County Commission - Regular Meeting

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. As soon as we get our system set up, we will begin our 8.30 meeting public works. Good morning, everyone. I'd like to call to order our first committee meeting of the day, Public Works. Madam Parliamentarian, would you please read our one and only item?

Good morning. Item one is a resolution approving the purchase of four Chevrolet SUV emergency response vehicles from Wild Rose Chevrolet for the Shelby County Fire Department. This item requires the expenditure of FY 2026 fire enterprise funds in an amount not to exceed $238,742. Sponsored by Commissioner David C. Bradford Jr.

Thank you. That item has been moved by Commissioner Sugarman and seconded by Commissioner Morrison. You have the floor, sir.

Good morning, Commissioners. Eric Jackson, Deputy Fire Chief, Shelby County Fire Department. This item before you is an item to replace four of our command staff vehicles, which has reached their mileage according to our replacement plan. So that's what this item is for.

Okay. We have a commissioner in the queue, Commissioner Sugarman.

Thank you, Chair. And so the question I have for you is this is an SUV. What is the miles per gallon, and is it a hybrid? And if not, have you all looked at any hybrids or any types of vehicles that would make it more efficient? Because with the gas prices rising... This could be an expenditure that we could offset. Also, we have, you know, the grain act as far as the Shelby County government is concerned as far as vehicles. So just, you know, what's the miles per gallon for these vehicles and are these hybrids and have you looked at any hybrids?

Eric Jackson, Shelby County Deputy Fire Chief. We have not looked at any hybrids. We have done some research on hybrid and electrical vehicles. With response vehicles, they have had problems because the vehicles cut off sometimes at the light. or, you know, to save gas, and sometimes they don't start back or they don't respond well. So we've done some research on it, but we have not purchased any hybrids.

Okay, so you said you've done research. When was that? Because they have been, you know, have made all kinds of leaps and bounds as far as improvements. And so when was the last time that you did the research?

Probably about four years ago, Commissioner.

Four years ago?

Yes, ma'am.

Okay, and why haven't you all done any recent research, especially of the rising gas costs?

There's a magazine called Firehouse that we get every week. We get weekly reports on it. And through that, they've had several problems with these vehicles not being able to respond in a proper way, especially the hybrid vehicles and electric vehicles have been giving most fire departments problems. But we have not tried to even get any of those vehicles according to that.

I would urge you all to do the research, because you know me, I like writing resolutions. I will bring a resolution if you do not, because we have to be more efficient, especially in the situation where we're in today with rising gas prices and then what's going on federally, nationally, internationally with gas. I highly recommend that, and I would like to get with you as far as moving forward. I will go ahead and support this item today. But in the future, I will not. Thank you.

Seeing no other commissioners in the queue, let's bring this. Oh, Commissioner Wright.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm having trouble with my screen at the moment, but IT is diligently working on it, but I just want to make sure I ask, if I didn't hear this, what are we doing with the vehicles that are being replaced? Are those being reassigned or sold?

Those vehicles are being repurposed to other staff. We pass the vehicles down on a two-year plan or according to the mileage.

Got it. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Okay. Madam Clerk, if you'd prepare the screens, please.

We have aye votes from Commissioner Sugarman, Wright, Morrison, Mills. We have four aye votes.

Thank you. That item will come to us Monday with a favorable recommendation. We do have a general comment card for Public Works. First, say, Voltheel? First, okay. If you'd come up, name and zip code, and you'll have three minutes.

My name is Versi Fulshill, 7773 Rockshire Cove, Memphis, Tennessee, 38125, unincorporated Shelby County. Thank you, Commissioner Sugarman, for all the work that you do. She has been a partner with us since we were transferred from District 4, and District 4 is with Commissioner Brandon Morrison. The issue is the streets are not paved. It's been a problem since the Honorable Joe Ford took on when Mayor Wharton stepped down. and been shifted from District 4 to District 12 now. That's an issue. And we pay too many taxes to not have that done. I just heard about plans for this, plans for that. There's no plan for Shelby Windlass. I built my home in 99. 2009, there's not been a plan. There's not a plan even today. I heard from Public Works, Mr. Sanders and Mr. Crook, you're not on the agenda. There's no plan for this. So we need a plan. And the progressive and the other people that are building homes are taking homes and throwing blight in our neighborhood. If that goes down, then we move. You won't have the tax dollars to buy the vehicles that you're trying to buy. So that being said, we need to take care of the people that pay taxes, and I'm upset about it, and we need to take care of it. Thank you so much.

Thank you very much. Commissioner Sugarman?

Thank you, Chair, and I want to respond to my constituent. Thank you for bringing that up because so many times we pay tax dollars, especially in unincorporated areas, and we hear all the time the city of Memphis is blaming the county, the county is blaming the city of Memphis, and we are not, we are not getting return on our taxpayers' money, and then they get upset when people move from to our district, from our county to other areas outside of Shelby County, and we are losing our residents. And until we start getting what we deserve in our communities and that was put upon us, we will continue to be not due given what we're supposed to be given. I'll be bringing again the skateboard park. That's one other thing that we have asked over and over again and yet still has not been done. That is why I brought before this commission a process audit so we can figure out where are the gaps? Why are we efficient? Why does it take one, two, three years to get anything done with our county government? And to your point, thank you for coming up and please continue and bring more people because until we have people like you who are spending their time to address these issues, it will continue unfortunately. But thank you for spending the time and thank you for your email. And please continue to write. And I will do the... Okay, thank you. So if you would, you know, again, come back again. I appreciate it. Thank you so much. Okay. Thank you, Ms. Fultz-Hill.

Thank you. This will conclude our Committee for Public Works.

All right. I'll call to order committee for law enforcement corrections and courts. Can we read item number one, please?

Item 1 is a resolution to authorize a $12.50 charge by the clerk of every court in Shelby County having jurisdiction of state misdemeanors and felonies for the purposes authorized and set out in Tennessee Code Annotated Section 40-3-106 sponsored by Commissioner Michael Whaley, Commissioner McWright, and Commissioner Charlie Caswell.

Thank you. This item has been moved by Commissioner Sugarman. Seconded by me, Miss Indigaro. Good morning. You have the floor.

Good morning. My name is Jessica Indigaro and I am the Chief Administrative Officer for the District Attorney's Office. We are bringing before you today a resolution that we are requesting a two-thirds positive vote on when we get there on Monday. This is a new fee in the amount of $12.50 for basically every defendant in any court that does criminal work. So the Public Defender's Office has had a $12.50 equivalent fee for a number of years, and that is collected by both the municipal courts as well as criminal court and General Sessions Court. So this is a statute that passed last year that authorizes this particular fee to be implemented in the 32 judicial districts and the counties within those judicial districts. So, so far, about 10 judicial districts out of the 32 have gone before their county commissions and have had this passed. One thing, and just as a personal note, I don't love fines and fees just in general. I don't particularly like paying them, but it's our duty. But particularly in the criminal defense environment. But that said, the public defender fee, they generally do not charge their own clients that fee. That's a fee that can be waived. Similarly, this fee can be waived. And so it's the district attorney's intention that he would waive this fee for indigent people who are appearing in general sessions and in criminal court. And questions for other proposals for other waivers would be considered. And so I believe that it is a fairly small amount compared to some of the other fines that are assessed at the time of judgment. I will just mention that in addition to the public defender fee that is already out there, there are some similar things that happen. So this is not a difficult lift in the criminal courts or the municipalities in order to implement this. One of their core functions is to collect these kind of fees and to make sure they get to the correct place. This particular fee will be audited as part of our annual audit that occurs every spring with funds that are held by the trustees' office. And we also have to provide an annual report both to the DA conference that they then forward to the legislature. So this is something that is part of the normal course, and we would ask your favorable consideration. I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you, Ms. Indigaro. I have two commissioners in the queue. Commissioner Sugarman.

Thank you so much, Chair. And so you stated indigent. So please define what do you mean by indigent. And the $12.50 you stated is going to be applied to what in general? And what was paying for these costs originally? So again, two questions real quickly.

Thank you, Commissioner Sugarman. I appreciate the question. I'm Jessica Indangaro, the CAO in the DA's office. So indigent is defined by the courts. And in order to be adjudicated indigent, people have to submit a form that lists their revenues and expenditures and submit it to the court. That is how they get representation by the public defender as well as appointed counsel. So this is a form that is filled out all day, every day in both general sessions. And what is that criteria?

Is it like a threshold of less than a certain amount of money?

So I can't speak to the judicial consideration for how they do that, but I know that most people that ask to be considered indigent are.

So if they would qualify for a public defender, then they would probably be considered indigent?

Oh, they have to be indigent in order to have the public defender appointed.

And the $12.50 is going to be applied towards what?

So this would be for costs that we don't have budgeted anywhere else. And so as an example, we have been talking about a dashboard for three years. It turns out that pretty much nobody in Shelby County has the software that we would need in order to do the kind of interactive dashboard that the DA would very much like to do. It would go towards expenditures like that. The statute itself is not as limited as some others. Generally, we would not be able to spend it on personnel, but it would be for items that come up that we don't already have a budget for.

And the $12.50, is that a cap?

According to state law? It is not a cap. It is just the amount. It is not up to $12.50. So it could increase? It is set by statute. That's what I was asking. The only way it could increase is if the legislature increases it. They have not increased the public defender 1250 feet in the 20 years it's been in existence. And you listed the other municipalities already have this in place? Not municipalities, counties and judicial districts. And you said how many already have them in place? About 10 of the judicial districts. Some of the judicial districts have five counties in them.

Okay, I have 30 seconds left. And so my concern is with the task force being in Shelby County, and I've had individuals who have, you know, because of the cars being disrepair, have been ticketed, you know, multiple times. I know one individual nine times before she was able to get her car fixed and still has not been able to get her car fixed. And that is a huge concern. So with all this in sight, I cannot see myself supporting this at this time because our individuals, our taxpayers, not indigent, but working class people are just taxed to death. So at this point, I will not be able to support this. Thank you.

All right. Thank you, Commissioner Shugman. Commissioner Brooks.

Good morning. My colleague asked my first question about the criteria to be considered indigent. So when did this law become public policy?

So the law passed, this is Jessica Nengaro, the Chief Administrative Officer. The statute passed in the, not this most recent legislative session, but in the one that concluded in April 2025.

So why don't you just bring that?

So we wanted to see other people's experience with it. In addition, the district attorney really needed to consider whether this was something that he would advance to this commission. As you know, our county funds that are allotted to us are for specific things and specific amounts. So we have very little wiggle room, if any, in any particular year with our county budget. And there are items that come up. So, for instance, the Lexis bill every month. If we wanted to get the AI version of that, which is recommended and that we've piloted, we don't have the funding from County Commission. We're trying to avoid coming to County Commission to ask not only for our cost, but for the 75% match that we're required to give to the Public Defender's Office. In the meantime, the Public Defender's Office has been collecting this for a number of years, and we would just like the matching consideration.

The Public Defender's Office has been collecting this fee?

Not this particular fee, but an equivalent fee in the amount of $12.50.

What is that equivalent fee called?

I'm not sure that either of these have a name. I can get you the statute, though.

For the Public Defender's Office, I'd like to have that.

Yes.

So this is not mandatory?

It is not mandatory.

It's not mandatory. So what I'm hearing is that this is not going to be used for any specific law enforcement need. It's going to be used for discretionary non-law enforcement items that you all may want.

Respectfully, all of the needs in the district attorney's office are a law enforcement need. We are, in fact, prohibited from spending it on anything that is not a law enforcement need.

Well, OK, so maybe I need to rephrase then. A dashboard. Now, I can understand a dashboard being important for transparency, if that's what it's going to be used for. But anything else, I guess, if it's not going to be used for a necessity for prosecutorial activities, I'm hesitant because we live in a very poor county. Well, our county is not poor. We have a lot of individuals who are kept in lower economic status. And most of the people who may be visiting your office or come under your or present to you all are just poor people. And adding a fee that is discretionary is, to me... I mean, it's just not something I think that we need to do at this time. Maybe down the road, but right now where we are with all of these things going on, so many different things that are hitting poor people, I don't believe that this is something we need to continue our activities in the DA's office. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

All right. Thank you, Commissioner Brooks. I'm seeing no other commissioners in the queue. We can take... Oh, I'm sorry. Madam Parliamentarian, you had asked if we could go to the county attorney's office for clarity on what the vote threshold is. Can you speak to that? Or I know you mentioned it, Ms. Indigaro, but are you asking that, Madam Parliamentarian, because this is a resolution in particular?

Commissioner Wright, I heard Chief Indigaro indicate that this item, I guess, under TCA requires, did you say two-thirds?

Yes, Madam Parliamentarian. This is Statute 40-3-106 under the Tennessee Code Annotated. Subsection A requires that it take effect in any county immediately upon approval by two-thirds vote of the county legislative body.

Okay, so I'll just need to state that, or if you don't mind just providing me that so that I can state that prior to the vote on, before, at full commission. Thank you, Madam Parliamentarian.

Thank you so much. Thank you, Madam Parliamentarian. Seeing no one else in the queue, let's take this to a vote. All right. If all commissioners have voted, Madam Parliamentarian or Madam Minister Clerk, help me understand what this result, is this a pass, fail, neither, or where do we stand?

It goes down without a favorable recommendation.

I'll let the minutes clerk provide the tally and then I'll say that.

We have aye votes from Commissioners Caswell, Wright. We have no votes from Commissioners Sugarman, Brooks, Commissioner Shalai, Epstein. We have two ayes, two noes, one Epstein.

Thank you. That item goes down with an unfavorable recommendation, right? Yeah. Okay. All right. Thank you. Item two, please.

Item 2 is a resolution approving a contract between Shelby County Government and Landmark Construction General Contractors, Inc. for the emergency installation of epoxy flooring for 16 janitor closets at the main jail located at 201 Poplar on behalf of the Shelby County Sheriff's Office in the amount not to exceed $50,500.00. This item requires the expenditure of fiscal year 2026 general funds in the amount not to exceed $50,500. Sponsored by Commissioner McWright.

Thank you so much. This item has been moved by Commissioner Sugarman, seconded by me. Chief Lindsay, you have the floor.

Good morning, Commissioners, and thank you, Commissioner Wright. Alicia Lindsay, Chief Administrative Officer, Shelby County Sheriff's Office. And with me, I have our Maintenance Manager in the jail. His name is Matt Robinson. The item before you is to approve and ratify a purchase order that was issued under the emergency justification process, which we're able to do under purchasing guidelines. However, before the emergency justification was completed, the Shelby County Sheriff's Office did reach out to four different vendors, and only one of those vendors replied with a quote. Therefore, we submitted the emergency justification to purchasing with landmark construction. We received a purchase order, and the work is underway. For the repair of 13...

Matthew Robinson, jail maintenance manager for Chevy County Sheriff's Office. The 16 janitor's closets have been completed. They are done. It took them a week to get done.

Thank you, Mr. Robinson. I got a little sidetracked. So the purchase order was this work began like in February of 2026. And as Mr. Robinson stated, it has been completed. However, the purchase and rules and regulations require that we were bringing an emergency contract before this body that is greater than $50,000. And we're respectfully asking for your approval of this item. And we're happy to answer any questions you may have. Thank you.

Thank you so much. I do have a commissioner in the queue. Commissioner Sugarman.

Thank you, Chair. And so, again, just a question about emergency. So what is the emergency, if you could address that, please?

Matthew Robinson, Shelby County Sheriff, General Manager. The emergency was the concrete floors in all 16 of the janitor's closets had started cracking and the tile was coming up and the concrete had cracked. When the detainees would get water for mopping or whatever, it would leak down into the floors below, causing leaks in the lower floors that was causing mold and mildew on the ceiling tiles. And that's when we decided to be proactive and get it taken care of before we had a real issue.

Thank you for the explanation. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Sugarman. I wanted to give you an opportunity because I have seen some discussion of this item on the socials and so forth. Number one, is it true that you didn't receive any other or didn't request any other bids? That would be one question. Number two, can you share more about the grade of materials and the level of maintenance being provided because I think there was some question about just the expense can can how can this expense be justified in addition to this being Having some downscale effects of what you mentioned the water leaks and the mole and and so forth that we're familiar with So can can you speak more to? the bid, were there bids, or was there an effort to receive other bids, and then just the quality of the work that was being done.

