Board of Alderman - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everyone. I call this meeting of the Horn Lake Mayor and Board of Aldermen to order this August the 4th, 2026 at 6 p.m. at the Horn Lake City Hall. We have a quorum present tonight so we can proceed with our agenda. We have invocation by Alderman Johnson and also the Pledge of Allegiance by Alderman McKinnon.

Let us bow. Heavenly Father, we come tonight with thanksgiving in our hearts, Lord God, and praise on our lips. Lord God, we know you as a God who never lost a patient, Lord God, a lawyer, Lord God, a keeper, Lord God. And Lord God, we are grateful for that. Lord, as we assemble tonight, Lord God, we ask for a special blessing for those who don't know you, Lord God, those who are sick, Lord God, those who lack, and those who are without. Lord God, help us tonight be about your business, Lord God. Help us to... Help our city to thrive, Lord God, and to continue on to be the greatest that it can be. Bless all of our employees, Lord God. Bless everyone who makes this city run. These things I ask in your name. Amen.

Now we have our roll call by Ms. Carter.

Alderman McKinney.

Here.

Alderman Bledsoe. Here. Alderwoman Armstrong.

Here.

Alderman Smith. Here. Alderwoman Johnson. Here. Alderman Langston. Here. Alderman Bostick.

Here.

We have a quorum tonight. All right, I entertain a motion to accept the municipal docket.

Mayor.

Alderman Bostic.

I'd like to move to approve the municipal docket with the addition of going into executive session to discuss potential litigation.

The motion is to approve the municipal docket with also adding to the executive session litigation discussion. Do we have a second?

I second, Mayor. Second by Alderwoman Armstrong.

Any discussion? Roll call, please, Ms. Carter.

Alderman Bostic.

Aye.

Alderman Langston. Aye. Alderwoman Johnson. Aye. Alderman Smith. Aye. Alderwoman Armstrong. Aye. Alderman Bledsoe. Aye. Alderman McKinney.

Aye. Motion passes unanimously. All right. I entertain a motion to approve the minutes from July 21st, 2026 Board of Aldermen meeting.

Mayor.

Alderman Bostick. I'll make that motion. I have a motion by Alderman Bostick. Do we have a second?

Second.

Second by Alderman Bledsoe. Any discussion? Roll call, please.

Alderman McKinney.

Aye.

Alderman Bledsoe. Aye. Alderwoman Armstrong. Aye. Alderman Smith. Aye. Alderwoman Johnson. Aye. Alderman Langston. Aye. Alderman Bostick.

Aye. Motion passes unanimously. I entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda.

Mayor. Alderman Bostic. I make a motion to approve the consent agenda items A through N. A through N. All right, do we have a second?

Second.

Second, Alderman Langston. Any discussion? Roll call, please.

Alderman Bostick.

Aye.

Alderman Langston.

Aye.

Alderwoman Johnson.

Aye.

Alderman Smith. Aye. Alderwoman Armstrong. Aye. Alderman Bledsoe. Aye. Alderman McKinney.

Aye.

Motion passes unanimously. All right. I entertain a motion to approve the claims docket.

Mayor.

Alderwoman Johnson.

move that we accept the claims docket general funds three hundred eighty three thousand three hundred ninety seven dollars and four cents library fund fourteen thousand two hundred fifty seven dollars and two cents utility fund one million two hundred seventy seven thousand $874.54 for a total docket of $1,675,528.60. All right, do we have a second? Second. Second by Alderman Langston. Any discussion? Roll call please, Ms. Carter.

Alderman McKenney.

Aye.

Alderman Bledsoe.

Aye.

Alderwoman Armstrong. Aye. Alderman Smith. Aye. Alderwoman Johnson.

Aye.

Alderman Langston. Aye. Alderman Bostick.

Nay.

Motion passes six yeas and one nay. All right. Tonight we have some presentations. We're going to do employer recognition first by Ms. A.J.

of recognizing four individuals whose years of service reflect their hard work, professionalism, and commitment to serving our community. On behalf of the mayor and board, as well as the city of Horn Lake, thank you for your dedication and faithful service. Congratulations on reaching these important milestones. The first one is Police Officer Caleb Winters for 10 years of service. I don't think he is here this evening.

You might want us to stay up here.

The next one is police telecommunicator 3, Chelsea Geis, for 10 years of service. She just had a little baby, little baby girl. The last one for the 10 years of service is Lieutenant CFO2, Jeremy Powell with the fire department. He is also not able to be present tonight. And then we have Ms. Dora Grayson, our finance officer for one year of service, and she is here tonight. We want to thank all of our employees for their service.

Let's give all our employees another hand for their celebration. And we're just really glad to have Ms. Dorr here who's been doing a fantastic job of catching us up on our audience. Give her another hand. All right, next we have the introduction of CEO and Vice President of the DeSoto County Economic Council.

Good afternoon. I'm Billy Clouser, President and CEO of DeSoto County Economic Development Council, been on the job about two months, started June the 1st. So sort of a little bit about my background, 30 years state service with the Department of Revenue for 17 years, Mississippi Development Authority doing economic development for the state for about seven. In the last four years with state service, I was with Mississippi State University doing economic development. and also associate director of one of the research centers at Mississippi State. And then the last three years I worked for a tech commercialization group that supported the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Research and Development Center down in Vicksburg, Mississippi. So looking forward to working with each one of you. We've got Tripp and Gruis. I'll let you introduce yourself.

Absolutely. Hi, everybody. Mayor Alderman, thank you all for having us tonight. Trip Gurus, I'll be serving in Ms. Cynthia Short's former role as Vice President of Business Development, so I'll be working on property tax abatements for our industries here in Horn Lake, as well as some of our other industrial programs, and kind of in a support role of economic development for Billy. Thank you, Trip.

