City of New Orleans public officials decide that they want to cooperate and work together and They get things done. It's called the Joint Infrastructure Recovery Program, JIRR. When those who were in charge almost not quite a decade ago decided that we need to do something together, the hole was opened up one time. Resolutions that were passed in 2012 and couldn't move forward were finally being stood up by professionals who understood that we can work together. I'll talk to you, you talk to me. We'll open up the hole. While we're in the hole, we'll take care of sewerage, drainage, and then when we close the hole up, city, you can come back and put your road and street in. We have the capacity to work together. I looked at the BRG report. Should it be a municipal operation or one that is created by the state?

I encourage you to please— Ms. Palmer, respectfully, if you can kind of wrap the comments up. Just out of respect, we've got to move on to the agenda.

Ms. Palmer, before you go, I just want to say something. I think this needs to be said as explicitly as possible. I appreciate your position, and I appreciate the service you brought to Mr. Charbonnet, but you don't see the fundamental problem in that if you don't happen to run into Ms. Plummer to solve your problem, you have to call Sewage and Water Board's customer service. And as a council member from last year's council, I will tell you, the first thing that really was the straw that broke the camel's back was billing. When sewage and water board billing was broken and the sewage and water board fought the council as we tried to work with them to solve their building problem, their response consistently as a board, as an entity was, we need the money, nothing to see here. With all due respect to all sewage and water board employees, part of the primary funding mechanism for the sewage and water board is millages, correct?

Yes.

Okay. Sewage and water board has a 14% approval rating. If you polled everyone in this room to say that, do you intend to vote next year for a sewage and water board millage if things stay the same? My concern, what we're trying to do is we're trying to create a model where sewage and water board continues to exist. Because if those millages start to fail, they will cascade. Look across the state of Louisiana. When the public decides they don't want to fund an agency, they just don't. And you know, as a sewage and water board employee, if we had to absorb the sewage and water board because they were completely defunded by the public, could we do it? You've seen our budget. Can we do it? That's the question I pose to you. If tomorrow the citizens of the city of New Orleans veto all the millages for sewage and water board because they do not have confidence in the agency, how do we pay you?

Councilman, if they cancel millages for the Sewerage and Water Board, there will also be other millages that will be impacted.

That is not the way millages work. They can vote for one millage and vote against another. The agency that is the Sewerage and Water Board stands in a very specific place. When we have seen data on citizen confidence in every agency, every office in the city of New Orleans, the Sewerage and Water Board ranks dead last. I'm not saying that is because of the hard work of people like you. What I'm saying is that it's because of policy and the way things are handled. I will tell you right now that this New Orleans City Council is paying $2.1 million to Hammerman Gaynor to do sewage and water board customer service because it was so irrevocably broken. The billing was so bad that we had to pay as a city. We're not being reimbursed by sewage and water board for replacing your customer service program, but we did that because we're concerned about outcomes. I appreciate your position as an employee, but It's very frustrating for people to focus on the fact they feel like we're doing something to them versus we're doing something for them. And the future of Sewage and Water Board will rely upon it being funded because it is okay, if you're okay with being right and being unemployed because all the millages die, if that's the hill you want to die on, I would pull every Sewage and Water Board employee and see if they want to die on that hill. Because right now, at 14%, When your millage does not pass, when this department completely collapses, I don't think people are going to say, man, I guess we don't have a sewage and water board anymore. I guess we were wrong. The public was upset with us. They're going to say, why didn't the city council, why didn't the city save the sewage and water board? What we're doing now is not something to you. It's for you because we're trying to ensure the sewage and water board continues to exist.

Did you approach the Sewerage and Water Board when you were preparing your legislative matters?

For billing? Yes. I met with the board. I met with the executive director. The Sewerage and Water Board hired a lobbyist with your agency's money to fight billing corrections. They spent- This year? 2022 and 2023. This year, Mr. Heyman tried to hire a lobbyist to fight us on this legislation. The reality is that I have spent my entire career as a senator and as a council member trying to work with Sewage and Water Board. And I will tell you, more often than not, I would say 80 percent of the time, when I would propose a solution to a problem, billing was never meant to be done to Sewage and Water Board. When I met with Mr. Ghassan, I said, Billing's a problem. How do we fix it? Well, there's state legislation that says we can't forgive bad bills. Well, let's change the law. I don't want to change the law. Why don't you want to change the law, Mr. Ghassan? Because, you know, we need the money. So I'm like, if the bill is wrong, if you're telling an old little lady in an efficiency she's got a $2,000 bill, he's like, well, you know, we can offer her half. I said, why? What state law? Well, come with me to the legislature. Let's fix state law so you can adequately fix bills. We don't want to do that. He then hired a lobbyist. And for two years, the sewage and water board fought the council trying to fix billing. Fixing billing, Ms. Plummer, is about if the public's, the average person in the public, their only interaction with sewage and water board, hopefully if everything is working, is their bill. Do you understand that? So if they're getting a bill that's for $2,000 for a one-bedroom apartment, I'm surprised that the approval rating of Sewage and Water Board is as high as 14%. What was frustrating is that as an agency that sees a problem and is offered a solution, their response was nothing to see here. And so, like I said, I do appreciate you feel like something's being done to you. But I can tell you from my perspective, the council did not get rid of the sewage and water. Sewage and water board still exists. The board exists in the charter. The New Orleans City Council is not taking direct control of daily operations. What we want is oversight. Because we have oversight over every other utility in this city.

I wish I could fully believe that. I look at the politics, and I am concerned. I look at the ICC structure, the infrastructure coordinating council, which is to provide transparency and oversight, and then four lines down, there's a working subgroup of the ICC that does not have to adhere to open meetings, does not have to involve the public,

Ms. Plummer, if I might.

It's good. Really quick.

Respectfully. I just want to say, and it's just a comment, it's not going to be a back and forth. First of all, I want to sincerely thank you for being here today. I know this council values folks who take time out of their busy schedules to come and give their input. And I hear you loud and clear. I'm sure many of your colleagues, you know, there's probably a level of skepticism. There's probably a level of concern. That's certainly not lost on me. That's certainly not lost on all my colleagues. And for those that feel genuinely that this is a hostile takeover, I think those concerns will be alleviated over time. I want to assure you the goal at the end of the day, number one, is to bring the accountability closer to the residents, and we are the elected body. And number two, I think you're going to see a much stronger, consistent, ongoing partnership. that you previously spoke of. So I want to thank you for showing up to Sewage and Water Board every day, serving the city, serving our residents. I want to thank your colleagues, and I certainly and my colleagues certainly look forward to working together to make this the best possible utility that it can be. And again, sincerely, thank you for being here today.

May I have one closing word? Gentlemen, ladies, understand that if there is no water, no sewer, no storm water, protection services provided, there's no city. And if there's no power to make sure that the water is produced, that the stormwater is moved, that the sewage is pumped away, then we are concerned. We're just concerned that the politics truly protects the system and the people, employees and citywide.

Thank you, ma'am. We appreciate you being here. Thank you.

Thank you. I have Russell Kelly or Kerry. Sorry, I can't read your last name.

Good morning. Everything I say is my opinion, and it appears to me. I can see it, but Mr. Hammond can't see it. First of all, I'm for fixing the Children Water Board. I'm born and raised in New Orleans, 61 years. It's racial with its position. He can't say if I could see it, because the talk on the street is already that they're going to remove him and replace him with, it appears to be, a white male who already has two positions, Stephen Nelson. Stephen Nelson is a person who I have recorded on tape telling me the law department instructed him to eliminate my position, but kept 20 at the same position. Nine of the people came years after me. I've been around City Hall 43 years. My first job as a high school four-time intern, I worked for Brian Wagner, Republican City Councilman. I've been around a long time. I've met, out of my own bank account after Hurricane Katrina, $225,000 weekly payrolls. I know the politics. Also on the street, this is a power grab to put people in place who you want in place. on the street, once Mr. Heyman, a black man, is removed, Steve Nelson is going to be put in his place, and Trey Nobles, who I initiated two investigations in his Department of Property Management, could be moved into his position. all white males. He can't say it's racial, he can't say it's directed at him, but I've experienced the same thing. And I got a lot of time because he told me the legal department instructed him to eliminate my position. So again, while we informing the public about millages and all this kind of stuff, inform them about the politics that's really going on. That's truly going on. Thank you.

Thank you. Morgan Clevenger.

Good morning.

First, I want to just address the young lady that was just up here. She made a very impactful statement, politics protecting the system. And that's what we've seen in this city for a very long time, that politics protect systems all throughout government, throughout our city. You know, Mitch Landrieu, when the new billing, Sewage and Water Board billing software came into effect under Mitch Landrieu's term, so many of us organized through Justice and Beyond and other organizations, and we protested that then. We had sit-ins in the mayor's office, we had rallies, we had protests, and nothing changed. And I think what you said, Councilmember Morrell, was very apropos about Mr. Ghassan's, Director Ghassan's position. Because all those years passed, and it still remained the new software. Oh, we can't get rid of the new software. Well, why not? And that was extraordinarily impactful to our citizens for almost the last 20 years, which is no longer the new software, but it's still there. So when we say politics protects the system, it also hurts the people. And this is a pivotal moment. You know, we've had politics, as the lady said earlier, You know, city council members, mayors, all kinds of people on and off this board, the state control, the city control. Get this right. We will support you if you can get this right. But our experience shows us that we have a long way to go. So, but the fees, the software, the billing, that's not fixed. So we're counting on you guys.