Yes, Matthew Robinson, General Management Manager for Shelby County Sheriff's Office. I sent out four bid requests, one to Landmark Construction, one to 4J Contractors and Homes, one to Boss Entities Constructions, LLC, and Superior Contracting Group. I only had one reply. I had a mandatory meeting for all contractors, and they could schedule if they could not make that mandatory meeting. Nobody scheduled except for Landmark. Landmark was the only bid So that's what we went with so on the second question is the greater materials so stone hard Was used in the kitchen of the jail. It was a big project it was a and stone hard has a lifetime guarantee that's one reason I went with stone hard when I asked for the Specs I asked for stone hard equivalent because I knew stone hard was a lifetime guarantee and it would stop all the watery Trojans into the lower floors and it also molded mildew will not grow on this stone hard epoxy flooring that's why we chose them thank you so much for that explanation I do have some other commissioners in the queue now Commissioner Brooks

Okay. Now, in reference to the bids, you see you sent out four. Okay. Do you work with EOC in your bid processes, RFPs and so forth?

Matthew Robinson, Shelby County Sheriff's Office, jail maintenance manager. Yes, I do. I go on the BRN listing tool to find contractors. You know, it has the commodity code. type in the commodity code, and that's how I find the contractors.

So this list is provided, this is a list that is listed by ELC?

Yes, ma'am.

Okay. And just one last question. Have you worked with this, not you, I'm sorry. Has Landmark Construction General Contractors worked with the Sheriff's Department before?

Yes, ma'am. They are the ones that put the epoxy flooring in the kitchen.

Okay. They did that.

Yes, ma'am.

Any other work?

Oh, they do a lot of other work. They're my welding contractor right now, and they have done some electrical work in the past.

So they have multiple contracts with the Sheriff's Department?

Not at this moment. But they have had in the past, yes, ma'am.

Multiple contracts during the same year?

Yes, ma'am. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner. Commissioner Sugarman?

Thank you. Just a quick question. So my screen's not coming up, so it could be in here. I don't know. Okay. So out of the four, were there any other non-responsive? And this is a question for the Administrator Glossner. Were there any non-responsives?

Morning, commissioners. James Gloss, administrator of purchasing. So the emergency process is totally different from RFPs, RFQs, the typical bidding process. Our emergency process states if there is time permitting You can look at other people and get quotes. You don't have to. It's not mandatory in an emergency situation. But working with them, you can if you have time to get other bids, vendors, you can. But based on our policy, it's not a mandate. I understand the policy.

The question was, were there any non-responsives?

I didn't work with them on their emergency process.

Okay, can you answer that? Were there any non-responsives?

Matthew Robinson, jail maintenance manager for Shelby County Sheriff's Office. There were three that were non-responsive.

Okay. And so going back to administrative law, I would like to, again, get with you as far as going forward nonresponsive. I would like to know why they're nonresponsive because we've had several local businesses who have been deemed nonresponsive. So is that an issue on their end? Then we need to figure out what's going on so we can support and help them. And you don't need to respond. Thank you.

All right. Thank you, Commissioner. Would you like to say something? Please.

James Gloss, Administrator of the Purchase. For the record, the emergency process is totally different from RFPs and RFQs. So the term non-responsive is for bids and for bidders that do not meet our minimum requirements, and we would deem them non-responsive. As far as an emergency process, if they don't respond to their email, the vendor just It's not interested in doing the work. So it's different from being nonresponsive on a bid and a vendor just not responding to your email. So it's two different things.

I'd like to respond. Again, the request, not question, was that I would like to know why these are nonresponsive. Very simple. Regardless if it was not that they didn't avoid the email and we don't need to go back and forth as all the question I'm asking a request is that I want to know why these three were not responsive simple. Thank you.

Okay. All right. Thank you commissioner. I See no one else in the queue. I did want to ask also on the tiles in these 16 spaces was that was were those the original tiles that were from the beginning or

Matthew Robinson, Shelby County Sheriff's Office, General Manager. Yes, they were original to the building when it opened in 81.

All right. All right. I have no one else in the queue. Let's go ahead and take this to a vote, please. If all commissioners have voted, let's close the screen and report the tally.

We have aye votes from Commissioners Mills, Sugarman, Shillai, Wright, Chairwoman Avent, Commissioner Brooks abstain. We have five ayes, one abstain.

Thank you. That item will move down with a favorable recommendation. Can we read item three, please?

Item 3 is a resolution approving the expenditure of funds for the purchase of automotive oil and grease from Union Auto Parts in an amount not to exceed $86,200. This item requires the expenditure of FY 2027 Shelby County Sheriff's Office General Operating Funds in the amount not to exceed $86,200. Subject to the adoption of the FY 2027 operating budget sponsored by Commissioner McWright Thank you.

This item has been moved by Commissioner Sugarman seconded by me chief Lindsay

Alicia Lindsay, Chief Administrative Officer, Shelby County Sheriff's Office. Because this item is related to the fiscal year 2027 budget, which has not yet been adopted, we're bringing this item out of abundance of caution to ensure that we have a contract in place. However, the appropriate place for this item is on the Budget and Finance Committee, so I would ask if one of you could move this item to the Budget and Finance Committee this morning. So moved. Second.

Okay. I have a motion from Commissioner Sugarman. Seconded, I think I heard from Commissioner Mills. Commissioners, can we do that without objection? Hearing none, so moved. So that will move to Budget Committee.

Can you just put the motion?

Oh, I'm so sorry. So the motion, I believe, is to move this to the Budget Committee. All right. So moved. Let's read Item 4, please.

Item four is a resolution to approve the purchase of one illegal substance detector from Tech 84 Inc. in the amount of $146,500 for operation at the Youth Justice and Education Center. This item requires expenditure and appropriation of FY2026 County General Funds in an amount not to exceed $146,500 sponsored by Commissioner Mick Wright.

Thank you so much. This item has been moved by Commissioner Sugarman, seconded by Commissioner Mills. Good morning, sir. You have the floor.

Good morning. My name is Jonathan Russell. I'm the administrator for Shelby County Division of Corrections. The item before you is for the approval to purchase one full-body scanner to be deployed at the Youth Justice Education Center. This scanner will help to increase safety at the facility by improving the staff's ability to conduct searches for contraband for all who enter the facility. SCD requests approval of this item.

Thank you, Mr. Russell. I have no commissioners in the queue. Let me just ask you a quick question. You're with the Department of Corrections, is that right?

That is correct.

And do you all report to the sheriff, to the Shelby County Sheriff's Office?

No, sir, we do not.

You are a separate structure?

Yes, we are a division under the mayor's administration.

That's all I had. Thank you so much. Let's move to a vote. Please show Chairwoman Avant as an aye.

We have aye votes from Commissioners Brooks, Chairwoman Avon, Shalai, Sugarman, Wright. We have five aye votes.

Thank you. That item moves down with a favorable recommendation. That concludes Committee 4, and it is 9. So let's open up Committee Number 15. Can we read Item 1, please?

Item 1 is a resolution approving a contract with Cone, Inc. and the issuance of an emergency purchase order to Cone, Inc. totaling $62,700.63 for the provision of a hydraulic pump for the service elevator located at the Walter L. Bailey Jr. Criminal Justice Center, 201 Poplar Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee, 38103. This item requires the appropriation and expenditure of FY2026 general funds in an amount not to exceed $62,700.63. Sponsored by Commissioner McWright.

Thank you. This item has been moved by Commissioner Sugarman, seconded by Commissioner Mills. Good morning, sir. I imagine you're with Support Services. If you would give us, turn on that mic and give us your name, please, and your title.

Eddie Miller, Support Services Deputy Administrator. This item was to replace the hydraulic pump in the maintenance elevator located at the CJC in the amount of $62,763. This was to ensure the continuation of services to the maintenance level. That's the level where all of our maintenance guys and contractors alike They used this elevator to get down to our main mechanical equipment, boilers, hot water tanks, et cetera, et cetera. Without this, there was no way to get a lot of the heavy equipment and tools needed to work in that area down to that site.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Miller. Commissioner Sugarman.

Okay. And I do support this. In fact, I wish that we would get some hydraulic pump so we could just get up and down our elevator because it's constantly breaking down and et cetera. So I urge my colleagues to support this item. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Sugarman. And this, Mr. Miller, this was an emergency. Can you speak to what the emergency was and when that transpired?

Yeah, it was, I don't know the date. It was during the winter. I think it was January probably. Just a routine call from one of our technicians said that the elevator was malfunctioning, so we made a call to Kone, who has our maintenance contract, which prompted them to come on site and at that time recognize that the hydraulic pump in the elevator had gone bad and needed to be replaced immediately. Thank you. Commissioner Brooks.

So, Mr. Miller, I understand this company is headquartered in Finland.

I'll take your word for it.

I'm not sure.

They have a local office. I know that.

So were there any other bids that went out to any other elevator companies that are headquartered in this country?

So to answer your question, we did not solicit bids on this. We considered an emergency situation. It's also knowing that a pump was going to be replaced and that was going to be a warrantied item, we're cognizant of wanting to make sure that the company that maintains our elevators also would avoid a contract on a new piece of equipment. Therefore, we wanted Kone to provide the service of replacing the pump.

Okay. So they install the elevator? Yes.

They do the maintenance and they replace the pump. Now, whether or not they are the manufacturer of that elevator, I'm not certain. There are only a few manufacturers in the country.

Well, these are not in the country. They're in Finland. Right, right. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Brooks. Seeing no one else in the queue, let's take this to a vote, please. Please record Chairwoman Avant as voting aye.

Thank you.

We have aye votes from Commissioners Sugarman, Shillai, Wright, Brooks, Chairwoman Avent, Commissioner Mills. We have six ayes.

Thank you so much. That item moves down with a favorable recommendation. Item two, please.

Item 2 is a resolution approving a one-year renewal of the lease agreement between CCHS Holdings NP Inc. and Shelby County Government on behalf of the Shelby County Mayor's Office of Innovation and Strategic Communications Shelby Cares Program for 3,155 square feet of office space located at 3362 South Highway 61, Memphis, Tennessee, 38109 for the term beginning August 7th, 2025 through July 31st, 2026 with a partial payment of $1,882.82 for the month of August 2025, and with equal monthly rent installments of $2,431.98 beginning September 1, 2025, with the right to renew the lease for two one-year periods. This item requires the expenditure of FY2026 general funds in the amount of $26,202.62, sponsored by Commissioner McWright, Commissioner Matthew Shillai, and Commissioner Charlie Caswell, Jr.

Thank you so much. This item has been moved by Commissioner Sugarman, seconded by me, Ms. Sykes-Wood. I'll let you have the floor to tee this up.

Thank you. Esther Sykes-Wood, Land Bank Administrator. This is a lease renewal for the space that the county is currently occupying for the Shelby Cares on 3rd space. You can see we're a little late in this fiscal year in getting it approved, but it also has two one-year extensions that they intend to use in fiscal years 27 and 28.

Thank you so much. Commissioner Sugarman.

Thank you, Chair, and thank you, Administrator Sykes-Wilson, for bringing this. And I'm glad to see that we actually have it in writing. The last time we met, it was a question about leases, old leases that were done by Handshake. And my question then comes, if we don't have lease agreements in writing, who do I ask? Okay, I'm not trying to put you on the spot, but I want to make it public. Who do I ask or who do the commissioners ask for a list of agreements that are not in writing? Would that be your department?

Esther Sykes, Woodland Big Administrator. Commissioner, that is a good question. That is why our department is working very diligently to find, locate these, and get everything into writing, Commissioner.

Okay, again, the question again was, who do I ask you? You know, as far as a list of the ones that are not in writing, for the leases that are not in writing, that are carryovers from way back when, when it was done with a handshake. If not you, then who?

Esther Sykeswood, Land Bank Administrator. Again, these would have been agreements between multiple, like the city and county and offices like that. So multiple divisions, multiple governmental entities would have all been involved in these types of situations.

So there's nobody I could ask in particular?

No, Commissioner, that is my point. Correct. Since they're not documented, there's not a list. There's not one person who knows. And it is something that our office is looking into and we've been working on. Again, that's why we have the one lease we brought before this commission. We are looking into some past practices and we're trying to document them and get them in writing so that everything is out there.

Okay. So I'm understanding a city, county, and maybe joint leases agreements that are not in writing. Is that what you're looking into?

Correct. And sometimes it's not just leases. Usually it's just more like an MOU. I'm not certain when they first started to formalize them, but things like that. The lease with 201 is going to be the first one that I've noticed that was real property that someone was using county land because, as this board knows, the commission has to approve the use of county land. So any other arrangement would be an office using office space somewhere else, usually in a pro bono type of situation where it's just been given to the county and so they never formalized it. They're just simply using the space without documentation.

That is a concern. And so maybe we need to have the county have a process audit overall, not just the county commission. That's something I would. think about and maybe get with you to see how we can move forward quickly because, again, thank you for your work that you're doing, number one, but number two, how can we expedite the process? Thank you.

Yes, Commissioner. As always, we'll be happy to work with you.

Thank you, Commissioner Sugarman. Seeing no one else in the queue, let's take this to a vote, please.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Chairwoman Aban.

Thank you. My machine still isn't working. Just to clarify on question for Ms. Sykes-Woods, just in this, to Commissioner Sugarman's question, I know that your office is going through to try to unravel, right, what would be years of MOUs and agreements and maybe just share what the overall process of that is. I mean, I know that, obviously, as things come before the body, it's an opportunity for you to look at it at that time. Is that something also that support services can assist with? Because they would have probably gone into or been a part of some of those agreements.

Esther Sykes with Olympic Administrator. I'm more than happy to reach out with support services to see, you're right, they do technically have boots on the ground, so they're in the facilities and they would know. Yes, Commissioner.

Okay, and understand I know that that's a meticulous process, right? County government has been in existence for, you know, since 18, somebody else might know the year, but 1869, so I understand that this is something that would take some time, but I do think, to Commissioner Sugarman's point, that it's important for us to have as many accurate records of how we are utilizing both our facilities as well as space that could be ultimately a liability if we don't have these agreements in place.

Yes, Chairman, and I will add, as I move through with the policy and procedure, documenting it, We are moving towards actually getting it incorporated into the county's purchasing procedure. Right now it is suggested heavily that electeds and departments use our office for real estate needs, but they don't have to, obviously, currently. So we're working to get those more standardized so that there is just one central location that handles all real estate. Appreciate that. Thank you.

Thank you, Chairwoman Avan. Seeing no one else in the queue, let's take this to a vote, please. Madam Chair, do you wish to please show her as an aye?

We have aye votes from Commissioners Clay Bibbs, Caswell, Sugarman, Shalai, Wright, Morrison, Brooks, Chairwoman Avon. We have eight aye votes.

Thank you so much. That item moves down with a favorable recommendation. And that concludes Committee 15.

Good morning. We'll call to order the General Government Committee. Madam Parliamentarian, please read the first item.

Item one is a resolution approving the election of notaries public for appointment and or reappointment for Shelby County, Tennessee, sponsored by Commissioner Henry E. Brooks.

Thank you. This item has been moved by Commissioner Sugarman and seconded by myself. Okay. We do not have a presenter. So can we just move this item down without recommendation? Well, just move it down without recommendation. Madam? Oh. Okay. Chairwoman Avent.

Is there a report that the county attorney's office could provide that we might be able to move it down with recommendation?

I don't have it in writing. I don't have anything, and I can't get in my system. Well, why don't we do this since the attorney's office, county attorney's office is indicating they can have a report shortly. Why don't we just move this to the next, move it to the heel of this committee.

Second.

Okay. It's been moved by myself and seconded by Commissioner Haswell. So Madam Parliament, can we do that without objection? So moved. Madam Parliamentarian, item number two, please.

Item two is a resolution approving the City of Memphis Mayor's nomination of Edward Stevens III for appointment to the Edge Board, sponsored by Commissioner Henry E. Brooks.

All right. This item has been moved by Commissioner Sugarman, second by myself. And let the record reflect that these items on general government committee that are sponsored by me are sponsored by me according to the rules. All right. The chair of the committee normally sponsors the items that come before their committee. Okay. Is this working? I have this item moved. It's showing moved by Commissioner Sugarman and second by me. Yes. Okay.

So that's showing. Yes, ma'am.

Thank you. Mr. Massey.

Thank you, and good morning, Madam Chair, and good morning, Commissioners. Carl Ray Massey, Chevy County Mayor's Office. Today, we are here to present the City of Memphis Mayor's nomination of Edward Stevens III for appointment to the EDGE Economic Development and Growth Engine Board. EDGE serves as the economic development agency for the city of Memphis and Shelby County, helping drive job recreation, business growth, neighborhood revitalization, entrepreneurship, and strategic public partnerships that partner and strengthen our local economy. Dr. Stevens brings a strong background in leadership, community engagement, economic development, and strategic partnerships that align directly with the missions of EDGE. Through his service as West Tennessee Regional Director for Governor's Faith-Based and Community Initiative, Executive Director of Star Academy and founder of Urban Roots of Tennessee, he has demonstrated the ability to build collaborative partnerships, secure investments, manage large-scale initiatives, and create opportunities that positively impact communities across Memphis and Shelby County. Additionally, his experience serving on boards such as the Downtown Memphis Commission and Memphis Area Transit Authority reflects his understanding of governance, accountability, and long-term strategic planning. This is a joint appointment, and the City of Memphis has already confirmed Dr. Stevens' appointment to the Edge Board. Today's actions ensure continued collaboration between the City and the County as we work together to advance economic opportunity throughout the Shelby County. At this time, I would like to present Madam Chair, Dr. Steven Edwards III to address this body and answer any questions that you may have.