Just a couple things that we're really going to make priority on. One of the things that we're really going to be focused on in this existing industry outreach program So we'll be reaching out to every existing industry in our communities in your city and the county. So that's a priority for us to build those relationships, get us to understand what's in the community. Had a couple meetings with Mayor Stokes just to get a vision of what Horn Lake, where they want to go with economic development. So some really good conversation there. So we look forward to working with you all. The other thing that we're going to be really working strongly is identifying existing sites across your community. If there's any additional property that we see that can be used for industrial development, we're really going to try to focus on that. And any kind of existing buildings that we can do additional industrial recruitment. So we're really going to focus on those. So those are two big areas right off the bat that we're going to focus on. So I'll open up to any questions if anybody has any questions for us.

I just want to thank you all. I just enjoyed meeting with you lately and just getting to know you. You and Tripp also. Just appreciate you all. We look forward to moving forward. I know we talked about G. Renova being here. Yes, sir. You all played a major hand in bringing that industry. Give them a hand. And we look forward to this new relationship with you all also to continue doing industry together. Yep. All right. Any board members have any questions? All right, now you already up here. I think you have an economic council request for year 2027?

Yes, we have a budget request. We would like to request a budget increase of $5,000. Y'all currently pay membership fees of $18,533. We have not asked for an increase related to the membership fees since my understanding is 2014. So we're asking that to help with recruitment, industrial recruitment, and moving forward. We've brought a new person on. that they have not had in the council in Tripp's position. So we're looking or asking for that additional $5,000 increase. The total budget would be for $29,133. That includes additional for government relations of $1,000, $1,500 for the bush line training, which is for the planning, the sponsorship of a golf team, and then $2,500 for the bridging the council for the Career Expo.

Okay. We also pay our lobbyists through you all, too.

Yes, so that's correct. That's the government relations of $1,000. Okay.

And we share that with South Haven.

Yes, so everybody, every one of the communities, all the cities contribute to that plus the county. Okay.

So we may want to discuss whether we're going to just continue that relationship with the lobbyists. And the board may have questions. I think we're actually participating this time in the Career Expo. Am I right?

That's correct, yes. So we've reached out to the Police and Fire Department, and my understanding is they are participating in that Career Expo.

Yeah, I know last year was fun not being invited to it, but we're just thankful this year at least we get to participate in it. Yes, sir.

We'll make sure that happens going forward for sure.

Yes, sir. Thank you all so much. Anybody on the board have any questions? All right. Do you all want to make a motion now, or do you all need to discuss it? Discuss it. Okay. Mr. Bill, what we'll do is do a discussion, and we'll be sure to get back with you and let you know.

Thank you. Thank you for your time. Appreciate it. Thank you all so much. Thank you, Tripp.

Thank you all so much.

Look forward to working with you.

All right. Now we have first regional library request for year 2026 seven. Come on. Good to see you all.

Good to see you. Good to see everyone.

I'm sorry. I forgot to ask them to state their name. Please state your name. Oh, yeah.

I'm David Powell. I'm an assistant library director for the First Regional Library System. And this is Denise Gorman, our branch manager here at Horn Lake. It's good to see you all. I want to report to you that our library system and the Horn Lake branch is no exception, is doing very, very well. We're very, very grateful for all the support that you are able to give us. And we're happy to be part of this community. And on behalf of our patrons, we also want to thank you for that support. Just to give you a couple things, I wanted to let you know that Horn Lake in the last year has checked out over 40,000 items. We've had over 50,000 people come through the doors in the last year. And our programming, we've had 210 programs, but what is amazing about it is we've had almost 22,000 people at those programs that we've participated in or put on, which has doubled what we had last year. So, and that's thanks, that is in part to Janice and her team I'd also like to just say our technology has been updated, and technology is so important in our Horn Lake branch. We get more people using our public computers. Last month, we had over 8,500 connections to our Wi-Fi network. So it's very, very important. But I'm going to hand it over to Denise to just kind of hit us some highlights of things she can comment more on.

Good afternoon or good evening. Now, I'm just going to say that we had a very successful summer reading program. We had an increase of about 6.12%, which is probably adding three new programs for the lineup this year. Let's see. And we're also working towards having more adult programming. We have a pretty solid children's program programming, but we're trying to Get more robust with our adult programming. So that's one of the things that we're working on Also, September is library card sign up month. We're gonna have an open house and we are going to be celebrating or a tribute to 9-11 we asked the police chief and also the fire chief to be a part of that. That's going to be actually on September 11th, so we're gonna invite the community to reflect on where they were on 9-11. Last time I was here, I read some of the Google reviews that we had, but this time I just asked AI to do an overview of all the Google reviews that we had had. And basically what it said was, Reviews for the MR Di Public Library in Horn Lake, Mississippi are very positive, highlighting a friendly staff, a cozy and clean environment, and great kid-friendly activities. And even though some of the neighboring branches like South Haven are larger, they really describe Horn Lake as having a large stock of materials and a very comfortable place. So I would just like to thank everyone for their support.

Thank you, Janice. And so finally, again, we're very grateful for everything that the city of Horn Lake does for us and provides to us. Our ask, as you're considering budgeting in the upcoming time, is for $151,681. So if you would please... Keep us in mind. We'd very much appreciate it.

All right. Thank you all so much. And we thank you all for all the stuff you all do in the community, especially for our kids. Just give them a hand for all the work they do. And we appreciate it. I love that smile every time I see you. So we thank you all so much. We also begin back with you all also. We'll let you know.

Thank you so much.

Thank you. All right. Now we have a planning case number twenty twenty six zero eight nine. A request for a rezoning a parcel number two zero eight three oh six zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero one two zero zero at the northeast corner of Church Road and Highway 31 from A. R. Two C. Four. Mr. Billy Simcoe.