Thank you. Dr. Angela Chalk.

Good morning to this council. I am Dr. Angela Chalk and I am representing myself on this matter. As a person who leads a community organization and works closely with the Surgeon Water Board, I would implore this body to once again stop finger pointing, stop calling names, and get the work done that we send you down here to do. And that starts with everyone being on one page. Now we've also come together as a member advisory council for advisory committee for the mayor. People were vetted, people were looked at for their expertise. And so I hold each of you going forward with the responsibility that we can't finger point this at anyone else. We can't finger point what happened with the Surgeon Water Board, what happened with DPW. All of this lies on your shoulders. And so listen to best management practices, Listen to what folks that work at the Surgeon Water Board are telling you, and let's stop the politics of it. Because at the end of the day, all of us live here, and we need those men and women out there doing the work and having the resources to do those jobs effectively. And so I'll yield back the rest of my time. Thank you.

Thank you. Anthony Jeannerette? I hope I pronounced that correctly. Sorry.

Good morning, city council members. Thank you for this opportunity to speak. I do want to take a few moments before I give my address to acknowledge the service of one Mr. Dexter Joseph, who served the city of New Orleans since 2001, who served 21 years at the Sooch and Water Board, who has recently passed. He was our budget director, so I do want to take a few seconds and honor his service to our city and to our organization. Thank you. Next, I do want to just reiterate on last week. It was stated by our city council chair last week that I was a proxy sent by our current Director, Executive Director, Mr. Heyman. I've only met with Mr. Heyman probably in person one or two times. One as a one-on-one meeting and another one at a prayer practice for pastors like myself. So, of course, you know, again, that was in error. But I do want to make sure that we understand that the men and women at Sojourn Water Board take great pride in what they do. And it doesn't feel like their work is being valued and appreciated because especially when we have rhetoric that is coming on social media by our city council president, we're mentioning his salary, his job, it feels like a personal attack. and y'all gotta forgive me I'm just a night war boy when you attack my partner you know and listen my teammate you know you attack me and so the men and women they do a great job we welcome oversight I've only been there a year and a half but I think I bring a wealth of experience and knowledge from the private sector. I bring an energy and a zeal. I bring a pride to work every day. And so, listen, when we make references about, you know, not my circus, not my monkeys, you know, remember that the Surgeon Water Board, we're voters as well. Thank you.

Thank you. Councilmember Green?

I want to thank the members of the council for the public expressions that we've made and also remind us that there was legislation that made this possible where there were public hearings too. This public hearing plus the committee meetings that we've had, we have a climate committee, we have a public works committee given opportunity for the public to have significant input with the council. But at the end of the day, we are elected by representatives of our city, our voters, our citizens. We are accountable to you in many ways, and that's not just by email. Sometimes it's by coming to these meetings as I see everyone in the audience. Let's give it a chance because there may be change, just as there was relative to billing, that moves us forward in a direction. Beyond the personal attacks, I want to make it clear that as a council member, I see people who are out there working for the Sewerage and Water Board who are doing good work every day. We have a thousand leaks in the city of New Orleans and many times I call and those leaks are taken care of. Building issues are taken care of because of what the city council did. It's also important to recognize that we need not have expectations that are going to result in us thinking that the council is responsible whenever there's water in the streets. For example, there was tremendous flooding in St. Tammany Parish and in Jefferson Parish recently and they don't have a sewage and water board But we all have concerns as a region and I'm asking us to look forward and recognize that if the City Council is successful or when the City Council is successful in changing the governance model so that there's no more accountability and then we may be able to go to the state on a regional level and say, look, we all have concerns. It just doesn't flood in one neighborhood. In this community, it floods throughout the entire region. We have infrastructure concerns throughout the region. In Jefferson Parish, for example, a 20-year millage was passed to result in 2.6 some billion dollars in infrastructure investment, and that's not even enough. Even in Jefferson Parish, they admit that that kind of fee increase is not enough. We are going to need help, but one way to have that help available to us is to use the council, our public body, our public expectations, and our participation by our voters and our elected officials in trying to move us forward as a city. The most important thing is that we address infrastructure needs, we address flooding, and that we also recognize that it's going to take some pain and it's going to take some investment to do so. I'm confident that the City Council, especially through its committees, is going to be focused on what is best for the citizens of our city and I encourage everyone, such as those who are here today, such as those who are online, to know that there will be many meetings and many opportunities to participate and that the best way to participate is to come directly to us with your concerns Yes, Nextdoor is fine. Yes, Facebook is fine. Yes, Instagram is fine. But there's nothing like going directly to the sources, which is the seven people up here who are elected, plus a board that you'll see more often now, and let us know your concerns, and let's work them together. So I hope that we can move forward recognizing that some of the concerns of the past are why there's some tension, but this may be one of the things that we have been needing to do for decades. Work with us, and I think that we'll see progress. Thank you.

you council member green anyone else okay i just want to say one last thing um look this legislation came about through the hard work between a sewage and water board the council the city and members of other organizations that will continue to be a collaborative effort and i hear you your comments about you know us being able to understand what happens at sewage and water board which is why I've reached out to Randy and Caitlin. I'm going to be touring all the facilities, getting to know the employees, the management, and really understanding what the needs are before we do any additional legislation. So this will be a long-term process. It's going to take time, but it's going to take that continued collaboration, and that's the commitment you have from us.

I want to say one last thing.

Sure.

Go ahead. Right now, well, now we're going to have more oversight of sewage and water board. Let me just, I just did a quick email search of sewage and water board emails that I get. And to be fair, I send those to Ms. Alice Knoll. I send those to, I'm going to say the last name wrong, to Ms. Tammer, Caitlin. I send those to Mr. Heyman. We're acting too much as a triage department with the New Orleans City Council. So I had to receive an email about a sewage and water board issue in the 500 block of Wilkerson in the French Quarter, intersection of Wall and General Collins and Algiers. 3,300 block of Newton Street in McClendonville in Algiers. A building issue in the 2,900 block of Lancaster. This is a quick search and these are four emails that pop up like this that I get all the time, not just me. Every councilman that gets on this desk every day about sewage and water boards. So should we not have my concerns about taking it over, but should we not have more oversight since we're the ones that's getting hit with the emails and the phone calls and the grocery store, hey, this is my sewage and water board issue. All we're trying to do is have a bit more oversight so the public, so the people in the city can have a bit more accountability, so we can have more accountability when it comes to sewage and water board. I'm going to read this email to show you just a glimpse of the frustrations that we've received. This is about a sinkhole in a gentleman's front of his house. This has been going on for over a year. This hole now is filled with smelly dirt, trash, and who knows what else. All you do is point fingers in the other direction. Meanwhile, there is a hole that is over three feet deep and growing three feet wide. We get those all the time. So now we have a bit more oversight to getting those holes fixed. None of us engineers, none of us are trying to go out and dig holes and do those jobs. We're not qualified for that. But we have been elected to represent the people in this city and make their quality of life a little bit better. And I believe that's what this is going to do in the long run. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember. Okay, with that, we need to approve the amendment, right? Okay, I'll motion to approve. Second. Second by Councilmember Hughes. All those in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

I'm just asking for the public's sake that they recognize that all council members asked to be part of this because the agenda, I don't want anybody to tell me, why didn't you support it? Why didn't you help introduce it? Yes, we are all sponsors on this legislation. Great.