Thank you, Dr. Stevens.

Well, top of the morning to everybody. Ed Stevens III, fifth generation Memphian. I know a lot of you already, but thank you for your advocacy that you do on our behalf each and every day. It's a joy to do this work, and I look forward to rolling up my sleeves and planting my feet and doing the difficult work. Thank you.

All right.

Thank you. Commissioner Sugarman. Thank you, Madam Chair. And so it was nice to meet you, Dr. Stevens. And so I have a couple questions. You mentioned MATA board or MATA. What was your connection with MATA again? I couldn't.

Yeah, it was board member. Yes. Board member.

Yes. How many boards do you sit on now?

Three.

Three. What's the other one?

So we have downtown Memphis Commission, and we have Unite Memphis, and no longer on the matter board. That was years ago.

Okay. Okay, thank you.

Yeah, you're welcome. No problem, sure.

And then I have questions for Massey. I mean, Massey. President, just quick questions for clarification. So the process, again, is when someone is appointed by the city, then they're confirmed by the county or vice versa. What does that process look like?

Thank you, Commissioner Sugarman. Yes, ma'am. This is a joint appointment. According to the bylaws, this appointment goes before city council and county commission for this appointment.

Okay. And so typically, is it one, like the city or the county that initiates it, or it could be either?

Thank you, Commissioner Sugarman. It could be either.

Okay. And then how many board members are there on each board currently?

Currently, for... If I may, can I have President Joanne Massey answer this question?

Yes, thank you.

Okay, can you hear me? Okay, perfect. Thank you, Commissioner, for the question. Joanne Massey, President and CEO of EDGE. We have nine board members. Four of those board members are appointed by the city of Memphis mayor and four by the county mayor. And then one joint appointment of our board chair. And as Mr. Massey said, the initiation of those appointments happen on the city side when it is the city mayor appointing and then the county affirms. And then vice versa when the county mayor appoints. appointing. It happens initiated on the county side and the City Council affirms.

Thank you. And then one more question if I may. And so are there any more vacancies on the EDGE Board or will this conclude, complete the Board? Anyone can speak to that.

Thank you Madam Chair, Corey Massey, Shepard County Mayor's Office. This would conclude that for the City side.

Thank you. All right, thank you. Commissioner Sugarman, Commissioner Caswell.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Madam Chair. Again, I appreciate this gentleman that you bring before us. I'm blessed with his leadership in District 6, running one of our great charter schools, Star Academy there. So I've been able to work with Brother Stevens and his father, Bishop Stevens, for some years now. And I just appreciate your leadership. I know he's going to bring the accountability that's needed to this body and just continue the great work. I appreciate the meeting that you just had a couple of weeks ago with all the stakeholders here in the city, the governor coming down to see the work that you've been doing here in West Tennessee, bringing churches and faith-based leaders and others together. That's what it's going to continue to take. And I think that work, what you're doing there, Combined with what the edge work is all about I believe it no doubt you're gonna be able to add a lot of value to their body So, thank you.

Thank you for this pick Thank You Commissioner Caswell Seeing no other members in the queue. Mr. Stevens. Do you would you like to have a wrap-up?

No, ma'am.

Okay. All right. We'll move this item to vote Madam clerk Every Commissioner voted Madam Clerk, may we have a tally, please?

We have aye votes from Commissioners Clay Bibbs, Cantwell, Sugarman, Shalai, Thornton, Commissioner Morrison, Brooks, Chairwoman Avon, and Commissioner Mills. We have nine ayes.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. That item goes down with a favorable recommendation. Thank you all.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Commissioner.

Madam Parliamentarian, item number three, please.

Item three is a resolution approving the County Mayor's nomination of Brian Boone for appointment to the Memphis and Shelby County Sports Authority, Inc., sponsored by Commissioner Henry E. Brooks.

All right. Thank you, Madam Parliamentarian. This item has been moved by... I'll move it. It's been seconded by Commissioner Sugarman. All right, Mr. Massey, you're recognized.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Again, I am here to present the County Mayor's nomination of Brian Boone for appointment to the Memphis and Shelby County Sports Authority Board. The Sports Authority Board plays an important role in supporting and overseeing major sports, entertainment, and recreational facilities that contribute to the economic growth, tourism, and overall quality of life in Memphis and Shelby County. The Board helps ensure strong financial stewardship, strategic planning, and long-term sustainability for public ports and entertainment assets that serve our community. Mr. Boone's professional experience aligns strongly with that mission. As Chief Financial Officer of the Henry Turley Company, he oversees complex financial operations, large-scale development projects, budgeting, investor relations, and strategic growth initiatives involving multi-million dollar properties and assets across Memphis and the region. His background in accounting, finance, compliance, and project oversight provides the type of fiscal leadership and accountability that is critical to the work of the Sports Authority Board. In addition, Mr. Boone is a certified public accountant with more than two decades of experience in financial management, auditing, and organizational leadership, including prior work involving public sector audits and local government entities here in Shelby County. His proven track record is responsible for financial oversight and community leadership that makes him well qualified to serve in this role. For these reasons, we respectfully ask for your favorable consideration for his appointment. At this time, I would like to present to this body Mr. Brian Boone, to answer any questions that you may have.

Mr. Boone, you're recognized.

First time, sorry. Thank you all. I'm excited for the nomination and happy to lend forth my knowledge and experience and provide my time to this board. Thank you.

Before I go to the queue, I just have one question. Why do you want to serve on this board?

Well, I feel like it's my time to provide my knowledge and expertise. I've experienced auditing Shelby County government, City of Memphis. Shelby County Board of Education, MATA. So I feel like I can provide knowledge and expertise. And, you know, I'm a native Memphian and look forward to providing my efforts. Thank you.

Thank you. Commissioner Sugarman.

Thank you so much. And again, this is for Massey. Same questions. What are the number of members on the board? Are there any vacancies? And with the sports authority, is this a dual appointment with the city and county, or is this just a county?

Thank you, Commissioner Sugarman. This is a county appointment. There's 11 members on this board, five from the city of Memphis, five from the Shelby County, and one joint position. There are two. This would be one of two vacancies. So now we will only have one position vacant for this board on the county side.

Thank you. And then also, can you provide me the demographics of the board members? Of course, the county is very diversified. We'll make sure that everybody's represented.

Yes, ma'am.

And then also, can you provide also the professional background? Because I know Boone has expertise in accounting and finance. I want to make sure also that the talent skills are also diversified as well. So you can provide that in email to all the commissioners at a later date. But thank you. And thank you for serving.

Thank you, Commissioner Sugarman. Seeing no other members in the queue, Mr. Boone, would you like to have some final comments?

Not unless y'all have any further questions.

Okay. Thank you. We will now take this item to a vote. Madam Clerk, please prepare the screen. Every member cast your vote. Every member voted.

We have aye votes from Commissioners Clay Bibbs, Sugarman, Shalai, Thornton, Morrison, Brooks, Mills. We have seven aye votes.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. This item goes down with a favorable recommendation. Thank you, Mr. Bone, Mr. Massey.

Thank you, Madam Chair and Commissioner Sugarman. I'll have the information for you and the rest of the commissioners. Thank you.

Thank you. Now we'll move back to item number one. Madam Parliamentarian, do you need to read that back into the record again?

Yes, thank you so much. Item one is a resolution approving the election of no-risk public for appointment and a reappointment for Shelby County, Tennessee, sponsored by Commissioner Henry E. Brooks. That item was moved by Commissioner Sugarman and seconded by Commissioner Brooks and then moved to the Hill without objection.

Okay. The county attorney has indicated to this chair that that there are no conflicts. The county attorney has indicated via text, via email, that there are no conflicts. So if we can just take this item to a vote. Madam Clerk, please prepare the screen. Every member voted.

We have aye votes from Commissioners Clay Bibbs, Sugarman, Shalai, Thornton, Morrison, Brooks, Mills. We have seven aye votes. Thank you, Madam Clerk.

That item goes down with a favorable recommendation, and that concludes General Government Committee.

Good morning, everyone. We'll begin Committee Number 3, Hospitals and Health. Madam Palantirian, can you read Item Number 1, please? I'm so sorry. I'm sorry.

Item 1 is a resolution approving a contract between Shelby County Government on behalf of Shelby County Health Department and Shelby County Healthcare Corporation DBA Regional One Health for the provision of professional services for pharmaceutical services and medications for outpatients seen at the Shelby County Health Department for the period beginning July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026 with an option to renew for two additional one-year periods. This item requires the expenditure of FY2026 general funds in an amount not to exceed $168,800, sponsored by Commissioner Misca Clay Bibbs.

Thank you, Madam Parliamentarian. This item was moved by Commissioner Sugarman, a second by Commissioner Thornton, and I will hand it over to Dr. Randolph.

Good morning, Commissioners. Dr. Bruce Randolph, this is Room Director and Health Officer of Sheppard County Health Department. what you have before uh... is a resolution for you all approval of a uh... contract with regional one uh... help to provide uh... pharmaceutical services and medication uh... this is a contract that has been in place uh... for several years enables us to have a pharmacist and also have access to pharmacy services, including in the event that we have some adverse effect there at the health department where our refrigeration is out, we can store vaccines there at Regional 1 so that they won't be spoiled, won't have any spoilage. So we're asking that you approve this resolution.

Thank you, Dr. Randolph. I don't see any commissioners in queue for this item. All right. Okay. Unheard of, but all right. Madam Clerk, can you please repair our screens for voting? Madam Clerk, can you tally our votes, please?

We have aye votes from Commissioners Clay Bibbs, Sugarman, Shalai, Thornton, Morrison, Brooks, Chairwoman Avon. We have seven aye votes.

Thank you so much, Madam Clerk. That item goes down with a favorable recommendation. We do have an add-on for hospitals and health. Madam Palminterian, can you read it into record?

Yes, ma'am. Item two is an add-on item. It has all of the proper documentation. It's a resolution approving a contract between the Shelby County government on behalf of the Shelby County Health Department and the University of Memphis in an amount not to exceed $1,043,560 to commence upon December 1, 2025 through November 31. 30th, 2026, for the purposes of a public health informatics data equity analytics and systems approach to collaborate with academia to strengthen the Shelby County Health Department's infrastructure, workforce, and data systems. This item requires the appropriation and expenditure of FY 2026 federal grant funds in the amount of $1,043,560, sponsored by Commissioner Misca Clay Bibbs.

Thank you, Madam Parliamentarian. Can I get a mover? A move by Commissioner Thornton, a second by Commissioner Sugarman. I will hand it over to Dr. Randolph.

Dr. Bruce Randolph, Interim Director and Health Officer, Sheppard County Health Department. I have with me Mr. Rudy Rudolph Gray, who is the Chief of Staff, and also Dr. Nicole Scarborough of the University of Memphis. And I've asked Mr. Gray if he would present this resolution.

Rudolph Gray, Shelby County Health Department, Chief of Staff. Good morning, Commissioners. I'm here today to ask for your continued support of a partnership that is not just effective, but essential to the future of Shelby County. Today, the CDC FIG Grant, the Shelby County Health Department, and the University of Memphis School of Public Health have built something powerful, a true public health workforce pipeline. This initiative reaches students in middle and high school and guides them into careers within our community. We're preparing middle and high school students with real-world skills in epidemiology and science. We're helping them earn college credits, certifications, and hands-on experience before they ever step into the workforce. At the collegiate level, students are gaining experience in data modernization, learning to build dashboards, analyze trends, and support real-time decision-making. At the same time, we're strengthening our current workforce through training and communication, community engagement, and trust building. These are the skills that allow us to better serve our residents, especially our most vulnerable populations. This is not just about education, it's about capacity, it's about sustainability, and it's about making sure that Shelby County is not reacting to public health crisis, but is prepared for them. We have already received national recognition for this work, and Shelby County is quickly becoming a model for others to follow. When we invest in people, data, and partnerships like this, we are not just funding public health. We are protecting it.

Thank you so much. I do have two commissioners that are in the queue. Commissioner Sugarman, you're in the queue.

Thank you so much. And so, anytime it involves young people, you know, I'm on board. So, and kudos to you all for being recognized nationally. The question becomes, okay, as far as how long has this, you know, have you all been doing the work as far as workforce development and involving middle and high schools? And then, of course, I would like to know, you know, which schools are involved. Because you know me, and I'm sure the other commissioners would all love for our schools to be involved in these programs. And, in fact, I would love to be in this program myself. But, I mean, because any time you can forecast, analyze data, and put the human capital in place, that speaks volumes to what you're all doing. So if you all can answer those questions for me, I appreciate it.

Dr. Bruce Randolph, Interim Director, Health Officer, Sheppard County Health Department. I'm going to defer to Dr. Nicole Scarborough because she's been involved in this process from its beginning, and this is our fourth year, and so she can give more insight about what we've done.

So Commissioner Sugarman, thank you for asking that question. Let me tell you first, this is probably the best grant I've ever been a part of. And let me tell you why. So this grant started in, we started preparing for this grant in like 2021 during COVID. The purpose of the grant was to address what we knew was going on, but was not being addressed, which was we had about at that time, an 80,000 worker shortage in public health. So when COVID came, the CDC allotted the funds and together the health department and the University of Memphis wrote the grant. When we wrote the grant, we were in COVID. And when it was granted, we were in COVID. Our intention was to involve all schools. And that was because during COVID, the University of Memphis had removed its requirements for entrance into the dual enrollment program. And what we wanted to do was to make sure that we were allowing students from all high schools in Memphis Shelby County Schools to be a part of the dual enrollment program, which was a major part of our high school experiential learning program funded by this. But as soon as we got going, the kids returned to school. And when they returned to school, the University of Memphis reinstated its requirements for entrance into dual enrollment. So that meant dual enrollment starts 11th grade. And so when you're going into the 11th grade, you know this, you are in the 10th grade before. There are very few students Very few students who have an ACT score in the 10th grade. And there are very few students who have an ACT score of a 19 in the 10th grade because they haven't finished geometry and algebra 2, which are part of the ACT math score. So we had to hurry up and partner with some guidance counselors who would allow us to use their school to do ACT prep. because we had to get the kids ready to be entered into dual enrollment. So our partners were or are East High School and White Station High School. And that was simply because we had the immediate relationships with them to be able to get the 10th graders ready to be accepted into dual enrollment. But now that we are going and we've graduated 10 high school students who have an undergraduate certificate in public health, with this next five year, we want to now be able to go to all of the Memphis Shelby County Schools. The only issue now is that we've changed superintendents. And so there's now an MOU between colleges and universities and schools that only allows certain schools to participate in certain colleges' dual enrollment program. But now we have a new superintendent. And so our hope is that as soon as everything gets evened out over there, we'll be able to sit down with the superintendent and open up that MOU to allow us to pursue all students in all schools. Does that make sense?

Yes, may I have an opportunity to ask a follow-up question real quickly, and then I'll get out the queue?

Yes.

Okay, thank you. And so you mentioned middle school, and so would the MOU include middle school?

So this is what we did. So when the MOU stopped us from going to multiple schools, high schools, we then said, okay, let's go to the middle school and start to prepare them to be ready when they get to high school. So that's what made us go to middle school because we didn't want to stop the process. And so the program that we've implemented is a K graduate school program. But until we can get that MOU situation really handled, which I am positive we're going to be able to get handled, we have focused They allowed us to finish the high school students who were enrolled. The program is six college classes. So they had already taken three. So they let them finish. But to make sure that we were continuing kids in the pipeline, we used middle school. And we were able to use university middle because it's a university of middle school. And we were able to get their permission to work with those minors on our campus and have it be covered by insurance. But it's our hope that once the MOU is handled, that situation is handled, we will be able to expand this program and offer it to all schools within Memphis Shelby County Schools.

And all middle schools as well.

And all middle schools as well. Okay. To meet the number of spots we have funded.

Thank you, Commissioner Sugarman. Commissioner Thornton, you're in the queue.