Thank you, Mayor. Everybody hear me. All right. So, like he said, it's case number 2026-089, request from Bill Sexton to rezone property at northeast corner of Highway 301 and Church Road from AR Agricultural Residential to C4 Plan Commercial. The property is currently zoned AR, and the surrounding properties through each of its sides are also zoned AR. The area is generally rural residential in character. applicant says the property is the intersection of 301 and Church Road and because of its size and nearby residential growth it is suitable for commercial zoning the main issue before the board is to consider is whether the location is appropriate for the introduction of commercial zoning to the area that currently doesn't have nearby commercial development staff notes that there are currently no commercial properties along church road within the city west of highway 51 and the closest commercial property along highway 301 is approximately 0.8 miles north at nail road because of that the board may consider whether this location is appropriate for the introduction of a commercial node to serve the surrounding area. If the board finds that commercial zoning is appropriate, the permitted and conditional uses allowed in the C4 district should be considered as part of the decision. Any future development of the property would still be required to comply with applicable zoning, site plan, conditional use, and other development requirements. Planning Commission reviewed this request at its June 29th, 2026 meeting and recommended approval by a vote of four to two. During discussion, commissioners raised questions about the lack of a specific development plan, the range of possible C4 uses, and questioned whether gas stations were allowed in C4. Staff noted that gas stations require conditional use permit approval and are currently subject to the city's moratorium on gas stations. Based on the rezoning criteria of the Planning Department and the board must consider Planning staff recommends approval of the request to rezone the property from AR to c4 All right any of the board members have any questions for mr. Simcoe All right do we have an applicant

Good evening, Mayor. Can you state your name and address for us?

Bill Sexton, Board of Aldermen and Alder Ladies. I'm here to request the zoning, rezoning of the northeast corner. It's approximately five acres of Church Road and 301 to be rezoned to C4. I met last month with the planning board. and they agreed that the area is deficient of a commercial zoning, commercial use, and agreed that the zoning, the rezoning of this property would be adequate to serve the area for commercial zoning. We've met all the requirements that are set forth for the rezoning. Issues are concerned, so at this time I'm asking the,

board of aldermen and alder ladies to grant this request to be rezoned from agricultural to c4 mayor I've seen a property it's surrounded by landowners are they on board with this have you talked to them or anything yes basically it's agricultural

use to the south uh is like this gentleman said earlier that there is not any commercial zoning for is approximately a mile north of this particular location when i met with the planning board last month the majority agreed that this is needed this commercial rezoning is needed there because of the growth of residential properties there And again, as I said, we met all the requirements to meet a rezoning issue. Uh, we're not had any pushback from anyone in that area that I'm aware of that, uh, would have an issue as far as the rezoning is concerned.

Okay. So, and, and I'm just talking about the immediate neighbors to this property. Cause like I said, they're property owners there and they have houses and everything. So you haven't heard anything specifically from those neighbors.

Not to my knowledge. If there was any issues, you know, when the sign was up there, it would have been probably noted at that time. But like I said before, it's primarily vacant land out there. And this is approximately five acres in size. So it's not going to be anything that's planned as far as going there that would interfere with a neighborhood. Thank you.

All right, anybody in the board meeting? Alderman Johnson?

Good evening, sir. Yes, ma'am.

Do you own the property further south at Church and Goodman, I mean Church and 301 as well?

No, ma'am. That property is owned by the Austin estate.

Okay.

I just know that there's been dirt and push there, and it's been quite some time. Just wondering.

Yes, ma'am. If anyone's ever been out in that area here lately, You probably noticed there's a lot of for sale signs that's going up there. That area is changing. We all know that. So I met with your former planning director, Andrew. I can't pronounce his last name. But I met with him on numerous occasions. And he agreed as well that in the comprehensive plan that is coming before y'all, I believe in the next month or so, it's going to have this rezoned. Anyway, I'm just trying to get ahead of the curve, so to speak.

All right. Any other questions from the board?

Good evening, Mr. Sexton. Yes, ma'am. Are you planning on selling the property?

Yes, ma'am.

You're selling it to whom and for what development?

There is no development planned. I represent the owner as his broker, and What I want to do with the help of you guys is to get this adequately zoned, what it should be, so I can sell it and let somebody else worry about what goes on there in the future. Yes, ma'am.

All right. Any other questions from the board? All right. Thank you, Mr. Sixth.

Yes, sir.

All right. Do we have a motion?

Mayor.

Alderman Bostick.

Make a motion to approve case number 2026-089.

Motion by Alderman Bostick to approve. Do we have a second?

I second.

Second by Alderman Johnson. Any discussion? Roll call, please, Ms. Carter.

Alderman McKinney.

Nay.

Alderman Bledsoe.

Nay.

Alderwoman Armstrong. Nay. Alderman Smith.

Nay.

Alderwoman Johnson.

Aye.

Alderman Langston. Nay. Alderman Bostick.

Nay.

Alderman, you said nay? Nay. Okay. Motion fails on the floor. Six nays and one yay. All right. All right. Now we're going on to new business. In new business, we have a resolution for clean and private property. It is a public hearing which I now declare open. We have a list of properties which have not been maintained. This will give the city authority to access private property to clean and make our city look better. Is there anyone who wish to speak on any of the properties listed? Would anybody like to speak? You have three minutes. Public hearing is now open. Public hearing is now open if anyone would like to speak. Public hearing is now open if anyone would like to speak. Public hearing is now closed. I entertain a motion to accept a resolution to clean private property.

Mayor, I'll make that motion.

Motion by Alderman Bostick. We have a second.

Mayor, I second. Second by Alderman Armstrong.