Thank you. Okay. And then now the ordinance has amended. I'll motion. Second. Seconded by Council Member Hughes. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Seven yays, zero nays. Thank you.

the top of page 36 we have item 47 motion m26 311 by council members morel hughes and mccarron requesting that no later than december 31st 2026 the sojourn water board of the sojourn water board of new orleans board of directors shall submit new law new bylaws for the utility to the council the bylaws shall include one provisions related to the responsibilities of the executive director and the general superintendent including the potential combination of these positions and two provisions related to the utilities procurement policies to ensure compliance with all applicable laws in the city's commitment to fairness and equity as part of its review of the bylaws the board of directors shall consider whether the board should meet in the council chambers periodically the joint committee recommended

Thank you. The motion is pretty self-explanatory. As I've previously stated publicly on multiple occasions, the C-suite at Sewage and Water Board is very large. I know that there has been some umbrage to my reference to specific salaries, but I do think it's important to point out yet again that when you have a water system, a public water system, where the two people who are over said system, when their combined salaries are essentially three quarters of a million dollars, which is in complete disalignment with every other water system or really any other department, state or local, in the state of Louisiana, there is no public employee making over three over almost a quarter of a million dollars that isn't a LSU football coach. and when you talk about the fact that all these positions are funded by your rate payer dollars the question just becomes and to be clear the way this resolution is worded we are not as a council combining these positions what we're asking the board the new constituted board to do is to look at these two positions look at how much they cost and look at whether we need two positions the ultimate decision as Councilmember King pointed out last meeting is we don't make that decision. The Board will make that decision. The other two items here, we have had a slew of lawsuits against the Sewage and Water Board regarding equity and regarding some issues with contracting. We want those contracting issues to be resolved in a way and have the Board have more oversight weighing in on those fairness and those practices. And last but most importantly, you've heard this repeatedly, Yes, the sewage and water board meets. It meets in a boardroom at sewage and water board. If you've been to said boardroom, it's nothing like this. It is not a room with a board up front with seating in the back for the public to participate. It is a boardroom with seating along the walls. It is not a... environment conducive to interaction with the public. And what I can tell you as someone during that entire billing crisis, when I would confront sewage and water board members over billing, they would constantly tell me, well, I haven't heard anything about the billing. well if you've got a boardroom you meet in that can barely fit people and the public doesn't know how to get into it then yeah you're not going to hear much from the public but the council heard plenty and so part of what we want the board to consider is to have the sewage and water board once again start meeting in council chambers whether it be monthly whether it be quarterly whether it be biannually that board needs to sit here and hear from you hear what your concerns are what they're doing right and what they're doing wrong because I can tell you at least for the past decade they're not hearing much because when I spoke to those board members they really thought I mean they really believed that the public rage about billing was did not exist and was exaggerated. And as someone who was there as a council member at the height of the billing issues, I had constituents calling me crying because they were afraid their water would be cut off because sewage and water board had gotten their bill wrong by thousands of dollars and offered them half off as a compromise when these people are on fixed income and have never had bills this magnitude. There has to be a sense of urgency to solve the problems facing the city when it comes to sewage and water board. And that is the framework of what we're requesting in this motion. I have a question. Yes, sir.

Can someone from sewage and water board come to the microphone and give me the status of the elevator? Has the elevator been repaired to get to the boardroom? So can someone approach the microphone and give me an update on that? The elevator on St. Joseph Street. It's not a trick question.

Good morning, Randy Heyman, Executive Director.

Good morning, Director.

On that question, I will have to get that information and send you an email this afternoon. There is one elevator, I believe, that's still not functioning, but I have to get back with you on the details on it.

Okay, so there's a different elevator where the public can assess?

There's two. There are two elevators, and one of them works fine. It's closer to the... to where individuals, the kiosks where people pay their bills. But there is another one that I have to double check on. I know there was some issues with it, and I'll gladly give you information on that.

Yeah, well, I can tell you, you know, I was on the board for about a month or so, and the times that I visited Sewage and Water Board, I was told that, well, first of all, there was a sign on the elevator near the kiosk. It was inoperable on the multiple occasions that I visited. And I was directed by security that the only way that I could access the second floor was to take the stairs. And when I said, well, what if somebody's in a wheelchair or has a broken leg? They said, well, absent carrying them up. there'd be no way to reach the second floor. So the point is, you know, when we talk about accessibility for the public to attend these meetings, I think it's imperative if we're going to have a meeting on the second floor that the public has

access yes and i do know for a fact that there is one elevator that is working because i took it earlier this week i usually take the stairs but i did take the elevator so there is elevator wake working but i respect what you say yes i can double check and get your information on the second elevator thank you if you can get me the status update on that i appreciate it thank you very much thank you director i don't have any cards with any other public comment hearing none uh i will move second second by councilmember hughes

All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed? Hearing none, the matter is passed.

item 48 we have motion m26 312 by council members morrell and mccarran directing the civil service commission to conduct the review of susan water board classified employees to ensure their compensation is aligned and similarly situated employees and other public utilities joint committee recommended approval

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Ladies and gentlemen, what this seeks to do, and this is a corrected version of the erroneous motion that was in committee, is to reevaluate the rank and file civil service pay scales of individuals at Sewage and Water Board. Now, I want to be clear, because this was also, I think, misconstrued at our actual committee meeting. This is not an effort to lower pay. It's an effort to make sure people are properly compensated. When I have had anecdotal conversations with workers at Sewage and Water Board, it has become apparent to me that in many instances they may be making less money than other employees in city government that do similar work. So this is asking civil service to analyze the civil service pay scale to make sure that individuals working at Sewage and Water Board who are civil service, in the purview of civil service, have a current salary study to make sure they are being compensated properly. That's what it does. I see no cards. I will move.

Second.

Second by Councilman McCarron. All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed? Hearing none, it is approved.

At the bottom of the page, item 49, we have resolution R26-313 by Councilmembers Morrell and McCarron requesting the LLA to conduct an audit of Sujan Water Board New Orleans. Joint Committee recommended approval.

Madam Clerk, can you add my name to this resolution?

Well, just for the record, I would like it to be known that for every one of the resolutions relative to the sewage and water board, I'd like to be a member, but I think everybody would probably agree. Unless you're going to vote against it.

Definitely on my end. Thank you, Councilman Green. So on this last issue, whenever you have a the transfer of responsibility between organizations, it is always good to get a bill of health on said organization. We already know from, for those of you who attended or watched our budget meeting yesterday, one of the things that came out of said meeting is that the sewage and water board was entitled to a slew of federal reimbursements that were not pursued timely. And I want to say that because when you have federal reimbursements that are available for construction work, that means that that money doesn't have to come out of their money or out of the general fund, out of your millage dollars or general fund dollars. So what we're simply requesting is that the legislative auditor come in to do an audit of Sewage and Water Board to see what is the current full health and status of the organization. Now many people will say, why are you inviting legislative auditor? And one, Sewage and Water Board, despite the legislation passed, is still a quasi-state agency. Which means, as my former colleagues who are legislators know, the legislative auditor has complete oversight over the organization. Also, and more importantly, the legislative auditor is a lot cheaper than hiring a third party auditor. They have excellent in-house auditors we are using them currently with the city of New Orleans and the amount of money we would have to pay because realize the legislative auditor does not work for free he bills the city or builds the sewage and water board for the work he is not only the most qualified and easiest to get access to the work it's also the cheapest so the goal is to get this health and health audit of the current status of the sewage and water board's financial status but do so in an expedient way that is cost effective that's what it does I have a card from Danilo Feliciano. Please correct your name if I said it wrong because I do that quite frequently.

No, it's Danilo Feliciano. That's my actual name, not the former name that I had. Well, with just two minutes left to go, and I got to say, thank you for finally auditing the sewage and water board. It's something that I actually came here many times and talked about. I remember during the floodings of 2016, 17, 18. and many of the floodings over the year, the sewage and water board was just interesting. Because for the longest time, we sold the tax debt for the bonds at actual corporate prices. People paid taxes on them rather than municipal bonds, which are tax-free. And this cost the city of New Orleans much, much, much money. Apparently, there was resolutions that changed it, thanks to the BGR sometime in 2020. But the bond, the city of... The Board of Liquidation for the City of New Orleans has a lot of tax debt on the records, and it goes back to 1880 when it was actually formed. And there were a lot of bonds that were sold at taxable rates, which cost the city much more. But I'd just like to say, Thank you. I do believe the sewage and water board should be part of the city. Actually, energy should be part of the city also. It used to be. It used to be called NOPSI. And ever since NOPSI split up and we brought over this sewage and water board to be a separate entity and energy itself, there's a whole bunch of issues with energy that you're fully aware of. It's an interesting thing, so please do take a deep look into it. The Sewage and Water Board has one really interesting story that I'll just never forget, and it's one of the most New Orleans things that I ever said, but that's in almost an indenigrating way, and that's the story of Benjamin Edwards. and what happened in 2010, and how there was a billing for a private contractor where they ended up putting on the books that it was $90 an hour for paid workers who did all the work after Katrina to inspect the lines, and they only paid the people $20. And it just seems that there's a lot of shenanigans. That's not the normal people out of the Sewage and Water Board. They work hard. But a deep dive into its finances

Thank you very much. All right, with that... Mr. Chair, my button is pressed. I'm sorry. Go ahead, Mr. Green.

I look forward to this audit. I think that benefits have been derived from the audit that is being done of city finances. I hope that the confidence that is shown after this audit or the corrections that we make will make the state, especially its leadership, amenable to providing support for this special city which does so much to make the economy of Louisiana roll in the right direction. This audit should expose whatever needs to be exposed, but give a chance to make the corrections. And I know that the council, especially through its council utilities regulatory office, is in the posture of making the corrections that are necessary along with the board and along with the mayor. But I do look forward to the day when we can talk about the state of Louisiana providing more assistance in an area that is so important to our city and therefore so important to the state, and that is flood control and also infrastructure development.