Thank you, Chair. Thank you for the explanation. I can hear the passion in your voice, which gets me excited. Unfortunately, a lot of people talk about hope, and when we come back and track down what actually pans out, it still doesn't equate to an opportunity. for our hardest to reach students, our most underserved students. And I really, I hope that someone, there used to be a liaison here that was with MSCS. If they're in the audience, please tune into this piece because these are the moments during budget season for us to talk about what do we need to do to be able to unlock that hope, to make it an actuality. I want to ask legal in preparation for Monday, I want there to be some type of stipulation that this MOU will actually be a contingency for this particular resolution. And we can talk about that just because I don't want us just to continue on. When I just hear East and White Station, I hear privileged students with the hope that possibly we're going to get to Melrose, Oak Haven, and Hamilton. And what I know is even with the MOU, it still might not pan out. So, we need to put some meat on this to be able to ensure that this particular investment is going to actually be an opportunity for all of our students. And then that's that part. We can talk more about that. The other questions I have is just about this particular funding source. So, correct me if I'm wrong, this is being funded by federal grant funds? By the CDC. And are these, I guess, what's the ongoing cost associated with, you know, the implementation of this? And will we have access to those funds? Or how can we ensure that this continues to go on as an initiative?

You want me to answer? Whoever. I can answer.

It's a qualified.

That's a Dr. Randolph question.

Oh, okay. Okay.

Dr. Bruce Randolph, interim director and health officer, Sheppard County Health Department. So this is a grant that we received from CDC. It was a five-year grant. We're in the fourth year of the grant. And we have one more year of Beyond that, it would be the governing body to provide fundings to continue this program. And so just to kind of put things in perspective and a summation, So after COVID, when we realized that there was a shortage of workforce, public health workforce, the government provided increased funding to not only Shelby County, Tennessee, but throughout the U.S., And so we're able to obtain this grant to improve our workforce development and foundational capabilities. So the strategy was, well, how do we get people in more into public health? Start early. introducing them to public health. So therefore you have the public health clubs in the elementary schools and then in the high school to have experiential learning and expose them to epidemiology, biostat and some other skills. From there we provided the opportunity for those students to obtain dual enrollment, a certificate of in epidemiology and biostats with the intention of them going to undergrad, majoring in public health, then subsequently getting a master's degree in public health and doctorate degree. Also what we did through this grant was to enable our employees to enhance their skills and knowledge. So we have several employees who are actually in programs there at the University of Memphis, Ph.D., Masters of Public Health, et cetera, to enhance their skills. And so this particular grant, what we're asking now for the year four is to continue this functional foundational capability continuing with the public health clubs and again certainly our desire to expand because it's such a success and In order to do that, we will be coming back before you seeking additional resources to be able to do that after we have shown that this is a worthwhile investment. It is successful. The other aspect of this particular asking grant is that we will have informatic data analysts that will be working collaboratively with our epidemiologists to provide data, to provide a dashboard that will be accessible to the public to find out all about public health information such as where can I go get an HIV test. Where can I get Narcan? Where can I get the other services that the health department provides? And then we also will be, through the University of Memphis, We'll be contracting with community-based organizations to do social media outreach so that we can reach populations such as the justice involved population to have them become more aware of the services and programs that we have. I'll stop there because I can't go on and on, but that's sort of where we are.

Thank you so much. Commissioner Thornton, you need to come back. Okay. Just for a point of information, you're saying that this would be year four, which is 26-27, and then you have a fifth year, which would be 27-28? This is the...

25th, 26th, next year will be 26-27.

So you're cleaning up? We're cleaning up. Okay, for this current year, and then the fifth year is the 26-27? Yes. Okay. All right, Commissioner Caswell, you're in the queue.

Thank you, Madam Chair. And just in line with that, I appreciate Commissioner Thornton as she's thinking long-term and the impact of this. It goes to some of the conversations that I've been sharing. I had a good meeting with Superintendent Richmond about what a fetal pallet looks. Some of my colleagues, Councilwoman Logan over around Raleigh, Egypt, I see my Commissioner Love out there about partnering with Methodist North and how do we help children towards a fetal pallet towards getting it to the hospital and starting early. And so one of the conversations that I've been having with some of my colleagues on the city council and on the school board is what do it look like for an alignment, right? That we intentionally align 1% of our budget, right? Meaning that if we take the city council, the county commission, and the county school board, You're talking about $4.7 billion. If we align 1%, that's $47 million, towards targeted initiatives that's working, right? Things that we see the need of moving. And if we're intentional, when we talk about, and I was with our Colonel Chief yesterday about the nine targeted zip codes that they got $100 and some million from the state, right? If we're intentional about targeting and helping children out of those communities thrive, we can do this. But everybody got to be at the table. And I think that we are being pushed there, Director, when we see even more with the redistricting and things that's happening at the federal level, at the state level, that less and less dollars are going to come here unless we have a real solid plan of how we're moving the needle. And so that's my desire, that we have some type of task force intentionally that work around initiatives like this. And I think what we will see out of it, because a lot of times that we go to D.C., we hear about workforce piece, right? Senator Bill Hagerty, that's a big thing that he supports, like how do we put more money towards workforce development. And I just stop and close in part to say, and these children are hearing these commencement speech. I see our superintendent over there with Militant. These children are hearing that AI is taking jobs and all of this is doing. So their mindset is like, what's gonna be for us in the future, right? And what do the future workforce really look like for us? I mean, I just sat in a Baptist University meeting where they talked about how robotics are coming in to helping doing some of the jobs that nurses are doing. It's changing. And so I know that, again, I appreciate this effort, this work. I think that the intentionality, Director, is how do we have these sit-down conversations with all bodies and show holistically how we help these families with this transition because even as they get out of school, try to go on to post-secondary, where is the support to help us see that road all the way through? Do you want me to answer? If you could say your name.

Okay, my name is Dr. Nicole Salisbury Scarborough. Do you want me to tell you the secret? Yes, ma'am. Do you want me to tell you the secret?

Yeah.

Dual enrollment.

Yeah.

Dual enrollment. Dual enrollment. Do you want me to tell you what it is?

Yeah.

Okay.

So dual enrollment. No, no, no. I know what it is. Sorry. No, I know what it is. My name is in dual enrollment. Okay. I got you. Dual enrollment. Yeah, yeah. Dual enrollment. Yeah. All right.

Thank you, Commissioner Caswell. Commissioner Thornton, you're back in the queue.

Thank you, Chair. So can you just, I had a number of sidebar conversations while y'all were presenting. So we're in year four, and this is the cost. What was the total, I guess, allocation for the five-year span?

So Dr. Bruce Randolph, the director of Sheppard County Health Department. So this was actually a $15 million grant.

Okay, and then where, why is this an add-on today?

It's an add-on today because we wanted to make sure we get it before you all, before the end of the fiscal year.

So in this paperwork, as I'm going through, will I see the full rundown of the $15 million?

You should have received all the, and if not, we'll provide it, but all of the notice of awards and the budgets that can reveal all what have transpired over the five years, four years. three years going into the fourth year?

So I'm looking for a couple of different things. I would like to see the $15 million breakdown of the bulk of it already being spent, how that was spent, and then what is projected to be spent. And then just a, I mean, there's so many paperclip documents in this. Which one of these is the consolidated budget for this particular item? because I just flipped and I saw some consultant fees and some other things. Like, I just want to know how this is getting broken down and who we're using as subcontractors for this particular contract. And then just to legal, so if we could do something, so it's my understanding that we're wrapping up a five-year period, that the MOU wouldn't be bounding for this particular allocation, that it would be something to be applied for the next round. Do you want me to answer? Just whoever can.

Do I answer?

Go ahead.

Oh.

Okay.

Bruce Randolph, interim director, health department, Shelby County. So this is the fourth year. So we have an additional year. So we'll be coming back with a resolution for the fifth year.

But you are getting these funds for completed service, correct? And so... No.

No, these would be for funds. We're seeking funds to pay for services that the University of Memphis will perform on our behalf.

I saw in here that this is to end November 2026, this period for year four.

Yes.

So the funds that we're approving today are going to go through November.

will go into November 2026. This year? Yes.

So the MOU won't create another opportunity for another cohort of students that we're talking about? Because you all said the MOU is supposed to open up access for the dual enrollment that we've emphasized is important.

I'm going to defer that to Dr. Scarborough.

The MOU refers to the MOU with Memphis Shelby County Schools and the University of Memphis. So the University of Memphis is the subcontractor for A2 for this year's funding, which is for a little over a million dollars. As the subcontractor, we then work with the school system to recruit people for the middle and high school portion of this program. So the MOU is just for the middle and it's just for the high school portion of the program, which would allow high school kids to take dual enrollment classes as part of the experiential learning program funded by this program. But we also have a graduate school program where we partner with LeMoyne-Owen, and we also have a elementary school program where we do clubs in the schools. And those schools are much more diverse because they don't require anything of the university of... They don't require anything of the students regarding being enrolled as students. So we have partnerships with Kingsbury and Medical District High School for the clubs, those sorts of things, many other schools. Now the other thing is, when you talk about how we're going to expand schools, and I've been itching to say this because this is a compliment to all of Shelby County. Dr. Belay, who is the FIC director for FIG, which is the CDC foundation, announced that based on Shelby County's partnership, based on Shelby County's A2 grant, he wants to partner the future funding, he wants to pattern the future funding after what we've done. So he wants the entire country to model Shelby County going forward with A2. So when he is putting together the funding package for A2 2.0, which begins after year five, which will begin after year five if he's able to get it funded, he wants it to be what we're doing. And so it will be partnerships, it will be funding for partnerships with more schools. And so we will be able to continue the work if Dr. Blay, who is the director, is able to get done what he wants done. and we'll be able to expand the work for dual enrollment to all the high schools if we can get the partnership with Memphis Shelby County Schools, which I think we can because we've got a new superintendent now.

All right, thank you for that. Do I have more questions, Chair? More is not all, so let's just be clear there. And we need to close the gap, especially if we're talking about a model. Let's make it an all-inclusive model that we're pushing forward. Thank you. We agree.

Thank you. Chairwoman Avent?

Thank you. Just a clarifying question. Since this is for services that are already taking place with the University of Memphis, are the schools that you identified, which are White Station and East High School, is that for the upcoming school year?

Before you make your statement, please, as a reminder, to state your name and who you're with before you answer a question.

Thank you so much. I don't do this a lot. Thank you. So my name is Dr. Nicole Salisbury Scarborough, and I'm with the University of Memphis. And so this grant began in December of 2025. And this is A2. So this grant is only for $1 million. It's a $1 million annual grant. We have to make the deliverables that the CDC requires. So in anticipation of the grant contract being fully executed, the University of Memphis is extending its own funds to pay for the programming. Because if we don't, we'll be noncompliant by the time the report is due. So because it's taken a while for us to get funded, we have tried to keep the programming small so that if we are not funded, we won't be bankrupt. So we are trying to make sure we are compliant in the hopes that we will be funded so that we can be compliant. But the University of Memphis is funding the expense now with the hope that it will be fully executed so that we can be reimbursed. And then once we have a fully executed contract, we can go bigger. But we're having to just hang on to be compliant because you can't go back and be compliant. You're either compliant or you're not.

So it happened this past school year.

Yes. So we have been running small programs to be compliant beginning this past school year. And we are doing our summer programming right now.

And then just a recommendation because you have so many great high schools and I love the dual enrollment piece and you have White Haven High School that has a brand new STEM center so I think there's a lot of synergy that could come with what expansion looks like and I think Making sure that there is some representation across all districts would be important. We want to. Thank you.

Thank you, Chairwoman Avian. I think also, too, just for the record one more time, let's be very clear on what fiscal year we're trying to take care of. because I think people are seeing it various different ways. So we know that our fiscal year starts July 1. So when I ask the question around if you're saying this is a five-year grant and we're in year four, so are you saying that would have been ending June 30th for year four and then year five starts July 1? I'm just trying to clarify here for the record.

Dr. Bruce Randolph, interim director, Sheppard County Health Department. So we're actually in year four, which is December 2025, according to the grant. So December 1, 2025 to November 30, 2026, that's the grant. The issue that we're dealing with is because of how we operate in terms of, yeah.

So this will take care of the November.

End date. Right. So this, what we have before you, will cover up until November 30, 2026.

All right. And then you will come back again for year five?

For five, yes.

Okay. Gotcha.

Point of clarification. Is this just because of the overlap? Obviously, the federal government's fiscal years are not aligned with ours. Is that the reason? between the grant years, the November to December? Yes, the overlap. Yes, thank you.

One thing, if I may recommend, is that before you should be the budget and budget justification, which outlines actually what this grant will cover. And this is, and it should be Exhibit, I think, B in your... documents, but in that budget and budget justification, it spells out items that the CDC has approved as acceptable expenditures. If you want to get an idea of what this particular budget and request recover, that's in that budget justification.

Thank you for that, Dr. Randolph. Chairwoman, you good? Okay. All right. Commissioner Brooks, you're in the queue.

Dr. Randolph, good morning. I apologize, but I'm a little handicapped here. Number one is add-on. Number two, I don't have all of the documents that you're referring to that I see. Okay. So let me just go back to the origin. Since this is solely 100% federal grant, right?

Yes.

Okay. Meaning this is a grant from the federal government given sending us back their portion of public dollars that they got from us, right? Yes. Okay. I want to ask a question about your collaboration. I heard you say something about justice-involved individuals, and I missed part of it. Can you go back to that? I think you were talking, ma'am. Yes, ma'am.

Dr. Nicole Salisbury-Scarborough, University of Memphis. Okay. So yes, we partner. So one of the best practices within public health is to make sure that you're bringing marginalized communities to the table. Because Shelby County has such a large population of justice involved people, we cannot be inclusive without being intentional about including justice involved people. And so we partner with ECOP, which is a justice-involved organization, to make sure that we're reaching the justice-involved community. And one way that we do that is that we fund them to develop a social media campaign. Because of many circumstances, our justice-involved population can be transient. And so having to engage them with social media is one of the only ways to be able to keep up with them.

And so we do that. Okay, so we're not talking about children. We're talking about across all age groups?

We're talking about the justice-involved families that ECOP works with. Go ahead. Who do they work with? They work with families all across Shelby County. Age groups. Okay, families. Families, entire families.

Okay, okay. So have you had an opportunity to involve just Judge Sugarman? or the Division of Corrections? Have you talked with them?

So Judge Sugarman was working with us on another grant, but Judge Sugarman is aware of the portfolio of work that we do at the University of Memphis. But we'd love to involve Judge Sugarman.

Okay, so let me go back to the University of Memphis. And I do have some things here, but I have more blank spaces than anything else. So I'm going to have to ask you, Dr. Randolph, for some... additional documents. But let me go on to University of Memphis has the contract, right? Yes, ma'am. Okay. They're what's called your sub-recipient? Yes. Okay. So how did, I'm about to run out of time, but I need to know how did University of Memphis get selected? We're the only accredited school of public health in the county. Okay. I need to get back in the queue. I need to know. Am I recognized? Yes, Commissioner Brooks. Okay, thank you. I need to know, what is the role and responsibility of Le Moyne on college? And thank you for involving them.

Dr. Bruce Randolph, interim director, Shepherd County Health Department. Back to your earlier question about University of Memphis, one is they're single source, and our purchasing department approved them being single source because of their uniqueness. And then I will defer to Dr. Nicole about the role Lamorne Owens plays because currently there are students, graduate students from Lamorne Owens who's in our program, but she can give more information.

So again, this is a wonderful program. So what we did is that because the University of Memphis is a subcontractor because the University of Memphis is an educational institution. And with workforce development, you've got to have an educational institution to do it. So we begin with elementary, but we go through graduate school. So because Le Moyne On is a very important part of our community, and because President Davis had just come, and Dean Joshi and President Davis were meeting about possible collaborations, we decided that, and I say we, the University of Memphis Le Moyne On, decided that we would partner to help Le Moyne On with its accreditation by having a pipeline directly from Le Moyne On, directly from Le Moyne On College with their graduates to move into the University of Memphis's graduate school in the School of Public Health. President Davis identified 10 graduates of Le Moyne-Owen that he thought would be interested in receiving a master's degree and then eventually a PhD in public health. He gave those to us and we reached out to them to get them to submit an application. And of those students, we took, it was six Le Moyne students in of the 10, because that's all that submitted the application. They came in to the University of Memphis through the certificate program, and they have since completed the certificate in undergraduate. in graduate certificate in public health. And then they are now in the MPH program completing their master's degree.

Okay, so what we have here, you have students from a level one on going through University of Memphis Public Health program curriculum under this program.

After they graduate. Okay, right. And we pay their tuition and they get a stipend. So they're full graduate students.

Okay, so Le Morneau and college itself is not a contractor receiving any kind of compensation.

No, President Davis identifies the students, sends them to us, and we recruit them. We don't pay, no, we pay the students.