Any discussion? Roll call, please.

Alderman Bostick.

Aye.

Alderman Langston.

Aye.

Alderwoman Johnson.

Aye.

Alderman Smith.

Aye.

Alderwoman Armstrong. Aye. Alderman Bledsoe. Aye. Alderman McKenney.

Aye.

Motion passed with six yays and one nay. All right, we also have request to begin bidding process for the purchase and installation of five additional outdoor tornado warning sirens for the city. As mayor and a fellow citizen of the city of Horn Lake, I would like to bring an important public safety issue before the Board of Aldermen. Recently, I became aware of concerns regarding our emergency warning sirens. Specifically, several areas of the city could not hear the sirens during severe weather events. Unfortunately, issues like this often go unnoticed until a critical situation arrives. During a recent storm, none of the emergency warning sirens activated. Upon further investigation, we discovered malfunctions affected not only the two sirens maintained by the city of Horn Lake, but also the two sirens maintained by DeSoto County. The issue has since been resolved, and all sirens are now operational. However, the root cause varied. The city maintained sirens failed due to age-related deterioration, and the county maintained sirens experienced technical errors. It was also noted that we are short for emergency warning sirens to adequately cover the entire city. I want to emphasize to the board the seriousness of the safety concern for our residents. I have invested considerable time researching this issue and discussing it with Ms. Price to ensure we understand both the risk involved and our needs moving forward. I respectfully ask the board to listen to the presentation prepared by the team that came together after our community faced the alarming reality of having no functioning emergency warning sirens during a severe weather event. Their work reflects a shared commitment to ensure that our citizens are never again left without critical warning systems during an emergency. We are giving the floor to Ms. Price, Janet Price.

Y'all just thought y'all got rid of me. I'm going to tell you that I'm very honored that that they're allowing me to do this presentation because I'm very passionate about it. And the first thing that I want to say is that all of this did start for reasons, but I've put it all in writing so I don't talk too much. Most of you have only seen me in my happy-go-lucky state because I love life, but when it comes down to business, I'm a very, very, very serious person, and this is something that is very important to me. So thank you for giving me a few minutes this evening. I want to speak briefly about a matter of public safety that affects every resident, every business, and every first responder in the city of Horn Lake, our outdoor warning siren system.

And I'm so used to walking. I apologize.

I'm going to try to sit still, but I'm not good at that. This effort started because of an incident that occurred while I was serving as supervisor of emergency telecommunications during a significant tornado threat to Horn Lake. Our communications division received an overwhelming response. Number of calls from residents asking whether the city was under a tornado warning. Only two dispatchers were on duty. I did respond in to assist, and the three aldermen that have been here for a while, you know that that's always a question. It is always a question. During severe weather, call volume does increase dramatically. At one point, we were receiving about 70 calls permanent while also managing road closures, emergency incidents, and heavy radio traffic from police fire and our public works department that was going in and trying to do this. When one of our officers visually confirmed a tornado, we did immediately instruct all of our first responders to take cover. It was Captain Strauser. He did call. uh, Chief White was out there with us, and we did get most of them to Station 1, I believe, and undercover. But I got a phone call, and the resident begged us to send officers through neighborhoods with lights and sirens. Our officers and firefighters were already doing everything that they could, but that request highlighted a very painful truth. Without a reliable outdoor warning system, our residents are vulnerable, and our first responders are placed in unnecessary danger. I'm going to add this to that. As a dispatcher for 35 years, and most of that with the city of Horn Lake, y'all have not seen my passion, but I'm going to tell you that in this line of work, we know, and the reality of it, is that we will send someone that we love to their death.

That is always a possibility.