Thank you. Thank you. With no further comment, I will move. Can I get a second? Second. Second by Council Member Hughes. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, the motion passes.

On page 37, we have item 51, resolution R26315 by council members McCarran, Hughes, and Morrell. Supporting the pursuit, development, and implementation of a local control governance model for Susan Water Board, which carries out the transfer, consolidation, or integration of the utilities into the City of New Orleans, joint committee recommended approval.

Thank you. Members, this is just the resolution that discusses the continued working group for the pumps and the Sewage and Water Board legislation. I don't have any comment cards. Are there any comments from the dais? Okay. With that, I'll motion to approve. Seconded by Councilmember Harris. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Great. Thank you. Seven yays, zero nays. Six, sorry. Six.

council members i'm going to finish the bottom of the page with item 52 we have motion m26325 by council member morale by request adding the president of council as a signatory to amendment number eight to the contract between the city of new orleans and universal protection services llc and authorizing the president of council to sign amendment number eight to the contract between the city of new orleans and universal protection llc

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this is just the extension of the contract at the end of the year of our very friendly security guards who greet you when you enter City Hall. This is simply just a continuation of that said contract at the end of the year. I see no cards. I see no public comment. I will move. Second by Council Member Caron. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, it passes. Thank you.

Page one, we have approval of the minutes for the meeting of July 9th, 2026 and July 23rd, 2026.

So moved. Second.

All in favor?

Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, the minutes are approved. Who made the move? Hughes made the motion. I made the second.

Thank you. We have consent agenda. We have a communication from Aaron Spears. This may be received. We have a communication from Amy B. Trepanier. This may be received and referred to the Budget Committee. At the top of page three, we have a communication from Michael Sherman, 2400 Napoleon Avenue. This may be received. We have a communication from Christy Saleno. This may be received. We have a communication from Amy B. Trepanier. This may be received. We have a communication from Anne E. Kirkpatrick. This may be received and referred to the Public Works Committee. We have a communication from Chelsea Richard-Napoleon, this may be received. We have a communication from Ross Bourgeois, this may be received. We have a report of Lenay Crowley, this may be received. We have a report of Robert D. Rivers, this may be received. Hearing date 8-2026. We have a report of Micah Inks, this may be received. We have a report of Alyssa Rambo, this may be received. We have a report of Randy Heyman, this may be received. We have a reporter, Randy Heyman. This may be received. We have a reporter, Charlene Gibson. This may be received. We have ordinance calendar 35,494 by Councilmember Harris. Municipal address 1000 South Peter Street, 1001 Convention Center Boulevard, 1040 St. Peter Street, and Johnny Churchill Chase Street between South Peters and the Convention Center Boulevard. Zone and Docket 2426. We have ordinance calendar 35,497 by Councilmember King, zoning docket 41-26. We have ordinance calendar 35,499 by Councilmember Harris, municipal address 709 Jackson Avenue, zoning docket 51-26. We have motion M26-297 by Councilmember King, question that was received, governmental affairs, recommended approval. We have motion M26-298 by Councilmember Willard, question that was received, governmental affairs, recommended approval. We have motion M26-299 by Councilmember Willard. Questionnaire is received. Governmental Affairs Committee recommended approval. We have motion M26-300 by Councilmember Willard. Questionnaire is received. Governmental Affairs recommended approval. We have motion M26-301 by Councilmember Morrell. Questionnaire is received. Governmental Affairs recommended approval. We have M26-302 by Councilmember Morrell. Questionnaire is received. governmental affairs committee recommended approval we have motion m26303 by council member mccarron question that received governmental affairs committee recommended approval we have motion m26304 by council member green by request question that was received governmental affairs committee recommended approval we have motion m26305 by council member hughes by request question that was received governmental affairs committee recommended approval We have resolution R26309 by council members Morrell, Willard, McCarran, Harris, King, Green, and Hughes. Joint committee recommended approval. We have resolution R26310 by council members Morrell, McCarran, Harris, King, Green, and Hughes. Joint committee recommended approval. This is all matters on consent agenda.

thank you we have several cards on the consent agenda so we would ask everyone to two things one um please have patience while we get through these cards two please respect individuals who are making comments regardless of whether you agree or disagree with them and three just remember that we have our decorum requirements on the uh on the doors when you come in ms johnson you're first

Hello. Excuse me. Susan Johnson, 2822 LePage Street, town of Carrollton. Watch. I am not PHP here. I'm commenting on the communication number 3 on page 3 of 38, application withdrawal of the conditional use request for 2400 Napoleon Avenue. This is just to say Thank you to Councilmember Harris for hearing the neighbors on this matter and responding so completely and much appreciated, and also to Councilmember Morrell, Councilmember Willard, thank you, and their staff members for all these district offices. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Next up we have Alex Mata. Come on up. Alex Mata is followed by Benjamin Speight.

Thank you, council. My name's Alex Mata. I'm owner of NOLA Carriages. We're the new kids on the block. We started in 1989, a lot older than us as far as carriage operations. Um, Ms. Christie started a motion today to ban horse-drawn, animal-drawn, mule-drawn... Mr. Walter, pause this time for a second.

Actually, we'll restart your time. What's in front of us is not a motion. It was a letter sent by someone asking to speak on the item. So I just want to be clear for everybody out there. Absolutely. There is no item that's pending before the council on this. It is simply a request by an individual that was sent to the council asking us to look at it. So I'm going to restart your time, but I don't know. I looked at some of these cards. I think there was some confusion. There was an item in front of us. There is no item. There is nothing filed. Any person can send a letter to the council on an issue. and we have received it as an official communication, and we give that person their two minutes per person to speak on that issue, so. Please restart, Mr. Modda. Sorry, Modda's time. Modda, yes.

My apologies. Also apologize, I'm not a very good speaker. So please have some grace. I just wanted to, I didn't want to come up here and attack anyone at all. I just want to give a little knowledge. Like I said, we started in 1989. Since then, I was seven years old, but I've always known of a 95 degree temperature ruling in our ordinances. We've always followed. Recently, the last few years, we've adopted a 105 heat index policy in addition to that. And I just wanted to state, for my company, since 1989, we've never had a heat-related issue with our mules or a work-related issue. And I have no knowledge of any of the other three companies either having that problem either. I attended, so did my father, Horseshoeing College where we got our degree in farrier, master of farrier. Also, I did a year extended course in veterinarian apprenticeship, tooth extraction and dental, and training. I just want to let everybody know that as owners of our company, we're very much involved. I was a tour guide for five years myself out there. My wife put herself through college, doing it as well for five years, then attended grad school, and now she's in our health grade industry. My sister is currently a tour guide. We're very much involved, and I applaud Ms. Christie for all she does with the Humane Society. She has a voice for the ones we share the earth with that can't speak. And I applaud her for that. I just want to rest assure that our animals are very well taken care of. And I think it's unprecedented for talk of turning those electric or getting rid of the animals. They truly do love the work. They find it very rewarding. And they get depressed when they go on vacation sent to our farm. And I can pull one of the carriages fully loaded with eight people by myself for a block.

Thank you. Benjamin Spate, followed by Louis Charbonnet.

Honorable council members, my name is Benjamin Speight. I have worked as a tour guide in the city of New Orleans, but also other places. I have a bachelor's of science in animal veterinary sciences from Clemson University in South Carolina. And I have been a lifelong horseman and a 25 year equine professional. We understand the point of view and also worry about animal welfare. As Mr. Mata said, I've said this often to people before, we appreciate people coming in and looking at oversight because it makes us be better as organizations. We have to remember the LASPCA was literally started to protect working orders in the French Quarter. As Mr. Mata said, mules do. work well they are an animal with a lot of drive a lot of people talk about heat and other things the one thing I love about mules and I've handled hundreds of them thousands over the years what I would say is they are very very self self-aware very self-regulating and we can say all sorts of different things but you know they use the term stubborn as a mule obviously that's a caricature of what we are however at the end of the day if you try to get a mule to do something that they do not wish to do I can guarantee you very quickly you will learn but that's impossible I will simply throw this back. Again, appreciate Ms. Solano and her right to do so. And I would appreciate anyone who disagrees with the industry in New Orleans to please come to these barns and see how these mules are treated behind the scenes. Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you. Mr. Louis Charbonnet followed by Chris DiSolano. No, I'm sorry, Ms. Lotto. Mr. Charbonnet first, then you. We got to go in order, Mr. Charbonnet. I know you're a gentleman, but it's all about when your car was filed. Thank you.