No, no, no, I got that part. Yes. So what I'm trying to understand is what role, is Lorne College a contractor of any degree? Yes or no? No. Okay, okay, got that part. So let me say this. Can I get back in the queue? Yes, ma'am. Thank you. This is my third time, I guess, so I'll have to suspend the rules. I just need to understand. Not yet. Hold that second. No, I just need to understand. So since we're going to be held out as a model in a minute, let me say this, Dr. Randolph. This proposes, from what I know right now, to be a great program. But if we're going to be a model for the nation in considering who we are, the demographics of Shelby County, well... Forget that statement. But considering Memphis, if you will, we want to make sure that, you know, we present a model of this city that is authentic. that is in reality what the city is. So, you know, we want to make sure that we can bring on board Lemoyne Owen as an equal, what do you call, what did I just say? Recipient, sub-recipient, as an equal sub-recipient. Just one minute. Compensated sub-recipient. Yes, ma'am.

Dr. Nicole Salisbury Scarborough, the University of Memphis. So I don't know if you remember, President Davis just came. So that's why we included him. When we wrote the grant originally, we could not get them to participate with us. So as soon as we saw that President Davis was there, that they had a new president, Dean Joshi immediately scheduled a meeting. It is our intention to do exactly what you just said. We just had to get them in because we couldn't get them in originally. Okay, okay. This is putting them in the pipeline.

so that they'll be on the road to being a compensated subrecipient. Yes. One last thing, and thank you, Madam Chair, for your leniency. Dr. Randolph, would you please send me a list of all of the health department activities in District 7?

District 7.

Yes, sir. Everything you all don't put it to me reduce it to writing and send it to me because I'm I think I'm hearing some stuff that's going on that I don't know anything about and Miss Dr. Salisbury, I think you had some sheets of paper Yeah, I'd like to get those and actually you should have this that document should have been included in the documents on the home base and It may be, but I think we have some kind of take-up issue. Oh, okay.

Right. But, yeah, it should be, but we'll make sure that everyone have copies of this.

Thank you.

One thing I want to just add, I think you correct Commissioner Brooks in terms of we need to figure out ways to include Lamar and Owens, but to be fully transparent and honest, this particular grant doesn't, This particular grant, what we're putting forth here in terms of this resolution, doesn't really afford us the opportunity to do that because the budget, as you would have before you, doesn't include what you're requesting. But year five, which will be another, will be that opportunity to do exactly what you are asking.

Okay. Thank you. It's a lot of hefty conversation around this item, which I knew it would be, especially because it was an add-on. But I want to say a couple things. The documents are not in the system because it was an add-on, so it should be at the end of your packet. We all have this thick packet. But instead of sending, I would suggest, Dr. Randolph, to send it to all commissioners if you're going to send something else back out just so they could have a copy, as well as send something to all commissioners around what's happening today. with the health department throughout Shelby County so we can know individually and collectively what the work is happening.

Will do.

I will just most note it from this conversation is as we think about year five, there's an opportunity to write in all of the things because there are different, through Dr. Nicole's point, there are different players at the table. And with different players at the table, you can ask for things in a different way. So I think that's the most notable thing out of this as we take care of year four, how we look at year five. All right, there are no additional commissioners in the queue. Madam Clerk, can you prepare our screens for voting? Madam Clerk, can you please tally your votes?

We have aye votes from Commissioner Whaley, Clay Bibbs, Cadswell, Sugarman, Shalai, Brooks, Chairwoman Avon. We have seven aye votes.

Thank you so much. This item goes down with a favorable recommendation. This concludes Hospitals and Health Committee Number 3.

We will now reconvene General Government. We have an add-on item.

Is the budget not for the general government?

Yes, for general government.

I have no clue about that one. We are reconvening a general government committee for an add-on item. Madam Parliamentarian, please read the item.

Item four is an add-on item. Item 4 is an add-on item. Item 4 is a resolution of the Board of Shelby County Commissioners approving a private act of the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee to amend Chapter 131 of the private acts of 1969 as amended relative to the privilege tax upon hotel occupancy in Shelby County, Tennessee. Sponsored by Chairwoman Shante K. Avan.

Okay. Do we have a mover for this item? It's been moved by Commissioner Caswell and seconded by Commissioner Shalott. Can we get the county attorney's office to... I know we're going to send this down with our recommendation, but I want to know something before we leave this committee. So I just need a capsule summary of what we're doing here from the county attorney's office.

Yes, ma'am. Someone will be available on Monday to speak in detail to this item. I apologize. Lisa Overall, County Attorney's Office.

Okay. We will, since there is no information, I'm sorry. Oh, I didn't look at my, excuse me, Chairwoman Avon.

Thank you, Madam Chair. This comes before us based on some information. The private act, which allows us to reallocate how the motel and hotel tax provides for some of the amenities, specifically with the FedEx form, and I know that they will have more of a detailed presentation on this for us on Monday. So I did want to make a motion to send this down without recommendation.

Second.

All right, thank you. And it has been moved to send this down with our recommendation. Moved and properly seconded. Can we do that without objection? So moved.

Who was the second?

Commissioner Sugarman, I'm sorry. I have one point of information. To the county attorney's office, the originating department It has on the routing sheet, I guess this is a routing sheet, the County Board of Commissioners. Is that correct, or would that not be the County Attorney's Office?

The sponsor is?

Originating department.

I'm asking that County Attorney.

Lisa, Overall County Attorney's Office. As I understand it, the... The originating department is the commission sponsor for this item. And we can, yes, Chairwoman Avant, we can certainly provide additional information if needed on Monday. It's a commission-driven item.

Okay.

Thank you. Well, that is the only item on this reconvened General Government Committee. And with that, we will adjourn General Government. Oh, we didn't vote. No, we're sitting it down. Okay, thank you.

Thank you so much. Good morning. We will begin committee number six, education. Madam Palantirian, can you read item number one, please?

Yes, ma'am. Item one is a joint resolution of the Memphis City Council and the Shelby County Board of Commissioners. a resolution to encourage alignment of fall and spring breaks across all school districts and school types in Memphis and Shelby County, sponsored by Commissioner Michael Whaley. This item was deferred in May 13th, 2026 committee meeting.

Thank you, Madam Parliamentarian. This item was moved by Commissioner Sugarman, a second by Commissioner Whaley, and I think I will... Commissioner Whaley, you're in the queue. Do you want me to go to you first?

No, no, no. Commissioner Sugarman is following you.

Commissioner Sugarman.

Thank you, Madam Chair. And so we have so many young people here today. And since we're dealing with school alignment as far as spring break and fall break, I'm just curious to see if any of you all had any concerns, questions, or even some input about how you all feel. I know as an educator for Shelby County Schools, teaching at White Station High School for 27 years, over 8,000 students. I would love this, but I'm just curious about how you all felt. If anybody would like to say anything, like any comments?

Come up, state your name, what organization you're representing. State your name, what organization you're representing, and also give us grade, if you're in school, in what school.

Yes, ma'am. Thank you, Madam Chairman. My name is Mark Williams, 10th grade, well, rising 11th grader at Hollis F. Price Middle College. I'm in District 10. I think this is perfect. When we talk about how different schools operate, different school districts, it is most of the times we don't usually think of alignment or how the breaks are. However, this is very needed. I feel that of course with parents, this will ease a lot of things dealing with travel, dealing with timing, but also with students to where, you know, they can easily convene and actually be with their peers more instead of being like, Oh, I can't be with so-and-so because they're still in school. Meanwhile, I'm out of school. So this will definitely ease on parents. This will definitely probably definitely save money when it comes to, um, different school districts, and also this will just make it better for the county. I think this is a definitely good idea, so whoever sponsored this, very great.

Thank you so much for that. Is there another young person that would like to come up? Or was Mr. Mark your spokesperson for today?

All right, thank you. And so hearing that, I would like to make a motion to be added as a sponsor. Thank you.

Can we accept that without objection? So moved. All right, Commissioner Whaley All right.

Thank you. Madam chair. Thank you. Mr. Mark as the sponsor of this item. I'll take the kudos I appreciate that and so just just a matter of process The reason I got in the queue is that this is a joint resolution and I don't believe we've gotten the City Council to run it yet so we just need to figure out what to do there. This has already been deferred a few times. Um, so we can either send it down without recommendation, uh, or we can hold it, uh, until we get the companion resolution at the city council. But I'll, I'll defer to you on that.

Would you like to go ahead and hold it until we get there? Uh, the companion one. Cause I think even if we send it down without, yeah. Yeah.

Okay. Yeah. So I'll, um, I mean, I guess, Madam Parliamentarian, I could just move to withdraw it at this point and then bring it back when the city tees it up. Okay, so I'll make a motion to withdraw the resolution with the intent on making sure it comes at the same time as the joint companion resolution to this one.

All right, I'll second that. Can we accept that without objection? All right, so moved. Absolutely. Note that Commissioner Sugarman wants to be a sponsor on whatever the new version will look like.

Yeah, okay.

All right. Commissioner Thornton, you're in the queue.

Thank you, Chair. To the sponsor, are there any considerations for why we wouldn't want to do this that you have already assessed? How in-depth have our conversations been with MSCS and the other municipalities?

No, obviously I think we should do it, but it's not binding, so it's more of a statement of support from the local governing bodies because, as you know, we have... many more school systems public school systems than we did even just a few years ago and so there are lots of different kind of reasons why someone sets a calendar as they set it so it you know different entities for example University of Memphis is a relatively new one that has its own process related to its higher education calendar so these are all things that go into play. But as far as we're concerned, the reason I sponsored it is because I think it certainly makes it easier on families who may have children across multiple entity types, which is going to be more and more likely given the number of different school systems in the county.

So I guess just as a follow-up, because when I see resolutions that we can't actually enforce to the constituents that want to see it happen, I would encourage in the time of us bringing this back for us to have additional meetings to get a commitment to actually implement it. Because we don't want to have youth advocates come down to speak on resolutions that we sponsor, that we have no plan to be able to actually Bring into fruition. So there's additional work that y'all need to do because the language is written says to encourage alignment It doesn't mean that we when we pass this are going to be able to ensure alignment. So I would love to just Do whatever I can to facilitate getting those meetings that you need to have and just figuring out, you know What is the viability of us being able to do this if we really want to see it done? Thank you

Thank you for those comments, Commissioner Thornton. But as I stated when we originally, Commissioner Whaley first brought this, all school districts are on the same calendar except for one. So I think it is that one that we're Really, I think Commissioner Whaley is hoping to get to be on the same calendar. And that particular LEA is, I think, as I stated, I still think it can happen with a meeting. But as far as the larger districts and the munis, they're all on the same district. I mean, same calendar. All right. Thank you regarding item one. Madam Parliamentarian, can you read item number two, please?

Item 2 is an ordinance first reading. Joint ordinance of Shelby County Government and the City of Memphis amending ordinance number 573 adopted April 14, 2025 in furtherance of a program for high quality early childhood pre-kindergarten for all sponsored by Commissioner Erica Sugarman and Commissioner Miska Clay-Bibbs.

Thank you, Madam Parliamentarian. This item was moved by Commissioner Sugarman and seconded by Commissioner Caswell. I will now hand it over to Ms. Hannah McCarthy.

All right. Thank you, Chair Clay Bibbs. Hello, commissioners. Hannah McCarthy, project specialist in the mayor's office. It's an honor, as always, to be before you all today. And I want to thank Commissioner Sugarman and Chairwoman Clay Bibbs for sponsoring today's item and for the continued hard work of this body through another budget season. I know that regular government doesn't stop when budget season starts. So being mindful of that, I will keep my statement brief. The item I have before you today is an amendment to Universal Pre-K Ordinance 573. I want to be very, very clear that there are no changes being made to the current contract that has been signed with a vendor already. Mayor has signed it and the vendor has signed it and that is already in effect. This has not changed any processes or the vendor or the process of vendor selection going forward. The real purpose of today's ordinance is that, as we're all very aware, we are moving into a transition period and it's Mayor Harris' wish to leave behind a tidier ordinance for the oncoming administration that aligns with best practices and just cleans up the language. And with that, I will turn it over to you.

Before I go to my appearance cards, you're saying clean up the language. Please explain it to the listening public. What do you mean by cleaning up the language and the thought process behind it so that everyone is on the same page?

Absolutely, Chair. Hannah McCarthy, Mayor's Office. So there are two areas where the language is being cleaned up, as I say. This amendment does two things. One, it removes the direct mention of a vendor name in an ordinance. The process of selecting that vendor is not changing. However, in the previous ordinance, a vendor name was directly mentioned in the definition of fiscal agent. So when I say tidying up, it's just removing the direct mention of the vendor name there. And secondly, in section... Five, the term, there is a line being added about funding subject to availability in the budget. That's also standard language that should be in any ordinance dealing with funding to this effect.

All right. I do have several commissioners in the queue, but I wanted to do our appearance cards first, and then we'll go from there. All right. So the first card I have is Dr. Candace Thomas. If you can come up, state your name and your address, and you'll have three minutes.

Good morning, Dr. Candice Thomas, First State Memphis, 1350 Concourse Avenue. Thank you. First State Memphis remains committed to the mission and vision of both the county and the city overall, but especially related to your interest and investments in early learning, so thank you for all that you've done to ensure that young children have the opportunities in the community. We just learned about this change to the joint ordinance late Sunday night. It was brought to my attention by an incredible First Aid Memphis staff member who as a part of her role, reviews the city and county agendas and saw this. So we just have a number of questions, some of the questions that were already answered here this morning, but also a few more for the record. Overall, we're open to a dialogue about the joint ordinance and about the strategic alignment for pre-K and early learning in the community. That is our job, that's our role. That's been our role for the past seven years now and we respectfully request that we have some of the questions answered that we have. Can I continue? Okay, so thank you for- The timer isn't showing.

Okay, so she's already used part of the three minutes though. Right. Go ahead.

Okay. Well, first question, as you all remember, and as you may know, Ms McCarthy is that this is a joint ordinance between the city and the county. But as I read this document, it's only space. There's, there's no mention of the city here or, um, no space for the city signatures. So just wanting to understand the intention behind that as this is a joint ordinance.

She's not going to be able to answer you right now, so your best thing is to get your questions out for the record, and then they'll come back and answer all at one time.

Okay, great. Thank you. Thank you for clarifying that. A second question I have is when does this go into effect? You noted that it won't impact the current vendor, which we all know for the record is First State Memphis, but there's no indication of when this goes into effect. There's no date. There's no year. So my assumption is, as what you just said on the record, that it will go into effect after the current contract, which was just signed in March and it ends in two years at this point. And then also, while it's noted that there's nothing else changing here, there's a ton of redundancies between this amendment, the joint ordinance and the contract that we have with the city and county. So there's just a deep lack of clarity and uncertainty with this item being presented. those are my questions and statements.

All right. Uh, I don't know if that's a legal response or if that's something that you're going to be able to handle.

Um, I'm happy to take that on and maybe defer to legal for any contract specific questions. Um, Hannah McCarthy, mayor's office. Uh, thank you so much, Dr. Thomas for your questions. And I just want to first say that, um, you know, I'm committed to, if you would like to meet ahead of Monday's meeting to, um, talk more in depth about any of your questions. I want to make sure that your concerns are addressed as it pertains to this ordinance separate from the contract. Yes, I am aware that this is a joint ordinance with the city. Attorney Smith is not here today, but she has been helping me to look at an avenue to move that forward at the city. And I will hope to have an update on that Monday as well. I believe she'll be back on Monday. As for when does this go into effect? This ordinance would go into effect after the the third reading assuming you know that the vote was in favor of it. However, when I say that it will not impact the vendor I mean that this change that is being made is to the best of my knowledge it is already legally true. It's not impacting any part of the process or the current vendor or the vendor selection going forward. But any more specific contract questions, I will have to defer to legal for that.

Legal, are you prepared at this moment to answer or are you waiting on Ms. Smith to answer? Ms. Cox?

Felicia Cox, County Attorney's Office. I did not work on this ordinance, but if you have some questions, I may be able to assist.

Okay, she just listed a whole list of questions. So I think what I'm hearing here, this is an opportunity for people to either come together before Monday to understanding. I'm clear on this is more of the administrative effort regarding the ordinance because these are the records of Shelby County. Correct. versus it touching the contract. But I think the actual vendor should have been told about the ordinance, the administrative issue, before we talk about it because they just came out of a contract signing, a contract negotiation. So I see where there is a bit of, you know, concern from the vendor, but I also see from the record of Shelby County I think Chairwoman Avent just mentioned since 1869, the records that go into place regarding the ordinance, how it should be written versus I don't know if there's any other ordinance that we have where you write a vendor's name in the actual ordinance. So we're talking about more of an administrative issue. The disconnect here I think is the issue of administration talking to the vendor so that they could have been aware of this coming together.

Yes, Chair. I completely agree with everything that you just mentioned. And as I said, I'm happy to meet ahead of Monday to go into any more details with the concerns that you have.

All right. So I hope that not only you, Ms. McCarthy, meet with Dr. Thomas, but also would really have the expectation that that Ms. Smith, as the county attorney, also have the conversation with Dr. Thomas as well.