We have shootings. We have assaults. We've got firefighters going to structure fires. We will send somebody that we love to our death at some point. But when the citizens are calling us and there is absolutely nothing we can do except send those people. And I'm going to tell you that the chiefs, the upper management of the police department, the captains, the battalion chiefs, they're the ones that send their people to the fire stations and they go out themselves. So I want you to keep that in mind. taking these calls from these people that can't hear the sirens. And those of you that have been aldermen and alderwomen for a while, y'all even called us and said, hey, are the sirens going off? Yes, they are. We did not have malfunctions at that time. It's just the entire city couldn't hear us, okay? So driving into severe weather conditions, okay? Uh, driving into severe weather conditions to warn the public is not safe, not sustainable and not something we should ever have to ask our personnel to do. Uh, that moment is what drove to this research. So I started five years ago. I have, uh, I have submitted a grant for five years to MEMA. Uh, they shut down last year, as y'all all know, uh, and they're going to recover. It's going to take a lot of time to recover. So we definitely won't be approved for that grant. And I'm not bragging or anything, but I'm pretty good with grants. As y'all see, we sign a lot of them. So I'm pretty good with grants, and we have not received it yet. So the two sirens currently serving the city of Horn Lake were installed in 1999. by Chief Bledsoe, God rest his soul. And to the best of my knowledge, no consistent maintenance was performed on this equipment. They are outdated. I don't know if y'all got any of the reports or anything, but we were out there. I made them crawl up on ladders. Thank you, Chief. But when we got up there, the batteries were in extremely bad shape. Battery backups were in bad shape. And these are the rotating sirens that are extremely outdated. So the proposed upgrades, it's actually six sail whaling sirens. So we've got two rotating right now that are at station one and station two. The county has two that they run that some of our citizens can hear it. One is at the 301 ball fields. That is because we annexed all of that area over there after that was installed. But during that time, DeSoto County EMA did get a grant for ballparks. So they did include Latimer Ballpark in that. So those two are going to continue to be run by DeSoto County Sheriff's Office on their consoles. So once engineering teams finalize, we may be able to go down like to a five cell at some locations. I know that Chief White and I and Chief Mueller, we went out, you'll see the pictures in just a minute. We've been doing all those studies and looking at the radius, things like that. One thing that I do want you to keep in mind is that when we have to set those sirens off, even when we test those on Thursdays at noon, a dispatcher has to get up from the console and set those tones off. We have recently gotten a handheld that we can do that, but that handheld, I mean, that's what we're depending on right now is that handheld. The reason for that is the keypad that we used, I even fixed it one time myself, because it's out of warranty, can't find the parts, can't replace it. We've had several vendors looking for it, but we can't find it, and it finally just went out. There is no state contract on sirens. So unfortunately, I do understand the bidding process, but I do want you all to keep in mind that Motorola is the one that does our radio consoles, the 911 board. does purchase all of that equipment and keeps that maintained so that if something should happen with that console, knock on wood, then it's immediate that they come and fix that. And they have people that respond quickly. And I did look back in the last 17 years, the longest any radio has been down in DeSoto County since we did buy the system, the longest the radio was down was two minutes. That speaks a lot. The integration will improve response time, reduce human error, ensure immediate activation during emergencies, provide a backup activation method if consoles become unavailable, and this is the safest, most efficient way that we can do. I think I've said that already. We've tried really hard. I've poured a lot into this, if you can't tell. I'm very passionate. uh about horn lake so i would like for y'all i would like to request that y'all do accept bidding on that and look at i mean look at our look at our community this is i mean this is horn lake i'll always be horn lake no matter where i live uh and then if you go down miss tanya If you'll go down, you can see the pictures that Chief White drew up for us, and those are the site locations. That's the lift station at 302 and Allen Drive. You can keep going. And then that's the north, south, east, and west that we're looking at. And then Water Tower at DeSoto Cove, which will cover that section. Again, north, south, east, and west of that. Good pictures there, Chief. Site number three is fire station number one on Tulane. This is gonna be one that is existing that will be replaced. This is also one that may end up being a five cell. We have to do, we can't start anything until it's approved to start the bidding, and then we'll really dig deep. And I'll volunteer to help. Keep going. And then fire station number two. And then right here, this is the left station on Sharon Drive. This is one of the areas, as you know, all of the aldermen that I've seen, y'all stay very much in contact with your people in your wards. So you know who hears them and who doesn't. And this is one of the ones that will help a lot in the area. And then this is the water tower on 301. I just put those pictures in there to make Chief White feel good. Okay, so this right here. And I can give y'all the actual printouts where you can see it well.

Oh, there it is right there.

Okay. And then this right here is what we're projecting. city of Horn Lake covered.

So, and I, I thank you all very much. And, uh, That's it, unless you have a question.

I may not be able to answer a very technical question. I've been working on this for five years, so I have learned a lot, but I'm no expert, so please don't expect that.

Thank you, Ms. Jennings, for the presentation. You're quite welcome, Maynard. Wasn't that fun? Yes, unfortunately. But we thank you for all your work. Yes, sir. You put into helping us get to this point where we can find out how to solve these issues. Do the board have any questions for Ms. Jennings?

Yes, sir. I've been dealing with this for about 17 years. Yes, sir. My brother's one got the two fire stations, the old, old ones. Yep. He was old, so they're real old.

Yeah, it was 1996.

The one at the park, they called and the county said, we have a grant. Would you like to have one? I said, I'd like to have two. So we ended up with one. And that's a long time ago because... We built Latimer Lakes and the kids done. You couldn't hear nothing over there. So that's how we got that one. And we've been needing these for years and years, but we didn't have any money. So guess what put on the back burner? early warning siren and people don't realize it's what it takes you know you don't we do it on Thursdays because most time we have ball games going on and it really messes up the kids so we do it on Thursdays and a lot of them do now and hope we don't have to use them very much but when you need them You need them. And the other night when they failed to work, even the counties failed to work, that was a bad situation. That was a very bad situation. And I don't want to get in that situation again, and I'd like to work with them when they do this. I drew this up years ago.

I was going to say, I'm going to give credit where credit's due. Alderman Bledsoe and Alderman Bostick, Alderman Bostick has called several times, like, during the storms and stuff, and he's like, are we setting these off? I'm like, yes, I promise we are. Alderman Bledsoe, same thing. And it was Alderman Bledsoe's brother that did get the grant for the two so many years ago. So I do give credit where credit's due, and the importance level of this, I hope I'm projecting that.

But it's called an early warning siren. A lot of times you might not hear it because the wind blows. And right now, where I live, the William Bowes, you don't hear anything.

And that's right at Station 2.

And thank you, Alderman Blesso, for your family and their contributions to trying to keep Horn Lake safe. We really appreciate all you have done as an EMS supervisor and also as working in the park and fighting against stuff. But I hope that the board recognizes the severity of this issue, that there are areas of the city that are still not covered. And after that past storm, it just didn't rest with me for the safety of the citizens that we don't do anything about it.

I appreciate you listening to me when I was griping about it.

I hear you, and I appreciate your passion, and I appreciate you for even working on this even after retirement to help us out. Any more board members have any questions for Ms. Jennings, Ms. Price?

Thank you for your time. I appreciate y'all.

All right. Thank you, Ms. Price. So we need permission tonight to go ahead and get the bid process started. Any questions? All right, do we have a motion?

Mayor.

Alderman Bledsoe.

I sure would like to make that motion.

All right, thank you, Alderman Bledsoe. All right, let me get my notes together. Motion by Alderman Bledsoe. Do we have a second?

I'll second that, Mayor.

Second by Alderman Bostick. Any discussion? All right, roll call, please, Ms. Carter.

Alderman McKinney.

Aye.

Alderman Bledsoe.

Definitely aye.