I'm here against something, but I'd like to know what I'm against. If she's here to present an argument, then I'd like to present my position after she speaks. Because I don't know what she... She might be here to kiss and love us. She might... Okay, well, I'll just say that, listen, I've been in business since 1989, just like Mr. Maher. This is an industry that's a very stable industry. There's only four carriage companies. And in 40 years, there's only been two that have gone into business. good old days and mid-city carriages. We have no problems. We've had an article, I referred you to an article that was written on August the 4th of this year in the Times-Picayune where a reporter came to me and I asked him to go to the records to look and see at the court records if there's any problems with this industry. No suits. Very few suits, no injuries as automobile industries, cars hit the carriages, we hit the cars, but no injuries from the mules. We have no mules that have died in the street. We obey the old law as far as heat, 95 degrees and the heat index. We're a good industry, a good industry for New Orleans. We feed a lot of families. And I'll ask you all, just listen. And if you find something wrong, we're here to correct it. SPCA said they haven't inspected our stables in more than a year because their budget has been cut. They've had no reason and no complaints to come to our stables. We keep and run a good business. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Charbonnet. Ms. Solano, followed by Jeff Dorsen.

Good morning, council members. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak today. I'm here to ask you to phase out and ultimately ban mule-drawn carriages in the city of New Orleans, because I believe this practice is no longer consistent with the values of a modern, compassionate city. Mules are intelligent, sensitive animals. They do not choose a life of pulling heavy carriages through busy streets surrounded by traffic, noise, exhaust fumes, and extreme Louisiana heat and humidity. Day after day they're expected to work long hours while carrying the burden of transporting tourists for entertainment. The alternative would be electric carriages. The choices we make today will reflect the kind of city we want. I hope you will choose progressive humane kindness solutions. Thank you.

All right, next up we have Jeff Dorsen followed by Catherine Marie Cassidy.

Thank you. Good afternoon. Thanks for having me. Jeff Dorsen, Humane Society of Louisiana. Two parts to my quick two minutes. One is the state of animal welfare in our city. With the budget cuts to the SPCA, we're seeing enormous amounts of stray and abandoned animals. They're packing up. They're chasing people. They're going into their garbage. This is a huge concern of ours. And then what's happening is citizens are forming their own rescue groups, they're performing a government duty on their own because there's nobody to pick up strays. That's a huge problem, gives us bad optics for the rest of the world. And these women now scan, go to the canals because people are dropping off their dogs in the canals. So imagine what they're doing when we don't even know that. And I think we need to be aware of this group of fearless people who are taking on the responsibility. This actually should be done through the city. SPCA has shortened their hours so people can't surrender their animals. They're dumping them on the street. I also want to register our concerns with the welfare of the mules in the corridor. We get calls and complaints from tourists on a regular basis. Other large cities have found a way to replace them with electric carts. We're definitely in favor of that. Let me read you the cities that have moved away from horse or mule-drawn carriages. I think we should follow suit. Paris, Chicago, Montreal, Philadelphia, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, no job loss. They simply go to electric carts, which we definitely recommend. Any questions? I have 25 seconds.

Councilmember, Jeff, I want to thank you for all that you do for our animals in the city, but I do want to address the SPCA budget cuts. As you know, the SPCA did have some budget cuts, and because of that, they reduced their operations. We've been in constant contact with Ana Zorilla and Michelle and other rescues about what you all are doing to fill in those holes. However, I would ask that you and the other animal activists take a look at the SPCA's full budget, not just what the city pays them to do, but their nonprofit arm. So when you make a donation to the SPCA, that goes to their nonprofit. Their services to the city could be supplemented with use of that nonprofit arm, but they're choosing not to do so. So, you know, I get that we need increased animal control and enforcement, but I get that the SPCA has had their budget cut, but they have a huge endowment that they could use to fill those holes in order to operate in a way that is necessary for the care of these animals.

I'm in total agreement. I wish they would. I you and I are not arguing I just want the public to know that yeah I I so there's this huge gap and now we're asking people to put out fires as if we don't have a fire department so I know my time is up but I'd love to talk to you further rendered animals are suffering and people are putting out a great

Correct, but the SPCA cannot blame city budget cuts from their services when they have millions and millions of dollars in the bank that they could be used to supplement the services that they have already. Thank you, John.

100% agreed. Thank you. Before you come up, Catherine, I do want to add one thing, and Councilman Harris is completely on point. It is also very concerning to many council members that when they are fundraising on the internet off of this crisis, they are not disclosing to donors that as you give them money because they say they need money to supplement services, they are sending that money to their nonprofit arm and not supplementing services.

Please speak to them about that. We have. And please invite them to the council and explain. We have. Right? Well, then now do an audit on what they're providing. We are.

We can only audit the part of the money we give them. But what we would say simply is, as individuals who donate to the SPCA, and many council members count ourselves in that number, It is very disconcerting for any organization raising money to use a crisis to raise money and then not spend the money on the crisis. That's all we're saying. Bingo.

I'm in the same position. And let me say this for the thousands of people who are watching, Councilmember Green. If you're going to take your money to donate to animal rescue, Donate to the private rescues like Bulldog Rescue, like Zeus', like the women who just formed the rescue opportunities. Don't donate to the SPCA because they are not using that money to rescue animals. I have a text message and email right now about animal cruelty that the SPCA is not investigating because they're saying their budget was cut. They have a huge endowment that they could go and use and fill the gaps that they're seeing.

I would love for you to invite their CEO here to, and you have. I have. I understand. We want the same thing, accountability, hard work, transparency. How about communication? I agree with that. We all suffer from that. So let's do better. Thank you so much. Thank you, Jeff.

Good morning and thank you Council President and Council Members. My name is Catherine Cassidy and I work here in the French Quarter. I'm not standing here today because I read something online. I work in the Quarter. I see these mules with my own eyes. I've personally seen these mules working in the heat, visibly exhausted and breathing heavily and still being required to continue working. I've also witnessed drivers snapping and whipping the reins to make the mules move faster. And I want to be clear, this is not simply about whether one operator has a veterinarian or whether an animal technically meets the minimum requirements of the law. I believe the practice itself is unethical. There is a scientific reason our climate matters. Equines primarily cool themselves during exercise through sweating. Sweat has to evaporate from the skin in order to carry heat away from the body. But when humidity is high, the air is already saturated with moisture, so sweat evaporates less efficiently. That means the animal can continue generating body heat through physical exertion while becoming less able to release that heat into the environment. In other words, heat plus humidity plus physical exertion creates a dangerous combination for a working animal. That can contribute to dehydration, exhaustion, heat stress and potentially life-threatening heat-related illness. And New Orleans knows heat is a serious concern. Our own laws impose special restrictions on mule carriage work during the summer, including limits. But I have to ask, why are we regulating how much heat, physical exhaustion an animal can endure instead of asking why we're making the animal work at all? These are living, sentient beings. They experience pain, fear, stress, and fatigue. They cannot tell us when they are suffering. They cannot quit. They cannot refuse a carriage ride. And we're putting them in an extremely demanding urban environment, extreme heat and humidity, hot pavement, traffic exhaust, crowds, loud noise, and unpredictable distractions, all while pulling carriages. For what? Tourism, entertainment, profit?

Thank you. That's all the comments on this issue. We'll proceed to the next issue where we have public comment. The next issue is item number 13. Mr. Russell Kelly has a card in on item number 13. I believe he left. We went on once, going twice. Mr. Kelly is done. Next up, we have two individuals in support of item number 16 who are present, not wishing to speak, but support Mr. Jim Cook and Mr. Dan Phelps are in support of item number 16. With that, we have no more public comment. Thank you. I will move for the adoption of the consent agenda second by Councilmember Harris all in favor aye any opposed hearing none the consent agenda is adopted thank you regular agenda at the top of page 13 we have legislative grouping

rta application 2025 0123 along with resolutions lying over r269 and r2610 has been deferred to the meeting of september 3rd we have item two legislative grouping rta application 2022 0126 along with resolutions lying over R2611 and R2612 has been deferred to the meeting of September 3rd. At the top of page 15 we have item 3 legislative group and zoning docket 4726 city council motion M26104 requesting a text amendment to article 25 of the comprehensive zoning ordinance to add the existing billboard located at 100 Padre Street, New Orleans, Louisiana 70130 to the list of receiving locations for electronic conversion to make recommendations for any other amendments deemed necessary. Municipal address non-applicable. The recommendation of the City Planning Commission being for modified approval. We have motion M26307 by Councilmember Harris approving the applicant's request for zoning docket 4726.

Thank you Madam Clark. CPC will you brief us on your report?