Yes, Chair, thank you. I believe Attorney Smith will be back on Monday. Okay.

But I'm hoping that we have this conversation before Monday. We vote in Monday's meeting, so this would need to happen before Monday.

Yes, Chair. I am happy to meet with the vendor. I can't confirm that Attorney Smith will be able to. I'm not sure where she is. I just know she's out of the office. But assuming that she is here Monday, maybe a Monday morning discussion before the commission. And we can discuss offline, whatever works best.

All right. Thank you for that. Thank you, Dr. Thomas. We have several other appearance cards before I go to commissioners that are in queue. My next appearance card is Bo Griffin. It must be something really important for get Bo Griffin out here, because I'm sure as the superintendent of Millington Schools, he has a lot of things that he could be working on.

I'm sorry. Ms. Bibbs, that's correct. You were cutting into my nap time. You know, school's out. So, Bo Griffin, Director of Schools, Millington Municipal Schools. I'm just here to speak upon First Aid and their relationship with us. It has been amazing. As you know, in North Shelby County, we are a daycare desert. We just opened up the first public pre-K program in 2017. North Shelby County, and immediately we were full. We have a waiting list. Anytime we have a student that drops off that waiting list, we immediately can fill it right back up. I'm constantly nagging, I guess it's a nice way to say it, to Dr. Thomas that, hey, I need more classrooms because we could fill them up. The one thing that happened to us this year was that when it changed abruptly during the school year, unlike most private industries that do daycare as a school, I don't have the choice of closing my doors. So I had to find the money to take care of that until that resolution was resolved or that issue was solved before sending kids home or parents not having anywhere to put their children during the day. I think it's very important that, if possible, that we can have the consistency that we've had with First Aid or the vendor so that we don't have to start all over again every year with the funding. As you do know that, and I know Commissioner Sugarman and Ms. Mills, who I constantly bother about this, being a former high school person, I know how important it is for the little ones to have a sound base. You don't build a house starting with the roof. You start with a sound foundation so that it'll last for 100 years. And this is what it takes for our children to be successful. Since we've been working with First Aid, we have seen our scores on our TCAP go up Because we don't have to start at ground zero with our kindergartners. We've already taken the science of reading down to pre-K this year. And we're seeing results from that. So we're just asking for some consistency. with First Aid or any other vendor that you choose, that it should be a contract that would be more than just from year to year, but maybe a three-year contract if possible. That way we don't have to start all over and build new relationships so that we don't know what's coming down the pike and be consistent with, you know, I know y'all fully funded pre-K, but like I said, I want to make sure that we get that funding. I think, Ms. Bibbs, you said it earlier, hope and promises are things you can't hang your hat on. And hopefully we get this resolved and we can just take care of our children. I appreciate everything the commissioner's done. I thank First State for everything they've done for our kids. And take it from somebody that... Had no idea that pre-K teachers are going to heaven first until this year. But honestly, guys, any help in this? Because we're not just throwing money. This money, we have the data to prove that it works, not just in Millington, but across Shelby County. And I just continue to ask you for your support and thank you for your time. And I'm here for any questions you have of me.

Thank you so much. Appreciate you. We do have our next appearance card is Bob Nardo. Come up, state your name and your address for the record. You'll have three minutes. We have moved to zip code, okay.

Excuse me, Bob, push the button.

Push the one that looks like a person?

Okay. Bob Nardo, 3777 Edenburg Drive, Fraser, Tennessee, 38127. I'm the executive director of Libertas School of Memphis. We operate the largest single school early childhood program in Memphis through partnership with First Aid. And I first want to say how thankful we are for First Aid as the fiscal agent for the pre-K program in Memphis. I want you to know... that they're doing an excellent job unifying so many streams of activity around early learning, making sure that we have clear accountability, strong compliance, and collaboration across higher education, schools, nonprofit organizations, et cetera. So you really have a strong fiscal agent making sure that we're operating this investment really efficiently, maximizing the flow of dollars that get through to children and to classrooms. I really want to urge you to maintain stability in the fiscal agent. As a really high performing school, I know what it's like to work with districts or outside agencies you can't always count on. The team at First Aid is highly responsive and works closely with us to meet student needs. So I really want to urge you to maintain them as the fiscal agent for this contract and that in your work with the city that you all stay highly aligned to make sure that early learning does the job we know it can for the future of Shelby County. I wanna say one last thing before I let you go though, which is I really wanna make sure you all know that based on what the mayor has communicated to us through first aid, there's gonna be a reduction in pre-K for next year as you all juggle the hospital and the jails and the high schools and everything. The historic expansion you made in early learning last year is now being rolled back. We've been informed just recently that one of our classrooms will have to close. I want you to know that over 55, Excuse me, the kids who graduate from our pre-K program are performing in the 55th national percentile for reading. Okay, this is a community that has, in Frayser we have a child poverty rate that's quadrupled the nation's average. But thanks to the Libertas pre-K program supported by First Aid, our kids are reading more than half the kids in the country. That's what's happening right now, thanks to the quality pre-K program you've supported. And one of those classrooms is gonna have to close. unless you all are willing to allow first aid to use some of the unspent funds that were budgeted this year. So this is no additional money. This is not an increase. These are unspent funds that you had already allocated to them. If you'll allow them to use some of those funds for next year, then this classroom will not have to close. We will not have to lay off three high performing staff and turn 20 low income families away from a high quality pre-K. So thank you for hearing me today and I hope that you will find a way across everything you're doing to make Shelby County a great place, which I really appreciate. Nevertheless, to ensure that high quality pre-K, which is really going to, I think is the single best investment you can make for a safe and prosperous future of our county. Thank you.

Thank you for that. Our next appearance card is Alicia Norman. Come up, state your zip code. For the record, you have three minutes.

Good morning, everyone. Alicia Norman. My zip code is 38119. And first, I want to thank all of you all for your tremendous support and work for early childhood education in Shelby County. I have notes here, but it will be repeating everything that Millington and Bob Notto just said. So just briefly, I want to say that Millington was represented. The charter schools, public schools were represented. I'm the Executive Director of Next Memphis and I work with community-based child care centers and family child care centers. This is a group of folks who never had an opportunity to receive funding through a lot of the public funding streams for their private businesses. They are a group of folks who have felt unseen and unheard for many years within our ecosystem. First Aid has created an opportunity for them to work collaboratively with the entire ecosystem. These folks work really hard. A lot of our families choose community-based child care centers, and we have finally done three things. Alignment, we built trusting community relationships with our community operators, and compliance. And all three of those things are a necessity for high quality education in pre-K. One of my peers just talked about not starting from the roof, but starting with the foundation, zero to birth. I mean, zero to third grade, zero to eight are those foundational years. A lot of our children matriculate through the county, through private owners and operators. And this is the first time I've been in this for 30 years. This is the first time that we've had a systems building organization that brought everybody together to work collaboratively. I'm having a problem with the word. You guys know what I'm saying. But in collaboration to ensure kindergarten readiness for every child, not those that come through the district or through Millington, but for every child. And that is inclusive of family child care centers and community-based child cares. So through the work that First Aid has done through building this system of alignment, trust and relationships, and compliance, we've not had that in the 30 years that I've been in this industry. This is the first time that it has happened. in the last six years. So I ask and urge and ask you all to support this organization to continue as a fiscal agent because to disrupt it or to dismantle it in any way is truly a disservice to a lot of our children, to a lot of our private owners. So thank you for all of the support that you've given us in these recent years and we ask that that support continues. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Norman. We hear a lot of advocates for first aid. No, there's no question. I just want to restate that this is not changing the contract at all. This is more about an administrative conversation around the ordinance itself, how it's worded for public record. We do have several commissioners that are in queue.

Chair, do you mind if I make one quick statement before taking questions? Yes. I just wanted to thank everyone who came out to speak on this item. I think it's really inspiring that so many people show up for early childhood education. And just a personal note about me, my mother was actually a preschool teacher my entire life growing up. And then she became a nanny. So she's worked in early childhood education my whole life. And I know what a privilege it was for me to be able to access that because she was a teacher in the school. And that there was a potential that I wouldn't have had access to that if she weren't. So I just want to make it known that I understand how meaningful this issue is to everyone who came out today and that, yes, this ordinance is strictly administrative. And I think you put that very aptly.

Thank you, Ms. McCarthy. Commissioner Caswell, you're in the queue.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Again, I appreciate the advocates and people come out. I know Mr. Bob Noddle chased my car down every morning. I dropped my child off at school talking about this pre-K issue. My child started in pre-K at Libertas, and I can say I know the impact of it. My only concern, because I've been talking with leaders and others in our community around pre-K, that where we are with where... the dollars that are with first eight right now, that being able to carry those over for these schools so they can have, so the superintendent and them know they can tell the parents that the kids can come to school next year and don't have to wait. That's one thing. The other thing was just my concern at this time that when we are getting ready to transition to a new administration, why this and why now? because if the new administration will have to face and deal with this while we're in the middle of budget and all that we're trying to do to make sure that these schools are able to move forward, putting this at the table. The other thing was just the question, and I know we can't pull the documents up now, but I think I read it or saw this before I came the other day. It was something to the fact of more than one entity being able to APPLY. SO IT WOULD BE MULTIPLE ENTITIES, IF I AM MISTAKEN. YOU CAN HELP ME ON THAT. BEING ABLE TO APPLY. AND MY ONLY CONCERN WITH THAT, AND AGAIN, I CAN DEAL WITH THE FACT THAT IF THERE'S NO NAME IN THERE, YOU KNOW, GIVING INFERRARIES, NOT JUST FIRST AID, ANYBODY CAN APPLY TO DO IT. But my concern is that if we start breaking it down and we got two entities doing this, now the dollars begin to go administratively instead of classroom and to the students, right? And so I just want us to be intentional in understanding that we don't want to get to that place. So we got building up, and again, other organizations to administrate this. But then now we're diluting the capacity to put money behind students in classrooms. And so that's just a couple of questions that I'd like to have answered, if we can get that before Monday, if you can't answer it. Thank you.

Yes, Commissioner Caswell, I think a lot of your questions, and similar to the other questions that speakers brought today, are really attached to the contract, which is separate from this issue. And as I mentioned, I would defer to legal, and hopefully Attorney Smith will be back on Monday to answer some of those questions. In terms of the future administration and the thought process behind it, The thought process behind this is to make it easier for the oncoming administration to set them up for success, to have an ordinance for them that is adhering to best practices so that when they get started, they will already be set up for a more successful run at this.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Caswell. Commissioner Whaley, you're in the queue.

All right. Thank you, Madam Chair. And also appreciate your, Chairwoman Clay Bibbs, clarifying that, you know, I mean, in theory, this should be pretty simple change. You know, I think obviously an ordinance would be unlikely to have a vendor in it. That makes sense. I think there's still some questions around the term and whether renewals are possible and all of that, but my sort of bigger concern is that, you know, in my opinion, I think the administration has really fumbled the ball on pre-K because you think of the dramatic change from this time last year You know, this body unanimously approved the largest amount ever that we have contributed to pre-K education. And now we're hearing, and I'm hearing it, I know my colleagues are hearing it, from current operators that they're about to close, okay, close at the end of this year. So you have a situation where the commission said, we want to grow pre-K, not just keep the classrooms, but we want to grow it. And we committed to that. And now you have the mayor saying, no, let's close them, right? Because of the way that the contract was negotiated over the course of a year, right? It should not have taken that long. And it caused all these operators to be in limbo who don't have the reserves to be able to operate these classrooms. So they must close because they simply can't afford it. So I truly hope that... That's not what happens. We should not see any classrooms close. And if we do, let's be clear, it is not a result of the actions that this body took. It's a result of the actions of the administration. OK, so I just want to make sure that's clear. My hope is that the lasting legacy of the administration is not to shut down pre-K classrooms because that is not the way forward. And I'm pretty confident that this board will continue its commitment in this budget cycle to say this is something we believe in, regardless of the operator. Right. It's in the ordinance. We've committed to it, but we should not be saying let's close classrooms. That makes no sense to me. And so I think we needed an answer, and I'm sure you don't have to give it today, but we need to hear from the administration on what's the situation with these classrooms. Because every time I've sent a note, I've asked someone, they say, we're working on it, we'll get back to you, but no one's ever gotten back to me. And all I'm hearing is from each classroom that says, we are going to have to let our families know that the classroom we just opened is going to be closed because the mayor did not get back with them about using the funds that we already appropriated.

Thank you, Commissioner Whaley. My only comment on that is that it's my understanding that a contract was negotiated and signed, and I understand that that took some time going through the negotiation process, but it has been signed at this time. But aside from that, I would not be able to speak on any of the contract situations, and again, I would defer to legal for that.

Thank you, Commissioner. It sounds like someone needs an answer for you by Monday.

Commissioner Thornton, you're in the queue. Thanks, Chair. Ms. McCarthy, I appreciate your personal story and conviction, but what we're hearing is that in the chain of command, there's a decision maker who's not here to speak to show that same conviction. And so what we need to hear on Monday is from the mayor. And so I'm just going to ask that you make that personal request that he would come to be able to speak for himself. and not to have a proxy on this particular item. And to those that are just in limbo, I think that this is the worst case that our constituents could be in because on one hand we're headlining as doing unprecedented investments into pre-K and on the other hand we're undermining All of those headlines. So someone gets to stand and get the accolades, but only those who tune in get to know the reality. And that is a very hard truth, and we need to just stop playing with our future. So we know that pre-K is the single best investment that we can do. It's proactive, it's long-term, it's long-standing. And right now, I am looking at correspondences for constituents in South Memphis that are telling me, that their particular location is slated for closure. And so, you know, when we look at the zip codes where the classes are scheduled to be closed, they are more than likely in zip codes where there are so many issues that we also are funding. And so here we are with a solution and we're undermining all the investment that we could possibly make in these zip codes, but not investing in the future of our pre-K students and families. I think that we need to, before this next administration comes in, particularly because some of the candidates that are running are running heavily on on a pre-K platform, there needs to be real clarity to the public about what this is. We know from administration to administration, there's going to be a lot of carryover. So we need to know, are we supporting current and future leaders that are for the future of pre-K expansion. And I'm just going to ask, as I get back in queue, if Director Thomas, if you could come up. Let's keep the main thing the main thing. If you could bring those figures of how much it will cost for us to have universal pre-K here and where we are. And if you could also speak to the contract negotiation process of why is it that people are texting us as commissioners saying that their classrooms are closing. in lieu of what we're anticipating in this next budget. So just give us some more clarity when I get back in queue. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Thorne. Chairwoman Avant.

Thank you. Like many of my colleagues, I think I have a lot of questions and I completely agree with Commissioner Caswell that the timing of this ordinance and cleanup of the ordinance seems... I don't want to use the word sketchy, but it doesn't make sense, I guess. And especially after we've just finished all of the contract negotiations that took quite a bit of time, as my colleagues have mentioned, almost over a year. We know the cost of that to our pre-K providers. And it's concerning that at this hour, with an ordinance that we passed a year ago, there's needing to be administrative cleanups. So I would like to ask Ms. Thomas to come back. You mentioned that there were a couple of things that seemed not congruent with the contract that were put in the ordinance. And so if you could just specify what those things are so that gives us a way to have some follow-up questions with the administration.

Candace Thomas, Dr. Candace Thomas, First State Memphis, 38104. So in review of the amendment, there were some places where there is overlap with the contract that we have, which is a professional services agreement. So it's just, again, if the intention is to clean up administratively, the cleanup did not occur in this amendment. as there is overlap between the amendment and the contract. So, for instance, the contract clearly lays out that there can be termination if the pre-K vendor or fiscal agent has poor performance shows that there is misalignment within the pre-K system, if scores are low in performance across operators and young children. So there are several provisions in the contract outlines termination absolutely you should terminate a contract if it is not working and that is outlined in the contract but that's also outlined in this amendment so it didn't it's just it just doesn't feel very clear on what the real intention is if it is administrative cleanup but there's a lot of redundancies between this document and the contract that we signed that wasn't signed until March. So that's the first thing. Even in the very first paragraph of this amendment, there is a notation that the Shelby County Mayor has the authority to contract with other cities related, and that just is unclear, and we've asked for clarification with that, and we also talked to our attorney about that, and that was unclear as well. And then finally, again, the joint ordinance is an incredible Joint alignment between the city and the county and this document does not reflect that alignment So I hope that answers your question.

Thank you. Miss Thomas Okay, I'll get back in queue

All right. Thank you, Chairwoman. Commissioner Thornton, you're back in the queue.