Alderwoman Armstrong. Aye. Alderman Smith. Aye. Alderwoman Johnson.

Aye.

Alderman Langston. Aye. Alderman Bostick.

Aye.

Motion passes unanimously. And also to add to it, Ms. Carter, you can correct me if I'm wrong, we'll be able to handle some of this based off the interest of our new bank, right?

Yes, sir. Probably close to 85% of that, depending on the time frame that it takes to do that.

and say one more thing you have no idea i told tanya this but i had several objectives when i took over dispatch and that was one of them so thank you thank you miss jenny thank you again all right all right moving forward uh

We have a request, and make sure I'm doing it right. Request to approve to activate the Church Road Meal and Overlay Project from Park Place Drive and US Highway 51 for the road improvement project. All right, I think this will be Neil Shafer. You want to introduce this to him also? Phillip.

Good evening, Mayor, Board. This is a mill and overlay for church to Park Place, or along church from Park Place to Highway 51. We applied for funding through the Memphis MPO TIP program, and they work with MDOT, so we were able to secure 400, I think $50,000 of funding. um to go towards this mill and overlay project um which would help uh finish out the church road paving that we have done in the past so all right so we just requested approval to activate uh this project anybody have any questions for phillip

All right. There'll be no questions. Do we have a motion?

No.

Alderman Blessow?

I'd like to make that motion. That's in my ward, and it's very well needed.

All right. All right. Do we have a second? Second. All right. Second by Alderman Langston. All right. Do we have any discussion? All right. Roll call, please, Ms. Carter.

Alderman Bostick.

Aye.

Alderman Langston.

Aye.

Alderwoman Johnson.

Aye.

Alderman Smith.

Aye.

Alderwoman Armstrong. Aye. Alderman Bledsoe. Aye. Alderman McKinney.

Aye. Motion passes unanimously. All right, we also have, this is pretty much the MOA with the same project as funded by MDOT. You want to add anything to that, Mr. Phillips?

As I said, we apply through the MPO, but once the project is awarded in their short-range plan, the funding goes through MDOT. So this memorandum of agreement is through MDOT for the funds that were awarded.

Do we have any questions concerning the MOA? Well, Mr. Phillip, there'll be no questions. Do we have a motion?

I guess I'll make that motion too.

Alderman McKinney made a motion. We have a motion by Alderman McKinney. Do we have a second? Second by Alderman Smith. Do we have any discussion? Roll call, please, Ms. Carter.

Alderman McKinney.

Aye.

Alderman Bledsoe.

Aye.

Alderwoman Armstrong.

Aye.

Alderman Smith. Aye. Alderwoman Johnson.

Aye.

Alderman Langston.

Aye.

Alderman Bostick.

Aye. Motion passes unanimously. Our next new business, we have a resolution for Delta Regional Authority to apply for an infrastructure grant. Mr. Dixon.

Good evening, Board. Darrell Dixon with North Delta Plan Development District. We're project administrators for state and federal funding assistance and have before you a resolution to apply for Delta Regional Authority funds. Delta Regional Authority is a state and federal regional commission. The city has received Delta Regional Authority funds in the past. I think the last project was maybe 2012 that was funded under this agency. Their main thrust is economic development, so they Engaging projects that have to do with basic public infrastructure transportation infrastructure things of that nature especially as it relates to accommodating economic development So the city has a request in for community development block grant funds that is going to be doing some sewer lift station improvements, replacements. So in the way of that basic public infrastructure, this particular opportunity under the critical infrastructure fund that Delta Region Authority has open now, through August 24th is the deadline but you can apply for up to a million dollars for those types of infrastructure improvements and so be my suggestion that you could use this competition to leverage the request that you already have in and so I've had discussions with your engineer about possible ways to do that and so the resolution for application that you see there simply authorizes applying in that competition and the mayor to sign all of the documents necessary in order to make that application.

All right. Any questions for Mr. Dixon? All right. No questions. Thank you so much. All right. Thank you. You don't happen to have no siren money out there, do you?

We'll look for some for you. There you go. Thank you.

Right. We'll take all the money we can get. All right. Do we have a motion?

I make the motion.

Motion by Alderman Langston. Do we have a second?

I second.

Second by Alderman Johnson. All right. Any discussion? Roll call, please, Ms. Carter.

Alderman Bostick. Aye.

Aye.

Alderman Langston.

Aye.

Alderwoman Johnson. Aye. Alderman Smith. Aye. Alderwoman Armstrong. Aye. Alderman Bledsoe. Aye. Alderman McKinney.

Aye.

Motion passes unanimously. All right, we do have one for citizen remarks. The one and only Commissioner Ms. Kirby Carter. Come on up, Ms. Carter.