Good morning, Councilmember. This is an amendment that is proposed in response to a request involving an existing static billboard at 100 Porter Street at the Hilton Riverside Hotel and an existing digital billboard at 4640 Demacour Street. Under the proposed arrangement, the billboard at 100 Podra Street would be eligible for consideration as a receiving location for electronic conversion, while the existing digital billboard at 4640 Demicor Street would be converted to a static billboard. This proposal is made in response to concerns expressed by neighbors of the billboard at 4640 Demicor Street. That billboard, while adjacent to Interstate 10, is also adjacent to an edge of the Mid-City neighborhood. Residents of the neighborhood have expressed concerns that the billboard is excessively bright and that light spillover negatively impacts their quality of life. To address these concerns, elected officials have worked with the billboard operator to explore disabling that billboard, eliminating its slight impacts, in exchange for allowing the billboard at the Hilton Riverside site in an exclusively commercial context to be considered for electronic conversion. This conversion is not contemplated under the existing billboard regulations, which limit electronic billboard conversion to designated receiving locations, which are currently identified in Section 25 of the CZO. While the regulations establish a framework for electronic billboard conversions and identify specific receiving locations, they do not provide a mechanism for considering additional receiving locations outside of those expressly identified in the ordinance. To address this issue, the proposed amendment would establish criteria and review procedures for the consideration of additional receiving locations through amendment of this section of the CZO. The proposed standards require evaluation of the receiving location surrounding context, compatibility with nearby land uses, consistency with the purpose of the electronic billboard conversion program. It would also require review by the City Planning Commission and consideration by the City Council prior to the authorization of any additional receiving location. These changes reflect the policy determination regarding the treatment and siting of electronic billboards within the City's regulatory framework. The proposed change establishes a process for evaluating site-specific circumstances where electronic billboard conversions may be appropriate while ensuring that surrounding land uses, compatibility considerations, and the overall intent of the program are taken into account. The staff in the course of the review identified a few other regulatory updates needed to accomplish the goal of the motion, which is why the Planning Commission recommendation is for modified approval.

Thank you. This basically takes a billboard that was in a mixed residential commercial area and puts it into a exclusively commercial area. I will move. Can I get a second? Second. Seconded by Council Member McCarran. All in favor? Aye. Seven yays. Thank you.

At the bottom of the page, zoning docket 5026 has been deferred to the meeting of August 28th. At the top of page 16, we have item 5, legislative groupings, zoning docket 5826, Allen and Glenn, Inc. Requesting a conditional use to permit a hotel over 5,000 square feet in the floor area in an HUMU historic urban neighborhood mixed-use district. in the transient lodge and interim zoning district on square 464 blocks 15 and 16 in the seven municipal districts bounded by elkhart boulevard short street fern street and oleander street municipal address 7979 elkhart boulevard and 3127 short street the recommendation of the cpc being for approval subject to two provisos we have motion m26 316 By Councilmember Harris, approving the applicant's request for Zoning Docket 5826, subject to modifications to the first proviso indicated in bold underlined text to exclude short-term rentals from the transient lodging use.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. CPC, will you brief us on your report?

Yes. This is a conditional use that would allow the conversion of an existing former office building into an eight bedroom hotel in an HUMU district. The structure contains approximately 5,000 square feet. and it is located along an existing commercial corridor, which is why the Planning Commission thinks it's an appropriate proposal and recommends approval subject to provisos.

Thank you. This site is currently developed with a structure that was formerly utilized as an office building. I modified the CPC provisos to exclude short-term rentals from their approved transient lodging use. This proposal received support at its neighborhood participation meeting and did not receive any opposition. If there are no questions or cards, I'll move. Seconded by Councilmember Hughes. All in favor? Aye. Seven yes.

At the top of page 17, we have Legislative Group and Zoning Docket 6026, Whole Property LLC. Requesting a conditional use to permit a standard restaurant in an HUB1 historic urban neighborhood business district in the Magazine Street Use Restriction Overlay District on Square 153, Lot A in the 4th Municipal District, bounded by 6th Street, 7th Street, Camp Street, and Magazine Street. Municipal address 2901 Magazine Street. the recommendation of the cpc being for approval subject to three provisos well motion m26 317 by council member harris approving the applicant's request for zoning docket 6026

Thank you, Madam Clerk. CPC, will you brief us on your report?

Yes, this is a condition used to permit a standard restaurant. The subject property right now is developed with a mixed-use building that contains a specialty restaurant on the ground floor, which for zoning purposes allows limited food and beverage services and does not allow for alcohol beverages. The operator wishes to operate a standard restaurant in order to enable the sale of alcoholic beverages. So this reclassification necessitate a conditional use approval due to the sites being located in the magazine street use restriction overlay. We think at the City Planning Commission that given the purpose of the zoning district to allow small businesses including restaurants that this is an appropriate request. The recommendation is for approval subject to three provisos.

Thank you. I have one speaker who has not turned in a card. Yes. You're on crutches, Ron.

Ron Laisel, 1000 South Norman C. Francis. I do want to thank CPC staff and also Councilmember Harris and her staff for understanding that this is simply adding alcohol to a little small sushi restaurant on Magazine Street. I guess, you know, we're looking at how to support businesses on Magazine Street and throughout the city. And, you know, the magazine use overlay district really takes about 8 to 10 months, 11 months before you can get that through. And there we know how much restaurants struggle without having that alcohol to help their things. So maybe there's an opportunity to kind of look at this And I believe, you know, back in my memory, back during the CZO time, and a lot of people were concerned that these restaurants were going to turn into bars, which is a very, very fair, you know, concern. But zoning is different today than it was back then. The zoning department is well staffed, and they love going out. So just something to try to help these businesses move faster because, you know, they're hanging on by a thread.

Thank you, Ron, and please reach out to my office to schedule some time to talk about that. I also would just say that this restaurant is where the old GNC was, and it's well-regarded, so I would encourage everyone, including my colleagues, to get to it. It's called Nanami. With that, I'll move.

Second.

Second by Councilmember Hughes. All in favor?

Aye. Aye.

Seven yays. Thank you.

at the top of page 18 we have item 7 legislative group and zoning docket 62 26 james fair requesting a zone and change from an h-u-r-s historic urban single-family residential district to an h-u-r-d-2 historic urban two-family residential district on square 1981 Lab B in the third municipal district bounded by Treasure, Dare, Benefit, and Edge Street. Municipal address 2657 through 2659 Treasure Street. The recommendation of the CPC being for effective denial for lack of legal majority. We have motion M26306 by Councilmember Green denying the applicant's request for zoning document 6226 as recommended by the CPC.

Would you...

be inclined to comment yes this is a zoning change from a single family residential district to a two-family residential district to enable the property owner to develop a two-family dwelling on a currently vacant parcel while the zoning change would expand the permissions of the site the proposal While it will not generate great negative impact on the surrounding residential properties, which are a mix of two and single family dwellings, ultimately the proposal constituted spot zoning and conflict with the master plan for that reason. That is why the staff recommended denial of the request. There was some discussion among the commissioners following statements from the applicant and three opponents during the planning commission hearing. Commissioners were split on the merit of the zoning change request and the vote resulted in a denial due to lack of majority.

Thank you. While I appreciate the applicant's desire to develop the property, the City Planning Commission found that the proposal fails the majority of the CZO approval standards primarily because it would create a spot zoning, so I cannot support this zoning request. I've also heard from neighboring residents, both at the neighborhood meeting and also at the city planning commission level and in our office, who strongly oppose this request and have expressed concerns about changing the zoning in their neighborhood. This is the Edgewood Heights neighborhood. The property can still be reasonably developed under its zoning as a single-family residence, so I do not believe an isolated zoning change or spot zoning is warranted. For these reasons, I move to deny the application and move on motion 26306 for rejection. May I have a second? Second. Seconded by Councilmember Hughes. Members, please vote your machines, oh no, please vote all in favor. Aye. Any opposed? Seven yeas, no nays. Thank you very much for your support, members.

At the top of page 19, we have item A, legislative group and zoning document 6326, along with motion M26318 has been deferred to the meeting of August 28th. At the top of page 20, item 9, zoning document 6426 has been deferred to the meeting of September 3rd. We have Item 10, Legislative Grouping Zoning, Docket 6526, Carrie McCaffey, requesting a conditional use to permit a bed and breakfast accessory in the HURD-2 Historic Urban Two-Family Residential District in the Transient Lodge and Interim Zoning District. On square 717, lots 1A or Y in the 6th municipal district, bounded by Cater Street, South Roman Street, South Prayer Street, and Upper Lyons Street. Municipal address 3200 Cater Street. The recommendation of the CPC being for approval with two provisos. We have motion M26319 by Councilmember Harris, approving the applicant's request for zoning document 6526.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. CPC, will you brief us on your report?

This one is a proposal to allow the conversion of an existing non-commercial short-term rental, which currently can utilize up to three bedrooms, to an accessory bed and breakfast to utilize each of the five existing guest rooms in the structure. The site is developed with a raised single-family residence. with a floor area of 1,400 square feet approximately. There is no alteration to the structure or the site. Essentially, the proposal would just create a change of the type of short-term rental operated at the site and will not increase the number of short-term rentals within the petition square or the area. For these reasons, the Planning Commission is supportive and recommend approval subject to two Provisos.

Thank you. And I also want to note that the owner will continue to reside on the ground floor. With that, I'll move. Seconded by Councilmember McCarran. All in favor? Aye. Six shays. Thank you.