Thank you, Chair. You know, I just want to encourage, because we're about to see us meet our maintenance of effort with MSCS, and so I'm just curious if the mayor will also initiate an administrative cleanup of the funds that we're about to send over in the excess of $500 million, which in my experience is done without any type of questioning input discussion so this you know commitment to addressing low scores and poor performance I would love to see it because we have documented that MSCS will constitute some type of administrative cleanup along those same parameters and so I just like to see consistency. I'm sitting back as a commissioner watching a clear breakdown in the relationship between First State and the Mayor Harris administration without knowing what actually is the issue. And so, you know, it would just be helpful for us not to pretend as if there aren't glaring tensions. We have so many ordinances on the book and this is the first time that I'm seeing a need for a pressing administrative cleanup. So it just seems like on one hand we are presenting something that is very simple and just routine, but then it also has like real strong indications that this is very targeted in planning to set up something. And so the only thing that concerns me is you have an exiting mayor doing these actions. So I just wanna know what type of commitments does the incoming mayor have or handlings does the incoming mayor have to the actions that we're doing today? Because we don't wanna see there be a bad guy on the way out and then someone on the way in is just honoring what the bad guy did. So this is not very clear to me in earnest what actually we're trying to do here. The whole administrative cleanup and being able to focus on that piece around the vendors. Seems very much so predatory and targeting based on the conversations that I've heard us have up here. And so I just want Ms. Thomas, Director Thomas, for us just to talk about what we've been talking about, which is the fact that we are committed as a board of commissioners that gets to approve the budget and being able to not only advance pre-K, but to provide Shelby County with universal pre-K. In the past, I've asked you how much would that cost for us to be able to do that? Where are we in that plan to do that? And what does it take in this budget cycle for us to show a clear commitment to that? Because at the end of the day, whatever the mayor's administration is cooking up, this body gets to actually make the decision around. So we need to be clear. If we are going to honor our word and our commitment, what does that need to look like in facts and figures for this particular budget cycle?

If it's all right with the chair, could I respond? Yes. Thank you, Commissioner Thornton, and thank you again, Dr. Thomas, for those concerns. Just to briefly speak to your concerns about redundants, I would see that more as alignment of aligning the two documents going forward, and then your question as to the first whereas where it mentions other cities, that's referring to this being a joint ordinance. With with the city of Memphis, so that is actually in the the previous ordinance as well I just wanted to make that clear and and to the point of Commissioner Thornton and other commissioners who've raised this concern again, I just want to reiterate that The intention of this ordinance is to make it more clear going forward and easier going forward not to intimidate any oncoming administration or to cause more problems between our vendor.

Thank you for that. Commissioner, I'm sorry, Chairwoman Avent, you're in the queue.

Just as a point of privilege, I did direct questions to Director Thomas that are not answered.

Okay, Candace Thomas, First State Memphis, 38104.

As you remember, and thank you for all of your support, we did pass a historic joint ordinance last year for Pre-K for All, which allowed three and four year olds, regardless of income, as a joint effort and a possibility of blending and braiding funding across funding streams, including your funding, to ensure that we live into that promise. As we've stated before, overall, Pre-K for All, to reach all of the children, based on the analysis that our team has done, will cost us $50 million. So last year, this body, as well as the city of Memphis, allocated and invested $20 million into Pre-K. That's this school year right now. As we look at the next school year, as of... Today, there has been a reduction in the pre-K budget for next year. So next year, we would be reducing back to $16.5 million. So that's $3.5 million. And so at this moment, First State Memphis has been in conversation with the city about possibly increasing their portion. They are in agreement, and we should be seeing a budget amendment from the city next week. Thankfully, there has been support from the administration and from the city council to bring the, though the mayor's budget indicated $7 million, there's been a verbal commitment and verbal interest from the leadership to bring it back to 8.5, which would make their budget flat for this year. Right now with you, the county commission, I have been in conversations with a few of you about the possibility of increasing the budget so we can make sure the county budget is flat as well. This also allows for the proportion between the city and the county to remain the same. So last year you invested $20 million. EXCUSE ME, YOU INVESTED $11.5 MILLION, IT'S $20 MILLION TOTAL, AND WE ARE ASKING FOR THAT INVESTMENT AGAIN THIS YEAR, KNOWING THAT WE ARE IN DIFFICULT ECONOMIC TIMES, KNOWING THAT YOU HAVE MANY OTHER PRIORITIES, IF WE CAN AT LEAST KEEP IT FLAT AND NOT REDUCE, BECAUSE AS COMMISSIONER THORNTON STATED, We have been informing operators that there are classrooms that will have to close unless we see an increase or we're able to use unspent classroom funds from the year prior. So those classrooms have been notified as you're indicating. But if you are able to, this year with a budget amendment, bring us back to the $20 million whole that we were last year, the whole amount, excuse me, that would allow us to at least keep all of the classrooms open that we opened last year and we have sustained over the last six years.

Thank you, Dr. Thomas. Chairman Avent, you're in the queue, but then it puts you back at the bottom. Okay. She was out of time. Okay. So Commissioner Sugarman is in the queue, but yours went back to the end, so I was going to end with you. Okay. Commissioner Sugarman.

Thank you. And so thank you for the conversation about $20 million. And you say that the whole amount would be $50 million. Were there any pathway forward to getting the whole amount of the $50 million? I'm just curious.

We had actually a pre-K budget plan to increase city and county every year for approximately five years to get to the 50 million, while we also advocate, of course, with the state around voluntary pre-K and those dollars. And so our our plan of action which we've showed you Previously does get us to the 50 million dollar mark in several years with an assumption of increase every year But as we're saying right now at the moment we are projected to decrease But our hope is to at least stay flat Thank You Commissioner Sugarman chairwoman event Thank You madam chair just

wanting to gain clarity, the classrooms that are scheduled to close, and it's because of not being able to use any of the reserve funds that first aid currently has, is that correct?

Correct. So as of right now, if we did not see any increase in the budget whatsoever, we're going to lose approximately 263 seats. I've sent a formal request to Mayor Harris and Mayor Young asking to use $1 million from... fiscal year 25 to allocate to fiscal year 27. We did receive notification from the city attorney's office approving our use of unspent funds. We have not received any notification from the county. That would allow us to save 100 pre-k seats. So we would still lose 163 seats unless there was an additional allocation to pre-K. OK. Thank you, Madam.

Chair, I am at this time I'm not in support of the ordinance and I think that there's just more questions to get finalized before moving into this aspect. So just sharing where I am just because I think that there's some cleanup that we need to do around the budget amendment and This ordinance would not predicate us making any of those budget amendments and changes, so at this time I'm just not in support of this.

Thank you, Chairwoman Avant. I am in support of the administrative change, but I do want to acknowledge today this is how something administrative can go to the left when you don't have the right conversations ahead of time when people need to be on the same page. and understanding all of the moving parts of it. I do think, you know, thank you for all of the pre-K advocates. I think most of them have left now who came up to speak. I see Mr. Nardo back there. who came up to speak about the importance of pre-K, definitely believe in pre-K, have always voted for pre-K, expansion of pre-K, all of the things. But what you're seeing, and this isn't the only thing that we're clearing up ordinance-wise or resolution-wise, so I do want to put that on record because we are now trying to clean up leases, all of the things that have been coming before us, I think, as this administration leaves getting ready for the new administration to come in. So I do want to put that on record because I definitely don't want first states to feel like that you're the only person that's having to be a part of this type of conversation. But I do think this is an exercise in better communication. This, I think, could have been handled much differently. especially in such a sensitive time around where we are regarding contract negotiations and that just happening as we get ready to move into the new cycle of budget funding. So I don't necessarily know that my hope is that all questions can be answered by Monday. You know, I don't know if Ms. Smith is listening or if Mayor Harris is listening, but the hope is that everyone gets on the same page by Monday. If not, we may have to look at something different. Commissioner Whalen, you're back in the queue.

Yeah, thank you. Just real quick, this is to the parliamentarian. Is this a nine-vote item?

There are no parliamentary issues that would be involved in this. I don't know if this is something that the charter would require, but I think that this is a simple majority vote. But I will defer to the county attorney's office for the voting requirements.

With that being said, I'm going to send this down without a recommendation. All right. So moved. This actually concludes the Education Committee.

All right. Thank you all. We'll call to order Committee Number 1, Budget and Finance. We had one item that was referred earlier from law enforcement, so we'll call it that one first. I think this was Item 3. Yeah, item three from Law Enforcement Committee, Commissioner Wright, that's correct? That's correct. So, yeah, Madam Parliament Chair, if we can call that item up, number three from Law Enforcement.

Yes, sir, and I believe this would be add-on number 12. Number 12.

Yeah, we've already got an 8, 9, we've already got a 9, 10, 11.

Let me just connect with the minutes clerk to make sure that's how she has it numbered. JUST ONE MOMENT, SHE'S MOVING THAT ITEM OVER. OKAY. THE MINUTES CLERK IS MOVING THAT ITEM OVER. Item 13 is an add-on item. Item 13 is a resolution approving the expenditure of funds for the purchase of automotive oil and grease from Union Auto Parts in an amount not to exceed $86,200. This item requires the expenditure of FY2027 Shelby County Sheriff's Office General Operating Funds in the amount not to exceed $86,200, subject to the adoption of the FY2027 operating budget. Sponsored by Commissioner McWright.

All right, thank you. This item is moved by Commissioner Sugarman, seconded by Commissioner Mills. Chief Lindsay.

Good morning, Commissioners, and thank you, Commissioner Whaley. Alicia Lindsay, Chief Administrative Officer. She'll become the Sheriff's Office. And with me, I have Administrator Mike Dethridge. The purpose of this item before you is to approve a 90-day extension with the current vendor. We've initiated the current year seal bid process, but at this point in time, we don't have a contract or a purchase approval ready for this body to approve. Therefore, out of the abundance of caution, we wanted to make sure that we have in place a mechanism of being able to purchase parts needed for the repairs and maintenance of the patrol fleet that we have with Shelby County Sheriff's Office. And again, this item is subject to the adoption of the fiscal year 2027 budget. And we are happy to answer any questions you may have.

All right. Thank you. Commissioner Wright. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to ask on record, maybe to Mr. Dethridge, this seems to suggest, I would think, that we service our own fleets. Can you speak to the size of the fleet that we're servicing, and then what in particular will this resolution provide to that fleet?

Sure. Thank you, Commissioner. Mike Dethridge, Administrator of Planning. Excuse me for the sheriff. So we have approximately 800 pieces of equipment in our fleet. That's not all patrol cars, obviously. That includes motorcycles and boats and ATVs and side-by-sides and things of that nature. So our fleet is very robust. This simply ensures safety. that we have a vendor in place to purchase the necessary products to service those vehicles, and we don't get out of contract, and we're unable to get what we need.

And those are, again, that's served in a shop, in-house shop? Yes, sir.

We maintain our own vehicles. I have a fleet of six mechanics that maintain our fleet.

And as I understand it, so this is covering oil and grease. Oil, I think, is pretty understandable for most people that get their vehicle serviced at the Jiffy Lube or whatever it is. Grease, as I understand it, is what you use on – it's a heavier-duty product for, like, bushings, bearings, or whatever – Is that right? Do I have that right?

Yes, sir, exactly. That's correct.

And these vehicles, you said some 800 vehicles, I assume they're getting a lot of wear and tear. Can you speak to the amount of use that those vehicles get?

Yes, sir. So our vehicles, some of them, some of our patrol vehicles are subject to run 24 hours a day. They'll run all three shifts. Therefore, you can see that an oil change is due pretty frequently. So that's a big demand on our fleet, and that's the necessary evils of the business we're in, right? We do maintain a good fleet, and it's a healthy fleet. We do the best we can to do that, and this is just part of it. We'll have some other contracts coming before you, too, that we're going to ask to extend, which is our parts contract. That's one that we're going to ask to extend to to make sure that we've got parts available, other than just the oil and grease and things like that.

Thank you so much. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want to get some of that on record. Thank you.

Yep. Got it. All right. Seeing no one else on the screen, I think we can take this item to a vote. All right. We can close the screen and record the vote.

We have aye votes from Commissioners Whaley, Cantwell, Sugarman, Wright, Brooks, Mills. We have six aye votes.

All right. Thank you. That item will go down with a favorable recommendation. And let's go back to item number one.

Item 1 is a resolution appropriating and expending fiscal year 2026 capital improvement funds for a previously approved contract with Axon Enterprise Inc. for the Sheriff's Office body camera in-car video system in an amount not to exceed $2,303,257.05. This resolution requires the appropriation and expenditure of fiscal year 2026 Shelby County Capital Improvements Plan funds in an amount not to exceed $2,303,257.05, sponsored by Commissioner McWright.

All right. Thank you, Adam. I want to move by Commissioner Sugarman, seconded by Commissioner Mills. Chief Lindsay.

Actually, I'm going to start first, Mr. Chairman. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, fellow commissioners. Wink Downing, Chief Inspector, Shelby County Sheriff's Office. This resolution is part of a five-year CIP project to maintain our body cameras and in-car video system. It is a very expensive system. The reason why it is a five-year CIP project is because of the price of the equipment. necessary for an ACR size was over $10 million, and that price of the equipment was spread out over the five-year period, along with the reason why they're so expensive is because there's various features that come with, like with our body cameras, we've got prerecord where the camera is actually recording all the time, As long as we can get to it within 24 hours of an event happening, we generally have the video and stuff like that. Even though it's not showing red on the camera, it's actually recording. We have numerous other features built in, such as GPS. The ability to transaction is built in each camera device that we have. There's four cameras in a patrol vehicle. It's just a very expensive proposition. We're seeking to fund the second year of this purchase with CFP funds with Axon Incorporated in the amount of $2,303,257.05. As you know, in this day and time, this is an essential component of law enforcement operations. It supports transparency, accountability, officer safety, and very importantly, evidentiary needs that are needed in the courtroom. I will be glad to answer any questions.

Thank you. Commissioner Brooks?

Thank you. Just one question in reference to Axon. Are they the only company in this U.S. that sells public safety technology?

Wink down in the sheriff's office. No, ma'am, there's literally hundreds in the business, but... From our experience with them, probably just a guess on my part, I would say more than half of law enforcement agencies and agencies that have a law enforcement function use this company because of their reliability, dependability, and the features they have in their product.

Is that why you all selected them?

That is correct.

Okay.

It was the sole source. Well, actually, it was a piggyback on the state contract. Oh, okay.

Well, thank you so much.

All right. Thank you. Seeing no one else on the screen on this item, Madam Clerk, we can prepare the screen to vote. Alright, we can close the screen and record the vote.

We have aye votes from Commissioners Whaley, Caswell, Sugarman, Shalai, Wright, Brooks, Mills. We have seven aye votes.

All right. Yep, that item will go down with a favorable recommendation. All right, thanks so much. Chief Lindsay, if you want to stay there, we'll go ahead and call up item number three. If we can read that one into the record.

Yes, sir. Item three is a resolution amending the fiscal year 2026 operating budget to reallocate and appropriate $18,015,000 from the general fund unassigned fund balance to fund public safety expenses, including overtime payments, operational materials, and unanticipated food service costs. This item requires the reallocation and appropriation of general fund unassigned fund balance in the amount of $18,015,000 sponsored by Commissioner McWright and Commissioner Amber Mills. This item does not meet requirements of permanent rules and was referred back to committee in May 18th, 2026 commission meeting.

All right. Thank you. Item three moved by Commissioner Mills, seconded by Commissioner Sugarman, Chief Lindsay.

Good morning, Commissioner.

Oh, sorry. Before you do that, we need a motion to suspend the rules. That's right. Okay. Moved by Commissioner Wright to suspend the rules. Is there a second? Second. Seconded by Commissioner Shalai. Can we do that without objection? Our hearing on item three is properly before us. Chief Lindsay.

Thank you, Commissioner Whaley. Alicia Lindsay, Chief Administrative Officer, Shelby County Sheriff's Office. This item was brought to you back on May 13th. based upon the settlement agreement between Mayor Harris and Sheriff Floyd Bonner, which spells out that there should be up to $16 million provided for overtime and another $2 million in operational expenses. So basically, when we left the May 27 meeting, We left under the impression that the body would continue to look for funding because we didn't want to use plain use of fund balance. But at this point, we have yet to hear anything from a viable funding source. So the current resolution stands, unless there's some other recommendations.

Okay. Thank you, Chief Lindsay. Can you... So, you know, and I think there's... I certainly don't feel like I've got total clarity on all of this. And you know, there were a lot of surprises to me personally, kind of as this came together. But, uh, one thing that I've maybe somewhat understand is, uh, a motion that we did earlier in the year to amend by about 7 million, 7.3 million. This is before the system change, um, that was moved, uh, into the sheriff's budget that may have already been used for this. And if that's the case, that's, that's the case, but I'm trying to understand, uh, other than taking the full 18 from fund balance, that there may have been some other allocation, but I, again, I, this is like a quarter clarity on this, but that was what I was trying to get more, a better understanding of. I have not been able to get that answer myself, and I'm not sure my colleagues have been able to get that answer yet. But you are right on the sense of looking at potential other funding sources rather than just going straight to fund balance, which I think is a prudent thing to do. But there was about $7.3 million that I'm being told might have been moved at some point prior to the system integration. Chief Tipton might be able to help us with that, just to either say that's untrue or Half true or hopefully 100% true. But Chief Tipton, if you wouldn't mind, and then I'll go to the queue to ask additional questions. But I just wanted to have an understanding of some of the transfers that may have already taken place that could come together to form the full amendment here but not make it 100% fund balance.