name and address please kirby carter 6465 cornwall road horn lake Set my timer because now I got two things to say. I wanted to tell you thank you board in regards to the zoning. It's not exactly why I came up here, but I really appreciate your comments, Alderman McKinney, because so many people have complained about what's going on in South Haven with the data center and it's right here in our backyard and no one even bothered to ask us. So I really, really do appreciate that because right across the street is It's not Horn Lake. And so and thank you, because if we do get too much C4 zoning in our area, it can increase property. It can increase property taxes for us. It increases rental properties. Then we get all these empty buildings and they're just sitting around doing nothing. So so thank you. And there was no plan in place. So thank you. But what I wanted to say was down in Tupelo this weekend, I brought it up last year, Mayor Stokes and his wife joined last year as well. They're having the Boys and Girls Club Dancing Like the Stars. It's their big annual fundraiser. We do not have a Boys and Girls Club here in Horn Lake, but I am just here to continue to plant and water that seed. I think it would be wonderful to have something like that here in our area. And I just wanted to share a few stats in my last minute and a half that I have, because when they shared these stats, statistics, it just blew my mind. And you cannot tell me that this would not help our area and our kids all the way from little bitty all the way up to the teenagers. But out of all the kids ages 6 to 18 that participate with the Boys and Girls Club in the North Mississippi Club, that's the specific statistics this is coming from, graduation rate was 100%. If they participated in this club, they graduated 100%. The average GPA of the members was 3.1. As far as the safety metric, in eight years, if they were involved in the Boys and Girls Club, there were zero teen pregnancies. That doesn't mean just the girls. That also includes the fellas. Zero teen pregnancies. And their annual revenue is $1.84 million. but their total assets is $3.97 million. I mean, they are pouring back and pouring back into our communities, and I just think it would be huge. And Mrs. Zell Long, who is originally from Hernando, who was over it, she just recently retired, but the one thing she said, all you've got to do to start is to have a building. All we need is a building. I'm from Ripley, Mississippi, in Chippewa County. We used an old armory building that they have moved on from. That's what they use, and it is so successful, and I just love seeing my old hometown grow and thrive. And I just feel like it would be such a huge blessing and asset here in Horn Lake. And I just wanted, like I said, continue to plant and water the seed. And just wanted to share that with you all tonight. Thank you.

Ms. Carter. Yes, sir. Thank you. Thank you again. I mean, we actually started talking about this last year. Did they ever, we intended to set up a meeting with the boys. Yes. Did it ever come through?

It's on the record, but I don't care. I'll throw it out there. I don't know what happened when South Haven had a Boys and Girls Club years ago, but something happened that no one will say, but it's almost like they're scared to take a risk to invest in us. We actually fit in two different spots. You can do the Boys and Girls Club of the Delta because we're at the very tip top of that, but you can also do the North Mississippi, which goes all the way across the top. So we're like in a very special area. So I feel like wherever... Whatever club would pick us up, I feel like we would be a huge asset to them. But it's almost like they're a little afraid to take the gamble on us. Kept reaching out, kept reaching out. It ended up going to the Boys and Girls Club, like the regional out of Alabama. Nobody would ever email or respond back. And then, like I said, Ms. Zell, she retired. And then it just kind of went at the wayside, and I haven't really heard anything. So they're having their big event, like I said, this Saturday down in Tupelo, where all of those clubs come together and just – It's their biggest fundraiser of the year, actually. And I don't know if you've ever seen Dancing with the Stars, but it's where each club has their own local celebrity that goes and raises money. And so they have an award for the club that raises the most money, but then also whoever was the best dancer. And it's just a really, really fun event. But I just think it would be huge. And I have not approached more because I felt like they kind of dropped it. I didn't know who was going to be taken over. So I had not emailed anything back because I felt like If I could just get down to why or how it happened, the biggest thing, the way it came across was, is they didn't want to invest money, and they don't want to close another club. If they invest in a club, they don't want to close it. South Haven bowed out, and the club got closed. And I can't say that that's exactly what it is, but, I mean, that's what they said. They do not want to invest, and then they have to be responsible for it because, like, say, just figuratively speaking, Horn Lake backed out.

I do want to add, Ms. Carter, it's not impossible for us to have a building in the near future. Oh, absolutely. However, they go through a lot of hoops of owners and everything, investors and everything else, so it's not out of the picture. But what I can say is this, I did enjoy that show last year. I got a lot of family members involved in that, and they raised money. So make sure when you talk to them again, number one, we want to meet with them. Number two, don't count more leg out for anybody else.

That's what I tell Evie. Evie Story is the marketer for the Boys and Girls Club of North Mississippi, and she's from Ripley as well. And like I said, just seeing what it's done for my hometown, to see what it's done in the schools that I grew up in and everything, it's just truly amazing. So I just wanted to share. And thank you, Mayor, for going last year because, I mean, I enjoyed it as well. It was a very, very nice event. And, you know, things like that get kids excited too. So I just wanted to share again. Thank you so much.

Absolutely.

Mayor, years ago we had a Boys and Girls Club. Alderman Shackelford ran it, and somehow it ended up in South Haven at the old Colonial Hills Baptist Church, and it ran for a long time, and I don't know what happened after he passed away, but... I know we had one at one time because I was park director, and I helped him out, and he helped us out, and we had a good time, and I'd like to see it come back.

Thank you, Mom. Anybody else? All right. Thank you, Ms. Carter. We thank you so much for a wonderful insight. All right. All right, I had something to say now, but I can't remember. But anyway, we just thank all y'all for being here to support us tonight at the Board of Auburn meeting. We're going to go continue on so we can continue on with the next phase.

Do you have anything, Auburn?

Auburn Langston? Auburn Johnson?

Yes, sir. Good evening, everybody. I often petition you guys in November and December, but I'm asking tonight that if you would like to sponsor a child for anything for back to school, please see me. I was approached by a grandparent today, and she said she didn't have anything for her grandsons. So if you would like to sponsor two young boys, just see me. Thank you.

And check with some, we had several backpack giveaways. We had the first one by the Dean, the COVID-19 family. We had another one by a little scholar. I think, what's the down the street had one too? Dream Center. Dream Center. Well, that was the COVID-19 Dream Center. But I think Waterburg also had one. So they might still have supplies left over, I think. Check with the Dream Center. I believe they still have some maybe left over.

Yes, sir. And we are looking for supplies and clothes, shoes, anything that the children may need.

All right. And we're just glad to give the kids a hand, back to school, give our teachers a hand. I think it's wonderful. All our educators, the parents are just glad to hand it back to you. All right. Alderman Smith. Alderman Armstrong. All right. Alderman Blitzo.

I think I've spoken enough tonight.