At the top of page 21, item 11, we have legislative grouping, property disposition 126, Ernest and Muriel Exhibition Hall Authority. Requesting the sale of a portion of John Churchill Chase Street right away in the first municipal district bounded by squares 25 and 26, bounded by St. Peter Street and Convention Center Boulevard. The sale also includes a 2.38 inch by 307.14 inch section of 350 John Churchill Chase Street, Mississippi River Heritage Park, on square 26 up to the fence line of the park. The street and the 731 square feet section of the park are to be incorporated into a future hotel development after the street dedication is revoked. The recommendation of the CPC being for approval with four provisos. We have ordinance calendar 35,493 by Councilmember Harris. An ordinance revoking the dedication to public use and authorizing a sale at a public auction for a minimum price to be set by appraisal of certain portions of ground together with all the rights, ways, privileges, servitudes, and appurtenances there unto belonging or in any wise appertaining situated in the first municipal district of the city of new orleans orleans parish louisiana being a portion of john churchill's chase street between squares 25 and 26 bounded by south peter street convention center boulevard the jcc street parcel a portion of square 26 the 26th square 26 strip all is shown on a survey drawn number m247 by the office of god Condo Flo Cone LLC dated November 10, 2025, revised December 11, 2025, and more particularly described below collectively the property, which are no longer needed for the public purpose and otherwise to provide respect thereto.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. This would allow NOBIC to put up for auction a portion of John Churchill Chase Street that is adjacent to the proposed Convention Center hotel build. We do have representatives from NOBIC here, if anybody has any questions. Hearing none, I'll move. Second. Seconded by Councilmember Hughes. All in favor? Aye. Six shays. Thank you.

At the top of page 22 we have item 12 legislative group and ordinance calendar 34385 along with motions line over M23426 and M23427 has been deferred to the meeting of August 28th. At the top of page 23 we have ordinance calendar 35117 has been deferred to the meeting of August 28th. We have ordinance calendar 35384 has been deferred to the meeting of August 28th. Ordinance calendar 35487 has been deferred to the meeting of September 3rd. At the top of page 24 we have item 16. Ordinance calendar 35488 has been deferred to the meeting of September 3rd. We have ordinance calendar 35495 has been deferred to the meeting of August 28th. At the top of page 25, we have ordinance calendar 35,501 by Councilmember Green by request. An ordinance to approve and authorize the Mayor of the City of New Orleans acting by and through the New Orleans Aviation Board to enter into a lease amendment to the airline airport use and lease agreement with Signatory Airlines, United Airlines, Inc. operating at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport under circumstances in which a solicitation or selection process is not required by law and otherwise the supervisor respects thereto.

This ordinance authorizes a two-year extension of the United Airlines lease agreement at Louis Armstrong International Airport through December 31, 2027. The extension provides stability while the airport completes its capital planning and negotiates a new long-term agreement. United will continue paying airport rates and fees under the existing structure with no fiscal impact to the city. I see no cards. I see no comments, requests for comments. Members, I move for approval of 35501 seconded by Councilmember Hughes. All in favor? Aye. Any nays? Thank you for your support, members.

Item 19, Ordinance Calendar 35502 by Councilmember Green by request. An ordinance to approve and authorize the Mayor of the City of New Orleans acting by and through the New Orleans Aviation Board to enter into a lease agreement with Alaska Airlines, which is operating at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport under circumstances in which a solicitation or selection process is not required by law and otherwise to provide respect thereto.

This ordinance This authorizes the New Orleans Aviation Board to enter into a signatory airline use and lease agreement with Alaska Airlines for space at Louis Armstrong International Airport. As a signatory airline, Alaska Airlines agrees to pay rents, fees, and a share of the airport's operating and maintenance costs in exchange for lower airport rates and charges than non-signatory carriers. The agreement will remain in effect until a new airport-wide airline lease agreement takes effect on December 31, 2027, whichever comes first. No competitive solicitation was required under state law for this type of airport lease. Again, it's for Alaska Airlines. Members, I move for approval. Seconded by Councilmember Hughes on number 35502. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? We have six yays, no nays. Thank you again, members, for your support of this legislation.

On page 27, we have item 22, Legislative Group and Ordinance Calendar 35523 by Councilmember Willis. An ordinance to amend and reordain section 2-61 and 2-62 of the Code of the City of New Orleans to provide relative to periodic reporting by the Police Department on drone usage and otherwise supervised respects thereto. There's an amendment to Ordinance 35523 by Councilmember Willard, an amendment to add quarterly and monthly reporting on agencies, offices, and city departments requesting drone deployment and monthly reporting on the identity of the supervising officer for each drone flight to the police department's drone reporting requirements.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Councilmembers, this amendment is what we discussed yesterday in committee. The purpose of this ordinance is for transparency. This amendment increases that transparency. So I'll move adoption. Can I get a seconded by Councilmember Hughes? All in favor? Aye. Seven yeas, zero nays, the amendment is adopted. So overall, the ordinance is for a public-facing dashboard on the usage of drones by NOPD. It also requires monthly reporting to the Criminal Justice Committee, and this will allow the public to be engaged. to be informed and for the council to have the appropriate oversight and transparency. I want to thank NOPD for working with me in my office on this, particularly Captain Palumbo and Chief Kirkpatrick. We do have a card from Sue Mobley.

Good morning, y'all. Sue Mobley, 3801 North Roman. I wanted to speak in support of this ordinance and its amendment and to say that I think, like many of you, I don't think that NOPD should have drones at all. I think it's a terrible idea. I think that surveillance technology broadly has proven to be not useful and a violation of constitutional rights everywhere that it's been, and it's part of the reason that there's a nationwide pushback against it. That said, if we are going to have it, if we already have it, and we do, we do at least need to ensure that we are transparent and clear about how it's being used, about how data is being shared, and about what the implications are, particularly for our queer communities, our immigrant communities, and our communities of color. Because what we have seen across the country is that that is who is most likely to have problems with all of the increase in surveillance tech. It's not a good use of money. It's not good policing. We know that. So let's show it on a dashboard that we can all review together. Thank you.

Thank you, Sue. And I want to thank you for working with my office on the ordinance as well. Your feedback was greatly appreciated and, as you know, contributed to the amendments that we just adopted. So thank you.

Thank you.

Just for clarity, so this will require NOPD to come before the Criminal Justice Committee on a quarterly basis. It requires NOPD to submit these transparency reports to the full City Council. on a monthly basis. It will require a public-facing database on these drone deployments, requiring them to completely fill out all of the fields. So I think we have increased the transparency here. Hopefully that alleviates some concerns from the community. What we're trying to see is are the drones being used properly and are they producing the impact that NOPD says that they will do and so with that I will move adoption of the ordinance as amended second I'd like to add my name okay and everybody can we add everybody to this ordinance oh and I'm sorry councilmember green for comment yes

I appreciate your work and I just wanted to make clear how much I appreciate the fact that the New Orleans Police Department was involved with the drafting of the language and also of the requirements. I have found the members of the New Orleans Police Department leadership to be supportive of those things which make the department better and which make our citizens safer. I do want to encourage everyone to recognize that should you have concerns, we have an Office of the Independent Police Monitor and that each month You can go to a New Orleans Police Department district station and speak to the commander and ask the questions that you feel need to be asked in addition to coming to the council's criminal justice committee, in addition to going to the inspector general and whatever you feel is necessary to get your concerns heard. But I appreciate the work of the New Orleans Police Department. We're moving in the right direction in many respects. In many respects, this oversight keeps us moving in the right direction, and I'm appreciative.

Thank you, Councilmember Green. And one last person for me to thank, my chief intern over the summer, Miss Layla Dunn, who is now a freshman at USC in California. She actually wrote the first draft of this ordinance. A high school senior from Ben Franklin, who is now a freshman at USC. With that, I move adoption as amended, seconded by Councilmember Hughes. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Seven yeas, zero nays. The ordinance is adopted as amended.

At the top of page 28, we have item 23, ordinance calendar 535.524 by Councilmember Willard. An ordinance to amend and reordain ordinance 9650 MCS as amended by ordinance 11,152 MCS as amended and as amended by ordinance 2833 MCS relative to the dedication of capital funds for works of art, to provide for one percent of all future appropriations for eligible capital projects to be dedicated to the acquisitions of or to modify the scope of eligible capital projects and otherwise to provide respects there too

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Councilmembers, this ordinance realigns the city's percent for art allocation in response to the city's current budget crisis. For 34 years, the percent for art allocation was 1% of our capital budget. In 2019, it was increased to 1.5%. What we're doing with this ordinance is bringing it back to 1%, which will save us $2.5 million over six years in our capital budget. Our rationale is that we're reprioritizing 35 million of capital projects to backstop our general fund. We did that earlier today. And we need every single dollar to move forward critical infrastructure projects our city. I want to thank the Arts Council for being a good partner here. Earlier this year the administration asked them to plan conservatively for their budget and they understood. I also want to acknowledge that this does not impact the Arts Council current budget year. This will be moving forward and I also want to thank the Director of the Mayor's Office of Cultural Economy, Wood De La Jose and Sadie Finkel in the CAO's office. With that, I move adoption seconded by Councilmember Harris. Do we have a quorum? Oh, we do not have a quorum, so give us a second.