Thank you. Audrey Tipton, Director of Administration and Finance. I'm going to try to answer your question, Commissioner Whaley. The way the system worked in the past, we budgeted based on the pool. So every year when the salaries were paid out, all of the funds that were budgeted within the salary pool pool were utilized to pay any salaries presented. So with this new year, we've had to budget based on the line. And that was proposed by the state as well as with the new Oracle system that we have. And year to date, there was a budgeted amount for $11 million for the Sheriff's Department. We have already exceeded that. So we've already utilized or increased the budget in order to make payments because we cannot not pay people. So that's the $7 million that we've already exceeded against the $11 million that you're talking about. And I think what CAO Lindsay is asking that we put the budget on the line, but we won't actually spend that full amount. We've already spent $7 million of that amount. So... It's the same way, it's just a matter that we now have to put the money on the line rather than allowing it to impact the pool of the salary budget.

Okay, that is along the lines of what I understood. So I think even if... there's still a need for an additional funding source. I think some of that needs to be clarified in this so we understand like we're going from different types of funding sources throughout this year because part of this is a function of the budgeting itself in the system. But sure, Chief Lindsay, go ahead.

Alicia Lindsay, Chief Administrative Officer, Shelby County Sheriff's Office. That was a great question, Commissioner Whaley. But with the increase in overtime, like the $7.3 million, and the increases in other accounts so that Oracle can process payroll transactions, Our salary restriction is now $69 million. Last week I spoke and said it was $66 million. It is now $69 million because I guess they're trying to continue to post transactions. So it's all about a matter of catching something at a point in time, and I'm more than happy to amend the exhibit to reflect the current budget, but I can modify it to show where instead of $16 million needed in overtime, we can reduce that to nine, the additional nine.

That's right. Okay, great. Yes, we're getting somewhere. All right, Chief Tipton.

Thank you. Audrey Tipton, Director of Administration and Finance. I also want to clarify that we have been doing an implementation of Oracle. And as I just said, we budget on the line now rather than in the pool. So when we brought the conversion dollars over, we had to ensure that budget was on each line. So we did set up a separate account that is washing out why Chief Lindsay thinks that her vacancy savings has increased when it actually has not. It is actually washing with all of the budget. There's a debit and a credit that we're doing in order to post the dollars in the new system. I don't want to get too technical, but We have not increased the vacancy savings. It started off at $50 million. It's still $50 million. There is a separate account that we're using that we're going to clear out once we get all the dollars converted. And her vacancy savings or their vacancy savings will not increase. It is currently still $50 million. Okay.

All right. Great. Chief Lindsay, hang on for a second right there because I want to make sure I get to the other commissioners and not stymie our progress that I feel so far. So this is good. All right. Commissioner Wright.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. What I wanted to make sure that this body was aware of, and it's been mentioned to some degree on the record, but just that this is the product of a settlement agreement between the mayor and the sheriff. And that is what preceded it coming to us. And so we can either approve it or not approve it or perhaps alter it or alter the source. But that's what I wanted to make sure that the body understood is that this is a settlement agreement that is before us. And is the reason why I made a motion last Monday to bring it back so that we could number one, make sure that all commissioners were aware of that, but also to recommend that we go into a executive session so we can have, um, so we can explore the, the legal aspects of what is before us and get the county attorney's input on what the options are for this board. And I was going to recommend that again today, but I don't currently see our chair. I don't currently see our county attorney. So I don't know that that's even possible today either. But I did want to make sure that that point is very clear, that it's not like one of us woke up this morning and said, hey, let's just gift $18 million to some department. That is not what happened. So with that being said, let me ask this of Chief Lindsay, if you don't mind. This $18 million that we're talking about, is this some future expenditure or is this something that has already taken place?

Alicia Lindsay, Chief Administrative Officer, Shelby County Sheriff's Office. As Director Tipton mentioned, our overtime budget, the consolidated overtime budget for the Sheriff's Office was $11.7 million, and we have already exceeded that number by $7.3 million today, or somewhere close to that number. I think we're at about $19 million in year-to-date overtime. So last year, we spent $27 million in overtime. And the year before that, I believe it was $25 or $24 million. And then the year before that, it was some number reduced by $2 million. So one, you have to keep in mind that the cost that these hourly workers are earning is increasing. There was a 6% increase effective January 1st, 2025. There was a 3% increase effective July 1, 2025. Also take into consideration that we are impacted by the number of detainees in the jail. We're impacted by the number of jury sequestered juries that we have because we have to make sure that those those tasks or functions are staffed. We've also been impacted by the Memphis 8 Task Force. So some of that money is being reimbursed by the U.S. Department of Justice, but only about $700,000. So we do estimate that our overtime dollars will be at around $27 to $30 million, similar to what they were last year. Another point I wanted to make, but it has... I've lost my train of thought. That's okay.

I'll come back. Okay. All right.

Thank you, Commissioner Wright. Commissioner Caswell? Thank you, Chair. I wanted to stay on the train that you were on because I think that'll help me better the questions and how I'll go forward. I'll just say this, that even I'm supportive of we have to do this, right? But I want to find a way that's not going to, as someone, as I stated the other day, even with the budget and the place that it is, and let somebody do a major write-in campaign, I'm going to be back here next year. And, you know, welcome to do that. But to that point, We already know where we were last year with the media being behind. Something had to get from the reserve to do this work. I don't want us to be in that same place. So if you are on the track, I'm going to yield my time back to you and see where you're going to identify how do we get to the pathway that we're not just taking it out of the general fund and finding ourselves upside all the way upside down as we go into next year budget.

Yeah.

Okay.

All right. Commissioner Brooks.

Thank you. Just a couple of questions. Well, I'll do my first question here, second question first. I think, Mr. Chairman, Commissioner Wright has valid suggestion in terms of an executive session to get some clarity and understanding. Well, I'll say for me, clarity and understanding around this $18 million settlement agreement. And then the other question I had is I need some additional clarity in terms of breaking out the amount we're charging, being charged for this safe task force and their activities. But I need some clarity and understanding around this $18 million settlement.

Okay. All right. And I certainly would support an executive session. I think it's up to Chairwoman Avant to determine that. All right. Commissioner Thornton, Commissioner Caswell, we'll go back to you. Commissioner Thornton.

All right. Thank you, Chair. I've put in a request for Chairwoman Avent, if she's still here, to step in. So in consideration of this particular resolution, if we pass it, does it increase the maintenance of efforts?

Alicia Lindsay, Chief Administrative Officer, Shelby County Sheriff's Office. It is our understanding that, yes, it does increase the maintenance of efforts. And I figured out what I was about to say, but I can wait.

Okay, thank you. And then, so the caption goes in many different directions. It talks about overtime payments, operational materials. I see something when I click in the documents. It talks about ammunition, unanticipated food service costs. I know it's been said many ways, many times, but why such a wide range of needs and and for us to go into the fund balance. It's just not resonating with me why what is budgeted is not enough.

Alicia Lindsay, Chief Administrative Officer, Shelby County Sheriff's Office. Commissioner Thornton, I don't know if you recall, but last budget season we came to this body with a request. One for guns and ammunition. Our guns are beyond life that's normally used in public safety. So one of the items on this exhibit is for new guns for our patrol officers and two, those new guns will require new ammunition. Um, okay. And the overtime appears is an issue because when you have a salary restriction, whether it's 50 million, 69 million, it subtracts from your total personnel dollars. So you have your total salaries, your total benefits, and then you have a subtotal, right? And then you subtract out that salary restriction, and you have a net number, where your positions tie to this top number. So for every position that we have, 2,157 full-time positions, those positions tie back to that gross salary number. But when you have a $50 million salary restriction that's reducing the net, and then as the year continues to go along, So through February, we've already exceeded, if February was the last day, February 28th was the last day of the year, we have already exceeded our budget.

So we still have a high vacancy amount within the Sheriff's Office, right?

Alicia Lindsay, yes.

And Director Tipton, if you could just chime in here. I know we talk about the salary restriction often. It seems like the Sheriff's Office pushes back with how that is set, but then we have the vacancy amount savings there because we are not a full complement. Is there any way for us to push into what is currently sitting dollars to not increase the maintenance of efforts? I think to the public, it's wild to me that we would listen to an item where pre-K is going to potentially have a flat budget, and then we're sitting here talking about we're about to increase what is going to be the ongoing commitment to our law enforcement in $18 million. What sense does that make? I just want to know what land is this and why Shelby County can't just prioritize the right things.

All right. Any response? Chief Tipton?

Yes. Thank you. Audrey Tipton, Director of Administration and Finance. I never thought I'd agree with Commissioner Horne, but I do. But to be serious, just to be serious, what C.L. Lindsay said is correct. It is going to increase the maintenance of effort for the sheriff. So that means the proposed budget that we presented to you is now at an $18 million deficit, and we will have to find those dollars. Secondly, the... overtime issue was prior to the task force. In 2025, overtime was at $27 million. In 2024, it was at $22 million. My job as the financial person for the county is to let you know the financial health of Shelby County. I'm not fighting what is being proposed other than how can we pay for it. It's gonna be difficult to pay for it. That is the point that I'm making. I'm not talking about a settlement or anything. I'm letting you know that if this goes through, we'll have to rearrange the proposed budget and find 18 million more dollars in where we are right now, not to mention all the other budget adjustments or amendments that may come forward. The second part I wanted to mention was that you do budget for the vacant position, and we take that off in the vacancy savings. So in the past, we've always taken all of that into consideration. close the books using those dollars as well as part of fund balance. In this situation, we're being asked to hard code 18 more million dollars in the budget and not use any of that money to help us close the books. So it will impact our fund balance significantly more if we do it that way.

Okay, thank you. Before we go back to the queue, just on this point around the maintenance of effort and the vacancy savings, is there a path? I'm not saying this is the route to go, but if we were to, or administratively, if we were to reduce the vacancy savings and then reappropriate internally those positions into overtime, does that avoid the maintenance of effort issue?

Alicia Lindsay, Chief Administrative Officer, Shelby County Sheriff's Office. So my opinion would be, so you have the top line, right? The top salary number. And if you reduce the amount of vacancy savings, because right now it's at $50.8 million. Lower the salary restriction. Say you reduce it to $40 million. Then you increase the overtime. It should be a net figure.

Right.

R.J. Tipton, Director of Administration and Finance, you would have to reduce the top salary number and give it to the overtime budget. We could reduce the vacancy savings. If we reduce the vacancy savings then it hits fund balance because if you got $100 and you got $50 in vacancy savings, that's a net of $50, right?

Right, right. I understand that. I'm saying in terms of the maintenance of effort because you're reducing the salary restriction on the top line, but you're reallocating that due to the fact that we're not hiring the position to the actual need, which is the overtime, the actual line item doesn't lock in a higher maintenance of effort because you're simply lowering the restriction and then reallocating the additional funds to, yes, it will still hit fund balance, but I think the bigger double issue here is if we take the fund balance, increase the maintenance of effort, we now have to amend FY27. So this, my understanding is that if we can do it this way, it would be a hit to the fund balance, but it wouldn't increase the maintenance of effort. Is this true?

Alicia Lindsay, Chief Administrative Officer, Shelby County Sheriff's Office. I believe you're correct.

Okay, great. All right. Commissioner Mills?

Thank you. This is very, very odd. This whole agreement and the way it's been denied on record when asked about it. And then the major people involved don't speak to it or don't know about it. And we have basically been thrown under the bus on this. If you read the agreement that the mayor who didn't know anything about did sign. And I did ask Monday after the, um, commission meeting for an executive session that stated we needed an executive session on this. Um, and I still feel that we do. And an attorney that can speak to this, um, CFO hadn't laid eyes on this, and she's mentioned in the agreement. And if we're replenishing money back to the maintenance of effort, if we're replenishing money, we're still raising the maintenance of effort on this?

Alicia Lindsay, Chief Administrative Officer, Shelby County Sheriff's Office. If we follow the approach that Budget Chair Whaley recommended, I don't think there would be an increase to maintenance of effort. It would be the same, although the lower salary restriction will allow us more opportunity to spend.

Okay.

So that's part of the issue. And the part of the issue is salary restriction. So back in 2008 or 2009, it was about $8.7 million. and today is $50.8 million. And I understand what Director Tipton is saying. However, when they make all these adjustments to the salary adjustment account, that is still in a restricted pool. It offsets it as a negative. So it takes all of your positive numbers, like your personnel, your fringe benefits, other compensations, subtotal, then you have this restriction. So instead of it being $50.8 million, today is $69 million. So it's still a restriction to reduce the personnel piece. With their adjustments, they have increased other accounts, salary accounts, temporary benefits accounts, fringe benefit accounts, and they've offset it with a salary adjustment. but not to zero dollars. There is still a residual where our overall budget has increased maybe by about 4.7 million in both personnel and other operations and maintenance. So it's not a one-to-one wash, but there is an increase.

Okay. I still feel that we need an executive session as well, because if you read the signed agreement, it's, I don't know what I can ask, what I should say, what I shouldn't say. And we, this body's been put in a very unfortunate position.

Chairwoman, can I speak to that, please?

Yeah, I want to go to you. Yeah, Chairwoman Avent.

Thank you. Yes, Commissioner Mills, you did request an executive session. Unfortunately, the folks who need to speak to that are not here today. So there's no way for me to call an executive session if we don't have the county attorney that has done the most work on this present. People do take vacation. And so there's nothing that we can do about that. And one is on vacation and one is at the hospital with a family member. So I think we just have to give some grace in this moment. The executive session will be Monday. We'll schedule that for 2 p.m. so that this body can have more information. But I don't want the record to show that we are ignoring that people need to have more in-depth information, but behind closed doors. Unfortunately, they are not available today for us to do that, but we will do so on Monday.

Okay. Yep. Thank you very much. And so I think there are different parallel tracks here. So one is that element of it, of the agreement itself. What I'm hoping that we can accomplish are some different finance options. Whatever we do with it, I think we do need to have prepared ways that we just discussed, have that written out as potential exhibits to swap out, just so we have it ready on Monday. Okay, all right, Commissioner Thornton.

Thank you. I just want to hold space for this opportunity for us just to put maintenance of effort against maintenance of effort. So we do not have these robust discussions about increasing MSCS's maintenance of effort. And I think that it is very much so something that the citizens of Shelby County, our bosses, need to really sit to contemplate. The pressure being applied to us as your representatives, I question today, what are our priorities? We're sitting here talking about $18 million for law enforcement. Meanwhile, education is just left out there. And not only is the maintenance of effort for MSCS something we don't talk about, but there is a $30 million deficit in our proactive solution within pre-K that we have not created a pathway forward for. So I just want us just to, just in this moment as we prepare for Monday, think about our priorities and think about if we continue to only hear the progressive pushes for more investment coming from law enforcement, what does that mean for the future of Shelby County? Thank you. All right. Thank you. Commissioner Coswell.

Thank you, Chair. Again, I'm in agreement with Commissioner Thornton on that. And just that is a concern because I didn't know that that $18 million was going to be increasing the maintenance of Alfred. That is a major concern. So I appreciate the lane that referred that Commissioner Whaley, Chairman Whaley is speaking to. And so hopefully we can get there. And I'm going to defer those other questions until we do the executive session so we can see where to go. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Commissioner Brooks.

Thank you. And so when we resume our conversation regarding this 18 million, I definitely need to know, and I thought you were going to have it for me today. You may already have it, but let me finish. I need to know the impact of the SAFE Task Force on this 18 million in terms of positions, operations, maintenance, food costs. What is the impact of the SAFE Task Force? Because we need to separate that out because Well, without going any further, that's another party. So I need to know their relationship of the SAFE Task Force to these dollars that we are asking for.

Okay. All right. Thank you. Chief Lindsay.

Alicia Lindsay, Chief Administrative Officer, Shelby County Sheriff's Office. Commissioner Brooks previously mentioned that as it relates to patrol officers and when they're working with the Memphis Safe Task Force, we capture that information. However, when we have civil service employees working in the jail to process detainees that are coming in and going out, we may not capture that as Memphis Safe Task Force because at the time we may not know that that arrest is related to Memphis Safe Task Force. So there is some information we can give you regarding Memphis Safe Task Force, but it will not be 100% accurate nor complete.