See, I didn't need my cheat sheets no more. You know what I'm saying? All right. Alderman McKinney? All right. All right. Chief Pullen? Belinda? Mr. Spencer? I know you got some good news. I got a good text from a citizen today. They so happy that we finally addressed an issue, right?

Yeah.

Speaking of mic, Mr. Gregg, the people need to hear you. Bring that mic down. Bring that mic on down. Don't be scared of it.

There you go. I'd just like to tell you that... Is it on? It's really on.

Okay, it's on. Cut it up, Dane.

Come on. Our mayor is in jail. where I almost sound like a young kid bragging about an older brother, but me and Assistant Director Wayne Robertson will ride with the mayor, and we will go from street to street. called last from a citizen. And when she got done with me, I felt like I was back in elementary school. And I kind of liked it. But then she called me and Wayne Robertson

Yes.

Yes. You can't put a price on that feeling. We're in the truck together, and so it's those positive things. We're out there filling, repairing sinkholes, filling potholes, spraying for mosquitoes, cutting grass constantly, and we do that. with a passion not only for the older men and older women, but also for our leader, Bear Stokes, for that faith that we're accomplishing things. And so I just wanted to reassure this body that we're dedicated. We've even got our lovely code enforcement We're going to target Polly Hills and go in there as a team to try and address as many issues as we can from storm drains, potholes, to we've got leaks that still exist. So we're coming up with a plan. So we want to serve every ward that is represented here in this spot.

That's the community blitz that we talked about. We focus on communities that probably need more attention.

Thank you, Greg.

Thank you all for actually paying attention to those issues within our communities and just looking up, having creative ways of going into a neighborhood and seeing if we can clean it up without the people calling us. So we really appreciate that. Thank you. Give him a hand. Thank you. All right, all right. Who's up under there? My seat's still short after one year. Mr. Simcoe.

Thank you, Mayor. The Planning Department doesn't have anything tonight, but I don't want to follow up Greg's speech, but I do appreciate all that you guys do for us, keeping the lights on and the city working. All right, thank you.

All right, Drew Parks.

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Board. I don't have anything tonight, sir.

And the summer's over now.

Yes, sir.

All right. And we are having discussions about safety and things and events in our park. We have been having emergency planning meetings, but I know the board will probably be addressing in a few weeks on some things that we have been discussing in our emergency planning meetings. All right. Phillip.

thank you mayor just one quick thing um just wanted to mention that we've got five projects that are wrapping up this month um so i'll kind of be able to highlight those projects they're pretty big investments into the city addressing some critical infrastructure um or those are arpa projects and sometimes i feel like a paper pusher so I just want to thank the mayor and Ms. Carter for dealing with all the paperwork and getting things done and keeping things moving. So I'll highlight those projects probably next month when they wrap up and just a quick overview of what they involve. But that's all. Thank you.

Thank you, Phil. Thank you so much. All right, Alexis.

Oh, man.

All right. Chief White.

No, sir. I don't have anything this week.

All right. Attorney Griffith. All right. Now I need a motion to go into closed determination.

May I make that motion?

Motion by Alderman Rostick. Aye.

Aye.

Second by Alderman Bledsoe. In discussion. Roll call, please, Ms. Carter.

Alderman McKinney. Aye. Alderman Bledsoe. Aye. Alderwoman Armstrong. Aye. Alderman Smith.

Aye.

Alderwoman Johnson. Aye. Alderman Langston. Aye. Alderman Bostick.

Aye. Motion passes unanimously. We're now in closed determination. Out of closed determination.

Mayor, I make a motion to come out of closed determination.

All right, I have a motion to come out of closed determination by Alderman Johnson.

Second.

Second by Alderman Blitzel. All right, any discussion? Any discussion? Roll call, please, Ms. Carter.

Alderman Bostick. Alderman Langston.

Aye.

Alderman Johnson. Aye. I'm sorry, Alderwoman Johnson, I apologize.

Yes, ma'am, aye.

Alderman Smith. Aye. Alderwoman Armstrong. Aye. Alderman Bledsoe. Aye. Alderman McKinney.

Aye.

Motion passes six and one absent. All right. I have a motion. I entertain a motion to go into executive session.

Mayor, I make the motion to go into executive session.

I have a motion by Alderman McKinney. Second by Alderman Smith. Any discussion? All right. Roll call, Ms. Carter.

Alderman McKinney.

Aye.

Alderman Bledsoe. Aye. Alderwoman Armstrong. Aye. Alderman Smith. Aye. Alderwoman Johnson. Aye. Alderman Langston.

Aye.

Alderman Bostic.

All right. Motion passes with six yays and one absent. We are now into executive session. All right. Can I get a motion to come out of executive session?

Mayor, I made the motion to come out of executive session.

All right. We have a motion by Alderman Langston. Second?

Second.

McKinney? All right. Any discussion? Roll call, please, Ms. Carter.

Alderman McKinney.

Aye.

Alderman Bledsoe. Aye. Alderwoman Armstrong. Aye. Alderman Smith. Aye. Alderwoman Johnson.

Aye.

Alderman Bostick.

Aye.

Alderman Langston.

Aye.

All right, motion passes unanimously. Are there any motions coming out of the executive session? Are there any motions coming out of the executive session?

Are there any motions coming out of the executive session?

There are none. All right. I entertain a motion to adjourn.

I'll make that motion, man.

I second that motion.

All right. Any discussion? Roll call, please, Ms. Carter.

Alderman Bostick.

Aye.

Alderman Langston.

Aye.

Alderwoman Johnson.

Aye.

Alderman Smith. Aye. Alderwoman Armstrong.

Aye.

Alderman Bledsoe. Aye. Alderman McKinney.

Aye.

All right, motion passes unanimously. I see no further business. I declare this meeting now adjourned. Thank you.