I keep telling them to send it.

all right move by councilmember Harris all in favor all right six yeas zero nays the ordinance is adopted we have five to Freddy was here right Freddy was here

We have item 24, motion line over M25182 has been deferred to the meeting of September 3rd. Item 25, motion line over M25183 has been deferred to the meeting of September 3rd. At the top of page 29, we have item 26, motion line over M25184 has been deferred to the meeting of September 3rd. Motion line over M25186 has been deferred to the meeting of September 3rd. Motion line over M25187 has been deferred to the meeting of September 3rd. At the top of page 30, item 29, motion line over M25189 has been deferred to the meeting of September 3rd. Motion line over M25235 has been deferred to the meeting of September 3rd. Motion line over M25236 has been deferred to the meeting of September 3rd. At the top of page 31, we have motion line over M25238 has been deferred to the meeting of September 3rd. Motion line over M25288 has been deferred to the meeting of September 3rd. Motion line over M25435 has been deferred to the meeting of September 3rd. at the top of page 32 motion line over m26 38 has been deferred to the meeting of september 3rd motion line over m2639 has been deferred to the meeting of september 3rd motion line over m2640 has been deferred to the meeting of september 3rd at the top of page 33 item 38 motion line over m2641 has been deferred to the meeting of september 3rd motion line over m2644 has been deferred to the meeting of september 3rd Motion line over M2683 has been deferred to the meeting of September 3rd. At the top of page 34, item 41, motion line over M2684 has been deferred to the meeting of September 3rd. Motion line over M26115 has been deferred to the meeting of September 3rd. Motion line over M26198 has been deferred to the meeting of September 3rd. At the top of page 35, item 44, motion line over M26242 has been deferred to the meeting of September 3rd. motion line over resolution line over r26275 has been deferred to the meeting of august 28th at the bottom of the page item 46 m26308 by council members green and king establishing the official permanent polling place relocations for the city of new orleans parish of orleans

We don't have a quorum to vote on it, but the bottom line is that this is a polling change necessitated by the closing of the Frederick Douglass campus. So at the end of the day, this is a simple measure that is technical in nature that I'm asking for council members' support on. So I move for approval. Second. Seconded. It's been properly moved and seconded by Council Vice President Ruillard. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Six yays, no nays. Thank you.

council members this is everything on the regular agenda do we move to go to executive executive session i get a second second my council vice president will all in favor we are in executive session

308

All right, Madam Clerk, we're back in. Roll call, please.

We could just vote to come back in. Okay.

I'll move to back second. second by council member hughes all in favor aye any opposed hearing none we have seven yeas no nays we are back in session all right council members we have one more resolution under suspension or 26 320 by council member mccarron rulemaking proceeding

to establish rules for community solar projects docket ud 1803 resolution and order establishing a comment period for parties to respond to together new orleans energy new orleans and sun connects july 29 2026 proposed rail lines to resolution or 26 275. mark needs a little time to let it add into the system so we're going to vote to um receive so moved

All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, seven yeas, no nays.

You ready? You ready? We need the vote to add to the agenda.

So moved. Moved by Gosselin Hughes, second by myself. All in favor? Aye. Seven yeas, no nays.

Council Member McCarran can discuss. Thank you. Members, this is just adding a short comment period for community solar. So over the last several weeks, the parties have been working on some rules, red lines on the rules of the program. And this will allow any other interveners to make additional comments if they feel necessary. So this will give us August 20th will be the new date that we will finalize the resolution and vote on it. So this gives us till August 15th, 14th for comments, and then we will propose the red lines. Any questions?

Nope.

Okay, I will move to approve. Second. Seconded by Councilmember Hughes. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Seven yays, zero nays. We can vote to go to ordinance on first reads.

I'll move. Second. Seconded by Councilmember Hughes. All in favor? Aye. Seven yays, no nays. We're on first reads.

Ordinance on first reads. Ordinance calendar number 35,525 by Councilmember Hughes. An ordinance to establish a conditional use to permit a vocational educational facility in the C1 General Commercial District for the property located at Square Deer Park, Section 24, Building 3, Unit 3D, Lot 3B8B in the 3rd Municipal District bounded by Lake Forest Boulevard, Deer Park Boulevard, Deer Trail, and Farrar Canal. The municipal address is 1055 Lake Forest Boulevard, Suite D. And otherwise to provide with respect there to zoning docket number 4926. Sorry. Ordinance calendar number. 35-526 by Councilmember McCarran. An ordinance to establish a conditional use to permit a neighborhood commercial establishment in an H-U-R-D-2 historic urban two-family residential district on Square 17 by 21A in the 6th Municipal District, bounded by Cap Street, Audubon Street, Magazine Street, and Broadway Street. The municipal address is 139 Broadway Street and otherwise to provide with respect to Zoning Docket No. 6126. ordinance calendar number 35527 by councilmember harris an ordinance to amend and ordain the comprehensive zoning ordinance ordinance number four 4264 MCS as amended by Ordinance No. 26413 MCS and subsequent amendments. To amend the definition of dwelling small multifamily affordable in Article 26, Section 26-.6, to include not only affordable housing units offered for rental but also dwellings offered as permanently affordable for sale housing and not-for-profit community land trusts offering long-term ground leases receptive of owners and leasers and related additional amendments to set reasonable requirements for this use, including but not limited to amendments to the use standards contained in Article 20, Section 20.3.SSS in the use tables throughout the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance and otherwise to provide with respect to Zoning Docket No. 4226. Ordinance calendar number 35,528 by council members Morrell, Willard, McCarran, Harris, King, Green, and Hughes. An ordinance to amend ordinance number 30,530 MCS as amended entitled an ordinance providing an operating budget of revenues for the city of New Orleans for the year 2026 to appropriate funds to the office of community development for the right to council program. to provide legal counsel and residential tenants facing eviction proceedings within the city of new orleans and to provide housing related advocacy for tenants in new orleans and otherwise provide with respect there too ordinance calendar number 35 529 by council members Morell, Willard, McCarran, Harris, King, Green, and Hughes. An ordinance to amend ordinance number 30,531 MCS as amended entitled an ordinance providing an operating budget of expenditures for the year for the City of New Orleans for the year 2026 to appropriate funds to the Office of Community Development for the right to council program to provide legal counsel to residential tenants facing eviction proceedings within the City of New Orleans and to provide housing related advocacy for tenants in New Orleans and otherwise to provide with respect thereto. Ordinance calendar number 35,530 by council member Harris. An ordinance to amend and ordain section 26-648 of the city code to reduce the fee in lieu of providing required affordable housing units and to direct these fees to the new orleans housing trust fund and otherwise to provide with respect there too ordinance calendar number 35 531 by council members harris morrell mccarron and hughes by request an audience to amend and ordain ordinance number 30 532 mcs entitled an ordinance providing a capital budget for the year 2026 to affect the following change to the 2026 capital budget to de-appropriate funds to the Department of Parks and Parkways, the Department of Property Management, the Department of Public Works, the New Orleans Fire Department, the New Orleans Main Library, the New Orleans Recreational Development Commission, the Office of Sustainability, to appropriate funds to the Chief Administrative Office, the Department of Property Management, the Department of Public Works, the New Orleans Museum of Arts, the New Orleans Recreation Development Commission, and the Office of Sustainability, and otherwise to provide with respect there too. Ordinance Calendar Number 35,532 by Councilmember McCarran. An ordinance to amend and ordain Ordinance Number 30,396 MCS regarding energy benchmarking for non-residential and multi-family buildings pursuant to Article 14 of Chapter 26 of the Code of the City of New Orleans to extend the effective date thereof for certain covered properties to expand the application for the effective date to additional covered properties and otherwise to provide with respect thereto. Ordinance Calendar No. 35533 by Councilmember Harris by request. An ordinance to authorize the Mayor of the City of New Orleans to enter into an agreement to grant a servitude to an adjacent property owner for encroachment's honor over portions of public right-of-way located at the municipal address 1484 Chapitula Street. to fix the minimum price in terms of said servitude agreement, to declare that such use as granted in the servitude agreement will incorporate space that is neither needed for public purposes nor shall such use interfere with the use of the public right of way, to set forth the reasons for said servitude agreement and otherwise to provide with respect thereto. Ordinance calendar number 35,534 by council members Morrell and Harris. An ordinance to amend ordinance number 30,530 MCS as amended entitled an operating budget providing an operating budget of revenues for the city of New Orleans for the year 2026 to appropriate funds from the city council office operating budget back to the general fund otherwise to provide with respect thereto. I think there's an error in there. Ordinance calendar number 35,535 by council members Morrell and Harris. An ordinance to amend ordinance number 30,531 MCS as amended entitled an ordinance providing an operating budget of expenditures for the city of New Orleans for the year 2026 to appropriate funds for each council office's operating budget back to the general fund and otherwise provide with respect there to. That's it? That concludes the ordinances on first reading. Harrison Holmes, Harrison Jenkins.